Brooklyn Brick

Vacation time is not real time. You exist in a universe where you do not need to worry about anything, except perhaps the vacation coming to an end. It is very hard for me to make the transition from vacation back to work. I try to alleviate some of the pain of the return by having things to look forward to a short time after I go back to work.

One of those things was the Brooklyn Brick race held in my backyard last night. The race was held from the Bartel Pritchard circle which is no more than spitting distance from my front door. Plenty of athletes from my tri club Asphalt Green were there, along with many members of other tri clubs. It was a Gotham Points race so AG’s strong showing was sure to get us a few points.

The race was originally set for 4 loops of the park, but unsurprisingly it was shortened to 3 loops since it would be getting too dark to hold the race of we went that far on the bike. It is a shame how early it gets dark around here. While I was in Spain, it was light outside until 10pm at night. Instead the race was a .75 mile sprint to the bike, a 3 loop/10 mile ride around the park and then a 3 mile run. The very definition of a sprint race.

For the first run, I was surprised at how sluggish my legs felt. I had absolutely no leg turnover. Really though, I shouldn’t have been surprised since I just got through with some very slow running while I was in Spain. I did no fast in Spain as everything was climbing up hills. The way everyone ran away from me on the first run, it felt like I was going to be dead last in the race. When I got to the bike though my legs started to feel better and I managed to pass several people while riding.

My legs rose to the occasion for the second run. I ran the 3 miles in 21 minutes, which gave me a finishing time of 55:58. The 3 mile run was very interesting. It was pretty dark by now and the run was on the inner trails of the park. The race director had volunteers out along the trails with lanterns marking the course, especially at the various forks in the road. It was difficult to see where you were going to step and at one point a turned my ankle.

After the race, I went with my fellow AG’ers to Farrell’s pub for a pint of beer in a Styrofoam container. We all stood around outside recanting war stories from various races and training days. All totaled, it wasn’t a bad way to ease the transition from vacation, back to the normal routine of work and training.

Galicia

So it was a very joyful reunion when I finally joined my family. My kids were very happy to see me and I was very happy to see them. – Those are the words I wrote when I started to make my first blog entry while I was in Spain. That’s as far as I got. I was too busy to spend time sitting behind a computer writing blog entries. I am now in the airport waiting for the plane to take us home. (actually, now I am finishing this entry on the subway ride to work). My god how time flies when you are having fun. I must say though, that I was my sense of time was in some sort of hyper drive. I suppose staying right next door to a church whose bells went off every 15 minutes of the day didn’t help. But that is how time is; it slips through your fingers like grains of sand.

Since this is a training blog, I will primarily recount my training activities. I ran 116 miles, hiked several more and swam 13 miles. All of the runs were in the mountains where I climbed 1000’s of feet for each one. The swimming was great as well. I took pictures everywhere I went. The land is rugged and beautiful. One of my runs saw me run straight up 1500 feet in the fog covered mountains. As I submitted the mountain I began to hear what sounded like low planes flying over head. It wasn’t until I realized that the sounds of the planes were going away that I realized that what I was hearing were windmills. I made several friends while running. Typically little old ladies tending cattle or sheep. One of them was nice enough to take a picture of me with some pigs. The following are some of the sights I saw while running.

Here is Little Bo Peep in case you were wondering what happened to her.

On a mountain farm walking the cow.

Up in the mountains by the Windmills.

The Hike

One of the first things I did with my children was to take a hike up a mountain trail that I discovered while running. I came across it at the end of an out and back road. I had started to run up it while doing a run, but it was too steep and over grown with brush for a run. I wanted to find the top so I vowed to return later on. I returned with my children in tow and I carried a backpack filled with snacks and water. The trail meandered up the side of a mountain, bringing us closer to a bunch of windmills that were on top of the mountain. As we climbed, the brush started to thin out and the trail became rocky. We had climbed above the tree line. We were treated to magnificent vista’s of the town and water below. It was truly a sight to behold.

As we started getting closer to the windmills, my daughter started to have some angst about proceeding any further. I must admit it was kind of creepy up there. The wind was howling and the sounds of the windmills slicing through the air made an eerie noise. I insisted that we keep going forward as I suspected we were only within 50 feet of a windmill and it didn’t pay to stop right now. We eventually made it to windmill number 37. Then we settled in for the long hike back down the hill. All totaled it was a 3.5 mile hike.

