Still tri-ing after all these years.

100 day Challenge: 1 month down!

2012-02-02T00:20:00.000-05:00

I got through the entire month of January with at least 30 minutes of "intentional movement" every single day. Most days it was easy to get my 30 minutes in. The simplest days were when I went out and rode my bike or took Tae Kwon Do class. I actually got out and rode 320 miles during the month of January. I don't remember the last time I got out on my bike that much.

There were a few days where I was not convinced I was going to do 30 minutes of exercise. There was last Monday when I had to work and couldn't take my regular Tae Kwon Do class. It was miserable rainy day so taking a run or a walk outdoors wasn't really an option. I'm rather a wimp when it comes to running in the rain when it's 40 degrees out. So without the benefit of a home gym, treadmill or a bike on a wind trainer one has to become creative. It was time to do Grandmaster Kim's bowing meditations. This is something he really feels strongly about his students doing on a daily basis. I'm not very disciplined about these types of things.

It's hard to describe exactly what a bowing meditation move is. I tried to describe in words and then decided there must be something on YouTube. Sure enough there. This video isn't exactly how we do it our Tae Kwon Do school, but you'll get the gist of how it goes. It is a good workout.

I set the timer on my iPhone for 15 minutes and do them. I gave up trying to count. I'm sure the yoga folks wouldn't approve of my music choice. I listen to Christian rock worship music while doing it. Listening to a Christian artist such as Chris Tomlin while doing the bows helps me to focus on God. The time actually passes quickly. I do them using my hands to lower myself of go down one leg at a time. It does work the quad muscles and stretches out the back. After the bows a did a little weight training. I'm using some of the upper body workouts in the Women's Body for Life book.

This routine works well for me so at least I've found something I go do indoors when all attempts of outdoor activity fails. I do have some challenges facing me in the upcoming weeks. Weekend work and some travel will make it so I'll have to force myself to GMBOOBEAE. That stands for Get My Butt Out Of Bed Early And Exercise.

Stay tuned as I continue to work my way through this journey of movement for the sake of moving.

My Newest Quest: 100 Day Challenge

2012-01-25T23:39:00.000-05:00

It's almost the end of January. I'm not one to make New Years resolutions. I do look to set goals for the up coming year. Is there a difference? I think so. Most New Years resolutions go something like this;

"I resolve to go to the gym x days a week."

"I resolve to lose x number of pounds by December 31st."

"I resolve to stop doing __________. (pick your own vice)"

These are admirable things to aim for, but as soon one doesn't go to the gym x times a week, doesn't lose weight at the rate wanted, or starts doing _____ again she feels like a failure. That usually leads to beating up on one's self and just throwing in the towel.

I have two very concrete goals for myself in terms of my sporting life.

1. Get my second degree Black Belt.
2. Do a triathlon again. (sprint or Olympic)

All of this being said, I've decided to accept John "The Penguin" Bingham's 100 day challenge. The basic premise is this; "You can be a part of it. The rules are simple. Choose to move, intentionally, for 30 minutes every day for the first 100 days of 2012. It doesn’t matter what you do, as long as you do it ON PURPOSE."

Why do I need to do this? After all I've trained for triathlons, marathons, bike races, centuries, Tae Kwon Do, etc. Don't I already do enough? Yes and no. I can do plenty when I have people to ride with and Tae Kwon Do classes to attend. It's those days when it's too cold to ride outdoors, or I can't make it to Tae Kwon Do. Can I get myself out the door to take a walk or a run in the cold? If it's too miserable outside can I get myself to do a little strength training, Tae Kwon Do practice, or *gasp* set up the wind trainer and ride indoors?

I admit it. I am lazy and I hate doing things by myself. It's hard for me to drag my lazy butt out the door to go run, bike or walk by myself. I want someone to talk to while I'm doing these things. Sometimes I think I just workout for the social aspect of it. It's probably a carryover from my youth where sports were my in with the cool kids. Would I be so devoted to exercise if I never could do it with anyone? I'm not so sure. There were many times where I couldn't bike because I was injured. Instead of finding an alternative, I would just eat my way through my pity party. The idea of taking a walk by myself to keep some level of fitness was not on my radar.

I know that exercise is important both physically and emotionally. As someone who is closer to 60 then 50 I recognize the need to keep moving. Last year a friend had recommended reading "Younger Next Year" There's woman specific version of the book. It's an interesting book. Basically the authors are saying exercise 6 days a week to help turn back the clock. I'm sure not everyone agrees with their advice, but I think the overall premise is sound. For me the 100 Day Challenge is to encourage me to keep moving even when I have no one to keep me company. Though in some ways I do have company. There's a Facebook page where everyone is sharing what they're doing each day. Also I have friends who are also doing it.

My original intent was to write this post on January 1st. Then share how I'm doing with the challenge. Okay I'm 25 days late. Being the procrastinator I am, that should be no surprise. Better late, then never. Obviously since I went to the trouble to write this post, I'm still on track. Tae Kwon Do classes, Gimbels and unemployment rides have filled up many of these January days so far. However I managed to get my 30 minutes in despite traveling for a chess tournament and dealing with very cold weather.

Day 26 awaits!!

One Year Later.....I'm melting!

2011-07-04T23:30:00.000-04:00

It's a year to the day that I last wrote on this blog. I was in a frenzy trying to figure out what clothes I could take with me to Korea that were going to fit. I was totally frustrated by an agonizingly slow rate of weight loss. I was totally convinced that trying to lose any significant amount of weight as a woman in her mid-50s was impossible. Guess what? I was totally wrong on that count.

A lot has happened since I last wrote here. I suppose nobody out there necessarily knows or cares. When one writes a blog entry once a year, the chances that anyone is still following are slim and none. It said that a picture is worth a thousand words. So I figure this series of before and after pictures will tell my story better then I can. Each set of pictures are taken approximately 1 year apart. Each set marks the before and after of different areas of my life

Christmas

My sisters and I are very close. We always spend Christmas together at my sister Anne's house. It's a wonderful time of family being together with a lot of good food and drink. It's three days of eating, drinking and being merry. Christmas 2009 ended out being a very stressful event having fallen down the steps and breaking my ankle less then a week before. Would I be able to manage a car ride to up state New York? Come hell or high water I was going to make that trip. No way I was spending Christmas at home. Could I make my chocolate chunk cookies for my sisters, while dealing with a leg that I could put no weight on for two weeks? The answer to those questions was yes.

Christmas Eve, 2009

Christmas 2010 was a whole lot easier. With all the food and drink related activities it's not the time to be counting calories and obsessing about being perfectly on program. I did not obsess, but I was mindful of how much I ate or drank at any particular meal. The new me realizes she has to make choices. Is it a slice of pecan pie or another one of my decadent chocolate chip cookies? No brainer. The cookies win out every time.

Christmas Eve, 2010
Floyd and I together weigh less then I did a year ago.
(No; Floyd is not my dog.)

Tae Kwon Do has become a big part of my life style change. In 2007 when I was looking for something I could do in the winter that did not involve mind numbing laps in the pool, or trips to the gym. Tae Kwon Do filled the bill quite nicely. It was something completely different and involved using my mind and body in a whole new way. I thought it would be something I'd do for the workout and discipline, but not worry about belt promotions. I should have known better.

The Tae Kwon Do dobak (uniform) is baggy and not the most flattering article of clothing. "Does this outfit make me look fat?" Yes it does. It was looking in the mirror and seeing the rolls of belly fat hanging over my uniform pants that motivated me to do something about it. I wanted to get back to "fighting weight" by the time I tested for Black Belt in November 2010. My definition of "fighting weight" was my WW goal weight of 130.

May 17th, 2010

The above picture was taken at our retreat where the Black Belt test was taking place. That was the Black Belt test I was originally scheduled to do. Broken bones happen, so that was not my test. Though it might as well been, since I did all the same stuff at the retreat that the testing candidates did. I looked at it as a dress rehearsal for when my time would come in November.

My Black Belt test was Saturday November 20th, 2010. On Friday November 19th I weighed in at my Weight Watchers meeting and tipped the scales at 127 pounds. "Fighting weight" and then some. It was few weeks later that the new Points Plus program came out. 35 daily points for maintenance, and another 49 weekly allowance points?? What? Were they kidding?

May 19th, 2011

To go from First Degree Black Belt to Second Degree Black Belt there are 8 intermediate tests to be done. Each test involves performing one or two new forms that have been learned since the previous test, and being prepared to do any form that one has learned as a color belt. The above picture was taken after my second test. "Does this outfit make me look fat?" No. That because 28 pounds went away between pictures.

June 28, 2010

If you go back and reads old posts from this blog you will realize that at one point I was a serious cyclist and triathlete. Sometimes priorities and interests change. In April 2010 I had completed my physical therapy and started back on the road to Black Belt. I think having had my share of mishaps on the bike I decided not to make much of an effort to become a cyclist who could go hammer with the guys. I also wasn't convinced I would ever get back into the kind of shape I was in during 2003 - 2005. Cycling last year consisted of an occasional ride on the Bronx River Parkway during Bicycle Sundays, or showing up at the tail end of the unemployment ride and coming back with the group. I thought 56 was too old to make yet another comeback after a setback like my broken ankle.

June 30, 2011

I was wrong about being too old to make a comeback. I wasn't too old. I was just too overweight. It's a lot easier getting back into cycling condition when one is not carrying around so much weight. I started out slowly with short rides and meeting people at the end of rides. A few weeks ago I decided I would just go up Central Avenue with the Gimbels ride and then head south once I got to North White Plains. I got to North White Plains and decided "What the heck. Let me see if I can make it to Otto's route. The worst that will happen is I'll get dropped. Then I'll go down Lake St." I didn't get dropped so I just said "Screw it. I'm finishing the ride." Never mind it was going to be close to 10 miles longer then my previous long ride of the season.

Sometimes I just lose patience with easing back into things. Here it is 3 weeks later and I've had put in 180+ miles for the week. So much for the 10% rule. I went from 30 miles a week to 75 to 180. Do as I say, not as I do. If you asked me how to get back into training form I'd tell you to take it slowly and ease back into the weekly mileage. So much for my doing that.

One of the problems with bumping up my activity like that is not adjusting my food intake accordingly. This weeks weigh in I was down another 1.8 pounds. I don't want lose anymore weight. I've been holding steady since March once I figured out how much I could eat, and what amount of weight was reasonably maintainable. Now I've got to play around with my points again, and

Here it is almost a year later and I'm getting ready to go on another trip. Once again I'm dealing with my damn clothes don't fit. However this time I'm coming across things that are too big. What a difference a year makes.

Hopefully I'll come back here more then once a year. I'm not aiming to become the crazed triathlete I once was. I'm running a little bit, but only 30-40 minutes. I'm slow as crap. I'm not sure I'm ready to do triathlons running 12 minute miles. I was kind of hoping that wasn't going to happen until I hit my mid 60s. I would like to perhaps do a low key sprint race somewhere before the end of the season, but it won't make or break me if I don't.

+0.4 and none of my damn clothes fit!!

2010-07-04T00:49:00.000-04:00

I tracked everything, exercised a lot, but....gained .4. It's kind of frustrating when that happens. Today I actually got up early and rode up Central Avenue with the group instead meeting them at the tail end of the ride. I saw a number of people who I had not seen in awhile. One woman said she hadn't seen me in a long time. I told her I hadn't been doing much riding. Her response was "I know. You've put all the weight back on." Ouch, that was a kick in the proverbial balls. I haven't put it all back on. I managed to stay under 150, but I'm well over what I want to be.

The good things about this week: I rode my bike Sunday, Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. I did Tae Kwon Do on Monday, Wednesday and Saturday. Friday was the first meeting for bodan review class. All talking and no doing.

The bad thing about this week: Not losing anything, and to make it worse gaining. I guess I may have to horde my weekly allowance points, and not use so many every day.

Tuesday I leave for Korea. I started packing today. I couldn't find this one pair of capri pants that I was looking for, so I kept digging out others. None of them fit. Some I could get zipped and buttoned, but they were way too uncomfortable. Others I couldn't even zip up. It's really frustrating to have tons of clothes, and most of them don't fit. I was even having trouble with some shirts that I bought two years ago. Damn boobs have gotten too big, so the shirts don't fit well either. I refuse to buy anything else. I just will make do with what does fit.

I did finally find the pants I was looking for. They were stashed away in some bin that I had not looked in before. I find it kind of embarrassing that I have so many clothes that I have to keep some of them in bins stashed in corners or under the bed. But what makes it worse is so little of them fit right now. I don't even know what to get rid of until I lose enough weight to figure out what will really fit. I'm afraid the size 4 pants may never fit again, but I'd like to at least get into the 6s.

How will I fare with my weight on this vacation? Unclear. Korean food is not my favorite cuisine. On my last trip there were times when it was challenging to find something I liked besides rice. However I can only take so much white rice before my insides are screaming for fiber. Brown rice does not seem to exist there. Kimchi is most prevalent there. I tried it, but too bitter or spicy.

Jeonju Bipimbap - Traditional Korean meal

Wonderful vegetarian restaurant we went to.

It was hard to believe that some of the tofu items weren't really meat.

I finally got some broccoli!

Hopefully I can get through this trip without doing too much damage to the waistline.

Alive and Kicking - Update

2010-06-28T16:51:00.001-04:00

The weight loss journey has taken off in fits and sputters. I'm like a car that needs a tune up before going a long road trip. The short trips have had a few glitches in them. Week 2 I had lost the big walloping .4 lbs. Yes that's a decimal place in front of the 4. That was despite being really good about tracking what I ate. I think perhaps I need to fine tune exactly how many of my WA points I use. In the past I've tried to hardly use any of them, but then I'm eating in a manner that's unsustainable. This time I decided I would use them, but I had to tweak things a bit.

I attend meetings on Friday mornings. I like this one particular leader and Friday morning is a convenient time to catch one of her meetings. I was a little bummed by the minuscule weight loss, but I couldn't dwell on it because that weekend was our Tae Kwon Do school's black belt testing weekend. Even though I wasn't testing for black belt, I still had my Bodan Keup 2 test to do. Besides it was going to be a great weekend of training and testing.

I got through the weekend without too many food mishaps. I tried to make good food choices as much as possible. However the training and testing sessions were long and intense so I didn't feel bad about the piece of cake with Saturday night's dinner. Here are a couple of pictures from the weekend.

Working on my side kick.

I'm standing on the bad leg!

Board breaking with my hand.

Graduation Day!

Me, Marguerite & Susan

Marguerite and I spent many hours training together last Fall getting ready for this big day. However a trip down the front steps caused me to take a detour so my big day will come in November. It was a great weekend, and gave me a chance to see what I'm going to have to do in the Fall.

Week 3 I was down 1.2 pounds so that was encouraging. However 10 days of vacation wiped out that loss, and by the time I came back I was up 1.8 pounds. After a few weeks of fiddling around, I got myself back on eTools and tracking again. Last Friday I was down 3 pounds. Hurray!

The other piece to this weight loss journey is making friends with my bike again. I'm not ready to go hammer out those 50 mile rides of 4 years ago. I'm going out 3 days a week and have gotten up to a longest ride of 23 miles. The rides aren't very fast, but I'm doing them. It's hard to get excited about riding without having some sort of competitive goal. At the moment I have no interest in even trying to run again. I don't know if I had someone to do it with whether that would help or not. It probably would. I don't enjoy training on my own. I like being with people. My rides coincide with meeting up with my old group for the last part of the ride when the pace has slowed down.

My club uniform is fitting a little tight at the moment. My gut is sticking out, and I got those jelly rolls on the sides. Sometimes I feel as though losing the weight isn't going to make them go away. However if I can get rid of these 12 pounds it should help. Maybe I need a "gut-be-gone" machine.

Getting the Black Belt Express Back on Track (knock on wood)

2010-05-08T18:43:00.000-04:00

In September I wrote a post about my so called wake up call. I had great intentions of getting back into some kind of cycling shape, and trying to even start running again, albeit very slowly. I had just taken my first Bodan test for 3 Keup on September 22nd. This was the first step on the journey to black belt which was supposed to culminate in next weekend's retreat and testing. Part of my preparation for becoming a black belt would be to lose weight and get my endurance back.

In that post I wrote about Tae Kwon Do and how far I had come from my very rocky beginnings. I ended the paragraph with the following; "Now I am just below black belt, and barring horrendous injury, I will attain that rank next June." I hadn't given much thought to that sentence. In fact I had forgotten that I had even written it until looking at the post yesterday. How prophetic that line ended out being. I didn't really think anything would happen. I do get concerned at times about my cranky knees, but I try to listen to my body and not overdo things. I've made adjustments in certain things I do at Tae Kwon Do to accommodate the knees.

Unfortunately I had a moment of not being able to talk and walk down stairs at the same time. December 19th I took a fall that would change my entire winter. Goodbye mandatory Friday night Bodan review classes. Hello crutches, wheelchair rides, and temporary handicap parking permits. This was not exactly what I had in mind for Christmas. I didn't expect to be spending the day before Christmas having John pushing me in a wheelchair around a museum in Albany.

So much for our post Christmas trip to Chicago. There was no way I was getting on an airplane unable to put any weight on my left leg. The one bright spot in having to cancel our flights was not having to deal with airport security the day after the underwear bomber try to blow up a plane on Christmas day.

One would think having chess to fall back on would help keep me occupied in my temporary disabled state. However I quickly learned that one can't take the simple things for granted. No longer could I simply get on a train to go play chess in New York City. I needed someone to take me there.

I was hoping I'd be out of the cast by the time I went to Bermuda. That did not happen. February ocean swimming in Bermuda got replaced by wrapping my cast in a garbage bag and wading in up to my ankles. At least I got to make the trip. If you're wondering; being on an airplane in a cast sucks. The usual swelling that occurs on a flight is more noticeable when one has a leg wrapped in a fiberglass cast that doesn't give.

I did go do an occasional Tae Kwon Do class, cast and all. The masters helped me modify the workout in such a way that I could participate in class. Kicking drills I would do sitting or kneeling on the mat. I practiced my poomses without the kicks. At least this way I was able to retain the steps.

Fast forward to March when my physical therapy began. I like to work with physical therapists who understand what I'm trying to do and where I want to go. So who better to help a martial artist then a physical therapist who is third degree degree black belt? She gave me a rehab program that focused on balance, coordination and building strength in my calves. These were all things that would help get me back to my old routine.

The interesting thing that has occurred is my balance is better then it was before the accident. I figured it would take a few months before I would be ready to test for my Bodan 2 Keup test. I was very surprised when Master Kim told me I would test this month. I'm debating as to whether I want to test at the retreat or on the regular test day. They are having color belt and tape tests at the retreat along with the black belt test. I have mixed feelings about doing it at the retreat. It would be rather bittersweet considering that I was supposed to be testing for black belt next weekend. On the other hand it would be nice to show everyone that I'm back.

Come the fall hopefully there will be a black belt with my name on it. However it's going to be a leaner and stronger woman standing before Grandmaster Kim to receive her belt. I've returned to Weight Watchers. I went to my first meeting on Friday. It's the first time I've been back since 2008. I've had a lot of success with the program when I've been faithful about tracking what I'm eating and going to meetings. When I try to wing it, it just doesn't work. I need the structure of paying close attention to what and how much I'm eating. I signed up for the monthly pass which includes e-tools. This way I can track everything online. The computer geek in me likes the bells and whistles of electronic tracking.

The other step to becoming more fit is getting back on my bicycle. In this past week I've gotten out and met some of guys to catch the last part of the unemployment ride. I will gradually increase the length of my ride with them until I reach the point that I can do the ride from start to finish. In this picture I'm standing with three of the most remarkable guys I know, John, Otto and Denis. Otto is in his 70s. John and Denis in their 60s.

All three of them have had their share of cycling accidents, broken bones, and other assorted mishaps, but they just keep coming back for more. Unlike me who wimps out when the weather gets cold, they're out riding through the winter. I'm not ever sure I'll stop being a weather wimp, but I want to be riding in my 60s, 70s and beyond.

This is the start. Will I become a triathlete again? I don't know the answer to that one yet. I'm starting with the bike. I'll see if I can actually start to run again. I have many things going on, and I need to ease back into this carefully so that I don't hurt myself.

Wake Up Call!

2009-09-27T11:34:00.004-04:00

I had my annual physical on Monday, and the came back on Friday to discuss the results. The cholesterol numbers were rather ugly. Cholesterol is a hereditary factor in my family. My father's was bad. My two older sisters deal with it. Over the years I've managed to keep mine down with the amount of endurance training I had done for triathlons. These last few years my endurance athlete lifestyle has been non-existent. My feeble effort at this year's St. Anthony's triathlon was an exercise in going through the motions. A canceled swim was probably the only thing that save me from a DNF. My "race" report can be found here.

Winter was a miserable son of a bitch, and left me totally unmotivated to do much of anything except work on Tae Kwon Do. That has been a very positive thing for me in terms focus, concentration and coordination. I've come a long way since my first class when I swore I had 3 left feet, and couldn't even get past the first two movements of a beginner routine that most people learn in the first 15 minutes of their first class. Now I am just below black belt, and barring horrendous injury, I will attain that rank next June.

This past June I competed in the ATU National Championships and won my division, Red Belt 50+ Female. However not many women start doing Tae Kwon Do in their 50s so my competition was me, myself and I. I showed up, my competition didn't.

National Champion?!

There is a serious flaw in my Tae Kwon Do training in that I don't have the sustained aerobic workout I would get from swimming, biking and running. It's been hard for me to get excited about doing an of those three sports without specific races and goals in mind. After having a long string of successes from 2002 to 2005 I got kind of spoiled. 2005 also burned me out with all the racing and traveling.

Getting back to Friday's discussion with my doctor, his prescription; get back to doing the three sports. Biking and swimming won't be that hard for me. Running is a different story. I have to start all over again. I pulled out a beginner program, and that's what I'm going to follow.

Today was the Westchester Triathlon. My race. I worked as course marshal on the bike course. The weather sucked. It was raining, and the section of road that I was covering had a bunch of metal plates in one part and two nasty potholes. It's not a closed course but the auxiliary cop at my intersection did a good job with all the impatient drivers who had to wait for hoards of cyclists coming through. Most of the amateur racers totally ignored the yellow line rule and went outside to avoid riding over the plates. Not that I blame them, I probably would have done the same thing. The pros took the plates carefully.

As I stood out there in the raining pointing out hazards and cheering for the racers, I thought to myself "I'm so glad I'm not out here in this crap." I felt really sorry for the poor newbies doing their first triathlon. Shortly after the last two cyclists passed by I went back to my car to head back home. I caught up eventually with the sweep car and cop car tailing the last racer. I don't think we were going much more then 5 miles an hour up that hill. That's not even the hardest climb in the race. That comes later. I hope she made it through the race okay.

It's time for me to start thinking like a triathlete again. I have to get over myself in terms of what I used to be able to do. The 55 year old me is slower and heavier then the 51 year old pictured below.

Maybe I can see that weight again, but I think my days of 8:45 miles are behind me. I may have to outlast my fellow baby boomers to have a chance in my age group again. Hopefully in the mean time I can stand myself. I am finding inspiration from a wonderful young woman who calls herself The Unlikely Triathlete. She working on losing weight, and using triathlon as a tool in that journey. I've got three months to clean up my diet, and get my act together. I don't want to go on meds for my cholesterol.

I'm Alive!

2009-03-29T12:07:00.003-04:00

I went out on my bike for the first time in ages. I only did 10 miles, but it's a start. Last November stupid me decided I would use my St. A's deferral and enter this years race. I was hoping it would motivate me to train through the winter. It didn't. I spent the winter advancing several belt levels in Tae Kwon Do. I'm now a brown belt. 7 down, 3 to go. I'm hoping I can make red in April.

Back to triathlon. I turn 55 in April. Several years ago I was looking forward to aging up, and kicking butt in a new age group. Now I don't give a crap. I'm going to suck as bad as a 55 year old as I did when I did my last race two years ago. I can probably get my cycling back to something respectable, and even swimming may come back. Running is a whole different story. My aborted attempt at making a running come back last winter left me with the realization that I'm probably going to be a walker for the rest of my life. If I do some how get running again, I'll be lucky if I break an 11:00 minute mile. Gone are the days when I could hold off the competition by staggering through the run at an 8:45 pace.

We'll see doing St. A's reignites the triathlon flame. If it doesn't perhaps I will have to change this blog to Alive and Kicking, and write about my journey to Black Belt.

Alive and Kicking!

2008-04-27T00:12:00.004-04:00

Saint Anthony's Triathlon starts in less then 7 hours, and I'm not there. I was supposed to be. A lot happened between December 1, 2007 and April 27, 2008. Also a lot didn't happen between those dates. The things that didn't happen were miles on the bike, and yards in the pool. The miles on foot were an poorly executed attempt at going from a 6:27 marathon walker to a 5:00 marathon runner. What ever possessed me to try something like that in the dead of winter? Because I entered a raffle at the NYC Marathon Expo and won a trip to the Seville Marathon. Unfortunately the Seville Marathon had a 5 hour cut off. Okay so I didn't finish the race. I did 10K and called it a day. I had one heck of a good time in Spain for a week. While New York was getting it's biggest snowfall of the year, I was wandering around Seville with no jacket on.

What I learned in this exercise in futility was that I'm not going to ever be the runner that I once was. I'm not sure if I'll ever be able to run 10K without walking a few minutes every mile. At the moment I can live with that. I just didn't feel like spending a lot of money to fly down to Florida to do a triathlon that I was going to be less prepared for then I was last year when I strolled through the race in a very pedestrian 3:27. Last year I was there with Team in Training and I had a blast. This year they didn't need me as a mentor so I would have been there on my own.

