Congratulations to Oakes Ames!

Congratulations to newest tri team member, Oakes Ames, for winning the 55-59 age group at Ironman Brazil today. After a solid swim and blistering bike, Oakes ran down the AG leader for the win in 10 hours 14 minutes. Unbelievable! Rest up, Oakes then come show off your biking prowess on some of our group rides! Full results at www.ironmanlive.com

TARGETRAINING Duathlon Series #3

What a morning for a race and what a race! We had a great weather, a great turnout, head-to-head racing, and a new course record! From the start the race was a battle for 1st and 3rd. Dave Booth and Trevor MacLean traded leads until Dave had to gave up his breakfast halfway through run #2. Both Dave and Trevor were faster than the previous course record! The battle for 3rd was a 3 way race with Jeff Mayer running his way securely into the last podium spot. Kim Driscoll took the women's race with her usually super-speedy run.

Great Job everyone!

Results are below:

Trevor MacLean----11:03/35:35/47:21*
Dave Booth---------11:06/35:02/49:05
Jeff Mayer----------13:04/40:00/54:21
Brian Oliver---------13:19/41:10/55:37
Eric Goodman-------13:37/40:28/55:51
Kim Driscoll---------13:09/43:09/57:37
David Burton--------13:25/42:33/58:05
Justin Colby---------12:55/43:37/59:37
Whitney Ross-------14:00/45:28/1:00:02
Alan Masarek-------15:53/43:37/1:03:07

TT's Saturday outdoor group ride course map

Join us this Saturday for our 6AM and 9AM outdoor group rides. We have a great course planned that has a nice balance of challenging climbs and nice flats for pace line work. Carlos will be head ride leader for this Saturday's outdoor rides.

Revolution3 Ride Recap

After weeks of hearing groans and receiving crazed looks from everyone to whom I'd mentioned I was going to do the Rev3 1/2 IM on June 7, I joined Dom and several of our clients on our destination ride this past Monday on the course in Quassy. This was Dom's second time on the course, but all I had to go on coming into the ride was the scary topo map on the race's web site -- the one that denoted the 7-mile climb and 4-mile climb along with the rest of the roller coaster features of the course.

It wasn't THAT bad.

OK, it wasn't all out riding, it wasn't in race conditions, it didn't have a 1.2M swim in front of it and the weather was perfect, but in truth, it is manageable. Our crew of riders all made it successfully, with three of us riding the course in just over 3 hours (not counting water, phone, bathroom or other stops). Make no mistake -- it's a hard course, but if ridden correctly (the 2nd half is easier in total than the first; spin spin spin up those long hills, zoom down the descents and attack when you can), one can emerge with energy enough for the run (which is supposed to be its own hell). I'd advise folks to save a bit for the last 2-3 miles...there are numerous rollers that can sap your energy when you think you're done. The good news is the roads are predominantly in very good shape and it should be a good ride for everyone.

Hats off to everyone that rode, avoided the snarling golden retriever, passed through 3 parades with no harm done to bikers or paraders and completed the course. Will be looking for you on June 7th!

Eneas redeems teammates misfortune with Hartford Crit. Win!

The Hartford crit. is a staple in the local road racing scene and last year I narrowly missed winning the masters 30+ race after being in a long solo break and being caught 200 meters from the line.

Needless to say that when I went on the attack in the closing stages of this year’s race I wanted to make amends for last year’s missed opportunity. With about 5 laps to go I was holding an 8 second advantage over a hard chasing group when to my surprise I noticed one of my TARGETRAINING team mates, Matt Emeott, down and out on the sidewalk with a broken shoulder. So here I am passing Matt lap after lap seeing the medics attending to him and thinking that there is no way that I am going to let this field catch me now.

As I came into the bell lap the unexpected happened, the officials stopped the race to move Matt out in an ambulance. After a 20min lull in the action the officials decided to add a lap to the race and then restart the race with my slim 7 second margin. Nothing like going from zero to all out in a matter of seconds!

The finish line could not have come quicker as I was fortunate to hold onto the victory but saddened to have seen Matt’s misfortunes. We hope that Matt will be back on the bike soon and for those that may not know him, he is the design guru that put together our new 2009 TARGETRAINING clothing.

TARGETRAINING Duathlon #2

TARGETRAINING Sunday Duathlon event #2

The Sunday Duathlon event was held under calm cool conditions perfect for fast racing.

Results are posted below.

Trevor MacLean---11:38/38.02/51.10

Dave Burton-------12:52/41.45/58.15

Lauren Carey------13.07/43.02/58.45

Eric Ruge-----------14.50/43.15/59.55

Whitney Ross------14.20/45.50/1:01.38

Chris Kinney-------14.40/Flat/1:02.25

The Big 30

Happy Birthday Megan Kelly!

