2010 NYRR season coming to an end...but only the beginning!

One of the things new to me was actually taking part in competitive running. Prior to moving to NYC from residency, I have been a long time runner. I picked up running sometime in college as I was actually a a bit overweight and decided to run to lose some weight. In fact, it worked too well and lost well over 20 pounds of fat over a year. While I never was a competitive runner, I loved just hitting the road whether in heat or cold and getting that runner's high! While I did time myself, I was not nearly obsessive about taking record of data such as miles, heart rate, pace, etc. I probably was a 10 min/mile runner back in the day. Coming to NYC, I got to see the NYC marathon in person and felt all the energy during the race and before. Seeing people from all over the country to partake in perhaps one of the world's most famous marathon was inspiring. Seeing runners with their NYC marathon shirts made me want to do it too!

I set about to see how I could join for next year come to find out you can only really get in 1 of 3 ways: 1. Charity 2. Qualifying (not me!) 3. Lottery.

I crossed out the first two and decided to try the lottery. What I realized was that the my chances of winning the lotto was better. I quickly found out I did not get in the lottery...quite bummed. I then found a fourth way to get in for 2011 open to new yorkers (really anyone who was willing to fulfill these requirements). Called the 9 and 1 rule, if one is a member of NYRR, you do 9 roads races and 1 volunteer race...your in for the following year.

Never really a competitive runner, I signed up for my first road race in January of 2010. What I quickly realized was with over 3000+ runners you can't help but to push yourself faster! So 9 races later including 5 half marathons, I am in for the 2011 NYC Marathon!

Perhaps most importantly I improved my running pace dramatically over my first year of actually racing. Where I was content to be a 10 min/miler, as you can see from my average 5k-10k, my average pace is low 8s. This is my biggest excitement for the year of 2010 to knock off that much time in my first year of real running.

My goal for the year of 2011 aside for the 2011 marathon is to race at a mid-7 min/mile.
I also hope to get my half-marathon time to be consistently below 2 hours, I think I was only able to achieve that for one of the five halfs I did this year. I am looking forward to a great 2011 NYRR year, of course I will be running a lot for this year as well as focus on my triathlon training.

Race Name, Date		Gender/ Age	City, State		Distance (miles)		Net Time	Pace/ Mile	Overall Place	Gender Place	Age Place	Age- Graded %
Bronx Half Marathon August 15, 2010		M31	New York, NY		13.1		2:37:11	11:59	4711	2818	606	37.6 %
Queens Half Marathon July 24, 2010		M31	New York, NY		13.1		2:12:54	10:08	2040	1440	325	44.5 %
Brooklyn Half Marathon May 22, 2010		M31	New York, NY		13.1		1:58:04	9:00	3348	2226	531	50.1 %
Scotland Run April 3, 2010		M31	New York, NY		6.2		50:59	8:13	2338	1862	417	52.9 %
Colon Cancer 4M Challenge March 28, 2010		M31	New York, NY		4.0		32:09	8:02	483	380	74	52.6 %
NYC Half-Marathon March 21, 2010		M31	New York, NY		13.1		2:04:29	09:31	6945	4103	846	47.57
NYRR Al Gordon Snowflake February 28, 2010		M31	New York, NY		4.0		31:09	7:47	808	681	164	54.3 %
Run for Haiti February 20, 2010		M31	New York, NY		4.0		32:11	8:02	1763	1370	281	52.6 %
NYRR Manhattan Half-Marathon January 24, 2010		M31	New York, NY		13.1		2:00:21	9:11	3402	2425	451	49.2 %
NYRR Fred Lebow Classic January 9, 2010		M31	New York, NY		5.0		40:01	8:00	914	759	168	53.5 %

 

 

About me

Hi!

Thanks for stopping by. I have started this more for friends and family, but one of the main reasons is to talk about some of the things I am most passionate about: Running/triathlons, my travels with my wonderful 'wifey', my other interests...and my wonderful sidekick, Julie "The dog".

I grew up in New York/Massachusetts and have moved around a lot as a child, rarely settling down for more then a few years at a time. I currently reside in the awesome, albeit, expensive city of New York with the "wifey" and "The dog". While I love what I do at my job/fellowship (studying ways to poison people without getting caught...i.e. medical tox), I really love to run and snowboard, and most recently do triathlons.

My goal is talk about my journey in the world of running/triathlons. Another reason to talk about my experiences is also to reflect on improving (just plain get faster and better). I am by no means pro and consider myself a MOP (middle of the pack) person but I hope to get better over the years. I also plan to talk about the equipment I end up using as a reference for others too. I enjoy (my wife does not) buying and trying out new gear. I'm not a techie by any stretch of the imagination, but someone who does enjoy cool toys and playing around with them. In summary if you are new to the world of running/triathlons, I hope this will become a resource as well as inspiration from a person who in between his job (which can be busy) finds time to take part in some of the most satisfactory undertakings out there!

