San Diego International

This morning Julie & I raced at the San Diego International Triathlon. We finished 1-2, just about 25 seconds apart. We came out of the 1k swim just seconds apart, even though we swam on different sides of a mass of flailing guys. Julie got on the bike faster than I did after having a faster wetsuit ripping off transition. I was able to catch her within a few minutes and then started working on catching and/or staying with guys who zoomed by me with full TT set ups. This is not a USAT sactioned race, so no stagger rule. The drafting rule is this: ride 2 bike lengths back. That's it. So, I followed the rules, but felt guilty the whole time, especially on the downhills when 2 bike lengths give a pretty big advantage for a little person like me. But, I guess it doesn't give an advantage over my other competitors who were all doing the same thing. On the last hill of the race a guy blew by me and got so far ahead in a matter of seconds, even though I was going as hard as I could and thought I was in a pretty good tuck. No worries though, I caught him on the run! The run felt much better than in Philly. I actually felt like I was racing and that I was holding a decent pace. The results aren't up yet, but I'm guessing it was about a 37. Still not there yet, but not bad considering I just did my first long run in a month (75 min.) and that was just 2 days ago. Julie did some catching up on the run but luckily I was able to hold off her hard charging finishing kick. Oh, I'm not sure about the course record--the results on-line only go back to 2003. My time today was over 2 minutes faster than any time in the last 5 years, but there 20 other years of race results to comb through!


We both collected big checks, like the ones from golf tournaments! The checks had several fewer zeros than a golf event, but still, we're not complaining!!

Hard Training

After some major downtime, I'm back to hard training. Finally! It feels good to work hard again. This morning I did a long run that was kind of like the long runs I did while marathon training, but, of course, a lot shorter. I did a 1 hr. 15 min. progressive run, getting down to 6:15 for the last 15 minutes. Isn't that faster than the pace I was running in my last race? Yep. Oh well. After the run, Julie and I did a 1 hr. 40 min. ride with intervals and hill repeats. Next up is a massage!!

The training center is quiet this week because most of the T&F athletes are in Eugene for the Trials. There are a few other sports here, like a junior men's field hockey team, men's volleyball, BMX, and even an alpine snowboarder.

By the way, the ice baths have been upgraded. Now there is a Jacuzzi that is filled with 52 degree water. So deceiving!

Racing is On this Weekend

The 2nd annual Shawanathon takes place this Saturday. Back to defend their 2007 podiums are Mark (Manchester), SJ (Toronto), and Lino (Baltimore), along with runner up in the female division, Karl (Gaithersburg). The challengers include "super swimmer" Rod (New Orleans), "super biker" Bill (LA) and "super runner" Dave (some where in GB) and "super rower" Phil (also british). The international field also includes two marshalls (M's) from South? Africa. SJ has his work cut out for him if he wants the Maple Leaf on top of the podium again this year!

Julie and I are also racing this weekend, in the San Diego International Triathlon. This is a bonus race that was not on my race schedule. I'm doing to just for fun and because it is happening just 30 minutes from the training center. Julie is trying to scape together some race wheels for us. That would definitely help the cause. If that doesn't workout, does anyone know anyone in the San Diego area that would loan out their race wheels for the day???

at the OTC

I'm back the Olympic Training Center in Chula Vista for a mini training camp with Julie. I arrived late last night after a quick flight from Newark. It is great to be here. So far we've done a 5k swim workout in an outdoor 50m pool and a 2 hour ride in headwinds. Perfect training! Next up is an easy run and some running drills on the track. We'll be out here for 2 weeks with the common goal of getting back in shape after the last several weeks of injury/sickness, etc. At the same time, Julie & I will be helping each other achieve our own goals: an Olympic medal for Julie and The Podium for me. There's a chance we'll do some tune up races in the area. Maybe a triathlon this weekend in San Diego and probably a 4th of July 5k.

Philly Tri

Twins on the Podium!!!

Another successful day at the Philly Tri. It is always nice to get W and it is even better when your training partner finishes up there too!

My victory "speech" sums up the day...

