Wednesday, August 17, 2011

So Far So Good

Two and a half weeks into my vegan experiment and I have to tell you, I am loving it.  It is not too much of a switch since I cut out most dairy already and was only a little cheese, eggs, and whey protein that I had to stop eating.   I really enjoy the way I feel, lighter, and cleaner.  Once I realized that soy did not react well with me....I felt fantastic.    When I started this I thought it would only be for the month and then I would go back but now I am not sure....I really like this so far.  This is totally doable for anyone.

I think the fact that I love to cook has helped a lot.   I have found that if I plan and make sure that I have meals cooked and ready, things are so much easier. It is not as easy to find a quick easy meal on the go.  Last weekend I was running around and all I wanted was some lunch before I hopped on the train.  I went to three different places and there was nothing other than hummus for me to eat.  I ended up waiting til I got to Ridgewood and stopped at the Wholefoods to get some chickpea salad.  I was beyond starving at that point and it was hard to get my energy back up for a while.  I have learned to carried at least some nuts, fruit or energy bars with me.   I also learned that if you are going out to eat...you can call ahead and ask for a vegan meal.  I went out to eat with my family to Union Sq Cafe a few weeks back.  I called in the morning and asked for a vegan meal.   So when I got there, I had it specially prepared and it was pretty good.

I have not noticed any difference with my energy with working out.  I have had some long days the last two weeks and I have not been sleeping too well, so it has been hard to tell.  When things settle down, I am hoping that I will notice more.

Here are some good recipes or new foods that I have tried:  

1.  Rice milk.   I used to be scared of rice milk but Bloomberg only carries rice or soy.  Since I stopped the soy milk, rice was left.   Suprisingly it is actually pretty good.  Probably because it has sugar!  I have to ask to see if they will carry almond milk.  

2.  Rice Protein Shake:  This concoction is something I stumbled on last week and I cannot stop drinking it.  I mix chocolate rice protein with this super green stuff and chocolate almond milk (yes, I actually bring some food in to work).  Takes a while for all of it to dissolve but it tastes so good.   Only bad thing, it looks like sludge.   Every time I bring it to a meeting, I get cracks from my co-workers about what I am drinking.

3.  Curried lentils with tomatoes, carrots, onions and kale:   It actually should be curried kale with lentils, tomatoes, carrots and onions since it is about a head of kale in every serving.   It is soooo good and lentils are an awesome source of protein.  I just have to be careful on how much since they also have a bunch of carbs

4.  Almond Cheese:  You can get this at Fairway or Wholefoods. The cheddar is crap but the jalepeno is pretty good.

5.  Beet and Carrot Salad:  Ok I HATED beets.  The earthy taste grossed me out.  We have been getting them each week in our CSA and I would give them away.  Monday, one of my co workers brought in a simple shredded beets/shredded carrot salad with a lemon juice and olive oil.   I tried it and I could not believe how good it was.  No earthy place. I went home that night and got some beets and made it.  Been eating every day since.

6.  Homemade veggie burgers:  I have made a batch of black bean and corn burgers and a batch of lentil burgers.  I keep the burgers in the freezer and they are my go to item when I come home.  I throw them on top of a salad.   I love the fact that I can control what goes in to them.

This weekend I want to try some stuffed cabbage (have one from my csa) and some more protein bars. 

On other news:

I am finally a New York City resident.   One thing that I really never wrote about before in my blogs (in case of jinxing the process)  was that along with training, commuting into the city, and working, I was looking for an apartment to buy.  It was probably the biggest cause of my stress this summer.  After 8 months of looking and going through the coop process I finally closed two weeks ago. 

Gone are the 4:50 am and 9:30 pm bus rides and in their place has been bike treks through central park.   I actually can make dinner now and go to bed at a normal (well my normal time).  I still get up early but 5:15 is much nicer than 4:20.   I am now getting about 2-3 hours more sleep a night. 

Better than sleep is that I live between Central Park and Riverside Park.  I feel like I am a kid in a candy shop when I am trying to decide where to work out.    You cannot go wrong with either direction.  I am slowly learning the beauty of running along the river with the breeze and getting to watch the sunset over Jersey City. 




Monday, August 1, 2011

I've Got a New Challenge...Well Challenges

Its been a while since my last post.   I think that the last few months finally caught up with me and I needed a break from everything.   As much as I hate to admit it, May, June, and July were a struggle for me.   I look back and cannot believe that I completed everything that I said I  would do.  That includes the Half Ironman....the main purpose of this blog.   I wont say I am happy with how I did but I finished and throughout the whole process learned everything that I could do better for next time.  Its funny, at the end of the race I said I would never ever do it again but now I am already planning when to do my next one.  I want revenge and to hit my goal of under six hours.

So now that I have had some down time I decided I needed a new set of goals to keep me going.  The first one is my short term challenge and the second is my currently unachievable partly crazy goal. 

Short Term:  Eat vegan for a month.   I made the move to stop eating meat a few months ago in efforts to help me recover faster with my training.   I pretty much was eating 90% vegan with the exception of whey protein powder and a few eggs.  I wanted to go full vegan as Thrive said to do but was extremely worried where I would get my protein and did not want to make the change right before the race.    I did spend  lot of time reading about becoming a Vegan, started to visit a lot more Vegan restaurants (which are freaking awesome) and took out a bunch of cookbooks from the library to figure out what and where I could get my protein. 

I decided last week my focus for the next month or so was to get my strength back.   I wore out my legs so bad training for the Half that even with twice weekly PT sessions they barely held up to cross the finish line.    As part of that, I signed up for Bootcamp for August.  (very excited that Ariane brought back Hardcore!!).    Then came my idea to go vegan for a month.  It is going to be my experiment to see if I can get enough protein and still limit my carbs to keep my body fat % the same and not decrease my muscle mass.   I have read all over that it can be done, now I am ready to see first hand if it is possible.   I am determined to show any of the opponents of vegan eating that it is possible to still enjoy food, cooking, and remain at the same fitness level.   Maybe I will inspire one of you to try it too.

Crazy goal:  Qualify for the Boston Marathon for 2013.  There, I have finally put it up.   Some of you have heard me say this for the past few months now I am making it official.  Oh, I should tell you that I have not run a marathon yet!   So yes, I am truly crazy.    My plan is to get my leg 100% better, run my first marathon in March, then pick one closer to September to run to qualify.  This seems doable on paper but we will see.    Slowly I am working towards this and as I mentioned above getting healthy and strong enough to actually do it.   Though this is a crazy one, this is one goal I am going to hit. 

Sunday, July 10, 2011

Its Done.....We Are Ironmen (well Half)

Its official, the race is complete, 70.3 miles of swimming, biking, and running done.  Kamen, Ariane , Lauren and I all finished.   This was the hardest thing I have done .... it was hot, hilly, and sometimes felt neverending.   Its an amazing feeling to know I completed this, something last year seemed way beyond my reach.   Pretty cool to have done it with the person (Ariane) that helped me find a new path to take in getting in shape, and ultimately to a place where I can do these things.

Almost home....thank god for Drew, he drove most of the way and saved my legs.  Plus he did not like me playing dj while driving.   Then its unpack, shower, and bed...running on 3.5 hours of sleep.  

Then...a week off, ahhhhhhh.

Friday, July 8, 2011

70.3 Here We Come!

Road trip to Boston and Providence has begun.  The car is packed with all of our gear, clothes and enough food to last us a week.  We downed our extra strong coffees before we left to allow us to relax on the ride. 

At our first stop to print out the course maps in Cornwall, then off Boston.  Lauren and I have the Sox game tonight then will head to Providence to meet up with Kamen and Ariane tomorrow and the race starting at 6:00 am on Sunday.

Ready or not here we go!!!!

Monday, July 4, 2011

Congratulations Are In Order

I want to give a super huge congratulations to Lauren (my training buddy) and Kamen who just finished the Finger Lakes 50s race - Kamen's second and Lauren's first ultra marathon.  They finished the 50 mile race in an awesome 12 hours 25 minutes.  Lauren finished second in her age group.  Most people prepare for this race months and months in advance.  These two decided to do it with no training at all.  I have not decided yet if this was plain stupid or freaking amazing.....but right now I am in awe.   There is no rest for these two, they will be joining Ariane and I next week in Providence for the Amica Half Ironman. 

Please congratulate them with me!

Sunday, July 3, 2011

Slowing Down....just a little

Happy 4th of July!  So, it's Sunday  morning at 8:00am. (yup, I am on the train, heading into the city).    What will you be doing next weekend at this time?  Me.....probably an hour into my 4 hour bike ride and as Ariane put it, our 6 hour race.   I always thought of the race in mileage.   Thinking of it as 6 hours of racing makes me think what the f#ck am I doing.  

I feel a little normal this weekend.  It is the first time in a long time that my weekend is not planned around training but just hanging out and relaxing.  I will admit, I am getting in some running and biking but nothing too hard or long.  I started to take it easy last Monday, just a few bike rides and runs and trying to get more sleep.  Only two early mornings last week and I got in one massive rest. 

