Abe Rogers: Aiming for the Olympics

By
Celeste Perrino Walker
Posted May 1st, 2000
Pro triathlete Abe Rogers is the boy next door.
Literally. While maintaining his high U.S. ranking and pursuing his Olympic goal (2000 or Bust!), Rogers, who grew up in Burlington, Vermont, has kept his down-to-earth and hometown-proud attitude. Not an easy thing when you’re rubbing competitive shoulders with the creme de la creme of athletic society.
This year, triathlon will debut at the 2000 Olympics in Sydney, Australia, and Rogers, a mild-mannered, self-coached 27 year-old, is determined to claim one of two or three U.S. Team slots. The final number of triathletes the U.S. sends to Sydney depends on their World Cup standings, and at this point, it’s looking like two.
There are two chances to qualify for the U.S. Team. The first was a World Cup race in Sydney, April 1. The top American at that race earned an Olympic spot. The second qualifying race will be held in Dallas in May, when U.S. athletes with a top-100 world ranking will compete for the final slot. At the moment, Rogers is ranked 75th in the world and 5th in the U.S., down from 3rd in 1998 because of a bout with mononucleosis and a few injuries.
“Triathlon is a fairly young sport, with not a whole lot of money,” says Rogers, “but some countries are definitely bringing triathlon to the forefront, like Australia—they have races live on TV. It’s a big part of the culture over there, which is why it will be exciting for the 2000 Olympics. Not only will triathlon make its debut, it will be showcased as the first sport,” he notes.
“The ultimate goal in sports is to make it to the Olympics,” says Rogers, who sometimes finds it hard to justify himself as a professional athlete, even though everyone knows what the Olympics are. “Being part of the hunt to make the Olympic team has definitely given me motivation and justified the sport in the minds of the average bystander who wonders what I do all day,” he says.
What Rogers does all day is staggering to say the least. While he doesn’t have a strict daily schedule, his weekly training totals 12-15 swimming miles, 50-60 running miles, and about 250 biking miles. This is all in addition to teaching a weekly spinning class at the Burlington YMCA, and coaching daily the Y’s Dynamo swim team, a U.S. Swimming program for age groups 18 and under. Once a week he also works with Special Olympics athletes at the Y. “It’s a way for me to give back to the Burlington community and Vermont community, which have supported me for my entire career,” Rogers says.
As a professional triathlete, Rogers receives $300 a month and travel money for being on the National Team. He is sponsored by Saucony, Merlin, Hind, Quintana Roo, and a handful of other companies. Prize money is what keeps him going, along with a modest income from the coaching he does at the YMCA. He lives with his brother and his brother’s girlfriend in a Burlington apartment.
Triathlon was born one day when three guys stood around after a race arguing about which kind of event would set the best standard of endurance. The three events in question were the Honolulu Marathon, the Waikiki rough water swim, and a bike race around Oahu. These three guys couldn’t agree, so they combined all three events and that was the first triathlon.
“I like triathlon in a professional sense,” Rogers says, “because I don’t have to be an all-American swimmer or runner or cyclist to be a professional triathlete. I can just be athletically talented and good in all three but not at a National class level in any of them.”
Training solo, without the benefit of coach or regular training partners, takes a special kind of determination. “It gives me more motivation to know that I’m the only one doing it and I have to work a little harder because I’m by myself. But, it’s nice in some ways to have that identity on the triathlon tour. I don’t train with all the other athletes, so they don’t know what I do in training. They don’t know technically how I’m going to race or what my training program is,” explains Rogers.
“I’ve done it long enough so there are certain types of workouts, key workouts, that I get excited about. If I do them well I get really motivated. And every year my body changes, so I have to adjust my training accordingly. You can’t predict exactly what it’s going to be every year, but there are definitely changes your body goes through physically that you need to adjust to in order to be at peak performance.”
Rogers recently returned from ARCO Olympic Training Center (OTC) in Chula Vista, California, where he trained and was evaluated on technique and fitness. Rogers’ diaries from his time at the training center reveal three things: his almost boundless energy, his good-natured sense of humor, and his endless appetite. (As it turns out, Lucky Charms is the dessert of champions.) Rogers’ diaries are available on the Dynamo Swim Team Web site, www.
dynamo.org. They provide a sense of life at the OTC and include insight and knowledge on triathlon training.
Besides the OTC, Rogers has access to other training data and information. “Technology is always changing with endurance sports training,” he says. “I keep up-to-date with that through the National team in Colorado Springs. I’m in pretty close contact with the National coach there. I get workouts from him and I can take pieces and use them in my own training. It’s not like I’m just in Vermont doing my own thing every year. I talk to other athletes and they do all kinds of studies at the Olympic Training Center. I have direct access to that through the U.S. Triathlon Federation, so I try to stay on top of the technology in that sense as well.”
As much as he wants to be on the Olympic team, not winning a slot won’t alter his career plans. He intends to keep racing professionally, either with the National Team or on his own. At some point he thinks he might try the Ironman in Hawaii.
Ironman distances are a two-mile swim, 112-mile bike, and 26.2-mile run, and drafting on the bike is now allowed. Rogers currently competes in Olympic-distance triathlons–1500 meter swim, 40K bike, and 10K run. Drafting is allowed, as of a ruling by the International Triathlon Union in 1995. This ruling makes the Olympic-distance triathlons very different from Ironman triathlons because the focus is more on swimming and running and less on biking.
“Olympic distance triath-lons favor the lighter athlete,” says Rogers. “To win a medal in the Olympic Triathlon, an athlete will have to break 30 minutes for the 10K run.” Rogers’ 10K PR is 31:59. He’s shooting for a 31:30 at the Olympic Trials. Rogers thinks drafting is good for the sport because it keeps athletes in packs on the bike and in the run, making it more spectator friendly, exciting, and easier for TV coverage.
When it’s all over, Rogers has his BA in Administrative Science from Colby College to explore. “When I’m done racing – I can’t race forever – I have an education to help me with other career opportunities. Once racing ends, it ends. My income as an athlete is going to equal zero at some point. I try to be well-rounded so that I have other qualities besides being able to exercise four hours a day; I can do other things that will benefit me as a person when I’m done racing.”