Life of an Age-Grouper

Paumonok Pursuit 70K Run and Relay Paumonok is a local trail race put on by Jen and David of Jayasports.com. Jen and David are two long time fixtures of the endurance/multisport scene and have developed unique races across Long Island. Paumonok offers runners of all abilities an opportunity to enjoy the Paumonok Trail from Rocky Point to Hampton Bays. Despite the infancy of this race I have a feeling it will be be a fixture on my calendar for years to come and that it's popularity will only grow.  My intentions for Paumonok was to utilize it as a final tune up for Traprock.  It would serve as my last long run and as an opportunity to dial in my nutrition, clothing and sneaker choice, as well as pacing. The previous weekend I had an absolutely amazing time racing in Connecticut so the days in between were focused on recovery. Last year Mother Nature blanketed the course with 4 inches of fresh snow and freezing temperatures.  This year as I sat in the parking l...

For a majority of age group athletes the 2014 triathlon season is over.  Medals are hanging from hooks, race photos are in frames and the mind is full of memories and war stories of the season that was.  As you eventually come down from the emotionally charged season the common and routine question arises, now what? Just because your season is over there are still plenty of very important things to do to properly end your season. The very first thing I recommend doing is saying,"Thank You".  Make it a point to thank everyone that helped you along your journey through the season.  Thank your loved ones for EVERYTHING. Just like you they had to deal with and shared in your successes, failures, podiums, bonks, eating habits, sleeping patterns, crankiness, naps, long weekend rides and runs, massive amounts of laundry...they essentially did everything you did except race. Thank your coach and training partners for not only their motivation, guidance but ...

Reflection on my first Riverhead Rocks Olympic Distance Triathlon This race was put on my calendar to keep the accumulation of race rust to a minimum between Eagleman 70.3 and Princeton 70.3. I had two goals for this race.  First, have a high quality swim. A high quality swim for me was to swim 1:30/100 or faster.  Secondly, I wanted to run for the entire race. I have been dealing with a more than annoying foot issue since Eagleman and have only been able to " run" a few times.  If I could make it through the run with out any major hiccups it would be a huge confidence booster in my prep for Princeton. The bike racks in transition were packed! There were too many bikes sandwhiched together which more than a few people commented on.  There was more than enough room in transition for a few more racks and I don't believe the event sold sold so I'm not sure why this had to be an issue. Despite the often debated topic of swimming in Riverhead we were assured that...

This past weekend was an exciting weekend for me.  I had a friend's wedding to celebrate as well as some very fun training to tackle.  I had a blast at the wedding on Friday night and was eager to get out Saturday on my bike and crush a race specific session. My original plan was to take off from Rocky Point but on my way there I realized I had forgot my Garmin so I turned around to grab it.  After getting over this slight annoyance I got myself together and decided to head out from Stony Brook. I headed out East on 25A from Stony Brook on a beautiful, warm fall day. The warm up was for 30 minutes slightly below race pace.  The exciting part of the session was the 1:30 at race pace then 30 minutes above race pace.  No sooner had I began to lift my effort than shit hit the fan. I had just made it past Rocky Point and was feeling great.  I had past a few cyclists on my way out there which was to be expected since its a very popular road to cycle on. ...

For the past 3 weeks Matt has been asking me the same question, "Are you feeling any fatigue?"  My response every time has been an emphatic, "NO", followed by some phrase like, "that's all you got, bring it, don't hold out on me, I feel great, Let's goooo, etc, etc"  Looking back I should have asked him why he was asking me that question so often?  Oddly enough when you are feeling great and making progress there is little proper reflection and critique.  In reality one should be looking even closer at those sessions that you nail to the point of over analysis. So taking some of my own advice, here is my reflection of the past two months: For the past two months I have trained hard 7 days a week.  I figure that I have hit 95% of my training goals and without a doubt have improved my fitness and knowledge of triathlon.  Within the past 2 months I have only had 2-3 scheduled days off (I trained anyway) and have only missed 1 training session ...