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The Hills Are Alive…

By: Marvin Tabangay
02-16-2012
bike, run, training

I’m in the middle of reading “I’m Here To Win: A World Champion’s Advice for Peak Performance” by Chris “Macca” McCormack, and coincidentally, I read this excerpt Friday night, after a big swim, and before our big weekend workout:

Every triathlete, pro or amateur, no matter how fit reaches a point in every race where he has to decide whether or not he will endure more suffering. It’s very simple. Either he will or he won’t. You will get there. The only question is how you’ll handle it.

It’s that simple. Whenever I do these races I always come to that point where my self-doubt kicks in and guess if I’m hitting The Wall. It usually wasn’t The Wall, but I still think, “I’m still running, this hurts… should I keep going?” I always kept going.

Saturday challenge: VERY hilly 9 miles in the South Bay. I’ve never been to this running route before, so I was pretty excited and scared at the same time. I know for sure this wasn’t a flat beach run. As expected, we were introduced to some pretty nasty hills, equivalent to a Category 5 on the bike (the hardest of them all). Immediately out of the meeting spot was uphill… and up, and up, and up. It just wouldn’t stop! See below (and that’s not a forced perspective shot, camera is looking straight ahead):

Sunday challenge: 50 mile minimum, or 3.5 hours + 2 mile run in Santa Monica/Malibu. It was nicknamed “Mari & Luke’s Revenge,” as the team returned to the mean streets of Malibu. The alumni had a modified course, with the return to the infamous hill on John Tyler Road. One experienced rider even said “That was the f*ckin HARDEST hill I’ve ever done!”. Alumni route had to do a few hill loops around Pepperdine with a total of 2 x JohnT + 2 x Rest-of-Team Hill in that day. It was madness I tell ya! Second time around wasn’t any easier. Imagine putting your bike to the easiest gears, having to stand up and pedal, still having the hardest time trying to climb. You know what though? We did it. I didn’t have to zig zag up, nor unclip, nor stop. As hard as it was, it felt amazing to conquer it. I made John Tyler my bitch that morning. Take that! As a reward each time, we were blessed with this beautiful view:

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Griffith Park Grand Prix

By: Marvin Tabangay
02-04-2012
bike

This morning we were back at Griffith Park, where we were to do the infamous “Grand Prix”, which meant a triple mini-brick. What? Yes, a bike-run 3x. Loops on the bike, out and backs on the run. In between bike rides, the staffers who stayed back had to deflate tires for participants and staff, for all to force-learn how to change their tires. Even worse, they were back-flats, the more tedious of the two because of the chain and drivetrain.

My Garmin wasn’t cooperating with me so I don’t know my exact stats, but for the first 2 bike loops we had to climb a pretty considerable hill twice, then on the last loop we were to do that same hill three times. On one of the descents of the first hill, a crazy driver decided to make a U-turn on a rather narrow road near a blind curve and almost had a teammate crash into her! Some people! My teammate Tushar had to act quickly, brake, was fishtailing, but luckily he avoided what would’ve been a nasty crash! The final loop with the 3 hill repeats were tough, but was manageable. It looked like everyone finished strong, and it’s inspiring to see everyone on the team keep working at it!

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The Build

By: Marvin Tabangay
01-23-2012
bike, run, swim

Base training is over, and the build period has begun. From now on, we have 2 build weeks, followed by a recovery week for our bodies to recover. This past weekend was a pretty big one, as it was a test of endurance balancing work, social life and IronTEAM life.

Friday
Coming off a pretty busy work schedule, we had our usual Friday Happy Hour at the office. I had to resist the drinks a little because I planned to go to Equinox after work to do my swimset, which was:

1 x 500 Any Stroke – Warmup
6 x 50 @ 1/2 Interval, rest :30
1 x 400 Easy, rest :30
10 x 100 Start @ 1:45 (it was more like 2:00 for me), rest :30
1 x 400 Easy, rest :30
3 x 200, start at 4:00, rest :30
1 x 200 Cooldown, long & lean

3,400 yards! whew! That was a long Friday night! The night wasn’t over, immediately after I went to my friend Jesyka’s birthday masquerade party in Santa Monica. I had to hold back though and be sober in prep for a long weekend. I also went home at midnight, right before my carriage turned back into a pumpkin.

