30 - Ryan Stephens

Everyday Ironman Podcast

In this episode we hear from Ryan Stephens. Ryan recently earned his PhD and works as a Nurse Practitioner specializing with cardiac patients. Ryan and his wife Laura have two beautiful children together and are currently living in Memphis, Tennessee.

Ryan shares that he was born with a heart condition that required corrective surgery at 9 months old. Because of this there were certain sports that he was not allowed to participate in when he was younger. In particular, Ryan was not allowed to play football or basketball in middle school. He was, however, allowed to play baseball. Ryan played from the time he could walk all the way into college.

After college, Ryan tried several popular exercise programs to keep himself in shape. Because of his work schedule he was left to training by himself. Through encouragement of a friend, he stared running half-marathons and in early 2018, he set his sights on running a full marathon.

Prior to the COVD lockdown, Ryan was introduced to F3 which was is a faith based organization that runs outdoor bootcamp type workouts that are self-lead. After getting to know several of the other participants, Ryan quickly discovered 6 of them lived in his neighborhood so when most of the world shutdown, they were able to continue to workout while maintaining the required social distancing.

Ryan got interested in triathlon when Ironman announced they were bringing a 70.3 to Memphis. Ryan knew they he could run the distance, got a used road bike from a friend, and decided that he could get good enough to at least compete the swim. Unfortunate, because of the pandemic, he would have to wait until the following year to compete.

Ryan spends a few minutes explaining what diagnosis is and identifies a well-known athlete that has the same condition. He provides a timeline for how he got his start in the medical profession to where he currently is. And we discuss the belief that once there’s hope there’s is possibility.

We compare stories on how bad we were at swimming when we started. Ryan talks me through the 1st race that he was able to participate in, an endurance distance put on by a local group. The endurance distance covered a 1600 meter open water swim, 38 miles on the bike, and a 15K run.

When 2021 came around and Memphis was able to host the Ironman 70.3 race, Ryan was finally able to enjoy that hometown race experience. He shares some history of how the city was picked and gives us some insight into the venue itself.

I take the opportunity to ask how Ryan’s training is going as he is signed up for what will be his 1st full distance race. Ryan is currently training for Ironman Tulsa. He acknowledges that training is going well, and that the realization is setting in that his sessions need to be more intentional in regard to effort.

I ask him about the Instagram photos that show him swimming in an outdoor lap pool. Ryan explains that the pool he regularly uses is in fact an outdoor pool that is covered with a temporary structure in the winter for year-round use.

Ryan provides a “pro tip” that has not come up on the podcast before. There’s a benefit to being a volunteer that is not talked a lot about.

And… we talk bikes. Ryan talks me through what he’s using for a race bike, how he got such a great deal on it and even how he acquired his budget race wheels.