Triathlon – BEYOND DEFEAT

VIRTUAL RACE REPORT: 155 NYC Duathlon – 2:06:13

Posted on July 16, 2020 by admin

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On Virtual Racing

If you had told me a year ago I’d be experimenting with virtual races I’d tell you to take a hike.

But, I am such a sucker for good race swag. The NYC Triathlon (my all time favorite race ever even though it’s so stupidly expensive) sent out an ad for their virtual Duathlon that comes with dope swag… so yeah, I signed up. It was also very cheap in comparison to the actual race.

Here’s the skinny; run 1 mile, bike 25 and then run another 6.2 miles at any time between July 11th-20th. I was going to do the legs of the race back to back, as if it were an actual race. I say that because you had the option to spread out the legs over a few days, which I thought silly.

Training

During COVID lockdown I have been training a lot (mainly running and biking daily) and am in pretty good fighting shape. What else is there to do really? I have not however, done any brick workouts in preparation for a triathlon/duathlon so there was going to be a good chance for ‘baby giraffe legs’ after the bike.

Greek Food for Fuel

I decided I would execute the race on Sunday. The weather looked to be okay, hot but not crazy hot like it’s been.

The night before I went out to eat on Second Ave and hit a Greek spot. Were this to be a more serious distance for me, I would have opted for a more Italian type meal, but this would be fine. Greek food can also be heavy and have that ‘stick to you’ quality I love in a pre race meal.

I was asleep by 10… perfect.

(Virtual) Race Day

The thing about a virtual race is that you can start whenever! You want two cups of coffee pre race, do it! Feel like watching the news until 11am? Lovely. Fix that leaky faucet in the bathroom? It’s your world baby, go for it! I think I left for my 1 mile run at 7:30 or so?

I ran down Park Avenue to 83rd and turned around (in NYC every 20 blocks is a mile and I live on 93rd Street). I felt like I was moving but in reality I was only clocking 7:30-7:45 per mile, which wasn’t my intention setting out.

Warp Speed

I crushed a banana and then hopped on my tri bike for the 25 miles/4 loops of The Central Park. It felt good, per usual, to get on the bike and getting moving, wind in my face. For fuel, I had 2 bottles of EFS and no solids.

As I entered the Park slowly I waited until a point I had mapped out that would get me to 25 miles (not 24, as 1 loop of CP is 6 miles). As I got to that point I hit my watch and then exploded into race pace. I’ve never done this before and it felt a lot like auto racing and very fun.

I tackled all 4 loops in similar fashion and had no deterioration in speed or pace. I was going all out on downhills and flats and then dropping to easy gears and watching my heart rate on the uphills. I was also having a blast, but also being safe as it was busy. I know that there were also a number of people doing what I was doing, but there was no way to tell. So… I just imagined everyone biking to be a competitor I had to pass.

I did take note that there were a number of Empire Tri Team members out doing the race looking strong!

I finished in 1:16:07 with a pace just under 20mph average which I was excited by.

Baby Giraffe Legs

I stopped to meet Abbe at 100th Street on the East Drive (where I had plotted my 25 miles to end). She had my sneaks and other items laid out nicely for me in T2. I changed shoes, sprayed on some extra sunscreen and bolted off. My legs were immediately jello! I haven’t experienced that in a while and it took a solid 5 minutes to shake it off.

Mile 1: 6:42

I was really happy to get Harlem Hill out of the way at the start.

Miles 2-4: 6:36, 6:20, 6:25

As I rounded the bottom of the Park I was still feeling peppy! I just kept those legs moving.

Mile 5: 6:25

One thing that was challenging was the lack of aid stations. Had it been a greater distance on the run I might have planned some secret drops.

As I came up to The Gates (which any NYC runner knows is a straightaway) I tried to keep my pace maxed out. I was really close.

Mile 6: 6:19

As I got up to T2/The Finish Line I also realized I would have to overshot it by 200M, which was fine. I yelled to Abs, “200 to go!” as I went by.

I finished in 2:06:13 which I guess is okay? This is my first virtual duathlon so I have no idea and no personal benchmarks to go by.

Wait, that means it was an automatic PR right!?

Celebration?

COVID post race parties aren’t a thing really, so the afterparty situation just doesn’t happen.

I did however, take my book and go to my local pub Third Ave Alehouse for some lunch and a few drinks. My friend Myles alerted me that he was out as well doing ‘to go’ socially distanced drinks in the hood, so I met him for a few after.

In Conclusion…

Is virtual racing wierd? Hell yea. Is it all we have right now? Yes, so I’ll take it. I miss the competitive edge of it all though I will say that. Chasing actual racers down, maybe winning some hardware, and drinking beers in gross race clothes with fellow athletes is what I live for. I have faith in (most) of humanity that we will get back there soon, we just need to get our shit together.

Keep training for battle. Baker out.

153: Mightyman Montauk Half Ironman – 5:25:08

Posted on October 3, 2019 by admin

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The season closer, which was ironically my season opener, was a race ‘The Dad Posse’ and I decided to race based on a night of drinks out in Midtown after work. Most of my most epic races have been chosen during a beautifully inspired happy hour.

To Train, or not to Train… that is the Question.

You may have noticed a huge gap in my writing even though I was participating in races. There have been some big life changes and I honestly just haven’t been inspired to write. But life thrives with struggle, and as this Half Ironman neared execution date I needed to get my head back in the game.

I did two 50+ rides with my Ironman training partner Dougie Dee a few weeks prior to the race and did one open water swim at ‘Super Secret Tri Training Camp’ (aka Aunt Margie and Uncle John’s lake). These were the only cycle rides and swim I had done in a year… so I was basically relying on my running skills to get me through the race.

To the End of the Earth

Jim and I (Ed and Mike couldn’t make the race) headed out on Saturday morning. It was a gorgeous day for a drive and we kinda just took our time getting out to Montauk, which ended up being around 3 hours.

To those of you who understand what ‘The Hamptons’ are… go 15 miles past them to the last town on Long Island and you get to a beautiful place called Montauk. Old salty sea dogs and surfers alike populate this earthy beach haven where there is no judgment. Jim and I immediately loved the place.

We checked into our motel and walked the 1/16th of a mile to Transition to check in. Whoa race morning was be gonna easy.

The Point Bar & Grill

Have you ever walked into a bar and felt totally welcome and at ease? Welcome to The Point. Dark with slender windows designed in the 50’s around a brick structure, the bar was primarily old wood from a different era. Everyone knew everyone and I wanted to be those people.

Jim and I posted up, grabbed some beer and ordered our late lunch. I chose the catch of the day blackened… when in Rome. Soon enough, Mike, the older salty dog to our left started talking to us. “You guys Coast Guard?” Holy shit did he just make my day. I looked at Jim and said, “He thinks we’re Coast Guard! Do we look like Coast Guard?” We corrected him and explained that we were here for the triathlon. He wanted to buy us some beers but it was gorgeous out so we left. We would return in time…

The Ocean

We hung out on the beach for a few hours catching up on life which was cool. It was a different kind of beach hang. It was Fall beach, the kind of beach you needed a sweatshirt for, and it was nice.

Pre Race Dinner?

We hit up Montauk Brewery for pre dinner drinks and then landed at Montauk Circle Burger for dinner. Both of us had not trained and were taking this race very light heartedly. So yea, no huge pasta dinner. (Beer is a carb.)

Showtime Bitches

Jim was up at 4:30 and I was up and ready to roll by 5:30. Transition was already open and the swim waves started at 6:50… we were right on time.

We met our new friend Rob (also staying in the motel) and rode over to the start in the deep, dark and spooky fog. It was amazing, especially since the temperatures were hovering in the 55-60 degree range. Lost in the darkness and feeling extremely relaxed I did what I have done time and time again in triathlons. I was setting up my transition area and taking it all in. It can have a very eerie silence to it, all the athletes internally contemplating their day.

Me? I don’t know… let’s go have some fun chasing each other.

Into the Soup

I was in Wave 1 which started 10 minutes late. I waded out with my peers and was pretty damn excited about digging into this cushy clean lake. Our turn buoy, the furthest out, looked very daunting as far as distance goes. I fist bumped a few strangers (now friends?) and after wishing them well on their journey plunged into the liquid fun.

The first half of my swim was so relaxing. I thought about so many things and solved so many of my problems. Being in a swim is like a deprivation chamber, just you and your thoughts. I was focused on my form (since it had been a year) and was making nice headway.

Then, we turned around and eventually hit the back of the pack Olympic and Sprint swimmers… like a traffic jam. Now, I’m not a great swimmer as far as speed is concerned, but I can get kicked in the face have my head thrust down and manage just fine. These guys were all over and totally throwing off my game. In their defense, there were a lot of first time triathletes out there, which I highly support, but they were fucking up my cadence.

Ride Your Bike

Off into the oblivion that was the bike course I felt pretty damn good. I was wearing my Italian Torbole bike jersey because my Iron buddy Dougie Dee was doing a bike race simultaneously. We both got the same jerseys in Italy so it’s meaningful to me.

The Half Iron folk had to do two loops of this course while the Olympic people were doing one. I had a nice crowd as we cruised out on the empty highway. Then, we hit this big ass hill. It wasn’t as long as State Line Hill (if ya know it) but it was more condensed.

I found this guy I was calling ’61’ (since that was his age as marked on his calf). I had my age printed on my calf too. We leapfrogged most of the way for the next 10 miles which turned into a lot of fun. And… he was super badass. Like, if I make it to 61 this is the kind of athlete I want to be.

We passed Montauk Point and headed back east. Then, we turned kind of up north, east to another point. Both lookouts were super cool and in my head I was like “I’m coming here before we leave to check it out.”

’61’ left me as I had to do the turn around to do the whole freaking bike course over again. I gotta tell you, a point to point course is so much better than a looped one. It’s so mentally challenging.

Loop Two… Where is everyone?

As I made the U-Turn I immediately noticed I was by myself. A few things run through your head… am I back of the pack? Is this the wrong course? Am I in the front leading?

I was hoping for the latter so I started riding hard with my head down. I was enjoying myself but fatigue was clearly setting in. “Do a systems check Baker.” This is where I do a once over on all body parts and try to figure out what is slowing me down or causing my body to fail. I started slowly eating bits of a Cliff Bar, immediately noticing a difference. I also started taking salt tablets every hour. Life and energy was being restored, hope renewed.

I certainly had major ups and downs on loop two, especially since I was riding by myself most of the time. I tried to keep my spirits up and stay focused on the end game. My bike pace did pick up on certain stretches, so much that I zoned out and was just cutting through space and time in a daze. I finished in 2:50 with a 20 mph average speed.

Running is so fun

I came in hard to transition. Like, I skidded. Then, I popped out of the zone.

In T2 Jim was waiting for me as he raced the Olympic and had already finished. I was secretly very jealous. He hung out while I was changing and asked how I was doing, he had a great race and I told him I’d be done in an hour thirty. As I hit the course and started running I was like ‘That’s probably not gonna happen.’

The first hill was so cute. I thought that was the hill everyone was talking about and was like ‘seriously’?

