Irongirl and Ultrarunning Boy

Kevin Castelot- A Tribute

2012-02-10T10:00:00.000-05:00

My cousin, Kevin, passed away on Tuesday at the age of twenty-two. 22!

Kevin

In his short life he touched so many lives and was a joy to be around. He could make a curmudgeon laugh. And I did many times. I will miss his bright smile, infectious laughter, warm heart and kind soul. He could turn the most mundane situation into a fun one. A chore into an adventure.

My brothers, Andrew and Matt, Uncle Rick, cousins Bobby, Jimmy and KEVIN(far right)

Kevin did not have a mean bone in his body and acted like you were the most important thing in his world. He brought nothing but love and joy to this world and he died too soon.

The Cousins: Danny, Mar, Ben, Will, Kevin, Bobby, Andrew, Jimmy, Joey and Matt

But he doesn’t have to be gone. As each of us say goodbye to him in our own special way, let’s make a promise to him. Promise him that you will laugh a little louder, love with a little more of your heart, give your heart unconditionally to those around you, and live every moment as it may be your last. That’s Kevin’s greatest gift that he could have given us: to allow us to see how short life can be and how important it is to live it fully and joyfully. If we can live our days a little more like Kevin lived his, we can keep his memory and his soul alive in each of us. So while I will miss him greatly, I know that he will be smiling down on us from up above. We love you Kevin.

Danny and Kevin playing baggo.

A month without snow...

2012-02-04T17:48:00.000-05:00

A month without snow makes Danny something, something... Go Crazy?
Don't mind if I do!

This winter has been crazy. After getting excited about snowshoeing again after Whitaker Woods, and preparing for the fun Sidehiller Snowshoe race, we lost that loving feeling. Or at least the snow. Sidehiller, Beaver Brook and now Exeter have all be canceled. So not only have I not been getting the strength benefits of snowshoe racing, I'm also not getting the speed work of the racing in.
It will be interesting how this affects my spring races. I've decided to tailor back on all the early marathons this year, replacing them with more reasonable 10 mile races(DH Jones instead of Hyannis and Merrimack River instead of Gansett) and will focus on the Cleveland Marathon in May. Hopefully shorter but faster will carry over to long and fast by then. Once Cleveland is in the books, my sights will be on increasing the mileage for the Vermont 100 and Ironman Mont Tremblant so hopefully I will have increased my mileage while maintaining my speed.

Regardless of what my season turns out, it starting out as somewhat of a bummer due to the lack of snow and racing but it's been fun to stay local and have some free weekends. Amber and I will be going to San Diego in late March for California 70.3 so I am excited to see how all this trainer workout(as opposed to spin bike) improves her ride. I am expecting quite an improvement. So until then triathlon fans, you will have to either wait or join Am on the trainer. Unless this freakish weather continues then you may be able to see her outside.

May do the Fourth Down and Four(miler) tomorrow at NHTI since it's for a good cause and within 2 miles from home. Check it out so you can indulge during the SuperBowl.

And pray for snow on the trails(but off the roads).

Sidehiller Snowshoe Race

2012-01-26T13:23:00.000-05:00

This Saturday will be Amber's first snowshoe race of the season. That is if it isn't cancelled. We should find out later today whether there will be enough snow to race on the fairgrounds. The course has already been modified so it no longer crosses the road but instead stays nearly entirely on the fairgrounds.

The revised Sidehiller course

Paul Kirsch, Sidehiller's race director, describes the course as " a 2 lap course of the Sandwich Fairgrounds (about 5 miles total distance). Relive your great memories of the Cattle area, the Swine, the Oxen, without all of those pesky crowds!! "

It will be really disappointing if this race doesn't occur since it is the only race that Amber and I have done every year since we started snowshoeing in 2009.

2011 Results:

Danny

Ferreira

Concord

34:48

Amber

Ferreira

Concord

38:17

2010 Results:

Danny

Ferreira

Concord

34: 01

27 Amber Cullen 27 Concord NH 38: 39

2009 Results
8 Danny Ferreira 26 Concord NH 39:15
28 Amber Cullen 26 Concord NH 48:03

dssf

Wow! Can that really be correct? Amber took off nearly 10 minutes from her time from 2009 to 2011 while I took off less than five minutes. The 2009 and 2011 courses were the same and it appears that this year's course will be the same(or similar) as the 2010 course. Will we see the same level of improvement? Let's hope!

Danny chasing DD as always...

Is this a race?

Up Next: Treating the Multisport Athlete Conference in NYC Friday, Sidehiller Saturday, Moving my sister into her apartment Sunday.

Whitaker Woods and GBTC Invitational

2012-01-24T08:25:00.000-05:00

This weekend was my return to racing after not having raced since early December. Other than when I had a stress fracture before Leadville, this was probably the longest time between races since I've started running. The weekend would start out with Whitaker Woods Snowshoe Scramble on Saturday, the first race of the Granite State Snowshoe Series. Amber wasn't able to come up due to her training but I headed up with teammate and running partner, J Massa.

The field of racers was smaller this year than last likely due to the poor snow conditions in the rest of the state, but it was their loss as the snow in North Conway was great. Kevin Tilton put on another amazing race with really cool prizes(wrestling-style belts) for the overall WWSS winners. It was nice getting back into the snowshoe season and to see everybody but it was a rude awakening of my fitness.

I started out probably a bit too fast as it was but it felt comfortable for a while until it just fell apart and I pretty much had to walk it in. I thought I would be able to take a solid minute off my time from last year but instead took off a paltry twenty-something seconds. I will have to run a smarter race next week at Sidehiller if I plan on placing top ten there.

The start of the race

Amazingly, Whitaker Woods was actually my better race of the weekend. Amber and I headed down to Harvard for the Greater Boston Track Club Invitational Track meet where I was planning on running a fast mile. I had run a 4:49 at Reggie Lewis in early December and I was hoping to go under 4:40 at GBTC. For whatever reason though, I got caught up too slow in the first 400 and never could make up the time. Felt sluggish and like I had no turn-over. I guess that's what happens when I take time off running. However, Amber and Deidre joined me for a 10 mile run around the Charles River after the mile which with the post-run food at the Regal Beagle nearly made up for my poor performance.

We have Sidehiller this coming weekend and we may sign up for the BU Valentine Invitational for one more chance for me at the mile. Or I just might scrap it and start training for triathlons as we've got New Orleans 70.3 in April. I just really don't want to wake up early to get in the pool. Oh well.

First Race of the Season This Saturday

2012-01-20T14:52:00.001-05:00

It finally looks like we may have a race this weekend. With some snow already on the group and a little more expected, Whitaker Woods should be on. This will be the first race in the Granite State Snowshoe Series and put on by Kevin Tilton. Last year's course was a great combination packed ski trail and powdery single track with just enough hills to make it challenging but not unbearable. I would expect similar trail design this year.

Several racers last year got off trail, including Amber, so the results didn't necessarily accurately reflect the competition but it will likely draw a great crowd as it is the only race this weekend.

Neither Amber or I have put on our snowshoes this season, and Amber will be sitting this race out due to a long bike that she needs to do on Saturday. She'll be there next weekend though for the Sidehiller course which will also serve as the USSSA regional qualifier. Whitaker Woods will surely be a rude introduction back into snowshoe racing, but guarenteed to be a fun time. Check it out here.

I certainly will not be wearing that Orange hat again.

Hopefully at Sidehiller Am and I can get another picture like the one on the cover of Level Renner. Guess that means Scott Mason needs to be shooting some pictures.

Amber and Danny in Level Renner

2012-01-13T08:40:00.000-05:00

Check out the newest edition of Level Renner.

Not a bad cover:)

If I sound dumb on paper, just wait to hear me talk

2012-01-12T11:18:00.000-05:00

I was talking with someone about aquathlon the other day and how I thought it would really suit an athlete like Amber. A strong swimmer and runner should do pretty well in that event. I never got to find out whether the person agreed or disagreed with me however because we ended up discussing pronunciation of the word aquathlon. Apparently you're supposed to pronounce aquathlon aqua-thon not a-quath- alon as I had been. This quickly lead me to think about other words that I have been notorious for mis-pronouncing. Here's just a smattering:

Pronunciation (pruh-nuhn-see-ey-shuhn) noun- I'll quote the dictionary for this one: the act or result of producing the sounds of speech, including articulation, stress and intonation, often with reference to some standard of correctness or acceptability.

      Danny's pronunciation: proh-noun-see-ey-shuhn. It's not a good thing when you can't pronounce pronunciation. If that's the case you may be putting the wrong emphasis on the wrong syllable.

Expedite-(ek-spi-dahyt) verb- to speed up or hasten.
       Danny's pronunciation: ek-speed-iate- Apparently I was trying to put the emphasis on speed.
Self-deprecating-(self- dep-ri-key-ting) verb- to belittle oneself.
      Danny's pronunciation: self- dih-pree-shee-eyt-ing - actually a very similiar meaning if you use depreciating instead of deprecating but no less not the word I was meaning to use.

Surreptitious(sur-uhp-tish-uhs) adj- acting in a stealth way.
    Danny's pronunciation: sur-rip-it-tus)
Latin(lat-n) noun- a language not spoken except in some churches

     Danny's pronunciation: lad-in. Apparently it should have stayed unspoken.

Epoch-(ep-uhk) noun- a memorable date or period of time
   Danny's pronunciation: Ee-pok- I didn't even realize I was mispronouncing this one until yesterday.

Fun run(fuhn ruhn)- noun- a mythical "easy" run where people just apparently frolick over hill-side and glen.
   Danny's pronunciation: peyn.

Amber(am-ber) noun- a professional triathlete married to Danny. Also a color and a fossil resin that can house DNA to create jurassic park.
Danny's pronunciation: uhn-stop-uh-buhl

How to Become a Professional Triathlete!

2012-01-06T17:17:00.001-05:00

People unfamiliar with triathlons(and apparently my swim and bike abilities) often ask me why I don't become a professional triathlete like my wife. My usual flippant response is something like: I don't want to take anything away from her, or triathlons bore me etc. The real(obvious) reason why I don't become a professional triathlete is because it's a PROFESSIONAL SPORT! It's pretty much the same reason my football career ended when I opted for a Division I college instead of Division III: participation only takes you so far. The rest is a combination of genetics, dedication and sport-specific talent.

The main difference between triathlon and other professional sports is that you don't pay to see a pro triathlete compete, you pay to compete yourself and you get the added benefit of seeing some of the guys on the cover of LAVA magazine. While that's really cool on the amateur end of things, it makes it tough for pro triathletes as their revenues come primarily from prize money and, for most, supplementing it with "real work". So you may even see a professional triathlete next time you go to PT.
But how many NFL or NBA players do you know personally? It seems that sometimes because you are accustomed to having something or someone nearby, you lose sight of how special that thing or person really is. Triathlon has arguably some of the fittest athletes in the world(ask Lance Armstrong after his return to the sport this year) and is also one of the hardest to get into. It's amazing how many amazing college players get drafted with franchise hopes on their shoulders only fizzle out not contributing much to the sport. Just to get into triathlon you have pretty much be competing at a professional level prior which ensures pro triathletes will be competitive in that arena.

Let's take a look at just what it takes to become a professional triathlete:

Option 1: Finish within 8% of the winning elite time (on the same course as elites) in three USAT sanctioned events that offered an elite/pro prize purse.

Option 2: Finish top-10 overall and within 8% of the winner’s time at ITU Age Group World Championships.

Option 3: Finish top-10 overall in the amateur field at Ironman World Championships.

Option 4: Finish top-5 overall and within 8% of the winner’s time at USAT Age Group National Championships.

Let's explore each one of these options a little closer;

Option 1: Finish within 8% of the winning elite time.
This one's tricky. What's your best bet for coming within 8% of a pro? Long-course, short-course, for me the answer is no-course.
   8% of the arguably slow course of Ironman St. George would be a 9:13. I finished in 11:17. To cut out two hours, I would have needed to swim 20 minutes faster, biked nearly 2mphs faster and still run a Boston Marathon Qualifying marathon time on a very hilly run course. OR I could have only done one lap of the marathon.
   Maybe Short-course? Well at the Philadelphia Triathlon this past year, Olympian Andy Potts showed up and put down a 1:46:05 for an Olympic Triathlon. That's a .9 mile swim, a 24.8 mile bike and a 6.2 mile swim. Let's up my bike and run first. On a good day it will take me an 1:12 to bike than distance, and I'd be very happy to run a 34 minute 10k. So that leaves me with... Wait! 5 seconds to swim. Well not exactly because I don't have to tie Andy just be within 8% of him. So 8 and a half minutes to swim nearly mile. There better be a darn fast current!

Option 2: Finish top-10 overall and within 8% of the winner’s time at ITU Age Group World Championships.

This option requires of several increasingly difficult hoops to swim, bike and run through just to get to Age Group Worlds. First, race a Age Group Nationals triathlon qualifier. Qualify. Pretty Easy. Race at Age Group Nationals. Qualify. Substantially less easy. This is the A-race of the year for most triathletes and they come in hot. If you're not running in the 33's for the 10k you're probably not standing a chance. AND THEN, it's time for Age Group Worlds. Oh wait, you're not just competing against your age group anymore though but against all age-groups.
This year the swim got canceled so if I had made it through all the hoops, it would have been my shot. Here are the top ten male finishers on the 120 km bike and 30 km run course.
Men:
1st-5:23:53
2nd-5:25:28
3rd-5:27:10
4th-5:32:51
5th-5:33:22
6th-5:34:32
7th-5:35:36
8th-5:37:04
9th-5:37:59
10th-5:40:37
The times are pretty much meaningless to me as well, until you see that they were biking nearly 23 mph and running low 6's for nearly 19 miles on a very hilly course.

Option 3: Finish top-10 overall in the amateur field at Ironman World Championships
Let's see how the top ten males and females finished in last year's trip to Kona:

Men:

1st-8:48:44- a 2:58:33 marathon!
2nd-8:50:09
3rd-8:53:26
4th-8:54:55
5th-8:58:31
6th-8:58:50
7th-8:58:59
8th-8:59:16
9th-9:00:15
10th-9:01:34 a 3:07 marathon(qualified for Boston after biking 23 mph and 2.4 miles)

Women:
1st-9:32:05
2nd-9:37:09
3rd-9:45:35
4th-9:51:07
5th-9:51:17
6th-9:51:26
7th-9:51:41
8th-9:55:51
9th-9:56:40
10th-9:57:22

Yikes! Those bottom scores are FEMALES! Under 10 hours all of them. In Kona heat! I would be VERY hard pressed to qualify as a female. And by very hard pressed, I mean it would be impossible.

Option 4: Finish top-5 overall and within 8% of the winner’s time at USAT Age Group National Championships.
Men:
1st- 1:52:18

2nd- 1:54:09
3rd-1:54:16
4th- 1:54:49
5th- 1:54:51
To place top five at the 2011 Nationals, I would have biked 25.5 mph and run 5:17's for 10k for FIFTH PLACE!
Women:
1st- 2:06:02
2nd- 2:08:43
3rd- 2:08:48
4th- 2:10:06
5th- 2:10:12
For Fifth Female, I would have biked slightly under 23mph and run a 39 minute 10k! And still would have had to swim better than I ever have.

As can be seen by all four of the non-viable options, it is very hard to become a professional triathlete. The only thing harder than becoming one, is staying one. 8% of the winner's time is the standard so if you're racing with Chrissy Wellington or Craig Alexander you're most likely out of luck.

I'm beginning to embrace my non-professional triathlete status and I hope the majority of you out there do as well. But if you'd like to meet a professional athlete someday, I think I can find a way to introduce you to one. We'll just have to catch her first.

Dartmouth Relays

2012-01-05T12:54:00.000-05:00

This Sunday I will be heading up to Dartmouth College to participate in the 43rd Dartmouth Relays. I will not be doing a relay. I've entered the 400, the mile and(if I'm feeling ever so ambitious) the 3K. I figure the 400 speed will make the mile pace seem relatively slow...

I was recently complaining to Amber how quickly I fell off the track workouts wagon. There were about three weeks in late November that I was all about them and was doing 2/week or so. Since the Northeastern Track meet in early December? Haven't done a single one. So while originally I was hoping to build upon the speed that I was developing, I am now revising my goal to have not lost speed. I seeded myself in the mile at 4:40 but would probably(can't guarantee with a crotchety young man like me)be happy with anything under 4:55.

Here's my game plan:
First 400-70seconds
Second 400- Try to pick it up to 67.5(my goal pace for the Greater Boston Track Invite on Jan 22)
Third 400- 70 seconds
Last 400- Hang on for dear life.

Amber may join me up at Dartmouth, so having her there may motivate me to run a little faster- or it could get me to talk myself of running it at all...

Either way it looks to be a fun day of racing and if you're not doing anything there's sure to be some very fast runners up there to watch(or compete against).

San Juan 70.3

2012-01-03T16:26:00.000-05:00

Amber will be doing San Juan 70.3 this year on March 18, 2012. As much as I would love to go cheer her on, I've got the Winter Wild Championships at Bretton Woods that Saturday so won't be able to make it. This 70.3 is guaranteed to be fast and competitive as it will be, for most pros, the first race back from taking the winter "off".

The course promises to be an early season challenge as the bike course is described as: "Athletes will endure a 56-mile (90 km) bike ride with short but challenging hills." The run sounds amazing as they will run along the Atlantic Ocean, past 16th century Spanish architecture to the turn around point at the entrance of the famous Fort San Felipe del Morro which was designed to protect the town from attack by sea.

Look at these speedy pros from last year.

1st- Kelly Williamson: Swim: 26:34 Bike: 2:24:12 Run: 01:20:25 Total: 04:15:38

2nd- Kate Major: Swim: 27:31 Bike: 2:22:05 Run:1:25:09 Total: 4:19:09

3rd- Caitlin Snow: Swim:27:37 Bike: 2:26:14 Run: 1:21:51 Total: 4:20:33

4th- Magali Tisseyre: Swim: 27:32 Bike: 2:20:59 Run: 1:28:29 Total: 4:21:36

5th- Margaret Shapiro: Swim: 27:29 Bike: 2:19:34 Run: 1:33:51 Total: 4:24:52

6th- Desiree Ficker: Swim: 29:27 Bike: 2:23:22 Run: 1:30:20 Total: 4:27:48

7th- Kim Loeffler: Swim: 31:43 Bike: 2:25:21 Run: 1:26:56 Total: 4:29:02

8th- Nina Kraft Swim: 25:57 Bike: 2:31:29 Run: 1:29:47 Total: 4:31:53

9th- Bree Wee: Swim: 28:01 Bike: 2:26:21 Run: 1:33:41 Total: 4:33:23

10th- Ariane Monticeli: Swim: 31:41 Bike: 2:25:45 Run: 1:31:29 Total: 4:34:31

I expect good things from Amber who has been benefiting from a nice reduction of volume while keeping her intensity up going into this winter. She's maintaining her same speed and power output at a fraction of her volume. I can't wait to see what 2012 brings for her.

Stay tuned:)

New Year's Resolutions

2011-12-30T15:21:00.001-05:00

As the New Year begins and resolutions are made, there is usually one about getting(or staying) healthy for the upcoming year. As physical therapists, people are always asking Amber and me what we do to stay healthy and fit. Do we spend all day in the gym working out(me definitely not, Amber maybe)? What does a healthy day look like? Remembering that I like to look at the broader scope, we will take it a step further and ask: what does a healthy week look like?

While the specifics vary from person to person, there are some aspects of health that should be considered on a daily basis:

• Prevention:

         o Probably the most important aspect of living a healthy life(and one often overlooked by many endurance athletes) is to thwart preventable diseases or injuries. Getting recommended screening, immunizations, wearing seat belts, recognizing injuries early before they require treatment, etc all play a huge role in staying healthy.

• Eat 3 well-balanced meals:

            o According to the Harvard school of Public Health half your plate should be colorful vegetables. A quarter of your plate: whole grains. A healthy source of protein, such as fish, poultry, beans, or nuts, can make up the rest. To quench your thirst drink a cup of water or a similar drink with little to no sugar added.

• Aerobic Exercise: 15-20 minutes of vigorous or 25-30 minutes moderate aerobic exercise

            o The American Heart Association recommends a minimum of 150-180 minutes of moderate aerobic exercise a week and 75 minutes of vigorous aerobic exercise to combat cardiovascular diseases and improve quality of life. We certainly get that a week but the key, as I've mentioned before, is moderation and balancing it with everything else in your life.

          o Remember: If starting a new program, always contact your doctor first for approval and find an aerobic exercise you like since you’ll be more apt to continue doing it.

• Brush and floss your teeth.

            o The American Dental Association recommends twice daily brushings and once daily flossing to prevent decay and periodontal (gum) disease.

• Sleep 7-9 hours.

          o Sufficient sleep has been recognized to help with chronic disease prevention and health promotion.

           o The Center for Disease Control recommends going to bed at the same time each night, and rising at the same time each morning. Additionally it recommends sleeping in a quiet, dark, and relaxing environment, which is neither too hot nor too cold.

Other activities don’t need to be performed daily but should be done a few times a week and include:

• Strengthen your core and joint stabilizers 3-4 days per week.

• Challenge your balance

            o Whether it is tai chi, yoga, Pilate's or something else, improving your balance has been shown to help decrease falls and strengthen muscles.

• Challenge your mind

          o Just as your muscles need exercise, so does your brain. The Franklin Institute states that with most age-related losses in memory or motor skills it is a result of inactivity and/or a lack of mental exercise and stimulation. As we say in therapy all the time: Either use it or lose it.

While this list of recommendations may not be comprehensive, it is a good starting spot for most individuals to start the New Year on the right foot. If you would like more information or are interested in receiving one-on-one guidance, please contact your health care provider.

Happy New Year!

And the Results are In!

2011-12-28T12:59:00.000-05:00

We just finished the first annual Cullen Ferreira White Christmas Invitational where I pulled off a miraculous win over Brandon White. Despite my last minute heroics, it wasn't enough to put the Ferreira's ahead in the couples category with Brandon and Genny taking that prize.

I have kindly reminded Amber it is time for her to step it up for next year's Invite.

Check out the photos and results here.

Amber and I were however nominated by Andy Schachat as the co-winners of the Couple of the Year award for NH. Andy used to bestow these awards as part of his column in Foster's and has continued the tradition. What a great honor!

Amber has gently informed me that it is time for me to step it up so we're the sole winners next year.

Tis the Season... For Competing

2011-12-22T10:05:00.000-05:00

Happy Holidays to everyone! With Christmas and this impending storm approaching, most people may be thinking about taking it easy and relaxing. Not Amber's family. Instead, starting Christmas day evening, the Cullen Ferreira White Christmas Invitational will commence. This 3 day competition, based on my family's Gold Jacket Tournament, will include activities like a handicapped 5k road race, Wii Sports, board games, Dance competition, drinking games, bowling and many more. Best thing of all? You can follow it as we post results, and most likely photos and videos on the website. We don't quite yet have the technological savvy to post results live like Ironman.com but we'll get them to you as soon as possible.
So while you're singing Yuletides around the fire, look over to one of your siblings/children/parents and challenge them to some friendly competition in the spirit of the season.

Happy Holidays!

Slow Time of Year for Blogging About Running

2011-12-15T15:26:00.000-05:00

As the temperatures fall, the race choices dwindle, and before the snow falls there is a period of relative inactivity in the Ferreira household. Amber has no long runs or bike rides yet scheduled and Danny, well not much has changed for Danny, but reduced racing on the weekend. Due to this lack of training and racing there hasn't been much to report.

Amber and I both did the Frozen 5k(mislabeled on Coolrunning as the Frosty 5k- so did it really occur?) to support the WLNH Children's Auction as well as to support Myles Chase owner of MC Cycles in Laconia. This was the inaugural race and yet nearly 100 participants came out to run.

Amongst the participants, were triathletes, Andrew Clemence, Sean Snow and Erick Anderson, nordic skier, Sam Evans-Brown, so I knew that I would be in for some stiff competition for top 3. As was expected the race started off FAST with Erick leading Andrew and Sam and me tagging along. My goal was to stick with them for as long as possible. An interesting thing happened though. At about the mile mark, I hadn't fallen off the back and more surprisingly my breathing settled. This isn't so bad. That thought process continued until about 2.5 miles when Erick decided he had enough of us following him. I tried to match his pace but fell off. In the process though I put a nice separation on Sam and ended up with a PR finish of 16:21 for 3rd Place.

Amber strolled to a 1st place finish with a 18:20 smiling the whole way.

Will report more as we do more.

