I’m looking at taking a job north of Boston (Andover) and I’m wondering if anyone here knows of any pools or training groups in that area. I focus mostly on IM distance and average 21.5 on the bike in a race. A riding group that can push me would be great. I don’t mind getting dropped. I consider it a challenge.
I’d appreciate any help so I can stay on track for IMUSA through the transition!
Adam
if you do a search you can find lots of info regarding training in the Boston area. There are TONS of IM atheletes that do LP every year. Local clubs are Boston Tri Team, Tri-Fury, and Psycho. Among others.
PM me if you have any specfic info you’d like.
I used to live in Wilmington, just south of Andover. I used to bike from there to southern NH when training for IM Florida, mostly in a north west direction. Roads were ok other than the Lowell area. There are some ok routes east too, towards Ipswich. For running I used to do laps at lake Quannapout (spelling?) in Wakefield, just over a 3 mile loop. It was nice, just left food and liquid in the back of my pickup so I could use it as a aid station. I worked south of there and would just go to Walden pond for my swims. But I didn’t swim much (wonder why my swim times are so bad) and its a bit of a drive from Andover.
I currently live in N. Andover, and the closest pool I found in the area was the N. Andover YMCA. You have to deal with the typical YMCA pool schedule though. There are not alot of pools in the area. I think the Lawrence and Haverhill Y’s have them also. There is a rather large new BSC in Woburn off 93 & Presidential Ave (by the Super-Target). There are one or two other places I checked out that had pools (Latitudes, Cedardale), but they were either really expensive, or the pool was intended for senior water-aerobics - they were kept way too warm to swim in. Cedardale’s has the best spinning classes I’ve been to in a general purpose gym.
I’m more familiar with cycling clubs than tri clubs in the area, but for cycling, East of Andover towards the ocean, and Southern NH is quite nice to ride on (unless you have to go thru Lawrence, ugh). North Shore area is not known for hills though.
CCB, Essex County Velo, North Shore Cycling, and Granite State Wheelmen are cycling clubs around the area. The first two have road racing teams too, whereas the second ones are club riding only, I believe.
I believe there is a running club that runs out of the Andover running store. If you like trail running, you will be close to Harold Parker State Forest, and Ward Reservation, both excellent places to run.
x2 on Trifury for a triathlon team. For swim training, look into Minuteman masters. They swim at Hanscomb Air Force Base. 50 meter pool. All levels, beginners to experts. Rich Axtell is the coach.
Downtown pools gyms: which are best? Can you join the gym at Harvard or is that only available at MIT???
The university pools/gyms typically require that that you be affiliated with the school in some way (student/alum, faculty/staff), with MIT being the exception where you can buy a one-day pass (last time I used it was $12), but I don’t know that you can sign up for a full membership there. There are a few BSC locations downtown, I use the one across from South Station behind One Financial Center. Decent pool although I think it is more like 22 yds in length rather than 25 due to space limitations (pool is in the basement of the building) but it is still convenient to get to before/after work or during lunch.
Best way to swim at harvard is to swim with the “cambridge masters” team
the MIT pool is open for general usage called “friends of MIT” its about $12 (ANYONE who wants is a “friend of MIT”) per use
Psycho is based more on western suburbs but has people from all over- as name implies fair amount of hardcores in that group. Tri fury is exclusively north shore- ive never ridden with them, but i have swum with them, and they are friendly and very welcoming.
N
Just an FYI – MIT pool is now $15 per session for general usage
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