Blog June 2014

Race Results June 2014

Part II

The month of June has been exciting for Iron Fit Endurance athletes and myself, the coach… So far we have had a lot of races underway and great results to report!  Check out the previous report for the race results from the first weekend in June.

On June 14th, John Burgess competed in the Pat Griskus Olympic Distance Aquabike.  The Pat Griskus series has been around for a while now and it is popular for attracting great competition from Connecticut and New York.  It is held at the Quassy Amusement Park (same race venue as Rev 3 Quassy), so it is obviously a challenging course!  John placed 3^rd overall in the Aquabike!  The closest competitor age-wise to John was 19 years his junior!  Despite racing guys in their 30’s and 40’s, John placed incredibly well!  John is an extremely hard worker and is VERY strong as a result of his hard work and dedication!  He isn't a newcomer to endurance racing, however...John finished the Hawaii Ironman back in 1984!  I'm excited to see what he does at Nationals in September!

Just this past weekend was the West Neck Swim 1 Mile, 2 Mile and 5K Swim, Syracuse 70.3 and Mossman Half Ironman.  I met up with Frank Fiorello and Christa Dwyer (pictured above with me) Sunday morning for the "West Neck 1 mile, 2 mile and 5k swim", a pristine swim competition held at West Neck Beach in Lloyd Harbor.  I did the 5K swim, while Christa and Frank did the 2-mile swim.  The both did awesome, Christa winning her age-group with a smoking fast 50:47 and Frank swimming a strong 58:52!

Meanwhile, Deepak Chopra was up at the Syracuse 70.3 racing with his younger brother.  This was Deepak’s first Half Ironman.  He did amazingly well on a tough course and a hot day!  Deepak has a grueling work schedule, but is a focused athlete.  Due to his supportive family network, Deepak does his best to get in the training during the week despite his hectic schedule.  The remainder of the season will be a focus on shorter triathlons as well as the NYC Marathon in November!  Deepak has a STRONG running background, so it will be exciting to get him back to his roots!  His wife, Jenn, and daughters were at the race cheering him on (see picture of Deepak and his daughter on the run course).  Jenn, his wife, is also training and will be competing in her first half marathon in the fall!

Over in Connecticut, Johnny Graziano raced Mossman and WON the aquabike division!! Johnny is pictured above on the podium as well as on the bike rocking the Iron Fit gear despite being the Founder of the Wildwood Warriors...thanks Johnny!  With a tweaked calf, Johnny opted for the aquabike.  This was a smart decision which paid off!  With Placid around the corner, this was a great training day for Johnny!

Speaking of the Ironman, Susan Roman was completing a HUGE weekend of training which she absolutely nailed up in Lake Placid this weekend!  Susan is a dedicated athlete and it certainly has paid off so far!  Once she recovers from this big weekend, she will see a huge boost in fitness levels going into Placid!  Susan made the very smart decision to enter the Challenge AC Aqua Bike this upcoming weekend (2.4 Mile swim-112 Mile bike) as a training day for Placid!

Below is a picture that Susan sent me on Saturday while she was riding the course.  it was titled, "I think I biked too far"!

I’ll be posting more results as they come in.  In the meantime, we have bike intervals at Hecksher State Park on Tuesday evenings (5:30PM), Thursday track workouts at West Islip High School (5:30 AM) and group swims and bikes on most weekends! Check out the Calendar tab on this website (www.ironfitendurance.com).  

All are welcome!

Happy Training!

Dee

Iron Fit Endurance Race Report

June 2014

The triathlon season has officially kicked off and I couldn't be more excited as we have had fantastic results so far!  Let’s begin with Rev3 Quassy on the weekend of May 31st and June 1st:

Deepak Chopra (pictured below) and Frank Fiorello both competed in the Olympic distance race to start off the weekend with a bang:

It was Deepak’s first race in two years and he finished with a very strong swim, bike and run!  Deepak was most anxious about the swim, but he finished strong as I expected!  He had a great bike and run as well, getting the first race done before heading up to compete in Syracuse 70.3 in a few weeks!  That will be Deepak’s first Half Ironman and the performance here will definitely help to build confidence going into the Half!