Saturday

Saturday was supposed to be our first big brick in Westlake. I was pretty excited the night before, but the morning of, we were faced with some pretty hard rain on the way to practice. Coach said it didn’t rain enough to wash away all the oil slick on the roads, so safety first, the brick was postponed, and we ran 8 miles instead. At first it was rainy and cold, but it eventually got warm. I dunno what it is, but I always seem to have bad runs in Westlake, and it was no different – yes, I struggled. What gives? The other week, I was out partying all day/night, and had the best run of the season. Last night I had the perfect amount of sleep, no alcohol, ate healthy food… but the run was rough! You never know sometimes! We did loops around West Lake, so the first loop was challenging, but I was into the groove the second time around. Looked like everyone had a great run though, and after, we (Iron + Tri teams) had post-run eats at The Counter Burger down the street. Since we were the first guests, we took over the whole restaurant:

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Griffith Park Time Trial

By: Marvin Tabangay
01-16-2012
bike

Saturday was a pretty busy day for me in terms of training & fundraising. In the morning, the team headed to Griffith Park, met at Lot C of the LA Zoo bright and early 7:30am. Immediately after was our semi-annual pub crawl fundraiser, MANvBAR7 (I’ll blog about that one later).

So for the bike ride, as you can see above, I was greeted by a nice sunrise to start my morning. A lovely sight as simple as that is a sign for a wonderful day ahead! By the time I got to the parking lot, it seemed like the weather dropped 10 degrees from West LA to Griffith Park! COLD! Most of us stayed inside our cars for warmth until more people popped up. The morning’s Mission Moment was led by our South Bay Training Captain, “El Capitan”, Scott, who told us his connection with TNT and why he joined. I’ve known Scott since last season, but didn’t know his story until now. It was both motivational & inspirational. He really captured the moments when training was tough, and digging deep to get through the challenges with a matter of perspective shifts. It was a nice reminder why we fight, why we do this.

The bike ride was split into two groups, A-M and M-Z, to break up the large group we have. The course was very similar to our GP Ride a few weeks ago, but with the addition of the large hill in the middle of it. It was 2 loops of 12.5, and our timed marker set had a requirement of 25 mile minimum in 2 hours. If we finish the 25 miles, then we have to keep moving (do an out and back) until we reach 25 miles. The hill was challenging, but luckily it wasn’t that long. I’m still pretty paranoid of the downhills, so I proceeded with caution in the curvy descent. In the end, I logged about 33 miles for 2 hours.

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PCH Redemption

By: Marvin Tabangay
01-07-2012
bike

Even though last week’s ride was rough because of NYE, I was still able to make that first step to get out of the house and actually do it. Don’t get me wrong, last week’s ride was an absolute best way to start off the year, especially in great company.

Last night, I avoided all chances of a Friday night out with alcohol. Hungover riding? Never again! I laid low after our Friday night swim at my friend’s place in Playa Vista. This morning the Team met at Zuma beach, and tackled the more challenging parts of PCH. I had a good amount of sleep, had breakfast, it was definitely night & day how I was feeling today versus last week!

The team was split into beginner/intermediate and advanced riding groups. You can choose to your liking, but majority chose the beg/int to be on the safe side. The difference between the two were longer PCH loops and larger hills. I chose the advanced because PCH, like what I said last week, was our old stomping ground so nothing new here. What’s new is that it’s been since July since I’ve seen these hills, so yes, they were not as “easy” as I thought they were at the peak of my last season. After the beg/int group started their warmup, El Capitan Scott led the rest further south on PCH, with the large hill to start. I pulled my friend Rommel along to the advanced group because I knew he was fully capable of it, plus he’s a very eager one to get some really good riding in. Oh man, did I miss these hills! Climbing them sure wasn’t fun, but it actually felt great to tackle them! Total ride time – 2 hours. Total mileage, 34.

Oh, but we weren’t done at that point. We had a mini-brick scheduled, so it was another 20 minutes of running immediately after the bike. Wow, I forgot that feeling! My legs were heavy, but the weird thing that happens to me all the time for the first few minutes is that my pace drops a few minutes, and this time it was around a 7:30/min mile! What the! It eventually stabilized to my normal 9:15-9:30, then 10, then 11… yes, I was that tired. I gotta get used to all this again! Overall, a really great practice!

