2010 Westchester Medical Center Biathlon - Rico

Event: 2 mile run / 15 mile bike / 2 mile run

Date: June 27th 2010

This was a fun event with several of us racing including, Marc, Mike, Tony, Valerio and doing her very first event, Regina. I would of loved to see Jason in this race also for the trio to once again race but it will have to wait for Greenwich.

I had two goals for the day, first was to beat my brother valerio and second to finish faster than the year before. I was kind of successful in both.

We lined up at the start, I kissed Regina goodbye and wished her luck in her first event. I was very excited for her and feeling proud to see her line up at the start to race rather than with three cameras taking pictures. lol, After that it was on, I followed my brother as he positioned himself, my my main goal being to stay shoulder to shoulder with him. I anticipated him running a 7:15-7:30 pace but he took off much faster. I managed to keep him in my sights but i was not shoulder to shoulder. He pushed me to run my fastest run split of 6:51 placing 54/244 place, blowing away my last year split of 7:57. As I ran into transition, I saw my brother running out with his bike. I had some work to do now to gain that time back. I had a very fast transition gaining 13 position in transition and started the bike in 41st place.

I hammered on the bike, My goal was to average 20mph and catch up to my brother. I felt really comfortable on my Tri bike, every time I race with her I feel more and more confident. It took me allot longer to catch my brother than i thought, I finally got him with about 3 miles left to go. I exchange a few "kind" words with him and than passed him by. Goal was to put at least 30-45 seconds on him plus transition time. (my brother is not very speedy in transitions). I averaged 21.5mph, beating my estimates and gaining another 15 positions putting me in 26th place overall.

I have learned from my past mistakes to not go out sprinting, I kept a pace for the first few minutes of the second run at a steady pace to get my heart rate back in check. Once I started feeling stable I began pushing again, i kept looking back for my brother but he was not insight, I was feeling confident. I probably slowed down my running pace by constantly looking back but i was surprised he was still out of sight. I finished the run with an 8:02 pace and lost 3 positions for an overall finish of 29th place out of 244 participants

So you ask so what happened to my brother? well he ended up making a wrong turn on the bike and finished with a DNF. Very disappointed, realty is I probably would have lost but It sure would of been a more interesting finish.

Overall i was very happy with my performance and year over year improvement. I improved in each of the legs of the race including transitions from the previous year as you can see below.

2010 2009

Run 1 0:13:42 0:15:56

T 1 0:00:48 0:01:29

Bike 0:41:52 0:47:59

T 2 0:00:38 0:01:05

Run 2 0:16:05 0:16:26

Overall 1:13:05 1:22:54

Congrats to all , everyone had a great race and everyone improved from the previous year. Special congrats to Regina who had an awesome first race and blew away our estimated times. I anticipated a finish for her of 1hr 40 min, She finished in 1hr 32min beating Tony's time from last year!!!!.

Mike K had an amazing 3rd place finish, with the two leaders (brothers) having drafted off each other on the bike, in my book Mike won the overall race!!!! Tony destroyed his time from the previous year and had some very impressive splits. Marc well not sure where he found his speed running 7:30 splits and biking only 30 seconds behind me. He has been keeping his speed a secret, well the secret is out and I will now be watching Marc carefully as he is well capable of taking me on in one of these races.

Thanks

Rico

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Wyckoff Franklin Lakes Triathlon

This was my first real tri of the season. It was a .5 mi swim, 17 mi bike and 5 mi run. Not a sprint, but not quite an oly either. It was a good size race with 805 individual finishers and 78 relay teams.

The race started early, I got there about 5:40 am, my swim wave went off at 6:51 (or something like that). As you may know, I am not a very good swimmer (huge understatement), but I had a couple of decent swim workouts just prior to this race so I had some confidence going into the swim, something I never had before. The confidence was that I would be able to complete the course comfortable, not necessarily quickly.

We were the third wave off. The water was very warm (which I like). It took me a bit to get into a rhythm, but once I got my breathing under control I felt pretty good. I was able to spot the buoys pretty well, and managed to swim in a fairly straight line. I also stayed to my right so that as I was breathing (to my left) I could spot the other swimmers. This was very helpful because on more than one occasion I was able to see another swimmer pop his head up to sight the course, I just then tried to follow him for a while.