Unfortunately, while working out slowed down, work picked up and I was there late almost every night last week.   Its not too bad but I get thrown off on my routine.   I tried to bring dinner each day so that I would not eat crap but when its late and your cranky, the kitchen snacks look so good!!  And lately they have been putting out Cornnuts which may be one of my all time favorite snacks.  I just avoided the kitchen floors.   The only good thing about working late was that I was sitting with my R&D guys (getting to play with Linux...which normally I am not allowed to do!) on the 27th floor, at a window seat.  I had an awesome view of the 59th Street Bridge and the park to my left.   Any stress went away each time I looked out.  

After the long week we got out early on Friday.   I resisted the little urge to go for a run and instead did something I have not done since last summer.   I sat on my porch by myself, with a glass of wine and my book.    It was the first time in forever that I stopped and did nothing except relax.  I am a little embarassed to say it was the first non nutrition or exercise book I have opened in a long time.    I used to go through a book a week.

Anyway, I read for about 20 minutes, finished my wine (it was hot!) and I was out.  I slept for about 3 hours on my porch.  Amazing what a glass of wine will do to you.  I woke up, grabbed a light dinner and then was back out.  I woke up at 8 yesterday morning, getting 12 hours of sleep.  That is almost 2-3 days worth of sleep.

My plans yesterday did get swayed a little with prepping for my race.   I took my bike to Campmor to get looked at 9:30.  I thought I would have more than enough time to get on the 11:30 train to meet my friends in the city at 1:00.   I ended up being there for an hour and half though part of the time I was talking to the bike guys.   I am at Campmor about once a week and they all know me by name.  I walked out of there with not only a fixed up bike but learned how to make my Droid run faster, a gps unit to look at, and a new bike ride through Alpine......oh and a new pair of sandles :-)     

So, I ended up on the 12:30 train and took the subway/walked to Red Hook rather than take the ferry.  It was fine being late since the first stop was the Lobster pound and I am still on my no meat/fish kick.     The Brooklyn Ice House was next door so while everyone finished up, a few of us went over to have a drink.   For me, I was super pysched because they had my Abita beer.   And yes....i had one, I am beginning to carb load or at least that is what I used as my excuse.  The rest of the day was great, just walked around, went to the ball fields, relaxed, and had fun.  

Today's a run in the park and Coney Island. Never been so it should be fun.   Tomorrow is my first bike ride with the Bloomberg Triathlon team.  I finally met a few folks as crazy as me.  We are meeting at 6:00am to ride.  Then its off to Cornwall for a hike and 4th of July Festivities.  

I am hoping that keeping myself busy will keep my mind off the race.  Each time I do, my stomach flips....I am so nervous.   I expect this to increase as I get closer as always.  Especially since I wont have hard or long workouts to help calm me, I will have to learn how to deal.   

So if you see me this week, I am apologizing now for how grumpy or spastic I may be.   If Red Bank was any indication of how I will be....just letting you know, I was all over the place then and this is twice as big. 

Sunday, June 26, 2011

What the heck is happening to me?

This is my post from last week that some how never made it up yet.

Not sure what is happening to me but my structure has gone completely out the window in the last few months.  The rigid life that I have always been used to has changed to take it day by day.  Partly because I have way too many things that I have taken on at once and partly because the last few weeks have been the most stressful few weeks that I have ever gone(still going) through. Trying to juggle everything perfectly in my life has been a struggle.  I have replaced my nicely laid out plans to how quickly can I react.  I have learned I cannot control everything and what will be will be.  Basically I have been closing my eyes and saying things will work out, things will get better.      And I have leaned on some of you more than ever for support, guidance, and sometimes asking you to react quickly with me......to that, I say thank you.  

I do not know when this all started to change but I realized on Friday how much things were changing.   Last weekend was my travel weekend from hell.   I had a baby shower in Plymouth, MA Saturday noon, a wedding in Middletown, CT at 7pm, and wanted to be back in Ridgewood by 10 on Sunday to do a long brick.     I had a freaking blast going to all these things but I spent more time in the car then I actually did with my friends......14 hours.  (hit major traffic on way up ).

So, when I woke up on Friday, you would think that I would get my packed bags, presents, dress and get in my car and go.  Ha ha.....I woke up early with no present, no dress yet to wear and nothing ready except the coffee maker.  I had not thought through where I was changing for the wedding and did not know where I was sleeping Saturday night since my niece was sick.   I did try to go and get a present/dress on Wed afternoon but between PT and the Corporate Challenge, I ran out of time.

I did have a little plan, go to the gym, get a gift, head out at 12 and get a dress in Newport before we went out.  Notice my priority.....gym!  This is actually one area in my life with pretty much complete consistency.  (yeah I know, that is pretty f$cked up).     Pretty stupid to think I could actually do this way my life was going.

I made it to the gym, a little later than expected, hit Buy Buy Baby and packed everything, getting in the car 2 hours late.  As a result, sat in 6.5 hours of traffic on 95 and learned that it is not smart to do a long, hard bike ride before sitting that long. It sucks to see a sign stating: Warning 20 miles of traffic ahead.    My legs were killing me the whole trip.  There were points where I contemplated getting out and walking.

By the time I got to Providence, it was 8:15 so I skipped Newport and headed directly to Bristol where I downed a glass of wine the second I got in the door.   That went right to my head....and Cat/Mags could not believe how good of a mood I was in after all that.  :-)    We ended up at dinner at 8:55 and the kitchen closed at 9:00.  Thankfully they served us....I would have been bummed if not,  it is my favorite place to go when I head to RI.    Back at Cat's I luckily fit into one of her dresses.  So.....Friday midnight I had two things down, only two more to figure out.

On my way to Plymouth in the morning I called my friend Chris to see if I could get ready in his room.  Got the go ahead there. Thank god for him!  Went to the shower, helped Cat with her presents, and jetted out at 2 to make it to Middletown by 5. Stopped to pick up shoes which I seemed to forget to pack.    On my way I spoke to my sister who not only said it was ok to stay but asked if I would babysit my nephew on Sunday morning   The only reason I wanted to stay at her house was because it was only an hour to Ridgewood so I could make it home early on Sunday.  But - how could I say no. 

What I did not realize was that Middletown was an hour and half from Wilton where she lives.  So...by the time I got home it was 2:30 and I was up at 6:45 watching Caleb.  So much for trying to catch up on my sleep on the weekends.  I ended up leaving at 9:30 and got home at 11:00 to quickly go food shopping and pick up Lauren at the train.

Tired and a little cranky I still wanted to do our trek.  With the late start the plans for the large 50 mile bike and 8 mile run was changed to 30 mile bike ride and 6 mile run.   To make matters worse, when I brought my bike out, the tire was flat and I had to change it. It was the first time either of us had to change a tire, and using YouTube - it took a freaking hour.  So it was 1:30 by the time we started and the plans changed again to 25 mile bike ride and we will see how far we can run.  Lauren was not feeling super hot.   I was actually impressed that we went at all.  It was hot and sunny out and really all I wanted to do was sit on my porch, have a glass of wine, and close my eyes.    The end result was a 25 mile bike and 5 mile run.

Finally at 7:00 when I started to make my weekly lunch of kale and tomatos did I feel like I had control again.

I am starting to look forward to the weekends where I will not have to think about a bike ride or run and where structure will again rule or at least be present.   I am not sure how many more weekends of craziness or my idea of being out of control I can take.  It is fun once in a while and it is teaching me to relax more but having this as the norm would drive me crazy.    Though this has been fun, I am not sure that the Half distance is something that I would want to do again.  It takes a lot to train for...or may I say, for me to train for since I want to make sure that I will be ready but I have no clue what 'ready' is.      Only a few more weeks to ago...and then hopefully I will slowly start to become myself again.

Tuesday, June 14, 2011

Countdown Begins

Providence is officially 1 month gh away.   Not sure where the heck the  last few months ago.   I feel like yesterday there was snow on the ground and I was just planning all this out.   This is a time in my life where I wish I could slow it down, just a little.   This weekend was the start of the big push to be prepared just to even finish the race.   It consisted of 18.5 miles of running and 45 miles on the bike.  

I know I said this for all my other races but this time its true.   I am going to keep repeating it too so I dont sway towards pushing myself too hard and bonking:   I dont care what my time will be for the half.  I just want to finish.   Still have no clue if I will but if I do, I will tell you for sure....there will be tears in my eyes of how happy and proud of myself I will be.

The goal for this past weekend was to see how well my leg  held up.   So far so good but i am holding my breath that other than a little sore, everything will stay that way.  I ran a loop of the park Friday, the Woman's Mini Saturday (more on that below), and did our first long brick yesterday  of a 45 mile bike and 6.2 mile run.  All and all thats 45 miles biking and 18.5 running in 3 days.  

