training songs

I wanted to share my favorite song with you:
http://youtu.be/G6ZjBPXSmnE

This is a popular song for triathlon
http://youtu.be/P3oBZ4_TNys or http://youtu.be/jnqpYKx8Fvk

This song makes anybody move, tho I don't particularly like the video since it seems to contradict the lyrics.
http://youtu.be/vXtJkDHEAAc

you can dance, enyoy the lyrics, AND the video with this one:
http://youtu.be/q1OqrXK-Fws


tell me your favorite songs please!

Self Doubt vs. Honest Self-Appraisal

We are nearing the end of August and so there are less than 8 weeks left until the Poconos Half Ironman. During the NYC tri, I kept on asking myself, wondering whether I was capable of doing double the distance. My answer at the time was 'no' and since then I have been waffling back and forth about it. More recently, while riding the Pocono HIM bike course, someone raised the question of whether it's possible to go this distance in your first year. Have I taken on more than I should have?

So, I am putting the training in to the best of my ability. On paper it looks great; in actuality I come up on various obstacles like weather; poop in the pool; thunderstorms; depression; exhaustion; having
to walk the dogs or go to the supermarket.




-- lemmefineout - Brooklyn

Group Ride

Tomorrow is my first official group ride training for the Poconos Half Ironman. I cannot believe that I am going to race that distance. Mountain Valley Bicycles, in the area of Stroudsburg, PA is sponsoring this ride. Apparently, we will be riding the whole 56 mile route plus an extra 14 to and from the start from the bicycle store...Some people have been contemplating running afterwards! I know that I have run after a long bike ride, but not 70 miles! But the only way to go is onwards and upwards as they say...someone, I'm not quite sure who.

I googled the phrase and this is what I got:

Fail not for sorrow, falter not for sin,
But onward, upward, till the goal ye win.
- Francis Anne Kemble (1809-1893)

Pretty cool, and the little bio that I found about this woman was interesting as well. A little side trip away from triathlonlandia.

NYC Tri Bike/Run leg

I've been trying to write about the b/r part of the triathlon but did not feel very inspired about it. I couldn't think of much besides commenting on all the fallen water bottles in the road and numerous people with flats and possibly, I could have pushed myself more than I did. Then this morning I remembered.

Just as I was starting the bike leg, biking up the hill from the river to the West Side Highway there were many people lining the road cheering us on. Throughout the bike/run portion I must have heard 'Go Brooklyn at least 100 times, probably 1000 times. . But in that one spot, winding up the hill, someone said ' lose weight!'. That one comment tainted the rest of my experience with self-consciousness and a variety of mixed emotions. It is not without irony that there were two former contestants from 'The Biggest Loser' in the triathlon. I saw one of them while waiting for the swim to start. She walked by with a film crew following her. I didn't recognize who she was at the time but she looked at me and smiled. After she passed, the woman I had been chatting with told me who she was.

Am I branded? She looked at me and smiled. I felt good about it at the time, but after the 'lose weight' comment, I spent the rest of the race alternately judging myself and trying to push off any negative thinking or negative feeling. 'Since it's true, then how can I feel bad about the truth?' 'He's on the sidelines, and I'm in a triathlon, so who cares?!'. 'Maybe I look worse than I had thought in this tri suit'. ' He's an ass, I wish I could go back and spit in his face'. 'I'm the one that would get into trouble if I tried to get revenge'. 'I must look pretty bad'. 'he was a jerk'. 'why do I ignore 1000 good cheers and get so impacted by one?

I completed the triathlon. But this is definitely an emotional relapse. There is no worse time than being open to joy and hearing a stupid comment. I have spent too many years remaining shut tight as a drum in order to avoid this kind of thing but only I experience the negative consequences of that.

I will somehow let this pass.






-- lemmefineout - Brooklyn

NYC Tri Race Report - the swim

First of all, the swim was rough. There is no other way of saying it. There were very high swells in the river. Swells that you had to glide on through in order to progress forward. With my face in the water, 'swimming' as some may call it, I felt the movement of the water making me rise and fall. The only thought I had during the swim was to keep on moving...

