Why Maximum Velocity Does Not Exist without the Ironman

This post could easily be twice or three times longer but I am going to give you the short and sweet version.  This post will bounce around from me and my personal life to me as a professional.  Each topic will have a personal and professional section kept short for brevity sake.

Childhood and the Wide World of Sports

Personal-When I was a kid sports on TV was new.  The broadcast companies didn’t think people would watch hours and hours of sports.  So on Saturdays after cartoons they had a show called “The Wide World of Sports.”  They showed off the beaten path sports like skiing, track, ping pong, and once a year they spotlighted what we know now as the Ironman world championship in Hawaii.  I was enamored by it.  I thought/think THOSE athletes are amazing, I could never do what THOSE athletes can do.  They do long, I do power, it will never work for me.  I wanted to watch more and more of it but we simply did not have the access to it.

Professional-Since I was bigger than any other kids I was educated with I had to play offensive and defensive line, play the outfield and hit homeruns, play forward and specialize in rebounds, and basically any other power athlete job.  I was absolutely enamored by mechanics of sports throwing, hitting a baseball, and running etc. I loved the human muscle anatomy of sports.  My life as a clinician began with coaching and being coached as an athlete.  I had some junior college looks for baseball and was a very good athlete but nothing panned out.

My 20s

Personal-Like most people college was a fantastic time in my life.  I made great friends and tried to figure out who I was.  It was during this time that I figured since my “athlete” days are over I was not an athlete.  I ate, drank, and trained like my athlete days were over (no training).   I met my wife and we decided that since we were happy together we can eat and drink together!  We did not exercise and we started our life together.

Professional-I struggled to get into PT school because of my “brain.”  I didn’t believe I belonged there and If it wasn’t for some key people to push me and give me some confidence, I may not have made it.  I got into PT school and my goal was to become an expert clinician. I did not recognize my diet, exercise, and fitness level affected my learning.   I wanted to learn the most advanced manual therapy skill, I surrounded myself with excellent clinicians and took some advanced orthopedic courses to further my clinic skills.  After a few years of getting my license I had more continuing education credits than most PTs out for 5 or 6 years out of PT school.

My 30s

Personal-I was missing something.  I wasn’t myself.  I was sick all the time. I had ballooned up to about 300 pounds and I was not a happy guy.   I had a runner who was a very important to the clinic (VIP) and she said “If you know so much about this why aren’t you doing it?”  OUCH.  She was right, I was unhappy and it was because I checked out from my body.  I was a hypocrite.  Walking turned into running, running turned into more running, and then the weight started to come off.  I was starting to reconnect with the athlete that I am.  However, the weight loss stopped abruptly.  4 ½ marathons, 1 sprint, 2 olympics, and silverman/1/2 Ironman in 2009 and no weight came off despite the healthiest diet possible according to American standards.  I was still sick and then I decided to get some help.  3 nutritionists later and I am no lighter and I feel even sicker.  That is when I found metabolic efficiency.  Metabolic efficiency is a cutting edge daily nutrition strategy that supports endurance training, weight loss, and performance.  Metabolic efficiency has the evidence behind to show that it is the wave of future of healthy lifestyle.  When I learned how to properly nourish myself I became ultra aware of where our food comes from and how it is prepared and realized that nutrition is the key to a healthy life.  It is far more important than any medicine or chemical and I also learned from another perspective our bodies are amazing.  Another 50 pounds comes off and my mind, body, and spirit are in a brand new place.  My whole life I did not know what it meant to feel good.  Feeling better, more confident, I quietly asked myself what I was capable of.  I knew that the ironman was a long way away, but could I get there?  With more and more experience with training, coaching, and nutrition the plan was to complete the ironman.  After 5 ½ Irons, 4 marathons, 25ish ½ marathons, and new body chemistry I was ready.  In 2013 I volunteered at Ironman Arizona and was able to sign up for 2014.  My A race for 2014 was Ironman Arizona and finished.  While I was not as prepared as I could have been and with rough race conditions I did not reach my time goals, but I finished and completed my dream of doing something only “those” athletes could do.

Professional- After 5 years or so of continuing education in spine or pain I decided I would look for a course that specialized in triathlon.  I wanted help with my training and thought maybe I would learn something that I could use in the clinic.  I found a course in Charlottesville Virginia that would prove huge in my clinical development.  Turns out this course attracts the top running health professionals in the country and presents cutting edge research.  I would go back the next 3 years in a row.  Every year more and more cutting edge research and high level training.  This training would drown out the status quo information in mainstream training, physical therapy, and medicine I was learning along the way.  This revolutionized my clinical brain.  Running is the hardest thing to do on our musculoskeletal system and the orthopedic skills to train people to run requires high level skill.  At the same time I fell into the network at UNLV and started coaching with the cross country and track programs.  In that time I was able to coach at the 2012 Olympic trials and watch Americas top athletes prepare and recover.  At that moment I knew I had something to offer.  Our most skilled athletes needed an upgrade in training and I wanted to be at the forefront of change.  I want to bring cutting edge information to the ground level of where people who need this training are.  Why can’t “regular” everyday athletes benefit from high level training?  Elite athletes are no more skilled than age groupers.  Wouldn’t it be fun to inspire people to reach goals using cutting edge education and training techniques?  As I got better at treating this population of people, using high level orthopedics, run training, and latest running literature it became apparent.  Why can’t I work at a place where I can do this all day?  Maximum Velocity Physical Therapy is born.

In summary, the personal journeys of chasing my dream of training for and completing an Ironman and the quest to become a master clinician has intertwined themselves and produced Maximum Velocity Physical Therapy.  Big business is ruining healthcare, insurance companies are dictating to healthcare to work in a factory kind of way.  There is no way to conduct high level of care at a factory pace and when the orthopedic skills to apply to running are high level something had to change.  At MVPT, your health and progression are the focus of our day.  You can go to the website www.maxvelocityPT.com and request an appointment or call 702-998-2900 for any inquiry.