I spent this past winter learning a new sport. I'm taking Tae Kwon Do. On Thursday I passed my Yellow Belt test. TDK is challenging for me. Left and right don't come easy for me, and the movements in this sport don't relate to any other sport I've done in the last 25 years. At times it's been frustrating and I feel like a total spazz, but then there are moments where things finally fall into place and I'm right on target. During the sparring portion of the test I did manage to land a few good kicks. Here I'm spot on. My technique still needs a lot of work.

My next belt is orange. I'd love to be able to do it in a month, but we will see how I do with the new forms for that level. KIHOP!!

In the meantime the weather has started warming up, and I'm getting a few miles on the bike. The good news is I'm only a few pounds over goal weight. Those two to four pounds will go soon I'm sure.

Free Meeting!!!

2007-09-29T22:59:00.000-04:00

Finally got back to goal weight, so I didn't have to pay. It's been slow taking the weight off this time. Though I have some interesting observations.

1. The weight seems to have come off in different spots then in the past.

2. Some of my skinny clothes still don't fit.

I'm not sure whether I want to try to get down enough to fit into the skinny clothes, though I'd like to fit into the Tommy Bahama capris. Those were too damn expensive!

I will probably maintain current points level for the time being. I wouldn't mind losing a few more pounds before I leave for vacation since I know I will eat more then normal. I certainly will be drinking more wine then normal. Can't help to do that when in wine country.

What a Difference a Year Makes!

2007-09-22T20:00:00.000-04:00

Last year at this time I still feeling the affects of three slow to heal broken ribs and the immense sorrow of losing my dad suddenly. These two events had made it very challenging to train to walk the Nike Women's Marathon for Team in Training. There had been some weeks where my training for the week simply consisted of showing up for the long group walks. Mentally it was hard to get myself out the door to go for a walk. However 2006 was the year I wanted to finally add the marathon piece to my Team in Training resume, and complete the Triple Crown. So come hell or high water, I was doing a marathon!

The long walks were difficult at times. I was slower then the other women doing Nike, so often I would have nobody to walk with until I'd regroup with one of the coaches for the second part of the walk. Thank goodness for my iPod. Music helped keep me sane on the lonely walks. The other issue was I had trouble with my feet. I had an annoying pain on the outside of the right foot, and lingering plantar fasciitis in my left foot. There were the annoying shin splints that made it hard to run earlier in the year, when i was trying to tri.

The day before my 20 miler I walked into Jack Rabbit Sports in NYC, had them look at me on the treadmill, and switched to a completely different shoe. I was so desperate that I made this huge change, and then went out and walked 20 miles the next day. That's about as close as one can get to breaking the cardinal rule of nothing new on race day. But then again, I don't always follow the sanest path. Fortunately my insane gamble worked, and the pain in my feet was easing.

Now it's almost year since doing Nike, and in less then a month I will be doing it again. I'm hoping to go faster this time. If my training walks are any indicator I should be able to easily beat last year's time. It's been interesting trying to balance cycling and walking. Last year I didn't have that issue. This year I've had to try not to over train. When you're walking 3 days and riding 3 days it's easy to go overboard. I was glad when the Empire State Games were over, because then I didn't have to fret over getting bike miles in.

Another thing that has helped this year is, I've lost most of the weight I'd put on last two years. Returning to Weight Watchers has helped a lot, even if they don't quite know what to do with people like me who can ring up 9 to 11 activity points in a day. (They suggest 4 activity points a day, 28 for the week.) It took awhile to get the metabolism going again. I was starting to think I'd never get back down to goal and would have to set an "old lady's" new goal. However patience paid off. 18.6 pounds down! 1.4 will put me back within 2 pounds of goal so I can stop paying!

I've had two good long walks so far, but I've had to do the last miles alone. Last weekend I did 15 miles. I had company for 10 and did the last 5 by myself. This weekend I again had company for 10, and had to do 7 by myself. The 17 miler ended the same way the 15 miler began last week. Walking in the rain! I think my last mile was the fastest because I was worried about my iPod and cell phone getting wet. I sure never had those issues 25 years ago when doing long runs in the rain.

Last week I picked my "Race Music" play list for my final 5 miles. It's got music that I've liked to listen to before races over the years. It's a mixed bag of rock, classical, new age, and jazz. It was what I was in the mood for last weekend. This weekend I was in the mood for something a little more spiritual so I opted for Handel's Messiah. How many people train to oratorio music? Actually I find Messiah very uplifting, and some of the choruses have good tempo for my walking pace. I could not have timed it better though. As I was completing my last mile the "Hallelujah" Chorus came on. "Hallelujah, Hallelujah! I did it, I did it!" I got through the 17 miles at a consistent 15 minute pace. (My apologies to Mr. Handel.)

Two more long walks to go. 14 miles next week, and then the big 20 the week after. Then the week after that John and I leave for a week's vacation in San Francisco and wine country.

Thanks to Volunteers!

2007-08-29T23:08:00.000-04:00

Tonight there was a dinner for the cycling volunteers for the Empire State Games. I was invited even though I only helped a little at the criterium when my race was done. Though I guess volunteering to subject myself to four days of Open Division racing for the sake of having a Hudson Valley women's team was something.

It was nice to meet a number of the people who were out there each day making sure the riders were safe. I met the people who would blow a whistle when I came down the snaky descent on Cat Ridge Rd. This was their way of letting people down the hill know that riders were coming, or in my case most of the time, a rider was coming.

I was talking to one woman and we introduced ourselves. When I told her my name was Polly she said "Oh you're Polly on the Lightspeed. I was the one on the corner who was cheering for you, and you told me your name." I told how much I appreciated her cheering for me as I came by each time. It turns out she rides a Lightspeed too, so it was an easy way to spot me, and cheer. Thanks Mary for cheering me on in my lonely moments of riding OTB. (off the back)

I was not the only one at the dinner who had raced. I also got to meet Pat, who is 73 years old and did the time trial. In some ways she reminds me of Sister Madonna, the 74 year old triathlete who I want to be like when I'm in my 70s. Pat shared her story about Mark taking her out on the time trial course and building up from 4 miles to the complete 10. Her time was 32:43. My time was 28:32. 4 minutes seems like a lot of time, but considering the twenty year age difference and she just started doing time trials this year, I thought that was damn good. If I only 4 minutes of my time in 20 years I'll be thrilled. I've already lost well over 4 minutes on my 10K run time from 2003 to 2005. I don't even want to think about much more I will have lost when I start trying to run again in earnest.

Special thanks go to Mark Lalloo and Marlene Perez for gathering all these wonderful people to come help out. Without volunteers, races don't happen. So next time you're racing remember to say thanks. If you're not racing, then give something back by being a volunteer.

I guess I'm going to have to ride some extra miles tomorrow because the party ended with this:

Post ESG Thoughts and a Few Pictures

2007-08-18T15:51:00.000-04:00

Today we did our Team in Training walk from Kensico Dam Park. It's funny, I've lived in this area for over 25 years, and this is the first time I've actually driven my car up here. A few times in the 80s when I ran marathons we would run from Eastchester to the dam and back for our 20 miler. I also did the first Danskin Women's triathlon in New York. It finished at the dam. I hadn't been back there until a few weeks ago when the Empire State Games opening ceremony took place there.

The Games had been pushed to the background as I became chess geek for a week, and I refocused on my walk training. However Hudson Valley's hometown massacre never quite goes away when you have guys like JP looking for women for 2008 already. I'm guilty of that too! I'm looking to retire from Open competition and go back to winning medals in Masters, so when I rode with Lynn on Sunday and Monday, I'm thinking "young fresh blood". When I mentioned racing at Empires in 2008 to Lynn she tells me JP said the exact same thing.

I got a "Certificate of Athletic Achievement" from the Westchester County Executive for participating in the Games. Woo hoo! If he only knew what I went through for four days. Maybe instead of mailing out certificates to all the participating athletes they could have taken the postage money and spent a couple more dollars on our uniforms. Sorry I'm being a little snarky, but geez the home team getting their butts kicked kinda sucked. As Mark aptly pointed out, our guys know the Bronx River Parkway, and how did Western come back from 5th place and win the team competition short two riders? *sigh*

Here are some pictures from our club time trial, and the "Tour de Torture" (ESG road race) taken by Jodee Novak. Great shots. I can't believe she took the road race shots from the top of Oak Brook Rd. I'm actually smiling in some of them.

USI Time Trial:
Oh crap this hurts!!!

Empire State Games Road Race:
Are We having fun yet?

Learning the Ropes: Gimbels Ride for Newbies

2007-08-16T15:37:00.000-04:00

For somebody doing their first Gimbels ride it can be a pretty intimidating experience. It becomes even more so if the person just moved here recently. The wonderful thing about USI is we really try to take care of newcomers. So even if one of the hammerheads brings someone new out for the ride he will make sure that someone from the club will look after that person. This past Sunday I was the go to gal to make sure the newbie didn't end out in Albany instead of New Rochelle. Since I was doing Otto's route I was a perfect candidate to show Lynn the ropes.

Lynn just moved out here from Michigan a few weeks ago. Like any cyclist moving into a new area she found herself a bike shop. Where there's a bike shop there is always a salesperson who can hook up the newcomer with all the group ride info. So why start small when you can do the infamous Gimbels ride? The ride was featured in the July issue of Bicycling as part of an article on 25 wildest group rides in America. Yep, it can be pretty wild, but Otto's route is the sanest of the three routes. It's where most all newbies begin their Gimbels career.

The trick to mastering this ride is knowing the roads, and knowing where people will attack, and where they ease up. Fortunately since the number 1 rule of Otto's route is Wait for Otto at the top of "American Can"* hill, it gives people on that route a chance to catch up. The other two routes have no rules. You get spit off the back, you're on your own. You better know where you're going or have a map handy.

*Different parts of the ride have names based on where they are, topography, or landmark. This hill is so named because it comes goes up past what used to be the corporate headquarters of American Can Corporation.

I've kept a number of newbies company in their inaugural Gimbels ride, and I tell every single one of them the same thing. "When we get stopped at a light in North White Plains roll up to the front." By moving up to the front one can avoid the chaos in the middle and back of the pack. Also if one doesn't climb so well, when we get to the "bridge hill" and start getting passed by people who can climb one won't be OTB (off the back). I learned early on that to have half a chance of surviving the ride you need to stay near the front. When you're doing Otto's route it's not as essential as when going regular or long.

If your idea of a huge group ride is 20 riders then Gimbels can be rather scary since on a nice summer's day the initial group can number close to 100 riders. That mass does divide up according to route and then sub-divides as people get spit off the back or break away off the front, but heading out of North White Plains on Rte 22 it's a mass of cyclists. The pace at that point is still such that most people can sit in comfortably, even those without the best of cycling skills. Since Rte 22 is not in the best of shape one has to be wary of potholes. The Gimbels veterans know where most of the potholes are so they know to stay left, right or center in certain spots. Despite holes being called out, there's always someone who ends out overreacting when trying to get around one of the craters. At times this causes one rider to bump another. Skilled pack riders are used to the jostling and bumping, but in a pack this large there are those who aren't so skilled. Sometimes a rider will panic when bumped, go down and take somebody with him.

I've been bumped and jostled a number of times over the years, but after an accident it can take time to get used to the pack again. July 4th was my first Gimbels ride since my accident last year. It was difficult psychologically riding up Rte 22 with all those people around me. There were times I thought I'd have a panic attack, but I just tried to keep smooth and avoid the holes. Even though I do more pack riding then the average triathlete, I still am more comfortable being in time trial mode. The combination of trying not to be in the thick of the pack, and making sure I won't get spit off the back I try to get to the front by North White Plains.

After the North White Plains train station we finally got stopped at a light so I told Lynn to move up to the front. We were able to stay up near the front heading out of North White Plains. One thing I had neglected to tell Lynn was to be in an easy gear after we crossed the reservoir and climbed the "bridge hill". She was having a bit of trouble getting out of the big ring to climb the hill. I was afraid I was going to lose her there, but she managed to recover and get back to me by the time we were heading down the other side. Lynn has an advantage in that she's young and fit. I'm two years older then her mother. Enough said.

After the bridge hill faux pas, I made sure I warned her about appropriate gear changes. The next necessary gear change is the climb up American Can hill. It doesn't matter how many times I climb that hill it never seems to get any easier. Though in comparison to "Tour de Torture" last month it's nothing. Fortunately we get a respite at the top waiting for Otto. Some people will roll easy down the other side and let the rest of the group overtake them. Lynn opted to do that.

My goal in cycling is to still be doing a ride like this when I'm in my 70s and have the "youngsters" in their 40s and 50s waiting for me. Some want to be like Mike. I want to be like Otto. Otto is 74, and still rides his bike 200 miles a week. He rides all winter. I'm a wimp in the winter. He also still rides pretty damn fast on the flats. I've watched him blow by younger riders to move up to the front where somebody will push him up a hill. My yardstick for seeing how I'm progressing fitness wise is Otto. When I can get up the hill ahead of him then I know I'm just about back in shape.

The next tricky part is what we refer to as the double whammy. It's two hills on Purchase Street. Neither of them are steep, but it's a spot where people like to attack and if you're not alert you'll get dropped. Otto's group doesn't attack, but I've gotten dropped there when I'm not fit. If you're not with the group when they crest the second hill you better hope they hit the red light at Anderson Hill Rd, otherwise they're gone. From the crest of that hill down into Rye it's pretty much all downhill. On the regular and long rides the pace is very intense. It's also where there tend to be accidents on the ride. I've seen some pretty scary accidents along that stretch of road. There's also a sprint that's contested before crossing over I-287. Most of the time with Otto's group nobody sprints. But Roberta took off so I decided to chase her down. Woo hoo! I "won" the sprint! Big whoop. Only means something when you're racing a bunch of people for the sprint on the other routes.

Though the part of the ride that scares me the most is going down Highland into Rye, and making the two right turns in the middle of town. With Otto's group it's not so bad. We take the two corners in a reasonable manner. In the larger groups you have hordes of riders weaving around cars and taking those corners going very fast. When I've been in my finest condition those two turns either make or break me. If I can get through them with the group I can hang on. If I'm gapped off, I have to bust my ass to try to get back on. If I'm having a good day I can get back on. If not, it's a lonely ride down to New Rochelle.

Even if I do get back on there's one more difficult spot. Again it's sort of nothing hill heading up to Rte 1. However somebody always attacks there, and if I've expended a lot of energy trying stay with the group through downtown Rye, it may be the proverbial straw. If I survive there then I'm not so concerned when the sprint occurs at the Rye/Mamaroneck border. After that it's an easy roll down to New Rochelle. Though when the weather is cold people race down to there to get the hot cup of coffee.

By coming with me on Otto's ride Lynn got to experience all these little topographical challenges without 50 testosterone fueled guys hammering through them all. For a newbie coming from the Midwest where there aren't so many cars and crazies on the road this ride can be unnerving to say the least. A few weeks on Otto's ride gets the Gimbels rookie used to the course. Lynn has youth and fitness going her way so it shouldn't be too many weeks before she's ready to have Tommy or JP take her on the regular ride. Mental fortitude will be the determining factor.

The regular ride has gotten much faster since I last did it, so I'm not sure I'll get back to that type of speed. Even if I do get back to that speed, I'm not sure I'll be able to hack the insanity. I think the older you get, the harder it is to come back psychologically after an accident. Also there are just too many stupid riders out there. We had two of them on Otto's ride. Neither of them can ride in a straight line. In a small group they're easier to deal with, but I couldn't believe it when one of them tried to move up by cutting through the group diagonally. I called him a f#$%ing moron. I don't do that very often, but when someone deserves it, I'll let them have it.

Racing By The Numbers

2007-07-31T22:59:00.000-04:00

Doing the laundry yesterday I was removing my race numbers from my Hudson Valley jerseys. Looking at my assigned numbers I found a bit of irony in them. Seven is a holy number, so my friend Jeannie always tells me having a 7 in your race number will bring good things during your race. I didn't get injured or sick so that is a good thing. Number 72 was my number for the first three events. If you add 7+2 you get 9 which is the number of points I scored for the team on each of my DFL days.

This is my team time trial number. We were team number 13. Lucky number 13? I'm not superstitious. In fact I like the number 13. I wore it in high school at times. Though in this case I'm not sure being the first women's team sent out, only to be passed by 4 of the 5 following teams is considered being lucky.

I can play math games with this number too. 13-1=12 which is the number of points I scored for the team in the individual time trial.

With these kind of numbers it doesn't make me want to rush out and play the lottery.

Team Time Trial: The Last Shall Be First......

2007-07-29T15:00:00.000-04:00

...to start.

I enjoy this event because I actually get to sit on a wheel, and be with someone. Since we're only a two woman team we have to stay together. Second rider across is the determining factor. It's not like 1992 when I was riding with two much stronger and younger women. Gretchen and Sherri took off after a few warm up rolls on my wheel. Though Janice is probably a stronger rider then me, we had similar times in the individual time trial, so we should not have trouble staying together.

Our only problem; barring a major miracle or massive mechanical failures from the other teams, we're coming in last. Even Long Island with their slow third rider (the one who saved me from the "last place grand slam" by finishing 16 seconds behind me in the individual time trial) can beat us. One of their riders who I've raced against before at previous Games said, "You're the only team we'll beat." In major league sports that would be serious "bulletin board material" to get a team pumped up for their opponents who would have the nerve to say such a thing. She wasn't be arrogant or nasty when she said it. She was just commenting on the chances of her team in this race. Unfortunately she was right, and all the motivation in the world could not change it.

The other aspect of this race of this race that I was looking forward to was the course itself. They were using the portion of the Bronx River Parkway that is closed for "Bicycle Sundays" in the spring and fall. I've ridden the route hundreds of times since 1983 when I first started riding a bike again. I have many fond memories of "Bicycle Sundays" over the years. John and I have met many good cycling friends out there, and before we started doing the Gimbels Ride we thought we were hot stuff. A group of us dubbed ourselves "The Bronx River Racers" because we could speed by all the casual weekend riders. After we took our lumps in our early attempts at the Gimbels Ride, we learned we weren't such hot stuff. Maybe being a "Bronx River Racer" wasn't something to be proud of.

I had not made it out for any "Bicycle Sundays" this past spring, but given my history with the road it would not be a problem. Between riding and driving that stretch for the last 24 years, to say that "she's familiar with the course" is an understatement. When I think back on my decision making regarding Open versus Masters, part of the draw to the Open was being able to do the Team Time Trial on the parkway.

Despite my detour to my house to pick up my orthotics, I had no problem making it up to White Plains via the parkway before they closed it to traffic. It gave me another chance to check up on the construction spots. Fortunately there's only one place where it goes to one lane. The police actually closed the parkway at 8:30. That allowed us to actually ride a part of the course for a warm up. Janice opted for the wind trainer. I stuck to my normal routine of riding on the road. After Thursday's little mishap, I'll pass on trainer warm ups.

The great thing about using this course is that it makes for long laps. So instead of having to do lots of laps of a short loop, the women had two laps and the men three laps of a 13.5 mile loop. This meant there would not be as much passing, and not trying to remember what lap we're on. It can get a little crazy out there when you have 18 teams going off at two minute intervals. Each team has it's own support car following behind, so between all the riders and their support cars it can't get a little hectic when one team overtakes another team.

Each region has two 5 man teams and one 3 woman team. The trick for the coaches is figuring out which riders they want on their A and B men's teams. In the men's race it's the third rider across that stops the clock. The coaches have to decide the right mix to maximize their chances. The riders have to agree on their strategy in terms the order of the riders, how long each rider will be at the front, and what to do if they lose certain riders to mechanical issues. So before the race starts the various teams are huddling to work out their strategy.

There wasn't anything deep or complicated about Hudson Valley's women's team strategy. Stay together, stay together, stay together, and don't drop each other was the game plan. We would figure out how long each of us would pull once we got a feel for each other out on the course. How's that for advance planning?

They send the teams out in reverse team standing order. So Hudson Valley's A Team was number one, followed by Western A, Long Island A, Central A, Adirondack A, and New York City A. Then the whole sequence would repeat again with the men's B teams going in that same order. Finally after the 12 men's teams go off, it's the women's teams turn. Once again Hudson Valley would lead off as team number 13. I thought that number was appropriate given all that we've dealt with. As were waiting behind the last few mens teams to go somebody made the observation that we look rather alone there, with just Janice and me. It's a contrast seeing a two women team standing on line behind several five man teams. It's sort of like looking at a grape sitting next to a apple. Both are fruit, but one is bigger then the other.

The other thing I like about a team trial is one foot is on the ground. No one is there to drop me! If I fall at the start, it's my own damn fault, and perhaps a sign from God that maybe I shouldn't be racing. So after the countdown from the official, and no signs from God, we were off. Janice took the first pull, and then I took us up the first hill out of White Plains. We didn't have a set time that each of us would spend at the front.

There were a couple of things I had to get used to as we took our first few turns in our pace line. One I had to make use of the curves in the road. When Janice was at the front she would cut a straight line which would mean she'd actually end out in the other lane. I'm so used to blindly following the road around the curves. She reminded me to cut the curves. The first time she did this I thought she was pulling off already.

The other thing I had to get used to was how close she stayed to me when she pulled off. I know when I'm in a pace line I have a tendency to move too far out when I pull off. Janice doesn't so I had to get used that. Given my post-crash discomfort level with pack riding, I had to deal with that aspect. I also found myself staying a little further off her wheel then I should have been. However I was sitting on my aero-bars most of the race. I only got off them when I was climbing. I didn't even want to think about how close she was to my wheel. I tried to stay as smooth as possible.

It wasn't too long before the Western women came up on us. Our team car honked to let us know when we were being overtaken. In a team trial event when a team is overtaken they pull over to the left, and let the overtaking team pass on the right. That totally goes against the grain of my triathlon mindset of stay right, pass left. But then again, team time trial goes against the triathlon mindset of no drafting. So basically I had to tell my inner tri-geek to "stuff it!"

When the men's teams overtake us it's pretty impressive to watch and hear. Most of the guys have disks so we hear them coming before we see them. There is also the beep of Gemma's car horn to let us know someone is coming. After Robin's unintentional "snarky" remark about beating us, I really didn't want to get passed by Long Island, but they did overtake us, sans their third rider. They spit her off the back fairly quickly. After they went by I said "Damn, I didn't want them to pass us." Janice told me to try to stay close to them. I didn't really see what good it would do even if we could stay close. We had a four minute head start on them based on start order so now we were at least four minutes behind. Maybe Janice is a prophet because as it turned out Robin's chain snapped, so they had to stop and swap out her bike. I didn't see this happen, I heard about it after the race was done. Sheesh, their team car had a spare bike on top? Are we at the Tour de France? Actually some of the men's teams use radios to communicate with each other and the team car. That's a little intense for me.

We had two sets of wheels in our car so were prepared for flats, but a major mechanical like a broken chain would have been a disaster. For me to switch bikes I would have needed a second pair of shoes also with the correct cleat. Having a team car is nice because now and then they pull up next to us, give us encouragement, and remind us to drink water. Drinking on the tri-bike with no aero-bottle is difficult for me. So I'd do it when I was sitting in back. So every time they yelled to drink, I'd reach down and grab my bottle and take a sip.

We got through the first lap, and my legs felt pretty good. I find that I get stronger as I go along in this event. I remember in 2004, I started feeling better as Dale was feeling worse. Janice wanted to try to pick up the pace a bit on the last lap. I was game to try. On the first lap we had managed not to get passed on the turns, or in the construction zone on the northbound side. On the last lap we wouldn't be so lucky in the construction zone. I'm not sure whether it was good or bad that the construction zone was on a hill. The guys couldn't go quite as fast as they would on the flats, but on the other hand neither could we, so it was probably a wash. Janice and I got as far over to the left as possible without hitting the barrels. I got a little closer to one of them then I would have liked to, but since I was not down on the aero-bars it wasn't a problem. The guys passed us, and after we got back to two lanes their car went by.

One of the bad things about being the first team to start is knowing just how badly you're getting beat. At some point during the race, the Central women who started 6 minutes after us caught up, and just as we were cresting the hill into White Plains for the last time the Adirondack women (8 minutes behind) caught us. The only team not to catch us was NYC. They had started 10 minutes behind. However if we had to go a few more miles they would have caught us too. None of this came to me as any great surprise. As I said before, only a major miracle or a few catastrophic mechanical failures would change anything. As it was, there was a mechanical failure but nothing like having a spare bike to take care of that problem.

After we finished we rolled back to the parking lot. It wasn't long before everyone was in, and they posted the final standings. Western, the team that everyone had left for dead after being short two riders for the entire Games came through with wins in the men's and women's team time trials. In the team standings they shot up from fifth to first. Long Island shot up from fourth to second. NYC, who had started the day in first ended out in third.

Alas, Hudson Valley having started the day in last place remained last. So much for the home field advantage. So much for having a women's team. They did the same thing in Rochester with no women. Despite our presence not doing anything to improve Hudson Valley's chances this year, I still felt it was important that Janice and I were there. How sad would it have been to have the team trial go off with only five women's teams, and have the home team be the missing team? Pretty sad in my opinion.

I only knew a few of the guys on our team. Many of them were from Dutchess, Rockland, and Putnam counties. With most of them staying home instead of on campus you lose the camaraderie of hanging out at dinner together, and shooting the breeze about the day's race. I don't know if they cared whether Janice and I were there or not. It would have been nice if we could have contributed more. However even Adirondack with their two women team couldn't do better then fourth despite the fact that they came in 3rd in the women's team time trial and the one woman won two golds and a silver. I think it comes down to having good time trial teams, and racking up as many points as you can in the individual races.

