Team DeGuzman Goes IRON!!

Huh? Iron? As in IronMan??? Yup, that's right!  We have really gone nuts and joined the TNT Iron Team! We recently celebrated our 15th Wedding Anniversary (8/31). So in trying to figure something "special" to give to the love of his life, Harold decides to buy Laarni a registration spot for IronMan Canada in 2012. You see these spots go on sale one year prior to each event. And, the spots usually sell out in 24 - 48 hours. Harold was ready with his credit card and secured both of them a spot!

Ok, so Laarni has done a couple of triathlons and Harold has done plenty of century bike rides...uh, but to go for an IronMan...2.4 mile open water swim, 112 mile bike ride and last but not least a full marathon (26.2 miles). That's a total of 140.6 miles! How in the world are we going to do that?

It's been two years since we've found Team in Training. It's a great organization that helps people train for an endurance event. But more importantly, we raise money for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. We have lost too many people to cancer and specifically Harold's stepfather who we all called Uncle Joe. We remember the struggles he went through and finally succumbing to the horrible disease in late 2006. We had to do something in his honor! Now we try and raise funds for a lot of other people. People who we have met during our trainings. Yup, even people on our own team! We save people's lives by helping raise funds for the Cause. We didn't want to stop doing that!

So, this will be our third year to raise funds...but we knew that to motivate and inspire our friends and family to donate again, we would have to step it up ourselves. Well, what better way to step it up but to join TNT...but this time to do an IRONMAN! This will be our toughest challenge yet. This will test our will, our discipline and honestly our organizational skills! Having 4 children and juggling all of their homework and activities, and then to have to train for 9 months straight, 6 days a week...it will definitely test us! But we're up for the challenge. Nothing in life is easy and nothing compares to someone who has to fight cancer. This is the least we could do!

We hope that you'll continue to follow along our journey...we appreciate all the support that many of you have already provided. Please visit our Team DeGuzman TNT website at:

http://pages.teamintraining.org/sj/ironca13/teamdeguzman

The donations make a huge difference in people's lives and of course your words of encouragement help us tremendously to keep going!

Go Team! Go IRONTEAM!

I did it!!

Lavaman is officially over!! After 5 months of training and worrying, the event has come and gone and is now a wonderful memory! Thank you to everyone who supported me and gave me words of encouragement that I could get through my first Olympic distance triathlon... and that I did! I can proudly wear my Lavaman attire and say, "I did that!"

Here's the details of the day before the race and of course, race day....

Saturday, April 2:
We had a scheduled early morning practice swim at 7am in Anaeho'omalu Bay (aka "A Bay"), the official location of the swim. I was not looking forward to the practice swim at all. I was very nervous... the same feeling I had carried with me for quite some time, which was magnified by the fact that I could not swim during our open water practice swims. I was a bit relieved to know that there were safety folks out in the water during this practice. They even set buoys up so we had a course to practice. However, seeing the buoys from the shore was scary and made my stomach flutter like I was going to be sick. It wasn't even the buoys for the race, just set up for our practice. I heard it was about a 400 yard distance. What I also heard was the tsunami created a stir in the water conditions so it wasn't as clear as in years past. Hearing that initially freaked me out as well since all we've heard was how warm and clear the waters in Hawaii is and how different it is from swimming in our local waters. This may have been a good thing since I wasn't quite sure whether I wanted to see that deep.