Swimming – La Cueva – There is an island in the distance from the beach where everyone goes. I vowed to myself to swim to it at some point while I was there. Unfortunately, there was boat traffic in the water so I had to be very careful when swimming. I stayed close along the shore which was the long way to get to the island. When I reached a point that was closest to the island, I opened up my stroke and swam hard across a small channel to make it to the island. It was a satisfying feeling to know that I did it. I explored the island for a little while. On it I saw dozens of star fish. I would have liked to have brought one back with me, but I didn’t have any place to carry it. My daughter told me I shouldn’t have brought it back in any event, since it would have died being out of its natural habitat.
Spain is a very beautiful country and I am taking my opportunities to swim and run in it. The running has been great, with lots of mountains to climb. I only wish I had my bicycle. That would have been perfect.

Training in Galicia

Internet access is hard to come by here, so I haven't been posting. I am loving where I am for training. It is a triathlete’s Mecca. Plenty of hills to run and bike on and the swimming is great. One of the places I’ve swam at is this inlet. Amazingly the difference between high tide and low tide is about 5 feet. Here are before and after pictures.

Word of the Day

Today's word of the day. What a great word. I've never heard of it before.
hegira
Definition:
(noun) A flight to escape danger.
Synonyms:
exodus, hejira
Usage:
The oppressed villagers secretly planned a hegira to escape the czar's army.

3 Weeks Have Passed

I have only made light mention of the fact that my family has been gone for the last 3 weeks. My wife took the kids to Spain for some multi-cultural enhancement. I wasn’t sure how I would feel, being left alone to fend for myself. I wasn’t sure how I would react to coming home to an empty house every night. My daughter summed it up best when she said that she didn’t like the thought of Daddy eating dinner alone at home every night.

I’ve kept so busy during the past three weeks; it feels as though I didn’t even have time to miss them. I also spoke to them every day on the phone. The combination of being busy and in constant contact made it seem as though they were never gone at all. The 3 weeks feels as though it’s just been a couple of days that have passed.

One thing I will admit though is that I have enjoyed my time alone. I’ve felt as though a giant pressure has been taken off of me since I didn’t have the responsibility of being a Dad for the past 3 weeks. I could come and go as I pleased, work out for as long as I wanted and not had to worry about my children sitting at home waiting for Daddy to come home. I don’t think I realized it before, but I have put a tremendous amount of pressure on myself to be a good father and keep my children engaged and occupied. I don’t regret the time I’ve spent devoted to them nor do I wish I didn’t have them. I must admit though that these past 3 weeks have been incredibly liberating.

Someone said to me that I must be very excited to see my children. I don’t know how to answer that. I’ve liked my time by myself, but like I said, I’ve been so busy that the time disappeared in what seemed like a blink of an eye. I’ve had so few hours of idle time that I never really got lonely. There were several moments when I got depressed about being alone, but that didn’t last long, since I didn’t have so much time during those moments before I had something else to do. I suppose had I had more time and not have been so busy and not have been in such contact with my family that the feeling of loneliness and missing them would have been much greater.

It scares me a bit to admit that I didn’t really miss them. Does this mean that I don’t really love them? What does this say about me as a parent? Perhaps I am just normal and relishing in the fact that I’ve had a nice long break in which I’ve had to worry about no one but myself. I am sure my emotions at not seeing them will hit me once I walk in the door of my in-laws house where they are currently staying. My son told me he wants to sleep with me when I arrive and I’m sure I will enjoy having him kick me in his sleep once again.

Fritos, Cheetos and other Disgusting Snacks

Do you ever have the feeling that you are removed from the world as you walk upon through it? Like you are in your own little universe and are simply observing the happenings and going on’s around you. It is like being in a space suit and exploring a strange world. I get that occasionally. It sure beats the feeling I sometimes get, where is feels like I am about to fall off the edge of the world. I suppose they make drugs that can help with both sorts of conditions.

While on my way home from work, I had the pleasure of sitting next to this plus size woman eating a bag of Fritos. I can’t stand the smell of these cheesy disgusting snacks. Watching her stuff her face and munching a Frito reminded me of a time when I was in high school. It was the first class of the day, around 8am, and there was this girl with oversized fingernails and oversized lips caked with deep purple lipstick. She was eating cheese puffs (Cheetos?) and orange crumbs were all over her mouth. The site of her purple tinted, orange spectacled lips and the smell of the cheetos so early in the morning gave me a vicious headache and nausea. From that point forward, I can’t even look at a cheese flavored snack without getting nauseous.

San Francisco

Last week I went to San Francisco to attend a 2.5 day conference. I didn’t really want to go, but I wound up having a very good time. As of late when I travelled, I’d usually just retire to my room unless I was conducting the business I was sent out to do or working out. I was feeling pretty good though and decided to go out. I was glad I did because I wound up meeting some interesting people which kept my trip very entertaining.

