Iron Fit Endurance Triathlon Training on Long Island

My Riverhead Race Report and More Iron Fit Race Results

August 2014

The Iron Fit Endurance athletes have been busy this month posting one great race after another!  Below is a report on those races.  We started the month with Riverhead Rocks.  Noah and Irene Lam competed, as well as myself!

I decided to test my fitness at Riverhead this year.  I had been training with my athletes and felt pretty fit, so why not race?  I headed there in the morning with George and Salty as my cheering squad (see pic of "Coach Salty).  When I got to the race sight, I was also happy to see Susan Roman, Jose Hernandez and my parents there to cheer me on too!  How lucky can I be? Susan, myself, Jose and Coach Salty pictured below.

Riverhead is a time trial start, so I placed myself in the front, right behind the top men.  I wasn’t too psyched about my swim as I exited the water three minutes slower than last year, but quickly shrugged it off.  Onto the bike I went, where I found myself biking with Eamon Flood, a very good athlete here on Long Island.  It ended up that I would pass him, then he would pass me...  On and on we went like that, finding ourselves in the awkward position of not being able to bike away from one other as well as trying not to draft one another!  Towards the end of the bike, a woman passed me.  She was just plain stronger than me.  I couldn’t stay near her…and she looked like she could run too! 

When I exited transition, George yelled out to me that I was 1 minute behind the lead woman!  “Oh no”, I thought, “…here we go again” (this had just happened to me in Pat Griskus a few weeks prior).  I was questioning whether I could actually catch her, but I was trying my best.  Soon I saw her in the distance and I quickly realized that I was reeling her in!  By mile 3, right smack dab in town in front of my friends and family, I caught and passed her.  “Great!” I thought!  “I easily made up a minute on her in 3 miles!  Three more to go…I have this won!”  So, I ran the final three miles steady and came across the finish line first!  Woo Hoo!  A great day in the bag!  …so I thought!  It ended up the “second place woman” started the swim back in the second time group.  Because of this, she was the actual winner of the day…by 11 seconds!  Doh!!  A frustrating way to lose for sure!

I thought back to a familiar result:  I was racing Kona as an age-grouper and found myself in second place.  I was reeling in the girl in front of me, and finally caught and passed her less than a mile left of the run!  I ran down Alii drive with tears in my eyes thinking, “I can’t believe I just won my age group in Hawaii”!!!!!”  “I’m the World Champion 25-29 year old!”  I came across the line and was ecstatic!  …until I saw my parents, that is.  They didn’t look quite as excited as I was for some reason?  “Danielle”, they said, “you got second.  The first place girl finished already”.  My heart sank.  “Hmm…Well OK then…”  I did my best at that moment to be psyched with a second place finish that at any other time in my career I would have been thrilled about!  In a short time, I put it in perspective and was thrilled with my result, but as in Riverhead, sometimes it’s tough to get second ;-)

My frustration after my Riverhead finish quickly turned to joy as I saw Noah Lam finish with a PR race, followed by his wife  Irene Lam finishing her very first Olympic distance race!!!  I was so thrilled for both of them…especially Irene who was worried about being able to finish the swim in time.  I knew she could do it and I knew this race would be a turning point for her!!  Watching her finish was just awesome.  Great pics of Noah running and of the Lam family after Irene's finish!

Next race result was the Presidential Lakes Aqua Bike on August 10^th.  John Burgess competed in the event as a prep race for his Aqua bike Nationals in a few weeks.  John finished 6^th overall in the Aqua bike division.  This event is not ranked according to age.  If it were, John would have won his age group by over 9 minutes!  I’m really excited to see what he does at Nationals in September.  That event will be a half which will play to John’s strength!

The following weekend Shayne Lewis headed up to West Point to compete in the sprint race there.  Shayne is new to the sport.  He is young and he is talented.  He proved this in West Point with a 2^nd place finish in his age group!  Shayne has only been training for a little over a month, which is amazing!  His background as a collegiate rower has helped him to build a huge aerobic engine.  He will be competing in the Mighty Hamptons next…his first Olympic distance event.  I’m excited to see what he can do in this race, but even more excited for 2015 when he has a year of solid training under his belt!