Frank (Pictured here) also had a strong race, besting both his bike split and run split from the previous year!  Frank has been at it for a long time and is one of the hardest workers out there.  I am really excited to see what he can do this season!  I believe that Frank has untapped potential and I am excited that he has asked for my help this season! This is just the beginning and I see great things to come from him.  Can't wait to be a part of it!

I was thrilled with the performances from these two hard working guys and was looking forward to the half the next day!  I had Jose Hernandez, Susan Roman and Peter Morandi racing the half on June 1st.  This is a VERY hard course, maybe the hardest out there, though all three had fantastic races despite the challenging terrain!

Jose (pictured right) finished in a blazing 5:32!  He raced smart and strong the entire day and it paid off!  This will be a huge boost for him going into Ironman Lake Placid!  Jose is a very strong cyclist, but he proved that he is also a very strong runner as well!  I’ve been able to do some training runs with Jose and have been impressed with his ability to run.  I was excited to see what he could do in the Half and as usual, he didn’t disappoint!   Jose’s swim has improved leaps and bounds as well.  The hard work and endless hours working on technique in on his swim has paid off!

Susan Roman (pictured above) blew away all race expectations with a fast swim, reaching her time goal; a strong bike, finishing just where she and I had predicted; and an amazing run that bested her goal by over 20 minutes!!!  Susan is also racing Ironman Lake Placid and will no doubt have an incredible performance there!  She is an extremely hard worker and dedicated athlete and it certainly has shown this season in her races.  It’s been exciting to be a part of her training and I can't wait to see what she can do up in Lake Placid!

Peter Morandi (pictured above and below) finished Quassy, his first Half Ironman, in amazing fashion!  Peter had an injury over the winter that caused him to take off from running for over 2 months!  Our longest run for Peter going into this race was only 8 miles as we didn’t have the time to properly build.  I was nervous about the distance and the severity of the course, but Peter sailed through this race without a problem!  He had a solid swim and very strong bike and finished the run way ahead of my own goals for him!  He is a natural with the long distance events, as he proved at Quassy.  I was thrilled!  Peter will see what he can do in shorter events and then go for a P.R. at the Lake George Half Ironman!

Closing out the weekend was Noah and Irene Lam.  The husband and wife team both competed in the Smith point Triathlon on June 1^st to start off their triathlon season.  Both had great races!  They will be competing next in Riverhead Rocks, while Noah focuses on the long-term goal of ironman Arizona and Irene competing in the NYC marathon as well as other triathlons!

This past weekend was Mighty Montauk triathlon and Eagleman 70.3.  Two “friends of Iron Fit Endurance” competed in these races.  Jeanette Hampel won her age group and finished 8^th overall female in the Mighty Montauk despite some race day glitches, such as a dropped chain!  Jeanette had a strong run, which she credits to her weekly track workouts with Iron Fit Endurance!  She is strong in all three events and will be competing in the Toughman Half Ironman in September.

Jim Nostrom had a super finish at Eagleman 70.3 to close out the weekend.  Jim is another friend of Iron Fit Endurance who has made many of the group bike and swim workouts.  He had a very strong race down in Maryland! 

Congrats to Jim and Jeanette!

As a coach, I am so thrilled and proud to report that every athlete who has raced so far this season has had a result they can be proud of.  That is all I can ask for and I can honestly say that I get just as excited watching their results as I have been for my own results in the past!  To be able to coach these athletes, helping them to juggle huge work commitments, families and busy lives, and then see them show up at the races and perform as they have is so thrilling!  I want to thank everyone for their commitment and for their enthusiasm.  This is just the beginning and I can’t wait for the rest of the season!

Happy Training!

Dee

*I also wanted to send a HUGE thank you to John Landino and Death Row Velo (https://www.facebook.com/DeathRowVelo) for the beautiful uniforms!