My Latest Move

Long Run Monday

2012-02-21T09:14:00.000-08:00

&lt;p&gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;a href="http://www.mapmyride.com/routes/view/70241042"&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;A ride mapped on 02/20/2012&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/a&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt; and more rides in San Dimas, CA on MapMyRIDE. &amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;a href="http://www.mapmyride.com"&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;Find ride&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/a&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt; &amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&lt;/p&gt;

Somewhere in the Middle of a Training Plan

2012-02-13T10:33:00.000-08:00

I just finished the half way point of my training plan for St George and so far I feel great. I am not too tired, not injured, and really enjoying the training.

Surprisingly I find there is a lot of time in a week. I work full time and train and still have time to spend with my husband, watch plenty of TV and read. That being said I do have to be very organized with my time and I avoid taking part in activities that are going make me overly tired (i.e. excessively drinking).

There are a few things I'm changing going forward:

somehow I have to manage to move my long run to a week day. Sometimes I get lazy and prefer to do long run on the weekends but if I get it in during a weekday it will give me a better chance to focus on the weekend bike workouts.

I can't decide on running shoes. I really love my asics but I find they wear out quickly. I am also running in nike running shoes but i have come to realize I prefer the asics. I am thinking I am going to buy some soon in order to get them ready to go for the ironman.

I am not looking at anyone's training for St George (even if I am curious) or telling anyone about my volume for St George. Extra opinions don't count at this stage.

No more fast food until after IM

only 11 wks. Time to get serious

End of January

2012-02-01T09:27:00.000-08:00

Somehow it is the end of January. January was an interesting month:

I spent the entire month on the verge of getting a cold. A couple of times I did succumb to the cold but for the most part was able to fight it off. I am feeling much better now.

Took a new job (within same company). It is a similar job than the prior job I was doing but the challenge for this role is that it is not well defined at all. The exciting part of this job is that lack of definition and getting to figure out what to do.

The weather has been amazing in California. I only had one day of weather that impacted my training. Training in Southern California is amazing.

In the month of January I have become fully immersed in training. Essentially I have stopped thinking about How much I have to do and just started to get into the routine and enjoying it.

I have also learned that I am very consistent. There is a cycling group that sees me every Sunday riding my bike. They invited me to ride a long with them but we are starting from different points so makes it hard to get out there.

Being at the end of January means:

9 wks to Oceanside
15 wks to IM St George

Living by Quarters

2012-01-13T09:42:00.000-08:00

As a finance manager there are times in the year that get really busy. Those times include:

Quarterly Closes (First week of Jan, Apr, Jul & Oct)
The quarter close that gets the busiest is the January close because in addition to closing the quarter we are also closing the year
Monthly closes - usually first week of every month
Any forecast weeks

My job schedule sometimes dictates when I can do other more important things: family visits, training, vacation, doctor's appts etc etc. I don't mind this because my job facilitates (money) everything that I do and I actually enjoy it (some weeks more than others). However I always believed that I cannot be defined by my job and that is why I am involved in many other activities. With that in mind I have set my 2012 goals:

Complete IM ST George in under 12:05 - This is faster than my IM AZ time however I did a shuffle for the marathon so have to get better.
Learn a new skill
Make and carry out a big decision

I have big plans for 2012 and as every year I hope it is the best year of my life :)

2011 Review

2012-01-03T10:03:00.000-08:00

Somehow the month of December is already over and we are now in 2012. 2011 flew by. When I started off the year I was unsure where I would be at the end of the year but my main goal was to remain active and involved in triathlon regardless how uncertain everything was.

The first part of the year I was in New York :

January started off quite Chilly

Participated in the usual races including St Patty's day Run

Last Race in NY was the March Madness Biathlon

As of March I was still unsure of where I would be however in mid April we packed our things and made the cross country trip to California.

Tyson enjoyed the cross country trip in particular all the hotel beds

Somehow we found a great place to live with our to Rotties in Pasadena. Pasadena is a great place for triathlon training and one of my biggest worries about moving to California was settled. My concern was that although the weather is great in California that it would be nearly impossible to train beacause of all the traffic. I have worked thru a lot of that. Starting in the Summer we started diving into life in California:

On of my first races in Cali managed to Podium

Celebrated Birthday and Anniversary with a 5K

In July adopted the cutest Thor ever!

Got to race in the Ocean

Thru the summer we did have to get accustomed to the life out here including finding new training spots and getting used to having so many family commitments. Somehow we fit it all in.

New Family Commitments- Birthday Party every week (not an exaggeration)

Made My way back to Long course racing @ Orangeman

Celebrated Halloween with my bro

Ran a Marathon that hurt a lot

This year I also managed to get a bunch of people to participate in sports. This is probably my biggest accomplishment of this year.

Miranda after first Marathon

Fernie at the Start of first Half Ironman

A bunch of my family at their first 5K

The year was a good year for me and my little family:

Awkward Christmas pet Picture

Pretty happy!

Last but not least my totals for the year are:

1303 Run miles - higher than last year by 13 miles!
3620 Bike Miles
261K Swim Yards

The Swim and bike miles are definitely lower but that was expected considering I wasn't training for an Ironman. Regardless, I am pretty happy with how I ended the year and for the first part of this year plan on training pretty hard for IM St George in May.

Reverse Triathlons and Other Stuff

2011-12-12T10:11:00.000-08:00

This weekend I raced the Tinsel Triathlon consisting of a 5K Run/12Mile Bike/150 pool yrd swim. There a number of good reasons to race a sprint triathlon:

Good workout at race pace
Practice using all racing gear and testing new gear
Lots of fun
Racing helps staying sharp and practice race day routine
Practice mastering pre-race jitters

This particular race I also think has a benefit for new triathletes. The course is fairly ez and the pool swim is very secure therefore it is a great first time event for triathletes that just want to get their feet wet before participating in a bigger triathlon.

My race hurt! (But the good sort of pain):

5K run - 23:33 - 21 overall female (out of 356)

Sweaty Mess. I also think I need
to learn how to run

I started off just setting my own pace. There were a few running the standalone 5k so it was hard to gauge the right pace. As the run progressed my legs felt better and I was able to pick up pace. I dressed in cycling pants and long sleeve shirt and by the end of the 5K I was a sweaty mess. This run was actually only about 30 seconds slower than my 5K during the turkey trot.

12 Mile bike - 33:26 21.9MPH - 14th overall female(out of 356)

Winded!

The bike ride was essentially a flat out and back. That meant that once you got to the main street it was getting in the aero bars and just pushing the big gear. It was lots of fun because I was not holding back. I felt a little winded halfway thru the bike but just kept pushing the pace as I knew it was only 12 miles. Because there were faster runners than me I did have to dodge quite a few bikers as I was passing but I never felt the course was too crowded. I was dressed perfectly for the bike ride since it was pretty windy. This is the fastest bike pace i have held during a race.

150 Yrd pool swim - 4th overall female(out of 356)

Warm Pool in the back

In the transition it felt quite weird stripping down for the next event. once in the pool it was just 3 laps of the pool and get out. There were people all over the pool and it was hard to swim hard. I think it was both the number of people in the pool and the fact that i essentially left my legs on the bike course. Considering what I felt like I had a pretty good time in comparison.

Observations

I enjoyed this race a lot. Mainly it was done so quickly but also I was happy to see the number of new people that were there trying it out. I hope they keep it up.

Other things going on :

Ironman training is in full effect. Have gotten fairly solid workouts and good distance. The weather in Southern California has been very helpful to help me get thru the longer workouts.I am very grateful for this.
Technology hates me: In the last 2 weeks I have experience broken washing machine, treadmill, work laptop, internet/cable/phone. Very odd.
I can't believe we are so close to christmas. So many things to do!
My tri bike is back in business thanks to pasadena cyclery. I missed it.

Miranda's Shanghai Marathon Race Report

2011-12-07T08:04:00.001-08:00

I started doing triathlons in 2007 to do something outside of just working. Since then I have had tons of fun and adventures. One person that has had to listen to hours of my tri talk has been good friend and former office mate Miranda. Apparently, I somehow convinced her to run a marathon but really all I did was give her a box of Gu. I just received this email on her first Marathon:

Start Line

Hey Marcia-

So overall my first marathon experience was great. I finished in 5 hours and 30 minutes. On one hand I am disappointed that I did not make my goal time of 5 hours but on the other hand I don't give a shit because I ran the entire thing without stopping. The weather was absolutely perfect and I felt great the entire run.

Running

The first 8 miles went by really fast, unfortunately it was the most exciting part of the course. After the bridge (which I had no problem climbing the 1.3M uphill entrance ramp) that took us to the other side of town it was pretty boring running through industrial parks and last year's expo site which is now like a ghost town.

The last 10K was running underneath an elevated highway bridge so I am sure you can imagine the fun in that.

All Done

Peter and my cheering squad of 9 were at the 20 mile mark waiting for me which was a big boost in my energy given there were few spectators for most of the run. It also helped to distract me from the fact that across from the 20 mile mark was the finish line which I had to run past :(

The last 5K was pretty tough as my legs and feet were starting to feel really tired and most of the people around me were walking at that point (some even talking on the phone!) but it felt good to power along past them to get to the finish. I have to admit I got a tear in my eye as I crossed the finish line as I was pretty proud to have completed the race and was able to run the entire thing.

Recovery Drink

Recovery has been interesting, by about 9pm that night I was in agony with my ankles and knees aching really bad but I woke up in the morning and that had gone away and I didn't feel too bad.

Of course the soreness in my quads progressively got worse throughout the day yesterday. Now on recovery day 2 my quads are even more sore, I plan to get a massage this evening.

I do think I will run a marathon again since I need to improve on that time, but definitely one that has a more exciting course.

Thanks so much for all your support and coaching (as well as the GU!) it all helped me so much! Maybe the next one we can do together!! :)

Regards,
Miranda

I think she is hooked! Miranda is a great inspiration for getting out there and getting it done and Yes we will run a marathon together.

Thanksgiving Break Report

2011-11-29T07:53:00.001-08:00

Thanksgiving weekend ended up being a very busy weekend. We kicked off the festivities by going to the Claremont Turkey Trot. I somehow managed to convince 13 people that running 5k on Thanksgiving Morning would be a good time.

Abraham's Entourage

Matt, Zuha, Aunt and Gramdma Ready

Everyone had a great time and had varied results:

My youngest brother got a 2 minute PR in the 5K.
9 First timers completed the race including my Grandmother who finished strong.
I ended up 2nd in my age group but it was not a PR. I still felt pretty good considering I ran a marathon a few weeks ago.
The most important result was that everyone in the group talked about improving their time the next time and how they are going to train.

