"I still get the same butterflies in my stomach, when I'm lacing up my skates, as I did when I was a kid," says Christian Dwyer. "I love the excitement of playing a fast-paced competitive game."
Mr. Dwyer, general manager and senior vice president of MapQuest in Denver, has been playing ice hockey since he was 5 years old. Now 44, he has played consistently in recreational leagues since his 20s, sometimes in three to four games a week. More than an outlet for his competitive energy, hockey is the cornerstone of Mr. Dwyer's fitness. "When time allows, I like hockey to be my primary form of exercise," he says.
When Mr. Dwyer first moved to Denver in 1993, he made friends by showing up at the ice rink for drop-in games. Mr. Dwyer, who stands 1.7 meters and weighs about 80 kilograms, plays right wing, an offensive position. He estimates he's been playing with the same group of guys since 1993. "We're all from places like Boston or Minnesota," says the native of Syracuse, N.Y., "places where hockey was a part of growing up."
Over the years, Mr. Dwyer has sustained his share of injuries while on the ice, including a shattered front tooth, a broken nose, a spider fracture across his ankle and a scar across his eyebrow from a stick hitting just above his right eye.
Last year Mr. Dwyer's hockey workouts were limited, partly because he had his hands full with big changes at MapQuest, including launching a new website and logo. "I probably worked out less last year than I had in previous years because of my demanding work schedule," he says, "but it made exercise and diet become a more conscious effort."
Mr. Dwyer believes the best way to condition for ice hockey is to actually be out on the ice. "Hockey is all about maintaining your skills by actually playing the game," he says. "To me, it's the most fun form of exercise I can think of."
When he isn't on the ice, Mr. Dwyer maintains his fitness level with a mix of running, weights and his other passion—cycling. "My nickname growing up was 'Billy Goat' because I liked to climb." He says he enjoys the work of climbing to the top of a hill on a bike even more than the downhill. "It's that feeling of achievement you get from a workout that makes me push harder," he says. "It's pretty addictive."
Mr. Dwyer plays hockey two nights a week. He plays a drop-in game every Sunday night at 7 p.m., which he says is fairly selective. "You need to be a decent skater to come. If you get out onto the ice and you're not that good, you get ruled out and are asked not to come back," he says.
He is also on a men's recreational league that plays organized games Wednesday nights. Seasons run from October through April and then May through September. Both drop-in and league games are 90 minutes with three periods and about a two-minute break per period. "They don't clean the ice like in professional hockey so the breaks are shorter," Mr. Dwyer says.
All of the ice time means that Mr. Dwyer needs to keep his cardiovascular fitness up. He lives in a neighborhood set at a 1,890-meter altitude where "there's not an ounce of flat land." Running at that altitude with hills takes some serious conditioning, he says. "When I go to New York City for business I feel like I can run forever." Mr. Dwyer tries to get in two 6.5-kilometer runs a week outdoors.
While hockey is his first love, cycling is a close second, Mr. Dwyer says. "Biking for me is very meditative. I can get lost in my thoughts. It's good therapy." He used to ride between 200 to 320 kilometers a week. "Now that I have kids it's a little more challenging," he says. But he still tries to ride 40 to 80 kilometers, or about two to four hours, on the weekends.
Mr. Dwyer spins on a stationary bike in his home for 45 minutes, twice a week, often reading while he works out. He has a Nautilus weight machine and does a 30-minute strength circuit twice a week. His routine usually includes presses, pull downs, curls and various abdominal exercises. "I try to maintain a strong core because I know it will protect my lower back," he says.
Mr. Dwyer grazes throughout the day. He eats oatmeal or Greek yogurt for breakfast topped with flax seed, berries and honey. At around 10 a.m., he will eat an energy bar or a piece of fruit, like an apple or banana.
For lunch, he'll have a turkey sandwich or a chopped salad with bagel chips. At 3 p.m., he has a snack of nuts or another energy bar. Mr. Dwyer says regular snacking on healthy foods helps keep him away from the office vending machine. Mr. Dwyer often eats dinner at the office or out at restaurants for work functions during the week. "I order fish at restaurants almost religiously," he says. "Even when I go to a steakhouse, I order grilled tuna with just lemon and salt." At home, he tries to grill three times a week, making chicken or fish. He snacks on celery with peanut butter or hummus. When out with his hockey buddies after a game, Mr. Dwyer skips the beer. "They heckle the hell out of me," he says. "I tell friends who don't work out not to drink because every glass of beer is like eating a sandwich."
Mr. Dwyer is a bit of a gear obsessive, "I easily have $1,200 worth of hockey equipment alone," he admits. He estimates that his padding (knee, shin and elbow pads; gloves; pants and helmet) cost about $400. His lightweight, carbon-fiber stick cost about $150 and he goes through one stick a year. He recently purchased a pair of Graf 735 skates for $435. Mr. Dwyer spends $500 a season for his recreational hockey league and pays $10 per drop-in game.
Mr. Dwyer also has invested in gear for cycling: his Trek Madone carbon-fiber road bike cost about $3,000, his Specialized mountain bike about $1,600, and his cycling shoes about $150. Mr. Dwyer runs in Asics sneakers and spends about $110 a pair every eight months.
"As I've gotten older, I've realized that sleep is pretty important. I try to get six hours, at least, a night," he says. "When I don't, I'm junk on workouts. I'm not sharp in mind, attitude or spirit."
If Mr. Dwyer only has 30 minutes to work out, he does a five-kilometer run. If he has less time than that, he will lift weights in his home gym or do push-ups and sit ups.
Mr. Dwyer listens to music while he's running, but never when he's cycling, "because I like the wind in my ears when I'm biking," he says. He has an eclectic mix ranging from classic rock bands like Led Zeppelin and Pink Floyd to heavy metal like Metallica and hip hop like Eminem.