From Brooklyn to Central Park.... with love!

That's right! Today, we had a group training session (GTS), where we ran from Brooklyn Bridge (yes, we met at the Shake Shack) all the way up and through Manhattan to Central Park/Columbus Circle.  We paired off, and I ran with my running buddy, Marilyn for the duration of that 6mile run.  It's nice running with Marilyn as she runs about my pace (I might be slightly faster, but we'll see on race day!).

Running through Times Square on a Saturday morning at 9/9:30am is NOT my idea of fun, and yet, I got a thrill out of sprinting through the streets, whizzing by confused tourists.  "People work out in Times Square?" I think was the comment I heard.  The response, "Yeah.... wait! I know her! That's Sarah!"  I love a small world.  I ran into the girlfriend of a coworker who had done the triathlon with me.  I however was so set on getting out of Times Square as soon as possible, that I told her I sent her a message on Facebook, and off we ran!  It probably took us a little over 1:20 to do the route, but there was a ton of traffic, pedestrians, and there's definitely a steep incline getting over the bridge and when headed uptown.

After the run, we united with the Manhattan GTS group and went to "Connection to the Cause", where we heard a cancer survivor talk about his experience with Team In Training, how it's impacted his life, and how it is an awesome organization.  Every time I hear someone tell their story, I'm always in tears.  This story really hit home with me, because he started talking about actual numbers, like the maximum lifetime deductible on his insurance, and the price of the $125 pill that he has to take every single day of the rest of his life, so $125 x 30days x 12months x Xyears when X is the rest of your life.  How can anyone afford medicine if that's what going to keep them alive to be with their family and watch their daughter grow up?

I hope you'll consider donating to Team In Training and to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.  I have met so many cancer survivors and families of cancer patients, that it's unreal.  We're all impacted, and we're all capable of helping, regardless of who we are, where we come from, how much money we make, and how long we're going to live.

http://pages.teamintraining.org/nyc/berhm10k13/sarahthomas

Sandy will probably hit us tomorrow or the next day.  Lots of nervousness all around, but tonight, we celebrate Halloween.

PS -- Does anyone read me?  I'd love to know your thoughts, or if you have any questions.  I'll probably keep rambling anyway, but knowing that someone is out there would be nice. (insert Julia/Julia quote here...)

Group Trainings

This past Saturday my heel was feeling a little better, so I decided to could do part of the GTS.  I biked to and from practice, which was about a 5-6mile bike ride, did a half loop of the park, and then met up with everyone.  I still haven't gotten down the ability to figure out what to wear to a cold-weather workout, since I've never really worked out in the cold.

I ran with one of my new TNT friends, Ryan, who I think probably normally runs a 7minute mile.  He took it easy on me, and we were doing a 9:35minute mile for about 3/4s of a loop (so approximately 2.5 miles at that pace).  I started to slow him down at the end, and told him he should 'leave me'! I always like to make it a dramatic statement like I'm being left behind with no hope, and it amuses me everytime.  I've done similar things in races that I've completed with friends, because I tend to be the slower of most people I know.  These days I average about a 10-10:30minute mile, though last weekend with Marilyn and I ran, we were doing a 9:30 for a good part, and my watch told me our max was a 6:30 sprint bit.

It's been a good 3 weeks so far, but I want to really ramp it up in the next month or so.

Stay healthy!
-S

High knees, karaoke, skipping, and butt kicks...

Last night, we had our 2nd Wednesday workout, and it was a good one!

We did skipped, ran, jogged, karaoke-ed/grapevined, side-skipped, high kneed, and butt-kicked our way through our hour long workout!  I can't believe how dark Prospect Park can get, but it was a fun little workout, where we were alternating  between running and one of the aforementioned exercises at every other lamppost.

Sadly, now, I have a bruise on the botton of one of my heels. boo.
Here's a useful video I found:  http://www.active.com/running/Articles/5-Steps-to-Proper-Running-Form.htm

Run-Walk, Success!

This Saturday, Marilyn and I ran-walked 6.5 miles in about 70minutes.  What does this mean? We were going faster than my normal 10.30 minute mile!  Our coaches explained to us that the run/walk concept allows you to actually go farther and faster than you would by going slow and steady the entire time, and it actually worked really well.

Fundraising though, is a whole 'nother obstacle that I haven't been able to crack yet this season.  That said, a lot of folks don't realize how far their donation can go.

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The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society is the world’s largest voluntary health organization dedicated to
funding blood cancer research, patient services, and education. Our mission is to cure leukemia,
lymphoma, Hodgkin’s disease, and myeloma and to improve the quality of life of our patients and their
families. An estimated 957,902 people are currently living with a blood cancer in the United States
alone. Since being founded in 1949, the Society has awarded over $814 million in research grants.