Got Patellofemoral Pain?

2011-12-13T16:27:00.001-05:00

A recent case study in the Journal of Orthopedic Sports Physical Therapy(JOSPT) found that runners with patellofemoral pain("runner's knee") were more likely to heel strike. Heel striking has shown to increase stress and loading on the lower leg and knee. Vibram(and a slew of other minimal heel drop shoes) has made a lot of money by selling people on the need to avoid heel striking while running.

The key to this study was, not that they needed to change their footwear, but rather they needed to change their mechanics. Within eight sessions of practicing to run on either mid or forefoot, the runners were able to then continue to perform this style at a 3 month follow-up. More importantly though, the runners reported decreased pain as well as one runner reporting a 5 minute improvement in her 10K time!

Things to take into consideration however was that this was a case study so there were only three participants. Additionally, these were people who already had had knee pain. People prone to Achilles Tendonitis may not find modifying their gait to benefit them at all since it could in fact put more stress on that tendon. Additionally, studies have shown a worse effeciency with running at any style other than your "own" so working on your mechanics immediately prior to an "A" race may not be of benefit.

If you have been diagnosed with "runner's knee" and already are doing hip and quadriceps strength to address any physical misalignments, working on modifying your foot strike may be something to consider. Or at least take a look at the article: Cheung RTH, Davis IS. Landing Pattern Modification to Improve Patellofemoral Pain in Runners: A Case Series. JOSPT 2011. 21(12).

Full Circle- Vermont 100 Revisited

2011-12-08T15:07:00.000-05:00

I finally did it. After several years of threatening to, I have signed up for the Vermont 100 again. I hope to finally get the Vermont 88.6 moniker(and monkey) off my back. Our very first blog post was a few weeks before the Vermont 100, and I had set up some rather lofty goals for myself. They were to:

1) Finish

2) Finish smiling
3) Finish under 24 hours
4) Finish under 24 hours smiling

Not all that unreasonable, right? Well, errr, actually on less than 25 miles/week of running, they were pretty unreasonable. It was an amazing feat of ignorance and stubborness that allowed me to make it those 88.6 miles.

Albeit my weekly mileage hasn't improved significantly in these last few years, I am a more "seasoned" runner and think the outcome will be a little different this time around. With this new registration in place, I have solidified my "A" races for the season. They are:

1) 1/22/2012- Greater Boston Track Club Invitational- 1 mile(shooting for sub 4:30)
2) 4/14/2012-Gansett Marathon(shooting for sub 2:40)
3) 7/21/2012- Vermont 100(shooting for sub 24 hours)
4) 8/18/2012- Ironman Mont Tremblant(shooting for sub 10:30)
What I've discovered through my racing, is how much I love cheering on other racers though too. So while I'm pretty excited about each of these races, I am also excited about all the triathlons that Amber will be competing in this year, as well as the road races that my sister, Marilyn(one of my pacers for the original ill-fated VT88.6) and cousin, Ryan will be doing this year. 2012 is looking to turn out pretty fun!

Up Next: Frozen 5k for Amber and Danny this Saturday in Laconia. Put on by Endurofun Sports and MC Cycles.

This weekend in Review

2011-12-05T20:36:00.000-05:00

This weekend was the Northeastern Invitational for me on Saturday and the Mill Cities Relay for Amber and her parents and sister on Sunday. I had originally been signed up for the Las Vegas Marathon so didn't commit to the Relay, taking instead the role of alternate.
The Northeastern Invitational would be my first test to see where my baseline speed was at and to use as a guide of where I can hopefully get by the Greater Boston Track Meet on January 22nd. I'm hoping to run a sub- 4:30 mile there so I was looking to run in the 4:45-4:50 range this weekend. Barely pulled it off with a 4:49.81. Not a lot of breathing room but I figure with some speed work, I can hopefully end my mile down in the 4:40 range by the end of December and then, as Pre said, it's gonna be a guts race on the 22nd. I also ran the 800m in 2:14, out like a lion in 61 and in like a lamb in 73. Yikes!
Amber ran the first leg(5.6 miles) of the Mill Cities Relay for the Women's Open Gate City Striders team. I parked at the transition area and ran back towards her, thinking I'd catch her about the 3 mile mark. Well, apparently no one told Amber about that as it only took me a mile and a half to meet up with her. She had gone through the first four miles in less than 24 minutes. Here I was thinking I'd be kind and pace her in, and instead, I'm hanging on for dear life just not to be dropped by her. She ended up being the first women to hand off but barely beating out a strong SRR racer.

Amber outkicking Danny

We then hopped in the car to cheer on Amber's sister, Deidre, who would then pass off the baton to her mother who would then pass it on to her father who had the 9.5 mile leg. We would drive ahead, stop and run back to cheer him on. Every time we saw him we were amazed just how fast he was running. Here's a fifty year old guy that has only been running about six years running sub-seven's for over 9 miles. Pretty impressive. Guess I know where Amber got her speed. BUT her love for running may have come from her mother. After finishing her leg, Gloria, comes up saying: "I got ripped offfff! I only got the 2.5 mile leg. I want to run further!" Well Gloria, let's work on the speed and maybe they'll give you a longer leg:)

Up Next: Amber AND Danny: 12/10/2011 Frozen 5k

Just a Quick Note

2011-11-23T15:12:00.000-05:00

In 2008, without having bike 112 miles or swam 2.4 miles, I raced in the Rock N Roll Marathon in Arizona on what sounds like a similar course to this past weekend's Ironman. Amber just ran a 3:21:54 after doing all that!
Sometimes, because she does so well so often, I think people(or at least I do) occasionally lose sight of just how many amazing crazy things she does. My parents always feel badly not knowing which racing are the important ones because she places so well at most of them. She is always so consistent and produces such great results that sometimes I come to expect them without really thinking just how amazing it is. Just in the last year or so Amber has become the US snowshoe champion(2010), qualified for Kona(2010), qualified for Clearwater(2010), qualified for US duathlon nationals(2010), became a pro triathlete(2011), ran a 3:03 marathon a week after Kona(2010) and just finished well under 10 hours at Ironman Arizona (2011). What makes this more amazing is that just a few years ago, she didn't own a road bike and was scared to go downhills without riding her brakes. Two years ago, she had never run on snowshoes. And last year's duathlon was her first ever. And she eats dessert nearly every night!
Remember how I was taking violin lessons? While butchering the song I was trying to learn the other day, Amber took the violin out of my hands and played it perfectly. Freakin' PERFECTLY! She's also an excellent artist often drawing thank- you cards by hand.
Pretty much what I'm saying is that on the day before Thanksgiving I'm giving thanks for having, in addition to an awesome family and friends, a pretty cool athletic wife that can pretty much kick my butt at everything.

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

Amber Ferreira is a sub-10 Hour Ironman! Ironman Arizona.

2011-11-21T15:16:00.000-05:00

Amber went down this past weekend to Tempe, Arizona to compete in Ironman Arizona. I was unable to go due to using up too much of my days off with my Munich and China trips earlier this year, so I had to resign myself to watching her on the internet. As mentioned before, this race was stacked! Many of these women were coming off some excellent seasons and were expected to being vying for early season points for 2012. While Amber had been working hard, the October snow storm, and a stomach bug that went around had limited to some extent her ability to train and therefore we weren't sure how well she'd hold up. Amber did have some redemption she needed though at this race course, as it was the same one(only longer) that she had her un-illustrious Best of the US race a couple of years ago.

I'll let Amber do a formal race report but I just wanted to give a perspective of my day while she raced.

7am(5am in Arizona)-Amber texts me good morning. She's getting ready to head to the race start.

9am- Came back from a walk with my parents drove thirty minutes back to my house.

9:55am- Amber finishes her swim in a time of 55:22 good enough for 12th woman.

10am- Danny goes for a ten mile run.

11:10am- Danny has breakfast and showers. He puts back on his sweats he slept in.

11:40am-Amber crosses 37.4 miles averaging 21.53 mph on the bike.

11:41am-Danny takes an hour nap.

1:26pm- Amber crosses 74.6 miles averaging 20.98 mph.

1:30pm- Danny goes for a walk and grabs lunch.

3:15pm- Amber gets off the bike averaging 20.55 mph for the last 37.4 and 21.01mph for the 112 total.

3:16pm- Danny is still in sweats.

3:32pm- Amber runs the first 2.5 miles of the marathon in 17:17(6:54pace)!

4:35pm- Amber just covered the last 9 miles in 6:59 pace. She's passing people!

4:40pm- Danny thinks it's time he starts sending some good mojo Am's way so changes into his running clothes and does a late evening track workout.

5:10pm- Danny returns.

5:44pm- Although slowing slightly, Amber has moved from 22nd place at the beginning of the run to 15th!

5:45pm- Danny has dinner.

6:42pm- Amber finishes the marathon in a time of 3:21:54 with an overall race time of 9:42:20. 15th Pro female and 95th racer(male and female) OVERALL!

6:45pm- Danny celebrates with dessert.

6:55pm- Amber borrows our friend's, Jimmie Cochrane, phone at the finish and calls me to say we're going to Disney World! Okay so she didn't say that but we did talk and I told her how proud I was of her.

10pm- Danny goes to bed

10:25pm- Amber wakes up Danny to wish him a good night sleep. She has just finished munching on her 5th slice of pizza and (2) burgers. Time for Amber to replenish calories and for Danny to sleep.

2am(midnight Arizona time, 17hours after the start)- The last finishers hear the announcers shouting: "You are an Ironman!"

Congratulations to all finisher's in yesterday's race.

This was Am's first race breaking 10 hours and she did it big time. I cannot wait to see how well she does next season after dedicating her winter on getting faster on the bike. To quote her coach, Kurt Perham: "Amber, I envision a long winter of biking. Sorry Snowshoe Fans!" While that may be a loss for snowshoe fans, next year will certainly make up for it for the triathlon fans.

Hope everyone has a happy Thanksgiving! Find a Turkey trot and spend some quality time with loved ones.

RI 6 hour Relay

2011-11-18T12:32:00.000-05:00

For the second year in a row, I joined acidotic RACING down in Warwick, Rhode Island to be a part of the RI6HR relay this past weekend. The race is comprised of a 2.7 mile loop that you try to complete as many times as possible in a six hour period. Mid-way through a loop when the six hour time elapses and that half lap doesn't count. Which means getting sixty miles is tricky. Getting 59.4 is pretty easy- 22 laps brings you in at 6:04 pace. However, to get that extra 2.1 miles you have to run 5:48 pace. Substantially more challenging. But a challenge that aR was up for. But first things first. It is Movember at all so we all needed to grow out our 'staches. And grow them out we did. To vary degrees of creepiness. Rhode Islanders must have an interesting view of aR racers since this is our only race down there and we always show up with upper lip hair.

Our team was revamped a bit from last year. Due to a supposed injury(which apparently didn't stop him from competing in and doing well at the Pinnacle Challenge), Steve Wolfe was out. In his stead was Chris Lalmond a solid trail runner from aR. We had borrowed CMS's Alan Bernier last year due to a last minute cancellation so we replaced him with aR's breadwinner, Judson Cake. So the team was as follows:

Judson Cake- Goal lap pace: 5:05-5:15
Charlie Therriault- Goal lap pace: 5:30-5:45

Danny Ferreira- Goal lap pace: 5:35-5:50

Chris Lalmond- Goal lap pace: 5:40-5:55
Rich Lavers- Goal lap pace: 5:50-6:05

Chris Dunn- Goal lap pace: 5:55-6:10

We were here to cover 23 laps in under 6 hours but also to win and take home the 3 cases of RedHook beer. Thanks to the Tuesday Night Turtles and race director, Robert Jackman, we could count on a well-run event with good prizes.

The race started off well with Judson running a 13:58(5:10's), followed by Charlie running 5:4x's and
me running 5:36's. The first sign of something amiss was when Chris L was seen hobbling in running 20 or so seconds slower than what he should have been. Apparently his foot had been bothering him and it flared up on the run. Undeterred, Rich and Chris Dunn both put down some fast laps with Chris(typical of his sandbagging ways) running 5:55's for his first lap. After six laps, we were ahead of pace to break 23 laps.
Chris L tried a second lap but after coming in looking worse than the first, he was convinced by us that it would behoove him to take the rest of the day off. As much as we wanted that beer and the win, losing a season of it definitely wasn't worth it.
After that we ran a man down, but it wasn't evident by our paces. As the last set of laps came around, however, we had all slowed just enough to realize that the 23rd lap was out of our reach. Despite a valient effort by Chris and Judson, we came up about a minute short. We ended up finishing the 22nd lap in 5:47:33 which was 5:51 pace just about 1:33 too slow for Judson to get that 23. Well there's always next year.

Chris L, Chris D, Judson, Rich, Charlie, Danny

Judson taking off

So while we are running all out for 15 or so minutes at a time, there are ultramarathoners on the course vying for the New England Ultra championships. Teammate Ryan Welts was there, keeping up with two time winner Ben Nephew for the first few hours. It was fun to watch as well as run along aside some of them. It did get me wondering again about the sustainability of ultrarunning, though.

Teammate Ryan Welts racing acidotic next to eventual winner Ben Nephew

Danny starts off on his lap

I ended up finishing with the following splits:
Lap 1: 15:13 5:38 pace
Lap 2: 15:07 5:36 pace
Lap 3: 15:13 5:38 pace
Lap 4: 15:19 5:40 pace

As always a fun event that is quickly becoming an aR tradition. Next year we're expecting that we'll bring two teams down at least.

Up Next? Follow Amber at ironman.com for Ironman Arizona this Sunday!

Danny's PR's (Not as impressive as Amber)

2011-11-17T12:17:00.002-05:00

I have a relatively lazy day today and figured I'd compile a list of my racing personal records(PR's) since I started running, (and arguably swimming and biking) in 2007. As you will see below, almost all of my PR's came this year. I'd like to PR in 2012 at the 800m, mile, 5k and marathon as well as the Ironman(at Mont Tremblant). PR from the 800 to 140.6? Yep. That's the plan. We shall see.

Here are the records(better than the year before but hopefully not as good as next year):

200 m- 27.35 seconds (Greater Boston Track Club Invitational 2011)*
400m-56 seconds(Ultimate Runner 2011) *
800m- 2:18(Ultimate Runner 2011) *
Mile- 5:03(Greater Boston Track Club Invitational 2011)^
5k-16:43(NHTI/Delta Dental 5K 2011)
10k - 36:25 (Run Your Hangover Off 2011)
10 Mile- 59:08(Granite State 10 Miler 2011)
Half Marathon- 1:15:16(New Bedford 2011)
20 Miles- 2:18:26(Martha's Vineyard 2009)
Marathon- 2:47:45(Exeter Marathon 2010)
50 Miler-8:22:00(Pineland Farms 2009)*
100 Miler- 27:43:23.4(Leadville 100 2010)+
Half Ironman: 5:08(Texas 70.3 2011)
Ironman: 11:19:03(St. George 2011)*
6 mile Swim: 1:59:17(Little Red Lighthouse 2010)*

* = Only time racing that distance
+ = Only time finishing that distance
^ =Didn't count the downhill Millennium Mile since hard to reproduce elsewhere.

Up Next: IRONMAN ARIZONA for Amber(she leaves today!). Nothing for Danny this weekend as the Halloweiner race wouldn't let him do the four person race independently. Lazy day turns into lazy weekend. I will definitely be watching ZONA on Sunday though at ironman.com

Tentative 2012 Race Schedule

2011-11-16T14:20:00.010-05:00

Tentative 2012 Race Schedule- Races in red are ones Danny is planning on doing, Blue Amber and purple both of us. I do realize there is an ultramarathon potentially on my schedule but I think it will be balanced by all the mile races I hope to do this year. That study won't be out that soon anyway so I'll assume that ultras aren't bad for me.

Jan 1- Millenium Mile

Jan 7- Bear paw classic

Jan 7- Roxbury Community College Indoor Track Meet(mile, 800)

Jan 8- Dartmouth Relays

Jan 14- Winter Wild at Whaleback

Jan 21-Whittaker woods

Jan 22- Greater Boston Track Club Invitational(mile, 800 and 200)

Jan 28- Sidehiller Snowshoe

Jan 29-Curley's Record Run

Feb 4- Exeter Snowshoe

Feb 11-Horsehill Snowshoe

Feb 11(evening)- BU Valentine Invitational

Feb 12- Hoot, Toot and Whistle Snowshoe

Feb 18- Martha's vineyard 20 miler

Feb 18-(evening) Kingman farm

Feb 19 Half at the Hamptons

Feb 25-Granite State ss championship(or Nationals)

Feb 26- Hyannis marathon(or snowshoe nationals)

March 3- Hawley Kiln Snowshoe

March 17- winter wild at bretton woods

March 18- New Bedford Half Marathon

March 31- Gilmanton Road RaceApril 7- Great bay half marathon

April 14- Gansett marathon

April 22- New Orleans 70.3

April 28- Quabbin Reservoir Classic Road Race

May 5- Ironheart Classic 5k

May 6- Knoxville HalfRev

May 12- Canterbury 5k

May 17- Rock N Race 5k

May 19- Bedford Rotary 12k

June 2- Over the River and Thru the Woods

June 3- Mooseman 70.3

June 9- Black Fly In My Eye 10 Mile Trail Run

June 16- Mount Washington road race

June 24- Syracuse 70.3

July 8- Providence 70.3

July 13-15- Hardrock 100(pending lottery results)

July 21- Carver Cranberry 5 Miler

July 28- Canterbury Woodchuck

August 5- Hospital day tri

August 19- Ironman mont tremblant

August 26-Old Orchard Beach Rev3 Olympic
Sept 9- Half Ironman Championships

Oct 28- Cape Cod Marathon

Most likely we'll throw in some shorter stuff in between as well. Looks to be another fun year of racing!

Up Next: IRONMAN ARIZONA for Amber. Follow her live as WTC tries out a new system where you can view her status throughout the entire race(instead of just at the timing mats).

The Sustainability of Endurance Sports Revisited-Be Part of the Study!

2011-11-15T13:35:00.000-05:00

After watching the RI 6 Hour Ultramarathon this past week, I again questioned the sanity and safety of ultrarunning. I have in the past wondered this but now there may be a definitive answer on the horizon. Dr. Marty Hoffman professor at University of California, associated with the VA Northern California Health Care System, and the director of the Western States Ultramarathon will be organizing a multi-year study looking at the health of Ultrarunners called the Ultrarunners Longitudinal TRAcking (ULTRA) Study. I was able to speak with him via email and he seems very excited to get as many runners as possible involved. You can participate if you've done at least one ultramarathon (50 K or longer).

The main purpose of his study is to compare moderate and sedentary lifestyles to those with high levels of exercise and whether the level of exercise alters health risks. This information will be helpful to determine health benefits or risks of participation in ultra-endurance activities.

If you are interested in participating, you will be asked to complete an initial web-based questionnaire that takes about thirty minutes. There will then be periodic follow-up questionnaires over the course of many years.

You may contact Dr Hoffman to discuss the study at (916) 843-9027 or martin.hoffman@va.gov.

If you would like to participate in the study, check it out here.

Up Next: Amber: IRONMAN ARIZONA! Check her out and follow her at ironman.com.

Ironman Arizona Race Preview- Stacked Pro Field!

2011-11-11T09:53:00.002-05:00

Amber will be heading out to Arizona for her last triathlon of the season. Possibly due to it being the end of the season or due to the large prize purse of $75,000, it appears that a lot of other professional triathletes have decided to also use this race as a nice wrap up for 2011. Also it may be a good way to get some Kona points for 2012 banked before the year ends.

Here is the official start list from the website. I've tried to find all of these triathletes' websites but there were a few that I was unable to.

Holy Smokes! This looks like the Kona Start list.

Here's a look at the course itself:

The Swim: Looks pretty straight-forward: a very narrow rectangle, triathletes will swim out a little over a mile, take a .1 mile left hand turn before starting about a 1.2 mile swim back to the finish. The water temp should be in the low 60's.

The Bike: Consists of three out and back ~37 mile loops which include a 10 mile climb in the desert before the turn around. Guaranteed to be exposed and hot, but likely not oppressively so.

The Run: As simple and straight-forward the swim and bike are, the run appears to make up for it in its tortuous and circuitousness. From the description, it doesn't appear to be a multi-lap course but rather a series of three distinct laps, an out and back, a rectangular loop hugging the lakeshore and a loop with a lollipop out and back. Again there doesn't appear to be much shade to be had so sunscreen will be a must!

This race is going to be FAST both because of the depth of the field as well as the course itself. Take a look at the results of last year. The TOP 11 women went sub-10 hours!

1. Wellington, Chrissie 08:36:13 (with a 02:52:55 marathon!)

2. Corbin, Linsey 09:05:33

3. Cave, Leanda 09:13:50

4. Kessler, Meredith 09:15:01

5. Wurtele, Heather 09:19:10

6. Csomor, Erika 09:22:38

7. Madison, Mackenzie 09:24:11

8. bij de Vaate, Heleen 09:29:15

9. Bromme, Uli 09:31:22

10. Harrison, Lauren 09:33:53

11. Kamenz, Annett 09:49:18

Most likely this year will be even faster as more pro's are vying for those 30 coveted Kona slots for 2012. Good luck to all athletes racing in Arizona!

Up Next: Amber: November 20th Ironman Arizona follow her at ironman.com; Danny: RI 6 Hour Relay with Acidotic this weekend. Growing the 'Mo for Prostate Cancer Awareness month.

Cape Cod Marathon Race(walk) Report

2011-11-01T16:10:00.000-04:00

If you haven't read Keith Shields interview with us, click here. It is very funny. Below is a somewhat whiny race report so if you've read enough of those, do as I do and just look at the pretty pictures.

Smiling because I know I will be done soon

This past weekend I missed the Blizzard of October by being down in the rather balmy(by comparison only) Cape Cod. I went down with my friend, fellow race director and teammate Rich Lavers on Saturday with his wife and son. We spent the day hanging out with his family who lives down in Falmouth, going to the expo and driving the course. Did I mention the torrential downpour? How about the 30-40 mile an hour wind? Hydroplaning a dozen times in as many miles? Locusts? Okay well no locusts, but you get the idea. The weather was miserable. Two weeks before, Rich had been swimming here and now the temperature was hovering right above freezing. Tree branches were down everywhere.

Note: That is an aR singlet but I was racing for GCS. No singlet yet for them.

I had been training for Cape Cod Marathon for probably the longest of any of my marathons hoping to not only help my team, the Gate City Striders, but also set a new PR. I even held off running any races the day before on Michael Wade's recommendation that it may hinder my marathon performance. The only thing that hindered my marathon performance was my performance. I fell off pace a bit the second ten miles dropping from 6:20 pace to 6:40 but could have still finished fairly well. However, I started thinking(which is never a good thing for me to do) and soon I felt some cramping come on. Was it really cramping or was it all in my head? I'm not sure but all I had to do was run under 25 minutes for the last 5k to break 3 hours but I didn't having to walk miles 24 and 26. Not too impressive.

I can talk about the strong wind gusts, the dehydration from unmanned water stops and lack of long-run training, but that would entirely be ridiculous. I have run faster in strong winds, further with less water and NEVER train with long runs so I cannot blame my performance on any of those things. Additionally, I had my parents pop up at multiple spots along the course in addition to Rich's so I probably had more motivation to keep me going. But for whatever reason I didn't. But luckily they say that gold fish have no memories so their minds are much like mine as this little thing called running is a surprise every time. Best thing to do when you have a lousy(compared to your expectations)race? Train More? No way! Sign up for another race. Hopefully a destination far far away.

Quick Aside: Typically I just throw up pictures on this blog that were shared with me or taken by someone I know. If you notice, a lot of them have a similar name at the bottom: Scott Mason. Scott Mason is an amazing photographer and I am glad to be able to call him a friend. I am always a little disappointed to see him on the sidelines as he is also a great runner but I know that at least I will be getting great photos taken. Check out his website for some amazing pictures.

This was the second marathon this year that I also did my first year(2007) of running. While I improved my Hyannis marathon time by almost two hours, I only improved by Cape Cod time by 16 minutes. Darn.

