Natalie Grabow’s triathlon training begins with a wake-up call between 5:30 and 6:30 a.m. She eats breakfast, finishes a strength and stretching routine, then starts her workouts.

In a given week, she will run up to four times, swim three times and get on the exercise bike in her Mountain Lakes, New Jersey, home four times. Her longest bike workout, every Saturday, can last up to six hours.

All that work helped Grabow endure the world’s most prestigious triathlon competition on Oct. 11 in Kona, Hawaii, where over the course of 16 hours, 45 minutes and 26 seconds, Grabow finished the 2.4-mile swim, 112-mile bike ride and 26.2-mile run at the Ironman World Championship.

She didn’t win, yet she set a record.

At 80, she is the oldest woman ever to finish the grueling, 140.6-mile competitio

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