Ironman Arizona: Where do I begin! What a weekend. I was blown away by the effort of our team, athletes and supporters alike! It was without a doubt the hardest day IMA has ever known. Official reports say that winds on the Beeline were 35 miles / 56 km an hour. Straight head wind out, tail wind back, crosswind in town. Riders were blown over. Tents and boxes flew across the road. The water was choppy which impacted some people, and they were late to start with some athletes not getting to the start line in time. There were a lot of reasons to not have a great day. Our team worked thru it and were epically brilliant! The run was cool, almost cold towards the end. This was probably the only kindness Ironman gave these athletes! What a day! I will also add that from all I’ve seen the winds added 20 – 30 min to the finishing time for most athletes. How you coped in the wind was a factor, but it was slow out there. Athletes I expected to ride close to 5 hours, rode closer to 5:30. In spite of this, our shining moments were many! Grab a coffee and read on! Mary: Mary turned 50. She did IMCDA in 2007. This was her second one. She embraced the training and learned how to “be” an Ironman. Mary learned how to execute and focus on process which was a huge building block for her. She worked so hard on nutrition, as all long course racing in the past left her with terrible vomiting tummy troubles. Her morning was stressful, but she stayed focus on the upcoming task. With no warning, Mary had a panic attack in the water. She thought her day was done before it started. Somehow she found “something” to get going again. Just like that, she was off and swimming. Her swim was faster even with the panic attack! YAH Mary! Bike.. she paced SO well! She said she was passing people left and right on the last lap! She got a lot of support from other racers which is pretty cool. The run..OUT OF THIS WORLD! She never expected to run a 5:30 marathon and for her, the best part is, she RAN it! Pacing, nutrition, mental toughness. Mary ran the ENTIRE marathon apart from an extended porta potty break! She was cheered by crazy volunteers for running thru the last 3 aid stations. She didn’t need to stop. Her finish line run was one of my best moments! The smile, dazed look, amazement, relief… was all in her face as she finished those last few steps. At IMCDA she didn’t feel like an Ironman because so many things went wrong. IMA 2014 was different. This time, she feels worthy of the Ironman moniker! Mary…. You ARE an Ironman, and I could not be more proud. Shannon: This was Ironman #6 for Shannon, number 2 this year with Boulder being the first one. She was not well the days before the race. Saturday night I received a text that she didn’t know if she could do it. Shannon was SO busy at work leading up to this race. Nothing was easy. She did all she could, and the last few weeks found “time” to get some big workouts in which is literally impossible. While prep wasn’t ideal, I knew that the years of training she had under her belt would give her something that only years of training can give. I was right, and I couldn’t be happier! Shannon had a 24 min Ironman PR!!!! She said after “I finally figured out how to run an Ironman marathon”. This was HUGE! Number 6 is in the books. Downtime is on the calendar. Celebrate an EPIC day Shannon that you didn’t believe you could have! (After the race Shannon AND Kelly told me I lied! I told them if there was such a thing as an “easy” Ironman, this was it! Who knew the wind Gods would be SO cruel! Next time you do this race you’ll see Shannon!! I hope there is a next time!) Bradley: The lost soldier! I haven’t talked to him yet in spite several attempts to touch base! Smiles! That’s how I would describe Brad. All smiles. A few days before the race, he was fixing his garbage disposal. Somehow it turned on with his hand inside. He almost lost not only his race, but his career as he’s a dentist. Maybe that brought a new found appreciation for what he was able to do. I’m not sure, but I can tell you that every time I saw him he was smiling! He got a new bike a week before the race. His first Tri Bike! It was a risk to ride it, but one I felt was warranted. I worried about him with the winds, but from all indications he took it in stride!!! Brad worked thru a calf injury that had him unable to run for quite a bit of his build. He