Congratulations to Bobby Thorborg on T3's Athlete of the Month. His recent performance at the Ironman World Championships in Kona, Hawaii was spectacular! Having qualified three years ago for this event, it was a long time coming, and he 100% capitalized on his opportunity. Completing the 2.4 mile swim, 112 mile bike, and 26.2 mile run in 9hrs 39mins is astonishing for his first trip to the "Big Island." Achieving this was no easy feat though, and can be attributed to his work ethic, attention to detail (especially fueling) and a top-notch mental game. Coach Kevin says, "I feel Bobby is starting to find his stride within this sport. His potential is endless, and with more experience his results will grow even further. I am excited to be a part of his path, as he is a talented and great individual to work with!"

A:  Bobby Thorborg, Virginia Beach, Virginia

A:   31

A:   My first race was in 2007 and kept racing until around 2017 when I joined the Navy. Up until this past year of racing I had only done one race (Superfrog 70.3 in 2019) since 2017. So it’s been great to get back into the sport!

A:   Kona was the culmination of years of hard work and a dream that I’ve had since I first watched the 2008 NBC broadcast of the Ironman. It all lived up to the hype and excitement you would think the race would bring and the conditions along the course were as challenging as advertised. On top of that, the energy of the crowd throughout the course along with going toe-to-toe with the best triathletes in the world made the whole experience something I’ll never forget. It was also incredibly special to see my wife, Grace, along the race course to cheer me on.

A:   I started working with Kevin from 2015-2017, a brief stint in 2019 to prep for the Superfrog 70.3 and back again full time this year.

A:   My wife and I moved from San Diego to Virginia Beach in December of 2021 for a pretty demanding job, which brought on it’s own set of challenges. The move itself didn’t allow me to get into a good training rhythm early on and the demanding job sometimes limited how much training I could get in every week. All in all, it added a new level of challenge between balancing work, training and spending time with my wife. Early on it frustrated me, but I did my best to simply get in whatever quality training I could that week and try to do better the week after.

A:   It was a long wait! I qualified for Kona in September 2019 so with 3 years of waiting I would have wanted to really focus on getting quality training in, but it really wasn’t until I moved to Virginia Beach about a year ago was I able to get good quality training in due to my last job where I traveled a bunch and had a 6 month deployment sprinkled in. Overall,I did my best to stay as active as I could and really spent a good amount of time getting quality bike sessions in to continue making that my strength.

A:   My new bike - Trek Speed Concept SLR 6

A:   Running. This is the one that I’ve had the least experience with and is the one split that lags behind the others when I look at the results. I really want to spend the off season focusing on improving my form and efficiency in hopes that I can make that my strength next race season.

A:   Besides Kona, my first big triathlon win back in 2012 at the Nation’s Triathlon in Washington DC was a memorable one. I’ve had a few other wins at smaller triathlons over the years and this past year I placed 2nd and 3rd overall at two half-ironmans

A:   Continue to progress and push my limits. I’d like to see how competitive I can be at the 70.3 distance next season and on top of that, continue enjoying the lifestyle triathlon brings.

A:   Learn as much as you can and be a sponge. There’s so many aspects of the sport that it can seem a bit overwhelming to get a handle on, but try not to stress about it while you continue learning all you can. The most important aspect is to enjoy the journey and the people you surround yourself with during training.

A:   I really had a shift in mindset this year when it came to nutrition. I spoke with a nutritionist this year and she had me focus on how many carbs per hour I was consuming rather than calories and that really changed the game for me. I really felt great during all my workouts and races when I was hitting the carb per hour goal I wanted.

A:   Any type of climbing workouts on the bike! As someone who does the vast majority of my cycling inside, zwift workouts like Alpe Du Zwift are some of my favorites.

A:   Just a huge thanks to Kevin and the rest of T3 for the support during this journey that culminated in Kona. Really couldn’t have had the race I had without the mentorship and guidance along the way. It really highlighted how important it is to surround yourself with great people!