The women on the Zwift Academy Tri squad lit up the AG race in Kona. Hard to argue against their results.

Ruth - OA Amateur and AG win 30-34
Natia - AG win 25-29
Maggie - 2nd in AG 35-39
Yvonne - 3rd in AG 50-54

Maybe the next Lucy Charles (win the Ag race and then be in contention to win overall a few years later).

Impressive race.

---

blog

They definitely showed up their male counterparts

---

Matt

And she had a bad wreck 12 weeks out? She balled out

She passed me late on the bike leg around the airport like I was standing still. All I could think at the time was OMG, those legs are like cannons...!

Impressive!

But working 55-60h/week (if true, i feel like people often say that and i happens every other month), and also being so competitive, is kind of crazy to me! Not time for much more, but that is what you have to sacrifice to be at the top i guess.

What do people think about her chances as a pro? Just to try it out once in a lifetime or what is actually needed to make that step? She would have been 16/35 in the pro ranks (if you just transfer the time).

That sort of job in that organization, I'm surprised its not higher....

You won't find me saying the men were anything but stellar as a whole:

Phillip Herber - 8:55:15 - 4th in 30-34 AG
Levi Hauwert - 8:57:06- 6th in 30-34 AG
Paul Lunn - 9:33:48 - 11th in 45-49 AG

Program director Craig Taylor went an impressive 9:19:38 - 29th in 30-34 AG.

Maybe the only one I thought would place higher, but was a wildcard as short course has been his focus, was Justin Lippert. 29th out of 41 in the 18-24 AG.

---

Lars Finanger
Odyssey SwimRun

She looks very fast on the bike

Lots of recovery time doing 60 hours of presentations and socializing..

They did very well, but weren't they all stellar triathletes with great results *before* they were selected to join that team?

They are! I mean most of them have KQ before that is the caliber they are going for, KQ with a chance of podium. it is NOT about the person who barely got a slot and is doing a 12h Kona race. Remember it is all about marketing for zwift

Do they get to keep the bikes?? Or just loaners for the season?

I honestly think it would be a lot more impressive to work a 40 hour week and have a family and still put up these kind of times. Having kids and a family is great and all, but it definitely makes training a little harder.

---

Blog: http://262toboylstonstreet.blogspot.com/
https://twitter.com/NateThomasTri
Coaching: https://bybtricoaching.com/ - accepting athletes for 2023

As to the 55-60. I’d like to know her daily commute and what she outsources at home.

60 is working 7-7 m-f with no lunch or breaks.

Add a commute and it doesn’t hold water to be able to train 20 hours per week.

Maybe they can have a Zwift Academy Mum and Dad with a couple of Kids next season and see how the results go and how many people make kona and also don't get divorced along the way ;-)

So, does she sleep under her desk and is the pool in the same building? Or does she work on weekends?

---

Washed up footy player turned Triathlete.

Better marketing would be turning a MOP age grouper into a KQer. In my opinion.

---

Let food be thy medicine...

Holy crap, you are not kidding...

+1

---

808 > NYC > PDX > YVR
2024 Races: Taupo

Yeah, TBH that looks like a lot of bulk muscle to carry around on the run. May help her be an uber biker (she put +15min into the next best female AG on the bike) but to compete as a pro she'll need to be able to run fast.

Wish her all the best and good on her for giving pro a go.

working single: 60h work 8 am - 8 pm 5 days a week. Leaves 6-7.30 a.m and 8-9.30 p.m. for training = max 15h if you count in lunch hours even more+ weekend at your full disposal: 5h ride, 2h run = another 7 hours

if you can work that schedule and maintain mental sanity, very impressive - none the less - I could not do it.

But I am totally with you that training these hours and having a family is a totally different level - like on a different planet level.

1. People tend to overestimate how hard they work, especially the ones who need to tell you their hours.
2. Add in the during commute "taking calls", after-hours "responding to emails", and "reading documents" and it's not hard to turn a 9-5 into "55-60 hours".
3. She's an executive assistant.

Sounds like they all has a lot of help from Zwift. Training camps, wind tunnel time, given the best equipment, bike fits, coaching etc. Not saying they do not deserve their results, kudos to them all they deserve their results. Just pointing out they would have gone faster with all that assistance than somebody without.

---

He who understands the WHY, will understand the HOW.

Lots envy on this thread & weekend warriors talking with their fingers and not their race results!.

Can't we just celebrate a great performance.

Yes indeed. We covered this on the front page as they allowed us to tag along with them for a day. Athletes had first-rate treatment out in Kona. All were exceedingly gracious of being selected out of the thousands who applied to be a part of this program.

---

Lars Finanger
Odyssey SwimRun

Having worked long hours in the past (often 50-60hrs and ocassionally 80hr weeks approaching deadlines on critical projects) and having more recently started a family, long work hours would be much more manageable for me. She says she doesn't do a lot else during the week than work and train. That being the case, it's definitely feasible especially if you're happy on fairly low sleep volume (5-6hrs a night isn't a problem for me in my 40s, it was about 4hrs in my 20s and early 30s). However, feasible and easy are not the same thing. I would definitely think it's tough to sustain that volume of training alongside long work hours and especially while maintaining quality of training.

