It’s 5:30 a.m. and Sara Bloom immediately checks her email. Nothing. She goes back to sleep only to wake an hour later to see a screen-shot text waiting on her phone. It’s from her friend, James Resor, and all she can recall saying at that moment was, “Oh-My-God.”
Bloom was one of 20 athletes selected from a statewide drawing for a chance to compete in the legendary Hawaii Ironman World Championships happening on Oct. 12.
The news not only shocked Bloom, but also her roommate, who happened to be there when she received the news.
“My roommate looked at me and asked if everything was okay,” said the 31-year-old Kailua-Kona resident. “I told her that I just got into Ironman. My roommate said that she thought something tragic happened with a family member or something really bad happened from my reaction. She said I should be excited. I think I was going through shock and little bit of fear.
“My stomach dropped and I immediately wondered how am I going to have time to do all this? And the fear of the unknown and pushing my body to limits that I have never experienced before. In the seven years that I’ve lived here, I’ve only biked to Hawi once. So this was definitely stepping outside of my comfort zone.”
Yet, what Bloom felt was valid. Anyone who has competed in an Ironman distance race consisting of a 2.4-mile swim, 112-mile bike, followed by a 26.2-mile marathon knows it’s not for the faint of heart. It requires a commitment to many months of rigorous training and even with that, there are no guarantees one will make it to the to the finish line, or even the starting line for that matter.
But with dedication and a passion for the sport, anything is possible.
Bloom said she moved to the bustling town of Kailua-Kona seven years ago from Nebraska just after finishing college. She was in massage school and to gain more “hands on” experience she was given the opportunity to volunteer at the Lavaman Waikoloa and Honu triathlons in 2013. That was her introduction into the world of swim-bike-run.
“I remember I was massaging a Big Island high school kid at the 2013 Lavaman,” Bloom said. “He was telling me about all of the training he was doing and how his goal was to race Ironman one day. I just remember that conversation with him inspired me a lot.
“But it was also seeing people of all different backgrounds and all different walks of life putting all of their energy into crossing a finish line and doing something they thought wasn’t possible for them. Especially at Lavaman, they had all of those Team In Training people. Just to watch them cross the finish line, see the smile on their faces, and the pure joy they had to cross the finish line was just inspiring to me.”
The following year she bought a bike and then signed up for Honu, also known as Ironman 70.3 Hawaii, in 2015.
“After I signed up for Honu, I remember doing my first brick – it was a 20-mile bike ride followed by a 1-mile run,” she said. “I remember how hard it felt and after that I really didn’t think I could do Honu. So I never thought Ironman would be in my reach.”
Yet, Bloom kept the thought of competing in an Ironman tucked in her back pocket as she spent the last several years as a spectator to numerous Ironman events. Then, before the start of last year’s world championships, she awoke on race day with a new goal in mind.
“I woke up on race day and I thought to myself that I could actually do this,” Bloom said. “Before, I was a spectator and happy to be a spectator for many races. But it wasn’t until last year that I finally felt confident in myself to give it a try and do it in a way that I want to. I don’t want to just go out there and suffer. I want to be able to do it and finish with a smile and with no injury.”
After securing her spot on the start line through the Hawaii Drawing in March, Bloom began training under fellow Ironman athlete and coach, David Wild. However, her 15-18 hour training plan over the months has been on top of juggling a full-time work schedule as a boat captain and keeping her commitment to competing in Colorado’s TransRockies Run – a six-day, 120-mile two-person relay at 10,000-feet elevation in August.
“I had already committed to doing it last year and Grant Miller was my run partner so I didn’t want to back out of commitments I already had,” she said. “So I actually spent June and July just focusing on long runs. I definitely didn’t get in the bike miles that one would typically get in leading up to Ironman. I actually didn’t get my first 100-mile bike ride until a few weeks ago.
“But it was so much fun. In hindsight I was so happy I did it because it turned out to be the perfect training for Ironman. Mentally during that six-days and 120 miles, I overcame so many mental blocks for endurance sports and it made me so strong. The fact that I didn’t get in as many 100-mile bike rides leading up to Ironman doesn’t even worry me because I had that TransRockies mileage to build up my endurance base. The marathon in Ironman will probably feel easy because I basically ran a marathon everyday for six-days at 10,000-feet.”
Now with just two weeks left until the canon booms over Kailua-Bay, Bloom is putting the final touches to her race plan with only one long ride to Hawi left on her training schedule. Bloom feels that she is equally strong on all three swim-bike-run sports and doesn’t favor one over the other two, though, she has been swimming since she was little and ran track in college.
Some training days have been hard, like her recent 100-mile bike ride to Hawi where the conditions offered little reprieve from the agonizing heat, humidity and gusty crosswinds. She couldn’t wait to just be done with it. While other days fared much better where Bloom found herself smiling the whole way and looking forward to her post-bike run in the heat. But that’s just it, it’s always a mixed bag when it comes to Ironman.
Certainly Bloom has learned many lessons in saddle as well as giving her plenty of time to reflect, feel appreciative, and think about what it would mean to cross Kona’s most iconic finish line.
“I’m just so thankful for the people that have come with me on these long bike rides. I feel so appreciative because biking all that way alone is not much fun. And I cannot thank the Bike Works Ohana enough, I wouldn’t be where I am without them.
“Crossing the finish line would be an accumulation of all of the hard work I’ve put in, all the time coordinating training time, and all of the memories of training. The finish line will be just one tiny piece of a huge book put together. It will be a relief, too, because I know I will get a lot of my time back. But finishing is something I’m looking forward to.”
Coming Up
Saturday: Team Mango presents the Pre-Ironman Triathlon Challenge at the Kailua Pier. This year’s event has been rescheduled to Saturday due to a cruise ship scheduled for Sunday. Start time is 7 a.m. for the 1.2-mile swim, 15-mile hilly bike loop, and 6-mile run. Pre-race registration will begin onsite at 5:30 a.m. For more information and registration details contact Carl Koomoa at 324-7252 or visit www.teammango.org.