1/10/11 Cause For Celebration

Normally there's swim at Santa Clara but tonight all Silicon Valley teams were to meet at the Jewish Community Center in Palo Alto for the Cause For Celebration. We listened to a speaker, a volunteer for LLS, discuss his role with LLS and how he feels he has helped those who just recently were diagnosed with cancer. Part of the funds we raise goes towards patient services and having a live person to speak to as well as receiving flyers explaining about the type of cancer you were diagnosed with goes a long way for these patients and helps them have hope that they could fight their disease.

Debra, Mike, Tralynn and I

The kids came with us and for the most part just stayed as quiet as they could, playing their game consoles. Hana is starting to understand more about what we are doing and she listens to the speakers and takes it all in. She seems to be interested in the cause and being proud that her family supports it!!

Aloha,
L

Half Moon Bay Ride - 1/2 Century!

It was cold, cold, cold.  We started at around 8am, but as the day went on, it seemed to get even colder.  But at least it was a dry ride.  We went down the coast towards the peninsula and road some hills like Pescadero and Stage.  It was a total of 50 miles with about 3,800 ft of elevation. 

Unfortunately, we only had 1 participant from our group show up for this ride as 2 of our participants were sick, 1 was on vacation, and the other had to work.  The distances that we'll be riding are starting to get higher in miles so let's hope they won't suffer too much when the get back in a couple of weeks.

Next weekend is a "buddy ride" weekend, which means it's not a team ride, but all participants are encouraged to go.  Let's hope we get a good showing next Saturday.  Our next team ride is Saturday 1/22 and it's got some good climbing and about 58 miles!

Did I mention it was cold at today's ride?  :)

1/8/11 Tri Training: Swim/Bike at Burgess Pool

Back in the pool at Burgess. I think I may have pushed myself over the edge today. Although I did finish my swim and bike workout, I wasn't feeling well. My coaches recommended that I should bail on the bike ride. I did the swim and I was really congested so I was having trouble with my breathing rhythm again. What was even more difficult was the workout that Coach Mike had us do. I was so out of it that I can't even detail the workout as I normally do. The only thing that I could remember was having to do a 400yd "easy" swim. Yes, 400yds should be nothing compared to the 1,600 yds that we'll be doing in Hawaii but I still cannot do that without stopping. And it's funny that they use the word "easy." They do so to distinguish the pace that you could sustain during the race. I feel I only swim one pace... SLOW! And even that slow pace, still not feeling like I could sustain.

Transition time... the moment that I could've bailed. I was so looking forward to biking... So, I didn't listen. There were 3 options for the rides and a few days ao I would've opted for the harder option but today, I decided to take it easy and do the 19mile Portola/Alpine loop. I was looking forward to it since I had never ridden in this area before so it was a nice change.

Here are some teammates and I at the corner of Portola and Alpine.

Overall, it was a nice ride but I was cold! Right here where we stopped, we joked because of the espresso bar on the corner that we were all tempted to stop and have a warm drink! I felt I had enough layers and kept my core warm but in the end, my toes and fingertips were numb. It was so nice to get in the warm car and eventually the warm shower at home!

Aloha,

L



1st Spin Class In the New Year!

Laarni's parents were still in town from the holidays so Laarni decided to join me tonight for spin class.  It must be the New Year, because not only was Equinox (Fitness Center where we Spin) crowded, we also had a full house in the actual class.

It was a great workout and Coach Patrick really worked us tonight. We did seated climbs, standing climbs, and some interval training.  There are plenty of mirrors in the studio that we spin in.  Well, as you could tell from the picture below, we had a pretty good workout!

Check out the mirrors in the background!!                              

1/4/11 Tri Training: Foothill Track

I missed the last coached track workout so it seemed like I haven't been at Foothill in a long time. Luckily, on vacation I did get in a run so I didn't feel completely out of it. The problem was I had the worst cramps going into training which I thought would prevent me from working out tonight. But as the honorees spoke before our training, the cold was starting to become unbearable that the thought of running was the only hope of getting that blood flowing!

It was a bit heard to hear the honorees from the back of the pack with all the surrounding noises that was going on at the track but one thing that stuck in my mind as Doug was telling his story. He said that in 2006 he had been through 3 unsuccessful remissions with his cancer back. His doctor told him to get his affairs in order and even wrote him a letter that he was terminally ill. Since there was no hope at that time, his doctor suggested that he be part of a clinical trial at Stanford so he agreed. He took well to the drugs given and actually went into remission again which he wasn't going to get excited about since he had been through that before unsuccessfully. He constantly gets PET scans and so far, no sign of the cancer!! This is exactly why I'm so excited about being a part of LLS. Stories like this just gives me hope that one day a cancer diagnosis will not be such terrible news and we can continue to live just like when we get the flu.

So back to my cramps... I was officially frozen by the end so I did do a warm up jog (2 laps). And after Doug's story, I can't feel too sorry for myself even if I felt like I was going to keel over!

We did a pyramid tonight:
1 lap
2 laps
4 laps
2 laps
1 lap

I was finally warm until we stopped! It was 45 degrees outside! Brrr!! Great workout and glad to see my teammates together again.

Aloha,
L

New Years Day Ride - January 1, 2011

Happy New Year!!  I knew that I would not be able to do hill repeats on Sunday (1/2/11) so I decided to get out on the bike on New Years Day.  What better way to ring in the new year but to be on the bike!  I have a lot of hills in the area where I live in South San Jose so why not do some climbing.

I started out going up Hassler, which is close to the Ranch Golf Club.  It was an afternoon ride so I was worried that it could start raining, but it stayed dry.  I headed towards Bernal and Santa Teresa and started the climb up Bernal to the entrance to IBM.  Another tough climb, but it felt good.  It was still early so hmmm...ok, let's do it, let's go for Metcalf!  Metcalf is a steep hill, even though it's not that long. 

The View From the Bottom of Metcalf

I started the climb at around 4:45pm so I knew it would be getting dark soon.  I got to the top in about 25 minutes and it was already dark.  I had to still get to San Felipe and one more small hill to get up...but going through there was a little tough and a bit nerve-racking! I learned on this ride that I don't like riding in the dark!  :)

I got home after 35 miles and about 3,800 feet of climbing.  Like I said earlier, what better way to ring in the new year!!

H

1/3/11 Tri Training: Happy New Year... Back to the Pool!

1st Monday of the New Year and right away Martin had us back in the pool  to get our training back on track after the holidays. We're officially 3 months away until the event!

After swimming the 50 meters distance, going back to the 25yds should be a piece of cake... so I thought. Sigh! The good thing is I am feeling like I can bear the endurance a bit more but swimming easier is not quite clicking. I tried breathing on both sides again and I ended up swallowing a bunch of water so I stuck to my usual right side breathing. I think the problem tonight was that there were more people sharing the lane so I also had to figure out how to slow my pace (haha, did I just say that??) and learn how to deal with coming up on a swimmer ahead of me. Obviously good practice going into an event where there will be lots of people swimming at the same time. I did actually do the entire swim set even though I did take a few breaks here and there.

200yd warm-up
Drill:
6x75 kick set (kick, drill, swim) = 450
5-4-3-2-1-0 fingertip drill pyramid= 300
Main set:
(100yd easy & 50yd hard) x3 = 450
25yd x8 easy = 200
Interval training:
50ydx4 with the rest break decreasing = 200
200yd cool down

Total swim= 2,000yds (Whoa! The yds add up!)

Aloha,
L