TARGETRAINING : endurance is life

June 24th. Philadelphia. Philadelphia Triathlon. Report from David Yockelson, who won the 40-44 age group.

"Today was the third edition of the Philadelphia Triathlon and my third time in 
the race.  The first two were subject to inclement weather - extreme heat 2 
years ago, a rained out swim (and a resulting duathlon) last year.  Today's 
weather was SPECTACULAR and thus no excuses woud be tolerated.  I did come into 
the race with a wicked case of poison ivy but decided NOT to take Benadryl 
Saturday night for fear of not waking up this morning for the race.

I was in the 7th wave of the race...scheduled to start some 40 minutes after the 
pros.  The race, though, is very well organized, and with almost 1600 entrants, 
it had better be.  Finally, the purple wave (don't laugh) was able to get in the 
water for the swim start. 

Swim: I FELT like I was swimming fast - I felt strong and was able to stay on 
some feet for a change.  I STILL ended up with only the 176th fastest swim in 
25:05...maybe the current had died by the time we went?  I'm mystified...I'm 
going much faster in the pool than I used to, but not faster in the open water 
(except at Alcatraz).  Felt good getting out and through transition.

Bike: I FELT like I flew on the bike...was passed only once the whole way, and 
that was at about the 21st mile by a dude in his 20s...bottom line, 1:04:51, 
resulting in a higher percentage (vs. the field) result than past years, but a 
drop slower than last year.  I had the 42nd fastest bike overall (including the 
pros, of which there were 24).

Run: No socks this time, so in and out of T2 OK (ripped my feet up, but what the 
heck).  This is pretty much a pancake run, and I was finally able to do 
something with it.  I locked into 6 minute pace and stayed on it.  2 guys in my 
AG had pulled up wtih bad hamstrings.  I was cruising on the run, staying on 6 
min. pace through 5 miles (30:05).  At about 5.25 miles, I saw a guy in front of 
me - by about 200M - that I thought COULD be in my age group.  I worked on 
getting closer and caught him just before 6 miles, at which point I could see 
that he was 41.  I kicked it into high gear somehow and outsprinted him to the 
line - I think I surprised him since he had no answer.  This was probably the 
most satisfying minute of my competitive career - I don't think I ever had 
outkicked anyone for anything meaningful ever.  That won me the age group by 6 
seconds.  22nd fastest run overall (including pros).

Total time: 2:11:01.  33rd overall including the pros, 9th overall amateur (from 
what I can tell from posted results).  1st 40-44.  Felt too good afterward, a 
good thing since we then went to the Franklin Institute for a King Tut tour and 
then 5 hours of traffic getting home."

June 17. Grinkus Triathlon . Mitch West pulls third overall in this triathlon. For Results click here. Long Island Gold Coast Triathlon. Richard Izzo finished 10th in the Open Male division. He would have won the 40-44 age group by 4 minutes.

1. Healthnet Triathlon in Milford, CT turned into a showcase event for TARGETRAINING. Mitch West won the overall championship, posting the fastest split out of the water, the second fastest ride and among the top runs to win it all. He was closely followed by Ally Lawler, who got 1st in her age group and 4th overall among the women. Ally was even more closely followed by Laurie Brannigan, who got 5th overall and 2nd (to Ally) in her 35-39 age group. Fran Gray was going as fast as Laurie, but stopped to save herself for US Nationals coming in two weeks time. Bruce Koffsky followed soon thereafter, getting 5th in the 45-49 age group. Cornelia Parchment-Horn posted her personal best time in an Olympic distance event! If there are results we are missing, please email rick@targetraining.com asap!

2. On Sunday, Ed and Sam Parker snuck up the East Coast to do the Mystic River Valley Sprint Triathlon. Ed finished 8th in his age group and Sam finished 12th in her age group. Ed and Sam have focused hard on preparing for this event and the results show this.

3. In the Eagleman Half on Saturday, David Mosse placed 8th in his age group and 62nd overall in a sweet time of 4:23:02. David crushed the run and did well in the swim. We know he'll get better in the bike side, but we are very excited about how he performed. Here is Dave's report.

"Here are the results, with more color to follow:

4:23:02 overall time
26:38 swim, 2:23:18 bike (23.6 mph), 1:27:54 run (6:43 pace)
55th male overall (incl. pros)
8th in AG
Only 3 spots behind Chris Legh who did a 4:20 (he had bike issues apparently, but I may never finish that close to such an accomplished pro again...)

When I got down there on Friday it was 90+ degrees, sunny and windy. I went for a swim Saturday morning in the Choptank River and it was super choppy. All in all not atypical conditions for Eagleman. By race day, it was approx 70-75 degrees, overcast and moderately windy. Couldn't have asked for better conditions (ok, maybe a little less wind).

