Tag: ironmanworldchampionship

What’s my story?

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Readers, forgive me. It’s been two months since my last post. This is the point where you, my readers, absolve me of my blog transgressions. I’ll wait. … Okay, thanks. It’s not that I’ve been at a loss for words – far from it. My draft folder is FULL of the ideas I’ve had since my last post about the Double Anvil. To mention just a few, I’ve got drafts (soon to be posts) about our run across Zion National Park, what our food shopping list looks like, what it’s like to train for a Double Anvil, how to gear up for a …

So you want to qualify for Kona? Consider these 5 key principles

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For many triathletes, the Ironman World Championship race in Kailua-Kona represents the crown jewel, the mecca, the peak, the main event, the…–oh let’s face it, it’s perceived as the ultimate set of bee’s knees for long course triathletes. While not everyone wants to race there, most long-course athletes will speak wistfully of what it would be like (or what it was like) to race K. O. N. A. Several years ago, I announced on this blog that I wanted to qualify for Kona. At that time, I had a very vague (and quite naive) idea of what it would take to find …

Liminal State: What’s next?

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As a young graduate student, I learned about the concept of liminality. In Anthropological theory, liminality is described as a state of transition during rites of passage, such as those associated with the transition from childhood to adulthood. Liminality is a betwixt and between state in which you are no longer who you once were, but you have not yet transitioned into who you may become. The processes we go through to get to and live through a rite of passage changes us: who we are, how we relate to others, the choices we make. Through the performance of rites of passage, we mark our change from one social status into another: child …

Persist, Persevere, Ho’omau: Ironman World Championship Race Report

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“What you get by achieving your goals is not as important as what you become by achieving your goals.”                                                                                           ~Zig Ziglar The Journey is the Reward Now that the big day is a memory, I am struck by what seems like a (now) obvious truth: racing the Ironman World Championships in Kona has never been about the race …

The Click

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You know the moment during a run when you feel the click? Your body smooths into the stride, the rhythm of your footfalls feels effortless, and your mind is focused only on the present. Yup – that moment. It’s absolutely delicious, right? Those are the moments that give us the grit for the tough days because we know that we carry inside of us the potential of the click. The body may shift into gear at any moment. Even if you think the workout or the race won’t get better, just hold on. Wait for it. Stay focused. Stay positive. It just might come. That’s the promise of the …

Last Chances and Lost Causes: 2014 Ironman Louisville

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*Note: This is a race report about my experience with IMLou in 2014. If you are looking for a course overview of Ironman Louisville, please click here. *~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* In the 24 hours after I finished Ironman Coeur d’Alene, narrowly missing a Kona slot by 90 seconds, I hastily decided that I was swearing off Ironman for at least a year. I didn’t want to take the sting of another defeat if it didn’t work out. Again. Again. Again. Three near misses were starting to shake my confidence. And, sitting through three sets of slot allocations was pure torture, feeling like my heart was being torn …

Shifting into Beast Mode

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The Intimidator half iron was a wake up call. While the race turned out fine, I never found “my gear”. You know the one that gets you to the point where you are in BEAST MODE.  During the bike especially, I found that I had limited mental will to push my edge. And my performance shows it. That is not the way to start the season. But, it did remind me that if I wanted my body to go all-in, then I would need to go head first. I came home from the race, and I knew it was time: X-day is here. I’ve written …

What’s Next? The Hail Mary Pass, Of Course

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So, what’s next? After my close call with a Kona qualifying slot at Ironman Lake Placid (race report here), I’ve asked myself this question quite a bit, as have my family and friends. I didn’t make any plans for races after Lake Placid. I poured every ounce of mental energy I had into that race, so when I came up short, I had no idea what the answer would be to this question. The day of the roll down at IMLP, our friend Eric texted John to find out if I nabbed a slot. When he got the news, he …

Making Dreams Real: Kona Report – part 2

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This is the second part of my husband John’s experience at the Ironman World Championships in Kailua-Kona, on October 13, 2013. Part 1 can be found here.  Into T2, and it was time to flip the switch and go do what has always been my best event of the three. My target heart rate for the run was 145 beats per minute (bpm). At the first aid station, I was way through the ceiling at 165. On the bike I was able to offset the heat with the wind and by consuming over 12 water bottles. No, I’m not kidding. …

Chasing Dreams: Kona Report – part 1

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It has been a few months since my husband John finished the Ironman World Championships in Kailua-Kona on October 13, 2012. While it is a little late for a race report, I wanted him to share what he learned with the Running A Life Community. And, I know several of you have asked as well. What follows is his response to our request. Enjoy!   As I exited the water at Dig Me Beach, and shook off the salty Pacific, pieces of my dream fell to the ground and gave way to the reality. In the water, you could see …