Bill Blankenship

TRIATHLETE
Bill grew up on the east coast in the suburbs of Washington DC., and played the basic sports of baseball, football and basketball as a kid.  After college, Bill started running as a way to stay fit. During those years he ran his first marathon and also spent quite a bit of time trekking and climbing. Bill began his endurance sports career in 1980 and purchased a mountain bike in 1985. In 1986, Bill started competing in trail running races in New Mexico and Colorado, and competed his first triathlon and mountain bike races in that same year.  Since, then he has raced some of the Xterra series every year since the age group point series started in 2001.

While Bill has completed several road triathlons including Ironman distance races, his true passion is mountain bike racing and trail running.  Competing at a high level and being able to travel to new race venues keep the fire burning inside Bill.  The friendly vibe and typically beautiful settings that Xterra racing offer have been a big factor in keeping Bill’s motivation and passion about training and racing.  Family is also a motivator for Bill, especially at the point of really hurting during a race, when you must look deep inside to find your true self motivating forces. 

As a working athlete, staying focused on what is important anyone, is a factor that allows Bill to maintain proper balance in his life.  Training before work or during lunch hours is a great way to break things up.  He credits how this life style can be time consuming, but you do not have to let it take you away from your family and other pursuits.

This season Bill worked with Training Bible Coach John Reiker, and had tremendous success finishing 2nd in his age group at the Xterra world championships in Maui.  Below is Bill’s testimonial about working with John….

“Prior to this past year I had always been self-coached from reading, talking with friends, or occasionally buying an on-line plan. I had always thought I would never enjoy following a daily routine developed by someone else. Instead, as the year progressed I grew more and more to look forward to Coach John Reiker's post for my upcoming week. I had been relying on many of the same workouts for many years and it was really enjoyable and helpful to try a new approach. With my varied style of events, it was very positive to have a coach like John keep me focused on my primary goals. He helped me look at and train for the season as a whole, and not burn all my candles too early in the year. Looking back at how he organized my weeks and months, I can see that the knowledge I thought I had simply wasn't enough compared to an expert coach. Having a coach also saved me a lot time thinking about how to train. It also gave me more and more confidence as the year went on. I had a strong feeling I was trained to do my best, no wondering.”