Iron Fit Endurance Triathlon Training on Long Island

There have been so many races and great performances in June...  We have been training hard to race fast!  We have had group training sessions each week:  Tuesday bike intervals at Hecksher, Thursday interval run followed by an open water swim (alternating one week on the south shore and one week on the north shore), and just this past Saturday we did our first “monthly” layered brick workout pictured here.

 June’s Race Results for Iron Fit Endurance!

Challenge Quassy Half!

Husband and wife Peter and Donna Morandi both competed in the race.  This was Peter’s 2^nd half Ironman and he had a great race despite some nutrition issues on the bike!  He posted and awesome swim and bike, but the lack of nutrition before the race and on the bike ended up affecting his run.  Regardless Peter was able to get a second wind finishing strong!

Donna finished her FIRST Half Ironman on what is to be considered the one of the toughest courses out there!  Donna trained HARD for this race and exceeded her expectations that she had going in!  She had a GREAT day out there!!!

Superstar Jodie Robertson also competed her first half Ironman at Quassy…it was also her first ever triathlon!  She accomplished what very few can as the overall female winner!  Jodie is a major talent in the run, qualifying for the Olympic trials in the half and full marathon, but she proved at Quassy that she is just as talented in triathlon, and maybe even more so!  Jodie came off the bike 9 minutes down on the lead woman, only to catch and pass her, winning by over 3 minutes!  The only person to run faster that day was the lead male….and that was by a matter of seconds!

Irene Lam competed in the Olympic Distance the day before but had an unusually tough swim that day, which ended up contributing to her just missing the bike cutoff by a matter of minutes!  She is even more determined to prove herself in the next event:  Timberman 70.3!  Irene is a hard worker and has already improved greatly from last season.  I am proud of her for talking one of the hardest courses out there up in Quassy!

Escape from Alcatraz!

That same day Shelley Bache competed in the legendary Escape from Alcatraz!   This already grueling event was even more grueling this year due to the conditions…Shelley had a great race in all three events.  Congrats Shelley!  next up:  Timberman 70.3!

Cedar Beach Duathlon

On Saturday June 6^th, Jose Hernandez competed in the Cedar beach Duathlon.  He placed 2^nd Overall! Jose is already a huge talent on the bike and this race proved that he is also a great runner as well! 

Jose has been racing the Riverhead cycling races on Friday nights and doing very well with them placing top 3 and top 5 two weeks in a row, as well as the most recent Time Trial there where he placed 1st in the division and 5^th overall in the A group!  He did this after forgetting his shoes too...luckily Anthony Snobel saved the day and had an extra pair for Jose!

Eagleman!

Frank Fiorello headed to Eagleman and had a fantastic race in what we all know were absolute brutal conditions!  A non-wetsuit swim, followed by a bike and run in 90-100 degree heat (some say over 100!) with zero shade!  Here he is before and after...he's looking good for such an oppressive day out there!

On Saturday, June 20th, Susan Roman and Christa Dwyer headed up to Massachusetts to race the Patriot Half Ironman.  They both had awesome races!  Christa (pictured here) was not far off from a PR and Susan did PR (she has a knack for that!).  Susan also placed 2^nd in her division! 

Here's a picture of Christa’s husband Kevin, their cheering squad!

 Paulina Ballaban, who is training for the NYC Marathon, raced the Shelter Island 10K that same day and had a strong race!

 Syracuse 70.3

On Sunday the 21st, Jodie Robertson competed in her second ever triathlon up at the Syracuse 70.3.  She proved to everyone that Quassy was not a one-time occurance.  Jodie went up against stiff competition at Syracuse and was the overall winner once again!  Her run split: 1:22 was the fastest of the day for both male and females!  Jodie posted one of the fastest bike splits up there too!  Jodie now has her sights on Ironman Lake Placid.  She will surely make a statement on the triathlon world in this event.  Jodie has a bright future in the sport!

 Saturday the 27th was the 4 mile Run Around the Lake.  Susan Roman had a strong race, just missing a PR and Gordon Lewis ran a very fast race running 1 minute faster than the year before!

Christa Dwyer and Irene Lam headed to the West Neck Swim on Sunday the 28th.  The night before saw heavy rains that made the water conditions at West Neck, an already chilly swim, frigid!  Irene had an awesome 1 mile swim proving that she has what it takes to pull out a great swim in Timberman!  Christa won the 2 mile wetsuit division overall for the females!

