Hi I'm Kate "Ktbswx" Bruck.   Welcome to my website!

I am a professional triathlete and certified personal trainer residing outside of Providence, RI.   My journey began as a child when I first saw Ironman Kona (the only Ironman event at the time) on ABC Wide World of Sports.  Standing in awe, I knew I would do it someday and thus began an incredible journey of determination, passion, sweat and heart.  

I was raised mostly in Woodbury, NJ, where I began my competitive swimming and running careers at Greenfields Swim Club and Most Holy Redeemer Track Club.  I excelled in freestyle and breaststroke in swimming and in the 800m track event and 1500m race walk.  At 12 years old, while living in Dayton, OH, I went to the Junior Olympics for the 1500m race walk where I placed third nationally.  I continued racing and swimming through high school. While searching for colleges I knew that I had the talent to swim, but was unsure if I could dedicate the time.  I decided to attend West Virginia University after visiting my sister and I knew it was the place for me.  I had amazing experience, and took time to enjoy, but did not swim competitively.  I was approached several times to walk on the team, but I knew it was not for me.  I joined a sorority, Kappa Kappa Gamma where I met life long friends.  I also met my husband, Rich who is the most amazing man and the best thing that has ever happened to me! 

During this time, I did continue swimming and running road races which brought me tremendous joy.  Soon I sought out to run a marathon and after going into my first training program blindly decided I wanted to get serious and qualify for the Boston Marathon.  I raced my second marathon, qualified for the Boston Marathon and began running with the Jersey Shore Running Club. After finishing the Boston Marathon in 2006, a running friend declared she was going to sign up for an Ironman, and so naturally, having never done a triathlon before in my life, I signed up for one as well, Ironman Louisville.  Why not jump in with both feet...right????  In the summer of 2007 I raced my first iron-distance and despite not having a CLUE about proper training and barely getting through that race, I was hooked!!  I raced Ironman Kentucky again in 2008 and after I finished, spent the evening in the hospital after I was 17 pounds dehydrated.  It was at that moment that I knew I wanted to hire a coach and actually do an iron-distance raced PREPARED!!  

I signed up to race Ironman Lake Placid in 2009, but had to DNF due to an injury caused by a bike crash four weeks before.  I set out to race Ironman Lake Placid again in 2010 and four weeks before that race, exiting the swim of an Olympic distance, I lacerated the plantar fascia in my right foot, had 13 stitches, put in a big immobilizing boot and was placed on crutches.  Tearing apart the tissue on the bottom of my foot created a large mass of tissue to develop, and thanks to the swift work of Dr. Laurie Glasser, Dr. Liz Perez and Dr. Stu Weitzmann, I took my first running steps the night before Ironman LP 2010.  Despite having done nothing but sit on the couch for the last 27 days before the race, I managed to finish in 10th place in my age group through 140.6 miles of tears and pain.  I had more than one doctor tell me that there was a great possibility that the integrity of my right foot tissue had been compromised enough that I may never do anything more than some easy jogging going forward.  With the help of my supportive husband, we found Dr. Geldwert in NYC who used many different alternative therapies to completely heal my right foot.  I hadn't run since I finished Ironman Lake Placid in July 2010, but when my coach asked me in December what direction I wanted to take next, I knew I was going to show fate that I am in control and I set out to qualify for the Ironman World Championships in Kona.

I trained hard in the spring of 2011 and qualified for Kona first at Eagleman 70.3 and then again a month later when I placed second in my age group at Ironman Lake Placid.  Seven weeks later, I cruised into a picture-perfect Ironman Kona finish and a new PR by over 16 minutes!  Reflecting on all of the hard work that got me to that point, it was in finishing Kona that I had an "a-ha" moment and realized that circumstances, good and bad are brought to us for a reason and these circumstances can either be what holds us back or helps us grow and move forward.  I knew what I wanted and that was to earn my professional triathlete license!

Back to work in early spring of 2012, I set out for a good race at Rev3 Knoxville and had what I can only say was an amazing day.  Not only because I raced to a finish place that earned me my professional license, but because of the amazing folks at RevolutionThree Triathlon...and the rest, as they say...is history!!  

Dream it, believe it, ACHIEVE IT!!