TRi*Tawn

Nope, not giving up my coffee...

2009-11-10T05:07:00.000-08:00

...because I'm waking up stupidly early this week to help adjust to Florida time and the extremely early wakeup I'll have Saturday (~1 a.m. pacific time). It's so much easier for Californians to adjust for Kona! But thankfully I changed my flight and am now headed out Wednesday, so by Thursday I'll be waking up in a Gulf-view room on Clearwater Beach... doubt I'll have trouble waking up at that point. (fyi - Southwest didn't charge me for changing my flight, wow.)

I'm also keeping a close eye on Hurricane Ida. At this point, it looks like Ida is a now a tropical storm--it "weakened" as it hit Alabama with winds averaging only 45 mph. Psshh haha.

Photo courtesy AP

Even though it looks like the storm is headed in Florida's direction, the forecast for CW is showing that race day shouldn't be anything too gnarly--predicted weather is partly cloudy, high of 79, 20% chance of rain. What do I know, though. Whatever the case ends up being, I'm ready! The more extreme, the better the race report, right?

In the meantime I have to hammer through two major exams this afternoon, back-to-back, in Environmental Exercise Phys and Stats. (Another reason why I refuse to drop the caffeine this week.) I'd much rather be lounging around stress-free, packing and getting as much extra rest as possible, but life had other plans for me. At least I won't have to study on the plane ride home, yuck. However, I have a power-point presentation to do next Monday in Sports Nutrition and am toying with the idea of practicing in front of the passengers on the plane home. Doubt they'll care about fish oil supplementation though. Maybe if I hand out free samples. Hmmmm.

Quickie

2009-11-03T12:22:00.000-08:00

It's winding down, only 11 more days until Clearwater! I feel as ready as I can be both physically and mentally. I've trained well and have had fun with it, not too much not too little. In short: I'm super excited to race. Refreshed & ready!

Although I've been training hard, particularly on my swim and run, I'm having fun and keeping busy with other aspects of life, too. Maintaining that balance in my life has helped a lot—I'm definitely a happier triathlete! Unless the day comes where I'm an elite racer and have pro potential, there's no reason to live like a monk for this sport. (Acutally, I'm just trying to justify why I stayed up too late and drank too much on Halloween...oops.)

My goal for Clearwater is to PR my half-Ironman time. That's it. Of course I'll always strive to do my best in my AG, but there are fast ladies at World Championship races, and going in the 4:30 range just isn't something I'm capable of yet (stress the yet!!). I'm totally fine with that. Everyone says, "Oh it's a flat course, you're going to kill it." I'll do what I can. And I guarantee I'll race my own race out there.

Until Nov. 14, though, I have a lot going on with work and school (more tests, more presentations, more meetings)... so I'll finish this up with a few pictures that explain why my bike ride on Nov. 1 was not pretty. Yea, I almost hurled on the side of the road several times. But the fun I had on Halloween was well worth it, and thankfully I had gotten in my last key long bike and long run in before the party.

Some of the boys I grew up with (I was the only girl in our neighborhood... hmmm)

This guy (the "Mexican whistle dude") poured a shot down my throat faster than I could react and say no! Ew. Bearded Lady in the background.

My friend Dave's costume... the shirt says "Ask me about my zombie costume."

So I did...

Best costume I saw...

Punch bees in the face

2009-10-27T09:51:00.000-07:00

I got stung by a bee, again. Riding downhill at 35 mph. R quad. Bam. This is the third time, the first two were on my face. I'm not allergic, but I do swell up like a balloon. The sting happened Sat morning, 10 mi into my ride. I continued to ride another ~15 miles, then ran 12 later that day, then biked 60 on Sunday. I fought the pain (out of fear of Clearwater), but it all caught up with me Monday. The swelling worsened, my leg was like 120 degrees, I was limping—felt like crap.

It's been brought to my attention that I get stung by things a lot (sea lice in Kona just days ago).

But, thankfully, it looks like I'm going to survive this one too.

The funny thing about Saturday is that I saw it coming. I was doing hill repeats, and going uphill I noticed a lot of bees around—at a slower pace, they were sort of bouncing off me. So going downhill I purposely tucked my head in and was literally praying "please don't get stung in the face again." Well, mid pray—right in the leg. Dammit!

To top things off, on Sunday's ride, a bee FLEW INTO MY HELMET (apparently they're out in full force in So Cal right now). Surprisingly I didn't panic, just cussed and threw the helmet off. Sure enough, the little bugger hopped out of the helmet and crawled away.

I almost took it as an omen that I shouldn't ride. But, that'd be wasting precious training time with Clearwater on the horizon...

Btw, the title of this post comes from one of my favorite Dane Cook bits.

Pt: 4 Kona Aftermath

2009-10-19T20:28:00.001-07:00

First, some timely news... I got this in the mail Monday:I'm really excited to put this to good use, and I have some great plans heading into the new year!

Anyways... back to Hawaii. I'm sure you're all getting sick of hearing about it by now, especially D, so I promise to make this my last Kona post, and I promise to keep it short...sort of. But I will have a little ranting toward the end, so, D, I think you'll like this one.

Last Few Days in Kona

The day after Ironman was a little bit like the day after Christmas, and that's coming from someone who didn't even race.

Sunday we all slept in then spent several hours in the Media Center uploading, editing, writing, Internet-surfing and consuming all the free coffee and fruit stomachable (a word?). The goal of the day was to feel good for the Awards Ceremony and post-race parties that night.

An afternoon swim helped me get some energy back, and by 6 p.m., I was eager to get the fun started! Awards had great food, not sure what it was to be honest, but it all blended well on my plate Thanksgiving-style. Plus there was “free” beer (with the $48 admission).

To sum up awards, check out this video on EverymanTri.com.

Kevin and I ran into Hilary Biscay at awards, and of course Kevin knows her, so thanks to him, he had Hilary add us on the list for the K-Swiss party. Sweet!

Well, en route to the party, just after awards ended, the downpours began. Last year during Awards it rained, this year it waited until right after. But that wasn't stopping us. We got wet but made the ~1 mile walk to Huggos where the real fun began.

Not gonna lie, I was initially intimidated by the all-star crowd—all the top pros, all the top names in triathlon, pretty much everyone except Crowie. It’s one thing to see the pros in a press conference or racing, but to be mingling with them at the same party? It was too much. It took a while to get brave and just go up to people like Andy Potts, Chrissie Wellington, Belinda Granger, Faris Al-Sutan, etc, etc and strike up conversation. And when I did, I tried not to be “that person”—like the teeny-bopper wanting Britney Spears' autograph. Still, I wanted to take pictures with everyone and of everything, but I contained myself and kept it to just a few, including:

We all got kicked out of Huggos too early… so everyone migrated across the street to Lulu’s. Even Chrissie was still energized to keep partying (what is this woman made of??). I have to say, besides hanging out with my new super cool friend from Gu, I think Faris Al-Sutan wins for being the funnest person to meet and talk to. And he was lookin good freshly shaven too... he said, "I didn't want to look like an 80-year-old man anymore." Ha.

I didn’t want the night to end. But sadly, it did. Still, not after everyone hung out in the parking lot after Lulu’s kicked us out too…. talk about stamina among the triathlete crowd.

MONDAY
Most people were leaving town, so I was ready to start enjoying Hawaii minus Ironman.

But first, I hit up the Stand-Up Paddleboard Demo at the King Kam with Chris Lieto, the Multisports crew, Surf-Tech, etc. Got lessons from Lieto and it was a blast. I felt comfortable, it came pretty naturally to me, that is, until I tried tandem with fellow media dude, Kai, from Germany. We ate it a couple times, which was refreshing more than anything!

Also hung out with Jessi Stensland a bit and learned about her new MovementU classes. Really good stuff, and great CEUs for coaching! I’ll be attending the Nov. 7 session in Lake Forest.

After SUP, I headed out for a 1-hour ocean swim (battled some gnarly chop!), refueled then rented a moped to venture beyond my little world on Ali'i. Glad I did. It was so refreshing to cruise around, see the sights and work on my tan.

I even made a pit stop at Target for some cheap snacks and more gum (I’m a total gum addict, it’s bad). After moped-ing for the full 2.5 hours, I got in a 7-mile run. I was feeling really good—actually getting used to the heat, or maybe it’s because I waited until sunset (i.e. cooler temps) to run. Another good night ensued, but this one was alcohol-free and early to bed!

TUEDSAY
Got in my last hour swim and 45-min run then hit up the farmer’s market for the last time to stock up on fruits and veggies for the trip home—I knew I wouldn’t want to spend $30 for a crappy airport meal. Before I knew it, I was in the taxi waving goodbye.

Then the dream vacation turned sour...
The airport situation was a disaster. I don't recommend flying Mesa Airlines aka Go Air; I learned the hard way that they have a bad rep for canceled/delayed flights and planes with air-conditioning issues. My 4:40 p.m. flight to Honolulu got delayed until 8 p.m. So about 6 hours of sitting in Kona. But that’s not the worst of it: We got to HON at 8:30 p.m. and due to some other BS I dealt with before the trip (rescheduled flights) I supposed to pick up my bags, recheck them and go thru security again—all in time for my 9:10 p.m. red eye back to LAX on AA in a different terminal. 40 minutes to do that? Uh, no chance in hell.

So, what else: I started crying. I swear, it works (for girls, at least). In no time, I had at least 5 airport staffers trying to help me get over to AA while searching for my bag and getting it over to my red eye (I won't even mention the other major mess up by Mesa). Meanwhile, I basically said screw my bag, left it in the hands of the airport Gods and started running because if I missed the 9:10 flight, I’d be stranded in the airport overnight and AA would charge me $200+ to take the next available flight out in the morning because Mesa’s delay “was not their fault.” Argh!

Well, the airport Gods were watching over me: I made the 9:10 flight (got a crappy night's "sleep") and when I got to the LAX baggage claim on Wednesday morning my bag was the first to fall into the carousel. (First off, meaning it was the last on!!) My heart dropped, and I said a mini prayer thanking the folks who helped me in Honolulu in particular.

Made mom pick me up from LA at 5:30 a.m. (heehee) and then I was home.

And that's it.

Alright, D, I'm done :)

Pt 3: Ironman Hawaii Race Day

2009-10-18T13:27:00.001-07:00

No TV special or online coverage compares with seeing this live:

Of course the hours before and after that moment were equally incredible...

I began the day at 3-something-am feeling fresh and ready to charge... and considering the lack of sleep I got and the more-than-average amount of alcohol I drank Friday night, that was surprising. Before heading out, I packed some Clif Bars and fruit from the farmer’s market in my bag, as I had no idea when or if I’d get a real meal during the day. My needs were insignificant on this day.

Now, I’ve been to a lot of triathlons, but I have never seen energy like I saw in this transition area. It was incredible. My HR was increasing just being in the crowd.

I posted up in media-access area, and wouldn’t you know… Ms. Wellington comes right by me and starts getting ready. I tried to get my Flip video cam, digital camera and cell phone on her all at once. This scenario turned out to be a common dilemma of the day: Me trying to manage three media devices, the “trio,” simultaneously. Ridiculously hard! And everything happens so fast it’s impossible to get it all. On top of that, then try rushing over to the Media Center at the King Kam to upload the latest pics & video—it’s just a mess. I’m a "young" journalist at 24 but I’m still old-school with my reporting (i.e. I need time) so this Internet immediacy was beyond hectic for me. But, you do what you can.

Inside the Media Center:

I found a good spot on the pier to watch the swim starts. I shed my first of many tears at this point. I knew enough people out in that washing-machine water and I felt excited/nervous for them all, plus I had met enough new people—pros and amateurs—who I was rooting for, too. And then, of course, there’s the fact that I’m a girl, and I get emotional over this stuff!

The pros setting off:

Age groupers lining up next:

Next, time to get busy. Joe and I were given strict instructions that as soon as the pros made their first little bike loop around town, we’d hop in the car with Coach Mario and head out. I really wanted to pee first, and every bathroom around seemed to have mile-long lines, even though the racers were all gone—that’s one thing every triathlon needs more of: Port-a-potties! I wound up in the Starbucks on Palani, where the bathroom line and coffee lines were equally insane. At least I got an Americano.

Watching the first of the racers bike by was a rush. I tried to get as many shots as I could but only several worked out—talk about frantic caffeine-jittery hands.

