Double down

I've been on staycation all week because it is February break for the kids I work with and I've been using the opportunity to get in quality workouts. The weather has been fantastic, yesterday it was 58 degrees and sunny. If I have to be stuck in NYC for a week, I can handle this weather. Today is rainy and cooler, but it is not a run day anyway.
Monday morning I went to the pool with Sally before she went to work and we bumped into our Wednesday swim buddy who was swimming long because he had the day off. We joined Paul for the tail end of what was 8,000 yards for him.  Wow. We swam about 3700 yards before Sally had to leave for work and I was starving. I was hungry and tired after that, normally I don't have time for more than 2000 yds in the morning before work. I had it in the back of my head for the rest of the day that I was planning on going back to the gym later that night for a yoga class at 8pm. Sometime around 5 or 6pm that began to seem impossible, but with some encouragement from running friends on twitter I hopped on the train and went to class. As usual I was glad that I did. I can't take that class normally, it gets out at 9:15 and takes me about 40 mins to get home at that hour. That is too late for me when I need to be up at 6:00 the next morning. I slept like a log that night and was sooooore the next few days from some new yoga moves and attempted binds.
Tuesday was busy all day without enough time to sneak in a workout, so I used it as a recovery day from the day before. Wednesday morning I swam again early and got in another 3,000 or so yards. I had ideas of running later that evening, but I spent the whole afternoon playing with a friend's new baby and didn't get home until late.
Since I didn't get to run on Tuesday or Wednesday, I took advantage of the magical weather and ran twice on Thursday. The sun was bright on Thursday morning and my run through Washington Heights and Harlem was perfect. I was in shorts and a long sleeve tee, but I pushed the sleeves up as soon as I turned off of Riverside drive and wished for short sleeves the rest of the run. I couldn't believe how nice it was, it was like an April day. I got in exactly 5 miles in the morning, but at a fairly easy pace (8:58 avg pace) with some big hills mixed in here and there. It was fun to see how many people were out and about on their way to work but also enjoying the sunshine. I hit the road again in the evening with my regular Inwood Hill crew for a solid 6.2 miles of tough hills with the 187th St stairs up to Fort Washington to top it off. The stairs have really gotten easier over the last few weeks, but they still leave us sucking air at the top. 120 stairs, damn. I was famished when I got home, which made me realize I should have eaten way more during the day to balance out the double runs. I pretty much stuffed my face from the time I got home until I went to bed. In fact, I still feel like I'm eating for it.
I did my usual Friday workout today but with less yardage in the pool because I was SO TIRED. I woke up from a deep sleep this morning and dragged myself to yoga (great class, as usual) and it took half of the 75 min class to wake up! Luckily, everyone else is also sleepy in that Friday morning class. I could barely lift my arms to swim butterfly this morning, but we still swam  a strong 2500 yards including 5x200 IM's. Typically we do a set of 200 IM's but they are 25 stroke/25 free instead of 50 stroke, but today we did that for 3 200's and regular old 200 IM's for 2 of them. WOW, those are hard. I can't believe I used to race that distance like it was nothing. Whew.
Needless to say, I am completely wiped out from this whole week, but in a great sort of way. I love going to bed completely exhausted from physical activity and sleeping like a rock. I did wake up with soreness in my quads and calves this morning, a soreness that I wouldn't normally have felt from doing either of those runs by themselves. It is only 5:30 and I'm already wondering when I can go to bed for the night... I have a big run in the morning, Shamrock Half is only a few weeks away!

On not being a wimp.

I mentioned in my New Year's post that one of my goals for the year is to step it up and not be a wimp when it comes to my training. I felt like everyone around me was challenging themselves constantly with their running while I was always tentative and afraid to push it, opting for rest over an extra workout, etc. I know it had a lot to do with my ankle injury and fear of reinjury, but after a certain point I had to stop letting that hold me back. It became habit to take and easy or off day when I wasn't sure what to do, so I vowed to fix that and I think I have. Now, every time I start to think about how to spend a little free time one evening or a day off, I think to myself "don't be a wimp, do some yoga tonight." Even this morning during my run I started to think thatI should just continue at my current pace even though I had a nice, flat mile ahead and I glanced at my Garmin and told myself "pick it up, don't be a wimp." It is working. 
I've changed my training schedule to include several tough days of running or swimming and instead of taking a day off each week, I've been working on more of a 10 day training "week". I think that the variety of training in my week (running, yoga and swimming) allows me to do that because I am really working different muscles on any given day. I'm not feeling tired or overworked at all, in fact I've been running with more energy and pep in my step than I have in months. Even my running group has noticed. Luckily they're all game for joining me on long runs when I have too much energy. Thanks guys. It has been incredibly helpful to have my favorite people along on my long runs the past few Saturdays. I'm averaging 10 miles on Saturday mornings thanks to my nearly 2 mile run just to meet the group- it's perfect half marathon training.
I've also been averaging between 6,000-8,000 yards in the pool each week (that's ~3.5-4.5 miles) and at least 1-2 yoga classes. I was on a roll with hitting the gym for strength training once a week after work, but I fell off the wagon a bit because it was leaving me really sore for my runs and swims on the following days. I need to sort that out. I was at 12 pull ups at then end of January (3 sets of 4) but have only done a few in the last two weeks, oops. 
I had two really great, strong runs the last two Saturday mornings, one up the nice, flat Putnam trail to Tibbetts Brook Park in the snow and the other through the rolling hills and trails of Riverdale and Van Cortlandt Park. I'm hoping to get in another 10 miler and a 12 or 13 miler before the Shamrock half on March 18th. I've been really trying to follow up the long runs with a shorter run on Sunday, and today I finally just got up early and did it. I ran 5 this morning through the hills of Fort Tryon park and around Inwood and though I feel tired now, I don't feel like a wimp. 


