Lost in my own world

Its funny, I have been doing Triathlon for 5 years, I am a certified triathlon coach, an Ironman.  Yet as a Seek to resume triathlon after a 1 year break, I actually feel a bit out of my realm.  Very strange.  And also kind of exciting.  I guess much has to do with the fact I have moved since I last trained so finding the polls and such is different.  Cycling is different.  I now live in cycling route restricted Manhattan, as opposed to Westchester with all the open roads.  Seriously, no comparison.  LOVE riding in Westchester..HATE riding in Manhattan.

Its just different.  Just the same I enjoy this feeling.  This is again an adventure. This is what I had hoped to recapture.  I want the joy and spirit of entering an adventure.  I want to feel the thrill when looking out at the open water as I wait for the starting gun.

My main challenge this year is that I am a bit short on cash.  But come to think about it, that has always been the case haha.  I have always been the"low tech" triathlete amongst my friends.  So I had a challenge finding low cost pool alternatives in NYC. The best public pool in teh city , riverbank, is on the west side and I am on the east side.  it would take 30-40 minutes for me to get there.  When tight on time, thats alot.  Asphalt green is great, but expensive.  So I found 2 options I am using.  Through groupon (groupon.com) I got a 1 month membership to the 92nd st Y for only 29 bucks! So I am starting off with that after I return from my business trip to Brazil.  Then after that I will head to Baruch college where they have a membership for $300 for 6 months.  Just long enough to get in proper shape, and cheap enough to give me a chance to budget for it.  Which will work well.  I am excited.

Triathon, Im coming home.

Urban Dare September 2010

Well I have totally been out when it comes to updating this Blog.  In part its because this Blog was about training for an Ironman.  Well with that mission accomplished, and no real triathlons in the works maintaining this Blog has fallen off.

That does not mean I have been out of the racing loop completely.  This year was really a year to regroup and sort of plan for next year.  I did the nine required NY RR races and 1 volunteer day to qualify for the NYC marathon in 2011.  And yesterday I did something a bit different, I participated in the "Urban dare" (www.urbandare.com) race in NYC.

This race is very much like Amazing race, only without any TV or promise of a big prize at the end.  It was tons of fun, with 11 clues that took us around Manhattan and Brooklyn.  Locations were generally found clues.  Then going there and either doing a dare, or taking a picure of the location. 

Lots of fun overall.

change in Domain name

Well it has been a while since I have posted.  In fact since then, my domain has expired.  No real interest in spending the money to renew or get a new one.  So for now I will blog through:

                    operationironman.blogspot.com 

#i8this status update

A progress report on my #i8this challenge is in order I think.


So far this week I have been solid in eating salad before dinner. In fact last night Salad WAS dinner. I had a Grilled Chicken Ceasar salad. Also this morning I had a banana, in fact have had one every morning this week. As for hydration I have managed to have at least 4 cups per day. Still need to up that a bit, but it is an improvement.

Doing these things has been working out great in that I really have been able to keep portions down at dinner time. The salad step really has made a difference.

My overall goal is to get back to “race weight” so to speak. I have about 8 lbs to lose. But I am not really targeting losing 8 lbs. What I am targeting are the habits that will help me get there. Its all about setting the right goals. Set an overall objective, and then the individual goals that will get me to the overall objective. The individual goals should be such that if I meet the goals, then the overall objective is a given.

Now these goals for the i8this challenge would by themselves not get me to my overall goal of losing 8 lbs, but they help me achieve one of the areas that would, which is to eat healthier. To lose the weight I also need to throw in a good solid workout regimen, which coincidentally I have done also :)

So basically, it looks like this: to lose 8 lbs

1) Eat healthier by managing portion control, improving my water intake, and eating more fruits. By doing this I would be eating a bit less of the stuff that are fatty. And eating stuff that would help my body work better.

2) Workouts to keep body and mind strong and also more pertinent to my objective, to burn fat, and build muscles that will in turn burn MORE fat.


If I accomplish these two, then losing the weight should be automatic. We shall see.

4 Miler race goal and mind games

I set out Sunday morning to achieve a specific goal for this race, the "Race for parks" race. I wanted to finish in 30 minutes or less. I almost made it. I finished in 30:09. CRAP But was still happy with it


Its not that this was a goal race of mine, because it wasn’t. But I have been slowly migrating from a “I am just running these races to get 9 races under my belt so I can qualify for the 2011 NYC Marathon” approach to a more “I want to do as good as I can” approach. For me that requires setting up a goal for myself.

Up until now I have been running, not really training. So speed goals just were not part of the equation. But I have now committed myself to doing 1:45 in the Brooklyn half marathon on May 22. I have a good base to go on, so now I am focusing on building some speed. These 4 mile races are perfect as a measure because there are so many of them. It will allow me to see progress.  Last week I did the "Run as one" 4 miler and did it in 32:01. I did that race just to do it. I put in an effort and was tired at the end, so It was not goofing off really.  But this past Sunday It was different, I raced with intent. The funny part is, I was just as tired after each of the races. And they were only a week apart so fitness wise nothing I did could have made a different. But by having a strategy and having “ Intent” I shaved basically 2 minutes off my time.

So you wonder if the head game matters during a race? It matters A lot!

Now wait till I actually have some training behind me when I get to the next 4 miler. I have another coming up in June 6, the Japan run. I plan on finishing it in 28 minutes.

So lets see if I can manage to combine Intent with training and pull this off.