Thursday, April 30, 2009

A huge victory! 107 days

Quick post. A huge victory for me today! The very first time in MONTHS I woke up in the morning before work to workout. AND not just any workout, the biggest bike workout of the week. 8 miles! Rode up and down the Hudson in Riverside Park and it was really nice. Hard, but really nice.

Now that I've done it once and I'm making it through the day OK, I hope I'll be able to work out early more often so I feel like I have more free time to futz around at night. (I KNOW I didn't spell futz right. I don't care. LoL.)

Quickly approaching the three-month mark of race day... keep on truckin'!

That is all.

Tuesday, April 28, 2009

109 Days - Swimmers

In my opinion, swimmers have the best bodies. You can think of Michael Phelps for an example, or just any of the ladies who compete in professional swimming sports. Their bodies are graceful, lean and healthy looking. They aren't stick thin, just healthy. There were two girls swimming today who I could tell were swimmers a while back. I looked at them and I was like, geez! I might have looked like that at some point in my life, or had the potential to look like that.

So, back to the original reason why I started this triathlon thing. To feel good about my body and to lose weight and be confident, like I know I can be. So anyways, seeing those girls tonight made me want to do this even more.

So tonight I jogged/walked for 40 minutes, about 3 miles and then swam 650 yards, or 26 laps. Not a bad workout. And I ate pretty well today too. Healthy lunch and a much smaller dinner than normal. So maybe I'm finally getting on track for both the working out and eating part of this whole ordeal? Keeping my fingers crossed!

Monday, April 27, 2009

110 Days... and a new bike!!

It's been an exciting few days in NYC! For one, the weather has just been outrageously warm, which is such nice change. Monday it was like 38 degrees, and Friday it was like 88. Crazy. It's been kinda hot sleeping, I've got to figure out if I'm getting my old a/c from my parents in CT or if I'll just buy a new one. Who knows. Guess I'll see what the weather is like over the next couple weeks.

But anyways, on to bigger and better things! I finally bought my bike! And I looooove it. I bought it Friday night and was able to bring it home Friday night too. Since I bought it in NJ near Matt's apartment, we were able to go bike riding together on Saturday, which was so much fun. We went on the bike path near his apartment and rode about 8 miles. We had a blast. Then we went to the "bark park" and watched a bunch of cute doggies running around. I can't wait to get one someday!

Sat. night was Amber's birthday party, which was a blast. I had a great time, and she had a great turnout of people :) Lots of fun. Woke up Sunday and went down to the Financial District with Matt. We wandered around the graves at Trinity Church, which was really cool because we saw Alexander Hamilton's tomb and other cool graves from the 1700s. We're both history buffs (prob. Matt more than me) so it was cool to check out the history of my own city. We also walked down Wall st. and saw the site where George Washington was sworn in as president of the U.S. Very cool.

Even cuter, we wandered down to Battery Park and found the spot where we watched the fireworks over Brooklyn on our first date. It was obviously a lot busier and a ton of people were around, but it was really sweet. It's been 9 months today since we've been "official." It was a good couple hours - I was happy. Later on we drove up to his apartment and watched TV, went into town and had a nice early dinner, then later on got ice cream and ate it in the park. So fun. All in all, a great weekend.

Today I worked (obviously) and then came home and rode the 6 mile loop around Central Park. It was pretty good in the beginning, but then 3/4 of the way through there was a huge hill that was really steep. I had to jump off the bike and walk a bit, but hopefully with more training I'll be able to conquer the hill. That's the goal - especially since the triathlon bike path will be really hilly.

Now I'm just going to watch 24, relax and head to bed pretty early. Tomorrow night I'm swimming and running. Same on Wednesday, but I'm going to try and bike in the morning too. I"ll get pictures of the bike up soon. Or you can peep the one out on FB. :)

Thursday, April 23, 2009

Saw a video from last year's tri... (114 days)

I went on YouTube and searched Harriman State Park triathlon and found a video from last year. I got really scared and again, really excited watching it. It looks really intense in the actual work, but not as regimented as I thought it would be. There didn't seem to be a ton of people watching and everyone seemed to be in good spirits, so that was good.

