The Open Water Swim...

It’s Week 15 of NYC Tri training – only 5 weeks left. I’m shaking in my booties.

Here’s what I did this past week:

Saturday: OPEN WATER SWIM + 45 min run

Sunday: 2 hour bike ride

Monday: 1 Hour Group Swim (I'M QUEEN OF THE WORLD)

Tuesday: 6 Mile Run (I HATE YOU BODY)

Wednesday: 1 Hour Indoor Bike (NOTHING TO SEE HERE)

Thursday: 40 Minute Swim (THIS ISN'T SO BAD)

Why all the random add-ons? This past week was filled with highs and lows. Let’s start with the craziest of them all – the open water swim at Coney Island on Saturday.

I really thought I would be more nervous than I was for this swim. Given my general hatred dislike for swimming over the past few weeks, I thought it was going to be rough. But swim practice earlier in the week was actually quite fun, and I was on my first-ever high from swimming.

My fave training buddy Meggie and I got to Coney Island nice and early for instructions by our coaches and the lifeguards. The first thing I heard when we got to the boardwalk – the water is COLD. Tropical Storm Andrea passed over New York and left just a couple hours before our swim, thus making the ocean cold and choppy. I found out after the swim that the water hadn’t been that cold in the eight years that one of our coaches has been doing TNT.

MIXED EMOTIONS.

We put on our wetsuits, and were advised to do some running before the swim to get warmed up. When we finally got in the water, and my feet were not happy with me. During the first lap, I kept my head up the entire time, since ya know, I COULDN'T SEE THE BOTTOM, WHICH IS STRANGE.  

In the second lap, I told myself to trust my months of training, and try to swim “normally.” I put my face in the water, and just swam. My face felt like ice during the first few minutes, but I started to get the hang of it. I have heard that it is really common for people to freak out the first time they swim in open water, but I wanted to avoid this. I counted my strokes in my head – one, two, three, four, five, six, SIGHT. This was also really foreign to me. We practiced sighting in last week’s swim practice, but it’s sort of silly in the pool because you know exactly where you’re going… but in the ocean, you have to make sure you’re not swimming out to sea.

We did twenty minutes of continuous lap swimming, a few other exercises, and we were done. We did it!!!

It really wasn’t as scary as I thought it would be. Looking back, this swim was a huge mental barrier for me. Now that I know that I can actually swim in open water, and brave it out in less than ideal conditions, it just doesn’t seem so daunting to me anymore.

That being said, I finally decided to sign up for this puppy:

I knew I wanted to do a sprint tri before the big day, but I was a bit scared about whether I’d be prepared for the swim. During the NYC Tri you swim with the current, so you’re not actually swimming for that long (my mentor Andy said that last year his NYC swim time was 17 minutes, and in a different race with the same distance, his swim time was 33 minutes…).

The Birchwood Lakes swim is an out and back half mile swim in a lake. No current, just still, open water. But now I feel like I can do it. Plus, I realized the other night at swim practice that we swam a little over a mile in the pool (!!!!).

At least I think I did. I am REALLY bad at counting laps and meters and stuff. You can tell me if I’m totally off, but I think I read somewhere that 33 laps is a mile. (Actually, don’t tell me and shatter my confidence. K great).

So the swimming is going well (for once), and I’m pumped about this sprint tri as a practice run for race day. Yet I have been sidelined this week by a stupid tweak in my left IT Band.

I went out for 400 sprints Tuesday night after what felt like a crappy day. Everything at work was bothering me, everyone was TOUCHING me on the subway, and I just felt like a cranky troll. Normally, a good run can get me out of a funk, so I was looking forward to it. But my body felt tired, and I should have listened to that.

I felt fine during the warm-up, and even somewhat strong in the first five 400s. But during the last sprint, I felt really beat, and at the end of it my body said ENOUGH. I couldn’t slow my heart rate, and I did some run-walking to try to cool-down. I noticed some pain in my left IT Band, and by the last mile it was really hurting. I cut the run short, and harrumphed my way home.

WHY OH WHY would you do this to me IT Band? We’ve been getting along so well, you and I. Did I push you too hard? Just tell me. I’ll be good to you, I promise.

I went to see the all-powerful Dr. Levine yesterday, and he was a bit perplexed by it as well. He found two big knots in the muscle, and worked them out for me. But he advised no running for at least a week. I’m still pouting.

Especially because in one week, I will be here:

My dad, cousins and me after the bike up the Notch!
You can really see what we look like, no?

I’ll be heading up to Vermont next week for a vacay/family reunion, and have every intention of enjoying the amazing scenery by running and biking as much as I can. Give me some trails and grass, and I am one HAPPY gal. I am not going to let my stubborn leg keep me from doing the things I love. 

Brooklyn Half-Marathon Race Recap

After training for 12 weeks, the day finally came. I ran the Brooklyn Half-Marathon, and it was awesome.

