For family and team

Today was the Tokeneke Road Race held on multiple laps of a tough and hilly 22 mile course in East Hartland, CT. Promoted by local clubs and our friends at Tokeneke, Mossman and Cafeteros, it promised to be a tough day with the masters doing only two laps and the P12 three. With the TARGETRAINING U-25/Elite team getting ready for the upcoming Green Mountain Road Race, this was an important event. Adding to the pressure was how last year Eneas won and Justin took third place.

This year saw the squad send Eneas and Justin again, along with No Nickname Nate, Adam Bomb, BFD Dave, Will Monster, Matt (nickname withheld) and Stylin Ben. Paul "Tailgunner" Levis was also there!

The first lap started quick with multiple attacks until Ben got off the front and away with a Kenda rival. This forced the fruities to chase the next 15 miles and set up Will and Matt going into the big climb. With the Monster pulling full speed, Eneas and Justin pushed the pace with the field right behind them. Eneas coasted through the KOM prize (in his big ring, ouch!) and the mood of the day was set. The field came back together until a touch of wheels put Adam and another rider onto the pavement. Ouch. Adam had to wait a bunch for the service call but got back on with just some scrapes and bruises.

Meanwhile, up the long tough feed zone climb at the end of the second lap, the lone green and blue jersey of Eneas came flying up the climb. About a minute back was Justin just hammering the heck out of a different Kenda and the field about 30 seconds behind with Will and Nate covering moves nicely. Justin dropped his partner and bridged the gap over the next 20 minutes to reach his teammate. They worked well together through a quick rain storm in the valley until their gap hit almost four minutes at the base of the final climb to the finish. They stayed steady up the hill and crossed the line hand in hand with Eneas dedicating the win to his mother in law; who has just finished her cancer treatment. With this type of inspiration, it was no wonder that no other team could keep up with them for almost three hours.

Then, a few minutes later, a flash of green at the finish line shows Will Nowak winning the sprint for third place in front of a fruitie and a nerac. What? Holy crap, that is fantastic! With his teammates up the road, Will got a free rider for the last lap and nailed the remainders for a TARGETRAINING 1-2-3. Nice!!!! Look to see this kid on TV someday soon; strong rider, good skills and does what he is told. I need 9 more! Really, though: I guess we improved on last year the best way possible!

It looks like the team is getting ready for GMSR in the proper fashion and the energy they are producing can be felt with those looking to recover from sickness and continue to influence the lives around us and the team. Our thoughts and prayers are will all of you.

In the Masters 35+ event, you know who won solo, with Scott Bodin 5th, Max L 9th and the best looking man in cycling, Max Viega leading the field up the climb in sterling fashion. Ian just made it home from the Cape to help out too! Nicely done guys!

Kyle Wolfe

Director, TARGETRAINING Racing Teams
http://www.targetraining.com/

Sunday race day across TARGETRAINING

Now, we don't have everyone's results, so please send in results and we'll update this entry accordingly.

Lake Placid. Mimi Boyle got 9th overall woman, 5th fastest time split and second in her age group. As one of her male teammates said: "Just want to add my congratulations to Mimi for a devestating race at IMLP!!! Remarkable!!! I was out there the whole day-- some brutal conditions to race in-- did NOT stop raining from 6:40 a.m. on...Saw Mimi out on the bike course-- crushing it! 5th fastest bike split for ALL WOMEN!! As Greg said, 9th woman OVERALL! 2nd in her AG. I could go on...Way to put it all together Mimi-- there was no luck involved." I believe that one other TT'er braved the race but am awaiting results...

New York City Triathlon. Valentin Lopes and Michelle Faurot joined Dominic Gillen and Jordan Rappin what was a very competitive, apparently heavy jelly fish filled swim, with the current going north rather than flowing south. Jordan got 6th overall in a 1:52+ while Dom managed to get 9th overall in a 1:55+. Valentin did a 2:12 while Michelle did 2:28, and they both competed in the Elite Age Group Category. Lyn McCabe did a 2:35, placing 5th in the 30-34 age group. All very fast times! Congrats!

Litchfield Hills Triathlon. TARGETRAINING's newest training colleague Wolfgang Ermeling won this event in a course record 2:05:21. He did the fastest bike leg, and after riding with him on our Wednesday rocket ride, we know he is fast (and 40 -- how's that for you young ones).

We know that Kim Driscoll won her age group (but please remind me what event) and Justin Colby got 2nd in his duathlon in his age group.

In cycling, the Masters team showed up for the Naugatuck Criterium. We were defending our title from last year but this year we came up a little short. With three off the front with two to go, Scott Bodin and friend of TT Chris Pile launched off the front. Scott just missed catching third place so Scott and Chris got 4th and 5th. Stephen Badger won the field sprint for 6th place. Three in a row just not starting with 1 -- next race!