The same weekend of West Point was Timberman 70.3.  Irene Lam competed in the sprint race Saturday with ease.  She said that the swim was “no problem”, which was music to my ears!  It proved that she jumped that hurdle after completing Riverhead Rocks.  Noah Lam competed in the 70.3 the next day!  This was his first half and he had a great day despite some challenges.  He gouged his foot on a rock out of the swim and had to tend to a bad cut on his foot.  He then went on to have an amazing bike that exceeded my expectations!  The run was a challenge as he had an issue with his foot though he toughed it out as best he could and finished his first 70.3!!  Congrats to the Lam family yet again! 

Tobay was this past weekend where we saw Frank Fiorello finishing 3^rd in the Clydesdale division!  Frank is a strong athlete and has had a long season which will end at the Lake George Olympic distance in a few weeks. 

We also had Jim Nostrom (pictured with Frank) compete, as well as Peter Morandi and his wife Donna!  The Morandi’s will both be competing in the Nations triathlon on the 7^th of September and Donna will be competing in the Philly Marathon in November.

Congrats to everyone and I look forward to more race results in the fall!

Cheers

Danielle

Ironman Lake Placid 2014

I haven’t been to Ironman Lake Placid, or to the town of Lake Placid since I last raced there back in 2010.  It wasn’t my best finish, but it certainly wasn’t my worst!  For the fourth time I finished and for the fourth time I swore that I would not return.  In my opinion, Lake Placid was the hardest course of the 15 I have competed in, including Kona!  Well, I went back on my promise and I did return, but this time as a spectator!

This year I had three athletes competing in the race:  Jose Hernandez, Susan Roman and Johnny Graziano.  As I headed up there Saturday morning I began to feel the same nerves I would always feel driving up to Lake Placid.  This time, however, my nerves were for  the three athletes I mentioned who I had the pleasure to work with for the months leading up to this weekend.  Each athlete had their own up’s and down’s throughout training (as everyone does) and each had a special place in my heart.

Lake Placid did not disappoint this year as far as difficulty is concerned.  Come race morning the skies opened up during the swim.  The roads were flooding and thunder and lightning were directly overhead as the athletes were swimming.  I was standing under my umbrella trying to stay dry watching the organizers frantically pulling people out of the water!  Because of this, the final times only reflect everyone’s first loop of the swim and no T1.  As I was standing at the lake watching, I was getting very nervous for the athletes out on the bike course.  I’ve done this course in the rain before and found the 4 mile downhill in the beginning of the course to be terrifying in the rain!  I hoped that everyone would be safe out there and thankfully they were! 

Once the rain cleared up, the sun came out and it got very HOT and humid!  This was obstacle #2!  Again, I was hoping that the prep from the past months was paying off out there and that everyone was doing what they could to stay nutritionally sound and as cool as possible!  In the end, each one had a great race despite the conditions of the day, which is all you can ask for in Ironman.  I’m happy to say that Johnny, Susan and Jose all persevered and each one had a great day out there!   Here is the short version of the race recap for each of the athletes’s mentioned:

Johnny Graziano and I had met up in the winter to discuss the season ahead that would culminate in his first ever Ironman finish:  Ironman Lake Placid.  Johnny came into training with an injury that prevented him from running for a couple of months.  We decided to train heavily in the pool, as this was Johnny’s weak link.  We also ramped up the cycling to build strength in that area.  Once Johnny was able to run again, his bike and swim were coming along fantastically!  Johnny continued to train hard throughout the season.  He made huge gains in the swim and bike and was showing his raw talent in the run.  Unfortunately, Johnny had more trouble with injury towards the end of the season limiting his running.  Because of this, we had to again rely heavily on swim and bike training to build strength in those areas leaving him as strong as possible for the run.  Johnny came into lake Placid with only one “moderately” long run, but I had faith that he could still have a great day out there.  He was stronger than ever in the swim and the bike and I knew that despite the lack of running miles in training, he could pull off a fantastic day.

