The Teacher and the Student.

" There comes a day when the Student Surpasses the Teacher."
-Me to Alex on our draining ride this morning.

Well this morning my buddy Alex and I went for a quick 40k ride. He just bought himself a new full carbon Felt B-16 and today was it's christening. As we left our normal riding spot in Middlebury he managed to build about a 30 sec. lead on me. I still remember when he had bought my old road bike off me 2 years ago, and was hardly keeping up. Now he was riding like a master and leaving me in his wake. As we climbed up into Morris he would slow to let me catch up. His progress has been amazing. The kid's got a talent in cycling. I can't say that I've ever been a better athlete than him as he used to school me when we swam in high school, but he has developed greatly as a triathlete. he's gone from an also ran to a contender, and on today's ride he's proved how much his skills have developed. As we turned around from Morris there was a stretch that I was leading on a down hill, he proceeded to blow by me and open up a 30 sec. gap. While part of me was like "Holy shit yet another guy that bikes faster than me." another part was proud to see him develop a strong bike leg ( as his run leg is his weakness.) While he assured me that I have plenty of tricks in the bag ( a solid run leg.) I was going over strategy for our next race. We're both planning on doing the Park City Mossman in Bridgeport in August. The course is flat which fits my ride in the big ring riding style. I seriously believe Alex maybe top 5 or even podium material but he's going to have to throttle the bike for all it's worth.
Today's ride was an eye opener, but it was a little tough. It was 40k with plenty of climbing. Likewise the 90 degree heat and humidity didn't help, but that's what rides on Hot days are for. They acclimate you to the weather and force you to adapt to different conditions.

As for my training I'm trying to settle into a rythym I've got a longer ride and a run on tap for tomorrow. To everybody Rocking Lake Placid tomorrow good luck and kick ass.

R.D.

Making the Best of my Surroundings /TDF Smack.

Well, as mentioned or not in previous posts my family is crashing at the home of a family friend until September ( or we get our lives together whatever comes sooner.) As a result I've been having to go to map my run to try to adjust my mileage from my new start point. Also I have started riding from my home. Well ok I've just done 1 ride from the homestead to Thomaston ( about 3 towns over) but the point is I've started finding new routes, and the new routes are hilly. I'm not going to say they rank up there with Alpe Du Huez or the Tourmelet but they do work the legs. In fact in the 20 miler I did last week I did notice the significant drop in speed on the back end of the ride ( crawling up hill a 10mph or less instead of screaming down at 30 mph.) Likewise it did prove to be a good platform for a 10 mile run as there is an intersection at exactly the 5 mile mark. So while the situation may be less than ideal I am making out good in the training realm likewise the house is absolutely georgeous but it is a temporary stop over.

On the life in general side...I'm scheduled for my Aviation Service Test Battery ( ASTB to you military folks.) in the first week of August so I'm trying to give myself a crash course in high school math. The test will essentially determine if I can make it as an officer in the Navy or if I'll get the "thanks for playing " from my recruiter. Likewise my creditors have started coming after me in force which has been adding to the stress cycle. ( granted this is a mess of my own doing.) All and all things are moving forward just got to see where the path ends.

Likewise in the tour I could make comments on the whole Contador, Schleck thing. I feel for Schleck especailly because I would love to see him win this year's highly entertaining yet unpredictable Tour De France, but let's face it if someone dropped a chain in a tri, a training ride or anyother bike race, the odds of the whole field slowing down for him and waiting for him to catch up are about the odds of Lance Armstrong making up his 20 minute gap in tomorrow's stage. Likewise on Lance... I mean ok dude beat cancer and has been raising awareness, and he had a good break yesterday...but WTF? Where's the support been for Levi, I mean he is the highest ranked rider on Radio Shack, where has the support been especially on the mountain stages where he can get back sometime? Alright my comments on the workings of team Radio Shack over. My predictions for tomorrow's stage, Schleck and Voight go on a break at the 20km mark and try to pull Hinault. ( ie go out like their lives and GC positions have no meaning and just try to dominate.) to get time back on Contador, because essentially unless the Saxo bank docs really roid up Luxembourgs's national hero there's no way he'll touch Contador in the TT...but then again this year's been so odd ball that I might almost pick Dennis Menchov to go beserk and end up in yellow. It's going to be a good stage tomorrow so get the Tivo going.

