SUPER BOWL POOL to benefit The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society

Join me on my journey as I train for my third triathlon 

and raise $1,800 for the Leukemia Lymphoma Society.

SUPER BOWL POOL

to benefit

The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society

$10 per box

Box sales and selection are on a first come, first serve basis

 

How to pay for your box:

If you are unable to see me to choose you box and pay cash I will be happy to select a box for you. 

Payments may be made to PayPal. 

My PayPal account is LauraCBergman@yahoo.com.  

Be sure to select the Friends & Family option in order to avoid PayPal fees.

 

What are your odds?:

All boxes have an even chance to win.

The numbers that correspond with each box will be randomly drawn after all boxes have been sold. 

This makes it so that everyone has the same opportunity to get any set of numbers. 

It also means you don't have to know anything about football as it all comes down to the luck of the draw.

 

$500 to the winner

$500 to The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society

Winner is determined by the FINAL score of Super Bowl XLVII

 

A late post about the TOBAY tri

I know that I haven’t updated my blog since August.  I’m about to train and fund raise for my third triathlon and I never wrote about my second one. 

I was really nervous going into the TOBAY tri.  I know so many people that do that event and even more that volunteer there.  In Tennessee nobody knew me.  It didn't matter if they had cleaned up the finish are before I even got there or if I was followed only by the street sweeper.  At TOBAY I knew tons of people, some of who are excellent triathletes to whom fitness is paramount, who spend months working on shaving two seconds off of their finish time.  What would they think of me just put-putting my way to the end?

Well, there was no hiding it.  They knew that I was there and that I was competing.  I just had to make the best of it.  Knowing other people in the race actually turned out to be fun.  I ran into them in the transition area, joked around, took pictures, and sipped one of their beers between the bike and the run.  I even found out that a friend of mine was right next to me in transition.  (which turned out to be a little embarrassing later.)

The most interesting part of the race was the swim.  I was not worried; Team in Training prepared me well for it.  I was not the fastest swimmer around, but I thought that I wouldn't embarrass myself too much.  I always heard that the swim part of a tri was a dangerous affair, with people kicking and clawing to get ahead of the other swimmers.  I did not have that experience in Tennessee.  I wish that I could say the same for TOBAY.  Somebody hit my face, scratched it a little and knocked my goggles askew.   The goggles felt weird, but kept their seal so I left them.  That was not the interesting part.

About halfway through the swim I did something that you should not do.  I looked up and compared myself to the other swimmers.  That’s when I saw something odd.  The swim section of the race was shaped as a semi-circle.  We entered the water at the boat ramp and swam around an arch of buoys until we exited the water at the beach.   When I looked up I saw a whole lot of swimmers on the right side of the buoys.  They were supposed to be on the left.  Typically you can expect one or two people to misunderstand the rules and get disqualified as a result, but this was well over a third of the athletes.  What was going on?  I kept swimming to the left of the buoys.  The swim was supposed to be half a mile but it seemed awful long to me.  Why was the swim taking so long? I know that I am not fast, but I thought that I was faster than this.  Well, apparently a couple of the buoys got loose and stared drifting away.  Most of us swimmers were unaware and followed them, going way off course.  I still wonder how the other swimmers knew the situation and followed the intended swim course.   I didn't find out any of this until after the race.  I’ll never know how far I went, or if I would have finished the race within the time frame I was hoping for.  Kind of a bummer.  After the swim I saw my transition neighbor heading out for the run.  He had already completed the entire bike segment and I was just getting out of the water.

The bike was relatively uneventful, hilly and challenging, but doable.  The best part of it was being on roads that were closed to other traffic.  There is this hill on 25A that I hate riding down.  Once you pick up some decent speed you have to stop for the intersection at the bottom, then continue up the next hill from a stopped position.  I loved picking up speed and cruising through it. 

The run sucked.  I can’t run.  The run always sucks. 

The Best part of the race was the end.  By that time I had kind of given up on the half walk half jog thing that I try to do.  Mostly I was walking.  Many of my TEAMmates had passed me along the way, cheering me on, so were the volunteers that I knew and the ones that I didn't.  I LOVE being cheered on.

When I got to the end my entire TEAM was waiting for me.  They all cheered and clapped for me then they filed in behind me and ran me across the finish line.  I definitely felt the TNT love!

My official time was 2 hours 9 minutes.  I was hoping to finish in less than 2 hours.  Who knows if I would have had the swim buoys stayed in place?

Tapering

The week before a major event athletes are supposed to "taper".  The point of tapering is that any exercise that you do within 10 days  of an event will not add to your strength in time and may actually fatigue you.  For me it is too easy to become a lazy couch potato.

I've been tapering all week..  My definition of taper is as follows:  
ta•per  [tey-per] verb (used without object)1. to sit around and drink a lot of wine.

TOBAY tri here I come

I’m not sure if I mentioned the big dilemma that I have this tri season.  I had the choice of doing two triathlons with TNT.  One is on September 9^th in DC and the other is this weekend here on Long Island.  I REALLY wanted to do the one in DC.  One reason is that I found that it was a lot of fun to travel with the TEAM.  You really get to know the people that you maybe didn’t get to know too well during the season, and you create a good bond.  I am also a TEAM mentor.  I would hate to have my mentees in doing an event in a distant city without me.  I want to be there and be a good mentor.  Plus the September course is flat.  Sunday’s course is hilly, VERY hilly, and you know how I feel about hills. 