Martin, one of our captains who trained me all season and who practically saved my life during the last open water swim stayed with me since he knew how nervous I've been. Everyone who felt nervous was told to swim with a buddy so Martin was mine! The first thing I hear as we are about the get into the ocean was, "there's coral so don't walk out, swim over." Wow, in shallow water??? This was not the way I had imagined gradually getting into the water. So I just jumped in, swam over this alleged coral & began swimming but I felt like I hadn't swam in a long time! I thought, "oh my God, the last week of rest now I forgot my technique." I even sucked in some saltwater again so I was gagging and choking. I could hear Martin the entire swim and we eventually got to the buoy we were supposed to turn around at. Before I could make the turn, Martin forced me to stop in the middle of the ocean & just float so I could take it all in & breathe easy. He told me I was breathing too hard & I needed to relax. Yeah right, easy for him to say being the strong swimmer he is! I sort of calmed down, even took some pictures with teammates as proof! LOL! But I didn't want to just "hang out" so I decided to go back & ended up swimming back to shore w/o him. He asked if I wanted him to come with but I told him I'd be fine. As I was making my way back to shore, I was trying to remember to take the experience for what it was. I felt like my pace & strokes were coming back to me so I was settling in but then I freaked out on some coral that I swam really close to & even brushed against. It really scared me because I didn't want to get hurt the day before my race. One of my teammates stepped on a sea urchin a few days prior so being in the ocean with the unknown gave me yet another worry. Finally got back to shore, unscathed & realized it wasn't that bad and there would be even more folks in the water for assistance on race day.

That evening we had our inspiration dinner where we heard yet another talk from someone who had to deal with hearing a cancer diagnosis and had to battle the disease. Just one of the many we've heard over and over again and fortunately, a great ending since the speaker was in remission and had the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society to thank which included everyone on Team in Training who raised funds for this cause. Just our Silicon Valley team which consisted of 120 people raised about $450,000! Collectively, all of the chapters (there were 15 from across the country) present at the Lavaman event which consisted of 575 people raised over $1.2 million!!! It was really exciting to know that I was part of a team of individuals who are truly inspiring and doing something worthwhile for the health and wellbeing of others.

Sunday, April 3rd:
I had been feeling relatively calm the day before once we got the swim out of the way and by the time I woke up, I was still feeling calm. Good karma was truly being sent my way! The team was meeting at 4:45am and I bounced out of bed at 3:30am (thank God I was still on California time!). I actually felt rested as if I had a decent night's sleep. My first thoughts this morning was of Uncle Joe & his fight with cancer as well as all of my teammates who battled the disease too. I headed to the bathroom and the tears just fell. At that moment I had a purpose & remembered why I was doing this triathlon to begin with. Game face on!

We got to the lobby at 4:45am and Harold was like the bike mechanic on duty. A few of my teammates had some early morning tire issues so he was right there helping them. Triathletes aren't so well versed in tire changing and bike mechanics!! :o) I'm sure many of the difficulties were attributable to nerves more than anything! We then rode our bikes to transition which was not really smart since the group we were with did not have safety lights. At this wee hour of the morning and in Hawaii, the roads are pretty dark so we carefully manuevered our way over.

We arrived into the transition area at 5:30am. We got our areas set up. Many folks got body marked the day before but I waited until race morning. Race number 683!!


When I saw the swim course that morning, for a moment I got worried since we only swam 1/4 of our actual distance at yesterday's practice. But it was just that, a moment... I felt good about what I was about to do. Water temp was 77 degrees, and funny enough, was actually wetsuit legal. I did not have a wetsuit. Most people did not. This water temp was about 30 degrees warmer than our practice open water swims in California. My game plan was to focus on the people in canoes & surfboards and not the far buoys.



I'm amazed I'm in this group of pink caps!

The start of the swim began in the water so we were essentially treading for a few minutes before the gun went off. I don't tread well but this time things were different and I was not in a panic. Gun went off and I swam so comfortably like I've done it many times. I focused on the shorter distances but even the distance of the buoys were not an issue. I didn't swim nonstop but when I took breaks from the freestyle stroke, I was still making forward progress. I didn't stop at any cute Hawaiian boys on surfboards! I didn't need to hold on to anything or anyone! If anything, the technique was there and I even took advantage of drafting swimmers! All the months of practice definitely paid off at that moment. I even saw some pretty fish! My coaches told me to live in the moment and not worry about the next leg. That's exactly how it was. I was swimming and swimming my best. I got out & raised my hands like I was finished with my race! :o) I even heard Harold cheering for me! I conquered my fear of the open water! I ran out of the water and headed up to transition. Harold ran up to see me in and out of transition and to say, "you kicked butt on that swim!" Yup, that's how I felt too!! Official swim time 43:35.

