After a 15-year triathlon career that saw Heather Jackson win six Ironman and 16 Half Ironman competitions, Heather Jackson has steered her career in a new direction. Once laser-focused on becoming Ironman World Champ in Kona, the 38-year-old has found joy in veering off the pavement and into new dirt adventures as an off-road racer and ultra-trail runner. After being selected for the Life Time Grand Prix, Jackson relishes the new direction, bringing her enthusiasm, positivity, and undeniable physical talent to the gravel community near and far.
When did you start dabbling in gravel?
Last year was my first official year of racing gravel, but I first got a gravel bike in 2019. At the time, I didn't really understand gravel and thought, “Why wouldn’t I just get a mountain bike?” My husband convinced me it made sense because I could go off- and on-road and that I could go farther than on a mountain bike. A gravel bike is similar to what I would normally train on with a road bike, but it opened things up more so we could go anywhere.
Then, when COVID hit, I really fell in love with gravel riding. We were down in Tucson, Arizona, and nobody was supposed to travel or be around anyone else. That's when we started going down to Patagonia, Arizona, in our camper van. We would park it there for a week and just ride. We wouldn't see a single person, and we would be on these endless dirt roads. From March 2020 until June was really when I fell in love with gravel.
What are your plans for 2023 in gravel, trail running, and beyond?
My biggest goal for the first half of the season is the Unbound-Western States double. Those are the two events that I’m really targeting. I will be at Sea Otter for the first Life Time Grand Prix race and I'll be at BWR San Diego. But my training heading into April, May, and June is all focused on Unbound and Western States.
I meant for this to be a transition year where I would maybe still race a couple of Ironmans or other events if they fit in. I’m still trying to finalize the second half of the year besides the Grand Prix, but right now, I'm totally focused on June.
You’re leaning toward focusing mostly on gravel and trail running?
Yes. I talked about it before COVID hit, and I was originally planning for Kona 2020 to be my last World Championships, and then I would start to dabble in some of these events. Then 2020 was obviously canceled, and I thought 2021 would be my final season. And then, in 2021, they canceled Kona a month out, and I had planned my whole year around it. I was pissed.
I felt like I was missing out on a lot of other events that I had wanted to try while I was still in prime racing shape. In 2022, I still wanted to give Kona one more go, but I also wasn’t willing to skip some of these gravel events again.
At that point, my mindset was that doing gravel events wasn't showing myself or my sponsors that I was all-in on Kona. But I actually had the exact opposite response from my sponsors. They thought it was amazing. I’m very grateful for that, and it helped me make that shift seamlessly. More people are shifting to some of these new events and are totally into it. That helped me massively.
Where is your favorite place to ride?
Bend for riding both road and dirt but moreso for the dirt up there. There are endless gravel roads and there is so much to explore. I haven't even seen the smallest bit of it yet, and I've been living there for ten years. I just love the off-road options.
Tucson is pretty good too. But when we're here, we like to go down to Patagonia, Arizona, which is only about an hour's drive. Down there, the gravel riding is insane.
Where is the coolest place racing has taken you in your career?
Two years ago, I raced Ironman Spain in Vitoria, which is in Northern Spain [in the Basque Country]. It’s basically the wine region by San Sebastian. I went there for the race, and it was incredible, even though I don't speak Spanish. It was possibly my most memorable and favorite Ironman race in 15 years of racing. It's beautiful and the people just love the event. It was insane. The crowd was ten people deep on the run course, just cheering the athletes on. I was blown away. I had no idea.
What was your favorite part of that trip aside from the race?
Oh, the food. 100 percent the food. The tapas, the small plates they are known for. I don’t speak the language and had no idea what the food was, but we just started ordering random stuff. You'd order a glass of wine, and they put an entire bottle down on the table. The meals and food and drinks were such fun. And, you don't eat dinner until nine or ten p.m. because the restaurants don't even open 'till late, so it was just experiencing a whole different way.
You mentioned you don’t speak Spanish, but do you speak any other languages?
I studied Japanese in junior high, high school, and part of college. I actually studied abroad in Japan, and I can speak some Japanese. It's been 15 years since I was over there and immersed in it, so I need to brush up on it for any Shimano-related discussions, haha.
In Kona, there's always a massive Japanese population that comes over, so I get to use it randomly. The semester I studied abroad was probably the coolest timeframe of my life.
What’s the last good book you read?
I read a lot, but a bunch of it is trashy chick romance novels.