A wave from Bree Wee; and Crowie:

And before I knew it, we were running up Palani, in the car and driving to the turn to Hawi. We didn’t have access to drive on bike course, so we had to go up and around: long. It was great, though, because for about an hour, I had the opportunity to pick the brain of one of the top triathlon coaches there is. As an aspiring coach, I was in heaven. (Seriously, looking back, I got in some priceless networking on this trip!)
.
We got to the turn to Hawi (mile 35 going out, mile 70 coming back), and those few hours—as hot as they were—definitely were one of the highlights of the day. My feet, on the other hand, hated it out there and swelled up like balloons. It hurt. I was literally standing in the shade of a street sign to cool them—shade the size of about the size of a shoe box. Pathetic. At least I got some decent shots:

Chrissie, Mirinda Carfrae, Chris Lieto, Andy Potts, Faris Al-Sutan:

And most importantly… me followed by the triathlon media man himself screwing around:
. The only sad part out on the road was when Yvonne Van Vlerken came by at mile 70. She yelled something in German to Coach Mario and he translated to us: She had a mechanical issue and was stuck in her big gear, thus, completely frying her legs. (This eventually led to her dropping out in the run; what she endured on the bike proved to be too much.) Mario was very optimistic and understanding about the situation. “It happens,” he said. “There will be more races.”
I took a half-nap on the way back to transition headquarters, while still trying to chat with Mario and listening to race updates on the radio. I even had my mom working for me sending me the latest from Athlete Tracker.

We got back just in time to see Chrissie go into T2. I literally jumped out of Mario’s car while it was still rolling. I felt bad for ditching him like that, but was later able to apologize… he didn’t mind. The man is all smiles and a genuinely good guy.

I then met up with Ben Greenfield and we ran around the run course a bit trying to get good shots and whatnot.

Sam McGlone (5th):

But the best had yet to come….

The FINISH
I was a wreck… Crying like a baby every time someone significant crossed the finish line (just ask my mom who I kept calling even though she probably couldn’t hear me). The emotions started with Crowie at 8:20, peaked with Chrissie at 8:54 and continued past midnight.

Too many pictures to choose from of the men's finish; several of my favs:

Then the ladies. The buildup to Chrissie's finish was incredible. Would she break PNF's record? We were all holding our breath... and she did it! Also, as luck would have it, I was standing right next to her boyfriend (didn’t even know she had a BF!) when she finished, so, yup, she came right over to me (well, to him, but I was right there too haha.) How cute: And some of my other favorite ladies:

I stuck around at the finish until just about the 10:10 mark, after I saw Brad Golden cross. Yea, he's my ex but I'm not cold-hearted and I care about his accomplishments in tri. I've seen the guy go from Mr. anti-endurance sports to Kona qualifier. (For the record, there was a time when I could run faster and longer than him!) So, I'm proud of him, like I am of most Ironman athletes who clearly sacrifice a lot to get to Kona. Anyways, after Brad crossed, I needed a breather. Unfortunately, this meant I just missed Charisa, Brian and Nick crossing together, bummer. But I got to see this:
I later went to the post-race pro press conference, and it was great to hear Chris Lieto, Crowie (beer in hand), Andreas Raelert (3rd, in blue below) and Rassmus Henning (5th, in white) talk about their experiences. Plus, I shoved down some free pizza. At that point the Clif bars & fruit were gone, I had grabbed a sandwich in the Media Center at some point, but was still starving. My calorie burn was probably equal to that of my typical Saturday training day.

Ben G was also in need of a meal, so we skipped out of the women’s conference early for food and wine at this great Thai place right on Ali'i where we watched the last guys coming in from our table. Refueled and energized, it was time for a couple bar-pitstops and crazy antics, then to the finish line for midnight.

The finish line at midnight was, of course, amazing. NBC and tons of others do a good job at portraying that, so I’ll spare ya. For me, the most heart-wrenching part of the night was seeing Matt Hoover finishing and then laying in medical, ghost white. Matt is so much more than “the guy from Biggest Loser.” Imagine the pressure on him… he attracted nationwide attention, he doesn’t have the typical Ironman-athlete build and some were skeptic of the fact that he was handed a Kona slot. Pressure? Um, yeaaa. In my opinion, he earned his ticket to Kona. Just look at what he overcame: From overweight to Ironman. That's inspiring, especially to anyone trying to lose weight and live healthfully. America needs more of that.

I don’t care that he crossed 3 minutes after the official cutoff time. That man is just as much an Ironman as all the rest in my eyes. And, the fact that he wants to do another Ironman next year, well, that speaks volumes. On top of it all, I got the chance to talk to his coach, Jim Vance, about Matt’s day… and oh man. Rough, but remarkable. Read Jim’s blog.

Being surrounded by such athletic greatness all day makes me somewhat ashamed to say that the rest of my night was spent being a little too tipsy. But I eventually found my bed and slept it off.

And for the record, I'm not that obsessed with Chrissie Wellington, despite what you might gather from these blogs :)

IM World Champs Pt 2

2009-10-16T13:36:00.000-07:00

To start off, I want to throw out some numbers that were mentioned during the Ironman Awards Ceremony:

During the race, the longest transition time was 57:37 (T2) and the longest combined transition time was 1:01:37 (T1 + T2). Incredible. But what's more incredible is the guy who spent an hour-plus in transition still finished in 12:36:44.

On the flip side, Torenzo Bozzone had the fastest combined T times at 03:40 (01:43, 01:57).

Kona Day 3: October 9

PRE-RACE DAY

I got in another swim along IM course first thing. To be honest, the first day I was so caught up in the excitement and the free coffee that I didn’t get in a regular butt-kicking sorta swim. So Friday, knowing the course better, I spent a solid hour pushing myself, mainly working on swimming straight while maintaining intensity. I ditched Lava Java and opted for post-swim brekkie (veggie omelet) at a restaurant where I could watch the finish line being built. The lady said there were a lot of veggie omelets being ordered lately, go figure.

With less than 24 hours till race start, there was definitely a different vibe in town on Friday. You could feel the tension in the air. No longer were cyclists and runners passing by every 0.5 seconds. Instead, participants had to drop off their bikes, and some clearly had the wide-eyed, “holy sh*t what have I gotten myself into” looks as they marched down Ali’i Drive. Others, like Linsey Corbin and Faris Al-Sutan were all smiles (photos courtesy of www.finishline-multisport.com):

Kevin of finishline-multisport.com and many others opted to post up at transition all day to watch every single person check in—a great op to meet pros, photos, etc. Plus, it’s Kevin’s mission in life to be friends with everyone in triathlon. I must say, he’s doing an excellent job at it so far. On the flip side, for bike companies and such, this is where they tally how popular they are at Kona. How many people rode Cervelo? We’ll know soon.

I’m a little ADD, so I knew I wouldn’t be able to stand at transition all day.

Instead, I met up with friends (and made cute new friends like that little dude above) then went for my run, which went a lot better than Thursday’s—I could hold a decent pace and went farther...about 7 miles. On the way I was refilling water and chatted with some local surer bros. It’s was the typical “dude, yea bra, surf or die” sort of convo. I loved it because I had been talking triathlon nonstop and hadn’t even thought about surfing in paradise. Unfortunately, I never had time to do so, but I at least learned where some good spots were from the dudes.

While we were chatting, Torenzo Bozzone ran by—one last quickie—and I pointed out to the surfers that he was in contention to maybe win. Their response, “Dude, that guy has tiny little chicken legs, no way bra.”

I eventually made it to the bike check in that afternoon. Through conversation and thanks to Kevin, I landed a spot in a car that’d be going out onto the bike course during the race. The driver was Mario Huys, a former pro and coach of Yvonne Van Vlerken and rookie pro Mickey Weiss. Mario is such a nice guy—a heavy German accent so hard to understand at times, but I always nodded, smiled and asked more questions. I felt honored that I’d spend half of race day with him. Mario was 11^th in Kona the year I was born. Mario's in the middle here:

I also got a chance to meet Rebekah Keat and her twin sis. Super nice girls. I'm really bummed she got DQ'd after the race. I don't know the whole story, and even if I did, it's not really my place to discuss that sort of thing. All I know is she's a phenomenal athlete and she would have been 5th woman had her race counted. I mean, look at her calves compared to mine; she is pure muscle (photo courtesy of finishline-multisport.com):

I stayed at transition until everyone was checked in and it became a ghost town except for the overnight-watch crew, several photographers and some nearby local fisherman. Seeing all the bikes lined peacefully was awesome. There was no turning back now for the 1,779 racers. I talked to one overnight guard, and he was so honored and proud to have the responsibility of watching the bikes. His enthusiasm almost brought tears to my eyes. Here he is:

I also couldn't help but laugh at the placement of the Penalty Box. There's no excuse for cheating or whatever penalty is issued, and the officials clearly don't take it lightly--they really must want the perpetrator to feel in the dumps.

We spent the evening soaking in all the sights. It was like the calm before the storm. Only hours and the place would be going off! photo courtesy of www.finishline-multisport.com:

Luke McKenzie getting in One. Last. Run.

That night, after hearing how cool and fun Thurs night was, I joined the party people at Lulu’s. The guy I was teamed up to work with, Ben Greenfield, got me to drink a foo-fooey cranberry vodka because they are “healthier with less calories than beer.” Whatever, it takes fewer to do the job, so I obliged.

Some dudes showed up, we were all talking, and one happened to be Cliff English, Chrissie Wellington’s coach for a brief time. For those who don’t know, Chrissie has had a tumultuous year with her coaching/team situations. From TBB (Brett Sutton) to Cliff to currently being self-coached. So, I had the balls to ask Cliff the story of what happened with that whole ordeal—particularly why he’s no longer Chrissie’s coach—and he told me! It was an amazing story, and I’ll keep it at that. Cliff is a great guy and I was honored to talk with him.

I found my bed at 1 or 2 a.m. Sweet. I would be waking up at 4 a.m. to head to the race. Maybe not the wisest way to lead into what would be another 20+ hour day, but, again, who sleeps in Kona? I’d worry about that later.

(In fact, as I write this, I’m back home and am catching up on all that sleep I missed: I've had two 10+ hour sleeps since I've been home—rare for me—plus I napped yesterday too.)

I’m saving the Race Day blog entry to be it’s own post. But here’s a little preview. Dean Sprague of San Diego was in our group at Seaside so I watched him eating his pre-race breakfast (gotta note what the fast guys do, right?). Well here’s part of what he ate:

The other part was some Pop Tarts and a GU-mix drink. Classic. And, hell, he raced well so guess it worked! Keep in mind, this is also the same guy that bought us beers the day before and had done his share of partying in the nights leading up to the race...

"The good thing about Hawaii...."

2009-10-14T20:20:00.000-07:00

"... is wonderful K-o-n-aaaaa." (the song by Pepper, anyone?)

So this is where I spent the majority of my trip:

I don't know anything about video editing so excuse the sound of wind and lack of cool music.

Ironman World Championships Pt 1

2009-10-14T08:57:00.000-07:00

Watching the Ironman World Championships is in the top-5 greatest experiences of my life, so far. With a jam-packed week of amazingness, there’s no way I can fit my whole trip into one blog, so I’m going to break it up into multiple postings. I’ll start with pre-race fun.

Macca photo courtesy of Kevin @ www.finishline-multisport.com:

Kona Day 1, Oct. 7

Wednesday was a 22-hour day, but unfortunately only a few of those were spent awake in Kona. Traveling sucks. We finally got in and dropped off our bags at the Seaside Inn (a great place to stay if you want to be within walking distance of all the Ironman events), then went to go pick up our media credentials at the King Kam. Talk about hooked up! I had no idea we’d be getting so much free schwag as "just the reporters."

View from the room at Seaside

After that my first mission was to find Lava Java and eat there. Mission successful. Yum.

Wednesday night I met up with some local OC people for dinner at Kona Brewing Co. (Thanks Kevin Rauch!!!) It was great pizza, but I skipped the beer that night... would have fallen asleep right on the table. By the time I got back to the hotel I was spent.

But who sleeps in Kona?

Kona Day 2, Oct. 8
I got just enough shut eye only to wake at sunrise on Thursday for, what else, but a swim at Dig Me Beach along the IM course. I know everyone says this, but it’s truly the place to be in the morning with the hottest bods you can imagine in little itty bitty swimsuits. They put my fitness/physique to shame.

Now, if I had access to an ocean like Kona’s, I’d be one hell of a swimmer. I never wanted to get out, and I was amped to practice swimming straight minus a black line. It's warm, clear water, awesome fish and coral to look at and—the best—there's free coffee 700 yds out! Coffees of Hawaii anchors up to serve fresh brew to all swimmers. The first sip is bitter and salty, but after that it’s actually quite refreshing.

I swam early enough to be at the annual Underpants Run at 8 a.m. But, get this, while swimming back in I got stung by something on my neck (sea lice apparently). It burned soooo f-ing bad. My first though—while still ~700 yds out—was, “Oh crap, I just got stung by some weird tropical thing and now I’m going to pass out, drown and die.” Needless to say, I swam fast.

I survived, but basically had to ignore the burning because I refused to miss the U-Run. I figured running around in something skimpy would be a good distraction.

So fun. I’ll let the pictures do the talking:

Greg Welch leading the pack on moped, Paul Huddle running in the lead, equipped with much-needed HR monitor and mega phone (courtesy www.finishline-multisport.com).
Amanda Lovato and "anonymous" BoratWeird place to run into your ex... Brad and me

A bunch of fast people (Ian, Charisa, Kevin, Kristin), and meMJ in the lead (photo courtesy of www.finishline-multisport.com)

After that Thursday included more Lava Java, a pro press conference, mingling with media, taking pictures, being in awe. I had to get over my star shock seeing the pros within touching distance. For most the Ironman and media guys, like PNF and Bob Babbitt, it’s no big deal. So I had to play it cool and pretend that it was no big deal for me that I was looking a table lined with Terenzo Bozzone, Eneko Llanos, Faris Al-Sutan, Crowie, Chrissie, Linsey Corbin, Yvonne Van Vlerken, Sandra Wallenhorst, Michellie Jones and Mirinda Carfrae.

