Athlete Race Recap: Tri Boulder, IRONMAN Lake Placid, & IRONMAN 70.3 Ohio

Tri Boulder

On Saturday, July 20, 2024, Jennifer Pearce raced Tri Boulder in Boulder, Colorado!

This was Jennifer’s second triathlon of the season, and after some lessons learned from her first triathlon of the year, Jennifer decided to wear buoyancy pants instead of a wetsuit for the swim.  This proved to be a wise choice, and Jennifer had much better experience on the swim in this race.  We saw the benefit of all of the work she’s been putting in on her swim technique, as she had a faster pace/time than she’s previously had at this race (and this year’s conditions were quite a bit more chaotic).

Her bike was solid, but she was feeling a bit sluggish when it was time for the run.  Luckily, Jennfier has a ton of experience racing triathlons, and she was able to manage the rest of the race very well because she chose an effort level that was appropriate for how she was feeling.  

Congratulations, Jennifer!

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IRONMAN Lake Placid

On Sunday, July 21, 2024, Daria Bakina and Melissa Witt raced at IRONMAN Lake Placid in Lake Placid, New York!

Daria Bakina

This year’s IRONMAN Lake Placid was Daria’s third IRONMAN race (she raced IRONMAN Lake Placid in 2017 and IRONMAN Wisconsin in 2019), and she was really excited to sign up for this year’s race.  2024 marked the 25th Anniversary of IRONMAN Lake Placid; it’s a significant milestone, as IRONMAN Lake Placid is the longest-running IRONMAN race in North America (apart from the IRONMAN World Championship held in Hawai’i).  Even Mike Reilly (the famed “Voice of IRONMAN”) came out of retirement to return to Lake Placid bestow the title of IRONMAN on this year’s finishers.

Daria loves Lake Placid and the Adirondacks.  LOVES IT.  The place itself is incredibly special and meaningful to her, so it’s appropriate that it was the site of her first IRONMAN finish.  After several rather tumultuous years (that included job changes, out-of-state moves, life changes, and the COVID-19 Pandemic), Daria decided to register for this year’s race as a way to reconnect with herself and a place that means so much to her.

As I often tell the athletes I work with (and any athletes, really), starting from this place of joy and authenticity is so incredibly important.  If you start from an authentic, joyful place, the possibilities of what you may achieve are truly endless.

Like any athlete who trains for a long-course endurance event like an IRONMAN, Daria’s path to race day was not what she necessarily envisioned when she initially signed up for it.  That being said, we talked before the race about how the day would be a day of celebration and gratitude for her - celebrating and expressing gratitude for the ability to train for this event, to be in this magical place, and to be surrounded by people who truly supported and cared about her.

Daria’s day at IRONMAN Lake Placid this year was definitely filled with adversity, much of it having to do with some GI system distress that she felt throughout the day.  Despite this unwelcome issue, Daria used her experience and leveraged her training to help make pragmatic choices throughout the day that kept her mindset good, her spirit thankful, and that led her to her second IRONMAN Lake Placid finish line.  As she crossed the finish line in the Olympic Oval, she was visibly teary-eyed, a true sign of how much this day - and really, this journey - meant to her.

Congratulations, Daria, on such a strong, joyful day!

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Melissa Witt

In August 2023 Melissa Witt reached out to me to inquire about coaching.  In that initial correspondence, she said that she was “beginner (in every sense)” and that she had  just signed IRONMAN Lake Placid in 2024.  When I first talked to her, I found out that she was not exaggerating when she said she was a beginner in every sense; as of August 2023, Melissa had not done a triathlon or run a marathon.  Not one.

And as of July 21, 2023, Melissa still had not done a triathlon or run a marathon.  I’ll be honest here (and Melissa knows this because we’ve talked about it): I do not recommend that anyone go from “couch to IRONMAN” in a single year (let alone 11 months).  If I had met Melissa prior to her signing up for IRONMAN Lake Placid, I would have encouraged her to aim for a race day two years out and to spend the intervening time establishing a base and racing some shorter events to help her gain valuable experience in the sport that would give her a higher probability of success on IRONMAN race day.

But here we were.  Melissa had been inspired by the athletes at IRONMAN Lake Placid for years (her husband, Jeremy - who finished IRONMAN Lake Placid in 2007 - being one of them) and had just moved to Lake Placid.  She was extremely motivated to do the work, and I believed that she did actually understand the amount of work that this goal was going to take.  If she wanted to do this race with this preparation timeline, I wanted to help her have the highest chance of success.  And so, we began.

