One of Those Days...

I hopped on my bike today for a 90 minute ride that included some short hard intervals. It is my recovery week and the short intervals help to keep me recovered, but "open". It was my kind of day today...hot and humid. I love it! I did my swim today outside, in one of my favorite spots, which was gorgeous at 7 AM (see picture to the right of this spot named "George's Bay" by my friends). Then I caught up on some of my coaching and got ready to ride. I was psyched for my ride as I haven't ridden my Scott Plasma since last week (I was visiting friends in Boulder for a wedding and was riding my road bike the past week...see picture of my friend Simon on a ride in Colorado below to the left and of my friend's Jim and Danielle at there wedding below right). I dressed in a sleeveless tri top (Zoot of course) and my Zoot shorts (all pink and black), threw on my pink Rudy Projects and my silver and purple Specialized bike shoes and was ready to rock.

Today, I decided to head to Hecksher park to do my intervals. I was riding solo. As I pulled off of my block and onto the main road, a Landscaping truck filled with landscapers (who else would be in a landscaping truck?!) was stopped at a light. As they passed me, I got blessed with many "cat calls" and looks. Predictable, as this is a common occurrence with men in Landscaping trucks, but not necessarily "enjoyable". I did what I usually do...ignore them and ride on. Sometimes I laugh to myself because it is actually pretty funny... Today I just moved on.

Five minutes later I was heading down the road in my aero position when I got a "shock". As I was riding and minding my business, a car full of guys (high school kids?) drove up next to me and smacked me as they drove by. They didn't smack me with their car, instead they drove up real close and reached out of the window smacking me with their hands! They were going for my ass, no doubt (believe it or not this has happened to me before...getting smacked on the ass by kids in a car), but they missed and hit my back and arm instead. Not knowing what was going on, I jumped up and almost wiped out right there. As soon as I realized what happened I got their license plate.

Once they sped away, I stopped and started crying like a little girl...not quite crying out loud, but a sniffle and a few tears instantly occurred. (Honestly, I am not very "stoic". I cry relatively easily...people who don't know me well would be surprised to hear this...those who know me very well would not be surprised in the least) . I composed myself and called my boyfriend to leave the license plate number with him and ask if he could give it to his cop friend. Of course I called to get some sympathy from him as well (like most any sad/hurt girl would do)! No answer as I suspected (I called his cell...didn't feel like this incident warranted bothering him at work...so I left a message on the cell. It would do the trick...I felt a little better). THEN, I called my mom (like any sad/hurt/upset/lonely on the side of the road little girl would do). I got some real nice sympathy from her (that naturally made me feel better)! Finally, after feeling more pissed off than sad I headed back on my bike for my workout. For some extra motivation on my intervals, I pictured the punks that harassed me being caught and beat up! Childish? I don't care...it got me fired up!

On the way to the park (after getting smacked) I was stopped at a light, when a shady looking car with a man about 50-something pulled up next to me and asked, "Are you training for the Olympics"? "F%$#* YOU and leave me alone you dirty bastard!" is what I wanted to say..."YES, I AM" is what I did say... Would this man pull up next to a guy on his bike and strike up this conversation? Maybe, but I doubt it. I was still not over getting smacked and harassed and my tolerance was gone.

On the way home, I was about to turn back onto my street and who was there? A different group of landscapers that all stopped and stared at me as I went by. After passing them (feeling every single eye on me) I heard the all too familiar creepy giggles from the group that no doubt followed a perverted comment by one of the group members. I don't have anything against landscapers, per Se, it just seems that 90+% of the time that I pass them while riding on my bike alone, I get a response such as the previous responses that I have just described. I could bet money on it and could make more than I do as a Professional Triathlete (not hard to do, I know)!

So, as I think about it, it just makes me angry that this is something that I have to deal with, but deal with it I must. Besides the fact that I could have fallen after being hit and had a "career-ending injury", I could have fallen and broken my neck! ...those kids don't care and don't think that way, I know, but the point is that it is rare to ride around by myself and not come across some sort of incident. There are always incidents, even when I am riding with a guy or group of guys, but they are different incidents... You might hear a, "get the F#%@* out of the road!", or you might get a beep and the finger out the window to follow, but rarely do I react by feeling harassed and sorry for myself and I never react by crying on the side of the road with cell phone in hand. Sometimes I wonder how I will get through my career without any major incidents on the roads around Long Island (I love Long Island, but I find it unfortunate that many of the people around here do not appreciate cyclists in the least). Of course, I cannot dwell on this, and I wont. I love what I do and I love to train. I definitely like company, but I like solo riding too. I won't let it get to me too much, but today was just "one of those days"!