managed it well, and got to the start line with healthy limbs! This was his second IM, with IMA 2012 being the first. Brad had a 15 min BEST IRONMAN DAY on THE WORST DAY WITH A SMILE! So proud of you Bradley! Can’t WAIT to chat! Juergen: This was Ironman number 4 for Juergen. His bike strength was unreal coming into this race. I know because I sat on his wheel quite a bit on rides. He has power, and he knew his plan. We did a 4 hour ride at goal watts and he did awesome! He ran really speedy off the bike that day too! The swim start was an issue for Juergen. He got in at 6:45, and the delayed start meant more hanging around.. literally. When the gun finally went at 7:05 he was shaking and cold, and his calves cramped. His swim was done toes down, which is far from ideal. There was nothing he could do. His bike… a comedy of cluster “....’s” impacted his day. He forgot his bike special needs so no back up fuel. All good until one of his Infinit bottles launched off his bike a few miles into the bike. No easy task to get back to get it, but he didn’t have a choice. Then, not much later, his tool hit with all his spares launched off his bike. More time lost to get it. He had no choice. This coupled with the wind made for a tough day. The shining light on Juergen’s day.. his run! He said a 4:30 would be amazing! He was on track until his legs cramped with 2 miles to go. He literally hobbled in the last 2 miles to finish with an IM best marathon of 4:35! Juergen missed his 2012 pr of 11:45 by 22 minutes. On this day, with the crazy stuff that happened, I’d call this a great race! CONGRATS JUERGEN! Kelly: Kelly works in a business where fall is crazy. When she signed up for IMA she thought it would be manageable. It was really only a challenge. The indoor riding was not all that appealing for this Canadian girl either. She trained what she could week after week, and while it wasn’t typical Ironman volume, she was consistent and she hit several of her big rides EVEN when they had to be indoors. I know this was her key to success. This was Ironman number 2 this year for Kelly, and the fitness built to Boulder didn’t disappear. It would give her much needed strength for IMA. Kelly was HAPPY on the bike when I saw her after first lap! NOBODY was happy, but Kelly was! (After the race she had some not nice things to say about the wind!) When Kelly went thru on the second lap of the run, I told her she could break 15 hours! She didn’t seem to believe me, but I knew she could do it! Her polka dot skirt has magical powers! She kicked 15 hours in the butt and Kelly was only 3 minutes shy of her lifetime Ironman best time!! She ran a lot of this marathon in spite of an ankle not meant for running, and her smile at the finish was HUGE! CONGRATS KELLY! (Mitch Cam: Cam wanted this race SO bad. Cam came to me a few years ago with a 6:15 Half Ironman time (My numbers might be off but I’m in the ball park.) and a 2:15 half mary. He has since ran a 5:14 HIM and a 1:34 Half Mary. I could go on about all his “bests” but I won’t. Cam embraced what being an athlete is, and over time he learned to trust process. His number one training partner Rochelle was with him all the way, and on race day, their partnership was evident! They swam the same..within seconds of each other! They biked the same… ended up in T2 at the same time, and were each others biggest supporters! Cam said he lost focus second lap. This is so normal on a typical Ironman day. In the wind, it was almost a given. He found it back, got his head on for a great third lap. On the run, I saw him. He told me he couldn’t take calories in and his stomach was shot. What he was saying didn’t match how he was running. He was running well. Strong, upright, good cadence. This was the case the few times I saw him on the run. Ironman is a day of mental strength, and on this day Cam found it in spades. He worked thru the “crap” to finish sub 12 which was a DREAM for him! Is there more in “his” tank? Absolutely! Was this an UNREAL IRONMAN DEBUT! YES! Congrats CAM! You ARE an IRONMAN! Steven Petrolino: Steven never did a triathlon before St. George in May! That was his first His second, Silverman 70.3! Could he have picked two harder races for his triathlon debut! I think not Steven worked SO hard for this race. His job allows a ton of freedom for training. If anything, he wanted to do more, and in reality, he did a