Fall Trails Galore

Some people ask me how I stay motivated year after year for racing and training and I believe one of the reason is that I try to find a new adventure, a new race location or just a new challenge to keep me happy.

This season after L'etape du Tour on my bike, I am trying the Bimbler's Bluff 50k Trail Race in Guilford CT

I have never run that long for sure but I do know I love the trails, the woods, the adventure of the whole thing! It will probably be very tiring, but I will hike the hills and just enjoy the experience...providing I do not get lost.
It brings me to another reason why I like trails beyond the beauty of them: it is good for my brain and forces me to live in the moment and pay attention to every step I take from the beginning to the end. You would be amazed of how fast time goes by like that! But if you lose your concentration and start day dreaming, you can get lost or fall down!

A few weeks ago I had my longest training run during the Goodwin Forest 30k Trail Run in Hampton CT.

I was staying near Hampton at Storrs to visit Sophie during family week-end at UConn. Sophie could not get out of a party apparently on Saturday night and wanted to sleep in on Sunday morning, so I just decided to do the race. Only $15, for people over 50!!!

It was a rainy, humid day. A handful of people were there. After a friendly speech by the RD, who said to be careful, everybody falls at least once and make sure to follow the signs... I left with everybody else for the unknown!

This is the finisher's trophy that everyone got! My best one so far ;-)

Two miles into the run I did crash and was SO lucky: nothing got broken! I stood up, was embarrassed and kept on running.

I met some nice people, talked, had fun and kept on running. I had not realized I had been running, and hiking for two hours! It never happens to me when I do a long run on the road, I always check my watch every 5mn!

4 miles before the end, I got so excited as my time was good and I could see the end, I took a wrong turn...

It was a downhill and I kept on running and running and starting to think what if it was not the race course...I stopped and almost cried! 
I was lost and all the trees around looked the same in the deep forest ;-(

I took a deep breath and went back up the hill and tried to follow my path...I did eventually find the turn I had missed. 

I ended up winning my age group!

I was not able to stay for the rewards and was so surprised to receive my prize in the mail with a very sweet hand written note: they had eaten my prize, which was an apple pie, but were sending me local honey instead!!!

I can only recommend this race to anyone as it does not have to be at a super fast pace, it can be just a run/hike and a beautiful experience at the same time. I saw snakes, birds, foxes... I got immersed in deep forest light,  climbed rocks, crossed streams....

I will report after Sunday's 50k as I may change my mind with 20k more of trails to run ;-)

And here is a little bit of humor for trail runners...

See you on the trails this Fall!

A look at the 2014 Multisports Race Season

What happened to the 2014 Triathlon Season? It went super fast and, although not completely over, was filled with new adventures and experiences.

What I realized over my years of training, setting goals, is that racing is very enjoyable, exciting, expensive and hard, but also that it requires consistency and focus to stay at a high competitive level year after year.

To have consistency and focus in your training you need a stable life and when things are not too stable workouts are missed, motivation is low and the results show!

 With 2014 looking like an unstable life I decided to try new adventures and experiences in racing, and it was wonderful, hard and exciting!



The first adventure I tried was the Tour of the Battenkill in Cambridge NY. A 100k very hilly bike race, on tons of dirt roads! I asked around in our training group who wanted to join me, and only Steve Mettler said yes!

The race was really hard, and the weather was freezing cold, but finished reasonably well with a feeling of a great accomplishment.



 Part of the fun of racing is to try new places and at the end of June I went to Cohasset, MA, and did a great large sprint triathlon and won my age group!

After several local triathlons with respectable results it was time for my second adventure, one of those dream experiences!

On July 20, I climbed the Col du Tourmalet in the Pyrenees and participated in one of the biggest bicycle race I have ever done! 10000 riders from all over the world gathered in Pau, Pyrenees to ride one of the stage of the Tour de France, 4 days before the actual tour de France pro riders and on the exact same course!

It was a fantastic experience, but unfortunately not perfect! The ride was great with so many people around you were never alone and could pick who to draft with no issues. I was not planning to race but enjoy the experience.

The weather started warm, but the mountains were nowhere to be seen behind clouds. When we arrived at the bottom of the first major climb, le col du Tourmalet, rain started to pour on us...No big deal, as it was finally the "famous" climb, so exciting that I did not notice the fog, the drop in temperature and the rain. The legs were feeling awesome, the atmosphere awesome.

Finally at the top, I stopped for a picture and noticed I was getting cold, like freezing cold...it was 3C almost snowing! The descent was so steep, so wet, so cold I could not stop shaking and was getting numb everywhere even in my head...I stopped in a small village, not an official stop, but a disaster zone, where hundred of cyclists like me where freezing cold....

I am not too proud of myself but I never managed to go back on my bike. I tried several times and each time I was shaking uncontrollably :-(

So I climbed the Tourmalet, rode about 110K, but never climbed Hautacam the final col. I will have to come back on a nicer day!

My third adventure of the summer was Nationals in Milwaukee! I love the race and this year it was huge, with so many fast athletes but a good reality check. there were almost 200 women registered in my own age group!

