Race Schedule 09

It's official. We've registered for not one, but two triathlons. We've paid our dues and there is no turning back.

Our original plan was to do our first race in July. Sam would do an olympic distance and I would do the sprint distance. Yesterday we decided to move up our schedule and both do a sprint in May and the olympic distance in July! It's time to ramp up the training!!

The first race is May 16th in Atsion, NJ. The Pine Barrens Sprint Triathlon will include a 1/2 mile swim, 24 mile bike, and 4 mile run. This is a very long bike for a sprint (about twice the average) which makes me a little nervous. Especially since we haven't even bought our bikes yet (scheduled for April 11th).

The second race is July 26th. Originally we intended to do the New Jersey State Triathlon but when we went to register yesterday the olympic distance was already full! After some searching we decided on the Massachusetts State Olympic Triathlon. An olympic distance race is about double of an average sprint: .9 Mile Swim, 21 Mile Bike, 6 Mile Run. See how the bike is actually shorter than the May race (?!).

We'll be kicking off the race season with the Scotland Run 10k on April 11th in Central Park!

How do you celebrate?

I received some wonderful news last week - a promotion! In a time when so many people are unemployed I can't be more thankful that I not only have a job but that I've been promoted! To celebrate this great achievement I did two major things. First, Sam and I toasted with pints of Ben and Jerry's. He choose Light Cherry Garcia and I had Cinnamon Buns. Yummo!

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After that, I went shopping... for books. Lots of books. I hit up Half Ebay (an ebay for books) and bought 11 used books. I've had many of these on my wish list and I finally made the investment. After much late night perusing and $67.38 (including shipping) I had 11 used books. I love used books because they are good for the environment and the pocket book. Even with the $3.49 per book for shipping, they are still a bargain!

I have a great mix of fiction and nonfiction, old and new:

1. In Defense of Food : Michael Pollan


2. The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao : Junot Diaz


3. American Psycho : Bret Easton Ellis


4. On the Road : Jack Kerouac


5. Red Tent : Anita Diamant


6. Angels & Demons : Dan Brown


7. Walden Or, Life in the Woods : Henry David Thoreau


8. Garbage Land : Elizabeth Royte


9. The Great Gatsby : F. Scott Fitzgerald, Matthew Joseph Bruccoli, Scott F. Fitzgerald


10. The Reader : Bernhard Schlink


11. The Devil in the White City : Erik Larson

They've already started arriving and I'm so excited to start reading! Some many books so little time! What books are on your wish list right now?

Spring is here!

Sorry for the lack of posts lately. Life has gotten a little crazy since my parents visit but I'm settling into the new routine of spring and plan to begin posting regularly again.

Spring is finally here and I'm transitioning to running outside. It's been a couple years since I've done outside running because of issues with my back. Those issues are resolved now (more on this soon - I promise!) . I started running on the treadmill again this winter and I've been nervously anticipating the transition to the open road.

On March 14th I had my first outdoor run. I lifted weights at the gym, spent 30 minutes on the stationary bike and then I hit the road. Even though my iPod died before my run even started (it's 4 years old!) I still had an awesome run! I ran about 3.5 miles and it felt great!

Last weekend Sam and I headed to Connecticut to escape the city and I ran outside on Saturday and Sunday. The roads there are very hilly but it still felt great. On Saturday I ran 5 miles in 55 minutes and even though I wanted to die at the end (hills are killer!!) I was happy with the accomplishment. On Sunday we switched up the route because I needed something with a little less hills, although it was still quite hilly. This run was closer to 4.5 miles and I completed it in 50 minutes. All in all it was wonderful to be running outside and soaking up the fresh air!

If you are moving from indoor to outdoor running soon, check out this great post by FitSugar about transitioning from the treadmill to the open road. She suggests starting slowly and adding one new outdoor run per week, slowing down and reducing distance. She also suggested starting on flat surfaces and slowly increasing hills. All these tips are meant to reduce risk of injury and burnout. Check out the post and additional tips here.

In addition to our runs, we spent Saturday shopping for our road bikes. Right now we are leaning towards the entry level Trek 1.2.

It is not cheap ($799) but it seems like a good solid bike. Since it is a women's specific bike it comes in the perfect color - white and pink. Because, as I'm quickly learning, women love everything in pink (!?!?). Oh well, at least it isn't completely pink! I was really hoping to find something used (both to save money and for environmental reasons) but I can't find anything that meets my needs, size and price range. So, I'll probably end up with a new bike, but at least we will buy from an independently owned bike shop!

