Team Long Meeting

I'm reporting from our Team Meeting... Team LONG has gathered to prepare for our relay at the Greenville Sprint Triathlon (this Sunday). We've got to lots to strategize here:
Doug Long - swimming
Sally Long - biking
Ashley Long - running

Dad took over the meeting and voiced a goal to break his swim-seed time by :35 (fyi, the swim is a 400 m pool swim), he's asked me to run a PR in the 5K, and somehow he gave my mom 30 min to ride 15 miles... obviously, he's not a cyclist. When I told him Mom probably wouldn't avg 30 mph, he told me that we'd just have to take the time off my run (ok, I'm probably not going to run a 12 min 5K). He'd like for us to break an hour (the pro men didn't go sub 1 hour last year).

Fun numbers our Team leader calculated:
- our team's average age = 46 years
- our team's average weight = 125 lbs
- our team's total weight = 375 lbs
- our team's average height = 5 feet 3.6 inches
- our team's average shoe size = 7

The rest of our meeting minutes are highly sensitive. There are 29 total relay teams, so the competition is out there.
Team LONG -- Bring it ON.
(wow, I think I just wrote our team cheer)

rumor has it...

There is an awesome new site: BIKERUMOR

All things biking, cycling, pedaling, shifting, spinning, and cranking along in the World of Bicycles. Road cycling, Mountain biking, Triathlon, BMX, etc... Check it out, let me know what you think!

I did a quick post on our Olympic Athletes, 3 of whom ride Orbea. There are some good pictures of the bike (and it's cool pointed head-post), but I'm still trying to get them on the site.

who's HOT?

Recently, Bree posted something about tan lines. Well, if having white thighs and dark bronzed legs (mid-thigh down) is "the hippest thing these days," then I've finally found myself in style!!

So, I'm posting a challenge. It's August now... we've all been training outside for months, just soaking up the rays (on non spandex protected skin, of course). Who's got the most outrageous tri-tan? Maybe some of you super-studs will acquire a sunblock sponsor - but, in the least... we'll get to laugh over funny pics.

Here are some photos I found while searching my files for good shots:

This was taken after the "Horribly Hilly Hundred"; an annual ride in Wisconsin. My mom had told me we were meeting some friends (who were training for IM Wisconsin) to do one loop of the course. WRONG.... instead we ended up riding FOREVER, in 100+ temps, up and down the WI hills. I actually came close to divorcing my mom that day.

Jen and I in Boulder, CO for a friend's wedding. I guess triathletes just shouldn't wear backless dresses.

Camping, CAMP

It will feel so nice to sleep in my bed tonight....

On Saturday, I did the Lake Logan Triathlon in Canton, NC. Gorgeous site, perfect weather, and fun course - albeit lacking some lake water (the pictures are priceless - coming soon with a race report). Gail killed the ladies division (and almost all of the men, actually), it was GREAT to finally meet Bri & Marty Gaal (Congrats on a strong 2nd Bri!), and see so many tri-friends. Awesome job:
-Chris Smutzer
-Eric Mitchell
-Dustan Barber
-Julie Spitzer
-Kristen & Mike Klepfer
-Beth Rusch
-Jimmy & Heather Brehm

**Thanks to my sister, Sarah, who camped out with me at the race site on Friday night. That's right, we threw up a tent about 100 yards from the finish line. Nothing like waking up, unzipping the tent, and walking your bike over to transition ;)
**Also, thank you to our camping neighbors: the Smutzer Family. They were livin' large in their tow-behind camper... and were nice enough to share a pasta dinner. Chris, Set Up Events should be proud to see our dedication to the SCTS team and the events they produce. We are Hardcore.
**Thank you Mom & Dad for coming over to cheer me on! Mom, although you're teeny-tiny... you are the ONE spectator/cheerleader I can always pick out. And Dad, thanks for using the infamous Doug Long whistle. I always know when you're in the crowd.

