Week 4: Plugging Along, and good reads...

Its Week 4, and things are going strong!

Sunday included a double-workout -- I met up with a friend in the Financial District, for a quick afternoon Sunday chat and gossip session. It was a beautiful day with blue skies. Overall, the total mileage of the bike ride, per Google Map's new bicycle path option, was about 7 miles. I also got the opportunity to bike over the Brooklyn Bridge for the first time, and on the streets of NYC. Both were mildly nerve-wracking, but I would have to say that the bridge experience was by far worse. Having always been a pedestrian one side of the white line, I never thought about how annoying it must be for bikers who are trying to propel themselves uphill, while avoiding photo-takers, and other non-English-speaking tourists. Needless to say, I was a true New Yorker on Sunday, barking at the tourists, as they jumped from every direction to be directly in front of my bike.

Fundraising-wise, I would like to thank everyone who has donated so far!! You all have helped me reach 56% of my fundraising goal at $1500! Its amazing, and I'd like to thank every single one of you for supporting me in this endeavor. Operation Sarah-Gets-Her-Groove-Back has commenced, and I'm already feeling more energetic and happier with life as a whole. That said, this isn't about me, its about the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. I'll be racing with people who are survivors, and have been through far more than I ever have. The woman who won the women's portion last year is the twin sister of a survivor, and they really have an amazing story. The sister has been allowed to race in the last few years, and has subsequently started racing almost as fast as her sister. The Wassner Twin story is pretty amazing.

Swimming was enjoyable after a tough day at work on Monday, we probably swam about 20-30 lengths. It sounds like a lot, but unfortunately, its not. On race day, we'll have to swim the equivalent of 72 lengths, continuous, while out in the deep open space that is the Hudson River. We worked on our regular swim drills, such as swimming with no arms, swimming with your head out of the water, fully immersed in the water (only top of head showing), and a few others. I also learned what and how to scull today, which is a type of swim stroke. Check out that link, which describes the steps and skills being built.

Also, for my fellow triple-athletes, I found this great read which might prepare you for race day a little better. I think for sure it will help with the nerves to know how chaotic of a day we might expect.

Adios for now... its a busy week in NY for non-triathlon related things, but I'll try to stay focused on my training and nutrition. Thanks again for all the support!!

That's all the numbers for now. :)

Week 3: Running With The CParkers

Its Week 3, and I'm beginning to think that I just might be able to do this whole triathlete thing. I haven't gotten as much "saddle time" (biking) in, but I'm happy with the amount of running and swimming I've been getting on a weekly basis.

Tuesday marked my very first Weekday Running Group Training Session (GTS). Previously, I'd only attended the Saturday run, and the Monday swim. (Monday's swim was good, but nothing really too new, we're just ramping up on the number of lengths we do.) After closing out the "Balls of Fury" soccer season (technically, its running, yes), I joined the Yahoo! group for a training session in Central Park! There was a good number of us (here are a few), a we had a great workout on a beautiful day.


To introduce a few folks, Akhill (with the hang-ten) is on my team at Yahoo! (my actual work-team, Partner Management), and Jeanne/Jenny (with the high-five) is also within the same org structure. We are all under Bill Wise, who is the VP of Display Strategies. That's his unofficial title, for my blog's sake.

Jodie (in the blue) is our veteran Yahoo!/Right Media triathlete. I believe if she completes this triathlon, it will be her third! Mauritza (wearing the Team In Training purple headband), is my mentor, and has also completed a triathlon. We get weekly emails from her to keep us motivated, and on track with our training and fundraising. Sarah S. (in the white) formerly used to be on 18th Street with us, and even at the Park Ave office when she was with us at Right Media. Now she's on 40th Street, and works directly with Mauritza.