The races in Central Park lately have not been that much fun.  I am not sure if it is because they are so damn crowded or if its because I need to get into them for the Marathon next year.   I have been like 'lets get this sucker done' or been combining with additional mileage before the race.
Saturday's race was such an exception.  It was the Womans 10k mini.     Its called 'mini' because in the 70s when the race was created mini skirts were big.  To bring in the woman, they called it the mini, for the mini skirt.    To honor that, I decided I would wear my pink running skirt that I got a few weeks ago.  Not sure why but I was super excited for this.   There is something about wearing a skirt and running.   Plus I thought I looked pretty cute  :-)


The minute I got to the race, I could feel the excitement in the air.  It was the MORE all over again.  Even the lines to the porta potties were super long again.    There were 100s of Team in Training runners and each time they passed each other, they would clap and congratulate each other on what they were about to do.   Made you feel like you were part of something special.

The actual race was fun but I learned one big lesson,  I cannot eat Buckwheat and Hemp granola (this stuff from One Lucky Duck is so good) the night  before a run.   My stomach was yelling me for the whole run.  That sucked since my leg felt good and I realized I had a  chance to break 8:00/miles.  I ended up at 49:50.....8:01/miles.   Will have to wait another race to get faster.

My favorite part of the race was at the end cheering on the runners.   I was at the 400m mark, waiting for Kathy to pass.  As I yelled (yes, I actually yelled and Lauren said to me, holy crap, your voice is officially back!)  for the women to keep going, you could see the happiness in some of these ladies faces and some of them were crying on how proud they were.   Reminded me that the race was bigger than me.

I went out Saturday night and for the first time in a while was frustrated that I had to get up early.  I had two beers but made myself opt for water after that and left fairly early.   Not sure if it was that the past few week have been stressful but I wanted one non thinking night and go back to my old self.  Then I remember that will have to wait....i would be super pissed at myself in the am.   Good thing since I did not get up til 9:00 anyway, completely not me, I am up by 7  the latest normally.
So....the big brick.  Really not feeling it yesterday and off from the late start, I started out the ride saying 'this was going to suck'.  Thank god Lauren came out for the ride or I prob would not have gone.

It started out a little eventful.  A mile in, I had my first fall  on my bike. Sadly, I cannot even say it was an exciting fall.  I was standing at a light with my right leg unclipped.  I was trying to stretch my left leg, some how lost my balance and landed right on my butt, left leg still clipped.  Pathetic.  I got a nice bruise on my leg and cut on my arm to remember how stupid I was.

The rest of the ride was not bad.  We headed back  up to Nyack, same ride we did a few weeks ago.   It was muxh easier knowing where you are going the second time.  Though we said we were going to ride straight through  we could not resist stopping at the Farmers market in Piermont.   Hung out, talked to some of the vendors and tried some yummy toffee.  Then got back on and finished the rest of the ride.

After the ride we got our sneakers on and headed out for the run.  Nothing changes with the run no matter how many times you do it.   The first two miles suck.  We just ran slow until we got our legs under us.  It ended up being not too bad.  I felt I could have  gone a litttle more though I was super hungry.   Along with all this exercising, I am still learning how much I have to eat and when.  I read in Thrive to eat when you are still good  not when you get hungry.      I had two blocks every hour or so til they ran out.   Think I could have used one more set.   I was dragging a little on run.   We were out for almost 5 hours

When we got back, we had the biggest workout of the day, dinner.  While running we passed a pizza place.  It smelled so good I asked Lauren if she wanted to go to Pizza Fusion, an organic pizza place near me.  Starving, we both ordered large salads and a large pizza.  The salads were huge but we both finished them.  Then the pizza came out.  They made a mistake and cooked us a x-large pizza.   Taking one bit, it was sooooo good.  7 slices later and an empty platter, I was exhausted.   I dont think I had ever had that much pizza and sadly I was not super full.  The waitress even came by and was amazed that we finished thw whole thing. I tried to explain that we just rode and ran for 5 hours so she did not think we were pigs!!!  


Yes, it was that big and we ate the whole thing!

At least we had our salads before. 
By the time I dropped Lauren off to the train, went shopping at Fairway, and arrived home, I started to feel the effects of my noshing.  I dropped my bags, laid on the couch and passed out for almost 2 hours.  Next time think I am going to stick with just the salad.  Going from not eating pizza to eating massive quantities is not something I recommend. 

Wednesday, June 8, 2011

My New Favorite Site

For some reason my bus rides lately have seemed to get longer and longer.   Sunday, I missed the train by a minute.  Instead of getting home at 3:07 I got home at 5:15 and suffered an hour and 45 minute bus ride.  My phone died half way and I had to listen to the lady next to me smack her dry lips the entire trip.  If I was not a crank when I got on the bus from the early morning wake up, hot run and walk around the city or the fact that I was starving, I was definently a bitch getting off the bus.   Moving into the city cannot come soon enough.

Here is my favorite site that I like to read while on the bus. I absolutely love it.  It has articles on running, for new triathletes, and healthy recipes.   It is here where I learned about Thrive and got the idea to start to make my own protein bars.  They also agree with me that Thrive's recipes are good for you but not tasty.   They have made some modifications.

http://www.nomeatathlete.com/

Check the site out, I am sure you will love it.   I got Lauren hooked.    The site's basis is that they are non meat eating athletes that can compete.   Dont worry,  you dont need to be a vegetarian to like the site.  There is so much cool stuff that does not pertain to food.   There is info that may challenge your current ideas, I warn you on that.    I eat meat or should say that I eat limited meat.   For the first time this week, I am trying to go all veg for the work week.  Partly to see if I can and partly because I only had kale, spinach, and aspargus in my fridge went I went to make my lunch this week.  We will see how it goes.   Hemp protein is not so bad when hidden in other foods. And kale.....i will always be happy eating this.

Enjoy, let me know if you like it.

Sunday, June 5, 2011

Here we go again!

Its 5:35 am on Sunday morning and I am on the bus heading into the city.   Long run day.  Well, a loop of the park, then a NYRR 4 miler.  It was a rude awakening when the alarm went off at 4:55 and all I wanted to do is roll over.   The only thing that got me out of bed was thinking of the lunch at Peacefoods after the run with Lauren.

After almost three weeks off or really lighter activity, I am back trying to get into my routine.  Its 5 weeks to Providence.  I am no where near ready.   My hamstring has been a thorn in my side and is taking  its time to get better.   I have been going to PT twice a week and have been allowed to work out on a level of 3 out of 10 on pain scale.   Some days, that is 50% effort and others I have been able to get to 75%.   I am closer to 85% now with increased distance so I am hoping I will continue to move forward.  Any free time right now is spent icing, stretching or wearing compression shorts to baby my leg.   Some days I think I am crazy to do all of this but I do not want to give up on my goal yet.  

This whole thing has taught me so much on patience and being smarter as an athlete.  I have joked about being Superwoman in the past and in all reality I am just like everyone else (shocker).  I have spent the last few weeks reading and learning what I could do differently to prevent this next time.   I just finished a great book called Thrive by Brendan Brazier that speaks to how to efficiently eat to allow your body to recover faster.  All the donts in his book, I was doing.  Biggest one: lack of sleep.    I am sure most of you could have guessed that one.   I am starting to try to add some of his theories into my diet.   Pretty interesting since he is a vegan (I am currently a meat eater) and a lot of the ingrediants are new to me.  It had been so much fun making my own energy and protein bars and gels and knowing the value each ingrediant is adding to your diet.  Since I love to cook, I have been I hooked.   I warn you, some of the stuff I have turned out has not been great.  Flavor piece I am playing with.

Back on course....  The next few weeks are going to be littered with runs, bike rides, and the days I am most looking forward to, 3 hour bike rides with a long run after. Lauren and I did a 40 mile bike ride last weekend.  It was great to be out and my legs were not tired but the last thing I wanted to do after was run.  Next weekend will be my first long one, should be interesting. 

I will post a little later some of my protein bar successes.

Sunday, May 22, 2011

Red Bank Pics

I forgot to put up pictures from Red Bank the other day so this is a little over a week old.    We had a great weekend and Red Bank was the perfect race to complete my first long distance triathlon.  There were about 300 people total and everyone was super friendly.   I am now hooked on the Olympic distance and have already looked for a few others to do this summer.  Somehow, through work this week, I was able to get into the NYC Tri in August and we found one in Freeport, ME (LL Bean shopping!) in September. 

https://picasaweb.google.com/Booper12/RedBankTriathlon?authkey=Gv1sRgCPLD_9m897DkFQ&feat=directlink

The race itself was so much fun.  I was up at 4:30 to have some coffee and my oatmeal and we were out the door at 6:15am.     Transition was open at 6:30, so I got to set my stuff up, check out what others were doing and have time to relax a little.    The weather was a little nasty but thankfully the rain held off until after the race.

So, 8:03 the swim began and oh boy!  This was the most interesting part of the race.  If you have never swam with a bunch of other people in the open water, it is almost a no holds bar event.  You are kicked, pulled under and yelled at.  The whole time, you have to just keep swimming.  I decided to try to avoid as many people as possible, I swam on the outside.  The only issue with this was that I constantly off course and had to circle back.  After about 15 minutes, I got some space and was able to enjoy the swim.   For the first 15 I was thinking, why am I doing this?