NYRR Sprint Triathlon Race Report

Queens, NY-Corona Park

This is my first race report of my first triathlon-New York road Runner (NYRR) Sprint Triathlon-8/1/2010. After living in NYC for the past year and participating in various road races, mostly to get into the NYC Marathon the following year for 2011, I noticed that NYRR posted sign-ins for their second sprint triathlon. Although not a qualifier for the marathon, there was something appealing about it. It's funny, I have friends who do triathlons, but never thought about doing one...maybe it was the fact I never liked to swim much...or maybe that I didn't even own a bike (much less ridden one for ten years)...at least I run. Anyways, I decided to sign up since it seemed reasonable. 400 meter swim...13 mile-bike ride...3.1 mile run. The problem is that I still haven't swam or even own a bike...and there was 5-weeks to go.

Okay...swimming..got that covered. Since it isn't an open water swim I'd figure I could just go here...

Now for the tough part...getting a bike. Since I haven't rode a bike for well over 10 years, much less know what kind of bike to get this one would be tough. After some research on triathlons it seems clear that biking is the most technical (hence $$$) aspect. I was thinking of going with my sister's 10 year-old huffy bike, but decided against it. A tri bike...sexy as it is was (way out of my price range) so I settled on this...

Cannondale CAAD 9

Okay...now after a lot of riding and running I felt ready to do the NYRR Sprint Triathlon. Notice I didn't say much about swimming...of course that will come back to get me.

SWIM:

I really don't have much to say except I really suck without my noseplug. One of the things I realized during my training, I can't swim without noseplugs. For whatever reason water just rushes up my nose and I can't keep my head in the water (which is bad since you want to essentially look at the floor to keep your body from becoming vertical).

Corona Park-Aquatic Center 

This was a staggered start so you lined yourself up according to your expected finish time. Since it was only 400 meters (1/4 mile) it didn't seem to bad. Seeing how this was my first I didn't want to be that guy who thought they could kill it only to block everyone else so I decided to hang back. It wouldn't really matter time wise since your time starts when you cross the line right before you hit the pool. Since this isn't a mass start what it did mean was that I didn't hit the pool until an hour later! Not that it matter, my noseplug kept slipping during my swim so I had to stop every other lane to adjust it. Not my proudest moment seeing how my wife said she felt sorry for me as she was watching...great :@)

Swim: 15.41 (383/434)
     T1: 3.53 (317/434)

BIKE:

I was excited to get out of that damn pool and ran down the stairs to my bike...this is where I was going to put my 1000+dollar bike to get use! I put on my biking shorts and shirt, took a swig from my G2, put on my glasses, helmet...yeah you'll notice from T1 I was taking way too long.

 The bike course was a 13-mile loop (2 to be precise) around a flat technical course in Corona Park. It was relatively uneventful as far as problems. Being a sprint, there were all manners of bike from the Cervelo Tri bikes to a bike which I think was taken directly from the set of the Wizard of Oz.

The only issue I had during the bike ride was with the new Timex Global Trainer (TGT) watch I got from REI. For whatever reason it was not recording my speed accurately so would underestimate my speed. While I felt I was doing about 18, it had me going at 12. Kind of annoying when I typically rely on my GPS to pace myself. I just turned it off and kept going at a decent cadence, not wanting to go all out on the bike portion.

My only complaint would be the lack of riders not observing the USAT rules. I'm not an expert by any means, but seriously...don't stay in the left lane the whole time! I had one lady weaving left and right, as I attempted to pass her on the left (while saying "on our left") she must have thought I meant move to your left cause that is what she did! In the process caused me to ride out of control on my bike. Almost falling, I pulled my left calf muscle to boot and pulled over to stretch it out. I lost perhaps 5-10 mins in the process.

Aside from that I did my two loops. I went to rack my bike and changes to my sneakers/race belt.
Bike: 44.33 (162/434) Average speed: 17.51 mph
     T2: 2.34 (348/434)

RUN:

Wow...experienced what a brick is! I only practiced it once prior to this race, but felt the heavy legs as I went out. The run was a 5k through Corona park. Relatively flat and some nice sights around the park like Shea stadium in the background and of course the iconic Unisphere. I tried to push it and my initial pace was probably about 7.5 min/mile but I really felt my heart about to pop out of my chest. It's one thing to run on a fresh pair of legs, it's another after a swim/bike. I pulled back and took it easy for the remaining 2.1 miles. As I neared the last 0.5 miles I saw someone in my age group and decided to bump it up alittle...until the end when he felt the same....

Run: 27.10 (202/434) Average pace: 8.55

FINAL THOUGHTS:

This was a awesome experience for my first triathlon (although only a sprint). This is the second year NYRR put on this event and hope they move more into the multisport arena. NYRR does an excellent job organizing runs and would do a great job here. As for my performance, I was excited to do my first but also felt I could have improved in many areas. For instance, I realize a fatal flaw in the swim was the issues with my noseplug and practicing my bricks. In any case I feel totally hooked and look forward to my next event...Ironman 70.3 Syracuse. I hope to work on my weakness and put in a solid performance for the half ironman (HIM).

Thanks to my wifey for all the awesome photos and my greatest supporter!


Tune in this September for my first half ironman, I will have lots to say!