Wolfgram is WUSTL’s, world’s ironman

While the persistence and drive of the cyclists in this month’s Tour de France is amazing and impressive, the University has its own world-class endurance athlete in Edwin D. Wolfgram, M.D.

And he does more than just ride a bike.

Last fall — less than a month before his 71st birthday — Wolfgram came in first in the 70-74-year-old age group at the Hawaiian Ironman World Championship Triathlon. The Ironman comprises a 2.4-mile ocean swim, a 112-mile bike race and a 26.2-mile run, performed consecutively.

Wolfgram’s time of 13 hours, 25 minutes not only earned him his first world title in his eighth Ironman, but it also crushed the mark of his next-closest competitor by 45 minutes. It’s a feat he hopes to repeat Oct. 16, when he’ll be in Hawaii to defend his world-championship title.

Not bad for a guy who didn’t start seriously training as an athlete until he was 48 and admits that back then he “couldn’t run to the end of the block.”

Not bad for a guy who has a bum knee thanks to a high-school football injury.

Not bad for a guy who is an assistant clinical professor of psychiatry in the School of Medicine and still maintains a full-time practice.

Wolfgram brushes aside the idea that he should slow down just because he’s a septuagenarian.

“That’s dangerous,” he says. “The human form was meant to be used, and not just until age 70. We were not intended to be sedentary.

“Look at the animal kingdom. Squirrels don’t retire after they’ve been around for a number of years, and nothing else does either. They keep going until they die.”

Wolfgram says cross training largely gave him the edge to defeat former Olympians and earn the title of the world’s top endurance athlete between 70-74. Of course, swimming, biking and running are part of his regular training regimen, but so are flexibility training, yoga and Pilates.

“I’m probably the only one internationally who puts all those things together,” he says. “Fifteen years ago, these former Olympians put me away massively. But my feeling is that they really didn’t tend to the fundamentals.” And now, Wolfgram is beating them.

The University’s resources also give him an advantage. But it’s more than just the Athletic Complex facilities he uses early in the mornings — it’s the people, too.

“I never hesitate to ask a coach or a student about how they’re training and what their approach is,” Wolfgram says. “People are always happy to teach you.

“And then I’m a part of the medical community here with the hospitals, where there are nutritionists, exercise physiologists, physical therapists and so forth. It’s ideal.”

He and head swimming and diving coach Brad Shively have discussed training schedules, stroke techniques and body positioning.

“Ed’s terribly coachable,” Shively says. “We talked almost three times a week right before the Ironman. He’s extremely focused, and physically he’s very impressive.

“He’s one of the most amazing people I’ve ever known.”

Wolfgram and Michael D. Moll, vice dean for business affairs in the School of Engineering & Applied Science, have been participating in triathlons together for 12 years. The only two members of “The 5:30 Club,” they run a 10K in Forest Park very early on Thursday mornings in the spring, summer and fall. Membership in the club, however, is open.

“He talks the whole time, while I spend more time huffing and puffing,” says Moll, 54. “He’s incredibly inspirational and has taught me to exercise smarter. I hope to be able to do what he’s doing when I get to his age.”

A lifelong habit

To encourage others to adapt a life of health and fitness, Wolfgram and his wife, Dorothea — a former University publications director and magazine editor — have written a book. Titled It’s Never Too Late: Dr. Ed Wolfgram’s Book of Fitness, it addresses injury-free training and why we should exercise and eat right.

“Fitness is so critical to the welfare of the nation,” he says. “It’s frightening to see how people have destroyed their lives and the lives of others.

“People think in terms of wanting to do so much for their children — making a good living, having a nice home, safe car and all this kind of stuff — and in the meantime, they’re kind of slobs.

“Maybe what’s happened is people think they can do whatever they want, and then modern science will take care of them. But really, that’s frequently not the case.”

When he was 48, Wolfgram saw that that attitude in some of his physician colleagues was having severe adverse effects — diabetes, coronary bypasses, strokes.

“That was frightening,” he says, “because I think we all felt we were infallible. We were all doing well and were successful; we were not fully aware that we were mortal. That really brought it home.”

And now, in addition to maintaining his own outstanding health, Wolfgram has introduced fitness as part of his treatment for thousands of patients.

“With activity, you raise the level of serotonin in the brain,” he says. “After about three or four months, people are aware that they feel better — not necessarily while they’re exercising, but overall.”

Once a person begins a fitness routine, the next challenge is to continue it so that it becomes a lifelong habit.

“It’s just as important to keep fit when you’re old as it is when you’re young,” Wolfgram says. “I run into people who quit and say, ‘I used to be an athlete. I even continued into my young-adult life, and that’ll hold me.’

“They lose all the benefits they ever had from their fitness — all the benefits to their longevity — probably within a year, as if they had never done a thing. In other words, you can’t put fitness in the bank. You have to sustain it.”