May 29, 2012 --
Okay...so here's a quick recap of the holiday weekend.
Friday night after work I headed up to Larchmont to spend the weekend at Amy's. Friday night we to La Herradura with our friends Steve and Marisela and then went back to Amy's to watch the Ranger Game (They lost, I cried, still not completely over it...that's all on that subject).
Saturday we went to Steve's for an early Memorial Day BBQ. A few friends from college and a few of Steve's cousins were there and a great time was had by all. The BBQ reminded me of a sixth grade dance with all the boys sitting at one table and all the girls at another. We ate, drank, and reminisced about our college days...simply amazing!
Sunday, we headed back to my house early in the morning and I had an 8 mile run planned. By the time we got back to my house, it was almost noon and the temperature was a scorching 80+. The sun was bright, and my 8 miles quickly turned into 6. It was a hard 6 miles after a weekend of not worrying about what I was putting into my body, but fought through it and got those tough 6 under my belt. Sunday night I engorged myself on some of the most delicious Chinese dumplings have ever eaten. I haven't eaten like I did on Sunday in a very long time.
Monday was a long ride day. I got up early and hit the road. I rode the six miles up to the Long Island Expressway and got onto the service road. I rode another 9-10 miles out east to Rt 107 where I turned around and headed back. The whole ride was just over 30 miles and took 1:37:40. I was pretty happy with my pace and my time considering I had never surpassed 28 miles on the bike, and the longest I had rode this year was only 20 miles. Monday afternoon/evening was spent at a graduation party for my friend Joe's younger sister Jessica. A lot of fun there as well.
Okay so now let me talk about the race I have coming up. Very excited, and I have to say this now I will be so disappointed if we don't get to swim Sunday. I think I am very well prepared and equally excited to be racing again this season. This will be my fourth race of many this season, and like many of the others, the goal is to podium. I have never been one of those people who is satisfied with 'just finishing.' Last year being my first year in the sport, I was not as concerned with not finishing on the podium, but now that I have that year of experience under my belt, I want to be up there in the top. I will post again after I pick up my packed on Thursday.
That's all for now!
Tuesday, May 29, 2012
Tuesday, May 15, 2012
COX Providence Half Marathon Race Report
May 15, 2012 --
Okay so LAST weekend was my double race weekend. I obviously needed a week and a half to unwind, or I have been incredibly busy with baseball games and watching the New York Rangers (who are playing awesome by the way)...you can choose whichever you'd like.
So as many of you have read, last Saturday was my first triathlon of the 2012 season which ended up turning into a duathlon.
Also, keep in mind that I chose not to reveal my race goals before the race because I was not sure how I would fare because of the race the previous day. My previous PR before this race was 2:45:31...
Okay so where was I... Oh right, I had just finished TriRock NY at Harriman State Park.
I wrapped things up at Harriman, packed up my transition bag, threw my bike in the car (I really need a car rack for my bike) and headed out. Amy and I drove back to her uncle's house in Larchmont to drop off my bike so I wouldn't have to keep it in my car for the weekend in Rhode Island.
After a short conversation with Amy's Aunt and Uncle, we hit the road and began our short journey to the Ocean State. This was the second race I have run in Rhode Island and I have to tell you, I have really liked everything about the state. Amy and I were staying in the Courtyard Marriott in downtown Providence for the night, so we checked in, dropped off our gear in the room and headed over to the race expo which was help at the Providence Convention Center.
As we were walking to the convention center, which was only three blocks away, we were passing a lot and I mean A LOT of young girls in cheer leading uniforms. I was a little surprised to see so much "spirit" but this feeling was nothing compared to what I encountered as we entered the convention center. There were by my guess THOUSANDS of cheerleaders at the convention center for some national competition. The building was so loud and full of energy. We picked up our packets and got the hell out of there as fast as we could!! Haha
We ate at Dave and Buster's in the mall, and went back to the hotel for the night. Amy's inner little old lady showed through when she went into the hallway at 10:15 to yell at some rambunctious little whipper snappers to quiet down! In reality i think she was just really nervous about the race, but I like the other story better.