Well, he proved me right.  Johnny finished IMLP in amazing fashion!  I don’t think he realizes just how great he did up there!  He finished the swim strong and unscathed, biked a solid 112 and went on to run incredible marathon after VERY LITTLE run training!!  His talent, hard work and positive attitude really got him through a tough day after many obstacles.  I couldn’t be happier for Johnny and I know he is in store for a killer Ironman if he chooses to do another one in the future.

I started coaching Jose Hernandez in the winter as well.  Jose’s swim has been his weak link, so we focused on technique in the pool to help make him more comfortable.  Jose couldn’t even swim 1 length of the pool the previous year!  He taught himself how to swim and with the help of his friends was able to finish Ironman Mont-Tremblant in 2013!  When I first met with Jose, it was obvious he needed a lot of work in the water.  It was also obvious that he was a huge physical talent.  He would do everything I told him to do in the water without a problem!  His body awareness and ability to change his technique in such a short amount of time was incredible.  Needless to say, Jose’s swim improved by leaps and bounds over the months! 

As most know, Jose is a huge talent on the bike.  With the addition of the power meter, we were able to see just how talented he was and were able to dial in all his workouts based on his threshold power.  It was incredible to see his FTP improve throughout the season despite his already strong cycling leg.  But what most surprised me was Jose’s run talent!  I had the pleasure of doing many run’s and track workouts with Jose.  Whatever pace I ran, Jose would be right there with me!  His aerobic engine is huge and I was super excited about his strength in all 3 sports across the board!

Going into IMLP, we had Jose’s watts dialed in.  I wanted him to have a solid bike, but also wanted him to set himself up for the run, as I found this to be his “secret weapon”.  Jose finished the swim very strong and, like Johnny, feeling totally unscathed coming out of the water.  He hopped on the bike and stuck to the prescribed wattage.  When I saw Jose at the end of the first loop he looked SUPER smooth, as if he was going out for a relaxed ride.  His time was right-on too!  Again I saw him after the second loop and again he looked fantastic!

Jose started off running perfectly.  He was relaxed and ticking off the miles like we thought he would.  He felt strong, but unfortunately, as this sometimes happens in Ironman, his stomach began to have major cramping.  He was reduced to walking due to the pain, which slowed him down.  Jose, being a fierce competitor was able to rally and finished the race looking strong again!  He finished his second Ironman 3 hours faster than his first!  Amazing job Jose!  I am excited to see what he can do in the future when he runs the marathon that he is capable of running off the bike!!

Susan Roman and I started up back in the winter as well.  When we first met up, she was recovering from a serious knee injury that needed major treatment and months of no running at all.  She was up to a 30 minute run 2 days each week and a 40 minute run as her long run when we met up.  Susan came into this season focused on a goal and her hard work and determination never wavered throughout the season!  Susan worked closely with me, as well as with a nutritionist that revamped her daily nutrition as well as her race day nutrition.

Susan, in my opinion, had a “dream season”.  This was by no means a “lucky season”, this had to do with her attention to detail, close working relationship with myself and her nutritionist and her ability to listen to her body at all times.  Every race Susan competed in this year was an amazing one, a PR, a great day.  Lake Placid just ended up being the “icing on the cake”.

Susan came out of the water in lake Placid with a PR swim, by 3 minutes.  She then hoped on the bike and crushed her goal time as well as a PR bike split by 29 minutes.  On the run, Susan not only ran a PR marathon, but she bested her run split at IMLP by over 53 minutes!  Her finishing time was 1 hour and 26 minutes faster than when she competed back in 2006!  I knew her potential going in and I knew she would have a great day out there, but for everything to go as perfectly executed as it did, blew me away!!  A HUGE congrats to her for an amazing season ad a dream race!  Susan isn’t done for the season, however, so it will be exciting to see what she can do after recovering from Lake Placid and using that fitness for shorter faster races!

