The day after I arrived, I went on a short 60km ride along part of stage 4 of the Tour De France.  I actually rode from the house, to kilometer 31 in the stage and continued until kilometer 59.  Aside from a few sprayed slogans on the road, there was no way anyone could have known that the tour had gone by only a couple of weeks ago.  Unfortunately , my polars’ battery is dead and I don’t have any documentation of my awesome ride; however, I found my old Garmin 0.1 in my backpack and used it instead.  Remarkably enough, it did the job quite well and I didn’t even get lost.

Garmin 0.1 - yes , a pen and paper

The next day I went on a longer 80km ride that left from Aix en Provence which is about 15 minutes from the house.  The ride was beautiful and the bike lanes were perfect… the drivers were courteous, views were breathtaking and after it rained butterflies* I couldn’t help but thinking ‘Is this real??’.  With all do respect to every other country in the world, France is better! I am so glad that I took my bike with me.  Being in France without a bike is like being in a bathroom without toilette paper – You manage but something is not quite right…

* May have only happened in my mind

Silly bike... Only people can go shopping

Working out while traveling

I’m on week 3 out of 17 in my marathon training plan towards the New York City Marathon. It’s not going to be easy to train once my family arrives but I’m determined to get all of my hill, fartlek and long runs in while I’m here.  The day that I arrived, I ran 45 minutes around the little city of Bouc Bel-Air, where the house is located.  Running whenever you arrive in a new place, even if it’s not for a long time, is a great way to figure out where you are, know what’s around you and plan your real runs later during the week.  Tip: Make sure that you fly with compression socks so that your legs are fresh.

Since then I’ve done one hill workout and one long run.  The best way to get the runs in is to just wake up early and do them.  If you leave anything for the end of the day, it just doesn’t get done.  On vacation, you never know what time you’ll get back. Tip: Workout according to time and not distance.  This way you’re not stressed about holding other people up; just run half the time and turn around.

Sunflower Field

Something I saw on the way

Maccabiah Half marathon

On the 21st of July, I participated in the Maccabiah Half Marathon.  If you asked anyone who ran the race to describe it in one word, they would say HOT.  It began at 18:30 so everyone was soaked before the race even started.  At each water station I took a water bottle and ran with it.  It was so hot that when I poured the water on my head, by the time it touched my ears the water was warm… It was so hot that about 20 people were sent to the hospital for dehydration… It was so hot that my running clothes were soaked all the way through after the first 20 minutes … It’s hard to describe.  Due to the terrible conditions, I also had a terrible time – 2:03.  Fortunately, I made my coach promise to make me faster so the problem is as good as solved.

Stuff I need

As you know, my birthday is coming up Joking… No one has to buy me anything BUT I have accumulated some things that I will purchase soon for the marathon training.  Please let me know if there is a better product that I have overlooked.

Compression Calf Guards

CW-X Women’s Pro Fit Shorts

Nathan Speed 2 Wastpack

Some More Photos

Me and Benjamin Netanyahu

No, it’s not a Jewish version of Indian tea… The Maccabiah Chai Games began this week with a spectacular ceremony at the stadium in Ramat Gan.  I wasn’t there as an athlete but rather as a VIP right in front of the bullet proof glass that separated me from the big wigs.

I can only imagine what the Kazakhstan Maccabiah team, which consisted of two lone athletes, thought when they entered an arena packed with Jews.  Without skipping a beat, my brother began with his Borat impression and before long we were all chanting Yichshimash.  They didn’t quite blend in with all of the other nationalities but then again, neither did the Russians with their full on suites… I didn’t understand how they intended on trading their shirts with other athletes…

Now to business… I’m in week 2 of my marathon training and it was time to tackle some hills.  Actually, it was morel like the one hill near the cemetery at the end of my street… over and over and over again. In this diagram , the thick red area is the altitude whereas the thin red line is my heart rate.  You can see the correlation between altitude and heart rate really nicely. I did add a bit to the cooldown so that my workout would add up to one hour.

This is the description of my workout :

Hill workout

Warmup -  5 min walk, 10 min easy run
2 accelerations
main set -
1 min jog on a flat surface
5 x 1 min up the hill, recovery jog down
2 min jog on a flat surface like before
3 min recovery walk
30 sec run on a flat surface
5 x 30 sec up the hill, recovery jog down
30 sec run on a flat serfuce
Cooldown -- 3 min walk, 7 min easy jog and 3 min walk

Next I did one “long” run which was 1:10 of running.  This workout was just steady aerobic

My pulse was a big higher than I wanted because I was running with a friend but it was worth it for the comradery.  It’s fun to run with other people and I probably wouldn’t have woken up otherwise.