Hopefully the weather is nice this year. The race goes rain or shine and goodness knows I'm having a hard enough time training in the nice weather, let alone the rain, so it better not rain!

Tomorrow night is bike night! I got my first "new" paycheck today and I'll be able to "repay" my savings much quicker than I thought I would. So I'm almost 99.9% sure I'm going to buy the bike tomorrow night. So excited. I've also got to get a helmet (thanks mom and dad for the helmet funds) and have the store install a water bottle holder. Hopefully the bike I want, with the frame size I need will be in stock. (It was last Saturday).

Tonight is our roomy night - and I'm cooking dinner for everyone! I'm a little nervous, but hopefully I picked food that is going to be yummy and easy to make. Baked ziti, fresh salad and garlic bread. I'll keep you all posted on how it goes. I need to pick up fresh bread on my way home, but I should have everything else all ready.

I'm soo looking forward to this weekend. Somehow this week has dragged by. I'm looking forward to relaxing, and well, riding my bike!!! :)

Tuesday, April 21, 2009

116 Days...

Worked out like a madwoman last night. Ran for 35 minutes, swam for 20 and ran out of the gym right in the middle of the worst downpour of the day. Oh well.

Went home and started rearranging things so I could fit a bike in my tiny bedroom. I think I've got a space now that will work, but we'll have to see. Over the weekend Matt and I went to a bike store in Ridgewood and I saw a great bike that was "reasonably" priced for a beginner road bike and just loved it. We did some comparison shopping and found other places where the bike was sold and I've done a bit of research and I really, really want it. Check it out here: http://www.giant-bicycles.com/en-US/bikes/women/2285/32115/

Anyways, I'd get it in more of a teal/silver color versus the gold, but that doesn't matter. Still want to do a bit more research, but I might get it this weekend. Last weekend it was so warm and nice and all I wanted to do was be on a bike and ride around. So hopefully I find something soon that I like and get on the road!

Last weekend was super fun though. Saturday was so gorgeous, Matt and I slept in and then spent the day in bike stores and a park near his house. We call it the duck pond park, because there is a big pond that has lots of ducks and turtles, but what we didn't know was there was a huge dog park there too! It's called a "bark park." It was seperated into two parts, one side for the large dogs, the other for the little dogs and we just watched them for a long time. Dogs are so funny. We saw labs and goldens and chiuauas and yorkies and corgies and puggles and all sorts of cute, fuzzy things. Makes me want a dog so much more! But, alas, that will have to wait.

Sat. night we went to Jess' housewarming party which was super fun. She had a great turnout and she threw a great party. We had a great time. Sunday we went to the new Yankee stadium to see a game and thought the new stadium was awesome. The cool thing was, when you left your seat to get food or run to the bathroom or something like that, it's all open so you don't miss any part of the game. That part was really cool. The food/drinks though are so expensive! Bought lunch there cause it was the first time, but don't think I'll be doing that again anytime soon. I'm looking forward to going on the tour of the stadium in June. There was a lot we didn't see.

Anyways. More swimming and running tonight. :)

Thursday, April 16, 2009

The dogwoods are blooming on Broadway (121 days...)

Rough workout today. It's day like today that make me thing really long and hard about what I've gotten myself into. You know what makes me nervous about this triathlon now? The biking portion. I get on a hill on the bike and I'm done. It just kills me - and I only did four miles today. How is it going to be with 16 miles on one of the most hilly terrains for a triathlon? Ugh. Good news, the swim went just fine. 24 laps, 600 meters.

I'm kinda amazed I actually made it to the gym. I was sooo close to blowing it off; had a really busy day at work b/c a client was in town and I just really was ready to go home and lay in bed and sleep. But I pushed through. The only thing that totally bums me out is how much of my training I'll have to do indoors if I can't keep a bike at my apt. Today was a gorgeous day in NYC and I spent the only time I could have been outside in a hot, smelly gym. Blah. After this really cold, dreary winter, finding the motivation to not just skip the gym to go lay in Central Park is going to be really, really hard.

