Winter Base

Run, swim and school have been the topics of my life lately. Well actually I had my last final exams yesterday so school is over for four weeks! woohoo! I have been putting in some serious running mileage over the past couple months, and really think that I am benefiting from it now in terms of strength and later on when I need that speed. I also am going to start training in the pool with my old swim coach Alec. My current coach Marc and I have decided that in order to reach my goals I need to improve my swimming and take my running to new heights, so right now we are building a broad base to that pyramid.

New Sponsor!

Mix 1 has joined my team, and is now my official nutrition sponsor! I am very excited about this opportunity because after having some sub-par races at the end of last season due to nutrition, I now have a great product to keep me fueled and performing at my best. I really believe that triathlon is four sports, swim, bike, run, and nutrition, and training all four is the best way to become successful. Mix 1 is a natural protein drink that I will use to recover from all of my workouts. The most optimum time to intake protein for an athlete is within 30min after exercising and this is sometimes made difficult by other nutrition products in having to make the drink with powder and such, but Mix 1 comes in a bottle and is easy to bring along and makes it even easier to intake within that optimal 30 minute period.

I look forward to the 2011 triathlon season, which will begin in March, and working with Mix 1 to achieve my goals of making the U23 world team and overall performing to the best of my abilities at every race!

End of the Season

I'm missing a few end of the season races, but ill go through them quick because most didn't turn out as planned. I raced the Chicago Triathlon at the end of August and besides the fact that I rode past the turn around I think I would of had a great race, but I did enjoy Chicago since I have never been there before and hope to be back in the future to race there as a pro.

After Chicago I did a 5k as part of the Track Shack Series and ran a disappointing time, but I kept my head up for nationals which was in 2 weeks in Tuscaloosa, Alabama.

Marc and I flew into Birmingham on Friday before the race and we were picked up by a good friend who went to the University of Alabama. It was great to have someone drive us around who was familiar with the area. Leading up to the race my swim and bike was feeling great but the running wasn't feeling as good so I was a little worried but I put it in the back of my mind. I was focused and ready to go.

The swim was in a wide river and I came out of the water about 40seconds down from the lead, so I had a pretty solid swim. I jumped on the bike and started to find my rhythm as I knew this bike course really well. I had watched a youtube video of the course several times before coming to race. The rolling hills on the bike course turned out to be a bit challenging but I felt I rode to my potential so I was feeling good coming into T2. Going out on the run is when things started to take a turn for the worst.

There were two big hills and some smaller steep climbs on the run course which made it a pretty challenging run, not to mention the scorching heat which I think was a big factor. In my mind I had envisioned going out very controlled and just trying to stay relaxed on the hills and when I hit three miles it was time to go. The run didn't really go that way. After about three miles I could really start feeling my core temperature going up. Around mile marker four my pace slowed dramatically and I felt very dizzy and on the verge of passing out from the heat, I basically death marched the last 2-3 miles of the run in and was just happy to finish. That run was probably one of the most challenging I have ever done. My finish time was a disappointing 2hr 2min and 54 sec. I think I was about 11th in my age group and 35th overall. It was a tough way to end my triathlon season, but I am happy with the effort on the day and have learned alot from this experience.

One thing that will definitely change in races to come, especially those that are in the heat is my nutrition. I neglected it on race day and forgot it all together to bring from home which was a big mistake and will not happen again. Electrolytes and salts are the most important things on a hot day and I did not have enough of them before and during the race which I think had a big impact on my performance. So lessons learned.

Anyway now that the season is over I get a 2 week break before the run season begins, I am excited about bringing my running to the next level to achieve my goals for next years triathlon season.

Here are list of triathlon results for the year.

3/7 Elite Development race Clemont- 15th
3/28 Great Clermont Triathlon- 3rd
4/25 St. Anthony's Triathlon - 1st Elite Amateur
6/12 Clermont Sprint Tri - 2nd
6/28 Coteau Du Lac Pan Am Cup- 34th
7/31 Elite Development race Colorado Springs- 11th
8/27 Chicago Triathlon- 14th amateur
9/24 Age Group National Championship- 35th overall

Coteau Du Lac, Colorado, and others

Its been a while but I have had a fair share of traveling and great experiences over the past few months.

After St. Anthony's I put in about a an 8 week training block before my first international ITU race, the Coteau Du Lac ITU Pan American Cup on June 28th. The training was going well although it was starting to get real hot and humid in Florida and I was taking Statistics Class 5 days a week for 6 weeks. The race was the U23 World Championship Qualifier for the US, the critieria was top American U23 finisher at Coteau Du Lac and then top American finisher at another ITU race in San Francisco.