Here are the final team standings:

1	Western	1738	gold
2	Long Island	1668	silver
3	New York City	1641	bronze
4	Adirondack	1575
5	Central	1540
6	Hudson Valley	1425

Ultimately my choosing to represent Hudson Valley wasn't about the guys and helping them in the team standings. It was about making sure the home team was represented in the women's open cycling division. It was about trying to be an example to other women. It was about participating in the Games at home.

For many athletes they have to fight tooth and nail to make their region's team. I remember my niece's disappointment in just missing making the Adirondack women's ice hockey team back in 2004. It would be her one and only chance to play ice hockey at the Games. Any girls or women want an easy way to make it to the Games? Become a cyclist. You may have to move to a region where there aren't many women trying out for cycling. Cycling may be an easy ticket to the Games, but it isn't an easy ticket through the Games.

By the time I finish 4 days of racing, I'm physically and emotionally exhausted. I remember at my first Games in 1992 being so spent that I burst into tears after the team time trial. It was a combination of our women's team missing a bronze medal by two seconds, and just the stress of competing at such a level for four days. As I was talking to friends after today's race I found myself getting a little emotional. I was close to crying, but I had to remind myself that this wasn't about medals. This was about participating, and representing the home team.

Next year the Empire State Games return to Binghampton. Hopefully if I'm there next year it will be because the Cheetahs decided to make a road trip to do some masters racing. I'll show up at FDR Park next June and do the qualifying race so that we can keep the numbers from dropping. Just maybe I can actually try to race instead of being a warm body. Maybe I can simply be an emergency alternate, instead of on the team. Maybe pigs will fly soon. :-)

Another Faux Pas

2007-07-29T01:00:00.000-04:00

I've had technical and racing glitches in every race thus far. So why should the Team Time Trial be any different? This glitch started when I went back home after the criterium. I wanted a nap in an air-conditioned room, wash my jersey and warm up suit, and I wanted to get rid of the gear that I wouldn't need for the time trial. I figured by leaving the road bike and all the associated gear at home it would make checking out easier the next day. I didn't need 700 wheels, road shoes and helmet. I had the 650 wheels, tri-shoes and aero-helmet back at the college. All weekend I had been very careful to make sure I had the right shoes for the right bike. It worked perfectly until the last race because I forgot to take the orthotics out of the road shoes.

I discovered my mistake shortly before midnight when I was packing up my gear. Yes, I know. What was I doing up at midnight packing for a race that started in 9 hours?? It's called; to paraphrase a line from an old "Who" song, "Polly can't sleep at night." I really didn't want to have get up early enough to drive home, pick up the orthotics, and drive to White Plains for the race. I can't go home now because they probably wouldn't let me back on to campus since it's curfew. I figure I can try my running orthotics in the shoes, but I'm not sure how well that would work. My running shoes are in the car. So here it is midnight, the ESG security people are getting the last of the kids to go to their rooms, and here I am wanting to go outside. I can see it now, "Um, Clarence I can't do the team time trial because I broke curfew. Sorry about that. Tell Janice she can go back home."

Fortunately there is an advantage to being a mature adult. When I say "I know it's midnight, and I'm not supposed to be out, but I need something from my car. I'll be right back.", the staff isn't going to give me a lot of flack. I got the orthotics, and talked with the people for awhile. Then needled me a bit and said "Time for bed!" I tried the running orthotics in the tri-shoes, but simply standing there I could tell there was no way I was going to survive 27 miles with this set up. The running orthotics are 3/4 length, and the cycling ones are full length. My toes were hanging over the edge and resting on the bottom of the shoe. They were starting to hurt, and I wasn't doing anything.

I thought about a test ride, but somehow I knew I couldn't go outside again, and riding a circuit around the corridor of the dorm would surely get me booted from the Games. I saw a kid get the boot yesterday. They don't mess around with dorm rules infractions. I've made my mark on these Games as the masochist master rider taking one for the home team. I did not want to become the oldest participant to be booted from the Games for inappropriate behavior in the dorms.

So I was just going to have to suck it up, get up earlier and go home before heading to White Plains. Before going to bed I tried to pack up as much stuff as possible. I decided I would check out in the morning and save myself a trip back after the race.

DFL in White Plains, but all over the ESG website.

2007-07-28T22:16:00.000-04:00

After Friday's race, nothing could hurt quite so bad. When I woke up Saturday morning I felt very tired. Wen the alarm went off I debated the merits of getting up and going over to the cafeteria for breakfast versus staying in bed a little longer and eating a Clif Bar in the car on my way to White Plains. College cafeteria food or sleep?? Another one of those no brainers!! I didn't really fall back asleep, but just lying in bed for an extra 20 minutes felt pretty good. Finally I pried myself out of bed, pulled myself together and made my way down to White Plains.

It's funny staying at the college for races in my area, though for Thursday's and Friday's races it was a smart move. I probably saved about 25 minutes in travel time not having to deal with rush hour traffic on the Hutchinson River Parkway. For a race in White Plains on Saturday it was really not necessary, but I didn't want to break the ESG rules regarding campus housing. Coming to White Plains from Purchase felt a little strange. Despite my familiarity with White Plains I still wasn't a 100% sure where I was supposed to be going. I followed the directions in the cycling information packet. They sent me to a parking lot that was closed. I finally went and parked by the train station and rode my bike over to the staging area.

Criteriums usually scare the crap out of me. I hate the tight turns and the pack makes me nervous. I had skipped the Masters criterium at the 2005 Games in New Paltz. Competing in the Open I have no choice. However I was actually looking forward to doing the event this year. It was one of the events I had intended to enter if I had done the Masters Division. I thought it would be exciting to do a bike race in downtown White Plains, and I pictured big crowds watching.

So I was wrong about the big crowds. What can I expect early on a Saturday morning? When I got there the Master's men were racing. It was pretty intense. I warmed up on one of the side streets with some of the other women from the Open Division. I decided I did not need to warm up on a trainer like the guys. Rolling around on the streets would be fine, and once the masters men were done I could ride the course. While waiting around for the guys to finish I got interviewed for a video on the Journal News ESG website. He was asking questions about the Tour de France doping controversies and how it impacted cycling at this level. I was featured quite a bit on the video. (Look for ESG Special -Doping Controversy) After watching the video I decided I need a speech coach! All the ums make me want to shoot myself!

Riding around during the warm up helped me get a feel for the corners, and plan my strategy. Strategy sounds impressive, but all it means for me is knowing where I want be when the field laps me. Finally it's time to line up. The official goes through the usual spiel about it's a points race, and that one loses 20 points if they get lapped once, and may be pulled if lapped twice. The word may caught my ears because at the Binghampton Games the official said "will" and sure enough I was pulled after being lapped a second time.

Before the race Gemma said to me, "Whatever you do, don't get lapped." Yeh, fat chance of that happening. I was in really good shape in 2004 for the Binghampton Games, but still I eventually got spit off the back, and lapped twice. Here it is 3 years later, and I'm nowhere near the condition I was back then, and she expects me not to get lapped? Maybe she was just trying to get me motivated. No problem! But I'm a realist. It wasn't matter of if I get lapped, it was when I get lapped.

I was hoping I could make it around a few times with the field, but perhaps that was too ambitious a goal. Maybe a more reasonable goal would have been make it to the fourth corner with the field. I was already getting spit off the back on the second corner. By the third corner even the woman I beat in the time trial had dropped me. *Sigh* it was going to be one of those days. Since it was only a .55 mile loop it didn't take long for the breakaway to lap me. I'm not sure on what lap they caught me, but I knew if the officials pulled me when I got lapped again it was going to be a short morning. When I got lapped the second time I looked at my odometer. 4.25 miles! Cripe, my warm up was longer then that. However as I approached the start/finish line I didn't see the official step out on the course and blow his whistle, so it appeared they were letting me continue for the time being.

The spectators were great. A lot of USI people were out there as marshals. When I would get on Mamaroneck Ave. this one woman would yell out "Go Lightspeed!" On another lap she yelled out "Go Empire State Games!" She reminded me of spectators on the NYC marathon course that would cheer you by what ever was on your singlet. So when I came around the next time I told her "My name is Polly." On the next few laps she would yell "Go Polly." I saw the photographer who had done the video of me, and said "I told you I'd be easy to spot." He got some great shots of the race and the interviews.

This is a good action picture of me taken by Matthew Brown of the Journal News . The casual viewer doesn't have to know that I'm seriously OTB (off the back.) and DFL. For all they know I could be leading the field. (In my dreams!)

I knew my race was over when the woman who just lapped me got whistled off the course with 4 laps left for the field. At this point i had done about 9.5 miles. It was exactly was I was hoping for, but better then what I was entitled to since they could have yanked me long before. I lost track of how many times I actually I got lapped. I know it was at least 4 times, but I really didn't want to know. When they posted the standings they had me down for -60. Ouch and I thought my -40 looked bad in 2004!! Fortunately when they posted the results on the website, they listed the points we scored for the team, not the points from the race. So instead of a -60 it had 9 next to my name. Ah yes, the 9 more points the guys got by having me there instead of nobody. Whoopee! Hudson Valley's brief stay in 5th place was done. Even though there were only 88 points separating 3rd from 6th things were not looking good for the home team.

I was interviewed again and the reporter put a piece in his daily blog about my opting to do the Open instead of masters. He didn't quite get the story right since he made it sound like I was the 3rd person on the team. Oh well. It was still good to get something out about our sad women's situation. Who knows if people read this stuff or not.

I was going to leave after my race and go down NYC and play chess. However it's hard to walk away when there are still races going on. I rode around with Dale and Nancy as they were warming up for their race. I then watched them race. It was the first time I actually have watched Dale in a race that I was not in. Usually she's way in front of me so I don't see what's she's doing. It was pretty impressive watching her hang with the 55+ men. It gives me a greater appreciation of what's she accomplished this year. I'm envious of her discipline and focus, but I have to remind myself that she's free to train all year around. She doesn't also doesn't train for other sports.

It was a little difficult for me to watch the awards for the masters races. I was happy for Dale, Nancy, Karen and Liz. USI had a good showing. However seeing that empty podium spot in the 45-54 women was a little sad for me. It shouldn't really matter since third in that field would have been last in that field. I've won enough medals where I had do more then just show up. But there is something very cool about getting up on that podium and receiving a medal. I guess it's being able to act out the Olympic fantasies I had as a kid.

So one more race left. It will be another DFL day. The team time trial; where you're only as strong as your second rider. I'm the second rider. The one person I beat this weekend is the 3rd rider on the Long Island team. One just has to look at the results from the individual time trial, and it's easy to see where this is all leading to.

Inner Wimp (Wise Woman) Wins Battle of the Mind

2007-07-27T20:04:00.000-04:00

I had another crappy night of sleep, and woke up this morning with my stomach doing back flips. It was probably a combination being outside too long yesterday, and nerves. This case of nerves wasn't like the feeling I get before a triathlon. The pre-tri "I'm ready to kick some butt in my age group" nerves is nervous energy. This morning was the "OMG, I've got to go climb all those damn hills at least 3 times!" nerves. I was truly anxious about this race.

I ate a very light breakfast of two slices of whole wheat toast, pineapple chunks, and a cup of tea. Not exactly the "breakfast of champions", but it was what I could handle at the time. The stupid elevator was out of order still so on my way to breakfast I had taken all my gear so that I would only have to carry the bike down the 4 flights of steps. I'm glad my bike is light, and I was hoping by the time I got back it would be fixed.

I got out to the start about an hour before te scheduled start of the first race. Guys are on wind trainers getting warmed up. I like to warm up before a short race, but for a long race like this I just want to ride around the parking lot a few times just to loosen the legs. For me the first five miles is my warm up. People were getting rather anxious because they were behind schedule and changed the start order. They opted to have the Masters 35+ and 45+ men go after the Open men, and before the Open women. That was fine with me. I didn't want them blazing down my butt almost immediately.

The only bad thing was there was more standing around in the sun. There wasn't a ton of shade, but we all crowded in. I don't know what it is about the Empire Games, but no matter what the weather has been like all summer it seems to be hot and humid on the day of the road race. This wasn't as hot as Syracuse in 2002 when it was 96 degrees, but it was very humid.

Finally it's time for the Open Women's field to take off. The head official gives us the final instructions and warns us about the dangerous turns and descents and the potholes. Yada, Yada. Been there, done that, know this course. Let's get the show on the road. The first few miles is a neutral start where the field rolls along. I figured I'd just sit in until things got going. At one point I thought I was going to get dropped during the neutral roll. We were going down a hill and I hit 36 on my odometer. The pack was starting to pull away. I did get back on, but as soon as the pace car sped up I got spit off the back. It was a good thing the pack was in sight when we made the second turn onto Bogtown Rd, because there was no course marshal there. I was afraid I'd forget the turn on the next lap. Fortunately by the time I came around again one of my fellow USI tri-geekettes, Flori was posted there.

So began my lonely lady of the road routine. It was going to be a long morning. It wasn't too long before the break away group of the masters 55+ men came by. A little later Nancy caught up with me. She wished me luck as she went by. Again it didn't really matter what field I was in, I was going to be going it alone. Though in the masters I would be done after two laps. The other problem with the Open is technically I can't work with masters riders. Even if I could have hung with Nancy it wouldn't be allowed. I did get a number of the older guys ride up to me and invite me to work with them. I told them I was in the Open and could not do so.

The one good thing the race being down here is USI was the promoting club, so I had lots of familiar voices cheering for me. Though on my first lap somebody yelled "Go Gloria!" I said "It's Polly, not Gloria!" Under my breath I was saying "Gloria wouldn't be this far behind." This course had a number of killer hills. The worst was Oak Ridge Rd. Climb a hill to get to it, make a left and then it's straight up. The feed zone was on the first section which is the easiest, but as it gets steeper and steeper. The hill has 3 parts to it. Each part is steeper then the previous one. At the top, make a left turn and it flattens out though still an upgrade, and just when you think you've made it to the top, BAM! another short but steep hill. This road is interesting because there is a tree in the middle and traffic goes to the right of the tree. When I did the course in training a few weeks ago I took one look at that and opted to go against traffic. That side wasn't quite as steep.

I knew sooner or later the Open Men would pass me. I was just praying it wouldn't be on Oak Ridge or the screaming descent. Fortunately it was on a straight away so I simply pulled over to the grass, stopped and let them go by. One of the trailing vehicles stops and a guy asks me if I'm in Open Men. I said "No! Open Women." I'm not sure if I was more annoyed or if he was more embarrassed. Short hair, not much in the boobs department, helmet, sunglasses, and far off the back of the women's field, I guess it's an easy assumption to make. But you know what they say about assume. Make an ass out of u and me.

One of the ways I know my attitude about this race is different was when two trucks decided to stop in the middle of Hardscrabble Road. A moving van and had pulled into a drive way, and a UPS truck stopped right in front of me. Had this been a triathlon where I was trying to smoke my age group, I'd would had been seriously pissed. Here it was an opportunity to take breather. Several Masters Men cam up on me and actually crossed the yellow line and went around. I decided I would pass on that idea, especially when the UPS guy was holding up his hand. I simply stopped, and passed when it was safe to do so.

The other challenge on a course like this is balancing the whole drinking thing. On the first lap you can't receive new bottles or anything. I had a large bottle of water and a smaller bottle of Hammer Heed. By the time I got to the feed zone I was just about out of water, but still had a decent amount of Heed left. I dropped off my water bottle, assuming (there we go with the A-word again.) I'd get another large bottle. I was given a small bottle, but was not ready to part with the Heed bottle. I had to be judicious in my drinking so that I wouldn't run out before the third trip up the hill.

After I had gotten my water I saw the NYC coach, Billy Montgomery. Billy and I go back a long time. He would always give me crap on the Gimbels Ride, and at first it upset me. Then one day when he was announcing a race I did in Prospect Park, afterwards he explained that he was just ragging on me. After that we become good friends, and it he's got to be one of the funniest guys in the peloton. He's always making crazy black jokes, telling funny stories, talking trash, and getting people to laugh. So today when I saw in the feed zone I said "Hi Billy, I love you." He says back to me, "Okay, stop with the niceties and start racing." You have to understand at this point I'm going about 5 MPH up this damn hill. So I yelled to him in jest, "F$%k you Billy." Somebody comments about having too much energy, and some of the Long Island people our ragging on me about what I said. I'm thinking to myself, "Oh crap! This is a bike race. This is not Gimbels where everyone trash talks like that. This is the Empire State Games. I can't be talking like that. What if people don't realize I'm kidding around. Are they going to report me for unsportsmanlike conduct. Am I gonna get DQ'ed and get zero points?"

I found myself at times talking to Dad, and discussing the fact that he and Uncle Ernie inspired me with their long rides. I said "I hope you and Ernie are riding with me even though it's been awhile since you all have ridden." When one is by herself it's easy to start talking to herself. I certainly didn't have any riding company. Every time somebody came by and offered a wheel I played it straight, and passed. Though I'm not sure I would have been able to hold on. Also riding with people may have increased the possibility that I wouldn't be far enough behind to justify them pulling me.

As I was getting close to the end of my second lap I saw Mark and said. "I hate you Mark!" Shortly after that I crossed the finish line and the official said "you got two more laps to go." I'm thinking to myself "Oh God, are they really going to make me do this two more times?" The inner-wimp was talking louder then the inner-competitor(masochist). I knew on this third lap the men would probably pass me again. Unfortunately a big group of the 35+ masters passed me on the screaming descent. There really was no place to pull over even though the wanted me to do so. Even riding the brakes I still had a lot of speed, and there was no way to stop quickly and pull over, so I just stayed as far to the right as possible and out of their way.

On this lap I also got caught by the women. One woman was off the front, and then a few minutes later the second and third women came by. Later another 4-5 women passed me. I figured this was increasing the odds that they'd pull me. The break away from the men's open passed me on another descent that was only a mile or so from the feed hill. I knew they'd be through the feed zone by the time I got there, but I was concerned that the field would overtake me while I was getting bottles. There was no way I was not taking two bottles this time around. I was totally out of Heed, and had very little water left.

I get to the feed zone, and my back is killing me. I drop the one bottle and Gemma hands me a new one. I drop the other, and I'm really wobbly. Dave gives me the other one, and the two them are pushing me as I get the second bottle in the cage. I have no energy to make any snarky comments to Billy. I'm dying of thirst, and I have these two fresh bottles, but on a hill this steep I can't take a hand off the bars to drink. I'm thinking to myself, "Just get to Maggie and Mary. You can drink up there." I'm also thinking, "If I have to go up this hill a 4th time, I may have to walk up it!"

Mary and Maggie were up at the top of the last steep hill by the park. Every time I'd come up they would be cheering for me. It was a good spot to have friends cheering. Each time I'd come up I'd say "See you in an hour." The third time up I said something to the effect of "I hope I don't see you again up here."

The last hill has a tree in the middle of the street. We had the choice of going on either side of the tree. The first time I had ridden the course Nancy and I went to the left against traffic. To the right looked longer and steeper. Just as I get near the hill four guys come up on me. One takes the road to the right. I hesitate a moment to wait to see where the other three guys are going. They take the left, and then I follow. I was glad it was only four guys and not the rest of the open field. Once I got to the top I could cope with getting passed by a large field.

As I made my way down to Hardscrabble Rd., I was wondering what was going to happen when I got back to the finish line. The masochistic side of me was saying "You want to do the 4th lap to say you did it, and have the distinction of being the last person on the course." The wise wimpy side was saying, "You're dying on the hills, they may have to give you an IV, just let them end your misery." Every hill I climbed on Hardscrabble the wise wimp was screaming louder then the inner-masochist. When I got to the junction of Hardscrabble and June Rd., Mark was still there. I told him, "If they don't pull me, I'm sending a hit man after you!" He tells me, "Don't worry, it's been taken care of."

As I approach the finish line the official tells me I have one more lap, but I can stop and finish one lap down. The key word was finish. I stopped, and verified that if I stopped on this lap I'd would simply be last, get the points, and not be DNF. When he said yes, that was good enough for me. As I walked over and sat on the grass I heard one of the officials say "Number 71 continued on." Number 71 was the woman from Long Island that I beat by 18 seconds in the time trial. When I heard that I started thinking "Damn, I'm such a wimp. She went out for the fourth lap. Maybe I wasn't that far back, I should have gone on."

As all those thoughts went through my mind, Nancy came over and gave me a hug. She was wearing her bronze medal. I told her what I was feeling at the moment. She assured me that I did the right thing, and that I did a good job. She said that as she passed me during the race she was thinking about what a hard race it was going to be for me. As I continued to be down on myself she reminded me that I had started training late. She was right. Once again I was my own worst critic.

I rode back to the parking lot after the men finished. I got talking to one of the guys from Long Island. It turns out number 71 was a good 15 minutes ahead me, so it wasn't like I was going to catch up with her and have company for "La Tour de Torture". Also the officials were a little confused as to whether she was done or not, and whether or not she was the last woman. As it was when the standings were posted they had her listed as down a lap also. I'm not sure what that was all about.

Mary and Maggie came back to the parking lot, and said they waited for me. I told them I was given the option to finish down a lap. They agreed that it was a no brainer, and that I made the right choice. Later on when I spoke to John he too told me I was smart, and to stop beating up on myself for stopping when I did. "Hello, Polly! You're 53! You didn't start training until April! You haven't been doing a lot of hills! You're still over your racing weight! Cut yourself a break!"

Got that out of my system, and enjoyed a very nice post race lunch with Maggie, Mary and Karen. Nothing like a good meal with the girls to help put everything in perspective.

The Hudson Valley guys scored pretty well, so we moved out of last place in the team standings. From third to sixth it pretty close. However it's going to be up to the guys if there's any chance of bronze. That would be nice since I wasn't scoring any medals on my own. Again if I had been in the masters I would have been fourth. Fourth place sucks.

10 Mile Time Trial - Not Quite DFL

2007-07-26T20:33:00.000-04:00

It's official I'm becoming a neurotic competitor again. Last night I kept waking up every hour thinking "Is time yet?". I also had one of those crazy race dreams where stuff goes wrong and when you wake up, you say; "Phew it was only a dream!" In this dream I was walking around with my bike and the tire fell off the rim. I don't notice until someone points out the fact that I'm missing a tire. It was a sew up tire and I'm panicking because I have to glue it back on, and it's going to be hard to corner with wet glue. Mark is telling me I won't be able to corner right. He's drawing me diagrams of how I will have to negotiate the turn around on each end of the course.

Then I have this realization of "Wait! This has to be a dream because I have clinchers on my tri-bike, not sew ups." It's funny how real these dreams feel, and there is such relief when you realize that it was only a dream. Through out my sports "career" I've had many of these dreams. I do recall having them in college sometimes before ice hockey games. I'm not sure if I had them in high school. It's a good sign that I'm having them again. It means I'm starting to think like an athlete again.

Even though my start time isn't until 11:11, I still get to the site around 9:20. That gives me time to do a little bit of riding on the course. For the rest of my warm up I'll borrow someone's trainer. Riding a wind trainer is not my favorite thing to do, but we're parked in a field and we can't use the race course once the race starts. It's rather hot and there isn't any shade in the parking lot. Some teams have tents set up so that they can stay out of the sun. We don't. At one point I'm sitting on the ground in the shadow from a car. Hey, if it's good enough for the dogs, it's good enough for me.

Time trials always make me nervous because of the standing start. Even more so after getting dropped in 2004. Maybe I should have been more nervous about my warm up on the trainer. I'm not sure what happened, but suddenly the thing is tilting, and the bike, the trainer, and me all fall over. Sheesh! Talk about looking like a dork. Fortunately I was fine, and it was only my pride that took a few lumps.

Deborah Cohen a local who was out taking photographs caught the aftermath. Thanks for sending me this picture!Somebody needs to provide some comic relief. I guess I might as well be the one.

My start wasn't so full of pratfalls despite the fact that I managed to drop my chain and make a mess of my hands putting it back on. This was about 4 minutes before I was scheduled to start. I was getting a little crazy, but Gemma kept telling me to calm down and that it would be okay. I was happy to see that Ed was the starter. He does the starts at our club time trials, and he has steady hands. That made me feel better seeing him, and not some lady my height trying to hold me up.

I've ridden this stretch of Rte. 100 many times. I've done it with Team in Training, I've done it on long rides, and I did it a few weeks ago with the Cheetah Chicks. (Karen and Mary) When the Cheetahs did it a few weeks ago, we were doing a pace line. One might say the Cheetahs were cheating. :-) Today I would have no wheels to suck. It was me and the wind. Actually there wasn't much wind, but it was pretty hot. Wind or no wind, it's always easier to sit in.

Not being in top shape, and not getting out of my comfort zone much makes it harder to know how to pace myself. The club TT from a few weeks ago wasn't a great indicator. I figured I start out a bit easy and see how I felt as I went along. It's hard not to get pumped up when your friends are yelling your name as you go by. That would get me going and after awhile I have to dial it back a bit when I found it hard to breathe. Mary was on the megaphone trying to keep riders and spectators close to the grass. Every time I'd pass her spot I'd hear her yelling something about me through the megaphone. People who didn't know Polly sure did with Mary announcing my coming.

I suck on the turn around. The way this course was configured I'd have to do 3 U-turns. The first turn around was a little hairy. I decided that it was too hot not to go without water, but I didn't have any of my aero-bottles so I was going to have to reach down and get a bottle. I figured the best time to do that would be after completing the turn, and before I got back down on the bars. Good plan, but poor execution on the first turn. I came around the turn, but had not quite gotten straightened out so when I went for the bottle I slid out a bit and almost hit one of the cones. I decided for the second turn I'd wait a little longer before going for water.

