Posts from — June 2006

On my final day in California I managed one more swim in La Jolla Cove early in the morning. I knew the lifeguards wouldn’t be around, but I was pleasantly surprised to see several other swimmers heading down to the beach. It was barely 7am and it seemed as though everyone was coming out for a swim. I got in a final 2.5 miles in the Pacific, before heading back to my hotel to get ready for my final day of meetings. I will miss swimming amongst the giant seaweeds and the interesting and beautiful bottom. I’ll also miss the water temperature which was a balmy 67 degrees (so says a convenient thermometer attached to a buoy.

I finished with all work related commitments around 1:30pm, which left me free for the rest of the day. I had hoped to go to Venice Beach for a run with my childhood friend that lives in LA. However, by the time we were both ready to go, it was getting a bit late in the day, which made a run down in Venice impractical. Instead we headed to a dirt running track for a session of no-frills running. I did 26 loops on a track that was 3.2 loops per mile. For the math challenged this is just over 8 miles. I ran the loops at a strong steady pace in order to make it interesting and to get it done in a reasonable amount of time.

After the run, I headed back to my friends house for a quick shower and then we headed out for dinner. It was much too short a visit, but I was grateful for the time we had. I was able to meet his little girl for the first time and see his son for the first time in 5 years. It was just as well I was leaving in just a couple of hours as I was really starting to miss my own kids.

I finally managed to get in the swim I’ve been promising myself to do. I was able to leave right after the conference and head to Cove Beach. A couple of years ago, another business trip took me to this area and I strongly regretted not having my wetsuit with me. I vowed that if I ever return I would pack it so I can do what turned out to be a marvelous swim.

The water is very clear and you can see to a depth of at least 15-20 feet. There were many bright orange fish swimming around that looked like the Carp you see in ponds. The seaweed formations are also spectacular. There are these giant tendrils reaching up from the bottom like some crazy leafy cables. I swam into several large ones unexpectedly. It could almost feel like they were trying to grab you and pull you under. I swam directly away from the lifeguard station which is roughly parallel to the shore on the right. In the distance were a line of buoy markers that I swam towards. The water was relatively calm, but it did have the occasional swell that pushed towards shore. The air was very tranquil and the swimming seemed incredibly easy.

When I reached the furthest and final buoy marker, I stopped to rest and take a look around. A lifeguard on a large surfboard was paddling about doing his days training. We talked for a few minutes and remarked what a kick it was to be out in the middle of the water. It was exceptionally warm, around 67 degrees, and you were just filled with a sense of wellbeing. I decided to head back to shore instead of swimming out past the buoys. If I still felt like swimming after I reached the shore, I could always turn around and go back out. I had a work appointment around 4pm, so I didn’t have all the time in the world, but I made the most of my time. When I reached the shore, I turned around and headed back to the first buoy marker which was .25 miles away.

All totaled I swam for 49 minutes and about 2 miles. I was afraid I would be tired for the swim today, because I swam hard yesterday. That turned out not to be the case and I lamented that I had to head back. Perhaps I will get another chance to swim tomorrow morning.

I also got it a hilly 6.4 mile run. I ran from my hotel with a business associate to the beach 3 miles away. Unfortunately, I didn’t bring my camera as it would have been nice to get a picture of us together by the beach.

As evening time fell, I started to get lonely and wished I had my family with me. I headed to a local sports bar that had the Yankee/Red Sox game playing and passed the time eating dinner and watching the Yankees take another from the Bosox. After, I head to the village of La Jolla to look for souvenirs for my kids. There was really nothing to be found that my son would consider cool. I finally found some loose head/bobble head turtles that I thought my kids would like.

I survived my flight to California. I took an Ambien soon after takeoff and I fell asleep for about an hour. I suppose it’s really impossible to sleep well on a plane. My first stop on this trip is Beverly Hills, where I am staying at the Beverly Hilton, the location of day 1 of conferences. I didn’t have much time to enjoy the place since I checked in well after midnight and had to check out later in the day.

