NewsEdwin D. Wolfgram: 2003 Men's 70-74 Age Group Champion
Edwin D. Wolfgram: 2003 Men's 70-74 Age Group Champion
Published Friday, October 8, 2004
Editors Note: Ironmanlive is proud to feature our 2003 Age-Group Champions in special profiles during the coming months. These are many of the finest athletes in the world at their age, and we'd like to share their stories with you.
Edwin Wolfgram, St. Louis, Missouri, USA - It's Never Too Late
"Nothing - not money or success - is more important to you and your family than health. Good health is the source of joy in life and success in your life's work, and it is an unmatched gift to your mate, children, grandchildren." Dr. Ed Wolfgram
Ed Wolfgram believes so strongly in the above sentiment that he has written a fitness book entitled It's Never Too Late, Dr. Ed Wolfgram's Book of Fitness, published in Nov. 2003.
Born and raised on a farm in Iowa, Ed and his brothers could only participate in sports after they got their chores done. He played football and pitched baseball. This did not lead him to a life-long pursuit of athletics.
Ed married late in life, 33, and he and Dorothea had three children. As a 48 physician with a specialty in psychiatry, he noticed his contemporaries suffering heart attacks and strokes, developing diabetes and some were dying. His children were under 12 and he couldn't afford to die or be disabled, nor did he want to.
Taking up running for his health's sake, Ed discovered after a few years that running aggravated an old football injury that was going to disable him - he has no anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee.
In 1984 he discovered triathlon with its cross-training which, in his opinion, saved him. That year he did a little sprint event sponsored by one of the St. Louis suburban parks and recreation departments. It was so informal they assigned friends to count rounds for them in the pool, bike and run. They threw their bikes down under trees, never bothering to see that no one made off with them. They did have awards, though, and Ed came in third in his age group.
Ed gradually moved to local Olympic-distance events and then to half-Ironman distance qualifying races. Now he's completed eight Hawaii Ironman races.
When Ed began his medical practice he lived in the St. Louis Central West End, a city neighborhood near Washington University School of Medicine and Barnes and Jewish Hospitals. He admitted patients to those hospitals and his office was nearby so he simply biked for transportation.
When he started training for triathlons, he had the running down and the biking, but he was a head-above-the-water swimmer which he had to overcome. Ed admits he is a Type A personality, but he doesn't train to win trophies, though it's a great byproduct. He trains for fitness. "I want my golden years to be filled with activity and challenge, not rocking chairs," he said. Now he trains three hours a day, six days a week: swimming, biking, running, strength/resistance training, yoga and Pilates. Getting ready for the Ironman he stretches that out for long endurance exercises once a week. And he treats himself to massages.
Life moves on and his children are grown. "My firstborn son has become a delightful, faithful training partner and my other two children join me occasionally," he said. His wife always answers the question about the hours he spends training by saying, "When the children were young, he was always there for us. Now I think of the other places he could spend those hours: sitting in front of the TV at home, doing the same in a bar, tom-catting around, gambling at a casino, ill in a hospital bed or at home, or on the golf course."
Ed still maintains a full-time medical practice and does frequent radio interviews around the country and locally. He's done a dozen TV and other media appearances. Since his book published, he lectures on fitness as a motivational speaker much more often.
Dorothea is a professional writer and together they wrote his book...she wrote, he supplied the rationale. "We're ecstatic about the reception and sales of our book because its message is timely and vital. "No one is too young or old to benefit from a resolve to take better care of the amazing, wonderful, miraculous body we have been endowed with by our creator. It is never too late to start," said Ed.
At a publicity meeting for the book before they headed to Hawaii in 2003 Dorothea told him, "It would really help if you won." So the pressure was on.
About the 2003 race, Ed commented, "I was delighted that my long-held belief in holistic training brought me across the finish line 45 minutes ahead of my nearest competitor. In 2004, we'll see. The competition is always tough."