CONGRATULATIONS!!!!

I just wanted to Congratulate my friend, Nancy Cattabiani, for finishing "The Canadian Triathlon" today, August 30th. The Canadian is an Ironman-distance event held in Ottawa, Canada. Nancy finished the race in 15:34!! After many hard years of training, mixed with ups and downs, injuries, and personal events that have prevented her from competing in or finishing Ironman, she got to the race with fierce determination and she finished in an awesome time!!!!! I'm so proud of her...I wish I could possesss the mental toughness that Nancy does and I just had to share this accomplishment!

Back in the Swing of Things...

I am almost through with my first week of training for “Phase II” of the 2008 season. I just started getting “back in the groove” mentally today. It took me this whole week to transition back into being a professional triathlete. Today I felt really psyched to be training while completing intervals on my long ride. I must say that training was a bit of a shock to the system on Tuesday when I started off with a hard track session. Wednesday was a moderate long ride (3.5 hours) with some big gear work in the hills, followed by a pretty quick run off the bike. Thursday was an interval session in the water, followed by bike intervals. Friday was a short swim followed by core and the remainder of the day was recovery. After “chilling out”, going out on the boat almost every day, eating ice cream almost every day, and having a Corona or a glass of wine here and there (If you know me now, you know I rarely, if ever drink) and completing no more than one work out session per day, you can imagine what a shock it was to get back to work! The “vacation” was the longest and most aggressive break that I have taken in years. I always take 4 weeks of “downtime” at the end of each season, but my downtime in the past, while unstructured, usually included 3+ hour rides on the bike(without a specific workout) and a decent amount of running. My “downtime” in the past was largely the freedom of not having a schedule to adhere to. This time my downtime was “for real”. While I find that many folks who do what I do have a hard time really chilling out (myself included), this time I enjoyed every minute of it!

Of course all good things must come to an end. George is back to work and so am I. I should probably put it in perspective though. My “work” is training hard and taking care of myself the best I can…how lucky am I? Now I can’t say that I am bringing home the big bucks (or even much of the little bucks for that matter), but I guess you can say that I am “rich” in all other aspects of my life, so there is something to be said about that, right?! Hopefully the greater financial rewards will come later…Hey, maybe after I win Ironman Arizona! ;-) OK, maybe not then either, but if you follow what you love, the rest will come…I think. ;-) So, back to today: A four hour ride, split up nicely as I rode the first 1:30 of it with some local cyclists on George’s cycling team (Babylon Bike Shop), then the rest of the ride solo with some intervals mixed in (they felt GREAT, by the way), then a 30 minute run off the bike descending to “fast” for the last mile (fast is a relative term, eh?). Now I am relaxing outside on the chaise lounge resting my body for a moderately long, but fairly difficult run tomorrow (oh and some beach time…guess there is still time if you want it badly enough, and with cooler weather on the horizon I’ll take the beach when I can get it!). Oh and how can I forget?! The Olympics is on and I think my favorite girls are on tonight, Beach Volleyball Super Studs: Kerrie Wash and Misty May-Treanor (photo upper right, because I am in awe of the two of them...), and of course we can’t forget Michael Phelp’s last swim for Gold and Dara Torres's 50 freestyle either. The women's marathon is on tonight too! I’ll be staying in tonight to watch it…it only comes around 4 years, so I try not to miss it.

So, I’m back in the swing of things and it feels good! My downtime is over, but I find experiences like the past 3 weeks are most special when you can reflect back on them and realize how great the time spent was. If it wasn’t over, I wouldn’t be reflecting on how great a time it was! Also, if I didn’t take the break post-Placid, I may not be reflecting on how lucky I am to be living the life of a Professional triathlete right now, and I know for sure that my body and mind wouldn’t be feeling as refreshed and ready to go either! So now I look forward to the next few months of hard training and fast racing!

