Kim Loeffler Racing

She’s all dressed up and ready to go!!

Finally it’s here; the day before the race! Not exactly my favorite day of the week, but I am getting through it ok.  The bags are all packed and the bike is ready for drop off.  Then its just sit around, eat and wait! I was one of 3 lucky athletes to get my hands on the new Zipp VumaChrono crankset.  It is one hell of a crankset; 9 sec over 40K faster than the other aero cranksets out there and lighter too!  I can’t wait to test it out on the Queen K.   

Week 1 in Kona

I can’t believe I’ve been in Kona for a week already.  Where does the time go!  The week totally flew by.  I flew out last Wednesday with my mom and early this week Brian and his family, Kelly and Tanja all arrived.  I have a great support crew this year! 

I got in some good training sessions on the course.  Last weekend, I drove up to Waikaloa and ride up to Hawi and back.  I was surprised how windy it was out there! Being so light, the winds can really push me around, so ideal for me would be light winds on the bike and hot and sunny for the run.  However this is Hawaii, so I’m sure we will get all that and more!  The following day, I drove out to the energy lab with my water girl (mom!) for my weekly long run (1 hour ha!) I  threw in some tempo efforts and felt great.  Check out my new race shoes in the photo below.  I call them my ABA’s (American Bad Ass shoes).   They’re seriously the perfect race shoe.  Anyone who saw my feet after Kona last year and then after LP this year would attest to that!  What a difference!  

It feels so good to be here healthy and relaxed and just ready to go out race and give it my all.  I’m so relaxed this year.  My theme is just to race for the love of the sport and be grateful that I am healthy and able to live this wonderful lifestyle.  This was my attitude in 2005, when I finished 8th.  Sure, I had the goal of breaking into the top 10 like everyone else, but I felt so fit and I was just so excited to race and test myself against the best athletes in the world.  I came to Kona last year so angry and frustrated.  I was angry that in 06, I had a stomach bug and had a horrible race, I was angry that I separated my shoulder and missed Lake Placid and 2 months of racing and I was angry that I arrived in Kona with a leg injury (later to find out it was a femoral stress fracture).  This year, I am just trying to focus on all the positive experiences that I’ve had, not just this year but over the course of the past 7 years.  Always remembering why I am here in Kona, what drew me here back in 2000 and why I come back every year. I’ll give it my all on Saturday and as long as I do that, I will be happy when I cross the finish line.  I’m living my dream.

A Win in Cancun

Well after 6 weeks in Boulder, I wasn’t quite ready to go home, so I made a last minute decision to race the Cancun 70.3. 

The race went well and it was good to see that my fitness and heat tolerance is on track for Kona (see my homepage for a race report).  I am now home in Vermont.  The weather has been great and I got to do my last long ride under sunny skies and upper 70 temps.  I felt great and could definitely feel the difference biking at sea level.  It was nice to be able to drink out of my water bottle without gasping for air!   Late September is my favorite season in Vermont.  The leaves are starting to change, but it is still sunny and relatively warm.  I am home for just a few more days, then I am off to Hawaii for 2 weeks!

Boulder Training Camp Wrap Up

I’m looking forward to going home and seeing my husband and my 3 boys (T, Kona and Thunder), but part of me is sad to leave.  I love the training here in Boulder.  I love the cycling routes, the running trails and having my choice of 4-5 groups to swim with everyday.  But mostly, I love being with my sister.  We are so close and it is so hard for us to live apart.  We have so much fun together.  The past 6 weeks have been great.  Lots of lattes, kick ass runs, laughs and even a little trash talking.  Kelly’s running has taken off over the past month and I can’t wait to see how she does in the National 10 mile Championships in 2 weeks.  Then she will fly out to Kona right after the race.  Every year, she says she can’t do it and every year she out there on the Queen K screaming at me to run faster!

Top 3 things I’ve learned in Boulder:

1. 6 am swim workouts are not that bad if you have a good group to swim with and Wolfgang coaching you.

2. Never tell a CAT 2 Cyclist you want to do a hard 6 hour ride! ouch!

3.  Kelly is definitely the evil twin.  again ouch, she is tough!

Kelly Wins Skirt Chaser 5K

Kelly is back at it. Hitting the pavement and tearing it up.  Last weekend she went to Denver to race the Skirt Chaser 5K.  The race was started by Skirts Sports owner Nichole DeBoom (www.skirtsports.com) .  The women go off 3 minutes before the men, all wearing Skirts of course.  There were a few very fast men there and Kelly really had to hoof it to get this win.  I can’t tell you how good it feels to see here racing and training hard again. 