I was also chugging along and my splits started coming in… 7:30’s! My standard issue for triathlons which made me happy. Sometimes in a triathlon you feel as if you are moving very very slowly, so to have some statistics come in that say otherwise can be up-lifting.

Somewhere around Mile 2 we took a left turn into a neighborhood. ‘The Neighborhood of the Biggest Hills Ever.’ Holy smokes, this one hill (and if you did the race you know what I’m talking about) came out of nowhere and was brutal. I started running up it then walked most of the way to the apex. I was looking forward to bombing down it on the return downhill.

The positive factor was that I was passing by lots of fun people who were receptive to my jovial positive reinforcement. Later, we would become friends. Oh, and it was crazy hot out, like 80, with occasional shade. If there wasn’t a gorgeous Montauk ocean breeze we all might be dead.

Things changed at Mile 5. This happens to me all the time, but normally around Mile 2. I cannot explain what went down, but I was watching my heart rate and trying to regulate it. Some new source of energy surged into me and the fatigue and pain I was feeling went away. People became targets and my pace quickened.

Halfway to enightenment

As I passed through the transition area, mile 6.5 or so, I knew I was half way done. I also knew that something was happening. I ran and I ran, in that odd place by the lake, knowing I would hang a left into the hilly neighborhood I now knew so well. My triathlon legs were gone and my runner body was here. I was in some sort of overdrive.

I ran (slowly up the hills) but kept momentum going. I saw all my old pals finishing who high fived me, competitors I would not beat as they were on fire and crushing it. I found myself running at a steady consistent pace hitting 7:30’s. In fact one spectator yelled at me ‘Nice cadence!’ An odd compliment in my head I was like ‘Cool, thanks.’

Exiting the neighborhood, we had 2 miles to go on the highway. If you wanted to talk to me about why endurance athletes can endure, I suppose I would say something like ’10 percent physical, 90 percent mental.’ That was what was going down in this moment… my mind and body were in total sync and in an unfaltering pace aimed for the finish. As I write this and reflect on it I realize that these moments are the most important in the sport. The mind and body working together in some sort of nirvana carrying you to the end. I honestly didn’t feel tired.

The Chapter Closes

During the entire race I often said to myself, especially in times of need, ‘This is what you live for. Do not wish for the end to come so soon, enjoy the moment.’

Unfortunately, the end did come and I welcomed it as the heat was getting to me. As I cruised to the finish my favorite spectator (who had been stationed all over and was great at well, spectating and getting me amped up) was by the finish. She gave me one final shout out as she left the scene waving goodbye.

I finished with a jump shot, an homage to my original coach, Coach Sonja, who taught me a lot. My run time was 1:40 flat.

Jim was there waiting and looking, might I add, super fresh. Very jealous! I accidentally had a non-alcoholic beer before collecting my things in transition. It was there I saw one of my competitors and now friend Baris. He happened to be across from me in transition and so we laughed a bit about the race. He is from Brooklyn! Hi neighbor.

Post Race

After cleaning up, Jim and I headed to the awards ceremony. I had won 2nd Place in my age group (26th overall), so I got a trophy! For those of you new to me… I am an artist. Growing up I did not participate in any sports at all. I started all of this nonsense when I was the ripe old age of thirty. Point being, I never won trophies, so it’s a big deal to me when I do.

After the awards we hit The Point for dinner. We were both pretty wiped out so we spent the rest of the night chilling out in our hotel.

Back to Mighty Manhattan

We were up pretty early, which meant one thing… coffee run to Sevs! (7-11… if ya don’t know, now ya know). I wanted to hit the lighthouse before leaving but Jim did not, so we parted ways.

I drove out to the tip of Long Island, the ‘End of the Earth’ as you might call it. It was remote, it was cold, rugged and so cool. I walked around a bit and watched the dedicated fishermen in the surf. It was truly another world out there and so very amazing to take in.

Go West

I had off of work, so I took my time headed back to the city. I stopped when I wanted to, making it a true road trip. I made it home by early afternoon and just like that… it was over.

In Summary

Since May I have been a walking mess. Often wondering about purpose and decisions, time and space, but mostly time. When you race for 5:25 hours you get to think about a lot of shit. I think I did most of my thinking in my total garbage 48 minute swim, finally clearing my mind. That left me open to actually compete in the bike and run and to take home a trophy after almost no training. Am I back? I think so. Battle Stations, Bitches.

RACE REPORT: 136 Reston Triathlon

Posted on October 4, 2017 by admin

Posted in All, Race Reports, Running, Triathlon Leave a comment

Ironman Chattanooga was called off by Dougie and I this year, leaving a hole in my triathlon calendar. I decided to fill it by racing the Reston Triathlon with my youngest brother in my hometown.

The Part About the Bike Box

I don’t have a car and therefore had a slight logistical problem. I needed to get my bike to Reston for the race. I love public transportation and so immediately ruled out renting a car. This would have been an expensive option as well. Train tickets were pretty reasonable, and seeing as how I love train travel I made this my chosen mode of race transportation.

To get your bike on the train (or a plane) you need a bike box. I was going to use the Evoc softcase, which is a pretty sweet setup. It is very lightweight and has reinforced edges and the bike frame itself locks into a separate metal piece. There are wheels as well, making it ideal for city travel.

I took the day off work and left to catch a noon train on the Friday before the race. Abbe and I got the bike down the stairs fairly easily. She wasn’t joining me on this one as she had other plans in the city she needed to be present for. As I said goodbye to her I then stood looking at this massive situation I had to maneuver through the NYC Subway. I said out loud to her that this seems like a bad idea. I had done a lot of research on getting the bike on the train and knew I had a 50/50 shot of being successful. “Screw it, I’m going for it.” and off I went.

I did pretty well getting it down into the Second Avenue Subway, two people even helped me get it through the emergency access gate. Everyone was quite curious about my luggage and asked lots of questions. People were very shocked to hear that you can just sign up for a triathlon and not ‘qualify’ to participate in them.

Going up the stairs is slightly more challenging. Thankfully, a woman helped me get it up the stairs at Herald Square. Go New York!

Arriving at the illustrious Penn Station I had an hour and 15 minutes until my train, enough time to deal with any other BS I might come across. I found a lovely conductor lady and quizzed her about my bike box, asking what the odds of me getting this puppy on the train were. “Pretty good if you pay the large luggage fee of $25. The line is empty, go ahead and get it taken care of.” You bet I will, as I ran over to the empty kiosk. The woman working the desk was not impressed with my chipper ‘I’m excited to get on a train’ attitude. “Hi! I need to get on a train with my oversized luggage.” “That isn’t making it on any train aside from the 3PM bike train.” she replied. “But, it’s just a big bag, not a bike.” Clearly I had a bike in there. The graphics on the side of the bag that said ‘Evoc Pro Bike Bag’ made it a dead give away. I asked and pleaded as to what I could do to get it on the train. She basically told me I was on my own and if I could convince the conductor trackside to take it on board then so be it. “That’s it, that’s all I can do?” “Yep.”

I knew that the trackside people would also be less than thrilled to see this bag, as my first conductor friend told me so. Emergency Action Baker has just gone into high speed mode. I was going to get a cab to my apartment, drop my bike off and cab it back to Penn in an hour to make my train. I would figure out the bike part of the race once in Reston, but for now I needed to make this train.

It was 11AM and I was in a cab headed north on 8th Avenue, not a fast ride. It didn’t help that homeslice was watching movies on his phone at stoplights. I actually made it to my place by 11:30. Abbe ran down and helped me repack my luggage before I ran off towards Madison Avenue.

I made a game time decision that the subway was a better option to inject me into Penn. I took a cab across the Park to the A, C, E at 96th and jumped underground. It was 11:42 when I boarded the C train.

At 11:54 the doors opened at Penn and I bolted out full speed. I had this.

I quickly made note of my track and bee lined it to the closest entry point. I sat down with 2 minutes to spare before the train doors closed. Mission complete. Bike bags suck. I was a sweaty mess.

I had a lovely train ride down and was glued to the book I was reading for book club, Underground Railroad. I highly recommend it.

My brother Phil, not the one doing the tri, picked me up and we headed from DC to Reston. We met Jeff, the one doing the tri, at our step brother’s restaurant Red’s Table for some happy hour action. The rest of the night was spent at Jeff’s barbecuing and playing with all of my nephews. It was a blast.

On Saturday Jeff and I went out for a shakeout run followed by a 20 minute bike ride. Oh right, what was my bike solution? My brother Phil lent me his road bike. Thanks Phil!

We went and checked into the race and then bounced around town with Ali and Dylan. That night we went to Phil and Naomi’s house for pasta dinner. We had shrimp scampi which was delicious.

Bedtime was at 10…

RACE DAY

I was up at 5-5:30AM and felt pretty good. Jeff and I watched the news while sipping coffee. Hurricane Irma was hitting Florida at the time so we were concerned for our Mom.

We rode over to set up T2 (Jeff lives across the street, quite literally, from the finish line and T2) making it super easy. It may have been the silliest T2 setup I have ever done. Since I had Phil’s bike, and he doesn’t have clips installed, I would be riding it in my running shoes and in my running gear basically. I looked at my T2 spot and just placed 1 Gel on the ground. The people around me looked at me like I was insane.

Next, we rode over to T1 on Lake Audubon. It was pretty chilly out with the air temperature being 50 and the water temperature 72. I enjoyed the fact that this is a very hometown race, where everyone knew everyone. There was also some serious competition present.

I was in Wave 2 and so I fist bumped Jeff and made my way to the lake. I waded out to the start buoy and hung out for a hot second. The water was pleasant but not warm by any means although I knew I would heat up once we started swimming.

The gun went off and I dug in. This was the second time I had swam this year, the first being the NYC Tri in July. It’s like riding a bike right?

I was thoroughly enjoying my morning swim. The sun was rising and it was looking like a beautiful day. The lake also brings back memories for me. I learned how to sail on it when I was 15, at a time when i was also scared of the water.

I did get blasted in the face once and had my goggles pop off.

I knew my swim was slow because I could feel a few waves pass over me. When I exited I saw Jeff, who had beat me out of the water. I yelled over to him “Jeff! Go!” I then scrambled out of my wetsuit, dried off and hopped on the bike. By now Jeff had a solid 2 minute lead on me, which is a pretty big gap on the bike.

The course was 3 loops on back roads. The first few miles it took me awhile to get into gear. Once I did I picked up the pace and started having some fun. I saw Phil, Naomi, Cayden, Owen, Ali and Dylan all cheering with signs at mile 5.

One of the things that started to happen to me was that I was getting major hip pain after mile 10. I would say that has to do with me riding a bike that isn’t fitted for me. I was also struggling with not being clipped into the pedals. It would be tough for me to catch up to my brother.

By the time I finished up my third loop the sun was beating down and turning up the heat. I dumped my bike, grabbed my lone, sad gel and took off.

The run was in the woods on paved trails, a staple of the Reston community. Luckily, it was also very shaded. Mile 1 clicked off at 7:11, the hunt for Jeff was on.

I saw him coming my way after the first out-n-back, roughly at mile 3. We high fived and I yelled that I was coming for him. I took my gel at mile 4 with my pace hovering in the 7:15 range.

