Its Been One Week...

Since I really started challenging myself. We're at 3 weeks left, and I definitely feel like I'm at the peak of my workouts. From here on, we're supposed to taper it off and let our bodies prepare for the endurance test that is the New York City Nautica Triathlon.

On Saturday (6/26), we did a full 2 1/2 hr workout in the blistering sun at Prospect Park. A 1:30 hour bike ride, and an hour run. I biked about 24 miles and ran slightly under 6 miles, and I was pumped!

On Sunday, I took it easy, but...
on Monday (6/28), no joke, I did a 1 mile continuous swim in 44 minutes. We did 3/4s of the mile in our wetsuits, and did the final 1/4 without. It was amazing, and exhilarating and I loved every minute of it. I even emerged from the water thinking that I could actually get on my bike and go!

On Tuesday (6/29), we did a full lap of Central Park. 6 miles in 1 hour and 10 minutes, in a 86* weather. Holy wow, is all I can say. I was in a little pain from shin splits and sore calves, but I made it!! It really was a glorious finish, and I'm glad that running is the final portion, because its going to be so great crying, whining, and smiling all the way to that finish line.

From Saturday's workout... the Brooklyn Yahoos!!! (minus 1)

Kelli, Muhammed, Sarah, Hilary
Lookin' good, team!

Its the Final Countdown!

One month till the New York City Triathlon!

It was a good week of growth, not necessarily training, but emotional and mental growth. Sunday was a complete wash last week, as I recovered from the crazy day of Flat As A Pancake. I'm glad we got some good team pictures at the Staten Island FAAP Race (above). Its wild how buff my arms have gotten!

On Monday, we had more practice with our wetsuits. I was late to practice due to a crazy schedule at work, which involved taking on one of our largest clients temporarily for 3 weeks. I was stressed at work, and stressed to be late to practice, and I had difficulty even climbing into my suit. My body was all red and buffy with the stress and the sauna-like atmosphere of the pool area, that it just got tougher and tougher to get it on. That, and I had Coach Ed yelling at me in a little bit of a drill sergeant manner (he thought he was being funny, I was not amused). In the end, he ended up dropping his act, and actually had to pull me into my suit.

It really was a rough week this week. I was unable to do anything Tuesday-Friday as I was in Boston on business (early morning train, late coming home, and otherwise in the office till about 7 or 8pm every night. My brain was mentally drained, and my body was physically drained, but craving a good workout. I rested on Friday to prepare for our first group open water training session!

Saturday (6/19), I was up at 6am, and on the train to Coney Island by 6:30am. Team practice started at 7:30am on the boardwalk, and I was psyched! I spent the train ride thinking about my stroke, and also about how I was happy that there had been NO Naked Juice in my morning diet. (That's really truly what I believe ruined my swim). I also got to talk to Coach John on the ride there -- he was the only other TNTer on the train, so I got some good tips and really got to learn about how he trains and prepares mentally and physically.

We swam about a 3/4 mile total, and I am proud to say, the swim was a lot better! Flat As A Pancake was so awful that it had made me really take some time to reevaluate my fitness to figure out if it was actually a good idea to do a tri. I had long clean strokes, and I was able to test out swimming with my contacts on! Its hard to think about moments that I'm genuinely proud of myself, but this was definitely a moment I had in the water. I was doing it, and I was doing it well. I also did an extra lap than about most of the folks in the beginner's group (I think a lot of people were nervous since it was their first time in the water), and it felt damn good.

Coney Island is home to some special memories of mine, over my 9 years in New York. One special memory is from two years ago when I went to the Mermaid Parade with some friends, got some great pictures, and had a great time. My friend, Liz, was in the parade and it was really great to see her in her mermaidy glory! The Mermaid Parade was yesterday as well, but I would have had to stick around for another 5 hours after practice was over. The Mermaid Parade 2008 is one of the special memories I have of my friendship with Liz (in addition to our Scrabble-battles both online and in her apartment) -- and it only seems appropriate that exactly 2 years later, after swimming my heart out at Coney Island, Liz surprised me with a donation in support of the tri! This is just a special shoutout to Liz -- I know its its been a rough year for you, and I'm so proud of you and in awe of you! Thanks to you and your support as I do this, and thanks to everyone for being there, and asking me how I'm doing, and how my training is coming along. It really does mean a lot, and it really does help me!

Some of the folks from Team Yahoo! who came out to the
Coney Island Open Water Swim (6/19/10)

I'm ALIVE!!!!! (But it was just a practice triathlon!)

Flat As A Pancake - Sprint Triathlon
Saturday, June 12 2010

Actual Chip Finishing Time: 1:48:47
I'm alive!.... Barely.
(but this was just a practice run, but i still only 5 weeks till the real deal NYC Triathlon) 5 weeks sounds like a long time, but 35 days sounds like I've almost run out of time.

