Featured Athlete Erica Ruge Update

Erica has had a fantastic season so far and we wanted to check in with her to see where she is at mid-season and where she's heading.

Erica:

Well half way through the season and everything is going pretty darn good.  There have been lots of new things for me this season: did my first long race ( longer than 3 hours), my first century (thanks to Carly for dragging me along), lastly my swim has gotten much better and  I can breathe on both sides thanks to my awesome coach)!  My races have gone great except for a few minor things like my body not cooperating. 

I have the hardest part of my season coming up in the next few months. In August I have most importantly Age group Nationals in Vermont, Cayuga Lake Olympic, and Lake George Olympic. Then that brings me into September when I go to France for Duathlon World Championship and then in October to New Zealand for Triathlon Sprint World Championship.   SO this month of July is really getting me ready (physically and mentally)  for the next couple months.

Thanks to Doug and everyone at Bikeway for supporting me and helping me with my bikes! And good luck to all team members for the rest of the season!

cheers!

erica

Here is her account of this year's Pat Griskus Triathlon, which is also a qualifying race for Age Group Nationals.

Pat Griskus Triathlon- NE Regional AG Championships- June 16

1 mile swim, 25 something bike, 10k run

So, this is my first big triathlon of the season. Done are my duathlons with the luxury of not having to swim. Really I was excited to see how much better my swim had gotten over the winter with the help of my new coach.  I had already done a few lake swims of more than 1 mile, so the distance wasn't anything new.  The race was a little different this year than last, the swim last year was shortened due to fog (lucky me!) and the bike course was also shortened last year due to something or another. So I really couldn't compare my times. 

It turned out to be a beautiful morning and I was in the last wave (since my recent move up an age group!)  Lake was flat and perfect temperature as we started. I kept calm, relaxed, and felt great. No one passed me, that was good and I did get to pass quite a few peeps. But I was more excited to get on the bike and hammer it. I came out of the swim in just about 33 min, not fast but fine.

This bike course is super hilly and challenging which is perfect for me. I felt great and went as hard as I could.  Special thanks to Doug for an early morning wheel change so I could use the Zipp 808's.  They certainly were fantastic. Only thing about this course I did not like was the roads were terrible, lots of potholes, cracks,bumps and boy that makes for a rough ride!!

But I swung into transition at about 1:14 and felt good getting off and ready to run.  I really had no idea where I was place wise, so that meant go hard.  My legs were feelin it after the first loop of the 2 loop course, but I saw a gal ahead of me that I needed to catch.  I finally caught her about .5 mile from the finish, and good thing I did, she was in my age group. I finished the run in 41 min, which gave me a total time of 2:31.  I was happy with that, first race of the tri season.

1st in my age group, 5th overall., making me the NE Regional Champ for  my new age group of 40-44!