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Happy New Year!

By: Marvin Tabangay
01-01-2012
bike

Happy New Year everyone! Here’s my attempt to post more frequently for 2012… here we go! So NYE was a bit of a blur, partied a little TOO much to celebrate in the new year. So crazy that I don’t even remember the countdown! Rough (but oh so fun) night, didn’t sleep until 4:30am, stayed overnight at my friend’s place where we celebrated. Surprisingly, I got up around 8am, got home to change, pack up all my bike gear, and made it to our IronTEAM practice at San Vicente & Ocean in Santa Monica this morning by 9am! Hungover? YES. Dragging along at the meeting spot, I was greeted by other teammates feeling my pain. Some had the same alcohol breath problem I was having, definitely partied hard for NYE. For a few minutes of gathering everyone, we all shared stories of the night.

Coach Brad rounded the troops (both Tri and Iron teams) and explained the routes. The group was split into two – Local Ride where the team rode through Santa Monica flats, considered the easier route for newbies and the hungover, and the PCH ride, for the more advanced. I chose the PCH one because there’s less stops, and I if anything, in the tired state I was, I could just lay low. As a warmup, we all went up San Vicente to the Brentwood Golf Course and back. I was actually feeling A LOT better after that warmup, so I was pumped for PCH. It was a beautiful day out, I’d say 70ish and clear. I wasn’t really paying attention to how fast I was going, but I was just enjoying the sights and sounds of PCH. I really love riding because of all the scenery we can take in, get into deep thought, and really appreciate how lucky we are to be doing this. I was seriously loving life.

This PCH out and back took a total of 2 hours, and I’ve missed it so. It was a regular stomping ground for us last year, and I’m excited to do it again. Checking out Facebook afterward, and everyone LOVED this ride. As crazy as it sounded the day before, considering that I was going to party hard for NYE, I was really glad I did this. Super thankful for my morning wake up call & motivation to ride. 2012 is looking to be an amazing year!

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Week 3 – Griffith Park Ride

By: Marvin Tabangay
11-26-2011
bike

It was the 2nd bike practice of the season, and we met at the LA Zoo Parking Lot C over in Griffith Park. We initially started with a warm up through the park, then some cadence drills to follow (low gear, high cadence, left leg, right leg). For those who didn’t have a bike, they did a quick run around the area. After our bike drills, we did loops surrounding the park, all focusing on technique, not speed. At one point on the course, a chark marking called for 100 rpm on until the turnaround. Once we get back to the parking lot, it was drills again, then repeat. I was able to do 2 loops with the drills (super fast people did 3), but overall it was a fun practice, TNT IronTEAM and Tri teams combined.

After practice, we met up at House Restaurant over in Echo Park, where about 30+ teammates took over a good portion of the room. It was awesome because I got to know some of Tri teammates who I probably normally wouldn’t meet outside the team, especially once we split off into our own groups later.

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Week 2 – Dockweiler Bike 101

By: Marvin Tabangay
11-19-2011
bike

This same practice one year ago, I showed up with a brand spanking new bike, new clips, new shoes, new everything. I planned to ride it before practice, but I think I was super busy at the time. I still remember being so nervous, because the last time I rode my bike was probably middle school! I fell trying to clip into my pedals BEFORE the warm up. I struggled to turn past the cones during the drill, then I fell again! Coach Brad even had to hold my seat and push me like I was learning how to ride for the first time. Embarassing!

This time around, after a year of bike experience… WOW, night and day. It felt great to be able to DO the drills, to NOT fall, to NOT shake on the ride, to NOT grip the handlebars. We also teamed up with the TNT Tri team and combined learning efforts for technique and safety. It was also a great time to meet new teammates, and get to know some that I met last week as well. We were split into smaller groups, with tire change, and bike form clinics. We were also split into different groups on the ride, depending on ride experience.

For some added fun, Adam & I wore our crazy pants from Halloween, because we knew this practice would be the shortest bike ride of the season. I mean, might as well!

