Racing Week Review

Another busy weekend for E3 athletes and friends

On Wednesday Oct 5th 
Noah Manacas and Carrie Mosher toed the line at the Night Weasels Comet cross race and both have tough days with mechanicals. Still, the racing was epic and the course caused many mechanicals with tough conditions! Here is a taste:


Watch more video of Night Weasels Cometh 2011 on cyclingdirt.org

On Saturday Oct 8th
Our friends from PBM Coaching had a great day at the Ironman World Championship collecting 3 top 10s. Awesome job for Coach Kurt and crew! Many other friends from the Boston Tri Team, BPC and more also competed most with great days!

Worth noticing, Craig Alexander won his 3rd IM World Title (2nd World title within weeks) and broke the world record with an impressive race. Chrissie Wellington won her 4th IM World title in a close race wtih Mirinda Carfrae

At Providence Cyclocross festival Day 1, both Noah Manacas and Carrie Mosher had their revenge from Wednesday and posted solid showings, Noah had his best result yet with a top 50% and Carrie followed with a top 50% as well. Each race they get better ad better.

On Sunday Oct 9th
At the Rev3:

• Patricia Brownell completed the Olympic distance closing her season with a 1st place AG and 7th overall. Great job!
• Friends from Endurance Concepts and All3 Sports Team have solid races; congrats to Andrew, Tatyana et all

At the BAA half marathon:

• Noah had a solid day running within a few minutes of a PR
• Brenda had a challenging day with the heat but completed the race
• Brendan Hall also had a challenging day but that's part of 'racing' during the off-season
• Many friends from the Boston Tri Team also had solid days, congrats to Lucy, Grace, Kelwin, Bryan etc.!

At the Chicago Marathon:

• Kirsten Knowles ran for a PR clocking 3:27hrs
• Alaina Case Neary ran a 3:17hrs, not a PR but impressive given she has been focusing on triathlon racing.
• Ryan Case ran a PR and outstanding performance with a 2:58hr time!
• Amy Duverger also managed a PR clocking sub 4:20hrs
• Many friends from Somerville Road Runners and the Liver foundation also had great days, congrats to Joe, Kate and company.
• Worth noticing; Moses Mosop won the men's race and posted a course record.

At the Army Ten Miler Tracy Douglas ran a 1:09hr time good enough for a PR! (waiting for confirmation)

At Providence Cyclocross festival Day 2 Carrie continued her cross experience with a solid showing under hot conditions.

At the USAT Halfmax National Championship Kris Kaplan closed his season with a challenging day battling dehydration but completing the race.

Congratulation to you all!

Great races not always occur when you have a good result...

Race Report Sucker Brook Cross 09-25-11

by Jorge

As many of you know, back on early 2010, I began experiencing some knee pain to the point I stop training and later that year I got knee surgery resulting in a long recovery. This year I finally was able to train again (mainly ride and run) and decided to focus on cycling while laying down a foundation with easy running (and eventually swimming) for a triathlon comeback on 2012.

My only short term goals was to get in shape within my own limitations to let my knee heal 100% and try to be in somehow ok shape for the coming Cyclocross Season which started this September. At the end of 2009 I did my first ever race and went to complete 10 races total becoming one of my favorite sports.

For those that doesn’t know what it is, cyclocross is a mix of road racing and mtn biking; from Wikipedia: “Races typically take place in the autumn and winter (the international or "World Cup" season is September–January), and consists of many laps of a short 1.5–2 mile course featuring pavement, wooded trails, grass, steep hills and obstacles requiring the rider to quickly dismount, carry the bike whilst navigating the obstruction and remount. Races are generally between 30 minutes and an hour long, with the distance varying depending on the ground conditions. The sport is strongest in the traditional road cycling countries such as Belgium (and Flanders in particular), France and the Netherlands."

After my very 1st race I was hooked. Why? Well, coming from a triathlon background, riding cross was so much of a challenge I went from finishing on the front of the pack at tris to the back of the pack on cross. The races are tough, the level of intensity is pretty high, the technique skills are pretty important and quick thinking is a must to ride through the course. All this elements are not as important in something as Tris where the efforts are controlled and the races are usually over 1 hr long that quick thinking is not something is needed often.

I like cross very much because somehow I relate it to soccer, a sport I grew up playing and which I practiced semi-professional. I think both sports require similar competitive treats even though the sports themselves are pretty different. You must think I am crazy, but hear me out:

In soccer it is required a lot of practice to master skills handling and controlling the ball. In cross, you need to practice handling your bike to ride through corners, mud, mount/dismount, ride through rocks, roots, rain, hairpin turns, etc.

In soccer you also need quick thinking skills to make quick decisions when making a pass, striking or defending. On cross, you need the same skills to attack a corner, defend your position, pass a rider or prevent that rock that might make you shoot you over the bars.

Finally in soccer, you require the endurance to last 2 periods of 45 minutes each of constant back and forward with efforts where you are flat out sprinting and others that you are going through a steady jog. In Cross, you also need endurance to race 40+ minutes, but also you require explosive efforts to start the race, pass a rider or attacked a steep short climb.

I remember from my soccer years, my best performance days were those were I not only had the necessary skills and endurance to compete, but also, I was able to develop the mental skills to outperform the competition. By that I mean, to be able to make decisions faster than the opposing team and beat them to the “punch”. It was like all of the sudden I had this ability to slow down the game in my head and while everything was occurring in a blink of an eye, I could see things happening in slow motion in my mind.

I mentioned this because yesterday I had a similar experience when racing cross but I am getting ahead of myself. After my 1st experience on 2009, I ended the season with a few good races and hungry for more. But to be honest, back then I never really felt comfortable on my bike. I think I needed to go through the process of learning the races, equipment, etc. This year, I’ve made a point to practice as much as I can to get comfortable on my bike. Having great endurance can only take you so far on a race, if you lack the skills a slower rider can stay ahead of you because he corners better than you.

Some weeks back I bought some stuff at home depot to create small cross courses at a local park and I have been practicing it all as well as riding my cross bike on trails. On my race on Saturday two days ago, it is the 1st time I felt comfortable on my bike and I ended up having a good result. Yesterday I was excited to see what I could do in a big and seemingly competitive field. My fitness is still lagging a bit but I’ve been feeling stronger each week.

Fast forward to yesterday’s race, I somehow miscalculated the started time so I made it late to the staging area hence instead of starting on the 3rd lane as I was supposed to I was only able to squeeze into the 5th lane,which was my 1st mental mistake! Nevertheless I was able to gain ground at the start and made my way to the top 20ish and within the first few corners I was able to pass like another 5 riders.