Greg and I stayed in a luxurious Best Western in the distinctive town of Denton, MD. Middle of f'in nowhere. About 40 minutes from the race site. There were actually several families vacationing at our resort. They weren't just staying there as a launchpad to visit surrounding historic towns or take kayaking trips; they were literally spending their days by the side of the pool drinking beers, having birthday parties in the hotel lounge, having pajama parties in front of the hotel lobby television, etc. Quite a site. Oh, and in case you're ever passing through Denton, make sure to dine at the Coliseum, perhaps the "BEST" Italian restaurant ever, as was told to us by a local. "Superior cuisine."

Greg and I mistimed race morning a bit and got down to transition with barely enough time to set up and stand in line for the port-o-john. They wouldn't let us take bikes out of transition, so no bike warm-up; we didn't have enough time to go for a run; and they wouldn't let us into the water until 5 minutes before the start of our wave. Oh well.

Swim was only a little bit choppy on the way out. Our wave was not too crowded. Felt ok and was very surprised with my swim time.

On to the bike, it was my first time really racing with the powermeter. I had it at wildflower, but given the nature of that course I was using it there more to control myself on the hills than anything else. This time, given the flat nature of the course and the possibility of wind, I had a set wattage range in mind that would prevent me from going too hard (particularly on windy stretches) or from slacking off. It seems to have worked very well. I still "raced" the course and was not a slave to the numbers. There was an obscene amount of drafting going on out there. Huge packs. Mostly weaker competitors glomming on to stronger guys and in some cases simply nowhere to go, but it was pretty shameful and very upsetting. Natascha Badman, who won the women's pro race, made a speech at the awards ceremony during which she expressed her anger at those that were cheating.

Came off the bike and legs felt good right away. First 2-3 miles were around 6:30 pace and then I settled in to a slightly more moderate pace. I was passing plenty of guys in the age groups that had started before me, but few if any in my own age group. That changed after the turnaround. I kept my pace up and slowly started picking off some guys in my AG. I think I started the run in 14th place in my AG and ended 8th. Almost the reverse of my race here last year.

So all in all a good day and a nice way to head into the final build towards Lake Placid."

Greg Stewart had an off day, losing 45 minutes to a mechanical on his bike. His story here:

"Well, to piggy-back off of DM's report, I can share the gory details of my race. . .

After a SURPRISINGLY good swim without too much suffering (I was SHOCKED to see my watch at 28min and change as I unzipped my wetsuit) I hit the bike and felt great. I took "easy," which was hard to do starting in the 5th wave... There are people to pass, and it's just so much fun ;) So I stayed in control for 25miles, when DM stroked my ass coming around. My guess is he was drafting the whole way, but I won't start any rumors ;) I hung back from his wheel for a couple of miles when my wheel started feeling flat... turned around to look at it and BAM! Flat. My tire actually came off the rim and I was quickly on the side of the road without parts. It was 45 minutes later (not to mention the thousands that came by to pass me) when a sag vehicle replaced my tube, tire and I was all the suddenly back in the race. Very funny, considering I was mentally checked out and getting sunburnt -- I didn't bother stretching, drinking or eating, 'cause I figured I was done with a DNF because I received outside assistance. Instead, here I was, stiff as a board at mile 30. All right, "a training day, right." And off I went.

Congrats to DMosse for a stellar race and for Mitch for tearing it up in Milford!"

4. Montauk Triathlon. Richard Izzo placed 3rd in his age group (21st overall).

"Got there the night before at about 10pm. Edb joined us at about midnight as he had stayed in westchester to watch his son david star in the Wizard of Oz as the scarecrow (ed talks in his sleep by the way). It was mildly amusing.

Got up as usual, we are pros by this time rt? Got to the transition area early to warmup on the bike. And when I put my stuff out, no goggles. I had them the night before but they were gone. Went back to the car, not there. Buzzed back to the room and not there as well. Hmm. This could be interesting, and an open water swim in salt water w/o goggles, plus I was i nthe elite wave ready to kick off in 10min. No warmup for this race I guess. The race director had an extra pair so I was saved. Now it was just the fact that I have swam 7x since Nov that was the only concern for a 1m swim.
Plus the fog was so thick you could only see the first of 5 buoys. Well no bother this was going to be a slow easy swim for me anyway.
Gun off, I stayed on the buoy line while everyone else went wide, screw it i will be swimming by myself so no bother anyway.
I hit the last buoy at the turn and was very comfortable. Coming back, warmed up I was able to catch some fast feet and other than swimming headon into a pack of swimmers I was aok with a surprising 21.5 min 1m swim, mostly due to swimming with a fullsuit for the first time in 8yrs.
On the bike I started out all out, just pain for an hr, right? I started to pull in others and after the 5m mark I was pretty much riding by myself out to the point (fairly tough mentally as I can usually judge how I am doing by the number of people I pass on the bike). I had to let 2 guys go, the legs were feeling thurs night ( a 50m tempo ride on top of a 30m easy am ride) and by the end i think I was in the top 20's overall.
Now to the run. I got into pace rt away and was running well (about 6"30pace) until I got to about 2.5m ( is it any wonder all the du's i have been doing have been no longerthan 2-3m). My legs started to feel it and i saw Charles W about 2 min behind at the first turn, and then at each cul de sac, a definite motivation to pick it up. These go down to the water then you have to climb several hills to get back tothe main rd. I was able to get to the 5m mark w/o getting caught and I picked up the pace the last 1.2m to finish ahead of him by about 1min and 21st overall/800.
Time: 2:00 hrs , S- 21.5, B22m- 50min 26mph, R- 6.2m 44min, 21st overall, and 3rd in the 40-44AG
winners time-1:51.30

