Good luck to my athletes competing this weekend in Haines City!   Joy Braun is competing Sunday in the FL 70.3 and Hannah Fowler and Sofia Firmino are competing in Iron Kid's Florida.   I am looking forward to watching them race and cheering them on!  

Welcome to South Florida Lightning TEAM Sponsor Bicycle Generation!  Their generous sponsorship has helped pay for team suits, shirts and other items.   We are looking forward to working with them this season and hopefully co hosting some clinics for youth!  


Welcome to Youth Triathletes Mia Simon and Allison Beckerman to the South Florida Lightning Team!  Mia is 9 and Allison 12 are both welcome additions to the team and coaching family.  They have been coming out to practices and following a training plan the past month.


Welcome to new athletes Michael Beckerman, Patty Morgan and JF Desnoyners to my athlete family.  Michael and Patty are total newbies to the sport and JF has done a few races and is looking to improve and learn much more about the sport of triathlon:).   We have been working hard video taping and doing analysis, working on skills through clinics and practices and trying to balance a training schedule into their busy lives.   So far, they have done an outstanding job...sponges trying to absorb it all.  It is so rewarding to watch them learn and improve their skills and fitness every week:).

Congrats to Hannah Fowler who started the season off strong with 4 weeks in a row of racing.  She started with the Star Kid's Triathlon in Cocoa Beach, finishing 2nd place in her age group (10 to 11 year olds) and overall for the senior division on April 14th.  Then she came in 1st place finish at the Extreme Aquathon on April 20th at Deerfield Beach Aquatics Center.  The race consisted of a 1/2 mile run with obstacles (tires,  foam huge mats and crawling under ropes), a 50 meter swim and then a 1/2 mile run.  She was the top competitor (boys and girls for 9 and under division.  Then on April 27th, she finished 3rd overall in the intermediate division (girls 12 and under) at the Meek and Mighty  in Saint Petersburg.    Then she competed on May 5th at the Miami Kid's Tri and finished 1st overall in the 10 year old age group and tops in her division.  And that was after doing 2 full days of training hard up in Haines City and Sebring.  Way to go Hannah!  Keep up the good work:). 
 



Congrats to Joy Braun on her 2nd place finish in the 35 to 39 age group at the FAU Wellness Triathlon on April 15th!   It was awesome to cheer her on and watch her do so well with a nice strong finish!  Way to go Joy!


 What a great turnout for the FAU First Timer's Clinic on April 13th!  There were over 50 athletes in attendance with lots of great questions and feedback.  I went over everything you need to know to get ready for the race, some tips for how to race and so much more. After the race, so many of the athletes came up to me and told me how awesome their race experiences were and how all the tips really helped to make their day successful.   Loved talking to them and seeing them do so well.  Congrats to all athletes that participated. 

Good luck to Joy Braun on her 2013 triathlon season opener at the FAU Wellness Triathlon on April 14th!  It will be her first race of the season and a lead up to FL 70.3 in Haines City in May.   Have fun Joy!

Good luck to Hannah Fowler at the Star Kid's Triathlon on April 14th in Coco Beach!

Good luck to Sofia Firmino at the Fort De Soto Talent ID Series Race #1 on April 13th!

Congrats to Joy Braun for completing the 5K Swim Miami.  She was not really training a lot for this kind of volume, but really wanted to do the race.  So the plan was just to give her enough to finish feeling good and not injured or to disrupt her other goals for the season.  Mission accomplished!  She had a lot of fun and was able to cross this one off her bucket list:). 

Congrats to Jonathan Perkinson on his 3rd place finish in the Base Category at the 6 hour Solo Race @ the 12 hours of Markham race on December 16th.  He managed to complete 8 laps or 65 miles finishing strong!  Looking forward to working with him to help him train for XTERRA and USAT Nationals for the 2013 Season.





Congrats to Joy Braun on her PR and 3rd place 35-39 age group finish at the Weston Rotary Half marathon.   She did this as a training race to prepare for ING Miami Half next month. Her time was 1:44:43. Congrats to Lauren Brunswick for her 3rd overall finish with a time of 1:37:41! Great job to both of you:).
 


Congrats to Jonathan Perkinson on his 3rd place OA Finish at The Down2Earth Off Road Triathlon@ Amelia Park! He has improved so much this season. He had a 9th place finish out of 11 in his age group a year ago at this same race so is stoked to come in 3rd Overall today. He also excuted the race strategy perfectly having lots of FUN and a GREAT race experience! Way to go Jonathan!

