Tag Archive | triathlon

So, I Did a Thing….

Jan31

Everyone who knows me, knows I’m very goal oriented. I’m constantly trying to attain things. I don’t know why I’m like this, but I’m the type of person that always looks ahead. Options, potential, these are things that really pump me up.

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Then there’s this other part of me that wants to hibernate in my bed and just watch Netflix all day. I’m in the process of racing through The Blacklist, which I’m on season 5. I think my drive to work out is so that I don’t succumb to that and just watch my phone all day.

So, I digress… what did I do? Two things actually. #1, I signed up for my first half marathon on May 7th. That is daunting. I’ve not run more than 7.2 miles in my life. And, with my sciatica, well, that’s always been an issue. And then, I did another thing. Even more daunting. I signed up for a 70.3 Ironman in NY on September 23rd.

WHAT THE HECK?

I have only done sprint triathlons to this date. I tried to do an Olympic at the NYC tri over the summer, but they cut it short due to the heat. Not to mention, I was so overcome that I ended up at the end in the medic area getting oxygen (I’m fine and wow, I’d love oxygen at the end of every event! I’d even pay for that! LOL)

But, now I have what to do. I’m starting a run program with GLIRC on Feb 11th that will train me for the half marathon and in the meantime, I’ll increase my swimming and biking so that when I finish that race on May 7th, I’ll rest the next day, and then start in earnest the triathlon training for the 70.3. The race is near my house, I swim in the bay there all summer, I bike there on my solo cycle runs and the course is relatively flat. How could I not do this? If there were one 70.3 to do, this is it.

Oh, and I might try to publish one book. I’ve got a book called TAKEN I’m in final edits of. I don’t know how I feel about this book. Is it good? Bad? I just don’t know and so I’ve been sitting on it! Crazy, I know. I should just get it out to the world. But, if you want to read a fun book, go get THE DOOR ON THE RIGHT, which is my newest sci-fi apocalyptic release. Love to hear what you think!

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Anyone else doing anything crazy this year? Any races, big book launches, life changes? Let me know!

Need Motivation? Join a Fitness Social Club

Feb18

A lot of people join gyms with the hopes of keeping in shape. The hard part is always finding the motivation to keep going. I find what helps me is making myself accountable to a group. While I belong to Lifetime Gym (which I think is one of the nicest gyms on the planet), I have gone ahead and also joined various athletic clubs. Since I train to run sprint triathlons, it’s crucial for me to keep running, cycling and swimming, even outside of the gym.

A social club can help you in so many ways. First, being with people. I find I get so motivated when I watch and train with others. I’ve learned not to compare my own progress, (which is so hard to do) but honestly, when I see someone older than I am, just destroying me? I LOVE IT.

One of my clubs is the Lifetime Social Run Club group out of the Syosset Location. They are amazing with a philosopy of “No person gets left behind.” We do anywhere from 3.2 to 4 or 5 miles. There are different routes and everyone just runs at their own pace and we all meet up at the end and chat.

Another group I do is the Mineola Bicycle club. To be honest, I didn’t do it much last summer but I’ll be back to it this year. It is so great because I bike in the C group which has a leader and sweeper and goes at a bit of a slower pace than the A/B groups. But we’re still doing 20+ miles through really beautiful parts of Long Island.

Lastly, the one that is most challenging for me is the Masters Swim at Tobay Beach. But, OMG, that is fun. I get to wear a wetsuit and we swim in the bay right before sunset over the summer. I find swimming the hardest event, but there’s something wonderful being with people and we’re all trying to get better while swimming in a fantastic location. Not to mention, they have people on boards monitoring us and it makes me feel safe.

What groups do you join to help you achieve your goals? I’d love to hear!

Also, please feel free to follow me on Instagram where I’ll be posting a lot of my triathlon and fitness journey posts. https://www.instagram.com/elysesalpeter/?hl=en

#triathlon #triathlontraining #motivation #swimming #cycling #running

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Could You Survive a Zombie Attack?

Aug25

Ha! I bet that title sucked you in! But really, could you survive a zombie attack? I train for triathlons and sometimes it’s so hard mentally to keep running, keep biking, keep swimming, that I play this little scenario in my head (well, I am a writer) that goes like this, “Ok, there are zombies about a mile behind me, how fast and how far do I need to run that I can put enough distance between us that a) they don’t smell me any longer and b) I can sleep for a few hours before they lumber up to my camp?”