How Your Donation Can Help
Donations support research that helps develop new treatments for blood cancer, which in turn help a
wide variety of cancer patients. Donations also go to patient services. Feel free to cut and paste the
info below into your fundraising letters and emails to show exactly how donations help patients and
their families:

$50 will register 1 person to be a bone marrow donor.

$75 will provide HLA (bone marrow) typing for a family member of a patient with leukemia.

$100 will pay for the cost of 4 patients’ chemotherapy drug prescription co-payments.

$300 will train 25 peer volunteers who can provide emotional support to newly diagnosed
patients.

$1000 allows patients to meet with health care specialists to design and discuss their disease,
treatment plan, and prepare them with the info they will need during the treatment process.

$2000 provides patients with a one month supply of Gleevec, a life-saving treatment developed
with LLS funding.

1st Pre-Season Run!

I'm doing my first half-marathon! And not just a half-marathon, a half marathon after running a total of 7miles over the two prior days!  Tonight was the first run I completed as part of the Endless Summer series! I met a ton of former TNTers that had done other events such as the San Diego Marathon weekend in the summer and past Miami or Philly marathoners.  Didn't see a single familiar face, but that's okay.  Today's a TNT Triathlon team happy hour, so maybe i"ll go to that for all the familiar faces!

Incredibly tired after a hard workout with my physical trainer yesterday, and a 4mile run today.  Feeling good though!  If I could be sore everyday of my life, I think it would be a good thing.

Second 10-miler, completed!

I've completed my second Battle of Brooklyn, 10-mile run, with a few personal bests!

• Longest distance continuous, no walking
• Best pace for distance over 3miles
• Best pace for 10 miler
• Best feeling after finishing it all!

Here's a fun little finisher's photo taken at the Grand Army Plaza promenade post-race.  (That's Dave behind me, my team captain from the triathlon who also did this race. We did this race in 2010 after the triathlon.)

Brooklyn Bridge Swim 2012!

I attempted to do my first cross-channel swim on July 15th.  Yes, that would be exactly 8 days after I finished my second Olympic-distance New York City Triathlon.  I figured, hey, I've been training for 6 months, why not throw in another little bonus challenge at the end?

The distance was 2/3rds the distance of the NYC Tri, and I was hoping to finish with a similar time, but those cross-currents and actually swimming against the current really messed me up.  I felt like a minnow in a giant river, going nowhere, but wow, it was a fantastic view.  One of the coaches from TNT had recommended that I take a look up when I crossed under the bridge, and it was really cool to see.  I think of  pretty much all of my friends, I might be the only person who has done this race.  My friend, Liz, who lives in Australia, has said that she wants to come back to NYC for this race next year, so the challenge is on!

I finished the 1K swim in 31minutes in the 89th percentile, sigh.  I'll live to swim another day, but it's good to remind myself that I can't just take my body for granted.  Next time I'm going to really prepare my mind and body to hit that water, and not psych myself out AND not swim like a triathlete trying to conserve energy in a race that only is one discipline.

Next up, the Battle of Brooklyn, 10-miler in mid-August!

NYC Triathlon 2012 - COMPLETED!

I finished, and I survived, and I conquered!

July 8th, 2012 -- I finished my second New York City Triathlon, beating my old time by 9minutes.

THANK YOU TO EVERYONE for your awesome support this season.  It's been a fantastic season with personal bests, new friends, and a lot of renewed pride and confidence in my self and my abilities.  Thanks for sticking it through with me!

Race week!

I can't believe it is almost here! Yesterday, we had our last swim practice which included us doing our final practices in the swim start (simulations of jumping into the hudson river...!). It's definitely becoming real now, and it is now officially time to taper down our workouts. No cramming for this triathlon!!

Weight loss total to date equals 20lbs, and i think my tri suit doesnt actually even fit right anymore. I am really thinking about continuing to train for additional races after this one, such as a sprint tri or a half marathon!

This year, I'll do better.

My goal this year, as I've said before is to do better than my 2010 Triathlon time.  One of the sore points for me was my inability to keep my speed up on my swim, bike, and sort of for my run.  In 2010, here was my breakout:

2010 Breakout:
Swim: 25.36 min
Transition 1:  10:04 min
Bike: 1:47:42 min
Transition 2: 4:10min (I somehow managed to change outfits, too, in this time)
Run: 1:13:40 min

2012 Goals:

Swim: 23 minutes
Transition 1:  9min
Bike: 1:40 min
Transition 2: 4min (I'll have to change from bike shoes now)
Run: 1:05 min


= 3 hours and 22 minutes.