I was wondering how long it would be before the woman who started right after me would catch me. Some of the other women who were starting after her said she was fast. They weren't kidding. She went blowing by me before the second turn around point. I wasn't too surprised since she started only 2 minutes after me. Her final time was almost 3 1/2 minutes faster then mine. Ouch! I still wish I knew how old some of these women were. After the last turn around two more women came blowing by me.

I learned from my Binghampton experience that these Open women are much better time trialists then the competition I get in Masters. I remember in 2004 expecting to finish somewhere in the middle. I was rather shocked by my next to last finish that year. I blamed some of it on being dropped and losing all that time picking myself up off the pavement, but truth be told I'm racing against Cat 2s and 3s in some cases. These women are hardcore racers, not a tri-geek pretending to be a bike racer.

My time was 28:32.79. It's not my worst time, but certainly off from the 26:23 from 2005. I did manage to avoid last place by a scant 18 seconds. I was 26 seconds behind Janice. We contributed some points towards the team standings, but the home team is sitting DFL. It doesn't help when we don't have a full women's team, and we're not talking power houses here. Even though Adirondack is also short a women on their team it didn't seem to hurt when they're top women finished first and score a hellava a lot more points then Janice and me.

Karen and Nancy both won Bronze medals in their respective age catagories in the Masters. I think in some ways I'm glad not to be in the masters category. My time would have placed my 4th over a minute behind Nancy. I'm not sure how well I would have been able to deal with getting smacked around by the masters women. That race I would have also been next to last. In the Open it's easy to deal with being back of the pack. In Masters where I'm used to being front of the pack it would have been harder. Perhaps in this year of trying to come back it's better to be in a division where there is no pressure because there are no expectations. The goal this weekend is to finish. Whether the points I collect will help the Hudson Valley team remains to be seen. However it does feel good to pin on a race number and go out and compete again.

Well tomorrow is another day. This will be the toughest day for me. It will be interesting to see if I get yanked early or whether I will have to slug it up those hills 4 times around. The inner-wimp side of me will be begging to get pulled. The inner-competitor will want to suck it up to the bitter end. I'm not going to lose sleep over it. I just hope I can stay clear of the psycho guys when they lap me. At least I know I have more the enough gears for the hills.

So one race down, three to go.

Empire State Games - Opening Ceremony

2007-07-25T22:33:00.000-04:00

Greetings from Manhattanville College where I am staying for the Empire State Games. I checked in nice and early this morning so that I would get there before the bus loads of kids arrived from all over the place. When Dale and I drove up to Binghampton in 2004 our timing sucked. We got there after the buses and the line was out the door. This time I walked straight up to the registration table got my room key and ID. Piece of cake!

As I came downstairs there was another cyclist waiting for the elevator. She had a Team in Training duffel bag. I said "You do Team in Training? So do I!" She asked me if TNT had gotten me interested in cycling or if I had already been doing some cycling before hand. I told her cycling and triathlon came long before TNT, and that I completed the Triple Crown last fall. I almost get the impression that TNT got her into cycling. Hmmmm, maybe I'll have to recruit from TNT for next year's Empire Games. Though looking at her, she didn't look like the stereotypical TNT newbie that the serious endurance athletes sneer at.

As I was waiting for the bus to go to the Opening Ceremony it was fun watching the kids from the various team sports interacting. Lots of posing for group photos, and lots of giggling. It's funny every time I talk to someone they just assume I'm a coach. I got interviewed by a reporter at the pre-ceremony cookout. She asked me if I was a coach, and I when she found out I was not only an athlete, but a local one staying at the dorm she was interested in that. As I explained to her, I just like taking in the entire Games experience, especially since they are in my home county.

Among all the people at this cookout I actually found one of the guys from my bike club. He's the one that helped organize and select the bike courses. He'll be the one I may be cursing at on my 3rd trip up those damn hills on Friday. It was nice having Mark to hang out with since the kids are too engrossed with each other, and don't want to talk to somebody who's older then their parents. Mark wanted to get reporters attention and get them to come cover the cycling events. We did manage to get photographed, and interviewed for the local paper's website. The picture came out better then the one taken with my "point and shoot".

The other amazing coincidence was running into my friend Judy who was working at the Opening Ceremony as a volunteer, and is competing in the masters division in swimming and running. I had no idea she was even competing, and what were the chances she be volunteering in a spot where I'd actually see her? Judy is an inspiration to me. She's a leukemia survivor and the first person I'd met with the disease when I started doing Team in Training. She's done very well with an experimental course of treatment. Every January 1st when I see her at Marty's New Year's Day party I just continue to be amazed. I think it's great that she's competing in two sports here, and I hope she does well.

The Opening Ceremony includes a torch run, and lighting just like the Olympics. The first time I attend in 1992 I had no idea they actually did that so it was very cool, and I got all goose bumpy. 15 years later I still think it's cool, but I don't get goose bumps. This time I tried to take a picture, but it didn't come out all that well. That's what happens when you wait until the same day to buy a new digital camera!

My fireworks pictures were interesting at best.

After the fireworks were done we piled on buses and went back to Manhattanville. I got myself organized for my first race of the Games. I was a bit neurotic as I made sure I had the right shoes and right helmet. It would really suck to get there and discover I brought the road shoes, not the tri-shoes. I guess I would have had to borrow some regular Look pedals. It's much easier to get one's stuff together when there is only one sport to deal with. However after several "paranoia checks" I was confident I had everything set. Stay tuned to see how my competitive comeback starts off.

Show Time is Almost Here!

2007-07-24T23:36:00.000-04:00

The Empire State Games are coming to town tomorrow, and I'll be there. It feels strange getting ready for these games because they're in my backyard so to speak, but I'm packing to go away. I'll be staying in the dorms at Manhattanville College which is only 20 minutes from home. I could have opted not to stay on campus, but it's part of the Empire State Games experience. I always enjoy meeting athletes from different sports and areas. The one advantage of being so close to home is if I forget anything, I can jump in the car and go get it. Also I can go home after a race and do laundry. Normally after a day or two of racing my team jersey is standing on its own, and I have wash it in the sink and hope it dries by the next day. I remember in 2004 in Binghampton my teammates and I were trying to blow dry our jereseys so that they wouldn't be too damp.

Since this is my first real competition in over a year, I was reminded just how much I have to think about in terms of my equipment. Once again I'm back to dealing with two bikes and all the different stuff needed for each type of bike. My equipment list looks something like this:

1 time trial bike w/1 spare set of 650 wheels.
1 pair of triathlon shoes with Look Keo cleat.
1 time trial helmet
2 pairs of triathlon shorts.

1 road bike w/1 spare set of 700 wheels.
1 pair of road shoes with regular Look cleats.
1 road helmet
2 pairs of cycling shorts
2 pairs of gloves

OMG! I've reverted to total geekdom! Woo hoo!!! It's all coming back!

That list doesn't include water bottles, pump, nutrition, etc.

The other day I was looking at the cycling roster, found it amusing because in addition to listing our region, it also includes height and weight. Geez if I realized they were going to list that on the website I might have left that blank on my application. I'd rather they had put my age down. At least everyone would see that I'm older then everyone else. I'd rather play the age card then the fat card when I'm getting my butt dropped off the back of the pack.**

** Sorry Cheetah Chick's. There I go with negativity in the form of self-deprecating humor. However humor is going to be what gets me through this along with a lot of prayer.

Went Over $5,000 in Fund Raising Today!!

2007-07-18T16:48:00.000-04:00

Last year at this time I was agonizing about what to write for my annual Team in Training fund raising letter. Sometimes it takes me a long time to put into words what I want to say. Even before my bike accident I was having trouble coming up with what to say. The inner procrastinator was winning the war of words, but finally on July 31st I sent out my letter. People were awesome, and despite the lateness of my mailing I still was able to raise over $7,000 before I went to San Francisco to do the Nike Women's Marathon.

This year I decided I had no excuse not get the mailing out in early June. I actually banged out the letter in one evening over Memorial Day weekend. I guess being by myself in a hotel at LAX can cure even the worst case of writer's block. So after returning from a weekend of playing some pretty marginal chess games, I was ready to launch my 10% better campaign. I decided I want to raise at least 10% more money then I did last year, and I wanted to reduce my walk time by 10%. Since I like nice round numbers I decided $8,000 fund raising, and a time of 6 hours 30 minutes for the marathon were challenging, but doable numbers.

Today the two donations I received put me over $5,000. My goal of $8,000 is looking more and more realistic since I've still got the rest of summer, and early fall to go. I have a number of activities in the next few weeks where I'll get a chance to ask for donations. Seeing people in person is a great way of bring attention to my cause.

Though much of my training lately has been focused on the bike so that I don't totally kill myself next week, the walking is coming along fine. We start our official training this weekend, but I've been doing a lot on my own. I also got a head start by doing some longer walks with TNT'ers getting ready for the Anchorage Marathon. Also I did some nice walks in Budapest and the Jersey shore.

PS. If anyone would like to contribute go to: http://www.active.com/donate/tntwhv/PollyWright

No Glory, But Lots of Guts

2007-07-17T18:06:00.000-04:00

My bike club, USI (Unione Sportiva Italiana) puts on the Hudson Valley Empire State Games qualifying race every year. This race is used to determine the members of the men's and women's cycling teams to represent Hudson Valley in the Games. The men's team consists of 10 riders, and the women's team consists of 3 riders. For the qualifying race we attract a decent sized men's field to compete for those 10 spots. On the other hand, trying to get women to do the qualifying race, and then be willing to go to the Games and race for 4 days is like pulling teeth.

I thought with the Games being in Westchester County that we'd have more women who would want to represent the home team. I can understand not wanting to travel to Rochester, Buffalo, and other nether regions of New York State to compete, but this is Westchester County. The criterium is in downtown White Plains. How cool is that? The last bike race in downtown White Plains was a pro race in 1989. Our club has wanted to host a race in White Plains for years, and now it's happening as part of the Empire State Games.

For the qualifying race there were 5-6 women who signed up. However of the 6, one didn't start, two had no intention of going to the Games, two were just riding the race as warm bodies, and one who was willing to go if others would go. The average age of the women's field was probably around 50. For riders over 35 there's the option to compete in the Masters Division where the races are shorter, the competition not as intense, and the option to do one, two, or all three races. So if time trialling is not one's thing there's always the road race or criterium to choose from.

My intention this year was to do the time trial and criterium in the masters division. I've been pretty successful in the three times I've competed in the Masters. I have three Golds, two Silvers, and a Bronze. In 2005 I won gold medals in the two events I competed in. Anyone who read this blog in 2005 might have come across my accounts of those two races. This picture is from the awards ceremony after the time trial. (I'm not sure where the Bronze medalist went, but she missed the presentation.) The silver medalist is Susan; the one who I sprinted by in the road race the next day.

In 2005 I had dreams of repeating my performances in 2007 in my home territory. Little did I know about the major detour in life that would take me out of the competitive athlete lifestyle for about a year. Accidents suck, but life goes on. I had tempered my expectations about the Games this year, and figured I be happy for any spot on the podium in the time trial, and a field finish in the criterium would be satisfactory.

Sometimes I do some crazy things because I feel very strongly about doing what I feel is right. When I rode (note: not raced!) the qualifying race in June I told the Hudson Valley cycling coach that I would go into the Open Division instead of the Masters if it would help filling the women's roster. I was hoping he'd get three women without me since my training was way behind previous years. But I also felt that it was embarrassing if the home region couldn't even field a women's team. Also by not having a women's team it costs the Hudson Valley cycling team big time in the points competition. (Members of the team score points for what ever place they finish in each race. If you don't have a full roster you get zero points in that event. Even coming in dead last scores points. At the end of the four days they total up all the points and award team Gold, Silver, and Bronze medals.)

Sooooooo, to make a long story short, Janice was willing to do the Open if others would. So we have a two woman team made up of two 45+ masters women who won medals in 2005. Mark and Clarence could not talk any of the other women into doing the Open Division with us. At least by having two of us we can do the team time trial on the last day. But it still embarrassing that the home region can't field a full women's team, and the team we have is two masters riders. I think Janice is in much better shape then I am this year. In 2005 I beat her in the time trial. Hopefully we can keep a similar pace in the team time trial.

So what will it take to get some younger female riders to want to compete in the Games? Some of the regions like NYC, and Western have no trouble getting women riders, and good ones at that. There are many women who compete in triathlon who are good cyclists. It would be nice if we could get a few of them from this region to take up bike racing. One person told me most triathletes don't like riding in a pack. (The way some triathletes ride, they shouldn't be in a pack.) For me, riding with the pack and getting strong enough to stay with younger and stronger riders helped me become a better triathlete.

When the Empire Games go off next week, I will not be raking in the medals and basking in the glory of being up on the podium. I will be riding until they tell me I can stop, and scoring a few points by coming in Dead F$%&ing Last for Hudson Valley. As we say in triathlon; DFL is better then DNF, which is better then DNS. My training partners think I'm a little nuts, but just maybe those few points that Janice and I score each day will bring a team cycling medal to the home team.

GO HUDSON VALLEY!!

OMG!! I Forgot How Much TT Hurts!

2007-07-15T23:20:00.000-04:00

I did my first truly competitive thing in almost two years on Thursday. (I don't count riding around as warm body in the ESG qualifier last month as a competitive activity. I was doing my civic duty. More on that in another post.) I did our club's monthly time trial. This one was a 5 lap 9+ mile time trial around FDR park. Under normal circumstances I would have just done the "unemployment ride", and gone into NYC and played chess in the evening as is my custom on Thursday evening. However since I'm doing the Empire State Games, and will be doing two time trials I figured I'd better drag my sorry butt up to Yorktown Heights and do our club time trial for practice.

Our time trial series attracts some pretty strong riders, and this event was no different. So here I am with my good friend and sometime rival Nancy, and a bunch of serious studs. I had skipped the time trial helmet, but some of these guys had the latest and greatest in aero-helmets. Nancy and I were the only women, and probably the only racers over 50. Somehow while I was out warming up, Nancy "volunteered" me to go first. With friends like that, who needs enemies. She claimed it was because she didn't want me passing her, but somehow I knew it would be the other way around. She's the one with the power meter, heart rate monitor, training plan and a coach. I'm the one who just goes out and rides.

I still have trouble with those standing starts at time trials. I was never fond of them to begin with but after getting dropped by the starter at the 2004 Empire State Games, I've become a bit of a head case. I'm still a bundle of nerves and feel like I'm having a panic attack. I need to get a grip. So I did manage to get off without falling over. I probably should have been in a slightly easier gear. It took me awhile to get up to speed.

This course is challenging because it's got hills and sharp turns on the two downhills. Chicken shits like me can't stay aero on the really fast downhill especially because sometimes there is a car in the other lane. So here is this blazing fast downhill that one can't take at full speed, and then the course flattens out, and then goes uphill. It was on the first uphill on the first loop where Nancy came cruising by me. Geez, I was hoping it would take then more then a lap to get me, but such is the life of a no-tech tri-geek on the comeback trail. Woo hoo! DFL here I come!

The second downhill is nasty little turn with an annoying bump in it. The choice is swing wide around the bump, or go on the inside where there about 8 inches of pavement between the bump on grass. I think I alternated between going inside and outside. The other problem with that part of the course is it goes immediately uphill, and doesn't level out until the start/finish line, so you have zero momentum into the hill.

So five times I made this circuit chasing Nancy who was now 3 minutes ahead, and being lapped by the studs with the aero-helmets and shoe covers. I was starting to wonder if I was going to be the first one start, and the last one to finish. Thankfully the last couple of starters did not lap me more then once so a couple of the guys finished after me even though their times were faster.

All I know is; damn that hurt my lungs and legs. I forgot what it's like to put one's head down and just ride as hard as you can with no wheel to grab onto. Each lap got a little slower. All I could think of was at least the time trial course for the games doesn't have the steep hills and the annoying corners. As they say "Rome was not built in a day." However my comeback as a bike racer is clearly a work in progress. For the next few weeks I will ask myself "what the hell have I gotten myself into?", but as my training partner Karen said, "You're making a statement for women riders." But will anyone be listening?

Random ramblings about my weekend at the shore.

2007-07-08T22:32:00.000-04:00

On the 4h of July I finally started feeling like a cyclist again. Yesterday I rode my tri-bike for the first time since before my accident. I sure the hell didn't feel like a triathlete! First of all, I was getting passed by fat guys on hybrids with aero-bars, and second of all I had trouble staying down on my aero-bars. Second of all, my body has forgotten what it's like to maintain an aero position.

The last time I was at the Jersey shore and riding my bike I was in top shape. I'd cruise up and down 2nd Avenue looking for tri-geeks or roadies that I could ride with. I'd usually find someone who was about 10-15 years younger, and I'd get a good workout, and my ego would get a good boost. I'd revel in the comments of "You're in your late 40s? I was sure you were 35." Now I struggle to lose the stress weight and come back from the physical and emotional traumas of 2006, I have to deal with reality. "Hello!! You're 53, you haven't been riding very much, and these guys blowing by you have been down here every weekend since Memorial Day riding! What have you been doing??"

Even so, I can't help but to go on one of my one of my "people on bikes at the shore" rants. The people on bikes are scarier then the drivers. I never thought I'd be saying that. LOL!! I refer to them as "people on bikes" because I have trouble considering them as cyclists. (Yes, I'm a bike snob! I admit it!) Sorry but it's hard to take people seriously as cyclists when they ride on the wrong side of the street, aren't wearing helmets, are grinding away in the big ring with a cadence of 20 RPM, and their chain looks likes a "before picture" for Rustolium.

Riding after 9:30 AM on Saturday is a mistake. Between the "packs" (I use the term loosely) of family cyclists and the people coming and going it's pretty wild. You have Daddy and 5 kids trailing behind him. The kids all have helmets on, and Daddy doesn't. 1/2 the helmets are pushed back like a cap. Great fashion statement, lousy protection. Then you have the girl in a skimpy bathing suit, and several hormonally raged young men riding with her. Needless to say they are not watching the road. I also love the kids riding with one hand and hold a boogie board and towel in the other hand as they make their way to the beach. I saw another kid with one arm in a cast and steering withe the other. I have to wonder how he broke the one arm.

Today I managed to actually not get blown off by a serious tri-babe. If I were a guy I would have been trying to hit on her. Drop dead beautiful body. She look like one of those hot 40 year olds that comes blowing by me on the run like I'm standing still. She had those long legs of a runner. *Sigh* The legs I'd could only dream about. I guess she was taking it easy because she didn't totally dust me. I wanted to have a conversation, but she was off in her own world listening to her iPod. Don't get me started on cyclists listening to music on the bike. I like my music when I'm walking, but not on a bike when I've got 4 wheeled monsters coming from behind me.

This was a first. I was walking today on the road against traffic, and a nervous cyclist freaked out, and yelled at me for being on the wrong side of the road. Last time I checked it was "ride with traffic, run/walk against traffic." I guess I don't spend enough time at the shore dealing with beach people. But then again, I can't afford to. A dumpy old house near the ocean went for 5.1 million. The people will tear it down, and spend another million+ to build new one. This will be a second home. Damn it must be nice to have that kind of money. Can I get them to make a donation for my next TNT event?

Despite my rants and ramblings I really do love it down here. The beach is wonderful, and I love the sound of the ocean. I enjoy sitting on the beach after th lifeguards and most of the people leave. It's very serene and a nice time to sort out different thoughts and ideas. Here I am after one of my walks on the beach. This particular section allows kayaking and sailing. Some sections one can only swim. The ocean kayaks look like a lot of fun.

Dad 11/11/18 - 07/07/06

2007-07-07T07:28:00.000-04:00

July 7, 2006 my life changed. My wonderful 87 going 50 father died suddenly. He had not been ill, and he had spent a wonderful long weekend at the Jersey shore with friends to celebrate the 4th of July. When I was told he was in the hospital down there, I jumped in the car and raced down to be with him. He was on a respirator and sedated so all I could do was talk to him, pray for him, and hope that he knew I was there. He never did wake and Friday afternoon he left this world.

A year has passed and I think about him a lot. Yesterday I drove down to Stone Harbor, New Jersey to be with those same friends. We talked a lot about Dad and how much he met to us and all the people he came in contact with. I forget just how much he meant to those around him. I wasn't around him all the time afte moving to New York. There were phone calls, letters, and then when the internet came; email. I miss the emails with the latest jokes. You know you're an adult when your dad sends you dirty jokes by email.

Being here in Stone Harbor is comforting. I've always had wonderful memories of the place. My parents would rent a house down here for a week. We started doing it for my mom's 60th birthday, and enjoyed it so much we kept coming down every year. We continued coming even after my mom passed away in 2001. We stopped in 2004 when my sister got a job as director of a girls summer camp, and her kids were getting older.

What I loved about those weeks at the shore was riding my bike up and down the islands, runs on the beach, and very invigorating swims in the chilly ocean. Those weeks were like my own little triathlon training camp. But the nice thing was being able to sit by the water and get engrossed in some John Grisham or Robert Ludlum book and just relax. My dad and I woud stay after the lifeguards went off duty, and he'd watch me swim. The lifequards don't let people stray too far so it was hard to really swim too far.

So what will I do on this first anniversary of my dad's passing? I will get on my bike and ride a lot. I'll also take a long walk on the beach, swim and get wrapped up in the latest James Patterson novel I'm reading. Last year when I came here I couldn't ride since I had broken 3 ribs the week before. The body has healed, and for the first time since the acident last year I went out on Wednesday for the Gimbels ride. I finally feel like a cyclist again. I'm still a little a little nervous in the pack. The psychological impact of crashing often takes longer then the physical impact.

So how does dad fit into all of this? I guess the easiest way to explain it is by sharing my portion of the talk my sisters and I gave at his service last year.

Dad gave me many things but I think it was his passion for being active and staying fit that has defined much of who I am. He always pushed us towards lifetime sports that we would be able to enjoy even as adults. Whether it was skiing, tennis, golf, swimming, biking, walking or running he did it all and he wanted his children to at least try them. I didn’t inherit the family golf gene, but I did discover all the aerobic sports that kept him in shape for all these years.
Dad was way ahead of his time. He was a runner, long before it was a cool thing to do. By the time the running boom started in the 70s he’d been at it for almost 10 years. He also loved to swim and later on, he became an avid cyclist. In some ways, I think of Dad as the first triathlete, even thought the “sport” of triathlon did not exist at the time.

I treasure the times I got to do all these different sports with Dad. There was the summer we would run around Circle Rd early in the morning and finish up with laps in the Pinkard’s pool. Bathing suits were optional equipment, and I think we both got a kick out skinny-dipping while doing our laps, and embarrassing the heck out of the occasional person who would be there at the same time. And I loved our evening 7-mile bike rides, which, at the time, I thought it was tremendous distance.

I took those three sports and did become a triathlete, and though Dad never thought any of us would become Olympic champions, he did expect us to give it our best shot, and put something on the line each time.

I can’t help but think about how Dad approached everything he did. He loved the challenge, and there always had to be something on the line. Even his last golf game a week ago today there was a dollar on it, and I know he relished winning that dollar especially after giving a stroke a hole and two mulligans. It wasn’t about the money - it was just the thrill of the challenge.

This quote described Dad perfectly. “The journey of life is not to arrive at the grave safe and well preserved. It is to slide in sideways totally worn out, shouting “Wow! What a ride!” In that regard, I hope I can follow in his footsteps.

So today I will get out on my bike, and think about dad and what he meant to me. Even though I'm still not in a triathlon frame of mind, I feel like a cyclist again and puts a a 3rd of the way back to becoming a triathlete again.

Ash Wednesday - Lent

2007-02-21T22:42:00.000-05:00

I grew up Episcopalian. It was the next best thing to being Catholic. I ate fish on Fridays, went to Sunday school, sang in the choir, participated in the youth group, and gave up something for Lent. I'm not sure I ever made it through the entire 40 days without doing what ever it was I had given up. It was like New Year's resolutions. Lots of good intentions, but stuff happens.

Now I focus more on what I should do to help take care of this body that God has given me. The past weekend was a real challenge in terms of maintaining sane eating habits, and continuing to focus on making healthier food choices. For the most part I was successful in those two things over the long weekend. I stayed away from desserts when I ate out with my teammates, and I totally ignored the chocolate double stuf Oreos that my friend Karl was eating while we played hearts on Saturday and Sunday evenings. In the past those card games have been deadly for me eating wise. If I don't start, then I don't have to worry about stopping.

So the next 40 days will focus on continuing what I have started. They say it takes 21 days to form a new habit. So lets see what positive habits I can form in the next forty days.

Finicky Eater Doing a February Diet Make Over

2007-02-14T11:45:00.000-05:00

Woo hoo!!! I'm officially out of my funk! Even after the TNT kick off it took awhile to get firing on all cylanders. So what finally jump started me? A lousy night's sleep. How the hell does a lousy night's sleep finally give me the kick in the ass I needed? I've had a lot of lousy nights of sleep. Ambien and Lunesta have not done squat for me. That's because they can't take the edge off my rambling thoughts. I'm rambling now as I try to write this, so let me try to get focused on the point I was trying to make.

I woke on Wednesday Jan 31st, dog tired from no sleep. I realized that probably the biggest problem causing my total lack of energy and restless sleeping was that my diet sucked. I'm not talking about eating too much. (That's the other part of the story!) I'm talking about the total lack of fruits and vegetables in my diet. I admit it, I'm lazy when it comes to food prep. It's far easier for me to throw a few slices of turkey on bread then make a salad and throw the turkey on top of that. I might grab an apple or banana if I have any in the house, but God forbid I wash and cut up strawberries to have those!

