Former ODU Swimmer Logan Teal to Compete in 70.3 Ironman World Championships on Saturday

Logan Teal is a swimmer by trade, but on Saturday, Sept. 18 he will add runner and bicyclist to his repertoire when he competes in the Ironman 70.3 World Championships in St. George, Utah.
 
A member of the ODU swim team from 2012-16, Teal earned the right to compete in the Ironman 70.3 World Championships by finishing ninth in the 25-29 age group at the Blue Ridge Mountain qualifier in June. Teal finished 48th overall with a time of 5:03.07 and moved on to the world championships in Utah.
 
Teal got the itch to compete in triathlons quickly after graduating from ODU in 2016 as the competitive bug did not go away.
 
"I knew that I wanted to continue to pursue some sort of athletic competition. I was more on the distance side of swimming, I thought the triathlon fit in well with my background," Teal said. "I've done a few triathlons over the last few years. I moved to Texas for a few years and got more serious about the sport while I was there. I moved back to North Carolina after that and we were looking for a race to set our training for the year and landed on the Blue Ridge Mountain race."
 
The race in the Blue Ridge Mountains could be a good precursor for Teal as the world championships will be held in the canyons of St. Georges, Utah.
 
"There's going to be a lot of elevation on both the bike and the run. The Blue Ridge course had a lot of elevation. In St. George the bike course doesn't have a lot of elevation, but the run has a lot of elevation so it's going to be challenging."


 
To make things even more interesting for the former collegiate swimmer, only 1.2 of the 70.3 miles is in the water. 
 
"Yea. That's not fair (Teal said with a laugh). You're biking between 2:15-3 hours and running a half marathon about 1:30-2 hours. When you look at the proportions it definitely favors a strong cyclist or runner," Teal said.
 
With the disadvantage in his sport of choice, Teal has to make up the ground elsewhere to create an advantage.
 
"I think the technique that comes with having a swimming background and the comfortability that comes with being in the water has its benefits. The swim is pretty daunting to people, but for me I wish the swim is a little bit longer. A lot of my training has been more focused on the bike and the run and it's where you can make marginal gains because its spread out over such a long distance."
 
To make qualifying for the world championships that much sweeter, Teal's girlfriend, Molly Sarchet, also qualified for the world championships and his father, Brooks Teal, is one of his coaches.
 
"Molly is my biggest training partner and it's really cool that we'll be going out there racing together," Teal said.