Race Coverage

A Grand Moment...

Friday, 20 June 2014 00:10

First 70.3 Professional Win After a Punch of Trust

By Ruth Brennan Morrey

Lifting the tape in first position on June 8th to win the 2014 Ironman 70.3 Kansas was a grand moment—my first pro win against some world-class competitors. Perfect training build, perfect taper, perfect weather, and perfect execution made for a flawless day. Leading up, I had a strange premonition that Kansas 70.3 would be a cracker of a race! Pre-race text messages and conversations with husband, coach, and friends included calm, confident, and convincing phrases like, “Definitely ready for great things”, “Taper coming at a perfect time”, “I have a really good feeling about this one”, and “For some reason, I know this will be a great race”.

So, what was so different about this one? My intuition was primarily stemming from overall body ‘feel’. Completing training sessions is certainly different than feeling the effects of training sessions, and at the beginning of the Kansas taper, my body felt appropriately and perfectly exhausted. I told a few people that my body felt quite similar to the training effects/fatigue I experienced before a great race at Panama 70.3 in February.  The build also included two local yet highly competitive short course duathlons—Gear West and Apple—in which we decided I would ‘train through’ which was an atypical move. My long course legs were perturbed when I cranked up the intensity at these races, but I managed bike splits not far off from the top pro men, and as a result, confidence in my bike fitness accompanied me to Kansas....

A 5am Friday departure and 6½ hour drive took my older sister, Gillian, 7-year daughter, Shea, and me from Rochester, MN to Lawrence, KS. All were happy with Pandora music stations including Paul Simon, Brett Dennen, Ray LaMontagne, Mumford & Sons, Honey Dogs, and for my spunky daughter, Taylor Swift. I love to be in car company with people who love me despite my window shattering and uninhibited singing voice. READ MORE