In Profile: Aaron Scheidies, USA

On this week’s paratriathlon article, we will meet the USA’s 2010 World Champion in TRI 6 Category for visually impaired athletes. Aaron Scheidies is a 27 year old that has overcome more in his short life than many conquer in a lifespan. Born with a hereditary eye condition that slowly deteriorates his central vision, Aaron now has ten percent of the vision of a fully sighted person.

After batting through hard times in his early teens, Aaron found the sport of triathlon and turned his life around. Beginning with sprint triathlon and continuing up the triathlon pyramid, Aaron is now four time triathlon world champion and five-time national champion, having traveled around the globe competing in over one hundred triathlons.

What made you decide to compete in triathlon?
I began competing in triathlons ten years ago, primarily because the sport served as an outlet to deal with my vision loss. I had always dreamed of becoming a professional soccer player but when this became unrealistic I began down a path of depression and hopelessness.  Endurance sports have been the catalyst to changing my life around. 

What is your typical training week?
As a person with limited vision you must learn very quickly that flexibility in life is essential.  This also applies to training.  Bike rides outside or transportation to and from the gym are not always convenient.  As a result, my training schedule is flexible. Also, I compete at all different lengths of triathlons so training depends on the event distance and location.  Lastly, I work as a physical therapist three days per week for ten hour shifts which also affects my training schedule.

In general, I swim 6000 yards on Monday and Friday mornings with a potential third swimming session in open water depending on the time of year.  On Monday and Friday I also do a long run up to a maximum of 13miles and/or a two hour bike.  Tuesday and Wednesday my training is short due to work so I typically strength train with the TRX or a short tempo run.  On Saturday I do a long bike between 40 to 60miles followed by a six to eight mile transition run.

In total, I train between 12 and 16hrs per week for nine months of the year.  This averages out to about four hours per week of swimming, six hours per week of biking, two to three hours per week running and two hours per week of strength training.  I do want to emphasize that I am very flexible with this schedule because it...