I finally caught him after we went up this torturous half a mile hill. We ended up running the last mile or so together which was pretty fun. I also saw my friend Jenn run by! I had no idea she was racing. I later texted her and learned that all my buddies (Shag, Rick, Albers, etc.) were hanging out. Unfortunately, time was not on my side and I couldn’t go join them.

Finally, as we got to the finish he was like “Let’s go!” and we blasted across the line simultaneously!

Sex/ Age	Age Place	Overall Place	Swim 1.5K	T1	Bike 40K	T2	Run 6M	Total Time
M39			37:49		1:26:02		43:46

The Reston Triathlon website is down, more stats to come later.

We grabbed some food and then found our family. Back at Jeff’s we started making breakfast sandwiches to refuel as it was early. I was close to being Code Red so when the food was finally ready I inhaled mine!

That afternoon was spent celebrating over at my Bonus Mom’s house with everyone. It was a hard earned medal and a fun race.

RACE REPORT: 129 The King George Triathlon

Posted on September 9, 2016 by admin

Posted in All, Race Reports, Triathlon 1 Comment

The Lake George Triathlon Festival consists of an Olympic distance triathlon on Saturday and the Half Ironman distance on Sunday. You can do either one, or if you find yourself dissatisfied with a single day of racing you can do both and complete the ‘King George.’

We had to get up to Lake George on the Friday afternoon before the race. Dougie and I packed up the car and then hit El Paso for some lunch before taking off. One of the more challenging things when planning for back-to-back triathlons is what to bring. You need almost 2 of everything you normally need for a triathlon, which is a lot of stuff. Then throw in the variable of unknown weather and you really have your hands full.

We made it to Lake George in 4 hours and immediately hit race check in. There we met up with fellow Battalion teammates Amy and Dave. Once we had all of our stuff, 2 bibs, 2 timing chips, to swim caps… we went to the hotel to get organized before Abbe and Danika arrived.

Our meal that night took place on the water at Christie’s. Our shrimp scampi was pretty sub par, but it would do the trick.

RACE DAY ONE: OLYMPIC

Let’s just go over the distance for readers not familiar.

SWIM: 1.5k (0.9m)
BIKE: 40k (25m)
RUN: 10k (6.2m)

Doug and I quietly prepared in our hotel room as to not wake the wives. We ate peanut butter sandwiches before headed out. We rode our bikes the 1/2 a mile to transition, which was a great move. It was pretty chilly, 50 degrees, but it was a beautiful morning.

The vibe was pretty awesome and everyone was chatting.

We found Amy, Dave and Sally and just hung out by the water’s edge until showtime. We were Wave 3 as there were 2 waves of competing College athletes ahead of us. That would make for a very fun race in the end, seeing UCon and ‘Cuse jerseys competing and so forth.

Dougie and I found Victor (part of my Seven Samurai, but more on that later) and talked swim strategy. The water was 75 degrees (warmer than the air) and felt great. The gun went off and the wave of guys exploded into the water like a feeding frenzy. I plopped my head down and started my race.

I was very excited to be open water swimming in Lake George. It’s very clear and way cleaner than anything close by to NYC. I had not done much in he way of swim training all season, so I was just out for enjoyment and to hopefully not get my face smashed by another swimmer.

The sun started to rise over the eastern side of the mountains and it made for quite a beautiful swim. I had a little bit of contact but for the most part was able to do my own thing. It’s funny how much random stuff you think about when you are swimming.

Right before the finish you swim over these old train tracks, it’s way cool.

Back on dry land I ran into Doug in T1 as we were rack neighbors. I changed my tri top (Doug helped as it was stuck) and thew on a long sleeve cycling jersey.

It was cold for around 5 miles and then everything clicked in. The first portion of the course is on this bike path through the woods. It is heavily shaded and one car lane wide. It was pretty sick rolling 25MPH through the bends. I found myself imagining that I was on a speeder bike in Return of the Jedi. At one point I did have to yell at 2 guys who were riding side by side for a few minutes not allowing anyone to pass.

We hit a few big hills where I was screaming down the hill at high speed, it was fantastic. The uphills were nothing too challenging in my opinion.

I finished up the bike feeling pretty good, but ready to rock a 10k on foot. In T2 I ate one gel, washed it down with some water and took off.

The crowds were really thick and I saw my Samurai and their cheer squad.

The Seven Samurai are a group of triathletes I have been privately coaching this season. Rachel and Vic were also doing King George, Natalie, LVL and Erin were doing the Half Ironman the following day. They had a few others with them cheering and it was a solid crew.

The course was a double loop and at the top of the hill on mile one we entered the shaded bike path. I had just passed Vic who was looking strong. Then, there was an arrow to head into the woods on a trail! It was awesome, very Last of the Mohicans and there was even a fallen tree you had to jump over. You then emerge like a bat out of hell onto a field. Wow it was fun.

We then entered a school parking lot and I found Abbe and Danika cheering us on. My pace was hovering right around the 7 minute per mile mark.

I hit the second loop and was super excited to tackle that trail again. I saw the Samurai cheer squad yelling ‘Go Baker!’ again. I also ended up running into Amy and I yelled ‘Battaliiioooooooon!!!’ Go team.

Sex/ Age	Age Place	Overall Place	Swim 1.5K	T1	Bike 40K	T2	Run 8K	Total Time
M38	7	77	36:19	3:11	1:16:32	1:54	43:56	2:41:52

Thanks for the pics Dave!

I finished up and then headed over to cheer. I got to see Amy, Rachel and Dougie come through. We all hung around in the field eating and talking about the race. Dougie and I eventually made our way to the beer tent for our 2 free Adirondack Brewery Beers.

Since we had to recover for the race the next day we opted for a really protein heavy lunch. We also went back out into the lake later to shake out the body and just float.

Active recovery, Battalion style

For dinner we opted for the Lake George Beach Club. The food was fantastic but the vibe they were trying to create was pretty lame. They did, however have a fantastic gal singing on the outside deck entertaining us all while the cool night air set in.

RACE DAY TWO: HALF-IRONMAN

Once again, let’s just go over the distance for readers not familiar.

SWIM: 1.2m
BIKE: 56m
RUN: 13.1m

We woke up and repeated the exact routine we had done the morning before… peanut butter sandwiches, etc. I even made the same crappy cup of coffee. My body didn’t seem tired, but my mind did. It knew what lay in store I think.

On the bike ride to the start we thought it might have been a few degrees cooler than Saturday.

After setting up the gear in transition we met up with the group that I coach. We had a few laughs and kept the mood light. 4 of us (Dougie, Rachel, Vic and myself) had the King George double event to tackle. Natalie, Laura and Erin had opted to just do the Half-Ironman portion of the race, a smarter move I think.

I was Wave 1 this time so I headed to the water soon after the meet up. Let’s get this thing going!

The same 1975 recording of the National Anthem played that did the day before, which was pretty uninspiring. Then, showtime. I ran into the water (it was still warm) and plunged in, locking into a calm steady freestyle stroke. I felt good and once again wanted to just enjoy this lovely body of water.

1.2 miles compared to .9 miles didn’t seem like that big a difference mentally., but physically it was. It wouldn’t have been if I had nothing to compare it to the day before, but the extra distance to the turnaround seemed to take forever.

My sighting was way better today and I was hitting all the tangents and keeping a straight line for the most part.

In T1 I had a hell of a time getting my wet suit off. The race uses these huge foam ankle trackers and it was hard to get the suit over it. Then, to make matters worse, as I went to mount my bike the chain was apparently off the big wheel! Sabotage! I quickly remedied the situation (some guy even complimented my bike handling skills, thanks man) and took off.

It was quite cold and the first three miles of the course are straight uphill. It was grueling and seemed to never end. At the apex I started to take off. I saw Laura, who looked fresh and then caught up to Doug. We rode for awhile before he said to me in typical Doug style, “Go do your thing bro, I’ll see you on the run.”

We kept riding up into the mountains and the fog made it seem as though we were riding into a forest fire. It also made for very chilly riding and I was happy to have my long sleeve jersey on. We were riding along the Schroon River, which I kept saying over and over in my head as it is quite fun to say. It got pretty lonely out there and at times I could only see one person in front of me and one behind, both 50 meters out.

It was at this point, mile 20, that I all of a sudden had to pee very bad. This was strange as I had peed like 4 times during the swim.

The top half of the race is to circumnavigate Brandt Lake. It was a gorgeous lake that was much quieter and calmer than Lake George. At this point I was actually feeling pretty exhausted and wanted the race to be done. ‘Just hang on’ is what I kept telling myself. My speed dropped and I tried to take it easy on the hills. I had been taking in plenty of nutrition, I just think the race from the day before was starting to take it’s toll.

As we were rounding the top of the lake, I looked to the right. The sun was glancing across a field of tall grass as a young horse, backlit, stood eating. It was so beautiful. For a second I though, ‘Wow I wish I had a camera.’ Then, as I often do, though, ‘No, this is for the moment.’ It actually gave me a burst of energy.

When we hit the half way mark there was one port-o-potty. I used it and once I was back on the bike felt worlds better. ‘Baker, you always pee on the bike, why not then?’ It was really cold out and my tri shorts were still wet from the swim, that seemed like a very bad time.

The second half of the lake run was super fun. The road got tight and windy, one wrong move and you were in the soup! The temperatures were starting to rise as well, the fog gone.

By now I was leap-frogging with 2-3 individuals. As we were around mile 40 the gal in front of me veered left and hit the brakes. A giant Great Dane, smiling and happy, was running right at us. It wanted to play. I followed suit and just as he came up beside me to lick me I took off. Up ahead, the unaffected owner saying, “Molly, hey c’mon back okay?” Onward.

I was actually feeling pretty good and peppy now and held a steady pace. I knew we would soon go back down the uphill from the beginning. Before that though, the gods set upon us one last mother of an uphill. I was feeling social, and asked a guy I was passing, “Hey, do you think this is the last uphill?” “I fuckin’ hope so.” he yelled. Yes, I hope so too.

And it was. As we crossed over the apex a glorious thing of beauty showed itself, the three mile downhill. I screamed down it, trying to conserve energy by not grinding it out. It also seemed as though the wind was working against us.

T2 never looked so good. I racked my bike and decided, without a cloud in the sky, I should lather up with some sunblock. As I was doing so one of the USAT Refs came over and hung out, noting that what I was doing was a good idea.

Taking off onto the course I felt a bit sluggish as compared to the day before. I know myself, and I know that mile 1 of a triathlon is going to be the warm up. I was disappointed when we didn’t turn down into the woodsy trail from yesterday and kept on the bike path. At least it was shaded.

I was passing people steadily and then Vic came from the other direction and gave me a high five. Nice. Next I saw Abbe and Danika in full on cheer squad. As I passed them for the first quick out-n-back I passed Erin who yelled to me, “Sorry Baker, I didn’t take it easy on the bike.” I wanted her to take it easy on the bike.

Within a few miles I had caught up to her and noted that I thought she was 7th woman overall! Keep it up I told her. She cracked me up because after I left one of the bigger aid stations she asked if there were snacks. Yes, there are snacks.