How did Megan spend her last day in her twenties? Competing in the Great Hudson River Swim, of course. Her time of 28:05 was good enough for 3rd place among females and 5th overall.

TARGETRAINING Field Day

TARGETRAINING held its first field day of the spring season this past Thursday at Sherwood Island State Park for kids 9 to 15 at pircturesque Sherwood Island State Park.

Led by TARGETRAINING coaches Suzie, Carlos and Eneas, a spirited group of young athletes participated in a fun filled afternoon of games and team building activities.

Stay tuned for our next Field Day for TARGETRAINING Youth and Teen!

Dom and Suzie sweep in Richmond Virginia Olympic Distance Triathlon

Dom and Suzie decided to venture to Richmond Virginia to race their first road triathlon of the season. A little speed work to get them going. And they did go. Suzie won first overall female in a time of 2:05:44 with a 14:19 swim+t1, a 1:08:52 25 mile ride, and a 41:28 10K to finish it off. It was an exciting race. Suzie got out of the water down by 9 seconds (yes, 9). She took 4 seconds back on the bike but then promptly lost 5 seconds in t2. Down by 10 seconds, Suzie won the run by about 40 seconds! She beat a Virginia Beach native by about 30 seconds overall. Wow.

Dom turned in a 1:48:54. However, Dom made his race a little less tense by having the fastest swim, bike and run legs. So he led wire to wire. A Richmond Virginia native finished about 1 minute down but Dom in fact put another 12 seconds into him in the run, so Dom had a dominator type race. Again, wow.

And these guys are so modest they didn't even send an email out to us to let us know. I had to troll the triathlon's website to figure all this out.

Here are the full results.

Congrats to our head coaches of triathlon, Dom and Suzie. Great stuff!

Swim Sessions Decoded

I found this great article on Inside Triathlon that I thought I would share. It does a great job at explaining how to read swim workouts. Enjoy!

TARGETRAINING Destination Ride Memorial Day!

We will be doing a destination ride to preview the REV 3 tri bike leg on Memorial Day Monday. We will be meeting at TARGETRAINING at 7AM to car pool to the course. This is a great 56 mile loop in beautiful Middlebury, CT. For details of the course please visit here. and email Dom to RSVP.

The Every Day Athlete

One of my favorite blogs is The Every Day Athlete. The blogger Heidi Swift is great. Check out this post.

Bloomin' Metric at Calf Pasture and Indoor Cycling Rainout Session

The weather for Sunday calls for rain so we are adding an indoor 9:30AM cycling session for those that would like to ride inside.
This Sunday we will be postponing our standard morning schedule in order to support the Bloomin' Metric Ride out of Calf Pasture Beach in Norwalk, CT. We will be meeting to ride together at 8AM at the TARGETRAINING tent. For more information about the ride please visit: http://www.soundcyclists.com/BloominMetric.htm

The Cannondale Demo Van is here!

This is your chance to demo some of the finest bikes in the world. Stop by the STORE and try on a Cannondale! We have a limited supply of sizing so it is on a reservation basis over the weekend. Contact Jeff to reserve your bike.

Review of ZOOT Compression gear

Had a hard day on the road and just can't seem to find that right combination of rest and recovery that will get you back on the bike? The latest in cycling technology isn't made of an exotic composite but rather a fine combination of fabrics that helps fatigued muscles recover. Usher in the ZOOT CompressRx Recovery system. These garments do more than show off your physique they assist your body in flushing the by products of your workout out of the muscles. The result is a speedier recovery thus getting you back out there. Cyclingnews.com covers a wide range of products in their review segments and is regarded as scripture by some. Here is their in depth review.

Zootsports.com

Field Day Rescheduled

Due to current weather conditions, TargeTraining's Field Day, scheduled for today (Thursday May 14th) has been rescheduled in hopes of bright, sunny skies next Thursday, May 21st. Same time, same place (4:00-5:30 @ Sherwood Island)- Hope to see you there!

A Piece of Humble Pie

The 2009 season has been a great campaign so far which included a national championship win. But every once in a while we need to be brought back to earth and be reminded of our limits.

Heading into the Bear Mountain Road Race on Mother’s day, I was excited to toe the start line for this classic 100 mile race with my family hoping for another successful race. All seemed well enough as I was able to ride comfortably and make several aggressive moves throughout the race. Yet as the miles passed by, my date with a world of pain was getting closer.

