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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Thursday, June 19, 2008

FITNESS PROFILE
Fitting in fitness

How do you keep fit? Visit our discussion board to share health tips, diet secrets and physical activities that help you stay in shape.

By Mike Gordon
Advertiser Staff Writer

Hawaii news photo - The Honolulu Advertiser

Krishna "Kris" Chatterjee of Waimanalo tries to run or swim every day as part of his fitness regimen.

Photos by DEBORAH BOOKER | The Honolulu Advertiser

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KRISHNA ‘KRIS’ CHATTERJEE

Age: 38

Profession: Clothing store manager

Residence: Waimänalo

Height: 5-feet-7

Weight: 155 pounds

Workout habits: Running three to four days a week, swimming two to three days a week, Power Vinyasa yoga three to five times a week, and occasional biking, paddleboarding, solo canoe paddling and surfing.

Kris versus daily life: “To me, if I can fit something in, just something, then I feel like I win.”￿

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Hawaii news photo - The Honolulu Advertiser
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Hawaii news photo - The Honolulu Advertiser

Faced with a challenging schedule, Chatterjee hopes to establish a regular routine that includes running and/or swimming on his lunch hour.

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For Krishna Chatterjee, a guy who participates or competes in seven athletic pursuits, the effort that comes with training is nothing compared to the reward of simply doing it.

Without a daily workout, the 38-year-old clothing store manager says he'd feel terrible.

"I would feel that the day got the best of me, and I didn't get the best of the day," he says. "I would be restless and anxious."

Thank goodness he can go trail-running at the base of the Ko'olaus near his Waimanalo home. Or swimming at Ala Moana Beach. Or teach yoga. Or hop on his paddleboard or paddle a one-man canoe. Or surf.

Or enter Ironman triathlons, which means, of course, that he has to bicycle for hours.

"It feels good to get the sun on your skin and sweat and to move," he says. "It makes me that much more happy in my work and my relationship."

But Chatterjee's ability to schedule is about to be challenged. He recently got involved with a new store, Kahala menswear in the Nordstrom wing of Ala Moana Center, and he and his wife are expecting their first child in early July.

"I know that general fatigue and lack of sleep will have a huge impact," he says. "I am going to have to be as efficient as possible."

If he succeeds, he'll set a standard for discipline.

He wants to swim or run — or both — on his lunch hour. He's thinking about riding his bike to work, a distance of about 25 miles. And he might ask his wife to drop him off somewhere on the drive home from shopping in Hawai'i Kai so he can run the rest of the way.

Chatterjee, who recently bought a baby jogger, is already putting versions of his plan into motion.

"We went to a barbecue at my sister's house last week in Kailua, and I literally ran to her house and then I showered before the party," he says.

Chatterjee has been an athlete much of his life. He grew up in Hawai'i Kai, where he swam competitively for Kaiser High School and surfed the local breaks. As he grew older, he competed in run-swim races and six-man canoe races.

In 2005 he finished an Ironman triathlon in New Zealand, following that a year later with another full Ironman in Arizona.

Since then, he's scaled back. Chatterjee says he's less competitive now and considers the road races and roughwater swims he enters "just fun stuff." He also lost 10 pounds when he started teaching yoga.

"Now I kind of do selective races," he says. "Now that I am not competitive, I am going faster than I have ever gone before."

Chatterjee draws inspiration from friends, many of whom are what he calls "pretty hard-core" athletes.

But his best motivation is closer to home. Chatterjee chuckles when he describes it because he's had it easy for nearly nine months.

"One thing that keeps me motivated is that if I take any sort of time off, my wife will kick my butt in anything I do," he says. "She is a surfer and a paddler. She is a gnarly woman."

Reach Mike Gordon at mgordon@honoluluadvertiser.com.