DES MOINES, Iowa — When Des Moines landed the IRONMAN 70.3 North American Championships, it was a big deal for Griffin Jaworski, who has done countless half and full IRONMAN triathlons.
“I was over the moon I’ve done several of these things I had the chance to do the 70.3 world championships in South Africa and the fact we have one in the back yard that meant everything to me.”
Not only does Jaworski compete, he also coaches other Ironman Triathletes.
“Right now I just want to enjoy the sport and help other people enjoy the sport as much as possible.”
One of them is Meghan McCoy.
“He knows what it takes to put into it”
She’s been forced to shift her training for IRONMAN Des Moines after it was moved back to October.
“Obviously you can’t maintain all intensity, all out. Right now we would have been in preparation for actual race day so not that far off the original date, so now it’s about reshuffling. Now we have several months to get better at different skills dial in the bike, dial in swim get more capacity volume wise for training so it’s just going to shift over a couple of months.”
That means a little more time to prepare for her first ever IRONMAN event. For this former soccer player, it will be a completely new experience.
“A lot longer, more intense more components I’ve always done road races but nothing with swimming, open water swimming, nothing on a bike so it’s a lot more going on that also adds to the fun and excitement.”
The key word fun. Exactly what her coach is stressing.
“It’s too much time and energy invested in the sport not to be fun so you have to enjoy all of the little aspects and if that means backing off the intensity or doing something completely different, making it fun and enjoyable is the key to longevity.”
June or October, it makes no difference for McCoy, because getting to race day will be a reward in and of itself.
“There’s the added adversity that a global pandemic has put on it and for us to overcome that I think it’s going to make the finish line that much sweeter and that much cooler to get across. “