I saw Dougie right around here and I yelled “Battaliooooon!” He looked good and was smiling.

I was pretty fired up now and running sub7. I was not stopping at water stations to walk, I was not holding back. As we hit mile 7 we entered a new section of the course. I took it, because some dumb young kids who volunteered weren’t paying attention, and then I saw a mile 12 marker and freaked out. I sped up and asked this guy running what the deal was. He notified me that we run this loop twice. Then, the mile 8 marker passed and I felt dumb.

On the second loop I saw Natalie who seemed to be having a great time like the rest of us. My watch had malfunctioned (because I hit the transition button twice) so I didn’t know pace or time, I was just moving as fast as I could go.

The last loop was pretty fast, and I always realize that I am meant to run long distance when I experience this in a race. It was like miles 7-13 were easier than the first few.

I saw Abbe at the finish and she helped me put some pep in my step for the end.

My time of 5:29:58 was not a race PR, but I finished with a PR (1:29:58) for my Half-Ironman run split.

Sex/ Age	Age Place	Overall Place	Swim 1.2M	T1	Bike 56M	T2	Run 13.1M	Total Time
M38	9	57	47:54	2:16	3:05:18	3:06	1:29:58	5:29:58

After she found me we both hit the water station (she had just done a 20 mile training run). I found Victor and then watched Erin finish. She came in 6th overall in fact! Soon we saw Dougie, who did way better than expected. Laura and Natalie crushed it and Rachel had a broken chain, throwing her time way off. Better to happen now than in Ironman though.

While eating they started putting more results up, King George being one of them, and Abbe went up to look. She looked back at me and held up five fingers, smiling at me. I had come n 5th and was super excited by it!

For those confused, they add up the Olympic Distance and the Half-Ironman distance times to get the King George results.

We took some awards photos before Dougie and I headed out to meet the gals for food. We spent the day celebrating our double triathlon accomplishment.

Thanks Lake George and Adirondack Race Management!

Big ups to the group I coach. You were sportsmanlike, you showed a high level of endurance during tough times and looked great while there was a lot of carnage on the course. I am proud to have coached and taken you to where you are now. You are all Warrior Status, keep your heads high.

This was very challenging more mentally than physically. I am happy to have done it, because I live for the endurance challenges.

RACE REPORT: 120 Ironman Louisville – 11:27:49

Posted on October 18, 2015 by admin

Posted in All, Race Reports, Triathlon 5 Comments

Last year Dougie and I were chatting after a 70.3 and he had said he wanted to attempt his first Ironman. After some research we landed on Louisville.

I set us up with a rigorous training program for the summer. It was grueling and very time consuming. (Big shout out to our wives Abbe and Danika for putting up with our 10-12 hour training days.) We executed it to a tee and now it was time to race.

—

Doug and I had the car packed and were rocketing across Manhattan by 4PM on Thursday. The wives were flying out to meet us the next day.

2 hours in we stopped in rural PA for coffee and some snacks. At the Starbucks this kid practically yells at me, “I love that shirt! Where did you get it?” He was referring to my Brooklyn Brewery shirt, I too love this shirt. I was bewildered at this question in this day and age of the mighty internet. I told him you can get them at the brewery. This puzzled him further. “Where is that?” “The Brooklyn Brewery is in Brooklyn.”

10 minutes later in a drive through line a few young kids working saw the bikes and said, “Do you guys do racing, or do you do triathlons?” Dougie and I smiled and looked back at them replying, “A little bit of both.” This was all happening as spooky church bells were ringing in the distance.

We made it out to a place just south of Pittsburgh that night. We checked in and then hit the local Smoky Bones BBQ to have some beers and apps.

The following day we had another 5 hours on the road. Sipping on coffee and chatting we had just passed from PA to West Virginia on into Ohio, when we saw a State Trooper pop out onto the road. At the same time a guy on a motorcycle zipped by. He wasn’t going too much faster than us, but enough to draw attention. We were like, “I bet he pulls him over.” And just like that the lights come on! But guess what Mr. Speedster did? He sped up and tried to outrun the cops!!! I have never seen a high speed chase before so I was like, “Dougie, try and keep up!” No dice. They must have been doing a buck fifty. 5 miles down the road we saw them and luckily no one was hurt. The officer was getting out as the perp was laying face down on the street hands out. Busted. Thanks you Ohio for making our morning memorable.

My father used to make this stuff when we were kids during football called Cincinnati Chili. It was basically a red bean and ground beef base chili served over pasta with grated cheese. Since we were coming up to Cincinnati, Doug and I had an idea to go get some Cincinnati Chili IN Cincinnati! (I can now officially spell Cincinnati.)

We stopped at Camp Washington Chili, in operation since 1940. It was some of the best I have ever had. Red beans, ground beef, diced onions, cheddar cheese and franks red hot served over a bed of spaghetti. A perfect blend of carbs and protein! The staff was extremely friendly. We even made friends with a few locals once they heard we were from NYC. This older guy (he had just turned 80) who was busing some tables came up and asked how we liked it. “Fantastic! Thanks!” Our server later informed us that he was the owner!

Off to Louisville! It was at this moment when they announced that the swim wouldn’t be cancelled due to the algae blooms! It would in fact be a full Ironman. Game on.

We met the gals (who had arrived just after noon) at a local spot down the block from the hotel. After a quick hello we went to check in as time was fading on us.

Dougie and I are All World Athletes as we were in the top 2 percent of finisher last year. It came with promises of special check in lines and other fun things, but I have to say I was let down by the whole program. None of what was promised existed aside from our ‘Black Swim Cap’ which was pointless. It actually seems less attractive when you think about if you needed to be rescued in the water, no one would spot a black swim cap.

The rest of the day was spent gallivanting around town trying whiskey flights and eating amazing food. It was Abbe’s birthday so we planned a special dinner at Proof on Main. Delicious!

Saturday morning was the practice swim. The outside temperature was 48 degrees but the water temperature was 71… refreshing! The gals watched us from afar before taking off for their run. Abbe is running the NYCM and Danika the Philly Half.

The rest of the morning was spent packing up our 5 bags, Morning Clothes, Bike Transition, Bike Special Needs, Run Transition, and Run Special Needs. It’s tedious business.

Once we dropped the bags and the bikes at transition it was like a huge weight had been lifted. All the anxiety, all the training, it was all locked into firing position.

We had a lovely outdoor lunch with the wives and just took it easy the rest of the day. That night we took a cab to an Italian spot called Volare. It was perfect.

I had some red wine that night to relax and it totally worked. My body and mind were so exhausted that I fell asleep at close to 9PM. That is a record for me! In fact, sleeping before a big race is a challenge in itself.

RACE DAY

Up at 5AM and ready to rock. I was not nervous, the training was there, it was just time to execute and put everything together like a puzzle.

Battle Stations!

It was pitch dark out when we left the hotel to walk the 10 minutes to transition. The air was 46 degrees with a predicted high of 70 later in the day.

We spent a hot second in transition. Everything was queued up and ready to launch. We then walked the mile, mile and a half to the swim start… march of the penguins.

It was crazy at the swim start. There is a rolling start to Louisville where everyone lines up and then proceeds into the soup. People had been camping out in the cold to hold front line positions! We walked and walked until we were at the end. We were maybe 2/3rds back in line, no biggie. We made friends with all the people around us, laughing it up.I munched on my peanut butter sandwich and sipped on water.

The sun had started to rise and it was a beautiful sight, as if an old friend had showed up to cheer.

The canon fired and we all cheered! It would be another 30 minutes until we made it up to the docks, but it happened fast. I put my ear plugs in and filled up my morning bag before handing it off to the volunteer. I fits bumped Dougie and we hit the water.

I loved the swim. You set off down this narrow channel (maybe 800M) around an island before headed back towards the city. We were told that there would be current against us until we hit the return point but I think it was the opposite. It was easy shooting down the channel and we were really cooking! It was foggy right on top of the water, that mixed with the red orange sunrise made for quite a sight.

I struggled at the turn buoy past the island. It just felt like churning waters and I couldn’t get a solid rhythm down.

Once I was midway down the second half of the island I was able to start making steady progress again. We were about to go under 2 sets of bridges. Right before I came upon what I thought was a dead body and got super freaked out. It was this older guy floating on his back with his arms out stretched and eyes closed. I was like, “Holy guacamole, I need to flag down help.” Just then he opened his eyes like and rolled over starting to swim again. Whew!

Swimming under this bridge that was being constructed I could see a giant gap in the roadway that hadn’t been completed yet. It was way cool but I kept envisioning a runaway truck careening off the gap and into the swim course.

Approaching the swim exit one thing I noted was how great I felt. I could have done another mile I think.

I popped out and got my wetsuit stripped. Then, as I was running off I heard and saw Abbe and Danika cheering! They had a great position right by the exit.

I hauled ass (it was cold) and made it into T1. As I was going into the men’s tent I saw Dougie! I made my way deep into the crowded tent and found a seat in the middle. I changed into a full bike kit and had a long sleeve jersey on due to the temps.

I jumped on my QR and shot off into the bike course feeling great. It was noticeably cold and I was happy to have long sleeves and gloves on.

It took me a few miles before I got into the groove. I was watching my heart rate and not my MPH. I noted that I immediately had a splitting headache. I was pissed as this was a new obstacle I had never faced.

Miles 16-24 are this wicked out-and-back with some monster hills. There were caution signs everywhere as we bombed down the big ones. These roads were narrower so it was really intense. One wrong move and you were head on with a pack of bikers. On the way out there was a biker down and emergency people tending to him. We had to slow and move in a single line to pass. A guy three riders behind me was like, “C’mon guys, speed it up!” And I was like, ‘Who the F is this ass behind me?’ I am sorry, when someone is hurt, possibly very badly, ‘racing’ takes a back seat. We can all live to race another day. I slowed up and let him ride by me a few miles up. As he passed he nodded to me to which I responded with a death stare.

My head was pounding at this point. I had been pushing my helmet around to see if that would help to no avail. Then, I reached back and released the tightener and instantly I felt great! I had been squeezing my brain!

We hit the first loop (of two loops) and I was still feeling great and making steady progress. The course was starting to get gorgeous now, with us passing horse farms everywhere. They were majestic horses too, the kind that might race in say Churchill Downs, which was on the run course.

The best place to cheer on the bike is this small town called La Grange. The streets narrow and they are lined with spectators. There is even a DJ. I liked this part because imagine a pack of bikers in aero coming in hot at say 20 MPH and everything gets tight around you. I immediately think, ‘Death Star Run!’ and channel Luke Skywalker and R2.

As we hit the 60 mile mark I started to feel this headwind that everyone was talking about in the swim start line. It was nasty. Luckily (or not so luckily) I was about to turn into the second loop. By this time I was feeling slightly less peppy but soon got my energy back. We pit stopped at the Special Needs and I swapped out my water bottles. I slammed a coconut water as well. My helper laughed as he produced a giant bag of gummy bears. “Gummy bears?” he smiled as I just waved for him to give them my way.

Back on the road I snagged a few, all of which were lemon. Really? No red? C’mon!

Miles 80-90 were a bit of a struggle as my back was getting tight and every time you stretch the headwind catches you. Aero is the only way to deal with the wind.

