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...

Muhamed & ME!

I have a coworker named Muhamed who is quite the inspiration. He works on the HotJobs side of the office, and is a generally happy guy. Actually, I've never seen him angry, or upset, or even not smiling. There was even one day where I saw him with his 2 adorable kids -- they were just such a happy little family.

Muhamed is a great guy to work out with, because I know he's never going to stop pushing himself, and he's always going to be better than me. We swim together on Mondays, and I'm proud to say that I can generally pace myself with him, even though I know on race day, he will probably go a million times faster than me.

On Tuesdays, while I go run with the Central Park crew, he hits the Prospect Park group run, and then on Saturdays, he's always at our Group Bike practices, before I even get there.

Saturdays are always fun though, cause I try my hardest to stay close behind him, and will push myself to keep up, but Muhamed is always pushing himself harder on the bike. I don't actually think he knows that I'm back there trying to keep up, but its a great motivating activity that I play by myself. Saturdays are always a little intense though, because its a test of who we are, what we did last night, and... if we can survive the occasional BRick (Bike + Run).

So, thanks Muhamed for being that consistent workout machine that you are -- and for always showing up on Saturdays. I know if I'm not there, you'll wonder where I am!

This Saturday, we biked an amazing distance. Its definitely the farthest I've ever biked before in my life: 26 miles including the bike to/from the park from my apt. I'm feeling it in my arms, and my bumpkins are begging me to buy bike shorts. I need to work on my core, and also pushing myself to bike on the balls of my feet more, and an angle parallel to the ground. Tennis shoes doesn't really help this, but I'm not sure if I have time to get accustomed to clipping myself in.

Muhamed & Me!

Sarah, Specialized Owner

That's right. I am now the proud owner of a Specialized bike, and it is "high speed". After multiple visits, and measurements, and a little bit of test riding in the Chinatown/Little Italy Area, I am happy to say that I have a bike!

Today, I picked up my Specialized Dolce Sport today from Bicycle Habitat. The guys who work at this store are amazing, and were extremely patient with me and my limited working knowledge in road bikes. I will continue to support this store, as they were awesome to me, and my bike comes with LIFETIME maintenance for free!!

Tomorrow, I'll be hitting up the BRick (Bike & Run workout) at Central Park, and will probably see more of my fellow Yahoos! Prospect Park is hosting the Bklyn Half Marathon, so the workout over there is only going to be a run. The CPark workout will be good though, because it will be my first introduction to the race course. Can't wait!

Thanks Bicycle Habitat!

Your Generosity is Amazing!

My cousin (really, she's my mom's cousin, but closer to me in age) is amazing!!! Completely out of the blue, I received a donation notification from my cousin, Geetha, who lives in Darwin, Australia.

I wanted to say THANK YOU, GEETHA!!! This is amazing!! Out of the kindness and generosity of her heart, Geetha donated $500 to the amazing cause that is the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. I have figured out the best way to thank her, but she deserves a special shout out for this. I see Geetha maybe once every few years (though I saw her 2x last year and the previous year because of family weddings), so this completely and totally blows my mind.

The generosity of everyone is amazing. Coworkers have been donating left and right, and the RightMedia crew showed up in force for our extremely successful Fundraising Night.

So, thank you ALL for your amazing support, and please do not hesitate to ask your friends/family/coworkers to think about also donating to the LLS.

Helpful Pieces of Info

Here are some more great finds as I prepare for July 18th.

I want to capture these as I continue to train, and wanted to make sure that I could also put them in a place that would be useful to my fellow triathletes!

What to Pack in your Triathlon Race Bag
http://www.active.com/triathlon/Articles/What-to-Pack-in-Your-Triathlon-Race-Bag.htm?cmp=282&memberid=105761121&lyrisid=20670615

Newbie Triathlete Conversations
http://community.active.com/message/755962#755962?cmp=283&memberid=105761121&lyrisid=20670615

Silhouette In The Water

Last night, I learned a key lesson in swimming. We've been talking about keeping your movements minimal in the water, but yesterday something really clicked. Coach Ed said, "Your swimming creates a pocket in the water." That pocket, allows you to breathe, without lifting your head out of the water. All you have to do is turn your head, without changing the angle at all, keep your chin down and forehead still in the water, and you're able to still breathe.

The movement of swimming and the bow wave that your body and head create allows a pocket in the wave and pushes the water under your face, allowing you to breathe without arching up your neck in anyway.

With this new tip in mind, I rocked out on our 1/2 mile swim. I was swimming in the basic-basic lane after being exhausted from a day's worth of traveling back from the midwest. I was able to pull away from the pack, and nicely place myself between the basic and advanced folks for the snake swim that we did.

A snake swim is when you swim up and down alternate lanes of our 9-lane pool, thereby never going against traffic. In essence, to do a half-mile, you swim up and down the pool (back and forth) twice, and then go and extra 4 lanes... which I was able to complete in 30 minutes!!!! Even though I was away from the pack, Coach Ed made sure to come up behind me, scratch me, push me, and make me understand that in a group swim like a triathlon, its not always going to be easy going all the time. Thanks Coach. :)

Here's a great website illustrating everything I learned, that helped me reach that 30 minute marker! http://www.swimsmooth.com/breathing.html (combined with, of course, the finger tip drag)

Still traveling, still working out...

I might be punishing myself for not working out in San Francisco, so I completed my second workout in Omaha today. We've been a lot (of steaks!) in Omaha, so it was time to finally hit the gym again.

It might be the first time I've ever worked out alongside my mother, but it was actually quite enjoyable. My father and mother are 59 and 55 respectively, and are running a 5km (3.1 mile) race when they get back to Singapore, and have subsequently started working out together in order to compete.

I'm weighed down with steak and inactivity, and feel like I'm almost going backwards a little so I need to start taking this triathlon more seriously and putting more time into this. I went down the gym at the DoubleTree that we're at (spiffy like the Hampton), ran 36 minutes (3 miles) and then did some core and strength training for 20 minutes. Tomorrow its back to New York, just in time for Monday night swim practice!