My first observation was, wow… I had no idea Torenzo was so hot! He’s funny too… on the topic of speed suits, everyone had to give their opinions and he simply stated, “I think we heard everything and personally I don’t give a shit.”

MJ's hot bike

Meanwhile, stinging continued, up into my ear. It eventually subsided, but not before I tried the ol’ pee trick (ewww)…

No, I didn’t pour my pee on myself—to messy. Instead, I peed on a wash cloth and pressed it against my neck. No joke. But that still didn’t work too well. So, while eating at Lava Java, I asked the owner for vinegar and napkins. He asked if I wanted white or balsamic.

Thursday was also my first taste of running in Hawaiian heat and humidity. Holy crap, 5 miles never hurt so bad. It made me glad that I didn’t qualify for Kona yet. I’m still in my infancy phase with triathlon, and definitely have no rush to get ahead of myself.

After recovering from the heat, I’m pretty sure I ate dinner at Lava Java that night too. I invested way too much money there in a matter of days. But the free Internet was convenient and the crowd is always entertaining ..
The partying started Thursday night, but I opted out. I was still in my “I’m doing Clearwater so drinking and staying up late is not part of the plan” phase. That soon changed on Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights. Ha. You only live once, right?

Stay tuned for more.... and if you want to see all my Kona pictures, friend me on Facebook.

Mission Bay Tri from the Sidelines

2009-10-05T07:23:00.000-07:00

So much to do before I leave for Kona on Wednesday, and I at least want to recap an incredible weekend in San Diego. But first, a little self-promoting. I'll be covering Ironman Championships the days leading up to the race, race day and post-race, with all my reports on EverymanTri and on Twitter at @tawneeprazak and @everymantri. Check it out! I'll be teaming up with Ben Greenfield, Kevin at Finishline-Multisport.com and many other folks on the BI.

Now onto this past weekend....

The father-son duo Mike & Calvin (read about them here) drove down from NorCal and successfully completed the Mission Bay Triathlon Sunday morning. Calvin was one of two 10-year-olds who did the race, the youngest participants, and had a speedy time of 1:26! His dad was racing by his side the entire time. So glad I got to watch. I'll let some photos do the talking:

My dad was also set to race in MB, but an unfortunate bike accident kept him from being able to do so. He's ok but pretty banged up and sore; we're just thankful nothing worse happened. I unfortunately can't discuss the details, but I will say: Wear a helmet because it's the other guy out there who you can't trust.

Larry, my dad's best friend from college/training buddy, was still able to race but it was clearly very bittersweet without my dad. Still, for Larry it was quite a day... Last year, Larry was diagnosed with an aggressive form of throat cancer last year, and things were not looking good for him. But he held on strong, endured chemo, fought the cancer and WON. Training and racing in the Mission Bay Triathlon was not only a huge personal accomplishment, but a huge moment for Larry's family and friends. There was not a dry eye among us when he crossed that finish line. Both his 20-something sons also raced in MB, so needless to say it was a special day.

My dad & Larry...
Larry crossing the finish line at 1:26, wow!...

Then there's my mom, aka the speed demon, who also raced. Back-to-back weekends of racing for her! "Never again," she says, haha. Whatever, mom... She pulled off yet another podium finish at 1:10, despite some hiccups: Her chain fell of during the bike costing her precious time, she got lost in T2 sorta, some sort of water issue. But in the end she experienced her first-ever sprint-to-the-finish battle with a woman in her AG and won that, which secured her 3rd place spot, as well as 3rd place in 50-54 women for the entire Koz Enterprises Triathlon Series!!!!

Look at those buff arms!

With all these participants I had to keep track of, I was one busy girl! Thankfully I found an open Starbucks at 5 a.m. and got my Venti Americano caffeine fix.

The race was a blast, and I'm so happy I made the decision to give up my spot and be a spectathlete & sherpa. Just as fun as race-day was the day before the race. Good times, especially with my sister, who was cool enough to come down from Cal Poly SLO and hang out with us. The fact that her new Scott road bike was waiting for her at our house probably helped in that decision to drive down. Whatever got her down, I was stoked, she's good company to have around. As we get older we keep getting closer, and (gasp!) we don't even fight anymore!

On Saturday, we got dropped off by the 'rents in North County SD and rode our bikes to Mission Bay. Karlee killed it, particularly on her first attempt up Torrey Pines.
A million stop signals later (grrr) we arrived at the hotel where we hit the in-house restaurant & spa for a bit before hitting the town for the night. (Traveling with parents = good... dad posts us up in nice hotels, like the Paradise Resort on Mission Bay. Traveling with me alone = you're brave... get ready for the cheap motels that smell like old socks.)

The view from our suite....

After quality pool time with the whole crew we all gathered at Wahoo's for a solid pre-race meal. I picked Calvin's brain about all his training, asked if he was ready for the race, etc. One of his comments: "Is this going to be on your blog?" How cute. I have to say, the kid is very confident, in a healthy way, and is bound to do some great things if he keeps it up, which I'm sure he will, especially with the cool parents he has! Dinner:

Calvin's giant pre-race burrito....

After Wahoo's Karlee and I had to ditch the crew who needed their sleep, and we headed to Pacific Beach to, ya know....

....get some of this amazingness:

Yea, not quite the beers you were expecting, right? We were the anomalies to the drunken Saturday-night crowd on Garnet. Sitting on the curb, eating fro yo and watching the mayhem was pretty fun. Hands down better than being one of the drunks. We also stumbled upon a random pumpkin patch where the owner was blasting some classic rock that had those 10-min solos. I'm pretty sure he's been living in PB since the '60s, yea one of those guys who never made it out. Super nice guy. We bought a pumpkin. He asked if we wanted our picture taken...

After all the fun of pre-race, races, post-race meals, etc., it was time for me to torture myself. The weekend wouldn't be complete without that, right? Innocently enough, I got dropped off in Oceanside to make the long trek home on my bike. Little did I know the headwind of death would haunt me the entire ride home. I swear, it was by far one of the hardest rides I've ever been on (entirely northbound = headwind never ended). I kept thinking of all the excuses I could make to have my parents come pick me up. But I didn't call. Just kept thinking about them, and before I knew it, I was home! And exhausted.

Only one more bike ride left until a week sans Felt. But that means a week of paradise. I can cope.

Aloha!

OC Tri RR: Fueling the 2010 Fire

2009-09-28T18:58:00.000-07:00

Got to start off with this, too cute: Our neighbors and their two little boys came out to cheer along the run portion of the OC Tri yesterday, and the boys drew this picture after, doing good justice to the hilly run course:Check out that uphill grade! I'm at the top, my mom is following close behind, and according to the boys the brown guys are getting sick and/or are walking.... pretty accurate :)

Sooo, another race in the books: OC International Triathlon. Good times for sure, but I'd be lying if I said I was completely content with my performance. Nope. I know I have it in me to do better. My mental game was lacking. I've been preoccupied with school, work, etc lately, and it showed; I didn't race to my potential. Need to focus! (Maybe I should be more like Peter Reid.) Still, don't get me wrong, the day was a blast and great things happened....

My mom raced in the OC Tri, too, and got 1st in her AG!!!!!!!! A first for her. As her live-in coach, I'll take the credit for that amazing achievement :) But really, she killed it out there and I'm super proud because she did race to her potential, she was in the zone and the hard work she's put in showed out there. She can really get a crowd fired up in her award-acceptance jumping-for-joy routine, love it:

Plus, during awards it was announced that I got 2nd overall in the '09 Orange County Tri Race Series for Women 39 & Under. Yes, for once I was thrown into a bigger age-group pool and got a podium! The award was a complete surprise, and I was stoked, as you can see on my face here (Ian's apparently stoked for me too):

A big highlight of the day was seeing so many familiar faces. Yea, I'm not the biggest fan of where I live (need the beach!), but we do have some nice trails and bike routes, and lots of tri peeps I know showed up to dominate... like tri superstars Charisa & Ian who were 1st overall amateur male & female:
BFF Sara Davis did the relay; local friends from my swim class, bike shops, etc, were there racing; my aunt, uncle and cutie cousin came; saw Beth and met people I "know" from Internet land--like Maggs, Kristin Mayer, Chris Berg. Makes triathlon a lot more enjoyable when you have friends, family and FAST people around.

So, here's how my race went down...

Swim

NO wetsuit; water was in the 80s. That was a first for me, but I managed just fine. I was expecting it, plus my confidence in my swim has grown as my weekly yardage has increased and times have dropped. Although, after my warmup swim I was FREEZING on the beach before our start, see below. I was ready to hug people for body warmth.The first half went spectacular minus the extra rough thrashing (big wave w/ men and women). The water was so clear that I glanced at my watch at the turnaround buoy & it was :12.30 setting me up for ~:25 swim for 1.5k. Ideal for me. Except on the way back I got way off track, realized I was by myself and ended up in the middle of the dang lake alone. No doubt I probably added an extra 300+ yds to my swim, which including dead time stopping and trying to see where to go while the rising sun blinded me. Bonehead mistake! That was so frustrating, and very devastating because I was on track to possibly PR that swim. Ahhhh!!!!

Bike
I know Santiago Canyon like the back of my hand... every little bump, every hill and turn; therefore, I am confident to go fast out there. But I tried to find a happy balance between playing catch-up from the swim while still pacing myself on the the conservative side. I didn't want to go all out TT style for the 40k for two reasons: 1) I've had a nagging R hamstring issue that's left me less than 100% and I didn't want to blow it; 2) The run is killer hard and I wanted to leave something in my legs for it. Overall, the bike went fine, passed one girl in my AG. In retrospect, I should have laid the hammer down a little bit more.

Run

Had a great T2 spot and was in & out in no time. The first 2.5 miles of the run are slight downhill on solid ground, nice for finding a smokin' pace. But I didn't start off like a bat outta hell because everything changes. Gnarly uphills, dirt/woodchip trails... terrain that can slow you down. Vista Del Lago aka "the hill of death" is truly an insane climb. A huge chunk of racers walk up; it's by far the hardest uphill I've experienced in a triathlon. This is the start of "the hill" (pic doesn't do it justice at all):

I was passed on the run by that same girl in my ag who I passed on the bike, and she got a decent, but not insane, lead on me. I didn't think I had that "extra gear" to get her and hold it for the entire 10k, but I'm sure I could have dug deeper, ignored hamstring pain and charged. Especially looking at the results: She finished only seconds ahead of me, leaving me in 2nd place, again.
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Perhaps I raced too conservatively for the day? I haven't really found my Olympic-distance pace yet. This was only my second real attempt at an Oly.

Losing the next spot up in the rankings by seconds has happened to me quite a few times this year. It's one thing when you're beaten by a significant margin (like Tatiana beat me in SB), but when it's seconds, that hurts.

It also fuels my fire.

So, bottom line: It's 2010 planning time, and I'm setting some big goals for myself. Although looking at my competition is important, it's not the other guy (or gal, in my case) that concerns me so much, as long as I can walk away from a race saying, "I gave that my all and I'm content." Part of that means, I'll be a lot more picky with my race schedule and prioritizing races, as well as strategically planning out my year.

If you haven't noticed, I'm hard on myself, but I still enjoy a nice well-deserved post-race indulgence (mom's idea):

Lastely, a few more more fun shots from the day.....

The top Best of the US men & women:

Sara and I devising our "master plan" hahaha:

Hanging with super moms (Mikelson & Prazak):

Quick: What's 40ºC in Farenheit??

2009-09-25T07:54:00.001-07:00

...it's HOT, like 104ºF hot. And, that's the theme of this post. (Yes, I'm just learning Celsius conversions; why does the U.S. have to be so difficult by using all these non-universal measuring systems?!)

Anyways, as triathletes, families, friends, etc., head out to Kona for Ironman, knowing a little about what happens to the body in a hot, humid environment can be useful--or scary, possibly. (Plus, I know some of you wanted me to talk about it, and I have a test on Thermal Physiology next week so I could use this as a study opportunity.)

First, though, on the topic of heat: OC Tri is this weekend and word on the street is that Lake Mission Viejo is apparently 85ºF. That's way over USAT's 78ºF cutoff. And, inland OC has been freakin scorching lately, with no end to the heat wave in sight, so chances that the lake cools down? Um, like zero. Which means: NO WETSUITS on Sunday. I have mixed feelings about this. A wetsuit is like my security blanket, and I'm not ready to give it up. Just think of me like this guy:

But there's no way I'd pull myself out of contention for awards/rankings (the consequence for those who choose to wear a wetsuit still). Thinking positively, I am looking forward to not dying of claustrophobic overheating in my wetsuit and to having a faster T1 time.

