Ultimate Wellness

09/04/2026

ROAD TO: Ironman 70.3 World Championship - Nice, France - Part 6

“This isn't actually a post about triathlon”

Most people reading these posts probably have absolutely no interest in racing a 70.3. And that's okay.

I'm not sharing this because I think everybody should become an endurance athlete.

I'm sharing it because the principle underneath it is the same one I talk about with patients every day.

Your first workout doesn't have to be impressive. Your first walk doesn't need to be fast. You don't have to lose 10 pounds this month. You don't have to completely overhaul your diet Monday morning.

You need to move in the right direction and keep moving in that direction.

My first solo bike ride was a five mile sufferfest.

Thirteen years later, my Strava account shows more than 56,000 cycling miles.
There was never a day when I decided to try and ride 56,000 miles in my life.
That's simply what happened after thousands of smaller decisions accumulated.

Health works the same way.
Habits are built that way.

And unfortunately, chronic disease often develops that way too — slowly enough that we don't notice the accumulation until years have passed.

So whatever your “Nice” is:

Start smaller than you think you need to.
Be more consistent than you think matters.
And give yourself enough time for those small choices to compound.

Your goal doesn't need to be my goal.

You don't need to race a triathlon. You don't need to run a marathon.

Your finish line might be losing 25 pounds.

It might be getting off the floor without struggling.

It might be building muscle at 55.

Improving your blood pressure.

Getting your A1C back into the normal range.

Or simply feeling like yourself again.

That's really what we care about at Ultimate Wellness.

Not turning everyone into an athlete—but helping people understand where they are, decide where they want to go, and use evidence-based medicine, nutrition, exercise and accountability to help get them there.

Find your finish line. Then start moving toward it.

09/03/2026

ROAD TO: Ironman 70.3 World Championship - Nice, France - Part 5

“Okay, but what does WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP mean?”

A few people have asked me this, so it's worth explaining.

The IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship or "Worlds" isn't simply another race you decide to enter -it is a qualification-only event.

I qualified for 2026 Worlds last year at Wilmington 70.3

And an important clarification: I'm not a professional triathlete (not even close)

IRONMAN racing includes professionals, but it also has competitive age-group athletes — people with normal careers, families and lives who happen to spend an unreasonable amount of their free time swimming, biking and running.

To get to the 70.3 World Championship, age-group athletes have to earn a qualifying slot through performance at designated IRONMAN 70.3 races around the world. Slots are limited, and athletes must claim them through the post-race qualification/roll-down process.

So simply finishing a 70.3 isn't enough.

You have to race well enough against the other athletes competing for those slots.

That's what makes this one special to me.

On September 13th, those athletes come together in Nice, France — swimming in the Mediterranean, biking into the Alpes-Maritimes and running along the Promenade des Anglais.

I'm incredibly excited to be one of them.

But getting there has also made me think a lot about the thousands of very ordinary days that happened before the extraordinary one.

That's really what this series is about.

Set a goal that scares you a little.
Build a plan.
Measure your progress.
Adjust when things don't work.
And keep going.

That's true whether your goal is a World Championship, losing 50 pounds, getting stronger, improving your metabolic health, or simply being able to keep up with your kids.

That's also a lot of the philosophy behind Ultimate Wellness.

Different finish lines. Same idea: become a healthier, stronger version of yourself than you were yesterday.

09/02/2026

ROAD TO: Ironman 70.3 World Championship - Nice, France - Part 4

“The most boring secret in fitness”

People naturally want to know the workout.

What's the best Zone 2 protocol?

How many intervals?
What supplements?
What shoes?
What bike?
What diet?
What recovery device?

Those things can matter.

But after 13 years of doing this, the biggest “secret” I've found is disappointingly boring:

Consistency.

This year I've been able to accomplish 127 runs and 118 bike rides.

Some were fantastic.
Some felt terrible.
Some were long.

Some were 30–45 minutes squeezed between work, kids and everything else life throws at us.

And that's the point.

Fitness isn't created by the occasional heroic workout.

It's created by accumulating hundreds and eventually thousands of completely unremarkable workouts.

As a physician, this is also one of the things I want people understood about their health journey:

You don't need perfection.
You don't need to suddenly become a triathlete.

You need enough of the right behaviors, performed consistently enough, for long enough that your physiology has no choice but to adapt.

Intensity gets attention. Consistency gets results.

Nice wasn't built during the last few months of training.

In a lot of ways, it started with that 5-mile bike ride in 2013.

(photo from my 2022 70.3 St George World Championship race)

08/31/2026

ROAD TO: Ironman 70.3 World Championship - Nice, France - Part 3

Everybody Starts Somewhere

The person who starts isn't supposed to look like the person who has been doing it for 13 years.

This is a photo of me in 2013 when I decided I needed change.
This is a photo of the first time I decided to take control of my health and get on a bike.
This is a photo of what the culmination of 13 years of persistence, consistency and perseverance looks like in the numbers.

Remember that when you walk into a gym for the first time that everyone in that gym had their "first day" at some point in their journey even if they don't remember when or what it was like.

