Ironman Week in Pictures

Just a few pictures from race week out in Arizona.

"It's my bike in a box."

Registration with Michael.

Felt's promo display.

Ford's answer to the 140.6 mile question.

Echappe rental wheels: Hed disk and Zip 808.

Sunset in Tempe, t-minus 2 days.

Pre-race meeting. Tough crowd: no one laughs at the race director's jokes.
You can feel the nervous energy.

Nantucket red shorts don't quite match the P2, but it was worth a try.

Race day check-in. This is what $8mm worth of bikes looks like.

Run and bike gear bags, lined up one-by-one.

Pre-race dinner. Carbo-loading!
(Notice the taste of Canada to calm the nerves and get in a few more calories.)

Tempe, here we come!

This morning, I jump on a jet and head out to Tempe for my A Race--Ironman Arizona.

Sunday's event has been a long time coming. I started training for the 2009 season on January 1. There were up's and down's, minor injuries and crashes here and there, and definitely some tough stuff to get through this fall. But at this point, I've put in the work and it's time to go get some.

The first goal of the day is always just to get to the finish line. Of course, if I can get my ticket punched and lock in a slot at the 2010 World Championships, that would be icing on the cake.

If you're interested in tracking me online, you can follow me throughout the race at www.ironman.com. I'll be wearing bib 168.

Thanks for all of the support this past season. Time to make you proud.

"Dapper" Pete Curtin

On October 10th, Pete Curtin, one of my closest friends, collapsed while racing the Baltimore Marathon and later died. Words cannot begin to describe the calibre of Pete's character, but suffice to say this could not have happened to a nicer guy. I am better for having known him and cannot imagine this world without him.

Dapper,
May the road rise up to meet you.
May the wind be always at your back.
May the sun shine warm upon your face;
the rains fall soft upon your fields and until we meet again,
may God hold you in the hollow of His hand.

Rest well, my friend.

Race Report #9: Montauk MightyMan 70.3

They say a picture speaks a thousand words. Well, in this case, it really doesn't. This year's MightyMan was the best race that I've ever had. Hands down. And here's what I looked like after it:



(For those who want to skip the boring stuff and get to the real story, jump to the run section of this report... yes, the run, not the bike.)

From January 2nd onward--the 1st wasn't all that pretty--my year has been all about Ironman Arizona. I want to go out there, give it everything I have and, in my last year of M18-24, hopefully qualify for Kona. Anyone who sets Hawaii as their end goal has to put in the effort, so I haven't by any means done anything special. But, this year I've started working with a coach, focused on consistency and technique and have cleaned up my nutrition--I feel like a real athlete for the first time in my life.

Unfortunately, my race results so far this season haven't really pointed to much progress. I've had some decent road races, but my performance at the Jerseyman 70.3 in April was sub-par (see: 30 minutes roadside because of a very stupid setup for my spare tube, followed by a crappy run) and my one Olympic race this summer wasn't anything to write home about.

Enter, the Montauk Mightyman. My goal last weekend was to wrap up four hard weeks of training with a solid race, then recover this week and prepare to be crushed for a few more weeks before Arizona taper. I've spent a fair amount of my training this summer and fall focusing on race execution: attacking the beginning of the swim, controlling my power on the bike, setting a reasonable but aggressive run pace. This race was going to be the test and, if everything went well, I'd have a little boost of confidence headed into my A race.

I'll try to keep the details short (seeing as my preface is already too long).

Pre-Race:
- Woke up earlier than usual and got down more calories than usual--this ended up working out really nicely and I felt fresher and more charged to go when the race started

Swim:
- Headed out in the first wave and really tried to attack the first 500 m.
- Despite being a mediocre swimmer, this technique really helped me out and I was able to catch a good draft group from 400-1700m--this was a first!
- Lost the draft in the last 200m because it got a little fast--in retrospect I should've probably surged with them.
- Came out around 31 minutes... nothing amazing but pretty solid for me.

Bike:
- Coming out of the water near the leaders was a huge boost for the beginning of the bike.
- As per Coach, I pushed hard for the first 15 minutes and then settled into a rhythm.
- Managed to pace with a group of about 4 guys and at every turn around I marked the race leader and age group leader's splits. I've never focused on strategy like this but it really helped to pass the time and keep me focused.
- The pace group I had started to get a little hot and they definitely started drafting--every time I passed them, they'd settle in right behind me and eventually pass and force me to either drop power or end up in a drafting position. It was really frustrating but good practice for the tightness of biking on an MDot Ironman course... In the future, I think I'll try to surge a bit to open up a little gap.
- I reeled in my age group leader (a Princeton buddy and D1 swimmer) from about 7 minutes down to 1 or 2 minutes.
- Got off the bike feeling fresher than usual and my power had been pretty consistent. ~2:34--not bad given how hilly the course was.