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Heat & Exercise
Now to that nerdy exercise science stuff. We all know that it sucks to exercise in the heat and humidity. But why? Physiologically what's going on in the body that makes exercise in heat so difficult and detrimental to performance, etc? Anyone, anyone? (fyi: I love this stuff, so I might go overboard. Stop reading now if you have a short attention span or just don't care about phys.)

The following are acute responses to heat. After acclimatization (~2 wks) the body adapts to better handle heat stress; more on that at the end. Repeated training in SoCal's heat waves before Kona is obviously a good thing, then.

1) Humidity Hinders Cooling
First the humidity factor. The body cools itself by sweating, but sweating itself doesn't cool you--it's the evaporation of sweat that's key to cooling. The problem with humidity is that the more humid it is the more saturated the air is and the harder it becomes to evaporate sweat. (Relative humidity is the amount of water in the air compared to the theoretical maximum amount of water in the air.) So, you don't technically sweat more in humidity, it's that evaporation doesn't occur as well so the sweat stays on your skin, which makes it feel like you're sweating more, and, worst of all, prevents your body from successfully cooling down.

2) Blood Flow Changes
In heat, blood vessels vasodilate allowing more blood flow to the skin in order to dissipate heat (sweat, which is blood plasma). The problems are blood also needs to go to working muscles, the heart, etc, and as blood flows to skin and is sweat out you're losing blood volume. So less blood to the muscles that need it, less blood back to the heart, hurting your cardiovascular system. No bueno. This one reason why hydration is so essential to replace sweat loss.

3) Cardiac Output Suffers
Cardiac Output (Q) is the product of Heart Rate x Stroke Volume. SV is the amount of blood pumped out of the heart per beat (higher SV = good). But in heat, there's less venous return (due to increase in skin blood flow), which means SV decreases. To compensate, HR increases. So although Q is unchanged at submaximal intensities, a higher HR and lower SV isn't exactly a good thing.

It gets worse. At max, intensities, Q decreases because HRmax decreases. An Ironman athlete is hopefully not working at HRmax, but because HRmax is lower, this means at any exercise intensity you're working at a higher % of your HRmax than in a thermoneutral climate. Ouch.

4) VO2max Decreases
Changes in Q directly affects VO2, and in heat VO2max is reduced. In endurance sports, obviously the higher your VO2max, the better. (VO2max is maximum amount of oxygen that the body can take in and use for important stuff like working muscle!)

Now here's the thing: At submaximal exercise in heat, VO2 is the same, but (like HRmax) since VO2max decreases, at any exercise intensity you'll be working at a higher % of VO2max. Again, ouch.

(If you don't know your VO2max, you can use % of HRmax to estimate % of VO2max. Click here for a conversion chart.)

5) Increased Anaerobiosis & Metabolic Rate With the changes in Q & VO2max, the body's maximal aerobic (with oxygen) exercise intensities are limited. Meaning, you start relying on anaerobic (w/o oxygen) means of producing energy. We all know what it feels like to work in that anaerobic state: mega ouch! It results in more blood lactate accumulating, carb metabolism increases while lipolysis (fat utilization) decreases.

With anaerobic systems kicking in, total energy expenditure increases (i.e. you're burning more calories). Think of it this way: as temperature increases exercise costs more energy. And, for most people, this generally decreases time to exhaustion (i.e you poop out sooner than later).

Heat Acclimatization
For those who've adapted to intense heat--like in the 30º-40º C range for at least 2 weeks--there's good news:

1) You become a better sweater
Sweat sooner, sweat more and at a faster rate, less salt loss via sweat, better sweat distribution.

2) Your plasma volume increases
This means all that stuff about blood volume and skin blood flow affecting Cardiac Output and VO2max is alleviated. More plasma = more blood = good.

Alright, whew! Killer study session for me! I also have a Stats exam next week, would you like me to blog about that? Aw, c'mon... Z scores, standard deviations, probability of error... good stuff!

*Please note: I've tried to be as accurate as possible presenting this info, and even talked to my professor to make sure I have my facts straight. However, I'm only human and if I got something wrong, I apologize.

Lastly, for those of you who don't know Celsius conversions (like me!) here's a hint: Starting at the point where water freezes (0º C, 32º F) for every 10º increase in C there's an 18º increase in F..... 10º C is cold (50º F); 50ºC is hot (122ºF); and the body is happy at 37ºC.

Let me know if you have any questions please!!!

Coaching, Racing, Kona, More Racing, Marathon

2009-09-16T08:38:00.000-07:00

For those of you who asked me to give the "nerdy details" about the physiological effects of training in heat, I promise I'll put together a good post on that sometime soon, before Kona for sure. Also, as I learn cool, relevant things in my classes concerning nutrition and environmental exercise stuff, I'll be sure to share the knowledge.

However, the theme of my last post--I'M BUSY--continues.

I'm getting ready to leave for Inglewood/Santa Monica tomorrow night after class to attend a three-day USAT Coaching Clinic. Yup, part of "the plan" is to become a triathlon coach! The clinic is in Santa Monica, so why Inglewood? It's where I'm staying. I know what you're thinking: gheee-tto, but it's where my grandparents live and have lived for probably 60+ years. Their little neighborhood is adorable and a flashback to the '50s, not scary... just leave the parameters with caution. I'm looking forward to spending some quality time with Gma & Gpa (both in their 90s) as I don't get to see that often these days.

The following weekend is the Orange County International Triathlon, which should be a doozy! The bike course is part of my typical weekend ride, so no worries there. But I've been training on the run course lately, and OH MAN! The hills are by far the steepest/hardest I've seen in a race. Wait, take that back. I think the Xterra 15k Crysal Cove Trail Run is gnarlier. Regardless, I'm mostly excited that a legit triathlon that brings in fast racers takes place right in my backyard.

After that, it's down to San Diego the next weekend for the Mission Bay Triathlon Oct. 4 where I will become the ultimate spectathlete! So excited. If you don't know why, click here.

Then, after thaaatttt I leave Oct. 7 for none other but KONA! Yup, I'm going to the Ironman World Championships!!! I pulled some strings and not only am I going to watch and experience the ultimate Ironman scene for an entire week, I'm actually covering the race and have an official press pass. Thanks to my friend, Roman Mica of EverymanTri.com, where I have a few bylines, I was lucky enough to get this opportunity to combine my journalism skillzzzz with my triathlon passion. Stoked!

So after all that hoopla, it'll be mid-October. By that time, my life will be something like this: Midterms, Clearwater, school projects, Clearwater, CSCS, Clearwater, thesis brainstorming, Clearwater.

Then when all is said and done triathlon-wise this season... drum roll... I'm going to start training for a marathon! I have not been able to get my running to the level I want at this year at all, so I think taking some time to focus on that skill will help going into the 2010 tri season. (I'll still swim a lot too, and just lay off the bike for a bit.)

I'm planning to run the Surf City Marathon in HB Feb. 7. Honestly, I didn't think I'd ever do a marathon unless it followed a 2.4 mi swim and 112 mi bike. But I'm looking forward it!

That's it from me! Back to work.

Busy Buzzee Bisseyyy

2009-09-11T08:23:00.001-07:00

Do you ever say a word over and over and it starts to not sound like a real word? Just had to throw that out there ;-)

First off: I have to give a shout out to Andy Bailey, who I train at Sport Performance Insititute. Andy is a below-the-knee amputee and wears a prothetic leg (See his story here). You may recognize him from CAF. Well, Andy's a rockstar: This weekend he's doing the swim portion of the Malibu Triathlon as part of a relay team! I'm so excited for him. He's been working super hard and is very fit... I have no doubt he'll do great. Plus, he'll have his loving wife, Jeri, right there cheering him on. She's by far the most supportive spouse I've ever met. Words cannot express how devoted she is to her husband. I'm lucky to know both of them.

Now for a little on my status as of late.

Time off from training certainly did help--physically and mentally--although it was not easy to be virtually sedentary for four days; a light ride around town just doesn't cut it. As of day 3 of no training I was super antsy to get in a real workout but I resisted the urge. Finally Monday came and I got back to it; I decided to ease into things (with much hesitation as the SD Palomar group ride was tempting) and stick to a swim and t-run. I think that was a good call because this week is continuing to kick my ars with the workouts on tap and all my non-training responsibilities at school and work.

One thing I am thoroughly enjoying (despite how hard it is to get my butt out of bed to do so) is riding the Felt to swim instead of driving the 8 miles. It's a trip to be on my bike in pitch dark decked out in flashing lights with a backpack 'o swim gear and not having to deal with cars on the road; not to mention it's a great warmup for the inevitably hard swim that awaits me. Although, I think my coach now considers me officially crazy. If he only knew that after swim I voluntarily take "the long way home" so I get in at least 20 miles of riding. Ha.

The kicker in all this is that from my house to swim it's a VERY hilly ride, and even more hilly on my long way home. I have to be honest, though, when it starts getting reaaaally cold and/or rainy, and after Clearwater/before CA 70.3 training starts, I don't know if this routine will continue. Still, it's nice to have a solid workout done with by 8 a.m.

Besides training, I feel like there's a million other things going on and my schedule is packed down to the minute, jumping from one thing to the next. But that's totally OK, I thrive of having a mega to-do list, especially when I'm enjoying it all. Grad school has quickly worked its way up to the top of my list of priorities and I couldn't be more thrilled. My classes rock: Sports Nutrition, Environmental Exercise Physiology and Stats for Kinesiology, and it's refreshing to make friends with college students who are like me... we talk about our favorite bars to snack on rather than bars to drink in.

Last night in EnvironExerPhys the lecture was on "acute responses to heat during exercise." Three hours never flew by so quickly. Loved it. Obviously, a super relevant topic for those heading into Kona, or any hot race for that matter, and I must say it's amazing to know the science of what heat does to us physiologically during endurance activities. I could write a whole blog on what I learned, but I'll spare you the nerdy details.

Other than that, life's great and I got some fun fun stuff coming up! More to come soon.

K, gotta go. Time to swim.

Ok, Ok, I Get it!

2009-09-04T07:59:00.000-07:00

I started this blog planning to talk about my new-found love of bike commuting to the two colleges I attend. Saving money in no parking permits & less gas by biking instead? Yes please. For the first time this week, I left my house at the dark hour of 5 a.m. to ride to morning swim. It's so rad to pull up on your bike to this: And after a good beating in the pool, take "the long way home" like this: On roads that are clearly indicating a change in the season: ...And by 8 a.m. be all done with 3,000+ yds in the pool and 25 miles on the road. But that whole story will just have to wait because I have a more important issue going on that can no longer be ignored.

Plain and simple: I'm overtrained. Not only am I realizing this on my own, but I've had a couple people close to me, whose opinions I trust a ton, confirm this, including my biggest mentor at SPI. Ever since SB Long Course, it's becoming more clear that my everyday performance is falling flat and not meeting the standards for the amount of work I've put in. And it's by far the most frustrating thing ever.

I think I've continually kept going hard out of this "fear" that I need to get better. As a result, the rest/recovery part of the equation has suffered severely, and I keep digging myself deeper into this hole. As a kinesiology master's student, I should be ashamed. This is like exercise science 101 stuff. I mean, I wouldn't prescribe someone else what I've been doing to myself, especially given the recent symptoms... And I'm no exception to science!

But it's true what they say: It's harder to get an athlete to do nothing than to go out and give it her all for hours every day, every week. Add in hearing about the "epic training sessions" of my endurance-sport acquaintances; well, I want to be right there doing the same!

But I have to play my own game and not worry about others. All signs indicate that I need to slow down a bit and take a break, even with two more BIG races on the horizon.

So that's what I'm doing: resting. I have nothing to lose at this point. As of yesterday, I'm taking a full four days off, with maybe a bit of easy spinning around town and pool splashing thrown in. I'll see where that gets me, and then I may or may not embark the a Labor Day Palomar ride on Monday--I'm stoked just to have been invited by the SD peeps planning it, so I don't think I can stay away haha. From there, I have a new training plan made just for me to test out, compliments of a good friend who I can bug 24/7 with questions and concerns. Super excited for that.

In the meantime, I'm heading to San Diego to let loose a little with my favorite girls who I mentioned a few posts ago. We're going out in downtown tonight, and I told them I have NO IDEA what to wear... the only new clothes I've bought in the last year are for working out. They couldn't comprehend that. So, if you see some repeat outfits in some of the old pictures I posted vs. new ones that I'll soon put up, don't judge me, ok? You know where my priorities are.

No doubt, I'm going to miss being in this position over the weekend:

But I'm also looking forward to a good time in America's Finest City:

Awesome Change of Plans

2009-08-26T17:46:00.000-07:00

I've done 12 races since last November--that's a bunch for me!--and every one has given me an experience that I wouldn't trade for anything. The one thing I haven't done a lot of lately is sit back, relax and play sherpa. I love to be in the game, not on the sidelines. But a special opportunity has come my way, and I couldn't been happier to say that I'm backing out of the Mission Bay Sprint. I'm doing it to give my slot to a cool little dude named Calvin. It will be his first triathlon.

