Epic Weekend at Clearlake, 3/4 to Iron (June 4-6, 2010)

Ok, this was the mutha of all training weekends. The goal of our 3/4 to Iron training at Clearlake was to complete a two mile swim, 100 mile bike ride (on Saturday) and a 16 mile run or 3 hour run whichever occurred first (on Sunday). In the days leading up to this weekend, I have been worried about swimming 2 miles in open water and finishing the swim within a "decent" amount of time. I have been consistent about getting the necessary yardage in a pool, but not quite as diligent about practicing in open water.

We left the comfort of our respective homes on Friday. My teammate Cori was kind enough to schlep Helen and me, along with our bikes and gear up to Clearlake. We stopped at Winters to meet additional team members to enjoy a large lunch and to commiserate about the weekend. A few hours later, we reached our destination, dropped off our bikes at Jeff & Janet Shaw's home and then checked in at the Anchorage Inn. Most of the team was staying at the Anchorage Inn and the non-IronTeam inhabitants were fishermen who were there for a bow fishing competition. Quite the eclectic mix.....

Saturday morning came too quickly....we arrive at the Shaw's around 5:30 ish to set up the transition area and to get into our wetsuits. Since I was in the first wave start, I had to be in the water at 6:30 a.m.

The water temperature was pleasant, but what immediately freaked me and Patty out were the strands of underwater plant life touching us. Rationally, I knew they were simply plants and not anything life threatening...and I actually like plants. But in the water, their significance amplified to become something unknown and scary. Coach Sedonia was beside us coaching us not to panic, to put our heads in the water and to start swimming. Its do or die time, stroke, kick, breathe, repeat a few times, sight for the buoy and just keep going. The buoys just seemed so far away, yet slowly I was getting closer and closer. At the first turnaround, I saw the team "mascot", Belinda, in a kayak and we shared a brief debate as to who sucked more at swimming. I still think I have her beat hands down, but she begs to differ. As I was heading to the final home stretch, I noticed those pesky underwater plant again, but this time I was so eager about wrapping up the swim that they did not cause any consternation. Exited the water in approximately 1 hour 40 minutes (2 mile swim done).

Next up, the 100 mile ride (see elevation chart below)...As I exited the water and headed to transition, I noticed a bit of dizziness. The water in the lake got choppy at times, but I was fine until I got out of the water. I couldn't shake the feeling, so I took my time at getting ready at transition. For the first 14 miles, I rode in a relaxed manner, just trying to clear my head and focus on the challenge ahead. Miles 15-33 included some challenging hills which I was able to climb, but the dizziness never went away and I felt like crap at the top of the hill at mile 33. Fortunately, the SAG vehicles were there and Coach Dave sagged me forward to Konocti (about mile 39). I felt so much better just having the rest and the dizziness slowly abated. At Konocti, I met up with Cori and Helen and we rode together to the City Park (about mile 53) which had a terrific waterstop hosted by Team Frankie and other wonderful volunteers. None of us wanted to leave. It was already hot and we were provided cold, wet towels, along with fruit, snacks and other goodies! It was also that we made a collective group decision to cut the ride short and instead of riding the additional 50 miles, we would ride another 18 miles or so back to the Shaw house. I was disappointed at not completing the entire 100 miles, but in the words of my run coach (Coach Alphonzo Jackson)---"don't let ego overrule good judgment".

Once back at the house, I showered and changed into clean clothes and began to feel human again. One by one, my teammates started rolling in. And as a team, we went outside the gate and cheered for Maria who completed her first century!

After this long day, we enjoyed a delicious BBQ spread and heard inspirational words from our honorees, Frank and Laura. Seeing both of them out on the course really gave me a lift when I needed it most.

Relieved that I survived Saturday, I slept quite soundly that evening. I am happy with my swim, a tad disappointed that I did not finish the 100 miles, but satisfied that I was able to climb the major hills early on in the ride.

Sunday ended up being a great day for a run. Since my event is the Aquabike, I haven't been running as much as I should. Remarkably, I wasn't too sore from yesterday, so I was able to run/walk at a decent clip. I ended up completing about 11 miles and felt pretty good afterwards.

What an amazing weekend! A big shout out to the coaches, staff, honorees, volunteers, Jeff & Janet Shaw and my teammates!

Still at the Back of the Pack

When I trained with the run team, I was at the back of the pack and things haven't changed much now that I'm cycling and swimming.

Yesterday was my longest ride to date (an 80 miler) which was essentially the Vineman course. We started in Santa Rosa, rode to Guerneville, up past Healdsburg, to Geyersville and back to Santa Rosa. For awhile, I was riding with Honoree Captain Liz and Coach Sedonia, but we parted ways when I stopped for a potty break at a biker bar along the route. However, for being such a dive of a bar, the women's bathroom was extremely clean! I will have to remember this stop for future rides.

