weekend

weekend

Eagleman 2009 has come and gone, and I am very happy with the outcome of the race. The night before I sat with a friend and tried to come up with a realistic goal time. I had a case of overtraining before the race, but I think I had a smart and effective 2 week taper to rest up. The weather report looked promising, and we decided that a 4:25:00 should be within my reach. A 27 minute swim, 2:25 on the bike, and a 1:27 run plus some transitions should have put me right in that range.

So the day started off alright. Had a bagel and power for breakfast with a bottle of LemonLime MotorTabs.  Headed over to the race venue and threw on my H20 Audio mp3 player for a quick warm up in the Choptank River.  Got everything else ready and waited for my wave to start.  The swim was a little choppy, but no complaints. The first few minutes to the first buoy were very physical, but eventually it settled down and I finished with a 27:41. 3rd AG swim.

Jumped on the bike and felt really strong. Got through the first 20 miles without any issues. Got my average up over 24.5mph for a while and was getting real excited to crush my hopeful bike split. I was taking in some good liquids and calories thank to my two full bottles of Fluid.  Then the wind came. I was getting used to seeing number up over 26mph, and then it all came crashing down to 20-22 mph for a lot of the second half of the race.  I was happily surprised to notice how long the Beljum Budder lasted though.  I thought after the swim, the effects would be gone, but it lasted and definitely helped out on the bike!  Overall, came in at 22.9mph for a 2:27. 3rd AG bike. Turns out I was in 1st overall AG after the bike, with 2nd only seconds behind.

After a slow transition (I went with socks this time!) I was less than 50 yards behind my AG leader. It took until about mile 3 to finally get even with him and we stayed together for the next half mile. I had the usual quad cramps firing up, but everything else was feeling good and there was no way I was letting this guy beat me. At the 3.5 mile mark I started to pull away, and had no intentions of getting caught. By the time we hit the turn around, I had a .54 mile gap on him (thank you, Garmin). Still worried about getting caught, I picked up the pace on the back half and managed to negative split the run by about 45 seconds for a total run time just over 1:30.

Final time 4:28:37

Turns out that I won my Age Group, and by more than 13 minutes. I am thrilled about that, and fairly happy with my overall finish time. I did want to break 4:25:00, but the wind on the bike had other plans for me. I still dropped my PR by over 11 minutes. No complaints here!  After the race a made a classc protein shake with Christopher Bean Coffee and ProtoWhey Chocolate Protein powder.  That mixed with peanut butter, milk, and ice is possibly the most delicious thing ever!

Thanks to my sponsors for your great support.  
 
Time to focus in on Ironman Canada...

NJ Half Marathon - May 3, 2009

Eagleman Ironman 70.3 - June 14, 2009

Wyckoff Triathlon - June 20, 2009

Metroman Triathlon - July 12, 2009

Ironman Canada - August 30, 2009

Skylands Triathlon - September 13, 2009

Kona...Clearwater??? 

A couple of weeks ago I raced the inaugural Ironman 70.3 in Providence.  I made a last minute decision to sign up for this race, and it definitely was not an "A" race for me.  However, I still was hoping to finish close to 4:30 after surviving a brutally hot Eagleman. 

Swim was very good.  I love ocean swims, and I felt comfortable the whole time.  Very happy with a low :27 time. 

Bike was good also.  It was a point to point ride, with an elevation gain so that was looming in my mind the whole time.  There were a couple challenging climbs, but it was nice to have some high speed descents.  All in all I can't complain averaging a little over 22mph. 

When I started the run, I knew that if I could run a 1:30 half marathon, I would break 4:30.  Stupid me thought it would be a good idea to save 5 seconds and not put socks on...so I hit the road and knocked down a 6:29 first mile.  At the aid stations they had plenty of water and cold sponges, which was awesome...until my shoes got soaked!  After mile 2 I could feel a blister forming.  I ended up slowing the pace to 7:20's for a couple of miles, but it only got worse.  On the second loop of the run, I was gimping along with some blood starting to come through my shoe.  It turned into a dissapointing 1:41 walk/run for a final time of 4:43. 

For the next 2 weeks following this race, I was sort of angry at triathlons.  I had been having a pretty awesome race season, and this race put things back in to perspective and did not make me happy.  On July 27 I had another race planned (so check the next blog to see how things turned out there) but I was not looking forward to training any more.  However, I made it through those 2 weeks and got some decent training in. 

A few months ago, using this website, I applied for a sponsorship from Fluid - among others.  They got back to me fairly quickly, offering me their basic introductory sponsorship.  So, I accepted and placed an order.  After really liking the stuff, and having some pretty decent results at my first few races this season, I began to talk more and more with the team at Fluid.  They have upgraded my sponsprship, which is pretty sweet, but they also have been great in communicating with me - so much so that I feel it deserves me to write about it! 