Jackie Lott had a great race at Challenge Atlantic City Half Ironman!  She had a great day posting a PR!  Jackie has been training hard and we have already seen improvements in just a short time!  She will be competing in another Half Ironman this fall.  Here she is getting hosed off after the swim!

 **My sincere apologies for forgetting Hilary Topper's 10K race in NYC!!!  Here is her race report!  Hilary did a fantastic job and used this race in her training for the NYC Triathlon as well as Nationals!

The month of May has flown by and Iron Fit Endurance Athletes have been rocking!

Susan Roman and Shelley Bache braved early season cold temps to race Bassman International Distance Triathlon on May 3^rd and it’s a good thing they did!  Susan won the age group while Shelley finished 2^nd to Susan!  They are pictured here on the podium. 

Meanwhile, that same weekend was the Long Island Marathon weekend!  Deepak Chopra had a great 10K, Peter Morandi had a PR in the half marathon and Donna Morandi ran the half as well while supporting an athlete who was a first-time finisher.  Jodie Robertson also ran the half, winning the event and setting a new course record!

The next weekend was the Mother’s day Duathlon at Hecksher State Park.  Gordon Lewis decided to race despite coming down with Bronchitis and still managed a 3^rd place finish in his age group!  Thankfully he shut it down after that and recovered the remainder of the week!

The following weekend was the Power of a Woman Triathlon put on by Event Power.  Hilary Topper competed and had a GREAT day! You can see her race report HERE.

Irene Lam also competed and had a great day, while her talented daughter Emily competed and finished 2^nd in her age division!

That same day Jose Hernandez raced Gran Fondo, a grueling 100 Mile cycling event that heads up to Bear Mtn.  He crushed his time from last year!

Also racing that weekend was Ernest Martinez who headed to Texas to race Ironman Texas!  Ernest had a tough winter to train for an Ironman, but he got it in as best he could!  LONG trainer rides were something that Ernest got used to, but trying to mimic that Texas heat was tough!  Ernest had a tough day of heat and humidity to contend with, but he did it!  You know things are tough when your athletes report that, “It was eerie watching people around me fall down and lay down…that kept me drinking fluids and moving.”  Congrats Ernest on toughing out a hard Ironman!

The Brooklyn half was that same day.  Peter Morandi again PR’d in his half marathon (just missing out on a sub-2 hour race!!  He’ll get it next time for sure).  Also, Donna Morandi had a great race where she did do a sub-2 hour race on legs that were not rested (she’s training for the Quassy 70.3)!  Kiri Spillane raced Brooklyn after competing in Boston just weeks before.  She had a great race, not far off from a PR!

 This past weekend Jackie Lott headed to her home state of New Jersey to test her fitness in the Jersey Genesis Triathlon (she’s training for Challenge A.C.).  She had an awesome day that proved to both of us that she is well on her way to a great day in Atlantic City next month.

Also, Shayne Lewis and Jose Hernandez decided to jump into the Town of Huntington Triathlon this past weekend a few days before the event.  Jose had a strong race despite having dedicating his spring to primarily cycling and Shayne had a great debut this season finishing 2^nd in his age group!

Also, I had the pleasure of training my good friend Erin Miller for the Rev 3 Rush Richmond this past weekend where she placed 3rd in her age group!

In group training news:

I headed up to Bear Mtn with Jodie, Jose, Shayne, Noah, Irene and their friends for some good hard riding and hill climbing! 

 I also had a chance to sneak in an open water swim (my first of the season) with Susan, Christa and Jodie.  We even had kayak support!

This past weekend was our first group open water swim in the bay.  It was surprisingly warm at 70 degrees!  Thanks to my dad for setting up buoys!

 Im looking forward more races ahead this summer!  We have athletes racing Quassy and Eagleman next weekend, as well as Patriot Half, Challenege AC, Riverhead Rocks and many more in the months ahead!  I’ll keep the results coming in!

Don’t forget to check out my calendar for the latest in group training that you can be a part of!

Happy Training and Racing :-)

Dee

April 2015 Recap

“Boston on 12 weeks of Running?”

April has been such a HUGE month of racing for Iron Fit Endurance that I don’t know where to start for my recap!  SO, I decided to highlight one race that was particularly impressive and then do a short recap of the other races and athletic accomplishments that the Iron Fit Endurance crew had this month!