I finished the bike feeling great, ready to get to this run. Ready to get into my strongest suit and do some work.

In T2 I changed into running shorts and a running shirt. I felt so fresh! I slammed a coconut water here too.

As I hit mile 2 Abbe, Danika and a surprise guest, my Aunt Dee Dee! I stopped and gave everyone hugs and kisses. Abbe ran along side of me, I wasn’t fully in ‘run mode’ just yet so I was a bit untalkative.

I knew I had executed a good swim and a good bike, but not my best. I decided that I was going to drop the hammer and give em a show on the run. I pretended this was no different from any other marathon and tried to block out the earlier part of the day.

Out to mile 7, back to mile 14, out to mile 21 and then back home. 4 segments.

I was just drinking water and Gatorade, flying through the aid stations. I saw my friend Jen (who would go on to win her AG) flying by here and gave a shout, “Jen! Go!” As we hit the first turnaround it all clicked in. No more post bike wonky-ness, just running.

I kept my aid station visits quick and tried to keep my momentum up. As I was making my way back to down I passed Dougie and we high fived as I yelled “Doradooooo!” Then I ran past our crew and Abbe ran with me once more. She said “Honey, you are throwing down a 7:30 pace!” I had no idea, I was just running to run.

I grabbed a Gu from an aid station at mile 17 which helped a bit. I was also alternating between coke and chicken broth at every other aid station which seemed to work. I was so excited at the last turnaround. I was now on segment 4!

I was getting a lot of great crowd support out there now. People were chanting, “Great pace! Keep it up!” I was fired up. The sun was going down so my shades came off. My quads were now burning like crazy so I just took it mile by mile. I saw Dougie again at my mile 24 and gave anther high five.

I took a left, then a right and saw the Ironman finish. I slowed my pace a bit to let the woman in front of me have the finish line to herself. I crossed with a 11:27:49! Not my best Ironman time, but one that I am happy with. I ran a 3:26 marathon, which is my fastest in an Ironman.

Sex/ Age	Age Place	Overall Place	Swim 2.4M	T1	Bike 112M	T2	Run 26.2M	Total Time
M37	73	341	1:24:50	10:18	6:16:21	9:22	3:26:58	11:27:49

Abbe, Danika and Aunt Dee Dee came and grabbed me after I passed through the chute. They asked what I wanted to do? “Sit down.” was my response.

We made our way the half a block to our hotel lobby bar and posted up. Aunt Dee Dee bought me a beer and I had a giant plate of french fries. People always wonder why you are not immediately hungry after an Iron (or Half Iron)? When you train your body to run on liquid nutrition all day it takes a little while for you to crave solids again. I asked how Dougie was doing. He was to finish at 9:30 so I went up and took a quick shower.

That shower was amazing!

I found the gals out on the course in front of the finish and we anxiously awaited Doug to arrive. 15 minutes later there he was. We cheered our faces off as he crossed the finish. ‘Doug Dorado YOU are an Ironman!’

We grabbed Dougie and went back to the hotel bar where we had more beers. I ordered a huge plate of fried chicken (as I was now hungry after burning 10,000 calories). Jen and Mark came by to hang as well. She won her AG and her third Kona ticket!

We then went out to watch the midnight finishers. What an epic and emotional time. For those of you not familiar, midnight is the cutoff time for the race. You need to cross by then to get your medal and IM status.

Imagine, out of the distant darkness a figure moving toward. Everyone starts drumming on the sides of the finish chute and as the runner approaches it gets louder and louder until we all erupt into cheering! Epic, simply epic.

We said goodbye to Jen and Mark and then hit a bar. I was up the latest I had been up (1:30AM) in a long time, which is ironic as I should be sleepy. We all turned in after that. It felt great to have my head hit that pillow.

—

This was my third (and far from last) Ironman distance. It made me realize why I love the sport of triathlon once more.

Big ups to Dougie D for nailing his first Ironman! I put us through hell in the training season to get us in shape for this thing and he survived. Congrats bro!

Super big ups to Abbe and Danika who have put up with us while we trained the long hours and only talked Ironman talk 24/7.

Thanks Louisville, you put on a top notch race.

Training Weekend: 108.5

Posted on September 7, 2015 by admin

Posted in All, Training: Cycling, Training: Running, Training: Swimming, Triathlon Leave a comment

Ironman Louisville fast approaches and training has been spot on. My 2 previous Ironmans had decent training, but nothing like what I have designed for Doug and I this time around.

Last weekend we rode 75 miles and then ran 4 off the bike followed by a 2 mile open water swim on Sunday. Then, Tuesday we ran 18 miles to shake out the legs (I’m kidding, it was an intentional long run). Exhausting stuff. I have been so so hungry. Please feed me.

As I sit here writing I am still hungry. Yesterday we embarked on a 100 mile ride out to Ramapo State Park and Harriman State Park.

We would our way through fun back roads in towns like Ho-Ho-Kus (it’s really a town name!) Saddle Brook and Franklin Lakes before getting to the heavy stuff.

Taking a left onto Skyline Drive, we started one of the most challenging climbs I have ever tackled. I tried to maintain some sort of level heart rate, but as we got further into the climb and I was out of the saddle, sweat starting to trickle into my eyes, all hope was lost. It was through the roof. Really, the only thing on my mind though was not quitting to walk my bike, so with my quads burning bad we made the ascent. I waited for Dougie at the top and we had a laugh at the mayhem.

We rode through some beautiful parkland and had many more climbs. Our total elevation gain was 6,660 feet.

Riding through Tuxedo Park we passed a porcupine! Seriously, I did not even know they existed that close to me.

Then, as if a porcupine wasn’t ‘wild animal’ enough, I had to stop my bike to let 15 turkeys cross the road! See you guys in a few months…

The whole ride took us around 6:20 to execute including pit stops. By the time we arrived back at the car it was 2PM and we were not excited to run in the mid day sun. We did at least, make the best of it by running over the George Washington Bridge and back. It was such a beautiful day and great to see the city in such clear conditions.

We pulled the 6 mile run off with an 8:20 pace which is right on track with training.

We hit the showers, grabbed a sandwich and a beer and then (along with Danika) headed up to the Doyle’s for Keenan’s 4th birthday celebration. We were in remarkably good shape after our activities, we even managed to throw a football around.

The following day we headed out to Super Secret Tri Training camp. (Thanks Aunt Margie and Uncle John!) We were pretty trashed from Saturday, but knew the swim would help.

We executed a 2.5 mile swim in our wet suits and I feel like I could have kept going. Transformations and ‘body evolution’ are happening.

108.5 miles done and I am so excited for my off day tomorrow!

—

Big shouts to a bunch of the battalion. Amy, Rachel, Tess, Patty and Victor all raced the Lake George triathlon series this weekend and they all crushed it! We even have a few first time Half Ironmans in that mix! Congrats to all!

RACE REPORT: 119 Timberman – 5:26:14

Posted on August 24, 2015 by admin

Posted in All, Race Reports, Triathlon 2 Comments

I realized on the Friday night before Timberman while packing that… I LOVE packing for triathlons! You put all the run stuff here and then all the bike stuff goes there, it’s all quite simple.

I was very excited for Timberman as the swim is in Lake Winnipesaukee, a crystal clear body of water 5 hours north of here. I am used to racing in dirty Hudson River-esque places, so this was going to be a treat!

Dougie popped over at 7AM Saturday, we loaded the gear and blasted out of the city error free. We had a fun road trip up to New Hampshire, stopping at Breugers Bagels and communicating with Van2 (Kate, Allison, Tara and Ryan) who were an hour behind us… slackers!

We arrived 5 hours later, grabbed our bibs and then headed over to bike check-in at the lake. We quickly set up our gear then high tailed it back to the car as we wanted to go for a swim in the lake. It was hot as hell and the clear water in the afternoon looked so inviting.

I could see all the way to the bottom as I swam out. It was great! There were buoys already set up and I said to Doug, “This does not look like it s that far at all.” ‘Of course not Baker you fool, that is the Sprint course from earlier in the day’ is what I would tell myself in the morning as I saw the real course markers. Dougie and I got in a solid 800 meters before calling it a day.

Van2 had just arrived. So had a crazy thunderstorm. They ran their bikes over to transition and then we all high tailed it outta there toward dinner.

We had reservations at CC Tomatoes down by Concord. Dougie and I got there an hour before Van2 and so we posted up at the bar for a few beers. It was a local italian restaurant where everyone knew each other. I immediately loved it. Cassie the bartender served us up some drinks and then the guy next to us, Tim, swung around asking where we were from. Clearly we stood out.

We hung out with Tim for the next hour discussing the area we were racing in, which happened to be where he grew up. We chatted about local ski resorts and hiking, it was great. The girls and Ryan showed up and we introduced them to our new friend Tim before sitting to eat. As we walked away Tim said farewell and noted that the Lobster Fettuccine was awesome. Sold.

We carbed up with salads and pasta chatting about race strategy. It was Kate, Allison and Tara’s first Half Ironman. I was excited for them, although we all knew conditions were going to be rough with the heat wave that was in place.

I asked for the check as it was getting late and our server noted that a man at the bar had already paid it! Dougie and I looked at each other and simultaneously said “Tim!” I tried to catch him as he ran out the door. I yelled, “Tim, did you buy us dinner?” He smiled, “Maybe. Have a great race tomorrow!” and with that he was gone. Thanks Tim, where ever you are. You restored a few city slickers faith in humanity.

RACE DAY

Up at the lovely hour of 4:45 and on the road by 5. It’s always weird going to bed and waking up when it is dark out. We had learned that Van2 woke up at 3, drove to transition and were sleeping in the car.

Dougie and I are both All World Athletes this year so our bike rack was right next to the Pros. It was kind of cool and intimidating at the same time as things were a touch more ‘serious’ by us.

We found Tara, Allison and Kate after they had set up transition and we all headed over to the lake to watch the wave starts. We had to race too, so that would be a good place to hang.

It was an absolutely gorgeous sunrise on the lake. It was a bit of a double edged sword though… with the beautiful sun comes heat.

We sent off Kate and then as our wave was getting ready bid farewell to Allison and Tara. Time for battle.

As Dougie and I waded into the water I broke my very own rule. I normally suggest to weaker swimmers to hang back and on one of the flanks. I was so excited to be in this damn lake that I got right in front. I was even jumping around a bit to the music playing. I may as well have been at a concert. The surrounding competitors were not feeling my vibe with their serious faces on.

The gun went off and I went out hard. I have done this enough that fear of getting punched or kicked doesn’t register, it has just become normal. It’s like the subway at rush hour, but in water.

I think around 500 meters in I had trouble breathing. I was having a bit of a panic attack I think. It’s happened to me once before on an open water swim in the middle of the Hudson river and it’s not a good time. I started breast stroking and thinking that this was the end of my race, game over. I even looked back to see what my exit strategy would be. Who am I? This is not me.

