[ back ]
At age 77, CWE doctor preps for 11th Ironman competition
(by Julia Werner - September 30, 2009)
On Oct. 11, Central West End resident Ed Wolfgram will be competing in the World Championship Ironman competition for the 11th time. He will swim 2.4 miles, run 26.2 miles and bike 112 miles. And he will be doing it at age 77.
Wolfgram didn’t begin training to become a serious athlete until he was middle-aged. “I’m a physician, so I’ve always talked about all this with people, I’ve really always thought healthful habits of living were important, but I didn’t really get into it until age 48.”
It’s not that he was extremely unhealthy, in fact quite the opposite. He didn’t smoke or abuse alcohol, he watched what he ate, and although he wasn’t on a strict regimen, gardened regularly and got some exercise. Despite this he claims, “I gained a pound a year no matter what I did.”
Physical fitness simply wasn’t a priority until his peers began to have health issues. “A death, some disablement, coronary bypass, and all of a sudden I could look around and see that we were mortal,” he said. Reality began to sink in and he knew that with debt hanging over his head and children to support he couldn’t afford to become ill, at least due to his own inaction.
Wolfgram began running for 15-minute intervals three times a week. As difficult endeavors often prove, the first step was the hardest. After a few weeks, he began to get discouraged and recalls many arguments he had with himself about quitting.
“I thought, ‘This is a waste of time, I’m too old for this,’ and I thought that it’s all due to heredity anyway, you live you live, you die you die.” He stuck with it, however, and after three months he began to see improvements and feel better physically. “By the fourth month,” Wolfgram said, “for the first time I could take in a notch in my belt, and that sent shivers up and down my spine.”
From then on, fitness became an important part of Wolfgram’s life. He soon included his family and then began working out more often with friends. “I moved up to three hours a day, six days a week after about a year.”
Twenty-seven years later Wolfgram is headed back to Hawaii for the Ironman competition with several trophies under his (now much looser) belt, including the first-place title in 2003 for the 70 to 74 age group. He says it still amazes him to be able to compete in such a race.
“I can never figure out why I’m there, how did this happen? It’s really a pretty remarkable experience as you line up for something like this, before the gun goes off, I’m in a prayerful mood,” Wolfgram said. “I really have tears in my eyes out of happiness and gratefulness.”
Despite his success, Wolfgram’s had his share of setbacks. His high school football career was interrupted when, at age 15, he tore the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee. He said he believes that this injury actually helped him become a better athlete later on because it taught him the importance of cross-training. “I learned from the beginning that the body is fragile…but having handicaps shouldn’t disqualify you.”
More recently Wolfgram battled prostate cancer at 74 and underwent open-heart surgery at 75. “I really thought, and I think everyone else anticipated that was the end of me, and I was willing to accept that…but it really didn’t turn out that way.” Although somewhat discouraged, he remained optimistic and recovered quickly. He believes his fitness endeavors were a main contributor. “You can only control your input,” he said, “you can’t guarantee the results.”
In addition to being an Ironman, husband and father, Wolfgram is also a full-time clinical psychiatrist in the Central West End, promoting fitness and healthy living to his patients. He finds that many of the people he treats have the same apprehensions and excuses that he had 28 years ago.
“You can’t start off with telling people they need to exercise because it’s work, they don’t have time, it’s uncomfortable and it’s all heredity anyway. Everybody has an Aunt Maude that got to be 280 pounds, drank a fifth of whiskey and smoked a pack of cigarettes every other day and lived to be 100. There’s a lot of resistance,” he said.
Wolfgram recommends starting small and making exercise a social activity. “I have people that I meet with once a week and we run, we run hard, and then we have coffee and an apple fritter, we treat ourselves.” He admits to having certain guilty pleasures like television and ice cream, “You have to let yourself fall apart on occasion and not feel that you’re ruined.”
Today, Wolfgram continues to compete, practice psychiatry and speak about the importance of fitness across the country. He also wrote a book titled It’s Never Too Late: Dr. Ed Wolfgram’s Book of Fitness that discusses nutrition, exercise and competition.
“It pays to be fit,” he says. “I have a lot of fun and I’m almost 77 years old.”
[ back ]