After the break, I rode with Jen Jay for a few miles before she pedaled off into the horizon. I was feeling pretty good until about mile 55 or so. At this point, my booty wasn't happy and my hands were getting numb. I took off my cycling gloves, which helped immensely, but every now and then the numbness would return. Fortunately I have an upcoming bike fit appointment with Rand, the bike fit guru at AriaVelo.

There were times when I wasn't sure I would complete the entire distance. Ironically it was not the two major hills that got to me, but the combination of a sore rear, numb hands and mental games. Sure, the views were picturesque and the weather was perfect, but at times I thought---

"this is an 80 mile ride and my actual event is 112 miles, holy crap....." Okay, its time to stop playing mind games and return to the breath...in breath, out breath, relax, quit ruminating about the distance......

It was at Chalk Hill (around mile 63) that I knew I would make it. A portion of Chalk Hill has a short, but slight steep incline, but after all the hill training our team has done (Mt. Diablo, Pig Farm, 3 Bears, Mt. Howell) it was definitely manageable. I was on Chalk Hill a few weeks ago when I did the Wine Country Metric Century (62 miles) and it seemed much easier, probably due to the shorter distance of the entire ride.

I saw Coach Mike at Chalk Hill and we rode together back to our starting point in Santa Rosa. I think I finished the ride about 1.5 hours after the speed demons on the team. Initially I was a little discouraged that I was so slow, but that thought left my mind quickly, when I realized that I accomplished my longest ride to date.

Remembering Brenda July 6, 1970-April 14, 2007

So far, this blog has mainly described my insane training regimen as a member of the IronTeam. But it has also highlighted some athletic accomplishments that never in a million years I thought I would ever achieve. Swimming in open water in 50 degree weather, riding my bike up Mt. Diablo, doing as many sprint triathlons as I can in a 5 hour span---who knew?

There are several motivating factors for this madness, but the two that come to the fore front are honoring the individuals dealing with cancer and raising money to cure cancer. Such an individual was Brenda Donato, who died 3 years ago today from complications of graft v. host disease.

I first met Brenda during my first season with Team In Training in 2005. In February 2005, Brenda was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia and spent 3 months in the hospital before receiving an antologous stem cell transplant (meaning her own stem cells). Shortly after leaving the hospital, Brenda became involved with TNT and started training for various events. Brenda was a strong athlete and personal trainer and was always on the go.

As I got to know Brenda better, I met her husband Jim; her two sons, Trevor and Jarrett; and their two border collies, Ernie and Sunny. While Brenda was in remission, she kept pace with her two active sons and brought them to several TNT events.

In June 2006, Brenda found out that her cancer returned. This time, she would need a stem cell transplant from another person. Fortunately, a 9 of 10 donor match was found and Brenda received her transplant in September 2006.

I was able to spend a lot of time with Brenda while shuttling her back and forth to her various appointments at UCSF. When Brenda had to stay at UCSF for over a month, I was one of many visitors that she had. During our many talks, Brenda never had pity for herself. She always thought of others and made several friends on the hemotology ward. Patients and staff loved Brenda.

While recovering from her second stem cell transplant, Brenda faced many challenges. When she developed graft v. host disease, her lung capacity was reduced to 20% of normal. It was difficult for all of us to bear witness to her physical decline. However, her spirit was strong and remembering that strength inspires me to this day.

When the hospital discharged Brenda for the last time, she came to live with Lori and me. Brenda required 24/7 care and since both Lori and I work from home, we were able to have her stay with us. This was not an easy period for us and we came to rely on Brenda's loving circle of friends who would care for her in shifts. However, Brenda found it increasingly difficult to catch her breath, even with the oxygen machine turned on at full capacity. Ultimately, Brenda was transported to John Muir hospital and passed away on April 14, 2007 surrounded by her loving family and friends.

Brenda loved to blog on MySpace with the details of her day and made several friends online who also had their own battles with cancer. Two days before Brenda passed away, she posted this final entry:

"Through these years I have absolutely NO regrets. I worked hard and played even harder. I never said a swear word, always went to school on time, and won the PE award in high school. In fact, 3 days ago I just crawled up the stairs. And now, I'm back in bed still hooked up, still using a commode, and wearing a purple t-shirt that says (in orange writing) "freakishly strong" while covered with a wonderful TNT blanket that was knitted for me just weeks ago.

Now I peacefully await and end the battle that has attacked my 36-year-old body surrounded by my most beautiful family and friends. Surreal, but true, this is really happening.
We all wait. Me, my family and friends that are here now, and all of you. Even though you're not here with me physically (it would simply be impossible for all of you to fit in this room), I want you to know I feel you and know you're here. I love all of you.