Danny's 24 Marathons to Date:

10/30/11 Cape Cod Marathon 3:04:54 ---->; BOSTON QUALIFIER
9/25/11 Adirondack Marathon 3:10:00
5/7/11 Ironman St. George 3:56:43
4/16/11 Gansett Marathon 2:52:46---->; BOSTON QUALIFIER
2/27/11 Hyannis Marathon 2:49:02---->; BOSTON QUALIFIER
11/6/10 Manchester Marathon 3:33:02(PACER)
10/31/10 Marine Corps Marathon 2:52:57 --->; BOSTON QUALIFIER
5/2/10 Cincinnati Flying Pig Marathon 3:02:21 --->; BOSTON QUALIFIER
4/17/10 Gansett Marathon(Exeter) 2:47:45 ---> BOSTON QUALIFIER
2/28/10 New Orleans Mardi Gras Marathon 2:51:44 ---> BOSTON QUALIFIER
11/1/09 Manchester City Marathon 3:33:18
10/18/09 Bay State Marathon 3:21:23
3/29/09 Ocean Drive Marathon 3:01:41 --->; BOSTON QUALIFIER
3/07/09 Peak Snowshoe Marathon 6:29:10
12/13/08 Roxbury Marathon 4:33:23
11/2/08 Manchester City Marathon 3:08:41 --->; BOSTON QUALIFIER
10/18/08 Breakers Marathon 3:25:30
10/5/08 Maine Marathon 3:19:24
5/25/08 Vermont City Marathon 3:26:05
4/21/08 Boston Marathon 3:34:44
1/13/08 Rock 'n' Roll Arizona Marathon 3:21:34
10/28/07 Cape Cod Marathon 3:20:48
9/22/07 Odyssey Trail Marathon 6:08:11
2/25/07 Hyannis Marathon 4:44:46

Up Next: Amber Ironman Arizona; Danny- Yoga, rest and relaxation

NHPR's Keith Shields Talks with Danny and Amber Ferreira

2011-10-28T12:39:00.000-04:00

Amber and I met Keith Shields at Sean Snow’s Winter Spin Class. Amber and I were getting ready for Ironman St. George while Keith was preparing for his first Ironman, Ironman Lake Placid.

Welcome to the blog.

Thanks Danny and Amber. I’m a HUGE fan of the irongirlandultrarunningboy blog.

You have a background as a runner, but relatively recently made the conversion to triathlete. What brought about the change and how does it impact your overall training?

I actually dabbled in triathlons about 10 years ago and did 2 ½ Ironmans but did it in regular bathing trunks (for the whole race), a 20 year old ghetto bike (complete with bike rack) and minimal training. Then I developed bad allergies in the water and couldn’t repair a bike tire to save my life. So, I quit the sport resigning myself to the fact that I’m just a marathoner. Then in January of 2010, out of nowhere, a thought re-crossed my mind “I want to do an Ironman!” Three days later I bumped into my future coach Sean Snow at Dos Amigos Burritos and the rest as they say, is history. As for its impact, I’ve run 26 marathons and started feeling the strain on my body. I was very happy at how much triathlon training kept my general fitness up with far fewer miles on the road. I was able to run a 3:08 marathon 2 weeks ago on only 2/3rds of the amount of running I usually do.

What’s a typical training week look like?

When I’m training for marathons, I try and max out between 70-80 miles a week. This year’s Boston Marathon training I did that and 4 spin classes/week which at the age of 42 gave me a marathon PR of 3:05. This summer for Ironman training I swam about 4 miles a week, biked between 175-250 during the peak weeks and ran only 30-40 miles. Now that I know a little more I’d like to step that up a bit for the next Ironman and I have big goals to try and flirt with the 3 hour mark for this Boston marathon which means more running miles, more spins, snowshoeing and getting in the pool earlier. Like many people, I’d love to do so much more but keep a pretty busy schedule

Wow! You do that in addition to taking an anatomy and physiology course and working full-time? Anything else that you’ve got brewing on the side?

I teach a course once a year at the University of New Hampshire in Manchester which is a blast. The course is called “Fundamentals of Audio Production” which my students learn how to record, mix and edit sound along with using the medium of sound to tell a story. I’m working on my first full-length radio documentary which will air this May on the History of Immigration in New Hampshire and I’m the very proud Race Director of a 5K road race in the West Roxbury section of Boston called “Walter’s Run”. It’s not only a competitive race with mile timers, a water stop, awards 3 deep and FREE RUNNING GLOVES to the first 250 runners but it’s got something for the whole family. We have a ton of delicious food provided by local vendors, a huge raffle of prizes, a free kids race, a visit from Santa who will hand out candy canes, temporary holiday tattoos, and Christina the Clown who makes balloon animals!!! All proceeds go toward 3 local charities that give back to the community. The Boston Globe Globe Santa, which provides gifts to children whose family can’t afford them for the Holidays. Also, the YMCA of Boston Reach Out Program that helps those of need afford the valuable programs that the YMCA offers and the Walter Burgess Scholarship Fund which assists local teenagers of need by providing scholarships for them to attend a local running camp. So it’s a great race, a fun day for the whole family and all for a good cause.

And who is this Walter Burgeese of which you speak?

Walter was a member of my running club in Boston, the Parkway Running Club. He was a good friend of mine. Walter had completed 25 marathons and finished his first Ironman in Florida. Three weeks after the Ironman, Walter passed away of an undetected heart condition at the untimely age of 40. In fact, I competed in the Timberman ½ Ironman this year. It was 10 years before that day that Walter and I stood on the shore of Ellacoya State Park with our toes in the water waiting in anticipation for our first major triathlon race. When we finished, I wanted to die, while Walter came up to me with a smile on his face suggesting we should run a slower friend of ours in (I declined). That’s the kind of guy he was, he waited to cheered on every last runner who crossed the finish line of a race and no matter what adversity he face he always had a smile on his face. We really hope to capture the spirit of Walter in the race we named after him.

As a volunteer at Lake Placid this past year, I was able to see you get out of the water into transition. While it may have taken you a little while longer than some of the pro’s, you probably seemed the most excited to be out of the water. My recollection was you saying “thank god that’s over!” How did it feel knowing that you had your least favorite part of an Ironman done?

Photo of Keith taken by Danny as he exited the water at Lake Placid.

It was a huge weight off the back. Despite hours of lessons, practice, videos and even a Total immersion course, I still am a horrible swimmer. Once I train I can go forever but I’m just really, really back of the pack slow. I’ve never been able to figure out why I can’t get faster. So it was my fear that after all that training I wouldn’t make the swim cut off of the Ironman. The day before the race the swim course looked SO much longer than what I had been swimming in the practices. So when I got out of the water with 20 minutes to spare before the cut off, I knew I would become an Ironman. Maybe team Danny/Amber can teach a Jersey auqa-flailer how to be at least a mid-pack swimmer.

That will definitely have to be Amber as I don't think I would be too far ahead of you. As impressive as that Ironman completion is, I was actually more impressed with your 42 miles at 7:40 pace for Reach the Beach. How did the two races compare?

The RTB was nothing compared to the Ironman. Running long distances is my comfort zone. I’ve lucked out to be given a body that seems to be ergonomically made to run long distances without that many problems. Plus that’s under 5 ½ hours of working out with some rests in between. The Ironman was the greatest challenge of my life. I couldn’t fathom working out for 13+ hours. I’m a slow swimmer, still somewhat unsure of my biking abilities, didn’t have a ‘tri-bike’ and every time I ran a marathon I was completely tapered and had not already covered 114.4 miles. Hearing “Keith Shields, you are an IRONMAN” was one of the best experiences of my life.

S2's Keith Shields exultant as he becomes an IRONMAN!

I know you have Ironman Mont Tremblant coming up next year, any Ultras?

Funny you ask that. I was thinking of doing my first Ultra right before I got the ring back in my ears to do an Ironman. The original plan was to get these Ironmen (mans???) out of my system then do an Ultra but a friend has been hounding me a bit to do one. Growing up in the asphalt and brick Jungle of Newark, NJ then spending my formative years in Boston, I’m exclusively a road runner...trails scare me (and I’m clumsy) and a crack in the pavement is my version of ‘off road”. Being that most ultras are on trails I was thinking this may be a problem, but my friend introduced me to this run around the lake in Wakefield. Now there is possible talk of running it next July. My thought is to either 1) Run 50 miles or 2) see how long I could run for 12 hours. That’s still less time than my 1st Ironman.. stay tuned!

So you will be using snowshoeing again to cross-train this winter?

Snowshoeing

Heck to the yeah! Last year was a total humbling experience for me. Again, I run only on the roads so running on slippery snowy trails was a brand new experience. There was lots of falling (face and back), I ran most of the time with my arms pin wheeling in the air, I used a lot of 4-letter words out on the race course. The last race I ran was the one at night at UNH [aR's Kingman Farm], that was the one that got me hooked, running down those hills with a little headlamp was a huge boost of adrenaline. I will do more snowshoe races this year... a bit of unfinished business.

Keith, as the executive producer of NHPR’s The Exchange, you must hear and get exposed to some of the most interesting (as well as mundane) stories. Tell us a little about one of your favorites.

NHPR's Keith Shields

Hmm, We did do a show a while back on New Hampshire having a larger than average cremation rate. I decided to do a ‘set up piece’ for the show and visited a crematorium in Manchester and had one of the people there walk me through the process. What I didn’t know was that even after being in the oven for a few hours, parts of the major bones (femur, os coxa, humerus) don’t completely ‘ash-ou’t. So what they do is shovel the remains into a very high powered ‘blender’ and hence... ash. I was able to record that and put in on the airwaves..l a little disgusting but definitely not mundane.

After the huge floods that devastated the Southwest corner of the state in 2005, we decided to do a show the next day on it. A guy who had to be evacuated called in live as he had pulled up to his house. He was still on the air as he walked through his home that was now submerged in several feet of water... It was ‘amazing radio’ as we like to say. Those things can’t be planned.

Also when Senator Joseph Lieberman came on the show I told him that I’ve lived for the past 20 years as a Yankee’s fan in enemy Red Sox terrorist and got a full-on, both arms around the back hug from the Senator.

Okay, serious question. We know you’re a Yankees fan so: Who would win in a fight? Mike Dikta or Derek Jeter? How about Jeter versus a Hurricane? What if the Hurricane’s name was Dikta?

Well Jeter was born in New Jersey, not too far from where I grew up so that gives him magical powers... He could totally take Ditka, especially with a bat in his hand. As for the Hurricane... it depends I guess. The storm... I’d totally put my money on Jeter, if he goes against Hurricane Rubin Carter (“Here comes the story of the Hurricane...”), Well Carter is from Jersey as well so that cancels each other out... a tough call. If he went against Danny and Amber... another tough call as they are the Jeter and Jeteress of the New England multisport world.

Thanks for being on the blog!

Thanks so much- this was fun!!!

If you run a race and it's not posted on Cool Running, does it count?

2011-10-20T10:22:00.001-04:00

When I first started running in 2007, Amber had given me a link to Cool Running where I could look up races throughout the country based on distance or location. Immediately I found a 15k, 20 miler and a marathon that I signed up for as my first three races ever. Since then, I have been hooked. No plans for the weekend? Check Cool Running. How did your friends do at that half-marathon they'd been training for? Check Cool Running. Need a cool homepage? Use Cool Running. Need training tips? Check Cool Running. Now as a race director I use it to post my upcoming events. AND will post the results.

But what happens if those results don't get posted?
Every great once in a while, I enter a race that does not post the results of the race. When this happens I go through several stages of coping:

First it's perseveration- I check multiple times every day on the Cool Running website to ensure I didn't miss it. I try going from the race's website, from the races/results page of Cool Running, from the event's calendar page. I try everything.

When that doesn't work, I move to ambivalence: I didn't want to see my results, anyway!

Quickly, I move on to pseudo-acceptance: Well, I do have my time on my watch and I know what place I came in so it's okay that it's not online. It was a stupid race anyway!

That soon changes to exaggeration: I won the race and ran a sub-15 5K! Piece of cake!

As soon as I get called out on that, I move along to panic: Nobody's going to believe me( see above to see if they should) and they won't even know I did it!.

Eventually it turns to acceptance: While I'm not happy about this, it's okay since it's only a race. When I become a race director I will make sure I always post my results.

Everyone's coping strategy is different with some more helpful than others. The thing to remember is that we aren't (or shouldn't be) doing these races for other people or even for the results themselves. There are so many things that are out of our control that if we are only focused on time we will be disappointed time and again. Races are for us to test our fitness or training plan, and to have a fun time being outside with like-minded individuals. Maybe to go somewhere exotic or to be amongst friends. So next time you find out that race you entered didn't post the results, don't fret. Just remember all the fun you had that day and the world record you (supposedly) set, and you should be alright.

Up Next: Granite State 10 Miler Oct 22(Danny), Cape Cod Marathon Oct 30th(Danny), and Ironman Arizona November 20th(Amber)

China Trip

2011-10-17T14:58:00.001-04:00

After an eventful late summer and early autumn of my munich trip, white water rafting, deep sea fishing, a marathon, and the Pocono 69.1, time for my Shanghai trip had arrived.

The trip to china started out well. I had stayed at my brother, Matt's, house the night before and he drove me to Logan without issue. I made my connecting flight and Newark and began my first sixteen hour flight of my life.

How did I pass the time? Very easily when they have movies on demand. After not one, not two but three superhero movies(Captain America, Green Lantern, and X-men:First Class) and the Hangover Two I only had another eight hours to fly. As the movie choices got slimmer, I decided to pass my time the best way I know how: sleeping.

Apparently, I can't sleep on a turbulent plane with people yelling across me speaking various dialects of Chinese, and pumping into me as they walked by. No worries. I decided to watch JJ Abrams' Super 8. Kinda reminded me of a 2011 sci-fi Goonies. Got bored of Bad Teacher and Zoo Keeper so ended up just reading. Those last few hours were spent reading "Reading Judas" a non-fiction interpretation of the "Book of Judas" which gives a very different perspective of Jesus' infamous betrayer. Interesting book.

Finally getting off the plane, I was met by a VIP guide arranged by the people I was staying with. He walked me through customs(managed to cut the large line of people waiting for some reason) and out to a car to take me to my apartment.

The drive from the airport to the apartment was an experience in and of itself. Not once did I see a directional in use: everyone merging, braking, and accelerating with what seemed, at first, abandon. After a while I realized that it was more like a well rehearsed dance as all the drivers knew there parts swaying on four lanes of concert at 100 km/hour.

I didn't know what to expect from Shanghai but my sister, Marilyn, warned me that I most likely would not be able to run outside due to the traffic and smog. That makes marathon training pretty challenging. I dislike treadmills enough after one or two miles but definitely am not able to do a long run on one. I had to find another way to train. I decided to take it outside. I made it about thirty minutes, twenty-nine of which was spent dodging scooters, motor-bikes, bikes, vendors, pedesterians, and, once, a car that had gotten up on the sidewalk. I got back to the apartment, thinking that it wasn't too, too bad and I would be able to manage. Only later was I told that it was a national holiday- National Day(which is actually a week long celebrating Mao's famous speech made on Oct 1st,1949) and that only one tenth of the population was out during this week.

It gets busier than this? Apparently much so. The next day I went out for another run, this time shooting for an hour run. I made it about five minutes before feeling the odd sensation that I was having an asthma attack. Not to be too over-dramatic it really felt more like the last .1 of a 5K but definitely not a feeling that I enjoy having, especially not so early in a relatively mild run. I slowed my pace further still and was able to pull off 30 minutes but I had had enough of the smog. Treadmill running it was for me at that point. Luckily the gym at the apartment I was staying at was excellent and my sister and I worked out together almost everyday. While not getting in any long runs, I was able to get some speed work(or it may have just felt like that with the speed in kilometers/hour).

Some artifacts from the Shanghai Museum

The trip wasn't about running though but visiting a country in a continent that I had never been yet read so much about. "The Joy Luck Club", "Chasing the Monk's Shadow", "The Good Earth", the biography of Genghis Kahn, Tao Te Ching and the Tao of Pooh all left me with expectations of what China would be.

I should have kept up with the reading. None of the books were written in the twenty-first century so the authors wouldn't have known of the transformation China had undergone. In 1990, Shanghai had no skyscrapers and now it currently has the second and third highest in the world and has so many that it is difficult to determine which direction is towards the center.

View from the River Boat of the Pudong side of Shanghai

Where tea houses and opium dens once stood now stands massive buildings each trying to outdo the next. Shanghai was nothing like what I predicted of China. We spent a day viewing this new city from the second highest building which looks very similar to a bottle opener and the night viewing it by boat along the Bund River.

The building in the reflection, when completed, will be the tallest in the world.

The way the city was lit up at night was amazing.

Despite the visible changes to the city, it did retain a lot of the "old time charm" that I had expected. Once out for a walk with Marilyn, we came upon a market place with live eels,chickens and ducks as well as hot peppers, nuts, seeds, clothing and a barber shop amongst other things. Also we were able to find some off-the-beaten path tea houses where we sampled teas ranging from the popular oolong to the aged fermented puerh teas. While surprised with how developed Shanghai was, its blend of new and old, and east/west styles(a large part of the city was conceded to various countries in the early 1900's) made for a pleasant "home-base".

View from apartment illustrates how the old and new live side by side

My sister and her boyfriend, Matt with whose parents we were staying, treated me to a trip to Bejing. This trip was amazing. Not only was I able to see the Summer Palaces and Forbidden City for the Emperors of the Ming and Ching dynasties, as well as indulge in local delicacies at some very local eateries and taste all the various teas, was I able to see the Great Wall of China. While being built too late(200CE) to be considered one of the original Seven Wonders of the World, it now holds its rightful place on an updated list.

The Great Wall really holds true in name. How many times have you had the Greatest Cup of Coffee or the World's Best Pizza and it ends up only being pretty good or fairy decent if not downright bad? This was not the case with the GW as I like to call it. Pictures can not capture the steepness of the stairs, the tortuous curves to connect the mountainous peaks, or the immensity of a wall this great.

Most tourists take a gondola to reach the wall from where the road ends, but I decided to run up the steep stairs. Our tour guide said she had once done it in an hour but thought I could run it in thirty minutes. I shot for twenty-five. I made it in eleven. Nothing but step after step to meet my rising feet as I was finally able to breath the clean mountain air I so missed in Shanghai. Gasping for air and with my quads screaming for me to stop, I could imagine ancient warriors having to scale these mountainous cliffs without the aid of the steps, only to be met by this Great Wall that held warriors there to beat back any attack.

After those days in Beijing and the five hour, 1,266 kilometer high-speed train ride back to Shanghai, it was time to take it easy. We went shopping, which against all expectations, I actually found enjoyable.

If their driving is a well-rehearsed dance, a day shopping is an improvised one-act play. Going to a market of high-end products(which we speculate may be "over-produced" at the factories so that there are "extras" to be sold at these markets) is nothing that I had ever seen. I have read about bartering at markets and coming up with a counter-offer somewhere in the range of 20-40 percent lower and then working to a middle ground. Here, however, the vendors would give an outrageous price( 4,000 RMB or $600) and I'd come back with something like 400RMB or 10 percent.

Vendor: Impossible! Give me your best offer!

Danny: That's it that's my best offer.

Vendor: Okay okay, how about this(holds up calculator showing 3,000 RMB).

Danny: I can end this in the States for cheaper than that. 400.

Vendor: I am here to make friends not money- you're killing me! 2,000!

Danny: Actually I don't think I want it at all- look that this right here. Doesn't look like good quality.

Vendor: No, no, no! The best quality. Only the best. Real leather- look( holds a lighter to the product(cannot divulge what it is as someone will be seeing it under the christmas tree)). 1,200!

Danny: (starting to leave) I can maybe go as high as 425 but that's it.

Vendor: You joke! Best offer,best offer!?

Danny: 425.

Vendor: 500.

Danny: 450.

Vendor: Okay.

This was how it went at every single spot we stopped, and I knew I paid too much when the vendor would immediately accept my first counter-offer. The whole experience, while extremely different from the spiritual one on the GW, was very enjoyable and made me feel like I had gotten a little more of an authentic Chinese experience.

Overall, I had an amazing trip but was glad when I arrived back in Boston. The best trips are made like this- where you see and do enough to get the sense of a city, experience its true nature but not so busy that you arrive back so exhausted that you need another vacation to recover. Now back, I've got one week to pick up my mileage again before it's time to taper for the Cape Cod Marathon.

View from the glass observatory on the top of the second tallest building in the world

The Drum Tower

Inside the bottom of the Drum Tower

The Summer Palace

Up Next: Granite State 10 Miler this weekend, Cape Cod Marathon next weekend for Danny, and IM Arizona November 20 for Amber.

Pocono Mountains 70.3 Race Report

2011-10-04T13:09:00.002-04:00

As noted in last blog, the swim was canceled due to substantial flooding on the Delaware River. After seeing the river for myself, I could appreciate that they canceled it. This river typically runs at around 4-5 feet of water and it was at nearly 18 feet. The flooding was immense and the water looked like it was going very fast. The course required that we swim upstream to the first buoy, then downstream until the last few hundred yards which would go back upstream. I could just imagine myself getting pulled out of the water due to the time cut-off without ever having made it to the first turn.

I expected that the lack of a swim, the predicted rain and cold temperatures would deter some racers but come race day, close to the 2,000 pre-registered athletes showed up. All except one pro female triathlete made the start.

Without the swim, the race became a time trial with the pro's taking off every 30 seconds followed by the age-groupers every 3-5 seconds. As a pro Amber started out almost an hour ahead of me as my bib number of 1919 put me almost all the way in the back of the pack. Both starts had their advantages and disadvantages. For Amber's part she had an unimpeded ride on the course, but was second guessing herself at several road junctions where she wasn't sure on which way to go and also couldn't necessarily pace herself off any other riders as there were none around. I, on the other hand, had the benefit of the draft of 1,900+ previous riders, but also had to continuously ride around many of these riders; some of whom appeared to never have gotten on a bike before. There was passing to the left of me, passing to the right and here I was stuck in the middle with you. Not YOU, but the ubiquitous you embodied in the form of the sluggish, mountain or hybrid bike rider who must have at the last minute decided a 56 mile bike ride would be fun. Lots of braking, skidding, ducking and dodging ensued for my ride.

As much as I like to say that all those people blocking my way was a disadvantage, I actually believe that it may have helped me, because there was never a time that I could just leisurely ride as I was always coming into people's drafts. This forced me to be continuously picking up my pace to get past each group. Also, since there was so many people around me all the time, I couldn't do my typical "I'm the king of the world" riding which involves no-hands and upright sitting while singing various show tunes.

I got off the bike feeling strong and ready to run. Elapsed time: 2:37:00- 21 mph, 100th overall.

The night before I had decided that I waste too much time in transition tying my shoes. Apparently in kindergarten I learned how to tie laces with two bunny ears and to this day that's the extent of my knot tying abilities. As such, I end up struggling to get out of transition with my age-group(and otherwise age appropriate) peers. I, thus, came up with this ingenious plan to tie my shoes the night before and just slip them on for the run. Fool-proof. Except: Apparently I hadn't tied them tight enough because within the first mile my feet were killing me as I tried with all my might to keep from kicking off my shoes with every step. I finally resolved to stop at which point my ape hands prevented me from untying the double knot that I was fastidiously tied the night before. After about a minute or so fumbling with the laces, I finally was able to untie, tighten, and re-tie my laces. And I was back!

Prior to untying my laces, I had seen Tim Snow and Ryan Kelly pass me going towards the finish. Ryan yelled over to me to watch out for the hills. "Oh great, Adirondack Marathon all over again." I thought. Rather than beat myself up over the impending hills, I just settled into a comfortably hard pace, picking off runners as I ran by. I got to the turn-around averaging slightly under 6:30 pace which was about 15 seconds off pace but with all the hills I had just climbed I was pretty happy with. All downhill from here, right? Well, apparently not. Although I thought I had been climbing the whole way out, I had missed all the downhills that I had also covered. Now as uphills, I definitely did not miss them. I slowed a little over the last few miles, which I blame on the lack of people running a similar pace. It is really easy sometimes to get into other runners' paces and not push yourself as hard as you could. Despite the slightly slower second half, I finished up with a 1:25:28 which brought me to 45th overall finish for the day with a time of 4:03:56. An excellent time if there was a swim involved.

Amber had a tough race, having picked up the cold that I gave her, racing somewhat blind to her competitors as well as not having the advantage of a swim to get a lead on some of the other pros. Despite a bike best described as below her abilities, she did manage to have a solid run on a very hilly course against some very strong competitors, including Desiree Ficker, a pro triathlete that Amber used to follow before she even got into the sport herself.

So while Amber may tell you that she was disappointed with the final outcome of the day, I would say that she gained a lot of insight of the importance of pacing and sighting on the bike and how never to give up as she, on another day, could have run herself back into top five. As it was she finished with a solid 4:16 for Top Ten Female.

