Did She Say Ironman... Again!?!?!?!

IML 12 Weeks Out

2009-06-02T19:43:00.000-07:00

This week I held back a bit to save some strength for the upcoming training weekend in Clearlake but managed to get some good stuff in.

Monday
On Sunday I agreed to do a ride up in Napa on Monday with some of the team, but that Sunday night was just too rough. I was exhausted from the workout so opted out of the ride on Monday. Actually what I said in my email was, "I think I was high when I said I would ride on Monday." heh. Instead I slept late, puttered around the house and then Rick came over and we made burgers and ate them in my backyard while freezing our asses off. I'm not supposed to say anymore that San Francisco is lame but dude, it was lame. It was like 50 degrees.

Tuesday
Went down to the Peninsula and rode up Kings Mountain Road, which is about a 4.5 mile climb. It was really awesome. It wasn't too hot or cold but by the time I got to the top I was sweating my ass off. Of course, I froze on the way down. Just under 20 miles and 1600 feet of climbing. After the ride, I made my way from the 280 side of the Peninsula to the 101 side and headed to Burlingame to swim. Did a swim workout and a market set, totaling 3400 yards. Went home and at a big lunch, aka leftover hamburgers.

Wednesday
I took Wednesday off and met with a field investigator for my UFO sighting the week before. No lie. This is serious shit.

Thursday
Did a 40 minute spin workout at home and then cried for 2 hours in therapy.

Friday
Packed and drove to San Rafeal to Moddies' house. We carpooled to Clearlake, about a 2.5 hour drive. Got there and ate dinner and hung out with the Ironteam staff and I got ready for our big workout the next day.

Saturday
Swam 2 miles. Mike K. let me borrow his sleeveless wetsuit with the hopes that it would lessen the open water anxiety I've been having. My wetsuit, when it fit, was very tight across the chest to begin with and now that I am a few pounds heavier it's really, really constricting. I don't feel panicky at all but what happens is I realize I am not getting full breaths. When I stop swimming I am literally wheezing. That is how bad it is. Anyways, Mike's suit was a bit better even tho for the first half mile lap out to the buoy I was complaining and negative talking the whole way. Then I caught up with Tony at the turn around and we swam together for the remaining lap and a half. He was my savior that day. If it wasn't for him, and being able to draft off of him, I wouldn't have finished. I would've talked myself out of it.

Then we got ready for a 102 mile bike ride. I started off really slow and all my normal riding partners passed me easily in the first 10 miles. I was getting worried, but I was just so tired, AND I had like 92 more miles to go so, I was trying to save my energy. I finally caught back up with Nancy and her wonderful energy buoyed me through the rest of the ride. It was pretty hot out, but I felt ok and fairly strong on the last 2/3rds of it all.

Sunday
Did not want to wake up and felt so drowsy and out of it and it was NOT because of the Tylenol PM the night before. I was just. so. tired and sore. I also was a little discouraged that Coach wanted everyone to finish the 16 mile run in 3 hours and I was all, dude...I will never run 16 miles in 3 hours in a million years. I had initially planned to not run the full distance because it gets kind of difficult to come in last all the time (we have a really fast team this year. Last year I was consistantly in the middle of the pack and now I am last. sadface). Moddie and Tami, my usual running partners totally blew me out of the water. Again, I was just so tired feeling. I found Kelly tho and we ran stead 5/2's (five minutes running and 2 minutes walking) the whole way. After about 6 miles of grumbling and saying that I wasn't going to run the full distance, I finally felt good and decided to just blow off the time limit and just do it. It took Kelly and I almost 4 hours. Whoa! Man, I wish I could run fast so that it could NOT four hours of running. But, oh well.

Got back to the run start, stretched and chowed a bagel, took a shower and then Moddie and I drove back to her house where I loaded my car up, put my bike on the roof rack and proceeded to back out of her carport when CRUNCH! Yup...I rammed my bike into her cement overhang. Managed to rip part of the rack off the car AND dent the roof. Nice. I couldn't see any visible damage to my bike, other than the seat being ripped up, but the bike is carbon fiber and that shit don't bend. It cracks and then turns to dust. No, I'm just being dramatic. It doesn't turn to dust. Please oh please let my bike be ok!

Swim - 3 hours 20 minutes
Bike - 10 hours 15 minutes
Run - 3 hours 45 minutes
Total 17 hours 20 minutes

13 Weeks Left

2009-05-25T19:41:00.001-07:00

So I got to it this week. No whining. No complaining. Just doing it.

Monday

Ran for 80 minutes on Chrissy Field. Shopped at Sports Basement.

Tuesday

Met Moddie up in San Rafael. Swam for 45 minutes at the JCC pool, rode for an hour 20 on the China Camp Trail, ran for 30 minutes around the Marin Civic Center pond. Mini triathlon? Done. Had a super fun night with someone who is, uh, super fun. Saw a UFO (no. effing. lie).

Wednesday

This was my rest day since I ran on Monday. Was in bed by 8:30pm. Nice!

Thursday

Went down to Canada Road and rode for an hour then ran for 20 minutes. Got home and realized that calendar only said riding for 30 minutes. Whoops.

Friday

Ended up doing a rest day.

Saturday

Ran for an hour along Chrissy Field. Met Ian for Star Trek (yeah!) and X-Men Origins: Wloverine (boo!) Marathon movie viewing took a lot out of me. Rested on couch til I went to bed.

Sunday

Doug picked me up and we headed to Lake Del Valle for a team workout and Honoree BBQ. We did a one hour swim in the lake. This was my second open water swim this season and this one wasn't so great. I think it's because my wetsuit is really tight right now and it compresses my chest. It ends up making it hard to get full breaths. Anyways, I swam for like 50 minutes. Then we got out and ran for an hour 40. That trail by the lake is HARD. We had a nice little BBQ. Came home and passed out on the couch before I could even make it to the shower. Woke up. Canceled dinner plans with a friend. Ate some food. Passed out again on the couch. Got up at 9pm and got in bed. Slept til 1am then was wide awake. Sigh.

Not really looking forward to the swim

Always the camera whore

Ready to run

Swim - One hour 40 minutes

Bike - One hour

Run - Four hours 20 minutes
Total - 7 hours

14 Weeks Out

2009-05-18T18:56:00.000-07:00

Holy crap!

Well, I decided to keep on training. For a few weeks it was touch and go and while I quizzed everyone about whether or not I should drop out of Ironman.

Mo - you can do it

Tiff - if you decide no, you won't be quitting

Tom - maybe it's not your year

Taylor - given your mental state, it's the worst thing you can do

Mom - i know you're gonna do it

Coach Dave - you are not quitting

Ok well, I guess that settles it. I spent one week two weeks ago working on my marker sets for each discipline so that Coach Dave could see where I was at. The report is that I am not in that bad-a-shape as I thought/think I am, so I booked my hotel!

Then I worked out only three days. Mostly because of time but also because the last few times I dove in head first and hit it hard, I got sick.

Then the next week, I did absolutely nothing because of my work schedule of long hours AND two nights out seeing bands etc. But on Saturday I headed up to Napa to participate in Sedonia and Meagan's fundraiser bike ride of 60 miles. The temp was close to 100 degrees! Luckily, heat doesn't really effect me while riding. I know that it's hot but I don't get sick or anything. I decided to make it a leisurely ride and Mike Kyle joined me. 60 miles in four hours of riding isn't too bad.

This week I have to Ironman Up. For the next 14 weeks I have to stick closely to the schedule and make sure I do ALL of the workouts. Here's some photos: (courtesy of Belinda)

Sedonia and I early in the morning

In Yountville getting ready for the ride

Mike and I just before we left, we match!

(those shorts suck by the way)

Mike Kyle and I seven miles from the finish

IML End Days

2009-04-29T14:00:00.001-07:00

This week I was completely and utterly sick I still had to go to work tho, which totally blew. I laid low til Friday when Rick and I went to see Anvil! The Story of Anvil on opening night at The Bridge. The director spoke after the movie which was cool. Afterwards we went to Shotwell's, which used to be called Inner Mission, which used to be this really gross smokey bar down the street from my house. Now it's smokeless and carries weird, foreign beers I have never heard of. Drank too much and that caused a relapse of my sore throat. Thought I might be able to make it to a bike ride on Saturday but I decided to hold off on that. Thought I might be able to swim at Aquatic Park with the team on Sunday, but having that mini sore throat made me nervous. I did go to TRX with the team, where Doug put us through the wringer with a beginner TRX workout. Can you say hard? H A R D. Still sore 3 days later. Aftewards Doug and I gorged ourselves on dim sum (of course now seeing myself in these photos makes me regret that...and all the M&Ms I've been justifying). I did manage to email my coach for help and he promised to make a condensed 16 week training program for me. I can't quit just yet.

Hez at TRX

Ironteam at TRX Studio

IML Week #Wish I Cared

2009-04-21T09:33:00.000-07:00

So, starting the season a bit lazily, going to Europe twice, getting sick just as much and a disjointed team plagued by dropouts does not make for a great training season! I came back from Budapest feeling broken and used. Turns out, if there was a competition for broken hearts I would win that shit!

I gave myself permission to take the week off when I got back from my trip, and I did little more than lay in bed for 7 days in a row (crying my eyes out and feeling very, very sorry for myself) with 2 small side jaunts to work. Honestly, I wanted to quit the team. My energy was so low that the thought of expending ANY of it to train was beyond my comprehension. I really, really didn't know what to do and really, really could not see beyond my covers and the future I lost.

Oh and I turned 39 (!) shit

Anyways...

I secretly knew that training makes me feel better and it's always good to have goals in life, even if they are a pipe dream at the moment (aka doing an Ironman in FOUR MONTHS*). So the following week I got back on it and hit it full force. Then I got sick.

...tha hell?!?

So now I am taking yet another week off while I heal - and I think that is a grand total of almost 4 weeks so I am pretty sure Ironman Louisville will destroy me.

Here are some pictures of my trip while I was still hopeful and (mildly) fulfilled.

Bridge in Budapest

Prague Tourist Trap

At the Prague Castle

On a bridge in Prague

*Ironmo I need help.

IML Week 6

2009-03-23T20:59:00.000-07:00

Ironteam 2009

I guess this is where being at week 6 in your training (when everyone else is at week 19) doesn't pay off. This week, we had our half way to Ironman training weekend down at Lake San Antonio. I managed to get a few (just a few) workouts in before leaving on Friday morning.

Monday - Day Off

Tuesday - Swim
Well, I guess the good news is that my bathing suit is getting too big. The bad news is that it caused some minor chaffing under both arms. Sad. It was a pretty long swim for me but it was a beautiful day.

Wednesday - Spin
I am so into this book that I am reading, so instead of rocking out with the iPod to my metal, I actually read while doing my hill repeat workout on my trainer. Hard!

Thursday - Self Imposed Day Off
I worked the night shift on Tuesday, Wednesday and today and even tho I sleep 7-8 hours, staying up til 2am to read your awesome book still makes you tired.

Friday - Drive to LSA
Got up and leisurely got ready to drive the 3.5 hours down to Lake San Antonio. This year no tent camping for me! I rented an RV with Kristie, Mike and Helen. They all left on Thursday and got everything set up. The drive was uneventful but nice as the day was beautiful and warm. I sang with my iPod all the way down. Got there about 4pm and relaxed for a bit before Mike made us dinner. Got my gear and bottles ready for the next day. Had our team meeting and then popped a Tylenol PM at 8:30p to get enough sleep for the 5a wake up.

Kristie, Hez and Nancy at the team meeting

Saturday - Half Ironman
The day was forecast to be partly cloudy and 63. It turned out to be overcast and cold. Got up at 5a, ate, got dressed and made our way down to the lake for our 7a swim start. I wasn't really nervous or anything. This would be my 3rd or 4th time doing the course. We got in the water shortly after 7a. It was pretty cold. Colder than I expected at 62 degrees. Off we went and that's when it started sucking really bad! Here are the reasons why:

1) My wetsuit was too tight (gained some weight since last year)
2) Couldn't control my breathing
3) The current made it feel like I was swimming though peanut butter (I always forget about that stupid current, der! It's a lake!)
4) The first 15 minutes always suck for me but I couldn't, mentally, force myself to get into it so I ended up experiencing the "first 15 minutes" for about 35 minutes. Sigh.
5) It was my first open water swim of the season

Well, I only made it half way. I decided that half way was better than nothing. I turned around and saw that Yi was hanging off the safety kayak. She said she was having problems breathing and was, in fact, coughing so hard that she was nearly choking. I convinced her to go back with me but she was having a hard time. I told her to hang onto my shoulders and I did the breast stroke while she kicked behind me. I am sure we looked pretty funny because she was hanging off my back and we both have the same wetsuits. Silly us. We made our way over to the shore and rested for a little while. Yi thinks it was the pollen that was really affecting her. I have to admit my allergies have been really bad lately, too. I was getting cold so decided to head back. I was about 1,000 yards or more from the dock and just put my head down and booked ass back. I'm so lame, but it was so easy! The current was with me and I felt like Superman flying through the air. I swam back without stopping but I couldn't even do the whole course. Dumb.

62 Degree Water

Got out of the water and got ready for the bike. And it was COLD. I was half way out of my wetsuit and was standing kinda off to the side away from people's transition stuff. My teammate Michelle was like, "what are you doing?" I was all, "Peeing." (sheepish grin) Yi was getting ready too so we headed out together. I lost her on the mile long hill out of transition only to find out later that her breathing was so labored that she couldn't continue the ride. Did I mention it was cold? My feet were like blocks of ice and they didn't warm up until after mile 30. I am not exaggerating. I was leap frogging with Frank, one of our honorees who is 13 years in remission. At about mile 20 out of 56, I said to him. I think I might get sagged in (picked up and driven back to transition). He asked why and I said that I was cold and this was hard and I don't really need the time in the saddle. I need to focus more on running. He said, "I feel the same way but I told myself that this was the only thing I'd be doing all weekend. We have Sunday off, heck, I might even not do anything on Monday. So let's just get it over with. It's not gonna kill us." ....Aaaand then I felt like a big asshole because I am complaining how hard it is to Frank, the cancer survivor, who probably had a much harder time with all his treatment. A S S. But then before I knew it, it was mile 46...he comes sidling up to me on his bike and was like, "Hey Hez, remember way back there at mile 20 when we both wanted to quit? Doesn't that seem like a whole day ago? And here we are and we're almost done."

Got back to transition and got ready for my run. Moddie came in shortly after me and we ran out together, on our 13 mile run, with Tami just in front of us. This is where the pain really begins! Running is just so hard and does not come natural to me at all. Moddie and I stuck to our 5 minute run, 2 minute walk plan. We also walked every hill because NO ONE needs to run up a hill. I felt ok. My hip flexors were pretty tight which was causing my psoas on both side to ache a bit. But we kept on going. I discovered that I didn't eat enough on the bike when my stomach started growling so loud that Moddie could hear it. I'll have to rethink my nutrition plan as I tried something new out. So here we are, running on the most difficult trail run ever, the sun finally comes out, which is when you don't really want it to, and miles are whizzing by. We caught up with Tami and she joined us in our 5/2's. We talked the whole way. We saw many deer and baby deer too! We also saw a jackrabbit. (oh and I saw a dead kitty on the bike, sad). Next thing you know, it's mile 9 and I am officially running the farthest I have for this season. We were like 3 old, crabby ladies by the end of it. Not really talking but just grunting and groaning at the next hill. Then we were at mile 12 and headed toward Lynch Hill and a mile long descent. Then. Done. Ten hours later.

On the run with Moddie

I am slightly embarrassed about my time. Then again, I did only start training 6 weeks ago. And I think we have a super fast team this year. Anyways, nose to the grindstone and all that. Next week I am off to Budapest and Prague. I am slightly nervous about this since I won't really be training and I just got back into it. I am, however, planning to bring my running stuff. So I hope in two weeks I can tell you that I ran along the Danube (or at all!)

Workout Totals
Swim - 2 hours
Bike - 5.5 hours
Run - 3.5 hours
Total 11 hours

IML 4 & 5

2009-03-16T20:14:00.000-07:00

Ok, clearly I am getting bored with recounting my lame training escapades to my adoring public. Let's see...what happened during week 4? You know what? I don't remember but it involved lots of swimming, running and spinning. It also involved my rib still not paying attention to its buddies and where its supposed to sit. Rib? Please sit with your friends.

Week (4-ish and) 5 Saturday - (Swim)/Bike/Run
I worked on Friday night til midnight so I decided to skip the swim and felt ok about that since it is pretty much the only thing I am doing religiously right now. I slept in til 8am (woah!) and then made my way to the Dougherty Aquatic Something-or-Other in San Ramon? Livermore? East Bayness, to meet up with the team. I got there just in time and got my stuff ready for a quick 2 hour ride. We did a really nice loop that went past pastures and cows (of which I CANNOT pass with out yelling MOOOOOO! to every single one of them) and horses and ponies. Early on in the ride we passed the TnT Cycle Team and I saw Coach Cyd. God, how I miss that team. We got back to the parking lot and Moddie and I set outto run three 2 mile loops. We dragged Mike Kyle with us. We managed only to do 2 loops. I did also manage to pee behind a wall in a neighborhood. I am a rebel.

Hez Stretching

Yi, Sedonia, Hez and Mike

Sunday - Run
I readied myself for a 9 mile run. The most I have run this season is 5 miles and I was pretty nervous about it. Would everything work? Would things get tight? Would my hips/back/rib/psoas/knee/foot-arch-thing hold up? YES! It was amazing! Moddie and I met at the monkey bars on the Marina Green and headed out to the Golden Gate Bridge point, turned around, ran up and over the bridge to the other side, turned around and came back. Just under 9 miles with an average speed of 11mph which is really, really good considering we were running 5 minutes and then walking for 2 minutes. We are gods! Then we had a nice lunch at the Crissy Field Cafe place which was much lower key than I expected but a good thing since I was feeling mildly self-conscious about my spandex clad body.

Monday- Day off
Yay!

Tuesday - Run/Swim
I convinced Mike Kyle to come all the way to Burlingame to meet me for a quick run and then an hour pool workout. It was a pretty nice day. We ran around Burlingame for 45 minutes and then hopped in the pool. It was so nice to have someone to workout with! Afterwards we headed over to Stacks for lunch. Yum! I had a massage later that night which was awesome. Jez did A LOT of work on my rib, which may or may not have also included a breast exam. Hahaha, no. Well, it's kinda true since it is all in "that area." He kept asking if I was ok with it. Comfortable etc. I was like, yeah. A little to the left please? NO NO! I didn't say that! It's always completely professional.

Wednesday - Spin
The spin was an hour and a half today. The end.

Thursday - ...
I don't actually remember what I did on Thursday. I did go to the Chiropractor and complained that my rib was still sore. Rabbetz was all, did you ice it after the massage? I was all, no. No one told me! I got some eye rolling in my direction. When my rib first popped out, Rabbetz told me to stay away from the wetsuit because of the compression. So I had to check in with him today to see if I was greenlighted to wear one on Saturday. He said yes. I was really hoping for "no." Then I think I went home and did some more spinning. I don't really remember.

Friday - Nothing. Oh wait!
I spun on Friday, not Thursday. Thursday I think I just did some stretching. The spin was an hour. I putzed around all day pretending to clean my house but sometimes not getting any farther than the couch and an episode of Babylon 5. I made kasha varnishkas (with rice noodle bowties) and cleaned my veggies that came from the organic farm. Sometime around 7pm I pulled my wetsuit out of the closet. It was covered in mold. I guess the last time I used it was in July for my race. Oops. I saw what I thought was three kinds of mold. Gray fuzzy stuff, yellow stuff that looked like it was little sperms and some white whispy stuff (which turned out to be a spider nest). Sigh. I took it outside and brushed it all off mad at myself that I let my $500 wetsuit get moldy. Then I dug around in my cupboard and fished out a bottle of wetsuit cleaner that Ironmo gave me last year before she moved (thank god...the cleaner not the moving). Then I decided that I was in no mood to clean my wetsuit at 8pm the night before I was going to be wearing it. Then I ate my varnishkas and watched more Babylon 5.

Saturday - (Swim)/Bike/Run
Doug picked me up at the horrible, horrible time of 6:45am. Actually it was 7am because Doug rolls on Asian Time. We drove out to Lake Del Valle in Livermore. The weather report had said partly sunny high of 63. But when we got to the lake it was 41 degrees. Granted it was 8am, but still. I was not really prepared for the weather. I always think East Bay = Warm. But today I learned a new rule: if it's warm in the city it's cold in the East Bay (in winter, I don't think this rule applies in summer). So happy I skipped that swim because the water temp was 56 and everyone just looked miserable. Then we set up our bikes on our trainers and commenced with a 60 minute spin followed by a 30 minute trail run...twice. By the last run, my rib decided to stop cooperating and was giving me grief. At first I thought it was a side stitch but then I realied it wasn't and slowed down. Only manged a 15 minute second run. Then we froze our asses off while eating lunch and listened to the Coach give an inspirational talk. Then I looked at Doug and said, I need to get out of here. I had reached my socializing limit. Got home by 5pm (!), showered, ate about 5 times and then passed out by 8pm.

Hez and Leslie Freezing

Hez Starting to Spin

Hez Spinning

What we all looked like

Sunday - Core
Moddie and I had planned to ride the 45 miles that was on the schedule and then follow it up with another 9 mile run, but then we found out it wasn't supposed to be consecutive. Coach wanted us to ride in the morning, come home, eat, nap and then go back out. Right. If I come home and shower and nap...there is no way I am going back out there. So Moddie and I decided we needed to run more than ride and we planned to meet in Sausalito with one caveat, if it's raining I am not going. Woke up Sunday morning and it was raining! Yay! We discussed for 15 mintues what we should do, worked through our guilt feelings and decided to skip it. I ended up doing a core workout with some serious stretching and felt even guiltier as the day cleared up. But then I went shopping and saw a movie. Yay!

Workout Totals
Swim - 1 hour
Bike - 6 hours 30 minutes
Run - 3 hours 30 miutes

IML 3 & 4

2009-03-04T09:14:00.001-08:00

Well I escaped from jury duty! And then I don't remember what happened because, dude, that was two weeks ago!

Last week started out great! I only had three days of work before a much needed scheduling break of one whole week! I was ready to go and then...

Monday

Rest day.

Tuesday

Did a spin workout in the morning and then headed down to BAC to do some swimming. I can't express how awesome it is to be able to swim outside in the middle of February/March and it's sunny! And even if it isn't sunny it's still possible being that its about 60 degrees here.

Wednesday

I totally didn't run. I hate it so much that it is just that easy to wake up and be like, nah. Of course this has to change asap since I only have 6 months of training before my race! Woah! That is sneaking up on me! Later that night, while sleeping, I woke up in the middle of the night with the worst pain on the right side of my chest. If it had been on my left side I woulda thought it was a heart attack. The pain was that bad and that scary. I somehow managed to fall back asleep until 9am.

Thursday

I called Dr. Rabbetz, my chiropractor, and he got me in first thing. I just thought I pulled a muscle but it turns out one of my ribs came out of alignment! I didn't know they could do that! He popped it back in but boy, did that hurt! Why did it happen? He says that Western Medicine says that it's because I had a weakness there to begin with, my swim workout the day before and my bad posture. He also said that Eastern Medicine says that it's because of a broken heart. That anything that happens in the chest area has to to do with emotions of the heart. Well, I won't go into details but I would say that was a pretty accurate diagnosis. Of course, now I can't work out. He said I could still swim, though. I was nervous because my friend Jess was in town and we had a hike planned on Friday. He said I could still do the hike but be careful. If i slipped and fell on the trail, that they'd be carrying me out of there. Yikes!

Friday

Picked Jess up and we headed to the Pelican Inn in Marin. From there we climbed up the Dias ridge trail, over the Miwok trail and down on the Redwook Creek trail. It was a beautiful day. We talked girl talk the whole way and then had a great lunch at the Inn.

Saturday

I went to the team workout with intentions of swimming but as I got in my car, I did a weird fidget movement and I felt something pulling in my chest. I decided not to swim. Instead I rode with Coach Dave in the SAG vehicle during the bike ride and then stood on deck for the swim. I left before the end to meet my other friend in town for lunch at the Ferry Building. Oh, but not before I got a ticket for going through a red light. Ugh. That just kills me. I mean, it's not like I purposefully went through the red light. I just happened to be on the tail end of a line of traffic going through the intersection and when I looked up at the light I was like, crap. And of course there was a copper in traffic he turned the corner and got right behind me. I sat there for minutes just praying as they sat behind me doing nothing. Then as soon as traffic moved they turned their lights on. Damn! You know they did that on purpose.

Sunday

I didn't do much today but did meet up with the Ironteam 2009 staff for a little dinner party. My chest was still feeling twangs here and there. I plan on taking Monday off as usual, and then start back in again on Tuesday. I also have a follow up with Rabbetz to see if I am good to go!

IML Week 2

2009-02-16T19:59:00.000-08:00

Well, last week was so promising! Seven days of training in a row and then week 2 starts and I'm checking out. Oh wells.

Monday
Today was my rest day and it felt good to do so. Worked at night.

Tuesday
Headed down to the BAC to swim outside. It was actually really nice out, sunny-ish. Got a bit of a tan and kicked ass on the swim workout. I can tell I am getting stronger and faster. Gaze longingly over at the masters class and wonder if I should join, even tho I know that my heart supposedly belongs to the Temescal Masters....if I ever make it over there to try it out. Worked at night.

Wednesday
Meant to run (because I have SERIOUSLY been neglecting it) but I woke up too late and then had to rush around to go to jury duty. Spent the afternoon at the court house. Got dismissed til next week. Rode my bike home in semi-rain. Jury duty really sapped my energy because all I wanted to do was lay on my couch and watch a movie with the heat cranking and eat a giant bowl of food.

Thursday
Met Mike Kyle over in Livermore again. We decided to redo the route that we did on Sunday (and didn't quite make 45 miles on). The 45 minute or so climb wasn't bad at all. Especially since I had Mike at my side and we were chatting all the way up. We decided to roll down the other side and see how far we could get. Rumor has it the road goes all the way into San Jose. We got about 18 miles out and at my urging we turned around. It was really beautiful but I was kinda bored. I mean, it was taking FOR. EVER. to reach 20 miles and I just couldn't take it anymore. In hindsight I was probably just getting tired. So we turned around and dreaded the climb back to the summit but get this. The road was so weird. When we were descending I could tell that it was a gently, soft slope but little did I know that we were actually descending on an uphil because when we turned around to go back up hill, we were actually going faster up hill than when were going down hill? Get it?

I know. It's confusing. But the short of it is, when we turned around to climb back to the summit we were descending yet gaining altitude. Yeah. I have no effing idea how that worked out either. Alls I know is IT WAS AWESOME! It took us like 2.5 hours of riding to the turn around and seriously about 1 hour hour to get back. The best part was when we got off Mines Road we busted out a 20mph average because we wanted to get back to the Waffle House before it closed at 3pm! Waffles were had by all with 15 minutes to spare. (and I am not eating wheat...except that one time!)

Vegged out the rest of the night.

Friday
Hit the pool at the BAC and it. was. cold. Kicked out a pretty good swim through bouts of sunshine and rain, but nearly turned into a pillar of ice when I got out of the pool. Went to work but left early because of the early morning team workout the next day.

Saturday
Went to San Ramon to meet with the team and have a talk on nutrition. I was late. Oops. For some reason I thought it started at 8:45a and it really started at 8:30a. Afterwards, we hopped in the pool and was in a lane with Neil/Neal again. He swims a bit faster than me so it was good, in a way, because it pushed me out of my comfort zone. At about an hour and 15 minutes I had to get out and get ready to go to work.

Sunday
Well, I should've run. But it was gross and raining so intead I half-heartedly cleaned my house and then walked to Bi-Rite to buy an expensive chicken, of which I roasted with onions, fennel and fingerling potatoes. Yum!

I feel bad that I took 3 days off this week... Goals for next week! Get back to spin class with M2, check out the Temescal masters class, and NOT get picked for jury duty.

Workout Summary
Swim - 3 hours 30 minutes
Bike - 3 hours
Run - 0
Total - 6 hours and 30 minutes

My Unofficial Official Week 1

2009-02-10T22:40:00.001-08:00

Balls to the wall, man. That was my motto this week as I hit the training calendar like nobody's business. Like it was going out of style. Like flies on, er...never mind. Even tho I worked out about 9 hours this week and burnt more than 4,000 calories I was in a super sad mood. Crying. at. everything. About half way through the week I realized I was PMS-ing, which was a bummer because my body is now doing that every. three. weeks. Sigh. WTF!

Monday
I was still kinda sick, or rather, experiencing only mild congestion but could tell my lung capacity was not 100%. But even still, I woke up super early and swam at my ghetto pool in the Mission. I just really hate those people in the fast lane. I know I say this everytime but, dude...I am swimming non-stop for at least 30 minutes. Do not pass me and then cut me off at the wall and then stop! Yes, I see you can swim faster than me for only 50 yards...have you not noticed I am swimming longer than you and more consistantly than you? Sigh.

Then I went to therapy and cried my eyes out for two hours (yes, I do back to back sessions).

Then I went back to the Mission and met Misty at Black n' Blue to watch her get her bad ass tattoo.

Then I went to work and was so tired I thought I would die.

Tuesday
Drove to Chrissy Field and ran. Not very successfully tho. I am shirking my fitness because I was supposed to run longer than I did but I just couldn't. I pretended it was my lung capacity. Maybe it was. But more likely it was just me being lazy. A hot guy asked me the time. He had that gene, tho, that some guys have where they have to take their shirt off no matter how "hot" it is. And by hot I mean cold. Dude, it was like 50 degrees out...do you really need to take your shirt off? Sigh.

Went to work by bike.

Wednesday
Set my spin gear up and called my cousin. I did my entire workout, plus an additional 30 minutes while talking (bitching) to her on the phone. It was awesome and made the time go by so fast! Half the time I was breathing so hard I couldn't tell my stories! I felt better. Went to work and had a talk with a co-worker that made me feel better about things. Felt momentarily great.

Went to work by bike.

Thursday
Even tho it is a drag sometimes to work until midnight, I am currently loving that I get to sleep in, putter around and then swim or do some other workout thing mid-morning. So, I drove down to Burlingame to swim at my long lost outdoor pool. It was a bit overcast and as soon as I stepped out onto the deck it started pouring. Did my 30 minute swim maker where I swam like, a bazillion yards or something. My 100 yard pace ended up being 2:02 which is horribly, horribly slow. But I did it to my tempo trainer set to 1:25 (and I really have no idea what that means) so it was kinda slow and relaxed. My lungs were still kinda "full" of crap. Lot's of spitting. Ew. However, when I sent my marker results into Coach Nancy she said that in March last year I was swimming a 2:02. That means that even tho I haven't trained the last 3 months, gained a lot of weight and was currently sick, I am a month ahead of last year. Yay!

Went to work by bike.

Friday
Awesome talk with co-worker evaporated and my low-self-esteem, worthlessness and everything else came back. Cried for approximately one hour on my trainer in my kitchen while sing-screaming metal songs at a really high volume.

Went to work by bike.

Saturday
Woke up early-ish and drove to IVC in Novato for a team swim/run workout. Had fun in the pool with Judy and Neal/Neil in my lane. We had to do some laps on an interval and had to use our 100 yard time to figure stuff out. I asked Judy and Neal/Neil what their 100 swim time was and they were like oh, 1:45 or 1:30. I told Judy to shut up. Hahaha. When I told her I was a 2:02 she told me, no way. Anyways, I was keeping up with them at any rate. I was a beautiful, sunny warm-ish day. I had to skip out after the swim to go to work. Felt guilty all the way back to the city.

