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Monday, September 29, 2008 at 09:49PM Monday, September 29, 2008 at 08:12AM The ITP race is always a source of both trepidation and joy; trepidation in that every year of its existence thus far - this was the fourth edition - it's been FREEZING. Well, usually that means an air temp near 50 degrees at the start, but after a summer of racing, that's a shock. The joy relates to the last comment -- ITP, for me anyway, has always been my season ending race. Some years, I'd approach ITP having been unable to sit or stand without pain resulting from the other races I'd done. But it's a chance to begin to ease off and even relax - a bit - at a race that isn't a killer distance-wise.
So this year's race, the week after the Westchester Tri at which I had statistically (against the field) the best tri of my career, I think, and after a summer-long bout with my achilles, was a bit different. First, the weather was WARM, so the toe and arm warmers, gloves and hat I'd packed went for naught. Second, I wasn't in pain, at least nothing that vitamin advil wouldn't fix, and lastly, my achilles was pretty much stable (I'd also begun NYC Marathon training in August this year as my achilles improved). AND the tide was in...AND there was no blinding sun to hamper swim sighting! Woohoo!
I accepted a race challenge from our illustrious realy team of West, Stewart and Mosse, and notwithstanding Mosse's rib issue, gave each a good luck thump before the start (sorry, Dave!). I was in the 2nd wave, so I was able to watch Dom leave his customary wake at the front of Wave 1 for a bit. Then the start and into the water! I trust I can have another off season of swimming as good as this last one was, because I ended up 1 minute faster here than last year (amid a season of very good swims) AND even sighted correctly. Turns out that Mitch "Fins" West still obliterated my swim with his time, but who knew? He was in the wave after me. Out of the water, pleased to still see bikes on my rack.
Took off on the bike, maybe not quite as intensely as in other races, but still fairly strong. Another coup this year -- Eneas didn't pass me until after the Merritt Parkway entrance! I biked steadily until I was caught be a few guys and then woke up, passing back all but one before T2.
Surprise! I exit T2 with a trash talking Mosse right on my side. I considered giving him an elbow in the ribs but then figured I'd be "nice" and just give the race the old college try. OK, never mind that he didn't have to swim or bike, but I'll give him his props. So out of T2, I picked up a bit and passed the only other guy I could see. I didn't see Dom or Eneas until about the 2-2.5 mile mark of the run (and they were both comfortably ahead), but I didn't see anyone else, and was trying to ensure that TT went 1, 2, 3. I saw only one person behind me that was close but didn't know who it was. Turns out it was Mr. Mosse, who gamely maintained contact and ended up only 13 seconds behind me (did I mention he didn't have to swim, bike or do transitions?). Also turned out that someone from another wave snuck in ahead of me, taking me off the podium. However, I did gain the satisfaction of improving over last year's time and both winning the 40-44 (my last ITP in the 40-44 group - YEEHAAA) and hitting the fastest splits for EACH discipline in my AG. THAT is rare for me and was a great way to close the Tri season.
So on to the NYC Marathon and another off season of maintenace and technique focus (especially in swimming - Mitch, give me another 3 years and you're mine).
Monday, September 29, 2008 at 02:07AM Although I am quite a bit away from home this weekend, I got a call at 8:30 AM from a TARGETRAINING enthusiast. And I am on Pacific time, so that means it was 5:30 AM. Now I did get up and go riding for 3 hours up to Red Rock from the Las Vegas strip, but needless to say, I hoped that the caller had something interesting to speak about.
"Dom won the ITP sprint triathlon, Eneas got 2nd, David Yockleson crossed the line in third place, and the relay team of Mitch West, Greg Stewart and David Mosse, despite starting back a couple of waves, crossed the line in 4th." Valentin Lopes crossed the line 5th (sixth overall). So that was a 1-5 finish -- that's pretty darn amazing by our coaches and team.