Up Next: Danny's off to China, then back for the Granite State 10 Miler with Am on October 23rd.

Pocono 70.3 Update

2011-09-30T21:58:00.001-04:00

Just got an email from Ironman today:
"Due to the hazardous river conditions which have developed over the last few days, the National Park Service and event organizers have jointly decided to cancel the swim for Sunday's race.

Heavy rains this week have caused the river to crest at an extremely high level and currents to run at speeds too dangerous to allow athletes in the water. After reviewing the river forecast, we've determined it will not recede to a safe enough condition by Sunday.

We know you've trained hard and we've worked tirelessly to bring you a first-class race...and there is still a race to be run on Sunday. Ironman 70.3 Pocono Mountains will proceed as a bike/run on the course as planned with athletes starting in a time trial format."

No swim? Duathlon? Not great for Amber as she is a TRIathlete and actually benefits from the lead she gets from the swim. However, for me this is a blessing as now I am only one sport away from actually doing well at Sunday's race. If there is some way that we can prevent the bike from happening, I am sure I can qualify for the 70.3 Championships for next year. Hmmmmm... where I would then finish last because I'm sure they'd have the bike and swim at that one.

In addition to finding out that little nugget, we also found out that several more professional women have decided to enter the race. The official pro start list is:

1)Jessie Donavan
2)Amber Ferreira
3) Desiree Ficker
4) Stephanie Jones
5)Missy Kuck

6)Heather Leiggi
7) Sharon Schmidt-Mongrain
8) Karen Smyers
9) Jennifer Tetrick

10) Magali Tisseyre
11) Mirjam Weerd
12) Kristin White

So 12, instead of the seven that were originally listed. Any many of the late entrants are excellent bike-runners which means it will be even more challenging for Am. However, I suspect she will step up to the challenge.

Up Next: BIG breakfast tomorrow morning, then POCONO 69.1 on Sunday.

Yasso 800's Ironman Style- A Great Race Predictor

2011-09-29T12:43:00.003-04:00

Almost everyone is familiar with Bart Yasso's 800 workout. It's a simple concept. Intersperse one day per week during your peak weeks before a marathon interval training with your weekly run schedule.

Want to run a 3:00 marathon? Then run ten 800s at 3 minutes/800meter. Between the 800s, jog for same duration it took you to run your repeats. If you're able to maintain a steady pace for all ten repeats, then you're likely going to hit your marathon mark. Fizzle out after five? Time to re-think marathon goals(I should have done that at the Adirondack Marathon).

Yasso 800's have been shown to be pretty effective in predicting marathon run time(within 5 minutes). That's why I've devised the Ferreira 2x800's for predicting Ironman Bike-Run times.

Want to finish a six hour bike followed by a 3 1/2 hour marathon? Then bike 2 miles in 6 minutes, transition quickly and run a 3:30 800m. Repeat that 10 times and you've got it.

So after this workout you will have:
-Biked 20 miles at 20mph which is about 1.4mph faster than you'll have to do during the Ironman.
-Run 5 miles at 7min/mile which is about 1 minute/mile faster than during the Ironman.
-Run all those miles transitioning from the bike.

Unlike the Yasso 800's, the Ferreira 2x800's have no rest except the transition from the bike to the run. This entire workout should take less than two hours but will certainly give you a good idea of where your Ironman fitness is.

I will be using this workout as a key workout for my prep for Mont Tremblant.

Skeptics: try it out and let me know what you think.

Up Next: Pocono Mountain 70.3 October 2nd for Amber and Danny

Adirondack Marathon- Fun Weekend, Not So Fun Run

2011-09-27T11:41:00.000-04:00

Amber and I headed up to the Adirondacks this past weekend so that I could do the Adirondack Marathon. I am training for the Cape Cod Marathon and wanted to use this race as a predictor on how well I could do. We went up Saturday, drove through the devastated towns of Killington and Rutland, VT. If you haven't been out on Route 4, it is worth the trip to see the havoc Irene left on these towns. It was also amazing and touching how it appeared the town came together to help each other. All throughout these towns were signs, hand-written, printed and sometimes spray-painted on whatever medium they could that conveyed their appreciation of the help they received.

Once we arrived in Lake George, we hit the outlets upon Amber's request. Not exactly my idea of a fun pre-race activity but actually turned out to be somewhat so.

Amber hugging the biggest pumpkin she had ever seen

After having an excellent dinner at the LogJam restaurant, Amber challenged me to a game of bowling. Had it been a swim, the results would have certainly turned out differently but I was able to hold off a late-charging Amber to secure the win.

Amber waking away after hitting just one pin down

Amber quickly consoled herself by winning some candy.

I never see people win at this but Am did!

And that would be the last anyone would be winning for the weekend.

The morning of the marathon started out innocuous enough with us leisurely having breakfast and packing our stuff to head up to Schroon Lake, which Mapquest stated would take us 30 minutes to get to. Well about 50 minutes later thanks to construction and its subsequent lane closures and traffic, we made our way there. We were directed to park in a lot that was full, but with some creative maneuverings we were able to get the car situated. Having now only about 30 minutes before race start, I wanted to get my packet, head to the bathroom and have a chance to warm-up. Plenty of time right? Right, if you don't lose your chip. Or supposedly lose your chip.

Packet registration went seamlessly enough: went right in, got my packet, a nice jacket and the ubiquitous bag and walked out. I was, literally outside the door, when I realized that I had my bib number but not my chip so I went back in, was directed to the "questions guy" and had this conversation:

Danny: Where can I pick up my timing chip?

Questions Guy: It is in your bag.

Danny: Ummm, I just checked and I don't think it's in here.

Questions Guy: Let me check[not finding it in there]. You must have lost it.

Danny: Ummm, I literally just got it and haven't gone anywhere... Okay so I lost it, what now?

Questions Guy: Find it.

Danny: Find it? [Mind you this is now less than 15 minutes before the race start]

Questions Guy: Find it, you probably just dropped it.

Danny: Ummm but I literally just got it and haven't gone..... Okay I'll look for it.

Danny upon returning without chip: I can't find it.

Questions Guy: (Sigh) Well, it looks like you'll have to pay for that if it doesn't turn up.

Danny: What if it wasn't in the bag?

Questions Guy: It was in the bag.

Danny: Ummm but I literally just got it and haven't.... Okay, so can I get another one for now?

Questions Guy: Yeah, fill out this form.

Danny: Now?

Questions Guy: Yes

Suffice it to say, it was not the relaxing morning that I had planned and by the time I had finally gotten everything in order I was all riled up. So riled up in fact that I apparently didn't notice the substantial increase in temperature. I had surveyed the course a little online and it seemed a little hilly but I figured it would just be a better training run. Plus, it's in September in the Adirondacks-nice cool temperatures to run in. Well, it was a bit more than a little hilly and was hot and humid. While I was hoping for a day in the 60's, by the end of the race it had gotten all the way up to the low 80's. That didn't help.

What also didn't help was my desire to run a PR on a course that is challenging than the first eight miles of Pack Monadnock. To describe it as hilly would be an understatement. In reality, however, this is me just making excuses. No one made me run the first three miles at 6 min/mile pace. And no one told me to do this race in the first place. I just can't remember the last time that I wanted to quit a race within the first 1/26th of it. Every mile was a painful compromise with my body.
First, okay just make it to the 5k and you'll be able to get a drink.
-- Still was thirsty but now had the three cups of water sloshing around in my stomach.
Then, okay make it to 5 miles and take a GU.
--Didn't help.
And, okay make it to 8 miles and you only have Pisgah ahead of you(Crap!).
--Certainly didn't help.
Okay, if you make it to the half marathon, maybe someone can give you a ride home.
--No one seemed willing.
Okay, make it to mile sixteen and you can swim across the lake to get home.
--Thought twice of it. What if I swam to the wrong section and STILL had to run ten more miles.
Okay make it to mile twenty and you can walk the rest of the way.
--Certainly would have done this but the darn half marathoners kept cheering for me that I felt obliged to keep running(ever so slowly).
Okay make it to mile twenty three and you can really walk from here.
--They were still here! Did have several extended "water stops" though where I walked while drinking and purposely took several cups and "savored" every moment.
Okay don't let this guy pass you! You're in fifth place still somehow.
-- That's not going to happen. Sorry

Danny after the race

So I ended up finishing about 25 minutes slower than I had wanted to run, but (mainly due to size of the race) did manage to come in 6th overall and first in my age-group. So while I didn't have the race that I wanted to, I am glad that I finished it and got a long run in. And despite all my complaining and besides the "questions guy", the race was actually quite nice.
Good aide stations, nice fan support, and a beauiful course makes it a nice that I may come back to. Also makes me look forward to running a fast half-marathon this weekend at Pocono's.

Up Next: Danny and Amber: Pocono Mountain 70.3

Pocono 70.3 Race Preview-From the Eyes of SlowTwitch

2011-09-23T12:56:00.001-04:00

So I've been doing some research on the pro triathletes that are doing this race on October 2. I have just started, however, to actually look at the race itself and what it will entail. WTC describes it as such: "The event will take place in and around the scenic Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area with a fantastic finish down Main Street in historic Stroudsburg, PA. The race marks the first Ironman event in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania."

However, doing a quick search found that not everyone was thinking that the race would be so fun.

This one blogger wrote:
"1) October in the Poconos has a high probability of COLD! Changes are it will be in the 40s, maybe high 30s at the start of the race, and highs are likely to only get into the 50s.
2) Chance of rain or bad weather is high, and wind and rain in October means WET LEAVES on the road. If you have traveled on these roads (I used to drive through there several times a year going to and from Lehigh), they are lined with trees.
3) Chance of animals, especially DEER crossing the course is high, especially since this has a lot of protected areas that don't have hunting. I have also seen two bears traveling through the Delaware Water Gap that basically runs by this course.
4) There is either going to be a long walk to start the race, or a long run to T1. Maybe they are planning a long run to warm up the swimmers.
5) Did I mention cold? You might want to practice riding in your wetsuit, saving time in T1 and then strip it off in T2.
6) The bike course looks "forced". As pointed out, in one section as laid out there is one of two areas in which cyclists cross over each others path. How many courses have you seen where a race CROSSES over itself on the bike. Out and back is fine. INTERSECTION? Not so good. "

Another author wrote:
"I was thinking of doing this race but....

1) It's the first year
2) I was nervous they didnt have courses months ago...
3) Its October and its up in the Pocono Mountains
4) River swim..meh. "

A third writer gave some warnings as well:
"Not much you can do on the swim. You will either have a long walk to start the race or you will have a long walk/run to T1. The river is only so wide and you are really pretty much doing the around .8 Miles or more length wise. Maybe they can add in a dozen buoys and have people zig-zag across the river to shorten the distance.

Given the amount of time they have had to "plan" this race, it seems like a pretty much "forced" course, and to still be fiddling with the course 3 months out?

One other fair warning. Looking at T1 and T2 and just having been through this area, not sure if they will be running shuttle buses to the start, but I am thinking that this will be more like Timberman and long waits than Longhorn, which though separate Transition areas, was really just a couple miles and really along 1 road. "

As expected with most inaugural events, there are sure to be some snags, but with some planning(like getting to the race as early as possible and wearing a full-sleeve wet-suit->Amber) we hopefully can eliminate some of the logistical concerns of these writers. I am interested to see what becomes of the areas where we are supposedly intersecting other riders(it may end up not being an issue) and am excited about the potential for a nice cool fall day for a run. Both Am and I run better when it's cold, so bring on the FROST!

I also like WTC's description of the run course:
"A couple of hills are present early in the course, which flatten out for the majority of the first half. A gradual incline approaches just before the turnaround, and then you will have a good downhill to kick start your return. As you head towards Stroudsburg you will have one small hill at mile 11 then you'll go through the quiet neighborhood streets welcoming you towards the finish. "

Can't wait for the false flats!

Up Next:Adirondack Marathon for Danny then POCONO's the following week.

10 Questions With Jeremy Woodward

2011-09-22T09:55:00.001-04:00

1) Anyone who's seen you shirtless (lucky devils) may have noticed a little scar down the front of your chest. If you don't mind us asking, what's that from?

The 11 inch scar that runs down my chest is from a run in with a Black Bear and Mountain Lion. Recently, while out on a ride with Amber Ferreira we encountered these two amazing creatures. I actually had to intervene in the middle of these two creature as they were about to go to battle over who gets Amber’s Cliff Bars and Gatorade. I was able to subdue the Black Bear with a “Bear Hug” technique that I learned from my years of martial arts training. The mountain lion… instea d of it chasing the two of us, Amber chased the mountain lion for miles. True Story!

In all seriousness, the 11 inch scar is the result of two open-heart surgeries to have my Aortic Valve replaced due to a bicuspid Aortic Valve that I was born with. I had my first operation in 2000. At that point I received an Aortic Tissue Valve and Aorta reconstruction. These valves come with no warranties other than the hope that it works for a few years. Mine failed shortly after and it sent me into Severe Congestive Heart Failure and I nearly died. Thank god for my stubborn wife that insisted she drive me to a Boston hospital ER the morning of July 18th 2007. If we didn’t go t hat morning it would have been lights out for good if you know what I’m saying. After a 6 week stay at a Boston Hospital I was the lucky recipient of a newly implanted Mechanical Aortic Heart Valve. These Mechanical Valves are designed to last a lifetime. However, I have to take an anti-coagulant drug daily called Warfarin to prevent clots and bleed outs. If this is not managed properly it could have devastating effects.

2) I know you played AAU ball with Matt Bonner on the same team my younger brother, Andrew, played for. You also did martial arts, right? Tell us a little about your athletic background.

I have been involved with athletics much of my life. I was fortunate to play for the Granite State Raiders AAU Basketball team for 6 years with Matt Bonner. I learned a great deal from him. His work ethic and drive were second to none. Last time he was at our house he broke a rim! This October I will celebrate my 18th year of being involved with martial arts under the direction of Jeff Hardy of Bodyworks Karate School. I currently hold a rank of 4th Degree Black Belt in combined Kenpo and I have a Black Sash in Kung Fu. To be honest Martial Arts have played a huge part in my life and a great driving force. Aim high, set a goal, make it happen!

3) Amber has long been a fan of utilizing functional strength training and varying exercises for muscle confusion and eliciting optimal strength gains. Your program epitomizes this practice. Tell us a little bit about your program and philosophy for training.

Functional Strength training is so important to a properly designed fitness program. It may sound crazy but this concept is relatively new to the fitness industry. The old school “body builder” type of program doesn’t exist anymore with me.My feeling is that if you are going to commit 2 or 3 hours a week of strength training you want to get the most bang for your buck and your time! You need to add in the dynamic warm ups, core, power, balance and anaerobic training. Next time you are in the gym working out look around you and notice how many people are still of the old school mentality. Now get out and push some sleds, slam some power balls and do some band work.

4) In addition to the famous Amber Ferreira, you train some well-known local celebs. You working with anyone currently?

Yes, my boy Nazzy from the 105.5 Morning Wake Up Show is a ROCK STAR! He has been my inspiration this year! In late 2010 during a radio interview I challenged Nazzy off the air to do a triathlon with me someday. At first I thought this guy will never take me up on the challenge! He called me a few months later and said “It is GAME ON and lets do this together!” On August 20th 2011 at the Timberman Sprint Triathlon he finished his first triathlon smiling and wanting more! Look out 2012!!! Speaking of the famous Amber Ferreira…I was doing the math on some of my recent races and I have determined that she could just about lap me on any distance race out there!

5) Speaking of tri's, you, yourself, did a little triathlon last year. Tell us a about Ironman Lake Placid, how you got into triathlons, how you trained, what your goals were and whether you met them, and what will you change and what are your goals for IM Lake Placid 2012 which you recently signed up for?

Finishing the 2010 IRONMAN Lake Placid was a dream-come true for me. Given the grave situation I was in while in the hospital I never thought in a million years I would get the opportunity to participate in an IRONMAN race. The training started in 2007 with one lap around the Intensive Care Unit the day after my surgery, then two laps, and three laps and so on. Then 3 years later 140.6 miles… that’s a lot of laps around the ICU at TUFTS Medical Center!My goal was to just finish the race. I really didn’t care if it was 11 hours or 16 hours 59 minutes. I just wanted to finish under the 17 hour cut off time. My big goal was the fundraising that I did leading up to the race. I wanted to make an impact on our community in some way. I had this crazy goal of raising $140,600 ($1000 for every mile of the IRONMAN) for the NH Chapter of the Nature Conservancy. We ended up raiseing close to $202,000!

I’m currently signed up for the 2012 Ford IRONMAN Lake Placid and will be signing up for the 2012 Ford IRONMAN Arizona to take place in November 2012! Still my goal will be to just finish both races and stay out of the Medical Tent. Training for both of these races will prove to be a challenging as I will have a 6 month old and an almost 4 year old. Family comes first! This year and going forward I will be dedicating my racing to the IRONHEART foundation. www.ironheartracing.com This is an incredible group of athletes and individuals that have been to hell and back and then some! We also have some very exciting news to share in the near future relating to 2012 IRONMAN Arizona and the IRONHEART Inspire group.

6) Can you gives us any info yet?

I will be hosting the IRONHEART Classic 5K run/walk presented by Keller Williams Realty and JEREMYS BOOTCAMP. This will take place on Saturday May 5th 2012. Christine Tatro and I are really excited to bring this event to the Concord region. Website… http://www.livelifetothefittest.com/

7) What would you say to someone who said they couldn't do a triathlon?

I would tell them to go on You Tube and search the IRONMAN…You Will Do This video. Within 5 minutes of watching the video I can almost guarantee that they will find a triathlon and get signed up.

8) Your wife and you are expecting your second child. How does crossing the finish line after an IM compare to bringing your progeny into the world?

My wife and I are expecting our second daughter on November 1st 2011. If our new arrival gets antsy like her sister did she will be here in the next few weeks. Crossing the finish line was special but being a dad is the most amazing and rewarding experience in the world! There is nothing that even comes close to trumping that! Funny story here…I took my daughter to a local 5k race just recently to watch. They had a kids race going on and I asked her if she wanted to do it. She responded back to me with “Daddy I can’t do the big race because I don’t have my Dora Watch on”

9 We view the 1 and 1/2 hours that we spend in your class as some of the most valuable time spent training. What would you recommend for someone, not training for a competition, but rather to be "fit for life"?

Just get out and do it! We only get one chance at this thing called life. We can make a hundred different excuses and why we can’t do something. Find a class that’s right for you and make the commitment to get fit. Remember this is a lifelong journey!

10) Last question. What would win in a battle: a black bear or a mountain lion? Feel free to cite real-life examples as well as your knowledge about combat, fitness, etc.

See answer to question number 1.

What a Weekend! Getting Lost at Pisgah, Shark Fishing, Violin Lessons and a Wedding!

2011-09-20T14:14:00.000-04:00

This past weekend was fun. Amber and my friend Jen Bonia(nee Bergeron) from Northeastern got married this past Friday. Am and I took the day off, Amber to get her hair done and do bride's maids stuff; me to go for a run. I managed to make my way over to Salem, MA just in time for Run at Work 5k which is part of the Mayor's initiative to get more people active. Judging by the turnout, it may be working. I ran into Nick Sousa, the NH10 winner and we ran the course together taking it easy as it was just a fun run. Since I had the day off and he didn't have to be at work until that night, we decided to extend the run a bit. Having never run through Salem, I let him do the leading. What a pretty town! As we crossed a bridge, I realized we had made our way over to Beverly which is where my older brother lives. We ended up running right by his house, but as it was mid-day he wasn't home... After about ten miles of me huffing and puffing to keep up with Nick, I decided I had had enough using the excuse that I wanted to make sure I didn't get ticketed for illegal parking.

After parting with Nick, I quickly headed to the hotel to get showered then made my way to Jen's wedding. It was at the Castleton in Windham, NH and they got married outside in front of the lake. It was beautiful. After I do, I do, toasts, dinner, cake, etc. the party began. Dancing. Yikes! To optimize the impressiveness of my dance-moves, it behooves the viewer to consume vast amounts of alcohol and dim the lights very low. Apparently the lights weren't low enough.

Northeastern Alumni Shakin' Their Money Makers

After the party was the after-party, which for Amber and I was cut short due to inability to stay up beyond seven pm. We certainly made a show of it but as soon as we made it home we were done.

What Amber looked like when her head hit the bed.

At five am the next morning my phone buzzed- my brother and dad picking me up. Time to go Deep Sea Fishing which I have renamed DSF or Dan Scares Fish. Last time I went DSFing was in Portugal and not only did I not catch any fish, but my side of the boat did not catch anything. What did everyone do? Moved me to the other side and they then started catching fish. Would Saturday be any better? Yes. If you like Dogfish. Not the IPA, unfortunately, but the shark that apparently can't be eaten since all we did was reel them up, unhook them and throw 'em back in. We didn't want to eat them, just make them late for something.

It was such a gorgeous day that even if we hadn't caught a thing it would be fun. We did end up catching a few edible fish which does make for a better dinner and picture.

Sunday morning. What to do? One last long run before Adirondack marathon next weekend? Sounds good. Amber and I decided that we'd make the trip out to Chesterfield, NH to do the Pisgah 23k. Neither of us had ever been out then before but as it is the NH's largest State Park we decided it would be worth the trip. Upon arriving, we saw the usual suspects of trail runners including, Kevin Tilton, Ben Nephew, Jim Johnson, Justin Fyffe, Brandon Baker, Ryan Welts and many other familiar faces.

"I didn't realize that this would attract this many runners."- Danny
"Already making excuses?" -Amber
"Errr, no, just making an observation"-Danny
"Okay, sure."- Amber
"Well, I think they're all doing the 50k anyway."- Danny

Both the 23k(which by the way is 14.2 miles not the half marathon that I told Amber), and the 50k started together and ran alongside each other for the first mile or so. As it so happens, most of those runners were running the 50k and were pacing for that distance. That worked out nicely for me because I otherwise would not have been able to hang on. As it was, I caused a little mayhem at the split, cutting off Ben Nephew nearly bowling him over. Ahead was a lone runner. I kept running my own pace but soon caught the leader who had been looking back(I soon realized to have company not due to early onset fatigue). It was Justin Fyffe who had ran 25 miles then day before and was just out for an easy run. We ran and talked for a while putting a nice separation on any of the other runners. At about minute 25 we came to an aide station and a fork in the road.

"Which way do we go?" - Danny
"You weren't supposed to come from that direction." -Aide Station Worker
"We made a wrong turn?" - Justin
"Looks that way." -Helpful Aide Station Worker
"Crap"- Danny and Justin

As this dialogue ended a third runner, Clint Joslyn, came to the aide station.
"I thought we were supposed to make a turn back there but I saw you guys go straight so I followed."-Clint
"Crap."- Danny and Justin

Being the largest NH state park, how could we not get lost?

So off we went again, this time at a more aggressive pace. While both Justin and I were saying that it didn't matter as the minutes ticked by and we still hadn't made it back to the turn off, I could tell we were both getting annoyed with ourselves. The only difference was how we took our annoyance out. Justin calmly just kept picking up the pace to the point when we finally made it back to the turn off(11 minutes back on an uphill trail), he had put a nice gap on me. My way of coping with this annoyance was to let him go and slow down the pace-Or it could have been out of necessity due to my wheezing provoked by trying to keep up with him. He was soon out of sight and I was left alone.

But not for long. As it turns out, it was somewhat of a blessing to go off course. I was able to cheer on all the runners as I caught and passed them. It was also fun for me, because the further into the race I got the faster the people I was passing became which in turn made me run a bit harder when I would have, probably, otherwise taken it easy. I didn't push myself so hard, though, to see how beautiful of a course we were on. Some of the views were amazing and the course(which alternated primarily between dirt road and fire roads) was a great change to the mostly pavement I have been recently running on.

I ended up finishing around the Top 10(results aren't yet posted) despite the detour and it was nice having Amber there at the finish cheering me on. However, I soon found out that she didn't beat me, but also got lost by going on the 50k course by accident. When she realized her mistake she just turned back and came to the start.

All in all, Pisgah was a great race and will definitely be on my list for next year. Hopefully the Ferreira's can stay on course.

I took my first Violin lesson last night and realized that I cannot supinate(turn my wrist palm up) to play. So I am learning the violin backwards. Can't wait to see how that turns out.

Up Next: Danny: Adirondack Marathon this weekend. Amber and Danny-Pocono's 70.3 October 2nd.

Winter Wild Championship- A Fun Race for EVERYONE!

