5 QUESTIONS ASKED: TRIATHLETE BETH GERDES
In the qualification period for the 2015 IM World Championships you’ve already completed 4 full distance events. You’ve constantly achieved top 5 results. Now you’ve won IM Zurich which was not on your original schedule. How does this win feel?
As you mentioned, IM Zürich was not on my original plan, but I needed a few extra points to be one of the 35 women who qualifies for the Ironman World Championships . So, I entered Zürich with the goal of getting to Kona, but I was pleasantly surprised to win the race! For me, the win was the culmination of 7 years of hard work, a hiatus last year for childbirth, and return to racing as a mother. This last year has been the most physically and mentally challenging of my life, but also the most rewarding. I have worked harder for this than I have for anything in my life and to be an "Ironman Champion" is surreal. 
You have a baby daughter and a fiancé who’s a professional triathlete as well. How many countries have you visited as a family since Wynne was born?
Wynne just turned 1 year old and she has visited 5 continents and 11 countries, with many repeat visits. She has already taken three trips to Australia! Our life is quite busy and crazy but we wouldn't have it any other way. For us, it is very important to travel as a family to share in each other's ups and downs and support each other.
How do you manage this tremendous travelling schedule, training, racing and looking after Wynne?
Well, it is a bit of a traveling circus, but we make it work. When we are home in California, Luke & I try to prioritize training together during the day so that we can have family time in the evening. We have a babysitter that helps us 4 or 5 days a week and I think it would be impossible without that. When we are on the road it can get more difficult, but we "hand-off" the baby as needed and have also been lucky to have family accompany us at some of our bigger races. Luke and I are also co race directing a new race this year, The Island House Invitational Triathlon in the Bahamas, and I coach 10 athletes, so our hands are always quite full!
You are one of the fastest female runners in IM-racing. While running is obviously your strength, what is your daily training routine in order to run sub 3h marathons in long-distance events?
I focus on all three sports in my training, but I work particularly hard on improving my swim and bike. For me, I know the formula I need to execute to run right around 3 hours off the bike. It comes naturally to me. In order to do that, though, I need to be very bike fit. Prior to having the baby, I was working full time as a school psychologist, so I could never put in the kilometers that are necessary to excel on the bike. After the baby, and with Luke (one of the best cyclists around in my opinion :) coaching me, I've been able to see a lot of improvement through good old hard work. In an Ironman build, I typically ride around 450-500kms per week including hill work, time trial work, and VO2 efforts. I also spend a lot of time on my swimming, typically 6 days per week around 25k per week. I’m happy to say that the work has been paying off. This year, I've seen significant improvements in my bike times, with top 3 bike splits in my last couple races. It could be the training, but it also might be my new Plasma 5 :)
While qualifying for Kona has been your main concern in the last couple of months, what is your goal for the World Championships now that you’re qualified?
This will be my first year racing in Kona as a professional, so I know it will be a learning experience. I will prepare for Kona as I do for all my other Ironmans, but possibly swim even a bit more! Making even the second group instead of the third group can change the course of the day. For me, I will be happy with a top 15 result, but hopefully go up from there in the next few years!