The transition did not turn out to be that bad.  I took my time, sat down, put my socks on and got ready for the bike.  I was a little disoriented gettting out of the water so taking it slow was good.    Then the bike - this was the part of the race that I have to say I disliked the most.  It is mostly because I suck at the bike and because it seemed like it took forever.  The only highlight from the bike was that about mile 5, I had the realization that I was actually doing the Tri and I got a super proud feeling come across me.  I went through how much has changed in my life and how only in October last year I could run about 2.5 miles at a 10:00 pace and look what I was doing now.  Funny because now the Olympic seems like an easy distance but back then, if you asked me if I would do it, I would say that you were crazy.  

Then my favorite part of the day - the run.  This was the portion I was the most worried about.  I heard about the pain you would get after transitioning from the bike.  I knew I was an ok runner but it was not until this race that I realized that I was a fairly strong runner.   The first 2 miles were ok, I just did not feel my feet. I used my arms to push me through.  Then mile 3, I warmed up, picked up my speed and took off.  It was great passing people and with each person I got more and more confidence.  I was hoping to average at least 9:00/miles when I started.  There were no mile markers so I did not know how fast I was going.  When I got to the half way point, it was only 24:30 on my watch which I was average about 8:10/miles.  I was excited and could not believe I was running that fast.  On the way back I decided to play a game and pick a person that I would pass.  This made me run a little faster and kept me going.  I think I passed about 15 people on the way back.   When I got to the end, it was 50:07 and I freaking ran my faster 10K - 8:03/mile.  And this was still being partially injured.    Overall, I completed the whole race in under 3 hours...yippee!

So with the Half Marathon and Olympic Tri done, next on the docket is the goal of all goals:  Half Ironman.  Not sure that I want to even think about this right now or panic will set in!

And if anyone is wondering, yes, I am biking today!  Actually going to try a brick if I can.  Leg is great and I am a little crazy :-)   Plus not working out for 3 days is making me bounce off the walls.

Saturday, May 21, 2011

Rollercoaster Week

 Its been almost a week since Red Bank and what an emotional rollercoaster week it has been.  I woke up Monday morning lighter, relaxed, and more energetic than I had been in weeks. I did not realize until Monday morning how much pressure I was putting on myself and how stressed I was about the race.  I think that I had such massive doubts that I would not finish the race or do really crappy.  Once done, the weight was off and release was there.

I am not sure why I do this but I question my abilitities all the time and think I am almost always the last person to believe that I can truly do things.  Ok...maybe a little overstatement, sometimes I may be a little cocky but mostly in jest.  Really there is always a doubt in my head.  Its more because even though I say differently, I dont want to do these races, I want to be really good at them.  I cannot help it, I am competitive as hell.

So Monday I was on a 'I am Triathlete' high and Tuesday I was quickly dropped back to reality.  I was feeling great on Monday and I mentioned in the last blog, very little soreness.  In all my stupidity and with the thought that all the resting rules dont apply to me, I ran in the Wall St. AHA 5K.  I signed up a while ago and was the captain for the Bloomberg team, so I had to go (well at least I said that to myself).  Instead of going slowly, jogging, I told my friend Dan I would run with him.  Dan was happy with 8:50-9:00 minute miles which I thought would be good to pace me.

When the race started, I was a little tight but I ignored the pain and just ran thinking that I would loosen up.  The race was super crowded and the roads pretty bad.  We just followed the folks in front of us.  My thought was, lets run a little faster to get some space.  Dan did a good job of being right behind me.  When we got to the first mile marker is when I said 'Oh Crap' in my head.  I looked at my watch and we had just run 7:45/miles with crowds.   Not what I was supposed to do.  I know what you are thinking....what a dumbass.  Yes, I agree, I was a freaking dumbass.  I let my competitiveness go past common sense.  The best part of this is that earlier in the day, Terence told me to be smart and don't run the race.  Two hours later, he came back with that one of the other girls was running the race and I should pace her so I would not hurt myself.  My response to him:  I will be smart.    My thoughts in my head:  What the hell, did he think that I was that stupid to really push myself to hurt myself'  :)  (there were other words in there that I should probably not post).    Ok, I admit, maybe he knows me a little too well and maybe he was right.

We slowed down for the rest of the race but still finished in 24:50, so 8:16/mile.  Not bad but not what I was supposed to do.  Right away I was immediately reminded of why I should have gone slow.  My left leg started to cramp up right away and I was in a lot of pain.  My hamstring that I worked so hard to heal was screaming to me - what the 'f' were you thinking, I need to rest. 

I hoped that the pain would be just for that night but I woke up Wednesday with even more tightness.  I wore my lovely compression pants to work and took the night off and just stretched. Nothing was working and I had the feeling that I set myself back three weeks.    If you have ever been hurt, its the worst feeling in the world, it is like you never think you are going to get better and though I tried to push it away, panic was starting to set in.  I had the rest of the summer that I wanted to do things and I was starting to get serious doubts that it would be possible.  Over and over in my head, I was calling myself an ass for doing the stupid 5K race.

Thursday....my leg was 5% better and I wanted to see if I could run a little.  I was signed up for the Brooklyn Half for Saturday and this was going to be my test.  I assumed that I could run slowly and would ok.  I already set expectations in my head that this would be a slow run.  Ummm, wrong.  I could barely run.   I ran the first lower loop with Lisa and Susanne but had a hard time keeping up.  The second loop, we were supposed to head up to Cat Hill then back.  I cut the run short and went back to the start to stretch.

I made the decision then that I would not be able to do the Brooklyn Half.   It is the first time really in my life that I backed out of something because I was hurt.  It was a frustrating feeling because I felt like I was giving up but also....a step in the right direction that I was making a smart decision.  I knew that I had to think of the rest of the summer and what was my ultimate goal:  Half Ironman.   I decided that I was going to take off til I had no pain in my leg at all.

So at the lowest.  Got out of bed Friday and my hamstring was out of control.  I threw on another pair of compression pants and was able to walk gingerly to the train.  Without the shorts, I was experiencing shooting pains in my leg.  I dont have to tell you the thoughts that were going on in my head.  I think I spent more energy trying to be positive then I did trying to complete the triathlon on Sunday.

Here is where things start to look up:  When I got to work, I called the PT that Ariane had recommended a while ago that I should see.  I was not really comfortable with the person I was seeing.   Right away, I knew it was a fit.  I got an appt for later that day, and Chris, my PT got on the phone to introduce himself and to tell me that he was doing a triathlon in a few weeks and was excited to talk to me.   I really did not know what to expect when I went.  Chris uses Active Release Technique (ART) to treat his patients.  Not knowing what this was, I did not think it would be different from what I had done.  Ha ha! 

We spent the first 25 minutes talking about training, my race, and Chris's that is coming up in a few weeks.  I knew that I would be taken care of correctly.  Then the fun part started.  I got on a table and Chris started to do the session.  I was in for a rude awakening.  I should have realized this when Chris said as we were walking over to the table 'I am going to hurt you a little'.  Holy crap, hurt was an understatement.  The actual process of ART is really painful but just for the short seconds that each exercise is being done.  Then immediately you start to feel the effects of the release.  I think I screamed and said ouch more times yesterday then I have in a year.    I am not going to try to explain how it is done in detail but basically he puts pressure (or shortens) on a certain muscle and then uses movements to lengthen the muscle.   

After an hour, we were done.    Right away, the pain that was in my left leg was much less.  The best part, Chris said I could keep exercising as long as I kept the pain to a 3 out of 10.  This was great to hear for someone that hates rest!  I told him that I was going to try to take the whole weekend off just to be safe. 

So, I am back on top this am.  I woke up with NO pain in my leg.  I cannot believe it and pretty much amazed at what the process can do.  I wish I went to him weeks ago.  There is minimal tightness so I am sticking with my no exercise for today. ( I woke up thinking, hey, I could have actually run Brooklyn!)   I am contemplating a little of doing a long bike ride tomorrow but will see.  (yes - whole weekend rest idea has gone out the door) 

Lets just hope this feeling levels out and I dont get back on the rollercoaster ride I have been on all week.  I have had enough emotional excitement to last me the summer! 

Monday, May 16, 2011

Red Bank Done: Officially a Triathlete!

Its over and done.....I finished my first Olympic triathlon and loved it.   I felt great the whole race and did pretty well, especially not knowing what to expect part.  Best part this am.....I am not sore or even tired.  I feel the best I have felt in weeks.

I will write more later with pics and all.   Here are initial results, I am anxiously waiting my splits

Time:  2:50:57
Overall: 103 out of 259 - small race
Women:  20 out of 79
Age Group: 6 out of 9 - though three of us finished with 5 minutes of each other

Not too bad for my first tri.

Lastly....super huge thanks to my sign holding, picture taking, cheerleading friend, Lauren.  She was supposed to do the race with me but is out with a stress fracture.   Despite being disappointed on not being able to compete, she still came down to root me on.  Freaking awesome.    And if you saw me on Saturday......I needed her. 

