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.

Kona Week 2

September 22, 2009

It's hard to believe, but I'm already over 2 weeks into my Kona training. I've finally gotten well acclimated to the heat and humidity here, most noticeable through the amount of fluid I need to do sections of the course on the bike. When I started out, the floodgates would open within minutes of exercise, and I would be drinking two bottles in an hour. Now I'm half that and the sweat rate is much more balanced with my intake. It's hard to believe, but I've gotten used to that blanket of humidity, and now it seems completely normal.

The past week has been the biggest week of training during my whole year, even including base training in Tucson back in February. Throw in the fact that I had a lot of intensity, and it's obvious that my legs are a bit heavy right now. Even so, I'm happy to say that I survived and passed the test with flying colors. Of course it hasn't been easy, but with nothing to do but train, eat, sleep, and occasionally hang with some new friends, it makes everything a little more manageable. I love the training out here, and getting a feel for different sections of the swim, bike, and run courses has been invaluable. Even when the going gets tough, you can't beat a swim with the dolphins and a bike ride up to Waimea where the grass is green and the air is considerably cooler. I will say that I prefer the surface of my track in Durango to the high school crushed cinder at Kealakehe, but otherwise the environment has been ideal for building my best fitness to date.

In other news, I have made some good local friends who have been kind enough to have me over to dinner on numerous occasions, and as part of my win at Lavaman I was invited on a sunset cruise with the race staff. We had a perfect evening of dinner, dolphins swimming on our bow, and first mate Jason even caught a marlin, which is an extremely rare occurrence. To top everything off, I found out earlier in the week that I qualified as the top American and was selected to represent the USA at the ITU Long Course World Championships in Perth, Australia, so I will be headed down under two weeks after Kona to cap off the year. It won't be a long trip, as I will be away from Colorado for around two months when I finally get done traveling, but I'm looking forward to my first visit to Australia.

Next up is the beginning of the taper, where I focus on staying sharp and healthy. I've put in a ton of hard work, and I'm feeling confident and ready for the biggest race of the year. Keep an eye out for my interview on TriCenter next week, and I'll be back with more photos and an update soon.  Off to the beach!

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