Memorial Day Weekend - 2006

Memorial Day Weekend (MDW) started out with a quick Friday evening ride over the Brooklyn Bridge for an appointment in the city. I hadn’t worked out on Friday, so by traveling to the city on bike, I was able to improve my fitness, commute and take care of business all at the same time. I was a little worried that such a late ride would tire myself out for the 100 miler I had planned in Harriman with Todd and Walter (of the injured meniscus). I needn’t have worried though as I didn’t have a problem knocking off this ride on Saturday. I was more relieved than happy that I was able to do a strong 100 miles. I feared that my bike fitness had completely left me. However, the only thing that left me that day were my companions as they were too tired (Todd) or too injured (Walter) to complete all of the loops with me. I did the last 14 miles on my own, which may have been the most satisfying. I did it in good time, without the urge to keep up with anyone.

When I returned home, I looked at my training log from exactly one year ago and I was then happy to see that I appear to have about the same level of fitness between the two years. Just like this past Saturday, a year ago I did a 100 mile ride in Harriman State Park. My seven trips around the loop were very similar in both time and HR. The following chart is a comparison.

I may even be a little stronger. I saw that on the Sunday of last Memorial Day weekend, I only managed a 15 mile run, whereas this year I did a 20 mile run. It wasn’t my fastest training run, but the most important thing was its completion. I must not be in as bad of shape as I feared. Later on Sunday I took my children to my brother’s, where we spent time at his pool club. Afterwards, my brother got me to build a movable basketball hoop, the kind you find in many driveways. I was exhausted at this point, but I had to do it otherwise he would never leave me alone until I did it. It was completely dark outside by the time I finished.

For Monday, I also repeated my year ago workout by heading down to Coney Island for a swim. This workout was almost aborted, since my partner for the swim Robert had already left his house for a run, since he hadn’t heard from me earlier. When I called his house, his wife answered the phone and told me he went out running. I decided that my only course of action was to grab my bike and try to find him in the park and talk him into going.

Fortunately I found him quickly and talked him into going for the swim. At the end of it he was very glad that I went after him. The water was so still and clear that it had the appearance of green tinted glass. It made for a quite pleasant swim.

To round out the weekend I took my family to Floyd Bennett Field for a bike ride in the afternoon. Unfortunately it was very windy, so the kids weren’t enjoying tooling around the abandoned runways. Actually, I think they couldn’t focus on bike riding since I told them that they could sit in my lap and drive our car for a while. The end result was a lot of complaining about riding their bikes, when a much more exciting experience awaited them. The place is wide open for miles around so I had no fear of letting them steer the car. As far as I am concerned, it is my god given right as an American to let my small children steer the car while it was moving. My father did that with me, and I was going to do it with my kids. Afterwards, we drove over to the bay where my kids played in the salt marches.

It was a long and fulfilling weekend.

Carrying the Torch

My friend and fellow triathlete Walter was just diagnosed with a torn Meniscus. He is scheduled to go under the knife for the repair sometime during early June. This means he is out for IMLP this July. I can imagine how crushing this must feel. Suddenly, you can no longer train and you find yourself with all this time on your hands. You don’t know what to do with yourself and you start to feel lost. You start thinking how you can maintain your fitness level if running and for the most part, biking is out of the equation. Do you really just want to go to the pool all of the time? It’s a terrible situation to be in, albeit no where near the worst thing in the world.

Walter knows how I have been struggling this year with my training. He said it’s up to me to carry the torch into Ironman Lake Placid in July. I will keep his words in mind, train with purpose and get as fit as possible for the big day. This year will definitely be different; from my training and racing strategy to the fact that my wife has decided that she and the kids will stay home this time around.

I didn’t get into an argument with her about not going. I know she can’t stand the Ironman environment and I just as soon not have to deal with it. It wasn’t worth the energy or the pain in trying to get her to go. I will miss my children while I am gone and most of all running down the finishers shoot with them. At least I won’t be worrying about finding them as I make the final turn to the finish.

On the bright side my father said he would go up with me. It will just be the two of us. We have never been on a trip alone together and it should be an earnest father-son bonding experience. I am very much looking forward to it. I will have no pressure to do anything except get ready for the race and I’ll have someone that will help me do so. The only thing I have to do now is break the news to my children that they are not going this year. I can’t bring myself to do it.

