The long quest for a place at next year’s Ironman world championships has already begun, even before this season’s event has taken place in Kona, Hawaii, on Oct. 8. That journey will be a strategic fight for ranking points, finishing as highly as possible in the races you compete in so that you qualify for the season finale, while trying to race as little as possible and save your energy so that you can contend for the world title.
Triathlete Jarrod Shoemaker is only just stepping up to Ironman-distance events, but has more than a decade’s worth of experience training for and racing triathlons, including representing the U.