101 in 1001: Day 24

I've been working on my 101 in 1001 list. Here are my first set of accomplishments. I've completed 4 items and another five are in progress!

Start Date: February 17, 2009
End Date: November 15, 2011

Completed

#18. Make a Kiva loan (completed 3/11/09)
I made a Kiva loan to Nancy. She lives in Peru and sells fruit in a local market. She wants to expand her business and buy chairs, tables and plates.


#56. Visit the Observation Deck at the Empire State Building (completed 3/8/09)
My parents visited NYC for the first time last weekend. On Sunday we took the elevator to the 86th floor to check out the view. It was pretty awesome. I think it would be even more awesome on a clear day, or even better at night!

#76. Frame wedding photos for wall (completed 2/22/08)
After much deliberation we bought a frame, choose the pics and hung it on the wall.

#78. Purchase honeymoon album (completed 2/27/09)
I had already designed an album on Blurb, I was just putting off buying it because, when you include shipping, they aren't exactly cheap. I bit the bullet and it arrive on 2/27. Yea!

In Progress

#10. Drink 20 new types of beer (2 of 20)
1) Dale's Pale Ale - I tried Dale's Pale Ale at a Weddingbee party at Mrs. Bee's house. Mr. Toucan brought it and it was pretty good. It reminded me a little bit of PBR. (3 stars)

2) Flying Dog Classic Pale Ale - We tried this at Brother Jimmy's on the East side. I would probably order it again, but it wasn't that impressive. (4 stars)

#50. See taping of a television show (tickets ordered for July 09)
I requested tickets for The Daily Show. And guess what?! They're free. You can request yours here. We'll be watching a taping in July! Woohoo!

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#84. Donate blood three times (0/3)
I scheduled an appointment to donate blood on Thursday March 26th!

#92. Replace photos in three frames, every year (1/9)
I switched out a photo in our bedroom. We originally had a picture from when we went to see the Giants in San Francisco. I changed the photo to a pic from the second-to-last Yankee's game at the old Yankee's stadium.


#93. Buy fresh flowers once a month for a year (1/12)
I bought a bouquet of beautiful red and yellow tulips. I forgot to take a picture before they died, but I promise they were very beautiful. Spring is just around the corner!

30% Discount at Gap, Old Navy and Banana Republic

Erin over at Life with Cancer alerted me to this great fundraiser! Gap, Old Navy and Banana Republic are participating in a fundraising event for The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. Starting tomorrow, March 12, through Sunday, March 15th, for every purchase you make you get a 30% discount on your total purchase and they will give 5% of the amount you spend to The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.

You can boost the economy, support a great charity and get some new clothes too!

Print the Coupon Here: http://www.gapgiveandget.com/np/lls.html

Training Schedule (2/28 - 3/5)

A few bumps along the way this week but things turned out pretty well. This weekend and next week will be low on training since my parents are getting into town this afternoon. This is their first visit to NYC so we have lots of exploring to do!

Training Schedule (2/28 - 3/5)

Saturday Feb 28th
Weight Lifting: 75 minutes
Stationary Bike (low seat): 30 minutes - 7 miles at resistance 6/8
Treadmill Run: 40 minutes - 4.0 miles at 6 mph

I increased my run on Saturday from 3 to 4 miles - the longest I've gone in over a year. The actual run felt great but I didn't feel too great afterwards. Everything just felt a little tight and "twingy". Regardless, it was still a great workout. We celebrated with yummy comfort food at Brother Jimmy's. The joys of guilt free eating after 3 hours of exercise!

Sunday March 1st
Swim: 70 minutes - 2700 meters

200 warm up
10 x 100 on 2 minutes
150 kick
150 pull
4 x 250 swim
200 cool down

Monday March 2nd
Treadmill Run: 30 minutes at 6.0 mph - 3 miles

We had a snowstorm on Sunday night so we skipped the gym on Monday morning. I convinced myself to go after work by telling myself I could sit in the sauna after (I don't know how anybody can workout after work) .

Tuesday March 3rd
Weight Lifting: 20 minutes
Stationary Bike (high seat): 30 minutes - 7.1 miles at resistance 6/8

Wednesday March 4th
Weight Lifting - 20 minutes
Running Elliptical - 30 minutes

We planned to go swimming on Wednesday night so I decided not to push it too hard. My right shin/knee was kind of aching so instead of running I jumped on the "running elliptical" machine. It is different than a regular elliptical because the machine has no tracks. The motion can move from total vertical (like stair stepping) to a full stride of running. We didn't end making it to the pool after work. I hate working out in the evening and it is so hard to get up my motivation after a long day. Instead, we checked out new restaurant in our neighborhood and ate some great nachos!