Run:
- "Wow!" That's all I can say. Came off the bike and immediately settled into 6:40/mi. I couldn't believe it. It didn't even feel fast. For reference, I am used to getting off the bike and being sluggish and having to struggle to work up a mediocre pace.
- Spent 3 miles trying to slow down to 7:00/mi but everything just felt good and given how short the race was, I figured I might as well take some risks and hold on.
- Rolled through "murder hill" and it definitely hurt but I felt good... The AG leader was only about 1 minute up on me and I was closing now! If things went well, I was on track to win my age group and finish around 3:38-3:39--amazing for me!
- Everything was working out perfectly. My swim was strong, my bike was tactical and I was cruising on the run.

And Then...
WHAM! SMACK! BOOM! WAPPO! It was an episode of Batman but worse. Somehow, a cyclist heading into T2 at about 25mph down a hill swerved into the run course and nailed me. All of a sudden I was down on the ground trying to figure out what happened. I'm not sure if I blacked out, but when I got my wits about me I started yelling for help. Once I was sure I was ok, I just started yelling at the cyclist to see if he was all good. He was out cold. Shortly afterward, we were surrounded by firefighters and paramedics. The biker was so bad that they didn't even realize I was down.

I spent about 5 minutes on the ground and then tried to get up. Legs were ok but my side hurt a lot and there was a fair amount of blood coming out of my elbow. A race official told me that an ambulance was on its way to get the cyclist and then they'd get one for me. At that point, I assumed that I was going to be pulled off the course but I figured why not ask if I could finish... I mean the race was going so well, I wasn't dead and only a few people had passed me...
Me: "Can I keep going?"
Her: "You want to keep going?"
Me: (I don't know if I want to keep going...) "Well, can I?"
Her: "Your back is pretty torn up."
Me: (My back is torn up? I only thought my elbow was bad.) "Well, can I?"
Her: "Umm, I guess, but you really need to see medical as soon as you're done."

I'm not sure what compelled me to do it, but I gave her a hug and thanked her for letting me keep racing--she looked at me like I was nuts.. And then I was off. The next few miles are a blur... This other athlete Jamie had seen me get up and decided to run with me. He was far out in the lead for M40-45 and didn't mind sticking with me. Anyway, around mile 10 I came out of my haze and started to feel the effects of the crash. The body hurt but I wasn't tired... if anything, I was just frustrated with myself for not having the heart to give more.

Jamie and I jogged through the second loop--I think we held 7:45-8:00/mi but I'm not sure. The two of us chatted about racing and our coaches and our jobs. And then, around mile 11, I looked at him and said, "You know, I'm really starting to hurt... I wouldn't have had it in me to finish this if you hadn't stuck with me." He smiled and said that he had done his best to keep my mind off the crash and hoped it hadn't been too bad. I told him to go on and finish up without me and that I'd just roll in, but he insisted that we cross together. So we dropped the pace back down and wrapped it up. We hit the tape at 4:48. He had won his age group and I still managed to pull 3rd. Oh, and I PRed by 43 minutes.

Afterward:
Once I had had the chance to thank Jamie and catch up with my Princeton buddy (who ended up winning M18-24), I headed to the medical tent. They doused me in hydrogen peroxide and then sent me to the ambulance to get fixed up. Turns out I was worse than I had realized. My side ached a bit and they told me that I had probably bruised my ribs and should go to the hospital. Of course, being an intelligent M18-24, I brushed off that advice and just got checked out by Sean's dad later on in the day. They also told me that the cyclist who had hit me was in the hospital and may have broken his hip. Poor guy--what a crappy way to end your day!

After cleaning up, I headed back to the finish to watch a bunch of SBR folk come in. Andre cruised through with a really solid finish--he's all set for Arizona! I met a newer member of the team, Kevin, and I also got to see Sean and Peter finish their first halfs. MightyMan was my first long-course race and it was really special to be their to share in their days. A few tears to add to my blood and sweat?

A week later, my body is feeling pretty good. Road rash is healing, my elbow has closed up and my ribs feel much better. I'm about to settle in for 3 brutal weeks of training and then it's taper. Time to go get some in Arizona!

A quick but important set of shout-outs.
Jamie: You made those 7 miles fly by. Couldn't have finished without you.
Sean and Jack: Really appreciate you getting me to and from the race and giving me a place to crash. Was awesome to be out there racing with you.
D'Ambro: Way to crush your first half and take 1st!
All the other SBR finishers: You guys looked awesome and really represented the team well.
My coach, Alex: All I can say is that your program is magic. Really pumped for the last 6 weeks of the season.
All my training buddies: You've had to put up with me obsessing over and worrying about Arizona for 10 months... Well, I'm finally starting to feel ready. Thanks for all the support this season and for some really good times.
And of course, unnamed cyclist who crashed: Sorry that your day had to end like it did... Shit happens--I hope you heal up quickly.