Erica, Abraham and Dad

Mom and Dad

Finishing up the Swim

After the turkey trot we went home and had good food and good times. The second big event of the weekend was the turkey tri. For the second time in the last few years we did a relay. I kicked off the event by swimming in really cold water.

Dad and Macca

My dad did the bike portion. He still had some mechanicals on the bike but they were not as bad as the last time. Lesson learned: tune up bike prior to racing. He also got a chance to meet Macca at the race. Macca was super fast.

Waiting in transition

Finally the hubby took the last leg of the race with the run. Given the very busy he had the run was not his best (5K on thursday, a complete day of Airsoft on friday, long ride on saturday) the run was not his best but he ended up having a good time.

Other notable events during the week include the realization that I know nothing of bikes. Thank goodness for Pasadena Cyclery that has managed to fix my bike despite my ignorance. And finally I came back to work without a working laptop. I cannot begin to describe how stressing/difficult it is to have no laptop. All in all Thanksgiving was a blast!

Thanksgiving Week!

2011-11-21T08:36:00.001-08:00

Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays because of the family gatherings, good food and fun activities that are tied to it. A couple of thanksgiving fun facts:

For the first time since 2002 (my first year at Notre Dame) I will not have to travel during Thanksgiving. I will not be missing the airports.
Last year I was recovering from IM AZ and swore I would not do another Ironman again (Guess that wasn't true).

On Thanksgiving day we are participating in the Claremont Sunrise Rotary Turkey trot. And by we I mean the group of 14 I registered for the turkey trot. This group includes everyone from my grandmother, younger brother to my cousin's friend. My grandmother was quite concerned that this was a marathon and has been practicing quite a bit. I finally clarified to her it was a 5k and she is very relieved. That being said I am pretty sure she is going to crush it.

On Sunday we are doing a relay at the Turkey Tri. I am doing the swim, my dad is doing the bike and my hubby the run. I plan on going all out on that swim.

The boys at Airsoft

In the middle of all of this there will be lots of family gatherings, ironman training and I am sure my husband is going to try to get in some time in his new hobby(Air Soft).

All in all this should be a fun week and I am excited.

P.S. Did you know that Cat's body heat runs at about 102 degrees? I learned this as I found out that Thor will place himself in front of the heater and sleep there whenever it is on.

Thor sleeping in front of heater

More Recovering & Training Partner

2011-11-14T10:10:00.001-08:00

This weekend had lots of recovery from working out although I did end up feeling quite tired by Sunday night.

West Nile Virus @ Santa Fe Dam

Saturday proved the statement "it does not rain in California" is wrong. We got another soggy day which made for some lonely cycling. Apparently no one cycles if there is a hint of a sprinkle.

While out and about on Saturday I discovered there is potential contamination of West Nile at the Santa Fe Dam. I will be purchasing some mosquito repellent.

Saturday Night
shenanigans

Saturday night I stayed up way too late with my hubby, his brother and brother's wife which made Sunday pretty much a complete recovery day. I am not sure how people stay up late every weekend. Instead of going to bike and swim I decided to enjoy my last day before the start of St George training by napping, movie watching and eating.

The brother (Fernie) mentioned above has also signed up for IM St George in May. (well I sort of convinced him). This will be his first Ironman and will be training partner for the next few months.

Fernie

Fernie's wife (Gloria) is somewhat concerned of Ironman Training. Mainly how much time has to be spent doing this.

I am hoping that by the end of this training adventure that bro in law does not kill me for convincing him this will be fun. Also that his wife does not kill me for getting her husband to go work out a lot.

Gloria - Still Happy

Hubby is very supportive but went out and got a hobby that takes up a lot of time too so we should be all good.

My motto "Its ok. Its gonna be fun"

Recovery Week

2011-11-11T09:37:00.000-08:00

Recovery from the marathon disaster went really well this week.

Finish Line Picture. My face looks a little gray.

Sunday:

Lots and lots of pain after the marathon and sat around after sitting around in compression socks all day

Monday:

Soreness was now manageable and just some tightness. Rest day #1

Tuesday:

Soreness was gone. Rest day #2

Rest of the Week:

I ended up being quite consumed about two things. The first one is lap swim time at the rose bowl. Turns out that the best time for me to swim is after work. Lap swim time does not start until 7:45. I am worried about my motivation level at that hour once I get into the full swing of ironman training. I decided that I am going to have to stop worrying about this and just take it day by day. I'll make it work and if I dont stop worrying I am going to get burned out before we even being.

The second thing was my performance in the marathon. Honestly I need to do another race to get the feeling of my bad marathon out of me. It has given me great motivation to get out there and really go all out in a race to see what I can do. I know I sound crazy but it has been bugging me the entire week.

Recovery weeks are interesting because you get a lot of time to think of random things given I have so much energy. :)

Fail! The Santa Clarita Marathon Race Report

2011-11-06T19:22:00.000-08:00

Note: I am writing this report while still in pain and just wrote down how I am feeling. One of the reasons I love endurance sports is that even what is technically a failure I still good about what I just did.

Short Version

I ran a 4:06 Marathon. This is slower than my last marathon by ~ 14 minutes. I just didn't have the mileage under me to run a good marathon. This being said I am sitting here satisfied.

Long Version

Pre-race:

As I was driving to Santa Clarita I realized that I made a huge mistake by not checking the weather. On the way to the marathon I ran into a rain storm and I hoped that it was just passing thru however that was not the case. So as I got to the race I was very under dressed with short and just a technical t-shirt. I decided to start with the hoodie I had on. It was better than nothing. Other than that I felt good. My stomach felt great my legs felt good and I was ready to go.

Miles 1-15:

We basically had either rain or clouds and wind for this stretched. I had soaked my hoodie by 1.5 miles so at that point had to ditch it because it weighed about 20 pounds. My legs were frozen. My arms were frozen. I didn't realize just how bad until i tried to reach for a water cup and couldn't stretch my fingers. Starting at 8 Miles I considered running the half marathon, but decided against it because I came to run a marathon. I was feeling fairly good at this point maybe that is one of the benefits of running frozen you don't feel pain

Miles 16-18:

Finally the sun decided to make an appearance and I finally started feeling some blood trickle thru my hands and legs.

Miles 19-25:

I hit the wall. My legs were just tired and I stopped being able to maintain a good cadence. I started to do the walk 2 minutes and run 8 and that seemed to help momentarily but I just didn't have it and I faded badly. At around 22 miles I actually felt dizzy and was having a hard time focusing. By the time I got to mile 25 I was ready for the thing to be over.

Last 1.2 Miles:
I had nothing left. I was running just to get to the finish line but my legs felt like they weighed like 100 pounds each. All of a sudden I was engulfed by the kids running the kids 1k and they were going so fast I tried to focus on them but I really had left it out all on the course so just basically limped my way in.

Observations

I was prepared to run a half marathon not a full marathon. I should have listened to my gut. I needed more mileage. Endurance sports are hard for me and I need volume/harder work to get better results.
I am glad I did the marathon as I learned about myself out there.
Last year while watching the NYC marathon I said I wished I could be out there running. Although I didn't run that one I am very happy i got another marathon in and not sitting here wishing I had run the NYC marathon again.
I highly recommend the Santa Clarita Marathon. The city of Santa Clarita is a beautiful venue and they actually manged a 26 mile race on mostly trails. The race was well organized, logistics were ez and relatively flat.
Lesson learned - Even though I live in California I should check the weather.

Marathon coming up and Good weather

2011-10-31T16:16:00.000-07:00

Time is flying by. It feels like just yesterday that I was recovering from the suffer-fest of Orangeman. This weekend it is already time for the Santa Clarita marathon is this weekend and the weather looks great with a high of 65.

I am not nervous although I did contemplate switching to the half marathon. I am confident I can run 26 miles but I am not so confident in the time it will take me so I am not stressing about it and enjoy the run. My goal is to run faster than my last marathon (faster than 3:52). I can do this because:

I have run about the same as my last marathon training
Consistency in my running since my last marathon
I feel good

This all being said, this is going to be a tough challenge.

In other news my decision to move to California was supported by the weather this weekend. There was a snow storm this weekend and my old work place actually looks like this:

Somers, NY

Meanwhile, I got to experience another nice weekend in So Cal

San Gabriel Bike Trail

River by San Gabriel Trail

Clear skies all the way out to downtown LA however
because of crappy camera cannot really see

Finally I am reconsidering my recovery strategy after the marathon this weekend. However I wont actually determine that until after I run the marathon.

Feeling Energized

2011-10-27T08:12:00.000-07:00

I started doing triathlons sometime in 2006. From 2007 - 2010 I typically felt tired/burnt out by the time October/November rolled around. This year it is quite different. I am 2 weeks out from the Santa Clarita Marathon and 4 weeks away from the 'official' start of my IM St. George training and feeling very ready to start training.

Beautiful Streets of Pasadena

Running the last 3 weeks has been great:

I discovered great places to do long runs in the last 3 weeks (Santa Ana River Trail and the streets of Pasadena)

Realized that my legs are somehow used the the pounding of running

My comfortable run pace has come down by at least 30 seconds in the last few months.

My favorite shoes

All the good running points to a potentially good marathon. I have at least as many running miles as my last marathon effort so curious to see what is going to come out in 2 weeks. On that note I have nothing overly exciting this week other than getting anxious to get out there and race.

Solid Week of Training

2011-10-17T16:50:00.000-07:00

This week I had another solid week of training. There is lots to think about when running six days a week and also lots to see

Good Year Blimp navigating Pasadena

On Tuesday as I was out and about running I ran into the Good Year Blimp which was pretty entertaining but I don't know what event they were promoting:

Fall back where are you?

On Wed and Thursday I was out and about at 6 AM and had to really wonder about when we are going to have some daylight in the morning. Lately it seems it is dark until 6:40 making for some interesting dark morning runs.

I also started to walk Tyson this week. I have not seen the old pup so happy as the last few days. He really enjoys and demands his walks now.

On Friday and Saturday I had the pleasure of heading down to the NSHMBA conference in Anaheim which brought back memories of my good time management skills and commuting demands.

Traffic on Way to Anaheim. How do people do it every day?