My other problem with vegetables is I don't like many of them. So when I read how one can make a really filling salad by adding mushrooms, tomatoes, cucumber, onion, carrots, beans to the lettuce I'm stuck. The only thing I like in that list is carrot. The same thing happens when I read the ingredients for a healthy and filling vegetable soup. I think I can name the veggies I like on one hand. Carrots, broccoli, green beans, lettuce, spinach, corn, and lima beans. The last two go on the other hand because are rather starchy so I rank them with potatoes which I love. Especially fried. :-) So how many things can I do with 5 vegetables?

I like a few more fruits. Apples, peaches, strawberries, blueberries, rasberries, oranges, grapefruit, pineapple, kiwi, grapes, banana. I'm starting to get used to melons and cantalopes, but not ready to bring those home yet.

Do you get the feeling that I was a finicky eater as a kid? My father grew tomatoes in our back yard, yet all the cajoling, bribes, threats, etc did not change my opinion of tomatoes. I never liked the slimy stuff coming out of the middle, and the taste didn't do much for me. Texture and consistancy has always played a part in my food choices. Slimy things don't do it for me. The funny thing is I like tomato soup, and spagetti sauce. However there better not be tomato chunks in there. I've been known to take a jar of spagetti sauce with tomato chunks and run it through the blender to eliminate the chunks.

Not only have I not been eating enough of the good stuff, but I've been eating way too much starch, fat, protein, and sugar. Since I returned from Honolulu in 2005, I've gained 20 pounds. I can't be too hard on myself especially considering the hell I went through in 2006. Broken ribs and sudden loss of one's dad tends to mess with one's mind and body. Not to mention mid-life crisis, and raging menapausal hormones. Did anyone ever tell you menapause sucks!? Well it does.

Friday February 2nd I went back to Weight Watchers for the first time in a couple of years. Weighing in at a 152. That's not as bad as the 167 I weighed after mom died. Weight Watchers works for me as long as I attend meetings, journal my food choices, and track my points. When I decide I can do it on my own, the wheels start to fall off. Maybe after I lose the weight I'm going to have really concentrate on keeping a food journal attending meetings more often. In some ways I'm like an alcoholic with food. There is Overeaters Anonymous, so maybe like the OA, and AA members who attend meetings year in and year out I may have to do the same.

So how's it been going so far? Pretty good. I've been bringing home fruit, washing and cutting it up immediately and keeping it in the fridge, ready to grab immediately. When I do that, I eat it. It's back to munching on baby carrots in lieu of crackers and pretzels. I'm making and eating salads at lunch or dinner. The other important thing I'm doing is I'm not be sucked into copying my husband's behaviors. In December and January I had a tendancy to do what he was doing. So if he had 3 glasses of wine during dinner and afterwards, I would do the same thing. If he ate a whole candy bar instead of splitting it with me, I'd do likewise. Now I just ignore what he's doing. I'll drink my 4 oz of wine and take my 2 points. He wants a whole candy bar, fine I'll eat a couple of my Dove Promises. At one point per chocolate I can enjoy 2 or 3 and not feel like a pig. I get my chocolate fix at not great expense.

I'm slowly trying to make myself back into a triathlete. Biking is hard at this time of year, but I have started to add more running intervals into my walks. Yestrday I got into the pool for the first time since last year. I actually cleaned up the windtrainer bike, and mounted it back on the unit. Now I just need to get back on it.

BTW, I've also lost 3 pounds so far. It's going to take time to fit into my clothes again, but I'm on the right track. I just need to not totally lose it after I have French food tonight for Valentine's Day. At least my dear husband has the common sense not to give me a box of chocolates.

I'd like to say I've turned over a new leaf for 2007, but....

2007-01-17T10:02:00.000-05:00

it hasn't happened yet. I'm still struggling mentally and physically. I'm doing Saint Anthony's in a little over 3 months, and I can't run for more then a few minutes at a time. I love triathlon, but I'm not sure if I can cope with doing it if at the age 53 I'm reduced to walking a large portion of the run. I was hoping that I could put that off until I was in my late 70s.

I'm hoping after the Team in Training kick off this weekend maybe some energy and enthusiasm from my fellow TNT'ers will help draw me out of this funk.

Good Bye and Good Riddance to 2006

2007-01-02T18:49:00.000-05:00

Ayear ago today I posted pictures from my trip to Honolulu for the ITU Age Group World Championships. I was full of hope and optimism for 2006. I was looking forward to another successful triathlon season starting with another good result at Saint Anthony's in April, and taking off from there. I was also looking forward to trying to figure out what I wanted to be when I grow up, and where I might want to do so. So here it is a year later, and nothing has changed except I'm a year older and the body isn't so forgiving after three straight hardcore racing seasons. Two words describes 2006; shit happens.

Here is my 2006 triathlon season in a nutshell;

Saint Anthony's (Olympic) 3:07:51 21/49 age group

Capitol of Texas (Olympic) 2:58:59 9/17 age group

Pawling Triathlon (Sprint) 1:24:39 3/9 age group

Even though I had the fastest bike split in my age group at Cap Tex I pretty much decided there and then that a return trip to Kansas City was not realistic. As much as I wanted to actually wanted to race the course in KC, it seemed like a waste of time and money. Saint Petersburg, FL and Austin, TX gave me my fill of triathlon travel for the season. Anything else had to be within driving distance. I also decided the only triathlon I was committed to do was Westchester. My focus would be on training to walk the Nike Women's marathon with Team in Training. If nothing else I was determined to complete the TNT "Triple Crown". From June to September I wasn't going to enter anything in advance. If I got a hankering to race, I'd find a race and enter late.

It's funny how one can make decisions like these for whatever reason, and discover down the road the wisdom of these decisions. Little did I know deciding to skip Nationals and not to enter anymore races ahead of time would save me money and heart aches.

On June 27th I was on a training ride with friends. We were going hard and fast, and the rider in front of me went down. When one is going 25-30 mph and 2 inches away from wheel of the guy in front there is no time to react. One can just hope that the body and bike don't sustain too much damage from the impact. My bike was fine. My helmet gave its life to save mine. My ribs weren't so lucky, and I broke three of them.

Like I said earlier, shit happens. But I suppose if I was going to have a season ending bike accident 2006 was a good year to have it. After all I had come to the decision to scrap all big time competitive ambitions for the year, and just concentrate on the very non-competitive goal of walking a marathon. I could still walk even with broken ribs. It would have been very frustrating to have to cancel out of the nationals, and any other race I had scheduled. Though it was difficult to opt out of doing Westchester, I knew it was the right thing to do. There was a waiting list for people to join TNT for Westchester. By opting out I freed up a spot for someone else, and I could still contribute to the team effort as a non-competing mentor.

No matter how old one is there is the need to let her dad know she had a "boo-boo." My father witnessed my first bike accident when teaching me how to ride a two wheeler. I had not quite mastered the art of braking, and managed to stop myself by crashing into a brick wall. I was fine, but I did snap a pedal off the bike. He also was riding with me when I didn't take a corner very well. Another pedal mishap. (Inside foot up when cornering!)

I was spaced out on pain killers so my husband left a message on my dad's answering machine to the effect that his 52 year old daughter was being "Mrs. Evil Knevil" again. I received that nick name from an ER doctor who had treated me in 1989 after another spectacular bike accident. He came out to the waiting room and asked my husband if he was the spouse of Mrs. Evil Knevil. I guess he wasn't too accustomed to having a 35 year old women arriving in his ER at 8:30 PM on a Tuesday evening needing stitches in her hip from a bike crash.

Dad called me back on Thursday June 30th. We talked about my accident, and his upcoming long weekend at the Jersey shore for the 4th of July. I didn't realize at the time that it would be the last time I'd hear his voice, and that I'd end out joining him at the Jersey shore for all the wrong reasons. Wednesday July 5th he drove him self to the ER complaining of stomach pains. On Thursday July 6th I rushed down to Stone Harbor, NJ to be by his side. Friday July 7th he was gone.

Dad was 87 going on 57. He played 18 holes of golf on the Monday before he died. He was in the process of planning his next trip, a cruise around Norway. This was a man that I thought would live well into his 90s. But what do I know?

What I did know was, shit happens, but it seems to happen for a reason. The injuries, the lack of competitive fire and focus made it so that I wasn't flying to Kansas City on July 6th to compete in the nationals on July 8th. Instead I was flying down the Garden State Parkway be with my dad. I can be thankful that I did not have to deal with the angst of being alone in hotel 1/2 way across the country while my dad died, and facing the decision of leaving or staying, racing or not racing.

I saw a sign in someone's office that said something like"If God brought me to it, He will get me through it." That's how I felt about 2006. My finish line photo from the Nike Women's Marathon summarizes how I felt about getting through the marathon. It also summarizes how I feel about 2006 being over.

Woo hoo!!!! I made it!!

Follow up to the psycho driver

2006-01-10T22:57:00.000-05:00

The other day I shared our group ride encounter with the crazy lady. When the police had not tracked us down I had made the comment that they probably get calls from this woman all the time, and say "Oh God, her again." I guess I was right about that.

Unbeknowst to me one of the members of the group is a doctor, and after the second encounter with her he actually stopped to see what the problem was. The cops did actually come to where we she had stopped the second time. Paul told the cops what had happened, and the cops told her that if she sees the group out on the road again, to take a different route. The cops have had other problems with her.

Apparently she is recovering from a brain tumor, and has some episodes of craziness. Though I feel sorry for her, and wish her a speedy recovery, I have to ask a few questions.

1. Why the hell is she driving a car with that type of condition?
2. Where is her family?
3. Is she on some sort of medication, and is she taking it?

At the time of the incident we were having a some laughs, but looking back on it that was very scary. Suppose she drove her car into the group? What if she had a gun? These are not pleasant thoughts, but in this crazy world one has to think about that.

I exercise for health, and I hope to be like my father and grandmother and be active in my mid 80s. However there is no guarantee that some crazy driver won't do something stupid while I'm out riding or running. This incident just reminds me again that there are no guarantees, and that one must be careful out there.

Impatient Driver's Psychotic Twin Sister

2006-01-07T23:32:00.000-05:00

You may remember my post of 9/28 when I wrote a rather sarcastic "letter" to a crazy driver. This was the guy who spent all his time honking his horn at me while rushing up to wait in a line of cars at red light. This was the same guy who kept honking as I merrily made my way up the inside past the cars and made a right on red to get the hell a away from him.

Westchester County is a wealthy suburb just north of New York City, and has to be one of the most bike unfriendly places around. There are some beautiful roads, and if you make your way to Northern Westchester you can find some nice secluded spots with few cars and some very pretty scenary. Unfortunately for those of us who live and train in Southern Westchester we have to share the roads some really uptight, obnoxious drivers in their Beemers, Jaguars, Mercedes, et el jabbering on their cell phones, and always in a friggin hurry to get somewhere.

In my 20 some odd years of riding a bike in Westchester County I have encountered all sorts of impatient, angry, stupid, and otherwise obnoxious drivers. It doesn't matter whether I'm riding alone, in a small group, or a big group I thought I had seen it all, but today really took the cake in terms of absurdity.

We have this large training ride that goes out all year around every Saturday, Sunday, and legal holidays. It's been going on for over 50 years, and as I wrote in an early post it has been training ground for some outstanding Olympic and professional riders in their youth. In the summer the ride can get very big, and take up way too much much road space. It's hard to get 200 riders to stay two abreast, so we've had a fair share of encounters with the police, particularly in North Castle. The wealthy people of Armonk don't like to be slowed down by a pack of cyclists taking up a large portion of a lane on a four lane roadway, so they often get on their cell phones to complain about those damn cyclists. At times I can't blame them, especially when some knuckleheads in the group decide they want to be in both lanes

Today was not one of those 200 rider days. It was 20 degrees when I left my house this morning, so it was hardcore roadies out today. No matter what the size of the group it splits into basically 3 groups. The first group is generally the smallest and takes the shortest route. This is referred to as Otto's ride since it became a route when Otto decided in his late 60s that he had had enough of trying to deal with the crazies of the regular route. He got taken down one too many times. Otto is an amazing guy. He's in his 70s and still puts many of the youngsters to shame. Despite having a cold, he still was kicking my butt on the flats.

Otto's group had 9 riders in it today. There are a few parts of the ride where it gets a little hairy. One of the sections is after we cross over I-287, and make a sharp left turn onto Westchester Avenue which runs parallel to the highway. For a change we actually caught the green light. Coming through the light with us were two cars. One car pulled over into the left lane. The second car driven by the psycho bitch from hell was in right lane right smack in the middle of our group. 5 of us were in front, and the other 4 behind her. She starts honking her horn and rolls down her window and starts yelling at us. Finally she pulls out into the left lane and passes the group.

This stretch of Westchester Avenue can be very dangerous. The road is not in good condition, it's a fast downhill, and because the road forks at the bottom of the hill cars are often changing lanes quickly to make sure they're heading off in the right direction. The spped limit is 40, and I've actually hit the speed limit a few times going down that hill. Psycho bitch has stopped at the bottom of the hill right at the fork, has gotten out of her car, is standing in the middle of the lane, waving her hands, and yelling "Stop, stop! I'm calling the police!" None of us quite understand what her problem is, and we just go past her. Who the hell wants to engage in a discussion with anyone who has chosen by her actions to put herself and a group of cyclists in danger by standing in the middle of a busy service road?

She jumps back into her car, comes flying past us, and yells out the window. "The cops are coming!" At this point we're all just shaking our heads, and saying this lady needs to get some exercise and a life. Yes she was moderately overweight. Not obese, but probably on the high end the BMI index for height. We proceed on our way, getting to another point on the route that can be hairy. The road is downhill, and goes from really nicely paved to rough, and grooves in the middle of the lane. It's followed by a hard left turn. We get to the bottom of this hill, and there she is again, standing in the middle of the road on the double yellow line, waving her arms around, and demanding that we stop. It looked like she was ready to jump in front of us. Once again the dire pronouncement that the cops were coming.

We continued on our way, and the cops never even came to chase us down. I almost get the feeling that the cops got the call, said "Oh it's her again!", and chose to ignore it. Though some of the riders from the second group said there were two cop cars at that spot when they went through, but nothing appeared to be happening.

We had a good chuckle over the incident. One of my teammates said. "We thought it was so funny, and she probably totally stressed out about it, and have ruined her day." One of the guys in the group said, "Ive never seen s woman with such a bad case of road rage." I guess it was agood thing she wasn't carrying a gun.

I just don't understand what we did that got her in such a tizzy. Okay we did not keep a neat single file line when we made the sharp left turn onto Westchester Avenue, so we ended out getting broken up into two smaller groups, and she got stuck in the middle of the group. It was hard to figure out what she wanted to do, but if she had not freaked out, and simply moved left when the other car passed she would have been free and clear of us, and we would have been a small blip in her rearview mirror. She would have gotten to where she needed to get to, and we could have finished our ride in peace, and not worry about somebody doing stupid and dangerous things in order to make a point.

Happy New Year!!!!

2006-01-02T23:06:00.001-05:00

It's been a long time since I last posted. My competitive season ended in October at the ITU Age Group World Championships in Honolulu. I kept trying to make blog entries, but my body never quite figured out what time it was, and by the evening I didn't have the energy to write. Who in their right mind wants to sit indoors at the computer writing blogs when in Hawaii? The wireless link didn't make it down to the beach. Not to mention the sand would have been brutal on my keyboard. It's bad enough when I get crumbs in there.

The sunsets were fantastic! I took a picture almost every night I was there.

The rainbows were awesome also. During the swim I had a rainbow to view! I felt like God was telling me He was there with me. If a rainbow was good enough for Noah, it's good enough for me.

A race like the World Championships reminds me of the fact that I'm a big fish in a little pond. I win or place high in my age group in the Northeast, but in a race like this I'm swimming with bigger fish in the ocean. Look out for sharks!!! I finished right smack in the middle of my age group. However I held my own on the bike posting the 9th fastest split in the age group. I even biked faster then the gold and bronze medalists. Too bad they can swim and run a lot better then me.

However I had one simple goal down there which I accomplished. I wanted to finish Top 16 amongst USA women in my age group so that I would officially be recognized as Team USA. I finished 14th. A lot of those women passed me on the run. :-)

This has to be one of my favorite race photos. It's great having the skyline showing in the background. It reminds me of what a beautiful venue for a race. Also it's one of the few swim exit photos where I'm not wrestling with a wetsuit, and I'm not making horrible faces. I think I'm actually smiling. I think it was because I had managed to stay off the coral, and I was heading out to do damage on the bike. Despite some annoying headwinds that cropped up for those of us who had the misfortune in being in the late morning waves, I held my own. I could have used a few more hills though. I did a lot of pssing on the hills, but needed a few more to make it good.
It was too bad I had to run after the bike ride. The heat was pretty brutal. Does this look like someone who enjoyed the run? Heatwise this was very similar to to what I had encountered in USTS Baltimore in 1988. The only difference is I've gotten wiser about pre-hydrating, and staying away from a lot of beer and wine. I wasn't one of the poor Kiwis or Aussies that were coming from early spring chill, and had a lot of trouble with the heat. The medical tent was not part of my post-race itinerary.

Sigh I'd like to be in Honolulu right now. Winter sucks!!

But today was good. I got out on my bike and rode 50 miles. It's a new year, and time for me to shed the weight I've gained since October. It's also time to move on and figure out what I want to do with my life. 2006 will be start of a new journey for me. I don't know where I'm headed, but it's going to happen.

Dear impatient driver,

2005-09-28T16:45:00.000-04:00

Who the hell pissed in your Cheerios yesterday morning? You must have had one miserable bad ass morning to feel the need to honk your horn as you went flaming past me to rush up to the line of cars waiting at the red light. I guess you couldn't wait to pull up behind the last car in line. God forbid a lone female cyclist going 18 MPH in a 25 MPH zone slowed your progress up by a paltry few seconds. I guess it pissed you off further that I passed you and all the other cars waiting at the light and made a right turn on red. I'm sure all the cars in front of you really appreciated your venting your frustrations by continuing to honk as I passed and even as I made the turn.

Wow such anger over a lone cyclist finishing up a nice ride before heading off to a teaching assignment. All I can think of is that;

1. Your ex-wife is a cyclist.
2. You are very insecure and intimidated by women who are more fit then you.
3. You don't exercise so you have no way of releasing pent up frustration.
4. All of the above.

Perhaps if you did some exercise you would be more relaxed and able to cope with the "inconvenience" of having to go around a cyclist on the road.

Have a nice day!

Sincerely yours,

Fit fifty-something female.

PS. Bite me!!!! :-)

Much Ado About Nothing!!!

2005-09-27T21:03:00.000-04:00

After spending a good portion of Friday in a tizzy over things I couldn't control, everything worked out fine. Saturday was spent hanging out with my Team in Training group at the race expo, and doing a group swim. The water was kind of rough, which actually was good practice for Sunday.

Saturday night we had the pasta party with the 5 other TNT chapters that are doing the race. No matter how many events I do with TNT I'm always really moved by the survivors who speak at the pre-race pasta party. Both people had amazing stories to share, and their attitude regarding the illness is amazing. I wonder if I'd be that brave if faced with a catastrophic illness.

So much for client/massage therapist confidentiality. I get back from the pasta party and there's a long phone message from my friend and fellow KC traveller, Mary. She also gets her massages from Lisa. I guess she and Lisa were talking about my pre-race anxieties that I had been venting to Lisa about during last week's massage session. Mary gave me this wonderful pep talk about how Westchester is my home field, and that I know the course and am a strong hill climber. She told me not be scared by some outsider from Florida. It gave me a great boost, and put me in a good frame of mind for Sunday.

So why did I title this entry "Much Ado About Nothing"? First of all the ringer from Florida was a no-show. I kept looking for a bike at her assigned spot on the rack. Nada! She did not end out making the trip after all. Second of all, the woman who my USI teammate said was so awesome a cyclist and runner and would probably win the age group, is deathly afraid of the water. She came up to me in before the race and said how scared she was and had been crying all morning. I guess she had been spooked by the choppy water on Saturday, and it looked the same on Sunday. She also was nervous about being in the next last wave with all the guys. I told her to do the swim at her pace, and to remember that she did St. Croix 1/2 iron in the spring. She confessed to me that her swim coach had swam along side her during the race. I had heard she wasn't a very good swimmer, but I didn't realize that she had such water issues. I guess it makes me appreciate the fact that I've been swimming since I was 5, and I'm comfortable in the water.

So to make a long story short, I smoked the age group again by over 10 minutes. If one is interested, the long story can be found at: http://www.beginnertriathlete.com/discussion/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=27518&posts=2

Now if only I thought the World Championships could turn out so well. Reality check coming!!!

My Westchester Pre-race Anxieties

2005-09-23T09:44:00.000-04:00

I'm not sure what my problem is but I seemed to be overly anxious about this race. The way I'm feeling one would think I'm going for the World Championship. Oh yeh, I'm doing that a few weeks later. The difference is with the World Championships I know I have no chance of placing high. I just want to finish high enough among USA finishers to be accorded official Team USA designation and be scored by ITU. Anything else I do there will be pure gravy.

So what's with Westchester this year? Why am I on edge? I guess as I mentioned on my 9/15 blog entry the prospect of not one, but two serious threats to defending my age group title has me a little unnerved. It really shouldn't matter. After all there have been plenty of races I've done where I known coming in that I would not place. Sometimes I've surprised myself. Saint Anthony's is a prime example of a surprise Top 3 finish. Last year's Nationals with the 9th place finish was another pleasant surprise. So I know I can sometimes pull rabbits out of hats. I guess I've gotten spoiled with my successes as a fifty something.

What makes Westchester so different for me this year? I guess it's the expectations I've put on myself, and those of my teammates both from USI and Team in Training. I love being able to stand up on the podium wearing my TNT colors and say to those watching, "TNT has fast members too!!! Go Team!" Not that I say the first thing out loud. I let my actions say that, but I've been known to let a "Go Team" whoop as I leave the stage. I guess being a mentor puts me even more in the forefront of team consciousness. Maybe it doesn't and I'm placing too much importance on how I do. Though my mentees do talk about how awesome I've done this season.

The next thing that totally set me on edge was the wave assignments. I swear whoever did these assignments was on drugs! WTF where they thinking about when they put the 15 women that comprise the 50-54, 55-59, and 60+ female age groups in the same wave as the 113 men who comprise the 45-49, 50-54 and 55-59 male age groups? Not only that the 60+ men are in the wave in front of us which is mostly women! Why not make wave 8 all women, and wave 9 all men? I'm not sure if it's the prospect of all those guys in my wave that's bugging me, or the wave number.

It sucks! My wave is the next to last wave. Relays are behind us. With almost double the entries from last year the bike course is going to be seriously crowded when I hit the road. I hope the USAT folks are up at the front. :-Þ I hope they're not going to be hanging out on Claire's hill when I have to pass the sea of purple from NYC. I remember passing a lot people on the three climbs on the route. I remember climbing out of Port Chester was a bit of a cluster f#$k with people staying out to the left when they should have been to the right. This may be as big a pain in the ass as Mossman in terms of passing and making time on the bike course.

Okay I feel better now having put my thoughts down on "paper". I don't know how many people out in cyberspace are actually reading this. Even if it's just one person then at least I've been able to blow off some steam without somebody actually having to hear me ramble, or tell me to shut up. Journals have always been a good release for me. The only things that are different are I'm typing instead of keeping a handwritten notebook, and others get to read what I have on my mind. I'm not sure if that's good or not, but I've often thought about wanting to write a book. This is the next best thing.

Random rants for the day.

2005-09-16T23:35:00.000-04:00

Sometimes I make myself nuts. I go from super motivated and gung ho tri-geek to I don't give a shit about anything. Right now I'm in one of those I don't give a shit funks. I have two more races coming up in the next 3 1/2 weeks, and I'm not real excited. I should be excited at least about going to Hawaii for the ITU Age Group World Chammpionships, but perhaps I still feel like I backed in there with USAT's solution to the Kansas City fiasco. Perhaps there are some doubts about whether I'll be able to be an official member of Team USA by placing high enough, or whether I'm going to be another poser.

Running:

My running sucks, and I just can't motivate myself to go out and run. I wasted all day Wesdnesday when the weather was nice. Thursday I wasted time again but I finally put on my running clothes on and it started raining again. Yesterday's blog was because I was in big time procrastinating mode. I did finally pull myself away from the blog, and ran for 40 minutes. It was nothing spectacular, but I did make myself run some hills. I miss having Jeannie around. Even though I'd run ahead of her, and loop back at least it was scheduled time on the road. I need a new weekday running partner.

I think my biggest problem is I'm addicted to working out with other people. I love my group rides, and when Mother nature rains on my parade I'm not so inclined to do something on my own. Tuesday was a wash out ride wise because I had to do my civic duty. At least I had my Team in Training group swim and run in the evening to get my sorry ass out of the house.

Chocolate Binges and Sleep:

So what did I do today? I downloaded the Hawaii course for the compu-trainer. I had great intentions of actually doing it, but it didn't work. My husband stayed home today and we went out for lunch. So much for going to the pool for a swim. After lunch I had gotten into the dark chocolate M&Ms. They're a Star Wars themed package called Darth Mix. The motto is "Come over to the Dark Side". When it comes to chocolate it doesn't take much to get me to the Dark Side. These things are truly evil! I can't just eat a handful of M&Ms, so I ate the entire package. (King Size no less!) I've been on a two month long chocolate binge! Argh!!!