The bike is my best event & after that swim I was on top of the world. I thought for sure I could make up some time on this leg. We rode on part of the infamous Ironman course & the view of lava rock & the ocean in the distance was stunning! As we expected the course was windy so that made for a difficult ride. There was some discouraging moments on the bike since I thought I could do better but I just kept going back to how awesome that swim went. Life was still good! When I came back into Waikoloa, there was Harold again cheering me on!! So awesome!! Official bike time: 1:32.

I had already started to feel cramps on the bike but I got in & out of transition quickly to go on the run. Last leg...As soon as I started the run the cramps in both calves got worse. It was over 90 degrees & I didnt even think that I was dehydrated. Harold was riding his bike alongside me so when I told him about my legs he told me that I should stretch. I stopped to stretch them but then my hamstrings locked up! I kept stretching but at that moment, I decided to walk for a little bit. At that point it was one mile at a time. Harold stayed with me on the run course for as long as he could which was a nice distraction from the heat. Ugh! The ice at the water stops was definitely a nice touch!! I thought I had a game plan, running for a mile & then walk for a minute. Just passed the mile 4 marker began a ridiculous trail run along the ocean. You'd think... girl, what are you complaining about, you're running alongside the ocean! The path was literally a foot wide (I'm being generous with that measurement) and then we had to run on lava rock. All of that... I walked! I thought I was going to twist my ankle. Then we were running through the hotel but then more lava rock, then sand (yes sand!) it was a very long 2 miles!



Harold, my biggest supporter!!

Finally crossed the finish line at 3:46 & was I so happy! I wanted to be done under 4 hours so I was pleased. With Harold & a bunch of teammates at the finish cheering me in, it was truly a finish that will be remembered! I can't believe it's all over!

Once again, Team DeGuzman says Mahalo for your contributions to this cause. We may have had these endurance events that we've accomplished but without your continued support, there would be no inspiration or motivation.

Please see the link to more photos from this awesome event.
http://www.kodakgallery.com/gallery/sharing/shareRedirectSwitchBoard.jsp?token=426247168407%3A1572435&sourceId=533754321803&cm_mmc=eMail-_-Share-_-Photos-_-Sharee

Aloha,
L

March 12, 2011 - Event Day in Solvang!!

Event Day - Before the 100 Miles

Wow, I can't believe event day has finally come and gone.  What a fantastic ride!! All of our team members finished the route and we all had enough energy to party it up on Saturday night!  The weather could not be more perfect. 

We started the weekend with a little shakedown ride on Friday afternoon.  It was a little windy but the sun was out so it seemed we were in for a nice weekend.  Friday night was the inspiration dinner where we heard from a cancer survivor who was tearfully thanking us for everything we were doing. She was near death and doctors tried everything to save her.  Her last hope was a bone marrow transplant.  The process is just so grueling that I'll spare the details.  It always amazes me when a cancer survivor who has gone through so much takes the time to thank us for what we are doing!  They are the true heroes for taking the time to share their story with us...yes, it is very inspiring to say the least!

Ok, so Friday evening was about getting everything ready for the next morning and then getting a good nights sleep!  It never happens though!  I still get excited before a big ride so it was tough for me to get to sleep, but that's ok...if anything, adrenaline will get me through!  :)  I ended up getting about 5 hours of sleep on Friday evening. Better than some of the first time participants.  One participant told me that she pretty much saw every hour on her clock throughout the night!  She still did fine!

The team met at around 6am and our goal was to get on the road at 6:15am.  Well, you know how that goes.  But, we did get out shortly after our goal...right around 6:30am!  It was a gorgeous day...check out the pictures that I took (see link below) of the fabulous views!

We were all warned about Foxen Canyon a nice little climb that got pretty steep...the kicker was that it came at around mile 85!  But we were ready for it..we took it on and rode like champs!  It really was another perfect day of riding...I feel so fortunate to be able to ride the way I do, both mentally and physically.  It is a "high" for me to help the newer participants accomplish this huge accomplishment. And I do feel very lucky that I have the amount of support that I do from my family and friends!

Having Fun!