At Ultimate Wellness, that's something we try to remind our patients of: it's showing up and taking those first steps toward a new you. We aren't looking for perfection—we're looking to make changes that translates into long term quality health.

08/29/2026

ROAD TO: Ironman 70.3 World Championship - Nice, France - Part 2

What the heck is a 70.3?

1.2 MI SWIM → 56 MI BIKE → 13.1 MI RUN = 70.3 MILES

I sometimes forget that outside of the triathlon world, saying “I’m racing a 70.3” doesn't explain very much.

A triathlon is three sports performed consecutively:
1.2-mile swim
56-mile bike
13.1-mile run

Add them together and you get 70.3 miles.
And yes—the clock keeps running while you change from swimming to biking and biking to running.

It’s often called a “half IRONMAN” because a full IRONMAN doubles everything: a 2.4-mile swim, 112-mile bike and then a full 26.2-mile marathon.

The very first 70.3 I did in Atlantic City (2018) was basically a day of survival. And survive I did. Barely.

But after that race, survival turned into curiosity—and eventually determination.

It wasn't just about training enough to finish anymore. I became fascinated by how much I could build and train my body to perform.

Triathlon training became this huge puzzle involving aerobic capacity, threshold work, strength, recovery, nutrition, hydration, body composition, aerodynamics, equipment, pacing—and learning exactly how hard you can push without blowing yourself up or getting injured before the finish line.

I loved the nuance. I loved learning. And I loved being able to see measurable progress build over time.

And then there's the bigger challenge: preparing your body to do all three disciplines well, back-to-back, on the same day.

That combination of training, nutrition, recovery and performance became a huge part of my own physical transformation—from poor fitness, nutrition and body composition to becoming genuinely curious about what my body could become.

And ultimately, that journey became part of the inspiration behind Ultimate Wellness and my desire to help other people discover what their bodies are capable of.


(photos from when I did the 2022 70.3 World Championship St George Utah)

08/28/2026

ROAD TO: Ironman 70.3 World Championship - Nice, France - Part 1

In a couple of weeks, I’ll be heading to Nice, France to race the IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship.

Leading up to it, I want to try something a little different.

Instead of just posting my training sessions leading into the race I wanted to take followers from inception to succession. I want to educate, show the journey and how I got to this destination.

I want to tell the whole story.

So before I fly out in the next 2 weeks, I wanted to do a short series explaining:

What exactly is a triathlon?
What does 70.3 mean?
What does it mean to race at the World Championship?
How do regular age-group athletes qualify?
And probably most importantly — what does it actually take over many years to get there?

Because I definitely did not start here.

I found some of my very first Strava activities from 2013. My first logged run was 3 miles at an 11:32/mile pace.

I remember feeling terrible, hating every step and being really glad when it was over. I did not let that pain drive me away but drove me to run more with brute determination to be better each time.

I kept going.

Thirteen years later, I get to stand on a starting line in Nice with athletes from around the world.

That progression is the part I want to share, because I think it applies to a lot more than triathlon.

You don't have to start extraordinary. You have to be willing to start — and then keep showing up.

More to come.

08/01/2026

We’re excited to be out at the Frederick Women’s Distance Festival today as a Platinum Sponsor!
Stop by the Ultimate Wellness table and say hello. We’re proud to support this incredible event, celebrate the women in our community, and help raise awareness for such a meaningful cause.
Good luck to everyone participating today—we’re cheering you on!

07/22/2026

07/20/2026

LAST CHANCE TO VOTE!

We’re honored that Ultimate Wellness has been nominated in the 2026 Sass Choice Awards, and we would be incredibly grateful for your support!

Voting closes July 20, and you may vote once per day. Please take a moment to cast your vote for Ultimate Wellness—and come back for one final vote tomorrow!

Vote directly here:
https://sassmagazinellc.secondstreetapp.com/Sass-Choice-Awards-2026/gallery/546997363

Thank you to every patient, friend, and member of our community who trusts us to be part of your health journey. Your support means more to our entire team than you know!

Check it out now!

06/15/2026

Happy Valley 70.3 weekend recap.

First, thank you to everyone who reached out, followed along, encouraged me, and supported this race. The training block, preparation, travel, and race-day ex*****on all went really well. For most of the day, I felt like the pieces came together the way we had planned.
Life and racing is a constant learning process and I did make some nutrition decisions that cost me some minutes in the second half of the run. That’s racing. Sometimes the margin between a great day and the day you wanted comes down to a few small choices.
I’m incredibly thankful for the love and support from my wife, my family, my friends, my coach Bryan Capital Endurance Coaching, and my training partner Eric. A day like this does not happen without all of those pieces in place behind the scenes.
Finishing 11th in my age group is a sour pill to swallow, because I always expect more from myself. But as I tell my patients every day: give yourself some grace. This was the North American Championship race, and I finished in the top 14% of a very strong field.
More importantly, it was excellent preparation for France in September.
Now we go back to work. Continue to build fitness and practice ex*****on and plan to crush at the next opportunity. Consistency is king. We’ll continue to sharpen the few things that need honing and work to move from top 14% back into the top 10%.
Grateful, motivated, and back to work.