One Month Away

It has been a long, long break since my last post. So I will try and summarize what has been going on.

I first got diagnosed with "fat pad impingement." I got a second opinion and that doctor says it was "ITB Syndrome." Either way, they are practically the same injury. Swelling caused by overuse. So I did lots of PT and took anti inflammatories and I am ready to go! I still get sore so its all about staying ahead of the pain...icing every time I get a chance...lifting my quads and stretching.

The training group has started to pick up the pace. We are doing 6 mile runs (race distance), 1 mile swims (also race distance) and BRICKS (Bike then run). We also did a swim/run in Coney Island. We got our wetsuits and we practiced open water swimming and then right into running on the boardwalk. It was very interesting to see Coney Island now and compare it to the place where my parents talk about visiting when they were growing up.




(That's me eating a Nathan's hot dog at 10am after swimming and running at the original Nathan's)

Still nothing on the job front, but I'm hoping something will pan out soon enough. Time will tell.. In the meantime, my golf game has benefited tremendously.

Again, thank you everyone for donating. It really has been amazing. I have been able to raise more money than most, faster than most, and for that I am really grateful to all my friends and family.

Back in the Bicycle Seat

My 3 week hiatus is just about over. My "Fat Pad" injury is on the mend. The swelling has gone way down and I can walk almost pain free. I am not quite at the sprinting level, but I am able to swim without problem and I am going to try to bike/run for a short distance today.




On the work front - I have vacillated, pondered, and deliberated. I have opened the metaphorical door to any and all opportunities that arise, whether they be finance or otherwise. I have decided to take the GMATs, though, so I have the option of school for the next few years if I decide to go that route. In the meantime, I have been eating books.




I will leave you with a picture from Diamond's going away party. A Diamond event for the ages.

Trials & Tribulations continued

It has been a challenging few weeks on a few fronts. Unfortunately, I was laid off from the Bank of Dimon two weeks ago as they shuttered the FAST group and my knee has not shown any significant signs of improvement. The plan of attack is to think long and hard about what is the best next step for my career ( CDOs..maybe not so much) and the upcoming triathlon. I have been doing physical therapy 2x a week and just finished the anti inflammatory meds. I am discussing getting a cortizone shot with the doc to assuage the swelling and expediate the recovery process. We shall see...

On a great note, I have reached the $5,000 landmark and its all because of you guys/gals. Thanks a million times. I reached the LLS defined goal before their "Recommitment Date" and I don't have to put up any money to meet it because you guys/gals are great.

I am going to report back with great news shortly about jobs and training.

Eric

Trials & Tribulations

There is no shortage of obstacles here. I went to the swim on monday night and got my butt kicked and embarrased as usual. I wake up Tuesday morning at 5:45 am, and wait for Zach. Of course the big hairy beast was probably doing this...



..and he slept through his alarm. So I decide to hit up the YMCA ( I just joined the Y and cancelled the NYSC membership. The Y has a pool and bball). I rode the stationary bike for 30 min. At some point after I got off and walked to work, I noticed a really sharp pain in my left knee. This pain persisted for the next couple days and it is worse than any bump or bruise I've ever had previously. I can't even walk , I have to limp, because any pressure causes real pain.



So I went to a knee doctor ( Dr.Jordan Metzl, it was a stroke of luck, I took whatever doc had an appt on Good Friday, but this guy has done 4 ironmans so he really knows whats up - http://www.drjordanmetzl.com/ ).




I have whats called a "Fat Pad Impingement" - It is basically an irritation of the tissue between my patella in my knee and my thigh bone. It can be caused by wear and tear or constant extension and contraction. The doc thinks I got it from the bike and not having the seat in the proper position.




See a description here - http://www.sportsinjuryclinic.net/cybertherapist/front/knee/fat-pad-impingement.htm




So I cant really do much right now, which is really disappointing with the weather getting better. I am on anti-immflamatory meds and physical therapy for a month. I am going to try and swim with a buoy in between my legs for the next week and see where I am at. I really have to capitalize on this training time so this is notttt good.




Otherwise, I am doing the PT, taking the meds, stretching, and doing the core strength work.



Check out this link to see a course/race overview - its really cool -




http://www.nyctri.com/Event_Info/Course/RCN_High_Speed_Course_Tour.htm






Thanks for reading, come back soon.

Weekend in Ann Arbor Sets Me Back Five Years

It was a wild weekend in Ann Arbor. It looked like this....

and this....

and this....

