Tri 4 Fun

imlp 2009 race report

2009-08-07T15:38:00.014-04:00

first ironman has been checked off the list,and in sum, it's been a huge learning experience and, although i swore up and down that that was my first and last i.m., i am ready to take on my next one within a year or two. race report:

the week before
after 11 weeks of waking up at 3:45 a.m. to train 3 hours in the morning before heading off to work and then loading 5 hours on saturdays and 2 hours on sundays, i reverted back to "normal" training hours with a little bit more speed work. my favorite part of training was turning into a human vacuum cleaner- i was downing 4 meals before lunch, lunch, two snacks, dinner and dessert, working in 3 pieces of fruit per day..and did not grow at all! by the week before, i was starting to feel anxious because my hip flexors and hips were aching, so i took the last few days off from training and did bikram (hot) yoga, to practice staying calm in uncomfortable situations. A drove us up on thursday, during which i had a minor panic attack en route and fretted about the implications of my not being able to finish. for the days leading up to sunday, i varied between feeling incredibly anxious - what if my hips break? what if i can't finish? - to feeling incredibly calm- well, there's nothing i can do to train any more or less so we'll just see what happens. A and i were sharing a condo with gatorade bob (who actually cooks!), maryka and her boyfriend jim from london, and jeremiah, a friend of the person who was supposed to have done imlp with us had he not been hit by a car while biking the month before. maryka had done i.m. germany and this was jeremiah's first i.m., but compared to the both of them, i felt completely unprepared. we spent the few days before sunday scoping out the swim and bike loops, carb-loading and attending a very useful talk by endurance nation that gave strategic tips for i.m.- take it easy during the swim, take it ridiculously easy during the bike and don't be surprised when people pass you, take it easy during the first six miles of the run, steady til mile 18, then kick it into gear. we were talking and breathing so much i.m. that i was anxious for sunday to hurry up and come. i spent the saturday before doing nothing (which is quite difficult!), journalling a bit about the reasons i was doing the i.m. in attempts to travel as "light" as possible on sunday, and eating every 3 hours.

we were in bed by 8 p.m. and i was up at 11 p.m. for "breakfast" before getting up again at 3:45 a.m., which by then was a "normal" time for me anyway.. so off we went to the race course! bob dropped us off as close as possible to the site and we got our body markings, dropped off our special needs bags and headed off to the swim start.

the swim
it started raining before the swim. what a great sign, i thought. i was getting more and more nervous until i saw A, whose presence calms me, and we gave my brothers and sister-in-law (who were, to my delight, en route!) a call to say i was heading off.

here's the before picture...

seeing the 2000+ people at the swim start, i started to panic. i found jeremiah, who was surprisngly calm, and my eyes watered before the inner dialogue commenced. "you're not the type of girl who cries when she's scared!" oh yeah. i found maryka who gave some solid last minute advice- stay flexible, no matter what happens! i swam over a little bit closer to the race start and heard the announcer saying people had trained all year for this event. all year! i thought, i only did 13 weeks! oh geez.. the pros went off, and 10 minutes later, we were off. at first i was excited because i felt like the 2000+ people were creating a current and as long as i moved my arms, i was going in the right direction. then, suddenly, it felt like someone had dropped a quarter into a school of fish in a fish tank and everyone seemed to be going in 100 different directions. i panicked and kept stopping in my swim to look for a safe spot, ditching my idea to find some feet to swim behind. i slowed down a bit and was able to calm down, telling myself i had better enjoy this part of the race because it is the easiest for me and because i had the most energy now! my goal was to finish at 1:30 so i was very excited to run out of the first lap with 36 something, especially because i was swimming quite far away from the buoys. then on the second lap i was able to go closer to the buoys (there is a cable under water that you should be able to swim with if you are close enough), so was a little surprised that my 2nd lap time was slower than my first. there was some minor traffic during the swim, and every time i felt people grabbing (yes, grabbing) my feet, i would kick as if i was having a seizure. some idiot kept slapping my face when he was doing backstroke and i got very annoyed. oh well. i ran through the timing chip, remembering to take off the top part of my wet suit (i hadn't done a tri since last september!) and there were strippers available so i just sat on my butt and a very strong man whipped off my wet suit. i was wearing my swim suit underneath and felt a little immature, since everyone else was in their tri suits, but i was definitely not going to bike 112 miles in my thinly-padded tri suit. running through the cheering crowds was very exciting, and when i heard my little brother shout "esTHER!" in his distinctive way of saying my name, i squealed and waved like crazy, giving A a high 5. i wanted to tell him, did you see my time?! but forgot. this girl on the other side cheered for me, "go, happy girl!" feeling good, feeling good.. i grabbed my bike-transition bag and ran into the tent to change. my t1 time was something like 10 minutes. long, i know.. then i took a pee, ran to the bike area and a volunteer got my bike out for me (these volunteers are fantastic!) and i was off!

the bike
as i went down the hill and onto the course, i saw A and gave him a smile, then around the bend, saw my big brother samuel. i have not yet learned how to bike with one hand so resisted the urge to wave to them. the loop goes something like this- quick downhill, then a semi-long uphill out of town, then 7 miles of really fast downhill, then 10 miles of flat, then 1 mile uphill, then 7 miles out and back with some hills, then 12 miles mostly uphill. i had been very nervous about the bike, since it was my weakest area in the tri, and had trained for the bike the most with hours on the trainer and my new best friend, coach troy (by then, i could predict exactly what he was going to say on his spinnervals dvd's and exactly when he was going to say it!) i had done only a few rides outside- a few 4 hour rides, one 5.5 hour and one 6 hour, all of which had as many hills as i could squeeze in. there are two hills in fort lee that are about 6 minutes long, and i had stubbornly gone up and down them 12 times in a row. nonetheless, i told A to find me within 3:30 or 4:00 for the first bike loop and was delighted to finish the first loop in about 15 minutes under 3:30. the volunteers were fantastic again, being very encouraging and handing out gatorade, water, gels,and holding on to my bike when i took a pit stop. i was very careful to remember to eat something every 45 minutes to an hour and to stay hydrated. i swung into the bike special needs bag and i hear bob say, "hey esther!" we chatted for about 3 seconds and i told him, "i think i'm doing really well! a lot better than expected!" i exchange my mushed up medley of power bars and pb sandwiches for a "fresh" bag, bob and i high-five and i am off, chuckling because A would be back and think i am having a very bad bike when doesn't see me between 3:30 and 4 hours!

the uphill on loop 2 suddenly seemed very very long, and people kept passing me. i was beginning to feel discouraged, kept telling myself the sati phrases that G had told me the day before (i am strong.. i am confident that victory will be mine! i am persistent! except i changed the latter one to 'i am stubborn!') and then the inner dialogue commenced again. "come on, you are not strong. 13 weeks of training is pretty weak." good thing i am stubborn. i gave up on the pb&j and started taking a gel instead, which helped immensely. the 10 mile flat was not so bad, and the 14-mile out and back not bad either. i saw jim at some point who gave me a pleasant hello as if we were all just on a pleasant little ride. the 12 miles uphill were slow, but that was expected, and finally, i was done with the bike! it was incredibly rewarding since that was what i had worked the hardest on. i saw my bros, sister-in-law and A coming into the bike, and samuel was holding a laptop and pointing to it. needless to say, i didn't have much time to stop and ask what was going on, but found out later that my family had skyped my parents in from china, woke up them at 3 a.m. and my mom saw me coming in from the bike. how sweet is that! i wasn't surprised that most of the bikes had already been racked. i grabbed my run transition bag, and i guess the volunteers were less busy so one very nice volunteer helped me get dressed (except i put my running shorts on backwards initially! oops) and before i took off, was suddenly weirded out by the idea that i had just thought to myself, "all i need to do is run a marathon and i'm done." who says that? i must have made a face because a volunteer asked me what was wrong. "do i HAVE to run?" i asked, and she shooed me out.

the run
my cheering team had magically positioned itself right outside of the run start (how did they do that?) and i waved. feeling good, feeling strong, especially because the first part of the run was downhill. i took a look at my watch and the time was 8:48. and then that was my first mistake- estimating my completion time. i thought, my slowest marathon was 4:28 and my fastest was 3:37 although those were 3 years ago, so my run time will probably be 5 and then i would actually finish around 13 hours and how cool would that be, especially if my goal was to "just finish if i don't get injured before doing so"? there was a pit stop every mile or so, and the loop is a figure 8 which you do twice, which is awful because that means you actually hear people finishing at least four times before you do. jeremiah passed me once, and he was doing excellently..then maryka passed me, and she was looking fantastic. then jeremiah passed me again and by then, i was stressing out. the only word that kept popping into my head was "interminable." "i can do this," i kept telling myself, trying to calm myself down, the part of me that was yelling at me to finish within 13 hours. the long uphill was around mile 11, and by then i was not happy at all. i felt my heart racing but my feet were shuffling, and the crowds that were incredibly encouraging suddenly seemed very loud. my race number is 1969 and i guess that is a rather well-liked number! by the time i reached the top of the hill, i felt my throat closing. asthma attack! i was pissed.. mostly because i hadn't had an asthma attack in two years and partly because i had not anticipated getting an asthma attack during the run and had left my inhaler in my bike..and terrified. i made my way to the run special needs area and half-gasped, half-cried. the volunteers were encouraging and told me to calm down, to breathe deeply and to sit down (i refused to sit down, b/c based on my experience walking 81 miles in 3 days and 4 hours in england..if you sit down you will not want to get up!) someone lent me her inhaler (which is not the best idea) and someone else called the ambulance. i started crying, "i can't do this!" and one lady said, of course you can! you can walk the whole thing and still finish on time!" but i did not want to hear that. i borrowed her phone and called A who ran to the special needs area. he hugged me, sweaty and dirty and all, and helped me calm down. after 10 minutes or so i was definitely ready to go, but the volunteers had called the ambulance and were concerned that i shouldn't go just yet until i had seen the medics. i appreciate their concern and am glad they are so careful. when the ambulance finally came (30 minutes later!) they put me in the stretcher. i told them, "no, i really want to finish!" and A the volunteers vouched for that, so they let me go. i ran/shuffled out of the ambulance and that was when i knew i was going to finish the race.

A ran along the sidewalk as i did the second part of the first lap, and i felt calm knowing he was right next to me. then he said i was doing well and he'd see me at the finish line..so i had one more loop to go.

the second loop was a lot more peaceful, because my only goal was to finish, without any goal times, and besides my asthma was still lingering and i was having trouble breathing but didn't want to tell anyone or they might not let me finish! the volunteers started handing out chicken soup and i started to walk through the pit stops and on the hills. my mind cleared as i shuffled on and i started to kick myself in the pants. "why did you think you could do this on 13 weeks of training, with a crappy non-tri bike, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, no fancy gear and only a heart rate monitor which you only use for entertainment purposes anyway..and you know you didn't prepare for the run at all! why are you doing this anyway?" and as hard as i tried, i could not find a good answer. the only two honest answers that i could give were 1) because it's there and 2) because i said i would. those are pretty weak reasons. oh well, there was no valid reason to stop, anyway. i saw bob, who ran with me for 20 feet and wished me luck. mile 20 finally came, and i thought of all the moments that had led up to this one. i thought of how, back in november, i could not walk without limping, how i had taken 12 advils a day...how i had spent $500 on acupuncture and massages because i was in denial of the stress fracture, how i had aquajogged for an hour and a half at a time with the grannies at the chelsea pool and w/ my fabulous aquajogging partner, G, how i just decided to keep training for im anyway and "see how it goes" and had kicked training into gear and how i had not even expected to get this far, anyway. i thought of the friendships that had developed through this- getting training tips, aero bars,and encouragement from matt shaffer whom i had never met, getting to hang out w/ jeremiah and maryka, getting to know the elderlies at the chelsea pool and the friendships made at TNYA. i had promised matt that i would not leave i.m. unless it was through the finish line or on a stretcher, and well, i had already foregone the latter option! i jogged/shuffled past the volunteers who had been helpful to me before, and they cheered me on. the medics who had put me in the stretcher shouted, "there goes our silver bullet!" which was highly ironic but very sweet. then i passed the volunteers again and this woman had her camera, she said i had been inspiring to them and wanted to take my picture, so she ran alongside and i gave her a thumbs up. then i finally saw a sign that said "to the finish."
it was dark by then, and i whooped at the sight of an arch and dashed under it, thinking that was the finish line. a guy was standing there pointing right. i said, aren't we done? apparently not. then there was a second arch and i was excited and dashed under that one, thinking, this is it! by the time i reached the third arch, which was the final arch with the clock, i gave a half-hearted "yay..."and crossed.

right when my feet crossed the finish line, they refused to move. i felt dizzy and a volunteer gave me a medal and put a cape around my neck. he was holding me up and asked me how i felt. then another volunteer held my arms on the other side and they led me to the medical tent against my half-drunken protests that "i'm fine!" i looked at the medal around my neck and wanted to shout with joy and cry at the same time. i finished my first ironman! and then.. ugh, i just finished an ironman...was it worth it? apparently, i was very cold and had lost 5 lbs of water, which was surprisng because i thought i had been careful to stay hydrated. i got a calf massage and an IV and was released an hour later. finished!!

here's the after picture..my brothers and sister-in-law had created signs for me, and here's one of them. strong finish, eh?

it's been almost two weeks post i.m. and the blues have hit.. i feel emotionally exhausted, physically drained, and my body has decided to rebel against my mind and i've come down with acute bronchitis and a corneal ulcer. i'm ridiculously excited to just run, swim and bike (in that order of preference) just for the heck of it, for as long as i want to and as often as i want to. i know that i had sworn up and down that imlp 2009 was going to be my first and last i.m. but.. i can't say i'm happy with my time. on one hand, i don't think i could have done any better (given the circumstances) and on the other, i wish i had not panicked at mile 11. but then, it could have gone worse. i am immensely grateful for A's encouragement and supportiveness in driving, cooking all of the meals and cheering me on, for my family showing up (in fact, looking at most of the race photos, i am smiling!), for the volunteers and supporters who seemed to know exactly what to say and for the fact that i am still in one piece. i learned that i don't have to convince myself that i am stubborn, and given the short training time, injury, sub-par nutrition and asthma attack, i think 14:01:51 is the slowest i can do (knock on wood)..which is why i am gearing up for imlp 2011- well, it's on the radar! i know i can do better with a more thought-out training plan and more time to train, and maybe even a better bike. i just need to have come up with a solid reason why i want to do it next time.

here are the 6 of us- jeremiah, A, me, maryka, jim and bob- having dinner on our last night together. the i.m. athletes who wanted beer could finally indulge!

huge congrats to jeremiah crowley, who did 11:4_ (sorry, i am bad with times) and to maryka senema, who qualified for kona on her second i.m. ever! maggs, bob and jeremiah, looking forward to imlp 2011. anyone else want to play?

more later

2009-07-28T19:38:00.003-04:00

I DID IT! lake placid ironman..done. a very very brief race report- 14:01:56 or something, included a 30 minute asthma attack around mile 11 of the run where they put me in an ambulance and i insisted on finishing the race. shuffled across the finish line and got taken to the med tent for an i.v., a calf massage and tons of liquids. i know i swore i would never do it again but kind of want to tackle imlp 2011. i think i can do better with more (than 13 weeks) training and less of a stress fracture in the way. more latejavascript:void(0)r..exhausted!

U still there?

2009-05-08T16:06:00.001-04:00

BTW, we are still doing the race.

Posting about training takes too much time, and we dont know what we are doing anyway.

swimmer's high! 100x100 yd swim report

2009-03-02T11:38:00.007-05:00

much to my surprise, i was able to finish the 100x100 yesterday and my shoulders have not yet fallen off! i had been feeling pretty sore the week before so had spent a pretty lame week aqua jogging with my fellow grandmas and grandpas at the chelsea pool. i accidentally let it slip that i can (barely) speak chinese so now they are fascinated by this young person weaving around them in the slow lane. haven't yet told them that i understand about 40% of what they're saying and just smile and nod!

i got a much-needed but painful massage on my off day on friday in hopes that all of the icing, icy-hot and other lovely-smelling patches and creams that i'd been using all week would make my shoulders better. then a short swim on saturday that i was hoping would be easy, so was intimidated (to say the least) when aaron wanted to swim with matt d and oscar. their "easy" set was something like 15x100 starting on 1:30 and moving down.. so i just swam next to them and did a straight up 1500 and finished a little bit after they did. that must have been my most painful swim and i was truly wondering if i should actually do the 100x100 the next day. but it was so helpful to get some good (actually unsolicited!) tips from the coaches.

by saturday evening, after 2 days of tapering and a carbo-loaded morning and afternoon, i wasn't feeling on my A-game, just very tired and sore, whereas last year i'd be pumped for the tri two days in advance! i guess there is a lot of other stuff going on that's taking up brain space. i still wasn't sure if i could finish the 100x100 but decided to just give it my best and my ego would have to forgive me if i couldn't finish. i would bring my B-game and cross my fingers that it would be enough.

the next morning i woke up pretty pumped, confident and relaxed. the shoulders were much much better but i packed a couple of advil just in case, picked up aaron and arrived at rutgers where i was very happy to see bob and even happier that we were putting ourselves in the same interval lane. there was a 2:00 lane and a 1:40 lane that changed to a 1:50, so bob and i went into the 1:50 lane and i think aaron went into the 1:15 lane with the other psychos. the way the swim works is that you do a set of 2500, w/ different numbers of 100's on different time intervals. we had a decent group of some triathletes and one very nice math teacher who was thankfully very good at counting intervals. i had thought that the swim would be a long run but it turned out to be more like a century ride where you go for a bit, get out and chill out and eat and chat (unless you are in aaron's lane where you stretch for 1 minute) and then get back to work. the first 2x2500 were decent, i was worried that i was going too fast b/c an old lady was yelling at me (but then i found out she is always like that) and b/c i ended up leading the lane. my "not trying to push it" intervals were from 1:25-1:27 and the last time i had swum in a yard pool was at columbia where my pr was 1:26. i think i should have put myself in a slightly faster lane b/c the rest times were a little long..but i was too chicken to do it this year. halfway through my shoulders were really starting to hurt so i took some advil and then just stopped using my arms but threw my hips around to focus on rotating instead.

by the time we hopped out of the pool after doing 7500, aaron was already done and changed and ready to go. one of these days...!! i was excited about the last 2500 and not so sore, although my times were going toward the 1:27-1:28 range. for most of the swim, even when i was sore, i kept thinking, i really love swimming! it was weird to swim in a yard pool where you save a lot more effort(proportionately) doing flip turns but i was glad to have been doing them more or less right and saved a bunch of strokes. counting the last 10x100 i was thinking, i can't wait to finish! and then on the very last 100 i did a 100 i.m. i felt strong and happy and i think it was the best 25 fly i've ever done (meaning it wasn't just the first two strokes that were decent). we finished! i was so excited even though we were the last lane in the pool (the one slower lane had switched from 100's to 50's) and the coaches were asking when we would be done. i hopped out of the pool and did a few crunches, contemplated going running but decided that it wouldn't be the best idea and went to aaron's for post-swim festivities. bob did a a fantastic job, finished strong and it was so reassuring for me that we were in the same lane. the absolute best part of that event was inhaling delicious pancakes that aaron's girlfriend made. i think i melted at their house and almost fell asleep with warm food in my tummy.

so today i am feeling much better than i did last week but am playing it safer and smarter and actually resting.

hooray for swimmer's high!

why can't i be wolverine?

2009-02-22T20:11:00.006-05:00

not the michigan wolverine..the wolverine in x-men who can heal himself. how cool would that be!

it turns out that the hip issues are a bigger deal than i had thought, and i am actually an undercover senior citizen. after a couple more tests, the dr says i was born with uneven hips and have "crappy" bone density, will develop arthritis soon and so, need surgery to push the right hip into the joint. the dr said i should never run again and prescribed some physical therapy, where the therapist said i could start running a little bit every day. so of course i have been trying to run every day and i am shuffling along slowly, but shuffling along nonetheless! my training now consists of running a little bit, running in the water and swerving around the elderly in the slow lane, doing all sorts of funny looking PT-prescribed stretches and workouts at home, strength training (w/ sb and G's incredibly fun pushup and abs challenges), sati and swimming. still not sure about IMLP but will just do my best and decide sooner or later.

although i will never wish to go through it again, this whole ordeal has turned out to be a good experience. i've promised to give my body a rest one day a week and am working towards balancing my life more. i don't remember when my life started to be scheduled around training but after being out of action, i realize how important and rewarding it is to balance my life and give myself space and time to think about other things, spend time with friends and family, focus on my future re: my job and where i want to be, and just chill out.

in fun news, my swim time has gotten better largely thanks to swimming with super-fast aaron who gives me hard times to meet and then patiently waits for me to finish, gasping and cursing at him. we're doing the 100x100's next sunday at rutgers and BOB IS GOING TO SWIM IT TOO (another lame attempt to get bob to comment)! i think you put yourself in lanes with specific intervals so i was thinking of 2:00 intervals. i wanted to get ready for it so swam 7000 today although i cheated a bit w/ the pool toys, and now have my shoulder wrapped in a nifty shoulder ice pack that A gave me a while ago. 10,000 yds is going to be the most i've ever swum but if that's 400 lengths, i did 350 lengths before in a 27m pool in london (too lazy to do the math here) a couple years ago so maybe it won't be so bad. i would prefer to do it all at once without waiting on the intervals since waiting makes me nervous. actually, a lot of things make me nervous but i'm working on them...i get nervous when i swim with a lot of people i don't know who are very fast - like during a tri - and when i get nervous i keep inhaling without exhaling and my body feels like one stiff board. so the 100x100's on sunday should be good practice in trying to relax while swimming with a lot of strangers. i'm pretty psyched, admittedly more for the taper and the carbo-load than the actual event!

almost awesome

2009-01-29T13:02:00.004-05:00

in the most professional terms, my orthopaedic doctor said i should try running only when i feel "awesome." i've spent the past month or so aqua jogging, swimming and generally turning into a luscious ball of chlorine. my x-ray & bone density scan are scheduled for next thursday.

but today... i ran today! my legs were numb and i watched the sun come up. what's better than that!

a new type of brick

2009-01-13T10:59:00.003-05:00

this week is "let's find out what works" week, meaning that i'll figure out what type of exercise i can do that doesn't hurt and that still keeps me at a decent level of fitness. monday i did the regular stairmaster/elliptical/"pretend workout" thing and then tried 10 minutes on the stationery bike standing and then 10 minutes on the recumbent bike-- the one that i had always made fun of people in my mind for riding b/c it's not "real exercise." so far, so good, although my hip muscles in the front are surprisingly tired. later on this week i'll try rollerblading. it will be a great excuse to rollerblade since i've had a pair in my closet forever and have only used them once.

today i did strength training + pushups the "girly" way, then went to the chelsea pool for 45 mins aqua jogging and 15 mins swim. the swim was to work in the flip turns that aaron had taught me friday night. so i hopped into the slow lane w/ all the grandpas and grandmas and tried to do an interval workout, e.g., 5 mins faster and 2 mins slower. in the middle of my faster interval, the lifeguard asked me a question which i thought was, "running hard?" so i said yes. then he went into his office and brought out a black brick. he said, "try this." i thought, "i hope it's styrofoam." no such luck.. who makes 10 pound black bricks?!

so the rest of the workout was ridiculous.. i did 1 length w/ the brick, "running" furiously as i sank lower and lower, then 2 lengths w/o to recover. every time i finish one length, i grimaced and grunted as i hoisted the brick out of the pool.. i bet you it looked like, "wow, she is literally pooping bricks!"

compared to such awkward running, i felt like my 15 mins swim was super fast and smooth. i'm working on flip turning, kicking off on the side and then 2 strokes before breathing. by my first stroke i'm out of breath, but hey, who needs oxygen?

happy birthday to maija!