September’s course is an Olympic distance triathlon, like my last one.  The one this week is a sprint tri.  You would think that I would prefer to do the shorter event, but I see the difference between the two much like I see the difference between running a marathon and running a 5k.  When you complete a marathon everybody cheers for you.  You can be as slow as molasses and it really doesn’t matter to anyone.  They just care that you finished, and afterwards you can say something like “I’ve completed four marathons”.  When you complete a 5k either nobody cares or they want to know your times, which for me would be worse than nobody caring.  My times are embarrassing. 

Now add that embarrassing time to a local event where I know a couple of dozen of the participants.  For these particular people it IS about the time.  They care a lot about breaking a personal record or beating their friends.  They have little competitions and they smash talk each other all year.  If I am going to embarrass myself I do NOT want to do it in front of these people.  I’d much rather do it out of town where nobody knows me. 

My predicament is that my cousin’s baby’s baptism is on the 8^th in NY.  There are not a lot of things that I would skip my desired triathlon for, but Baby Sebastian’s baptism is one of them.  (I really wish that my family and friends would consult me before planning anything.)  So the TOBAY tri it is.  I’ve trained and practiced on the course twice.  I’m able to finish, but, again, I am VERY slow.  Wish me luck!

The Olympics has me thinking about medals

One of the things that I was really looking forward to, while training for my last triathlon, was winning a medal.  Unless you finish among the top three (and most likely not even then), triathlon medals are not made of gold or silver or even bronze.  They are just a symbol of an accomplishment and I SO wanted one.  Though I completed the entire tri, technically I don't think that I qualified for a medal, since it took me so long to finish, but the guy running the race said that I could have one as long as I finished the race, no matter how long it took me. So when I crossed the finish line I got a medal.

I was so proud.  I wanted to wear it to the victory dinner, but I let my coach talk me out of it.  I, however, put the medal in my purse and slipped it on and off all of  that evening and the next day.  The next afternoon, as we boarded the plane to go home, I put my finishers medal around my neck and sat down in my seat.  The group of us sat in the same section of the plane and joked back and fourth amongst ourselves.  A guy in front of me noticed our banter and asked the typical plane questions:  "Where are you guys from?", "What were you doing in Tennessee?"...  I explained to him that we were all on the same triathlon team and were returning home after competing in a tri in Knoxville.  He asked how we did.  I explained that we all finished, and my teammates did well, but I was actually the winner.  That is why I am the only one wearing a medal.  I had him fooled.  :-)

Zombies, Run!

I am assuming that if anyone is reading my blog that they know by now that I HATE running.  Well, I just found a new app called "Zombies, Run!".  This app is an interactive game that is supposed to simulate you (the runner) running the streets, gathering supplies in order to save your town from the zombies all while being chased by them.  Did I explain it right?  I'm not sure, but it has a website if you want to look it up.  I haven't tried it yet but I am actually looking forward to running tonight.

Out of bed and on the road

After being at home for a week with the flu I decided to try my first workout in a long time.  I thought I would ease into it and decided to go for a run.  If I just can’t handle it I can always walk right?  (I really mostly walk anyway.)  I started out on a walk, but realized that after about a half a mile I felt really good.  I thought that I would try a run.  I told myself that I would run to that telephone pole up ahead.  I got there and felt good and ran to the street sigh a block ahead of that.  I then alternated walking and running for a total of three miles.  Now that I managed that I have no excuse to not workout tomorrow, bummer.  It was so easy falling into the excuse pit. 

Now I put it out there.  I’ve got to stay out of the pit and get on the road.  Once I put it in writing for others to read I feel I’ll be held more accountable.  

Still hate running.

'nough said.

I hate running.

Yesterday, while out on a run I decided that I just hate running.  When I started triathlon training I thought that the running would grow on me, once I got over the shin splints, once I got into better shape, once I got better sneakers, once I got more used to it.  No, it didn’t happen, and I don’t anticipate it happening any time soon.  I just hate running and I’ve come to terms with that.  

Sometimes training just doesn’t go the way you planned……

Last Saturday I volunteered at the LLS water stop for a Century ride to Montauk.  I knew that it would cut into my training hours, but it was for the team so I decided to help.   I had it all planned out.  I would just move my Saturday training to Sunday and my Sunday training to Monday.  Monday is supposed to be a day off so it would even up in the end. 

Well, on Sunday I had planned to take my grandmother to church at 9:30 and do the workouts after that.  At about 8:30 my grandmother asked to go the noon mass.  I couldn’t say no.  So I figured that I would get a run in before, take a shower, go to church, come home and get a swim in.  After church my grandmother asked me to take her to the supermarket. 

