Challenge Roth – Ironman Distance Triathlon 2013
Being so established on the local scene, the race is fully embraced by the community and some 250, 000 spectators line the course on race day to cheer on the 5, 500 athletes. We arrived in Europe on the 1st of July, with the race set for the 14th. The ‘Challenge’ was to fall smack-bang in the middle of our honeymoon and while continuing to look after myself and keep things ‘ticking over’ whilst we were in London and Switzerland, I was determined the race was not going to dominate our holiday. Hipoltstein is right on the bike course of the race and is most famous for being the site of the ‘Solar Berg’ hill where 15, 000 spectators line the incline during the event. The Felhners have lived in Hipoltstein their whole lives and know everybody and they made sure my support crew for the race included the mayor, the local fire department and the ‘shwimmingbad’ staff. With my extreme lack of bike riding, we knew I was not in peak form, however if sensible could salvage a good race. The race start at ‘Challenge Roth’ has to be seen to be believed! Race morning dawned a beautiful day and hot air balloons hovered overhead as we lined up to start the swim in the canal. Despite feeling like I swam well on race day, I recorded my slowest Ironman swim ever! Looking back, I believe I made several avoidable, logistical errors in the swim that cost me a lot of time, which are most likely a result of limited racing experiences over the last few years. Ironman finishes are not easy and the finish line needs to celebrated, no matter what state you are in or how the race went! For me, it has been five years since my last IM finish and with several surgeries, ross river virus and other life changes I did doubt at times I would ever do another, so this was very special to me. To me, Ironman is more about the journey rather than just race day and this was very special to me as it had been so long and I got to share it with my husband. I feel so lucky to have been able to compete at Challenge Roth, it really is the best race in the world and it is impossible not to have fun on this course! Come and race here if you get the chance! I am also very proud of my race as I managed to have a relatively good one due to patience, gratitude and a smart race plan, rather than being in top condition.
James Madison University’s Be the Change
Recently, we received an update from Be the Changer Matt Miller’s C-Different Foundation, an organization that assists visually impaired athletes to live active lives through sports. On May 1, 2010 the national and international governing bodies of the sport of triathlon began enforcing a new rule whereby all blind and visually impaired athletes wishing to be considered for national and international competition recognition must wear blackout goggles or face automatic disqualification from competition. The rule, it was argued, would enable blind and visually impaired triathletes of various visual acuity to compete on the same level which would attract more blind and visually impaired athletes to the sport in turn raising the percentages for triathlon to become a Paralympic sport in the near future. C Different founder, Matt Miller, put out the clarion call to blind and visually impaired athletes, guides, and supporters to stand up in solidarity against this rule by agreeing to participate in the New York City Triathlon. As the number of blind and visually impaired triathletes agreeing to race grew so did the demand to find sighted guides, tandem bicycles and other equipment. In total, 31 blind and visually impaired triathletes from the United States and Canada registered to race. Many of them had never met a blind or visually impaired person and did not know they raced in triathlons, but were extremely supportive and stated the rule was ridiculous and should be changed. Leading up to the triathlon and throughout the weekend, newspaper articles, radio stories, and television segments were dedicated to shining a light on the rule’s impact on the blind and visually impaired as well as the steps which the C Different Foundations athletes and volunteers had taken to denounce it. USAT officials admitted they were unaware of how many blind and visually impaired triathletes compete in their events, but the strong showing at the New York City Triathlon, which serves as the PC National Championships, opened their eyes. Wherever there are rules and mindsets yet unchanged which discriminate, the C Different Foundation athletes, guides, and volunteers will be there speaking and displaying that blackout goggles do not hurt a race category or a list of names on a page.
The Strong Triathlete
Ah yes! America’s favorite pasttimes and popular team sports have been kind enough to bestow upon endurance athletes their secret training plans and top exercises for producing bulging biceps, a massive chest, sky-high vertical jumps and thunder thighs. The traditional strength training programs utilized in America for team sports are nearly universally prescribed for triathletes, cylists and marathoners by most coaches and popular training manuals. Many of the strength training programs on the market today are too involved for the average triathlete – too much time, too much complication and too many exercises. Just imagine if there was a workout program for triathletes that not only used exercises that were precisely designed to strengthen the exact muscles used during swimming, cycling and running, but also had the distinct goal of accomplishing every aspect of resistance training within a brief 20-30 minute time span. Over nearly a decade of training hundreds of different endurance athlete body styles and fitness levels, I have developed a list ofproprietary exercises that offer you, the busy triathlete, a fast and highly effective way to stay fit! Into twelve separate and highly effective strength training workouts. How to incorporate each of the 12 workouts into your yearly endurance training routine. For a limited time, I’ve decided to release these very same secrets, tips, and tricks that I use personally with the endurance athletes that I coach in Spokane, Washington and the athletes that I coach online from all over the world! But rather than paying thousands of dollars to fly to my city, meet with me personally and go through 12 separate personal training sessions, I’ve created a very attractice and much more affordable online alternative. With these comprehensive strength training resources, you can be the strongest, fittest, leanest triathlete on the starting line! And you can immediately download the entire manual digitally, rightnow for just $17. That’s right. Each week, you’ll receive a new sport-enhancing exercise straight from the desk of Ben Greenfield, one of the nation’s top ranked triathlon coaches and personal trainers.
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