Another Reach the Beach Relay has come and gone. For those uninitiated, Reach the Beach is a 200 mile relay race starting at the Bretton Woods ski area in New Hampshire’s White Mountains and finishing at Hampton Beach State Park. We were a team of twelve runners with six in each of two vans. Each runner is responsible for running three separate legs, spaced evenly. Here’s how it went. Read on for more. Continue reading
I had one goal for this year’s Pitch Pine Olympic distance triathlon. That was to not take as much time off between the Timberman 70.3 and this race. I more or less succeeded with this as I hit nearly every workout I had scheduled. I was pleased that I was able to race as well as I did with significant work travel in the weeks leading up to the race. For results, I finished 20th overall and won my age group. Below are the splits.
| Swim (1.0 Miles) | T1 | Bike (27.4 Miles) | T2 | Run (6.2 Miles) | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 00:32:04 | 00:02:54 | 01:25:42 | 00:02:02 | 01:03:56 | 03:06:38 |
Read on for more. Continue reading
This is the time of year where many Reach the Beach New Hampshire teams meet to finalize (or create) their plans for their relay race. Whether your race is the Reach the Beach New Hampshire, another Ragnar relay, or other multi-day event, these tips might help you and your team. Read on for more. Continue reading
Last year’s Timberman race most certainly didn’t go as planned. So…before the 2016 training year started, I set a stretch time goal at Timberman for this year.
| Swim | T1 | Bike | T2 | Run | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0:35:00 (1:39/100 yds) | 00:03:00 | 2:55:00 (19.2 mph) | 00:02:00 | 1:50:00 (8:23/mile) | 5:25:00 |
After we decided to sell our home in the spring, and took a lot of time off from training, I came to realize that there was a more realistic time goal and I needed to reset my own expectations:
| Swim | T1 | Bike | T2 | Run | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 00:42:15 (2:00/100 yds) | 00:04:30 | 02:56:50 (19 mph) | 00:02:30 | 1:58:00 (9:00/mile) | 5:57:15 |
I am proud to say that I beat my realistic goal time. Actual splits were as follows:
| Swim | T1 | Bike | T2 | Run | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0:35:05 (1:39/100 yds) | 00:03:06 | 3:01:56 (18.5 mph) | 00:02:41 | 2:09:30 (9:53/mile) | 5:52:18 |
As you’ll read below, this race was more or less perfect execution of my race strategy. Read on for more.
It is no secret that training and racing for any triathlon, including Ironman branded events can be extremely expensive. For some, participating in a triathlon is prohibitively expensive. The aim of this post is to not only document how I train and race on a limited budget, but offer some guidance on how others can too. It’s important to note that this is about training and racing on a shoe string budget. Sometimes spending more (such as on higher quality food and nutrition) can have significant positive impact on performance. You can skip to the end for a chart of the investments you can make from low to high. Read on for more.
On Saturday, July 23, over 15 members of the Northeast Multisport team met to ride the Ironman Timberman 70.3 bike course. The goal of the ride was not only to get a good workout in, but get a feeling for pavement condition, and to remind ourselves what the hills are like. Here’s how it went.
We’ve all gotten into “those ruts” in our training. You know, these are those days when you can’t get out of bed in the morning to find motivation and think “I’ll just skip this one workout the race is X months away.” I’ve recently been invited to race for a cause. I’ll be upfront here and humbly ask for a donation of any amount as you’ll soon realize it isn’t about me, my training, or my racing. You have the opportunity to directly impact the life of a family through an organization that makes dreams possible for those with serious illnesses.
Simply put, the cause is Maddie Carlson. Maddie is now a 17 year-old teenager who lives in New Hampshire. A while back, I read an article about a local teenager who was diagnosed with a very rare form of bone cancer (Ewing Sarcoma). I do not know the Carlson family nor have I met any of them, but I do know several members of the Northeast Multisport Triathlon team who are connected.
This past week, I was asked by a fellow teammate if I wanted to be a part of their Team Maddie Strong Reach the Beach team. Reach the Beach is one of my favorite endurance events. This would make my fifth Reach the Beach and thought, sure, why not join a different team than I’ve been on in the past? But then I also learned some of my good Northeast Multisport friends (who are also racing Ironman Timberman 70.3) are on a fundraising team for Maddie through Make-A-Wish. These teammates are all racing and raising money for the same cause for the same person…Maddie Carlson. Following the steps of a good friend of our family, I plan on donating my Reach the Beach medal and T-shirt to Maddie.
I simply cannot pass up an opportunity to join my friends and raise money for a local teenager and family. As athletes and individuals, we are privileged to be able to do what we do during training. It’s an even greater privilege to have the ability to be able to make a difference, no matter how small.
Andy Potts is one of the world’s best pro triathletes. He won Ironman Timberman 70.3 last year among other victories. Aside from being an incredible athlete, he is also involved with the Make-A-Wish foundation. He’s also an incredibly humble and motivating individual. He takes time out of his pre and post race activities to give back to the Make-A-Wish foundation and participants. Make-A-Wish has a significant presence at Timberman and found it awesome Andy got involved. I noticed their giant presence during last year’s race.
Just watch Andy in action in the below clip from the 2015 Ironman Coeur d’Alene Ironman awards speech. It was incredibly hot on race day where many athletes were not able to finish. This clip has been one of my favorites since I saw it. It takes on an increased meaning not just for racing as athletes, but what Maddie has and is going through as a cancer patient and the struggle between hope and doubt.
Maddie’s official song is “This is Your Fight Song” by Rachel Platten. I’d like to link to a cover of this by The Piano guys…also one of my favorites.
My friends and I need your help to hit our goal, but more importantly, we want to support Maddie. We hope we’ve convinced you that this is a worthy cause, and humbly ask you to support us as we swim 1.2 miles, ride 56 miles, and run 13.1 at Timberman 70.3 and run over 200 miles collectively as a team at Reach the Beach. You can donate to our team fundraising by clicking on the button below. Thank you in advance for your generosity.
First triathlon complete of the year. The 2016 King Pine Olympic Triathlon took place on Saturday, May 21st. This was the day after we closed on our new home. I finished 45th overall and 5th in my age group. Total distances and times were:
| Swim (0.9 Miles) | T1 | Bike (32 Miles) | T2 | Run (6.2 Miles) | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 00:28:28 | 00:02:10 | 01:48:34 | 00:01:45 | 00:54:28 | 03:15:23 |
This was an interesting race with very limited training up to the race. Read on for more.
On Saturday, April 23rd, nearly 40 Northeast Multisport members set out to ride the Kancamagus Highway in the heart of the White Mountains in New Hampshire. We started out of the Loon Ski Mountain. There were several routes members could choose from. I selected the 73 mile option.
Note: These pictures that follow were totally lifted from fellow NEMS team members Mia and Lori. I was too out of it to take any pictures of my own. Read on for more.
Continue reading
Tri-Mania. This is New England’s largest (and likely only) large-scale triathlon focused convention. This year, the convention was held at Boston University. Unfortunately, while I wanted to attend last year, it was held almost a month later and conflicted with baseball practice. I was pretty psyched to be able to attend this year. The event had great vendors, speakers, and even team competitions in swimming, biking, and running. Read on for more. Continue reading