Bio: A cancer survivor at 58, Nelson Boyd grew up in the Texas Panhandle town of Borger, northeast of Amarillo. He settled in Denver in 1972 after four years in the Air Force and spent 20 years at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center, retiring as a manager in the patientbusiness office. He and Judith, his wife of 27 years, live in the City Park neighborhood and have three grown children.
The Journey: Boyd played basketball in high school and later in the military but took up the sport of indoor rowing in his 40s, building up his strength and endurance to where in one month in April 2002, he rowed the equivalent of more than 1 million meters - some 670 miles, or about as far as from Denver to Des Moines.
But on Valentine's Day two years ago, his athletic career hit a wall when he was diagnosed with a rare form of abdominal cancer - just a week after a routine physical had found no problems. "I was given a year to live, basically," he says.
Doctors here initially considered surgery, but through an Internet search Boyd's wife found a cancer clinic in Illinois that linked him up with a specialist in Nashville who prescribed an investigative regimen of radiation and chemotherapy.
Through it all, Boyd rowed regularly except on days when he was hooked up to an IV, and today, "I'm going on 19 months cancer-free, and counting," he says. "The fact that I was so well-conditioned really helped me get through all the treatments, and my oncologist said that because I was so lean in the beginning, it really helped the medications go right to the tumor, rather than getting tied up in fat cells."
The Challenge: Since "this cancer thing," says the 5-foot-9, 143-pound rower, his endurance isn't what it used to be. "A 30-minute race, 10,000 meters - they're all tougher now." Still, he realized a long-held dream in February by entering a major international rowing event in Boston, competing in the 2,000-meter sprint. "Picture running a 440 flat-out," he says. "It's that kind of intensity." Rowing against eight other men in his age and weight bracket (50 to 60, under 165 pounds), Boyd finished in a time of 7 minutes, 31 seconds - an average pace of 1:52 per 500 meters, or roughly 10 miles per hour. That put him in last place. But "I was ecstatic," he says. "It was my best time in half a dozen years - even precancer."
The Details: Boyd typically rises at 4 a.m. and gets in a walk and a workout before breakfast, sometimes on the Concept II rowing machine in his basement but usually at the Kinetic Fitness Studio in Cherry Creek. He also works out with weights, focusing on the major muscle groups in his legs, back, shoulders and chest. In addition, on the advice of one of his oncologists, he has adopted a semi-vegetarian lifestyle and cut all sugar out of his diet. "Once it's in your body, sugar is really something the cancer cell breeds off of," he says. -Jack Cox
Exercise
Six days a week, rowing for 40 to 50 minutes, or 8,000 to 10,000 meters, mostly in intervals. Three days a week, weightlifting for 30 minutes, mostly dead-lift squats. On alternate days, isometric exercises with a rope for 10 or 15 minutes.
Diet
A daily pre-workout shake made with 4 strawberries, 1 banana, a half-cup of nonsweetened soy milk, half-cup of orange juice and 1 tablespoon of peanut butter. Breakfast: oatmeal or flax cereal with soy milk, plus whole-wheat toast with sugar-free jam. Lunch: usually leftover fish and leafy greens. Supper: stir-fry veggies, brown rice and baked salmon or seitan, a vegetarian meat substitute.
http://www.denverpost.com/headlines/ci_5936879
Xeno Muller, Olympic gold and silver medalist, indoor rowing, rowing technique.
