Speedy Days & the Slaybor Day Challenge – TriCoachGeorgia

As we end August, the team, both youth and grown ups, has a lot to celebrate. We have reaped what we sowed over the Winter and Spring. Training hard when many others take “offseason” always seems to pay off in spades. And now September begins the big time A races for many of our athletes.

This month includes Ironkids Alpharetta for the TriKidsGeorgia as well as Sugar Creek Youth Triathlon. The Go Race Productions Georgia Triathlon Series that we sponsor finishes up mid-month with the Hot Dam sprint and olympic triathlon weekend. We also will have Callaway Gardens Triathlon and Tugaloo Olympic races and Ironman Augusta 70.3 and Ironman Chattanooga later in the month.

The weekend started with a XC match West of Atlanta where the RedVenger aka Amy Gayer had a strong day. Then it was time for the Running For Rankin 5k at the Oconee Veterans Park. We had several racing and our friend and affiliate from Fleet Feet Athens, Dustin Shinhouser, won the overall race after crushing the #TriToBeatCancer on the relay with CoachBigBad! Team members young and old get special deals when shopping there. More importantly they get expert advice on comfortable running shoes and apparel. Likewise, they get great deals on gear and bike fits at other shops like Georgia Cycle Sports Concepts and All3sports.com.

On the male side at the Running for Rankin, Rolling Thunder aka Troy Garland and his younger counterpart David Andrew took home high podium slots. LongMan aka Karl Langenbach’s son Tai also performed well.

On the female side of the ledger, Caroline won her age group with a PR for the distance on her favorite course, and we welcomed back IronMouse who is rehabbing a knee issue, with a 6th in age group! All told, with all the training and racing, it was a great morning.

To finish up August, Speedy Gonzalez aka Lester Benitez traveled from his home in Virginia all the way to Austria on the European continent for the World 70.3 championship that we were all so stoked for him to qualify for at Augusta 70.3 in 2014. This is the 4th consecutive year our coached athletes have represented us in this amazing event.

SpeedyG did us proud after incurring a broken rib during the hellacious swim. This bothered him a lot on the run, but his bike was unaffected. He came out of the water 210th in the difficult 45-49 age group in the world, and moved up to 193rd after the bike, and still ran himself up to 173rd in the world in his age group at the end. This is no small feat and SpeedyG was quite the social media darling not just for his athletic prowess, but for his family life and friendships.

Time marches on for the Reapers. The training is getting more challenging. Ironman athletes are riding 100-112+ mile rides or more most weekends with brick runs. Half ironman are along the lines of 60-70+ mile rides with brick runs.

We are managing our niggles and trying to keep consistent as Slaybor Day rolls in.