Rocked It!

Hi. It's Laura.
Happy Friday!
Yesterday I did my ocean swim once again. I will say it was the complete opposite from the last time.
Last week as I drove down to Jersey I was nervous. I was the chatty kind of nervous and was even a little shaky. Getting my wet suit on was difficult and once in the water I had difficulty breathing.
I needed to rest a lot throughout the last swim and, although I did the required swim by the USAT, I certainly was not going to be great on the swim leg during the tri.
Yesterday, I arrived at the beach and had not even thought about the swim until I actually got out of the car (and maybe when I was packing my wetsuit and goggles). I had a lovely relaxed conversation with my brother and his coworker discussing fruit and juicing.
I got half my wet suit on and waited in the shade (the shadow of the lifeguard stand) until it was time to go. I stood around and thought about everything except the swim. I was very surprised about how relaxed I really was.
Bored with standing around, I started to bug my brother, let's go, let’s go. I even pushed the envelope a little and started out into the water on my own (I know, shocker). He followed. Out past the breaking waves we go and started the swim. About half way to our destination, I hear him start in. “Keep your head down, keep your head down.” At the turning point again he says “Keep your head down”, “You’re wasting energy”.
We swam to the same bunch of rocks that we swam last week. The difference this week was, instead of running back, we swam back. And what did my brother have to say on the way back? “Breathe when you lift your head out of the water not when you stick it back in.” (Gee thanks!) Other than that, radio silence. I guess I was doing things right. I found my pace and stuck to it.
Once on shore, I practiced taking down the wet suit. Although it doesn't sound like a difficult task, it can be when you are shaky from a work out. It is a lot like taking off skinny jeans if that helps [Editor’s note: Not really]. Done! And it felt so good. After the swim yesterday my emotions tipped in the other direction and I feel ready for July 8th.
Beginning next Friday and through the race weekend, I will not be posting blogs. Instead, I will be posting tweets about where I am and giving status updates. You can follow me on Twitter as @inspiredbylaura.
Twitter is free. You need to set it up on your home computer and download the app for your smartphone. If you have any concerns, you don't need to follow anyone else and you don't need to post anything but if you’re curious as to what is going on join twitter and follow me. If you need help, let me know and I can help you with that as well.
Next Friday begins the events for the triathlon including the Expo at the Hilton in midtown which is open to the public if you want to attend.
Enjoy the weekend!
Play hard!
Laura

Last Legs

Hi. It's Laura.

10 Days to go!

What comes now?

Today is my last big swim and yesterday was my last big run.

I am not a huge fan of working out in the afternoon, at least outside. But unfortunately, sometimes you don't have a choice. Yesterday afternoon, just as the heat was settling in, I headed out for my run. My training plan required a 75 minute run which is approximately 7.5 miles for me.

You may recall how much I love that 7 mile run. I really did want to avoid the lower part of the park. In the mornings, that part is usually quite crowded. Then after 8am, they open that part to cars which adds heat and a lot of congestion.

Keeping in mind nothing should be new on race day, I decided to run the course. I omitted the run-out from Riverside Park up to 72nd Street just because the ramp leading down to the promenade is still under repair.

I spoke with a park worker yesterday and he assured me that it will be fixed prior to the triathlon next Sunday. He also informed me that my fear over the dirty Hudson is unfounded. Remember I mentioned the dead fish, he let me know, fish die. Of course they do( my mother kills enough of them in her koi pond). I forgot that we are not the killers of all fish but they can actual die of natural causes (go figure).

Anyway, I started at 72nd Street and Riverside, ran across 72nd to Central Park and in doing so became one the people the husband hates. (There is park, go run in it not on the sidewalk. [Editor’s note: That’s right!]). I tried to stay on the shady side of the street.

Ugh, people everywhere all over the sidewalk, jaywalking, crossing the street in bunches and cars double parked. It was quite the adventure getting across town but it did only take me six minutes. I run this park all the time so there should be no surprises for me as far as hills go. I was surprised to be slightly disoriented after I got into the Park. I usually enter at 77th street so entering at 72nd threw me just a little. Up and down the rolling hills I went with the sun beating hard on my back.

