Race Coverage

Ironman Florida - Stacked Fields, Golf Ball Blisters & Chased Dreams...

Wednesday, 10 November 2021 00:10

ED. Rachel, Katie and Ted reflect on their Ironman Florida experiences:

RACHEL ZILINSKAS - 8th place - 9:35:04 - PR

"First pro race in the books at Ironman Florida! It was a great experience lining up with such a stacked field. There was a lot I executed well but even more that I learned. I’m so excited and motivated to go on from here.
.
"Thank you to everyone who cheered me on and supported me this past weekend. I really felt all the love and that’s what makes this community so special. Special shoutout to my sister for crushing her first experience as my race support, to my fellow @yoderperformance teammates on course for the encouragement and inspiration, and to Andrew and @pennltz for driving the whole way from PA to support us!" ...

KATIE DEREGNIER - 10:52:11 - PR

"Ironman #6 (Florida) in the books! What an amazing year(s) it has been of training! So thankful to have had the opportunity to race healthy and PR!! Details below:

The Swim
I think I was stung by jellyfish about 18 times. Between that and the salt water creating sandpaper-like chafing, I couldnt wait to exit the water. The buoys must have drifted quite a bit, as I swam over 5000 yards (about 800 over the distance) and it was my worst split ever by 12 minutes. BUT....It was only the beginning, and my only choice was to STAY POSITIVE! 

The bike
The first 30 miles was teeth-chattering cold. With the temp in the 40s and Florida winds, it was intense. I lost my chain twice and my power meter stopped working early on, but eventually fell into a nice pace and had a bike PR by 13 min! The last 30 miles was a nice tailwind to take us home!!

The Run
Just a marathon to go! Blisters the size of golf balls formed on the balls of my feet but I wasnt going to let that stop me now! My marathon split was 3:37, which was 7 min faster than my best ironman marathon! I rolled into the finish at 10:52- an ironman PR by 26 minutes!! 

The grit it takes to persevere in an ironman is why I love it so much. Words cannot describe how thankful I am for the love and support I had from my family the whole way through! Now, time to celebrate!?

TED TREISE - 9:48:17

"Ironman Florida - my first full distance triathlon. 2.4 mile swim, 112 mile bike and 26.2 run & it’s DONE! These things are really really fcking hard - I don’t know how else to describe an Ironman. From spending 7+ hours in the top 10 and feeling 100% confident in myself of finishing there during the marathon to 90 minutes later fighting with everything I had just to shuffle - I couldn’t believe how bad my legs hurt and how cognitively fine I was. It killed me to go through that.

"In all, I got what I set out for. A heaping of IM experience and things to work on. I guess sometimes you just skin your knees chasing your dreams.

"A special thank you to my partners below and especially Dani Treise. She made this race possible - Gave splits and all the encouragement needed to finish. I couldn’t of done it without her!"