Father’s Day 2007

This post should also be called the Larry Lewis Invitational 100 miler. It is the day Larry invites his friends to join him for a 100 mile ride inside Prospect Park. I decided to join him and make it my first 100 miler of the year. I was really looking forward to this ride. I couldn’t even sleep the night before I was looking forward to it so much. It was like I had a big race in the morning and the excitement was keeping me from sleeping.

We met up at exactly 6am and we were joined by two other invitees for the start of the event. This was to be a no frills affair with no aid stations, rest stops or trips outside the park for replenishments. If you were lucky, someone who wasn’t completing the 100 miles would exit the park and return with Gatorade and bagels.

As the ride progressed, we started to add on additional riders as they came out to join us. Some riders just joined us as the saw our peloton passing by. Riders would come and go throughout our hundred miles. At one point I am sure we had close to 40 riders in our group.

It is amazing how much easier it is to ride around this park when you are part of a large group. Time just seemed to slip by as you were constantly engaged in conversation while riding. The draft from all of the riders made the ride feel effortless. I remember thinking to myself that it was taking a long time to do a slow loop around the park, because it felt so slow and easy only to discover that the loop was the fastest around the park yet. As the pack got really big we were easily averaging 19 miles per hour. It was almost as if we were one giant pack that stretched the entire length of the loop.

We didn’t make one stop during the ride, not even to go to the bathroom. This ride was the longest contiguous bike ride I have ever done. I went 101.5 miles without ever stopping. I am sure I’ve never ridden that far without coming to a stop at least once. Even in Ironman, you stop at special needs. I had 4 water bottles with me, two of them filled with Heed and two with water. I also had a flask of Hammer Gel and some other small snacks in my Bento Box. Towards the end, I realized I was running low on water, but it was close enough to the finish that I was able to ration it through the end. It really felt great to do such a long ride so effortlessly and without stopping.

After the ride, Larry, Willie and I went back to the park for a run. We saw a couple of people we were recently riding with and they couldn’t get over how riding 100 miles wasn’t enough for us. Unfortunately, I only had time to do one loop of the park with them. I had to get my family out to brother’s house in Long Island for a Father’s Day BBQ. When I came inside to shower and change I remember feeling very hot. I took a cold shower, but that wasn’t enough to lower my core temperature. Almost as soon as I got out of the shower, sweat started to burst out of my forehead and body. My daughter asked me why my shirt was all went, that’s how drenched from sweat I was. I needed a shower within minutes of getting out of the shower. I finally started to cool down on the ride out to Long Island by blasting my car’s A/C on me for the duration of the trip.

Afternoon Delight

Well I finally got my first long run of the season. Yes, I know I’ve done a marathon and two 50k’s this year, but this was my first long training run – Approximately 20 miles inside Prospect Park. I did it on Friday afternoon, taking advantage of my summer work hours in which we get out of the office by 1pm. This was also my first run of any quality since I returned from Alcatraz. I guess I am finally over the hump of whatever was afflicting me causing anything over 2 miles to be impossible. It sure beat the run I had earlier this week in which I went out with my daughter. I was walking after the first mile, but fortunately, my daughter was with me and she kept offering encouragement to me to keep going. Maybe I can have her ride alongside me at IMLP for when times get tough.

At the start of my 20 miler, I ran into Todd. He was in the park doing his weekly 100 miler. We had talked earlier in the week, in which he wanted our friend Rob’s telephone number to let him know he could get him a spot at the NYC Triathlon through his store Jackrabbit (www.jackrbt.com). When he told me that, I said really, perhaps I will take one of those spots instead of doing IMLP. An Olympic distance race would be no problem. Todd was disappointed to hear that I was considering bailing out of IMLP. I gave him Rob’s phone number and told him I would think about it and call him back if I decided to take the spot. Well I didn’t call him back and I am not sure why.

Anyway, after I said hello to Todd, he continued his ride and I went on for my run. I’d see him a few more times as he circled the park. On one of those times Todd gave me the Ironman wave (middle three fingers bent, thumb and pinky sticking out) as he passed me on the bike. That served to remind me of the Ironman lifestyle one lives as they train for an Ironman. Swim, run, bike, eat, sleep and do it all over again. I need to get back to basics and start living that way again. Of course, for me it will be more like swim, bike, run, play with the kids - baseball, soccer, etc. and then sleep. I just need to do it and remember I am having fun doing so.

Meat and Potatoes

I have not really had any good workouts since I returned from Alcatraz. My legs seemed to have lost all of their strength. It is quite frustrating. Ironman Lake Placid is little more than a month a way and I don’t even have my first hundred miler in for the year. I feel like I am going to go into this race completely unprepared.

This morning I did nothing to get myself ready for IMLP. I was feeling exceptionally lazy and let myself sleep in. It felt good to get the extra sleep and for once I wasn’t in a coma on the subway ride to work. It was a relief not to feel like I needed a nap by 11am. I hoped though to get in a bike ride in the evening after work.