At that point, things were going well, but then, my mental skills were still lacking and I made my 2nd mistake! Instead of focusing on my race choosing my lanes and seeing the corners, I was focusing on those behind me trying to pass me. It is important in cross racing to remain in touch with the front of the group to have a chance, otherwise, within a lap you can lose a lot of ground with those ahead. While I was trying to stay with them, I was doing it in the wrong way by focusing on what others were doing. This affected my ability to make good decisions with wide turns, excessive breaking or even unclipping to save going over the tape. That cost me a good 5+ spots in a blink of an eye.

I refocused and when I guy that I know is pretty fast passed me, I stayed with him and in fact together we began passing riders again; it seems like things began to turn around and I was ready to attack as my legs were feeling incredible good. Then, back luck stroke; after the run up stairs, I mounted my bike and to stay with the fast guy (and new pacer) I went wide on the course through grassy dirty terrain and just before the hairpin turn all of the sudden I was airborne and picking myself off the ground.

I didn’t know what happened, at first I thought someone touched my wheel but then when I tried to mount my bike again the chain was not moving at all and I realized a branch got caught up on my rear derailleur. I had to take that off, I had to put the chain back on and sort of adjust my breaks before I could keep going. All that took me what it felt like an eternity and quickly saw how a good 40+ people passing me. I went from like top 15 to like 60ish? (This is a guess based on some people I re-passed and how they finished). Still, I knew I was out of contention for a top 10 and quickly became rather disappointed. While riding I began considering quitting the race as there was no reason to ride and finish with a mediocre result.

As I was riding my way back to the starting line to DNF, all of the sudden a rider passed me and touched my front tire. I was going slow and to the outside staying off the way of coming riders, hence all of the sudden I got really mad because there was no reason to pass me that close on a straight. That turned "on" a switch in my head and my only mission was to catch and pass that guy. Within a few turns I was on him like a "fat kid on a cupcake" and within the next turn he was behind me. I then saw a group of 5ish riders ahead of me and soon enough my next goal was to catch them too.

I can’t tell you why but I kept pedaling as hard as I could and every time I would see someone ahead of me I was thinking: “catch that SOB”. I kept hammering; I kept feeling my legs were screaming and my lungs were burning but I didn’t care, I just wanted to pass more people. That’s when I had my 'soccer like' moment; while I had this burning desire to catch people ahead of me, I also had a calm moment. All of the sudden the race was slowing down. I knew I was going hard, I knew I was catching people, I knew I was having a great ride because I was bridging gaps with riders ahead of me with relatively ease, yet I could see all this happening in slow motion.

Usually I catch people on the straights to loose them on the turns, but yesterday it was different. I could see the turns before I was on them, I could tell where the course was heading and I was able to see what I needed to do before it actually happen. It is like I was riding in this tunnel and all I could see was the way to keep moving forward. Granted, I might have not been passing the fastest or most skill experienced riders since I was far behind, but this time around I was gaining ground on the turns, I was passing people cornering and I was able to see a move ahead before it happened.

That was the best feeling I’ve ever had in a race. At that moment, with nothing to lose, with a good placing out of reach and not afraid of going down (again), I just felt I could have been going. I honestly think if the race would have lasted another lap, I perhaps could have made it to the top 20, but it is easy to talk after the fact. The reality is that I finished 28 out of 84 riders on the 35+ Cat 3/4 and while I didn’t have the race I wanted initially result wise, I can say I had the best race ever in my relatively new cross experience in terms of effort and execution.

I still have more races to come and I am very excited to compete as I am still riding the 'high' from yesterday's race. As a coach I understand the physiological demands to train for cross specific fitness, yet as an athlete I feel very much like a newbie in this sport! I don’t know what the results will be, but I am going to try my best to get on the podium at least once before the end of the season. Still, if I continue to have races were I feel so f-ing good like I did yesterday, the result will be the icing on the cake.

Cyclocross, it is a challenging sport that makes me feel like a kid again!

Racing Week Review

Busy racing weekend for E3 athletes and friends!

At the Woodstock trail half-marathon 

• Ryan Case won the race overall, his first win ever! more to come from this speed demon

Up north at the Montreal Esprit Tri many E3 and Boston Tri Team athletes posted great results:

• E3 Coach Brett Johnston post a personal best at the Half Ironman with a sub 4:55hr time!
• Brendan Hall finished his 2011 tri season with a sub 5 hr Half Ironman
• Noah Manacas was able to close the 2011 tri season with a solid result and finally getting his run close to his usual with a 5:02hr Half Ironman time
• Boston Tri Team Brian Kearney continued his great comeback with a 2:13 time at the Olympic distance

(still missing a few results from this race)

At the ITU World Championship Age Group Beijing:

• Dan Arnett continued his crazy world tour and just a week post Ireland 70.3 (and earning his post to 70.3 Championship 2012) he finished top 24th in the 35-39AG in the world! great job Dan, now onto a half marathon this weekend and then Xterra Worlds!

At the Vegas 70.3 World Championship:

• Jana the Czech Chick Richtrova posted a gutsy performance struggling with the desert heat and finished top 30th in the World. not bad for her 1st trip there; next year watch out!
• Andrew Thompson after reaching his goal of earning a ticket to the race, he also posted a gutsy performance after fighting a hamstring strain finishing the race. Good job!

At the QuadCross:

• Carrie Mosher successful completed her 1st Cross race ever! more good things to come... 
• PBMC head coach, mentor and friend Kurt Perham won the masters 35+
• Coach Jorge Martinez completed his 1st race of any kind in over two years finishing 17th on the Cat 4 35+

At Ironman Wisconsin:

• Friend Kristin Bradfield completed yet another Ironman, that's like no. 5?
• Friend Chris Parker successfully completed another IM under 12 hrs! **
• Friend Laura Waringo also successfully made her comeback to IM finishing her race!

** Not only Chris finished the race, he also proposed to Laura. Congrats to the happy couple!

I am still missing results from the Nations Olympic Triathlon, Pumpkinman, Rev3 CP

Blue Hills Cycling Club Results:

• At Quad Cross, Kevin Murphy finished 30th Cat4, James Scott 19th Cat 4 35+
• At NE Masters TT, Brian Murphy (M55) and Bart Lipinski (M35) took gold!

Special mentions from fellow coaching colleagues athletes':

• PBMC athletes with great results, Mike Caiazzo winner at Pumpkinman Half, Mary Lou AG wins at 70.3 Worlds, Catherine Sterling win at Pumpkinman Sprint and various AG podiums at pumpkinman half.
• ETA Coach Athlete Holly Ann Geldhause 4th AG at 70.3 Worlds
• Many EC athletes great results at IMWI and other races!)

