Skye Moench Just Became the Fastest American Ironman Ever. Here's How.

Published November 9, 2023 12:10PM

The metallic purple-tinted Trek bike shimmered in the morning heat as it screeched into transition. The purple trisuit-clad triathlete riding it would soon be striding out over the marathon at the head of the women’s field.

This was Skye Moench’s day, purple nails, purple water bottle and all. At last weekend’s Ironman Florida, the Salt Lake City resident not only set a new U.S. record for the Ironman distance (8:22:29) but also a new bike-course best – 4:23:09, just 13 seconds shy of the fastest 112-mile cycle leg of all time. As a purple haze engulfed the Sunshine State, even the late, great Jimi Hendrix would have put down his guitar to applaud.

To cap it off, Moench was serendipitously snapped solo running past the Purple Haze retail outlet in Panama Beach, where, to pick a line from the Hendrix 1967 classic of the same name that encapsulates the 35-year-old’s step-change in performance: “Lately things don’t seem the same…”

Moench will certainly be “all in the brain” of her rivals the next time she lines up at Ironman. Her seventh-place performance in Kona last month hinted at what was coming – as solid as solid days come among the biggest hitters of women’s triathlon. But the wickedly fast show in Florida, (full splits: 58:42 swim, 4:23:09 bike, 2:54:43 run, 8:22:28 finish), sliced more than 18 minutes off Kat Matthews’ 2020 course record and beat Moench’s own time from 2021 by 34 minutes. It also sealed the American’s qualification for next year’s Ironman World Championship in France. If anyone is still unaware of Moench’s purple power, it’s time to wake up and smell the lavender.

Skye Moench’s one-two punch of bike-run

For all the watt-churning masterclass on two wheels Moench displayed in Florida, the marathon is where she took the most pride. “I’ve been working to run that fast for years… and I’ve believed I could run that for years,” Moench explains, having split 2:56:56 in Ironman Tulsa in 2021 and then failed to break 3 hours (often narrowly) on eight successive occasions.

“I was running 3:15s, and then I started running 3s, and I would consistently run faster once I’d run faster. So [after Tulsa] I thought: ‘Great. Now we’re just going to run sub-3s’. Not true. I think a key part of running fast is fueling the bike enough and having my body digest the carbs. So yeah, I guess it probably is one of my best performances ever.”

While many female pros either shut down their season or took a long break after the Ironman World Championship in Hawaii, Moench felt the omens were good to go again in Florida. The race in Kona saw her improve two spots from a ninth-place debut last year, and the six women ahead included every winner back to 2015, plus Taylor Knibb, Germany’s Laura Philipp and new champion Lucy Charles-Barclay. It was some serious company to keep.

“I built a lot of confidence from my training leading into Kona, and I was proud of that performance, but I knew it wasn’t perfect,” she adds. “In the three weeks between races, I did what my coach [David Tilbury-Davis] said. I had a week off and then I put in a week of training, and then it was race week. I knew I was really fit, just trusted that and chilled leading into the race, including not setting any alarm clocks.”

Coach and athlete had also prepared meticulously. “We’d worked really hard on a plan for Kona and it wasn’t too dissimilar for Florida. When I say a plan, I mean an idea of watts and run pace, and of carbohydrates per hour for the whole race. I was really happy with that.”

A record-breaking day at Ironman Florida

As the numbers suggest, the bike leg is a blur. While Lauren Brandon led out of the swim, Britain’s India Lee soon took charge, followed by Jocelyn McCauley, with Moench in pursuit. Into the second half of the 112-mile bike leg, the race had morphed into a pace-line of Lee, McCauley and Moench taking turns at the front, with the draft-legal distances guided by the RaceRanger technology that was being implemented in an Ironman race in North America for the first time.

“We rode really fast,” Moench says. “I mean, I honestly pushed pretty much the same watts as I pushed in Kona, and I was riding with a group [in Florida], so that says something. Obviously the conditions were fast as well, but what went right was being able to bridge up to Jocelyn and then India and we really did all work. Having executed my nutrition really well on the bike, I thought: Okay, this is probably the podium here, and I’m gonna back myself for the fastest run.”

She continues: “I knew I could run three hours with my eyes closed. Like that’s what I’ve run for the last three years. Even on a bad day I’m going to have a pretty solid run, and if India had a good run, maybe she’d outrun me, but she was a little bit unknown because it was only her second Ironman. India took it out quite fast on the first lap and I think the gap went out to 30 seconds, but I was looking at my watch and 4-minute Ks feels easy for everyone on the first lap, but it’s really fast on the second lap. I thought, If she can hold this she deserves to win, but I think I’m going to close this gap before the end. I was patient and didn’t panic.”