A few things I had to worry about with attending the conference:

1) waking up bright and early to get runs in.
2) having energy to have good runs
3) Commuting to Anaheim
4) Making sure not to get really tired with all of the standing and recruiting at the conference

Nerd in bed early on Fri/Sat Night

The conference was a blast and got to talk to a lot of bright people. Once again because of the training schedule I had to pass up on a couple of "celebrations" and elected to go to bed early. Sticking to training schedules is very difficult but fear of not being able to finish a race usually wins. That being said I did get a hard time from many different folks this weekend. Being an "athlete" really sucks sometimes and makes me wonder why I do this crap. But at the end of the day I would rather do this than going out.

After successfully managing not to be exhausted from Fri/Sun I got in a run that made me feel really confident. I ran the 18.2Miles below:
&lt;p&gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;a href="http://www.mapmyride.com/routes/view/54599698"&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;A ride mapped on 10/16/2011&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/a&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;br/&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;a href="http://www.mapmyride.com/routes/?location=Pasadena, CA"&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;Find more Cycling Routes / Bike Rides in Pasadena, CA&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/a&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&lt;/p&gt;

At the end of the run I felt great and never felt out of energy. I knew this run was going to give me a good indication of how my marathon training is going so I am glad it went well. After that I spent the day resting with my crew.

Thor napping

4 Weeks from a Marathon

2011-10-11T16:47:00.000-07:00

The first week of my marathon training block was relatively successful. For the week I got in 42.5 run miles and spent a lot of time focusing on recovery and hydration. The week was as follows:

Monday - Yoga
Tuesday - 6 Mile run and leg strength session
Wednesday - 4 Mile run and 60 minute trainer session with 10 minute hard intervals
Thursday - 5 Mile run,1600 yrds at the pool and leg strength session
Friday - 6 Mile run and Yoga
Saturday - 6.1 hilly run @ eaton Canyon and 1:15 bike ride with intervals. I was glad to run at Eaton canyon as it broke up the routine of running thru streets of Pasadena and I didn't have to actually drive anywhere to get there.

Very Hilly Run

Sunday - 15.4 Mile run at Santa Ana River trail and 1600 yrds at the pool. Running at the Santa Ana trail was really nice as I was able to run with my dad and Arvy. Also there are plenty of spots to get water along the way not only for humans but for the pups too.

Happy Dog!

After the big running week I am concerned about a little tweak that I am feeling in my left knee. I have been doing a lot of icing and some leg strengthening to make sure that I don't injure it. So far I feel great. Now If only i could wake up early to get my runs done in the morning this would have been the perfect week!

2011-10-07T07:39:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was the 4th time in the last five days I have woken up to the following:

To make things more interesting I am not waking up for some super training routine I have planned. I am waking up for a work meeting at 5AM which I try to be coherent for. Welcome to the quarter close! (Please Note: I am not complaining as the reason i am doing this is because I get to live on the west coast and that makes me very happy)

These days are definitely the hardest to stay consistent with training and I find that the best way to get thru it is not to view working out as optional. For example, I don't ever treat eating, sleeping and work as optional. So I treat training the same way. Set a schedule and stick with it!

So my day included:

4:40am - wake up
4:40am-5:00am try to boot my lap top. It takes about 10 minutes to get started.
5:00AM - 4:30 PM work meetings with a few breaks in between to get lunch and answer emails
4:30 PM - Cleaned up inbox and started getting excited about my working out
5:00 PM Trainer ride for 60 minutes
6:00 PM 4 Mile run
7:00 Finally dinner time and rest time.

All I have to say is thank goodness i didn't have to drive any where cause at no time did i feel rushed to get everything in. Today, I slept in to 6:40 and feeling freaking great!!! I believe the quarter close inserted into the schedule in order to test us for how well we can keep our sanity, our time management, and our dedication to working out. Take that quarter close, I worked out!

P.S.

The other thing on my mind is my schedule for Saturday. The IM world championships are this weekend I am looking forward to watching them. The race starts at 9:30 AM in California. So I am thinking I am going to go run/bike prior to the race starting. Yes, I am actually setting aside to follow a race that lasts over 8 hrs and am excited about it!

Five weeks until a marathon

2011-10-03T16:19:00.000-07:00

I decided not to retire. Instead I started training for the Santa Clarita Marathon which is scheduled for November 6th. The race is only 5 wks away.

When I signed up it appeared that it appeared that I would have plenty of time between Orangeman and the marathon. Still feeling that way but I am going to have to be super disciplined in the next 5 weeks. This new discipline would include:

Eating right - even on the weekends
Staying hydrated
Sleeping

I am also going to introduce some leg strengthening exercises to the daily routine and yoga on my recovery days. For as disciplined I am about getting my workouts in, for the life of me I don't understand why I can't follow all of the above. I plan to change this.

Luckily, last week was a pretty good recovery week. My legs are feeling strong and mentally I feel ready for the training.

I can't descend

2011-10-01T08:04:00.000-07:00

I thought I was done with Orangeman observations but then today I saw that geminitiming posted the splits of the bike ascent and the bike descent of the course and I did this:

Let me give you some facts:

My Bike ascent time was 1:58.
This time was 207th OA
29th OA female
5th in my age group.

Now you may be thinking this is not a big deal. Its slow but we already knew that. Let me tell you about the descent:

My Bike ascent time was 1:26.
This time was 291th OA, 81 spots lower than my ascent.
49th OA female, 20 spots lower than my ascent
8th in my age group - 3 spots lower than my ascent.

I should just retire.

Orangeman Race Report - Part 2

2011-09-27T17:35:00.000-07:00

This is the part 2 of my race report. I had a lot to say

Bike (3:24 - 32nd OA Female)

As you may recall, this was my biggest concern. Right upfront I am going to say that my road bike was absolutely the right bike to take to this race. Lots of people took their tri bikes but I saw very few people using aerobars. The bike route is really 4 portions.

From transition to Ortega highway

Climbing Ortega Highway: This section starts off with a bunch of rolling hills although we are gaining elevation. Most of the rolling hills I was in the big chain ring. Finally about mile 18 is when the real fun begins and the true climbing starts. At this point my legs were feeling good. I estimated it would take me about 2 hours to get to the top of Ortega but I started to get concerned when I didn't see people really coming back down the mountain. After a while I finally started to see people on the descent which meant I had to be close. I asked a guy how much left and he informed me we were 2 Miles away from the top. This was a relief because it indicated I was on track to make my 2 hour estimate. At this point I decided I better eat before the descent as I was not going to be able to eat while going down. So I took some gu again but was unable to eat any of my cliff bar and finally I made it to the top.

Descending Ortega Highway: The first portion of the descent was fast and I actually was able to enjoy most of it. I find the more tired I am after a ride the more risks I am able to take. Although I wasn't getting too crazy I was taking more risks than usual. The second portion of the descent was not as ez as everyone anticipated. In reality it was more rolling hills than actual descending and at this point my back was tight so I basically took all of the hills in the big chain right and climbed standing up. The change in position really helped out and I felt more energetic. At this point I still wasn't eating but I forced half a cliff bar down and washed it down with water and immediately I felt a little dizzy so I poured water on my face and immediately I felt better and I decided I would let myself get hungry before trying to eat again.

From Ortega back to transition Again this was like a test in bike handling skills with lots of pathways and narrow places to go to. The worse part of this section is a steep incline about 2 miles from transition. At this point i just was spinning up the hill but I was told people stopped and walked bikes. A guy that was climbing next to me didn't have the right gearing and he was definitely pedaling squares at an extremely low cadence. This was probably the hardest climb all day.

RUN (2:14 - 30 OA Female)

Climbing up nearing end of first finish

I came into transition knowing that I wasn't feeling great because I wasn't eating too much. However I didn't expect what was about to hit me. I started off not great at all but I knew that if I just kept focusing on moving forward I would get past the low.

At that point we started to climb really steep hills. I got to the first aid station and realized there would be no coke. For the rest of the run all I could think of was "all I want is one stinking coke." I had to make due with gu, oranges, water and gatorade. But nothing compares to a coke during a long run.

Fernie after his first lap

Once I accepted the no coke issue I just focused on putting one foot in front of the other and just focusing on getting it done. I wasn't feeling bad or great. But the hills on this course were very punishing. I had not once considered it they would be this hard but kept focusing on what was immediately in front of me not on what was left.

I found that by taking it one section at the time I was able to get it done. By the time the second loop came my legs were not happy but I kept pushing on. Finally I made it to the last mile where I saw Fernie on his way out for the second loop. I said a few words of encouragement but I was relieved to almost be done.

I am finishing!!

Somehow I made it to the end feeling more exhausted/accomplished than at any other Half IM I have done and turns out we ran 14 miles not 13! This must be the reason it was so much harder than Timberman ( just kidding, there were so many other things that the extra mile was just icing on the cake).

After the race I ran into my teammate Dean from G&T but I was so pooped and fighting nausea that I am not sure what I said exactly. Dean I apologize for not being friendlier wish we would have talked prior to the race since it appeared we were racked next to eachother.

Observations:

1) Orangeman is held in Dana Point/San Juan Capistrano. If you haven't been it is a great area to visit

2) This race is brutal - Training on run/bike hills is absolutely necessary

3) Don't eat leftovers for dinner especially really late in the evening

4) I am pretty happy with the race as I was able to answer a few of my questions and had a blast in the process of finding out.

5) I am so happy the weather for the race was mild. I don't even want to imagine if it would have been a hot day since the run course has no shade.
6) recovery is key ... I am afraid the Half IM has given me a cold.

Glad To Be Done

Orangeman Race Report Part One

2011-09-27T17:30:00.000-07:00

Short Version

BRUTAL Course
6:17 total time
5th in Age group, 25th OA woman

Long Version

Pre Race:

On Saturday afternoon, we headed down to San Juan Capistrano for race meeting and packet pickup. Once we got there I was reminded of how beautiful that area is. We had a good lunch at an Italian place and headed over to the meeting. The meeting was very long but very informative. After that I headed straight to the hotel to put just relax. That is when the trouble started.

Given we were in such a nice area a few folks decided to come out to party with my hubby. The hard part of having people come out is feeling left out from the fun. There were lots of questions as to why anyone would try to go to bed at 8PM. That being said, I knew that the next day was going to be hard and I needed all the rest I could get. Then while sitting in the hotel room I decided to have the leftovers from earlier in the day. This was a mistake as I was still full in the morning making it hard to have breakfast at 4AM.

Regardless, we finally made it to race morning. I set up transition and felt my stomach feel a little funny. I was not sure if it was nerves or still being full but I was really excited to finally get out there and race.