Racing Week Review

Another successful racing weekend for our E3 athletes:

• Brendan Hall finished 2nd in his AG at the Timberman Sprint
• Brenda Chroniak had a strong showing at the Timberman Sprint with a 12th AG
• Ed Galante came back from a tough IMLP to successfully complete the Timberman Sprint
• Patricia Brownell had a tough showing at the USAT AG nationals fighting a cold but finishing the race
• Noah Manacas raced at the Timberman 70.3 with a solid performance
• Sean McCormmick raced at the Timberman 70.3 with a solid performance

From the Boston Triathlon Team teammate Trish Henwood earned her spot to ITU Sprint Worlds. Also Matt Pokress did the same for ITU Olympic Worlds. Maggie O'Toole had a great PR at USAT AG Nationals finishing 2nd AG.


Friend Grace Tsuei also successfully completed the Timberman Sprint and had the 12 fastest swim overall!

Also some of the ladies from our PBMC friends had another killer racing weekend, Catherine Sterling and Meghan Newcomer won their AG at USAT Nats becoming national champions. Finally, Mike Caiazzo from the US Pro Tri team had another great result finishing 2nd OA at Timberman 70.3. Great job coach Kurt!


Congratulations to everyone!

Racing Week Review

Quiet but successful racing weekend for our E3 athletes:

• Andrew Thompson followed on his last week performance this time racing the  Bridgeland Triathlon and finished 3rd AG.
• Analise Thompson  followed on her last week performance also racing the Bridgeland Triathlon and finished 5th AG.
• Noah Manacas raced at the Urban Epic Boston under the rain and finished 2nd AG and top 20 OA!
• Carrie Mosher had a challenging showing at the Concord Crit, still, it was great cycling racing learning experience.

From the Boston Triathlon Team teammate Lauren Cullings had a fantastic showing at the Epic Urban Boston finished 3rd OA. Teammates from the Bluehills Cycling Club participated at the PMC, great job!

Also some of the ladies from our PBMC and EC friends had another killer racing weekend, congrats to you all!

Racing Week Review

Another successful racing weekend for E3 athletes and team members/friends from the Boston Triathlon Team

• Alaina Neary Case raced the Musselman sprint and half iron; she finished 2nd female overall for the sprint on Saturday and on Sunday she fought some stomach issues and still managed a 4th place overall at the Half!
• Ryan Case (E3 friend) also race at the Musselman sprint/half iron; he finished 2nd AG at the sprint and similar to Alaina, he experienced issues though his were mechanical finishing 5th AG. Way to get it done even with adversity!
• Noah Manacas raced at the Stowe 8 miler and posted a solid 1hr time!
• Kirsten Knowles raced at the Stowe 8 miler a week after the Missoula Marathon were she PR and posted a solid ~1 hr result
• Brenda Chroniak raced as well the Stowe 8 miler posting a solid 1:04hr time
• Amy Duverger also raced the Stowe 8 miler posting a solid 1:11hr time

Fellow team members for the Boston Tri Team also had great racing results specially at the Fairlee Tri where many members made the podium: Brian Kearney won the Clyde division, Rachel Saks Aronis placed 3rd AG, Kelwin Conroy placed 3rd AG, Maggie O'Toole 1st Athena, Trish Henwood 2nd AG, Ira Sills 2nd AG and others I don;t have their results just yet.

Congrats to you all! 

Jana's Rev3 Race report - coach perspective - part 3 (final)

This is the final portion of the Jana’s race report from my perspective as a coach. On part 1 I shared some information about her training in previous months leading to the race. On part 2 I shared in general her final preparation before Rev3 and also her fueling plan based on data like her energy expenditure and some of the products she uses for training and racing.

In this final portion I’ll focus on her plan before the race and the execution. Before every major race I give each of my athletes a detail racing plan with info regarding their nutrition for the 3-5 days prior an event plus other relevant information about equipment, traveling, etc. I also include specific information about the race (like registration), some DOs and DON’Ts prior a major event, and even some specific things I want them to visualize to make sure they are ready for any challenge during the race.

The main portion of the plan is the pacing plans, that plus the fueling plan we practiced during the specific phase on the weeks leading to the race (like the one I shared on part 2) are the key aspects of proper execution. The pacing plan is developed on all the data collected during training and adjusted due to the last bit of increase in fitness achieved during the taper. Finally, I consider the race course profile and adjust the pacing given the terrain including key points in the race.

With the above in mind, below there are some elements of Jana’s racing plan, keep in mind below is a short version:

Swim

Suggested Pacing: Moderate pace – Time sub 35 min.

Summary: Start at the front of the pack; the first ~200 yards start a bit faster than race pace to attempt ‘catching’ some of the fast swimmers feet. Then settle down into race pace focusing on navigation. Last ~200 yards pick up the pace a bit, begin visualizing T1 and get the legs ready for the run to transition.
Actual Swim Time – 38 min (32^nd place Age Group, 105^th overall female)

Analysis – As mentioned on part 1, we have been focusing on improving Jana’s swim (her Achilles) but we had limited opportunities for open water swim. This probably was the reason for the slower swim. Still, her fitness in the water is better than last year, hence even with a slow swim, she had the energy to tap into for the bike/run.

Transition 1 Suggested time – sub 2 min (actual 1:59min)

For all my athletes, we always try to avoid wasting time in transition as one can really gain on the competition. The run from the swim to the bike was a bit long and Jana is still mastering the ‘taking the wetsuit off’ skill, still she was within the goal and the fastest among the top 5 gals.

Bike

Suggested Pacing: Current Critical Power (CP) – 240watts (230w on my PowerTap wheel*) – Target for the race 180 watts

*My racing wheel which Jana borrowed is a Hed Jet 90 with a Powertap 2.4, usually this wheel reads a bit lower of my other powertaps hence I always adjust my pacing based on that. In Jana’s case even though her CP was around 240watts, I used 230watts to develop the pacing strategy.

Summary: Intensity Factor target - ~79-80% of CP, average watts (AP) – 180-185w, Never exceed 240w!!!

