Meet John Van Lieshout

All Ambush swimmers and local swim enthusiasts have the great opportunity to meet John Van Lieshout, an avid, and epic triathlete from Livingston, Texas. You’ll find John either pounding the pavement, on a training run, cranking out many miles on his bike or traveling the hour long drive to Lufkin to swim the many laps it takes to be a triathlon athlete.

John’s latest conquest took him to Indian Wells, California for his fourth tri competition at the CA location. He placed first in his age group for this monumental race. If you are unfamiliar with the 70.3 distance Triathlon, that is 1.2M swim, 56M bike ride, 13.1M run…and many hours of rest and recovery. This is not for the unprepared athlete.

John’s training for this distance of race is quite a bit more volume. It takes long hours of each discipline to be a champion. And John is a consistent and reliable friend to the roads and pool that help create the canvas for his ultimate triathlon masterpiece.

His advice for training include, “just keep going and keep taking in fluids.” Most athletes and non-athletes don’t realize how dehydrated we are on a given day. Feed your body the liquid it needs!

John’s thoughts during a race are to find “massive inner peace, knowing you (push like you’ve) left it all out there!”. Training helps you push your mind and body higher than you thought possible.

Van Lieshout wants you to know to set goals high and achievable. His hard work isn’t over, and now it’s time to aim for his next goal of World Triathlon Championship Iron Man 70.3 in Spain November 2025.

If you want to find John, you’ll have to work hard to catch him on the road, on the bike, or in the pool. But if you want to find him standing perfectly still…just look on the podium. Best of luck in your next big race, John Van Lieshout of Livingston, Texas.