There have been studies lately that tie in poor sleep to obesity. I believe it. My sleep has become totally FUBARed. (F#%ked up beyond all recognition.) It's a combination of stress and the hot flashes from hell. Sometimes I think I'm lucky if I manage to fall asleep within an hour and stay asleep for 3 hours. Who knows how much sleep I'm actually getting, but I'm not convinced how much longer I can function like this. I think the lack of sleep is contributing to my chocolate cravings and assorted munchie attacks I have during the day. I'm sure if I wasn't getting exercise I'd gain disgusting amounts of weight.

Pissing Matches on trinewbies.com forums:

I'm a member of several different triathlon message boards. I post on trinewbies, beginnertriathlete, and slowtwitch. The order that I've listed them also is the order of frequency in which I post. Slowtwitch is the hardcore tri-snobs board. Beginnertriathlete is the "touchy, feely rah, rah" board. Trinewbies falls in between the two extremes though at times it seems to have gone away from the newbieness and more towards the hardcore tri-geek. I like all 3 sites, but certain individuals that frequent both trinewbies and slowtwitch drive me crazy.

One thing I do on both trinewbies (TNO) and beginnertriathlete (BT) is post race reports in their race reports forums. It comes naturally to me since for years I've kept very detailed race journals. These forums have become sort of an online race journal for me. Sometimes I'm afraid I ramble on too much, but I like noting the little details that make the race memorable for me. I usually get a few encouraging responses from various forum members congratulating me on placing in my age group. I've had a very good season. Seven triathlons with nothing lower then 3rd place in my age group. I know that streak would have been broken in Kansas City if Mother Nature had not intervened. I'm a realist. If the streak doesn't end in Rye next weekend, it certainly will end in Hawaii. I can live with that.

What makes me crazy is the sarcastic responses I get from one guy from Northern California. He's much faster then me, but he's also younger then me. It seems to totally irk the hell out of him that I can place in my AG with Olympic times in the 2:40-2:45 range. In his age group 2:15 doesn't get him squat. Can I help it if I'm a 51 year old female from the Northeast whereas he's a 40 something male from California? Cna I help it if guys seem to peak in their forties and that those age groups tend to be the biggest ones?

In my latest race report from the Madison Triathlon I had put down my overall placing along with my age group placing in the various sports. He couldn't wait to jump on what I had posted in the slowtwitch forum regarding my opinion being FOP, MOP, BOP in the various disciplines. I answered the question in comparision to other women in my age group though it may not have been clear from my answers. Damn he had a field day with that. We exchanged barbs back and forth about what I had written. All of these exchanges went back and forth on TNO even though my comments that evoked his sarcastic replies came from a completely different forum. I was gratified by the people who had PM'ed me to tell me I didn't need to justify my results for him.

I'm comfortable with who I am, and I'm proud of what I've accomplished despite my sucky running. I'll just keep posting, and not be chased off by idiots like that. Unfortunately some are not so thick skinned, and do get chased off. We had one woman who was frequent contributer on the boards. She's very overweight but is tackling the problem by working on her nutrition, and by getting into triathlons. She's done some super sprints, and shared her race reports, but a few people belittled her efforts. She writes from her heart, and I must say she has given me lots of food for thought in terms of how I look at other people. I hate seeing people like that get chased off, but at least she has a good live support system.

A stroll down memory lane. 21 years of the Westchester Triathlon

2005-09-15T10:24:00.000-04:00

Next on my schedule is the Westchester Triathlon. That race is a little over a week away. This race is practically in my backyard. This will be the 16th year I've done this race. This is the 21st running of the race. It's nice to be part of a race that has gone on for that many years. I actually did numbers 2 through 14 in a row. Number 14 was the first year they changed it from sprint to Olympic, and I was doing it as a relay. I was having shoulder surgery a week after the race so swimming was out of the question. I wanted to keep my streak intact so doing the relay was my compromise. As it turned out the streak would come to an end the following season anyway. I wouldn't make it back to the race until 2003.

Through out the years I've done this particular race my age group results have always been good. There were a few times that I didn't podium, including the year I broke my PR on the sprint course and placed Top 10 female OA. Unfortunately for me a good portion of those women in the Top 10 were also in my age group. That was back in my "youth" when I was part of a very competitive 35-39 age group. That was also back in the days of BTC. (before timing chips) We would wait around forever it seemed while they tried to sort it all out, and half the time they still managed to mess it up. You never really knew where you finished, and you didn't know whether you were getting an award until you heard the 3rd place time in your age group. Sometimes the awards ceramony didn't start until 2 hours after the last person finished. I don't miss those days!!

The other interesting thing about BTC days was the number of volunteers that were needed to track splits. The Westchester Triathlon was one of the few races I did back then that actually did all 5 splits. Most races I did combined transitions with either the swim and the bike, or bike and the run. (Come to think of it, some races still don't do all 5 splits, even with chips.) Some races did no splits what so ever. I did the 1989 National Sprint Championships and there were no splits. That's too bad. I'd love to see what Lance's bike split was in that race. (Yes, that Lance! 17 years old at the time and smacked all the pros in that race.)

Back then body marking was the way for volunteers to record the numbers of all the athletes as they came out of the water. If you were one of those rare people who used a wetsuit BTC you would have to tell the volunteers your number. I was amazed that they actually managed to get every athlete's number, and that the splits actually made sense.

The other interesting thing about this race is thinking about how much my equipment has changed over the years. Here's a picture of me with the bike from that first Westchester in 1984. Notice the old style Bell Helmet, and I'm actually wearing the race shirt from the event too. It's hard to see the bike completely, but it was an Austro-Daimler mixte frame. (girl's bike with sloped down tube.) I don't remember if I had the handlebar bag on during the race or not!

By the next year I was riding a road bike and as the years went by; my bikes got lighter, and more expensive. It seemed like for awhile every time I got a bike the price doubled. The other thing that happened as my bikes got more expensive was my bike splits got faster. Let's fast forward 21 years and look at my current setup. This picture was taken at Timberman, but this is what I'll be riding. Carbon fiber bike, Zipp 404s, time trial helmet, aero-bars with bar end shifters, aero bottle, etc. Ahhhh how things have changed in 21 years. Though as I look at these two pictures side by side, I think I've aged quite nicely. I like my legs much better at 51 then I did at 30. Thank you very much!

2003 was my first time doing the entire race in the Olympic distance format. I had gotten so stoked by my return to Olympic distance racing with Team in Training at 2003 Saint Anthony's, I decided I'd do another Olympic distance event with them. The Westchester Triathlon is our local TNT Chapter's race. Last year for the first time we actually had other TNT Chapters come for the race, so there was a lot more purple. This year there will be even more purple as we have 6 different chapters participating.

In 2003 I came in 3rd in the 45-49 age group. I got passed on the run first by my long time rival and current massage therapist; Lisa, and then by an unknown ringer from New Jersey. Last year Lisa and Linda did not do the race, and I had aged up. I smoked the 50-54 age group, and beat the other Polly in the race by 8 minutes. Polly is an unusual name these days. So what's the chance that there are going to be two of them in the same race, and finishing 1,2 in the same age group? She didn't stay for the awrds ceramony so I didn't even get to meet the other tri-ing Polly.

Lisa and Linda aren't do the race this year either so I figured I had a decent chance of defending my title. That was until I got talking to one of my bike club teammates who told me about Amy. She's a pretty strong cyclist, excellent runner, but not such a great swimmer. So my challenge will be to totally beat her on the swim, increase my lead on the bike, and then run like hell and hope to hold her off.

A terrific plan until I looked at the entry list, and spotted a ringer from Florida who is coming to do the race. I recognized the name as one of the top ranked women in the nation in the 50-54 age group. Damn what's she doing coming up to do "my race"? My guess is she wants the Alcatraz qualifying spot that age group winners are entitled to. She did a 2:29 at Memphis in May. Her swim time seemed rather average, but she had a smoking fast bike split, and a decent run. I guess I can hope that since she's a flatlander from Florida, that she sucks at hills, and that I can beat her on the hills.

I really shouldn't be making myself crazy over this race since it's supposed to be a tune up for the World Championships two weeks later. But as last week demonstrated I can't be totally casual about a race. Besides I want to put on a good show for my Team in Training mentees. :-)

Trying to be laid back about a race.

2005-09-14T18:05:00.000-04:00

Saturday I did another sprint. This is my 8th multi-sport event of the year. I still have two more races to go in the next 4 weeks. This was my try to be laid back and casual race. I was rather casual about it. Normally 2 days before a race I do no training, and then do something easy the day before such as a 15 to 20 mile bike ride at an easy pace. This past Thursday I went out on the Unemployment Ride. My intention was to do just the 1st half of the ride. Normally when I want to take it easy I do the 2nd half by meeting them on the route, but I had a meeting to attend at 1:00 PM. So I did the first part, but was feeling so good, and felt like hammering with the tri-gals so I ended out going much further then planned. I ended out with 43 miles which was less then the usual 53 miles, but more then my original plan. (No wonder I don't want to work with a coach! I wing it too much.)

The funny thing about my casual approach to this race was that I did something that was more in the line of taking it seriously. My training partner and I actually drove the bike course on Friday, and then went and swam at the race site. I almost never review a bike course, though I know for new races it would help. Not previewing the 1/2 iron course was part of my problem at Timberman last month. So here I am driving the course of a 13.5 mile bike leg. Go figure! Actually I think it was mainly because my training partner wanted to show off the area that she has recently moved to.

Race day morning I didn't get up until 5:00 AM, and didn't arrive at the race venue until 6:05. It was a 7:00 AM start. Arriving that late reminded me of why I normally like to be early.

It was open racking, so I ended out with a lousy location.
I didn't have enough time to orient myself completely to the transition area lay out.
I had no time to do any sort of warm-up.
I was still standing on line for the bathroom at 6:40.
I did a half ass job of applying Body Glide before putting on my wetsuit.

Despite all those little mishaps I still managed to have a decent race, and win my age group.

8 triathlons down, 2 to go. One will take 15 minutes to travel to, the other will take about 12 hours to travel to.

Triple Play Day

2005-09-07T11:13:00.000-04:00

Yesterday was another one of those triple sport days. It's not as brutal as it sounds since I spread things out. It's all part of doing staying in my routine, combined with the extra things I do with my Team in Training teammates. I suppose I could switch my bike ride to another day so that I only have the TNT swim and run workout. However I love the Tuesday and Thursday "Unemployment Ride", so I end out doing both.

"Unemployment Ride"? What kind of name is that for a group ride? There is a story behind the name. When one of the senior members of my bike club retired in 1992 he decided he would ride on Tuesday and Thursday mornings. Sometimes others would meet up with him, and they'd do a variation on the weekend group ride. Then a funny thing started happening. People started getting laid off from their jobs, including me. There were about 6 of us who got laid off so we started making jokes about NYS Department of Labor starting a cycling team, or riding over to the unemployment office to submit our weekly claim. So what had started out as one guy going out on a ride during the week, became a regularly scheduled group ride. It got added to our club's ride schedule, and due to the employment status of a number of the riders it became the "Unemployment Ride". Years later the name has stuck though most of the regulars either work part time, are retired, or stay at home mom. During the summer we get a lot of school teachers.

What I like about the ride is the mix of people, and tempo. We start off rolling easy, and then we really crank it up for awhile with speeds over 30 MPH. Then we get into downtown Port Chester, and we go easy again. Sometimes we'll crank it up again for awhile. When I first started doing this ride back in 1992, I used to get dropped on the fast part. I always could measure my fitness on how long I could hang on with the guys. Some days were better then others. These days I'm more consistant in my ability to hang on when the slugfest starts. I usually last until right before the last sprint. I'm not much for the sprinting thing.

Yesterday was nice ride. We varied the route a little bit, and the group stayed together. The pace was pretty steady. Some days the group can get really strung out if people decide they're going to chase down this one guy who tends to fly off the front. Tuesday he left early so we didn't have to deal with his nonsense. The route we took has a screaming downhill. I suck at descending so I do lose contact with the group, but I do get back on when we hit the flats.

That was the first part of my day. In the evening I met up with other Team in Training people for an open water swim. There were 7 of us from TNT and 5 other women were there to dod a swim, and joined us. It was great having 12 women swimming together. There were a lot of different abilities out there, but we kept an eye out for each other. That water is rather funky! The little jelly fish are pretty gross.

After the swim some of us ran. Andrea took off, and I tried to keep at her pace, but it didn't happen. It's funny because in races I can beat her, but in training I can't do it. I think I get more hyped up in the race. Chasing her is good because it makes me run faster. Running! The bane of my existence.

Day 3 of training like a triathlete again.

2005-09-02T22:12:00.000-04:00

Wednesday I dragged myself through that miserable run. But one day of running doesn't make me a well rounded triathlete. So this will have to be an on going process. However the excuses are over. No more blaming post vacation blahs. I've got a month to get my crap together, and try to make a decent showing in Honolulu.

Thursday I went out for the group ride. Tuesday got me back into longer distance mode. Thursday I'd start to work on speed again without going crazy. I told Nancy I was going to take the short cut with Otto and not kill myself. However things change when three tri-babes show up on the ride for the first time. I always find myself getting amped up when new women show up on the ride. It's even worse when they're triathletes. Ohhhhhhhh, competition!!! One of the women who showed up won her age group at NYC triathlon witha time of 2:15ish. Damn, hot stuff. I guess placing 2nd in my age group with a time of 2:41ish isn't so impressive after all. But then again she is at least 10 years younger then me.

To make a long story short, I hammered away from the tri-babes for a good portion of the fast stretch up the ride. They needed some serious wheel sucking assistance to get back up to Nancy and me. Nancy and I are the hot flash twins. We spend a lot of our time together bitching about how little sleep we get thanks to raging menapausal hormones. So the nifty fifties show the tri-babes some kick ass biking. So much for easing back into the speed thing.

Today I repeat the same run course I did on Wednesday. It's still hot, but at least the humidity is not matching the temperature. I took 5 minutes off my run time today. I'm still not setting a blistering pace, but it was better then Wednesday. Woo hoo!!! Third run this week. Maybe I can start to have a training log that loks more like a triathlete's instead of a cyclist.

I also made it to the pool today. I hate to admit it, but it's been over a month since I've worked out in a pool. I haven't been totally neglecting my swimming, but most of it has been done in open water. Open water swimming is good, but I need the structure of a pool workout. I haven't really lost much on my 100s. My longer sets were a little slow, but I didn't push myself too hard since it's been awhile. I sure don't want to blow out my shoulders over my first pool workout in a month.

I was going to do a 400 yard cool down so my total workout would be 1800 yards. However when I saw what appeared to be a child size stool on the pool floor I lost my appetite for yardage and stopped. The town pool gets kind of funky by day's end. I'm used to the leaves, and bandaids but that was a little too gross for my taste. I am a pool wuss! I swam in the Hudson in July. I put up with the creepy creatures that were touching my fingers on Tuesday when swimming in Long Island Sound. But the possibility of some kid's bowel movement being in my lane was too much. I can't wait until the YMCA reopens next week!

Tri Worlds Here I Come!

2005-08-31T14:43:00.000-04:00

A week ago I had to decide whether I wanted to go the Short Course World Championships. Yes it had been part of my goals for the 2005 triathlon season. But then again so had a Top 10 finish at Nationals, and beating my Olympic Distance PR of 2:35:32. The former was washed out by the rains from the plains, and the latter probably won't happen on any of the upcoming Olympic courses I'm doing this season. Come to think of it, I'm not sure I'll ever see that time again. That time came on a day when everything went just right. As long as I have cranky feet that don't move very fast, I'll never have that just right day. I can live with that.

So of going to Worlds was on my goal list for 2005, why would there be any question of my not going? Maybe it was the idea that I didn't earn it by beating the people I needed to in order to make the team. Maybe it was the fear I wouldn't make the cutoff to count for official Team USA status. Maybe it was knowing that I'd be making this trip by myself without my personal one man cheering section, photographer, sherpa, etc.

But I think that last reason was the most compelling reason for me to go. I need to break free of those fears of a different life that faces me. So what better way deal with the possibility of becoming a single woman again then to go take a trip to a beautiful romantic place alone? I won't be really alone because I'll be there with hundreds of people who share a passion for triathlon. But still it won't be quite the same without him there.

So last week I faxed my Team USA contract, commitment, and entry form to USAT. This week I booked an airfare, and a hotel room. Later today I'll order my uniform. I guess I'm going now. I guess that means I better get my sorry ass out of the house more. My post travel training funk is officially over! Yesterday was a good start. I actually did all three sports.

Today wasn't wonderful. My run sucked, but at least I ran. I'll blame it on the wind, humidity, and yesterday's triple play. Hopefully as I get back into the swing of things, and refocus on my remaining races the running will feel better. Running frustrates me to no end. It's what holds me back from that next level. I look at the other women in my age group who just run so much faster then me. I think about the NYC triathlon where I biked 7 minutes faster, but the winner of the age group ran 8 minutes faster then me. Even though I think the run was short, I still had one of my better runs. So in 5 weeks can I do anything with my running? I guess we'll find out.

Catching My Breath. A quick summary of Timberman.

2005-08-29T16:31:00.001-04:00

I've been home for a week. What a week it has been. Mentally and physically I'm fried. I thought it would be good to get back to my own kitchen, make my own meals and sleep in my own bed. However coming home just reminded me of the reality of choices I have to make right now.

Stress in one's personal life has a definite impact on one's training and racing. I was amazed I did as well as I did in Timberman. Friday night before the sprint I wasn't convinced I'd be able to do the race, much less try to win my age group again. The thought of then trying to do the aquabike on Sunday was really making me nuts! What the hell was I thinking of when I signed up for back to back races?

To make a long story short, despite the fact that I thought I was going to puke during the swim, I ended out having a very good day in the sprint. I won my age group again. Once again my swimming and biking made all the difference. Sunday's aquabike was a very different experience for me, and despite not really pushing very hard I finished a respectable 7 out 20 women. All the details can be found on my race report at Beginner Triathlete

Thanks Pete for a good run photo. Now if I could do something about my atrocious form!

My Road Trip to Nowhere Part II

2005-08-18T20:53:00.000-04:00

Part 2 of my rather detailed non-race race report.

Saturday August 13, 2005

After much debate the night before we opted for a 4:30 AM meeting time. This would give us time to go to Mac Donalds for John. It was very clear that it had rained over night, but it was only drizzling a little bit as we left. At this hour there wasn’t much in the way of traffic so it didn’t take us a long as it did on Friday.

It was obvious that it had rained a lot overnight. We were hoping this would be the end of the rain, but that would not be the case. We made up to the race site in good time even with the Mickey D stop for John. Body marking didn’t take long at all, so I went to set up my stuff. It started raining again so my first order of business was taking one of my garbage bags and making a rain jacket out of it. I was glad I had found the garbage bags that I had packed in NY.

The rain started coming down really hard, so I made sure I covered all my stuff after I laid it out on my towel. They delayed the start of the race in the hopes that this band of rain would pass. I started getting goofy, and put my swim cap and goggles on, and ran around in the transition area saying, “It’s time to go swimming!” I was trying to relieve some of my own anxieties, and also lighten the mood a bit. Then I went and stood under one of the tents with a bunch of wet and cold triathletes. It was at that point that they announced they were canceling the swim, and would do a time trial start for the bike. At least they weren’t adding an extra run.

They then told us to go back to our cars, and that they would tell us at 8:30 what was going to happen. They also told people that if they did not want to do the race to leave since once they started the bike, no one would be able to leave. Mary decided she didn’t want to do the race at this point. I felt that wanted to do the race, but I was feeling very anxious about riding in this rain on an unknown course. I’ve raced in the rain before, but the level of nervousness I felt at this point was like nothing else I’ve felt before.

We went back to the car. I was glad I had rented the SUV. There was lots of room for the 3 of us. We listened to the radio, and waited for the 8:30 announcement. 8:30 came and went with no announcement. The music continued to play. 8:45 came and there was still no announcement. We’ve been out there for over three hours, and nothing has happened. Finally around 8:50 they come on the radio, and announce that the race has been cancelled and that there would be a 10K fun run. John, Mary and I look at each other, and are stunned. How can a National Championship/worlds Qualifier be cancelled? How were they going to figure out who would fill out the rest of Team USA? I’ve raced for years and I’ve never had a race cancelled.

In some ways I was relieved, because now the decision to race in dangerous conditions had been taken out of my hands. All of the angst I been feeling all week was gone. No longer did I have to concern myself with the hotshots who have trashed me in other events. I didn’t have to worry about not quite being on top of my game. All week I had prayed to God to give me peace about the race, and let me do my best, and accept whatever happened. This was not exactly the answer to prayer that I was expecting. God in His divine wisdom has a funny way of answering prayer.

I did opt to do the fun run. I took it real easy, and watched most of the field pull away. Many handled the situation with humor by running in their wetsuits, and bike helmets. It was pretty funny to watch that. At the start of the run it wasn’t raining much, but later in the run the skies opened. It was a beautiful run course. I would have enjoyed it better during a meaningful race. Afterwards, I grabbed a few extra towels and went back to the car. There I found a very wet and cold John and Mary. Also the field looked like Woodstock. Lots of muddy people and cars getting stuck.

Post race:

USAT decided they would ask ITU if the United States could send extra people to Worlds. To be considered part of Team USA, Kansas City entrants would have to finish amongst the Top 16 USA finishers in their age group. It seemed like the fairest thing to do. I would have loved them to go back to the Shreveport results and take the Top 16 from there, but that wouldn’t be fair to the ones who bypassed Shreveport knowing they’d get another chance this year.

I have mixed feelings about the way they’re considering doing Team USA. I felt I was going to be on the cusp of making the team. Much was going to depend on how well I did on the swim and the bike, and how many I could hold off on the run. I feel a little funny about backing into the Worlds this way, but Honolulu will be our unofficial National Championship.

The Final Blow

Sunday morning we awake to sunny weather. The storms that plagued us have moved east, and may delay our departure. We actually get off on time, and arrive in New York a little ahead of schedule. Then the skies opened and the thunder and lightning started. They ended out closing La Guardia and our luggage remained on the plane. I felt like this was a repeat of our return from Lisbon. However this storm lingered. Instead of 45 minutes of waiting, it was several hours. I was not leaving the airport without my bike. There were a number of others who felt the same way. We hung out in baggage claim until 4 hours later when the airport reopened. We were all glad to see our bikes coming through the door.

Here is my finish line photo from the trip to nowhere, and back.

My Road Trip to Nowhere Part I

2005-08-17T13:07:00.000-04:00

August 17th, 2005

It’s Wednesday morning and I’m up in New Hampshire now. I’m finally at a point where I’m ready to put my thoughts on paper about the race that didn’t happen. It’s hard to know even where to begin, but I guess simply describing the events as they unfolded is simplest.

Friday 8/12/05

Mary and I went into town to attend the women’s breakfast at 8:00 AM. I always enjoy the breakfast and seeing the ladies that I’ve met over the last few years. The other dynamic is the checking each other out that occurs. Mary noticed this in particular when she was taking a vitamin and someone asked her if she was taking Advil, and was she hurting. Then I guess the woman lost interest when she found out Mary wasn’t in her age group.

This year’s theme was sharing our stories about getting into triathlon. I had sent in a piece that was comprised of journal entries from August and September of 1983 regarding getting ready for my first race, and then the actual race itself. Jean liked it so much that she asked me if I would read part of it at the breakfast. I was already out in Kansas when she asked me this so I told her to bring a copy because I didn’t have it with me. She assured me she would.

Well, she didn’t, so I had to wing it. Not only that, I was the first speaker. So wing it I did, and actually it went very well. Everyone got some good laughs about my early venture into triathlon as a runner. I actually managed to stay within the five minute limit too.

It was good that I was the first speaker. I would have had a lot of difficulty winging it with my brand of humor after hearing the other stories. The next story after mine was pretty light hearted also, but the three that followed were very moving stories of women who did triathlon despite going through ugly an ugly divorce, losing a teenage son in a hazing incident, and struggling with MS. No this wasn’t one person! Three women, with three very compelling stories.

Since Mary and I were staying out near the airport we decided we would kill time by just hanging out until the expo and registration started at noon. It’s easy to kill time when you have a hotel full of tri-geeks wandering around, also trying to kill time. You talk to people you know from other races, and you talk to people you’ve never met before. But because we’re triathletes it’s easy to find common ground.

Finally the registration opened and we happened to have plopped ourselves down on the floor right in front of the entrance so we were some of the first ones in the door. After picking up all my stuff, I went on a shopping spree. I am not really a shopaholic, but when it comes to triathlon expos I can become one. I think I managed get out of there for under $250.

After going to the race meeting we finally head back to our hotel to pick up our bikes and go out to the start to rack them. With everything spread out so much, it made for a very long day. The race venue was way out in the middle of nowhere, but it certainly looked beautiful. Mary was having some mechanical issues with her bike. We had not done a great job of putting her bike back together on Thursday night! After resolving that we went out for about a 5 mile ride. On the way back I decided to air it out a bit and see what sort of gearing and momentum I would need on these rolling hills. What a fun bike course this appeared to be.

When racking your bike you get to scope out your competition a bit, and see what they look and act like. Mary and I got to see up close and personal the super intensity of one the heavy hitters in our age group. She’s one that would certainly finish in the top five as long as she had no technical issues. I thought I was intense and got hyped up, but I’m Ms. Mellow compared to her. First she was bitching about the racks being too high, and that her fluids were going to spill out if she set up her bike by the seat. Then she hadn’t brought any plastic bags to put over her bike, so she was mooching from others, including Mary. Then I guess she didn’t like one of the bags she got. “OMG! Take a chill pill lady!”