Was supposed to go out that night but was so angry. at. everything that the thought of me out in public was just too horrific, so I opted to go to Whole Foods (and cursed out / screamed at no less than 8 people on the way there) for potatoes and coconut milk ice cream and then I went home and (did something illegal...oh wait we're in CA so it's not illegal) and ate them while watching really bad TV on my laptop in bed with my heated mattress pad.

Sunday
Got up early and headed out to Livermore to meet with Mike Kyle and others for a 3 hour and/or 45 mile ride with hills. I was kinda scared that this was going to be my first ride outside since November and I was going to be climbing a giant, neverending hill with my, you know, diminished lung capacity et. al. Plus it was cold. But I got to try out my new long tri bike pants with removable butt cushion (at some point I wished it wasn't removable as it was everywhere but on my butt....but then was glad it was removable when walking into Waffle House after our ride and ripped it outta my pants).

The ride wasn't that bad! And Mike is just as easy as me to be convinced to turn around! So we only rode 28 miles and 2 hours with an hour long climb in there somewhere. Had food at Waffle House and then I drove back to the city (while feeling guilty for not riding 3 hours) in a massive coma where I honestly just wanted to close my eyes and sleep forever...except I was driving on 580 at 70 mph.

Went home, showered, took a nap to Pans Labyrinth, woke up, made an awesome dinner, chowed the remainder of my coconut milk ice cream and then fell alseep 2 hours later.

Workout Totals
Swim - 3 hours, 40 minutes
Bike - 4 hours, 30 minutes
Run - 45 minutes
Total hours - 9 hours (or whatever, I can't add)
Plus 4 hours of bike commuting

I Don't Know What Week This Is: Starting Over

2009-02-01T14:50:00.000-08:00

It's been hard. Really hard. To get back into it. To feel apart of the team. To want to go to the workouts. To manage a brain that will override any attempt to work out.

Anyways.

What with getting sick right after kick off, then going away for the holiday, then going to Berlin for a long time, then coming back to a challenging work schedule and THEN (to top it all off) getting sick again. I've decided to start over.

Monday is a new day. I will start with swimming. And possible spinning. And go straight through to Friday. With a day off on Saturday. And then starting on Sunday.

Sigh.

Here's to it.

Week 5

2008-12-16T19:03:00.001-08:00

Why is it that I feel guilty? Why is it that I have 256 days until my race and I feel like I am slacking? Why is that when I realize that 256 days is ONLY 36 weeks, I get scared that I am not doing enough? Oh guilt and anxiety. How I missed thee!

Monday
Was tired. Rested.

Tuesday
Got up early and did some spinning at home. Then did some core. Boring and boring.

Wednesday
Woke up super early and swam at my ghetto pool. I will never, ever get over those guys who come into the fast lane and act like they are Michael Phelps, swimming all up over my shit, passing me a mere 5 feet from the wall and flip turning inches from my face. And then getting out of the water 20-30 minutes later after 1800 rest minutes. You know what? BACK OFF. I am swimming over an hour. With 10 second rests. WHAT IS YOUR DEAL!?!? (rant over)

Thursday
Worked late so didn't do any working out today. Plus, I have been having this weird foot and leg issue. I only spun and swam and my whole left leg feels like it is going to fall off. I call it Disney Land Leg. You know how when you do a ton of walking and then when you get into bed at night your legs are just aching and no position is comfortable? That is Disney Land Leg. Then to top it all off, the ball of my left foot is killing me and I have no idea why. It makes me afraid to run. I had a massage this night and Jez (massage guy) tried to tell me that my foot probably hurts because it is overcompensating for my leg hurting and I had to be like, no. They both started the same day. I was like, ow my leg hurts...and so does my foot! Sigh. The massage was just, eh. We didn't have a good energy connection this time.

Friday
I was actually planning on running but I was woken up at 8:30am by my doorbell ringing. It was a security guard from PG&E asking if I had a black Honda? Yes. Well it's blocking the PG&E garage driveway and we can't get our trucks out. Wha? There I was half asleep and confused, staring at the empty space in front of my house where I had parked my car the night before. Many of you maybe thought I had drunk parked but sadly, no. I was very sober, parking my car into a mini spot at 7pm and I remember this because if someone had been in the car with me I would've high-fived them for my amazing paralell parking skillz.

Anywhoo, I ran down to PG&E, 3 blocks from my house, to see my sad little Civic blocking the driveway and several giant PG&E trucks idly waiting for me to move it. I also noticed that my roof mounted, locked, bike rack was gone. I got into the car to move it and it wouldn't start. My ignition was screwed up (and later I realized it wouldn't start because it was in neutral...oops!). A couple of PG&E guys helped my push my car out of the way. Then I waited all day for others: the police, the tow-truck guy and then had to go to work.

You know, I specifically do not keep anything in my car for this reason as this will be time #5 that my car was broken into in 4 years. So...did they break into it and see there wasn't anything there and then were like, well let's take this bike rack? But first let's drive it 3 blocks and park it illegally. I have this image of two junkies meticulously un-installing the rack (they did a great job! NO scratches on the roof!) and then each carrying an end as they "escaped" down the street. Sigh.

Saturday and Sunday
I worked both days so no working out. Just massive guilt feelings.

Swim - 1 hour
Bike - 1 hour
Run - 0
Core - 45 minutes
Total Workout Hours - 2 hours and 45 minutes

Week 4

2008-12-08T14:50:00.000-08:00

This week was pretty emotional for me. I have a lot of things in flux in my life right now and am making a conscious effort to work through everything. Needless to say, I didn't work out too much. Looks like I am already trying to avoid the working out! But it's so early in the season!

Monday - Rest

Yes I did. Last Saturday was so hard that I needed two days to do that.

Tuesday

I worked during the day and had a dinner at night so nothing happened this day either.

Here is me last weekend

Wednesday -Spin/Core

Got my crap together and did a morning 60 minute spin at home followed by 40 minutes of core and then some stretching. Then I got my hair cut. Or rather I confused the days and showed up for my appointment. Oops. Anthony fit me in though. Love him!

Thursday - Swim

Drove down to Burlingame to swim and noticed the fairly empty parking lot and was like, huh. It's usually packed. Well, not today because the pool was closed for repairs. Ugh. Checked the Garfield pool schedule on my iPhone (love that!) and saw that lap swim was until 1pm. Flew back to the city and got in a 30 minute swim. My (hot) Russian lifeguard, Steve (not a very Russian name), was there swimming. As soon as I got in the pool he was like HEZ! WHERE have YOU been!?!?! The last time I swum at Garfield was in August. Oops!

Friday

I had an appointment in Fairfax so by the time I woke up (slept late because of working the late shift) I had to get moving and then had to go right to work from there.

Saturday

Worked. No working out.

Sunday - Swim/Run

Met the team in Pleasant Hill, CA. Boy was it cold out! It was actually warmer and sunnier in San Francisco then it was in the East Bay. I would say it was about 50 degrees out which did not make it very attractive to jump into an outdoor pool. Now, somehow I got to be a fast swimmer. I forgot to mention that last week I somehow ended up in the fast lane and the coaches seemed to be ok with that. What that meant was, while other lanes were swimming 2 and 3 sets my lane was swimming 4 sets. I kept looking around at Heidi and Leslie in my lane like, are we in the fast lane? heh. Anyways, Heidi and I made a point NOT to get into the fast lane this time and tried to get in the middle-ish lane. Turns out the entire team thinks they are slow so there were 4-5 people in those lanes and the coaches moved us down and there we were...back in the fast lane. Anyways, we did a two hour swim workout and 15 minutes of those was a marker set to see how many laps we can do in that time. I swam a lot faster than I would've if I had been by myself but I managed to crank out 32 lengths in that time, which is 16 laps and which is an 800 and that makes my 100 time 1:52.

Here I am getting ready to swim in 50 degree weather

Anyways...

Then we ran for an hour. Then I had lunch with Doug at El Metate in the city and then I laid in bed for 4 hours and watched Battlestar Galactica. Wow! That show is really getting good. Then I went out to a fundraiser to support the SF Bike Coalition with my new co-worker, Julianne and had beer! Yay

Swim - 2 hours 30 minutes

Bike - 60 minutes

Run - 50 minutes

Core - 45 minutes

Week 3

2008-11-30T18:22:00.000-08:00

This week I was back in full force! Yeah!

Monday - Core
Instead of resting I decided to kick out some core and strength training with a goal of doing this M-W-F the WHOLE season. Sounds like a plan...hope I stick to it. It's very, very hard.

Tuesday - Spin/Swim
Got on my trainer in the morning and did a 60 minute spin workout to music I like. Sorry Coach Dave but your music blows. I would rather kill myself than spin to the Grateful Dead/Phish/Gov't Mule. IM'd Mai and asked if she wanted to join me in Burlingame for an afternoon swim. Picked her up and off we went. Swam a 1600 and clocked my normal 100 yard swim time. 1:50. That is very, very lame. Ate and rested the rest of the day til I had to work at 4pm. Ate some more. Came home and watched the 3 hour Battlestar Galactica mini series. THAT DISC WAS SO GOOD. Went to bed at 3am :-|

Wednesday - Core
I think I was also supposed to run this day but I didn't get around to it. Made some Thanksgiving soup and pie dough instead.

Thursday - Spin
Yes, I got up and went to M2 for a Thanksgiving morning spin class with Doug. Was pretty rad. Came home and made 2 pies and then headed to Misty's for dinner.

Friday - Nada
Went to work instead.

Saturday - 7.5 hour workout
Yes that is right. I packed up the car and drove to San Ramon where I did "dynamic" run drills for 45 minutes. Did core and strength for 45 minutes. Swam for 90 minutes. Then had 30 minutes of spinning (while being subjected to crap music) and 20 minutes of running 3 times in a row. Yay for burning almost 3,000 calories! Boo for being so tired that I passed out at 8:30pm.

Sunday
Yeah, I'm resting. Thanks!

Swim - 2.5 hours
Bike - 3.5 hours
Run - 1 hour
Core - 1.5 hours

Week 2

2008-11-23T16:31:00.000-08:00

This week I was still recovering from the flu, or whatever it was I had. I decided to take it easy even though I was feeling extremely guilty.

Monday - Rest

I took full advantage of this.

Tuesday

Almost feeling better but just not quite. Holding off on doing anything.

Wednesday - Run

Massive guilt feelings (and my expanding gut) got me out to Crissy Field for a scheduled 30 minute run. I started at the Monkey Bars where it was partly sunny and ran towards the Golden Gate Bridge, which I could not see, into pelting rain. Weird. Had a heavy chest the rest of the day and maybe some more achey flu feelings.

Thursday - Mentor Group Social

Well, I guess the 3 SF mentor groups are anti-social. I got all dressed up and actually left my house to represent at Kezar Pub and to help force the people to interact. Unfortunately, the only people who showed up were Caesar, Ferdinand and me -- all mentors. Amy rambled up around 8pm and then we all left. I went off to dinner with Jojo.

Friday

I feel like I did something this day but I don't think I did. Made plans to run with my long lost running partner Susan on Sunday. I did go to a birthday dinner for a friend and walked about 20 blocks in heavy, engineer boots with steel toes, of which I swear weigh about 5lbs each. I think I pulled a muscle! I definitely got shin splints. Hahaha. I haven't worn steel toe shoes in ages and my shins are complaining... and my psoas on both sides which is really, really interesting.

Saturday

Worked

Sunday - Run

Was supposed to run 55 minutes, but Susan who is training for a half marathon was slated for 5-6 miles so I just went along with it, which at our speed was about 1:10. We went to Crissy Field, ran to the bridge and back. It was a nice slow run for me. My quads and psoas' were complaining the whole way. I really think I might be in trouble with the psoas this year. This is left over from the end of last season along with my achey hips. I think I am gonna have to be diligent with the yoga and the stretching to make it through this season.

Swim - 0

Bike - 0

Run - 1 hour 30 minutes

Core/Stretching - o

Week 1: Starting it off right...kind of

2008-11-16T11:05:00.000-08:00

Today marks the end of the first week of training for Ironteam 2009, season two!

Sunday - Ride

After our long Ironteam Kickoff on Saturday, Heidi and I headed down to Canada Road to tackle our first hill repeat workout. Cycle Coach Dave recommended doing three mile hill repeats on Kings Mountain Road. My first reaction to thats was: Cycle Coach Dave is HIGH.

At my best day, Kings Mountain Road is 4+ miles of a steady incline that is manageable but not that easy.

On my worst day, Kings Mountain Road is me having to stop half way up because I just can't go any further.

I figured that I was somewhere in between my best and worst day as I haven't ridden my bike since July 20 aka Ironman race day, however, I did have some sort of left over fitness from training for 10 months. Right?

Anyways...Heidi and I both decided that Kings Mountain Road was not such a great idea ON DAY ONE so we made up our own special hill repeat route starting at Edgewood and Canada Roads, riding down towards Woodside, hanging a right past the bakery and then another right on to Albion Road for a quick mile, rolling hill road. This route loops around back to Canada and then you can start it all over again. We were slated for 20 miles total. We managed about 18 miles with ten miles out and back from our cars and then about 7 hill repeats.

It felt good to be done with the work out before 11am and even better to have hunger associated with actually moving my body rather than having hunger from just being bored.

Monday - Rest

Yay!

Tuesday - Swim

Already I am skipping workouts! I worked the late shift both Monday and Tuesday nights and decided that it was just too much to be up really late and try to get a swim in before going to work again.

Wednesday - Swim/Run

I decided that, even tho it's kind of far, I would much rather enjoy swimming outside so I headed down to the Burlingame Aquatic Center for their noon lap swim. Wow! That place was empty. I had my own lane. I did my 1,000 yard workout and my marker set for 500 yards or 20 laps -- which may or may not have actually been 22 laps because I lost count at lap 10-ish (10:37-slowwww). By the end of it I was shaking. SHAKING. I think it was from hunger even though I ate cereal and had an Endurox before I left. Luckily I had an Endurox for my ride home and that helped until I got home and could eat.

I was planning on hitting the track workout that evening at Kezar but apparently swimming for 30 minutes was just too much for me and around 2pm I took a nap and didn't wake up til 5pm. I was pretty wiped out so I decided to stay home.

And then I got sick! That pretty much ended my training for the week since a mere 2 block walk to the store would make me sleep for 3 hours. I am not kidding.

I am anxious to get back into it next week, though I am still recovering from my flu thing, and sad that I missed the opportunity to do work outs in the unseasonably warm weather.

Swim - 1,000 yards

Bike - 18 miles

Run - 0

Core - 0

Pre-Season: Ironteam 2009 Starts...NOW!

2008-09-29T10:25:00.000-07:00

Well, I guess I never did update my blog with all the details of what went down on my first Ironman... Basically, it was long and I finished...with mild pain...nothing too horrible...clearly as I am signed up for Ironteam 2009. Huzzah!

I'll be mentoring and co-web captain this year and yesterday the mentors, training captains and coaches met for a training session and to hammer out our expectations of the season with new old Coach Wayne. Wayne coached Ironteam for 6 years, took two off, reassessed his coaching style and is back with Ironteam. Yesterday's meeting was exciting and scary. Exciting because this season is going to be phenomenal and scary because Coach Wayne is gonna be tough...on the staff as well as the participants.

What looks good for this season is there will be less mandatory workouts on the calendar but the amount of time spend training will not change. Basically I'll be MIA every Wednesday for 3 hours and every Saturday for 7 hours.

What looks bad for this season? We have no San Francisco participants yet! If you are at all interested in Ironteam please check out an info meeting. You know you want to!!

I'm an Ironman

2008-07-24T07:59:00.001-07:00

Right before the swim
Originally uploaded by hezcatt

Yes, I did it! Stay tuned for more photos and a full blog entry in the days to come.

Week 40: The Final Week

2008-07-14T22:51:00.001-07:00

Can you believe it? I have just 6 days to go before my race. I have trained 40 weeks and this is my last week! This past week I think I have been in denial. Just two weeks ago I was drinking way too much like I wasn't doing oh, an IRONMAN in 14 days. This week I can't even believe it. I almost don't want to believe it. So much has to happen that I have no idea how it will all come together.

Monday - Rest Day
I shipped my bike! OH MY GOD. I spent the weekend packing my gear bag with all my stuff so that when I leave for my race all I have to bring with me are street clothes and whatever else I forgot to pack with the gear. I was really stressed out because IT'S REAL! My bike is on it's way to Lake Placid all nice and clean. Then I met up with Zack and we got sandwiches and walked to Delores Park and hung out. It was super warm out and was a great day.

Tuesday - Swim
I am rocking the taper workout and only having to swim 1900 yards! I feel kind of guilty driving all the way down to Burlingame to swim in their fabulous outdoor pool but it is so worth it. It's glorious only having to swim for 45 minutes. Now if only my new goggles would stop fogging up in 15 minutes.

Wednesday - Track
My taper workout was a 15 minute warm up, 3 by 2 miles (run 2 miles 3 times), and then a 15 minute cool down. At the last minute I realized I didn't have to do this workout at the track but I didn't pack a water bottle I could carry with me so I just decided to run the 8-9 miles on the track. I thought it would be boring but I had my ipod and just ran around and around. So many times I wanted to cut the workout short but in the end I just sucked it up. Spent the rest of the day cleaning out closets and drawers to donate clothes.

Thursday - Swim (twice!)
Headed down to Burlingame and swam the very doable 1350 yards. Love the taper! Came home and got ready to spend a day lounging on the beach at Lake Sonoma. Zack picked me up and we were on our way. It was 100 degrees up there (no lie) and the water was amazing. Zack is also a swimmer so we swam out beyond the roped in area a few times, and out into the lake. It was nice, to swim together, since we are about the same speed. Once back on the blanket it was so hot that we decided to just spend the 4 hours in the water the whole time. Came home and made dinner and watched TV.

Friday - Chiro
Boy did I need to see my chiropractor, although, it was very painful what with the psoas and butt "massaging." Then Elektra came over and shopped in my closet and then we took the left overs to Goodwill. Stayed in and watched TV.

Saturday - Cleaning
I took Saturday off to really REALLY clean my house. In the midst of it Shai Kitty, who had been exhibiting some strange behavior over the last few days, was acting even weirder which prompted a trip to the emergency vet. So I spent about 3 hours there. Shai has a condition which he is susceptible to and it prevents him from peeing. The low estimate was $500 and the high estimate was $2200. As I was standing there crying and trying to figure out how to pay the bill this woman (who was there with her kitty) overheard my conversation. She sat next to me on the bench and told me she would like to help and offered to pay what I couldn't. (!) Can you say ANGEL? I was so amazed and thankful and grateful. I was speechless. Faith restored in humanity? Yes. Shai Kitty came home with medication and instructions to be monitored closely.

Sunday - Run
Ironteam does an annual run to honor Louie Bonpua, the spirit of ironteam. Louie was a participant who trained and completed an ironman while undergoing treatment for Leukemia. Unfortunately, Louie lost his battle with cancer. This run helps us to remember why we are here and training so hard and raising money. Off we went on our run to Louie's resting place in Los Altos. Once there, we all sat around his grave and shared Louie stories, or stories about our personal honorees and our connection to the cause. Afterwards, we ran back to the start and had a little bagel breakfast and got our race singlets. The morning left me in a weird mood. I came home and finished cleaning the rest of my apartment and prayed that Shai Kitty would pee.

Yi and I in Los Altos

Monday - Nervous Breakdown
I'm dipping into this week since the poignancy of freaking out may be overshadowed by the race report. This morning I don't really know what happened. I started out ok and then all of a sudden I was sobbing and hyperventilating and calling my friend, Iron Mo, who lives 3,000 miles away and in another time zone. I left a message on her machine just sobbing and freaking out. The main gist of the meltdown was around cat sitting. Shai Kitty is on medication that needs to be administered twice daily the whole time I am gone, needs special food and has to be monitored all day...and knowing my cat sitter couldn't really do that schedule AND that I couldn't really afford it...then the fact that I am insecure in my relationship...added with losing my job and not having any money...and wondering what will happen with the future...and oh...and I have to do an IRONMAN ON SUNDAY....well it was just too much and I totally lost it. Cried all morning, in the shower, then while blow drying my hair. Then I left to run errands and cried in my car. Zack called me while I was in the supermarket and I was like, hi, I am having a nervous fucking breakdown and can't talk right now since I am in public and then started crying again. Called him back when I was in my car and he was like, what is going on? I explained basically what happened above and he was like, uh...everything will be fine. Then he asked if I wanted to go for a walk with him in Golden Gate park and freak out was temporarily derailed. Later I went to our team dinner and when people asked me if I was ready for my race I just said yes and nodded. I am saying yes to all race related questions and just trying to stay focused! I leave Thursday. Wish me luck!

Week 39

2008-07-12T21:24:00.000-07:00

I used my posting mojo on an email this week. New update in a few days...

In just 14 days I will have the opportunity to complete my first Ironman triathlon. To remind you an Ironman consists of a 2.4 mile swim, 112 mile bike ride, and a 26.2 mile run. 140.6 miles, to be completed in 17 hours.

I’ve been reflective lately (as the distances I am training are conducive to that) and looking back over these last 9 months brings a lot of emotions to the surface. In October I had no idea what I was getting myself into. July seemed like a long way off and maybe even just a dream. Would I really be able to complete an Ironman? But through the support of my coaches, mentors, teammates and amazing friends I was able to build a solid base of fitness and mental capacity to aid me in the completion of the most difficult thing I will attempt in my life thus far. I am feeling pretty confident. Plus, not finishing is NOT an option.

Training for Ironman is not easy, and sometimes I can’t even imagine not having it in my life. In nine months I swam the longest distance I ever have (2 miles - I never thought it possible!) and ran the longest I have ever run (15 miles). I lost close to 30lbs but gained 10lbs of it back in muscle. For a few weeks there, I was training close to 20 hours a week. I’ve put endless miles on my car and my body and both held up! I’ve put close to 1,000 miles on my bike and on most days have put close to 4,000 calories in my body. Before Ironman training I used to look at food and say, “Oh my god this has 300 calories in it!” During Ironman training I now look at that same food and say, “Oh my god, this ONLY has 300 calories in it!”

I am happy to report that I met my fundraising goal of $8000 on July 3^rd. Seventy-six of you donated an average of $105. Once again I was amazed and grateful and comforted by the fact that there are remarkable and generous people in my life. People who not only support me but who also want to see an end to cancer. After this third season with Team in Training, you and I will have raised close to $20,000 to help the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society in their fight against blood cancers. Did it slip your mind? I am still accepting donations here: http://www.active.com/donate/tntgsf/hez

In these last days I will be getting my gear packed, shipping my bike and tapering my workouts to get my body well rested for the big day. I will also be working on the mental aspect of the race. Right now I am scared shitless! I am worried about so many things and am trying to put to good use my number one mantra for race day: “Let go and let God.” Other “mantra’s” that have helped me throughout the season are: “C’mon girl!” “One and two and one and two and…” “You’re a good girl!” and “What the f**k are you doing!” (Oops! That’s not a mantra!)

The next time you hear from me I will be an Iron(wo)man. So think of me on race day: July 20^th, 2008. I’m racing to cure cancer, to do something only a few can and to remember those who have lost their fight. Wish me luck!

Love,

Hez

Week 38

2008-06-29T13:15:00.000-07:00

Can you believe I have just three weeks left? I can't. This week was no different than the others where I try to avoid training and try to have a life and tell myself it's ok. I did a little too much fun making early in the week but followed it up with some good solid iron-activity. It's weird. I think I am not doing the workouts because I am tired even tho I don't really physically *feel* tired. I just feel blah.

Monday - Rest Day
The weird thing about being unemployed is that, without the structure, I have no idea what I did most days. I've been having to go to my Flickr Set - XX Days of Unemployment to figure it out. I know that I didn't work out. I know that I saw Zack. Oh! I had dinner with Jessica and her boyfriend, Will, who are visiting from New England. We went to my favorite Taqueria and then Zack met us for drinks at Mission Bar.

Tuesday - Rest
I was still really aching from my Triple Brick on Sunday so I took today off from training too. Today I had an interview with Unemployment Services. Apparently they were going to assess my eligibility to get work. I was a little groggy from drinks the night before and waking up at 6:30 to get ready for an 8am appointment. The meeting was stupid. I sat around for a few until a lady came to collect me and another guy. She led us back to her cubicle which was just plastered with photos of plants and flowers that were part of a calendar. Weird. I tried to take a covert operation photo but since I was sitting less than a foot from her it was hard. She then reviewed this worksheet I filled out and handed me three sheets of paper with info on how to find a job. (gee thanks, I have never looked for a job before). I was out of there in 15 minutes. Decided to go to Chinatown but was like, eh. Then I decided to go to Macy's. Parked in the lot and treated myself to breakfast at Mel's. Didn't find anything fun to buy. Probably for the better. Later I went to a movie with Ian. We saw The Happening and it was incredibly dumb. I like to think that M. Night Shyamalan is a genius and his actors were acting that bad because of the storyline...but. I think it was just bad. Went over to Zack's and had dinner and watched a movie.

Wednesday - Well...
Had all the intentions in the world to run but woke up late-ish. I don't really remember what I did the rest of the day. Later I picked Zack up and we had dinner with Betsy and Rick at Little Star and then headed over to the Independent for the Air Guitar Championships. I had to bribe Zack to go since he thought it was gonna be lame. I kept saying, it's so awesome. This is my third year going. I wouldn't bring you to something lame. Then, of course, it was lame. I hate how the rest of the world takes the air guitar seriously except for the 20 contestants in San Francisco. LAME.

Thursday - Swim
Drove down to Burlingame to check out this pool down there. Weird that they don't put speeds on the lanes. Usually a pool will mark them slow, medium or fast. When I asked the lifeguard she said it didn't work out very well when they tried that. I was thinking, how could it NOT work out? And, really? It works out better to have them not marked so that someone slow gets in a lane with someone fast and then they have problems? Sigh. Found a lane with a guy who I assessed to be around my speed. We ended up splitting the lane so it was no biggee. The pool was treated with Bromine which, I always forget, makes me nauseous. Lap swim down there is only an hour so I couldn't finish my 3700 yards. I probably did like half of it. Stayed in that night finishing up Entourage season 3.

Friday - Run
Went to my chiropractor in the morning. I totally needed it. I have no idea what I am gonna do right after my race without Dr. Rabbetz there. Probably suffer for the week at my mom's and then get adjusted when I get back. Right after my appointment I went to Crissy Field and ran. The wind was horrible but I pushed through. Later in the day I felt like it might have been a mistake since I started to feel really stressed in my lower back. Spent the afternoon swearing with Yi on instant messenger regarding the bike route profile. It was gonna be tough. Put new tires on my bike. Watched a movie and went to bed around 8:30.

Saturday - Ride
Doug picked me up (late) and we headed down to the peninsula for our 100 mile ride that promised over 10,000 feet of climbing. Looking back, I wasn't really in the mental state for this ride. Things have been weighing heavily on my mind lately. Plus, when we pulled in the parking lot, most of the team had left. Was kinda bummed that Yi didn't wait for me even tho I texted her that I was gonna be a bit late. It all worked out since Robin and Madora were just getting there as well and I decided to ride with them. The main reason I got through last weeks triple brick was because I took it slow and that was my plan for today. With 100 miles ahead of me and some known and unknown climbing I wanted to make sure I saved myself for the massive 9 mile climb at mile 80. First part of the ride was great. Until Hwy 9. It was 5-6 miles of steady climbing. Immediately, I pulled my back. The farther up I went, the more I realized that I was in trouble as a dull ache started in my lower left back. Felt like crying a lot about a lot of stuff. As soon as I felt the tears sting my eyes I just fought it back. I'm an ironman fer crissakes. Made it to the top and was so out of it. Ate some food, stretched my back and headed on for the next part of the ride. Uneventful until we reached Old La Honda Road. I know this road, my friend Jason lives 3/4 of the way up and it's even hard to drive when you're in a car. At the bottom the rest stop volunteers assured us that it was only 2.5 miles to the top and not that bad. Coach Alex started off with me and I just want to apologize to him right now. All he heard on the way up was me swearing, spitting and crying. I was doing ok tho, except in extreme moments of steepness when my back just felt like it was burning into my stomach, and then about a half mile from the top this guy rides by me and says, unfortunately the easy part is over. The easy part! Shit. That so didn't help my confidence for the last bit. Made it to the top, up and over and on that part I decided that I had to get sagged in (picked up and driven back to the car) at mile 70 which was right before the 9 mile climb on Tunitas Road. It's not something I am proud of, getting sagged, and is the first time in my entire cycling career that I have not finished a ride. We got to the bottom of Pescadero Road and there was a steepish climb with the rest of the road hidden behind a curve. I asked Coach Dan from the South Bay team what the climb was like. He said, oh it's not bad. I asked him again saying that I needed to know specifically and to please not use the "coach deflection" technique since if it was only 500 feet I could do it and if it was 2 miles I probably couldn't. He said it's not as bad as Hwy 9 to which I replied, well, Hwy 9 blew out my fucking back and I cried all the way up Old La Honda and I am tough (to which Helen, who was standing nearby, confirmed that I was one tough cookie). Dan fessed up that it was 4-5 miles and I was like, there is no way. So he told me of an alternate route that would put me at the next waterstop in 10 miles or less and off I went. I hate that he treated me like I was trying to get out of it because I was lazy. Especially since he had seen me several times previously where I had mentioned my back hurting.

Anyways

Got sagged and was planing on going to the top of Tunitas Road and then riding down but the time in the car stiffened my back up and I opted to just go back to the car. Doug was already done and eating (he was 2 hours a head of me even tho we left roughly around the same time!) We drove home and I felt like crying the whole way. The ride was a bit demoralizing for me and definitely did not build any confidence. Life is so hard sometimes! Came home and took an ice bath and got ready to go to Zack's for a party. Yes, I rode 70 tough miles and planned on partying! hahaha. (not really, just visiting)

Sunday - Nada
Supposed to run but because of the state of my back put it off til Monday when hopefully my body and my mental state will all be better.

Week 37

2008-06-23T10:57:00.000-07:00

I was exhausted after the weekend in Clearlake and unconsciously decided to take it easy this week on the training front. On the life front, I had so much going on that the week flew by and before I knew it, it was Sunday and I was headed down to the Peninsula to do my season culminating Triple Brick.

Monday - Rest
Today I wasn't really feeling sore from the previous weekend, even still, I moved my Friday chiropractic appointment to Tuesday morning to have some things addressed. I went over to Elektra's today to help her set up a trainer she bought so she could rig her mountain bike to be stationary. Both her tires were flat and I happened to have the right size tubes she needed and the experience in tube/tire changing. Then we sat around and ate some lunch and watched bad cable. Then I can't really remember what I did. heh.

Tuesday - Swim
Had a big swim workout planned. The weather started out not being so nice so I hoped the pool would not be packed. Then it got sunny out and everybody and their brother was there. At one point I counted 12 people in the fast lane. It wouldn't be so bad if the people were considerate. Dude, if you see that someone is right on your feet because they are clearly faster than you, don't push off in front of them...let them fucking pass! GAH! I had to cut the workout short since I was so frustrated. Afterwards I met Zack for lunch. Then we went out and watched the Celtics at a dive bar. Three beers later I was druuunk. heh.

