Bring Out the Big Balloons

Saturday was Graham's 25th birthday, and as Brennan pointed out, boy have things changed since most of the rest of us turned 25. None of us ever had the thought to run our age in miles. My 25th birthday was a dual-themed party, starting with a Pirates vs Ninjas Extreme Laser Tag Challenge and ending at the old 802 S. Eaton house with a Miami Vice (1984) theme party. Now, us old folks don't really celebrate birthdays, other than perhaps with a burger at Kooper's.

But for Graham, we were excited to get this one going. The plan was to start with a big group trail run at Patapsco. We left at 7:30 and got in a solid 15 miles on a beautiful morning before Graham, Conrad and Franco intrepidly headed back to Baltimore via Wilkens Ave. Immediately Graham and Conrad dropped "Flip" and after 4 miles, Matty Francs opted for a ride home in my whip. The other two were running so fast it took me to Carroll Park to finally catch them! 26+ miles later, the day was in the books.

We were also celebrating Chrissie's last day in Baltimore. She is getting her own separate post because she deserves it.

Meanwhile, there was some hot racing going on. Sunday was the Bel Air Town Run 5k, and I just checked and noticed everyone's times have been adjusted down - good news for you!

Dustin Meeker was the top dog as he soloed to the win in 15:27. He was almost a minute up on 2nd place, Rory Jenkins, who ran 16:21. Next through for us was Melissa Tanner, who had a decisive margin (17:37) over 4-time BATR champ, Megan DiGregorio (2nd, 17:55). Nick Klastava slotted in at 17:38. Jon Miller had a great race, coming oh-so-close to breaking 18 (18:05) and Dave Ploskonka also had one of his best 5k races, running 18:31. Carly Page rounded out the ladies' podium in 3rd at 18:50. Next up was Denise Knickman, 5th in 19:46, and then Julie Wolfe, who I missed initially, ran 20:23 for 10th. Jordan Dillen ran the fastest he's gone in quite some time (21:37) and Alley Firey had a great run, crossing the line at 23:22.

In the multisport world, Kendra Ingram rocked the Omaha Women's Triathlon, coming in 84th in 1:51:56. Tom Stack was 3rd at the Rock Hall Sprint, a very solid all-around race for him a week out from Eagleman. But the best part of his day was recording the fastest run of the day at 17:47 - the only athlete to break 18 minutes for the 5k run. I noticed Diane Heiser ran the Pacific Assocation USATF Championship meet (1500m) where she finished 8th in 4:48.05, which is about a 5:06 mile. Very speedy!

Finally, down in Raleigh at the Ironman 70.3 there, Brian Benda finished 52nd in 4:46:40. Naturally he had one of the fastest swims of the day (24:17) before riding strong (2:35) and holding on for a 1:42 half marathon. David Lee bounced back from his day at Columbia a few weeks ago to swim a terrific 31:30, ride a 2:40 and also ran a 1:42 to finish 152nd in 4:59:56. Just scooting under 5 hours, I'll take it!

The performance of the day, and our clear Purple Drink Athlete of the Week, went to Suzanne Hurst. Suzanne did her first triathlon last summer. Obviously she is a very fast runner, but the swim and bike are quite foreign. She managed a 40 minute swim, which was a fantastic start to her day, and she rode an eye-popping 2:57 bike split! Let me tell you, racing your bike for 56 miles is far from easy. To only be 30 minutes slower than the top female pros on the bike is pretty impressive. Once she was on the run, Suzanne went to work, scorching the earth to the tune of a 1:35:57 half marathon split. She went from 130th F to 59th over 13.1 miles. She negative split the run, ripping a 6:50/mile average over the last 5k. She finished 8th in her age group in her first ever half ironman in a time of 5:19:48. WHAT?! That's 90 minutes faster than I went in my first half ironman. Absolutely incredible, this performance will easily go in as one of our best of the year.

Nutrition Seminar April 1-2

While this is generally more of interest to our triathlete crew, it is valuable for anyone who feels that their training and race day nutrition strategy could use some work. I've known Brian Shea for about a decade and not only do I trust his insight into performance and nutrition, but so do many of the sport's top professionals (including Leanda Cave, 2012 Ironman World Champion and multiple time Ironman winner, Jordan Rapp).