In the meantime the storm clouds are blowing in, and the announcer is saying that bad weather is coming in. He’s suggesting that people get their preparations done and leave. The clouds looked like a scene out of the Wizard of Oz. This may have been Missouri, but it sure felt like Kansas. We’re driving back to our hotel and watching really wild lightning that’s going across the sky, not up and down. Mary is freaking out, and saying “What if it’s doing this tomorrow?” I’m trying to be optimistic and say, “It’s going to be beautiful tomorrow. This is going to blow out of here tonight.”

For the most part I’ve been pretty fortunate with weather at my races. I’ve had to do a few in the rain, but for the most part I’ve lucked out with some dry days when the forecast called for rain. I was trusting God to keep me safe, and help me do my best on race day. That didn’t necessarily mean kick butt, and do my best time ever. It just meant doing what I could do given all the circumstances of my life right now. After all my angst and freak outs earlier in the week, I had given it to Him. Whatever tomorrow would bring in terms of weather, and such I was trusting God to see me through it.

John, Mary and I went to the hotel next to ours for dinner. I had decided after last year’s crappy pasta party, that I wasn’t going to do that again. Also considering how far the host hotel I was glad I had not opted to do that. One trip a day into downtown Kansas City was enough.

The hotel where we had dinner was the site of a ballroom dancing competition. It was interesting contrasting competitive ballroom dancers with triathletes. They too have their rituals, and you’d see them practicing their routines out in the foyer before it was time for them to go on. You’d see them primping and preening to make sure everything looked just right. What they do is pretty and graceful, but it’s competition and the same intensity that drives triathletes can also be seen in these dancers.

After dinner, I went back to the room, and did my race eve rituals. I went through my checklist, putting all my gear back in the bag, laying out my food and clothing for the morning, and then taking my warm bath and shaving down one last time. After that I crawled into bed, and listened to the visualization and some of my race music. All I could hope for now was some decent weather.

Mother Nature can be a Bear!!!!

2005-08-15T00:10:00.000-04:00

It's shortly after midnight, and I'm still stunned about this insane weekend in Kansas City that was supposed to be Nationals Age Group Championships. To make a long story short the race ended out being cancelled due to horrific rains that just made it unsafe to have a race. They've been in a drought all summer, and it's been sunny and in the 90s and 100s for 3 weeks. On Friday and Saturday Mother Nature let the rain loose. It was great for the drought stricken farmers, but for for the athletes who had made their way to KC to compete, it was a washout.

I will share more about the weekend as I'm more able to sort out the events, and all my emotions. I returned to New York not only with my mementos of a race not done, but also the weather that wrecked havoc with tri-geeks' championship dreams. We were one of the last flights to make it into La Guardia Airport before the same storms that soaked us out in Kansas City brought their act to New York and closed down the airport. So there we were sitting in baggage claim waiting for our luggage and bikes that were sitting on the plane. It would remain there as long as the airport was closed. So our group of about 6 triathletes sat on the conveyor belt waiting for bikes and luggage, and shared our stories of our seasons thus far, and races coming up.

We were there for close to four hours, and the time passed quicker then I thought, but OMG I have get home, unpack, repack and make my way up to New hampshire for my next triathlon adventure; Timberman. I was not leaving that airport without my bike. I was not leaving Blue Bayou (say it out loud) in the hands of American Airlines baggage service. She is my lean, mean racin' machine, and I have enough anxiety flying with her. I always feel a lot better when she finally comes rolling through the oversize baggage area doors.

You should have heard the round of applause at each baggage carousel when it started up. There weren't many left at ours by the time it started up. Maybe there were 20 of us left from a totally full flight. The tri-geeks waiting for their precious steeds made up probably 35% of remaining people. There was a cellist waiting for instrument. As each bike came rolling through the doors the happy owner would let out a whoop and pump his/her fists in the air as if he/she had just won the Nationals. I guess landing before the airport closed and getting all our stuff back was going to be the major triumph of our weekend.

I did a lot of freaking out, calming down, and freaking out again over this National Championship. When I was out there I had to call my best friend/triathlon/prayer partner, and get her to pray for me and give me words of encouragement. I felt better after I talked to her, and was ready to leave my race in God's hands, and put Him in charge. God has a funny way of answering prayer, but I didn't have to deal with all the whatifs reagrding the race. More importantly those God loving farmers from the local church that came with their tractors to pull stuck cars out of the field after the event got some much needed rain for their crops. The tow truck operators came to make a killing, charging $50 for a tow. The farmers just wanted a contribution of any size to give their church.

Random thoughts on a solo ride.

2005-08-11T22:15:00.000-04:00

Today I leave Manhattan, KS to head back to Kansas City. I had a very nice time hanging out with my sister. Wednesday I did take a nice 20 mile bike ride out into country side. A little headwind on the way out, and tailwind coming back. Can't ask for the wind situation to be much better. I don't do a lot of riding by myself. I get rather addicted to my group rides, and the opportunity to talk with others. So when I do those rare solo rides it gives me a chance to reflect on things, and try to sort out some of the emotions tied in with my personal life.

I think for the first time I was starting to think that perhaps would not be horrible if we chose to go our own ways. Despite our wonderful friendship there are things that may never be resolved for either of us. I got thinking about maybe I just take my share of the proceeds of the sale of the house, buy something cheap in the middle of nowhere, invest a portion of it, and take the rest and go try a tri in every state. I could certainly knock off the rest of New England quickly. The other mid-atlantic states would be easy. It gets tougher the further I get from the east coast.

The bike ride felt good and I took a swim afterwards. My sister's neighbor has an indoor pool that's about 11 yards long. It's air conditioned in the summer, and heated in the winter. DAmn I wish I had a neighbor like that. I don't live in a neighborhood with weighbors like that. *Sigh*

Kansas City, Kansas City Here I Come.....

2005-08-10T22:13:00.000-04:00

With a detour to Manhattan, Kansas AKA The Little Apple.

Normally I'd leave for Nationals on Thursday, but I decided to make a side trip to visit family out here. I left on Tuesday for Kansas City. I wasn't figuring on seeing anyone at the airport heading out for the race this early. I was wrong. I spotted one of the women I know from last year's Worlds and Nationals. She had on a Team USA shirt so I recognized her. It was nice to hang out and talk to her since the the plane was late. Sheila is in the 65-69 age group, so she's already qualified for Worlds. She's part of the generation of women who have gotten into the sport later in life. The age group is much smaller. When she was in her 50s there weren't many so it wasn't hard to win. I can remember going to races with Jeannie who is around rhe same age as Sheila. She was always winning the age group with times that were so much slower then what I do now in my 50s. I'm an early Title IX woman so my age group is still pretty well populated on the National level. My generation was just entering college when Title IX kicked in so we got the early effects of it. There are women in their 50s who can run a 7:00 minute mile, When Jeannie and Sheila were in their 50s there probably weren't many gals running those types of times.

Sheila is an amazing lady. She's done a triathlon in every single state, including Ironman in Kona. I think that would be cool to do a race in every state. I'd love to add Hawaii to my short list thought it won't be for Kona. I have a long way to go.

States I've done so far:

New England: MA, NH, CT, NY
Mid Atlantic: NJ, DE, MD
South East: FL
Other: LA, and after Saturday, MO.

10 down 40 to go.

Pre-Nationals Freak Out #2

2005-08-08T22:46:00.000-04:00

After the great packing adventure I was scheduled for a massage. She's about a 20 minute drive away. I do have to travel the highway from hell I-95. Drivers on that road are such morons. I won't get started on one of stupid driver rants, but when one is on edge every stupid thing makes road rage almost seem reasonable. Between the morons going exactly the speed limit, and the trucks that either just sit in your blind spot, or flame up your ass, it's enough to want to make it a 2 hour massage.

My emotions are raw right now. Some of it is pre-race anxiety, but a lot of it has to do with major things happening in my personal life. My triathlon training and racing has been a way to focus on something positive, and help me feel good about myself. My big goal was to make Top 10 again at nationals, and qualify for Team USA. I've had some really good results this season. I also felt I make some significant gains in the mental aspect of my game, especially with my recent performance at the Empire State Games. But suddenly the reality of my real life, summer coming to a close, and this race being here in a few days have all come crashing upon me. I can't even blame it on PMS anymore since it's hard to be pre when there's nothing coming.

I walk into Lisa's office, and the first thing I do is burst into tears. What a great way to go into a massage session. So today Lisa gets to double as massage therapist and sports psychologist. She helps me look at the situation from a different perspective, and I think that helped a lot. It doesn't change the reality, but anytime I can just unload for a bit helps.

I went out for the Monday Night Ride. It was not the ideal thing to do shortly after having a massage, but I was making myself crazy with all earlier packing and re-packing frenzy. Also I’m suffering from the typical post-cold/taper “OMG I’m losing my conditioning!” syndrome. I think Nancy was surprised to see me there, especially when I told her I was leaving for Kansas City the next day. She’s saying to me, “What are you nuts?” Yes, I’m nuts but if I don’t do something with myself I’ll go even more nuts.

My legs still feel pretty crappy, and my mind isn’t much better. I’m sharing my anxieties with Nancy, and she saying things like, “Even if you come in second you’ll qualify.”

“Hello, earth to Nancy. This is the Nationals, I’m not coming in second. In fact I’ll be surprised if I come in the Top 10.”

“You’re incredible cyclist. I saw what you did last week at the Empire Games”

“But, they can run much faster then me…..”

“That doesn’t matter. You’re great!”

Nancy doesn’t understand about the Big Fish in the Little Pond. She’s a medium sized fish in the little pond, and so it’s hard for to understand that there are wonderfully gifted athletes out there that may not cycle as well as I do, but they kick my sorry ass on the run. Some of those women who are awesome runners are better cyclists then I too. I’m good, but I’m not national caliber. Maybe with proper training and I can reach a higher level, but unless I get seriously faster on the run, I’m never going to truly be national champion caliber. That’s okay. I can live with that.

This ride an interesting mix of people. Most of them are people that I ride with on the weekend, but sometimes we get some newbies that come on the ride. About a month ago this guy shows up on our weekday ride on an ancient bike. He was wearing baggy shorts, sneakers, and I’m not even sure he had toe clips or not. I figured he’d last to about North White Plains and then we’d lose him when the pace picks up near the dam. He surprised me because he actually made it to the top of Bedford Road. On that particular ride I gave him suggestions about getting clipless pedals and real cycling shoes. So I guess he took my advice and then some because he’s been showing up on the Monday ride, and now has a new bike, clipless pedals and cycling shoes. He also got new shorts, but they’re still the baggy type. I guess he’s not ready for lycra bike shorts.

I wasn’t sure how far I wanted to go on this ride. My legs felt weak, and the heat was bothering me. I was enjoying the social aspect, which is what I needed at that point. I kept debating whether I’d try to gut it out to the end, or bail out at some point of the ride. I was thinking I’d turn off at the end of Purchase St, and back to White Plains via North St. I was going to base my decision on how I felt at that juncture. However, I totally lost it when the baggy shorts newbie blew past me on Bedford Rd. That clinched it for me, I was not going to do the entire ride. I didn’t even go as far as the end of Purchase St. When I saw one of the guys head back to White Plains earlier, I decided I was leaving with him.

It was actually better cutting out at that point of the ride so that I got home earlier. I still had things to do to get ready for my trip. Everything is pretty much packed, but it's just all those dumb little things that I end out running around at the last second taking care of. It's those little things that always make my departure times at least 45 minutes later then planned. However leaving late for the airport is not good.

Pre-Nationals Freak Out #1.

2005-08-08T21:38:00.000-04:00

Yesterday I'm talking to my friend Mary who is going to her first Nationals. It's also the first time she's flown to a race. I've been helping her with all her questions, and giving her various pointers about things one needs to remember about flying with a bike. (Leave the Co2 cartridges at home!) I'm sounding like the cool professional who's done this a lot.

She starts telling me about how she's been checking out the entry list, and at all the people in our age group, and yada, yada. I had stopped looking at the entry list several days ago having decided that it doesn't matter who's in the race. What ever I do, I do. Knowing that so and so is in the race, doesn't change my stratagy. If they're that much better then me, I can't do anything about it. After listening to Mary, I looked at the entry list. That was a mistake. All the women who beat me at Saint Anthony's will be there, as will some of the other heavy hitters of the F50-54 age group. So much for Top 10 this year. Can I still qualify for Team USA? Who knows.

This morning I went into major repacking frenzy after the first of one of my multiple freakouts today. I had packed up the bike yesterday, and packed my tri-bag. I usually take the tri-bag as carry-on luggage, and have a separate bag for anything else I need. So today I'm sitting in the kitchen eating breakfast and thinking about what I'll be taking with me. Bike bag, and suit case gets checked. Tri-bag and computer bag go on the plane with me. Damn! How the hell am I going to get all that crap on the rental bus? I've done it before but it's too much like work.

So I proceed to take everything out of the tri-bag, repack it in a smaller transition bag to see if it all fits. (No wetsuit saves a lot of space.) After I determine it will fit into that bag, I unpack it, and put the empty bag inside the bike case. Then I take everything upstairs and figure out if I can get all of it into the suitcase with my other stuff. I don't really like checking my gear, but figured I can replace everything but the orthotics if my luggage vanishes. The orthotics will go into carry-on. I manage to get everything into the regualr bag. Thank you EMS!!! They make awesome bags on wheels.

How to let someone know you're a tri-geek without trying.

2005-08-06T23:31:00.000-04:00

One thing about tri-geeks is that we love to talk about triathlon. Whether it's about our newest play things, or our latest race, we love to talk "shop". When we're at a pre-race pasta party, or race expo it's easy to find fellow geeks to talk with. When we're at a party where we're not wearing our latest race tee shirt, and we don't know a lot of people we may not get the chance to talk about our triathlon passion. (Okay, addiction is more to the point, but I'm trying to look upon what I do in a kinder, gentler manner.)

We can always go for the direct method. "Hi, I'm Polly, and I'm a tri-geek." We can also try the less direct route. "You played 18 holes of golf today? That's nice. I rode my bike 30 miles, and ran 3 miles right after." That might evoke the question, "Oh do you do triathlons?" or "Why in earth would you do that?" If you're talking to a golf geek you're more likely to get the latter question. Though golf geeks are just as bad as us when it comes to talking about new play things, and their latest round of golf.

I didn't have to resort to any of these methods tonight. I was relatively dressed up, and was wearing a gold necklace with a triathlon charm on it. One woman spots it, and points it out to her husband. "Honey check out her necklace. You'll find it of interest."

Me: "You do triathlons?"

He: "Yes, I've been doing them for 3 years, and you?"

Me: "Ummm, since 1983."

He: "Wow you've been doing them from the beginning...."

From there we compared what races we've done this season, what races we have coming up. We griped about how much we hate to run, etc. etc. His wife may have been sorry she pointed out the necklace. It turns out we've done a few of the same races this season, and that we'll be doing 2 more of the same races. When he mentioned his time in one of the races I decided not to tell him my time was about 7 minutes faster. No point in telling a guy in his early 30s that he got smoked by a 51 year woman. Though he did make a point of getting my last name before the evening was over, so I'm sure if he's like me, he'll go check out the results of the races we did.

Hot, Hot, Hot!!!!

2005-08-04T13:54:00.000-04:00

This hot weather is really getting on my nerves big time. The one thing I'd love to do to beat the heat is swimming. However with this stupid cold I've been fighting, swimming has not been a good option for me. I got enough gunk in my head without adding chlorine laced water with whatever the kids are doing in the pool.

The town pool is pretty nice, and they have some lanes roped off for lap swimming. The other portion of the pool is a free for all, and by the time I get there after 5:00 PM, the water seems a little "funky". More then once I've come across band-aids, long strands of hair, leaves, and who knows what else. So I'll pass on swims at the town pool for awhile.

I did go out on my bike today. I only rode 8 miles with the group, and then turned off and came back home. It was tempting to go more, but after a few days off I thought it best to just do easy 15 to 20 miles. I'm not sure if it was the heat, lack of sleep, or lingering effects of the cold, but I didn't exactly blaze up the road today. 16 miles at a blistering 12.5 mph pace. I'm trying to walk the fine line between resting and recovery, versus over-resting, and coming up flat next week.

Yesterday I was getting bored and started getting into the anal tri-geek thing of checking out my competition for next week's nationals and the following week's Timberman. After about one or two names, I said to myself, "Screw it! It doesn't matter who is there. What ever happens, happens." I realize in a race the size of naionals I'm not going to be able to keep track of my competition the way I can in a small race. I know the names of the heavy hitters who smacked my butt the last couple of years and who are going to be there again this year. The other names on the list are random names that don't mean a thing. Some of them are probably a lot like me. They're The Big Fish in the Little Pond (TBFITLP) who are going to the big lake to try to outswim the sharks.

Maybe 5 races in 19 days wasn't such a hot idea.

2005-08-02T21:34:00.000-04:00

11 days until Nationals and I got a freakin' cold, and feel like crap. This is the stupid cold that I was convinced I was getting the night before I went up and blew away my competition in the time trial, and set a new PR at that distance. This is the same cold that I thought was going to mess up my road race, and make it hard to climb with the mountain goats. I survived the attack of the lady mountain goat, and did my best Tour de France sprint imitation at the end.

Hopefully I can figure out how not to make myself crazy and get myself well in the next few days. I guess this the way to force me into a taper, but I'd rather taper on my terms. I have zero energy at this point. Two days of no exercise, and I'm getting antsy. It's too freakin' hot to do much of anything except swim. However swimming is the last thing I want to do with my congested head.

Tour de France coverage as a training aid.

2005-07-31T17:05:00.000-04:00

Or how a tri-geek plays at Race Tactics 101

I just had the two most amazing days of bike racing. Even though cycling is my strongest event of the three sports, compared to pure road racing cyclists I've always thought I sucked. I know I shouldn't be so hard on myself. After all I'm training for three sports, and the women I've raced against just train for bike racing. The other problem with bike racing is it's by catagory and not by age. Even if I do find a race with a Women's Cat 4 field, most of them either are 20 years younger then me, or race all the time. Many times I have to race in a field with women who are not only 20 years younger, but are also Cat 2 or 3. I inevitable get spit off the back, and end out doing the race as a time trial until I'm mercifully pulled from the course.

As I mentioned on 7/27 I was going to the Empire State Games (ESG) to compete in the Masters Division. So off I went on Thursday morning with my two bikes, and all the associated shoes, helmets, clothes, etc. that go with each bike and event. I forget that time trials are Gear Geek Conventions. Even pure cyclists who take their time trialing seriously have all the toys. The guys are far worse then the women in this area. I think I was the only woman in the masters division wearing a time trial helmet, but there were a few women with tri or time trial bikes.

10 mile Time Trial

I had some mental issues that I needed to overcome in these two races. The first was dealing with the time trial start. The start has always made me a little nervous. For me it has always been a little bit unnerving being clipped in, and having someone trying to hold me upright and somewhat balanced. Last year's fall at the start of the ESG totally spooked me, so I was a bundle of nerves when it came time for me to clip in and wait. I get in the pedals and I'm rocking back and forth. I start freaking and hyperventilating. The starter tells me to calm down. I tell him I just don't want to be dropped like last year. Finally the holder gets me nice and steady. 5,4,3,2,1....and I'm off!

Number 83 was a no show so I was chasing a "ghost". I was disappointed I didn't have someone in that spot right ahead of me. I like to see if I can do a "Lance". The no show was someone I've passed in previous time trials. Oh well! I do time trials strictly by PE. I don't use my HRM, and I had forgotten to reset the computer after my warmup. I could tell roughly when I was getting to the turn around. After I got through the turn around, I could see that #82 was within sight. I wasn't sure I'd actually catch her, but I was going to have fun trying. I didn't quite catch her, but I crossed the finish line about 10 seconds afterwards. 26:23 for 10 miles. New PR for 10 mile TT. Won the gold medal. One mental hurdle down, road race anxieties were next.

31 Mile Road Race

I tend to have two anxieties when I'm doing road races and criteriums. The first is starting in a big pack with strangers whose bike handling skills may be suspect. The second is what is going to happen when the first attack comes. Will I be able to stay with anyone? More importantly, will I be able to stay with my competition? The masters women regardless of age catagory race with the masters 55+ and 65+ men. Usually on the first major climb the guys go, and the pelaton breaks up into little pieces. The same thing happened in this race, but I made a determined effort to hang with my competition. My competition being the same woman who got away with the guys in 2002, and cleaned my clock by 4 minutes. This year was going to be different. I was not conceding anything this time around.

Having overcome the first two anxieties, I had a new one to deal with. What happens if I can't get rid of her, and have to duke it out to the finish? Though that anxiety was based on the assumption that she wouldn't get rid of me first. That brought up the alternate anxiety of What happens if she attacks me on one of the climbs? Damn, I felt like I was in the Tour! I actually had to think like a bike racer, and play the tactics accordingly.

And play them I did. When she attacked, and got ahead of me I worked with the other riders and got back to her. When we regrouped I tried to not kill myself when my turn at the front came. I wasn't going to launch any attacks. I was content to do my share of the work and then rest. The guys were very respectful of the dynamics going on between me and Susan. They were not in contention for medals in their age catagory, but they knew Susan and I were going for gold in our catagory. They were willing to help either one of us, but they weren't going to launch any attacks of their own. When the final climb came they backed off, and let Susan and I go it alone. Here's how it played out:

Once again Susan goes up to the front, and starts pulling away. I'm trying to stay close but she's getting further away. I glance behind me to see if my "boys" are close behind. They aren't. In the meantime Susan looks back at me every once in awhile, and sees she putting some serious distance between us. I'm thinking to myself, "Hmmmm this is going to be tough unless the guys come back."

I crest the hill, and look back one last time. The guys are nowhere. They've decided to let the ladies slug it out for gold on their own. My mind is going a million miles a minute, and I'm thinking, "Okay you won yesterday, so it won't be the end of the world if you don't win today. This has been a good race, and you hung close......Time out! Okay let's see what you can do on your own. At least make it interesting. She didn't descend all that well after that last hill. Maybe you can catch her. Go for it!"

The real hills were done, there was a screaming descent coming, followed by little rollers, and flats. I am usually a major chicken $h!t when it comes to descents, but having done the hill once already in the race, and several times in practice I knew I could really air it out. I had no one around me, and no oncoming traffic so I let it rip. I hit 47.6 MPH at some point but didn't see that until after the race. As I coming flying down the hill ,and back to the straight away, I can see that I'm closing in. The question is can I catch her after the traffic circle 1K from the finish.

I come around the traffic circle. I'm totally focused on Susan, and not worrying about the turn. I'm not always real confident cornering, but again I stayed focused on my quarry. I finally come up on her wheel with maybe 500 meters to go. I'm thinking to myself, "Okay do I sit here, and make like Tour de France sprinters and go around her at the last second? Do I go now, and try to hold her off?. Is it too soon?" I then decided, "The hell with it, do what you did yesterday in the time trial!" I put my head down, and blew right by her. I wasn't going to look back. I figured if she came back around it was going to be one helluva finish. I just didn't want to know about it. After I crossed the finish line I looked to either side, and didn't see her. At that point I pumped one fist and shouted, "Yes!" I have not mastered the two handed fist pump. On the official results they had us down with the same time so I guess it was awefully close at the finish line.

I was really pleased with not only the physical effort, but psychologically I was right on the ball. When the concession speeches started in the head, I just banished them. I think I caught her by surprise at the end. I don't think she was expecting me to come back like that all by my lonesome. I was glad I got the chance to chase her down on my own, and not have to depend on the guys to bring me back again.

I felt I rode a smarter race then she did. I suspect those solo attacks off the front did her in after awhile. I had a little more in the tank when I had to go solo. But then again, I'm a triathlete, and I'm used to going solo. Though I'm not used to it coming down to milliseconds.

I use visualization a lot in my triathlon preparations. I listen to a guided visualization frequently, and I have certain pieces of music that help me get pumped up. I had listened to my race music play list on the way to the race, and replayed Tour de France coverage in my mind during the race. When the guys responded to one of Susan's attacks and pulled me back I felt like I had my "disco boys" helping me. When I went around Susan before the finish I thought about Lance taking off near the end of that one stage that put him back in yellow for good. Those mental images do help a lot.

July has been an amazing month for me. Just like it had been for Lance. I need carry these good feelings over to August as I get ready for Nationals in two weeks. But damn I don't like how July is ending for me. I feel like crap and I think I'm getting a frigging cold. I'm not panicking yet. It's the forced taper.

OMG I've turned into such a geek!

2005-07-27T15:38:00.000-04:00

Today I'm getting my gear together for the Empire State Games. I'm competing in cycling events of the masters competition. I'm doing a time trial tomorrow and and a road race on Friday. In 2002 was I competing in the masters division. I took one bike, one helmet, one pair of shoes, aerobars for the time trial, a skinsuit, jersey and shorts. I competed in 3 races. (time trial, road race, and criterium.)

Last year I was in the Open division because only 3 women showed up for the Hudson Valley qualifier, so I made the team. Being in the Open division is tough for a tri-geek like me because I'm racing against Cat. 2s, and 3s who do nothing but train for bike racing. The Open division consists of 4 races (time trial, road, race, criterium, and team time trial) I brought two bikes. (tri-bike, and road bike.) All the other gear was pretty much the same.

I looked like major geek with my tri-bike, and disc wheel. I felt I had a decent chance to do pretty well since I'm used to time trialing. It ended out being a disaster when the holder let go of me too soon, and down I went with the clock running. You can see from the picture that this was not an auspicious start to a race. I managed not to be DFL, but only by a few seconds.

So here I am going back to compete in the Games again. I decided to only do the time trial and the road race. Criteriums aren't really my thing though in 2002 I did win the gold when I was able to get away with the 35-44s. I just didn't feel like being away for 2 nights, and racing for 3 days. I'm still a little toasted from 3 weekends in a row that ended with my Timberman double rehearsal.

