Endurance Nation | Triathlon Coaching, Ironman Training, Half Ironman, Beginner Triathlon

It’s that time of year again, as athletes end their 2011 season and begin to plan their training and racing for 2012. Inside the team we are now fielding many season planning questions and the Big One is:

“Given my race schedule for 2012, when should I start my OutSeason Training Plan?”
Answer: You should start the OS when your head is ready to commit to anywhere from 14 to 20 weeks of focused, hard work.

This is a function of the nature of the season you just ended, the length of your 2012 season, and your own personal constraints during the winter months.

What is the OutSeason?
This is the critical time of year when we build your power and pace at threshold.  Because you have minimal volume goals with no big races on the schedule, we can fill your extra time with recovery. This means we can really push the intensity of the workouts and help you establish new levels of fitness on the bike and the run. The net being that when you return to the open road next year, your training partners won’t know what happened to the “old” you that no longer rides or runs with them. To learn more about our OutSeason training methodology, please watch the videos on the OutSeason Training Plan page in the Endurance Nation Store.

Your 2011 Season
If it’s been a long one, you definitely want to take some unstructured downtime to recover your body and reset your head. This includes Ironman Canada, Louisville or Wisconsin, and especially the late season races of Ironman Kona, Florida, Arizona, or Cozumel.

Why rest, you ask? Because our OutSeason training plans are tough. We’re going to ask you to a lot of hard work. You definitely want to be a mental place where you are ready and eager to do that work, not feeling like you have to do the work now because you have race on Date X in 2012.

Unstructured is just that — do what you want to do, staying active, maintaining your running frequency, etc, but consider not training with a scheduled training plan. Again, your priority is to reset your head before diving into the hard work. Feel free to post to the Endurance Nation Facebook Page if you want more feedback from us.

The Length of Your 2012 Season
If you’re racing a late 2012 race, you want to err on the side of starting your OS training later rather than sooner. More importantly, definitely want to break your 2012 season into smaller, more manageable chunks. The idea is to move from short term goal/race to short term goal/race, vs putting your feet on the floor at 5:30am in December thinking you are training for Ironman Florida 2012. If you try the latter approach you will be insane by May, we promise.

Your Personal Constraints
When does the weather sentence you to the drainer or dreadmill? How far into 2012 will you be on those damn things? What are your work and/or family commitments during holidays and winter months?

Training time during the Winter can be very costly — indoors, in the cold/dark, shoehorned in around holiday commitments, occurring months and months before your 2012 races, etc. Be realistic about these personal costs and pick a start date for your OutSeason that reflects this assessment.

“But what about my goal race of the Podunktown 70.3 on April 15th? How does that affect my OS start date?”

Please go here to read our thoughts on transitioning from the OS to your A-race training plan. If you’re a TeamEN member, please take the Season Planning Survey to have Coach Rich plan your season for you. In short, we’ve managed the back end of the OS — how to integrate that with the rest of your season, how to transition you to your A-race plan — a thousand times. We have/are an app for that! But what is much more important is you choosing the best OS starting date for you, based on the three bullets above. Don’t worry about what means on the back end. That’s easy to manage.

OutSeason Start Date Considerations and Recommendations
Within TeamEN we traditionally start the OS on set dates to get massive numbers of athletes starting the same plans at the same time. This helps to maximize the accountability and mojo of the Team:

• ~October 1st — good for athletes who finished their goal races for the 2011 season in July or August (or earlier), “maybe” folks who raced Ironman Wisconsin who have seriously unplugged for the balance of September and are genuinely ready to get back at it.
• ~November 1st — better start date for the IMWI and September 70.3 folks.
• ~December 1st — we do NOT recommend you start your OS plan in December. In our 5yrs of experience with guiding athletes through the OS, December is just very, very messy and more often than not December OS athletes end up doing a hard reset and starting their OS over in January.
• ~January 1st — for athletes who finished their season in November and/or have very late 2012 races.
• ~Feb 1st — similar to the January OS folks.

In summary, our OutSeason training plans are the best tools we have for making you a much, much faster triathlete. We will ask you to work very hard; not long, but hard. Averaging just six to eight hours a wek, these intense sessions have created huge bike and running speed boosts for hundreds of athletes across the last five years. Once you are ready to wrap your head around about 20wks of hard, challenging work — work that will create massive PR’s for you in 2012 — come check us out!

Endurance Nation Triathlon Coaching
Go here to create a FREE 5-day trial membership, or go here to enroll in our FREE OutSeason Virtual Seminar and learn more about our proven OutSeason training methods!