Wednesday - Nada
So now three beers creates a hangover...even with 9 hours of sleep. I was supposed to clean my bike at some point this week and today was supposed to be the day. But I was headachey. Ian gave me a pity job of cleaning his apartment while he was away on business so I went over there and did that. Then came home and vegged out to hours of Entourage. I kept saying: one more episode. Next thing I knew it was time to get ready for dinner with my friend Jess. She's in town from New England. Her mom lives in SOMA so I headed over there for fabulous company and dinner. Lot's of wine = druuuunk.

Thursday - Sonoma-Marin Fair
Kind of hungover-ish again. Went over to Elektra's very early to collect her and Xino to head up to Petaluma. Elektra entered her doggy in the World's Ugliest Dog Contest that was being held at the Sonoma-Marin Fair. Xino's story was so heartwarming that the Animal Planet people who sponsor the contest made Xino a featured player! Today Elektra got interviewed by Animal Planet, Channel 4 and Channel 7. Xino got filmed for a green screen something or other and then there were rehearsals for the contest. It was like 100 in Petaluma and my car doesn't have a/c so we were kinda dying. Especially since we didn't expect it. Came home and crashed.

Friday - Sonoma-Marin Fair
Today was the big contest day so I picked up Elektra, Xino and Elektra's boyfriend Nathan and we all headed up to Hog Island Oyster Farm for the yummiest lunch ever. The weather was INSANE. It was already 80 when I woke up at 7am and 90 by the time I left my house at 11am. We drove to the oyster farm, which is usually cool and windy. When we got there it was 80 and HOT. Still, we had a fabulous lunch of Kumamotos, Sweetwaters and clams. I made a mignonette. We grilled some of the Sweetwaters rockefeller style. We also grilled the clams and spritzed them with lemon and salt and pepper and they were just so fabulous. I never knew clams could be so good. We also had bread, cheese, olives, guacamole and apricot jam...oh and wine and champagne. Then we headed over to Petaluma for the doggy contest. Xino came in third! (he was robbed)

Hez and Xino at Hog Island

Saturday - Nothing
There was nothing on the calendar for my workout and then I realized that I missed an email for a swim workout. Oh wells. Went to Iron Mo's going away party at Crissy Field. Then decided to go to Macy's but the traffic was so bad and the parking garage so full I was like, why am I going to Macy's on a Saturday when I can go on a Monday! Went home to watch more Entourage and get ready for my big workout on Sunday. Zack called and he came over with some movies. Can you believe I had never seen Taxi Driver in it's entirety? Then we got a burrito. Then I made him watch my two remaining episodes of Entourage.

People at Crissy Field

Sunday - Triple Brick
Soooo, after not working out all week and having alcohol twice, I set out for my triple brick down on the peninsula with the South Bay Ironteam. A brick is the act of cycling and running, triple means we had to do it 3 times. The day had some minor annoying issues. I was late-ish and had to rush around. I forgot to charge my Garmin so I did not have a watch, gps, heart rate monitor, speedometer, distance or reminder for food intake the whole day. I dropped my chain twice. I actually fell off my bike from a complete standstill in the middle of the road. But, the rest of the day was awesome! The bike routes were pretty easy. I was worried about the first one since it involved climbing 25 minutes on Kings Mountain Road, which is my nemeis, by the way. In 2006 I did a ride about 5 months after my traithlon season was over and I had not ridden at all. It involved going up King's Mtn and I had to stop well before halfway. I just couldn't do it. So I was very nervous. It was such a non-issue tho. It was even easy! My heart rate was at least 10 beats below my lactate threshold and for most of the ride was well below that (the Garmin worked for about 2 hours). The day consisted of riding for two hours and then running for one hour three times in a row. I was surprised at how easy it all was and I felt great throughout. On the run I had to bring my cell phone with me to keep track of time and at one point my mom called. I answered and she was like, what are you up to? I was like, I'm on my second run! hahaha. Look at me answering the phone while running. The day was great and I felt great, tho worried about my psoas as it acted up towards the end. After the workout I came home, ordered chinese food and then passed out.

Week 36: Ass Whooping

2008-06-16T16:57:00.000-07:00

This week seemed to be working out ok. Besides the news that someone I care deeply about is leaving San Francisco and that had to be addressed...and dealt with...and cried about...and reevaluated...and obsessed about...and etc etc etc. Exhausting.

Monday - Rest
Happy that the weather was unusually hot, I drove to Lyne's house to have a walk with her and her baby, Oliver, and enjoyed an ice coffee in Noe Valley. Then I headed over to Elektra's house where we drank beers and watched bad cable TV and commiserated about our lost jobs...she worked with me and got laid off too.

Tuesday - Bike
Drove down to Canada Road to do a bike marker set. Read the details on the calendar as a 15 minute warm up, 30 minute marker set, 15 minute cool down. Thought it was a little weird but Canada Road seemed perfect for it since it's 15 miles out and back and would work well. Plus I got to try out my aerobars again on a not so windy day. Worked awesome and I feel more comfortable using them. Got home and realized that the calendar said a 30 MILE bike marker set...not 30 MINUTES. Sigh. Had an almost major melt down later in the day but managed to pull it together and not make a fool of myself in public. It sucked, tho, it really sucked.

Wednesday -Swim
Massive swim workout planned, rode my bike to my public pool and it was closed for the afternoon lap swim because of a city training or something. Then quick rode over to the Mission outdoor public pool but that one was closed too til 3pm. Since it was so hot out, I decided to wait til the evening lap swim and do it in the outside pool. Rode back over there and pool was still closed. So no swimming for me but lots of neighborhood riding. Went to the library and got a library card. They didn't have the book I wanted at my local branch so ordered it and waited impatiently for book two of the Earthsea series. Went to my coaches house for dinner and interrogated him and his wife about Ironman and what actually happens on the day.

Thursday - Swim Again
Went to the outdoor Mission pool, which is now my favorite place to swim since it is um, outside. Was a little disappointed that it was only 2 lanes. One slow and one fast. Got in the fast lane and had to deal with tons of testosterone. Stupid men. Why do they have to act like they are olympic swimmers? Dude, it's a 30 yard public pool, do you really need to overtake me and cut me off before the wall and then NOT continue so my flow gets interrupted? No. Oh yeah, and you - super fast guy who thinks you are awesome for swimming so super fast for your measly 30 minutes? Try swimming for 90 minutes. Pussy. Workout was 3600 yards, which in this new pool was 4300 yards. Hi? Stud. Sunblocked my tattoos and my face but not my back. Ouch! Then I went shopping and spent way too much money at Sports Basement on stuff I actually needed. Well, maybe I didn't need those shorts and that dress but I did need some tubes and nutrition and socks and a sports bra etc etc. It's like my last time spending money until I get a job.

Friday - Packing and Driving
Packed for my training weekend away in Clearlake. Made a call to my grandpa. Made me cry because he was in a grumpy mood. Doug, my teammate, picked me up and we hit Manora's Thai restaurant before we left the city then headed out for the 3 hour drive to Lakeport. Drive was uneventful except for a stop at the tri-tip BBQ taco place. When Doug and I walked in it was literally THIS CLOSE to being Deliverance and we were scared of the two Harley Dudes sitting at the bar and the near toothless old woman behind the bar. But the Harley Dudes turned out to be awesome and nice and invited us to sit down. Got to Ironteam alum, Jeff's house and dropped or bikes off then headed to the hotel and then off to meet some of the team for dinner. Roomed with Yi. We got in bed at 8:30pm and were alseep shortly after that.

Saturday - Swim/Bike
Woke up at 5am to get ready for the morning. Packed our stuff and carpooled down to Jeff the Alums house on Clearlake which would be our starting point. Got our wetsuits on and headed down to the water for our 2 mile swim. The route would be to swim out about 100 yards, turn left and swim to a white buoy, turn right and swim past an orange buoy to a dock, turn around and swim back to the orange buoy and then swim in. The night before when I was envisioning my swim, I decided to aim for 1:15. The swim wasn't that bad! Two miles seems like a long way and a long time to be in the water but it went by kinda fast. I just kept my head down and followed along behind some of the girls who were just slightly faster than me. Came out of the water in 1:19 which wasn't so bad. Later it was discussed that the swim route might've been longer than 2 miles based on the swim times of teammates who know their 2 mile times. So, that is good news for me!

After the swim we got ready for our 90 mile bike ride. The route led us 15 miles to a park which would be our base rest stop. Then we had two 30 mile circles from that point and then we would ride 15 mile back to the house. The first 15 miles? Awesome. The first 30 mile loop? Not so awesome. I went out way too hard with a group that was averaging 20 mph! Holy crap! By the end of that loop I was tired, sluggish, heavy feeling and exhausted and it was getting hot. I couldn't keep up with the people and started to really lag behind. I made a decision that when I got to the park I would just relax and lay in the grass for a bit. When I got to the rest stop I couldn't even talk. People were checking in with me and asking me questions and I was only able to grunt. heh. Had some fluids and then sat down. Yi was getting ready to go back out on the second loop and I told her that I wanted to rest a bit. Then Mai, Nancy, Izumi and Susan rolled in and I decided to go out with them. Best decision ever. Their speed was a bit slower and I was able to draft off of Mai for about 2o miles. It really helped me to recover and get my second wind. I finished up that second loop feeling awesome and like myself again. Then it was just a quick 15 miles back to the house and we were done! I think I finished the ride in 6:30 or maybe 7 hours. Not too bad. I'd like to get that time down, but that also includes rest stops. That night we had a great BBQ at Jeff's house and I just zoned out til we went back to the hotel.

Sunday - Run
I was slated to run 18 miles but had mentally decided to run 15 with the team. Still tho, my coach wanted me to get there a half hour early in case I wanted to go a bit longer. Yi gratiously offered to go with me early and we headed off, running 8 minutes and then walking for 2. I was a bit sore from the day before but everything seemed ok...until mile 10. :-| My right butt, right hip and outside of my right and left thigh started to get really tight. Like painfully tight. It was really all I could do to keep moving but when we would stop for our 2 minute walk that was painful too. I felt like I just wanted to lay down on the ground and roll around and stretch everything. Of course that isn't an option when you're running on Route 20 in Clearlake. Finally, tho, it was over and it was all I could do to push out the last half mile. When I got to Jeff's driveway I started to walk and just stomped into the backyard taking things off along they way like my visor, heart rate monitor, watch, socks and shoes and just layed down in the grass and started crying. Ted and Pete, two of my coaches came over to talk to me and when they saw that I was crying they were like, uhhh. They were concerned but had no idea what to do. hahahaha. I just stayed there for a bit stretching everything. Then I finagled my way into a shower and shortly after Doug and I left to go back to the city.

All in all, the weekend was hard but manageable. The swim definitely built my confidence. The bike, tho hard at first was awesome. I mean, 90 miles. Next time you get in your car reset your trip odometer and see how long it takes you to drive that! The run, tho, may have set me back a bit on the confidence scale. I kept thinking, would I be able to bust out another 11 miles feeling like this? Hopefully on race day adrenalin will kick in and keep all those aches and pains at bay.

And by the way, my race is just 31 days away! I am also closing in on my fundraising goal and have just $400 left to make my $8000 total! Are you feeling generous? Go here to help me cure cancer!

Week 35: Downward Spiral

2008-06-08T09:18:00.000-07:00

Seems like every week is challenging but this time I really mean it! I was able to get back to swimming, finally got my bike back from the shop and was ready to get back on track (hi? 40 days?) and then my life fell apart. Shit.

Monday - Rest
And when I say rest, I mean rest. I called in sick because I was feeling sick. And when I say sick, I mean hungover from my Sunday night of 3 hours of karaoke and boozing it up. Was in bed by 10pm but was still a wreck the next day. I have the bruises to prove it.

Tuesday - Bonus Rest
No training today for me. Felt like I was getting sick as that sore throat that came about last Friday reappeared. Tho, it might've been from singing three hours straight on Sunday. The day started out alright and then halfway through I learned of some devastating news. Something inside me definitely shut down, broke apart and then started clanging around my body (that's a metaphor, people). Tried not to cry the whole rest of the day at my desk til I left to go pick up my bike in Redwood City. Called my mom on the way down there and cried on 280 for about 10 miles. Got to the bike shop and the owner, Bob, was like, sooooo, we didn't really know what to do with your bike. You wanted the basic tune up right? No. You wanted the aerobars taken off? No. Sigh. Apparently, even tho I specifically went over everything when I dropped off my bike, no one wrote it down and then no one could even CALL ME when they realized that they didn't know what to do. Complained that I drove all the way down there from the city and that I need my bike BY FRIDAY. Went back home and cried all the way back. Came home and self-medicated with a Tylenol PM and fell asleep (hey at least it's not pot or heroin or alcohol).

Wednesday - Track
Managed to get out of bed and go to work. Very, very sad but functioning relatively well. Was gonna go pick up lunch when my boss called me into her office and unceremoniously told me that they were eliminating my position.

"......."

What?!?! And as I sat there in shock. IN SHOCK. I was simultaneously very sad and relieved. Very sad because I loved this job so much. It was the first job in a long time where I actually wanted to get up and go to. I loved the people, loved the work (well some of it) and was hoping to stay there a long time and actually have a career. But I was also relieved because of what happened on Tuesday made me want to totally check out and finally FINALLY get. the. fuck. out of San Francisco. (there is only so much a girl can take) Of course the only thing keeping me here was what I thought I had prior to Tuesday, and of course, my job. Now with both of those things gone, it started to look like I was free. And because I am an Aries and self-centered, I thought I was the only one getting laid off. Turns out about 13 of us were unlucky today. Again very said, very disorienting and very unbelieveable.

Filed for unemployment before I left the office.

My Peanut Butter M&M's Randomly Matched My Unemployment Paperwork

Then I went to the dentist. Called my mom on the way there and was like, soooo, I thought it couldn't get worse... (and I said, things could be worse and I waited and sure enough, they were!) Cried all the way to the dentist.

Wasn't going to go to track but figured it was a lot better to be running around for an hour then sitting at home crying.

Thursday - Um yeah
Actually, today wasn't that bad because I had plans. I had things to do. Went to the chiropractor at 8:30am. Once again Dr. Rabbetz was the fucking shit! As I sat there crying in his office and batting tissues out of his hand (I don't need tissues!) He told me that I always had a home there and that he would take care of me regardless. Awww. I *heart* Dr. Rabbetz so much. He is just so amazing. Then Jez came in and said, I see you're on my books for later! Two weeks ago I finally made a massage appointment with Jez and even though I can't really afford it now, I knew I needed to keep that appointment for my sanity. Jez worked me over then Rabbetz came in and adjusted me and then I cried on the way out.

Met Lyne for coffee at Atlas Cafe. Haven't seen her in a while and it was so good to do so. Then I went to pick up my bike in Redwood City. Of course, they still screwed up the order. When I dropped the bike off with them the Thursday before I said, install the aerobars and wrap them with this shiny blue tape I am providing you. When they rolled the bike out a week later they had rewrapped my entire handle bars in the shiny blue tape and wrapped the aerobars in black. BOB! I yelled. And then I just sighed loudly. "Sigh, I wanted the aerobars wrapped in blue. The handle bars just got wrapped less than 6 months ago and YOU DID IT!" Bob said they would rewrap in black for me while I waited but I decided no, since I secretly thought the blue looked kick ass! Then as Bob was leaving me with the register guy he was like, you're all set. And I was like what? He decided not to charge me because of all the trouble. I walked out of there with a tune up, cleaning, new brake pads, aerobars installed, handle bars wrapped, a package of black tape and shoe cleats...for free! Couldn't have come at a better time. The receipt said: You saved $92 at Go Ride! You bet your ass I did. (but only later did I notice that they didn't install the aerobars right....)

New Tape On My Bars

Then I had a massage and Jez was awesome. He totally did me right even though I tried not to cry the whole time. At the end he said, It will get better...you always have us. Awww.

Went to dinner with Ian.

Friday - Swim
Today was harder because I had less plans. Did some interneting until 11am and then went to swim. Russian lifeguard was all, where have YOU been? Cut the workout short since it was my first time in the pool. Did my marker set tho and added half a lap to my 30 minute time.

Decided to get a bikini wax as my last "splurge." Then my teammate Doug picked me up and we grabbed a quick burger and went to see Iron Man. That movie KICKS ASS. It was so good.

Saturday - Bike
Drove down to Santa Cruz to ride with Deb and her friend Marin. On the schedule we were slated for 85 miles. The plan was to bike north on Route 1 for 40 miles then turn around and do an extra 5 somewhere close to the end. Deb's uncle lives down there and his house is amazing, complete with a Maserati in the drive. We got ready and headed out around 9:45am. Our goal was to make it to Pescadero which we thought was about 35 miles up the coast, but turned out to be only 33. The day was really beautiful and it is always so cool to be riding with cliffs and farms to your right and the ocean to your left. Just amazing. What was not amazing was the INSANE headwind. And crosswinds. I went down a hill at 13 mph, that I easily could've broken 25 mph on, partly because the crosswind was so dangerous and partly because the headwind was slowing me down that much. Boy was I glad I had my aerobars! Route 1 was a perfect first ride to try them out on since there are long stretches of flats or flats with a slight incline. I felt noticeably faster. All in all, it took us 2:30 to go the 33 miles. On the way back? Hello tailwind! We did the 33 miles in 1:30! Can you believe that? We took an hour off the time. That is amazing. By the end we were so exhausted. We were all just sitting in Deb's aunt's kitchen shoving food into our faces and zoning out. Then we hopped in the pool and then the hot tub. I took a shower, had some more food and headed home around 5pm. At home I just vegged on my couch to Word Play and ate mini powdered donuts.

Sunday - Unofficial Rest Day
So exhuasted from Saturday that there is no way I am doing anything. Today is Escape From Alcatraz and I feel super bad that I am not out there supporting my teammates who are racing. Honestly tho? I couldn't get out of bed. Today we also have our team BBQ which I am looking forward to since I am all about free food now. Ok, I was never NOT into free food but now it's more relevant. heh. I am supposed to be running like 15 miles or something but, eh. Next weekend I'll have to run 18. But here is the thing. When I have to do it, I'll just do it. I know that I can. I mean, I have never run 18 miles before but how hard can it be?

Week Ahead
Stop spending money like I am going to get a paycheck
Send out final fundraising letter - my deadline is the end of the month
Be thankful for what I do have
Start training during the day - I am semi-pro now!
Really clean my house, and I mean REALLY
Get a library card
Prepare for next weekend in Clearlake (3/4 ironman training weekend!)
Figure out what I can sell
Figure out how to make extra money without stepping into an office
Start praying/meditating for direction

Week 34: Recovery Week

2008-06-02T11:07:00.000-07:00

This week was very low key for me on the training front, but on the partying front Whooo! I enlisted some cross training this week in the way of concerts, karaoke, brunches and BBQs. Not sure if my attitude about training is actually an attitude or I am just tired but when I look at the training calendar I am all, ugh, and want to hide under the covers.

Monday - Rest
Much needed after my marathon bike ride and run over the weekend. Wishing I had a chiropractor appointment but alas. Did not do much on this day off from work but some fretting and moping. heh.

Tuesday - Core
Doing core instead of swimming. I can already tell the difference from doing it the week before. Those 40 second side planks felt easier! (I guess so did the 500 stomach crunches too...ugh)

Wednesday - Metal
Having trouble staying asleep. Been waking up around 3-4am and then staying awake for 1-2 hours and then falling back asleep until 8am. Was going to try and run this morning but woke up too late. Went to see Iron Maiden with Zack and Jon in Concord. Totally rocked out. Zack and I spent the whole show jumping up and down, screaming lyrics, making out and doing air guitar. Very much like the last time I saw Maiden in 1986...except the making out part.

Thursday - Ouch!
What it means to be 38 - you can't headbang to a metal show and expect to function normally the next day. Oy. Thank god for chiropractors.

Friday - Core
Had the middle of the night wake up thing so woke up late again. Managed to squeeze in some core. Felt like I was getting a bit sick. Stayed in and watched movies.

The Weekend - Not Much
Saturday Doug and I went to M2 to spin. Zack and I stayed in and watched movies all night. Had brunch with Ian and then drove him to the airport. Tried to shop for boots (not easy in the summer), went to a BBQ and then ended up in a private karaoke room with Misty, Kate, Jojo, Joe Mud, Dan, Donna and Dylan. I knew it was gonna be a good night when my first two songs of the evening were Iron Maiden and Dio. (photos courtesy of Miss Kate!)

On Dan's (roof) deck

Misty and Hez leaving the BBQ for Cassis

Misty, Hez and Joe Mud at Cassis

Kate, Misty, Hez and Joe Mud

Dylan and Hez singing

Karaoke Queen

It's not a party until I am drunk and falling off things while singing karaoke
(i love this photo so much, it really speaks to my endurance)

Week 33

2008-05-25T19:24:00.000-07:00

This week proved to be challenging on an emotional level. I dealt with a minor health issue, found out more work would be added to my plate at work, had the possibility of my life changing forever, wished relationships could be easy, hoped my settlement from my accident would come through, stressed about my fundraising, and every time I looked to the right on my blog saw my race day was creeping ever closer. Sigh. A lot in the way of anxiety happened this week.

Monday
Had my minor medical procedure. Held back tears in the doctor's office but was ok in the end. Went home and went to bed.

Tuesday
Did one hour of core plus some stretching. A morning phone call at work made me happy. Was exhausted the whole day. Came home and watched Undeclared til bed.

Wednesday
Dragged myself out of bed and ran for an hour along Crissy Field. Felt better. Learned at work that I'd probably be getting MORE work. Stressed about projects. Felt tired. Decided I needed a Peanut Butter M&M intervention. Went home. Went to bed early but checked my email right before bed and got the miracle donation. Faith in humanity restored for the moment.

Thursday
Did an hour of core and then stretching. Was disappointed as usual early in the day. Tried to save someone's world. Disappointment slightly lifted a bit later. Life changing moment did not happen. Bought some used bike gear. Came home exhausted and watched more Undeclared.

Friday
Woke up at 4am, couldn't get back to sleep, finally did and then woke up at 8am and felt like crap. Was super tired. Finished the work projects, cleaned my desk. Left work early. Bought sports nutrition. Came home and even tho I was so tired ended up staying awake very late watching 1900 House.

Saturday
Woke up a 4:45am Got ready for an 80 mile ride up in Napa. Expected it to be warm and sunny but turned out to be cold, windy and rainy. Was not prepared. Grumbled the whole way. Did not want to do 80 miles, got talked into 75. Did it but hated it. Came home. Got ready for dinner. Had fun though blindsided by surprise information. Tried to deal. Came home. Watched a movie and fell asleep. Went to bed. Had anxiety dreams.

I'm smiling on the inside

Sunday
Woke up. Met Yi for a 12 mile run. Run was good. Couldn't get home because of Carnivale. All roads leading to my house were blocked by festival and/or parade. Took 2 hours but not before I broke down sobbing in front of the traffic cop. Came home. Showered. Emotionally and physically exhausted, sobbed for an hour in bed...then on the phone to best friend. Then on the couch. Watched the movie that I fell asleep to the night before. Typed blog.

Mid Week Post!

2008-05-22T14:35:00.000-07:00

Hi People!

I am so excited to report that I have official race photos from Wildflower and UVAS to post and that through the miracles of the world, I have received an incredibly generous donation from an amazing man.

One of my teammates from the cycle team is an oncology nurse practitioner and Jim has been her patient for about a year after he was diagnosed with lung cancer. Katie writes:

"He's in his fifties, and has metastatic lung cancer. His disease is incurable, but he's been responding to his chemo treatments, which has allowed him to keep living his life! He's incredibly passionate about music, and actually plays in a band. He's married to the love of his life, and has two kids, Sarah and Paul, who are in high school and he adores them. Despite Jim's cancer diagnosis, he always has a big grin on his face, and is very upbeat and kind."

Jim wrote me this morning to thank me for being awesome. (I know, it really comes easy to me ;) Jim told me a bit about himself and below Jim writes:

"I'm telling you all this in hopes that it will help you go that extra mile. Cancer Really Does Suck, and it has affected my family and friends in many different ways. But it has never and will never get me down because I truly have a wonderful life. It's people like you and Katie that truly inspire me. I am very grateful to know that there are people like you and Katie, and your teams, doing what you do to fight cancer."

Wow. Forget about me being awesome. Jim is the hero here. How easy it is to forget when our lives are getting us down, when training gets hard, when you don't want to get out of bed...how truly lucky we all are to be alive. I'll be racing in honor of Jim's awesomeness on July 20. That's for sure.

Thanks to Jim's generosity I have just $700 to reach my goal of $8000. Are you waiting to donate? Don't wait any longer, the time is now!

Check out my photos from race day!

Wildflower 2008

Braden was right, that IS my body in that suit!

On the ride looking like a pro!

Second shot is all smiles

Even tho I was ready to have um, GI issues, I'm still happy!

Finishing 8 hours and 9 minutes later

UVAS 2008

Hez and Yi on the run

Of course we had time to stop for a quick pose!

Hez and Yi bringing it home 2 hours and 22 minutes later

Week 31 & 32: Hez Does a Fundraiser and UVAS

2008-05-19T18:41:00.000-07:00

Week 31:
Yes, a two week lapse. I didn't write anything about last week mostly because nothing happened in the way of training. It took me a long time to recover from Wildflower. I was plagued with stomach issues for almost 10 days afterwards, only being able to eat cereal (granted rice cereal and almond milk, but whatever). I was also extremely exhausted. I ended up having to take Monday off because I couldn't move from my couch. Tuesday was pretty much a waste too as I just stared at my monitor. Who knew that exerting yourself for 8 hours and 9 minutes would be such an energy suck?

Hez and Deb at Renee's Eyelash/Moustache Fundraiser

On the Wednesday after Wildlflower Deb and I had our fundraiser at Elixir Bar in San Francisco. The owner allows regular people to come in on a Wednesday night and bartend. At the end of the night you get to keep your tips and the bar will donate them to the charity of your choice. Yay Elixir! Now, only if we could get them to donate like 5% of the bar, too.

The night started off at 8pm for Deb and I. Our friends Lindsay and Misty were on hand to help us too. We all had fabulous shirts made that said, CANCER SUCKS on the front and then our names on the back. Eddie, the extremely nice and patient (actual) bartender, "trained" us an hour before our official start time of 9pm. Basically the training was: "every beer we serve has it's own special glass." SHIT! Luckily, I was a bartender in Boston AND I drink a lot of beer so this wasn't too stressy for me. During this time Eddie kept reminding us that we make our money from the tips so don't forget to keep reminding people to tip well. He also said most charities make about $300. Deb and I kinda looked at each other because, dude, we need like $3,000. Hahaha.

Hez and Deb at Elixir

The night was amazing. The first hour we were totally slammed and Deb and I were running around crazy taking orders, filling them and then having Eddie ring them up. People were throwing money at us. Eddie just kept saying, you guys are doing great! You have so much money! I myself took a $50 tip and Deb took $100! It was so great to be bartending again. I really miss it. Though, I coulda killed Rick for ordering a cosmo and a Maker's Mark manhattan...I am so rusty!

Misty pouring shots like pro!

So many people came to support us. Some of our teammates came right from the track workout ready to drink and tip. So many friends came too and it just goes to remind me what awesome people I know and how willing they are to support me and my cause.

All in all we grossed almost $1000 in tips. TIPS, people! Misty told me later that Eddie had commented to her that he had never seen anything like it! Amazing. Unfortunately, we had to tip out Eddie and the barback (which is only fair, that is their normal shift) so Deb and I took home $666. I laugh that maybe they finagled that final total since I had a discussion about metal with the barback and I saw Eddie rocking out to my iPod mix that included Iron Maiden. Heee!

I am one more step closer to my goal of $8000. I have about $2000 more to go. If you haven't donated yet, now is your chance! Go here.

That Saturday I did my first workout since Wildflower. The group was doing a 60 mile ride, which I think was a bit excessive for people recovering from the race, so I planned on cutting it short. Turns out I didn't really have a choice as my body was just losing it. Tired, headachey, nauseous and crampy. Deb, the great friend she is, turned around with me and we did about 32 miles. I went home, ate, slept for 2.5 hours. Ate. And then slept another 1o hours! Holy crap!

Week 32:
All I did this week was swim twice. I wanted to get in as much swimming as possible (which I guess means twice!) as I am having a procedure that will keep me out of the water for 3 weeks! Talk about anxiety promoting. I also was racing UVAS this Sunday, which is a cute, little race of a .75 mile swim, 16 mile bike and 5 mile run.

At the pool: no more russian lifeguard? Didn't see him either day. My swims weren't all that great as I was kinda bored with the back and forth and didn't really stick to the workouts. I did, kind of, but ended up shortening them both days.

UVAS: On Saturday a bunch of us drove down to Morgan Hill, which is just south of San Jose and checked into the Comfort Inn. It was really hot down there, but I love it so it didn't matter. Yi and I picked up our race packets and then got to the business of setting up our stuff and putting our numbers on our bikes and helmets. I was number 33, which is one of my lucky numbers! Then the 15 of us Ironteamers went to Mama Mia's for a pre race dinner.

Now, can I talk about how difficult it is to go to an Italian restaurant when you are not supposed to be eating wheat and dairy? I was drolling all over the yummy sounding pasta dishes but ordered the pork chops and mashed potatoes, though, technically, I shouldn't be eating potatoes either (gluten). But I just couldn't do the salmon and rice. PLUS, after my G.I. issues at Wildflower, I really wanted to lock it down and do this race wheat free to see if it made a difference.

Yi and I totally crashed at 8:30pm and then woke up at 4:45am. Got ready, loaded our cars up and waited for 6am to roll around when the team was gathering. Then we all caravan'd to the race. In all the emails I got from the race oragnizers, my age wave was set to start at 8:05am. But when I got to transition that had changed to 7:40am! Whoa! That is a big time change and it kinda freaked me out. What made me happy, though, was that now all us girls were gonna be together and not split up.

Swim
Got to the business of setting up transition and then got my wetsuit on. The swim course took us around a little peninsula in the UVAS reservoir and that kinda freaked me out. When I swim in water like that I don't want to be anywhere near land or weeds. But I managed. I meant to use my tempo trainer but left it at transition by accident. This race was a water start, which I had never done before. We were all kinda in the water up to our chest and then started from there. I will say, for a tiny 700 person race, the swim start was the most vicious! I kept getting swum up on, and my feet kept getting touched and grabbed and people kept swimming 5 inches from me. People, there is a WHOLE LAKE. Move over! Finally, I settled in and actually was able to draft most of the time. The night before I had envisioned a 25 minute swim and I ended up with a 26:30! Yeah! I didn't dilly-dally either. Just head down and swimswimswim.

Bike
Mike, the coach from the South Bay team helped me rip my wetsuit off (very difficult, learned some things not to do for Ironman) and I was out of transition in a blistering 4 minutes and 45 seconds. I am never that fast and I contribute it to the fact that I chose not to wrestle my bike gloves over wet hands. Hopped on the bike and didn't slow down once. The course was so fast! My heart rate was out of control and I spent about 15 minutes trying to talk it down. Finally I could settle in and enjoy the route that took us around the reservoir. No major hills so that was good. I also employed a new tactic of GasX and Immodium AD. I strategically popped a GasX at the first sign of discomfort and then took one more for the road a bit later. I planned to take an Immodium half way through the bike to deter any possible G.I. issues on the run. Of course I didn't realize that the Immodium was not in an easily "pop out of the foil" wrapper but rather the kind where you have to peel off a paper backing and then pop it out of the foil. Not so easy with one hand while you are biking a course at 20mph. So I moistened the paper with my tongue and then was able to chew out the tablet....or half of it. Oy. Later on I decided to take the second one and was able to get the tablet out like a pro but then it accidentally broke in half and I watched the other part of it fall on the ground. Hahaha. Not so pro. About a mile before the bike finish I ate a gel so I could have some calories for the run. Zipped into transition, dismounted and got ready for the run. My average bike speed on this course turned out to be 17.2 mph. That is a first for me!