"...I'd like to say a special thanks to everyone who raised money through Team in Training. This is because ten years ago, my twin sister was diagnosed with Lymphoma. I decided to sign up for TNT to run the London marathon as something different to focus on while she was going through treatment. She came to watch me run the marathon in London the day after her last Chemo. While I was out there running, I thought to myself, why am I the one out here, and she is on the sidelines. She's the one who was a star athlete. Well, today that changed. I jumped into the river and started swimming as hard as I could. I glanced over to check out who was next to me only to see that it was my twin sister. I knew right there that today was going to be a good day. Thanks again to everyone who raised money for this important cause. It really does make a difference."

I know, so Al Trautwig and even tear provoking, but I felt like I needed to say something. There are so many people part of Team in Training now and sometimes people not involved may not be aware of what they are really all about. Also, having Karl swim with me in a race has been something I've been dreaming about for a long time. To see it actually unfolding was the race victory right there.

But, of course, as soon as I saw her I took off swimming as fast as I could. Just a little friendly sibling rivalry!!

Yum!

The Philly Tri is such a good race. Well organized, good location, but most of all, really good post race food. Here's Karl digging into the Hoagies. They also had "Pie" otherwise known as pizza. But, best of all, they had fresh bread, rolls and cookies from a Lancaster, PA bakery. To put on rolls: LOCAL honey and cold butter. mmmmm.

View

I took this photo

last week from the car window, as the car was moving, from my iphone. This is what the Roundout Valley looked like after a major thunderstorm. This is the valley on the other side of the mountain from RL. Those are the Catskills in the distance.

Checking in From Philly

Karl and I are enjoying a relaxing pre-race day in a beautiful house just outside city limits in philadelphia. This part of the job is pretty enjoyable, especially if you are lucky enough to have a fabulous homestay. We made the 2 hour trip from NYC yesterday in time for a quick ride of the course, shopping in Manyunk, and then a Q&A session at the race expo. I was a little nervous about speaking in front of hundreds of people, but it actually turned out to be fun. We get another chance to do it later this afternoon at today's expo.

Our hostess, Megan, took us to a great place to run this morning, the Forbidden Road along Wissahickon creek. I could easily have run for an hour or more, but had to settle for my 30 min. pre-race workout.

Next, a few more hours of putting the feet up!!

so not only is SJ the most supportive fiance in the world of professional triathlon, he's also the most generous soon to be brother-in-law. He just gave Karl enough sky miles to get to Minneapolis! Thanks SJ!!!!!!

By the way, SJ is the most supportive partner in the world of professional triathlon. Just because he got confused about which races I did last year in the mid-atlantic states, doesn't mean that he doesn't remember them! He's Canadian and hasn't spent much time south of the state that borders Canada and has a hard time differentiating the cities. To those of us from here, there is a big difference between DC and Baltimore and Philly even though they could all easily fit in a tiny piece of a Canadian province (state).

Karl got into Lifetime!!!!!! Yeah!!!!!!!!! Oh, that's this really big race in Minneapolis.

We're in Philly, spending the day in Manyunk. We survived a ride of the course, went shopping, ate L, and are now hanging out at a coffee shop until the next activity: a Q&A session at the race expo this evening.

Philly Tri

This morning SJ asked me, "Was there a Philly Tri last year?"

That hurt. Ouch. Maybe we wouldn't do so well on the Newlywed game.

To answer the question. Yes, there was a philly tri last year. It was one of my more important races of 2007 because it was my first race back after recovering from the S. American parasite. And it was significant because I showed that I was competitive enough to be part of the World Cup teams even though I had been shut out due to my points ranking. Also, it was the first time I ran a 35 10k and the first time I broke a course record.

We're heading down to Philly in a few minutes and I'm hoping that this year's race will be one to remember!!

Busy Week

Even though this was a light week of training, it seems like I've had no time to sit down. Except now, finally, after about 8 hours on the go. Jog to the gym, pilates, swim, walk home, eat lunch, ride to cadence, ride at cadence, commute to PT, PT, commute home...
With less training to do this week, I've been busy with trying to organize vacation houses for the wedding weekend. I'm doing this early to get it out of the way and to make sure they don't get swallowed before we reserve them. The weekend of the wedding is probably one of the bigger weekends in new paltz--leaf peepers, etc. I've also been doing some furniture shopping. Nothing worth mentioning yet, but someday we might have a furnished house.

