Grinding It Out

Inspiring... Check out this awesome article/video from the NY Times about Wiens before watching the video below. Goes to show that you can lead a "normal" life while competing at a high level.

New Affiliation

www.landiceblog.com

70.3 World Championship

Another season has just about come to a close (Susanne Navas: You're my last athlete standing in '09 and IM Cozumel is calling!). Michelle and I headed down to Clearwater late last week to support 8 of my athletes who were all competing at the 70.3 World Championship. Once the dust settled, we had a slew of big PRs. Everyone PR'd for that matter and we even secured a podium finish thanks to Crystal Anthony's efforts; 20th woman (including pros)/8th amateur overall. Not too shabby. Crystal had the fastest bike/run combo of all amateurs and one of the fastest of the day compared to the pros too. Nothing new here, as it was the same case when she went top 10 overall/1st overall amateur at Lake Stevens 70.3 this past August.

Michelle posted a nice little weekend recap if you'd like to read more, but it was a great day all around and I had a great time meeting up with everyone. We snapped some nice group pics that I'll post once they're forwarded my way, but in the meantime, here's a nice shot of Crystal and I at the awards ceremony.
As for me, slowly but surely I'm getting back into shape. The gradual increase in training volume and frequency is helping me to shed the 13 pounds I gained during my 5 weeks "off" after Pumpkinman. I'm 34 at the end of this month, so it's time to get r' done next season and step up to the Ironman distance. I'll be working hard this winter, so that extra "chub-chub" around the mid section will provide some much needed insulation when I'm grinding out my long runs and rides in the midst of the oh-so-fun New England winter!

What does a 1:09 Ironman PR look like???

Perfect Pacing + Perfect Nutrition & Hydration = Perfect Performance (with a 7 minute OPEN marathon PR in the process!!!)

Nice work Dawn!

Shout out to Dawn's husband Greg for finishing despite losing nearly 2 hours on the bike (double flat) and to Maris DiTolla - sliced tire at mile 4 of the bike and no way to keep the tube/tire inflated as a result. Neutral support was long gone so she had to walk back to T1 only to be told that her day was done as there was nothing anyone could do to help her.

There will be more Ironman events in your future Maris.

Next Stop: Clearwater Florida. I have 8 athletes racing this weekend. I'm looking forward to getting out of NE for a few days.

How We Roll

One key to long course success is learning how to put your inhibitions aside, roll the dice and simply "Go For It" on race day. For VA based triathlete Joel Myers, who is Clearwater bound and ready to ROLL, this was his idea of an "inhibition reduction session" as (publicly) demonstrated at the Wicked 10k in Virginia Beach last weekend