Now I don’t know if you readers have an Italian grandmother, but if you do you will know how important food is.  On Sunday morning, before I took her anywhere, Napoleon’s Army could have showed up on her door step asking to be fed.  I guarantee that she would have had enough food in the house to feed them a seven course meal.  She would have apologized throughout the entire meal because it was so small and puny, and if she only knew that they were coming then she could have made a real supper.  Now, during this seven course meal, if the apocalypse should happen to occur, and the army was forced to bunker down in my grandmother’s house for several weeks, they would continue to be well fed, and would emerge from her home fatter than they arrived.  My grandmother, of course,  was convinced that her cupboards were bare.  How do I refuse a little 93 year old lady a trip to the supermarket?  I knew that it would take several (no I am not kidding) hours, but it meant so much to her.  I could get in a swim when we get home.

Who should we run into at the market?  my uncle and his posse.  They invited us to his house for a late afternoon party.  Well, what’s one missed workout?

I’ll wake up early Monday morning, get a run in, go to the doctor for my blood test, and go to the gym after that.  I’ll just have to miss the swim.  I woke up early all rearing to go and was just about to make a pre-workout breakfast when I realized that I am not supposed to eat before a blood test.  I won’t workout on an empty stomach, so I went back to the bed and waited for my doctor’s appointment.  I got up, got dressed, grabbed my packed gym bag, went to the doctor then straight to the gym.  When I got there I grabbed my workout top, put it on, reached in, grabbed another workout top and realized that I had no workout pants.  I got back into my street clothes and went shopping. 

Hopefully I’ll get back on tract today.  

First fundraiser of the fall season

As part of my fundraising for the fall season I decided to get together with a few of my friends and have a tag sale.  I really didn’t want to send out letters and emails asking people for money again.  You can only do that so many times without being a (insert adjective here).  So my friends Rob and Tracy agreed to host one with me.  We decided that we would each gather stuff and whatever each of us sold would go to our individual fundraising.  Tracy and I both posted “GOT JUNK?” messages on facebook.  I’m not sure if Rob did or not. 

I collected every old picture frame, unused Christmas gift, hardcover book etc. from my house, rampaged my best friend’s house, and left flyers in mailboxes in my Grandmother’s neighborhood.

Rob, Tracy and I all live in apartments so we decided that we would hold the sale at my Grandmother’s house.  She lives in the Hamptons and at the beginning of the season people are always looking for wine glasses, small furniture, etc. to get their house prepared for the summer. 

A couple of my grandmother’s neighbors called me and told me that they had items to donate.  I went to their houses and picked up some beautiful things that ultimately sold.  Another neighbor, Steve, the nicest guy in the world, had a garage sale a few weeks before and promised to bring over the things that didn’t sell.  For weeks I drove out to my grandmother’s house with a car full of tag sale goods and unload them in her garage.  My mother had some things sent there too.  We had to do this sale early in the season, because you couldn’t even move in her garage by the end of May. 

Tracy backed out early, citing a friend coming to town that weekend.  Rob’s mother died just a few days before the sale.  He clearly had more important things to do.  So I was on my own. 

The morning of the sale Steve showed up in a truck filled with boxes.  Behind that truck was a trailer filled to the top with more boxes, all for the sale.  I’ve never seen so much stuff.  I must say, Steve I love you, but there is a reason most of this stuff did not sell the first time.  It was all junk, mismatched coffee mugs, children’s toys that were missing pieces, etc.  I was all by myself and I spent the entire day Saturday just going through the boxes unpacking the items inside and displaying what was presentable for sale. 

Saturday sucked!  It rained off and on.  I kept dragging things into and out of the garage.  Some things never made it out of the garage at all, and I never even got some of the boxes open.  I had a bunch of customers though and made over $250.  Sunday was much nicer.  It was sunny, but I did not make that many sales.  I priced things really low just because I wanted to get them off of my grandmother’s driveway.  I made a little over $100 that day.

The problem was: What do I do with all of the leftover stuff on Sunday afternoon?  There was TONS of stuff.  I had no problem sorting through it and taking the better of it to the Southampton Animal Shelter Thrift Shop.  So by mid afternoon I started packing boxes to bring there.  I took two car loads there and was packing the third carload when my uncle came out of the house wanting to know what I was going to do with all of the leftover items.  He clearly was worried that I was going to put them back in the garage, though I assured him that I wasn’t.  He started asking me what he should pack.  I still wanted to take time to go through things.  He was very anxious and kept on asking and asking so I told him to pack everything. 

Maybe it was good and maybe it was bad.  I think that I would have rescued some of the items, I know one that I would have found a use for since, but would I have rescued too many?  There is something liberating about not going through the items, so when I threw a box away I didn’t have second thoughts.  I had no idea if that particular box had the purse that I liked, or the beautiful wall hanging that I loved but had no place for.  I filled up the car three more times and lugged the three car loads to…(for grounds that I may incriminate myself I will not disclose the exact locations the unwanted items ended up.) . 

Lots of lifting, carrying, sore muscles, and boredom, early mornings and late nights: all for less than $400.  I wonder if I should have enjoyed my weekend and just written The Leukemia Lymphoma Society a check for $400. 

At least my friends and family got to get rid of a bunch of stuff. 

lazy, lazy, lazy

I have become a lazy sloth since my triathlon, always planning to exercise, but rarely getting around to it.  It didn’t help that my iPod stopped working and I refuse to run, walk or bike without it.  (I know, I know!  It’s dangerous to bike with an iPod – but I WONT bike without it and I only use one ear bud.  I put it in my right ear, the one away from traffic.)  I’m convinced that I have another ear infection, so I won’t swim, and we have not gotten the training schedule for the fall triathlon season, so technically I am not in training and don’t have to exercise.  