So I'm doing two days of competition which will probably add up to about 40 miles of actual racing. So what am I bringing for two races? Two bikes (tri and road), two helmets (TT and regular), two pairs of shoes (different pedals on the two bikes), spare wheel set for the road race, and two different types of tires (tubies on my road race wheel set, clichers on the 650 Zipps)skinsuit, jersey, shorts, gels, energy bars, sports drink, etc. I was debating over whether I wanted two gear bags, and then came up with the perfect solution. My triathlon bag! It has compartments for two pairs of shoes, and two other compartments which will fit the two helmets and all the other crap quite nicely.

Am I such a geek or what?? So many accoutrements associated with my sports. (Obsessions would probably be a better word. LOL) I hope I don't end out looking like a damn poser when I do the time trial tomorrow. Stay tuned.......

Rehearsal for my crazy August double!

2005-07-24T22:26:00.000-04:00

Last year at Timberman I did the sprint on Saturday followed by swimming on a relay in the 1/2 iron on Sunday. This year I'm doing the sprint again, but on Sunday I'm adding the bike to the mix by doing the aquabike 1/2. I've wanted to try this new format. It's made for someone like me. For years I've joked about being able to do a race with only the swim and the bike, and how I'd kick butt. Now I get a chance to test out my theory. I'd prefer doing it at Olympic distance, but this gives me a chance to test the long course waters without having to run.

Yesterday was part 1 of the rehearsal by doing a sprint race at an all time effort. I won my age group. For all the race details check out my race report at: http://www.beginnertriathlete.com/discussion/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=22679&posts=1

Overall I was pleased with my day. I also met an amazing lady. Marge Stahl is 75 years old, and still racing. She did the duathlon because she still was concerned about swimming's effect on her shoulders after last year's bike accident. She's the lady in pink. She reminds me so much of my mom in terms of build and appearance. She's a few years younger then my mom would have been if she were still here. I'm the youngster in that group photo. The lady on Marge's left is 63, and the one on my right is 57. All of us placed in our respective age groups.

Part 2 came today. I went out in the morning to do what is known as the Gimbel's Ride. Any serious road racer from the Metro New York area is familiar with this ride. It got that name since it meets in front of what used to be Gimbels department store. The store has changed many times since Gimbels went out of business. Ironically enough it's now Macys. The name has stuck around over the years. The ride has been around for at least 40 years if not longer. Many past Olympians and Tour de France riders have done the ride as hot shot juniors. Nelson Vails, and George Hincapie are two names that come to mind.

On a nice summer day the ride draws over 100 riders from New York and Connecticut. As the ride makes it way slowly up Central Avenue more and more riders jump on. By the time we get on Rte. 22 going out of North White Plains the has probably quadrupled in size since leaving Yonkers. It's a pretty impressive sight seeing this Tour de France sized pack heading up the road. Unfortunately many of the locals don't appreciate the beauty and power of such a large group so inevitably a cop from from one of the local towns we pass through gets on the loud speaker and reminds us to stay in the right lane, and ride two abreast. Today's cop was actually very nice about it. Sometimes a major blow hard cop comes out and demands that we ride single file even though the state law is two abreast on a 4 lane roadway.

Once we hit North White Plains the pace starts to pick up quite a bit. After we cross the resevoir, climb a short hill and start the descent the pace picks up some more. The ride splits into 3 routes and once that split occurs then the hammer goes down. I do the middle route so for 22 miles I'm hammering away and maintaining an average speed of 23.9 mph. At times I'm hanging off the back trying not to get dropped. I like to stay closer to the front, but my legs weren't exactly at their freshest. There was one point I got spit out the back, but I was determined to get back on, and make to the sprint line which is the border between Rye, and Mamaroneck. I was a good 10 bike lengths off, but just gave it all I got and caught up with the group just as they were cresting this little hill in Rye. I happened to glance at my HRM and saw I was at 174. Ouch!

Once the sprint is over the pace eases off as we head south on Rte. 1. However there is always a bit of a rushed pace in order to make it down to the Bagel Zone and be one of the first ones on line. The store has really good bagels and is one of my bike club's sponsors. In the summer we sit outside in a little park close to the store. In the winter we cram ourselves in at any available table we can. It's quite a sight in winter seeing all these cyclists come in from the cold for a cup of coffee and a bagel.

By the time my ride was done I had logged 57 miles. There was the bagel break, but it was a good 57 miles.

Part two of my workout day was a swim workout with my Team in Training group. We have a number of newbies that the coach works on form with. For the fishies he gives us a nice long set to do after the drill portion. The gal I'm sharing the lane with is one of my mentees. I've been helping her with her running and cycling, but when it comes to swimming she kicks my ass good. She swam in college, and it shows. I was starting to bonk a bit by the end of the workout. I really should have eaten a gel before I started the workout.

Now this obviously is not the order I'll be doing my events come August 21st, but it did give me an idea on how I might feel during the aquabike. I'm definately going to have to pace myself, and not hammer the swim and the bike the way I do in an Olympic. One good thing is that I won't have a 3.5 hour drive between days like I did this weekend. I should be better rested then I was this weekend.

On the road again!

2005-07-22T18:29:00.000-04:00

Race number three in week number three. I guess this making up for the race withdrawal I was having between St. A's in April and Pawling in June. I have a love/hate relationship with this particular race. I love the course. The bike is on country roads in South Jersey. The run is mostly on shaded paths meandering through a park. Also the bike is relatively long for a sprint. 16 miles and still only a 5K run. So for the charter member of the ISARTC (I Suck at Running Track Club) this is an ideal race.

So where does the hate part come in? Getting to and from the race. Anything that involves going over the George Washington Bridge on a Friday just sucks. When it's hot as hell and there's been an accident closing down an entrance to a major route, it doubly sucks. At least this time I managed to get out of the house before 1:00 PM. I might have made it earlier if I had the same sort of checklist for what needs to go in the car that I have for what goes in my triathlon bag. After several trips back into the house I get the car started and double check to see if I have my cell phone. I don't, so another trip into the house. How did I ever go to races without a cell phone?

Rest stops on the New Jersey Turnpike are a mass of humanity in every shape and color. It's always bedlam so there's nothing restful about them. But when it's hot and I've gone through 48 oz of water between my house and this rest stop it's time to do something about the water. Not to mention the need to get more water! I walk in there and the smell of Cinnabun is overwhelming. I swear I can gain weight just looking at those things. It smells good, but I'd rather blow all those calories on some good chocolate. I have the bike locked on top but I don't get crazy worrying about someone stealing it while I'm in the ladies room. Probably 90% of the people in there wouldn't know the difference between it and a bike from Walmart. They'd take one look at the aerobars and ask themselves, "How the hell do you ride with those?"

This year I managed not to get lost. Last year I had the Map Quest directions from hell. I spent 3 hours driving around south Jersey trying to find the hotel. Stupid desk clerks couldn't even get me there. I missed out on having dinner with one of my friends from Team USA. This year I used Google Maps, and had no trouble getting to the hotel.

This year I actually got to have dinner with my friends and share triathlon war stories. I thought I had been anal last week scoping out my competition, but I'm not alone in this pursuit. One of the people at dinner was talking about how she "Googles" people in her age group who she doesn't recognize. Never had thought about that one! So what did I do tonight when I got back to the room? Yep, I did a Google search on the other women in my age group. Damn I can see what I'm going to be doing before Nationals. Based on my search I like my chances in the race tomorrow. One woman runs fast but does everything else slow. I can't get at the list with the bib numbers so I'm not going to be able keep track of her like I did last week.

I don't know why I'm getting so obsessed over my competition in these little races. I guess because it takes my mind off the big issues in my life that I'm having to deal with. I spent enough time in the car ruminating on what has happened in the last six months, and what may happen in the next few months. Focusing on my racing and doing my best has kept me in a more positive state of mind. That will help me cope.

Tri-geek toys

2005-07-21T15:32:00.000-04:00

Things have changed since I started doing this sport in 1983. It was simpler that's for sure. Bathing suit, shorts, goggles, running shoes, helmet, sunglasses, towel and a cap. All of it fit in a plain old gym bag. I had one of those black Bell helmets that became popular in the early 80s. Ugly, hot, and heavy. As the attached photo indicates I was very low tech back then.

I reflect back on those simpler times as my latest and greatest new tri toy arrived Wednesday. I finally broke down and got a Rudy Project time trial helmet. I didn't get the totally tricked out one with the visor and earflaps, but I got the Sython open. I don't know if it will make me ride faster, but I'll look faster. It even looks fast standing still.

I'm a firm believer in don't try anything new on race day, so I decided I would take it out for a test ride on Thursday. Normally on Tuesdays and Thursdays I do a 50+ mile ride with a group of guys from my bike club, and other assorted roadies. Since I have a race on Saturday, I wanted make sure I didn't do too much. I figured I'd meet the group on Pinebrook Blvd, and do the cool down loop. I headed south, not quite sure when they'd be heading the other direction. I got to the end of Pinebrook, and decided I would go back the other direction, and catch them on my next trip down. Pinebrook is a about a 7 mile loop that is good for time trialing. I often see one of the juniors who used to race for our bike club practicing his time trialing. Yes he has a totally cool TT helmet. However he's 16 years old, and he is fast!

I had mixed feelings about whether I really wanted meet up with the group or not. Somehow I figured I get a lot of crap about the helmet. Also this was a good opportunity to just sit on the aerobars and not have to worry about the wheel in front or in back of me. I finished off my second loop and still no sign of the group. I could have continued back for a third loop, but then I was going to end out with more miles then I wanted. I know if I had met them I would have gone on with them, and what I had done on my own was really what this ride was about. So I turned off and went up the hill back towards home.

I am trying to act more like a triathlete, and less like a cyclist that does triathlons. By dialing back the mileage on this day, I'm saving my legs, and not worrying about my roadie friends getting more miles.

Reflecting on my season so far. Part 3

2005-07-20T22:33:00.000-04:00

The Tuesday after NYC Tri I did a recon ride with one of my teammates. We were scoping out the course for the road race in the Empire State Games Masters cycling events which we'll be doing in a few weeks. She works with a CTS coach and her schedule called for hill repeats on that day. This is a hilly course so she figured she could get her hill repeats in by doing each of the hills at AT. Your's truly "Ms. Train By the Seat of Her Pants Tri-Geek" figured she'd could play that game too. When Nancy and I ride together we tend to push each other. As the song from Oklahoma goes....."Anything you can do, I can do better." So there we are pushing each other up those hills. I was venting my frustration over the crappy recovery I was experiencing on the Henry Hudson hills the weekend before. "Take that!" I trashed Nancy on the last long climb on our 2nd loop.

SOBE Mossman July 17th

I guess I was really bored on Saturday because I ended out really scoping out my competition. Normally I look at the entry list, see who's in my AG, and see if I recognize any names from previous races or years, and that's it. I guess I was getting frustrated with my two 2nd places that were caused by getting smoked on the run. I knew Mary Dunn wouldn't be there. I've raced against her a number of times over the years, and she totally dominates in the age group. She is a major shark in the big ocean. Totally eats this BFITLP alive. Knowing she wouldn't be there I thought I had a decent chance to win this year.

Knowing Mary wouldn't be there I did serious scouting. I actually looked at their results from last year, and found that this woman who just aged up this year kicked my ass on the run last year. Not only that but her overall time was 2 minutes faster then mine. So she became my motivation for Sunday. I had two challenges for this race. 1) Could I reduce my course time by over 2 minutes? 2) Could I hold off a woman who ran a sub 20 5K last year?

I felt like this was "Mission Impossible", but I was going to give it a go. To make a long story short, I actually succeeded on both counts. For my "Mission Impossible" race report with all the details check out: http://www.trinewbies.com/phorum2/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=44617&posts=8 I cut 2 minutes off my time from last year, despite a slower bike and run. Okay the bike was only 5 seconds slower! My swim and transitions were faster. When I came back for T2 and saw she was nowhere in sight, I was determined to hold on for dear life. As it turned out I totally kicked her butt on the swim and bike so her 5 minute faster run wasn't enough. Score one for the not so fleet footed.

In the grand scheme of impressive race results this really was not much. There were only 4 women in the age group. My 3rd place at Saint Anthony's was far more impressive. However this was a great mental exercise in staying focused and not getting psyched out by past results. This is the type of focus I'm going to need for the next few weeks. Where this all leads to is to be determined.

Stay tuned for the continuing adventures of BFITLP.

Reflecting on my season so far. Part 2

2005-07-20T15:46:00.000-04:00

One race in April, none in May, and one in June. Now it's July and I seem to be making up for lost time with races on three straight weekends. The 3rd of three was not originally planned upon, but I love the race, and couldn't bear the thought of not doing it. So this coming weekend I'll make my annual schlep to South Jersey to do this sprint. Maybe this year I won't get lost driving to the hotel.

Okay back to my recap of races done so far.

New York City Triathlon - July 10

I can find sprints in this area with no problem. They're a dime a dozen. Olympic distance is a whole different story. There are not many of them close by. I wanted to do another Oly before Nationals, so NYC became the race. The thought of swimming in the Hudson would have intimidated me a few years ago, but now it just seems like a cool thing to do. Last year I volunteered at the race. I hung out for the awards afterwards. When I heard the winning time I thought to myself, "Damn I can do that time in my sleep!" Also the winner was a woman that I raced against 3 times last season and beat by anywhere from 3 to 8 minutes. So I liked my chances in this years race.

I did have my anxious moments the week before with all the rain we had. Two years ago they had to make it into a duathlon because of high bacteria counts caused by all the rain. All I could think of was if I have to run an extra 5K I'm toast. With that mindset I didn't really taper right, and ended out doing a 45 mile bike ride the Thursday before the race. That was probably not a good thing to do, but it was all part of my "Nationals Rehearsal". *Note to self* "No 45 mile rides 3 days out from race."

The cool thing about this race is that the 45+ women are in the first wave. We get an uncluttered bike course, and the race clock time is really our time. On the other hand being in the first wave means making sure you have your shit together and being up at the swim start early. Many races I've been one of those people who gets booted out of transition right before the gun goes off for the first wave.

6:00 AM starts are brutal sleepwise but when else can you see the sun rise behind the George Washington Bridge? Also an early start like this means I'll be done before 9:00 AM and I'll miss the brutal heat of late morning. Some of the guys I know who were in those later waves complained about the heat.

I've lived in the NYC metro area since 1977. I never tire of the city skyline, the beautiful views of the Hudson, running in Central Park, and the energy that makes New York, New York. This is a race that lets one experience these things up close. I've driven up the Henry Hudson Parkway a million times, paid my toll, and crossed the bridge into the Bronx. In a car I don't have the time to appreciate the views. Riding a bike on these same roadways is very cool. Flaming through the tollbooth without having to stop is every driver's fantasy. "Damn, I forgot my E-ZPass!!!"

Easy passing was my modi operandi as I reeled in the fishies who had blown by me on the swim or the fleet of foot who ran past me on the long transition run from hell. Running over a 1/4 mile on concrete with bare feet sucks! I liked the bike ride, but the hills suprised me, and I didn't feel like I recovered well when I crested each hill. Maybe it was the 45 mile ride on Thursday, or maybe I didn't do enough hill work. Which ever it was I was a little disappointed in my 1:17:58 bike split.

I was happy to be in that first wave because for us the bike course was wide open. I watched the guys heading north as I was coming south. There was lots of yelling "On your left." and some newbie women who looked nervous with all these guys flaming up their butt, and past them. I've been in enough races where I've had the guys flaming up my butt, however training with roadies has made me used to the crowds.

Being in the first wave makes the run interesting. Running across 72nd St by myself was cool. I felt like hot stuff, but it didn't last long. At first there aren't a lot of people on the course. That changes as the youngsters come cruising by running their sub 7:30 minute miles. Then later comes the guys running their sub 6:30s. There I am "cranking out" my sub 8:30s. (barely, overall pace was 8:29). Unfortunately for me this run is 6.2 miles so when I get passed shortly before 5 miles by a 50 year old woman, I can kiss 1st in the age group goodbye. Losing the age group by 2 minutes is frustrating when I was off my usual 40K bike split by 3 minutes. Argh!!!!

2nd in my age group at NYC Triathlon sounds very impressive until one looks at the results closely and sees that there were only 8 women in the F50-54 age group. What's with that? Over 2000 people in this race and only 8 of them 50 year old women? The Pawling Triathlon with it's 450 finishers had 12 women in my age group. Maybe 50+ women are scared to swim in the Hudson. Who knows.

The good thing about doing this race is I got a chance to evaluate how things are going for me. Despite the disappointment in my bike split it was good rehearsal. I know I have to do some hill work in the next few weeks, and make sure I don't go crazy on the bike during race week. That will actually not be a problem since I'm visiting my sister for a few days before hand. I'll probably unpack the bike, and ride it around just to make sure it works.

Easy does it!

2005-07-19T22:48:00.000-04:00

The biggest challenge in heading into the last month before a big race is not to go crazy with training. I'm walking a fine line between what I'm doing for myself, and what I'm doing for the Team in Training people that I'm mentoring. Much of what I do with the TNT people is easy mileage for me, but that can add up after awhile.

Today was stinking hot and humid. I did my usual Tuesday bike ride with the group. The pace was good, and I love being able to hang with the guys. There's something thrilling about sitting in a pack going 30 miles an hour. This is a good ride for me. I get some solid miles in, and parts of it are fast. I try to keep the cadence high and work on different things.

It can be scary though when drivers do stupid things. I thought my life was coming to an end when an impatient driver decided to race a street cleaning truck to the corner. God forbid he get stuck behind the thing and have to go slow until he safely pass it. No instead he blindly goes around it as it's turning onto the street where we're riding. He crosses the double yellow line and is coming right at me and another rider. The two of us just look at each other, and say "Oh my God, can you believe that?" The driver missed coming head on into us by about a foot. We were going close to 30 MPH at the time.

I had one TNT person respond to my Tuesday evening run offering so we made it earlier. We did a little over 4 miles. I could have gone and run with one of the other mentors, but she runs faster then me, and in this heat I was looking to push real hard. I had done my 52 miles on the bike earlier. This run was just to remind my legs about running. My legs need constant reminders about it. I know running keeps me in BFITLP mode. I'll do a harder run tomorrow.

Reflecting on my season so far. Part 1

2005-07-19T15:31:00.000-04:00

It's mid-July and I have 4 races under my belt so far. 2 Olympics, and 2 sprints. So far, so good. I'm about at the midpoint of my season. My season started early. Depending on how I do in Kansas City next month it could end in September on the beaches of Rye, NY or in October on the beaches of Honolulu, Hawaii. It won't end on the beaches of Kona that's for sure. :-)

April - Saint Anthony's - The big fish in the little pond (BFITLP) tackles the shark infested waters of St. Pete. No shark sitings in Tampa Bay, but just the reality of a slow runner from the Northeast tackling the fleet of foot from Florida in late April. Despite a pretty crappy winter I did manage to put a decent amount of miles on the bike outside. When all else failed there was the Compu-Trainer. For the first time in my life I actually did some real indoor workouts. The Compu-Trainer was one of the better triathlon related toys I've spent money on.

I figured I could do Top 10 down there. That was my public declaration. In the Who's Racin' This Weekend? thread at http://www.trinewbies.com/ that's what I put down as my stated goal. We often put our wishful thinking goal down too. I put Top 5 as the wishful thinking goal. Then there's the super secret goal that we don't share because maybe we're embarrassed to have such delusions of grandeur, and don't want anyone to know. My super secret goal was Top 3. So despite a pathetically slow 10K time of 56:09 BFITLP became a shark in the big bay of Tampa/St. Pete by reaching the super secret goal of 3rd in the F50-54 age group. What I lack on the run I made up for by posting the 2nd fastest bike split in the age group.

June- Pawling Triathlon - This is a very popular local race that's not USAT sanctioned. However it gets a lot of the top local people out, and it sells out every year. In the past wave assignments have been based on when you entered. So if you procrastinated on entering you might end out in the last wave. This year they did something a little different. Last November they sent special entry blanks to anyone who had finished in the Top 100 in the 2004 race. If you sent it back before 12/31/04 you were guaranteed a spot in one of the first two waves. I came in 99th last year so I got one of these forms. So there I was in 2004, not knowing when Nationals were going to be or what other races I would be doing, sending in my first entry for the 2005 season.

I guess I must have been one of the early birds because I ended out with #18, and was in the first wave with 47 guys, and 2 other women. One of the women was last year's women's overall winner. The other was my friend, massage therapist, and long time rival Lisa. Lisa and I have raced against each other many times since the mid 80s. I've only beaten her once. She's more of a distance person, but she always uses this particular race as a speed workout the week before Eagleman. We swam stroke for stroke together, but my goggles fogged up and I tripped coming off the beach and fell flat on my face. Talk about embarrassing! There I am in the first wave with the big boys, and I fall flat on my face in front of all these people waiting for the later waves. I smoked Lisa on the bike, but as usual she reeled me in on the run. It took her longer then usual, and she did it right in front of her friends and teammates from WTC. (Westchester Triathlon Club) *Sigh* 2nd to her again!

It's the write time

2005-07-18T15:16:00.000-04:00

I set up this blog last fall with the idea of sharing my thoughts about training and racing. I don't know where the time went, but here it is July 18th, and I haven't written a thing. I just did my 4th race of the season, and with the exception of some race reports on the various triathlon forums I post on, I've been very silent. That's not like me at all. So for the next few weeks I'm going to share my preparations as I head into my 2005 long term goal race.

My long term goal for 2005 as stated on my training log http://www.beginnertriathlete.com/discussion/training/index-weekly.asp?memberid=5600&year=&month=&day=#

Long term goals
Top 10 finish at AG Nationals & qualify for Team USA again.

A little background here. I've been doing triathlons since 1983. I had a few years off from 1999 to 2001 due to injuries, family issues, and weight problems. Before my time off I was pretty competitive in my age group. Top 3 was pretty normal except when I got closer to the numbers that end in 3,4,8 & 9. I always thought of myself as a big fish in a little pond.

I lost 44 pounds in 2001 and spent the good portion of 2002 getting myself back to a higher level of physical fitness. The bike was coming along quite nicely. I did some bike racing at the Empire State Games in the Masters division and won 2 silvers and a gold. Swimming was swimming, but I was battling my mind with running. So it wasn't until August of 2002 that I convinced myself that I could race triathlons again. To make a long story short, I came in 3rd in my age group, and 20th woman overall. Not bad for a 48 year old woman who hadn't raced in 3 years. I immediately went to the internet to find another race to do. I did the sprint at the inaugeral Granite Ledges Triathlon where I won my age group, and was 4th woman overall. I think all the fast women were in the Olympic distance race. :-)

In 2003 I decided I would try to do an Olympic distance race for the first time in 13 years. My last one had been the 1990 Bud Lite USTS race in Baltimore. I figured the easiest way to train for Oly after all these years was to sign on with Team in Training (TNT), and do Saint Anthony's. What a wonderful experience! (You'll see me write about TNT a lot since I'm still very involved.) I ended out knocking 11 minutes off my Oly PR and doing the race in 2:35. It put me in 12th place for 45-49, but it would have put me 2nd in the 50-54. It gave me something to shoot for the following year.

Then I got this crazy ass idea that I could go to Nationals, do the same sort of time, and make Team USA. I started working with a coach. I am not the most organized person. In fact I've been clinically diagnosed as ADD, and it impacts everything in my life from working, finding things in the house, and my training. I think I drove this coach crazy, and it was not an ideal match for me. I needed someone to stay on top of me more. I did a so-so time at Nationals, but did make Team USA with a pass down spot. So I would be competing for the USA in Madeira Island, Portugal in 2004.

Going to Worlds was exciting, but I made lots of rookie mistakes, and I sucked. Part of the problem was poor training. I spent 17 days in Australia and New Zealand in late January and early February. I did zero biking, a little bit of swimming, and some running. Anyone who has told you that it takes 1 day per time zone change to get back on track is not kidding. For two weeks it was very hard to get myself out of bed, much less do any sort of training. So basically my training for a race on May 9th started on March 1st. Do I regret taking the trip and scewing up my training? Hell no! This was a trip of a lifetime with my Dad that he paid for.

The rest of my 2004 racing season went much better after that. What I love about age group competition is that one actually can look forward to getting older. My non-athletic friends looked at me is if I had two heads when I told them I couldn't wait to turn 50. I did 7 more races after Worlds. Placed Top 3 in all but one. The one was Nationals where despite a foot injury I still came in 9th. I had posted one of the fastest bike splits in my age group, but could do nothing about the 4 women who passed me on the run, pushing me out of the Top 6 for a qualifying spot for 2005 Worlds. As it turned out 4 of the 6 Team USA spots were taken by 49 year olds who aged up. My 2004 results still made me feel like a big fish in a little pond.

So here it is 2005, and I have one more shot to grab a spot on this year's team. I'm not working with a coach. I debated it and actually started to fill out the profile, but I kept procrastinating. I just couldn't pull the trigger on spending that kind of money. Also there are other things going on in my personal life, so the coaching fees are paying for the therapist instead. Instead I'm doing my usual by the seat of my pants training. I've had some good results so far. 3rd at Saint Anthony's, 2nd at Pawling, 2nd at NYC, and 1st yesterday at SOBE Mossman.

The question for this year is: Can this big fish from the little pond keep up with the sharks in the big lake? My challenge for the next 4 weeks is keeping the good feelings going, and staying on top of my game. I'm hoping with Nationals in August I'll peak just right. The last 2 years they've been in September and October, and I've been a little toasted by then.