City Coach | Nathanael Horne's Blog

Streak Day 3

Day 3 of streak- so far so good. My fitness is basically starting from zero. I basically haven't run since the Westchester tri in Sept. Anyway, the streak is making me feel excited about getting in shape again. I have the advantage of having a gym/treadmill in my building, which is going to make things easier for me when its freezing out.

End-Of-Season

I guess if there is any time to pick as the end of the racing season, it is New Years. Since I last posted, I did several cyclocross races with middling results, but had a great time. The most memorable was the Mercer Cup for a huge mudfest,
and Staten Island Cyclocross (SICX) for Gloria's broken ribs. The attached album has her commentary on what was her first bike race ever. She has now largely recovered, but still can't run comfortably. Prior to the cross season- I broke my beloved steel Ritchey 'Cross frame in a bike-on-cab accident. The only significant injuries were to my bike, fortunately (I suppose). Thus I purchased a replacement in an awesome new Gin and Trombones
from the bros at Van Dessel. I love this bike, I think it is one of the best I have ever owned. Since these races, I haven't been training much (to Coach Cane's dismay) due to family and work obligations. To build motivation, I have been looking at races to set as goals, and I think I will try to start a mile-a-day-run streak inspired by Killer's 2009 streak. Did my first run today after the Polar Bear Dip.

Westchester Tri 2009

Glo and I did the Westchester Tri on 9/27/09 in the middle of a drenching rain. I felt good, but the swim seemed extra long, and I think there were a high number of people who cut the swim course looking at the swim times. Once I got out of the water my new tubulars felt great and solid in the ice-slick course and nobody passed me on the bike. Much to my surprise nobody passed me on the run either and I ended up with my first top ten at this event (barely- I was tenth overall- maybe people were scared by the rain), but my first AG victory here, good to finally top the podium and win my 3rd Alcatraz slot. Unfortunately I don't think I will go to Alcatraz again this year, but its nice to qualify. Gave a little hop over the finish line to celebrate the end of my tri season. Glo was 7th in her AG after taking the bike course extra carefully due to the rain.

Central Park Triathlon 2009

Forgot to post one this one- this race was actually back in August. This year we changed up the podium a bit-- but the same top three as last year- I dropped to third on a poor run (a bit of stomach cramps) and Duncan moved into 2nd overall and Tim Oakes won it. Happy to share the podium with these guys, I was glad I could hang onto 3rd. Glo got 5th overall woman and got 2nd in her age group! Sweet.

Recent Races- Catch Kissena

I did the Catch Kissena handicap race in Prospect park on 9/19. I had looked forward to this race for a long time because the format really appealed to me and my desire to avoid traditional mass-start park paces in NY. It was a success for us, as we managed to hold off the chasing field and take all of the top spots (the top 20 or so). I loved it, as after a long period of doing triathlons, it was fun to operate in a well-oiled bike train. Sure there were occasional bobbles in the rotation, but we had an amazing "coxswain" (William Doyle-Capitman) coordinating between resting/reserve riders and the front rotation. I followed Lenny Katz and Greg Donovan followed me for a lot of the time, props to them both for being so solid and dealing well with my occasionally erratic bike handling. JP Partland took the win by popular acclaim. Not surprisingly Gloria slept in for this one. Super proud of my teammates.

That's me with the beard puffing at the front. Ragot was a solid wheel as well.

Long Overdue Update

This season has been all about managing expectations. Work has become a bigger and bigger factor and I am faced with the reality that When forced to choose between working out and funding one's (hopefully blissful) retirement, the realist chooses the option that will not require one to move into a homeless shelter as a senior citizen. Thus CCane has helped me manage my limited time for training and helped me manage my spiral into what I consider a "citizen-racer", rather than someone who has aspirations to anything close to elite performance. I have raced very infrequently this year, and each time I have I seem to manage to feel as though I am coming down with something, I am now thinking it is some kind of super-nervous reaction, as it seems to occur with every race (with perhaps some real illness occasionally overlying the nerves). Since Alcatraz, I did the Governor's Island Grand Prix. The Grand Prix was the inaugural race on Governor's island, which is a beautiful site for a crit. Unfortunately , my bike handing skills are a bit atrophied and I found myself hanging out at the tail end of the field in order to not endanger myself or my fellow racers. I lasted about 20 minutes (out of 60). But, in my first mass-start bike race in probably 5 years, I have the consolation that probably 1/4-1/3 of the field dropped out before me, as the average speed was probably close to 30 MPH for this part of the race. Yeek. Consider it a Tabata and a learning experience. Tomorrow I race the Central Park Triathlon for the 3rd year, and of course my hip started hurting on a jog this morning (I know not stretching was going to catch up with me), and of course now I am starting to feel sick again. Gloria is doing it with me this year, which is cool, so I spent the am setting up our race bikes, which was fun for me.

