Area trainer taking pupil to Lake Placid

Elizabeth Savino (L), of Pennington, and Chris Draper, of Hamilton, are headed to Lake Placid to do an ironman.

Draper, Savino to compete in ironman competition
By Steve Sherman
Sports Editor
Two area residents are heading to Lake Placid this weekend to compete in the Ironman Triathlon there.
For those of you not familiar with ironman competitions, the athletic events consist of a 2.5-mile swim followed by a 112-mile bike ride, topped off with a running marathon, meaning another 26.2 miles.
For Pennington resident Elizabeth Savino, 45, it is her first ironman. Elizabeth is a long-time endurance runner, having completed marathon events in Philadelphia, New York, Hartford, Scranton and Lake Placid.
Hamilton resident Chris Draper, a 33-year-old conditioning specialist based at PEAC Health & Fitness, meanwhile, has done the ironman before, competing in Ironman Florida last November.
The connection between the two athletes headed to New York this weekend is typical in the world of endurance sports.
About five years ago, Elizabeth hit a wall in the middle of competing in the Hartford Marathon and didn’t break four hours in the event like she usually did. Savino’s time in the event--4 hours, 19 minutes--suffered because she couldn’t run the last 5 miles and was forced to walk.
Afterward, she came to Chris, who discovered that Savino hadn’t prepared properly for the competition nutritionally. Draper spelled out a new dietary regimen for Savino that ignited the Pennington woman’s marathon performance.
In 2006, Elizabeth did so well in the Philadelphia Marathon that she qualified for the Boston Marathon. Her time of 3:49:48 was bested only by the time of 3:43:19 that Savino posted in the Lake Placid Marathon a month ago.
“Diet is ongoing,” says Savino, now. “You have to eat right before, during and after the competition.”
About two years ago, Elizabeth grew weary of the distance runners routine. She needed a new challenge. Draper suggested triathlon competitions.
Starting out by competing in sprint-tris, Savino built herself up to the point that she competed in Olympic distance triathlons. While sprint tris consist of 500-meter swims followed by 10 to 15-miles on the bike capped off with a 5K run, the Olympic distance forces a competitor to swim 1,500 meters, bike 25 miles and run 10 kilometers.
Draper’s entrance into endurance events is even more dramatic than Savino’s. Chris was once a power-lifting bodybuilder who tipped the scale at more than 250 pounds.
Inspired by the very same distance runners and Olympic hopefuls he trained in his work at PEAC, Chris began a conditioning quest that has the 33-year-old at 160 pounds as he prepares for his second ironman.
Last year, Chris turned in a time of 10-and-a-half hours in the Florida Ironman.
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NOTES: Savino had to raise more than $1,200 to enter the Lake Placid Ironman competition. The money goes toward a community fund in the upstate New York area that assists underprivileged youths involved in sports.