Run
I made it out of transition in 1 minute and 43 seconds! Wow! Hit the run course and tried to settle in. I was curious where my teammates were as I hadn't seen Yi or Renee the entire race so far. I figured Renee would pass me on the run since she is a lot faster. Immediately I realized my GasX and Immodium were not gonna work. Ugh. Though, unlike the Wildflower run, I was more uncomfortable NOT running. So I had to keep going. That plus there weren't any bathrooms on the course! I also kept thinking the turn around was at mile 1.5 (der) but it was really at mile 2.5. Silly me. I saw the fast guys on our team coming back from the turnaround and was excited that I wasn't that far behind them. Then Renee passed me. Then Nicole caught up with me and I ran her pace for a while until the turn around where the faster pace was effecting my poopiness. After we turned around I saw Yi! Yay! I kept running and then at some point I realized she wasn't too far behind me so I slowed down (aka stopped) and let her catch up. We ran the rest of the way together and even stopped to pose for the course photographer. Heeee! All in all I finished the race in 2 hours and 22 minutes. A lot faster than I thought I was gonna!

Jesus, I mean Mike Kyle and Hez in transition after the race

Weeks ahead (and when I say weeks I mean only 8!)
I have just 60 days left til my race. That is slightly more than 8 weeks! I can't believe it is just around the corner. In some ways 2 months is a long time but in others it is soooo short! We are also entering the Sexy Phase of training. Apparently we are all gonna drop about another 5-10lbs. I ended up gaining some weight these last 2 months but my body fat percentage went down so clearly I gained that weight in muscle. In June I'll be participating in our 3/4 Ironman Weekend up in Clearlake. That will be a workout consisting of 3/4 of the Ironman distance. Helloooo! That means a 19 mile run! The most I have done is 13! Yikes! After that I'll be doing the Folsom Lake swim, which is a 2.5 mile swim in a lake without a wetsuit. I want to make sure I can swim 2.4 miles! So scary!

Week 30: Wildflower Long Course Completed? Check.

2008-05-06T11:56:00.000-07:00

This week I was tapering in preparation for Wildflower 2008. Last year, this was my event that I trained for and unfortunately did not finish the course because they start the old ladies last giving us the least amount of time to finish. ANYWAYS, tapering. Which for me meant only swimming twice for the whole week and then trying to get all my camping stuff together. Race report below:

Friday
Woke up early to pack all my stuff in my car and head over to Yi's. We wanted to be on the road early to avoid traffic. We headed out at 8am for our 3-4 hour drive. Had a quick stop over in Soledad for lunch and made it to Lake San Antonio around 11:30am. Coach Ted arrived earlier in the week and had kindly set our tents up for us. All we had to do was set up inside our tents and then we were off to pick up our registration packets at the Expo. Came back to camp, had a great dinner cooked for us by Susan. Then I hit the sack around 8:30 after taking a Tylenol PM (the stuff is amazing).

Saturday
Woke up at 5am and started moving about, getting dressed, making oatmeal and making a spare peanut butter sandwich for my 2 hour wait at transition. The night before I had been trying to visualize my transition set up and also my race but I kept falling asleep during the swim! I did, however, keep telling myself that I would do the swim in 45 minutes, which would be 10 minutes faster than last year. Packed all my stuff up and we rode our bikes down to the transition area and began setting up. What was really important about this day was to remain calm. I had been telling myself over and over again that it is just a training day. Yes, I wanted to make the certain cut off times and yes I wanted to complete it, but I also wanted to stay relaxed. The great news was, it worked! I really wasn't nervous at all despite the 8 trips to the bathroom!

Swim
At 9:20am my age wave started and I waded slowly into the water and started to swim. The water was a balmy 65 degrees (balmy compared to our 50 degree bay). Typically in an open water swim I freak out in the first 15 minutes and then once that is over I start the business of swimming. For this race I decided to use my tempo trainer which I use in the pool to regulate my stroke. It's kind of like a metronome for swimming. I hoped that if I started to panic, that I would be able to focus in on the tempo and get my breathing under control. It worked! I actually SWAM this course. Usually, I swim for a bit and then do some water running and then swim some more and do some doggy paddling. This time I was able to keep my head down and just go, once I even counted up to 100 strokes before I had to stop for a breather. Once I rounded the corner to come back to shore, I looked at my watch and saw that it said 30 minutes had passed. Last year I swam this course in 55 minutes and was pretty sure I could do better. However, when I looked at my watch and realized I was just slightly more than half way at 30 minutes I was a little worried. The thing about doing these kind of endurance things is that, I can't do any kind of math while I am in the process. Looking at my watch, I thought that 55 minutes was 10 minutes away from 30 minutes. I was really disappointed until about 5 minutes later while I realized, hey wait! It's TWENTY-FIVE minutes away! At that point I knew I'd set a PR for this swim course and I started swimming my ass off. I started to panic, too, with all the fast swimming and stuff but I made it and pulled myself out of the water at 44 minutes!

Bike
I ran up to transition and got ready for the bike. I hustled as best I could as one of the things I wanted to work on was my transition times. Last year I spent almost 10 minutes in T1. This year? 5:54! I hit the bike course and immediately recognized Mika from the spring team last year. MIKA! I yelled as we peddled up Beach Hill. Last year we were on the bike at the same time too...or rather, last year she passed me on Beach Hill...and this year was no different. We chatted briefly and then she was gone. I told myself that I wanted to take it easy on the hills, since the most challenging part of this course is Nasty Grade, a 4 mile incline that starts at mile 42, is only made more difficult if you push yourself too early on the course. At the top of Beach Hill I realized I had strained my lower back a bit (related to my bike accident in September) and I spent the whole ride with a stiff and aching back. Trying to take it easy at the next hill at mile 4 I dropped my chain, replaced it but then had to run to the top of the hill for an easier start. That is when Renee from my team rode by me and I caught up with her. We leap frogged each other the whole course and I believe that really helped to make the ride so easy.

The ride itself was uneventful and not difficult at all. A year ago I couldn't say that as I found it to be one of the most challenging rides I had ever done. However, after spending the summer on the TnT cycle team and doing all those crazy rides with them, this 56 miles was now a piece of cake. The night before Mike Kyle, an awesome teammate, told me that when I passed him on the bike that I had to tell him a joke. I was like, awww Mike! I'm not gonna catch up to you, you're way faster than me and you are leaving about 20 minutes before I am! But as I was approaching Nasty Grade, who do I see on the side of the road? Mike Kyle! I didn't have a joke but was so impressed with him because he had stopped to help a fellow rider with a flat. He caught up to me after that and we rode together for a bit before he pulled ahead up the hill. I was whizzing down the backside of Nasty Grade and hitting the flat when someone yelled my name. It was Deb! She wasn't doing so hot, feeling nauseous and having GI issues. I slowed down so she could catch up to me and I could see if she needed anything. Then this woman passed me in an Ironteam jersey and said, You're not faster than me. I was like, huh? I had originally passed her and then slowed down when I saw Deb and, as it happens a lot in these races, people get bitchy. She was basically telling me that I had no right to pass her because clearly I wasn't fast enough to stay in front of her. Well, eff that! And after I made sure Deb was ok, I was like, OH NO SHE DINT!, and I took off and left her in the dust never to see her again. So you know what Ironteamer from some other team? I AM FASTER THAN YOU. Then I whizzed by Jesus, I mean Mike Kyle who was again helping someone on the side of the road and said, Deb is behind me and she doesn't feel good! Turns out, Mike waited for Deb and rode in with her and then went with her on the run. What a guy! Last year I did the bike course in 4:50, this year I did it in 4:06.

Run
The whole last part of the bike I had been repeating my mantra of: shoes, run belt, visor to make sure that my transition ran smoothly. Headed out on the run in 4 minutes! Whooo! Started running and was like oh, I have about a million tiny stones in my shoes from when I came out of the swim and just put my socks on. I stopped and turned my socks inside out and then kept going. Then the hell started. The run course is 13.1 miles and about 10 miles of trail and rolling hills. Hills so steep you can't really run up them and then so gravely you can't run down them. About an hour and 15 minutes later I looked at my watch and I had only gone 3 miles. Shit. I have to pick it up. The course closed at 5:30pm and I started the run at 2:20pm. I had slightly over 3 hours to do it and had almost wasted half the time and had not gone half the distance. I started speed walking like a maniac. Hahaha. What was really disappointing is that I wasn't really tired, my legs weren't hurting but every time I tried to run I got the worst intestinal distress. At that point not "urgent" but I realized that some point I'd need a bathroom. Luckily I knew there were porta-potties all over the place. At mile 6 we ran through our camp ground and there was Heidi, Tessa, and Susan all cheering me on...then I detoured for the bathroom! I realized that I needed to run as much as I could for as long as I could after that "elimination" to make up for the time I lost early on. Mile 7 I rounded a corner leaving the campsite and this older woman and her husband were cheering and she yelled, Go on! You're doing great! You're a good girl! ...and inexplicably I started sobbing. I ran all the way to mile 8 and then had to walk. Hit the bathroom again and then finally got dumped out onto the road. No more trail! Headed down a 3/4 mile long descent into the "pit." As I was running down, there was Yi walking up the other side! We hoped that she would super slow and I would walk super fast and we'd catch each other but it didn't happen. At mile 10.5 I was walking up from the pit, I looked at my watch and saw that I only had about 25 minutes to make it to the finish line. I was really worried at this point, realizing that I probably wasn't gonna make it. But then I said to myself, you have to! You have to make it! So I buckled down and ran the best I could. On a good day I can barely run 3 miles in 35 minutes but I knew the last mile was a descent into the finish line so I thought it was possible. I rounded a corner and I heard the announcer who was stationed there say my name! That gives you such a push! Then all of a sudden I was at the top of Lynch Hill which meant I only had one mile to go. I looked at my GPS and realized that it was a mile behind. I looked at my watch and realized I had about 10 minutes to get to the finish line. You bet I started booking! I flew down Lynch Hill running a 7:40 minute mile which is just ridiculous. I was passing people left and right. I dumped out into the shoot and saw the official time clock indicating that I had about 36 seconds to get to the finish line. I started hauling ass. I heard my name being yelled by teammates in the stands and I heard the announcer saying Heather Aronson from San Francisco! I crossed the finish line and yelled FUUUUUCK!!!! as the volunteer handed me a wet towel and put the medal around my neck.

Hez coming in strong, looking skinny and like she is dying

Then it was over. 8 hours and 9 minutes and here I was at the finish line with no one around. I wandered around the finishers corral and then I saw Kristi walking towards me. She asked if I just finished and all I could do was nod and then I burst into tears. Hahahaha. She hugged me and then there was Renee who had finished a bit earlier because she passed me on the run course. We decided to go stand in the lake to cool off, to cool our burning feet and to help reduce the swelling of our muscles. On the way down there I was telling her my nail biting, race finish story and how I only had 36 seconds before the course officially closed at 5:30pm. She looked at me and said, Dude. the course closed at 5:45pm.

*blink blink*

Week 29: Or How to Save Yourself From Bonking

2008-04-30T09:12:00.000-07:00

I missed a week again? What happened to Week 28? With Wildflower around the corner I decided it was time to shape up and get back on the food tracking plan and on doing all 6 workouts. Lately I've been managing 4 or 5 a week, which I guess is not a good way to prepare for an Ironman. It's hard tho! It's hard to get out of bed when you know you're gonna swim close to 100 laps and it will take an hour and 15 minutes and it's just so. boring. Anyways...

Monday - Rest Day
This was the day after my OysterFest birthday party. I woke up in the middle of the night feeling so sick, no doubt from all the delicious food I ate. The kind of food that has not been allowed in me for almost 6 months... Or maybe it was the Sancerre. Whatever it was it sucked. I just felt queasy and gross from 3am on into the whole next day. It made me eat a bagel! Crap.

Tuesday - Spin
I just dyed my hair the night before so instead of swimming decided to spin at home to keep that dye locked down for one more day. Sigh. The things we have to do. Did about 65 minutes and felt pretty good. Got a last minute hair cut at Glam-o-rama. The truth was that I saw my hair in photos from last Sunday and was like, oh my god. WHAT is going on. Then I realized that I hadn't had it cut in almost a year! Yes, it's true. I'm not really good at being a girl. It's so high maintenance!

Wednesday - Run
Got up super early to be able to run with Yi. Met her at her gym, The Bay Club, and we ran along the Embarcadero, through Fisherman's Wharf (which is so awesomely deserted at 6am) and then on to Aquatic Park and over the hill to Fort Mason turned around and came back. 50 minutes. Went to work. Zack came over later and we put my Raleigh together. You know, the one that I got in Boston in November and my dad shipped to me in December? The one that has been sitting in a box in my front hallway for 4 months. Yeah, that one. Anyways, put it together and clearly neither of us knew what we were doing because it has some "issues." So I just sat it in my living room, assembled but not safe to drive at all.

Thursday - Swim
I finally managed to get swim scripts, which are these little tickets to the pool. Normally to gain entry, the pool is $4 and they only take exact change. However, if you buy a script from the city it's only $3.60 per swim! Today I got to use my first script and did not have to worry about scrounging dollars/change at 6am. (On with the math) Was supposed to swim 2900 yards, which in my pool would be 3863 which is about 116 laps. Wellll, it was just too much. So I ended up swimming 2100 yards, which in my pool is 2797 yards. Felt bad about myself all day. But if I put it in perspective, I swam slightly over a mile and a half.

Friday - Spin
Did about an hour of spinning at home. Came to work and had the most dismal day ever. Felt like crying about 800 times and/or drinking a bottle of wine. Alas, I am off the sauce for the next 3 months. Went to see Baby Mama with Misty and it was really funny. Tried not to cry in my car on the way home. Made a modest dinner of a potato. *blink blink* Watched America's Next Top Model on the laptop. Went to bed at 9pm.

Saturday - Brick Workout
Went to Sports Basement for our 8am start time. The plan was 15 minutes spinning and then 45 minutes running, three times. I felt great! The first run was awesome. I started running at a pace that I usually work up to by the end of a run. Didn't feel out of breath or anything. Was trying Carbo Pro too just to see how I reacted to it. Usually I use Perpetuem, which is a highly caloric workout drink and can be made concentrated to hold about 1,000 calories or more in one bike bottle. I like it. It works for me but when I think about Ironman and how I'll have to carry enough nutrition with me to last 16 hours and knowing that I mix my Perpetuem in a blender at home well...it doesn't seem like the most "easy" choice for nutrition on race day.

Carbo Pro is a light, tasteless powder that easily dissolves into liquid. You can add it to whatever sports drink you are using and it doesn't effect the consistency or flavor and you can effectively add anywhere from 200 to 1,000 extra calories per bottle. Right now I carry 4 bottles on my bike, one filled with Perpetuem, one with water (to wash the thick Perpetuem down) and two with Accelerade. With Carbo Pro I'll be able to carry 3 bottles of Accelerade mixed with Carbo Pro and one bottle of water. Today I also tried out Endurolytes - again. They're basically salt capsules holding about 40mgs of sodium each. I have discovered that I can't take the capsules whole as they make me really sick. My mouth and throat get really dry and I feel like I can't drink enough and then I get a stomach ache. So today I broke the capsules apart and put them in my sports drink bottles. Genius! I felt a little of that dry mouth feeling but not as bad when I take them whole. I think I'll do that from now on.

The second and third run were a little harder for me. Being that I am racing in Wildflower this weekend, our coach told us not to run the last set but to spin for an hour. However, the thought of sitting on my bike in the Sports Basement parking lot for an hour wasn't that appealing. So, I ran, which really was more like a walk since I was, um, actually walking. Afterwards we had a potluck lunch to connect with our honorees and to hear Christophe talk about his Ironman Arizona race (Christophe is an honoree too. Yes, he had cancer and is now an Ironman! Amazing!)

Went home and cleaned my bike.

Sunday - Ride
Soooo, again, because I am racing in Wildflower the coaches said to only do about a 90 minute ride. However, they said if you are just using WF as a training day (which I am) and not using it to race (uh, which I am not) then a long ride would be fine. So I joined Mike and Elaine who organized a 73 mile ride starting at Canada Road and Route 92. Yi, Deb and Pete also came along and Kristy from the East Bay. Yi was dead set on only riding 90 minutes,which she stuck too and left us all after 45 minutes. Deb and I thought that 50 miles might be a good stopping point. However at mile 25, when we should've turned around, we felt so great we decided to do the whole ride. The only problem was that I prepared only enough nutrition for 50 miles or less AND I left my money in my car. Deb said, no worries! I have a credit card and she ended up being my ride support for the day.

Nutritionally, I was worried since we had to use Gatorade, as that is what most gas stations sell,and for me it's not the best choice. I also didn't have enough calories when you consider that on the whole ride I burned almost 4,000 calories and I packed only about 900 calories. Sigh. And that mistake was evident around mile 60 when on a long stretch of Alpine Road, on a slight incline, in 90 degree weather and I felt the unmistakable feelings of bonking -- when your body doesn't have enough fuel to go on. I felt like closing my eyes and going to sleep, however I was currently on my bike riding at about 10mph. But wait! I remembered I had a Hammer Gel in my Bento Box! Some of you may remember my fiasco with a gel during training weekend 2006 and since then I have kind of stayed away from them. They really are gross. The consistency of Vaseline with artificial fruit flavor. Ugh. However, with my body running on a severe caloric deficit, the stuff tasted like manna to me. It gave me a little boost and when I rounded the corner there was Deb and Kristy waiting. I stopped and said, I need water and calories right now or I am not gonna make it. So we ran over to a gas station across the street and I downed a bottle of water, chowed a Kit Kat and got some more Gatorade. And I totally saved myself! Thank you Kit Kat! I rested a little bit and the weirdest thing was happening. If I was still, and then I moved my arms, I felt like the tendons in my hands were making guitar string twanging noises! That is the only way I can explain and it sounds so weird but when I mentioned it to Mike he was like, omg! I felt that when we stopped a while back to help Kristy with her flat! After the rest, I felt good enough to finish up the last 13 miles. We made it back to the cars and then all headed over to the bakery in Woodside for lunch. Came home and crashed.

Assessing Florida
I forgot to mention this last time but a few weeks before I left for my trip my mom told me that Russell Villarini, a friend of the family, died of cancer last month. I was pretty shocked because Russell was my childhood crush and he was just a few years older than me. I remembered being around 10 at the ski club and just being so enamored of him that I couldn't even speak or look at him. (Clearly nothing has changed about me when I am around boys I like.) He never liked me though and probably always thought who is that girl that keeps following me around? (Again...still use same tactics). When we were teenagers he would come with his parents to my grandparents' yacht club and gosh he was so beautiful, all lean and tall and tan with dark curly hair. He'd arrive with his older brother, Dean, in a white Volkswagon Rabbit convertible. I thought that was the coolest car!

So when at my grandparent's house earlier this month I wandered into my grandma's room and there on her desk was Russell's obituary cut from the paper. Right then I realized that he really was gone at only 40, having lost his battle to pancreatic cancer. It's hard for me to express what I feel about this. I never really knew him, and after moving to Boston did not see him until his obit photo. I'm not really good at being sappy so this is why I am here, doing this stuff for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. As I have said before, research funded by the LLS has made many discoveries on how to treat all kinds of cancer. I'm still fundraising!

More Caribbean Photos!

Week 26 & 27: In Florida and Then My Birthday!

2008-04-21T10:55:00.000-07:00

Birthday Girl

Sorry for the lack of update last week but nothing really went on. I was in Florida and sick so no training happened. Though I did get caught in that American Airlines fiasco and ended up staying a day later with the grandparents in sunny paradise. Last week I tried to get back on track with training and eating but alas, it was my birthday week and there were lots of meals out capped off with a great day at Hog Island Oyster Farm on Tomales Bay for a little bday celebration.

Week 27 Monday
Rest day, even tho I rested all the week before. Whatevs.

Tuesday - Swim
Back to the pool. I missed it really. I did a swim marker set which meant warming up for 30 minutes and then counting my laps for the next 30. I didn't improve at all above 44 laps from last time even tho I felt a lot better cardio-wise. I was disappointed but our coaches told us that this would happen now and again.

Wednesday - Run (and my birthday!)
Went to track. Was kinda blase about it. Yi and I decided to take it slow even tho our workout was running a level 5 for two laps, a level 3 for a half lap and a level 7 for two laps and repeat 3 times, we ended up running a level 3, walking and then running a level 5. I think our coach was annoyed with us but whatevs. I had to skip out on the last exercise of hill repeats because I was going to dinner.

Thursday - ummmm
I really, REALLY wanted to get up and go swimming or spin in my house but sleeping in sounded awesome and I justified it by telling myself that technically I was still sick and should rest. Was gonna spin at home after work but on Wednesday when I was getting ready for my date I realized that I don't really own anything that fits, or is cute outside of t-shirts and jeans. So I decided to go shopping after work with Misty where I ended up buying "fancy" t-shirts. groan.

Friday - ummmm
I was totally gonna swim but whoops. Sleeping in felt better. That night I went to a metal show with Rick and Besty to see Symphony X. I wasn't so sure about them before the show but after I was in love with them (the band, not Betsy and Rick. I love them regardless). New favorite band.

Misty, Rick and Besty

Saturday - Bike
Because I knew I'd be out late on Friday I convinced Deb and Izumi to do a 10am ride. We were slated for 60 miles so I found a route on the Velo Girls website that started from the San Mateo Caltrain. We got down there and it was so cold and windy we all just wanted to pack our stuff up and go for breakfast instead. But we Ironman'd up and got ready. We headed out following the directions to the Bay Trail bike path and ended up getting lost. We went about 5 miles out of our way. We finally found the bike path but (if you can believe it) we got lost on the bike path too! Don't laugh. It was really easy as none of us had ever been on it before and it had so many forks that sometimes the obvious way wasn't the right choice. We were only supposed to spend about 9 miles on it but we ended up spending 14 miles on it with all of our retracing to find out where we went wrong. We were all tired and cranky too. We FINALLY made it off the bike path and had to stop again for the 80th time to pee and that was where we decided to end the ride....and take Caltrain back to our car! hahaha. So our 60 mile ride only ended up being 20 miles and a train ride. Heh.

Came home and ran some errands before going out to dinner with Mai and then heading over to Lulu's going away party. I love Mai and Lulu and even though I don't get to hang out with them so much, I like the idea of knowing that there are both there. But now Lulu is off to Berlin for 6 months. Sigh. She'll be back tho.

Sunday - Second Birthday
I booked some space at the Hog Island Oyster farm and invited a bunch of peeps to join me up there to chow some bivalves. About 20 people came which was amazing. On the drive up there I said to Zack that I'm always talking about how much I hate SF and yet here I have 20 people who want to spend time with me and who I all call friends. So, the moral is, I should just shut up. I ate too much. And, yes, drank too much but it was a great day and I got to celebrate my birthday with awesome people.

Future Bartenders

Hez and Zack

Lulu and Hez

Week 25: On a Work Trip

2008-04-07T12:14:00.000-07:00

This week I was on a trip to the Caribbean with work. I had every intention of training and even managed to run in Ft. Lauderdale the morning before we left. I wanted to run for an hour but only made it 40 minutes as the humidity and heat at 9am kicked-my-ass. I became nauseous while waiting for a walk signal. What tha? Because I work such long hours on the trip, I decided it was better to remain well rested and healthy, rather than wear myself out with training AND working 14 hour days.

Friday
Woke up at 2:45am to get ready for my 6am flight. I know, barbaric. But I really wanted to get into Florida early and have an afternoon to myself and relax rather than get in at 9pm and have to go right to bed. Nice thought, however I was such a mess when I got there it hardly seemed worth it. Went to dinner with Courtney, Christina, Megan and Elektra. Not sure how I stayed awake. Went back to the hotel and crashed.

Saturday
Got up and ran and died (see above). Came back to the hotel and chowed and shopped at the mall next door. I have two pairs of the same jeans except one is a smaller size and I accidentally packed that pair. I needed some jeans that I could actually sit down in. Hello Gap! Later that afternoon we had a staff meeting and then a welcome party for our guests. I can’t tell you how awesome it is to be able to go outside without a sweater and actually stay out there and enjoy it for any period of time. Did some perfunctory dancing. Not really into it. Megan and I hung out afterwards on Jen Mac’s balcony and watched the few remaining (drunk) guests hold on to the party.

Looking down at the Welcome Party

Megan and Elektra

Sunday – Embarkation Day
I headed over to the port with our travel staff for early embarkation which means that we get walked onto the ship by Holland America staff AND that I could bring my luggage with me and have it delivered to my stateroom on board right then. If I embarked with the guests I wouldn’t be getting my bags til after 3pm as with a regular check-in process all the luggage gets loaded on the ship and then delivered. It’s always some form of organized chaos getting on board but we finally did. Checked out our staff room and started the crazy, crazy day of inventorying our boxes, sorting out cabin deliveries, meeting with the ships staff, finalizing the second day program, learning the ship and getting myself settled.

In my stateroom

Of course the bonus of the whole trip was that Heart was our headliner! SO STOKED. I haven’t seen Heart in about, oh, YIKES! Probably 15 years. Oy. I still love them so much and in fact, when the office announced that Heart was going to be on this trip I sucked it up and sang Barracuda at a work Karaoke party to show my dedication to the band. Luckily for me everyone was drunk so everyone remembers me sounding really awesome. Heh. I thought the show was amazing aside from some times feeling that Ann Wilson was “phoning it in” and also being really disappointed in her choice of footwear. Hello? White running shows with an all black velvet and spandex ensemble? What the hell Ann!?!? I also, sneakily, decided at the last minute to bring a 45 inch LP cover for them to sign. My girl, Jen Mac, hooked-me-up.

After the whole day I crashed hard and slept so good to the gentle rocking of the ms Westerdam.

Monday – At Sea
At sea days are really crazy because about 1700 people are trapped on a boat and want to be entertained. Lot’s of programming and running around making sure everything is where it’s supposed to be while maintaining a smile on my face and engaging everyone in conversation. DON’T LAUGH. I know about half of you are like, wait? Doesn’t she hate people? Well, yes but, you know. I can turn on the love when I need to. THANK GOD I had my own cabin to recharge in.

A standard schedule for me on these trips consists of the following:
Wake up and have breakfast in my room
Go to the internal travel team meeting
Attend full staff meeting
Meet with ships staff
(when at sea) run around and be crazy all day
(when at port) get off the ship and see/do things
Lunch
Nap
Dinner
Show
Disco

Of course there are always last minute crisis to solve in there too. I think today I realized that our Cruise Director is hot. Well, they’re all so dashing and handsome anyways, but dude, HOT. I totally had to ignore it though since a) I’m working and b) I’m probably about 10 years older than him. La la la, la la LA LA LA. Fuuuuuuck.

Tuesday – Cozumel
Dude, we’re in Mexico! (kind of). Courtney and Christina invited me to join them for a day of riding around the island on a scooter. Fun! Nevermind that we were totally getting scammed. It’s forty dollars. Wait, now it’s fifty with tax. Oh yeah, walk over there to that gate with the banana tree. Well, I don’t know about you but banana trees don’t grow in Boston so I had no idea what the hell he was talking about. No worries. We found our scooters and were good to go. Did I mention I’ve never ridden a scooter? The rental guy was like, um…can you take a test drive around this vacant lot before you go? Next thing you know I was speed racer. I want one! We drove around for a few hours and then hit a beach side bar/restaurant and had a beverage and tasty snack.

Christina, Hez and Courtney

Estrogens!

Hez and Christina in Cozumel

Wednesday – Grand Cayman
I’ve always had a fascination with the Cayman Islands so was stoked to be able to go to them! They just seemed so tropical and different in my head I guess. When I got there tho, I was totally grossed out with the disgusting tourism. It’s like the same 5 beach and diamond shops and (shame on you Jimmy Buffet!) the chain restaurant, Margaritaville. WHAT THE FUCK!?!?!?! I didn’t really have much planned and had gone onto the island alone, which made me kind of shy. Plus I was getting a massage at 3pm (ohhh the dichotomy!) so I just walked around. It was kinda boring. I stopped in at a little church to pray for a man of integrity and who is open to receiving and giving love and almost threw up when “…wasted away again in margaritaville” wafted in on the breeze. Aren’t we gross enough already that we have to destroy a tropical paradise with Jimmy-Fucking-Buffet!?!?! Sigh.

Praying Hard on Grand Cayman

Went and got my massage. I shoulda saved my money. Maybe I am just spoiled by Jez, my awesome sports massage guy. He always has “feeling” behind it. Or energy. I feel like he is drawing from a space deep within himself to heal me…I mean he made me cry fer crissakes just by touching me! Rodica, my massage lady on the ship, was nothing like that. It was like her touch was just doink doink doink. Nothing there. Then she says, “you have lost a lot of weight recently?

Yes.
“Now you have to work on getting rid of your cellulite.”
Um, I don’t have cellulite.
“Yes you do!” And then she grabbed a chunk of my side and jiggled it around.

OH MY GOD. Is she crazy? So then I kindly pointed out that I do not have cellulite there and that maybe yes, I have one patch of it on my butt and then another patch on the top of my right thigh. She then launched into this whole thing about how I need to burn the fat to get rid of it and bladiddy blah blah. Dude, Hi? Ironman? Hi? Almost a personal trainer?

Then she says, “You will have to go back and tell your partner about your trip.” And I say, oh, I’m not gay. She was very surprised by that. Hahaha. Then she asked me how old I was. Then she says, “So if you are not gay where is your husband?”

Um.

So, ok, I DID cry at this massage session but not because of some other worldly energy exchange, but because now I am suddenly riddled with cellulite and an old maid because I am not married at 37. WHAT THE FUCK!?!?!?

Thursday – At Sea
This at sea day wasn’t as busy as the first one. I did, however, start to hang out with the most awesome woman. She is a new addition to our external volunteer staff and just totally awesome. Her name is Melissa and she lives in New York and that is why I love her. I cannot tell you how absolutely refreshing it is to be my normal, people hating, East Coast self and to be completely understood. In San Francisco I could never do that. NEVER. I have to sensor myself all the time. I really can’t even give you an example but in SF if there is any inkling that I don’t like someone people get really weird about it. They start saying things like, “way to not hold back” or “gee you’re telling it like it is” or they just don't understanding that not everyone blows rainbows out their ass.

ANYWAYS

MelSil is my new best friend and our minds are a zen-like “one” and we didn’t even have to finish sentences. Basic grunts and facial expressions were completely understood and agreed with. Check out her blog because not only is she unapologetic about what she likes and believes in, she is actually trying to make a difference. Hi? Activist? Favorite exchange of the trip:

Hez: wow Mel, you’re so politically active! I just don’t really care about people that much
Mel: (looks at me like, duuuude) Oh, I don’t like people…but ya gotta DO something.

Hahahah. LOVE HER because the best part of this is that when I said I didn’t really care about people she didn’t even flinch OR have some weirdo SF hippy moment.

Tonight was my shinning moment as coordinator of the White Party With A Splash Of Pink. Oh? Did I mention that on this cruise we were raising money for breast cancer research and awareness? That’s what the splash of pink is all about. We raised over $100,000 with a walk and an auction. Yeah! Danced the night away way too long and drank too many pink drinks and almost drunk dialed the cutey Cruise Director on my ship cell phone. That woulda been B-A-D (but totally funny!).

