Rep. Bryan Cutler works out to stay fit, release stress

Bird's-Eye View

Intelligencer Journal

Published: Aug 11, 2008
00:04 EST

Peach Bottom

By DAVE PIDGEON, Staff

"Sorry I fell back there," a perspiring state Rep. Bryan Cutler said Wednesday as sweat cascaded off his face, lungs heaving, legs with grapefruit-sized calf muscles propelling him along a road up a steep hill. "I had to shoot some goo."

Cutler, as he continued to jog, held up a crinkled gold packet emptied of carb-filled energy gel used to replenish tired muscles in the middle of a long race.

The Republican lawmaker from Peach Bottom was only 25 minutes into a two-hour run and already he had "bonked," the term for when an athlete's energy and endurance have been zapped.

Unfortunately, on this day he was only two weeks away from competing in the Timberman Half-Ironman Marathon in New Hampshire, his first Ironman competition.

"What I have is what I got," Cutler said of his months-long training and current physical condition. "While I could wish for more time for training, there's not a lot I can do for it now."

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The Timberman requires an athlete to swim 1.2 miles followed by a 56-mile bike ride through mountainous New Hampshire terrain. As if that's not enough, the race finishes with a 13.1-mile run.

During a sweltering late afternoon last week, I joined the 33-year-old Cutler on a training run near his rustic southern Lancaster County home. We followed bumpy roads past shoulder-high corn and grazing cattle, nearly always exposed to the August sun, chatting about the Ironman and starting families (Cutler has three young children) and his first term as a legislator.

We both agreed that training isn't as easy as it used to be. While he's only 33 years old and I'm 29, our waistlines are a little softer than they were five years ago, our muscles wear out just a little faster and it's just a little harder to remain inspired about exercise despite the fact that neither of us has curtailed our workout regimen in the last five years.

As our shoe soles pounded the pavement past an Amish farmhouse, we both agreed long-distance training can be a a game of mind over body. It's not as easy as simply standing up and going for a run. And the temptation to quit can be strongest in the first mile when the joints ache and the muscles are heavy.

"You've just got to block it out and just do it," Cutler said. "But I wish I had been in this shape when I was younger — and stayed in this shape — instead of trying to get in shape this year."

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Training for competitions like the Ironman is not only how Cutler stays in shape but how he releases the stress of being a GOP lawmaker in the state House, which at times can be a circus of opinions and unruly debate.

While balancing the duties of a public servant with being a father and husband, finding time to just think can be hard for Cutler.

"This is actually a release to me," Cutler said. "It gives me some alone time while I'm out training."

The Ironman is this weekend, and it marks the first time Cutler has competed in one. He's completed two marathons and a triathlon, but nothing that's tested him physically and mentally as much as what awaits him in New Hampshire. The best athletes finish the competition in four hours while those in the middle of the pack usually take six hours.

Cutler's going to need to be as conditioned mentally as he is physically for this event.

"I just want to see what it feels like to finish one," Cutler said.

Quotes of the week

"I can tell you from the attention we're getting from the national (Republican Party), we're absolutely one of the focuses, if not the focus of the entire nation."

— Michael Barley, spokesman for the state Republican Party, about Pennsylvania's pivotal role in the presidential election.

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"They have to reduce him to the lowest common denominator, because if they don't, Barack Obama will be the next President of the United States."

— Lancaster city Mayor Rick Gray about John McCain's recent attack ads.

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"McCain can't lose (the Philadelphia area) by 90,000 or 100,000 votes. If he loses it by 15,000 and keeps Obama down in the Pittsburgh region, McCain has a chance."

— G. Terry Madonna, director of Franklin & Marshall College's Center for Politics & Public Affairs.

E-mail: dpidgeon@lnpnews.com