A little road rash

I'll have a race report up soon, but just a little preview of this year's Montauk Mightyman...

At least I still had a smile after it was all said and done...

Race Report #8: New York City Half Marathon

A few months back, I signed up to do the NYC Half with my buddy Clarke. It was going to be his first half marathon and he was pretty excited to train up for it. We did one or two practice runs together and I could really tell that he was taking it seriously which was pretty cool to see.

As the race approached, my coach Alex and I talked and decided that it was ok for me to run it provided that I throw in a little mileage at the end and didn't lay down a race effort. So, the plan was to put down a soid 90- to 100-mile ride and short run on Saturday and then just treat the half marathon like a supported Sunday long run. I could get a mile or two in after finishing and, hopefully, still catch Clarke's finish.

Race weekend, it was very hot and very humid! I put down a solid effort on the bike on Saturday but was completely wiped in the afternoon from dehydration and too much sun. When I woke up Sunday, I still felt pretty crappy from the day before and would have rather waited to run a little later in the day. In the end, doing the race worked out for the best because it allowed me to get my training in before it got really hot.

I corralled up around 6:45 and started the race with my buddy Michael. Around the 6-mile mark we came across a pro passed out on the side of the road... that's when I started to realize how hot it was. As we exited Central Park, Michael was feeling really good and I didn't want to push things so I let him take off.

Once out of the Park, we go to cruise down 7th Avenue through Times Square. What an experience! It was completely empty save for runners and you just flew through Midtown.

When I hit the West Side for the last 4 miles of the race, the heat started to get to me and I felt the fatigue form the previous day. At that point, I just cruised to the end and finished easy. There were no chips but by my watch I ran about 1:37.

After getting a little water and food, I jogged back down the course to watch Clarke finish. As he came in, I jumped back on the course and sprinted to the line with him. He had a solid finish of about 1:49--not bad for his first race!

After a little cooldown, Clarke and I met up with his girlfriend and headed home for a snack, coffee and (eventually) a beer. Not a bad start to a Sunday.

Some pictures from the race.

Cruising through Times Square. Streets are completely empty save for runners.

Coming in for the finish.

Crossing the line.

Training update

Just about a month ago, I took a look at the calendar and realized that I was just over four months out from Ironman Arizona. I've been doing a solid amount of training and racing since mid-January, but now is the time to really dig in and start prepping specifically for my biggest race of the season.

From my experience last year, I don't think it is possible to successfully train for an Ironman for a full year--you lose focus and motivation. Not to say that you shouldn't be training, but more that you should train and race and have some fun and then firmly dig in once the Ironman is on a more immediate horizon.

Anyway, had hit a bit of a plateau in my performance and really wanted to give this race my all, so I spoke to a few friends and decided to put myself under a formal coaching program. After chatting with my teammate Jason--who, as an aside, just qualified for the Ironman World Championships--I decided to see if his coach Alex McDonald would take me on. Alex raced as a top-notch age grouper (winning Ironman Lake Placid for age group men back a few years ago) and he is now racing as a pro.

Alex and I spoke a number of times and it really seemed like his attitude and approach to training and racing was perfect for me. He's all about consistency, working hard (but smart) and really not overdoing intensity. Why train at 5km pace / crit pace / do 800 repeats, if you're going to be out on a course for 9, 10, 11, etc. hours?!

Anyway, after a month of working with Alex, I'm already seeing huge improvements. I feel healthier and more rested despite maintaining a high volume. I hurt less, feel fresher during my workouts and am no longer stressing out about organizing a training plan. It's interesting, working with a coach, I feel less brutalized and more rested yet I am getting faster. Who would have thought!

Anyway, looking forward to a solid four more months of training and seeing how this season will work out! More to come.

Race Report #7: New Jersey State Triathlon

New Jersey State has become a staple of every season for me. It was my first triathlon and I've raced it ever since.

It wasn't really an A priority event but I was hoping to continue my finish time's 3-year downward trend.

Back in December, my dad signed up with me--this would be his first triathlon ever. Unfortunately, he wasn't able to end up joining which was a really, really big bummer. He had trained really hard (especially on the swim) and I was incredibly proud of him. Hopefully, we'll get to race together sometime soon--maybe even back in Canada.

Given that my dad wasn't going to be there and that this wasn't an A priority, I simply hoped to continue my finish time's 3-year downward trend.