Wednesday, May 11, 2011

Ready or not, Redbank here I come!

Wow, I woke up this morning so excited for the weekend.  This  weekend I will finally become a Triathlete.  I have done a few Sprint Tris but moving up to the next level is pretty cool and where I consider you can label yourself a 'triathlete'.   Any name with the word 'Olympic' in it allows you to brand yourself.    If you are wondering the distance for this one:  .75 swm, 25 mile bike, and 6.2 run.

Am I ready?  Well....prepared, yes.  I have all the course maps printed out, map quested my drive down, and planned what I want to eat the night before.   My packing list is drafted on the back of the race info sheet with outstanding items highlighted in pink.  Yup, another label that you can put on me, is big dork.   At least I will be a less stressed dork.

Ready, no clue.  I think I will be able to finish but I am not sure any of the times will be close to what I originally wanted. Lately when asked what I want my time to be, my answer has been just to finish.  I have refused to set any expectations or pressure for myself.  I am sure the night before with how competitive I am, I will start to do some calculations.  For now, the goal is to finish.

These last few weeks have been a struggle for me. I experienced my first injury two and a half weeks back that has pretty much sidelined me or limited the amount of activity that I have been doing.  Frustrated has been a common word that I have muttered and I probably have not been the best person to be around.   There may have been a few fuck offs to people that were trying to make sure I remembered I needed to get better before I pushed myself.  

One nice thing from the rest is that my legs feel stronger.   My runs have been easier and times lower.   The rest did me well in more than a few days.  I am so bad that when I realized this, I wanted to push myself harder to get even faster.  I stupidly tried to get a super quick run in on Monday, then Bootcamp right after.  I ended up with an extremely sore left hammy yesterday morning, not good.  I wore compression shorts under my pants at work yesterday.....a true sign that I am crazy.  

So, training is not 100% but this is only one step in the entire plan.   I still have the Half in July that I am getting ready for and I have to be smart on how much I can push myself now.   My plan is to do nothing other than one light run tomorrow , then the race.  Next week we will see, I have the Brooklyn Half Marathon but will only run if my leg is 95% there.   Focus will be getting back to 100% for the rest of the summer.

So for now, its off to Red Bank.........

Thursday, April 28, 2011

Shipping off to Boston, Kale Muffins and Learning to Adjust to What Life Deals You

I am not relly sure where April went.  I cannot believe that the More was almost a month ago and Redbank, my first entry into the real triathlon world is only three weeks away.  Yeah.....i am not starting to panic just yet!    I did try to do my first brick the other where you bike then run right after.  It was not too bad but I could have been a little smarter and chose a little easier of a bike workout.  My legs were dead for the run, it was like I was running but I did not feel my legs for the first 10  minutes.  

Heres an update on the crazy weeks of April

Boston:  I went up to Boston last weekend for the first time in  about 7 months, my previous trip being right before I started Slim and Strong and really my change in life style.  Before that, I was heading up there almost every few weeks since I moved the year before.   The break was self imposed to force myself to create a life in NY rather than hybrid life that I was living.

I will admit I was pretty nervous last week not knowing how my friends would react to my new life style and how I would react to being back in an environment that involved drinking, eating, and going to bed later than I was used to.I was concerned that somehow during the trip I also needed (well wanted) to make sure I got a long run and long bike ride in.  At home I can stay structured but going away, I lose a little control so I worried how I would do

Turns out that my worry was for not....going back was like going home.   Nothing changed and I was so happy for that.  I fell in step right away and it was like no gap at all.   I learned that my friends will always be my friends and even though I changed, they'll accept it and support it. 

I was pretty psyched, I was able to fit it all in.  Thats a lunch at Staples, Red Sox game, 35 mile bike and experiencing my first flat tire, Pizza and Peroni, Beerworks, drive to Bristol RI, 6 mile run and finally lunch with Cat.   I did have to pull over and take a 45 minute nap on my way home  but other than that the weekend was great.    I hit a great balance of being able to relax with my friends and making sure I got some sort of workout in.

Kale Muffins:  Most of you know my obsession with kale.  I absolutely love it and eat it at least 5-6 times a week.   Sometimes I will eat it for lunch and dinner.  I have tried to get my family hooked on the veggie but to no avail.  I made kale chips for Sunday dinner over the winter thinking they were the greatest thing.  The only one that ate them was my little 5 year old niece.  So, when asked what kind of cake I wanted for my birthday, my sister joked, 'how about a kale cake'.  I was all over this and thought it was a great idea and challenged my mom to make one.  God bless her, she came up with something even better, Kale Muffins.   These little suckers were fantastic and I had one a day for a week straight. I even got Lauren hooked on them.  She had three to take home and rationed them over several days.  Even better than that, she found the recipe on a blog called 365 Days of Kale.   Now I can read about others that enjoy this green as much as me.  Heres the link if you want to check it out.  They have some pretty cool recipes:
http://www.365daysofkale.com/

Just Got To Deal:   Funny how things in your life make you realize how lucky you are.  I will be the first to admit sometimes (well most of the time) I run around so much that I do not take the time to appreciate as much as I should.   A few weeks ago, something happened to make me realize how freakin lucky I am.

I spoke a few entries back that I lost my voice while being sick.  Well, my voice never fully returned, and after several doctor visits and more tubes up my nose than any person should experience, I learned I had unilateral vocal cord paralysis.  Basically my right cord does not work properly, making my voice hoarse all the time and barely audible when out.    It was caused by the virus I had when I was sick and there is a 50/50 chance I will recover. 

I spent the first 10 hours after learning what I had feeling sorry for myself.  I got extremely frustrated when I was out or in a meeting and everyone said 'I cant hear you or WHAT'.  Though I was healthy for a few weeks I still got comments that I was still sick and needed to take care.    So all I could think about was how unhappy I was during these times and I was going to have that all the time...ugh.

Finally around 5 that night I was reminded of a pep talk that I heard before one of our running classes.  It was about learning to appreciate what you had.  When you have a bad day....remember that there are others out there that worse off. You will get through those days and be back to youself.   That thought snapped me out of my pathetic sorriness.  I realized that holy crap, I am so lucky.  Things could have been much worse, I could have full paralysis and no voice or the cause of why this happened could have been much worse than the virus.  In the end...all that is wrong is that a weaker voice. Many have called this my new sexy voice.

The best thing from thing is that I just started to look for ways for me to adjust.  For meetings, I have been booking rooms with microphones so I can facilitate, I bring paper or my phone when  I am out, always ready to write something down, I have cool ways to turn my head to be louder, and realized that I have support all around me to speak up when I cant.

Maybe because I have needed to constantly look for ways to adjust....this has followed over to everything else that I am doing.  My mindset for everthing has be deal.  Figure out a way to adjust.  Instead of stressing because I am not following my training plan to the T, I have been saying 'what else can I do, how can I do things differently.'    Every day things change now rather than the rigid structure I was trying to follow.  And, god its nice!    A lot easier to be relaxed and enjoy all of this than always concerned I was off or missing something.  

Monday, April 18, 2011

Recapping the MORE

I still cannot believe that half marathon is done or that I actually ran mK it.  I cannot believe I am saying this but I still dont feel like my body is ready to run a half but I already did.  Crazy how your mind will play games with you.

The whole experience was fantastic and I loved that I had a group of friends to share it with. And, I did it, I truly honestly did it!  I met the goal of running a 1:54 for my first half marathon.  I should say that I did this by a hair, my true time was 1:54:52 and I full on sprinted the last tenth of a mile but I freaking did it.   I averaged a 8:47 pace and was the 928th runner out of 7500 that had their time recorded.  Supposely there were 10,000 overall runners.

What makes this more special to me is that the week leading up to the race I pretty much gave up on this time.  I had had pretty crappy training sessions for the 3 weeks leading up to it and I thought I really had hurt my chances by being stupid and pushing myself when being sick.   I was 99.9% sure that I would never be able to keep up this pace and started to prepare myself to not be upset if I did not hit it the first time.   But all things aligned and I did it.

The pre race started off pretty hectic.  We all met about a half an hour early to have one last pow wow.   My plan was to run with Lisa and Susanne but they went to drop their bags off and in a sea of 10,000 people, I never saw them again until the end.   Then Lauren and I made the mistake of waiting til the starting line to go to the bathroom. We got in line at 7:40  we hit the front of the line at 7:58 for a 8:00 race start.  Thankfully Terence was waiting for us and brought is to an opening in the front where we squeezed in.  It was here that I met Sara, a girl that told me she ran a 8:40 mile.  That was what I needed to average to hit 1:54 so Terence said....stay right next to her.