My bike travelled in style in Chris Swift RV with Chris Thomas!

My race was good, but the lack of consistency in my training showed with the swim and run portions! So even if I finished in the top 20% of my age group, I did not qualified for Worlds 2015 in Chicago. I have been to numerous nationals in previous years and had always qualified for Worlds, but not this time around ;-(

I wished I had raced the next day for the sprint triathlon as I would have qualified easily! Oh well, there is always next year and I am planning to be consistent in my training and cannot wait for the facility at Swim 70 to be finished!

The great thing about racing is to see old friends and competitors and share a drink after the race!

Tomorrow is my last local race at the Hammerfest Triathlon in Branford and will try to finish in style!

My last adventure of the year 2014 for me will be the Bimblers Bluff 50k Trail Race in Gilford CT in October. Pascal Fuchs pushed me to register and the Whipple's family inspired me! I am not 100% sure how I will tackle that one, but will have a first taste next Sunday at the Goodwin Forest Trail Run 30k of trails!

So now thinking of next year's goals:

- nationals, qualify for worlds 2016
- 70.3 somewhere new?
- another Ironman in the horizon?

And a new training facility to manage and develop at Swim70 in Norwalk! I cannot wait for this new adventure!

 Our triathlon training center will be on the mezzanine overlooking the 50 meter pool!

Battenkill Training Group with Eneas Freyre

About a month ago I decided to sign up for something new, different and hard!

I registered for the Tour of the Battenkill, America's Queen of the Classics:

America's largest one-day Pro/Am cycling race. Racers compete over 65 miles of rolling terrain on both dirt and paved roads as they travel through the world famous Battenkill Valley. Set in early spring, the race starts and finishes in the scenic village of Cambridge, New York and courses through covered bridges, family farms, and rural villages along the many challenging backcountry roads that traverse Southern Washington County, New York.

The 2013 edition played host to nearly 3,000 amateur and professional cyclists from throughout North America and dozens of nations worldwide. 

Well, after talking to a few people who had done it I concluded that the race sounds fun but very hard!!!

So I decided I had to do some work and join Eneas Freyre and his group for a training ride on Saturday March 8. The weather was perfect.

The group of riders consisted of about 8 guys and they all looked like professionals! I was a little bit intimidated to say the least, but I thought to myself, that is how you get better when you ride with faster, better people, at least when you can keep up with them!

We left TTendurance in Westport around 9am and rode towards Weston, the Cobbs Mill Inn where there a few dirt roads, I managed to stay behind...

When we got there Eneas gave us the workout: go as fast as you can on the dirt road going uphill then do a loop on the roads around and do that 3 times!!! I was starting to get worried...

Well it happened to be great fun but of course not easy, and luckily there was another rider about my speed so I was not last!!!

Unfortunately for me I took a spill just before the second time around...and I was glad I had a helmet on as I cracked it! Luckily nothing broken but I can say I am very sore today!!!

After this first part we regrouped and the second part was downhill fast on the dirt road, the other way round, three times again! The group left me in the dust from the beginning, I have a lot to learn! I was not sure where the loop was after that so I stayed on that dirt road and did it up and down again when the group reappeared. Of course they left me in the dust again. I tried a bit harder and could see them on the roads for a while until they vanished into the Weston hills. I tried to find my way and got so lost! Thanks to my iPhone and GPS, I got back to the Cobbs Mill Inn parking lot, just in time for the group picture!

Beside the spill and my to be improved skills, I loved the workout and Eneas was really good.

I need to do some work for sure before April 5 though!!!

To the next training next week!

The Charter Oak Challenge Foundation Classic Bike Tour

I do not know what happened but I have not posted anything for such a long time...

I guess now is the time. One year ago I was in Kona and it was wonderful and amazing trip.

This season, the 2013 season was different. Nothing long and everything short! Only sprint and olympic distances and some real fun ones like the Hopkin's Vineyard triathlon! A sprint distance with a glass of wine at the end.

And a trip to Florida for the St Anthony's triathlon which was a blast

The National Championship in Milwaukee was an amazing experience. Next year I am planning to go back, with hopefully a few team mates as Worlds will be in Chicago in 2015! 

The end of the season though has been amazing for me as I did something I have never done before  a charity ride for a great cause, no race planned but a very challenging beautiful very hilly course! I did the Charter Oak Foundation Challenge Bike Tour. The Charter Oak Foundation raises money for our neighbors children in Bridgeport to get them a great education and hopefully a better life.

The Tour was very well organized and beautiful but so hilly! Saturday was 100 miles to Lakeville through some amazing areas. Sunday was 82 miles through some really beautiful areas of CT but so hilly! It was a real challenge for me as since Kona I had not ridden more than 40 miles in one go (the week before)!

I loved the experience not a race, very humbling and I made new great friends!

Day 2! at lunch time!

So what is planned for 2014? 

Well nationals in August in Milwaukee and hopefully World in 2015 in Chicago! all the local triathlons possible and the Charter Oak foundation ride...with training ;-) or not as I did survived ...

Our Favorite Turkey Trot

We live in a great town and one of our favorite event happens to be on Thanksgiving in Southport.

