Bittersweet experience in Ironman Arizona

The commitment began a year ago when Jim and Laura Griffin went to Tempe, Ariz., to sign up for the 2009 Ironman Arizona.

An Ironman is a triathlon in which the distances are a 2.4-mile swim, a 112-mile bike, followed by a 26.2-mile run - all in less than 17 hours.

Most of the 21 Ironmans around the world fill up within minutes on line, and the only guarantee to get in is to be there in person to sign up for the following year.

The couple's shared goal was to improve their finish times for the previous three Ironmans completed. They trained to race. Achievement of their personal goals would be measured by tiered success stories ranging from division qualification for the Ironman World Championship held in Kona, Hawaii, each October, to podium finish, to placing well within their age group.

Failure was not an option.

Their training began nine months prior to the Ironman and would involve three components - physical training, the mental race and the nutritional plan.

Laura employed a professional triathlon coach who laid out a seven-month plan of daily workouts with periodization and taper to help her reach her goals.

Jim modified his previous plan by adding more cycling, reducing the days running and training by heart rate instead of perceived effort. The Griffins were obsessive with their plans - workouts were neither missed nor compromised. This meant two workouts a day, beginning as early as 4 a.m. before work and into the night after work.

Each week during the long run they would go over and talk out the entire race from getting up, fueling, going into the water, how the swim would go, transitions from swim to bike and bike to run, how the bike would be, what nutrition would be used and when, hydration, and finally, the run - each mile to the finish line. This mentally prepared them to focus for a positive race.

In the days leading up to the race, you could see the anxiety and tension building in the competitors - all 2,800-plus. Tempe, Arizona State University and the Sun Devil Stadium assumed a more serious demeanor.

The last nine months with all the planning, all the training, all the hopes and expectations, didn't allow the opportunity for Laura to see the outcome.

Jim watched her as she racked her bike in transition the day before the race. She was standing beside it and staring down at it through her sunglasses in the bright Arizona sun.

"That's when I saw the tears come down her cheek and I knew - that she knew - she wouldn't be able to race tomorrow," Jim said. "She was devastated when making the tough decision not to race due to illness, but knew it had to be."

Jim's day was bittersweet but he did go on to finish his fourth Ironman and set a new personal record of 13 hours and 59 minutes. Laura has recovered, refocused and set new goals for an event in 2010.