Would you swim through a bloom of jellyfish on purpose? How about run and bike through blistering heat? Iron Man and triathlon athletes do just that. Why? Out of a love for what they're doing and a sense of personal accomplishment. What you might not know is Stimulus Technologies CEO, Nathan Whittacre, is one of those athletes.
In today's fast-paced world, finding balance between work, family, and personal wellness can seem like an elusive goal. However, there are individuals who have not only achieved this balance but have also thrived by embracing the challenges of endurance sports. In this article, we explore the transformative journey of Nathan Whittacre, and how his pursuit of health and success through triathlons and marathons has impacted every aspect of his life.
Check Nathan's full story on endurance competition on Stimulus Tech Talk: Triathlon, Iron Man, and Business: Nathan Whittacre's Journey to Endurance and Success
Discovering the Path to Wellness
For Nathan Whittacre, the journey to wellness began with a wake-up call—a health scare that prompted him to reevaluate his lifestyle choices. Faced with the realization that he needed to make significant changes to improve his health and overall well-being, Nathan turned to physical therapy and exercise as a means of transformation. Swimming, biking, and running became not only his tools for physical fitness but also his pathway to reclaiming control over his life.
Overcoming Obstacles: The Power of Persistence
As Nathan delved deeper into the world of endurance sports, he encountered numerous obstacles along the way. From challenging open water swims to persistent injuries like plantar fasciitis, every setback presented an opportunity for growth and resilience. Through sheer determination and unwavering commitment, Nathan learned to push past the pain and adversity, emerging stronger and more determined than ever before.
Harnessing the Benefits of Endurance Training
Beyond the physical benefits, Nathan discovered that endurance training offered a multitude of mental and emotional rewards. Regular exercise not only improved his mood and productivity but also provided a much-needed outlet for stress relief. As a business owner and leader, Nathan found that maintaining a healthy lifestyle was essential for optimal performance, both in the boardroom and on the racecourse.
Building Community and Connection
One of the most valuable aspects of Nathan's journey has been the sense of community and connection fostered by the endurance sports world. Whether participating in local races or joining triathlon clubs, Nathan found camaraderie and support among fellow athletes. These connections not only enriched his racing experience but also provided a network of like-minded individuals who shared his passion for fitness and personal growth.
Setting Goals and Achieving Success
Central to Nathan's journey has been the setting and achievement of ambitious goals. From completing his first triathlon to embarking on the monumental challenge of running a marathon in every state, Nathan's journey has been defined by perseverance and determination. Each milestone reached has not only been a testament to his physical prowess but also a reminder of the power of setting intentions and following through with action.
Embracing the Journey
Nathan Whittacre's journey exemplifies the transformative power of endurance sports. Through dedication, perseverance, and a commitment to personal wellness, Nathan has not only overcome obstacles but has also achieved remarkable success both on and off the racecourse. His story serves as an inspiration to us all, reminding us that with the right mindset and determination, anything is possible. So, whether you're lacing up your running shoes for the first time or training for your next Ironman, remember that the journey to health and success begins with a single step.
Want to learn more about Nathan Whittacre and now Stimulus Technologies got started? Listen to this episode of Stimulus Tech Talk: From Garage to Growth: How a 17-Year-Old Built a Successful Tech Business
Triathlon, Iron Man, and Business: Nathan Whittacre's Journey to Endurance and Success transcript:
Intro 00:00
You're listening to Stimulus Tech Talk. A conversation based podcast created by stimulus technologies covers a range of topics related to business and technology.
Sherry Lipp 00:14
Welcome to Stimulus Tech Talk, I am Sherry Lipp. I am the Marketing Manager here at stimulus technologies. And we have a special episode today. Because we are with Nathan Whittacre, and we are going to be getting to know him a little bit better. Welcome Nathan.
Nathan Whittacre 00:30
Sherry, welcome everybody to the podcast.
Sherry Lipp 00:35
So specifically, we're going to be kind of talking about something people might not know about you. And that is that you are into some Competition, some racing, so maybe you can give a little background on how you got started with that, and specifically what you do.
