November 2014
November marks the end of the triathlon season for most of us; however many of our Iron Fit Endurance athletes were still busy racing! We had two first time Ironman athletes in November: Christa Dwyer in Ironman Florida and Noah Lam in Ironman Arizona. November is also the time of year for the NYC Marathon and we had four athletes competing this year: Deepak Chopra, Kaitlyn Pearsall, Patti Carbonara and Irene Lam. The cold temps and hurricane-like winds made for a brutal day out there, but they all persevered! While down in sunny Florida, Frank Fiorello extended his tri season with the Half Ironman put on by Rev 3 posting a first place in his division! Also, Jim Nostrom competed in the Boo Du South Shore Duathlon here on Long Island.
Here’s a recap:
Ironman Florida 2014:
Christa Dwyer is a tough athlete. She is dedicated and hard-working. If there is a workout posted, no matter how hectic her day is, Christa completes it. She doesn’t just do the workout either…she does it with 100% effort-no matter what. Christa started training for Ironman Florida in January. As each month passed, Christa became fitter and faster! She blew away previous PR’s in every race she competed in. She was running faster than she ever thought she would. She’s a natural swimmer and was putting out 5000 yard workouts like they were nothing. And her bike got stronger than I had actually anticipated in such a short time. All was going perfectly planned for a huge day in Florida…and then (in late-October) she tripped and fell during a run in the dark hours of the morning...
Christa ended up injuring (finding out in an MRI recently that she ended up actually tearing) her hamstring. She did this a few weeks before the Montauk Half Ironman. Not knowing what the injury actually was, we stopped her from running, hoping it would get better, but it remained the same. She got treatments, did her exercises and iced like a Pro. Finally we made the decision (along with the OK from PT Susan Roman) to forge ahead with racing in Montauk and training for IMFL. Christa, being on a mission to finish her season as best she could, did just that, despite the injured hamstring. Christa still had a huge PR in Montauk despite having to keep the run pace “comfortable”. She placed 2nd in her Age Group and was weeks away from Florida... This is the critical time for Ironman training with the last long training days still ahead. For the remainder weeks leading up to Ironman, Christa did what she could to treat the hamstring and I tried to keep her focused on a great day. We adjusted her running to NOT include tempo runs or pace goals like she was doing prior to the injury. Instead, every run was to be done at an “all day” pace. Chris
ta forged ahead and competed in that Ironman despite having a torn hamstring. She dialed down the pace and finished feeling strong, because that was her goal and Christa completes her goals. Like I said, Christa always gives 100% no matter what. An athlete like Christa is rare and I have been so lucky to be a part of her preparation for this Ironman. I will be excited to see what she has in her for next year once she rehabs her injury and gets back to 100%! Thanks to her husband (and Sherpa) Kevin as well for all the updates from Florida and for all the support he gives me and all of the the Iron Fit Endurance athletes. It is hard to find people as great as Christa and Kevin… I am truly lucky to know them.
Ironman Arizona:
Our next first time Ironman athlete is Noah Lam. Many of you know from reading Noah’s blog: “Run with Noah” (http://www.runwithnoah.com/), Noah is a family man and a selfless individual. They just don’t make them like Noah…he is always thinking of others and is always finding a way that he can encourage other people to become better, healthier and more giving. Noah wanted to become an Ironman, but he couldn’t just do that alone. Noah had to have a greater reason to race…He had to touch others as well. He did that by raising money to help end hunger on Long Island. He raced with Island Harvest (http://www.islandharvest.org/), a charity on Long Island dedicated to help feed the starving people all over the island. That’s just the way Noah does things. He thinks of others and thinks of causes greater than his own.
He also started an online group for people racing Ironman Arizona (because he always thinks bigger than himself) and it grew! Once the group was formed, Noah thought to himself that the group should be doing more, so he suggested to the group: “hey, we should all donate one dollar and put it towards charity”, so they did. Some people (like myself) travel to a race like Arizona with their family and friends, they enjoy the experience and they travel home with great memories. Noah Lam traveled to IMAZ with his family AND had group of hundreds (that he organized through this facebook page, and who all donated to charity) waiting to meet him when he got there! This is just what Noah does…he makes people feel better about themselves by including them in a greater cause.
Once Noah arrived in Arizona the group he organized met up by the swim start where they talked, laughed, took pictures with Noah and wore their tattoos that would identify them in the race. Come race day Noah had people cheering him on around every turn of the course. How great is that?!
Noah also dealt with an injury in training. Noah had a nagging Achilles injury that plagued him before our training started and lingered throughout the training. We adjusted his running as best we could, sometimes going weeks without running just to try and get healthy. Finally, our Iron Fit PT, Susan Roman, stepped in and was able to put Noah back on track to be ready to rock in Arizona. He had a couple of solid months under his belt which resulted in a great day out there finishin
g Ironman Arizona feeling fantastic! You just can’t ask for anything more on your first Ironman. Noah should be proud of himself for his accomplishment. I know I am. But when I think of Noah Lam I think of how special he is in all the other areas of his life. He’s someone that makes a difference and for that I am honored to work with Noah!
In other races:
Frank Fiorello placed 1st in his division at the Rev 3 half Ironman in Venice Florida! Congrats Frank!
Jim Nostrom placed 2nd in his AG and 19th OA in the South Shore Duathlon. Jim is also Long Island's advocate for bike safety on the roads. We should be grateful to have someone like Jim around. He has spent countless hours (unpaid and on his own time) lobbying for bike safety and awareness and was recently speaking out in a press conference about the issue. Thank You Jim! Jim is also moving to Florida and I wish him and his wife lots of luck!
Jose and his family participated in a local 5K. Jose had a PR that day, placing 12th overall and 2nd in his age group! The Hernandez family looks great!!
Shayne Lewis won a 3000 meter rowing race. Shayne was a talented rower in High School and College and is using that fitness base as a boost for a great triathlon career!
NYC Marathon:
Our runners in the NYC marathon had a hellacious day with winds gusting to 40 mph and COLD temps! Despite this, everyone had a solid day out there. Patti Carbonara finished on that tough day qualifying for Boston...and it was her birthday too! Kaitlyn Pearsall finished her very first marathon despite injuries that had her barely running for the months leading up to NYC! Thanks to the help of Dr. Larry Lembo, and an unorthodox training approach that we set up, Kait was able to get to the line and finish strong! Deepak and Irene both had tough days out there, but both persevered and finished, despite the fact that they didn’t race as fast as they would have liked. I was proud of both of them for doing the best they could on a tough day!
I just started working with two awesome women that Noah referred to me, Alyssa and Robin. They are totally
new to running and just started training for a half marathon in the spring and a possible marathon in the fall of 2015! This is Alyssa and Robin getting ready for a 5K. I’m excited to be working with the both of them!
In other BIG news, The Hub (http://www.thehubhq.com/) will be teaming up with Iron Fit endurance for 2015! I couldn’t be more thrilled to be working with the guys at The Hub. They are pr
ofessional, knowledgeable and the shop is top notch!!! I suggest checking it out if you haven’t already. They are located at 80 Smith Street in Farmingdale, right off Rte. 110. There will be exciting plans for the season ahead with The Hub including group workouts in their indoor training facility when the weather gets ugly and group rides out of the shop when the weather is manageable. Here is a picture of Salty at The hub watching Jodie Robertson getting fit on her brand new Kestrel at The Hub!
Also, we continue the group swim workouts at Suffolk County Community College in Brentwood. The swims are Thursdays at 8PM. All are welcome!
Thanks and Happy Training!
Dee :-)