This was the first time we decided to spend a little more money on a hotel room at a place which was very close to the starting line. The starting line was actually less than a block away from the front steps of the hotel. We finally got to sleep in at a race which was a beautiful feeling. At 7, we woke up and got dressed, strolled down to the lobby where we grabbed breakfast (plain bagel toasted with peanut butter for me) and then went back up to the room. We finally made our way down to race at 7:45 for an 8:00 start. Being able to use the bathroom in the comfort of our hotel room and not having to deal with the accommodations of a port-a-potty was incredible, I highly recommend trying to get a hotel near the race start!
We got out to the start line and stretched a little to keep the pre race jitters away. I had done a full stretch up in the room, so just needed to keep moving until the gun went off. Amy and I lined up together and awaited the starters pistol. I had thought about trying to move up toward the beginning of the pack. The race was using a single start time as opposed to a wave start, but there were some markers for different paces. Every :30 between 8:00 and 12:00 were marked out, but it was just too hard to get through the pack up to the 8:30 marker.
Needless to say after the gun went off, I had to do a fair bit of dodging and weaving through some traffic, but after the first mile, I found myself with a group of people who were running at a pace similar to mine and stayed with them the remainder of the race.
The course map and elevation chart made it seem like I would be facing some hills, but it did not prepare me for the hills I encountered during the race. I am in some ways surprised that I faced these hills so well, but with all of my run training over the winter paired with my weight loss and strength building, I am not as surprised now looking back on the race.
I really pushed myself hard this race, and maybe could have gone a bit harder, but I was definitely a little sore and tired from the duathlon the day before. As the race wound through the streets of Providence and the surrounding towns, I definitely felt more fatigue than normal because of my duathlon, but I decided I was not going to let myself succumb to this fatigue and mentally pushed through it.
This was the first time I had run an entire half marathon on race day. I had several training runs longer than 13.1 during my marathon training, but I never had been able to string 13.1 miles together for an actual race. So that was one of my goals for this race.
My goal for this race was to run under 2:11. Like I said earlier, my previous best was 2:45:31, and I knew that 2:11 was a 10 min/mi pace. Going into the race, I knew I could easily hit this goal, so I also had more of a reach goal. My reach goal was to run a sub 2 hour half and break 1:55:00. In some of my training runs I was able to hold pace to go sub 2 for between 6 and 8 miles and thought it could be possible to break that two hour barrier. I had heard a lot of stories of people who trained and trained but couldn't break two hours, and thought it would be a real challenge.
Here are my mile splits (Gotta say I LOVE having a Garmin Watch so I can track my paces and my progress):
Mile 1: 8:31
Mile 2: 8:17
Mile 3: 8:36
Mile 4: 8:35
Okay so LAST weekend was my double race weekend. I obviously needed a week and a half to unwind, or I have been incredibly busy with baseball games and watching the New York Rangers (who are playing awesome by the way)...you can choose whichever you'd like.
So as many of you have read, last Saturday was my first triathlon of the 2012 season which ended up turning into a duathlon.
Also, keep in mind that I chose not to reveal my race goals before the race because I was not sure how I would fare because of the race the previous day. My previous PR before this race was 2:45:31...
Okay so where was I... Oh right, I had just finished TriRock NY at Harriman State Park.
I wrapped things up at Harriman, packed up my transition bag, threw my bike in the car (I really need a car rack for my bike) and headed out. Amy and I drove back to her uncle's house in Larchmont to drop off my bike so I wouldn't have to keep it in my car for the weekend in Rhode Island.
After a short conversation with Amy's Aunt and Uncle, we hit the road and began our short journey to the Ocean State. This was the second race I have run in Rhode Island and I have to tell you, I have really liked everything about the state. Amy and I were staying in the Courtyard Marriott in downtown Providence for the night, so we checked in, dropped off our gear in the room and headed over to the race expo which was help at the Providence Convention Center.
As we were walking to the convention center, which was only three blocks away, we were passing a lot and I mean A LOT of young girls in cheer leading uniforms. I was a little surprised to see so much "spirit" but this feeling was nothing compared to what I encountered as we entered the convention center. There were by my guess THOUSANDS of cheerleaders at the convention center for some national competition. The building was so loud and full of energy. We picked up our packets and got the hell out of there as fast as we could!! Haha
We ate at Dave and Buster's in the mall, and went back to the hotel for the night. Amy's inner little old lady showed through when she went into the hallway at 10:15 to yell at some rambunctious little whipper snappers to quiet down! In reality i think she was just really nervous about the race, but I like the other story better.