I was able to get a 6 mile run in along the streets of Beverly Hills in the morning. It was a bit of a stop and go, since I didn’t have much of a contiguous place to run. There was sort of a trail along Santa Monica Blvd, which ended near Sunset Blvd. I then followed that road to some place called Gray Stone Park. However, at many of the intersections I had to wait for the pedestrian crossing sign to turn green. I didn’t want to risk “jay-walking” as the California Police are quite adamant about enforcing this regulation. As a New Yorker, I feel it is my god given right to jaywalk. Heck it’s a sport. In Los Angeles though, I didn’t want to take a chance. I once got a ticket for jaywalking while I was here many years ago which I never paid. Technically I am a fugitive from the law. I didn’t feel like spending a day in jail.

While running through Beverly Hills I saw many of the famous Down and Out. I guess the weather is more conducive to just live among the rich and famous. I would have snapped a picture of a few of them, but I felt it tacky to stop and do something like that right in their faces. I did stop and get a picture of me near a Beverly Hills sign.

My plan for later in the day was to arrive at my second destination, La Jolla, by mid afternoon. I wanted to get in an ocean swim at Cove Beach. I didn’t arrive until after 5pm and by then the lifeguards had left for the day. I questioned the wisdom of swimming out into the Pacific at dusk on a beach I was unfamiliar when no one was present, so I elected to swim in the hotel pool instead. It was a lovely 25 meters and I swam a total of 4000. Tomorrow I must make sure I get to the beach.

Note: Written while waiting for plane to take off…

I am suddenly overcome with a fear of flying. I am not afraid of dying in a crash; it’s the effect the loss of their father on my children that give me the chills. I suppose flying in an airplane is a lot safer than bombing down a hill on my bike going 50 mph, with nothing but a few inches separating me from the road, but at least I am in control while on my bike. I never understood this fear of flying until now. I guess I have something that I don’t want to lose. Oh yeah, I am at the airport waiting to board a plane to Califonia.

My depressed state on leaving my children was clearly visible on my face as I got ready. Perhaps my son sensed this, because he came up behind me unexpectedly while I was leaning over to pack a bag and gave me such a warm and big hug from behind. I was in shock at first because I thought it was my wife. I told her how I was feeling earlier and I thought she had come over to offer me some comfort.

At least before I left on my trip today I got to spend some time with my kids. They were having the Kenny Dolan Memorial Run in Prospect Park which always includes Pee Wee races. I had just returned from my run (11 miles out of 18 – I was pooped) and asked if my children if they wanted to do it. My son was an emphatic yes and my daughter said she would like to race as well. I think they are getting into the competitive spirit. Both of them were eager to race and ran the hardest I’ve ever seen. My son liked it so much this time that he wanted to go back and race again.

Hopefully I can keep myself occupied when I get to the left coast. I’ll be spending a couple of days in La Jolla and I am looking forward to trying to get a swim at the beach.

I rode a strong 84 miles today, all of them in Prospect Park. I can think of many other places I preferred to ride today, but I didn’t feel like going to them alone. Todd once again bailed out on me because of the threat of a little inclement weather and I couldn’t find anyone else to take me up on my offer of a drive to HSP for a ride.

The ride began around 8:30am. Soccer was cancelled because of the rain so I had all morning to ride. It was pretty lousy outside, so I knew there was not much I could have done with my kids outdoors. It didn’t rain all that much while I was out. It was mostly misty with just one rain shower. At one point during the ride I wished it would just begin to rain. The sky and weatherman had promised rain showers and I was tired of waiting. If I was going to tough out a ride in bad weather, I wanted it to be very bad.

Eventually I got my wish. The rain started coming down and I promptly got a chill. Oddly enough, it seemed to only be raining over the top portion of the park. The rain didn’t last very long and it soon just went back to high humidity. The wetness in the air caused my Rudy Project glasses to be fogged throughout my ride. It was very annoying. I had to stop a couple of time to wipe them down as the visibility through them was becoming zero. I really need to find a new pair of prescription race glasses.

Towards my final few laps I saw my friend Larry running in the park. I slowed down to talk to him for a few minutes and he suggested I ride with him over my last lap since I only had two to go. After I finished my laps I stopped for a minute to check in on the family. They were eating lunch and keeping themselves occupied. I figured I could spend a few more minutes out in the park to go hang with Larry. I must have been tired though as I screwed up when I clipped into my pedals and promptly fell over to the side. I smashed my elbow on the ground, but other than a bit of fresh road rash and a little soreness it appears ok. I still went back to find Larry, if only because I said I would. After chatting for a few more minutes, I headed home to shower and eat. I had enough for one day.