I also participated in the Maccabiah open triathlon and took first in my age group, second woman to finish.  It took me 02:51:18.65 which is quite a chunk of time but it was HOT … oh so hot… Now I have one gold medal though

]]> http://www.anatkramer.com/InAnatshell/maccabiah-chai-mt-week-217/feed 3 http://www.anatkramer.com/InAnatshell/ironman-florida http://www.anatkramer.com/InAnatshell/ironman-florida#comments Sat, 23 May 2009 19:06:57 +0000 anat http://www.anatkramer.com/InAnatshell/?p=568 2,600 participants …. each had his or her name printed in bold letter on their bib… crowds were cheering for each and every person : “Go Brian!! You can do it Jennifer! It’s the end Mike!” and then I show up, a perplexed look on their face as they see the letters A-N-A-T, they quickly shake their head and yell “Good luck… to you!”.

I arrived in Florida several days before the big event.  In order to do what my coach told me, I didn’t use any air conditioning and overdosed on nuun tablets.  After putting my bike together, I went on a lovely ride through the the charming town of Kissimmee Florida to check that everything was operating properly.    What a dump.  It’s like driving in an endless loop of fast food joints – Denny’s , Shoney’s, McDonalds, IHOP, repeat.  It’s a good thing that I had a very specific purpose for my being there and somehow managed to find a decent diner to have breakfast in.  (Rodeo Diner).

My coach showed up a few days later and we decided to check out the expo which was located in Fort Wilderness, Disney.  What better place to accomplish a goal… After all, it’s Disney World – Where dreams come true.

On the bus to the expo we saw people of all shapes and sizes who were also, no doubt, looking forward to accomplishing something… and if you can show off with a cute riding shirt, then you’re really getting you’re money’s worth.  My brief anthropological experiment on the bus to the expo revealed that adult males who compete fall into one of two categories; the good ones who bring their family to Disney and the other ones.  I’m sure that the Disney shops were stormed with people buying compensation gifts for their kids.  Coming back from an Atlanta business trip empty handed is one thing but coming back from a race in Disney World with no gifts has to be the worst thing a dad can do.

We came back to the expo again the next day to have our bikes looked at and place them in transition.  We also had lunch on site where I predicted my state of mind during the race disciplines on a restaurant napkin using my illustration method of choice – stick figures.

I don’t know the answers to the following questions :

1. Why do your hands get shorter for the bike and longer for the run?
2. Why didn’t you put your hair in your bathing cap?
3. Why did you head get bigger?
4. Where did your hair go during the run?
5. Why is your hair standing at the finish line?

If you have questions other than these, I’ll be happy to answer.

To prepare for the big day, I had to get all of my equipment in sorted and nutrition planned out.  (Note: All of my nutrition comes from Sport Quest Direct, GU and nuun).  I had two water bottles with two scoops of Carbo-Pro in each and nuun in one of them, a cliff bar and two gels on the bike, two gels for the run, Thermolyte for every leg of the race (salt), VO2Max pills before the race, Recover during the bike phase and before the entire race, and some motivator pills just in case.  Oh… and don’t forget the Babba for good luck.

We woke up at 3:15AM, Breakfast at 3:30AM and arrived at transition at around 5:15AM.  I got marked with my number and organized my important stuff in transition (Babba too).  I recalled the first time that I did this in the women’s triathlon in Israel. For all intents and purposes, I was a monkey imitating the other girls lay out their towel, shoes, sunglasses, etc.  Now I already knew where everything went and how I like things to be laid out.  Others will be mimicking me in a few weeks during my third women’s triathlon in Israel.

My wave started at 7:00AM.  My coach, Sharone, already left at 6:50 and I had my dad with me to cheer me on and wish me good luck at the start line.  Everyone is nervous but not everyone shows it, especially when there are just a few minutes remaining until the start.  The gun was fired and I knew that the finish line was the furthest it will be throughout the entire race.  Makes sense, I know, but this is what you think about when you start new things.

The swim took 42:12 (35/79 in category).  I got kicked in the face once and even got an apology.

The bike took 2:52 (33/79 in category).  It was as flat as a pancake and I kept a good steady pace, averaging 19.5MPH.  During one u-turn, there was a man who must have rode too fast and his face was full of blood.  The volunteers were shouting “Slow down, there is a man down” or translated it would be “Slow down to see what could happen to you if you don’t”.