Downtime...

So it is just about 2 weeks out from IM lake Placid and I have been “laying low” as far as training is concerned. Instead of dragging myself to the pool early in the morning, or getting psyched up for a hard ride or a long run, I have been going out on the boat with George; getting together with friends and family; and enjoying some “non structured” riding, open water swimming, and short easy running (when I want to). It’s funny, but something as simple as going on a leisurely group ride (like I did last weekend) or meeting a couple of friends for an open water swim and staying in as long or short as I want to, is liberating to me! I have really been enjoying the lack of a schedule and trying to take in as much of the summer as I can (before I am back to “work”). It’s been really nice…summer on Long Island is so great and I am almost sad to see the end of the “carefree days on the water and at the beach”. By next Monday (August 11th), I will be back to training, starting “Phase II” of my 2008 season. While the weather will still be nice and there will still be some opportunity to get out on the boat or to the beach and enjoy it, my “vacation” as I like to refer to it, will be over.

I have officially decided on my race schedule for the remainder of the season. So far, I will be competing in the new “Austin 70.3” race on October 5th and Ironman Arizona on November 23rd. I have just about four months to really train hard and make some gains in my training before I race my next Ironman. It’s a long time! 2008 has so far been an interesting year for me. It started with a lot of travel in the colder months. I got to meet some fantastic people that have become great friends, while escaping the cold New York weather. I had some injuries that forced me to make many changes in my racing schedule, which was frustrating at times, but in the end worked out OK. I started my 2nd pro season in a non-impressive way, with my first race being a total flop and my second race being “mediocre”. Then I found myself in a situation of being 6 weeks from IM Lake Placid with no runs longer that 14 miles under my belt (due to injury), a lack of enthusiasm and confidence, and the daunting task of coaching myself going into the race!

I see athletes leaving and changing coaches so often in professional sports, but the prospect of it was a bit intimidating…after being coached for almost 4 years by the same person (and being training partners and friends as well), I found that, while it seemed clear that the decision was best for both of us, it left me in a somewhat scary situation. Going into Lake Placid, I decided to coach myself, but quickly realized that I have had a coach for almost 20 years of my life! From 7th grade swimming, throughout high school and college and then into my triathlon career I have always had a coach to turn to for my training. Soon, I recruited help from Bobby McGee for my running and Matt Dixon for overall guidance, but it was more of a “hands off” approach. This ended up being good for me, as it helped provide guidance and feedback, while enabling me to still make a transition from the last few years and keeping myself in control of what I would ultimately be doing. I have been very used to constant communication and feedback with regards to my training. Going into Lake Placid, it was basically up to me…and it went OK!

After Lake Placid, I decided to go ahead and “sign on” with a new official coach. I will be working with Matt Dixon, who is based in San Francisco. I am excited about Part II of the season and feel that I have a lot more in me as an athlete. I want to thank Mike Monastero for working with me for the past 3 and a half years and wish him luck in his new endeavors (a growing coaching business, training camps, etc…) You can check out his blog at: http://mikemonastero.blogspot.com. As for myself, I will be really enjoying this last week “off” hopefully getting out on the boat some more, enjoying the sun and the water, while completing modest “workouts” when I want to. I want to be totally recovered and refreshed to start off the next 4 months of what seems like very focused and hard training before heading to Arizona!