Doug is our team captain and is the tall guy in the back with the gray sweatshirt (and the silver logo). I also met 3 additional Yahoos, who are pictured here. They're based at our 40th Street office, and while I don't have much interaction with them now, I'm sure this is going to increase over the next 17 weeks! Dave is in the black t-shirt, Jen is in the darker blue, and Judith is in the white. I hope that everyone that's training is able to complete and cross that finish line on July 18th, myself included!

The run was pretty good, we did 15 minutes out and 15 minutes back, on a side path in Central Park. The main, cement path was pretty crowded, as we had a glorious day in NYC with the sun setting long after we completed our 45 minutes of training. With the 15 out-15 back split, we were also required to stop every 5 minutes, and do 1 minute of squats. We were also split into 3 groups, basic, intermediate, advanced, which equates to newbies, under 8 minute milers, under 6/7 minute milers. Those advanced people are pretty spectacular to watch, and I'd love to be able to run like that at some point.

Regardless, our little Right Media group pretty much stayed together. From our end of the 18th Street office, we had Eran, Jimmy, Akhill, Jeanne, Jodie, and myself. We also ran relatively close with Sarah S, Mauritza, and Dave. The highlight though, was the fact that Jenny and I are pretty much the same age (she is 4 months older), and we're pretty much pacing against each other very well! We even did a final last minute sprint for the last 100 yards where we passed at least 15 people. Overall a great run! A special thanks to Jimmy who ran a little bit ahead of me and Jenny, and kept us going!!

Can't wait for the next one!

Week 2: Increased Metabolism, Snake-Bites, and lots of other random bike trivia...

We've completed Week 2, where the triathlon training has begun to wage war on my body. I took it easy on Thursday and Friday after the workout fest that was Sunday-Tuesday of this past week. The plan was to workout again on Friday, however, I believe fatigue has kicked in. Think fatigue, allergy season, and an overall lack of sleep. The triathlon for sure is getting me pumped up, but I feel like the overall comfort that I have in my current body is rapidly decreasing.

As I increase my weekly activity I can tell that my body is fighting to keep up and burn fat. I can tell that my metabolism has increased over 2 weeks, and I can feel my body burning and working when I am in complete rest. That said, I know this is the challenge that is the tri! I have to keep up the pace of the workouts, and not let my mind play games with my ability to push myself!

Its not May yet, but based on the monsoon-like weather and umbrella-busting winds, you might be surprised! Yesterday, I showed up at Prospect Park for our 8:30am run to find that only about 1/4th of our original group was out to brave the wind, rain, and cold temperatures. Our coach, Jon (Stewart, and its actually his name!), let us through a quick warm up, followed by subsequent 10-minute runs with 10minutes of conditioning between the runs. Because of the weird weather, he told us to take it easy, and in the end, I did about a 45minute workout. There were a few who opted to go for an additional 10minutes, but being that I was a little sick still from Friday, I opted for easy.


After the run, it was a quick stop at a diner to grab breakfast sandwiches and hot chocolate, and then we headed over to Brooklyn Bicycles aka 9th Street Cycles (http://bklynbikes.com) for a informational talk about choosing a bike, protective gear, essential accessories, bike maintainence and a demo on how to change the inner tube of a bike. It was really great info, and I'm definitely going back to this store! For the duration of our training period, they are extending a 10% discount to all triathlon participants. The guys that spoke with us were really knowledgeable about bikes, and gave us a lot of tips on how to maintain our bikes in cost-efficient ways. They had all sorts of gadgets and cool things for us to buy, but still told us how we could save money and not have to buy certain tools.