Asset Based Thinking

I was given a book at work called Change the Way You See Everything Through Asset-Based Thinking. The premise of the book is to focus on the positive rather than the negative. It defines it as a concrete, cognitive process aimed at identifying the assets (e.g. strengths, talents, synergies and possibilities) that are immediately available in yourself, other people and any situation.

It kind of reminds me of an episode of Sesame Street where the number 0 was feeling depressed because he basically amounted to nothing. One of the characters was able to cheer him up by pointing out that he had 0 boo boos, 0 problems, etc. This made him feel much better because he was able to focus on the positive side of things.

While I didn’t yet finish the book, I took the opportunity to apply ABT to my ride this morning. I had met Todd in the park and my legs were feeling quite sluggish. My feeling were along the lines of I can’t believe how awful I feel, I am so slow, I can’t believe how week I am compared to last year. All types of thoughts such as these were going through my mind when I decided to give ABT a try. I started to look at it from the point of view of - look how good I am riding considering how little training I am done; the good thing about riding today is that I am getting to do it with a friend; fortunately my accident yesterday wasn’t worse and I am able to enjoy another day on my bike. I decided to forget about the two flats I had this morning even before I walked out the door (I really did, my rear tire was flat and the spare I put on was defective.)

By using these thoughts I started to feel better. Of course, it could have been that I was warmed up now, but that is deficit based thinking. I am going to attribute it to my positive thoughts. I started to feel so good, that I managed to zip off a 30 mile ride with relative ease in what seemed to be a very short time. I arrived back home feeling energized and refreshed.

On my subway ride to work, I was able to use ABT to look on the brighter side of a message I received from a friend/vendor telling me he wanted to cancel our lunch date today. Deficit-Based Thinking would have me lamenting the fact that I didn’t pack lunch today and I’d have to go out and buy something. However, ABT, got me thinking that I now have an opportunity to do a lunch time run, instead of having to wait until this evening to get it in. I am so glad I took my running gear with me.

Skinned Knees

As mentioned in my previous post, my daughter skinned her knee while bike riding with me over the weekend. It appears that this is becoming a problem of epidemic proportions. Last night I took my son out for a run/ride and as we were leaving the park, he fell and skinned his knee. He went down pretty hard; hitting is head against the ground. Fortunately we always wear helmets when we ride our bikes, because his helmet was clearly smashed in the front. He complained that his head hurt a bit and I can’t imagine how much worse it could have been without the helmet. He didn’t want to ride home, but I insisted he get back onto his bike if only to show himself that he can still ride. We ended the day with him racing me down our block to the front door.

This morning I suffered my own skinned knee. I also suffered two very fat lips and a cut along the upper. While riding in the park at 6am, some guy unexpectedly walked into my path and we both went down pretty hard. I suspect alcohol was involved. He appeared ok, but he wanted to wait around for an ambulance. I was fortunate to have my face break the fall. After about 20 minutes it finally arrived, whereupon he got up and easily walked over to it.

I debated on continuing with my ride, but decided it might be best if I went home and iced my lips. To add insult to injury, I slipped on the steps leading to my basement entrance and scraped my hand along the wall and smashed my lower back on the steps. Once inside, I was relieved to see the cut on my lip wasn’t too bad. Hopefully it won’t leave a scar. After I cleaned and iced it, I considered going out for my scheduled run. I figured I’d had enough cycling for the day, but I could still get in a decent workout. My wife recommended that I just forget about it for the day.

I am so disgusted with how things have been going with my training. It is not like I am just blowing off my workouts. Something just keeps getting in my way to accomplish them. I am starting to feel tired and demoralized. Maybe that is just what I need so I can get angry about it. Anger does tend to spur people into action.

What’s a Triathlete to Do?

I find myself getting foiled to get in my cycling or longer workouts. This is especially true since this past Thursday when I left work for my ride home and I discovered a flat tire once I mounted the bike. I had an evening affair to get to and the sky was imminently threatening rain, so I just bailed on the ride and took the subway home. I figured I wouldn’t miss the ride much, since I was scheduled for a 100 miler in Harriman with Todd the next day.