When I first met Kiri Spillane she was in the middle of recovering from a stress fracture in her knee.  She was diagnosed with this 1 week before what was to be her 2^nd NYC marathon.  In her first marathon, the year prior, this mother of three ran a 3:36 qualifying her for Boston!  When we met up she was focused on finishing Boston, despite having this injury that ended up taking her out of running for over 2 months!  We started up and had her doing everything BUT running.  Kiri was biking on the trainer 3 to 4 days a week (this was a new addition to her training, which I believe helped her to gain strength as well as keep up her cardiovascular fitness).  We also had her  “run” in the pool.  I am a HUGE advocate of water running.  I personally have done this in the past while rehabbing injuries, including one injury that had me out of running for over 3 months!  I found water running to be an incredible substitution that had me back to running almost seamlessly! 

Finally, on January 16^th, Kiri got the green light to start running again! (keep in mind that the Boston Marathon was just 13 weeks away)!  We started her out VERY gradually…she started with just ½ mile run 3x/week for the first week!  For the next week she ran 1 mile 3x/week (this was 11 weeks out from Boston, mind you).  From there we progressed on to 2 miles 3x/week (I got this method of getting back to running from my genius podiatrist, Dr. McGuiness and I swear by it!).  Kiri followed everything that I planned out for her to a tee.  She kept up the biking as well as the pool running, until she was running longer distances.  She never ran over 18 miles, and she only did that once, for her longest run.  We did, however, add quality to her runs once she was ready.  Every run she did had some sort of quality in it, which in my opinion, made up for the lack of distance.  She was nervous, but she forged ahead.

Kiri ended up finishing Boston in amazing fashion.  She did a 3:40 on a very tough day with rain and wind.  Her knee felt great and still does!  I was so proud of her.  Sticking to a plan where you aren’t putting in the typical “marathon miles” can be very tough mentally.  One can feel under-confident even getting to the start line!  She not only got there, but she excelled! Congrats on a great race and thanks for the challenge of getting you there on such little time!

In other races, here’s the recap!

Shelley Bache, who will be competing in the Alcatraz triathlon in June, competed in the “Philly Love Half marathon” on March 29^th.  She had a great day!

Robin Munch and Alyssa Kasek, both new to running, headed to Mrtyle Beach to compete in the Diva half Marathon and 5K!  Robin finished the half in 2:15 (like I said, she was new to running!) and Alyssa competed in the 5K, after having to bow out of the Half due to injury.  Smart move on her part!  The two had a great time down there, as you can see!

Susan Roman headed to North Carolina for the Tar Heel 10 Miler.  A TOUGH course and a great training day and race for her!

Jose Hernandez, who is focusing more on the bike this spring competed in the grueling race, Battenkill where he crushed his time from last year and had an incredible race posting a VERY fast time for a fierce course!!  He also just competed in the Spring Cycling Series in Branchbrook where he finished with the main pack.

Hilary Topper competed in the Cedar Creek Duathlon and had a great day!  She had two smoking-fast run splits and a strong bike too!  She had a great day out there.  Here’s a link to her race report: http://www.arunnersdiary.com/spring-duathlon-at-cedar-creek-park/#utm_sguid=133014,d381626d-5306-6ba8-4907-68a0c8d7332a

 Zach Lam (Noah and Irene Lam's son) finished 9^th Overall in the Mini Mightyman pool Triathlon!  Congrats on a great race!! here's a picture of the Lam family after the race!

Jim Nostrom completed an amazing feat, doing the Bike Across Florida, 170 miles coast to coast!  Awesome Jim!

Frank Fiorello finished 2^nd in his division at the St. Anthony’s Triathlon in Florida this past weekend! Hot humid temps and a stacked field didn't stop Frank!  Awesome race!

Both Noah and Irene Lam posted PR’s in their 5K times at the Contractor for Kids 5K.  Their son Elijah had a PR that day too while their other son Zach, stayed with a friend to help her through her first 5K!  Go Lams!

In other news, we had two great weekends of 50 Mile bike rides for great causes, first at the ALS Ride for Life:

…and then this past weekend at the CWC warrior Ride:

I want to thank everyone who is a part of Iron fit Endurance.  It's been such a fun journey for me so far and I look forward to more!

We will continue swim workouts at 8PM on Thursdays at Suffolk County Community College through May.  Also, Im excited to start up track workouts at Runners Edge!  These workouts will start at 6PM on Tuesdays from the store, located in Farmingdale.  They will be starting soon!  I will keep you posted for an official start date!

