Sloveig Lovseth is the new Ironman World Champion. She put on an incredible race in Kona, a model of being patient, sticking to the plan, and not getting dragged into someone else's battle. But, did you know that she almost never made it to triathlon?
It is the eve of the Ironman World Championship in Kona. The last - as far as we know - of the all women’s races. I have my tracker loaded with a few athletes I know, and a few I have yet to meet, and plan to check on them from time to time during my typically busy Saturday. This got me thinking about my challenges for next year, and my past experiences.
Seems like just last week that I earned my Ironman U coaching certification. Now it seems that TriDot, the provider, has split from Ironman. More about this on Slowtwitch.
I was always bothered by TriDot's push to get us to switch from TrainingPeaks to their home built system. AI driven, at that. No, thank you.
I am pleased to announce that I am now an IRONMAN U Certified Coach. It has been quite a while since Ironman had a coach certification program. I know because I asked when I started by business. That was just when COVID took us into lockdown, so my USAT course was the first one on-line. At that time, Ironman was struggling with how to survive in a world turned upside down, canceling races and starting their really fun virtual program. Late last year they finally got it together. It is huge, almost a semester's worth of content that covers everything except how to tie your shoes.
When COVID-19 turned the world upside-down, I found myself, like a lot of people, taking a long, hard look at what had been my routine, and what I might change that would provide greater satisfaction. I chose to become a coach. What appealed to me the most was the shift from focusing on myself to helping others achieve their goals. Now that I think about it, that describes my professional career as an IT tech support person. Season planning is a popular coaching topic. Every fall, around this time, I see advertisements from coaches offering to help athletes plan their next season.