Donna Phelan's Page

I know I have absolutely no reason to complain about the cold weather passing through southern California this week. I spent over 25 years of my life in eastern Canada with winter lasting almost 6 months of the year. Snow from November to April and 6 months inside on the windtrainer. Ahh, the good memories, but I digress.

The last few days it’s been in the 50’s (or 10 degrees C) in San Diego, and I’ve been freezing my butt off. I came home from swim practice a few days ago, with my teeth chatte… Continue

Last Sunday, I raced Ironman Switzerland in Zurich. I did this race in 2008 when it was raining and 12 degrees, and really wanted to improve on my 9th place finish from last year. I knew there were some stong runners in the race this year so I had one strategy in mind – go hard on the swim and bike and build up some time heading into the run.

I came out of the swim in 6th position, not exactly where I wanted to be, but knowing that a few of the girls weren’t too far ahead. Coach had told me I w… Continue

This past weekend, I went to Wildflower to race the 1/2 Ironman. I did this race in 2002 and it was my first long course triathlon. I was doing World Cup races at the time, and it was a big turning point for me. I really loved racing the longer distance/non drafting format, and within a year I was racing my first Ironman.

Well, fast forward to 2009, and I was headed back to Wildflower once again. With IM China 2 weeks behind me, it was a good chance to get back to some long training and see whe… Continue

I’ve just returned from my trip to Ironman China. I guess by now, everybody’s heard the stories about the 2km/hr currents in the river, the 112 degree temperatures, and the death march on the run. But part of what makes this race so special is the reward of overcoming these obstacles...or as they say, “the greater the difficulty, the more glory in surmounting it.”

I can’t say for sure if the swim went as I expected. It would be interesting to see an overhead shot of where I actually swam going… Continue

On Saturday, the Team TBB road show stopped in Langkawi for Ironman Malaysia. With six members of the team racing, and the support crew from TBB Singapore along with Alex, we had a full crew arranged to put on a great show.

Heading into the race, I had 2 goals - a hard swim and bike, and a top 10 finish. My run preparation hadn’t been ideal leading up to the race. My calf tear in November resulted in 2 months of no running, and a short build up of run training before the race. As always though,… Continue