This was the first time we decided to spend a little more money on a hotel room at a place which was very close to the starting line. The starting line was actually less than a block away from the front steps of the hotel. We finally got to sleep in at a race which was a beautiful feeling. At 7, we woke up and got dressed, strolled down to the lobby where we grabbed breakfast (plain bagel toasted with peanut butter for me) and then went back up to the room. We finally made our way down to race at 7:45 for an 8:00 start. Being able to use the bathroom in the comfort of our hotel room and not having to deal with the accommodations of a port-a-potty was incredible, I highly recommend trying to get a hotel near the race start!
We got out to the start line and stretched a little to keep the pre race jitters away. I had done a full stretch up in the room, so just needed to keep moving until the gun went off. Amy and I lined up together and awaited the starters pistol. I had thought about trying to move up toward the beginning of the pack. The race was using a single start time as opposed to a wave start, but there were some markers for different paces. Every :30 between 8:00 and 12:00 were marked out, but it was just too hard to get through the pack up to the 8:30 marker.
Needless to say after the gun went off, I had to do a fair bit of dodging and weaving through some traffic, but after the first mile, I found myself with a group of people who were running at a pace similar to mine and stayed with them the remainder of the race.
The course map and elevation chart made it seem like I would be facing some hills, but it did not prepare me for the hills I encountered during the race. I am in some ways surprised that I faced these hills so well, but with all of my run training over the winter paired with my weight loss and strength building, I am not as surprised now looking back on the race.
I really pushed myself hard this race, and maybe could have gone a bit harder, but I was definitely a little sore and tired from the duathlon the day before. As the race wound through the streets of Providence and the surrounding towns, I definitely felt more fatigue than normal because of my duathlon, but I decided I was not going to let myself succumb to this fatigue and mentally pushed through it.
This was the first time I had run an entire half marathon on race day. I had several training runs longer than 13.1 during my marathon training, but I never had been able to string 13.1 miles together for an actual race. So that was one of my goals for this race.
My goal for this race was to run under 2:11. Like I said earlier, my previous best was 2:45:31, and I knew that 2:11 was a 10 min/mi pace. Going into the race, I knew I could easily hit this goal, so I also had more of a reach goal. My reach goal was to run a sub 2 hour half and break 1:55:00. In some of my training runs I was able to hold pace to go sub 2 for between 6 and 8 miles and thought it could be possible to break that two hour barrier. I had heard a lot of stories of people who trained and trained but couldn't break two hours, and thought it would be a real challenge.
Here are my mile splits (Gotta say I LOVE having a Garmin Watch so I can track my paces and my progress):
Mile 1: 8:31
Mile 2: 8:17
Mile 3: 8:36
Mile 4: 8:35
Mile 5: 8:33
Mile 6: 8:28
Mile 7: 8:15
Mile 8: 8:35
Mile 9: 8:45
Mile 10: 8:24
Mile 11: 8:59
Mile 12: 8:53
Mile 13: 9:19
Last .1: 8:39 pace
Official finish time: 1:54:16 avg pace 8:43 min/mi
A new PR by over 50 minutes!
So there it is! I apologize for the wordiness of this post, and the lack of pictures. Amy was also running with me in this race, so she was not able to be my personal race photographer. Next post will hopefully have more photographs!
Wednesday, May 9, 2012
TriRock NY Race Recap
May 5, 2012 --
Hello all!!! I am sorry for keeping everyone waiting for this post, but I have had a busy few days. Saturday I spent driving to Rhode Island, Sunday I ran a half marathon and drove back home to Long Island. Monday I had baseball practice and was watching the Ranger Game! Tuesday I had a baseball game, and here I am today. Practice cancelled due to rain, workouts taken care of before and right after work so I have a few minutes before the Ranger game starts tonight! So here goes...
And so triathlon season is upon us; well, kinda. This past Saturday was TriRock New York a sprint triathlon in Harriman State Park in Stony Point, NY. The park is about an hour away from my house, so with an 8 am scheduled start time, Amy and I decided to wake up at 5 and hit the road no later than 5:30.
We stopped quickly at Dunkin Donuts, because no one should be up before 6 without a coffee. Sad story here, the coffee was absolutely disgusting. Disgusting to the point that we couldn't even force it down just for the sake of caffeine. The bagel I got however, was awesome!