2009-01-10T23:36:00.004-05:00

when i first met maija, i thought she was married to our other swim friend, todd. it was A and my first day at masters swim, and i think they arrived together at the pool. it took me a few weeks to realize that they weren't married. we (usually maija, todd and I) swam together outside of masters and i was intimidated by her b/c she was so fast.. i would get really hot, nervous and out of breath when we were in the same lane! i kept wondering why she would want to swim with me when i was holding up the swim set.

i've known maija for a little over a year and i believe we started becoming closer friends when we both signed up for an ocean swim in the summer that ended up being canceled. on our way home, she started telling me a little bit about herself and the things she was worried about, and in my mind, my jaw dropped. here was someone i had respected as an athlete and had been a little intimidated by and she wanted to be friends with me. throughout 2008 i have found her to be one of the most patient, thoughtful, non-judgmental, encouraging, honest, strong, beautiful people i know. her willingness to be honest and to work through her issues is beautiful and a sign of her strength. she sets her goals and comes up with a plan to meet them. she's never judged my past and has the ability to be honest with me with grace. i feel like she believes in me and i appreciate "borrowing" that confidence as i grow my own. in our triathlons last year, when she yelled for me to push it at the finish line, i really did b/c i felt like she knew i could. we cheer each other on and talk through each other's problems together. i told her before that she has been my inspiration and she still is. so here's to maija/coach maija (cm)/fast bunny (fb) and all the other nicknames we'll come up with..happy birthday, my good friend!

also, cheers to genine, my favorite cookie-maker and aqua-jogging and sati buddy. i had a ton of fun aqua-jogging with her and "racing" her up and down the pool. i'm sure we looked like quite the cool pair!

plan B

2009-01-07T21:08:00.002-05:00

following the modified im training plan, i biked easy on monday and today for 1:45 and :30...and now both sides of my sit-bones hurt. !#@$&&^%$@! i wish i could just swim for the next few months and just forget about im. i feel like i've been giving myself a lot of pressure to get ready for imlp and realized that there is not much reason to. i signed up for it b/c A was going to do it so we would get to train together. other than swallowing a lot of $ (i think if i didn't do this race, the total amount of money spent on unstarted races would be up to $1000), i don't think i'll lose a lot by not doing it. i don't know.. trying to be realistic here. there is a lot to say for positive thinking but i think i would feel a lot better if i came up w/ a plan B. at this point a pubic bone replacement sounds like a great option...

so here is plan B: go up to the first 10 weeks of base phase and see how i feel. if i really don't feel 100% ok then swim a ton (b/c i love it!) and deal w/ feeling disappointed and move on. i can sign up again for another im when i'm ready. but i'm not giving up yet!

today's swim w/ tnya was fun (as always), but a little crowded. we had a couple 100's on 1:35 and i hit under them but was not so excited b/c of the drafting. it is a little confusing to swim with some people who start out super fast and then suddenly fade. i noticed that the guys started out leading the lane and by the end of practice, all of the girls were in front. go girls!

fly high

2009-01-05T17:27:00.009-05:00

i've decided that i want to work a little bit on increasing speed for fly. i know sb will catch up eventually since his upper body is stronger than mine but i won't give up without a fight! this weekend i did only 3x25 fly total but they were fantastic. i felt strong.

chilling & working out w/ thph is so fun. we had our new years/esthermas party, where sb and G made these "e" cookies (all of which were MINE):

here is bob mad b/c i won't share my cookies (this is my shameless attempt to get him to comment):

A bought me a camera for my birthday!

and the girls and guys posing:

this is my favorite picture of the evening:

and maija wrote me the best birthday card ever.

cm, sb, G and i swam together on friday. after a day off recovering from my 1 + 0.5 + 0.5 drinks, i wanted to try the 10x100 on 1:45 portion of my birthday swim which i had done in houston but wasn't sure of the pool length. sb and i started off strong, and after my first 100 i gasped, "holy sh*t i just did 1:30!" i was surprised b/c it was a great time for me but i wasn't feeling tired at all, just smooth and relaxed. the next 9 were tough ones and sb HAD to beat me on the 10th one, so it's on, buddy!!

then saturday, G swam while i pool ran/slept and i got to sneak into her inten-sati class. the web site looked a bit intimidating but i had so much fun. it was kind of like step aerobics/kickboxing but you get to shout affirmations while you're punching the air and jumping. it's fun b/c you get to enjoy -- well, yourself, and you feel like you're playing.

A and i made a trip to MD and back for a wedding so he got to put up with my crankiness in the car for 7 hours. what a patient man...good thing i am so cute (?)

sunday, we swam again. swimming is so addictive. G and i did our set together while sb and cm did 10x100's w/ 10 seconds rest. i had a lot of fun swimming w/ G! we did fins and fun drills and i think G is the fastest learner i've ever met. i taught her my version of flipturns and she kind of watched me and we did a few together and in about 5 minutes she was about as good as me. she's going to beat me very very soon, and i'll be so proud of her! cheering her on while trying desperately to speed up...

cm helped me figure out a modified imlp training plan. today's plan was to bike for 1:45. i was feeling a little bit nauseous and dizzy this morning but didn't push it on the bike. the stress fracture is still bugging me but not as much as before. i'm not so sure if i will end up doing imlp but may as well train for it b/c i really really want to do it.

happy one-year anniversary to the A and e team!

happy birthday to me!

2008-12-30T11:06:00.003-05:00

me and the 2 bros in 1987.

birthday swim today! compliments of cm. can't wait:

E-easy 200 warm up
S-scull 300-25 scull, 25 swim w/ buoy
T-tenx25 kick w/ fins on :45
H-Have no mercy!!! 10x100 free on 1:45
E-Eightx25 fly on :45
R-Relax! 200 relax like your on drugs

2-2x200 free on 3:30
7-7x50 choice on 1:15

cooldown 100-200

it's all in the suit!

2008-12-22T11:54:00.003-05:00

i've put away my running shoes for a while and decided that i may as well buy a new swimming suit since i'll be spending more time in the pool and my old one had been starting to fall off me a few months ago. so for the first time in 10 or so years i bought myself a one-piece that doesn't make me look like a 13 year old girl..and it feels so nice to swim and not feel my suit fluttering in the water. way to go, hydrodynamics! that and working on a pushup regimen- that i just found out i am doing wrong since i can't go all the way down- is really helping me to feel stronger in the water. sb, G and i did 12x50 pull on 0:30 yesterday and we were rocking those. sb and i had started out doing them in about 0:26 about a month ago and now are down to 0:21 and 0:22. and during today's swim w/ tnya i actually hit my personal best of 1:26(ish)on a 100. although note to self: don't do pushups before swim. it feels so good to be actually working towards something better rather than working on recovering!

speaking of the latter, sunday's swim started out w/ 30 mins pool running with cm's brother paul. i felt like i was working out with someone famous from the way cm talks about him. he was doing real pool running and rather quickly and i was doing this half-run half-sculling thing to keep up w/ him so we could chat. i know, i know, no cheating. but it was fun. my legs were actually tired after pool running and swimming w/ fins yesterday. but it felt so nice to be using my legs.

i got a strict reminder from cm to stick w/ im training schedule as much as possible even if it means not getting to work out w/ the thph crew. ::sigh:: she is right.

and for christmas from my favorite boyfriend, i got an HR monitor! it is so cute.. it's pink! can't wait to use it!

my first stress fracture

2008-12-19T17:03:00.007-05:00

i went to the doctor's today hoping/expecting he would give me either:
1) a shot and say, "ok all better!"
2) a butt-cast..that would be funny!
3) info that i already knew, e.g., that my leg pain was muscular and i needed to chill out. or that i am not supposed to run, ever.

but i braved the snowstorm anyway to go all the way to mid-town to my appointment and to get an x-ray. after telling him a little peevishly that it originally starting hurting "here" (pointing to my right sit-bone) and sometimes "here" (pointing to my right hamstrings) but lately has been hurting "here" (pointing to my left hip) and a few days ago "here" (pointing to my left and right ankles), he poked around a bit, took a look at my x-ray and said, "this is interesting! just what i thought." a stress fracture on my sit-bone. i stress fractured my butt!

WHAT!

my first thought was, "this is going to take forever." i sat down on the step stool (i don't know why i sat there instead of on a chair) and started crying. this is not what i want to hear! what a girl. he said it probably happened if i suddenly changed positions when i ran/biked. he was actually quite animated in explaining how exactly one gets a stress fracture and was very encouraging, showing me that it was already healing and that once you get a stress fracture, your body adds bone outside of that area so that as you heal, you actually get stronger than before. and that i can do any exercise so long as it doesn't require putting a lot of sudden pressure on my right foot, meaning i can swim, bike (!!), lift. i'm not quite sure why he says i can do all that if my stress fracture was caused by my hamstrings pulling from different places unevenly. i need to get a better bike fit and a new seat that's wider and more comfy.. G suggested i get a bike seat w/ a donut! how awesome would that be.

other things that help are acupuncture, yoga, a ton of stretching, and no more anti-inflammatories since for your bone to heal, inflammation is good. now that i am cleared to swim and bike, i am feeling better. the most worrying part about IMLP- and i'm assuming that i'm still doing it- is the bike so i'll be glad to give it a try.

i feel better knowing what's up although not excited about waiting even longer to get better. i am seriously racking my brain trying to figure out what exactly i did to get myself into this mess b/c i want to prevent it as much as possible next time. perhaps it's a combination of not warming-up and cooling-down properly, not stretching enough, not weight-training, even perhaps not giving myself off-days (which i hate to admit). i was frustrated b/c i felt like i was actually fixing my bike and run positioning..but i guess my body is not as strong as my mind.

after the doctor's appointment, i really really didn't want to swim b/c of the snow, but then i wanted to do cm's "snowman" swim. i believe i got it all done but in a different order, more like "nnowmas" b/c i was impatient to do the 500s and not excited about the scull. i did 3 or the 4x25's w/o breathing and have to check on the length of the pool b/c it seems too big for a 25yd but my times were not right for a 25m. btw, not breathing does a lot for streamlining! i have been wondering why i feel like i'm not on my game at the chelsea pool and i think it's b/c the pool is so dirty. talk about a hairball family! but if i can swim well there it will be good for me. although it would also be good for me to stop drinking the water every time i breathed. someone got into an interesting-but-lengthy conversation with me about relating the economy and astrology and spirituality, then the lifeguard, since he "likes my attitude", gave me an art book. i think i need to practice my "don't talk to me unless you want your head bitten off" face.

there is so much i want to try- like the water polo class at the dirty pool and G's inten-sati class that she loves so much. but i guess i have enough to keep me entertained for a while.

no complaining policy

2008-12-17T16:36:00.005-05:00

i had an epiphany this morning that when people complain incessantly they are actually saying, "it's not my fault and there is nothing i can do about it" (and at my office it is usually implied, "so you do something about it.") it seems like a wimpy way out. so i'm going to institute for myself a "no complaining policy." the title may be a little extreme, b/c i actually mean that i can't complain unless i can say what am i going to do about it. you are welcome to keep me accountable with this..until i tell you not to. heheh. if i'm ever brave enough i may start instituting this policy at work with other people. "so..what are you going to do about it?" i'm learning that people may give me reason to be upset but ultimately my life is my responsibility and i can choose how i will react. or that even if i have reason to be upset or unhappy, i'm allowed to feel how i feel and then i need to decide, "ok, what am i going to do about it?" i think that will also help me develop some emotional boundaries, as in, not let it bring me down when people have negative attitudes. this will also be helpful when i go to massive family reunion time in tx. and instead of worrying incessantly about my leg and the drama of "when am i getting better?" i'll just have to respect that it hurts and give it time to heal. in the meanwhile will be having fun trying to stand on my head in yoga, taking bubble baths every night and doing pushups and ab-work until i can feel it all day. hey, if i can't run/bike i may as well prep for it!

of course, i am allowed to have my venting sessions every now and again. and of course, i actually enjoy listening to other people's venting sessions- just not incessantly- b/c it makes us all human.

i went to TNYA swim today for the first time since the last week of October. and even if it takes me an hr and 10 mins to get to the Wednesday TNYA pool, i love swimming!! i put myself in the slowest lane (there are only 3.. and lane 1, the fastest lane has only one person but his 100's descend start on 1:20) for the warmup, decided that i would try the middle lane again and ended up swimming well. i didn't really check the clock (such a relief to not be the lead!) but i believe our whole lane stayed w/in our intervals meaning that we stayed around 1:40 on the 100's. i actually kept bumping into the person in front of me until i was the 2nd in line. oops! the tnya people are super friendly and nice and it is just nice to swim with people who can push you but don't bring their egos into the pool. i would like to get to an average of 1:35 for 100's w/in a few months (i think i'm close!) and then maybe 1:30 before the end of next tri season. is that doable? there is a 1-hr swim on jan 24 or 25 and i think it would be fun to try. even more exciting is that TNYA does water polo every tuesday night. wouldn't that be fun to try out? some day...

wanted: new obsession

2008-12-16T13:37:00.004-05:00

i love planning the next weekends. swim w/ sb, G and cm have been fun. sb is catching up so that originally got me scared, thinking, "swim faster!!" but has become better motivation for focusing on technique and moving forward. way to go, dude! and w/ cm's sets, i've been doing tons of fly in the limited amount of time that i'm "allowed" to swim.

maybe it's time to think of some contingency plans. it's been 7 weeks since no running and it's really been a bummer. every day i wake up thinking that everything is going to get better today but i wish sometimes that i didn't want to get better anymore. yesterday was the first day of IMLP training...which will have to get pushed back to who knows when. i need to decide when is the absolute cut-off point for deciding not to do IMLP. and then really really pray that i don't get to that point! i love running on christmas morning and on esthermas morning but it seems like that is not going to happen. i finally gave in and am working on booking an appointment with a sports orthopaedic surgeon. i was a little scared off from seeing sports doctors b/c the last time i saw one, he told me, "maybe you're just not meant to be a runner." so of course i had to prove him wrong! but i don't want to be told that again. we'll see.

on a random note, since i'm a veggie lover, here is the cutest t-shirt that my little brother showed me from woot.com:

27 going on 70

2008-12-08T17:23:00.006-05:00

happy month of esthermas, everyone! i love celebrating my birthday, especially since i get to count down all the way to new year's eve eve and have something to look forward to after christmas.

the acupuncture is actually working, and so is resting, sitting on heat packs and taking hot baths. resting is such a tough job! the acupuncture guy told me to buy a donut to sit on and i finally gave in after he nagged me a couple times. i was so embarrassed to ask for it at the drug store and pretended it was for my grandma but when i actually used it at work.... "haaaalelujah!" WOW. you have no idea how much sitting on your butt is tiring on your butt until you get one of these! i loved it so much i bought one for my car, shamelessly going to the drug store, browsing amongst the canes and wheelers and feeling like by the time i am really an old lady, i'll be well equipped.

i can't wait to be 100% better but feel like my body has been teaching me a very tough lesson to listen. i was rather amused by myself when i was laying on the acupuncture table w/ needles in my butt, recounting to the acupuncturist that i had run edinburgh marathon and the nyc marathon and was trying to go faster so i hurt myself and couldn't do chicago or disney..and then was trying to run philly but hurt myself training so i couldn't do it. that was finally when i realized, i guess it's time to train smart. duh!

but i can finally swim w/ less pain. i went to watch cm's meet with sb and when cm asked me to count her 1500 i was like, "heck no! i can barely count to 200" as sb can testify during our practice that morning. thank goodness we had those signs that you can use to change the numbers..but still i was pretty nervous and trying to concentrate on counting her laps while my neighbour chatted in my ear. cm's santa suit certainly stood out among the plain speedos and i felt so proud of her that she was going to do well and have fun. cm did a fantastic job as usual and sb took 134312748301957 photos as usual. then i got my free and fly videotaped for only $10, very well spent. top 2 things to learn for both strokes are to:
1) swim in a tube (smaller kicks, don't go so deep w/ your arms, don't move your head too much)
2) focus on moving forward rather than up and down (makes sense, doesn't it)

it was actually a pleasant surprise to watch my fly since i feel like i'm flailing all over the place when i swim fly, and i actually looked like i knew what i was doing. whew!

sunday i swam a bit w/ cm until she got pooped, then we did abs and stretches (thank goodness for cm's stretches) until G and sb got to the pool. since EVERYONE wanted to time their 1500s i thought why not and had a lot of fun. i believe i finished in 26:10 which i thought was rather miraculous considering i hadn't worked out consistently for about 5 weeks (gasp!) but it feels soo good to swim. the 3 of them had to practically pull me out of the water afterwards but i'm glad i was told to stop b/c i was running out of gas.

on a side note, i dug up some old photos.

this is my funny family a couple years ago, although my now sister-in-law is missing:

here's my brother and sister-in-law a few christmases ago, giving me the garment steamer that i subsequently brought to england and broke upon usage the first time b/c i didn't understand the difference between an adapter and a converter.

here is me jumping into a "holy" lake in tibet, apparently the highest lake in the world and you weren't allowed to swim in it..but it looked so beautiful i had to go in!

this is when my friends in london decided to throw me a surprise party and hire a stripper. i was so embarrassed!

bumming

2008-11-25T11:08:00.003-05:00

after 3 weeks and 1 day of non-running i decided to give it a try today. apparently, i managed to strain the ligament connecting my right hams to my hip bone and it seems to be taking forever to heal. i feel like i've tried everything- resting, icing, advil, no advil, swimming, no swimming, no walking around in heels, sitting on frozen peas, sitting on heat packs, about 4 different kinds of cream (one of which incidentally gave me an allergic reaction!), acupuncture and yoga- and it's healing but incredibly slowly. which is very difficult for a highly impatient person like me. i downgraded my workout from running to just swimming to just elliptical- can you imagine how boring it is to go on an elliptical for 2 hours?- to just giving up and resting. to be honest, the first week of sleeping in, journaling, enjoying the life outside training, catching up w/ friends, going to a concert, being highly productive elsewhere were a much-needed break for my body and my mind. afterwards, however, i started to feel bummed and weak and envious of people who can run.

so today i decided to give running a try. i put on my running pants and layers, stretched a ton, went outside, a little bit nervous, a little bit excited ... and lasted 2 minutes. for the first 15 seconds i felt fantastic. i felt my body resting into an easy jog and my breath settling into a comfortable rhythm. i missed that so much. then the nagging pain came back and by now i've learned to pay attention to my body, and remembered sb's advice to run until it hurts even if it is just running down the block. so i gave it up and went back to yoga. btw i am awful at yoga, i can't even touch my toes! claudia from swim recommended yoga, and i decided to take her advice since she has strong hips, she says.

cm and sb have been a great encouragement to me, like planning and/or swimming odd workouts with me that are heavy on the pull buoy and fly (since apparently i can do fly w/o hurting) and telling me that things will get better in time. i am trying to train healthy and my goal is to start imlp training 110% healthy even if it means resting more than and starting later than i want to. but i can't deny that, eloquently speaking, being injured sucks. feeling weak sucks. not being "in control" sucks. not being sure about what to eat and what to do with all of my energy sucks.

on the other hand, there is a lot to be learned from this whole ordeal although sometimes i wish i could go back to feeling invincible:
1) i need to listen to my body, and respect how it's feeling even if i feel "silly" about how it's feeling.
2) rest 1 day a week. this is important in resting my body and my mind and for remembering that life has other important things to enjoy and work on.
3) good friends are so important in commiserating with and encouraging me. sometimes i need someone who can see the bigger picture when i am feeling stuck.
4) i really really love movement. feeling like i'm flying when i'm running or floating when i'm biking or chilaxing when i'm swimming. just because i'm not the best at it, or as good as i would like to be, doesn't mean that i can't enjoy it. this- the appreciation for being healthy and active just for its own sake- is something i'd like to keep with me.

blog tag (yes, i am THAT cool)

2008-11-18T12:45:00.003-05:00

here are the rules for blog tag, as found on matt's blog.

1. Link to the person who tagged you.
2. Post the rules on your blog.
3. Write six random things about yourself.
4. Tag six people at the end of your post and link to them.
5. Let each person know they’ve been tagged and leave a comment on their blog.
6. Let the tagger know when your entry is up.

i don't really see the point of rule #6, and i believe the new rule for #4 and 5 have morphed into "anyone who reads this is tagged" so i'll opt for the lazier route.

A-- you are tagged!

6 random things about e:
1) i sleep with my eyes open.
2) i've been in over 20 car accidents (and have NOT been at fault for about 3)
3) i'm on the cover of this book.
4) i could live on peanut butter frozen yogurt.
5) i can (or at least used to be able to) read and write ancient greek.
6) i have a horrible sense of direction.

Photos from San Antonio

2008-11-10T18:10:00.006-05:00

Some pics from that weekend:

At the Wedding

At Riverwalk

going on strike

2008-11-09T21:36:00.003-05:00

i believe it's been 11 days since my hams started hurting, and drama queen that i am, can't remember what it feels like to run happy. swimming was starting to hurt in spite of my denial (my drug of choice), and it took me a good two days to talk myself into not working out all together for two days at least, until things were at least feeling like they were improving. i feel like i'm telling my legs, no working out until you stop complaining! which means that prospects for philly are not looking bright at all. ::sigh:: what a bummer. but priority #1 is to train imlp healthy and i have until mid-december to get there.

saturday's swim was fun- 4200m w/ a workout full of n/s and desc, in decreasing m's. the end of the set had 5x100 "best average" and i was kind of worried about running out of time to do this, so i did them in the middle and was pretty pleased to note that my 100 times on my own are still more or less what they were before. this time around, i've been working on relaxing by trying to pretend that i'm on drugs, taking longer and wider strokes, and trying to find the "zen of swimming" as one of the tnya coaches had told me earlier this week. i feel like i'm getting the hang of it and am enjoying swimming, in groups and alone. then i went to get a horrendously painful but very helpful massage from my favourite masseuse, christine. christine was quite amazed by how tight my muscles were and laughed at me while i whimpered and she continued to chat away. for a blissful 1 hour afterwards, my leg didn't hurt at all. i'm worried about my advil intake (from 12-16 a day last week) so am trying really hard not to take any more.

after the 45 minutes of torture, i went tv-shopping w/ A and fell asleep while he was making a very exciting purchase.. i am such a supportive gf! it was actually amusing b/c i was napping next to another lady who was sitting on the couch while her man was wandering around the aisles of best buy. then fro-yo with sb, G9, fb and A before the girls went to fb's house to watch sex and the city with soup, fruit, dark chocolate, wine and champagne.

i was determined to sleep in on sunday, and A woke me up at 8:30 -- actually, a couple times before that but i refused to budge -- to watch ironman on his awesome 40" 1080 lcd hdtv (see.. i pay attention) and home theatre. then i did responsible things like work on my budget and work on work stuff. it is so strange not working out. what do people do who don't have a workout schedule...? all of the sudden there is so much time. i.e., when i got home, i cooked (and i use the word "cook" very loosely) two pots of soup, two meat dishes and got tomorrow's breakfast and lunch ready, and did more work so that i could sit on frozen peas. i really hope i feel better soon...all this sitting still and productive-ness is making me uncomfortable.

WHATA...WEEKEND

2008-11-05T16:12:00.003-05:00

This past weekend, E and I traveled to San Antonio to attend the wedding of one of my childhood friends. It was a good time all around! The weather was wonderful throughout! I think E was a little surprised on finding out that there are people that actually like me, grumpiness and all. And E being so cute, she was a complete hit with my friend and his extended family. So much so, that the groom's parents wanted to take her with them back to Panama (with or without me, I'm afraid).

They say everything is bigger in Texas, and so would my ass be if we stayed any longer. We had too much food, too much booze, too much partying. But it was so much fun. On a kind of dare, we went to Whataburger to eat the first day of our stay, and then we could not drive past one without yelling "WHATABURGER". My training consisted to 1hr runs, followed by some lifting. Probably not good for the Philly marathon, but what the heck!

Now I'm back at the office, and I'm catching up for the two days that I took off. So i have been only running for 1hr before work, no swimming or anything else. Hopefully I can get back to training on Friday. I have to admit that running Philly has no appeal to me right now, I'll do it because I signed up, but I'm not excited at all by it.

gimp

2008-11-05T12:02:00.002-05:00

last tuesday, i set out to do an easy 6 miles on the treadmill, alternating slightly faster and slightly slower. i had been feeling a dull ache in my hamstrings since the previous wednesday but had thought that since i "shouldn't" be sore, i wasn't allowed to be, so i kept going. by mile 2 i decided to stop being in denial and hobbled back to my room to get on the trainer for about 1:40. why? i don't know. by the end of the workout i could barely walk and i felt like someone kicked me with pointy-toed boots. i felt so silly! and spent the whole day downing advil and leaning on things (including the wall) to get around. what a bummer. the irony is that cm had been telling me to lay off the hard workouts this week and save up for the next, but i didn't want to listen.

fortunately, last week was also my free trial week for tnya and i had a ton of fun swimming with the team. everyone is (so far) so friendly and chatty, the coaches give good tips and the workouts are comfortably hard, mixing up the pacing and the strokes. i still detest my backstroke, however, and feel like i'm drowning.

