- The Phillies beat the Mets last night - so far taking 3 games out of a 4 game series(the 4th will be played this afternoon).
- The Yankees beat the Red Sox to take the first 2 games of the series (the 3rd will be played this afternoon) and they moved into first for the wild card.
- Less than 2 days and I will be chillin out by my pool for a long, relaxing weekend.
- I feel no pain - none - it's been a recovery week with my workouts and I haven't run yet (that's tomorrow morning) but between my swimming, biking, and pilates workouts this week, my body feels great. And somehow despite having a real crappy diet this week, I feel and look thinner to myself.
- I received the contracts for my apartment which the buyers have already signed - just put my John Hancock on them and shipped them off to my attorney. It looks like a late October time frame for closing.
- The weather is beautiful outside and i'm feeling truly blessed to have such amazing friends.
That's why i'm happy.
Thursday, August 30, 2007
Monday, August 27, 2007
End of the Season?
I participated in my last triathlon of my first season yesterday...maybe. But i'll get to that later in the post. Here is how the weekend went:
Pre-race Day
After leaving a pathetic phillies loss to pick up the team tent at another members house in Philly, I didn't get a good night's sleep Friday night because I was stressing over all the things I had to do before I would leave to get to the pre-race registration the next day before it closed.
After getting stuck behind the slowest drivers ever on my way into the city to pick up my teammate Mare and then getting stuck in two traffic jams on 95 South, we made it to North East Maryland by 5:30 pm. It was about 95 degrees and the humidity made the air feel as thick as broth.
So the two of us begin assemble the tent, which required more strength and brute force than you could imagine. I was the brute force with the hammer as Mare braced herself to be the immobilizer of the stake I was hammering, all the while praying her hands would come out in one piece.
Finally, after 30 minutes or so of struggling with little release pins and positioning the legs so the tent looked centered, our masterpiece was up.
We were staying in a hotel in Elkton, MD, about 8 miles away and as we tried to reverse the directions I had printed out from the hotel to the race site (the initial plan was to check in, then head to the race site, but traffic altered that plan due to time constraints), we ended up heading the wrong direction. When we finally figured it out, our hotel, Amerisuites, was nowhere to be found. I had made this reservation about 3 weeks ago so I couldn't imagine what was going on - I gave them a call. Turns out they were the Hawthorne suites that we had just driven by - they had changed their name since I had made the reservation.
After checking in we headed to downtown Elkton (Very scary place to be in at night - like a ghost town) for some dinner at a place called Howard's House - being in Maryland by the bay, of course their specialty is crabs, which Mare and I don't eat. After eating our sandwiches, we went back to the hotel to call it a night.
Race Day
I didn't really hear the alarm go off, it became part of my dream. So Mare had to wake me up. I didn't feel like I had gotten much sleep again - it took me awhile to get comfortable in the hotel bed. So we got our stuff together and made our way to the race site.
Can you tell I have sleepy eyes? This is me in the transition area, setting up at the crack of dawn.
Before the race, I got to catch up with a few of my new teammates that I had already met as well as meet a few others. The water was 81 degrees, so no wetsuit again for the swim portion of the tri. My goal for this race was to improve quite a bit on my time compared to my only other and my first Olympic Tri two months ago. My coach wanted me to really focus and push on the swim portion, because i've made a drastic improvement in that area the past few months. I wanted to see what I could do as well, but the wetsuit makes your time so much faster - so already I knew I had my work cut out for me.
Heading to the dock for the swim start
We jumped in and were treading water for about 5 minutes before we started our wave. This time, I remembered to set my watch to be able to time and pace myself throughout the race. They sounded the horn and off we went. A really rought start for me again. The first buoy was probably about 200 yards into the course, and it wasn't until this point that I actually put my face in the water. I was having my breath control issues again. This was going to kill my time. I started to settle into my stroke but never really found my rhythm, distrupting my stroke every 4 strokes to sight. The field was pretty spread out so I didn't have many problems with people swimming into people. By the time I got out of the almost mile long swim, I already felt beat up - as you can see by this picture. It took me 33 minutes to finish and honestly, if I performed the way that I do in my swim class and workouts, it should have been closer to 25.
