Archive for category: News

Note: this weekend, Scott Cooper, the author of this series and our Product Manager here at 4iiii, finished 3rd overall at Ironman 70.3 Calgary. 

Part 2

Following from the last post describing my triathlon adventures, I’ll take you through the next part of my typical discussions when meeting people…

Friend: So do you get paid to do triathlon?
Me: Essentially, no.
Friend: I still have trouble understanding why you do this… So what else do you do?
Me: I’m working on my Ph.D. in Engineering.
Friend: WHAT?!?!

My Life Outside of Sport

When I was a kid, I was always fascinated by science and biology and had an aptitude for mathematics. My favourite days would be when we had a supply teacher in elementary school as that usually meant the TV and VCR were rolled out and we binge watched Bill Nye the Science Guy.

Although the show was quirky, it was a great introduction to the fascinating fields of science and engineering. As I advanced into high school, I had a biology and a physics teacher who both cultivated my love of science and pushed me to explore new areas and tackle more difficult problems. This lead to an interest in human physiology which was also supported by my love of sport.

On to University at McGill

I moved on to pursue an undergraduate degree in Chemical Engineering at McGill University in Montreal, Quebec. The program at McGill is broad and covers a variety of topics including your typical engineering subjects like fluid dynamics, material properties, higher level math and mechanics to less traditional courses in biochemistry and other biomedical topics. This set the
stage to become a jack-of-all-trades, focusing on problem-solving in various fields while still allowing me to continue touching on topics related to physiology.

By the time I was in my second last year of my bachelors, I was getting more engaged in triathlon and endurance sports which piqued my interest in cardiovascular health. I had the opportunity to work as a summer student in one of my professors’ lab’s for the summer before my final year and jumped on it right away. His lab looked at the biomechanics of the heart and other aspects of cardiovascular disease. This lead me down a path of research and before I knew it, I was signed up for grad school getting a Masters in Engineering. My research focused on how plaques form in arteries due to the fluid dynamics of blood and the related stresses this imparts on blood vessel walls. I became a perpetual student and continued this research in a Ph.D. in Engineering.

Sharing the Knowledge

Pursuing my graduate degrees and becoming increasingly consumed by triathlon, I realized I had a unique skill set and background and wanted to share this knowledge and experience with others. This lead me to become a triathlon and cycling coach where I could combine these two passions. I found it rewarding to help athletes better understand why they were doing certain
workouts and how they could improve their performance. I started with coaching at the McGill Triathlon Club (where I began my training a couple years before) and progressed to becoming a cycling coach and also privately coaching triathletes.

In my next post, I’ll talk about how I managed to get all of this done with only 24 hours in a day.

Scott Cooper, an engineer, and former professional triathlete, recently joined the 4iiii team as a Product Manager. In this three-part series, he’ll tell the story of his triathlon career, and how he came to work here at 4iiii.

Most of My Friends Didn’t Understand

When you mention you are a triathlete, the conversation usually goes like this…

Friend: Have you ever done that one in Hawaii?
Me: Yes.
Friend: How far is that?
Me: 3.8km swim, 180km bike then finish it with a full marathon. It’s also usually above 40oC and up to 100km/hr winds.
Friend: WHY?!?!

That’s the big question when it comes to pursuing long distance triathlon, why do you do it?

As a kid, I was generally interested in sports but didn’t have much of a defined focus. I grew up in a small rural community where all the kids in the neighbourhood got together to play whatever sport sounded like fun. Once I got to high school, I kept up this mentality and played on most of the school teams from track to curling to rugby to golf.

During this time, I remember watching Simon Whitfield win the gold medal in triathlon at the 2000 Sydney Olympics in a wildly exciting sprint to the finish. This put in the back of my mind the idea to one day try and survive a triathlon.

My First Sprint Triathlon

The author, emerging from the water in his first ever triathlon in 2008

Fast forward a few years and as a university student, one of my Uncles got involved with a charity triathlon and convinced me to join him in doing it. Looking back at it, it was “only” a sprint triathlon, but at the time, a 750m swim, 20km bike, and 5km run were excruciatingly brutal.

I remember seeing a few athletes at the race with Ironman tattoos and found it completely unfathomable how someone could ever survive that (at this point, I was that guy was asking, “WHY?!?”). Despite a few mishaps and some sore legs for a few days, I did pretty well and enjoyed the suffering so immediately signed up for a couple more races later that summer.

A Peer Group of Fellow Triathletes

That fall, I joined the McGill University Triathlon Club and was greeted by an inclusive community that shared a twisted love of suffering and working hard. This is where I began to learn the importance of proper training, interval workouts, season periodization, nutrition strategies and how a foam roller can quickly become your best friend.

It also spurred on an interest of better understanding physiology and was the start of a years-long pursuit of pushing my body to its absolute limit to see what I was truly capable of. In that second summer of racing, I qualified for the ITU Age Group World Championships and with that, was totally hooked!

From Olympic to Ironman

As the years ticked by, each increase in race distance never seemed that bad so I went from sprint to Olympic to half-Ironman to full Ironman distance triathlons, progressing to a longer event each season. In my first race in 2009, I took 5 minutes just trying to get a shirt on in transition (important life lesson: tight-fitting athletic shirts are not easy to put on when wet) and managed to progress to racing as a professional Ironman athlete in 2017.

I started by occasionally going for a casual ride, run or swim to reaching a peak of over 40 hours of training per week in my biggest training blocks as a pro. Racing took me all over the world with races in China, multiple trips to the EU and all across Canada and the United States.

The Question of Why

Along the way, I hit incredible highs with top finishes in the Ironman World Championships. I also met with countless setbacks and lows, including shattering my shoulder in a bike accident which needed to be rebuilt with metal plates and screws.

Through this rollercoaster, pushing my body to its limit and trying to reach my potential was always my driving force. This was the motivation that got me out of bed for those early mornings and making the sacrifices it took to compete at the highest level.

That is my long answer to the simple question, “Why?”

More to Come

In the next post, I’ll talk about how during that time I also pursued a Ph.D. in Engineering, while sharing my knowledge with other athletes as a cycling and triathlon coach. In future posts, I’ll share triathlon training tips and workouts, for distances from sprint to Ironman.

By Bailey McKnight, 4iiii North American Channel Development Leader

I was just 25 when I first contemplated giving up on pursuing my career in cycling. And that’s when I received the call that would change my life, and bring me to a point where I truly felt like I had “made it.”

But first, a bit of background.

People often ask me what drew me into cycling. I have a fond memory of watching Philippe Gilbert at the 2011 Liege-Bastogne Liege, watching him distance himself from the Schleck brothers in the closing kilometers on the steepest section of the course.

I remember seeing the crowd erupt as Philippe tossed his hands in the air on his home turf. He raised his bike above his head after the finish line, to the delight of his adoring fans. He had made an inhuman effort look effortless as he danced on the pedals and rocketed passed the two brothers.

I remember being mesmerized by the whole spectacle. The sheer volume of spectators lining the course over the last three kilometers. The commentators yelling at the top of their lungs in Flemish. The podium celebration with comically large hats and bottles of champagne. I turned off the TV with my mind made up; I wanted to become a cyclist. I wanted to take part in the incredible event I had just witnessed.

From Commuter to Elite Racer

My background in sports was vast. I never really excelled at one specific sport but loved doing them all. I was too small for hockey, not quick enough to land a running scholarship and lacked the coordination to excel in swimming.

I started riding a bike purely as a mode of transportation, but I started catching myself taking the long way home in order to get more time on the bike. I was introduced to the local racing scene and upgraded from Cat 5 to Cat 2 in a single season.

The hunger to find bigger an better races drew me outside of the province. My first “real” race experience left me in tears. I remember calling my parents after my first BC Superweek, sobbing. I had been dropped by the field for the fifth consecutive night. I hung in there and kept chipping away, splitting my time between my studies and training.

The author, second from right 

From Canada to Belgium, and Back Again

I turned 22 and realized that everyone racing at a higher level than me was committing 100% of their time to the sport. In the same month that I decided I would take a semester off to focus on training, I was invited by Cycling Canada to go to Belgium and experience European racing.

It’s hard to explain European racing culture to someone that hasn’t experienced it first hand. We would show up to a Tuesday night Kermesse and there would be 220 people on the start line. The field would be a mix of ex-pros, promising young amateurs and middle-aged men that I am convinced had ingested every illegal stimulant on the banned substance list. The gun would go off and it would be an all-out war for 2 hours. It was the equivalent of learning how to swim by being thrown into the deep end.

I came back to Canada with a fresh perspective on racing. I learned how to move up efficiently in large pelotons, how to fuel during a 180 km cobbled race, how to layer up to stay dry when it was pouring rain and three degrees.

I raced for an amazing amateur program based in Vancouver called Trek Red Truck Racing. The program allowed young racers to attend some of the best races in North America to demonstrate we were worthy of a pro contract. We would spend six months of the year on the road, battling it out against guys with way more experience and support. I kept my head down for three seasons and worked day-in and day-out to try to turn the heads of team directors at the Continental level.

A Career at a Turning Point

As I mentioned, I had just turned 25 and was contemplating giving up on pursuing a career in cycling. As I was pondering my next steps, I received a call from Mark Ernsting, the director of H&R Block Pro Cycling. He explained that he was putting together a Canadian team that would compete in some of North America’s biggest stage races. It didn’t take me long to sign the contract and pack my bags. For the next two years, I would get to experience some of the coolest races you can do in North America. We would travel from Vancouver to Philly to New York and Quebec.

My “pinch me” moment came at the 2015 Tour of Alberta where I slotted in beside Frank Schleck. All I could think about was the 2011 Liege-Bastogne-Liege. The TV helicopter hovered above and I felt as though I had finally made it to a level I could be proud of.

My eyes were always set on making it to the World Tour but I soon realized that it took a very special type of athlete to make it to the top.

The thing they don’t tell you about professional sport is that in order to be successful, you have to live a very self-absorbed lifestyle. Each decision you make in a day revolves around success on the bike. Every meal, workout and recovery session centers around your needs and training schedule. For the first time in my life, I wasn’t sure I was ready to go down a road that required me to be so self-absorbed to do my job well.

In my next article, I’ll tell the story of the later parts of my pro cycling career how I transitioned away from the pro ranks. Then I’ll follow that up with more detail as to how I came to work in the industry that I love, here at 4iiii.

(To be continued)