ATHLETE PROFILE

Michelle Carr

By Joanne E. McFadden

Age: 37

Hometown/Residence: Schenectady  

Family: Husband, Travis; mom, dad, sister, two nieces, and brother-in-law 

Sports: Triathlon and Running

Career: Director of Operations, City of Schenectady

Interests: Passion is athletics, coaching, sports, nutrition, and healthy living

Volunteering: Local races  

Michelle Carr was on the beach soaking in the rays of the French Riviera sunlight when Upstate Sports caught up with her. Not only was she basking in the sunshine, but she was also savoring the warmth of success after her first Ironman 70.3 World Championship competition. 

Three years ago, running excitedly toward the azure blue waves of the Mediterranean for a 1.2-mile swim wasn’t even on her radar. In fact, it was something she had vehemently denied she would ever do. Swimming just wasn’t her thing.

Until 15 years ago, running wasn’t her thing either. At Schenectady High School, she played basketball. “I was scared to death to run a mile,” Michelle said. That changed in 2010 when she got hooked on the sport and since, she has qualified for the Boston Marathon several times. “In the running community, there were people who said, ‘You would be a great triathlete,’ and I said, ‘Absolutely not. I was not going to swim.’”

During the Covid-19 pandemic, Michelle started biking a little more, but casually. She also began watching triathlon competitions on television, as her then-fiancé, Travis, was really into them. At the time, he was avidly training for his own half and full marathons. At some point as they followed elite athletes on TV, they decided to try a triathlon themselves. 

“Finding the resources was a hurdle,” Michelle said. However, the elusive swim segment came into place when Travis started working at Union College. One perk of his job is that his family could use the college’s pool. “Having access to a pool helped jumpstart me getting into triathlons,” Michelle said.

What followed was figuring out the details – how to put all the pieces of a triathlon together. “I knew how to swim to survive, but I didn’t know how to swim efficiently,” she said. She practiced what she knew at Union and the Community Lap Swim at Schenectady High School.

She had to figure out how to combine all three sports smoothly together to be an effective triathlon competitor. “I would call myself pretty athletic, so adapting to the different sports came fairly easily,” she said. But finding the right resources did not. Given the overwhelm she experienced navigating her entry into the sport, she and a business partner started Empire State Endurance, a one-stop shop for finding the tools of triathlon success. This endeavor feeds her passion for athletics, coaching, nutrition and healthy living. 

The triathlon community was a huge help and an important piece of Michelle’s expanding athletic development. She belongs to the Bethlehem and Capital District triathlon clubs. “Tri clubs have been extremely supportive… unmatched,” she said. 

It was in September 2023 that Michelle took the plunge, literally and figuratively, when she entered the warm waters of Sleepy Hollow Lake for the Greene County YMCA Triathlon in Athens. “I’m pretty sure I did a lot of breaststroke and doggy paddle,” she said of the 350-yard swim. Friends had come to cheer for her and Travis, who was also competing in his first triathlon. This event finished with an 11-mile bike ride and 3.1-mile run, “The perfect distance for a first tri,” Michelle said.

She came in first as the overall female winner. “After that, I knew I wanted to try a 70.3, so I set my sights on one,” she said. She prefers longer distances requiring endurance to shorter ones that demand an extreme, all-out effort. Spurred on by her first triathlon and the support of Travis and her dad, she began training for a 70.3 (aka half Ironman), completing her first, the Tupper Lake Tinman in June 2024. After finishing another 70.3, she joined the Electric City Masters Swim at Union College to increase her skills and time. That training paid off. 

So did working with cycling coach Andy Ruiz of Delmar, who took her from being a casual rider to a serious cyclist after he began coaching her in 2024. They talked about what bike she would buy and getting a bike fit. Andy implemented a regimented training program with longer cycling workouts while at the same time getting her comfortable riding on the roads. 