Prep
On Saturday, I met up with my buddy Sean--a recent Princeton grad who was going to be racing NJ State as his first triathlon. We tore our bikes apart and cleaned them completely up like new. I also threw on some race wheels for flare points. My roommate, Nando, required that we take a "sun's out, gun's out" shot before we headed out.






Jumped the train down to Princeton and, for the first time ever, people didn't seem to mind that we took up a bunch of space with our bikes. Sean's brother was a huge help and he picked us up at the train station and loaned us his car for the weekend. Made everything so much easier.



The rest of Saturday was spent with the usual more-time-consuming-than-expected-pre-race protocols: check-in, driving the course, getting nutrition ready and doing an easy spin on the bike. Was fun to head out on the bike and check out some old haunts that Sean and I had ridden back in school. We opened up a few times on the ride and I definitely felt nice and fresh from taper.

Saturday evening, we grabbed dinner in Princeton with Sean's brother and my buddy Ben. Ben's currently training to get back into the NFL and his first comment upon seeing my "gross skinny ass" was that I needed to eat a sandwich. After dinner, Sean and I made a few final preparations at our hotel and passed out.

The Race
We were up at 5AM sharp. At this point, we were both getting a little nervous--Sean for his first race and me for an improved finish on last year. The drive into Mercer County Park was plagued with triathlete traffic (as usual) and we barely had enough time to get into transition. Once we were all setup and had scouted the competition--Sean was there to beat the snot out of his brother's roommate, another first time triathlon--we headed back to the car to relax. Unfortunately, the Sprint waves all leave ahead of the Olympic racers so we had over an hour to kill. As we relaxed, stretched and warmed up, the temperature and humidity started to climb and climb.

The Swim
Usually, NJ State is not a wetsuit legal race (since the temperature is usually in the 80s). This year, with the cold summer we've had, the water was spot on 78F which made is just legal. In retrospect, I made the stupid move of using a wetsuit with the mindset that "if you can wear one, you should." (Wetsuits significantly increase buoyancy and really speed you up.)



As we got into the water, Sean and I wished each other good luck and then we were off. The first part of the swim went well. I opened up hard to avoid getting caught between swimmers like I had at the Jerseyman. I quickly found my rhythm and things seemed solid. I have worked hard on my swim the past two months and was glad that things were going nicely. Halfway through, though, I started to feel really warm... The water wasn't nearly cold enough for a wetsuit and heat was just getting trapped right next to me. Every time I hit a cold pool of water, I would cool down slightly, but in general I just got hotter and hotter. I felt nauseous and a little woozy. I sprinted the final 400m just so that I could get out of the suit. As I exited the water, I was a bit faint, but I just tore the wetsuit off and bolted.

As I ran through transition I checked my watch. I swam a 27:00 which was a great swim for me--check! I also had a heartrate of 182bpm probably due to the intense heat in the wetsuit--check minus....

The Bike
I did transition as fast as possible but my heartrate kept me from flying through. Once I mounted my bike, I threw down some water (knowing I was going to be hurting from the hot swim). I quickly found my cadence and started flying by fellow racers. The bike is always a strong point for me and a good chance to catch up with stronger swimmers. My race wheels felt great and the whooshing noise they make added to my sense of confidence.

There were a lot of turns, but I took them well and pumped a bit out of the saddle to get back up to speed. At one point, I saw a guy take a turn way too fast and bite it. It was gnarly... you could hear his helmet smack the ground. Sucks a lot.









As I wrapped up the bike, I was happy with my pace and was feeling strong. My heartrate had been significantly higher than normal but I figured that this was just due to the heat.

The Run
As I ran through transition, I saw my teammate Nate who had won his age group in the Sprint race. He cheered me on as I took off. The first 3 miles of the run were solid and I held a decent pace. I could tell that the temperature was really starting to climb but felt pretty good.

As I hit mile 4, things started to go bad... and quickly. The temperature climbed and my right quad started to cramp up. As long as I kept moving it was fine, but I could tell I was short on fluids and salt. Of course, the next thing to happen was for my heartrate to skyrocket. By 4 miles, my heartrate was firmly set at 183. (I normally race an Olympic around 172.) I slowed a bit but just couldn't get it to come down. My legs felt fine but I was just dying inside. I doused myself in water at the aid stations and guzzled as much Heed as I could but things just wouldn't get better. I dropped my pace completely and just plodded through miles 4.5-5.5. It was miserable, I was light-headed and of course I was starting to doubt my fitness: "This is just an Olympic.... I'm doing an Ironman in 4 months, get better!" My heartrate came down a bit during this slowdown and I was able to do a decent kick for the finish.


By my watch I finished with a 2:18 which was a course PR for me. Still, I wished that I had gone 2:10.