The first entertaining thing that happened to me in SF was while I was standing in the Taxi line waiting for a cab to take me to my hotel. When a Taxi finally showed up, some guy come from out of the blue and says he was ahead of me on line and proceeds to put his luggage in the trunk. I told him “No Fucking Way” and through my luggage in the back seat and hoped in as well. Obviously, I now had this guy stymied, because the only way he was going to get the cab was to physically throw me out of it. The guy then looks at me through the window and tells me I have very bad Karma. I replied that may be so, but I also have the cab.

I kind of felt funny afterwards at making a scene, since a business colleague I knew was also on line for a Taxi with his two sons. I thought to myself, how did I just look, yelling at the guy that there was no f’ing way he was getting the cab. I called him when I got to my hotel and he just laughed saying, “Well that’s New York”. He then told me he tried to cut in front of the people that were behind me. Well, since I had a great trip and met many friendly people, I figured I must have been in the right and my Karma wasn’t so bad after all.

In a previous blog posting, I wrote about a theory that I have in which you will suddenly find yourself in a place that you don’t normally visit more than one time in a short time span for completely unrelated reasons. My theory was never stronger than on this trip. It wasn’t more than the previous month that I was down at Crissy field and other locations in San Francisco to participate in the Escape from Alcatraz Triathlon. How could I ever have predicted that I would have met a local real estate agent that would take me on a tour of houses she sold and in the process pass all of these places I had just visited? I didn’t know I was going to San Francisco until 4 days before the conference. San Francisco is not a place I normally go to, but it is not inconceivable that I could go there in any given year. I’ve been there many times before, but the fashion in which I just revisited not only San Francisco, but places in San Francisco that I had no intention of visiting is just uncanny. Long live the theory.

I also got in a workout every day I was there. The first workout was a 2.5 run to the Aquatic Park, where I swam for 40 minutes and then a 2.5 mile run back to my hotel. The water was a bracing 62 degrees. I had used the services of the Dolphin Club to store my running gear while I went swimming. While I was getting ready for my swim, I asked a person just coming in from the water if I needed a wetsuit. He said Oh No, go without it. Well I almost did, but fortunately I changed my mind and put the thing on. Did I mention the water was 62 degrees? I wouldn’t have lasted more than 10 minutes in that temperature. The other days I managed to get in 6 mile runs in between conference sessions.

All told it was a very happy and successful trip.

Grimaldo’s Ocean Mile

Today was a pretty decent workout. It’s August, which means I am training for SOS and as usual I ran the 7 miles down to Coney Island with my friend Rob for a swim, followed by a run home. Today though, was the Grimaldo Ocean Mile swim race so our swim had some further purpose to it. We made it down to the race start with perfect timing. Enough time to get ready, but not so much time that we completely cooled off.

I swam in the same clothes I ran, in order to test out my outfit for SOS. It worked out pretty good. I swam the mile in 32 minutes, which isn’t too bad. I am guessing that the course was a little over a mile, since you had to swim out to the first buoy and then back in to shore. The race had a costume division with some pretty creative outfits. The one I liked best though was the guy who wore a suit and tie. I thought that was pretty hard core. Hopefully the website will have pictures of the costumes soon.

After the swim race we hung around and ate some food. They had a band playing while everyone refueled and socialized. I was having a good time and would have liked to stay through the end of the awards ceremony. However, my friend Rob had to get going home and I felt as though I should run back with him. I sort of got depressed leaving the post race activities, since I really had nothing to do when I got home. A couple of times I almost said screw it and felt like heading back to the race site.

Down in Dumbo

I was down in Dumbo Friday night for my friend Larry's 50th birthday party. It was a wonderful shindig and Larry was very happy with the present we got him - a new pair of race wheels, especially since he thought that all of his friends didn't get him anything when the actual day passed a couple of weeks ago.

Point to Point Day Trip

I didn’t know what I wanted to do this morning for a bike ride. I thought of going out with one of the two rides of my tri club, but couldn’t get my act in gear. There was a ride leaving from Central Park at 7:30am and 8am. I loafed around my house watching the clock until it was too late to make either ride. Eventually, I decided to go back to bed. In retrospect it was a wise decision as I conked out until 10am.