The transition area was a bit more of a distance from the swim finish than what I was used to, but I still hurried through it was a steady effort. Out of transition, I jumped on my bike and headed out and almost immediately, I started to feel the elevation changes on the bike course. The course description called for "rolling hills" but to someone like me who is still a novice and doesn't practice much on hills might as well consider these things mountains. I stupidly didn't switch to my small chain ring for the first few hills and that really wore out my legs. I tried to get as much speed as possible on the downhills to make up time and pick up momentum for the next climbs and a few of them seemed to be successful. This just taught me there's still much for me to learn in regards to my cycling.
I somehow messed up my watch settings coming out of T1 and had stopped the clock, so I had no idea how much time had elapsed on the bike and I also had the incorrect settings on my bike computer so I didn't know how much distance I had traveled. At one point, I asked one of the rangers blocking an intersection on the course if he knew what mile we were at. He said we were about halfway through. I felt so defeated at that point - I was worn, the hills had totally kicked my ass at that point and he was telling me I had another 12 miles to go (I knew the biggest and longest climb was coming up at mile 18). Fortunately, another woman riding near me said her GPS was telling her we had gone over 16 miles at that point - we had about 7 to go. That made me feel better. I felt like I had been out there forever.
I was so happy to come back into the transition area. With my swim wave starting 15 minutes after the first wave, not swimming to my potential, and having the bike course kick my ass the way that it did, most people were already on the run, as you can see with all the bikes already racked as I was coming into T2:
This is a quick and easy transition to make - only a 10K run ahead of me. I was a little nervous to see how my legs would hold up - they haven't been doing so great on my runs lately. The sun wasn't out, it was hazy and cloudy, but the humidity had definately kicked in. The run was an out and back along a highway with "rolling hills" yet again. The first 2 miles I battled my aching shin splints again. I did have to take a walk break up one of the hills. But having some teammates as volunteers along the course really helped to keep me going. I ran past the four other women on my team that were competing today (they were all heading in as I was heading out) - they all acknowledged me - gave me a high five. Every little bit helps. As I was at my last quarter mile mark, Mare offered to run me in, but I said it was ok - I was going to finish this. I picked up the pace a bit, but didn't have anything left in me to sprint to the finish.
I looked at the finishing clock - compared to the first Olympic tri I had done in Philly, I cut 20 minutes off my time. Granted, my time was horrible for the Philly Tri - I just wanted to get my first one under my belt. But this course was so much tougher for me, so at least it shows me that i'm making progress. And the experience of participating in this as part of a team really made it a much more rewarding experience. Quite a few of them did very well, winning awards. And it was nice to kick back and chat with them post race as well:
So, I was happy to end the season having done 2 sprint and 2 Olympic triathlons and that my performance at each subsequent Tri showed that I was making progress. I was now planning on focusing on my fall running season with the PDR half-marathon in 3 weeks and the NYC marathon this November. That may be changing, however, for a number of reasons.
The team has two more races as part of a club series in which they are in the lead for at the moment. They get a point for each finisher (more for those that place in different categories) so my participating in one of them could actually help the team. Also, my run training has been somewhat halted. My coach has taken off the long runs in the upcoming weeks because i'm teetering on the edge of reinjuring myself. I'm starting to get very nervous that i'm not going to be prepared come race day for the marathon. My coach seems to differ in opinion, he has altered my schedule in a way that takes off some of the miles but is still conditioning my body to handle the endurance and some of the pounding of it. I don't know - I have until October 31st to defer my entry to next years Marathon and i'm going to see how my legs respond to the half marathon in three weeks as well as the plan my coach has to get me to the start on November 4th. My racing schedule may or may not be changing for the fall....
so stay tuned!!