Sean ended up having a really solid race and finished around 2:45. Not bad at all for a first timer! He had a rough swim, nearly 50 minutes, and was a little bummed out about that. I was pretty impressed because all he has to do now is clean up his swim and he'll have a very solid racing platform.


Lessons Learned

• Wetsuits are meant to keep you warm, not to make you float. So,, wetsuit legal doesn't mean "wear a wetsuit." Temperatures matter a huge amount.
• When it's hot, overhydrate on the bike. I've had minimal heat training this year and have gotten very lazy with my fluids and salt. I need to practice this because it'll be a huge factor in Arizona.
• Olympic races are hard. They may be short, but they hurt.

Joining the club

Short post... So this week I joined the club... of cyclists hit by cars. Was headed back from practice at 7:30AM and a parked car pulled out into traffic and smacked me. Dis a quick front flip off my bike and onto my back. Got up immediately and started screaming "FUCK!" the driver stopped, saw that I was more or less ok and then proceeded to blame me because "honey, my flicker means I get to pull out." Right....

More angry than hurt and with my bike thankfully ok, I pedalled home.

Sore tailbone but no major road rash or anything. And given the flip, I am so so lucky not to have broken my collarbone or to have gotten a head injury. So, sitting here in Nantucket as I write this (a opposed to from my phone in the hospital), I'm pretty pumped.

Race Report #6: CRCA Race

Between travel and work, I haven't had a chance to do as much bike racing as I would have liked so far this year. But, now that I have my race marshalling requirements out of the way and am more or less settled for the rest of the summer, it's time for me to start doing the Central Park CRCA series races every other weekend.

The Century Road Cycling Association organizes Pro/Cat1/2, Cat3/4 and Cat5 races in Central Park most Saturday mornings throughout the summer. These races are pretty short and are conveniently local so they serve as a good chance to tune racing skills and have some fun.

This past Saturday I raced my first CRCA race of the summer. There were two guys from my team in the C Field and a number of guys from Century, New York Athletic Club and VeloCity.

The race--only 30 miles long--started off quickly with a Velocity and NYAC break. Typically in Cat5 people fail to work together well so I saw zero need to try to catch this break. Well, that was the end of the race. The break took the first lap (6 miles) at about 27mph and opened up a one-minute gap. It was all downhill from there. A few of us (SBR and Century guys) tried to get a paceline going to catch the break but VeloCity (having 2 guys in the break) kept blocking up the peloton. Talk about frustrating. A number of times I tried to get a group going to brdge but it just didn't work out. By the time we hit 3 miles to go, I heard that the break was holding 5 guys strong and was 3:30 ahead. At this point, I knew I might as well screw around and have some fun since the race was over. Now, I'm a bad sprinter but pretty fit for Cat5. So I decided to try to solo for 5th place. Sadly, I took off with 1.5 miles to go and a big hill in the way. I managed to open up about a 200yd gap and dug in hard. Sadly, as I crested the hill with the finish in sight, I got caught. Oh well, proud of myself for throwing it all out there. And people gave me props at the end for being gutsy.

Pushing over Cats Paw Hill on lap #2.

Good learning race. And now I definitely won't let a break get away next time.

Anyway, wrapped up the day with a 70-mile ride. I was shattered from my attacks and solo effort so the endurance paced ride afterward was taxing. Got back, threw down a 7-mile run and then spent the rest of the day sitting on my ass. All in all a great training day!

Race Report #5: BEvERage Mile

This year, a few training friends and I got together for our first annual Beer Mile. Here's a short report.

Location:
A small track down near Houston and the FDR in NYC. A real throw-back to last year when I used to do a lot of running down in this neck of the woods.

Conditions:
It was chilly but the rain held out. The track was a little busy but there were no cops anywhere to be seen and the children-under-12 count was low, so we felt pretty decent going ahead with it.

The Women's Race:
All of the women did 3 beers (Coors Heavy) and all managed to finish sans-illness. Renee took the win. Notable moments:

• Lindsay finishing lap #3, getting her picture taken and then flipping out when she was told that she still had another lap to go.
• Kelly running the entire race in a trenchcoat... and nearly falling over after lap #4.

The Men's Race:
All four men did 4 beers (again, Coors Heavy). Adam decked himself out in rugby gear but it wasn't enough for my NCAA Division 1 drinking background. Proving once again that M18-24 is the best age group, I beat the old man by 30 seconds and took first. He has already promised to destroy me next time.

Tom had a very solid performance and managed to keep a steady pace despite chugging more beer than he is used to. Well done!

SBR's newest member, Sean Mahon, showed up. Expectations were high, Sean having just graduated from college in the past year. Sadly, he failed to live up to the hype, booting at the beginning of lap #2 (apparently it was of the projectile variety) and then proceeding to puke 4 more times throughout the race. Looks like he needs another four years of collegiate training!