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It’s gonna be a rocking weekend in ol’ Madison, Wisconsin!  TeamEN has 40 racers descending on the Mad City ready to show 2,100+ other tri-geeks how Ironman racing is supposed to be done.  No, it’s not all about the bike . . . . it’s about the run.  If a racer in an EN tri kit runs past you counting you know you  are now officially Road Kill.   Nothing personal.  Rabbits are just great motivation.

Meet a few of our rock stars below.

Rich Strauss

Endurance Nation Coach

43yo, Monrovia, CA

Rich is the co-founder and co-head coach of Endurance Nation. He lives in Monrovia, CA, in the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains on the north side of Los Angeles, with his wife Joanne and their two fuzzy kids, Sonny and Riley. He has taken 3yrs off from triathlons, instead focusing on starting EN and coaching the team vs his own training and racing. Ironman Wisconsin will be Rich’s third time racing Madison, with a PR and Kona qualifying time of 10:05 in 2002 and he’s looking forward to leading the other 39 TeamEN athletes racing on September 11th. Rich’s goal for IMWI is to use the race execution and tools that TeamEN has developed over the years to execute the best race he knows how, especially on the run.

Brian Kelly

2011 Ironman Wisconsin Race Captain

I am Brian Kelly, 55 yrs old, married with 4 grown children, and 1 grandaughter, 6 weeks old.  Have been competing in sports all my life.  Played 9 years in the Canadian Football League with the Edmonton Eskimo’s (1979-1987).  Won 5 Grey Cups, and I was youngest player to be inducted into the Canadian Football League Hall of Fame.  This is my 4th IMOO.  I have learned it is never the fastest, biggest, fittest, or most talented that wins the prize, but it is always the one who executes properly on game day.  I have the EN plan, and am looking so forward to race day to have the opportunity to execute it!

Davis Tallo

David Tallo resides in the blunt part of the pointy end in Ironman Age group racing.  Wisconsin will be his 14th Ironman and his 13th attempt at reaching the EN Varsity ranks.  As a teenager he smoked a pack of cigarettes daily, which he intends to regret from miles 16 through 26.2 of the run.  He has nine or ten “One Things,” including a top-100 finish, a 9:56 or faster overall, and a KQ in Men’s 40-44.

Venkatesh Krishnamurthi

Native of Northeast Ohio-born, raised and lived for all but 5 years in Cleveland Ohio area. Married for 13 years to wife, Smitha, and 2 boys ages 10 and almost 9. Day job is a physician (surgeon) at the Cleveland Clinic. Triathlon “career” started in 2008 with Cleveland Triathlon (Olympic) and last year did 1^st full IM (IM Wisconsin) so hoping to do a little better this year.

Jon Bergman

Jon Bergmann is a technology facilitator for a school district in the Chicago area and does educational consulting for schools around the world.  He also co-authored a book this year on the Flipped Classroom.  Training for IMWI has been quite a journey and a quite a puzzle to fit in all of the workouts.   He has trained in twelve states this year, moved his family from the mountains of Colorado to Illinois, and has written a book.  He is indebted to his amazing family for bending and accommodating his passion for triathlons  He is a  has been doing triathlons for eleven years. IMWI will be his second ironman. His first was ten years ago and was poorly executed. He is looking forward to a great race.

Tim and Jen Jardeleza

This is our first season with EN and Wisconsin will be our first ironman race.  Tim is an anesthesia/critical care medicine doctor in the Army and I am a nurse working in the emergency room/cath lab area.  We have two great boys, and our oldest just did his first triathlon this summer. We did a few triathlons when we first met, and took a hiatus from them when we moved out to Maryland. We started getting back into triathlons slowly in 2008, and started doing half ironmans last year. We have enjoyed PRs on a lot of the races this season in comparison to last year.  We had a great time at the EN rally in July.   We are looking forward to racing with EN at Wisconsin!

Brian Bird

I am a 40 year old  native Texan who relocated to Hinsdale, IL after meeting my amazing wife, Kim, in graduate school in 2002.  We are the proud parents of two wonderful and energetic boys, Hayden (3) & Carter (10 months) – I’m still trying to find a way to channel some of their endless energy for race day (ANY IDEAS?).  I am attempting my first IM this weekend and could not have gotten this far without the incredible support of my entire family.  Thanks to all of you for putting up with the long weekend rides and early morning workouts that I tried to sneak out of the house to do….only to find out that the kids woke up as the door closed behind me.

Andy Fenton

40 years old, married to my long suffering partner Kate for the last 6 years. We have two wonderful boys – Harrison aged 3 & Jake 8 months.

I’m a Brit, originally from Manchester in the North West of England, but I’ve been living in the Madison area for the last 6 years. I work as an IT Director for a Global Genetics company.

