Five years ago, if you had told Sherry Coulombe that she would one day be an Ironman, she would have laughed. Back then, the elementary school music teacher was clinically obese, with a weight that teetered precariously close to the 350-pound mark. She also had Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome, which spiked her insulin levels and made shedding pounds exceedingly difficult. And, oh yeah, she had never run a mile in her life.
   
“I would sweat tying my shoes and be out of breath walking down the hallway,” Coulombe says. “I’d always thought people who did 5Ks and 10Ks were these super-elite, born-with-ability people, and the Ironman? Forget about it.”

Coulombe says the only thing she knew five years ago was that she wanted the weight off, and nothing she tried was working. Desperate for a solution, she contacted Dr. Scott Steinberg at DeKalb Medical Center, and he recommended gastric bypass surgery – a procedure that alters the anatomy of the digestive system to limit the amount of food a person can eat. Coulombe spent the next several months in a battle with her insurance company to have the surgery covered. “That was really emotional,” she says. “I knew I was passionate about changing my life and that this procedure would help get the process started.” Coulombe ultimately prevailed in her fight, and in December 2003, she underwent the surgery.
   
After the procedure, Coulombe was immediately 10 pounds lighter, and in the months that followed she continued to shed weight. She decided to join a gym, where she regularly walked on the treadmill and worked with a personal trainer. After a few months of exercising, her long-lost athletic drive finally shifted into gear. “One of my friends won an entry into the Peachtree Road Race, and I thought, if she can do it, why can’t I?” Coulombe remembers. “My new goal was to start running.”
   
And so, on a boiling-hot summer day, Coulombe went for her very first run. Even though she weighed 215 pounds – 50 more than she wanted – she shocked herself by jogging two miles without stopping. “I wasn’t very fast, but I did it,” she says. “It was hugely motivating.”
   
Capitalizing on her momentum, Coulombe signed up for the Strong Legs 10K taking place that fall, and trained for it with regular jogs. The day of the race, she was too excited to conserve her energy, and after the first few miles, she admits “I thought I was going to die; I hated every minute of it.”
   
But then Coulombe ran past the finish line, caught her breath and picked up her very first race T-shirt. “I knew I wanted to run a marathon,” she says, smiling.
   
Coulombe signed up for the 2005 Chicago Marathon and joined Get Fit Atlanta, a local training company, to keep her on track. “Just being there every Saturday and seeing the faces of people who expected me to show up was very important for me,” she says. She was also motivated by the improvements she saw in her body – she was faster than ever before, and she had lost 180 pounds since her surgery.
   
On the day of the marathon, Coulombe experienced a major bout of muscle cramps, and there were moments in which she didn’t know if she’d be able to complete the race. Despite her struggles, Coulombe finished in 5:38. “I was so proud,” she says. “How many former fat people run a marathon?”
   
After her 26.2-mile trek, Coulombe began to incorporate cross training into her routine. She bought a bike and quickly discovered that she loved riding; so much so, she signed up for the 2006 Emerald Pointe Sprint Triathlon. There was one small problem, though. She was a terrible swimmer.
   
“Swimming was the thing I was most afraid of,” she says. “I couldn’t swim 25 yards without choking on water. I was that bad.”
   
When the day of the triathlon arrived, Coulombe was terrified to get into Lake Lanier, and when she finally began her swim, she almost turned around in the water. “I tried every stroke imaginable, including the backstroke, to get 400 yards across the lake,” she says. “I was by far the last to finish in my age group.”
   
Still, she rode and ran her way to the finish line, and after collecting her goody bag, she found herself thinking, "Well, maybe I can do an Ironman!"
   
Jim Boylan, one of Coulombe’s training-group coaches, caught wind of her idea and signed her up to do the Ironman Florida in 2007. “I was about to throw up in my mouth,” Coulombe says. “It was like, ‘Wow, I’m really going to do this.’”
   
She immediately embarked on months of intense training, hiring Florida-based multisport coach Sheldon Glick and Atlanta-based swim coach Heidi Smith to get her ready. She also began competing in local multisport events as a way of pushing herself. And when the training got grueling and the fatigue started to close in around her, Coulombe says she continually reminded herself why she couldn’t slow down. “It wasn’t just about how far I’d come, it was that I didn’t want to go back,” she says. “I knew I could do it and I didn’t want to return to where I was before.”
   
On the day of the Ironman, Coulombe says she felt prepared, but she was still nervous about embarking on the swim portion with 2,000 other competitive athletes. “I managed to stay calm, and it was the least beat-up I’d ever gotten in the water,” she says. “I set a personal record during the swim, and when I got out, I was cheering so hard, the photographer couldn’t take my picture.”
   
During the bike portion of the Ironman, Coulombe’s strenuous training schedule continued to pay dividends. “I was booking it,” she says. “When I hit mile 100, I was super excited because it was definitely a personal best for me. I didn’t know I could do so well.”
   
As she transitioned into the run, Coulombe says she spotted a note scribbled in chalk on the road. It read: ‘You’re a rock star.’

“I felt like it was written for me,” she says. “It gave me a boost of energy and I ran very well. I ended up finishing the Ironman in 14:19 – two hours faster than I thought I would.”
   
To Coulombe, that monumental event was the pinnacle of her journey toward a life without limits. “Just hearing my name and then the words, ‘you’re an Ironman’ – it was unreal. I was having so much fun,” she says.
   
Today, Coulombe is an assistant coach with the Atlanta Triathlon Club, where she helps other athletes learn to bike and yes, even swim. “It’s great to take what I’ve learned from people along the way and give back,” she says.
   
Coulombe is also ready to experience that Ironman high again; she’s competing in Ironman Lake Placid this month and Ironman Arizona in November. “After that, I’m going to slow down a little so my husband and I can think about starting a family,” she says.
   
Five years ago, if you had told Coulombe that she would one day be an Ironman, she wouldn’t have believed you. But that’s exactly why she has such an emphatic message for people who feel stuck in sedentary lifestyles. “My mantra is, if I can do it, anyone can do it,” she says. “Just get out there and stick with it. It is possible to change.”

Get Your Feet Wet!

Sherry Coulombe’s Top Five Tips for Beginner Swimmers:

1) Take a few private lessons. They might be a little pricey, but they’re well worth it. I didn’t see much improvement in my technique and stamina until my swim coach videotaped me and showed me what I did well and where improvements were needed. Swim lessons were the best investment ever.
 
2) Go slow when learning a new skill. Form and technique come first; speed comes second. When you have many different things to work on, concentrate on only one thing at a time.
 
3) Learn how to breathe on both sides. As a triathlete, you never know what conditions you will encounter in the open water, from waves to other athletes. Knowing how to breathe on either side will help you deal effectively with these obstacles when they arise.
 
4) For me, short, frequent trips to the pool worked best when I was a beginner. There is no sense in mindlessly swimming for an hour, especially when you are tired. At that point, you’re practicing bad technique. My Ironman coach, Sheldon Glick, tells me to get out of the pool as soon as my technique falls apart.
 
5) It is extremely helpful to watch video footage of excellent swimmers. It lets you see their proper positioning and strokes. It is also very helpful to see drills done correctly. I am constantly referring back to YouTube videos, even as an experienced swimmer.