Nathan Whittacre 00:53
Sure, so you know, they're there. A lot of I've found over the years, a lot of business owners have extracurricular activities outside of just running the business. About 12 years ago, I had a little bit of a health scare, and with some doctor's visits and realized that I need to change my lifestyle. You know, it's building the business working a lot of late hours, I had a young family, and it was really taking its toll on my body. So I went to physical therapy and through that process, started doing a lot of exercises, mostly swimming and biking. And a friend of mine, who also ran and to triathlon said, you know, you're doing pretty much everything as long as your doctor clears you, maybe you should consider doing a triathlon. And that was not anything that I thought I'd ever do in my life. My sister had done triathlons and, and completed those for several years, and I thought she was crazy. She ran a business also and had no idea how she was able to manage it. But I had decided to sign up for my first one, I did an Olympic triathlon as my first triathlon. And before that, I did a couple of running races. And my first ever race I did was a three hour running event that you just ran as far as you can for three hours. And it was actually put on by Calico racing, which ends up being my future wife's company. So the first ever race I did was actually how I met my wife. So, but it was really I got into it just from a health standpoint, because I was overweight, overworked and needed to make changes in my life. If I wanted to live a long and healthy life, which is, you know, all of our goals. What do I do now, and then it has progressed and changed over the years, I've kind of ebbed and flowed depending on how busy I am. As you see behind me over here, if you're watching on YouTube, I do a variety of different events. And lately, I have a goal of running a marathon under four hours of time in all 50 states. So my progression, if you've seen the map over here is the states that I've completed it in, and I'm up to seven states under four hours, and 12 states total that I've completed a marathon in. So I have to go back and like run a race in a couple of different states. Most of those states were part of Ironman, and it's really hard to run a fast marathon at the end of an Ironman so and I've been so the two races, two types of races. I've been doing mostly now our full Ironman distance, triathlons, and marathons. So long, long days of exercise.
Sherry Lipp 04:11
So sounds like we're athletics not a part of your life before you started doing this.
Nathan Whittacre 04:19
Oh, no, not at all. I didn't play any sports in high school or growing up at all. I did enjoy biking as a kid but it was just biking. I also did enjoy some running but you know, up until I started this journey, the longest I could run slowly was maybe a mile and I'd go out running with my dog and you know, and it would really enjoy you know, just getting out and running around the neighborhood or it was kind of more of a run walk type thing. But no, no background in sports whatsoever. And this is the sport I can do I can go straight for a long time. Don't give me a ball to throw, I can't throw anything to save my life like playing basketball or football. Like, I have no coordination for that. But I, I can do the I can spin my bike or move my legs for a long time. And do it somehow comfortably.
Sherry Lipp 05:26
So you were able to complete the triathlon or first go around?
Nathan Whittacre 05:31
I did it was it was a hard day. It's a lot of learning, because triathlons are often done in open water. So I had only swam, I think, two practice swims out in open water out at Lake Mead here in Las Vegas before doing my first triathlon, which was in Utah. And the swim was terrible. I almost quit during the swim, because I just couldn't get a rhythm. I've, you know, just it was hard. The bike and the run went great. And it kept me going. And I was really happy with it. And I did another one, about a month later and just been going since then. So the first year that I did, racing, I completed four half marathons plus did I don't know something like four to six triathlons in that first year, and then my biggest years have been somewhere around 12 races almost once a month.