Growing up, I always participated in sports – mostly football (sorry, sorry….’Soccer’) and cricket (you know, that funny British game a bit like baseball!), but switched to endurance sports when I moved to the US – originally marathons, but incorporated some swimming & biking into my run training, so thought I might as well switch to triathlon.

This will be my first IM after having completed 3 HIM & numerous Olympics in the last couple of years.

Love the EN training style – fits perfectly with my training style & commitments of my young family. Although, I think I might have overdone the training ……every time I go ANYWHERE, my 3 year old says ‘Daddy, you going on your Bike?’ …’No Harry…’ ….’Oh …You going running then Daddy?’….’No Harry….’ Too funny

Brian Quarton

43, Litchfield IL, number 2051.

This is my second ironman after Louisville in 2008. I joined EN on the last day of 2007. My wife, Lori and I have been married 22 years. We have 4 kids, ages 17 to 5. My claim to fame is a brief appearance on the Four Keys DVD. My bio pic was taken at Hopkinton High in 2010. On raceday I can also be followed on www.myathletelive.com. “Let’s roll” on 9/11.

Brian Comiskey

Robert Towler

Sue Chapman

IMOO will be my first Ironman distance triathlon – after getting into this crazy sport just three years ago.  It all started one July up in Door County, WI – watching my younger brother do his first 1/2.  The energy, spirit, dedication, and just plain fun got me thinking that I could and should try something like this.  I’ve lost 30 pounds during this long journey, started exercising (could hardly run around the block when I started), and have since done 3 1/2s, 2 marathons, several Horribly Hilly Hundreds rides, and numerous shorter-distance tris and runs (including the one and only Cow Chip Classic)!  I live in Madison with my DH Scott and two cats – he’s so supportive … but the cats could care less – as long as I don’t miss their dinner!  I am the Director of Member Services for a 10,000+members scientific society and everyone is really encouraging and I couldn’t ask for a more supportive CEO.  It will be great to be racing my first IM in Madison and have my family and friends on the course and to see so many people in both the local triathlon community that I’ve trained with over the years and all of my EN peeps – I’m so glad I’m in the Haus.  Most importantly, I’ll be doing this race with my sister, ENer Mary Larson and my brother, Bob (not an ENer … yet).

Rick Shea

My name is Rick Shea, I’m 48, and I live in Indianapolis with my wife, 2 kids and 2 dogs. I work as a cardiologist.  I have been in the sport since about 1993, and caught the Ironman bug in 1995 when I lotteried into Kona (raced 2 weeks after my daughter was born -still negative in the SAUs for that one).  I’ve completed 6 Ironmans, including IMWI twice.  I think IMWI is the greatest race – it’s hard, the time of year and weather are perfect, and the fan support is outstanding.  I believe Ironman racing is a simple extension of what I’m about – no need to think up some funny reason why I’m out there pounding the course.  I think I’m there because I belong with people like you, doing something extraordinary.  I plan to race for life.

Matt "Huggy Bear " Sullivan

I am 46 years old and live in Oak Park, IL with my wife of 17 years, Karin, and 11 year old daughter, Clare. Huge thanks go out to them for their support and encouragement throughout my training. I wouldn’t be able to do this without their support! This is my 6^th year of triathlon, 3^rd year with EN and will be my 2^nd Ironman. I did IMWI in 2008. I didn’t train with EN but I used the Four Keys execution guidance and had a great day. My training this year has gone extremely well and I am ready to race!

Brant Luebbe

My name is Brant Luebbe.  This will be my first Ironman distance race and I am excited to see how it will go.  I did Kansas 70.3 in June and didn’t have a very good run due to some knee problems.  I have since tried to change my running form and am running pain free now.  It may not have been the smartest idea to completely revamp my running form in 10 weeks before an Ironman race but this is likely my one shot at an Ironman race for many years to come due to work and family obligations.  So, we’ll see how it goes.

I attended part of the IMWI camp in the end of July.  Riding the bike course was invaluable.  I am looking forward to putting the EN training and advice into practice on race day.  I am looking to do the best that I can with the fitness that I have built this summer.  Two years ago, I didn’t own a bike, didn’t swim, and hated to run.  I am 30 pounds lighter and feel much better so that alone has made this journey a success for me.

My wife and kids have been great support and I thank them for allowing me the time to train for this race.  I can’t wait to all the EN jerseys on the course.  I hope to represent the team well on race day.

