Alpine training and rentry

While Amanda was being a dutiful granddaughter and flying across the country to see our grandparents (I am going in March/April), I was being a decadent newlywed with the husband and taking an impromptu trip to Austria.  We had cashed in all of our American Express points and got two tickets to Vienna, which for me, is the city of joy.  It's purely subjective, but "to me, it is perfect," to crib off of "Love Actually."  Don't get me wrong, I love New York, and London, Paris, Saint Petersburg, are all fantastic, but Vienna has this strange combination of being a manageable size, not too crowded, aesthetically beautiful, filled with history, and the music is right up my ally.  I'm a huge classical music nerd, from Opera to symphony, to string quartets (in Mozart's house, natch) and solo piano, with a bit of ballet tossed in for flavor, it was all within walking distance from our hotel.  Heaven!

The hillllls are alive!

And it isn't like I couldn't get all of that in NYC, but you just don't, because wherever you live in your real life, you're too busy doing all the things that accompany real life (work, laundry, family obligations, social obligations, TRAINING), but when on a mini vacation, you can! So we did.  And it was perfect! I would do runs around the Ringstrasse, around the Opera House and Hapsburg palaces by day, with some museum-ing after lunch, and then shower, nap and music in the evening.  This is why it is my city of joy!

One thing that put a bit of a damper in my Viennese jaunt was the fact that after a few days in Vienna we were scheduled to go into the Alps for skiing.  Skiing is my nemesis.  I stink at it, am terrified to death of it (hence the stinking, and then therefore more fear, etc. etc.), and the knee on the leg that I broke a few years ago has always been a bit wobbly.  It's never given me any problems running, but it is just a bit unstable when it comes to sudden side-to-side movements or something, and will pop out and then pop back in.  It hurts like crazy, and can happen at the weirdest times (once it happened while I was jumping up during a funny picture), and so I was skittish about it happening on skis with the IronMan on the horizon, as one day, it is going to pop out and not go back in.

I love these babies!

But when we got to Saint Christophe, the conditions were insane! And they don't groom their slopes in Europe, and after 3 days of non-stop, white-out snow, the hubs said that it was going to be way to hard for me to ski...he could barely manage, and he's good! So we went snow shoe-ing, which was AWESOME! The Alps are so gorgeous, and this way, I could actually enjoy them instead of sweating buckets of fear, AND get a good cardio workout in the process! The snow was almost up to my waist, so snow shoeing was quite challenging, and also the lack of skiing meant I would just hang out in the "Fitness Center" and do runs on the treadmill (shorter ones, since the altitude would kill me after about 5K), and then lots of pushups, squats, lunges, and knee/joint strengthening exercises, and the like.  I was as sore as a mofo afterwords--and by the end, my lungs felt strong!

When I got back to NYC/sea level, I went for a seven mile run and felt great, despite being on a plane for the entire day prior, and now it is back in the saddle for real.  I had essentially one last big romantic trip and now my main relationship will probably be with my bike for the next eight months. And one thing this did reinforce for me is to keep up the "dryland"/strength training for the ol' joints on the side in addition to focusing on the aerobic base.

Run, Swim, Shop-Class

After a ten mile run at a fairly strong clip on Wednesday with some speed work/pacing at the end thrown in, I was craving a good swim to loosen up and flop out the legs in addition to working my upper body.  I went to the NYAC and swam 3,000 yards in what was probably one of the more mindless, and least creative swim sets I've come up with in a while, but I felt great and it was much needed for my legs, which were quite sore from the few hill-repeats I did.

About how I felt when I first jumped in the pool

500 smooth
500 pull with paddles breathing every 3, 5, 7, 5 by lap.
300 kick (75 fly kick on back, 75 backstroke kick, 150 free kick with board)
2 x 200 IM descend
3 x 100 free on 1:20 descend
5 x 200 free on 2:45.
100 warm down.

I then had a meeting with the NYAC tri club right after the swim to go over some agenda-things for next year.  My role in the club is pretty small--writing the monthly articles for our club's magazine, The Winged Foot-- and some of the team races we decided on should be a lot of fun (NYC Tri, some in the Hamptons/Long Island/NJ) but I probably will only participate in one or two, as this upcoming Ironman remains the priority.  I got in off the lottery (!) for the NYC Tri, which I will definitely race, because you can't get in off the lottery (it is the luck equivalent of finding a ziplock bag full of $20's on the sidwalk, I am convinced) and not participate!

This thing is the best!

Woke up today feeling better in the legs and a good sore in the upper bod.  I had a jammed schedule today at work and in the evening, so no workout on the docket today, but I DID adjust my bike seat ever so slightly in between a quick shower and change post-work, pre-dinner, as it was giving me some rubs and pressure in the wrong places and I had a free moment to fiddle with it.

Armed with my trusty "alien" tool, I moved it forward about a 1/3 of an inch, and WOW what a difference! It was just enough to redistribute some weight back to my butt/sit bones versus other less savory spots while in aero.  I had it professionally fitted at SBR in NYC, and they did a great job, but I guess you never know all the finessed points until you're actually on the bike and riding it for an extended period, and how your body weight settles in to all the strange pressure points! I had a feeling a few tweaks in order, and I am verry pleased I was able to do it myself in a few minutes.  I can barely hang a picture frame!

A tale of two bikes

So pretty!

Now that Amanda and I have stuffed ourselves up to our eyeballs with food, we figured that some sort of aerobic activity might be in order.  After two short, but high intensity trail runs near our parent's home, a nice fall ride sounds like just the thing.

We both have had rather fraught relationships with our bikes, myself more than my sister.  For some reason, swimmers always seem to struggle with the bike the most.  Perhaps it is because so many of us have bird legs (myself included) and a mediocre sense of balance.  After many years with my trusty Scott road bike, one race spill included, I took the plunge and purchased a beeeeaaautiful Cervelo P2 two months ago with this IronMan in mind.  I am 100% certain I am not using to its full potential yet, but I'll get there.  I rode it in a late season Olympic and Sprint race in September, but now the real bonding time shall begin!

Upon the purchase of this new bike, the Scott was thusly shipped to my parent's home where I can go on rides with my sister whenever I am home visiting.  In my current food induced coma, I realized that it is still sitting it its box this morning, so off we go to get it reassembled and to purchase shoes and a helmet, both of which I neglected to send back down from NYC, oops.

When I first started triathlon, it took me a full season to really warm up to my road bike.  First it was getting used to clips, then it was figuring out how to have a bike in New York City without feeling like you are going to die via bus, taxi cab or clueless pedestrian tourist 99.9% of the time.    Everytime I would bike out to the West Side Highway Greenway, I would be so frizzled from the 2 mile city-ride across town that my hands and wrists would be sore!   A bike messenger (those guys are ballsy to the point of insanity) once took pity on me and helped me navigate through a traffic jam, no doubt after noticing the frightened expression on my face and seeing me sweaty with fear on an otherwise chilly day!

Thankfully, after moving to Brooklyn, I am now very close to Prospect Park (no cars, hooray!) and also procured a coveted bike locker at the New York Athletic Club upon joining the tri club, which gives me easy access to Central Park as well as reasonably safe passage to 9W. 

I still don't feel confident, comfortable, or even safe riding in aero in Central Park yet.  Perhaps if I go at 4 a.m. when there are no cabs, pedi cabs, horses, or careless pedestrians....guess that's the price I pay to live in that fair city.  I'll be seeing a lot of 9W in the coming months for long rides! Glad I get down to DC often enough to mix it up on the W&O trail.