I'm Backkkkkkkkkk!!! - Sleepy Hollow Sprint Triathlon Race Report

I wasn't quite as diligent as I would have liked to been chronicling my comeback.  I made it through the C25K app and got myself to a point that I could cover 3 miles, albeit slow but no walking breaks.

The night before the race, I posted the following on Facebook.

Hard to believe my triathlon comeback is almost upon me. Yeh, my heart rate went up a little as I packed my transition bag tonight. Everything is packed away. Checking my list, once, twice. Everything is nice.

The old tri-geek in me wonders if she can relive the glory days of age group wins. The comeback kid here tries to tell the old tri-geek to shut up and enjoy the moment when she crosses the finish line, and then enjoy the moments of my totally awesome TNT teammates crossing their first finish line. Tomorrow is going to be amazing no matter what happens.

It's been 9 years since that last age group win. Yeh, true I'm the "youngster" in F60-64, but who knows how this recent graduate of C25K will do on the run. Can I hold off some speedy 60 year old that still run 8 minute miles?

No point losing sleep over it. Although I may lose sleep anyway, because that never changes the night before a race.

I guess i should hit the sack.

Sunday June 29th I walked into the water and began my race.  I was on my way to being a triathlete again.  My approach to the day was very different then that of my last serious race in 2005.  How different was it?  Let me put to you this way, I wasn't the crazy one who had to be the first on line to pick up her packet on race morning.

I got my packet, got body marked and headed to the transition area to set up.  I kind of had to give myself a little refresher course on what all the numbers were for and where to put the timing chip.  The next thing was laying out my transition area.  I used to be one of these people who brought everything, but the kitchen sink into transition.  I decided I needed a picture of it. Much simpler then the past, but a little messy.

Let's make this official.  We need a picture of me in transition. Note I don't have my wetsuit on or anything.  Smile!

It's almost 7:30.  I haven't put on my wetsuit, I haven't check the various entry and exit points of transition.  However I did manage to see where my rack was in relation to everything else and I had my bright purple bandana to make my spot stand out.  I didn't get time to do the walk through because it was time to do another team photo.  This crew loves pictures.  If we can't get someone to take the picture we've mastered the art of doing large group selfies.

One of the great things about this race is the women are in the earliest waves.  Not only that, the oldest women go first.  The first wave was 45+ women.  The first men's wave would be 9 minutes after mine.  I figure I would be safe from getting run over by alpha males.  Also being in the first wave I would have a wide open bike course to do my thing.

Our wave was not gigantic.  There was plenty of room, but some how I managed to find myself sandwiched between two women.  One of them kept smacking me in the head every stroke.  I did get away from them and got into clear space. The swim was point to point.  It was a very calm day so the current didn't play any part in the swim.  It was like swimming in a lake.  The only thing that was a little confusing was where we would turn right to go into shore.  All the buoys were the same color.  Many races I've done, the last set of buoys have been a different color. That way it's easy to tell when you're getting to the end.  I did a lot of sighting to stay on course and also figure out when to turn.  As I get closer to the turn I did start to see women in red and pink caps pass me.  They were from the next two waves.  Although I'm a decent swimmer there are plenty of women who swim much faster then me.  My mission is to blow by them on the bike.

T1 has a long run from the beach up to the transition area.  I have run up a ramp and then a set of stairs, and then across to park.  By the time I get to my spot in the transition area I have the wetsuit down to my waist.  From there my transition goes all to hell.  I had a lot of trouble getting out of my wetsuit.  That's been a constant battle for me since we started the open water swim training.  It seems like in 10 years my body has completely changed shape.  Although I weigh less, "stuff" has moved.  I thought updating my wetsuit collection would help, but even in practice I was still having trouble pulling my monster calves out of the legs.  I manage to get the right leg free, but the left leg is giving me problems.  The timing chip is huge and keeps catching on the wetsuit.  I finally sit on the ground, take the chip off, pull my leg out, and put the chip back on.  I made sure the chip was close by.  That's all I needed to do was misplace it.  How to totally screw up a race.

