Queen Killer

In the 8+ years I've been here now (geez I'm old) I can isolate a handful of weekends and put them in a box labeled "best weekends ever." We've had weekends with tons of wins, PRs, and with such variety of events that I've felt they could never be topped - yet somehow, you all find a way. Since my email this week was already long enough, I'll highlight a few of the outstanding performances from last weekend:

Dave Berdan won the Baltimore Marathon

Dave has run this race a few times, with his best ever performance coming in 2011 when he led the first half of the race before fading to 10th in a new PR of 2:21:19. That year, every fiber of my being felt like Dave's decision to run Baltimore was what prevented him from qualifying for the 2012 Olympic Trials. Which is why it's hard for me to understand why he would continue to run this race when there are other faster, better marathons to run. Especially this year, when it was announced there would be no prize money. Dave still ran. He amassed an insurmountable lead and won the race by 8 minutes. He ran 2:30:06.

Let me tell you why Dave Berdan is a champion. I've seen a lot of people believe they could run certain times, maybe qualify for Olympic Trials. They put in hard training, just like Dave does. They went out to a fast race where fast people would be. And, more often than not, they fell off pace. Sometimes they drop out. Most of the time there's an excuse to follow, a reasoning why they didn't run fast. Who else would go to the Baltimore Marathon, a notoriously challenging course, and be willing to run that kind of time on their own. Winning that race meant a lot to Dave. When things don't go his way, he dusts himself off and tries again. Dave is loyal to those who support him, and respects the sport.

Denise Knickman finished 5th

Let's face it, D's not getting any younger. At 29+ years of age (you think I'm crazy posting a woman's age??) she has endured tens of thousands of miles. Like Dave, she loves her hometown race, and regardless of how she's running, if she's able to toe the line, she does. She's been dealing with the effects of time and has struggled with some injuries. Her times have gotten slower across the board. Yet there she is, chugging down Eutaw Street, headed toward a 3:09 marathon. It was a time that was faster than she ran her 2 years ago.

The Relay Teams Crushed

Now, if I'm being totally honest a) this was expected and b) it is just a relay BUT, that doesn't take anything away from the performances. Putting together relay teams can be an...experience. Finding people to commit to a relay, run fast, stay uninjured - it's a challenge. On the men's side, we always know that Howard County wants to win this. They had an injured teammate so Tim Burns was a last minute sub, despite the fact he doesn't run for them. I like seeing that kind of sportsmanship so hats off to Tim. And a fast UMBC/Adventures for the Cure team meant it wouldn't be necessarily a walk in the park for Falls Road. Steve Laurie, who few outside of the Canton Crew and Dusty/Nate really know, was the lead-off. Steve has run 1:04 for the half marathon before, and used to live out in Oregon. He hasn't raced in a long time, but committed to this relay. He ran great, and handed off to Conrad who is seriously on some next level stuff lately. He makes the Black Eyed Peas look so two-thousand and late. He averaged darn near 5 minutes per mile on his own in the front of the race before handing off to Nate. Nate had a strong third leg and handed off to Dustin, who looks to have had the fastest anchor leg of the day, clocking a sub 5 last mile on his 7.5 mile leg. The team won in 2:18:12, marking the first time a relay has crossed the line first.

The ladies' team of Melissa Majumdar, Amy, Carly and Melissa Tanner didn't have as much to sweat. They ended up winning by 24 minutes over the next best women's team. But that didn't stop them from keeping it honest. In an attempt to see if they could outrun the co-ed team, they ran an awesome 2:47:51.

The co-ed team of Julie, Arjun, Sara Breedlove and Ed was out to see if they could take down the very fast Under Armour team which featured just one "co-ed." Arjun has been fighting illness and fatigue for the past month, and his status on the team was questionable. Like an Indian phoenix he rose from the ashes on race morning and managed to run not just a good 2nd leg, but a great 2nd leg. Sara B and Julie each ran phenomenal races, and Ed, whose fitness has really come around recently, blasted the anchor leg to bring them home in 2:38, just a couple of minutes behind UA.

Cory Donovan Runs 3:13 at Chicago

Cory is an excitable guy, which probably makes running a big city marathon just about the worst thing he could do for himself. Big marathons like Chicago, NYC, Boston - they're energy suckers. It's not like Baltimore where you run down to packet pickup at lunch or after work, and show up on race morning 20 minutes in advance after running from your house. No, these behemoths require you to walk around an enormous expo, and entice you with their cool city-vibes. They pack the corrals to the gills and you spend energy weaving through slower people until you find your rhythm. Cory found this out as he ran over 8 minutes for his first mile, but then around 6:30 on his 2nd to try to make up for it.

