The Saturday Workout

After a week off recovering from my cold I was glad to be back at the gym today. It was a solid "Saturday Workout." In our house a "Saturday Workout" is more than just a working out on Saturdays. A little back story...

When Sam and I first met neither of us were very active. We were both former athletes but not doing any physical activity on a regular basis. To top this off we were not eating very healthy (ice cream sundaes every night?) and we smoked. We had been members of a gym for about a year but we went sporadically and never saw results.

On January 1, 2007 we quit smoking cold turkey. The day we quit we also started working out to prevent weight gain and distract us from cravings. For the first month we were going to the gym 11 times a week! Monday through Thursday we would get up at 6am to workout in the morning, then go to the office, come home and go back to the gym, eat dinner and go to bed. We took Fridays off to recover and Sundays were "easy" days with stretching, core and easy cardio. But Saturday? On Saturdays we killed ourselves. We would spend 3-4 hours at the gym. Usually around 2 hours of weight lifting and another 1-2 hours of cardio. It was intense and quite possibly insane.

After a month we quit the weeknight workouts and stuck with a 6 day a week schedule and continued with our killer Saturday Workouts. Fitness and health became a focal point of our lives. We quickly saw results. I was toning up and I had some pretty kick ass guns. And Sam? He lost over 95lbs! He promises to show before and after pictures in his guest post :)

Since starting triathlons this year we have not had many Saturday Workouts. Our weekends were spent on long training runs/rides or races. In the last few weeks we have started with our Saturday Workouts again and I'm glad to have them back. Today I spent about 45 minutes lifting weights (bench press, squats, shoulders, triceps, biceps, etc.) and 30 minutes doing core work. Then I took a "Cycle Burn" class which combines x-bikes (indoor mountain bikes) and Pilates. Then, since I still can't run because of shin splints, I spent 45 minutes on the elliptical machine. It was awesome!

The other perk about Saturday Workouts? A delicious guilt-free dinner! Tonight we are heading to an amazing Cuban restaurant in Greenwich Village!

Commitment is Libearting Mish-Mash*

I have so much I want to blog about but I just have not had the energy/time/focus to do it. Now that baseball season is finally over (Go Yankees!) hopefully things will settle down. Some random thoughts that I hope to elaborate on soon:

Off-Season
I really want to sit down and plan some sort of schedule for the off season. If I don't have it written down then I just do the same old thing because I'm just not very creative on the spot. Can you recommend any good resources for off-season tri training?

2010 Season
Sam and I really need to sit down and map out the next season. We have talked about our general goals and a few races but nothing solid yet. I am a planner and I need a plan to keep me motivated.

2011 NYC Marathon
One of the biggest decisions related to the 2010 season is if we want to qualify for the 2011 NYC Marathon. If so, this will require doing 9 New York Road Runner races over the year (and volunteering at one). We have to decide if it is worth the time and cost to have the opportunity to do the NYC Marathon in 2011. There are a lot of great marathons out there that we could do without all the hassle, but it is the NYC Marathon, one of the biggest and most famous marathons in the world. It would be an incredible experience and we don't plan on living in NYC forever so if we are going to do it we should probably do it now.

Meals/Food
I am feeling very ambivalent about all of our meals lately. I am stuck in a vegetarian rut and I can barely manage to choke down another veggie burger. The problem is that it is so hard to find vegetarian recipes that are healthy, relatively low calorie (not based on pasta, cheese, avocados, etc.) , and simple. I know I need to make a meal plan of sorts if I'm going to branch out. It's a lot like my workouts - if I don't think ahead I will just stick with the same old thing. Any suggestions for vegetarian/healthy/simple/yummy meals (I do eat fish/seafood/dairy)?

101 in 1001
I am very late on posting an update on my 101 in 1001 list. My last update was in July!

Swimming
I can't remember the last time we went to the pool. I think it was before our last race in September. That is just depressing.