Speaking of Tibbets Brook Park, boy do I wish I were a Westchester resident- check out the new saline water park- you can see it from the Old Putnam Trail. 

More photos from swimming with Nathan

I received an email with the photos taken during my swim with Nathan, many of them are action shots and people are making goofy faces in a few, but here they are. I am waiting for the video to be edited so you can see how amazing and fast Nathan is in the water. Enjoy!

Between sets

 Wow, Nathan is a big guy. 

Nathan catching up to Ashley (pink) and me trailing behind him

Tip from Coach Nick Folker

 Nathan doing kick drills, he flips with the board in his hand

Yes, that is chocolate milk on the deck

 What a great guy (and cute!)

Nick giving me tips on body rotation

 Me trying to keep up with Nathan during sculling drills, ouch

An Olympic Splash

I have water in my ear as I write this, but not just any pool water- it was splashed there by a gold medal Olympic swimmer from my attempt to keep up with him for an hour. Tonight I was given the opportunity of a lifetime and the chlorine in my ear is my souvenir. Thanks to the really generous folks at the Refuel with Chocolate Milk campaign, I got to swim for an hour in the bubbles from the kick of Nathan Adrian. Nathan is a member of the US Olympic swim team and a gold medal winner from the 2008 games in Beijing in the 4x100m relay heats. If you followed the Olympics at all, you're probably not as familiar with Nathan as you are with his fellow team member, Michael Phelps. Nathan is finishing up his studies at UC Berkeley right now and gearing up for the Olympic trials this summer in Nebraska and hopefully the games in London. Nathan is currently the American record holder in the 50 (18:66) and 100 freestyle (short course- Yards), and I'm stunned to write that his 100yd time of 41.08 is just  seconds faster than my 50 yd sprint. Do the math, if you must.

I was really excited to meet Nathan since I've been following Olympic swimming since I was a kid and always dreamed of being there someday myself. It wasn't in the cards for me, but I have always watched the Olympic Games with a little pang of jealousy in my heart. Someday I'll get there in person to watch, but for now tonight was enough to tide me over.

I owe the whole experience to my friend Elyssa who was invited through her blog to an event involving an Olympic swimmer and thought of me. The very generous folks from the Team Refuel campaign invited me to not only attend, but to actually get in the pool to swim with Nathan and that is exactly what I did.

Monday night at 6:30 pm I met up with Ashley from Healthy Happier Bear at the YMCA on W14th St and we threw on our swimsuits, not knowing what to expect. When I got out to the pool, Nathan was hopping in and he was ready to get moving right away. Kelly from the PR group told me that he'd been goofing around for most of the day but turned completely serious when he hit the water. He began his warmup with an easy 200 yards and I joined for the last 150 when I got in.  Immediately I noticed that he came out of his flip turns like a rocket, about 10x faster and farther than I do. As an open water swimmer, I never really take the time to work on my flip turns, I can do them just fine and that's always been good enough for me. I was probably stronger when I competed in the pool, but now I'm simply "fine" at them. For most of the hour I spent my time following Nathan in as many drills and intervals as I could while staying out of his way. I listened to what his coach Nick Folker, a former Olympian himself (he swam in Sydney in 2000 for South Africa), told him after each set and tried to get an idea of what he was doing next or absorb any tips he offered. I tried new drills including a head-up catch drill to improve the front end of my stroke and several sculling drills to improve arm and shoulder strength. The sculling drills were tough but great because you hold your legs up in a tuck and therefore engage your abs at the same time. Coach Folker gave me a few tips re: my body rotation and he felt that the head-up catch drill really helped me keep my hips from moving side to side and allowed me to rotate on a transverse plane like I have a skewer through my head and body. It was a helpful tip that I'll keep in mind. I really appreciated the time he spent talking to me about it between reading out sets for Nathan. Between sets Nathan was nice enough to explain the upcoming sets to me (they were super complicated short sets) and he even stopped to chug a little bottle of chocolate milk. I passed on mine until I finished swimming because I'd rather not barf in front of so many people, I stick to water and the occasional gel while I'm actually in the water.