More than 4000 runners gather, whole families, it is a great race in a beautiful place.

People train for it or just run it in family pack, it is fun.

This year the weather was gorgeous not too cold at all.

We had a meeting place at 7:45am by the flag pole and we manged 2 pictures, now we just need to put them together. We may have miss some of you but really there were too many people to be able to catch everyone.

Here are some results, congrats to all of you! We will finish very soon to compute other runners.

70	4224	Bryan French	35	M	Fairfield	CT	30:48:00	30:50:00	6:10
97	1169	Aaron Breene	13	M	Wilton	CT	31:36:00	31:42:00	6:21
150	3247	Per Heilmann	37	M	Fairfield	CT	32:52:00	33:02:00	6:37
155	2011	Glen Wisher	49	M	Westport	CT	32:37:00	33:07:00	6:38
205	1004	Brian Peterson	17	M	Fairfield	CT	34:06:00	34:12:00	6:51
220	4302	Michael Tansley	48	M	Westport	CT	34:22:00	34:36:00	6:56
224	2958	Pascal Fuchs	42	M	Fairfield	CT	34:16:00	34:39:00	6:56
322	3246	Lydia Heilmann	37	F	Fairfield	CT	35:55:00	36:06:00	7:14
352	2437	Paul Butcher	50	M	Southport	CT	36:20:00	36:29:00	7:18
356	7029	R. Mark Burton	50	M	Fairfield	CT	35:57:00	36:36:00	7:20
539	2836	Daniel Kurzatkowski	42	M	Fairfield	CT	38:24:00	38:35:00	7:43
596	1536	Daniel Weiland	40	M	Fairfield	CT	38:06:00	39:03:00	7:49

Kona 2012, reflections

October 2012

A week has gone and what is left of Kona 2012 Ironman World championship?

A Kona athlete bracelet, swim cap, finisher's tee-shirt, heavy big medal (biggest ever), finisher's hat, timing chip bracelet, key chain, licence plate frame, numerous plastic bags, shirts and stickers from the merchandise store, tons of memories, joys, pains and new friendships...overall an amazing adventure!

And after trying for so many years to qualify and actually doing the race and finishing it, what is left? How does it feel?

There is of course a great feeling of having reach a long time set goal. Just the trip there was very exciting and arriving in the tiny Kona airport with no actual walls just an open air building on an airport track on the West coast of the big Island by black lava fields and a deep blue Pacific Ocean.

Kona is a charming little coastal town, with no high buildings but little shops and houses, restaurants on the water, bars overlooking the sea and the black lava rocks, turtles swimming by, just an amazing tranquil place.
On race day the little town is buzzing with so many people, so much noise, it is very exciting and worth finishing the race.
On race day before midnight everybody stays around and watches the last finishers, the atmosphere is crazy: one guy was loving it so much that he crossed the finishing line at least 5 times, the last finisher a 70 years old woman arrived 20 seconds before midnight, the cut off time...it was insane!!!

I know I wanted to finish no matter what to experience the finish on Alii' drive. Well maybe my overall time was not the best (actually the slowest of all my IM races!), my run, or walk, was disappointing for sure but I knew all along I wanted to finish for sure. And I did! ;-)

It was so loud, so crazy that you felt like a real world Champion and I am sure everyone felt the same!

During the run/walk I was telling myself never ever again...but now I know I will try again sometimes, maybe in a new age group. There were 3 men over 80 who were on the podium this year, never as many before!

After watching so many race videos I felt I knew the race by heart but I was still not ready for the swell during the swim, the strong wind in front or side on the way out to Hawi, in front or side on the way back! How does it happen that the wind is always in front of you when you bike back on the same road, shouldn't you have had a break ???

The transition area was special on a parking lot surrounded by water, carpeted everywhere and lined up with so many great bikes, all of them seem great and their riders so fit.

The next day it was empty no bikes no signs nobody around!

The run of course was hard and I felt really tired this time and dizzy and sick to my stomach, so I walked and walked until I felt better. I had to finish and the views were quite amazing anyway, and I got to experience run/walk in complete darkness, very spooky and kind of fun as as a flash light they gave us a glow stick. Some people were ready with flash lights and friends and all, but I thought I would be faster right? who needs a flash light to do an ironman?

One view on the run, first part, quite nice really.

All in all beside the disappointment of a slow finish it was wonderful and worth it for sure. An Ironman is always an adventure in itself for all levels. From super fast Chris Thomas, to the guy crossing the finishing line 5 times it is an adventure in courage, strength, tenacity and pain and it must be why so many people want to try it and embrace it. It is also a luxury and we are blessed to be able to do it and to actually do it.

So worth it, I am planning a training camp there with rides, runs and swims but also visits to the City of Refuge, snorkeling at the Cook Monument, trips to the South Point with an ultimate jump and amazing fruits and vegetables with a taste that does not exist from products from stop and shop!

Keep posted stay with us and we will let you know when we are going back.

 Place of refuge

 Painted Church

 Ultimate jump most southern point of the US

Lava fields and deep blue sea