Finding a Rhythm

Since moving to New York from San Francisco in March, the hardest part of the transition has been the loss of my Bay Area triathlon lifestyle. I went from perpetual equinox to four seasons, almost none of which offer much of that 60’s and sunny weather that is perfect for being active outdoors. I no longer have my familiar routes with spectacular views, trees, ocean, hills – and often few cars. Gone are the days of swimming outdoors year-round in a combination of the cold but special Bay and a usually uncrowded, very clean pool with a nice hot tub to soak in after. I’d also cultivated an amazing community of triathletes, swimmers, cyclists and runners in the Bay and would regularly see multiple people I knew on the roads in remote parts of Marin, Sonoma, and San Mateo counties or in locker rooms throughout the city. 

In 2019, I gave myself a break from heavy training and simply stayed active. I attended a few spin or yoga classes a week, ran a few miles along the West Side Highway a couple of days a week, and did strength training with a personal trainer twice a week. Though this kept me fit, it wasn’t the same and I found myself craving the structured variety and sense of progression of triathlon training. I also scored a lottery spot in the United Half Marathon in NYC in March 2020 and figured I might as well keep the momentum going from that. So I reached out to a coach I liked, signed up for Lake Placid 70.3 in September 2020, and started researching pools in NYC.

My coach has been structuring my training plan in Training Peaks since mid-December. Though I haven’t found a rhythm yet, I have at least made some progress, and learned a bit about what I’ll need to adjust if I truly want to make a triathlon lifestyle work for me here.

  • I like my job – and it takes a lot of my time and energy. I’m lucky enough to have some flexibility in when I come into the office, though it tends to prove challenging for me to consistently leave before 7pm – and I often stay later. I’m tired and uninspired to get to a workout at the end of my day regardless of when I leave. 
  • I need sleep even if the city doesn’t. I really want 8 hours of sleep a night, and struggle to wake up without it. This is somewhat in conflict with the fact that there are a lot of wonderful things happening at all hours, and socializing tends to take place in the evening both after work and on weekends.
  • I need to change my dinner routine. There are many things I like about cooking a nice meal at home in the evening, but insisting on doing so after getting home from work means I end up eating around 9:30pm, which puts me in bed at 10:30pm-11pm. This routine also implies I have essentially no time to simply read, watch TV, etc. in the evening.
  • When I can get myself out of bed in time to do so, I like working out in the morning. It sets a tone for my day. It puts me in a good mood and reminds me that I am – and accomplish – more than my work. And I guarantee that I get my workout in without having to muster the time and energy after work. Eating two breakfasts also feels quite indulgent.
  • My skin hates the necessary evil of chlorine. I say necessary evil because most of the pools here seem to be pretty questionable. One was cloudy. Another had what looked like a turd at the bottom of the deep end. Though I appreciate that the chlorine helps mitigate the still likely chances I contract some disease from the pool, my very sensitive and already dry in the winter skin hates it. Lotion only does so much, unfortunately. 
  • I want to learn flip turns and get more comfortable with fly. This should help me feel like somewhat less of a guppy at Masters sessions.
  • Indoor training isn’t as nice as being outside, but doesn’t have to totally suck. Thank goodness for Zwift and a smart trainer. I still need to deal with setting up my KICKR with the cassette that will work with my new bike though. Intervals help a lot to break up the monotony of a treadmill workout, and Woodways are incrementally better than standard treadmills. 
  • I love my morning pour-over coffee ritual, but… Sometimes I will just need a quick caffeine infusion and would be best-served to avoid the temptation to sink into the couch and enjoy my mug of life-giving elixir. 
  • I have some good go-to breakfasts and snacks, and manage with lunches. Though there is certainly room for further optimization of my lunch situation, I at least can always have Sweetgreen delivered to our work “outpost” – and our private chef’s kitchen will be back in action in another month or so. 
  • Limiting alcohol has been great. I didn’t drink at all for the first two weeks of the year, and since have tried to limit myself to no more than a couple of glasses of wine only on weekends (usually). The lower tolerance makes it easier to stick to that plan, and I feel noticeably better so it’s been fairly easy to stick with it.

Though I’m not entirely sold on the idea, I’m going to experiment in the next couple of weeks with a variety of changes to my routine. My primary goal? To get to bed early, and wake up at the same time every morning. I anticipate a painful transition, but plan to commit to the following for at least 2 weeks:

  • Prep meals on weekends: acquire groceries by Saturday so I can use some of the weekend time to fully or partially prepare meals for dinners and possibly lunches.
  • No more snoozing. Leaving my phone in another room with its alarm set should help me not only to avoid getting sucked into the vortex as I try to fall asleep, but also to force me to get out of bed in the morning rather than hitting snooze. I’ll make every effort to stay out of bed at that point.
  • Stick to a bedtime and wake up time. I’ll aim for 9pm-5:30am, with the 5:30am remaining firm and the intention of making 10pm a “hard stop” for bedtime, with limited food and screen time after 8:30pm.
  • Aim to eat dinner by 7pm. This may imply bringing my meals to the office on nights I expect to work later, though hopefully this will also encourage me to cut myself off at work and go home. After all, it’s never done. I have been needing more true down time, and expect that enjoying some would help with the sleep routine.
  • Stretch and roll. Use some of that down time to stretch, roll and use my Hypervolt – or even go to some restorative yoga classes.
  • Acquire a Nespresso. Though I will still relish my pour-over ritual on the regular, it will be helpful to have something super quick and easy to simply throw back when I need to get going quickly in the morning.
  • Target matinees and daytime activities with friends. To encourage the early bedtime and early morning workouts (even on weekends), as well as limit my drinking, I’ll aim to mostly patronize the arts and socialize during the day. 
  • Keep working on swimming. Carve out some time at the less crowded (and cleaner!) pool I found to practice technique, turns, fly, etc. and consider some private lessons or clinics. I also can’t wait for open water season to get going again…

Conveniently, I leave for the Bahamas two weeks from tomorrow for a nice vacation, so will have a lovely reward at the end regardless – during which it should be easy to maintain the important elements of the routine so I can come back and stick to it if all goes well. 

Wish me luck!

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