Here We Go Again

If you had asked me at run mile four of the Knoxville (my first triathlon) if I would ever do this again I would have said "HELL NO!", but barely a week later here I am, signed up to do another one.

Why? You ask. For several reasons:

• I loved the training provided by TNT
• I loved doing training on my own. I know myself. If I wasn't signed up for another event I would just stop working out the day after my last event was over.
• I love the friends that I made as part of the TEAM
• I have become a mentor, to help guide new TEAMmates through their first TNT adventure
• There is still no cure for blood cancers

Please make a donation in support of my efforts with Team In Training and help advance the research for cures.

The Run

The MOMENT I got off of my bicycle I knew that I was in trouble.  My legs were CRAMPED, so cramped and so tight.  This has happened to me in the past (but never nearly this bad).  I was told that cramping is often due to a lack of hydration and/or critical nutrients.  Well, I did my best to prepare for this.  I had, on the bike, a Camel Back hydration system and two water bottles all filled with water PLUS tablets containing electrolytes etc. These tablets are made for endurance athletes and should have done the trick.  I drank it all.  I also had one or two GUs and some Power Bar gummies.  Other athletes will know what I mean by GUs and gummies.  If you don’t, just take my word for it, it’s what you are supposed to have – concentrated nutrition. 

Well, it didn’t do the job.  My legs HURT.  I took off my bike shoes and put the running shoes on.  Then I attempted to run.  I saw a TEAMmate just a few yards away from me and wanted to catch up with her.  I was very optimistic.  There was NO WAY I could run.  Maybe I just had to walk the kinks out.  I figured that I could walk the kinks out and then start running.  I HAD EXCRUCIATING PAIN WITH EACH AND EVERY STEP.  Each step was a brand new torture, but I didn’t consider stopping.  I did, however, consider crawling.  My only consolation was that my TEAMmate was walking in front of me not gaining any headway.  It felt good to know that wasn’t the only one walking.  

When I got to the first aid station I asked the volunteers how far I had gone.  They said a mile.  You would think that it would have felt like more than a mile to me, but for some reason it felt like less.  That gave me great hope.  If I could do this for one mile I could do it for six point two.  It wouldn't be fun, but I could do it.  At the station I had half a banana, Gatorade, a salt tablet and some bags of water.  You read me right.  They had these cool bags of water, about the size and shape of a soda can.  You just bite the corner of them and squeeze the water into your mouth, or over your head.  The cool part about them is that you can take them with you, unlike a paper cup of water.  Well nourished and hydrated, I tried running again, but I was just kidding myself. 

Soon after that we got off the road and onto a greenbelt trail.  I loved it.  It went through a park with fields, streams, and wild flowers.  What a pretty course!  The next aid station was manned by Team In Training.  I was so happy to see the purple.  I had some similar food and nutrition and picked up a purple grass skirt from a volunteer at the booth (I can only assume the relative of a TNT participant).  I wore the skirt and continued on my way. 

Another aid station, this one with an actual bathroom!  (a luxury for endurance athletes) It had running water, toilet paper and everything.  (It takes so little to please me.)  I just had to be careful of my purple skirt while in there.  Don’t worry.  I was.  More salt, more Gatorade and more water and I continued on my way. 

When we hit the three mile mark (or so) we had to turn around and go back the way that we came.  At that point I began to see some of my TEAMmates that were doing the Half Ironman.  We cheered each other on, they commented on my skirt, but we never stopped.  I was walking and they were running.  It was then that I noticed that my legs didn’t hurt as much anymore.  I attempted to run and nothing terrible happened.  I ran for a little bit but then decided that it was hot, I was tired, and my time was shot anyway so I should just walk and enjoy the day.

When I passed the TNT booth I returned my purple skirt, chatted a little with the volunteers and refueled.  Afterwards I felt plain and boring without my purple skirt so I picked a flower, put it in my hair, and continued on my way.   You should have seen the look of defeat of my coach when he asked me where I got the flower and I told him that I picked it.  I guess that he trained me to be a triathlete, but didn’t train me to be competitive. 

At this point my toes were beginning to hurt, not cramping, but blistering from rubbing the against my socks.  I swear I could feel every fiber in the weave of my socks.  This was not fun.  Trust me!  I’ve tried about six different brands of socks during my training and ended up throwing the others out.  These were the only ones that didn’t bunch up on me.  Next time I will coat my toes with Vaseline to avoid the friction. 

If the first mile of the run was short the last one was excruciatingly long.  I passed many, many, many volunteers handing out water and directing traffic.  I would like to thank them.  They cheered me on as if I was the only reason they were there that day.  I was hot and tired and my toes really burned.  Their cheerful attitude was a real pick-me up at that time.  That, and the promise of beer, kept me going.  We passed the transition area and had about a half (though some people said it was a full) mile to the finish line. 