I do have one that I just finished, and it was really good. It was a new book by Lauren Fleshman called Good for a Girl. I wasn't sure what to expect, and I wasn’t sure how extreme it was going to be on the feminist side, but it was done so well, so well written. I finished it in one day.
Are you more of a fiction or nonfiction person?
Right now, when I'm in a big training block, I'm more fiction. Just a lot of easy-to-read, don't really have to think about it books. If I had my choice and had a fully functioning brain that wasn't tired from riding all day, I would pick nonfiction all day long.
I taught history for two years right out of college and I've always liked history books, biographies, and books where I am learning something. But during training, it's hard. Half the time, I try to dive into something nonfiction but feel like my brain is not functioning at full capacity.
Do you use reading as a way to unwind and recover during hard training blocks?
Yes totally. I will train hard all day, and then I will take a lot of Epsom Salt baths. I just put my phone down and take a bath and read an easy book. Unplug and relax most afternoons actually.
What’s your favorite non-athletic pastime?
That's tough! It's always been something athletic. I grew up playing soccer and ice hockey at pretty high levels and that was literally all junior high, high school, and college. I got into triathlon the year after college, so it was triathlons for the next 15 years. Now I'm gravel racing and ultra-running, but that's all kind of super competitive.
In the winter, going snowboarding or going up to the mountain and hanging out is the most relaxing, non-competitive thing I like to do. I also do a lot of yoga.
When you're doing something like yoga or snowboarding, does it factor into the grand scheme of training, or are you doing it simply for the enjoyment of it for what it is?
Those are more about enjoyment. Especially yoga when they talk about the idea of "being in the moment." I think it's good for me to practice that because I'm not the best at it.
Who is your inspiration?
My husband Wattie inspires me every day. He's the hardest-working person I know. He used to be a domestic pro cyclist, and now he does a lot of my rides with me. If I'm running and not riding, he's on the bike next to me. He does all my YouTube videos and a ton of media and marketing stuff. He’s dealing with my sponsors and building and fixing my bikes. He’s also running his own company. He doesn't sleep much, usually from midnight to 4 am.
Sometimes I think I'm tired from a bike ride, and then I'm just so amazed by what he can do in one day. 99% of it is for me, and he's dedicated ten years of his life to making this partnership work. It’s really inspiring and helps me put that much into training and preparation and leave it all out on the racecourse.
What are you looking forward to most about the Life Time Grand Prix?
I’m looking forward to being a part of a series. I followed it all last year and loved the different changes each race created depending on what courses suited each rider.
I love watching Drive to Survive, the series on Netflix that follows each Formula 1 season. They cover all the drivers and the drama with the cars and motors and crashes. You follow the whole season, getting to know the different drivers, the teams, and the mechanics. The year-long series for Life Time feels kind of like that, where you get to be a part of something ongoing.
How does the atmosphere between the Life Time Grand Prix and an Ironman compare?
For me, going to Unbound last year was my first gravel event. It reminded me of Kona ten years ago when it was super grassroots. Everyone was pumped on it excited to be there. Everyone was out walking around the expo and going on rides. It was so laid back and people were just there for a great weekend. So yeah, it reminded me of Ironman ten years ago.
You've had a stellar triathlon career from a results perspective. Would you say results are your metrics for success, or do you have other ways to gauge that now?
I think it's changed. My entire triathlon career was just results, results, results. “I want to win this race. This is my goal. I want to win Kona. I want to be Ironman World Champion.” That drove me for 10 to 12 years. My whole season was based on one day in October, and my result on that day was basically my result of the year. It was how I measured how the season went.
I don't know if it's just the shift in sports, my age now, maturing, or being a seasoned athlete, but it's changed to sharing the journey and sharing what I'm doing. I still want to have good results. But hopefully, I can inspire others and be a role model to inspire younger women. There are other things that I'm doing to try and weave in beyond just results.
With that in mind, what would a successful 2023 gravel and dirt season look like for you?
Event-wise, I'm targeting Unbound and Western States. Those are the ones that I want to have great results at, and I want to put my best foot forward and peak there. I do care about the other races, but it’s also about inspiring others to come and try these gravel events. Get people from the triathlon world excited to try some trail runs. Inspire people to not get stuck in a bubble of just training and racing the same things.
Success would be seeing more new people try something new, try something different, and challenge themselves. I want to inspire people to do all these new things and enjoy them. We also have an age group triathlon team, so we want to be at some team events, be at the meetups and group rides, and be a part of the community throughout the season. I want to be present and a part of the whole thing, rather than success being just results based.