The run took 2:04 (22/79).  This time includes a bathroom break in the woods (Desert style) and stopping for a few seconds at each and every aid station.  This must have been the most significant because my total place was 23/79 in my category which means I’m in the first 30% of the finishers.

My stick figure napkin masterpiece was completely wrong.  I felt good the entire race.  I had a good pace on the bike and my workouts really payed off. Not to mention, I had a great coach without whom I couldn’t have felt this good during the race.  Now I’m sure you have a few questions.  Here are the answers :

1. I don’t know when.  It takes a lot of training to do a full ironman and I need to figure out where I’m headed before I commit to something like that.
2. Eww… I’m not even going to answer that.
3. Yes, I’m in Israel now.
4. My next one is the Women’s triathlon in Herzlia, Israel.
5. 1834.  You have to be an idiot not to know that.

Now to Italy for a cycle vacation! I will attempt to record all of my routes during this trip and report back to y’all.

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Today I received an email from TeamUSA letting me know that “you have earned a spot on the Team USA Roll Down list for 2009 ITU Duathlon World Championships because of your finish at the 2009 Duathlon National Championship”.  I blinked a few times, scratched my head to emphasize a thought process, and then realized that this email is the closest I will probably be to competing in a ‘World’ anything.  After conducting further research I found that “The top 12 in each age group, rolling down to 16th place at the Duathlon National Championship, will qualify for the 2009 World Championships in Concord, North Carolina (Sept. 24-26) “.  This means that I just made it to the rolling down point, whatever that means.  If 4 people don’t want to go, I’ll be offered a spot.  I wonder what t-shirt I’ll get if I compete in a world championship? Got to keep things in perspective.

Do you want the good news or the bad news?  The good news is that I got to sleep in on race day (hi five). The bad news is that my wave was at 11:35 and it was going to be 90 degrees outside (cancel hi five from before).  The issue is that, being the amazing team player that I am, I still woke up early to cheer on my fellow team mates who started at 8:30.  That means that my spanking new well-fit triathlon uniform was nice and moist with sweat well before the race start.  This made a 10k run feel like a very hot 10k run (That was a message from Captain Obvious).  This run led me to think about how I need to develop a kind of mantra for my run in order to survive the half ironman in a few weeks.  This mantra has to have a beat to it in order to keep my pace up and it needs to be something more powerful than my “left , right , left” mantra which made sense at the time.

The bike section was nice because I had a team to cheer me on.  In previous races, I was lucky if my friend, Rakefet, was competing because her brother came to cheer her on and I got a courtesy cheer every once and a while.  Not only did the team cheer me on, but they actually waited for me to finish.  Either Well-Fit is filled with great people or I have shitty friends (the ones who don’t read my blog).  In any event, I did feel like I was apart of the team for that weekend.  I had the luxury of roasting in the well-fit tent for a few hours and the Get-A-Grip “in tent” mechanic gave my bike a once over.

USAT thought it would be funny if they gave the duathletes beer glasses instead of medals at the finish line.  It’s a nice thought but all I could think about was opening my suitcase in Israel and seeing my Carbo Pro mixed with slivers of shattered glass.  Then I would have to throw away all of the Carbo Pro that made my bag overweight and cost me $100 to bring over and $20 to purchase.  So was my $65 race worth it?  I did get an awesome transition bag and hat and shirt so… what’s a few slivers of glass anyway.

Overall I really enjoyed myself in this competition and it gave me a much needed boost of confidence towards the 70.3 ironman on the 17th of May.  I can’t say that I was particularly fast during this race but I see it as a kind of intermediate race towards the main goal.  After the half ironman, I will be flying back to Israel and continuing to blog from there.

Some imagery and comments -

This was the well-fit tent -

The transition area -

Coach Sharone and myself :

I saw a bike that looked just like this ! Isn’t it cute?… I need to get a job…

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]]> http://www.anatkramer.com/InAnatshell/national-duathlon-festival/feed 0 http://www.anatkramer.com/InAnatshell/suntrust-marathon http://www.anatkramer.com/InAnatshell/suntrust-marathon#comments Mon, 23 Mar 2009 04:04:37 +0000 anat http://www.anatkramer.com/InAnatshell/?p=494 On Saturday, I completed the Suntrust National Marathon in one hour, 54 minutes and 14 seconds. This is my third half marathon. The first one was in the lowest place on earth (the Dead Sea), the second was in the capital of Israel (Jerusalem) and this one was in the capital of the United States (You should know, man). There were 2,094 marathon participants and 4,151 half marathon participants. This made the race a bit of a zig zag at times, especially since all of the half marathoners ran together with the marathoners. Either way, it was nice to finally participate in a long distance race and breaking a personal record doesn’t hurt either.