Like I said, more on the race later.
But, in case you're into checking results... please know this: the swim was over a 1/2 mile away from the transition area. Due to drought, they're siphoning water from Lake Logan. We actually ended up with 3 transitions. Swim, T1: put on running shoes, run .7 of a mile; T2: strip wetsuit, get bike equip, ride; T3: run, finish.

Since then, I've been at MDA Summer Camp. Swimming, fishing, watching power soccer (an adaptive sport for kids in power wheelchairs), canoeing, singing campfire songs & making s'mores, arts & crafts, and hanging out with the kids. An amazing experience for sure - the perfect work fuel.

But, like I said - it's back to my bed tonight. Ah.

NYC "did list"

I’m a big fan of the “to do” lists… something about scratching a line through a task is so satisfying. Well, I had lots to do before going to NYC – but, really no idea what would be done while I was there (other than watch the race, of course). So, in an attempt to capture all we DID DO, I’m going to try and list them here. Get ready, here we go:
-My flight was delayed, and then once we boarded, we sat on the plane in Greenville for over an hour.
-Andrew was experiencing the same delay in Chicago. Evidently the landing areas in Newark were crowded.
-Finally landed in Newark and met up with Andrew.
-I wheeled my only luggage (carry-on) around the airport, while Andrew had to drag his bike box.
-He’d already figured out what train we needed to get on to get close to Central Park.
-Bike box acted as nice bench while waiting for train.
-Now, just picture Andrew lugging his bag and bike box through the subway systems of NYC. Classic.
-I was already deemed a bad sherpa.
-Bang, CLUNK, BANG, goes the bike box up the stairs and into the City. (Jen, I thought about you and Jerome lugging those things around Europe)
-It was pretty late at this point, and we were walking along the streets of NYC, with backpacks, and a bike box, looking for the YMCA.
-I was already laughing as we “checked into” the ½ star YMCA.
-Andrew worked on getting the keys while I picked up the pool schedule.
- As the elevator doors opened on our floor, I instantly had college flashbacks.
-We were in a DORM.
-A girl walked by, in a towel, carrying her shampoo + toothbrush.
-The room was, like I said, a dorm. I looked at the bunk beds and yelled, “I want to be on top.” I think Andrew had a witty reply for that one.
-We finally got to ditch the bike box.
-Made our way back to the streets to look for suitable dinner.
-Usually at 11:00 pm, restaurants are closed, people are asleep, and cities are quiet. Right, forgot I was in New York.
-We had no problem locating a nice deli for sandwiches and smoothies.
-Night one. Done.
-I did have some workouts to get in during the weekend.
-So, on Saturday morning I set out for my long run. Andrew was going to put his bike together and take it for a spin.
-One block over to Central Park (what the Y lacks in luxury, it makes up for in location).-The place was PACKED! Runners, walkers, unicyclists (yes, for real), people on rollerblades, with dogs, cyclists (easy to spot people getting ready for the race: aero helmets and disc wheels ;)
-I fell into the mass of people traveling the loop around the park.
-It was AWESOME – so many people outside, exercising, enjoying the sunny morning.
-I’d overshot the street where I should have stopped, so 2 hours later – I was walking back to the YMCA.
-Andrew had his bike together, and since the room was tight with 2 people and a bike, we left for the race expo.
-Sat in on the pro/elite meeting. First sighting of Andy Potts – ah.
-More time around the expo.
-Subway ride to Little Italy (via Chinatown)
-Fun, fun, fun and great food!
-I think the rest of the afternoon was race prep.
-Wait, we did visit the Pool (on the 3rd floor)
-Anyone from Illinois, who is familiar with St. Viator H.S. will know what the pool looked like.
-Andrew got in a few 100 yards – while I tried to do a workout, as men doing side stroke joined my lane and wanted to circle swim. No thanks.
-To bed early.
-Then, I awoke thinking a spaceship was about to land on my head.
-No, I was on the top bunk, my head was about a foot away from the light, and Andrew was up getting ready for the race. It was around 4:00 am.
-In my sleepy state I mumbled something about using the floor lamp (shouldn’t it be all about the sherpa on race morning?)
-I left the Y at 4:50 am. The pro wave wasn’t scheduled to go off until 5:50, I was 2 miles away, an hour was plenty of time, right?
-Next I found myself running down Broadway at 5:00 am. Drunk people were just getting in from the bars, stumbling into hotels.
-I got to the transition area a sweaty mess. It was HUMID.
-Oops, the swim was point to point. I still had 1K to go.
-Still running, through the mass of participants (who were in no hurry), trying to make the start.
-The American Anthem began playing
-I picked up my pace (who doesn’t love sprinting at 5:00 am the morning after a long run?)
-Finally, after throwing many elbows, I got to the starting area.
-By this point, I was dripping with sweat. I said good luck to Andrew, and after looking me over, he said something about possibly needing to take in more fluids on the bike… -They lined the pro men up on the barge and off they went. -And off I went for more running. Seriously, I had to run to keep up with these guys as they swam downstream.-Now, I was running against foot traffic. (more elbow throwing)
-Caught Andrew as he made his way toward T1.
-More running to find good spots to watch the bike.
-I think this was the only time I was still during the race. I had about 30 min of downtime.
-Hydrate, I needed to hydrate.
-I positioned myself near the bike finish. Since Andrew had come out of the water in about 19th… I was Stoked to see him roll in 4th off the bike!! (he later told me that passing Andy Potts on the bike was a race highlight for him)-Now I was running to Central Park. Somehow I missed the lead guys going out.-So, I ran through the park to see them around mile 5.
-The leaders came flying by (Andy before Andrew… Andrew told me he hung with AP for about ½ mile, just hoping someone got a picture of him running with the top dogs. Yeah, I’d like a picture of me running with Mr. Potts too... man, I could barely get the camera out fast enough) -Andrew turned in a very strong 8th place finish.-Yes, I ran to meet him there… embarrassed to look and feel like I’d done a triathlon myself.
-However, looking so trashed played to my advantage.
-Andrew was looking for the post race massage tent.
-I told him I’d wait – he said, “just go get a massage too.”
-First instinct said, “no those are for participants.”
-He said, “look the place is empty.”
-That’s how I found myself in the massage tent, getting a post race massage, with 4 of the pro men.
-I’ve never gotten one after a race I’ve done, so I figured I was due.
-I walked with Andrew back to the YMCA (location serves us well again)
-He cleaned up while I changed into my running clothes… I had run around for race supporting purposes, but didn’t think that was considered my run for the day.
-Andrew actually jogged with me for about a mile, then he cut off to go get his bike – and I ran along the race course.
-Another 6 miles in Central Park (In total, I’m thinking I logged about 27 miles of running in Central Park – in 2 days)
-Once I got back to the room, Andrew and I were ready for real food.
-Just as we were heading out, we ran into Aaron Scheidies.
-Good friend of Andrew, and Amazing athlete, activist, and person in general.
-It was decided that Aaron would join us in our trip to Times Square.
-First we had to drop his stuff off at the Race Director’s condo (niiiiice set up)
-Then, Aaron, Andrew, and I headed for Times Square.

