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Apr 9, 2011    |      0 comments

Our First Monster Brick 57/13

From here on out our team will make making new milestones in training, week by week. This morning’s brick was a monster one. It was approximately 57 miles on the bike, then a 13.5 mile run. It somewhat will simulate Wildflower Long Course coming up, but the hills won’t be as intense (I think).

I felt pretty good for most of the ride along PCH, but I had one problem. I was out of Carbo-Pro, something I usually mix into my drinks. So instead, I offset my carbs by doubling up on the Accelerade, then eating more of the Clif bars. Boy what a mistake that was, the drink was too concentrated, so it tasted too sweet! By this point in training PCH is like home court to us, we pretty much know all the nooks and crannies, but the coaches varied it up with previews of Temescal Canyon, Ensinal Canyon, and Latigo Canyon streets as our major hills. 57 miles. Done. Suprised I felt quite all right!

Oh it was not over. The run was a double “Amalfi Loop” which each loop consisted of a 3.5 mile incline through the Palisades residential area of Santa Monica then a nice downhill through San Vicente. I felt really good the first loop, ran the whole way, then second loop was considerably slower. I was actually good until mile 12, then that’s where my nutrition failed me. I was out of Gu, and out of Accelerade. The weather was hot, and I could feel myself hitting “The Wall”, or some may say “Bonking”. It definitely felt like I was on that last leg of the marathon, out of energy, and the water fountains just wasn’t enough – I had to walk. I was feeling a little dizzy, then my teammate who passed by was a life saver and gave me some shot blocks to help with my energy.

That was the longest mile ever! I eventually made it, but man! I learned the hard way that nutrition is something I should not overlook. I knew right there and then though that I am capable of doing such a distance, but the big unknowns will be the energy spent on the swim, and the intensity levels on the bike and run. I’m a little nervous, but I can’t wait!!!

Apr 5, 2011    |      0 comments

TOMS One Day Without Shoes

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!

Apr 2, 2011    |      0 comments

Oh Mandy!

Today was pretty much a mini-triathlon in Santa Monica. After the ocean swim, we biked north on Ocean and did the Amalfi Hills and up to Mandeville Canyon, and popular climbing ride here. We had to climb up “Mandy” twice, and by my facial expression above, it’s no easy feat. It was hard to imagine that this week was even called “recovery.” What the! Coming down the hill, I had some issues with my bike clips not attaching to my pedals. Tried multiple times, and it just would not clip in! Maybe it was a rock, or it was dirty. Eventually, it clipped in, but maybe 80% of the descent, I was spinning on one leg. I was one of the last cyclists in because of this complication, then a 30 minute run was in order. Again, another complication – maybe 5 minutes in, I noticed my run watch didn’t START. Doh! My mileage on the watch said 2666?? Mileage wasn’t increasing, so I was pretty much winging it by the time. Oh well, I think it wasn’t picking up the GPS correctly, so it just bonked on me. It better not do this on raceday! Overall, a lot of learning was done today despite the setbacks on all 3 sports. I can only be positive about it and look forward to the next practice!

Apr 2, 2011    |      1 comment

First Open Water Ocean Swim

This morning was the team’s first open water OCEAN swim in Santa Monica. We met at the Santa Monica Beach parking lot off the end of Ocean Park Avenue bright and early at 7am. As we were setting up our transition areas, I could already hear the waves crashing. Yes, I was nervous! We suited up in our wetsuits and walked over to the shore. Like the Long Beach swim, we were split into beginners and experienced ocean swimmers. *waves crashing*. Coach Brad gave us some pointers and described what we will be experiencing out there.

The waves were much larger than yesterday, where some of the experienced swimmers got a head start. Sure, they looked kinda small from the shore, but when you’re in the water and your head is the only things sticking out, a medium wave looks HUGE from that perspective. I tried several times diving under the waves, but I guess the wetsuits were so buoyant that I didn’t go far enough. Yes, dragged back to shore. All of a sudden I was back in shallow water. Coach had explained before the swim that there’s this part in the water that you can just get stuck if you don’t power through a few minutes under and through the water.

You have to remember that this was my FIRST ocean water swim. I wasn’t used to being under water for that long, holding my breath. There were times where I was underwater, panicking what direction I was heading, how deep I was, so when I finally surfaced, my heart was racing. After several tries, I had to go back. I didn’t even get to finish the scheduled lap, but at least now I know how it feels. We will have more chances to conquer this in the future, from Santa Monica to Manhattan Beach. Bring it!

Here’s the team after the swim!

Mar 31, 2011    |      0 comments

I Heart CA

Ain’t gonna lie – I love CA. Here’s a view of Manhattan Beach during my lunchbreak from work. It’s only a little over a mile to get here and the breeze was lovely!

Mar 29, 2011    |      0 comments

Snake

Tonight marked another milestone in my training! It was an hour and a half practice at the Culver City Plunge, and swam a total of 3050 yards!

