Musselman Race Report

Posted on July 25, 2012 by Michael Corona

I participated in the Double Musselman Race last weekend. It’s a GREAT race—if you are ever in the Northeast, put this on your schedule. It’s a weekend of races, a sprint on Saturday, a Half on Sunday, and you can do both and compete in the Double Mussel, which is the best combined time.

Saturday was great, and I finished 2nd/800+. This was big for me; the race draws some good competition regionally, and it was probably my best finish ever. Going into Sunday I was 42 seconds down, and only 22 seconds up on 3^rd and 1:40 up on 4^th. Everyone else was 5+ minutes back.

I was in great position, and I figured I would need a 6-7 minute lead off the bike on Sunday to win. If I paced the event, I could secure a podium finish in the Double, probably top 15 OA in the half, and fight for an AG win. A good day!

Or, I could race, get that 6-7 minute lead and win the Double. To be honest, I didn’t even have to think about it; when will I ever be in this position again? Continue reading →

Improving Content for Our Readers

Posted on July 17, 2012 by Michael Corona

In an effort to increase site content, I was going to increase my writing to a weekly basis, with a long term goal of writing daily. After thinking about the commitment of that task, I realized it was something that would never happen without giving up another piece of my life, or reducing the quality of the content. The time simply isn’t there, so I found myself facing two choices:

1-Eliminate other things in my life to create the space.
2-Reduce the quality of the content to pump out articles.

Neither of the above were an option!

Still wanting to share information and expertise, I stopped to consider the fact that Endurance Corner has a team of writers . . . and I came to realize that by recruiting help from others I could maintain quality of content and share the knowledge of some people that I am very fortunate to work with! My current team is made up of individuals with some amazing talent and knowledge that they have bridged to the sport of triathlon. Each is a strong member of the community and possesses many of the characteristics I strive to establish within a team environment: positive attitude, easy going personality, and a willingness to help those around them do well. So I asked myself: Continue reading →

Race Planning

Posted on June 28, 2012 by Michael Corona

This month at Endurance Corner, we have been talking about race planning. Often an overlooked aspect of racing, many athletes will show up and “wing it”, assuming their fitness is all they need to race well. I have seen “A” races blown to bits before the race even started due to a lack of a solid race plan. Another limiter I have witnessed is the inability to adapt on the fly and go to a plan B or C.

Showing up to a race with a plan is vital to doing well. Here are some points to consider: Continue reading →

Surviving Race Day with 3 Little Boys

Posted on June 8, 2012 by Jen Corona

Race season is upon us, and I must say that we are very lucky to have a family full of race groupies. We’ve been dragging the kids to races since our little one was two, so they are quite used to it, and we pretty much have “Race Day” down to a science. Here are a few things we’ve learned along our triathlon journey . . .

Don’t believe the weather forecast!
Especially here in Central New York! I pack for all types of weather. I keep a bag in the car with rain suits, towels, sun screen, and baseball hats, as well as jackets, winter hats and gloves, and sometimes a blanket. You really never know! We have needed sunscreen and winter hats in the same day more than once!

Choose venues the kids will enjoy.
We are fortunate to have many great local events to choose from! We could literally race every weekend of the summer within an hour or two from home. Most local venues have play grounds and beach areas that the kids can play in during certain portions of the race: Green Lakes, Oneida Shores, and Jamesville Beach. However, if you are thinking of doing any travel races, consider places like Quassy, Cedar Point or Old Forge, or any place where there are amusement parks so the kids will be excited for the race. We went to Quassy last weekend and the kids loved it! And bonus – we received a few free tickets to the park with registration. Now, the kids are asking us to do Cedar Point! Also, many races incorporate a kid’s race into the festivities. Whether it’s a run, du, or a tri, our kids love to do these, especially if there’s a t-shirt involved! Continue reading →

“Before Break Through Training, Chop Wood, Carry Water, After Breakthrough training, Chop Wood, Carry Water”

Posted on May 30, 2012 by Michael Corona

I borrowed today’s title from the Zen saying, “Before enlightenment, chop wood carry water, after enlightenment, chop wood, carry water.”

What is break through training? For me, it is about viewing it the right way . . . it is a continual quest with no end date, and no real peak. When the goal is to qualify, it is not fair to the coach or the athlete to pick a specific race or year.

I am going to qualify. I do not care when, or how old I am. The race isn’t going anywhere. It could be this year; it could be in 5 years. What I do know is that for now I’m going to chop wood and carry water, and when I qualify, I imagine I’m going to do much of the same. Continue reading →

Poolseverence by Ben Rabin

Posted on April 3, 2012 by Jen Corona

My name is Ben Rabin. I am not an athlete. But, I love to do athletic stuff. Unfortunately, I have a business to run, clients to help, four kids to herd and a whole bunch of hobbies to neglect. Can I balance all of these things? Not going to happen. So, this is my version of “training” and despite the right intentions, it is unorthodox, silly and maybe even downright ugly.