So off we went and holy cow, I never have run in a race with that many people.  Sara and I were dodging people left and right.  Finally we made it to the outside where we had a little space.  The first few miles were great, I felt good and I was on the start of the race high.  It was right after the large hill next to the Harlem Hill at mile 4 that I realized we were running 8 20 miles not 8:40.  I did a uh oh in my head.  I was supposed to start out slow and pick up speed, not the other way around.  My head started to play games and I got worried that I was not going to finish.  I suddenly started to get tired too.  So I waved to Sara and told her to go head.  She left me at mile 5 but I tried to keep her in my site for the next .5 mile.  I slowed down to what I thought was a 8:50 pace but really was a 9:10 pace when I got to the next marker.  I picked it up again to get the next one around 8:40.   It was around here that I was like 'I am done, I just dont want to do this'  My legs were starting to hurt, especially the side of my hips.  I got to the Harlem hill for the second go around and slowed to a crawl.  I tried to say to myself I got this hill but it slowly reminded me of its power.  It starts with a slight incline and keeps going.  Thankfully alll my hill training kicked in and I got to the top where I smiled.....i had finished what I thought was the hardest part of the course.   The next few miles between 102nd and 72nd tranverses were good.  The crowd started to fill in and I fed off of their encouragement. 

Finally I hit mile 12 and everything started to go down hill.  I started to get cramps in both sides and was in a lot of pain with my legs.  I just wanted to stop but I just kept saying, 1 mile, you've run this piece so many times (end of race was where we normally train for class).  I also knew from the 12 mile marker that there was a chance to hit 1:54....so I put one foot in front of the other and just kept on running.   When I got to mile 13 I looked at the clock and it was 1:55. ( I knew I had at least an extra minute from when I crossed the start line initially).  I am not sure what came over me but as soon as I knew there was a chance to hit the 1:54, I took off and sprinted.   All the pain went away and I just ran up the last part of the hill.  Crossing the finish line with 8 seconds to spare and Lauren waiting to take my picture.

Wont go into detail on how I felt for the next few minutes after I stopped running but lets say it took me a while to readjust.  Was not ready for the tightning of my legs so quickly.   Lauren I walked around for a little bit, then met up with Lisa, Susanne, and Ellen.

After the run Lisa, Lauren and I went to our favorite brunch spot, Georgio's where we had a well deserved meal of protein omelets, extra spicy bloody marys and coffee.   Nice way to finish off the day.

Monday, April 4, 2011

Result Are In

We all kicked major ass yesterday. The weather was great, the race was fun (and hard), and I enjoyed myself for 85%  of the time.  Only three times did I question what the hell was I doing.

Here's the results, more on the race later.   One thing to note, I actually hit the goal I set about a month ago. 

Lauren: Blazing 1:48:32
Me: 1:54:52, got the goal by 8 seconds and that includes a full on sprint at the end
Susanne: 2:05, awesome for first time
Lisa: 2:05, personal record
Ellen: 2:30, again awesome first time, she was already looking for another race to run this am.
Kathy: 3:01, personal record

Saturday, April 2, 2011

MORE is Coming

My first half marathon is tomorrow.  Surprisingly enough, I have not been nervous or anxious. I think that it may be the two beers (my Strawberry beer!) that I had for our late lunch or the grilled pizza that has put me into a little bit of a food coma.   I knew that I potentially would start to stress out so to keep my mind occupied I invited Lisa, Susanne, and Lauren over for a late pre run lunch.   We got to take some time out and enjoy ourselves before the race.   We lucked out with the weather and hung out on the porch, ate some pizza, steak and kale chips, and I got Lisa and Lauren hooked on my strawberry beer.  It was a great way to kick off preparing for the run.

I am sure when I try to close my eyes, I will start to get excited and have one of those restless nights.    For now, I am taking time to relax and reflect on all the hard work and time I have put in to get in shape to do this.    I thought it was fitting for this entry to talk on three people that have helped me get to where I am today.  Something that I never thought would be possible.

My Running Buds - Lisa and Susanne:   I used to never want to run with anyone.  I always used the excuse that I liked to listen to my music and let my mind wander.  Really I was afraid to keep up with others or to be pushed faster than I wanted to run.  At the start of my first running class Lisa and Susanne discussed trying to run on that Sunday for the long run (6 miles at the time) we had to do.  Apprehensive at first, I decided that I was going to join them.  This run formed our friendship and running bond.

For the next several weeks the three of us started to run with each other every Sunday, 9:30, starting at Columbus Circle.  We have run through the freezing cold, snow, and pouring rain. We show up because we know that the other ones will be there.   If it was not for them, on the days where the weather was crap, I am not sure that I would have gone for my run otherwise.  At the end of the runs we head out for brunch and reward ourselves with a nice breakfast and spicy bloody mary (mimosa for Susanne) or sometimes to grab lunch at Wholefoods.

We have made a good group, each of us working to get better in different areas: Lisa on hills, Susanne getting faster, and me, learning how to pace myself and run longer.   On the days when one of us is not in the running mindset, the other two are there to pick them up and push them to get the run done.  We spend the runs chatting about our week, our stresses/joys and pointing out every possible bathroom on the 6 mile route around central park.    These Sunday long runs that used to be boring and I could not wait to be done with have turned into something I started to look forward to and enjoy.   I know that I have two buds that I can count on to be there to support, challenge, and push me, and have made me a better runner.  Thank you guys, you rock.
Taken on a rainy Sunday run.  We were completely soaked at the end of the run.

My Running Coach - Terence:  What can I say about Terence?  Until him, I had never met someone who right away knew how to push my buttons and say the right things to get the best out of me.  He is the one that originally coined that I thought I was 'Superwoman' - never wanting to tell him when I was tired or pushed to my limit. His actual words were for me to 'Take the S Off My Chest, I don't always have to be a super hero.'  I did deserve this a little bit since I teased him alot that he may be over confident at times ( my words may have not been as nice as this).   I am sure you knew what this comment did to me.....other than piss me off a little, it just pushed me harder to show him that I could run. 

I owe a whole lot of how far I have come in the past few months to him.  He taught me how to run like a runner, think like a runner, and train like a runner.  He is the one that got me excited to run and want to look forward to class, to see how much farther I would get.  Along with coaching he has been there to hear me vent on anything and everything, especially in the last few weeks when I have not felt myself and my frustration had got to a boiling point.  He listens and then offers his bits of advice and support that have helped me calm down, not stress out as much, or made me just relax.    Plus, he is now my personal DJ, supplying me with all the running and commuting music that I person could need.   Thanks Terence for being you and helping me become a better me.

Sunday, March 27, 2011

Starting to Feel Like Me Again

This entry is for all of you that I have given me guidance, advice or simply just yelled at me in the last few weeks.  I did hear what you were saying, I was just too stubborn to do things my way...........................surprise surprise on that one.

A smile is back on my face today. Yesterday, for the first time in about four weeks I finally felt like myself again. I had energy, I could talk (well kind of), and just felt like I was normal again.  It is amazing when you are off how much your life is impacted by it.  I am happy to be back and you can say I learned a huge lesson about my body and how much I can push it. 

I kept saying that I needed slow down a little and limit what I was doing.  I wrote in an earlier blog that I needed to start to put priorities on what I wanted to do since I could not do it all.  This was great on paper but in reality, I kept going, wanting to get everything in, not wanting to miss a workout, night out or getting behind at work.  In my head I knew I should slow down.....but I kept going.  Ok, I will say it, sometimes I think that I have a 'Superwoman' persona, that I can do everything and get through anything I put my mind to.  My body will catch up to me sometime.  It took me breaking down a little to realize what was going on.  

I ignored the signs in the last few weeks I was getting sick.  And....oh  the signs were there:  I partially lost my voice for over three and half weeks, I picked up a cold, I had everyone from my co-workers, classmates, friends, and family tell me - take a rest/slow down, I went home early from work, and I even got on the wrong train and headed to Newark instead of Secaucus one day.

Throughout the last few weeks I kept thinking, I will get better tomorrow.  My body is strong, tough, and I have the power to push through being sick.  Two things with this:   1.  In the back of my mind, I had the fear that if I stopped doing what I was doing, I would get behind on where I was fitness wise.   There is still an unsureness in me that I truly will be able to complete the Half Ironman.  I am not sure if it is because of the unknown or me being cautious but the only thing that pushes this thought out of my head is knowing that I am at least training hard enough so if I do not finish, I will know I did the best I could - preparing myself the best way I could.   2.  I think that sometimes I am afraid to give up or the fear to know that I did give up.  Stopping to rest to me was giving up.  I know that this should be not the right thing to think but to me....I wanted to push through, I did not want to use being sick as an excuse to stop what I was doing. 

It took me lying on my parents couch last weekend for three days when the weather was gorgeous outside and all I wanted to do is be outside doing something, to realize - be smarter, work smarter, live smarter.  I read all the articles on 'Training Smarter' when I first started to think about doing the tri and thought that this was common sense.  I was smart enough to realize when I needed a break, I would never get to the point of breakdown.  Then I got caught up with my routine, my thoughts, and the fear that I needed to keep going in order to prepare myself for what I had chosen to do and I fell into the bucket of 'Training Dummy'.

