Shelby and Cara McCauley hiked to the summit of Mt. Democrat on their honeymoon in 2016.
Cara McCauley enjoys the trails at Shades State Park with her dog, Penny.
John M. Bottorff, D.C., C.C.S.T., is a 1981 graduate of Palmer College of Chiropractic and a second generation chiropractor. He is certified in Chiropractic Spinal Trauma. He is a triathlete and an avid cyclist, runner and swimmer. He can be contacted at Bottorff Advanced Chiropractic at 362-8833 or online at www.Cvillepainrelief.com.
“Perseverance through pain spills over,” this week’s Health Hero explains. “After you have run a marathon everything is a little less intimidating,” says Cara McCauley, who is embedded in motion.
Cara is a 2010 graduate of North Montgomery High School where she played soccer and track.
“I tried basketball, but I fouled out all the time and couldn’t score,” she admitted shamelessly.
A comment that led into the mantra she lives; “do what makes you feel good.”
After high school graduation, Cara headed to Cornell University which has an acceptance rate of 14 percent, an indication of her motivation level. Cara explained that Cornell applicants must be able to complete a 75-meter swim. This forced her to learn to swim in a competitive style, a training that would pay off.
Cornell also required two physical education classes. For one class, Cara chose triathlon training, which culminated in her first sprint triathlon in which she swam 400 yards, biked 15 miles and ran 4 miles.
“The swim was inside, but the ride and run were outside,” she explained citing the spring weather in New York. “My feet were frozen after the ride.”
Some of her Crawfordsville friends, Lindy Nakao, Fawn Johnson and Erica Minette, talked Cara into doing the Muncie Half Iron Man which requires a 1.2-mile swim, 56-mile bike ride followed by a 13.1-mile run, which she finished in 6:45.
Training for events like this can vary from person to person. Cara trains between one and three hours a day when building up to an event. She believes in the motivation that goals create. She had never run more than 2 miles at a time before training for longer distances. One challenge was slowing down on longer runs. Her intense training is only for two or three months in the spring and summer. Her normal workouts can last a little as 30 minutes or more than 2 hours. It all depends on how she feels.
She throws in yoga twice a week.
“Yoga teaches you how to breath,” she says. “If you run out of breath in a big race, you’re in trouble and yoga helps control that. And it’s fun. It’s the most fun I have in a workout.”
In 2014, after she earned her bachelor’s degree in engineering at Cornell, Cara headed to Purdue University to work on a doctorate degree in weed science.
“If I’ve had a bad day, I text my husband Shelby and tell him not to talk to me until after I have gotten my run in,” Cara said revealing the therapeutic effect of a good huff-and-puff.
Shelby likes lifting weights and kind of understands his wife’s activities. The two plan their vacations around hiking.
Cara failed to considered the 6,000-foot altitude of Provo, Utah in 2014 when she ran her first marathon. Oops. Of course she finished. She has completed Olympic distance triathlons and done half marathons. She is signed up for this year’s Muncie Half Ironman. She draws an obvious conclusion that she is an “extreme person.”
Diet is everything on the menu. Nothing to excess and she doesn’t deprive herself. On Saturdays in the summer she will ride with a group to Wallace. Cara smiles and states, “We eat breakfast there and you better bet there will be a piece of sugar cream pie in it for me.”
Sleep is a serious part of an athlete’s program.
“It’s important to me,” Cara emphasizes. “It’s the only time I’m not moving!”
With that she was off to work on her PhD dissertation.
See you after the nap.
