Category: Race Report

post race analysis

Revolution3 Quassy Olympic triathlon [June 4, 2016]

Posted on by Anthony

Hello again!

This was my 3rd consecutive year racing in Quassy, Connecticut. Instead of contesting the half ironman race on Sunday, I opted for the olympic triathlon on Saturday followed by the half aquabike (1.2 mile swim & 56-mile bike, NO run). For the 2016 edition of the race, the professional men field returned to compete for a $15,000 prize purse. My goal was to see the time differentials between the professionals and me.

Here we go!

On Saturday [June 4, 2016], Katie and I rolled into transition with plenty of time to spare. Due to fog, the buoys were not visible, so the start times were delayed by half an hour. The pro men went off and then five minutes later, I was splashing in Lake Quassapaug.

Naturally, my lack of swimming resulted in a 26:49, 1500-meter swim. Good thing I had my super comfortable Zone3 Vanquish wetsuit – it rolled off with ease in transition and after a 85 seconds, I was on the bike and ready to hammer away.

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Within a couple of minutes on the bike course, I was hitting my target power output while feeling in control of my breathing and overall exertion. The faster swimmers were already way up the road so I had plenty of targets to pin down and overtake. The 25.8 mile course (~41.5km) took 1:09:04 to complete, good for the 3rd fastest amateur bike split of the day!

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The second transition took 43 seconds and with only 10km of running left, I wanted to catch as many guys as I could. Mile 1 of the run was conservative, especially since it was primarily downhill – you do not want to fry your run legs in the first 10% of the run! After two miles, I was able to cruise past two guys. On the approach to mile three, I passed another and after mile four, I reeled in Eric Florio, a superb swimmer who was 7 minutes ahead of me out of the water! Mile four to five was downhill and the last mile was uphill…a lonely two miles where there was no one in sight to catch. And after 38 minutes and 46 seconds on my feet, I finished in 2:16:47. This was good for 12th overall amateur and 5th in the M25-29 age group.

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The Quassy olympic distance course was a humbling experience.

It kept me honest on both the bike and run; to perform conservatively and saving some ‘oomph’ for the kick up the final climb and over the finishers line…and then into an ice bath!

The swim is slowly coming together and needs the most work – good thing I have about 4 months until Ironman Kona. My cycling and running are both back on form, but there is always room for incremental improvements. It was an awesome race weekend.

Thank you Zone3 wetsuits, CEEPO bikes, Brickwell Cycling & Multisports, ISM Seat, Team Chocolate Milk and Honey Stinger.

 

On to the next one!

Just keep swimming!

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Kinetic Half Triathlon Race Report (5.14.16)

Posted on by Anthony

After this past weekend, I can finally say that triathlon season has begun! Going into this race weekend, I had laid down a very high volume block of cycling, slightly neglecting swimming and running. Can you blame me though? I love riding my CEEPO Viper!

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On Friday (the 13th, AHH!), Christina and I went out for a shakeout ride

in Arlington and did a quick loop at Hains Point in Washington D.C. We tried to avoid the rain and headed out as early as possible, but still got rained on halfway into the ride. No worries – I had planned on completely cleaning and tuning up the bikes after the ride anyway. This was the first time we went out on our matching CEEP2016-05-13 18.51.07O Vipers. 
After the ride, we headed down to Spotsylvania, and after 2.5 hour of traffic on the I-95, we arrived. The house we were staying at was next to Lake Anna, so we did a swim before dinner. Good news – my wetsuit still fits!

Race Day – Saturday, May 14th, 2016

Virginia-Maryland Triathlon Series, the organizers of the Kinetic Half, offered all athletes the option of race-day packet pickup, which is an excellent selling point for their race series.

We arrived at Lake Anna State Park by 6am, grabbed our packets and set up our spot in transition. By 6:30am, everything was ready to go!

At 7am, I started with about 95 other guys in the first wave. 36 minutes later, and swimming very comfortably, I entered transition with a couple of other guys. With the swim done, I quickly mounted my CEEPO and went to work!

The bike course was rolling terrain throughout. We went out 10 miles, before doing two, twenty mile loops. Overall, I felt very comfortable on the bike. Power output was roughly 3.5 watts/kg, which was right on target. The ride was my favorite part of the day, especially since I was able to sneak under the 2 hr 20 min mark at 2:19:26, giving me the 3rd fastest bike split on the day.
A 60 second transition and I was off on the run. The course was 3 loops of rolling hills, totaling to just under 800 feet of climbing. On the first loop of the run, I was able to manage a 6:45 average mile pace. I was content was that pace2016-05-14 12.32.32 but my legs would disagree, as my second and final loops were significantly slower, as I dropped to 7:04 average mile pace for the 13.1 miles (1:32:45 run split).