View Larger Map

The marathon expo was a bit disappointing after having seen the Chicago Marathon expo. In the Chicago expo I felt like all of the running stores, sports nutrition companies and orthopedic practices in Chicago set up shop in one place. I was like a kid in a candy store. I did manage, however, to buy something at the DC expo. It was a strap for holding energy gels which had proven quite useful during the race. (http://www.ifitnessinc.com/)

There was a booth promoting peanuts. A woman came over to me and said “Do you want some peanuts?”. I said “sure, what are you selling?”. She said “Nothing, we are just promoting peanuts”. Why do peanuts need promoting? Sun-dried tomatoes need promoting! People don’t realize the diversity – put them in salads , on a sandwich with tuna and cheese, on top of Feta cheese…. Not enough people know the uses and its a shame. (Whatever, More for me…)

Nutrition (from SportQuest)

My nutrition was all planned out (thanks coach!). The day before, I was to take my regular 4 Recover Amino Power pills , 4 Calplex, and an antioxidant in addition to two Thermolytes. On the day of the race I needed to take 3 Recovery Amino Power pills, 3 VO2Max Pills, Carbo-Pro and 2 Thermolyte pills. I’m not sure the exact effect that these pills have but they couldn’t hurt, right? As for regular food, I had something regular for breakfast, a LARA bar an hour before and a bagel afterwards.

Clothes

I love my cw-x tights to the sky (and back). I own the CW-X Insulator Expert which keep my muscles and knees in place while I run. They are a bit pricy but you really only need two pairs – one for cold and one for hot.

The Race

I took the metro into the city. The metro started operating at 5AM which was two hours earlier than usual to accommodate the runners. It was strange being on the metro when every single person was a runner. We were all sitting on the train eating energy bars and pinning bibs to running shirts. Some people looked relaxed and others seemed more excited. Some wore special t-shirts that they had made for the event, some were obviously relatives, some were accompanied with spectators and some were alone listening to music. When we arrived, I wasn’t particularly eager to head out into the cold. It was around 30F when I left the house and I knew that it wasn’t much warmer an hour later.

I dropped my stuff off at the bag check and ran over to the armory where people were relaxing before the race. At least it was warmer over there and I could procrastinate for a little bit. It actually felt a little bit like the army – people sitting a huge hanger waiting for something to happen. Finally, we left the hanger, I ran a bit as a warmup that didn’t warm me up, heard the national anthem, and started the race.
I set my polar in the following way : 40 minutes between 6.0-6.5mph, next 40 minutes 6.5-7.0mph and the rest 7.0mph and up. In retrospect, I should have done these splits by distance and not by time since the fastest speed had the least amount of time. While I ran, whenever I was going to fast, I head a fast beeping sound and when I was going too slow I heard a slow beeping sound. This way I could really pace myself the way I wanted to. Two people asked me if I was about to explode but other than that, the beeping was really helpful.

I felt good the entire race and gave one last push towards the last few miles. At the end, during the marathon/half marathon split, some marathon runners jokingly yelled hate words toward the half marathoners. It is kind of cruel to have the split right back at the finish line. Seeing the end of the race at the half way point must be annoying. After arriving at the finish line, I grabbed a silver thing to cover myself, had an ‘everything bagel’… yummm…

Heart Rate & Altitude & Pace

Photos

Coming soon…

Hustle Up The Hancock

The only thing better than taking an elevator is taking the stairs.  Butterflies and monkey’s with red butts aside, I am proud to inform you that I have successfully climbed the Hancock tower (93 flights of stairs) in 17:28 and placed 40th in my category.

I’ve never done a stair climb before.  There is one famous stair climb in Israel at the Azrieli Towers but I could never understand why one would pay to climb stairs.  I would much rather do something out in nature than climb up a cramped stairwell with a ton of other sweaty people.  There are several very simple reasons why I climbed the Hancock tower despite my preconceived notions about this type of race.

1. Common… It’s THE Hancock tower!
2. What better way to say goodbye to Chicago than from the (tippy) top of the city.
3. I get to say that I did something for a cause (Respiratory Health Association).  I usually just do things for a reason so having a cause is the best reason I can think of.