TON for any Ironman. For a newbie Ironman athlete, his load was huge. I kept telling him he would likely find IMA easy after the two 70,3’s he’d done. Little did I know what the winds would bring. Steven used Infinit! He was worried he’s be drug tested and fail! What was in this stuff! Is it legal! He has watts on his bike. We came up with a power plan, and he stuck to it. His avg power and normalized power were within a few watts! Pretty unreal on this day. I suggested he walk aid stations on the first lap, then run them second lap if he felt good! He decided walking them on the second lap was a GREAT idea so stuck with it! Steven, on his third triathlon, and his first Ironman, which Coach A (for Alyson, his wonderful supportive girlfriend) by his side, had the most amazing day! He was steady, strong all day. He finished just over 12 hours, when in reality, he thought 13 was where he’d be. Steven… YOU ARE AN IRONMAN! I’m SO proud of you!!!!!! Tara: Tara had a 22 hour training week a few weeks ago AND not one ride was outside. Yup… she did 12+ hours of trainer rides. (I think it was more than that.) Tara is an busy Mom, she is a professor at the U of C, and this was the end of a crazy year that included a Boston qualifying marathon, a World Championship Sprint race, and an EPIC Ironman in AZ. She said she wasn’t racing much, but the races she did do were big ones! Tara struggles with the swim. A bad shoulder coupled with logistical issues to get to the pool making swimming her biggest challenge. She was very realistic about her swim possibilities, and she nailed it in spite of “the most miserable swim ever”. (Her words.) I’m going to tell you her placings because there is a good story. Tara was 62nd out of the water in her AG. Bike.. she rode to watts. Avg watts at the end of the day were top end of her goal. Normalized power was over her goal. I thought she was under shooting what she was capable of in her plan. I was right!!! The risk with higher watts is a challenging run. Nope.. Tara exceeded what she believed was possible! I had to talk her into running pace for a 4:15. She thought it was too much. I was right! (I really like it when this happens!) Tara ran a lifetime best 4:11 marathon in Ironman number 3. Swim, 62nd, Bike 11th, Run 9th. She ended up 11th in her AG. That swim… it matters but not near as much as the bike and run! A 37 minute Ironman PR! CONGRATS TARA! Brandon aka “Snickers” man! Brandon tried different fueling strategies. One ride he hit Burger King during the ride cause he was hungry! He has a gut of steal except the morning of the race! His tummy doesn’t like race mornings Brandon couldn’t commit to Ironman AZ until July when he found out a capital murder case he is working on wouldn’t go to court until after November. (Brandon is a criminal lawyer.) For 3 months, Brandon rode his bike, ran, and swam. He wanted simple. Nothing to think about. Workouts that took no reading!!! He challenged me as a coach, but he did the work. He got tired. I would try to pull him back to rest, but he didn’t like that. He had a lot of firsts, as all Ironman athletes do, and on race day, he again, exceeded what he believed he was capable of! Swim.. strong! On the second loop of the bike he saw me. His only questions! What was my swim time? Luckily I knew the answer! 1:14! Well done. Bike… my biggest advise to Brandon was please don’t blow up on the bike! He’s a strong cyclist and trusted his two wheel legs WAY more than his running legs! He biked patient! Quite a bit slower than a 112 mile training day he had on the Beeline thanks to the wind. This showed patience and respect for the conditions on the day. Just under 6 hours! His run, he rocked! He hurt, it was hard, but he strategized and got it done! He had his idea of where he’d like to finish, and he did it and then some! Brandon said this was it for him. He’s a one Ironman guy! The day after the race he sent me a text saying “how long am I going to hurt?”