Earlier today was the IronTEAM’s first social outing at the Mar Vista Lanes in LA. We took over about 4 lanes, and from 4-6pm it was cosmic bowling. I got there fashionably late, but it was a good sight to see many of our new teammates bond with alumni and invited friends & family of the team. I thought it was a success as everyone got to know more people, plus we raised $384 for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society! As an added bonus I won half of that to be donated to my fundraising from a raffle of everyone who showed up! Yessss!

Here I am, almost 2AM, weekend almost over, PJ’s with compression socks, rehydrating with my water + Nuun, a flurry of tri gear on the floor of my living room, back from one crazy FUN weekend. WOW. A full race report will come later this week (great photos are coming through Facebook, and more as the days go by, that’s for sure) but I wanted to just let out some of my initial thoughts.

As crazy as 140.6 sounded just 9 months ago, I still can’t believe that IT just happened! Like coach Brad said, the day went by just like… that. It was a blur… how could 14 hours go by so quickly?

What I DO remember:

• Thinking about our TNT Honored Teammates Laura & Anabel pushing me through
• Everyone on the Sponsor-A-Mile list. It really gave me so much energy every time I’d glance at the list, and imagine that person being there
• Hearing our coaches voices in my head telling me all their reminders, like “Hydrate!” “Higher cadence!” “Hand jumping over barrels!” “Rotate!” “Relax!”
• “Wow, already 6 different colors of swim caps passed by”
• Friends telling me to ring my bike bell at T1.. then after I did, a loud roar of cheers
• Unexpectedly seeing my family on mile 29 in Geyserville
• “Oooh that winery would be nice to stop by”
• “Oh, gotta stop and enjoy the view” (as I did that, a bee stung me on the forehead)
• Checking out this girl on the side of the road at mile 63 “Wow, who’s that!?” (Then a split second later, found out it was my longtime TNT friend, Marcela, who came from SF to cheer me on.)
• 
  My amazing cheer squad friends at mile 69 with some crazy ridiculous signs. (I couldn’t read all of it going at the speed I was on the bike, but all I saw was the penis drawing). They were also the rowdy fun bunch at the entrance of the high school.

Also, the run out & back was a great way to cheer my teammates and also equally uplifted my spirits tenfold. Here’s what I remember:

• Scott yelling “Ahhhhh yeahhhh!” everytime I see him on the loop
• Patrick giving me words of encouragement on the run
• Donovan with the no smile, nod with just a finger point on the run (he was smooth like the Dos Equis or Old Spice guys)
• Holly’s bright orange top from a quarter mile away, then a side five & smile “you got this!”
• Julie looking strong on the final loop giving each other the look, “We’re almost done!!”
• Jasmine on her bike (after doing ANOTHER Half Iron triathlon, Barb’s Race… she did Vineman 70.3 2 weeks ago) giving me a *DING DING* on the bike
• The 70.3 team cheer squad at the top of the big hill with costumes and a huge cardboard cutout of coach Brad with the pink leopard print speedos)
• Louisville squad Kristi, Kris, Anne & Elsa all smiles & cheering me on while they do their training run after completing the Aquabike

For spectators, they probably only saw their participants on the course a total of less than a minute throughout the whole day, believe it or not each second of seeing that someone, hearing that extra cheer, that quick high five, seeing those smiles, or reading that cheer sign can make a HUGE difference in a race.

Again, I’ll blog about the race in full detail later this week (or next week), but I’m STILL on cloud 9. So much to cover, but I’m super happy with how the race went down as my first Iron distance triathlon – everything went smoothly, my nutrition was locked down and worked well, and all my teammates crossed the line. SO proud of them all! GO TEAM!

Tonight was our IronTEAM banquet, planned by our lovely Social Captain Kelly and Team Captains Dash & Luke at C&O’s in Marina Del Rey. Out of all my years in TNT, this one was probably the best team dinner event I’ve ever been to! So many factors played in that statement. I mean, it’s been a crazy 8+ month journey to where we are now, so the relationships that have formed with everyone is the strongest I’ve ever experienced in a team. I really love this team, I really do. Everyone is just so fun & really down-to-earth. We were talking memories of our first practices, memories of who brought us into the team, etc.