Wedding Ideas

For the flower experts out there (Jeanie/Bubba)...are Roses a good idea? It is Rose Lane after all...

Also, we are looking into some "group homes" for the guests. Any interest in this? So far I've found 2 nice houses, with in a few miles, that sleep 6-8 each. This might answer the "where's everyone going to sleep?" question and they sure beat the Super 8.

BBQ Surprise

This evening I surprised SJ with a dinner out at Wildwood BBQ. We got the best seat in the house, a corner booth that was out of the way from the hundreds (seriously) of other people in the restaurant. We met there because it is right down the street from my physio's office (and because I read that Lance ate there recently). SJ was surprised and happy to see that I picked out a BBQ restaurant and he surprised me with ivory colored roses. Even though he is Canadian, SJ loves BBQ, ever since Dreamland in Tuscaloosa. Unlike Dreamland, this place offered more than ribs, white bread, and sauce. Although, those items are on the menu. I noticed that the wonder bread was replaced with Mar-in's Potato bread. My pulled pork sang came on a Mar-in's sesame roll. The food was good and not E (expensive). Our server was either on her first night on the job or her last. When asked about the beer choices, she replied, "well, I don't really know, I'm not 21 yet." When asked about the ribs, she said something like, "well, most people get ribs from like Chili's, ours are much better, we use natural meat." I guess Chili's meat is, in fact, artificial?

Summer

It is officially summer here in New York. School's out, camp's in. The last few days have been good ones. I'm on my way to feeling better. My quad injury seems to have fixed itself. All it needed was a little rest to repair the micro tears that came about when I ran hard while dehydrated. I was able to make it through my big day of training sunday with no painful legs. We did a 3 hour hilly bike ride + 50 minute run. The run felt great and I kept a decent (not fast) pace and only felt my quads on the downhill sections, which is pretty normal. On a different note, with all this extra rest from not running as much, my swimming has upped its game. I feel like I'm back to how I was before Madrid - before I got weak and scrawny.

This is thanks to my swimming training partners Karl & Rod. They have both pushed me to swim hard and not give in. This past weekend we also got to cycle with Rod. He was upstate staying with a friend on the other side of the mountain. We met up for a 2 hour ride in the valley. Luckily we made it home before a major storm hit. It really was a major storm - 3 people got struck by lightening in Mohonk. They were all ok.

Later that evening, we went over to Rod's friends house on the other side of the mountain for dinner. We drove and drove to get to the house and when we found it we were surprised to see this amazing modern house perched above the trees. Immediately, Karl recognized the house from a NYT article last year (photographic memory anyone??). The house and all of its furnishings were right out of dwell magazine. Soooo nice. The company was great too. Rod put on a delicious spread including cheeses from the local cheese shop in Rosendale, fresh baked bread, little neck clams, sweet potato ravioli with sage butter. I made the salad of watercress, fennel, shaved cheese, olive oil and lemon. For dessert we had cookies made by our friend Dan Guererra who recently started a cooking business. Fun summer night.

New Look

I'm in the process of changing things around. My old blog template was getting dated...so 2005.

I've been taking it easier on the workout front this week in order to recover from the quad soreness. At the recommendation of my physio therapist, Scott, I haven't been doing much running or anything that will compound the soreness and breakdown the muscles further. So far things are feeling much better and I'm itching to do a track workout. But, I'm going to have to wait on that one until next week. In the meantime, I've been "pooling" all of my energy into swim workouts. 3 hard ones in a row. This morning Rod put us through a set that reminded of me of what hard swimming feels like--it has been awhile since I've done a set like that, that kind that makes you really strong. Tomorrow we have a wetsuit swim planned. Those are usually killer as well.

I'm about to head down to Cadence to test out my quads on a computrainer session. Even though it is nice outside, I'm riding on the computrainer so that I can control my wattage.