After an exciting night of pub crawling (see image above), I took the train back into the city.  My climb was at 2PM which gave me plenty of time to have a competition breakfast* and head off to the Hancock.  After arriving, I stood in line and waited patiently for the beginning of the stairwell.  I couldn’t help but think what would happen if there was a fire? Would everybody turn around and run down? It’s a good thing that there was no visible fire alarm because I was dying to find out.
Finally, I arrived at the bottom of the stairwell where a guy said “3,2,1 GO”.  I went.

I didn’t touch the rail the whole way up.  I simply used my arms as much as possible to propel myself and put less strain on my legs. After 17 minutes and 28 seconds I had reached the (tippy) top – Average heart rate was 186 so it wasn’t a piece of cake at all.  The nice part was standing in the open area of the Hancock observatory and cooling down after the effort. What a view…. Goodbye Chicago.  I almost turned my back to the city to throw a coin (like at the Trevy Fountain) but my limited knowledge of physics prevented me.  I know I’ll be back, no need to throw a coin.

• US competition breakfast – Two whole grain Eggo waffles with sugar free syrup and 371 blueberrries (a lot of blueberries).
• Israel competition breakfast – A white bread roll or two pieces of white bread toast with honey.

Just to be brief, this is what happened after that: I finished working in Chicago, said goodbye to my friends, packed my bike, packed my bags, flew to Maryland.  Now I’m in Maryland just training and studying for my GMAT exam until the middle of May.  On the 17th of May… (drumroll).. I will participate… (another drumroll) … in the Ford 70.3 Florida Ironman! Don’t forget to check out my intensifying training log right here.
http://www.workoutlog.com/log/public/anatkramer/log.cfm

Breakfast with Sam Zell

On a breakfast note, I had one with Sam Zell and my friend Tal.  Sam Zell is the one who is responsible for the IDC Zell Entrepreneurship program.  To sum up our internships, we had the opportunity to have breakfast with Sam.  We discussed the financial situation for the most part but we had the opportunity to thank him and hopefully, others will follow in our footsteps in the years to come. Thanks Sam! (Pssst, I’m a little bit taller than you)

Next on the agenda – The Suntrust National Marathon (21st March)

Random Photos

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Welcome to the Kramer blog winter triathlon special! (yay).  Today we will be covering the elements of training in the winter – How to run in the snow, bike in the living room and swim in the … pool (boring I know).  Now that I have a workout plan until May, I can relax and quietly prepare for my debut at the half ironman in Florida.  They won’t even see me coming…

Run in the snow

We’ve all done it.  Your running in the snow and you think that nobody is looking.  Slowly you lift your head , panic and quickly make sure that nobody is around one more time.  You lift you head a second time, flex your tongue out as far as it can go and wait for that faithful snow flake to hit your taste buds.  This process isn’t complete without closing your eyes because, what if a snow flake falls in one?? Where would you be then??  Obviously the strange looks are soon to follow but, hey, I’m a tourist here and I can do whatever I want.

The bottom line is that running in the snow is slow but fun.  It has the feeling of running in sand but not quite as messy.  Your either a patter or a sinker.  If you step right on the top of certain snow, you pack it down; whereas if you run on deep snow, you sink.   It’s important to follow peoples foot steps and beware the slush if you want your toes to stay dry.  At some point, if I keep this up, I will have to start looking at GORTEX running shoes but for now, a little bit of dampness wont kill me.

Bike in the living room

Winter means snow.  Snow means ice.  Ice means slipping, and slipping with your bike into the road and getting run over by a car and getting taken to the hospital and being revived and going through physical therapy and being in a wheelchair… isn’t a good idea.  This is why we have invented the Livingroom Biking Event.  The concept is simple – Everyone shows up at my house with their cycling trainers and we all cycle for several hours while watching previous Ironmans on DVD.
Sharone and Sunny showed up and we had a great workout in the comfort of my home. I guess this is the solution to the slipping problem and I can live with that.

Swim in the pool

It’s time to take my swimming to a whole other level.  Now that I have myself filmed on tape, I can fix all of the issues with my stroke.  I must become a water ninja by the time winter is over so check out my video :

Here is what I need to work on:

• Rotation – Need to turn those hips more
• Entry – Hand needs to come in deeper into the water and the tips shouldn’t go up.
• Head – I look down too much and I need to look a bit forward
• Right side breathing – My left hand comes back too quickly so my timing is off.
• Kick – My kicks don’t turn along with me

Try watching the video again and finding these mistakes… I’m trying to work on all of them but I can only really concentrate on one or two at a time.  It’s a process….