2011-09-15T13:38:00.000-04:00

Provided you are not allergic to snow, you most likely are able to participate in the Winter Wild Championships at Bretton Woods on St. Patty's Day 2012. Whether you downhill or cross-country ski, snowshoe, run, snowboard, hike, or just plain walk you can always participate in the Winter Wild Series.

New to the series this year, though, is the Challenged Athlete division which allows people in wheelchairs to utilize adaptive mountaineering equipment to climb the mountain, and monoski down. This year the racers will have to obtain their own equipment, but we're trying to see whether for future years we can get an adaptive company out on the slopes to let racers demo their products.

aR and Winter Wild will also be working with the "Let's Move Campaign" and will be offering free entry to Winter Wild for school-age children in our region.

So young or old, competitive or non-competitive, skier or snowboarder, Microspikes or yaktrak, or in and out of wheelchair can all enjoy at beautiful day on the mountain.

For those competitive folks: There will be a special prize for first male and female to reach the summit so start you uphill training!

For everyone else: There's an extensive raffle during the awards ceremony.

Come join us:

Register for Winter Wild Championships here.

Winter Wild Championships at Bretton Woods

2011-09-08T13:04:00.002-04:00

Mark your calendars! On St. Patrick's Day, March 17th, 2012, I, along with Rich Lavers, will be making my race directing debut. We will be hosting the Winter Wild Championships at Bretton Woods and it will be presented by acidotic Racing.

Bretton Woods- Course with run counter-clockwise traversing entire mountain

Chad Denning addressing the crowd before the race

Winter Wild, started by Chad Denning formerly an adventure racer on TEAM EMS , is a unique mountain race. As featured on WMUR last year, it noted that unlike the typical mountain racing, seen through the Mountain Race Series, Winter Wild allows participants to get up(and down) the mountain using any(non-mechanical) means they choose. You often see snowshoers, runners in Microspikes and cross-country skiers all competing for the front of the pack.

However, some brave souls use downhill skis which are pretty slow on the uphill but fly on the downs. Also snowboarders have the option to run up, carrying the board, and board back down.

Those runners usually catch the skiers on the uphills

In the past, the skate-skiers have won the races but I would like to see if we could get some of the faster mountain racing guys out there whether a runner could win overall. It would be pretty amazing to see some CMS and aR runners competing against the NordicMeisters and the likes of the Freeman brothers to truly determine the "most fit" athletes.

This course definitely has the makings of a fair course as there will be several ups and downs to ensure those skiers cannot get too much of a lead.

Amber Ferreira about to Summit Pat's Peak last year

Danny Ferreira pushing past a skier

As with all acidotic Racing events, we will be sponsored by Red Hook brewery as well as several other great sponsors and will be expecting to host an excellent post-race raffle. Additionally, any one racing the entire series will be vying for awards for overall finishers within their category.

Should be a fun and competitive race and hope to see everyone there!

A link to the race's registration can be found here.

Up Next: Danny: Adirondack Marathon, Danny and Amber: Pocono's 70.3

Danny Ferreira Training for a Marathon? Sort of.

2011-09-01T13:41:00.002-04:00

For Pocono Mountain 70.3 Race Preview click here.

So Danny is at it again. Psyching himself up for some big fall marathons. Currently signed up for Adirondack Marathon September 25th and Cape Cod Marathon on October 30th. His goal for Cape Cod is to qualify for Day 1 registration for the Boston Marathon(2:45:00) which would be a 2 1/2 minute PR. Additionally, he would like to post the fastest GCS time of the day. A 2:45? On a hilly course? How's the training coming?

Well the training started off well for the first week. He increased his mileage to 25 with a track workout and a mid-distance(8 miles) run. With about 12 weeks to go, he was confident that he would have time to ramp his mileage up to the 40-50 miles/week that he has heard works slightly better than his previous marathon plans. One week down, eleven to go. He's committed, he'll be all set right? Well.... Along comes Munich.
Danny's sister and her boyfriend are traveling around Europe for the summer and Danny's mother and he decided that they would visit them while in Munich, Germany. Danny had very little knowledge of Munich other than what happened at both the 1936(Owen's kicking some Nazi butt despite some racism) and 36 years later in the 1972 Olympics with the Palestinians massacring the Israeli athletes and Pre coming in a disappointing, yet heroic, fourth place at the 5k. Not to sound flippant about such serious events, but Danny knew nearly nothing about Munich.

One of Danny's favorite Munich pictures, despite not needing the water while over there.

Yet despite that, he and his mother made the trip over the big lake to visit with his sister. A nicely written report of his trip written by his sister can be found here. What she doesn't mention is that besides one harrowing run at night that Danny gets utterly lost in a foreign speaking country for over an hour, Danny didn't get any of his prescribed runs in. Okay 3 weeks down, 9 to go. Looking okay.

So back on track now that he's back in the States. He did approximately 30 miles last week and has already done 35 miles this week. He's signed up for the NH 10 on Saturday so could likely be in the 50 mile week range by Sunday. Not too shabby. Eight weeks to go and he has a 10 miler, a marathon and Pocono's 70.3 that he can all use to continue to get some meaningful miles in before Cape Cod. Perfect!

Well not so perfect. Danny has decided to go to Shanghai, China for his peak running weeks. China? Doesn't he realize the amount of smog he is going to have to contend with? Doesn't he remember the 2008 Olympics and how Haile Gebrselassie pulled himself from the race because he feared pollution's effect on his lungs?

Danny does realize this may pose a threat to his (hopefully) new fitness that he will have worked so hard the last few months to achieve. However, he also realizes that this may be a once in a lifetime opportunity to see some of the world's most ancient and wonderful landmarks. How could he pass them up?

So, while a bit unorthodox, Danny continues to pursue that 2:45 marathon time while not sacrificing all those other life experiences that make life complete. Can't wait to see how that turns out.

Up Next: NH10(Danny), Adirondack Marathon(Danny), Pocono 70.3(Am and Danny), Cape Cod Marathon(Danny) and Ironman Arizona for Am

Pocono Mountain 70.3 Race Preview

2011-08-31T15:59:00.000-04:00

On October 2, Amber and I will be competing in the Pocono Mountain 70.3 Ironman event. As always, I will be coming in unprepared having not swam in several months and biking less than 50 miles per week. Amber on the other hand, will be coming off a game-changing Timberman race where she found herself with Chrissie Wellington on the bike. She scratched Syracuse 70.3 from her race schedule as she wanted to get some rest before going into Ironman Arizona in November and Poconos should provide a great tune-up for her.

Currently, the following seven pro females will be racing for a podium spot at Pocono's. However, I suspect after Las Vegas there will be several more pro's that decide, last minute, to enter this. So far, the pro field has a variety of athletes: some veterans at Ironman and 70.3 distances and others who appear to have, until now, focused on the shorter, but far faster, Olympic distance. It will be interesting to see how the race turns out.

As of August 31, 2011 the pro females are:

Heather Leiggi

2011 New Orleans 70.3 3:57:51-12th
2011 Florida 70.3 4:32:14-3rd
2011 Rev3 Quassy 4:51:26-12th
2011 Buffalo Springs 70.3 4:45:47-7th
2011 Rhode Island 70.3 4:40:39-3rd
2011 Steelhead 70.3 3:54:42-5th

Sharon Schmidt-Mongrain

2011- Timberman 70.3- 5th Place Female
2011- Ironman Texas 11th Pro Female
2010- Tyler Arboretum 10k 1st Place Overall Female
2010 -St. Croix 70.3 Ironman 1st Place Amateur, 6th Overall Female, 5:11:52*
2010- Savageman 70.0 Ironman 2nd Place Overall Female, 5:24:02
2010- Pittsburgh Triathlon 2nd Place Overall Female, 2:11:12
2010- Philadelphia Women’s Triathlon 1st Place Overall Female

Jennifer Tetrick

2011-Oceanside 70.3 15th Place(first 70.3)
2011- Columbia Tri 5th Place

Mirjam Weerd

2011- Ironman Regensburg- DNF(First place after the bike)
2011- Ironman Frankfurt- DNF
2010- Ironman South Africa- 4th Place
2010-Ironman Wisconsin- 3rd Place
2009- Ironman Germany-6th Place

Kristin White

2011- Eagleman 70.3 9th Pro Female
2011- Florida 70.3 4th Pro Female
2011- Providence 70.3 4th Pro Female
2010- Syracuse 70.3 1st age group, 1st amateur finisher, 3rd female overall
2010-Buffalo Springs Lake 70.3 1st age group, 1st amateur finisher, 6th female overall

Missy Kuck

2011- Logan International Triathlon 2nd Place Female
2011-Independence Triathlon 4th Place Female
2011- Philadelphia Insurance Olympic Triathlon-11th Place Female

Amber Ferreira

2011- Timberman 70.3- 6th Place
2011- Ironman St. George (after two broken spokes and a flat tire)7th Place

2011- Mooseman 70.3 5th Place- 2011 Providence 70.3 -4th Place
2011 -Ironman Lake Placid(after ANOTHER broken spoke)-4th Place
2010 -Ironman Lake Placid- 8th Place
2010 -Snowshoe Championships-1st Place

Like I mentioned before, I suspect several more professionals will be entered as we near the final days before the race. Either way, should be very exciting to watch.

Up Next: Amber: Rest and Recovery until Pocono's Oct 2nd. Danny: Adirondack Marathon Sept 25th and Pocono's Oct 2nd.

2011 Timberman 70.3 Race Recap

2011-08-23T13:39:00.001-04:00

So the predicted field at Timberman was a little different than who showed up. Chrissie Wellington and Caitlin Snow did show, but there was no Angela Naeth. In her place were Annie Gervais, Tamara Kozulina, and Sharon Schmidt-Mongrain. So instead of competing against three other pro women, Amber was now competing against five others. As noted, Chrissie and Caitlin have pretty good resumes, as did these ladies:

Annie Gervais's Results:
2011- Ironman 70.3 Rhode Island 2nd Place

2011- Ironman 70.3 Eagleman 4:33.43 8th Place
2011- Ironman 70.3 Mooseman 4:53.19 5th Place
2011- Ironman 70.3 Florida 4:35:21 5th Place
2010- Ironman 70.3 Timberman 4:29:04 4th Place

Tamara Kozulina's Results:
2000 – Austria Ironman – 2d Overall
2002 – Nederland Ironman (Almere) – 1st place Overall
2004 – New Zealand Ironman – 3d place Overall
2004 – Long distance WC – 1st place Overall
2005 – Zofingen Powerman WC – 3d place Overall

Sharon Schmidt-Mongrain's Results:
2010- Tyler Arboretum 10k 1st Place Overall Female
2010 -St. Croix 70.3 Ironman 1st Place Amateur, 6th Overall Female, 5:11:52*
2010- Savageman 70.0 Ironman 2nd Place Overall Female, 5:24:02
2010- Pittsburgh Triathlon 2nd Place Overall Female, 2:11:12
2010- Philadelphia Women’s Triathlon 1st Place Overall Female

Only three weeks out from Ironman Lake Placid, Amber wasn't sure whether she would race Timberman this past week. As of the day before the race, she was considering doing just the swim and bike. Of course, everything changes once the race starts.

The gun went off and so did the women. From the shore it was hard to see who had joined Chrissie in the front pack but it was soon clear that there would be a distinct lead for that first group of three women. As the ladies pulled towards the last buoy, I was able to make out a swimmer without sleeves on her wetsuit: Amber! Amber swam the 1.2 miles with Chrissie and Cait coming out of the water less than 30 seconds after them. Not only was she with the lead pack but she also had put a nice 3 minute cushion on the next fastest pro. Coming out of transition, I could tell Amber was not going to be just doing the swim-bike today.

Amber getting out of the water.

After a much quicker transition than Providence or Lake Placid, Amber took off on the bike.

Speedy Transition

While Am took off on the bike, I was able to see some of the other triathletes that I knew getting ready for the swim as well as during their transitions. My favorite picture is Steve Soba, leisurely getting ready for his swim start:

Relying heavily on my phone for status updates on Amber's bike performance, it appeared that while giving up a little speed to some of the other riders, she still maintained the third place position. Sure enough, as she came into T2, she was only about six minutes back on Chrissie and less than a minute back on Caitlin.

Chrissie Starting her run

Amber in third place being lead by Lisa Ransom

Amber looked so strong but I also knew that she hadn't wanted to push it too hard so close to Lake Placid and with still several more races remaining on her 2011 calendar. Sure enough, about three miles later, Am dropped back her pace allowing herself to drop to fourth place, with Annie Gervais passing her.

About Mile 5, in 4th Place

Amber remained in fourth of another 7 or so miles but running at her steady run pace and still not feeling well and having to slow down a bit more.

Dumping water trying to cool off.

Between the miles that I saw Amber run, I, again, saw many local triathletes:

John Rymes of S2 taking on the hill

S2's namesake, Sean Snow, on his way to another sub 5 hour 70.3

S2's Steve Smith posing for pictures

Tri Hard's Steve Reed

With Tamara and Sharon coming in hot on her tail, Amber picked it up a little for the last few miles, but by then just didn't have it in her to hold them off. She ended up finishing in sixth 33 seconds off of fourth.

While someone looking just at her splits may say that she went out too fast and blew up, I think that this race is actually a sign of improvement, as she swam with the fastest she has this year, biked competively and actually had a negative split biking 22+mph for the last 28 miles and still was able to run a solid half marathon. In the short term, she lost out on a podium finish, but in the long-run this race makes her stronger but also more confident that she can compete with the best triathletes in the world. With more training and better preparation, I expect Amber to only see further improvements in the races and years to come. Stay tuned.

Timberman Pro Female Results:

Wellington, Chrissie 1/1/1 swim:27:08 bike: 2:27:51 run: 1:18:44 Total: 4:16:33

Snow, Caitlin 2/2/2 swim: 27:09 bike: 2:33:57 run: 1:22:52 Total: 4:26:36

Gervais, Annie 5/5/3 swim: 32:05 bike: 2:31:16 run: 1:28:33 Total: 4:34:24

Kozulina, Tamara 6/6/4 Swim: 32:09 bike: 2:34:00 run: 1:30:41 Total: 4:39:25

Schmidt-Mongrain, Sharon 4/4/5 swim: 31:36 bike: 2:31:14 run: 1:33:55 Total: 4:39:30

Ferreira, Amber 3/3/6 swim: 27:38 bike: 2:34:04 run: 1:35:12 Total: 4:39:58

Timberman 70.3 Preview- Pro's Racing. Chrissie Wellington Looking to break 4 hours?

2011-08-12T16:46:00.000-04:00

Chrissie Wellington ran her way to a 4:11 at last year's Timberman which was good enough for 10th place overall. It appears that she may have scared off some of the other women she raced against.

Of the 23 women professional triathletes that raced in the 2009 and 2010 events, it appears that only Wellington and second place finisher, Angela Naeth(4:24:59) will be racing again this year.

It's difficult to find out who's pro with the Timberman participant list as there is nothing differentiating the athletes.
However, including Wellington, Naeth and Amber Ferreira, I found only one other pro woman: Caitlin Snow.

So the four pro women currently listed(that I can find by cross-referencing all pros with participant list) are:

Chrissie Wellington

1st Place - 2011 Challenge-Roth
1st Place -2011 K-Swiss Ironman 70.3
1st Place - 2011 Spec-Savers Ironman South Africa
1st Place - 2010 Ford Ironman Arizona, Tempe
1st Place - 2010Timberman 70.3
1st Place - 2010 Challenge Roth, Germany

Cait Snow

1st Place- 2011 Hyannis Half Marathon(Danny tried racing with her for first few miles during his marathon)

3rd Place- 2011 Puerto Rico 70.3
10th Place-2010 California 70.3 3rd Place- 2010 Ironman St. George
2nd Place- 2010 Rhode Island 70.3 2nd female 4:30:58 July 11th, 2010
2nd Place- 2010 Ironman Lake Placid
8th Place- 2010 Ironman World Championship
Angela Naeth

1st Place- 2011 70.3 Ironman Boulder
3rd Place- 2011Rev3 Quassy
1st Place- 2011 Leadman Epic 250

2nd Place- 2011 70.3 Ironman St. Croix
2nd Place- 2011 70.3 Ironman Texas
1st Place- 2011 Kemah Olympic Triathlon
5th Place- 2011 Abu Dhabi International Triathlon
Amber Ferreira

7th Place- 2011 Ironman St. George (after two broken spokes and a flat tire)
4th Place- 2011 Mooseman 70.3 5th Place- 2011 Providence 70.3
7th Place- 2011 Ironman Lake Placid(after ANOTHER broken spoke)
8th Place- 2010 Ironman Lake Placid
1st Place- 2010 Snowshoe Championships

This field should make for a SUPER FAST race. Chrissie and Cate have some of the fastest run times ever for Iron and half Ironman distances and Angela holds a few bike course records I believe. And, don't forget Amber. The sleeper at Timberman coming off an annoying mechanical at Lake Placid may turn a few heads if things go well for her. She may just have to forget to cry uncle and as the saying goes, "you've got yourself a game!"

Up Next: Timberman 70.3 in one week from Sunday for Amber. Munich, Germany for Danny.

The Debt Crisis

2011-08-08T16:26:00.000-04:00

Danny: The Dow has already dropped almost 600 points today. This occurred after Standard & Poor downgraded U.S. debt and created worries about domestic and global growth combined to push stocks to their biggest one-day losses since December 2008. The US debt crisis, and to a lesser degree the Europe's, was a contrived crisis. Politicians rangling for upcoming elections, or delayed responses from certain EU countries to bail countries out have been attributed to much of the mess the stock markets are currently in.

Amber: Wait this is not an economic blog!

Danny: That's true but this forced debt has implications on endurance athletes as well.

Amber: Because they're not going to be able to afford to enter races anymore?

Danny: Maybe so, but I was thinking more in the sense that endurance athletes often put themselves in debt unnecessarily by racing or training too often and not giving themselves a chance to recover.

Amber: Oh! Like when you got a stress fracture from running 25 miles with me on my birthday and then the Flying Pig Marathon that Sunday?

Danny: Well, err, yes but also in more insidious ways.

Amber: Insidious is insidious.

Danny: Yes indeed.

Amber: You're right. Athletes often times don't like at all the microtraumas that they cause, not only to their muscles and bones but also hormonal and enzymatic changes. That's why it is so important for me to fully recover after an Ironman.

Danny: Amber- it's been three weeks, I don't need to carry you everywhere anymore, do I?

Amber:In another week or so, in the meantime can you bring me to the fridge, a Skinny Cow is awaiting.

Danny: Grumble, grumble... Anyway, making sure that your body goes through the entire cycle of tissue degeneration and regeneration requires that you not only do the activities that degenerate your body(i.e. exercises) but also allow yourself adequate amounts of regeneration and proliferation where the benefits of your exercises can be seen(increases in: muscle fiber size, intracellular mitochondria, the number of capillaries, total blood flow and total oxygen-consumption capacity).
Amber: Let me stew this over and get back to me more about this.

Danny: Alright, tomorrow I'll talk about the importance of rest within a training week as well as the larger training cycle throughout the year.

Ironman Lake Placid

2011-07-26T14:03:00.002-04:00

This past Sunday was Ironman Lake Placid. It promised to be an exciting day. As predicted, the women's pro field was stacked. Despite a few dropouts like Dede Griesbauer and Linsey Corbin, Heather Wurtele, the double Jackies(spelling different) as well as the late entry of Tine Decker, promised to produce a fast race.

Amber had been up in Placid since Thursday night, staying with aR's Ryan Kelly, Myles Chase of MC Cycles and Alex and Audra Index of Endurofun Sport. I arrived Saturday night after attempting the Presidential Traverse. Due to slick rocks from rain, I didn't complete it but did get a chance to (nearly) run into a moose and her children on the trail as well as a stray fox in the parking lot.

By the time I made it up to Lake Placid, all the preparation was set. We had dinner, watched replays of that day's Tour de France and got to bed around 10pm. Race morning came as it always does: too early. And after a mile walk from our condo to the swim start they were ready to go. Miles was competing in his second Ironman having done LP last year as well, Ryan was doing his first "real triathlon" and Amber, the vet, was doing her fifth.

It was soon announced that, as predicted, the water would be too water for wetsuits. Luckily, Amber's coach Kurt Perham, had brought her a speedsuit which may not have helped her physically but certainly helped her psychologically as she, now, at least looked similar to the other pros.

The swim went off well(in my opinion) with Am swimming a 1:00:18 and coming in 4th Pro woman. As I was volunteering in the Gear Bags, I was lucky enough to see her as she transitioned from swim to bike. Thinking that I wouldn't see her until half-way through the bike in about two and a half hours, I went back to my volunteer duties. However, a few minutes passed and all of a sudden, there's Amber on the other side of the fence screaming for me to go get her wheels. Apparently, during her transition, another spoke(see IM St. George) had broken and the mechanics had told her that there were no 650's. I ran probably my fastest mile ever back to the condo, picked up the wheels and my bike and jetted back to the transition area. Just as I arrived(I'd like to think 5 minutes later but was probably closed to 9), I saw her take off on the bike. A mechanic had found a pair for her to use(hopefully not off another racer's bike). All in all, it took about 15 minutes for her to get out on the bike dropping from 4th to 8th place.

Despite the set-back and the resultant worsening in placing, Amber then put together a solid bike with a 5:44.00. I was able to see her at the half-way bike and was also able to see Heather Wurtele zip by. To say she was flying would be an understatement. Tine Deckers kept up with her for the first lap but seemed to slow a bit on the second eventually coming in 5 minutes behind. When Am came off the bike, she had made up only one spot with Heather, Tine, Tyler Stewart, Suzanne Zelazo, Jackie Arendt(awesome race for the 1st year pro!), and Jacqui Gordon rounding out the first six spots.

While Amber proceeded to try to chase down Jacqui G, Jackie A and G did the same to Suzanne running a 3:22 and 3:28, respectively. Amber looked solid on the first half of the run, but then slowed a bit on the second finishing with a 3:35.31 marathon, with a total time of 10:30.39, 9 minutes back from sixth place Suzanne. Had she maintained her first half marathon pace she would have run a 3:15 or so, and not broken a spoke, she would have finished right around 10:05 which would have been fifth place. You never know how these races will turn out though and I am just so impressed that she kept going. She actually passed a fading Ryan Kelly on the run, but Ryan, as to not let his training partner beat him, caught up and they ended up finishing the last few miles together. Should make an awesome finish line photo.

This race was particularly fun to watch because I was able to see all the runners on multiple occasions as the run course was a two loop, double out and back course. I was able to see TJ Tollakson run a sub-3 hour marathon to win. Even more impressive was Tim Snow's 2:51 marathon(check out his article on how to run a fast IM marathon here). It was also nice to see all the S2, PBM and TriHard triathletes from New England out on the course. Looking at the beautiful Suzanne Zelazo wasn't so bad either(I know. Thou shall not covet thy neighbor's wife, but it seems that doesn't apply to triathletes and furthermore, she's not my neighbor:) Anyway....).

Here's how the Pro Women's Field turned out:

1st-Wurtele, Heather 09:19:03

2nd- Deckers, Tine 09:34:41

3rd- Stewart, Tyler 09:38:09

4th- Arendt, Jackie 09:56:21

5th- Gordon, Jacqui 10:07:22

6th-Zelazo, Suzanne 10:21:08

7th- Ferreira, Amber 10:30:39

8th- Alldritt, Miranda 10:46:46

9th- Danais, Marie 10:48:26

Other Notable Racers:

Sean Snow-10:47:16

Lisa Ransom-12:13:00

Chad Carter-14:02:37

John Rymes-12:33:53

Regi Kavadias-12:50:17

Jimmie Cochrane- 11:06:52

Myles Chase-11:58:32

Steve Soba-12:06:24

Keith Shields-13:23:18

Michelle Bozarth-10:52:11

And so many more excellent performances that I cannot list right now. Awesome job to everyone that not only finished but had the guts to start!

Below is a bunch of photo's that I took along the course. Sorry the resolution is so poor-only so much you can do with a Blackberry phone.

Jimmie Cochrane at mile 10

Finish Line

Ben Hoffman at mile 24 coming in second overall

David of PB racing at mile 10

Jacqui Gordon(I think)

Chad Carter starting his run

Amber too fast for the camera on the bike

John Rymes of S2 on the run

Sean Snow starts lap 2

Keith Shields coming out of the water: "Well that's over."

Danny enjoying a nice "maple whip"

Sean Snow

Heather Wurtele

Amber Pre-swim: No Wetsuits Allowed!

