Week 42- 07.21.08- 07.27.08

2 mile open water swim sans wetsuit and triple brick!

I took this week's training pretty light because I was still wiped from Vineman! I probably shouldn't have done Vineman 70.3 as a recovery workout as I went in exhausted, I did it exhausted and I was exhausted and sore for the next few days! Got a massage on Tuesday which helped some but didn't cure all! If only!

This week's highlight of workouts included a 2 mile open water swim at Lake Del Valle in Livormore and the all feared Triple Brick with the team!

Friday night, Deb and I dropped off dinner at Honoree Laura's house who is currently going through treatments. We got lost and ended up driving through the projects of Oakland! We then went over to Kristie's place for a slumber party and Zachary's Pizza!

Saturday morning, we woke up bright and early, picked up Brian at the park and ride and headed to Lake Del Valle. The 2 mile open water swim sans wetsuit made me work a whole lot harder! Took me 1 hour and 34 minutes to complete..non-stop! I feel a lot better now about the IML swim having done this two miler without a wetsuit! Great afternoon of swimming and brunch!
Sunday morning, Renee, Deb and I headed out to Danville for our Triple Brick workout. 30 mile ride followed by a 50 minute run..3 times! Thank goodness for Robin B. who accompanied me today. We both had our ups and down..definitely more downs for me. Physically, I feel run down and mentally, I am just exhausted! The third loop of the ride was pretty brutal and I barely survived it with tears welling up behind my sunglasses..twice! I think that's a sign of exhaustion all around! The wind tunnel in the middle of the ride didn't help but we all survived..myself barely but I survived and I guess that's what counts for today! Total saddle time was 6 hours and 13 minutes covering 90 miles! Run was 2 hours and 30 minutes. What a day! After the run, I headed straight for the market for get the ice cold diet coke that I've been thinking about since the beginning of the third bike loop! Shortly after, I went back to the market for mac and cheese and spaghetti and meatballs! I was hungry!

Ice bath never felt so good!

Workout Summary-
Swim- 3 hours and 4 minutes
Bike- 7 hours and 6 minutes
Run- 2 hours and 30 minutes
Total workout- 12 hours and 40 minutes

Week 41- 07.14.08- 07.20.08

Week 41- Vineman 70.3 Race Report and Congrats to Rich Fox and Hez for completing their first Ironman in full on rain in Lake Placid! I was able to get Hez's finish on video by sitting patiently in front of my laptop with my digital camera but I was still on the run course at Vineman when Rich finished in an amazing time of 10 hours and 21 minutes!

Vineman 70.3 was such a different atmosphere than other races that I've attended..does it have anything to do with it being a M dot sanctioned event?! Went to expo, dropped off T2 stuff the day prior to race. With Kara and Heidi in the picture below-

Spotted Chris Lieto (6th overall at IM Kona and holds many bike course records across IM events) by his Biodiesel and Solar Green Van and a took picture with him!

The girls (Heidi, Mary, Mel and myself) left Mary's place in Novato at 4:20am ish and arrived at Johnson's Beach (swim start and T1) at 5:30am...got a sweet parking spot and was able to set up and get body marked before the bulk of the crowd arrived. Thank goodness because the chaos was a bit overwhelming watching loads and loads of triathletes with their shining bikes trying to get through the bike check. Speaking of bike check, the sticker that we were suppose to affix on the left of the top tube flew off during the morning drive so I took the one off my helmet and slapped it on the bike. Good thing because before letting you into T1, they checked for sticker on left top tube of the bike and bike ends..phew! Good save! I didn't have expectations going into this race because I knew I was suppose to make it a long workout day and I am still feeling the fatigue from weeks ago granted I am on my way to recovery but I had wanted to do a little better than I did! Read on..

Swim- I love the Vineman swim because you can't get lost and it's in shallow water in which you can actually walk the swim if you wanted to! The swim was longer than I had remember it to be. I finished the swim in 49+ minutes..4 minutes slower than my pace when I did the swim in a relay last August. If I talk to my coaches...they will tell me that I shouldn't expect to match my speed from a year ago because I am in a phase of fatigue.

Below- Brian, myself and Renee. Congrats to Brian for earning a slot to the Ironman 70.3 Championships!!

Bike- 56 miles..3 hours and 35 minutes. I really just tried to enjoy the bike ride as much as I could even though I had to visit every port-o-potty I saw! I think it was at the second potty when I pulled over (seemed like everyone wanted to use the potty at this point), this little girl of a volunteer..probably 9 or 10 in an oversize volunteer t-shirt maybe a feet or so taller than my bike offered to hold my bike up..so sweet! This guy who pulled ahead of me told me to go first..I asked him if he was sure and he said go! go! go! So go I went! Grabbed my bike from little girl..thanked her! Mile 56..I was so relieved to get off the saddle and get on with the run.

Run- 13.1 miles of rolling hills 2 hours and 54 minutes was a bit uneventful except that I lightened up everytime I saw a teammate of mine! I walked a bit towards the end of the run..the last 5 or so miles and man.. the company you are surrounded with is quite interesting. This is the pack where everyone is just holding on to finish this thing out! People are talking to themselves out load..yelling at themselves.. giving themselves pep talks..if only I had a video camera! I was repeating to myself "left ..left..left right left.." to try to keep a tempo with my run or walk.

Every race I've done this season was for practice..as a dress rehearsal for Ironman Louisville..figure out what my body needs..doesn't need..likes..doesn't like..get myself through things mentally.. and just go through the motions of a race. After the first mile at Vineman, I really wanted to turn around because my quads were aching but I couldn't turn around. Mentally, I needed to finish because I wanted that medal! Below- medal earned!