Future Plus Update
When I have a detailed plan, I will post it and also I will try to post my actual workouts and comments as much as possible.  To view my complete workout log : WORKOUT LOG

Leave comments!

הכל התחיל לפני כשבועיים. הייתי על האופניים בסופ”ש ואחר כך שלושה ימים רצוף בדוושים. הרגשתי צורך להתחיל לרוץ קצת יותר ולכן יצאתי לרוץ יום אחד 12 ק”מ , יום אחר כך 11 ק”מ ויום אחרי זה 11 ק”מ. אחרי היום השלישי משהו הרגיש קצת מוזר בברך שמאל, הרגשה שאי אפשר להסביר במילים אבל כל מי שפעם חווה את זה, יודע בדיוק איך זה מרגיש.

ההחלטה שלקחתי היא שאני אמשיך לדווש ואנסה שוב לרוץ רק בעוד שבוע. כשרצתי אחרי שבוע, הריצה הייתה מעולה אבל לאחר מכן, שוב כאב לי באותו המקום. ג’יזס… לנורה האדומה שנדלקה שבוע שעבר התווסף אזעקה מחרישת אוזניים שכבר לא יכולתי להתעלם … יצאו יתדות מהקירות והחדר התחיל להצטמצם… בריכה עם פיראניות לצידי וSpice Girls מושמעים ברקע. מאז לא רצתי

אם הייתי בכסא גלגלים, הייתי נותנת לעצמי 2 כאפות. אני מודה שאני מרגישה כמו הבן אדם הכי נחה ומסכן שקיים. כל אדם שרץ בפארק, כל כלב שמקפץ לתפוס פריסבי, כל ילד שרודף אחרי יונה, כל אחד שלא הבין שעפיפון זה כבר לא פופולרי, כל אחד שכמעט מפספס את האוטובוס – אני מקנאת בו. אחרי הכל, הוא יכול לרוץ..

מה עושים? בוכים עד שנמאס, כועסים על כל מי שנמצא בסביבה, רואים שידורים חוזרים של Family Guy ובסוף נכנעים והולכים לאורתופד. מסתבר שיש לי דלקת ב Iliotibial Band. התכנית היא : מנוחה וכדורים נגד דלקת, אם זה לא עוזר אז צילום, ואחר כך חזרה לפעילות בהדרגה. הכי חשוב – מתיחות!! הרופא אמר שמומלץ לרוץ עד שאני מתחממת, לעשות לעצמי סדנת מתיחות רצינית, ואז לצאת לריצה אמיתית. אז אמרתי “יש לי תחרות ביום שבת… אפשר להתחיל לנוח אחרי התחרות?” ואז הוא אמר מילים מדהימות – “רשמית אני אומר לך לא. אבל לא רשמית – בגלל הכדורים, את לא תרגישי כאב בזמן התחרות. אולי ייקח לך יותר זמן אחר כך לחזור לעצמך”. זה בדיוק מה שקיוויתי לשמוע

בנוסף לכך , הפיזיותרפיסטית הפרטית שלי הידועה בכינויה “אמא”, חזרה מחו”ל עם שלל! לאופניים קיבלתי aeorobar שברגעים אלא נמצאים אצל עמית לוינזון להתקנה. לריצה, קיבלתי נעלי Nimbus 10 חדשות וכבר הזלתי עליהם כמות לא בטלה של ריר. לשחייה, קיבלתי בגד ים חדש. לבלוג ולשיקגו, קיבלתי מצלמה של Nikon – Coolpix S550 וגם TimeOut Chicago. לנפש קיבלתי… כלום… אין צורך , קיבלתי מספיק דברים אחרים כדי שדעתי תהייה מוסחת לכמה חודשים

המסקנות הם-

• אני עדיין סופרמן אבל אני צריכה להתחיל להתמתח ברצינות ולטפל בעצמי
• כדורים נגד דלקות זה גאוני, איך אני לא חשבתי על זה
• עכשיו אני יכולה להירגע לקראת הטריאתלון ויהיה לי אפילו מצלמה כדי לתעד כמו שצריך

ועכשיו לציטוט מהספר TimeOut Chicago לגבי אופניים בעיר -

“Cycling in Chicago is a contact sport, or can be. Wear a helmet, be vigilant against erratic driving, use lights at night, and be sure always to secure your bike with a U-lock. However, if you’re used to riding in big cities, riding around Chicago should be straight forward, perhaps even fun… dedicated bike lanes and trails are springing up around the city all the time.”