Hello all!!! I am sorry for keeping everyone waiting for this post, but I have had a busy few days. Saturday I spent driving to Rhode Island, Sunday I ran a half marathon and drove back home to Long Island. Monday I had baseball practice and was watching the Ranger Game! Tuesday I had a baseball game, and here I am today. Practice cancelled due to rain, workouts taken care of before and right after work so I have a few minutes before the Ranger game starts tonight! So here goes...
And so triathlon season is upon us; well, kinda. This past Saturday was TriRock New York a sprint triathlon in Harriman State Park in Stony Point, NY. The park is about an hour away from my house, so with an 8 am scheduled start time, Amy and I decided to wake up at 5 and hit the road no later than 5:30.
We stopped quickly at Dunkin Donuts, because no one should be up before 6 without a coffee. Sad story here, the coffee was absolutely disgusting. Disgusting to the point that we couldn't even force it down just for the sake of caffeine. The bagel I got however, was awesome!
 |
| Awesome Bagel! |
As we neared the park, we began to encounter some fog, but I really thought nothing of this. If I remember correctly, there was fog as we arrived to last year's triathlon at Harriman. Anyway, we pull into the parking lot and unload the car. There was a little bit of fog, but it didn't really seem too bad in the lot. I walked my bike over to transition and began to set up. I set up my regular transition and can remember thinking "Hmm I wonder which way the beach is from here" After I finished setting up transition, I threw on my wetsuit and went to find Amy.
Amy and I were hanging around a few minutes before I went to take care of some pre race restroom appointments. I think that races are one of the very few places you will ever find a line for the men's room. I take care of business and am ready to get into the water to start my first tri of 2012.
Remember that thought of where the beach was, as I walked out of the bathroom, I finally got my answer. I walked down a path and finally began to see sand.
Now that I have expressed my sadness over the lack of swim...lets get to the recap!
Run 1- 1.2 Miles
Okay, so the race started in the same waves we would have been in had we done the swim and I was in wave 4. The waves were sent off in three minute intervals, so some of the runners from wave 1 returned and were out of T1 before my wave even started.
Here's what we saw from the start line...a big group of runners heading into a foggy abyss, not knowing what was waiting on the other side. The first run leg went by pretty quickly. I stayed with the main pack of my wave, and finished the 1.2 miles just under 10 minutes with a pace of 7:41 min/mi. One small hill up and one coming back down. It was nice to have run this, because we would be repeating this same loop two more times for the second run leg.
The bike leg was an 11 mile loop with some rolling hills. Some of the hills were a little rougher than others, but nothing compared to the hills on last year's course. My top speed was in the mid 30s on a down hill, and my minimum speed was around 12 MPH on one of the steeper uphills. My bike performance has increased since last year. I think a variety of factors has led to this increase. Simple strength increase in my legs is certainly something that can be thanked. Having to push less weight on the bike can also be thanked. And I feel my conversion to bike shoes and clip less pedals has certainly helped.
Run 2 I knew was another two laps of the loop we had already run for the first run leg with a small addition about half way through the loop. I got off the bike, and was ready to run. Grabbed my hat and slipped my run shoes on and headed out on my way. I felt pretty good running the whole time...which tells me I probably could have pushed myself a little harder. (Things to keep in mind for my next Tri) I have to say in my past triathlons, I never walked, but I ran pretty slow and was passed by a lot of other people. It was a great feeling to be on the other side of that situation on Saturday. I was running hard and moving past several people on my run leg. I have greatly improved my running abilities and speed over the winter which was exactly what I was hoping for!
Overall, very happy with my performance at DuRock NY. I plan on being a force to be reckoned with this triathlon season!
Amy and I were hanging around a few minutes before I went to take care of some pre race restroom appointments. I think that races are one of the very few places you will ever find a line for the men's room. I take care of business and am ready to get into the water to start my first tri of 2012.
Remember that thought of where the beach was, as I walked out of the bathroom, I finally got my answer. I walked down a path and finally began to see sand.
This was my view of the water from about 200 yards away. Terrible fog cover. So bad so that the race coordinators are making an announcement that they are going to push the start of the race back a half hour in hopes that the fog lifts, and they do not have to cancel the swim. I turn to Amy and ask if I heard right...that they might CANCEL THE SWIM! I was less than happy with the notion that the swim portion of this triathlon could potentially be cancelled. Well long story short, after almost an hour of waiting in which hope was given and taken away as the fog rolled in and out, the swim leg of this race was cancelled, and I was now racing "DuRock New York."
