Posted on Nov 5, 2014 in Uncategorized
It has been over 3 weeks since the finale of my “Tri-ple Crown” the Kona Ironman World Championships. As the title of this blog would suggest, I have been slowly trying to swallow a season that hasn’t quite been what I desired. Time and distance don’t always provide answers but do inevitably allow a clearer view of the entirety of a season. Over the next week, I will release a recap of each part of the Tri-ple Crown starting with my race in Hyvee 5150 Championships, moving on to the 70.3 World Championships, the Ironman World Championships, and finishing with a summary of everything I learned this year that will help both you and me in our 2015 season. My triathlon triple crown started with the ambition to toe the start line at the three biggest championship races in non-drafting triathlon. But of course I had my personal goals to get a top ten in Hyvee, a top five in 70.3 Worlds, and a top 3 in Kona. I scrappily managed to achieve the first two goals but fell quite short of my final goal. As always, the results don’t tell the full story so I’ll cover all the gritty details in my race reports. If you played in my Tri-ple Crown Contests, Don’t forget to check my Facebook fan page to see if you are a BIG winner and thank you for playing!...
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Posted on May 20, 2014 in Uncategorized
I have found that fueling is not a one-solution problem. In my experience, there is not a simple answer that works forever with every person in all race conditions. As I get more experienced at long distance racing, I have found that what I need during a race is different as my everyday diet changes, my training changes, and depending on race conditions. I need to adapt and adjust each year to find the best solution for my current body. Starting with what hasn’t changed. I do think that everyday nutrition is essential for helping to fuel and recover from training. On top of trying to eat as well as I can, I take First Endurance Multi-Vitamin and HP Optygen. Since I started taking these two daily, I have been more resilient physically and healthier. I don’t think that is a coincidence. In my first Ironman of this season, Ironman Melbourne, I screwed up in attaching my fuel to my bike and lost all my planned fuel except my two bottles of First Endurance EFS, only about 300 calories of fuel. I had to overcome and adapt but I ended the bike completely empty despite drinking the two EFS bottles and taking three bottles on course and drinking about another 400 calories from those combined bottles. It wasn’t enough calories for the 6 hours. But I found that taking EFS liquid shot flask and a banana right away in the first few miles of the run gave me 500 calories and I was able to finish the run feeling stronger and with more energy than ever before. I learned that it is never too late to fix the fueling. If you bonk, just take the time to force it in and you’ll come around. In my first race of the season, Panama 70.3, I had two EFS drink bottles and more fuel that I needed attached in supplemental gel and food attached to my bike. Unfortunately, I struggled with an unknown illness that caused me to throw up during the entire bike ride. In addition to myself, several other professional competitors in the race had a similar problem. I believe there was either a bug going around, something I ate before the race was bad, or I swallowed too much sea water during the Panama canal swim. It is hard to judge my nutrition strategy under the circumstances. The only nutrition I was able to keep down during the event was one bottle of EFS. The fact that in those hot and humid conditions that I was able to finish the race using only one bottle of EFS drink goes to show how incredible that solution is in hot humid conditions. Conversely in my most recent race, 70.3 St. George I adjusted my race morning nutrition and race day mix and had as near perfect race nutrition as possible. ...
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Posted on May 19, 2014 in Training Updates, Uncategorized
I am so excited to be working with SKINS in 2014 & beyond. I bought my first pair of SKINS on a trip to race my first ITU world cup in 2006. The race didn’t go that well but I did come away with an amazing pair of compression tights that I still use today! The way I train for Ironman makes recovery crucial without my SKINS I wouldn’t be able to back up the consistent training day in day out! Read my SKINS partnership announcement: http://endurancesportswire.com/skins-compression-announces-partnership-with-american-professional-triathlete-mary-beth-ellis/ Learn more about SKINS: http://www.skins.net/en-US/index.aspx Visit my fan page to enter to win a pair of SKINS so you can recover like a...
