As professional triathletes who compete all over the United States and Canada, husband and wife Trevor and Heather Wurtele spend a lot of time traveling.

But the couple never is away from home.

The Wurteles live in an RV, which they drove to Boise on Thursday so they can compete in Saturday’s Ironman 70.3 Boise race.

This will be their second appearance at the Boise race. In the inaugural event in June 2008, Trevor finished ninth in the men’s pro division and Heather took third in the women’s race.

That month was a watershed moment in their lives. Two weeks after racing in Boise, Heather competed at the full Ironman Coeur d’Alene and won the women’s division.

At that time, the Wurteles lived in a condominium in Victoria, British Columbia, and were working fulltime jobs — Trevor as a currency trader and Heather as a scientist.

They caught the RV bug after they traveled to the Wildflower Triathlon in California with friends.

“That’s the Woodstock of triathlons because everyone camps,” Heather said. “After we did that, we said ‘I think we can do this.’”

Heather’s win in Coeur d’Alene kick-started that plan.

“The race winnings from that allowed us to pay off our student loans,” she said. “And we sold our condo and made the leap then.”

The couple kept their day jobs for about six months and saved money while living in the 23-foot RV.

“In February of 2009, we took off south to train and made the commitment to become fulltime athletes,” she said.

“It was a little shocking at first,” Trevor said. “Over the past few years, I’ve kind of grown to love it. It’s always cramped, but having the convenience to go wherever we want, that’s the biggest thing.”

The Wurteles have set up camp in St. George, Utah, where they are training until July. They’ll relocate back to Canada for the rest of the summer.

Their trip from St. George to Boise showed one of the downsides to RVing.

“It cost us $250 in gas to drive up from St. George, which is ridiculous,” Trevor said. “But it’s still cheaper than flying.”

They attach a trailer to the RV to store their bikes and other gear. Plus, they usually are based in places with favorable climates. They’ve also parked in Southern California. They have a scooter to drive so the RV can stay parked most of the time.

“We’re both very easy going and very low maintenance people,” Heather said. “Our living space expands to the outdoors. We cook and eat outside. It’s not like we’re cooped up in this thing the whole time. If we were, that would suck.”

She said the lack of storage for food — the RV doesn’t have a full-size refrigerator — is one of the challenges.

“We have to buy a lot of fresh stuff frequently and there are always piles of fruit on the table,” she said.

When the couple made the move to the RV, they unloaded many of their possessions.

“When we sold everything, we realized how few possessions you need to really live happily,” she said. “By getting rid of all that extra stuff, you become very efficient at focusing on your training. Both of us are getting better and better at consistently performing at the top of the sport.”

Heather has a first and a fourth place in her two races this season, while Trevor has a ninth and a 14th. He’s hoping Saturday is the day he gets a spot on the podium.

“Hopefully this is the race where I put it all together and have a consistent race all the way through,” he said.

“Whenever I’m out there, I’m racing to win,” she said.

Neither would trade their current arrangement for their old ways.

“The biggest advantage is putting 100 percent of your attention on training and being ready to train again the next day and recovering properly,” Trevor said. “You’re taking care of yourself and doing what you need to do to be the best athlete instead of worrying about going to work at 2 in the afternoon and worry about not eating properly at work.”

Nick Jezierny: 377-6420