*I borrowed this blog title from one of my favorite non-tri blogs, The Non-Consumer Advocate. Thanks Katy :)

40th NYC Marathon!

{My Favorite Picture of the Morning}

Sorry for the recent silence on blog. I woke up on Sunday feeling like crap but I thought it was just a combination a tough workout on Saturday and of a little too much beer while watching Game 3 of the World Series. As Sunday went on I felt worse and worse and by Sunday night my fever was over 101. I thought for sure I had H1N1. As luck would have it that was the worst of it and after lots and lots of sleep on Monday and my favorite sick drink (7-up and grape juice mixed 50/50) I am feeling much better today!

I did manage to make it to Mile 15 - the last section before participants get on the Queensboro bridge - to watch the elite runners of the NYC marathon on Sunday morning. We arrived at about 9:45 just in time to see the first wheelchair participants go by. It was pretty amazing to watch these "challenged" athletes.

Some people raced with "handcycles" where the chairs have gears.

Others raced with standard wheel chairs.

This guy even raced in a regular wheelchair (he finished in 5:29:55)!


At about 10:30 the lead pack of elite women came through (they started at 9:10am). Sam managed to get this picture with my iPhone as my camera batteries went dead right when the women came by (go figure). It was so amazing to see these women. They are FAST!

The winner, Derartu Tulu, is the 4th runner back in navy blue. She finished in 2:28:52!

The elite men showed up about a half hour later. They had a lot of company with the car with the race director and lots of police escorts and camera men.

The male winner, Meb Keflezighi from the USA, is the third runner from the left in the white top. He finished in 2:09:15. He is the first American to win since 1982!

After the elite men when by I really wanted to stay and cheer for fellow blogger Leah, but I was feeling terrible so we decided to head home. This was Leah's first marathon! Click here to read her excellent race recap. Congrats Leah!

I snapped this picture from the subway platform when we were waiting for the train.

A Need for (Running) Speed

My primary goal for this off-season is to improve my running. In particular, I want to run faster. Running is my weakness. I am a pretty good swimmer, an average biker and a slow runner. This means that in every race I start out very strong and I am one of the first out of the water. Once I'm on the bike I get passed by a few people but I can generally hold my own. The run is where my time and place really suffer. This is not to say I fall apart on the run because I'm exhausted from swimming and biking (although that doesn't help) but I almost always run a 10 to 11 minute mile no matter what I do first.
{source}

My running plan for the winter is to incorporate form drills at least once and week and a speed session once or twice a week. My running form is *terrible* so just making improvements here by keeping my arms moving forward instead of going across my body should improve my speed and endurance. I also need to have better posture, relax my shoulders and pick up my feet.

I started my speed plan last week with doing a treadmill speed run on Monday, then on Sunday we went to the track and did running form drills and twenty 100 meter sprints (sprint the straight, walk the corners), and yesterday I did another treadmill speed run (increased my 30 second sprints to 7, 8 and 9mph with a 90 second recovery at 5.5mph). I also did a 6 mile run on Saturday. Now I'm afraid to report that I have the beginnings of shin splints. My excitement got the best of me and I probably went out too hard, too fast. So now I need to dial it back until my shins can heal. Boooo!

A question for everyone out there: Have you managed to increase your speed with training? If so, how did you do it and by how much did you improve? Is it reasonable to expect to cut off 10 seconds per mile in a period of 6 (winter) months? 30 seconds? A minute?

Grete's Great Gallop Pics

The race pics are up from Grete's Great Gallop, the half marathon from early October. They've been up for awhile but I'm just now getting a chance to post them. You can ready my official race report for all the sweaty details.

This is near the start of the race - you can see how it is still very crowded!




I'm in the zone for this picture. I also like that the photographer got a shot where it looks like I'm alone in the park!

Here is the finisher photo. See me right behind the guy in grey?

This one is a bit better. It also has my time although it took me about 5 minutes to cross the start line so my official time was 2:20:48.