Moench was rewarded with a new Ironman marathon personal best and an eight-plus minute cushion over Lee, who faded towards the latter stages and was gracious in accepting her over-exuberant fate.

“I told her after the race that I knew I’d messed up when I was in front on the first lap of the run,” Lee reflects. “She’s one of the most consistent and reliable Ironman athletes, so I knew if I shadowed her once she caught me on the bike then I wouldn’t go far wrong. Then off I ran, thinking it was feeling easy!”

A new plan for Nice

While it shouldn’t be forgotten that Moench finished fourth in the delayed 2021 Ironman World Championship in May last year, how much more improvement is needed to be within a shot of the podium at next year’s World Championship in Nice? Moench has said it’s her prime target for 2024, and is training accordingly.

“I think to be even remotely competitive in big fields, you have to run to mid-2:50s or lower just as a starting point. If we look at Roth or Kona, there are plenty of women running that every time. The faster I can go the better, but I won’t put limits on myself. Not very many women have run sub 2:50, but do I think it’s possible? Yes. Might it happen next year? I don’t know. Will it ever happen? I don’t know. But I’ve been believing that I can run sub 2:55 for years, and here I am finally doing it.”

Looking ahead to next year, Ironman’s injection of $1.7 million USD into its professional series looks tailor-made for a resilient triathlete and four-time winner over the full distance who is used to racing three long-course events a year. The crowning triumph would be success on the Cote d’Azur as the women take their turn in the world championship rotation.

“The course really excites me,” she explains. “I live in the mountains [in Utah] and I know European roads and mountains are different to American roads and mountains, but I love climbing, I love descending and I do a ton of it on my TT back here.”

“I feel a lot more balanced physically, mentally…everything.”

Taking a step back, perhaps the biggest contributing factor to the success is falling in love with the sport again. Taking on Tilbury-Davis as a coach at the end of January and working with sports nutrition expert Scott Tindal at Fuelin to promote healthier eating habits in and out of racing has only had upsides.

“I haven’t spoken publicly about it, but when I left my former coach I really wasn’t enjoying it. I knew I wanted to though and I just had to build a new team around me and be in a good place mentally. That’s been a work in progress this entire year. I enjoyed Kona and Florida so much. I just really love the sport again and I really enjoy racing again. I just feel a lot more balanced physically, mentally…everything. The training is quite different from what I was doing before, and I feel like I have more control over what I’m doing, which is really important for me as a very opinionated person. I do well when I feel like the responsibility is on my shoulders.

“I used to get my training the night before, and I couldn’t plan my life. David gives me training weeks in advance, and we adjust if we need to, but the point is I can plan. If I want to get together with friends this weekend or go to a family dinner, I have an idea of how fatigued I’m going to be or how busy my day is going to be. It just feels a lot more collaborative. I’m still training 30-plus hours a week on those heavy weeks, and I’m still completely dedicated to training, but there’s more transparency.”

As for the purple theme, it’s not going away any time soon. “When I worked full time at Ernst & Young, we had Purple Thursday – we were working in an office and just needed something to make it fun! But I totally gravitate to purple. My water bottle is purple. My nails are purple. My phone case is purple. I guess it’s just kind of stuck, and now I’m into the purple power thing. So, it’s just kind of become my brand. It’s not super common, my bike gets a lot of attention, and frankly even when I’m out running around town, I’m often in purple and I just get recognized for it. So I love it. It’s my color.”

Skye’s the Limit: 2 Big Day Workouts for Ironman Success

One of the strongest bike-runners in Ironman triathlon, Skye provides two of her favorite sessions, but both come with a mandatory “make time for recovery” warning.

The 4,000 “killer”-joule bike workout

Simply a long ride where you complete 4,000 kilojoules of effort (a measure of the work done)

Skye says: “The ‘six-hour’ kilojoule ride is probably my favorite because I’m not stressed about intervals or hitting a certain wattage. If I’m feeling good I can push hard in some sections and ease off in other sections and some days it’s just a steady burn. It gets my energy system used to putting in the amount of work for an Ironman ride. I like the flexibility of it just with an end goal of having to produce 4,000 kilojoules.”

24-mile build run

Main set: Continuous 5 x 3 miles building intensity every 3 miles (staying below Ironman pace)

Skye says: “I’m not sure this is a session an age grouper would want to do, but it was one of my favorite runs leading into Kona. It was 18 miles of building effort to below Ironman pace, so it starts out pretty do-able and by the end you’re having to dig in. The first time I ran this session, my legs were so sore, after the second one, a little bit sore, but by the last one, not sore at all. Obviously, there’s a lot of aerobic work being done, but it’s really getting your body, legs, muscles, and ligaments prepared to run a marathon. It takes me about three hours, but you could adapt it and make it shorter.”