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About a month ago, I did the Long Branch Half Marathon in New Jersey. It was two weeks after Boston, and my body was still tired from the marathon, so it was pretty much just a fun run. The Half is just the first loop of the New Jersey Marathon, and I figured it would be good to cheer on the Front Runners doing the whole thing (Timmy, Alison, Jerry and Steve). I went down to Jersey the night before the race with Kieran, who also did Boston two weeks prior. Kieran and I were both experienced NJ Marathon runners--he did the full last year and I did the half last year. This year, though, the weather was forecasted to be in the 80s, so I was nervous.
The start of the race was right along the Beach in Long Branch. There was a cool ocean breeze, and it really felt like a pleasant, albeit slightly warm, day. That didn't last long. Less than half a mile into the race, the course turned inland and the breeze went away. The temperature just started skyrocketing from there. By mile 3 I was barely doing 8 minute miles and just wanted the whole thing to be over. I was walking through the water stops (which had warm water and Gatorade, yuck!) and slowing down the go through garden sprinklers that residents along the route set up for the runners. I was miserable. And I felt like the entire world was passing me. I don't remember much about the rest of the race, except that Jim McCarrick came down from Queens to cheer us on, and it seemed to take all of my might to muster up a wave to him as I hobbled by. I must have looked like crap.
The next thing that I remember was around mile 11.5, when the course turned onto the boardwalk for the final stretch. Ahhhh.... it's amazing how different the temperature was right by the ocean. Somehow the light breeze helped me make a little bit of a kick towards the finish, and I ended up passing a few people along the way. Still, it was ugly, and my final time was 1:42:43, my slowest half in years. As I write this, though, a month after the race, I am just noticing that out of the 330 men in the 30-34 age group, I came in 19th, which means top 6%. Not nearly as bad as I had thought... I guess it helps to put everything in perspective.
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The following week, Jeff and I went on a bike ride. Jeff mapped out a route from my place to Orchard Beach in the Bronx, about 25 miles each way. I liked the idea of biking to the beach, so I was excited. The ride started without a hitch, but then at around mile 8.5, just before getting on the Macombs Dam Bridge, I hit a pot hole and got a flat tire. I remember hearing a "pop" as I hit the pot hole, but it didn't register to me that I got a flat. It wasn't until a minute or two later when I had to get off my bike to walk it across the bridge that I realized my front wheel was completely flat. D'oh!
Fortunately, I brought a spare inner tube with me. Unfortunately, I didn't bring a pump. Nor did I have that little adapter thingy that fits a normal air pump to one of the skinny road bike wheel valves. Ughhh. Long story short, Jeff and I had to make a detour to Target where I bought an air pump. Everyone at the store was staring at me when I ran inside because I had my biking shoes on and they were click-click-clicking so loud on the floor as I ran around the store. But in the end, I got the pump, and figured out how to change the flat tire all by myself. And it didn't take too long either. And I learned a valuable lesson: always carry a portable little air pump, because an inner tube is not going to inflate itself.
So off we went again. The rest of the route we had planned was adventurous, but not quite as fun as we had hoped. There was a lot of biking in traffic, which was scary. Then we were on Pelham Parkway, which despite what Google maps says is not very bike friendly, unless you enjoy dodging cars on a highway. Then we got a little lost, and did some trail biking by the Pelham Bay golf course and horse stables. Then we ended up in a really nice neighborhood which big houses and lush lawns, which I had no idea existed in the Bronx. And then finally, after about 25 miles, we made it to the beach. Of course, we dipped our feet in, and brrrrr the water was cold. By this time, due to the flat tire, getting lost, and the non-bike-friendly trails that we took, we were already several hours into our bike ride. It was exhausting. So, understandably, we cheated on the way back. About two miles away from the beach was the Pelham Bay subway station. We took the 6 train back. It felt good to sit down. :-)
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The following week was my first triathlon of the season. Jeff, Andrew, Timmy and I signed up for the Jersey Shore Kickoff Triathlon in Toms River, NJ. It was a sprint distance, consisting of a 0.3 mile swim in the Barnegat, a flat 10 mile bike, and a 5k run on the picturesque Berkeley Island Point.
Nothing too eventful to report here. The swim was so short it seemed like it was over almost as soon as it started. I didn't really get into a rhythm until 2/3 of the way into the swim, and by that time, I only had about 3 minutes of swimming left! Funny, I almost wished that the swim was longer.
Here are my results (rank is out of 139 finishers):
Name: David Lin
Bib No: 115
Age: 34 [they record your age at 12/31/10... I'm still only 33!]
Gender: M
Swim Rnk: 83
Swim Tme: 9:25.5
Swim Rate: 1.91
T1 2:50.0
Bike Rnk: 72
Bike Tme: 35:35.0
Bike Rate: 17.2
T2: 0:55.1
Run Rnk: 22
Run Tme: 22:03.1
Run Pace: 7:07
Total Time: 1:10:48.7
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Here's a pic from the Brooklyn Half a few weeks ago. I started it out with Mikey and Daniel, running it as a fun run. Towards the end I started speeding up again. 1:40:08.
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So as I said up at the top, tomorrow morning I'm doing the Presidential Lakes Triathlon in New Jersey. Jeff, Kyle, Peter and Mike are here with me. I'm actually really nervous about this one... I'm remembering how incredibly exhausted I felt after the Jersey Shore Sprint Tri last month, and realizing tomorrow will be twice the distance (triple the swim)! We checked out the course today and the swim seems reaaaalllly long. Plus, I literally have not biked a single mile since the last tri. And to top it off, my butt has been acting up over the past two weeks... I went to a hill workout with the club and have been having discomfort in my butt/hamstring ever since.
I'm also starting to wonder whether my exercises with Dr. Degis are possibly making things worse. I decided to make another appointment with Dr. Jordan Metzl--who I saw way back in October and who told me I just had a "weak butt." I've gotten a million medical opinions since then and I feel like nobody has been able to just tell me what's wrong and fix it. So it's a little frustrating. And so, I'm very concerned about the Tri tomorrow. As of now, I'm trying to just calm my nerves a bit...we're all sitting around watching Law & Order on TV to wind the night down. Hoping that tomorrow, I will have a good, safe, smart race. I'll let you know how it goes (I promise it won't be another month before my next post!)
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