Took everyone by surprise for sure. We had fun sporting them. I was able to actually ride in them because they were tight enough that it won’t catch on the chain or anything. They were pretty comfortable! Last time I rode was the Carpinteria Triathlon, so I was a bit nervous at first, but eventually got used to it. We did loops near the airport, nice & flat, not so much car traffic, great for everyone to get comfortable on the bike.

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Final Taper Weekend

By: Marvin Tabangay
07-25-2011
bike, run, training

This final weekend of training before Vineman was a perfect mix of workouts & social events with the team.

Saturday
It was so great to see the whole team together again after a week apart because of Carmageddon and Vineman 70.3. The scheduled workout was a 45 min swim, 3 hour minimum bike, then a 30 minute run, so we pretty much did a triathlon. We did our usual jog down the sand and swam north. Bike & run intensity was subdued, a more “conversational” pace, which we really did. By the end it didn’t feel like we did a workout, but that’s the purpose of the taper.

At night, we ceelbrated our teammate, Holly’s birthday at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery in Hollywood, watching “It Happened One Night” starring Clark Gable and Claudette Colbert. I was pretty excited to go because it was my first time at a Hollywood Cemetery Cinespia event. There were about 10 of us from the team, set up a little picnic area in the large grassy field of the cemetery. Let me tell you though, cemeteries freak the hell out of me more than anything, and it seriously gave me the creeps and chills walking from my car to the movie site.

Sunday
Sunday morning’s run was a nice easy 60 minute run Amalfi Loop which is our default route in Santa Monica. It’s pretty crazy how I can call this “easy” because this route was super challenging for me prior to joining the IronTEAM. We kept the pace light in the beginning, then on the way down San Vicente, I picked up the pace to a 7:30-8:00/min mile (I wish I could always run like this, but there was a slight downhill).

That night was another first for me as some of us went to The Hollywood Bowl to watch Stevie Wonder and Friends. It was a fun night picnicking at the benches, lounging and socializing to some really good soul music. The vibe was so energetic as people were dancing in their seats, talking to others around them, and all the way to the bus ride home everyone was still dancing and chatting it up. Some good times for sure!

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Carmageddon Training Weekend

By: Marvin Tabangay
07-18-2011
bike, ironteam, run

For months and months, L.A. was warned about the big 405 freeway closure, aka Carmageddon, and because of this our team was split into its respective regions (East side, westside, valley, and southbay) all weekend. Although it turned out to be an absolute win for the freeways as it was all green and open according to Google Maps, it was really weird to not have the whole team practice as a whole. A big chunk of our team was also at Santa Rosa for the Vineman 70.3 to race and spectate. I really missed everyone, and I give it up to people who train for these Iron distances alone because it was really tough without the support that our team normally gives week by week.

Saturday, we had a scheduled 4 hour bike ride, so my region, Westside, met at our usual Ocean Blvd and San Vicente meetup spot. It was led by our coach Arkady, but it was only him & his girlfriend, Elyse, Tony and I. We started heading north on PCH for 1:15, then back (I made it to Encinal Canyon). Since we rode in a small pack, we were able to push up the speeds a bit and I was able to practice my race pace, which I figured out to be around 18ish mph without my legs feeling too crazy tired. Once back at basecamp, we headed up San Vicente and up Madeville Canyon, about a 1400 ft climb. That new 11/28 cassette worked wonders at the very end, where it became super steep. By the end of the 4 hours, I clocked in 67.37 miles, an average of 16.8 mph, probably one of my best rides to date considering there was a pretty big climb. A 30 minute transition run after the bike was rough as usual, but manageable.

Sunday, we met at the same spot where the same people met along with some of Coach Arkady’s Meetup Group. Training Peaks schedule was to do 2 hours, with a minimum of 10 miles. I ended up running the whole time with my teammates Elyse, who is usually a little faster than I am, but it was an opportunity to push myself a little bit, plus we helped each other’s pace in check because it is sometimes better to be running with someone rather than alone. Just like yesterday, this run became one of my best ones this season, running 13.1 miles in 2:02. Just a minute more than my half marathon PR, and this was actually a pretty comfortable pace for me.

After the super humbling 5/3 the other week, this weekend’s workout boosted my confidence back up again, and I definitely feel ready for the big race. We have one more recovery week to go before we enter the final taper week until Vineman! Can’t wait!

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