Congrats to Katie Pinnell, Sofia Firmino and Hannah Fowler from South Florida Lightning that each won their age groups at the I' Tri'ed Kid's Race in Pompano Beach! These 3 girls have worked hard and finished the season with outstanding performances.   Katie was 1st Overall finisher and Sofia was 2nd female and 3rd Overall! Best of all is the way the team supports each other at all the races....I feel blessed to be able to work with such a great group during practices, races and exploring the world.

Congrats to Jonathan Perkinson who finished his first Olympic Distance race at Escape to Miami in a stellar time of 2:36:36! All his hard work over the past 4 months really paid off, finishing just outside of the top 25% in his age group (32/144)...amazing for his first year in the sport:). Way to go Jon! Next up is the Amelia Off Road Triathlon on October 7th!


Congrats to Sofia Firmino for her awesome performance at the USAT Talent ID Series race in Clermont.  She came in 3rd in a tough 14 year old age group and finished 19th overall among all women.  It was her first race of the season!  Way to go Sofie! 

Congrats to Joy Braun on hanging tough and completing IM Louisville even though she was not feeling well or quite herself going into race day.  Finishing a race when you are not feeling well is really hard and takes a huge amount of courage and determination to finish it out.   Really proud of you Joy!

Welcome to New Athlete Sofie Firmino!  Sofie is a 14 year old from Brazil here for the year.  She is doing a great job juggling high school in a different country with all her training.  Looking forward to working with her this year:).


Congrats to Joy Braun for her 2nd place age group finish at the Trilogy International Distance Race!  We decided to mix up her training for IM Louisville with this race.  It was a great test how much her speed endurance has improved this year.  She continues to get faster and stronger...can't wait to see how she does at IM next month. Way to go Joy!  Keep up the great training.



Congrats to Sue Endicott for her awesome performance at Mont Treblant 70.3 in June, crossing off one of here goals on her bucket list.   She picked a tough event to complete her first, filled with lots of hills on the bike and run.  She trained super hard without any injury...... and managed to take it all in and still finish strong with a huge smile on her face!   Her goal was to enjoy the event and finish feeling great.....mission accomplished with a 7:03:12 finish.  It was awesome to watch her develop over the past 6 months building both endurance and speed along the way.  She was super happy with the entire event and is already looking forward to doing some more half ironmans.  Way to go Sue!
Sue after crossing the finish line.

Congrats to Hannah Fowler and Katie Pinnell on becoming Florida Regional Champions by winning their age divisions at the USAT Youth Regional Championships at Heartland Triathlon on June 16th!  Hannah came out of the swim in first place, had a strong bike and held off some strong runners to win the 9 year old division with a solid 30 second cushion in the 100 yard swim, 4 mile bike and half mile run.  Katie won the 12 year old division with a solid swim, great transition, super strong bike and then overcame a bad side cramp on the run to win her division by a 30 second margin as well. The 12 year old race was a 200 yard swim, 8 mile bike and 1 mile run.  Way to go girls!  So proud of you and all your hard work:).

 
Katie Pinnell 12 year old Florida Regional Champion

 
Hannah Fowler 9 year old Florida Regional Champion

Welcome to new personal athlete Jonathan Perkinson!  Jon started training just a few weeks ago and has been awesome to work with so far.  He has already seen improvement in his swimming and mountain biking and had a 3 place overall finish in the Oleta 5K race recently.  He is training for several off road triathlons, regular tri's and some mountain bike races with his goal race being Escape to Miami in September and the Miami Man Half Ironman in November. 


Congrats to Lisa Galloway for a rock solid performance today at FL 70.3 in Haines City.  She finished the race with a 10 minute PR (over Miami Man which is a much easier course)  in 5:32:08 with a strong 1:48 half marathon run finish!   Great way to pace the race and finish strong. So proud of you Lisa and all your hard work.   Congrats to Tina Marie Periera who also PR'ed today breaking 7 hours for the first time after not really being into training too much after she completed IM FL back in November.  Too much work and living life:).  To be honest, I was a little bit worried about her knowing the course was tough, especially the run course in the heat.  But she came through with flying colors...hanging tough and getting the job done. 