Abraham and Erica coming to cheer us on

As we headed down to the beach we realized we were going to get pretty good conditions in the swim. However I couldn't get rid of the funny stomach feeling and this is when I asked myself my usual question "WHY DO I DO THIS?".

Bro-in Law Fernie in his first Half IM

SWIM (32:10 - 6th OA woman)

The swim finally came and I was feeling much more relaxed once I got past asking why I would ever do this.

As I mentioned the swim was pretty ideal and I was ready to roll. I lined up near in the front as I wanted to get into those waves ahead the group At that point a strong set of waves came in but I didn't have any issues getting into the water or the first buoy.

Running to the waves

After the first buoy everyone got lost. The entire wave prior to mine swam to the wrong buoy. As we were following them we also swam the wrong way. I couldn't see any buoy to swim to so I followed. Finally a lifeguard pointed us in the right direction and I actually was the first one in my group to spot it so about 4 girls jumped onto my feet.

Once we made it to that buoy, the next buoy was no where to be found so I let one of the other girls tow us around for a while. Somehow we all made it to the right buoy and started to swim to the swim exit. This part of the race was really fun as the waves were basically pushing us towards shore. I actually managed to body surf a wave to the beach (What a rush!!).

T1 Transition one deserves its own section because we had to run from the beach to transition basically up the side of a cliff. I would say the distance is about a quarter of mile from but all up hill. By the time I made it to my bike I was completely out of breath and I was taking it ez in the run up the hill. This transition should have been an indication of the things to come later on in the race.

Part 2 in a different Post because this is too long

The Truth...

2011-09-20T16:02:00.000-07:00

The reality of this week is that I cannot stop thinking about the bike course for this weekend. To be honest, this is one course I would have loved to pre-ride or at least hear someone's experience in riding it. That is the bad thing about doing first year races. No one knows what to expect from the course. Things I am currently contemplating:

1) Road bike vs Tri bike - My tri bike is faster. That is a fact. I am worried that by taking a road bike I am actually going to just slow myself down with something I can control. That being said, I don't think I will be in my aero bars much during this course so the benefit of the aero bars is not really there.

2) How steep is really the climb? 3000 Ft of climbing over 28 Miles doesn't seem that steep.

3) How technical is the descent? I have been practicing and am comfortable but still wonder

4) How fast are the men going to be zooming past? There are 3 waves of men going after my wave. I am sure I am going to get buzzed a few times on the way down.

5) Can I make my goal time? Last year at Timberman I biked 2:57. I believe this course has about the same climbing. If I average 14MPH on the way up I have to average 28 MPH on the way back down to get to 3Hrs. I have NO clue how realistic it is to go up Ortega in 14MPH.

Looking forward to finding out all of this on sunday....

Race Week

2011-09-19T09:31:00.000-07:00

Race week has come. The race organizer finally sent out swim waves and it felt very real.

2011 ORANGEMAN HALF-DISTANCE TRIATHLON
WAVE	START	CATEGORY	CAP COLOR	AS OF 9/16/11
1	7:00 AM	ELITES, RELAYS, AQUABIKE, CLYDES, ATHENA & OPEN WATER SWIM	WHITE	123
2	7:03 AM	ALL FEMALES	PURPLE	135
3	7:06 AM	MALE 20-34	RED	83
4	7:09 AM	MALE 35-44	YELLOW	141
5	7:12 AM	MALE 45 & Up	BRIGHT ORANGE	144
6	7:15 AM	Special Swim Wave	BRIGHT GREEN	23
TOTAL				649

A few things:

I already double checked to make sure I was registered! Don't want to show up and find out I forgot to do that
Fernie is doing his first Half IM and goes in the wave 3 minutes after mine. I remember how scared I was prior to my first IM. He seems to be handling much better.
Bike is still in the shop getting race ready. Get that back on Wed. I am going to go with the road bike given all of the climbing and descending we are gonna have to do. (Final answer... maybe)
I am very curious to see my performance in this race. My training has been very different than before and for some reason it feels like I have done less training. When I look at the numbers it is comparable when I have trained for other 70.3's so I think it is a mental thing.
I forgot to drink lots of water this weekend so I am feeling dehydrated and will work on that this week.
I need some good race pictures to come out of this race. Tri pics are just not flattering and I need a good one for my banner on the blog.

ONLY 5 DAYS AWAY!!

The Taper

2011-09-16T08:56:00.000-07:00

This week I started my taper for Orangeman. I am finding tapering very odd. So far I have gone thru the following:

I have found more time to sleep BUT I realized that I could sleep even more.
On wed I did a 40 minute run and got a stinging pain on the arch of my foot. It felt like a splinter stuck in my foot. It hurt so bad when I went to the pool a few hours later I was slightly limping. I tried not to think about it too much and when I woke up the next day the pain was completely gone. Starting to wonder if I was making up the pain.
With more time I have actually had time to start planning for my marathon in November. I am really looking forward to the marathon. However I have the odd feeling that I would like to be doing more to prepare for it but really can't at the moment. NEED to focus on one thing at a time and enjoy the race i have coming up
This morning, I was unable to wake up and was actually 10 minutes late to work. Considering I work from home being late is quite an achievement
In addition to being late I am SORE. Muscle recovery ( I HOPE)
Other than my 40 minute run all of my workouts have felt great. At the pool I was in the 1:20-1:25/100yd range, and on the bike I felt great.
I have not started to worry about getting out of shape yet because I am not working out as much. I am sure that is coming over the weekend

Needless to say would really want to next week to fly by to get to race morning.

F 30-34 Age Group

2011-09-14T11:10:00.000-07:00

Over the weekend the 70.3 championship took place. This weekend I realized how much race coverage has changed since I started doing triathlon since 2006 (I think). One can now watch the live coverage from Ironman, follow updates from twitter, and follow discussions on slowtwitch.

Because of all of this access I was able to follow along the race for the Ladies' 30 to 35 age group (my age group). A few observations:

Prior to this weekend I had no idea who was in the top 5 in my age group. I followed a few blogs but it is crazy how much info is out there
Women in their thirties are fast. The ladies that were on the podium for this age group are practically throwing down pro times.
All of the ladies are clearly hardworking and very consistent.
The average time for the top 3 ladies was 4:48. The average time for the top 10 ladies was 4:54
My best Half IM time is 5:25. While my swim time seems to be close, my bike is about 15 minutes slower and my run is about 10 minutes slower.
While looking at their times could be demotivating it is not. It is more of an eye opener.
For good reads:
http://jesssmithtriathlete.blogspot.com/

  http://sarahpiampiano.com/blog/
  http://californiatraining.blogspot.com/
  http://www.bethshutt.com/news.html

When I first turned 30 I was not sure what to expect of this decade. But now I have so many things on "to do list" so it is inspiring/motivating/encouraging to see a set of ladies going out and getting what they want.

Two Weeks from Race Day

2011-09-12T16:55:00.000-07:00

In two weeks I will be racing Orangeman Triathlon. For the last couple of months, the bike course has been a constant worry:

&lt;p&gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;br /&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt; &amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;a href="http://www.mapmytri.com/routes/view/34726716"&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;Orangeman Half-Distance Triathlon - Bike Course&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/a&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;br/&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;br /&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt; &amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;a href="http://www.mapmytri.com/routes/?location=Dana Point, CA"&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;Find more Run, Ride, and Tri Workouts in Dana Point, CA&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/a&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;br /&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt; &amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&lt;/p&gt;

This bike course goes up hill for 28 Miles and then comes downhill for 28 miles. My concern is not so much for the uphill but for the downhill. I have been practicing my downhills lately and am starting to embrace them. However, I can still get nervous when coming downhill. Also this being the first year the race is run it is hard to get recommendations on how to best approach the bike course.

With all this being said I have now stopped worrying about the bike course and am going to trust that I am prepared after all the training I have done and am ready to have some fun.

PS The bike portion of every race I do is always the one I worry about the most. There are just too many unknowns:

Potential Mechanical,
Bike crashes caused by cars on the course
Bike crashes caused by poor handling skills
Not Drafting
Getting enough nutrition

If only biking could be more predictable.

August Totals

2011-09-01T06:53:00.000-07:00

Swim 40,083 Yards
Bike 414 Miles
Run 136.6 Miles

When I was looking at my totals a couple of things surprised me:

I actually ran 136.6 miles. Thru the month it did not feel like I was running a lot I was just running very frequently. All of the little runs really added up.
I may be more prepared for a marathon than I thought. I am going to do a marathon in november and was feeling a little unprepared. However based on the mileage I put in I feel better. The mileage for this month is higher than when i was preparing for a standalone marathon.

I am feeling more confident in my running. I am considering trying to get my Boston qualifying time. The only stand alone marathon I have run, I ran it in 3:54 but i bonked in the last 6 miles. I think getting down to 3:35-3:40 is doable. We'll see.

I am disappointed in my cycling. I am feeling pretty strong on the bike but I was hoping to get in more cycling thru the month. Must try harder this month.

California Cycling

2011-08-30T09:55:00.000-07:00

When we first moved to Cali I was less than excited about cycling in LA. In my head I expected the following:

Crowded Streets
lots of impatient drivers
boring bike paths

For the first few months, my fears were actually realized but have spent a bunch of time exploring and trying new routes to figure out if it got better. Finally I must admit I am starting to like California Cycling. A few places we have found:

Glendora Mountain Road (Road actually used for a Tour of California stage) - Typically we start climbing from Sierra Madre in Glendora. The road is not terribly busy. Can basically climb until my legs fall off. I always try to take plenty of water because there is no shade and gets very hot. Also make sure to take fix a flat tools. The only thing is that sometimes there can be a bunch of motorcyles coming up/down and that can get scary. The road does gain a lot of elevation but it is manageable if u are climbing at your own pace. I really enjoy riding up this road.

Chantry Flats - This road is very steep and very busy therefore you have to pick the right times to decide to climb. I have tried it on the weekend and it is a nightmare. Definitely weekday riding is better when there are less hikers going up to the park. The climb is not as long as GMR so ez for a quick ride up the mountain. It gets hot with no shade so water is definitely necessary.

Riding from Pasadena to Bonelli Park - There are roads from Pasadena to Bonelli park that are not as busy and allow for a good work out with great rolling hills. Usually I stay north of the 210. My goal is to make it to my parents house in Rialto by the End the year. I just have to figure out what roads will get me there. I am slowly expanding the map and half way there.