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Swimming on the bay

I know it’s crazy, but it makes me at times go just one more step, one mile more. Another scenario goes like this… “I live on Long Island and there’s been an apocalypse and I need to get to the west side of NYC to get some medicine for someone in my family. Roads are closed to cars, bridges are down.” The fact is, I’m confidant RIGHT NOW that I can do this. I can bike the 20 miles to the East River, swim across it and then run to the west side of NYC, get the medicine and do the trek back home. I’m also pretty confidant I can do this in a good amount of time.

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Creepy Horror Collection

Do you play any scenarios in your head as you’re training? For some reason, my brain always goes to the macabre. I actually wrote so many short stories this way and you may like my horror short story collection called RICKET ROW. It’s a compilation of horror tales for just $0.99. Here’s one of the reviews I just love:

DeeDiDee
5.0 out of 5 stars Creepiest Horror Compilation Out There!

I became a fan of Ms. Salpeter’s when I picked up her full length novel, The Mannequins, so I picked up a copy of Ricket Row almost as soon as it came out! Ricket Row is a compilation of horror vignettes and short stories that promises a little something for every horror reader. It is so crazily good that I read it in two short sittings, and had bedtime not been calling I would have devoured the whole thing in a sitting!

As a serious Poe fan, I couldn’t resist The Pilgrimage to Poe. It was a seriously cool take on the mystery person who is famous for leaving a remembrance in honor of Poe at his grave every year. As a devotee of Chinese food, I ate up Mr. Wong’s Amazing Wok and the sinister reason why the heroine can’t quit eating his house special dumplings. And Mr. and Mrs. Odd got inside my head and is haunting me hours later.

Ms. Salpeter writes horror with the best of authors, carefully constructing creepy, chilling, vivid atmospheres with a fast pace that takes you from shivering to hiding under the blankets in a handful of page turns. She takes the horror genre and preys on your psyche, delivering epic blows without the gore factor. Looking for a horror anthology to shake your nerves? This is it!

My next goal is to be able to run a 10K. That’s 6.2 miles. To be honest, I start to lose it at 4 miles. My sciatica acts up, but I’m determined to do this. I think I’m going to actually start the Galloway method where you run and walk at times. Hopefully I can build it up to get to that.

Please tell me some of your goals? Do they involve surviving an apocolypse or some kind? Would you survive? Love to hear!

Keeping Busy during the Pandemic

Aug17

Hi everyone,
It’s been so very long since I posted. I don’t know about you, but when the world seemed to close up in March, it was as if a part of my brain closed off, too. It seemed all I could do was try to keep my family safe and happy, keep my job from combusting, and simply put one foot in front of the other.

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Open Water Swimming

As the weeks went by, my kids came home from college and online classes began, I told myself I needed to set some goals, get active and keep myself busy. I had to get back to life. So, I decided I was going to finish THE JOURNEY BACK, Book #6 in the Kelsey Porter series, train for triathlon races as if they were still happening, and lose 20 lbs. Ok, I know I don’t quite need to lose that much weight, but some of the Pandemic carb load would have been nice to take off.

While I didn’t lose 20 lbs, I did lose 6, which allowed me BACK into a pair of jeans I’ve not worn in quiteImage some time, I published THE JOURNEY BACK to great fanfare and I started Open Water Swimming at the local beach (on the bay side, not the ocean – no sharks for me!). (all social distancing in effect) In fact, this very weekend I swam my first one mile mock race in under 40 minutes. And it was raining. And there were waves going over my head. I won’t lie, I’d been scared to do that race, but I did it. The nice part was there were kayakers and paddleboarders watching us, so I felt relatively safe. I’m a “face my fears” type of person for sure. Next? A 10K run… we shall see!

Now, for those who have read the first 5 books in the Kelsey Porter thriller series, THE JOURNEY BACK will allow you a peek into Kelsey’s teen years. If you are invested in this character, I guarantee you that you will enjoy this. But, trust me – don’t read this until you’ve read the first 5 books. Too many spoilers.

I’ll start posting more, I promise. So tell me, what have you been doing this summer to keep busy? I’d love to hear.