Friday morning however, I awoke to steady rain under a severely clouded sky. I watched the weather channel for about an hour before I finally succumbed to the fact that a Harriman ride was just not in the cards for the day. Instead I went to the pool with Todd where I swam around 3300 yards. It was an ok swim. I really couldn’t have done much more as I was slightly fatigued from swimming on Thursday morning. I took the rest of the day off and helped my wife with some errands.

I really had to get in a quality long ride, so I had not much choice but to go to Harriman on Saturday. For me to get in close to 100 miles, this meant leaving my house by 4:30am in order to start riding by 6am so I could be home for a 2pm soccer game. I sort of came close to that time, by starting my ride at 6:40am. The early start meant I was going to miss my daughter’s 10am soccer game, but I had to be home for my son’s for which I am the team’s coach. All during 80 minute drive I kept thinking how I just should have stayed home so I could have spent the time with my kids and seen both soccer games.

The only thing that kept me from turning around was the fact that I arranged with my friend Walter (WALTA!) to meet me up in Harriman. Walter had the luxury of a later start, since he was free from parental obligations until after 5pm in the evening. I was looking forward to the company, but I feared that I would probably be holding him back, since I knew he was in excellent shape this year.

I was climbing up to Tiorati Circle for the second time when Walter rode by me in the opposite direction. He came this way in order to meet me sooner rather than later. I was pleasantly surprised how early he was since I didn’t expect him for a while. I was also very impressed with how easily he started climbing the hill. I felt like I was towing a trailer full of bricks and Walter looked like he was being pulled up by a (skier puller). I rode with Walter several times last year and I could immediately sense how much stronger he is this year. I think he stands a good chance of qualifying for Kona this year.

During the 3.5 loops (45 miles) I rode with him, Walter would easily pass me when climbing. I would usually catch him on the down hills and at first when I passed him, I wondered if I was getting too far ahead of him. These illusions were quickly shattered. Every time I started back up a hill he would zip by me just as that thought was completed. I couldn’t even hang on his wheel during the straightaway’s.

Walter was encouraging throughout and I greatly appreciated it. After 5 loops and 70 miles, I’d had enough and was running out of time. I finished around 11:25. I could have squeezed in another loop, but then the stress of making it back in time for my son’s game would have been very high. I decided that it was best to end it early, rather than end it a little late. I felt an immediate psychological relief once I came to this conclusion. I was able to relax and drive home, instead of getting all stressed out trying to make it home on time.

After the game, I took my daughter to get a new bicycle. She graduated from a 16” wheelbase to a 20”. We didn’t have much time to ride it, since we all went to a Red Bulls game at the Meadowlands. All the kids that were part of Brooklyn Ayso got to walk on the field. Since I am a coach, I was able to join them. It was pretty cool to walk on the field. The Red Bulls won, which capped off a long and fulfilling day.

Sunday I set out to do a 20 mile run. My daughter wanted to join me on her new bike, but I was leaving a bit early for her. I couldn’t wait for her since we had a family affair to attend that started at high noon. I went ahead of her and told my wife to call me when she was ready. I ran about 8 miles when my phone rang. Fortunately I was close to home and after 10 minute delay to get her out the door we headed back for the park.

We were keeping a pretty good pace, when we happened upon a classmate of her brother’s, who was riding his bike with his parents. His mother rode, while the father ran. I started talking to them about getting the boys together for a run/ride when the boy’s father ran in front my daughter, whereupon her front wheel hit the back of his foot. She pooped off the bike and skinned her knee. This pretty much ended the run. She howled in pain for the slow ride back to our house. By the time I dressed her wound, I was stiff, sore and didn’t have much time left. The 12.3 miles I got in would have to do.

I spoke to my coach later in the day to explain why my run was shortened. He told me not to worry about it and that as long as I felt good while I ran, that the lack of distance really didn’t matter. At some point though, I really have to get in my longer workouts. If only just to prove to myself that I can still do them.

May 22, 2006 – Subway Observations

I noticed on the subway car this morning a sign announcing the Holiday Bonus from the MTA. This is a discount on the subway and bus fares between Thanksgiving and New Years. Oddly enough, a mother was on the train this morning with her daughter who was holding a snow sled. Perhaps winter will come early this year.

If so, then I suggest to the woman sitting opposite me that she refrain from tweezing her chin/neck hairs as they would undoubtedly offer her an extra layer of warmth.