While some streets are a nightmare I am definitely getting used to them and happy I kept an open mind about riding in California. Now I only wish I had more time to actually go and explore as I am missing out on so much still

OptimisSport Distance Swim Challenge Report

2011-08-22T08:53:00.000-07:00

This weekend we headed to Venice Beach for the OptimisSport Distance Swim Challenge. The swim event is for several races of different distances including a 12.6 miler. Given that I only swim 3 times a week for an hour at the most I decided to stay within my limits and do the 2.4miler. I was still slightly under-prepared for the 2.4 miler but I figured I could make it (Probably not what the organizers want to hear).

Pre Race:

We got to the beach and were pleasantly surprised that the water was around 68 degrees and the surf was about 1 ft sometimes with 2 ft waves. Ideal conditions for ocean swimming:

Great Conditions for Swimming

Lap 1: 32:26

Knowing that I was not ready to race 2.4 miles I took this event as a big long workout. I went out very calm making sure to try to practice swimming straight. About the middle of the first loop everyone seemed to be headed to a different buoy so that threw me off a tad but I stayed with my line and made it to where I was supposed to. When we came to the end of the loop we actually had to run up the beach back to the start so they could make sure we were still coherent. This little run out the water was uneventful other than my heart rate spiking and feeling out of breath for running that long on the sand.

Blurry Picture of me at the end of the 1st Lap

Lap 2: 34:38

Lap 2 started off more disorganized. Right off the bat I decided not to swim straight (didn't mean to) and ended up getting dropped from the group I was in. I did eventually find the right line to hold and felt pretty good for the rest of the lap.

Finish

My total time was 1:07. 4OA woman, 1st in age group.

1.2 Mile swim
Fernie, my bro in Law, decided to participate in his first ever Ocean Swim and did the1.2Miler. He had a great time with 41 minutes and is now more confident in the water. Yay Swimming!

Fernie Running into the Scary Ocean

Post Swim observations

I was relatively pleased with my performance considering I haven't really had long distance practice this year.

Swimming in salt water is hard for the throat. During the middle of the swim my mouth felt like chalk and for the rest of the day I felt like I had a cold.

Swimming across the Hudson was much harder. The current effects of the Hudson make it for a longer and harder swim.

During my Ironman I swam a 1:05. In comparison I felt much better after this swim than I did after the ironman swim. At the end of the Ironman swim I actually felt my entire body cramp after I finished swimming. I thought I was in better shape for the Ironman but now I am not so sure.

This event was a blast. It was well organized and all of the options they have for racing give something for everyone to do. The only thing that I would change is to change the post race food and such. I had no idea that was there because it was so far away from the rest of the event.

Thanks to my family for coming out. We had a great time afterwards playing around in the water. My brother is fearless in the waves.

How not to recover and this weekend's plan

2011-08-15T19:13:00.000-07:00

Saturday was supposed to be a hard training day. Well it delivered but not exactly all from training. The day included the following:

5 hour bike ride
Lunch with the hubby
Headed to the pool for 1 hour swim
Mexico Game Viewing party with the family
1 hour hike at Eaton Canyon
Dinner with friends

Needless to say when I got to bed at around 1:30am I was pretty tired and I knew Sunday would have to be a recovery day. A few things I learned on Sunday:

I can't sleep past 6:30am
I can take a nap around 10am
Having a very busy day is very fatiguing
Make sure to know the route of the recovery ride, if not you may find yourself climbing 10% grades.
Know when to call a workout - I knew I wasn't feeling great before biking I should have just rested
Eat healthy - it may prevent bonking on recovery ride

Anyhow, feeling much better today and starting to plan for this weekend's 2.4Mile Swim Race. I am slightly under prepared for a 2.4Mile swim at the moment so my strategy includes:

1) Taking it ez in the first loop

2) Eat a gu pack between first and second loops

3) Handle as a long workout and not race it

The swim should be tons of fun. I love the ocean!

Goleta Beach Triathlon

2011-08-03T10:08:00.000-07:00

Last weekend I headed to the inaugural Goleta Beach Triathlon. The triathlon was supposed to be an olympic distance triathlon but actually ended up with a shorter run. Distances: .93 Mile swim, 24.8 Mile bike, 5.3 or 5.4 mile run.

Pre Race:

I actually got there fairly early to set up. They started the sprint before the olympic so was not sure what was going to happen with the transition area once the sprint started. Turned out there was plenty of time to set up including after the sprint started. Although I was set up I was not feeling race ready. However I took a quick warmup in the very cold ocean and that really woke me up and I was ready to go.

Swim: 25:07

The water is relatively calm in this race. It is like swimming in the lake. There was minimal waves and minimal current. Although I started off sluggish, I started feeling pretty good in the middle and finished very strong. There is a large run on the beach up to transition, so paced that.

Bike: 1:18

Bike trail portion of bike

I am quite disappointed with the bike. First, i lost my water bottle for not attaching correctly. I could have sworn I did do it but I guess not. The bike starts with 2 miles on a bike trail and finishes on the same trail. As we went on the trail it was slippery. Although I was feeling fairly comfortable suddenly I heard some rubbing. I was not sure if it was the wheel I had issues with, chain or frame. I had to stop and check the bike. I couldn't see anything wrong with it so kept going but at that point I started to worry about the bike so didn't really go hard on the trail portion. Once we got on the street I figured I might as well just drill it but by that time I had lost quite a bit of time. I felt very strong on the bike and the course is really nice once you get off the trail so was disappointed with the start of the bike.

Running: 44:09

The run was challenging. Half the portion was on the sand and half on trail. For the most part I felt strong running but did get a giant blister on my foot from the sand in my shoe. Also did manage to soak my shoes from running too close to edge of water. Considering that I had 2 giant weights on my feet full of sand and salt water my pace was pretty good.

Final time was 2:30, 2nd in my age group.

Final thoughts

For being the first year this race was very well organized and in a very nice location. The only issue is that it happens to be at the same time as a big event in Santa Barbara so it was hard to find hotel rooms if you need to stay overnight. The other issue is that it is very ez to cut the run course. I saw some guy blatantly do it right in front of me. I hope not many more people did it. I truly enjoyed the race and probably will go back next year.

Lemon Tree Inn

PS We stayed at the Lemon Tree Inn. The crocodile restaurant in the hotel was fantastic and would highly recommend.

If you want to see some pics go here:

http://santabarbarapix.com/details.php?gid=2038&pid=379482

I'm an IBMer....

2011-08-02T13:52:00.000-07:00

As you may have heard IBM is celebrating 100 years. As part of that over 300K IBMers volunteered time, fund raised or provided service to communities around the world. I happen to be an IBMer and also have pledged my time. That being said I do try to raise money for charity at least once a year.

The way I fund raise is by participating in either a triathlon or swim. Last year I did the Swim in the Hudson for the Leukemia and Lymphoma society. The year before that it was the DC Triathlon. I have been looking for the right event for this year and am happy to report I found it.

On August 21, I will be swimming 2.4 miles in Santa Monica for the following charities:

Splash ball

Exceeding Expectations

save the team

Please help out if you can by donating at the following page:

My Fundraising page

A few updates....

2011-07-26T20:06:00.000-07:00

Weight Loss Update

This week I am reporting I am exactly the same weight as last week. I changed diet the following habits:

1) No eating after 7PM ( i was successful maybe 5 out of 7 days)
2) No Fast food - For some reason on friday's I reward myself with fast food. I am cutting it out. This week I was partially successful however I did have a bunch of pizza on Saturday so I ruined that this week
3) Drink more water
4) Eat no processed food

This week I will be stricter on my proposed diet changes which when looking at them are not hard at all. Weight loss is frustrating.

Training Update

As far as activity goes:

1) Biked: 109 Miles - Found a route that takes me from Pasadena to Bonelli Park in San Dimas. I was also able to practice my flat repair skills. Changed a tire in 7 minutes during my long ride this week.
2) swim: 7400 yards
3) Ran: 32 miles - Running is feeling great!

I was pretty pleased with my workouts.

Racing Update

This week I have the Goleta Olympic tri to look forward to on Sunday. I am feeling pretty good and am looking forward to getting out there and racing.

Thor Update

Thor is now eating canned cat food but also still likes his bottle. He is quite violent with the bottle so I am thinking he needs to start eating more solid food. we took a Thor for a vet trip. He is 1 pound and 6 wks old. The vet was surprised he still likes the bottle. Spoiled baby!

Week 11 and ~ Week 5

2011-07-19T18:57:00.000-07:00

1) This week marks Week 11 for my training for Orangeman. Training is going relatively well. I'm also training for a fall marathon.

2) Weight loss is hard. My weight has been an issue since IM Arizona last year. After the race I put on weight and have not been able to drop it. 2 things come to mind that may have caused this - Less exercise or IM just screws with the body. So now the diet quality has gone way up in an attempt to get back to reasonable weight

3) I will use shame as a motivator to lose weight i.e The tracker on top of the blog.

4) I have also been working out in the morning pre-breakfast. I am trying to see if this translates to weight loss and the secondary more important benefit is that once you are done with working out in the morning you are done for the rest of the day. This is a great break for the mind.

4) This week I realized that I am getting used to living in California. That being said there are a few things that I have noticed:

The sun in California just bakes. I have resorted to working out early morning and late afternoon to avoid the sun but that is impossible to do on the weekends. As such I am getting a crazy tan.
I'm going to miss the Hudson river swim. This event is tons of fun and I would recommend anyone that is in NY to do it. It is for a good cause and very challenging. (The water is not that bad)

5) I have a new Kitten (Thor). He is approximately 5 weeks old. My parents found him in the middle of the street crying so I took him in. As you can see he is very cute. At 5 weeks Thor sleeps and eats a lot. He eats a little canned cat food and a lot of kitten milk. Since the kitten bottle was too small for him he decided that a regular children's bottle was better for him.

Monday Random Thoughts

2011-07-12T07:13:00.000-07:00

1) Monday mornings are typically rough. Having to come back to work from a full weekend typically makes it very difficult to get rolling with work. However this Monday I have not minded. Mondays are my rest day from tri training. I have not taken a day off in 2 weeks so I am enjoying the lack of working out today. It is both physically and mentally relaxing. For as much as I love tri training it is amazing how refreshing a day off is.

2) I have tried to change my day off from Monday to a different weekday. I have been unsuccessful every time.