Power on flats – 180-185w, if riding with tail wind – 180w, if riding with head wind – 185w

Power on climbs- If short hill (less than 3 min) 200-205w, if long climb (longer than 3 min) 190-195w

Suggested pace for first 18.6 miles – 175-180watts (actual during the race ~175w AP/ 180w NP)

Suggested pace for first 18.6 miles – 180-185watts (actual during the race ~178w AP/ 185w NP)

Suggested pace for last 18.6 miles – 185watts (actual during the race ~177w AP/ 183w NP)

Actual Bike pacing and time – 177 watts average (AP), 183watts Normalized Power (NP), Intensity Factor 0.79 (IF),  AP/NP = 1.03  2:46 hrs (including run to T2). (2^nd place age group, 5^th overall female). 


Fueling - ~70 gr Carbs (2.5 scoops powerbar perform/24 oz water + 1 powerbar gel + 1 bottle of water per hour)

Analysis – Ever since I started working with Jana I made her a power convert and she has been training with power ever since. She has a PowerTap 2.4 similar to their Pro +. The advanatge of guding her training with power and adjusting on race day based on perceived exertion and racing conditions allowed her to take guessing out of the equation and refrain her from doing any pacing mistakes. She knew based on her current fitness (critical power) and her training, what level of effort you should be able to sustain over 56 miles and common sense adjustments based on 'feel' would allow her to post a good bike split while leaving enough energy in the 'tank' for the run.

Jana did a great job pacing close to her target. Her average watts were within 3w of her race plan target (180w) and her normalized power (the metabolic cost of the ride) was 183w within her race pace range (180-185w). This means she did a great job pacing within her capabilities and she avoid having power spikes that in the long term not only result in a variable ride (AP/NP) but also in general zap the energy out of athletes legs, especially during the run.

This can is more obvious based on the plan recommendation to avoid going over 240watts; on her power file she only went over 240w 7 times during the race all was for less than 10 seconds. On the picture below of Jana's power file you can see this, the top dashed yellow line was the ceiling she was not supposed to pass during the race (240w) and the line below was the power target for the entire race (180w).

I assume the power spikes were the result of some efforts when climbing or passing a competitor. Also we divided the race in 3 segments and she had wattage targets for each based on terrain and strategy (presented earlier). You can see what we planned vs what she actually accomplished; all in all she was very close every segment, though in the end she slowed down a bit, perhaps due to the heat/terrain.

Jana's power file Rev3 Quassy

As a side note, before the race after driving the course and knowing Jana’s bike position (CdA, Crr, etc) we thought she could ride around ~2:45hrs with good conditions, she rode 2:46:47! This plus following the fueling plan she practiced through training yielded her to post the 2^nd fastest bike split of the day among female Age Groupers and 14^th including female pros; it also allowed her to pass 30 gals in her AG and 100 female overall getting back to T2 on 2^nd place AG and 5^th overall female.

Transition 2 suggested time sub 1:30 min (actual 1:05min)

Great transition, in and out! She again had the fastest T2 among the top 5 gals, hence she was able to get some of the lost time on the swim back and exiting T2 ahead on the leading female in her AG.

Run

Suggested Pacing: Pace target 7:10-7:15 min/mile (before I saw the run course). Adjusted to 7:25s-7:30s after seeing the course!

Summary – the day before we drove the run course and realized it was much more challenging that what we estimated from online map courses, hence I immediately adjusted her pacing plan. Usually I advise my athletes to guide all their effort primarily by perceived exertion and use pace/power as a way to assure they are not doing anything ‘stupid’ specially on early stages of the bike and run. In this case, Jana’s plan suggested to start ‘a bit’ easier (7:35s) for the first few miles, then settled onto 7:25-7:30s until mile 10ish and hopefully close at faster than 7:25s on the last 3 miles.

Actual Run pacing and time – 1:39:16 hrs 7:35s min/mile


Fueling - ~45 gr of Carbs (a few cups of sports drink, a few cups of water and 1 powerbar gel per hr)

Analysis - The pacing advised was relative because of the nature of the course. The run was very challenging with plenty of steep hills hence she knew that when going uphill (which that course had plenty of) she would have to adjust her pace by feel. In other words, when going up, the pace would be much slower than the planned 7:25-7:30s because of the inclines/gravity, but her effort should “feel” like she was running 7:25-7:30s on a flat terrain.

Unfortunately we couldn’t collect much run data as Jana’s Garmin died the morning of the race so I only have the splits from the race. She paced the 1^st 5.5 miles at 7:29 min/mile which was a bit faster of what we planned. On the next 5.4 miles her avg was 7:28s min/mile which was on target with the plan. The last portion (2.2 miles) her pace dropped to 8:06 min/mile

Considering the above, I think the fact she started a bit too fast cost het to slow down when she needed to be the fastest. That plus the tough terrain and the heat which increased on the 2^nd portion of the run lead me to believe were the main factors that caused her decrease in speed. Jana managed to exit T2 in 1^st place of her AG which we held for until the end, still, at one point she was as high as 4^th placed overall and eventually she got passed to finished 1^st in her age group and 5^th female overall.

All in all a great result, still, we will continue to address her swim and tweak some of the execution details like starting the run a bit slower to close strong and avoid running almost 1 min slower of what she is capable (for that course). That will be the focus for coming races.

There you have it, a race report from a coach’s perspective. I hope the info provided can be useful for some of you and apply it to your racing! Also, perhaps the info above might make you consider learning how to train with power, of you choose to do so, you should consider CycleOps power meters. They offer great products for a great value!

To learn more about our programs, visit www.e3ts.com , Happy training...

Racing Week Review

Another successful racing weekend for E3 athletes and friends.

• Dan Arnett continued his successful 1st year racing Xterra with a 2nd place on the Xterra trail and the next day he got 3rd at the Xterra Whitewater Tri.
• Jana Richtrova (aka the Czech Chick) added a 3rd podium in as many races to her season with a 3rd AG and 2nd fastest AG bike split overall at the Providence 70.3 earning her spot for the Vegas 70.3 World Championship.
• Brett Johnston participated at the Marlborough Tri as part of his preparation for Ironman Cozumel and he also finished on the podium in 3rd place AG!
• Kirsten Knowles ran her 2nd marathon of the season and she PR with a 3:30 hr result and just missed the podium.
• Patricia Brownell raced the Rev3 Portland Half Iron Distance and battled nasty blisters and still achieved a 7 min PR!
• Kris Kaplan got back to racing and finished top 10 AG at the Marlborough Tri
• David Hauser kicked off his Tri career with a top 10 AG at the Marlborough Tri

Our friends from the Boston Triathlon Team also had good results with Lauren Cullings, Mary Beth Begley and Janice Biederman all podium at the Old Colony Tri!

Our friends from PBM Coaching coached by Kurt Perham had great results as usual, noticeables were Catherine Sterling winning the elite amateur division at Life Time Fitness and Mike Caiazzo was 2nd Pro at Muncie 70.3

Andrew Thompson BSL 70.3 Race Report (70.3 WC slot!)

