Simon Lessing

American Interbanc.com announces 2007 Triathlon Team

Tuesday, May 1, 2007

American Interbanc Mortgage announced its first-ever triathlon team today. The American Interbanc.com team includes 4-time World Triathlon Champion, Simon Lessing, Ironman Triathlon World Champions, Michellie Jones and Heather Fuhr, multiple-Ironman Champion, Chris Legh, and USA Triathlon Champion, Becky Lavelle.

While American Interbanc.com has been sponsoring triathletes for several years - 2007 marks the first time that the company has shaped its sponsorship toward a team concept. "We've sponsored a number of triathletes since our initial sponsorship of Simon Lessing in 2003," said Mike Dannelley, President and Founder of American Interbanc Mortgage, "and we've learned that we want to have a more consistent presentation among our sponsored athletes. In order to maintain relationships with sponsored athletes, and attract the caliber of athlete who can best serve our needs, our 2007 Team concept is flexible. While we have a team uniform design, two of our athletes won't be wearing it due to a strong personal color preference and a sponsor conflict."

Fundraising for the Prostate Cancer Foundation (PCF) through its Athletes for a Cure (AFAC) program is one thing the entire Team will have in common. Each Team member will display AFAC's green running man logo on his or her race uniform and will assist AFAC with fundraising. "Triathletes are intrinsically aware of their part as role models for healthy, balanced and productive lives," said Scott Zagarino, Managing Director of Sports Marketing for the Prostate Cancer Foundation. "Athletes for a Cure and American Interbanc have created a platform for every participant to achieve their goals and to inspire others to reach for theirs - all while helping fund research into better treatments and a cure for prostate cancer."

"Athlete promotional appearances that are standard in athlete sponsorship agreements aren't that valuable to us," said Dannelley. "We thought it would be better use of the athletes' time to assist a charity. So, with our sponsored athletes' full support, we've donated the athlete appearances to PCF."

"Mike has been a real supporter of the sport and it is great to see his program grow and succeed" said Simon Lessing. "Throughout my 22-year pro career I've had mostly great sponsor relationships. Mike is as supportive as any and it's a pleasure to line up at races with American Interbanc.com front/center on my race top."

"While we hope our involvement is good for the sport, we know it's good for our business," commented Dannelley, a 6 -time Ironman Hawaii finisher. "Despite the perceived down-turn in mortgages, our business has been growing a record pace. We are now licensed in 24 states, up from 11 when we started our involvement with triathlon, and we have applied for licenses in 25 other states."

American Interbanc Mortgage is the internet's leading consumer mortgage lender. The company is headquartered in Irvine, California. Visit www.americaninterbanc.com for more information.

About Athletes for a Cure Athletes for a Cure is a fundraising and awareness program to assist individual athletes in their quest to raise money for better treatments and a cure for prostate cancer. Every dollar raised from the program goes directly to the Prostate Cancer Foundation, the world's largest philanthropic source of support for prostate cancer research. The online program provides athletes with multiple tools to create a home in the racing and fundraising community. Registered participants can upload photos, personal stories and race information on their own page; set donation goals; send emails to their friends and family through the "Friends Asking Friends" network; and watch as their donations climb. For more information, visit www.athletesforacure.org

Simon Lessing – Looking Back, Looking Ahead

Saturday, April 7, 2007

An orginal article by Barry Siff from 5430 Sports. This article appeared in Triathlete Magazine.

Ever have one of those days when it’s tough just to bend over and tie your shoes? When your body is so stiff that it’s painful when you start that morning run? Amazingly, five-time Triathlon World Champion, Simon Lessing, lived and endured such pain throughout the 2006 racing season – keeping the fact totally private. Finally, after a year of significant suffering (definitely affecting his training regimen), varied medical and non-traditional opinions, and various attempts to remedy his problem without surgery, Lessing finally underwent surgery on his lower back, at the hands of Dr. Alan Villavicencio, a noted Boulder neurosurgeon and, by the way, a 9:56 Ironman.