R.D.

Behold the Amazing Flying Schleck!

Well today was a slow day at work, so I was able to watch the athlete tracker of Le Tour. I was glued to the updates as I watched Cadel Evans hopes and dreams disappear with ever kilometer up the the Col de le Madeleine. I watched as Contador and Andy Schleck dropped the hammer and unmercifully ran down the break away. I watched as Lance regained his old form and Levi established himself as a contender. Essentially I had enough motivation to get me pumped up to ride for the next week. Ok so the Tour maybe full of the best medical enginering known to man but still I'm drawn to it. I love seeing guys push it to the limit, it's awe inspiring. Essentially it's a motivator, because let's face it 90% of us have the Paul Sherwin, Phil Liggett commentary going in our heads when we're out on our long rides. We push that little bit harder on our group rides to try to summit before the other guys and gals. When we feel good we are "dancing on the pedals and turning ourseleves inside out not to be denied." So where was I oh yes Andy Schleck. Homeboy is the real deal and he's making Contador look bad. Back in 2007 Contador won both the Yellow Jersey and the White for best Young rider, and Schleck looks like he's going to do it this year. To day he was flying, he essentially grabbed Contador and said "let's grab that breakaway." and they nearly did Sammy Casar just barely held on, as they caught the break in the final Km. Schleck is my pick for this year as much as I would like to see Levi shock the world, Andy is the real deal, and barring Contador making a massive charge, he is an unstoppable force.

A decent into Hell: The 24th Annual Pat Griskus Sprint Triathlon

Alright before every one thinks that this a race report bashing Tom Wilkas and company, it's not. The race is one of the oldest in Connecticut and runs like clockwork every year, this year was no exception and we even caught the eye of NBC 30 out of Hartford who, ran a story about the event. Likewise it's an oddball among the major races it's run on a Wednesday night.

The conditions however where a different story. Over the last 4 days the mercury in the Northeast has been climbing in the upper 90's and low 100's. Yesterday was no exception. It was HOT people. I believe temperature at race time according to my car thermometer was a brisk 97F.

I took the day off from work and showed up to registration about 4:30PM got my bag and topped off the water bottles, and did about a 10 minute spin on the bike. I got back to Transition and met up with New Heatster Ken. My buddies Alex and Max from the Waterbury YMCA tri club were there, with Max itching for a little payback from the Griskus Olympic, in which Alex beat him by a little under a minute. As hot as it was the water was still wetsuit legal so I pulled on my Helix in the sweltering heat. I got some razzing from some of my training partners from the Y about not having a sleeveless. As usual I was in the first swim wave along with Alex, Max, Vin from HEAT and essentially all the old time regulars.

The swim: Welcome to the bath tub.
As Alex and I scouted the swim course there was a noticeable absence. The "Speedo Army" of high school swim champs didn't show up in their massive numbers this year. I seeded myself just wide of the buoy, to avoid the carnage that usually engulfs the inside track. When the starting gun went off, I had a couple of bumps and tugs, but overall not a lot of contact. By the third Buoy I was able to cut back inside and at the turn around I could count only a handful of swimmers in front of me. I managed to pick off one or two, and got out of the water in 5th place. I hit the Timing mat at T-1 in 12:55.

The Bike: Hammer Hammer Hammer!
I managed to get out of T-1 in about a minute flat and just began to pedal like a mad man. I decided to ride barefoot down the first hill until the 1 mile mark when I would be good and up to speed and could slip my feet in comfortably. I got passed by two guys ( ironically enough these would be the guys who would finish first and second overall. Chris Thomas and some kid John from Old Saybrook.) I was surprised at how well I was riding early in the ride. I managed to tear through the early down hills loosing very few spots. I managed to pass a guy from my age group at the toughest hill at mile 4. After this point the wheels started to fall off. After the down hill and three rollers at mile 5 I got picked off by a pack of 4 riders including the women's leaders. At mile 6 another group of 4 riders came around and then 1 guy on a Red Specialized that I would leap frog with over the last hill. He passed me going up I passed him going down and he passed me on the straight back to the park. The ride took about 32:26 just averaging a tick under 20mph.