Cory has sustained an incredibly high volume of miles for the past couple of months. He followed the Hansons training plan but instead of capping at 60ish miles, he cracked 80, and spent a lot of time over 70. That's some big numbers for someone who has never run that much consistently before! But he stayed healthy, and did all the right things when he wasn't running. His workouts were consistent, and they were good. His long runs were terrific.

He had to believe he could break 3:05, otherwise what was all that work for? He managed 35 great kilometers before fading a little over the last 7k, but he ended up with a 3:13. And if that's a "blow up" shoot, I'd take that.

Alyssa Godesky Goes 10:14 at Kona, Places 10th in F25-29

I think that not everyone can fully grasp times when it comes to Ironman, but let me tell you - this is a big freaking deal. We talk about breakthrough breakthroughs, and performing when it matters most on the world's biggest stage, and time after time Alyssa continues to trump her own accomplishments. This was Ironman #9 for Alyssa in 4 years. It's hard to believe this is the same athlete who didn't swim and barely rode before her first IM in 2009. But, it goes to show you what's possible when you dream big, have a plan, and execute it.

Alyssa's first trip to the Big Island was a year ago. She had qualified the previous November at IMAZ after running down the girls ahead of her. She'd made significant improvements in the swim, bringing her time from 1:24 in 2009 to 1:03, was riding stronger and running faster across the board. It's probably fair to say that anyone heading to Kona for the first time has stars in their eyes, and tries to balance competing with enjoying the experience. On that day last year, with very strong winds, Alyssa managed to finish in 11:06. It wasn't her best time, but it was a great race.

Fast-forward 12 months and the amount of work she's put in has been unreal. A number of weekend blocks with over 300 miles on the bike had given her a huge boost in cycling fitness. She podiums in nearly every race she does. She's tested herself and proven that she can handle whatever her coach throws at her. Qualifying for Kona this year was almost a formality; she went to Los Cabos in March, picked up her spot, and then went to Lake Placid in July to see how she'd fare in the overall. There she was 14th, with almost a perfect race - personal bests in each discipline and a new PR of 10:29.

In year 2 at Kona, it was strictly business. Most were saying that the conditions on Saturday were the best they'd been in 30 years - but you still have to race the race, and it's still Hawaii. Swim, 1:04. Much improved from last year. Her transitions are lightning quick. On the bike, with a tailwind, there were points she was pushing 30+mph for miles. Only towards the end of the bike did the headwinds pop up, but she finished with another new (full) PR of 5:24. Now it's run time, and as we were following we got a little worried in the third quarter when results weren't popping up. But then there it was, on the big board. 10:14:07. A 3:38 marathon (PR) to close out what ended up being a 72nd overall female and 10th in her age group day. That number, remember, is in the World. 2013 has been a pretty awesome year for Alyssa, and I'd have to guess 2014 will bring more of the same. Just remember us when you're famous!

There were so many awesome performances from over the weekend, and none of you needs me to tell you that. Continue to set goals for yourself and work to achieve them. You have an automatic support crew in this team, and if you ever need help in your quest, all you've got to do is say the word.

This week, we awarded the Purple Drink Athlete of the Week to Denise. It was, as you can imagine, a brutally difficult decision. I get so excited to follow along on weekends like this, because seeing you all succeed helps keep me motivated to continue on my own journey.

Fortunately, the year is far from over. We still have big races basically from now until Thanksgiving. Please make sure if you're racing you keep me posted so I can remember to include the results!

Alyssa Godesky 25th in Age Group at Hawaii Ironman

Crossing the line just past midnight EST, Alyssa Godesky has etched her name into the history books as the cream of the crop in the sport of triathlon. Alyssa completed the Ironman World Championship in 11:06:08 on what was an exceptionally hot and windy day in Kailua-Kona, Hawaii. She swam 1:08:37, rode 5:48 and ran a 4:02 marathon on pure grit. Her reward? Perhaps the best welcome from the voice of the Ironman, Mike Reilly:

"Here comes Alyssa Godesky, who likes to abbreviate words, tell funny jokes, and she's holding out for the Orioles to win!"

She looked pretty exhausted crossing the line, and rightfully so. On both the men's and women's side, winning times were 15-20 minutes slower than 2011, when near-perfect conditions led to a men's course record and extremely fast marathon times. Today's marathon times were 7-10 minutes slower, on average, for the top pros, with many finding the day too much to handle. Race leader for much of the day, Marino Vanhoenacker, was taken away by ambulance after severe heat exhaustion halfway into the marathon.

