What an exciting week the Thrive Endurance team has had all over the globe. Whatever is your favorite endurance sport, we have been in it all. Whether it was lava rocks in Kona, racing a paddle steamer along the Murray, or around the Bay in a Day, the Melbourne Marathon or racing in the Sunshine Coast, we were there.
After a 3 year absence from Ironman, Hawaii World Champs was finally back. With the biggest field in history and a new 2 day format the atmosphere was electric. We were lucky to have 2 athletes Rebecca Cladingboel and Wayne Armitage fly the thrive flag on the new Thursday race. With the sun out shining (hot hot hot) from 8 am in the morning it was going to be a war of attrition to who has what it takes to conquer the Big Island. Bec was up 1st sticking to her race plan and trying to get to the run in the best shape possible. She did herself and everyone proud to bring it home and crossed the infamous Ironman Hawaii finish line while Mike Ryley called out her name.
Wayne set off 1 hour later after earning his right to be there with a legacy spot after finishing 16 IM events. Wayne’s day started off good as he worked towards his goal of getting to cross that finish line. With the sun out all day pounding down especially out on the Queen K where the Lava rock is like riding in an oven with the fan on. Wayne hit Ali Drv, ticking away the km’s trying to reach that finish line.
Unfortunately around 16 km into the run Kona won the war and Wayne fell short of the finish line. Some people might think he didn't reach his dream of finishing IM Hawaii but I say Wayne experienced his dreams of taking on the island.
No words can explain what it's truly like out there in the Lava and the intense heat you need to deal with. The only way to truly know is to experience it and that is exactly what both of our guys got to do on one of the hottest days the Island has ever dished out.
The previous weekend saw the Melbourne Marathon return. We had Christine Trevaskis and Sharon Adronaco take on the full marathon distance. Christine came and saw us about 12 weeks prior asking if we thought the Marathon would be possible for her. Her biggest concern was getting to the start line injury free.
We decided anything is possible and decided the less is more approach for her training. We aimed to do the least amount of training we needed to make sure we could consistently build her up over the 12 weeks. The plan worked a treat with Chrisine hitting the start line injury free with 12 consistent weeks of training under her belt. Come race day Christine had a great day out conquering her goal of crossing the line for her 1st marathon.
What is the least training possible you ask? Well she averaged around 24 km a week running and her longest run prior was 16 km. Sharon Andronaco also took the start line 3 weeks after Sunshine Coast 70.3.
Without any marathon focussed training and Busselton IM only 8 weeks away we went in with the goal of a 4:30 marathon so we could recover quickly and get back into training. Sharon hit her goal perfectly. Congratulations to both Christine and Sharon on your fantastic results.
Around the Bay in a day was also on the weekend and Kylie Smith took on the 100km event. After spending 3 months off the bike at the start of the year with a foot injury. Kylie has ticked every box working with Chris on her cycling as well as working with Sarah for strength and conditioning post surgery. In her own words she had the best day ever out there and got stronger as the day went on.
Coach Chris took on Round 2 Qld Tri Series at Moreton Bay. Consisting of a 2km Swim, 60 km Bike and a 15 km Run it is definitely a challenging distance. Chris had an awesome Swim and Bike and then held on in the Run to take out 6 th place and pick up some valuable points.
Lastly we had the Sweat vs Steam race at Echuca in the Murray River. This event sees the runners take on the paddle steamer boat over a 10 km run race. Simon Mason had a great day enjoying being back out and running strong after an injury earlier in the year
Ironman Hawaii
Rebecca Cladingboel 11:42:43
Wayne Armitage DNF
Melbourne Marathon
Sharon Andronaco 4:31:33
Christine Trevaskis 5:25:29
Moreton Bay Race 2 Classic Distance
Chris Pye 3:13:14 6th 35-39
Sweat vs Steam
Simon Mason 53:00