Sherry Lipp 06:38
And how did you? At what point did you start to come become competitive? Are you actually earning, you know, placing in these races and earning medals and
Nathan Whittacre 06:49
Well, you get a medal for finishing. So luckily, I I've only, so I'm not terribly competitive. From a speed perspective, I'm happy to finish, I usually am kind of in the middle of the pack finisher, maybe depending on the race top third, but I have one a couple of age group categories. So they they break it down to like overall finishers. And then depending on your age, they might give like the top age, the person in the age group or the top three, depending on how big the field is. So I have won a couple of age group awards. We, me and a few friends have done some relay racing. So these are long distance, multi day relay races, and we finished in the top three couple of times in those. But my goal always is to stay healthy. That's That's why I do this is, well it's kind of three things. The primary is to stay healthy. And as you know, as a person that likes achieving things, achieving goals, having a race scheduled, keeps me on track for my training. And so I need personally I need a race scheduled to, you know, that alarm clock comes in the morning that wakes me up to get on my bike or go out for a run is doesn't isn't enticing enough to get me out of bed. And so knowing that I haven't rescheduled keeps me going. But I do like the process to for me, it's like having some control over outcomes is really nice, because a lot in business. There's so many external factors that affect the business and so many different people, you know, choices from customers choices from vendors, choices from our internal team members affect the outcome of what we do as a business. And sometimes that gets overwhelming. And so to have something in my life that generally, you know, injury aside, or maybe whether aside, I know that if I put in the training, and put in the training in the kitchen, which is probably the harder part for me, because I'm a fat kid with an exercise problem. I lost a lot of weight to do this. And I still love eating. But I know that if I control what I do in the kitchen and control what I do from a workout plan, I generally will have a positive outcome on race day and it's nice to have that you know schedule and know what I'm doing and know what the outcome could potentially be if I put in the right amount of effort. So that you know, so having the the healthy habit having the control of my life and then learning something new I mean every time I do this, it's like it's a learning variance. And, you know, learning, we've done, my wife and I have been doing traveling associated with the racing, you know, visiting the 50 states is a lot of fun. So I learned about each state and the coordination of that. We just actually did my first international race. So we went to New Zealand and raced in Ironman New Zealand. And that was a lot of fun traveling to another country and doing a race and learning, you know, about people and all that. So it's, it's really, you know, those three buckets are really driving me to continue doing it.
Sherry Lipp 10:38
And that kind of leads in how did you I mean, how do you feel that racing kind of combined with you as a as a business owner,
Nathan Whittacre 10:50
or being healthy, I think is essential for me and sharpen and ready to meet the challenges is essential for any leader of an organization. And so the racing for me to be healthy, is part of that. So, you know, there's all kinds of medical research about it, that exercise improves our overall performance and our mood, and, you know, it releases these endorphins, and dopamine and all this, all these chemicals that really help us. And I found personally that, you know, my attitude is significantly better if I am staying healthy. So that from a from running a business, anybody on this, you know, this channel knows, if you run a business, it is stressful, there's a lot of pressure on a business owner, and the CEO theatre of an organization. And there's so much so many stress hormones that build up. And there's scientific proof that shows that exercise allows your body to naturally fight off those stress hormones, and replace them with the positive hormones. And so it's a lot about mood, it's a lot about ability to perform well. And in my day, you know, what I do during the day, sometimes at night, whatever it may be, but it allows me to perform much better as a leader. And I think, you know, without that, that stress would build, not just cause health issues for me, but also lack of performance inside the business in leading the organization and staying motivated to continue driving the company forward. So it's it, you know, whatever it is, I think having that, that exercise that that component to you know, what if it's not endurance sports, you know, something else, you know, going to the gym, or, you know, CrossFit or basketball, or football or whatever your cup of tea is, as far as exercise, I personally think, and the scientific proof shows that that is essential to be a top performer.
Sherry Lipp 13:14
And I know once you told me, You're going to be swimming with the jellyfish. So what kinds of challenges do you face on these and that one, you knew you were kind of preparing for it? But have you had some unexpected challenges?
Nathan Whittacre 13:28
There's always something with a race that comes up, it seems so you know, the, the I'll just use an example weather is is really the one of the things you just can't control. So you can control pretty much everything leading up to race day, but you can't control the weather of the day. And in our in the race in New Zealand. You know, there was a forecast for a storm to come in the day after the race on Sunday, the the race was on Saturday. And you know, the the forecast for the day of the race looked good. You know, it was relatively calm when they were supposed to pick up a little bit in the afternoon. Overcast, no rain. And that's the way it had been for you know, a couple of weeks. You know, the long term forecast showed that that was kind of the kind of be the case. And then we get there and the day before the race go out and do a practice when the lake that we're swimming in is just pristine. There's just the water is like Lake Tahoe, it's crystal clear, super calm, but it was like class. And then the next day we get there to the start of the race and there's you know, four to six foot waves with white caps on top. And it was the swim was a rough swim. I had been in rougher swims. But that was a rough swim. And there was, you know, over 10% of the field didn't complete the swim because of the the roughness of the water and about 10% didn't even start, they just chose not to get into the water. And, and the rest of the day was, you know, wind on the bike and it was, you know, you, you have to strategize. Okay, how am I going to deal with this when I can't make it go away. But I wouldn't have to deal with it during that race. So whether it's probably the biggest thing that comes up, injury is the other one. You know, I mentioned before, I've had a few injuries, I've been dealing with nothing major. I sprained my foot before my first Ironman about 10 weeks before the race. Really bad sprain, my whole foot swelled up, I wasn't able to run until just a couple of weeks before the race. And I knew that I could, I had, I had the biking and swim down fast enough that I could walk the marathon in the end, which means a very long day. And so I still went ahead and did it and completed that, I was able to run some and walk some and actually ended up was still a decent time for the race. But you know, injury is the one that can can really set an athlete back a lot. And it's very frustrating. So I'm currently kind of dealing with a persistent plantar fasciitis and one of my feet so I have to balance between how much I can do and dealing with the pain of that. And that's kind of a hard thing, you know, like working through, you know, painful exercise, knowing that I'm not damaging anything, because I'm working with doctors to make sure that I'm not doing any any harm, but it is sometimes a little painful and just kind of pushing through it, but it is, you know, kind of a lesson I learned, you know, through life and business ownership is you know, sometimes you have to push past the pain that comes around, you know, the stresses, the things that happen. And again, the racing, you know, kind of pushing through these events, mentally teaches me personally how to how to get through that.