{Precor AMT}

Thursday Feb 26th
Treadmill Springs: 5min warm up, 18 minutes sprints (3 sets), 3 minute cool down

Sprint Intervals (6 minutes - Repeated 3x):
60 seconds at 7 mph
60 seconds at 5.5 mph
60 seconds at 8 mph
60 seconds at 5.5 mph
60 seconds at 9 mph
60 seconds at 5.5 mph

My personal training with Eric is over (*tear*) . I only had a little time at the gym this morning so I had to fit maximum workout into a short time period. I decided to change up my sprint routine. Before I sprinting 30 seconds and recover for 90 seconds. Today I did 3 sets with 60 second sprint and 60 second recover. It was hard, but it felt great! Plus, when you sprint at 9mph it makes 7mph feel so much easier!

Friday, March 6th
Rest & Explore NYC with the 'rents.

Enjoy your weekend!!

Empty Lane = Fun & Hard Swim

Sam and I showed up to the pool on Sunday afternoon for our weekend swim. We usually try to get there when they open at 9am, but after a late night out with friends we allowed ourselves to sleep in and hit the pool after lunch.

Flushing Meadows-Corona Park Natatorium
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We swim at the Flushing Meadows Corona Park Pool in Queens. It is conveniently located a short drive from our apartment and for $75 for a years membership you can't beat the price (this fee gives you access to the fitness center and all the other NYC pools too!). Unfortunately, it is always very busy. The lanes are divided into slow, medium and fast but due to the wiiiiiiddddeeee range of swimming abilities anybody who knows how to swim ends up in the fast lane (the slow lane is for kids and the medium lane is for people who do breast stroke with their heads out of the water). This is all to say that with a very crowded "fast" lane it can be hard for me to get a heart pumping workout in. Sometimes it feels like this:

Sometimes our pool seems this crowded...

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Well we lucked out on Sunday and we had our own lane for a half hour! It was really unbelievable. I took the opportunity to do an interval set of 10 by 100 meters on 2 minutes. For the non swimmers this meant that every two minutes I started another 100 meter set. Each 100 took me about 1:40 so I had around 20 seconds to rest before starting the next 100. It was nice to be able to get my heart rate up and really get a good workout going. Although I must say by the 7th or 8th interval I was starting to get pretty tired and a little tiny part of me was wishing to have some slow swimmers to force myself to rest. After about a half hour I remember the age old saying "Be careful what you wish for" as our lane quickly filled up and our luck was over. Overall I had a great workout!

200 warm up
10 x 100 on 2 minutes
150 kick
150 pull
4 x 250 swim
200 cool down
2700 meters

Training Schedule (2/21 - 2/27)

It was a pretty standard week for me. I changed up my run for Monday to include sprints and I had my last personal training session with Eric on Thursday :(. He pretty much kicked my butt long enough to last me awhile. We were planning to swim on Thursday night but Sam got caught at work, and to be honest, I was grateful for the rest.


Training Schedule (2/21 - 2/27)

Saturday Feb 21st
Weight Lifting: 75 minutes
Stationary Bike (low seat): 30 minutes - 7 miles at resistance 6/8
Treadmill Run: 31 minutes - 3.4 miles at 15 minutes at 6 mph & 15 minutes at 6.5 mph

Sunday Feb 22nd
Swim: 70 minutes - 2700 meters

Monday Feb 23rd
Treadmill Sprints: 4min warm up, 25 minutes sprints (5 sets), 6 minutes cool down

Sprint Intervals (Repeat 5x)

• 30 seconds at 7 mph
• 90 seconds at 5.5 mph
• 30 seconds at 8 mph
• 90 seconds at 5.5 mph
• 30 seconds at 9 mph
• 30 seconds at 5.5 mph

Tuesday Feb 24th
Weight Lifting: 20 minutes
Stationary Bike (high seat): 30 minutes - 7.1 miles at resistance 6/8

Wednesday Feb 25th
Weight Lifting - 20 minutes
Treadmill Run: 30 minutes at 6.0 mph

Thursday Feb 26th
Easy Elliptical: 30 minutes
Stretching: 10 minutes
Personal Training with Eric: kicked my ass with circuit training, weights and abs for an hour

Friday, Feb 27th
REST

Total: 2/21-2/27
Swim: 70 minutes / 2700 meters
Bike: 60 minutes / 14.1 miles
Run: 90 minutes / 9 miles