Hot and tired and having no idea how far I have run so far (my GPS mysteriously had no battery left in it and had to resort to my standard heart rate monitor) I approached the big hill.

*Warning this may be a little mean spirited.

I could not help but be a little entertained at the tourists trying to make it up the big hill on heavy bikes. I watched more than one dismount their bike and walk it. In their defense, the bikes were rentals from Bike & Roll and the Boat House. I am pretty sure they are not the best bikes money can buy nor do they have a lot of gears to assist them up that hill.

I can only take pleasure in them not being able to make it up that hill because “been there, done that”. It has just been a while since I couldn’t.

The less entertaining part came along the east side where I observed a family, all overweight, pulled over on Cat Hill, drinking Gatorade &resting about a quarter of the way up. Of course they were blocking the pedestrian path. Why Gatorade? They hadn't done anything yet worthy of a drink like that (I have issues with calorie laden sports drinks we can discuss another time).

I get passed it and turned the corner onto the 72nd Street crossover. I saw the finish line or at least where the finish line will be next Sunday.

I have come a long way since Monday when I was completely freaking out about this upcoming race. Running the course helped me visualize the last leg and assured me that I can.

After the swim today, I begin to taper down and head into resting before the big day. The resting is going to be the hardest part because as a competitive person and a newbie at Tri will want to do more when I know I shouldn't.

Play hard!

Laura

The Course

Hi. It's Laura.

As we get closer to the triathlon I am being asked more and more questions about it. I think I can answer them here.

Triathlon is an endurance event comprised of several events in a row. There may be other forms of triathlon (tri) but the most popular (and the one that I am doing) is swimming, biking and running.

There are varying lengths of triathlon as well.

Sprint distance -750 meter swim, 12 mile bike and a 3.1 mile run

Intermediate distance (or standard distance) also known as Olympic distance- 1.5K swim, 25 mile bike ride, 6.2 mile run (this is what I am doing)

The long course or half ironman- 1.9 k swim, 56 mile bike and a 13.1 mile run

Ultra distance or ironman- 2.4 mile swim, 110 mile bike and a full marathon (this one is only for crazy people and I am not that crazy)

The course for the race on July 8 is on the Upper West Side of Manhattan.

Athletes will begin the swim at 99th Street and will swim down the Hudson River to 79th Street. Once the swim is complete the athletes will go to their designated transition area. I have no idea how they determine who goes into what transition area but my guess is age and speed. But there are two. One is red transition the other is yellow. I will be in yellow transition. The first transition is from swim to bike.

I will be wearing a wetsuit and will begin removing it the minute I get out of the water. Underneath the wetsuit I will already have on my tri clothing (the outfit that I will run and ride in). In effort to keep everyone’s clothes on and not break any laws on public nudity, most atheletes wear, underneath their wetsuit, whatever clothes they will be running the rest of the race in. So, once I remember where my bike is parked, I will finish removing my wetsuit, clean my feet, put on my sox/shoes/ sunglasses/sunscreen/bike helmet and walk out of transition to the start of the bike ride.

The bike ride is the longest portion of the ride and will go directly up the West Side Highway to Mosholu Parkway in the Bronx. Here we turn around and head back down the West Side Highway to 59th Street. Then we make a U-turn once again and head back into the same transition area that we were in the first time.

This time in the transition area I will rack the bike, change into running shoes, reapply sunscreen, change my bike helmet for my running hat and change sunglasses. Brick workouts have shown that and hour and half on the bike makes for messy sunglasses and it’s faster to change them out then to clean them up. I will the walk out of the transition area in Riverside Park and run across 72nd St into Central Park where we finish the last five miles of the race clockwise covering both big hills in the park and finish on the crossover at 72nd street near the band shell. At which point I will collapse and probably cry if not just fall over.

