Tyler Farrar wins Giro d’Italia stage 2; Cadel Evans seizes lead

by VeloNews.com

• May 08, 2010

Tyler Farrar (Garmin-Transitions) wins a very messy second stage of the Giro d’Italia as BMC’s Cadel Evans takes the overall lead.

Pre-Race Swim Photo Gallery At Rev3 Knoxville

by Mario Fraioli

• May 08, 2010

Professionals Chris Lieto, Terenzo Bozzone, Andrew Yoder and Pip Taylor were joined by age groupers for a chance to jump into the Tennessee River and check out the conditions. While the Tennessee River usually contains a fairly strong current, the Tennessee Valley Authority will be controlling the dams to ensure that the current is minimal on race morning.

Frodeno Kicks Past Atkinson To Win In Seoul

by Mario Fraioli

• May 08, 2010

Jan Frodeno, the 2008 Beijing Olympic gold medalist, won a thrilling sprint to the finish over Australia’s Courtney Atkinson at today’s Dextro Energy Triathlon ITU World Championship Seoul. Frodeno and Atkinson broke away from the field immediately after exciting the second transition and ran side-by-side for the entire 10K run until the German sprinted away at the finish. Frodeno and Atkinson both finished with an amazing 10K run split of 29:08. Australia’s Brad Kahlefeldt finished third, posting a 29:32 run split.

Ryf Sprints To Win At ITU World Championship Seoul

by Mario Fraioli

• May 08, 2010

Switzerland’s Daniela Ryf pulled off the sprint of her life to win in the final stretch of the Dextro Energy Triathlon ITU World Championship Seoul in Korea this afternoon, topping world number one Barbara Riveros Diaz of Chile and reigning world champion Emma Moffatt of Australia.

Rosters announced for the 2010 Amgen Tour of California

by VeloNews.com

• May 07, 2010

Race organizer AEG Sports announced the starting rosters Friday for the 2010 Amgen Tour of California. The 16-team competition will include seven ProTour squads.

Rev3 Participants Save Man’s Life In The Tennessee River

by Liz Hichens

• May 07, 2010

Rev3 participants preparing for this weekend’s Rev3 Knoxville Triathlon were getting in a training swim and happened to be in the right place at the right time. According to a local report, a man had jumped from a bridge and was screaming for help. The triathletes were the closest to the man and helped get him to safety.

McDowell, Whitley To Represent USA At Youth Olympic Games

by Mario Fraioli

• May 07, 2010

USA Triathlon junior standouts Kevin McDowell and Kelly Whitley, both from Geneva, Ill., were officially announced by the United States Olympic Committee as members of Team USA for the first-ever Youth Olympic Games Friday. The USOC made its initial roster announcement in conjunction with the 99-day countdown to the Aug. 14 opening ceremonies.

The Adventures of Ironman Champion Chrissie Wellington

by Mario Fraioli

• May 07, 2010

From the March issue of Competitor Magazine.

What makes Chrissie Wellington the most dominant Ironman triathlete on the planet? It might have a little bit to do with how she spends her off-season.

It was one year ago—early winter 2009—and to all six of them it seemed like a heck of a good idea. They were all gathered in Argentina for the wedding of Augustina (Tina) and Sebastian (Seb). The recently crowned two-time Ford Ironman World Champion Chrissie Wellington and her longtime friend, world-class mountaineer Billi Bierling, were staying at Tina and Seb’s home in the city of Mendoza.

Adopting a “Clean” Way of Eating

by Mario Fraioli

• May 07, 2010

From the March issue of Competitor Magazine

In a society obsessed with quick fixes, many Americans turn to “cleansing” or “detox” diets to flush out their systems and help rejuvenate their bodies. Unfortunately, these diets provide a false sense of health security with no scientific evidence to back radical claims; they receive no support from the American Dietetic Association. I recommend instead to adopt a “clean” way of eating that is scientifically proven to improve overall health and performance. Here on some ways to eat “clean.”

Epic 5 Heads To Honolulu For Day Two

by Mario Fraioli

• May 07, 2010

After narrowly making their previous night’s flight from Kauai to Honolulu, on the morning of Thursday, May 7 EPIC5 ultra distance triathletes Richard Roll and Jason Lester arrived at Oahu’s Waikiki beach–with everything but their bikes intact.