Friday June 2, 2006 -10:30am

I was hoping to do a HSP ride today, but Todd and I called it off based on today’s predicted stormy weather forecast. I decided I may as well go into work and try to get in an afternoon swim. However, once again the day appears to be just about perfect for a ride. Every time I see the sun shining I can feel an intense frustration building inside me. It better rain by noon like the meteorologists said it would.

Now that today has been cancelled for a ride, I know that tomorrow morning I will be waking up at 3am to try to get in a 100 miler before 9:30am. I’ve done something like this once before and I can honestly say I am not looking forward to doing it again.

5:00pm

I realized later on that my son’s soccer game is at 9am, which means I’ll have to finish by 8:30am. Counting backwards, that means I’ll have to start riding soon after 3am. For some reason, I don’t think this is going to happen. My wife promised to take our kids out for the day after soccer, so hopefully this will come to fruition. I’ll mentally justify it to myself by pointing out that I usually take them out come the weekend and perhaps I deserve some time off. I just hate not being with them. As long as they are not watching TV all day, I think mentally I’ll be ok.

I did manage to get in an afternoon swim at Asphalt Green. It was the best I’ve felt so far this year. I was swam 1 x 500 and 4 x 1000 on 20 seconds rest. The 1000’s peeled off so easily that I questioned whether I was actually going 1000 yards. My watch told me I was, but it just seemed so easy. Maybe that is what happens when you aren’t rubbing the sleep out of your eyes before swimming.

After the swim I set out for a run around Central Park. I was very hungry by this time and I was thinking that I would probably bonk at some point during it. The sky was also looking very ominous, so I decided to head back to AG. In was the correct decision. When I reemerged from the place 15 minutes later, the sky had opened up with a deluge of water. It wouldn’t have been practical or reasonable to run in such conditions. Truthfully, I was just too hungry and didn’t feel like dealing with it in such a state.

While riding on the M86 bus back to the subway, the rain was coming down with an incredible ferocity. It was blowing sideways down the avenues and the streets resembled more like rivers than thoroughfares for automobiles. It wasn’t raining so hard though that it stopped me from purchasing a new set of Shimano TR02 Tri Shoes. Unfortunately, the person in the shop who sold them to me new about as much about the placement of cleats on the shoes as I do about rocket science.

It looks like it will be another wet Friday tomorrow, which is really playing havoc with my training plans. I was looking forward to taking Fridays off from work in order to get in my long bike rides. I am not going to do so though if it means my ride would have to be conducting in the pouring rain with thunder and lightning. If this is indeed how tomorrow turns out, then it looks like I’ll be waking up at 3am on Saturday morning in order to get in an 80 – 100 mile ride before my son’s soccer game. I can’t miss this game as I already know I will be missing the next two games next weekend, since I am going down to Cambridge, MA for the Eagleman Half Ironman.

At least this week has been productive training wise. I’ve gotten in all of my scheduled workouts, although I did cut a swim and run a bit short. This is due to the constraints of time caused by not being able to wake up early enough. I am getting up at 5am as it is, so I don’t think I can really push myself to arise much earlier. I am very happy with the fact that when 5am has been coming around, I’ve been able to get out of bed without a problem. My motivation seems to be returning. I guess knowing that IMLP is only 7 weeks away helps. It wouldn’t feel so good going into the race being entirely under trained.

My cut lip from last week’s accident is healing nicely. I was worried for a while, especially when someone echoed my thoughts of the cut giving me the appearance of a certain infamous German dictator. The scab is down to a small line across my upper lip and will hopefully be gone within a couple of more days.

If it rains tomorrow, I’ll really be screwed. If I save the long ride for Saturday, then Friday calls for a swim. However, my only transportation to the pool at that hour of the day is by bike. This means I’ll be soaking wet and dirty by the time I get to my office. Not to mention the concern of keeping my laptop and work clothes clean and dry. I’ll figure out something I am sure.