Maria Danais, 9th Pro Woman

Heather Wurtele approaching the finish

TJ Tollakson finishing

Miranda Alldritt, 8th Pro Woman

Gina Whipple of S2 starts her run

Tyler Stewart starts lap 2

John Rymes

Amber in Transition

The Snow Family

Heather Wurtele

Jackie Arendt, 4th Pro Woman

Handsome Ransom starting the run

Tine Deckers, 2nd Pro Woman

Ryan Kelly starting the second lap of the marathon

TJ Tollakson starting second lap of marathon

Up Next: Amber: A much needed rest. Danny: Continuing lazy summer strategy.

Danny Ferreira's Secrets to Running a Fast 8 Miler

2011-07-18T15:46:00.001-04:00

Yesterday was the Stowe 8 Miler, part of the New England Grand Prix. I hadn't done a road race since May with the 5k Rock N Race and hadn't raced at all for over a month. So I was raring to go and wanted to race FAST. However, when all was said and done, I ended up running about 20 seconds per mile than I did at the last NEGP race I did- and that was for a half marathon! Here's where this could have gone wrong:

--Training: Typically you would like to train for the intensity and distance you'd be racing but, due to the heat, I've been cutting all my runs short and keeping them sloooooooow.

--Tapering: Usually the last few days before a race, it is ideal to rest up to let your legs recover. I decided to do a 153 mile ride through the six gaps of Vermont the day before. Here's how that went:
     "Out like a lion, in like Am?" So apparently that's not the quote. I was thinking that if I go out fast, I would finish fast like Amber, but instead I slowly died as the ride went on. I dropped the peloton 30 minutes into the ride. I then rode the next 50 miles by myself before being consumed by them, finishing in the mid-pack. Here are my splits:
               Brandon Gap Summit(mile 19.8) Time: 1:12; Pace: 16.2 mph
               Middlebury Gap Summit(mile 46.8)Time 1:39(2:51); Pace: 16.36 mph
               Lincoln Gap Summit(mile 71.5) Time 1:37(4:28); Pace: 15.25 mph
               Appalachian Gap Summit(mile 90.8) Time: 1:27(5:55); Pace: 13.3 mph
               Roxbury Gap Summit(mile 108.2) Time: 1:19(7:14) Pace 13.1 mph
               Rochester Gap Summit(mile 137.7) Time 2:05(9:20) Pace 14.1 mph
               Amee Farm(mile 153.5) Time 00:48:48(10:09) Pace 19.55 mph

--Nutrition: The day before you race, you want to make sure you eat no new things and also about the same that you typically do on a regular basis. Due to the ride I ate the following:
        Pre-Ride: bowl of Frosted Mini-Wheats and 1/4 loaf of Italian Bread
        During Ride:
                      -5 bananas
                      -2 gu's
                      -2 granola bars(1 Zone and 1 Nature Valley)
                      -5 peanut butter and jelly sandwiches
                      -14 bottles(20 oz) of water/poweraid mix
                      -6 fig newtons
                      -2 clementines
                       -2 pickles
             Post-Ride: Salad bar, chicken soup, spaghetti with meat sauce and 2 beers
             Pre-Race: Egg, Sausage and Cheese sandwich on a croissant and a large hazelnut iced coffee at Dunkin' Donuts

--Good Night Sleep: The recommendation for sleep is 8-10 hours of sleep a night. Apparently a cheap motel with rowdy sport fisherman, poor AC and thin walls make for a less than optimal sleep.

--Warm Up: Ideally before any race you want to get your body to a steady state so that it doesn't waste precious time during the race doing that. I, on the other hand, spent my pre-race time lying down in the shade.

--Weather- Can't control this one, but try to time your A races in the mild-temperature seasons of Spring or Fall so that hot, hot temps don't ruin all your potential and sap you of energy. Was 82 but felt 100. Killed me...

So this was a great example of what not to do for running a fast race, but if you do the opposite, you just might be in contention for the win.

UP NEXT: LAKE PLACID!!!

Lake Placid Preview: Pro Women Racing

2011-07-15T15:44:00.001-04:00

There are twelve professional woman triathletes that will be toeing the line at Ironman Lake Placid. It appears that it will be a pretty deep field.

#40 Heather Wurtele

---2010 and 2011 Ironman St. George Winner
---2010 Ironman Canada 2nd Place
---2010 Calgary 70.3 2nd Place
---2008 Ironman Coeur d'Alene Winner
Website

#41 Linsey Corbin

---2011 New Orleans 70.3 4th Place
---2011 California 70.3 8th Place
--- 2011Pucon 70.3 Winner
---2010 Arizona Ironman 2nd Place
---2010 Ironman Coeur d'Alene Winner
Website

#42 Tyler Stewart

--- 2011 Eagleman 70.3 2nd Place
--- 2011 Ironman Texas 4th Place
---2010 Ironman Cozumel 2nd Place
--- 2009 Ironman Coeur d’Alene Winner
---2008 Hawaii Ironman 2nd Place
--- 2005 and 2006 Ironman World Championship Amateur Champion
Website

#43 Dede Griesbauer

---2011 Ironman Texas 15th Place
--- 2009 Vineman Ironman 70.3 Triathlon 3rd Place
--- 2008 Eagleman Ironman 70.3 Triathlon 2nd Place
--- 2007 Timberman 70.3 3rd Place
Website

#44 Kelly Williamson

--- 2011 Ironman 70.3 San Juan Winner
--- 2010 Steelhead 70.3 Winner
---2010 Branson 70.3 Winner
--- 2010 Ironman Coeur d'Alene 3rd Place
Website

#45 Amber Ferreira

---2011 Ironman St. George (after two broken spokes and a flat tire)- 7th female pro
--- 2011 Mooseman 70.3 4th Place
--- 2011 Providence 70.3 5th Place
---2010 Ironman Lake Placid 8th Place
---2010 Snowshoe Champion
Website

#46 Kristin Iavarone

--- 2011 Eagleman 70.3 11th Place
--- 2010 Golden Gate Triathlon 3rd Place
--- 2009 Vineman Showdown Triathlon 2nd Place
Website

#47 Jacqui Gordon

--- 2011 Ironman Texas 8th Place
--- 2011 St Croix 70.3 7th Place
---2010 Timberman 70.3 11th Place
---2009 Ironman Lake Placid 6th Place
Website

#48 Jackie Arendt

--- 2011 St. George 2nd Place
--- 2011 Kansas 70.3 5th Place
--- 2011 Buffalo Springs 70.3 9th Place
Team Blog

#49 Liis Toomingas

---2011 St. George 4th Place
--- Couldn’t find much else on her(She’s a young Finnish triathlete) but looks like she did Kona in 2003. I wonder how she'll finnish.

#50 Marie Danais

--- 2008 Ironman Louisville 6th Place
---2005 Ironman USA 6th Place
---2005 Ironman Wisconsin 5th Place
Team Blog

#51 Suzanne Zelazo

--- 2011 Rev3 Quassey 16th Place
--- 2009 Florida 70.3 11th Place
---2009 Toronto Half Marathon Winner(1:20)
Website

Please refer to respective websites for photo credits.

Tapering for Lake Placid, Chet Warman Memorial Race and Stowe 8- Miler

2011-07-15T12:07:00.000-04:00

Right when Amber starts her taper, I start back up with racing. This has been the longest stretch of time without racing since my stress fracture and I am definitely itching to get back into racing. I will most likely get my fill this weekend. Saturday is the Chet Warman Memorial 6 Gap Challenge which encompasses 151 miles of Vermont roads, six gaps and 10,700 feet of elevation gain. According to the late Chet Warman it contains "the longest, steepest stretch of road in America" with sustained grades of 20% to 24% on Lincoln Gap. Fun. This race will be a true test of my ability to compete in the Adirondack 540 in September and I have already set a time(8:30) which I need to finish this in, or I won't register for the ADK 540. 8 1/2 hours seems like more than enough time to complete 151 miles as I will only have to average 17.75 mph. It will really depend on how many stops I will need to take for food as well as just how much those climbs take out of me. We will see.

The weekend wouldn't be complete if not to follow up an exhausting ride with a speedy run(hopefully). On Sunday, the best New England runners will be out for the Stowe 8 miler. As part of the New England Grand Prix, this race is sure to attract the fastest runners around. My best race of the year, New Bedford Half Marathon, was a NEGP race and I attribute my fast time to being surrounded by fast runners. We will see how that goes.

While I'm getting back into the swing of races, Amber will be enjoying a much needed taper prior to Ironman Lake Placid next weekend.

Up Next: VT double for Danny, Taper and rest before Lake Placid for Ambo

Providence 70.3, the Flu, and "Alternative Training"

2011-07-12T13:58:00.001-04:00

What a great finish line ending?

We went down Saturday to Providence(other photos here) with S2's John Rymes and aR's Ryan Kelly. We did all the logistical pre-triathlon mazes: dropping off gear bags, bikes and registering etc. Due to issues with our hotel we ended bunking up all in one room which may have actually worked out well since they now didn't need to pick us up in the morning. I dropped the three of them off at the swim start which was interesting to see since no one was allowed wet-suits so the usual triathlete tuxedos were not seen. Rather a bunch of individuals splashing around. While I went back and gorged myself with the free continental breakfast, Amber, Ryan and John all put together good swims and headed out on the bike course.

I timed it so that they would be arriving at the Bike-Run transition soon after I got there and sure enough without twenty minutes, I see Ryan come in. He arrived into transition 5th and left 3rd with a very fast transition. Amber arrived a bit after, right with Annie Gervais, who went on to run her way to a second place finish, but did not have such a fast transition.

Amber post-race, pre-sick

Amber looked strong out there but it was so hot that she did struggle a little bit on the run saying after that she just couldn't get her legs to turn over. She ended up finishing 6th overall(5th pro) with a time she was disappointed with but one that I would have been ecstatic. Either way this was just a nice last hard effort before Lake Placid in two weeks.

Amber 3 miles ahead of the runners going in the other direction

We then made our way home, stopping at Not Your Average Joes for dinner. I then quickly packed up and made my way up to the White Mountains to be ready for the Presidential Traverse the next day. Just as I am dozing off, I get a call from Amber who was crying. Apparently after I left she got violently ill and was throwing up and very dizzy. I quickly packed my things back up and drove back down to her. She spent the rest of the night and most of yesterday alternating between sleeping and getting sick. It may have been heat stroke, food poisoning, a 24 hour bug or separation anxiety but only now is she starting to feel better at all.

I think this was her body's way of getting a much needed before Placid. Perfect way to taper.

Speaking about training strategies:

After the good response from my last post on my run, swim, run workout, I have decided to let people in on some of my other workout secrets.

1) Abdominal Tightening: I know that Amber and Greg Whitman both have touched upon numbers 1 and 2, but I would like to defend these stances. Abdominal tightening, while probably burning an inconsequential additional calorie or two, is a main foundation of lumbar stability. If I can engage my core throughout my day, I can re-educate those muscles to fire even when tired. Like at the end of a marathon.

2) Breath Holding: Come On! People live in tents or in Colorado to get the benefits of anoxic breathing. Easier way to do it? Hold your breath. As silly as it sounds, if done correctly and frequently enough, you'll be stimulating the same body responses to produce more red blood cells to compensate for diminished oxygenation.

3) Garages: Good to park your cars in. Better to use as a safe and cool place to do hills and speed workouts. My 2 favorite workouts are:
a) Run up the stairs, sprint across to other stair well, descend 1 flight, sprint back, and repeat to the bottom. That's one rep. Do 5-10.
b)Run the ramp, sprinting the up ramps and recovering on the flats. Descend via stairs. Do 4-8.

4) Single Leg Stance: Standing on one leg challenging your balance as well as strengthens your proximal hip musculature. I try to sneak in times throughout the day where I'll stand on one leg. Or better still: stand on one leg, engage my abdominals and hold my breath. Who says I can't multi-task.

5) Bricks: Regardless of distance I bike, I try to run afterwards. This does two things: a)it gets you're legs used to running off the bike and b) it allows you to simulate the fatigue of a longer run without all the pounding.

6) Jeremy's Boot Camp: Okay so this one is new to me, but I have now attended three sessions, and think I'm a convert. The amount of different muscle groups utilized during a forty five minute session is amazing and it's crazy that I'm not only fatigued but also winded when I leave. It definitely hits some of my big areas of deficits quite nicely.

7) Hiking: I don't go hiking nearly as much as I would like but don't discount it. The cardiovascular benefits of the ascent combined with the eccentric strengthening on the descent makes the fact that you're out in the wilderness having a blast all that much more enjoyable. Not challenging enough? Throw some water(or beer) in your pack and you've got instant resistance. And if it becomes too much, you can always dump it(water) or drink it(beer).

Amber stretching a bit

8) Tapering: My Favorite part of any training program is the week before a race where I can sit back and relax. Seriously though, rest is a much needed and often under-appreciated aspect of training that needs to be part of everyone's routine. Where else will your body be able to recover and get free HGH?

UP NEXT: Danny: Chet Warman 151 Gap Ride(Saturday) and the Stowe 8 Miler(Sunday). Amber: LAKE PLACID!!!

A run, swim, thunderstorm, bushwack, Presidential Traverse

2011-07-07T12:41:00.001-04:00

Last night, Rich Lavers, J. Massa and I went for our usual Wednesday night run. However, due to the heat, I decided to mix things up and take them on my run/swim. I run up to East Concord from the Y, jump in the river and swim down to NHTI where I get out and run back to the Y. It's about a 20-25 minute run to the river, 20 minute swim, then 15-20 minute run back. Pretty decent workout but also fun and particularly nice on hot days like yesterday.

That was the plan at least. We made it up to East Concord, realized that both Rich and J had kept their socks on(which drags you down when swimming) but decided to go for it anyway. We jumped in the river and started down. Rich was a little timid about swimming a mile since he "wasn't much of a swimmer" so we alternated between swimming and running on the sand bar mid-river. About half way down, the thunder came. Hard. And close. We opted to get out of the water and give the lightning a little bit less of an opportunity to strike us. Unfortunately this brought us right to the edge of a large swamp. J and Rich decided to skirt the edge while I trudged through. "Poison Ivy doesn't grow in swamps, right?" The logic was flawed behind that assumption: I have had poison ivy. I have never been in a swamp. Therefore poison ivy does not grow in swamps. Hmmmm. While the logic was tenuous at best, I was lucky in that I didn't run into any poison ivy. I did however go waist-deep in some pretty stinky, thick mud. And was cut up by some saw grass(I'm not sure it was actually saw grass just that it cut my skin similarly to what I would expect a saw to do).

Meanwhile, J and Rich managed to skirt the edge successfully, staying moderately more clean and less injured than me. We popped out on the NHTI soccer field, right next to a twenty foot high metal post. Yikes! Not the best place to be standing during a thunderstorm. Luckily for me, Rich is a little taller. We took off back home making it to the Y without further incident. After showering away about a pound's worth of dirt, I was done. Not a bad Wednesday run after all.

On the run, Rich and I discussed our aR teammate Ryan Welts' new Presidential Traverse fastest known time, and decided that we will try to better it later this summer. What we may lack in talent, we will certainly make up for in unpreparedness. A little friendly intra-team competition.

Up Next: Providence 70.3

Smile! Concord, NH a training Mecca

2011-07-05T14:23:00.000-04:00

New building in Concord with the right attitude

We spend a lot of time on this blog talking about races we've done or are planning to do, but today we wanted to spend some time talking about the place where we do the majority of our training for those races: Concord, NH.

We've lived in Concord nearly as long as I've been running and with all the races throughout the country and world that we have since done, we haven't found a place that affords quite as much diversity in terrain or scenery, proximity to races, and great training partners as Concord.

Just within city limits you can swim in a river, two good sized ponds or at the YMCA, spend all day climbing Carter Hill/W. Parish or stick to flat terrain out on 106, run the busy city roads, quiet roads of NHTI and the bike paths or take it off the roads altogether with the amazing trail network behind Concord Hospital and over at St. Pauls. Come winter, they groom White's Farm so you can skate or traditional ski or you can snowshoe on those same trails that you've been running all summer. Within the next few towns you can climb several peaks(Mt. Kearsarge via bike), swim in some of the cleanest lakes in the country and run trails as technical as anywhere. Within an hour's drive you can get to the White Mountains, the ocean, or Boston depending on your training prerogative. Need to get away? How about two major airports within an hour both accessible by public transportation? Sick of training? With some of the best skiing in the East nearby, you can definitely amuse yourself on the slopes, or some of the best granite on the planet for rock climbing. Spend a relaxing day at the beach, whether it be a lake, river or the ocean it's all clean and refreshing.

What we gain in accessibility and proximity, we do not give up in scenery either. Some of the best foliage, prettiest mountains, lushest forests and beautiful and cleanest lakes in the world abound in New Hampshire. It certainly makes training far more enjoyable when you can look around you and see the miracles of nature without a smog-filled hue. Also helps to have a low-crime rate, and few, if any, dangerous animals or insects-allowing for an uninhibited outdoor adventure.

Have you seen how many race NHTI alone has? We have the CARS series, the Granite State Snowshoe Series, the New Hampshire Grand Prix, the Will Run for Beer, Freeze Your Buns, Mine Falls Trail Series, Western New Hampshire Trail Series and several of the New England Grand Prix races within a half hours drive. Three marathons and three half-Ironman(Timberman, Mooseman, and the new Mascomaman) with 45 minutes. Once you start counting northern Mass races, you'll find enough races to fill nearly every day of the week.

And there are people that do them all. We live across the street from Dave Audet who's run a sub-3 hour marathon in every state in the US and still runs everyday. A block down the road, Ryan Kelly, the professional triathlete and fellow aR member. Looking to go for a trail run? How about Rich Lavers of Seven Sister's Fame or J. Massa, a podium finisher at the Tough Mudder and one tough mudder. Want a great track workout with national-caliber coaching? A short drive to the Gate City Strider's track workouts will get you there. Need a tri coach? How about Steve Reed or Sean Snow, multiple Ironman HI finishers, offering different training strategies. The Concord area may actually have one of the highest percentage of Clearwater qualifiers in the country when you look at everyone who has qualified and how small the town is. We've also got Connor Jenning's who holds UVM's 3,000 meter record and, of course, little old Amber Ferreira. All in a town of less than 30,000 people. Not too shabby of a group to train with. Need a little more encouragement? Jeremy Woodward will gladly whip you into shape with his functional strengthening program which I did this morning and now cannot move my arms or legs or abdominals or...

So while we may not have the huge mountains of Colorado, the year round dry, clear roads of Arizona, or endless swimming of Southern California, we do have a little bit of everything in moderation, which like everything in life is actually best for us(and our training).

UP NEXT: Providence 70.3

Top Ten Reasons to Run Mount Washington

2011-06-29T12:51:00.001-04:00

A brief retort to Steve Wolfe's blog.

10. Every March I look forward to seeing whether I get in or not to the lottery. It's like Christmas in March(or at least a lesser semi-formal holiday). I have gotten in 25% of the time, but by volunteering through the Gate City Striders two years and being a mountain goat the third, I have been able to earn a spot each year. If you're willing to volunteer or run up six other mountains the previous or are fast enough to secure an elite spot then you can bypass the lottery. Otherwise you get to let the fates decide. Like I said, I have won the lottery 75% of the time by not being selected.

9. Eccentric strengthening has been shown to help ward off injuries as well as make you stronger. Not only does Mt Washington Road Race allow you the opportunity to run up but for no extra cost you can get some strengthening in on your way down. And its faster than a car!

8. The weather can be epic! I have had bluebird days at the summit four years in a row. Two of those years were overcast and lousy below treeline. Sure it can be cold and wind-blown, but where else can you say you ran up the mountain with the worst weather ever recorded?

7. Every year I have gotten a very different shirt. Very unique and I prize each one.

6. Great races are built around a very loyal fan-base. This one is on par with Boston or the Kingman Farm Snowshoe Race.

5. What's nice about this race is, that since there is no other race like it to compare it to, times mean very little so nobody cares how fast you did it in.

4. I love all the endless stats, streaks, records, books, bumper stickers etc.

3. For only $80 you get to run up Mt. Washington, get a fleece blanket, a finisher's medal, the feeling of self-effiency on finding your own way down and free ice cream and soda. At least it's not $300 like the bike race.

2. One of the only races that walking is faster than running.

1. There's only one hill.

With that being said, If you're a runner in New England, I'd still recommend you avoiding this race....to give me a better shot getting in.

Sunapee Ragged Kearsarge Greenway

2011-06-29T11:28:00.000-04:00

Less than a week after writing about the health concerns of ultra-distance racing, I have decided that in September or early October, I am going to try to go for the record in completing the 75 miles of the Sunapee Ragged Kearsarge Greenway.

SRK Greenway

Okay, so the Greenway Coalition doesn't formally recognize speed records, but I figure that if I complete it in a reasonable time, it will give others motivation to topple the "record" and in the meantime get to enjoy some of the best trails in the Lake Sunapee Region. The trail is a cooperation of landowners and local authorities through forests, mountains and sometimes old logging roads creating a "necklace" connecting the three mountains of Kearsarge, Sunapee and Ragged.

Before I picked up running, I used to hike a bunch of it that went through my home town of New London. Due to the fact that the trail is primarily located on private properties, camping is not allowed so this will force me to keep up a solid pace throughout the run.

Although not too much elevation gain/loss, there will be plenty of steep short hills, technical switchbacks as well as the three major climbs to the main peaks. This will be balanced out with plenty of nice double track running to hopefully keep my interest and average pace up.

I'll probably start below Sunapee and get it out of the way early and go counter-clock wise to tackle the challenging hills of Sutton and Warner, as well as Mt Kearsarge, and then get some relatively benign end miles towards the Springfield Croydon areas.

I'll be shooting for under 15 hours but it will all depend on how much supplies I'll have to carry and whether I sucker someone in to joining me. Either way, it should be a fun time...

UP NEXT: Wedding Double(Genny's and Gattie's) and possibly a 4th of July Race, then Providence 70.3 for Amber.

The Sustainability of Endurance Sports

2011-06-22T17:09:00.001-04:00

A conversation Am and I had the other day sparked this blog topic. I had questioned at what point does a good thing cease to be a good thing. We spoke specifically of all the benefits that training for a sprint triathlon(or any aerobic activity) could provide: increased muscle strength, improved cardiovascular function, decreased risk of heart disease, diabetes and stroke, increased bone density, positive mood, and a pletheora of other benefits. We wondered whether the risk/reward ratio worsened as the distance(and training time allotted) increased up to an Ironman distance.

Are Ultra-Endurance Athletes Healthy?

The definition of healthy, as defined by those handy online dictionaries, is:
1) Appearing vigorous and youthful
2) Freedom from injury, imperfection, or impairment
3) Absence of illness
4) Good mental health
5) Active and high energy
6) Vitality.

Appearing vigorous or youthful?
Maybe at the start of the race after a couple weeks taper but typically, these athletes are day in/day out limping around after a hard workout, definitely not bestowing the virtues of vigor or appearing youthful. Emaciated athletes fill the pages of Ironman and Ultra-running magazines as much as do their model counter-parts fill the beauty magazines. And just as those models are not healthy by this definition, neither are these athletes.

Chrissie Wellington After a Bike Crash

When is thin, too thin?

Typical Ultra-runner

In addition to the emaciated looks of these ultra-athletes, the noticable wrinkles should be a clue of premature aging. All those hours in the sun not only causes those wrinkles but can also cause skin cancer. The researchers of an article in a 2006 issue of Archives of Dermatology found that the runners had a more suspicious moles and other skin abnormalities suggestive of an increased risk of skin cancer than non-runners.

TAKE HOME: Don't worry about your body weight but rather focus on a well-rounded body type that fits you as an individual and don't forget the sunscreen.

Freedom from Injury, Imperfection, or Impairment:
A 2007 American Family Physician article cites: patellofemoral pain syndrome, Iliotibial band friction syndrome, medial tibial stress syndrome(shin splints), Achilles tendinopathy, plantar fascitiis, and stress fracture as the most common acute injuries that can be sustained by endurance athletes.

Kujala et al. found athletes from all types of competitive sports are at slightly increased risk of requiring hospital care because of osteoarthritis of the hip, knee, or ankle. Egermann et al. found that with increased number of weekly training hours with triathletes, the risk of muscle-tendon injuries increased and that 62.1% of all participants in their retrospective survey sustained either a muscle-tendon or ligament-capsule injury. This was corroborated with an American Journal of Sports Medicine study on Ironman triathletes which found 91% of all athletes sustained at least one soft tissue overuse injury during the previous year's training.
To make matters worse, Burns et al. has found that the most significant predictor of injury during the triathlon season was a previous injury. Vetter and Symonds agreed, findings 50% of all college athletes report chronic injury and was correlated with training intensity. So it appears injuries beget more injuries.