Major Back Pain

“Simon came to me with multi-level degenerative disc disease resulting in a combination of chronic disc herniation causing radiculopathy (shooting leg pain) and spinal stenosis, or narrowing of the spinal canal, causing something called neurogenic claudication. This is where the spinal nerves get suffocated with increased activity. Simon also had some early signs of instability, or hypermobility of the involved spinal levels. After failing conservative treatments such as PT and epidural steroid injectins, my goal was to perform a minimally invasive that would alleviate most of his discomfort and get back to training and racing without destabilizing his spine any further,” says “Dr. V.” Lessing’s entire hip complex was one of the tightest he had ever seen, and he had “steel rods for hamstrings.” This, in turn, caused stress and mobility issues leading to excelled stress on the back. In addition, he had a 40% deficit of strength in his right leg.

In early March (2006), an MRI showed a herniated disc, 2 bulging discs, congenital spinal stenosis (he was born with a narrow spine), all creating an impingement on his spinal cord. He stopped running for 3 weeks, but swam and biked every day. “The pain was so bad in the evenings that it was hard to get up and even put shoes on,” Lessing recalls. In April, he turned to spinal epidurals to reduce the inflammation and, hopefully, allow him to race again (he had hoped to do Wildflower).

Racing in Pain

Finally, on three weeks of running, the 36 year old Lessing raced at Alcatraz. “You always go into a race thinking you can win. This one was hard, as I got 9th and was beaten on the run. It was hard to swallow to a certain extent.” Solid races at Lubbock and Vineman boosted his confidence a bit, as the focus now became the 70.3 Series and Championship. In September, another flare-up developed, but somehow managed to still win Cancun in a stellar time of 3:54:29, despite significant pain. “There’s a picture of me in Cancun obviously having a hard time bending over,” he now jokes. More epidurals followed Cancun; however, there continued to be flare-ups in October and November.

Going into Clearwater for the Ironman World Championship 70.3 – the race that pretty much kept this Champion focused all season - Lessing was feeling as good as he had all year; unfortunately for Simon, so was Craig Alexander. A strong second-place performance was still a disappointment. “My run let me down … again.” He dodges questions about the 30 seconds he lost in T2 to Alexander, purportedly while he was putting on a pair of socks. He will not say whether that was exacerbated by his constant pain and lack of mobility; but, one has to wonder.

Surgery

Returning to Boulder, he ran into friend, fellow triathlete, and big-time physical therapist, Bob Cranny, one day at Flatiron Athletic Club. “I had finally realized I was not invincible; that, actually, we are all fragile.” They started talking about Simon’s issues, and Bob quickly referred him to Dr. V. “Up to that point, I felt like a number, part of a conveyor belt,” says Lessing. “I was finally speaking with a guy who understood what I did.” A mid-December surgery kept him on his back for one week before he could even get out and gradually start walking. This is Simon Lessing we are talking about!

Dr. Villavicencio saw an athlete with a probable slight genetic predisposition to spinal disorders that was exacerbated by training 5-7 hours per day, putting constant stress on the back due to overly tight hamstrings and his hip complex. Lessing’s entire hip complex was one of the tightest he had ever seen. Simon had “steel rods for hamstrings.” This, in turn, caused stress and mobility issues leading to excessive stress on the back. In addition, he had a 40% deficit of strength in his right leg. “He simply wore his back out,” says Dr. V. Cranny echoes: “Because of the incredible tightness in the hips and hamstrings, 90% of his motion was coming from the back. With his profession as a professional triathlete, those demands contributed to the accelerated damage.”

Villavicencio is no stranger to triathletes with back pain. In October, 2006, his study “Back and Neck Pain in Triathletes,” was published in the medical journal “Neurosurgical Focus.” The study was based upon a survey of Boulder area triathletes, of which 67.8% had incurred some level of low-back pain in their lifetime. The study results “definitely supports the influence of both mechanisms (sports-related injuries and overuse) for low-back pain.” Having completed 13 Ironman races (9:56 PR), this is one doctor who understands what it takes to be a triathlete, and considers Lessing’s case not that uncommon within our world of triathlon.