Ironman Lake Placid 2008

For fear of dragging out my 2008 Lake Placid experience way to long, I will stick to my race details. I WILL say that Lake Placid is always a special place for me and the town was so packed with friends and other athletes that it was hard to walk more than 5 minutes without running into someone that I knew. I will also say that I think I will be taking a break from Ironman Lake Placid for a while, as this year proved to be the hardest race that I can remember completing (I thought the course was really tough last year, but given the day we had this year, it was the hardest Ironman that I have raced).
I knew it would rain. I looked at the sky before I got into the water and I told my mom that it was going to rain. She tried to be positive, but I said there was no use in being falsely positive. I had to mentally prepare for the rain. I WAS prepared for rain, but not for what we actually got! If anyone knows me, they know that I hate the cold. I would gladly take a 100 degree day over a chilly rainy one. This is usually my “point of contention” with Lake Placid, but some years the weather can be beautiful! This year was the worst.
I was REALLY excited to race. I felt highly confident and I was psyched. As the pro field waded in the water waiting for the swim to start, I looked around and felt so psyched to be doing what I am doing. There was absolutely nowhere that I would rather be at that moment. “This is going to be a good day”, I thought. I know that when I am “mentally on” like I was the morning of Placid, that I am in for a good day (as long as the body responds). The pros went off 10 minutes earlier than the age groupers and after getting beat up a bit, I quickly found some feet to get on. The great thing about being a pro is the swim start. It is MUCH less hectic and crowded. The BAD thing about it is that is less crowded! Because of the smaller field, the draft is not nearly as good as it was when I was an age grouper. This doesn’t affect the fast swimmers as much (they are in front anyway), but for someone like me the draft is a huge help. Luckily, as I said, I found a small group to latch onto. It was led by two male pros and next to me was my friend Jacqui Gordon! How cool is that! The swim felt EASY (maybe too easy?). When the swim feels this easy, you wonder whether you should try and pass the group you are swimming with. I decided that it would be a waste of energy. I exited the water at 1:01 (I’ve done a: 57 as an age group athlete in Lake Placid) and I was satisfied with this swim and this effort. I was smiling as I got my wetsuit stripped off of me and I was psyched to get onto my bike! Oh, did I mention that it was pouring rain? “Maybe it will stop before I get to the wicked downhill”, I thought. No such luck.
I felt AWESOME on the bike! Watts were coming VERY easily. I DID get passed by Kim Loeffler right away (she was FLYING!) but I decided to stick with my planned effort, as I know that 112 miles of biking and 26.2 miles of running is a LONG WAY to go! It was still pouring as I reached the dreaded downhill. The day before, I went out on the course with another athlete, Josh, that Matt Dixon was coaching (Matt Dixon also helped coach/guide me through Placid). This was to be Josh's first Ironman. Josh was a former adventure racer and just missed making the Olympic team for crew. Matt was expecting great things from Josh and he delivered (he did a sub-10 hour race, qualifying him for Kona). When Josh and I rode the day before we started just before the downhill section and I freaked. My bike started shaking and I hit the brakes. “I cannot do this on race day”, I thought!! I was glad I did this downhill the day before the race as Matt Dixon and George gave me some good tips for descending (Keep pedaling when you can, to keep momentum going and keep your knees on the top tube!) Ironically, Josh passed me at the EXACT same section that we started the bike the day prior…right before the downhill. This is good sign! I talked myself down the hill without touching my brakes (too afraid to touch the brakes in the rain). I did what Matt and George said and it was going smoothly! The rain was pelting my face and my body, but I stayed focused on where I was heading, while talking myself through it. I was THRILLED when I got down safely! I rode solo, not really knowing where I was until the out and back section of the course. I counted the women ahead and realized I was in 7th. At the end of the first loop I passed Catlin Shea and found myself in 6th place. I figured that my pass was for good and that I wouldn’t see Catlin again. Boy was I wrong! By the middle of the second loop I was sick of the rain, but I remained positive. At one point I had to laugh. The rain would give way for a bit (not completely, but down to a light rain) and then a huge downpour would follow. It was insane! I passed Marie Danais on the second loop to see that she was really hurting. Being VERY LEAN, the cold had apparently gotten to her and she eventually had to drop out. I saw my friend Stephan on the last section of the bike and it was nice to see a familiar face. He looked great on the bike and I watched him climb away from me. I always like to “check-in” with myself throughout the race and by the end of the 2nd loop of the bike I had held similar watts to last year, but felt SO MUCH BETTER than I had last year! This is a good sign because last year I felt TERRIBLE by the end of the bike, but still managed to run 3:23! I was ready for a sub-3:20 run!