Brian (www.PersonalBestNutrition.com) will be holding a seminar in Columbia on April 1 and 2, in conjunction with the Mid-Maryland Triathlon Club's monthly meeting. More details are on their site (www.midmdtriclub.org), including how to register for the event, but here's a brief description:

Brian Shea, President and Head Coach of Personal Best Nutrition, is a nutritional consultant to some of triathlon's top professionals including the current 70.3 & Ironman World Champion Leanda Cave. He is a certified triathlon and running coach, specializing in sports nutrition programs for athletes ranging from beginners to professionals

Brian will be conducting two seminars on formulating your training & race-day nutritional plan. Everyday, triathletes are bombarded with the newest, latest & greatest nutritional supplements & often struggle finding what nutritional strategy works for them. The first seminar will walk you through the basics of triathlon nutrition on Monday at the monthly club meeting. If you register for the follow-on seminar on Tuesday, Brian will go into great detail to help you develop your own specific 1/2 or Iron-distance nutrition plan. This session will also walk you through the differences between:

• Carbohydrate powders
• Electrolyte capsules
• Recovery nutrition
• Bars vs gels ... solids vs liquid

As well as anything YOU have a question about

Brian also has an extensive background in endurance sports himself and for over 20-years has competed in all levels from 5K to Ultra-marathon to Ironman with finishes including a 9:31 Ironman Personal Best.

Lance: The Facts

When news broke yesterday that the USADA was set to file new charges against Lance Armstrong and a host of others for doping-related offenses, the media spin led everyone to believe that the USADA in some way had the power to ban LA from the sport of triathlon. This obviously is not correct, as they really don't have that kind of power. So who is imposing the ban?

That would be the World Triathlon Corporation (WTC), owners of the Ironman brand and its affiliated events. The WTC had signed a deal with Lance to race in 6 of its events. As of today, he's raced in 5 Ironman 70.3 events, winning the Florida 70.3 and finishing second in Panama (his first) and Hawaii. Lance was slated to race Ironman France next weekend and it was generally accepted he would compete in the Ironman World Championships in Kona in October. So infatuated with Lance was Ironman that their website included a tab for "Lance Armstrong." All eyes were fixed on Lance, his training, his races, and he had, in a few short months, brought more visibility to the sport than all the athletes of the last decade combined.

But as soon as the news of the doping charges was announced, Ironman.com quickly took down their "Lance" tab, and it's their rules - not the USADA's - that are keeping Lance from competing. According to the WTC, any athlete who is under investigation for doping is ineligible to compete in WTC events.

In other words, Lance could compete in other triathlons - just not ones owned by WTC.

No word yet on whether the USADA will proceed with their case. They have merely sent notice to Lance, his team manager Johan Bruyneel, controversial doc Michele Ferrari, and a few others to let them know that they feel they have enough evidence to move forward with their case. You can read the full USADA letter here.

Lance has received mixed reactions from the professional triathlete community. Many feel he's a disruption and not an ambassador for the sport, and that his intentions are self-serving. Others have welcomed the challenge to take on and beat one of the best athletes of all time. Their reactions to this news have also been mixed, but there are a few supporters who just want to see Lance race, and question the WTC's "guilty until proven innocent" stance. 

Early Bird Catches the Rabid Deer

So some results I missed in this afternoon's email...

1. Meg McNew finished 2nd at the BRRC Bunker Hill Trail Race (5.5 mile) in 48:14, while Dan Goodman was 47th in 1:15:55.  The craziest thing about these results is that they were posted WITHIN A DAY of the race.  Impressive, BRRC.

2. Remember Tristram Thomas?  I thought he had died or something, but I guess he's just been in Europe for the better part of a month.  Well anyway, he won a race in Denmark over the weekend.  He's not sure how accurate the 5k was, but he ran 16:41, with one dude 7 seconds back and then the rest of the field over 90 seconds back from there.  It's the 4th fastest time ever run on the course (10 years, course is run every weekend of the summer).  Good to know Tristram is still alive, and we may even see him tomorrow!