On this stretch I passed other athletes, with their medal and finishers shirt, going in the opposite direction.  They had finished the race and were walking back to pick up their bikes.  They cheered me on as well.  Many of them told me to “finish strong” not knowing that I was not walking out of sheer exhaustion, but that I had been walking the entire way.  I passed my coach, went up to the World’s Fair Park, across the street and into the runway. (Is that what they call that final stretch of a race?) past the TNT booth, there’s Rich cheering me on, and to the finish line.  I heard my name and home town announced over the loud speakers just as crossed.  I stopped, posed for the camera and went to receive my medal!

The guy handing out the medals heard that I was from Northport, NY and had a dozen questions for me.  Was Northport on Long Island?  Do I know where Kew Gardens is?  Am I far from Valley Stream?  I just wanted to grab the medal and knock him down, but I got it eventually. 

I am finished.  Strange I don’t feel any different. 

Just minutes later I was congratulated by a couple of my TEAMmates.  They wanted to know how I felt.  I wanted to know where the beer was.  THERE WAS NO BEER!  I want my money back.

The Bike

T1 (also known as Transition 1)

When I got out of the water my legs hurt.  HURT.  Like the worst shin splints that I ever had, but I don’t think that they were shin splints, more like tight muscles or cramps.  They HURT!  The actual transition area was ¼ (though I seem to distinctly remember somebody saying ½) mile from the dock.  I waddled the whole way.  Other people ran. 

Taking off my swim gear and mounting the bike was relatively uneventful.  I was just really worried that my legs wouldn’t feel better for the bike ride and the run.  How on earth could I complete the triathlon when my legs feel this way?

Well, just a couple of minutes into the run my legs felt fine, great.  I felt great.  I was really looking forward to the ride.  I wasn’t nearly as intimidated by the mountains as before.  I guess because I knew that I wouldn’t be kicked out of the race if I didn’t climb them quickly, and also there was something about seeing them in real life that made them look just beautiful, not scary at all. 

We started the race in the city and I have to give credit to the Rev 3 race coordinators.  Until we got to the countryside they had every road closed, we even rode on a major highway with no other traffic.  Throughout the entire route there was a police vehicle and police officer at every corner. 

Here’s a shout out to the police officers.  They were stuck on a street corner on a very hot day looking at bicyclists pass them one after the other all daylong.  I was among the last of them.  You would think that they would have had it by then but they cheered me on with claps and words of encouragement the entire time.  I have no way of telling them, but it meant a lot to me. 

The only bad part of the bike portion was just before we left the city.  The road narrowed and steeply dipped beneath a railroad trestle.  It was not well paved and was VERY bumpy.  I not only had to navigate the large bumps, at a fast speed, on a narrow decline, but I also had to navigate around many rolling water bottles on that small strip of road.  I presume that the bottles were shaken out of their cages when the bicycles that they belonged to hit the bumps.   The worst hill was that same stretch on the way back to the city: short but steep. 

Once we got out of the city the course was BEAUTIFUL. We rode up and down the hills of the Smokey Mountains, passing farms, fields, flowers and trees.   I could smell honeysuckle the whole time.  I kept reminding myself to ignore the pain and just enjoy the scenery. I am still not a big fan of hills, but this ride made biking hills worth wile. 

At one point I was slowly ascending a steep hill when I noticed a police motorcycle behind me.  It was going pretty slowly for a motorcycle.  Then I noticed another.  They soon overtook me and it was clear that they were escorting a cyclist.  This was at a point in the race where the Olympic Distance course and the Half Ironman Distance course were merged together, the Half Ironman racers having gone much further than me at this point (duh!).  Well, the cyclist that they were escorting, I can only imagine to be the current leader, Cheered me on.  Imagine that.  Soon other cyclists from the longer race began to pass me in numbers.  They cheered me on too.  I wish that I could thank them. I seemed to get a little push each time.  I wish that I could thank them too. 

Into the city, off of the bike and into T2.

The Swim

I know.  I know.  I know.  I should have written about this a week ago.  So sorry!  I think that I’ll break up the telling of my triathlon adventure into three parts.  You guessed it:  the swim, the bike and the run.  Let me start with the swim.

Although it covers my entire body it hides nothing.  A wetsuit is not a friend of a Slow, Fat Triathlete

I cannot tell the story about my triathlon swim without going back a few weeks to the first time I donned a wetsuit.  When my wetsuit arrived I was well warned:  Artie, a guy on my team, told me that it is quite common for people, when donning a wetsuit for the first time, to feel that they can not expand their lungs.  Crissy elaborated by telling me that she found breathing in her wetsuit so constricting that, after putting it on for the first, time she climbed on top of her swim coach almost drowning her.  She never put one on again.

I tried on the suit right away, and I thought that it fit.  How could I possibly put anything smaller on my body?  It took me 20 minutes of unimaginable contortions just to get this thing on (I thank God every day that nobody was filming that.)  but, when I got into the pool the thing filled up with water.  There is supposed to be a small layer of water between the suit and my body, but not like this.  Water rushed in and out of my sleeve with every stroke.  It was like lifting an extra ten pounds each time I raised my arm.  My swim coach told me to get a smaller one.  I could breathe in the thing just fine and I quickly forgot all of the warnings previously given to me.  

