Peachtree City resident Holly Anderson saw her first Ironman competition

in September, 2002. She and her husband, Mark, both employees at Bicycles

Unlimited in Peachtree City, loaded up a trailer with the bicycles of

the Ironman competitors from the area, drove it to Madison, Wisconsin

and worked on the bikes before and after the race. Peachtree City has

the most most Ironman athletes per capita of any city in the United States

with 28 and after seeing how much fun the group had in that competition

in Wisconsin, as well as in several others, Anderson decided that competing

in an Ironman was something she wanted to try.

This Sunday she will be competing in an Ironman competition in Lake

Placid, New York. it will be the culmination of over eight months of

extensive training.

Anderson teaches a spin class at Bicycles Unlimited and many of her

students belong to the group that participates in the Ironman competitions.

After the 5:30 a.m. class on Tuesdays and Thursdays, Anderson would often

go out running with her students. The long training exercises began on

weekends in April and included swimming in the lake, a four to five hour

bike ride and possibly some running, though typically one weekend day

would feature biking and the other would feature running. Anderson estimated

that from April-June, she was putting in over 20 hours a week in training.

"I knew there would be long days with lots of long training hours,

but I expected the last two months to be really hard " said Anderson. "It's

been really good because of the group though." Anderson credited

everyone, especially her family, which makes up much of the staff at

Bicycles Unlimited, for being really supportive throughout her training.

Anderson has been coached for the Ironman by her husband who has been

coaching since the age of 14. Mark Anderson, a collegiate swimmer at

the University of Nebraska, where he studied physiology, now owns and

operates a coaching company called Homeostasis and his students are coached

in everything from general fitness to training for Ironman competitions.

"I got a lot of advice from people who have competed in Ironman's

before," said Anderson. "Because I come from a biking background,

I've been reminded that I can't go all out on my bike. As for

my coach's advice, he has given me visualization exercises so that

I can focus on the task at hand." Anderson doesn't listen to

music during the long runs or rides. Instead she talks with some of the

people she trains with or finds herself praying. "Most of time I'm

running on Sundays, so I use that as my church time."

An Ironman competition is a 2.4-mile swim followed by a 112-mile bike

ride and a 26.2-mile run. Since she will burn an estimated 8,000 calories

that day, Anderson will begin to load up on carbs for several days before

the race begins. She will also be traveling with four 30-ounce water

bottles, pierogies, crackers and peanut butter, Luna bars and gels to

make sure she has enough nutrients to sustain her for the race. She did

a half an Ironman at Walt Disney World in May as a warm-up and feels

ready for this weekend's competition.

"I want to do my best and have fun," said Anderson, who doesn't

want to get caught up in aiming for a specific time. "I'm not

sure what to expect, but I hope that I can do better than just finish."

As for what's next for Anderson, she knows she will either be competing

in or working the Peachtree City Triathlon Saturday, Aug. 28. She thinks

she will be competing in other Ironman competitions in the future but

wants to get through this one first and then rest and recover.

After the competition on Sunday, she will have earned that rest.