The sponsors of the race have provided complimentary pedi cabs for the athletes to go back to the transition area to pick up their bikes which must be out of that area by 2 P.M.

The elite and pros start the race off at 5:50 AM based on the information provided I am guessing my start time will be about 6:30 AM. The elites and pros go first and, once they are all started, the rest of us go in by groups. The order is designated by age and then they release 15 athletes every 20 seconds into the water. There is no diving into the water (the diving is for pros only). If you do dive in I believe you get disqualified.

I hope that answers some of your questions about what will be happening on race day. I hope to see you there!

Play hard!

Laura

Panic

Hi. It's Laura.

Sunday night I dreamed about swimming, running and biking. Monday night I dreamed about running, biking and swimming.

On Monday I swam. Today I biked. Tomorrow I will run.

And now I am driving myself crazy.

Monday morning after my swim, I had a complete panic attack. I am embarking on the largest race of my competitive career. So it is normal to be nervous but yesterday I worked myself into a complete tizzy. “What if I get a flat tire?” “I don't know how to change my tire.” “I have all the tools but have no idea what to do.” “What if I am so nervous during the swim that I can't breathe again?” “What if I miss my age group start?” “What if I can't finish the race?”

“How much fuel I am going to need to get me through?” “Do I need more?” “Do I need something else besides GU?” “What if I oversleep?” “The Husband had a cold last week, am I getting sick now too?” I will if I keep this up!

I am trying to put an end to my worry by solving those problems. If I keep this up I will make myself sick and eight months of training will go out the window.

Yesterday I called the local bike shop and found out they have a class on Sunday on how to change a flat tire. That's one problem solved.

I did some research about how much fuel you really need so I designed a plan. Then I stopped into one of the local running stores and talked to some of the people there about my plan. I was assured it was a good one and I won't need anything additional.

I sat down and reread the athlete's guide and studied the transition area. As it turns out, this is the exact area where we have been practicing my transition all these weeks. On Thursday, I am headed back down to the ocean to swim with my brother. I am hoping I am more relaxed. I think I will be. More practice in open water certainly cannot hurt. I have been bombarding myself with Emergen-C in order to fight anything that may be manifesting itself and I am allowing myself to nap and sleep in this week. As for oversleeping, I highly doubt I will be that relaxed that I will sleep deep enough to oversleep. [Editor’s note: The Dog definitely won’t sleep in so she is safe.]

I also spent part of yesterday reviewing my plan for next weekend: Friday is the expo and packet pickup, Saturday is bike check in and transition tour, Saturday night is dinner at one of my favorite Italian restaurants, Sunday is the race, Sunday afternoon is sleep time.

Just the fact that I am planning on finishing is a very good sign. In my visualizations of how I see race day going, I see me finishing but I also see me with nerves in the swim start corral.

I have read a couple of articles about how to stay calm the day before and the night before but not many about how to deal with the stress 13 days before. I am sure I am unnecessarily panicking (as opposed to the necessary panicking) but by doing so I have certainly covered areas of potential hazard. So at least it was constructive panic.

After I ran the 10K a couple of weeks ago and experienced some nerves, I found some articles about how to deal with race day stress. I reread them yesterday. The articles certainly helped. Wearing music to the start to drown out other people's stress is one of the best tips that I picked up. Have dinner early (changed our dinner reservation to 6pm). Get to the start early. Go through all your gear the day before (with Triathlon there is a lot of gear). Go to a movie. Sit with friends and relax as much as possible the night before. And get to bed at a reasonable hour. These are the tips that I picked up.

At this point, I need to trust that I am doing the work that will get me to the finish line. Also, just writing about the stress of the race and talking through some of it helps tremendously. I apologize to The Husband because this is pretty much all I am talking about.

Off I go, for my last long ride of training.

Play hard!

Laura

Big Brick

Hi. It's Laura.

Happy Monday!

