Going Long

It's happening. I'm starting to get into that territory where I am running more miles per week than I actually drive. Seriously. Considering I live 3.2 miles from where I work - and where I work also happens to be where I work out - I do very little driving each day. But when you count in trips to the grocery store, trips to the firehouse, trips to various other errand-places, the weekly mileage adds up. But after my long run today, I started thinking that I probably drive less miles each week than I run. That's scary.

This past Sunday's race (which I know I have still not written a report, but will get to eventually - I swear) was the last race on my triathlon calendar, so from here on out - it's strictly running. Well, I say that, but as long as the weather is nice I will probably throw in a few bike rides here and there and I might actually get back into the pool at some point, especially considering the beating my legs have been taking over the past few weeks.

I gave myself an off-day on Monday and spent the afternoon on the golf course, albeit NOT golfing. Instead, I had the pleasure of enjoying a gorgeous Monday not stuck in the office watching exceptionally bad golfers hack their way through a par 3. It really was awful. A majority of them had either A) never actually golfed, B) were too drunk to swing correctly, or C) a combination of the two. Considering they spent roughly $600 (which, considering this was a charity event, I'm sure was tax deductible), I wanted to advise them that next time, their $600 would be better spent on golf lessons, rather than an actual round. But nonetheless,

That's Tammy - my PIC (partner in crime). We bonded over balls and greens.

I could have been in worse places. Lucky for me, I didn't have to go to the cocktail hour - which seems odd because who has ever heard those words come out of my mouth? But I found out that by "volunteering" at the cocktail hour, you were also not allowed to have said cocktails - which is just ridiculous. Instead, I spent the evening getting my a**hole ripped through at a five and under meeting at the firehouse. I love getting yelled at for other people's mistakes - it's, like, totally my fave (sarcasm font on).

Tuesday I was back at it with a nine miler around Greenlawn. Nothing too strenuous - nice steady pace to get the legs going. Greenlawn is a good loop because the elevation rarely changes so you can keep it nice and easy (this is called foreshadowing). Wednesday I had an early client, which got me up and out of the house for the day - and also forced me to get my workout done early. On tap was a short, easy five miles around Huntington Bay. It's a normal loop that I do from work but it's got these two short, steep hills that are a pain in the ass to get up. It's not that they are long and steady - oh no. They are short and pretty much straight uphill, which makes them even worse. I'll take a long steady climb over those two bad boys any day of the week.

Today I opted to do my long run in the morning before work. I knew that if it didn't get done today, it wouldn't get done and the marathon is only 6 weeks away so I'm starting to run out of days to actually do my long runs. And I have also run out of excuses about upcoming triathlons and events - damn. So it looks like from here on out, I will actually have to run long when my training plan tells me to run long. Ugh. This marathon thing is so much work!

Anyway, so I did my longest training run so far - 20 oh-so-painful miles. I opted, for some reason unbeknownst to me as I sit here now, to run down to Crab Meadow beach and then through Northport and back to Huntington. That was a mistake. I don't know why I thought that this route wasn't that hilly. For some ungodly reason, in my head this route was relatively painless and easy. In reality, this was not the case. This route when straight downhill, which only meant that I had to, at some point on this trek, make my way back uphill. That occurred somewhere around the ten mile mark - and the roughly :45 seconds that I fell off pace can attest to that.

There's a picture for all you sadists out there who would like a detailed vision on my pain.

When I got done, I seriously thought about collapsing. There was a very big part of me that wanted to lay down on my front lawn and take a nap. Lucky for my neighbors, I made it downstairs before collapsing in a heap right inside my doorway. (Actually, this is much more dramatic sounding than it actually was. I believe I did slowly lower myself to a sitting position on the floor before making it all the way down into a laying position. My floor is basically concrete so collapsing would have hurt - and I was already hurting enough.) I finally got up after about three minutes and stumbled to the kitchen where I retrieved these three items:

Chocolate/vanilla protein shake. Coke. Gatorade. (The bottle of Jack was, unfortunately, not consumed. Shame though, because I really could have used it.) With my liquids assembled, I grabbed the one I needed most - the Jack Coke - and stumbled to the shower. Having a can of Coke in the shower is not really as fun as having a beer in the shower, but it would have to do. I decided that standing in the shower would take way too much effort so I opted to sit in the shower and proceeded to wash my hair and body from this seated position. At some point I realized that there was a strong possibility that I might not be able to get myself up and out of the tub. I felt a little bit like this woman probably felt:

Only I was in the shower and my Life Alert was no where to be found. So I had to make a decision - either sit here in the shower and probably fall asleep and drown (and then have a Lifetime movie made about how ironic it is that I am a triathlete and swimmer and I drowned in my bathtub while taking a SHOWER. Pink would play me. What? It's my blog, I can cast it however I want.) or figure out a way to get out of the shower without ripping down the shower curtain and/or hurting myself.

I managed to get myself up and dressed before collapsing in a heap on the couch to watch mindless television and take an epic nap before going to work. The moral of this story kids: don't do your long runs in the middle of the week, when no one is home and the possibility of drowning in your shower is present. Also, no one (and by "no one" I mean SJ) was home to make me a sandwich or cure my running-induced hunger, so I had to make my own food, which sucked. Oh, and when you run during the week you also cannot have an adult beverage as they are frowned upon before work.

I'm sticking to the weekends from now on.

Fall Events and Also, Give Me Money!

So there are a lot of great things happening over the next couple of weeks so everybody quick, grab your calendar and write these dates down because they are important!

Sunday, September 29th - (that's THIS Sunday, for those of you who ignored my previous request to get your calendars and therefore don't even know what today's date is, let alone when September 29th is) There are two fantastic events going on in the City of New York:

Tunnel to Towers - follow the path that FDNY Firefighter Stephen Siller ran back to the towers to help his fellow brothers and sisters on 9/11. The course starts at IKEA in Red Hook and takes you through the Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel and up to the site of the World Trade Center. As you run through the honor guard after you exit the tunnel, give yourself a minute to take it all in - it's something you won't forget.