The Run: This side hurts and that side hurts and my lungs feel like they're on fire.
I tore out of T-2 in :37 seconds ( my transitions are a far cry from the minute and change they were last year.) and took off trying to run as fast as possible. I took two cups of water at the aid station just outside of transition and tried desperately to find a rhythm. I ran the first half mile with my eyes closed. Just trying to keep myself in a happy place. It was oppressively hot. All I could flash back to were the Kona highlight shows where they talk about the heat and humidity. I got passed by a relay runner, as I went through the first mile at about 7:22. I was starting to get a stitch in my side, likewise my face and lungs felt like they were on fire, but I had to push harder. I saw the runners coming back from the turnaround and I knew I had to push it if I wanted to break 22. I went through the turn around and I saw a guy ahead of me doing the run walk. Mike Maxemenko came along side me and we paced through the next aid station. I grabbed some more water and tried to pull away on the flat hoping I would have enough in the tank to pull away on the hill. I managed to pass the guy in front of me. Mike got around me on the hill as I started to get another wicked side stitch. At the top of the hill I tried to reel in Mike but he had too much of a gap to bridge. I didn't dare look behind. I managed to come across the line in 1:08:27 pulling a 21:32 for my 5k one of my slower runs but just about average.

A few minutes later Max came across 1:11:39 ( he managed to get 3rd in his AG as 2nd and 3rd overall were in his AG.) Alex got pipped by Vin at the line as he crossed in 1:13:08. ( Max and Alex had been neck and neck on the run the last time I saw them.)

At the award ceremony I found out I had earned 2nd in the 25-29 AG and was 22nd overall. I held off 3rd in my AG by only 11 seconds. The performance marked the first time I had finished 2nd in my AG since I silvered in the 17-19AG back in 2003, hopefully this will not lead to 2 years of medal anguish as that result did.( 2006 and 2007 I finished just outside the medals.) Alex managed to pull a top 5 in the 25-29 and Max as mentioned Earlier got 3rd in the 20-24 overall it was a good night in Middlebury, now it's off to begin planning the next endeavour.

R.D.

Getting back into gear.

Well as I write this Steph has come down to Connecticut for the 3 day weekend. My training has finally started to get back on track granted today was sort of a lazy day, but I have a long brick on tap tomorrow. This week I was able to get two swims in, a run and a 30 mile bike with 3 mile run brick. The 30 mile bike went well as I refamilarized myself with the Griskus Sprint bike course. This Wednesday night I'll be towing the line at the Griskus for the 7th time (5th in a row.) My 30 miler consisted of a lot of big gear work trying to increase my overall power. I found that climbing with a bigger gear in training has really helped my climbing in races. I'm not competing for the polka dot jersey in le tour, I was able to keep some tabs on the competition in the Griskus Oly. As for my season after the Griskus Sprint I'm hoping to get some more races in. I'm thinking of volunteering at Mossman to get half off my entry into Park City. Likewise I'm debating a late season Iron or Half Ironman. For the Ironman I'm tossed up between Firm-man Narragansett, Pumpkinman in Maine, or the Vermont Journey. Vermont Journey is the cheapest, but charges for spectators. Pumpkinman has a nice course and is more spectator friendly but has a slightly higher cost. Narragansett, well I learned with the Providence 70.3 that Rhode Island isn't flat.
Depending on how my Navy boards go in September, I may be heading off to training at the end of that month. If so it would put the cabosh on Ironman, as I have been batting around the idea of entering Great Floridian. Like I said it's just an idea at this point,but I want to try to get the miles up there so I would survive it. If anything it would get me in decent shape for a September half. So the training mileage will be getting upped So the challenge lays in the distance and I've got to start reaching toward it. I've done Ironman on 4 months training before and I know I could do it again. So here it goes.I'll either be towing the line in Clearmont, Narragansett, or else where but I'll be in good shape to do it.

