I had an unexpected day off from daddy duties this weekend, so I thought I’d head up to Connecticut to see my long lost friend Zach. Turns out he was running the Hartford Half Marathon with my great pal Dave. I had nothing better to do, so I figured I’d run it with them. The last time I’d run farther than a mile was last December (also with Zach and Dave) so I wasn’t exactly well prepared.
Anyway, things started off fine - we couldn’t have asked for better weather and I even ate a couple of bananas before we got going. I started getting some ankle, knee, and hip pain at around mile 4, which gimpified my stride. My friends ditched me at around mile 6 and my pace really started to drag. When the elderly, obese, and clubfoot contingency started passing me like I wasn’t moving I knew I was in trouble. I kept chugging along and eventually finished in 1:59:46, which is an average pace of 9:09. Since we ran the first half at about 8m/m pace, the second half was probably about 10m/m or more. It was a pretty miserable showing.
Participated in my first NYC Swim event since 2009 today. It was a 1.5km East River swim right off of Randall’s Island and it went alright - I finished in 31:27. Dave swam as well and I stayed on his tail for the entire course but he finished a few seconds ahead of me.
The course was weird because we started and finished in knee-deep mucky water that was really hard to swim in. I ended up doing a really shallow breast stroke since it was too shallow to swim freestyle and too gross (and dangerous) to walk in. The water was a nice temperature, very still, and felt surprisingly clean for the East River though. This just makes me hungry to do more of these open water swims.
Dave and I headed up to New Haven to run for the kids with Zachy. It was raining like a child when we woke up to get ready but I reminded the fellas that we were running for the kiiiiids and we can’t let a little rain stop us. So we ran. For the kids. In the rain. Dave and I stayed together for most of the way, but I out-hoofed him in the home stretch. Finished in 22:58, which is OK for a cold, rainy race. Sweat index was impossible to discern since I was soaked with rain.
Today we participated in the inaugural New York Muddy Buddy event, held at Harriman State Park in Stony Point. Since Zach went down with a broken metatarsal (thanks Vibram!) a few weeks ago, Dave took some time out of his busy triathlon schedule to be my replacement buddy. Team Cotton finished in a disappointing 47:25, 10th place in our division.
I ran 3 out of the 5 legs but also got stuck with the toughest biking leg, which really took the wind out of my sails. I’m a terrible mountain biker to begin with, but after the pounding my ass took in that fourth leg, my last run was just a disaster. Note to self: next year, the weaker mountain biker (me) has to start the race on the bike and run legs 2 & 4.
Past Muddy Buddies: 2009 Richmond, VA; 2008 Richmond, VA
I met up with a small group from the kung fu school today and ran the Tunnel To Towers 5k. We jogged it as a team and were stuck in a few serious bottlenecks (looks like there’s always traffic getting to the Battery Tunnel, even when it’s closed to cars) so I didn’t even check our time. The sweat index was low but the rain index was high, so I was sufficiently soaked.
I completed my first ever triathlon today - the Schiff Scout Off-Road Tri in Wading River, NY. I’ve done swim races, road races, swim/run races, and bike/run races, so it was only a matter of time before I took on a full triathlon. The Schiff Scout is a .5 mile swim, 10 mile mountain bike, and a 3.1 mile trail run. My total time was a sluggish 1:59:30, which was good for 53rd place out of 138.
I did pretty well on the swim (16:17, 35th overall) and ok on the run (26:53 - it was pretty tough to climb the hills after my legs were shot from the biking), but it took me a miserable 1:13 to complete the bike course (137th overall). I was totally out of my league and I wasn’t even sure I would be able to finish the 10 miles. I kept the mantra “it doesn’t matter how slow you go as long as you don’t stop” running through my head and pushed through to finish, but it sure wasn’t pretty.
Zachy and Dave also competed - they teamed up to form the Gorgeous Angels and did way better (1:43) since Zach is a master bikeman and the triathlon is all about the bike leg.
The thing is, I’m not even motivated to get better at biking and to redeem myself because it was really no fun at all. I’ll stick to swim races and the occaisonal run, thanks.
Today Dave and I swam our third consecutive Grimaldo’s Mile with CIBBOWS - a one mile swim from Coney Island to Brighton Beach. I feel better about my performance every year, but every year my time seems to increase by about 5 minutes. This year’s official time was 40:41 and I managed to finish at the exact same time as Dave again (last year was 36:27). Of course, the time in any open water swim is more a product of the conditions and the current than my performance and it was pretty rough today. My wings and shoulders were pretty sore after the race - all those pullups, pushups, and deadlifts the past couple of days were probably not so wise in retrospect.
Today Dave and I completed NYC Swim’s Aquathlon: Stars & Stripes - a 1.5k Hudson River swim followed by a 5k flat, paved run along the water. I felt really good about the swim portion, even if Dave beat me out of the water. Once I got past the starting-line kickstorm and passed the first buoy, I was motoring. It was definitely a confidence booster to swim an open event where I wasn’t one of the slowest swimmers (unlike the Liberty Island Swim, which I barely qualified for). I finished near the middle of the pack in 50:18 (23:35 swim, 26:52 transition + run).
I had some trouble at the start of the run when both of my calves locked up. This was the first time I’ve ever had crazy muscle cramps and it was awful. I stopped to try to stretch them out to no avail, tried running like a duck without bending my ankles, but after the first half mile or so they finally loosened up. I caught up to Dave right after the turnaround and ran the duration with him. The family that prays together stays together.
Today Dave, Paddy, and I swam NYC Swim’s inaugural Liberty Island Swim - a 1.2k counter-clockwise swim around the island (and the statue). Registration was limited to swimmers who have finished in the top 60% of an NYC Swim event in the past two years. Since all three of us just barely made the requirement, our main objective was not to be the last swimmer out of the water.