After you've sweated out Saturday night's bevies at the 5k, come on down to Amity Hall (on W 3rd Street, between Thompson and Sullivan Streets near Washington Square Park) and help Shannon and I raise money for our New York City Marathon charities and gain back all that, ahem, "water weight" you just lost! Or, if running ain't your thang, just come on over starting around 1pm and help us as we try to consume as many beverages as we will run miles on Marathon Sunday! Booze specials, free appetizers, raffle prizes and football on the TVs. Sounds like a good Sunday to me.

Friday/Saturday, October 4-5 - Ragnar Washington DC. We are one runner short for our 12 person team so we are looking for any interested runners. Doesn't matter your speed or experience - as long as you are willing to ride in a minivan, run/jog (soft "j") a bit and have fun, you are the perfect candidate. Let me know if you are interested and I can get it set up!

Sunday, October 20th - Seaside Half Marathon and 5K - come down to Seaside Heights and help them recover from the 6-alarm fire that ripped through the town a few weeks ago. The race is still on, and if there's ever a time to get out and going for a good cause, this would be it! It's a flat and fast course right along the water and lunch is served afterwards. If you happen to be a Monmouth Alum, Homecoming is the day before so if you're planning a trip down to the shore to celebrate being a Hawk, think about signing up and running/walking/volunteering the next day!

Ongoing!

Help me meet my fundraising goals of $2,500 for the Marcie Mazzola Foundation. Click Here to go to my personal fundraising page and get me over the hump! I promise to buy you a really cheap beer the next time I see you. Every little bit counts.

Whirlwind Weekend

Whew! I'm back. Is it really Monday? I feel like this weekend was more than two days long. Oh wait - that's because I had a THREE day weekend. I know, you can be jealous now.

On Friday we hit the road for a trip down to Maryland for my cousin Matthew's wedding. We took the rando way of cutting through PA for most of the trip out to western MD, which also meant that we got to stop at the hunting mecca of the world - Cabela's. For those of you not in the know - or perhaps don't get magazines like this or this or know the difference between a 12 gauge and a 20 gauge shotgun - Cabela's is quite possibly the Costco of hunting, fishing and various other outdoor activities. I mean, they have this inside:

And also, you can find things like this:

Those two people in the back are not at all happy to be in this picture.

So anyway, we stopped at Cabela's so that I could buy a knife (no, really) and stayed for what was possibly the shortest amount of time anyone has ever spent in the store before heading back on the road. By the time we hit Gettysburg, I thought for sure that SJ's head was going to explode due to the long duration of time spent in a vehicle - I guess our foray into Cabela's wasn't enough to keep her going.

We got to the hotel and tried to check in only to find that our rooms were not ready yet. Suckers. Of course they wouldn't be ready yet! We only drove from Long Island and are craving a shower, a run and a nap (not in that order, mind you) to prepare our bodies for the obscene amount of liquor liquid that we would be imbibing shortly, so why would our rooms be ready? So SJ and I opted to forgo the nap (luckily for everyone else, we chose to omit this one and not the shower) and just go for a run. So much for those 6 miles at race pace that I was supposed to be banging out - oops. I maybe managed two miles before calling it a wash and heading back to the hotel to get ready.

Shower beer anyone? Why, yes please! Can't go to a wedding without a little Dutch courage! Oh, you mean you don't need Dutch courage when it's not your own wedding? Whelp, oh well! Beer me!

Shower beers drank. Hair did. Make-up done. Clothes on. Off to the wedding.

It. Was. Fantastic. There were multiple reasons why this may have been such a good time - the booze, the dancing, the booze while dancing, red velvet cupcakes, family reunion. I suspect it was probably a combination of everything said above, as well as the fact that we were celebrating such an awesome event. Here are a few pictures to satisfy your interest:

As you can tell, the ceremony was gorgeous - beautiful venue and the perfect day, and then it was on to the cocktail hour and reception. Unfortunately I was having too much fun to take any pictures at the reception, and also, it's really hard to hold two drinks and a camera at the same time so whatever, use your imagination. Or go stalk me on Facebook.

Saturday morning we woke up to this disaster - 

Apparently, in the middle of the night, someone came in and ransacked our hotel room. Or it could have been us. I'm not sure. We are still working with police to put the pieces of the puzzle back together. (Side note: Walking home from the after party we were stopped by the police and questioned about where we were going. Shockingly enough, he said that we were being quite loud. Never would have thought it.)

I had to hit the road Saturday afternoon with Michael while SJ, pops and Mary stayed for the post-wedding gathering at my aunt and uncle's house. I had the Huntington Sprint Tri on Sunday morning, so needed to get home at a somewhat decent hour so that when 4:30am rolled around Sunday morning I wasn't too much of a zombie. After a throwback car ride where we were forced to pay cash for every toll because Michael had somehow managed to get his EZ-Pass taken away, we arrived home in one piece around 9ish. I barely had time to close my eyes before my alarm went off on Sunday morning and I was up and at it for the triathlon.

I'll give a full race report later on about the Huntington Sprint, but I can let you know that it turned into more of a duathlon rather than a sprint due to someone not reading the farmer's almanac and knowing that it would be low tide at the time of the race start. FAIL!

After the race, mamadukes and I hung out for a little on the beach before heading home. The day was too nice to be spent inside so we wandered over to Cow Harbor Day in Northport to treat ourselves to some ice cream after a job well-done in the morning's race. After that, it was back home to hang out with SJ (who had finally arrived home after getting stuck in the city with a front row seat to some kind of parade) and Jer for an afternoon of football and an evening of the Emmy's (and also football, since there was no way I could watch a three whole hours of the Emmy's without killing myself).

Essentially, I got nothing done training-wise this weekend. My two mile run on Friday hardly qualifies as training and I didn't do a long run after the tri yesterday. I need to manage to squeak an 18 miler in this week somewhere, though, since I can count yesterday's effort as speed work. I don't have my full numbers with me right now so I can't give you a breakdown, but I had a decently high running mileage week again, even without the long run. 

I hope everyone that raced this weekend in the Cow Harbor 10k and any other events did well and enjoyed their respective races! And I would also like to give a shout out to Jenny D., who told me she is now up to running three miles - I see a hungover 5k in Seaside in your future, girl.

Quickie

Quick update for the weekend - longer one to follow tomorrow.

Wedding weekend was amazing. Had a great time catching up with the family and celebrating Matt and Bridget's wedding on Friday.

