Tobay Triathlon Race Report [August 28, 2016]

Posted on by Anthony

After racing Ironman 70.3 Steelhead just two weeks ago and taking FIVE days off the bike, I needed an event to help jump start my next training block for the IRONMAN World Championships on October 8. Since coming back to NYC, I was able to knock out two 108-mile training rides and load up on a respectable amount of training stress. And then on Wednesday, Andrew and I spoke about the upcoming Tobay Triathlon and how much fun we had back in 2014 when we both raced and won our respective age groups. On Thursday, I rode the Gran Fondo New Jersey course, covering 8,000 feet of climbing over 108-miles. By Friday afternoon, I had decided to give the Tobay triathlon another go around and signed up on Saturday afternoon.

Race Day – Sunday, August 28, 2016

I arrived at Oyster Bay around 6am. The race didn’t start until 7:30, so I had plenty of time to get my transition area set up, body-marked, and warmed up. By 6:30, I was all set so I did a quick 2-mile jog around the Main Street area; and of course, a post run selfie!


Swim: 800m, Actual: ~1100m

The swim course, historically, has been either very long or very short. The course this time around was about 300 meters longer than advertised. No big deal – racers get their money’s worth and I got more time to thrash around in my Zone3 Vanquish wetsuit. I exited the water between 16-17 minutes and since this year’s race used disposable timing chips, your time would not be recorded if you covered the timing chip with your wetsuit. Not wanting to lose my ankle timing chip, I covered it with my wetsuit. Would you cover the timing chip?


Bike: 15km

If I had to estimate, I was probably between 15th to 20th-place entering and exiting transition. I quickly boarded my CEEPO Viper and went to town on my legs, pedaling as hard as I could manage. The best part of the bike course was the approach and climb up Moore’s hill where I could feel the fatigue of this week’s [23-hour] training catching up to me. Between 10-11km of the bike, I had caught Brendan Offer – his Felt IA is easy to recognize. I made the pass on a slight incline and when I eased off at the crest of the hill, Brendan zipped right by me. I kept my distance and knowing that the last portion of the bike course was a bit bumpy, I let Brendan go ahead so I could best avoid the potholes. 24:10, race-best bike split.


Run: 5km

As I dismounted my bike, Andrew spotted me and let me know that I was in 4th-position. I racked my bike and got my run gear on, and then forgot where the run exit was…ha!

I could see Brendan pretty much the entire time on the run as he was only 30-40 seconds ahead. As much I would love to reel him in, our run speed are very comparable. Luckily, we both passed one guy along the run course, putting me in 3rd position. At the halfway turnaround near Planting Fields, Tom’s lead was about 3 minutes on me, with Brendan about 30 seconds ahead.

After the turn, it was mostly downhill towards the finishing-line. I don’t remember if I sprinted towards the finishing-line, but I was able to clock an 18:11 run-split; good enough to hang onto 3rd place overall.

Total Time: 60 minutes 37 seconds

Thank you Runner’s Edge, Jose Lopez, Long Island Tri Club and GLIRC for a fun racing experience. This race was exactly what I needed to boost my morale to keep up my IRONMAN training. Congrats to all the finishers!

top 10 Men & Women

Next race will be TOUGHMAN Championships in Harriman State Park, NY.

 

IRONMAN 70.3 Steelhead Race Report [August 14, 2016]

Posted on by Anthony

Another month, another race. After a breakthrough performance last month at IRONMAN 70.3 Muncie & securing my spot at the 2017 IRONMAN 70.3 World Championships, I took a few days to recharge and recover before starting another training block.

Christina and I spent a few days training around the flatlands and cornfields in central Indiana before heading to Benton Harbor on Saturday. We arrived at Jean Klock Park around 2pm for race packet pickup – the registration line was incredibly long but thanks to our All World Athlete status, we skipped the line and breezed through registration in 10 minutes.

Afterwards, we did a short shakeout swim in Lake Michigan. Water temps were much warmer than I had expected…the one previous time I had stepped foot in Lake Michigan was during my 2010 trip to Chicago where water temps were in the low 60’s.

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Little did I know, the warm water temperatures would result in a non-wetsuit legal swim portion of the race.

Race Day – Sunday, August 14th, 2016

Swim: non-wetsuit announcement meant that I wouldn’t have the chance to swim in my Zone3 Vanquish wetsuit. Being in Wave #5, I started 16 minutes after the first wave along with the relay team swimmers. I lined up on the left side of the group in an attempt to avoid the thrashing and kicking of other swimmers that populate the middle and inside lane (right-hand side). Within a few minutes of the swim, I had found some feet to follow and decided that it was a comfortable pace. I spent the rest of the swim in the slipstream and reached the beach in 39 minutes and 38 seconds.

Although this is my slowest swim since last year’s Ironman 70.3 Eagleman, I had exited the water feeling very relaxed. Drafting for nearly the entirety of the 1.2-mile swim portion of the race proved to have saved tons of energy.

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Transition #1: Slapped on my Rudy Project aero helmet AND put on bike gloves for the very first time in a triathlon!

Bike: The legs were feeling super strong in the first hour of the bike, producing 245 watts of normalized power at 26mph. The roads were super bumpy and I was relieved to have worn my bike gloves. However, I had dropped one of my water bottles early on and had to grab a bottle at an aid station with about 10 miles left. The second hour of the bike was a slight fade, dropping my average power down to 241 watts for the 56-mile split. To my surprise, I was able to better my 70.3 Muncie time of 2:12:14 down to 2:11:59, a personal-best in time & power.