Sherry Lipp 17:24
And in case anybody listening was wondering, how did you prepare to swim with the jellyfish?
Nathan Whittacre 17:28
Okay, so this was race ended last year that was in Maryland, I remember Maryland and the the area that the swim is in the bay and it's so it's brackish water. Little bit of ocean little bit of river. So yeah, it was scary. Looking at some of these pictures, people would go out and do these practice webs and come out of the water all bit with or stung with jellyfish, and you can have allergic reactions to and so I didn't know that when I signed up for this race. The same friend that got me into triathlon convinced me to go out into this race. And I remember messaging him, what did you get me into and wondering, oh my gosh, so luckily, we were able to wear wetsuits. And so that's, you know, the wet suit protects most of the body against you know, potential stings. And that still just exposed us the face and the hands and so they you know, the, you know, they recommend there's like some techniques like coating yourself with a little bit of Vaseline, petroleum jelly reduces the potentiality for Steam or the pain of the steam. Taking some antihistamines beforehand also helps. And so, you know, I didn't I, you know, I did all those things, and then that morning of speaking of things you have to deal with, there was a hurricane that had just come through a day before it not close to the area, but close enough that it caused some waves to come into the bay. And so they shortened the swim down to 1000 yards instead of the full 4200. So we didn't swim that far out, and I didn't get stung in the swim, but mentally I wasn't looking forward to getting in that water. But they just again you just kind of I know didn't kill anybody. Nobody's died from the jellyfish stings. I just had to mentally realize that okay, there could be this potential and I need to get over it and just still proceed so and it was it actually was a fun race. I mean, the the course was beautiful there Maryland, and ended up being a fun day. But yeah, swimming with jellyfish. because there's always something.
Sherry Lipp 20:04
So yeah, you said, your training, or you're working on, you know, completing a marathon and all 50 states, and you have to repeat it, if you don't hit your goal, how important? Do you think that doesn't happen? Very, it's not just compute completing the marathon, but doing it at a certain time. How do you How important do you think that is, and kind of your mindset about about it, and kind of translating that to your business mindset.
Nathan Whittacre 20:29
So I think having performance goals is really important in our business, you know, you have KPIs, you measure, you have financial, you know, performance that you're trying to get as a business owner. And so, you know, in racing, having something to achieve, and some factor that you're trying to get under, you know, this performance metric. So, as I started this, actually, I've had a couple, like I mentioned, that I haven't completed under four hours. And that, you know, it makes you upset that you gotta go back and do it again, it makes me upset. But it does, it does drive the performance. So I have completed two of them with less than 20 seconds to spare. So they're, you know, three hours, 59 minutes and 40 seconds or less, cutting up very close. But, you know, it's, it's, there's a lot of math that happens out on the course. And I think the same thing can be translated into, you know, business performance, you know, if you have metrics, like as a salesperson, or as you know, as, as a business owner, or completing tasks on time, you know, showing that, that with the right attitude, and, you know, the right calculus, even if you're close, you can still achieve it, and it's a push, you know, I was on both of those, you know, I ended up having to push quite a bit at the end to, you know, convinced my body to, to keep up the pace to do it. But, you know, again, it translates, I think, in the business, we run into that all the time, and in businesses, you know, especially on the sales front, but your service deliveries the same way, you know, achieving those service level agreements that we have with our customers, achieving, whatever we have, in our business, me, as a leader, I can show my team, look, you know, there's lots of aspects in our lives, that if you set a goal, and you work hard towards it, and you meet that it's a great win, that one that I kept really, really close, I teared up at the end, because it was such a hard push, I was in a bit of pain at the end of the race, because of my foot issue that I'm dealing with. But that it's like to feel that when and, you know, it really is only for me, you know, nobody else is out there, you know, betting on me or making anything off of me, you know, completing that, but it's a personal win. And it's a great feeling to be able to accomplish a goal like that.
