Kim Loeffler - Victorious at Desert Classic Duathlon

Kim Loeffler victorious at Desert Classic Duathlon
Loeffler reaping benefits of a new training camp and new coach

February 25, 2009 – Phoenix, AZ – After a disappointing outing at the Ironman World Championship in Kona last year, Kim Loeffler was determined to make some changes in 2009. Based in Colchester Vermont, Loeffler typically deals with below freezing temps and snowy, windy conditions during her early season training. This year however, Loeffler decided to commit herself to a three month long stint in Tucson Arizona under the guidance of her new coach Cliff English.
The change appears to have been a good decision as Loeffler notched her first victory of the season at the Desert Classic Duathlon in Phoenix Arizona this past Sunday. Loeffler used her trademark run speed to cover the first 3.5 mile run leg in 19 minutes, 52 seconds. Once on the bike, Loeffler took the lead by posting the days fastest bike split of 56:45 and continued to increase her speed on the last 2.7 mile run by posting an impressive time of 16 minutes 48 seconds. Loeffler’s finish time of 1:35:47 was 80 seconds faster than runner up Rebeccah Wassner and was a full 2:30 faster than last years champion Joanna Zeiger. All of which bodes well for Loeffler who is planning an aggressive race season with early season starts at California 70.3 and Ironman China.

In her own words: The 2009 season is finally underway and I am happy to report I won my first race of the year! It has been a few years since I raced a duathlon, so when I heard about the Desert Classic Duathlon only 2 hours away from my winter training base, I had to hop in. It was a total shock to the system, yet it felt really good to blow out the cob webs! I had a solid start and I felt light on my fee in my new K-Swiss racing flats (thanks K-Swiss for designing an incredibly fast and comfortable racing flat). I entered T1 just a few seconds behind the top 2 women and after a quick transition I hit the 21 mile bike course in first place. Having done zero speed work, I knew I had to bike hard to hold onto the win. I entered T2 with about an 80 second lead and managed to keep that gap throughout the second run to take home the win.

It’s always nice to win the first race of the year and definitely gets me excited for the upcoming race season. I have been in Tucson training with my coach Cliff English for the past 3 weeks and it nice to see things improving. My plan is to stay in Tucson for the next eight weeks as I prepare for my upcoming races; California 70.3 and Ironman China.

Thanks to everyone who has supported me and a special thank you to my fantastic sponsors:K-Swiss, Powerbar, Cervelo, Zipp, SRAM, Blue Seventy, Fuel Belt, Trakkers, Katalyst Multisport Management, Ski Rack, Rocket 7 and Vasa.

Kim Loeffler
www.kimloefflerracing.com