Congrats to all three on fantastic races up there.  I was thrilled to cheer each one on throughout the day!

More race results have been rolling in, so check in soon for more to come!

Happy training and racing!

Dee

Iron Fit Blog

July 2014

We have a lot more race results to report and an Ironman on the horizon!! 

Here we go…

On June 29^th, Susan Roman competed in the Challenge AC Aqua Bike.  This was held in Atlantic City by the same company that puts on the Roth Challenge in Europe.  A legendary race that just had its 30^th anniversary.  Susan had just finished a HUGE training weekend up in Lake Placid the weekend before doing the Challenge AC, which made her phenomenal performance even sweeter!  She rocked the WETSUITLESS swim with ease as well as the bike, finishing 2^nd in her age group!!!  This just proved to Susan and myself just how fit she has gotten this year!  She will be competing in Ironman Lake Placid this Sunday and I know she will have an awesome up race there!

Christa Dwyer (pictured on the podium) competed in the North Fork triathlon on July 13^th and finished 2^nd in her age group!  Christa improved over last years’ overall time by 11 minutes in this sprint triathlon!!!  That is a HUGE improvement.  Christa has been doing fantastic in training as well as in the weekly summer run series, so this improvement in the Mighty North Fork is NO surprise!  She will be competing in Ironman Florida this November!!

Another athlete, Laura Giardino, whom I have been coaching in the swim, not only completed the race, but finished first in her age group!  Laura has made HUGE gains in her swimming ability.  Go Laura!

Frank Fiorello headed up to Musselman to do the half ironman.  If you haven’t heard, a tornado touched down that morning.  The swim was horrendous, with many people "DNF’ing" and staying to volunteer for those who forged ahead.  Frank was one of those athletes who continued to race in the down-pouring rain and howling wind!  Frank had a phenomenal day up there toughing out a grueling day!  He then completed a sprint triathlon down in Florida the next weekend.  He said that it was 92 degrees at 7:30AM!  Frank did awesome placing third in his age group!

Back to my roots:

Even I have race results to report!  On July 9^th, I revisited a favorite race of mine from the past.  The last time I did the Pat Griskus sprint was back in 2007.  I was 30 years old, training for Kona and defending my win from the previous year.  After training with many of my athletes this season, I decided to test my fitness again this year.  I was surprisingly nervous for this short race and even more so when the race director approached me to welcome me back and to ask me if I was “going to have a fast day today?”  I honestly did not know what to expect.  I knew I just didn’t want to embarrass myself!  Needless to say, I found myself a minute back from the lead woman off the bike, not only because of my rookie mistake of a dropped chain, but also because the woman who passed me out there on the bike was much stronger than me!.  When I exited T2 and heard George yelling out to me that I was a “solid minute behind”, I thought, “oh no…guess I’ll get second place”.  Then something clicked and I said to myself, “no way…I want first!”  I went for it on the run, finishing the 5K a minute faster than in 2007 and winning my third Pat Griskus Sprint Triathlon!

This may seem like no big deal.  After all, I’ve place 2^nd in my age group at the Hawaii Ironman, and 4^th amateur woman overall at that big arena.  I’ve also placed as high as 4^th overall professional woman at Ironman Lake Placid, and 6^th overall at Ironman Austria.  But this WAS a big deal!  It was a fun event and it reminded me of how I started back in 1998 when I had just graduated college and did my first race, a sprint triathlon, winning the race which then got me HOOKED on this sport that I love!  This was the reason I got into the sport.  I was reminded of that on the course when I passed George and Salty (my dog) cheering me on, and at the awards ceremony talking with old friends of how much fun it can be.  So, I will do more of these events that I started with.  I may not win them all, but I’ll try my best and it’ll be fun like it was 17 years ago!

Happy training and racing!

Dee

**GOOD LUCK to my Ironman Lake Placid athletes this weekend!  I'll be out there on the course cheering you on!!!!!!

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!

