Iron Summer

What a summer to be on IronTEAM! This summer I had the opportunity to travel to Kona, Hawaii to watch my teammates race, train my butt off here in LA, and travel to Sonoma, CA three times to train, to cheer, and to race the Vineman Aquabike!

Finish line in Kona

Hawaii Cheer-Squad

At the beginning of June I was fortunate enough to travel to Hawaii where a number of my teammates were racing the Kona Ironman 70.3. While I wasn't racing that weekend, I was of course still training, and also there to support and cheer for my fellow teammates (and give some of them race-mohawks).

I had never been to Hawaii before and it was an amazing experience to be there and watch my team race (with the pros- including Lance Armstrong, who won the race)!

Kona graffiti

After the trip to Hawaii, we took over the LA Velodrome on a Sunday morning for a little indoor cycling- I had done this a few times before- but it never stops being super fun, and a little scary!

At the end of June, the Team traveled up to Sonoma for our Vineman Training weekend- to give those racing the Vineman full triathlon an opportunity to experience the full course before the race. Over the course of the weekend, each of us did just about the equivalent of a full Ironman in distance, just spread over the 2+ days we were there.

Running with Riz

Go Team!

Mid- July, I again traveled up to Sonoma to train a little more on the Vineman course, but mostly to cheer for my coaches and teammates racing in the Vineman Ironman 70.3.

Amy and me at packet pick-up

At the end of July, we traveled up to Sonoma one more time. Many of my teammates raced the Vineman full triathlon (the same race I did last year), while many of us who are training for Canada raced the Aquabike (the full 2.4 mile swim + 112 mile bike, with no run). It was an amazing weekend, and it was awesome to see so many of my teammates complete their first Ironman!

Unfortunately, I had food poisoning the week before the race, but I still managed to have a good day- I decided to take it easy on the swim, and take the bike course one leg at a time. I actually had a great race and finished the bike course with a personal best time!

Cheer Squad superheroes!

 

 

 Now on to Canada! We have been training like crazy people (because we kind of are crazy people) for what will be 10 months. It has been such a rewarding experience to spend so much time with some of the best people I know, working toward this goal, while trying to help people in need. I wouldn't trade it for the world.