That breeze you just felt was my gigantic sigh of relief. They just posted the swim waves for the NYC Tri, and I’m going to be in wave 8 at the latest (there are 4 waves for M40-44). The latest I’ll start is 6:11am. This is a good thing because, for those of you unfamiliar with the gigantic cluster-fizzle that is the NYC Tri swim start, there are a total of THIRTY-SEVEN swim waves. They close transition at 5:30, I think, so the people in the last waves have to hang around for literally 3-4 hours before their wave starts. I’ll only have about 45 minutes to wait. Even if I have a terrible bike and swim, I’ll be starting the run before the last few waves even hit the water, and I’ll be finished long before they start their runs. This is good because it means I won’t we trying to find my family, eat, and pick up my checked bags amid a sea of 4000 other racers and their families at the finish line festival. B: YFG S: granola bar L: 1 slice plain pizza, diet Dr. Pepper. Post workout-chocolate skim milk D: lambchop S: chips w/salasa

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

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

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.

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!

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