The smaller suit arrived just as I was shipping my bike down to Knoxville.  I managed to get it on my body, just to make sure that I could, but I didn’t zip it.  I just stuck it in the big box with the bike and didn’t see it again until I was in Tennessee.   

The day of the tri our coach had us put  on our suit when we got to the dock, but he told us to not zip it until just before we are supposed to get in the water.  The weather was warm and he didn’t want us to overheat.  I put it on, zipped it moments before I got in the water, and was ready to start my very first ever triathlon. 

When our wave (group of people starting the race at that time) got in the water we swam out to a buoy to wait for the starting gun (or horn.  I can’t remember).  I was so calm in the water, not overly excited as I was told I would be.  When the horn blew (or gun shot).  I remember thinking “I am in my first triathlon.  I must remember this moment”, but I didn’t feel worried or scared.  That was until I started swimming.

Right away I felt like I couldn’t breathe.  (At least I knew that the suit fit.)  I began to panic and gasp for air at every stroke.  I forgot all that I was taught and let my swim form go to the dogs.  I went on my back a couple of times just to clam down.  I considered unzipping my suit, peeling out of it and letting it float away.  I would put up with freezing water over not breathing any time.  I was about two-thirds of the way done with the swim course before I settled my self down enough to swim like a proper triathlete, by then my swim time was shot.  I know that I said that I wasn’t going for time that I just wanted to finish, but I was still hoping for something good, or even acceptable. 

I must say one more thing about the swim.  Once I was calm enough to swim with some production they kept moving the finish line.  I looked up at one point and saw that the dock was about 300 meters away.  I swam for a few minutes and it was STILL 300 meters away, a few more minutes and it was STILL 300 meters away.  How did they do that?  And why would the race coordinators go to such lengths just to trick me?  Eventually they stopped moving it I made it.  The volunteers helped pull me out of the water and onto the dock and the swim portion was over.    Let the first transition begin…

OH! Please let the race begin

OK, before I talk about the triathlon I need to talk about the time leading up to the tri.

I spent a lot of time with the TEAM before the trip, training, socializing and of course, traveling.  Our group to Knoxville consisted seven triathletes, a coordinator and a coach.  I was the only one on out trip that had not done a tri before.  I became everybody’s project.  I was bombarded with information and advice, much of which I had heard hundreds of times before, some of which was way above my fitness level and some of which was conflicting.  It was like the war of the triathlon advice.  Once the coach would leave the room somebody would rush over to me and tell me to ignore a certain piece of counsel (which I probably tuned out anyway) and to not do the coach’s way but to do it this other way instead.  This went on for days.  I wanted to pull my hair out.  Even my roommate, Kathy, who is the sweetest person in the world, was driving me crazy.  She not only gave me constant advice, but she mothered me as well.  I couldn’t even make a joke without her giving me encouragement and confirmation that I worked hard for this and I will do just fine.  We talked about nothing else.  I couldn’t come up for air.  I was happy to start the race just to stop the bombardment.  

I know...I know...

I know that I am supposed to be writing about the triathlon.  Wouldn’t it be terrible if I spent all of this time and energy writing about the events leading up to the big day and then just stopped? All four of my followers would be so disappointed.  (Yet, each and everyone of them already know my results).  It is just so overwhelming and I have so much to say.  I WILL write all I can.  I just need to find the time and the mental organization to get my thoughts together and all typed out.  Hopefully, later today!

Not so scared as before

Well, we flew down to Knoxville yesterday and spent the last two days preparing for the big day tomorrow.  We reassembled our bicycles, picked up our race packets and swag, checked out the transition area and had a practice swim today.  The BEST part of the day was when I had the chance to talk to the race coordinator.  I, fighting back tears, flat out asked him if they would kick me off of the course if I didn't make the cut off times.  He said that they wouldn't.  I asked him if I would still get a medal if I missed the cut off times.  He told me that if I finished that he would give me the medal himself.  I feel like a big weight has been lifted off of my shoulders! I wish that I could post more details about my day, but I am off to the TNT inspiration dinner.  Wish me luck tomorrow!

T-3

T minus three days until my first triathlon and I’m not sure how I feel about it, unprepared? Scared? Excited?   I sent my bike to Knoxville last week and packed my bags this morning.  I guess the event is really here (well, almost).  It doesn’t feel like it. 

I’m scared. I’m so very scared.

I’m scared.  I’m so very scared.  I sent my bicycle to Knoxville last week, (I never got the gears working completely right) so I haven’t been able to ride since.  I have been struggling on the small hills of Long Island.  What will I be able to do on the mountains of Tennessee?  If I am able to climb them, (I hope that I will be, but I am not sure) they will slow me down  so much that I am worried that I will not finish the bike and/or the run portions by the cut-off times.  If I can’t I will be disqualified from the race.  If the race is on streets that allow bicycles and/or pedestrians on normal days they can’t kick me off of the road, but I will not be considered a finisher.  I will not receive a medal, and I will be mortally embarrassed..  I don’t want to be embarrassed and I really want a medal.  Pray for me.