Iron Fit Endurance Race Results and News

Race season is fully underway and Iron Fit Endurance athletes have been posting fantastic results already!  It is so exciting to see everyone’s hard work paying off!  I couldn’t be prouder.

On March 22^nd, Noah Lam completed his first Ultra event.  Noah (pictured here running as well as with his wife Irene below) completed the New Jersey Ultra Festival 50K!  After experiencing a bad fall on the very first loop of the run, Noah got up and shook it off to finish strong posting a 7:38!  You can read about the race on Noah’s blog:  http://www.runwithnoah.com/2014/03/missing-common-sense-for-my-first-ultra.html

Noah posts regular blog entries on www.runwithnoah.com.  When I asked him about “Run with Noah”, he replied, “

“During my training of my first marathon, my friends and family would ask me how I was doing, so I started emailing updates on my running adventures (now adding my triathlon training), which eventually evolved into Run With Noah.  Sharing my stories was a way to let everyone know what I was getting myself into and a way to make sure I continue with my training.  What I did not realize was that I started to inspire others to get up and run and be more active for their families as well”.

Noah certainly is an inspiration.  You can follow his training for Ironman Arizona 2014 on his blog as well!

Another Iron Fit Endurance athlete, Kelly Russell (pictured here in pink), finished an extraordinary race last week.  The Hyner View Trail Challenge is a trail run that traverses over 3 mountains!  The total elevation gain is over 4,000 feet in 16 miles (elevation profile pictured below)!  Kelly did a fantastic job, finishing in less than 4 hours.  Kelly will be racing Ironman Lake Placid this July and will certainly be ready for the hills that Placid offers up after finishing this race!

Two athletes, Jose Hernandez and Johnny Graziano, ran 5K races on the same weekend (Jose in Huntington and Johnny in Patchogue).  Both ran super-fast times, Johnny posting a PR of 19:36 finishing 6^th overall and 1^st in his age group, and Jose just missing a PR, finishing in 20:01 and also finishing 1^st in his age group. 

Despite the fast race results, Jose was most excited about his son and daughter, who ran the 1 mile kids race that morning!  Jose is pictured with his kids here after their races.  Congrats to all three!

This past weekend, we had 3 athletes competing in the Long Island Half Marathon and 10K.  Peter Morandi competed in the 10K with a solid finish.  Peter has been recovering from an injury which took him out from running for over 2 months!  He is getting back to running gradually and doing a great job at it.  This past Sunday was his longest run.  He ran the 10K at a steady pace and felt great at the finish, which is all a coach can ask for at this point.  I am so pleased with his progress!  He will be competing in his first half ironman this season!

Deepak Chopra and Susan Roman both completed a hard interval workout on the bike with the group at Hecksher State Park this past Saturday morning.  Despite the hard bike workout the day before, Deepak had a solid race which was executed as a training day for his upcoming race, Syracuse 70.3.  Susan Roman ran the half as well and had a huge PR of 3 minutes 8 seconds!  What's most amazing is that Susan was sidelined with an injury this past year.  She just started up running again in January.  In her own words Susan describes the experience coming back from the injury:   “So happy to have run well today. It took some careful planning to get me to this spot. To think that from August --> November I was hardly able to consistently run. Then I was completely shut down from running through January. Easing back into it 10 minutes at a time with a nice buildup to the half marathon today.”  She did the half without tapering as she is training hard for Ironman lake Placid in July!  It should be exciting to see what she does up there!

Noah Lam and Christa Dwyer competed in the Palisades Half Marathon this weekend.  Noah finished with a solid performance despite some Achilles trouble mid-race. 

Christa Dwyer had a fantastic finish at the Palisades as well, running a blazing 1:56 and placing 2^nd in her age group!  Christa will be competing in Ironman Florida this November and will undoubtedly have an impressive performance down there!  Christa is pictured below on the podium.

