EverymanTri.com

Fastest ever half marathon time on American soil set at the inaugural Rock ‘n’ Roll Mardi Gras race

New Orleans, LA - February 28, 2010 – Former World Half Marathon Champion Berhane Adere of Ethiopia won the inaugural Rock ‘n’ Roll Mardi Gras Half Marathon in New Orleans Sunday, clocking the fastest time ever run by a woman on American soil for the distance.  Her 1:07:52 time bested the mark set by America’s Deena Kastor at the 2005 Philadelphia Distance Run by a single second.  Adere, 36, needed to be at her best to hold off New Zealand’s Kim Smith, who finished a close second in 1:07:55, the third fastest half marathon ever run in the U.S.  On the men’s side, three-time London Marathon champion Martin Lel of Kenya outpaced his countryman and half marathon world record holder Sammy Wanjiru by 26 seconds, winning with a time of 1:01:07.

Top three reasons triathletes should not swim year round

Swimming year-round for the age-group triathlete is really just busy work. Filing papers at the office. Making sure the pencils at your desk are extra-sharp; that the printer tray is 100% full of paper. Call it what you want, but see it for what it is: extra work that doesn’t necessarily make a difference.

You can — and should — do better. For now just hear me out on why you need to retire the cap and goggles for a solid chunk of time.

Belgium’s Marino Vanhoenacker and Australia’s Belinda Granger win Ironman Malaysia

In what is one of the hottest Ironman races on the race calender, Belgium’s Marino Vanhoenacker and Australia’s Belinda Granger claimed the top spots on the podium this weekend.

In a dominating performance of 8:22:31 Marino Vanhoenacker won the race and won the 7th Ironman title of his career.

And for the third year in a row Belinda Grange won the race in a three-peat performance in a time of 9:23:33 beating second place finisher Italian Edith Niederfriniger by just about 12-minutes. The victory was Granger's 12th Ironman distance career win, and third win in a row.

Five quick tips to surviving your first triathlon training camp

Are you signed up for a triathlon camp? Perhaps you're mulling over the concept of getting away for a few days to train. Whether you're a first-timer or a triathlon camp veteran, these five quick tips will help you be more mentally prepared and physically capable to handle everything that gets thrown at you during a typical triathlon camp.

No 10% Rule:

When you show up at triathlon camp, take a deep breath, then step forward and prepare to completely break the triathlon training rule about gradually increasing weekly volume by no more than 10%. In most triathlon camps, you'll experience up to 2-3x greater volume than you may have performed in your training. Yes, that means that you 8-hour-per-week athletes may find yourself engaging in some form of exercise for 24 hours during a week long triathlon camp.

'I think he even has the ability to get top-five,' Chris Lieto on Armstrong's Kona Ironman chances

As you probably know from THIS story TdF champ Lance Armstrong and Ironman Chris Lieto had a bit of TTT (Twitter Time Trial) race in Kona, Hawaii last week.

The two Trek sponsored athletes raced against the clock down the Queen-K highway on the big island.

BTW: In case you are curious Armstrong won by 15 seconds.

But the experience left one of the strongest cyclist in Ironman Triathlon racing impressed with Armstrong's Kona chances.

"I think he’ll be in the mix a little bit. He’ll create some stir. He’ll get some people worried, stressed out about where he is. I think he even has the ability to get top-five" Lieto recently told Competitor's VeloNews managing editor Neal Rogers.

Wild and crazy 2009 Kona Ironman Championship "Fixie" ride explained

Earlier in the week we posted THIS story about a yellow Schwinn single speed fixed gear set-up bike that was someone's 2009 Kona Ironman Championship ride.

As you might think...we were pretty curious about the bike and the triathlete who rode it.

We wondered out loud who would be crazy enough to ride a fixie for 112-miles, and how the heck they managed to qualify for the World Championships on such a "unique" set-up.

You know...curious minds and all...

Kenyan men to duel for running supremacy in New Orleans this weekend

New Orleans, LA – February 25, 2010 – This Sunday’s Rock ‘n’ Roll Mardi Gras Marathon & 1/2 Marathon will showcase perhaps the most dynamic half-marathon duel ever staged on American soil.  2008 Olympic Marathon gold medalist and half marathon world record holder Sammy Wanjiru will battle head-to-head against fellow Kenyan and three-time London Marathon champion Martin Lel. Both men set their sites on the April 25th Virgin London Marathon where Wanjiru broke Lel’s course record last year by five seconds.