Both Laarni and I want to thank all of you who generously donated to the cause.  Together, you and Team DeGuzman raised over $8,000!!!  We helped our little Silicon Valley Cycle Team of about 30 raise over $72,000!  That money will go a long way to help in the battle against blood cancers! 

While riding, I definitely thought about all the donors who were so generous with not only their wallets, but with their support towards Laarni and I!  Thank you, thank you, thank you!!

I got a ton of pictures during the event and during the after party!  I hope it makes you feel like you all were right there with us since this journey could not be accomplished without all the great support from our family and friends!  Enjoy the pictures and stay tuned for more reports from Laarni as her triathlon event is coming up in a couple of weeks!  GO TEAM!!

http://www.kodakgallery.com/gallery/sharing/shareRedirectSwitchBoard.jsp?token=352265618407%3A1117347607&sourceId=533754321803&cm_mmc=eMail-_-Share-_-Photos-_-Sharee





Event Day - After the 100 Miles...All Smiles!!



2/19/11 Tri Training: Open Water Swim



Today was our open water swim in Redwood Shores. When I woke up this morning there was snow on the hills that can be seen from our house. I knew it was going to be cold... When I got to Redwood City, it was already feeling very chilly and we weren't in the water yet. After a mini transition clinic, we got our wetsuits on and got into the water.   



Allesen, Kai & I... smiles, pre-swim



Brrrrr..... OMG and probably some other expletives that I won't say! Okay, I'm not good with being cold so just getting in was a huge achievement for me.

The first thing we were told was to allow the water to get into our wetsuits in order for our body heat to heat the water to provide additional insulation for us. As cold as the water was, allowing water in was not comfortable but I have to say, I understand what that all means. I could not get calm from being so cold. All I kept hearing was, "don't worry, eventually your hands and feet will go numb." Seriously, that's insane!! My hands and feet never went numb, they just hurt.



Proof that I was actually in the water

I've trained now for almost 3 months so swimming shouldn't be a problem, right?? Wrong! I put my face in the water and I could not get my breath together to swim. I felt like I was breathing so hard and I hadn't even taken 10 strokes. So onto my back again... I hadn't been on my trusty backfloat position all season and here I am in open water and on my back. It was pretty frustrating which made for a discouraging day. I even had a few moments of feeling the need to throw up. Imagine, the taste of salt water, nasty smelling salt water and the fact that the water is not clear. Nothing about today's swim got better. I went back and forth the short distance twice but nothing to write home about. We were probably in the water for about an hour. As soon as we could, I got out.

It was so difficult to pull the wetsuit off with frostbite fingers. Fortunately because of a suggestion by one of the mentors, I had some warm water to pour on me. It helped for a moment but it took all day to thaw out and bring my body temperature back to normal. This was by far one of the top things of what not to do in the middle of winter.

Our next open water swim is scheduled for March 6th. I decided to try this again since I had a terrible experience. It's probably still crazy since what makes me think the water temperature will be any different in a few weeks??

We were told the water temperature in Hawaii today was 82 degrees. :o)

Aloha,
L

2/12/11 - 80 Mile Santa Cruz / PCH Ride

Man, it's been a while since I've posted anything to this blog. I have not been feeling good at all lately.  The last real ride I did was the Calaveras ride.  Last weekend (2/5/11), I did ride, but it was awful!  It was only a 50 mile "buddy ride" (non-TNT supported ride) but it felt like 200 miles. I started out really strong, trying to stay with the faster guys. Well, at about mile 20, both my quads started to cramp.  Nothing bad, but I did feel it coming on!  Not good!  So I kept a high cadence the rest of the way...but at like mile 48, both quads decided to totally lock up!  I was on Foothill Expressway in Los Altos and I just had to wait at a stop light and just try my best to stretch out my legs.  But just doing that wasn't easy since both legs were locked and it was difficult just to get off the bike!  Needless to say, I barely made the 50 miles.