WATER PROOF HEADPHONES

Let’s face it – there is not much you can do while swimming. No talking, no sightseeing, no playing endlessly with random electronic training aids. And, if you are training to swim for a race longer than 20 feet, you’ve got some boring hours ahead of you. Solutions, I’ve tried many.

Singing- First, my singing is awful and bothers even me. Second, if you do this in an open water environment, you risk attracting previously unknown forms of marine wildlife. Third, the people swimming past think you have gone off the deep end (yes, intentional pun).

Counting laps or strokes- At about the third length I am already wondering – “is this three laps or twelve?”

Look at the clock and count the time that goes by- My goggles fog up by the end of the first lap. Besides, I much prefer to imagine I have been swimming for two or three hours than face the reality of actually seeing the clock, and knowing that I have gone for a whopping two and a half minutes and am ready to get out.

Like almost everything else in the world, swimming would be better with music. So, with great delight, I discovered that there are a bunch of ways to get an iPod into the water without destroying it. And, to my further delight, my fairly new waterproof iPod shuffle has been under water for several hours and still works fine. Unfortunately, it turns out that the iPod is not the hurdle. The problem is the headphones. Continue reading →

An Interview on Ultra

Posted on March 26, 2012 by Michael Corona

March is Ultra month at Endurance Corner and due to my limited exposure in that area, I took the opportunity to reach out to a friend who I met through the sport so I could learn more about the distance and share my discoveries with the readers here.

Adam Peruta, a Syracuse native and professor at Ithaca College, has been involved in endurance sports for 5 years. He recently discovered a passion for the Ultra distance events, including the Ultraman, a grueling 3 day event that consists of a 6.2 mile swim and 90 mile bike on day 1, a 171.4 mile bike on day 2, and finally a double marathon, 52.4 miles on the third and final day.

The length of the event intrigues me, and I was curious as to how the prep differs from events the typical long course athlete is accustomed to. When I caught up with Adam, he was just finishing up a new experience on the Start-up Bus, which consists of 25 people on a bus, where the group splits into small teams to launch a new idea, from conception to life. In essence, it is three days without sleep, pitching ideas. What drew Adam to the bus is the same internal question that drove him to Ultraman: “I’ve never done this before; I wonder if I can I do this?” He completed Ultraman Canada in 2010, and when he crossed the line thought, “Why would ANYONE want to do that again?!” It was only a few days later when he received an invitation to back up his Canada performance with Ultraman Hawaii, just four short months later…. he said he instantly knew he wanted to do it…. why?? The same internal dialog that put him on the start up bus this past week…”I’ve never done this before, it’s a new experience; can I do it?”

Continue reading →

Preparation–Ha! by Ben Rabin

Posted on March 5, 2012 by Jen Corona

I was pretty care-free when I was young. But, compared to my friends, I always seemed to be a little more prepared, or brought a few more things, or planned a little bit better than they did.

As I grew older, this trait continued until I had kids, when it blossomed into ridiculousness. Now, I am like a neurotic Boy Scout – always over-prepared. I seem to, at all times, have at least one backpack full of stuff, and when the question “dad can I have?” inevitably comes up, the answer is always “yeah, I got that.” Bottled water, band-aids, fruit snacks, electronic devices, extra clothes, porcupine, Windex, somehow I manage to always have it all.

Strangely, I am utterly unprepared for my races. I cannot figure out why. Maybe because the race is not quite real life, maybe all of my preparation and planning time gets replaced by work and family requirements, maybe it is a subconscious plot to give me an excuse for my poor times? Who knows? But boy am I a mess on race day.

Continue reading →

How to Swim Fast

Posted on February 6, 2012 by admin

I thought I would follow up on my previous post with a bit of specificity in regards to what can be done at the pool to become a better swimmer. When I look back to my beginning days in the pool, 25 yards was a challenge and I would simply swim back and forth. I wasn’t sure what the pace clock was, nor how to use it. I had no clue about lane etiquette and thought I had to look pretty to swim fast. Continue reading →

Adding Value to the Team

Posted on December 31, 2011 by admin

As the team I coach begins to grow, it is important to surround my crew with other advisors they can learn from. Initially, when an opportunity for growth presents itself, one needs to be careful not to focus that growth directly on the interest of the business. Having spent over a year with Endurance Corner, the first thing I learned was always add value to the team; a direct result of that is a value to the business through retention. Focus on them. Continue reading →