Friday - Grand Turk
Nothing to do here but lay on a beach. Awwww yeah! Met MelSil on the beach and we hung out for 3 hours. Came back to the ship and was so exhausted. Ran around and did some stuff then snuck in an hour nap before dinner.

Hez on Grand Turk

Saturday – Half Moon Cay
Holland America owns an island in the Bahamas, or they lease it or something and it’s awesome. The place is too good to be true. The beaches are too fine and white, the water is too clear and turquoise blue. But it kicked ass! Was on the beach for 5 hours. And I have the sun burn to prove it. Had our farewell staff party, dealt with some last minute crisis’ and got ready to go home.

Hez and Mel

More pictures to come.

Week 24

2008-03-26T09:51:00.000-07:00

I took most of this week off for reasons I can't explain. It's possible that it coulda been sheer laziness or burned-out-ness. At any rate, I only worked out twice but ate like I was working out every day! Crap! And suddenly I am missing a week since I can't remember what the hell happened.
Monday - Rest
I was pretty out of it, recovering from the extreme workouts of the weekend. Felt ok in the morning but by mid afternoon was out-of-it.

Tuesday
Awww, took one more day off. Listening to my body and all...or just lazy? You make the call.

Wednesday- Swim!
I actually made it out to the pool! The workout called for about 2800 yards (here comes the math) which is 3730 yards in my pool, which is about 112 laps. (wait? is that right?). At a certain point I started to get dizzy. So I cut it short at 92 laps, which is 3064 yards. Man, if I just swam in a 25 yard pool my life would be so much easier.

Thursday - Chiro!
Checked in with Dr. Rabbetz. Considering I worked out like 20 hours last week I felt pretty good. He walked into the exam room and said, " hi skinny!" Yay! I *am* thin!. He checked some stuff out, made some adjustments and then made the observation that my body adjusts better at this weight. Good to go. Don't have to see him for 3 weeks.

Friday
Um...had "another" kind of doctor's appointment today. Stopped off at Mervyn's to buy some new Levi's and hello? Size 9. Yay!

Saturday - Bike Ride
Deb and I decided to ride with some of our teammates who live in the East Bay. The SF people were planning a ride that included Mt. Tam...and you cycling team people who read this will understand why I was like, oh HELL NO! I decided that Calaveras and Palomares was a lot more "rider friendly" than Alpine Dam, the 7 Sisters and Mt. Tam. Met the group at 8am. The first few moments on the bike I was so friggin' happy. God Damn! I just love riding so much. It just makes me smile and smile. I felt so grateful for the opportunity to ride with some amazing people, on an amazing route, on an amazing day.

on top of Calaveras Road

waiting for the team to ride by so i can take pics

there goes Deb Deb!

after the ride

we laugh in cancer's face! an outtake from our fundraiser photo

5 hours later...um. Hahaha, no. I was still happy. Just a little tired. Afterwards we all went to The Hopyard and had some chow. By the time I got back to the city it was 5pm and I was exhausted. Stayed in and watched movies.

Sunday - Run
Made my way down to Fort Mason around 9am and ran to the bridge and back. I made the roundtrip in under an hour which is just amazing to me. I can remember being on the tri team last year and I couldn't even run from Sports Basement to the bridge without dying (about 30 minutes). Really considered trying to figure out how to smuggle my iPod onto the Ironman run course. Music really does make everything better.

I know you'll be lonely but I'll be heading off on a work trip next week and then a little side jaunt to the G-Rents in Ft. Myers. Hopefully I'll be able to update from there where you are sure to be entertained by my stories of attempting to train on an 1800 passenger cruise ship while sailing in the Carribbean and then later, trying to run in 100% humidity in Florida. Um, yay.

Week 23

2008-03-18T17:40:00.000-07:00

This week my energy was restored, no more "head on the desk syndrome," I registered for the Wildflower Long Course, kept the week light and then trained with the team for 14 hours over the weekend.What tha!?!!?

Monday - Rest
I honestly don't remember what I did this day. But I know I didn't do any kind of working out!

Tuesday - Spin
I didn't feel like going to the pool, so set up the rig in the kitchen that night and spun for an hour followed by 30 minutes of core. I think my non-existent appetite from the week before, which extended into the weekend really screwed me up. By the end of core I was shaking uncontrollably and ended up cutting it short to eat some bread and almond butter.

COMPARE AND CONTRAST

My body totally changed!

November 2007

March 2008 (4 months later)

Wednesday - Track
Did some speed work at track tonight and my heart rate was back to normal. Still having issues with shoes. Hope to try and return them to Sports Basement even though I've run in them like 6 times outside. Still not really into food after the workout.

Thursday - Nothing!
Had a chiro appointment in the morning and felt awesome when it was over. Weighed myself there and lost another 3 pounds. Whoa!

Friday - Nothing!
Had a doctors appointment where they weighed me and their scale said I was 2 pounds less than the scale at the chiro. DOUBLE WHOA! Had a going away party for a co-worker. Didn't drink and went home early because of my huge day on Saturday.

Saturday - Boot Camp Day One: Start at 9am end at 4pm
The night before I prepared for my 7 hour training schedule the next day. SEVEN HOURS people. I really couldn't even fathom it. I had no idea what to pack for calories so I figured I might burn about 4,000 calories and decided to bring along half of those calories in various drinks and whole food. We started the day at Aquatic Park where I made a last minute decision that I wasn't going to swim. I had heard the swim was only going to be about 20 minutes of getting in and out and experiencing a mass start so, for me, being in the bay in 50 degree water and then dealing with wet hair and clothes the rest of the day, which was only supposed to be 54 and cloudy, was not really appealing. I got the evil eye from the coaches but whatevs.

Nicole and Hez NOT swimming

However, when I got there, swim coach Nancy had an awesome workout planned and I was kinda bummed. See? I wish the coaches would let us in on that stuff BEFORE. I totally woulda done it. The workout consisted of doing a series of jumping jacks, core, wheel barrell races etc in between swimming to a buoy just off shore and back. Oh wells.

We reconvened at Sports Basement where the hell began. We left first on a bike ride following the Escape From Alcatraz course, about 13 miles. Yi and I were the first women back again on the bike. We totally kick ass on that. Then we suited up in running gear and ran to the Lyons Street Stairs, which are about 300 steps on the side of a hill. This is what we did:

Run up
Run down
Run up skipping a step
Run down
Run up
Run down
Hop on two legs up every step
Run down
Hop up on right leg
Run down
Hop up on left leg
Run down

Then if we were done before the rest of the group (which I was, grrr!) We had to run down a little hill and then do LUNGES all the way up it.

*blink* *blink*

Hez and Yi: Stairclimbers

Then we ran back to our bikes and spun for 45 minutes.

Then we ran to the Golden Gate Bridge (about 30 minutes).

Then we ran back to our bikes and spun for another 45 minutes.

Then we had to run about 15 minutes to another location for core where we:
Did side squats across a lawn (about 60-80 squats)
Did 25 push ups
Did 25 pull ups and/or held yourself up as long as you could for 3 times.
REPEAT THREE TIMES

And then RUN BACK to your bikes and pack up.

Duuuude, that last set of core about half of us were standing around glassy-eyed and zoning out.

I literally could not deal and basically threw my shit in the car and left without talking to anyone. I could not get home fast enough! I needed to be in bed ASAP.

Got home. Showered. Made a giant bowl of food even though I wasn't hungry and watched disc 5 of Freaks and Geeks. Went to bed short about 1800 calories. I just couldn't eat any more!

Sunday - Boot Camp Day Two: Start at 8am end at 3pm
Before I passed out in a coma on Saturday I managed to pack my gear up for Sunday. Drove down to San Jose at 6:45am. Sleeeepy. We started our day with a leisurely hour swim, followed by an hour bike ride up a giant hill, followed by an hour run. Then we got down to business:

Our set up in San Jose

Larry the mentor said: Look Sporty

30 minutes spinning-"hill work"
30 minutes of track and core consisting of running 5 minutes and then core consisting of MORE squats, crunches and pushups
30 minutes spinning-"speed work"
30 minutes of running and core consisting of running up and down MORE stairs plus pushups, crunches and step ups
30 minutes of spinning-dude I don't even remember what we did!
30 minutes of track and core consisting of LUNGES, and these weird hoppy things and pushups that I didn't do (shhhh)

Then we were done and we all jumped in the pool to cool off! Sunday wasn't half as bad as Saturday and I was pleasantly coherent on the hour drive back to San Francisco! I stopped in at a gas station to get post workout snack of pretzels and Dr. Pepper (shhh don't tell Dr. Scott!) and this guy in line in front of me asked me what Ironteam meant on my t-shirt. I told him that we were in training for Ironman and this guy, a complete stranger told me that he admired me for that. Then he commented on the "nutritional" food I was buying and when I just looked at him guiltily he said, "awww just teasing!" heh.

So the reason we had two consecutive 7 hour days of training was to see what it was like to push our minds and our bodies beyond reasonable limits. When you think you can't go anymore you learn very quickly that you have to. That may even be a metaphor for life. In a way I dreaded the weekend but I was also excited to see how I was going to be able to handle it. Mentally I really didn't have any issues. I was kind of like, just do it! Physically I was really surprised how well my body just followed along. I was especially impressed with my body the day after each workout. It really wasn't too sore. Maybe a little slower on day two but that is about it. What a nice surprise after months of having to ice everything for fear of pain. Monday I was a little out of it and faded quickly during the afternoon. But on Tuesday I felt refreshed and stronger and ready to do it all over again!

Week 22 - The Disappearing Appetite

2008-03-09T19:05:00.000-07:00

This week proved challenging for me on a very different level. It seems that I've lost my appetite. Maybe it's because my sports nutritionist took away wheat and dairy from my diet and nothing seems appealing. I also had extremely low energy and was wiped out at the end of each work day. Like, literally cannot keep my eyes open, head on the desk type of wiped out, followed by a pretty serious melancholy. I also experienced my first regret since canceling cable about a month ago. Without TV I have to come home and actually*DO* stuff. The fatigue this week made me just want to go home and veg out on the couch to bad TV. Sigh. I came home most nights, cranked the heated mattress pad, set up my lap top in bed with me and got down to the business of being depressed while streaming reality TV shows. Heh.

Me and Yi from last week at Aquatic Park

I'm in there!

Monday - Rest Day
This was sports nutritionist appointment day. On one hand, I love learning about my body and what it's doing. On the other hand, they could literally tell me anything and prescribe the next $50 supplement and I really have no way of knowing if my body is experiencing inflammation at a cellular level. Starting to get slightly annoyed at all the money I am shelling out especially since it's preventing me from actually being able to afford the food they want me to eat. It's a double edged sword, people. Fessed up that I have been resorting to the old standards to make me feel better i.e. chocolate and diet soda. Dr. Scott tried a little word association "technique" to find out why I go to chocolate. Why I resort to it to make me feel better. He repeated the word over and over again for about 45 seconds and I had to answer one or two words each time. Chocolate: good. Chocolate: calm. Chocolate: texture. Chocolate: goodness. Chocolate: chocolate glazed donuts. Chocolate: dark. Chocolate: overbearing mother....WHOA! Sigh.

Tuesday - Swim
Back at the loverly Garfield Pool, I had a pretty good swim. Today I had another swim marker set. About 30 minutes of warming up and then a lap count in 30 minutes. Last month I managed 44 laps, so naturally I had to beat that. I used my tempo trainer and set it a bit faster than usual (123 beats per minute). At the 15 minute mark I was WAY over in laps, like about 25 laps in 15 minutes. I was also swimming too fast of a pace for me to keep up much longer so I increased the tempo to just ONE BEAT higher and then suddenly I have 29 minutes left and am just starting my 44th lap and I see my new higher lapage number out of my reach. Sigh. Totaled 44.25 laps. Note to self: start out the marker set slower and then crank it up. Gah! And just a reminder, I swim in a 100 ft pool so if I was in a regular size pool I would've swum 58.5 laps in 30 minutes and that is about 300 yards short of a mile. (I thought that last realization would cheer me up but it's killing me that I didn't even swim a mile - double GAH!).

After my swim workout I had a chiropractor appointment. I'm going about every 10-14 days now and when that appointment rolls around I cannot wait to get in there because I can tell how rotated and uneven I am. Jez, the most awesomest massage guy, came in to work on my psoas, which they assessed was tight, even tho it really wasn't bothering me. Despite the crappy swim marker, I was actually having a great morning - having run into Mai at the pool and it being sunny and all, and then Jez put his hand on my psoas. I just can't explain it but it feels weird and usually I can suck it up and power through it with deep breathing and thinking of other things besides some guy massaging a muscle deep inside my body that is just inches from my "canary." However, this day...I just don't know what happened. One minute I was like, it feels weird and the next minute I was sobbing uncontrollably. Dr. Rabbetz walked in, took one look at the tears streaming down my face and ran and got tissues. They both told me that that area, the pelvic-y area, is like an emotional warehouse. Where we store lots of emotions. After Jez left, Rabbetz asked me, aside from training, how everything is going in my life. To which I replied, oh it's normal aka sucking. The rest of the day I was melancholy and weepy. That night after work I got in bed at 6:30 pm and moped around to MTVs Making the Band 4 on my lap top til I fell asleep without really eating.

Wednesday - Track
Was supposed to be a killer speed workout, which I was looking forward to...however when I got to the track there was a highschool track and field event going on so Coach Bobbie decided that we would do a run marker on the upper loop. Three laps equals a mile. We warmed up and then Yi and I ran about 7 laps in 30 minutes. Kind of disappointing since our last marker was on the main track and we did about 12 laps and I have no way of translating that since I suck at math and word problems. If Yi and Hez ran 12 laps in 30 minutes on the main track, and 4 laps on the main track equals a mile, what color are Hez's shoes? Yi and I ran into Phillip, the web captain of the spring tri-team, and he commented on how it looks like I lost half my body weight. I never tire of hearing things like that. Went home and *TRIED* to choke down some minestrone soup. Ate about 3/4 of the bowl and then ditched it.

Thursday - nada
My sports nutritionist figures that running track on Wednesday night and then getting up at 5:30am-ish to swim is not enough recovery time for me which may be compromising my immune system and causing me to get sick every 3 weeks. This week I was supposed to go all out at track and then do the swim on Thursday but when I woke up I was like, eh, and then got back in bed. I'll do it next week. Today at work Kathy commented that my butt was disappearing in my jeans and someone else commented on how my jeans looked really big. That night I came home and had a potato for dinner and fell asleep by 8pm.

Friday - nada
Was gonna go to the gym and do some weights and core, you know, before that membership I got almost a year ago and hardly use runs out. But decided to stay in bed longer. Ian and I went to see "There Will Be Blood..." after work. I wasn't attracted to this movie at all but it turned out to be good. Came home and went right to bed...no dinner.

Saturday - Run
I'm cursing Asics this morning because of what I can only call a design flaw. My new $135 Kayano-13 (or 14 or whatever they are) sneakers have a new piece of swoosh that hits right at my bunion and causes immense bone pain. I spent about 15 minutes trying to decide which was gonna be worse, wearing my new shoes where I could possibly have pain at every step? Or wearing my old shoes where I might be ok for the run but would undoubtedly have pain towards the end, later that day or the next day due to how worn out they were. Hmmm. I decided on pain later on and went with the old shoes. I also measured my body and was kind of shocked to see that since January 30th I have lost 2.5 inches from everywhere on my body (except arms). Chest, waist, hips and thighs. It's weird. I am so stoked about losing this weight and inches but it's also kind of freaking me out.

I met Yi at the monkey bars near Fort Mason and we set off on our 11.5 mile run. We ran all the way over the bridge and this time all the way down into Saulsalito but needed to turn around before we hit the town. We checked out an apartment that was having an open house and then walked back up the big hill to the bridge. I ate a gel and immediately regretted it. It caused me to feel emotionally weird. It sounds so stupid. But right after I ate it, I felt uneasy, unfulfilled and like I wasn't supposed to be there and my heart was racing. Yi thought I was high. I just felt so odd. Could it be my gut trying to digest the long chain carbohydrates? Sigh. Ran back up to the bridge and before I hit the bathroom I commented to Yi how I sure didn't feel like I just ran 8 miles. Famous last words...that last 3 miles or so were so hard for me. My heart was still racing and I couldn't keep up with Yi. I slowed it down a bit and did some "mental biting of the tongue" and powered through. Then we were done...by 11am...yay!

I came home. Was not hungry at all. Actually had some "digestive" issues with chills and all and decided to crank the heated mattress pad and get back in bed. Choked down some toast. Then got in bed and stayed there for the next SIX AND A HALF HOURS. Luckily I had 2 discs of Freaks and Geeks to watch and that was that.

At around 4pm, Ian called. I had asked Ian to go to a party with me that night and as soon as I answered I was like, I'm not going. I can't deal with people. He said he didn't want to go either and that he woke up at 6am and stayed in bed til 2pm. I was like, I did too! Except I had to run for 2 hours in between when I woke up and when I got back in bed. I swear, I am like the laziest most active person. Heh. Then we convinced each other to suck it up and just go to the party.

At that point I realized I still had about 900 calories to consume before the day was out and I panicked and cooked up some salmon and couscous. Choked it down and then felt gross the rest of the night. Stayed about 1 hour at the party and came home. Passed out.

Sunday - 5 hour workout extravaganza

Time change and all, woke up at 5:45, which was actually 4:45. Got ready with all my bottles of fluid and nutrition and then headed off to pick up Yi.

Bottles o' Nutrition - it's like having a baby

Then we drove out to Lake Merced to meet the team where we proceeded to spin for one hour in the parking lot, run ten minutes, ride our bikes for one hour, run for ten minutes, spin for one hour, run for ten minutes, ride our bikes for an hour, run for ten minutes and then DONE! Um yeah, so I burned about 3200 calories today. The workout itself wasn't so hard. I mean, it was beautiful out and warm-ish and I kicked ass on the bike and I felt pretty good. Came home and still did not feel like eating. Made a giant bowl of spaghetti with sauce and felt pretty good eating it. Then realized that I somehow have to eat another 1600 calories before the day is out...with no appetite...and it seemed a little overwhelming. Well actually all I want is diet coke and mini powdered donuts which are both a huge no-no on my regimen. (ok so spaghetti is not allowed right now either but honestly, if nothing is appealing to me now except friggin' spaghetti...well, I'm gonna eat it.) Settled for just the diet coke and a mini loaf of french bread. So much for no wheat. :)

But! One thing to remember is why I am here. It's to cure cancer and I was reminded of that this week when thanking one of my boss' for her donation. She said, "ride for my partner's dad who died two and a half years ago of acute leukemia, ok? It's awesome that you are doing this!" Fred Raymont, this is for you! And because cancer sucks no matter what kind it is, I'll also be racing for her mom who died of lung cancer 3 years ago.

Please help to cure cancer! Click here to donate.

Week 21

2008-03-03T17:16:00.000-08:00

Dead chicken heads aside, this week turned out to be pretty good. We were on our 4th week of the 4 week cycle, which is recovery week. Although, after I experienced the workouts over the weekend the coaches might want to rethink the "recovery" part. Hard! I also got retested at the Sports Nutritionist and some changes, they are a happenin'!

Monday - Rest
Even though I rested the whole week before, I took advantage of it to prepare for a demanding week ahead.

Tuesday - Swim 2800 yards
Now the cute Russian life guard is my personal calculator. He'll ask me how many yards I am swimming and I'll give him the distance for a 25 yard pool and he'll calculate it based on the 33.3 yard lengths I am swimming. I don't have the heart to tell him I have an uber-detailed workout grid that I fill out after every workout that automatically calculates that stuff but, whatever!

Wednesday - Track 5 miles (or something) of speedwork
Track was really hard for me on Wednesday since coming off of a week of inactivity gave my heart license to beat out of control on several of my level 7 loops (exertion rate). Say that a level 1 is strolling and a level 10 is sprinting and then keeling over...a level 7 is pretty hard. I decided to listen to my body and slow down even though Yi didn't really understand and kept pushing me, which made me feel guilty and useless until I finally had to exclaim, "my heart is gonna explode out of my chest if I don't slow down!" hahahaha. Oh wells.

Thursday - Sports Nutrition appointment
No swim for me in the morning (and a date that night kept me out of the pool later) as I made my way to Walnut Creek to shell out another almost $300. I am gonna have to start fundraising on a personal level to support my "medical food" habits and testing. Jeesh. This was the 5 week mark for being on my new whole foods diet approach and I was having my blood, urine and saliva tested again. I'll get the results on Monday but, for the readers benefit, I will see into the future and tell you that I dropped 4 lbs of fat and gained1 lb of muscle, increased my BMR (Basal Metabolic Rate) by 60 calories, which takes non-Iron people about 6 months to do, dropped my cholesterol a few points and started metabolizing protein a bit better. All that and I totally had an anxiety food binge somewhere in those 5 weeks! Yeah!

Later that night I went to see my friend DJ Cadillac spin at The Argus and he told me that he was in The Sports Authority and saw an ad poster for Under Armor and he thought the sports model was me! Hahaha. Totally forgot I was going to check that out to see what his perception of my body is. Double hahaha. He thought I totally had a modeling gig and was getting cash money for it. That would be, um, sweet.

Oh bummer news: Dr. Scott totally eliminated dairy and wheat from my diet. Now I will be having no fun while I eat my sticks and grass. Sigh. I'll probably be ripped in about 2 weeks.

Friday - Whoops
Was up a bit late on Thursday so didn't work out. Felt it was for the better since I had a huge weekend of workouts scheduled. Stayed in and watched movies...well, watched them until I fell asleep at 9pm. I'm a real live wire now.

Saturday - Bike 50 miles, run 30 minutes
Hi? You ride your bike to work? Oh. That's cute. I rode from San Francisco to Nicasio...AND BACK. Forecast called for showers and wind but I had to Ironman Up and just get the thing over with. Turned out to be almost perfect riding weather with no rain, some wind and some sun. I prefer it a bit warmer so I don't have to wear arm and leg warmers but whatever. What is so different about being on a tri-team or training with Ironman people versus being on the TnT cycle team is that these triathlon people don't ever want to stop. On the cycle team we stopped whenever we could! There is always time for ice cream on a 50 mile ride! But now that I'm an Ironman in training, I only stopped once in 50 miles to pee. Heh. I hear, during the race you don't even do that. You just kinda stand up on your pedals on a descent and let it go. I really have no interest in doing that, by the way.

After the ride, we got our sneakers on and ran for 30 minutes in a circle around the parade grounds in the Presidio. Fun. Came home and crashed hard. Then ate everything in site!

Sunday - 50 minute swim in Aquatic Park, 100 minute run

Um. Yeah. You know, I really feel like swimming in ice cold, rolling wave conditions isn't really working for me. Ha! But this was going to be my first time out in my new wetsuit! I was excited to see how it was gonna feel and also a bit worried because when I tried it on at the store I felt like the neck was choking me...something you really don't want to feel while swimming. But that was 5 pounds ago sooo....

FYI, that is not my body in that suit...

When I pulled up to AP and saw the white caps I was like, shit, we're screwed. The plan was to swim the perimeter but because of the choppy seas (and "sea" is the operative word here people..as in swimming in it. ugh) we were told to just swim the buoys for 50 minutes. Three laps is a mile. Funny thing about open water swimming. I know logically that the first 15 minutes really, really suck. But every time, I get in the water and I start to swim and I say "Eff this...I'm getting out in 15 minutes." Then the 15 minutes goes by and you're warmed up and feeling a bit better about the whole 52 degree water thing. I was actually doing ok but talked myself into getting out at 30 minutes. I wasn't really tired or anything. Just kind of, "not into it." And so I consulted with Yi and we decided to do one more half lap of the buoys and get out. Then all of a sudden there were HUGE swells and the current picked up and I was just swimming so hard to just stay in place! And then my ear plug started to leak water in my left ear (we wear ear plugs to keep the cold water out of our heads to prevent seasickness and instability) and it was all over. I got so nauseous that I looked at Yi and was like, I'm out of here! So we got out about 15-20 minutes early (which was still a 30 minute swim) and went back to our cars to change into run clothes. Needless to say, we were freezing! We sat in Yi's car with the heat blasting until we saw our teammates starting to run away and then we clamored out of the car and headed on our 100 minute run.

Oh. You run 30 minutes at lunch time? That's cute. I ran from Aquatic Park to the Ball Park...AND BACK! WHAT THE HELL! I remember when I first came to SF on a reconnaissance mission to check it out and ended up walking from AP to Market and I thought I was gonna die. Sunday I did it in about 30 minutes.

Surprisingly. I stayed awake that afternoon. I wasn't really worn out or anything. Funny how the body adapts, isn't it?

Week 20: I'm Noticing A Pattern

2008-02-25T17:18:00.000-08:00

It seems that since December, I'll have two awesome training weeks and then on the third week (and the most difficult workouts) I get sick and can't do anything. Then I come back for the recovery week and it starts all over again. Anyways, I was sick again this week.

Monday - Rest
Fully expected to have a fill blown illness by Monday but it never really manifested and instead I suffered a moderate sore throat and grossness but not enough to stay home from work.

Tuesday
Felt it was better to sleep in than swim. Worst sore throat of the week. Started a new trend of falling asleep at 9pm only to wake up around 3am and lay awake until 5am-ish fretting about life. Realized that the boy I am seeing might have Googled me and found out about my Ironman endeavors. Call me crazy, but I keep that from boys in the beginning since it can be intimidating and such. Then I started to freak out about boys...and then about FINISHING Ironman USA. Realized that I needed to have $1,000 dollars in my fundraising account by March 1st and then started freaking out about fundraising. Got my laptop out at 4am and crafted a training/fundraising update where I mistakenly noted that I train 8-10 hours a day. Ha! I meant a week. People were impressed, though, and by Thursday I had made my fundraising goal! Then I realized that I actually only needed to raise about $500 and not $1000, and the deadline was March 7th and not the 1st. Silly me. However, I still have $5,000 more to go! Whoosh!

Wednesday
Felt ok in the morning, sore throat almost gone! Felt great, in fact, that I planned on attending track that night. However, when 3pm rolled around I realized that track was just a pipe dream and I needed to just go home and veg and eat soup. Had another middle of the night anxiety attack.

Thursday
Felt ok. Decided against swimming since breathing with a sore-ish throat would be hard. Took a Tylenol PM to ensure no middle of the night wake ups. Great, now I am self medicating.

Friday
Yi and I decided to attempt our Wednesday track workout on Friday morning. Up at 5am to meet at Kezar at 6am. Felt ok, even though it was raining. A quarter of the way through the workout I started to get nauseous. Pushed through. Half way through and I started to get a weird "burning" aching feeling right under my ribcage and had to cut the workout short. The rest of the day I felt exhausted and feverish.

Saturday
Fully planned on going to the workout. But alas. Still feeling not quite right and Coach Ted said it was better to miss a few workouts to rest properly than to push myself and get sick and miss weeks of workouts. Felt better about that. Stayed home and obsessively cleaned through my clutter after someone made a comment that I have "a lot of stuff." Threw out tons. Filed. Cleaned the bathroom. Went to PNYE (Procrastinators New Years Eve) that night. Theme" Fast Food Nation. Was fun. Pictures here.

Fast Food Nation: Dairy Queen and Goth Burger King Drive Through Worker

Sunday
Slept in til 10am! Whoa! Got up and started cleaning again non-stop until 7pm. Didn't even leave my house or talk to anyone. I even washed my effing curtains fercrissake!

(On a side note, I will do a Monday of the next week recap because I don't want to forget what happened to me this morning.)

Monday
Got in my car this morning and was zoning out the passenger window while the car warmed up. I was parked on the street adjacent to a city trash can. I saw some feathers. Then my mind kind of was like, what IS that? And I focused in and realized it was a dead, headless chicken! Just laying on 21st street near the trash can! What tha! I thought at first it was fake but then I saw the bloody, gaping hole where the neck used to be...and of course then I saw the bloody cardboard box next to it! OMG! WHAT is going on in my neighborhood!?!?!? First the homeless trend of shitting on sidewalks, which is so bad that Public Works has to issue a POSTER about it, and now the killing of farm animals? Where do you get a live chicken anyways? Really, this might be the last straw for me.

Week 19: Iron & Metal

2008-02-18T18:38:00.000-08:00

This week was pretty tough. I learned a few things. Made a few notes to myself and realized it's just going to get harder from here. What did I get myself into!

Monday - Rest
Totally needed. Except I had Mortified this night and was up a bit late with a few beers.

Tuesday - Swim
You know, I just wasn't feeling up to it. Those "few" beers the night before kind of brought a sore throat about. I decided to forgo the 5:30am wake up for a more civilized 7:30am wake up and leisurely stroll to work. Got a surprise call from Animal Control. The woman said she wanted to update me on Gonzales' status. I was like, uh yeah, you killed him last Sunday! She said, no! That he was going to a Feline FIV Rescue home! Ohhh that sweet kitty! He's still alive!!!

Wednesday - Run (40 min with hills)
Is there some kind of Kezar Track website/email list? If there is, well, Yi and I aren't on it. We arrived at Kezar ready to run at 6am however the gates were locked. After standing there for a bit, longingly looking at the empty track, we finally focused on a "pesticide spraying notice" that indicated that Kezar would be closed all day for "spraying." Sigh. We then hopped in our cars and drove over to the park and grumbled the whole 40 minutes about how running up and down the access ramps at Kezar woulda been the perfect "rolling hills" workout and instead we were relegated to the stupid park with one giant gradual hill. Sigh.

Thursday - Swim (2300 yards aka 3036 in my pool)
This swim kicked my ass. Such a long time swimming! Actually just an hour but still. In other news, I can't believe I am swimming for an hour. Holy Crap! Cute Russian lifeguard offered me a cookie. Too bad I am off sugar.

Friday - Athlete's Choice Day
Well, this athlete made the wrong choice! I decided to swim again since I skipped the swim on Tuesday and well, the workout was another 2300 yards aka 3036. I got in the pool and it was just me and two other people in the whole place. I thought Friday is the SHIT! I need to come every Friday, it's so empty! Shortly after that thought, the throngs of poor ettiquette and speed-placement-inflating swimmers showed up and it was me and like 6 other people in my lane. No kidding. I started my workout, which specifically says no stopping or resting EVER. Of course people don't know how to pace themselves and I was constantly waiting at the wall to go. But man was I tired! Note to self: do not try to attempt another 3,000+ yard swim the day after you swim 3,000+ yards. I had to get out about half way through because I was so exhausted and was just zoning out into my water bottle. Sore throat gone!

Saturday - Run (95 min)
Met Yi at the monkey bars on the Marina Green. We ran from there all the way over the bridge to Saulsalito. No Kidding. It was a great day. Kind of a hard run. I realized that I can't run on that dirt/sand/stone path along Crissy Field because my sneakers don't grip as well and therefore cause my psoas to strain a bit. Felt kinda slow but I think it was lack of sleep. I went to bed at 12:30am and woke up inexplicably at 5am for an 8:30am start. Sigh. Afterwards we went to Lettuce in the Marina and I realized I hated everyone in that stupid place. Poor Yi. She has to put up with so much of my hating. As I was sitting across the table from her I blurted out, I hate everyone in here! Hahaha. She tried to make me feel better by letting me know that even tho she might not like the people she likes the restaurant. She actually said to me the other day, "You know what I was thinking on the way home? That you hate everyone but you like me! Yay!" Oh boy, I better start watching The Secret again. Bought new sneakers. Thank God Asics got the memo that my new favorite color is turquoise. It's the new red.