After the hour was up, some folks started hopping into the lane to try to do their own swims and it was time for us to get out of the way. I was sad to get out of the water for many reasons, but mostly because I enjoyed watching Nathan's strong, smooth stroke and trying to replicate it myself. I wished him luck in the upcoming trials and in London and hit the locker room. While I was changing I overheard two women talking, one was asking the other why she was still there and her response was "because I've been spying on this Olympian in lane 1, like a REAL Olympic swimmer." I smiled because I felt exactly the same way.

The Refuel team sent me on my way with a great new Lululemon bag, lots of chocolate milk and some fantastic memories. I also have a folder packed with the science behind using chocolate milk as a recovery drink, I'll put them together for a future blog post!     The rest of my pool pictures have gone MIA from a glitch in my SD card, but hopefully I can track them down and post soon. :(

                  

 

*Olympic image courtesy of BBC Sports 

Around Liberty Island

Friday evening was the 3rd annual Liberty Island Swim, hosted by the nice folks at NYC Swim. The weather was grey and damp, but it actually only rained while we were in the water!
We arrived really early after skipping the line at the Liberty Island ferry (that's the way it should be, New Yorkers first!) and we spent a few hours puttering around the island, watching all of the ships and ferries go by. Wow, the harbor is so busy!
After some snacks, people watching and a quick change in the gift shop bathroom, we gathered with the other 250+ swimmers for a "pre-race meeting" where no one could actually hear anything. We knew where to start and finish so we figured we'd figure it out from there.
The race had an in-water start, which was kind of fun because we were all herded onto a party boat where we watched people jump out into the water below. We each got pushed into the water and ended up in a large herd of churning legs and arms until the countdown and horn. The start was completely insane, legs and arms flying and bodies everywhere. Ack. Sally and I had to fight to stay together with and the race never really opened up because it was so short. I was punched in the head, side, neck and back no less than 10x, but I'm sure I did my fair share of smacking too. The only really bad hit was the elbow to the face that left me with a fat lip and a cut over my eye. It knocked my goggles askew, but I emptied them and kept swimming. I wasn't going to lose Sally and have to swim this on my own!
I enjoyed the few minutes we were able to get into a rhythm and I was swimming along with a view of Lady Liberty when I breathed left and a foggy NYC Skyline when I breathed right, how cool is that?!
Miraculously, we managed to swim together the entire time, battling the waves, chop and whales (aka fat men in wetsuits). There were a bunch of folks in wetsuits, but as it should be in ALL swims the whales were not eligible for awards. I was happy to see that most people were in traditional swim gear, especially because the water was a PERFECT 70 degrees and the swim was not even a mile long.
We climbed the exit ramp around 24:46, good enough for 2nd in Sally's age group and 10th in mine. We were 93rd & 94th overall out of the 235 finishers! Wahoo!
I really enjoyed the whole event (including the BBQ afterwards) and I think NYC Swim did a great job, but in the future I'll be looking for their races that have a wave start. This was my second race this month with 250 people starting at once! Crazy.

As a great bonus, when I got home I was able to watch the live coverage of the NY Senate vote on marriage equality which I'm beyond happy to report PASSED! I am extra proud to be a New Yorker today.

posted from Bloggeroid

The Good.

You already got the bad and the ugly of the Great Chesapeake Bay swim, but I've been wanting to write a whole post on The Good because there was plenty of it. I've had a week to process it all and reflect on what I enjoyed, which is what I'd like to remember.
This will also include some "what worked for me" for anyone reading this in preparation for this swim in the future.
1. The race was really well organized, I got there super early expecting a mob scene like the one prior to a big race in Central Park, but instead I found an organized, smooth check in system, plenty of parking and a short line to use the bathroom. I joked that the lines for the bathroom were short because people were just holding it until they got in the water. The start area was fun, I met veteran swimmers who were all willing to give advice on the course and I met one of my "virtual training buddies", Donna, which was great!
2. The bridges truly took my breath away when I saw them. The view across the bay was so beautiful and serene that I couldn't wait to get out there. This awe continued for the entire race. I love bridges and it was so cool to swim between these two. It also made sighting so much easier than say, in the ocean, because you had a marker on either side which meant I could see my progress every 3 strokes.
3. The water was pretty flat and considering some of the conditions I've read about from previous swims, we practically had a perfect day (minus the mile 2 current).
4. I definitely had the stamina for the entire distance. If it weren't for my back, I'd have cruised right through to the finish line and not gotten tired, I'm certain of that. At mile 2, despite fighting the current, I actually thought "this race is too short, I'm nearly halfway done!" Ha...
5. Even though the water was lava hot and I felt like it took days to cool down, I am grateful that it wasn't cold. It's way more painful to swim in cold water than warm, even if it's nasty.
6. I still passed people even though I was hurting. My competitive side keeps me going in any race, even when it gets tough. I also have too much pride to let someone in a wetsuit pass me, even if they were wearing a yellow cap and had a 15 minute head start. No freaking way.
7. I finished.
8. I loved training for this swim more than I ever enjoyed training for a marathon. It was hard work and lots of laps, but I never felt beat up from long swims the way that running 20 miles does.
9. Did I mention that I finished?
10. It was fun, really, really fun. I love swimming, especially in open water and no matter what the conditions are I enjoy myself when I'm suspended in the water, away from everything on shore, lost in my own thoughts.

