After a very long off season to heal some nagging injuries, I am happy to report that my race season has officially begun!  I decided just 2 weeks ago that I would head to Ironman 70.3 Florida.  Earlier in the year, I had attended two training camps in Hawaii and Australia with my coach Lance Watson and Paul Regensburg with LifeSport.  Things were coming along as planned and Lance had me dialled in with a great training plan and great early season fitness.  Unfortunately, some injuries crept up in my shoulder and ankle which forced me to take a big break from running and swimming.  I knew going into the race that my fitness was not where I wanted it to be but I was eager to race and wanted a good tune up race before the Long Course National Championships at Eagleman 70.3.  I decided to give it a go, test my fitness and just be happy to be healthy and racing again. 

The field was stacked with some of the best swimmers in our sport.  The swim is always a struggle for me and with only 2 weeks of swim training under my belt, I knew I would have a lot of ground to make up.  My cycling has been going quite well and I was excited to hop on my new Cervelo P3 and see what I could do.  My legs came around quickly and I started to move up through the field.  I knew I had a strong effort on the bike and I was elated to see that I had posted the 2nd fastest bike split of the day – 2:26!  I entered T2 in 7th place and only 2 minutes down from top 5 and felt confident that if I ran steady, I could move into top 5 or higher.  I ran steady and by mile 11.5, I moved up to 6th place. I was gaining on 5th place and running full throttle. I managed to close the gap to 7 seconds then the finish line appeared and I had to settle for 6th place!  Based on my run time, I’m definitely not where I need to be with my run fitness – but I’m still happy given the fact that this was my first race of the year.

I was happy to just to be out there racing with some of the best triathletes in the world.  I definitely have lots of work to do, but I’m excited to see that my cycling is right on track and my injuries are healed.  My Cervelo P3 fits me like a glove and there simply is NO faster bike out there!  I’m looking forward to the next 8 weeks as I focus on Eagleman 70.3 and begin my build up for Ironman Lake Placid.  I also want to thank my sponsors for their support and belief in me - K-Swiss, Cervelo, Power Bar, Zipp Wheels, Fuel Belt, Blue Seventy, Lifesport and Giro.

See you at the races!

Kim Loeffler