Hi Calvin!

I met Calvin, 10, the night before Vineman 70.3. My dad works with his mom, and our families went out to dinner for my pre-race meal. Turns out Calvin's dad, Mike, was a major STUD triathlete back in the day and is still a stud in the endurance world. I took some pictures off his Facebook from his triathlon "glory days" to prove my point:

To this day, he's still killing it out there (you wouldn't believe some of this guy's stories!)...

Mike, who's worked at Marin Bikes for years, is now lucky enough to have a son who he can bring along for early-morning runs, bike rides and swims. And it sounds like Calvin got the good genes for endurance sports--the day I met him he had just placed 2nd in his first-ever bike race. I hear he's also quite the runner, giving the older guys a run for their money. Already, Calvin's done some running races with his dad...

And he rocks on the bike just like Dad...

Well, after meeting Mike that night before Vineman, he apparently got the urge to do a triathlon again (hope I'm responsible for that!), but this time with the twist of having Calvin do one right alongside him! And you know how I feel about a family of triathletes--nothin' better! We talked, and Mission Bay seemed like the perfect opportunity.

Unfortunately, they waited a little too long to sign up and it sold out. Bummer.

Then I got to thinking... I don't need to do the race; I'd be a million times happier and satisfied watching someone enjoying the thrill of a triathlon for the first time. It was a no-brainer: I offered my spot to Calvin. That way, at least Mike could see his stud-in-training son do his first tri on a great course. At first they were hesitant to accept because they know how much I love to race, but I convinced them that I didn't want it any other way. Thankfully, Koz Enterprises allows you to transfer bib numbers and Calvin's just old enough by their rules to participate. Sweet!

The only problem: We still didn't have a spot for Mike. The search was on. And wouldn't you know--I found a spot from my SD girl, Giselle.

Giselle and I worked together at The Daily Aztec at SDSU and have since stayed in touch. She's been bitten by the endurance bug--I'm thinking her killer job at Active.com helped with that--but unfortunately a calf over-use injury is preventing her from racing at Mission Bay. She's wisely backing out of what would have been her first triathlon to get better enough to run in her second marathon in Las Vegas this December. Let's just say Giselle is the angel in this equation. When she gave me the good news that we could have her spot, I immediately contacted Mike and he was stoked to say the least.

So now the father-son duo are busy training their hearts out for the big day October 4. Here they are along with wife/mom Robyn, who's as sweet as they come:

As for me, I don't know if I've ever been more excited for a race! Seriously. I get to be the cheerleader/sherpa/photographer for my dad (his first triathlon ever), my mom, Mike, Calvin, as well as our good family friends, Larry, who recently won his battle with throat cancer and is celebrating by doing his first triathlon, and Larry's sons, Scott and Keith, who are in their 20s and new to triathlon too.

Larry's story deserves its own blog post, partly because of his amazing cancer survival story and partly because he and my dad are best friends from their college days and are currently training together for MB, making for some great (funny) stories.

SB Long Course Report: Ouch

2009-08-23T15:40:00.000-07:00

It was bound to happen at some point this season: A race to truly kick my @$$ and leave me in tears. Santa Barbara Long Course did just that. Although it was a great race venue and I got through it without completely blowing up--even podiumed in my age group and got within my predicted goal time--the race was definitely a "low" point for me this season.

But I'm so glad I had this experience. It taught me a lot about myself, racing, preparing for races and the power of mind over matter. It's the bad race days that make the good ones that much better, and I'm thankful for everything that SB did for me as a triathlete.

I think my problems mainly stemmed from not tapering enough given the big volume I've been putting in. I had the hardest three weeks of training that I've ever done then only sort of tapered for five days... that simply wasn't enough for me. A couple other issues I was battling during the week had me out of sorts, but nevermind that. I buried all the baggage as best as I could--I refuse to be "that person" with an excuse. Unfortunately, you can only pretend so much, and physically I was beat up... amongst other things. In short: My mojo didn't show up for the weekend.

But it definitely wasn't all bad. I was in good company (and fast racers) so that made everything more enjoyable, especially the spectacular meals we shared together. Food was a big part of the weekend, and WOW I ate well--thanks Sean, Trish & Ian. Eating with triathlete friends is always a blast.

Eagerly awaiting our pre-race dinner at Natural Cafe:

An example of the great food... Post-race Mexi meal y Corona con lima. Muy bien.

The Race

We headed to SB at late Friday afternoon from LA, just in the thick of traffic. We weren't trying to torture ourselves, but work duties call (for some, not me) so we had to make due. It wasn't so bad--made packet pickup in time, had a great dinner on State Street and were in bed at a decent hour.

Before I knew it, the 4 o'clock hour arrived and given that we had an elite-division triathlete in our group, we had to get out there early... my wave, on the other hand, was the last of the day. Crap. I hate still racing when I know everyone else I'm with is done.

I ran into Tatiana before the race, we shared the same bitterness toward our last-wave luck, and then we headed out for a warmup swim... if you can call it that. Glad she was with me because I wasn't the only one who thought the ocean felt abnormally freakin cold. Ice cream headache style! We took a little beach run after to stay warm. Plus, the weather was already very gloomy, overcast and on the verge of rain.

THE Swim

Finally, Wave 10 went off and from the get-go I knew this day was going to be a battle--with myself. As always, it took me a while to find my groove in the swim, and once I did, I struggled to hold a straight line. Then each calf conveniently cramped up about 3/4 way through (cold water symptom?). My only saving grace (aka excuse) to my ridiculous time was that we apparently swam the majority of the mile going against the current. Regardless of the circumstances, however, the reality is: I need to work harder on my swim. Period.

THE Bike

Right away my legs were not responding to the speed I wanted. The course was very hilly, with many long climbs (which means fast downhills too), and it's constantly changing directions and swerving with bumpy roads so you have to be cautious. It was an extremely beautiful ride though, and anything but boring. By far the high point of the race. The scenery and challenging route served to help distract me from the burn in my legs. Plus, being in the last wave meant that the course was nearly empty by then. Pretty cool. Another curve ball: Due to a last-minute Aerodrink purchase, I was sans-Cateye so didn't know mileage or speed at all--God forbid! That did teach me me a good lesson in not relying on the numbers but rather "the feel." I managed to average over 19 mph overall for 34 miles, and I'm ok with that, but I'm not ok with the fact that I felt like death through it all.

THE Run

10 miles to go in the Zoots. By this point I was shooting for sub-8 min miles, and thankfully I did that. But within the first 5k, all I wanted to do was sit down, curl up in a ball and cry. It was raining by then and windy, but not terribly cold. Still, I was on the verge of a breakdown. The out-and-back course goes from some coastal flat to pretty much all uphill out then all downhill and back to flat. I think my recent long training runs & 70.3 races are the only reason I got through this without succumbing to the "ouch" factor... I was mentally prepared for 10 miles and just took it one at a time, I even mustered up a sprint finish. Avg'd abt a 7:45 pace overall.

My total time was 3:42:02, putting me 2nd in my AG to the speedy 1st-place Tatiana (I hope to see her go pro, she's got it.) And, I would have been 8th 25-29... yea I'm looking at that. My goal was to finish in 3:30 to 3:59, so mission accomplished.

Post-Race

Crossing the finish line, Ian's dad, Larry, was right there waiting--I cannot even describe how happy I was to see a familiar face, it literally kept me from falling apart right there in the crowd.

After some food and chatting, I went over to my transition alone, sat down and the tears just came. I had a good 5-10 minute cry. My body was just drained. Not in a bonk, nutritionally-deprived way, but in a "every ounce of me begged to stop for nearly 4 hours but I said go hard" way. It was a mental/physical battle that I'm glad I won, but it had clearly gotten to me emotionally. I needed that cry to let out some of that @#%$* I was feeling. It worked. Post-sob fest, I got my act together, hid any signs of tears and found my friends for awards.

Speaking of awards, once again, I was the only 20-24er to show up. Ahhh!

Soon after, we packed up to go eat and then hit the road back LA. Meanwhile, the rain was coming down... random!

The rest of the weekend was a combo of more great food (I pretty much over-indulged), good people, a few drinks, an easy Sunday morning spin in Manhattan Beach with to-die-for pumpkin pancakes after and a little couch time before heading home. All the while, my mind was caught up in thoughts of my race performance, why I hurt, how to taper better, blah blah. I do not let myself off the hook easily. This race was a wake-up call, and I won't forget it.

Meanwhile, I'm gearing up for the start of a new semester: Grad school starts Monday! Life, as I know it, is going to be even more hectic. As if I weren't already a hermit thanks to triathlon, my social life is about to get a lot more NOT interesting. But I don't mind. It's all part of the plan.

And there are only two more big races on my agenda for the year. Ahhhhh

Battle of the Devil & Angel

2009-08-19T12:41:00.000-07:00

So, sometime in July I was seriously considering making August a super easy month to not burn out on training/racing. But at the same time I was stoked on the idea of training hard to get better for Clearwater and also wanted to keep my streak going of averaging one or more races per month in 2009. The only Aug race that appealed to me was Santa Barbara, but that'd still require all the travel, etc., so I was on the fence.

Meanwhile, the devil on one shoulder said to kick back and take some time off--head to San Diego not to train but to stay with my best friends from my SDSU days and enjoy that scene for a while (they live in PB, I know I know). Well, no offense to my college friends--I love them to death--but thankfully my angel on the other shoulder was more convincing and I decided to push hard with training in August and go forth with doing the SB Long Course. Great decision! It also helped that a group of friends were doing SB, so I could team up with them for the weekend, definitely a no-brainer!

So, yet again, I'm heading out of town tomorrow for what should be a memorable race & weekend. The SB Long Course doesn't fit into a traditional triathlon distance--it's a 1-mile swim, 34-mile bike and 10-mile run--practically a half-Ironman. Hopefully I tapered enough because my legs were still screaming on my bike ride this morning. ugh.

And, to not completely blow off my college friends this year (yea, I've been pretty MIA with them), I'll be heading down to SD for my best friend/old roomie Courtney's birthday on Sept. 4. Looks like I have some other fun activities on tap just a couple days after that on Labor Day(Palomar ride?!) so I'll leave the drinking to Court and the crew. Maybe for the first time I'll be DD for the girls because I sure wasn't ever DD back in the day!

I was looking for a few pictures to give you guys a glimpse of the old me with my two favorite SDSU partners in crime... I came across so many old, funny and crazy memories but I decided to keep it PG:

Courtney & me in Pacific Beach on some holiday weekend...

Me, Goldie and Courtney getting ready for a night out at, I'm assuming, at our old apartment.

Jen, Court, Goldie and me riding the mechanical bull in TJ. Wow. This is an old one. And that was quite a night.

And growing up... Court, me and Goldie sometime last year, more civilized. Sort of.

Venti Americano Please!

2009-08-16T20:31:00.000-07:00

Those lovely caffeine-rich drinks a la Starbucks got me through the busy weekend. Unlike my last adventure up at Ian's, where when the workout ended so did my need to be anything but a food-consuming-couch-potato, this weekend had non-training social stuff and chores on the agenda in addition to big mileage. And that's pretty much how life is going to be from here on out--busy. I start school next Monday (already?!) and my calendar seems to be fattening up heading into 2010. These guys can make life that much easier:
This weekend was the last hurrah of one of my biggest 3-week training blocks to date. I've recovered and responded well to the increased loads, but I was still ready to get the weekend done with and start tapering for the Santa Barbara Long Course Triathlon this Saturday. (For once, Mom and Dad won't be making the journey to this race; I have both of them busy training for their upcoming triathlons, so I dare not tear them away from that. I'll be heading up to SB with friends instead, which should be a blast.)

And while I'm in SB, fav training partner Sara is going to Alabama to compete in the USAT Age Group Nationals! Lately, a lot of my days begin like the pic below: Sara & I looking fresh before we get to work (this day we did a 5k run - 30k bike - 5k run, with crazy intervals on the bike led by gnarly dudes, in San Onofre/Pendleton area):

Sara joined me for a portion of my weekend training--the big ol' run part. I can't speak for her, but I think halfway through our 10-miler on Saturday the freshness was fading. Coming off a 30+ mile Santiago Canyon ride that morning, we ran fairly well (about a 7:45 avg), but I think it's because we just wanted to be done asap!

Later that evening, with one mega nap squeezed in, I switched into "going out" mode, got my caffeine fix and met up with Brynn & company for her birthday dinner in Huntington Beach. The night was well worth losing some precious sleep hours; I even randomly ran into some familiar faces, including Christine, who I had a sprint-to-the-finish battle with (which I won) back at the Newport Sprint in April. Small world! Couple pics from the night:

As expected, it was hard to wake up to Sunday's alarm, but getting an early start was necessary in order not to be incredibly late to the afternoon Baby Shower I was invited to. I needed a change of scenery from LF, so I parked in San Juan Capistrano and rode south through Camp Pendleton and back for a total of 65+ miles. Surprisingly, my legs felt good and I was done with the whole outing in 3 1/2 hours, with breaks.