Although Melissa has been absolutely laser-focused on this end goal since we started working together, she was a beginner.  As such, we started where she was; that was the only way we could get her to where she wanted to go.  We started with a swim that was 800 yards total broken down into much smaller sets (an IRONMAN swim is 4,224 continuous yards), a 30-minute bike ride, and a 30-minute run/walk.  From there, we increased our training volumes and intensity, and Melissa’s confidence and proficiency increased along with her training.

We talked early on about how Melissa would need to sacrifice some things that were important to her to ensure that she remained on track for this goal; as I often say, saying yes to something always means saying no to a lot of other things.  Melissa said no to several things that mattered very much to her so that she could arrive at race day knowing that she had done everything that she could to be successful.  She did not want to look back with regret and know she could have done something different.  She was all-in.

Melissa was calm heading into race week, which is always a good sign.  This means that we’ve properly addressed any major concerns along the way in training and that all that is left to do is for the athlete to execute the race itself.  Jeremy checked in with me all day and his messages were all the same: She’s in good spirits, still smiling.  Melissa smiled all.day.long., and much like Daria, had such gratitude and joyfulness about being on this magical course.

Late in the night on Sunday, July 21, 2024, Melissa crossed the finish line of her first-ever triathlon, IRONMAN Lake Placid.  Since she was finishing in “magic hour” (the final hour of the race), she got to meet Mike Reilly on the famous M-Dot red carpet and high-five him.  When the crowd heard she was from Lake Placid, they went wild.  Fireworks went off as Melissa crossed the finish line, her face beaming with pride.

Congratulations on such a successful journey to your first triathlon, Melissa!  You are an IRONMAN!

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IRONMAN 70.3 Ohio

On Sunday, July 21, 2024, Carolyn Classen raced at IRONMAN 70.3 Ohio in Sandusky, Ohio!

When we originally planned out Carolyn’s season, she set IRONMAN 70.3 Ohio as an A-Race and she had some really specific goals that she wanted to accomplish at it.  However, life took some turns that we didn’t originally anticipate, and one of these turns was that Carolyn started a brand-new job in mid-June on the first day of Peak Phase for IRONMAN 70.3 Ohio.

Carolyn is an experienced athlete and she wisely conducted a mid-season check-in/review.  She accurately and honestly assessed that this major change in her personal life would impact the training she’d be able to do and how she’d be able to do it.  As such, she recalibrated her goals for IRONMAN 70.3 Ohio, and we adjusted her training as a result.  

While some athletes like to pretend that this isn’t so and that stress isn’t impactful, changing jobs is extremely stressful, and our focus was on helping Carolyn feel good in all aspects of her life as she transitioned into this new position.  Taking the pressure off by recasting goals for this race allowed Carolyn to approach the race with a more playful and joyful perspective.

In the weeks before the race, an old injury of Carolyn’s flared up and we were not able to manage it as effectively as we have been able to in the past.  As a result, we modified her training further, and we even discussed the possibility of her taking an intentional DNF (Did Not Finish) in the race if it proved to be too painful or too much.  I made sure to remind Carolyn on Saturday night that it was okay if she withdrew from the race after the bike.

As I mentioned in Daria’s race recap, I believe very strongly that the best results come to athletes when they are operating from an authentic, joyful place.  When athletes stop trying to control every little detail and the result of a race - and instead open themselves up to what result might come to them - they usually succeed far greater than when they are imposing high amounts of stress or expectations on themselves.

And so it was for Carolyn on Sunday.  Despite our concerns about modified training and goal-setting due to her job change and her flared-up injury, Carolyn set a personal best time for the 70.3 distance of triathlon at IRONMAN 70.3 Ohio.  Even more than that, she won her age group and qualified for the IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship.

Carolyn has been trying to get on the podium at an IRONMAN 70.3 race for years.  She’s basically been the classic “always a bridesmaid, never a bride”, sometimes finishing just off the podium in 6th place (IRONMAN and IRONMAN 70.3 podiums go five deep).

I do not think it's a coincidence that Carolyn had her best performance ever at this distance on Sunday.  Yes, she’s an experienced athlete who has been putting in the work, day-in and day-out, for decades now.  But more than that: She did not try to control everything, she trusted the training she did do, and she was curious about what might be possible.  She successfully unlocked the recipe for her to reach her current full potential.

Congratulations, Carolyn!