The rest of the results are pretty known by now, with Dave Ploskonka breaking his 50k best with his 6th place, 4:10:06 finish at the Dahlgren Heritage Rail Trail 50k and Dave Berardi finishing 25th in 20:12 at the HCS Summer XC Series race last Thursday.

Most of Sunday's results were either from Riley's Rumble Half Marathon or various triathlons.  Sam Wollner, with one of the fastest swims of the day (possibly the fastest outside of the professional field), finished 47th at the NYC Triathlon in 2:17:15, his first olympic distance race.  Terry Decker finished 17th at the Cayuga Lake Sprint Tri, with the 8th fastest run of the day, while his girlfriend Molly, in her first ever triathlon, finished 11th in her age group.  At the inaugural Druid Hill Sprint Tri, Liz Laseter got the W for the women, breaking an hour and having the fastest run of the day. 

Then there was Riley's Rumble, easily the most difficult half marathon I've ever run.  Not one inch of the run was flat, you were either going up or down some pretty brutal hills out there in Germantown.  Add to that a temperature around 80 degrees and 94% humidity and it was a recipe for suffering.  Most of us that ran were using it as a training run, but that didn't make it any less hard.  GRCers Karl Dusen and Sam Luff rolled the course, looking comfortable in their 1:16:30 efforts, while our Ed Aramayo finished 3rd in 1:22:36.  He accomplished his task of running under 1:25 to get into a better corral than the last one at Chicago.  Mike Mashner and I were running nicely together around 7 minute pace for the first 9 miles, when my legs dropped out and I shuffled home.  Mike was 15th in 1:33:59 while I finished up 18th at 1:34:41.  I got beat by the first girl, Baltimore local Kaylyn Peck.  It was cool, though, as she waited until the last quarter mile to pass me, and then slowed down to chat.  JUST KILL ME NOW, is what I thought, as I only kept moving my legs so it didn't look like I was walking.  After starting out close to 8min pace, Melissa Majumdar picked it up at 5k to catch Nina Kristina Hartman before 10k, and then they ran down a lot of the other girls en route to 5th and 6th place finishes (Melissa 1:39:21, Nina 1:39:48).  Tom Stott, feeling the effects of a summer of buying a new house and working on that, finished up at 1:44:02.  Alyssa Godesky, who ran 30 minutes before and 30 minutes after the race, outran her Miami 2010 time, running a 1:47:21.  Pretty impressive!  She then almost got run over by a rabid deer, which crazily sprinted through the parking lot after the race. 

Despite the strong support from the GRC members for the Purple Drink Athlete of the Week to go to myself, I had to go with Liz Laseter in her winning effort at the Druid Hill Tri.  Congrats Liz!  And thanks, GRC guys, for being on hand to watch my amazing finish.  Ha.

An error was pointed out to me from the email today, I threw in an extra set of 5x300 for the TNT workout.  It should have just read 5x300, 1500, 5x300, 1500, 5x300 = 7500m.  Again, just a suggestion, working down throughout the workout on the 300s and keeping the effort on the 1500 the same. 

I Have a Sense of Humor Too

The green speedo made its first appearance in May of 2001.  After a hiatus, it is back.

Boom Shake the Room

This past weekend was fairly tri-oriented, with 8 of the 14 results being produced from the sport of champions.

Alyssa Godesky took on the odd distance Diamond in the Rough Tri (1mi swim, 27mi bike, 5mi run) and took 3rd.  She was 10th out of the water, did work on the bike to put herself in third, and held it on the run (36:29). 

At the Belmar Five in NJ, Conrad Laskowski went out fast and furious, but was unable to sustain, and "faded" to a 27:20, 9th place finish.  My brother Kevin ran his 5mi PR at Belmar last year, when it was overcast and rainy.  As you all know, my family has an aversion towards heat and humidity, and this year's conditions were not conducive for a super fast day.  I ran with Kev and we set a quick early tempo, but he, too, wilted in the heat and humidity, ultimately finishing at 35:22. 