-I had to take a picture with this Target Ad.... a 3 story tall hottie swimmer!
-3 tired athletes storming through the Hershey’s Factory and M&M’s world. Oh baby.-Funny story from M&M’s palace… we were on the 3rd floor, needing to find the escalators, and I began following Aaron. Then, Andrew said, “you know you’re following a blind man – how’s that going for you?” Heck, Aaron acts like he knows exactly where he’s going?!
-And I dragged them through the Crocs store.
-Then we got back to the subway. Aaron was headed back to Central Park, while Andrew and I wanted more Little Italy.
-Lunch = pizza.
-Next on the list: find tickets for an afternoon show.
-I discovered that Cirque du Soleil was performing a new showed called “Jungle Dreams.” SOLD. -However, we had some time to kill.
-I had Andrew call his sister (who would probably be on the computer) to look up the address for Serendipity Café.
-We located the spot and found the right train.
-The wait for dessert at Serendipity… well, it came close to 2 hours.
-During our wait, we went to yet another Monster Candy shop and Bloomingdales (so, I got in about 15 min of quality shopping)-Finally, finally – after a really long, hot wait, we were seated at the café. We had 16 min to order, eat our desserts, and pay.
-Two huge desserts, 12 minutes, and $24 later, we were back on the subway.
-RUNNING, again, to the theater. We made it with about 30 seconds to spare.
-Sweaty, with seriously high heart rates (running + sugar overload), we found our seats.
-Amazing, everything Cirque du Soleil does is amazing. I was not disappointed.
-Great show, very acrobatic and creative. Nice to sit for over an hour.
-Ok, so the show ended at 9:00 pm. Our flights were around 6:00 am. Any normal person would go back, pack, and get some sleep.
-Nope
-We called Aaron to see what he was up to.
-A comedy show at 11:00 pm. Sure, we’re in.
-We went back to the YMCA to pack our stuff and rest for about 20 min.
-Rest, no – no such thing.
-We played on the bunk beds like monkeys – trying to imitate Cirque du Soeil performers-I think I took a shower. Yes, walked down the hall in a towel and reminisced about my days in Creswell Hall.
-Another subway ride to ?
-Aaron was not answering his phone, and we really didn’t know where we were going.
-All of a sudden, 2 guys RUN past.
-Of course those are our friends… running.
-Aaron and Ben – and now we’re late – so we all take off running.
-I’m in a dress (thank goodness for my new, stylish, black, flat, crocs… that acquired some solid miles of running) jetting around the streets of NYC.
-We’d gone the wrong way.
-TURN – 10 blocks back
-I’m leading with Ben – and Aaron is truly, blindly, running all-out behind me. I hear Andrew laughing – because it’s starting to RAIN.
-Perfect
-We get to the Comedy Cellar, and the show is packed – hilarious – some funny guys for sure. I can’t repeat any of the jokes, but assume they were either dirty, tasteless, off color, or just wrong.
-I think we crawled back into the Y for a 1 hour power nap before getting up for our flight.
-I don’t remember much about grabbing my suitcase and getting in the cab.
-We did make it to the airport, checked in, both flights on time.
-Andrew and I said a very, VERY, tired goodbye
-I lugged myself through security
-Slept the entire flight home
-And went from the airport into work…. Oh, that was a long day at the office!