Interestingly, a study looking at Olympic distance versus Ironman distance triathletes found that while the number of overuse injuries in the two groups were fairly similar, the recurrence rate of injury and time away from the sport were greater in the Ironman group. The researchers stressed the importance of understanding "cumulative stress" which often occurs when an athlete is prevented from doing one aspect of training so they increase the load of another discipline. They state that this can actually increase both their risk of injury recurrence as well as time to full rehabilitation.

TAKE-HOME: Injuries need to be avoided rather than treated. If we can listen to our bodies we are sure to find a way to determine when we are about to cross that line into over-training and subsequent injury. If you're injured already, take the extra time to heal then work on the physical impairments that lead to the breakdown in the first place.

Absence of Illness:
It has been shown that while moderate levels of activity can boost the immune system, over-training and ultra-races can lower resistance to disease due to the release of cortisol and its subsequent suppresion of the immune system. While this reduction in immunity is only short-lived, chronic overtraining can, and often does, lead to chronic illness in this population. Again, not healthy by this definition.

TAKE HOME: Take time after races to fully recover. An extra day of rest may not seem like much of a benefit to you but your body takes a lot longer to recover than you think. At first sign of getting sick, cut back on your training intensity and durations.

Good mental health
Another concern for endurance sports is pyschological. Motivation is a huge determinant in successful longevity of participation. Too much(or inappropriate) motivation may lead to over-training and physical and mental burnout. Too little motivation may lead to under-training, poor results and potentially mental burnout.

Perception of self can also impact endurance sport participation. People who train hard and do not see the improvements that they expect, are probably more likely to discontinue participation than those that continue to progress(or maintain) performance times or placements.

A study of mental exhaustion with college athletes, found that with increased training intensity and durations came increases in both physical and mental exhaustion.

However, if you love training and you do it for the love of the sport and not due to extrinsic goals or rewards, studies have shown that this can actually be a benefit to mental health. So for this one, it depends on the person.
TAKE HOME: Evaluate the reasons for doing the activities that you do and make sure they're the right reasons.

Active and high energy
A healthy person is one that has energy throughout the hours awake- not just during their training. As mentioned above, it is pretty common to see ultra-distance athletes hobbling around exhausted due to their training regime. If your training is limiting all other aspects of your life, are you really healthy?

TAKE HOME: Leave something in the bank so you can play with your kids or go for a spontaneous hike once you're done your workout.

Vitality
This one is definitely interesting. Terramoto found that elite endurance athletes do survive longer than the general population which they attribute to lower cardiovascular disease mortality. However, there also have been studies looking at low bone density in female endurance athletes which one of the most accurate predictors of mortality in the elderly. Additionally, cyclists have a similar problem with osteoporosis due to the limited weight bearing they do during training.

Hackney states that the cardiovascular protective effects comes at the expense of "spermatogenesis" problems. It is surmised that there is a shift in the hypothalamic-pituitary-testicular regulatory axis which results in reduced testosterone which has a cardiovascular protective effect but also makes reproduction a little tricky. So while these athletes are at less risk of death themselves, they are also at less risk of continuing the circle of life.

TAKE-HOME: If you're a female athlete or primarily a cyclist, make sure you're doing some resistance training to develop and maintain your bone density. If you're young and thinking of having kids, maybe hold off on the extreme ends of the endurance activity to ensure your swimmers can at least keep up with the rest of you.

SOCIOECONOMIC RESTRICTIONS
Let's be honest. Ultra events are very expensive. Just registering for an Ironman is more than a lot of people make in a week, no less getting yourself and your bike there, staying the requisite three-day minimum, the bike, the access to a pool etc. Additionally, with the rise in attendence of these events, there has come an equal rise in cost. This can certainly be a limited to participation in ultra-events.

In addition to financial restrictions on participation of ultra-events, societal restrictions are a huge impact. Family, friends and jobs all can impact participation due to the sheer amount of hours per week that these events require. An average marathoner may run 60-80 miles a week(6-12 hours/week),while an ultramarathoner may do a weekend long-run in the range of six hours. Ultra-cyclists and triathletes often dedicate 5-8 hours on the weekends to those long century rides.

So with the potential health risks associated with ultra-distance training, these socioecomonic restrictions also can impede on an individual's ability to sustain ultra-distance training and competition year in and year out.

TAKE-HOME: If you have a great support group of friends and family that all can train together and you choose to spend your money racing rather than boozing, you're golden. Otherwise evaluate your situation.

Summary:
While I love the challenge and appeal of these ultra-long races that challenge one's mind and body, the costs associated(both physically, psychologically and socioeconomically) need to be considered when training for and competing in these events. Use of sunscreen, being aware of early signs of overtraining and injury, allowing for full recovery after strenuous workouts and ensuring that I am addressing and caring for all aspects of my life, not just the sport, are necessary for allowing for ultras to be sustainable in my life.

Train less, train smart, eat well, love what you do and who you're with.

References:

Nottin S, Doucende G, Schuster I, Tanguy S, Dauzat M, Obert P. Alteration in left ventricular strains and torsional mechanics after ultralong duration exercise in athletes. Circ Cardiovasc Imaging. 2009 Jul;2(4):323-30.

Egermnnn M, Brocai D, Lill CA, Schmitt H. Analysis of injuries in long-distance triathletes. Int J Sports Med. 2003. 24(4).

Scott JM, Esch BT, Shave R, Warburton DE, Gaze D, George K. Cardiovascular consequences of completing a 160-km ultramarathon. Med Sci Sports Exerc. 2009 Jan;41(1):26-34.

Braam L, Knapen M, Geusens P, Brouns F, Vermeer C. Factors Affecting Bone Loss in Female Endurance Athletes: A two year follow-up study.

Kujala, UM, Sarna S, Kaprio J, Koskenvuo M, Karjalainen J. Heart attacks and lower-limb function in master endurance athletes. Med. Sci. Sports Exerc., Vol. 31, No. 7, pp. 1041-1046, 1999.

Burns J, Keenan AM, Redmond AC. Factors associated with triathlon-related overuse injuries. J Orthop Sports Phys Ther. 2003 Apr;33(4):177-84.

Vleck VE, Bentley DJ, Millet GP, Cochrane T. Triathlon event distance specialization: training and injury effects. J Strength Cond Res. 2010 Jan;24(1):30-6.

Vetter RE, Symonds ML. Correlations between injury, training intensity, and physical and mental exhaustion among college athletes. J Strength Cond Res. 2010 Mar;24(3):587-96.

Hackney AC. Effects of endurance exercise on the reproductive system of men: the "exercise-hypogonadal male condition." J Endocrinol Invest. 2008 Oct;31(10):932-8.

O'Toole ML, Hiller WDB, Smith RA, Sisk TD. Overuse injuries in ultraendurance triathletes. Am J Sports Med July 1989 vol. 17 no. 4 514-518

Kujala U M, Kaprio J , Sarno S. Osteoarthritis of weight bearing joints of lower limbs in former elite male athletes. BMJ 1994;308:819

Cosca DD, Navazio F. Common Problems in Endurance Athletes.American Family Physician 2007. 76(2)

Teramoto M, Bungum TJ. Mortality and Longevity of Elite Athletes. Journal of Science and Medicine in Sport. 2010. 13(4).

Mount Washington Road Race Over the Years

2011-06-20T10:44:00.001-04:00

Mount Washington is the highest peak in the Northeast. It has some of the worst recorded weather in the world. It has an auto road from the base to summit which allows people of questionable fitness experience the beauty that would have otherwise(due to the strenuousness of the hike) been out of their reach. It also, every June, hosts a 7.6 mile uphill running race. Amber and I have been running this race since 2008 and have had many great memories that we thought we'd like to share.

2008-After dating for a couple years together and having the most fun that I had ever had in my life, I knew that I had to spend the rest of my life with Amber. I knew I wanted to propose during a meaningful race. I had planned originally to do it at the Boston Marathon but I started far enough back from her that I never caught her during the race and it didn't seem right to do it after. When we got into the Mount Washington Road Race, I knew that that would be the perfect time. In addition to be able to catch her when she was anoxic, Mt Washington was also meaningful as we had hiked it on several occasions and had it as the background to many of our trips up into the White Mountains.

We ran the entire race together, Amber crossing the finish line a second ahead of me. I cross and fall down to my knees faking a heart attack so Amber would come back to me... What actually happened was, I fake the heart attack, medics rush in and Amber rushes to get herself a water. Only after shrugging off the medics and calling over Amber, am I able to propose. She begrudgingly says yes. We celebrate by taking the Cog Railway down the mountain. We finish in 1:33:45.

2009- Amber has started her triathlon training and thus thinks biking 50+miles from Bethlehem, NH to the start of the race would be a good idea. We get to the start of Crawford Notch, hit some railroad tracks which causes Amber to slide out. She lets out a yelp which causes me to turn back, which doing so causes me to slide out too. I rush over to Am to make sure she is okay and to get her to the side of the road. After a few shaky moments, Amber decides to continue(despite my recommendations that we go home shower and have a nice leisurely morning) to head towards the race. I follow reluctantly. We make it to the race but cannot find a place to store our backpack with our bike shoes and helmets so we decide to carry it up with us. After a mile or so of me carrying it, complaining and slowing down the pace, Amber graciously takes the backpack for the remainder and STILL has to wait for me. After a brief stay at the top, we hike down via Lion's Head Trail, get a ride from Pinkham Notch back to our bikes, then bike the 50+ miles back to Bethlehem. Due to my hip hurting from the bike crash, excessive whining and a lot of walking, we finish in 1:52:24.

Danny Turning the last corner

2010- We decide this year that it wouldn't be such a great idea to bike to Mt. Washington, we decide to, instead, drive there, help out with parking and soak our legs in the river. After having to get a ride the three miles from Pinkham to where the auto road last year, we decide this year to park the car at Pinkham so when we hike down our car would be at the end of the trail. This lets us also get a nice three mile warm-up before the race. This will be our first year we don't run the race together. Amber has been having an excellent season so far, most recently coming off an exceptional Mooseman finish. I, on the other hand, am just coming back from six weeks of no running due to the stress fracture I sustained during the Flying Pig Marathon. I had no illusions of being able to keep up with Amber and told her not to let me slow her down. Within thirty seconds of the start, she's off and I don't see her until the finish line. She ends up finishing up as the first NH resident finisher and seventh overall in 1:19:47. Also it is her first year running under the name Amber Ferreira, instead of Cullen. I spend a lot of the second half of the run walking but still finish with my fastest Washington time in 1:31:16.

Rich and Danny at Tuckerman's Head Wall

2011- This year we have figured it all out. We are joined by our friend and teammate Rich Lavers of aR who with his wife, Christen, and brother-in laws will hike down Lion's Head with us. We park the car at Pinkham, get our warm-up in(in the pouring rain) and get to the start line. We both have been in better shape this year than in the past but also both had hard work-out weeks(Amber is at the tail end of an 18 hour training week) so we aren't sure how we'll fare. We take off together and I can hear Am breathing as we hit mile 1 in 7:38. I continue to lead for about another half mile until the pitch steepens enough to put strain on my calves to the point where I have to slow my pace. Amber quickly passes uttering brief words of encouragement before taking off. I continue to run until my calves cannot take it, at which point I turn and walk backwards to take the strain off them for a while. As I'm facing backwards, I see a ton of racers who will eventually pass me. The rest of the race pretty much consisted of me running all but the really steep sections, at which point I would have to turn around a walk backwards. I finish in a time of 1:24:06 and Amber finishes in 1:22:37 which is good enough for 10th female overall. We spend the afternoon in N. Conway after hiking down Lion's Head again(and Am rolling her ankle).

Danny Smiling? Only because there's not enough oxygen to his brain

2012? It will be the US Mountain Championships next year again and Am hopes to make the team(I know she can). My goal is to increase my ankle range of motion where I can be able to run the whole race and in doing so break 1:20. We will see.

UP NEXT: Amber- Lake Placid Training Camp; Danny- Chip's Wedding in Chicago

Addendum to the Last Post

2011-06-16T09:58:00.001-04:00

After posting yesterday's blog, I was confronted with people pointing out several inconsistencies with the post. Here are the corrections:

1)
Amber: "Oh I saw that you went to Jeremy's class. I would have gone with you."
Danny: "Errr. Well I haven't actually gone yet."
Amber: "But our blog said...nevermind. When did you sign up?"
Danny: "I haven't yet done that either."
Amber: "Do you know if the class has any availabilities left? They usually fill up very quickly."
Danny: "No, I just thought I'd swing by."
Amber: "Swing by?"
Danny: "Yeah don't they have walk-in classes?"
Amber: "No"
Danny: "Oh"

So I better get talking with Jeremy and seeing if he actually does have any availability left and, if so, whether I can sign up.

2) While running with Rich Lavers of aR yesterday, he pointed out that:
"Danny, the 58 year old woman that passed you was actually pretty nice, wasn't it the 68 year old lady that trash talked you as she walked by?"
J. Massa added:
"Danny weren't you the only finisher to walk across the finish line? And didn't it take you longer than most hikers?"

Thanks guys for the corrections. As always, very helpful.

3) While Keith Shields did sign up for Ironman Mont-Tremblant, he did so only because his number one choice(NYC) sold out in 15 minutes.

4) It was also pointed out to me that to have A-races, I need to put in the appropriate amount of training(which apparently cannot consist entirely of holding my breath and flexing my stomach). From that kind person's perspective I haven't done a race that should be classified higher than an H.

Again thanks.

5) And finally, despite actually requiring more flexibility, it would also be helpful if I ditch my basket and bell on my tri-bike, take the baseball cards out of my spokes and to try to be a little more aerodynamic.

So that's it I think. Again I apologize for all of the confusion that this brought to the great readership of the Irongirl etc blog and hope that I could help clarify any angst that this may have brought you.

Live Life to the Fittest: Ironman Mont-Tremblant, Yoga, and Upcoming Races

2011-06-15T16:11:00.000-04:00

I just registered myself for the inaugural Ironman Mont-Tremblant scheduled for August 19, 2012. According to the website, the race will start with a 2.4-mile swim on the "golden sands of the Beach & Tennis club" next to the village of Tremblant Resort. The two-loop, 112-mile bike course will then run primarily through Mont-Tremblant's forests and mountains. We will then run a two-loop course is known for its scenic beauty and finish after 26.2-miles in heart of the pedestrian village of Tremblant Resort.

Mont-Tremblant

I am very excited about this race as it will not require shipping my bike and dealing with connecting flights or any of the hassles of traveling across country. As much as I loved St. George(and am still potentially considering it), having a race within a quarter day's drive is very appealing. As Amber will be most likely doing Lake Placid in late July next year, we are still not sure whether she'll race this one, but she'll at least be there to check out the scene and cheer on her fellow athletes. Already I have found out that Keith Shields of NHPR fame is signed up and I expect more Concord-area residents will follow suit when they realize just how close(and beautiful)this venue is.

Having a August race also(hopefully) will keep my motivation up through the race season. Having done three half-marathons, the Hyannis and Gansett Marathons, Texas 70.3, Ironman St George and Mooseman 70.3 before the triathlon season even really began and now not having another A-race probably until October's Cape Cod Marathon has certainly diminished my motivation. Coupled with bachelor parties and weekends of weddings, I expect quite a loss in my fitness by fall. With next year's schedule, between Mont-Tremblant, hopefully an entry into Hardrock 100 and a smattering of smaller races, I can maintain my early season fitness for the full season.

Amber has definitely taken the smarter route, having opted out of those halves(except New Bedford) and marathons and using her early-season triathlons as building blocks for her late season races: Providence 70.3, Lake Placid, and probably Timberman and Syracuse. This strategy allows her to build upon her fitness while allowing necessary recovery and the ability to keep motivation high. Then a nice recovery in late fall before Snowshoe season starts again.

I have already started to have low-motivation without any races in my near future(barring next weekend's painful Mt. Washington where I can just hope not to be passed by a trash-talking 58 year old woman and the Chet Warman 151 mile bike race which has "the longest, steepest stretch of road in America"). Since I can see myself going out and purchasing premium cable and sitting on the couch wallowing in my own filth if left to my own devices, I have decided to proactively(or preemptively) keep myself fit. Therefore, I am planning(much to my disgust at having to wake up before 6am) to sign up for Jeremy Woodward's morning fitness class. For those of you that don't know Jeremy, check out his blog. Amber works with him when she's not in triathlon season, and the improvements in her strength have been remarkable. So despite my misgivings on trusting people who wake up early to exercise, I have enrolled in twice weekly fitness sessions. In addition to Jeremy's classes, I am also making a concerted effort to improve my flexibility which anyone who has seen me on a tri-bike has probably noticed, I am lacking. I will be doing this by working with the excellent people over at Living Yoga and hopefully getting myself a little more limber. So twice weekly Jeremy and yoga sessions, with my 3/week lunch-time runs and weekend rides(or whatever the race schedule brings) should keep me in fairly good fitness. We will see.

Up Next: "Only One Hill"

Mooseman 70.3 Race Report- Danny's Perspective of Miss Amber Ferreira's Race

2011-06-09T08:26:00.003-04:00

It is sometimes tough to do a race report for some one else but I think I can pull this off for Amber.

Amber with her dad at the swim start

Pre-Race: The Saturday before racing Pro for the first time at Mooseman, I joined Danny, my sister Deidre and my mom for a big breakfast in Bristol after seeing my dad off on the swim of the Olympic distance triathlon. After filling up on pancakes and poached eggs as prescribed and willingly adhered to as part of my pre-race ritual, we walked across the street to watch the triathletes as the biked by at mile 14 of their 26 mile ride. Almost immediately we saw and cheered for people we knew. First past was J. Massa, one of Danny's Wednesday night running buddies. Soon thereafter came Steve Reed, of Rock on Reed fame speeding by. Then it seemed like S2 after S2 racer would pass with a few others mixed in like Eric Gattie whose bachelor party in Killington Danny will be attending this weekend. Due to the wave start, it was hard to tell who was placed where overall and it seemed a while before my dad came back but that was due to a later seed time as he had actually improved on his swim and was faster than expected. He came by with his long sleeve shirt on flapping in the wind and took both hands off the handlebars and cheered back at us as we cheered him on. He may not have had the fastest bike split of the day but he definitely seemed to enjoy it the most.
After seeing him pass, we drove back to T2 where we were lucky enough to again see a bunch of familiar faces come and as well as once again cheer dad on as he went out on the run. He ended a little slower than I think he had hoped for on the run, his strong discipline, but still an amazingly fast overall time considering this was his first Olympic distance triathlon.

Amber with her sister, Deidre "plugging up"

Danny and I quickly made it back to Concord to do some laundry and have lunch then back up to Bristol for the Pro meeting and dinner with the family. Back to Concord to set aside all morning morning stuff as we would be waking up at 3am to get back up to the race and set up.

Race Day: Boy was it cold! Luckily Danny had a jacket in his car which I wore while setting up all my transition gear. Then back to the car where we blasted the heat. I went over race day strategy in my head while Danny snored loudly beside me. He begrudgingly got out of the car to get ready for the race only half joking, I think, that he would rather stay warm than race this morning.

Danny talking with Mr. Cullen pre-swim

The Swim: Starting with the pro's is entirely different! Instead of having a group of a few hundred at the start, you are lucky if you have 10-20 other pro's at the race. And worse, still you don't have the benefit of the waves in front of you to get the draft off of. So I got out of the water a little slower than I had wanted but considering I pretty much swam the entire race by myself, I did okay.

The Bike: I do a fair amount of training on the Mooseman course so I knew what to expect when it came to the hills. Apparently, I hadn't sufficiently warned Danny about them though as he went on a ten minute whining fest after the race about how terrible they were. "So much worse than Utah, look: I had a slower bike split for half the distance!" -I think that is a direct quote. Either way, I again didn't have the benefit of having to go through and get the draft of all the age-groupers and as a pro, you can't use another rider's slipstream(the 20 feet behind the rider in front) as you pass which does add up on a 56 mile course. But, despite those slight disadvantages, I came into T2 knowing I held back a bit so I'd have enough on the run.

The Run: I knew the top two girls had several minutes lead on me and that I probably couldn't catch them but Melanie McQuaid, the 3 time X-Terra World Champion and Lake Stevens 70.3 Winner, was only a couple ahead and I started to run to chase her down. As a two time out and back course, I would have plenty of chances to see just how close I was to her. As the miles ticked by, I could feel myself reeling her in, seeing the 3rd Place Female bike pacer getting closer and closer to me. Then something must have happened to the pacer because I no longer saw him. Danny who had stopped and gave me a hug made no mention of seeing the third place female ahead. Had she gotten that far ahead? It could have happened because of those descents which I had been taking pretty gingerly. After a minute or two of feeling badly for myself, I picked right back up, now just planning on racing the best that I could. Only as I approached mile 13 on the run, did I realize just how close I really was to Melanie. 100 yards? Oh yeah! I picked up my pace and kicked hard trying to catch her. But to no avail. The finish line came too soon. Had the race been Mooseman 70.4 and I think I would have come in third place. However, fourth place is still a great achievement for me and it was so nice seeing all the familiar faces out there racing. I do wonder just how long that hug that Danny gave me cost and whether he is prepared to reimburse me for the prize money I missed out on by FOUR seconds. Oh well.

Despite Danny's self-reported bad bike split, he managed to finish in 5:11 which was good enough for 17th in his age-group. Not bad since he hadn't bike outside or swam once since Ironman St. George.

Danny: Not too aero

Danny: Debating whether to DNF

Danny outkicking another Age-Grouper

Danny glad to be done.

Up Next: Gattie's Bachelor in Killington this weekend and then Mt. Washington Road Race the following Sunday!

Mooseman 70.3

2011-06-03T17:17:00.000-04:00

This weekend Amber and I will be participating in Mooseman 70.3. This will be my first time but Amber's third. Here's a brief overview of the last few years of triathlon for Amber:

2007- Amber enters her first triathlon with a mountain bike- still places in her age-group.

2008- Amber just starts getting into longer distance triathlons and in July competes in her first 70.3 in Providence. Comes in 25th in her Age Group.

2009- Amber competes in the Bull Moose Challenge at Mooseman which is comprised of an Olympic distance triathlon on Saturday and the 70.3 on Sunday. She wins it. Proceeds to also win the Lord of the Flies up at Waterville Valley during Black Fly Weekend. Comes third in her age-group at Ironman Wisconsin and misses out by one slot for qualifying for Kona.

2010- Mooseman does away with the Bull Moose Challenge so Amber competes in just the 70.3 race. She finishes first female amateur overall. Qualifies for Kona at Lake Placid the next month.

2011- Amber enters Mooseman as a Pro. Is coming off a tough Ironman St. George due to a mechanical but is stronger and more fit than ever. Can't wait to see.

Follow us at ironman.com

The Third Annual Gold Jacket Tournament

2011-06-02T15:07:00.002-04:00

No races this weekend for either Irongirl or running boy(note ultra is removed as I haven't been doing any ultras in recent months). I was scheduled to go up to New Gloucester, ME for Pineland Farms 50 miler, but after realizing my sister, Mar would be gone for the rest of the summer for Europe and Asia we had a relatively last minute organized, Gold Jacket Tournament. As fun as 50 miles of running is, it doesn't compare to having the saw-dust beaten out of you by your siblings and their significant others.

For those of you not familiar with the Gold Jacket Tournament, or didn't see my seemingly hundreds of Facebook posts on it, here's a brief intro. Two years ago, my brothers devised this event in celebration of my Bachelor party. They came up with a weekend full of different events ranging from soccer to quarters, tennis to baseball, darts and billiards culminating with an obstacle course. The winner would take home the Gold Jacket Tournament Cup(similar to the Stanley Cup but a little more prestigious). It was such a success(despite me finishing dead last) that we decided to make it an annual event. Last year, it was in celebration of my sister's 21st birthday and this year it was for her and her boyfriend, Matt Menning's, college graduation.

Offical 3rd Annual Gold Jacket Caps: "I'm just easing the tension baby."

This year my brother, Andrew, organized the event. Despite pulling off a very successful March Madness bracket this year, our expectations were pretty low. We were wrong. At the start of the weekend, Drew had us sit down around the table and distributed a packet to each of us. In them contained a rule book, itinerary, a hat with a Happy Gilmore quote(every year we have to do a different quote from the movie), and a Bruins lunch box(to conceivably to hold our food as it appeared from the schedule we would be busy all weekend).

