2014 was the year of Ironman

2014 was the year to get in the best shape of my life and to culminate my season at the Ironman World Championship in Kona. 2014 was a great training and racing year, I hit a marathon PR by 12 minutes, a half-marathon PR by 6 minutes and a half-Ironman PR by 17 minutes. Overall, a successful year, except I spent the 7 weeks before Kona, NOT RUNNING! I tried to not let it get to me, but it inevitably did, since I often rely on my run to make up time in a triathlon, even though I spent much of 2014 getting stronger on the bike and in the swim, it wasn’t enough to make up for my lack of running. My Kona goals needed to be readjusted, not only because of my lack of running heading into the race (I did spend significant time on the AMT, but it wasn’t the same as hitting pavement for miles on end), but the winds in Kona were some of the worst in years, that I spent 5 of my 6 hours on the bike holding on for dear life and trying not to be scared. The run hurt, I walked more than I ever have in a race, but wow, pavement is much harder than the non-impact AMT! Luckily, nothing else seemed to hurt, but the bike stress made me more tired than I had ever anticipated. But hey, I was in Hawaii, and it was beautiful, and amazing, and I was there with not only a great teammate (and role model), but also some family and friends who made the experience worth it, where I was able to finish with a smile, no tears and a hunger to tackle Kona again.

But first, my body needed some time off, and I needed to give some more time and energy to my family, especially my super supportive husband/ultimate race-day Sherpa. 2014 would have never been possible without my team, High Performance Training (HPT) and my coach Julio German, who always seems to see the greater potential and is able to push me to limits I had never dreamed possible.