Sorry. This is gross, but I felt I had to share.

Sunrise

This morning I was presented with no rain or flat tires to prevent me from getting to the pool. It is a perfectly clear, calm and beautiful day. It was such that I had to stop to take a picture of the sunrise as viewed from the Manhattan Bridge. In the background you can see the Williamsburg Bridge. The other picture is a view towards Manhattan. If only it was this perfect everyday, I am sure I would have much less trouble getting myself out the door in the morning.

My swim was also as close to perfection as it gets for me. My coach was there and he remarked how I was starting to look like a swimmer. The pool was configured for long course meters and I was hitting 500’s on the 10 minute mark over the span of 4000 meters. It was the best and longest I’ve swam all year. I am starting to feel like an Ironman again; at least in the water. Now I just have to get myself into cycling shape.

My one complaint for the swim was the couple of zombie swimmers who entered my lane. I just cringe when I get a snorkel swimmer paddling along side me. At one point I was trying to pass one of these sea slugs when a person in the opposite direction towing a pull buoy approached. As we went by each other, my left arm scraped alongside the buoy causing an annoying abrasion. It looks small but the sucker stung. I hoped the stinging chlorine would disinfect it so I wouldn’t get a case of flesh eating bacteria.

Tomorrow Todd is promising me an ass whooping as we once again head for Harriman State Park. He can kick my ass all over the place tomorrow as I know I'll do the ass kicking when it really counts.

Less of a Crime? – May Observations.

Several months back I heard of a new law being passed in NYC that made assaulting a Transit worker be a greater offense than it had been previously. Evidently, the punishment had been escalated to the level of assaulting a police officer.

Today while riding the subway, I saw a sign that stated “Assaulting MTA New York City Transit Subway Personnel is a felony punishable by up to 7 years in Prison”.

Now to me, this whole thing begs several questions. Is it less punishable to assault bus drivers? Does this mean that if I get assaulted, the person would get punished for less than 7 years and if so why? Aren’t we all human beings? Why is assaulting me, less of a crime than assaulting a subway conductor who probably deserved it for closing the door on a poor old lady just as she was about to board the train? How about those subway conductors who announce the train will be making express stops AFTER the doors are already closed thereby forcing hundreds of people to ride past their stops?

This is America where all men are created equal. Sounds a lot like “Some animals are more equal than other animals”.

Calming Effect

Due to my lack of exercise this morning, I found myself around the lunch hour feeling nervous and cooped up. I desperately needed to get out of my office and do something, but I wasn’t sure what I could do. Eventually I decided to say damn the rain and went out for a lunch time run around Central Park.

It is really no wonder why people tend to feel calm after exerting themselves in exercise. The energy required to move your body sucks out the pent up excess leaving you too fatigued to feel nervous or worry when you finished. To make extra sure this would happen to me, I pushed myself around the lower 5 of the park at a crisp marathon pace.

When I returned to my office building, I stood outside feeling calm and pleasant. I distinctly felt a bit naked wearing just a sleeveless running shirt and short running shorts. Everyone around me was wearing an extra layer due to the cool breezes and slight rain. I just stood around in clothes that were skimpier than basic underwear and T-shirts. I really didn’t care and just hung around the sidewalk along Madison Avenue while all the suits, skirts and coats walked by. Eventually several coworkers came across me and pondered about my sanity. It was the best I felt all day.

Feeling Flat

The last thing I wanted to do this morning was to wake up at 5am for my bike ride to the pool, but I did it anyway. I didn’t so much struggle with myself as I was simply resolved to the fact that I have to go in order to get into Ironman shape. As always, I took too long to get ready in the morning, but part of today’s reason was the extra preparation I needed to take to deal with the rain outside my door.

I broke out with my 15 year old rain gear. I never like wearing it, because inevitably I am still soaking wet by the time I take it off. I am not sure if that’s because the rain leaked through or I just get extra sweaty from wearing it. The rain jacket had a foul order about it, perhaps from being stuffed in a draw for so long or maybe from old sweat. It seemed to be working well this morning as I felt mostly dry for the first few miles of my ride.

It was raining pretty steadily, but I was comfortable and feeling ok. After 16 minutes I had made my turn to get onto the Manhattan Bridge when I felt my rear wheel sort of slip out from under me. Within about 30 more yards I realized I had a flat tire. Fortunately I was right under the bridge when the flat happened, so I had shelter from the rain in order to change it.

