Nick Schiller sets his black, Asics duffel bag on the table at 10:30 a.m. and begins to pull out one snack after another.

There’s an apple, a banana, pistachios, broccoli, nutritional bars and other healthy foods totaling somewhere in the teens. By 1 p.m., the 23-year-old estimates, he’ll have finished everything in the unorganized pile and still be hungry.

By bedtime, he might have eaten some salad, pasta or chicken too. No red meat though, with the exception of a steak once or twice a year.

“I usually take in 6,000 to 7,000 calories a day,” said Schiller minutes before illustrating his point. “I’m always hungry.”

Dieting is part of the extensive training regimen of the third place finisher at the 2nd Annual Sacramento State Hornet Triathlon hosted by the Triathlon Club. His overall time of 1 hour, 2 minutes and 18 seconds bested his performance last year, 1:07:44, by more than five minutes.

Schiller, a senior kinesiology major, trains an average of two and a half hours a day, six days a week. He works on biking, swimming or running four times a week, two sports covered per day.

“You just kind of mix it up,” Schiller said. “It’s a juggling act trying to balance all three sports because you can’t just concentrate on one sport.”

“Nick, he’s pretty ambitious when it comes to athletics,” said Phillip Ung, president of the Triathlon Club. “He works himself to death. I mean the guy, on numerous occasions, will puke at practice because he works himself so hard.”

Schiller ran cross-country in high school. He got involved with triathlons a little over a year ago. A female friend who was in the Triathlon Club challenged him to a competition. He lost.By his count, Schiller has done 15 races.

In February, he finished 19th at the Stanford Treeathlon. He finished the 500-meter swim, 20-kilometer bike ride and 5-kilometer run in 1:03:03.

In June of 2005, Schiller finished 33rd among collegiate competitors at the San Jose International Triathlon. His time of 2:15:00 included a 1,250-meter swim, 24.9-mile bike ride and a 6.2-mile run.

In April of 2005, he finished 29th at the 2nd Annual UC Davis Sprint Triathlon, 12th in the men under age 23 group. He completed the 500-yard swim, 15-mile bike ride and 4-mile run in 1:13:23.

It’s difficult to compare the scores. Most races include different distances in the three categories. Schiller prefers competitions of endurance, where conditioning can play a larger role than sprint speed.

“I’m fast but I can’t keep pace with some of those guys that are all-out sprinters,” Schiller said. “They just fly. The longer the distance, the better I do.”

Cold spell It hasn’t been all good for the athlete relatively new to the sport. At the West Coast Collegiate Triathlon Conference Championships on March 11 at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, only 99 out of more than 500 people who started made it to the finish line. The average low that day was 44 degrees.

Schiller wasn’t one of the lucky 99. Hypothermia overtook him.

“My hands were blue and they made me stop because I couldn’t keep a straight line on the bike anymore,” Schiller said. “I just got so cold. The cold definitely affects you differently. I’ve done some races when it’s been cold outside and I love it, usually, I love the feeling, but it was snowing during our race at Cal Poly. It’s Cal Poly. Who is expecting that over spring break?”

“He was really disappointed about (not being able to finish) but he woke up the next day and dragged me out on a bike ride,” said Sean Rudden, a Triathlon Club teammate who finished 10th overall with a score of 2:25.57 that day.

The next day, as the two of them went on a bike ride, Rudden was run off the road by a car. Schiller, an EMT, stopped to look over Rudden.

“Right when I crashed he was checking me for a concussion, making sure I didn’t have any broken bones and I’m able to stand,” said Rudden, a senior economics major. “That’s the type of guy he is, he’s making sure everybody is OK. He’s not going to let anybody down.”

Before the race, Schiller, Rudden and another team member drove down to recon the course. They checked out transition areas – first, getting out of the water and onto a bike and second, off the bike and beginning a run.

Shoes need to be loose. The helmet needs to be unbuckled. The bike should be set in the right direction.

Down to scope the course, the three Triathlon Club members also went on a simulated bike ride.

“We wanted to drive the bike course beforehand so we’d know if there are any tough spots, if there were any spots where we had to push ourselves, if there were any dangerous turns so we wouldn’t crash (and) any obstacles to watch out for,” Rudden said. “It’s racing strategy and at the same time, it’s safety.”

The next stepBeyond upcoming races in the West Coast Collegiate Triathlon Conference – a new affiliation of 14 colleges – Schiller is focused on competing in the 16th Annual Half Vineman Triathlon. The July 30 event in Guerneville, Calif., includes a 1.2-mile swim, 56-mile bike ride and a 13.1-mile run. Schiller and Rudden are training for it together. It will be Schiller’s second Half Ironman and Rudden’s first.

Schiller placed third among men 20 to 24 years old in the Half California Ironman on Sept. 17, 2005, in Davis. His time of 5:12:42 covered 70.3 miles and placed him 49th overall.

“I started out perfect, about 60 degrees in the morning, but by the time I was finishing up the race, it was 105 degrees,” Schiller said. “It seemed that at every aid station, I was telling the people to just throw water on me so I could just cool off because it got so hot.”

During a face-to-face interview, the 6-foot-3 Schiller is dressed in an earth tone sweater, blue jeans and Puma kicks. He’s like many students, shouldering a heavy load. He’s taking 21 units that includes an internship at an area hospital; has a the job at Fleet Feet and is in his seventh year with the US Army Reserves – a commitment that includes one weekend a month and two weeks a year.

“I kind of get burnt out at times,” Schiller said.

He talks about taking a year off from college once he graduates and then applying to graduate school for medicine, kinesiology or nursing. In the back of his mind, and maybe after a couple of Half Ironman competitions, he’ll make the next step to a 140.6-mile full Ironman.

It’s tough to get past the unmistakable feeling of completion. It’s why he limits the fast food.

“It’s always great when you’re coming around the corner and you see that finish line,” Schiller said. “You see it and you think you’ve got nothing left, and just pick it up and fly.”

For more information on the Triathlon Club, visit its official Web site.

Details and statistics on the West Coast Collegiate Triathlon Conference can be found at its official Web site.

Nate Miller can be reached at [email protected].