I got off the bike in 5th place, but Catlin Shea (now Snow) was still behind me! I passed her on the first loop of the bike, but she must have rallied and stayed close by! We ran out of transition together and she was quickly in front and making more and more distance on me (she eventually won, running a record-breaking 2:59!). So I was in 6th. I felt great right away. Again, checking in with myself, I remember that last year I felt “mentally cloudy and bonky” by mile six of the run, but gutted it out. This year, I felt coherent and my legs felt light. I was holding between 7 minute and 7:25 pace on the first loop and I said to myself, “I can hold this pace all day long!” I passed my friend Jacqui on the out-and-back section and could tell by looking at her that she was struggling. It was bittersweet passing her. Good to run myself into 5th place, but hard to pass a friend. Coming into town for the end of the first loop was awesome. I saw people I knew on every corner. As I passed the Runner’s Edge tent I saw my mom and gave her a high five! On my way out, I saw Mike Monastero and he said that I was gaining on Desiree. This gave me a jolt of energy and as I ran out of town I cheered as I passed a big group of friends on top of the big hill in town. I ran myself into 4th place! Then the cramping came.
Just to clarify, I do not cramp. It has never happened and it is never an issue, until today. All of a sudden I noticed that my hamstrings were locking up and my calves were just about to completely seize up! “Oh no…this can ruin the whole day!” I did my mental check and I actually felt clear and coherent. I was not bonking! My muscles were just giving out on me/seizing up! I had to run “carefully" for the next 10+ miles for fear that any sudden move would put my legs into wicked cramping and seizing! I forged ahead while being SCARED that my race was going to end with one wrong move. In hindsight, I do not know how I got up those hills without my legs seizing up, but I did it. I did it slowly. My pace per mile was more than a minute slower that the first half, but I managed to stay in 4th place. As I crossed the finish line, I was thrilled to finish 4th place on such a terrible day. I quickly found my mom, gave her a hug, called George and headed to my room. I could barely walk as my legs were cramped. Usually, I cleanup my bike, shower, get dinner and head out to the course. This day, I showered and headed to bed, where I stayed from 6:30PM until 7:30 AM the next morning.
Walking has been very difficult for me as my calves are still in very bad shape, but they are getting better every day. I got a great massage from Bill Romas yesterday and I am starting to walk like a regular person again. I did not get a slot to Kona this year. There were only two slots given to women pros and I was 4th. I’ve been to Kona 5 years now and I’m OK with not going this year. My plan is to race a different Ironman this fall (in warmer weather!) and race for a top podium finish. Reflecting back on the day, it is hard to believe what I (and all the other athletes) endured. The constant torrential rains were something that I hope to never revisit. Congrats to everyone who raced in such terrible conditions and finished. A big congrats to Dave Gatz who has been suffering with hip injuries for the past year and had little run trainnig under his belt. He ended up qualifying for Kona regardless. I'm sure this was due to his extreme mental toughness and also the coaching of his wife, Jen Gatz. Amazing performance. My friend Jacqui Gordon ended up finishing 5th and was taken right to medical after the race. Her core temperature was 91 degrees and she received 3 IV’s. I wish her a speedy recovery and good luck in whatever race she does next. As for myself, I am enjoying my recovery period as it is a much desreved "off time". I know it will be over soon and I will be back to training hard, so I am trying to really enjoy going to the beach, going on the boat, being a little less strict with my eating and working out when I want with no particular structure!

Pre-Placid Thoughts...

Sometimes I get the idea for my blog entries on my long bike or long run workouts. Today, while riding my last "significant ride" before Ironman Lake Placid, I started thinking about how I am mentally for this upcoming race and where I was mentally before Lake Placid last year. (Picture to the right: IM Lake Placid 2007, 7th female overall). That thought led me to the next thought, "I wish I had this blog site then, so I could read my thoughts before the race last year", which led me to the thought, "how funny is it that I have a blog site?" (I never would have guessed this time last year that I would be writing my thoughts down for all to see, or for the few who read it to see). Thinking about that I started reflecting back on why I started this blog. Last November, a guy by the name of Terry Donovan introduced me to the idea of a Blog (sadly, I really didn't know what these "blog sites" were!) Terry is a very successful businessman (entrepreneur) and while I cannot write with complete accuracy all of his successes, lets just say that he is very successful and a "down-to-earth" guy at the same time. Terry invited Mike Monastero and myself to his house last fall to give a "crash-course" on the marketing side of being a pro triathlete (for me, and other advice for Mike). I would imagine that an opportunity like this would ordinarily cost quite a bit of money, but Terry took the time to type out a packet and go over some marketing ideas and the "business side" of being a professional athlete for no cost, just because he is a generous and nice guy. Let's just say that the marketing side of being an athlete is not exactly my strong point...not even a little bit. Trying to get sponsors and get my name "out there", (selling myself) is not something I am good at, and it is something that George also has given me advice on (you don't have to be the best in the world, but you DO have to find a niche, market yourself...basically-GET HELP DONG IT! It is not my strong point!) So, while I am still below average at this aspect of my pro career (I re-visited Terry's "packet of guidance" and realized there is so much more I could be doing!), I am happy that I started this blog. I was MORE than skeptical about writing it, and didn't exactly have faith in my ability to keep it going. NOW, I really enjoy writing in it and I even included the address on my business cards (yes, I got some cards for my coaching business printed up!)