When I finally got out of bed, I thought about riding out to my brother-in-laws house out in Long Beach NY and then onto Point Lookout. When I walked into my living room, I saw an Instant Message from him blinking on my computer. Riding out there was it seemed, preordained. He told me about a party that was going to be held on the beach, so I figured what the hell; I have nothing else to do. I figured I would hang out at the party for a while and then continue on my ride in the early afternoon. Because the party was starting around noon, I didn’t go my usual route when I ride out in that direction. I went the most direct route possible so I could make it there on time. The 24 mile trip took me 1 hour, 20 minutes; which was 5 minutes before noon. It turned out that I needn’t have rushed as he screwed up on the dates and the party he was talking about wouldn’t happen for another two weeks. It didn’t really matter though as I was just as happy riding down to the beach with him and watching several volleyball games that were going on. I also took a lovely dip into the ocean, which was invitingly warm and full of seaweed. When I emerged from the water I had globs of it hanging from me and in the pockets of my bathing suit (actually my B-I-L’s bathing suit as I didn’t have anything decent to wear).

I hung out on the beach with him until just before 3pm. I decided if I was going to make it to Point Lookout and back home early enough to get a decent meal and rest for tomorrow’s activity (a seven mile run to Coney Island, race in the Grimaldo’s 3rd annual Ocean Mile and run back home) I needed to get a move on it. The wind was at my back, so I made very good time to the Point. Fortunately, when I arrived there was a couple admiring the view and they were nice enough to take a picture of me with my Treo.

After the picture I started to head home, but not before I decided, I’d made it over to Breezy Point. I decided my day wouldn’t be complete unless I literally made it a Point to Point ride. I had a headwind the entire ride to Breezy Point, which I figured more than made up for the lack of hills on today’s ride. I was also able to get a picture of myself at Breezy Point, but the sun was in the background and you can’t really make me out. I did have to walk over the sand for about 40 yards in order to make it out onto the beach so you could see that I was at the end.


Having completed my PtP ride, I decided that I was going to head home as quickly as possible. It was around 5pm at this point and I didn’t really feel like riding for much longer. I wanted time to rest up for tomorrow. Before going home, I stopped at the corner bodega to pick up some spinach to eat with a steak that I had leftover from my trip to San Francisco last week (another blog entry to be written at some point). I also got a Gatorade to slake my thirst and replenish those lost electrolytes. My preferred drink HEED which I had in my water bottles was disgustingly warm as the temperature was in the low 90’s all day.

So that’s it. Now I rest comfortably typing this entry and sucking on an Ambien so I can fall asleep for tomorrow’s Run, Swim, Run. I am in training now for the SOS Triathlon in early September. That is always a fun race to do.

Ride Stats:
1st 24 Miles – 1:20
Next 41.3 miles – 2:34
Calories burned – 985 + 1861
Water Consumed: about 1 Gallon

My First DNF

As I stated in my previous post, I did not finish this year’s Ironman Lake Placid. This was the first time I’ve experienced the inability to go on in a race. I am not liking the feeling one little bit, but alas, there is nothing I can do about it. I know I made the right decision to drop out of the race, however, I do not have to like that decision.

Race day started off as perfect as can be. It was clear and warm and I was feeling great. I had a good amount of sleep the night before and I had a good breakfast soon after I woke up. Even my bowels were cooperating as I took a nice poop well before I needed to leave the Bed and Breakfast place I was staying (The Winterberry Inn for those who are interested; it was fabulous). My friend Larry had his wife drive us to the start and I arrived to the transition area feeling good. I ran into several friends that were doing the race while waiting for the start and I was having a good time even before the race started.
I waited as long as possible to enter the water. I wanted to save as much energy as possible before the race. When I got in, I lined up about 20 yards off the starting line. I knew I wasn’t going to be a fast swimmer this year and I had no desire to have the shit kicked out of me by faster swimmers trying to get in front of me. I got jostled around some, kick in the face once or twice and had my head shoved under water when I came up to breathe, but other than that I swam in mostly clear water. When I came out of the water after the first loop, I saw 39 minutes on my watch. When I came out from the second loop, I saw 1:14, which meant that I negative split the swim.

I got on my bike feeling good. I didn’t push to hard, at least I didn’t think so and rode around 80 percent of my max HR. The course was the same as it always is; long lines of riders struggling up the hills and people flying down the downhills, with the usual people riding too far to the left making it difficult and dangerous to pass. I reached special needs is just under 3 hours and I was very happy with that time. The climb back out of Lake Placid started out ok. My friend Walter had caught be by then. He complained as usual about his swim. I told him to forget about it, he was doing great and he should go on and kick my ass in the bike. Little did I know at that point that my day would soon be coming to an end.