I stopped and was just bobbing around. It’s an interesting experience to just stop in the middle of the swim, the sound of others rushing past quietly. A voice called out to me. It was a woman in a kayak 10 feet away. “Hi. Are you okay? You are allowed to hang onto my kayak for a minute if you need to.” I swam over feeling very defeated and hung onto the front with one hand. “I don’t know what’s going on, I have done this many times.” I reassured her. “This is a very daunting task. You are also breathing very fast, slow your breathing down okay?” She was right. I slowed my breathing down and just chilled for a minute taking it all in. I looked off toward the distant turn buoy in the middle of the lake then back at her. “Thank you very much for all of your help miss.” and with that I plunged back into the soup and swam off, feeling normal.

Back in the groove I was swimming with ease and really enjoying myself wondering how I let it get so out of hand earlier. I focused on my form and plugged away. I got bopped in the face a few times and of course people were tickling my feet, but thats standard practice. As I rounded the final turn buoy I noticed how not tired I was and thought about all the open water lake swims we had been doing at Aunt Margie and Uncle John’s house. It was really paying off.

I exited the swim with excitement and ran over to one of the many wetsuit strippers. I love wetsuit strippers, mainly because they knock 1 minute off my T1 time.

My bike was one of the only ones left on the All World Athlete rack which made me think ‘Womp womp’ in my head. No matter… we will just play a game called catch up.

I jump on my ride and noticed that my legs were totally ready to ride immediately. I put my head down and started digging in. It was gorgeous out with a bit of a breeze, a breeze that would turn into ‘wind’ on the return trip but for now, it was at our back.

Around mile 5 I caught up to Kate and chilled with her for a second asking how she was doing. All was well so I hit the road, pressing forward steadily.

At mile 10 I caught up to Dougie and we rode together for the next 5-10 miles chatting away. We were moving at a good clip and passing people. We had to climb this monster hill. While doing so the Pros were ripping back down the hill on the return ride. It was awesome seeing bikes move that fast and I looked forward to dropping it down once I was on that hill.

At some point I lost Dougie and was just movin’ along. I played leapfrog with this Canadian gal Caron Pare for most of the ride. I was also moving a a very quick pace, averaging 24mph.

Mile 20 hit and I decided to have a bite of my Clif Bar. I needed the solids.

Mile 25 hit and I realized I had dropped my only Clif Bar.

It didn’t matter. I felt great and was crushing it. I had enough EFS formula and a few Gus to propel me home. What I didn’t know was that as we made the turn around we were confronted with a headwind. I hate wind. You can’t see it. It’s like an invisible foe pushing you here and there, mocking you.

The miles clicked by. I saw Allison on the other side of the road making her way to the turnaround and so I yelled hello to her. My inspiration was the big hill. Get to the big hill.

And the big hill came. I was going 6mph when I was climbing the hill, now I was rocketing like a bat out of hell topping out at 47.5mph on the descent! I honestly don’t know if I have ever gone that fast on a bike before, it was sick. I had no idea of my speed at the time because to look down at my Garmin would most likely mean a fiery death. I just tucked in and let me legs rest… I may have even been maniacally laughing.

Coming out of warp speed, I still had a solid 30 minutes of riding left. Our A Race is Ironman Louisville so heart rate training has been in full effect. I felt really great at this point in the race and I have no doubt in my mind that it is due to that style of training.

As we approached T2 I saw people out on the run course and got jazzed up.

A quick shoe swap, smear myself with 50SPF sunblock, grab my visor and I was off to the run.

The run course is a double out-n-back. I was looking forward to seeing the crew… a lot of times. I felt pretty good going into it. The legs were moving and I had some energy and I was focused on getting my HR to equalize.

Did I mention that it was crazy hot out? Why was it that all 3 triathlons I was racing this year were like 90+ degrees out? I mentally decided that I was going to stop at every aid station and pour water on my head. At the time, it seemed like a good idea. Looking back, once I had seen my final time I would wish that I had given it a bit more push.

The rolling hills and shade didn’t bother me too much until we got toward the turnaround and had to deal with the half mile on open highway. It was horrible. All I could think about was having to do it 3 more times.

We hit the return and I blasted forward, excited to see my friends.

I saw Dougie and shortly after Allison, who was having a great race.

The turnaround by the Finish is a bit of a mindfuck as you run right past the end, but you have to do another loop! The ‘good’ thing about having to do another loop is that you know the course. I blasted forward, the only dread in my head was the highway scene that was to take place at mile 10.

I was Dougie again, followed by Allison followed by Tara followed by Kate who yelled, “I’m confused why did I see Allison and now you?” Clearly Kate wasn’t aware of the ‘2 loops’.

I was still hosing myself down with water at every chance I had. Once more Dougie passed by followed by Allison at which point I yelled to her “Kate is confused at the 2 loop curse. Help her?”

At this stage in the game one of us were thinking straight.

I had also caught up to my friend Caron Pare (remember her from the bike?) and gave a peace sign as I passed.

I finished the race with a good punch but knew my time was sub par. I was happy for my bike splits though and the idea of just finishing the race. What if I had stopped on the swim?

Sex/ Age	Age Place	Overall Place	Swim 1.2M	T1	Bike 56M	T2	Run 13.1M	Total Time
M37	59	403	44:25	2:25	2:47:01	2:34	1:49:49	5:26:14

I went to the food tent after and waited for Dougie. We ate some real crap pizza and then went to change and wait for the gals. They all finished with glorious first time Half Ironman times and should be proud of themselves. It’s always a battle and never easy.

Doug and I hung out in the parking lot drinking beers, reflecting on our race. The gals and Ryan eventually found us and did the same. We all laughed and basked in our own personal glory as the summer sun set on the lake. It was perfect.

—

This is a race I will do again. The course and the people rock.

This race also goes to show you that no matter how many times you do something you can always get thrown a curve ball. Were it not for my guardian angel in the kayak would I have finished this race?

I tell my athletes this all the time, stick to the plan. Something one of my mentors taught me years ago. I diverted from my plan and went out hard, almost costing me a DNF. Stick to the plan.

Tim of ‘Tim’berman. You are the man and thank you for buying us dinner. You have restored our faith in humanity.

To the gals of GCR… nice work. You even made it into the race report.

RACE REPORT: 117 NYC TRI – 2:22:38

Posted on August 5, 2015 by admin

Posted in All, Race Reports, Triathlon 2 Comments

My favorite triathlon happens to be the NYC Triathlon. It is a hometown race, it is a short distance and the course is fast (and can be furious). 2015 marks my fourth year attending and I feel like I know the ins-and-outs of the race like the back of my hand.

I am currently training for a Full Distance (Ironman) race and so my training has been focused in that direction. I had no goals for this race except to have fun and give it my all.

—

I went to the Expo to check in on Friday during work. There, I met up with Amy and Joe, two athletes I coach who are some serious competition. We had a few chuckles during the race briefing as the Fox 5 News gals gave us race tips.

We ran into Juan and Elizabeth in the expo as well. Such a love fest these triathlons are!

The next day I went to rack my bike in transition and noticed how incredibly hot it was. I think it is always hellish during this race. Thank god it is only an Olympic distance. This year, just like the last 2, I decided to leave all my crap in Transition on Saturday rather than wake up at 4AM. Like I said, knowing the race means I get that extra few hours to chill and drink coffee, watch the news and play with my adorable dog-like cat George. (instagram.com/toosexyformyfur) Follow him, I dare you.

Dougie’s son Doug (16) was having his birthday party at Carmines that night. He invited a select few to the event. In attendance was Dougie, Danika, Doug, Hailey, Madison, Susan, Eric, Joe and his son, Abbe and myself. I had dared Doug Jr. that he couldn’t eat a whole serving of Carmine’s family style bolognase, a daunting task. There was cash on the line, so Doug Jr. had his game face on. We started immediately, confusing the waiter when he asked what kind of water we wanted and we instead ordered one family order of bolognase.

I would like to tell you that Doug Jr. fought the good fight and came out victorious, but in the end the pasta got the better of him. Seeing as how he ate 90% of the meal I awarded him half of his total prize money. Nice job Doug on a well fought fight!

The rest of us racing the next day (Dougie, Susan and myself) were well fueled on pasta and ready to rock the next day.

RACE DAY

I awoke feeling fresh and spry at 5:45AM on race day. I made myself some coffee and relaxed for a bit, watch online as the professionals took off. I left the apartment to catch a quick cab west at 6:15 and by 6:30 I had linked up with Dougie at our meeting point. It was all very military and all very carefree simultaneously. One of my giant water bottles was filled with Cafe Bustelo.

We wandered along the North River and it’s lines of excited triathletes. I ran into my friend Ben there and passed another pal Elik before we found Joe and Colman on a bench. We four pondered the race and the impending hot weather that was to strike us down on the run. It looked to be bad.

As time started to catch up with us we all parted ways. “See you boys on the other side.”

In my corral I noticed the usual bits of horrifying debris in the water floating around. The current was on it’s way to becoming a slack tide at this point as the race was delayed. The thought of jumping into the Hudson no longer scares me, in fact it thrills me as if I were jumping into the community pool on a hot summer day. The march of the penguins had begun as we made our way to the start platform. I tried to put a few guys at ease that were around me asking questions. I would like to think I helped them.

As I entered the soup I simply dug in and started swimming. It was a beautiful sunny day and I was happy to be alive, splashing around and enjoying the mayhem.

The river was choppy, it was murky and I tried to not drink it. My form was good and I did not stop at all… just a simple morning dip in the mighty North River. I emerged 24 minutes later (my slowest time to date by 6 minutes) and ran off towards T1.

Running along the river towards my bike (which I had not seen since the day before) I wondered what state it would be in. Flat tires, missing and not there at all, maybe a new paint job? She was there ready to rock without any issues. I geared up and we took off. I saw Dougie exiting the swim maybe 5 minutes behind me as I blasted up the ‘steep hill’ onto the Henry Hudson Parkway.

I had decided to do the race naked (without a Garmin) and so once on the open road I just dropped the hammer. I felt great, the sun was shining and I was in a groove, flowing north.

It took three miles before the burning in my quads subsided and I could actively pursue and pass people. With no fear holding me back and nothing to lose I just barreled forward, trying to push my own boundaries. The course is comprised of rolling hills, some rather large where speeds can top out. I just did what I do best, rocket downhill and meticulously move uphill focused on easy cadence and relaxed breathing. It was truly a blast.

It is a very congested course and I was excited to hit the turnaround point without injury or error.

On the return I really let it rip, not caring if I had enough in me for the run, but somehow knowing I would get the run done no matter what. This is when using ‘heart’ over Garmin data really makes a difference. Data tells you that you can’t, your heart tells you otherwise.

With 8 miles to go someone was alongside of me that I recognized! It was Dave from Episode 035 and 109, he knew me from Burrito Races and he helped me fix a flat in Princeton. We chatted for a bit, he let me know that the guy up ahead of us was a jerk, drafting him illegally.

With 2-3 miles to go and not many people on the road heading out on the bike Dougie passed me and yelled hello. Strange indeed. I quickly deducted one of two things… mechanical issues with the bike or he drank too much of the Hudson and had a quick stomach pump. Either way, he had lost an hour and yet, he seemed in good spirits.

