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!