Happy training everyone.
R.D.

Holliston Lions Sprint Triathlon Race Report.

Well yesterday was my second race of the 2010 Tri season. Just like the Griskus Oly it was a game time decision, in that I entered the week of. I had been looking forward to doing this race for a while because it combined visiting my girlfriend and racing. So Friday night I braved the Mass Pike and made my way up to Holliston to Steph's place. On Sunday morning Steph drove me to Stoddard Park and helped me lug my gear about a quarter mile through the woods to transition. She took a seat next to the bike rack as I set up my gear and started communing with my fellow tri geeks. I took my bike out for a quick spin so I could mount my shoes to the pedals and get my gearing right for the hill leading out of the transition area. I got my bike back on the rack and slid my self in to the wetsuit. I had really greased the calves of the suit up with suit juice. Funny thing about suit juice is it looks a lot like snot and other slimy sticky body fluids... I had gone for a swim the previous day on the swim course and Steph had round two of the "Honey could you zip me up?" After a struggle in which another athlete also tried to get my zipper together Steph and I managed to my neoprene beast zipped and ready to go. After meeting up with fellow HEATster Raf, I got a few yards of warm up swimming. The space between the first and second buoys was sort of a weed bed but the water cleared about the third buoy in. I swam back to the beach just as the national anthem started playing. After the anthem and the pre race announcements the field was set to go.

The swim: Was it 400 meters cleverly disguised as 1/2 a mile?

A just a little after 8AM the first wave received a "Ready Go!" and we were off. The beginning was a little choppy and again I found myself bunched up in traffic until we cleared the weed bed. By the 3rd buoy I had found my groove and started to reeling the leaders. By the turn around I found myself catching some of the stragglers from the lead group. I started trying to catch the leaders and managed to get some distance back to the main group. I hit the beach in 8:06 and tore to transition. The wetsuit came off easily and I managed to get out of T-1 in just about a minute.1:03 even.

The Bike:

The bike course was a 15 mile/ 3 loop crit. I managed to get my feet into my shoes about a half mile in. I was amazed that I was still pretty high ranked on the bike. I didn't see anyone in front of me. So I tried to find a rhythm. By mile 2 the train started to roll on by first one rider. Then 2 then 3 or 4 at a time. By the first real "hill" I had fallen back to 5th or 6th. Then the course flattened out and at mile 3 there was the only true climb and a descent into the center of Holliston. I managed to keep some spots on the descent and was slowed up by volunteers as we made a hard right from MA 16 past a crepe shop, the fire station and about 4 body shop. About a 1/2 mile down the road there was a right hander and a false flat and small rollers back toward Stoddard park. By the beginning of 2nd loop I had dropped to 10th overall and was beginning to come up on lap traffic. The traffic served as sort of a pump up in that I was able to get some passing in. I managed to get around the 2nd kid who came out of the water. I shouted out some encouragement to him as he was racing the way I began, doing the local sprint in a pair or running shorts on a mountain bike. I sort of reached equilibrium as only 2 or 3 more riders got around and I was able to keep a few of them in sight. By the third lap I was in about 20th spot. I managed to roll into T-2 and perform my dismount, flawlessly. The bike course took me about 42:57. I tore through T-2 in 52 sec. as I got my shoes on a took off on the run. It was sort of a pump up as Steph cheered me out of T-2.

The Run: Do you guys have any gatorade?

