Carlton Pace has a number of titles to his credit.
Husband. Father. Senior Vice President-Investment Officer at Pace Wealth Management Group of Wells Fargo Advisors, LLC. President of Hollister Little League.
And now, Ironman. Pace, 50, completed Ironman Arizona last November in a very respectable time of 16 hours, 20 minutes, 35 seconds. An Ironman consists of a 2.4-mile swim, a 112-mile bike ride and a 26.2-mile run—in other words, a marathon—as the finishing leg to the race.
Talk about torture. But like most hard-core endurance athletes, Pace loves to push his body to the limit—and perhaps past it. A 12-year Hollister resident, Pace is scheduled to compete in two half Ironman’s this year—the Ironman 70.3 in Santa Cruz on Sept. 15 and the Ironman 70.3 Silverman in Henderson, Nev., on Oct. 4.
Pace’s ultimate goal is to qualify for the Ironman World Championships in Kona, Hawaii.
“I’m going to qualify for Kona at some point,” he said. “I’m pretty sure I can do it, and I think for my age group, I’ll need (to complete a qualifying race in) a sub 12-hour time.”
The 6-foot-2, 182-pound Pace played baseball at Oakland’s Laney College and UC Santa Barbara. Despite possessing a strong athletic pedigree, Pace was never interested in endurance training until a year after he had his moment of truth.
In November 2011, Pace weighed 225 pounds, the heaviest of his life. Even though Pace didn’t look terribly out of shape, he knew better.
“One night my wife said if a doctor told me I was going to die, would I make the time to exercise?” Pace said. “That’s all I needed to hear.”
Soon after, walks turned into jogs, jogs turned into runs and runs turned into all-out sprints. Swimming came into the equation after Pace gained inspiration from watching his son, Jackson, qualify for the Junior Olympics in five events.
“He was teaching me to swim,” Pace said. “But the first time doing it, I would literally swim one lap at Rovella’s Gym and be completely out of wind. That was the hardest thing to learn, long-distance swimming.”
A year after Pace decided he was going to lose weight through exercise and healthier eating, he had dropped 25 pounds. The extra 18 pounds came off after Pace started his Ironman training in November 2012.
Once again, Pace gained inspiration from Jackson, who registered for the Santa Cruz Kids Triathlon. By early 2013, Pace was close to his current weight of 182, and his training was on point.
Feeling in tip-top shape, Pace did the Morgan Hill Sprint Triathlon—which is “only” a three-quarters mile swim, a 16-mile bike and 5-mile run—along with three other Olympic distance triathlon races (mile swim, 25-mile bike, 6.2-mile run) in 2013.
In 2014, Pace decided to tackle the Ironman and half Ironman distance.
“I figured I didn’t have time to wait, that I had to do it now,” Pace said. “So I sat down with the family and talked about it, and they all agreed to do it together. It takes a big commitment from the family. This requires tremendous sacrifice from the family because I’m disappearing for long periods of times everyday.”
Indeed, Pace has to balance his training on top of his job at Wells Fargo and being president of Hollister Little League. A typical training week for Pace consists of strength-training on Monday, a run and swim on Tuesday, bike on Wednesday, a run and swim on Thursday, strength-training and a bike ride on Friday, a run and bike on Saturday and a long bike ride on Sunday.
Pace’s finish at Ironman Arizona was good for 317th in his division, 2,227 overall. Pace completed the swim portion of the event in 1:45.29, the bike in 7:52.53 and the run in 6:10.57, for a total of 16:20.35.
“I literally expected my time to come in at 14 or 15 hours,” he said. “I had done two half Ironman’s prior to that, but what I really didn’t anticipate is when you add the extra mileage, it’s really an exponential increase in difficulty.”
Every time Pace races in an Ironman or half Ironman, he learns something about himself. It is only in the crucible of a tough endurance competition where Pace learns how to become a better racer.
“Through my experiences, I believe my training and techniques to do different things will get me to my desired time to qualify for Kona,” he said. “I just know what to expect coming into every race, and that’s comforting.”
In addition to his training, Pace attributes his transformation to an overhaul of his nutrition program. Pace adheres closely to a Paleo diet, which is heavy on fruits, vegetables, lean meats, seafood, nuts and seeds while prohibiting dairy, grains, processed foods and sugars, legumes, starches and alcohol.
Pace strays every once in a while—he had a small scoop of ice cream on his last birthday—but he has no problem forgoing dessert with the friends or when a birthday cake is being passed around the office.
“It’s gotten easier to order a cup of coffee when everyone gets dessert, or saying no to a birthday cake and simply walking away,” he said. “It feels pretty damn good.”
It’s well documented that the best athletes in the world—especially from the endurance sports—eat the best foods for optimum performance. Pace does the same, sticking with organic fruits and vegetables, grass-fed beef, free-range chicken and wild caught fish.
“The best way to fuel your body is through natural foods,” he said. “When you see what happens at the cellular level in your body when it takes in processed foods, it’s no wonder our society is having health issues. The body just doesn’t know how to process all that junk we put into our bodies.”
On the same night Pace finished Ironman Arizona, his body was in ruins.
“I was pretty tore up,” Pace said. “My muscles were aching, and I told my wife I would never do another Ironman again. But I woke up the next morning and my body felt pretty good. That’s when I thought to myself, ‘I’ve got to do this again. I’ve got to do better than 16 (hours), 20 (minutes).’ I realized this can’t be a one-and-done thing for me.”
Before he started to get health conscious, Pace had energy, but not nearly the vigor he has today. At 50, Pace has never felt better. His motto: You don’t have to get old.
Pace not only trains hard for himself, but for others.
“If there’s anything I would like to do, it’s to inspire people to be healthier,” he said. “I can’t inspire people if I’m eating junk food myself. Maybe somehow through me eating the right foods, being healthy and competing in Ironmans, maybe one or two people will take notice of that and make a change in their lives. You get one body in your lifetime, one chance to make it healthy.”
