While most of us spent Thanksgiving break catching up on lost sleep and enjoying leftovers, Adam Peruta, assistant professor of strategic communication, was in Tempe, Arizona, competing in the Ironman, a triathlon that comprises a 2.4-mile swim, a 112-mile bike ride, and a 26.2-mile run -- a total of 140.6 miles. Athletes have 17 hours to complete the event.
The competition was the culmination of months of training for Peruta; he biked, swam, and ran for up to 25 hours a week, racking up a whopping 5,000 miles in preparation for the big day.
“It was very overwhelming,” Professor Peruta recalls. “I trained for nearly 10 months. You really have to change your lifestyle for a commitment like this. Training in addition to a working a full-time job was not easy. I chose to do the Ironman because I knew it would be hard -- it takes a lot of mental determination as well as physical endurance.”
His goal for the competition was to finish in 12 hours, and he finished in an impressive 11 hours and 57 minutes -- in 82-degree weather! Professor Peruta attributes his success to excellent preparation, determination, and his thirst for a challenge.
“I wanted to push myself and see how much I could handle, and I put in the proper time training, so I was well prepared,” he says. “The Ironman is everything I've always wanted to do. It is everything I represent -- hard work, discipline, setting high goals.”
Congrats to IC’s man of steel, Professor Peruta!
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