A and i went to san antonio for a hard training weekend of massages, fast food joints, dancing and alcohol (can't have one without the other!), smoothies and nachos. i tried to run on saturday and had a bit of a breakdown b/c i only lasted 16 minutes, and then felt silly for trying to run again. at cm's suggestion, i resorted to pool running, which is actually quite fun but not for too long, and going back to the elliptical and stairmaster at the fitness center. i felt like i had regressed to my "gym rat" pre-tri phase and have not made the best nutritional choices, and am afraid to run if it will set me back on my recovery. so it is back to sitting on ice packs and frozen peas and trying not to feel like too much of a grandma. being human sucks.

sooo your two cents would be appreciated. if you had 3 weekends left until philly marathon but would probably hold off on trying to run until next tuesday so would likely have one weekend of good training before tapering.. would you do it? i'm itching to get into marathon zone and also don't want to waste another bunch of $$ but i don't want to have to stop running and then have the opposite of a runner's high. maybe i could pick a later marathon or just do my own, the latter of which has been done before! but is not as much fun.

never stop running

2008-10-27T14:12:00.003-04:00

when i was younger and sillier, i wanted to engrave that on my ipod. in the typical esther fashion of not thinking through consequences, i used to set out for hours-long runs with just an ipod and maybe some cash to buy water, no warm-up, no stretching, no sense of direction, usually under-dressed, bouncing rather than moving forward, and had the time of my life. for yesterday's long run of 20 miles, A and i ran the first 10 together and then he decided to be responsible and get some work done, so i put on the ipod and set out on my own, this time having warmed up, stretched, focusing on better posture and the "moonwalk" running style that A taught me, and had a fantastic time. autumn is gorgeous, new yorkers don't know what they're missing out on. i noticed that my energy level for the 2nd 10 miles was relatively high, meaning that: a) my 1:30 runs should really be faster than i had thought and/or b) sleeping all day does a lot for one's energy levels. i was focusing on keeping the arms moving forward rather than across, since that has been a pattern in my race pictures, so i did a silly thing and kept my index fingers pointed forward for most of the run. i'm not sure if A noticed b/c i was behind him most of the time. finally, i felt like i was moving forward. i looked/felt like a cowboy drawing his gun all the time so it is a good thing i didn't find that too embarrassing.. in fact i just may do that for philly. "who's that retard who keeps pointing in front of her? does she not know where she's going?"

speaking of philly, i'm not quite sure what the goal is. since first marathon time was 4:28 and second was 3:37, i would be happy w/anything in between. under 4 would be great, 3:45 would be really great, between 3:37 and 3:45 would be even better, under 3:37 would be awesome and under 3:30 would be endorphins for the next week. i'm not sure how the run will go. for ny, i had decided to shoot for under 4:00 so picked a pacer for 3:45 and was worried that that was too ambitious. the pacer disappeared after mile 6 and i luckily had made a friend by then (interestingly named) armand, a tall dutchman in a tracksuit sweating and turning red but had a good pace. i remember worrying that we were going "too fast" on our mile pace for 3:45 but just kept hanging on to our pace and ended up being glad that the pacer got lost. so i wonder what will happen this time if i just hang on.

a lot of running this week, and i'm enjoying it immensely although sitting on the trainer last wednesday did a number on my sit-bones...such an old lady! hills on saturday w/ A, sb and todd was more tolerable than the week before although i need to remember not to eat breakfast before hard runs. todd's homemade oatmeal chocolate granola something cookies were a welcome treat. i missed fb (and actually had worn warm CLOTHES so "mom" wouldn't nag me) but she was too busy being a party animal! swim the friday before w/ sb, fb and claudia was also nice and relaxing. our pool is quite nice, hairball and all.

today i gave TNYA a try- they swim at baruch college on Mon/Wed and it's actually a 25m pool rather than 25y so it feels better. the people at tnya today were friendly, not cranky-competitive (as opposed to fun-competitive which is ok) and on top of that i get a whole free week! i'm tempted to ditch the running thing and just swim until thursday. hooray for a.d.d.!

Running in the Dark

2008-10-22T22:03:00.003-04:00

During triathlon season, I reached the conclusion that the best time for me to swim was early in the mornings. And while it is debatable whether that helped me or not, given my crappy swimming times, I felt good during my early morning swims.

However, that deprived me of my favorite training activity: running early. Running at 4AM in the morning was my favorite thing to do last year, when I posted PR's in every single running race that I entered. Now that I'm back to marathon training, it feels good to run in the dark. It feels good to scare away the deer, to avoid being run over by the newspaper delivery drivers, and to see the same people go to work at the same times every morning.

Track workout today was good. The track close to E's place is on an elevation of about 20ft above street level. E failed to mention that besides being cold, it was really windy in Fort Lee this morning. And because the track was elevated, there is nothing on the way of the wind up there. So those times that she posted, were times with considerable crosswind. She did really good!

my non-non imaginary friend

2008-10-22T14:04:00.004-04:00

tuesday's swim was much better than last week, after i realized that i was feeling like i was dragging b/c i was literally dragging wearing a kid-sized swim suit that was too big. my legs were not too sore and i had some time to kill since swim ends so early so i did a relaxing 5 mile job meandering around central park. autumn is gorgeous!

A and i did a track workout together this morning. if my life was a movie, i would have heard ominous music playing in the background on our way to the track. i felt like i was going to my punishment, since i knew i'd be dragging behind A, and imaginary sb for that matter, regardless of how hard i pushed it. but then, doing track workout w/ A was my idea.

sb and i had gotten into an interesting conversation earlier this week about how you need to "not be afraid to fail" when you try to run fast; supposedly you should discover that your limits are not what you think. i have a hard time pushing it on short distances, partly b/c i keep thinking that i may need to use my energy reserves say, if a monster chases me on my way home. anyway, i decided to give it a try, but primarily for the 400s.

1200m: my time 5:02 (sb's 5:23, 4:53 2 weeks ago) i think i can catch imaginary s.b. on his C- or D game days!
800m: my time 3:22 (sb's 3:16, 3:06 2 weeks ago)
400m: my time 1:32 (sb's 1:23, same 2 weeks ago)

1200m: my time 5:09 (sb's 4:51, 4:53 2 weeks ago)
800m: 3:21. funny story here! i saw a bunny hopping across the track and thought, "look, there's maija!"
400m: 1:27. my fastest 400 time EVER!

on the 400's i decided to let myself try to run w/o being afraid of failing. i imagined my heart literally jumping out of my throat onto the floor, and me puking on the side but thought, if that is the worst that can happen then that is not so bad and it will have to be after i finish the 400. my quads were burning on the last 400 and i thought, what an odd sensation to have while running! i was really happy about the last 400 b/c my first timed track workout, i was 1:50. hooray for baby steps!

i conveniently did not get to sb's last 200 so didn't believe A when he wanted to do it at the end. A was a fantastic running buddy, not letting me talk down to myself and cheering for me and saying "nice job!" while he waited (...and waited..and waited) for me to get to the finish line. it was so nice to chase after someone real instead of imaginary!

then we jogged home and A went to the fitness center- i wouldn't call it a "gym"- and i went to spin "no room for slackers." a cadence meter & basic HR monitor would be a fantastic birthday gift, hint hint, in 69 days.

no more naked running

2008-10-20T15:46:00.002-04:00

running with clothes on is overrated, but i GUESS it must be done as the weather cools down.

marathon training has started! which means for humans like me (as compared to energizer bunnies like A), more running and only 2x/week each of biking and swimming. this week's mileage is about 50, and even working in biking/swimming, works out to take up significantly less time than triathlon training. which means (and cm will be proud to read this) more rest and stretching. i feel like i'm dragging a bit on the swim and am not worried so much about my bike skills atrophying (not a lot of skill in the first place), but have to remind myself that on marathon day i won't wish i had biked/swum more. the spinnervals that sb lent are fun although i can't stand up on the trainer w/o feeling wobbly. aerobuilders are a little less fun, esp when the guy likes to yell out every one, two, five and ten minute interval.

when i showed up for hill repeats early last saturday, i got a lecture from fb who pulled out a fleece and two right-hand gloves for me, all of which i took off after the warmup despite "mom's" protests. being hot makes me cranky! the hill workout was fun, although not in the sense that i'd do it every day and can't wait for next week. i dragged behind fb, todd and sb, no surprise, and the ever-motivational todd would give us a 1,2,3 "go" with inspirational words like "cardiac arrest" and "super suffer." practicing running downhill was definitely my favourite part of that workout. then an attempt to swim afterwards, followed by a day of girliness and ticklish feet (on my part. oh man!) at the spa with G and fb. i believe all 3 of us have chipped our nails already.

yesterday morning, my quads were still sore from the hill workout but there was a 12-miler on my schedule. it was such an awesome day, and after attempting to sprint up hills on saturday, running rather leisurely up the hills was no longer scary. i finished strong and think i made 14 miles. after working out my schedule for this week, i noticed that i could get all the mileage in if i do 10 today although my legs were still tired, but that's what i get for planning too late! it was the first morning i ran with more than a sports bra and shorts, but i did admire my pretty pink nail polish quite often.

btw bassman half pictures are up (bib #554) and i look like such a happy idiot in most of them.

The Case of the Galloping Heart Rate

2008-10-15T20:34:00.003-04:00

A few postings ago, I said that my maximum heart rate was 195 bpm. Since then, I have recorded maximum heart rates of 199 twice, and this morning I recorded 202 bpm during the track workout. So I guess that I'll need to expand my sample size, in order to determine what my sport zones are. Or I could go and pay to get all this info measured by people that actually know what they are doing. But that would not be fun. Trying to figure stuff out gives me something to do.

So I'm officially training for the marathon now. I'm kind of following my plan from last year, which includes a long run (3+ hrs), a kind of long run (2+ hrs), a track workout, and two tempo runs (45 min and 1.5hrs). For the time being, I'll swim 3 times and do a long spinning session per week.

I'm also kind of obsessed with cooking using the microwave zip bags. I'm trying all my go to recipes to see which ones work and which ones don't. So far, sausage and peppers, steamed salmon, garlic shrimp, chicken stir fry (or is it shake steam) work. Meats don't work at all. I'll have to try pork, and maybe roasted potatoes. What I love the most is how easily the flavors of the seasonings are absorbed by the steaming process. Once I have all figured out, I'll write my 12 minute recipe cookbook.

And why not? E and I bought this cooking book for her place from the bargain bin for $1 that has to be read to be believed. For example, their chili recipe calls for you to open a can of chili and follow the can instructions. Now, if somebody published that, why not my 12min cookbook? And you think that I'm kidding...

Looking Ahead

2008-10-13T10:48:00.003-04:00

I have not posted anything lately because I have been in a rut. I had a terrible race at the Fall Bassman. This is my abbreviated race report, and then I wont talk about it anymore.

Basically I had an awful swim. It was not a matter of lack of training. It was a combination of a very queasy stomach from that smelly water, a bad sighting and open water technique, and a missed turn at the center buoy (lifeguard had to track me down and tell me to turn). When I came out of the water, I looked at my watch and saw the anti PR I had just done. I got to the transition, and lets say that I had no problems spotting my bike. I was so deflated that I had a super slow transition. So my bad segment was snowballing into a bad race.

I got on the bike, and started picking up other people. A lot of them. 10mi into the bike segment, I really started feeling good about the race. I told myself to forget about the swim, and to to the best I could on the bike and run. And I was doing really well on the bike. Looking at my HR/GPS results, I was doing 20.3MPH up to mile 39... And then, I had a flat. As per my HR/GPS monitor, it took me 12 minutes to get moving again. But I checked off mentally. I was going to finish the bike and hand in my chip.

By the time I reached the transition area, I had decided to run anyway, but I had no motivation. I was pleased that I had no problems with the brick, but I did not push the run in any way. And my legs were ready for a faster pace, but I just went slow, on purpose. I finished the race, but I quit mentally, and that was terrible.

So this is the last time I'm ever bringing this race up. I'm moving on.

Last week I took Monday off, even though I was not tired or sore at all. On Tuesday morning, I went to the pool, and I was not very motivated. Also, because the high school team was practicing, I ended sharing the lane with the super fast early swimmer. Not what I needed at the moment, so I only swam for 30min. Other than that, I did two spinning classes, and did two long runs (2.5+ hrs), and two tempo runs.

Today I did a swim workout, followed by a 45min hilly run, and then lifted some weights. Mentally, these were the best workouts that I had in about 3 weeks.

Next up is the Philly Marathon. I doubt that I'll do a Boston Qualifying time for my age group (3:10:59), but I'll set a goal of 3:30. Hopefully, I'll be able to finish stronger than last year's Marine Corps Marathon, when I was on pace for 3:15, threw up at mile 20 due to some energy beans, and barely hanged up to finish in 3:38.

And also, I'll try to learn how to swim!!!!!!!!!!!

lazy week

2008-10-12T21:59:00.001-04:00

my original plan to jump immediately into marathon training post-bassman was discouraged by various veteran triathletes who recommended a period of “rest” in between. Rest? What is that? I argued with cm that swimming and running slowly was considered “active rest” but she did not buy my excuse and in fact caught me doing such “active rest” at the pool on Tuesday.

I joined sb, fb, Claudia and bob at the pool on Monday and, after chatting excitedly about the race for about 10 minutes, proceeded to feel my legs deteriorating throughout the short swim. I thought to myself that Monday would be considered my “rest” day and a massage would take care of everything. The next day, I was enjoying myself immensely at the pool doing lap after lap of technique workouts that I had put off during the season until I saw fb’s shadow over the edge of the pool. She had brought a stack of triathlon magazines and instructed me to read them, take a walk or a nap if I felt like working out, but did acquiesce to letting me swim 10 more minutes (which turned into 15…but she was gone). Wednesday was a day of easy biking on the trainer while watching reviews of the presidential debate from the night before, then a highly enjoyable slow jog. My brothers and sister-in-law then flew to Dallas to visit my parents and surprise my mom for her 29th-plus-x birthday, so it was 60 mins easy jog on both Thursday and Friday. After finding myself antsy and munching a little too generously on these off days, I was eagerly anticipating my long run on Saturday which I was “allowed” to do so long as I rested completely on Sunday. After consulting with maggs, Gatorade bob, maija and sb who all suggested not suddenly increasing mileage and subbing short runs for swims and bikes, I decided it may not be a bad idea to follow someone’s advice once in a while, especially if I ask for it! So my long run would be 2:20, which I believe is an “average” run for A.

Saturday’s long run was definitely a huge lesson in the need to hydrate during a run. Out of sheer laziness, I did not bring a water bottle or money, thinking that the weather was not too warm so I would not sweat much, anyway. The run was gorgeous save the first and last 30 minutes that felt like jogging down Route 1 (wide streets, plenty of cars, not much scenery and on the dirty side). I had been reading up on Hal Higdon’s marathon training guide, which suggested that if you normally find yourself with extra energy at the end of the run, try to increase your pace every third. Everything was going as expected until the last 45 minutes on a very long uphill slope, when I felt my heart rate beating faster than it usually would for a long run although I felt like my feet were slowing down. I stopped at the 2:20 mark although I did not reach my starting point, walked for about 1 minute and then got annoyed at myself so tried to sprint home. When I got home, I gulped down 2 glasses of water and lay on the floor, my heart rate still going at about 150 to 160 although I wasn’t moving. What was going on? I was lightheaded and feeling a little sick but felt better as I stayed hydrated throughout the day. Silly e, has to learn from experience most of the time.
Good thing that I conveniently scheduled a long-run to be on the same day that my family wanted to go trail-walking and shopping. My anonymous big brother severely kicked my butt in an impromptu sprint on the trail and to the car; in fact, he beat me, got into the car and picked me up! This was rather humbling for the overly competitive younger sister who has never beat her big brother in a race. My adorable younger brother, inspired, challenged me to a 1/3-mile sprint race a few hours later, and I am not one to say no to many challenges that require physical activity. He would have won if the distance was shorter but was baffled afterwards that he had lost to a girl. After all of this time on my feet, a rest day on Sunday is a treat!

Also, huge congratulations to Maggs Morriss who did an amazing job at Ironman Kona yesterday! Way to go, hope you got yourself a huge carrot cake (not just a slice) and I’m excited to see you at lake placid!

i <3 bassman (e's last tri race report of the season)

2008-10-06T11:59:00.007-04:00

this has been the most fun race of the season, but i am definitely relieved to be done with triathlons until next year. race report:

pre-race: since we had opted out of quakerman about a month ago, i had gotten my nervousness out of the way. i felt like i had been sitting at the doctor's office forever, just waiting to get it over with. nonetheless, carbo loading is still my favourite part of race-prep! the day before the race, i did a pre-race workout under the direction of fb, who gave me some swim tips and helped me to pick 3 mantras to repeat on the swim: "just keep swimming", "cool as a cucumber", and "i am relaxed." then fb, sb, G, fb's friend fred, and xue li and her friend louie helped A and me carbo load with pumpkin pancakes from the diner. afterwards, A and i were still hungry so we had dinner part 2, veal w/ pasta and garlic bread.

race morning: up at 4, and of course i fell asleep right up until we arrived at bass river state park. the scenery was surreal as the sky was still pitch dark, music was playing out of a sound system and people were shivering and shuffling around with flashlights setting up their bikes. A and i set up as close to the bike transition as possible, and since we were so early, we got a good spot. i remembered my first tri, when fb helped me triple check that i had brought everything and then taught me exactly how to set up (e.g., put your helmet on top of your bike shoes, upside down in a way that you make one quick movement to put your helmet on). and no gloves this time..gloves are for pansies! j/k, i was just too lazy to put them on. i figured, if i fall and scratch my hands, i'll just deal with it.

then we went to the pre-race mandatory meeting where all of us were utterly confused by the instructions for the swim, bike and run by the race director. apparently someone had stolen his bike mile markers that morning, so he wanted to make sure we had some sense of direction. during the singing of the national anthem, i was reminded of how my college professors (at a christian school) had prayed for us before we took our exams. then off we went into the 60 degree water in 3 waves: 2 guys, 1 girls.

swim: this is always the most exciting, as we shiver in the water and wait as the race director counts down the minutes. normally, when i am nervous at this point, i'll try to strike up conversation with another nervous-looking swimmer. i was pretty calm this time, as i figured, no point in being nervous for 1.2 miles. i had overheard some girls telling each other they were going to relax and take it slow, so i put myself in the row in front of them. when the foghorn went off and we all started, the girls behind me totally bowled me over, a rather humbling moment. i started to breathe really quickly and get nervous, so i slowed down and stopped for one breath, thought i could quit right now but said a quick prayer, then got back into it. i didn't feel like i was moving very far at all, but told myself, just keep rotating and your wet suit will swim for you. about 10 minutes into the swim, i was suddenly having the time of my life! i was feeling smooth and streamlined, i passed A but figured now would not be a good time to say hello, and stayed a good 10m away from the buoys to avoid traffic. the course was 2 loops, and when i reached the end of the 1st loop, i was glad to go again. i started to tell myself, "i am strong. i am relaxed" but for some reason, i already knew that! so i had a lot of fun chasing down the waves in front of me, focusing on rotation and fb's last-minute technique tips. whenever i passed someone i thought ruefully, no worries, you'll probably catch me on the bike but at least i get a head start. i was a little disappointed b/c i thought a lot of the girls were still in front of me, but didn't really care b/c i was having so much fun. when i reached the end of the 2nd loop, i thought to myself "one more time!" but resisted the urge. since fb had her straitjacket story from a previous tri, my very first thought upon standing was, "unzip!!" another girl had come out at the same time as i, and we exchanged a few breathless words about how we were dizzy and we were both dreading the bike. i checked my watch and was happy to see that it was around 37:00. swim time: 36:16!

t1: felt a little longer than usual b/c i gave myself a chance to breathe and b/c i was not so excited about the bike. t1 time: 1:47

bike: ugh. biking is currently my least favourite event of the tri and i was very glad that the course was pretty flat. i had debated taking the cateye off b/c it would make me angry at my pace, but decided to leave it on. since A had suggested not counting cadence, i spent the first 30 minutes with a pleasant song in my head and enjoying the weather. i hadn't expected to go more than 17 to 18 mph given how awesome i am at pedaling at high cadence but was firm in my mind about having a strong run. during the first loop, i was feeling good and strong and averaged 18.2, but then i believe right into the 2nd loop, i mentally relaxed and thought, "i'm already halfway done" and suddenly had a very difficult time keeping the same pace. nonetheless i was stubborn about having a strong run and just kept pedaling fast, but moving ever so slowly... my legs were starting to hurt and i was starting to become frustrated again but decided there was not much i could do but get the ride over with and give myself 10 months to become a monster biker for imlp. i was still having a good time and remembering to thank all the policemen and volunteers who were pointing us the right way, and smiling w/ a thumbs up to the camera guy. i was a little bummed when i saw that a ton of bikes were already in transition area by the time i arrived. bike time: 3:16:24, 17.7 mph. oh well. btw, A kicked butt in this segment.

t2: fastest rest break ever when i sat down to change my shoes. t1: 1:21. here we go...

run: i must say, i have never felt stronger on a brick than yesterday. still smiling, i relaxed into a decent pace and decided not to be miserable trying to push it for 13.2 miles. what a great day! the weather was awesome, most of the run was in the shade, and the volunteers were from brooklyn, cheering us on in their brooklyn accents. i felt a little guilty about being rude to the volunteers on the run at nj state so i made it a point to be polite w/ these volunteers. the run felt like mile after mile of loops and my mental map was severly jumbled by mile 5. i high-fived a few of the people giving directions, smiled at the camera guy, asked a volunteer for a bite of his pizza (getting hungry! and tired of gel and powerbars). b/c of the interminable loops, we saw the same volunteers over and over who were very encouraging (although saying "almost done" at mile 8 may not be the best thing to say). when some of the girls passed each other on the run, we'd say, "you go girl!" the camera guy and one of the direction volunteers called me "smiley" as in, "there she is, smiley." well i guess there are worse nicknames..

it was just a great time. there was a point around mile 4 when i was running alone in the forest, and to distract myself, i was thinking about how this was the most enjoyable 13.2 i had run (i'm not sure if it's 13.2 or 13.3, but heard someone saying the run was actually 13.2) b/c there was no pressure. i was already within my goal of 6 hours and thought it may be nice to go under 6, but why be miserable over it? i can save that for the next half. i started thinking about how my triathlons had started here, and how i've grown from a dumb jock to a hopefully less dumb jock and gave myself a pat on the back. i mused over how much has changed in the past 7 months, and smiled over the friends made. i don't believe i have ever told thph but they are one cool group, and it is great to find people with whom i can sbr and talk about sbr, who are encouraging and competitive in a friendly way, mutually respectful and often hilarious. i thought of fb/cm who has not only helped me immensely as an athlete but is also a good friend, of the optimistic and thorough sb and his monster-biking, cookie-baking wonderful wife G, the pleasant xue li, funny-at-6-a.m. todd, super-fast biking chaz who always returns a compliment, gatorade bob who kicks a$$ on a diet of beer and doritos, cool chick claudia, and of course, my favourite boyfriend A who has been my best friend and my rock. all of the sudden i wanted to hug bassman.

mile 8, someone said "you're almost done!" and then my body and mind relaxed and uh oh! my legs slowed to a shuffle, and i was counting 10-11 minute miles, feeling like i had found myself running in molasses. my hamstrings and calves were hurting and i really had to go to the bathroom. what is going on? but i had learned from england that i'll get there when i get there and plodded onwards. people kept passing me but i could not bring my legs to move any faster, yearning for the mile 13 sign. finally when i saw it, i laughed, yelled "woo hoo!" and jetted to the end. i was so relieved and so happy! i called fb and said something like "that was so fun!... i have to go to the bathroom." then i waited for A, standing near the race director and photographer who was announcing names. the race director George let me announce a few names to "practice" announcing A when he came (but unfortunately, George took the mic away 2 people before A). run time: 2:05:05

so overall, this has been my favourite race b/c i had a great time and finished 6:02:04 placing a.g. 5th (when George told me this, the camera guy said, "and you did it all w/ a smile!" which was very rewarding). i am very relieved to be done for the season and to be able to focus on primarily running for the next month or so. for off-season training, i know i want to work on: swim rotation, bike high cadence and run speedwork...but fb says for now i need to rest.