What does that look like?

1×300 – Swim 100, kick 100, swim 100
1×50 – Stroke count
6×50 – One arm drill declining switch, First 50 switch every 6 strokes, next 50 5, etc
2×50 – Stroke count down
4×50 – Drills, 50 one arm, 50 hipe slap repeat
2×50 – Stroke count down, swim back dropping 2 strokes
1×50 – Stroke count each lap
2×100 – Easy first 75 then croc the tail for last 25
4×400 – Sighting 1x per lap
1×150 – Long Glides

I was 150 into the last 400, so I was short 400 yards, but we snaked for 400 yards in the end. What is a snake? We all started at the deep end of the pool, swam down the lane, go under the lap rop, swim back, and zig zag. Once we’re at the end, we got out of the pool, walked to the start again and repeat. We had to go at full effort the first loop, then the second was lower. 50 cooldown.

Yes, it was intense. Yes, it was difficult, but it was probably the best swim I’ve ever had. I was keeping up with the rest of the team, and was very aware of my technique and what I had to do to correct it. It was a bit refreshing because it was a little warm out and the water was nice and cool. I can confidently say I “got it”.

Mar 26, 2011    |      0 comments

Wildflower Long Course Simulation

Since the rainstorm foiled our training plans at Wildflower last weekend, our coaches put together a “Wildflower Long Course” simulation ride. Although not as hilly as WIldflower, they wanted to add in a pretty nasty (hence the nickname “Nasty Grade”) climb after 45 or so miles. Check the elevation chart above. Yes, that steep! The ride down was scary fun though! There were a few Category 5(see definitions here) climbs sprinkled in there as well. We had a time limit of 5 hours, so if we were back at home base (Zuma Parking Lot) before that, we had to continue riding south and estimate a turnaround spot to make the 5 hours. The great thing about coming back early was that we had an opportunity to make this the longest ride yet this season. The downside? More hills! Yes, hills at the 65 mile mark! My total bike mileage of the day was 72! Woohoo!

Practice wasn’t over yet! There was an hour more of running, which equates to about 6 miles! Luckily, I didn’t expend all my energy on the bike, so my run was pretty normal – started off very quick (~8:15 pace) with high cadence, then stabilized at around 9:15 pace. I was surprised at how much energy I still had by the end. I think my nutrition plan was working for me really well, and thankfully the weather wasn’t too warm outside. I’m just so happy how far the team has come. We’re all getting that much closer to our goal, plus we’re all bonding so well. I love my team! Go TEAM!

Mar 21, 2011    |      1 comment

WFTW WTF FTW

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.
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Mar 14, 2011    |      0 comments

Austin SXSW Half Marathon

I’m was in Austin, TX for a few days for SXSW Interactive, so I missed some IronTEAM practices and workouts. My schedule has been pretty hectic lately that it was tough to schedule in some sort of workout. The schedule for SXSW is rough, as the panels and discussions start at 8am, and continue on at night for networking events and parties til 2am. Most of the panels were worthwhile except one morning, so I took the opportunity to run a little bit.

My initial intention was to just run a loop around the river, which was about 6 miles, but I just felt so good that I kept running for another loop and then some and ended up being a half marathon. Unfortunately I did not have my Garmin GPS watch, so I downloaded the RunKeeper GPS app on my iPhone. The GPS was sporadic so it wasn’t very accurate, but according to the GMaps Pedometer online, I indeed ran about 13.1 miles.

The course was fairly flat, scenery was calm, not too many runners since it was a Monday, and it was rather gloomy. There were sponsored water stops which helped me a lot because I pushed myself to skip any walk breaks, and stepped up my pace a bit too. I was on a slight time crunch because time was ticking as SXSW was still going on and I didn’t want to miss anymore events. It was a really good detox from all the Austin partying the previous nights before, so I was very refreshed for another round!

Mar 10, 2011    |      0 comments

Strip at Night

Get your minds out of the gutter! I’m talking about Strip at Night, this year’s Rock N Roll Las Vegas Marathon! There was a lot of hype behind this announcement of this December event, because it will be a nighttime run! Earlier today, I registered for the FULL marathon! Sounds super fun, right? Well… there will be two big factors that will decide how fun it is – 1) weather: it’s going to be COLD. One year it was 30 degrees! Oh don’t forget those desert winds! 2) Cutoff Time: this year’s cutoff is 4:30! My PR for a full is 4:58. Who knows what training for the IronMan will do to improve my time (although it already has for the half @ 2:01 vs 2:30 originally), but I’ll give it a try! Vegas will be my third marathon in three months at the end of the year, which will qualify me for Marathon Maniacs, another side goal of mine that I’d want to check off my list. The other 2 marathons before Vegas will be the Portland Marathon in Oregon and the Rock N Roll Savannah Marathon in Georgia. Can’t wait!

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