A little over six months ago, I received a phone call from a triathlete who lived in Richmond. She reached out to our shop, as we are a Lake dealer and she was having problems with her shoes and feet numbness. After chatting for a while, we determined that it was best to diagnose her issues with an in-person consultation. A face-to-face evaluation would better allow us to determine the true root-cause, and evaluate whether her problems were related to her shoes, leg alignment, insoles or improper fit.
Not until I met Sue did I realize who I was actually talking with.  Sue DeJesus, was ranked first in the world in 2016 IRONMAN 70.3 for the 65-69 Age Group!! As you can imagine Sue’s palmarès is quite impressive, with three Divisional wins in 2016 at IRONMAN Puerto Rico, IRONMAN Chattanooga and IRONMAN Augusta. However, even with these incredible performances, Sue still struggled with discomfort on the bike and required tweaks to her aero position.
During Sue’s consultation, we evaluated her entire bike position, shoe/pedal interface, leg alignment and a few other key areas. Sue agreed to be put through our Fit Protocol and tweak her on-bike position and foot/pedal/shoe alignment. While she initially thought her issues were primarily attributed to pedal/cleat problems, we found her TT position could be improved and resulted in not only aero improvements but added to her overall comfort as well.
Podium Spot at IRONMAN World Championships
After our first round of fitting sessions, plus a few weeks to acclimate to the new position, Sue won her age group at IRONMAN Chattanooga and bested her previous year bike split by a full ten minutes (over 56 miles). While we can’t take credit for that stellar performance, we like to think we did play a small part in her improvements.
We still have a few more fitting tweaks to make, but she continues to amaze with stellar performances. In fact just a couple of weeks ago she secured a podium spot at the IRONMAN 70.3 World Championships!
CBS Richmond: “Richmond Woman is One of the World’s Best Triathletes”
Sue was recently featured on CBS 6 Richmond in their “Beyond the Roster” Segment.
What is even more impressive about Sue is that she performs at a World Class level and also works as a respiratory therapist. She sees a regular rotation of patients at Chippenham Johnston-Willis hospitals in Richmond. Her patients keep very close track of her progress as an athlete, and she has become an inspiration to her patients. Sue recently earned some media attention too and was featured on CBS Richmond Beyond the Roster segment.
Having worked with Sue over the last seven months, I can honestly say that I have been amazed by her dedication, perseverance, and willingness to make changes and become the best triathlete she can. And as an athlete that only completed her first triathlon a mere 16 years ago, I am amazed at how far she has come.
Sue plans on competing this October at the IRONMAN 70.3 North Carolina and is scheduled to compete in her first full IRONMAN in April. Her ultimate goal is to qualify for IRONMAN Kona, which based on her results to date and ever-increasing performance we know she will easily achieve that goal.