I ripped into T2 and flipped on my sneaks. The first half a mile or so is a narrow path that ends in a quick switchback. After we were through there the all familiar 72nd Street presented itself. I heard my name almost immediately and saw Abbe, Danika, Hailey, Madison and Eric cheering me. Hailey and Madison had made me a very cool sign.

As I waved to them I passed a guy who yelled “Hey Baker, you’re killing it!” It was my old friend Jim from Ironman NYC! I wished him well and proceeded.

Shortly after I saw the Gotham City Runners banner and the crew cheering me on!

Entering the Park I could feel my pace quickening, this was good. (Remember, I don’t have a Garmin on.) I was very disappointed to not see Matt6 at the first aid station passing out Gu as he has been in the 3 years past. Matt, hello? Where were you? I didn’t even take a Gu.

I plodded along and saw Joe. He and I both agreed it was a brutally hot day and it was killin our speed and morale.

A little while later I passed Colman on Harlem Hill. “Beers at Amsterdam Ale House!” I yelled.

On the final 2-3 miles down the East Side I felt great and held it together. Nothing to report other than I ran through a bunch of course sprinklers and loved every moment.

On the final approach I saw Abbe yelling at me and taking pictures. I gunned it.

Sex/ Age	Age Place	Overall Place	Swim 1.5K	T1	Bike 40K	T2	Run 10K	Total Time
M37	22	166	22:18	4:40	1:10:30	2:02	43:10	2:22:39

This was not my best NYC TRI time by far. I think we lost the current with the delayed start. I am happy about the race though. Getting to see friends and athlete’s that I coach out there makes this such a great sport to be a part of.

Doug eventually finished with a smile. He had a double flat right out of the gate and only one tube.

We (Abbe, Danika, Dougie, Hailey, Madison, Susan, Eric, Amy, Joe, Stuart and his girlfriend) all hit Amsterdam Ale House for some well deserved celebrating.

Congrats to everyone who finished, especially my group…Dougie, Joe, Amy, Colman and Rachel!

RACE REPORT: 116 Challenge AC Half Ironman – 5:27:58

Posted on July 8, 2015 by admin

Posted in All, Race Reports, Triathlon 2 Comments

Remember that time I wanted to PR the Paris Marathon and dropped all triathlete knick-knacky stuff to focus on only running? Yes, well the Challenge AC Half Ironman crept up very quickly after. With 3 long rides in the realm of 40-45 miles and one swim since my honeymoon in October it was sure to be pretty. At least my run game was on point… or so it would seem.

Some exciting things I had going for me aside from ‘me’ though were that one of my athlete’s ‘The Cardiac Crusher’ had been destroying his training regimen in a good way and was set up for a good race. Another privilege I had was the possibility of sending another one of my athletes into Ironman status. It was an exciting weekend.

Dougie D picked me up early Saturday and we made our way south towards AC. The gals (my wife Abbe, his soon to be wife Danika and a rogue Russian/Serbian named Bojana wanted in Macedonia for espionage) were already there trying to take advantage of a beach weekend. It was a flawless entry and approach into Atlantic City. I had never been there and immediately noticed a lot of junkies and strange folk milling about. What was this strange land?

Bally’s was the host hotel of the race and that was where we were staying. The ratio of people racing to people in town to gamble and stay up all night was 1 to 50 without exaggerating. I felt like I was in the movie Casino, patterned carpet, mirrored ceilings, the smell of stale smoke everywhere and pings and pongs, bleeps and bloops sounding off in the distant casino floor. I questioned everything.

It was very easy to check into the race and get all our gear. We then met the gals (plus our friend Brian, an Irish guy dating the Serbian) and headed to an Irish Pub that was supposed to be cool. By now the weather was taking a turn for the worse. It would soon get very worse.

We had some lunch, a few beers and then tried to formulate a game plan. That game plan included Doug and I running the 1/2 mile from the Irish Pub to Ballys in a downpour. We grabbed the car and picked up Abbe and Danika who would help guard the car while we dropped off gear in transition.

Have you ever seen The Wizard of Oz? Of course you have, it’s the oldest color movie. Imagine transition like that. Not flying monkeys or a witch but crazy 30 mile per hour winds, torrential rain with port-o-johns flying around. Doug and I were yelling to each other just like Marty and Doc in the final scene of Back to the Future, “Dougie! Lash the bike to the bar with the bungee cord!” “What?” it was so windy we couldn’t hear each other. We just bungee corded our bikes to the transition bars, threw some bags on the seat and handle bars and rolled out, soaked to the bone. I even had my new Brooks/Gotham City Runners rain/windbreaker which should actually just be renamed windbreaker.

Dinner was at Carmine’s, the AC version. Good news though, the bolognese tastes just like the Manhattan version, which rocks! We pigged out. Seriously, I could not eat anymore but I wanted to.

We were in bed by 9:30 or so, not bad at all.

RACE DAY

I often tell people that I only need 6 hours of sleep nightly. Sometimes I jinx myself, like on this night where I woke up at 3:30 on the dot wide awake and ready to roll. We were going to wake up at 4:30 so I just tried and tried to sleep just a few more minutes to no avail.

Doug and I were quietly (at least we thought) moving about the dark room gathering our triathlete belongings. We put on the arm marker tattoos which would later pose an issue as they never come off. I even used Goof Off, on my arm! Ironman brand ones come off a lot easier, what’s the deal Challenge Family? We left the hotel room at 5 on the dot and guess what, the casino and bar were bumping as if it were happy hour on a Friday! Then again if we went up to any of those fools and told them what was about to go down they would probably say we were the crazy ones. Touché pussycat.

We had 10 minutes to spare in transition. I have done this enough that it’s like making my bed. I am not saying this to sound arrogant, I am just saying that in triathlon experience is a big part of the game.

I was cracking up as the guy across from me was confused as I was hosing my neck, shoulders and ankles down with Vaseline.

We rolled over to the swim start as they were announcing things and prepping the crowd. I was looking for David (first time Ironman) and Joe. We found Joe and settled in. My friend Elik came over at some point and was confused as he knew Joe and I but didn’t know that Joe and I had known each other or that I was now coaching Joe. He also knew David which further blew him away. Triathlon is a tight community and that’s why I like it!

I looked up and said to the guys, “It’s going to get sunny” in a half excited half scared tone. With a shrug of our shoulders we gave each other fist bumps as our final water entry was announced. March of the Penguins had begun.

It was time trial single file water entry which has it’s pros and cons. Pros… you aren’t getting your ass kicked in the soup. Con… you have no idea who was in front or behind you once the bike and run starts.

I gave a fist bump to Steve, the race director, and then jumped in holding my goggles to my eyes Navy Seal style. It was go time.

The water was salty and the perfect temperature for wetsuit swimming. I calmly began my race, focused on my form and every stroke. I was really enjoying myself. I had on a brand new wetsuit, my goggles were locked in place and I just plugged along doing my thing. It was a right to left loop and for the most part was a pretty mild swim. As I neared the last turn buoys I just didn’t feel right. My sighting was throwing them in different directions and I felt like I was making zero progress. Finally, at the last turn as I made my way toward the homestretch I popped out of the water (something I never do but I was curious) and was pushed back quickly. Ah ha! We were indeed swimming against the tide. I was immediately overwhelmed with anger. “This is bullshit.” Then I thought to myself, “No, it’s not. If this shit were easy everyone would do it.” I pushed real hard, fighting the current and eventually made it to the dock. It was my worst 1.2 mile swim to date (48 minutes), but only by 2-3 minutes.

I passed numerous people walking towards T1. My heart was revving up, I was pumped. I got my wetsuit off, threw all my bike gear on and blasted out of T1. As I mounted I noticed it was raining! What? We also had to ride over these crazy ass carpets protecting us from what I could only guess what was quicksand.

Out on the highway making my way to Jersey the rain wasn’t quite blinding, but it was getting close. The 30 mph headwinds that would haunt us all day were not helping my mentality either. I was pretty bummed about my poor swim time.

We quickly made a few lefts and rights and were all of sudden in rural New Jersey, not far from where I spent the first 9 years of my life in fact. As we barreled down this straightaway I remember seeing dark storm clouds coming at me. It was very ‘movie like’ and I just said to myself, “Lets go into this storm and see if we come out.” I mean, there was no visible lightening so it wasn’t a tall order.

At some point early I looked down and realized my timing chip had fallen off my leg. Most likely this happened while I was pissed in T1 taking off my wetsuit. Whatever.

I was holding down a solid 20 mph average pace, yet I wasn’t happy. I was in pain, the stupid ref motorcycle was up in my grill for like 10 miles and it was raining. As mile 25 rolled around my sunglasses cleared up, the clouds dissipated and the sun reared it’s face. Good? For now. Everything clicked in and I started blazing the second half with no pain. I was passing people liberally and really feeling like a biker. The guys I was riding alongside were great (for once) and we played leapfrog for awhile.

Getting close to T2 I noticed that I hit 56 miles (the bike course distance) way prior to T2. When I would finish it would be 58 miles. Strange and not cool.

Finishing the bike portion of the race I had a lot more steam in me then I realized. This is good. I also realized that the sun was blazing and this 13 mile run was not going to be pretty. Let the battle begin.

Pulling into T2 was great as I got to see Doug and Joe (one lane apart) prepping for the run. The three of us exchanging silly banter as we geared up, it was like homecoming for triathletes. They took off a minute ahead of me. I made sure to try and lather up in sunscreen, although I don’t think it was very effective.

I felt great leaving transition. I started off with a 7 minute pace, knowing it was soon to fade in the ungodly sun. We hit that boardwalk and went south and I thought to myself, “How the hell are we going to survive this with the heat?” Aside from the heat being bad, no one in the immediate 20 miles of AC had any idea there was a race going on. That means that as we ran all along the AC boardwalk no one knew or cared that some serious racing was going down.

Approaching the crux of the Atlantic City Boardwalk was quite an ordeal. Smells of cigarettes, fried food and disappointment wafting your way as you try and tough out the 80 degree shade free course. As you navigated all the clueless people you wondered why this location was chosen as a race destination. I thought of my athlete David and got very worried and upset knowing he would have to deal with this hours later… more crowded and his mind in not such a forgiving place.

I can’t even tell you how many times I ran out-and-back. It was exhausting. Making my way north for the first time I saw Abbe and Danika. Abbe was yelling, “Hi Husband!” I pulled over, gave each gal a kiss. Bojana was at a neighboring restaurant and asked if I needed water. “Um, Yes” I grabbed some and asked how their morning was before taking off. There was laughter and then there was me, Baker, speeding off. At mile 6 I really thought about stopping. It was stupid hot out with limited aid stations. I kept going.

I saw Doug every now and again as we passed each other on the numerously ridiculous out-and-backs and we would high five. It was the worst course I could remember in recent times and the aid stations were so spread out you could die of dehydration or motivation between. I fought to hang on, going for aid-station-to-aid-station mentality. I also thought about how ridiculously horrible the run course was for the full distance athletes.

I made many a friend running that course. Everyone was way cool which I expected at a triathlon, it helped my motivation. At one point I passed a guy and said hello, mentioning the tough conditions. He said, “Hey man, mind if you pull me along, I could use it.” Smiling and replying “Hell no man, let’s go.” He hung on for awhile. We chatted, he was from Colorado Springs. He knew my old team, Kompetitive Edge as well. At another point I gave a shout out to a guy who was biking the entire course with me prior to the run. We had been playing leap frog all day.

