Same Reason, New Event!

It's been a nice week off from training, now my knee is all better time to get back. Except, now I have a yucky cold, so we'll see how I feel...

I've decided to change Events to the Philadelphia Triathlon, which is this June 28, 2009 (my mom's bday!). May is an incredibly busy month with my cousin's wedding, in North Carolina and Melinda and Greg's wedding. When I found out I was still able to change my event I jumped at the chance to be able to stay at home.

Now I'll be biking on the trail that I practice on, twice around with some extras including Lemon Hill. Swimming in the Schuylkill River, and running down Benjamin Franklin Parkway!

Here's a description from the Philly Tri web site:

THE OLYMPIC COURSE
1.5K swim 40K bike 10K run
This exciting course will travel through some of the most historic and picturesque sections of Philadelphia. The start/finish area and the transition area will be located just off of Martin Luther King Drive, near the base of Black Road – it is a beautiful part of Fairmount Park, complete with statues, trees and grassy fields.

SWIM
The 1.5K swim will be a point-to-point course, with athletes entering the water from the dock at the St. Joe’s Boathouse on Kelly Drive. Athletes will swim downstream, staying to the left of the island and heading under the second opening at the Columbia Bridge. The swim will conclude with a right hand turn to the swim exit which will be right in the belly of the transition area.

BIKE
After exiting the transition area, athletes will start the two loop, 40k bike course through Fairmount Park. Each loop of the bike course includes a portion of the COMMERCE USPRO CYCLING CHAMPIONSHIP and combines the flat & fast Martin Luther King Drive and Kelly Drives with four several short technical climbs and descents, including Lemon Hill.

RUN
After exiting the transition area, athletes will head north on the Martin Luther King Drive (towards Falls Bridge) and reach a turnaround roughly one mile from the run start. They will then run south on Martin Luther King Drive back towards transition. When reaching transition (after approx. 2 miles of running), athletes will loop behind transition on the grass before rejoining Martin Luther King Drive. They will then head to the front of the Art Museum, one of the City's most famous landmarks, where they will turnaround and head back on Martin Luther King Drive for a photo finish, a short distance from the transition area. Roughly 4/10 of one mile will be on grass. The course will be extremely well-marked for directions.

Injured

I went to NYC this past weekend to visit Tammy and order bridesmaid dresses for Liz's wedding... I return slightly injured. I twisted my knee while on the greyhound bus. Oops, my injury isn't even training related, but it has slowed my training to a complete stop. My knee has been getting better each day, but I don't want to push, so not to injure it more. This doesn't help my fear of running at all.

On a happier note, Tammy and my V-day brunch had a nice turn out on Saturday, Thanks to everyone who came! We raised $200 for LLS! Thanks Tammy for being such a good host! I cooked a lot of pancakes made to order with chocolate chips, bananas, and/or nuts. We had way too much food, and lots of leftovers.

Almost at $2000!

I'm a hop, skip, and jump away from the $2000 mark. Thank you so much to everyone that has responded to my postcards, and thanks to those of you that have bought chicobags! Every little bit adds up.

With this spring-like weather, I went for a long bike ride on Sunday down West River Drive to the Art Museum, then back down Kelly Drive. I am really lucky to live in Manayunk, were those paths are right outside my door. Adam and I also explored a path into Fairmount Park that we hadn't gone before. We took some pictures that I will post later. It felt great to bike outside again.

I need to focus more on my strength training portion of getting ready for the triathlon. I plan to do that by, doing push ups in the morning as well as other strength building exercises that are on wii fit. It's hard for me to do anything without someone telling me what exactly to do.

Have a great V-Day!

-jessica

V-Day Brunch!

Okay, I confess, I didn't make it to spinning last night, but I still managed to get to the gym and bike for 50 min! Today, I'm going to run after work (maybe outside).

To all those in the NYC area, the lovely Tammy Lew is hosting a V-day Brunch next Saturday at 1pm at her apartment in Astoria, Queens. We'll be making pancakes, and have bagels & lox. A $10 donation to eat, or what you would spend on brunch.

Tammy wrote a great e-mail inviting all her NY friends, please RSVP if you can make it. Thank you Tamala for hosting this event! You're the best!

Tammy's e-mail:

Hey all,

My best friend Jessica is running a triathlon for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. She is trying to raise $4700 by May. (Check out and donate: www.jsitkoff.com/donate or her blog at http://lazyfeettriathlete.blogspot.com/). Since she'll be in NYC for President's Day weekend, we've decided to have a fundraiser towards her goal. We're having a delicious home-cooked brunch at my apartment for Valentine's Day! So regardless if you're in love, love love, hate hallmark holidays and/or love, or need more love, come eat with us and some of your favorites. And who knows, maybe you'll meet a valentine :) We'll have pancakes (with or without chocolate chips), bagels and lox, fruit, and lots of goodies. And we ask that you donate $10 (or what you would've spent if you went out to brunch) to a good cause! All in all a good situation. No excuse if you live in queens! And if you can't come, you can still donate! And feel free to invite friends, family, significant others, etc. :)

Here are the details:

When: Saturday Feb, 14th at 1pm (You'll be done in time to get your groove on for vday!)
Where: My apartment-- 3164 32nd Street, Astoria, NY 11106. I'm the first floor apartment. Take the N train to Broadway.
Why: To raise money for Leukemia and Lymphoma Society-- bring $10 :)

RSVP PLEASE :) Either email me at tammylew@gmail.com or call me at 302-354-1865. We have to know how much food to make :)

Hope to see you a week from Saturday!
Tammy

Spinning

Spinning class starts in 20 minutes! I better get moving. Spinning is like aerobics class on stationary bikes. I try to go once a week at my gym to work on biking endurance.

What a difference a day makes

Okay, so I know I was all pumped in my last post. I've had a drop off since then, but I'm still trudging along.

Training recap
Thursday I went swimming at UMLY 30 min
Sat: Team practice: 1 hour swim at St. Joe's, 20 min run outside
Sun: 30min bike at Lionville Y
Mon: 30 min swim, 20 min run Center City Sweat

Team practice was good on Saturday, St. Joe's in such a nice place to swim. Everyone is a little stressed about fund raising. I'm stressed about the run coming up after swimming. I've opted out previously because of the cold/hate running. But today, I came prepared with my under armor, and I was going to run!

We ran around a long block near City Ave. Starting out, I could not run without stopping. Running outside is different than a nice cozy gym, with the ground moving underneath you. Luckily, we had a short cut option almost immediately. I was the only one who took it. So I ran a good while by myself, and it was nice. I could jog/walk without judgment and go at my own pace. The highlight was running by the Barnes Museum, looking pretty covered in snow (I gotta start bringing my camera while training outside). By the time I made it back to City Ave, the group was running on the opposite side of the street. They all eventually passed me, but it was okay since I wasn't too far away. Thank goodness for shortcuts!

I definitely have to work on running outside.....