Blog #1 from Oz!

Hello my friends & readers..

Posted here is my first link from Oz....click on "Travel Blog" below to read on..

Travel Blog!

Time To Put the Big Girl Pants On!

Big girl pants time...

It's Sunday morning...I get a text message from Tricia early in the morning about the going on's at IM Arizona.. I log onto ironmanlive.com and started watching the live video.. I could hardly peel myself away from the screen as the Pros were getting out of the water but I had to get ready for a ride with Caesar! I get up.. get ready.. out the door and what did I see? Rain! Ugh! Great! As I am driving over to meet Caesar, I called him and asked if he realized it's raining out (hoping he would bail on the ride so I can jump back in bed with my laptop on ironmanlive). He insisted it wasn't raining so I continued my drive to Sports Basement.. once he got there.. I said, "See! Rain!" Long story short, I put my big girl pants on and soldiered on with our ride out to Fairfax. The reward? Fat Angel Bakery in Fairfax and their Scone of the Moment scones! Today was coconut, maple and pecan and it was scrumptious! We even saw a rainbow while riding out... while riding back.. the rain was replaced by the wind. Riding in the rainy weather today wasn't so bad... except for the bike cleaning part! With Pip being white.. it's diligent effort to keep her white and clean but nothing that a spray down hose won't do along with some chain lube!

Come home.. cleaned bike.. lubed all my bikes since I was lubing...then back to the computer screen to watch my friends complete some amazing IM AZ race results!! Congrats to Monica as she won 1st place in her AG of 40-44! And to Nicky for her 4th place finish in her AG of 35-39! Greg and Steve and Killian and Clemens- good stuff! And Daniel.. and the list goes on..sorry if I forgot some.. :-( Now, I sit here rooting for Rudy Garcia-Tolson to come through!! Come on Rudy!!

Other highlights form the week...went to my first Master's Swim at Koret with Sandy..that was fun! Tough but fun.. thanks to Ty and Drew.. my lane buddies :-)

I leave for Australia on Wednesday and I've done 2 loads of laundry and a big cleaning session but still need to pack.. perhaps tomorrow nite! I will have to strategically make room for some training clothes as I got an email from coach earlier this week with my game plan for Aussie.. he's turned my vacation into a mini training camp.. he even suggested fun things I should consider doing on MY vacation.. love it! Ha ha. Have a great Thanksgiving every one! Thanks for reading and I'll try to update while I am in Aussie!

Workout Summary-

Swim- 1 hour and 50 minutes

Bike- 6 hours and 0 minutes

Run- 0 hours and 40 minutes

Strength- 2 hours and 0 minutes

Total workout- 10 hours and 30 minutes

oh, my legs are tired!!

Thank goodness for recovery week!

Coach had me a lot of strength training along with trail running with the usual cycling and a bit of swimming which all added up to tired legs. Despite that, I had a good week! Not so much from the training aspect though but more in terms of the other aspects! I took Part II of a photo class and am now feeling more confident in shooting outside of the Auto mode on my dslr camera! Had a few movie nights and a great ride with my friend, Nicky!

Movie nights were a lot of fun! Had two this week! One on Thursday to watch Race Across the Sky, a documentary covering the Leadville 100 Mountain Bike Race, with Dana, Monica, Nicky and Tricia. Coach and Frank were there too on their date night with their significant others. What a great documentary movie! I have to say, I would never ever want to do that race and from now on, if I am ever going through a rough patch at a race, I will say in my mind, "At least I am not riding in the Leadville 100!"

Movie night #2 took place on Saturday night right after my photo class in Novato with Brian, Dana, Adam and Mo. Dana & Brian prepared dinner (thank goodness) which was accompanied by good conversation and then a very entertaining narration of LOTR 2! Mo is doing great by the way! She is progressing amazingly on her road to recovery from her accident. I look forward to the day when she's back 100%...I know she can do it!

Sunday morning, Nicky and I met up for a ride in the Penninsula. It was Pip and Gold Member's first date (our bikes) although Pip was a little intimated at first since GM decided to show up in a disc wheel as Nicky is prepping for IM Arizona exactly one week away from today! It was a great ride and we had a lot of fun.. thank goodness Nicky was going easy for me otherwise, I would be feeling a lot more smashed than I am feeling right now...sitting in bed watching the Patriots vs Colts game!

This was my week of balance of passions- triathlon and photography plus 10+ hours of sleep on Friday night.. apparently much needed! I am taking advantage of this time while I can 'cause like I said before, once I get back from Aussie, it's game time for ironman training!

Workout Summary-

Swim- 0 hours and 0 minutes

Bike- 6 hours and 11 minutes

Run- 0 hours and 15 minutes

Strength- 1 hour and 0 minutes

Total workout- 7 hours and 26 minutes

26 weeks 'till St. George!

