Barbara Stagnari did not expect to be making her fifth trip to Kona, Hawaii, next month.
The 53-year-old Mineola triathlete has been there four times — in 2005, 2007, 2008 and 2011 — to compete in the Ironman World Championship triathlon, which consists of a 2.4-mile swim, a 112-mile bike ride and a 26.2-mile run across a notoriously difficult landscape.
But this past January, Stagnari was diagnosed with Graves’ disease, which causes the thyroid gland to produce too many hormones.
While in treatment, she lost 20 pounds and couldn’t ride her bike or run, two of the triathlon’s three components.
“Luckily I found a great doctor, and I did weights and I swam all winter, and then just slowly worked on the run coming back,” said Stagnari, who works as a lifeguard at Jones Beach. “I had no intention of going this year.”
She still traveled to Lake Placid, Calif., in late July for the qualifying Iron Man race.
She placed fifth in her 50-54 age group, two places shy of making the cut for the world championship.
But two people ahead of her declined their spots, allowing her to race on Oct. 10, her 54th birthday.
“It’s not something you turn down, and I’ve been very lucky in order to go,” she said.
Mike Monastero, Stagnari’s trainer, said he was encouraging her to sit Lake Placid out this year because he thought it would be “too much, too soon.” While she took time earlier in the year to recover from the Graves’ disease treatment, it’s generally difficult to get her to slow down if she’s determined.
“Most of the time I spend with her is trying to get her to do less,” said Monastero, who runs Babylon Bike Shop in Babylon. “She’s not afraid of hard work. She’ll go above and beyond anything she’s asked to do.”
Stagnari swam in high school and college, and ran her first triathlon in 1983 upon the encouragement of fellow lifeguards when she worked at Rockaway Beach. Her first Ironman race was in 1995.
She joined the Long Island Triathlon Club, where she met Monastero and other triathletes who became her training partners and friends.
The “camaraderie” of training and racing with other dedicated athletes keeps her motivated, she said. “It’s a lot of fun,” she said. “It’s kind of a strange way to have fun.”
Stagnari typically trains every day, whether it’s a 20-mile run, a two-hour bike ride, or a swim in the ocean or a pool. Jones Beach is a “perfect place to want to work out,” she said, though it’s not easy to work an eight-hour lifeguarding shift after a long run.
Stagnari also coaches swimming at the St. Aidan School in Williston Park and trains youth triathletes. She said she tries to be an athletic role model for her students by working hard herself.
“The kids think it’s pretty neat that you go,” she said. “They think it’s a little crazy, but you hope it inspires them.”
Stagnari’s husband and two of her four children will travel with her to Kona this year.
On her last trip in 2011, Stagnari placed sixth in her age group. Her lifetime goal is to be in the top five at the world championship.
“I don’t know if that’ll happen this time, only because I’m the older person in this age group now,” she said. “But I’ll give it a good shot.”