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Posted on Jan 23, 2014 in Uncategorized
Link to article on Triathlete.comAmerican professional triathlete Mary Beth Ellis was injured in a bike accident on Sept. 9 in Cozumel. Despite severe injuries and the resulting surgery, Ellis is working toward a goal of making it to the start line at the 2013 Ironman World Championship start line. She will be providing updates on her progress exclusively to Triathlete.com. See update No. 3, along with a video, below. Today, I walked into the Oakley house here in Kona, and after telling me a story about recovering from a car accident to win the Ironman World Championship, Greg Welch handed me a T-shirt that read simply “Adapt and Conquer.” RELATED – Mary Beth Ellis Kona Update #1: Hurry Slowly I’m not sure if he knew the significance of that, but nothing could have better summed up the last 30 days for me—or, for that matter, the Ironman journey for so many people. Adapting for me meant coming to terms with the fact that I won’t be the same athlete I would have been without the crash—and to realizing that my “training” now includes surgery and twice-a-day physical therapy. Adapting meant I had to do one thing I’ve never been good at… take things slowly. Living at 9200 feet in the mountains of Colorado, I had no choice but to take things slowly. One day at a time I was able to adapt to my injured and now recovering shoulder. Then slowly, inch-by-inch, I have been able to add in some training. First I got on the bike. Then, I began slowly running in the pool and on land. Finally, I added the last piece of swimming with both arms. Things I took for granted, were suddenly obstacles. But, I built confidence each day, and now I believe, beyond tall odds, that I can race. The only question that remains is how my body will adapt, overcome and conquer all the challenges it will face on race day. RELATED: Mary Beth Ellis Kona Update #2: Fall Down. Get Back Up. So, yes, I will be at the starting line at Dig Me Beach in Kona. Yes, I have endured some challenges to get there. But every athlete who will stands on the starting line with me has had to adapt and conquer his or her own unique challenges. We may battle alone to get here, but we will all conquer this beast together on race day. I will be on the starting line in Kona and look forward to racing along side every athlete who made I this far as we adapt, overcome and conquer everything the Ironman throws our way. Please help more athletes stay in the game by supporting the nation’s biggest and oldest non-profit for sports injury research, a cause I’ve become very passionate about over the past couple of weeks, the the Steadman Philippon Research Institute....
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Posted on Jan 23, 2014 in Uncategorized
First I want to thank Doc, Alex, teamTBB, and all our amazing sponsors who allow me to continue to race and train for a living! Here is my speech after my win at the North American Championships in Mt. Tremblant! I’m going to attempt to speak French now. Promise me you won’t laugh. Bonjour. Merci pour faire une grande course dans cette belle ville. Felicitations, vous etes Ironman! I apologize to the French language for that. Wow, yesterday was hard. But, that’s why we’re here, right? Ironman is supposed to be hard. Everyone in this room does things that most normal people wouldn’t do. Things that most normal people don’t think are possible – Let’s face it, things that most normal people don’t think are sane. But, you are not normal people. You are an Ironman. And becoming an Ironman is not just a hard day. It’s a hard year. Every day, you all have plenty of reasons to give up. To sleep in. To skip that long run. To drink a bit more wine. But, you don’t. You push on. When I was 26, I was diagnosed with osteoarthritis, and I was told I would never run professionally. But, my family believed in me. My coaches believed in me. And, almost 10 years later, I’m here. I didn’t give up. Early this year, when I was sidelined with an injury, attacked by a dog and then thrown from my bike at Ironman France into a ditch, again, the people in my life rallied around me, encouraged me and told me I could still be great. And maybe that alone is what’s most important part of being an ironman. It’s the people that support us – and INSPIRE us – that make that finish line feeling so special. Because you’re never alone in an Ironman. Yesterday, thousands of complete strangers lined the streets for hours, screaming at all of us. That inspires me. I recently met a man from here in Canada who has volunteered at more than 80 Ironmans around the world, including six last year alone. Volunteers inspire me. And no matter how hard each of us are working out there, it inspires me to see the support we give each other on the racecourse. Whether that’s cheering on a top pro or encouraging a struggling athlete, WE inspire each other. But, perhaps the most credit goes to those who endure our crazy antics on a daily basis. My parents, Kathy and Steve are here today. And if you get a chance to talk to them, they’ll tell you stories about driving me an hour each way to swim practice at 5am or tolerating me when I got in trouble for breaking IN to school to use the pool on vacation. And my husband will tell you that we’ve never had a vacation that didn’t involve a...
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