3) I need to check the grades of new cycling routes prior to going on the ride. This weekend I experimented around Pasadena and ended up hitting some double digit grades of climbs. It was good work but need to mentally prepare for those

4) I enjoy climbing on a bike. I HATE descending. This weekend I had a meltdown on top of a mountain. I considered:

calling my husband to pick me up from the top of the mountain.
walking my bike down
all possible ways of dying while descending
how stupid i looked being scared of the drop

I ended up making it home no problem. I will have to try the same route next week again to feel better about it as this fear is just irrational.

5) I found a new long run route in Arroyo Seco Canyon. One is able to enter in several areas but I have been starting from around the rose bowl. It is great for running long distances on a trail. Although the trail is not as busy as Eaton Canyon or the rose bowl loop there is a fair amount of activity(Runners, walkers, dog walkers and horse back riders). It also appears to be fairly safe. I have run into horse back patrol at least twice. That being said some of the areas get fairly lonely so I do recommend caution.

6) This year I have a been less structured in my workouts. That being said I am starting to feel in shape again

Planning for an Ironman

2011-07-05T07:22:00.000-07:00

Every time I reflect on planning for an Ironman I have to admit I sound like a crazy person. I have to plan approximately a year in advance and try to figure out many details. Some may call it insane and I really can't argue against it.

It is also not ez to explain why I am actually doing a lot of things to prepare for it or why I am making the commitment. That being said, right after signing up for St. George I immediately had to get a rough idea of what I was in for the next few months. Below find the results of my initial brain storming session:

Good news is that I will have some time in early November to take it ez prior to IM SG ramp
Bad news is that I have prepare for an Ironman thru winter. I suspect this is going to be hard.

Eventful start of the week

2011-06-28T18:30:00.000-07:00

This week has been an eventful week:

1) I have lost my Pasadena COE officemate who decided to take on a job in Walnut. This is a good thing!

2) My brother met Landon Donovan by pure chance @ lake Arrowhead

3) I signed up for Ironman St George - After my Ironman Arizona finish I made the following statement "Ironman's are stupid, I will never do one again". Apparently I forgot how much it hurts.

Tinman 5K

2011-06-27T16:14:00.000-07:00

As mentioned in my prior post June 26th was a day of celebrations(Danny and I had an anniversary and Dad and I had a birthday). So in celebration we headed to the Tinman 5K held @ the beautiful Cal State San Bernardino campus.

Beautiful Views on Campus

My race was pretty uneventful - Ran a 22:21/7:13 pace- good enough for 4th Overall. I didn't feel great during the run but managed to hold a pretty standard pace thru the race. I am going to do more running this year, I am bound to feel good at one of them.

Finishing up the 5K

Right after my finish I ran thru one of the fields to try to catch the rest of my crew as they were finishing up their races. Sure enough as soon as I got to the spot, they ran by with a mile left. So I jumped back into the race to finish up with my dad and my brother Abraham.

My Crew @ the start of the race

When I jumped in they had about a mile left to go and were in pretty good spirits. We ran most of the way to the finish line from that point and had a pretty good time. Abraham spent a lot of time cheering! Danny also had a good run even though I tricked him into a 60 Mile ride the day before.

Dad celebrating 60 and got 3rd in AG :)

Abraham sprinting to the finish line. Apparently didn't run hard enough!

Done with the race!

Celebration @ Tinman 5k

2011-06-21T07:26:00.000-07:00

In honor of my Dad's birthday (mine too) and my Wedding anniversary, we will be heading out to the Tinman 5K. So far I have assembled a team of 3 willing participants:

Danny:

My dad:

<---------ABRAHAM

Any one else want to come??

Bonelli Olympic Race Report

2011-06-16T07:15:00.000-07:00

I was pretty happy with my race:

2:43 Overall Time
8th OA
Won my age group
Had much better swim this time and did not have a mini heart attack in transition.

That being said I want to really write about my run.

My time for the run was 51:19 - 8:16 pace.

Stage 1: Assessed the damage done by the bike and fixed damage

I got of the bike and my legs felt ok. However as I was leaving transition I realized I had a slight cramp in my stomach. I knew a water station was coming up within the first half mile so I decided to generally ignore the cramp and got ready to take a gel right before the water station so I can wash it down with water. Everything went according to plan and after that I don't think I felt the cramp again. However I was still feeling a little odd on the run and wished I had more energy.

Stage 2: Settled into running and reminded myself it is supposed to hurt

Regardless of what I was feeling I kept running and fell into a steady state. Any obstacle that came up(hill, tight legs, heat) I just kept putting aside and pushed thru.

Stage 3: Completely forgot about pain and enjoyed run

Finally at around 3.5 miles at a turn around I noticed I had one girl about 30 seconds back from me and we were about to start climbing again. This girl has probably made up 30 seconds on me since the last time I saw her. At that point I knew that I was feeling good and that there was no reason for her to pass me.

I love this point in any race, the moment when I no longer have to ignore the pain because I no longer feel it. At no point after that did I ever look back because I didn't feel I had to.

I kept running and up ahead much to my surprise I saw 2 girls I could catch. With about a mile left we had to go up a very steep dirt trail. I figured this is the best place to pass them. Since they were going to be focused on making it up the hill if I went really fast I could catch them by surprise and not have them keep running with me. So I dug deep and ran all out up the hill. I passed them when they were right in the middle of the hill at that point I kept going. Once I got to the top I basically sprinted down the dirt trail and when I finally made it out of the section they were no where to be seen.

Stage 4: Stayed tough to the finish line

Given that I had just spent a lot of energy on passing I was really glad to see the finish line about half a mile out. At that point I just held on and ran to the end still feeling pretty good.

I am really enjoying running this year. If only I could shorten the duration of stages 1 and 2 of my run I would feel even better.

5 Random Thoughts

2011-06-08T17:46:00.000-07:00

1) Macca says: "Find a purpose for your racing" pg 64 I'm here to Win

I'm hoping that this weekend will be my first race with my G&T Kit and racing with purpose :) . Upcoming race is Bonelli Olympic. For the most part I am feeling good this week and now that I know the race is on saturday not Sunday I am ready to go.

2) Cycling in California is different than what I am used to

Lots of cars
Lots of drivers who don't care for cyclists. Even family members have told me to get off the road saying they wont move for a cyclist.
Found success riding early in the morning
A lot of cyclists like riding in big groups
Most cyclists wear some team's kit
The mountain roads available to climb are epic
While I am not scared of climbing up a mountain I am petrified to descend epic mountain roads.

3) My swim has been progressing able to hold 1:25s/100yrds at the pool for the first time in a long time.

4) Ted King crashed in Philly. Go to his website to see his collar bone break http://www.iamtedking.com/ . How someone handles that much pain is beyond me (As we all know I faint when I trip).

5) I am hoping to convince at least 3 members of my family to run a 1/2 marathon by the end of the year.
.

New Cycling Routes

2011-06-03T17:06:00.000-07:00

Moving requires finding new cycling routes I have found a couple of good sources for finding new Cycling routes in Pasadena:

Routes described by cyclist
http://www.bikemap.net/ - this is the site that I have seen that has the most routes mapped
Pasadena Tri Club route to Encanto Park - This site was key as I was able to use it to figure out how to get to Encanto Park or an entrance to San Gabriel River Path. Once on the path you can go south on the Path for a very long distance. If you go north on the Pathway you can go up San Gabriel Canyon I have not gone north but will try it out.

Doing a lot of cycling "research" this weekend so I hope to find fund new routes.

OC Triathlon

2011-06-02T07:43:00.000-07:00

Since I started doing triathlon there are only 3 races that stick out in my mind where I think back and say I had a bad Race. These races are the following

1) Pat Griskus Tri in 2007 - This race was on the Wednesday night after the biggest meeting of the quarter close, I had gotten little sleep, it rained and the water was probably the dirtiest water I have ever swam in. I was glad I did it but it hurt.

2) Park City Mossman Tri 2009- My one and only DNF. I flatted on the second loop on the bike and while tube change was quick I unfortunately had a tube that didn't have a long enough stem to inflate it. Dumb mistake led to a DNF. I was pissed but understand it was my fault.

3) The race associated with this race report : OC triathlon 2011

SWIM - 26:56 - 5th in my age group

The swim actually felt ok. I wasn't feeling great but was able to navigate for most of the swim without major issues. When I stood up at the end of the swim was when I felt the issues. For some reason I was having a very hard time catching my breath and felt like my lungs were full of phlegm.

I jogged to the transition area trying to take it ez to catch my breath but still felt like I had a chest cold. I went thru the motions and got out of transition still feeling out of breath and slightly dizzy.

Bike - 1:22:43 - 10th in age group

Well before I could start my bike I realized i hadn't quite secured my water bottle so I had to stop and fidget with that. I didn't stress and just took care so that it didn't fly out while on the bike

Realizing my water bottle was not secure

The bike on the OC tri is pretty challenging. Starts straight up hill and keeps going up hill for a while. I really struggled the first half of the race because I was still having a hard time breathing. Finally sometime about 8 miles I was able to breathe normally again. After that the bike was good but those first 8 miles were the most suffering I have done on a bike in a very long time.

T2 -

Was much better than T1 and got in and out fairly quickly. An observation about the race though. We actually had a different T1 than T2 and we actually finished the race in T1. Logistically this was a pain because after finishing the race we had to drive about 2 miles to get our bikes.

Run - 51:18 - 8th in age group

I started off the run feeling much better. The first 2 miles were relatively ez. At about mile 2 is when the course suddenly got crazy. We climbed pretty much to the highest point in Mission Viejo. That being said, I felt pretty good in particular the last 2 miles.

Overall Time 2:45 10 in age group

Observations:

1) Issues on the swim can certainly cause a lot of damage on a race. I don't know if I couldn't breathe because of allergies or being out of shape in the swim but that certainly made me really struggle for a very difficult portion on the bike.

2) No matter how bad of a race I have I always am glad I did it.

3) Attention to detail is very important

4) My hubby is a trooper for coming with me to the race.

I've been pretty fortunate this last month....

2011-05-16T19:25:00.000-07:00

Since getting to California I have been prone to accident but fortunately have come up with minimal damage.