Huntington Tri this morning was great - full race report soon - and then i spent a gorgeous fall day at Cow Harbor Day in Northport where mamadukes and I treated ourselves with some homemade ice cream. (Not homemade by us. Are you kidding me? I don't have that much free time!)

Now it's time for a little Sunday night football and some Emmy action thrown in to keep the Mrs. happy. Remember friends - happy wife means a happy life.

The Loop

I know, I know. I've been slacking since my weekly update. However, good thing for me I have only been slacking on my blogging and not on my actual training. Unfortunately for you, that meant that over these past two days you have had to find something else to occupy your time during work hours bathroom breaks.

I started off Monday with a short, easy 4 miler. Something I like to call the usual, or also, the loop. If you are a runner/walker/jogger (with a soft "j") of any kind, even the shortest distances, then you will know what I'm talking about. This is your old stand-by. This is the loop that you run/walk/jog (soft "j"!) without even thinking about it. When you don't really have a route picked out and you're not even really sure how long you want to go for, this is the run that your feet automatically take you on. You don't have to think - your legs know exactly where the turns are, exactly where the hills are, exactly where the pot holes are. It's a run you go on when you don't want to think - or a run you go on when you just need to go out to think. Either way, it's your loop.

Here's what my loop looks like:

It's a relatively easy course. That huge "hill" is actually only about 50 feet long and takes me roughly five seconds to get up - and that about sums up the elevation. I'm not gonna lie - it's an easy run, but if it was difficult, I probably wouldn't want it to be my loop. I mean, really - if you're gonna pick something to run over and over again when you don't really want to think that much, are you going to pick a route that has massive elevation changes? Sure, I guess if you live in the Rockies and you have no choice - but if you lived in the Rockies you have the added bonus of running and training at elevation and that just makes me jealous.

So Monday I did the loop, and then last night I hit the track - so I guess I did lots of loops. I had repeats on the menu - 5 x 1600s and then 4 x 800s. Ugh. I can't wait until these 1600s are over. They really are the worst.

Tangent: SJ played hookey from school because she wasn't feeling well so she came with me because she wanted to get outside in the fresh air. I realize that most normal sick people just want to stay at home on the couch - but remember, we have the world's smallest couches and they actually aren't that great to sleep on all day. I've tried. I also have sat on them multiple times with my swamp-ass shorts after long runs, so they probably have some kind of bacteria breading on them as well. Yum!

So off we went to the track in the early evening - I wanted to bang these repeats out before I lost the light, and the heat. Because apparently there was a frost advisory in the weather forecast for the evening (really!). I only did a mile warm-up because I was both conscious of the fact that SJ wasn't feeling well and was walking around the track and I had to hurry to get everything in before I lost the light.

Apparently I was in so much of a hurry that my warm-up mile split was a 7:44. Oops.

Here's the breakdown:

Mile 1: 6:44.6
Mile 2: 6:51.7
Mile 3: 6:55.6
Mile 4: 6:50.6
Mile 5: 6:39.3 <-- That one hurt.

I only had enough time to get two 800s in - by the time I finished my 1600s the sun was fading fast and my fingers felt like they might fall off. And I have also taken to wearing short shorts while running because they are comfortable (I know, crazy right?!) and I didn't get the memo about the frost advisory until after I ran.

Here's how they broke down:

1. 3:08.2
2. 3:03.4

Sooooo, those were way under the 3:30 time they needed to be in order to be true Yasso 800s, but it still felt good to know I could bang out a couple of sub-3:10 800 splits, even if it was just two of them. Makes me wish I had kept going and did those other two I was supposed. But my wifely duties called and I needed to get SJ home for some grilled cheese and tomato soup - the perfect dinner when you're under the weather!

Today I had a super busy day - training in the morning, then my own workout, then fire department training all night (more on that another time). I did manage to get a great bike ride in, however. Seeing as how I do have a race this upcoming Sunday, it's probably important to at least ride my bike once or twice this week. So count today as once. I went out to Asharoken and then did part of the bike course for the race this weekend. It's got some short, steep climbs that are going to be some leg burners, but it's fairly short at only 9.8 miles so it will (hopefully) be a quick ride. The roads are a little beat up and there are a few technical turns that will be problematic depending on the number of riders on the course but I'll manage.

I don't work until later tomorrow so I'm hoping to (gasp) swim tomorrow before work. I know, I can't believe it myself. Quick run in the morning and then off to the pool for my first swim since the Nation's Tri. Grueling.

Happy training for those of you gearing up for the Cow Harbor 10k this weekend!

Weekly Wrap-Up: High Mileage Alert

Whew, what a weekend. I spent most of yesterday in a haze of football, wings and beers - and woke up in the middle of the night with what could only be called a hangover. I know, I must be getting old if my hangovers are starting to wake me up in the middle of the night just to let me know that, yes, I was in fact over served. Although, when my alarm went off this morning I was in quite the chipper mood, so maybe there's something to be said about getting your hangover pains out of the way at 2:00am.

Either way, onto the wrap up!

Number of Miles Ran: 41. This is an all-time mileage high for me. And it definitely came at the expense of forgoing the other two sports, as I slacked immensely in those areas.

Number of Miles Biked: 0. Oh, that's so sad. I promise to be better this week.

Number of Yards Swam: Also 0. Although this isn't that big of a shock, considering I usually never swim anyway. However, I did think about getting up yesterday morning to swim - but I never made it past the "thinking about" stage of the process.

Number of Coors Lights Consumed: 1. But that's only because I kept refilling my pint glass before it was actually completely empty. So, in actuality, this number is probably closer to 20. Oops.

On a different note, as I'm sure many of you heard/saw, last week another travesty hit the Jersey Shore when a 6-alarm fire ripped through Seaside Heights, taking out a big chunk of their newly-reconstructed boardwalk. Having spent some time drinking lots of beer and playing lacrosse in the armpit of America great state of New Jersey during my college days at Monmouth, this was disheartening to hear and see. However, fear not fellow runners/triathletes/friends/drinkers, for you can do your part to help put Seaside back together. On Sunday, October 20th, the Ocean Running Club will be holding their annual Seaside Half-Marathon and 5k. While this usually starts and ends on the boardwalk, this year there will be some adjustments made - BUT THE RACE WILL GO ON! Even if you're not a runner, if you have the time, come down to the Jersey Shore and volunteer for the morning or help cheer on the runners. Together we can all help bring the Jersey Shore back to life for the second time!

