Toughman Half Iron Triathlon 2011 Photo Gallery

Apologies for the massive delay, but below are a handful of pics from the Toughman Half Iron Triathlon .  As previously mentioned I was working over the race weekend, but did manage to get some photos in throughout race day:

Transition area - Athletes are headed to the beach

Athletes on the beach - Race is about to begin

Countdown to the first wave

Elites and M40-44 into the water

First swimmer out of the water

Second swimmer out of the water

First elite / pro onto the run (This guy smoked the course - overall winner)

The fan fave - "Tri-Dog"

Collar reads: "Swim - Bark - Run"

Some of the race staff at the start (I'm on the far left)

I would have had more pics during the bike leg, but we were crazy busy as the athletes came into T2 - controlled chaos in that last 1/4 mile!  It was tough to have my iPhone out and at the ready while working and racing around all morning.

Great feedback from athletes post-race as well.  Always encouraging to hear kudos from people that are racing.  Makes all the hard work and lack of sleep that weekend well worth it.

Cedar Beach Triathlon Race Recap

The Cedar Beach triathlon is one of the last triathlons of the season here in the northeast - at least in my neck of the woods.  I wanted / needed to get a race in after my ankle break this past spring, just to mentally get a boost and to tell myself that I can still race.  My running has been good as of late, and I've had a couple good tempo runs, so I was confident that I could race this event and not just coast through it.  I've been swimming and cycling regularly, but nothing significant in regards to speed workouts.  So I figured I'd give this race a shot and see how I could do.

The Cedar Beach triathlon is held out in Miller Place, NY.  This is pretty far east out on Long Island - I had a very early morning as I needed to drive about 90 minutes from my home to get to the event site.  In retrospect, this is a long way to drive for a sprint distance triathlon.

Really nice venue for the race.  We all watched the sun come up over Long Island Sound as transition area setup was underway.  Shortly after, I went for a warm up run with my new buddy Dan.  He and I met while working at the Toughman Half Iron triathlon.  He's a tough competitor and it was great to hang out with him pre and post race.  We ran a mile and half or so easy and then suited up for the swim.  The Sound was a bit chilly, so it was a full sleeve wetsuit kind of day. 

Being in wave two, I had five minutes to wait after wave one went into the water.  There was a bit of "sweep" or current coming in and as we headed out (anti-clockwise swim around a somewhat rectangular course) I could feel the tide working against me.  Making the first left turn, I still felt the current, so I figured it was going to be a longer swim for everyone.  That said, I was surprised to cross the chip mat into T1 in 10:30.  Not too shabby.

In and out of T1 and it was off for two loops of the bike course.  15 miles total (again, this was a sprint distance race).  As I hadn't ridden this course before, I checked some maps and elevation charts at home to get as information on the course as possible.  I was pretty well prepared for the mile-plus climb early in the loop.  Not killer, but it certainly slows things down.  The rest of the course is fast.  A few smaller climbs, but most of the course is rolling downhill.  After one loop there's a great turnaround area: right in front of a huge mass of spectators.  22 minutes and change for lap one.   Lap two was good, and I negative split my laps.

I was only passed by two individuals on the bike (yes, I checked their age on their calfs as they went past and, as they weren't in my age group, I didn't worry about it).  I was surprised, however, to not see anyone in the mens 40-44 age group as I made my way through the bike course.  My swim wave was comprised of everyone 40 years old and older and thought maybe I'd see a few people from my division.  I didn't think too much about it, but I did hope that maybe I was having a good day.  Off the bike in 43:30-ish and onto the run.  (I say 43:30-ish as I don't have the official results available to me yet to confirm my time.  And I was an idiot and left my bike computer on the back of my car while packing up.  It's now most likely laying in the parking lot never to be seen by me again.)

The run course was a flat, two loop course.  All along the ocean and through, for the first half of each loop, a nice nature trail.  Paved, but very nice.  As I made my way around for my second loop, I saw someone in my age group ahead - but realized that he was on his first lap as he didn't make a move to counter when I passed him.  Again, great turnaround area......you loop through a huge spectator area and then run along the side of the transition area.  I passed a few people and struggled to keep my form and cadence / stride in check.  My lungs were burning from my lack of training and race fitness.  I'm pretty sure I sounded like a Sherpa climbing Mt. Everest.  I came into the finish shoot and felt good about the effort at the end.  20:30 for the 5K run.  I was pleased with the pace and I didn't even think about my ankle once.

When final results were posted, I came in 8th overall and 1st in the mens 40-44 age group.  A great way to get my first (and last) triathlon of the season in.  Granted, it was a sprint distance race, but I was pleased to have finished as well as I did considering I'm not in peak race fitness.  Very encouraging for next season.

This winter is all about base building, and getting ready for next season.  I'm still deciding what races to target, but am pretty sure I'll throw in a couple Olympic distance races, maybe a sprint or two, and see how I feel about a late season 70.3 race.