On Sunday, I made my way up to Randolph, NJ, with Pat and Tommy McLoughlin, to race in our friend's tri - the Randolph Lake Sprint.  Half mile swim, 16 and change bike, 5k run, made for a short workout.  Tommy led out of the water, along with two others, and Pat was just behind.  On the bike, Pat moved himself up so that he was 4th on the road by the run.  The run was a surprising challenge, as the first half mile was on single track, sandy trail, then about a mile and a half on a road through a neighborhood before coming back that same single track (now against runners).  With 3/4 to go, you veered to the right and ran through "the minefields" - super sandy stretch of sand moguls - before finishing in a baseball field.  Pat had moved into 3rd, but was nipped by a 40+ year old (who had started in the wave behind), so he finished 4th.  Tommy had a lackluster bike split, but ran a really solid 5k, and finished 11th. 

In the Pikesville 5k, Garrett Ash finished 3rd in 16:52, and at the Howard County Striders' Women's Distance Festival 5k, Denise Knickman finished 3rd in 18:45.

Elsewhere in the US, Spider Sillery took 5th at the Chattanooga Waterfront Triathlon in 2:10:27, and up at the Providence half Ironman, Ben Winterroth finished a pretty amazing 10th overall.  He had a great swim, a monster bike and his best ever run (1:24 half marathon) to finish in 4:23:09.  Really incredible.  David Lee had a tough day, finishing at 4:53:48, so a little slower than his Eagleman time (but on a harder course).  Diane Heiser, in just her second triathlon ever (and her second half) finished in 6:06:36 after what I'm told was enduring a flat tire on the bike.  She had a great run at 1:40. 

I forgot to look up results from the Utica Boilermaker 15k, where Seth Tibbitts finished 119th place overall (out of 11,000) in 54:45 - nearly 3 minutes faster than last year!

Currently, Dave Ploskonka is racing out in the desert at Badwater but I'm having trouble pulling up the site.

For our Purple Drink Athlete of the Week, it was a diversion this week.  This year's Tour de France has been absolute chaos.  Marred by huge crashes which have knocked out a bunch of race favorites, Sunday's stage featured something I've never seen in the Tour.  Everyone understands crashes are a part of cycling, and if the riders cause them, or wet roads, that's just the way it goes.  But when a crash is caused by a media car, well that's another story.  And that was exactly the case on Sunday, when the leading group of 5, with about 21 miles to go, was crashed into by a French television car (cars don't have the cameras, so who knows why they were even up there).  The car makes what appears to be a very un-kosher pass of another official vehicle, and attempts to speed past the riders on their left.  A tree on the left side of the road is sticking out somewhat, so the car swerves to miss it, and in its adjustment, it plows into Juan Antonio Flecha, who hits the deck...HARD.  Somehow Thomas Voeckler rights himself and stays up, but the Dutch rider Johnny Hoogerland is sent somersaulting through the air into a barbed wire fence. 

The rule in the Tour, obviously, is that in order to start the next day's stage, every rider must complete each day's stage within the time limit.  This meant that both Flecha and Hoogerland needed to ride into the finish, if they were physically capable, to ensure they could start the next day (in this case yesterday was a rest day, so really today).  Flecha seemed to be able to get on his bike fairly quickly, but Hoogerland was clearly messed up.  He got back on and pedaled into the finish, losing 25 minutes.  He was bloodied and exhausted, but because of his escapades in the breakaway had amassed enough points to place himself in the King of the Mountains jersey.  By finishing the stage, he was able to step on the podium to receive the honor, and THEN he went to the hospital, where he received 33 stitches.  So he earns our PDAW this week, because, two years to the day after I was pretty seriously hit by a car, I empathized.

Oh, and you bet he was on the line today, and finished the stage.  So assuming no more problems, I would suspect he'll be able to make it to Paris.

For TNT tonight, and for future weeks, we are BACK AT GILMAN!  6:30pm show up to start warming up, then we'll start the workout at 7pm.  Workout is long tonight, and the weather is supposed to be real bad.  I don't expect everyone to do the entire workout, and I would suggest amending your pace to be more reasonable given the conditions.  The workout is 5x2k at tempo effort with 60-90sec rest.  If you can get through 3, that's cool.  4 is great.  5 is champion.  But be smart, I'd rather not have to take anyone to the hospital.