Footnote: Saturday in the brutal heat many many clients did the 100 mile ride (or at least 2 of the 3 35 mile loops). Congrats to everyone. You are now officially well prepared for the upcoming charity rides (CT Challenge and Pan Mass Challenge).

Club rats and jellyfish

She got out of bed at 4:15 only to walk down a damp dim street filled with barefoot giggling girls, their unstrapped high heel shoes dangling from a drunken post diner food finger. How was this possible, she thought out loud, how can they be still having fun when I am headed towards this test of skill and practice?

These new age cowgirls preceded her own self being crowded like cattle being loaded onto freight cars headed for slaughter, only instead of the 22 caliber hammer, she lined up for the timing chip; this modern day scarlet letter: Triathlete. It seems as if technology and Big Brother were following her everywhere she went, only to report her splits and disillusioned performance to anyone with a computer and a still sleeping bike racer. The angst of possible betrayal and disappointment loomed everywhere.

Tired, empty and confused, she walked from one transition to another, was this it? Does she go here? Who are these people in these dark rubber suits and why are they lined up in front of those fiberglass boxes? She missed her new friends with the bare feet. Surely they were having more fun? It seemed like ages ago.

The chaos and waves of the river that Henry discovered so many years ago were powerless against her. Nothing could stop her, not gloom, doom or the occasional jelly fish sting. “What else have you got to throw against me Poseidon?” she yelled to the sky. Hills flattened and curves became straight in a blur of color and speed around that park in the center of the World. Call it what you want, forty kilometers, twenty four point eight miles or even a million cubits, it didn’t take long at only 1:21. After transforming herself like a multisport Gregor, she passes the Chief Clerk again in the lot. He says good luck as she runs away with the speed of all eight legs from that classic story.

Brunch afterwards was an earned reward. She basked in the glory of besting all of her friends. They may lead happy lives in glorious places, she thought this time to herself, but personal course best by eight minutes they cannot yet begin to dream.

The train out of town was uneventful save the occasional question and stolen glance. Home again. Back to life and the hope of more events soon again. Maybe more hill training. The thoughts were endless and sleep only comes with difficulty. She lays awake yet dreaming of Westchester soon. Darkness arrives with a smile. 2:35.16; just tri to beat that.

Sobe Norwalk Triathlon recap

While Dom was shut out from racing the Sobe, TARGETRAINING clients did attend and raced well! David Booth got 5th in his age group and did a 1:10. Rob Labanca got 4th in his age group and did a 1:12. He finished just ahead of Michael Driscoll who got 5th in his age group and also did a 1:12. David Sklar got 14th in his age group and did a 1:19. Joe Bogdan did a 1:20 and got 20th in his age group. Dean Shapiro did 1:24 and 30th in his age group. Kim Driscoll did a 1:25 and got 3rd in her age group (Congrats!!). Mary Money got 5th in her age group and did a 1:28.

Amica RI 70.3 Report

First, congrats to Allie who's going to Worlds; Mitch, who COULD have gone but is doing some other strange race; and Greg, who also received a roll down slot but is also doing some wacky race (other CT notables Oakes Ames, John Wilson and Chris Thomas were insanely fast as well).

After getting over the logistical challenges of registering for the race (stuff had to be checked in at each transition area, conveniently located 50 miles apart with timings that didn't quite correspond to when people could check themselves in), it was race morning. Beautiful day, some good swells in the water, but very nice conditions. I swam what now appears to be a conservative 30:18 - felt very comfortable, probably too comfortable. Through transition, then after about 200 meters on the bike, I lost my 2nd water bottle and stopped, got off and walked back to retrieve - wanted the drink for the long ride but also the bottle had a Blaisman sticker given to me by Mr. Blais the day before who warned me not to dump the bottle. Felt so guilty I picked it up...until it fell off again a few miles later. Got over the guilt. Ended up riding 2:28:32, a one-minute PR but still way short of what it appears was possible (I apparently slowed a bunch the last 16 miles after 1:43 for the first 40M, though I thought I was going quite fast...could have been traffic the last mile or two...dunno).

Now the fun part...seeing how my achilles would hold out for the run. I was able to do my modified run stride OK for the first 7 miles or so and was under 7-min pace, but things got bad by 8-9 miles and I couldn't do anything about it like changing the stride, opening up, planting my foot better, etc. Crawled in with a 1:36 for a 4:40:17 finish, 9th in the AG and - it turns out - one spot out of Worlds (which took 4 excruciating hours after finishing to determine). I also tried out a Blais-influenced roll to make up for the guilt of losing the bottle.

Now to rest my achilles...hopefully it can be ready by the "Greenwich Olympics" in two weeks, but if not, it will be August/September tris and a full onslaught on the NYC Marathon (again assuming full recovery and ability to train).