I actually returned home this evening a little early. My son though wanted to throw the baseball around and I couldn’t deny him. We played catch for about 20 minutes and then were called in for dinner. I ate a steak with potatoes and some roasted peppers. This meal fixed me right up and I went out for a bike ride while the food was still making its way down my esophagus. I wound up having my best workout since Alcatraz. I guess I’ll have to eat a heavy meal before a workout more often.

Tomorrow will be the real test to see if I am recovered. I plan to run a 20 miler. So far since Alcatraz, I’ve barely been able to run 3 miles. At least I know what to eat before I go.

Eagleman 2007

This is actually a misleading title for this post, since I am not doing the Eagleman Half-Ironman Triathlon for the first time in 4 years. This is due to the fact that I had to attend my brother’s engagement party today. Perhaps though not being able to go was for the best. Based on my run Friday, in which I was only able to run 6 miles before I pooped out, I am not recovered enough from Alcatraz to put in much of an effort for a Half Ironman this weekend.

I am kind of bummed out I am not going. It would have been good to go with my friends Todd and Rob again. Perhaps I should call them at 3am this morning and crinkle a paper bag over the phone, since that is what I did last year when I was with them. I was eating a blueberry muffin out of the bag at the time – hence the crinkling. They said they were going to miss that.

There are benefits to me not going to the race. I was able to see my son’s baseball game this morning and I will be able to go to another game of his tomorrow afternoon. My son and daughter are sleeping over my in-laws this evening, so at least I will be able to get in a long ride tomorrow morning. I was thinking of going with Larry and the Iron Riders group up over the Bear Mountain Bridge from the NY side and heading back home through NJ. I decided against that though since the ride is likely to be 130+ miles and I don’t think I am in shape enough to do that, plus I couldn’t guarantee I would be home for my son’s baseball game at 3pm. I might just ride 100 miles in Prospect Park or perhaps go to Point Lookout. If I go to the Point, I could stop by my brother-in-law’s apartment for some refreshments and a bathroom break. Plus I could get him to drive me home if I get too tired.

This is pretty pathetic that I am worried about getting tired and not being able to get back home from a ride. I don’t know if it is all mental or if realistically I am just not in shape. I guess the answer is both. I don’t have the drive to push myself to my limits this year. I am too concerned with being home on time and spending time with my kids. I don’t want to risk riding away from home and suffering a mechanical breakdown and being stuck miles away. Better to play it safe and stay in the park so I could always easily bail out.

Deciding where I will ride will be a morning decision. Even my wife though thinks I should get out of the park. I’ll probably do the point. At least that is closer to home. I may as well get to sleep now so I can get an early start on the day.

Escape from Alcatraz Triathlon 2007

So I escaped from Alcatraz. It took me 35 minutes to swim from The Rock and 2:49:07 to complete the course. The water was very choppy, salty and around 55 degrees. It was a challenging swim, but overall not as bad as it was made out to be.

There are a lot of logistics to get ready for the race. It is different than Ironman, but just as complicated. The morning preparations necessary for the race is an extra layer that other triathlons don’t have. We needed to be at the transition area around 4:15am in order to setup our transition site. Then you had to drop off a transition bag for the ½ mile run between the swim exit and bike transition. Then you needed to have another bag ready to drop off inside the boat that takes you to Alcatraz. This bag contained all of your warm clothes that you would wear before the race. To get on the boat, you needed to board a bus that took you to Pier 3, where you got body marked and had to wait for the boat to start loading. It was a lot of moving around and activity even before the race began.

While going through all of this I started to think that I am glad I am doing the race now, but this might be it for me. It all just seemed a bit much. However after the race, that feeling completely left me. It was a spectacular and fun course and I highly recommend it.

Once we got moving on the boat, we were treated to a wonderful view of San Francisco. We then circumnavigated Alcatraz Island. This was a treat, because on the tours of Alcatraz, the boat doesn’t do that. While looking towards shore, they announced over the PA system the landmarks you needed to swim towards. You don’t swim on a direct line to the exit, since the current pull you towards it. If you were to swim a direct line, you would most likely wind up shooting past the exit and need to be fished out of the water. Instead you were directly towards shore, instead of along the length of it. I think I overcompensated a bit as I found myself to the left of many swimmers throughout most of the swim.

To exit the boat we were told to storm off of it like the army storming the beaches at Normandy. They would call your wave and everyone made a mad dash off the boat by jumping into the water and immediately started swimming. At the race briefing they told everyone that once you were in the water, you should stop and take a look around to see where you are. I did do that and it was an experience to see Alcatraz only yards away from me from the middle of San Francisco Bay. I didn’t linger for long. The sea was rough, there were swimmers all around me and the water was cold. My plan was to pee in my wetsuit once I hit the water to warm up, but the shock of suddenly being out in the open water made the urge disappear – In truth, I forgot all about peeing until I was about halfway across. By then it was difficult to let it flow, but after slowing down and concentrating I was finally able to get it out. Here is a picture of me by the swim exit the day before the race.