I’ve written about being around this area of the Manhattan Bridge during the hours of darkness. Being at this location when it is still relatively dark and in the pouring rain really does give the whole area a post-apocalyptic feel. The noise here is thunderous from the passing trains overhead and the rumbling trucks on the expressway and street. Hanging around this area in these conditions is like being in a scene from a Terminator movie.

I hate changing flat tires in the rain. The tires and wheels get so wet and dirty that it is impossible to get a good grip on anything or make sure you clear out the offending item that punctured your tube. I pressed my lap timer to see how long I would take to fix the flat and then got to work.

The entire sequence of fixing the flat had a surreal and dreamlike quality. Water was pouring down the walls of the MB overpass, causing giant streams to flood all around me. I was able to find a dry patch of ground to take off my garment bag panniers and set my bike upside down to remove the rear wheel. I only had one tire lever to pull off the tire. Fortunately it came of rather easily. I didn’t find anything poking through the tire and I set the new tube in place. The tire was stubborn in going back on. I wished I had a second tire lever to assist me. Every time I got one side on the opposite side would pop off the rim. Finally, it was back in place and I used a mini pump to inflate the tube. I wish I had packed a CO2 charger, since it took forever to pump it up to an acceptable level.

Once the bike was back together and I re-hitched my panniers, I notice that my watch read 18 minutes. For a second I thought it took me only 2 minutes to change fix the flat and I felt momentary surprise and happiness. This is when my dreamlike state end and I quickly realized that it was my lap timer showing 18 minutes, not the total time. It was also now pouring rain. I was worried about continuing on, since I was afraid the panniers would soak through and my laptop would get wet. Even if I continued onto the pool, I would hardly have time to get in a swim. The pool closes at 8am to switch configuration and I wouldn’t make it in until well after 7am. Rather than risk another flat (for which I had no additional spare), I decided to just head home and play it safe. At least I’d be able to see my kids before they headed off for school. I’ll just have to get a run in later.

Post Script: I had taken a couple of pictures of myself under the bridge in the pouring rain, which I intended to post to this entry. However, on my way to work by subway later on, I lost my camera cell phone. My annoyance wasn’t so much that I lost the phone, but more because I lost the pictures I took with it.

Fortunately, when I called the phone someone answered it and we arranged for its return. While it was missing though, I sent a command to it so that all my personal contact information would be erased, in the event that the person wasn’t an upstanding citizen. This apparently erased all of my photos as well. Ugh!

Not Normal Workout Week

According to the weather forecast, this past weekend was supposed to be a total washout. In fact, the weather was perfect right through late Sunday afternoon. I wish I could also say my workouts were perfect, but that was not the case.

My Friday workouts must have zapped a lot of my strength for the Saturday ride. I was supposed to go 60 miles, which I had to do by 8am in order to be home on time to coach my son’s soccer game. I needn’t have worried. I was so tired that all I could muster was 7.5 miles. It would have been worthless to try to go further as I was going so slow that there was little if any training benefit to continue pushing.

Besides soccer coach with my son, I did get in some additional exercise in the form of rollerblading. My kids wanted to rollerblade instead of ride their bikes, so I broke out with mine for the first time in about 11 years. I really don’t like rollerblading, but if it makes the kids happy, I’ll do it also.

Sunday’s workout was a bit better. I was supposed to go up to 20 miles, depending on how my hamstring felt. Fortunately, it did not give me any trouble, but I did feel some twinging in a groin muscle. I really seem to be falling apart this year. Anyway, while I ran, the Citytri Duathlon was being held in Prospect Park and I sort of wished I was participating. Sometimes you just want the joy of racing even though you really should be training. In any event, I did 10 decent miles, which just about took everything out of me. I ran another two slow miles and then headed home.

I wrote to my coach afterwards asking him if I should be worried that I couldn’t do 20 miles. His response was

Charles,

No, don't be concerned. This week was not normal - business travel, hamstring pain, lousy weather.

But, you trained almost every day (did you miss any days? Maybe just the day you returned). Consistency is the first key, and you have been consistent. What you say and what you think does not detract from your consistency nor from what you've accomplished.