Great time on all the old stomping grounds (Zingermann's, No Thai, Skeeps, Stonebridge Golf, No Thai again, Skeeps again, Greeks(don't even ask), Rendezvous Cafe, Cafe Ambrosia, DTW, Charley's, PinBall Pete's, Pancheros, NYPD, the list goes on...Monday AM was not easy...

I am officially the worst swimmer in all of triathlon world.

Monday Night Swim @ Asphalt Green -

First I am kindly told to switch from the intermediate lanes to the beginner lanes by one of the coaches. Then, another coach is so flabbergasted by my seemingly lackluster swimming stroke that he makes me swim with a buoy in between my legs next to the rest of the "beginning" swimmers so I could isolate my arms and perfect my stroke. Well, it didn't work. He then stops the whole lot, say 50 people, and proceeds to advise me that he has never seen anything like it. Whoever taught me how to swim did a terrible job. Finally, at the end of the practice, he makes me use a kickboard (think 5 years old) and practice bringing my arms to the front and keeping them parallel through my stroke. It wasn't a great start to the week....

...All of that after getting all new gear at JackRabbit. Great Store - they fit you for running sneakers on the treadmill and they have all the gels, spandex, crazy expensive and over complicated GPS watches any triathlete could want.

Firts Bike GTS in Central Park this weekend ....going to try and take it easy also as I am deeming April , "Re-Dedication" Month. I need to get in shape and get started if I want to make it in a few months. Will post more in a few days...really tired and need to get 45 min on the bike tomorrow.

News and Notes:

Congrats to Diamond for getting into Med School - He'll be shipping off to the Caribbean in a few weeks - no golf on the island - it doesn't bode well for him on that front.....Team Ramaz "One Left" didn't bring their A game for the playoffs. After going 10-1 in the regular season and earning a bye in the first round of the playoffs, the squad didn't bring it at 101 and Amsterdam. It was a pathetic showing...good thing we get another shot next week.....Golf in Ann Arbor was treacherous, I have a lot of work to do....thanks to all my friends who keep donating, you guys are "unreallll" in the words of Rog.....I earned the nickname "burns" for my lack of....burns.....if I ever see that haircut guy again......

The Weather Won't Cooperate Yet

The weather won't warm up, even though its spring. We have Monday night swims at Asphalt Green on 91st and York - this cold weather makes the prospect of jumping in a pool at 9:30pm pretty...cold. But I have to make it to the swims. Last night, one of the tri coaches told me he has never seen anything like my swimming stroke, and it seems like hes been coaching for a long time. "Apparently", once you "scull" with your right arm (see root of "scull" from dictionary.com : an oar mounted on a fulcrum at the stern of a small boat and moved from side to side to propel the boat forward) , your left arm should be right behind. And "allegedly", I scull with my right and then just float for a couple seconds, and then scull with my left. No wonder I'm always last. He said I improved at the end, but I'm pretty sure he was just trying to assuage my ego.

I haven't made it to many of the GTS(group training sessions) this past week because it has been hectic at work and otherwise. It was my birthday on Saturday so that really inhibited pretty much anything productive for Sunday - it was a blast though, I think (see proof below)...(Ram.Roasted.Boom), thanks for coming to chill everyone.

Zach "Size 17s" Lamberg keeps making me run early in the AM. We're both making trips in the time machine to Emory and Michigan respectively this weekend so we had to get in some exercising "so we can be the best exercisers." The kid insists on wearing shorts when its 20 degrees at 6 am..not for me, I got the under armour, hat, gloves, etc. We're logging runs in the 5 to 7 mile range -48th down to 23rd...up to the east river entrance on 59th st bridge...up to 72 / 80th st...across to park and back down to 48th / 23rd. See classic Lamberg pic below. I have a plethora of these babies, so I'll try spread them out over the next few months.

News and Notes:

Took in the Nets v. Knicks Game with Nets fan club president Robbie Natelson, Dan "tri-angulate" Joels, and Dave "I dont write funny emails any more because I have a long commute to my new J-O-B" Miller and it was a thorough beating.....Shout out to Courtney Sims...Breaking News, Knicks are signing Michael Bresabrasow Melnitzky next.....Team One Left dominated Urban Professionals AGAIN last week - the outlook was dim for the opponent once they saw big Jake tear off his Jordan warmups...it was a 73-45 romping..Solid play all around - No subs..Trencher sent the tone falling harder than Robbie Natelson, Spira made some spectacular passes to Jake who was putting on his standard clinic, and Joels dominated the post with left, right baby hooks that would make Elgin Baylor blush.......had a little Strip House dinner with the family for the bday - 2 observations, (1) the goose fat potatoes are over-hyped and (2) River Palm is still way better

Grandma Selma

This picture is from my parents wedding - 1976

Fat Friday's Courtesy....