A few weeks earlier at one of our group training sessions, I had forgotten socks.  I did the course ride with no socks. My feet felt fine so I figured I could do the bike leg with no socks.  I practiced that way a few more times and decided that would work well in the race.  I've always had difficulty putting socks on wet feet.  Waiting to put socks on in T2 would resolve that problem. Running without socks is a whole different story. Tried it once, and had blisters after about a mile.  Orthotics and bare feet are a lousy combination.

Having finally completed my transition it was time to get down to business on the bike.  Now I was ready for some serious fun.  The course starts off flat with a lot of turns.  I'm passing people and but at the same time, I'm making sure I take the turns carefully.  Cornering is not my strong suit, but with no pack to worry about, I can take the turns a little wider then I would in a bike race.  I was looking forward to getting to Rte 9 and climbing the hill.  One of my bike club teammates was working the intersection where we make the left turn for Rte 9.  I give him a shout, and he yells back, "Go Polly!"  Having done the course a number of times I had gotten a feel for how I wanted to take the hill.  The last training ride I had done on the course I tried to go close to race pace so that I could work out my gearing and how much I wanted sit or stand while climbing.  I do a combination, but I do like standing and stomping on the pedals.  I passed a lot of the 2nd and 3rd wave "fishies" who had passed me in the water or in transition.  I was keeping my eye out for 60 year old women, but didn't see any ahead of me.

I must admit I love the reactions I get when I pass younger women and they see the age on my calf.  I passed a 46 year old woman on Rte 117.  That part of 117 is a steady incline.  It's not steep, but it goes on for a few miles.  When I pass her I hear her say something to the affect of, "Oh my God, what are you doing here? You shouldn't be here. You're amazing." Hearing reactions like that just get me all pumped up.  I tend to push harder after hearing something like that.  It's not the first time I've heard things like that, but it's been a long time. 

On Rte 117 there's a U-turn where you turn to go back the other way.  You see people coming the other direction.  As I'm heading towards the turn around the woman who won the race had a big lead on the other women.  She's incredibly smooth and powerful.  Last year she had finished 2nd. This year her goal was to win the race.  I notice there aren't a whole lot of women coming back the other direction which means I'm pretty far ahead of a lot of people.  I know that's not going to last once I get to the run.  On the bike I try to pass as many people as I can, and try not to be passed by too many.  One woman passes me on a slight downhill.  I catch her on the next slight uphill.  However then the rest of the course is downhill, so she passes me for good.  No worries, she's 50 years old.  It's funny thinking that way.  It seems like such a short time ago I was a 50 year old worrying about 40 year olds passing me.  I guess because I haven't raced seriously since leaving the F50-54 age group I forgot what it was like thinking 40 was young.  I never raced in the F55-59 age group.

After I made the U turn I got to see what was going on in the other direction.  I saw a few of my Team in Training teammates going out.  I give a loud "Go Team" as I head back.  I have no way of knowing where anyone in my age group is in relation to me.  All I know is I'm having a good ride and I need to just keep pushing, because eventually I'm going to have to get off the bike and run.  I have no sense of my pace or time because the computer on my bike is not running, and my watch malfunctioned while trying to save the swim portion.  In the past that would have made me nuts, and had me obsessing about what pace I was doing.  It didn't matter.  I could tell where I was working hard and feeling the climbs, and when I was in hammer mode.

The last few miles of the bike course has some screaming downhills that are difficult to totally let loose on.  The roads are rough in spots and there are a couple of sharp turns.  Although I practiced the descents I didn't feel totally comfortable letting it all hang out.  No sitting on the aero-bars and flying.  I think I spent more time on the brakes.  However I wanted to get through the bike portion in one piece.  I certainly did not want to wipe out on the corner where John was standing.  It's bad form to scare the crap out of one's spouse by wiping out in front of him.

I got back to the park and dismounted.  Being the first TNT'er in I got a lot of cheers.  That got me me rather pumped up.  T2 was a lot smoother then T1.  I got the bike on the rack, took off my helmet and shoes.  Fumbled a little with the socks and running shoes, but not terribly.  Putting socks on dry feet was much easier.  I run hard out of T2.  Lot's more "Go Team" cheers and the coaches calling out "looking strong Polly!"  So much for taking it easy on the run.  All the cheering go me totally jacked up and I couldn't help myself.  Somehow despite what I had been saying to most people about just not going crazy on the run, I went crazy on the run.  With no watch on I had no idea how much time I had been out on the course, and I had no idea what type of pace I was doing.  I just ran.  It wasn't pretty and as I got further away from the park and the crowds I started to come down from the crowd infused adrenaline.

