Hi. It's Laura.
In what is supposed to be a quiet holiday week in NYC as
it turns out is not.
Everywhere (the park and the pool) seem to be filled with
people.
I was able to squeeze a 70 minute ride in the park on Monday
morning before the rain started.
Having learned my lesson from last week, I decided to get
it done first thing in the morning instead of waiting for the weather to get
worse. Oh wait! You don't know because I didn't tell you. Last
Monday I decided to hit the gym first thing in the morning and head out for my
ride second. Huge mistake. Last Monday was very hot if you
recall. I rode 90 minutes: once around the park and up and down the west
side. I was at 74th & West End before I made my first stop. When I
did stop and felt the 90 degree sun hit my face, I thought it was going to
melt right off.
This Monday I got it right: Bike, then gym all in an
effort to manage the weather.
Tuesday morning I headed out for a one hour run but not
without my own personal drama to start the morning. So last week I was
super excited about my new toy and the fact that it had a new strap for the HR
monitor. In my over zealousness and fervor, I neglected to put on any lubrication
on the strap. So the word of the day is “ouch”. I have an
irritation from last week and because of the humidity this morning, I
have new one on top of the old one (well not exactly on top). I felt
it forming, just like a blister, about 2 1/2 miles into my run so I decided to
slide it down just a tad. Duh. Now I have a matching set.
From the park to the pool.
I have been very lucky this year in the pool so far. I
have encountered a lot of cooperative people until today.
I am not sure if it because of the holiday week or that
it is just summer but the pool today was just chaos.
It started off pretty quiet. It was just me and another
woman in my lane. She jumped in right before me and took off like a shot,
or so I thought. I am always initially intimidated
by other swimmers. It turned out she was
just a little too slow for the fast medium lane
Right next door is the fast lane. There were two
men in that lane, in addition to some others, that kept jumping back forth from
their lane (fast) to my lane (medium fast).
At one point, I was taking a rest between sets and an
older man in the fast lane asked me if I was going to go. I looked at him and
asked him directly what do you care, you are not in my lane. He says he wants
to go. I said go, you are in a different lane. So he jumped under the ropes and
cut me off. WTF?
There were too many people, by the end of my swim,
swimming in my lane that didn’t belong there. I was very happy to be getting
close to the end. During my cool down, I caught one of the women
that should not have been there. At the wall, I stopped to rest; she
asked me if I wanted to go. I said “no, go ahead”. She started to insist that I
go until I told her I was cooling down. I managed to avoid her for the
next 150 meters. People!
12 days left go. Panic comes and goes.
Late last week the organizer of the race sent out the
"athlete's guide"
The athlete's guide let's you know what to expect: the
schedule of events for the weekend, the location of the mandatory athlete's
orientation, the expo and security procedures.
Of course this year there are new security procedures due
to the bombing in Boston.
Nothing huge or outrageous, just asking everyone participating
to use clear plastic bags to bring their gear into the transition area. Once in
transition, you are free to use your own bag.
Like I said, no biggie.
The biggest change for me this year is my start.
Apparently old ladies go before young ladies and most men. The only age
groupers in front of the 45-49 year old woman are men ages 40-44. It looks like
there are a lot of them because there are three groups of them. I have
moved up to the 9th wave to start which is 9 age groups ahead of where I was last year. An
earlier start means an earlier finish. Time trial starts are schedule for a
6:04 am start. I am guessing I will be in the water by 6:30ish.
For the most part, the biggest parts of my training are
finished. I have only one 90 minute bike ride left and one brickwork out
this Saturday which by comparison is not that bad. A 90 minute ride with a 15
min run and then it’s all about rest and not getting hurt. Oy.
Laura
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