Not What You Think

Hi. It’s Laura.

 

If you have ever wondered about the creative process about writing a training blog. I am here to clear things up for you. There isn't one.

 

Every day I go out for a run, my mind gets to wander.  The thinking process usually starts with how bad the first mile sucks, assessing how tired I am or am not, am I properly dressed, can I get a quick signal on the GPS watch, and so forth.

 

Once the run actually begins, the first mile does suck. It always does and I don't know why. Usually by the time I hit mile three the aches and pains have subsided, breathing is regulated.  During mile one, I seem to always drag a bit probably knowing what the distance is ahead of me. I try to put it out of my head by searching for a subject to write my blog. I skip the most obvious as it is already about triathlon training. Should I write about sneakers? Breathing technique? VO2 Max? Boring! Boring and complicated.  How about swimming technique or tools to use in the pool? Complicated and boring.  Maybe cycling cadence or slicks vs. knobby tires? Irrelevant and irrelevant.  

 

By mile two I have settled down a bit and whatever subject I had in my head is now gone. As I enter the third mile, whatever was really on my mind tends to surface. The next two, four or six miles is used to solve the problem whether it is an issue with The Husband, work related or suffering animals. It gets worked out during a run.  I am always surprised by this.  Why doesn't this happen in the pool or on the bike. Until it did happen on the bike. 

 

I can rarely split my focus in the pool for the simple fear of drowning. I am also still pretty new to the sport and really need to focus on everything while going through my drills.

 

I thought I was pretty focused on the bike until today.  Since I ride on the streets sharing focus with your thoughts can be a tad dangerous.  I am always keeping my eye out for potholes, pedestrians, parked cars, buses (I believe all bus drivers need to go back to driving school) and where to go.

 

I know you won't be surprised by this but my blog isn't about triathlon training at all. Yes I am training for a triathlon but its more about the life that gets in the way of triathlon training.

 

All week long our building has been telling us that they will turning off the water on Thursday. You have no idea how much you use during the day until you don't have it. Can we say flushing toilets?

 

Of course, Thursday is the only day this week I have evening plans outside the home.  It took a huge effort of planning to get all my workouts in BEFORE they turn off the water at 9am.  After my workouts, I would like to take a shower and look nice for my evening out. If there is no water there is no shower.  Let's add I am still new to this neighborhood and although my dinner is at 6pm, I need to leave long before then to get there. Taking a shower after 5 is not an option.

 

The plan: out on bike by 6:00am. I only have an hour ride so I should be able to get a ride in and make it back by 7:00am to get to the pool by 7:30 and again fortunately for me I have a shorter swim today.  This is all not exactly true.  I looked at my schedule for the week and picked the two shortest ones so I could get it all in.  The only thing that could get in the way of my plan would be something mechanical, i.e. a flat tire, a car crash.

 

Wednesday night I checked the weather for Thursday morning.  COLD! Rassen frassen.  WIND! (Fill in expletive here) ______________!  This is going to suuuuck.

 

I suck it up. I have no choice. If I want to do a triathlon, I have to do the work regardless of what the weather is outside.  So I get to it.  I go about laying all my gear out for 43-degree ride with 24 mph winds. What does that include you ask? Everything from head covers to shoe covers, I look like I was going to hit the slopes.  I next setup my swim gear, not nearly as complicated.

 

The alarm goes off at 5:15am but not before The Husband and I were woken up by the cat. I will spare you the biological details. I grab some coffee and look out the window. It is dark. Really dark. Too dark. I can't go out on a bike in the dark. It’s bad enough it’s cold. I recheck the weather, perhaps it has changed. 46 feels like 36 with wind 13 mph wind chill.  Ugh.  I dress, I ride.  Knowing that I had limited time, I stuck to the route that I know.

 

I did think about writing my blog this morning while I was out on a ride but not what you might be thinking.  The ride was not bad, other than the wind and the cold. Up and over to the Hudson. I know I am going to have to climb the W181st hill and I am dreading it. Have you ever worked so hard that your lungs burned? That is this hill.  Anyway, that is the way back and I am still headed south with about five minutes left before it was time to turn around.  I then come to a complete stop and say out loud: "you can't make this shit up"

 

 

 

Yep that is a tree laying across the entire path.

