Two-time Ironman World Champion Normann Stadler is coming off two disappointing races at Kona. But marriage and fatherhood have given him new strength and he is ready to tear up the Queen K once again.

After her disastrous 2007 crash on the bike at Kona, six-time Ironman World Champion Natascha Badmann went through 18 months of hellish surgeries, painful rehab, uncertainty and doubts. Now she’s 42 and ready to unleash the Natascha of old.

The young New Zealander who took the Ironman 70.3 World Championship crown last November says Chris McCormack didn’t work on his mind while training together in Kona. “I won’t let anyone psyche me out.”

The Parade of Nations and the opening of the Expo and bike demo were some of the highlights of this day.

Kona’s Ironman Parade of great triathletes and sweetly eccentric behavior. Photo Gallery by Timothy Carlson

The International Triathlon Union issued a six-year ban to Mariana Ohata, Brazil’s top ITU female triathlete, for testing positive for the prohibited substance furosemide – her second anti-doping violation.

Was Timo Bracht a loose cannon, refusing to stop in the penalty box last year at Kona, running it in 5th across the line only to get properly DQ’d? Or was this year’s sensational Frankfurt sub-8 winner just the victim of a misunderstanding?

Looking for a dark horse to challenge Crowie, Macca and Normann? How about this 20-year-old Brit who thinks he might just win this mighty race not just once, but “2-3-4, even 5-6-7 times.”

Of course, you can run in any shoe that you want, but don’t you just love that feeling of a lighter shoe on your feet during the marathon leg of your Kona race? Here are those shoes.

With the 2009 Ford Ironman World Championships almost upon us we noticed Forze GPS bars, the Crowie Backstage iPhone app, the Ceepo Katana, Muscle Milk Light and an Art of Tri t-shirt.

Monday is the first big day for the triathletes to arrive in Kona but it is already quite clear that this race is coming up.

The City of Los Angeles Triathlon brings together 2,500 age groupers and the world’s elite to compete on a course that starts at Venice Beach and winds up in downtown LA. Photo Gallery by Timothy Carlson.

Matt Reed leads defending champion Greg Bennett and Sarah Haskins leads defending champ Becky Lavelle and Rebeccah Wassner going into the Race to the Toyota Cup Series finale in Dallas

What about nutrition during training? Gels, bars, gummies, things like that? Yes, it’s time you started to think about these sorts of things.

Getting sponsors. Yes, the task every race director looks forward to. If, that is, your favorite word to hear is, “No.” This assumes you actually get any word at all in response to your supplications.

Two books represent the Slowtwitch “boxed set” for ascenders. It’s doubtful either of these books’ publishers or authors (one is dead) know of the other’s book. But to this site’s publisher each book is the others’ companion.

The two ITU World Championship Series silver medalists get some non-drafting redemption at the Kaiser Permanente Los Angeles Triathlon; Javier Gomez tops Stuart Hayes and Lisa Norden tops Sarah Haskins.

Here’s the live coverage of the Kaiser Permanente Los Angeles Triathlon, as we called it, from the Slowtwitch Ice Cream Truck (the unofficial lead vehicle).

Now that the ITU World Championship series is over, several European and Australian stars have come to fight it out with Life Time Fitness series stars in Los Angeles

Can anyone beat Chrissie Wellington? The odds say no. But the deepest field in years may yield a challenger who is unafraid to take on the new Queen of Kona.

Picking Ironman Hawaii odds is a risky business. What if you miss a 1996 Luc van Lierde? Or the Faris Al-Sultan in 2005? Or Scott Molina in 1988? Timothy Carlson takes on the unforgiving task.

Announcing the SlowTwitch Bike Lounge, powered by Retül. Meet the Slowtwitch staff, let us fete you with goodies, while you get your fit coordinates databased by the good folks at Retül

You’re more than halfway to the goal. You could certainly do a triathlon right now. In fact, you’d probably be fitter right now than plenty of people who’re going to be doing the race with you. Isn’t it a great feeling to be getting fit?

Slowtwitch worked with Jeff Solomon of Tableau Software to present an interesting way to look at the top 10 Ironman performers in Hawaii from 1978 through 2008 and that allows you to see how the performances have trended through the years.