Hill Repeats and Humidity

I immediately regret the decision I made to sit down on the couch just now to write this, as I just finished up a 7 mile hill workout and it's roughly 90* with 600% humidity outside right now. Our couch is now ruined - sorry SJ.

It's been a few days since I've given you all a training update, so let me fill you in on the goings on since Sunday's race. Monday I gave myself an off day - I'm pretty sure I earned that one, seeing as how I hit all my A goals on Sunday. Tuesday I eased myself back into the swing of things with an easy 6.5 miles. The first part of the run felt absolutely awful - it was like my legs were made out of cinder blocks. Every step was a disaster. But as I reached the halfway point, I started to get loose and hit a groove in my pacing, so things started falling back into place.

Wednesday I took off again - I had a workout scheduled but because I felt like such crap on Tuesday and my legs were still tired when I woke up Wednesday I wanted another day of recovery. I can really only use this whole "I had my A race this past weekend" excuse for another few days so I really want to get all the mileage (pun intended!) out of it that I can.

My work schedule has changed for the fall and I don't have to be into work until the early afternoon on Wednesdays and Thursdays, which is great because I can get my workouts done in the morning before going into work rather than spend all day thinking up excuses as to how I can get out of them in the afternoon now. This morning I used free time to get a nice long hill workout done - and there is a strong possibility I will need a nap before going into work because of it.

Rather than using the same hill I have been doing all of repeats on, I decided to go crazy and pick another one. I ran across town to a place that we used to do hill repeats on when I ran winter track in high school (shout out to the TP!). It's a little further away than I would prefer, but the incline is a lot more gradual and straight than the hill I've been using. I thought that this would make it - while not actually be easier - at least seem like it.

It did not.

I don't know what I was thinking but this was not at all any easier. I seem to remember these repeats not sucking so much when I was in high school - and then I remembered that I also did not drink nearly as often in high school (sorry to shatter the illusion that underage kids don't drink - I know that you are all shocked to hear this) nor did I think going to wing night and pounding down 15 wings was an appropriate dinner. I will let you know that those wings threatened a return trip back up my esophagus somewhere around the fifth repeat, though.

So, as you can see from the elevation chart above, I did 7 repeats on the not-as-easy-as-I-thought-it-would-be hill. I did a nice easy 2.75 mile warm up run there and then knocked out the repeats. The hill itself is pretty long, but I decided from the outset that I would count up five telephone poles and stop there. It ended up being just about .15 of a mile. In the future I might make these repeats longer and aim for a quarter mile, but seeing as how I was doing seven I didn't want to push it. Here's the breakdown:

1. 52.8
2. 56.8
3. 53.1
4. 50.6
5. 50.1
6. 51.6
7. 50.5

I chose a different route home - one that was more direct and also, by the looks of it, one that could count as an eighth repeat. It really didn't seem this big on the run, although I guess after running uphill seven times in a row things aren't always exactly what they seem to be. Note for future hill repeats: run this on the way to the hill, rather than the way home.

One thing I did notice from looking over the stats from the run was that my rest time crept up each time I finished a repeat, which means I need to do a better job of giving myself more rest in the beginning so I don't die by the end.

I don't do repeats again for another two weeks, but it will be my highest total at 8 and then I will start to go back down as I get closer to race week. Looking at the calendar, I have three more scheduled hill repeat workouts - including the 8 repeater - so I'm thinking that the other two weeks I will do less repeats but a longer distance. I am also hoping that by then the weather will have cooled down somewhat and I won't have to continue to ruin my couch as I write these reports.


On a slightly deeper note, yesterday was the 12th anniversary of 9/11 - a day that most of us will never forget. I didn't write a post because I think that we all reflect on that day in different ways and sometimes, the more things that get thrown at us about a topic, the more we tend to tune them out. However, I read a quote that I thought was pretty poignant and hit home so wanted to share it with everyone:

"On September 10th twelve years ago, millions of Americans went to bed quietly, with no thought that when they woke up their world would change forever. That night, thousands slept with loved ones for the last time. That night, hundreds packed bags that they would never open. One never knows what a new day has in store. Let us live each day to the fullest, and never miss a chance to tell those dearest to you that you love them. So tonight, and every night, if you have someone in your life that you love - tell them. . ."

Race Report: The Nation's Triathlon

For the most part, I can say that this race is probably typical for any big city triathlon - it has it's downfalls (and there are many, I can assure you) and yet the lure of racing in a city like Washington D.C., on roads that you would NEVER be able to ride on at any other time and in a setting that is more than awesome will always draw people in. It also helps that this race benefits the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, which means Team in Training draws a HUGE amount of racers to the event from all over the United States.

Now let's get down to business. I have decided to steal borrow a little thing that my local paper does when the US Open comes to Flushing each year and break things up into Aces, Lets and Faults.I know that triathlons and tennis have nothing to do with one another, but this is my blog so I can do what I want.

Packet Pick-Up/Bike Drop-Off

Let: Because the race is so big (I think somewhere in the 4k range, which is just insane), there is mandatory bike drop-off on Saturday before the race starting at 11:00am and going until 7:00pm, which meant that SJ and I were leaving on Friday evening to get down there. I really don't mind dropping my bike off the day before - if nothing else, it makes for one less thing you have to worry about race day morning.

Fault: The transition area and the race host hotel/expo/packet pick-up were nowhere near each other.

Okay, okay, obviously Washington D.C. is not that big of place, so relatively speaking, yes, they are close to one another. However, here are a few reasons why this whole thing sucked:

1. You have three options of getting to the hotel if you are not actually staying there: A) driving to the host hotel and paying a fee to valet park, finding a spot on the road, or dragging your wife who, at this point is sick and tired of schleping around to all these races with you and why can't you just be done already? in with you so that she can drive circles around the hotel while you pick up your packet, B) taking the train into DC, with your bike in tow, or C) walking/riding to the hotel, which implies that you are staying somewhere relatively close. Coming from out of town and not really knowing exactly which parts of our nation's murder capital were safe to stay in, I chose a familiar location: Alexandria, VA - right across the border and a place I know. This means we chose option A, because we didn't want to drag my bike all over the DC Metro (and yes, SJ did do loops of the hotel while I ran inside and picked up my packet, totally ignoring the whole expo thing in the process).