The Path to France – In July 2025, the Ironman 70.3 Musselman in Geneva, her second triathlon of that distance, turned out to be a pivotal moment in Michelle’s athletic career. Her 5:39:16 finish time qualified her for the Ironman 70.3 World Championship in Nice, France. “I was extremely honored to be able to qualify, even if it was just with the rolldown,” Michelle said. A rolldown is when a sponsoring organization reallocates unclaimed qualifying spots to other athletes based on their times. 

Coach Andy was surprised at her qualification after such a short time, but credits Michelle’s willingness to put in the training time and dedicate herself to difficult workouts to earning her a spot in Nice. 

The decision to compete is a colossal one for many athletes, given the intricacies and expense of travel. Moreover, Michelle had never been to Europe. Up until that point, her travel abroad had been limited to Caribbean cruises with family. However, she was willing to leave her comfort zone to compete in this event, which drew 6,450 athletes from 130 countries, including 150 elite athletes. “To be with pro athletes to compete was incredible,” she said. 

The Road to France – Training became her priority, expertly balanced with work and family. “I was extremely nervous for the bike,” Michelle said. “I had never done a course like this, and I’m not a strong bike handler.” She was right to be concerned. Created to be different from the flat courses at recent championships, organizers designed Nice’s 56-mile course for drama. It took cyclists away from the turquoise waters of the Côte d’Azur they had just exited through a long and strenuous roughly six-mile ascent of the Col De Vence. The climb through the rugged mountain landscape dotted with Provence’s old-world villages that hug the mountainsides has an average grade of 6.6 percent with some portions of 10-12 percent. This segment of the bike course afforded the strongest contenders the opportunity to build a gap between themselves and their rivals. 

Fortunately, Andy had watched his wife previously compete in Nice, giving him familiarity with the course. He tailored Michelle’s workouts accordingly, looking for longer, hillier rides, for example, in Voorheesville’s Thacher Park where there’s a four-mile ascent to the top of the park. They also worked on the descent to prepare her for the hairpin turns on the technical course in France.

“He made my bike workouts harder than they’d ever been before,” Michelle said. “He’s a phenomenal bike coach, and I got my bike level to where I needed to be so that I could achieve this is France.” 

Andy praises Michelle’s commitment. “As far as coachability, she’s really unbelievably coachable,” he said. “She asks questions, she doesn’t make excuses, she doesn’t miss workouts, and I’m really proud of her for that.”

Michelle hadn’t swum in the ocean before Nice, but she had the opportunity to practice on the boomerang-shaped course before the race. On race day, with a feeling of nervous excitement, she took the water and was happy with her 44:52 swim. Then it was off to transition for the longest and most arduous part of the race.

Even with her demanding training, the bike still made her extremely nervous, ironically not because of the rest-free ascent, but due to the downhill ride. “Going up, it was totally doable,” she said. “On the descent, I was really afraid that I was going to go over a cliff.” To stay safe, she forsook the area’s iconic panoramic views of the Mediterranean coast to keep her eyes on the road. 

She was ecstatic when it was over because all she had to do was run the mostly flat, spectator-lined 13.1-mile course along Nice’s famed Promenade des Anglais. “The crowd was unbelievable, she said. She could hear Travis cheering but didn’t know where he was. “Running up to the finish line and the big arch they had… I can’t even put it into words. It was a remarkable experience, breathtaking experience.” 

Lessons Learned – “I learned that I can literally do anything that I set my mind to,” Michelle said. “I was really scared to do the race I did on Saturday [Sept. 12]. There was a chance I could die. When I finished this bike course, I knew I could figure out anything and do anything.” Her advice for others who are thinking about triathlons: “They absolutely can do it,” she said.

For next year, competing is up in the air. She’s thinking about doing Eagleman 70.3 again in June 2027 to try for a personal record of 5:15, and if she qualifies for worlds again in Chattanooga, TN in August 2027, she’d go. “I have no desire to do a full Ironman…ever,” she said. But you must wonder… Didn’t she say, she’d never swim?

Joanne E. McFadden (mcfaddenfreelance@gmail.com) is a swimmer and distance walker who gets immense pleasure being the swimmer in relay triathlons with her family and friends. She will not run…ever. Bike? A dubious maybe. She lives in Charlton with her runner husband, Scott.