The run was a loop of the bike course in reverse. I left T-2 with a runner from the Cyclonaunts tri club just in sight. I made it my goal to reel him in. Like with the Griskus the week before it took me a bit to find my rhthym. I got passed by a flying 30 year old at the one mile mark. We hit the first aid station and I grabbed a water. I was still closing in on the cyclonaunt but was losing ground to the the other runner. Likewise a runner from team Amino Vital passed me at about mile 2 and I had to let up in my pursuit as a tow truck pulled right out in front of me and was not going to yield. I had to jog in place as it slid into traffic. Once again proving that "traffic control" is a relative term. After my mini time loss I took off in hot pursuit. Partially filled with rage at nearly being struck down, the other with determination at trying to salvage a top 20. I kept the Amino Vital runner in sight and noticed that the Cyclonaunt was within striking distance. I really pushed up the last hill and caught the cyclonaunt as we passed the third aid station. "Got any gatorade?" I asked knowing I needed the salt. " "Just water." the volunteer responded. I took it as I needed to hydrate. I got around the Cyclonaunt and in my head kept trying to tell myself that "once you make a pass late in the race it doesn't get undone." We made our way up the last little hill and I could still hear his feet fresh on my heels. As we passed the last aid station he came along side. "Thanks for pacing me the last mile." He said. " Thanks for giving me a target for the first two I said back." We started to talk and pace one another running shoulder to shoulder for the last mile. I found out the guy's name was Steve and that he'll be running at the Griskus Sprint next Wednesday. As we turned into the park he looked at my calf "You're not in the 45-49 Age Group are you?" We both sort of laughed. "25-29" "Well you can go on in ahead of me." he said back. As we hit the down hill back into the park I really started to sprint. I could hear Steph cheering for me, and saw the clock ticking away. I made it over the mat in just under 1:29. Steve was in about 6sec.behind me. My totaltime was 1:28:56 my run Split was a 35:56 not a PR for 5 miles but good considering.

After the race I got a finish line kiss from Steph. Met up with Raf as he came in about a minute behind us, and won the Cyldesdale division. After waiting for the results to post, I found I had finished 19th overall and 3rd in my age group. ( the over all winner was 25-29 and second was only 3 minutes ahead.). Steph and I made our way back to her place after awards to chill for the rest of the afternoon. Then I had a 3 hour car ride back to CT which was an epic in itself due to the traffic from the Nascar race in New Hampshire.

All in all it was a good weekend.

R.D.

I'm shipping up to Boston... ( and other tales)

well ok Holliston for the weekend. I'm up in Holliston, MA visiting my girl friend and getting some racing in. Tomorrow I'm doing the Holliston Lions Sprint tri tomorrow. For a sprint the distances are a little longer than most. 1/2 mile swim, 15 miles on the bike and a 5 mile run. The course for the bike and run is the same. Runners turn left out of T-2 for one loop Bikes turn right out of T-1 for three or vice versa on the direction. I went down to the race site with Steph today to swim the course and ride a loop of the bike. The bike loop is decivingly tough for a short distance. It's fairly flat but it has some little hills to make it interesting. Likewise the swim course has some major weedage, but having the GF support me in her hometown race is a nice bonus. My training this week had been a little off a 7 miler and a 10 miler, and about 8k in the pool. I did a 20 miler on the bike before I had to send it to the shop for a new deraileur housing. ( I had the cable changed last week but we didn't touch the housing and on my 20 miler on Wednesday I noticed some wires mixing with my shifter cable on my shifter lever. )Needless to say my mechaninc made quick work of it on Friday morning.
This week after this race I've got to get some hard core mileage in. I'm not signed up for anything particularly long, but I would like to do a half or a full Ironman to close the season. Next week Steph's coming to CT and I don't want to make her a "triathlon Widow" So I may attempt to do some longer rides during the week or on Saturday after work. The longest ride I've done so far this year is a 75 miler at Calhoun so I want to get a century in by late August.

On the Navy thing. I spoke to my recruiter I've got to sign some papers and take my physical and tests, and then submit my application for OCS. Hopefully I'll have a good package and I'll be wintering in Newport, RI. Otherwise I'll be playing the wait game.

Life seems to be moving at a rapid pace and I'm just trying to keep up with it right now. As I'm trying to catch up on bills, find a place for the fall,( the place I was looking at I'm not going to be able to come up with the security in time.) and juggle the job, training, and a relationship.

Well all that said and done I'd better get back to the GF and get some shut eye. It's going to be an early morning tomorrow.

R.D.