 

I turned around to head back but not before I’d decided to use this opportunity to share with you a part of my early morning ride.

 

 

 

 

 

Other than the tree, the ride was incident free.  I made it home just after 7:00am, turned right around and headed to the pool.

 

All tasks complete by 8:30. I was able to shower before they shut off the water.  I did wonder what shutting off the water means.  In our old building, water off meant nothing. There always seemed to be water left in the tank. Apparently here no water means NO WATER, hence the words no water.

 

Enjoy the weekend!

 

Laura

Ride & Hell Back

Hi. It’s Laura.  

I ended last week telling the story of how I over scheduled myself and was trying to figure when & how to fit it all in. 

By the time Saturday morning rolled around, I was so tired. The Husband and I needed to get the apartment clean. We also wanted to get our area rugs down. We only moved in a month ago so we are still putting the place together. After cleaning, we got them down. It took us much longer than I thought it would partly because we both underestimated the weight of our dining room table. I consider myself strong and I could barely lift it. I mustered and we did.

 

If you are a regular reader of my blog you know that I prefer to train in the morning. After cleaning and rug laying it was well past noon.  My second obstacle of the day I still have no idea where to ride. I pulled up Google Maps and try to figure out a path. Somehow I have to cross the Harlem River to get into Manhattan and down riverside. In all of the driving (yes, driving, hate it) I have done in the area I have not really seen a bike path that crosses the river.

I took my chances and headed east. I got lucky and found my way to the Hudson River and wound up having a lovely ride down to 125th St. the only problem with this ride is the very steep hill right in the middle of it. It is steep enough that tourist bike riders will walk their bike up it. I need to get out of the saddle to climb. My ego is way too big to ever let me walk my bike up a hill.  Remember I said that.

 

I finished up the first week with a 5:00 p.m. swim.  Not really how I saw my Saturday going. Best laid plans and all.

 

Monday rolls around and starts off easy enough.  A 5 mile run. I should have strength trained too but the rest of my day was fully scheduled. I feel some guilt over this and I don't covering my gray hair and making nice with members of the board of our building is just as important.

 This morning my luck changed.  I wanted to head over the GWB. Once you cross into New Jersey there are great roads to ride. I just need to figure out how to get there.  I came with a brilliant idea. I will use my iPhone to feed me directions (instead of music) to get there.

 

If I knew upper Manhattan better I probably could have found a shorter way to the bridge be that as it may, I did make there.  I approach the entrance ramp only to be stopped by a fellow cyclist. My assumption of cyclist (not including me) is that they are all assholes and extremely inconsiderate. I need to change that. This guy stopped me to let me know the ramp was closed. He then proceeded to give me directions to an alternate route to get over the bridge. Nice guy.

 

I follow his direction, head around the road to the other side of the bridge and wind up a flight of stairs. Ugh. Who knew you that the GWB had two pedestrian walks? I thought there was only one.  I dismount, hike the stairs with the bike and resume riding for all of 250 ft.   I now need to descend a flight of stairs, cross a platform and head back up another flight of stairs. I was keeping in mind that I am going to have to do this on my way back as well.  I finally hit the main span of the bridge. I will admit I was a little scared.  I have not crossed the bridge since last summer and it being a different side I was worried.  I had a short internal conversation. "Look at all the cars and trucks crossing”.  “The bridge will not fall down” who said fear is rational.

 

The view from the span is spectacular. The crowd is lovely (empty).  I make it to the other side of the span just to wind up at another flight of stairs. Two minutes short of my first leg, I said nope. I turned around and headed back.  Once over the bridge, I followed the voice instructions of my iPhone. I do not have my phone mounted to see the directions, I was listening to her directions.  

 

When I programmed the phone I told her to take the greenways.  Off the bridge I head up Ft. Washington Ave. into Ft. Tyron Park.  The GPS tell me to head into the park and head toward Riverside Drive. I go around the park with no clue where to go. I stop and look at the GPS, I can't figure it out. I look at the map in the park, I can't figure it out.  I think I will try again. One more time around the park (Ft. Tyron is not a big park) I am following directions and I am still not getting it. I am growing increasingly frustrated. I know I am not a stupid person and I know there is a way out, I have the damned GPS tell me turn! turn! turn! But there is NO STREET.  