FAIL

2. Shuttles to transition were for athletes only - and you couldn't bring your bike on the shuttle, nor were there bike racks on the outside of the buses to bring your bike down so you had to ride your bike down in a city that is not necessarily all that friendly to bikers. This means that, even if your awesome wife/husband/boyfriend/children traveled all the way from Nebraska to watch you race, they could not ride the shuttle bus down to the transition area with you while you dropped your bike off. They were stuck sitting at the race hotel, which they had to figure out how to get to as per the above, while you rode on down to the transition area, dropped your bike off and then got back on a shuttle bus to come back to the hotel.

FAIL

3. There is no metro that gets you to within at least a mile of the transition area. So even if you wanted to tackle the Metro system, bike and all, you were still riding your bike there at some point.

FAIL

There was a massive field right next to the transition area - and it would have accommodated every vendor at the expo, plus packet pick-up. Spend the extra cash and hire a large enough tent to cover the entire area in case of bad weather and do everything in one location. You'll still have the issue of getting to the transition area, but you have that problem anyway, so why not make it easy for everyone involved? It also would have allowed the vendors to stay around for Sunday after the race - people are always looking to buy stuff directly after a race. It would be like stealing candy from a baby! Instant money-maker! It would also definitely liven up the post-race party - but more on that one when I get there.

Needless to say, I picked up my packet, high tailed it out to a waiting SJ, and headed down to transition. We poked around for roughly five minutes at the transition area, checking out the swim exit and then left. The one great part about NOT having transition and packet pick-up in the same place was that the roads were relatively free from traffic which gave anyone who wanted to do a quick ride or run along some of the course had the option. However, the cons outweigh the pros on this whole process so I'm still calling it a fault.

Pre-Race

After a great dinner out with SJ, in which I avoided eating chili for fear that it would revisit me during the race, we went back to the hotel early so that I could get everything ready. I like to go through everything the night before and make sure that everything is set - this was the first time I ever did this though. However, I think I might make it a habit!

My triathlon person is missing a bike helmet and shoes, and running shoes. They were in the car.

I was up and at 'em early the next morning to drive myself into DC. It was weird that SJ wasn't coming with me, but since I had a long wait (another fail) until my wave would take off, she was able to catch a few more winks before taking the Metro and walking over. I was able to grab a spot along Constitution with roughly every other racer who hadn't brought a second bike with them to ride down to transition because, oh wait - the Metro doesn't even start running on Sunday morning until 7am - five minutes AFTER transition closes.

I took these snazzy pictures on my walk over to transition.

I set everything up in transition and put my bag off to the side. The water temperature in the Potomac was 79.6*, which meant the race was non-wetsuit legal if you were going for any awards, so I left my wetsuit in my bag and headed out of transition to wait.

Fault: I waited almost two hours and fifteen minutes from the start of the first wave until I hit the water. The top elite men had been done and were drinking beers (not really though, because they didn't have any - FAIL) before my wave had even started. It was horrendous. I literally could have run a half marathon, and then some, before my wave was called. I was smart enough to at least pack a bag with extra food and water in it so that I could stay hydrated and fueled - and I also packed an extra pair of shoes so that I could warm up and get ready, seeing as how I had an eternity to wait.

EPIC FAIL

They chose a time-trial start (8 racers leaving every 15ish seconds) because of the number of participants - it allows for a much more spread out swim so people aren't swimming over top of each other. However, with almost four thousand races, that's only 24 racers each minute and 1440 an hour - so really we need to rethink this. No racer should EVER have to wait that long to get started. The only time I have ever waited that long was at Age Group Nationals - and, not for nothing, you are just so pumped that you made it to Nationals that you could care less when you start.

This seems to be the way really big triathlons are doing it now, though. New York City did it the same way, and the racers in the second heat of waves were probably waiting somewhere in the three hour range. If it gets to the point where your racers are waiting longer than some of your racers are actually competing, I think it's time to rethink your model.

Swim

I finally started somewhere around 9:15am. The swim was shaped like the Washington Monument - really - so it was pretty much an out and back.

Ace: Every buoy was placed at the 100 meter mark so you knew your exact place on the course at all times and weren't trying to figure out where you were by the shoreline.

Swimming in the Potomac was nowhere near as bad as I had been told it would be, but then again, I have swam in the Hudson so nothing could really phase me at this point. I didn't notice any kind of significant current one way or the other so it seemed like it would be a pretty straight forward swim.

Even though it wasn't wetsuit legal, I do most of my training in a pool so I'm used to not wearing one. I felt strong right off the start and never really wavered in my pacing. Due to my lack of swim training, I knew full well that my swim would be my downfall but I just had to trust my bike and my run to gain some time back. I climbed out of the water about the 29:00 mark and up the ramp and made the short 150 meter sprint to transition.

Bike

Let: The bike course was both good and bad - at least when I was on it. I'm sure there were times when it was phenomenal and times when it was awful, depending on what time your wave took off. It was a double loop, 20k course that at times narrowed down into a "no passing zone". Yes, you read that right. In a race with 4,000 people, there is a "no passing zone". Now, keep in mind that this is a US Triathlon Association sanctioned race, which means it is not draft-legal and therefore you are require to keep at least three bike lengths between you and the person in front, and are given roughly 15 seconds to pass. There was absolutely no way that you could NOT draft during this race. There were way too many people on a course that was not designed to hold them all.

The first loop was super crowded, especially on the first out-and-back section, but by the second loop it had thinned out big time. The double loop had some technical spots - three or four 180* turns and then some other sharper turns at intersections - so if you weren't a half-way decent bike handler it was probably pretty tricky. At one point, there was literally a ramp that was placed up and over a median curb for a turn-around. For real.

Despite some of the slow downs on the first loop, I had a great bike ride. I went through the first 20k  loop somewhere around the 37:00 mark, which put me under my goal of 1:15, so I was super pumped. Seeing how much the second loop had thinned out, I was able to keep a much faster pace on the second loop and hit transition right at 1:11 - 4 minutes under my target time and a negative split from the first loop. Always a good sign!