Brooklyn, We Go Hard

The Brooklyn Half Marathon was held over the weekend, and in his third time competing in it, Kevin McGrath can't quite catch a break.  The first year it was held in August, and was, predictably hot and humid.  He wilted like a bad banana in the conditions.  Last year they moved it to May, to capitalize on perhaps fairer weather.  It wasn't bad, and as such he ran a PR.  This year, same weekend, old result.  Conditions were oppressively humid and as my family apparently doesn't fare well in that, both he and my little sister struggled.  But, he got to eat hot dogs after, so I think he was happy.

In Maryland, conditions were better than decent for the first time EVER on Preakness weekend, and the results show that!  Dave Berdan took 5th at the Germantown 5 Miler, a very competitive event, in 25:27.  At the Making Tracks for Celiac 5k/10k, Tom Stott finished 2nd behind our favorite Moroccan, and Dame Patty Sweeney was 39th for women.  In the 10k, Chris Nowakowski ran a solid 34:05 for 2nd place.  At the BRRC Women's Distance Festival 5k, Denise Knickman stomped everybody and won handily in 19:25.  In the triathlon world, Terry Decker competed in the Jackrabbit Jerseyman Half Iron event (40th, 5:26:27) and Chris Scott went 2:31:21 at the Memphis in May Triathlon - in lightning and torrential rain!

Sunday's main event was the Columbia Triathlon, and in a surprise move, the weather powers-that-be decided to make it a nice day.  Go figure.  We had some really impressive performances, including Ben Ingram's first ever tri (you can read his write-up on his blog to experience the terror of an open water swim first hand).  Ben struggled in the swim, but once he got through it, he crushed the bike, which may have crushed his legs a little for the run, but all in all he finished in 2:25:40, a great first effort.  Pat McLoughlin was looking to redeem his 2010 effort, and on the heels of a 19:30 swim (amazing time), he pulled about 4 minutes from his bike split last year, and went onto run an awesome 37:50 on the grueling 10k course to finish in 2:09:26.  Unfortunately he got dinged for "drafting" (a lady pro, who started 10 minutes prior to our wave) and was handed a 2 minute penalty - so his official time was 2:11:26.  But we all know how fast he went.  Brian Benda had one of the top swims of the day, and used a great bike split and solid run effort to finish 23rd in 2:06:40.  Ben Winterroth, just two weeks removed from his Ironman St. George, decided to race, and race he did.  A great swim followed by what I believe to be the fastest amateur bike split of the day (1:02:33, unreal) led to a vastly improved run, and a 2:05:51 overall time to finish 21st overall.  Incredible.  David Lee had an exciting finish to his race, where 2nd through 5th in the 35-39 age group finished within 10 seconds of one another.  David was on the short end of the stick, finishing 5th, but says that after a few more TNTs he'll make it up to 2nd.  Dr. Rodney Taylor wasn't sure if he was even going to compete, but was out there anyway and went just under 3 hours again. 

For the ladies, Courtney Busch had an expectedly quick swim, and rode and ran her way to a 2:35 for 45th F overall, while Alyssa Godesky had a personal best swim, followed by a bike split that was 4.5 minutes faster than last time she raced there, and then ran to a 2:29:34 course best and 25th place overall. 

All great efforts, and we had some terrific support out there from Jackie McLoughlin, Kendra Ingram, Carly Page and Josh Caprio, Brennan, Arjun, Sara J. Spears, Eileen, Zero and none other than our boy, Terence Baptiste who was just in town for like 10 minutes. 

The Purple Drink Athlete of the Week this week went to Ben Ingram for really his incredibly fast bike split, but for also making it through a harrowing swim. 

Big D

Happy Birthday Denise!

So today is Denise's birthday, and over the next few days a couple others celebrate as well.  I hope you have great weekends!