Iron-Chaz's Chesapeakeman Aqua Velo Report

2008-09-30T19:03:00.001-04:00

here is chaz's report of how he kicked chesapeakeman aqua velo's butt over the weekend. way to go, chaz!
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In training for my first Ironman, I couldn't have picked a better warmup race than the Chesapeakeman Aqua Velo, which comprised the first two legs of the Chesapeakeman Iron-dstance triathlon. I got the 2.4-mile swim and 112-mile bike race distances under my belt, experienced the different transition style in Iron races from other triathlons, and gained confidence through a strong performance.

It was a small race - about 300 signed up for the full race and the Aqua Velo, combined, and only 224 toed the starting line. So there was an intimate feel as the bus dropped us off at the swim start in Cambridge, Md., the T1 changing tents and bike racks illuminated out of the surrounding blackness of the Choptank River by a couple of floodlights. There wasn't much point to arriving 90 minutes early, so other than using the facilities and checking the bike, sodden from overnight rain, I mostly sat and obsessed over what the race would be like.

I pulled on my wetsuit (right side out this time) at 6:30, just as the rain started to fall. By the time I entered the water at 6:45, the rain was steady - when the gun went off at 7, it was a downpour. On the other hand, there was light, if no sun, so we could see the buoys stretching into the distance for the two-loop swim around a bay that empties into the Choptank.

I took my usual approach, starting near the back and setting a deliberate pace. I kept up with the pack better than I have in the past, which made sighting less of a challenge. I was kicked in the head once. On the final turn of the first loop, into the river on the straight shot back into the start/finish, there was significant chop, making frequent sighting a necessity. Upon completing the first loop (in exactly 800 breaths), I checked my watch and was delighted to see 41:52, matching the fastest I've ever done 1.2 miles in a race (three weeks prior at Diamondman, it took me an awful 47 minutes). Thus inspired, I stroked through the second lap, shaking off at one point a persistent draftee (by the hundredth time his hand hit my foot, I was seriously considering kicking him in the head. Instead, I moved over). I managed the second loop in 795 breaths, and crossed the mat into T1 at 1:24:52. That's only three minutes slower than I do in the pool. Could the course have been short? No - when I got into the changing tent, it was FULL. I was in the main group!

(My swim ranked 49th of 89 Aqua Veloers, and 125th of 224 including the tri competitors. Add in the swim-only competitors, and I was 139th of 248.)

T1 was a new experience. Grab the bag containing bike gear, head into the tent, strip down and change clothes with dozens of other competitors and not enough chairs. I took my time, as usual, feeling a bit dizzy from the swim and not having packed my bag properly - next time, items will be ordered so I can rake things out as I need them, rather than dump the contents out and root around. A final complicating factor was that I was breaking in a Garmin Forerunner 405, upgrading from ny dead 305, which died Thursday evening, meaning I bought the 405 Friday. Not ideal. I took 14:30 to get through transition, which ranked 10th from slowest among tri and Aqua Velo competitors!

The rain had slackened during the swim, but started again in earnest as I began the bike. I took it easy to start, navigating the first few turns carefully to gauge the slickness of the roads, and generally stretching out. By mile 4, my aggregate pace was better than 20 mph, where it would stay for the duration.

I confronted an equipment problem right away. I'd changed the armrests on my aerobars a few days ago, because I'd broken the plastic armrests in training. The metal armrests I installed were curved, and forced my shoulders to hunch much more. That would prevent me from staying in the aerobars for more than five miles at a tim, and I needed to take more frequent breaks from the aerobars as the race progressed. Two days later, my shoulders remain a bit sore.

Fueling went well. I ate half a Clif bar every half hour, then interspersed a banana on the next half hour. I drank with abandon, even though the near-constant, frequently downpouring rain made it impossible to tell how much I was weating. (The temp was low 70s and humid.) So I drank six 24-ounce bottles of Gatorade High Endurance and three 24-ounce bottles of water, and ate four Clif bars and three bananas.

The course involved a 14-mile sojourn to a 48-mile loop that we did twice. The loop went through Blackwater Wildlife Refuge and was utterly flat - even the few bridges involved inclines of literally two or three feet. That made regular stretching a necessity, and coasting an impossibility - perfect training for Florida. The rain varied throughout the ride - no rain for maybe a quarter, light to steady rain for half, and pounding, slap-hard-against-your-helmet rain for the remaining quarter.

That, and the previous three days of rain, led to a singular road condition I've never experienced before. A one-mile stretch of road about 12 miles from the end of the loop was completely submerged in up to - no joke - six inches of water. At certain points, feet and pedals went underwater with each pedal stroke, making for gym-like biking resistance. It wasn't hard to get through - even when cars coming the other direction caused wakes onto my side of the road - but it was a new one.

My strategy was the same as usual - see a cyclist ahead of me, pick him or her off, don't get passed - but I had to be more patient given the longer distance. I learned that early. In mile 11, I passed three cyclists at once, one of whom was passing the other two. He passed me back within a mile. I kept him in my sights and re-passed two miles later. He passed me again within a mile, and eventually disappeared up the road.

I passed him for a third time in mile 60, and he stayed passed.

I was passed by three other cyclists, all in the first half. I'm sure I eventually passed two of them back; the other I'm not sure of. Otherwise, it was the usual pass-fest, only wetter and more deliberate - I tailed some cyclists for five, eight, 10 miles before reeling them in.

I felt my pace flag near the halfway mark, so after getting through the submerged road for the first time, I figured I'd air it out for the last 12 miles of the loop, before picking up the special-needs bag. That went well, and after stopping to reload my Clif bar and banana stash, I was strong for the second loop.

I stayed in the small chainring for most of the first 64 miles - which I had the confidence to do thanks to a century ride I did last week almost entirely in the small ring because the cable controlling the ring was badly frayed. I had it replaced this week, so when I felt strong late, I put it in the big ring for the last 14 miles and let it rip.

I finished the bike leg in 5:28:45, for a 20.4 mph pace. That ranked 10th of 89 in the Aqua Velo, and 21st of 224 including the triathletes. Given the conditions and my relative lack of taper, that seems like a replicable result in five weeks' time.

My overall time of 7:07:48 ranked 21st of 89 in the Aqua Velo, and 46th of 224 including the triathletes. Most pleasantly surprising of all, I carded a second-place finish (of 12 Aqua Veloers) in the 35-39 age group (the AG winner beat me by plenty, so my ridiculous transition didn't cost me unduly). I see no evidence on the event Web site that there were age group awards for the AV, but this still qualifies as easily my best race result.

Apparently, swim-bike-done suits me better than swim-bike-run. Nevertheless, on to Ironman Florida!

what's in a name & USMMA 5k race report

2008-09-27T21:37:00.006-04:00

our team name is "thph" = "tri hard play harder" but perhaps it's "phth" = "play hard tri harder." regardless, we're going to have the best cheers and team photos, sticking our tongues out like the mature adults we are. maija's new name is fb = "fast bunny," a synthesis of the messaging on her fun swim suits, although i'd like to think fb = "funny bunny." interestingly, my creative nickname in high school-and my anonymous older brother will laugh to remember this -was esther-bunny. fyi, we don't really call each other these acronyms in real life (how odd would that be?), i just use them for typing ease b/c outside of working out, i'm quite lazy.

speaking of lazy, it was not that hard for fb to talk me out of thursday's intended track workout as i am just as excited about doing them as i am about doing my 3-hr round trip commute. when i asked if i could do a long run instead, she said ok but so long as it is 45 mins max. so i sort of listened to her and decided to forego the track workout and did a 2:00 long run, aiming for roughly my 1:30 long run pace. it was a fantastic run, about 1:01 in one direction, including going down one very long slope and 0:59 back, going back up that very long slope. i have been kind of hard on myself about the bike and swim, so it felt great to run and listen to music and not give myself pressure to beat any time. fb was right about her warning that i would be sore afterwards, though, but i guess i needed to learn from experience.

friday, i did fb's recommendation of 40 mins easy w/ 6x30-sec race pace. since the weather was absolutely awful i had to use the dreadmill, but i found that it was easier to push myself on the race pace. then on to columbia swim, the last swim of the season. i was feeling kind of stressed out so my swim felt slow and out of breath, and i practiced telling myself "cool as a cucumber" and "i can do this." the mental exercise in itself is pretty tiring for me, and i am looking forward to post-bassman when i will focus more on running for philly marathon before starting the training program for imlp.

A and i went to A's 10-yr college reunion at the USMMA (US Merchant Marine Academy) in long island today, and typical A-style, we arrived at 6:30 a.m. for the start of the 8:00 5-k race. i had a fantastic time getting a taste of A's college life and am very glad i did not attend this school. they treat the freshmen so roughly, i don't think i would have lasted more than a month! everyone has to wear a pressed and clean uniform all the time (fyi, i still don't know how to iron, nor do i own an iron), and the freshmen always have to walk 6 inches from the curb and say "good morning ma'am" and "good morning sir." in A's day, the freshmen also had to clean all of the barracks, including bathrooms, for themselves and the upperclassmen. i'm sure A can give the full run-down but he has generally good memories of the place, as i believe it gets better as you get older and in charge, and since he had some good friends there. the campus was beautiful and right next to the water, and the people were incredibly polite.

as noted copious times before, i was dreading this 5k, and looking forward to it even less when i saw how few people there were who were running. there were about 20 people, and i was thinking, oh great, i'm going to be last and it's going to be so embarrassing! on top of that, the race director was giving course directions verbally and i am horrible with directions. so off we went, me not being sure at all where to go but not that worried as i thought i'd just follow A from a distance.

mile 1: 6:55 which was my best mile time ever and included a slight uphill. there were about 6 of us in the front, A doing super and 2nd in the lead. A had introduced me to his friend matt and matt's wife jackie earlier, and jackie looked pretty buff and said she trained all the time on hills in humid south korea, so i was slightly intimidated. jackie, matt and i kept switching places until mile 2 when my shoelace came untied and i uttered a profanity before hastily fixing it. i was very focused on breathing ok, keeping up what i thought to be a sustainable 3-mile pace and not trying to get overwhelmed by the whole event. every time jackie passed me, i'd say "nice job" and when i passed her she'd reciprocate. i had decided that the person running in front of me would be virtual sb and was trying to catch him. A's heart rate suddenly shot up so he had to relax a little bit. toward mile 3, i was starting to feel nauseous, and i thought, good sign, b/c we're almost done. my lungs were hurting a little and my heart was beating fast but fb had said i needed to get used to that feeling, so i didn't worry about it much. the person i had thought was virtual sb was slowing down, and i thought, that can't be sb! he's slowing down! i believe i was actually a little annoyed that that was happening. jackie passed me again and i was thinking, it's alright she'll beat me, but then i saw fb-in-my-head yelling at me, "go go go! beat that girl!" i thought, if maija thinks i can beat that girl then i will! so i did, and the rest of the course was almost 1 circle around the track. i kept thinking jackie was right behind me so i pushed it til the end, and when i heard 24:16 i was a little surprised b/c the time sounded a little long. people were talking about how we had missed a turn and A, with his trusty GPA, said that we had actually run 3.4 miles. so 24:16 on 3.4 miles is a really good time for me and i am happy with that. on top of that, i got 4th place overall and 1st place girls! it was my first time i had gotten a 1st place medal, and A's class of '98 won first place as a group. when the race guy announced my name, he said, "for first place girls... esther lee-salazar!" i thought that was so cute (and embarrassing)!

i didn't know i'd ever admit this but i'm quite grateful for the track workouts b/c i can get an idea that it is possible to go a certain pace. while it was great doing interval runs w/ fb once to get a taste of trying to chase someone in real life, i also appreciate doing track workouts alone b/c then i can push it more when i am running with people. i still am not a fan of 5k's though.

today can be considered an easy day, i guess, since it was only a 24-minute run plus some pushups. the plan for tomorrow is to have a bike w/ high cadences and try to find the tappanzee bridge before it gets rebuilt. then track workout on monday, and not too sure about tuesday to thursday since swim is over for the next 2 weeks. fb reminded me of the need to taper before bassman half (oh yeah!) so friday will be an off day and saturday will be ridiculously easy day. bassman should be relatively flat so i will concentrate on technique and staying cool and still doing my best.

Soooo tired...

2008-09-25T14:40:00.008-04:00

It's not pining, it's passed on! This parrot is no more! It has ceased to be! It's expired and gone to meet its maker! This is a late parrot! It's a stiff! Bereft of life, it rests in peace! If you hadn't nailed him to the perch he would be pushing up the daisies! Its metabolical processes are of interest only to historians! It's hopped the twig! It's shuffled off this mortal coil! It's run down the curtain and joined the choir invisible! This.... is an EX-PARROT!

Monty Python's Flying Circus

I am running on fumes right now. I would love to bike for 1hr tonight if the weather holds, but I might just skip it. My training so far this week:

Monday - Swim: 1,600m at a steady pace, run: 5mi hills
Tuesday - Swim: 2,000m drills and fast, run: 10mi
Wednesday - Swim: 1,600m at a steady pace, run: 5x1,000m (3:59, 3:59, 3:58, 4:12, 3:59)
Thursday - Run: 16mi in 2:20

Tomorrow morning, I''ll go for a swim and an easy 45min run on my favorite hilly route.

This Saturday I get to see a bunch of my college buddies that live all over the country. I'll use the 5K race to confirm my heat rate settings. After 3 readings, my resting heart rate is 45bpm, and my max heart rate is 195bpm.

On Sunday, I'll go for a 2 or 3hr bike ride, followed by a 30min brick. Then I'll be tapering next week for the Bassman 70.3.

taco night!

2008-09-23T13:55:00.006-04:00

after an arduous day at work, there is nothing better than dinner waiting for you at home. i was exhausted by the time i got home at 8 last night, and A had made tacos for dinner w/ grilled chicken and steak, salsa, corn, rice, veggies, cheese..mmmmm! the way to my heart is through my stomach.

on to the less important stuff. yesterday's workout was meant to be "moderate" to recover from the ride on sunday, so i swam at the bridgewater pool before jetting off to a 2 hour commute. i joined A's 4:45 a.m. crowd and then worked on 500, 400, 300, 200, 300, 400, 500 negative splits b/c i didn't have much motivation so i figured negative splits would force me to put in some effort. negative splits are fun b/c you can spend the first half focusing on technique and the 2nd on applying that to speed. then sb joined and we did a couple 100 n/s until cm showed up and warmed up. unfortunately i could only do 1 set w/ them but it was enough to give me a refresher in how fun it is to swim w/ team THPH. it's really nice to work out with people who are mutually encouraging and who aren't trying to beat you (and whom you're not trying to beat) at every lap. no egos at the pool, please!

this morning, i had planned on doing a track workout but just didn't feel up to it since the pumpkin ride last sunday, so i'll do it thursday when there is no rush to make it to master's swim. so instead, i ran intervals, 3x5:00 w/ 2:00 break, 2x5:30 w/ 2:00 break. the first few sets were hard but i had a hard time pushing it for the last few sets. i imagined cm zooming ahead of me but couldn't be bothered to even try to catch up to her. since this saturday i am doing my first 5k in over a year, and thursday will be a track workout, i figure two heart attacks per week is enough. note to self: don't eat breakfast until after running.

then onto columbia swim. i love sleeping on the bus/subway! now i can get two naps a day. today i overslept my bus stop, and only woke up when someone i had never seen before tapped my shoulder and told me i had missed my stop. i guess he had seen me get off there many times before..i thought that was so nice of him! (and kind of creepy.)

the lanes are getting full! today we had 6 in a 25yd lane, and we were all taken aback by our workout b/c the interval times looked like they were for much faster lanes (e.g., 100s on 1:30 where my PR for that pool is 1:26). thank goodness we decided to add 5 seconds to each interval or else that would have been an oxygen-less workout. since i had swum in a 25m pool on saturday and monday, i didn't accurate gauge flip-turn time and slammed my hell onto the top of the pool wall.. twice! i am still limping slightly but i just find it amusing.

the people in my lane are generally pretty fast at the longer distances and not as fast on the shorter ones and on the strokes. it is kind of like the opposite of bridgewater for me, b/c at this pool i'm one of the slower ones for the 400s and above but faster on the 100s and strokes. one lady (who was zooming on the 300s and 400s incidentally) actually complimented me on my non-free strokes which i found very surprising considering my backstroke. then suddenly everyone but me left at 7:35, and my times unsurprisingly slowed down by 5 seconds. it's interesting how much faster you can go when you feel like someone is trying to hunt you down!

workout: 1x100 free, 1x100 i.m., 2x25 easy. 200 free, 2x100 i.m., 2x25 easy. 300 free, 3x100 i.m., 2x25 easy. 400 free, 4x100 i.m. 2x25 easy, 300 free, 3x100 i.m. 200 free. i had a lot of fun on the i.m.'s, esp during fly.

so next race is 5k this saturday at A's 10-year reunion. i am definitely not looking forward to this one... in fact i believe i'd rather ride 62 miles than run 5, but i think it would be good to practice. then the bassman half is the week after, and then the philly marathon is the saturday before thanksgiving. i'd really like to run philly so the post-bassman plan is to cut down on biking/swimming to twice per week each and run more, preferably according to some schedule. this whole idea of thinking before deciding to do something is a pretty new thing for me!

Where are the pumpkins?

2008-09-22T09:05:00.002-04:00

I have had so much fun playing with my heart rate monitor during the past week. The geek in me just loves to look at the results following the workouts, to the point that I am in a hurry to get home to download the results to my laptop. And I still have to find out so much more about it, to set all my workouts to the desired intensity levels. But I'll resist the urge to post any graphs, at least for the time being. I still have to confirm this, but after two readings, my resting heart rate is 45bpm (beats/minute). I'll take more readings to confirm this.

Another advantage is that it is so easy to keep track of my workouts. Last week, I increased my weekly running mileage to 50mi, to start to get ready for the Philly marathon. I'll drop that this week and the next, as a taper for the Bassman 70.3, but I should be doing at least 50mi weekly during October and the first week of November. I hope to do a PR in Philly, hoping to be smarter about fueling during the race. I have been concentrating on fueling during my long runs and rides, and I do feel much better than if I was not.

Yesterday, E and I did the Pumpkin Patch Pedal century bike ride. We had done the 62mi ride last year, and we liked it. For the century, they extend the ride by taking us to some county roads with a lot of fast moving traffic, and nothing scenic to look at. There were no pumpkins there, or nothing else for that matter, except for cars going at 50+MPH, so that portion was not very enjoyable. I was quite disappointed by this.

As for the ride, I felt really strong throughout. There was no pain, and my legs always had a lot of spring to them, taking hills strongly, and using the descents to pick up speed. My heart rate did not go above 155 at any moment during the ride. E was not having such a good time, but she did great for the first 50mi, until her legs started to hurt. Still, she soldiered on. Then she stopped at mile 90, but after calming down, she finished strongly. I feel bad, because I could have been a better domestique after the rest stop at mile 80, but I made sure to keep her front wheel right behind my back wheel for the last 10mi, to cut the wind for her. Good job hon!

Also, like I pointed out to her, that road where she stopped is not good to us. Last year, for the Pumpkin ride, I crashed on that road. Earlier this year, for the Farmlands century ride, she crashed on that road. So something bad was bound to happen there. The people from the house whose lawn we stopped at were very nice, so that was the only good thing that we ever encountered in that road.

This morning we went to the pool at 4:45AM. She is back to normal, because she was swimming really fast. I was just doing a mile at a steady pace. After that, I ran 5mi on a hilly course. I do not feel tired or sore from yesterday's ride. That is good!

defeated by a century

2008-09-21T19:45:00.004-04:00

saturday's swim was fun! i did cm's workout that she gave me last week:

200m wu
200m IM
200m-25m fly, 25 free, 25m back (DO IT!), 25m free, 25m breast, 75m free
2x300m-{100m IM, 100m free, 100m stroke choice} w/ :20 rest
2x{100m fly, 4th 25 fast :15 rest
100m back, 3rd 25 fast :15 rest OTTER STYLE
100m breast 2nd 25 fast :15 rest
100m free 1st 25 fast :15 rest
200 free RACE IT LIKE A CRAZY PERSON!!!! :20 rest
150 choice FAST LIKE A BUNNY (if bunnies swam fast) :30 rest}
100m free, 4th 25 fast :15 rest
100m free, 3rd 25 fast :15 rest
100m freet 2nd 25 fast :15 rest
100m free 1st 25 fast :15 rest
200 free RACE IT LIKE A CRAZY PERSON!!!! :20 rest
150 free FAST LIKE A FISHIE! :30 rest
250m cd or join SB and I for our easy swim
3700m+

when i read this workout over before doing it, i did a double take on the 100 fly. 100 fly?! i'd only done it in a 50m pool and then super slowly. i tend to heat up and get tired really quickly on fly, although i love it, so during those i remember thinking, "cool as a cucumber"and picturing a cucumber doing fly. i had actually brought an underwater disposable camera left over from my england trip, and was looking for the hairball but only found the baby hairball. after the swim i went for a ridiculously easy 30-min jog b/c the weather was awesome but i didn't want to do any running that i'd regret during the ride the next day.

today's ride was the pumpkin patch pedal, 100 miles. A and i showed up at the park at 7 a.m. in the freezing cold and saw chaz only at the beginning of the ride, which i knew would happen. he glided past us as if he was floating. that was the last we saw of that monster cyclist, and didn't even see him during the break!

the weather for the whole day was perfect and it was the perfect way to enjoy the day. it was funny that the only thing i remembered from last year's pumpkin patch pedal (we had done the 62 then) was that it was hilly, but it wasn't hilly at all. A was a gentleman as usual and didn't go too far ahead of me. we did 50 before taking our first rest stop and hung out for a few minutes with cyclists who enjoyed sharing war stories about their rides, that went something like, "i just did such-and-such a ride, 500 miles with 100 hills, backwards, without shoes."

from mile 50 onward, my quads felt like they were burning, kind of like how they feel when you're finishing up a set of squats, except they just never stopped burning. i was feeling really frustrated b/c i kept slowing down and felt bad for slowing A down although he never complained. i kept switching to a higher gear and then trying to go harder but couldn't keep the cadences up so had to go lighter again..then to try to compensate for going on a lighter gear, i'd pedal faster but that just made me feel like acid was going up and down my legs. we stopped for another break at the 80 and i tried to assuage my misery with apple and pumpkin pies. i was feeling foolish b/c i had done a century once before and although i was mashing at the time, at least i had done it! only 20 miles were remaining so i thought it was doable. time passed slowly and to entertain myself and to make sure i wasn't mashing, i kept counting my cadences. my legs were still feeling awful, and i tried to have a positive attitude about it, telling myself that this was a good workout for my legs and not to think about speed, but to enjoy the day. on mile 90, i had a mental meltdown and couldn't stand my legs hurting anymore; i suddenly wanted to throw up and was having a lot of trouble breathing, and my helmet was feeling very tight around my chin. i stopped, threw my helmet on the ground and started crying b/c i felt awful and then i felt silly for feeling awful. A turned around to help me chill out, whereas, come to think of it, if it was the other way around (and i can't ever imagine it being the other way around) i might have said something to him like, "man up!" i am so glad he is such a patient guy. the people whose house i stopped in front of came outside and were incredibly nice to give me cold water and shade. A offered to find a car so i didn't have to finish the ride but i really wanted to finish. the last 10 miles were ok, particularly b/c A stayed closer in front of me and was highly encouraging. whew! afterwards we celebrated at my favorite salad place, mcCarthy's. total time = around 6:14, my average pace = 16.2. the last 100, average pace = 16.7 and i had hoped to go above that.

since #1 goal for the ride was to keep cadences up b/n 80-85/minute, and goal #2 was to finish at a decent time, i was glad to have at least accomplished goal#1. still, i am pretty aware that a lot of progress needs to be made, in the biking area especially, before imlp. i'm so glad we have 10 months to go!

big bro's learn-to-sleep class

2008-09-18T15:20:00.002-04:00

my anonymous older brother keeps telling me to sleep more, like him. he even gave me a demonstration when he came to visit. although it pains my ego, he has a good point. on wednesday, i did a 45 min easy ride on the trainer and then went to columbia swim. i thought i would have a lot more energy at swim than i did yesterday so was a little offended when Alpha Male said i was "a little off." for some reason i was last in line on the 1x1200, but i was motivated by her comment and was towards the front for the 8x100 free. i was happy to see my friend dawn who came back from watching her son as one of the announcers for the u.s. water polo team. next week is the last week of swim before a 2 week break, then new times will be tues, thurs and fri 6-7 a.m., so i need to figure out a revised training plan.