At this point I am pretty upset. I did not want to take of my brand new TYR Hurricane Cat 5 wetsuit
and put on my run gear. I tell Amy, "Well there goes any shot I may have had at the podium today." The swim is one of my strongest disciplines of the triathlon, and I usually have one of the better/best swim times in my age group...and one of the worst run times. I just knew that adding an extra run leg would allow my competition to open up an even bigger gap on me when normally I would be ahead or neck and neck after the swim leg.Now that I have expressed my sadness over the lack of swim...lets get to the recap!
Run 1- 1.2 Miles
Okay, so the race started in the same waves we would have been in had we done the swim and I was in wave 4. The waves were sent off in three minute intervals, so some of the runners from wave 1 returned and were out of T1 before my wave even started.
Here's what we saw from the start line...a big group of runners heading into a foggy abyss, not knowing what was waiting on the other side. The first run leg went by pretty quickly. I stayed with the main pack of my wave, and finished the 1.2 miles just under 10 minutes with a pace of 7:41 min/mi. One small hill up and one coming back down. It was nice to have run this, because we would be repeating this same loop two more times for the second run leg.
Run 1 - 9:59 7:41 min/mi.
T1 - 1:22
Bike - 11 Miles
The bike leg was an 11 mile loop with some rolling hills. Some of the hills were a little rougher than others, but nothing compared to the hills on last year's course. My top speed was in the mid 30s on a down hill, and my minimum speed was around 12 MPH on one of the steeper uphills. My bike performance has increased since last year. I think a variety of factors has led to this increase. Simple strength increase in my legs is certainly something that can be thanked. Having to push less weight on the bike can also be thanked. And I feel my conversion to bike shoes and clip less pedals has certainly helped.
Bike - 37:09 18.8 MPH
T2 - 1:24
Run 2 - 3.1 Miles
Run 2 I knew was another two laps of the loop we had already run for the first run leg with a small addition about half way through the loop. I got off the bike, and was ready to run. Grabbed my hat and slipped my run shoes on and headed out on my way. I felt pretty good running the whole time...which tells me I probably could have pushed myself a little harder. (Things to keep in mind for my next Tri) I have to say in my past triathlons, I never walked, but I ran pretty slow and was passed by a lot of other people. It was a great feeling to be on the other side of that situation on Saturday. I was running hard and moving past several people on my run leg. I have greatly improved my running abilities and speed over the winter which was exactly what I was hoping for!
Run 2 - 25:26 8:29 min/mi
Total - 1:15:22
 |
| Total - 1:15:22 |
Overall, very happy with my performance at DuRock NY. I plan on being a force to be reckoned with this triathlon season!
Monday, April 30, 2012
Weekend Expectations
April 30, 2011 --
Good evening, I hope everyone had a happy and productive Monday. This coming weekend is the first in which I will be running two races. Saturday, I will be running in TriRock New York at Harriman State Park, and Sunday I will be competing in the first leg of the United Health Care Triple Crown Race Series.
Friday afternoon I will be heading into the city to pick up my race packet for TriRock, and I must say I am so excited for this race this year. This will be my first tri of the season, and I can't wait to show off the new speed in the run leg of the race. This will also be my first opportunity to get in the water in my new TYR Hurricane CAT 5 wetsuit!
I am not sure exactly what I expect my finishing time will be, but I do plan to have a competitive time and hope to finish top five in my age group.
After TriRock, I will head right up to Rhode Island to the race expo for the Providence Race. I have a time I am shooting for, but do not want to let that information out of the bag just yet. I do not know how I will feel after the triathlon Saturday, and do not want to be disappointed if I am unable to hit my time goal after I posted it here. As far as I am concerned, the Triathlon on Saturday is my top priority of the weekend and the half marathon is secondary.
I am very excited to be getting back into the heart of race season! It truly is the best part of the year!
Also, I am a huge New York Ranger fan who are in the middle of their playoff run! Let's Go Rangers!!!