Although the run course is flat, its hard.  There is no shade on the course and it was getting a lot warmer.  The run is where I come back into the pack.  Men go flying past me, as do the younger women that I passed on the bike.  Each time I see a woman pass I check out the age on the calf.  I'm seeing 30s, 40s and an occasional 50 year old.  I'm feeling pretty confident that I'm ahead of my competition.  However since I don't know how many women are in my age group or who any of them are it could all be a crap shoot.  I'll admit the day before the race when I was up at the race site to do a swim clinic and scope things out, the old inner tri-geek was hoping to see an entry list.  That did not happen.  Nothing I could do, but just run the best I could and hang on for dear life.

The run course also has an out and back portion so I did get to see some of my teammates and give a high five or two.  I don't know if it was because I didn't really care that I might be giving away valuable time with the high fives, or that I was so confident I was kicking butt.  I just like giving the high fives and give a little encouragement.  I also needed those high fives and shouts of encouragement.  There aren't a lot of spectators on the run course.  Thank goodness for the two water stops.  The way the course was set up, I could get water from both stations twice.  With the heat the way it was, I grabbed two cups.  One cup to drink and another to dump on my head.

I sure was happy to get off the hot pavement and running back into the park.  The crowd was cheering a lot and the positive energy bjust pushed me.  I sprinted to the finish line. I don't even remember if I was trying to pass anyone or just felt like bringing it in hard.  As I crossed the finish line I jumped for joy.  I became a triathlete again.  It was a wonderful feeling to cap my comeback on a happy note. Looking at the finish line clock I finally had a sense of what I did.  Seeing the time of 1:25:40 up there made me very happy.  I wasn't sure I could break 1:30.  I guess I was wrong.

Part of the Team in Training experience in the bonding that goes on between teammates.  An important part of that is being around the finish to cheer in one's teammates as they arrive at the finish.  Most races all I want to do is scarf down as much food as I can get a hold of, find a massage table and just veg until the results are posted.  I did grab a bagel to scarf down, but I was anxious to get back t the finish line and watch my teammates come in. They had announced the results were posted. I didn't rush over there to see where I placed.  I could find that out after the last TNt'er arrived.

The picture below shows the true nature of teamwork.  When our last teammate came into the park, we came out to greet her, and run her in. This is a Team in Training tradition to bring in the last participant. It's the team being behind everyone.  It's a cool thing to see and to be part of.  This was truly one of the best teams I've ever been a part of.  There was just an amazing amount of energy and enthusiasm.  Although many of my teammates could have been my daughters.  It makes me feel young being around these energetic young women.  I look forward to doing Jardin Westchester Triathlon with some of the same people.  I'm already fundraising for that event.  Click here if you want to join me in my efforts to raise another $3,000 bringing my combined total to $6,000 for 2014.

T Together

E Everyone

A Achieves 

M More

Oh, by the way I did manage to make my way over to the results sheets, and yes the old tri-geek came through with another age group win.  However the comeback kid was part of the equation too.  The old tri-geek pushed herself hard.  The comeback kid didn't let her get crazy over wetsuit issues and watch malfunctions

Progress Report

Almost a month has past since I announced my triathlon comeback plan. There have a few bumps in the road along the way, but no major disasters. There was the one Wednesday where I kind of overdid things. Let's see...walk/run in the morning, Tae Kwon Do in the afternoon, and killer spin class in the evening. I woke up the next morning with my joints cursing at me. I had several choices for that day. I could drag my aching body out of bed and do one of the following:

A. Go ride my bike with the guys.
B. Tae Kwon Do at 10:00 am in White Plains.
C. Tae Kwon Do at noon in Scarsdale.
D. Tae Kwon Do at 7:00 pm in White Plains.
E. None of the above.

