Pennington area ironmenreport success at Lake Placid

Pennington's own Elizabeth Savino (R) and Hamiltonian Chris Draper (L) finished the Lake Placid Ironman Triathlon last Sunday.

Two area residents successfully completed the Lake Placid Ironman Triathlon last Sunday in the Empire State.
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.
Competing in her first ironman tri ever, Pennington resident Elizabeth Savino, 45, finished the grueling course in just over 14 hours (14:19). Hamilton resident Chris Draper, a 33-year-old conditioning specialist based at PEAC Health & Fitness, finished the event in under 12 hours (11:52).
Draper meanwhile has been on the ironman circuit before, turning in a time of 10-and-a-half hours in Ironman Florida last November.
At Lake Placid however, Mother Nature didn't smile on the ironmen. Early on in the event, it rained giving the swimmers an added challenge in the opening leg. When the rains stopped, the weather turned hot and humid, making parts two and three tough to stay hydrated.
"The Ironman was a great success for both Chris and me," stated Savino. "Our training really paid off and gave us what we needed to endure so many hours of both the physical and mental demands."
Savino is a long-time endurance runner, having completed marathon events in Philadelphia, New York, Hartford, Scranton and Lake Placid.
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 where she felt comfortable competing 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 (6.2 miles).
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 pace of 3:43:19 that Savino posted in the Lake Placid Marathon a month ago. She credits her recent success to a new dietary regimen suggested to her by Draper.
“Diet is ongoing,” says Savino. “You have to eat right before, during and after the competition.”
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 now.
While the two ironmen found the Lake Placid course more challenging than any other triathlon course that they had previously entered, that didn't stop them from signing up to do next year's event.
"We had such a great experience that we both signed up for 2010," commented Savino. "That will give us some time to train specifically on our weak areas now that we are familiar with the course and its specific demands."
Draper plans to get back to the ironman circuit well before next summer, returning to Florida this fall. Elizabeth is planning to compete in October’s Steamtown Marathon in Scranton, where she hopes to qualify for the Boston Marathon a third time.
Together, the pair plans to compete in a half-ironman in the spring. That's only a one-and-a-quarter mile swim followed by 56-miles of biking, capped off by a 13.1-mile half-marathon run.
Hmmm.
Should be a piece of cake, right?