I soon came back around passing Abbe again who had a bottle of water. “Hi husband, do you want more water?” Um, no brainer. Even if they disqualified me for ‘outside help’ this was not going to be a PR day. As I grabbed the water I looked left at the woman I had been running along side and we chuckled together. I took a big sip and then hosed myself down. The bottle was still half full so I offered it to my friend. She took it and repeated my maneuver.

This was the final out-and-back and I was catching up to Doug. As I approached the 11 mile turn around I saw him heading back toward the finish. I took my time at the aid station, pouring water on my head, drinking my flat coke and thanking volunteers before setting off.

Dougie had a 1 minute lead on me and I thought, “How cool would it be if I caught him and we finished together!” Mission set, lock and deploy.

With 800 meters to go I rolled up behind him and said, “Can you smell the beer?!” We slogged out the last section in probably our fastest pace of the day. We finished and made some faces which at the time we thought were bad ass. You decide. We kinda just look beat up.

Sex/ Age	Age Place	Overall Place	Swim 1.2M	T1	Bike 56M	T2	Run 13.1M	Total Time
M37	30	130	48:53	2:57	2:51:07	2:44	1:41:35	5:27:58

Abbe, Danika, Bojana and Brian were there right at the finish to greet us. After cooling off we made our way to a local hang out for food and beer. We were pretty spaced out/banged up until the solid food started processing into energy.

We found Joe soon after and yes, he had PR’d by 4 minutes and broken the 6 hour mark! We went to Transition, collected our things and had a few more beers at Ballys before taking off. I wanted to stick around to see David finish the full, but at this point that looked to be 4-5 hours from the current time.

We arrived back in mighty Manhattan in time for a late dinner and some much needed sleep.

—

The course was not my favorite, it down poured, it was hot and sunny, I had zero training going into it and AC is weird. But, the rave staff and volunteers were amazing. To be out and about in the rain and heat is true dedication, thank you.

Big ups to Joe, who I knew had it in him to break 6, and pulled it off like a boss.

Big congrats to David, who is now officially an Ironman after completing the full course just over 14 hours!

You both are prime examples of ideal athletes to coach. I dish out the punishing work and you execute with no questions asked. Thanks guys, you make me a proud coach!

RACE REPORT: 103 Eagleman – 5:21:22

Posted on June 11, 2014 by admin

Posted in All, Race Reports, Triathlon 2 Comments

Last season was a bust for me due to my ongoing knee problem. I only raced 1 (that’s right 1) triathlon! My friend Doug suggested we rock Eagleman 70.3 to set off the season. It would be his first attempt at the distance and I was excited to be a part of that.

We left might Manhattan at noon on Saturday. In tow we had Doug, his fiance Danika (also a friend of mine) and his youngest daughter Madison. Madison has already rocked out a few triathlons at the age of 8! She wanted to see what a 70.3 was all about.

We had a fun car ride down and got to Cambridge with 2 hours to spare before bike check-in closed. The river looked peaceful and I was pretty excited to get my swim on the next day.

Back in the car, we had 20 minutes until the Belmont Stakes and a possible Triple Crown were to take place. We found a spot called Jimmie and Sooks and posted up with a few beers. Maddie had a Mountain Dew. As it turns out they had a few great pasta options on their menu so we opted to chill out there.

SIDENOTE: For those of you not familiar with Maryland crab country, we were in teh heart of it. I grew up eating Maryland Blues and I was so pumped to eat some after the race. Jimmie is a male crab and a Sook is a female.

Cambridge is a small town and so hotels are sparse. We found a room 30 minutes away in the lovely town of Seaford. Once there we did the usual pre race set up… mixing drinks, laying out clothes and setting alarms.

I slept kind of okay. One positive sleep related thing that happened was when I awoke thinking it was go time and I actually (after checking the clock) had 2 more hours! Wooooo!

RACE DAY

We woke up at 5 and were out the door by 5:15. Both Doug and I did not feel hungry, a great sign. In all of my races, especially the more recent ones, I have mastered this. Setting up the glucose stores so that you need minimal fuel for the morning sets the stage for a good day.

While in transition they made the announcement that wetsuits would be illegal as the water temps were over 76.1 degrees. (This sets the stage for what lay ahead weather wise.) I was pissed for a hot second and then shrugged it off. The Choptank River looked nice and I was psyched to just splash around with my fellow triathletes. I have never been a solid swimmer and so I make up for it on the bike and run. Better to chase then to be chased. The only thing that pissed me off was that I wanted to swim topless (woooo0) and then they announced everyone must wear a top. Gotham City Runners’ tri kits aren’t in yet, so I was going to wear a running top after I got out of the water. Now I had to wear it for the swim. Whatever.

Doug and I were in like Wave 11 almost an hour after the 6:45 start so we just chilled out watching the swimmers. I ran into my friend Pat who is a local NYC runner I know who races for the Flyers.

I don’t know what my deal is, but I had zero nervousness going into this, like nothing. Maybe this comes with experience? Maybe it comes from me not giving a damn and just being excited to race? Whatever it is, I liked the feeling.

5 minutes until our wave start they announced that you in fact now did NOT need to wear a top. Great, thanks for the heads up guys. No way I could get my race top for the bike and run back up to transition and back in time for the swim start. Oh well.

We made our way into the water and bobbed around in the 4 feet deep water for 5 before go time. Doug and I did a fist bump and wished each other well right before the gun went off.

I just dove right into the chum and started calmly swimming. The sun was up, the water was refreshing and I was pretty excited, but not crazed. I focused on form and really felt good about the progress I was making. The shirt I was wearing was definitely creating drag.

There was some jostling here at first but I found an inside lane and just did my thing. I didn’t mind not having a wetsuit at all.

The swim was a rectangle missing one of the small sides. The first ‘out’ portion seemed to happen fast, each buoy coming along steadily. As we made the turn I noticed that Doug was right next to me. He is hard to miss as he has full sleeve tattoos. We swam along together for the whole second, shorter turn around side of the rectangle.

We turned again and were on the homestretch. This is where I had some trouble. All of a sudden these two big guys started zig-zagging in front of me. Now, I may not be a fast swimmer, but I am pretty good at sighting and accuracy and I basically needed to get ‘over’ these dudes. I got kicked a couple times and was also hit in the small of my back pretty bad. That one pissed me off a bit but I kept my cool. Shallow water martial arts battles are not part of the triathlon experience.

I had lost Doug once all water trouble started. I finished in 47 minutes. 5 minutes slower than expected. That’s what you get for swimming 3 times in 6 months during training. My longest bike rides (2) were 35 miles and 22 miles so I didn’t know what to expect on the bike either.

Entering transition without a wetsuit was a first and I loved it. It was so easy.

As I was running out of T1 I got overly excited when I saw Danika and Madison and when I went to wave I lost control and dropped my bike. Rookie move Baker!

The bike course was a blast. Fast and flat. We had a headwind the whole time which was a bit of a problem. I was clicking through miles every 2:30 or 2:45. At Mile 10 I caught up to Doug. He was doing great holdin it down. I pressed on.

Soon after this guy in front of me points down at the road as if to signal a pothole. It was a 7 foot long black snake crossing the road! That was a first. No, I did not run over him, I went around. I thought for a hot second it might be a cobra or something and latch onto my calve, ending my race.

We were riding through and around the Blackwater Nature Reserve and we were ‘out there.’ There were also lots of Eagles and Hawks flying about which was really cool! There were times when some of them felt like they were flying with me. Now we know why the race is called Eagleman. They should create an Ironman in Africa and call it Lionman.

By mile 20 or 25 the heat was kicking up off the pavement. My nutrition was great, legs slightly sore but all-in-all doing fine. I was worried about the run though. If it was already this hot and I had another hour on the bike it was gonna be a scorcher.

At mile 30 I was pretty over the bike ride and ready to run. My quads were hurting and the heat was getting to me. I think the monotony of a flat course was getting boring too.

When mile 40 hit something weird happened. I got a second wind or something. Or I equalized? My pace even jumped from 20 MPH to 22-23 MPH. Whatever the reason, I’ll take it.

Doug and I were wondering why they gave us 2 bibs when we checked in. Well, I ripped my bib getting off the bike, so that second one came in pretty handy. I also tacked on a few extra minutes in T2 trying to get that squared away. I also slathered (good word) a new batch of sunscreen on.

As soon as I was away from T2 and on the road I kind of went, “Holy Shit.” It was 90 degrees, 100% humidity and not one piece of shade or cloud to be had. It was here, within the first mile or two I actually contemplated quitting. It was that bad.

At the first aid station I hosed myself with water, ice water and sponges. I told myself to just take it one aid station at a time and that’s kind of how it went. I would start running, and mind you my legs felt awesome and my energy and nutrition couldn’t have been more perfect, and just try to get to the next station before I dried up.

Anytime I saw a sprinkler left out by good Samaritans I ran through it. Kids with garden hoses, bring the noise I’m down. I would be dry and on fire again a 1/4 of a mile past the water stations.

Did I mention that Maddie had made the best sign ever?

It was an out-and-back course and I could see all of the people in the earlier waves coming past. I wanted to scream, “Where is the turn around! How far? Is there a pool?”

Since it was flat and in open fields you could see the runners ahead way off in the distance. It was surreal. The worst part of the course was between miles 5 and 6.5. It was the greatest distance between water stations and you could really feel it. Total march of death.

I hit the turn around and started taking Coke at aid stations from here on out. I knew my pace wasn’t my best, which was slightly upsetting as I had a good bike split, but at this point I just wanted to complete the race.

I saw Doug at mile 8 and we hooked up a high five. I was psyched for him as he was coming off a stress fracture and was going to walk it if the injury reared back up. He was running and in good spirits.

Soon after I saw my friend Derek followed by Pat.

It was somewhere around 1PM at this point and the heat was insane. I was being conscious as well to my vitals, making sure I wasn’t going to pass out.

I finished in 5:21:22, 9 minutes from a PR. All in all I was happy to have fought the battle and come out alive. That is now the hardest run I have ever done.

Sex/ Age	Age Place	Overall Place	Swim 1.2M	T1	Bike 56M	T2	Run 13.1M	Total Time
M36	91	584	48:09	2:33	2:43:10	4:38	1:43:02	5:21:22

I hung out in the athlete’s food area scarfing some black beans and rice in the shade. Soon after I heard Doug’s name announced as a finisher and I went to find everyone.

Next up… celebrate. We hit up a good old fashioned Maryland Blue Crab joint. I taught the group how to pick apart the shells and even Maddie was doing great. Once we were done we headed back home to NYC, ready for some sleep!

—

The part of the Ironman, the battle, is what I like most, even when it’s kicking my ass. Out there on the course, I didn’t see ‘fit’ people or overly athletic bodies. What I saw were warriors, using determination and mental strength to get them through the day.

Congrats Doug for killing your first 70.3!

And to all of you 70-84 year old people I saw on the run, you are my inspiration.