By Andrew Thompson

Pre-Race
We drove up to Lubbock on Thursday/Friday, so we had plenty of time on Friday to go to the expo and pick up my race packet. Had a nice dinner on Friday night and then went to bed early.

Saturday we woke up early so Analise could do her race, so unfortunately I was out in the heat for about 6 hours on Saturday. I was able to fit in a swim in the lake and a 30 minute ride on the course. We left there about noon and immediately went to get a big (late) breakfast at IHOP. I was really dehydrated, so I was sucking down sports drink/pedialyte all day. Had a fairly light dinner and then went to bed around 8pm.

On Sunday I woke up about 315 a.m. to fit in breakfast 3hrs before race start and get everything ready. By 4:20 we were on the road to the race. Got set up in transition, walked through a few things, did some visualization and then it was time to head down to the water!

Warm Up
I decided to only do a swim warm up, so I got in the water and did about 300yds with a few hard efforts. The wetsuit felt fairly constrictive, but I knew I was just amped up on adrenaline.

Swim
This swim was way faster than I expected. I felt really good during the swim and executed well, but the course may have been a little short. However, most folks I know had times about what they expected, so if it was short, it wasn't by much.

I started off fast in order to get on the heels of a few of the faster guys I knew. I didn't stick with them long, but it got me ahead of a lot of folks in my wave. Within the first few hundred meters I was catching people from the wave in front of me, which I took as a good sign. There were a lot of bodies in the water, but I was able to get on the feet of a few people and draft for a good portion of the swim. The course was very easy to navigate, so I stayed right on course for the entire thing. The entire swim I was right on the edge of feeling like I was about to be out of breath and/or panicking, but I was able to ride that edge and before I knew it I made the turn and could see the finish. It got shallow near the end so I ended up wading for the last 25-30yds.

T1
Long run from swim exit to my rack, but it gave me a chance to get adjusted to being vertical again. No problems here other than getting my seat stuck on the rack as I tried to grab my bike.

Bike
The wind made things very difficult, but I was very pleased with my bike performance. I had a plan and stuck to it very well. My legs felt great and I was very disciplined with my position and power targets. The biggest challenge was keeping up with the fluid intake, but I stayed on top of that pretty well.

Coming out of transition is very difficult on this course. You hit a 9% grade within the first 50 yds and have a second steep but short climb after about 1/2 a mile. After that the ride out of the park was into the wind but flat.

Miles 2-10 were with tailwind, so I was feeling good. Then we turned into the wind for a long stretch (miles 10-18) where it was really tough to keep going. This stretch was broken up by the first downhill immediately followed by a tough 7% climb. I kept spinning and kept my watts as low as possible. At the top it was into the wind again until the turn around.

The turn around was around mile 19 and for the next 10 miles or so it was a tailwind. I flew through this section and hit 47mph on the downhill and kept it steady back up the other side of the canyon. By this point the sun was starting to be a factor, so I was using some of my water to pour on my head/back to keep cool.

From 30-43 there were a few turns so it was a mix of head/tail/cross winds but there were a few climbs to break it up. I was feeling really good at this point in the race and my confidence was really high. Still very focused on my power targets, but did have a hard time keeping my power down during the climb at mile 41.

The next stretch, 43-53 was the toughest. The wind had picked up and we were riding straight into it. I allowed my power output to climb into the 220's here and was still having a hard time keeping 17-19mph. I tried to make myself as small as possible, but by this point my neck and shoulder were starting to hurt. It was also very hard to drink/eat during this section, which I think may have hurt me for the run.

Finally at mile 53 I turned into the park and had a nice tail wind into the finish. The last climb in the last mile was painful, but I held back and tried to save something for the run.

Overall I'm very pleased with my execution on the bike. I stuck to the plan and finished feeling strong. I was very pleased at my discipline at staying aero and not letting the wind get the best of me.

Ave Pwr: 218W
Max Temp: 93 degrees
Elevation gain: 1600ft

T2
I failed to get my left foot out of my shoe in time, so I had to run with one shoe on. Fortunately it wasn't far. I struggled to get my socks on, but I wasn't up for 13.1 miles sockless.

Run
I started off the run feeling great. The first 3 miles are fairly flat and I kept to my planned paces. At the 3.1 mile mark, I hit the first hill and half way up I knew I was in trouble. My left quad started to cramp and I had to walk for the first time to get it calmed down. I was able to jog up the rest of the hill, but I knew that with 10 miles and a couple hills left, it could be trouble. This negative thinking really hurt me.

After the hill I kept moving at my planned pace until I hit the next hill at mile 4.5 and, as expected, had the same problem with my left quad. I walked/ran up the hill and only then realized that the toughest portion was yet to come.

At the top of the hill, from mile 4.75 to 6.6, you're out in the open running into a strong headwind. Temperatures were above 100 degrees and people were dropping like flies. Staying positive for this section was very difficult. I kept moving, but my pace dropped to around 8min/mile, which was demoralizing.

For the first half of the race, I jogged through all the aid stations. I would dump a cup of ice water on my head and drink a cup of sports drink. I'm not sure if this was sufficient.

Fortunately, at the turnaround they were handing out some coke, so I walked through the aid station, poured 3 cups of ice water on my head and body, drank some coke and got moving. With the wind into my back I was able to pick the pace back up and ran the next 3 miles at about 7:30/mi pace. I was starting to feel better and made sure to really get some ice down my shirt at each aid station.

Unfortuantely, at mile 9 is the last climb. My quads cramped twice on this hill, meaning I ended up walking twice. At the top, there's a small flat section and then it's back down into the canyon. I'm glad my legs didn't cramp on the downhills, because if so I would have rolled down the entire hill. There was no strength left to stop myself.

The final 3 miles are fairly flat, but it was still a struggle. I kept it right at 8min/mile and was feeling really down on myself. The run has always been the segment I could count on, and here it was the worst part of my day. I was about a full minute per mile slower for this run.

I tried to push the last mile to finish strong, but just didn't have anything left in my legs and was just happy to keep jogging that final mile!

After
I finished the run pretty depleted. I came across, grabbed a cold towel, cold water and was then asked by the medic if I wanted an IV. I would have been okay without it, but the medical tent was still fairly empty, so I took them up on the offer to help with recovery. I sucked down a sports drink while the IV went in and reflected on the race.