The NYC Marathon is this weekend! The first event was in 1970 with 127 runners completing 4 laps around Central Park (shoot. me. now.) Today the course winds through all five boroughs of New York City and is one of the largest marathons in the world with over 37,000 runners! If the weather is nice on Sunday I'm thinking of heading over to the course to snap some photos and cheer for the runners.

American League Championship Series - Game 6

I do have a few other hobbies other than triathlons, including baseball. I couldn't stand baseball until I met my husband and he took me to my first game (the Washington Nationals). I started to understand the special things about baseball. He is from Connecticut and a born and bread New York Yankees fan. We listened to a lot of Yankees games on the radio when we lived in DC. My favorite summer nights including sitting in the living room, windows open, listening to the baseball game. After we moved to NYC we signed up for a partial season package and I've been hooked on the Yankees ever since. (For the record if it's the Minnesota Twins vs. New York Yankees I will cheer for the Twins!)

We headed up to the Bronx on Sunday night for a great night of October baseball. It was game six of the American League Championship Series. Andy Pettit and the New York Yankees were taking on Joe Saunders and the Anaheim Angels. The Yankees lead the seven game series 3 to 2 and they needed just one more win to clinch the division and guarantee their place at the 2009 World Series. The game was originally scheduled for Saturday night but rain and lighting caused officials to postpone the game to Sunday. Even on a Sunday night the place was packed and the crowd was electric!

(FYI: baseball calories don't count)

A good time was had by all... well all the Yankees fans anyhow :) The Yankees won the game 5 to 2 and captured their 40th American League pennant! It's off to the World Series! If it makes it to Game 7 we will be there!

Triathlon Tips and Tricks for Beginners

Starting in the sport of triathlon can be a bit scary. I was lucky enough to have a partner to join me so we could figure it together. At the beginning of the year I knew nothing about this sport and now it consumes me more than I care to admit. I wide range of people read this blog - some of you are brand new to the sport and others have been doing it for years. Hopefully this advice will help some newbies.


1. I volunteered at a race before my first event. We volunteered at a few duathlons before our first tri and it really helped calm my nerves for my first race. I learned so much by watching the other race participants. Some things were big like helping me decide that I need to spend the money on a road bike and bike shoes. Others were small like realizing the benefits of having a race number belt. The other perk to volunteering at races is that you can sometimes get free or discounted entrance into other races and you usually get a t-shirt and post race snacks.

2. If you buy a new bike, go to a shop that includes a professional fit. I would count this as the biggest and most expensive mistake I made this year. We did shop around at a lot of bike stores but we really had no idea what to look for in a bike shop. Many shops will include a free or discounted professional fit with the purchase of your bike. I originally thought that a professional fit was really more for "professional" cyclists. But, this is not the case. Everyone can benefit from a professional bike fit. It really does make all the difference in your ride comfort and efficiency. If you are going to spend this much money then you should get it right the first time.


3. Read tri books and blogs. I also learned a lot by riding other tri blogs and books. They are educational, motivating and create a sense of community. The also make you feel a bit less crazy for obsessing over this sport.

4. Get a bike computer with cadence. You don't really need a bike computer, but if you are going to buy one then I think it is worth it to get one that includes cadence. When reading about different types of workouts you can do on the bike cadence is usually a big factor. We paid around $30 for a bike computer that includes speed, mileage, time, etc. I wish I had bought one with cadence off the bat so it would be there when I need it.

5. Just sign up already! If you are thinking about doing your first triathlon just pick a race and sign up. It will be the motivation you need to keep trying. I would recommend a sprint distance to start (typically a .5 mile swim, 12 mile bike and 3.1 mile run). This distance is short enough that even if you are not as trained as you want to be you can probably finish it without too much trouble. You may have to doggy paddle the swim, walk your bike up a hill, and walk the run, but you probably aren't going to have to quit. If you are having trouble picking what race to do I did a post about this earlier in the year.

Does anyone else have advice to add? What did you learn in your first year of triathlon?