My weekends have been less about training and more about spending time with friends... if you couldn't tell already but don't you guys worry.. this will all change once I get back from Australia mid December! Once I get back.. it's game on as far as training is concerned for my 2010 season!

My week of interesting events started off with a text message from Coach that read, "How are you feeling and in general 26 weeks out from St. George?" I responded... "..... will be refreshed once back from vacation!" He responded, "Figure 3 weeks are gone for holidays, etc. Then 2 weeks for taper.. heck only 20 weeks!" I thought...wait! What?! This is not funny! But I responded with, "Your tapers are not 2 weeks, they're 10 days at best so I just gained half a week back :-)!" St, George is my first main objective for the 2010 season and it's safe to say that if I can do that Ironman, I can probably do any! The profile for that course is disgusting! I am quite fearful of that run but I think fear will be good for my training as I'll push harder knowing what I'll have to face! While coach is counting down my weeks to St. George, the only countdown I am concerned with right now if my countdown to my trip to Australia!! Speaking of which, if anyone has recommendation on where to stay in Melbourne, I am taking recommendations!!

Had a great weekend... Saturday was beautiful here as I introduced Pip to the Golden Gate Bridge (so much better now that it's nearing Winter.. less tourists on rental bikes) and Paradise Loop! After ride, I stopped by Monique's Tag sale which raised over $5k to help relieve some financial pressures since her accident. I love it when the kindness of the human spirit shines through! After hanging out with Adam, Mo, Rick and Tyler for about 1.5 hours, I made my way over to Mill Valley to help Tricia & Sandy celebrate their birthdays! It was a full day but what a great day it was! Consumed too much sugar though!

Sunday... hit the pool... hit the trails at Land's End... went with my friend Dana to watch Brian dive at the Aquarium in Golden Gate Park.. it was another great weekend spent!

Photo below- Land's End..can you find a more beautiful trail?! Well, maybe the Marin Headlands.. but I love the water!

and that's Brian in the tank with the fishes:

And btw, I am finally fully unpacked from my trip to Kona a month ago! See what happens when I get in a 12:30am and can't do it right away?! It sits for a month!!

Workout Summary-

Swim- 2 hours and 5 minutes

Bike- 5 hours and 55 minutes

Run- 1 hour and 40 minutes

Strength- 2 hours and minutes

Total workout- 11 hours and 40 minutes

Intro to trail running!

I think I like trail running...

Had a great week this week! So many things that stood out... got a couple of awesome emails that made my day... had a few really good conversations with friends that was good for the soul... great weekend of training and it's sunny and warm here in San Francisco... now if only the Bay Bridge would open back up!

Weekend training started on Saturday with my routine 3 hour pre-season bike ride. Went out with Mary, Caesar and Pete. I found out that when riding with the boys (more than one)...the topic tends to lean towards eating scones and talking about knockers. I caught back up to the group after putting my arms warmers back on and Caesar asked, "Yi, do you know what knockers are?" I said, "Socks?!" Caesar said, "no!" So then I said, "Ok, fine boobs! Duh!" Caesar, "See Mary, Yi knows what they are." Turns out, they were talking about knockers while I was catching up, Mary didn't know what they were and bet that I didn't either. It was too funny, you had to be there! Loving my new ride, Pip! new saddle, narrower handle bar, and a raised seat height equated to a better ride than last week! I even feel stronger on the climbs... probably had more to do with the raised saddle height though!

Sunday, I had a great intro to trail running from my friend Dana! I had to head out for an hour and 15 minutes while she headed out for 3 hours - yes 3 hours for a trail run race in a month! We started at the base of the Marin Headlands just north of the Golden Gate Bridge. The warm up was tough as it started uphill but once you get into your rhythm, it's not too bad. To be honest, I surprised myself with the hills... didn't have to walk all of them! The only tough thing about trail running for me is that I am controlled by heart rate.. so a few times.. I had to walk once my heart rate hit zone 2 max...walked until it got to the base of zone 2 before picking it up again. Beautiful day out with good company and the Golden Gate Bridge as the backdrop.. seriously?!

Still have not fully unpacked from Kona yet but will shortly since I leave for Australia soon! Have my cities all planned out.. Cairns (Great Barrier Reef and Cape Tribe), Noosa, Melbourne (hopefully including the Great Ocean Road) and Sydney!

Good week mates!

Workout Summary-

Swim- 1 hour and 37 minutes

Bike- 6 hours and 17 minutes

Run- 1 hour and 35 minutes

Strength- 2 hours and 0 minutes

Total workout- 11 hours and 29 minutes