Then it was down to transition to grab the stuff and back to the hotel!  I rested for a while, went to see a movie and then went over to the race hotel for the awards ceremony.  I felt like it was probably a waste of time, but would have been upset if I left and found out later that I had a chance.  It was a long wait, but sure enough, the last slot in my AG rolled down to me.  I was more than happy to take it, but next time I'm going to win it outright and remove any doubt!

Overall
I was originally very disappointed in this race.  In retrospect, conditions were really tough and overall my execution wasn't bad.  I'm very happy with my slot to Vegas and am looking forward to fixing some of the weaknesses that this race exposed.  I'm really pleased with my swim, and I think my bike was really solid.  I know that there's no such thing as a good bike followed by a bad run, but still...

Racing Week Review

The success continues for E3 athletes, the Boston Triathlon Team and friends.

Analise Thompson kicked off her tri season with an age group win at the Sylvian Beach Triathlon and was the only female to break the 50 min barrier on the bike!
Andrew Thompson also had a strong showing finishing 4th AG and 9th overall but also he had a massive PR improving his bike speed by 4.5mph and run split by 40+ seconds min/mile when compared to last year race!
Jessica Douglas (coach in training) returned to racing posting a win on her 1st 5k comeback race!
Kris Kaplan had a solid day after facing some time off to post solid performances in the swim/bike at Eagleman 70.3, another step in the right direction for Timberman 70.3!

The Boston Triathlon Team
Jamie Strain won his age group at Eagleman 70.3 earning his Kona slot!

PBM Coaching
Mike Caiazzo ran his way to 6th place overall in the pro filed with one of the faster runs of the day!

Physfarm
Catriona Morrison continued her amazing year winning in the pro female field at the Tri Grand Prix Basque

Congratulations everyone!

To learn more about E3 Training Solutions programs click here

Brendan Hall Mooseman 70.3 Race Report

Woke up at 4am and felt good having hit the hay by 10pm the night before. Not even the crying Aronis twins could get me down. Had my breakfast, did a last check on my gear and hit the road. Got to transition with the perfect amount of time, as I hate having too much time between arriving, setting up T1/T2 and the swim.

Swim:
The water was 58 at race time. I positioned myself in the middle and directly in front. Got off to a good start and swam at an above race-pace for the first 300 yards or so before settling in to a comfortable rhythm. Not too much interference from other swimmers. The only unfortunate thing was that my fingers immediately went numb and I wasn't getting great pull with my newly found claw. Everything else felt great! Legs, arms, lungs all had plenty of juice and I did a good job of sighting nearly touching every buoy as I passed. The whole thing was over before I knew it.

T1:
Wetsuit strippers fumbled with my suit for too long and I literally yelled "Just rip it the F off" to hurry them up. Poor kids. Feet and hands were pretty frozen which made getting my gear on/off a little tough but I managed. Overall a little slow here.

Bike:
It took me a good 7 miles to get warmed up and I really didn't feel great until after the first big hill at mile 10ish. Hammered the downhills and tucked in when I geared out. Passed a lot of people here. Hit the flat and continued to push while keeping a watchful eye on my power meter. As I'm sure you saw, I averaged nearly 270 but I swear, I was at 245-250 on the flats. Those hills really threw that number off. The big hills felt a bit easier on the second loop and I pushed fairly hard on the flats headed back to Wellington. I realized with about 1.5 miles to go that I had flatted. Just kept going and it didn't really slow me down too much.

T2:
Slightly better here in terms of time. Had to wear socks due to a blister beneath both ankles which added a few seconds but not many.

Run:
Started off a little fast and slowed it down so as to avoid the "one loop hero" syndrome as you called it. Was able to maintain 7:35 for the first loop but slowed down a little in the first half of the second loop before realizing I wasn't pushing hard enough and picked up the pace for the last quarter of the run...also wanted to make sure I beat Vatour who was nipping at my heels.

Overall a good race. Could have gone sub-30 on the swim had my fingers not gone numb. I think my bike performance was pretty good, especially when considering that I was trying to hold back a little and save my legs for the run. Run was good. As we discussed, I'm just now getting comfortable with being uncomfortable but continuing to push it.

Alaina's Triple-T Race Report

By Alaina Neary Case

Quick Recap:
This race is just awesome. Everyone should do it at least once in their triathlon career. The course is hard, but gives you a great sense of accomplishment at the end of the weekend. I paced everything just right, and if it weren’t for the heat on the half-ironman run, we would’ve crushed our time from last year by even more. As it stands, as a team, we beat last year’s time by over 15 minutes and won the Co-Ed division again. First race of the year was a win!

The American TTT is a unique event that is a must-do for every triathlete. The race is a 3-day, 4 race event in the gorgeous foothills of Southern Ohio, in Shawnee State Park. Over the course of the weekend, racers complete almost 146 miles of racing on a very challenging course.

Michigan has been dealt some particularly nasty weather this spring, and I’ve only been outside on my tri bike about 10 times, and hadn’t been able to swim in the open water yet. All of the rain and cold just made this event seem even more surreal- like doing a triathlon in Mid-December. My fitness was spot on, though, and I’ve made some gains since last season. My husband and I were racing as a team again, and this year, the pressure was on. We were the reigning Co-Ed champs and the targets on our backs were flashing neon.

Race 1: Super Sprint- 250yard swim(53rd), 5 mile bike(86th), 1 mile run(39th)- Total Time: 24:15. 62nd Overall, 2nd Female

Before the gun goes off at 5:00pm, Ryan and I donned our wetsuits and swam the course in the frigid 58F water. I LOVE my De Soto T1 wetsuit- it kept my body magically afloat, propelled me like a motor and kept all the cold away from my body. Only my face and feet let me know just how chilly that water was. Now that my first open water swim of the season was done, it was time to race. This super sprint is so short and sweet that it sets you up perfectly for the weekend. You get the kinks out, practice your transitions, but don't need to get all nervous or worked up for a hard race. 

The swim was over almost as soon as I started, and I got of the water in just under 5 minutes. Transition is slow, as per usual, but it was worse for me because my wetsuit got stuck. The bike course starts downhill, then has you climb 2 very steep miles till you turn around and come screaming back to T2. My Garmin battery had died on the car ride to Ohio, so I just went off feel- stay right under threshold. No problem. I just needed to add 2 10lb rocks to my bike to keep up with all the big boys on the downhill!! Also, I am always surprised at how much people go over what must be their threshold on the uphill portions. Now that I’ve learned a great deal from Coach Jorge, I know how silly it is to burn your legs up on the hills, and even without my PT numbers, I could pace myself just right to not do any damage.

T2 was a breeze. I’m at the point where I’ve done this so many times now that even though I haven’t had any practice so far this year, my years of experience make this easy and stress-free.

