Garett Simpson hits IM Wisconsin target: 12:03!

Sports: Running, Triathlon, Cycling

Age: 30-34

Profession: Healthcare Administration (BS, MBA)

Location: Madison, WI

Race Experience

I have played sports my entire life starting with soccer as a toddler through high school where I ran track and played basketball and soccer. I was introduced to endurance sports by my 2 x Ironman finisher sister 5 years ago and have competed in races from 5k up to Ironman and everything in between.

CORE Moment(s)

My first experience with CORE was for my first half-marathon. I was in no shape to hammer the distance as I had been competing at shorter distances and had no plans to race the HM distance but was able to negative split with good pacing and perfect nutrition.

I have since used CORE for all of my races culminating with Ironman Wisconsin (12:03:xx) where I hit all of my time targets finishing my last 3 miles of the marathon at the same pace as my first 3.

The best part about CORE is that it takes the guess work out of the day. You know what to take and when to take it. However, it must be stated that practice makes perfect and the more you work on your nutrition plan ahead of time the more successful it will be.

BC (Before Core)

I had concluded 2 years ago that I was not built for long distance endurance sports. It seemed like anytime I would do a race that took more than 90 minutes something would go terribly wrong with cramping/GI distress. The crown jewel of this negative attitude occurred during a generic 1/3 Ironman triathlon where my stomach completely shut down. This led to a week of stomach pain as my digestive track tried to heal.

After being introduced to CORE I now understand that nutrition is poorly understood by the vast majority of “Weekend Warriors” even though it often makes or breaks long distance racing. Educating yourself on this topic and finding a tool that works will almost certainly lead to large performance gains.