then wednesday night i only managed to sleep 5 hours (for some people, a.k.a A) that is a lot but i definitely learned that biking while tired is frustrating and slow. i think i can swim and run ok tired but when i was on the bike, my eyes thought i was still in bed. i had a hard time keeping the cadences up doing the 5x10 race w/ 5 min easy in between, and it didn't even feel like "race pace" so i did the last 25 min focusing only on cadence. since i felt a little guilty about not being able to finish the workout, i did a 20-min 10k pace brick followed by 10 min easy. it is fun not shuffling during the brick! btw the weather this week has been incredible.

last night i stayed over a girl friend's place that is super close to my work place, so i thought that i would get to sleep in a little bit more, but no such luck. since she had to be at work at 8 and we had breakfast at 7 (my bright idea), i was up again at 4, running around east village, across the williamsburg bridge and wandering around union square for about 1:45. i LOVE longer runs, they are so relaxing and it is nice to give your mind and body a break. i figure it's time to increase my weekly long-run times if i want to run philly in november. ideally, i would be superwoman (whom A reminds me that i am not) and could do the marathon training plan on top of my regular training.

next plan of action..nap time!

a sucker for compliments

2008-09-16T10:10:00.001-04:00

A's blog made me smile, what a sweet guy MOST of the time. i'm really glad he liked our gift!

it was hard to stick w/ cm's training schedule since i was off two days, but friday i managed to do the 90 minute ride (w/ 5x10 race pace) followed by 30 min run (15 mins at 10k pace, 15 easy). cm had written "NO MASHING" for the race pace segment, so a neon "NO MASHING" sign kept blinking in my head. for now, race pace and no mashing seem like an oxymoron. then during fast part of the run, i was pleased to be able to run stronger than before, but had to stop after 15 mins out of a huge urge to go to the bathroom. isn't that funny when that happens?

saturday i was still full of energy-- i guess taking rest days really pumps you up! that and the bread pudding & ice cream sundae from famous dave's-- so i did a 1:30 run along the watchung area. cm had written up a really fun 3700m swim but the bridgewater and hillsborough Y's both didn't have free lanes. i was pretty impatient and called maija, "quick, both Y's are closed so i have 1 1/2 hours to go biking before getting ready for the wedding. what do i do??" so i went for a 1:15 ride, 3 concentric circles in hillsborough b/c i kept making right turns to avoid crossing the street.

then the super hot ride on sunday to watch team KB2 and their nearly professional photographer sb. G and maija did a fantastic job, as did sb who was running around sweating and looking as if he had just finished a swim. i will never forget how towards the end of her ride, G had her race face, which broke into a smile when she saw me cheering for her, then switched back into her race face. our ride was only 25 miles there and back but i haven't done more than 25 miles since... i don't remember, our last century ride a few months ago? i was getting really hot (and therefore cranky) on our way back but was determined to keep the cadences up. i figure i have had plenty of training on mashing so there is no need for that. A was such a gentleman, always checking if i was ok and checking behind him to make sure i was not too far behind. i need to catch up w/ him one day! this sunday is a century ride, and i hope to use it as a 100-mile practice in high cadence and no mashing.

the workout for this week is to try cm's workout for me from last week, but since we have a long ride on sunday i'll do maija's fun long swim on saturday and do a medium run on friday. i only had time for a 1:30 bike w/ high candences yesterday, and then did last week's track workout and columbia swim today. i had been dreading the track workout all week, and wrote sb's times on my hands, hoping that i wouldn't sweat it off. thankfully, i only had time for the 5, 4, 3x400 (so i'll need to figure out my workout schedule again to allow for more track workout time). as i was running i was picturing sb pulling away from me. agh!
5x400 sb's time 8:50.. my time 8:51 (i think) woo hoo!
4x400 sb's time 6:57.. my time 7:01 he's pulling away
3x400 sb's time 5:05..my time 5:14. how does he do it?!!

by the 3rd 400 of each set i started to feel sick but kept going. i noticed that i forget to swallow the saliva that is pooling in my mouth when i'm concentrating on running. does that ever happen to you guys?? i remember when i was starting to feel bad, thinking, "well at least you're not walking in cow poop in england w/ bad ankles and a heavy backpack." that did make me feel better.

That Was Just Your Life

2008-09-15T09:44:00.005-04:00

I have had enough of this Indian Summer!

My Friday workout consisted of a 1hr swim, then a 1hr run, and then my shoulder lifting routine. Starting last week, I altered my lifting routines. I will now lift about 80% of my maximum loads, while increasing the number of repetitions per set. For example, my bench press goes from my normal (3x10) 225lbs to (3x15) 185lbs. I have decided to do this to drop some weight. Last year, during marathon training, I weighed 175lbs. This year, with the same caloric intake, I weigh 185lbs. I think the reason for this is that I have been running less and swimming more, and my upper body is getting bigger. And I see no point in racing with an extra 10lbs.

And just in time to help me with my training, I got a belated birthday present from the girlfriend (with the assist of Matt, Genine, and Maija): a Polar RS800G3 heart rate monitor. Thank you guys! This thing is great! Now I can get exact distance and speed measurements, while knowing my level of effort. Perhaps it will help me train and race smarter; but knowing how stubborn, cranky, and set in my ways I am, that remains to be seen.

Saturday morning I went out for a long run. I was planning on starting at 5AM, but I kept playing with all the features of my new toy, so I got a late start at 6AM. It was so humid! 30min into my run, it dawned on me that I did not have my Ipod. So I did 18.5 mi in 2:50hrs. My heart rate was steadily into the 160's, except towards the end, when it was in the 170 to 182 range, due to some hills.

I got really hot when I ended my run, so instead of doing a proper cool-down, then breakfast and then a shower; I did a 5min cool-down, and took a shower. Last week they installed new windows at my place, and I had not re-installed my window air conditioner. I picked it up, and much to my chagrin, it did not fit anymore! And at that very moment, all four of my limbs cramped up in the most painful way I have ever experienced. With no help in sight, I just fell to the floor with the unit on top, was able to roll it off to the side, and then lay in fetal position for an hour. Only after that I was able to start extending my arms and legs again. Two hours later, I removed the track guides for the window, cut them to fit my required opening, and installed the damn thing!

After that, my gorgeous girlfriend and I went to the wedding of one of my friends. And to keep with the theme, the air conditioner of the church was not working. That is not good news for somebody who sweats as much as I do. They managed to fix it, and everything turned out great. It was a lovely wedding and reception.

Sunday, E and I went biking from my place to the Spruce Run State Park (26mi each way). We went there to see team KB2 (Maija and Genine) do a relay at the Skylands Triathlon. They did awesome, finishing first for female relay teams, and third overall! As for our bike ride, it was really fun. I was dreading the heat and humidity, but I felt really strong throughout the entire ride. On our way back, we found this biking couple that were standing in the middle of the road waving at us. When we slowed down to see if they needed help, they told us that they were just brushing off some bugs. Then get the @#$!%^&* off my road! We made it home, and I felt like I had a good 20mi left in me. And E did great, maintaining a good speed while keeping a nice cadence for the whole ride. Way to go hon!

After the ride, I was going to sit down and start using the software for the heart rate monitor, so I could go all Matt on you with graphs and stuff. However, I just watched football instead, so I'll probably play with the software tonight. As it is, this post is so long that you may think Matt wrote it.

Finally, what is up with with the pool not having any power?

All Hail "Death Magnetic"

2008-09-10T11:28:00.005-04:00

I got to the office today, with the news that I got a pre-sale ticket to the Metallica concert on January 31, 2009 at the Prudential Center in Newark. That puts a hop in my step.

So then I got my copy of the new album, Death Magnetic not really expecting much from it. I became a Metallica fan in 1988 with the release of ...And Justice for All. That is my favorite album of all time. Then the band evolved into a more radio-friendly group. That was fine with the release in 1991 of Metallica (also known as "The Black Album"), but it all went downhill from there. Not that it was bad, but it was not great. That is until the 2003 release of St. Anger which was disappointing.

So I was prepared for another not so good album, thinking that rich 40-something-year-old musicians cannot be expected to produce good angry music. Oh boy, was I wrong! I have already listened to the album twice this morning, and lets just say that it will be looping for a while in my iPod.

The album is full of heavy jams and solos, just like they played back in the 80's. The guitar rifts are either fast or really fast! And the drums have a purpose, no more silly stuff. I'm truly enjoying these developments.

All of the sudden, January 31st can't get here soon enough!

man up!

2008-09-10T10:02:00.003-04:00

i've decided to come to terms w/ my tummy problems and stop moping around the house trying to figure out what to do. the bf was very sweet and brought flowers, pepto, activia yogurt and diet ginger ale when he came to visit on monday. yesterday, after waiting at the doctor's office for 1.5 hours (seriously, if they can't see me until 1:15, don't tell me to come at 11:45!!) i was given some drugs and told, if they don't work, RUN to the hospital and take out your appendix.. so i guess it's just wait and see. i was inspired by my italian colleague who pretty much said "suck it up and deal w/ it" so decided to continue with my training plan, delayed, as scheduled by cm. on the plan for monday was a 2 hour bike ride focusing on high cadence and no run afterwards. it was fun! and a relief to focus on just one thing (cadence and not speed) w/o worrying about the brick. the weather was perfect, too, slightly cool albeit a little damp. then this morning the plan was to do last week's NTT (nameless tri team, for now) track workout, and i borrowed sb's times as a goal. i hear he's faster than me on short distances so i thought it would be a good way to stay motivated. when i saw his times, i was a little intimidated.. ok pretty intimidated b/c my 400s were about 10 seconds slower than his before. 8x400 10k pace w/ 200 rest, then 4x200 "all out" w/ 200 rest. i hope i can count up to 8, i thought.

i've decided that track workouts are kind of fun too b/c i feel like a kid, running around in circles, sometimes fast sometimes slow. it's also fun running in the dark, though a bit hard to check times. where is the halfway mark on the track? sb's averages for the 400's were between 1:30 and 1:40 and mine went from 1:48 to 1:38ish. i did notice that when i felt more confident around the 5th loop, i did manage to pick it up a little with less hectic breathing. i found the the 200's "all out" rather amusing b/c for the life of me i couldn't motivate myself to go "all out." i tried everything, from imagining that i was almost at the finish line for a race, pretending there was a string pulling me forward, picturing sb and everyone else zooming ahead of me, yelling at myself "GO GO GO!!" but my 200 times were pretty much half of my 400 times. it's like my legs are worried that they might actually have to run longer later on so they need to conserve energy. oh well, this was my first full track workout since 2 summers ago so i guess it takes time. if anyone has tips for self motivation, they are welcome.

then onto columbia swim. i'm going to miss the pool when our office moves to wall street. Alpha Male gave some unsolicited advice but i didn't really care b/c she was right (lengthen your stroke, relax) and b/c she's done IMLP. cm said it would be good to swim and chill out if i felt sick. we did 1000 warmup (but i think i did 500, i kept turning around halfway through the lane b/c it is rude to tap someone's foot during a warmup, apparently) then 10x100 pull w/ every 3rd 25 = fly pull, then 10x100 w/ 25 back, 25 breast, 50 free, w/ all of these sets on 1:50. i hate back so subbed all the backs w/ fly, which i'm quite proud of being able to do! but by the 3rd 100 of this set i was feeling nauseous and hot. since i was leading the lane i didn't want to wimp out so decided just to finish the set of 100s and hop out of the pool asap lest i decide to finish the whole workout or throw up in the pool. i'm glad i left on a good set but kind of wish i didn't feel crappy b/c it makes the whole day kind of hazy.

on the side note, A is going to watch screaming people band (metallica) on jan 31 and i am so glad he is not dragging me..

Bummed Out

2008-09-10T09:24:00.002-04:00

We did not participate on the Quakerman Half due to the weather. I checked the weather report for the race site every 30min starting at 2AM. The early reports called for heavy rain, wind gusts, thunder and lighting, but it ended up just being heavy rain. I was concerned not only for the race itself, but I was also concerned for having to drive in an area known for flooding. So we did not go, and I have been beating myself into the ground for not racing.

So on Saturday, I instead did an intense and demanding activity: I cleaned my place. I started with the kitchen (everything around me may crumble, but my kitchen is always clean), then the living room, then the bathrooms, then my room, and did all my laundry. After that, E came back from her workout, we had lunch, and we watched season 1 of Dexter. I thought she would not like it, but there she was, demanding that I play the next DVD as quickly as possible.

I have decided to concentrate my training for two events: the Bassman Half-Ironman, and the Philly Marathon. Everything else will be secondary.

I hope that E feels better soon. She has been having stomach issues for over a week.

grumbling tummy

2008-09-08T11:20:00.003-04:00

can it really be my cooking?? i've been feeling queasy and funny for the past 7 days, especially saturday afternoon til sunday, so i guess it was not a good idea to do a 2-hr recovery run on sunday. standing up and playing keys all day and then helping to tear down the drum set didn't make things better, but i eagerly read cm's race report before bed. at midnight i was having a horrible dream that acid was washing all over my stomach and i woke up to find out that it was true. there is not much worse than being sick and home alone. i rolled around my bed moaning and trying to breathe regularly and then gave it up and started calling people in my area who might be up at 1 a.m. and reached my friend kelvin on attempt #3. since there wasn't a 24-hour urgent care facility around, he took me to the emergency room and stuck it out w/ me until 4 a.m. since it wasn't really an "emergency" i got some drugs and an IV (where i got stabbed 3 times b/c my veins "run away") to calm down the tummy and went home.

so today's workout = NOTHING other than clean the house, and i was really looking forward to a fun 2 hour bike ride as scheduled by cm.

on a side note, seems like Nameless Tri Team did pretty well and had a good time at Buckman yesterday! and chaz, one of our ironman contingent, rocked the Diamondman half, esp the bike. way to go, guys!

anti climax and brs day

2008-09-06T18:03:00.003-04:00

quakerman race report: 3:00 a.m. the weather looked pretty crappy, so it was decided that we wouldn't drive to an event that was looking like it would be cancelled or partially cancelled. i had set my alarm for 4:00 b/c i wanted to check again in an hour..but set it for 4:00 p.m. oops. woke up at 8:30 a.m. what a bummer! ever so resourceful CM (coach maija) suggested that i go for a long bike and swim today instead, where she would time me on a 1.2 mile swim including 100m splits. since i was overloaded with a scone, 5 cookies and major carbs from the day before i was rearing to go.

i biked for about 2 hours and felt good about the cadence and speed, and whenever i had the urge to mash it, tried to pedal faster instead. i'm still a little nervous about biking by myself b/c of my sense of direction (how cool would that be if you had a gps stuck to your bike?!) so there are not a lot of options for me as to where to go (straight, turn only when you have to). i was trying to eat on the go, w/ gatorade every 10 mins and a few bites of a cliff bar every 15 mins but halfway through my cliff bar, some jerk in a car honked at me and i dropped it. doh! well to his credit, i do need to learn how to steer and eat.

original plan was to bike for 3 hours then meet cm and sb at the pool but after about 1:30 of biking i had an urge to do a track workout, or at least try to. so after 2 hours on the bike i put on the running shoes, and since the track was being used for a game, i did intervals of 4x5 mins fast plus 2 mins rest. i swear, time does not pass more slowly than when you're doing interval runs. i didn't feel like i was going very fast although the effort going into it was certainly there.

then onto the swim, and it was a pleasant surprise to see G there w/ matt, and coach joe (or former coach joe). we did the pre-race workout and then maija got me into the timed 1.2 mi swim. we set a goal time of under 37 minutes, which made me nervous! and then we set up a plan that she would indicate every 10 laps w/ her hands, and then the last 10 laps with a kickboard, and the last 1 lap with a yellow stick. so off i went, listening to bohemian rhapsody playing in my head and wondering what the heck is a "fandango", counting out of lack of anything else to keep my pace. i noticed that i was getting nervous (i was worried about making 37 minutes, i thought i was going to do 40) and out of breath, esp on the flip turns so i stroking to the mantras, "relax" and "just keep swimming." i got pretty tired around lengths 40 to 60 and started feeling a little sick again. i started feeling sick during the run since i'm not used to drinking and eating on the go. i was thinking of telling cm that i didn't want to do it anymore but she would probably just kind of stand there at the top of the pool until i kept going, and that pause would have added to my time. finally i was on length 70, in my mind i was gunning it the last 10 and finished. 35:12 baby!! cm pointed out my splits and i had actually done a 1:34 the first 100 and had hit the high 1:40's and even a 1:50 towards the middle and end (when i thought i was going super fast those last 10 laps). looking back, i slowed down after the first few laps b/c i was afraid i wasn't going to be able to keep it up, but then i'll never know if i can keep it up until i try.

so even though today wasn't a race day, it was a really good workout day and i really appreciated cm timing the splits and counting the laps for me. after the swim i just lay on the bench for a good 10 minutes. apparently i am "prone to overtrain" which i have heard from multiple sources for a while, so i need to consider revamping my workouts getting used to a few easy days and a few hard days rather than having some moderately easy and moderately harder days. and eventually work in lifting weights =oP

tapering + carb load = GO GO GO!!

2008-09-05T09:32:00.006-04:00

i am so ready to race. i got most of my crankies out yesterday dumping my problems onto the bf and some other lucky friends. i was up til 1 a.m. 2 nights ago trying to put the regular tire back onto my bike and successfully patched a few holes and still could not pump up the inner tube. i was really frustrated b/c the bike is what i'm most worried about and i haven't been able to practice that, but ended up doing a moderate 45 minute run. i'm going to just buy a trainer wheel b/c i think i've gone through 2 inner tubes in 2 weeks. today was a quick pre-race swim (workout from maija) and then a moderate-slow 30 minute run. trying to sight during the swim was a funny experience- i closed my eyes when my face was in the water and opened them only to breathe and sight, to "simulate" the experience of swimming without seeing much in the water and got myself zigzagging all over the pool! but at least it's good to be prepared for.

so i'm ready. well, mentally ready to just plug through it. dude, if i can walk 11 hours per day for 3 days living on granola bars and trail mix, i think this will be fine.

b/c of hurricane hannah, the race may be cancelled or switched to a bike-run or a run-only event..lame!! i thought it may be sort of fun to swim and run in the rain (but not bike), but if the event isn't an actual triathlon, i think the plan is to skip it. it's not really worth the time to drive down there if we don't do the whole thing. but if we skip it i need to do something with all this energy!!

in other news, i found out that i'm playing keys on sunday for church (liquid), the concluding sunday of a rock series, for 4 services all day from 7 a.m. to about 8:30 p.m. to get ready, i listen to the songs over and over again. i believe i have bohemian rhapsody, sweet child o'mine and final countdown bleeding out of my ears and if there is a race tomorrow, that is all i'll be hearing in my head over and over and over...

taper? what taper?

2008-09-03T09:42:00.003-04:00

countdown to quakerman.. 3 days, so i guess it would be a good time to start tapering. in my extensive history of triathlons, i can honestly say i have not dreaded a race as much as this one. i need to psych myself into thinking that i have it in me to handle this event well and that it will be fun. the swim should not be too bad, the bike will probably feel like i am driving stick in 5th gear up a hill for 3+ hours, and the run, i have no idea. coach jim at swim today told me to swim with the race mentality so you get used to it.. then when we were on 4x200s descending all of the sudden i got really hot and agitated and out of breath just like on race day. maybe all of that pre-race nervousness will be done with by saturday.

labour day weekend was fantastic-- started with a massage on thursday night with maija and G, then a swim (w/ claudia, sb and bob) and track workout on friday morning. i was trying to channel gatorade bob during the swim and noticed that i am a lot more relaxed swimming w/ the aquaholics than at columbia. my favourite part of the track workout was the 4x 200 all out followed by 200 recovery. since i had gotten kicked out of the track b/c of football practice, i did a revised version running through the neighbourhoods and felt like i was playing "red light green light." then saturday i got up early to do a long run, which was highly enjoyable because i did 1:02 one way and made it back in 57:30 (i usually make as few turns as possible b/c i tend to get lost very easily). sunday was a quick bike/run and then a long swim in the long pool. my bike was annoying b/c i had tried to take the training tire off but i guess i had pinched the inner tube and then put the back wheel on so that it was rubbing the brake...so my bike was acting like a choo choo train and i am so surprised that my tire didn't deflate until after my ride. then we had the best bbq of the summer at sb and G's party pad!
maija was nice enough to coach me through an interval run and bike on labour day. running with her is like the tortoise and the hare and i was relieved that we only did 3x5:00 fast. she says i need to get used to the pain in my lungs. transition time from the run to bike = about 1 hour b/c we had to go to matt's to ask him to help me change my tire (and sneak a few cookies). i tried to repeat the intensity of monday's run on tuesday but just couldn't get myself fast enough on my own volition.. at one point (during the 4th interval or so) my lungs started to hurt and i was like YES!! i was thinking about what should dangle in front of me to motivate my going faster. then columbia swim yesterday and today, and an attempt to tackle the trainer again. my stroke feels all funny on the swim b/c it is slow and i feel so self conscious about rotation, keeping my head down, swimming through molasses, etc. but it's still fun.

our office is moving to wall street in the next few weeks. does anyone know of a good pool/tri club in that area?

new plan: hijack the aquaholic's track workouts from wednesday, use sb's run time as a guideline and try to do my own track workout on thursdays.

i also realize that if i want to get some good nutrition in, i need to stay away from trying to cook (and by "cook" i mean do anything that requires using heat in the kitchen). i have a knack for giving myself a tummy ache (boiling veggies?!) about one out of every 3 times.

A strange week

2008-09-02T09:02:00.002-04:00

This week is going to be weird. We are doing a half-ironman on Saturday. The fact that the race is Saturday and not Sunday has my whole routine screwed up. On top of that, Monday was off, so that also affects all my plans. I just need to relax and get to the race ready to go.

On Saturday, I went to scout the course for the race. The lake is beautiful! Hopefully, I will think the same when I am done with the race. During the race, immediately after getting on the bike, we will have to climb out of the park and to the main road. The bike course consists of an 18.5mi loop done three times. The course includes some rolling hills, which are not steep, but they are long. I did a little over two loops (I got lost the first time) and then did a 45min brick. I was looking for the run course, but I could not find it, so I just ran around the park.

On Sunday, I went on a 2.5hr run. I kept a steady and relaxed pace, except for a 30min pickup that I did in the middle, at a fast pace. Then I went to the still-nameless-tri-team official BBQ, where we had a good time eating and drinking to our pleasure. Thanks to Matt and Genine for hosting!

On Monday, I went to the gym for a quick run and lifting workout. After that, I went to the office for a few hours to advance some of my projects. Then I went home, got on the bike, and rode 40mi at a steady pace, followed by a brisk 20min brick.

Today, I went to the pool. Wow, I had not swum since Thursday morning, and much to my surprise, I kind of missed it. I did the following workout: 300m wu, 500m fins, 200m pull, 3x150m @0:15, 100m drill, 3x100m @0:10, 200m cd. After that, I went to the gym and did the 45min spinning class, which was a nice high-cadence workout. Then I did an easy 30min run around the hills near the gym, and then I did my chest/triceps workout.

