Ann Sloan

Run leader, coffee lover, and marathon maniac—Ann Sloan has been a huge contributor to Zwift Run Community. Find out how this multi-sport athlete stays driven and uses Zwift to keep fit for any race and any distance.

The Pacific Northwest gets pretty wet, cold and dark this time of year. Do you prefer to train in the mornings, middle of the day, or later in the evening?

I would rather train in the mornings, but life circumstances have changed which have me training in the evenings.  I usually get home by 5:45 pm and ready to workout around 6 or so. Any earlier and can’t get home in time for an event due to traffic.

You had a couple races set in the calendar: the Tacoma Narrows Half Marathon in August and Ironman Arizona in November. How did they go?  

I ended up bailing on the Tacoma half marathon, but raced the Lake Washington half and held 10:30 pace, which was fantastic. Ironman Arizona was great! My swim training was done on a Vasa swim trainer (hoping to someday connect to Zwift since it has a power meter), the bike was another fast time and my run, wasn’t pretty due to me having a cold and not putting in enough volume on my running. I already signed up again for next year to try and pull out a PR.

Favorite route to run on Zwift?

All of them! Running is my second favorite sport after cycling. So any route I get to run in Zwift means I get to see other athletes in action.

Who’s your all-time favorite runner?

Des Linden – love her quotes.

Favorite rest day snack?

Coffee – coffee is a snack in my world. I work for Starbucks and our corporate offices just opened a beautiful new Reserve Store in our building. For me, there’s no better snack than going to the store and getting a Grande Café Bianca. The problem is being able to NOT have one every day.

MRC / WOW/ SRP

I love WOW. When I was leading this event on Wednesday it got me doing speed work. Speed work is not my forte since I’m a steady runner, so WOW got me out of my comfort zone. Not only did I need to run faster, but I needed to be able to give instructions and Ride On’s to the other runners. Super FUN and challenging! These workouts got me back on track with speed work and to work harder on my running.

Craziest running moment?

I think the craziest moment for me was training for my first Ironman race in 2009. My friends said we should sign up for Nike Women’s marathon as a group so we could get in. At the time, I was told it was really hard to get in and we probably wouldn’t get it. The race was 50 days after my FIRST Marathon, which was part of an Ironman distance race. Well, you guessed it – we got into Nike.  So, I finished my first marathon on August 31, 2009, as part of Ironman Canada and 50 days later I did Nike Women’s Marathon. Then feeling even crazier, I figured what the heck I’ve done 2 marathons in 2 months, why not do a THIRD and get my marathon maniac designation (MM #1908). Yep, that is my kind of crazy.

You have plans to start a Bike/Run night early next year! Could you elaborate a little more on this and your passion for triathlons?

Triathlon community is so fun and very social. For 2019, I have 2 half Ironman (1.2-mile swim, 56-mile bike, 13.1-mile run) and 2 full Ironman distances so I will always be training.  I thought what the heck, why don’t I schedule training to have people to chat with while working out, so this year I am submitting a request for Triathlon Tuesday. The plan is to start a 12-week Bike/Run workout which is basically my workout for that day preparing for my races.  I am choosing a workout instead of meetup/ride/race so we can be together like the Zwift Academy workouts. Planning on 45 min for the bike ride then take a 10-minute break to get set up for the run – i.e. change from bike shoes to run shoes, close/reopen zwift and get on your treadmill ready to run.  The run will be 30 min ‘transition’ run at a Zone 2 pace. This is great practice for any level of triathlon. Plus during the workouts, I can give guidance, answer questions, and encourage anyone that they can do a triathlon or a relay.

My background is that I am a USAT coach, RRCA certified along with completing 19 half irons, 8 full ironman and 53 half marathons.

---

Follow Ann by downloading the Zwift Companion app and stay connected this winter by joining her for a workout. 

Don’t have Zwift Companion and want to see it for yourself? Get it from the Google Play Store, or the iOS App Store. Free to download and use.