This Girls Got Goals

SO happy to be DONE! I added IM70.3 Michigan to my calendar for another opportunity to qualify for the 2027 IM70.3 World Championships in Chattanooga. Was it a long shot? Absolutely. But I was excited to try. The race was just two weeks after Melissa’s wedding, so I knew the lead-up would not be perfect. It was also only one week after this year’s World Championships in Nice. My thinking was that maybe some of the fastest ladies would still be recovering from Worlds instead of racing in Michigan. Even with that possibility, I knew I would need my best day ever on that course. I had a great swim. I had a great bike. And then there was the run… When it comes to triathlon, I’m a really good aquabiker. LOL. The Lead-Up: A Lot of Driving, Dancing, and Racing We drove to Melissa’s wedding, which meant we also had to drive home. Before heading toward the house, we detoured to Detroit for a Tigers game. I got home Thursday at 2:30“ish” and left again Friday at 3:30 for a double race...

Ironman Texas 2026: Releasing the Dream I chose Ironman Texas as a recon mission for my Kona dream. And I left knowing it was probably time to release that dream. When I raced Kona in 2016, I was there as the Women for Tri Kona Inspiring Woman - raising over $28,000 for Women for Tri. That experience absolutely counted, and it will always be one of the most meaningful opportunities I have had in this sport. But there was still a part of me that wanted to go back by qualifying. Not to prove that I belonged there. I already knew how much that first experience mattered. I wanted to bring this stronger version of myself back to that course. Ironman Texas felt like the right place to test whether that dream was realistic. A flat, windy bike course suited my strengths, and while I was not racing for a Kona slot this year, I wanted the information. Could I get close? Was the dream still something worth chasing? I think I knew the answer before race day, but the slot allocation made it impossi...

Michigan Titanium Ultra Distance Aquabike – Race Report My Goals for the Day Going into the race, I had three goals: Rockstar Goal:  7:20 (based on RaceX’s prediction of 7:21) Super Happy Goal:  7:30 Happy Goal:  Stick diligently to my hydration plan in the hot weather. Only about eight people were registered for the Ultra Distance Aquabike, with three of us being female. I knew I’d be on the podium no matter what, but I wanted more than that — I wanted to win outright and maybe even land on the overall podium for men and women. Last year at this race, my Di2 battery got unplugged before the bike start, leaving me stuck in one gear for the entire ride. This year, I wanted to see what I could really do on this course with all my gears working — and all that climbing. Race Morning Race morning went exactly to plan. I woke up at 3:00 a.m., had breakfast (including coffee), stretched, and did some visualization. I was one of the first people on the first shuttle bus, arriv...

2025 marked my return to Ironman Lake Placid—exactly ten years after I first raced here in 2015. Back then, I was Race Age 40, my fourth season of racing. Now, at Race Age 50, I came back not just to finish—but to race. To see if I could beat my former self. To see if I could qualify for Kona. And this time? I believed I could. The Road Back to Lake Placid Leading into this race, I’d been training with TriDot for over two years and was finally seeing major gains—especially in my run. For the first time, I started thinking not just about finishing faster than 2015, but possibly finishing  fast enough to qualify for Kona.  I hired a coach, became a coach, and followed my training plan to the letter. I even attended a race rehearsal camp in Lake Placid a month before race day to get the lay of the land and build some confidence on the climbs. Race Week: The Journey North I started my drive on the Tuesday before race week. For camp I made this trip in two days and ended up with sw...