Saturday, April 21, 2012
Training Updates
Saturday, April 21, 2012 --
A few updates to mention today. First off, Thursday night was a Team Bicycle Planet training session dedicated to working on T2, the bike to run transition. We set up a bike rack in the corner of the parking lot...racked our bikes, set up our transition areas and got to work. We talked a lot about how to get through transition as quickly as possible and some of the big dos and donts of triathlon transition. One big hit of the night for some of my teammates were elastic laces for the running shoes. About half of us, myself included, already had elastic laces on our shoes and in a matter of seconds had convinced the other half to make their way to the shop after practice to pick up elastic laces of their own. It's no secret that having elastic laces shaves precious seconds off of a transition, but more than that I really like how they can never really be tied too tight or too loose.
After some chatting about how to speed up transition, we put our newly learned skills to the test; starting about fifty feet away from the transition area, running in as if we were entering T1, taking out the bike, riding a few hundred yards, and returning to test our times for T2. It was a lot of fun, and there are really some great people to learn from and offer tips to on Team Bicycle Planet. With my first triathlon of the season only two short weeks away, I really want to spend some time at home working on transition at home. One big area I'd like to work on is mounting and dismounting the bike.
My last big tip for transition...keep it simple. A good transition set up has only the essentials. There's no reason to unpack every piece of triathlon gear you own just in case you need it. This comes mostly with experience, but eventually you will be able to figure out exactly what you need for transition, and have a nice routine down to get in and out quickly.
Aside from my triathlon two weeks from today, I am also running a half marathon two weeks and one day from today. Training for that has also been going great! Today I went out for my long run and was very happy with my 10 mile run in 1:26:50. I ran with a pace of 8:41 min/mi. which for me is very fast. It appears that all of my winter work on my running is really paying off, and I could not be happier!!!
I am super excited to get out on the road in race conditions to test out these new legs!
On another note, I am seriously disappointed with how the New York Rangers have played the last two games, and really hope they can turn it around first in game 6 to force a game 7 and then really give it everything there. Lets Go Rangers...I still BELIEVE!
A few updates to mention today. First off, Thursday night was a Team Bicycle Planet training session dedicated to working on T2, the bike to run transition. We set up a bike rack in the corner of the parking lot...racked our bikes, set up our transition areas and got to work. We talked a lot about how to get through transition as quickly as possible and some of the big dos and donts of triathlon transition. One big hit of the night for some of my teammates were elastic laces for the running shoes. About half of us, myself included, already had elastic laces on our shoes and in a matter of seconds had convinced the other half to make their way to the shop after practice to pick up elastic laces of their own. It's no secret that having elastic laces shaves precious seconds off of a transition, but more than that I really like how they can never really be tied too tight or too loose.
After some chatting about how to speed up transition, we put our newly learned skills to the test; starting about fifty feet away from the transition area, running in as if we were entering T1, taking out the bike, riding a few hundred yards, and returning to test our times for T2. It was a lot of fun, and there are really some great people to learn from and offer tips to on Team Bicycle Planet. With my first triathlon of the season only two short weeks away, I really want to spend some time at home working on transition at home. One big area I'd like to work on is mounting and dismounting the bike.
My last big tip for transition...keep it simple. A good transition set up has only the essentials. There's no reason to unpack every piece of triathlon gear you own just in case you need it. This comes mostly with experience, but eventually you will be able to figure out exactly what you need for transition, and have a nice routine down to get in and out quickly.
Aside from my triathlon two weeks from today, I am also running a half marathon two weeks and one day from today. Training for that has also been going great! Today I went out for my long run and was very happy with my 10 mile run in 1:26:50. I ran with a pace of 8:41 min/mi. which for me is very fast. It appears that all of my winter work on my running is really paying off, and I could not be happier!!!
I am super excited to get out on the road in race conditions to test out these new legs!
On another note, I am seriously disappointed with how the New York Rangers have played the last two games, and really hope they can turn it around first in game 6 to force a game 7 and then really give it everything there. Lets Go Rangers...I still BELIEVE!
Friday, April 13, 2012
Fast Approaching...
April 13, 2012 --
Happy Friday the 13th to everyone out there. This is the second of three such dates penciled into the 2012 calendar this year. The first was in January, and the third will come in July. We are just about half way through April and for many, they will be competing in their first triathlons in three short weeks.
For me, I open my triathlon season in Harriman State Park at TriRock NY. It's hard to believe that less than a year ago, TriRock was the first triathlon I ran. It will be nice to return to a familiar race, but due to September's Hurricane Irene, the race will be taking place on a completely different course. Last year the swim took place at Lake Sebago beach, but unfortunately the hurricane washed away the beach, and this year's race will take place at Lake Welch.
