A Tri Grows in Brooklyn

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Friday - June 13

Packet pick up wasn’t a huge nightmare. My swim cap is gold. No, not gold like “bright yellow”, I mean gold as in “shiny like the metal”. Maybe I can use it at Halloween I’ll go as Notre Dame University. Errends errends today: 1. Have coffee with and old friend I recently got back in touch with. 2. Pick up a suit. (Yes, it’s the same color as the other one.) 3. Buy anniversary gift for best beloved. 4. Buy Bodyglide. Totally unrelated to #3. 5. Stop by tri store and see about insoles. 6. There is no number 6 7. Call Peace Corps and harangue them about Emily’s placement. 8. Organize stuff for race on Sunday B: YOF, and a piece of banana bread. My son’s babysitter makes the best ever. She puts blueberries in it. L: The other half of yesterday’s burrito. Maybe even better, after a night’s marination in the fridge.

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Thursday - June 12

Bike

30m
9.10 miles
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Run

15m
1.75 miles
08m 34s /Mi

Strength

Circuit

I have to go tonight to pick up my race packet for Sunday. It's all the way up at Asphalt Green, this huge sports complex on the Upper East Side. It would be hard to pick a location that would be less convenient for me than that one, without it being outside of NYC. It's going to be one of those things where it takes me an hour and 45 minutes to get there and back, and ten minutes to actually pick up the packet. Good times. Not sure what I'll be able to do as far as a workout, since I might not get home until late. I did some impromptu running yesterday. I went for a walk with the boy and his new bike, and I had to jog a little to keep up with the little speed demon. Calf felt fine, I'm happy to report, even though I had no warmup and was running in some older running shoes. We're ordering lunch today from Burritoville. You may now begin your fits of jealousy. B: YFO L: Phoenix Rising Burrito. spicy chicken, brown rice, white beans, pico de gallo, jack cheese in a ww tortilla. I think the thing weighed about 5 lbs. I only at 2.5 lbs of it. D: ww pasta w/canned tomatoes, cherries

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Wednesday - June 11

Bike

45m
16.00 miles
21.33 Mi/hr

Trainer ride, of which 30 min was Spinervals CD

Is there a better way to begin the day than with the smell of your own burning flesh? I say no. I had a dermatologist appointment this morning and she zapped a couple of moles off of me, just to be on the safe side.
Wife has softball, so I’ll be on the trainer tonight. I have a “Spinervals” cd that I haven’t looked at. Anybody done one of these? I did one once. I couldn’t get past “Coach Troy’s” Balwlamer (Baltimore) accent. He sounds like a million kids I went to high school with. But the routine kicked my butt, and it was fairly introductory. I can only imagine what some of the longer, more advanced CDs are like. There’s one called “Have Mercy!”. Yikes.
My kid loves his bike so much. It’s so cool. He loves his bike almost as much as Alaina loves her dog. He decided to name the bike "Dragon", which makes sense since a) it's green, and b) it was the theme of his birthday party where he received said bike.
Oooh—Oooh! Also, I’m taking suggestions for an anniversary gift for Mrs. Jmk. It’s our 15^th coming up. Theme is clocks or crystal. Some things she likes: Books (esp Harry Potter, Tolkien, etc), champagne, travel. She’s not a big jewelry wearer. Pendants & necklaces only, really. We’re not spending a fortune (because we’re saving for a big vaca next year). I was thinking of a nice watch, since she could use one, or a set of crystal champagne flutes. But I’m open to other suggestions.
For breakfast, I tried this idea that I found in Triathlete magazine. Last night, I poured about ½ cup of whole oats into a container of fat-free plain yogurt and let it sit overnight. This morning, I ate it with some berries. It was VERY filling, but delicious. Some honey would have made it even better. Henceforth, this breakfast will be known as “YFO”. And it was good.
B: YFO
S: Kashi granola bar.
L: pizza on ww/crust D: some horrible lean cuisine thing. I was too drained from the spinervals workout to cook anything, and it was late.

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Tuesday - June 10

Run

30m
2.00 miles
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Elliptical

Swim

30m
1500.00 yards
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Did one 500 (at 1:40!), and spent the rest of the time on stroke drills.

Hot as a mofo, day 2.

So, the good news is that my calf feels fine. I think, though, I'm not going to try running on it until the race on Sunday. So, I'll swim tonight, and do bike and elliptical workouts the rest of the week, and hopefully, it'll hold up on Sunday. I'm going to take a couple of extra seconds in T2 to put on a neoprene wrap to give it some additonal support. My calf didn't bother me at all on my ride on Sunday, so I don't need to put it on in T1.

I'm also debating whether or not to do another Sprint on the 28th. It's the same one I did last July in Staten Island (the one where Tim, aka 1stTimerinNY) got stung by jellies. There's going to be a big turnout from the Brooklyn Tri Club, so I'd kinda like to be there to represent. I feel like my injuries have limited the amount of racing that I've been able to do this year, so I'd like to add a few more where possible. NYC is only a little more than a month away, so another Sprint in the meantime couldn't hurt. I'm going to wait to register until after this weekend to see what the calf does.

B: Raisin bran & skim milk.
S: Almonds
L: Gaspacho, which I managed NOT to spill on my white shirt, thank you very much.
S: pb/chocolate Powerbar.
D: Chicken soup, salad (it was really hot in the apt, but I was craving soup for some reason.)

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Monday - June 9

I put a few pictures from Saturday's festivities in my album.

Holy Jebus is it hot here. Hope it cools down a little by Sunday. It's like 103. And 103 in NYC is just worse than 103 in just about anywhere else. Except maybe hell. Not as bad as there.

B: pb&j
S: granola bar
L: Gaspacho and barley salad
D: Grilled chicken "Nicoise" salad. A slice of birthday cake. Which I in no way regret.

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Sunday - June 8

Bike

2h 10m
28.00 miles
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Geez, I haven't blogged since Wednesday? What the hell is wrong with me? Wow, what a busy weekend. Saturday was my boy's birthday party. It was a smashing success, especially the clown/magician, the unbelievable cake, and the 10-foot green dragon made entirely out of balloons. Yep. It looked as amazing as it sounds. I'll post pictures as soon as they're ready. My dad's wife (his third, but who's counting?) is a fantastic woman, and we love her and she makes my dad really happy. She also happens to be one of the top event planners in New York, so she knows people. People who can make jaw-dropping birthday cakes with marzipan dragons that look like something on the Food Network, and people who can create these incredible balloon sculptures. You had to see it. It was HUUUGE! Oh, and I saw Kung fu Panda. Better than Bee Movie, not as good as the Incredibles or Nemo. It was incredibly hot this weekend--mid 90's and humid. I got out for an early ride today before it got too steamy. B: pb&j L: D: Pizza S: chips & salsa

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Saturday - June 7

Son's party today. There will be no working out, and probably bad eating. Best not to say any more. My kid got a bike for his birthday. "Thrilled" is not sufficient a word to describe his reaction. He would have ridden his bike all day and blown off his party completely if we'd let him.