Getting Nervous

OK, So I know that I can swim .9 miles.  I can bike 24.8miles and run (if you can call what I do running) 6.2 miles, but can I bike up those mountain hills?  and can I do each by their respective cut-off time?  Especially since I have the disadvantage of being in one of the last groups to enter the swim water?  Will adrenalin pump through me that day and make me faster, or will I get no sleep the night before and be so tired and nervous and intimidated by the hills that I go too slow and am disqualified from the race?  

Still slow. Still fat, but not quite as fat.

Random stuff:

These are my last two facebook posts: 
Yesterday: 

ran six miles and went to a spin class - all before work this morning.
Today:

I swam for 45 minutes this morning without touching the edge of the pool. Thank you Damian for teaching me how to turn efficiently.

Here is my message to Tracy: 
I have good news and bad news. The good news is that the running belt that I could barely close when I bought it is now so big that it slides off my waist and down my butt. The bad news is that I cannot afford to buy one before the triathlon. Since my tri is a week after your tri can I borrow yours? (She said yes)

BTW:
My wetsuit is SO LARGE on me I need a new one.

My first ride with the TEAM

I was SO NERVOUS to bike ride with the TEAM.  We started the season biking indoors at 45-90 minute spin classes held at various gyms in the area.  Sometimes we’d spin together and sometimes individually.  I went to these classes religiously, worked hard and truly felt the pain afterwards, but I had no way of knowing how strong I was compared to the other riders.  The spin coach might tell us to set our bike resistance to a level 7, but our bikes have no numbers.  We each set on our bikes to what feels like a 7 to us.  I may have made been working harder than anyone in the class, or half as hard.  I just couldn’t tell.    

When the weather got warm enough the TEAM started riding outside.  I, unfortunately, missed the first few rides because of my ear infection, bad weather, and trips out of town.  Here comes in the SO NERVOUS part.  In the past I have always been the, or one of the, slowest riders in whatever group that I was with.  Will that happen again?  What if I can’t keep up with the group?  Will they tell me to go home?  Will they get mad because they have to wait for me?  If so, will they let me ride with them again next week?  I was assured over and over again that this would NEVER happen, but I still had an uneasy feeling.  So here comes my first ride with the TEAM……

We met at the Syosset train station and rode 5 miles to the SUNY Old Westbury campus.  There we were supposed to ride a 4 mile loop around the campus 4 times and then ride back to the train station, 26 miles in all.  GREAT!  I figured that the worst case scenario for me would be that I would do 3 loops instead of 4 and I would not hold anybody up.  We started our ride and quickly split into two groups.  I was in the front group.  YEAH!  To be sure, I was the slowest one in the front group, but I was not holding the TEAM up.  When we got the campus we faced a lot of hills and the fast riders broke away from me.  I had a little trouble with my bike so some of the second group caught up to me, but I still wasn’t last.  I’d pass some teammates, some teammates would pass me and we would shout encouraging words to each other and move on. 

After a while a girl names Hillary asked me if I had seen anybody in a while.  I thought about it and realized that I had not.  We stopped our bikes at the beginning/end of the loop and waited for the other riders.  Nobody came.  I waited at the meeting point as she did the loop backwards.  She saw no one.  They left without us.  No, they would never do that.  Steve knew that I was having trouble with my bike.  He would not abandon me 5 miles from my car.  Come to think of it how do we get back to our cars anyway?  We followed the coach here.  Can we remember the way back?  Hillary doesn’t know the area at all, but I am kind of familiar with it.  I think that I can get us back to the train station, maybe not the same way, but we’ll probably get there. 

Hillary is a much stronger rider than I am, but she was patient and stayed with me the whole time.  (I guess that she didn’t have much of a choice if she wanted to find her car.)  When I saw my other teammates a few days later I scolded them for leaving me.  Shari told me that they had only done three loops when Steve, the head coach, told them it was time to go.  She told me that she pointed out that I was not with them but Steve told her that a few riders were staying behind to work hills.  (I am doing the hilly triathlon.  Most of my teammates are doing a flat one.)  They all just assumed that a coach was staying behind with us, or somebody, at the very least, he told us that everyone was leaving.  but no, we were left behind to fend for ourselves.  

I guess that I was right to be nervous after all.

This is what my horoscope says:

Treat yourself today -- be a little bit lazy. There's no harm in relaxing a bit.  

I think that I'll take it to heart.

(Do you think that I would take it to heart if it said "Get off of your butt, onto the bike and up Morrs Hill"?)

Quote(s) of the day

Some of my favorite triathlon quotes found on t-shirts, bumper stickers and training websites:

Whether you think you can or you can’t, you’re right. - Henry Ford

Pain heals.  Chicks dig scars.   Glory… lasts forever. - Shane Falco, The Replacements

Pain is weakness leaving the body.  – U.S.M.C.

Quitting is worse than dying.  When you quit you still have to live with it.  - Unknown 

That which does not kill me makes me stronger – Friedrich Nietzsche

For some sports you need a ball, for triathlon you need two!

Embrace the suck - US Military

How about a threesome?

Swim, bike, run, repeat 

You can keep going and your legs might hurt for a week or you can quit and your mind will hurt for a lifetime. - Mark Allen, Ironman  

Shaved and Tapered

Wetsuit Strippers 

As an athlete, I am ever so grateful that Gatorade was invented at the University of Florida. If Florida State had discovered it, I’d be drinking “Seminole Fluid.”   - too long to put on a t-shirt, but I thought that it was funny

Only a triathlete would call a bottle of sugar water their "Nutrition"  

Life is simple: swim, bike, run, eat, sleep.  