I am pondering what I would do for the rest of the week. I don't know if I should do a track workout tomorrow. I know I won’t be able to bike until Thursday afternoon, and then that would be an easy ride. Tapering sux!

from one idiot to another

2008-08-28T10:11:00.004-04:00

i have had so much trouble trying to put the stupid orange training tire on my bike and then trying to figure out how to put my bike on the trainer that i bought from maija a while ago. yesterday it took me 20 minutes to put the tire on, then 10 minutes to try to put the bike on. !$#!#%! wasted time at 4 to 5 in the morning makes me cranky b/c i keep thinking "i could be sleeping!" so i went to the treadmill and got in 4 miles of interval running but at a higher speed than tuesday then rushed to the pool. the pool was pretty empty again so i shared a lane w/ only one person w/ whom it took forever for me to discover that he was not the same man as yesterday. this guy, robert, used to be in lane 1 and then injured his shoulder so he is stuck in lane 5, but he wanted to keep up with lane 4 so i was pretty tired. i realized that i have been absolutely stiff and unrelaxed and over-kicking since coming back from england b/c i'm anxious to speed up.. so then i relaxed and kicked less and tried a lot less harder and was actually faster. amazing!

when i got home from work, i was determined to put the bike on the trainer and after whining to SB and G about it online, finally figured out how to fit in on (this is after turning the trainer around backwards and forwards a few times b/c i couldn't figure out which way was the front). whoopee!

original plan this morning was to use the trainer for an hour, focusing on high cadence and gradually shifting to higher gears, then run for 30 to 40 mins. about 25 minutes into it, i got so into watching the democratic national convention on t.v. that i stood up on my bike and whoops! fell over ever so slowly onto the carpet. i even had time to clip out on both sides while falling over. when i tried to put the bike back on the trainer, the bike was tilted sideways so i figured that would not be good for form, lasted 5 more minutes and decided just to run for about 1:10.

i bumped into old dude #3, we pounded fists and kept going (thank goodness we were going in opposite directions and away from a hill). then i was passing this other guy and gave him a "hello" nod but he was kind of rude and yelled, "how come the only runners i see here are asian!"

i was surprised.. b/c: 1) the idiot is running in fort lee, where there is a major korean population, 2) i personally don't know very many asians who are athletes, 3) i guess when i am doing something like sbr, i am not really cognizant of my ethnicity (or that of other people) 4) how weird would it be if i had said something like that to him?

of course i could not think of a smart comeback until about 5 minutes after he left. good thing i am such a fast thinker on my feet.

The Weather Rocks!

2008-08-27T14:32:00.004-04:00

These past days, the weather has been so nice! If it only stayed like this for the whole year! But no, I'm sure that is all a set up, and that the nasty weather will rear its ugly head when I least need it. But such is life.

Monday I woke up early for my swim workout. Monday is the day when I struggle with my swimming form, because I don't swim during the weekends. It is funny how that works. Once I start to get tired, then my form improves. This has to do with my shoulders relaxing, and I stop trying to muscle my way through the water, and my reach gets longer and more relaxed.

After work, I went to buy some suits. I have a few weddings coming, and my current suits were bought back in my couch potato days. So a few years later, and 50lbs lighter, I decided that it was time to stop looking like a bag of potatoes when I wear my suits. According to the tailor, my measurements are all screwed up, meaning they don't fit any of the standard jacket sizes. My shoulders and chest are too broad for my height, and my arms are longer than normal for my height. So he'll have to do a lot of modifications to the suits that I bought. So after spending way too much money on that, I went for a deep-tissue sports massage. I'll say it again: I don't know why I did not include this in my training routine before.

Tuesday's swim workout consisted of 10x100m with 50m drill in between, with a 300m warm-up and a 200m cool-down. Then after work, I went to E's place, and went running in the park for a crisp 1hr run. The highlight of my run was almost tackling a few pedestrians who don't look when coming out of restaurants. Hey, they are messing with my running time! Out of the way!

This morning I went to the pool and did 1600m at a steady pace. Then I met Bob, Matt, and Maija for a track workout. After squeezing our way through the locked fence, we did 4x1200m and 4x200m. My times for the 1200m were 4:38, 4:45, 4:49, and 4:50. For the 200m I did 0:38, 0:40, 0:42, and 0:41. We were certainly no Usain Bolts out there! After the workout, I have that good soreness feeling. There is nothing like a good workout! Tonight, I may go riding for a little bit, but I may just go to the gym to do my shoulder routine instead. I have got to give the tailor something new to complain about!

pb boys

2008-08-26T16:29:00.003-04:00

what is up w/ guys and their attachment to pull buoys?

at swim today, the pool was quite sparse so i split a lane with a friendly and lean man named dan who was surprisingly slower than me in back (is that possible?!) but only for 1 lap. he was faster than me by about 0.5 to 1 second without the pull buoy and about 2 to 3 seconds faster with, and his flip turns kicked my butt (w/ the pb, too! i still haven't figured out how to maneuver that). i am still all confused with my stroke so it felt like i was swimming in slow motion, and i was having some trouble breathing (b/c of the slow motion) but i guess things will get better in time. i had decided to try to take a caffeinated gu before swim b/c of all this talk about eating and nutrition during workouts, but it is pretty much confirmed now that caffeine makes me sleepy. i need to figure out what works for me nutrition-wise, as it would probably be helpful before the half that's in less than 2 weeks. before swim i had done my 2nd least favourite thing, intervals on the treadmill for 4.5 miles. my 1st least favourite thing is weight training which i have been avoiding for a few months but will be forced to do come IMLP training time.

yesterday's workout was a 1:18 bike ride followed by a :41 run, trying to get into the run a little faster from the beginning. it was still dark when i left home and i was trying to tell the sun to hurry up and rise but i guess i'll have to start using the trainer.

i had gotten the phone number of a triathlon coach from Strictly Bicycles last week, but was too chicken to give him a call until today. hopefully he'll be affordable and helpful.

can't wait for the weekend!! already. bike and bbq and family time..what could be better than that! and the weather is fantastic.

question:
- what are some workouts you can do on the trainer to work on higher cadences and increasing resistance?

Power Outage

2008-08-24T23:19:00.003-04:00

Saturday was a blur. E and I ran at 5:30AM for 1.5hrs, then got to the beach at 9AM, got back to my place at 3PM, then we were at Newark at 7PM, and finally back at my place by 11PM. It is funny how she does not mention that she mostly slept while I was driving. Such short memory... But it was all a good time. The weather was excellent all day!

On Sunday, I slept in until 7:30AM, then went to the gym to lift weights. Then back home, to get my bike. I had to meet E and the rest of the Aquaholics for a bike/run workout. So I rode my bike to meet them at the Round Valley Park, which is 18mi away from home, with some good hills on the way. Only Maija and E were there to do the workout. We rode for 17mi, and then ran for perhaps 5mi. It was all good, and my legs did not feel dead when we did the brick.

Then I rode back home. I knew before starting that it was going to be a struggle, but I wanted to ride tired, so that I can get used to it. Well, I got what I was looking for, as the heat was really getting to me (it was past 2PM at this point). The only thing that kept me going was the knowledge that I would get home to a nice shower, and then rest with the A/C on.

Well, I made it home alright. But there was a blackout in my block. So I got my rest with no A/C!!! And with all the sun that I took, my body was really dissipating some heat. So I was feeling like crap for a while. It was very anticlimatic. I can do crazy workouts, but I need some comfort when I get done. And we did not get power back until 8:30PM!

hey baby, your legs must be tired

2008-08-24T21:35:00.003-04:00

back in action! thursday was a normal bike/run, i had planned to do 1:30 bike and then a :45 run at least but i bumped into an idiot on the road who had gotten a flat tire and had only brought with him those plastic things to take your tire off (my usage of terminology is amazing, right, mel?). he asked me for a pump but it didn't fit his replaced inner tube, so he asked me for a patch to repair a hole in his inner tube. i was sort of annoyed and i wanted to yell at him, "do you think i got up early so i could wait for you to use my stuff?!" but pansy that i am didn't say much but kept looking at my watch. so that cut down my run time and i was hit with a craving for a peanut butter and banana sandwich, making my ride back slightly faster.

friday i decided to bike to the pool, do masters, bike back to my place to drop off my bag and then do a ride, giving my ankles a break from running. since i am so good at time management, i had to bike kind of hard to get to the pool, and then found out that our workout would be mostly kicks. what luck.. Alpha Male was actually nice to me, which was a bit of a relief. afterwards i biked back home and then did intervals of 5 mins race pace (trying to do the big ring at high cadence) + 2 mins break. my legs thought all this leg work was a little unfair but tough luck, ladies.

then saturday was beach day!! since the driver wanted to leave early to avoid traffic, i got up at 5 to run, but apparently i needed a chaperon since it was dark. it was a decent run for me but probably a bit easy for A, since he was gliding along while i was trying to keep up. we ran for about 1:30 and then i had a couple nice naps on the beach.

sunday was sbr day w/ maija and supposedly some other aquaholics. maija and i went swimming in new providence in an outdoor 50m pool and i realized that my back/breast are awful but i can't be motivated to improve on them. i mean, working on free is enough and it's not like if a shark is chasing me i'm going to do backstroke. it was really nice to tan and swim at the same time, though, b/c i haven't done so since london. the next event was to bike and run the buckman course with A and some aquaholics who were going to do the tri, but it turned out that it was only A, maija and me. coach maija gave me some good tips on both the bike and run, and i was quite tired then and going with the mentality of "just finish." i was watching maija zoom ahead of me and thinking, "how does that girl have all that energy? must be the organic gatorade." maija was like a porsche, A like a bmw and then here comes e, plodding along like an 87 camry with duct tape on the side. i was pretty wiped out when we were done but superA biked it home while i chilled out in the car.

so vacation is officially over and i must say it got better and better. can't wait for bike and bbq in coundown, 7 days!

Back on the Road... Bike

2008-08-22T11:10:00.005-04:00

My hate for all things related to biking has subsided enough for me to saddle up again. At the same time, all those aches brought by the Ramapo rally are gone. These developments occur not a moment too soon, because the Quakerman 70.3 is in two weeks.

I would have biked yesterday afternoon, but I had to go visit E and her bbbf and wife (I'm open minded) Mel, who is visiting from Hong Kong. It was very nice to finally meet her, as E is always talking about her. We went for some delicious Korean food, and then some dessert.

This morning I went swimming early. After a 300m warm up, I did 20 X (50m race-25m drill), followed by a 200m cool down. This is the second day in a row that I do this workout, and I really like it. In the future, I will increase the race distance, but for now, this workout feels really good for me. Then got out of the pool, went home, ditched the car, and got on the bike to go to work.

The ride was good. My legs felt loose and strong. The commute itself is less than 20 miles, so I concentrated on going as fast as I could while doing a high cadence. Before getting to the office, I went to the gym to do my arms/back routine. Then I went to the office, where I had a wheat donut as a reward for my gas saving commute.

The only problem is that my body is asking for a longer workout right now. I can't seat still at my desk. At least, I know that I get to bike home. I have to decide if I'm going directly to my place, drop my bag and then go on a longer ride, or just do the extended ride with my bag, and then go home. And then a brick will be required.

As for the weekend, the girlfriend somehow thinks that Saturday has 36hrs. She wants (in no particular order) get a workout done, watch a movie, go to the beach, be back in the Hillsborough area to meet a friend in the afternoon, and attend a BBQ for another friend in the Newark area. And then on Sunday... Lets just say that I may need to take Monday off to recover from all the "rest and fun" that I'll be having this weekend.

swimming in molasses

2008-08-20T15:28:00.003-04:00

track workouts! i am so jealous, although if i were to do one, i'd probably hate it too.

my bbbbbbf and wife (sorry, A, but the news has been on facebook!) mel is coming to visit from hong kong and i can't wait to see her!

jet lag and the urge to pee woke up me up at 3:30 a.m. (around the time A wakes up normally) but i lay in bed until 4 trying to get back to sleep. i waited impatiently for the sun to come up so i could go biking so i putzed around my place cleaning up. then when i went to pump up my rear wheel (which, incidentally, i had brought to EMS to get the inner tube changed for a reason that i can't remember) i amazingly and instantly deflated the tire and felt like a royal idiot b/c i couldn't figure out how to pump it. i was so annoyed..what an anticlimax! i thought about calling A but it was 5:51 and he would be on the track. i even hauled my lame bike to the doorman and asked him to give it a try, still unsuccessful. doorman laughed at me and said, "well, i guess you have to run." i guess so. btw the doormen (yes, all men) in my building are the best support team. they hold my keys and if i come back "too early" they tease me for not running long enough.

original plan was to bike for 1 or 1.5 hours and then run longer than i usually do for a brick to get ready for the half, then bike to the pool for a lesson. i ended up running for 2:09 but i went at my regular 1:30 pace for most of it. it was so wonderfully refreshing to be back in the park, and the weather was perfect, i felt like i was absorbing it. there are a couple of long hills so i repeated them just for the heck of it, and on my way down a hill for the second time, i ran into Old Guy #3 (there are 3 old guys i bump into at the park, #1 walks #2's dog and meets #2 halfway, and i have raced #3 up a hill a couple times and he has always kicked my butt) so we raced up the hill but i guess he was too tired today.

then off to columbia for a lesson that i had scheduled b/c i was anxious about losing form after not swimming for 10 days. when i got into the water to do a 50, i was like OMG i'm swimming! b/c i think i had half-expected to sink like a rock. abby, an assistant coach for the masters class, teaches kids so i really liked her analogies. it is funny though, whenever swim coaches imitate how your stroke should be with the rotation and all, i really don't get it. she gave me some really good tips but i find myself swimming surprisingly smoothly but incredibly slowly with a lot of effort.. here we go again!

i am so excited to be back in action! this probably sounds funny but it feels good to have semi-sore muscles again, and when maija said sunday's swim would be a hard swim i got all excited. in london i had done a slow 1:00, slow 1:30 and slightly faster 1:35 the last 3 days of the trip just to check if my ankles could take it. still a little sore but i think it is just something to add to list of Right Leg Pains, which include the sciatica if i run longer than an hour and the knee that feels like it is tearing if i take large strides. i actually tore something in my knee in college trying to learn how to breakdance which is only slightly embarrassing...

Sheeple

2008-08-20T09:10:00.008-04:00

I don't like track workouts. I think if you like track workouts, then you are not doing them right. Even though I know how helpful they are for improving running race times, I am guilty of neglecting track workouts, and substituting them with interval training workouts. Even when I get to the track by myself, I start doing the workout, and after a few sprints, transition to something else without finishing the speed drills.

So when I got the email saying the Aquaholics (or the Nowhere Tri Team... or the Noname Tri Team...) were meeting at 5:45AM for a track workout, two things came to my mind. First of all, why so late? (As they roll their eyes reading this.) Second, misery loves company. I was happy to share my suffering with other pain enthusiasts. When it comes to these workouts, I prefer to be part of a group, in which the herd mentality is going to get us through the task at hand. Yeap, I am happy to be part of the sheeple.

So I got to the pool at 4:45AM and was surprised to see a lot of people at the door. It was so crowded there were two swimmers in every lane, which is unusual for that time of the day. The word must be out. I swam 1600m at a steady pace, got out of the pool, changed into my running clothes, and awaited for the rest of the herd.

The workout consisted of 1x1600m at 10K pace, 2x800m at 5K pace, and 4x400m all-out. Normally, my 10K pace is 1:40/400m; my 5K pace is 1:35/400m; and I estimate my all-out pace is 1:25/400m. Going in, I was a little concerned about my right calf, which is in a little pain after the Ramapo Rally. However, the herd pushed my pace in all distances, so I ended up doing 1:35 for my 10K pace, and 1:30 for my 5K pace. For my four all-out sprints, I ended up doing 1:21, 1:25, 1:32 (lost it on that one), and 1:24.

So I am very happy with the results. I am also delighted to know that this will become a weekly workout for us, which in the end will prove beneficial for all. Thanks to Maija for coming up with the workout, Matt for checking the track availability, Todd for making sure we all kept our times, and Claudia for summarizing everybody's feeling by saying: "This sux!" Amen sister. Thinking of it, I was the black sheep, as I did not do anything!

The Golden Boy

2008-08-18T10:59:00.005-04:00

My mother called me to tell me the news. She did not need to, as I was following the results online. Irving did it! He won gold! At 9:45AM ET he was the gold medal winner in the Long Jump. And a tiny country of 3.3 million celebrates! I would love to be down there right now.

I watched in horror Saturday (not on TV, thanks NBC) as he barely qualified for the final in his last jump. Today, he did not need his last jump. This is the third overall medal for Panama in Olympic history, joining the two bronze medals won by Lloyd LaBeach in 1948 in the 100m and 200m in Track and Field.

As for me, I did a recovery swim today. I did 150 lengths at a steady (read slow) pace. I am limping a little from the bike ride, but I should be OK by tomorrow. Because this is my rest day, there will be no second workout after work today.

Matt asked me this morning if I thought the ride was more difficult than a Half-Iroman. I had to think about it for a moment. I think that the half was tougher, but I was motivated to finish at all costs. I did not have that kind of motivation yesterday, and thus, it became very difficult to finish.

And looking at my calendar, I see another century ride this weekend. Oh well...

Survival Mode

2008-08-17T22:14:00.007-04:00

I woke up this morning with a queasy stomach. As I was driving to the starting point of the ride, I was considering if trying to do 125mi was too ambitious for me on this day. I got there, and looked at the cue sheets. I had until mile 35 to decide if i was going to do only 62mi. At mile 55, I had to decide whether to do 100mi or 125mi. It was all going to depend on how I felt at the moment.

Mile 0: I left the starting area at 7AM. There was a hill at the very start of the ride. Before I had time to warm up, I was already climbing. I noticed that the road markers were too close to the turns, and in some cases, after stop signs.

Mile 22: The A riders passed me, and I stayed with them for 12mi until the first rest stop at mile 22. They were averaging about 23 miles on rolling hills. Being honest with myself, I knew that I would not be able to keep that pace and still do 125mi.

Mile 35: I decided to keep going and not do the 62mi turn. I was feeling really good at this point. I almost had a really bad crash here though, as I was coming down a hill at 30+MPH, there was a blind turn coming, and when I hit the brakes there was a lot of sand on the road. I was able to clip out and maintain control, but still ended on the opposite sidewalk of the perpendicular road. Luckily, no cars were coming at that instant.

Mile 52: Second rest stop. Getting here was a struggle, as there were long climbs for 15mi, with very few descents. The worst was that there were several traffic lights and stops, so there were a few times that I had to keep climbing after stopping, losing all my momentum. I got here at 10:30AM, and I was averaging under 17MPH for the whole ride. At this moment, I had long ago abandoned the idea of the 125mi. The return to my car was going to be a struggle.

Mile 72: Third rest stop. I felt like crap when I got here. I was cramping up whenever I left the saddle. Staring at mile 60, I started dividing the remaining distance in 10mi segments. I thought of giving up at this rest stop, but I decided to keep going...

Mile 103: MILE 103????????? The three additional miles really freaked me out. My mind was really playing games, and not reaching the starting point at mile 100 caused a flood of doubts. Did I miss a turn? Could I finish? I was so happy when I saw the signs for the end of the ride. I got here at 1:45PM. I averaged just above 16.5MPH.

Overall, I did not have a good time during this ride. The weather was nice, but by noon I was really hot. I was cursing at myself for not doing the 62mi ride (you would be DONE now, my mind kept saying). I may do this Rally again, but I need to rest a little before tackling it. This bike ride was hillier than the Black Bear Tri. I ran on Saturday, and I wish that I had not. I am limping right now, but I do not think that this limp will last long. I hope that this does not mess up my training this coming week.

we'll get there when we get there

2008-08-15T18:38:00.002-04:00

85 miles in 37.5 hours over 3 and a quarter days.. i think 3 words to describe the trip would be beautiful, mind-numbing and painful. i hope this is the last time i sign up for something before really understanding what it entails. oops, i guess other than the IM. i'm feeling kind of silly for thinking that this trip would be a minor diversion from regular training and my ankles are really paying for it!

btw, i can't believe KOTB is doing this ramapo rally thing bc he was challenged into it by someone else's ego! i know he will kick a$$ though.

day 1: after a car, bus, train and taxi ride, we start off at one end of hadrian's wall, which is around newcastle. it's already 6 p.m. so we just walk 3.5 hours to destination number 1, the holiday inn express. yes, we're definitely roughing it! the company- bruce, with whom i had run the ny marathon in 2006, and bruce's jovial friend nate. i was glad to be "one of the guys" as we were pretty happy sharing poop and fart jokes.

day 2: walk from newcastle to chollerford, starting around 8 a.m. and after lunch and dinner breaks, end up in the b&b around 9:30 p.m. the path was scenic and beautiful as we wound our way around and through fields, navigating through sheep and cow poop. by late morning, my right ankle was starting to wobble, i guess i did not bother training much for this walk. by dinner time the pain was shooting up my leg so i took a couple advils. when we finished the last 2.5 miles to the b&b in chollerford, i asked for an ice pack, collapsed into a chair and cried. i don't believe i've ever cried out of physical pain before, and i was feeling frustrated, scared and so far away from being comfortable. i was feeling so miserable i finished all of the m&m's in my trail mix. that was the night i learned that i could sleep dirty as well!

day 3: chollerford to walton (i know these places don't mean much to anyone but it helps me to keep track). with fresh resolve and a makeshift bandage around my right ankle, bruce and i kept walking while nate took a bus to meet us at a halfway point. the scenery was getting more and more beautiful, with fields and mountains, and the wall snaking through with a fort here and there. it was also raining and getting a bit muddy, so we walked mostly on the road. i didn't realize that it could be such a mind-numbing experience. i found out that my ankle hurts less when i walk faster so i went on ahead of the guys. the last part of the walk entailed going through the woods and it was getting dark so i was glad to get to the next b&b at 8:30. this one had a fireplace and it was nice and cozy. i missed A so gave him a call for all of 34 seconds to let him know that i was still alive. the people at the b&b thought the 3 of us were a bit crazy to attempt a 5 to 8 day walk in 3.5 days, and it was around this point when i realized that we were attempting a 5 to 8 day walk in 3.5 days.

day 4: walton to (the end!) bowness on solway. by now, i had accepted that our daily walk would take about 11 hours and that my ankles would hurt, so i set a goal finish time, wrapped up both ankles and set out with bruce in the rain. i believe i never want to see cow poop again and that i have seen more sheep and cows and ponies than i have ever seen in my lifetime, put together, times 10. the path was through the fields again, and a bit slippery. we wound our way through some lovely fields of flowers. i had found out that my trail shoes were part of the problem in making my ankles hurt so i had put on teva sandals that had been pretty good to me in ethiopia. the sandals were fine but got a little slippery in the mud, which wasn't bad until the rain started coming down harder and the mud and cow poop were starting to blend together. by the afternoon i was cursing the pain in my ankles and was sloshing through the fields, knee deep (no joke!) in mud until we finally found the road and i swore i wouldn't go back on the path again. we were a bit disappointed to find out that in all of our two hours of wading in the rain, we still had 9 miles to go to the finish line. the boys decided to bus the last 6 miles but i swallowed it and kept going. when i hit the 6-mile remaining sign, the sun was finally out and i finally found zen, put on my ipod and shuffled through a few more small towns. i was joyfully counting down the miles remaining until i got my way to the end of the walk, went to our b&b and promptly took a shower to wash off the cow-stink. then i hobbled over to a pub for dinner and dessert. chocolate cake and a glass of wine never tasted so good.

we decided to forego part 2 of the trip (hiking 3 peaks in 24 hours) which i don't regret bc i really want to get back into training condition to get ready for the half in a couple weeks. but we did manage to squeeze in a trip to whales and i got to kayak in a lake that i was itching to dive into for a swim! until she can run again, miss antsy-pants is back...

Jump Irving!

2008-08-15T11:47:00.004-04:00

I was planning on riding my bike to work today. However, the forecast called for rain all day, so I decided no to do it. It is almost noon and while it is overcast, there is no rain to speak of. I'm kind of antsy to go on a bike ride. Yesterday afternoon, there was a thunderstorm that prevented any outdoor activities. I guess that I'll have to leave it until Sunday at the Ramapo Rally.

This morning I did 100 lengths at the pool. On Fridays, I have decided not to do any sets at the pool, just swim continuously for an hour. I do not find it boring, but I can see why people would think it is. After that, I went running for 1hr, followed by my shoulder routine.

Tomorrow, I will wake up early to go on a 2+hr run. I have to schedule it so that I can be back in front of the TV at 8AM, when the preliminaries for the Olympic Long Jump competition will be held. This is the only hope for a medal that my country has in Beijing. Actually, it will be the first Olympic medal of any kind in over 50 years for Panama. The athlete, Irving Saladino is the current World Champion. He had the longest jump in the world so far this year, and the 5th longest ever! The Olympic record was set back in 1968, and the world record in 1991.

So I will be rooting hard at 8AM. Screaming will be required. And this is just for the qualifiers...

Signing up for the Rally

2008-08-12T11:38:00.007-04:00

When the hiker told me that she was leaving me for 10 days, I looked for events or races to keep me occupied during her absence. That is how my idea to ride the Ramapo Rally came around. I was told by somebody that knows things related to cycling (in his mind, everything) that this was a challenging and hilly ride. So I thought of doing the 62mi ride, which sounds like a good workout.