A reminder to those who have a forgotten, a brick is a two part workout: a bike ride followed immediately by a run to simulate how you would feel in a triathlon.
The switch from the bike to run is more difficult than the transition from swimming to biking (so I am told).

It is a called a brick because the workouts are layered one on top of the other like bricks. It is also how your legs feel, like bricks.

My first brick was awful. My legs were wobbly, my hands were shaky and I got severe cramps on my right side. I read so many articles about the brick and they all assured me it would get easier. I can now tell you from experience it does and it doesn't.

Every week for the last 15 weeks I have done a brick on Saturday morning and every week the ride and the run get longer. This past Saturday was about as big as my training bricks get longer: 1 ½ hour bike ride followed by a 30 minute run. Exhausted is not exactly the right word for how I felt afterwards but pretty damn close considering the one hour long nap I took. The plus side, I burned nearly 1100 calories which pretty much gave me license to eat whatever I wanted that day.

Today I was faced with a 900 meter swim and strength training.

I have seriously neglected my strength training over the last two weeks due to the heavy schedule I have had with swimming, biking and running. It is very difficult to get it all in and still deal with the rest of your life. I don't know anyone who can (or should) spend 3-4 hours in the gym working out. (Maybe Olympians but that is a different story.)

So today I started in the gym with a newly designed strength training program incorporating lots of repetition and a very light load and taught myself something new; Band Assisted Chin-Ups. I have wanted to try these but it can be uncomfortable trying something new when you think everyone is watching. BTW no one is watching and really no one cares. You are the only one that really cares. The chin ups were much more difficult than I thought they would be. I thought for sure I could do 12, I did 3 and I know I will be sore tomorrow. So my goal is to do one more every day I am in the gym working on these exercises.

As for the swim today, after swimming in the ocean, the pool was a piece of cake.

I took the tips my brother gave me (after I remembered them) and applied them to my workout this morning. I was way faster and found it so much easier to breathe. Because of those tips, I moved from the medium slow to the medium fast lane. The volume of water I was pulling with each stroke seemed to be so much more with the new and improved stroke. woohoo.

That leaves me with 13 days left before the big day.

If you have any questions about the spectator information I put out the other day just email me.

Play hard!

Laura

A Different Kind of Brick

Hi, it’s Laura,

One of the parts of being allowed to compete in the NYC Triathlon is that you must have completed an open water swim. This means not in a pool. NYC Tri gives you 18 months to complete this before race day on July 8.

Yesterday I drove down to Long Branch, NJ to swim in the ocean. Doesn’t that sound lovely? Considering the temperatures were in the high 90's and actually hit 104 on the car thermometer.

I assure you it is not as romantic as it sounds. I picked up my mother at her house so she could keep me company and help me find where to go to find my brother's beach. I may have mentioned once or twice my brother is a lifeguard and he agreed to help me with my open water swim.

When I get nervous I either chat incessantly or can't speak at all. I have no idea what determines what kind of nervous response but yesterday's nerves were all talk.

“Mom, did I tell you about my bike ride?” “Mom, did I tell you about my run?” “Do you know where my brother is located?” “Mom, what's for lunch?” “What are you making for dinner tonight?” “What did you do last night?” And on and on…. I jabbered on until we arrived at the beach. Unlike a weekend we were able to quickly secure parking (Yay!) and pretty close by. Thankfully because it was hot hot hot.

So here it is 95.6 degrees and I about to put on a full wet suit.

I was standing on the beach just talking, talking and talking, I really wish I would shut up. I asked my brother how we are going to do this because I am looking around and I don't see a boat. Without a rowboat, how are we going to get out past the waves? He laughed, “swim of course”?! Swim out there and then swim? Crazy! How are you going to watch me if you are not in a boat? “Swim next to you of course.” Ay dios mio.

I get on the wet suit, kind of. I am having difficulty pulling up the zipper in the back and I start to panic. “What if it doesn't fit?” OMG! I already got it wet so I can't return it. Tug, tug, tug. I can't get it and I can't ask for help. I won't be able to ask for help on race day. I will get disqualified if I get help. What am I going to do? (USTA rules state that an athlete cannot have any assistance during the race except for designated race official.)* I finally realize I have to ask for help. I ask for help and my brother and he  uncatches the neoprene from the zipper and up it goes. phew.