! Then he said, I think I could go faster! Ironman might call him back We will see! BRANDON! YOU ARE AN IRONMAN!!!!!!!!!!! CONGRATS! Shawna: I don’t actually know how many Ironman races Shawna has had. I do know this. On this day, she learned how to run off the bike. Not only did she run off the bike, she did it with a smile, with NO gut issues, and she didn’t just break 4 hours, she destroyed it with a 3:55 marathon! HOLY CRAP SHAWNA! A 12 min Mary PR in an Ironman! Swim.. Shawna worked really hard on her swim this year. Long miles, lots of technique work. Her swim time wasn’t as fast as she wanted BUT she said this was the easiest Ironman swim she’s ever done! No fatigue right thru the end. She felt great after. This was HUGE progress! YAH! Bike… Shawna is a demon on two wheels! She out bikes anyone and anything in her way. Her one spot of “weakness” if you can call it that, is she gets nervous in cross winds, on downhills etc. She said she rode scared the entire ride. I think this may have held her back, but at the end of the day, her bike split of 5:24 was top of the Age Group field. This was an easy day on the bike for her. Normally she LOVES the Beeline on Ironman AZ day! It’s her favorite place to be. In 2014 she hated it, but she did AWESOME! Her run.. for the first time she trusted herself. Two friends, Mary and Courtney were running behind Shawna off the bike. They passed her. She thought about going with them but self-talk said “no, run your own race. Hold pace”. She stayed in site of them, and ran her pace with my voice in her head telling her to slow down. As other runners hit the “break down” point at 16 miles or so, Shawna was gaining steam thanks to the patience she showed early in the run. She normally has a “middle marathon meltdown” and the goal the last few races has been to avoid that. IMA 2014, she ran STRONG from start to finish! She passed Mary and Courtney, and they cheered her on! (They both had great races.) For the first time ever, she came off the bike in 7th, and finished in 7th! She did not lose a spot in her AG on the run! How COOL is that! Kona is in her future. She knows how to run. She’ll get there! CONGRATS SHAWNA! Russell: This is a tough one for me. Tougher for him. Russell did the work. Did the training. Worked on nutrition. Learned from race and training experiences. He was biking and running stronger than ever. I know this because I saw him. His focus, determination, desire, want was all in place for his best Ironman. T’s crossed. Two hours into the bike he knew his day would be a tough one. Tummy issues the days before didn’t work themselves out on race day. His gut went South early on the bike, and never gave up the fight. I’m honestly not sure how Russ kept going. DNF was not an option, but with how hard this day was, I would have understood if he took it. I wish I could give him a do-over, but I can’t. Russell is a much better athlete than what he got out of Sunday. For that, I am sad. Recover well Russ. Rochelle: The happy runner! Woot Woot! You might have thought she was in a spin class if you saw her! Rochelle trained with Cam so even though she’s not an official member of TTL, she did all the TTL training so I’m calling her a member of our team! She wore our kit and looked great! She also rocked her day!! Swim.. steady. Right where she thought she’d be. Bike… she rode to the plan. HR was her controller and she used it! Just under 6 hours. Patient. Happy. Enjoy the day! Her run.. she was FLYING!!! Rochelle ran a 3:54 marathon in her first Ironman EVER! Did it get hard, YOU BET! Ironman is NEVER free! Did she push thru.. YES! First Ironman day, 8th place in her AG! 11:23! WITH A SMILE!! She wanted to enjoy the day. That was her number one goal. Holy SMOKES! Did she accomplish that! SO PROUD OF YOU RO!!!!!!!!!! YOU ARE AN IRONMAN! Finally, thank you to our amazing supporters! Danny, Christine F and Nola were here from Calgary to cheer! Mike Felix wore team colors when not volunteering and game all the energy he could to our athletes! Coach “A”, as in “Allyson from Steven camp, proudly wore team colors all day then volunteered at the finish line. Naomi (Team Juergen) was there for all we needed all day, and Olivia donated her day to cheer and support for her “first” Ironman! Andy (Shawna) couldnt stop smiling! Trever was out too to support not just our team, but me, and for that I am thankful. I have a very full heart as I type this. There were many other family members out there whom I cant name, but thank you. Thank you to all of my AMAZING athletes for letting me in on this part of your life. Ironman is never easy, but that’s what make you so special. Enjoy recovery everyone! Thank you for the most amazing day
Posted on: Thu, 20 Nov 2014 16:01:12 +0000
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