As I’ve said before, last year’s race was quite terrible, and it taught me a lot about running (like how running on a treadmill is nothing like running outside. You heard it first from me). I was undertrained and unprepared for 13.1 miles of pavement, and almost swore off running because of it. But this year’s race was a completely different experience for me.

I trained for the half using Hal Higdon’s intermediate training schedule, which had me running a lot. There were speedwork sessions, tempo runs, easy runs, pace runs and long runs. I became accustomed to running faster and longer, and really tested my legs. I felt confident that I would be able to run this year’s race faster than the debacle of 2011, but I didn’t know what race day would bring.

I spent Friday drinking a lot of water. And I mean a lot. So much I had water belly. After doing a bit of research after last year’s race, I realized I had all of the symptoms of dehydration. I didn’t want to take any chances this year.

Friday night, I headed to Jillian’s apartment, where fellow racers and I carbed up on gnocchi, penne, garlic bread and cookies. I also brought some colorful Macarons from Cookie Road in Greenpoint, which were a hit.

How can you not love macarons from a place called Cookie Road?

I followed my little routine the night before a race – pinned my bib on my shirt, put my clif shot in my running capris, threw in a change of clothes in a bag, and chugged some Gatorade. I was all ready to fall asleep and dream of happy running things… when I heard a really loud bass sound in my apartment. After some investigating, I realized the apartment below mine was having a party. Awesome.

I became nervous and mad. Of all nights! So I tried putting my headphones in to fall asleep to J.K. Rowling, and eventually dozed off around 12:30AM. And when I felt like my head had just hit the pillow, my alarm woke me up at 4:50AM.

I went the stress-free route of taking a cab to the start of the race, where I could happily munch on my breakfast and Vita Coco and not worry about getting there late. I got to the start at 6:00AM on the dot just like NYRR told me to, and the nervous knots in my stomach showed up.

Grand Army Plaza!
It's way too early for exclamation points.

This year’s race seemed to be a lot more organized – either that, or the man with the microphone by the porta potties was on a power trip. I knew exactly when I needed to drop off my bag, get in line for the toilets, and finally, when to head to the corrals. I am good at following directions.

Lotta potties.

For most of the other NYRR races I’ve done, I’m in the corrals for about five minutes max. On Saturday, it was closer to 20 minutes. I was getting a little claustrophobic as the guy stretching next to me had serious spacial-awareness issues, but it wasn’t anything a little iPod mixing couldn’t fix (no classic corral pic this time – I was a minimalist and only carried with me my clif shot, credit card, and a twenty. I roll deep). Before I knew it, we were off.

Courtesy of NYRR
I WILL make it into one of their photo albums someday 

Even though I stopped at the porta potties before the race, all the day drinking on Friday must have really filled me up. During Mile 1, I realized I already had to go again. I am cursed with a small bladder.

I clocked in Mile 1 at 8:07, and I told myself to slooow down. The first few miles of the course were completely unfamiliar to me, so I was trying to gauge my pace against the terrain as best I could. I located a string of porta potties at around mile 1.5 that didn’t have a huge line, and told myself that adding 60 seconds to my time was inconsequential to the whole race (last year, I had a full bladder around Mile 8 but I didn't stop and it was unpleasant. I learn from my mistakes). The pit stop thus explains the outlier pace at Mile 2: 9:37.

My legs didn’t feel so great between miles 3-5, which I told myself was just a result of my body warming-up. I was feeling worried and was still trying to find my stride, but I reminded myself that I had looked forward to this moment for three months. After a little self-pep talk, I started to feel really great.

We hit Prospect Park, and I was hovering around an 8:20 pace. But then I got to Mile 7, at the end of the Prospect Park loop, and I was hitting an 8:04 pace... and feeling good. What was happening??


This was when I really started to enjoy the race. I was trying to see how fast I could maintain my pace but still feel OK. I downed my vanilla clif shot as I headed out of the park, and prepared myself for the sunny and widely-dreaded straightaway to Coney Island.

This is pretty much what the entire straightaway looked like.

I loaded the end of my playlist strategically with my favorite upbeat songs (I gauge whether a race is a success based on how much I lip sync on the course). The miles seemed to fly by, and I was really enjoying myself. Before I knew it, I hit Mile 11, and I tried to pick up the pace for the last two miles. 


With a huge smile on my face, I made it to the Coney Island Boardwalk, where I spotted my parents and got a rush of happiness that carried me across the finish line. Surprisingly, I didn't feel like collapsing. I just wanted to get to my family so I could celebrate.

Splits that pleasantly surprised me.

I was really happy with my time. I PR'd by 10 minutes, and beat by goal pace by 15 seconds. I didn't stop smiling all day.

I made my way to meet my parents and Keith at Nathan's, where we laughed and downed hot dogs, fries and most importantly, beer.

How freakin' cute are they

My Keith!

Aside from wanting to be able to complete the race without being in all-consuming pain, my main reason for wanting to be hydrated and well-trained was so that I could enjoy the end of race treats that I missed out on last year. Success.