Coteau Du Lac is a small town about 40minutes outside of Montreal, Quebec. French was the first language of the province so it was fun trying to get around with all the french signs and french speaking people. I did have a great time as I stayed with Sean Jefferson, Omar Nour, and Chris Lutz as well as my dad for the trip. We went to this resturant/club called Club Touriste EVERY night for dinner! The food was great and we were lucky to have Omar who was fluent in french which made life alot easier on us.

Back to the race. The swim was in a canal that was a perfect 75 degrees and the bike was an out and back 6 lap course and the run was an out back 4 lap course on a bike trail along the canal. The swim was pretty rough as I expected but I ended up in the second pack which was disappointing, but I had plenty of guys to ride with so we didn't lose alot of time during the bike. The run went alright as I passed a few guys but ran a little slower than I expected about a 37:23. The many turns caused my to cramp a little in my right calf, but it something you have to get used to with ITU racing. I ended up 34th out of 70 guys that started the race, so I was pleased with my result.

After the ITU race in Canada I spent a few days at home before driving to Boston to spend 2 weeks with my uncle and Jarrod Shoemaker to get away from the heat. It was a blast and the weather excellent. I spend the 4th of July with my Uncle and cousins and then went to Jarrod's in Maynard to train for a week before returning to Cape Cod to spend the last week with my Uncle. I loved training in both places and def. want to back next summer to train for a little longer, the weather is just perfect up there during the summer. The only regret is the darn deerflies, they are relentless little beasts that bite so hard and swarm around you during your run. They were especially bad in the trails around Jarrod's house, but at least it wasn't scorching hot out.

I came home for Boston for a week before setting out again to a two week camp at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs. I have to say that that was one of the best experiences of my life! I met so many great people that just happen to be fantastic athletes. The food at the Training Center was amazing! There wasn't a day that didn't go by that I didn't absolutely stuff myself, I could have sworn I gained 7 pounds but I didn't which is good. I also did a Developmental ITU race while I was there. It was a sprint distance, and the course was exactly the same as Junior Nationals last year. Overall I had a pretty decent race with a great swim coming out in the top 10 a horrible T1 to destroy my work on the swim a solid bike and a sub-par run to end up about 12th out of about 40 guys. That same day a group of us climbed this mountain called Cheyyenne Canyon on our bikes. This was also the hardest thing I have done on the bike, the average grade was about 10%! It was insane. The next week went by real fast and I left with great memories and friendships that will last a lifetime. I realized that life is more so about the people you meet and experiences you have than all your accomplishments.

I got back home with a confidence in my fitness, but it came down once I realized how hot it was at home. I ran a 5k about the week after I got back and I went about a minute slower that I expected to go, 17:12. It was not a great race at all but I wasn't about to lose sleep over it. I am enjoying racing and training and I know I can have a good race at the next one on the schedule, The Chicago Triathlon on 8/29.

I am racing Amateur Elite at Chicago which is a week after school starts on the 23rd. I am expecting to do well and come home and put in another solid block of low volume high intensity work before my last race of the season, Elite Nationals! I will apply for my pro card after Chicago so that I can race the U23 National Championship that is held in conjunction with Elite Nationals. I have another 5k two weeks before so that will be a good benchmark.

Well until next time!

St. Anthony's Triathlon 1st Elite Amateur

I can safely say I had the best race of my life yesterday at St. Anthony's Triathlon in St. Pete. I had trained long and hard for this moment and I could not have been more prepared.

The swim was a rough due to a strong wind from the southeast so there was a strong current as well. Marc and I plotted a great strategy to use the current to my advantage and stay on course during the swim. Nonetheless it was rough and I was glad to hit the steps to exit the swim.

I came out of the water in second place although I was unsure exactly because I had caught some pro women during the swim. The bike was very windy and the first ten to fifteen minutes was truly a test of my fitness and ability to overcome circumstances. I had lost all my water due to bumps in the road, and the strap on my bike shoe had come out completely, the stiff headwind didn't help matters either. I tried to relax and wait till we had a tail wind to put my strap back in my bike shoe. Around mile 15 there was a water stop so I filled up on water and downed my nutrition. As the ride went on I started feeling better and better and re- passed about three men who had passed me in the beginning of the ride.

I dismounted my bike into the second transition and started the run in about third place. I ran beside Nike Early for about 2.5 miles until I dropped him and started really finding my pace. We had passed the guy in the lead at about mile 2. After the 5k turn around I stared passing some pro women and tried to lift the pace on the run even more. I was feeling great and new I was going to have a great run, but it didn't come easy the last mile as there was a strong headwind. I didn't realize until the finish that I was in first place for amateur men, but I'm very happy with the result.