Dave Barr

I live in Central Illinois, about an hour from St Louis.  I’m married with three daughters, all who have done triathlons in the last few years.  I was introduced to triathlons by my former manager who had done a few sprint triathlons.  This will be my third time doing IMWI and this is the healthiest I have been coming into the race.  Two years ago I did the race with a stress fracture of my shin and that made for a long day.  This year’s goal is to have fun and try to better my course PR.  I won’t be racing in an EN kit but will be looking for the on-course enthusiasm from the team.  If you see a guy in a Big Shark kit say “hi”, it’ll probably be me.  I couldn’t do events like this if I didn’t have the support of my family.  It is easier having a runner for a wife who also likes to do triathlons.

Beth Pfohl

My name is Beth Pfohl and my husband, Chad, and I are “racing” IMWI this year.  I competed in the 2009 IMWI, and Chad was my biggest cheerleader.  Immediately after the 2009 IMWI, Chad knew he wanted to become an Ironman too.  This time around I’m also competing, but my biggest goal is to support Chad as he becomes an Ironman!  The last five months have been challenging with both of us juggling jobs, our two kids (ages 5 and 2), and injuries.  I can honestly say that most of the time it was awesome having my husband and best friend as my training partner.  I am so proud of him, and I am looking forward to being out there together on September 11!

Mary Larson

I am a 45 year old RN working on clinical trials in cancer treatments which requires travel almost every week, but I know where almost every YMCA with a pool is.   I have a 14 year old daughter and live in Madison, WI.  I grew up on an ice rink and was a competitive figure skater for many years.  I later took up running and trained for several marathons.  I really did not know exactly what triathlon was until I went to watch my sister, Sue Chapman and her husband race at a local Tri.   Looked like fun, so I did my first sprint in Aug. of 2009, another sprint in June of 2010, a half in July 2010 and another half in Nov. 2010.  I joined EN in Feb. 2011.  IM WI will be my first IM and look forward to having a LONG, fun day.

Lauren (Parello) McDonald

My name is Lauren (Parello) McDonald. I live with my husband, Mike, in Westmont, IL.  I have been teaching elementary school for the past 5 years (1st and 3rd grades).  This is my first year training EN style.  This will be my 6th Ironman distance event (3 x IMWI, 2 x IMKY), and I am hoping for a PR this year. Ironman has become my lifestyle, and I am genuinely looking forward to being on the course with so many other EN athletes.  This year, my “one thing” is a sub-13 (Current PR-13:00:41, set in Madison, 2008).

Wes Hepker and Daniela Williams

Wes is in his third year of triathlons, and Daniela is in her sixth year. Together they shack up near Iowa City, Iowa…go Hawks!. Both are doing their first (and probably last…how do people train like this year after year?) Ironman race. We picked IMMOO because of the awesome support our friends and family would be able to deliver. The triathlon career for Daniela started with a guy from the gym saying “I’ll do one if you do one”. When Wes met Daniela, he had already thought of getting into the action, and this pushed him over the edge. After this season, Wes is going back to being the best sherpa ever, with just a few random races to maintain his clydesdale domination.

Adam Weeks

Born in Canada, grew up in Cincinnati, moved to Denmark in Oct. 2008.  Married to my college sweetie (Amber; met at Clemson University), and we have had an incredible past few months since having our first child on May 12 of this year.  IMWI will be almost exactly 4 years since my first tri.  I’ve come a long way since then and am looking forward to having a big support crew from family at the race.  Like many of us, I dream of a Kona slot.  Perhaps this will be the yea, thanks in large part to EN.

William "WSM" Jenks

I’m your standard 40-something working-dude with a wife, kids and a busy life.  By day, I’m chair of the chemistry department at Iowa State University, and in the evenings I can often be caught doing things like schlepping or helping coach one of my three kids at soccer.  All three enjoy triathlon – two 10 year olds and a 16 year old, and I’ve had the great pleasure of racing with my oldest boy Chris several times.  I started running in graduate school, and eventually improved to the point of qualifying for Boston and ran my PR of 3:16:40 at Boston in in 2010.  I only started biking about 5 years ago when I picked up triathlon along with Chris; I’m a competent but pretty average swimmer.  An advantage of all this is that I can still set PRs even at this stage of life!  I’ve done several HIM races and one round of IM MOO.  This is my second season with EN.

Jason Zilles

My name is Jason Zilles and live in Perrysburg, Ohio.  I head up the food ingredient division for a midwest grain company.  I started triathlons in 2010.  I was a “quasi” runner, but had never competitively biked or swam before.  I completed a few Oly tris and a Half-iron distance REV3 race at Cedar Point last year.  This year I completed another half-iron and IM Wisconsin will be my first Ironman race.