Today kinda kicked my ass and my sore throat came back after the run. I pushed through my Saturday errands with the knowledge that all I had to do that night was lay in bed with my new BoyFriend aka Heated Mattress Pad and the new episode of Lost. Score!

Sunday - Double Brick (46 miles aka 4 hour workout)
With a sore throat present and a huge possibility of compromising my immune system, I had to go to this workout! A BRICK is the act of cycling and riding one after the other. A double brick means we do it twice. We met at a school in some place I can't even remember! Oh, San Ramon. We had to be there at 7am which means leaving my house at 6am. We set up our trainers and spun for about 30 minutes to warm up. Then we rode for about 20 miles. Came back and ran 30 minutes. And then did it all over again. Ride One: Cold, foggy and slow. Ride Two: Warmer, clearer and faster. Run One: hard. Run Two: harder still. Note to self: DO NOT wear the zip front sports bra anymore. When I got on the trail for the first run, about 5 minutes in, my sports bra flew open because the zipper had slipped down! Hahahah. I basically had to flash San Ramon while I rezipped. Yi and I were surprisingly surprised that out of about 20-30 teammates at the workout, we were the 2nd and 3rd women to come in for the day! Whoa! We are just constantly impressing ourselves lately.

warming up on the trainer

Went to Coach Ted's house for brunch after the workout and was fading fast. Came home and tried to nap while I waited for 6pm to roll around. Went over to Rick and Betsy's for a little Winger DVD viewing party! I always shunned Winger in the 80's because they were a hair band after all. But Rick turned me on to their later records and I have to agree, they were really underrated. ...and Reb Beach is Hhhhhhotttt.

FYI - burning about 3,000 calories means you can eat 3 homemade cinnamon rolls at brunch and then have 3 pieces of pizza for dinner! Yay! (oops supposed to be off of sugar! Sorry Dr. Scott!)

Week 18: Dating = Alcohol

2008-02-12T17:49:00.000-08:00

I know last week was Week 18 so clearly I have no idea what is going on with that. This week I managed to perform at Mortified AND have some dates and am kinda stressed out! I only managed to make four of my workouts. That makes me feel guilty and now I am a total slacker.

Monday - Rest Day
That's about it for today. Mercury is in retrograde though. Don't even bother talking to people, they won't understand you.

Tuesday - Swim (2015 yards)
This was another swim marker set. How many laps can I swim in 30 minutes? 44 laps in a 100ft pool, that is about two more laps than last month, 1465 yards and an estimated Ironman swim time of one hour and 30 minutes. That's a long time! But realistically can I do it? In 2006 I swam from Alcatraz, which was a mile and half distance, and it took my one hour and 10 minutes. Some reasons why? The waters were rough, the current was strong and I wasn't a great swimmer then. Had a date that night. Fun! Didn't stay up too late but drank a few beers.

Wednesday - Run (5.5 miles)
Speedwork workout at Kezar. Was so so tired and probably dehydrated. Felt kinda slooooow. Went right home and utilized my new discovery. Ziploc Steamer Bags. They are fucking amazing. Really. Threw in some chicken and veggies and threw it in the microwave while I showered and voila! A fabulous meal in 6 minutes.

Thursday - Swim (2797 yards)
I can't tell if having a 100ft pool to swim in is a good thing. I treat it like its a 25 yard pool so I am always swimming more than I need to. It has to be good right? Went to Laurents' house to rehearse with my made up band for my Mortified performance on Friday. Drank more beer AND ate pizza. My sports nutritionist is gonna have conniption fit.

Friday - Self-Imposed Rest Day
Just too tired man. Had Mortified that night. Drank two beers. Was home early but then was so jazzed from the excitement that I was up til almost 1am. Around 12:30 I texted Yi to tell her I was bowing out of the workout the next day. She texted right back and said "Suck it up." sigh.

here i am performing

Saturday - Bike/Run (35 miles/20 minutes)
Fell asleep after the Yi-Text-Exchange, but then was woken up with a start after a dream I was having where I was telling Yi that I WAS NOT going to go to the workout and she forcefully told me I was and I got in her face and yelled at her and then she spit at me. Ha! I woke up and it was 4am. Then I proceeded to lay awake until she called me at 6:30. I tried to beg out again but she was like, "see you in 45 minutes!" Crap. Rushed around my house getting stuff ready. Yi picked me up and we drove off to Orinda. Did a short 35 miler. The last 10 miles just bit the big one. I felt like I was bonking but I think it was because I was just tired and all my alcohol was catching up with me. I felt ok afterwards on the run, even though I knew I didn't eat enough before and during. A quick check of my heart rate monitor showed I burned almost 1800 calories and I had consumed probably half of that. Yi was lacking fuel too so we kind ran walk for only 20 minutes even tho we were supposed to run for 40.

Afterwards we drove into Orinda and zoned out across the table from each other at Subway then drove home. I tried to sleep in the afternoon because I had date #3 with potential beau. It. Just. Didn't. Happen. Got picked up at 5pm and had a really low key quiet date. Luckily he was "low-energy" too. But I drank again. Ugh.

Sunday - Self-Imposed Shopping Day
Got a giant tax return and needed new girl clothes. Alas. Nothing was appealing to me. Guess I'll have to stick with the jeans and t-shirts awhile longer. Was really really exhausted. Oh...and I think I am getting round three of that virus/flu-thing. NOOOOO!

Week 18

2008-02-05T12:55:00.000-08:00

To say it was an emotional week is an understatement. I went on three dates, said goodbye to my best friend, Holly, who moved to Boston and had to euthanize a cat. Somewhere in there I had to institute a new eating plan (and log it all) and train over 8 hours (and log it all). Oh and work and clean my house and food shop and remove sugar, sugar substitues, caffeine and alcohol from diet and...oh did I mention we are now in the build phase of our training. All that means is no lollygagging and everything is more hard. (that's what she said)

Monday - Rest Day
Got to stay home in the morning while I waited for the washer repair guy. Scheduled appointment was 8-12pm. Of course he showed up at 11am. Went to work. Was useless.

Tuesday - Swim (2400 yards)
Swimming 2400 yards is an hour. The good news is it burns about 800 calories. The even better news is I get to add that 800 calories to my base caloric intake of 1500 which means I get to eat 2300 calories...on purpose. Of course I can't eat cake or anything like that but still. What a difference from being on Weight Watchers for the last 6 months (lost 18lbs) where I was trying NOT to eat. Had a coffee date that evening. Felt like slitting my wrists. Here are a few tips for you guys: don't put up a profile picture where you are 30lbs lighter than you are now. Always buy the girl her tea. Don't talk incessantly about your political views, how everything is screwed up and then let people know that you haven't voted since 1988. Oh and, ask the girl a friggin' question about herself. Went home and hung out with my real boyfriend, aka TiVo.

Wednesday - Track (1:18)
Running one hour and 18 minutes max. Burned 1,000+ calories. Ate 2500. Run was slooooow and looooong. Went to Kezar Pub with Yi and our teammates from last season, Steve and Liz. Enjoyed some lovely chicken tortilla soup and half a turkey burger and exactly 8 fries. Quickly remembered that eating fried food after a workout makes me sick. Ugh. Went home. Showered. Slept. Repeat.

hez at track

Thursday - Swim (2200 yards)
Burned 800 calories. Ate A LOT. One hour at the pool flirting with the cute, Russian, life guard..I mean swimming. Impressed him with my homemade laminated swim workout. Huzzah. Still feel a little self conscious standing there talking to him in my swimsuit. No way to hide that gut in those circumstances.

Friday - Spin 65 minutes/Run 15
I just really love getting up and hoping on my bike in my kitchen with my tunes. Was able to put on a sports top that I bought 2 years ago but was never able to wear until now. Woooo! Spin, uneventful...run, uneventful. That night came home to wait for Holly to come over and went to flip on my TV and nothing happened. Turns out, my boyfriend was cheating on the side with Comcast and she got made and dumped him aka, I forgot to pay my cable bill and they shut it off! That's not very Comcastic of them...or me, I guess. Oh well. Holly came over and we drank two giant gin and tonics. I was wasted halfway through the first one. Then we went over to Bottom of the Hill for Bagel Radio's 5th anniversary party. I feel like I rushed in there, said hello to everyone and then rushed out.

Sarturday - Spin (1:10)
Headed over to Sports Basement at what felt like was way too early even tho it was 9am. Proceeded to spin for over an hour with the team. Burned 1000+ cals. Ate not quite so much. Went home and crashed from 12-3pm in my bed that has the most awesome heated mattress pad aka my NEW boyfriend (forget stupid TiVo). Dragged myself outta bed and got ready for my 5pm date. Date kicked ass! Came home and fell asleep to Celebrity Apprentice on my laptop with my new boyfriend. Shut up! I mean the mattress pad, der.

Sunday - Run (90 minutes)
Even tho I had 4 beers the night before, clearly I properly hydrated since I felt fine when I woke up. I am sure going to bed at 10:30 instead of 1am helped too. Yay for early evening dates! Got dressed and drove to Crissy field. Headed out on the run wondering if I could ever do 90 minutes without my awesome running partner, Yi. Luckily I had my other boyfriend aka iPod cranking out NWOBHM. Started at Sports Basement, ran to the bridge. The waves were just crazy and crashing up against the wall and at one point I was thinking, this has got to be the best thing on earth! Running along the bay, looking at the Golden Gate Bridge, listening Iron Maiden and getting sprayed by the surf! Hey! Wait a minute! Doesn't that water have poop in it!?!?! Now I have "partially treated raw sewage" on me. I am sure of this.

Anyways.

Turned around and headed towards Aquatic Park. Cool 7.76 miles.

Went home, crammed food in my mouth. Drove over to Oakland to say goodbye to Holly, where I cried for like 30 minutes. Flew back over to SF to go to Animal Control where I had successfully cried my way into access to the stray cat kennel earlier that morning. Gonzales passed all but his Feline HIV test. He was not going to be put up for adoption. He was not going to be living a carefree kitty life in my backyard anymore. He was not going to be lounging on my deck and greeting me with little meows and getting his "little chin" rubs. He was going to be euthanized that afternoon. I spent the better part of 45 minutes sitting on the floor in front of his cage half in and half out of it just sobbing and sobbing while I petted and kissed him goodbye. That Gonzales, he is such a sweet boy. Too sweet for this world.

Went home and cried all afternoon with my boyfriend aka heated mattress pad until I had to get up and get ready for A DATE. Date was, eh. Begged out of it after 2 hours and went home and got in bed. Watched a documentary on a Funeral home on Frontline on my laptop (not a good idea when you put an animal down) and fell asleep around 7pm. That night Gonzales came to me in my dream. Awwww. He got one last "little chin" rub. Kitteh.

Week 17: M*therF**ker!

2008-01-28T16:01:00.000-08:00

It couldn't be easy could it? This week started out with great intentions but took a nose dive very early on. Did figure out my lactate threshold tho. Wooooo...

Monday - Rest Day
Visited the absolutely fabulous Dr. Rabbetz at Chiromedical. I have decided to put raving reviews about him (even tho I have the normal patient-doctor gripes now and again) because apparently if any one searches on Google for a review on him my blog comes up in the top 5. If you are thinking of going to him DO IT. He rocks.

Public Service Announcement over.

I am feeling great. Got a rub down from the awesome Jez, who used to be my masseuse until I became broke. He is now working at Chiromedical as the "warmer upper." I am in the final stages of my personal injury treatment and we are getting ready to kick some ass in mediation!

I also started some new supplements from my Sports Nutritionist and the weirdest thing has happened. For once in my life I do not have cravings for food. Usually I can't stop cramming it in but Monday was the start of no appetite and even forgetting to eat! Whoosh! Of course, it might also be depression. : sigh.

Tuesday - Spin
Decided to finally do the Ironteam spin group at Sports Basement. It just really sucks having to lug your trainer and your bike. Oy. Not to mention that repeated trainer use has worn my rear wheel down and I am waiting for it to blow any minute now. Tonight we did a "field test" to figure out what our lactate threshold is. LT is the moment when your body stops burning fat as a fuel and switches to glucose. Our bodies have almost a limitless supply of el Fatto but only a small amount of glucose. Therefore, you want to train your body to stay in the fat burning zone as long as possible. It was hard work AND I felt a cold coming on but I slogged through and got my zone. No more going over 160 heart beats per minute lady! Came home and became a giant snot machine. Was curious if it actually was a cold since my new fantabulous Sports Nutritionist said that the supplement they started me on might act as a detox and cause me "flu-like" symptoms. Hmmm.

Wednesday - SICK
But I had to come into work. Effers. Ran around crazy feeling in a daze and getting my work done. Came home and crashed.

Thursday - Double Sick!
Stayed home and watched several John Cusack movies and cried all the way through. Why can't John Cusack be my BF? Alcoholism and all...oh, did I just blow his anonymity? Shit. Then I watched some really bad TV and dozed intermittently on the couch.

Friday - Still Sick
Had to run into work briefly in the morning and came back home to rest. Oh yeah, I have an Olympic distance triathlon on Sunday. It's starting to look like it's not gonna happen for me. Utter sadness and am having a hard time dealing with the guilt feelings of not being able to train. I feel like it's derailing my whole entire season! (FYI-I still have 6 months to go)

Saturday - Sick-ish
On the upswing but still not great. Had an incredibly emotional day as well. See, my backyard is a cat magnate. I've already taken in one stray last year named Osk and he turned out to be the $1000 stray cat aka money pit kitty. I am sure several years of living outside has contributed to his issues. Since September, I have been feeding a sweet kitty named Gonzales. I really love him but can't let him in because I don't want to expose my indoor cat, Shai Kitty, to him (I know, it's like a cat soap opera). Suffice to say, Gonzales wants in and never leaves my deck and meows his head off all day and night. It got to the point where I had to be quiet in my house and make sure he didn't see me moving around or it would set him off. And it's rainy out! And cold! So I packed him in and took him to Animal Control. I found out that they will hold him for 5 days and then put him through medical and behavioral exams. If he passes he gets put up for adoption. I feel so bad. I really love him and he has put so much trust in me so it was equally heartbreaking when he was being taken away he looked in my direction and gave a sorrowful meow. GAH! I cried all afternoon and am praying that he passes those tests and gets a loving family.

Watched the Parrots on Telegraph hill and cried some more and realized there are so many places in this city that I don't get to experience. Who wants to do that shit alone, though.

Sunday - Yay! Feeling better!
Felt so guilty about not being able to participate in the triathlon and even guiltier that I couldn't drag myself to watch. Stayed home and was actually extremely productive for once as the TV remained off. I did my taxes, placed that hour+ call to Indian customer service to get my wireless router working again, and typed up some new material for my next Mortified performance. Then I got some lovely panic attacks. Someone special to me has been away for awhile and is coming home this week. I don't know where I stand with this person and have tried to shut that part of my brain down that plays out worst case scenarios. God kill me now! I also tried to quiet that part that knows that Gonzales has a cyst under his chin. They told me at Animal Control that he would not pass a med exam if he has Feline AIDS or Leukemia...sure that makes sense, but then they also said heart murmurs and I was shocked that something so low maintenance as a heart murmur would cause him to be exterminated. What if they find the cyst! I also tried to put out of my head that if it came to that I would adopt him back instead of, well you know...sigh. He trusted me! Poor kitty.

In the midst of all this I realized I didn't really eat the whole day. WHOA! That has NEVER happened to me. Decided to run out and get a burrito. Walked about 5 feet out my door and realized it was raining and was like, fuck it. Went back inside and waited for my body to go all catabolic.

Week 16

2008-01-23T19:43:00.000-08:00

This week I tried to keep up the momentum of last week. I also started having panic attacks about my race. People are coming to cheer me on! What if I don't make it! What if I don't make the swim cut off time! I'll let all those people down! Gah!

Monday - Rest Day
Much needed. My psoas was still hurting though at this point I didn't know whether it was psoas or groin. NOT wanting it to be groin.

Tuesday - Swim (1600 yards)
This was supposed to be 2000 yards but I forgot my little cheat sheet and had a vague idea that I was supposed to swim 50 something laps. Whoops. Felt ok with the psoas and all since I don't really use it swimming until...I did that frog stroke and kicked my legs out and was all OUCH! Rushed to the chiropractor and realized I was in trouble as I tried to run to catch the bus and it was P.A.I.N.F.U.L. By the time I got to the chiro it was all the way up my right side and approaching my back! Turned out it WAS the psoas and guess who got it rubbed out? Shit. There is nothing like getting your canary massaged by some girl in a doctors office. It hurt so bad I thought I was gonna die. I was whimpering. Then Dr. Rabbetz comes in and says, 4 months after I have been seeing him twice a week since my accident, you can do whatever you want you just have to make sure you're really stretching after your workouts. Um...I think it woulda been a good idea to tell me that 16 weeks ago. Iced my girl when I got home.

Wednesday - Track Marker Set
Really nervous about running because of the whole strained psoas thing. I made sure that I warmed up and then stretched before Yi and I started. Then the most amazing thing happened. Yi and I ran the fastest we ever have and added an extra lap and a half to our marker set from November. We had to run around the track for 30 minutes and count our laps. In November we did 10 3/4 laps and this night we did 11 1/2! Holy crap! We actually ran a sub 1o! Our average was 9:37 minutes per mile. AWESOME! We felt really great and both agreed that we could've run some more. Then we hit Kezar pub and had the most amazing chicken tortilla soup and split a BLT sans mayo. Then I had to fast until...

Thursday - Chirokinetics Sports Nutrition/Diagnostic Thing
I woke up at 5am to make it to Walnut Creek for my appointment with Dr. Scott. Today I would be doing some testing to learn what my BMR is, how my body metabolizes food, what my body fat percentage is plus more. This would all prep me for an eating plan geared for all my training to make sure I am getting enough of all the stuff that will make me perform awesome. I got there and had to pee in a cup and give blood. Then I had a little nutritional intake meeting. Then I had a break so I could eat. Did some shopping at Target, went back and had to pee in a cup again and give a sample of saliva. I had to fill a little cup up about a 1/4 of the way and the whole time I thought, I will never be able to meet that line! Took me a 1/2 hour.

Friday
Skipped the workout and went to see Cloverfield with Ian. AWESOME. Loved it.

Saturday - Bike Marker Set
Met Yi down and Canada Road to do our 15 mile marker set. It was COLD. So cold. There was frost. Ugh. I didn't improve on my time at all but was stoked about my average per mile speed of 16.6. I usually consider myself a 12-14 mph person so this was good news. Then Yi and I did a little 20 minute run.

Sunday - Swim (2600 yards)
I needed to really get down to business and get some yardage in. I set out to do the 2000 yard workout but don't forget! My pool has lanes of 100 feet aka 33.3 yards. So my 2000 yard workout ended up being 2600. Kick ass! I wanted to run after that but preferred my couch. I went over to Holly's later, for a slumber party, to eat pizza and watch Rock of Love 2 in Oakland. I had a 10:15am follow up appointment at Chirokinetics and her place is half way.

Ok this blog is boring. I promise. Pictures next week!

Week 15: Back On It!

2008-01-13T18:00:00.000-08:00

This week I dove back into working out, even tho towards the end of the week I was just so tired so skipped a few workouts.

Monday - Rest Day

Tuesday - Run
The calendar says an 80 minute run. Uhhhh. Ok. Yi and I planned to meet at Kezar and bust it out rain or shine. I wore my old sneakers just in case it did rain and that was a mistake. I started having ankle pain about 20 minutes in and had to suffer through it for the next hour. heh. Hard core! I also did NOT wear my CWX muscle supporting tights and could really feel it in my hamstrings. Overall, it was a pretty good run and both Yi and I felt great about our stats. I went home, chowed some food and passed out.

Wednesday - Track
This morning I had such a hard time waking up and felt like I had a workout hangover! I was so foggy and sick feeling for most of the day and emailed Yi that I wouldn't be making track. She emailed me back saying that she felt like shit too but we had to go as we had to get our bodies used to training when feeling like shit. Ha! Honestly, if it weren't for Yi I wouldn't do half the stuff. She is my motivator. Made it to track where we did some speed work. That was kind of interesting. 4 sets of running 1 mile at level 5, walking half the track and then running at level 7, then walking half the track again. So it was running kinda fast, not running, running really fast, not running and then doing it all over again four times. We felt good about this run too. Came home and crashed.

Thursday - Swim
Nope didn't swim. I was just so tired and had the hardest time getting out of bed.

Friday - Swim or Spin
Nope, didn't do either of these. I think when it's gray and gross out I have a harder time getting out of bed. Plus, my new heated mattress pad makes bed MORE awesome.

Saturday - Bike
Didn't want to drive all the way to the East Bay for a ride so I joined Yi at M2 for a spin class. Kicked my ass, even tho I felt like I was a lot stronger then when I was in his class last year. Ran erands, came home and was watching a movie and ended up passing out on my couch around 6pm never to wake up again. Ha! Not really but slept later than I wanted to and missed a friends' birthday bar celebration. :(

Sunday - Run and Swim
Opted out of swimming in Aquatic Park. I just don't want to do it. The water temp is 50 degrees people. Plus, I needed to do my swim marker set so I planned on joining the team for the run and then I would drive over to my pool afterwards. The run was supposed to be an hour but about 30 minutes in I felt like I had pulled my groin muscle! Maybe it's just my psoas but I didn't want to chance it. I snuck out to go to the pool and realized that I left my goggles at home and headed there. When I got to my street it was blocked off by cops! They even had the crime scene tape out! I drove around the block to see if I could get to my house from the other end but when I got there the other end was closed off too! Right there at the intersection was a minivan smashed into a parked car. It was just horrible. I found a parking spot on a side street so I could walk to my house. A cop had to escort me to my home because, guess what, it was a CRIME SCENE. And then it soon became evident that about every 3rd car on both sides of the street were wrecked. Apparently there was a high speed police chase and the guy they were chasing just rammed every car it could down my street! Whoa! Cars were just totaled, or side swiped, windows were blown out, glass was everywhere and huge pieces of metal were stuck up in trees! WHAT THE HELL!?!

Anyways, I grabbed my goggles and went to the pool. Swam 45 minutes including my 30 minute marker set. Came home and wanted to eat everything in sight.

Week 13

2008-01-06T16:09:00.000-08:00

Back in town and planning on getting back on the workout wagon. But first it's New Years Eve!

Monday - NYE
Towed my car to the Honda service center. Turned out to only be the battery. For some reason my battery, that is maybe 2 years old, decided to not hold a charge. Even tho it was a pain, it was a lot cheaper than a fuel injector/timing belt/starter.

Holly came over at 3pm. We started drinking at 4pm and were passed out by 9pm, after a spontaneous dance party to REO Speedwagon in my kitchen. Happy new year! Huzzah.

5pm

7pm

9pm, heh.

Tuesday - Hungover
Vegged out all day and recovered.

Wednesday - Run
Our spin/run workout at Kezar got canceled, but Yi and I still went over there and ran around for 40 minutes. This was my first run since the sprint tri on December 9th and I had instructions from my Chiropractor to take note of how my back was feeling during and after the run. I felt great and Yi and I managed to run the second half of our 40 minutes faster than the first. I also tried out my new CWX tights. They have these panels sewn in them to support your muscles and the claim is that you will have less pain the next day. I think they worked ok.

New tights

Thursday - Spin
I did a light 30 minute spin since, technically, this is a recovery week and I haven't done much lately. I felt pretty good. My back was doing good from the night before. Managed to do some core after spinning.

Friday
I was gonna swim but, nah. Got off from work early because of rain. That seems kinda silly to me, being from the east coast and all.

Saturday - Run and Swim
Deb picked me up and we drove out to Pleasanton to do our run and swim workout with the team. We ran a total of 45 minutes with drills and then hit the pool for an hour workout. The lanes were set to long course (50m). I haven't swum a long course in about 7 or 8 months and during my warm up laps I was dying. My arms were burning and I thought that there was no way I would be able to do this workout. But, as usual, the pain melted away and I got down to just swimming. At one point the coach had us count our number of strokes for one length and i counted 45. When I got to the end coach Alex told me that was a pretty good number since it means I am being efficient. I was pretty surprised that others in my lane had managed about 56-64 strokes, since I just started swimming less than 2 years ago. I felt pretty good after the workouts and came home and took a little snooze.

Sunday - Bike
Not wanting to chance biking in the rain, I stayed home and spun in my kitchen for 60 minutes and then did some core work. Went to Sports Basement to try on wetsuits but they didn't have the one I wanted. Came home, vegged out.

Week 11 & 12: Am I Gone?

2007-12-30T11:28:00.000-08:00

Week 11
I spent most of this week thinking I was getting better from being sick with the flu but my body had some other ideas. I had a relapse and it all just went downhill. I didn't do much this week except pack for my trip, get some last minute Christmas gifts and then wallow in uncertainty about my life.

Saturday
I hopped a plane to Buffalo, NY. You probably think it is the snow capital of the U.S. and that it is super cold. Well, you're right, but it really isn't that bad. Still, living in 50 degree balmy Bay Area weather doesn't prepare you for bone chilling 30 degree cold and a light dusting of snow aka 5 inches.

waiting in Charlotte for my connecting flight

Sunday
Went to my Uncle Lars house to see my dad's side of the family. My uncle Bar and his wife Char were there with my cousin Emily. My cousin Jeff, who I keep forgetting is not 12 anymore and is now a metal head with his own band and tattoos, and his girl were there plus my aunt Debbie, Charlie and then later my cousin Ami and her son Ibrahima. We ate some yummy food but I wasn't feeling really well. We had some fun tho. At one point my aunt Char asked Bar to hand out his gifts to everyone. He replied, oh this is just alcohol...alcohol isn't a gift. To which I immediately interjected, "it's not a gift, it's a lifestyle." He got a kick out of that. To get around me not being able to bring more than 3 ounces of liquid on the plane he gave me about 6 nip bottles of vodka and one lone tequila. hahahah. Those Aronson's are so funny.

Uncle Bar

Week 12

Monday - Rest Day
Still sick and in Buffalo with a mom who won't turn the heat up over 62 degrees. Who does that? Every time I walk by the the thermometer I punch it up a few notches. My mom tells me to put on more clothes...dude, I am wearing my down jacket. Since, it's Christmas Eve we go over to my Grandma's house for presents and my Aunt and my cousin and her family join us. It was kind of a low key Christmas Eve, compared to previous years. Not all the family came and dinner wasn't fancy...just a roasted ham that we made sandwiches from. Still good.

Tuesday - Christmas Day
Traditionally my immediate family open gifts on Christmas Day and my mom hosts dinner. Christmas morning my mom and I had our little celebration and opened our stuff. Then the cooking began. The last 3-4 years or so I assigned myself the cooking of the Christmas Dinner...mostly so I can keep myself busy and have something to do. This year I made mussels steamed in white wine, leeks and fennel for an appetizer, a pork loin marinated in butter, garlic, rosemary and prosciutto. It gets rubbed all over the top of the roast and then roasted in a pan with whole endives in Vin Santo (a sweat Italian wine). Then I made garlic mashed potatoes, minted peas, a salad and pumpkin pie. The pork was ridiculously delicious. It was the first time I ever made it and I will definitely make it again. Then we sat around and watched TV and I successfully prevented viewing "A Christmas Story," "It's a Wonderful Life," and "Miracle on 42nd Street" for the 50th time.

yummy mussels!

hez and the g-rents

hez and grandma

Wednesday - Swim
I decided I felt better and needed to get moving. I drove my mom to work and blindly drove to the Tonawanda Aquatic Center. Oh, I had my Google Maps but I didn't grow up driving in this area so I have no spatial relationship with it. Anyways, found the pool after some tries. Swam for 35 minutes aka 1200 yards. It felt good to blow it out after having been sedentary for about 2 weeks. Went over to my Grandma's. We had to run to the supermarket to get some ingredients for the famous spaghetti sauce. For some reason my German Grandma makes the best Italian spaghetti sauce that she learned from her Polish mother-in-law. Yeah, I don't get it either. Every one in my family makes it but it's never as good as the master and now it was my time to learn.

on the way to Tiff's house

Tiff frosts a wedding cake

After the market I ran to my cousin, Tiff's (she lives across the street from Grandma) to spend some time with her while she made some cakes. Tiff is a wedding cake maker and she had an order due later that week. We talked and stuff and then I had to go and get my mom at work. We went out for Thai food. Yum! And then went to see Walk Hard. Very funny.

Thursday - Swim again
I don't feel quite well enough to handle a spin class so I went to the pool again and swam for 50 minutes aka 2,000 yards. I was trying not to push it but, whatever. Ran some errands and then headed over to the G-Rents house for Sauce 101. I can't say it enough, the recipe is so simple, yet the sauce so amazing. In the past, when I came to visit Grandma would just make a giant pot and send me home with about 6 Tupperware containers. Now because of the liquid regulations on planes I can't do that any more, then my Grandma had a mini stroke over the summer so I figured it was time to learn it myself. Let's discuss the amazing-ness: the sauce contains pork, Italian sausage, beef and meatballs. It cooks all day and then voila, it is amazing. We spent the afternoon cooking. Then my Aunt Bootsie (not her given name) came by and we ran some errands. Then I had to go and pick up my mom for a night out with her work people. Oh boy.

grandma chops celery

my job to pummel tomatoes

Now, some of you may be surprised to learn that I am shy or socially awkward when I don't know anyone. Then you add in people not engaging me in conversation and I totally shut down and become paralyzed. This is what happened tonight. I usually just get wasted and everything works out, but I wasn't really wanting to drink since I was still kind of sick. But luckily, standing next to me were 4 guys and they soon rescued me. I spent most of the night talking to these pretty cute, townies. Granted, I think they were all married, but whatever. I AM still attractive to men! I forget about that living in SF since no guys ever talk or look at me...ever.

Was able to coax my mom out of there by 8pm. Yay!

Friday
Was gonna spin but hullo. I pulled a muscle in my butt while swimming and felt that if I pushed it, I might cause more damage since I think it was actually my IT band. Instead, went to Bingo in Canada with my mom and Grandma. I LOVE bingo. It's so kick ass. We didn't win though. Afterwards we picked up fish fries for dinner aka fish n' chips. Pigged out with my G-Rents, mom and uncle and then went home.

Saturday
Last day in Western New York! Sadness. Went to my Aunt's house so she could dye my hair. She used to be a hairdresser so has all the stuff, including the salon set up in her house. Whoa! Went to get a classic Western New York staple for lunch, Beef on Weck aka roast beef sandwich on a kimmelweck roll. And went back to my mom's to get ready to leave.

Can someone tell me why it's only 5 hours to fly to SF from Boston, but over 6 hours to fly from Newark to SF? That was a really long flight. The first movie was the Santa Clause and I felt like slitting my wrists. C'mon people, put on a real movie. Luckily the second movie was Stardust and that kept me entertained for a long time. I also had the bulkhead seat which was awesome. They also FED us on the plane and we didn't even have to pay for it. Hi mini cheese pizza! The woman next to me was freaking out the whole flight about 3 women behind us who just kept talking the whole time at loud drunk volumes when, technically, it was about midnight to the rest of us. She was doing a lot of sighing and loud talking herself about how rude they were. I wasn't really bothered by them since I had my iPod and I also have a great gift for tuning people out. But this poor woman was one of those who would complain the whole way but not ever say anything. Finally, after I got something out of my overhead I just politely asked the girls to be quieter since we were all trying to sleep. They were like, OMG we didn't even realize and totally accommodated us. The woman next to me thanked me and said that I handled it better than she would've. Then I guess since she felt empowered by my action she yelled out in the direction of the girl behind her, "AND PLEASE STOP KICKING MY SEAT! THE WHOLE 6 HOURS I GOTTA FEEL YOU KICKING MY SEAT!!!" Hahaha, I felt embarrassed, since the woman's rudeness almost negated my nice-asking. But then I turned my iPod back on and felt better.