That's not me on the bike course - that's the second place male. But it's the only bike picture I have. 

Run

Let: I knew the run was going to be flat, but I also knew that it would be hot. I made sure to keep myself hydrated and fueled on the bike so that I could come off as fresh as I could on the run. The run course itself was a single loop around the East Potomac Park Golf Course, plus a couple of out-and-back loops to make up the full 10k distance.

Since I had started so late in the morning, I knew that my run was going to be at a time when the sun was going to be directly overhead so I grabbed water and Gatorade at every aid station and tried to keep a steady pace. I didn't want to push it too hard out of transition and then hit the wall at mile four or five and struggle to finish. The only thing that would have made the run better (besides picking a course that actually has trees and shade) would have been to have ice-sponges at the halfway point to cool everyone off. I kept dumping water over my head, but lukewarm water doesn't do much other than just make you drenched.

I kept picking people off one-by-one,keeping an uncomfortably hard pace and when I hit the five mile marker, I amped it up a bit. As I went around the last turnaround and then turned the corner to the final stretch on Ohio, I kicked it into high gear and crossed the line with a 44:48 run - another negative split.

Post-Race

Fault: By the time I crossed the finishing line, they had run out of medals. Seriously? How does that happen? You know exactly how many people are signed up ahead of time, and there are always no-shows so if nothing else, you should have extras! To be completely honest, I'm not all that upset about not getting my medal straight away (they are going to be mailed to us), but I do know that there were a crapton of people that were competing in their first triathlon, or their first Olympic distance race, and they freakin' deserved to get those medals when they finished. I would have hated to work my ass of to train and compete in my first race and then cross the line and be rewarded with .... what? A bottle of Gatorade that I have to fumble around with to open myself? You can't even open my Gatorade for me? I have to sit there and struggle with the stupid plastic wrap surrounding the cap and then unscrew the cap to take the stupid foil off on the inside, too?! I paid $225 for this?!

EPIC FAIL

Fault: The post-race party was - nonexistent. There were some booths set up for triathlon clubs to hang out in, and there was some food for the racers (sandwiches, bananas, protein bars, etc.) and then a place to get post-race massages, but that was pretty much it. By the time I crossed the line, they were already starting the Elite Awards ceremony (guess they weren't worried about when I finished, huh) - I grabbed some food with SJ while mamadukes went off to get my results print out and then I went to get my bike.

And that was pretty much it. And this all goes back to what I said in the beginning - if there was a big old tent with lots of goodies to buy and things to look at, more people probably would have stayed and milled around. Maybe bought a Finisher shirt or a new helmet. I don't know - but having nothing there at all certainly didn't make me want to stick around. I didn't even stay for the Awards Ceremony, we peaced out as soon as we realized it wasn't going to happen for another hour or so.

Maybe my late start time caused us to miss anything fun that had happened, but it looked like most people that finished and knew they weren't up for any awards just kinda left as soon as they were done. There was no sense of that whole, We've just finished something awesome, now let's kick back and relax with friends and family surrounded by other finishers. Maybe the TOBAY Tri will forever make every post-race party pale in comparison.

Wrap-Up

Overall, I would give this race a 4/10. DC is definitely a cool venue, and to say you raced along Independence Avenue and next to the Washington Monument is a huge bonus, but there are so many cons that I can't give this any higher of a rating. Maybe it's because I don't live in the area, so I had to do so much traveling to get down to DC and then to all the different places and then had to drive home, but I've traveled to lots of races and haven't come away as disappointed. The bike course was too crowded, the number of people entered and the time-trial start made for a ridiculously long morning and there was really no post-race party. The run was one of the only plus sides, but even that could have been done a little better.

I think I am just disappointed overall by how much money I spent to race and how little I feel like I got from the experience. I've done smaller races, in much smaller venues, that offered ten times more than the Nation's for more than half the cost. I know that there is a lot that goes into planning a big city race (case in point: NYC Marathon fees being almost quadruple what many small-time marathons cost), but I also think that it's the little things that will bring people back over and over.

At the end of the day though, it's all about the race, and if you have a great race than you will be more than likely to walk away with a good feeling. I had a great race - hitting all of the goals I had set for myself and setting a PR - but, unfortunately, there are too many races out there for me to waste the time and money to go back to this one.

Here is the final breakdown:

Swim: 29:17
T1: 2:26
Bike: 1:11:19
T2: 1:00
Run: 44:48

Total Time: 2:28:47

I placed 22nd overall for females, 2nd overall in my Age Group, and 1st overall in the Female First Responders race. I hit every goal I set, including breaking 2:30 and thus setting a new PR for myself.

Apparently this was the cool thing to do.

Weekly Wrap-Up - We are Awesome at Avoiding Traffic

As the title suggests, SJ and I are the queens of getting ourselves both in AND out of the New York metropolitan area. The problem with living on an island is that there are only so many routes on and off, however, when you are skilled navigators like we are, you are able to avoid such minor things like flipped over tractor-trailers and fuel spills. Rather than rot in traffic like a wounded animal in the Saharan Desert sun, we maneuvered our way around the problem spots with the skill of a ballerina - and a graceful one at that.

Anyways, you don't really want to hear about how awesome we are at problem solving traffic issues, you just want me to talk about my weekend. And since I'm a people-pleaser, I will acquiesce to your wishes. However, I will not give you a race report in this update - that is why I write race reports, duh - so if you are here looking for that then you will just have to wait, because I haven't written it yet.

Washington D.C. - for the brief time we were there - was great. SJ and I arrived late on Friday night, but were up at the crack of dawn 8:30 to get the day started. SJ was not at all happy about this early morning wake up, however she got over. We both did our respective exercising - her for a run, me for the world's easiest brick workout - and then met up again around the feast that the Residence Inn Alexandria offered for breakfast. Seriously - that's not sarcasm - it was a feast. I had blueberry waffles. Then cereal. Then sausage and eggs. It was phenomenal.

After the debacle that was race check-in and bike drop-off (more on that in the race report), we dropped the car back at the hotel and headed to take the train back into DC to see some of the sights. We really had no immediate plans other than: eat, get on train, walk around. We randomly found the Gator bar of Alexandria so watched some of the UF/Miami game with the oldest possible Gator crowd I have ever been a part of  - most of those people had probably graduated before the '70s. SJ and I brought the average age down by well into the double digits.