I want to thank my loving and understanding wife, Cindy, of 7 years and my two boys, Jacob (7) and Brady (5), for allowing me the time to complete this journey.  I started doing triathlons after seeing some of the Biggest Loser contestants complete the Ironman in Kona on TV and I said to myself, “I could do that”.  So I began my journey in January 2010 and haven’t stopped yet.  My ultimate goal is to make it to Kona somehow, someday.  But first, let’s get through Wisconsin!

Gene Pish

My name is Gene Pish from Bloomington, IL.  I am 44 years old and have been married to Brenda for 20 years and we have two wonderful children Melissa (11) and Kyle (9).  This is my third year doing triathlon and my first IM distance.  I started 3 years ago by signing up for a local sprint triathlon and then taught myself to swim the next day!!  3 years ago I couldn’t even imagine 140.6….. it seemed so out of reach.  I did IM Branson 70.3 in 2010 and did all of the training “on my own”…. and then ended up with the expected consequences……what I thought was a “great” bike, and a “great” first 10 miles of the run, then the wheels fell off, due to poor execution.  I am so excited to do IMWI with my EN team “knowledge”!!  My goal is to have fun, and definitely be a “11-minute rock star”.  I am so thankful to have a family that is so supportive of me and that has put up with a year of 4:00am alarms.

Christian Rabbat

Chris competes in triathlons as a means to incorporate fitness into a busy life. He lives in Hamilton, Ontario with his wife Jennifer and three daughters Lauren, 8, Gabrielle, 6, and Sophie, 3.  He is an Associate Professor of Medicine at McMaster University and St. Joseph’s Healthcare.  He is a Nephrologist, specializing in the treatment of medical kidney diseases and high blood pressure. The desire to inspire his children, and to display a fraction of the courage that his patients do is the main motivations to train and achieve. Chris is relatively new tolong course triathlons, with two 5:15 half-iron distances races in the books and a 13 hour IM Lake Placid in 2009.  With all the knowledge and fitness gained in his first year training with Endurance Nation, he hopes to better this time in Wisconsin 2011.

Carl Noftsger

Carl Noftsger, 38 YO living in the midwest (Altoona, IA).  Please note this was to be my 1st Ironman and was well prepared for it.  All the training and race rehearsal’s had me nailing this baby around 10:45-11:00 hours.  All the hard work was done and all I had left to do was lay it on the line come 9/11/11.  On August 27 at 0645 in the morning 20 minutes from being done we were pace riding in a line when the person behind be hit my tire and down I went at ~ 30 mph.  I tried correcting the bike and bounced off my right hip/leg then my head slammed into the concrete and cracked my helmet in 3 places (Thanks to the Lazer Tardiz-aero) made the loudest noise eva!!!  Then the person behind me whom weighs in ~ 240 pounds note traveling around the same landed on top of me.  My right knee was compressed against the bike frame, concrete, and his mass and velocity and decided enough was enough and blew out.  Nice C-collar, Long back board, and a ride to a local trauma center.  MRI confirmed my worst night mare…..Grade 3 MCL tear and a partial ACL tear.  After going through the stages of dying-Denial, Anger, bargaining, depression and finally accepting that I will not be racing my wife-Alison, Son-Keegan, and daughter-Olivia, and I will be joining you on Sunday 9/11/11 to cheer as loud as we can.  Please remember as you are running and start to suffer the 343 firefighters and others that lost their lives at the World Trade Center on this 10 year anniversary.  This race meant a lot to me, so to my TEAM MATES AND EN WISC GANG MEMBERS AT MILE 18 LOOK FOR ME AND PLEASE GIVE IT HELL FROM HERE ON IN!!!!!!

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It’s Time to Go Back to Tri School — You Ready???
photo credit: mueritz 

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Endurance Nation has 28 rock stars making a stand in Ol’ Louisville.  Weather looks to be mild by Louisville standards.  But it will still be hot!  This is a true advantage for TeamEN members as we have been analyzing heat acclimation and how to properly adjust pacing on both the bike and the run so we don’t melt out on the course.  Because on race day it is not about fitness. . . .it is about execution.

Meet a few of our team below.

Chris Martin

2011 IM Louisville Race Captain

I am 39 and work as a firefighter/paramedic in Lexington, KY.  My wife and I have been together for 13 years and we have two sons, ages 3 and 4.  I have been riding road bikes for about 10 years, and ran for exercise for the ten years before that.  I decided to do my first triathlon in 2008 because I thought the variety of training for three different sports would be a nice change.  I did my first HIM earlier this year, IM Louisville will be my 5th triathlon, and my second IM after doing the same race last year.  My goal is to race to stay hydrated and race to my potential.