That was until I went to register for the ride. First, there was the logo. With a logo like that, I feel like they are challenging me. Half the hills are down? Really? Are you teasing me?

And then, there is the description on the website. I quote: "Both the rolling to moderately hilly 62- and 100-mile routes..." Moderately hilly? So then am I a wimp for only doing 62mi?

More from the description: "For those stronger riders looking for a challenge, we are offering a 25 mile hilly extension to the century for a double metric (125)..." Yeap, only wimps do the 62mi.

So now I am all geared up to go on the 125mi ride. Because while half of the hills are down, the other half are still up! And if you hear me complaining about it come Monday, well... you are still going have to put up with it because I am the KOTB!

KOTB

2008-08-11T09:12:00.009-04:00

So the girlfriend has abandoned me to my fate, and went hiking. Notwithstanding all the mountains that surround us, she has to cross the ocean to do it. She even had the gall to leave on my birthday! For that, I have proclaimed myself King of This Blog! As the KOTB, I will do as I please, until she gets word of it, and then we'll do as she pleases.

So Saturday morning I dropped the hiker at the airport, then went to the post office to mail all the packages that she gave me just before leaving. There was a huge line at the post office at 9AM. It is like everybody thinks to go at the same time. I'm sure that it was empty at 10AM; it had to be, with so many people in line early. Oh well.

I went home and made the mistake of turning on the TV to the Olympics. All of the sudden, I'm watching stuff like handball (played that in high school), volleyball, women saber, and so on. And watching all these athletic displays, it dawned on me that I had not done my workout yet! It was time to get on the bike. I rode my bike from my home in Hillsborough to the Washington Crossing Park in PA. It was such a gorgeous day, that I just stayed in the park for 2 hrs, wishing that I had brought my running shoes with me. I really went all out on my way home, and my lower back hurt when I got home. Took a shower, went out for dinner with some friends, and then to bed.

I woke up Sunday with a stiff lower back. After a hot shower and some stretching, I went running for 3 hrs. The weather was ok, but it was getting overcast quickly. My lower back pain came back with a vengeance, and now my shoulders and neck were hurting too. So I went to get a massage. This has never been part of my training, and now that I had one, I don't know why. I was so relaxed and loose after it, that I was spaced out. I look forward get one every two weeks.

This morning I went to the pool early again, and then did the Masters class. I guess that I need to rethink doing that on Mondays. By the time the class started, I was tired. And I guess the coach was inspired by the 4x100m men relay last night (awesome btw), and wanted us to embrace our inner Phelps or Lezak. He had us sprinting 4x25m, 4x50m, 4x75m, 4x25, 2x50, and 1x100, with pulling in between sets. At that point though, I was embracing my inner anchor, and was more likely to end up in the bottom of the pool than to swim fast.

Geek factoid: it is not the weight of the anchor that holds a ship in position, but the weight of the chain. I have always found funny that they call the last person on a relay team the anchor. So is this person supposed to be slow? I went to a maritime academy, and every year, the person that graduates with the lowest GPA is called the Anchorman. When they get to his/her diploma, they stop the ceremony, announce his name as the anchorman, and then hand him a prize. For the prize, every classmate gives $2 dollar in pennies, and this is handed to him during the graduation ceremony in two sacks full of pennies. Good times!

Aren't you glad that you are reading all this stuff? But then again, I'm the KOTB!

"and now the fun begins"

2008-08-09T20:18:00.003-04:00

plane time from nj to london = 6 hours. transportation time from airport in london to bruce's in london = 4 hours. what a day!

i managed to squeeze in a run before flying out this morning b/c i knew i'd be antsy on the plane if i didn't. my legs were very grateful to be allowed to run without having to bike beforehand, and i was loving the fantastic weather and watching the sun come up along the river. then i pulled another few brilliant moments when i really didn't know which airport in london i was flying to, wasn't aware that i was late for my flight, and upon arriving in london, realized that i didn't know much about hadrian's wall (where we'll be hiking) and that i didn't have a clue as to how i was going to meet my friend bruce. i was pretty excited that my bag is heavy enough for me to feel like i'll get a good workout in every day but did pack a jump rope in case. susan had a good idea of treating this like boot camp and getting in pushups, abs etc. during this time. tomorrow will be my off day since we're only doing 6 miles and i think it's a few straight days of hiking/walking from morning til dinner after that. 2 t-shirts & 2 pairs of shorts for 4-5 days.. woo hoo!

happy birthday to A!

danger zone

2008-08-08T11:06:00.002-04:00

i biked to work today! i purposely chose the slowest route w/ the most traffic lights during rush hour so i could get an idea of the longest time it would take for me to go from the george washington bridge to upper east side. not a great workout biking-wise but a lot of fun nonetheless. it was a pleasant way to say goodbye to my bike for the time being. and it was such a gorgeous morning!

this afternoon i'm going to bike back to harlem to lend my bike to a friend in med school for two weeks while i'm away, then run home from harlem. i guess i should have looked up her hospital address on a map before committing to running home from "wherever she is" (now it looks like it's going to be a significant run) but oh well..no backing out now! i'm seeing a pattern here of esther not really thinking before she decides to do something.

maija, paul and i did a fun workout this morning and i was glad to finally feel my muscles getting tired during the swim since wednesday and thursday swims were a little on the relaxed side. our goal was 2x500 w/ 1:00 rest, 5x200 w/ :45 rest and 10x100 w/ :30 rest. i was really trying to keep up w/ maija more or less and alternated between trying to power through strokes and then suddenly realizing that i have more fun and go at the same speed if not faster when i relax.. it was such a schizophrenic swim, if i could see myself swimming, i would probably be amused. we managed to last through the 5th 100, and to try to get in the last 500m, i did a 200 im and a 300 im. it is fun swimming w/ maija b/c i think we both enjoy working hard even if i'm not at the same level. it is also fun w/ s.b. but i think he is having too much fun on vacation.

my vacation starts tomorrow! can't wait to live on power bars and trail mix for the next 6 days..

Again? AGAIN!!!!!!!!

2008-08-08T10:21:00.002-04:00

Before I forget, I just want to set the record straight. I think the girlfriend misunderstood my previous post regarding Palisades Park. I said that I did not remember the name, not that I did not know about the park. She forgets that the three other times that I ran in it, it was 4AM, and the park was pitch-black dark (and... mmm... closed to the public... mmm...). Monday was the first time that I actually got to see the park, even though it was my fourth visit.

I am fully into the whole swimming at 4:45AM thing now. I even get to stand around with the other regulars waiting for the door to be opened, and then stand by your lane until the lifeguard give us the "go in the water" signal; all while displaying my best "charming", "friendly", and "approachable" qualities. I have noticed that I'm not thinking about my form at all, and that the stroke is just coming to me very naturally. I'm so relaxed that now I'm losing count of my laps, but that is OK. I'm working on breathing to both sides as recommended by the coach (I keep telling you all, I'm a bad swimmer), but this has proven more difficult. Good thing that I don't live in England, because if during races I had to swim in a clockwise direction, I would never be able to see the buoys! I'll keep working on it, though.

On Wednesday after work, I went on a 1.5HR bike ride. I was working on my cadence, and just kept shifting a lot as needed. I kept telling myself: "when in doubt, shift gears!", and that was working fine. I covered 32 miles, so that was not too shabby. And then I went for a brick run, and my legs were fresh. They felt like I had not biked at all! I went on a fast 30min run. I think the brick training is working, but I'll only be satisfied when this happens during a race.

This morning after swimming, I decided to run the hills around my gym. Instead of doing my regular 2.5mi loop, I just decided to do "suicide hills", running from the bottom of the longest hill to the top, and then jogging back to the bottom. It takes me a minute to sprint to the top of this hill, and about two minutes to come down. I was planning on doing it 5 times, but because it was such a lovely morning, I ended up doing it 10 times. After the 8th time, my legs were in serious debate with my mind about the whole thing. Legs were asking: "Again? Are you sure?"; and my mind went in full drill instructor mode: "AGAIN!!!!!!" So I finished, went inside, was barely able to do my shoulder routine, took a shower, and came to the office to be a productive person. I am in need of a nap.

playing pretend

2008-08-07T14:43:00.003-04:00

maija said that teaching adults and teaching kids are two different things, so i guess i have yet to grow up. i have resorted to playing mind games to see if they help improve my form. for the swim, i'm pretending that i'm on drugs and so tired that i just have to relax. for the bike, my big ring is mysteriously broken until i can go 80 to 85 rpms on a consistent basis and then it will miraculously fix itself once i can. for the run, i have a string holding me up from my head and a string pulling me forward from my chest.

other mind games, however, are not as helpful. for example, this morning i thought for some reason that i could do a 1:00 swim, 1:00 bike, 0:30 run, push-ups/ab-work, stretch, shower, change, drive 10 minutes to my Panera office (working from home is awesome!) all between 6:00 and 9:00. ended up with a 1:00 swim, leisurely chat with gatorade bob and ___ chaz (needs a nickname) and maija (who also needs a nickname), :40 bike, :20 run. i was surprisingly tired again within 3 minutes of the bike so the bike/run were pretty crappy.. i guess the trip will be a good break.

yesterday's workout was about a 1:33 bike around the hills near the park that A "discovered" recently for the 2nd time. about 15 minutes into the ride, i got a flat tire. it took me 5 minutes to try to take out the tire, 5 minutes to look like the damsel in distress, 10 minutes for a nice biker to help me fix my tire. it looks like a lot of muscle is required so i guess i'd better learn how to do it. the Co2 pump is pretty crazy- just 1 pump and the inner tube swells up. i love it!

then swim at masters in the hairball pool. it felt more like "masters on summer vacation" b/c we spent a good 40 minutes on technique after starting 15 minutes late, and would not be surprised if we didn't go over 1500m in an hour and a half. i hit a new 100m PR of 1:31 but was not so excited b/c we didn't do much work the whole time. plus it was kind of a surprise b/c i remember during that 100, i was thinking "relax like you're on drugs." if i ever break 1:30 i'll think i'm the man.

Catching up

2008-08-05T11:44:00.005-04:00

I have been so busy with work this past few days. I worked Saturday and Sunday, and the past two days have been really busy at work. But I have kept up with my training, and that is good.

After working on Sunday, I went on a 2.5hr run at 6PM. The weather was beautiful Sunday, and I was upset that I had spent most of the day inside. I kept at steady 8:15 to 8:30 pace for the first 1.5hr, before slowing down a little towards the end.

Monday morning I had to go early to work for a meeting, so I got to the pool at 4:45AM, and swam laps until the Master class started. I got 120 laps done, but when the class started, I was spent. I did 50m and 2x100m twice with the class, before I had to go. The coach says that my swimming has improved, which is good, but keep in mind that it was really bad before, so everything is relative.

After work, I went for a nice 1.5hr run around E's place in Fort Lee. It was a nice run in the waterfront park, which name I can't remember. But at least I have found my go-to running place whenever I go to her place. And this morning, I went swimming and then lifted weights.

Ok, back to my TPS reports now. Later, I have a meeting with the Bobs.

happy 7 month birthday to the A-e team!

2008-08-05T09:47:00.002-04:00

(he probably thought i forgot..which i never do, right, A?) happy 7 months of pain and suffering.. and more to come!

speaking of pain and suffering, i hate the treadmill. i feel like i'm losing focus lately and that my muscles are just plain tired. i tried to do an interval run this morning for 4.5 miles and only lasted 3.3 before getting frustrated and hot, so i finished 4 miles and then did a tempo run outside for 15 minutes. i would much rather run 10 miles slowly than a few miles fast! then went off to swim where as usual, this girl saw me and immediately moved into a faster lane. whenever this happens something inside me burns to get faster... i must say though that today was the most relaxed i've been at columbia. there is a funny guy who is so proud of his swim times, which are impressive to me in any case, but i find that endearing. today he did 200yards in 2:40 so i tried to chase him down but made it in 2:58. i told him to give me a couple years to catch up with him.. he ain't getting any younger!

yesterday's workout was 5-5-5-5 etc for 1:40 on the bike, finally getting myself back on the big ring and on my way up to 75 rpms. i was all excited about hitting 75 until i remembered that the goal was 80-100. then a 20 minute run. i was so stinky afterwards b/c i'm trying to get used to working out in the heat, although it was only in the mid 80s.

so.. not to be a whiner (but i will be), i am getting kind of worried about this whole hiking excursion. i'm worried that i'll come back from england not only having hemorrhaged my credit card but also out of shape and lazy. the genius that i am scheduled my first half-iron for about 2.5 weeks after getting back, and i am not close to making substantial progress on speeding up the bike and run. and i can't figure out why i feel like my muscles are rebelling lately. i am sleeping more than usual and think i'm eating fine.. what the heck, man!

sleep addict

2008-08-03T19:29:00.002-04:00

yesterday's workout was a nice 2:00 (slow & relaxing) run followed by a 1:00 swim. my anonymous older brother may think that this is a bit much in the heat but i'd like to remind him that he has no problem playing bball for a few hours in the sun! i decided not to try to schedule my training around more pleasant weather b/c then it would be even more awful doing the IM in extreme heat/rain. i felt like a superhero when the thunder and lightning came out at the halfway point, but was worried about A who was biking at the time. then during the swim i focused on staring at the line along the pool to try to keep my head still. i think i have never concentrated so much during a swim! my scars are a bit cranky and one of them is a lovely shade of booger (want to see?) but they are healing fine. slowing down to fix form on the bike and run is relaxing b/c i know i have some time before the next race. it would be nice to go faster, though.

today, A and i slept in and both had some work to do in the morning b/c we are so responsible and hard working (....), so i waited a few hours before attempting a 1-hr tempo run and then a brief - and fun, as usual- swim with maija. i am so impressed that maija wanted to swim after doing an adventure race in PA the day before and then driving 5 hours to make it back to nj.

i learned from this weekend that:
- i love sleep, especially 8 to 8.5 hours a night

-tempo runs are more tiring than regular runs.. note to self: if ever in a rush for time, do a tempo run.

-there are few things in life more enjoyable than:
--driving stick shift in traffic. seriously.
--spending a weekend w/ A. he's probably going to tease me for saying this but i feel like when i'm with him, everything is just fine.
--eating G's homemade cookies and brownies within 10 seconds of finishing a run. yum!
--finding friends with whom to sbr, share tri tips and funny stories, grow as athletes and work hard but all in fun. you know who i'm talking about, nameless tri team!

A scary descent

2008-08-02T09:55:00.004-04:00

I have been thinking all week of my long bike ride today. I wanted to do a 4 to 5 hrs bike ride, but I got stuck with some work, and need to get stuff done at the office on Saturday morning (I should not be blogging, I should be working right now. Oh well...) So a 2hr bike ride was all I could do. I left E sleeping (lazy bum), and went out at 6:15AM. I had not done my hilly ride in a while, so it seemed like a good idea. The sky was overcast, but I did not think that it was going to rain soon.

So everything went fine the first 18 miles, when I made it to the bottom of my 535ft ascent. It showed that I had not done this ascent in over a month, as I struggled to get to the top. One of the rewards of doing this ascent is that the descent is fast and fun. I have topped 42MPH coming down. But today, as I was starting the descent, rain came down fast and furious. So I was trying to slow down, but I did not want to brake too hard to avoid a sliding. I was still going 35MPH even trying to go slow.

When I made it to the bottom, I had two choices. I could cut the route short and go home, or I could finish my route (at that point, still 18 miles to go). Because I was already all wet, and there were no more significant climbs, I decided to finish. Made it home, wiped the bike, took a shower, and came to the office. E had already left for the pool. Later, I will clean and lube the bike.

my third hip

2008-08-01T17:36:00.006-04:00

training today was an interesting experience, as i have a bump on my left hip that is quite warm and about the size of my palm. it is funny how you don't realize how much you use your left hip, elbow, thumb or palm until you can't! i haven't been able to sit back and i can't wait until i can again! i also realize i have a perverse fascination with bruises and scars, and was admiring the one on my palm this morning during the run.

today's bike was a pretty decent 1:25. the first half i was going to do 5-4-3-2-1 but decided to do 5-5-5-5-5 etc. w/ 1 minute break between. does that mean i wasn't pushing hard enough? the second half i got down to a harder gear (is it called a "higher" or "lower" gear?) but tried to keep the rpm's up still. my legs have stopped arguing w/ me about the "right" way to pedal and i am starting to feel like a "real" cyclist rather than an oaf on a bike. we're getting somewhere! not literally, since i have slowed down significantly. good thing i have some time to work on this before the next race.

to assuage my guilt for starting work so late, i put off the run until lunch time but went a little longer than i normally would for a brick. i let my mind wander for a bit during the run to avoid thinking about the heat and the bruise. reading fink's book and talking to people about the IM has gotten me more intimidated, and i need to remember why i'm going to do it in the first place. other than to fill up my time while A is training for it, one of the main reasons i want to try out the IM is because i want to learn to value and respect my body, and enjoy it for what it can do rather than go through the b-s of how it looks. i am quite enjoying this process of becoming more of an athlete in my mind who is more stable and doesn't push herself just to prove something to herself. hurray for no b-s!

A and i are getting really close to finding a convenient and nice place to stay for IMLP, which is a relief to a type A+++++ planner like me. gatorade bob, who did IMLP this year and will be watching next year, will be staying with us. The 3 of us will be staying with this guy matt who has done 2 or 3 IM's at the impressive age of 24, his then-wife and a friend jeremiah. today, matt was telling me that the IM is going to be "fun" and you actually enjoy it while you're doing it. WHAT!!

ants in my pants

2008-07-31T15:09:00.007-04:00

A. brought my bike up from central nj so i was all fired up to bike when i was told i needed to go to a meeting at 7 a.m. in midtown. !$%&^%*#*! i have about 2.5 hours until i can get on the bike and am so restless! at least i avoided dragging along the doorman whom i biked with last time and ended up doing push-ups while waiting for him to catch up. i'm trying my best to stay motivated to work out b/c usually by noon if i don't do it, i won't do it (best to work out at 4 or 5 a.m. when you're still sleeping!)

btw shoutout to my bro muel (samuel) for commenting.. you are so cute! thanks for being supportive!

i don't remember much of yesterday's workout b/c i hadn't gotten much sleep the night before and threw myself off the bed and onto the treadmill. i started running but had to take a bathroom break and when i got back on the treadmill, was so tired of it that i went outside to finish the tempo run which was unsurprisingly slower. i think from now until A and i start fink's training plan, i'll do 1 tempo run on the treadmill to push myself and 1 outside to know how it feels to run faster on my own will. reading beth's blog about her run during the nyc tri was really inspiring.

then onto columbia swim. i think i'm growing up, i'm starting to embrace the challenge a bit more of swimming in an environment where it is not necessarily "fun" and just a lot of work to keep mentally cool. i'm pretty quiet during these swims which can be a little awkward in the communal shower and afterwards, and people aren't the friendliest to me..it must be my intimidating and aggressive demeanor.

the swim in general was fine, and i appreciated getting a little bit of one-on-one time with the wednesday coach, jim, whom i think is amused that i have started doing triathlons. my assignment for this weekend is to swim at least 1000m in a row staring at the line at the bottom of the pool and focus more on moving forward rather than fishtailing. sounds exciting, right, maija??

so tonight i'll work on trying to pedal faster and then run a bit afterwards. i'm most excited about trying out the china gel that i picked up from the yoga store that maggs recommended. really, putting on icy hot or something like it is the best part of the workout!

and it seems like the supposed hardcore hiking trip in england is going to be a few days of walking! 10 days w/o swimming/biking and i'm imagining my muscles atrophying. so i guess i'll pack a jump rope and sneak out for some runs or something while the others are sleeping and/or drinking. maybe pack a few bricks in my backpack..

----a few hours later---
all but the last 2 minutes of biking was fun today. i focused on going for at least 70 rpm's and found out a few things:
- i have a hard time counting up to 14-- i usually go "9, 10, 11, 14... crap!"
-my legs were confused b/c it felt like i was using different muscles but i'm sure i'll get used to it
-you switch gears a lot when you focus on higher rpm's (i'm sure the aquaholics are reading this and rolling their eyes.. "that's what i've been telling you!")

it felt a little reckless b/c i was focusing more on watching the cateye and counting than paying more attention to the road. hence, last two minutes, when i was turning left, i saw a groove in the road and thought, "hey i'm going to get stuck in it." then i remember flying sideways off my bike for a split second and landing on my left hip. ouch! a few people got out of their cars to ask if i was ok, and i didn't say anything but stared at the blood on my hands and on my shirt. (good thing it's A's shirt). i was bleeding from my right hand, left knee, left elbow and left hip. my first thought was, am i going to run after this? HECK YES! albeit slowly..b/c i didn't want to not run during a race if i fell off my bike. i must admit i was feeling quite foolish picking up my bike and going ever-so-gingerly back to my place. a few doormen at my building looked at me like i was an idiot when they helped me put my bike away and i put on my running shoes, but i was pleasantly surprised to find that my legs were pretty loose and relaxed. so long as i kept moving, i didn't quite feel the stinging. taking a shower and cleaning myself up later, however, was a different story.

i must have the most scarred legs out of everyone my age that i know. a few scars from falling off a mountain in tibet, one from the caribbean, one from when i was 10 and biked into a mailbox (such a promising future i had back then, huh?), a few bruises from last week's race and now these. good thing scars are hot!

The early bird gets the swimming lane...

2008-07-31T08:45:00.008-04:00

I have decided to change my workout schedule, starting this week. I will no longer leave my swim workout floating, as in "whenever I can fit it". I'm a poor swimmer (actually, more like a homeless swimmer), and the only way to get better is to practice, practice, practice. So from now on, swimming will be my first workout of the day Monday to Friday; followed by weights. Biking and running workouts will now get done after work. Saturday is long-bike workout day, and Sunday is long-run workout day. Another objective of this change is to get my running done when I'm tired, just like it happens in triathlons.

So on Mondays, I will attend masters class at 6AM, and the rest of the workdays I will swim when the pool opens. This week, Tuesday and yesterday I got there at 5AM, which is the official opening time. But, today, I got there at 4:40; they opened the door at 4:45; and I was in the water at 4:50. I'm so excited by this development! (Geek alert, geek alert!) So after completing my swim workouts, I have more time to do weights, and perhaps even talk to an annoying gym acquaintance or two (I'm sure that they are complaining about the humorless idiot that does not talk to them!)

So this was my swim workout today: 300m wu; 400m fins; 100m drill; 200m pull; 3x200m in 5:00 intervals; 100m drill; 6x50m in 1:15 intervals; 200m cd. As I was leaving the parking lot at 6AM sharp, I noticed that some of the aquaholics were driving in. Sorry guys, 6AM is wayyyyy too late for me, hehehe. I got to the gym, did my biceps/back workout, and was out the door. Tonight, I am planning on biking 1.5 hrs, followed by a brick (5min wu, 20min @7:00 pace; 5min cd).

They posted the official photos for the NJ State yesterday. After seeing Matt and Genine's photos, I have to say that the "official" pics are quite disappointing! Again, thanks a lot guys!

breathing is for whimps

2008-07-29T09:53:00.004-04:00

after a couple weeks of going back and forth between my parents' place and my place, it feels good be finally getting back into the swing of things. since tuesdays and wednesdays are columbia days, i get up a little earlier to run before trekking across the bridge to the pool. i'm trying to extend my tempo run distances so did 4.5 miles instead of 4, starting w/ 8.2 mph and then moving it up every interval of 0.6 miles faster and 0.2 miles slow. i know this probably doesn't sound like very fast but i'll get there eventually! i got a free ride across the bridge b/c usually if you go to the bridge before 6 a.m., random cars will pick you up to save money on the carpool lane. i thought it was shady at first, but heck, you save a whole $1.25.

i actually missed the bus stop for columbia b/c i was so engrossed with Fink's ironman training book! i'm up to the part where he recommends drills for swim and how to turn on the bike.. w/o pictures, it takes quite a bit of concentration for me. there is a really funny swim drill where you swim w/ your fists clenched so you can practice the catch. that must look awesome.

masters was unusually quiet b/c i guess the columbia swim team is on break or off somewhere else. i got into a lane, one of the girls saw me and immediately went into a faster lane (she is probably blogging, "this slow girl got into my lane and forced me into a fast lane." sorry dude) i can't remember what we did- heck i can barely count to 6 lengths- but i do remember doing a lot of flys. fly is fun b/c it makes me feel powerful until i am at the other end of the pool gasping for air. so my lane ended up w/ no alpha males which made the swim more relaxing although i must admit i kind of missed the alpha male (actually a female) from last week who got mad at me for passing her during the warmup (which is apparently not allowed. all these rules!)

it was good to see people again. there is this one lady, dawn, who is a great swimming buddy and highly encouraging. her son was the team captain the US water polo team for 3 Olympics, and she will be going to the olympics to support him as he is the commentator and analyst for the men's and women's games next week. she's a pretty strong swimmer and placed 2nd in her age group for a 1-mile swim at the beach last week. this other lady who led our lane, jean-claudia (?) has a fantastic flip-turn where she ends up starting her swim once her feet have passed the flags. i think it is so adorable when people are super-fast on free are awkward on other strokes.. it is like when you do a bike ride, and everyone is going so quickly and smoothly, but once we are off the bikes, we start hobbling around in our bike shoes. i have this problem (well 1 of plenty) of my head waving around a bit when i swim so i asked one of the coaches for help. apparently the "old school" way was for the water to touch your forehead but the new way is for you to be looking down the whole time? i am confused but will give it a try tomorrow and hopefully i will fishtail a little less. any thoughts on this?

also, any recommendations on how to go from getting used to 60 rpms to 80-100 on the bike? e.g., do a few minutes of 60 and then more on 80-100, eventually phasing out the lower cadences? or should i just try to go all-out on 80-100, increasing the time gradually?

