Right on Target - 2h47min

There is so much to tell but I'll wait until the race pictures are published to go into details. I hit my goal of finishing in 3 hours, albeit my swim distance was shortened by about 1/3 the distance due to rough waters.

All around fantastic race, I felt alternatively ecstatic, desperate, but happy most of the time. Check back in a few days for details and photos.

As the announcer stated "A novice you are no more once you cross the Tampa Bay water." Call me triathlete from now on : )

Game On!!

The last two weeks of my training were interesting as I ramped up my running, lowered my cycling and attempted to lose weight.

• After almost 4 month of physical therapy and minimal improvements, my doctor said "give up running" which I translated as "no overweight misogynistic man will tell me what I can and cannot do" (a page from Lost's John Locke's book). See the photo below of my longest run ever (10 miles), happy but too exhausted to keep my eyes open.
  
• Cycling without cycling shoes, in the April rain, last of the pack and with the occasional Friday night hangover casualty is no fun so I simply stood out the sessions.
• The weight loss shakes should be banned. They taste like granulated sand paper. The rest (pills, cleansing juice and 1500 calorie diet) tested my nervous system... I was very irritated and starved, and after 3 days I quit to have steak and a few glasses of wine with Grace. I never felt happier to have a 1000 calorie meal again vs. Lean Cuisine/Energy Kitchen/Eating Well tiny meals.
• I resumed the second half of the diet plan. So far... I'm still starved and sleep like a log. 1 day left but I did succeed in fitting in my friend Sara's size 2 dress, which is my target outfit for a wedding this summer (you know I'm an obsessed long term planner).
  

1 WEEK LEFT UNTIL RACE DAY! I'd like to pre-emptively reward myself for making it this far with a juicy steak, but I'm only allowed 740 calories for the rest of the day so I suppose it will wait another week. Sigh.

Training Log

Week 13

• 1 h swim
• 1h30 bike
• 2:30 run
  

Week 14

• 1h swim
• 2h05 bike
• 2:05 run
  

Spring Awakening

My mind/body collapsed week 11 as a result of high pollen count/ drastic temperature change and a new job. Good excuse to stay out of the pool, but I did put the extra energy towards super charged workouts with coach Rob who is back from a month long training/ vacation. Despite nearly barfing in spin class, I stayed for the treadmill class where coach Rob - like he does for all the sports - told me to change my entire running style for another more efficient method which is easier on my hips and faster.

On Saturday I attended my first long bike ride with the triathlon team. Despite blue skies and sunshine, we all froze our athlete butts riding upstate and back about 30 miles. During the run, it felt as if I had a rod under my left foot. I think the cold had numbed my foot.

Week 12, I miraculously recovered and went back to swim class which was a downer as coach rob demoted me back to the catch up drill vs. swimming free style like the other students. This was a definite low of my week. In the land of the triathletes, I am a little worse than s***. As father would say, I can only go up from here.

Which I did on Saturday's long ride, passing many cyclists on the road, and Sunday's jog, passing every single Sunday joggers.

For the anecdote, my matching blue cycling shoes disappeared at the gym on Thursday, so I switched back to the "cage" pedals making me look like a complete amateur on the roads. I can only win some.

Training Log Weeks 11 & 12

Week 11:

• 5:15 hours bike
• 1:25 run

Week 12:

• 45 min swim
• 4:50 hours bike
• 55 min run
  

Training Update Week 10

• 1:30 swim
• 3:00 bike
• 40 minutes run (in two bricks of 45 min bike + 10 min run & 90 min bike + 30 min run)

Several highlights this week:

• promoted to the medium speed swimming lane and swom free style the entire hour, never more than 30 seconds rest between drills/ speed trials. My mind game: trying to catch up to the swimmer ahead of me. Besides swallowing gallons of pool water and being constantly out of breath, I managed and felt terrific. Next is to learn to rotate my body when i swim vs. swimming "flat."
  
• first outdoor brick of the year. Effortless bike ride and run to get used to the distance and the bike.
• practice with my new toys: clip ons on the bike (i did NOT fall yet), sunglasses with the yellow lenses (awesome, could not feel them), Zoot shirt and the "pampers" cycling shorts for the run.

My goal for St Anthony is to finish under 3 hours, with very conservative estimates:

• 30 minutes for the 0.9 mile swim
• 90 minutes for 25 mile ride
• 1 hour for the 6.2 mile run
  

If I'm lucky, i'll do 2:45.

The weight loss is going the OPPOSITE direction. I make too many exceptions...

Trip Down Memory Lane

My parents passed all their frugality genes onto my brother, leaving me constantly scrambling to meet my endless materialistic needs. So despite dreaming of traveling around the US and the world, most of the time I'm "stuck" in New York getting my nails done or cooking up something delicious and expensive.

Hugo took pity on me and offered me his United voucher, earned after finding a snail in his salad on a flight (he promised he did not bring the snail with him on the flight). Only to a Frenchman! So I booked my flight to Chicago, my first adopted US city and home of loving friends and fine, college memories.

First destination, the Original Pancake House for my favorite breakfast: a fluffy spinach and cheese omelette with a side of delicious pancakes. Trust me, the best eggs/pancakes are eaten in the Midwest. Period.



Even triathlon coach Kimberly cannot resist this diet busting dish.



Second destination, the Gold Coast/ Magnificent Mile, the "Champs-Elysees" or "Fifth Avenue" of Chicago.

Trump's new tower was in construction when I was last in the city, and I was pleasantly surprised by how it turned out.