Workout Summary-
Swim- 1 hour and 15 minutes
Bike- 4 hours and 41 minutes
Run- 3 hours and 53 minutes
Total Workout- 9 hours and 49 minutes

Week 40- 07.7.08- 07.13.08

Holding on by a string..

That's right...I'm holding on by a string as far as training is concerned. I took it light this week..very light to try to recover the beating that I feel like my body has been taking since our Clearlake training weekend. Race phase is known as sexy phase of training..well I'm wearing a heart rate monitor to sleep these days to track my morning resting heart rate- how sexy is that? Argh!

The team went up to the site of Vineman on Saturday to swim the Russian river and bike the course. The water was warm...at 80 degrees it was like bath water! I went in with my Blue Seventy Swimskin-
The sleek suit is not a wetsuit but a swimskin made for non-wetsuit open water swims. I need all the help I can get in the swim hence my splurge on what I call a luxury item. I love the Vineman swim because A. you don't have to sight much..it's a narrow river. B. It's warm. C. You can stand up and walk the swim if you wanted to! I stopped to rub the fog out of my goggles..I attempted to tread water only to find that I can just stand up. I turned around and saw Elaine standing up as well..we waved and carried on. It was fun! The team set out on their 70 miler on the bike as myself, Heidi, Alex and Renee set out for our 40 miler as Renee and I felt the need for more recovery. After the bike ride, I thought..man..is 40 miles suppose to feel that hard? Uh oh! Back at the parking lot, we saw Coach Rand (Spr '07 Asst. Coach of SF Tri Team and current Redwood Wine Country Ironteam Head Coach) and had a great conversation with him. Walking away, I thought, maybe there is hope after all and it lightened up my "holding on by a string" feeling.

Sunday, the team visited the resting place of the spirit behind Ironteam- Louie Bonpua.

The team gathered at an elementary school in Los Altos to make the short journey up to Louie's resting place. Teammates shared stories of inspiration about Louie, loved ones affected by cancer and just hardships that they've faced. We hardly have moments like these and so I was extremely grateful as it came in a timely matter. I needed that inspirational lift and that reminder that I wanted to do this not only to support and honor my loved ones and friends who have been affected by cancer but also to make a positive difference for the future. Speaking of which- opportune time for a fundraising plug. Please support me and help make the future a better place by visiting my fundraising website- Donate here! Or at least check out the updated slideshow complete with soundtrack!

I received my mental lift..now all I need if my physical lift to come through...come on mojo..come back!

Hez and I..one for old times! Hez will be racing Ironman Lake Placid next Sunday! Today was also her send off. Best of luck!Coach Alex tells us his story of Louie's spirit!
Go Team for Louie!
Yay! Our tri tops finally arrived! I will be debuting it on Sunday at Vineman 70.3 a.k.a Yi's very long workout day.
Thanks for tuning in this week!

Workout Summary-
Swim- 1 hour and 20 minutes
Bike- 2 hours and 37
Run - 0 hours and 45 minutes
Total Workout- 4 hours and 42 minutes

Week 39- 06.30.08- 07.6.08

It took 39 weeks and it has arrived- feeling so exhausted that I couldn't climb anymore on my bike. The week's workouts was alright..I felt exhausted so I didn't over do it although I felt like I was over doing it anyway. That sounds weird I know but if you've trained for an Ironman or am training for one, you know what I am talking about...maybe. Saturday, I had a good 12 mile run...I did it! Sunday, the Marin Century route was on schedule and well..let the fun begin!

We met at the parking lot of an elementary school early Sunday morning for a 7:30am roll out. I've been in contact with my coaches about me feeling sluggish and exhausted. We first thought it might be my nutrition but Sunday, I figured it was beyond that! We were climbing Big Rock and my quads were just burnt! I was looking forward to mile 50 because that was where Ted and Mike would be with the water stop. On the flats, I felt great but on the climbs, it was painful..actually worse than painful because I can ride through pain but it was a feeling of not being able. I couldn't climb. After the water stop, I attempted to continue but realized I shouldn't so I asked Deb, "Would you be mad if I turned around?" because I didn't want her to ride alone for safety reasons. She said no worries so I turned around and hung out with Mike, Ted and Brian who had a broken spoke on his bike. I have to say..there could have been no better day to get sagged than today!

Sitting at the water stop was tons of fun! Ted finally couldn't stand the fact that I still had my helmet on so he unbuckled it. Fine! I'll take off the helmet! Haha. Mike and Ted made fun of Norman Stadler...we talked Tour de France, talked Ironman, talked bikes and then Nick came rolling up on his bike tossing his water bottle to the side of the road like he would at race aid stops haha.

After Nick and Vinay arrived at the water stop, we packed up shop and loaded the mini- van up! We drove the remainder 50 miles of the route. Brian and I stayed in the van munching on snacks and acting like kids while Ted and Mike did a fantastic job of a roaming water stop for our team. The real fun came about 15 miles away from the elementary school. Brian noticed Mike's gas empty light. I asked Mike about it but neither him or Ted seemed concerned. AND then the fun came. Minutes after telling me that neither of them were concerned, Mike acknowledges the gas light. The van gas meter said 8 miles to empty but we had about 15 more miles to go! I turned to Brian and said, "We might have to get back on our bikes and we just had ice cream..that won't be good." Long story short, Mike's van made it to the school..through neutral..through a very slow Camry and "rolling" through stop signs..we made it back to the school. Phew!

So what's my plan for the fatigue? Training probation for most of the week! What am I going to do with myself?!

Pics below-

Let's cut the cake!
The team with the party hats!
Workout Summary-
Swim- 2 hours and 28 minutes
Bike- 4 hours and 46 minutes
Run- 3 hours and 27 minutes
Total workout- 10 hours and 41 minutes