Finished the swim without feeling completely drained like all my other prior swims, so I consider it a huge improvement. Total swim time (including approx 150 yard run to the timing mat) 22:46 - a 2:35/100 pace and 637th overall (out of the 805 individuals). I am just surprised i beat 168 people.

My t1 was relatively quick, just got off the wetsuit and threw on my shoes and helmet and I was off. I had the 40th fastest t1.

I felt good on the bike, this is my only "strength" if you want to call it that. I pushed pretty hard right from the beginning. The course was relatively flat with some rollers. I just cranked the best I could the whole way, started to actually feel stronger around mile 10. Finished the course in 48:26 - 21.1 mph, good enough for 58th overall.

T2 was a little slower as I took the time to put socks on, but still pretty quick for me.

The run started a bit rough, felt like I left too much on the bike. It took me a little while to get my legs, the course wasn't really flat at all, just little ups and downs (nothing crazy). Right about the halfway point I started to fell good, got my breathing under control and was feeling strong, right when that happens I hit a pretty steep hill. Maybe the hill wasn't as steep as I think it was but right at that moment it was not something I wanted to see. I just kept grinding, pushing as best i could without blowing up. After that hill the course was mostly downhill or flat. I was hoping to finish with a pace that was sub 9:00, i didn't know the course and didn't really expect the ups and downs (and the one hill). I didnt meet my goal but I finished in 45:33 - a 9:07 pace and 420th overall. A middle of the pack run is something I am actually happy about.

I finished in 2:00:32, which was 33 seconds slower than the goal I had set for myself. But all told I am very happy with that result, it was good enough for 262nd overall, just making it into the top 1/3.

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Queens Biathlon Race Report - Jason

My fifth race of the year was the Queens Biathlon on May 16th.  I’ve wanted to do this race since I watched Rico do it in 2005.  Now with my brother living in Queens, this was the perfect opportunity to try this race.  The course is a 3 mile run followed by 18 miles on the Cross Island Expressway and wrapping up with a repeat of the run course.  Here is a map of the bike course:

Weather was ideal for racing with temperatures in the upper 50s, rising to the low 60s with increasing amounts of sun.  Winds were northwesterly which meant a headwind on the way out on the bike and tailwind on the way back.

 

Some shots of setting up in transition and waiting for the starting gun:

   

The run course leaves down a steep incline for the first 1/3 mile then heads onto the old Vanderbilt Highway which is now a rail trail. 

This is crucial, as unlike other rail trails it was not flat.  The course steadily built elevation to the turnaround.

 

My first run was pretty good, averaging under my target pace at 8:43/mile. 

Here are some shots in T1 (the guy in green was DQ’d for using headphones):

Now it was time to fire up the engine for the part of the race I was really looking forward to – the bike on the Cross Island Expressway.  It’s really incredible that they are able to close down an entire highway in NYC.

 

Heading out:

I really drilled it on the bike as hard as I could.  It was a struggle to keep it over 20mph into the wind, but I was able to maintain closer to 25mph on the way back.  You can see this by the big increases in the blue line on each lap.  It was a two loop course with a half mile hill that gains about 175 vertical feet.  I made up a lot of time on other competitors on the hill and I also continued my streak of not being passed on the bike.  I averaged nearly 20.6 mph which was fastest in my age group.

Heading into T2:

Now it was going to be about holding on for the second run.  These shots are leaving T2 and heading down the steep hill – this really put the burn on the quads after the bike.

I tried to settle into a rhythm as quickly as possible and with the exception of the uphills I was able to keep a steady pace. 

Crossing the finish line:

 

Considering the amount of running in duathlons, I have to be happy with a top 10 place in my age group and the fastest bike split. 

 

Thanks to Brandon for coming out to support and take pictures.

 

Final stats:

	Time	Distance	Pace	AG Rank	AG %	Overall Rank	Overall %
# Entries				19		148
Run 1	26:40.2	3 miles	8:43/mile	13	68%	98	66%
T1	0:59.6			7	37%	46	31%
Bike	52:29.4	18 miles	20.57 mph	1	5%	22	15%
T2	0:47.2			8	42%	35	24%
Run 2	27:46.7	3 miles	9:13/mile	12	63%	85	57%
TOTAL	1:48:38.7			10	53%	58	39%

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