posted from Bloggeroid

Central Park Challenge Streak continues....

In case you didn't know this about me, I'm a Pediatric Physical Therapist and I work with children with developmental disabilities at a school run by YAI. YAI is an amazing, wonderful organization that provides services to people with disabilities throughout the life span. I really love working for them and am proud to be a part of their annual fundraiser, the Central Park Challenge. They hold a 5K run, a 3K walk and all sorts of other fun family activities every year in CP to raise money for the organization which is a non-profit. I've run 3 years in a row now and walked away with some sort of trophy/plaque every time so there's a little pressure to run well. Luckily we had a great day today with perfect weather and even though I haven't been training for the run, I managed to keep the streak alive!

The course is simple, two loops of the park drive along the bottom of the park. The start is by Tavern and the finish is on the 72nd st transverse. You run counterclockwise. At the start I took off quickly to push ahead of the dopes who hopped in the front but didn't belong and I rode the first downhill at a 6:10 pace until I had some space. I slowed to a surprisingly easy 6:40 pace, shocking myself at how casual it felt. Ahh, the first mile euphoria. I forced myself to stay steady and let a bunch of "sprint and die" folks pass me. We had 2.5 miles ahead and I was going to run a smart race. I stayed steady, clocking mile 1 at 6:51 and mile 2 at 6:49. "Whose Legs are these anyway?" I started to think. It felt really great and I let myself go at the mile 2 marker to start picking people off that had flown by earlier or just looked like a threat to my title. I pushed hard and clocked mile 3 in 6:46 and began sprinting to the finish which was uphill. My watch said 20:59 but the race results have me at 21 flat because the timing mats were past the finish. Either way I was really happy to break my previous PR and redeem myself after a crappy race last year in some evil humidity. I know that if I try a flat 5K in the future I can definitely break 21:00, even on little training.

I stuck around the post race and walk festival to collect my trophy because even though I didn't place in my age group, I was the first female YAI staff member to cross the line. Last year I was 2nd in my AG, but the field was definitely larger and more competitive this year, but that is a great thing for the CPC to have more folks running. I'll add this sweet little (ha! ) trophy to my collection now, a collection that is slowly growing as I race more and more outside of NYRR events and outside of the city.

Photos courtesy of YAI.org/cpc

The countdown and the taper are underway this week with the Great Chesapeake Bay Bridge Swim just 6 days away! I've turned a corner and finally feel like I'm getting over my cold and my appetite is back after a week of feeling stuffed up and like my tastebuds were asleep. Time to fill up on lots of good food and hydrate well. The water in the Chesapeake is looking warm and with a heat wave coming this week, I am closer and closer to just wearing my regular swimsuit and not even going with the swimskin. I'd be happy in just my suit, at least it won't chafe my neck!

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Memorial Day Swimcation

The Gorgeous Paradox Lake

Last Friday I, like lots of other New Yorkers, headed for the Adirondacks for the long, holiday weekend. It was my chance to get in a few good open water swims before the Great Chesapeake Bay swim in 2 weeks. I've swum in the lake upstate for the last two years and I was really looking forward to it after a long winter and spring in the pool. Concerned that the water was a frosty 53 on Mother's Day, I brought a rented wetsuit as a backup in case the lake was too cold for long swims. I gave the salesperson at Jackrabbit an earful about how I hate wetsuits and how I would never race in one, she probably thought I was a nut. I tucked the stupid thing into my swim bag anyway, praying that I wouldn't need it. (I Didn't!)

When I got upstate to my friend Sally's place we went to the lake and checked the temp and we're pleasantly surprised to find it felt really nice and the thermometer told us that it was around 68! No wetsuit necessary! Whew.

I did two long swims over the weekend, a 2 miler on Saturday and 4 miles on Sunday. Sally swam with me on Saturday for the gorgeous two miles around the lake. I was so happy to be outside in the open water even if it was overcast. I wore my swimskin and it kept my core nice and warm even though my hands and feet were cold. We did the two miles in about an hour with Chuck, Sally's boyfriend, as our kayak support.

