Meredith Kessler has completed an amazing 46 Ironman events and won four Ironman titles. Even as a teenager she liked nothing better than to go out for a ten mile run on her own, or swim countless laps in the pool. Her first ever triathlon, believe it or not, was an Ironman. Meredith came on with us a few days after helping out at a Challenged Athletes Foundation event, www.challengedathletes.org, at VeloSF that raised over $55,000 for athletes in need.

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Tyler Stewart has made the move from professional triathlete to ultrarunner and will be attempting her first Western States 100 next weekend. She is an Ironman champion who gave up a sport with prize money and sponsorship for the pure love of the trails. The big question, of course, is why.

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Six-time Ironman Champion Dave Scott walks us through the aftermath of Chrissie Wellington’s horrific bike crash leading into the 2011 Ironman World Championship. His feeling was that, without the crash, Chrissie was ready to destroy the course record in Kona. How fast could she have gone? Try between 8:26-8:31!

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Carlos Moleda is a true endurance sports legend. He was a Navy SEAL when he was paralyzed while on a mission in Panama back in December of 1989. Since then he has won four Ironman World Championship titles, completed the Race Across America with a team of handcyclists and is now gearing up to do an 800 mile off-road race in Australia.

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Andrew Messick left his position as the President of AEG Sports, the owners of the Amgen Tour of California, to become the CEO of the World Triathlon Corporation, the owners of the Ironman. It was great to get a chance to chat with Andrew, a two-time Ironman finisher himself, about the differences he sees between the world of cycling and the world of triathlon.

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Thom Hunt set the indoor record for the mile in high school (4:02.7), was a seven-time NCAA All-American and set the American Record for 10,000 meters on the roads in 1981 with a 28:12. He was also Linda Sweeney’s boyfriend in 1981 and followed her on race day throughout the bike and run on a rented moped.

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She only used two gears during the bike ride and had a basket on the front to keep her towel, her cassettes and her cassette player. White Punks on Dope was top of mind. From the reading the materials, Linda Sweeney thought the Ironman course in Hawaii was totally flat. Not quite. It’s hard to believe it has been 30 years since Sweeney won her first- and only- Ironman race.

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John Howard was named America’s cyclist of the 70’s and was a  three time Olympian, Ironman champion and Pan American Games Gold Medalist. He came on to talk about his new book Mastering Cycling, his Land Speed Record and his win at the Ironman 30 years ago.

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