Sherry Lipp 23:14
And how do you balance, you know, your training with running the business, especially with this big goal in mind.
Nathan Whittacre 23:22
So, and it's not just the business, I have five kids, I have, you know, some volunteer work that I do for church and some other organizations, my wife, and you know, just a lot of other things. So. So a couple of things that I do, because it is hard to balance at all, I you know, that the workouts and those type of things are during the week, most of my free time, that's what I spent doing. So I go to bed, or the fish. So I can get decent amount of rest and recovery. And I don't watch much TV. So I limit, you know, my my TV watching. And, you know, I get up early in the morning. So, you know, I generally am starting my workout somewhere between four and five, maybe sometimes 530 In the morning, and I'm getting up and doing my workouts before the rest of the world wakes up. And there's been many times that I've had on my schedule to do like maybe a two or three hour workout in the morning. And I have another meeting or flight I gotta get on and so I've gotten up many times at like three o'clock in the morning to get that done, which is crazy. You know, I think about those worries. I'm like, why am I doing that? It's It's insane. But that's, you know, that's the price I paid for the you know, the goals that I have. So, you know, it's just it's keeping that schedule, getting up making that a habit to get up when my alarm goes off and get that workout done. I generally set myself up right in the morning. So I have my workout plan, it's not making it up when I, when I get up, so I know exactly what we're going to do, you know, today is a, you know, hour and 15 minute bike ride, it's an endurance ride or, you know, 10 mile run, or whatever it may be, I know exactly what I'm going to do. And I usually set my stuff out in the, you know, the night before, so I have my socks and shoes and everything kind of ready. So that I can just literally roll out of bed, put my clothes on to do the workout, grab a water bottle and get on my bike trainer. Or, you know, I, my office actually services, my training room here too. So I have a bike trainer treadmill, I enjoy running outside. So I often run outside, if the weather's good. We're put my face in cold water at the gym that that time in the morning is no fun either. And then oftentimes, if a couple of times a week, I'll try to incorporate in some workouts in the afternoon. Yoga, I incorporate yoga or strength training, usually in the afternoon to do some stretching, and strength workouts and Saturdays are my long days. So I'll get up early before anybody else does. And, you know, it might be you know, a two to five hour workout, and then get done with that and clean the house. You know, whatever. Like literally, sometimes we'll go for the workout, eat some breakfast, go up to the bathroom clean, take a shower and clean the bathroom at the same time and just go on with my day. So that's, you know, there's no, there's no rest at times. And then for me, the big thing is I work hard during the week, and then Sunday is my rest day. So I don't I don't work out on Sunday, I dedicated to church and my family. And that's kind of my rejuvenation where I can recover and just take a break from from everything. And so that's what works for me. And helps me to keep that difficult schedule during the week.
Sherry Lipp 27:15
Sounds like it's good for how to build and that probably translates to other areas of your life.
Nathan Whittacre 27:22
It does. So that's, I did a talk on that. A keynote talk not too long ago talking about atomic habits and building habits and really how that's really changed what I do in my life about building those habits and I do a lot of habit stacking that I'll stack some other habits along with you know, the exercise and the waking up or whatever it may be. And and that habit stacking allowed me to write my book. So I would you know, habits that my workouts with writing, and allowed me to build that, that I would just take, you know, 15 to 30 minutes right after a workout to write in my book because that's when I'm like my mind is going well I get those Dorfman's and dopamine and all that going in my mind. And that's the best time of the day for me to have, you know, to write and be creative. And so it worked out to to stack stack those together.
Sherry Lipp 28:19
And how long do you think it's going to take? How long have you haven't planned out? Or do you have it planned out to take you to finish your your 50 states.