Things I learned today:

• The actual names of tire valves: Schrader (old-school) and Presta (new, but very fragile and can be easily warped)
• Bike maintenance is essential, and I should consider keeping an eye on grease amount, and if my tires have picked up any random NYC shrapnel, especially pieces of glass.
• A snake-bite is an actual term in flat-tire puncture vocabulary. I will try to NOT laugh in the next demo when they say you should be aware of your tires getting damaged by glass or snake-bites.
• Too much grease can: a) damage your bike b) affect your braking ability and c) make your bike not pretty looking
• CO2 cartridges can be used to inflate inner tubes of tires, but are one-time use only, and come in different amounts based on your tire needs
• Brooklyn Bikes has some cute undercarriage bags, and I want one.
• Bikers usually like other bikers, so even if I don't learn how to change a tire or patch a tube, someone will help me, but I shouldn't count on it on race day.
• Out of 4000-5000 people in the NYC Tri last year, about 4 people got flats. I like the odds, but I'm not counting on any luck!
• Its best to buy a pump with a pressure guage, and keep your road bike's tires pumped between 100 and 120 PSIs (Pounds/Square Inch). However, based on further research, I've discovered that the appropriate PSI range is dependent on your weight as defined on this page.

Just some fun factoids, but I have a feeling they are really going to come in handy for this season of training.

Starting Week 2 Strong

Yes, its Week 2 now, and the aches and pains are beginning to set in.

Yesterday (Monday) consisted of a ridiculous 10mi workout up and down the West Side Highway with one of my fellow triathletes. We went from Battery City up to 60th Street and back. I'm borrowing a friend's bike while he's out of town, and we'll see how much awesome training I'm going to get from riding a way-too-heavy-for-me man's mountain bike.

At 9pm, it was time to roll on over for week 2 of swimming practice (at Long Island University, see picture), where we were introduced to another one of our coaches, Coach Ed. Coach Ed was also at our Saturday morning run, so it was nice to begin to start recognizing some faces.

Jeanne/Jenny (a Y! coworker) wasn't there to paddle next to me this week, but it was a fun week 2. We did at least 10 lengths this week, which included an introduction to the finger-crawl freestyle. I opted to go into the middle of the pack lane -- this week we set ourselves up as beginner, comfortable, and upper beginners/intermediate. Last week, Jenny and I were in the beginner lane, but I felt it was time to move up if I wanted to challenge myself. I've never had formal swimming lessons, but I'm comfortable being in the water, and breathing in the water.

One of my biggest worries is that I do get put off-guard and off-balance when I feel someone next to me, or when I feel someone hit my feet... after all the triathlon videos I've seen this week, I know this is something I really have to get over.

Tonight is supposed to be week #2 of our Tuesday group runs, but I'm opting to close out my soccer season with my team (its a social league, and I'm the team captain). I'm still sore from the bike ride, and I'm already wondering about how long I should wait before getting tri pants with the cushioning built in or one of those gel bike seats!

Week 2 Progress:
Monday: Bike (1.5 hr or 10mi.)
Monday: Swim (1 hr)
Tuesday: Soccer (1 hr)

Week 1 Completed!

Its been a rough first week of training, but I've finished it!

This week we had our first group trainings, which included a team swim, and an early morning team run in Prospect Park. I'm not attending our Tuesday runs for the first 2 weeks, as I'm finishing out my indoor soccer season, and as captain I feel obligated to be present. Its wild to think that in 20 weeks we'll be diving right into the Hudson. Yep, just like the picture below!

The swim lesson was great -- I realized I'd never had a formal swimming lesson, which for us included the strategy and logic behind how to stay buoyant and how to appropriately propel yourself while continuing to breathe, and not freak out.

The run was intense! We all met at Prospect Park at about 8:30am, where we got a pep talk and got to hear a mission statement-- someone's story about why they were doing the triathlon with Team In Training. We did three sets of 10 minutes runs (approximately 3 miles total), with 10 minute spurts of conditioning and calisthenics. Today, I'm sore, and I'm hurting, but I am oh so happy to actually feel my thighs burning and my abs tightening.

Its going to be a good second week, which will probably start with a afternoon run (its 50+ degrees in NYC today) or a bike ride tomorrow before our second Monday night swim practice.

Week 1 Total:
Monday: Swim (1 hr)
Tuesday: Soccer (1 hr)
Friday: Run (15 min)
Saturday: Run & Conditioning (1 hr)

For now, this is all you get, but stay tuned for more!