...courtesy of DAISY MAY'S BBQ...



CDOs @ Work on 6th ave.

DONATING

I've had a number of people ask me where they can donate. See the link below for the main LLS Fundraising page.


http://pages.teamintraining.org/nyc/nyctri09/ehorowitz

WEEK 2 IN THE BOOKS

We put another one in the books this week....I was introduced to what will certainly be my biggest challenge...the pool. We swim on Monday nights at Asphalt Green - 91st and York. 25 yard pool, great facility. We started with some technique and and warmup laps. Then we did half hour continuous swim - I have no idea how many laps exactly, but they said it should be at least 34. I swam a bit in Australia ( Tiffany whatup), but I am by no means a swimmer. I have a lot of technique and endurance to build up. The coaches also want you to get used to swimming with lots of people around. So, I spent a decent amount of time getting kicked in the head and having people grab my feet. Pretty cool. It is good, though, because most people have stories of the start being hectic...people jumping over them , landing on their head, etc. I am going to try and get in the pool at least twice a week because it is (until we start biking) my most challenging event. I went to the NYSC in Times Square to the pool on Friday after work - that is probably more gross than the Hudson, so I'm prepared.




The weather is starting to turn (for now) , so I will probably start increasing the mileage outside to get prepared for the Brooklyn Half Marathon, May 31st. Zach and I have been logging some serious run workouts so far. Nothing like 6 am on the East river to wake you up. See the big Mongoose below @ Madison Square Garden compliments of Z.Berg. For the record, I checked Lamberg that night and I did work on him.....vintage BLC, Center Court Eric/Zach matchup circa 2000.

We went over a lot of bike technique, how to change a tire, etc at the morning run today at Riverside park. The bike should be a whole other problem, but Ill cross that bridge in a few weeks. My doorman/stock-broker/homeboy/shadkhen/trainer, George, told me that running the stairs of our bldg is a great workout...and it is. I wanted to collapse after like 9 stairs. But I did two runs, 22 floors in the bldg. Its great because its quick and it gets your heart and lungs going and kills the quads...and its quick. George, 54 years old, does four times with his sons Fireman vest on....the man....



I'm going to post more pictures of my Grandma as soon as I get my scanner to work.


Keep checking back


Eric




News and Notes:



Happy birthday to the one and only, DJ, kid's on the Merkato recession plan - doin big things @ Longview....Another Bday for Bock The Yorktown Stallion, "Lead Follow or Get Out of the Way" - Dino BBQ whatup.....I missed hoops this week with team Ramaz "One Left" but Ben "El Capitan" Spira requested I post game reviews and highlights so stay tuned for that....Breaking News: Dow Jones going to zero....

First Week on the Horizon

The first week of training has arrived. Saturday AM @ 8am was the Group Run at Central Park at Engineers Gate. There were about 150 people there. There are old people and young kids from all walks of life. There are three professional Triathlon coaches who are awesome..and always wear spandex. One of the coaches, Scott, who has been training the Lymphoma Leukemia Society endurance events for a number of years announced in the beginning that his father had just been diagnosed with Lymphoma last week...so it was a touching moment and I am sure difficult for him. There is no shortage of reasons to get motivated at 8am hung over in the cold.

Check out this picture from last year's swim in the Hudson. I'm just hoping there aren't any of these creatures this summer.

http://www.nysun.com/new-york/spotlight-on-jellyfish-after-the-triathlon/82356/








Let me know if anyone has a roadbike that they don't use anymore that I can borrow till July. I currently have a mountain bike and this is not ideal for the race. My dad is about 5 inches taller than me (thanks a lot dad) so I can't use his bike (and I get my shot blocked in the lane). We won't start riding outside till end of March so I have some time to figure this out.


Thanks again to everyone who has donated. The support is really really appreciated. And everytime I meet with the group from LLS I gain confidence that your money is going to the best possible place to cure blood cancer. In fact, at the kickoff presentation last Wednesday, a number of "honored teammates" spoke. There is a man who just finished chemo treatments two years ago and has been racing triathlons ever since he found out..along with a number of other people with similar stories. It is really an amazing thing.

