After heart attack, Massapequa Park man ready to take on Long Island's first Ironman triathlon at Jones Beach

Laid out in his hospital bed just days after the heart attack that could have killed him, Vince Feola had a question for his doctor.

The Massapequa Park man had gotten to the hospital quickly, having taken heed of the warning signs. That helped him avoid any serious, lasting heart damage — despite the fact he had, among his blockages, a condition known as “the widow-maker.” The implant of five surgical stents surely helped.

All of which, the doctor had just told Feola, meant his heart was basically now good as new.

“I’m in my hospital bed,” Feola recalled of that morning in August 2020, “and I said to the doctor, ‘So, what’s going to be my limitation?’ He said: ‘Nothing.’"

Feola remembers thinking, "The one thing I wanted to do my whole life was a triathlon, so I said, ‘How about an Ironman Triathlon?’ He said: ‘Do it.’”

Feola said he now figures the hospital staff back at South Shore University Hospital — then, South Side Hospital — in Bay Shore, had no idea he was serious. But he started training — first walking, then running, and then adding biking and swimming to his daily and weekly regimes.

And when The Ironman Group and the Long Island Regional office of New York State Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation announced a deal earlier this year to bring the first-ever Ironman Triathlon to Nassau County and Jones Beach, it turned out Feola, now 52, had finally found his race.

The inaugural Ironman event will take place Sept. 23.

It’ll actually be a half-Ironman competition — that is a swim-bike-run that is half that of a full Ironman course — and will include a 1.2-mile swim in Zach’s Bay, a 56-mile closed-loop bike course along Wantagh Parkway and a 13.1-mile run along the boardwalk at Jones Beach.

A total of 70.3 miles, in all.

Officials said more than 3,800 triathletes from 40 countries and 41 states have registered to compete.

State officials said the race and pre-event festivities are projected to have a $13 million economic benefit for Long Island.

Ironman spokesman Ryan Lobato said full-distance Ironman triathlons — with longer bike rides, swims and a full 26.2-mile marathon — have been held before in New York State, including an event in Lake Placid and the Adirondack Mountains that dates to 1999 and the Ironman U.S. Championship race in New York City in 2012.

But the Jones Beach race marks the first Ironman event on the Island.

New York State Parks Long Island Regional Director George Gorman said discussions first started in 2019, but were sidelined by the pandemic.

"They wanted into the New York market," Gorman said, "and an event like this is exactly what we’re about, in keeping with all the major events we host. People will come from all over the Island, all over the state, all over the country, from all over the world, and they’ll get to enjoy New York and Long Island, our hotels and restaurants, and they’ll get to enjoy our Long Island state parks."

Gorman said the current agreement with The Ironman Group is for one year, but "our intent is to maintain this as an annual event.”

Among the competitors will be:

• 9/11 first responder Derrick Acker, 58, of Holtsville;
• Former St. Louis Cardinals minor-leaguer and current Long Beach firefighter Maximo Almonte, 31, of Long Beach;
• Golf pro and 2017 LPGA Professional of the Year Kelley Brooke, 53, of Belle Harbor, Queens;
• Former Nicaraguan Olympic swimmer Fernando Medrano, 35, of Managua, Nicaragua;
• Former Miss Universe Rebeca Moreno, 37, of Washington, D.C.;
• Ironman Guinness world-record holder Carlos Omar, 38, of Bay Shore, who once completed 24 Ironman 70.3 half-triathlons in one year;
• Dietrich Bolz, 83, from Conroe, Texas, who’ll be competing with his two sons in a three-man relay.

And there’s Feola, who also plans to run the New York City Marathon on Nov. 5.

Feola grew up in Bethpage and ran at Chaminade High School, captaining a 4x800 relay team that finished third in New York and qualified for the national championships at Annapolis. But, after hurting his knee during an offseason practice freshman year at St. Joseph’s University in Philadelphia, the 6-foot-1 Feola quit running — and his 160-pound frame eventually ballooned to 260.

An IT security senior manager at Northwell Health, Feola began walking to lose weight and get his health back on track, losing 30 pounds as he walked more than 10,000 steps a day.

Then came that day in August 2020.

Though Feola is adopted, his father, Vincent, was 65 when he died of complications from a heart attack. So when the then-49-year-old Feola felt tightness in his chest that evening in 2020, he got in the car and drove himself to Plainview Hospital.

A diehard Islanders fan, he listened to the playoff game against the Washington Capitals on the radio as he made his way up the Seaford-Oyster Bay Expressway, telling himself he was tough as nails, swearing to himself it was all no big deal.

“We all think we’re a tough guy,” he said. “But as soon as the hospital security guard said, ‘Can I help you?’ I practically jumped into his arms and, cried, ‘Please, please help me now. I think I’m dying.’”

Worse, Feola said, was that his wife, Jean, had just finished rounds of chemotherapy and radiation in her battle with breast cancer.

The two have two daughters, Kelly, 13, and Bridget, 11.

Fortunately, the initial treatment at Plainview and the staff at South Shore were able to get Feola and his heart back on track before there was any lasting damage. His current doctor, Northwell Health cardiologist Dr. Alan Jay Scheinbach, who first saw Feola about six months after the heart attack, said his recovery has been “impressive.”

“He really made every effort,” Scheinbach said. “He lost weight, started taking care of himself, watched his diet. He turned himself around."

In his experience, Scheinbach said, he's seen patients go one of two ways after a heart attack.

"Some become what we call, ‘cardiac cripples,’ convinced this is the end — always worried, always having concerns, even when none are warranted," he said. "Others take the opposite approach, ‘The Old Man and The Sea’ kind of thing: fist in the air, ‘I’m going to show God I can do anything.' That’s Vince.”

Feola said he first thought about doing an Ironman when he was a younger man, before he got hurt and stopped running, but he "forgot about it."

"But after the heart attack and I was told there were no limits, it was my first thought: ‘Why not finally do an Ironman?’" he said. "I know the second I said it, my wife was like, ‘Oh God, here we go.’ But she knew. This was just something I needed to do.

“My heart? I don’t even think about that, anymore.”

By John Valenti

john.valenti@newsday.com

John Valenti, a reporter at Newsday since 1981, has been honored nationally by the Associated Press and Society of the Silurians for investigative, enterprise and breaking news reporting, as well as column writing, and is the author of “Swee'pea,” a book about former New York playground basketball star Lloyd Daniels. Valenti is featured in the Emmy Award-winning ESPN 30-for-30 film “Big Shot.”