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!

Riding with Animals

No, I'm not referring to my teammates--although some of them are total beasts when it comes to training. Our January 9th ride was dubbed "Pig Farm" and this past Saturday's 35 mile ride is commonly known as the "Three Bears". To date, the "Three Bears" ride has been the most difficult--don't let the cute bears fool ya. Notice the expressions on their hirsute faces.

We met at the Orinda Bart Station and Captain Tony led the ride through the idyllic neighborhoods of Orinda and Moraga. At the outset, rolling hills became evident and the first nasty hill was going up Glorietta, which I had to walk a portion of the way (gasping, panting and swearing...). However, this was just a precursor to 'Da Bears, which were still a few miles away. Finally, as Janice and I turned on to Bear Creek Road, I had a feeling of forboding---soon enough, Mama, Papa and Baby Bear did not disappoint.
The hills seemed endless so I really could not say that there were only "3" bears---seemed like a herd to me (do bears come in herds?) The pluses were---only had to walk about 100 yards, there were others who were suffering along beside me, and best of all, the downhill segment was crazy fun! I white knuckled it all the way down, but such an exhilerating rush!!! I knew it held promise when I saw a sign warning trucks to use a low gear due to a steep downhill grade.

Kudos to Tony and Janice for giving me the moral support to get my butt over those hills!

Flip Turns and Pig Farm

So what do flip turns and a pig farm have in common??? Both were instrumental in my coached training yesterday. At 8:00 a.m., the team met at the Pleasant Hill Adult Education Center (about a mile from my house) to start with a 27.5 mile ride from Pleasant Hill to Pinole along a rural route that takes you by an abandoned pig farm. However, it isn't the actual farm that is the attraction of the ride, but a short, albeit wicked uphill grade on the return trip. Evidently if you utter the words "pig farm", experienced Bay Area cyclists will give a collective groan just thinking about the hill. At this point in my cycling career, I did not take on the challenge of going up the grade---since I would be walking it anyway. However, I was not off the hook---my teammate and 2009 Ironman finisher, Jennifer, made sure I got in my mileage and hill repeat practice. Jennifer followed behind me and kept shouting "pedal, pedal, pedal". The key is to keep pedaling even when I'm flying downhill, so I will maintain enough momentum to climb uphill. I ended up riding 20 miles.

After our ride, we jumped into the pool for 1.5 hours of swim drills. During the last 30 minutes or so, a group of us were taught how to flip turn. Mind you, I was on the swim team as a kid, but that was about 40 years ago and I haven't flip turned since. I didn't have any trouble with water going up my nose, but I was totally disoriented as to where the wall was. However, it was a lot of fun practicing somersaults in the water.

The last part of our training was core and strength exercises. Coach Mike made sure that we felt our stomach muscles afterwards. Several crunches, planks and "supermans" basically finished us off.

2010 at a Glance:

1/1: Lake Chabot Trail Run with Mama Lisa & TNT Alums: 6 miles

1/2: Team Ride 25.60 miles (including marker set) (Pleasant Hill, Martinez, Franklin Canyon)

1/3: Coached workout: 1.5 hours swim; 18 mile bike ride (San Ramon/Highland)

1/4: Swim workout: 1500 yards (including marker set)

1/5: Spin workout at Sports Basement

1/6: Core/Strength workout with Kelley

1/7: Swim workout with Coach Mike & teammates

1/8: REST!!

1/9: 20 mile ride; 1.5 hour swim; 30 minute core/strength

1/10: slept in until 10:00 a.m., went to REI sale......

End of the Year Musings....

Today I went to the bank and made my last deposit for 2009. As I was filling out my deposit slip, I noticed a man next to me doing the same. His check was from the State of California, Employment Development Department, so chances are good that he is unemployed. We both looked up at the same time, smiled and wished each other a Happy New Year. I silently wished him well and hoped that he will find a job in 2010. I am sure that for him and so many others, 2009 has been a very difficult year.

Reflecting on what this year has brought is an exercise in gratitude. I am grateful that:

I am employed,
I have decent health insurance,
My family members (human and canine) and I are healthy and happy,
I am able and healthy enough to train in endurance events,
I am surrounded by delightful circle of friends and supportive spiritual community, and
I will continue to support The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, ARF and other causes that are important to me.

If anyone is reading this blog, I wish you a very Happy, Safe and Healthy New Year!