Today and Tomorrow

Cranny is also an extremely active and accomplished triathlete, with a 9:45 Hawaii Ironman PR (“but he’s only done 6,” Dr. V quickly points out). He was very quick to recommend Villavicencio to Lessing. “It is important that Ironman athletes deal with physicians that understand and can deal with athletes in terms of urgency and training and racing needs.” Likewise, an athlete like Cranny, brings superior talent to other athletes in terms of physical therapy. Since his recovery from surgery, Lessing boasts that he has not missed a day of his strengthening and stretching routine. It takes 45-60 minutes each day, and it has clearly become as important as his daily swim, bike, or runs. “I was always inconsistent with this type of training – it’s something you don’t worry about when all is going great.”

Lessing began his PT just 10 days after surgery. It is aimed at working on those tight hamstrings and hips, so as take the pressure off his lower back. Today, his back pain is pretty much gone; and, as of late January, he has worked back up to 30 minutes of running. He looks back on 22 years of triathlons (he began when he was 14), and feels “…that step up to Ironman – 2 years of long runs and long bikes – probably put me over the edge.” With his second-place finish at Clearwater, he has already solidified a spot in Kona, if he so chooses; but, for now, he is talking “one step at a time.” He is planning on Wildflower, some 70.3’s, and a couple Olympic non-drafting races. He has just applied for U.S. citizenship, but has no interest in the Olympics, being very pleased with the U.S. racing scene – races like Chicago, L.A., and Lifetime Fitness vs. the ITU style of racing in Europe.

Besides being a World Champion triathlete, Lessing is also a devoted husband (to former pro triathlete, Lisa Laiti) and father to 5 year-old Amelia and 3 year-old Karla. Lisa recently competed in the Masters Division of the U.S. Cross Country National Championships, and works part-time as a massage therapist. Karla and Amelia are as comfortable in the pool as any children you have ever seen. He has a tremendously supportive family.

The demise of Tri-Dubai will not hit Lessing hard, as he remains one of the sport’s hottest commodities. American Interbanc will be his Title Sponsor in 2007, along with his stable of Asics, Javelin, Accelerade, Blue Seventy, Ironman Helmets, Mavic, Profile, and Zeal Optics.

After one of the most successful careers in the history of the sport, what is left? “Well, I have achieved pretty much everything … except maybe one event specifically.” Hmmmmmm … what could that be?

NEXT MONTH: A follow-up report with Bob Cranny and a look at the most common imbalances among triathletes, and the 5 classic exercises we should all be doing.

Ironman 70.3 on NBC 2pm ET

Wednesday, March 28, 2007

Watch the fast paced action from last year's Ford Ironman World Championship 70.3 on NBC this weekend! Narrated by Phil Liggett, the show will air simultaneously across the United States and Canada, airing at 2PM Eastern (1PM Central, 12PM Mountain, 11AM Pacific). For Hawaii check local listings.

Last November's race, the inaugural world championship for the Ironman 70.3 series, which took place in Clearwater, Florida, featured 1,350 triathletes from around the world, including an exciting mix of short course and Ironman specialists. Winners Craig Alexander and Samantha McGlone both had to overcome competitive fields for their wins.

While the show promises to feature all the exciting professional and age group race action, the drama won't come exclusively from the front. Last November's race also included an inspiring finish that had Rudy Garcia-Tolson, Bob McKeague, Sister Madonna Buder and Sarah Reinertsen all cross the line within minutes of each other.

Over the years, the NBC broadcast of the Ford Ironman World Championship, shot on location in Kailua-Kona, Hawaii, each October, has been nominated for almost 40 Emmy awards (including this year), and has won 13 times. The show has also won five consecutive International Monitor Awards for global excellence. The 2005 show also won the highly respected CINE Golden Eagle Award.