Pre-race Day
After leaving a pathetic phillies loss to pick up the team tent at another members house in Philly, I didn't get a good night's sleep Friday night because I was stressing over all the things I had to do before I would leave to get to the pre-race registration the next day before it closed.
After getting stuck behind the slowest drivers ever on my way into the city to pick up my teammate Mare and then getting stuck in two traffic jams on 95 South, we made it to North East Maryland by 5:30 pm. It was about 95 degrees and the humidity made the air feel as thick as broth.
So the two of us begin assemble the tent, which required more strength and brute force than you could imagine. I was the brute force with the hammer as Mare braced herself to be the immobilizer of the stake I was hammering, all the while praying her hands would come out in one piece.
Finally, after 30 minutes or so of struggling with little release pins and positioning the legs so the tent looked centered, our masterpiece was up.
We were staying in a hotel in Elkton, MD, about 8 miles away and as we tried to reverse the directions I had printed out from the hotel to the race site (the initial plan was to check in, then head to the race site, but traffic altered that plan due to time constraints), we ended up heading the wrong direction. When we finally figured it out, our hotel, Amerisuites, was nowhere to be found. I had made this reservation about 3 weeks ago so I couldn't imagine what was going on - I gave them a call. Turns out they were the Hawthorne suites that we had just driven by - they had changed their name since I had made the reservation.
After checking in we headed to downtown Elkton (Very scary place to be in at night - like a ghost town) for some dinner at a place called Howard's House - being in Maryland by the bay, of course their specialty is crabs, which Mare and I don't eat. After eating our sandwiches, we went back to the hotel to call it a night.
Race Day
I didn't really hear the alarm go off, it became part of my dream. So Mare had to wake me up. I didn't feel like I had gotten much sleep again - it took me awhile to get comfortable in the hotel bed. So we got our stuff together and made our way to the race site.
Can you tell I have sleepy eyes? This is me in the transition area, setting up at the crack of dawn.
Before the race, I got to catch up with a few of my new teammates that I had already met as well as meet a few others. The water was 81 degrees, so no wetsuit again for the swim portion of the tri. My goal for this race was to improve quite a bit on my time compared to my only other and my first Olympic Tri two months ago. My coach wanted me to really focus and push on the swim portion, because i've made a drastic improvement in that area the past few months. I wanted to see what I could do as well, but the wetsuit makes your time so much faster - so already I knew I had my work cut out for me.
Heading to the dock for the swim start
We jumped in and were treading water for about 5 minutes before we started our wave. This time, I remembered to set my watch to be able to time and pace myself throughout the race. They sounded the horn and off we went. A really rought start for me again. The first buoy was probably about 200 yards into the course, and it wasn't until this point that I actually put my face in the water. I was having my breath control issues again. This was going to kill my time. I started to settle into my stroke but never really found my rhythm, distrupting my stroke every 4 strokes to sight. The field was pretty spread out so I didn't have many problems with people swimming into people. By the time I got out of the almost mile long swim, I already felt beat up - as you can see by this picture. It took me 33 minutes to finish and honestly, if I performed the way that I do in my swim class and workouts, it should have been closer to 25.
The transition area was a bit more of a distance from the swim finish than what I was used to, but I still hurried through it was a steady effort. Out of transition, I jumped on my bike and headed out and almost immediately, I started to feel the elevation changes on the bike course. The course description called for "rolling hills" but to someone like me who is still a novice and doesn't practice much on hills might as well consider these things mountains. I stupidly didn't switch to my small chain ring for the first few hills and that really wore out my legs. I tried to get as much speed as possible on the downhills to make up time and pick up momentum for the next climbs and a few of them seemed to be successful. This just taught me there's still much for me to learn in regards to my cycling.
