Momentous Moments: Jeff Schleppy

What began as a simple mission to lose weight and live a more balanced lifestyle has led Momentous customer Jeff Schleppy to become an accomplished endurance athlete. With more than 10 Ironmans under his belt, including two trips to Kailua-Kona, Hawai'i, for the Ironman World Championship, the 47-year-old portfolio manager is nothing short of impressive—and he says it’s something anyone can do.

Jeff’s introduction to the world of endurance sports came in 2013 when he joined a gym in Stamford, Connecticut, following his exit from an all-consuming job that left him with no time to focus on his health and fitness.

“I was 200 pounds and barely worked out,” he says. “I was out of shape. I worked 80 hours a week, and I was commuting two hours a day. I resigned and was starting a new job that took away the commute…so, I said to myself, ‘I really want to make a lifestyle change.’”

And he did exactly that. The gym he joined had a triathlon club, which piqued his interest despite admittedly being “not a good runner, not a good swimmer, and not even a cyclist.” He signed up in 2014 and joined a welcoming community of budding and experienced endurance athletes.

Getting Started

He says: “I had never been a part of something so inclusive, and also what felt like really good, achievable exercise. It was exciting and fun. And I thought, ‘Alright, this summer I'll try a sprint triathlon [consisting of a 750m swim, a 20k bike, and a 5k run] and that'll be the goal.’ That was really the start of it.”

From there, Jeff continued to build and build, eventually graduating to half Ironmans before completing his first full Ironman [a 2.4-mile swim, a 112-mile bike, and a 26.2-mile run] in July 2016, followed by his second a year later when he secured the coveted Kona qualifying spot.

And as with many endurance athletes, although Jeff started with triathlons, he soon became interested in and began competing in other sports, such as gravel cycling and long-distance mountain bike racing.

Anyone Can Do It

This all may sound intimidating to the uninitiated, but Jeff stresses that anyone—no matter your age or fitness level—is capable of completing a triathlon.

“Anybody can do this. Literally anybody,” he says, advising those who are interested in jumpstarting their triathlon journey to train with a seasoned coach. “It's just a matter of wanting to do it and committing to it. Having the right reasons to do it.”

For Jeff, his why lies in the lasting euphoria he feels during every race—a reason, he says, that rings true for many endurance athletes.

“You have these moments of accelerated joy and adrenaline and your heart rate goes up, and you have this amazing experience,” he says. “What's interesting about endurance sports is you have these long periods, extended hours, with that feeling, and that's really I think the secret to why people get into it.”

The Secret to Success

But you do have to be serious about it to succeed, says Jeff, who calls himself “an early morning guy” and starts his day as early as 4 a.m. if training calls for a five-hour bike ride.

“Endurance sports is not just a hobby. You can't dedicate as much time to something like this as just a simple hobby. It really becomes a process and part of your day to day,” he says. “You kind of need to juggle it with work and everything else. It's not easy.”

A healthy relationship with supplements is also important. When Jeff first started fueling up before and after his training, he would initially gravitate towards the most convenient, cost-effective options at his nearby supplement store. It wasn’t until he started ramping up his training and setting new PRs that he said he was ready to take his supplement routine to the next level.

Prioritizing High-Quality Supplements

This led Jeff to prioritize clean, pure, and potent ingredients that deliver effective results for performance and recovery. “Improvement comes from doing all the work that you need to do, but it also comes from learning about different ways to extract more from your body,” he says. “And one of those avenues happens to be what you're taking in.”

After a photographer friend introduced him to Momentous a year ago, Jeff became hooked. He says his go-to product is vanilla-flavored Momentous Grass-Fed Whey Protein Isolate , which he prepares every day with either skim milk or adds it to his post-workout smoothie, which calls for one scoop of Whey Protein Isolate, ice, a banana, spinach, skim milk, “and sometimes a tart cherry pill for anti-inflammatory benefits.”

The Season Ahead

As for his upcoming races, 2024 has already proven to be a momentous year for Jeff, who has already participated in two skimo races (aka ski mountaineering) and a 30-mile ultra run, with a 50-miler lined up for May. The focus of his race season will be the Lead Challenge, a series of extreme races that takes place in Leadville, Colorado, and includes the Leadville Trail Marathon in June, the Leadville Silver Rush 50 Run—a 50-mile mountain bike race—in July, the Leadville 10K run the next day, and then a week later the Leadville Trail 100 Run, Jeff’s first attempt at a 100-mile run.

“I know it’s going to be challenging. And I know I’m going to have that moment of despair, but I feel like I’ve tested myself enough over the past eight years, and have been there so many times, that I can hopefully push through because I know how good it feels when you dig out of that feeling of despair. Right now, I’m going in with the excited ignorance approach.”