This is the first of many races I have planned this year. I am not sure exactly what I was thinking when I was planning out the season, bur I am really looking forward to the excitement and the challenge of my season. My main race this season is the half ironman in Maine at the end of August so that is what my training will be focusing on, but I hope to be competitive in my other Tri's. I worked really hard on my run speed in the 'off season' and am looking forward to better times this season. I am coming into the season down fifty pounds from from the Mighty Hamptons race.
Happy Friday the 13th to everyone out there. This is the second of three such dates penciled into the 2012 calendar this year. The first was in January, and the third will come in July. We are just about half way through April and for many, they will be competing in their first triathlons in three short weeks.
For me, I open my triathlon season in Harriman State Park at TriRock NY. It's hard to believe that less than a year ago, TriRock was the first triathlon I ran. It will be nice to return to a familiar race, but due to September's Hurricane Irene, the race will be taking place on a completely different course. Last year the swim took place at Lake Sebago beach, but unfortunately the hurricane washed away the beach, and this year's race will take place at Lake Welch.
This is the first of many races I have planned this year. I am not sure exactly what I was thinking when I was planning out the season, bur I am really looking forward to the excitement and the challenge of my season. My main race this season is the half ironman in Maine at the end of August so that is what my training will be focusing on, but I hope to be competitive in my other Tri's. I worked really hard on my run speed in the 'off season' and am looking forward to better times this season. I am coming into the season down fifty pounds from from the Mighty Hamptons race.
Saturday, April 7, 2012
UHC Triple Crown
April 7, 2012 --
Good morning, and welcome to the weekend! It has been awhile since I have posted on here, and to be honest it has been a combination of a busy schedule and sheer laziness which has kept me away. I did make a few small updates to the homepage, adding a new page for the UHC Triple Crown.
Many of you may be asking, what exactly this triple crown is, so let me tell you. Last year, I ran the United Health Care half marathon in Newport, RI. I absolutely loved this race, and immediately signed up to run it again in 2012. Long story short, I soon learned two different things. First, that Amica Marathon (@Amicamarathon) was offering an opportunity to bloggers to enter either the Amica Marathon or UHC half marathon in Newport, RI and blog about their training and experiences at the race. Secondly, I learned of the triple crown series United Health Care was sponsoring.
The series, consisting of half marathons in Providence in May, Jamestown in July, and Newport in October is looking to "crown a half marathon champion of Rhode Island in 2012." This series absolutely appealed to me for several reasons. First, after the 2011 half in Newport, I have the utmost confidence that UHC will put on three fantastic races. Secondly, Rhode Island is not too far of a drive from where I live on Long Island and is a beautiful state.
I am really looking forward to these three races, the first of which is just four short weeks from today. I ran 8 miles yesterday in 1:06:41, and am looking forward to a big PR in Providence!
In the next few days I will post my 'insane race schedule' for 2012...Last I counted I think a total of 14 or 15 races.
Happy Easter!
Good morning, and welcome to the weekend! It has been awhile since I have posted on here, and to be honest it has been a combination of a busy schedule and sheer laziness which has kept me away. I did make a few small updates to the homepage, adding a new page for the UHC Triple Crown.
Many of you may be asking, what exactly this triple crown is, so let me tell you. Last year, I ran the United Health Care half marathon in Newport, RI. I absolutely loved this race, and immediately signed up to run it again in 2012. Long story short, I soon learned two different things. First, that Amica Marathon (@Amicamarathon) was offering an opportunity to bloggers to enter either the Amica Marathon or UHC half marathon in Newport, RI and blog about their training and experiences at the race. Secondly, I learned of the triple crown series United Health Care was sponsoring.
The series, consisting of half marathons in Providence in May, Jamestown in July, and Newport in October is looking to "crown a half marathon champion of Rhode Island in 2012." This series absolutely appealed to me for several reasons. First, after the 2011 half in Newport, I have the utmost confidence that UHC will put on three fantastic races. Secondly, Rhode Island is not too far of a drive from where I live on Long Island and is a beautiful state.
I am really looking forward to these three races, the first of which is just four short weeks from today. I ran 8 miles yesterday in 1:06:41, and am looking forward to a big PR in Providence!
In the next few days I will post my 'insane race schedule' for 2012...Last I counted I think a total of 14 or 15 races.
Happy Easter!
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