Maybe I can keep a bike in my kitchen. LoL. I just need more space. This uws apartment just isn't going to cut it.

Tomorrow is going to be in the 70s and so is Saturday. Exciting stuff. Quick run in the morning before work, then work, then after-work drinks with Amber and friends to kick off the weekend. Oh and a Yankee game on Sunday! Whoo hoo!

Wednesday, April 15, 2009

122 Days

The bike said I did 6 miles, but I'm not really sure I believe it. I didn't think I was peddling fast enough to do 6 miles in 25 minutes, even if I was peddling at 92 RPM. I really wonder the accuracy of the distance. I know the calories are way off, but is the distance? Hmmm, something to think about.

On another note, today was a good day professionally. I had my two year review and it went really well. My boss had some really positive things to say about me and my work and also had constructive criticism, which was expected. I also got a nice chunk of change as a raise, which in this economy, is kick ass. It's a few thousand less than what I was planning on asking for, but we had a discussion and I can have another review in three months to re-evaluate my salary. The cool thing is, I had a salary number in my head that I wanted to achieve and I did it. I'm still underpaid, but at least I'm a hell of a lot closer to being paid what I'm worth. So yay to that. :)

Tomorrow is another swim/bike day and then during work on Friday I'll probably go running. it';s supposed to be so nice out this weekend, so Saturday I'll probably ride Matt's bike in NJ. Then I'll have made another full week of workouts under my belt. Yay!!

Now I'm watching Bride Wars with Amber and relaxing... a good day.

Tuesday, April 14, 2009

123 Days Until Race Day

At week five of my training. Swam 40 laps today and jogged/walked for 25 minutes. Not too bad. The swimming is a piece of cake. The jogging? Not so much.

But before I get ahead of myself, welcome everyone. I had this "brilliant" idea of starting a blog to record my journey from never running longer than 35 minutes to swimming/biking/running for approximately two hours.

Why do a triathlon everyone asks? I want to push myself. Physically & mentally. I want to lose weight. I want to do something I said a very long time ago I'd "never" do.

When I was a kid, my family would vacation in Lake Placid, NY at my family's cabin. For some period of time, our vacations would coincide with the Lake Placid Ironman Triathlon. It was a 2.4 mile swim, 112 mile bike ride and a 26.2 mile run. We'd watch the start of the race at the lake in town, watch the bikers make their way through the mountain course (part of the bike course went past the end of our street) and watch the finishers as they made their way back into town.

Now an Ironman is an insane distance and requires a ton of work. But I remember thinking, I could never do a triathlon. Even when I was swimming miles a day and in the best shape of my life (thank you professional high school swimming) I never even thought about it.

Fast forward to the end of 2008. At almost 24 years of age I had this ridiculous thought. I want to do a triathlon. So I googled ones around NYC and found one in Central Park. A couple months later I went to sign up and it was sold out. So I "officially" signed up for a race on August 16, 2009 at Harriman State Park in NY. It's a 1/2 mile swim, 16 mile bike ride and a 3 mile run. It's a huge distance for me at this point and I'm half scared/half excited. I've been following a 22 week training program that has me in the gym 6 days a week. So far, the gym part hasn't been the problem, it's the bad eating habits that I've picked up throughout the years. But hopefully through this process I'll find a way to make it through, learn to cook and eat healthy and work to finish the triathlon.

At this point, my only hope is to cross the finish line before the race ends. I could be the last person and I wouldn't care. It will just be amazing to finish.

So anyways, back to the blog. Here, expect to see training updates, physical and mental updates, random thoughts of mine and anecdotes about my life and what's going on besides the triathlon. I'm really looking forward to this journey and seeing where I'll end up in August. It's going to be one hell of a ride.