Sunday
Woke up early in SF to shop for my NYE celebration and my car was dead. Hello? Fuel injector busted? Happy New Year. Ugh.

Yes that does say the Am-I-Gone funeral home. How amazing is that?
(it's really pronounced "ah-mee-gun")

Week 10: Was I supposed to be training?

2007-12-17T13:19:00.000-08:00

After bragging to nearly everyone how I haven't been sick in almost a year, attributing it to my "magic filtered water" and daily spinach and orange juice smoothies, my aches and pains from my sprint triathlon in near freezing conditions turned into the flu! Go figure. I didn't do anything this week and even had to stay home for three days....suffering.

Monday - Rest Day
Thank God. Made it to work but ended up going home on the early side as I realized that the dull headache and exhaustion I had been fighting the week before were actually precursors to a virus.

Tuesday - Sick
Texted into work sick. Love that about my job. No on the phone guilt feelings and having to cough on cue. Made it to the store to stock up on my comfort foods that I like when sick: Lipton Noodle Soup, Instant Mashed Potatoes, Frosted Mini Wheats, Ginger ale and any kind of citrus Popsicles. Worked about halfway through my 87% TiVo queue. Had to cancel dinner plans.

Wednesday - Sick
Stayed home sick again. More TV watching. For the most part just dealing with aches and pains and a headache and feeling just "wrong" on the inside. No congestion. Thank God.

Thursday - Sick
Planned on going to work as I had a dentist appointment at 9:30am. Texted my boss that I'd be in after even tho still not feeling great. She told me to stay home. Even tho I have a wash machine in my kitchen, I decided to take my giant pile of sheets to the laundromat to get it done in an hour. Came home and was just exhausted. Too much too soon. More TV. Iced back. Started to feel a tiny bit of congestion so before bed pounded a Mucinex and a decongestant. Passed out in 20 minutes.

Friday - Sick - Performing in Mortified
That decongestant only knocked me out for 6 hours and I woke up at 3am wide awake and the weight of my world on my shoulders. Played two rounds of Scrabble on my handheld, counted backwards from 100 about 50 times. FINALLY fell asleep only to have my alarm go off in what seemed like 15 minutes. Dragged myself out of bed to go to the chiropractor. Went into work. Was doing ok until I realized that I hadn't eaten lunch and was fading fast. Ate but didn't work. Went home at 3pm. Tried to take a nap before my show. Didn't work. Got up and dressed and went to meet Conor and Brian at the LAC. Drank about 50 beers (whoops) and stayed up way too late for someone who is sick. Lost my voice.

Saturday - Sick - Performing in Mortified
Woke up at 7am in a panic because I didn't remember carrying my notebooks, containing my performance notes, home. Stood up and realized that I was really, really sick. And when I say sick I don't mean with a virus. Ugh. Got back in bed and prayed to fall back asleep. Slept until noon. Felt ok. Layed around all day. Got ready for my show. Such low energy. Still losing my voice. Managed to make it through the show, came home, watched Constantine (awesome) and went to bed.

Sunday - Sicker
Woke up at 7am and went straight to Safeway to food shop. So less crowded at that time. Ian picked me up and we went to see I Am Legend. It was good but I spent about half the movie covering my face with my scarf. Went over to the Richmond for Dim Sum. Did some holiday shopping. Came home and read a cookbook. Planned Christmas dinner. Watched a movie. Feeling really, really bad. Congested and gross but had to watch the Survivor finale. Went to bed.

Looking ahead: Still refraining from working out this week until I am 100%. Leaving soon for the holidays and have lots of workout places lined up to get back on track. Begged my mom not to make Bullseye's this year. She probably won't listen.

Week 9: Recovery Week

2007-12-09T20:15:00.000-08:00

This week I am (kind of) embarrassed to admit that I didn't do anything. If you remember, in September I was riding my bike home and was "doored" by a parked truck. The driver opened his door about 6 feet in front of me. I hit with my right side, flew off my bike and landed in the street on my left side. My 33 year old steel bike was destroyed but I was relatively ok. That is, until now. I've had a slow recovery with physical therapy and the chiropractor but for the last 2 weeks my lower back has been acting up. Something I have never experienced before and found it quite challenging. I also walked to and from work every day this week as I didn't win parking in the lottery this month...and it rained pretty much every day.

Monday - Rest Day
Thank god. Went shopping for a holiday party outfit with Elektra. No luck. Went to Suppenkueche for dinner. Yum.

Tuesday
My pool is still closed so planned on spinning in the morning but felt more like sleeping in. Then at night felt more like just vegging out and watching TV. My Boyfriend (TiVo) is lonely. Saw my chiro in the morning and he cracked it out, massaged and put me on "stim" (skeletomuscular electrostimuloation....it feels good, I swear). Felt great.

Wednesday
Track day but had dinner plans that night. Half-heartedly tried to persuade Yi to run in the in morning instead. Didn't work. I decided to do my stretch video and some core in the morning instead. I spent the rest of the day regretting that decision as my back killed me the entire day. It was so bad at one point that I felt like I was going to throw up. Called my chiropractor and left a message on his voicemail through tears. Left early and cried most of the 45 minute walk home. By the end of it I felt ok, less pain. Iced my back before I went out (old lady) and felt good the rest of the night. I am sure the three beers helped too.

Thursday
Saw my chiro in the morning and he told me that, eventually, I am going to be fine. That even though stretching is good for my back, it's not a good idea first thing out of bed and my pain the day before was basically my back giving me a big F.U. I was relieved that this should be a temporary problem. The discomfort is just horrible. I feel like I have no core muscles and because of that my back doesn't have support and is falling into my pelvis. Heh. That is not true of course but I've been sucking my gut in a lot. Felt good the rest of the day. Skipped a potentially fun holiday party to go home and ice my back and veg out to TV.

Friday
Back feels good. Finally got out my second fundraising reminder and am happy to report that I made my first fundraising deadline of $1,000 by December 14. The next deadline is March and it's $3,000. Working on planning a fundraising party for February. Tonight was my work holiday party at Asia SF. The Fabulous Jojo accompanied me. Was worried about managing a late night and open bar with an early Saturday morning Iron University (we learn about some Ironman things). I didn't really drink (and when I say I didn't really drink I mean I had three), danced a lot and before I knew it was 1am. Oops.

Saturday
Back feels like crap after all that dancing. Got up and made it to Sports Basement by 8:30am. Then sat for 4 hours in a metal chair in the freezing back room at the store while we learned about stuff. After "university" we had lunch. Mel sat down next to me and was telling me about how "no offence" but she is really concerned about her weight and all this eating/training. To which I looked down at my bag of Baked Lays and immediately felt guilty and silently put them down. Then I obsessed for the next 40 minutes about what she meant by "no offence." Bought two new ice packs on the way out. Came home, cleaned and was in my pajamas by 4pm and asleep by 9pm.

Sunday - Sprint Triathlon in Cupertino
Yeah, did I mention I didn't do any training this week? Also, my chiro insisted I "take it easy" on this race and not do it for time....which of course means nothing to me. Woke up at 5am and was out the door by 6:20 and on my way to the Stevens Creek Reservoir. It wasn't too cold in the city but in Cupertino it was a freezing 44 degrees...or maybe colder.

on the road

in Cupertino and freezing

Swim- 600 yards aka 1/4 of a mile
We had our wetsuits on and were headed down to the water by 8am. With the windchill, it was pretty cold, though the sun was out. Just standing around and waiting to go in the water was horrible. My toes were pretty much frozen in about 15 minutes. The coaches had us start in waves. I was assigned to the 3rd one but snuck into the 2nd one just to get it over with. Got in the water, floundered around, let water in my suit to warm up, peed (makes it warmer) and then we were starting. The swim was over before I even knew it. Felt pretty good about it even though my new thing is to start panicking during the last leg. It's weird, as soon as I can see the shore/finish line I start to freak out and hyperventilate. Also, my wetsuit is too big now and it's causing some chaffing and fatigue. Got out of the water and was surprised to discover that my face was completely numb...like Novocaine numb. That has never happened to me before. Made it up to transition and got ready for the bike.

Bike - 12 miles
I cannot express how cold this bike ride was. I swim with my tri shorts and sports bra under my wetsuit so my base layer is already wet...and my hair...and it's 44 degrees out. I saw frost, people. Got dressed and cried out when trying to get my socks on completely frozen feet. Yi got out of the water shortly after me so we were able to take off on the bike together. My toes alternated between feeling like bricks of ice to then thawing a bit on the climbs and aching with pain. I suffered this for about 50 minutes and then we were done.

heading off on the bike

Run- 3 miles
Yi and I got our stuff on for the run. In this picture below it's probably about 50 degrees out now but my shorts and sports bra and hair are still wet. The first 1/4 of mile was a steep downhill and given that neither Yi nor I could feel our ankles, feet and toes we decided to walk it. Then we kind of shuffled along and realized we needed to walk still. We walked about a half mile until the feeling came back and it wasn't quite so painful to run. We did pretty good. It was a quick out and back and we picked up on our speed quite a bit after the turn around.

out on the run

All in all, a very cold and tiring day. But rewarding. Yi and I came in at 1:48 which probably breaks down like 10-12 minutes for the swim, 50 minutes on the bike and 40 minutes on the run plus transition time. Came home and slept about 3-4 hours. Yay!

Week 8: Sunday is the New Friday

2007-12-03T13:30:00.000-08:00

After a less than productive Thanksgiving week, I decided I needed to "crack down" on all the lollygagging and get to business! Get back on the horse! Ride the lightening! Stop the insanity! Errr...

Monday - Rest Day

Yay! Kevin DeBrow dead? Sadness.

Tuesday - Run

I actually ran. Whoa! It was supposed to be an LSD aka Long Slow Distance run but I was all, 70 minutes!?! So I just ran my little 30 minute route and let me tell you, that was enough. Tonight is the only night I have to lay around and be lazy and catch up with my Boyfriend aka TiVo.

Wednesday - Track aka Spin/Run Workout

Dragging run gear AND spinning gear (bike, trainer, shoes) to Kezar is not my idea of fun. It was hard! That trainer has to weigh about 50lbs and I have the bruises to prove it. Anyways, the workout commenced and we spun for about 20 minutes then ran for 10, then spun for 15 minutes then ran for 10 then spun for 10 minutes and then ran for 10. Yi and I ran pretty effin' fast. We were thoroughly impressed with ourselves. Then we had to lug all our crap back to our cars. Not fun. Came home and made Huevos Rancheros (!) Yum. And spent time with my Boyfriend (TiVo).

Thursday - Swim

My pool is still closed for repairs so Yi invited me to swim at her gym which is the very swank Bay Club. I believe a membership there costs about as much as my monthly rent. Getting there at 5:45am required me taking the Broadway Tunnel which is something I had never done before! FYI, Broadway is the only street NOT labeled on Van Ness. When I realized I had passed it I turned around and in that space of time Broadway became closed off with Police and Firetrucks. Shit! How in the hell am I gonna get over to Pier 23 now?!? Turns out I have an excellent sense of direction and mental capability at 5:30am and managed to detour myself and get back to the tunnel and the Bay Club. Unfortunately, Broadway was closed because of a fire at an Indian Restaurant and two people died. Back at the pool, Yi tried to get me to do the Level Three workout and I was all, nice try. I'll stick with the Level Two option and swim my 1700 yards aka 54 laps...or something. I was done with the workout at 7am (!) and went back home to cram some food in my face before I went to work. Went to dinner at Holly's house in Oakland and missed her exit AGAIN. That East Bay. It messes me up. This time Whitney Houston made me do it..."HOW WILL I KNOW IF HE REALLY LUHHH....SHIT!" **Grand Ave exit flying by**

Friday - My Second Rest Day

I've decided that Friday is the new Monday when it comes to training. It's gonna be my official unofficial rest day. I just really don't want to get out of bed on Friday mornings to do anything. Went to dinner with a friend in Palo Alto at my favorite Thai restaurant, Thaiphoon. Pad See Eew? Best ever. Was exhausted went home to catch up with my Boyfriend (TiVo) but fell asleep on the couch instead. But not before I discovered that Raphe, our web captain, excerpted my Team Darkness post on ironteam.net. Hello? Horrified.

Saturday - Bike

Yi and I decided that driving about 40 miles to only do 2 hours of bike riding was redonkulous so we opted for doing Paradise Loop from Sports Basement. It was a beautiful, beautiful day even though it was kinda chilly. Long bike pants AND the Ironteam jacket. Whoa! We looked pretty spiffy, we did. Having only two hours to ride and doing Paradise Loop means that we only went to the end of the bike path. Heh. Ooops. Turned around and then stopped before the big hill out of Sausalito. We sat in the sun on some benches and marveled at the view while we talked about boys. We both agreed that boys are stupid. Got back on the bikes and started the climb. I was stoked to see that I still have my climbing legs from the summer. Having not done a serious ride since the beginning of September was beginning to worry me, but clearly I am a superstar. Somewhere up that hill we realized we came back faster than we went out so Yi suggested to do the Marin Headlands to get all 120 minutes in. Through gritted teeth I agreed to this even tho, hi? Marin Headlands? That is a giant hill. Sigh. But up we went. Yi shouts: "Let's just climb for 30 minutes and then turn around where ever we are!" I shouted back, "OK!" But what I was really saying in my head was FUUUUUUUUUUCKKKK! But, up we went and believe it or not, in 13 minutes we were at the top. Hi? Studs. Rode back to Sports Basement via the Golden Gate and again had the thought "I LOVE living here!" And then shortly after some asshole loser ruined it for me...again! At the store, ran into my summer cycle team who were gathering for an alumni ride. I love the cycle team. I miss those guys *sniff* Went home. Cleaned. Got ready for an evening out that consisted of squishing 5 people in a car, an Einsturzende Neubauten poster, a short film staring the fabulous Derek, successfully spotting my first F to M "guy," visiting the excellent Hotel Biron and getting home by 10pm. Whoop!

The Fabulous D, Jojo and Hez

Sunday - Swim/Run

Woke up early to get down to Aquatic Park by 7:30am. DREADING swimming in the Bay because it is mother fucking cold. The workout turned out to be not so bad. Suited up in the wetsuit and made my way to the beach. Got in, freaked out as the cold water tried to shut down my organs, swam out to a buoy, swam back, got on the beach, did 10 push-ups and 10 sit-ups, ran down the beach and did the thing all over again about 5 times. Then we got ready for our run. You know, when it's 58 degrees out and you've just come out of 52 degree water, and you're half naked in front of people you don't really know and trying to strip off a wet bathing suit and get on dry running gear...while tourists watch...you know? it's not really that fun. Ran for 25 minutes out along Crissy Field, on the way back did pick-ups every 5 minutes. Yi and I made it back faster than on the way out. Home by 10am. Yay!

The Team Suits Up

Plank in Wetsuits

Met Betsy at Kabuki Springs. Wow. That was awesome. I needed that. Went from shower to sauna to cold pool to steam room to cold pool to hot pool to sauna to cold pool to steam room to cold pool to hot pool to lounge chair to sauna to cold pool to shower. Two hours later I felt great! Came home, convinced Holly to go out and went down to the Argus for DJ Cadillacs' holiday party. "I'm only going to have one maybe two beers" are kind of, like, my famous last words. My "one maybe two" turned into 5 and Holly's "one beer and I am going home" turned into 3 beers, a martini and two bourbons and her not making it home. Uhhhh. Sunday is the new Friday! Conor and Brian joined us and the evening was very fun. I *heart* the Argus.

Check out the Team Darkness post for some new photos!

Week 7: Not Really a Training Filled Week

2007-11-26T12:56:00.000-08:00

For the holiday I zipped off to Boston to spend it with my dad and his new wife's family. Got in minimal training and maximum drinking. Not really, it just sounded good. I brought swim and run stuff and managed to only use the swim stuff once.

Monday - Rest Day
Thank god.

Tuesday - Spin

The pool is officially closed in my neighborhood so I woke up and did some spinning. I think the novelty is wearing off since about 5 minutes in I am kinda like, ugh, 55 more minutes of this. But then good music comes on and before I know it I'm done.

Wednesday - Track

Left for Boston. Flight was not so early but early enough that I couldn't get a run in. The airport was surprisingly calm. I dropped my bag at the curb and headed for security (I checked in on line the night before). At the gate I ran into Manlio. I don't see that kid enough. Another Bostonian. I lucked out with the Economy Plus section which was awesome. As soon as I got on the plane I passed out for about 3 hours. Planes do that to me. It must be the drone of the engine or the air or something. I did hear that when I was a baby and couldn't sleep my mom would drive me around in the car. Maybe that's it. Got into Boston around 5pm, got to my dad's ate and passed out.

Thursday - Thanksgiving

Determined to stay on my "diet" and not over eat the entire day or drink too much. Started out with cereal, then carrots then I was pretty god damned hungry and scarfed about 3 deviled eggs when they showed up. Then some chips and spinach and artichoke dip...which turned out to be not so good so ditched that. Then dinner. My Dad started a new thing of grilling the turkey. It was pretty kick ass. Another turkey was also roasted in the oven. The guests were all of my dad's wife's family. I met them at the wedding. Not an entirely comfortable situation. If you can imagine everyone knowing everyone else and being the one person who no one knows and trying to act, um, like it's not a big deal. heh. Quote of the day, in regards to the hot tub my dad installed this summer, as said by David, the husband of one of the wife's sisters, who is a tried and true New Englander AND a cop: "Aww, Pam, lookit that hot tub...I can just imagine sittin' out theyah in a blizzahd drinkin' a bottel-ah wine...tha' be friggin' awwwsome!" It doesn't get any better than that, people.

Dad with grilled turkey

Friday - Swim
Dad drove me to the YMCA in Worcester (or if you're from the area Wuh-stah). I swam for about an hour in the four lane pool where there was only one other person. It was nice. Then my dad picked me up and went back to the house to do some attic cleaning (while my dad went to play in a disc golf tournament...uh, really) and to get ready to go into Boston. That attic is a friggin' goldmine people. I look at the boxes and boxes of stuff my mom saved from my childhood and am simultaneously pissed and stoked. Pissed that she saved EVERYTHING and now I am forced to go through it to get it cleared out of my dad's house and stoked because...I am so selling that complete Barbie Swing Set that is in it's original box on eBay. Cha-ching! Although, there is a lot of stuff to sort through. I would really like to know what my mom was thinking when she decided to pack up and save my entire lip gloss collection. What also makes the sorting through of one's life complicated is that it seems I was a pretty, um, paranoid child. Maybe paranoid is too strong. Let's just say that I probably didn't trust anyone since, as I go through the stuff, I start to remember my old habits. That seemingly plain, innocuous miniature basket is more than just that. Inside it is a smaller basket, inside that a smaller box, inside that a packet and when the packet is opened there is money. I did this with everything. That is why it's so difficult to go through this stuff. I can't just say, oh this old music box and toss it because, as I discovered last year, inside a secret compartment was a stash of about 20 silver dollars. Oh that silly little Hez. What a weird little girl.

Caught the train into Boston and Karen picked me up. She drove me straight to this woman's house to look at a 1974 Raleigh that I found on Craigslist. It was perfect and beautiful and in much better condition than mine was. I was so grateful that this woman held it for me for a month. Bought that suckah. Went back to Karen's and ordered Thai food and had an evening of playing Canasta. Back in the day, Karen and I were like an old lady couple. Wednesdays we played Canasta, Thursdays we went to Bingo, Saturdays we went to Joe's Bar and Sundays we went to brunch at Johnny D's...every week. Then for one week each summer we vacationed on Martha's Vineyard. Yes, people thought we were gay. That is probably why neither of us ever had a boyfriend. In fact it was realized, quite unexpectedly, after one of Karen's co-workers approached us at lunch one day (I used to walk over to her office and have lunch with her) when he asked, "are you guys dating?" We were all, bwaahahahaha! Then he walked away and we just looked at each other like, SHIT.

Hez and Ren

Saturday - Brunch
Our old pal Laura, who was also part of the brunch club, met us at Johnny D's and it was like I had never moved. Oh Boston. Sometimes I miss you and sometimes I think...never again. I spent the rest of the afternoon with Laura and then Karen drove me back to my dad's with my new bike. I walked right into the beginning of dinner with my dad, Pam (the wife) and their neighbors. In about an hour everyone was wasted on Bourbon and wine. I managed to avoid that combo. My dad was really stoked about my new bike. At one point I thought I would join him outside to help with the grilling and I caught him in the act of taking my bike off the porch. I was like, are you going to take it for a ride!?!?! He sheepishly grinned and said, I was gonna! Busted. I let him do it anyway and he came back just raving about how it handled. He'll be shipping it out to me this week. After dinner and some ridiculous cheesecake and eclairs I decided to get in bed and read while the adults goofily undressed and made their way to the hot tub. I was staying out of that situation.

Reunited

Dad with Bike

Sunday - Home
Spent the morning boxing up some stuff from the attic that I absolutely needed shipped to me pronto. Including all of my metal LPs. Yeah! Seems like I need to get a turntable...and a stereo...oh and speakers. Hmmm. My dad drove me to the airport and again I sailed right in. There was no line at security. Ran into Manlio again and chatted. Was dismayed to see I was in a row with a mom and her sick 3 year old. Turned out to be not an issue because I had the outside seat. Flight was really long. Glad to be home with the kitties. Photos here

Week 6: Team Darkness Wins!

2007-11-19T10:32:00.000-08:00

This past week was particularly emotionally gruelling for me and required doing a lot of "inner" working out. Oh, things like: revisiting positive behavior, quieting the negative tape that constantly runs in my head, gratitude journaling, meditating, praying, self-care and KICKING ASS IN A TEAM COMPETITION! Whooo!

Monday - Rest Day
Called in sick because I just could not deal with people. Very hard day.

Tuesday - Swim
Did not want to go but forced myself up and made my way to the Garfield Pool. Had very low energy reserves as I didn't eat much of anything the day before. Was supposed to swim 1700 yards, which would've been 2200 yards in my pool. Managed only half of that which in my pool was 1100 yards. I know. Math is hard. I really was going to continue on but about 800 people got into my lane and started acting retarded. Like cutting me off when I was clearly going to start swimming. It seems that the eminent pool closure on the 19th had everybody and their brother wanting to get in some lap time. Just when I was about to loudly exclaim, "east coast style," what a dick this guy was, I decided it was time for me to go. Went to work. Came home and did my core routine. Three sets of everything: plank, side plank, lunges, calf raises, birdmans, donkey kicks, crunches. Totally dying.

Wednesday - Track
I just really hate working out after work so I was excited when Yi suggested to do the track in the morning and then catch a seminar at Sports Basement that night. Got up at 5am and met Yi at Kezar. We ran around for a 15 minute warm up and then did our 30 minute marker set. Throughout training, we'll do a marker set every month to determine our improvement. Last month Yi and I ran 10 laps in 30 minutes. This week we ran 10.25 laps in 30 minutes. Not a huge improvement, but an improvement nonetheless. The big news is we started our laps running one revolution in 3:40 and ended our last revolution in 2:53. Hi? Studs. We shaved off over a minute. Went to work. Went to Sports Basement and sat through a pretty retarded seminar on nutrition, cardio and strength training that really told me nothing. Was comical tho. Learned one thing.

Thursday - Bike
Nothing exciting to report. Was supposed to swim but was too lazy to go to the pool so I rode in my kitchen for an hour with my new knowledge of lower heart rate = fat burning. Rode at a low level 3 the whole time except during an exciting part in a Barkmarket song where I sped up to level 5. Went to work. Went to a tech industry party with Ian and wanted to stab myself in the eye with an ice pick after this overheard conversation:

Guy 1: What's new?
Guy 2: Got a new car (reaches in pocket and pulls out the VW flip key and shows it to Guy 1)
Guy 1: Hmmm (reaches into his pocket and pulls out his own VW flip key and holds it out)
Me: (retching in corner)

Friday - Swim
Yeah, well. One class of red wine diluted with half a cup of ice and getting home at 10pm killed my morning workout. Slept in. Went to work. Went out.

Saturday - Team Run/Swim Workout
Reverse psychology did not work and I ended up drinking too much and staying out too late on Friday. Woke up at 6am and felt ok but as soon as I stood up realized I was probably still drunk. Sent a text to Yi that said : happy hour + friend in town + wedding guy = i'm not working out. Remained in a vegetative state all day. Saw a movie with Ian and ate a mediocre burrito. In pajamas by 4pm. Dreaded the next days workout all night.

Sunday - Team Competition, Ride 'N Tie

DID NOT want to do this. Last week asked John Fry to be my partner and regretted it shortly after. I just wanted to bail so bad and was hoping John would too, since part of the competition included costumes and that so was not happening for either of us. Received an email at 5:30pm on Saturday night from John saying his mountain bike is a go. Shit. We both decided not to wear costumes and accidentally showed up in the same black ensemble which immediately made us Team Darkness.

Team Darkness

Ride 'N Tie is a game for teams of two. The team shares a mountain bike. One person rides while the other runs. Both members start at the same time. The rider rides to a certain point and then drops the bike and starts running. Then the first runner picks the bike up when they get to it and starts to ride, passing the runner and repeating the cycle. It's kind of a leap frog with a bike and running. Luckily I am a good rider and John is an excellent runner. We had to do 4 laps of a 2.25 mile loop. At the end of each lap we had to run together to the top of a hill and engage in 'activities' like throwing a Frisbee into a bucket, doing a 3 legged slalom course, guiding your blindfolded partner through a slalom course, who holds 5 packets of Gu between their legs, answering a quiz etc etc. For each completed activity we get points. If you can imagine, your so physically depleted at the end of each lap that these activities are all but impossible. By the 4th lap John and I had perfected our leap frog strategy and ended up coming in 4th overall with a time of 1:18. However, everyone picks a number from a hat and that number gets added to your overall time so that everyone has a fair shot. THEN all of our points from our completed activities gets deducted from our time (um is anyone reading this? it sounds pretty boring).

At the "Gu in the bucket" challenge

Anyways, so John and I were sitting there with all the teams while the winning places were being announced. The coaches started from the bottom and everyone got a prize. With 4 teams remaining to be called John started uneasily looking around at me like, um, they totally lost our team card because there is no way we are in the top four. When it was down to two teams the coaches asked us to stand up and John and I were like, holy shit. Turns out we won with an adjusted time of 52 minutes (our time minus all our activity points). Yay! Team Darkness kicks ass.

I won an insulated water bottle and a Pete's coffee card. Ok that was a boring story.

Week ahead
Going to visit my dad and his new-ish wife and her family for the holiday. I have mapped out local pools and running routes and possible spin classes.

Recovery Week

2007-11-12T11:21:00.000-08:00

This past week was our recovery week. The cycle runs 3 weeks on and then one week less on. I was having some interesting feelings, both physical and emotional, which kept me away from actually training with people. Ironically though, it was my busiest social week in about 6 months. All in all a pretty crappy and unfocused week.

Monday- Rest
Thank god.

Tuesday - Bike
Set up shop in the kitchen again. Not really into the whole time change thing, meaning that it's light out in the morning when I want to "ride." There is something so satisfying about cranking music and riding your bike in your kitchen at 6:30am in the dark. Rode hard even though I am supposed to be taking it easy. It was all about cadence, this ride, and staying at about 100 revolutions per minute. Hard. Especially when you don't have a cadence meter and you have to count every 15 seconds here and there. And also when you have a knee with an issue that particularly hates it when you spin really fast for 60 minutes.

Wednesday - Bike...
It was really supposed to be run day but I was kinda tired from a rock show the night before and had plans to go to DJ Ted's new indie rock dance party that night which required me missing track. Hi. Free vodka drinks for an hour. Came home from work and in order to keep myself from falling asleep rode my bike for an hour. Took a shower. Picked up Ian and headed down to Harlot where I proceeded to drink 4 free vodka's and soda and dance 2 hours straight. Did someone say recovery?

Thursday - Can't move
Swim day really. Can't remember if the pool I go to is closed now for repairs and decide not to chance it at 6:30am....plus I am really hungover from the night before. I had anticipated this and had set my alarm to 7:45am. While I was laying in bed trying to get up, I realized I had a Chiropractor appointment in 30 minutes. Crap! Feigned sickness when I called to cancel. Stayed in that night and missed the Cycle Team alumni evening. Sorry guys.

Friday - More biking
Had plans to see Redd Kross with Misty and couldn't take being at work any longer. Left early and came home to, you guessed it, ride my bike some more. It's just too easy when it's sitting in your kitchen and all you have to do is get on it. Plus I had about 4 hours to kill before I was going out. More riding. More cadence checking. More sweating my ass off. And interestingly enough, some sobbing. Why am I crying while riding my bike in my kitchen in the dark? Ya got me. (loser!) Went out that night and had a great time at the show. Remembered why I love Redd Kross so much. Went out after and, you guessed it, drank more than I should've. Late night. Fun but late.

Saturday - Iron University
Well, felt pretty guilty about not going to this but after an AIDS Ride, 2 seasons of the tri team and one summer of the cycle team, I felt I had a pretty good grasp on nutrition and bike maintenance. Plus I got in at 3am the night before. Gloriously woke up at 10am. Holly came by and we went and had some coffee at Philz and some pretty excellent pastry. Came home and made chicken soup then lounged around all day.

Sunday - Swim
Didn't want to go to this. Just not feeling really social and in the mood. Woke up at 5am and with some time to kill before having to leave at 7:30am, decided to be productive and do some core exercises. Hopped in the car and drove to Moraga for our workout. Weird morning. Went the wrong way on 580 and had to back track about 10 miles, felt melancholy and homesick for the East. The road to Moraga was very New England-y. Got to the aquatic center and didn't want to "iron mingle" so stayed in my car until I absolutely had to get out or I would've looked rude. Sad to see that no one I am really close with was at the work out. Got a gentle reminder from my mentor that he has access to my fundraising reports and that I have a big ol' ZERO balance right now. Yikes. Swam drills and laps for an hour and a half and tried not to constantly "win" against my lane partner, John. Funny thing, that. Had to beat him every time. Got to the end of the lane and told him I was making a conscious effort NOT to get to the end before him. He replied, "No worries, I don't have an ego so beat me all you want." To which I just blinked at him in the "I don't understand what you are saying" kind of way. Then silently freaked out that well, obviously, *I* have an ego. Shit. Coach Nancy set up lanes with some swimming "accessories" for us to try. Paddles, flippers, braces, snorkles and a weird MP3 player. The "headphones" fit not over your ears but on the side of your face around your jaw/temple area. Sounds like crap out of the water, but in the water? Amazing. I put it on and freaked out. 1) because dude! it's music UNDERWATER! 2) I kept forgetting to take my face out of the water to breath and 3) Not a great song for swimming, hellooo You Take My Breath Away!?! That is something I don't really want to hear while I am underwater. Came home and just really couldn't function. Got in bed and woke up 2 hours later. Got an invite for late afternoon drinks. Laid in bed another hour contemplating my outfit and how to be social. More drinks. Came home and had panic and anxiety attacks all night in between nightmares. Interesting. Woke up exhausted. Called in sick.