As expected, the start of the race was delayed and the tides were not cooperating. Right before we jumped in the river, Morty warned us that the stretch between the second and third buoys was going to suck. Well, Morty was right. For once. I had flashbacks to the 2008 Park to Park Swim and swimming for my lift while I was fighting the current getting to the third buoy - fucking brutal. I managed to finish in 41:00, which was good for 108th place out of 117 total swimmers. I’m not that strong a swimmer.
Paddy and his Budgy Smugglers finished ahead of me, but I managed to just beat Dave. I guess the smaller the trunks, the faster you swim. All in all, it was a good time. You can’t beat the views of the Statue of Liberty from the water.
Zach made me run this 5k road race in Connecticut today. He also made me bring Dave, thinking there’d finally be someone for him to beat. He was wrong. I finished in a torpid 23:05, but I still beat those other clowns by a few minutes (and Zach finished behind Dave). I’m going to start running more and get my 5k time under 20 minutes this summer. Mark my words.
Zach and I trekked down to Richmond, Virginia for our second Muddy Buddy Ride & Run. We learned some lessons from last year’s race and had a decent game plan to win it this year:
- We marked our bike with orange tape so it’d be easy to find at the checkpoints. This worked really well.
- Since there are 5 legs to the race and Zach’s the better biker, he biked first and did more biking. I did 3/5 of the running.
- We got more sleep and weren’t out drinking too late the night before the race.
We also planned on getting to Pocahontas State Park early so we could relax a bit before the race, but since Google Maps failed me again (for the last time), we pulled up very late and got our packet and numbers affixed about 30 seconds before our wave started the race. Yikes.
Despite the frantic start, things went well until we blew a gasket on the bike. I rode my first leg of the race with one gear (the lowest), which made it a bit more difficult than it should have been. Apparently Zach had even more troubles because I was left waiting at the last checkpoint before the infamous mud pit for about 10 minutes. Usually the bikers finish first and wait for the runners there. The most upsetting part is that I finished the run before the team that came in third place in our division so we would have gotten in the top three without all the bike problems. Ah well, there’s always next year.
Dave and I headed out to Coney Island for our second consecutive Grimaldo’s Mile swim today. When I arrived at 6am, the full moon was still really visible, so I was really banking on an amazing performance. Official time: 36:27, which is not amazing and probably not correct. I started in the 3rd wave and I don’t think my time was adjusted (last year I finished in 31:25 in much choppier conditions).
The water was nice and calm and I was really feeling the Total Immersion swim coaching helping me out today — like I wasn’t working that hard, but I was still motoring. The water was thick with jellyfish, but it didn’t really bother me.
The post-race party was dreadful though. Aside from terrible food (how hard is it to supply good bagels in Brooklyn?) there was a ridiculous band. They played Creep by Radiohead, which I couldn’t even wrap my head around at first, but then I realized it was for the line “You’re so very [fuckin] special” because the back-up singer then chimed in calmly, “you’re ALL very special for finishing the race today!” I guess CIBBOWS couldn’t afford Marty Culp and Bobbie Moughan-Culp, so they settled for these cats.
I temporarily lifted my shun on Zach so we could team up for the 2008 Muddy Buddy Ride & Run in Richmond, VA. After lots of driving and very little sleep, we made the check-in at around 6:00am on Sunday. Team Science & Science finished the course in 49:37 - good for 12th place in our division. But hey, they don’t give medals for 12th place.
We both agreed that the distances were shorter than we expected and we could have pushed harder, but it was also my first time biking in any competition and Zach’s pedals stink. The whole course was 6-7 miles with 5 obstacles - including the famous mud pit at the end. The hardest part of the day was finding the GD bike at the checkpoint - we need to devise a system for this next year…when we come to win this thing.
Dave and I swam our second MIF event of the season, the Governors Island 2 miler, and it was much more successful than our first. Total time: 51:50, which put me near the back of the pack but since this was the farthest I’ve ever swam, I was happy just to finish. We started in the back to avoid the starting line kickstorm and didn’t push the pace much since we had no experience with this kind of distance. The water was choppy at times, but we were never swimming against the current so it wasn’t too tough.
I was really surprised with how much fun it was. The fact that it wasn’t such a linear swim and we had different scenery made a real difference. We had amazing views of the Statue of Liberty, Brooklyn, and Downtown Manhattan on the course. I even floated on my back like a turd when I got near the Statue just to take it all in. We were also pretty lucky with the weather since it was nice and sunny during the race and then we got blasted with a torrential downpour and thunderstorm on the ferry ride back.
Today was our first Manhattan Island Foundation swim in the Hudson River for 2008. From their web site: “Today’s Park to Park Swim is ON. Water in the region (including all of the New York City beaches) has been compromised due to the recent heavy rain; it is up to individual swimmers whether or not to participate.” Dave and I decided to participate (at most definite) along with about 220 other swimmers. Unfortunately, they changed the course so instead of swimming from one park to another (with the current) they had us start at Fort Washington Park at 165th street, swim a half mile south, turn around and finish at the starting line. That was the plan anyway.
Due to the heavy rains, or possibly just poor planning, no one was able to finish the race. We got blown out into the river toward the GW bridge by the frumious current. After about 15 minutes of swimming, the boaters placed along the race started telling everyone to swim back to shore. I looked up and realized that I was NORTH of the starting line and pretty far out into the middle of the river. It took some serious battling to get back to the shore and I ended up having to climb some mossy rocks to get in.
All in all, not a bad day. Spent about 30 minutes in the water and even though I didn’t swim a mile, I was pretty spent. That was possibly the first time I ever had to swim for my life. Oh, and I got a ‘finisher’ medal at the end of the day. At least I feel better knowing that no one was able to finish and I’m not just a chump.