 

I crossed the finishers line at 4:31:42, setting a half ironman triathlon personal best.

On the day, I finished 11th overall and 3rd in the Men’s 25-29 age group.

Post finish, I quickly headed back to transition to grab my phone (not to make a call, but to take photos!) Knowing that Christina was going to finish soon, I briefly rinsed off in the lake – the 65 degree water was super refreshing! And shortly after, Christina crossed the finishers line in

4 hrs 51 min, claiming the top women’s spot with her first win of the season (and personal best!)

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2016-05-14 14.19.32The Kinetic Half was an eye opening experience since it clearly showcases my strengths and weaknesses at this point in the season.

 

 

Next Up: Rev3 Quassy Olympic (June 4th)

 

 

Thank you to all my sponsors and everyone out cheering at Lake Anna State Park!

Boston Marathon Weekend “Race-Vacation”

Posted on by Anthony

This past weekend marks the longest time I have spent in Boston! I was there from Friday through Wednesday, highlighted by all the touristy stops, the B.A.A. 5km on Saturday, over 180 miles of cycling over 4 days, and, of course, spectating the 120th edition of the Boston Marathon.

Friday was very relaxing. I picked up Christina from Logan airport in the morning, then we spent the rest of the day checking out the sights and sounds of Boston. We did an easy 4 mile run and checked out the marathon expo. In the evening, we met up with Karen and Sean for Regina’s Pizza in Allston. It was great to catch up with them!

On Saturday, we walked from the hotel to Boston Commons for the B.A.A. 5km. The 2.5 mile walk took us just under 40 minutes. I’ve never warmed up for a 5km by walking 2.5 miles, but you know what they say…”always try something new on race day!”

[If you follow me on Instagram, you might remember my collision with a car on March 31st – the event left me with abrasions, bruises and a very tender right LCL. I went from running 50 miles a week to virtually 0 for two weeks. A few days before the 5km, the knee pain had subsided, giving me hope that I can restart running again. But was racing a 5km a good idea?]

In short, the 5km went well with a finish time of 17:31. That put me 96th overall in a field filled with a lot of fast professional runners.

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We spent the rest of Saturday doing touristy things, checked out Quincy Market, went to the Sam Adams brewery tour and eventually had dinner at Stephanie’s on Newbury.

On Sunday, I woke up super early and headed out for a 3 hour bike ride out to Dover. Saw some turkeys on my way out and then some more on my way back to Boston. The ride got pretty chilly in Dover, with temps dipping down to 27 degrees. I was back at the hotel before 8am for a quick shakeout run with Christina. Good thing she was having breakfast so I had a generous window of time to shower and prep for the run.

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Later that day, we did more touristy things – checked out Quincy Market a couple times, visited the New England Aquarium, and walked along the Freedom Trail.

Marathon Monday!

We got up nice and early and was out of the hotel by 6:30. We got shuttled to Boston Commons where we met up with Team Chocolate Milk teammates Dougin and Jill. They all got on the cheese buses around 7:30…so that left me with 4+ hours to kill before I could spectate the race.

I jogged back to the hotel – a quick 2.5 miles from the Commons. I got on the bike and did a quick 47 mile ride out to Concord. I had a route planned for 50 miles but once I got to Concord, there was a parade going down one of the main streets so I had to take some side roads to avoid the crowds. In the end, I still got some good sweet spot efforts on the bike and was back at the hotel before 11am.

I spent the rest of the day spectating and tracking the marathoners. It was an unusually warm day so everyone that I was tracking had faded on the latter part of the marathon (which allowed me more time to cheer along the course). Karen and I met up and cheered at Coolidge Corner. Christina was wearing a pink hat so that was the item to spot. And to our surprise, there were a lot of pink hats! Nonetheless, Christina passed Coolidge Corner (mile ~24) and looked strong. Later on we met up at the finish and had dinner & post-dinner night caps with Dougin, Jill and Christina’s parents.

All in all, I had a very enjoyable and relaxing time in Boston and Cambridge. I got to spend some quality to friends and experience the glory of the 120th running of the Boston Marathon. I look forward to running the 121st Boston Marathon next year! 

 

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