I forgot to do a little race recap post for last weekend, but since it's pretty late in the week, I'll keep it short.  I'll also start with a few performances I missed in the email, including Scott Boylan's 44th place finish at the inaugural Tri Rock Annapolis (sprint tri), and Coach Amy Horst's 3rd place finish at Preakness 5k (20:25).  Nick Gehlsen won the Preakness race and now has Terrace club tix and parking for this weekend's event (a $665 value).  Dave Ploskonka had a tough day out on the Massanutten Mountain Trail 100 miler, which you can read about on his blog.  Lauren Dennisuk ran a solid 1:11:46 10 miler out in Michigan, and at the Swarthmore Last Chance Meet, Ed Aramayo ran a really great 1491m race - unfortunately the distance was in fact supposed to be 1500m and he narrowly missed getting under 4:00.  Megan DiGregorio ran the steeple, after a year out of steepling, and ran a solid 11:33.

On Sunday there were a lot of people in action, including Nina Hartman at the Cleveland Marathon (3:22:41) and Terence Baptiste in the Pittsburgh Half Marathon (1:20:57).  Garrett Ash looked nifty in his maroon Falls Road singlet in his runner-up effort at Capitol Hill Classic 10k (33:29).  Meg McNew ran a 1:40 at the hilly Maryland Half Marathon, and we heard Pete Mulligan was asked to "pace" the 2:30 group, which consisted of one woman who ultimately Pete dropped with a mile to go as he finished just under 2:30.  In San Francisco, New Becky Parks ran a heck of a race at Bay to Breakers 12k.  Her time of 48:50 was just over 6:30/mile pace, and it landed her in 37th F and 298th overall (out of 23,000/43,000, respectively).  Kevin McGrath prepared for this weekend's Brooklyn Half Marathon by running the Hoboken Harrier's Classic 5 Mile, and despite living there, encountered a hill he had never seen and said it was just mean (he ran 36:26, narrowly a season best). 

Cascade Lake Triathlon was held Sunday with a number of our folks competing.  OJ Keller got off to a hot start, coming in 2nd out of the water behind a fresh-out-of-Harvard swimmer, but then tore into the bike.  Unfortunately for OJ, a severely battered ankle from a roll in Loch Raven relegated his run to a jog, and he finished in 4th.  Pat McLoughlin had a great swim, coming out shortly behind OJ, and then rode one of his best bike splits to date.  He then powered his way to one of the fastest runs of the day, and finished in 2nd overall.  Brian Benda had a great race but was unfortunately in the old man category (40+) which meant he started a few minutes back, and wasn't able to have the other guys to focus on directly ahead of him.  The margin between Pat, Benda and OJ was about 30 seconds.

David Lee finished 10th, Terry Decker was 17th and Chris Scott finished 35th.  A little ways back was Adam Zilberbaum, who is just getting back into the swing of things following a back injury, and he finished 62nd.

So that is our 60 second recap, and our Purple Drink Athlete of the Week went to Pat McLoughlin.

We had our first week at the Hopkins/Loyola track this week, and will be there for at least two more weeks.  Thanks to Coach Amy for letting us in, and for hooking up the cool water thing and the sound.  Meg D was responsible for the jam list, so if you have any suggestions for her, or even want to bring your own portable music device made by Apple, you are welcome to do so.  Unless you are Barf, in which case your music is not allowed.  Top 40 only!

Look for some great results this weekend as a number of triathletes are in action at various races!

Pike's Peek on FIRE

Rockville, MD: A course record was set today as Julius Kogo of Chapel Hill narrowly misses breaking 28 minutes on the fastest course this side of the Mississippi.  14 runners in all broke the 30 minute barrier, including our own DAVE BERDAN, who ran a blazing 29:30 to finish 12th (12th...insane). 

From the mouth of Dave: "Surprised myself, probably could have run faster had I been more confident.  I was running 4:44-:46 and was worried I was going too slow.  Had a lot left.  Here are my splits: 4:51, 4:47, 4:46, 4:44, 4:47, 4:44, :50 (last 0.2)".  Absolutely terrifying splits.  He was 23:55 at 5 miles.  This also supplants his track time of 29:36 as his 10k PR.