The history of thumbs

2008-07-29T08:18:00.010-04:00

E is giving me grief because I'm showing my thumbs sideways in a few of the pics from the NJ State Tri. While everyone knows that the practice of giving thumbs started with the roman circus, most people dont know that there was no such thing as thumbs up or thumbs down to determine the fate of a defeated gladiator. A thumb pointed in any direction meant death, and a closed fist meant life. She would know this had she payed more attention at roman gladiator school. So during the race, I was clearly begging for someone to put me out of my misery!

Speaking of defeated gladiators, this pic cracks me up. I look like I just staggered out of a bar, and I'm telling the bartender that the next guy gets to pay the tab.

So Monday morning I went to Masters class, and after warming up, did the following:

50m Fast, 100m Race, 200m Drill (x4)

4 x 25m Crazy Fast, 200m Drill (x2)

And after work, I went on a 1hr bike ride, easy pace, to loosen the legs. This was followed by a 30-min run, at 8:00 pace. I plan to practice my bricks as if I was racing, and leave my running drills to those days when I'm only practicing for the run. Thanks to all for your advice!

I tried to sign up for Ironman last night, but Active.com freaked out on me when I was paying, and got a message to contact costumer service. I sent them an email, and they replied that I should call them. So I'll do that today at some point.

This morning, I went to the pool at 5AM. The place was empty. I did the following workout:

300m wu; 200m fins; 200m pull; 3 x 100m in 2:30 intervals; 200m drill; 4 x 50m in 1:15 intervals; 200m drill; 200m fast (4:05); 200m cd. After that, I went to the gym to lift my chest/triceps routine. Tonight, I am planning on a 2hr bike ride. Lets see if I'm up to it.

the old lady lifestyle

2008-07-28T20:57:00.007-04:00

it's the late hour of 8:57 and i'm 27 minutes late for my 'getting ready for bed' time. what an old lady! well, this old lady needs her sleep or else she's a crankster.

i'm officially signed and paid for ironman 2009. whew! my credit card has gotten quite a workout this season.

today i did a very relaxed slow run for 1:54 (i was aiming for 2:00 but my legs involuntarily speed up a bit on the 2nd half) and made it a point to zone out and chill out, kind of like hitting a "reset" button in my head. my stomach still feels like it's been stapled--i have more details to share but i'll refrain-- since i think i swallowed quite a bit of water yesterday during the race. i had a great idea of jogging along riverside park only to find that it is like strolling in a garbage dump, so it wasn't so bad so long as i looked at the trees and breathed through my mouth. tomorrow morning i believe i'll work more on running intervals before bracing myself for swimming at columbia (where the competition isn't the friendliest but at least it makes me more stubborn to stick with it!) i'm always worried that my stroke is slipping b/c the coaches give workouts but don't coach much b/c they train mostly the columbia swim team and then the rest of the class does a lighter version of the columbia team's workouts. but i find that it's pretty much non-stop swim for me since i've put myself in a faster lane and am determined to stay there.

a few more thoughts on yesterday's race-- i think it was a bit of a stretch for me to say 2:34 is "almost" a 2:30 b/c i realize that a lot has to change in the bike to make it easier for me to do the run. i'm not complaining about the training and am excited about at least knowing how to train to get better. i really appreciate the encouragement and advice from the veterans.. thanks! and thanks to matt and G for the great race pictures. thanks even more for your graciousness in discerning which pictures not to post! i must say, my looks of desperation and confusion during the bike and run are rather amusing, which is why they are not posted here =o)

another tri, another tan line..

2008-07-27T20:10:00.007-04:00

NJ state tri- my first olympic and fourth 1/3 tri ever, and i now have a swim bikini tan line to add to my collection. the day before the race, A, maija, matt and i did coach maija's pre-race workout and i decided to wear running shorts to see how it would feel swimming in tri shorts. i was so pissed off at the drag that i decided to give up all hopes of vanity and do the whole tri in my super-cool camouflage speedo endurance bikini (the camo was the only endurance style available when i needed a new swim suit!) despite my self-consciousness of my legs and my rainbow-coloured tan-lines from running outside. pasta dinner at an excellent italian restaurant in manville w/ A, maija, matt and genine, talking about getting stung by jellyfish and getting knocked out during the swim.. nothing like getting excited 12 hours before a race! i had dreams last night about swimming with my bike helmet. the next morning, i was the most calm i had ever been before a race, i guess i had gotten my jitters out the whole week before (was it worth it??) and only about 30 seconds before getting into the water did i start to get nervous. oh! funny story: i was sitting on the bench waiting for the pink caps to be called when this lady said, "aren't you a pink cap?" i'm like, "duh, yeah." she goes, "your wave is starting next." oops! i swear, if asians could be blonde...

here are five of us (former and current aquaholics) pre-race: jen, me, amy, grace and maija.

so onto the swim: not bad at all! i was nervous the day before so maija had given me a mantra to repeat over and over. "just keep swimming.. (breathe) just keep swimming.." and it worked out fantastically. i felt great. these trumpeters were hilarious and made me laugh:

typical stories of my grabbing some pink cap's leg by accident and thinking, "someone forgot to shave her legs!".. avoiding being slammed by the slower ones in the waves ahead of me as i caught up but in all, a good swim. it felt long but i was enjoying it as much as possible b/c i know my enjoyment pretty much goes downhill from here. goal time was under 30 mins and i finished under that. i was so excited!

at t1 not much exciting, other than that it was quite exciting to not have to rip off a wet suit. i was shooting for an under 2:00 transition and i think i made it by 1 second.

during the bike my cateye freaked me out b/c i think it posted my mileage as slower than it was for real (b/c my bike showed 22.something miles at the very end of the race). i just got more and more discouraged b/c i kept thinking i was going 17 or 18 mph, and that i wouldn't make my goal of 70 mins on the bike. chaz glided past me on the bike on mile 10, saying "you must have had a great swim!" b/c he was a wave or two ahead of me. i got more and more discouraged as the old dudes kept passing me and then one or two in my age group. when an age group girl passed me, it gave me the motivation to kick it in a little bit more. the bike was kind of boring and frustrating, b/c i thought i was going slower than i was, my legs were already getting tired, and i kept counting to 100 to pass the miles. i switched b/n harder gears and easier, b/c when i went harder my legs would feel tired and i'd hear maija saying "that's b/c you're not supposed to be going 60 rpm's!" i was quite irritated by the bikers who would slow down during the turns in the freaking middle of the road and during the small loop in the college. at mile 19 i dropped my water bottle... i was feeling thirsty and a little bloated and nauseous; i think it was from swallowing the lake water and from the electrolyte pills that i had bought the day before to avoid feeling nauseous. before the race, i had met frank and jen who were previously from swim before A and i joined. jen kept cheering me on whenever she saw me, and frank and his collapseable trumpet were hilarious so it kept my spirits up. i was hoping to see maija on the bike and yell "maija rocks!" b/c of her swimsuit (which you'll probably see on her blog) but no such opportunity. made it to the end of the bike completely confused as to whether or not i should have been pushing hard w/ low cadences like i usually do, or whether i should be trying the new and smarter thing of keeping it going w/ high cadences.

t2: forgot my race belt! but i didn't realize that until 5 minutes into the..

run: this was gross. i had made my bike goal time (i think i was slower by 55 seconds) and my t2 goal time so had, in my mind, plenty of time for the run. i think i was going to cry by mile 2.5 b/c i was just not feeling good. on one hand, i was pissed at myself, saying, "come on. this is terrible. if you can't do an olympic how are you going to do a half, not to mention full ironman!" and then on the other hand, saying, "dude (yes, i call myself 'dude'). calm down, it's your first olympic. of course it's going to feel long." i was groaning a bit and someone on a bike offered to give me a ride and i was like, "yeah i wish."

here is my handsome bf giving a thumbs-sideways on the run. he was great, we passed each other once or twice and he was so encouraging. you go, A!

i kept waiting for my legs to pick up speed or for my desperation to meet my goal of 2:30 to motivate me to pick up speed..but honestly i think that was the best i could do. maybe next time i won't take the electrolytes so i won't feel like i need water at every stop (but what does that save? a few seconds?) by the last 200 yards or so, i finally heard maija yelling at me something like "go go go" which was what i needed. and then matt yelled at me a few steps down, "turn it on esther!!" i was deliriously annoyed, thinking "wtf man, you think it's not turned on?! ok FINE" so it did help a bit. and then the last 20 steps or so i saw A cheering me on and i just about whimpered and dashed to the finish. not a very graceful or photogenic finish, i can imagine. i was delirious at the end!

my total race time, 2:34:01. i was quite disappointed about not meeting my goal time, and then mad at myself for thinking that i could have run faster although i had done my best, and then annoyed that i hadn't actually practiced running race pace after a bike. maggs was right when she mentioned that how you practice is how you're going to go on race day (another profound yet obvious thought). then i got mad at myself for being mad b/c if i had set my goal for 2:35 i would have been happy so it was my fault for having these expectations. but thinking all of this through after a quick nap, i realized that there's nothing wrong w/ not meeting your goal time, it's better than not setting a goal at all..and if you can't meet the goal but can almost meet it then it's a good goal. i think if i had had a less ambitious goal i would have gone slower, anyway. also kind of saves you the trouble for the next race. i guess i was annoyed b/c i had thought this would be my first and last olympic before lake placid b/c i had planned on doing all halves afterwards..but now i'll just have to do another one! and now i know what i want to work on.

huge congrats to maija (maija rocks!!) who placed 2nd overall!

also big props to photo team matt and G who are the best cheerleaders and photographers any tri team could ask for. you got that right, we need to make ourselves official! any ideas for team names? and then we can set up a tent and grill hot dogs like the others. maybe we can bring a masseuse and chiropractors and make the other teams jealous.

the volunteers were fantastic- helpful and encouraging and i was so grateful for the fresh cold water (w/ ice!) and wet towels. the little kids were so cute, too, even though you had to stoop a little to get water from them. i tried to make it a point to thank the volunteers and cops during the race but was way too cranky on the run. thanks, volunteers!

Of buoys and ants

2008-07-27T19:19:00.008-04:00

We participated in the NJ State Tri today. It was really fun altogether. E kicked my ass by 12 minutes. Way to go hon! I'm sure she will post her thoughts on the matter, but here is my race report.

Swim: The water temperature was really nice, my strokes were long and steady, and my body position was OK. Now, if I could only find the third triangular buoy! For the life of me, I could not see it. And I had to wait for somebody from the other wave to pass me, so I could follow him. Going into the race, I was expecting to swim in 35 minutes (yeah, even my goal was lame). Actual time: 38:06.

T1: So I make it to my station, where I had set up my shoes on top of my white towel. What do I see all over the towel and shoes? Fire ants. Now this was getting interesting... Should I look at my shoes closely to see if there are ants inside, losing more time than necessary? Or just go for it, and hope not to be bitten? Oh well, I went for it. I just shook the towel in the air, and left. 2:39 minutes

Bike: After clipping in, I kept looking down at my legs and feet, half expecting an ant attack. Nothing. This kept me distracted for the first 2 miles, when I realized that I was just doing 18MPH. That wont do. Got serious, and picked up the pace. I had biked the course 3 times before, so I was very familiar with it. Even with some headwind in the last few miles, I did a respectable 20.7 MPH. 1:07:09.

T2: I saw less ants, but I did not care. Did change my socks, as they were really wet, and I don't need blisters. 2:14

Run: OK, this was really bad. I did not stop, but I felt like I was going to have a terrible cramp whenever I tried to pick it up. So I was going slow. Really slow. I need to go back to the drawing board with my brick training. Any suggestions? 56:48 minutes, 9:10 pace. #$%$!@!

Total Time: 2:46:54

Overall, it was really fun. Congrats to Maija on 2nd place overall. The whole event was really well run. Thanks to the folks at CGI Racing for their efforts, and to all the volunteers that helped. I would also like to thank Matt and Genine, who spent their Sunday morning taking pictures of all of the Aquaholics competing in the race. Thanks a lot guys!

zen

2008-07-25T17:52:00.002-04:00

my quads have been kind of tired lately, since my bike ride with the slow doorman last week (long story) during which i decided to push it up a tough hill twice b/c he was taking so long. matt successfully convinced me to take it easy today, saying that my race day legs will thank me if i do! thanks man! so i decided to be a bit adventurous and bike across the george washington bridge, around riverside park and then decided to try to find central park. key word is "try" b/c my sense of direction is uncannily inaccurate, as in.. if i have a "gut feeling" to go left, the answer is 99% of the time to go right. i ended up finding the park and joining the silent cyclists in their hideously loud and matching biking outfits, making sure that my legs wouldn't feel sore at all and swallowing the ego when people were faster than me. the city is so peaceful when it is still sleeping (lazy city! sleeping at 6:30 a.m.?!) and i'm really glad i took this trip. then i went on a super-slow jog for 30 mins ..no excuses, it was such a gorgeous day! i was thinking of how nice it must be for maggs to live in hawaii and have a beautiful view and gorgeous weather most of the time. what do you think, guys..training camp in hawaii?

random notes about sunday.. nail polish is off b/c i realized that i checked my fingernails during swim practices and fretted about the chipping. a silly distraction. i timed how long it would take for me to move my hair from a low ponytail to a higher for the run and am debating whether it is worth 12-15 seconds. is this ever an issue for you ladies? or maybe i could do it while running. or maybe i should just shave my head.

My pace problem

2008-07-25T02:32:00.003-04:00

I was thinking about the upcoming NJ State Tri, and what finish time would I get. This will be my first Olympic distance, but the distance does not worry me, because I already jumped the gun and did a Half-Iron back in June. Call me crazy, but I prefer longer-distance races to the shorter ones. And it all comes down to my pacing, which in short, stinks!

In shorter races, I burn myself way too quickly, which then becomes a problem at the end of the competitions. This summer, my times for NYRR races have been slower than last year, and it probably has to do with me being placed on the same corral with the really good runners; in years past, NYRR did not have corrals, which allowed me to start a little behind the front, and pass the slower runners at my pace. This year, once the race starts I have found to my horror that I reach the mile-1 marker in 6:00ish; that is about 40 seconds faster than what I want it to be. This wrecks havoc for me in the middle miles, where I have been really struggling.

So I will attempt not to burn myself too quickly this time. Easier said than done! I will try to keep a strong but steady pace throughout, while concentrating on not wasting time in the transitions. I also need to remember to hydrate properly: it is going to be hot and humid.

I went swimming Thursday morning, and worked on sighting. I also concentrated on keeping my chin tucked in my chest, to bring my legs up, because there will be no wetsuit to help me with body position. My legs must not sink (Come to think of it, as a whole, I shall not sink. But I digress...)

After work, I went biking for an hour. After warming up, I picked up speed on a rolling hills course, for a little bit, but then just shifted to a high cadence workout. My legs feel loose and strong. Hopefully, this will remain the case at the tri.

icy hot = my best friend

2008-07-24T10:48:00.008-04:00

the pool was closed yesterday b/c of the rain, thankfully b/c i am not the best driver even in nice weather. my old lady hips were aching from the treadmill and i found these fantastic patches made by icy hot, stuck them on my bottom and had a nice sleep.

this morning had a relatively long swim with maija, matt and claudia. i love maija's workouts probably b/c she does them too and makes them sound fun. swimming bear matt beat me significantly during the bull buoy 25's (but not for long, buddy!! just kidding, i am horrible at trash talking). i noticed that i save a lot of time on my 200 im's w/ my personal style of backstroke in which i keep my head raised a bit, like an otter. i had done this in columbia to make sure i was going more or less straight, and that people weren't going to bump into me b/c i am so freaking slow on the back. the frustrating thing was that i am beginning to feel the stress of sunday's race and i feel silly for feeling stressed about it, and then kind of stressing out about trying to not stress out. i noticed b/c i was having trouble breathing and then feeling really hot and not rotating much and it felt like there was this cloud in my head. i am the master of psyching myself out- i remember playing piano for a competition a while ago, and my hands and legs were shaking so hard and my nose was running..not a pretty picture. lesson learned from today: DO NOT look at or think about how other people are doing. it's not good for psyching yourself out and not good for your positioning anyway. i talked to maija a bit twds the end and she said "relax" which is pretty obvious..but i felt better after that. i would really like to have confidence in myself more of the time rather than less b/c it makes things more fun. i think my favourite race was the NY marathon in 2006 (?) b/c i had no expectations other than an idea of "it would be nice to finish under this time." i had fun running, and had written my name on my stomach and back so that when i got tired, i'd veer to the side a bit and people would cheer. even ended up beating my original expectations by 8 minutes and my first marathon time a few months ago by 51 minutes. it would be nice to have that freedom most of the time.

towards the end of the swim, todd joined us and maija suggested that we do most of the workout over again. i was so relieved when todd had to go after our first 500. then went for a quick bike and finished before the rain.

ok questions on the bike:
- is it ok to bike in the rain?
- if you are aiming for 90-100 rpm, is that for uphill, downhill, straight? and the only thing that changes is your resistance? (sorry i don't know the technical jargon)

anyway i hope to get all the pre-race jitters out of my system so that by race day i'll be like, "oh man, this is fun!"

Singing in the Rain

2008-07-23T22:07:00.006-04:00

I went running at 4AM today, while it was pouring. I had not done that in about two years, and I had forgotten how enjoyable it is. And it brought to my mind the song Singing in the Rain. Now, I have never seen the 1952 film starring Gene Kelly. The image that always comes to my mind is the scene from A Clockwork Orange, when the protagonist Alex sings the song while "doing some of the old ultra-violence."

The run itself was uneventful, 1.5 hrs of steady pace run, at an easy 8:15 pace. I was thinking of doing a tempo run, but decided against it because of the upcoming NJ tri on Sunday. I need to buy a brighter rain gear set, because I usually run in the dark and my rain gear is dark green. I'm all for being inconspicuous, but it may get me run over by a car or something.

After the run, I went and lifted weights. I did my shoulders routine. The usual suspects were there, and as usual, I spend a lot of time talking to ppl that go to the gym to talk rather than to work out. Listen ppl, I don't get out of bed so early to see anybody, nor talk to anybody!

I was planning on swimming at night, but I had a headache after work, and E told me that the pool was closed until 8. I decided not to go to the pool. I'll go swimming tomorrow morning. I'm currently watching the coverage for Stage 17 of the Tour de France, which ends at L'Alpe-d'Huez. This stage and Stage 15 on Sunday have been awesome! Which is easy to say while I'm laying in bed, an ocean away from those guys killing themselves.

a cranky workout

2008-07-23T11:48:00.000-04:00

this morning i biked a whopping 0.91 miles b/c it started raining, and got quite a few "what an idiot" looks. can you bike in the rain? i would have gone on but i hear it's bad for your bike. so i packed it up and drove to the elegant somerville Y where i got incredibly cranky trying to do intervals and only lasted 45 minutes as it's hard to run without ventilation. i gave that up and went home to work for about 20 minutes (so it would look like i started working at 9), and decided i'd try to lumber around the hills in my soon-to-be former development. i get so cranky wasting time in the morning, and being hot.

yesterday, matt and i did 2x64 lengths to get used to swimming more than a few 100's at a time. it is honestly really nice to be at the bridgewater pool, hairball and all. i had suggested we do 1x128 but matt said maija would not like that b/c we wouldn't improve by continuously swimming. so maija won that debate w/o even being there! my first 64 or 66 (lost count), i focused on technique and felt like a robot, and time was 30:19. my second 64 or 66, i focused on relaxing and i felt faster and smoother but was quite surprised that my time was 30:49.. maybe i miscounted or maybe i just need to learn how to relax and keep my head still. all good stuff to practice before nj state. i think maija's goal for me of 2:30 is not impossible so long as i stay focused.. i think. well it's always good to have a goal but i don't want to beat myself up if i don't make it.

and to add to my already growing credit card bill, i've signed up for the pumpkin patch ride, bassman half and quakerman half to conclude the rest of this season. philly marathon perhaps?

joining the tri addicts

2008-07-22T11:55:00.001-04:00

lake placid ironman 2009, baby!! my moron bf made us leave at 11:45 p.m. on sunday so that we could get there by 4:45 a.m. monday and then wait in line until registration opened at 9 a.m. props to armando who drove the whole way there and back! (of course, my poor driving track record must have inspired him to give me permission to rest.) we picked up maggs morris on our way, a reportedly amazing athlete who is also fun to hang out with during the car ride and the wait. when we got to lake placid, people at the front of the line were sleeping in air mattresses, and everyone looked rather gloomy and cold. the geniuses that we were had not thought to bring chairs or blankets or jackets so we stood around until one of us in the group (no names, in case we get caught!) had the brilliant idea of "borrowing" a few chairs that we had seen lying around. it ended up being a relatively fun time, as we chatted w/ other athletes and shared war stories. i'm glad we got there early and didn't stress much about whether or not we would end up being able to register.

so here goes ironman lake placid 2009.. since the event is 1 week later than it was this year we have an extra week to train! i'm glad i'm going to go on a training break and hike in england for a few days.

next event: nj state olympic. this will actually be my longest race (out of the mere 3 1/3 that i've done ever). so the goal is to relax and have fun, and at the same time do my best. i think i'd like to try something between black bear (during which i was too relaxed b/c i was afraid of not having enough energy and ended up doing 'just ok') and pancake (during which i was so stressed that i fell off my bike during the mount, biked into some cones and cursed at 2 water boys during the run but ended up having better results than expected). racing w/ maija is fun b/c she makes it enjoyable and i love/hate when she yells at me at the end. i'm actually looking forward to seeing her the last quarter mile or so of this race.

and here goes joining the tri blogging world where i can whine about injuries, ask 100 seemingly irrelevant questions, tease the boyfriend and share funny race stories.

You have to start somewhere...

2008-07-22T11:33:00.002-04:00

So I finally sucumbed and decided to do a Blog.

After going over it with Esther, and thanks to the encouragement of Maggs,Esther and I have decided to write about our travails as we attempt to complete the 2009 Iroman Race at Lake Placid, NY. We don't know who will be interested on reading it, but we think that it will be a useful tool to track our workouts, as well as getting pointers and advice from other people.

So our Ironman experience started by a long car ride from NYC to Lake Placid. We picked up Maggs Sunday night around midnight, who was in town to compete in the NYC Triathlon on Sunday and to sign up for Ironman. She will be competing later this year in Kona, where we are sure she will kick ass!

A few observations and musings:

- Driving was as exciting as watching paint dry, especially since I was the only one awake.

- It sure was cold up there at Lake Placid. My summer flip flops were not doing much for me.

- Leave it to me to get in trouble with the cops in about 5 minutes. I was about to get a ticket for parking in front of the registration tent. As soon as I moved the car, the spot was taken by other car, and they had no problems. Go figure.

- If a few years ago I was told that I would wait in line 4 hrs to pay $525, to sign up for an Ironman race, I would have laughed. Now...

So on to July 26, 2009.

Next races:

- NJ State Tri (Olympic) 07/27

- Quakerman Tri (Half-Iron) 09/06

- Fall Bassman (Half-Iron) 10/05

- Philly Marathon 11/23