Remember the car commercial advertising the ability to go from 0 to 60 mph in 6 seconds?

It pretty much sums up Paul Brown’s approach to Sunday’s XTERRA World Championship. The director for Kapalua Resort Association went from not doing anything very athletic since moving to Maui 20 years ago to resuming competition with last year’s Honu Triathlon and now the world’s premier off-road triathlon.

"I pretty much went from zero to nine workouts a week," he said. "I hadn’t ridden my bike in 15 years when a friend talked me into doing Honu.

"That same friend talked me into signing up for the at-large entry into XTERRA. I’m looking forward to the challenge."

It will be happening literally in Brown’s backyard. After 15 years of being held in the Wailea area, organizers moved the event north to Kapalua.

The new course appears to be more user-friendly than in previous years, with less lava rock to contend with on the mountain bike and trail run portions. Instead of the drier climes of the slopes of Haleakala, the new course traverses former pineapple fields and the gulches of the West Maui mountains.

It is not, however, without its challenges. Over the 18 miles of the mountain bike leg, the elevation changes more than 3,000 feet, with the running trails dropping several hundred feet and then going back up again.

Brown’s training has been equally undulating. Oracle, the management firm for seven-time Tour de France cycling champion Lance Armstrong, called to say Armstrong wanted to check out the XTERRA course.

"We got some golf carts and drove over to see the course," Brown said. "He wanted to run it. I had already run 12 miles that morning, but there was no way I was going to pass up this chance.

"We ran the whole course and it was such a cool experience. We talked about where he should stay if he came back, things to do. I’m not a big ooh-ahh celebrity guy, but I’ve always been impressed with him, not just his amazing cycling accomplishments but for his Livestrong foundation for cancer research."

It ends up that Brown and Armstrong will be reunited on the course Sunday.

Armstrong, who finished fifth at last month’s XTERRA U.S. Nationals, is a late entry.

"It was his first triathlon in 20 years and it is impressive he finished fifth," Brown said of Armstrong. "Most of the guys there (at the U.S. nationals) will be here. And there will be more of the top international competitors.

"I think (Armstrong) can finish in the top 10 percent. I’ll probably be more around the bottom 60 percent. This is not a local competition. You’re going against the best of the best. I don’t have a lot of expectations."

But Brown already has gained some notoriety. After a pre-ride of the course in July, he and Amy Bennett Eck — one of Hawaii’s top endurance athletes — went out on the course with XTERRA officials, who took photos of them on the trail.

One turned into the promotional poster for the event. A poster that Brown, as part of his job, delivered to businesses in the Kapalua area.

"I got a bit of razzing for that," he said. "But as an amateur athlete, I’m excited about being the ‘poster boy.’

"I think the event coming here is a huge win for Kapalua and great for the west side (of Maui) economically. Hopefully, the course will become open to the public."

Brown, a former high school tennis player and swimmer, has rediscovered his passion for competition. After devoting time to his wife, two young children and business and building a house, it’s as if life has gone from 0 to 60 in just over a year.