The Art Institute's new contemporary art wing channels NY's MET museum with views over the Millenium Park and classic masterpieces by Pollocks, Rothko, Klein and Magritte. Admittedly, I liked the Art Institute's collection better than the MET's but probably because I'm so tired of the MET's tiny collection.


The Bean with the cityscape and my own reflections always tickles my narcissism and aesthetism. I like ovals and mirrors, always loved Brancusi. Find me in the second picture.


The highlight of the trip was the pig marrow at The Purple Pig. Short Ribs and Pig's Ears were not bad either.



Kimberly & hubby Nandan



Ian and wife/rock star Lauren

Training Update

Week 8
1:10 Swim
1:30 Bike
1:30 Yoga

Week 9
1:30 Swim
3:10 Bike
0:25 Run (brick 45 min bike + 10 min run & 45 min bike + 15 min run)

Swimming improved, I'm one of the fastest swimmers of the slow lane now. Started mini runs after spinning, with stretching afterwards. Let's see on Tuesday what my PT says.

Jazzed by my improved skills, I signed up for another triathlon in Connecticut. This one looks a little hilly. I'll have 5 weeks after St Anthony to prep hill training.

Rather than shop for little black dresses and heels, I completed my tri wardrobe with a pump and tri sunglasses. Now do you think I should ask my drop dead gorgeous cyclist neighbor to help pump my bike back to health? I'm not sure I'm doing it right....

Water Brute

At last, today the water made that "clash" sound during my solo swim practice. The swim coach had advised women tend to not want to "hurt the water," causing a weak arm reach into the water. No sound. Today, I imagined myself as my swim coach, Robert, whose arms brutally hit the water. No grace, just sheer, brute force. Well at least that's what it looks like to me.

I swam 1,000 yards with 10 seconds rest every 100 yards. That's 2/3 the distance I have to swim on race day. With the Open Water factor, I have to train to swim 2,000 yards comfortably.

On another note, today's spring time. I didn't have to walk into the night to the gym this morning and I wish I hadn't left my sunglasses at home because the sun's mighty bright.

Perfect day to get back to a, cleaner/leaner lifestyle. I've decided to "stop" caffeine until Friday - I've over-indulged and it's time to let it go for a while in order to enjoy it when it's back in my life.

Workout Recap

Week 6

• Strength 45 minutes
• Bike 2 hours 25 minutes
• Hiking 7 hours
  
• Ice climbing = 45 minutes (?)
  

Week 7

• Swim 45 minutes
• Bike 2 hours 45 minutes

Back to Boring

After the hike, I felt like I had literally been driven over by a truck so it took me a few days to make it back to the gym. In addition, I haven't monitored my weight well over the last few weeks. With the triathlon in two months however, I have to get rid of the chub again to avoid lugging all that "junk" during the race.

So what's my action plan? Back to Hugo's rules of thumb:

• No more than 2 servings of dessert per week
• Veggies and fruit snacks, not chips or other junk
• No cheese and bread at home
  
• No alcohol all of April through race day
• Low/ good carbs

Ironically, after my post about swimming, I have not practiced much and still suck. I might have to attend two swim classes per week vs. 1, thereby forfeiting my yoga class Wednesday night in favor of Brad Cole's swim class in the West Village. Anyone out there to go with me?

The Bad Trend....

An Austrian Where She Belongs

The weekend in Lake Placid, NY, with Dymanic Outdoors was the perfect opportunity to forget about triathlon training for a little bit.

Chapter 1: Ice Climbing
Igor, Fearless Leader, Stephan, and everyone else hiked up the wall of ice and bare rocks like graceful chamois.

Experienced ice climbers making it look too easy...


On my the fourth attempt, I cursed and kicked my crampons at the ice, which seemed to work.

The person circled in red is me. Soon after, the girl on my left generated an ice shower, forcing me down... and my legs and arms started shaking so I figured better to quit by my own will than falling.



Chapter 2: Dinner at the House

Igor had rented a swanky house in Lake Placid with a kitchen large enough to cook lavish meals for the group of 20 hungry hikers. Our guides kindly cooked pasta meatballs from scratch while we enjoyed libations. Eventually someone brought out a bottle of Jagermeister. Big mistake....

Still Merry... Igor had not announced the 5:30am wake up time yet


Chapter 3: Mount Marcy's 7 Hour Hike

Mount Marcy, the highest peak in New York at 5,343 feet, requires a 14.8 mile hike through the forest, in the snow, with snowshoes. All firsts for me.

I started last in the "slow group", but being me, I was first to summit, bouncing and yapping my way up. It took 4 hours to hike up to the summit and 3 hours back, ending with the LONGEST mile ever. Even my trained muscles were hurting by hour 3.5, so you imagine the pain of the journey back.

With Natalia, the fastest hiker of the group. She helped a few laggards get to the summit otherwise we would have made it up together.


We're still below tree line, protected from the wind chill. My heart melts at the sight of the pine trees weighted down by the fresh snow.


Resting "below tree line" before rising to the stormy summit


Trying not to get blown away by the wind on my way up


With Eric, the guide who motivated me to keep going and going and going. And yes, I'm wearing a Pucci scarf.


Epilogue
I rewarded myself with a cheeseburger and fries from Roy Rogers on the road back to New York. I know, gross.

So now I'm planning my next summit, probably a spring/ summer hike. Mom: you never know, I might meet a nice mountain guy, complete with the plaid shirt and icicled beard on these trips.