And once I decided to slow down, it still took my body more than a week and half to start to get back to normal.  I took off a total of four days last week and slowed my activity this week, skipping parts of my workouts, went to more doctors than I seen in more than a year, went on two sets of meds, went on voice rest (well tried) for two days, and made sure that I was eating healthy more than ever. With all of that it still took 10 days til I felt myself.    Great reward for not listening to my body in the first place.

So, next time I start to cough, my nose runs, or if I just don't feel up to par for that day.....I know that I need to check in with my body and ask - do you really need to push yourself.  One day of rest is not going to hurt me.  What will hurt me is to keep going, thinking that as 'Superwoman', you will get through this.   

Tuesday, March 22, 2011

Teach Me How to Blog, Teach Me, Teach Me How to Blog (Tha Remix)

Greetings, y'all. Lauren here-- co-contributor to Rebecca's journey into blogdom. In the event you have no idea who I am (which, I suppose is likely), I am the tall one drowning in pools of her own sweat in the PM Slim and Strong sessions (such a classy lady, no?)

Rebecca and I got the idea for this blog-marriage of sorts on a whim last Saturday, during our outing to the Multisport World Expo at Columbia. The reason for attending said expo? I too am signed up for the Rhode Island Half-Ironman in July. This decision... made on the fly, as most of my crazier fitness endeavors have been lately.
Have I been training? Hmmm... aside from BBBC, long weekend runs, and the ill-fated 50K attempt (more on this later), NO!

I have a new-ish bike, that was bought last year for 75% aesthetic appeal, and 25% "practical use." It is one of those Felt fixed-gear bikes-- you know, the single-speed kind that if you do not keep pedalling, when coasting, you will fly over the handlebars? Needless to say, it is not set on fixed-gear at press date. Insert my dilemma: while hot, in a low-key, minimalistic sort of way, I do not think it will get me far in Providence. This might involve a Craigslist transaction, I do believe. In any event, I am somewhat proficient on a bike, though traffic elicits a fear in this Brooklynite greater than any sewer rat and rumored mugging spree ever will!

Do I swim? The short answer: Recreationally, with a stint as a high school breaststroker. I can hold my own in the pool, and grew up swimming in the muddy, occasionally shark-infested waters of the Gulf of Mexico, but haven't done any outdoor swims in years. So I am a bit worried about how this might play out in RI's Olney Pond. Guess I should have jumped on the Coney Island Polar Bear Club bandwagon. Then again, hypothermia might have been a bit discouraging.

Running deserves a whole 'nother post, that encompasses so much more than the activity itself, so I'll save that for when I'm a more seasoned blogger. Drama, intrigue, troublesome shoelaces... oh yea, get excited!

Stay tuned! If anything, thanks for entertaining my self-indulgence! Until I blog again....

Saturday, March 19, 2011

Taking a Spin on My New Bike

Finally, after a month of waiting, I got my new bike.  If anyone saw me last week, it was the only thing that I could speak about, I was so excited.  I felt like a little kid waiting for my birthday or holidays to open up my presents. Who knew that a bike would cause this type of emotion?   When I stopped at Campmor to pick it up, I had the biggest smile on my face, I think that the bikeshop thought I was crazy.  I tried to explain that this was my first road bike and all I have been wanting to do is get out and ride. Thankfully most of them were riders so they did get it.

Like the first day of school, my mom came out to take a picture of my first ride on my new bike
The timing could not have been more perfect since last weekend was beautiful and I was heading up to my parents in Cornwall on Hudson for my niece's birthday on Sunday.  I decided  to drive up on Saturday night and get up early on Sunday to take a ride.   Now those of you that know me well know that my favorite place on earth is where I grew up, Cornwall on Hudson and West Point. I dont care of the places that I have seen around the world, nothing is like coming home to the valley. 

Between C-O-H and West Point is a hidden treasure, RT 218,  that if you hit it on a day that is closed, is an amazing experience to be on.  RT 218 is a narrow hilly road built into Storm King Mountain that closes when it snows or rains due to rock slide risks.  When I was younger I would look forward to the days that it would snow so that I could take a walk with my father on the snow covered road.  Most of the time we would have the road to ourselves.  The highlight of the trip would be when my father would pull one of the icicles off of the rocks for me to suck on.  I still look forward to these walks though now I am able to pull my own suckers off the rock.


I lucked out that 218 was closed last weekend due to all the rain.  My original plan was to ride over 218 to 293 through West Point to Camp Buckner. It was about a 35 mile route.  I had to be home by 10:45 and got going a little late...so at the end, I just road for time.   I hopped on my biked around 9:00 and road through the village to RT 218.

First time on my bike and actually any road bike took a little getting used to.  I probably should have read the booklet first. I spent the first 10 minutes trying to figure out to change the gears.  I could increase the gears but had no clue on how to decrease them.  Finally after hitting the brake, I realize the whole part moved, decreasing changing the gear. It was perfect timing, right when I got to the start of 218 and the incline.  

After getting used to it, I realized I love my bike.  It is so much easier (yeah duh) to ride than my old mountain bike and so much faster.  I barely had to move to make the bike react.  I found myself a little scared going down the hills and had my hands on the brakes the whole time.    The hardest part that I will have to adjust to is where I hold my hands. I am used to having the brakes on the outside of the handle bars.  Now they are in the front....so downhill, I have to keep my hands in that position the whole time or at least be able to react when needed.

The ride itself was great. The road had some debris and rocks from the last rain that I had to navigate but nothing too bad.  Since it was warm, there were waterfalls everywhere from the melting ice and some really cool icicles.  (check out this photo of the leaning ice).    The only person I passed on the road was my father walking with our dog. 

I cleared 218 pretty easily and really started to enjoy the ride. It helped that I was going down a nice downhill when I had this thought.   Then I hit RT 293 that pretty much was a slight incline for about what felt like 45 minutes.  Holy crap, this is where I realized that my biking ability is not the greatest.  I started to struggle after about 5-10 minutes in and my legs were burning.  I was trying to sit in the saddle for this part of the ride but I had to stand up to get some power. I changed my gears, that did not work. My quads felt like dead weight and I felt like I was moving about 5 mph.   I kept looking at my watch to see if it was time to turn around.....I was not enjoying this part.  I finally made it to Round Pond where I decided to turn around.  I had biked for about hour and was thankful I had Mia's 11:30 birthday party to be at for my excuse to be home.    

The ride back was not as bad since the incline turned into a decline.  My legs were warm enough that 218 was a little hard but not as bad as 293.  The whole time I kept thinking "this ride is kicking your ass".  Thankfully I did this alone.   There is nothing like doing an activity that will tell you how in shape you are to complete it.  I realized that my biking shape needs a lot of work and maybe I should focus on this a little more.  I plan to be up here a lot in the next few months hitting 218 (if closed) and 293 as much as possible to get in better shape.

Here are some other pics from the ride.  Hope you enjoy them.

Getting an Education

This post is a week late in getting up but it has some pretty cool info in it.

Last Saturday, Lauren and I headed up to Columbia for the Multisport World Expo to get some tips on training.  The expo was pretty cool.  On a random side note, I learned something else....Triathlete men have the nicest bodies.  I could not believe how fit every guy in the building was from young to old.  Not lanky, not bulky, just perfect.  I told Lauren that we needed to become triathlon groupies, how did I not know of this before! 

Back to the expo, we sat in for the second set of seminars for the day:
  • What can I cook to keep myself healthy?
  • What's the deal with sodium and muscle cramping?
  • Is there such a thing as a "natural" running style?
  • The five swim drills I dream about at night
  • The five run drills I dream about at night
Adam Kelinson, author of The Athlete’s Plate: Real Food for High Performance was the first speaker.  When he started out with the key to healthy eating is diverse eating and that his biggest piece of advice was to not eat the same thing every day, Lauren (she eats like me) and I knew we were in trouble.  We looked at each other like 'ha, this is going to be good for us'.   His focus was on local and organic foods that will supply you with all the nutrients that you need for your body.  Local sourcing/eating is something that I have tried to increase in my own life for the last two years, so it was great to hear his ideas.  He spoke on both the macro/micro nutrients that we need to include in our diet.  On the micro nutrient side, I did not realize how beneficial sprouts were.  I picked up some broccoli sprouts from one of the vendors at the Green Market two weeks ago, they were great tasting but I did not realize the super power health benefits.   I am going to have to go back and get a few more packs.  

On the organic side, the following is most important idea that Adam stated.   Did you know that we have lost 50% of the nutrients in the vegatables that we grow in the last 50 years due to the way that we mass produce our vegatables?   The nutritional value of 1 cup of spinach grown in 1961 equals 25 cups of spinach today.   That is so crazy.  I am going to think twice before I pick up a non organic/local vegatable again. 

The second session, Earl Walton of Tri Life came to talk on the 5 Swimming Drills He Dreams of in His Sleep.  He was a pretty interesting speaker and his whole belief is to 'Commit to a plan and that plan has to sync with your swimming career'.   We went through a bunch of different drills for beginners through experts in the water.  Here is a link to some videos of the drills that we went through.  Click on 'Training' section to view the list. 

