Ironman Boulder is almost HERE! So if this is your first 140.6-mile race or if you are doing Boulder for the first time, this is a MUST-LISTEN podcast Chaskis founder and Dig Deep Podcast host, Hugo Mendez, invited experienced Boulder-based coach Eric Kenney to share his knowledge and advice on how to have a great Ironman Boulder! Eric has great advice on several key topics like pacing yourself, especially if you are racing at altitude, nutrition, the course, logistics, how to have a smart bike ride and solid marathon, key sections of the race, logistics and more.
Dr. James DeGregori PhD (Photo by Casey A. Cass/University of Colorado)
Those reasons often transition into causes and those causes are often taken on by a group of people working to help the same cause and obviously most of those causes involve medical conditions, awareness and advocacy.
Clearly many things motivate people to exercise, train and perhaps ultimately compete. We all know of someone inspired by unfortunate circumstances that might have impacted their life or of those they care about. The reasons are countless and often tear jerking and deeply personal.
This past week, 303radio sat down with Dr. James DeGregori PhD and Brett Kessler, DDS to talk about the community of like minded people they train with–Team and Training.
Team in Training is the largest charity endurance training program in the world. They have over 650,000 athletes that have raised over $1 billion to fight cancer, Leukemia and Lymphoma more specifically. Like many teams the connections and friends that are made ultimately make cause the greatest memories.
In this interview James and Brett talk about those connections, their own personal reasons and why’s, but more, they both know Leukemia and Lymphoma first hand as medical professionals that work directly with those effected and by doing research to help find a cure.
Not only will you learn how Team in Training helped them compete in century rides, marathons and even the IRONMAN World Championship in Kona, but you will learn a little about the disease from people on the front lines and extremely driven advocates that will likely offer you some inspiration into your own why.
Alon Mandel is attempting to swim something that less 100 humans have ever done. He is going to swim between the North and South islands of New Zealand forging the heavy currents of the Cook Straight. It’s about 14 miles of treacherous waters but the Olympic Swimmer from Israel has swam the Ocean’s Seven Strait-of-Gibraltar in September 2015, swimming from Spain to Morocco. With All-American awards, as a University of Michigan swimmer and teammate of Michael Phelps, Alon has many moments to draw upon for that fortitude and strength to attempt this swim.
Hear the details with 303Radio recorded at the Denver Athletic Club after a masters swim session with Bill Plock. Alon is raising money for Parkinson’s Disease and you can learn more HERE
Ellen Hart grew up with seven brothers and sisters in New Mexico playing basketball and pioneering all kinds of sports in her schools. In this podcast she mentions how the newly enacted Title IX afforded many opportunities for her in school, but in the end, her favorite thing to do was simply head out the front door on a run. And ran she did, all the way to an American record at one point, to two Olympic trials and across the finish line in first place at the Bolder Boulder when she was just 23.
She turned to triathlons over a decade ago and has competed and won world championships in all distances many many times. She says Kona 2017 is where she probably learned the biggest lessons of her career when things didn’t go as expected.
She talks about many triumphs and many stumbles throughout her career and life in general. We talked about her well documented eating disorder and what catalyst finally happened to get her through that. She shared the experience of making a Hollywood movie about her life while she was married to the Secretary of Transportation and former mayor of Denver. We talked about her future and how she is using her law degree to help others and her platform as an athlete to make difference. The lessons her parents taught her come to light and she talks about being a mom, an athlete, an advocate, and a messenger for so many things.
I find myself amazed when I think how much she has accomplished in sports and life, but I am equally amazed at how much of a life she has lived and more impressed than anything at her humbleness and genuine kindness. Along with it all, comes a pressure to be the be a good role model and accept that through her running and triathlon endeavors she can and does make a difference.
We are so lucky to have her in our Colorado triathlon community!
Nobody embraced the opportunity to race Kona more than Colorado’s Tom Bogan. He is on crusade to make sure everyone knows dreams can come true and listen to how close it was that he didn’t get to try and achieve his. His story of almost not racing due to a last second misplacement of a key item is almost as amazing as his story of getting there in the first place!
IRONMAN Boulder week is such a special week. There are so many activities and events. So much excitement and energy. Hard to imagine that in the scope of life, it was over in the blink of an eye.
In case you didn’t have a chance to ‘see it all,’ 303Triathlon had you covered. Here’s a recap of pre-race events, race-day coverage from predawn bag check and bus loading at Boulder High School to the last athlete crossing the finish line at about midnight Sunday night.
Shortly after the 2016 IRONMAN Boulder race was put to rest, we learned that the 2017 race would have a new Race Director. We knew that Dave Christen would not let just anyone take over the event. Tim Brosious was announced as the new race director. I think we would all agree that Tim did an outstanding job.
So, here’s how the week went.
Thursday Events:
Paradox Sports in Eldorado Canyon
IRONMAN Staff loving their jobs
Team Colorado
Boulder Stroke & Stride
Pease Brothers at Big Ring Cycles
Storytime with Mike Reilly at Colorado Multi Sport
Pro Interviews with TO, Matt Chrabot, Rachel Joyce and Heather Jackson HERE
Did you see our Facebook and Twitter Posts? Great interviews with fans, families, athletes and staff. From predawn bus load FB live to midnight last athlete across the finish line here.
No event of any kind is successful with out volunteers
Jen Szabo, the best volunteer coordinator any RD could dream of!
Or a Recap video, this one by 303Tri’s Kenny Withrow:
We have such a great time on these big race days cheering for friends we know and friends in triathlon. So proud of everyone who toed the line and crossed the finish to Mike Reilly’s voice bellowing ” Your Are An IRONMAN!”
Changes for the 2018 IRONMAN Boulder, including lower pricing, and ‘When Can I Register for Next Year?’ HERE
Another great book from Dr. Jason Karp. Hear key insights on how to get the fat off and keep it off with the book “Run Your Fat Off”. We also talk about the definition of metabolic efficiency, injury prevention and more. Hosts Rich Soares and Khem Suthiwan. Listen to the podcast.
By 