Evan Odim

I was drawn to triathlons back in 2009 by fellow EN ninja, John Withrow. He called me and said “I want you to hear me out first before you say no. Can you do that? What do you think about racing the 2010 NYC Triathlon?” I believe my response was “What’s a Triathlon?” As a self described fitness junkie – basketball, soccer, or boxing – I saw this as another opportunity to get my competitive juices flowing.

Along with a few half-marathons, I’ve raced in a couple sprints, one olympic, and one half-ironman leading up to Louisville. My goals are simple: raise awareness for a wonderful organization that I’m apart of (ReserveAid) and finish with a smile on my face. I’ll be supported down in Kentucky by my beautiful (and very pregnant) wife, Sarah, and my two daughters, Jamie and Joslyn.

Brad Boomershine

Brad Boomershine
West Carrollton, OH
Manufacturing Operations Manager
50 yrs old

Married to my coach, nutritionist, cheerleader, psychologist, and best friend, Debby, for 27 years. One “child”: our two-year-old golden-doodle Louie!

This will be my first IM.

I re-entered sports competition in 2006 as a duathlete after a 26 year ”retirement”.  First marathon in late 2007, qualified for Boston, finished
in top 25%, ran a 3rd (& most recent) marathon late 2008 with 3:07 PR.  Won a spot on Team USA in Duathlon and raced to 32nd in the 2009 USAT World Duathlon Championships.  First triathlon in 2009, with one each sprint, olympic, and HIM in 2010 while maintaining a busy duathlon schedule.  I’m amazed and blessed with a this great “machine” that God has given me to take
on these physical feats, especially the Ironman!

“Do or do not!  There is no try!” – Yoda

Amy Hendrigan

I live in downtown Boston with my husband Bob. I was raised in Cambridge, Mass and grew up a swimmer. In college I played varsity water polo (little-known fact: my team nickname was “Killer” – trust me, it was ironic!). After college I spent many fun-filled years in California, where I first dabbled in triathlons. I lived in Santa Barbara, and then in the Bay Area, where I got my masters in city planning at Cal. I’ve been back in Boston for seven years and currently work at a foundation, making grants aimed at ending homelessness and creating healthy communities. This is my 2nd Ironman, my first was Louisville 2010!  Last year I went 13:03, would like to be considerably under 13 this year. Bring on the heat!

Joe Matchette

I currently live in Warner Robins, GA with my wife, Gen, two daughters (11 and 6) and my son (9).  We are a triathlon family — even the kids have all done two races.  We became a tri-family when my wife started it all in the Spring of 2007.  I deployed to Iraq that summer and started training for my first sprint in the fall of 2007.  I got the bug and did my first IM in November 2009.  IMLoo will be my 3rd IM.  This past year has been full of triathlon training and Breast Cancer.  My wife was diagnosed last year 3 days before I competed in Ironman Wisconsin (BAD NEWS!).  I found out in April that I had received a lottery slot for this year’s Ironman World Championship (GOOD NEWS!).  As BC is now such a big part of our lives, I am dedicating my Ironman races this year to raising money for a local support charity.  Any help will be appreciated:  http://www.yourcause.com/joematchette.

Mac Caudill

I’m a 2-time Emmy winning director & editor. I worked with Peter Jackson on several projects (Lord of the Rings, King Kong) and am now focusing my efforts on filling the airwaves with trashy reality tv shows.  I’m originally from Louisville, KY and this will be my first IM.  I’ve been running for nearly 30 years, but took up swimming/cycling in the past 2 years.  The last leg of this race will be my 9th marathon.  Conversely it will be the farthest I’ve ever swum or cycled.  Fortunately my wife will be joining me on this race, so we can share in the pain together.  I also have 6 cats, played the trumpet for 20 years and can bake a mean Derby pie.

Michael Johnson

Michael Johnson
Salina Kansas
Orthopedic Surgeon
49 yr old (USAT Age 50 yr old)

Doing 8th IM Race
3rd IMLOU race (did coolest and hottest years)
12:44 last year

Goal: <12 hours, <6:00 Bike and <4:45 run (run More!!)

Scott "New Yawk" Dinhoffer

Hey all! This will be my second IM start having done IMAZ last November. Good news is this time I was able to train without a recurring run injury hampering me and I am feeling good. While 11-14 lbs lighter than IMAZ at a current weight of around 174, wishing I had done more weight loss. I am a divorced father of three girls (10,10 & 12 (yes Twins)) I was getting into marathons around the time I got married in ’95. Married life, commuting an hour or so each way to work and kids took their toll on me and I topped the scales a few years ago at 206. After getting separated a friend recommended I do an ironman, yes straight up, go for it! I was already down a bit in weight & was following a book he recommended and into my training for IMAZ. Almost one year ago, I was poking around the internet when I found a video of two guys preaching their four keys of ironman execution. This led me to the EN website, a purchase of the Long Course Tri Ebook which I devoured and here I am.  Looking forward to meeting everyone in Louisville and executing a good race.