I somehow messed up my watch settings coming out of T1 and had stopped the clock, so I had no idea how much time had elapsed on the bike and I also had the incorrect settings on my bike computer so I didn't know how much distance I had traveled. At one point, I asked one of the rangers blocking an intersection on the course if he knew what mile we were at. He said we were about halfway through. I felt so defeated at that point - I was worn, the hills had totally kicked my ass at that point and he was telling me I had another 12 miles to go (I knew the biggest and longest climb was coming up at mile 18). Fortunately, another woman riding near me said her GPS was telling her we had gone over 16 miles at that point - we had about 7 to go. That made me feel better. I felt like I had been out there forever.
I was so happy to come back into the transition area. With my swim wave starting 15 minutes after the first wave, not swimming to my potential, and having the bike course kick my ass the way that it did, most people were already on the run, as you can see with all the bikes already racked as I was coming into T2:
This is a quick and easy transition to make - only a 10K run ahead of me. I was a little nervous to see how my legs would hold up - they haven't been doing so great on my runs lately. The sun wasn't out, it was hazy and cloudy, but the humidity had definately kicked in. The run was an out and back along a highway with "rolling hills" yet again. The first 2 miles I battled my aching shin splints again. I did have to take a walk break up one of the hills. But having some teammates as volunteers along the course really helped to keep me going. I ran past the four other women on my team that were competing today (they were all heading in as I was heading out) - they all acknowledged me - gave me a high five. Every little bit helps. As I was at my last quarter mile mark, Mare offered to run me in, but I said it was ok - I was going to finish this. I picked up the pace a bit, but didn't have anything left in me to sprint to the finish.
I looked at the finishing clock - compared to the first Olympic tri I had done in Philly, I cut 20 minutes off my time. Granted, my time was horrible for the Philly Tri - I just wanted to get my first one under my belt. But this course was so much tougher for me, so at least it shows me that i'm making progress. And the experience of participating in this as part of a team really made it a much more rewarding experience. Quite a few of them did very well, winning awards. And it was nice to kick back and chat with them post race as well:
So, I was happy to end the season having done 2 sprint and 2 Olympic triathlons and that my performance at each subsequent Tri showed that I was making progress. I was now planning on focusing on my fall running season with the PDR half-marathon in 3 weeks and the NYC marathon this November. That may be changing, however, for a number of reasons.
The team has two more races as part of a club series in which they are in the lead for at the moment. They get a point for each finisher (more for those that place in different categories) so my participating in one of them could actually help the team. Also, my run training has been somewhat halted. My coach has taken off the long runs in the upcoming weeks because i'm teetering on the edge of reinjuring myself. I'm starting to get very nervous that i'm not going to be prepared come race day for the marathon. My coach seems to differ in opinion, he has altered my schedule in a way that takes off some of the miles but is still conditioning my body to handle the endurance and some of the pounding of it. I don't know - I have until October 31st to defer my entry to next years Marathon and i'm going to see how my legs respond to the half marathon in three weeks as well as the plan my coach has to get me to the start on November 4th. My racing schedule may or may not be changing for the fall....
so stay tuned!!
Tuesday, August 21, 2007
Sad, Sad Day
I woke up at 5 am to a dark, rainy, and unseasonably cold August morning in Philadelphia to get to my member cycling class. I was very tired, somewhat struggled to get to class - but i'm glad I did. I was on top of it today - actually comfortably exceeded (and maintained) the wattage in my SuperLT and VO2MAX training zones. So that made me happy.
But a few hours into the work day - I got a text from my Eagles buddy Joe....My Philadelphia Eagles had released one of my beloved, favorite roster players, MLB Jeremiah Trotter. I'm baffled, i'm stunned, tears swell in my eyes. I can't say I entirely understand or even agree with this decision. I feel like, at 30, Trot still has a few decent years left in him if he can stay healthy. And you just can't replace a personality like his. Trot - I just can't let you go! Please say it ain't so!
Truly - i'm at a loss right now...
