Josh Wise NASCAR’s Sprint Cup star has managed to find a more difficult race to run—the Ironman triathlon

     The demands on a NASCAR’s driver’s time are relentless. Travel, team meetings, car testing, qualifying, sponsor obligations. And then there’s a race to drive on Sunday. So imagine how disciplined you have to be to slip “triathlon training” into that week.
     “It’s kind of walking a tightrope,” says Josh Wise, Sprint Cup Driver and soon-to-be Ironman triathlete. “From a physical fitness standpoint, I became interested in endurance sports a year-and-a-half ago.” For Wise, exercise was a way to undo the damage done on Sunday, when his body was cramped up in a car for hours, dehydrating lap-by-lap.
     “I’ve been cycling for about three years now,” Wise says. “I picked up the side hobby of training for triathlons. And then I got a crazy idea to train for the Ironman. It’s been a huge part of my spare time. I told my wife the other day, ‘I have no hobbies anymore.’”
     “By having to structure my time between my family, my racing obligations and training,” Wise says, “I realized I had a lot of wasted time during my days doing nothing. I’d spend time on a race simulator a few hours a week. I’d play golf with buddies; do random things. I eliminated those things as a whole.”
     During big training weeks, in addition to working with a trainer to help stretch and open up his body from the rigors of driving, Wise will shoehorn into his schedule 120 miles on the bike, 25 miles of running, and another 8-12 miles in the pool.
     The cycling began when fellow driver Scott Speed introduced Wise to it to help stay in shape. “One day, we were riding our bikes along the river and thought, ‘we should just jump in and swim.”
     Wise has already completed an Olympic-length triathlon in Key West, and a half-Ironman this past July. In December, during the small window of the calendar when there are no races, Wise has his sights set on Ironman glory. But it’s more than just another sport to Wise, it’s a way to become better on the track.
     “When I was driving in the Nationwide Series a few years back, the races were significantly shorter, 250 miles versus 400 miles in Sprint Cup. And even after those shorter races, I would feel gassed. I would be dehydrated, tired. I felt like going to sleep right away. And I thought I was in shape. I’d run a little bit, go to the gym for an hour a day. With the training I’m doing now, I could do a 1,500 mile race on Sunday and not get feel tired.
    Beyond endurance, Wise feels the training has taken his focus to a new level. “The reality is that understanding heart rate training, the demands on the body, it opened my eyes to how demanding it is to be in the race car.” Wise says. “Wearing a heart rate monitor, we learned that my average heart rate was between 140-155 beats a minute for four hours. It’s like running a marathon ever Sunday. The fitness and the mental focus that it takes, it went hand in hand. I have a confidence know that my fitness isn’t going to hinder my mental focus.
     So is the word out that triathlon training is the key to being a better NASCAR driver. “Some guys talked about training for a triathlon,” Wise says, “but they’ve DNF’ed at this point. Once I say I’m going to do something. Unless lightning strikes me.