March Madness Biathlon

38 degrees is not that comfortable for a biathlon. I sweat big, so after the first 2.2 mile run I was pretty much soaked, then on the bike for 12 miles the body got really cold with the wind and the wet. Even though I was expecting it and I tried to dress to minimize it, there was no avoiding the cold. Then came the last run which kicked my ass, primarily because I haven't done any brix workouts in a long time, my legs felt like they where filled with cement. But at least I thawed out again, or at least got warm again, becuase I certainly didn't get dry... I crossed the finish line looking like I had just crawled out of the pool... as usual.

According to the computer on my TT bike, the last time I rode it was exactly 6 months ago at the Westchester Tri. The bike is still dialed in perfectly from last year, and I forgot how much fun it is to go fast on that bike! Can't wait to put it to good use again this year.

Even though I felt sluggish, I finished the race in 1:06:15, which is pretty fast for me (versus previous years). But finished 36th overall which is much higher than normal... I guess the competition is just getting faster/harder.

4 weeks left until Duathlon Nationals, lets see how much better I can get by then. Time to work on my speed.

Results: http://www.nytri.org/results_full.cfm?ID=144

Map of the course: http://www.nytri.org/races00/mapcp.cfm

Book Review #3

Kept waiting for this book to get inside the man or the race, but it never really did. It was more of a journal of the author following the Tour around France in his rental cars, and the towns, hotels, and adventures along the way... Enjoyable read, but not what I expected. If you followed the 2005 tour, you're not getting anything new out of this one, so I'd say pass. Unless you want some French travel tips. Probably a 3 out of 5.

Uping the Mileage

A little taste of spring this weekend! Made increasing the training miles alot easier... Hope it stays this way for a while. On Saturday I rode outside for the first time this year. Felt so good to be back out there being dragged around by Pinky here...
...and the rest of our crew. We did just over 60 miles. Some miles fast, others easy.

At the end my legs where shot... But reserved just enough upper body strength to get through a few awesome Kart races with Pat and Fern.

Then Sunday started bright an early with a 2.5 hour trail run with Brian at Rockefeller State Park.

Followed by a loop of Graham Hills on the MTB's. I dusted of the 1994 GT Zaskar for this one... First time on this bike in years. Kinda fun to feel how far bike technology has come since this was considered one of the best XC rigs out there.

Next Week: March Madness Biathlon in NYC...

XTERRA Stillwell Trail Run

Snow still on the ground shortened the course from 5 miles to 3.5 miles. No matter, we still had fun, and it was plenty long enough to get the HR into the red zone for a while. Today's posse pictured here: Me, Brian, Kristin (who finished 1st overall female!) Rick and David.
Results HERE (yes, Brian beat me by 2/10th of a second. Never again Brian, Never!)

After the race we hopped on our bikes, and planned to trail ride for 2 hours.

We made it about about 2 miles before Rick's chain blew. It took us about 45 minutes to get it fixed...

Then a mile later my chain blew. This time it only took us about 20 minutes...

Then we pushed our bikes through the snow some more...

At one point we had done only 4.5 miles in 1hr 43mins! Hilarious! Running out of time we jumped out of the woods and found a road to ride back on... Ride totaled 6.5miles in 1:58 minutes... Not the most succesful of rides, but at least we are now all experts at chain repair. And we'll all come back again when conditions are better.

Here is a video of Rick's chain repair. We'd still be out there if this random guy hadn't walked past with a pair of plyers in his pocket!

WPTL - League Champions!

Greenburgh Paddle team photo. We took this right after beating Manursing and then Westchester CC in the same night to capture the 2010 title. With big rivalries, and great matches, this was an awesome night... This pretty much marks the end of the paddle season. One more tournament next weekend, and then its all about swimming biking and running for a while.

Book Review #2

I like the Catskills, Kristin and I have spent alot of time up there. And I'm fascinated by old stone walls. I see them alot when I'm on my mountain bike in the middle of nowhere. But this book was definately not for me. So boring. I really struggled to get through it.... I'm not even going to give it the three sentence review.

I guess I was hoping for it to be a little more like a book I had read several years ago. I remember liking this one alot more. And I still enjoy trying to figure out what each old stone wall was originally built for as a hammer by on my bike.

Next up I think I am going to read Chasing Lance by Martin Duggard. It's been sitting on my shelf for like two years, needs to be read.