30 under 30: Triathlete Says Racing Makes Her Feel Great

If Beth Phillips, 27, is having a bad day, going for a run will often make her feel better.

"I feel like I have clear thinking when I get back," she said.

Phillips teaches journalism and English at . She’s also the assistant adviser for the journalism program, the school’s Web specialist and the cross-country coach.

Phillips makes lots of time for running, swimming and biking in her life as she trains for a half-Ironman.

"It’s like anything else, when you know you have this event coming up you make time for it," she said. "It’s important to me, I just make time for it."

Phillips has been a runner for most of her life, but says that anyone can train and learn to race if they have the desire and commitment. She advises beginners to find a program to follow and start slowly to avoid injury.

“It doesn’t matter if you are the fastest or the slowest,” she said. “If you are running 5 miles, you are running 5 miles whether you are running at a 6-minute pace or a 12-minute pace. “

St. Charles Patch: How did you get into running?

Phillips: I’ve always been in sports my entire life--as long as I can remember. I have an older brother, and I made it my mission to keep up with him. My dad always was a runner. When I was little and I couldn’t keep up with my dad, I would ride my bike. Eventually I could keep up with him. Once I got to high school I started running cross-country.

After high school, I always loved running. It’s a good way to stay in shape. Me and my brother both got our spouses into running. It’s a family thing.

St. Charles Patch: How about your mom?

Phillips: She stands on the sidewalks with coffee and doughnuts. She likes to walk and stuff like that. She’s the constant cheerleader.

St. Charles Patch: Do you prefer to run alone or with other people?

Phillips: It depends on my mood. Sometimes I want to run on my own. Especially with work, you are constantly having to answer questions, constantly being around people. Sometimes it’s nice to just go out alone.

If you are training for a marathon you have 15 and 20 mile runs you have to do. It’s nice to do that with someone else. It’s nice to have someone to be in misery with.

Right now, I’m training for a half-Ironman-distance triathlon. I have a friend I signed up with, so we run together.

There’s a group of teachers who run. During the school year, we try to meet up and run...Then there are different groups around St. Charles. Big River Running has a lot of big runs. There’s always groups of people to do stuff with.

St. Charles Patch: How did you get into doing triathlons?

Phillips: I did my first triathlon when I was 16. I was a swimmer and a runner, so I just had to learn to bike. I did a local sprint triathlon.

My first one was with my swim coach. He did them, and me and my brother were friends with him. My brother did it, too. After that I'd do two or three a summer just for fun. Then I probably took like from (age) 24-26ish off. I didn’t do a whole lot. I ran the (Bank of America) Chicago Marathon in 2007. Then, I didn’t do too much for a year and a half. Then last summer, I picked it all back up again.

This year I said, "I think I want to do a half-Ironman distance." I don’t know why I do these things. Once you get into the community, they’re so supportive and everybody is doing all of these things… it’s like, what’s the next challenge?

My husband started doing them, too. He’s like, "I want to do them," and so I taught him how to swim. We worked through all that. He did a half-Ironman last summer. He’s addicted. He’s doing the same one I’m doing in September. He wants to do the full Ironman next year.

St. Charles Patch: How much time do you spend training?

Phillips: A significant amount. I usually work out or have some sort of training to do six days a week. Three to four of those days are two-a-day workouts. It helps having a support system who understands what you are doing.  

For example, this week I had Monday off. I did New Town Triathlon on Sunday. On Tuesday we swam for an hour. Wednesday night Big Shark has a work out. We rode 20 miles and ran after. Then, Thursday night I did speed workout with Big River Running, 3-4 miles usually. This (Friday) morning we ran 10 miles. Tomorrow morning we’re doing a 60-mile ride and 2-mile run. Sunday we’re doing a triathlon camp. We’ll swim, ride and run.

Usually Monday or Tuesday is a rest day. You have to give your body a chance to recover.

St. Charles Patch: How do you feel with that much training?

Phillips: I always feel good because I know I’m pushing myself, even though it’s really hard. You kind of push through it, and you get to a good place.  

I’m kind of an old lady and go to bed early most nights because I’m so tired. When you are training you have to make sure to get good sleep. I always feel good. I do enjoy my rest days. For all that working out, I still do nap time.

St. Charles Patch: What else do you like to do?

Phillips: I like reading books, watching movies. I like eating food. That’s a big thing with training, when we have a big training day we try to find some new fun place to go eat. Last summer, I ran the marathon with my brother and his wife. Every Saturday we’d do our long run and we’d go to one or the other’s house and get ready and go eat.

Pappy’s Smokehouse—that’s a 15 miler or higher, or we’d go to Pi pizza. That would get us through the last couple of miles, what are we going to eat or how much are we going to consume.