Support:
Thanks to our expert aid station workers... Anna and Alison keep the beers a-comin' like champs!


Anyway, it was a great race and wonderful night off training. Can't wait for the next one!

Race Report #4: Jerseyman

This is overdue, but I figured that it was still worth sending if only to help some of you avoid some seriously stupid pitfalls that I made.

Jerseyman - Saturday, May 9th...
This is by the most frustrating race I have ever done. The entire race seemed to get worse and worse and I seriously considered just walking off the course about 3 times. But, I'm glad I didn't because it definitely taught me a few things about having some grit and just sucking things up. It's funny because I always expect racing to hurt but this hurt in a completely different way. In the end, though, I know I'd rather things go badly early in the year than during an A-priority race.

The swim was frustrating because I got stuck behind a bunch of guys and just couldn't get around them. My fault for being unconfident and queueing up at the back of the pack. Will seed myself closer to the front next time.

T1 sucked. I left my shoes on my pedals and rushed my bike out of the transition area. But, once I got going, I just couldn't get my feet in my shoes. I've never had trouble with this... but then again, I've practiced a huge amount with my Shimano shoes. I had a new pair of Bontragers and had done ZERO practice transitions with them. Stupid, stupid, stupid....

I couldn't get moving on the bike... just didn't feel like I had any power in the early miles. I think part of this was due to having cold legs from the water. But, the main factor was definitely that I spent ZERO time on my P2 since my Ironman last September. After logging so so so many miles this winter on my Soloist, it was really hard to adjust back into TT position. Should've expected that.... Stupid, stupid, stupid.

Just as I started to get some power into my legs, we started hitting turn after turn. The bike course was loopy and you could never really get moving. You'd get up to 22mph and then have to slow to 10mph.

[I look a lot faster/better/happier in this picture than I actually was.]

Finally, with 4 miles left in what was a very piss-poor bike, the unthinkable happened. My spare tube on my rear bottle cage came loose--oddly enough, I had commented the night before the race that it looked precariously positioned--and it feel into my rear wheel. In a split second, the tube ground itself into my rear cassette, locked my free wheel and I got bucked from my bike. Thank God I was riding uphill or I would've definitely killed myself.

Already frustrated, I nearly went Normann Stadler on my bike. Realizing that there was no sag truck, I sat down on the side of the road and started to fix things. I spent 15 minutes cleaning out my cassette... it took all my strength to get the tube unjammed. All the while, I had to sit and watch tonnes of people overtake my position. Finally, I got things all worked out and my wheel back on. Of course, I go to mount my bike and can't clip in. As much as I love Speedplays, they don't work well with mud. And I had just spent 15 minutes in the mud fixing my wheel. After wasting another minute try to clip in, I had to sit down and clean out my cleats. There goes another 5 minutes.

I finally got going again and headed for transition. My spirits were broken.... this was a horrible start to the season. As I came into T2, I saw all the other SBR guys miles out into the run. I was excited to see them doing so well (I put three of them in the top 10) but was bummed to be so far back.

As I started the run, I had zero motivation. I basically wanted to quit... pack it in. The race just didn't matter anymore. But, I figured for respect of the race and for myself, I needed to wrap it up. The run was uneventful.... humid and unpleasant but uneventful.

I came in at 5:32... I had been aiming for 5-flat...

I'm bummed that it went so badly (and that so much of the mayhem was preventable if I'd just trained with my race gear even a little bit.... and had fixed that damn tube). But it was a good learning experience. And, as I said, better now than in Arizona.

The only uplifting part was that I somehow managed to come 1st M18-24... by a margin of 10 minutes. Goes to prove that I need to enjoy this category for the entire six months I have left!

Anyway, hope that this is a helpful tale for y'all. I'd like to think of myself as a fairly experienced triathlete at this point, so all of my amateur mistakes were.... well.... amateur. Race just like you train. Don't try anything new. And, above all, don't throw your bike into the road even if you're really, really angry... We don't get free replacements like Normann Stadler.

Yet another cool friend of mine

So, it may seem like I've started a trend of posting other people's race reports rather than doing any work myself. Don't worry, I've been out shattering myself in training and I'll be racing the next two weekends in a row.

But, having said that, here's something else to check out. Christophe owns and runs SBR--the shop that sponsors me and parents my triathlon team. He decided to appoint a interim CEO of the shop and pack up and head out to Mt. Everest. He's getting prepped to make his final ascent at this point... his pictures and stories thus far (care of his global Internet phone) are fantastic. Have a read!

Tour of the Gila

Check out Nick Frey's race coverage of the Tour of the Gila. Despite a lack of altitude training, he's doing really well and had a particularly fantastic finish today.