אם אתם מכירים קבוצת רכיבה טובה בשיקגו אז Let me know.
בקרוב… Post על טריאתלון תל-אביב. בהצלחה לכולם ולי במיוחד…

העתיד שלי -
בטח ראיתם את הפוסט שבו אני רצה בתחרות 10 ק”מ בניו יורק. בזמן שביליתי בארה”ב, לא ביליתי את רוב זמני בספורט אלא בביקור חברות, ראיונות עבודה, פרזנטציות, אוכל טוב ו… אולי כמה בילויים בלילות. עברתי כל מיני ראיונות אבל בסופו של דבר אני בחרתי לעבוד בחברה בשיקגו לתקופה של לפחות חצי שנה (סביר להניח שאפילו יותר). ההשלכות לגביכם, הקוראים והחברים שלי, הוא שלמרות היותי במקום מאד רחוק, אני עדיין רוצה לשמור על קשר ולעדכן אתכם במה שקורה בחיי. למרות המרחק הרב, אני אבקר בארץ לפעמים ואתם אולי תבקרו אותי גם. נכון? נכון שתבקרו? כדאי לכם… יש שלג בשיקגו.. ו Oprah נמצאת בשיקגו גם!

האנשים שמכירים אותי כבר הרבה שנים ידעו שהיום הזה יגיע ותמיד כשהסתכלתי להם בעיניים ידעתי שהם רק חושבים “לפחות יהיה לנו מקום לישון כשנבקר בארה”ב”. האנשים שמכירים אותי פחות, מכירים אותי יותר טוב עכשיו. הגישה שלי להכל הוא שצריך לגוון כל הזמן וכשמשנים את כל המציאות שאנחנו מכירים אז לומדים הכי הרבה, מתפתחים, ולומדים להעריך כל מיני דברים שלפני זה לקחנו כמובן מעליו. כמו שבספורט לפעמים צריך להכניס את הגוף לשוק כדי לעורר אותו, זה תופס לכל שאר התחומים.

העתיד של הבלוג -
הבלוג הולך להשתנות טיפה מהמתכונת המוכרת. עד עכשיו הבלוג התעסק רק בספורט אבל עכשיו הוא הולך לכלול סיפורים מגוונים מחווית המעבר לשיקגו והפעילויות שלי שם. אבל זה לא הכל… אני מקווה שאתם יושבים…

אני נרשמתי למרתון ניו יורק!

רשמית לא נבחרתי בהגרלה (צריך לעבור הגרלה כדי להתקבל למרתון) אבל בעקבות הקשרים החדשים שלי בארה”ב, כנראה שזה יסודר בשבועות הקרובים. בכל מקרה, מרתון יהיה השנה. תוכלו לעקוב אחרי האימונים שלי כאן בבלוג ואני אדאג לעדכן אתכם בכל נושא החל מבחירת בגדי ריצה טובים לחורף, גוון האדום של האף שלי, ועד למחשבות הטירוף של הריצות הארוכות. בנוסף לכך, יהיו עדכונים לגבי העבודה שלי (בחברת Rewards Network) והתפקיד (בפיתוח מוצרים חדשים) וכמובן, האבחנות שלי לגבי התרבות והאנשים שאני אפגוש. יתכן שיהיו גם פוסטים באנגלית אז תכינו מילון Oxford ליד המחשב ותפסיקו לקרוא כתוביות בסרטים!

אירועים מתקרבים -
טריאתלון תל-אביב ב 28 לחודש. נרשמתי למקצה האולימפי. האולימפי הראשון שלי היה באילת, השתתפתי בדואתלון אולימפי לא מזמן וזהו האולימפי ה-3 שלי לצורך העניין. תאחלו לי בהצלחה

הכתבה!
הנה הכתבה שעשו עלי בשביל עיתון הבין תחומי, פיוז’ן. הצוות בא לבקר אותי בהולמס פלייס כדי לצלם את התמונה הזאת. יש עוד כמה תמונות שהם צילמו. אצרף אותם גם לפוסט.

השתתפתי במירוץ בסנטרל פארק לחקר כליות הממומן ע”י ה United Arab Emerites בתוצאה של 49:40. איך לא השתתפתי עד עכשיו במירוץ בחו”ל? הכל שונה – הצ’יפ שונה, המסלול שונה, הקנה מידה שונה (מיילים) ,האנשים שונים, הארגון שונה, המזג אויר שונה, העידוד שונה, כמות המשתתפים שונה, תוצאות המנצחים שונה אבל בסופו של דבר ריצה היא ריצה. כל אחד בא כדי לרוץ 10 ק”מ הכי מהר שאפשר.