The Week Ahead

Getting my fundraising letters out because, helllooo, I have to raise $1000 by December - Donate here
Getting back on track
Refocusing
NO drinking
Remember why I am doing this - cancer sucks and (our motivational quote for the week)

Swim 2.4 MILES; Bike 112 MILES; Run 26.2 MILES – BRAG FOR THE REST OF YOUR LIFE!

Week 3-ish

2007-11-06T17:53:00.000-08:00

This week was kind of a bust for me. Seems that I can't actually go out and have a social life AND train. I fell asleep at 8pm three nights this week. One of those nights was a Saturday. WTF!?!??

Monday - Day Off
Did core: 3 sets of front and side planks held for 30 seconds each (don't try this at home), crunches, boy push ups (4), girl push ups (26), donkey kicks, squats, calf raises, bird dogs.

Tuesday - Swim (yards 1600 - but really more since my pool length is 33 yards...uh just did that math so that means it's really 2100 yards. AWESOME!)
Woke up at the usual 6am and headed for the pool. Pretty uneventful swim. Did some drills and couldn't remember what one of the abbreviations stood for so made something up. Nearly drown on the side kick. During the entire set concentrated on the position of my arms. Not a comfortable way to swim. I really hate swimming. I mean, I love it! Groan.

Wednesday - No Track!
Did some spinning in my kitchen instead. 70 minutes of an exertion effort of level 3 (for me that is about 140 heartbeats per minute) with three 6 minute sets of level 5 (160 beats per minute). H A R D. Started to wear wrist sweat bands to keep my handle bars from becoming soaked. Crank tunes in kitchen and try to sing along. Reoriented bike set up so I am actually looking out my kitchen window into the yard, instead of at a dark living room. SMART.

Went to Yi and Heidi's fundraiser at night. Lasted until 10pm which was a minor miracle. Speaking of fundraising...donate here!

Thursday - Swim
Well, dontcha know. If you are used to going to bed around 9 pm and you end up staying out til 10pm and drinking one beer...you're kind of a mess the next morning. Slept in. Did nothing. Felt guilty.

Friday - Athletes enhancer day (pick the sport you need the most work in)
Um, yeah. Skipped this day too.

Saturday - Team workout.
We had a cornering and descending clinic and then a short 11 mile ride following the Escape From Alcatraz route, followed up by a 30 minute run and an excruciating hour of core and leg drills. My chiropractor summed up this workout pretty well for me when he said, "Sounds like it would be pretty boring for you...almost like you could start your season 3 months after everyone else." Yeah! Dr. Rabbetz I *heart* you!

Went out on Saturday night and drank 52 beers which means...

Sunday - didn't happen.

NEXT WEEK - The Recovery Week awwww yeah!

Oh Yeah...

2007-10-29T16:41:00.000-07:00

...who wants to donate!

I am committed to raising $8,000 for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. I don't know anyone with cancer and I don't ever want to.

Click here to donate before 2007 is up! You want that tax dedcution, right?

Thanks!
h

Week 3

2007-10-29T09:41:00.000-07:00

Monday
Day off. And, for once, I just don't feel like eating. Weird. I kinda have an upset stomach and no appetite for anything. Backlash from a hard drinking weekend? Who knows. Did core at night.

Tuesday
Swim. I got into the medium speed lane this morning because just as I was gonna get into the fast lane some guy jumped in with flippers on. I don't need to compete with a guy with flippers. did some warm ups and then started my set. Then the flipper guy got out of the pool so I slid over to the fast lane and got disoriented and started my swim on the wrong side of the lane. Maybe it's just normal pool standards but why do the end lanes swim in a different direction than the lanes in the middle. I knew I was wrong but decided to finish my length and then fix it. When I came to the end the lifeguard (in my opinion) was meanly yelling at me that I was going in the wrong direction. I told him that I figured it out half way and I was sorry. Then he acted like I was an idiot. Sigh. I hate people. Did core at night. (yards 666 - I was doing a 15 minuted lap marker)

Wednesday
Track. Hate it. Can't stand it. Hate driving over to Kezar. Had to do a 30 minute time maker and it really wasn't that bad. I had Yi to run with and we talked about boys the whole way. Conclusion : in the beginning boys are awesome and somewhere in the middle they start sucking. Went home and wasn't sleepy. Stayed up too late.

Thursday
Bike. Did some spinning for an hour in my kitchen at 6am. One hour of level 3 interspersed with three 6 minute bursts of level 5....painful.

Friday
Friday is the new Monday so I took this day off. Was supposed to go out that night but it was canceled so I got to leisurely lounge around and download music.

Saturday
Bike. Woke up and drove down to the Peninsula to redo my 15 mile time marker. Yi and Susan met me down there. The idea was nice, but I was ahead of them most of the time. Yay for spending the summer on the cycle team! I did 15 miles in 54 minutes. I have no idea if that is good or not but I was really impressed with my average speed of 16.5 mph. That is the fastes I've ever been. Then we all went to Stack's in Burlingame for lunch. The place was ok. Came home and did some baking.

Sunday
Swim. Yi picked me up and we drove 45 miles to a pool for the team work out. Ugh. We did about an hour and 45 minutes of drills and then 45 minutes of core and leg work. Uhhhhuug. Drove home in a stupor and then tried to clean my house. Wasn't happening. I was so hungry the whole day and had to eat almost every 2 hours. Then I got a super bad headache and got my pajamas on at 7pm. Was asleep by 8pm. Woke up at 5am and did my stretching video, cleaned my kitchen, folded laundry and then went to work.

Hez in light blue cap far left

Boring week.

Dude Where's My Life?

2007-10-22T10:05:00.000-07:00

I've had a bit of a hiatus here. After crashing and burning earlier this year during Wildflower, where I failed to complete my first long course race (stupid timing), I spent the summer languidly lounging on the Team in Training Cycle Team. And when I say lounging, I mean riding 50+ miles a day every weekend. I joined as a mentor, took a break from fundraising and helped introduce the wonderful world of cycling to some newbies. Everyone on the team was so fantastic that I decided I never wanted to leave and will, in the near future, become an assistant cycle coach (inshalla). But first! I have to do this Ironman thing.

I remember, somewhere around 1997, I was sitting on my couch one winter in Cambridge, MA smoking my umpteenth Dunhill cigarette, probably drinking a vodka tonic and, I am pretty sure eating some bad food, all while watching Ironman Hawaii (the championships) on TV. And I said out loud, and I remember this clearly, "That would be fun to do one day."

A smoking habit and ten years behind me I am finally taking a stab at it.

On October 6th my first Ironman Team in Training season started. I am lucky enough to have three wonderful woman from previous triathlon seasons joining me, the amazing Deb, Yi and Heidi. I am luckily because I will have automatic friends on the team and also because I genuinely like these women. You may remember that the spring tri team is filled with insufferable high school-like girls. At any rate, kick off was much like I suspect all Ironteam events will be -- long. We sat in the new Sports Basement for 3 hours learning about the team and our future for the next 10 months.

Then it started

Monday: Day off.

Tuesday: Swim (45 minutes including warm up and cool down) Thanks to Mai, I discovered public swimming pools this year. I was really dreading having to schlep all the way over to Koret and pay $15 for less than an hour swim workout. But now! I just drive about 8 blocks to the Garfield Pool in the Mission and pay $4. Can't beat that. (Although, let's check in with my neurosis right now. Prior to actually going to the pool I was freaking out because, well, it's kind of in the 'hood and connected to a park. And really, well, any park in the Mission is scary what with the homeless people and the drug dealers and the drug users. So Monday night, on my way home, I decided to do a drive-by in the day light and a possible "get out of the car and check it out" so I wouldn't have to spazz out at 6am in the dark the next morning. Unsavory characters be damned! I have daylight on my side. Well, then I couldn't find parking so I just went home.) The pool is quite nice. The locker rooms are a little run down. But the pool is nice! Did I mention the hot lifeguard and 7-1 male to female ratio? Half naked men are awesome.

Wednesday: Run. I did my old time route that I used to do with my friend June, which goes up 22nd to Valencia, down Valencia to 14th, down 14th to Folsom, up Folsom to 22nd and then I am home. It took me 30 minutes and was so god damned hard. I have not run since May and it really showed.

Thursday: Swim (1600 yards). The (presumably) Russian lifeguard flirted with me and I felt self-conscious because I was half naked and haven't had a chance to wax yet. Nevermind! I ended up creating a playing card size laminated card for my swim workout and the (other) lesbian lifeguard was pretty impressed.

Friday: I think I skipped Friday because I was way.too.sore to do anything other than lay in bed another hour.

Saturday: Bike Ride. This was going to be my first time on my bike since a guy doored me on my way home from work at the end of September. What? Oh yeah. Some asshole doored me on my way home from work. I went to the hospital and everything and my chiropractor is working me over. Anyways, part of my job on this ride was to check in with myself now and again on my level of anxiety with having to ride near cars. I drove down to the Peninsula at seven in the morning to Canada Road (that word has a little Latin squiggle thing over the "n" but I have no idea how to do that here) and guess what? The Peninsula is foggy and cold at 7am. I was not prepared for that so I froze my ass of until the sun burnt through the fog. I just went out and back for a total of 15 miles and about 3/4 of the way through the ride I was like, oh yeah...I'm supposed to be checking to see if I have issues with riding in traffic. Hmmm, guess my brain was not affected. But my knee was. Great. Oh, I was also supposed to swim before this bike ride but logistically I couldn't figure it out so I just did the ride.

Ohhh, stretching

Sunday: I carpooled with Deb, which was awesome because we haven't really talked much other than the brief poolside chat at the Stanford pool so it was nice to learn more about her. We drove up to IVC in Novato prepared to swim for 80-90 minutes and then run. Turns out they broke up the team into two groups. One group swam while the other learned about core and run drills. I was in the latter. I spent about an hour and half doing core (plank, side plank, crunches, donkey kicks, squats, calf raises aaaaand push ups). Then we spent about another hour doing run drills (skipping, shuffling, forward walking, grapevine, dying). Then we joined the rest of the team and went on a run. Twenty minutes out, twenty minutes back and then some stretching. Then we went home. Yay!

Monday: Day off, yay!

Tuesday: Swim (1100 yards) Nothing to report other than swimming at a perceived exertion rate of a level 5 is hard. What is also hard is trying to master breathing on the left.

Wednesday: Track. I had to skip it since I was slammed at work and couldn't leave in time. I remember during the spring, this would happen to Betsy and she would just arrive at Kezar whenever she could and do her running. Um, yeah. I am not that into running. Went home and assembled my trainer.

Yes, that IS the "New Our Bodies, Ourselves" under the front wheel

Thursday: Bike. Woke up at 6:30am and started spinning in my kitchen. With music. I felt slightly guilty cranking Kid Rock this early in the morning but really, I deal with my loud-talking upstairs neighbor all the time and figured he could use some payback. Bawitdaba! Did about 45 minutes at a horrible, horrible level 5. Sweat my ass off.

Early Morning Spinner

Friday: Swim. Well. I had dinner at Mel's house last night and a bottle of wine and 12:30am later I was in no shape to do anything at 6am. Gloriously stayed in bed until 9am, then got my nails done and went to work late. Friday night came home to try on my suit I planned to wear to Misty's wedding and felt that the pants were inappropriately tight in all the wrong places. Tried on back up dress and looked pregnant. Cried on the couch to bad TV. Felt guilty. Hopped on trainer at 9pm. More Kid Rock. More fist pumping. Did a spin for 57 minutes. Took a shower. Got back on the couch for more bad TV feeling infinitely better about myself.

Saturday: Team Workout - bike and run. Drove to Sports Basement in the Presidio for a 9am start. Got there and did not see anyone I recognized. Panicked. Did I get the right place? The right time? My brain has been so retarded since the accident. Drove down to the GG bridge to waste time and was secretly hoping I DID get the spot wrong so I didn't have to work out. Went back and there was the coach. Set up my stuff. We did a spin for 70 minutes and it was incredibly hard. Then we ran for 20 minutes and it wasn't so bad. I felt pretty good in fact. Then we did some core. Then I went home and vegged on my couch until I had to get ready for the wedding.

Sunday: Team workout - swim. Yeah. Drinking about 80 drinks and going to bed at 4am means not getting up for a workout. Plus, I had a wedding brunch to attend!

2007-06-18T16:12:00.000-07:00

Athletes Only!

After a last minute Sports Basement run to grab some C02 cartridges for my portable bike pump (I was apparently riding around with the wrong cartridges for 1.5 years…good thing I never got a flat!) and a brief demo from Paul on how to work it, thanks Paul! (yeah, I didn’t really know how to work the pump either), I headed off to Lake San Antonio, home of the 25th Annual Wildflower triathlon.

The drive was uneventful with not much traffic. I made it there in 3 hours or so and was amazed to pull into the Team in Training camping area to see it utterly packed. I guess that was why there was no traffic…everyone was there already. I found a parking spot, did a quick walk around for a tent spot, ran back to the car for the tent and then attempted to set it up alone…in the wind*. Not a good idea. Luckily a fellow TnTer was nearby and lent a hand. With the tent set up and my air mattress inflated -- ohhhh yesssss -- I headed down to the sports expo to pick up my race packet. My number was 2395. It felt good to me.

I got back to the campsite and saw Stacy, my tent mate, wandering around. She was happy to see me. We made our tent homey and then headed down to the TnT pasta dinner. I stayed away from all vegetables. I did not need a repeat of what happened to me at The Sentinel, last September, after a dinner that included raw vegetables (what was I thinking?). We had an uplifting presentation and then I headed off to get my gear ready for the race the next day.

I was kind of freaking out since I had so much to do and was really overwhelmed by it all. It directly ties in to what I hate about camping. That everything is all over the place and you have to keep running in between your tent, your car, the bathroom etc. I had made all my bottles of nutrition and fluids at home the morning before, which saved me some time. One thing about me, I tend to freak out about minor things when I have a giant thing on my mind, like a half Ironman. On Friday night I was freaking out about how to get my gear to the transition area. Since we have to ride our bikes down there on race morning, most people use backpacks etc. I don’t have a back pack, but a giant Land’s End tote. (rolling eyes) At least it zips. I practiced wearing it on my back like a backpack and checked its ability to stay on my back. It worked pretty good, however I was curious about how wearing about 20lbs on my back while riding down Lynch Hill (giant steep descent) would work out. I made it.

Transition Area – those are rows and rows of bikes

Saturday morning, in the transition area, I freaked out about whether or not to wear my Camelbak. Before I was able to make a decision, I noticed the woman next to me in the transition area checking her tires for things stuck in them. “Oh,” I thought, “That’s a good idea.” I started to check my tires, something I had never done before, and saw all these little slits all over…then I saw one with a stone jammed into it that was way too deep for me to get out without possibly damaging my tube. Great. So, after I made my decision to not wear a Camelbak, I freaked out about the stone for a while. Then it was time to get my wetsuit on for the swim.

Swimmers waiting to start

Swimmers in the water

Hez coming out of the water and taking advantage of the photo op (first pink cap)

Most races categorize the athletes (Eeee! That’s me!) by age group. I was in the 35-39 group, which was scheduled to leave at 9:20am, the third from the last group**. Only one other teammate, Gina, was in this group with me. I wasn’t really nervous while waiting to swim. Then the gun went off and I got in the water and panicked. I usually do this, but this time it really got to me and I wasn’t doing anything close to real swimming for the first 15 minutes. I did a lot of doggy paddling and finally when I realized that that was just making me more tired, I stopped moving and bobbed there for a minute while I got my breathing under control and then I started swimming. It took me about 55 minutes, which was a little longer than I was shooting for. (At the time, I didn’t realize how difficult the swim conditions were, until the next day while watching the Olympic race and noticed the water was almost as smooth as glass.) I ran out of the water and to the transition area to get ready for the bike. I was, again, pretty calm since the bike is my favorite part.

Hez getting on the bike (in purple)

I headed out into a short, but immediate climb. Behind me I heard my teammate, Mika, call my name. Mika was in the 40+ swim group, so she was obviously kicking ass since she got in the water 5 minutes after me and was then passing me up the hill! She is amazing! Then, just a mere 5 miles into the ride it got very difficult. On our first big descent, at the bottom I saw several police motorcycles and an ambulance on the side of the road tending to two cyclists who had crashed. I was zipping down the hill and just as I got to the ambulance a giant gust of wind blew at me from the right side and my bike almost went out from under me. See, my bike weighs under 20lb…and I do not…so you can imagine how top heavy that is! At this point, I realized that the cyclists who had crashed on the side of the road, did so because of the crosswind. I started to get really nervous because there are a lot of down hills on this course, one being the backside of Nasty Grade, which probably lasts a couple of miles. But, off I went into the 56 mile bike ride. I was pretty tense the whole way anticipating giant gust of wind to blow me off my bike at any time. And the funny thing about this triathlon stuff -- for me, when I’m swimming I say, I can’t wait til I get on my bike. When I’m on the bike I’m like, I can’t wait til I get off. And on the run I’m like, I can’t wait til I get to stop.

So that wind? Well, after the crosswind, it turned into a headwind for about the next 25-30 miles. I cannot express how hard it is to ride under this condition. I was working overtime to try and keep a good speed and a good time being that, because I was in the 3rd to last time wave, I had less time than other competitors to complete the bike ride. The cut off time, for the bike, was 4 hours and 30 minutes after I got out of the water. I did this ride during training weekend in 4 hours and 14 minutes. I knew I would cut it close but, as I got to the 24 mile mark and saw my time, my heart sank. My normal 24 mile time is an hour and 50 minutes. I was already at 2 hours and 20 minutes. 30 minutes longer than usual. I kept pushing and thought I still might be able to make the cut off if I had no flats, didn’t stop at water stops, and the wind stopped. I had to take into account Nasty Grade, which is almost a 4 mile climb and would slow me down, and whether or not the wind conditions on the back side of Nasty Grade allowed me to zip down the hill with no brakes. (During training weekend I clocked 42 mph).

Well, the good news is I kicked ass on Nasty Grade. You may remember last month that I had to get off and walk, but, after much analyzing from IronMo, we agreed it was because I didn’t eat enough in the beginning of the bike ride. Armed with a bottle of “during workout liquid nutrition” totaling about 1,000 calories, water and Thermalytes, I was in good shape to climb. I was stoked to be passing people up the hill and just kept saying to myself that I had to make it to the top without stopping because I needed to tell my teammate Laura, and Nasty Grade companion during training weekend, that I made it. At one point I was going so slow that a fly landed on me. Uh, thanks fly.

Coming down off of the hill was a little scary. There was still a cross wind and even though I noticed that when I braked my bike reacted a lot worse, I rode the brakes all the way down. 42 mph descent in April? 27mph descent in May. Ugh. It was painful in more ways than one as I was so tense on the way down, that when I was done my back in between my shoulder blades was burning. At that point I had about 12 miles to go and only 30 minutes to do it and I still had several more climbs.

I rolled in at 2:50pm, five minutes past the cut off and was not allowed to go on. I was really ok with it though. At a certain point in the ride I knew I wouldn’t make it. I wasn’t the only one either. There were at least 20 or more people behind me. I packed up my stuff and headed back to camp.

The good news is that I totally didn’t have to run a half marathon. The bad news is that I was completely primed and ready to and was bummed that I couldn’t.

Thanks to everyone who supported me by donations and mental stuff. It really means a lot to me that you see the importance of what donating to an organization like the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society means. It means that we’re saving lives and during that process we’re also helping patients live more comfortably during their treatment.

What is next? This summer I’ll be riding with the Team in Training cycle team. I’ll be taking my experience and knowledge with me to help mentor about 8-10 people. I’m taking a break on fundraising and donating my time instead. The team is training for the Marin Metric Century (62 miles) and the Honolulu Century (100 miles). Leading up to both of those rides I’ll be racking up 50 or more miles a week with my training rides, experiencing new cycling routes and meeting new people. Check http://www.hezrocks.blogspot.com/ for updates this summer!

Thanks again!
Heather

*This is foreshadowing.
**That is more foreshadowing.

Training weekend? Hard!

2007-04-02T17:00:00.000-07:00

This season seems to be going so fast.

Training weekend at Lake San Antonio was this past weekend. This year it was sad for me because June wasn't there to experience it/organize me/and be my tentmate. I did, however, have an awesome new tentmate, Stacy. I am so grateful to her for asking me to share a tent and for researching the REI tent rental, insisting on a 6 person tent and suggesting inflatable mattresses. Now THAT is the way to go. That inflatabe mattress eliminated the one thing I hate about camping...sleeping on the ground. heh. Unfortunately, Stacy and I had to travel separately as neither of us has a bike rack. That's ok, I like driving long distances alone and singing at the top of my lungs to all the metal hits.

Stacy

Our mac daddy tent

I got up on Friday, got packed, hit Sports Basement one last time and headed out. I made a quick stop at Target to pick up some camping chairs and almost had a heartattack. When I came out of the store I was all, where is my car? I finally found it and walked to the hatchback and when I looked in it was empty! It took me about 3 seconds too long to figure out that it wasn't my car but the shock of a possibly stolen bike totally freaked me out and my legs were so shaky that I could barely work my clutch! The rest of the ride was uneventful and it was a beautiful day.

The weekend's events were as follows:
Friday - set up tent, get situated, eat dinner with mentor group, team briefing of weekend, partying
Saturday - 40 minute swim, 56 mile bike ride, lounging, team dinner with speakers and entertainment, partying
Sunday - 13.1 mile run, dying shortly thereafter, going home

I was all nervous.

I felt ok about the swimming part. The pros were doing 20 minutes out and back and this would be the first pro workout that I would be participating in all season. What was I thinking? I don’t think I got very far. I just wasn't really feeling it and am getting tired of my wetsuit riding up my back while simultaneously choking me in the front. I was also getting really dizzy as I breathe on my right and the sun was right in my face with every breath and going from sun to water, sun to water made me woozy. I would do some swimming and then would pop up and doggy paddle a bit. One thing I did notice was, when I was doing actual strokes, I was kicking ass. I had an unofficial partner in a purple cap who I was pacing myself against and I was getting way ahead of her and then she would catch up when I was "resting." I just kept thinking that the way back would be much more awesome (as it was last year) because I could look at the land and have the sun out of my face, but then after the turn I quickly realized that it was gonna be tougher than I remembered because for some reason there was an *effing* current…in the LAKE. How does a lake have a current? I was swimming my little heart out and not even moving. Made it to shore. Stumbled out and got ready for the bike.

Hez getting ready for the bike ride

I had a great bike ride until mile 43.5. The ride is 56 miles long through some really great rolling hills, which are absolutely my favorite to ride. It was a pretty enjoyable ride, difficult at times, but beautiful as you ride through hills, fields, vineyards and cows grazing...and good company. I rode the whole way with the fabulous Laura, who kept me entertained with stories and "would you rathers" and helped me by letting me draft (even tho it's illegal....shhhhh) and then "pulling" me up the hills. At mile 40 starts Nasty Grade which is really all you can say about it. It IS just nasty. It starts out at around 3-4% grade and then suddenly it's about an 8% grade...oh, and it's 4 miles long. At my mile 43.5, I just could not go on.

Wildflower bike course: yes I rode that whole way

Bike course elevaton chart

Usually I talk myself in and out of the difficult parts of the swimming, biking and running with the obvious result being that the last word I have with myself is that I am going to continue and not stop. On Saturday, in the middle of Nasty Grade, I was all, "shut up and get off the bike" and I was definitely not arguing back. Even though I feel like a complete failure for doing so, I had to stop the bike just a mere 50 yards from the false summit and water stop. Not because of heavy breathing and accelerated heart rate, but because my legs could not do one.more.revolution. Once I clipped out I could barely even get my leg to the ground in time to support my own weight. I was so spent. It was so hot. And my legs were just burning. I walked a little way, got back on and made it to the stop. But it was not over because I still had to reach the summit and then deal with an additional gruelling 12 miles. On the descent from Nasty Grade I clocked 41.5 mph! I probably could have gone a bit faster but as I was whizzing down the hill and capably handling the soft turns, Iron Mo's voice popped in my head and she was saying, "last year during training weekend my friend broke her pelvis on the bike ride"....annnnd then I panicked and hit the brakes. (rolling eyes) The total ride for me was about 4 hours and 19 minutes. I lolly-gagged at water stops because I could. I was taking it slow to have energy for Nasty Grade, beacuse I could...but on race day I'll have to pick it up a bit.

Robin and Hez on Saturday (FYI -- that's a recovery beer)

I was SO NERVOUS about the 13.1 mile run on Sunday. Partly because I hadn’t run over 6 miles this whole season and partly because I just hate being in the back of the group and that’s where I am because of my slow minutes per mile average. Luckily I had a running partner, Kathy. We discovered 2 weeks ago that we run the same speed and are both doing the long course. The run, you know…it was hard. But before we knew it, it was half way over and then we had 3 miles and then we were running in. I saw a jack rabbit, a snake and a lizard. Heh. And this is a PR on 13.1 for me. At the SF Half Marathon, last year, I ran it in 2:50 and my time for Sunday was 2:47. I was so stoked because the Wildfower course is much more difficult than the half I ran last year. Hi? Rockstar. Still, I was like 8th from last coming in. Sigh. My body just isn't designed for fast running. I believe it's desinged for lounging and drinking cocktails, by the way.

After the run I hit the shower (best shower I ever had), hopped in the car and drove as fast as I could to Denny's. I knew all the cool kids were going to In-n-Out in Salinas, but I really wanted french toast. It was a little difficult running almost 3 hours and then driving 3.5 hours to get home. I was totally zonked but made it safely despite some funny business on the highway from some people who thought it was the set of The Fast and the Furious. Do people really need to drive faster than 80 in stop and go traffic? No.

Nasty Grade on the drive home

Training weekend down. Less than 5 weeks til the race!

Week 8?

2007-03-20T09:49:00.000-07:00

I know. I skipped writing about last week. It was pretty much uneventful in the training realm. I've had to cut some of my Saturday workouts short because I suddenly decided it was a good idea to actually make appointments for right after training. Um. No. Weekend training is now pushing the 5 hour mark.

This week I fully committed to my long course goal. I was questioning it for the last few weeks since I'll have to be running 13 miles in, oh, 2 weeks and the most I have done is 6. I also have not ridden more than 30 miles. But, as I was doing my weekly swim at the pool at Stanford, I ran into Iron Mo and she convinced me to stick with it by saying such encouraging things as: no one runs those hills on the WildFlower run course anyways, everyone walks....and...so what if you're a slow runner...and...so what if you're last. More importantly, she said that if I didn't do it I would be really disappointed in myself and mad....that is very, very true. Seems like Iron Mo and I might have similar personalities.

So I signed off on the paperwork and recommitted to raising $3000. I know you got your email! Please donate early and lots! I am doing the usual freaking out about meeting the minimum. I am almost half way there with a total of $1,135.

This week I also talked to my friend Dianne, we worked together at Mama Kin in the 90's and still talk to each other...(which is amazing for night clubbers, but of course Dianne is different than most and an awesome human being.) Last year her and her mom donated to my fund in support of her mother's friend who was recently diagnosed with Leukemia. I was saddened to hear that this woman died about 3 months ago and this year they will be donating in her memory. Very, very sad and the very reason that I am struggling through difficult workouts and pushing myself to new heights...and fundraising.

To recap the last 2 weeks:

Spin class is still hard (mostly just the getting up at 4:45am part)

Track still sucks (especially blowing out my knee on hill repeats and stairs!)

Swimming is still not second nature (but it's awesome to swim outside on Thursdays)

Running is getting better...

Hez in the pool with Annie

Underwater Hez

Looking bored pre-track

Heading out for stretching after the run with Stacy

How Much Do I Love the Bay Area?

2007-03-06T16:47:00.000-08:00

So much. It is the first week of March and I got to work out in beautiful sunny, mid 60-ish weather. Hi? Grateful.

Last week was very stressful for me with some personal stuff going on as well as feeling under the weather and still having to train. I feel like the opportunity to sleep can't come soon or often enough, however my body is doing this not so awesome thing of waking up about a half hour earlier than it needs to...

...and that means that Tuesdays I am waking up at 4:30am. Ouch! Spin class was awesome and hard as usual but it really just kills me the rest of the day. I spend most Tuesdays in a half asleep foggy state.

Wednesday I was feeling under the (emotional) weather and so stressed out. I knew that a run around the track might do me good...but honestly? I cocktail would do me better. I skipped the track work out (two weeks in a row!) and I took advantage of the early hour Bagel Radio Noise Pop Happy Hour at Thee Parkside. I drank a modest two beers (one pint, one bottle) and feasted on mini mozzarella and prosciutto samwiches, was home in bed by 9:30pm only to wake up on Thursday feeling like total crap...

...so then I skipped my swim work out! Mostly due to midday work errands and partly due to laziness.

Friday? Laid low, stayed home.

Saturday! Woke up much earlier than I needed to and drove to Redwood High for a swim/run workout. Again, I am supposed to be doing these pro work outs since I am doing the long course but I am just so nervous. I know that I am the slowest in both swimming and running (in terms of what the other pros can do) and I am just not into holding people up in a lane or being the last one in on a run. Soooo, I joined the elite work out again to assuage my anxiety aaaaand, I really wanted to run first then swim.

I ran about an hour and then had an hour of swim drills. Still very nervous about even doing the long course and have had many "to myself" conversations about dropping back to the olympic distance and then trying the long course at Vineman, which reportedly, is an easier course.

Looking rather "jaba the hut-ish," I think.

The caption on TnT website says I am putting a hex on the coaches because of the hard workout. heh.

Look! I am doing a core work out (arm up is optional)

Then I had a massage and all seemed right in the world. Stayed in Saturday night since the mere thought of going out and being around alcohol and wrecking my recovery sleep gets me anxious.

Sunday, I headed out for the captain's ride. We met at Mike's Bikes in Sausalito and again I went out with the elite ride. We were doing a reverse Paradise Loop. Pros were doing portions of Hwy 1 to tack on some miles and well, I know how narrow it is for a car. And dealing with traffic while riding? No thanks. The day was beautiful, the ride was awesome, if a little hard-ish on the hills for me. Again I was in the top 5 which is amazing but still did not keep me from beating myself up as I got passed on hills. Towards the end of our ride, instead of dealing with Camino Alto which can be scary with traffic, we turned off on a little windy road called Chapman. A quarter of the way up Jen says, if we stay on Chapman it's gonna be a hard climb! Because we were on bikes and yelling into the wind I only heard "Chapman," " hard" and "climb" and was all, crap. I HATE hills and honestly, who are these people that say, " Call me crazy but I love to climb!" You sir, are lying. You HAVE to be.

So up I go. ChapmanChapmanChapman. 7 mph. ClimbClimbClimb and then the unmistakable recognition of a wad of bills comes into my zoned-out-stare-at-the-road-vision. Eeeerrrk! (sound of brakes screeching) You KNOW I pulled over and clipped out like a pro and swooped up the cash. $6, woo! My bridge toll was free. Finally I reached the top and really, it wasn't so bad. 7-9 mph is A LOT faster than my Big Rock 4 mph ascent, so that just says that the grade wasn't that bad.

The descent kicked ass! As I was screaming down the road (screaming in terms of 26 mph) two deer came out off the hill foliage and tip toed across the road right in front of me! I actually had to brake to let them go by! Another rider was coming up the hill and I just yelled, THAT WAS AWESOME! And he was all, Yup, like it was a common occurrence for him. Hi, snob. He was on a mountain bike anyways.

Big shout out to Maureen "IronMo" Atkins for my first donation. She really is an inspiration and am so appreciative of her donation. I am now officially fundraising and am $2,950 away from goal. Please help!