Also, visit The Hub for any of your bike needs.  They just recently did a great job tuning up my tri bike!

Thanks again and happy training and racing! :-)

With winter in full effect, everyone has to be creative when it comes to training.  The Iron Fit Endurance athletes and I have been riding at The Hub when we can.  When The Hub is booked with other people training, we head to our “Iron Fit Warehouse” where we suffer together on the bike!

A few athletes have done it right this winter, John Burgess spends the winters training in Florida and Frank Fiorello, has spent quite a bit of time training and racing in the warmth of Florida and other warm areas too.  Jim Nostrom is now LIVING down in Florida and is spending time training for a 170 mile cycling event across the state!  He is pictured here wearing SHORTS before a local 5K down in Florida.  Lucky guy...

I headed down to Puerto Rico with a few girls to do some warm open water swimming and to do a little reconnaissance for a 2016 Iron Fit Endurance training camp!  I am really excited about the camp for 2016 and am in the process of planning it.  More details to come!

Recently, I had the pleasure to do a talk about “Training with Power 101” at The Hub for the Wildwood Warriors.  I spoke about the basics of training with power and what to do if you do decide to invest in a power meter (an invaluable investment in your training and racing).  I have been training with power since 2004, when power meters were “less known”.  As I told the Wildwood Warriors, it was an eye-opening experience for me!  I worked with my coach, who was a master at training with power and I got to see first-hand how beneficial it was to train with a power meter.  11 years later and I still wouldn't train any other way.  Why is it so beneficial to your training, you ask?  Well, I’ll tell you:

• INSTANT FEEDBACK!  With a power meter you know how you are performing instantly as opposed to heart rate, which lags.  For example, say you have a VO2 workout of 5x4 minutes.  With a power meter you know what to hold for those intervals and you know instantly if you are hitting the wattage range or not.  With Heart Rate, it will take some time to get into the heart rate range you need to.  By the time you reach the VO2 Heart rate, you are already well into the interval.  With heart rate, it’s just not as clear whether you are working in the range that you should be.  With power you know exactly where you should be.
• CLEARLY SEE YOUR RESULTS AND IMPROVEMENTS!  With a power meter you know exactly what you are doing in each and every workout, which makes it clear when you are improving!  For example, say you do the classis “2x20 at threshold” workout each week.  With a power meter you have specific ranges that you need to hit.  But one day you go out and you find that you exceeded that range!  Usually you hold in the range of 210-220 watts on your 2x20’s, but now you find 220-230 watts to be the numbers that you are hitting.  You are clearly seeing improvements in your workouts and your threshold!  With heart rate, you cannot see improvements like this.  Now, with your power meter, you have a new goal for the next time you are doing the workout and you can clearly see the improvements in your training!
• YOU KNOW WHEN YOU NEED TO RECOVER!  Let’s say you head out to do the “2x20 workout”.  You are pushing at the very same “perceived exertion” that you usually do.  You are doing everything you can to hit your threshold range of 210-220, but you find that you can’t even break 200 today!  This is a CLEAR sign that you need to STOP the workout, spin easily home and REST.  Your body needs to recover!
• RACING BECOMES SIMPLE!  When I was racing pro I used to say that racing with a power meter was “like cheating”!  After figuring out what wattage range I could ride in Ironman and still run off the bike (or any distance triathlon, for that matter) I would train at this wattage.  Come race day, I felt confident that I could hold that wattage range, and if I did everything right nutritionally, come off the bike and run my best!  How great is that?  There is no guess work!
• POWER KEEPS YOUR WITS ABOUT YOU!  When racing any distance race, half and full Ironman especially, what is one of the biggest mistakes that athletes make?  GOING TOO HARD ON THE BIKE AND KILLING YOURSELF FOR THE RUN!  With a power meter you know exactly the range to ride at and you know what wattage you should not exceed, which prevents you from “burning matches” for the run!  Again, there is no guessing!!

I can go on and on about training power and its benefits.  The main thing to remember if you do indeed invest in a power meter is the fact that power will mean nothing to you if you don’t do at least one of two things:  educate yourself by investing in a great book on training with power such as the one pictured here, “Training & Racing with a Power Meter, 2nd Ed. Book by Hunter Allen & Andrew Coggan, Ph.D.”, OR work with someone who knows power and REALLY knows how to train with power properly.  If you do, you will have that “eye-opening” experience that I did back in 2004, and I guarantee you will never go back!

