Tom was joined at the finish by Kirsten Van Tuyl, 12.15.52 (IM personal best), Cary Keaten, 13.35.09 (IM personal best), Bernie Dooley, 16.12.53, and Lajra Williams 16.46.33.  Also racing in Tempe were first-time Ironman finishers Steve Chan, 12.46.02, and Melissa Hanas, 13.44.40.

Some of the more notable highlights of the race included a very strong marathon run by Steve Chan who wrapped up his first Ironman by completing the 26.2 mile run in 4.07 and averaged 8 minute miles over the final 10K.

In the true spirit of the Ironman, a very stubborn and determined Lajra Williams overcame some demons to make it to her second Ironman finish line.  Lajra exited the water with a bout of hypothermia and needed to spend extra time in the first transition to get her body temperature back up.  Once on her bike, she had stomach issues and while on the run, she experienced nausea for a considerable amount of the marathon.  She battled the desire to quit, continued moving forward and fought the clock as the midnight cut-off neared.  Despite all of the various complications, Lajra managed to make it to the finish line within 15 minutes of the 17 hour deadline.  Cheered on by her teammates, it was an inspirational end to a great day.

Congratulations to all of our Ironman finishers!  Awesome job!
 

 


Top: Tom Murphy, Cary Keaten, Melissa Hanas and Steve Chan
Bottom: Lajra Williams, Tom Murphy, Kirsten Van Tuyl and Melissa Hanas

Her 1.34 swim was 5 minutes faster than her swim earlier this year in Coeur d'Alene, her bike (6.41) was over an hour faster than any other IM bike she has completed while her run (5.12) was almost 50 minutes faster than her IM run PR.  All together, her time of 13.44.42 was almost two full hours faster than her previous IM best time!!

Awesome job Kelly!!!

Way to go guys!!

First off, in Louisville, Team Intensity's Jon Klingensmith completed his second Ironman - improving on his 2007 IM Wisconsin performance by almost an hour and fifteen minutes.  Jon's splits were 1.17, 5.44 and 4.05 for the day, finishing in just over 11.17.  Also racing in Louisville was Tara Ratzel.  Tara began training with Total Intensity Sports after she was unable to finish her first Ironman attempt last September in Wisconsin.  Tara improved her swim time by twenty minutes and the bike by 15 minutes over her times in Wisconsin and completed her first Ironman in a time of 16.12.

Meanwhile, in Canada, Holly Olmsted and Kim Knott both completed their first Ironman distance triathlons with really strong performances.  Holly had a solid swim, coming out of the water in under 1.10 and ranking 25th in her age group.  She moved up into the top 20 with her bike split of 6.09 and stayed in the top 20 with a run split just under 4.30, finishing in 11.56.41.  Kim completed her first Ironman and only third triathlon overcoming stomach problems ten miles into the run.  Kim had splits of 1.32, 8.02 and 6.32 for a final time of 16.24.  Way to go ladies!!

Also racing in Canada this weekend were Jen and Mike Eckert - both had really strong races.  Jen completed her third Ironman and placed top ten in her age group with a time of 14.32 while Mike overcame problems on the run and completed his 9th Ironman with a time of 16.16. 

Congratulations Ironman Finishers!!

Also racing extremely well in Folsom was Team Intensity's Steve Reynolds who placed 6th in his age group with a time of 2.39.24 - highlighted by a personal best olympic distance run split of 50.34.  Kelly Hull, 3.13.33, Heidi Mills, 3.36.33, and Steve Shumrak, 3.17.26, all set personal bests for an olympic distance event!  Way to go guys!!

Meanwhile, on Saturday, Team Intensity's Nicole Young followed up her Eppie's win with another strong performance in the TBF Duathlon - finishing in 1.33.48 and placing first among all women (and 9th in the entire field).  Also racing at Rancho Seco over the weekend was John McIntosh, finishing in 2.30.33 and placing 8th in his age group in the Tri-for-Real - his third consecutive top ten finish!

