New York City Marathon Training Day 80 - Huffing and Puffing at the Track

Today, I hit the track at Suffolk Community College which has an infield of real grass slightly browning from the heat and sun.  A kid and his Dad was practicing with a soccer ball.  A few runners were doing loops and a few sprinters were striding on the far end doing 100 meters at a time.

Unfortunately I was short on time as I had to get on a conference call in less than an hour.  I warmed up with a mile easy run then did some short drills. then proceeded to do 
400 - 800 - 400 - 400 - 800 - 400 intervals with a full recovery in between.

There was a tailwind blowing south to north as I started down the first 200 yards, then I had to fight the wind going back to the starting point.  I was really tough and I could feel that I could not go any faster without puking or fainting.

By the last interval, I was sucking wind.  One of the sprinters reminded me to breathe through my nose and it helped slow my breathing down.

Irene made it to the track about an hour later and saw me do my last loop.  She was going to work out with our coach and team mates, while I had a conference call with Team for Kids for Mentors,

Cool that I have an opportunity to Mentor a new class for Team for Kids!!!

New York City Marathon Training Day 77 - Getting our Wet Suit on for Memorial Day

For Memorial Day, my triathlon team started our day with a swim at Wildwood Lake.  The last time I did open water swimming was when I did Ironman Arizona and that was almost 6 months ago.  Since then, I have swum a few times in the pool, but nothing substantial to maintain my swim fitness.  Irene on the other hand had been going to a masters swim class twice a week and she has been kicking butt.
I am always so amazed with Irene.  She has really improved in all areas of triathlon.  A couple of years ago, she could barely swim!  Now she swims much better than me!
Irene and I squeezed into our Xterra Wetsuits, which was easier than I thought it would be.  I guess the winter has not expanded our waistlines too much :)  For me, running has been the priority as most of you know.  For Irene, she has been working hard with Tri Training!
My concerns about the water temperature disappeared as soon as my tippy toes touched the edge of the water.  It wasn't that bad as I reminded myself of how refreshing swimming in open water can be, especially in our lake!

Our teammates gathered around to take a picture and off we went to the other side of the lake.  About 20 of us dipped our heads into the water breathing one side or the other side.  For me, I could feel the drag that my swim fitness has plummeted from not wanting to swim and my shoulders started to ache.
I kept my strokes and breathing steady to make sure I did not panic, but about 1/4 towards the otherside, the glare made me pause and tread water for a few seconds to see where I was going.  I could not see where the sign was that I would normally swim towards.  At the same time, my season opening sea sickness started to kick in as it has for the past 2 years.  It usually subsides as the season progresses, but that queasy first feeling is uncomfortable.
I stopped about 3/4 to the otherside and stopped.  Irene was nearby with Jackie.  I yelled over, I am heading back.  She and Jackie headed towards the farside of the lake.  About 10 minutes later I was back on dry ground. 

I stripped out of my wetsuit and waited for Irene!  She was all smiles with her Orange Swim Buoy in tow. She swam really well and ready to take on her next race!

New York City Marathon Training Day 62 - Getting Baked on Mother's Day

After making Blueberry Pancakes for Irene for Mother's Day, I finally headed out for my 90 minute run.   I could not find my water bottle belt, so I put a water bottle in the mailbox and decided to head out 15 minutes and come back in 15 minutes to hydrate.  I did my best to stay in the shade but at the time of day I ran, the sun was overhead and not enough shade to be found.  The whole time I thought I need some sunscreen right now!  While I was suppose to do an easy run, my neighborhood is full of hills!  I was soaked from sweat!

New York City Marathon Training Day 61 - Head Over Heels!

My family is part of a great triathlon team, the Wildwood Warriors, and in the group there is a contingency appropriately named Vamps.  Lead by my friend, Christina who gathers early risers prior to sunrise to get feast on their workouts and start the day strong.  In fact, that is how I got involved with WW, but that is another story.

Irene and I saw a post by Christina about riding around our University starting at 5:00am.  Since Irene was schedule to do a 35 mile bike ride, it made sense to join our Vamp Friends.  So Irene commented that she would join, which means I would go along, and enough time before Elijah had to do this 5K race.

At 4:15am the alarm clock buzzed once and I turned on the light on my nightstand and said to Irene, "We got to go!"  She hopped out of bed and put on her riding gear.  We both prepped our bike gear and rolled out around 4:50 as we headed into the mist and darkness to congregate with our teammates.

At 4:52 am, I looked over my left shoulder to make sure Irene was behind me and she wasn't.  As soon as I turned my head forward, I was heading towards the side of the road.  With the application of the brakes, my eyes widened as I looked at the ground in front of the bike, then I noticed my legs hovering in the sky as my bike made an appearance in the memory snapshot before landing on me.  Surprisingly, I kicked the TARDIS off of me, as laid on the ground for a moment.  Yes, I fell Head Over Heels for Irene, again!

"Are you ok?" as Irene wheeled up.  I mumbled, "Yeah." in disbelief at what happened.  "I'm ok." as I stood to gather my bearings feeling a throb in my left hip and below my right knee.   I took another minute to assess myself to make sure I can still ride.  Without batting an eyelash, Irene was down the block.  I did a mental, "Really!"

Eventually, I roll up with the Vamps chuckling at my mishap.  

Around mile 15, we paused for a break and I looked at my gash.  It looked like my scrapes were clotted up, and we continued on.   Later on, after cleaning myself up, it looks like the TARDIS' big ring slashed at me.

The Vamps managed a 55/56 mile bike followed by a 45 minute run.  Irene had a PR of 36 hilly miles and completed her workout with a 20 minute run off the bike.  She did fantastic!

A great training day!  I am so proud of her!!!  And Elijah had a strong pace of 10:08 min mile.  Now off to Mother's Day for Irene's Mom!

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