My Heroes

Sunday morning’s Team in Training training was washed out, thanks to Irene.  This caused some triathlon training problems for me, since Sunday morning trainings are my most intense, so missing the training meant that I needed to figure out how to make up the time and intensity of my training elsewhere.  But, it is important that I take a step back and be thankful that my family and friends are safe and sound and, save for some water in my unfinished basement and downed tree limbs around my house, my home was spared and we have electricity!!!.  Here are a few notes from my weekend of Irene:

My Basement:  We use our unfinished basement for storage, since the basement takes on marginal amounts of water when there is a heavy rain.  My neighbor, whose backyard is a watery mess, decided that rather than put drainage in his back yard he should grade his backyard so that all his excess water drains into my yard (and basement), so heavy rains often result in water in my basement.  Spending money on a sump pump seems like a waste of money because we rarely get significant flooding in the basement and, in deference to the water that sometimes does inhabit the basement, we store most everything in our basement in plastic storage boxes.  In the end, we depend on a French drain mechanism to funnel out all the water that comes into our basement. 

At 11pm on Saturday night our basement was dry.  At around 2:30am, with the rain picking up steadily, I decided to see whether the basement was taking on water.  I assumed that there was some water, with the steady and heavy rains, but I had no idea how much.  As I headed downstairs to see whether my French drain was working, or not, it occurred to me that anyone depending on anything French to defend property or land should not be surprised when the French defense is quickly and completely overwhelmed and then requires US and British assistance.  Sure enough, my French drain was not up to the task of handling the water that Irene and my neighbor decided to dump into my basement.  Luckily, after I had to move a whole bunch of boxes and repositioned some non-waterproof items that were being threatened, the French drain eventually recovered and the only remnants of Irene is some dampness and a little moisture on the floor.  

New York Sports Club:  At around noon on Sunday, when the rain from Irene subsided, I called up New York Sports Club in New Rochelle to see if they might be opening up (I hoped and prayed!) in the afternoon, AFTER the brunt of the storm passed.  It turns out that they were open; they were open since   7am – yes, 7am, which is when the gym usually opens on Sunday!

If you weren’t tracking the storm, the epicenter and most powerful portion of Irene hit the New Rochelle area at around 9am, and some of the strongest bands of rain were pelting the area from 4am – 11am. 

Imagine waking up at 5am, looking outside, seeing a raging storm and thanking heavens that you are not an essential worker, like a policeman, fireman or EMT – someone who might have to go out in the mess that was Hurricane/Tropical Storm Irene.  After all, you work in a gym, and why should would anyone risk life and limb (people were killed during the storm from falling tree limbs, etc.) to open up a gym for some crazy fitness nuts… even fitness-crazies would understand, right?  So, you dutifully call in to NYSC of New Rochelle to confirm that the gym is closed and WTF!?!? – You find out that you need to get to work.  And no, you don’t get to wait until after the most dangerous part of the storm passes by; you need to get to work now, by 7am!  Otherwise, some tri-wacko isn’t going to get his workout in and may go from 5% body fat to 5.01% body fat that day. 

In any case, I got in a pretty decent workout (21 miles on the bike and a 3 mile run).  So, thank you to the brave employees of NYSC in New Rochelle.  Without your dedication to my health and fitness and your disregard for your own safety, I would have lost a most crucial day of training.