RaceAwesome Spring Duathlon [4.10.2016] 

Posted on by Anthony

First off, thank you RaceAwesome, volunteers and race director Corey for putting an excellent event to start off the multisport season on Long Island.

 

ring!!!
 
After racing the 2015 RaceAwesome Spring Duathlon, I was hooked! The people are super friendly and everyone seems to have had a great time. Also, this quick sprint duathlon allows me to chisel away at some off-season rust.

This was a quick race so I’ll keep it consistent with a relatively short report.

Race Day: Sunday April 10, 2016

Venue: Cedar Creek Park, Seaford NY

I got up at 6am and 5 seconds later, I received a good luck morning call from the girl. Lucky me!

Conditions were chilly this morning, with temps just above freezing so I decided to wear a thermal base layer under my race kit. I was out of the house before 7am and arrived at Cedar Creek in less than 30 min. Race day pickup was smooth and the volunteers were full of energy! I quickly racked the bike in transition, then did a 10 min jog to loosen up the legs.

After the National Anthem and Corey’s race instructions, we were off at 8:30am. I spent the first portion of the run pacing in 2nd position. The kid in front of me was speedy so it was delightful to have him set the pace. 

beautiful day for a run!

We hit transition at the same time. I slapped on my Rudy Wing 57 and bolted out of transition for the 4-loop, 11 mile ride. There’s wasn’t much trouble getting into my shoes, except when my wool socks stuck to the velcro strap of the triathlon shoes.

(Note to self: don’t wear wool socks for races with flying mounts)

After the first mile and first turn around (which you complete 4 times), I was able to spot 2nd and 3rd place, probably about 30 seconds arrears. I kept the wattage output just above 90% of my maximum, which dialed in my heart rate at just a few clicks under 180 bpm. After the 4th turnaround, I had widened the gap to around 2 minutes.

  
Corey was my bike lead on the run and it was cool to follow his Electra Cruiser bicycle. We shared a few words and after halfway into the run, it was clear that I would break the tape. I cruised towards the finishers chute and finished in 44 min 5 seconds. Sweet!  First multisport race of the season in the books, along with my first win of the season.

  
I take every race as a learning experience – so what did I learn today?

  • Velcro & Wool = adhesion
  • Race smart – know when to dig deep and when to ease off (ever so slightly)
  • [more of a reminder] to Smile – it’s contagious! 

Thank you to all of my sponsors and supporters! 

 

United Airlines NYC Half Marathon [2016]

Posted on by Anthony

Just 8 days removed from a 1:17:30 personal best at the Rock n Roll Washington DC 1/2 Marathon last week, I was able to bounce back quite quickly with some high intensity training. Or maybe it was all the chocolate milk I chugged. Either way, going into Sunday’s NYC Half Marathon, I was confident that I could better my result from Washington DC. After all, Harlem hill is much shorter than the Rock Creek Climb.

 

On race day, I woke up at 4am, out of the house at 4:30, picked up Karen, scooped up Derek, and carpooled into Manhattan. We landed in Chinatown a 5:30, hopped on the uptown 6 train to Central Park. Derek and I arrived at the UPS baggage trucks around 6:15, so we had plenty of time to chat with other running friends.

NYC Half Tip: When driving to the NYC Half, park your car in Chinatown so you can hit up some delicious Chinese cuisine post race!

By 7am, we we had passed the security gates into Central Park. We jumped into the corral at 7:15, with only 15 minutes before the start of the race.

After the instructions from NYRR’s Peter Ciaccia, we were off!

In the first mile, I was able to stay on Derek’s heels. The plan was to stay with him throughout the race, but even the best laid plans are still subject to outside variables…one of those variables, my legs. After descending down Harlem hill, I had lost Derek by a few seconds. In fact, I lost contact with the large pack. Where were my legs? My turnover felt consistent but the pack kept on creeping away.

After running through 5km in 17:48, I knew that it would be tough to keep the pace for the next 16km. Harlem Hill always seems longer on race day and after getting to the top of it, the legs were screaming. I put my head down and tried to extend my stride as I hit the rolling hills throughout the west side of the park. According to NYRR, I hit the 10km mark at 36 minutes flat.

After leaving Central Park, I found a couple of guys to tuck behind…but that did not last long by the time we got to the West Side Highway. For the next few miles, I tried my best to keep the rhythm going. It was hard. I was getting passed. My legs were shot. And my form was definitely starting to fade. The 3rd 4km split was an 18:11, which clocked me in at 54:11 for 15km. Another 5km in 18:39 got me to 20km at 1:12:50. At that point, I knew that a sub 1:17:30 was in the bank, but was sub 1:17?