SO, this time next year, when I want to reflect back on what was thinking and feeling before my fantastic race in Lake Placid, I can get on my blog and check it out! Thanks Terry!

So, here it is...the weekend before the big race. Probably my last pre-race entry. I can only assume that last year I was feeling quite nervous that IM Lake Placid was going to be my first Ironman as a pro. This year, I am more comfortable with this. I don't feel as much of an "outsider" as far as racing with the big guns. My training has been coming along (For fear of coaching myself completely before such a huge event-I am skeptical of self-coaching and like to have some outside input as I feel it helps "keep things real", I have recruited some help and guidance from Bobby McGee-run specialist- and Matt Dixon who runs Endurance PTC in California and coaches super triathlete Tyler Stewart amongst others...), my taper is going smooth, I am NERVOUS, but most importantly I am psyched to race! I look at the start list and feel that it will be a GREAT DAY for racing! I know what I have to do out there and I am anxious to see how it plays out. Reading Jaqui Gordan's blog (fellow pro triathlete...will be racing Placid too) gets me psyched and makes me realize how lucky I am to be in the mix with these other great women! So, this week will consist of short efforts, some hard efforts mixed in, getting all my gear together and soaking it all in, as I always try to do before my races. It's such an exciting time for me and I try to really appreciate and take in all the excitement around this event. My next blog entry will most likely be "post-Lake Placid" and while I look forward to writing it, I don't want to rush myself!

Support Crew...