A huge highlight was IronTEAM Jeopardy, where our Social Captain, Kelly, a part of the Jeopardy Clue Crew, brought the actual Jeopardy buzzers & game custom filled with IronTEAM specific categories such as Heat 101, Hills, Staffers, Fundraisers, and more. The energy was so high, and it was crazy fun to play! After the game, they gave out raffle prizes such as water bottles, dry-fit shirts, and hats. We also presented gifts to our coaches for all the hard work they have done this season. I’d say this event was a huge success, and it’s times like these that really define what makes the IronTEAM. It’s not the races, it’s the bonds that people make with one another.

The majority of time spent with the team is either swim practice or bike/run practices on weekends. Most of us don’t care if we even match clothing, if bike grease marks are on our hands, or even if our hair is fixed. Makeup? What makeup? We always have multiple layers of gear on from sunglasses to arm warmers to visors.

After 6 months of training we finally had a social event (outside of each other’s participant fundraisers) with the team, specifically a “send-off” event for our Wildflower fundraisers on their event. It was our first time in a non-race related event being outside of training clothes. What? Who are you again? Many were dressed up quite nicely, and needed a few seconds to recognize my own teammates! Being it was a Sunday afternoon, the bar practically to ourselves, it turned out to be a very fun event! Yes, we DO talk more than triathlon topics (although it’s difficult not to). Our social captain Kelly also put together a “TNT Bingo” game where it got everyone there to discover a little bit more info about our teammates. The afternoon lead to group shots, and mild craziness (I say mild because it was barely 7pm still).

It’s great to be working for a company that recognizes and supports social good. We had an email today:

“TOMS Shoes (http://www.toms.com/) and their supporters are going barefoot to help raise awareness for the many children in developing countries who must walk barefoot for miles to school, clean water and medical help. On April 5, we have designated our conference rooms “no shoe zones.” Go barefoot in the conference rooms or wear your TOMS that day to show your support. ”

There’s all this crazy about barefoot running and whatnot, and you have to realize that it’s by choice. Many children don’t have a choice. It reminds me of Blake Mycoskie’s SXSW keynote where he told us the story of this family where one child had to wait for his brother to come home from school in order for him to use that same pair for himself. Sad, but I’m glad Blake realized this, and now his company is making such a huge impact in the world. Amazing stuff!

Weeks leading to this past weekend, Email subject titles from the coaches for Wildflower Training Weekend were shortened to WFTW. At first glance I thought it was WTF, and boy oh boy, it really was a WTF weekend. The team took a road trip to central CA to the exact camping site for the Wildflower Triathlon, so we could get a taste of how the course will be, from the elevation, weather, and technicalities. The original plans had to be modified because of continuous rain from Friday all the way to Sunday.

Friday
I took a day off from work so I could leave with my teammates Dash and Traci to get to the campsite in time to set up. I think the only time it DIDN’T rain was the few hours the team was setting up tents for everyone else. Once they were all up, the rain just would not let up. It was tough to really meet everyone in this kind of setting because some people would stay inside their cars, or inside their tents to stay dry. There would be small circles of people crowded under umbrellas, or bunched up wearing swim & rain parkas. It took some time for everyone to get situated. Groups were scattered for dinner, and the fire pit flames were small. After dinner, the coaches gathered everyone to the only somewhat dry spot – the side of the restrooms. They went over some modified logistics due to the weather.

Saturday
It was a crazy early wake up call – 6:30am. There was no alarm or anything to wake everyone up – it was the sound of the rain against the tent, and the cold, cold weather. Movement around the campsite also added to waking up. You can tell no one had a good night’s sleep, but everyone was hungry that’s for sure. It took longer than expected for everyone to get ready for the bike ride, but hey, it was raining! Once we were all situated, the coaches led us down a pretty steep hill to the lake parking lot. They went over the course another time and we were off! Did I mention it was COLD? It was especially cold if you add in the wind factor. Most of the time I had a dilemma to bike harder to heat up my body, but at the same time I went faster which made me colder. No matter what I did though, the rain just didn’t help. I made the mistake again by following some of my teammates through another turn (which we were supposed to follow the yellow lines, but didn’t have any). It resulted in going up a challenging “Beach Hill” again. By the time we were back on track, we were pretty much the back of the pack. We rode outside the property to the SAG stop / turnaround point. Cold, cold, cold! I was miserable! I was so happy when I arrive the campsite, but a 2 mile run loop was still on the schedule. Finished the run without any problems.