Ok here we go. Into the water we go. Up against the waves and out to sea. I get under the first few waves and I'm ok. We get past where the waves break and I can't breathe. My chest is so tight. I start to panic again. My brother shouts over to me to pull the zipper down on the wet suit. I do. It helps a little.

In retrospect what really happened is that I was so worked up about this swim, my nerves were high, I was facing the unknown and then I swam too hard too fast. I was out of breath. We waited for a little while until I calmed down and caught my breath and we started out again. (BTW I am super impressed with my brother. He is a really strong swimmer and is very calm in the water. He has about the same amount of patience as I do but he was awesome with me yesterday.)

We swam a little ways and I had to stop. My nerves were not completely gone and ocean is really hard to swim in, so we stop to rest again. The one great thing about the ocean is the amount of salt. Salt water makes you buoyant so resting is little easier than in the pool. On the other hand, salt water in your mouth is not very pleasant.

During this rest I realize I am just floating, I see the shore line and it’s really far away (more panic). We continue to rest so I can process all of this. Other than the fact than you can drown, I am guessing floating in the ocean is a little bit like zero gravity. You are just floating and not able to put your feet down anywhere and not really able to put your arms down either. Unlike swimming in the pool, you can't see anything. The water is green and clear but there is no visible bottom. In the middle of the ocean, it felt a little surreal, which I am sure was part of my nerves. Ok, I have processed, I’m better now. I can see the “finish line".

My brother and I take off again and I remember to stop kicking. Yes you kick in swimming but not as much as you would think because it makes you so tired and uses way too much energy. On this last leg, I am calmer. I am using the muscles I am supposed to use and brain has quieted down. So aside from the occasional swell that kind of throws me off and my brother yelling at me to keep my head down, I am doing better. We hit the finish line and head into shore. I did it!

On shore, my brother looks at me and says “want to run back?” “NO!” And as only a brother can nudge, we run the 1/2 miles back to his beach.

Once we finished, he went back to work and I went back to my mother's.

The car ride home was very quiet. I spent the rest of the day absolutely spent. I knew my nerves got the best of me. There was not a whole lot I can do about that except for do it again. Next week I am going back to swim in the ocean again. Practice makes perfect and I don't want any surprises on race day.

Enjoy your weekend!

Play hard!

Laura 

 I'm on left

*Unauthorized Assistance. No participant shall accept from any person (other than a race official) physical assistance in any form, including food, drink, equipment, support, pacing, a replacement bicycle or bicycle parts, unless an express exception has been granted and approved, in writing, by USA Triathlon. The receipt of information regarding the progress, split times, or location of other competitors on the race course shall not be considered the acceptance of unauthorized assistance. Any violation of this Section shall result in a variable time penalty.

Oh, the Heat

Hi. It's Laura.

Holy Heat Wave Batman! Personally I am not a fan of the warmer weather. I prefer temps in the 40's & 50's. But since we have no control over the weather the best thing we can do it manage it as best as we can.

No matter the time of year, I prefer outdoor exercise to indoor. This heat has driven me inside to the air conditioned gym to complete my long run for the week. As for today, I have a swim in the ocean. This will complete my open water requirement for the Triathlon. I don't think I could have picked a better day to go for a swim. Of course, I am going to be in a full wetsuit because the Ocean is cold. I'll let you know how that goes tomorrow.

Yesterday was only the first day of summer so I am sure that we will encounter more hot weather and exercise must go on. If you are going to exercise outside be sure you get out early before the sun can rear its ugly head, drink plenty of fluids and don't forget to replace your electrolytes.

I pulled this from the Mayo Clinic for tips and signs of exercising in the heat:

Exercise in the Heat

Play hard & stay cool!

Laura