But a few hours into the work day - I got a text from my Eagles buddy Joe....My Philadelphia Eagles had released one of my beloved, favorite roster players, MLB Jeremiah Trotter. I'm baffled, i'm stunned, tears swell in my eyes. I can't say I entirely understand or even agree with this decision. I feel like, at 30, Trot still has a few decent years left in him if he can stay healthy. And you just can't replace a personality like his. Trot - I just can't let you go! Please say it ain't so!
Truly - i'm at a loss right now...
Friday, August 17, 2007
Too excited to keep quiet
Ok - so you all know the story. 12 years in New York was more than enough for me. I was so frustrated and tired with my life there I quit my job to finish grad school full-time for a semester, needing 21 more credits, so I could finally move on with my life. After graduation (I'm still in disbelief I actually made it) I put my apartment on the market in June 2006. With no bites, 5 months later I tried to sublet my apartment. Found someone right away - paid all the fees I had to to my co-op, signed the contracts, etc. when 2 weeks into the contract the renter wanted to pull out. His old landlord was going to let him stay. Three months of "legal" proceedings, I finally recouped my costs and some "damages". March 2007, I list my apartment with a different broker. Had my apartment freshly painted. July 2007 I renovated the kitchen and had the floors refinished.
When I relisted my apartment this year, I had bought a St. Joseph to bury - only, the ground was too hard to bury it in, so I left it on my kitchen shelf. When the kitchen was renovated, my mother buried the St. Joseph for me. In order for it to work, you have to pray to St. Joseph (so Beth tells me). So last night, I did. I finally prayed to St. Joseph. And guess what - I GOT AN OFFER TODAY!!!! We settled on the price I wanted!!! I'm nervous about all this, so many things could go wrong or fall through between now and closing, but The Secret is telling me to be thinking positively. I've been doing that too! Believing that it's already been sold! So while it's nowhere near being a done deal yet - such a huge weight has been lifted from my shoulders. I won't feel "stuck" anymore.
It's bizarre in a way - this is the very last tie I have to NY. NY is where I left my childhood and became a grown woman. And now that chapter is closing in my life - what's next? I'm really not sure - but i'm very excited about finding out!!
When I relisted my apartment this year, I had bought a St. Joseph to bury - only, the ground was too hard to bury it in, so I left it on my kitchen shelf. When the kitchen was renovated, my mother buried the St. Joseph for me. In order for it to work, you have to pray to St. Joseph (so Beth tells me). So last night, I did. I finally prayed to St. Joseph. And guess what - I GOT AN OFFER TODAY!!!! We settled on the price I wanted!!! I'm nervous about all this, so many things could go wrong or fall through between now and closing, but The Secret is telling me to be thinking positively. I've been doing that too! Believing that it's already been sold! So while it's nowhere near being a done deal yet - such a huge weight has been lifted from my shoulders. I won't feel "stuck" anymore.
It's bizarre in a way - this is the very last tie I have to NY. NY is where I left my childhood and became a grown woman. And now that chapter is closing in my life - what's next? I'm really not sure - but i'm very excited about finding out!!
Friday, August 10, 2007
I'm awful - and I love it!!
My run, bike, and swim training is taking up roughly 10 hours of my week each week. Overall, it's all coming along just fine. Then, last night, we began working on the IM strokes in swim class (butterfly, backstroke and breaststroke in addition to freestyle) and I literally felt like a fish out of water. Backstroke isn't that bad - it's essentially freestyle flipped upside down. Butterfly we broke down, starting with the kick. I felt like I was just bobbing up and down intstead of moving forward. I was suppossed to be rolling from my core through my legs for a powerful kick. I think all I accomplished was my butt popping up and down, crunching my lower back. Trying to add my arms to the equation with two kicks for each stroke was a disaster. Similiarly for the breaststroke, trying to keep my knees in while sickling my flexed feet and trying to push the water with my lower legs to propel me forward was also unsuccessful. And keeping my arms in the front quadrant of my body to lift myself up and dive forward was very tiring after a short lap.