 Yesterday we headed out for our easy recovery run.  We decided to venture over to the Switzerland Trail. It is a jeep trail starting about 8500 ft.   Good thing it was a recovery day.  Unfortunately, it was an unusually rainy day and  I could barely see Kelly in front of me, never mind the beautiful Rockies.   

Today was day 1 of my final 2 week hard block before I start my 2 week taper for Kona.  The alarm  went off at 6am.  My friends back home would be so proud of me!  Except it was pouring and cold out, so I turned off the alarm and went back to bed.  Recovery first right:) .  We started our day off with a 90 min tempo run around the Boulder Res.  Kelly is getting fitter and fitter every day and  today it was really hard to stay with her.  I did the best I could, then came home and took a nap. Those who know me, know that I have to be very tired to nap!  Today I needed it and I actually fell asleep.  I woke up and hopped on my bike for my threshold workout.  My legs were pretty trashed form the run, but I did the best I could.  After the bike workout, I was soooo wishing that I didn’t turn off the alarm so that I could be done with the day. Fortunately, there was a masters swim group tonight.  So, all I had to do was make it the pool deck and I would have a good workout.  I can’t tell you how much swimming with a group has helped my swimming and mentally it is sooo much easier to swim with  a group.  I swam by myself for years and I was starting the dread my swim workouts.  Banging out 5000Y workouts solo takes so much mental energy.  Especially when you are not a strong swimmer and even easy recovery swims are not  that  easy!! Run and bike training for me, is so enjoyable.  I love the feeling of sweating, muscles burning, heart popping out of your chest.  I never get that rush, that high from swimming. For me swimming is all work.  I ran into Greg Bennett at the pool the other day.  He has a saying “The bike is his strength, running is his passion and the swim is his work.”  I can totally relate to this!

5 Weeks and Counting

It’s that time of the year again.  Time to hunker down and put in the final push for Kona!  As usual, the summer flew right by.  After Lake Placid, I took a mini break to rest up and get ready for the big Kona push.  I spent 1 week in Long Island visiting my family and friends and 1 week back home in Vermont.  My initial plan was to head out to Boulder 6 weeks pre IMH. for 4 weeks, then fly straight to Kona.  After getting 15 inches of rain in about 2 months, I had to escape!  Close to 10 hours in torrential downpours at Lake Placid, followed by 2 weeks of rain was a little more than I could handle.  It was starting to get depressing, so off to Boulder I went!  

I started training in Boulder 2 years ago when I was training for the Lake Placid Ironman.  After a few days here, I could see why athletes from around the world call Boulder their second home.  The training in Boulder is phenomenal; great swimming facilities; with world class coaches, scenic and VERY challenging bike routes and running trails everywhere you turn.  I was so excited when Kelly (my sister) moved out here 2 years ago.  It’s the  best of both worlds; the perfect training environment and the perfect training partner.  Kelly is a world class runner and training with her day in and day out has definitely brought my running to a new level. 

I’ve been in Boulder now for 4 weeks and with 5 weeks until Worlds, things are looking really good.  It’s been a hard month, but my training is going very well, I am healthy and I can feel myself getting stronger and stronger every day.  I have 3 more hard weeks to go before I head back home to Vermont to rest up for the big day.  After Kona, I will focus on a quick recovery and try to squeeze in a few more races before winter comes storming in.   

Ironman Lake Placid Race Report

Ironman Lake Placid Race Report 

After a 3 year hiatus, I was so excited to race the Ford Ironman Lake Placid.  I finished second in 2005, had to skip it in 2006 because there was not a pro women’s race and had to pull out 4 weeks before the race in 2007 due  to a shoulder separation.  Ironman Lake Placid is one of my favorite races.  The course is nestled in the Adirondack Mountains; it’s beautiful yet extremely challenging.  I trained on the course over a dozen times in the past 3 years and I was just so excited to be healthy and finally able to race one of my favorite events. 