Unfortunately I had caught a cold that began to really kick in around Friday night and gained momentum on Saturday. Luckily a lazy evening and some nyquil helped me sleep much better Sat night and I was ready to go on Sunday morning. We took our time getting to the lake in the morning, having some coffee and breakfast to fuel the miles ahead.

I hopped in the lake with both Sally and Chuck in kayaks flanking me as I made my way across the lake. It was fun seeing one of them on either side each time I took a breath, it gave me something to think about other than swimming. The sun came out and my arms stayed warm longer than they had on Sat and I was grateful for that. There was more debris in the lake after a late night storm and I stopped occasionally to avoid some big sticks and collections of debris. Thanks to my kayak crew, I managed to avoid getting hit by any boats or bumping into any major floating branches. I stopped for GU (eww the Cherry lime GU is nasty) 2x and had water a handful of times. There will be "snack" boats along the Chesapeake but I'm not sure where and if I'll be close enough to stop so I carried my own Gels in my suit. I tossed my wrappers on the kayak, but during my swim I'll have to tuck those into my suit as well. In case you're wondering, it isn't difficult to tread water and eat GU, but it doesn't make me want to gag any less than when I'm running. Darn.

Ahh, so I swam and swam and swam, not asking how far I'd gone until about 2.65 miles in. Boo, I was hoping it was closer to 3 at that point, but no. After a trip around the entire lake and 2 loops of an island near where we started Sally paddled to shore and hopped in to join me for the last 1.4 miles. Thank goodness she did because I was getting really chilly and tired and I let her be my guide so I didn't have to lift my head as much. We did an out and back and somewhere along the "out" portion, my arms got numb. I'm pretty sure it was from the cold, but it made for tricky swimming on that last mile. I snuck in a little breast stroke on the way back in here and there because I was losing steam. I somehow convinced myself to swim back to the dock despite a few thoughts of climbing onto the kayak. :) I was pretty sure that Chuck stayed close to me because he was certain that I was on the verge of drowning, or at least that is what my very tired body had convinced me.

When I hit the shore (the beach was underwater because the water level is way above normal) I stumbled up to the grass and plopped down. I was chilly and wiped out and I spotted someone eating cheesy poofs on the dock nearby, so I asked for some. They were the most delicious things I've ever eaten!! They were like Pirate's Booty, but a bright orange fake-cheesy color. Yum. I don't think I ever properly thanked them for their kindness...

My watch said 2:21 when I finished and the GPS said 4.04 miles. Whew. I was wearing my regular Ironman Timex and Chuck was wearing my Garmin (which died at some point) and using his own GPS on the kayak. He was nice enough to put the two swims on a map for me so I have that and the Garmin readouts! The splits aren't as fast as I'd like to be going on race day, but I never stopped my watch (and Garmin's auto-stop was off) when we stopped to chat or when we waited for Sally to switch from kayak to swimming, so I'm guessing I could have been a few minutes faster. I also know that I won't be stopping to chat on race day, so I'm perfectly happy with how it all went. I wouldn't have wanted to put in a race day effort two weeks before the race, my shoulders never would have forgiven me. They're currently still just thinking about forgiving me for swimming 6 miles in 2 days and then kayaking who knows how far on Monday.

With the overwhelming majority of my training behind me, I'm ready to take on the bay!!!

Chuck was nice enough to put these together for me: White is Saturday's 2 miles, Yellow is Sunday's 4.

My neck took a beating from my swimskin and the black flies: (ouch/eww)

Mmmm, what a beautiful day.

The furry company was awfully cute this weekend too:

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Great Chesapeake Bay Swim Info

So as the day gets closer (3 weeks from tomorrow!) I am starting to gather more and more info about what to expect on June 12th when I dive into the Chesapeake Bay at Sandy Point State park and make my way along the bridges to the other side of the bay. I would do my own round up of the great sites out there, but Amy Reinink has already done it so well that I'm simply going to share her blog here: Chesapeake Bay Bridge Swim roundup but you should check out the whole blog because she's a wonderful writer and also a great runner!

I've booked the hotel (MAN is it cheap to stay in hotels outside of NYC!), put in several miles in the water and I am getting REALLY EXCITED! I have a few more weeks of serious training before I'm really ready, but I feel like I am READY to take on those bridges. Check out the pictures here: Rob Aquatics Race Report 2010 to get a glimpse of what I'll be looking at during the 4.4 mile journey. I'm awed by those bridges. Wow.

Isn't it gorgeous?!?

Waterlogged.

