Quick review of June.....
USAT Junior Select Camp was a big success. Great group of triathletes who seemed to have a boat load of fun and learn alot in the process. Already planning for 2010.
June also saw one of my girls, Andrea A finish her first Ironman in Coeur d'Alene. Its funny how just shy of a year earlier I remember getting a call from her asking about coaching and if I thought she could do it. I asked her to trust the process and that I would make sure she was ready for whatever the day served her and sure enough she finished happy and had a great experience.
Other significant happenings in June was a breakthrough race for ITU Pro Kevin Collington. He raced in the Hy-Vee Elite Cup ( World Cup) and had a stellar day finishing 13th in the field earning his highest Pro paycheck to date. More importantly, Kevin established himself as a worthy competitor to the likes of some of our top US ITU Pros ( Matt Reed & Hunter Kemper) as well as getting much closer to the world class international field of racers. Kevin's the real deal and its exciting to be a part of his progression.
On a personal note, June was also the official kick off to my Kona training but as it turns out it was more of a kick in my butt month. I have had a nagging hip issue ( more upper thigh) that I thought was from tight hip flexors/hamstrings and aggravated by a unclipping bike mishap in mid June. I took a good 5 weeks off ( for the most part) of running and the discomfort did not resolve. I finally went to a sports med/ortho doc only to get the news ( after contrast MRI) that I have "possible early stress fracture" of the lower left femoral head . The recommendation (as of this week) was no running for 12 weeks ( Kona is less than 10) and in his ultra conservative tone the MD explains the risk of trying to run right now. Good news is swimming and biking are pain free so I am going to see how water running goes for the next 4 weeks and chat with the doc to decide what I am going to do about Kona. I have not thrown in the towel on doing the race but I recognize that A) I might be walking much of the marathon or B) I might have to "tap out" of the run if things dont feel right. Right now option A is my preferred plan but well see.
JULY.....I really need to know where this month went. Lots of racing happened for many of my IronClad peeps so hopefully i can remember them all.
Morton Plant Mease Triathlon
Congratulations to The Seaversons...Erin & Marc for a really good day.
Good job to Krista Eyler and Rose Laurence for using a sprint as a fun speed work day in preps for IM Florida.
Big way to go to Taylor Scott for earning the USAT FL Junior Regional Champ title.
And finally HUGE shout out to Lindsay Woodward on her first triathlon....ever. This 23 yo former UF swimmer had the second fastest swim of the day ( beating all but one man) and used a solid bike (bike cages + running flats) and run to easily win her AG but even more impressive finish 4th Overall female. Age Group Nationals is next up for this young woman so will be exciting to see how she does.
Ironman USA
I have to give the "Tough as Nails" award to my dear friend aka Wonder Woman,Karen Alderman for her performance at IM USA. This lil lady trained hard to be able to conquer the hills in Lake Placid only to have a breast stroking dumb a#$ in the swim kick her right in the rib cage ( bruising and possibly cracking her rib). I have never had a rib injury but from what I am told it freaking hurts to breath. Imagine if you will swimming another 1.5 miles ( it happened during the first loop), riding 112 then trying to run only to wind up walking most of the 26.2 mile marathon. Heaven knows I might have just called it a day after the swim but true to her nature Karen hung in there and got r done. True Ironman if you ask me. Heal up Karen as you will live to fight another day :-)
July rounded out with a great day in USA ITU World Championship Series racing. The Hamburg WCS race took place on July 26th. It had quality field with some great US talent on the start list. The US athletes included 2008 Olympian Jarrod Shoemaker, Kevin Collington, Mark Fretta, Steve Sexton and Matt Seymour. I have had pleasure of being able to follow each of these young men and watching them race via the live feed thru the ITU webiste was awesome. Jarrod's performance was spectacular. He used his blazing fast run (29:37) to pull away from the field to earn the first GOLD medal for the US in a WCS race and 1st World Cup gold medal since 2006. I (of course!) want to note that Kevin had a great first time WCS experience racing finishing as the 2nd US athlete, 23rd overall with a 10K PR of 31:43. Not bad.
So now its August. If I was a betting girl its going to fly by quicker then last month. I got some folks gearing up for Ironman Louisville and Ironman Wisconsin. Youth and Junior Elite Nationals, Age Group Nationals and Elite Nationals are all happening this month too. I am travel a bit this month as I will be speaking at both Youth/Junior Elite Nationals and Age Group Nationals. I have to pack my coaching cap for these races all the while trying to fit in some sort of training to (hopefully) get me to the Kona start line healthy enough to swim, hammer the bike and make forward progress on the marathon ;-)
The month's going to be crazy but as always will keep the Tweets alive!
~Jennifer
Last note: Need to say "WHOA NELLY!!" to the athletes who raced Top Gun Triathlon on 8-1-09 ( aka " Guns a Blazing" Tri -thanks Seaversons): Good job Marc & Erin for matching 4th Place AG hardware and Rose L who continue to find the joy in sprint races as forced speedwork for IM prep.
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