Next week, stay focused, get at least one workout in each day. Psych your self up for the weekend long workouts.

I hear him, but it just seems as though most of my weeks have been not normal. So much so that a “normal” week is more like a “not normal” week. I will just have to be consistent with my workouts and at least do something everyday.

Perhaps I started this week off as a normal week. I almost bailed out on my run today, but forced myself to get it in this morning. I was thinking I'd do it this evening, but knew I probably wouldn't. I'd use the rain and being too tired as excuses. I had woken up late and wanted to see my kids off to school, so I was really hesitating to go.

I did it though and as reward, I saw a parking spot on the correct side of the side of the road for alternate side parking so I was able to move my car so my wife wouldn't have to worry about it and I made it back before the rain began and saw my children as they were walking out the door for school. I only did 3 out of my 4 scheduled miles, but that looks like it was the right thing to do. Had I gone the extra mile, I would have returned home cold, wet and missed my kids.

Sometimes things just work out.

Swim, Bike, Run

I was offered tickets to the Yankee/Red Sox game last night, but I turned them down. The reason being was that I preferred to see my children that night after being out of town for the last 4 nights on business. Now some people might say I am a fool for turning down such lofty tickets, since a chance to see Yankees/Red Sox live doesn’t happen that often and I get to see my kids most nights. But when my son stopped me from leaving his room last night after I tucked him in because he had something for me, I knew I made the right decision. That something was a kiss, followed be another something in the form of a hug. If that isn’t worth all of the Yankee/Red Sox games in the world, I don’t know what is.

My decision to stay home allowed me to get up relatively early do get in some workouts. I was hoping to go to Harriman State Park for a pounding 100 miler, but Todd, my partner for the day was afraid of a little rain. In truth, the weather called for tremendous downpours and he felt it would be a bad idea to venture up. I was willing to chance it, but I didn’t feel like riding alone.

Instead we went for a swim at the Dodge YMCA in Cobble Hill Brooklyn. It was my first time to the pool. It was a decent facility with nice warm water; which suited me just fine. The pool had windows along one side of it which afforded a view of the buildings across the street and the sky above it. At first it appeared cloudy to me and I was happy that I ended up swimming. However as time went on it looked like the sky was clearing. At moments though I thought it was clouding up again I would get relieved and happy. When I realized that it wasn’t getting cloudy and was in fact turning into a perfect spring day, I started to feel very aggravated.

There was nothing I could do about the lousy weather report spoiling a chance for a ride in Harriman. Todd and I had a quick snack back at his place after the swim and we decided to go for a bike ride while it still looked clear. I met him in Prospect Park about an hour later and rode with him for about 75 minutes.

I was a lot stronger on my bike than I thought I would be and even got stronger towards the end. I was popping off 10:20 loops or better with relative ease. I went 36 miles and could have gone much longer. I decided not to push it however, since I am going to ride tomorrow as well. I also wanted to get in a short run, hopefully with one or both of my children.

My daughter wasn’t feeling so well, so it was just my son. We did the full loop of the park. This was the first time he rode the complete loop with me and he kept a very snappy pace. We only stopped twice and that was for water breaks. Maybe next time I will be able to go out with both my children.

Leaving Las Vegas

I am finally leaving Las Vegas. On my last day I managed to sneak out of my conference and see that Shark Reef exhibit at Mandalay Bay. For the privilege of seeing this attraction I paid approximately $1/minute. The cost was 16 bucks and it wasn’t such a large aquarium. I was disappointed, but I am sure the kids would have found it interesting. The highlight was a touch tank where you can pet some small Sting Rays and sharks.

After this, I went for one last swim in the wave pool. I was able to get another hour in of a relatively challenging swim. The waves really made it like you were swimming in the open water. Then is was a quick bite to eat, followed by a shower in the hotel spa, since I was already checked out of my room.

I didn’t get to see the Stratosphere unfortunately. My last night was spent at dinner with co-workers followed by a lounge where they had audience participation singing songs from the 70’s. It was really something I could have lived without. I am so happy to be going home.

Las Vegas Day Two

I am in day two of my stay in Las Vegas. I am starting to feel nervous and jerky. I don't see how else I can feel after being cooped up in some of the worst conferences I have ever attended.