My swim training was inadequate going into the race due to chronic shoulder injuries resulting from my shoulder separation last year.  I exited the water with quite a deficit.  Fortunately, my bike and run training have been going really.  I hoped on my Cervelo and felt great. I’ve had so many good training sessions on the bike course throughout the summer, and I knew I would work my way towards the front of the field.  Then it happened, I hit the first long 9 mile descent heading out of town and started shivering incessantly.  The torrential downpours were relentless and combined with the low temperature and winds, made for quite the bike ride! For the next 5 hours it was a battle to bike hard enough to stay warm but not so hard that I had to walk the marathon.  By the middle of the first loop I moved up to second place and started closing the gap on Hillary Biscay.   I knew that I had to continue to eat and drink, but I was so cold I was having a hard time getting anything into my body.  I entered T2 in second place and managed to close the gap down to 7 minutes and post the fastest bike split of the day.  I put on my new K Swiss racing shoes (which by the way are the most comfortable shoes I have ever raced in!), grabbed my fuel belt flask and slowly tried to replace some fluids.  Even though I am from Vermont, my body does not do well in the cold, at all!  My legs felt empty and I was hungry for most of the run.  The cold reeked havoc on my muscles and I knew I would have to race smart.  I ran patiently and by mile 18 passed Hillary for the lead.  I knew that Caitlin was a phenomenal runner, but I did not know how close she was. I failed to see her at the last turnaround and had no idea that she was running 2:59 pace! Right before the 23 mile mark she came storming by me.  I tried to respond, but the pace was so much faster and within seconds she put on a sizable lead.  I ran as hard as I could to the finish line, but Caitlin ran faster, went on the take the win and set a new run course record in the process.

Once again it just goes to show that there are so many variable to great ironman racing; swim, bike and run fitness, mental prep, nutrition, and environmental conditions.  I am looking forward to a week off to rest up and spend some time with my family on Long Island.  My plans for the rest of the season include a Boulder training camp with Kelly, an Olympic and 70.3 race (TBD) and then off to Kona for the Ironman World Championships where I will try to improve on my 8^th place finish there in 2005.  I’d like to thank all my sponsors for all the   support.  I have the best of the best this year and would like to thank K-Swiss, Powerbar, Cervelo, FuelBelt, Lifesport, Katalyst Multisport, Zipp, Ski Rack, Blue Seventy, Giro, and Vasa.     

See you in Kona!

Kim

Tough Day in Placid

 It’s kind of ironic; 3 years ago I cried becuase I was so happy to finish second place behind Heather Fuhr.  This year, I had to hold back tears of disappointment with my second place finish.  I wanted the win so badly. I wanted to be the first US woman to win Ironman Lake Placid.  I was so close, I could taste it.  I was in contention all day, but the elements got the better of me.  I battled hypothermia and dehydration throughout the day and ended up suffering in the discipline that I thought would be my strength.  Huge congratulations to Caitlin Shea-Kenney, who won and set a run course record.  I will post a report soon.  Right now, I am enjoying spending some time with my family on Long Island, hanging out with my old high-school friends, being very lazy and eating lots of junk food! 

21 More Days!

It’s been so long since I posted an update.  As you know from my previous posts, my spring was sort of rocky, lots of set backs and frustrations.  After FL 70.3 , I thought I was on a roll, but once again, I had another injury flair up forcing me to take another 2 weeks off from running.  I was signed up for Eagleman 70.3.  That was my first Half Ironman back in 2000.  I really wanted to go back and race, so I went for it.  Unfortunately, I had some technical problems on the bike and had to withdraw from the race.  I hoped on my bike and was like what the…….???? my saddle was so low that my knees were hitting my chest. One of the bolts on my saddle somehow got loose and my saddle was tilted all the way down.  I can’t believe this happened. This happened to me once before (Kona 05)  and since then I have become anal with tightening all bolts.  Looking back, I realize it was probably a blessing in disguise.  I needed to rest my injury, if there was any hope in racing at Lake Placid.  I knew that my body would not hold up for another 5 weeks of Ironman training.  As hard as it was I decided to take a full 2 weeks off from running and then hop back into a hard 3 week build up and 2 week taper for Placid.  It was hard to take a full 2 weeks off from running 5 weeks before Placid, but I knew it was my only shot at making it to the starting line somewhat healthy.  The great news is that my coach Lance is a genious.  He somehow managed to get me very fit over the past 3 weeks and I am so fired up to race in Lake Placid.  I just finished up a big training weekend over in Lake Placid.  I am biking the course much faster than I ever have and my transition and long runs have been PB’s as well.  Kelly arrive in Burlington 3 weeks ago and has been kicking my butt in every run.  It helps so much to have someone to chase and I am psyched  with my run training right now.   I have 21 more days to go and I don’t want to jinx myself, but things are looking good!

Aerodynamics

I had to post this. Here is a picture of my niece, Aggie (Kelly’s little  gal) giving her Brother Pre some aerodynamic tips! They are the cutest, sweetest labs I have ever met aside from my Thunder! They are all making a road trip out to Vermont and will be staying with us for 6 weeks! I am really looking forward to training with Kelly again.  I will have to stay disciplined and stick to my training program, which is always difficult when Kelly and I get together! We have so much fun running together, that I tend to neglect my bike and swim and run like mad.  Last time we training together, we both ended up with stress fractures! After that camp,  Brian banned me from Ironman training with Kelly! I promised to be good this time.  Well sort of