Before: waiting
I had to get to the transition area between 4 and 5am. I took a cab ride up to 72nd and Riverside Drive and set my stuff up. I had already dropped off my bike the day before. After setting up, I walked the mile up to the swim start, around 99th Street. I had my dry clothes bag with me - after arrival, I took my sandals off and gave my bag to the truck people. I had my goggles, blue swim cap and wetsuit that I had not put on yet. While looking out onto the river, I thought about how these 3 items were my most valuable posessions at that moment. Without them I would not be able to do the race. There seemed to be something deep about this when I was thinking about it, but I can't quite verbalize it right now. Something about what we value, what we are afraid of losing, and how - depending on the situation, what we fear most gets turned around when we lose focus on what's really important.

All throughout this time I was mildly anxious - normal race anxiety - mostly about forgetting something. I had visions of having to run the mile back to the transition area for some required item. Overall though, I was calm. I was well rested, well hydrated, and ready.

The Start:
The professionals went out first, then the elite triathletes. All of us on the line remarked how we would be sure to sight carefully after seeing one overconfident swimmer go headlong into a kayak which was blocking them from swimming into the island of Manhattan ; and another swimmer run into a tug boat that blocked them from swimming across to NJ ot out to sea.

Then the age groupers started, and the pace changed...People were lining up on the barge 3 people deep and every few seconds, the next line would jump into the water - there was no pausing, no hesitation, no time to change your mind. After standing around for a 1/2 hour, we were now moving up quickly, me under the "women 45-49" banner.

By the time I got to the barge, I started talking out loud to myself. The sound that was coming out mostly resembled Olive Oyl in distress: "ooh noo!" mixed with 'this is another fine mess you've gotten us into, Patty'

Joking aside, I really can't recall the last time I was this scared. I was feeling rushed about jumping 3 feet into the water. I jumped. "thank you Yemaya".

There is that 2 second span of time, where you are going down instead of up, that gets to me. The last time this happened was when I jumped into the deep end of the pool when doing the Indoor tri at Asphalt Green. There is a powerless feeling and then you begin to rise back up.

So there I was in the water. Salt water. Swimming. Everything was ok, going forward and up and down, sighting. At some point I saw a sign that said '500m'. Oh good, I thought, only 500 meters left. After another while, I saw the next sign - '1000m'. I realized with dismay that I still had another 500 to go after this. I sighted using the wall of swimmers then spectators that were lining the path. Every once in a while I'd look forward to catch a glimpse of the finish line which did not happen.

At last, the finish line came into view. I took care to approach the ramp without trying to stand up. I did not want to get stuck in muck as I had been forwarned. I had someone pull me up and I was out.

Swim complete!

-- lemmefineout - Brooklyn

Middle of the Packer

This morning I found out that I was 8th out of 15 in my age group - 45-49. I have never been in the middle of the pack - usually one of the last 3 or last 10 overall. Are my last place days over? I'm not sure, but I wouldn't trade being last of the pack for sitting home waiting to be better before I start.

As I was in the final stretch of my run, I saw a woman approaching that I had chatted with just prior to the swim start. I made some encouraging words to her but she just turned away. I can't say what she was thinking, or know if she even heard me,, but I know that if I had been in her shoes, I probably would have done the same - preoccupied with my own "stinkin' thinkin'" - that the words of encouragement were just another way of gloating about being ahead of me. I have seen though, over the years in different races, that the applause is sincere - for so many different reasons if not only for the fact that we have all been there in one way or another.

I'm glad that I have not let my slowness interfere with me doing these physical activities. In the race results there was a 70+ person that was faster than me - I hope to be like that person when I get to be that age. Actually, I hope to be as fast as they are next year!




-- lemmefineout - Brooklyn

Serenity

Clear blue sky, stroke stroke stroke, breathe; seagull overhead, stroke stroke stroke, breathe; airplane trail across the sky, stroke stroke stroke, breathe; orange sunset behind the trees, stroke stroke stroke, breathe.

Swimming at Red Hook City pool


-- lemmefineout - Brooklyn