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)