Then, despite the miles taking their toll--and my parents telling my how tired my eyes looked--I put on my best girly face to prep for all the "ohh-ing & ahh-ing" and estrogen overload and headed to my good friend Holly's baby shower. Holly was often my DD back in the day, and now she's probably the proudest mom-to-be around; she's the one on the left:

Now, I love my group of girlfriends who were at the shower, but when it comes to babies and being married (or wanting those things)--which summarizes most of their lives--I just feel like an alien around them. I have zero desire to have kids anytime soon, and tying the knot isn't exactly a high priority either. Needless to say, I get confused looks when I say that I'd rather do Ironmans for the next X amount of years rather than change diapers. And even after (or if) I finally get to those diaper days, you can bet I'll still race as long as this body allows it.

Still, it's always precious to meet a new little dude, especially when he came from one of my former party partners--my how we've changed! This is Noah, who's 3 weeks old:

Noah's parents, Marcai and Randy, live close to Santa Barbara, and for a second they wanted to come to my race Saturday, but the idea of bringing a newborn? Not gonna to happen. See, just another reason why kids should not be on my to-do list... I'll just stick to admiring them from afar. I have too much I want to accomplish first.

Broken Record

2009-08-09T19:58:00.000-07:00

I know I keep repeating the same thing, but yet again, it was another stellar weekend. Definitely one that I won't soon forget--escaping the OC to be part of a houseful of triathletes with a solid agenda: train, eat, lay around, sleep, repeat. I often hear about such weekends that go on down in San Diego at Charisa's, so I was stoked to get in on one for the first time, except this weekend we were up in the South Bay area at Ian's Casa. Of course, I didn't actually train with the guys--are you kidding me--keep up with Ian and Brian Scott, both Kona bound, and Kevin, who's doing IM Canada soon? Ha. But I planned my workouts to fit in with their schedule, so I got some quality time with them during the most vital moments of the weekend--eating and laying around all compressioned up.

A common sight at Casa de Mikelson: I got into town Friday to kick off the weekend with a long swim. We went to a very luxurious, spa-resort-like pool in the beautiful city of Hawthorne... well, not exactly... but there was a pool with three lanes for lap swimming open for two hours, which was good enough for us. It was a great way to get the big weekend rolling, and once the group was all settled in Friday night with enough gear to start our own triathlon store, it was off to bed.

On the schedule for Saturday: morning bike, break, then afternoon long run. After Ian, Brian and Kevin headed out for their 5-hr ride, I fueled up (with Delicious Strawberry oatmeal) and was just about to go when my front tire decided to flat. I took that as an omen to change my back tire completely, which was super old and worn down, not wanting to risk any problems while out in a new area all alone. So I changed everything--not to brag, but I did so flawlessly in PR time--and took off. I owe you some tubes, Ian!

The PV Loop was a gorgeous and fun ride with some good climbs. I was planning to ride for a couple hours, factoring in the potential of getting lost or stopping to enjoy the views--I didn't get lost, but there definitely was some breathtaking sights to stop and take in:

I kept riding even after completing one loop, and about 30+ miles later, I felt like I had lots more left in my legs, but knew that a gnarly run and huge ride awaited me, so I cut myself off and went back to Ian's to shower, eat lunch and get the relaxation started before the dudes got back.

I can't even express how entertaining it was for me to watch the guys come in from their rides and run over the weekend. They were filthy, smelly, sweaty and food-and-beverage-consumption machines, expressing a combination of exercise highs and exhaustion always with huge smiles and lots to talk about, but I also caught the occasional stare of delirium. It was classic.

Saturday afternoon, after getting in some quality couch time, we all headed down to the beach for the long run. I, B & K were running for 2:15; I was running for 1:30. I started off with them, and as soon as their pace got into the sub-7 range I backed off knowing I could never hold that pace for my planned 11-ish miles, let alone 4 miles.

From Redonodo to Manhattan, it was a zoo of drunken partiers, beach cruisers and the AVP Volleyball Tourney mayhem... Then us: Runners geeked out in tri attire head to toe (glad I'm not the only one who wears two watches, Brian!) weaving through the traffic.

I took a breather at my 5.5-mile turnaround at Manhattan Pier, and made it back in the planned 1:30, although the last few miles were pure torture. I recently made a switch to Zoot running shoes, which I totally love, but unfortunately the back tab thing rubbed my Achilles/heel area raw, leaving me all bloody and cringing in pain. I had no way of covering it (socks were too short) so I just endured the pain rather than giving up and walking.

I like that I'm only training for half-Ironman with a group of IM-training freaks because I got to enjoy a lot more of these types of moments while waiting for the boys (they ran 19+ miles!):

Saturday night was simply awesome. We cooked something like 7 pounds of chicken, 3 pounds of salmon, several Trader Joe's pizzas, corn on the cob, fruit, etc... and it all was effortlessly consumed. We had two others joined in on the fun, Ryan and Brynn, and we all sat around too late talking, eating and enjoying the company. Bed at 11 p.m. was way too late, but it was worth it hanging out with a fun group like this:

Sunday came to early, but one by one everyone geared up for the big day ahead. Boys: 7-hour ride. Girls: 70 miles (time? who knew). This was Brynn's first ride of that volume, and since we were both in unfamiliar territory it was just about getting it done.

We were originally going to just ride north for an out-and-back, a mini version of the boys who made it up to freakin Oxnard, but we weren't liking that route and turned around just before Venice to go do the PV Loop. I felt surprisingly great the whole ride, pushed hard when the terrain allowed and was loving the fact that 70 miles isn't such a daunting task for me anymore, even on top of a hard training week leading up to it. Yea, I cursed any hill we came across toward the end, but I didn't feel completely wiped out. Plus, it was great having a partner along, too--nothing like some good girl talk when you're out on the road for hours. I wonder if boys talk about similar things as the girls? Hmmmm.

The boys rolled in with after riding nearly 140 miles, all raccoon-eyed and covered in LA nastiness. Those guys truly inspiried me this weekend--all their hard effort and still having enough left in the tank to be cheery and smiling and not just crawl into bed and go into a coma. Not to mention, they all said without question they'd be working out Monday too.

Being around these high-mileage triathletes clearly had a good effect on me too: This was the first weekend I've ever ridden 100+ miles and ran more than 10 miles within two days. And I felt pretty darn good through it all. Slowly but surely, making progress and enjoying the ride...

Whatta Weekend!!!

2009-08-02T08:28:00.000-07:00

Since I've been living on my own with house-sitting gigs, I've noticed two things: 1) I spend a lot of money on food--and it's not like I'm buying filet mignon and lobster every day, I'm pretty price conscious; and 2) I travel with a huge assortment of (necessary) crap--foam roller, massage stick, supplements, multiple bikes, a gagillion workout outfits, etc. But I guess that's really no shocker: A triathlete who eats a lot and has a lot of stuff. Big deal. Onto the good stuff...

I had an EPIC weekend of training, with the pre-epicness starting Friday when I decided that my only exercise would be delivering newspapers on my single-speed in Capo Beach/Dana Point. I still wasn't feeling 100% from all the recent racing and wanted to charge hard Sat & Sun, so the hour-plus delivery job was just enough. Sounds crazy, but I had a blast doing it! Maybe because this was my view:

Can you believe that water? Insane! That little taste of outdoor bliss got me amped for the weekend of training I had planned with Sara.

And after a hearty Friday-night dinner with a fellow triathlete who also had a hefty weekend of training ahead (his made mine look weak), Saturday finally came and the real epicness began. It started with me trying to kill myself--yes, I OD'd on salt tablets thinking they were my L-Glutamine & BCAA pills. Too many little baggies with white pills lying around! I had at least double the recommended dosage of salt on top of a few Endurolytes. Oopps! I was a little shaken up, but thankfully, I ended up being totally fine the whole day--my sweat seemed extra salty though. I'm curious: What happens if you OD on salt? I'm still too afraid to Google and find out.

By the time Sara showed up at 8, I just wanted to get out and go. The plan was to ride south through Camp Pendleton and eventually turn around whenever we hit 35 miles, which ended being in South Carlsbad. The ride was simply awesome. Sara and I are like long-lost best friends. It's weird how we just instantly clicked on every level--athletic ability, personality, lifestyle, etc. We were pushing each other hard the whole ride. From San Onofre through Pendleton, we met up with another group of guys Sara knew that had us hammering to keep up. Then minus the guys, we continued into O-side and Carlsbad on our own. We pit-stopped at the campgrounds then headed back north, stopping again to refuel at 7-Eleven. Then it was on. We laid down the hammer and it got silent. No words just work. The toughest part was the final stretch on Old El Camino Real to home. The whole time I was thinking IMCA 70.3 next March--yup, I signed up for round 2! Then, unfortunately (or fortunately) the house I'm living at is on a cliff, so at mile 70, we were greeted by this (burn!!):

We got in 71 miles with a few pit stops in roughly 4 hours. We were both stoked to get off the damn bikes at that point. Despite the temptation to call it a day, we threw on our running shoes and I took us on a route along PCH that would force us to get in 4+ miles, no way to cut it short and go home. Felt like the longest 30 minutes ever.

After the run we were spent but on Cloud-9 with such a quality bike/run. We made some killer tacos at my place and sat around for a bit but not too long because there was still one thing on the agenda--an ocean swim!

So we headed to Lost Winds in San Clemente to get wet...bikinis only, no wetsuits necessary. Two things: 1) I didn't think I had it in me to do more physical activity, 2) I rarely do ocean swims except in racing, so kinda freaky. But the water was so inviting and we charged. Turned out to be one of the best swims I've ever had. Not necessarily in speed or anything like that, but just the refreshing crystal-clear water, my confidence in the ocean and how good it felt on our tired muscles = amazing!

After that we just laid on the beach loving life with 5 hours of hard training done.

Saturday night was a blur, I was delirious and a bottomless pit of hunger. I tried to take a bath in the jet spa, but the bubble bath I dumped in super-activated with the jets on and I drown in bubbles nearly instantly, as you can see (and it even got worse!):

So then I curled up on the couch with more food and TV.

That didn't last long. Sleep came early. Sunday was another big day, but unfortunately, I'd be going solo.

The morning came too soon, I robotically fueled up with power oatmeal & coffee and headed out early before changing my mind and doing jack sh*t instead. The plan: 20-mile bike followed by a 10-or-more-mile run (depending on the legs)--with the bike being just a warm-up and the run being the real focus of the day.

The first few miles on the bike I questioned my ability to execute my plan but I kept pedaling and it became easier, in a painful sort of way. (The weird picture to the right was all I got in mid-workout this weekend--I totally sucked in the camera department both days!) While riding, I could tell I was still needing calories like crazy from Saturday because I had two Gels just on that short ride! I even ate a yogurt and fruit in transition before heading out on my run along the coast.

For the run, I chose a relatively flat course along the beach. (Clearwater on the brain.) I ran until the Beach Trail ended, then headed back but I approached my turn home way short of 10 miles, so I sucked it up and tacked on another 5k-ish, which put me at 11.5 miles for the day, and about an hour and half of running total. Turns out that last 5k was my fastest, too, all of it sub-7:30.

DONE!

Immediately back at home, I grabbed the entire ice maker from the freezer, dumped it in the bath tub, turned on the cold water and just sat in there truly loving it. It was my first real ice bath and it's all I craved the last half of the run. The rest of the day consisted of a lot of lying around, eating nonstop and working on fixing my hideous tan lines at the beach. Ian stopped by on his way home from his insane training weekend down in San Diego, so we shared stories. Triathlon is so much more fun when you have people to share the craziness with because the general population just doesn't understand... and it's not even fun trying to explain anymore. I just get weird looks.

Maybe it's because I've been by the beach, but training has never been so delightful. Even when it hurts and I want to stop I'm still happy to be out there. I never want to leave this place. I mean, after a killer workout, this is what awaits me less than a mile away:

Since Vineman, Life is Good

2009-07-28T19:09:00.001-07:00

After I did Calif 70.3 I got this post-race low, you might call it the equivalent of a coke head coming down from a major high. Nice analogy, I know. Point is, I didn't get that with Vineman because life has been nonstop since I crossed the finish line, and I love it! As soon as I got home I dove straight into work, house-sitting and enjoying life in San Clemente. I swear, why did my parents choose to live in Lake Forest and not a beach town? Not cool. As soon as I'm done getting my master's and can support myself, a beach it is!

Pic I took from my first post-Vman run along the SC Beach Trail last week:

Another reason I didn't have post-race blues is that I had another race to look forward to right away--Pac Coast Sprint at Crystal Cove! (Although, come to think of it, I did the Newport Sprint just 2 weeks after IMCA, but whatever.)

In the case that disaster were to occur at Pac Coast I secretly was very happy to have an excuse that my body was still wrecked from Vineman. All I had to say was "half-ironman, 1 week ago. what." But, it's in my nature to push hard and give every race my all so I wasn't about to half-ass anything.