For Alyssa, this is her 6th Ironman in the past 3 seasons, and wouldn't you know it - The Baltimore Sun just did a little story on her, which incidentally was published around the same time she finished!

Alyssa Godesky, You Are An Ironman!

The Day Was a Fairytale

Honey Badger Don't Care

And now for the recap on our second PDAW winner, Alyssa Godesky.

Part II: Alyssa Says Aloha to the Big Island

Alyssa, as we've always known her, is a tremendous endurance athlete, having competed in some of the biggest ultra marathons on the continent.  She has also experienced success in the world of multisport, with finishes at Ironman Louisville 2009 and Ironman Wisconsin 2010.  In 2009, she went under 12 hours, in spite of her negligible volume of swimming and cycling.  A year later, with a hair more swimming under her belt, and much more cycling, she went faster, to the tune of an 11:36. 

It was around this time that she began to think seriously about her goals and what she wanted to get out of the sport, and she decided to commit fully to triathlon - after one more January ultra.  She got in touch with multiple-Ironman champion, Hillary Biscay, to coach her, and dedicated every day to doing the training necessary to realize her ultimate goal: qualify for the World Championships in Kona.

The work was far from easy, in fact, it was the hardest training she'd ever done.  There were days when she surely would have preferred running alone in the woods for 6+ hours to the monster swim, bike, and run workouts Hillary was putting her through.  But something crazy happened: she quickly saw results, running PRs in distances from the mile to the half marathon, and found herself on a number of triathlon podiums. 

By the time the summer rolled around, she seemed fit and ready to go for Ironman Louisville.  The training had been perfect, but on race day, something didn't connect right, and her race came apart at the seams on the run.  It was disappointing, but the prospect of Ironman Arizona kept her in the game.

Training for one Ironman a year is tough.  Training for another one, just 11 short weeks after the first, and having those weeks come in the fall, when the weather starts to make you not want to put in the long days, was going to be a real challenge.  Ultimately, the work got done, and once again it was time to toe the invisible line in Tempe Town Lake for her 4th Ironman.

Ironman is a long, strange day.  Like any race, there are times when you feel great, and times when you feel like you're going to die.  You can have a great swim, feel terrible on the bike, but then have a great run.  You can feel off from the start.  You can feel better as the day goes on.  Whatever the case, you have to know how to budget your energy for 8 (if you're a pro) to 17 (if you're the last finisher) hours. 

Alyssa has written her own report(s) on her blog, which I'm sure many of you have read, but it's probably harder for her to realize just how her accomplishment measures up.  Fortunately, while I can't personally race anything well myself, I can put words to performances. 

Alyssa finished 21st out of amateur women, and 44th overall.  Her time (10:45:51) was a 50 minute improvement over her Wisconsin time, with a 1:05:38 swim, 5:45 bike split and an astounding 3:47 marathon that was the fastest run of her 25-29 age group.  In the age group, she finished 2nd.  The bike split is particularly impressive considering she got a flat on the second loop, and lost about 10 minutes getting it fixed. 

But most eye-popping was her run.  If you ever get the chance to compete in an Ironman, you'll see that anybody can put down a good swim and ride, but to string together 26 and some change miles after all that, well that's a different story.  Alyssa came into this race with an open marathon time of 3:31, from Marine Corps 2008.  While she would agree that it's probably a "soft" PR now, it's still just 16 minutes faster than what she ran on Sunday off the bike.  Her previous best Ironman run was 4:05 at Louisville 2009.

At Ironman events, you qualify for Kona solely based on your finishing place within your age group.  In F25-29, there are generally never more than 2 slots, due to the small field size.  It doesn't mean it's any less competitive, necessarily, and Alyssa knew what kind of times would usually place in the group.  Her goal for the year was to go 10:45.  Out of the water in 6th, and holding serve on the bike, that meant she had some serious work to do on the run.  She went to it and was running low 8 minute pace for the first half, before slowing a little.  But when she heard she was 3.5 minutes down on 2nd with 10k to go, she knew she was going to have to go faster.  The good news was that the girl in front of her was fading hard, and Alyssa was still moving great.  With Zero and Claire on course, they were able to count the time in between 2nd and Alyssa, and the gap was closing with every footfall. 

With a mile to go, the lead was 20-30 seconds.  Running on adrenaline, Alyssa hit her NOS button at just the right time, and blazed past the girl inside of a half mile before the finish, and held her off.  She crossed the line and collapsed, every ounce of energy had been left on the course.  Before the brought her to the med tent, she was able to find coach Hillary and let her know that "she got her" and, barring unforeseen circumstance, would pick up the 2nd of 2 Kona slots. 