Nathan Whittacre 28:26
So when I started it, I was hoping to get it done before I turned 50 If everything goes well, I could probably get it done in the next five years, but it wouldn't be before I turned 50 So it might be my 50th year. But I would have to start you know, that's a lot of states to get through. So I would really have to pretty much every state that I run I would need to make the goal for the most part. So right now in my mind if I can get all 50 states done not some for before I turn 50 Or that 50th year and then go back in and fill the ones that I didn't complete in time after that. So that's that's the goal right now it's probably five or six years you know, the every one of these races and they get sometimes increasingly difficult because there's logistics involved to you know, traveling from Nevada to Rhode Island or Maine or you know, the East Coast is kind of difficult you know, you lose time and lose a day so it logistics starts playing into it because a lot of times can't get a flight maybe even a direct flight near that and so it's it's flying and then driving and and all that time. So that's that's also the difficult part of it. So yeah, five, five to seven years is kind of my timeframe probably seven years to get it all done under four hours, hopefully another five years to get all the states filled in.
Sherry Lipp 30:07
And what kind of tips would you have for somebody who wants to get started on that kind of thing? And they're there like you they haven't they haven't done it before.
Nathan Whittacre 30:16
I think you have to have a gotta begin with the end in mind just like Stephen Covey says so what is your ultimate goal? You know what, what drives you to want to do this? Is it health? Is it just enjoyment as a community because you know, triathlons and marathons is a really great community. But you got to start with the reason why. And then from there, you know, there's great local race companies, I'm going to give a little shout out to get my wife's company Calico racing here in Nevada as they put on 5k 10k Half Marathon full marathons and even Ultra distance. So maybe sign up for a small race sign up for a 5k There's plenty of couch to 5k programs out there. I've gotten my kids involved, they've all ran, you know, five K's now and they enjoy that we're training right now for a race here next month for them to participate in. So you know, start out small or you can start out big. I mean, I did an Olympic triathlon is my first one, which, you know, most people would consider that a pretty big race. To start out with, I've known people that have signed up for their first triathlon, doing a full Ironman, which, I think that's a little crazy, but crazier than I would be willing to do. But, you know, I think finding a coach, I had a couple of coaches when I started, that really got me going. For most people, the swimming is the scariest part. So join a local swim group. So there's a couple of swim groups here in Las Vegas that are triathlon swim groups. There's masters swimming, which is probably most of your areas where you live, there's master swimming groups that you can go, those are generally coached. And I think that's a big help. If there's a triathlon club or running club in your area, I joined a became part of a triathlon club or group here in Las Vegas. And that really helped just to have people to talk to through the journey. There are plenty of websites and Facebook groups or social media groups that you can ask questions and learn about but I really liked the local the community aspect of having like a club or a group that you're part of. And oftentimes those will you know, you'll have group runs or group rides and group swims and then you can go out and just meet other people and have fun together. And then ask questions because there's our you know, whether you're just running you know, five case 10 case, half marathons, marathons or doing you know, the full triathlon, there's always questions like, what gear to buy, and you know, what shoes to buy, or try or what bike to buy, or what wetsuit or things like that, you know, there's, there's a lot of gear you got to buy trust, you know, with triathlon, especially, there's a lot of gear, and you probably have a lot of questions. So having a community I think, is an important aspect of how to be successful. And then looking to those experts. Just like, you know, in our company we we talked about on this group on this podcast and on our webinars and all that we do is relying on experts like stimulus technologies, as being an expert, for triathlon, you relying on those coaches to help you through the process, I think, at least initially helped me a lot, and I'd recommend having some type of coach you work with, to get started is is a good way to be to start off successful. All right.
Sherry Lipp 34:03
That was a lot of great information, and just interesting to get to know something that you might not think about your, your, the business owners that you interact with. So no, thank you,
Nathan Whittacre 34:16
Jerry. And actually, that's a good point. So you know, as I mentioned, is starting out, there's a lot of business owners that do this. And so it's a great place to network. Because there's a lot of great people that that are insane as I am to do this stuff, and I'm sure some of you that are listening, do some type of sport. And so it's a great way to network and find find more business and find more people that that are of similar buy in to do business with so thanks for listening to me talk something personal this time.
Sherry Lipp 34:50
Thanks, everybody.