After the brick, we had the rest of the day to just bond and hang out. Surprisingly, I didn’t take any midday naps. It’s tough to do that in the wet and cold. The Wildflower fundraisers had the opportunity to ride “Nasty Grade”, the infamous hill of the triathlon bike course. The coaches took it out of our schedule because it was just too dangerous to bike down, so whoever rode the hill were just shuttled back down to camp. Most of the riders said it was tough, but not impossible. There is hope! Me and some teammates went looking for drinks then on the way back, we just drove the “Nasty Grade”. I agree, it didn’t look too bad, but I know it will be a whole different story on the bike, after already riding 45 miles! The rest of the day/night was nothing but good times. Funny conversations inside my friend’s SUV (trying to stay warm), people’s tents, under the tarp, and around the campfire. I really do feel a little bit closer to everyone, because you know, at practice, it’s sometimes difficult to socialize.

Sunday
By Sunday, everyone’s spirits were down because of the crazy winds downpour that kept everyone awake last night. One person even had his tent collapse on him so he had to crash in someone else’s tent. Most of us just wanted to pack up and leave. We had to tear down the tents after breakfast and clean up before our scheduled 12 mile run. So many of us wanted to opt out of it, myself included. It wasn’t until coach Brad said his “Braveheart” speech that got the TEAM together and willing to run. We drove down to the same parking lot from Saturday, and luckily it wasn’t raining. The run was two loops from the Wildflower Olympic course (long course is different, but was too muddy from the rain). Parts were muddy, but all doable. There was one hill that was challenging though. I had some slight complications with my foot, probably because of using trail running shoes, which I was not used to. Because of my foot, coach advised me to stop after one loop. I was lucky I guess because shortly after, more downpour ensued. We all stayed until the last person came back, and that’s what I love about this team, we are so supportive of each other, and the cheers and smiles instantly made me forget how tough this weekend was.

I’ve always thought wearing the whole tri get-up was weird – tight top and shorts, but today it finally came together and now I understand. Now I was one of those people wearing that outfit, and you know what? I wear it proud! Last night I couldn’t really sleep because of my fears of my FIRST triathlon. What was going to happen? I never even did any cheer support for a triathlon. I think the only exposure to it in the past have been through pictures, or maybe the Kona Ironman Championships on TV. I had no idea how the swim start, transition, crowd support, finish line was going to be until today.

We woke up bright and early to get to the brightly lit transition areas. Everything we learned about transition from past practices were applied here, from splitting all my gear to specific sports, positioning of sunscreen, to the alternating positioning of bikes. You can feel the intensity in the transition area as you can see some pretty hard core triathletes with the expensive aero helmets, $8k bikes, nervous beginners (like me), family and friends outside of the transition area, and everyone testing and reviewing all their gear. You also hear everyone talking about past experiences and current feelings, it was fun! Outside of the area were volunteers marking up athletes with their race number on their arm and age on their calf. It’s mainly for the photographers, but I think the age thing is a mental thing to see who passes you up on the bike or run.

The Swim
I had a pretty rushed swim start because I didn’t pay attention to how much time I actually had when I was warming up in the water in my tight super restricting wet suit. I saw my earlier wave already start, which meant mine was next! The horn was blown and we were off! Me and another teammate took our time and just walked to the deeper part of the water while everyone was running. Once I was finally in, I felt the cold cold water, and was able to do a few yards of good strokes until something came over me and panicked. I rested a little while I saw my age group go further and further away. Another challenge was trying to swim straight. I was pretty much swimming in zig zags, and barely halfway to the first buoy, I had to stop and rest hanging on to the life-boat. I wasn’t the only one. There were four of us, and we were chatting it up a bit to calm all of our nerves. You can tell we were all first timers. One person said, “Are you ready? We can do this guys!”, and that marked a pretty good motivation to finish the swim. It was tough for sure, as waves of other age groups just kept passing me by (you can tell by the different colored caps). Rounding the buoys were tough as I was getting hit by other athletes from their strokes. All of a sudden I was pretty much done as I saw the shore in sight. I was excited to finish, as if I already finished the whole triathlon!

T1
Getting out of the water was so weird. It felt like I was about to pass out right there on the sore. I was dizzy, but super excited the hard part is over. Everything from out of the water to the transition area was a blur. Felt like I was drunk, time traveling a few minutes. I remember seeing one of my coaches, Andie, on the sides taking pictures, then I slowly reached for my wetsuit strap to remove the top part. I did a slow jog on barefoot on the transition carpet, then I quickly put on all my bike gear.