Carla Happel

Two years ago I volunteered at IM Louisville, and while slathering athletes with sunscreen it occurred to me that the 2011 race would be ON my 50th birthday. Which meant I had no choice but to sign up. This is my first Ironman. I’ve done four half-irons in the last three years, but this is quite the leap for someone who didn’t even run until I was 42 (and forced to by the Navy). I’m a solid mid-to-back-of-the-packer, but that hasn’t stopped me from completing 40 half-marathons, 6 full marathons, 4 half-irons, and around 50 miscellaneous triathlons in the past eight years. I likely won’t tear up the course, but I look forward to crossing that finish line feeling and looking strong!

John Withrow

John Withrow is a former All-American wrestler at the University of Pittsburgh, who currently lives in Scotch Plains, NJ with his wife Jessica and their two boys, JT and Luke.

With a healthy disdain for running, John completed his first sprint triathlon in 2010 as a personal challenge to himself. He spent his whole life doing “strength” type of things and the thought of running a 10k at the end of an Olt tri almost dissuaded him from signing up. He will be competing in Ironman Louisville as the Founding Member of Team ReserveAid, which is raising money to help men and women of the military who are surrefing financial hardship from their service. When John tried to recruit other people to do IMLou with him, most said he was crazy because of the 140.6 mile distance and also because last year’s race was 95 degrees with 90% humidity. His response to this was simple “It’s hotter for our Troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, we won’t be wearing boots and fatigues, and nobody will be shooting at us!”

John will be wearing his Team ReserveAid kit at IMLou, but owes more than words can explain to the physical and mental preperation that EN has given him for this race, his first Ironman.

John McLean

My name is John Mclean. I live in Charlotte, NC but work all over the globe. I work for a medical device company going through clinical trials, so I travel about 50% of the time. My travel makes for some interesting training session, everything from countless laps in a hotel pool to riding an exercise bike for hours (thank God for the Ipod). I was in the US Army for 8 ½ years and decided when I got out I was never going to run again, then I ballooned up to 264Lbs. I didn’t really notice that I was out of breath going up the stairs, until the power was out because of Katrina. That is when I decided that I was going to get back in shape. I started with a 5k’s, 10k’s, half-marathon’s, and a marathon and always wondered what was next. Then I discovered the wonderful world of triathlon where I did numerous sprints, a couple of Olympic, a few Half Ironman’s always looking at what was next. Then I signed up for Florida in 2009, where I finally didn’t look for the next challenge. This will be my 2nd Ironman, and after Florida where I did 12 mile with a stress fracture in my foot (Mainly because I wasn’t really ready). I look forward to having a great race!

Scott Liston

Scott ListonFairfield, OH
Ironman Louisville
Bib Number 2495
M45-49 age group

I have been in triathlon since 2003. This is my second Ironman. I did Ironman Louisville with Endurance Nation coaching last year and had a great experience so I am back for more! Finding Rich and Patrick’s go harder, go shorter approach allowed meto do this since the volume is doable when combined with a busy work and family life. Every day I get to ride and run, I am thankful for my health and the opportunity to have fun with my fitness. I am thankful my family is gracious to let me do it.   Awesome!

I live just 90 miles from Louisville in greater Cincinnati. I am a finance manager at Procter & Gamble in corporate new business development. My beautiful wife, Deb, is a group cycling instructor and comes out to the races a couple times a year and usuallytakes home hardware in the sprint duathlon! I have four beautiful children ages 21, 19, 17, and 13. I am thankful to God for the opportunity to do the sport of triathlon and I look forward to meeting my teammates again at the dinner. Let’s do this!

Todd Kauffman

My name is Todd Kauffman and I live in Lansing, MI.  I work for the Michigan Department of Transportation.  IM LOU will be my first Ironman.  I have done two half IM’s, Steelhead 70.3 (2008) and Rev3 Knoxville (2011).  I’ve been running since middle school and got into triathlons six years ago.   I am married to my wonderful wife Jennifer, and have a son Rory (6), and a daughter Lily (3).  Completing this race would not be possible without the support that I have received from my family, especially my wife,  It has been a life long dream to complete an Ironman and I look forward to doing it with Team EN.

