Also this weekend, in Santa Rosa, several TIS athletes took on the Vineman 70.3.  Special congratulations go out to Melissa Smith who completed her first half Ironman in a solid time of 6.34.53.  Way to go Melissa!!  Also racing was Carrie Silver, fresh off of her first Ironman, finishing in 6.17.22 and Brook Baxter who set a half Ironman PR with a finish in 7.21.17 which included a negative split on the run course.  Way to go guys!!

Meanwhile, at the Donner Lake Triathlon in Truckee, all three of the TIS athletes who competed set personal bests - Steve Reynolds placed 3rd in his age group and finished in 3.01.55, Steve Shugart made it in the top ten of his age group with a 3.13.02 finish and Janey Shugart placed 2nd in her age group with a time of 3.59.18.  Awesome job at Donner!!

Last weekend, at the TBF Tri-for-Real, Jenni Plane led from beginning to end and won the overall women's title with a personal best 2.19.40.  She had over a minute and a half lead over her closest rival - way to go Jenni!!  Also racing at the Tri-for-Real was Martin Messersmith, who also set a PR and broke 2.10 with his 2.09.29 finishing time.  Martin placed 4th in his age group and 12th overall.  Nice work Martin!  Dan Linsley also set a Olympic distance PR on Sunday - with his time of 3.18.50.  Meanwhile, in Saturday's Tri-for-Fun, Jeff Lafitte and Mike Stratton competed and placed 7th and 5th in their age groups, respectively.  Finally, special congrats go out to Eileen Ableman who completed four passes of the Death Ride!!

Congrats to all of our awesome athletes!!


 

Crowd support was great all day in Coeur d'Alene

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Total Intensity had a large contingent of athletes racing in Idaho this past weekend - a number of who were taking on the Ironman distance for the first time. 

Leading the way was Martin Messersmith, who had an outstanding race and broke the 10.5 hour mark.  Martin placed 30th in his age group and raced well all day and posted a 10.29.42 finishing time, including a 3.42 run split for the marathon. 

First time Ironman finishers included Mark Holloway - 12.32, Ed Smith - 12.42, Jon Fong - 13.29, Mike Stratton - 13.49, Carrie Silver - 14.10, Jon Sherwood - 14.27 and Jon Rauer - 15.25.

Cary Keaten became a three-time Ironman with his finish in 14.17.

Congratulations to all of our Ironman finishers!!

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Also, earlier this month in the very hilly and challenging Big Five Marathon in South Africa, Steve Chan placed as the first American and 8th place overall with a time of 4.23.22.  Way to go Steve! 

Finally, Nicole Young completed her first triathlon in the Auburn Sprint Triathlon last month.  Nicole posted the 3rd fastest bike split in her age group and 2nd fastest run split to help her place third in her age group with a time of 2.25.14.  Steve Shugart (2.20.59), Janey Shugart (2.46.11), Steve Shumrak (3.07.04) also raced really well on the very challenging course.  Great job guys!!
 

Mark Holloway and Ed Smith in the marathon in Coeur d'Alene

Martin Messersmith and Jon Rauer in Coeur d'Alene
(bottom photos courtesy Alison Mauck)

Last month, at the Big Sur Marathon, doing the 10.6 mile distance event, Steve Chan flew through the course and placed third overall with a time of 1.16.07 (7.10/mi pace).  Steve is looking very strong for his upcoming marathon in South Africa next month!

Earlier this month, at the Angels Camp Triathlon, Martin Messersmith took third overall and won his age group with a time of 1.31.25.  More importantly, he held off his son, 12-year old Ryan Messersmith, who raced really well and finished in 1.39.33 - 6th overall.  Steve Reynolds also raced at Angels Camp - placed 16th overall and 6th in his age group. 

Martin also ran in the Avenue of the Vines Half Marathon, placing 8th in his age group with a solid time of 1.33.27.  Also racing in the Avenue of the Vines Half was Jenni Plane who ran a personal best of 1.44.27 and placed 8th in her age group.

In the Shamrockn' Half Marathon earlier this Spring, Emily Klingensmith raced extremely strong - posting a time of 1.35.57, placing 14th in her age group.

Awesome results everyone!

As a team, Total Intensity Sports finished 7th in the Olympic Club Competition, 9th in the Long Course Club Competition and 10th (out of 57 teams) in the Overall Club Competition - way to go everyone!!!

On Saturday, in the Long Course, Jon Klingensmith and Martin Messersmith and led the way with two very strong races.  Both are targeting Ironman Coeur d'Alene in June and showed that they are getting into excellent racing shape for the long distances.  Jon placed in the top twenty of his age group, with a time of 5.01.30 (personal course PR by almost an hour), including a fast 1.33 run split - 12th fastest in his age group.  Martin finished his first trip to Wildflower in 5.16.35, with a solid run split of 1.45.  Leading the women was Jenni Plane, also doing her first Wildflower, who placed 16th in her age group and finished in a time of 6.05.30.

Also completing the long course included Mark Holloway (6.11.20), Brooks Cutter (6.17.45), Ed Smith (6.19.03), Jon Fong (6.27.15), Oliver Isidro (6.34.24), Carrie Silver (6.39.02), Jon Sherwood (6.40.26), Lindsay Zettel (6.44.07), Kirsten Van Tuyl (6.46.07), Cary Keaten (6.51.47), Chris Berry (7.27.47) and Eileen Ableman (7.45.47). 

In the Mountain Bike Sprint on Saturday, Ione Cutter finished in 1.27.02 and Kelly Smith completed her first triathlon in 3.00.07!

Sunday's Olympic distance race was very exciting, as well as very challenging with hot and windy conditions all day. Team Intensity's Cindy Scott had a huge day - winning her age group (55-59) and literally dominating the run course.  She ran out of T2 over 9 minutes behind the leader, but absolutely flew over the 10K course, recording a 46.29 run split (23rd fastest in the entire women's field) and winning her age group by over 9 minutes - with a time of 3.01.09.  Two other top ten age group placings were taken by Emily Klingensmith (2.59.11, 10th) and Allison Zwingenberger (3.00.39, 9th).  Holly Olmsted placed 14th in her age group with a time of 2.50.30, including a great 50.25 run split.  Other women finishers included Tiffany Knapp (3.15.11), Melissa Smith (3.19.40), Caro McKillop (3.25.16), Linda Lingelbach (3.36.10), Heidi Mills (4.09.32) and Cindy Lenners finishing her first triathlon in 3.36.16. 

Among the men on Saturday, Mike French led the way with a time of 2.42.45, John McIntosh raced strong and finished in 2.50.02, while Spencer Sinnett and Jeff Lafitte finished in 3.16.47 and 3.21.52 respectively.

Way to go Total Intensity Sports!!



 

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

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.  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.

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!!