On the other hand I've seen plenty people on ST with young families suggesting they are able to fit in decent training volume. That's a much bigger challenge for me. I can't justify taking that amount of time for myself which would IMO unfairly impact my partner. I COULD potentially do it, but I know it would cause strain and probably resentment, and understandably so. I've no intention of testing that since I also want to spend time with my family more than I want to be a fast athlete.

This!

I hinted at this early, thanks for flat out saying the truth. Emails and phone calls can be done while zwifting. So perhaps her real work load is about 20 hours. Still she performed impressively, but it's good to be humble too

Here is someone with harder job, kid, and even harder achievement:

https://www.runnersworld.com/...-rotterdam-marathon/

Maggie swims with me at masters and is an absolute animal First Ironman she qualified for Kona and was one of the top overall. From what I gather she also went into Kona with a stress fracture and almost did not race but just ran through it.... BEAST

Sounds like the support she got from Zwift was far better than what most pros have to beg and plead for. Tunnel time? 2 weeks catered living on the cool Kona hillside pre-race?

She obviously appreciated and took full advantage of the opportunity and performed wonderfully. Hopefully it will serve as a springboard to living the dream for a few years. Still, I'm betting she'll look back on the support described with a sense of longing. Pretty neat that opportunity exists.

I'm always interested in these top age groupers who seem to have very demanding jobs yet somehow manage to fit 20 hours of training in.

Found this on Ruth Purbrook and a day in her life: http://lessonsinbadassery.com/...n-ag-world-champion/

So it seems she gets up very early (4.30am), and is at work at either 7 or 7.30am and finishes work around 6 to 6.30pm, and commutes by bike.

What Pros do in insane, but this? I believe it because she is saying it. I dont think this is a good example for anyone. 60h at the office and then time to train like that? Someone pointed, does she sleep under the desk...?
I will point this out: shopping, cleaning, (maybe shes got an assistant), friends???,rest?? family??. IMO, just few people could handle this schedule. She must be a superwoman....Ironman is really a serious thing to do..so,hat off, ..but if she were my friend, I would tell her to take it easier.
By the way, I bring this up...do you think doing IM is healthy?

---

Spaniard. Sorry for my english for the sensitive ones :P

I don't see envy, I think people are just genuinely impressed that someone can juggle that much. Not that they would want to, I know I would crack right away under those conditions and miss out on too many things i like. That is why i also question the facts, not to discredit but to fully understand the circumstances it takes to be TOP TOP level AG'er.

Garth Brooks
Rodeo

“All he has to show is a broken home and some broken bones”.

Our gifts are our curses. She’s obviously gifted.

Not especially.
Exercise in moderation is healthy. Idleness or exercise to excess is not.
I think a lot of people correlate fitter/faster with healthier but I don't believe there's evidence to support that.
I suspect people doing a consistent 5-10hrs a week of training for shorter distances like sprint or olympic at a less competitive level are probably getting much better health benefits.

We checked in with Maggie and the other two wonder women, Natia and Yvonne, and their interviews are HERE.

---

Lars Finanger
Odyssey SwimRun

IM training is healthier than being a couch potato but no, IM training isn't healthy. It will make you age faster just from the amount of carbohydrates you have to ingest to keep the energy up for all the training. Look at the faces of many of these pro triathletes and they look much older than their stated age. Plus add in stress fractures, joint issues, etc. from all the pounding the pavement and it can take a toll on your health by the time you're over 50. I agree that 5 to 10 hours of training per week is probably the sweet spot for ongoing health and longevity.

She put down a Boston Qualifying marathon. After smoking the bike.
And for her, turning pro is partly contingent on taking a sabbatical from work. If she takes half of those 55-60 hours that would have been spent working and dedicates them to training, I'm sure she'll make gains...in every discipline.

+1

Just read this interview. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/...works-60-hours-week/
That is one crazy schedule!

“I don’t get very much sleep. A full-time Ironman triathlete will be looking for nine hours a night. I’m lucky if I get six.”

I got 9 hours last night and still didn't want to get up. With what we know about sleep and recovery, I'm curious if she can last on that schedule

---

IG - @ryanppax
http://www.geluminati.com
Use code ST5 for $5 off your order

I could def understand and see how she could do this. It's a ton of work, and mad kudos her for going all-in on the commitment, but timewise and energywise it is definitely doable IF you commit everything you've got outside of work to it.

I also don't think she has kids to deal with. I know it's a trite saying, but it's absolutely true - once the kids are around, all that commitment to excellence just becomes 10x harder. I actually suspect that I could pull off that kind of training commitment if I had no kids and wife, and Zwift was sponsoring me. Finding 2-3 hrs a day to train with no kids is eminently doable, with 1-1.5 AM and 1-1.5PM (physically exhausting, though!) if your job isn't an absolute crusher.

Throw kids and a wife who actively discourages me to do workouts longer than 1 hr (I suspect many spouses are this way), and things become impossible. For me, the mere guilt of not spending max time with my girl is enough to cross IM of my list for the future. Luckily, I can arrange training now so that it's basically invisible to the family - obviously I'm not training like her!

To be honest, to reach the 'top' in any activity or career, you generally have to throw a lot of other stuff under the bus. Ruth is a 'free agent' so I think she can be guilt free here. Well done to her, she's one of those people who can just absorb the load she's set for herself & and able to adapt physiologically along the way. We can't all do it, that's why we're not all in Kona :)

---

29 years and counting