The sky is a brilliant blue and the sun is shining and warm, but I am here freezing under incandescent light in an over air conditioned room. It is like an old form of imprisonment, where the prisoner was thrown in a dank hole in the ground while the smells of fresh cooked food wafted through the bars overhead (I saw an example of this in Scotland.)

A short while ago, during a break, I called home to see what's going on. I spoke to my son who told me that he doesn't miss me so much since he just makes believe that in the morning I left for Asphalt Green to swim and that I am working late at night. This way to him I am still at home, just leaving and coming home while he is asleep. I wish I could make believe I am home, but this reality is just too draining.


Finally, I couldn’t take it anymore, so I skipped out on the last hour of conferences. I headed back to the wave pool at Mandalay Bay for a swim. Beforehand though, I had someone snap a picture of me in one of the artificially made breakers. I then swam for an hour, before the pool was closed and everyone was kicked out. I would have liked to lounge in the breaking water for a while after my swim, but it was not to be. My kids would have loved this place.

After gathering my things, I headed back to the Four Seasons section of the hotel. I sat at the poolside where there is staff attend to your every need. I decided to cash in on this little travel perk, had them set me up a chair and ordered the Fire and Ice Tuna Rolls. It was quite yummy and relaxing to eat in peace. I am going to dinner in a short while with some co-workers and then it’s possibly off to the Stratosphere Hotel to ride the roller coaster.

Las Vegas

I am here in Las Vegas for yet another business conference. So far it has been a complete waste of time. When this is the case, I know that one day I am going to look back on my life and say "I could have really used those hours right now."

I really shouldn’t be complaining though. I am staying at the Four Seasons Hotel and the room and grounds are spectacular. However, without my family I feel incomplete. I am not able to enjoy the opulence and decadence without being able to share it with my wife and kids. There is a fantastic wave pool on the premises and all I could think about was playing in it with my children. I did swim in it this morning. It made for a very interesting workout.

The pool is about 30 meters wide towards the back where the waves are generated. I swam from wall to wall, following a tile line. When I would reach the left side of the pool, the current tended to push me towards shore, necessitating me swimming against the current in order to reach the same spot on that side. When the current was really pushing, it was like swimming in a gigantic endless pool. I was able to use the current to make one continuous 60 meter lap. The waves and current made it challenging and eliminated boredom.

My room has a view of the Luxor hotel. Here is a picture of me with my head superimposed on it. The photo reminds me of The Great Seal on the back of a one dollar bill. Fortunately, the Four Season does not have a casino so my temptation to gamble is somewhat mitigated. I will try to refrain from getting sucked into a casino floor by my gambling co-workers.

Maybe I will go to New York New York or the Eifel Tower. I have yet to go see them, but then again it’s not something I really feel like doing on my own.

Birthday Suit

Since my Hamstring pull yesterday, I’ve gone through feelings of shock, anger, sorrow and despair. I can’t believe I hurt it and can’t run. I am leaving on a business trip this evening for a convention in for Las Vegas and the only thing that was going to get me through it was the ability to take a nice run in the desert. Now I am contemplating not packing any running clothes at all to prevent me from attempting a run before it is healed.

To compensate for the inability to run (or probably bike for that matter) today, I decided to join my Cibbows friends for a swim in Brighton Beach. I figured going for a swim at the beach was better than moping around the house moaning about my injured leg. It was also time I broke out my Orca P-Flex wetsuit for its first official test drive.

I made arrangements to get to beach with Cristian, who was also driving Jonathan and Sondra. The four of us met up with 8 other hardy ocean goers for a swim on a beautifully clear and mild day. During the drive, I made mention that today was my birthday. Sondra got everyone to sing me Happy Birthday while we all stood together for a picture.

Even with my wetsuit, I wasn’t sure I wanted to go into the water. My tolerance to cold has been non-existent and I wasn’t sure I felt like suffering through a frigid swim. I have to hand it to my Orca P-Flex though. The thing kept me nice a toasty warm. The worst part of swimming in very cold water is the shock and pain of the cold about my face. I knew if I could force my way through it though, I would quickly get used to it and not feel it at all. This is indeed what happened and I wound up swimming further than I thought I would in 55 degree water.

The water itself, although cold, was very clean. You could see the bottom through at least 15 – 20 feet of depth. Crabs, fish and horseshoe crabs were all visible as you swam. Sondra plucked a horseshoe crab out of the water and showed it to everyone back on shore.