Next session was 5 Running Drills presented by Josh Gold.  Holy cow, he had so much energy when he was presenting, he was jumping all around.  They were broadcasting this live on the web but I think that people watching the video saw him only for a portion of the time.  I wonder if it is a requirement for all running coaches to have this much energy.  God knows that Terence does.     

I liked this session the most, he had us up and moving and doing a whole bunch of exercises.  He spoke on the POSE method of running.  His exercises consisted of 1.  Pulling your foot off the ground in the pose. 2.  Partner Running - Running Backwards   3.  Partner Running - Closing your Eyes  4.  One Leg Pulls - with your foot under your General Center of Mass (right under but)   5.  Fast Feet - clicking feet together, landing only on toes.  Once is easy but try 25 in a row.

The last session of the day was on Natural Running Form.  I am not going to try to recap any of this presentation.  There was so much info on it.   I did learn that I think that I am going to stick to sneakers for a while and that barefoot running is probably not for me.

After the seminars we walked around the expo a little, got more good info, and spoke some of the vendors. We also found the Amica Half Ironman booth (the race we are doing) and stopped in to say hi.    I wanted to see if they had the course route up yet.  Just our luck, the gentleman at the booth said that they had recently changed the routes and were in process of putting them on the site. I asked how the run course was. His response, hilly, very hilly.  The exact opposite of what I wanted to hear since I love hills. Oh well at least I now know.

Friday, March 11, 2011

Finally, A Day Off.....Well Kind Of

Before you read this, two things so you dont think I am crazy:   1.  Below is not a normal day, I dont push my body that much  2.  I know I need more rest/sleep - I am working on this.     With that, enjoy.

I took my first full day off in a long time.  I actually did not realize how long until I tried to think of the last time and I could not remember.  I do take a day off from running/swimming/biking but have been trying to get yoga,  bootcamp or lifting in on those days.  I know I should take more full days but I have no time to get those things in.  With this one, I was determined to give myself a day off from everything, my structure, my workouts, and worrying about my diet.  It felt great.

The day actually started off feeling like a workout.  Trying to get in for a 615am call is a lot harder than I thought.  I forgot that I had to actually get dressed for work at home.  My wakeup time was 355 and I was out the door running up the hill to the bus at 440.  Not sure the bus driver recognized me since I looked fairly nice.  He is used to seeing me in my pjs. 

Due to a cab driver that drove slower than my father, I got to work at 6:03 and I ran around to make my oatmeal and espresso.  My day started to turn up when I saw someone putting the bananas out as soon as I was got down to the kitchen.    And I was happy I did not have to do the dancing I normally do while making breakfast, trying to avoid everyone else, the kitchen was sparse. 

Rest of day went well, crazy enough I actually had energy all day.  I had back to backs all day so I never stopped to feel tired.

At 6:00 the fun started....Beer Class.  Calling it a class may be strectching it.  Basically you got a bunch of beer and listened to someone from the brewery talk about each one.  Our table was not the best at paying attention.  We were a good group:  Marla, jet lagged from flying back from Paris the night before, Mamie who was getting over being sick, Chris and Jon who had worked late the last few nights plus me, with my voice that sounded like Marge Simpson's sisters (Marla's description) from facilitating requirement sessions all week.   Lets say we were a hit with the speaker. 

I had come for one thing and one thing only: Strawberry Beer. It has been all I have talked about since we chose the Abita Brewery.   I was pysched when the first bottles they pulled out were the nice green labels, my Strawberry beer.  This beer is only out one month a year.   One sip and I was happy as a clam.   They even gave me an extra pour since I told them it was my favorite beer.  We got to try a whole bunch of their other beers.  They have a really good IPA and one called Restoration Ale. 

They put out dinner, chicken wings and vegetables and hummus. I decided to be healthy and eat the veg and hummus.  Dont ask why it did not cross my mind that trying to eat healthy went out the door after the 5th beer.  At least it is the thought that count, right?

The rest of the night was fun.  I was on the 10:50 bus and in the door by midnight.   I even packed my bag for class in the am with intentions that I was going to make it.  I guess after a few beers you think you can do anything.

4:20 did come, but I did not get up.   One look at the clock and I rolled over.   I slept in til 7:00 and god, it felt good.  

Being off was great.  It let me stop, relax, and think on non training things and remind me that life is not only training or work. This may seem simple to most but sometimes I forget this with my structured life and always moving from one thing to another.  Stepping away from my routine let me see how well my balance has been.  And yes, I will be first to admit it needs some work!

Here is a pic of the beer if you want to look for it.  I did try to take people pics too but they all came out like crap.  Not sure any of the folks would be happy for me to put them up.   Next time


Sunday, March 6, 2011

Week 3.....slowly things getting easier

Ahhh....my routine has finally set in and it feels great. I welcomed  back a missing part of my life, my energy.  I was back to myself for the majority of the week and did not need the extra cup of coffee in the afternoon.  The only time I dragged was Tuesday morning in class but I changed up to eat a little before class and Thursday I felt better. 

I think that I may even had more energy than normal.  I  know this because one of my good friends at work commented on my superwoman aura.  Granted this was after I bumped into him in the kitchen while I was running to a meeting.  He is on his health kick (which I am happy to say I influenced and we talk on everyday) and proudly showed me his instant maple oatmeal he was having as a snack.  In my rush (remember, I was running to a meeting), I yelled 'What are you doing!!!!!! That has so much sugar, thats crap.  Better to eat a candy bar'.   He promptly dumped the whole bowl in the compost bin and just stared.  I continued to try to explain in less than a minute that he had to read the packages and impact sugar has.   Then I told him I had to run.   I left him standing there. As a side note, I did go over later to talk to him and explain more calmly what I meant and how I was more concerned he thought he was eating healthly....but making things worse. 

On the training front, I have fallen into the routine of m,t,th,f early morning and night workouts and using Wednesday as my slight recovery day where I only do a night work out.   This has been working out well but just my luck, this week I needed to schedule a weekly call with Asia/EMEA.  Guess what day I chose?  You guessed it, Wed, 6-8 am.  So add another 450 bus ride into the city on Wed to my week.   Hopefully this is only for two months.  At least I should be able to leave earlier and sleep well Wed night.   I love how things keep changing to keep me on my toes, just what I need.   And yes, I have been working on moving to the city.  Got a realtor and started to map out a plan.  And I have been so lucky to have my father helping out figuring out financing options and what I am supposed to do.   Probably more than lucky.....extremely fortunate.

Swimming has turned into the activity I love this most. Maybe it is because I am brought back to the memory of being a kid, swimming laps at practice or the peacefulness of hearing nothing but your own thoughts for 45 minutes.  It is where I think of most of my entries.  The NYSC pool has turned out to be not so bad. I have made friends with the lifeguard Rafeal and he saves me a lane each morning and tries as much as possible to make sure no one else comes in it.  He told me he likes me because I can swim.....so less work for him.     The timing of my swims are great.  I have been pushing my legs a lot on Tues/Thurs with bootcamp and running, it is great to stretch my legs in the water the mornings after.  Friday,  I timed my 1.2 mile (119 laps) and its about 27.5 minutes if I counted correctly.  Afterwards, I looked up some swimming times online...and that seems to be an average swimming time. I am happy to know I do not need to focus so much on it.

I started to bike.  Spinning classes at the NYSC are worst than swimming. Everytime I call, the class is already booked.  I did find something cool.  Most gyms have a 'trainer' that simulates a spinning class.  Its great and I can choose my own music and have the volume as loud as I want.  I have found that the Pandora station of the Ting Tings is the best to ride to.  It plays different beats and songs are awesome.    Alexandria is in town this week so we may try to test out Soul Cycle.

For the first in all my training and actually since October and my first ever bootcamp, I was sore, extremely sore in my left leg and butt.  This was from a combo of leg work Thursday morning and hills at night.  I felt it while running the hills but just went a little slower.  I kind of wished I just stopped now.  Friday, I was sore when I woke up and my morning swim did not help.  I biked lightly that night and spent 30 minutes on the foam roller hoping it would loosen and go away. Saturday was a little better but not great.  I took it easy in class and spent another hour with my foam roller after.    Thank god I woke up today better, just a little tight.  I was able to run my long run (11 miles) at a fairly good clip and felt no pain.  Just a little sore now but will spend some time stretching when I get home.

I am excited to say that we added another girl to our Half Triathlon 'team'.   Lauren Key from my old night bc class is going to join us.   I am super pysched to have someone else doing this.   That makes 5 from BBBC.     Also, Alexandria and I found our Olympic Triathlon that we are going to do for our practice run.  It is on May 15th in Red Bank, Jersey.  Not too far away so it will push us to train hard.   We got two down, now we need to find our Sprint race to make the plan complete.

Looking forward to this week and getting in a bunch of non training activities.   I have an Abita beer class Wed night at Idle Hands(my highlight of the week), two co worker's birthday celebration Friday and my little nieces BD party Sunday.  Training is going to be crazy but I will do the best I can.  I think I will need my afternoon cup of coffee! 

3 weeks down, 17 to go.