We took the train into DC and ended up walking along the Mall - taking pictures and generally just wandering. On a lark, we popped into the Holocaust Museum to see if you still needed reservations to get in and we ended up being able to go in for free (I have no idea if this is usually the case or simply because we only had an hour-ish left before closing). Nothing like a little genocide to get you keyed up for a big race! After the museum, we continued our tour of misery by heading over the bridge to Arlington Cemetery, where we hot footed it roughly a mile and a half uphill so that SJ could see the changing of the guard ceremony.

Finished with that, we decided that food and beverages would be just what we needed to cheer ourselves up, so we headed back to Alexandria to grab dinner. We saw a few places that were clearly out of our league (tasting menus/fancy attire/overall snootiness factor at a high) and stumbled upon a place called the Hard Times Cafe - much more our style. We grabbed a table and discovered that it was famous for it's chili - awesome. But actually, not. Because I feared that if I ate the amazing chili, both myself and those people around me at the race tomorrow would live to rue the day. I opted for something bland and boring, while SJ pounded down two hot dogs smothered in chili and cheese. According to her, I'm not racing tomorrow, I can eat whatever I want. Thanks for the moral support, babe. I did have some tastings though, so that would have to suffice. Have no fear though, friends, for I will be back down in Alexandria for Ragnar and fully plan on revisiting the Hard Times Cafe for my chili cheese dogs.

Skipping ahead, after the race, we went to visit with some family in the area and I was able to take a shower (you're welcome by the way, mom and SJ) before heading back to NY. By sheer awesomeness - and our amazing AAA quality knowledge of the roadways of New York City, we were able to get home just in time for the start of the Giants' game. Unfortunately, after having watched the game, I wish I had still been sitting in traffic to avoid having to see the atrocity. 

On to the wrap-up!

Number of Miles Run: 21. Considering I'm training for a marathon, this is abysmal. However, with my A triathlon race done, I can focus more on running and building mileage than cycling and swimming (not that I swam pretty much ever this summer.)

Number of Miles Biked: 46. The whole 25 mile bike ride in the race really helped bring that up. This number will probably start to decrease now that triathlon season is pretty much over - but as long as it's nice out, I'll keep riding, so it won't go away completely.

Number of Yards Swam: 1500. Whew, thank god I raced or this would have been a big old goose egg.

I'll sit down with a full race report sometime in the next few days. For now, just have fun with these pictures.

Washington Monument with scaffolding.

SJ under a lovely canopy of greenery in Alexandria.

Sunrise over the Tidal Basin and the Jefferson Memorial (?).

Spoiler Alert - The Nation's Triathlon Results

2:28:41

BOOM!

2nd place in age group

1st place Female First Responder 

Ravens, and Broncos and Track Work, Oh My

So I'm sitting here in my Raven's jersey, sipping my adult beverage (Widmere Brothers' Alchemy Ale - highly recommend for IPA lovers out there) and anxiously awaiting kick-off of the SUPER BOWL CHAMPION Baltimore Ravens and Denver Broncos game - and I'm starting to think that I might actually fall asleep before this game kicks off. Apparently there are "Severe Lightening Storms" in the area, and I guess, seeing as how Denver IS a mile high in the air, they should take that pretty seriously. I mean, I'm no meteorologist but I do know that things that are higher are generally closer to the sky and much more susceptible to lightening strikes. Or something like that.

Anyway, it's 9:14 here in New York, 7:14 Denver time and that is actually semi-close to my bedtime (the 9:14, not the 7:14, that would be early even by my standards, and I have low standards), however, seeing as how it's A) opening night in the NFL, possibly the best night of the whole year, B) the Raven's, who I am an avid fan of so much so that I spend lots and lots of money at the bar just so I can watch them on Sundays, and C) thirsty Thursday, I think I will extend my bed time a bit.

That's SJ and I rocking our Ravens' jerseys - at our wedding menu tasting. We are classy.

Work has been a nightmare this weeek. It's always good when work stresses you out in the week immediately preceding your A race. Perfect timing, as always, work! Then I had fire department training out east last night, which was simply exhausting. However, on the plus side, I leave tomorrow for Washington - or as a Marylander would say, WaRshington - to get ready for the big day.

I've had two great days of workouts - always a bonus on the lead up to a big race. Wednesday afternoon I went for an easy spin just to get my new shoes tried out and semi-broken in. They felt good - I wore them without socks and didn't find any hot spots or crazy chaffing points and I tend to throw on a pair of thin socks in transition anyway, which will help avoid any of those issues.

Today I finally got my track workout in. 4x800s and 4x400s and I smoked them all. Freaking banged those suckers out and felt solid and strong on each subsequent repeat. I wanted to keep the 800s in the 3:20 range, but pushed it on the final two because I was feeling so good. The 400s I did at a hard pace - not quite full out sprint, but hard enough that I couldn't have sustained the pace for a second lap. Hey, the don't call it "speed work" for nothin'! Here's the breakdown:

800s
1 - 3:21
2 - 3:17
3 - 3:08
4 - 3:10

BOOM!

400s
1 - 1:22
2 - 1:24
3 - 1:23
4 - 1:21

BOOM!

Also, on about the third 800 repeat, a whole group of people came to the track - two different sets of parents with kids. Now, I have no problem with people getting out and exercising and working up a sweat (that's what she said). In fact, I highly encourage everyone to go outside and run around every day - it'll make you feel ten times better. However, I do happen to mind when you come to the track and let your small children wander freely around wherever they want, which also happens to be directly into my line. At one point, I narrowly avoided a collision with a small child biking around track (illegal!) and another kid who decided he didn't want to run on the track anymore and simply veered into my lane. Awesome.

And the most annoying part about it was that the parents didn't even say anything to the kids - but child-rearing is a whole other topic that I don't know anything about but have numerous ideas as to how I could do it better than most people I see with children and I will save it for another day.

As for now, you won't hear from me till probably Sunday evening - who are we kidding? Monday at the earliest - as I will more than likely not be bringing my computer to DC, but fear not, because I will have both a race report AND a weekly wrap-up to bring to you.

Happy training, and if you are racing out at the Mighty Hamptons - or anywhere - good luck!

