Pacific Coast Triathlon: Herbert getting ready for World

Championship

Steve Virgen

In the business world, Kevin Herbert is known as a headhunter. In

the sports world, he’s known as an ironman.

In just his second year in the sport, Herbert, a Newport Beach

resident who is the president of a job recruiting firm, qualified for the

Ironman Triathlon World Championship. He will compete in the 5th annual

Pacific Coast Triathlon today at Crystal Cove State Park. Last year, he

won the title in his age group and finished ninth overall in the men’s

division.

Herbert, 38, wants to win the triathlon today, but he’s also

approaching the competition as practice for the big picture: the World

Championship, Oct. 19 in Kailua-Kona, Hawaii.

“I don’t want to downplay it,” Herbert said of the Pacific Coast

Triathlon. “I’m in the race to do my best. I think of the one in Hawaii

as the Super Bowl of triathlons. I’m trying to achieve that goal of

performing well in Hawaii. The other races are kind of for enjoyment.

It’s to get me in tune more. The one in Hawaii is that one I’m focusing

on.”

Herbert qualified for the World Championship in the Utah Ironman

Triathlon, last month. The race -- a 2.4-mile swim, 112-mile bike ride

and 26.2-mile run -- excluded the swim portion because of a rare death.

John Boland, a 53-year-old Ironman veteran of Redondo Beach, drowned in

Utah Lake, and the race organizers canceled the swimming leg.

Herbert still swam through Utah Lake.

“I didn’t realize that it was canceled,” Herbert said. “It was

treacherous. There were 3- to 4-foot swells, in a lake. It was a bizarre

part of the race.”

Herbert said deaths in Ironman are rare and because of that he will

not stop competing.

Herbert knew what he was getting into and was anxious to start

competing when he saw the 2000 Inaugural California Ironman in Oceanside.

He had been racing in 5Ks and 10Ks and has maintained good health since

his high school days in Maryland, at North Hagerstown High, where he was

a wrestler.

Herbert also wrestled, as a 142-pounder, while attending American

University in Washington D.C.

“Wrestling is what really gave me the discipline to compete in sports

like triathlon,” said Herbert, who was truly fascinated while watching

the California Ironman. “I saw people doing it and I said, I have to do

this. It was a new challenge for me athletically.”

Herbert trained religiously in preparation for the California Ironman.

He finished in 10 hours and 14 minutes, just two minutes short of

qualifying for the World Championship.

“That gave me some motivation to come back harder and learn more about

the sport,” Herbert said of his California Ironman performance.

Herbert enjoyed his intensified training and he now thrives in the

preparation and in the actual race.

“The mental challenge is tough,” Herbert said of Ironman. “The

physical challenge is also grinding. To compete and race for nine and 10

hours, it’s difficult, mentally. Physically, it’s real difficult. I train

20-25 hours a week. But it still isn’t easy. The difficult thing is that

you don’t actually train by doing the race. You can’t run an Ironman

every week. It’s too difficult on the body. You just can’t do that to

your body every weekend.”