Please everyone feel free to write comments. I heard some concerns over the weekend from my friends ( rhymes with Schmalbee Schmarcia ) that they are concerned to post inappropriate comments on the blog because Arlene might read it. Please don't worry about this, Arlene is still crafting her computer skills, it should be a few more years before she is fully functional behind the keyboard. And just to get the ball rolling, a friend (name rhymes with Schmaniel Schmoels), enacted a motion to make my blog an extended forum for the Dmills Bashing Association Blog...so in that light, I'd just like to announce that, at sunday night Dalton School bball, I will be guarding DMills instead of the Bahamian-by-Weekend All Star, and any elbows from the Large Man will be met by spin move arm hooks.

Thanks again everybody. I love you all. You're the best. And check back in a few days, I'll be posting some pictures.






Miscellaneous Notes: I am going to keep this section down on the bottom for un-triathlon, friend-related type stuff - and kind of like the "news and notes" section for all of you SI readers.........shout out to the crew still in AA doin their thing in Acapulco right now..chucks, bmills, schloss(who I would bet ten bucks does the tri next year)...I get this text from Benji Mills, who extended his trip in Pulco, about how he should get a look for next years Urban Professionals/Maccabi throwback City BBall team - "Call me Shuttlesworth, I may be unemployed but ill give neone work"...................Michigan hoops team disappoints Sunday afternoon. We looked terrible. Color commentator, boxer, and Nets "legend" Kendall Gill says we need to take at least two games in the big ten tourney just to have a shot at dancing in a few weeks. I agree.

Eric's Triathlon

New York City Triathlon

WOW! Thank you to everyone who has donated so far. The minimum funding I needed to enter the race was $2,500 and I was able to meet that in less than a week. This is really a testament to all of my friends and family who couldn't be more supportive. I set a new "personal" goal of $5,000. I don't expect to reach it, but I am convinced the money is going to such a good cause that I'm throwing it out there. ALSO, because this website is not very conducive to blogging (and posting funny pictures, which i will be doing), I am going to create a separate website and I will post the link on this address in a few days. Keep checking back. Thanks again everyone!

Eric
2/23/09

*************************************

Welcome to my Summer '09 NYC Tri Blog!

I'm training to race in the Nautica 2009 Triathlon for the The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS). The program raises money to help find a cure for leukemia,lymphoma, Hodgkin lymphoma and myeloma. The idea came to me sometime in the dead of the freezing winter when I usually get bored. So I decided I needed to add some kind of challenge to my life. I started training for the Brooklyn Half Marathon coming up May 31st. I was chatting with my buddy Zach Lamberg (BLC) and he told me that he was thinking about competing in the NYC Triathlon. I immediately decided that sounded like a crazy idea and I wanted in.

After a little more inquiry, I found out that the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society has a really great program where a whole bunch (i think 500 something) people raise money for LLS and they take you through an intense 5 month group training program to prepare for the race. As you all know, I had to run this crazy idea by the CEO, Arlene, and after a little conversation, we realized this was a great way to honor my Grandma, Selma Cohen, and keep a part of her alive in our lives in a real way. Grandma Selma passed away when I was ten of Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma. I have very few memories of my Grandma. My mother says she was a no nonsense, straight talking, beautiful woman , just like my mom! So, in honor of my Grandma Selma, I am going to dedicate the race to my Grandma. Starting March 1st, I will be running, biking, and swimming while honoring and remembering my Grandma Selma.

I know these are really tough times financially. So I am asking my friends only for the minimum donation. In turn, I will entertain you over the next 5 months by keeping a sort of diary blog of my work-outs and progress along with some social commentary that will probably be really silly and everyone can make fun of me for. Good times for all! And, on July 26th, you can watch me swim in the most disgusting water in the world (Hudson River) and ride a bike wearing spandex. I think it should be worth the donation.

A few notes about the race itself: .90 mile swim in the Hudson starting on West 96th Street, 25 Mile Bike ride up to the Bronx and back to Central Park, and a 6.2 mile run around Central Park.
Thanks for visiting the blog! I will keep the blog updated at least weekly with my training progress and probably other miscellaneous things that I think are entertaining! Feel free to post comments, make fun, etc. Thanks to all my friends and family for supporting a good cause. I really really appreciate it!!

Best,
Eric
2/18/09