Basically, what i'm trying to say is - I suck. And i'm totally down with sucking. When you suck like I do, you can only get better! It's like my cycling field test - having my average LT power increase 60 watts in 4-5 months was huge! I couldn't have done that if I hadn't completely sucked the first time out to compare it too. That's not to say that I purposely want to bomb these things first time out. But if i'm naturally and realistically starting at zero, I get to see that path that lies ahead. I get to tackle a challenge and make progress. It's something to work towards. I'll get to work on these strokes all winter (hopefully - i've requested my coach to give me some workouts incorporating them). I'm excited.
Basically, what i'm trying to say is - I suck. And i'm totally down with sucking. When you suck like I do, you can only get better! It's like my cycling field test - having my average LT power increase 60 watts in 4-5 months was huge! I couldn't have done that if I hadn't completely sucked the first time out to compare it too. That's not to say that I purposely want to bomb these things first time out. But if i'm naturally and realistically starting at zero, I get to see that path that lies ahead. I get to tackle a challenge and make progress. It's something to work towards. I'll get to work on these strokes all winter (hopefully - i've requested my coach to give me some workouts incorporating them). I'm excited.
Monday, August 06, 2007
3rd time's a ???
This one's for Jenna since she amazingly seems to have more of an interest in my newbie triathlon excursion than I do!! :)
I participated in my third triathlon this past weekend. It was an all-women's sprint distance triathlon in Philadelphia. It was almost ideal weather conditions for the Tri - sunny, relatively low humidity, and in the 70s. The water temperature was 80 degrees, which felt even warmer than that to me. It was like bath water. So I opted not to wear the wetsuit this time around so as not to overheat while swimming the 800 meters.
I was pretty calm this morning - not many nerves running through me. I caught up with a few people I knew in the transition area and walked to the swim start for a quick warm-up swim. The same moment I jumped into the water, so did another women in my age group that I had met at the last women's Tri I did a month ago. So we caught up chatting a bit. It's cool that i'm starting to recognize and get to know the same faces in this new community i'm becoming a part of.
I was in the 5th swim wave and with it only being an 800 meter swim, the lead elites were already on their bikes before I even got in the water. They rode by the swim start so I got to cheer some of them on. I was so tuned into their race that I almost missed the announcement that brought my swim wave into the water! So I was one of the last to jump into the water and I decided to hang in the back of the wave this time.
The last two Tris I had my freakout moment in the swim which cost me quite a bit of time. This time, I was determined to stick to freestyle the entire time and calmly get into my zone and finish the 800 meters. So they blew the horn, I waited a few moments for the swimmers ahead of me to get going, then I eased into my stroke. It worked! About a hundred meters in, I started passing people left and right. However, I had a difficult time steering myself in the right direction. Every 4 strokes or so I would lift my head up to sight and make sure I was heading towards the buoy. But every time I lift my head to see my form gets out of alignment and I lose momentum. My technique was shotty and I wasn't as efficient as I could have been. I hadn't realized how much swimming with a wetsuit is an advantage with your time. But all in all, I learned what I need to work on AND I felt comfortable during the entire swim. I still ranked in the top 35% for the swim, so at least that's something.
Another goal was to cut down my time in transition. I hustled a bit more this time, but still ended up wasting a total of 6 minutes in both transitions. I should be able to cut the total time down to 4 minutes. That's a goal for the next one.
The bike was only 15 miles which consisted of two loops, mostly flat with the exception of one climb. I didn't do so well on the bike - it is definately my weakest of the three sports. The climb was taxing but I could have pushed myself much more during the entire ride. I think when I began training for the marathon last year, I got into this mode of conserving energy for the end of the race. Because of this habit, I don't push myself to the edge or even over the edge and learn to deal with the pain and keep going. So I stay in a comfortable zone. I really need to start pushing myself more becaues it will make a huge difference in the outcome of the race for me.