Aaron, so nice to meet you – and follow you around New York ;) Good luck throughout the rest of your season. You are quite an inspiration and straight up cool guy.

Andrew, thanks for an amazing weekend – overflowing with the best NYC has to offer. It took me a few days to recoup, but it was worth it. Your race was Awesome, and I know even greater finishes are on your horizon.

NYC preview

I arrived in NYC on Friday night, after some lengthy delays.... ohhh, the stories I have from Friday-Saturday night (hello, we stayed at a YMCA?!) Then, Sunday began with a 4:00 am wake up call - running 2 miles along Broadway at 4:55 am - watching the pro wave go off at 5:50 - miles upon miles of following the guys around the course... my own 6 mile run in Central Park, some subway riding, times square shopping, Little Italy eating, Cirque show viewing, ending the day 22.5 hours later (this morning) at the Comedy Cellar. LOTS happened within those hours. Too much to describe right now. I'll leave you with this: I don't care what the signs at the NYC Tri Race Expo say... being part of the race "entourage" is NOT easy! I'm exhaused!

CONGRATULATIONS to Andrew Starykowicz on an Amazing race (8th Pro and 3rd Bike Split). Also to Beth Shutt (3rd Amature Elite)!! Way to go you Studs.

Chatt Pics

Some Pictures from the Chattanooga Waterfront Triathlon