A Watched Pot Never Boils

There were a few things that got in they way of my planned track workout yesterday and, unfortunately, none of them were a trip to the beer distributor. School has started here on Long Island, or at least some districts have started school - others are keeping their children stuck in a state of school-less limbo while their teachers are forced to go back to work for meetings. The ridiculous part of it all is that all public schools will be closed Thursday and Friday for the Rosh Hashanah holiday (Happy New Year to all of my Jewish readers!), which essentially means that children (and teachers) were rudely forced out of their summer revelry and back into school after a three day weekend and will then proceed to be given a four day weekend.

Actually, the more I am thinking about it, the more I think EVERY work week should be like this. Why do we only have a two day weekend but a five day work week? Everyone knows that only two days of productivity gets done during the work week it would make for happier employees. Or at least let's consider a three or four day work week - perhaps a rotating schedule?

Anyway, I don't know where I was going with this but back to the track. So due to the start of the school year, I realized after leaving work that I would not be able to get on the track until at least after 6. Because I am so busy and important and so many people rely on my awesomeness*, that just wouldn't work for my schedule. In reality, I had a Hose Company meeting last night at 7:30, which would have been cutting it a bit close for the planned workout if I wanted to shower and not offend the noses of those around me.

But then I remembered that my new triathlon shoes would be arriving so I sped home, hoping that they would be waiting for me on my doorstep, eagerly anticipating my first workout in them. However, mostly because I am unlucky, my doorstep was empty of any packages and I was bummed. No track workout. No bike ride in my new shoes. I guess I might as well just sit here on the couch watching mindless television for a few hours and wallow in self-pity while doing no training and telling myself that it's all because "I'm in a taper".

And I did just that - for 45 minutes. Then I realized that waiting around to see when my shoes would be delivered would do me no good, so I dragged my lazy ass up off the couch, got changed into running shoes and went out for a run.

It was fantastic. The heat wave from Monday had disappeared over the course of the day, and by the time I ran that evening it was absolutely beautiful. I ended up banging out five miles at a 7:30 clip and then ran an easy mile cool down. And whaddya think was waiting for me on my doorstep when I arrived home? Yep, my brand-spanking-new cycling shoes.

Now I just have to break those puppies in before Sunday, which means an easy spin today or tomorrow to get the feel for them and see if they are set-up properly and then another one this weekend before the race just to make sure everything is good to go.

I still would like to get my track workout done but it's getting close to race time - and I am in a taper, ya know. It's either today or tomorrow for that one, and since school is out tomorrow, I am leaning more towards tomorrow. I'm not doing 1600 repeats, but rather 800s and 400s, so the intensity will be high but the duration will be shorter. I'm also only running a 10k as part of the tri on Sunday, so I don't need to put in the longer repeats like I need to do for my marathon training. And you should totally trust everything I say because I am a highly respected and famous coach.

*Read: not important, but I stand by busy and awesome!

Weekly Wrap-Up: Summer Isn't Quite Over Yet

Happy Labor Day friends. I hope you haven't put away your summer clothes because it was a hot one today. 91% humidity here in the New York area - lovely. The fall beer collections might be out, but you'll be drinking those pumpkin ales while sitting in your underwear in your hot, humid apartment, sweating to the oldies. This is one of those weekends where your sweat is sweating. I'm watching the US Open right now, and Nadal has gone through roughly seven shirts in the two sets he has played thus far. He has a river of sweat running off his forehead that would make the Nile jealous.

Enough about that though, let's talk about me. I had a spectacular weekend filled with friends and fun, and a few hours of training thrown in for good measure. It was oppressively hot over the long weekend, which made for some not-so-great trainings, but they were done and afterwards, beers were consumed if for nothing other than rehydration purposes (or at least that's what I'm telling myself so that I feel better anyway).

After work on Saturday I had a great run over to see SJ at the club. If you remember correctly, I was supposed to do hill repeats, however, rather than the usual routine, I opted to do a mid-length run on "the hilliest route I could possibly find." Seeing as how I live on the north shore of Long Island, this isn't too hard. No, it's not the Alps, but we have some pretty reasonable hills that I was able to tackle. In the end, I did 10ish miles with some a pretty good elevation gain and felt strong on all the climbs. I averaged a little over an 8:05 mile, which, considering I wasn't trying to run at GMP and was running uphill for a good deal, even impressed myself.

Yesterday I rode down to Massapequa for a little BBQ action with friends. No, I literally "rode" down there. I'm not using that as a euphemism for "driving". I decided that, having slept until 10:30 in the morning and missing any chance of going for a ride before having to become a functioning member of society, I would do a point-to-point ride. It also helped that SJ was going to meet me down there and could bring me a change of clothes so that I wasn't stuck in smelly cycling kit, but it wouldn't have been the first time I was the smelly person at a party (I was a college athlete. I went to parties on more than one occasion having not showered after games and wearing sweatpants.)

I mapped out a route that I thought wouldn't get me killed on major roads and headed down to the south shore. I had absolutely zero goals on this ride other than "get there in one piece" which I am happy to report was successfully completed. I then proceeded to drink roughly 47 beers, two Magners and a glass of wine. I'm surprised I'm alive today.

Let's get down to the recap:

Number of Miles Ran: 34. I should have gone on a long run today, but due to several factors, a key one being that I woke up hungover in Massapequa with no running clothes and zero desire to go running. However, SJ and I did go to more than three different stores today, so if I include the miles that I walked around shopping for various household items, that number would probably be somewhere in the forties. Needless to say, my credit card sure did rack up the miles!

Number of Miles Biked:  47. Both of the rides I did this week were relatively easy and relatively flat (just like high school girls, schwing!).

Number of Yards Swam: 2900. My sole swim of the week was done on Thursday, but it was a good one so I'm gonna take it. This is only slightly less than the miles that Diana Nyad swam over the weekend. Makes my marathon training seem paltry in comparison.

Number of Magner's Ciders Shannon Drank Yesterday: 14. 

This week I am officially tapering for the Nation's Tri on Sunday. I have five workouts scheduled for the week, one of which is a track workout tomorrow and is the only really hard workout of the week. I also get my new bike shoes tomorrow (hopefully) so I plan on getting in at least two rides between now and Saturday to break them in and make sure they are set up properly, so stay tuned for the test runs.