Escape From Alcatraz Race Report

Photos Here Well, I survived the race, that's probably one of the most positive things I can say. I went into this race undertrained due to work and real-life commitments and expected to complete the course without drama (and maybe a good bike leg). However, there was a further monkey wrench to be had. I managed to place myself right in the path of a sneeze from a very sick person on Thursday prior to the race. I knew this was bad news, and felt ill for the rest of the day on my flight to SFO. Friday, however, I felt well, and did my last workouts at Gloria's brother's athletic club with the lovely nieces and nephews Johnny, Elena and Mia. I spent the early morning hours of Saturday setting up my sweet borrowed (cyclocross) bike from a good roadie friend, (Sean Co) who lives in Berkeley. Then, disaster. I started to feel nauseated and all energy drained form my body, the virus had completed it's incubation period. I realized I had now started to get sick- damn that errant sneeze! I felt so bad that I didn't know if I would be able to participate in the race (especially as I was anxious about the legendary swim anyway). We relocated to the house of Gloria's good friends Holly and Doug that lived literally a few hundred yards from the transition zone for the last night prior to the race. I spent a restless night, not knowing if I would even go to the start. However, when my alarm went off, the adrenaline kicked in and I felt actually OK. I racked my bike and boarded the San Francisco Belle, the paddle steamer that takes you to the start at Alcatraz Island. Advice: get on the Belle early so you can grab a prized piece of floor around the perimeter, unless you want to stand up for an hour and a half. The swim start was rough, with all 2000 participants unloaded in 6 minutes, There was a lot of contact and flailing to be had, but the chaos cleared after about 10-15 minutes. At least the water was a warm (for SF) mid fifties, and I didn't notice the cold (thanks Coach Cane for the hood!). The current was slow this year and times were slow as well, I hit the exit right on and changed into my backup shoes for the long run to the transition. The bike felt great for the first 5 miles or so, and I loved passing people on my steel 'cross bike with box section rims and 28 mm wide tires as they were riding their tricked-out tri rigs and Zipp 909's. Then the bug that I was afflicted with (could it have been H1N1?) made itself known and I ran out of fuel. I dialed it back until kids on tricycles were passing me, and limped into transition knowing that a long and hilly 8 miles awaited me. I had fun on the run, jogging it in, joking with my fellow competitors, walking the 400-step sand ladder, and making it back to the finish and my boo-ful Gloria, our friend Alyse (who was volunteering) and my lovely Uncle Tom who had come out to take photos. I was actually heartened by my top 10% finish, as if I can finish that high in a big national qualifier-only triathlon while ill, what can I do while well? I guess we will see at Philly next weekend. Thanks to everyone who came out and helped me with this one, sorry I was so bummed out, my apologies I was sick. I spent the next week in bed.

Update River Road Hill Climb Time Trail

I had fun, and didn't get last in my category, I felt like I could have gone harder. I am thinking about signing up for the 7 Lakes Time trial June 7th at Bear Mtn. This weekend went to lake Bantam in Ct and got some open water practice swims in, as well as some cross-training kayaking. A bit anxious about the swim at Alcatraz, but hopefully I will survive.

Back to the Bike

Yesterday I renewed my road bike racing license, and signed up for the River Road Hill Climb Time Trial. There are only 15 other entries in the pro/1/2/3 division, so I cant finish worse than 15th in my return to USAC-sanctioned racing. I'm actually excited about this event. 1.5 miles of pain.

Return to Racing at Scott's Run 5K

The CC squad fast ladies and I got down at the Scott's Run 5k this AM. I had looked forward to another several weekends without racing, but coach said the word, so I was there. Had to break the seal sometime after my winter hibernation. I am glad I went. It was a SI-tastic crowd and post race BBQ with a beer truck, and we collectively collected a bunch of hardware (1st in ag and 8th overall for me). See Coach's blog for details. It felt good to run fast again.