Thank you for loving and supporting me. Please continue to pour it out on my three boys."

This upside down rainbow was seen the before Brenda passed.

Brain Freeze

8:00 a.m., Saturday, March 6, 2010
Lake DeValle, Livermore, CA

We look happy here don't we? Its because
we are still on dry land, all warm and snug in our
wetsuits. This was our second open water training
and while driving over, the temperature in my car read
48 degrees.

Moments later we began the "Death March" into

the chilly waters....

Geez, I have never been in water sooooo cold. It felt so much colder than Boot Camp. This time I could care less about parasites and murky water, but experienced brain freeze when I started to swim to the first buoy. At first, all I could do was dog paddle just to get some feeling in my extremities and kept thinking, "don't panic, just breathe and swim...." Our goal was to swim two time around the buoys (about 1 mile) in 40 minutes. All I could think of was reaching the first buoy to begin my swim before the 40 minutes are up.

Captain Tony was nearby during my entire swim, keeping a watchful

eye on Dana and me. His presence was very reassuring, although I was

worried that with me being so slow, he was slowly freezing to death. Once my brain

started its slow thaw, I began to set goals (i.e. complete 10 strokes without

stopping, and increase from there). When I broke it down like that, the journey

wasn't so daunting. However, I was very relieved that time was up before

I started my second loop around the buoys.

After peeling off my wetsuit and changing into my bike gear, it was time

for 40 minutes of spinning. Coach Simon led us on a challenging spin session, but I was so happy to be out of that water and getting warm again that I did not throw Simon a "stink eye". After the spin, it was time for a 20 minute

run/walk session. Since I'm training for Aquabike, I use this time to walk and stretch.

Some friends and teammates are trying to convince me to do the full

Vineman, but I'm really on the fence about that. The deadline to complete the

full Vineman and AquaBike entry forms is next Tuesday. I'll let you know

if I change my mind....but don't hold your breath.

After our first run/walk, we got back on our bikes for 40 minutes of hill repeats. I have to admit, I really enjoyed this session. The hills were challenging, but not too bad. Coach Dave road by and gave us pointers that will help us with the uphills. I need to practice riding uphill out of the saddle.

Nutrition wise, for the first time I used Perpetuem as one of my "energy" drinks. Despite the thick texture, it did the trick---no cramping, no bonking, no gagging. I felt pretty good the entire day. For me, I think Heed and Perpetuem will be my liquid nutrition plan.

Highlights of February 2010

Sorry I haven't blogged lately.....training has been ramping up and my poor blog has been neglected. However, that doesn't mean that nothing happened in February---quite the contrary.

Longest ride to date: Presidents' Birthday/Chinese New Year/Valentine's Day Ride (2.14.2010) 47.5 miles from Benicia to the Jelly Belly Factory and back.

BOOT CAMP WEEKEND~~February 20-21, 2010: Combined training with the SouthBay IronTeam.

Day 1 at Lake DeValle, Livermore (approximately 7 hours of training)

--Open Water Swim (8:30-9:30) my very first open water swim experience. The murky water was a bit freaky---I'm used to seeing a black lane line beneath me and inhaling the aromatic scent of chlorine. Both were missing which was unnerving.

--30 mile bike ride (10:00 - 1:00) --ride around Livermore Valley with some tough hills. The longest climb was 4.5 miles, but I survived that climb without stopping!

--Run (1:00 - 2:00) --since Patty and I are training for the AquaBike, we both walked the trails for about an hour. It felt soooo good to stretch our legs and relax a little.

--Stretch (2:00 - 2:45) foam roller time! Lots of groans and moans, but helped us from being too sore the following day.

Day 2: Gunderson High School, San Jose---I hit the "bite me" zone by the afternoon and kept giving the South Bay coaches the "stink eye" whenever they would announce a "surprise" workout.....

--Swim drills in a pool (reunited with my chlorine and it felt soooo good!) (8:00 - 9:00)

--17 mile bike ride -- the course description given by the coaches is "There are two hills on this course but nothing like Pig Farm". Well, maybe a little steep, but not too bad." Hmmmmm, I beg to differ....

--1 hour run in the pouring rain

--spin

--track

--spin

(by this time I lost total track of time and was in a pissy mood).

Despite the pain, whining and "stink eye", the IronTeam coaches and staff put on an amazing weekend! We've been pushed to our collective limits and survived to tell the tale. Fighting cancer to the extreme! Go Team, IronTeam!

Lasso'd the Yasso's.....