Congrats to everyone that raced this weekend!"

June 3rd. Fairfield. David Mosse took 2nd overall and first in his age group in the inaugural duathlon.

June 3rd. Alcatraz. Submitted by David "Old School Yockelson. First, congratulations to Diesel -- on the strength of a really nice swim, Diesel's 2:25:24 outclassed my 2:29:08; he also placed 29th overall vs. my 44th. He also had a REALLY strong 52:24 run - that's the last time I give away any interval and track training secrets to HIM. I'll let Mitch give you his details from the race and his 6th in the 35-39 AG.

Friday's arrival found San Francisco feeling a lot like Harriman 2 weeks ago -- cool and windy with some fog-based precipitation. I was thrilled to (1) get all my luggage in one piece and (2) put my bike together - the right way - in about 15 minutes in the hotel. Took a practice ride over much of the bike course and remembered how technical it was - all ups and downs, maybe 7 minutes worth of flats total. And the descents are almost all technical, ending in sharp turns. Later Friday, I swam at the south end with numerous others from the NY area. Nice and chilly. Out after 10 minutes ready for next day's rest.

Sunday AM (at 4:00 AM, that is) seemed a bit warmer than the other days. I felt really calm on the Hornblower just before the race, a stark contrast with 2 years ago. This year, organizers told us we'd definitely have a strong current (an hour earlier start at 7 am assured this), so I hoped only to sight the right way. Jumped into the Bay, the water was actually pretty nice (though some good swells), and after about 25 minutes, I was THRILLED to be where I was supposed to be, aimed at the beach. Who cares if my swim was 518th overall/96th in the AG (OK, I care, but still) -- I was in the right place and felt great. Swim time of 35:15 was >16 minutes faster than '05 (current and proper sighting helped).

I elected to put on race flats for the T1 run from the beach to the actuall T1. Took a bit longer than I wanted to get my feet into the shoes, but got in and sprinted as much as possible with the wetsuit on to the bike. Got into T1, out of wetsuit, onto bike.

The bike course was CROWDED (I was about the 4th wave off the boat), so I elected to pound the uphills and speed the downs with some caution (we understand that tragically, a racer actually died on the bike course after a crash this year). Was glad to get through unscathed and felt almost too good heading back to T2. 53:12 was 35th best (7th in AG) and >3 minutes faster than '05.

In and out of T2, had a Gu and took some water. Now I'm wondering if I ran fast enough out of the gate, but at that point, it felt pretty quick. If you do this race, note that the early stairs and hills are pretty taxing, nearly as much as the sand stairs later. Ran steady until the turn and the sand stairs, then tried to pick it up for the last 20 minutes. REALLY picked it up the last mile or so and did 51:44 (24th best overall, 2nd in AG), 1:40 faster than '05.

I'm really happy with the time and performance, and thanks crew for the hard bike rides over the past few weeks - they really helped me maintain focus. I did come away a bit too fresh, suggesting I probably had a bit more to give. Still, I was shooting for top 10 in the AG and got 7th (and a 2:30s time), so I can't complain too much.

Thanks also to Diesel for schlepping my TT gear across the country, and thanks Rick/TT for the gear (the one piece worked out well, as did the jacket before and after).

See you in a week or so.

June 1st. Quick Team update. The TARGETRAINING TARGETri Team has gotten off to a strong start to the season. Fran Gray won her first race of the season at the MetroMan in New Jersey. David "Old School" Yockleson has been placing top 3 in every race in his age group and also pulled off a top 10 result overall in the ridiculously cold Harriman Half. Mitch West got 4th overall in the 5K Minuteman Road Race and 1st in his age group. David Mosse got 34th overall in the tough WildFlower California Half and 14th in his age group. Rich Izzo got 5th overall in the Carl Hart duathlon and 1st in his age group.