The last few days I've been doing much more walking and getting around the city than I normally do. Maybe it is because it is summer and it is just easier to get around. Tuesday night I decided to take SJ out to dinner because I got paid. We went to the Little Owl, on Bedford & Carmine. Little place with a lot of buzz right now. We went there because one of SJ's friends (co-worker) is a partial owner. The meal was great, but halfway through our bill was magically paid for by SJ's friend. So, I made out with a cheap date. The stawberry rhubarb crumble with gelato was really good!!

Today I had to make a dreaded trip to the Upper East Side to pick up some things for the walls in Rose Lane. There are lots of blank white walls that are screaming for something to be hung on them. Well, now we have a few more items. People will have to wait until about October to see them. The trip up there wasn't THAT bad, just time consuming. One perk is that I found an affordable sidewalk fruit stand and was able to buy some fresh, organic and cheap fruit. Unheard of these days. I got cherries, apricots, nectarines, tomatoes, mangos and bananas all for as much as I would have spent on one on the very of turning apple at d'agastino's.

Alcatraz

This photo pretty much sums up my race at Alcatraz. Doesn't it look painful? It was. I'm still surprised that I even made it across that blue carpet at the finish line. I was not at top form going into this race after the Madrid sickness. Not exercising for a week didn't turn out to be the problem...coming back too hard too soon was the culprit. Seems as though I pushed the running a bit too much on dehydrated muscles, which caused them to break down. This resulted in deep, deep muscle soreness that wouldn't go away. I was banking on the idea that the soreness would go away by race day. Not exactly. From the first step of the run it hurt. I managed the hurting by shuffling along at a slower than usual pace because if I didn't lift my legs it didn't hurt as much. The long downhill section in the middle of the run was the worst. Usually I'd love a long downhill stretch, but this time I couldn't wait for it to end.

Anyway, the race was lots of fun and I'm looking forward to tackling the course next year! The best part about the race was having friends & fans out on the course cheering...and having friends waiting at the finish line. Thanks Melissa & Lino!!

Heat Wave

This is how our thermometer currently looks. Yes, that is 84 in the bedroom and 100.9 outside.

Table

I wanted to make up for my lack of blogging by posting something good. How about a sneak peak at our dining room table. This table is to die for. Bubba's seen it and can vouch for that. Here it is in a partially finished stage several weeks ago. For all those with an interest in GREEN & LOCAL, this table came from a large black walnut tree that was taken down during a construction project related to the Kingston Jail (a few towns north of NP). In the background, you can see the very talented capenter who is creating the table and its bench seating. You can see part of the bench here. The benches come from one of the tree's limbs. We are doing 4 benches, 2 on each side that can be pushed together to look like one. We know, NOT the most comfortable seating options out there, but they look good, ok?? Plus, sitting down on one of these is a step up from walking on the hard concrete floors!!

Bees

The bees seem to be doing fine. I was a little concerned because on Sunday afternoon there were about 500 of 'em hanging out on the front of the hive. We were wondering if they ran out of room inside. Maybe, but by the next day they had all retreated back inside. While they were hanging out, SJ and I actually got to see the Waggle Dance in action. This is a dance that bees to to explain to the other bees where they should go look for pollen. From what we can see, they are making A LOT of honey and honeycomb, but no evidence of the little ones just yet.

I'm Back

I just realized that it has been almost a week since my last blog. Oops. Well, I'm totally recovered from my Madrid dirty water bug. I'm just about back to my normal training load and after many days of doubting my abilities to complete a triathlon this weekend, I'm back on track. A few pounds lighter maybe, but I'll be there ready to jump into the freezing cold water this weekend. It is possible that I'll be among the smallest and lightest jumping into the bay. NOT something that will work to my advantage in the icy waters, but maybe it will help me on the sand ladder.

One of the highlights of the week so far was Monday's Sisters Summit. The 4 of us met up outside my apartment and walked a mile down to the Battery Park movie theater to catch an afternoon screening of Sex & The City. We all loved the movie and hanging out before (even though we all got ripped off royally at the deli next to the theater!). We all wore shades of pink (not on purpose), as shown in the picture above.