More perks

BlueSeventy wetsuit just arrived. Cannot wait to try this one out in some open water in a few weeks.

Ironman China: Crazy Race Report

One of the lead women on our team just finished Ironman China. She was the 1st non-pro woman (and I believed 7th woman, overall). Phenomenal finish given the conditions. Check it out:

It was 107F in the shade, 120F heat index and 112F air temp in the sun.
Don't get me started on the currents in the swim, they made 250m of it a beach run b/c the current was so strong I was swimming my heart out and was getting further and further. I was afraid I'd end up somewhere in the South China Sea scooped up by a fisherman in a week. Scary.
Bike was windy, but they changed the course from last year and took out hills, so just mild rolling with wind and gusts of wind to add some fun. Bike was way easier than last year. Aid station volunteers rocked.
The run is another story. There was a lot of carnage out there, the pro guy sitting next to me on the bus (from finish to hotel) had a seizure form hyponetremia (?too much water), some guy had to get paddles for his heart when he finished and tons of people ended up in the medical tent. It was the highest drop out rate, even took over Malaysia haha. I didn't realize how hot it was, I knew it was hot and I was miserable, but not much more than usual. Although I did go through water bottles like no tomorrow. I guess my nutrition strategy is my competitive advantage in hot races because I feel completely fine, probably the best I felt after any ironman (this was #13).
Got my Kona slot, ready to head back for a 5th trip to the Big Island. Definitely earned that trip. :)
Lidia

Sponsorship goodies

More sponsorship perks have been trickling in. At this point, SBR has us decked out in our new 2009 kit (which is a phenomenal improvement from last year's). We even have a side-by-side comparison. Here, in the Town of Piermont with the Hudson River in the background, we have Adam and me in our new kits with Alison in the middle sporting the 2008 gear.

Anyway, here's the three latest arrivals care of Zoot and PowerBar.

First off, we have a nice, colourful pair of Zoot Ultra Race 2.0 race flats. They're super light (i.e. very little support or heel) with race laces and are designed for sockless, wet feet--quick transitions!





And second is a huge bundle of PowerBar nutrition products that all of the Ambassadors picked up. Enough to keep me going for a good long while!

And finally, again from Zoot, some awesome compression gear (pictured above at the bottom). The literature is really starting to suggest that compression gear speeds recovery... the stuff is pricey, but at $0 I'm more than excited to give it a tri! Slept in the Zoot recovery socks last night and the calves feel great. Mind you, they did take about 5 minutes to get on.

Now all that's left to come in are my BlueSeventy wetsuit and my new tritop/trishorts.

My training facility and workspace

Took the plunge this year and invested some dough in getting a home mechanic setup in my basement and fitness center. Just a few pictures of my new workspace.

The workspace featuring (from left to right) a
Cervelo Soloist (not in pieces),
Cervelo P2C (in pieces on stand),
Bianchi Pista (in pieces),
Cervelo P1 (not in pieces).

Trainer, new Cervelo Soloist, rollers, trainer, bike pump, tools, other cool stuff.

My two works in progress.

Parts, helmets, shoes, etc.

Well, hope you enjoyed the tour of my new workout facility and bike shop.

A View of Manhattan (and New Jersey)

Just a quick photo post. Last weekend was part of my recovery week so I took it easy and led some new team members on their first ride over the George Washington and up to Piermont. I think everyone enjoyed and they were all pumped to get over the bridge and onto 9W again soon.

(Pictured: Gabe and me on the bridge on the way back to Manhattan. New York City on the left and New Jersey on the right.)

Race Report #3: Spring Series 1

In preparing for my first Ironman last year, I really fell in love with cycling... which is a good thing since I spent 10-15 hours on the bike each week. With some encouragement from my cycling mentor Brad, I decided to dedicate a good amount of my spring to road cycling. It's a completely different riding style than you experience in long-course triathlon and adds a lot of fun to my training.

Anyway, I competed in the first race of the Central Park Spring Series a few weeks back. The morning--5am morning--was brutally cold with sleet. Considering that it was my first road race and tight pack effort is definitely not my bread-and-butter riding, I really considering calling it off. I showed up to registration, asked Brad whether he thought it was safe enough to race and he basically roped me into committing.

We did a warm-up lap, talked strategy and then lined up at the start line.

The field was small--15 to 20 riders--which I was happy to see given the conditions.

The race covered about 12.5 miles (two loops of Central Park).

