Week of Intensity

I raced in the first Lake Louisa Summer Criterium series on tuesday night. It was a fun race, as i've competed in it for the past 2 years. The B race had about 30-40 people so it was pretty competitve, and little bit harder to carry out my plan, which was to break away after 20 minutes and hold on to the finish. It didn't really work out that way although i got two significant breaks by myself that lasted about 5 minutes. On my third attempt on the second to last lap i managed to string the field out, until five other guys caught me and sat on my wheel to sprint around me at the finish. It was a great training ride, where i reaced an intensity i probably could not have in a normal training ride.

The next morning i woke up at 5:20am for masters swim. I swam the 200/800 time trial with sara coaching and the rest of the group doing 100 relays to push me, which was great. I went 1:59 and 8:42, which i was pretty happy with considering the pool was 85 degrees and the crit the day before was at 7pm.

The next day i woke up to do a step test on the trainer at Marc's house. lol. I was kind of tired and not really motivated, i just wanted to get it done. But im sure glad i did it because i ended getting up to 320 watts. The test involved riding 2 minutes at 10 watt intervals starting at 150 watts all the way until you can't go anymore, or ur heart rate spikes. My max HR on the bike is like 183, and i was only at 178 at the end of 2 minutes of 320 watts, so i have definently improved on the bike.

Today is a bit of a rest day, b/c tmrw i have the Lake Louisa Triathlon sprint, and then a good ride with some hills on sunday. Then back to the grind for a week or so and another race here in town :)

Junior Pan American Championships

Friday morning i flew to Oklahoma City with my coach Marc for the PATCO junior championships. I was very excited to be picked by USAT for this race and also excited to compete against top athletes from South America, Central America, Carriabean, and North America.

As they called our names to the starting pontoone it sank deeper into the water with all the wieght of the junior athletes. The gun went off and we dived into the 69 degree, no wetsuit, swim. Immediately i am boxed in by all the great swimmers around me and just try to fight my way towards the front. I end up halfway through the massive pack of swimmers around the bouys. The knocking around in the water really sucks the life out of you. I exit the chilly water in about 26th position into the the first transition with many athletes around me. I run through T1 as fast i can and mount my bike to see the first pack forming about 50 meters ahead. I try and catch them but end up forming a pack of 5 with some athletes behind me. By the end of the 2nd lap of the bike im in a pack with 12 other juniors ready to head out onto the run. Unfortunetly I end up at the back of my pack into transition loosing some considerable time. I rack my bike and head out on the 2 lap 5k run and slowly reel in about 5 juniors. I finished 23rd overall and 5th American, so i am very happy with the result. I hope this is a sign for better things to come in ITU racing. Here is a link to the results http://onlineraceresults.com/race/view_plain_text.php?race_id=10777

pictures

Lake Louisa Sprint Triathlon

I love this race! Only 5 miles from my house, a 400yd swim (mostly dolphin diving b/c its so shallow) 7mile bike with a pretty good hill, and 1.5 mile run, and its on thursday afternoons! its like a tough afternoon workout. I had alot of fun and won a $100 in the process which is sweet.

One thing that i noticed though, is the intensity. It was really high throughout the whole race. Since it only lasts like thirty minutes, im either at or really close to threshold the whole way. I think its a great way to prepare for some ITU racing this summer!

Nic

St. Anthony's

This past weekend i competed in the St. Anthony's triathlon in St. Pete FL. About 4000 people competed, so there was some great competition. Marc, Tim and i drove down on friday, to get familiar with the course and transition area. Saturday afternoon we dropped our bikes off, into what seemed like a sea of bicycles. There was at least 5 million dollars worth of bikes in transition. Unfortunatly the swim was cancelled on sunday morning for the age groupers, because of excess wind and waves, so race officials stagger started us according to race number for a bike/run event. At the end of the day i was very pleased with my result, a 59:40 for the 40k bike and 37:20 for the 10k, to win my age group. Many of the pros and even some ameatur elites were running in the low 32 range, insane! I look forward to racing St. Anthony's next year! (with a swim)

Fun Weekend!

On Saturday i did the Windermere Run Among the Lakes 5k and today, sunday, i did the Great Clermont Triathlon (my second ever olympic distance race.) The 5k didn't go as well as a hoped considering it was a tough course, as it was all on sand with some hills. I finished 4th just under 18 minutes which is over a minute slower than usuall, but i'm happy with the effort.

Today i did the Great Clermont Triathlon, which took place at the Waterfront park, only 10 minutes from my house! Overall i had a decent race, i had a pretty solid swim, putting about 3 minutes on the rest of the field, and an O.K. bike and then a sub-par run, which probably was a result of saturday's 5k. I finished in about 2:07 behind Canadian Bruno Lefante, who caught me at mile 4 on the run. I also qualified for the Best of the U.S. race in Mission Viejo, CA on september 27, being the fastest finisher from Florida.

Overall it was a fun weekend and great racing experience and prep for St. Anthony's Triathlon on April 25th. I look forward to continue developing my run and my bike in the Olympic distance, until next time!

Oh I qualified for the Best of U.S. Race in by being the first Florida finisher. http://www.bestoftheustriathletes.com/news/289

I also got interviewed by the Orlando Sentinel, here is the article: http://www.orlandosentinel.com/sports/orl-sportstriathlon06040609apr06,0,2231866.story
Nic

Decisions and a good long run

Well after some thought, i have decided to not go on vacation with my Family to Panama (and cruise to Colombia, my dad's native country). Reason being, if i miss 10 days of school, i will most likely fail and be put on probation considering my grades aren't spectacular right now. So i think i will be staying at Marc's house for that time. (Marc's going to have like 10 people in his house! including jarrod, tim, and pam!) lol.

I just finished up a long run today 11 miles. It was great, prob best long run i've done. Started at like 7:30 pace and got down to 6:28 through the hilly part, so i was happy.

Now its off to a 1.5 hr easy spin with Jarrod and Jordan, and then easy 2.5k swim in the PM.

Peace!