A Tri Grows in Brooklyn

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inspire me (3)

Tuesday - July 1

Swim

45m
2400.00 yards
01m 53s /100 yards

Ugh. This was a struggle. Just wasn't feelin' it.

I can’t believe that the NYC tri is only 3 weeks away. I can remember about five or six years ago, going for an a.m. bike ride (on my MTB—didn’t even own a roadie at the time) on the West side highway and passing a bunch of really fit people with cool bikes and numbers on their arms heading home. I remember realizing that, “Hey, these must be triathletes!”. I spent the rest of the ride wondering what it would be like to do what they do, not really considering that it was something that I could accomplish, since, at the time, I was probably 20lbs heavier than I am now, rode my bike once in a blue moon, swam just for fun, and never ran, other than around the softball bases. It’s kinda cool that I’m on the doorstep of actually being one of those people. As Captain Jack Sparrow would say, “Funny ‘ol world, innit?” Swimming tonight. In retrospect, I think my swim on Saturday was ok. I had seeded myself closer to the front, and so that’s why I didn’t feel as fast—I was with faster people. I checked my swim time from last year, on the same course. I was a good 1:30 faster than last year, which is pretty good for a sprint, and especially since this year I went much more slowly up the beach to transition than I did last year. B: YFG L: Salad, bananas S: Pretzels, half of my son's uneaten pb&j D: leftover pasta w/some chicken

inspire me (4)

Monday - June 30

Bike

50m
16.25 miles
19.50 Mi/hr

Run

30m
2.50 miles
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The Brooklyn Tri Club had a terrific day at the race yesterday. Aside from the guy who won 1st overall, I think we (yes, that’s right, I said, “we”) had two other AG winners, and two people take second in their AG’s. The AG trophies were Simpsons bobbleheads. A couple of other people finished in the top 5 in their AG or PR’ed (including me). Legs are ok today. I’m going to go to the gym and do a spinbike/elliptical brick. B: almond butter on ww, lf cinnamon bun S: Clif bar L: Tuna sandwich, banana

inspire me (1)

Sunday - June 29

We're heading to Coney Island today, so I'm not sure what the prospects are for a workout. I think the lessons learned from yesterday are: Stretch more--I really don't stretch before races as much as I should, but yesterday, I spent a good 10-15 minutes stretching, and I think it helped Hydrate better before and during the race. On hot days like yesterday, I need to carry more fluid on the bike and carry a bottle with me out of transition on the run to get be through the stretches between water stations. Concentrate on going fast on the bike. In the past, I've let my mind wander during the bike leg, and my speed has dropped off. I need to stay focused on the task at hand for the duration of the bike leg. Yesterday, I was really focused and it paid off. B: Cinnamon Buns, melon L: Hotdogs, fries at Nathans D: Turkey & swiss on ww

inspire me (0)

Saturday - June 28

Bike

34m 21s
12.50 miles
21.83 Mi/hr

Run

28m 29s
3.10 miles
09m 11s /Mi

Swim

08m 53s
437.45 yards
02m 02s /100 yards

Swim includes a 100y run up the beach to transition

Race Report is Up. It's uncharacteristically short, so no need to take the day off from work to read it. That went pretty well. I had a good swim and a +20mph bike split for the first time. i took it really easy on the run b/c of my calf. Walked the aid stations, stopped to massage out a cramp at one point, and gave myself a 30-sec walk break and still managed a 9:12 pace. I managed to finish the race at 1:14:42, the first time I've ever finished sub-1:15. Calf feels ok afterwards. A little sore. I also got to hang with the Brooklyn Tri Club, which has really stepped up after a slow start last winter. A BTC member got first overall in this race (53:24!). Great bunch of people, and, overall, a great day. Even met another BT-er, Tyler, aka KenyonTri, who had a tremendous finish at 1:06! Congrats! B: PB on WW, banana Pre-race: banana, gel, 20oz water+Nuun During race: Bike--3 gels, 22oz accellerade Post race: banana, gorp L: scrambled egg in ww tortilla D: Thai noodles and curry. Oh, and... we went to see Wall-E today, and it's terrific. As animated family movies go, it's up there with The Incredibles and Finding Nemo.

RACE DAY: Patanella's Flat as a PANCAKE

inspire me (9)

Friday - June 27

Swim

53m 11s
2400.00 yards
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Really good swim. I did a 500 at 8:34, then a slower 1500 at around 27:36, plus a warm up and some cooldown drills.

Summer friday! Leaving work at 1pm! I'm going to stop at Mila and Emily's favorite tri store and get some gels and some enduralytes. Also going to talk to the people there about orthotics. Then off to the gym to do a swim.(Hey, that rhymes!) (Ummm...I have a race tomorrow!) B: Banana/strawberry smoothie (slooowly working through the berries. ) S: Nonfat Iced caramel macchiato. Normally, I'm not a big Starbucks guy, but I got a $5 card as a gift from a vendor, and it looked good. It's 140 calories, according to the big poster. S: Chocolate milk, apple after the swim S/L Almond butter & J on ww D: ww pasta w/turkey bacon, garlic-infused olive oil and parmesan--my all time favorite pre-race meal!

inspire me (4)

Thursday - June 26

Run

30m
2.41 miles
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elliptical

Strength

1h 15m

upper/lower body circuit

Packet pick up this afternoon, again at Asphalt Green. If there is an uglier t-shirt than the one for "Panatella's Pancake Triathlon", I'd like to see it. I may have to take a picture of it, just so you can see what I mean. Ugh. Got to the gym a little late, and the pool was too crowded, so I did a "run" on the elliptical and got in a good strength workout. B: Raisin Bran w/blueberries. S: Almonds L: turkey sandwich from Subway S: clif bar D: oriental chicken salad

inspire me (2)

Wednesday - June 25

Ugh—that sucked. I had every intention of working out. I really did. But, since my wife was out at a play, I had to put the boy to bed and, in so doing, managed to somehow fall asleep with him on his bed, and woke up much to late to do anything. On the plus side, I did catch up on some zz’s which I apparently needed. It’s so frustrating—just when one part of my legs gets better, another acts up. My right calf is fine, and now, all of a sudden, my left calf feels wonky. I honestly cant’ remember the last time I was able to run without any kind of discomfort or weirdness somewhere. It was probably sometime in September or October of last year. It’s annoying. I suppose it could always be worse, but I’m frustrated at not being able to make as much progress in this sport as I would like to. I know I’ll never win my AG, but I think my bike and swim have improved to where I could at least be consistently in the top 10 or so if I had been able to improve my run as well. But more than that, I just want to run. I really miss my late-night 90-minute runs up the Hudson River. I miss being fast when I want to be. I miss being able to run 10 2-minute repeats of this really tough hill in my neighborhood. [/rant] B: Optimum Power cereal L: Black Bean soup, banana S: Gorp, banana D: Turkey sandwich, some pretzels, cheese.