When the results were confirmed, Alyssa had qualified for the World Championship, and had done so by hitting her time goal of 10:45. 

To qualify for Hawaii is an amazing feat.  To do it by running someone down in the last half mile, now that's EARNING it.  Truly awesome.  And now, armed with speed and confidence, what will 2012 have in store for Alyssa?

Big Start - Big Finish!!

UPDATE: The Ladies Get it Done!!!

Big start to our day with the Philly Marathon & Half Marathon going on today as well out in Arizona with the Ironman.  Here is a quick update:

CHRISSIE RAMSEY runs 1:14:57 to place 7th in the half and QUALIFIES for the OLYMPIC TRIALS!!  (USA!!!  [We got him!])

Alex Battaglino: 2:29:31 in the full.

Out in Arizona Alyssa & Ryan are out of the water.  Per Zero who is on-site Ryan came out in 1:01:30ish and Alyssa was out in 1:05:36.  Alyssa's coach (Hillary Biscay) tweeted that it appears to be a slow day in the water for all Age Groupers.  Onto the bike they go...

UPDATE: ALYSSA GODESKY has a huge PR and completes the Arizona Ironman in 10:45:41 finishing 2nd in the 25-29 Age Group and punches her ticket to Kona!!  According to Claire she moved into 2nd in the final mile of the 140.6 mile race.

Check out the tweets that many folks have provided throughout the day @BMoreRunning

Mahalo

Just found out yesterday that Ed Papa Blaze Jablonski is competing today at Kona, and I know Scott Boylan is as well - so big shout outs to these two real old dudes that are true Ironmen. You can follow along starting at 1pm EST on www.ironmanlive.com.

Passages of Greatness, vol. 1

Here is an excerpt from Ploskonka's Western States race report. As you are all aware by now, Dave had a pretty baller race and was named this week's Purple Drink Athlete of the Week.

Overall, I felt good about my performance. My goals were to put in a solid effort, finish under 24 hours and get the silver sub-24-hour buckle, and not wreck myself before Badwater. While the success of the last one remains to be seen, I definitely accomplished the first two.

I will preface by saying that the Western States course includes 18,000 feet of climb, and 23,000 feet of loss. Because Badwater is the focus race, I didn't do nearly the amount of training on downhills that I did on uphills. As a result, the downhills wrecked my quads, and I wound up speed-walking most of the last 15 miles to come in under 24.

The upside is that my climbing was really strong, and what put me under 24 in spite of being wrecked from all of the downhill. I'm particularly proud of reaching the "Escarpment" aid station in under 36 minutes by fast-hiking, and barely feeling fatigued at the top- this is the first aid station in the race, 3.5 miles from the start, with a climb from about 6,000 feet to nearly 9,000 feet elevation. So clearly, my uphill training on the treadmill paid off.

Ultimately, my finish time of 23 hours, 34 minutes and some-odd seconds was, in some ways, my most painful, hardest-fought finish. With the variability in weather and trail conditions, from 35 degrees and snowy at Emigrant's Pass, to 100 degrees, dry, and sunny in the canyons, not to mention numerous stream/river crossings that pretty much guaranteed that your feet would never dry (I have the blisters to prove it), this race more than any I've run so far tested my environmental conditioning (happy to report that the heat didn't affect me, but running on snow, well, I fell down a lot). This race also had the most downhill of any of these races that I've run, and I've never been a good downhill runner, so it definitely hurt a lot towards the end (although even in that state, I was still able to walk a little over 4 miles per hour on the flats and uphill). Downhill running is definitely something I want to work on in the coming months to take my ultrarunning to the next level.

In addition to Western States, there were some good performances elsewhere, including Dr. J's 1:36:02 half marathon at Seattle Rock n Roll Half, Alex Viana's 3rd place at Brownsville to put him within 3 points of catting up, and Alex Battaglino's 4th place (16:11) finish at Damien's Run 5k in Columbia.

In the world of triathlon, Spider won the Panther Prowl Sprint Tri in Knoxville, while Ben Winterroth took 3rd in the Celebration Sprint in Columbia. Out at Ironman Couer d'Alene, David Lee finished in 11:21:43, while Scott Boylan finished 2nd in 55-59 and picked up a coveted slot to Kona! This is the 2nd year in a row he's qualified (maybe we all just need to get old). Last year he qualified at Louisville so only had a 6 week turnaround, this time he's got 14 weeks.

Final event of the weekend was Baltimore Women's Classic, where our Tuesday Night Track ladies went 2, 3, 5! Megan DiGregorio, Meg McNew and Suzanne Hurst.