It's funny how when you mostly socialize with runners, mentioning a long swim gets a "woah" in the same way that running 20 miles gets a "woahh" from a non-runner. Since I'm in both of those circles, swimming and running, I'm jaded when it comes to the distances of either. When I try to explain that swimming 5000 yds is "like running 13 miles" I still get baffled looks from my running friends. It might be the time equivalent, but it encourages a lot of questions. How do you keep count of your laps? (in the pool) - I just do. I count in sets when doing specific workouts like 10x150yds (that's 10x6 lengths). You learn at a young age as a swimmer to keep track of things like that. When we do our warmup of 1650,I count every length and try my best to keep track. It helps to have my stopwatch running and hit the lap button every 500yds because I know it takes around 8mins to swim that. If it sounds like torture to count that much, it's not. It's second nature after all these years. Also, just because I'm counting doesn't mean that I'm not also thinking about other things. "What Do you think about?" is a very popular question and the answer is simple: everything or nothing. It's no different from what I think about on a run, which means I mostly think about what I'm going to eat when I finish. :) You'd probably be surprised how much you can learn about people between sets. I have a bunch of pool friends that I've gotten to know simply from swimming in front of or behind them and chatting after each 200 or 1650 or whatever the distance may be.
All in all my swim training has been really fun and I'm racking up the yards this month. In the first week of May I swam almost 13,000 yards, just over 10,000 yards last week and I'm hoping to hit around 16,000 for this week by Sunday. Yes, that is a lot of yards, but I'll be ready for the Chesapeake Bay swim come June 12th!

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The Mother's Day double

After an exhausting day at Bear Mountain on Saturday, I was zonked when I woke up on Sunday too. (I Realize this doesn't bode well for my plans to possibly run the half marathon next year). I lounged around trying to get my mojo back and trying to get myself together to go for a swim. I had lots of little projects around the apartment, one of which required a trip to the hardware store. The minute I stepped outside, I knew that I HAD to get out for a run. I missed my usual Saturday morning run because of Bear Mountain, and I would have missed my Sunday swim if I'd gone to NJ... There seemed to be only one thing to do: run and swim.
After some deliberation over how to organize my day, I finally decided to run to the pool (at first I dismissed this as crazy) and then swim. The plan was to take a very tiny bag with me so I could put on clean clothes after my swim and shower. It worked out perfectly once I worked out the details.
I was hoping for a somewhat speedy run down the west side Greenway because it is downhill from home and then flat as can be. I took off at a warmup pace around 8:00 and proceeded to pick up the pace to sub 7:30's for the remaining miles. I had to work at it a bit along the busier parts of the Greenway on the UWS, but it almost felt effortless. I racked up 7.5 miles in 56:00 or so and was really happy with the effort. I then rinsed off and hopped into the pool for a mile at a moderate pace. I decided this was good training for my swim to swim at mile while "tired". I didn't feel tired though, I felt great. I swam a total of 2000 yds before grabbing a giant coconut water and heading home. I felt awesome and was floating on endorphins until I got home and crashed. I was happy to have worked that hard and pushed myself instead of lounging on the couch all day. Ahh, tri season is approaching quickly.
It's Tuesday now and I still have some lingering soreness in my adductors and quads, but most of the soreness worked itself out in the pool Monday afternoon.
I'm putting in the miles and getting tips here and there regarding the Great Bay swim coming up in 5 weeks. My training has been steady and I'm feeling good about a possible finish in under 2 hours. I'll have a better idea after some open water practice at the end of the month.

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Vacation/Training Camp

Looking ahead...

As the school year came to a close, I stacked my upcoming vacation with trips and tried to figure out how to squeeze my training in with them. The day before vacation began, I had a major day o' activity to start things off right. Thursday the 24th of June was the day my best friend NM was moving to Philly for a year-long residency, so we had to do a run to commemorate it. We always run together on big days including graduation from PT school, my wedding day, etc so this was no exception. We snuck in a very early, hilly 5mi or so before the rest of the city woke up. It was bittersweet, I'm terribly sad to see her leave NY, but excited for the opportunities ahead. After work I was able to come right home and begin the packing process before driving up to Van Cortlandt park for another of the 5K series, no muffin this time because I really held back and took it easy, finishing 1 min slower than last time at 24:08 or so. I didn't care that I had a 9:00 mi 2 because I was saving a lil energy for soccer! Yup, post 5K I trotted back to my car and went directly to a 50 min soccer in the sweltering heat. We won! When I arrived back home, my hubby was home from work so I told him to get his stuff together, he was coming with me to NJ for the night because we were leaving for Calgary, AB Canada in the morning and had to bring the cats down to Mom's house. That worked out nicely! Boy did I sleep good that night...

View from our hike to Grassi Lakes, it was unreal!

Canada was a blast, we spent much of the long weekend in the Canadian Rockies at a beautiful, picturesque lodge tucked away by a great big lake. I was really hoping to get in more training, like a trail run and open water swim, but the trails were too far from the lodge and the lake had leeches in it!! Eww, no thanks. I did manage one run though... But it was an adventure! I asked a nice Aboriginal man where to run and he told me the road (boring) so I asked if their was a path around the lake and he assured me that there was. He mentioned that it was "a bit uneven" and I waved him off. Pshhh, I thought. He neglected to mention the loads of bear poop, the disappearing trail, and the ancient, decrepit bridge that I made it halfway across before noticing that the other half was broken and under water. Sadly, I ended up on the road after all. Boo. I didn't notice the altitude too much, I think we were only at about 3,500ft or so. The hike we did was at about 5,400ft, yay for gorgeous mountains and crisp, blue glacier lakes. I was so relaxed and happy.