First during one of my first runs here I tripped and scraped my elbow and knee. Falling was no big deal but what happened right after was. I passed out due to the pain. I was sitting there trying to catch my breath after falling and all of a sudden I was feeling quite happy and relaxed. I woke myself up and realize that I was like this fainting goat in the middle of the sidewalk

I got up really quickly and continued to run. I was lucky that it was only about 30 seconds and was perfectly ok after that. How very fortunate I am that is all that happened

Then, while on a bike ride this last weekend I had a low speed bike crash. For all you that know biking low speed crashes can sometimes be quite dangerous. I actually stuck my hand out and managed to land pretty hard with my hand and elbow. I am fortunate that i didn't fracture anything. Apparently my flexibility in my fingers was very useful. I am now just bruised and a little sore but feeling pretty good.

Finally while prepping my tri bike for the OC Tri this weekend I discovered the movers had broken the brake lever. My poor machine! Where I am fortunate here is that it was the brake lever not something more important(i.e. expensive). We are still going to use the movers insurance but this appears to be a relative ez fix.

Anyhow....I am grateful that thru so many random events I have come out pretty good on the other side and looking forward to 2 big events this weekend: OC Tri and Agmen tour of california.

New Stuff

2011-05-09T15:40:00.000-07:00

The entire reason for starting this blog was to write about all the things/challenges that I have encountered while moving and getting used to a new place. I must admit moving and maintaining a regular training schedule is much harder than I thought. There are a number of new things I have to deal with:

Where exactly do I go for my job? Let's just say things are not as clear cut in California as they were out in NY. I think I finally figured out where to go.
Where to swim? Its a bit intimidating to go to swim practice at the rose bowl. A ton of fast people swim there. I hope that some of the speed rubs of.
When to workout? I can't find a good time to work out sometimes because of work, sometimes because of the heat, sometimes because there are things going on
How do I balance all of the activities out here? Being in NY I was able to focus a lot on triathlon. I find myself a bit distracted now because am thinking of places I need to be instead of working out. Finally had a good workout sunday night where i was able to get myself lost in the working out vs mapping out next step. I missed it and I hope once things settle down I get more of them.

Anyhow running around a little stressed but hoping soon i come up with my routine.

Motivation

2011-05-05T06:45:00.000-07:00

For all that people make fun of twitter I found that it is very useful in providing motivation. I have found that people's training tweets always encourage me to go out and work. See a few from the last couple of days:

@IMbethwalshbeth gerdes walsh

Know that pukey feeling you get after a tough track workout? Got that in the pool this morning for the first time.#winning ?

@chrissiesmilesChrissie Wellington

Early morning swim, 3hr bike into a 1hr run. I think Tom and i deserve our huge slab of steak in the sunshine!

@RichStraussRich Strauss

10mi run on imsg run course. Hardest IM run course. Period, full stop. Now 45mi on bike w Jeff Block of powerbar#workworks

@iamtedkingTed King

Pre-riding most of ToCA stage 1 today with @Liquigas_Cdaleteammate Cam' Wurf. Lap of Lake Tahoe, whoop!

In other news pictures for the half marathon are up. I look tired at that finish.

OC County Half Marathon

2011-05-02T04:58:00.000-07:00

Coming into this race I had no idea what to expect. While there are some people that always happen to do great not prepared I am not one of those people so since the last 2.5 weeks have been so unpredictable from the nutrition (I ate a lot) and the working out front, I was a little nervous. To top my nerves I also took a tumble while running last Wednesday and had a really sore knee.

Pre Race:

We had to get there at the crack of dawn because it was a point to point race and we were going to be shuttled over to the start line. We sat around waiting for a while for the start of the race and in the mean time I could feel my stomach not feeling all that great. I chalked it up to nerves. I also decided that I was going to attempt to stay with the 1:40 pacer.

Race:

The OC Course is beautiful. Also it starts off on a big downhill. That was good as after sitting in the cold for a couple of hours I needed a good warmup. I started running along but I decided that I was not going to be able to stay with the 1:40 pacer and didn't want to blow up. I have to admit although the first 3 miles were ez I was not having a good time. I felt that having been dropped by the pacer indicated a bad race. However at mile 6 I realized that I was actually having a pretty good race. I actually crossed 10K mark around 46 minute (PR for me and I was not running the fastest I have. My attitude changed significantly after that. At that point although I started to have a better time, my stomach did not. Finally at around mile 10 I had to make a quick stop for a restroom break. I felt a little bit better but my stomach was not happy. Ran the rest of the race and was happy to be done. Results:

Half Marathon

Runner Details

Race Results

Bib:	8317
Name:	Marcia Valenzuela
Gender:	F
Age:	31
Hometown:	Valhalla, NY

Overall:	557 out of 6561
Women:	139 out of 3975
F 30-34:	40 out of 691
Age/Grade:	62.25% Place: 531
Finish:	1:45:53 Pace: 8:05
Tag Time:	1:45:53
Gun Time:	1:46:09

Split Times

5 Km:	23:14 Pace: 7:29
10 Mi:	1:20:28 Pace: 8:03
11 mi:	1:28:48 Pace: 8:05

Post race:
I was happy to be done with the race. I was slightly disappointed at first as I know that a few weeks earlier this would have been a better result. Also I decided I must eat better the week before racing. I think my stomach issues were all related to bad nutrition. Turns out that this was like a 15 second PR. I know it is not a lot but I will take it. I LOVE Races.... I always feel good afterwards!

P.S.What I have learned is that everything in California is fairly busy. Pre-race, the start, the race, the after race gathering area, and leaving the race area where all packed. Leaving the parking lot after the race must have taken me about as long as the race it self.

NEW YORK

2011-04-11T18:30:00.000-07:00

For most my life I can honestly say that I have always felt like each new stage of my life was the best time of my life. Every time a new adventure, new goal, challenge or whatever it may be. Sure there have always been up and downs but my life keeps getting better.

My time in NY has continued this trend and since I am going home I wanted to report on it. Since moving here I have experienced/learned the following

(IMPORTANT SIDE NOTE: Work helps me
finance expensive hobbies so I kind of have to keep going)

Kick ass jobs: I work in corporate finance and although the work is not terribly exciting I have definitely learned and matured a lot. In my time here I have made 200 page presentations overnight, earned the responsibility to lead and manage people, work at the computer for over 14 hrs at a time, change 100 page decks in 20 minutes. For some reason looking back at all of the challenges and frustrations I have enjoyed my time here and looking forward to more. Sure I have wondered if should do something else but apparently I am pretty good at this so I keep going.

I have embraced that I love to laugh. I have been told I have a nervous giggle, have the giggles, laugh at inappropriate times or laugh too much. I no longer care and hope that I can share a laugh with everyone reading this.

Became cycling fan. (Who’s coming with me to cheer on the TOC?)
Jumped into the roller coaster of the real estate market. I am hoping I don’t puke when the ride ends.
Learned to love coffee
Food in NY is amazing

A deli wedge is faaaannntastic. We were told to try a “wedge” the first week we were out here. We didn’t know what the heck they were. Since then we have discovered excellent wedges and are a great treat
There is a pizza slice that has pasta on it. The baked ziti pizza is a pleasant surprise one just has to give it a chance
There is so much more I can’t even put it into words

Discovered and became addicted to triathlon. I have a lot of observations about triathlon. Here are a few

In my first triathlon I was scared of the downhill, had a hard time going uphill, and got nervous thinking about the transition. I didn’t know how to use my road bike and don’t think I changed a gear the entire bike portion.
Average swimming actually is front of the pack swimming
There are a lot of areas of water that I never thought I would swim in such as the Hudson and Potomac rivers.
Long Running/Cycling is the most relaxing activity I can think of.
0.8 miles is not that far. When I first started doing this I ran 0.8 miles to the stop sign and I thought my heart was going to pop out of my chest. I can now run and feel like I am away from the world.
I love to race
Bike handling is hard and necessary
Encouraging family and friends to participate in races is very rewarding and fun
Raising money for charity is just as rewarding

Finally I have learned not to take my wonderful family for granted:

Although I am going to miss New York where we made good friends we had good adventures and discovered so much. I am very excited about the new adventures that await me in California!

Forced Time Off

2011-04-03T17:06:00.000-07:00

Most weeks I take one rest day on Monday's. For the most part one rest day per week seems to revitalize me and get me ready for the following week of workouts. Not this past Monday.

I woke up on Tuesday fairly tired and thought that I needed a break. I continued to work out as usual but by Thursday I had developed a small cold. By Saturday I just crashed. I slept most of the day/night Saturday with a huge cold. This was the first day that I was unable work out in a long time. I guess it is my body's way of asking for time off. I am thinking the stress of the move, stress at work and the workouts were just too much and I needed more rest. That being said today I woke up bright and early and was ready to go again.

To end on a high note go watch the following video:
Winning

We got pictures

2011-03-31T07:14:00.000-07:00

Nice march madness pictures posted here:

march madness Biathlon Pictures

I think I am going to go get another bike fit sometime this year. I first got fit on my bike when I first got the bike. Since then I have not changed positions. The first fit was difficult as I had never been on a tri bike before and my legs are very long for my upper body. Needless to say I was a difficult customer. Now that I have been on the bike for a while I think it would be worth while.

March Madness Biathlon - The importance of seconds

2011-03-27T16:44:00.000-07:00

Today I woke up bright and early to race the March Madness Biathlon in Central Park. It was a chilly morning @ 28 degrees at race time. Chilly races always present a set of challenges but regardless I was excited to get out and race. So excited that I decided to take my tri bike( I never do for these early season races):

My Good Ol' Bike

Pre Race:

Chilly Morning and my Prime spot

I showed up relatively early and got a sweet spot in transition. I was literally in the 'bike in' area which means running w/ bike while not riding it would be minimal. My friend Dan also made the race he was actually racked almost next to me. Not always do we get these nice spots especially in this race where they put 600 racers in a very little parking lot.

After setting up in transition, I was able to get a nice warm up in and I thought my legs felt ok.

Run 1: 16:38minutes (7:13 pace)

This race starts straight up hill which is always painful. Today was especially painful. I did my long run in the late afternoon yesterday and my legs were still pretty tired. After I managed to shut up my leg pain I got into a pretty good rhythm and felt pretty good. Nothing to really report here other than I was happier with my pacing this time.

T1: 1:35 minutes and the transition from a cartoon

My especially bad transition started off when a racer getting ready to bike cut me off and ran in front of me in his bike shoes pushing his bike. As I still hadn't got to my bike I had to basically walk behind him to get to my bike (As I said this transition is pretty crowded). Once I made it to my bike I tried to get my helmet on with gloves on but was unsuccessful. I took off the gloves and finally managed to get my helmet on. Then I couldn't get my gloves back on. Very frustrating. Once I succeeded getting dressed I finally took off. I was in there for what felt like an eternity.