A few people had recommended newton running shoes to me - they're incredibly lightweight. It almost feels like you're running barefoot - and that's the point. When you run barefoot, you run with a forefront strike - not the typical heel-strike strides that are typical of most people. My heel striking leads to my ankle injuries. So switching to these shoes that have an irregular sole that aides in fore-front striking not only makes you run more efficiently, but also helps me battle my overpronation problem. So I wore these shoes on the run. I'm capable of putting in a much faster performance than what I did during this tri, but at the same time, it's a huge improvement over where i've been during recovery.
So when all was said and done, I finished in 1:50. It was a clean performance for me, and despite the fact I felt I could have put more effort behind it, I was still happy after the finish. Not only that - I was recruited by someone in my swim class to join a Tri Club in Philly. I met a bunch of the members afterwards - they were all very nice - and also incredible athletes. 4 of them, all amateurs, finished in the top 25! That's out of 724 participants! I finished 292. I still have work to do to get anywhere closer to them, but still, at least i'm in the top 50%!!
I participated in my third triathlon this past weekend. It was an all-women's sprint distance triathlon in Philadelphia. It was almost ideal weather conditions for the Tri - sunny, relatively low humidity, and in the 70s. The water temperature was 80 degrees, which felt even warmer than that to me. It was like bath water. So I opted not to wear the wetsuit this time around so as not to overheat while swimming the 800 meters.
I was pretty calm this morning - not many nerves running through me. I caught up with a few people I knew in the transition area and walked to the swim start for a quick warm-up swim. The same moment I jumped into the water, so did another women in my age group that I had met at the last women's Tri I did a month ago. So we caught up chatting a bit. It's cool that i'm starting to recognize and get to know the same faces in this new community i'm becoming a part of.
I was in the 5th swim wave and with it only being an 800 meter swim, the lead elites were already on their bikes before I even got in the water. They rode by the swim start so I got to cheer some of them on. I was so tuned into their race that I almost missed the announcement that brought my swim wave into the water! So I was one of the last to jump into the water and I decided to hang in the back of the wave this time.
The last two Tris I had my freakout moment in the swim which cost me quite a bit of time. This time, I was determined to stick to freestyle the entire time and calmly get into my zone and finish the 800 meters. So they blew the horn, I waited a few moments for the swimmers ahead of me to get going, then I eased into my stroke. It worked! About a hundred meters in, I started passing people left and right. However, I had a difficult time steering myself in the right direction. Every 4 strokes or so I would lift my head up to sight and make sure I was heading towards the buoy. But every time I lift my head to see my form gets out of alignment and I lose momentum. My technique was shotty and I wasn't as efficient as I could have been. I hadn't realized how much swimming with a wetsuit is an advantage with your time. But all in all, I learned what I need to work on AND I felt comfortable during the entire swim. I still ranked in the top 35% for the swim, so at least that's something.
Another goal was to cut down my time in transition. I hustled a bit more this time, but still ended up wasting a total of 6 minutes in both transitions. I should be able to cut the total time down to 4 minutes. That's a goal for the next one.
The bike was only 15 miles which consisted of two loops, mostly flat with the exception of one climb. I didn't do so well on the bike - it is definately my weakest of the three sports. The climb was taxing but I could have pushed myself much more during the entire ride. I think when I began training for the marathon last year, I got into this mode of conserving energy for the end of the race. Because of this habit, I don't push myself to the edge or even over the edge and learn to deal with the pain and keep going. So I stay in a comfortable zone. I really need to start pushing myself more becaues it will make a huge difference in the outcome of the race for me.
A few people had recommended newton running shoes to me - they're incredibly lightweight. It almost feels like you're running barefoot - and that's the point. When you run barefoot, you run with a forefront strike - not the typical heel-strike strides that are typical of most people. My heel striking leads to my ankle injuries. So switching to these shoes that have an irregular sole that aides in fore-front striking not only makes you run more efficiently, but also helps me battle my overpronation problem. So I wore these shoes on the run. I'm capable of putting in a much faster performance than what I did during this tri, but at the same time, it's a huge improvement over where i've been during recovery.