Dustin Meeker was the opposite of what his last name might imply, as he tore into the net downhill course, aided by a frighteningly fast wind, and torched a 31:34 for 24th place.  He, like Dave, also negative split the run.  Old Man Berardi had an amazing day.  Not only did he run an incredible 34:43, but he came from at least 10 seconds back of Greg Cauller at mile 4 to beat him by...one second.  The last time Kris Simms ran here, he ran a 35:59 and said he was working hard for it from the gun.  Today, a few years later, he comes in with new legs and new confidence, and rocked it to the tune of a 35:08.  Mike Zero Mashner, in what may actually be his first open 10k (he would likely know better than I), was right behind Kris, crossing the line in 35:13.  On the women's side, again a very fast race for the leaders, with 6 women under 33 minutes.  Big D, Denise Knickman, has run 37:58 here in 2009, but since she's been racing so well lately, the sky was the limit.  With great conditions, she averaged UNDER 6 minute pace, running a 37:01, for 17th place.  New Becky Parks also ran a huge PR, and won her age group, finishing 25th in 39:14.

Big ups to our Georgetown Running Company friends, who also fared well to quite well, putting a number of dudes under 32 minutes, and having some really fast ladies.

Enjoy those times, certainly the conditions may never be that dope again!

From what we are hearing, Boston Marathon tomorrow may also benefit from a sick tailwind, so be on the lookout for very quick times!  Big shout out to Seth, Dave P, Suzanne, Harvey, Carly, Meg McNeezy - all racing tomorrow. 

TONS of other racing, which I'll go into depth in the email but here are a few of the highlights:  OJ Keller is 2nd (again) at yesterday's Rumpus in Bumpass Triathlon under miserable conditions.  Miserable.  Fastest swim of the day, solid bike and only lost it on the run.  Alyssa Godesky sets a new Olympic Distance PR at 2:25:50, 3rd fastest bike of the day and 9th best run.

Victim's Fund Run 5k was yesterday in Patterson Park, and normally this is one of those races, because there is money, that random Moroccans will show up and cherrypick the victory.  Well, after running into Chris Nowakowski on Friday, he said he might do it, despite being out of shape - and wouldn't you know it, he wins!  16:26, very good time in there.  And quite significantly, Terry "Upper" Decker finishes 2nd in 18:17, a HUGE PR (TNT...it works) and picking up some dollar dollar bills.  Jared Jaskot takes 6th in 19:09.  Yesterday was also the Hopkins/Loyola Meet, where Chrissie wiped everyone up amidst atrocious conditions (17:09.52) and Meg D, in her 4th race of the week, ran 18:45.72.  Out in TN, Cheese ran the Moosic City Dairy Dash 5k, once again coming in 4th and missing out on the opportunity to win a year's supply of ice cream.  Kevin McGrath runs the Rutgers UNITE Half Marathon, only it became a 10 miler when massive flooding (a common occurrence in Piscataway) turned the park into a bayou. 

Pat Wins Red Bank Tri

Pat McLoughlin wins the inaugural Red Bank Triathlon in 1:36:55, brother Tommy finishes 3rd in 1:39:05. To say it was windy would not even be accurate. The Navesink River was so choppy they had to shorten the swim from 750 yards to what may have been about 300 meters. Kayakers/life guards were having trouble.

Kevin McGrath finishes first ever triathlon, having swam just twice in his "build up" to the race.

At the Giant Acorn Triathlon, Ben Winterroth finishes 3rd overall in 2:05:38, a distance PR, using a solid swim, gnarly bike split and a much improved run.

Ed Aramayo finishes 3rd at yesterday's Newark Main Street Mile in Delaware, running a TWSS season road mile best at 4:40.3 (Ben ran 4:40.8 earlier at the Loudon Street Mile).

Lance is a triathlete?

Anyone hear that Lance Armstrong is going to be a Triathlete? He has just joined Team Radio Shack, and will be competing as a triathlete, runner and cyclist.
http://sports.espn.go.com/oly/tdf2009/news/story?id=4349772
http://www.teamradioshack.com/

I wonder if this will result in an uptick in the popularity of triathlons, and make it harder to get in, much like the current situation with Ultras?

And how will the Kazakhs take it? Hopefully they will not take drastic measures, like boycotting Borat. Oh wait, they already did that.

If this is old news, sorry. It was news to me...