Determined Shelter Islander takes on Ironman: Competes upstate in grueling event
“Best experience of my life.” That’s Julia Weisenberg describing participation in a half-Ironman competition in Geneva, N.Y. on July 14.
So enthralling was the overall experience that Ms. Weisenberg has already signed up for next year’s race, with an ultimate goal to eventually competing in a full Ironman race.
Temperatures were in the 90s on that mid-July day as Ms. Weisenberg came close to equaling the goal she’d set for herself to finish the course in 7 hours and 10 minutes. Her finishing time was 7 hours and 30 minutes.
The Geneva course starts with a 1.2-mile swim in Seneca Lake followed by a 56-mile bicycle race and a 13.11-mile road race.
“It was brutal,” Ms. Weisenberg said. “It was the biggest thing I’ve ever done.”
A friend, Cathy Salato, who knew Ms. Weisenberg to be an athlete of some ability, suggested she investigate the Ironman course and encouraged her to enter. She hired an Ironman coach, Jared Sklar, who had just completed his training to be certified as a coach. He turned out to be the right choice. “He was great,” Ms. Weisenberg said.
She already knew she had skills as a runner and could swim, but had never been a distance biker and wasn’t familiar with a racing bike. She invested in a racing bike and learned by degrees how to use it. Coach Sklar was particularly helpful in training her through that part of her preparation.
Over the course of a year before the race, she began training in all three disciplines. In warm weather, she chose two sites for swimming — Silver Beach and West Neck Harbor. But when the weather turned cold, on advice from John Kerr, whom she served with working on the Town’s Comprehensive Plan draft, she swam at the YMCA in East Hampton.
Ironically, the part of the course on which she hit her time goal was the bicycle race, and the area where she exceeded the time she thought it would take her was the road race. That’s because there were hills that slowed her down, she said. She described the hills as somewhat similar to those along Ram Island Drive by the horse farm.
Another member of her preparation team was nutritionist Jenny Chung, who guided her through the foods to best sustain her. No surprises: Eat a well-balanced diet to provide the vitamins and nutrients vital to her performance, including fruits and vegetables, slow-releasing carbohydrates and lean proteins.
The week before the race, her training concentrated on mini-triathlons to help prepare for the event. What sustained her through the course of that 7.5 hour challenge? “It was very emotional,” Ms. Weisenberg said.
“Try to be in the moment at the triathlon,” advised Ms. Salato, the woman who had initially inspired Ms. Weisenberg to participate in the challenge.
She found inspiration from crowds along the route and from the beautiful farmlands and cornfields that surrounded her and animal life of the Finger Lakes region. Observers didn’t know racers’ names, but called out their numbers, encouraging them to stay the course.
Thinking about the Island’s famed 10K, Ms. Weisenberg said to imagine a race course of observers that event draws and multiply it by 10.
The best advice she got from her coach during training was him telling her to, “Just take it one day at a time.”
Unlike other races, Ironman participants are banned from listening to music along the route. But not having earbuds with music playing provided an opportunity to completely immerse herself in the environment and her accomplishment.