Toughman Half Ironman Race Weekend Prep

Sunday was the Toughman Half Ironman triathlon.  I would have been racing yesterday - my second time racing Toughman - save for the broken ankle earlier this year that has derailed my racing this season.  As my good friend Rich is the race organizer and founder I worked as a member of the race staff and, as I did last year found it to be incredibly rewarding.  Lots of hard work and lots of hours spent Friday, Saturday, and Sunday at the race site.  But just a great weekend overall.

This was a half iron distance race.  Just for reference that's a 1.2 mile swim, 56 mile bike, and a 13.1 mile run.  I was involved in getting the aid stations for both the bike and run course setup, supplied with product, and ready for the athletes.  It was amazing to see how much product is required for a half iron distance race with close to 900 athletes racing:

500 cases of water
3,000 bottles of PowerBar Perform
75 cans of PowerBar Perform mix
4 cases of Enduralytes
80 cases of gel packs
80 cases of canned Coke
30 boxes of extra large trash bags
14,000+ cups

All of our product was stored in a shipping container at the race site.  Determining how much product should go where was something I worked out in the weeks building up to the event - yet getting the product out to the aid stations was going to be quite the undertaking.  Three bike aid stations, and 17 run aid stations (athletes would pass 8 of the aid stations twice) were on the map and needed to be stocked with supplies.

This past Friday I inventoried all of the above mentioned product.  Aside from aid station inventory, there were tents that needed to be erected, hurricane fencing to be placed, and a transition area to be set up.  I wasn't involved in all of it, but I arrived that morning and departed for home around 800p.  I know there were others that worked much later into the evening ensuring that site was not only ready for the race on Sunday, but that we were ready for the kids racing scheduled for Saturday as well.

We loaded the trucks with the aid station product late Saturday afternoon, but arrival at the race site for me was around 630a to start working on logistics.  After numerous other tasks, phone calls, and meetings, I had three box trucks backed up to the storage container.  Team members lined up to start the off-loading process and getting the required amount of product into each truck.  We finalized product counts per aid station, compared these counts to spreadsheets that I put together, and locked the trucks down for the night.  We then drove the course (three teams - one for the bike course and two for the run course) and dropped off tables.

I then had some time to watch the athletes check-in as the day came to a close.  The transition area was abuzz with activity with bikes being racked.  It was great fun to feel the vibe.  I walked the expo a bit - saying hello to a few folks I knew in some of the vendor tents - and finally left to get some sleep.  While I arrived home later than the previous night, I again left with an army of people still working to ensure that everything was in tip-top shape for race day.

Sunday is such a blur at the moment.  I couldn't sleep much on Saturday night, as I kept thinking of all the things I had to do and wanted to double check.  So I was up at 230a on race day, and with coffee in hand drove off to buy ice for some of the aid stations. While we did have ice delivered on race day in refrigerated trucks for finish line and post race purposes, getting ice onto the course was going to be handled separately.  (Love 24 hour gas stations...."Hi, I'd like to buy every bag of ice that you have, please....oh, and can I get an extra large coffee?")  After dropping off ice at a couple spots on the course, I arrived at the race site at 330a.  By 430a all the trucks left with teams of three to four people to hit the course and drop off product at the aid stations.  With running headlamps blazing, we left each aid station with all the cases of water, gel, PowerBar Perform, Coke, etc that they needed.  Thankfully, all the volunteers - can't do a race without them - setup the aid stations when they arrived not long after.  They really did an amazing job.

The first bike aid station - at mile 18 and 36 (the athletes would pass by this location twice) - would have 60 cases of water, and 1,500 bottles of PowerBar Perform endurance drink.  The second bike aid station - closer to mile 25 - would have 20 cases of water.  All the other product was split up at all the aid stations on the run course.  We also put 70 cases of water at the finish line, and had three 7 gallon jugs being filled with PowerBar Perform (continually refilled as necessary as racers finished.)  Of course there were bananas, pizza, and bagels for the athletes as they finished and a BBQ at the finish line for all the athletes and families as well.

I left the race site last night absolutely beat.  Again, there were crews still tearing down all the infrastructure while I was showering at home and subsequently falling asleep on the couch around 1000p.  I woke up this morning to stiff fingers, sore hands, tired arms, an aching back, and sore legs.  Oh, and an achilles tendon that's yelling at me for all the twisting and turning done while moving / tossing / placing hundreds of cases of water.  Thankfully I'm taking today off of work from my real job so I can recover a bit.

I have some photos from during the race.  I'll hopefully get a post with a race recap out later this week.

Weekend Group Training Wrap-up

I wrapped up a great weekend of group training yesterday.  I spent some time with the B-Athletics triathlon club, helping out my friend and fellow triathlon coach, Jeff B.  We both have athletes gearing up for upcoming triathlons, with the majority targeting Olympic distance events.  But between the two of us we also have a couple of athletes racing the Toughman Half Ironman triathlon next weekend.  Our athletes racing Toughman were in taper mode, and had their own rides and workouts arranged.  This let us take the opportunity to get our other athletes together, and focus our time with our novice and beginner athletes.

