By Ali Bronsdon / Leader Staff

Matt Seeley is an "ironman".

Of the small number of local athletes that can join him in that classification, Seeley is undoubtedly the greatest, having competed as a professional from 1999 to 2006. Perhaps less assuming in physical appearance than the name implies, he has a quiet determination and relentless spirit that is not of this world. If you didn't already know it, he wouldn't be the one to tell you just how good he is.

A professor at Salish Kootenai College, husband and father of three young girls, Seeley retired at the end of 2006 so that he could spend more time with his family. However, when his younger brother Lane wanted to test his endurance this summer in triathlon's longest event, Seeley decided to join him. Now, the 37-year-old Polson resident is back in the pro circuit, poised to take on the field this Sunday at one of the sport's most prestigious races: Ironman Canada.

"There are ten to fifteen Ironman races in the world that are at the highest level and Canada is certainly one of those," Seeley said of the approximately eight to nine-hour race that will include 2.4 miles of swimming, 112 miles of cycling and 26.2 miles of running. "Guys from all over the world will be competing. I can't get away from the fact, too, that I think I really have a shot to win."

In his seven previous Ironman races, Seeley has finished fifth, fourth, third and runner-up, but never the top spot on the podium. In 2004, after leading Ironman Coeur d'Alene since mile-80 (more than four hours of racing), he was passed in the final mile and ended up second.

"I decided a long time ago that I don't have to win one to be satisfied," he said. "But, on the other hand, one of the things that has motivated me to try is that maybe I will have a really big day and I will do that."

Interestingly enough, the majority of his main competitors are the same. In the three years since he has raced the distance, only a few of the faces have changed.

"A lot of the guys I'll be racing against in Canada are guys that I've raced against numerous times before," Seeley said.

Ironman athletes take years and years to hit their peak, so a lot of the best guys are 35 to 40-years-old. Still, many of them are full-time triathletes with lengthy careers aimed at capturing that title of Ironman Champion. For Seeley, the road to professionalism came from always trying to get to the next level of competition.

"I've never really seen it as a career because unlike the other people I was racing, I've always had a family and a career and I wasn't as focused on triathlon as some of the other athletes," he said. "It wasn't quite as much pressure to win enough money to live on and I didn't have to have an agent and those kind of things."

A runner since age seven, Seeley realized quite quickly in college that he was never going to be a world-class runner. Recreational biking and high school swimming led him to the sport of triathlon and since he's put all three together, he's done quite well.

According to Seeley, one of his genetic traits that serves him well is that he never lacks motivation.

"I have a real consistent reserve of motivation to get out there and do it," Seeley said. "More than having a lot of natural ability is just having the ability to get out there day-in, day-out to make that happen."

During the big build-up to an Ironman, Seeley runs between 50 and 60-miles, bikes between 400 and 500-miles and swims roughly eight to 10-miles a week. He trains in at least two disciplines every day. The majority of the days, he'll do all three. Most mornings he gets up around 5:30 a.m. and trains before the family wakes up. During the school year, he clocks 100-miles a week just by riding his bike to work and then somehow manages to squeeze in workouts before and after work.

Even for an athlete of Seeley's caliber, that kind of training can wreak havoc on the body.

"I've struggled with every injury you can think of," he said. "I have at least a couple significant injuries I have to over come every year."

Yet, he keeps going.

"Part of it is just enjoying it," Seeley said. "Another big component is just wanting to push my body to the point where I can achieve things that I have never done before. It's amazing how you can change your body to doing something that you never thought you could do and once you do, you realize it isn't really that bad. You spend months and months working towards a goal. It's that process that I really like the most — the step by step assault on a goal."

With more than 20 years of competing in triathlons and even more in running, Seeley carries a huge amount of experience into this race. He's made a lot of mistakes, but he's learned a lot from those experiences, he said. He knows how his body is feeling and, Seeley said, it feels pretty good.

"I'm just happy that I can, at age 37, hit the times and actually improve on the times that I've had in the past," he said. "It seems like everything's coming together. I feel fairly confident about being ready."

In his first Ironman, Seeley didn't know what he was getting himself into. Approaching it as just another race, he struggled toward the end. Now, facing his eighth Ironman, he jokes that it's even more frightening because he knows what's out there and some of the potential things that can happen.

"The thing about an Ironman that really separates it from other races, is no matter how well prepared you are, you can never be really sure that it's going to go well," Seeley said. "There is a huge amount of apprehension that goes along with just getting to the start."

Unlike shorter races, an Ironman will never feel good the whole way. There will inevitably be some really low points, and hopefully, high points along the course. So, Seeley said, the ability to do well is not only about being strong and fit, but being able to believe in yourself in order to get through those tough times. He said, you don't want to start an Ironman by looking forward to the finish.

"The race is not about the finish. You have to say I'm out here today because I can't wait to get to those really challenging points in the race. I can't wait until it's really tough. To look forward to the challenging parts is the right mindset and not to think about the finish line as being the only goal," Seeley said.

In fact, in the grand scheme of things, there seems to be no end in sight for Seeley.

"I see the 70 and even 80-year-old people out there doing triathlons and that's how I hope to be," Seeley said. "I hope to stay in the sport forever, but transitioning from racing against the best in the world to doing it more recreationally has been a challenge. Eventually, I will have to figure out how to make that happen."