It turns out that Dom Gillen won and did so by breaking the event/course record set by our own Jordan Rapp. And Eneas set the fastest bike split in ITP history (and despite finishing way back on the swim -- which he frankly can't really do -- got a solid second place to Dom; Eneas also did the second fastest run split, less than 50 seconds behind Dom). The relay won the relay and apparently actually finished faster than Eneas (who gave them a 6.5 minute lead in the swim...) . Yock got passed by another athlete (Cliff Sherb, who is a friend of TT and a fast young man from NYC with roots in CT) later on in the event, but 4th overall is not too shabby (and winning his age group of course). Valentin Lopes ended up getting 6th overall and won his 25-29 age group (great stuff!). David Booth got ~19th overall and 4th in the tough 30-34 age group. Robert Labanca got 3rd in his age group (45-49) and got 23rd overall! Amazingly enough, only two non TARGETRAINING athletes had less than a 41 minute bikesplit. However, 6 TARGETRAINING athletes did this: Eneas 33+, Dom 37+, Greg S. 39+, Yock 40+, Valentin 40+, and Labanca 40+.
I think our women's team took the morning off -- well they've had a great season so they deserved the morning off. And the guys represented pretty well. Mimi and Megan were going to do a relay but I don't think they found a third.
The weather held off. Apparently Max V. was very busy at the TARGETRAINING tent, fixing flat tires, helping all the triathletes who somehow managed to have bikes that needed emergency tuning on race day (he was glad to help). Tyler J., our running guru and other pro triathlete sidelined with a calf injury, who now will be wearing Newton's to help reduce such injury likelihood, and helping a young lady from Pennsylvania who forgot her running shoes. Both of them of course just being generally helpful to athletes. And U-25 team member Craig Luekin, who also is the collegiate national champion this year in criterium (and got 5th on the road I recall in the championships), driving the TT car in support of the race and pitching in to act as an extension of the ITP support crew. Chris Bartlett got 11th in the 40-44 age group.
As of this time, we haven't seen the official results online. But, the 5:30 AM caller's results have been independently confirmed by a number of other observers...
Sunday, September 28, 2008 at 12:15AM Matt and I got to hang out with Jordan and his very cool girlfriend Jill Savege in Las Vegas. Jill is also fast; she has finished as high as 11th in the Hawaii Ironman Championships. An ITU Olympic representative for Canada at the Athens Olympic Games in 2004, Jill may become more active on the coaching end of things. Matt Baldwin, Jordan, Jill and I sat down for a lunch at the Wolfgang Puck restaurant in the Venetian Resort.
We discussed a wide array of topics, including nutrition during a race. I introduced Jordan to two items: First Endurance's Optygen and Vespa (wasp extract). Jordan talked about how he likes simple carbohydrate drinks (Gatorade) because it digests well. Jill mentioned how maltodextrin doesn't absorb quickly enough and causes her gastrointestinal distress.
We then switched over to equipment. Jordan, who writes for Slowtwitch, mentioned that he felt Cervelo continues to innovate ahead of the industry. He truly likes Felt, who we don't sell, but who does sponsor Jordan. We understand that Jim Felt has been a good friend to the bicycle industry; Tom Schuler always had wonderful things to say about Felt. Jordan also observed that the Cannondale Slice product is an excellent compliment to Cervelo's P2, P3, P4 because it fits athletes differently (which is very helpful since we try to fit the bike to the person, of course).
We discussed and debated the merits of various wheels, from Mavic to Zipp to Reynolds. Jordan loves Zipp, and while we like Zipp for triathlon, we favor Mavic and Reynolds for road racing/riding. Of course, Zipp has made the 404 and 808 even more aerodynamic this year. And Cervelo's TestTeam is going to race on Zipp wheels. Well, these are three excellent set of wheels -- not a lot goes wrong with Mavic Cosmic/Ultimates, the Reynolds Superlites and Attack wheels and Zipp's series of 4's, 8's and 10's.
And Jordan showed me how excited he was with Zipp's new 100 gram stem. We'll show some pictures another time, but it is a beauty. Can't wait to get one in March when they become available. It is all carbon with some titanium on the outside. Sweet.
Jordan is preparing for his second Ironman Arizona this year; he got 3rd the first time around. When Jordan and Jill come visit us next, we'll hold a special event. He was bummed he couldn't be at ITP to race with Dom, Eneas, Mitch, Yock, Greg and Dave this weekend, but there will be other opportunities. Jill promised she would help us organize a women's focused triathlon seminar/clinic. That should be pretty cool. Stay tuned for more.
Friday, September 26, 2008 at 11:00PM 
The orange backdrop bike frame is a prototype. We have a few on order. Will this be the winning bike in the Tour de France prologue? Will Bobby Julich come out of retirement if Gerard Vroomen and Phil White entice him with one of these as a present (just to race in the World Championship TT Bobby)... O 