Joseph Lombardi

Jason Clishe

Matt Samojeden

Matt Samojeden, 55 years young and Live in St Louis MO. Third year doing Triathlons after being away from the sport for over 20 years. This is my 3rd IM LOU and 5th IM. This is my third season with EN. I’m a business development executive for Hubbell, a large electrical equipment manufacture. The job has a significant amount of travel which makes getting the training done an added challenge at times. My wife Sandra of 23 years is into Nature and wildlife photography. So when I not training, I get to be Sherpa and carry the heavy gear.

My goals for IM LOU this year are to improve on last years times on all elements , swim, bike, run and transitions!

David Wonn

David Wonn North Little Rock, Arkansas - 58 yr old – main frame code slinger – programmer for banking software

Soooo I get lots of finger aerobics at work.  My wife and I have two children and 4 grandkids, the oldest 2 (shown in my bio picture) ride with me on many of my long runs. Right now I feel the best I have felt since last year.  But my power on the bike and my pace on the run are behind previous years due to the injuries and way too much work earlier this year.  I enjoy the EN style training and I’m looking forward to using the Four Keys to drive my Ironman Vehicle to the finish line…

1986 I did my first sprint TRI (and this year I did that race for the 26^th consecutive year) and IMKY will be my 6^th Ironman …

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Want To Learn More About Team EN?
Take one of our five FREE Triathlon Email Seminars: Short Course, Beginner, Half Iron, Ironman, OutSeason. Click here to find your seminar. You can also become a Fan of Endurance Nation on Facebook.

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Create a FREE five-day trial to check out everything Endurance Nation has to offer. From 20+ training plans to over 500 pages of resources, from 100+ daily forum posts to our weekly coach chat sessions, there’s something for every triathlete!

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Endurance Nation has 17 folks racing at Ironman Canada this Sunday.  All we have to say is Penticton is about to get a lesson in EN Ninja Race Execution!  Will be a blast to watch.

Meet a few of our team below.

Jenn Edwards

I’m Jenn Edwards and Ironman Canada will be my second Ironman and my second IMC in a row!  I got into the sport in 2006 when a friend of mine asked me to do a “Tri-It” class.  Soon enough my hubby Mark was on board and that summer we all finished our first sprint.  Since then I’ve made the triathlon lifestyle change, lost 80 pounds and continue to improve my performance.  In fact, my top secret plan is to improve until I’m the only one left in my age group and they HAVE to send me to Kona.   I like IMC because it’s within driving distance and Mark (Cap’n Mark, officially) is able to participate as a swim course marshal with our boat – he’s getting pretty good at pulling out green-faced swimmers!    At IMC I’m hoping to execute like a ninja!

Photo: My “Cowbell Crew” of supporters and me after the finish of IMC 2010. They had cowbelling blisters!

Jim Yanoschik

Murrieta, CA.  This will be IM #25.  I have done Canada 5 times but not since 1999 when I signed up in June.  How times have changed.  I am looking to survive the scrum known as the swim.  I will start off slow on the bike and taper from there.  I hope to gain some energy from the wonderful crowds along the course and volunteers.  My One Thing will be to get my nutrition down and keep it down so that I can have a strong second half of the run.  I will be accompanied by my Iron Sherpa Extraordinaire, Brenda, my wife.   My attached photo is Brenda and me along with our dogs with the Stanley Cup.  I figure it will give me some good mojo in addition to the Team En mojo that will be split between IM Lou and IMC!!

Brendan Shannon

My name is Brendan Shannon and I am a 26 year old from Pasadena, CA.  I have done four halfs (Wildflowex2, Vineman, Lubbock). Canada will be my first IM.

After a bad crash last season that left me with a broken scapula (yes, scapula) , It was great to recover fully and be back on the trial of miles…  Im looking forward to meeting some fellow ENers in Canada and putting the EN tools into full effect.

Mike Bland

Bill Wiseman

Bill Wiseman

Blythewood,SC

51 yo

9 years of racing tris….finally getting competitive.

Tri racing highlight, qualified for 70.3 World Champs last year at Augusta 70.3…great experience

Met Rich at IMCDA in 2007…been a member since 2008 ?, I think

Married, 4 children, 1 grand daughter…lots of fun

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Want To Learn More About Team EN?
Take one of our five FREE Triathlon Email Seminars: Short Course, Beginner, Half Iron, Ironman, OutSeason. Click here to find your seminar. You can also become a Fan of Endurance Nation on Facebook.

Ready To Train?
Create a FREE five-day trial to check out everything Endurance Nation has to offer. From 20+ training plans to over 500 pages of resources, from 100+ daily forum posts to our weekly coach chat sessions, there’s something for every triathlete!

Popularity: 5% [?]