Iron Fit Blog
July 2014
We have a lot more race results to report and an Ironman on the horizon!!
Here we go…
On June 29th, Susan Roman competed in the Challenge AC Aqua Bike. This was held in Atlantic City by the same company that puts on the Roth Challenge in Europe. A legendary race that just had its 30th anniversary. Susan had just finished a HUGE training weekend up in Lake Placid the weekend before doing the Challenge AC, which made her phenomenal performance even sweeter! She rocked the WETSUITLESS swim with ease as well as the bike, finishing 2nd in her age group!!! This just proved to Susan and myself just how fit she has gotten this year! She will be competing in Ironman Lake Placid this Sunday and I know she will have an awesome up race there!
Christa Dwyer (pictured on the podium) competed in the North Fork triathlon on July 13th and finished 2nd in her age group! Christa improved over last years’ overall time by 11 minutes in this sprint triathlon!!! That is a HUGE improvement. Christa has been doing fantastic in training as well as in the weekly summer run series, so this improvement in the Mighty North Fork is NO surprise! She will be competing in Ironman Florida this November!!
Another athlete, Laura Giardino, whom I have been coaching in the swim, not only completed the race, but finished first in her age group! Laura has made HUGE gains in her swimming ability. Go Laura!
Frank Fiorello headed up to Musselman to do the half ironman. If you haven’t heard, a tornado touched down that morning. The swim was horrendous, with many people "DNF’ing" and staying to volunteer for those who forged ahead. Frank was one of those athletes who continued to race in the down-pouring rain and howling wind! Frank had a phenomenal day up there toughing out a grueling day! He then completed a sprint triathlon down in Florida the next weekend. He said that it was 92 degrees at 7:30AM! Frank did awesome placing third in his age group!
Back to my roots:
Even I have race results to report! On July 9th, I revisited a favorite race of mine from the past. The last time I did the Pat Griskus sprint was back in 2007. I was 30 years old, training for Kona and defending my win from the previous year. After training with many of my athletes this season, I decided to test my fitness again this year. I was surprisingly nervous for this short race and even more so when the race director approached me to welcome me back and to ask me if I was “going to have a fast day today?” I honestly did not know what to expect. I knew I just didn’t want to embarrass myself! Needless to say, I found myself a minute back from the lead woman off the bike, not only because of my rookie mistake of a dropped chain, but also because the woman who passed me out there on the bike was much stronger than me!. When I exited T2 and heard George yelling out to me that I was a “solid minute behind”, I thought, “oh no…guess I’ll get second place”. Then something clicked and I said to myself, “no way…I want first!” I went for it on the run, finishing the 5K a minute faster than in 2007 and winning my third Pat Griskus Sprint Triathlon!
This may seem like no big deal. After all, I’ve place 2nd in my age group at the Hawaii Ironman, and 4th amateur woman overall at that big arena. I’ve also placed as high as 4th overall professional woman at Ironman Lake Placid, and 6th overall at Ironman Austria. But this WAS a big deal! It was a fun event and it reminded me of how I started back in 1998 when I had just graduated college and did my first race, a sprint triathlon, winning the race which then got me HOOKED on this sport that I love! This was the reason I got into the sport. I was reminded of that on the course when I passed George and Salty (my dog) cheering me on, and at the awards ceremony talking with old friends of how much fun it can be. So, I will do more of these events that I started with. I may not win them all, but I’ll try my best and it’ll be fun like it was 17 years ago!
Happy training and racing!
Dee
**GOOD LUCK to my Ironman Lake Placid athletes this weekend! I'll be out there on the course cheering you on!!!!!!