Stay Warm and Happy Training!

Dee

2015 Is Going To Be GREAT for Iron Fit Endurance!

The first official season for Iron Fit Endurance is in the books, and it was so much more than I could have expected!  You can check out the past blogs to see all of the incredible results and training that the IFE crew has accomplished in 2014.  2015 has already started with a Bang!  Just this past weekend, we had two PR’s from our Iron Fit Endurance athletes!  Training has been moving along steadily despite the cold weather, and my athletes have big goals and races on the horizon.  I’m SO excited for the season ahead!

Here you can see Christa and Susan braving the cold out east on a ride (they made cookies for an after ride snack):

Also, we headed out on a cold and windy day for a group ride from The Hub!

When the weather is just too cold, we have the BEST indoor facility around for Group rides at The Hub (http://www.thehubhq.com/).  Irene was even able to bring her daughter Emily to the suffer session at the Hub this past weekend:

Frank Fiorello has been down in Florida and keeping busy.  He finished first in his division in the HITS series Olympic distance in Naples, FL on January 10^th and then raced in the Key West Half Marathon this past weekend (January 18^th):

Jim Nostrom, friend to Iron Fit Endurance who recently moved down to Florida, just finished the Disney Marathon in wonderful fashion:

Susan Roman headed out to California to race the “Star Wars Rebel Challenge”, which consisted of a 10K race on Saturday and a half marathon Sunday.  Her goal was to PR in the 10K and "have fun" in the half marathon Sunday, and she did just that!  Susan PR’d in the 10K by almost 2 minutes breaking a huge barrier in the 10K.  She woke up the next morning and was still able to run her 3rd fastest half marathon ever!  Susan has big goals this season and I am so excited to be a part of her reaching those goals!  You can read more about her race this past weekend here in her blog: 

http://wingnut-goingunderground.blogspot.com/2015/01/first-race-of-2015.html

Jodie Robertson headed to Texas this past weekend to race at the USA Half Marathon National Championships.  Jodie is a VERY accomplished runner who recently bested her marathon time, running a blazing 2:34 and qualifying for the Olympic Trials “A-Cut”.  I just started working with Jodie in triathlon and am VERY excited to see what she can do…  The introduction of biking and swimming hasn’t hurt Jodie’s running one bit.  She was able to PR in her half marathon yesterday by almost two minutes, clocking a fast 1:13:38!  Jodie is also sponsored by Runners Edge (http://www.runnersedgeny.com/) and The Hub (http://www.thehubhq.com/), who are no doubt just as excited to see what Jodie can do in triathlon!  Her husband, Aaron has quite a running resume as well and will be joining Jodie in her triathlon endeavor.

As we get through the winter months, with the summer races on the horizon, I am happy to announce that group swims at Suffolk County Community College continue on Thursday nights at 8PM.  All are welcome ($15 drop in fee).  Also, we continue our group bike workouts outside, when the weather cooperates and at The Hub when the weather does not!  You can check out the calendar on my website for group workouts coming up:  http://www.ironfitendurance.com/Triathlon-Training-Long-Island-Group-Training

Thanks to all of my athletes for coming to the first annual IFE party on January 10^th.  It was so wonderful to have everyone there and to see how the group has grown in just one year!

Thanks again and Happy Training!

Dee :-)

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 2^nd 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.  Christa 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 finishing 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 1^st in his division at the Rev 3 half Ironman in Venice Florida!  Congrats Frank!

Jim Nostrom placed 2^nd in his AG and 19^th 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 professional, 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 :-)

September/October 2014

Iron Fit Endurance Race Results

(and upcoming group workout information)

There have been many races since my last blog recapping the successful weekend of racing at the Mighty Hamptons on September 7^th.  Iron Fit Endurance athletes continue to post personal bests and top the podium on various events throughout Long Island and elsewhere!  Here are the race results from these events:

Jim Nostrom and Jose Hernandez both competed in the Deep Pond Duathlon and had great races, with Jose posting a 2^nd place age group and 9^th overall finish and Jim placing 7^th in his age group.  Frank Fiorello came by to watch the event on a bike ride that day!

Frank had competed in the Lake George Triathlon a few weeks earlier where he placed 2^nd in his division! 

