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.