No doubt Austin is one of my favorite cities in the U.S, but I may be biased because the only time I’ve been was for SXSW (South by Southwest), a big interactive/film/music conference. I’m super excited though, going mainly to enjoy the food, bars, and people – running 26.2 miles only to burn it all off.

This race will mark state #8, and marathon #13. This isn’t my first rodeo, so not really nervous here. I don’t plan on PRing it, because I’m still expected to do the IronTEAM workouts when I get back. Luckily it will be a “recovery” week for the IronTEAM and syncs up well with this event. There’s a HUGE difference when I try to hit 4:30 vs 5:00. Would I rather be sore and hurt the next few days or not? 5:00+ it is! My “taper” weekend consisted with some tough hills, which I shouldn’t have done – oops.

Somewhat unprepared for this race, from a strategy perspective. I finally saw the race course map this morning, came across this helpful guide from Team Spiridon, and only a few hours ago, I mapped out where I need to be and when all weekend. I still need to pack! What a mess!

Decided to have a little fun tonight with a popular meme going around, with the topic of the TNT IronTEAM. Enjoy! Feel free to repost!

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:

On Tuesday, we had our usual coached swim. Not really sure how far I swam, but it was an hour worth of splish-splashing fun. We did quite a few sprint intervals to get our heart rates up, then did a few drills crowding the lanes with similar-speed teammates and did races across the lane. Boy, it was a pretty tough workout, but again, felt great in the end… and HUNGRY. You see, we always joke about these “monsters” that exist in the season, and in particular, the Hunger Monster always attacks after the swim. I ended up going to Chego after practice and had their Prime Rib Rice Plate (w/fried egg, water spinach, Chinese broccoli creamed horseradish, roasted garlic paste, shallots) AND Pina Krackalada (coconut sticky rice, candied pineapple, puffy rice krackle, sesame). THAT’s how hungry I was. Oh, so good!

Sunday’s run schedule was 7 miles with “intro to hills”, so we met at the corner of Gretna Green and Montana in Brentwood. My initial plan was to do 17 miles (my last long run before the Austin Marathon), because the previous day, I ran 3, to total out a 20 mile weekend. Now, about that title of this blog post – how did I accidentally run 22 miles? I didn’t plan a run route beforehand. I wasn’t really paying attention to my Garmin watch either – OOPS! Learn from me – don’t do that!

The practice spot was pretty close to my house, so I just ran there. Then the next 7 miles were a Brentwood Golf Course Loop (3 something miles), followed my hill intervals. What does that mean? Franklin St, just a little past the start of the run loop, was a pretty decent hill. We had to do hill repeats, 0:90 first time at easy pace, 0:60 second time at a moderate pace, then 0:30 at full speed. After each climb was a recovery downhill, then after the set of 3, a mile loop around the neighborhood. Repeat the set of 3 for 3 times. Whew! I was SPENT! At that point, I wasn’t sure if I should continue my long run.

I knew I had to complete a long run before Austin or else I’d be struggling during that marathon (even though I don’t plan on PRing it), so I just said F it, let’s do it. Fortunately, one of my coaches is training for the American River 50 Ultramarathon, so he had to knock out a 3 hour run. I agreed to run the first few miles with him. From Brentwood, we took a nice scenic route through the tree-lined neighborhood of Santa Monica, heading west to Ocean. Felt really great the whole time, averaging a 8:45-9:00 min pace, slightly downhill. We had good conversation about running, triathlons, travel and all that good stuff. I was supposed to split and turn at the Santa Monica Pier, but I felt so good, I decided to keep running towards Venice. Time flies when you’re having fun and the pace was just right that I guess I was at my cruising speed. I was only paying attention to major markers along the Boardwalk, not really paying attention to my watch. That was a big mistake, because once we hit the Venice Pier, I decided to head back north, while my coach continued south. Uh oh… I was at 16 at that point, and I was maybe 5+ miles away from home. I had no other choice but to run back.

By the end of it all, I was exactly at 22 miles. I was dehydrated because the last few miles before home didn’t have any stores or water fountains. I did my stretches infront of my place real quick, then rushed to my kitchen to chow down on my Hollybar recovery nutrition, and drank to refuel my electrolytes! I think I scarfed down my food/drinks in less than 30 seconds! I cooked some food immediately after, and I was done with that in no time either! Done and done! I guess I’m ready for the Austin Marathon in 2 weeks!

I only had time to get a little powernap before I had to go to my teammate Travis’ Superbowl fundraiser in Eagle Rock. Nonstop action! It was a Korean BBQ buffet, so you know I was all over that! 3 rounds of food to be exact. It was really fun, but I was struggling to stay awake. I pretty much stayed in the same spot, mainly because I was so tired. I didn’t want to move to a couch because of fears of possibly falling asleep! It was an awesome way to end a full weekend of training, after a full week of no training because of work.

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!

The past 7 days have been pretty tough on my schedule, and have made a big dent on my training. I know a week still isn’t so bad being out of the game, but I missed last Saturday’s last build ride against some monster headwinds, and even though I ran on Sunday, I did NOTHING until today, which was a scheduled swim. I pulled a 60 hour workweek in 4 days, so the company gave some of us Friday off. I took the whole day to recover from the madness, slept in a little, cleaned house, ate some delicious pancakes in Hollywood, and relaxed the rest of the day. It was magical.

When it was time for me to swim, I checked our swim schedule (yes, I live dangerously and don’t check things until 5 minutes before I leave), and it’s broken up to different swim skill. Even our coach called me out and said “Marvin Rule – Keep scrolling…” because in the beginning I only did the intermediate. The last section is for the advanced and alumni – 3,500 yards!