Bike: 38:50 (18.6 pace)

The bike felt pretty good especially going up the hills. I never feel ok this early in the season. The second lap of the course was really crowded that included a runaway truck that went on the bike course when it wasn't supposed to. Since it wasn't supposed to be there it was going about 10 miles per hour. Finally I managed to get around him and back into transition. Even though the temperature was under 30 degrees I was dressed appropriately and didn't think about the weather.

T2: 45.6 seconds

This was a much better transition

Run 2 17:09 minutes (7:26 pace)

My legs started off complaining again but I managed to get into the groove. Again, my pacing strategy was much better this time than a couple of weeks ago. On the way back I was encouraged to run faster by Dan who had already finished. I was also pushed by a particularly competitive guy who was running at my exact same pace. These guys are always helpful in pushing up the pace.

Conclusions: 1:14:59 (4th OA Female/1st in AG by over 9 minutes)

Being the 4th overall female sucks.

I lost 3rd place by ~30 Seconds and 2nd by 1 minute. If I would have not decided to take a vacation that first transition I would have made this a race. Very disappointing.

My time was better than last year by more than 3 minutes
My time was better than my first year doing this race by more than 10 minutes
For me early season races are so important. Usually I can make so many mistakes early on so by the time I get to "A" Races I get those out of my system.
Sprint races hurt. A LOT.
My biking felt much stronger this year than in the past. I credit my new training plan. Intensity training does work.
I recommend you try this race if you are local. A lot of fast people show up, it is a pretty challenging course and you get the experience of racing in Central Park.
This was my last race in NY for a while and I am going to miss it. That being said I am looking forward to all the new races that await me in Cali.

5 Things I wondered about this week:

2011-03-24T17:42:00.000-07:00

1) When date will I actually be moving? Due to all of the decisions that need to be made in the next couple of week including @ work we are still having a hard time setting the date. For certain we need to be out in cali for my half marathon at the start of May (I know, I know priorities).

Matrix Sentinel

2) What the heck is attacking my garage? On Tuesday morning as I was getting
ready to head to the pool and I had to feed the dogs. As we were walking to the garage I heard a lot of racket. I opened the garage I realized an animal was in there and had trashed the garage. He had knocked over a few action figures and in my early morning drowsiness I first thought one of the figures (Matrix sentinel) was attacking me. I didn't bother to find out what it was nor did we go back in there. Who knows what was in there.

3) Why is this interval so hard this morning? Bike practice this morning called for 2 x 20 minute intervals at 95-100% intensity. Today this set was especially painful. I muscled through the pain and did my second interval @ same watts as first. Considering that I was not feeling great this morning I was happy to be able to work through pain.

4) What to do to get down to race weight? Nothing else to say here.

5) What will the weather be on Sunday? We have been getting random snow and a snowy race on sunday would not be ideal! Current weather forecast looks ok. Lets hope it stays this way.

Exercise and To Do's

2011-03-20T18:13:00.000-07:00

This week was a fairly busy week at work and the home front. I managed to accomplish the following:

Attended Management Training
Prepared a few presentations I was dragging my feet on for a couple of weeks
Painted the living room (just one room left)
Ran 25.3 Miles - no missed workouts and managed to hit the right intensity. Also had the first good run after work (thank you day light savings!)
Biked 60.2 Miles, including first outdoor ride of the season.
Swam 3500 yards - at some point need to start taking swimming seriously again.

All in all a good week. I came to realize that workouts help to really keep my stress down these last few weeks. My mood improves dramatically after workouts. I don't know if it is the endorphins, sense of accomplishment or just knowing that I finished my workout but I usually feel so much better after a workout (Good or bad).

Next up - March Madness Biathlon next sunday. My time last year was1:18:24. I am very curious to see how my fitness compares to last year.

Time

2011-03-16T14:55:00.000-07:00

I went to management class today and they read us this:

It is up to us to respect time and give it both meaning and value.

If you want to know the value of a year, ask a P.O.W. that has lost his freedom.
If you want to know the value of a month, ask a mother that has given birth to a premature baby.
If you want to know the value of a week, ask the editor of a weekly newspaper.
If you want to know the value of a day, ask a schoolboy on the last day before summer vacation.
If you want to know the value of an hour, ask a criminal sentenced to death.
If you want to know the value of a minute, ask a person that just missed their flight. If you want to know the value of a second, ask a person that just avoided a serious car accident.
If you want to know the value of a millisecond, ask an Olympic silver medalist

St. Patrick's Day 10K (aka Hills Hurt)

2011-03-13T16:58:00.000-07:00

Today we took a break in our regular scheduled remodeling to head to the St Patty's Day races day races at FDR Park. Although I am excited to be heading to cali I am sure going to miss the great racing there is out here.

2-miler

Prior to the 10K there was a 2 miler. I had enlisted a whole bunch of other people to run the race but at the end only Danny and Dan ran the race and both has pretty good races.

Dan

Danny

Warm-up

While they were out running and prior to the 10K I warmed up for about 10 minutes. My legs felt ok while warming up. I did a couple of strides and felt like was ready to roll. Usually I warm up longer than that but with all of the work I have been doing lately my legs have been pretty fatigued so I think the shorter warm up was the right call.

Race Time

Once the race started my legs felt great although this race does start down hill. Once we hit the first hill I realized that my legs were more tired than I anticipated and I would have to change my plans a little. So for the entire race I took it "easier" going up the uphills and really hammered on the down hills. The
hills on this course are no joke and with the extra pain in my legs this strategy seemed to work well. My splits were as follows:

Starting off

Mile 1: 7:02 (need to learn to pace)
Mile 2: 7:42 (start hitting major hills and headwind )
Mile 3: 8:02 (starting to feel the pain)
Mile 4: 7:48 (getting in the groove again)
Mile 5: 8:14 (repeating major hills and headwind)
Mile 6: 8:26 ( includes the steepest hill on the course)
Mile 0.2: 1:27 (happy to be done)

My total time was 48:39 with a pace of 7:51 and good enough for 8 overall female. The last time I ran this course I had a time of 49:54 so I am very pleased with the result. Although, I definitely have some work to do including hill running and working on pacing.

After the race

Wow- I look tired HA HA

10Ks are a lot of fun and I am glad I got out to the race but we had to take off right away to go back to house work and didn't get a chance to enjoy the festivities. The Taconic Road runners have a great setup after the race. Today they even raffled a trip to Ireland. Regardless, we had a great time at the race and after every race I have to admit, I really enjoy racing.

P.S. FDR Park is a great place to run when the weather has been bad for a few days. They typically plow main roads making it easier to get in long runs.

Route 100 on a weekday?!??

2011-03-08T18:28:00.000-08:00

Today I happened to get stuck in traffic due to our “torrential” rain issue causing flooding.

Our front yard after rain

Part of the detour that I had to take took me to route 100. Route 100 in NY between in route 118 and route 35 is a popular cycling route

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The stretch consists of ~ 4 miles of road that essentially has no cross roads. Typically, I either cross this route at some point during my rides or I use it for intervals. Since there is no cross traffic and it is relatively straight we typically can really hammer and get a good 4 mile interval with minimal distractions. For me it takes about 12 minutes and for my really fast friends it is under 10.

So back to my traffic story, I am driving by route 100 and saw 3 brave cyclists riding in 33 degree weather and one runner. This got me thinking. “How are these people out here on a workday?” I mean these guys got to see this:

And this:

I had to admit I was a little jealous making my way into work. Regardless they were motivational and with any luck I will be experiencing a nice ride this weekend in the nice weather. Yeah Bikes!

Rainy Day Run - A visit to the North County Trailway

2011-03-06T19:25:00.000-08:00

As the home remodeling continues I was able to escape the smell of paint to run at the North County Trailway today.

The North Trail is a great trail crosses a large chunk of Westchester County. It is flat as a pancake and when not busy provides good riding and running. (Not busy during questionable weather days, early in the morning or late afternoon).

Today, it was definitely not busy:

Today's run was a 7 miler and although we are getting non-stop rain, the thought of running on the treadmill in 50 degree weather is unbearable. So I risked melting in the rain and had a great ez run @ about 9 min/mile pace.

I haven't been able to go out to the trail for a couple of months because of the ice. As the weather and the conditions improve I hope to make it there more often.

With the great Sunday workout I was able to hit all of my workouts this week despite all of the extra curriculars(ie. painting, renting, real estate). My legs are sore, my feet are tired but there is nothing better than having the good workout week. The hardest thing while we are trying to get this move completed is maintaining the diet. Will try to watch it more this next week.

Next up a full week of painting fun, forecasting @ work and last but not least the St. Patty's 10k next Sunday!! I want to PR the 10K but I will settle for a faster time than in 2009.

P.S. Mom.. you would be so proud, we cleaned and continued painting.

5 things my mind tried to convince me this week:

2011-02-27T18:14:00.000-08:00

1) It is going to be easy to maintain workout schedule while parents are visiting and remodeling.Reality: Being organized and maintaining a schedule is really difficult when there are so many things going on. This is going to be one the biggest challenges the next few months.

2) Remodeling is a form a cross-training and will help maintain fitness. Reality: I don't know. Luckily I didn't replace any actual workouts remodeling work so in my head I think a burned a few extra calories.

3) You already blew your diet, might as well keep eating now. Reality: There was really no need to pile on the calories after having a bad meal. Too bad my mind actually won this battle.

4) There is still time for 30 minutes of extra sleep. Reality: Any decisions made right after snoozing the alarm are not trustworthy. Ended up having to rush to get changed and make it to work by 8AM.

5) The workout coming up is exciting. Reality: This is true. I am currently following the Endurance Nation Outseason plan. Even as I was finishing my run work out @ 10PM on a friday night the intensity required was hard and entertaining. And even better went to bed feeling really accomplished and I had a good time.

Project Finish Line

2011-02-23T06:49:00.000-08:00

Finishing Ironman Arizona was one of the biggest things that I did last year. I was happy to be able to share that with everyone and it actually made it to Peter McCrann's blog Project Finish Line #3:

Valenzuela's in NY

2011-02-17T07:24:00.000-08:00

For the next couple of weeks my family is coming to NY to help with the house. We are going to be doing some remodeling in order to rent it while we are in Cali. For the next couple of weeks going to have to balance work, training and remodeling. At the risk of sounding like an addict, the thing that worries me the most is messing up the training plan. That being said going to go bike and run now.

P.S. While I love NY however I am pretty sure I wont miss this: