Athlete of the Month

The Team Sheeper Athlete of the Month award is handed out to a member of the team on a monthly basis, 7 or 8 times a year. The AOM is someone who made a notable contribution to the team or did something remarkable. Selection is made by nomination and voting by the membership.

You can nominate anyone and the nomination period is usually during the first week or two of the month. Look for notification that nominations are being sought.  When nomination close, the voting starts and once all the votes are tallied, the new AOM is crowned.

Besides bragging rights for a month, our AOM gets some goodies from our gracious sponsors, such as free shoes from TRH, a massage from SMI, gift certificates from GoRide.

GoRide Bicycles is proud to sponsor this month's athlete who embodies the spirit of Team Sheeper. Located in Redwood City, GoRide Bicycles continues the 30-year tradition of Garner's Pro Bikes.

Jeff Solomon

March 2010 Athlete of the Month

"I admire his continued motivation and dedication to improve. He is always willing, in fact I think he enjoys, to share his extensive knowledge with other athletes. His passion for the sport is inspiring!"
"Smart Training: By devoting himself to daily injury prevention exercises, smart rehab through small increments, Jeff overcame an early season hamstring injury that left him running faster than ever. Impressive Performance: Pulled a PR at Oceanside. Has moved up to lane 2 to swim with the big kids. Dedicated Teammate: Provided teammate good company in the ER Passionate triathlete: Continual pursuit (obsession) of training technique and knowledge. Has been known to acquire new gear along with. Smarts + Passion + Dedication + Results = Triathlete of the Month"
- Fellow Teammates.

What did you want to be when you were growing up?

I wanted to be a doctor until I met and fell in love with computer programming my sophomore year in college.

Do you have a spouse or children or pets to tell us about?

Nope.

What other hobbies do you have?

Beside triathlon and work? Does eating count?

How did you become involved with Team Sheeper?

I started off in triathlon with the Stanford Tri Team. They take anyone with any kind of Stanford affiliation and I choose to train with them because their swim workouts were at the very reasonable hour of 8am. After a little over a year with Stanford Tri, I thought it was time to join a big boy’s team so I looked around at all the teams and Team Sheeper was the closest to apartment and the most competitive. It was an easy choice. Then I just showed up one day, and Tim told me to swim with John Goldman and Martin Michaels in Lane 3. Those two very fine gentlemen indoctrinated me to the ways of the Burgess pool.

What is your athletic background?

I played a lot of soccer as a kid and then I got into golf in high school, but I was never very good because I was such a head case (how surprising!). I also wrestled in high school and to drop weight, I started running. In college I ran on my own just for fun and I thought my 3 mile daily jog was very studly. Before moving out CA for grad school, I decided to run a marathon and my training consisted of running at the exact same pace for every single run. After that marathon, which was in 1995, I started running more and more and I spent a good part of my late twenties running 50+ miles a week. I ran 5 marathons back then, including Boston, but none since. I got involved with triathlon because I decided it was ridiculous that I didn’t know how to swim and I wanted to stay away from running injuries.

What motivates/inspires you?

As it relates to triathlon, I think the phrase: "you are what you repeatedly do" is apropos. Nothing is more trainable in the human body than endurance and it inspires me to see changes and improvements in my own performance as well as my teammates. Before I started with triathlon, I thought of exercise as a solitary endeavor. Now, I couldn’t imagine training as much as I do without the support of the entire team. Seeing everyone attempt, achieve and surpass the goals that Tim sets for us inspires me. There is nothing more motivating than mutual suffering.

What races are you planning for the remainder of this year, or the future, that you are gearing up for?

My big race this year is Ironman Coeur d'Alene on June 27th. It will be my first ironman race and I'm pretty nervous about it.

Before then, I'm in for Wildflower, the Morgan Hill sprint tri and the San Jose Olympic tri. After ironman, I will re-assess the rest of the year. If I'm not a broken man, I would like to do Tinley's long course and Big Kahuna.

What is your favorite Tim Sheeper quote/story or memorable moment?

All of my favorite Sheeper moments have occurred in races. My favorite moment was during last year's Santa Cruz tri when Lennard (damn him!) passed me with about .75 miles to go. One entertaining part of it was that about 8 other Sheepers who had started in later waves were on their way out on the run and they were all giving me unsolicited updates on how far behind Lennard was. The news kept getting graver:

"He's back there!"
"He’s only a bit behind you!"
"He’s RIGHT THERE!"

Thanks guys. It was also fun because that run was a triathlon 10k PR for me by 40 seconds, so I didn’t mind because I knew I was going at my limit and Lennard is simply a faster runner than me.

My other favorite race moment occurred between me and Mike Perkins at last year's San Jose Olympic. The run was supposed to be 10k and through 10k, Mike had me beat. Unfortunately for him, the race director gave all the racers an unexpected 2k of "bonus" running and I was able to pass him about 1k from the finish. Ha ha. My gloating, however, didn't last long because a month later Mike beat me at Vineman.

What is your favorite race?

Any races where I don't bonk, walk, cramp, drown, or crash.

What would you choose as your last meal?

More important than my last meal would be the last workout preceding the last meal. Any solid Saturday combo will do. After a workout like that, all food tastes delicious, but I'd be particularly partial to sushi, miso soup, french fries, and potato chips. Oh yeah, and donuts, pineapple, grapes, and cheeseburgers.