Thomasville’s Melissa Thompson started running four years ago as a way to lose some weight and get in shape; she had no real training plan or set schedule.
“I was kind of like Forrest Gump,” Thompson said. “I started running and I just ran. It was whatever I felt like doing.”
It didn’t take long to see that Thompson was a gifted runner who, with the right training, could really do something in the sport. After completing her first half marathon in one hour and 25 minutes, she began to take running much more seriously, including working her way up to competing in triathlons.
Though a triathlon is made up of three sports – swimming, biking, and running – meshed into one, the best triathletes are often the best runners. In fact, the best triathletes are many times runners who can swim or swimmers who can run. The cycling portion is often the easiest of the three to master. It is the least technical and least demanding; most competitors can build bike fitness relatively easily with enough time in the saddle.
Unfortunately for Thompson, she wasn’t a very good swimmer; however, she was a good runner who could make up tremendous time on the last leg of the race. For example, in her first triathlon, an Irongirl event in Atlanta, she was one of the last stragglers out of the water, but she posted the fastest run split out of 1,700 competitors.
As she learned more about the sport and upped her training regimen, other obstacles began to present themselves. When Thompson was in high school, she tore the ACL in her left knee. She had it repaired, but the old injury resurfaced as her training intensity increased. Thompson favored her right leg, which only exacerbated the problems. To combat the discomfort, she visited her chiropractor twice per week. On the surface, however, things were going well. Thompson was getting faster and faster and became one of the top triathletes in the area.
Thompson focused on Olympic-distance and the Half Ironman (also called Ironman 70.3, for the total number of miles the race 
covers). Olympic distance races are a 1.5K swim (.93 miles), a 40K bike ride (24.8 miles), and a 10K run (6.2 miles), while 70.3s are 1.2-mile swim/56 mile bike/13.1-mile run. In 2013, Thompson qualified for the U.S. Olympic Distance Championships at the Hy-Vee 5150 Triathlon in Des Moines, Iowa, where she placed eighth in her age group with a 2:33:25 time. She also qualified for the Ironman 70.3 world championships at 70.3 Augusta in September of 2013; she didn’t accept the slot because she was already registered for the Ironman Coeur d’Alene (2.4 mile swim/112 mile bike/26.2 mile run).
Following the Augusta race, Thompson didn’t take enough time off to properly recover. She went right back to training and promptly tore cartilage in her left knee. Again, she had to undergo surgery to remedy the injury. After surgery, Thompson met Tony Sheffield of Colquitt Regional Medical Center’s Vereen Rehabilitation Center in Moultrie, and he asked her to come in for an evaluation. He thought the Vereen Center could help straighten out the lingering issues from her old high school injury and help her recover from her latest surgery. That began a relationship between Thompson and the Vereen Center that, in many ways, saved her triathlon career.
Thompson’ evaluation gave way to an unpleasant discovery: her right leg was found to be two inches longer than her left, which causes all sorts of problems and imbalances. For an athlete of Thompson’s caliber (her goal is to earn a USA Triathlon pro card in the near future), that kind of imbalance can derail a career quickly.
Thompson went on to post a turn in a post-surgery 12:48:19 in Coeur d’Alene. She is also spending her time focusing on the 70.3 distance, as she would like to qualify for the world championships again. Now, a wife and mother of two who works full-time at Thomas County Central High School, she wakes up at 3:30 a.m. on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. She does an indoor bike workout, followed by an outdoor run. By 5:30, she is in the pool and swimming until 6:30. At 7:15, she’s at Thomas County Central High. On Tuesday and Thursday, she does a bike workout with a competitive cyclist. Saturday is a track workout and Sunday is a long bike ride.
“I train seven days a week,” Thompson said. “I don’t take a day off unless my body tells me I need to. If I sleep through my alarm clock one day, that means I needed the rest.”
She credits the Vereen Center with helping her get to where she is today. “Now we’re working on building leg strength and strengthening my core, working on those imbalances,” she said. “The Vereen Center really has been a saving grace.”