Congrats to CJ Nickoson for a second place finish in the 225 plus 40 plus Clydesdale Division in his 1st Olympic Distance Race.  CJ has been working hard trying to get his swimming and endurance up to speed so he could complete the much longer 1.5K swim.  His swimming has come a long way from just being able to do the 1/4 mile distance a few months ago.  He finished the race in 3:15 on a very hot day, just running out of real estate to catch 1st place by 10 seconds.  He said he had a fun day and learned alot about the distance. 

Congrats to Hannah Fowler, Shea Whitacre and Katie Pinnell for their outstanding performances at IronKids FL in Haines City!  The girls had great races, executing all the skills they learned to prepare for the race really well.   They all qualified for IronKid Nationals in Des Moines.  Way to go TEAM South Florida Lightning!



Lisa Galloway and I had a great weekend training in Haines City, Lake Louisa and Clermont.  We were able to check out the ride the FL 70.3 and IronKids race course. The lake is small and water level kind of low, should make for an interesting swim.   The bike course is a mix of flats, false flats, some hills, smooth, rough, country  and busy roads.  The run course has some good hills in it at the start of the loop and then flattens out a bit for the second half.  Venue site is beautiful at Lake Eva with awesome play ground and water park for the kids (very family oriented), beautiful green lawns, amphitheater and banquet hall.  Should make for 2 great events.  Good luck to all competitors on May 19th and 20th!



Lisa riding for the first time in Clermont at the top of Sugarloaf!  Looking forward to going back with her to train again.

for a strong finish of 5:50:45 on a tough course at the Clermont Challenge half iron distance race!  That is an improvement of 1.5 hours since she did her first half ironman on that course 1.5 years ago.   She placed 3rd in the 35-39 age group.  Joy has worked on her biking skills and improved tremendously.  Nice job Joy!

I am thrilled with my results.  My coach rocks!!   I hired a triathlon coach in November to help me prepare (safely and correctly) for the Mont Tremblant Half Ironman.  When I started with Racheal, I was averaging approx. a 10:30 min per mile pace in my running.  I was averaging a 15 mph bike pace.  My average swim pace was approx. 2:30 min  for 100 meters.  With Racheal's guidance, motivation and support, my abilities for each of the 3 disciplines have improved drastically.  Here are my results from yesterdays race:

I placed 4th in my age group out of 24.  (50-54 years) and 295 out of 566 competitors.

I did the beach run in 8:30 min.  I did my bike ride in 30:43 min  (average pace was 19.5 mph)  I did my 3.1 run in 27:24 min (average pace = 8:49/mile)

Sue is on the left with her friend Mary that came in 2nd in the 60-64 age group. 

Sue has been an amazing athlete to coach, follows the plan well and appreciates all the guidance I give her including when she strays every so often:).  Thanks for doing so well with all your training.

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I attended the Road Runners Club of America  (RRCA) Certification course in Atlanta March 24 and 25th.  It was a great course with a lot of good information and presented very well.  I learned a few new things, but mainly was a great reminder of tools we can use as coaches.  Plus it was unique in that it centered around just running and not also training for a tri.  Looking forward to using some of the info while coaching my athletes:).

I have been holding Open water swims and transition practices for some of my coached athletes.  They have learned so much about how to deal with rough conditions and how to be fast in transitions!

I volunteered to help out with a FLIPPANY Adventure Camp for kids over spring break.  Rode with some of the kids on the trails at Markham park.  They all did great and were so much fun to work with and give a few tips!

 









Took a road trip to Clermont with my athlete Sue Endicott to teach her how to ride in the hills.  We rode all through Clermont, Cherry Lake, Ferndale, and Monteverde conquering almost all the big hills.  We also did repeat loops at Lake Louisa State Park and did a small transition session, and visited the National Training Center to recover from the riding and work a tiny bit on her swim form.  Was a great and FUN couple of days! 



Congrats to Joy Braun for her top 5% female finish at the Sparten Race in Oleta River State Park on Saturday.  She did the race for fun after a long season of Ironman training straight into Miami Marathon race.....and had a blast smiling the whole time:).  Great job Joy!

 

Congrats to Joy Braun on her 3:48 Miami Marathon finish which put her in the top 30 of the 35-39 age division.   She did an amazing job recovering from Ironman Florida back in November, to training for the event and building back up some speed.  She is ready to rock in 2012, signing up for the Clermont Challenge Half Ironman in April, then Ironman Louisville in August and Florida in November. 

    Joy Braun with a strong finish to the line.