Having just been chased down by the peloton with only 20 miles left to race, I soon realized that the gas tank was on empty and my race was about to come to an end. Before I knew it I had been dropped by a field that I had just been attacking and was in full bonk mode.

I was soon alone struggling to get to the finish line wondering what had just happened. Did I eat enough, get enough rest the night before, do enough interval training?

I eventually made it back to the finish and had to only laugh at the disaster that was this race. So why make this post? Well simply said there is always tomorrow. Every race, every training session, all that we do to prepare for events during the year should be used as a learning experience. When we fail it provides us excellent opportunities to learn and prepare better for future events.

I often hear “It’s easier said than Done!”, well on behalf of my TARGETRAINING staff we all have had to struggle through various obstacles to find success and we are here to help you do the same.

TARGETRAINING announces partnership with the Pat Griskus Triathlon Races

5/12/09 TARGETRAINING announces partnership with the Pat Griskus Triathlon Races.

Targetraining will sponsor the sprint and Olympic distance races at to be held at Quassy amusement park. The date for the 8th annual Olympic race is Saturday June 20th. The 23rd annual sprint race will be held on July 8th. We have race specific training plans available to get you from start to finish. Contact dom@targetraining.com for more information.

Race registration is available at www.PatGriskusTri.com

TARGETRAINING Duathlon # 1 Results

It was a sunny and windy Mother's Day for the first edition of our Duathlon Training Race Series. The course is 2 mile run, 9.5 mile bike, followed by the same 2 mile run. We will be holding the race every other Sunday at 8 AM at Sherwood Island. When the water warms up it will be the Triathlon Training Race Series. Join us for the next event on Memorial Day, May 24th!

Results from the 5/10/09 Race:

1:00.37 Joel Whidden
1:06.10 Clare Zecher
1:06.50 Lauren Carey
DNF Eric Ruge (flat tire)

TARGETYoga goes Gold -- Sue Gold...!

Susan Gold has joined Target Training as a yoga instructor on Monday evenings at 7pm and is pleased to offer an energizing hour of yoga which will enhance your training and help you find your personal edge. Whether you want to increase your range of motion in the water, strengthen your quadriceps for cycling or improve your concentration on the race course, this vinyasa yoga practice will improve your strength, stamina, flexibility and balance- mentally and physically. This practice will help with your breathing and your focus during competition. It will empower you on and off the mat. Classes will teach you routines that you can easily include in your daily workouts.

Susan Gold has been a yoga practitioner for 14 years and was also a competitive runner. She has finished 15 marathons with many age group awards as well as numerous triathlons. She completed her 200-hour hatha yoga training at Saraswati’s Yoga Joint in Norwalk, CT. Susan has taught classes to triathletes as well as adults and children. She is passionate about her practice and how its positively enhanced her training. The power vinyasa yoga can modified for beginners.

Bike Maintenance Clinic@Tri&Cycle Wed May 27th@6:30 PM

Come stop by at TARGETRAINING's Tri&Cycle Bicycle and Triathlon Equipment Shop to see the experts at work. Max will be the ring master and will be ably assisted by Jake (our head mechanic -- what else do you do with a Masters in Mechanical Engineering?). Everyone who has a magic touch with the wrench. They'll be there, teaching, guiding, showing. Click on the picture. It's cool. Please RSVP to max_v@targetraining.com.

See you then! Bring your family!

Dom on Youtube featuring the USAT and Retul

Greenwich Biathlon (aka a Duathlon)

Race start - Eneas and Yokes out front

According to Wikipedia-

Biathlon is a term used to describe any sporting event made up of two disciplines. However, biathlon usually refers specifically to the winter sport that combines cross-country skiing and rifle shooting. Another popular variant is summer biathlon, which combines cross-country running with riflery, and also modern biathlon and biathle, which combine running with swimming. Not to be confused with duathlon.
So, the Greenwich Biathlon is really better described as a duathlon (run-bike-run) which is why I decided to watch and snap some pictures versus race (why would I do a race that doubles the run and has no swimming?).
There was a great turnout from Targetraining team members and clients -Eneas (1st place overall), Kristin (2nd place overall), Yokes (1st place in AG), Dr. Poe (2nd place in AG), Kim, Bob, Mike and others. Way to go everyone!!!

To view more photos paste this link into your browser (I tried to get at least one shot of everyone): http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=21678&id=1124963398&l=bbaff5cbf5

The skinny on Retul

Todd Carver is the man in charge of biomechanics at Retul. Back in December he was at our Westport location educationg the staff on the system. Recently he was interviewed by Pezcyclingnews.com and you can catch it here