Say My Name! @ Ford Ironman World Championships with Jessi Stensland (#3 in Series)

Thanks Jessi Stensland for your updates from the Ford Ironman World Championships! Stensland is a professional endurance athlete, movement specialist and active.com expert. In anticipation of the Dec. 19th airing of the NBC Ford Ironman World Championships broadcast, I'll feature several of Stensland's active.com features with bonus info from Stensland. This is #3 in a series.

The Voice of Ironman Mike Reilly

As a Cinderella Ironman Finisher I (Sara) heard The Voice of Ironman Mike Reilly call out my name welcoming me to "the club." Two years earlier my hubby Ken didn't hear The Voice when Ken crossed at Ironman Wisconsin. Reilly was there, and speaking, but my husband Ken was so focused that he tuned out his surroundings.

Ken's not alone. For many Ironman triathletes Reilly's famous words "YOU are an Ironman," obsessively call out to them during their long months of training. The words echo in and out during race day, waiting. So what happens when Reilly doesn't say "it"?

Find out by watching Active.com reporter Jessi Stensland's detailed interview with Mike Reilly from this year's Ford Ironman World Championships. You'll also learn:

- Something about race day Reilly will never grow tired of.

- Where's the hot corner for Ironspectators?

- What it's like up in the tower in Race Central.

- What's Reilly's biggest fear?

Stensland says Reilly's never called her name and she doesn't hear that happening in the future. "I've never had the desire to do an Ironman," says Stensland. "I like to train and race short, hard, often and now ... off-road."

I admire Stensland's confidence. She knows as an athlete what she's passionate about. Without passion, training and racing at any distance comes up empty. For me the most-moving post-finishline moments have more to do with what I gave to get there than simply the distance covered.
Link here

On Topic:

Find out how Reilly coined his famous phrase in this excellent profile of Reilly from ironman.com.

In this series:
Getting the Story @ Ford Ironman World Championships
On Site @ Ford Ironman World Championships with Jessi Stensland
Rudy! @ Ford Ironman World Championships with Jessi Stensland

Questions for You:
- What distance/sport are you passionate about?
- What makes the finish line magic?

photo credit by me: I saw many sea turtles when I was on the Big Island. But I met this turtle in the Grand Cayman Islands.

♥ Rudy! @ Ford Ironman World Championships with Jessi Stensland

Thanks Jessi Stensland for your updates from the Ford Ironman World Championships! Stensland is a professional endurance athlete, movement specialist and active.com expert.

In anticipation of the Dec. 19th airing of the NBC Ford Ironman World Championships broadcast, I'll feature several of Stensland's active.com video features from Kona with bonus info from Stensland. She'll answer what it's like to be on site covering THE IRONMAN, what stories touched her most, what race day is like and more!

Rudy Garcia-Tolson
Two weeks before competing in the 2009 Ford Ironman World Championships double-above-the-knee amputee Rudy Garcia-Tolson got an infection in one of his stumps. He took the prescribed antibiotics and stayed off his feet--no running until race day for this 21-year-old triathlete. So Garcia-Tolson absorbed his latest challenge and continued prepping for 140.6 miles of Big Island decisions.

On the Thursday before race day Active.com reporter Jessi Stensland caught up with Garcia-Tolson to chat about his Kona experience and the BIG race! "I've always been a Rudy fan," says Stensland.

Click on Jessi's active.com Ironblog interview with Garcia-Tolson below:


video link

And watch NBC's Ford Ironman World Championships feature Dec. 19th from 4:30-6 EST. Preview here!

Questions for You:
- What's your top logistical challenge as a triathlete?
- Rudy calls swimming his passion, what is your favorite tri discipline?

On Topic:
Challenged Athletes Foundation: Rudy's story
Athlete: Lee Gruenfeld profiles the amazing Rudy Garcia-Tolson "the Torpedo."
Ossur: make Rudy's prosthetics
Scott Rigsby: first double below-the-knee amputee to finish the Ironman on prosthetic legs. Read more about Rigsby here.
Sarah Reinertsen: first single above-the-knee amputee to finish the Ironman (DNF in 2004, came back to finish strong and to win hearts in 2005).
Cheers also go to: Bob Babbit, Cherie Gruenfeld, Paul Huddle, PowerBar, David Bailey and Terry Martin for supporting Garcia-Tolson!

In this series:
Getting the Story @ Ford Ironman World Championships
On Site @ Ford Ironman World Championships with Jessi Stensland

Learn more about Stensland's day-long MovementU workshops here. Read @TriBoomer 's report from MovementU! He calls MovementU the "best day-long triathlon training clinic, evah!" My hubby & I are super excited for MovementU's Madison-area class in 2010! Details to come!

photo credit by me: I saw many sea turtles when I was on the Big Island. But I met this turtle in the Grand Cayman islands.

Getting the Story @ Ford Ironman World Championships with Jessi Stensland

Thanks Jessi Stensland, for your updates from the Ford Ironman World Championships! Stensland is a professional endurance athlete, movement specialist and active.com expert.
In anticipation of the Dec. 19th airing of the NBC Ford Ironman World Championships broadcast, I'll feature several of Stenland's video features from Kona with bonus info from Stensland. She'll answer what it's like to be on site covering THE IRONMAN, what stories touched her most, what race day is like and more!

Jessi Stensland is a storyteller.
"I like to capture life and stories," she says. "Those that are simply fun, that spread joy to the world and/or are inspirational and/or educational."

As part of her role at active.com Stensland has the pleasure of reporting from the Ford Ironman World Championships. "This year Kona was a lot of work but also a blast," she says. "Over the years I've realized how much more intricate of a process it is to really do it well, more efficiently and easily."

To produce each video feature Stensland needs: a vision for her topic, excellent supporting footage and the ability to engage her subject and to put him or her at ease. Stensland loves bringing out her subject's natural self while getting the story. She stays flexible too, giving the interviewee freedom to tell his or her story and letting the interview go where it needs to.

"I enjoy having a hand in all aspects of production: being on-camera, filming and editing," she says. "It's very helpful to know all three. While I'm on camera I'm also thinking ahead as to how useful the time I'm spending is, in relation to how I'll have to edit it later."

Creating a simple two-minute video from start to finish can take 90 minutes to produce. In addition to the actual interview time, Stensland must digitalize the video from tape to computer, make cuts and adjustments to the footage and audio, and insert pre-roll and title screens. Then the final piece is compressed, outputted and uploaded to the web site. More integrated features combining interviews, quotes, footage and music, can take 3-4 hours start to finish.

It's all a perfect fit for Stensland who loves sharing stories with the world. Video production takes her to new places where new faces wait to share their adventures with her. Keep up the good work Jessi!

Stay tuned for Stensland's features on: bike check-in, the Voice of Ironman Mike Reilly, Dig Me beach, Rudy Garcia-Tolson and race day!

Learn more about Stensland's day-long MovementU workshops here. Read @TriBoomer 's report from MovementU! He calls MovementU the "best day-long triathlon training clinic, evah!" My hubby & I are super excited for MovementU's Madison-area class in 2010!

Question for You:
- What's your dream job?

Also Read:
On Site @ Ford Ironman World Championships with Jessi Stensland

photo credit by me: I saw many sea turtles when I was on the Big Island. But I met this turtle in the Grand Cayman Islands.