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date ##, 2009 january 17, 2013
Volume 30, Number # VOLUME 33, NUMBER 47
Dakota County Tribune Since 1884
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Dentist is an Ironman Competing in Ironman World Championship is latest milestone for Bennett Isabella by Andrew Miller
DAKOTA COUNTY TRIBUNE
Odds are, if Bennett Isabella isn’t tending to a patient’s teeth, he’s either biking, running or swimming in preparation for his next race. Isabella, a dentist at Dakota Dental in Apple Valley, is a longtime triathlon competitor who last October raced for the first time in the Ironman World Championship in Kona, Hawaii. The grueling three-part course – a 2.4-mile swim, a 112-mile bike ride, and then a full 26.2-mile marathon run – was the capstone to a year in which Isabella said he decided to “get serious” about his training regimen. “Last summer, it was 15 to 19 hours of training a week,” said the Burnsville resident and 2001 graduate of Apple Valley High School. “I’d wake up at 4:30, do an hour-and-a-half workout before work, and then after work train for an hour or two. On the weekends I do my longer workouts.” His athletic bent was cultivated in high school, where he ran cross country and was on the wrestling team. It was also at Apple Valley High School that he kindled an interest in dentistry, participating in a mentorship program at Dakota Dental three days a week. Bennett Isabella “That’s kind of how I decided I wanted to be a dentist,” he said. He began competing in triathlons in 2006 while in dental school at Wisconsin’s Marquette University. Isabella was one of 1,900 athletes to qualify for the 2012 Ironman World Championship out of an estimated 60,000 vying for a spot. His strong finish at an Ironman event in Florida in November 2011, in which he placed among the top three in his age bracket, earned him the berth. All his hard work leading up to Hawaii paid off. Joined in Kona by his “cheering section” – wife Jessica, brother Nick, and parents Mike and Val – Isabella completed the Kona course in 9 hours, 56 minutes, meeting his goal of finishing in under 10 hours. As was to be expected, the race wasn’t without its trouble spots. “It was just so hot, and I had a side cramp for about the first six miles (of the running event) that was hurting every step of the way,” he recounted. After crossing the finish line, exhaustion set in within about five minutes. “I found I had to kind of lean on my wife and mother, and they sort of dragged me back to the hotel,” he said. While his dinner the night before the race was strictly business – a carb-heavy meal consisting of quinoa, brown rice and fish – Isabella let loose, so to speak, the night after the race, indulging in chocolate-covered macadamia nuts and other goodies. A self-described “workout junkie,” Isabella is now looking ahead to more races this year. He plans to compete in the Boston Marathon for the first time this April, and also has his sights set on the Superior Sawtooth 100, a 100mile race that starts in Gooseberry Falls State Park. In future races, he’ll have the edge of having an Ironman World Championship bid under his belt. “This was the hardest race I have ever done,” he said of the Hawaii event. “But (it was) also one of the most fun. It was not my best marathon by far but one of my personal best races by pushing through when I really wanted to stop.” Andrew Miller can be reached at andrew.miller@ecm-inc.com or facebook.com/sunthisweek.
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Bennett Isabella completed the Ironman World Championship course – a 2.4-mile swim, a 112-mile bike ride, and then a full 26.2-mile marathon run – in 9 hours, 56 minutes, meeting his goal of finishing in under 10 hours. Cheering him on at the race in Hawaii were his wife Jessica, brother Nick, and parents Mike and Val.
Calendar sales will help fund project that matches therapy dogs with Minnesota veterans. don 4A heinzman
forum
Three Minnesota students show how public education can turn even the most challenging of circumstances into success. joe 4A nathan
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Former Rosemount High School principal Sen. Greg Clauses proposes bill to fund all-day kindergarten. greg 2A clausen
dakota arts
Philip Bauer will bring his Johnny Cash tribute to a Dakota this show week news County Code Type: UPC Version A Stats: 0stage in Customer: 3242-ECM Publishers the coming Order #: P34915-017 MAG: 1.00 weeks. P.O. #: BWA: 0.0020 Ordered By: Symbol Width: 1.4690 Back Page Polarity: Positive Up philip Symbol Height: 1.0200 Date Run: 05/29/2002
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