When we returned to the States, I took off to NJ for a beach day with Mom on Tuesday and got in a solid 5x1mi intervals workout before the heat crept in. It was fine to get up early on vacation to run because I was all mixed up in terms of my time zones. If it weren't for the heat, I think I could have gone even faster on my run, but I had 5 solid miles anyway. After a hot day at the beach with Mom, I ventured back to the city to spend one night at home before jetting off again. It happened to be the most gorgeous of nights, the humidity was gone and the night air was cool and fresh, it was a preview of the rest of my week.

Wed morning I did an hour of PT with some twins that I work with before hopping back into the (new and shiny) car for a 4hr drive upstate. My good friend SF has a wonderful and charming house in the Adirondacks where she spends the summers swimming in the gorgeous lakes and doing projects around her house. I drove up with my bike, swimsuits, caps, goggles and plenty of comfy clothes. It was going to be relaxing and yet a good training opportunity.

I spent Wed through Sat morning there and had a GREAT time, it sucked to come back home as it did last year also. I managed to swim 2mi each morning with SF across and back in Paradox Lake, consistently in around 50mins each time, despite the different conditions (wind, waves, temp) every day. On Thursday I ran the 3 very hilly miles there, swam, dried off and ran back on numb feet. Brr.

Friday we swam and then after breakfast (yum we had some amazing and fresh food) we ventured to Schroon Lake where I rode around the lake along the course of the Adirondack Marathon (wow, HILLS) for a 26.2 mi ride in 1:45 with a quick mile run after to make it a brick. Whew, the sandwiches we had after the ride/run were unreal too, and I don't think it was just because of my hungry bear state of mind.

Bike Course

We did one last swim on Sat morning with SF's bf paddling his kayak alongside us so we didn't have to bring along our little beachball-string-ankle strap contraptions along to make us visible for any boats on the lake. The beach balls were fun though, hehe especially on the first day when we had a tailwind on the way home and the ball kept smacking me in the head and arm because it was beating me. Anyhow, our last swim was great, I feel like I really got a good rhythm of breathing and sighting down, which is something I didn't feel like I had at the tri in Harriman. Sadly though I had to get in the car and head home to NYC and then on to Jersey for a wedding Sunday. Ahh, what a great way to spend the week though.. we ate delicious foods right from the garden and drank cold beer and even had to bundle up because it was so chilly at night. I wish I could bottle that feeling of relaxation, happiness and sleepiness from a good workout and really great company. I'm so lucky to have such great friends in my life.

I'm feeling pretty pumped for the upcoming NYC Tri... I did another 10 mi bike (much flatter!) and 3mi run Brick workout on Sunday morning just to get in some more time in the saddle and practice the bike to run transition. I realize that it is going to be difficult on race day, but I think I can still do really well. I guess we'll see... 13 days to go!

A two-a-day Thursday

In my quest to get to the pool at least two times a week, I scheduled myself a "Twofer", a morning swim and an evening run all in the same day. It didn't really hit me until the night before when I was packing up my bag for the swim and I made sure to throw in some more snacks. I take my Thursday night group run as a "given" so I never give it a second thought when planning my week.

Wednesday was a day off, there was no way I was even going to attempt to run after Tuesday's torture so I took it easy and made dinner plans with a friend. The dinner plans didn't happen thanks to my blackberry crapping out, but the rest day definitely happened. Man, I was sore.

Thursday morning came more quickly than I would have liked, but I managed to get up and out of the house without a hitch. I had planned to just pop in my headphones and zone out on the subway, but I ran into my swimming buddy and good friend SF on the train so we chatted on the way to the pool. The first few laps I felt tight and sore, I bet you didn't realize that you use your ass and hamstrings during a flip turn! Yow. I loosened up a bit and settled into the swim. We agreed on a smaller ladder than the usual 500, 400,300,200,100 because we were feeling a little sluggish and we decided on a ladder up to 300 and back down again. It felt pretty good, but I had to hop out a little before we were done in order to get to work on time. Bummer. There was some excitement during the swim though when Sally recognized Isaac Mizrahi in the lane next to us and chatted him up. I was blinded by his neon orange pedicure. It was a star-studded swim for me as my friend Sally, author of Swimming the Channel is also kind of a big deal in her own right. At least to me she is :) At one point my very own swim buddy held the women's record for the Manhattan Island Marathon Swim at 7:01:02.