 

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Transition #2: Quickly racked my bike and sat down to clean off the sand covering my feet before putting on my New Balance RC1600 racing flats.

Run: There was one goal – to run even mile splits. Once out of transition, there were five other guys immediately up the road for me to pin down. I passed those guys within the first couple of miles and once I started the 2nd loop of the run, there was a lot more company. Nothing out of the ordinary happened as I ticked off each mile. With about two kilometers to go, I picked up the effort towards the finish, gave Christina a high-five as she passed me going the other way. The 13.1-mile run resulted in 1:27:03.

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Total race time of 4:23:44, a 2nd personal best finishing time in the half ironman distance.

Coming out of the water 29th-place in the Men’s 25-29 age group, the consistent bike and run combination ultimately placed me in 2nd-place [& 14th-place Overall].

Despite the unseasonably warm water conditions and losing a water bottle through the bumpy roads of south-western Michigan, IRONMAN 70.3 Steelhead provides an enjoyable race experience. Did I mention that they had CHOCOLATE MILK at the finish? Chug!!!

Thank you to all my sponsors, friends and family.

Special shoutout to Christina’s parents for being our race ‘sherpas’!

Thank you for reading 🙂

IRONMAN 70.3 Muncie Race Report [July 9, 2016]

Posted on by Anthony

Racing and completing the 2016 edition of Ironman 70.3 Muncie, Indiana definitely puts it on top as one of my favorite races. Christina and I checked in on Friday, the day before the race, and was greeted by Chris, one of my Team Chocolate Milk teammates. We did a short swim in Prairie Creek Reservoir to test out the water temperature followed by check-in at the Ironman expo adjacent to the reservoir.


Race Day – Saturday, July 9th, 2016

Since we stayed in Indianapolis, our wake up call was at 3:45. We were in no rush since we calculated the drive and also allocated the expected parking delays near the race venue. By 5:30am, we had arrived at Prairie Creek Reservoir, ate breakfast, and headed towards transition for final preparations.

I often joke around about IRONMAN’s All World Athlete program, because essentially, it is a “frequent flier program” and not an accurate indication of personal performance on a global level. HOWEVER, due to the “AWA” program and my current ‘GOLD’ status, Christina and I were awarded with low race numbers; 121 and 31, respectively. Low race numbers meant that we racked our bikes in the very first row of transition, making it easy to remember our location. Go AWA!

The first swim wave was at 7am and my wave was 19 minutes arrears. Water temps were over the wetsuit limit so a slower time was expected. The first half of the swim was quite pleasant – the yellow buoys were easy to sight and I felt in control. With the sun directly in our sights on the way back to shore, it was challenging to sight my line. All I hoped was to see one of the buoys every few minutes to see how much I veered off course. The result – 38 minutes 10 seconds…and 30th (yes, 30th!!!!) out of the water in my age group. That is certainly not the result I was hoping for, but there was still 69 miles of racing left…

I quickly ran through transition as fast as I could, slapped on my Rudy Project Wing 57, grabbed the Ceepo Viper and went to work! The goal was to average about 240 watts for the 56 mile bike ride. With only about of 1000 feet of total elevation gain, the bike course was super fast. For me, I mainly focused on staying relaxed, while targeting riders up the road. The first hour of the bike was a little softer than the second half, but it proved to be a successful tactic, resulting in a personal best 56-mile, 2:12:14 bike split…and 4th in my age group.

Running out of transition, I knew that there weren’t many guys ahead of me; maybe 10-15 guys at the most. The goal for the run was to execute an even effort; no looking at the watch, no heart rate monitor; just feel. By mile 2, I passed a guy in my age group, putting me in 3rd position. The legs were feeling strong but mainly because I kept on reminding myself to keep my cadence up. If the run cadence falls, so would everything else. According to the tracker, I passed the halfway mark of the run averaging 6:15 min/mile pace. From the turn around, I kept my effort as consistent as possible. I saw Christina at around mile 9 and she was looking strong and focused.

My secondary goal was to make it to the Mile 11 marker before emptying the tank. By mile 11.5, I could see another guy up the road and didn’t know if he was in my age group, so there was only one option – pass him and hope he doesn’t have a response to the pass. By mile 12.3, at the last aid station, I made my move and didn’t look back until I crossed the finishing line with a personal best 13.1-mile run time of 1:24:19.

[Yes, that guy I passed at mile 12.3 was in my age group.]

Total race time – 4:18:23, 10th overall, 2nd in Males 25-29 category.

I was overjoyed by this performance – a personal best finish time in the half ironman, 56-mile bike split and 13.1-mile run off the bike.

Aside from the slower than expected swim split, my bike and run combo proved to be on form. There is still a lot of fine tuning to be done before I can consider myself ready for IRONMAN Kona in less than three months. 

Both Christina and I qualified and claimed our spots at the 2017 IRONMAN 70.3 World Championships on September 9th and 10th at Chattanooga, Tennessee. 


Thank you to CEEPO Bikes, ISM Seat, Team Chocolate Milk, Honey Stinger & Brickwell Cycling! Thank you Chris & Molly Day for the hospitality, Mr. & Mrs. Lauer for hosting and race sherpa, and Katie for driving my bike back to NYC! 

Next up is IRONMAN 70.3 Steelhead on August 14th, where Christina and I will be looking to improve on both our results. 


Thanks for reading!

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