Next up for our featured Athlete of the month is Zac Radke 

Zac’s story is an amazing one. At nearly 215 pounds and with diabetes lurking, a doctor’s visit and a chronically injured hamstring led Zac Radke in need of a new hobby he could be passionate about. He started going to a gym primarily with a focus on building muscle and cardiovascular fitness. This soon turned into weight loss. After a year, Zac progressed from barely getting through a ¼ mile run to racing 5K’s.

Prior to this, Zac was a self described “couch potato” who played video games and did computer programming all day. He notes he had no athleticism or physical ability. However, with hard work and dedication, he was soon running competitively.

After suffering running related injuries, setbacks, and boredom he decided to take up cycling to maintain his fitness. Once running and cycling had become routine it seemed only natural to add swimming and try triathlon. Zac swam recreationally as a child, but never competitively. He admits he was in for quite a surprise when it came to competitive, open water swimming. Zac notes that he never really found his place in team sports and he enjoys the individuality of triathlon.

It’s been 12 years since Zac toed the line in his first triathlon and he still feels butterflies before a big race. “Always finding a new challenge” is what he says keeps triathlon interesting. Since 2017 he has planned 1 “bucket list” race for the year; including the Triple Challenge at the Chicago Triathlon, Escape from Alcatraz, multiple national championships, and 3 world championships. In addition to triathlons, Aquabike has been some of the most fun racing he says. He cites the Olympic and 70.3 as his favorite to train for but also enjoys the all-out pace of super-sprints. More recently, “Cross Triathlon” or off-road has been his focus. What started as a way to cross train on the bike for a world championship led to racing cross triathlons, podiuming at Nationals, and representing TeamUSA at the Cross Triathlon World Championships. He says what he enjoys most about off-road is “racing in the shade of the trees”.