The run is a quick out and back, and I took the pace hard, but didn’t max out my lungs. It felt like I passed a ton of people and my legs were SO happy to be racing- nice and rested and ready to fire. It was over so quickly, but it got me fired up and excited for the rest of the weekend, as well as for the rest of the season!

Race 2: Olympic, Saturday AM, Individual, regular format
Swim: 21:06 (71st), Bike: 1:17(86th), Run: 45:32 (44th) Total Time: 2:26:20 (56th)

There are so many things that went well this weekend, but one of the issues that I’ve been struggling the most with is staying calm, mentally, and not getting myself all worked up over the race. Since this event is so chill, and so long, I got to practice staying calm and having a lot more FUN during each race.
Transition was a quick set up and everyone at the race was in a great mood. After a quick dip in the lake, I was ready to go! On the swim, I stayed in my zone and tried to push it, but the entire race, I kept repeating ‘half-ironman, half-ironman’ to remind myself that this entire weekend comes down to tomorrow’s run. For having no OWS practice, my sighting was dead on, and the whole swim was really enjoyable. I seriously can’t mention enough how much I love my wetsuit!! 

Transition was slow, but that’s the small price I pay for having to take off the 2-piece suit. If I actually practiced this, I would improve...but that would require work ;)
The bike course this year was different from last year due to weather interference, so this year, we got to climb the infamous ‘Thompson Hill’ and descend on ‘Little Itch Road’. The RD gave us tons of warnings about changing our gear before the climb, and BRAKING for the descent- they had an ambulance waiting at the bottom of the hill, it was that serious. On the bike, I just watched my power, and was amazed how easy 190watts felt. Climbing the hills felt SO much easier than last year, too, and I could turn over my pedals without spiking past threshold- something that seemed nearly impossible last year. Well, I had to spike my power at Thompson Hill, since it starts off at 22% grade, and averages 18% grade for the half mile (or so) climb!! After all that climbing, the descent wasn’t even worth it, it was so insane-HA! I had to brake SO hard that my hands hurt. The road turned to crap, the turns were 180 and the path was pitched with holes. Wow, it was almost easier to climb than it was to descend this little ‘itch’. If i were a braver rider, i could've gained back m ore time, but my cautious nature really slowed me down on the bike. 

The run course for the entire weekend is a 6.55 trail run that is all dirt, rocks and ruts, with horseflies, hills and snakes to keep you interested. Luckily, almost the whole trail is shaded. I took off for the run feeling excellent, but also knowing that I wasn’t even close to half way done for the weekend. I only paid attention to my mile by mile splits, taking the uphills steady and flying down the downhills. The course is uphill for the first 3 miles, than down a big hill to the turn around. Coming back up sucks, but once you hit mile 4, you get to just FLY back to the finish. It’s a fun run, and I am very happy with this pace because it really felt like I was just on cruise control. While I was headed up the trail, Ryan was flying back towards the finish, at least a mile ahead of me. He was just speeding along, and I was incredibly impressed with how far ahead of me he was.
After I crossed the finish line, I felt great. I was happy with my time, and knew that the race had felt ‘easy’, which was good, since we still had a long way to go. I went straight over to the icebath creek and soaked my legs. I chatted with the female leader, former pro triathlete Paolina Allan. I made sure she wasn’t on a co-ed team, and she made sure I wasn’t gunning for top OA female- and then we were friends :). Even though I still wanted to be first place female, it doesn’t really count, since I am on a team and can draft on the bike course.

Bike Course:

Race 3: Olympic, Saturday PM, Team- Format: Bike-Swim-Run
Bike: 1:14:48 (51st) Swim: 22:35 (35th), Run: 49:27(34th) Total Time: 2:31:48 (37th)

The third race is funny, because you start off on the bike, then you swim, then run. It’s also different because now Ryan and I could race as a team. This race is also on Saturday, about 6 hours after we finished the first race. In between races, I ate as much as I could, and took a brief nap at a friend’s hotel. When we started, I wasn’t really feeling very perky, but luckily, Ryan was, so he pulled me along on the bike course. Funny thing, though, even though I was drafting behind him, my power numbers were almost the same as when I was on my own! This course was an out and back, with 2 major climbs. I pulled on the climbs, but Ryan did most of the work on this ride. My average power was only 12 watts lower than the morning, though!

We got back to transition in what seemed like the blink of an eye, and I was finally feeling better about racing. It took me quite a while to get my wetsuit on, so Ryan just left for the water, since I’m a faster swimmer anyways. Putting on your wetsuit, while in a hurry and all sweaty just isn’t fun. Depsite that, I still had a good swim- only 1 minute slower than the morning’s swim. The key to this swim is to not use your legs at all, because if you kick, you risk cramping. So, even without kicking I managed a great swim, and still had to wait over a minute for Ryan in transition. No big deal, I like slow transitions! When Ryan got in, I was ready to run and we took off for another tour of Lamp Black trail. Although we were both feeling good, we held back a ton because we knew just how tough tomorrow’s race was going to be, and we also knew that slowing down on this run is key to having a good Sunday race. We wanted to hit 7:30s and we that pace on the nose. We felt terrific at the end, took a dip in the creek and headed back to the hotel to eat and rest for tomorrow’s HIM! We were finally half way through the weekend!

Bike Course:


Race 4: Half-Ironman, Sunday AM, Team-Format: Swim-Bike-Run
Swim: 31:07 (68th), Bike: 3:03 (40th), Run: 1:48:10 (34th) Total Time: 5:26:14 (36th)

Last year, Sunday morning was one of the most brutal mornings all season. I was completely sore and miserable, and had absolutely no desire to race a Half-Ironman. This year, I can’t say I was ‘excited’ to race, but I wasn’t stiff, I wasn’t fatigued, and I generally just felt good! I knew that I paced the races on Saturday just right, and today wasn’t going to be as awful as last year. When we got to the race site, we checked the team results, and found out we were at least 15minutes ahead of the 2nd place team- if not more (they list the results kinda weird). AWESOME! We were already faster on all the races, so barring any major disaster, this race was ours. This was a huge relief, because at this point last year, we were only a few minutes ahead of our rivals, and had a lot of pressure going into the half.

