Friday, May 26, 2017

Lynette Hing is 2017 Super Master's National TT and Road Champion!

Singapore's Individual Time Trial National Championships were held on May 7th, 2017. Lynette Hing's first sentence in her post-activity comments was "My worst nightmare, somehow [I] could not get my power meter to work"!  She had spent the previous day visualizing herself maintaining her target wattage, but now she needed an alternate plan. Fortunately, the course was the same as last year. She quickly checked last year's results, memorized her lap splits and attempted to hit similar splits for the early laps to ensure that she didn't start out too hard.  She was a little worried in the first lap, because she felt like she might be working too hard, but was reassured when she saw her first lap time.  She kept working very hard, and soon passed the girl ahead of her. She commented, "My legs were super sore and I was really breathless... I wasn't sure if I was going too hard or if I should slow down. I dug deep and forced myself to continue, overtaking the second girl ahead, then the third. I could barely maintain my pace on the last lap and was very tempted to slow down. Then I saw the fourth girl in front. It took a long time but I finally overtook her as well. Was really happy to come in first!"  

The National Championship Road race was two weeks later on Sunday, May 21st.   To Lynette's surprise, she found it to be one of the friendliest races she had ever been to.  She described the women in her category as "relaxed and chatty".  The first three laps, everyone rode together, rotating at the front. When the last lap came around, Lynette didn't want it to come down to a sprint, because she knew that this would lead to an easy win for one of the other girls.  In the last lap, she decided to make a break with three kilometers left to go. Lynette detailed the end of the race: "I rode as hard as I could, then settled into VO2 max pace. The finish line took forever and I was starting to tire. I turned around and saw them rapidly gaining onto me. Giving a final push, I was so happy to cross the line and finish first!"

Steve Pandelidis Wins Age Group at "Got the Nerve" Triathlon

On May 20th 2017, Steve Pandelidis raced at "Got the Nerve" sprint Triathlon; swimming 500 yds. in Mt. Gretna Lake, riding 16 mi. country roads through both Lebanon & Lancaster Counties, PA and finishing with a 5K run on a beautiful Rails-to-Trails path.   He managed to finish almost a minute and a half faster than the second place finisher in his age group with a time of 1:25:57.   He sent his PCG coach, Karen Mackin some photos of his "Happy Day" after the race.  Karen then learned, it was especially happy because his wife Julie ALSO won her age group too!   

Friday, May 19, 2017

Stacey McMickens Wins AG at Louisiana Triathlon

Congratulations to Stacey McMickens for placing first in her Age Group at the LA Sprint Triathlon held at False River, Louisiana.  She had a good 800m swim with the leaders in her wave. Stacey loved the 17 mile bike wave as it was flat and fast, and she felt particularly strong as she passed many riders along the way.  The 5k run course suited her because of the out and back. Allowing her to gain motivation by seeing where her competition was!   Stacey had a great day and not only won her age group but finished in 7th place overall!  Congratulations Stacey!