 I say F%*K IT. I am leaving this park and going back the way I went on Saturday hills be damned. 

I stopped switched out the iPhone for my shuffle (yes I know but I only had 15% power left on my phone) I make it about two blocks when I realize I don't actually know how to get home. I stop again, switch back to the iPhone and restart the directions.  Now she has me going the same way I went on Saturday. Ok, headed home.  I make it back into the Bronx. YAY! I am on the right path when the GPS says make a left.  I hesitate then remembered on Sunday I saw a pathway from the car and I was hoping it would bring me home through Inwood Park.  

That is exactly where the GPS takes me, into Inwood Park.  I am excited and now 90 minutes into what was supposed to be a 60 minute, I am getting tired.

Half mile into Inwood park, she says turn right.  I look to my right and it’s another flight of stairs. I checked to the end of the path just in case but nope this was it. Up the stairs I go.

 Once I made it to the top there are no signs on which way to go.  I head up the path and go through a tunnel only to come out on the south bound side of the Henry Hudson Parkway. That's bad.  Back the way I came and take a different path heading north. I live north I figure north is good.

Riding, riding, riding. I finally see my neighborhood. Problem is there is a river between us. At this point I thought about swimming across the Harlem and pulling my bike. I am so tired and frustrated of not knowing where I am going.  I get a little bit of luck. There is a construction worker for the bridge working on it. I ask for directions. He gives me options: the short way or the long way. I opt for short.  I am just so done.

 

The long way would have taken me back through Inwood Park, to Broadway to home. Probably another half hour.  The short way start me off on a gravel path that turns back into paved in about 50 feet and it is steep. Did I say steep? Steep enough that I got off my bike and pushed it up the hill.  There was no way, this early in the season and being a bit mentally defeated that I was going to be able to ride the hill.   

It did deposit me at the mouth of the Henry Hudson Bridge was grateful that I was so close to home.   As soon as I make the left off the path to get on the bridge I see the big red sign “BIKE TRAFFIC STRICTLY PROHIBITED"

 

I think you can guess what I did.  

 

Once over the bridge, I was in my neighborhood and so happy to be there.  

Lesson learned!  I bought a mount for my iPhone and looked at Google Maps on how exactly to get in and out of Ft. Tyron on a bike.  

 

Off to swim!

 

Laura

Rain, Snow & Cold

Hi. It's Laura.  

Where did the week go? 

I started Monday with a nice quiet easy run, half recovery week from half marathon training, half starting off easy on tri training.  That did not last. 

And of course I only have myself to blame.  I knew tri training season was coming but somehow I just neglected to prepare my schedule for it. I liken it to people who shop for Christmas on Christmas Eve like they didn't know it was coming.

I had scheduled some kickboxing classes with a friend for mid-week. I hate to cancel as it always makes me feel guilty. I hate when people cancel me so I try to not unless it’s absolutely necessary. I do believe some people in this world think that cancelling all of their scheduled plans is somehow cool or makes them look super busy. It doesn't it just makes them rude and they are no friends of mine. 

 

I also volunteer at a cat rescue as a trainer of new volunteers. I had promised them that I would train two new potential volunteers this week. I don't know where I think I was going to get all of this extra time to fit in all of that plus 3 runs, 3 swims and 3 bike rides on top of everything else.  Something always suffers. This week it was me!

 

The week, like I said, started off ok. Easy run. My bike was at the shop being tuned-up along with some other new feature added like aero bars and new handle bar tape. It was ready Monday afternoon and ready to ride for Tuesday (or not).

 

I won't ride in the rain and Tuesday it rained hard. I kept trying to time my ride to go out in between the “on and off” rain. Bad plan. I wound up in the gym on the stationary bike.  Yay for me that I wrote and awesome spin ride for myself that is customizable. At least I have an indoor bike to ride.  I also managed to squeeze in my first swim in the afternoon. 

 

The swim was like no other that I have done before. The Husband joined me! We could not do this when we were at the JCC because it was just too crowded and crazy. Maybe being in the Bronx won't be so bad after all but I will let you know about that after my first bike ride outside. Yeah, we'll get to that in a minute.