Some notes
Lap 1:
- Worked way too hard on first pass at Harlem Hill. After pushing up the hill, I realized that I had dropped the peloton... a little early for that!
- Stayed in front all of the way through "shit alley" (named for all of the horse excrement from the Central Park carriages). Being up front was definitely more work but kept me feeling safe.
- Pushed up Cat's Paw Hill way too early and got smoked through it. Was in last place going over the hill and had to work to catch the peloton after getting through the hill.

Lap 2:
- Took it easy on the east side to recover from my effort to catch the peloton.
- Did some work towards top of Park.
- Led the group down the hill and into Harlem Hill. This time I worked less hard on Harlem Hill.
- Led through fast portion on west side. Drifted to back of pack through "shit alley."
- The race got a little sketchy as the pace picked up and I nearly bit it on a pylon.
- Worked back to near the front (on the side) for final hit at Cat's Paw. Stayed in saddle for a while and used that to pop out and sprint to the end.
- Finished with pack.

All in all, the race was very cool and pretty safe. I worked way too hard but I didn't mind pulling for people since it was my first race.

And, after finishing, I took a look at my bike. Front and rear derailleurs were frozen (i.e. I couldn't shift gears) and there was a sheet of frozen sleet coating my bike frame... Rough!

Tomorrow, I'll be doing the third Spring Series race. Lots of learning ahead and I'm definitely excited.

Testing!

So I've just wrapped up Base 1, my first month of real training for 2009. Each four-week base period consists of 3 long weeks of increasing volume followed by a rest week. During the rest week, I significantly cut my volume and do three tests, one in each sport. The idea of the tests is to gauge my fitness after each period and track my progress month-over-month. The swim test is simply a time trial. But, for the bike and run, I do Joe Friel's threshold tests. These tests allow me to not only measure my speed/pace improvements but also track changes in my anaerobic threshold and determine my heart rate zones.

The run test:
- easy 15-minute warm-up
- 3 1-minute efforts comprised of 20-second sprint followed by 40-second recovery
- 30-minute time trial, all out, even pace but to the point of complete exhaustion at the end

The bike test:
- easy 15-minute warm-up
- 3 2-minute efforts of 1-minute high cadence, 1-minute recovery
- 3-minute effort, all out!
- 5-minute recovery
- 30-minute time trial, all out, even pace but to the point of complete exhaustion at the end

For both tests, I use my average heart rate from the final 20 minutes of the time trial to estimate my anaerobic threshold and profile my heart-rate exertion zones.

Anyway, enough of the nitty gritty. The tests were hard--very hard. Haven't done much speed work since last summer and I definitely felt it. By the final 5 minutes of the run time trial, I just focused on keeping my gait, all the time feeling like I was about to blow up. The bike was equally awful, this time the misery being caused by crazy headwinds.

The results:

Cycling
Zone 1 <177
Zone 2 117-131
Zone 3 132-137
Zone 4 138-146
Zone 5a 147-150
Zone 5b 151-155
Zone 5c >156

Running
Zone 1 <151
Zone 2 151-160
Zone 3 161-169
Zone 4 170-176
Zone 5a 177-180
Zone 5b 181-187
Zone 5c >188

All in all, the two tests went reasonably well. I think I had the run spot on; had trouble finding my pace on the bike due to the wind. I find it interesting that my run zones were so much higher. I don't know if that points to muscular endurance being my limiter on the bike or is just something to be expected. Have to consult my two bike gurus, Nick and Brad, for insight.

Will be exciting to see where I'm at in a month's time. Now on with Base 2!

Race Report #2: Bronx Half Marathon

Wrapped up my second race of 2009 this past Sunday. The Bronx Half--second of five NYRR half marathons--was a set of loops up and down the rolling hills of the Bronx. Unlike the Manhattan Half two weeks before, the weather on Sunday was beautiful and warm--so warm, in fact, that I ditched my long-sleeved jersey at mile 2 and had to wander back along the course to pick it up later.

All in all, a decent race. Finished in 1:37. I had been hoping for a 1:34 but was happy with the time considering my 5-hour bike ride and hill repeats the day before. In fact, my legs didn't begin to feel the previous day's workout until I hit some reasonably bad hills at Mile 10 and slowed up significantly... Guess this bodes well for my run off the bike this season.

Posie was awesome and came up to hang out and watch the early AM race. Looking forward to running the third half (Brooklyn) with her in May.

A few pictures of the finish from her camera:

Coming in to finish up.

Looking over my shoulder to see if I'm going to be caught in the last 10m.

Sponsorship!

So some pretty exciting news... I recently was selected by my team, SBR Multisports, to be a sponsored athlete for the 2009 race season. As an SBR Ambassador, I will lead a few team workouts a week and receive sponsorship benefits from SBR, Zoot, Blue Seventy, Rudy Project and Squadra! Now all I need to do is get some podiums and qualify for Kona and Clearwater....... More to come on this front.