{"id":769,"date":"2013-06-09T16:43:43","date_gmt":"2013-06-09T21:43:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.gregghgordon.com\/?p=769"},"modified":"2013-06-09T21:51:14","modified_gmt":"2013-06-10T02:51:14","slug":"im-back-baby","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.gregghgordon.com\/?p=769","title":{"rendered":"I’m back baby!"},"content":{"rendered":"

So, it’s been over a year since I last posted, and I could offer a thousand excuses, but I won’t… because no one cares. \u00a0I will say however that I’ve been meaning to for a while but found it hard to get over the hump of putting up that first post. \u00a0As of this writing, I’m over that hump.<\/p>\n

So, what’s going on? \u00a0Well, on the training and racing front, quite a bit. \u00a0Last September, I raced in my 100th triathlon but only after a long, grueling season that saw me slower than I should have been and often fatigued from a lack of recovery. \u00a0Following that achievement, I vowed that the 2013 season would be a “fun” season where I’d do a few favorite races, not do too many races overall, and cut off the triathlon season by the end of July so that I’d have three full months to properly train for the NYC Marathon. \u00a0For the most part, I’m track for that… except that I qualified for the USAT National Championship in Milwaukee on August 10th. \u00a0USAT is the national accrediting body for triathlon in this country and qualification for their championship happens a variety of different ways. \u00a0In my case, I raced in a super sprint triathlon near one of my offices and finished in the top 10%. \u00a0This “super sprint” consisted of a quarter mile swim in a pool, followed by a 6 mile bike course (3 loops of a two mile course), and a 2 mile run. \u00a0Two buddies of mine also qualified at this race, so we’ll be road-tripping together to Wisconsin in August. \u00a0I would have liked to just run in August, but this race is worth it and to be invited to participate is an honor I couldn’t refuse.<\/p>\n

So far this season, I’ve had a good run of things. \u00a0I raced the Nautica South Beach Triathlon in April, and have done a few others of smaller distances since. \u00a0I was supposed to race the Escape From Alcatraz Triathlon in March, but Roya had a minor procedure planned for that weekend, and frankly, I was a bit undertrained anyway… so I bailed on the race. \u00a0I decided however to race my version of Alcatraz that day in NYC and I did so by swimming 1.2 miles at the pool at Riverbank State Park, then cycled about 25 miles with a friend in 30 degree chill and wind, then, after a 10 minute thaw session in my car, we ran just over 7 miles (the run course at Alcatraz is actually 8 miles, but I thought it was close enough!). \u00a0It took me 3.5 hours which is a long time to race\/train but it felt good to simply accomplish it. \u00a0A few weeks later, I had planned to race the NYC Half Marathon which goes through Times Square and ends by the South Street Seaport (what’s left of it!), but again had to bail on the race to help Roya. \u00a0And again, I decided to race on my own that afternoon. \u00a0I went to the actual start line and raced the exact course just like I would have that morning. \u00a0The only times I stopped were because of some red lights, but other than that, I ran my heart out with the goal of getting a personal record… and I did… by a lot! \u00a0Finished with a 1:41 finish time and though it’s totally unofficial, it felt amazingly good. \u00a0Below is a pic from the subway platform after the run.<\/p>\n

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Post Run Happiness after the Personal Record<\/p><\/div>\n

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This month, I’ll be racing the YMCA Wyckoff\/Franklin Lakes Triathlon right near my home town in northern Bergen County. \u00a0It’s been a bucket list race of mine for some time and given its proximity to my parents’ house, I’m excited about racing it. \u00a0My goals are fairly simple for this race; partly, it’s to put out a major effort on the bike given the amount of work I’ve done this season on that leg, and to complete the latter half of the run faster than the first half (called a “negative split”). \u00a0I expect to really, really, really suck on the swim leg because I just haven’t spent much time in the pool. \u00a0The following week, I’ll be racing the Philly Olympic Triathlon, my 8th time doing this event. \u00a0It’s one of the three races that I feel I must do every year, and also includes the NYC Triathlon and the Central Park Triathlon. \u00a0In Philly, Roya will be joining me along with our little dogs, so it’ll be fun to actually my loves there to support me.<\/p>\n

One final note on this catch-up post: \u00a0a few months ago, as I discussed the servicing of my triathlon bike with my mechanic (the very dependable and trusted Imbert Jimenez from Master Bikes), I mentioned that I was hoping to get a new tri bike next year to which he revealed that a triathlon shop in midtown was getting out of the bike business and selling their Cervelo P5 models for about half price. \u00a0The P5, to me, was a dream bike, not because it was the right bike for me based on my body geometry, but because it was a top of the line bike that simply looked awesome. \u00a0Sure enough, when I got to this tri shop, it was confirmed that the bike was on sale for a huge amount less than retail. \u00a0I was nervous about spending the money, but when I told Roya about it, she insisted that I must get this bike. \u00a0Who does that? \u00a0What kind of wife insists that her husband buy a top-of-the-line expensive bike? \u00a0Roya! \u00a0So, I did get it… and it is amazing. \u00a0It’s fast for lots of reasons, but while I was at it, I got a power meter and some other fun extras, so I couldn’t be happier on this new bike, and it’s brought me a new joy for cycling this season. \u00a0Let’s hope it pays off this weekend and the rest of the season.<\/p>\n

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The bike is fast, but I'm still the same engine. If nothing else, it sure is pretty!<\/p><\/div>\n

So that’s it for now. \u00a0Glad to be over the hump. \u00a0More to come soon.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

So, it’s been over a year since I last posted, and I could offer a thousand excuses, but I won’t… because no one cares. \u00a0I will say however that I’ve been meaning to for a while but found it hard to get over the hump of putting up that first post. \u00a0As of this writing, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-769","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-training"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gregghgordon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/769","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gregghgordon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gregghgordon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gregghgordon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gregghgordon.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=769"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.gregghgordon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/769\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":771,"href":"https:\/\/www.gregghgordon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/769\/revisions\/771"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gregghgordon.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=769"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gregghgordon.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=769"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gregghgordon.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=769"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}