Walking down to the beach on Sunday morning is a death march- someone described it as a zombie walk. The race is supposed to start at 7:00am, but virtually everyone was still in transition. If we don’t line up, the race can’t start, dangit!! Ryan and I again started together, but since I’m the stronger swimmer, I took the swim pretty easy. I don’t exactly have an ‘easy’ gear to swim in, but I really focused on not expending a lot of effort. I can’t even tell you how happy I am with how I swam- none of my efforts were too taxing, my sighting was nearly perfect, I took the course as short as possible and managed to have hardly any contact with any swimmers. Rather than take any credit, I will say that all of those good things happen because of my wetsuit- even the sighting :) I walked up to transition, and was dreaming of eating a pop tart while waiting for Ryan. I put my bike stuff on, just in case, before eating that poptart, then all of a sudden- there he is!! Omigod, he swam so FAST! No poptart for me- gotta race! So we ran outta there and hopped on our bikes for one last tour of Shawnee state park.

This bike ride is my favorite. It is harder than both of the other courses, because there are steep, hard climbs as well as longer sustained climbs, but the scenery and roads are just so friggin’ cool. I wish I could take this park home with me, and ride it every weekend. I was feeling great today, so I pulled just as much as Ryan on this course. I would tend to pull a bit more on the climbs, because I’m better at not spiking my watts, and get more of an advantage off of Ryan on the downhills and flats, than he does off of me. It really felt like we had a strategy, and worked perfectly as a team. We stopped briefly to pee after completing one loop, and it was just great that we felt so much better than last year. We took over 6 minutes off of our time, felt a ton better and averaged lower watts.

Once the bike was done, we could tell how hot it had gotten-it was going to be the hottest day of the year, by a long shot. We’d only trained in temps above 75 maybe twice all season, and today it was going to hit over 85 (and humid, of course). At the start of the run, Ryan said he wanted to do 8’s to start with, and possibly pick up the pace on the second lap. I was fine with that, and within 2 miles, we passed our rival team. They had always been ahead of us off the bike, but we had already outrun them once, so we were pretty confident we had passed them for good this time. That was a huge relief, because it meant we were DEFINITELY going to win first place Co-Ed team. Now it was just a matter of not blowing up and doing something catastrophically stupid. 

As we kept plugging along, it was obvious that Ryan was in a bit more distress than I was. He was overheating and his chest and lungs were not handling the heat very well. We already both know that he needs about 2 weeks to acclimate to heat, and that just wasn’t possible this year, so we had to manage this issue by slowing down whenever he was feeling panicky. This is where the good and bad of being on a team happens- when one of you feels like shit and the other isn’t- how does the team handle this- especially a married team! Luckily, we handled it perfectly. The one thing I could do was calm Ryan down with my words, and work hard on not pushing our pace and paying attention to his signs of distress. I also made sure to let him know that walking didn’t matter, because we were already winning and it wasn’t worth killing ourselves at this point to run hard- there just wasn’t a point! So we ran as much as we could, but walked a few of the hills. I helped instruct Ryan to eat and drink and dump ice down his pants, and it all seemed to help. By focusing on him, I didn’t feel much of anything on this run, and was very happy that my breathing and stomach all felt excellent- something that hasn’t happened during a race in a long time. Despite being slower on the run last year, our overall time was faster, and we had a much better time during the race, even with the heat.

Bike Course (x2):

After the final race, we cheered on our friends, chatted with new friends and ate some more food. It felt great to know we won, for the second year- both of those $1500 gift certificates were OURS! A huge shout out and thank you to Jorge at E3 Training Solutions for all of your amazing coaching, and helping both Ryan and I with a plan to win for the weekend. I seriously owe any successful race to your careful preparation and confidence in my ability. Thank you Jorge!

Racing Week Review

A busy and successful racing weekend for E3 athletes, the Boston Triathlon Team and friends.

• Alaina Neary Case continued her successful year winning the Grand Rapids Half Ironman as the 1st female Overall. Husband Ryan Case also brought some hardware winning his AG and posting a major PR!
• Jana Ritchtrova (czech chick) won her AG and finished 5th overall at the Rev3 Quassy Half Ironman
• Brendan Hall continued his great season towards Ironman Lake Placid completing Mooseman 70.3 with a solid performance and a 12 min run PR!
• Dan Arnett battled a snapped chain to successfully completed the Escape from Alcatraz tri!
• Other Rev3 Quassy Half Ironman results
• Noah Manacas kicked off his season with a solid performance and a great run!
• Sean McCormick also posted a great performance and PR as preparation for Timberman
• Michelle Quigley kicked off her season with a solid performance posting a great run.
• Brian Quigley returned to racing tris and in spite of spotty tri training he had one of his best Tri performances!
• Brett Johnston also began his tri season racing Rev3 as a stepping stone towards Ironman Cozumel and completing a successful day.
• Jerry Maguire had a solid performance and more so, after joining E3 early in the year and successfully recovering from a Achilles tendinitis that plagued him for years. He ended up with 1 hr PR! Glad we were able to help him get back to racing and pain free.

The Boston Triathlon Team (and friends) produced great performances at Quassy Half and Olympic

• Matt Pokress came back to placed 2nd on his AG and miss on 1st for a few seconds at the half
• Brian Kearney finished 2nd on his AG coming back from a year off due to injuries
• James Strain finished 3rd in his age group and 1st on the Aqua bike the next day!
• Maggie O'Toole won 2rd AG!
• Laurie Damianos, Karen Ghiron, Bethany Edwards, Maggi O' Toole,Trish Henwood and FoBTT Lucy Herzog and Grace Tsuei all completed successfuly the Olympic. Big shout out to Lucy for completing her 1st Olympic on a very tough course!
• Matt Coarr, Keith and Michell Rousseau, Paul Newman, Joe Kurtz, Amy Robinson and Elaine Metcalf all successfully completed the Half, a very challenging course!

Amazing jobs everyone!

Racing Week Review

This past weekend was another successful racing weekend for E3 athletes and friends.

• Alaina Neary Case case and her husband Ryan won 1st place overall in the Co-ed division at the American Triple T triathlon; a 3 day race with a sprint, 2 Olympics and 1 Half Ironman!
• Dan Arnett had another great racing weekend placing 3rd AG at the South East Xterra Championship and earning his spot for the world championship in Maui, Hawaii.
• Mathew Perry had a solid day at the Over the Mountain Oly Tri placing 4th AG missing the podium by a few seconds.
• Not a race but many E3 athletes participated at the Boston Triathlon Team training weekend and all posted great training as preparation for coming races such as Rev3 Quassy, Mooseman and Patriotman.

As for our friends from ETA Coaching, Endurance Concepts and PBM Coaching, their athletes posted multiple wins, podiums and personal records! Some of the noteworthy were, Physfarm athlete and Pro Catriona Morrison won the female overall at Ironman Texas. 

Keep up the good work everyone!