I must say the cold water swimming experience I got with my Cibbows friends really paid off. It was reassuring to know how my body would react to cold water. I think my previous cold water experience paid off and my hands and feet never really got so cold that they became problems.

The part of the course I was most intimidated by was the bike. I had previewed the course by car the day before and I was concerned with the hills that we had to tackle. They were constant and steep and you really couldn’t get any momentum to carry you over them. One particular hill was very steep and I asked my companions in the car (who have done it before) if they saw people walking their bikes up this hill. They said they did see people walking up the hill, albeit with great difficulty since their pedaling cleats would keep slipping on the hill. I saw one person trying to walk up the hill when I reached that point in the race.

Even though the course had hills, you were never really able to take advantage of the downhills. Every downhill had many turns or was on a rough road. Even the flat sections, it was tough to get aero, since the road was so rough. On a particularly rough patch I thought I was going to lose control as I struggle to go from aero position to my handgrips in order to maintain control of my bike. It was difficult to pass as well since the course was narrow and also an out and back. That is cyclists were also heading right towards you just on the other side of the street. The last couple of miles of the course were downhill leading into a flat section, so I was able to make good time back into transition. When I arrived at my transition position, my father was right next to me on the other side of the spectator barrier. It was great to see him there cheering me on.

My favorite part of the course was the run. This was also and out and back course, much of it on narrow trails with the return runners passing right on the same path. You could help but graze against many runners as the headed in the opposite direction. I felt like I ran really well right from the start, even though my feet were a bit frozen. During the first mile or two, it felt like I was running on top of frozen rods along the length of my feet. It took a while for my feet to warm up and get a real feel for the ground.

The course went through some wooded areas, up and down stairs and through a tunnel with a low clearance. The tunnel was crazy as not only did you have to watch your head from the roof, but it was impossible to see the ground since it was so dark. The best part was when you went out to run on the beach. Everyone ran along the hard packed sand near the water line and would dart back towards the sandy part of the beach every time a wave would come in. The famous sand ladder that everyone talks about was kind of an anticlimactic part of the race. Everyone walks it and it wasn’t that bad. It was tough, but since you walked it wasn’t horrible.

After the sand ladder you started heading back for home on some really narrow trail. It was difficult to pass people as runners were also heading towards you from the opposite direction. You had to be able to turn on bursts of speed to get past people when you had the opportunity. Usually the person in front of you would be accommodating with you yelled out that you wanted to pass. That was the case except for one person in front of me who didn’t seem to want to let my by. Finally I yelled to him passing in a loud voice to which he replied “are you kidding, just deal”; that’s when I told him I wasn’t, put on a burst of speed and flew past around 6 runners in front of me.

When we came out of the trails we had about 2 miles left to go. I started running flat out, pushing my heart rate into the red zone. It felt great and horrible at the same time, but I didn’t let myself slow down. I wanted to see how much I could make it hurt and how long I could last at that pace. I was able to hold it all the way across the finish where my father was waiting and cheering for me.

Me and Dad by the Sand Ladder

Here I am the day after the race by Pier 39 while doing an Active Recovery run

Off to Alcatraz

I have an inner conflict that rages inside me every time I go off to do a race without my family. I hate leaving them behind. I have such a comfort knowing my kids are with me and I feel physical and mental pain when I am away from them. It is enough at times to make me just want to call the whole thing off and stay at home. I keep telling myself that I am doing the right thing by pursuing these athletic endeavors, both in terms of for myself and for setting an example for my children. I think they call that modeling. Maybe I can convince myself that I am setting a good example for them by going off to do these events; that it is ok to go off and pursue your dreams.

My daughter insisted that I wake her up before I left the house. We shared a warm and long hug while she lay in bed. I told her how I am going to miss her so much and how I wished that she were going with me. I think she almost started to say how she wanted me to stay, but then thought better of it. She is such a great child. She knows how by saying that how torn up I would be inside.

I said goodbye to my son while he slept in his bed as well. Usually he doesn’t wake up when I kiss him goodbye in his sleep, but this time he roused enough to give me a nice hug. I wished him luck for his baseball game on Saturday, which I unfortunately have to miss. I so enjoy watching him play and feel bad for not being able to be there. His mother is taking him though and it will be the first game she will see this year.

At lease I am not alone on this trip. My father is accompanying me once again to a race. The trip is my Father’s Day present to him. It is good to have him along, because at least I know I have someone to claim my body should I not survive the swim from Alcatraz. I think I will be ok in the water. I’ve done a couple of cold water swims with my wetsuit recently and I felt good. I just hate the pain of the cold water against my face. Maybe I can get a neoprene bondage mask to keep my face warm.

I hope I am not too cold while in San Francisco. The temperatures are only in the low 60’s. I think I packed enough warm clothes. I guess at worst case I will come home with some new things. I do need a pair of arm warmers; I am not sure why I’ve never bought a pair.