 

I think everyone was quite surprised to wake up to snow on Wednesday morning.  I truly thought that with the triathlon being later in the year (august 4th) and training starting in April that I would not have to train in the cold at all. AND THE COLD! I love snow and I love the cold but I (and I believe everyone else at this point too) is ready for some consistently warmer weather. I skipped my run in the morning and put it off to the afternoon due to the cold and the logistics of travel into Manhattan.

 

By the time I got around to getting to my run, I was too tired to tackle the hills of Spuyten Duyvil and wound up back in the gym on the treadmill.  Training wise, I only had a run scheduled but wound up in kickboxing class Wednesday afternoon too. Phew.

 

I seriously think someone decided to mess with the clocks on Thursday, not to mention perhaps a little poor scheduling on my part.   I needed to swim and ride on Thursday. Although it was a little chilly, my intention was to ride outside. Because the pool is in my building , I was going to put the laundry in the washer, hit the pool, then head back put the clothes in the dryer and finally catch up on email. FAIL. I started the laundry alright but the close our laundry room at 2 pm to 5pm every Thursday for cleaning. I forgot about the closing but that doesn't mean I wasn't pissed (during my two hours of irrational behavior that ensued, I blamed everyone else) the swim happened the ride did not.

 

I start Friday morning making up the work I couldn't get done during the rest of the week. I will continue to make up that work on Saturday as well.  Once again I was relegated to the indoor bike trainer because of the weather.  It was 34 degrees this morning. Add 15-20 mph winds (speed of the bike) and that makes it too cold for me to ride. As for the run, I was too lazy after a dinner out with The Blondish Friend (code for one too many glasses of wine). Our dinner was long overdue, and had we more time, we would have had more wine. Since I missed her so much, I decided to miss the outside run and let myself be lazy by running the treadmill.

 

I know what next week looks like already and it certainly looks much less packed with other time sucking activities. This should allow me to get everything in on the day it supposed to happen instead of scrambling to squeeze things and doubling up on training sessions.

 

Laura

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks
Jim Ewing

---

From: Laura Irving [laurairving@live.com]
Sent: Friday, April 18, 2014 2:29 PM
To: Jim Ewing
Subject: blog post for editing: Rain, Snow & Cold

 

Hi.It's Laura.

 

Where did the week go?

 

I started Monday with a nice quiet easy run, half recovery week from half marathon training , half starting off easy on tri training..  That did not last.

 

And of course I only have myself to blame.  I knew tri training season was coming but some how I just neglected to prepare my schedule for it. I liken it to people who shop for Christmas on Christmas eve like they didn't know it was coming.

 

I had scheduled some kickboxing classes with a friend for mid week. I hate to cancel it always makes me feel guilty. I hate when people cancel me so I try to not unless its absolutely necessary. I do believe some people in this world think that cancelling all of their scheduled plans is some how cool or makes them look super busy. It doesn't it just makes them rude and they are no friend of mine. 

 

I also volunteer at a cat rescue as a trainer of new volunteers and had promised them that I would train two new potential volunteers this week. I don't know where I think I was going to get all of this extra time to fit in all of that plus 3 runs, 3 swims and 3 bike rides on top of everything else.  something always suffers. this week it was me!

 

the week like I said started off ok. easy run. My bike was at the shop being tuned- up along with some other new feature added like aero bars and new handle bar tape.it was ready Monday afternoon and ready to ride for Tuesday. or not.

 

I won't ride in the rain and Tuesday it rained hard. I kept trying to time my ride to go out in between the on and off rain. bad plan. I wound up in the gym on the stationary bike.  Yay for me that I wrote and awesome ride for myself that is customizable and at least I have a indoor bike to ride.  I also managed to squeeze my first swim in the afternoon. 

 

the swim was like no other that I have done before, the husband joined me! we could not do this when we were at the JCC because it was just too crowded and crazy. maybe being in the Bronx won't be so bad after all but I will let you know about that after my first bike ride outside. yeah, we'll get to that in a minute.

 

I think everyone was quite surprised to wake up to snow on Wednesday morning.  I truly thought that with the triathlon being later in the year (august 4th) and training starting in April that I would not have to train in the cold at all. and the cold! I love snow and I love the cold but I ( and I believe everyone else at this point too) is ready for some consistently warmer weather. I skipped my run in the morning and put off to the afternoon due to the cold and the logistics of travel into Manhattan.

