Susan has been doing triathlons on and off since her father got her interested in 1988- over 50 races including a lot of top 5 age group finishes! Prior to ironman training, a couple of her races included LA Marathon in 4:27 and the Gulf Coast ½ Ironman Triathlon in 5:48! Obviously she has a ton of talent.

Next, she wanted to compete in her first Ironman distance triathlon and Florida IM was it! Her goal for Florida was to finish unhurt in under 13 hours and to run the entire marathon but, with her extensive race history, TRIATHLETIX knew she could do better so we set a very realistic first time ironman goal of finishing in 12:30.

Once you start training for an Ironman you realize how important it is to have a support system. Susan was lucky to have her dad and brother as training partners who rode over a thousand miles with her, as well as Dave, Ed, Michelle, Sarah, and Debbie, all of whom ran themselves ragged all over LA County (and occasionally Ventura and Santa Barbara Counties!) trying to help her log the miles! Her husband, Herb, bought her a new bike and taught himself bike maintenance, Dagny learned that she needed to stand near the transition area for the best view of her Mom, and Susan’s Mom found out she needed to cut her fingernails so she could help Susan get into her wetsuit. You may race by yourself but you need the help of family and friends to do the training!

Susan was diligent with working on her swim technique and with a few pointers on her running form, she was taking time off her splits in every race she did. On her way to Florida IM, Susan had a slew of great finishes in training races including a 4:11 at the Rock N’ Roll Marathon in San Diego- that put her in the top 8% in her division; Camp Pendleton Olympic in 2:42:29- 5th in her age division, top 10 age group finish at LA Tri; 8th place age group finish at Nautica Malibu triathlon in 1:59:59, and a 1:05 finish at The Day at The Beach Hermosa Beach Triathlon putting her on the podium with a 2nd place finish in her division, 16th overall!

Susan is a stay-at-home Mom (formerly a software development manager) and part of the motivation behind her ironman training:

“It was hard getting up all those mornings and giving up those weekends, but it was a wonderful counter-balance to being a stay-at-home-mom thing. A couple years ago when Dagny first learned to talk, she announced one day, somewhat to my horror: "Daddies work and Mommies stay home!" I treated my then-toddler to a lengthy feminist speech about choices and trade-offs, but I secretly worried a little about the kind of role-model I was providing, even though I feel that me being home is the right choice for our family right now. This year, after being dragged to races all season, Dagny announced "Daddies work and Mommies race!" She'd be much happier if I could actually *win* the race....maybe TRIATHLETIX can help me with that next year!

The conditions in Florida couldn’t have been better- perfect temperature, no humidity (by Florida standards anyway), and minimal wind- a perfect day to do an Ironman Triathlon!
Susan was surprised at how easy the swim was- finishing in 1:07:03. With all of her hard training on the bike she was able to breeze through that portion in 5:52:05. And, considering during the run she wasn’t able to take in many calories due to feeling full, she finished the marathon in the amazing time of 5:02:09. Her total time was 12:13:18- almost 17 minutes faster than planned and putting her 26th in her age group!

Great job, Susan! It has been a pleasure to work with you- and we looking forward to training you to an age group win at your next Ironman!