Considering that I rolled over and went back to sleep until 9:30 A and B were promptly eliminated as choices. As the day progressed and I felt just as lousy as I did in the morning, option E became more and more appealing. It was a wise choice, because by the weekend I had a miserable cold. I think in my old age I'm getting a little smarter about how I'm training. Some things have not changed in my triathlon training. The following two screen shots from Cyclometer shows why.

 Saturday's ride with YTD mileage.

 Monday's walk/run with YTD mileage

My training is still heavily geared towards biking.  However considering that I was riding on New Years Day and my first walk/run day was March 8th I don't think I'm doing so bad.  Though if the winter had been so crappy I might have over a 1000 miles on the bike.  I am not recording my swimming on any phone app.  I don't care how water tight the various phone cases are, I am not strapping my phone on my waist and swimming with it to record yardage.  I will count laps and figure out yardage the old fashioned way. 

The biggest challenge is not trying to work three sports into my week.  The biggest challenge is trying to work four sports into my week.  I'm bringing new meaning to the term "double workout days."  Instead of it being the typical bike in the morning/swim in the evening or bike in the morning/run in the afternoon, it's bike in the morning/Tae Kwon Do in the evening or Tae Kwon Do in the morning/run in the evening.  After that bad Wednesday of the walk-run/Tae Kwon Do/spin combo, I'm going to try to avoid the triple workout day.  Though if I'm preparing for a Tae Kwon Do test I may have a triple day here and there.

Tri-ing For a Comeback

I last made an entry in the blog in February of 2012.  Much has happened since then.  I did make it through the 100 day challenge, but did not workout 356 days.  I did make it to 2nd degree Black Belt in November of 2012.  That was pretty much right on target for me.

 2nd Dan Black Belt

In 2013 I decided I wanted to get involved with Team in Training again.  It had been 5 years since my last event with them.  I missed the camaraderie of being part of a team that was involved in raising money to help The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society in their mission finding a cure for leukemia, lymphoma and other other blood cancers.  With my cycling comeback completed with exception of hardcore racing and a century, I opted to do America's Most Beautiful Bike Ride (AMBBR) in Lake Tahoe.  A 100 miles of some of the most amazing scenery and some challenging hills, made for quite a wonderful ride.  I don't know how long it took me to do it, or what my speed was.  My cycling app ate up my phone battery before I was done.  That was fine.  This ride wasn't about how fast I could do it.  Competition was not on the menu.

Lunch stop around 70 mile mark. 

Getting ready for a kick ass 8 mile climb ahead.

Now it's 2014 and my love affair with Team in Training continues.  I was all set to do AMBBR again. I signed up, went to the kick-off party, and then found out I had a major conflict the weekend of the ride.  So what was I to do?  When I bid triathlon farewell back in 2009, I told people maybe I would make my comeback when I hit a new age group.  Guess what? I'm turning 60 next month, and I'm now in a new age group. 60-64.  I am making my triathlon comeback at the Sleepy Hollow Sprint Triathlon on June 29th as member of Team in Training.  I'm mentoring 5 new team members and I'm excited to be coming back to the sport.

BUT! I have not run in years, and this sprint triathlon is clearly a runner's race with a 5K run and only a 10 mile bike ride. So what's an old uber-competitive tri-geek to do? Three words: Get over it!  I am pretty much starting from scratch with the running.  I downloaded C25K (Couch to 5K) app onto my phone, and I'm going to follow it to the letter.  I can't do with running what I did with cycling a few years ago where I went from 30 miles a week to 75 miles a week to 150 miles a week in the course of a month.  I have to slowly convince my cranky knees and hips that running is their friend.

Day 1 of C25K

Group run training with TNT

I completed day 2 of the program today. The first week is a  30 minute workout. 5 minute walk warm up followed by intervals of 60 seconds running/90 seconds walking and ends 5 minute cool down.  I like the app because I can listen to my music and the app tells me when to walk and when to run without me having to constantly look at my phone or watch.  Also it will keep me honest in terms of building up properly.

This blog is making a comeback to as I keep track of my triathlon comeback. Come on back and follow my journey.  In the meantime go check out my donation page.

100 day Challenge: 1 month down!

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

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!

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!!

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

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)

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!

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!

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!

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!!!

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!

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!

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

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

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.