He then headed down to Key West to compete in the 8-Mile Alligator Lighthouse Swim on September 20^th.  This was an epic race for Frank.  His report told that the conditions were quite rough, however, the biggest obstacle was the jellyfish that they encountered!  Two members from his 4-person relay team bailed due to the horrific jellyfish stings leaving Frank and one other teammate to alternate swimming and kayaking the 8-mile swim as a 2-man team!  Their support boat even sank while they were out there (unbeknownst to them)!  Frank said this was the most grueling event he has finished, swimming at least 4 miles of the 8-mile swim while getting stung all over his body and face by the jellyfish.  He said that people were screaming as they got stung, but he just tried to forge ahead as best as possible.  This was quite an accomplishment for Frank!

Meanwhile, husband and wife Iron Fit Endurance Team members, Noah and Irene Lam headed to New Jersey for the Newport Liberty half marathon on September 21^st.  Both had great races on a humid day!  Noah will be competing in Ironman Arizona in November and Irene will be competing in the NYC marathon!

Susan Roman headed to Princeton, NJ for the Ironman Princeton 70.3 event.  In amazing fashion, Susan posted her 5^th PR of the season!  Susan PR’d by over 18 minutes in this 70.3, going sub-6:30 for the first time!  Susan had a LONG season, and this was the last of the tri’s for her.  Her resume for the season included: a PR by over 3 in in the Long Island Half Marathon, an incredible race at Quassy 70.3 followed by a first time Aquabike race (and 2^nd place in her division), a PR in Ironman Lake Placid by 1 hour 26 minutes, a PR in the Springs 10K in September, A PR Olympic Distance at Mighty Hamptons by 16 minutes, a PR in Princeton as mentioned and then another PR (topping her 10K PR in September) at the Entenmann’s 10K (in terrible rain, wind and flooded streets)!  She also posted another PR (making it her 7th of the season) just last weekend at the Army 10- Miler in Washington D.C.   

Simply amazing…

Here is Susan at the finish of Princeton, making it look easy...

We had perfect weather for the Mightyman Montauk weekend of racing!!  Being a late-September race, the weather can be unpredictable!  We were lucky to have had sun and warm temps for the races this year! 

Irene Lam competed in her 2^nd Olympic distance event with ease, posting PR!  Irene swam 11 minutes faster, biked 4 minutes faster and ran7 minutes faster!!!!  INCREDIBLE!!!  She is definitely ready to move up to the 70.3 distance next year!

Susan, Jose and I did the half Ironman relay, which was a blast.  Susan was our swimmer. After racing the week before in Princeton, she was happy to have “just a 1.2 mile swim” on her plate for the day!  I was originally supposed to run and Jose was, of course, supposed to bike.  However, I have been dealing with a foot injury (a heel spur) and was not able to run much in the months of August and especially September, so we made a last-minute decision for Jose to run and me bike.  Jose and I both had to do some last minute “cramming” for our events being that Jose hadn’t run more than a few miles and I hadn’t biked more than 25 in the months leading up to this!  I was pleased with my bike, considering, and was very impressed with Jose’s toughness on the run!   We all posted solid times earning us a 2^nd place.

Noah Lam completed in the half ironman in prep for Ironman Arizona.  He had a PR race by 32 minutes!  He has been training hard and will be ready for a great day at Ironman Arizona in a few weeks!  Here is a picture of Noah and Irene after the race!

Christa Dwyer, who will be competing in Ironman Florida in a couple of weeks, also posted a PR!  She raced 30 minutes faster than the prior year’s race!  She swam 2 and a half minutes faster, biked 12 minutes faster, and ran 13 minutes faster!  Christa also placed 2^nd in her age group at this race proving that she is ready for an incredible first Ironman down in Florida in two weeks!  Her husband, Kevin, was there to cheer her on and to take great pics of all of us!  He is so proud of Christa, for good reason, and will have quite a day in Panama City cheering her on!  In fact, he even followed Christa in his car for support during her last long ride (Christa rode 117 miles that day)!

Our runners have been having great races as well!  Husband and wife team Peter and Donna Morandi competed together on the Ocean-to-Sound Relay.  They had great races and seemed to have had a blast!  Donna will be competing in the NYC marathon followed by the Philly Marathon 3 weeks later!

Frank, Susan and I all competed in the Entenmann’s 10K on October 4^th.  The weather was rainy (as you can see by the flooded streets) and WINDY!  We even had flooding on the streets!  Despite this, Susan posted yet another PR!  Frank had a bad fall in the beginning of the race, but got back up despite hurting his knee.  He still had a solid race.  I was able to defend my title, though my time was quite a bit slower.  The good news was that I didn’t have pain in my heel while running!