Last weekend, in Santa Rosa at the Vineman Full Ironman, Kirsten Van Tuyl and Cary Keaten both race extremely well - Cary completed his very first Ironman in just over 14 hours - 14.06.00.  Kirsten placed fifth in her age group with a time of 12.48.45!  Also racing on Saturday was Caro McKillop who completed her first half ironman in Barb's Race.  Caro completed the 70.3 in 7.10.35.

Awesome racing everyone!!

Also competing at Eppie's were Nancy Templeton, Jake Weir and Heidi Mills.  Nancy's relay team took second place in the 40+ Women's Relay division with a time of 1.57.26.  Jake and Heidi also had strong races and finished with a times of 2.12.03 and 2.58.05, respectively.

Meanwhile, at the Vineman 70.3 in Santa Rosa, Team Intensity's Jon Klingensmith and Holly Olmsted raced extremely well and posted times of 4.38.42 and 5.07.38.  Jon's race was highlighted by a very strong run, 1.31.36, and helped him place 12th in his age group of 330.  Holly also had a great run, setting a personal best in the half marathon (including pure running events) with her time of 1.44.28.  Holly's efforts placed her 10th in her age group.  Also racing at Vineman were Cary Keaten, 5.51.30 (personal best) and Jon Fong, 5.55.34, who had to deal with bad blisters during the run.  Great job everyone!

In Wisconsin, Team Intensity's Tom Murphy took 7th in his age group at the Door County Half Ironman with a time of 5.01.50.  Tom has been hampered by an ankle injury this season, but still ran the half marathon in 1.45.42 after averaging over 22mph on the bike.  Nice work Tom!

Finally, in the Donner Triathlon in Truckee on Sunday, Team Intensity's Steve Reynolds placed third in his age group with a strong time of 3.04.40 while Janey Shugart completed the event with a time of 4.00.29.  Way to go guys!

Earlier this month, at the July Tri-for-Fun, Team Intensity's Nancy Templeton came back from a long lay-off due to an injury to race very hard - posting a sub 1:30, placing top ten overall and winning her age group.  Also racing that weekend at Rancho Seco was John McIntosh, who set a personal best time of 2.29.12 and placed 6th in his age group in the Tri-for-Real and Colleen McCarthy, 1.39.45, 8th place age group, in the Tri-for-Fun.

We also want to recognize Ironman finisher Kelly Hull - Kelly toughed it out in some really bad weather at Coeur d'Alene last month.  She completed the 140.6 distance in 16.24.32 - weather was not exactly ideal - cold temperatures and rain made it particularly tough on everyone.  Congrats on ANOTHER Ironman Kelly!

Great job everyone!!

Nicole Young Races to her Eppie's Win

Also racing in Auburn at the Olympic distance were Brooks Cutter, 8th place age group finished in 3.02.55, Keith Swiat, 9th place age group finish in 3.11.45, Melissa Smith, 10th place age group finish in 3.17.33.  The relay team including Team Intensity's Nancy Templeton and Nicole Young won the relay competition - Nancy's swim of 24.44 was fastest among all relay swimmers while Nicole's 49.38 run was second fastest among all relay runners.

In the sprint race at Auburn, Margot Cutter took first place overall among the women - with a time of 1.13.00.  Stan Ling competed in the long course duathlon and finished in 5.54.21. 

Great job in Auburn everyone!!

This past weekend at Rancho Seco, several Total Intensity Sports athletes raced and raced well.  On Saturday, Team Intensity's Nicole Young set a personal best and took 2nd place in the duathlon with a time of 1.29.51.  In the triathlon, Jon Klingensmith took 12th overall and 2nd in his age group with a time of 1.18.35.  Team Intensity's Allison Zwingenberger took 2nd place in her age group and 12th among all women with her time, 1.31.34 and Team Intensity's Mike French set a personal best time of 1.23.35, placing 7th in his age group. Also racing strong were Mike Stratton 1.24.10, Jon Rauer 1.37.53, Caro McKillop 1.46.24, Colleen McCarthy, 1.46.51 and Heidi Mills, 2.06.17.  On Sunday, John McIntosh set a personal best at the olympic distance event with a time of 2.30.32 and took 9th in his age group.