So when all was said and done, I finished in 1:50. It was a clean performance for me, and despite the fact I felt I could have put more effort behind it, I was still happy after the finish. Not only that - I was recruited by someone in my swim class to join a Tri Club in Philly. I met a bunch of the members afterwards - they were all very nice - and also incredible athletes. 4 of them, all amateurs, finished in the top 25! That's out of 724 participants! I finished 292. I still have work to do to get anywhere closer to them, but still, at least i'm in the top 50%!!
Early Season
September always tends to be a hectic month. Working in the arts, September is historically the time the new season opens. Most of the deadlines for Government funding falls in September. It's the beginning of a new school year (which, for the majority of my life has been the case with me. It's the time when the miles start adding up for the long practice runs in preparation for the fall marathon. And, most importantly, September means that Football is here!
Since starting the new job and having a hellish commute to and from work and everywhere else my life takes me, I spend on average 3-4 hours a day in the car. So, needless to say, i'm feeling a little bit of a time crunch getting everything in - and it's still 4 weeks before life really starts picking up. I guess you can say i'm starting to get a little anxiety ridden and trying to mentally prepare myself for what I have to tackle.
A little update on the job front:
4 weeks into the new job, my Assistant Director gave notice. She and I work together just fine, but she had been approached by another organization before I began working there that presented her with a better opportunity. I respect that and honestly, even though i'm sure she's great (I haven't really had much of an opportunity to find that out yet), I was questioning the structure of my department and if it was positioned as efficiently as it could be. So, I have the opportunity to make some changes to the infrastructure and mold it somewhat into my own department. At the same time, more work will fall on my shoulders.
As much as I disliked my last job, it was still easy. I had forgotten the responsibility it takes to be a Director of a department and the "outside of typical work hours" that you have to put in, particularly in a theater, with opening nights, special events, board meetings, etc.
This is going to be tough for me - already today I came across a few conflicts of future board meetings that conflict with my Biology class and trying to plan events, one of which they wanted to hold the same day as the NYC marathon. I had to speak up about that one - I had begun planning for this race in January 2006 when I registered for my 9 qualifying races to be guaranteed entry in the November 2007 marathon. I begun training for this in May - I just won't miss it for anything. This place i'm working at is very flexible and understanding - yet, at the same time, I know i'm held to a higher standard because of my position. So it's going to be a delicate balancing act in the coming months.
Since starting the new job and having a hellish commute to and from work and everywhere else my life takes me, I spend on average 3-4 hours a day in the car. So, needless to say, i'm feeling a little bit of a time crunch getting everything in - and it's still 4 weeks before life really starts picking up. I guess you can say i'm starting to get a little anxiety ridden and trying to mentally prepare myself for what I have to tackle.
A little update on the job front:
4 weeks into the new job, my Assistant Director gave notice. She and I work together just fine, but she had been approached by another organization before I began working there that presented her with a better opportunity. I respect that and honestly, even though i'm sure she's great (I haven't really had much of an opportunity to find that out yet), I was questioning the structure of my department and if it was positioned as efficiently as it could be. So, I have the opportunity to make some changes to the infrastructure and mold it somewhat into my own department. At the same time, more work will fall on my shoulders.
As much as I disliked my last job, it was still easy. I had forgotten the responsibility it takes to be a Director of a department and the "outside of typical work hours" that you have to put in, particularly in a theater, with opening nights, special events, board meetings, etc.
This is going to be tough for me - already today I came across a few conflicts of future board meetings that conflict with my Biology class and trying to plan events, one of which they wanted to hold the same day as the NYC marathon. I had to speak up about that one - I had begun planning for this race in January 2006 when I registered for my 9 qualifying races to be guaranteed entry in the November 2007 marathon. I begun training for this in May - I just won't miss it for anything. This place i'm working at is very flexible and understanding - yet, at the same time, I know i'm held to a higher standard because of my position. So it's going to be a delicate balancing act in the coming months.
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