In Training news, we had a beautiful training day up in Harriman State Park a few weekends ago.  We had a big group up there (about 15 people in total) training on the course.  First stop was the Perkins climb, before heading onto the Harriman course for hilly loops (Jose pictured atop Perkins).  Our half Ironman athletes completed 3 hours on the bike before transitioning with a run off the bike at Tiorati Lake.  Our Ironman athletes completed 5 grueling hours on the bike with a run off the bike as well!  The weather was fantastic up there with the temps in the 60’s and the sun shining.  We will head up there again very soon so check the calendar for any updates on the next trip.  We are also continuing our track workouts at 5:30AM on Thursdays at West Islip H.S.  In addition, we are starting up bike intervals at Hecksher State Park on Tuesdays at 5:30PM.  This Tuesday (May 6^th) will be our first bike interval session.  We will continue to do the bike intervals every Tuesday night.  Come join us for any and all events!

Happy Training!

Dee

Iron Fit Endurance athletes have been training hard as we get closer to triathlon season.  We have started our group rides on Saturdays as well as track workouts Thursday mornings at 5:30 AM.  On the Saturday group rides, we have progressed to a hilly 51 mile loop (with over 2000 ft. of climbing).  This is a great route for hilly races like Syracuse 70.3 and Ironman Lake Placid.  This past Saturday, our Ironman Lake Placid athletes added on mileage to the group ride, making it a solid 70 mile ride.  This upcoming Saturday, will be heading up to Harriman State Park where we will be training on the Harriman course as well as on the epic climb up “Perkins”!   This is hands-down the best place to train for Ironman Lake Placid!

In race news, on March 30^th, many athletes (including myself) completed the Paumanok 70K Trail Relay (Pictured Above).  Long Island had heavy rains the two days leading up to this race, making the trail a muddy mess!  The day of the race was a bit of a reprieve, with light rain on and off throughout the day.  My relay team (Team Iron Fit Endurance) consisted of:  myself (I ran leg one, a relatively flat 10.84 miles), Tim Healy who ran a fast 2^nd leg, Travis Tate who ran the dreaded mountainous 3^rd leg in a blazing time, Jose Hernandez who ran a strong 4^th leg (also very hilly) and Kelly Russell ran the last leg finishing strong for us!  Our goal was to beat the “Wildwood Warrior Team”, which included Iron Fit athlete and Wildwood Warrior founder, Johnny Graziano, however, we came up short and the Wildwood Warriors were victorious!  We will definitely have a rematch next year!  Thanks to Jen and Dave Gatz for creating and organizing such an awesome event.  It has already become a favorite race on Long Island!

Jose Hernandez (pictured right) competed in the legendary race, Tour of Battenkill, on April 5^th.  This race is one of the most grueling in the sport of cycling.  Finishing this epic event is a huge accomplishment!  The competition is the toughest around and Jose finished the 65 miles, mostly in mud and even snow, in a blazing 3:38!  This placed him 15^th in the 35+ division.  He will be competing in Ironman Lake Placid this year, where his cycling strength will help him tremendously on the tough course!

In other news, Johnny Graziano decided to jump into the Mini Mightyman Pool Super Sprint Tri this past weekend.  Johnny finished 4^th in his age group posting the 3^rd fastest bike and the 2^nd fastest run in his age group!  This was after a hilly 70 mile ride the day before!  Johnny will also be competing in Lake Placid this year.  Im excited to see what he can do up there!

Join us for track workouts on Thursdays at 5:30 AM at the West Islip Track and group bike rides on Saturday mornings at 8AM starting in West Islip!  Our track workouts focus on different goals each week:  on odd  weeks we work on speed with short intervals and full recovery and even weeks we work on longer intervals, holding a “sustainable–threshold pace”. You can contact me through my website (www.ironfitendurance.com), or at my email:  info@ironfitendurance.com to get on the list for information regarding group workouts, OR check out my calendar on my website for group workouts and events!  Iron Fit Endurance is the premier triathlon training on Long Island.  Join us and find out!

Thanks and Happy Training!!

Dee Sullivan