Pain is temporary, quitting is forever. 

Don't drown
Don't crash
Don't walk  

This seemed like an awesome idea 10 months ago

I once met three guys named pain, suffering and sacrifice. Now we are inseparable. We are best friends. - Lance Armstrong  

Racing is a lot like wrestling a gorilla; you don't stop when you get tired you stop when the gorilla gets tired

If your relationship is working you’re not training hard enough.  

If triathlon was easy they would call it football

If I don't beat you on the course....there's always the parking lot!  

  

I'm not slow; I'm just enjoying the race longer

Last is just the slowest winner.

You can't spell TRIUMPH without some TRI at the beginning and a big UMPH at the end!!! ;-)  

Triathlon is for people who can't handle drugs and alcohol. 

Save a bike, ride a triathlete  

I ride my bike more than my girlfriend, but she still loves me.

Size does matter. Use the big ring.  

Almost drowned, crashed the bike, puked on the run. When's the next Tri?

Swim, Bike, Run, Rinse, Repeat  

If it doesn't hurt, you're not going fast enough.  

Most girls chase boys. I prefer to pass them

The only easy day was yesterday

Shut up legs! - Jens Voigt  

PR or ER  

Is your junk numb yet? 

Bet you can't wait to get off that bike – a sign on the bike course

Bet you wish you had your bike back now – a sign on the run course

Swim like your gonna drown, Ride like you stole it and Run like they are chasing you. 

A threesome every weekend 

Triathlon: this much pain is expensive.

Triathlon' is Latin for HTFU - (Harden The F*ck Up)

Why be good at one sport when you can be mediocre at three?

Pain is Temporary but your finishing time is posted on the internet forever

Just keep swimming.  Just keep swimming. - Dory, Finding Nemo (and Chrissy Brooks on my tri-team)

Just keep spinning.  Just keep spinning. - Me

Back on the road again

I’m in pain – OH I’m in pain.

Well, let me back up a bit.  The reason that I haven’t posted to this blog lately is because I was on vacation in Italy!  (The location has nothing to do with this post, except that I am really excited to have gone to Italy.)  Before I left I planned it all out.  I checked out the hotels and found out all that I could about their fitness centers.   I made myself a schedule with no days off.  There was no way that I was going to slack.  I packed tons of workout clothes.  I even packed gear to run outside incase the weather was nice.  Exercise stuff took up half of my suitcase.  When I got to Italy I didn’t do a single thing.  Well, I walked a lot, but that was sight seeing.    I ate, and I drank, and I was merry, but I did not exercise.

I came home on Saturday with the plans to be on the bike the first thing Sunday morning.  I ate and drank and hung out in bed finishing the book that I started on the airplane.  I was merry, but I did not exercise. 

Well, Monday is usually my day off, but guilt took over and I went to the gym.  I ran six miles on Monday (if you can call what I do running), and five plus miles on Tuesday.  Then I swam for an hour and a half.  When I say swam I mean that I swam.  There was no stopping last night.   Today I woke up early and went to an intense spin class. 

Now I am in pain, so much pain.  My legs HURT.  I guess the exercise gods are punishing me for slacking last week.  

Getting worried

I have been able to swim with the help of ear putty and a special ear guard - I just feel that my fitness level just has not gotten back to the point where it was before the infection - and I am tired all the time. I will be in Boston this weekend and Italy the nest two weekends. I'll be able to run, but not bike or swim. I am getting a bit worried. 

We have a winner!

Congratulations to Carol Soumoff - winner of the Amazon Kindle Fire!  I wish you the joy of it.

On the mend

Well, my ear infection has healed and though the perforation is still healing I was able to swim with the assistance of ear putty and a special ear guard.  Sine Tuesday I have actually swam, biked and ran (If you can call what I do running - which it is not).  I'm looking forward to feeling my muscles getting hard again!

Here's a copy of my facebook posts for the last few days.

February 28

Worst ear ache I've ever had...


February 28

Diagnosis: "Wicked ear infection" there goes swimming tonight. Actually, there goes anything that requires me to move my head even the littlest bit.


February 28

OK so now my ear is bleeding.


Wednesday

The doctor confirmed that my ear drum is indeed ruptured. if I wait for it to heal naturally there is no guarantee that it will heal in time for my triathlon, and I can't swim with a ruptured ear drum. There goes the training, there goes the triathlon. I am going to see an ENT specialist this afternoon to see if a synthetic ear drum can be put in.


Wednesday

The doctor is going to check mr again next week. He is confident that I will be able to swim again after that.


22 hours ago

This ear infection has knocked me out. Going to bed now...good night.


8 hours ago

Went to bed at 7:30 last night. I'm still in bed and don't see myself getting up any time soon.


2 seconds ago (6:07pm)

I'm still in bed. I 'm guessing that tomorrow's bike ride will be too much for me. I was too wiped out to run today and, of course, swimming is out. My training is quickly going down the tubes. I can already feel my muscles turning flabby.