לחצו כאן כדי להגיע לאתר Healthy Kidney Race 2008

יום לפני המירוץ, רצתי בערך 7 ק”מ בגשם ויום לפני זה 15 ק”מ (התכוונתי לרוץ רק 10 ק”מ אבל הלכתי לאיבוד בסנטרל פארק). סנטרל פארק כמו גן עדן לרוכבים ורצים. בכל בוקר שרצתי היתה כמות אדירה של רוכבים ורצים בכל כוון – סינגלים , קבוצות , מאמנים עם המתאמנים שלהם, רצים עם כלבים, כלבים, וגם סתם אנשי עסקים שמעדיפים לעבוד דרך הפארק מאשר ברחובות. למרות זאת, הרגשתי קצת לא בכושר ביחס למצב שבו הייתי ביציאה מהארץ. אמנם הלכתי קילומטרים רבים ברחובות ניו יורק אבל אי אפשר לומר שזה פעילות גופנית של ממש והיבלות לא תרמו להרגשה.

הגעתי 200 מטר מהזינוק וכבר התחלתי לראות שילוט של מספרים – “7000-7999” ובהמשך “0-999”. בהתחלה לא הבנתי מה משמעות המספרים האלה אבל השלט “200 meter to finish” הבנתי טוב מאד. מכוון שיום לפני כן, לקחתי כבר את המספר חזה, צ’יפ וחולצה, נותר לי רק למצוא את שמירת החפצים. בשמירת חפצים, פשוט לוקחים את הספרה האחרונה של מספר החזה וליד השלט עם המספר הזה, מניחים את הדברים. לכל פריט מחברים פתק קטן של מספר החזה שנתלש מהדף עצמו. כדי לצאת אחר כך מהשטח החלפה, המתנדבים בודקים שהמספר על הפריט מתאים למספר החזה. זה נשמע פשוט אבל בארץ זה כנראה לא היה עובד…

כך נראה שמירת החפצים

אחרי שהשארתי את החפצים והצ’יפ היה במקום, ניגשתי לזינוק. עכשיו הבנתי מה המספרים שראיתי קודם לכן. זה הטווח של מספרי החזה שצריכים לזנק מהאזור הזה. אני היית 3472 אז ניגשתי לטווח “3000-3999”. סה”כ במירוץ השתתפו 8000 איש ומדידת הזמנים גם ככה נמדדת רק מהשטיח בקו זינוק.

כך נראה הקו סיום

הריצה התחילה ולקח 3 דקות עד שהגעתי לשטיח הזינוק. כל החצי שעה הראשונה, היה צפוף מאד ורוב האנרגיות שלי התחלקו בין הריצה לעקיפות הרבות. כמובן, שמאד מהר מצאתי לעצמי את כל הטריאתלטים. לא יאומן כמה קל לזהות אותם, הם בכלל לא דואגים להחביא זאת. רובם רצו בקבוצות עם החליפה שלהם ובסיום המירוץ הם פתחו שולחן ועשו הרבה רעש. כמובן שניגשתי אליהם כדי לשאול כמה שאלות לגבי טריאתלונים בניו יורק ולגבי הקבוצות שקיימות. אין ספק שאם אני יעבור לכל מקום אחר בעולם, אני אמצע לעצמי קבוצה. היא לא תתקרב כנראה לקרסוליים של הקבוצה שלי, אבל לפחות אני יודעת שלא אתנוון עד החזרה לארץ.

ההבדל הכי גדול הוא שאחרי המירוץ יכולתי לקנות לעצמי Tall Light Coffee Frappuccino מ Starbucks. בנוסף, לא היה צורך לסגור כבישים מכוון שכל המירוץ התבצע ב Central Park. זאת הסיבה שיש מירוץ כל שבוע בניו יורק. יש משהו מאד חינני במירוצים בישראל – בכך שלפעמים צריך לקחת מספר חזה מאיזה דודה באולם ספורט שבנו בקום המדינה בתיכון המקומי. ניו יורק זה טעם אחר ואי אפשר להסביר את זה. המסקנה היא פשוטה – צריך לעשות גם וגם.

טיפ לקורות חיים – תרשמו שאתם משתתפים בטריאתלון. היה לי ראיון עבודה בארה”ב וכמעט חצי מהראיון הוקדש לדיבורים על ספורט וזה יוצר קשר מיידי.

בקרוב טריאתלון נשים… ציון שנה מתחילת הקריירה הטריאתלונית שלי.