Saturday was the long-ish ride.  Approximately 45 miles.  The pace wasn't too tough, and we had a couple different pace groups going throughout the ride.  We did challenge a couple of the athletes with the climbs of Route 22 in Bedford NY.  Those of you who might be familiar with that stretch of road know that there are some good climbs on Route 22 between Rte's 172 and 433 - some sections top out at 10-11% grade (I think!)  The climbs aren't long, but they do test you now and again. 

It was a great ride from Purchase NY - through Chappaqua, Mt. Kisco, Bedford, Armonk, Valhalla....basically a nice tour of southern Westchester County.

Sunday was brick day.  We met a handful of our athletes who are targeting upcoming Olympic distance races for a loop of a local triathlon bike course - approximately 25 miles on the bike followed up with a 3.5 mile run.  The athletes were pushed here and there and it was good to see them actually enjoy the run.....well, at least sort of.

I have to admit that the most satisfying thing of being a coach is helping the athletes that are targeting their first big race.  Call them novice triathletes, call them first-timers.  Doesn't matter.  In a group setting, the peer motivation is such a great benefit.  Hearing an individual say that they can't go on, or can't do a climb, or "...I just can't do this" isn't uncommon.  But as you talk them through their challenge, and with the help of their fellow athletes supporting them, they discover that they actually can accomplish things that were once insurmountable.  The look on their face is priceless.  The realization that they actually can do something that they previously felt impossible is worth all the time and effort that goes into coaching.

Race Report: Mossman Olympic Tri (Okay, Aquabike)

Truth be told, I'd never done an Aquabike event before.  So when the race director of an upcoming triathlon sent an email stating that the Aquabike division was being offered, It peaked my interest.  This would be my first race this year since breaking my ankle back in February.  I'd missed five races (that I'd already registered and paid for) so when this option came along - for a race I'd paid for 8 months ago - I really couldn't pass it up.  A chance to race, in some fashion or another, was quite exciting.

So, a 1.5K swim and a 40K bike.  I was psyched.  I'd been swimming and cycling quite a bit, but I wasn't doing a whole lot of speed-work.  I was mainly getting out to keep my fitness from going in the crapper while I dealt with physical therapy.  But I felt that I could do pretty well - and I really thought that I'd be able to drop the hammer on the bike since I didn't have to run.  I thought back to the relay I did last summer and while I was annoyed, at the time, watching everyone head out on the run while I stood there feeling out of place, I remembered how fun it was to just red-line the bike leg.  So off I went.

I had a good swim.  I was out of the water in just over 20 minutes and across the chip mat at the entrance to T1 in just over 21 minutes.  A relatively quick transition and I was out on the bike.  Side note:  The tide was heading out, so the water was quite shallow at the start.  When the officials state that it's an "in-water start", shouldn't people be penalized for running down the beach instead of running in the water?   Have a look at the swim course and you'll see what I mean.  Nice advantage in running down the beach towards the first buoy.  But I digress....

Anyway, on to the bike.  The bike course at this race is a little odd.  Five laps of an 8K course.  Very flat and very fast.  But it gets congested - quickly.   I won't go into all the gory details, but I don't think I want to race on this course again.  Very tough to get around groups of people.  Again, I digress.....

All was good and going to plan.  I was averaging around 24 mph for the first few laps.  A slight change in the wind provided a little extra resistance here and there on lap four.  But as this was going to impact everyone, I didn't worry about it too much.  With one lap to go, my plan was to drop the hammer and leave nothing in the tank when I was done.  My ankle felt pretty good, so why not?!

Well, this is where things started to fall apart.  My fitness - while fine for longer weekend rides and weekday morning rides with a few tempo bursts thrown in - failed me at this intensity.  On top of that I'm a bit heavier than I would have been had I been racing all season, and.....well.....I watched my speed drop.  Drop.  Drop some more.  I pedaled harder.  Focused on my pedal stroke.  Hell, I got out of the saddle once or twice.  Nada.  I watched my average speed fall like a boat anchor over the last 8K and came into T2 sounding like a sherpa climbing Mt. Everest. 

Okay, I threw on my shoes and jogged over to the finish line to hand in my chip.  2nd place in the division - to a guy who admittedly ran on the beach at the start of the swim (grumble, grumble)  But I'll take it.  It was great to get out there and race.  I did have a lot of angst while I hung around and watched everyone head out to the run course (a flat, two loop course along the Long Island Sound).  I went for a little jog, but my ankle was stiffening up so I bagged it and went to the massage tent after snarfing down a bagel. 

The comedic part of this day was during the awards ceremonies.  When we were called up to accept the awards for our division, it's the first time I've stood on a podium where the athletes didn't congratulate one another, but instead asked: "...so, what's your ailment?"  Needless to say I'm looking forward to being able to do a full-fledged triathlon again.

And speaking of that, what's up next?  Well, I'm contemplating doing a sprint triathlon in early October.  However, it's the same weekend as my wedding anniversary and I'm not sure it's the best thing to try to squeeze into the plans.  My wife has said it's cool, but I may pass in lieu of getting out of town for a couple days.