Once the swim was over, the non-wetsuit wearing bunch sat huddle in a semi-circle shivering, which reinforces the nickname of the group – “The Shivering Idiots”. I guess the feeling is you have to be an idiot to swim in such cold water. I wish I had some of that cold right now, as the jetBlue terminal where I am finishing this entry is blazingly hot.

Hamstring

After a couple of false starts, I finally got out mid Saturday afternoon for a 10 mile run. I was feeling great and in the zone while I smoothly ran while listening to my MP3 player.

While running, I saw my shadow which reminded me of myself from last year when I was ready for IM and in great shape. I was just starting to feel as though everything was going to be great this year, when a sudden sharp pain pierced the belly of my right hamstring.

It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to know I just pulled the muscle. Fortunately I wasn’t too far from home and was able to return to it by walking without any major discomfit. I iced it for a while and I now sit here typing while it dully aches. I am hoping that a couple of days rest will return it to health.

It looks like tomorrow, I will skip my bike ride in order now to stress any portion of my leg. Instead, I will head to the beach to break in my new wetsuit with my Cibbows buddies. I understand that the ocean is a balmy 55 degrees. The cool water should do my hamstring some good.

57 for 57

Earlier this week I posted a message on the Asphalt Green Tri Club website looking for others to join me on a ride in Harriman State Park. It went as follows:

On Saturday, May 6, I am planning a 100 miler (at least) in the hills of Harriman State Park in celebration of my own birthday. I plan to go around this 14 mile loop until I wish I wasn’t born. It should be a gut wrenching and emotional experience.

Well, the ride turned out to be on Friday, May 5 and it was just my buddy Todd and I. Soccer coach responsibilities were to be had on Saturday and it wouldn’t do to miss the game for a long ride. I’ll also admit that I like the couple of hours coaching my son’s team, a bit more than I like sitting in the saddle for 6-7 hours pounding out 100 miles over very hilly terrain. Both options are equally satisfying, but the former has a greater impact on me, as well as others.

The plan was to get in 100 miles, although I seriously had my doubts as to whether I would be able to make it the entire distance. I was pretty sure I wasn’t fully recovered from the marathon the past Sunday.

We got to Harriman later than I had hoped, but still early enough to tackle 100 miles. It was a perfect day outside; mid-70’s, breezy and sun-filled sky. It was definitely not the kind of day where you wish you weren’t born, although I did get to the point where I wished I wasn’t riding anymore.

Todd and I finished the first two loops in 51 minutes. On the third loop I started to seriously lag and thought that it ought to be my last. I started to make extremely slow progress up Tiorati Brook Road. I arrived in 58 minutes, several minutes after Todd. I told him I’d had enough, but he didn’t want to hear that. For some reason I let him talk me into a 4th loop. I started out slow, but I felt halfway decent. I thought maybe it wouldn’t be so bad. I just hoped for the best on the climb up.

I won’t say the 4th climb was brutal. It was just very slow. When you move so slowly, you aren’t working so hard, so it doesn’t feel so bad. I did begin to wonder if I was just mentally quitting or if I was really just physically too tired. When this happens, I do my usual test; which is to try to push a pace for more than a minute. When I can’t even do that, I know I am not mentally dogging it.

My 4th and final loop took me 68 minutes. It was also exactly 57 miles which I though quite fitting. My birthday is 5/7 and finishing on that distance seemed appropriate. My odometer clicked exactly 57 just as I reached my car. I didn’t even hesitate to stop. I dumped my gear, grabbed my PB&J and quietly sat at a picnic bench eating. When I finished, I laid on top of it and silently took up some sun.

Todd was already onto his 5th loop when I stopped. I must have really been enjoying my quiet time, because Todd seemed to be back right away. He tried to talk me into another loop, but I told him NFW. He wanted to go on for another loop, but thought I just wanted to start going home. I really did feel like just hanging out by myself and insisted that he go on. Once again he was back too quickly, but by now I was ready to leave. I wanted to get home before I caught all of the rush hour traffic. I was disappointed not to be able to ride longer, but definitely not upset. It would have been nice to have ridden longer, but I really didn’t have much choice in the matter. There will be other days for longer rides.