I took it easy on the downhill to Keane. I was beginning to feel tired and I didn’t want to take any chances storming down the hill. The race wasn’t worth dying over. At one point a strong gust of wind came and almost knocked me off the bike. Another rider came up behind me and said “That was something”. I think we both had the crap scared out of us. It was a good thing I wasn’t aero at the time.

I really started to slow down once I began to head towards Jay. I was pushing into a headwind and my HR was beginning to drop. I was doing ok though and hoped that I could continue on. It wasn’t until I made the left turn onto the climb that leads to Haselton Road that I knew I was done. The climb became so difficult that I was barely making any forward progress. I felt very cold and my HR dropped significantly. My skin was completely dry. The tiredness I felt was deep within my body. I didn’t think I could make it up the hill, much less go on to do the climb back up to Lake Placid and then do a marathon.

Many people started to pass me. It felt like I was being left behind by everyone and that I would be the last one out on the road. When I finally made it to Haselton, I cut across the road to head into the aid station. I almost cut my friend Todd off in the process. I stopped ostensibly to have suntan lotion put on the back of my neck. I had it applied to my neck by a very caring volunteer who took his time to rub it in. The volunteer must have thought I didn’t look so good, because he asked me if I wanted something to drink or eat. At that point I got off my bike to use the portosan. I was no longer worrying about my bike time, I was just thinking of survival. Normally I would just pee while on the bike. After I got out, I decided to take a break and sat down on the floor and rested my back on the portosan I just exited. Someone asked me if I wanted to get out of the sun, to which I replied no, that I was feeling very cold. A blanket was offered to me.

I was watching many riders turning onto Haselton road and hoped to see my friend Larry. I was hoping to see someone I knew for encouragement. While I was sitting down a couple of EMT guys walked over to me. They asked if I felt ok and I told them I was just feeling cold and a little tired. They offered to check my vital signs out in the ambulance. I figured I had nothing to lose and walked over to it with them. I was checked out ok, but I was still feeling cold and not ready to move on. Eventually, I went outside the ambulance to sit in the sun and watch the other riders go by. I let myself bake in the sun, but I still wasn’t warming up or sweating. An EMT guy sat down next to me to make sure I was ok. We talked about how I still had plenty of time and that there were many people still behind me. I told him that even though there were, while you are out there alone, with people passing you, it feels as though you are going to be the last one.

I went back and forth with the EMT guys about whether or not I was calling it a day. I just couldn’t pull the trigger and say I was done. The EMT guys were very good about it. They were not going to force me off the course if I wanted to go on, but I could tell they thought I should stop. I would have liked to have rested in the aid station a little while longer, but my decision to quit was eventually forced by the fact that the ambulance was about to leave for town to with another rider who succumbed to the day. I didn’t want to have to hang around another hour or so if I eventually came to the realization that my day was done. I finally just said to hell with it and jumped into the ambulance for the ride back.

I had no sooner gotten into the ambulance when my body suddenly started to sweat again. This was what I was waiting for, since I figured if I could sweat, I was at least hydrated enough to have gone on. A sick feeling invaded my stomach as I realized that I really did just quit this race and I was headed back to town in an ambulance. I wanted to tell the ambulance driver to turn around that I was ready to go on now. Perhaps I was sweating because of the nervousness that I was feeling about quitting. I knew I would now always be left wondering if I could have finished the race had I just waited it out a little longer. Quitting was one of the hardest decisions I have ever made in my life and I was feeling sick over it.

On the ride back the EMT guys told me that I made the right decision. I began to agree with them as I watched everyone struggle up Whiteface on the way to LP. It would have been very ugly for me if I decided to go on. The immediate remorse at quitting settled down a bit and I relaxed for the rest of the way into town.

Once back in town, I was brought to the medical tent to be check out. By then I was developing a splitting migraine headache and was happy to be resting on a cot. The doctor watching over me didn’t want to let me go unless someone came to pick me up. Fortunately, I had the cell phone number of Larry’s wife Kathleen who was amenable to come and get me.

That is pretty much it. I went back to the place I was staying, showered, ate and rested. I tried hard not to be depressed and decided to go back outside to cheer on my friends who were still doing the race. I spoke to my coach on the phone who agreed that I made the right decision about stopping.

Quitting this race hurts, but I have to move beyond it. Perhaps I raced it wrong, perhaps I was undertrained or maybe I had some underlying medical condition at the time that caused me to poop out. It doesn’t matter. It is over and I have to look towards future races. Will I sign up for Lake Placid again? Most likely. I never thought I would be doing Ironman last year, much less this year, but it has become a lifestyle. It’s something that I do. My son says I should do it because if I keep on doing it eventually I will win. I guess based on the way my year has gone so far, I am a winner just for trying.