Fuel Your Better College Campaign – Meet Triathlete Adam Falkosky!

June 5, 2014 -
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Happy Thursday all! So excited to introduce to you another Athlete for the Vega Fuel Your Better College Campaign!

Fuel Your Better College Campaign Image SRU

The SRU Triathlon students were provided VEGA Sport products during their training over the last few months & kept me updated on how it was going. If you want to learn all about the process, check out this post [here]!

Today I get to share with you my interview with our second featured athlete, Adam Falkosky, and his story on persevering through diabetes to continue his passion for training!

Fuel Your Better Adam

1) Tell me about you! What’s your story.

–  I was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes when I was 5 years old just starting kindergarten. I was taking 7 shots a day to help keep my blood sugar under control. I loved being active and playing outside at my grandmas neighborhood because there were so many kids my age to play with we ended up growing up together and always did something outside in the summer. Having diabetes and being on shots was difficult keeping my number in control, I ended up in the emergency room a few times late at night. Finally, in 5thgrade once they monitored my blood sugar with a little machine 24/7 for a few days, the doctor decided to put me on the insulin pump. It took a little while to get used to it.

To be active in middle school I started out doing musicals. I made friends with other students that wanted me to audition with them. Once 8th grade came around most of my friends ran cross country and track for the middle school and told me to join the team. I learned to adjust my insulin intake with my pump and decided to start training with my friends. I’ve trained and competed with the same kids I grew up with in my grandma’s neighbor all throughout high school in cross country, indoor track, and spring track.

If it wasn’t for them I would’ve never been the runner I am today, because they got me out there on the team. Even during my senior year in high school, after we graduated, we got up every morning to run at 7 with the high school team. When we could no longer run with them, we got up for 3 weeks straight before we left for college to train because they were running on their college teams that upcoming Fall.

I still keep in touch with them and we made plans to train over breaks with each other as well as this summer when we all get home. There is not a day that goes by that I regret joining the cross country and track team in middle school with them. I never made varsity, I was average at best, but I got to go some of the big invitationals because of my dedication to the sport. I had never missed a day of practice all through high school and I put a ton of hard work because I was determined to get better.

I plan to try out for the team while I’m here at SRU once I get a good summer of training in.

A side note: I bowled in a league from when I was in third grade all the way through high school, I also bowled on a travel team my 9th and 10th grade year. I then tried out for the high school bowling team ended up making varsity my junior and senior year. The team won back to back regional titles, WPIBL Championship titles, and we took a 4th and 3rd place in states my junior and senior year. I averaged a 210 on the high school team. (While maintaining a 4.0 GPA)!

2) What got you into athletics?

What got me into athletics would be how active I was in the summer with my friends every day playing some game or sport outside. Then when they started running in 7th grade they said how much they liked it, introduced me to the coach, & asked me to join the team next year in 8th grade. I’ve kept up with it ever since!

3) What got you into triathlons?

What got me into triathlons was my high school cross country coach started getting into them and it was one of those things I wanted to add to my goals as an athlete. I thought I would join the club just to learn about it and slowly get into it. Timmy needed a runner for The Mighty Moraine Olympic Relay and asked if I would run. I had been training so I said sure and from there I just couldn’t wait to be more involved.

4) What is your favorite way to train?

My favorite way to train is with my friends because we always push the pace for one another. When easy days come around, we enjoy talking and catching up with one another.

5) Any exercise tips for a newbie triathlete looking to start training?

Don’t rush into the training; if you push yourself too much and too far it is easy to get discouraged. Start off something you know you can handle and add a little bit on every week or every couple weeks when you feel that what you are doing is getting too easy.

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6) What was your initial reaction when VEGA & Kasey wanted to help out the club with product?

My initial thought was this is going to make training so much fun. Also, it would keep me motivated to keep up the training!

7) What was your initial thoughts of using a product like VEGA Sport?

My initial thought was is it going to taste good since the packaging was so appealing to the eyes.

8 ) What was your favorite product & why?

My favorite product would be the electrolyte hydrator because of the taste. If it looks good and tastes good you will want to drink more of it! One of the key things of performing at my best is being well hydrated.

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9) Fill us in on another top product of yours!

My second favorite product is the Sugar Free Energizer especially when I wake up and it’s one of those when you know your body just doesn’t want to get moving. The sugar free allows me to drink it and not worry about giving me insulin and having issues when I’m out running.

10) What do you think is an important product to have, especially while being in college and training?

The important product to have in college would be a tie between the hydrator & the pre-energzier. Students often get dehydrated so the hydrator is a good way to avoid that & the pre-energizer is also important because you will have late nights in college and will need energy to get through your workouts.

11) What is a tip for a reader on how to balance college life and training?

Don’t cram study or wait until the last minute to do assignments. Set aside about an hour a day for  “me time” and do your training because it will also help relieve stress. Weekends are not off limits to get work done during the day and train. If you get up early enough you will have plenty of time during the day to get homework and training in before any fun activities at night.

12) What does the VEGA Sport Motto #fuelyourbetter mean to you?

#Fuelyourbetter means to fuel the athletic side for your health. Most people who are active feel better about themselves & their capabilities. If you fuel your better or something to keep you motivated, exercising, and being healthy, you will truly feel great about yourself.

13) What does #betruetoyou mean to you?

#betruetoyou means that, be who you are and don’t change for anyone else. If you a runner and you like to run for fun, keep doing that! Don’t try to be something that you aren’t. Being true to you means not changing because someone else wants you to.

14) Why do you think it’s important to fuel your body?

Why I think it’s important to fuel your body is so in the end you get the most out of your workout. If you don’t fuel your body then all the hard work you are doing really isn’t going to pay off and you will be counteracting all of your hard work. Also , you need to fuel your body so you feel good throughout the day and get things accomplished besides all of the training. If you don’t fuel your body, it’s hard to perform at your best throughout the day.

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15) Anything else you’d like to add?

– Even my pup likes to fuel up before we run!

 

Thank you Adam & congrats on all of your accomplishments! You truly inspire a lot of people.

Shout out to VEGA for their constant support – you all rock!

 

Be true to you,

xo Kasey