Copy of the Leader Board

The schedule looked pretty similar to years past, starting out with darts and billiards on Friday night, with some new events thrown in like Chinese Checkers and Boggle. However, most notably different was the point set up. Instead of doing a 10, 5, and 1 point schedule for 1st, 2nd and 3rd place, Andrew made it so all six participants would get points for placing: 6 for 1st, 1 for 6th etc. This made is so every event became even more important.

I started off Friday night in the lead, winning at adult beverage chugging, billiards and coming in second at darts. I woke up the next morning in third though because Matt Menning and Andrew decided to start off with the Case Race which put them in great position to start Saturday. With a 7am tee-time, I had decided to get a reasonable bed time(3am) while Matt Menning did not sleep at all. This became apparent as we began golfing. Usually one of the better golfers, Matt M was only a few strokes ahead of me after nine. For those of you who haven't golfed with me, to describe myself as a hacker would be an over-estimate. I spend so much time in the woods that Matty Ferreira decided to give a bonus for most balls found. Not even a joke.

Matt Menning, Andrew and Marilyn all eventually beat me and Matty Ferreira tied me(I had a six shot handicap) but beat me in the putt off. Luckily Matty's friend, Cindy, was there and was apparently worse than me so I didn't come in last.

Matty, Mar, Danny and Drew with a dirty upper lip

As the weather was nicer than expected, we wanted to take advantage of it by getting in our outdoor activities. So basketball and tennis were up next. I did play varsity basketball in high school and intramurals all through college but I was scrappy and hustled. Doesn't do a lot for one-on-one king of the court. After losing handily to Matt, Matty and Drew and barely beating Marilyn, I quickly saw my chances of winning fade. After Matt Menning scored a second place finish at tennis, I realized I had to revise my goals to beating him rather than winning.

Didn't happen. Other than the food eating contest which I won without issue, I didn't win another event the entire weekend. Matt Menning, despite a horrendous home run derby and poor baggo game, actually gave Matty F a run for his money, with Matty barely winning thanks in part of a good strategy during the obstacle course and a nearly flawless mini-golf game.

Despite my third year in a row of losing pretty badly to my siblings, I am already looking forward to our 4th annual tournament.

A Three Race Weekend: Rock N Race, Northfield and Hoppin' Mad Mud Run

2011-05-24T16:01:00.000-04:00

After a weekend of sitting on my butt at a continuing education course, I was ready to get back into some races. Things started off on Thursday night for the Rock N' Race, Concord's big fundraiser for the Payson Cancer Center. If there is just one fundraiser that you do next year, make it the Rock N Race. It has such a good vibe, well-organized and is obviously for a very good cause. Last year I walked it with my parents due to my stress fracture so I was eager to see what I would do this year. However, speed work hadn't been a huge part of my last few weeks of training with St. George and the subsequent week of recovery so I wasn't expecting anything special from the race. Which is exactly what I got. Felt good the first mile and slowed down for the next two... Fun slow death march, getting out-kicked at the finish to end up just outside the top ten. Did get a good finish line photo though... Which way to the beach?

Amber had a good Rock N Race finishing second female overall with a solid 18:17. She was disappointed not to have been able to repeat her 2010 win, but it was great to see her run so solidly and fast for something that she has not been training for. Supposedly, it was the closest female finish ever at the Rock N Race.

The next race was the last Northfield Mountain Race, at least the last one directed by Dave Dunham. Amber and I had done it my first year running and I remembered really enjoying it and a few fellow aR and GCS runners were doing it so I signed up. I carpooled down with 'Drea McCusker, Chris Dunn and a new aR member, Jay Massa getting there about 90 minutes earlier than I would have if I had gone on my own. After registering and putting on my bib, I had 85 minutes to kill. In this time, I managed to spot about 15 guys that I knew were in contention for the win as well as another 10-15 guys who would be competing for top ten. Knowing this, I decided to play it safe and start out conservatively and hopefully pick off a few runners that blew themselves up.

After a brief intro by Dunham the race was off. Sure enough, I immediately found myself 40+ people back. I had forgotten how fast and minimally uphill the first mile was, going through in 6:15 and still being well over 30 people back. The climbing didn't really start until about 1/4 mile into the second mile and even still it was more rolling than anything. If I were to categorize this race, I'd classify it as a hilly trail run not a mountain race. Which is definitely better for me. There was a short out and back about 3.5 miles into the race which gave me a good perspective on how far back I was from the pack. Tim Van Orden was the first person I saw and he was not in the lead. That meant there were over ten runners ahead of him that had already completed the out and back before I even got to it. They must have been flying.

I had just passed a BAA runner before the turn around and could heard heavy breathing right behind me and just assumed that it was him. As I made the turn around though, much to my surprise, I found myself face to face with Carolyn Stocker. Little Carolyn Stocker the snowshoe racer. Huh? I thought I was placed pretty accurately in the field, but am usually considerably ahead of her in races. I picked up the pace a bit to see what would happen, and sure enough, Carolyn stuck right with me. She has certainly improved her running since last time I saw her, as we went through miles 5 and 6 in low 5 minute mile pace. And she was able to talk! She courteously let me save a little face by letting me go ahead of her at the finish line, but I wouldn't have been the least bit surprised if she could have outkicked me if she had wanted. I'm a very eager to see how she does at UMaine next year.

Carolyn and I finished in 27th and 28th place in times of 42:45 and 42:47, respectively, which put me well out of placing in my age-group but Carolyn finished second female overall.

After a short cool-down with Massa, the aR crew packed up and drove back up to NH. After all we still had another race the next morning.

The next race, to be the last of the weekend, was the Hoppin' Mad Mud Race down in Amesbury, MA. Chris Dunn and four other aR runners had won the team competition last year and he was hoping to repeat. However, Chris would be the only returning runner. The new runners would be me, Rich Lavers, Jay Massa and Phil Erwin. Now Jay, Rich and I frequently do Wednesday night workouts together so I had a good handle on their abilities: Both Rich and Jay would have no trouble with the obstacles, and while Rich can bomb the descents and hold his own on the flats often struggles a bit on the ascending. Jay on the other hand, holds his own on the ascents and flats but often restrains himself on the descending. Therefore, it would behoove us if we were able to leapfrog and allow everyone to do well at what they excel without holding anyone else back.

The one unknown was Phil. A career Air Force man home from Afghanistan, I was a little concerned that we'd be pulling him along. How wrong was I? Not only was he our strongest runner, with the exception of the tires, Phil also pulled us along on the obstacles. Chris, I suspected, would have no troubles with either the obstacles or the running.

Since our team technically won last year(despite having a nearly entire team line-up), we were placed in the "Elite" wave. This certainly added to the pressure. Not so much because of the other runners in our wave(primarily individuals), but because if we took the foot off the gas at any point we could potentially lose to a team that we wouldn't even see during the race depending on the placement.

The gun went off and we took off. The first 5k was primarily a regular race with a combination of trail and road. We went through the first mile in 5:47 and the 5k mark in 18:29 which was a PR for Rich. Immediately after the 5k mark, the obstacles began with Jersey Pile-ons. Hurdling these proved to be one of the easier of the obstacles. We quickly came upon five and seven foot walls we had to climb over, followed in close succession by a wade through a bog. A short but very steep climb was next and I looked to make sure Rich was holding ground, which he was. The descent was unusual as it was a slip and slide with a twist. It was covered in soap. Which meant WE were covered in soap. I tried to get everyone to find a dry piece of cloth to wipe the soap off because I knew that would affect us later if our hands were slippery. Finding that dry cloth was a challenge as we were all pretty drenched at that point. Oh well. We next came upon a long balance beam, something that looked like land-mines and stools which we had to negotiate around or over.

Another series of steep climbs and obstacles laid ahead of us but we(for the most part)deftly negotiated ourselves over, under or around them so that when we arrived in the final mud pit to crawl under an electric fence, we had a pretty good idea we had won. We finished up in 43: 17 for the 10k course and 1st place overall team. We were rewarded with muddy beer glasses and a box of pizza. Not a bad day.

Hoppin' Mad Champs! Massa, Rich, Phil, me and Chris Dunn

But it wasn't over yet. Oh no. We still had the second annual Pull-up contest amongst aR runners. Chris started out, opting for the more challenging pull-up(overhand) option and knocked out ten solid pullups. Phil completed 12 and Massa and Rich both then completed 14 chin-ups(underhand) while I somehow was able to complete 18. Therefore Chris was the pull-up and I was the chin up champ and will have to return to Hoppin' Mad next year to defend our two titles.

Danny mid chin-up

All in all a very fun weekend of racing. Memorial Weekend will be a different sort of challenge, as I have to compete against my siblings in the Third Annual Gold Jacket Tournament, this year to celebrate my sister, Mar's graduation.

UP NEXT: Mooseman Triathlon on June 5th.

Ironman St. George

2011-05-10T13:59:00.001-04:00

It had finally arrived. After four months of dedicated training and more blog posts on one race than ever before, Ironman St. George was upon us. We were lucky enough to have two S2 teammates, John Rymes and Lisa Ransom, to drive us to Logan for our 5:40am flight to Las Vegas. After a brief layover in Detroit, we arrived in Vegas, played a few slots at the airport and then drove to St. George.

Amber vs. one-armed bandits

What a gorgeous ride once you get out off the strip. Crossing into Arizona then Utah we were surrounded by various colored cliffs and canyons rising or dropping hundreds of feet. As we were dropping we also noticed that we were both sweating despite having the air conditioner on full blast-not a good sign for race day.

We checked in and picked up our race packets- I was 545 and Am was 43. Already we were both hot. We met up with S2 members, Dolly and Reggi, at the expo, got our bikes from Tribike and checked into the hotel, and went to the Athletes' Dinner. About a pound of pasta later, we all hopped into Reggi's mini-van she rented and we drove the run course. Not exactly sure of the roads, we started up towards where we thought we had to go. And up we went. With a pitch a little steeper than Washington we climbed about a mile before coming to a road that we knew that we would be running. Luckily, we soon discovered, the road we had just taken, would not be on the course. However, there would be plenty of others to make up for it. Starting from transition we started to climb gradually until we took a sharp right hand turn which brought with it the first steep hill. We groaned as well as did the car as we climbed up toward the big "D" on the top of the hill. Both miles 3 and most of 4(as well as 16 and 17) were up. We then took a left into a little park which added just about .4 miles to the run but plenty to the beauty. In addition to the great view, the park itself was amazing with red rock formations creating tunnels, cliffs and huge boulders. We all got out of the car and scrabbled around for a while taking some fun pictures.

Getting back in the car we started a two mile descent at a screaming pace to find the turnaround. Oh yes, we then had to climb back up those two miles, re-run the park, descend sharply those 2 miles, and then run a mostly gradual downhill for the last two. TWICE. I could already feel my quads yelling AND my stomach sloshing.

After that fun experience, we woke the next morning to deal with race logistics. As the bike was a point to point we had to rack our bikes one place and drop off our run stuff another. After a great breakfast at Bear Paw Cafe, we dropped off our run stuff only to be warned not to put our gu's in the bags because the pavement on which they were lying could easily reach 120 degrees. Yikes! I thought for a minute to put out some bacon and eggs but decided against it.

We then drove to Sand Hollow State Park, the site of the swim and bike transition.

Sand Hollow State Park

After reading about how cold it was, Amber and I decided to check for ourselves. While it was fairly cold, I think the temperatures in the 90's for the past week must have warmed it up a bit. After setting up the bike transition, Am and I decided to take a trip out to Zion National Park. We, unfortunately, wouldn't be doing any hiking but thought it would still be worth taking the trip for the sights. We were right. It was amazing these cliffs, canyons and how water can change the landscape.

Zion National Park

Getting back from a fun day at Zion, we had an early dinner, quickly jumped in the pool/hot tub, then went to dinner knowing we'd be up at 3am for the race.

The Race:
Amber was racing pro so she started at 6:45am and I started with the rest of the S2 gang at 7am. I had been waiting in line to use the porta-potty when they closed the transition and rushed over to the swim start to get in before the race started. I made it into the water(but nowhere near the start line) before the gun went off but I'd say nearly 300 people didn't as they were still filing in to the water. The swim was great. It was a rectangular shape. With the large amount of people in front of me, I had to do minimal sighting. This allowed me to focus on nice even strokes. Despite a few kicks to the head and a few extra yards going off course(as opposed to usually hundreds), I finished in about 1:18 good enough for 783th best swim of the day. After a relatively quick transition, making sure to put on sunscreen after the Texas debacle, I made it out on the bike. Things were feeling good but I couldn't pull up with my left foot because my cleat had apparently loosened. I didn't have a multi-tool and tried, unsuccessfully, on several occasions to flag down a mechanic. After about 8 miles riding unevenly, I was finally able to stop a motorcycle who luckily had an Allen wrench. Three quick turns and I was back on the bike. Looking down at my bike computer descending the first hill, I reached 48 mph and seemed to be passed by nearly everyone. However, the ascents would start and I would pass back everyone.
The bike course was a lollipop, with the stem being the point to point from the lake to the finish and two loops of about 45 miles that would take us around Snow Canyon and Gunlock State Park. From the race reports I had read, I was expecting brutal climbing and lousy pavement. The reports were right on one account. The chip sealed pavement was tough. I went from 21 mph down to 16mph the moment I bruised my way on to the chip seal which unfortunately covered the majority of the two loops. It took a while to get used to the jarring and for me to stop looking down at my tires to make sure they weren't flat. The course wasn't brutal at all. It was amazing. There were definitely some climbing to be had but they were short and allowed someone like me to stay relatively competitive as the downhills allowed nearly everyone to pass.

What I expected from the bike course: Amber pulling me along

After the race, I mentioned to Amber and Sean Snow about the awesome waterfalls by Gunlock and the beautiful river, but they didn't notice it. I, however, was mesmerized. I would do this race again just for the scenery on the bike. The second lap got a little old, especially as the wind picked up and around mile 100(about 30 miles longer than I had ever bike) I wanted to be finished. Luckily from that point on, it was pretty much downhill so I was able to stretch out and make sure I was hydrated enough. As I came into town, I was Sean as he passed the 2 mile mark on the run and Amber as I pulled into transition. Amber? What was she doing there? She said she'd wait for me, but I knew based on my transitions that would be a long wait so I encouraged her to take off which she did. I pulled in after biking a 5:52 bike split bringing me to 302nd place.
After a nine minute transition(changing into run gear, sunscreen and bathroom break), I took off on the run.
I went through eight miles in a little under an hour, slower than I was hoping for but fast enough that I could do a 3:20 marathon. I ran seen Amber on the out and back and she told me she was having some stomach issues. I caught up to her around mile 11 and I slowed to find out what had happened that brought her into my racing world. Apparently 14 miles into the bike she had hit a pot-hole and broke two spokes and flatted. She didn't realize she broke the spokes until after she had fixed the flat and gotten back on the bike. Only when her wheel started wobbling did she realize something else was going on. She then stand on the side of the road for about 45 minutes before a mechanic was able to help her fix the spokes(since she rides 650 wheels they didn't have any replacements). Despite that 45+ minute delay, she still was ahead of me by a few minutes going out on the run.
The heat and extra exertion had taken its toll on her though, so by the time I caught her by mile 11 she was fried. We walked/ran for the majority of the remainder of the race, until mile 23 when someone said something obnoxious about a pro being so far back in the pack, at which point Amber threw down some low 7's to finish up the race. We finish hand in hand crossing the finish line.

I came in with a time of 11:19:03-not too bad for a first Ironman but definitely had enough left over to want to see what I can do if I actually RACE one. We'll have to see. Volunteering at Lake Placid so maybe I'll sign up for next year's.

One more thing: If you are at all considering doing Ironman St. George, DO IT! It was great. The course was amazing, the volunteers were spectacular and the town is fun. I signed up for this race because of the letter to LAVA from the Ironman who wanted his money back after not finishing. I want to write to LAVA and tell them how wonderful it was and amazed that it hadn't sold out. Soon, the word will get out and it'll be like the rest but for now, enjoy the fact that we can still get in to it.

St. George

A PR, a DNF and a ride around Sunapee all before Easter Dinner

2011-04-26T15:29:00.000-04:00

This past weekend was supposed to be the last set of hard efforts on the bike, with a 64 mile bike race scheduled for Saturday around Quabbin Reservoir with a planned 5 mile tempo run to follow. Sunday I had intended to get in a 3-4 hour ride as well to get as prepared as possible for Ironman St. George. As is typical for me however, things didn't go exactly as planned. They do say something about "best laid plans" right?
The weekend actually started Friday night for me with the NHTI/Delta Dental 5k. It was the third race in the CARS series so brought out some of the fast guys like Jim Johnson and the CMS runners, Justin Freeman and Ryan Kelly both great x-c skiers, and Tim Cox, the wolf in sheep's clothing, or the aR runner in CMS clothing. As is typical with this race, it started fast. My whole goal for this race was to just hang with the main pack of guys for as long as I could. JJ and Freeman tore away from the pack immediately but with Ryan leading the way, a group of six or seven guys ran together. Looking around I found myself surrounded by CMS runners Rod Viens, Dan Verrington, Sam Wood as well as Tim Cox and this guy running in Vibrams(Nick Rennie). We hung together for the first mile going through in 5:12 before Ryan decided he didn't want to break the wind for the pack anymore and took off pulling Rod with him. The group now slightly smaller we proceeded to run together with Tim leading for the next two miles. Ever the aR runner at heart, Tim could see I was struggling to keep up with him and would give me little pointers to stay close and move my arms more. I surprisingly held it together and after 2.9 miles of leading the way, chivalrously Tim let me by for the finishing kick which was good enough for 7th overall in a time of 16:43 about 30 seconds faster than my previous 5k PR. A good start to the weekend for sure.

The next stop of the weekend plans woke me up at 5am so that I could drive down to Ware, MA to compete in my first bike race ever: the Quabbin Reservoir Classic Road Race. In the 64 miles of roadway it touted over 5,000 feet of elevation gain which I thought would be a perfect training ride for the notoriously hilly St. George course. Driving down to the race, I noticed something interesting happening: it started to snow. And snow and snow. By the time I got to Ware, there was a couple inches of snow accumulated on the ground and it was now freezing rain. I only had cotton gloves and a thin wind-breaker but I typically run in less than that so I figured it would be fine. Plus, I had run the evening before in shorts and a singlet. I just assumed that it would warm up. You know what happens when you make an assumption? You make an ass out of you and umption. A
As I looked around at my fellow riders, I quickly realized that I was out of my league as almost all other riders were part of a team of cyclists and they all appeared most prepared clothing-wise than I was. And while all the other competitors were warming up on the bikes, I did my warm-up running up the Quabbin Water Tower.

Danny at top of Quabbin Water Tower

The cat 5 riders started almost an hour after the pro's so I had plenty of time to change, run, and still get soaked before my ride. I tried to stay as long in my car as possible, getting to the start line as the gun went off. It was a neutral start so it went out slowly, which probably was my downfall as I was saturated within minutes and wasn't working hard enough to warm up. In addition, the first few miles were downhill so the wind made it even colder. Suffice it to say, I was shivering within the first fifteen minute. However, the climbing soon started and the pack picked it up a bit and I started feeling a bit better. Within the first hour or so, we had dropped all but 10 or so of the riders and I was feeling like I was riding well within my means which meant if I could just finish I would be getting prize money. Unfortunately the descents started. At this point my fingers were already pretty much frozen but wasn't too much of an issue going up hill. However, descending without finger control to brake is a very scary prospect and it didn't take long for me to wish I hadn't started. But the descending just kept on coming, and soon thereafter so did my uncontrollable shivering. You know when you're biking weaving across the road that you probably shouldn't be riding. Not that I had much choice. I had been looking for places to stop but barring riding back the 20+miles to my car, there didn't seem like any other option then going on. Right on cue, the pack passes a convenience store and as we zip on by I notice about 15 bikes placed outside. I start the next descent, nearly hit a rider who braked erratically ahead of me and decided that I had had enough for the day. I turned around and biked back to the store.
Stepping into the store, I saw riders of all categories in various stages of hypothermia huddled together in one small corner of the store conveniently located next to all the liquor. After having two pro riders help me take off my soaking wet outer layers, I spent the next ten minutes doing jumping jacks to stay warm. After warming up a bit, I discovered that several of them had been waiting over an hour, unsuccessfully, for a ride back to their cars.
After about another hour had passed, one of the neutral wheel support cars came by and offered rides to some of us. Unfortunately there was only room for two. But as I looked(and probably felt) the worst, they gave me the ride. Getting back to my car about 45 minutes later, I changed into dry clothes blasted the heat and went back to the store. Sure enough, half the riders were still there. I was able to fit a few in my car(some declined because they didn't want to leave their bikes behind) and brought them back to the start. So all in all. I drove 2:30 to the race, raced for about 75 minutes, waited an hour for a ride, drove to/from the store to the start twice for about 2 hours then started my trip home... what fun.
I quickly decided I could mope and complain or try to look at the bright side. The day was still young so I figured I could find a park somewhere that I had never been and explore a bit. Sure enough, I came across a sign for Greenfield State Park and took the turn. As I pulled in, it looked like a glorified KOA but after changing into my running gear I quickly found some cool single track skirting the edge of a good sized pond. It actually reminded me of a uninhabited Walden Pond. Or the Walden Pond that Thoreau wrote about before tourists started coming. It was great. Had a blast and put me in a far better mood for the rest of my ride home.

The next day I determined I wanted to spend the morning with my family as I hadn't seen my older brother Matt or sister Marilyn for a while, so I decided to defer the bike road and see if I could sneak it in when I got to my parents. Sure enough, Matt wasn't there, Andrew wasn't up and Marilyn was just getting up. Perfect. Hit the road with the goal to circumnavigate Lake Sunapee. It's about 25 miles around so I was shooting for a 75 minute ride, did it in 80 but was pretty happy with that with all the scenery I had taken in rather than pushing it. What a lesson in contrasts. Friday: shorts weather, Saturday: snow; Sunday: shorts riding with the sun shining on the lake. I had such a fun ride, getting home and showered as Matty came in the door. Spent some time with Andrew mapping out a trail run he's planning on organizing this summer over at Knight's Hill and had some great food and time with the family. All in all a great weekend and a lot of fun.

UP NEXT: New Orleans Jazz Fest- Can't think of a better way to taper.

Paradise Found

2011-04-19T15:00:00.001-04:00

After a disappointing Gansett Marathon due to GI issues on Saturday and a frustrating Sunday morning driving around Charlestown, Rhode Island looking for a criterium I never could find, on my way back up to NH I happened upon the town of Milton. I don't think it actually has any connection to John Milton but it was probably the closest thing to a triathlete's Eden that can be found nearby Boston. After giving up on finding the race I decided that I'd try to find a place to bike on my drive back up to Concord. Not being familiar with the area, I was looking to find a park or something that could afford me some safe biking. As I merged on to 93 from 95, I happened upon a sign for Blue Hills Reservation.

Taking the exit, I went from one of thousands of cars navigating their way through Boston's traffic, to be one of only a few cars on a pristinely paved road. That is not to say it was isolated, for there were multitudes of people: running, hiking or biking. I found a parking lot grabbed my road bike(I already had my new aR bike kit on for the race I never could find) and went for a ride. And what a ride! Weaving through several towns, Blue Hills Parkway was nearly untraveled by motor vehicles as the predominance of people chose a bipedal form of locomotion. Twisting turning, tortuous serpentine roadways with nary a pothole made the riding far more fun. If I had had more time and my quads hadn't been trashed from the previous day's marathon, I would have definitely gone for a long trail run in the woods that this roadway enveloped. As it was, it certainly brightened my morning, and definitely gave me a good option for a place to train if I'm ever down in the Boston area.

Gansett Marathon, formally Exeter, was again exceptionally well run and organized. For such a small race, it had a good amount of spectators and aid stations were efficient. Far more scenic than last year, this year's race spent several miles right along the water which was good and bad because it also exposed us to the high winds that Rhode Island had been experiencing all weekend. Despite the winds, Dave Principe of Tuesday Night Turtles and I run together for the first 19 miles or so, going through 10 miles in 60 minutes, the half-way mark in a little over 1:19 , before I started experiencing severe GI issues that forced a port-a-potty stop at mile 21. After that, those last five miles were painfully slow and I dropped from 6th place down to 14th. Oh well, I wanted this to be a good last long run before Ironman St. George and for the most part it was. And it got me down to Rhode Island where I had a nice weekend spent on Goat Island.

UP NEXT: Quabbin Reservoir Classic Bike Race(if I can find it) then TAPER!