Thank you Tom F. (Dashing Whippets RT) for taking this shot of me running down the West Side Highway.

2016-03-20 22.47.43

So, it came down to how fast I could run 1.1km…4 minutes?

Well, 4 minutes and 1 second.

So after a tough 13 miles… from getting dropped in Central Park, running up Harlem Hill alone, trying again and again to regain my rhythm, I sprinted as fast I could down the finishers chute and crossed the tape in 1:16:54. A personal best (for now).

Thank you Central Park Track Club – New Balance! It was fun to see everyone on course!

This was certainly not the race I wanted to execute. Anytime I positive split the second half of a running race, when I should be kicking it into overdrive, is a disappointing and mentally challenging, uncontrolled part of the game. But like I said up above, even the best plans can change in an instant. This race has helped teach me how to adapt to factors that I can control and to roll with the ones that I cannot.

Thanks for reading!!

…for the next few weeks, I will be enjoying some more cycling (and a little less running), as I transition into multisport and triathlon season.

 

See you out there & Happy Easter!!!

Rock n Roll Washington DC 1/2 Marathon [2016]

Posted on by Anthony

Do you remember when the Rock n Roll DC Marathon and 1/2 Marathon was called Rock n Roll USA? And do you remember when Team Chocolate Milk used to be called Team REFUEL? Names have changed over time, but the amount of fun I had this past weekend was nothing short of extraordinary. Thank you Team Chocolate Milk for the continued support as one of my sponsors, and to the cool peeps at Rock n Roll for executing high quality running races!

Going into the weekend, I had logged a pretty significant amount of training stress, highlighted by my Wednesday morning Queens College track workout and my Thursday 3-hour bike ride and 1 hour run. Since the race was on a Saturday, I wanted to give myself at least 24 hours of rest, in the form of stretching and foam rolling. Luckily, the traffic on Friday afternoon was not as horrific (plus $2.05 premium gas in NJ) as expected and had reached the Washington DC area by 9pm.

 

Race Day – March 12, 2016

We arrived at the InterContinental Willard Hotel around 6:30am for a Team Chocolate Milk meetup. It was fun to briefly catch up with Lisa, Erika, Steve, Julia, and Hugh. I also met some new teammates, including Trevor, an ultra-marathoner! (the marathon is his warmup!) By 7am, Christina and I dropped off our bags, took a DC Triathlon Club pic, and then it was off to the start line!

One of the greatest things about Rock n Roll races is the ability to sneak into my assigned corral at the very last minute, allowing racers to maximize their warmup time and minimize the gap between warmup and race-start. The race started at 7:30am and we were off!!!

Since I do not take mile splits on my watch, my mile splits are generated from Strava’s race analysis. I clocked a 5:58 for the first mile. It was comfortable and controlled. Miles 2 and 3 featured an out and back on Memorial Bridge and I hit 5:42 and 5:44, respectively. This is where I found my rhythm as I found two other racers to tuck behind. One of the guys I had tucked behind was at least 6′ 3″tall, which I think greatly helped block any headwind! (Thank you!)

Miles 4 and 5 were 5:45 and 5:59. Tall dude and the other runner (who wore a DC Triathlon jersey), cruised our way towards the Rock Creek climb. This was the greatest elevation gain during the race, so I made my greatest effort to stick with the guys. It was awesome to see volunteers lined up along the climb with American flags, cheering us on – that definitely helped push me up the hill! At the top of the hill was the 10km mark, where I hit 37 minutes flat.

Miles 6 through 12 were: 5:51, 6:20 (the climb!), 5:54, 5:50, 5:41, 5:49, and 5:58 (small climb). Both DC Tri guy and tall guy had led the way through Mile 12. At that point, I knew that I was going to set a personal best. I also knew that the last mile was mostly downhill towards the Armory. At around 12.25 miles, I made a small kick to separate myself from the guys. There was no response and my legs still felt good so I pushed a little more and was able to hit a 5:42 for mile 13. I finished with a personal best of 1:17:30, good for 34th overall out of nearly 18,000 finishers.

After crossing the line, I headed straight to the Chocolate Milk tent to chug some low-fat chocolate milk! Delicious!

 

 

Special thanks to the tall guy who was effectively my pacer and to Alastair (DC Tri guy) for helping out too!

This makes 3 personal bests in 3 races – 10km, half marathon, & marathon. Next up is the NYC 1/2 Marathon on March 20th.

Do you think I will be going 4 for 4 personal bests?

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