Video: Everything you'd ever want to know about 6X Olympic medalist Natalie Coughlin

You may recall that Natalie Coughlin (at 2008 summer Olympics) became the first American female athlete in modern Olympic history to win six medals in one Olympics.

You can find that historical fact now on Wikipedia.

But perhaps you may be more familiar with her from the hit TV program Dancing with the Stars where she ballroom danced her way for five episode before being eliminated.

So what's the American swimming (if not dancing) star up to these days?

Rising ITU star and reigning champ, Alistair Brownlee, suffers a stress fracture

Vancouver, Canada (Feb 25, 2009) - Reigning ITU World Champion Alistair Brownlee of Great Britain will delay the start of his 2010 season due to a femoral stress fracture. The injury will keep Brownlee out of the first two rounds of the 2010 Dextro Energy Triathlon ITU World Championship Series in Sydney and Seoul. According to Brownlee, he hopes to return to racing in time for the Dextro Energy Triathlon ITU World Championship Madrid on June 5.

"As an athlete, getting the best out of myself means pushing myself to the edge of my limits. Unfortunately, sometimes you cross the line and injury is inevitable," Brownlee said.

Lance Armstrong crashes on European training ride when cat crosses his path

Maybe that old superstition about back cats is correct...you know it being bad luck and all when they cross your path.

Except that the cat that crossed Lance Armstrong path wasn't even black.

Anyway, it was certainly bad luck today for Lance Armstrong when a cat darted out in front of him on a four hour training ride.

The seven time Tour de France champion wrote on twitter:

“Back from a nice/easy 4 hr ride.” he tweeted followed by. “Well it was nice til that cat decided to run out right in front me and I go ass over bandbox. Wasn’t even a black cat. And for all you cat lovers, cat was fine. At least I never saw it again. Bad kitty.”

Eat slowly to stay thin a new study finds

A new study has found what most moms already know...that if you eat slowly you are more likely to feel full.

And as you probably know excess weight is the enemy of speed and endurance sports athletes.

Various studies over the years have found that if people wolf down their food they end up consuming more calories than if they take their time and eat slowly.

The new study discovered the reason and mechanism of how and why this happens.

Dutch speed skating star Sven Kramer loses gold medal but sticks with his coach

As you may remember from THIS story Sven Kramer's long-time coach took full responsibility for the Dutch super star's skating mistake which cost Kramer the gold medal in the 10,000 meter final.

After the race Kramer was furious with his coach.

Kramer made what looked like an amateurish mistake when he failed to switch lanes just about at the halfway point of the race, and was thus disqualified but he failed to make the lane change based on frantic instructions from his coach.

Kramer's coach, Gerard Kemkers, was devastated and took responsibility for the gaffe.

"We had a good talk. It's a hard time for both of us, but in the end it will be good,"  Kramer said today. "I've won so many races with him and that doesn't get lost in one moment," he added.

Chinese America triathlete hopes the year of the tiger will bring her luck at Ironman Malaysia

It is the year of the Tiger, and for one pro triathlete racing Ironman Malaysia this weekend, she’s hoping her “White Tiger” will bring her luck, and carry her to a podium place in this weekend's race in Langkawi.

Jocelyn Wong, who is part of TeamTBB’s development team received the white Cervelo P3,  complete with red stripes, on 14th February this year, the start of the Chinese new year.

Video: Enraged motorist cusses out cyclists after serious injury crash

Let's be clear.

The following terrifying video and facts are just one side of the story: the cyclist.

According to various published reports this accident happened over the weekend in Southern Florida on A1A.

The story goes, at least from the point of the cyclist, that the black SUV cut off the riders causing several of them to crash.

Is the BERU Factor 001 the fastest bike ever designed?

Many automotive insiders will argue that the Formula 1 racing series is the pinnacle of automotive race car design.

So what do you think would happen if a bunch of F1 engineers designed a bike from scratch?

You are looking at it: it's called the Factor 001.

Sven Kramer's coach takes full responsibility for Dutch Olympic skaters costly mistake and DQ

Sven Kramer's long-time coach is taking full responsibility for the Dutch super star's skating mistake which cost Kramer the gold medal in the 10,000 meter final today.

"I am furious," Kramer said after the race.

Kramer made what looked like an amateurish mistake when he failed to switch lanes just about at the halfway point of the race, and was thus disqualified.

Had he not been disqualified the world record holding speed skater would have easily won the gold medal at the 10,00 meter event.