Way to go guys!!

On Sunday, Team Intensity's Michael Klingman came back from an early season injury that kept his training to a minimum, especially running, until the last month or so.  Even with reduced training, Michael raced extremely well - going a minute faster than he did in 2008, finishing in a time of 2.33.59.  Also setting a PR was Team Intensity's Steve Reynolds.  Steve raced extremely hard, literally collapsing within yards of the finish line, but made it across the finish line 3 minutes faster than 2008 and 7th in his age group.  Steve's swim split was 4th fastest in his age group while his bike split was 6th fastest.  Team Intensity's Mike French also bested his time from 2008 by over 4 minutes with a time of 2.42.34. 

In her very first triathlon, Team Intensity's Cindy Scott had an incredible debut in the sport.  Cindy, who only started swimming 4 months ago, came out of the water in about 35 minutes and subsequently began reeling in one triathlete after another.  Her bike split was 4th fastest in her age group and she followed that up with the fastest run split in her age group.  In fact, her run split was over 7 minutes faster than the next fastest runner in her age group.  She finished with a time of 3.07.22 and 4th in her age group.

Also racing well on Sunday were Mike Stratton (2.55.39), Melissa Smith (3.15.21), Melissa Hanas (3.24.22) and Jeff Lafitte (3.30.15).  From Team in Training, Total Intensity Sports was very proud of all of the team for finishing - many of whom were doing their very first triathlon.  Leading the way for TNT were Aston Tennefoss (2.40.53) who took 8th place in his age group including the 5th fastest bike split in his age group, Theresa Fuquay (3.01.35) who had a very strong sub-50 minute run, and John McIntosh (3.03.08).

Congrats to all of the Wildflower athletes!!

Also racing this past weekend was Alan McCorkle who competed in the Napa Valley Half Ironman.  Alan set a personal best for the half iron distance with a very strong 6.00.46 in horrible conditions - rain, wind and cold temperatures.   Nice job Alan!

We also want to mention a strong 5K win by Team Intensity's Nicole Young last weekend.  Nicole ran the Run Rocklin 5K in 22:29, which earned her an age group win and 5th place overall among the women.  Awesome job Nicole!

In another running event, Holly Olmsted posted a personal best in the half marathon distance at the River City Half Marathon.  Holly ran the half in 1:49:00, which put her second in her age group and 6th place overall woman.  Great job Holly!

Jon Fong (top) and Jeff LaFitte racing at Wildflower

Meanwhile, competing in the Shamrock Half Marathon in Sacramento in March, Team Intensity's Jon Klingensmith put in his second consecutive half marathon personal best as he ran almost 2 minutes faster than his time in Carlsbad two months earlier.  Jon's time of 1.22.15 (6.17/mile pace) placed him 28th overall and 7th in his age group.  Way to run Jon!

Jon's time put him just out of the top 1% of the entire field, 80th overall out of over 7,000 runners.  He was 20th in his age group, out of over 450.  Great job Jon!!

Nancy was not the only TIS athlete who raced well - Team Intensity's Jon Fong and Myriam Frausto each posted improvements of 3-4 minutes over last year's national championship race and finished in 2.31.00 and 2.41.25 respectively.  Also racing well was Team Intensity's Allison Zwingenberger, who competed in her first triathlon only 13 months ago.  Allison raced very strong and finished in 2.42.22, highlighted by one of her strongest 10K run splits.  Finally, Team Intensity's Steve Reynolds, who qualified for Nationals just last weekend at the Triathlon in Pacific Grove, took about 5 minutes off his time from that race and finished his first trip to Nationals with a time of 2.34.51.

Incredible races everyone!!