Richard Stabler bids for Iron Man glory in Hawaii

May 20 2009 by Michael Bowers, The Journal

“Currently I am training 15 hours a week and I am looking to extend that to 25 hours. The biggest challenge is getting the training done while maintaining a full-time job.”

His training consists of 100-mile bike rides and 10-mile endurance runs. While this may be enough exercise for the average man’s lifetime, Stabler believes there is more to come from the North East’s number one Iron Man.

He said: “I believe I am only reaching 70% of my potential. My qualifying time of nine hours and 45 minutes is a personal best. However, I personally feel that close to nine hours is the benchmark time in which a world-class triathlete is measured.”

Stabler believes that it is not always the physical nature of the race that is most testing, but the test of mental endurance.

“It was 90 degrees in South Africa. No amount of training could prepare me for such conditions,” he explained. “It was entirely energy sapping. Especially when you are to complete a marathon after a 2.4-mile swim and a 112-mile bike ride. So the race becomes a challenge of mental strength.”

Despite being based in the capital, Richard remains an avid Newcastle United supporter – and he is understandably frustrated by the club’s current battle against relegation from the Premier League.

“It’s a depressing situation, it’s almost bizarre that it has come to this,” he said. “I do think that Alan Shearer is commanding respect and we will survive by the skin of our teeth.”