But the most important event of the weekend was Hubs of Fury 6: Trail of Beers. We assembled our crew at the Fort and headed to some hole in the wall in Locust Point, where draught beer was but a dollar and a quarter. It was a good stop. Sly Fox was #2, which was cool, and then we went to The Nest on Pratt (it smelled bad). Rolled over to Whistling Oyster in Fells before eating hot dogs next door at Stuggy's, then went to Bartenders (probably the least fun of the night). From there we headed up to Claddagh's and partied til close. Some impressive performances included Eric Benjamin and Spence, who attended their first ever HOF, Denise - who stayed out all night, Steve Wancowicz who showed up towards the end...and Lauren Boof Dennisuk who was MOVING to Michigan the very next morning, yet she was dancing the night away. And finally Pat McLoughlin, who had just gotten back from a vacation to Hawaii and was completely wiped but he made it out. Awesome effort everyone!

Two Days Late, a Buck Short

After a long couple days in ChiTown and Louisville, I'm finally getting around to doing this portion of the weekly results wrapup.

FIRST, take a look at the post below this one from Zero. He has a 20 mile run on tap for TONIGHT and would probably enjoy some company. If you want to meet up with him, holler at him.

SECOND, awesome job to everyone who came out to the workout last night. Really great workout, one of the hardest ones you can do. The weather was perfect for it at least. From here on out we start doing shorter stuff, more turnover related. If you need longer intervals you should probably be getting them from tempo runs/long runs, or other means. Track will now be turnover time, save maybe one workout left.

Celebrate Your Style 5k - Jake and Dr. J swept up the men's and women's titles (and $100) for running this tiny race. Always good to remind people that if you want to win something you've got to work for it. Never assume you can just win a race!

Cascade Crest 100 - our resident ultra dudes, Collin and Dave P, headed out to do this race in the Pacific Northwest. Unfazed by the threat of running into Bigfoot (or more appropriately, his dick) these two harriers ran together at a baller pace for 74 miles. Then the wheels came off. Dave sprained his ankle or something and fell off pace a little, but still finished 25th at 24h45m. Collin had a few more troubles, and wound up spending quite a bit of time laying on the ground at aid stations. But he finished, and did it in 26h55m.

Chicago Triathlon - It was funny that this race was going on the same weekend a few of us were IN Chicago. I signed up for this race last year on the premise that I was going to go with Ryan Schmidt, but when he bailed, so too did I. I just didn't want to go by myself. This year I had no plans to do it, but Spider did. Back in the day he was a winner here, and more than a decade later, showed he still had the forms to come close. He finished 3rd in the International Amateur Division in 2:04:47 or something, with the 6th fastest run of the day (34:11). GRCer Matias Palavecino won the International Elite Amateur Division in 1:56.

Annapolis 10 Miler - This is the biggest race around this time of year, but it's also not very fun. Normally it's a billion degrees or super humid and times are real slow. Well, not the case this year. The winning time was under 50, which is awesome, and Matty Blaze ran 56:31 for 7th. Nina took 5th for the ladaaaays in 1:07:23 and Meg McNew was 15th at 1:09:48.

5k in La Crosse, WI - Now, I'm not sure which one she did, the French Island Lions Club 5k or the Central HS Alumni 5k, but Julia apparently won the overall title (men and women!) in 17:05.8 which is just 0.2 seconds off her all-time track PR! Quite amazing. She is clearly in bangin' shape for this fall.

Ironman Louisville - Brennan and I were fortunate enough to be on hand for this one. If you've never been to a triathlon, you need to see an Ironman. Talk about tough. We were at mile 90 of the bike course and then followed the entire marathon on our bikes and it was just amazing to watch these athletes. All different sizes and abilities, and you wouldn't even think some of them could walk let alone swim, bike and run. Alyssa did pretty awes, finishing 7th in her age group in 11h51m, hitting most of her pre-race objectives AND doing it with a slow leak in her tire the entire race. She had to stop no fewer than 3 times to fill it back up. And Scott Boylan, who ran with us during the winter at Fed Hill once or twice, raced to an 11h36m and 4th place AG finish (55-59) which earned him a slot to Kona! Great job.

Purple Drink Athlete of the Week - there were tons of great performances this week, with the tying essentially of a 5k PR, two 100 mile finishers, and a Kona slot, but like I said when Barf did his first tri: until you've done one, you haven't done one. Alyssa, by virtue of swimming 2.4 miles, riding 112 miles and running 26.2 miles and hearing "Alyssa Godesky, you are an Ironman" for the first time, you earned it this week.