Mommy fastest

It’s likely that when Heather Gollnick splashes into Lake Coeur d’Alene for the start of Ford Ironman Coeur d’Alene early Sunday morning, she won’t be thinking about who she has to beat.

Most likely, Gollnick’s thoughts will be about her three children back home in Bradenton, Fla., who couldn’t accompany Mom this time because of their various summer activities.

Ask Gollnick about the strengths of the other female pros and her mind goes blank.

“I don’t know,” she answers honestly, noting she’s not consumed by her sport.

Ask Gollnick what her best time in previous Ironman races at Coeur d’Alene and she draws another blank.

Moments later, she interrupted an interview to ask the sportswriter a question:

“Could you e-mail me the results of the race?”

This means she’s probably not going to pick up one of the two local newspapers Monday morning to read about the race.

While Gollnick is passionate about the sport, she’s more zealous about her family. After all, of the 28 female pros at Ironman Coeur d’Alene, Gollnick is one of about two Ironmoms, and certainly the only mother of more than one child.

That’s the case in most races, which makes what the 36-year-old Gollnick is able to do – juggle the duties of mother, wife and competitive professional Ironman athlete – all the more impressive.

“When I’m at home, we’re watching Power Rangers or ABC Family on television,” Gollnick said. “My close family friends aren’t triathletes. The people we run around with go to church with us or have something in common with our children.”

In other words, Gollnick doesn’t concern herself with who’s hot or who’s not in Ironman circles. All she knows is her 2006 season is off to a solid start and she anticipates having one of her best races Sunday.

When it comes to racing, though, there’s no other place she’d rather be than in Coeur d’Alene. It’s Gollnick’s hope that Ironman USA will suspend with the splitting of the female and male pro races as it has the last two years and go back to offering prize purses for both at all of its stops next year.

Gollnick won the first race at Coeur d’Alene, in 2003. The following year, she finished second in a race that was just as satisfying as the victory the year before, considering she overcame a nasty bicycle accident three weeks before the race.

Last year she couldn’t come to Coeur d’Alene because Ironman USA split the pro races. She was delighted to learn that Coeur d’Alene was chosen as the site for the U.S. championship race for women this year.

“I love this town,” Gollnick said Wednesday, three days after arriving to make final race preparations. “Take for example today (Wednesday). I’m on my bike and somebody honked. At most other places you’d expect to get screamed at or something. But as I went by, they said ‘Good luck on Sunday.’ And others have recognized me from the other races here. The whole town embraces the race, which you don’t find everywhere. This is a welcoming community.”

She arrived a week early for her third race at Coeur d’Alene. Although she’s quite familiar with the course, she wanted to give herself a little extra time to acclimate to the weather.

Gollnick finished second at Ironman Arizona in early April in a career-best 9 hours, 33 minutes. Her best time at CdA is 9:41. She figures to eclipse that time Sunday.

While some pros Gollnick’s age are beginning to contemplate retirement from competitive racing, she figures her best races are still ahead of her.

“I’m still getting faster,” said Gollnick, who doesn’t see any of the three disciplines – swimming, biking or running – as stronger than another.

The one area she has seen much improvement, though, has been running. She ran her best marathon time at Arizona.

Gollnick’s schedule will taper off considerably after this week. She will spend much of July on family vacations. But she will continue to train for the World Championships in Hawaii in October.

She finished 23rd at Hawaii last year. Her best finish there came in 2004 when she was 13th overall and the first American finisher.

“I’m on pace to have my best year ever,” Gollnick said. “The race Sunday will be very fast – faster than the two previous races here. It’s a very, very tough field. I had my best race ever at Arizona and I feel I’m in better shape now.”