My time was 1:58:30 and I just about tied my best open 10k with a 35:40 off the bike. This gives me alot of confidence for the future but for now I just want to continue improving my run and bike, as well as my swim so that I can race competitively in the ITU circuit. This did qualify me for my elite licsense but my coach, Marc, and I have decided to take things patiently and develop a little more before I race professionally.

Thanks to all my coach, Marc, and all my friends and family especially Brian Herzig with Team Herzig, Epic Cycles, and West Orange MT!

Great Clermont Triathlon

I had a great race this past weekend at the Great Clermont Triathlon. I was very excited to test my fitness and race in front of many friends and family. Many top collegiate athletes showed up including Derek Oskutis who got 2nd at Collegiate Nationals last year. The swim was two big laps in lake minneola and a group of 4 of us exited the swim together. When we got out of T1 Derek took off and I concentrated on holding a solid but consistant pace the whole way because I knew it was a hard hilly course. I felt the strong the whole ride clocking 1:04:33 for 40k on the hilly course which is about 3minutes faster than last year. I also ran 37:07 off the bike which is more than 2 minutes faster than last year as well. All in all I was a little over 5 minutes faster for the whole race considering this year's long swim, than I was a year ago. I finished 3rd in 2:04 and I am very happy with the result and look forward to gaining more experience at the olympic distance and racing the top amateurs in the country this year. Next up is Collegiate Nationals in Lubbock, TX on April 17th!

Winter Park 10k Grand Prix Finale

The Winter Park 10k was the last race of the Grand Prix Track Schack Series, and I'm proud to say I won my age group 19-24 for the series! The 10k was tough with lots of turns on brick roads and puddles on practically every turn, but either way I ended with a pretty solid time of 35:36. My splits were 5:34, 5:38, 5:38, 5:39, 5:42, 5:51, I thought I went out conservative and finished strong but it looks like there is still alot to learn about the 10k. I also rocked a headband and my new Zoom Streak XC 2 so I looked like some runner from the 1970s which was fun. Next up is the Great Clermont Triathlon and I'm pretty excited b/c its my home town race, and the course is on the roads and trail that I train on practically every day.

First Race of the Season!

The USAT Elite Development Series #1 ITU race was at Lake Louisa St. Park yesterday and was my first race of the season. I am overall happy with the race but there are def. some things I can improve on. Coming out of T1 my shoe strap come out and I slowed down to fix it when I should of just kept riding to not lose my pack. I also had a horrible T2 but that will get better with more racing that I do. Other than that I was happy with my swim considering the quality of the field. I came out of the water in 6th and had a solid ride considering the shoe problem. My run was also good, considering a two day taper. All in all I'm glad I got to do an ITU style race so close to home with such great competition, it gives me an idea of where my fitness is and what technical things I need to work on for the bigger races coming up.

I also wanted to thank all my friends/sponsors who help me out a great deal. Epic Cycles USA is located 10min from my home, and Roman and Jude are the coolest guys, they help me with everything on my bike including bike fit, race wheels, and bike maintenance. Emily and Nicole at West Orange Massage Therapy are awesome girls who give great athletic massages to get me race ready and recovered, they are fantastic!

Oh thanks to Doreen Landi for the great pics!

Seanons 52 5.2k

Its been a while since my last race in November, but i felt very prepared for this race considering i had put in solid track sessions. The week before the race i did 3x 1mile w/ 90sec rest at 5:15, 5:10, 5:08, and it was super windy out, so i had alot of confidence going in. Probably too much though, because i went out with lead pack at the start of the race in a 5:02mile. I think my body was just shock from not being used to that pace and i just died after that, my 5k split was somewhere around 16:49, so i wasn't too upset, but i definetly learned my lesson and won't make that mistake again. My next race is the Run around the Pines 5k where i hope to PR again, with a consistant pace. My training is going really well considering I am injury free. I also have starting riding a swimming a little more as i am building into the triathlon season.

oh...i almost got beat by a girl to as you can see in the photo, she went 16:52 through the 5k which is fast!

Nic

Puerto Rico Vacation

I just got back from a 9 day vacation over the holidays with my family in Puerto Rico. I'll admit that im glad to be home....the mosqitos and 90 degree heat everyday, not to mention the loud rooster at 5am, was starting to get a little old. But i managed to put in a really solid run week of 39 miles with some speedwork on tuesday and a 12mile long run on sunday(practically melted in the heat). I also got to practice some of my spanish which was a little rusty from under use. We visited old San Juan, the National Carribean Forest (El Yunque), and some spectacular beaches with warm clear water. The highlight of the trip, for me anyway, was not the beaches or the history of the place but a friday night in some local club with my cousins...Definently had a blast.