I made it through the Westside traffic and got to the Westwood Equinox with ample time before it closes. When I got to the door, it was locked! They were closed for a special event. Great. What now? A worker inside said I could go to the West LA a few miles away, which was 80% converted Equinox from LA Sports Club. It was probably one of the nicest gyms I’ve been to, even better than the South Bay Equinox. I got lost inside. It had a full bar (for after, of course), a deli bar with seating (looked like a food court), salon, spa, lounge chairs and couches. It was amazing. It was 4 stories, and the pool was an indoor one at the top. Interior was still carpet, which was non-Equinox style. I can already imagine how sweet it will all look when it’s done. Unfortunately, my membership tier doesn’t allow me to go here. It was only temporary for me because Westwood was closed. For me to upgrade, my monthly would be around the $225 mark. Ummmm, no thanks. Awesome gym though, I was glad I was able to experience that!

Last weekend, our company, LEVEL Studios flew the company to Monterey, CA for our annual Kickoff Party. We usually don’t do a holiday party in December because it gets pretty busy for everyone with the holidays, so January gives us a fresh start on a high note. Because of this weekend trip, it threw my training somewhat out of the window. I missed a Build 2 phase brick Saturday, which would have been a 40 mile ride, with run after. I think I danced 4 hours at the company party at night, so that counts towards my workout, right?

So just like New Year’s Day, or the day after MAN v BAR 7, like my coach would say I’d “Boot & Rally” and always make it to practice after a long night of “fun.” Sunday was no different. I believe I got back to my hotel room at 3am, and still made it to run at 8am Sunday morning. Coworkers thought I was crazy, given that the party was open bar. Tino and I usually lead the LA office run club during the week, so he showed up, but also our new receptionist Tracy and her boyfriend made an appearance as well. The hotel gave us a running route, a 6 mile loop, that took us along Monterey Bay. After the first loop, I felt good enough to try more since the training schedule said 9 miles minimum or 90 minutes. I ended up doing 11 because I needed more mileage for my Austin Marathon training even though I should be at 18-20 that weekend. I wanted to run longer but I was on a time limit of the shuttle bus to the airport was leaving 30 minutes after I finished. It was such a scenic run though, beautiful views, perfect weather – I seriously loved it! Check out the scenes below.

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:

Saturday was another busy day as at night, went to have dinner & light drinks for my friend Kristi’s birthday in Venice. It was expected to be a crazy night, but again, had to hold back because of the long brick ahead. I pinky promised to have 2 drinks max, but ended up doing 3 (2 at the bar though). Left early, slept early, woke up early. No prob!

Sunday

Last year, I’ve always thought the hardest workouts are when we did a run on Saturday, then brick the next day, for whatever reason, and today was one of those. I was glad I held back the night before too because I was up for a doozy. For the team, we were to ride north on PCH to John Tyler Rd in Pepperdine and back. For alumni, especially IM Canada teammates, we had to turn into Temescal Canyon, do a mile climb up, then back to PCH. Once we hit John Tyler, instead of turning around, we were to climb up campus to what I thought was (and still is) the hardest hill we’ll encounter during an IronTEAM practice. It isn’t that long, but it’s pretty steep. Some people had to unclip and walk their bikes up. I did a zig-zag motion up, and was very… very slow. On my way down though, my left brake loosened and scared me, but I pulled over and noticed it was still braking correctly, but wasn’t springing back to place. I just needed to survive the ride back and take it easy. Already spent from that tough climb, the heat was coming in. Once on the run, we had to do a 4 mile somewhat hilly “Troll Bridge” run. It was a tough one, but was still able to pull off a pretty decent run pace, much better than at Westlake the previous morning.

Although, by the end of this my body felt defeated, I actually felt great for accomplishing the first big build of the season. I wanted to push myself a little bit more, so I definitely taxed my body trying to go in the 17-22 mph range (with a bit of tailwind on one direction). It’s these hard workouts that make us stronger, and I always have to remind myself, it’s all about the journey, not the race. It’s about our LLS Heroes and teammates why we swim/bike/run.

Last year, I didn’t hit 1,000 yards until mid-February. Around this time, the team had their 1k marker set, but I was still in my “special” lane still learning how to swim. If I remember correctly, I was still using the paddle board. I was still taking private lessons at UCLA, learning how to breath, learning how to FLOAT. I was “at risk” of not completing the swim portion of our triathlons. Coaches were baffled and worried, but were always there to help. Just a few months after, I completed my first triathlon, then a half Ironman, then a full Ironman. Milestones for sure in swim, but milestones overall. I love the challenge.

So yesterday, at our Tuesday coached swim, we had to do a 1,000 yard, “physical recommitment” to see where we’re at. I was already so excited to do this because I’m actually DOING the sets this time around! We started off with a 200 yard warmup, or keep going until we hit the 7:45pm mark to start the timers. Coach Jason was keeping track of our lane, the Intermediate lane. They kept track of the laps, which was such a HUGE help because I didn’t have to worry about anything else but SWIM. During the swim, I had a lot of the drills in my head, to pay attention to my technique, and also I could hear all the coaches voices on correcting my form. Jason would yell out how many yards left, and once I heard him say “300 left!” a huge rush came over me and was feeling strong and ready to finish the swim! Final 1k time: 23:58!!!!!!!! What?!?! I was expecting over 30 minutes! Whew! Oh but wait! The set wasn’t over. We had to do timed 100s. At first it was supposed to be 2:15 but he changed it to 2:30. If I came in before that, then that’s the rest interval. Not sure how many I did, but I always ended up doing 2:15 so I still had time to rest. This session was awesome! Felt great the whole time, muscles didn’t feel very fatigued, but mainly just out of breath. This was a game-changer for me, as I’m actually VERY excited to step it up in the swim this year!