 

by the time I got around to getting to my run , I was too tired to tackle the hills of spuyten dyvil and wound up back in the gym on the treadmill.  Training wise, I only had a run scheduled but wound up in kickboxing class Wednesday afternoon. phew.

I seriously think someone decided to mess with the clocks on Thursday not to mention perhaps a little poor scheduling on my part.   I needed to swim and ride on Thursday and although it was a little chilly my intention was to ride outside. Because the pool is in my building , I was going to put the laundry in the washer, hit the pool and then head back put the clothes in the dryer and catch up on email. FAIL. I started the laundry alright but the close our laundry room at 2 pm to 5pm every Thursday for cleaning. I forgot but that doesn't mean I wasn't pissed that I forgot (during my two hours of irrational behavior that ensued I blamed everyone else) the swim happened the ride did not.

 

 I start Friday morning making up the work I couldn't get done during the rest of the week. I will continue to make up that work on Saturday as well.  Once again I was relegated to the indoor bike trainer because of the weather.  it was 34 degrees this morning. add 15-20mph winds (speed of the bike) and that makes it too cold for me to ride. as for the run, I was too lazy after a dinner out with the blondish friend (code for one too many glasses of wine) . Our dinner was long over do and had we more time I would have more wine since I missed her so much to make it outside to run and let myself be lazy and run the treadmill.


I know what next week looks like already and it certainly looks much less packed with other things which should allow me to get everything in on the day it supposed to happen instead of scrambling to squeeze things and doubling up on training sessions.

 

Laura

 

 

 

 

 

Here We Go Again

Hi. It's Laura.

Here we go again.

Today begins training for the New York City Triathlon. They say third time is a charm but I think that would apply only if I was trying to win. I am not going to try and win. I would like to tri (:)) and finish a third time.

Let's back up a little to the end of last season. After the tri in July 2013, I went on to do a sprint distance triathlon down in Jersey, the first week of September. The bike and run portion of the race were pretty easy. The swim however presented more of a challenge than I had anticipated. But I am going to do that one again as well this year.

Needless to say by the time the second week in September had passed, the last thing I wanted to do was swim, bike or run. All I wanted to do was yoga to stretch out my poor weary muscles and go back to kickboxing.

I have been at the dojo all winter long and loving it. There is nothing more empowering than hitting both things and people. I did exactly three yoga classes and stopped. So much for that. Perhaps I am just not cut out for a season of downward dog being all Zen.

So here we are on day one of training, sort of. My race season this year consists of a half marathon in June. I started training for that about a month ago. The NYC tri, this year, is in August and the sprint distance tri is in September. So although technically it is day one, it’s actually week 8 of half marathon training. I confused myself this morning on what to run. Do I run what the training app for triathlon says or do I stick with the running plan. I am going to stick with my half marathon running plan since it is closer than the tri. Having done an overlapping race training before, I default to the one that is closest.

The most difficult part of training this year will be my new neighborhood. The Husband and I moved to the Riverdale section of the Bronx at the beginning of March. The people here are completely deluded into thinking that they live in farm country. I have news for them. They, like us, are in New York City. Anyway the community is fighting installing a bike path. There are no current bike paths in my section of the Bronx so I need to figure out quickly, like by tomorrow morning, where I am going to ride. As for the running, ugh.

The neighborhood here is hilly to say the very least. I will be gathering some statistics to share with you as training season progresses. I posted on Facebook that my first 5-miler got me to 116 floors on my fitbit. That is a lot of hills.

The best part of this training season will be the swimming. If you have read my blog in the past, you know full well that the JCC was the source of quite a bit of material for me. It was crowded, the people were rude and somewhat entitled. Here in the Bronx, my building has its very own pool. Indoors! It is a very quiet place and although it’s a bit shorter than the pool at the JCC, the lack of crowd is absolutely thrilling.

So we started the season off with a 3 mile run, which is also a recovery week for half marathon training. At every four weeks, the running plan has a recovery week before the next block of building upon the previous block. Good timing on my part. The triathlon plan has the same 4 week blocks.

Things to look forward to.

Laura