J Life | Jan-March 2019 jan-mar-19-jlife-USE | Page 13

Tucson J cyclists raced among a legend in sports.
Sally Edwards is a 16-time Ironman finisher and set a Master’s world record in the event in 1988.
She is a former winner of the Western States 100-mile Endurance Run and ran in the 1984 U.S.
Olympic Marathon Trials. She was inducted into the Triathlete Hall of Fame in 1999.
Edwards owns multiple fitness-related companies, one of which is called Heart Zones. Heart
Zones is used at The J by trainer Shelley Russell, who met Sally in 2010 while getting certified.
Since then, Shelley has become an internal tester of the software, which is used in her spin
classes and personal training sessions at The J.
“I’ve been working with Sally for almost a decade and have learned a great deal about heart rate
training and what it means for improved overall fitness and effective weight management. Not
only is Sally a Hall of Fame athlete, successful entrepreneur and author, but she’s also a genuinely
great person who wants to help everyone get fit. I was so happy to be able to share this special
person with the members at the J who are special to me,” said Russell.
Cyclists and clients wear trackers that can monitor workouts. Edwards says the trackers help
create a friendly competition with yourself. Edwards is now working on adding new sensors and
features where chips will be able to record your entire workout from machine to machine.
Edwards says she appreciates Shelley’s testing of the Heart Zones software and hardware and
mentioned that through this, Shelley has helped improve cycling. Engineers are taking Shelley’s
feedback and making improvements to the Heart Zones trackers.
“I added an extra day to my trip to Phoenix for the Outspoken Women in Triathlon Summit
to make sure I got to see one our most valued Heart Zones Internal Testers working in her
environment,” said Edwards. “Shelley has impressed us tremendously with her creativity and
knowledge from her experience as a software engineer and as a fitness professional - so much so,
that whatever Shelley wants in our application, Shelley gets!”
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