Ben Hoffman

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Born and raised in Grand Junction, Colorado, I was a member of numerous athletic teams in high school, running track, playing golf, basketball, and soccer. I moved to Montana for continued education, and got my start in triathlon in 2004 as a university student racing for the school team in Missoula. After my first year of racing, I took a year off to live and travel in Argentina. During my second season of racing, in the spring of 2006, I was crowned USA Triathlon Collegiate National Champion in Reno, leading the way to a National Title for the university team. That summer, I hit the road to race with a good friend throughout the Northwest, gaining enough experience and results to earn my pro card and begin training more intensely for the challenges of racing against the best triathletes in the world.

Looking for a place that would satisfy my need to train at altitude and surround myself with like-minded world-class athletes, I made the move to Durango, Colorado. Nestled in the beautiful San Juan mountains, I began a rigorous training regimen that would eventually bring me some promising results. My professional debut was at Wildflower, near San Luis Obispo, California. Known as one of the largest, most difficult and competitive races worldwide, I finished 3rd (first American professional), and captured yet another accolade, being crowned the USA Triathlon Elite Long Course National Champion for 2007. This earned me a berth for the ITU Long Course World Championships in France, setting the tone for a series of excellent results in my first year as an elite.

Since that first professional season, I have continued racing and training at a high level, notching some top finishes at 70.3's and posting an 8:24:13 debut Ironman at Arizona last year. This season will be focused on racing Ironman Hawaii in Kona this fall, but will still see a full schedule of shorter distance racing to prepare me for the World Championships. Follow my blog for all the latest race reports and updates from my season.

Iron Horse Weekend

June 7, 2010

It was a big weekend of racing in my hometown over Memorial Day, and I'm happy to say I came out the other side with some great race fitness and a new course record in the Narrow Horse Triathlon.

Things kicked off with my parents coming down for Grand Junction. They visit every year now to ride in the tour portion of the Iron Horse Bicycle Classic, and it was great to have them. We played a little golf between my training sessions, shuttled a car to Silverton for post-race, and then took it easy in anticipation of the 50 mile road race on Saturday. I'm always impressed when they rattle off another 50 miles of riding at high altitude.

I was up early to get in some "warm-up" riding, in case there was an early break that I could be part of. It was chilly, but I still got in some miles before our 7:20 start. Just as I thought, there were attacks immediately after the neutral section through town. I must have gone with 4 moves and initiated 2 of my own before I finally got free with 5 or 6 other guys. It was my plan to hit the first climbs with a little lead over the peloton so I could ride my own tempo. I held steady on the first climbs, latched on with the chase group led by Ned Overend, and then got shelled on the later climbs. Still, I rode 5 minutes faster than last year, and I felt like I gave it everything.

Sunday was the local ten mile running race, and I jumped in with heavy legs. The run has one big climb, and being at altitude, it's never easy to go under an hour. Last year I was close, so it was my goal to improve on my time and hopefully break an hour. I took it out a bit too fast, but eventually got the heart rate under control. I pushed hard on the climb, and then started to feel good again around mile 7. The last mile was straight downhill, and I came in at 58:42, so I was content with the effort.

Monday was the pool swim 1500m time trial, where I cruised to a 19:58 clocking. I dropped my course record in the Narrow Horse stage race triathlon by around 7 minutes, and topped everything off by racing the 14 mile time trial right after. I came 6th in the pro men, happy to be done with the stabbing pain of the open tt.

A big weekend of racing, and now I feel like I am finally back from the post-Ironman funk. The body is tuned up and ready for the sharp effort of Xterra Four Corners on June 5th, and then Boise 70.3 a week later. Check back for reports from both races...

Stats for Ben Hoffman are coming soon.
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