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....