Bike
Ahh, the bike, the most comfortable part of the triathlon, in my opinion, especially this course because it’s all flat. I just saw the bike part as a way to dry off from the swim, and as transportation for the run part of it. Throughout the course, I found myself passing others, then them passing me up multiple times. The ride was pretty easy, probably going 16-20mph, but at one point of the course, I missed one important sign! The sign redirecting traffic for a 2nd loop! I just so happened to be in a pack of riders who were already on their second loop (didn’t know at the time), and everything just seemed like any other turn on the course, so I turned with everyone else. There were even a few people I’ve been following since the start of the bike, so I didn’t question it. I noticed I did something wrong when I started to see people from my own age group on the ride, when I knew they were way ahead of me. At that point, there was no turning back since the course was all one way at that point. By the time I got within the lake property, I saw surprised faces from my coaches how fast I came back, my mileage was behind by SIX miles, and the transition area was void of bikes within my age group. DAMN!

T2
Already disappointed at my mistake on the bike, my motivation to go on was low. I wasn’t stopped, so I might as well go out there and finish what I started! Bike to run was pretty quick, it’s just a strip down of helmet, gloves, and shoes to running shoes and race number belt. We were always taught to continue a higher cadence on the run because our legs were used to that bike cadence then stabilize to the golden 90 rpm.

Run
The run was a very familiar territory to me, so I wasn’t worried at all. The course was a double loop around the lake, and it was all flat. This was training anyway, so I needed to get a run workout out of this. Thoughts would sneak in about how my time doesn’t matter at this point, and thoughts of disappointment of missing that bike turn definitely haunted me throughout the 6 miles. Again, I just had to suck it up. Finished strong with my teammate Scott, got a medal, then met up with the rest of the team.

Post-Race
Feeling great that I survived the swim, this event still felt empty to me. I can’t officially call myself a “triathlete” just yet, and now I just have this weird feeling of unfinished business. When the official times were up, the DQ list was on the OTHER side, on a single piece of paper. I wasn’t the only one who made the same mistake. About 15 people had the same reason “Bike Loops”. I wonder what their reaction was? I bet it was the same. In the end though, this race wasn’t my race. It was practice. I survived the swim, and now I have a gauge of where I’m at and what I need to work on. I definitely need to improve my swim technique, improve my bike shifting and maneuvering, and most importantly, to review the course AHEAD of time, and pay attention.

Goodbye 2010! What a wonderful year it was! A year of running events, travel to 10 cities & 2 other countries, and started new adventures. Looking at the Dailymile graphic above, I *only* ran 431.21 miles. I should be at the 1000 mark, considering I did 5 marathons, but I didn’t really do any midweeks (oops!). It’s interesting to see the spikes and dips in my training though. I’ll also recap the major milestones and highlights of 2010 here:

January

• RNR Arizona Full PRed at 4:58

February

• TNT Summer Marathon season starts, was Web Captain

March

• Austin TX SXSW
• LA Marathon

April

• Hired to LEVEL Studios as Senior Designer

May

June

• SD RNR Full Marathon

July

• Seattle RNR Full Marathon

August

• RNR Chicago Half Marathon

September

• JetBlue All You Can Jet (AYCJ)
• Portland – Warrior Dash, Pints to Pasta 10K
• New Orleans
• Philadelphia – RNR Half Marathon
• Las Vegas AYCJ Style

October

• Long Beach Half Marathon
• RNR LA Half Marathon, PR’ed at 2:08
• Athens Classic Marathon & Traveled Greece, stopped over Germany

November

• Started training with the TNT IronTeam
• Las Vegas
• Jenilee (my sister) Got Married

December

• RNR Las Vegas Half Marathon – Completed Heavy Medal Series

If you want to register, you can do so here.

Check out the Flickr Photos from past Bay to Breakers

If you’re in LA this weekend from December 4-7, you should check out the Ski Dazzle® – The Los Angeles Ski Show & Snowboard Expo® at the Los Angeles Convention Center. They have really great deals everything you can think of for the next snow season – that’s where I purchased my snowboard, binding, and jacket. Also, some vendors would honor in-store discounts if you happen to go there and they don’t have the particular item you want.

Hours
Thursday December 4th: 4:00pm to 11:00pm
Friday December 5th: 4:00pm to 11:00pm
Saturday December 6th: 11:00am to 10:00pm
Sunday December 7th: Noon to 6:00pm

Prices
$17.00 – Regular Admission*
*Includes FREE $53.00 value Bear Mountain Resorts Lift Ticket Voucher!
$5.00 – Children 6 – 12 years (No Lift Ticket Bonus)
FREE – Children 5 and Under (No Lift Ticket Bonus)

read more about it here