My NYC marathon crew did the Entenmann’s half:  Deepak Chopra, Patti Carbonara and Kaitlyn Pearsall all had very strong races, despite the rain, wind and flooding!  I had hoped to get pics off all of them as they ran towards the finish, but the monsoon prevented me from doing that! 

Here is a pic of Kaitlyn, who will be competing in her very first marathon in NYC!

The next day was the Diva half marathon.  Jenn Chopra (Deepak’s wife) finished her first half marathon in incredible fashion!  She hadn’t run more than 3 miles when we started up the plan in July!  Jenn had an incredible race making it look easy…she looked great doing it too!

In all, we have been rolling along fantastically for season one of “Iron Fit Endurance”!  It has been such an exciting season for me seeing all the Iron Fit Endurance jerseys out there training and racing! The many PR’s and podium placements are icing on the cake for me!  Thanks SO much to EVERYONE!

It isn’t over yet though!  We still have Ironman Florida, NYC Marathon and Ironman Arizona to come!  Good Luck to everyone racing this November!

**In other news, I am starting up an “Iron fit Swim” workout on Thursday’s (8-9PM) at Suffolk County Community College in Brentwood!  The swim will consist of a workout:  a warm-up and stroke work, a “main set of the day” and a cool down.  The group atmosphere is hard to beat for a swim workout and I will be there on the pool deck to instruct and push the group!  I have over 25 years of swimming experience and over 17 years of coaching experience in swimming.  It is one of my passions (along with triathlons) and I can’t wait to get started!  Fees are $10 for Iron Fit Endurance athletes and $15 for all other athletes!  All levels are welcome!

Happy Training and racing!

Dee

Iron Fit Endurance Race Weekend

We decided to do a “team race” at the Mighty Hamptons on September 7^th.  Myself, Susan Roman, Shayne Lewis, Noah Lam, Deepak Chopra, Christa Dwyer and Jose Hernandez (as part of the relay “Too Fast For You”) all headed to Sag Harbor for the race.  We had several other Iron Fit Endurance athletes racing at other races as well:  John Burgess headed to the Aqua Bike National Championships in Sandusky, Ohio; Peter Morandi and his wife headed to Washington D.C. for the Nations Triathlon and Jeanette Hampel raced the Toughman Half Ironman.

I hadn’t raced at the Mighty Hamptons since 2006, 8 years, ago and I don’t know why I waited so long to come back!  It’s a fantastic race and we all had a great day racing and hanging on the beach at Sag Harbor on a beautiful day!  Of the 7 of us who raced, 5 won awards and 5 had PR’s!!  Jose was in a relay, so he was unable to PR, but he did have a smoking fast bike split, and I did not PR, but still had a fun race! 

It was amazing to see everyone show up and do so well and I couldn't be prouder!

Below are the results:

Shayne Lewis:  1^st Olympic Distance Race, 2^nd Place Age Group!

Susan Roman:  PR and first sub-3 hour performance, 1^st Place Athena! (The picture below was taken at another race that Susan rocked this past weekend...more news to come on that soon!):

Christa Dwyer:  PR by 13 minutes, 3^rd Age Place Group!

Jose Hernandez (in Relay “Too Fast For You”):  2^nd place Relay

Me:  1^st Place Female

Noah Lam:  PR and first sub-3 hour Olympic Distance

Deepak Chopra:  PR and first 3 hour Olympic Distance

Here are some more pics from the event, thanks to Irene Lam:

Me, Deepak and Noah morning of the race:

Jose, Myself and my support crew (George and my good friend Erin who came from D.C. to cheer us on):

My other support crew, Mom and Dad (one or both have been there to cheer me on for 13 of my 15 Ironman races): 

 Left to Right:  Christa's husband and support crew Kevin, Noah, Deepak, Christa and Susan.

In the other races, Peter Morandi (Pictured above) and his wife, Donna had great races in D.C., despite the fact that the swim was cancelled due to poor water quality.  They finished just 2 minutes apart!!  (Picture of Peter and Donna below):

John Burgess, who headed to Nationals, had a great day racing for the first time in a big venue!  John went up against the best and placed 9^th in his Age Group! Congrats to John on a great season.  I look forward to next year!!!!

Jeanette Hampel had a great race in Toughman placing 2^nd in her Age Group and 9^th Overall!  WOW!