But Is It Faster?

by Matt Fitzgerald

• May 07, 2010

Abebe Bikila winning the 1960 Olympic Marathon barefoot.

Elite runners don’t run barefoot. There’s a reason for that.

Written by: Matt Fitzgerald

The runners of the Nike Oregon Project use just about every safe and legal means available to them to improve their performance. They train on underwater and antigravity treadmills, they work intensively with a staff strength coach and sports psychologist, they undergo regular laboratory biomechanical testing, they sleep in hypoxic chambers, they get massage therapy two or more times a week, and so forth. But there’s one “recent innovation” they do not make much use of in their quest for speed: training and racing barefoot.

Why not? Well, it could be because the team is sponsored by a running shoe manufacturer. Or it could be because its members don’t believe that training and racing barefoot would make them faster. I asked one Nike Oregon Project runner, Kara Goucher, why she still wears shoes despite all the recent hoopla about barefoot running.

Q&A With 2006 ITU World Champion Tim Don

by Mario Fraioli

• May 06, 2010

2006 ITU World Champion Tim Don kicks off his 2010 campaign at the Dextro energy Triathlon ITU World Championships in Seoul this weekend. We caught up with Tim to find out how his preparations have been going and what he expects from this season.

Jenny Barringer 2.0

by Matt Fitzgerald

• May 06, 2010

Jenny Barringer on her way toward winning the 1500m at the 2009 Payton Jordan Cardinal Invitational. Photo: PhotoRun.net

The next great American runner talks about the first steps in her professional career.

Interview by: Matt Fitzgerald

At the tender age of 23 years, Jenny Barringer is already an Olympic veteran and an American record holder in the 3000m steeplechase (9:12.50). Among her other laurels are three NCAA titles earned while she was a student at the University of Colorado, a sub-four-minute performance at 1500 meters last year and a fifth-place finish in the 2009 World Championships 3000m steeplechase.

American running fans have high hopes for Barringer, and the pressure of those hopes got the best of her at the NCAA Cross Country Championships last November, a race she was expected to win easily but in which she suffered a dramatic collapse and finished 163^rd. Having already graduated from CU at the time, Barringer soon thereafter hired agent Ray Flynn and a new coach, Julie Benson, and signed a contract with New Balance.

Last Saturday Barringer contested her first race as a professional and her first race since her cross country disaster, using an impressive finishing kick to win the 1500m at the Payton Jordan Cardinal Invitational at Stanford University. She recently spoke to us about the importance of that race and about her transition from student-athlete to full-time professional.

Favorites Triumph At Miwok 100k

by Matt Fitzgerald

• May 06, 2010

Krupicka receives congratulations on his victory. Photo: Bryon Powell.

Krupicka and Semick victorious in the Marin Headlands.

Written by: Bryon Powell

Anton Krupicka is no stranger to jaw-dropping ultramarathon performances. That’s why it should come as no surprise that on May 1 he ran the second-fastest time in the 15-year history of the Miwok 100-kilometer race in the Marin Headlands just north of San Francisco. However, Krupicka’s victory and stunning time did not come without challenges or challengers.

Krupicka embodies the trend toward minimalism in trail running. At the same time, he’s the most prominent example of extremely high mileage training for ultramarathons. Unfortunately, in the past, that combination has led this impassioned runner to frequent breaks from training and racing. However,  Krupicka seems to have finally reigned in his desire to run ad infinitum. For the first two-and-a-half months of this year Krupicka “limited” himself to runs of not much longer than 2 hours to avoid a recurrence of a chronic knee issue. Beginning in mid-March, he added a 4-hour long run and has since upped his long run by about an hour a week to max out with a 50-mile long run two weeks before Miwok.

Epic 5 Under Way: Lester and Roll Start First of Five Ironmans

by Mario Fraioli

• May 06, 2010

At 3:44 AM on Wednesday ultra distance athletes Rich Roll and Jason Lester launched into day one of their five-day, five-Ironman EPIC5 odyssey. Stepping into the tropical perfume of Kauai’s balmy pre-dawn air, the two athletes hit the pavement. Four and a half hours later they finished their first of the week’s five marathons on the movie-perfect sands of Hanalei Bay.