|
To say that Dwight Kroening will be pumped up for Sunday's Subaru Ironman Canada in Penticton would be an understatement.
The 49-year-old computer consultant is aiming to become the first-ever heart-transplant recipient to compete in Penticton's gruelling Ironman -- a 3.8-kilometre swim, 180-km bike ride and 42.2-km run.
"I'm not just doing it for myself -- it's for organ-donor awareness," Kroening said yesterday while driving from his Sherwood Park, Alta., home for this weekend's race.
"If I didn't have a cause like that, I don't know if I would continue [due to the extensive training required to be an Ironman].
"The heart is great. It is functioning as it should -- I don't need to worry about that. It's my legs I'm worried about."
Kroening has completed two sprint triathlons, three Olympic-distance triathlons and two half-Ironman triathlons to prepare.
Not too bad for a guy who had a heart transplant about 23 years ago.
He's been training 10 to 16 hours per week.
"Over the three years, my strength has changed," Kroening said.
"Initially, my strength was running and my swim was weak. Now I am more comfortable with the swim. I'm not blazing fast but, cardio-wise, I feel like I can go forever."
It's hard to believe he's the same man who was told by his doctor he had terminal heart disease at age 26 and had just months to live.
"At first, I thought I had the flu, but it got to the point that I couldn't sleep due to a buildup of fluid in my lungs," recalled Kroening. "When they told me it was terminal, it was like your whole world drops out -- it was surreal.
"Two days later, they told me that a transplant was my only option for survival. My first reaction was absolutely not -- but you adjust to things if there are no other options.
"Then they showed me a picture of a transplant recipient who was doing triathlons and I said, 'If he can do that, I could do it, too.'"
Today, Kroening water-skis, downhill skis and plays golf, although he said it's the anaerobic ones such as hockey and basketball that are the toughest on his ticker.
"I have to warm it up like you would warm up a car motor in winter," he said, adding it's difficult for his heart to speed up and slow down quickly.
Dr. Mark Haykowsky has been tracking Kroening for years.
"It's exceptional," said Haykowsky, a professor at the University of Alberta's faculty of Rehabilitation Medicine. "A heart-transplant recipient competing in an Ironman demonstrates the upper limits of human performance."
Kroening, who credits his wife, ["Ironman widow"] Colleen, and sons aged 20, 15 and 13 with a big part of his success, said he hopes to finish Sunday's 25th annual Ironman in 13 to 14 hours.
His plan is to run for 10 minutes and then walk for one in a bid to avoid some troubling neck, headache and knee issues.
"If my legs hold up, I'll be fine," said Kroening, who'll wear stickers with pro-transplant messages in the Ironman. "It's going to be a challenge to go the full distance."
And what is next? An ultra-Ironman?
"Let's get this one over and see how things go from there," he said with a chuckle. "First, I'm going to take some time off and go to Radium Hot Springs with my father and boys and do some hiking."
Kroening's long-term plans include taking part in next summer's World Transplant Games in Sydney, Australia.
To check out Dwight Kroening's blog, go to: http://hearttransplantironman.blogspot.com.
shunter@theprovince.com
Transplant update
- 13 British Columbians are currently awaiting a life-saving heart transplant.
- 232 B.C. residents are alive today thanks to a life-saving heart transplant.
- To date, 304 heart transplants have been performed in B.C.
- The first heart transplant in B.C. was performed in 1988.
- More than 4,000 British Columbians have received life-saving organ transplants in the past 40 years.
- To register as a donor, go to www.transplant.bc.ca
-- Source: B.C. Transplant
|