It is really great to work with a company that wants to work with you just as much.  They didn't just throw a small discount at me or tell me to "spread the word" whenever I could.  They went much beyond that.  Right now I have a few of their employees personal email addresses, and cell phone numbers and they have advised me to contact them whenever I needed anything.  So far, my relationship and experiences with Fluid have only been positive ones.  I can see that this is a company who cares about its athletes, stands behind its product, and is not just out to get themselves rich.

Thanks for the support, Fluid!!!  

This past Saturday I raced a local triathlon here in Northern NJ.  This was one of the first triathlons I ever did, and have done for the past 4 years.  It is always an important race, as everyone in the area competes making it a BIG ego race.

The results of the 1/2 mile swim, 15 mile bike, 5 mile run...

2nd overall fastest swim - 12:20

13th overall fastest bike - 40:28 (22.2 mph)

3rd overall fastest run - 28:14 (5:39/mile)

I had a very comfortable swim.  Got settled early and was in 2nd the whole time.  Coming out of T1, is was only a few hundred yards out of 1st and quickly caught him.  About 20 seconds later I was passed by the eventual winner, who got 1st by over 3 minutes.  Around mile 12 I got passed on the bike, but stayed within sight going into T2.  Coming out of transition I was only about 200 yards behind 2nd, and stayed that way for a little over 2 miles.  There was a big hill somewhere from mile 2 - 3 where I caught the second place guy.  We were shoulder to shoulder for the rest of the race.  It came down to an all out sprint from about 200 yards out.  We both have the same finishing time, 1:23:01, however I beat him out. (there is a photo to prove it!)  Great race, great results.

Yesterday was the Eagleman Ironman 70.3 in Cambridge, MD.  This was my second time doing this race, and my second half ironman.  Last year I was 8th in my AG and was happy with my results on a day with favorable conditions and everyone PR'ed.  However, this year looked like it would be a different story.  The temperature yesterday approached 100, with a heat index well over 100.  There was no wind and a ton of humidity.  The entire race felt like I was in an oven.  To the details...

Started out with an OK swim.  It was 2 minutes slower than last year, but the course and current was different.  Threw up a little in the first few minutes from swallowing too much salt water and battling for position.  I was shoulder to shoulder with two other guys and we were dead even for over ten minutes, which took a lot out of me.  I finally was able to pull away, and then swam strong the rest of the way.  Overall swim 29:32.

Got onto the bike after my AG's fastest T1 and started to hammer.  I don't know what got into my legs, but I was moving!  I was making a lot of smart passes, and made clean bottle exchanges.  I was able to stretch out frequently, without losing much speed.  There was one wave ahead of me, so that was just enough people for me to try to catch.  I had finished my bottle of Fluid within the first 20 miles, as planned, and it was definitely what I needed after that swim.  At the bottle exchanges I was able to grab water, and drop some MotorTabs in along the way that helped get some flavor and electrolytes in me.  Over all, I averaged 23.4mph for a total time of 2:24:25.

At this point it was HOT.  I started the run and immediatly got cramps in my legs.  I started to walk and massage out the cramps, and after a few steps was able to run again.  I went through the first aid station and drank water and sports drink, but 30 seconds later my mouth was dry.  So, at every aid station after that, I was taking every cup possible and dumping ice chips in my trisuit so I could have them along the way.  This was the best!  I was able to have a piece of ice in my mouth, which kept my mouth from drying out and kept me cooler.  I knew my pace was slower, but I still made it to the turn-around in about 49 minutes.  The way back just got hotter and harder, and I definitely walked several times.  The whole time I didn't pass anyone or get passed by anyone in my age group though.  The way back was 53 minutes for a total run of 1:41:13.

Once the race was over I headed back to a friends house and made a quick shake of ProtoWhey and relaxed in the air conditioning.  Then I headed over to the race to find that I got 3rd in my age group.  It turns out that I qualified for KONA!!!!!!  However, I had to turn it down.  Just can't afford that kind of trip right now.  This was probably the hardest part of the whole day.  Maybe next year.

Overall I was 49th out of the 2100 registered for the race.

Final time of 4:39:20 was a PR at this distance (in awful conditions) by about two minutes. 

Placed 3rd in my age group.

Qualified for Kona.

This Sunday I will be competing in the Eagleman Ironman 70.3.  I complete this race last year in a time of 4:41:00 and I would really like to get that close to 4:30:00.  One definite goal of mine is to break 1:30 in the halfmarathon.  That would require running 6:52/mile, which is not out of reach for me.  I've been using all my sponsors products in training, and I will definitely be using them on race day. 

Hopefully I will report back with a Kona or Clearwater slot!!!