After our triathlon last Sunday, this recent week was supposed to be a "recovery" week---like everything else, it's all relative. Nothing is easy when it comes to IronTeam training. The biggest challenge this week was completing the run marker, which consisted of the Yasso 800's, which is supposed to predict your marathon time based on how fast you run 800 meters (2 laps around a track or 1/2 of a mile). You are supposed to run ten 800s at threshold pace (meaning as fast as you can go) with a four minute break between each 800. No way would I do this by myself---If alone, I would have ran 3x 800 and called it a night. As with many of my teammates, peer pressure is a good incentive to show up and do the entire drill. So on Thursday evening, 6 of us met at the DVC track to take on the Yassos. Since I have hardly run since New Years Day, it was a tortuous exercise---but surprisingly my times were fairly consistent and not as bad as I thought: 4:42; 5:00; 5:02; 5:28; 5:12; 5:27; 5:17; 5:23; 5:39; 5:21 for an average of 5:15. The good news is that Coach Simon bumped my VDOT score from 26 to 28---meaning that my predicted 5K pace is now 10:46/mile and my full marathon pace is 12:26/mile...... A shout out to Jen Jay for getting our butts to the track and to Ellen for running with me and then cheering the team to finish the Yassos!

On Saturday, our team met at Sports Basement in Crissy Field for a 1.5 hour run, a strength/core workout with the TRX, and a workshop on wetsuits and nutrition. It was a beautiful San Francisco morning--no rain, some fog which burned off by late morning. Coach Simon was merciful and allowed us to run at our easy pace, so I ran 6.1 miles in 1:18:22.

Working out with the TRX was not so easy....as you can see, it looks like a torture device and it IS! Coach Doug is the TRX guru and said that he was going to take it easy on us, so the workout would mostly be stretching...HA! Yes, we did stretch (the last two exercises), but most of the workout was a combination of core, strength and balance.

I was going to do the bike marker today, but just needed a day off. My quads and hamstrings were sore, plus I just felt "a quart low"---so spent the day touring around Sonona County and Healdsburg, enjoying the sites and food!

TRI (ED) and True....

It's true, I completed by first triathlon on Sunday, January 24, 2010! The event was the 8th annual Louie Bonpua Tri in memory of an amazing individual who was an Iron teammate. Louie joined the IronTeam AFTER he was diagnosed with Chronic Myelogenous Leukemia (CML) and finished Ironman Canada. A few months after Canada, Louie's cancer progressed and despite being weak and in pain, Louie was able to carry the 2002 Olympic Torch on his own. Sadly, later that evening, Louie slipped into a coma and died two days later. Throughout the entire day, I would remember the strength and sheer will of Louie, Brenda, Raji and so many of our remarkable past and present honorees.

The Louie Bonpua Tri consisted of a 1,500 yard swim, 27.5 mile bike ride and a 5.5 mile run. I was in the first wave of swimmers (the slower ones) and we began promptly at 9:00 a.m. The pool was welcoming as it was quite toasty warm. It took me about 200 yards to get into a groove. During our training, we usually warm up, do some drills and then swim for speed. I didn't have that luxury this time and had to swim for speed at the outset. My focus was on consistency and not sapping my strength, since I had two more sports to conquer. I felt good during the swim and can hear cheers from the surface. The only distinct voice I could make out was from Lindsay--I'd know that yell anywhere! Fortunately, there were volunteers who counted our laps for us, because I lost count and would've kept on swimming. Finished the swim in 40:26---got myself hoisted out of the pool and transitioned into bike gear.


Pulling on spandex and socks is no easy task after a swim. Wet hair and all, I pulled on my bike helmet, clipped in and began my journey to Pig Farm Hill. The ride had its highs and lows (literally). Several rolling hills and a couple of big ass hills --hence Pig Farm Hill is now dubbed Pig Arse Hill. I walked about 50ft of the steepest portion and seeing Coach Mike at the top gave me the extra incentive to clip back in and ride myself over the hill. All the training and coaching is paying off big time---I felt great and pretty strong during the ride and some of the hills seemed less daunting than before. I have no idea how long the bike portion was. I was so focused on other things that I never looked at my watch from T1 to T2.


One would think that the run portion would be the easiest for me---NOT! It was the most difficult and the longest 5.5 miles I have ever run. Granted I just swam and biked, but 5.5 miles is usually a warm up run for me. It was humbling to resort to run/walking. I'm just glad that my run coaches weren't there to see me shuffling along at a snails pace. A big shout out to Jen Jay who ran/walked with me for quite awhile and kept me going! I got a little teary seeing the finish line, because I never thought I would (or could) complete a triathlon. It was my "Bond Girl" moment---(thanks Sandy!)



A big hug and thanks to the Coaches who made this possible! They have prepared us well, which really showed on Sunday. All of my teammates who participated in the Louie Tri looked strong and confident!