Ironman Coeur d'Alene

Ironman Coeur d'Alene was a great race venue with fantastic support. I'm glad that I made this last minute decision and raced here. The course is nice and challenging, it has everything that you need for a good day.

The swim was two loops in Lake Coeur D’Alene and the water temperature was about 62 degrees. I finished in 15th position and headed out to the hilly bike course. I rode a good, steady peace and felt really good at the first half of the bike. I pushed it hard and moved up to 5th. But around 75 miles I started to lose power and my energy was gone. I focused on fueling and hydrating well and I took enough calories but my body just didn’t collaborate.

I started to run and wanted to pick up the pace to gain back some time on the lead. My legs felt good and light but the power was missing. On the second half of the run I had to fight for 6th place while I took bathroom breaks but I managed to finish 6th after a tough race.

I’m thankful for all the support I got from my friends and supporters! I couldn't have done it without my sponsors: Zoot Sports, Swift Carbon bikes, 3T Cycling, SW Realty and Property Management - Phoenix, Ignite Naturals, SPIUK, XTERRA Wetsuits, ISM SEAT, Continental.

Special thanks to our host family, Dixie and Roger, and to their four legged friends, Turbo, Tenga, and Jackson for sharing their home with us. They made our first IM CDA experience really nice and smooth. We enjoyed every minute of it!

Ironman 70.3 Kansas

The race started well despite the fact that it was only a handful of people who I could swim with. Right after the start I caught up with a swimmer and was able to draft until the last few hundred yards. I exited the water in 8th position, 3 minutes back to the first big group. It was considered a good swim for me.

The first ten minute on the bike was about to pull myself together. As soon as I had a sip of my GSH Ignite Pro Series drink, my body suddenly woke up and I started to push. I moved up on the bike and entered T2 in 4th place.

The leaders, Alexander and Bretscher were more than 5 minutes ahead but I knew I was within 1 minute back to Hadley who ran in 3rd postion. I didn’t want to go all out at the beginning of the run so I was glad that I caught him quickly. I passed him but he didn’t fall back and maintained a 10 sec gap between us.

My body and my legs felt good but I wasn’t ready for him to attack me back. He increased his pace at around 9 miles and I just couldn’t respond. Although he slowed down in the last miles, I couldn’t catch up and he finished 34 sec ahead of me.

Overall I had a good race: a 26 min 28 sec swim, a 2 hour 11 min bike and a 1 hour 18 min run. Compare to my last year’s 9th place I got 4th this year and my times improved significantly too.

Thanks to the useful guidelines from Ignite Naturals, my nutrition plan worked perfectly!