I was especially looking forward to the swim. The surf was huge leading up to Sunday, and I thought it'd be fun to get in a little pounding session. Being an on-again-off-again surfer for about 12-13 years, big waves weren't going to scare me away--I've been thrashed around in the surf more times than I care to admit! But, as it turned out, the lifeguards felt our lives were in too much danger with the pounding shore break and crazy rip currents churning up the sea (gasp!), so they axed the swim about 30 min before the race. Bummer dude. (Jealous of you Solana folks!)

So duathlon it was. This upset a lot of people, as this race was the Sprint National Championships and the sole qualifier for the Sprint Worlds in Australia this Sept. Personally, I didn't really care, I knew I didn't want to go to Australia, and this wasn't an A race.

The new race game plan was to sprint up to transition from where the swim would have started--that turned out to be .75 miles according to el Garmin-o, with on hell of an uphill from the sand to T1. See the elevation difference here (I'm standing in transition):

Being the smart racer I am, I decided to lounge around, chat and not move a muscle before my wave went off instead of warming up. So as soon as I started, I was in a major oxygen deficit and hurting. Practically wheezing. Up the hill of death we go...

I got up to T1 in about 4 min, and headed out on the bike, which is a two-loop, hilly 12-mile course and lots of fun. I later heard there was tons a drafting going on, but thankfully I didn't get caught up in any of that hoopla. I prefer to do my own work. Once again, smart me: I forgot water or any nutrition, and I was pretty parched, but thankfully it was only a sprint. Still, just a gulp of liquid was on my mind the whole time.

Off the bike in 36 min and onto the run. Both my transition times were sub-1 min, so I was happy about that.

On the run, I felt better than I thought I would, plus I was in close competition with a lot of girls in my AG, as well as the 25-29ers. So I decided to push it hard and attempt to make some passes that I missed on the bike. Plan worked, and I passed and handful of girls by the end. The run takes you from PCH down down down to the sand (during which you pass the Beachcomber Restaurant, with insanely good smells coming from there--torture). After about a mile or so of sand running, you hit this MAJOR hill that a lot of people walk up. It's maybe a quarter-mile, steep as hell (steeper than the first hill that led us into T1), and I was running at a snail's pace giving it my all.

My 5k run ended up being just over 21 minutes, and I finished 3rd in my AG with a time of 1:03:xx. To be honest, I was surprised with my result. I didn't think I'd do that well. I mean, it wasn't a great performance, but it could have been worse considering the 70.3 soreness that still lingered.

Chillin post-race with Brynn and Chris who also did Vineman last weekend!

And hanging with my spectacular race sherpa of the day, Mr Ian Mikelson himself, who also did Vineman last weekend but wasn't gnarly enough to race again seven days later. Clearly, he was still suffering. It's OK Ian, we understand ;)
And then we get to awards. Don't you love it when no other winners in your AG show up and you're in 3rd place. How embarrassing!

I always love being done with a race, even if it's just a sprint. Work's over, time to relax. However, more working out was still on my horizon. Ian was going to hang around in the area for the afternoon and do his long run (well, I guess he's legit after all) and I had the genius idea to join him for a portion of it! Silly me! At least I was smart and chose to meet up for the last 30 min of his 1:40 run. We got back to Lake Forest and he set off in the heat of the day, and damn does LF get HOT. Even just the 30 min I ran with him left me drained.

Thankfully, that was all the working out on the agenda. Too hot! Next up was refueling. We kinda skipped a "real" lunch and headed straight to frozen yogurt instead. Self-serve, with lots of sampling, of course. I'm proud to report that I outdid Ian by getting not only a bigger-sized cup, but a lot more of the good stuff in it. I'm a sucker for frozen yogurt!

In other good news, I'm house-sitting yet again for a different coworker in Capistrano Beach for the next two weeks and the newspaper wants to keep me on board for longer (I'm turning what was supposed to be a two-week gig into a summer-long-if-not-longer gig), which is great because I love my coworkers, writing and, of course, making extra cash! Speaking of cash, I just spent a whole bunch on more races: Santa Barbara Long Course Aug. 22 and the 2010 Ironman 70.3 California.

And last but not least, Monday I felt like a proud parent: My sister, Karlee, was heading out for a bike ride to Irvine Lake and back (30 miles) and I decided to tag along and make it a recovery ride. It was only her second time ever riding that far, and she did great, even shaved off 10 minutes from her first attempt at that ride! She looked very comfortable in aero bars and is a strong rider, especially with climbing. I can't wait until she's ready to do a triathlon (but I promised not to pressure her to do one just yet).

That's it. Next priority for me is constructing a Clearwater training plan, while also preparing for the three races I have before that!

Vineman 70.3 Race Report: Going to Clearwater!

2009-07-20T21:09:00.000-07:00

Before I get into it, let me just say I'm savoring the 20-24 female age group. I know what's in store for me as of next season in 25-29 and beyond--believe me I'm terrified--so I'm enjoying the times spent on the podium now because either I improve by 1,000,000% come January, or I'm in store for a rude awakening.

But for now, I'll enjoy the present and fear the future later.

So Vineman 70.3. Here it goes...
Leading up to the race:
My mom and Iflew out of LAX Friday, and wouldn't you know--the freakin bathrooms at LAX broke. We had to use one of only TWO port-o-potties that were posted outside our terminal on the street of insane traffic. Really?

We got into town early, which was nice, but then realized we were stranded at the hotel (which, by the way was a great hotel with the nicest staff ever--I recommend it Vineman-ers). My dad, who was traveling all week for business, wouldn't be coming into town with the rental car until past midnight, so my mom and I worked our magic. We managed to get a $70-something rental car for a mere $17! Thanks Hertz guy at the airport!

Once we had wheels, we hit up the local Trader Joe's and Starbucks, then headed to Johnson's Beach in Guerneville (swim start), but I forgot directions. I have no innate navigational skills whatsoever, nor does my mom, so it took us a while to get there. Unlike dudes, I don't mind stopping at the local liquor store and asking the way. We finally made it to the beach, where I ran into Beth and James. Saturday I got in my last bike/run after picking up my bike from Tribike Transport. Legs felt good. I felt good.

We headed back to the Race Expo at Windsor HS, which was good foreshadowing of how race day weather would be: stifling hot. The whole afternoon was a sweat-fest. But it was still fun mingling with familiar faces, spending too much money on Vineman gear, setting up T2, etc.

Saturday night dinner was random but pretty cool. We met up with a business friend of my dad's and her family. Turns out the husband was an elite triathlete and endurance racer back in the day. We ate a sushi place--I love sushi, but had never eaten it pre-race so at first I decided to limit my raw fish intake. My chicken terriyaki wasn't that great, though, so I ended up stuffing my face with all the rolls and raw stuff available. And of course, I ordered my favorite: seaweed salad, yum! I prayed the wasabi, gooey green seaweed, raw fish, etc. wouldn't come back to haunt me Sunday morning.

In bed by 9:30 pm, asleep by 11-ish. As you can see, I get kinda hyper when I'm super tired or have racing on the brain...

RACE DAY
After a couple snooze hits on the alarm, we were up and at 'em at 4 a.m. Power-protein-oatmeal cooked, coffee brewed, car loaded and in Guerneville by 5 a.m. I am all about being early to rule out any potential stressful situations. Even if I have to stand around for an extra hour. In this case, I just stared at the pros, who were racked right by me, and munched on a Clif bar.
The beach was surreal race morning. It was probably in the 60s out, so steam was coming off the 74- to 76-degree water. (Warmest race swim I've ever done.) I was taking in all the energy and beauty, while feeling the typical pre-race anxiety/anticipation/excitement/confidence/uncertainty.
Honestly, I didn't know what to expect performance-wise. I had calculated two finish times--my "slow" and "fast" time. There was a 30-min gap between them. Ha! My main goal was to beat my 5:40 at Oceanside. Good news: I beat Oceanside, and fell within the 30 minutes.

SWIM (~:35:30 min)
Once again, I didn't get in a true warm-up swim. So the first several minutes were spent trying breathe, rather than gasp for air, and find my pace. I was a little frantic. Then, of all things, my goggles got kicked off. They were down around my neck! Not cool for an already slow swimmer. Got them on and was OK but still didn't find my rhythm until maybe a 1/4 into it. I tried to concentrate on having a powerful stroke but not waste energy, as I'm not the most efficient swimmer. At the turn around, it got really shallow. Like maybe a foot deep. I was scraping sand and rocks for quite a while--I need to work on my dolphin kick. I also went off course a couple times too because I didn't really study where the curves in the swim were. I probably swam at least 1.4 miles. What a rookie. Still, I went about 4 minutes faster than Oceanside.

T1
The plan was to throw my wetsuit and goggles at mom & dad instead of stuffing it in the T-bag. Plan worked. My mom said she was amazed at how fast I got off the wetsuit. I think my transitions have the potential to be my strongest legs of the race! I think this one was about 2.5 minutes. (Our swim and T1 times are lumped together on the splits)

BIKE (2:47:00)
This was the highlight of the race, despite witnessing some spine-chilling chaos. Right away there are lots of rolling hills on some bumpy highway, which meant bottles were flying off bikes like no other, and I had to focus on dodging them. Then at mile 6, the accident happened.

Apparently, a tree fell down and took out like three guys, on of which suffered some pretty bad injuries. I got there soon after it happened (I was in a early wave) so I avoided having to stop for 10 min. like others did once firetrucks arrived. I still had to get off my bike and crawl under the tree, though, while looking at a guy all bloody and hearing, "Don't worry, it's going to be ok, help is on the way." So scary!!!

After refocusing on the task at hand--biking--I noticed a girl on a decked-out bike with a rad purple racesuit on, who looked around my age. I had to catch her. Once I finally did, ironically, I recognized her! Her name is Sara Davis and she lives in San Clemente. When I worked for the SC Times full time, we did an article on her because she was winning a lot of triathlons, and I remember being slightly envious/jealous. We ended up chatting a bit, and ended up staying in each other's view for the rest of the bike, maybe 45 miles. It's crazy how our riding ability was identical. Without hesitation, we decided that we are now new riding partners since we live so close in the OC! We've already been in touch since the race and I can't wait to ride with her.

I was pretty happy with my bike split. The course was absolutely gorgeous--and, yes, I take the time to notice the sights, that's one of my favorite parts of being a triathlete logging in miles. I'd say the bike course is easier than Oceanside's, but it's still challenging. I was anticipating a struggle at the infamous Chalk Hill at mile 45--turned out to be steep, but nothing too insane (Oceanside climbs are gnarlier).

All in all, I averaged over 20 mph, went 12+ minutes faster than O-side, did all my nutrition correctly (Bottles of Hammer Perpetuem Vanilla-Orange, Water, Hammer Apple Cinnamon Gels and Vanilla Gu w/ caffeine), felt a little queezy at times, but generally I was strong.

T2
It was so incredibly refreshing to get off the bike, but almost scary because I was weary if I would have it in me to bust out a quality half-marathon. Got on my shoes, grabbed my visor, Garmin and extra gels and was off.

RUN (an embarrassing 1:53:xx)
At this point, my plan was to stick with Sara (even though she is 25-29 and wasn't a direct threat); since she had a soccer background, I figured she was a good runner.
But she got ahead of me pretty much right away, and instead of sticking with her I decided to stay at my pace and not go out too hard. Soon into the run, I could feel an Oceanside repeat coming on. Where were my running legs dammit?! Add to that some nasty rolling hills and temperatures reaching into the 100s, and my run was not pretty. It was awful to say the least. A lot of rolling hills happen right off the bat, which sucked. But I kept on trucking and tried to focus on everything except the pain in my legs. Even my downhill running pace wasn't going well.

Meanwhile, I noticed Crowie heading back to the finish pretty far behind the lead guys, which was very odd! Then I saw Pip Taylor (1st) and the lead women fly by--they looked amazing. Then there's me: I was arguing with myself out loud to push on and not walk quite a few times. I wanted to stop. No joke. My saving grace was aid stations. Something to look forward to and an excuse to slow down a bit. I made a point to grab two waters from every aid station, one to drink one to pour on me. Also, the whole run I always had an open Hammer Gel or Gu w/ caffeine in my hand--I went through about three total. I did, however, forget to take my salt tabs. Thankfully, I never had any GI issues, which was one perk!

The turnaround at La Crema Winery was like a party--it should be, we were halfway out of the hellish heat! While going around the winery's lakes, I passed Whitney Handy. After the race, Whitney I were talking and said she saw me approaching her and was cursing out loud. Once I passed her, I'm not gonna lie--I kind of ran in fear that she'd soon pass me again. We talked about it and agree: we motivate each other. She's a damn amazing athlete. And when she dials in her run--watch out ladies! Here were are chatting after the race...
The last six miles of the run were a blur. Reality was staring back at me on my Garmin, where I saw an average pace of well over 8-min miles. My dreams of getting a 1:40 were laughable at that point! I've worked a lot on my run since Oceanside, but it's clear that I really have to get my act together. Still, it wasn't all bad news.

