Results for February 22nd are up!  Great racing this evening across the board… some familiar names and some new across the podium.  Eric Follen, Zev Myerowitz and Nate Smith took top honors on the men’s side while the women’s podium comprised of Kelsey Abbott, Jen Roberts, and Anne Obrien.  Anna Caron also took time out of her school break to take top junior honors on the night.  Well done all; next week is the final Friday Night Fight at OA in Saco…. course details to follow.

2_22_13FNFResults

The final stage of the 2012 Friday Night Fights was held on Feb. 17th, repeating the initial 6.2 mile Prologue course from Jan. 6th.  The course repeat was an opportunity for participants to measure both fitness gain and add depth to their mental well enroute to faster times.  Carrie McCusker maintained perfection, sweeping all four Friday Night Fight events, besting her January time by ~37 seconds and taking the overall female win in 16:30.65.  Carrie was joined by Travis Kroot a top the overall GC podium, taking the women’s and men’s heavyweight belt titles repspectively.  Owen Lisa took the overall men’s win for the fourth stage with a 16 sec. margin.  The team of Ted Darling, Jeff Fisher, Nate Smith, and Carrie McCusker linked another night of top performances to take the overall team title.  There were significant gains across all racers; the Golden Glove award went to the racer with the greatest gain in time, this year going to Katherine Caprio-Burgoyne.  We had great fun with the event and many thanks to all in the endurance community that came out to partake.  Stay tuned for more computrainer racing to come! 

Stage 4 Results – 6.2 Mile Course

Round 3 of Friday Night Fights simulated the early stages of the Ironman Oz bike course.  All participants started and finished at exactly the same moment, challenged with covering max distance in a 30 min. time block.  Carrie McCusker continues to dominate the overall women’s GC, finishing first for the night and covering 10.36 miles.  Strong efforts from Sarah Margolskee and Kellie Joyce placed themselves in 2nd and 3rd respectively.  Brett Hellstedt took the top men’s slot, covering 11.55 miles, followed closely by Travis Kroot and Joe Lynch.  The team of Ted Darling, Nate Smith, Carrie McCusker, and Jeff Fisher covered the greatest  distance in the team division, 42.63 cumulative miles.  We were most impressed with our youngest competitor of the evening, huge congrats to David Grover Jr., averaging 21+ mph and placing 9th overall; great display of strength and pacing discipline for this 14 year old!!  We will be looking for some strong pulls from the father/son duo on the roads this summer:-)  Thanks to all for coming out and we hope to see you on Friday, February 17th for a repeat of our first, 6.2 mile, prologue course.

Round 3 – 30 min. TT Results

Round 2 of Friday Night Fights consisted of a 3 mile Hill Climb on the computrainer.  Though indoor topographic change sounds foreign to some, participants would unanimously agree that 9% trainer simulation feels more challenging than parallel grade out of doors.  In the men’s field, Owen Lisa took top honor, besting the field with an overall time of 10:28.9.  Travis Kroot performed consisently near the top, overall 2nd place and moving to #1 in the men’s GC.  Carrie McCusker remained on top of the women’s podium finishing in 12:31.59.  The energy in the air was impressive with many friends pushing peers to higher watts.  In the team competition, two teams moved to the forefront in their respective categories.  Carrie McCusker, Nate Smith, Jeff Fisher and Ted Darling took top honors of the Team and Co-Ed category with Harris Navelski, Joe Lynch, Paul Niehoff, and Bill Herbert atop the Male Team Category.  Of note, congrats to Katherine Caprio-Burgoyne who had the largest gain in power production over Round 1… a gain of 41 watts.

Stage 2 Results – Hill Climb

Friday, January 6th served as Round 1 for Friday Night Fights at The Sustainable Athlete in Portland.  Nearly 40 cyclists hopped in the ring and all triumphed over personal time trial demons.  There were some very close battles amongst friends and many set the personal bar very high for 2012.  Congrats go out to Sustainable Athlete Taylor Reis for taking the top men’s finish and Carrie McCusker on the top female overall.  Overall results are posted below; colors denote team members.

Stage 1 – Prologue Results

Stage 2, hill climb, will take place on Friday, January 20th.  Participants will have the opportunity to revisit this Prologue course on Friday, February 17th as a measure of their early season gains in training.  Email doug@thesustainableathlete.com with any questions or to register start times.

When Doug met Rich Cromwell, he was in his late 50′s, and about 250lbs, down from his high of 275lbs. He had no particular race goals, but he knew he wanted to lose weight and be injury-free. He emphasized that he desired a program that he could stick with for years into the future…sustainability.

It is now six years later and he is not only still injury free, but more importantly, in tune with his body. He has lost close to eighty pounds and completed adventures in the past few years than many people can only dream of.

For the complete story, click here

Sustainable Athletes Jim Favreau and Rick Brown took on windy course conditions at the 2010 edition of Ironman Arizona. 22 miles into the bike Jim fell victim to the course’s crowded nature, clipping wheels with another athlete and going down hard onto the pavement. Fortunately, medical crews were nearby and the bike helmet performed its task of protecting the head. Coming straight off of Kona, this was Jim’s fourth Ironman in a year; healing thoughts to Jim and time to enjoy some rest.

Rick Brown, in his second Ironman race, bested his personal record at the distance by 45 minutes, finishing in 11:48. Rick commented “the uphills felt easier than the down with winds gusting at 35 mph.” Rick held strong throughout the effort and made significant gains on the field moving from the swim to bike to run. Huge congrats to Rick and keep an eye out for this guy in the future on the Ultra running circuit!

On November 7th, Jason Newland took on the crowds of the big city to run the New York City Marathon. Jason had qualified with a half marathon time of 1:22.56, a race he had run as an afterthought following completion of his first Ironman in Madison, WI in 2009. Jason’s recovery and foot speed coming off the Ironman race spoke wonders for the base fitnness he has achieved.

Jason felt strong through the morning of the marathon despite a 4 hours wait time prior to the start of the race. He commented that the wait was well worth the opportunity to run through New York’s 5 boroughs. Once the race was under way Jason rolled through the half mark in 1:24 then remained strong in mind and body to finish in 2:55.40, shaving another 5 minutes off his previous personal best.

“I was more than happy with this result. I had always wanted to break 3 hours, but to do 2:55 was something I never thought I could do.” Newland stated. This result complements a stellar 4:39 half Ironman result, along with his 10:22 in his first full Ironman start in Wisconsin. A huge congratulations go out to Jason and we look forward to another build towards Wisconsin next fall!

A huge congratulations to Sustainable Athlete Anne O’Brien for completing Ironman Florida this past weekend! Her first Ironman event, she held even splits throughout, and finished in an impressive time of 14:47:11.

The conditions at Ironman Florida were cool and windy this year, and while athletes were on the course in mittens and balaclavas, Anne felt right at home. In her words: “I was glad to be from Maine!”

Great Job Anne!