When he's not working with the Notre Dame men's swimming team, volunteer assistant coach Josh Skube competes in triathalons.

Notre Dame Iron Man Josh Skube

Feb. 10, 2011

By Lauren Chval

Nothing motivates Josh Skube like a challenge.

In 2005, the volunteer assistant men’s swimming and diving coach ran his first ever triathlon on a dare from his brother-in-law who was a runner in college.

“It was like, I’m a swimmer, you’re a runner, let’s see what happens,” Skube says. “I just got the bug–you get bit by it. The triathlon takes over.”

Skube has been coaching at Notre Dame since his wife decided to attend graduate school for biochemistry ten years ago. He helped out with the women’s team for four years until a coaching change allowed him to joins the men’s coaching staff.

“I felt that I should verse myself in both sides,” he says. “They’re not that much different but having some men’s experience and some women’s experience would help open up those types of positions to me.”

He has found in the last six years of coaching the men that it takes different tactics to motivate men and women. He jokes that he can get in the faces of the male athletes a little more, but running triathlons gives him a coaching edge that is universal.

“I put myself through the pain and everything that goes with training and exercising like that,” he says. “I know what I’m putting my athletes through. I think they understand that as well. I’m telling them to do something they understand I’m not just doing it for giggles.”

And Skube does push himself as hard as he pushes his athletes. He trains throughout the year for the summer, when he tries to compete in four different triathlons. His schedule at Notre Dame is loose enough to allow him to workout twice a day if necessary, something he says wouldn’t be possible if he word a “9 to 5 job.”

Skube has been a swimmer all his life, starting in high school and competing through part of college and part of graduate school, but he didn’t start running until he trained for a Chicago marathon with the girl’s swim team in 2004 and he didn’t start cycling until the year after that.

“Biking was the last frontier for me,” he says. “It’s the one that’s the most time consuming. But that is probably the most enjoyable for me even though I’ve been swimming my whole life. Cycling is great and I’m still picking that one up and improving in that area.”

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In 2010, Skube made his first attempt at a half Ironman competition which includes a 1.2 mile swim, followed by a 56-mile bike ride and a half marathon.

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Last year, Skube made his first attempt at a half Ironman, which consists of a 1.2-mile swim, a 56-mile bike ride and half a marathon. He qualified for the world championships on that first try and competed again in November, training throughout the school year to make a better time.

“Hopefully, someday I can do a full Ironman,” he says. “That’s the ultimate goal. I feel like I have some time. For a while I’ve been like, I have to do this while I’m young, but then I get with these guys around the area that are 50, 60 years old and doing the Ironman. So I tell myself, just be patient, don’t hurt yourself.”

During the summer, he stays home with his two daughters, who are eight and five. To train, he sets a stationary bike in front of his TV while they play. Even more enjoyable for his girls is when he takes them to campus with him while he trains.

“We’ll come over to campus here, and they’ll be able to zip up and down the sidewalks,” Skube says. “I can have a pretty big line of sight on the quad.”

He does not want to push swimming or cycling on them, but he does want them to experience everything. Skube tries to find that balance, saying parenting is like “a real life science experiment.”

Regardless of whether or not they follow in their father’s footsteps, his daughters are undeniably proud of him.

“My youngest daughter is more into getting the medals and trophies at the end,” he laughs. “It’s `Did Dad win?’ Then she brags about me quite a bit when everybody comes by. `Hey did you see this?'”

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Skube has served as a volunteer assistant coach for Notre Dame’s men’s swimming team for the last six years.

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There are sure to be many races and medals to come, but no matter the outcome, Skube is glad to have gotten into triathlons after his brother-in-law’s challenge.

“I’d always been somewhat jaded to the triathlon because I’m a swimmer, and it didn’t seem very fair, the swimming is the shortest part,” he says. “I always thought it should be more balanced, and I never really got into it. But when he challenged me I did, and I’ve been into it ever since.”

He is also sure to mention that in that first race, he came in second of 150 runners. His brother-in-law came in third. Now he just looks forward to the next challenge.