FINISH
I crossed the finish line at 5:20. That's 20 minutes faster than my first half-Ironman, and I shaved time off all three--swim, bike, run. Plus, I didn't feel utterly dead when I crossed the finish line. Just half-dead. Ok, so I was delirious and hurting, but not as wrecked as O-side left me. Look at that face! Ridiculous hahaha Turns out Sara had finished just two minutes before me. So we sat there and hurt together for a while. Seriously, what are the odds that out of 2,000 racers I'd see her out on the course. Talk about meant to be! That guy on the left is hurting worse than we are it looks like... Here's me thinking "Get me out of this sun and ino some shade with a big ol' plate of food!!"
But before loading up on post-race food, I checked the computer to see my results: 3rd place in 20-24 age group! Another podium! Yaaayyyy! I missed 2nd place by a minute, missed first by like 40 minutes.

After eating some excellent post-race food and making a new cute friend, I had to get out of the heat and shower up. My cute friend and me....And my other, more handsome, friend...
It was right back to Windsor at 4 p.m. for awards. There I saw the typical podium peeps: Ian, who got 1st in 25-29 males, 2nd amateur overall, and Charisa, also 2nd amateur overall for the women. She's unbelievable--I want some of whatever she's got!

As for me.... getting 3rd in my AG earned me a spot to the Ironman 70.3 World Championships in Clearwater, Fla. this November! I can't even describe how stoked I was/am!!! It was like Christmas came early. Thank God my mom remembered her check book cause I didn't remember anything on the trip--no debit card, no check book, only $20 cash and a credit card. The crowd laughed a bit when I ran up the bleachers to borrow money from my mom. Me and Ian sharing race stories... he had some good ones, check out his blog.
With the awards and good news, it was time to celebrate. I was not about to poop out and go to bed. So my parents and I headed back to Guerneville yet again to join Ian, his parents and the whole crew for dinner at their house. What a fun group of people! I swear, having good triathlete friends to share your experiences with really makes the sport that much better. Not to mention, they had some killer Mexican food. I of course had some wine, but between the race, drinks and just all the energy expended that day, I was fading quickly. Guess my plan to celebrate late into the night wasn't going to happen. I felt the eyelids getting heavy at like, ohhh, 8 p.m. Not quite a rockstar just yet.

After the race, it was so nice to have that extra million pounds of pressure disappear. Being done with a big race is the best feeling, and now having another 70.3 to train for is the best outcome I could have asked for.

We woke up at 4 a.m. again on Monday to catch a flight back home. My dumbass wasn't thinking straight and tried to smuggle my winning bottle of wine and CO2 cartridges on the plane. That created a bit of havoc. Airline people must think we triathletes are just insane with all the crap we lug around--I also had my seatpost, saddle and Carbon Wing in my carry-on bag, which put quite a puzzled look on the security guard's face. And as soon as I got home, I repacked and headed down to San Clemente within an hour to get back to work and house sit. As demanding as work is right now, I'm on such a high that it's impossible to be in a bad mood. Thankful a big workload will make for forced time off from working out. But guess what? I'm racing again this weekend in Newport Beach--the Pacific Coast Sprint Triathlon.

Hopefully this blister (which continued to grow 3x the size after this pic) will be all cleared up by then.

Journalism San Clemente Style

2009-07-16T13:20:00.000-07:00

Well I'm back at it: 10+ hr work days, no sleep, lots of caffeine, extreme multitasking, etc. Yup, I'm working at a newspaper. Temporarily at least. I started this blog after I resigned from my newspaper job, so I've never really talked about how absolutely crazy and hectic it is to work at a place where deadlines rule your life. It doesn't matter if you have a Tuesday night workout planned, if you have work to do before Wednesday deadline, then suck it up. (You can probably see why I decided to change careers...)

But it wasn't all bad. I loved my coworkers, the stories I wrote and where the job was located--we put out three small, local weeklies for the cities of San Clemente (SC Times), Dana Point (DP Times) and San Juan Capistrano (The Capistrano Dispatch). My favorite part about journalism is that there's always something new going on. New stories, fresh topics, etc. I learned about everything from running an organic farm to synchronized swimming to city politics to dory-boat racing, meeting some fabulous people along the way.

Here's a pic of the paper featuring one of my cover stories that was on a dude who swam the Catalina Channel. Amazing stuff.
And, just for fun, for those unfamiliar with dory boat racing, here's a glimpse at the guys in action. Usually there's around 10 or so of these boats in a race, and it gets intense! In fact, this weekend, they'll be at it in the annual Ocean Festival.
Anyways, I still do freelance for Picket Fence Media and am in close contact with the staff. Recently, my former boss, Norb Garrett, asked me to come in and be the Editor while he went out of town (I was honored!), as well as house-sit for him--sweet! Not an easy job at all (the editor gig, house-sitting is more than pleasurable), but I was up for the challenge. So, since last week I've been back in the mix down in San Clemente. I haven't even had time to think about Vineman until today. And literally hours after the race, it will be straight back into work mode. But it's worth it...

Since being back, two things have particularly left an impression on me:

No. 1:

Last night, as tired as I was after already working nonstop all day, I attended a BBQ put on by a group of friends & teachers from San Clemente High School who will soon be participating in the Relay for Life, a 24-hour walk/run event that raises money for cancer. The group formed in honor of one of their fellow teachers, Jeff Spear, who passed away from non-smoking lung cancer last October. Oddly enough, I remember writing a story on Spear when he was initially diagnosed last year. It was sad to learn of his passing, but an honor spending time with these people last night, you could just feel the love (as lame as that may sound).

I almost started crying when talking to Spear's wife, Ruthie, who was the most optimistic, positive person. She's left with three small children and the memory of a husband and dad, but has the best attitude imaginable. She's trying to make the best of things, and is doing a damn good job and has a smile on her face. She just got back from taking the kids to Yosemite, cause "that was the next trip Dad wanted to do."

I learned that the team is also racing for other loved ones who had cancer--some survived, some didn't. For some team members, it was the impact that Jeff Spear had on their lives that led them onto the team, like the mother of Taylor Martin. Taylor is suffering from a rare disease and had Spear as a teacher. Taylor's mom told me of the bond that Spear and Taylor formed. Talk about getting teary-eyed!

As I left the BBQ last night, I realized how easy I have it. Seeing the hardships that others have endured makes you appreciate your health and that of your loved ones. I may get frustrated with things in my life, but I have no reason to complain.

I'll be writing the cover story on Team InSPEARation for next week's issue. It will be a scramble to get it done with Vineman 70.3 taking priority as of now, but I'm honored to do it.

No. 2:

This isn't such a grab-the-kleenex topic. I went swimming at my old stomping grounds (Ole Hanson Beach Club) during my lunch break Monday and it turned out to be reunion time/social hour. I ran into a good friend, Ernie Polte, who's 82. (Picture by me!)I wrote a story on Ernie when he was 80 simply because this guy's life is gnarly. He has been swimming every single day of his life for as long as he can remember. Literally hasn't missed a day. He's been in countless swimming races--long-distance ocean races, swim meets, you name it--and he says he's podiumed in all of them. Broke records back in the day and all. He was also a successful swim/water polo coach forever, and he inspired me to start the 6 a.m. swim class I've been in for the last year because the guy who coaches it, Byron Reidenbaugh, was one of his students. Ernie is simply amazing and I was so glad to reconnect with him--and see that he's still in the pool! He gave me the best compliment, telling me that my swimming has improved by leaps and bounds since the last time he saw me. I was looking back on the story that I wrote on Ernie and noticed a major mistake (in my eyes at least). I said he did the Escape from Alcatraz, but it should have been Alcatraz Invitational Swim. Unacceptable!!!

Anyways, this is the Ole Hanson pool (from san-clemente.org):

It's beautful and very popluar at noon.... probably why I ran into so many people I know, even coach Byron! He tried to get me to swim in the fastest lane, no thanks! With all the time spent talking with friends, lap count suffered a tad. But whatever, I'm tapering.

Ole Hanson's is overlooking the beach, so after the swim, I threw on my Newton's and went for a 30-min run on the SC Beach Trail. It was absolutely gorgeous out and literally made me want to move to San Clemente right then and there. Just something about that place.

Here's a glimpse of the beach trail by T Street from a photo I borrowed:

As for now, it's time to switch into race mode. I need to stop procrastinating and finish packing, ugh! But... I'm thankful that I'll have a couple new memories to think about and inspire me as I take on the Vineman course Sunday!

And if anyone is ever in San Clemente, be sure to pick up the SC Times.

Wow, That's an Unexpected Surprise! ...and a Shark Attack Too!!??

2009-07-13T20:02:00.001-07:00

So Vineman. This Sunday. I'm ready. Let's get 'er done. It's on.

That's all I need to say about that.

In other news, I got a completely unexpected, random and extremely thoughtful gift in the mail today from Koz Enterprises, the group that puts on the San Diego Triathlon Series and other races. It has to do with the San Diego International Tri.

Check it out:

First of all, thank you Natallie and Koz. That was above and beyond nice.

Two things come to mind:

1) After the race was over and after I blogged about my feelings regarding the transitions, I dropped the subject and moved on. I don't dwell. In the grand scheme, it really wasn't that big of a deal to me... after all, who am I? Just an age-grouper. It's not like anything was riding on the race. I was happy with my performance and happy for Whitney's win. She's a rad chick--if she were some b%$&#, I may have thought differently, ha ha j/k. But honestly, I didn't lose any sleep over the race outcome.

2) Whatever reason Koz felt inclined to send me this letter and medal is beyond me. Maybe someone else spoke up about the transition issue? I have no idea. The extent of my blabing is in my blog. But whatever the reason, I think this gesture shows that Koz is doing a great job and has the triathletes' best interest at heart. They just want to see honest, fair racing. And in a world that's corrupted with performance-enhancing drugs and/or any form of cheating, I appreciate and respect the principles of Koz.

I'm grateful such caring people are behind the races we all enjoy so much.

Just thought I'd share.

ONE MORE (FREAKY) THING....

Du Da du da du da dudadudaduda (Jaws music)

~~~/\~~~ (a shark fin)

Ummm, yea... there was a shark attack at San Onofre (where I surf weekly+) on Saturday, July 11. No bites, but there was physical contact between a standup paddleboarder and a white shark, which appraently deems it an official "attack." AHHH. The best part: I was out surfing/swimming in the very spot where this happened merely hours later!! Holy crap! Check out the story here.

There have been quite a few shark sightings in SoCal lately. Super scary. But honestly, it's not going to stop me from getting in the water. When David Martin was killed at Solona Beach I was upset and distraught for a long time. But I came to terms with the whole shark thing, realizing that I love being in the ocean and I'm not going to stop doing what I love. If I get attacked, and that's my fate... well at least I'll go out being famous in some whaky way!

4 for the 4th and a PO'd Achilles

2009-07-05T11:26:00.000-07:00

My last weekend of big training has come to an abrupt stop. Starting Thursday, I noticed a nagging pain in my left Achilles going up into my calf muscle. Something I've never felt before. It didn't really start hurting noticeably until after my 10k run Thurs, so I iced, massaged, etc. I had run every day since the Saturday before SDIT (of varying intensities and lengths), so clearly I would do no running, just swimming, on Friday to save myself for the weekend.

The the 4th of July plan was to spend four hours biking and running (couldn't--actually, didn't want to--do the celebratory 4,000 swim, 4hr bike, 40 min run like some people were planning!).

I planned a ride with lots of climbing and got 'er done... no Achilles pain at all. So 62 miles later (legs hating me, hot as hell), I set out on my T-run and pretty soon in--ouch! Achilles was pissed! Since I was already out and away from home, I ran until I nearly reached the four-hour mark, then walked/jog to cool down a bit. Iced after and no pain for the rest of the day.

The 4th was great... my friend invited me to join him at a BBQ in Huntington Beach at an apt right by the beach. In true American fashion, I enjoyed a couple beers and hot dogs with all the fixings! Our group was super mellow (thankfully!) compared to some of the mayhem going on. I swear, after the sun went down it was like controlled rioting on the streets of HB. Fun to observe, no desire to participate. It amazes me how many people had fireworks, not just little sparklers and screamers but real burst-in-the-sky fireworks, and they were shooting them off all night from their homes. Call me a goody-goody, but I could never do that--I'd be so scared to get in trouble!

I stayed up way past my bedtime but had a blast. When we finally left, Stuart and I forgot where we parked in the HB mess, but it was actually really fun because I had my new Republic bike to cruise around on... love that thing! I need to name it...hmmmm.

Anyways, I went to attempt a long run this morning, and literally 0.3 miles in it was clear that was not gonna happen. Achilles still pissed. So, rest it is! Thankfully I have a massage/ART appointment scheduled, and taper is beginning so I'm not too worried about taking time off from running. It's all about being well for Vineman.

So, instead of hittin the road today, I'm going to hit the surf in a bit. Shaka!