• Swim: Felt like near death in very choppy salty water. Absolutely brutal. I'm definitely going to have to work on my open water swimming skills, and swimming in a large crowd when people are clawing at your feet, sides, and back. Also, I will NOT be having Naked Juice before the NYC Triathlon. More to come on that.
• Bike: Was still recovering from the swim experience, but did okay
• Run: Chugging along, and made it my goal to not walk at all! I'm actually kind of impressed with myself at the pace I was able to keep.
  

All I can say, is that I'm happy to be alive, and I am officially now a triathlete.

Overall personal results:

SARAH THOMAS / 27 / F 
Total Time:  1:48:47  
Within Age Group (F25-29): 36/43     
Overall Within Female Category: 201/245
Overall Finishing Place: 509 / 578

Event splits:
.25mi Swim (Rank / Time Elapsed / Min Per Mile)
550   22:53 91:31

Transition #1 Time: 5:00

12 mile Bike (Rank / Time Elapsed / Min Per Mile)
500   49:21  14.6

Transition #2: 1:00

5K Run (Rank / Time Elapsed / Min Per Mile)
455   30:35  9:52

Don't I look so happy here? Ha.
This is right when I was turning into the transition area after the 12mi bike.

Post-Race and Candy Breakfast!

Sore, but Ready for Pancakes!!

Its the night before the sprint tri.
The day after Yahoo! Bootcamp.
I'm a little sore.

What did we do at bootcamp? Every known leg/thigh/ab workout I've ever done, including the painful, but possibly new favorite "climber". Imagine you're scaling a wall, but instead of moving your hands, all you're doing is alternating your leg movement, without pushing your body upwards. In essence, you're running in place, in a push-up position = hard!

I missed bootcamp last time, because I was in San Francisco, but I have to say, I really am sore. Hopefully my body will recover while I sleep, and will be better when I awake in 7 hours. Its almost 9pm, almost my bedtime, its almost time to sleep before "Flat As a Pancake" mayhem begins! I've suped up bike with extra carriage bags for gu's and Clif Blocks, and I'm ready to rock. I've got my little piles of clothes and essentials for all the increments of the race, and I'm ready to pack up and hit the hay.

Its about 10 of us from Team Yahoo! that have opted to do this sprint tri, and 3 of us Brooklynites are meeting up tomorrow to drive together over the Verrazano. This is going to be some seriously surreal ish going down. I'll let you know how it goes, but you can also check results DURING the race tomorrow here.

Goodnight world. Tomorrow I wake up, a triathlete!

Superhero Sarah To The Rescue!

Yes, its ridiculous.
Yes, its a pain to get into.
But wow, does it look darn good.

Hello, my name is Sarah, and I look like a superhero.
In my mind, this might be the thing that gets me through the swim, my mantra will be, "Look like a superhero, swim like a fish."

Today, I picked up my wetsuit! Its a black "Fit2Race" specially-customized Team In Training, and I think I like it... a lot!

This weekend, a group of the Team Yahoo!ers are doing the Patanella's Flat As A Pancake race, in Staten Island. We're doing this sprint tri in order to fully understand what our splits are for each portion, and also to get a basic understanding of what's important in transitions, and how to quickly and effectively go from one portion of a tri to the next. Its a mini/sprint triathlon with the following breakdown, and I can't wait to debut my wetsuit:

1. .25 mile swim
2. 12 mile bike
3. 3 mile run
4. PANCAKES!

That's right -- post-race, pre-medals, we get free pancakes, so maybe my other motivation phrase will be, "Pancakes! Pancakes! Pancakes!"

The Y! Team, Featured!

Jeanne, Me, Eran: Team Yahoo!/Right Media!

Check it out! They talk about our team around the 7:00 minute marker in this video. It was featured on Yahoo! NewsBytes on our Yahoo-version of Facebook, Backyard.

Go Team Yahoo!!

Building up the increments!

So, yesterday I did a massive workout, and apparently I'm too tired and pumped up to write a full blog post. I was absolutely thrilled with my efforts, that I took a picture of post-workout me!

Total Mileage:
27.5 mi. bike ride (including commute to/from my apt to Prospect park)
3.5 mi. run

Swim Entry: A Scary Thought

It seems like a lot of people panic at the point of swim entry, and I think these articles capture many of the emotions and things you should be thinking about:

6 Ways To Train for the Swim Start
http://www.active.com/triathlon/Articles/Pacing_Makes_Perfect__6_Ways_to_Train_for_a_Triathlon_Swim_Start.htm

Surviving the Waves at Entrance/Exit
http://www.active.com/swimming/Articles/Survive_the_Surf__Entrances_and_Exits_in_Open_Water_Swims.htm

Owning The Open Water
http://www.active.com/triathlon/Articles/Start_to_Finish__Owning_the_Open_Water.htm

And I need to find that link again, "How to Swim Straight In the Open Water". I mean, why would you ever want to swim out into the water more than you need to? Obviously once you hit the water, there's a high chance you'll swim out to far, or swim diagonally in a way that makes you swim 1.2miles in a .9mile swim. Just food for thought here...