The other day I had a bike workout to do that included some intervals that were not going to be “killer”, but it was definitely a workout that I wasn’t “Gung Ho” about. In the morning, before the ride, I went to Sunken Meadow Park on the north shore and met up with my friends Bill, Nancy and “Heads-up Mike” for an open water swim. Mike got the nickname “heads up Mike” after the first time he swam with Bill and Nancy 2 years ago. Back then he could only swim with his head out of the water. Now, he was trailing close behind me. What a huge improvement from that day 2 years ago! Mike is training for Lake Placid as well and is one of the most enthusiastic people I have ever met. Guess he has to have a lot of energy…he and his wife just had their 3rd child!
The morning was beautiful. The water was clear and flat as it could possibly be. I love mornings like that and I felt totally recharged after finishing my swim. It was great to meet up with people, as much of my training is done solo. Being that my schedule is “open” (I do much of my biking and running when others are at work) and I live on Long Island, I don’t exactly have much opportunity to meet up with people for a workout mid-day. If I were in San Diego, I may run into Kate Major out on a ride or countless other pros with “open schedules” as well, but here I only get to coordinate with other athletes every now and then. I REALLY look forward to it when I get to train with other people as it is great for a quick mental energy boost! Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy training solo as well and I find that it enables me to really appreciate when I can train with others.
After heading home and eating copious amounts of food (heavy training=increased food intake!) I headed out on the bike. There are MANY days that I hop on my bike and feel “giddy” and “free”…excited to be doing what I love (riding my bike and training)…this was NOT one of those days. I headed to Hecksher State Park to do my intervals, and decided to stop and use the bathroom before I started my intervals (procrastinating). Who did I run into, filling up her water bottle? Nancy Cattabiani! Twice in one day! Nancy is one of my dearest friends and hands down one of the most incredibly special people that I have ever met. Nancy is the type of person that you feel lucky knowing. She was at Hecksher with Bill, who was off on the loop doing some intervals. After talking with her for a good 10 minutes (procrastination), we headed out on the road together. After soft pedaling and chatting for about 5 minutes, Nancy finally said, “OK…you should get going now”…did I mention I was procrastinating? We were laughing about it. Then, as I was about to start an interval, Nancy says, “You look incredible… like a real pro”…then she added, “You are going to have a fucking great race!” It caught me off guard, but amused me and got me instantly pumped at the same time! Did I mention that Nancy is going to be 60 years old this year and has finished Ironman as well as countless other races? She is also one of the toughest people I have ever met as well as one of the most selfless. I did the intervals thinking of my friend and her bold statement. My legs felt stuffed, but I hit the numbers I wanted to hit (suffered a bit) and headed home feeling awesome.
So, that got me thinking of my “support crew”. The people that help me do what I do. The four most supportive people that instantly come to mind, the people that I draw upon throughout my races to get me going and stay in the game are: My mom and dad, my boyfriend George and my great friend Nancy. All four of these people possess qualities that make them stand out as extra special. I know what you are thinking reading this, “she’s biased”…but I’m not, really! Each one of these people is amazing in their own right. I don’t have enough room to write about all the incredible qualities that these four share, but I will say that as far as I am concerned, they provide unwavering support for me and what I do, and they always give me advice with my best interest at heart. What more can you ask for?
Recently, I was reading an article written about Olympic swimmer Dara Torrres and the countless people that she employs as her support crew. Now, while I don’t have the sponsorships she has to pay the $100,000 each year in support crew and coaches alone, I was thinking of all the other people that support me on a regular basis. Here are some of these people:
Bill Romas is my massage therapist and friend. He is Nancy’s husband and provides the same type of love and support that Nancy does, as well as gives me wicked-good massages every week for the past 6 years. Bob Cook, the owner of Runner’s Edge is also a great friend and part of the “family” that I belong to (which he created) at the store. I’ve worked for Bob for the past 3 ½-4 years (although he jokes that if you add up all the time I’ve actually worked it is equivalent to 1 year!) Where else can you find a boss that enables you travel when you want, train when you want and fit in working at the store when it works for you? Not many places, I can promise you that. I also spend holidays at Bob’s house, along with his family and the “store family”. Funny thing about the store is that there are SO many people that work there at different times of the week and it is a niche that I feel lucky to have stumbled in on. Aside from Nancy and Bob, I have had the pleasure to work most with Gary and Dave. They too have become friends. I can go on and on about everyone at Runner’s Edge, but I’ll just say that it’s a special place.
Chiropractor and A.R.T therapist, Larry Lembo has also become one of my “support crew”. I go to Larry once a week, always with something that needs to be “worked out” and Larry always has the magic touch. My potential injury is a thing of the past when I walk out the door! My friend, Don Rourke has also been a great help with healing major injuries as well as keeping my core strong! Don has even made “house calls” to go over different stability routines in order to make it more convenient for me. Recently, he caught a cold, so instead of meeting up, he enrolled me in an internet program that showed video of the core exercises I should be completing on different days! Pretty cool…. Mike Monastero has been a friend of mine for about 4 years and up until recently, was my coach for just about 3 and a half years. He is always someone I can go to bounce ideas off of regarding my training as well as a great riding partner. With Mike, I really learned how to train with power and I saw great improvements in my training and racing. Mike is one of the most coveted coaches on Long Island. I also want to mention Rick and Beth Ferriola who run the Masters Team that I have swum on for the past 7 years (Rick is the coach, Beth is his wife), as well as Jen Gatz who is an awesome coach and an incredible source of knowledge as well as a great person.
I could go on and on, but along with these people there are SO many other people that are always “on my side”. From two of my best friends: Erin Miller in Washington D.C and Jess D’Amato in Boulder (as well as Simon, Ingrid, Jim and Danielle in Boulder); to Ray Farrell and Geoff Cassell who dedicated themselves to helping me in my open water swimming last year; to my great friend Michelle in Tempe who said I always have a place to stay in Arizona; to my fellow pros (and great friends) Nic and Wolf Guembel and Tara Norton; to all the people who are on the Runner’s Edge Team that always stop and ask about what I am doing next and how I did in this race, or that race. I know that every athlete has their story of the people who matter most to them, who support the tough quest they are on, but I just wanted to recognize those people in my story and thank everyone for being there.
Top left picture: Nancy and I at the Tobay Triathlon 2007.