After the swim, the day cruised by at its usual speed and before I knew it, I walked in the door after work and coaching and had about 15mins to change and get back out the door to meet the crew for a run. We had a nice 6.04 mi run in 55:12 (9:08 pace, Elevation gain of 1,200ft). I brought along my Metrocard in case I was too sore to run home, but I didn't have to use it! I convinced myself to run home, just take it easy and under no circumstances was I going to take the stairs at 187th St up to Fort Washington Ave. I took the subway elevator and felt no guilt whatsoever. It was a strong run, I stretched a little and then proceeded to eat everything in sight and sleep like a baby.

I survived my two-a-day without a scratch and even headed back to the pool on Friday for another swim with Sally. We somehow made it through 2,500 yds in a way-too-warm-at-one-end pool. No celebs this time, just a cranky old man in the next lane complaining that it was too cold. I napped hard on Friday when I finally got home, wow. It was a long, challenging week and I was going to need my strength for the weekend runs.

*Matisse says "read the book, seriously, do it."

Playing catch-up

Last week ended up being a bit of a wash post-half marathon. Monday I came down with a cold and was just whole-body exhausted and needed to rest. I even skipped a dinner at Max Brenners with two of my best friends. I had no intentions of heading to CP on Tuesday for speedwork with the twitter Team Sasquatch crew because my knee was feeling tricky and I was still a bit sore from the Half+Soccer Sunday. I took an "easy" 3.82mi run with an elevation gain of 1,500 ft! I goofed up the Garmin at some point and missed a mile. There's no such thing as an easy run in my hood. It felt nice to loosen up and I felt great by the end. Wednesday I took a nice relaxed and sort of goofy mile swim. I splashed around and didn't push it too hard until the end. I really love swimming, its similar to running in that its a solitary sport and it gives you lots of time alone in your own head. Its you, the water and your breaths. Ahh its so relaxing and I always feel good afterwards.

The usual Thursday night Inwood Hill Runners group run was fun because we had one friend join us who doesn't usually come on Thursdays. A lil spice (and testosterone) added to the usual ladies night run. I goofed up my Garmin (again!) and didn't track the final 2 miles home, damn. They were very hilly miles so I tracked them on mapmyrun for the extra few hundred feet of elevation. We took the stairs home - 120 stairs at the end of my run, whew! Thursday totals: 6.71mi

Saturday I was not thrilled with the temps dipping down to 13 in the morning, but I layered up and headed uptown to meet the group. My hubby had told me the night before that he anticipated a tiny group on Saturday morning (he's not a runner- what does he know about the crazy runners?) but I was a little shocked when 10 of us showed up for the run! Wow. We had one new guy, 2 new-ish guys from the previous week and a runner turned cyclist who "can't stand her bike" right now. Haha. We headed up to Riverdale again for a gorgeous hilly, brisk, sunny partly trail run that ended in Van Cortlandt Park. Normally we do the southern hills of the 5K loop in VCP and then hit the flats, but someone had the *brilliant* idea to hit the back hills for an extra mile. Damn!! I was struggling at that point for some reason, I felt heavy and tired and I was ready to head home. Whew, those last few hills chewed me up and spit me out. Ouch. In the back of my mind I was also thinking about my soccer game later that day.

Sat total: 8.8mi in 1:20, avg pace 9:09 I think the elevation count was way off because last time I did this run I had over 3,000 ft and this time it only registered 900+. Hmm. Maybe a Garmin is like a boat, its bad luck to not have a name for it.

Sunday was supposed to be a long run day, but I just had no mojo so I had a nice relaxed day with my hubby and hit the gym before bed. I did my first treadmill miles (1 to warmup, 1 to cool down) and 12 miles on the bike. It was tough but I felt great afterwards!

I swam on Friday, it was probably just a mile.. thats my minimum, but I can't remember anything exciting about it. I remember thinking it was nice to be swimming in the sunshine.

Weekly total: 35.85 miles (swim, bike and run)

Looking back, I guess it wasn't a complete wasted week. I just felt icky and stuffy through most of it.

NYC Triathlon

Today was the big day for lots of city athletes, the 9th annual NYC Triathlon. It's an Olympic distance Tri which means its a 1500m swim (nearly a mile), 40K bike and a 10K run. Whew. I was a volunteer on the early, early shift- 4am to 9am handing out timing chips and making sure they put them in the right place (ankle). It was brutal getting there at 3:45 but I had a great time and met some really great people. As a volunteer you get guaranteed entry to next year's race which is a big deal because the race usually sells out in under 10 seconds once online reg opens! Insane. Anyhow since chip distribution was located right along the rivers edge, I got some great shots and had a front row "seat" to the swimming portion. It was intense and somewhat gross (we saw the trash floating around early in the morning after a few minutes of rain) but definitely inspiring. Here are a few of my favorite shots from the day, gotta love old George posing upriver. Check out my flickr page for more.

Swim.Bike.Run.

Congrats to everyone who gave it their all today. It was really inspiring.