7AM Start at Natural Bridges - Santa Cruz

So why the cramping at only 20 miles?  Dehydrated?  Went out too fast?  Nope, it was new medication that my doctor just put me on to try and get my blood pressure lower.  I've been having some blood pressure issues since last summer so my doctor has been trying to get me to get it under control, including different meds!  When he heard what happened to me on the ride, he took me off of the new meds right away.  It worked because I kicked butt on today's ride!  Yup, 80 miles and I felt like I could have gone another 80 when we were done.  Climbed about 4500 feet, so nothing totally big, but nothing to sneeze at either.

Pigeon Point - Site of our Last Rest Stop at Mile 54

All I could say was what a gorgeous day!  And the weather was fantastic!!  Enjoy the pictures.  Only two real rides left...a buddy ride next weekend and one more 80 mile ride...then the event!  Can't wait!!

H

Great Looking Team (H, Daniella, Dori, Coach Colin, Greg)

2/5/11 Tri Training: Burgess Swim/Bike

It was another coached brick workout at Burgess. We started off the day with an honoree speaker. Today it was John Garza. I have known John for about 6 months or so through Harold and knew he had lost a daughter to leukemia. He shared his story and I found out that he lost his daughter, Marie to leukemia 3 days after she had collapsed during a walk with her husband which was also the same day that they found out she had the dreadful disease. It took her that fast! Marie did not have the opportunity to get any aggressive treatment or chemotherapy in order to give her a chance to live. It was such a heartbreaking story and another reason why I continue to be out at a practice that I really wasn't looking forward to.

A swim workout is dreadful to me due to the weather, the temperature of the water, being wet, fearing I won't swim well... yadda yadda yadda. All the many excuses but yet, hearing a story like John's and seeing my teammate Natalie who is awaiting test results on whether or not she has leukemia is the reason I force myself to go to practice and work hard to finish this event strong! Also, for my many supporters that continue to give me the motivation by their wonderful donations towards this very worthy cause!

Beginning of the snake swim

It was a beautiful day and the swim workout ended up being great. I got more takeaways that I can continue to learn from. We did that snake swim again for 20 minutes and I managed to get through 26 lanes. There were moments where I felt fine but other times I felt like, "wow, this is neverending and we have so many more yards to swim in Kona"... then I panic and my breathing is all off again. It'll be interesting for our next swim practice... open water! Well, I will certainly be putting my swim practice to a test.

Then it was off on the bike... my best place to be out of all these events. I started off with a couple of teammates but as soon as there was a opening, I decided to see how fast I could get through the route. It took me 1:45 to do 23 miles which I think could've been better. I'm hoping to be on the bike no longer than 1:30 when we're in Hawaii. The little inclines (and they were little) were killing my legs which worries me since we would typically be running after. Again, the reason why we train. :o) Overall, it was a beautiful day for a ride!! Although, another only, lonely ride after leaving the two I started with until the end when I caught up to two other teammates and we rode back to Burgess together.

Finally, it was off to pick up the kiddos from Nana. She was kind enough to watch the kids AGAIN for free! Well, as we did the last time she was so generous with her time, we donated the money and we're doing that again. She truly is an angel and the kids love spending time with her! Delia and Lupe are like family to us, caring for our kids as if they were their own grandchildren. She really makes the kids feel special which makes us so happy that we have her in our lives!

Aloha,
L

1/31/11 and 2/1/11 Tri Training: Swim and Run Workouts

Our coaches weren't kidding when they said that they wer going to increase our workouts this week! Based on how I'm feeling right now... Phew, it's working!

1/31/11 Swim workout:
I do have to say that I still love my pull buoy and I joked with Martin that I was going to figure out how to swim with it on race day!

200yd warm up
8x75 kick/drill/swim (drill: side kicks - I had fins this time but I still felt like I was sinking. Martin said to kick harder which helped.)
Pull set (pyramid):
50-100-200-200-100-50 (yards) using pull buoy & paddles and between each set there's a hard 50 in between
200yd cool down

Total swim: 2,000yds

2/1/11 Run workout at Foothill College:
My arms were already sore from last night why not make my legs hurt to balance everything out! We first listened to our honoree, Don Fleming talk about his experience with cancer. Then it was off to do our track pyramid.

1 lap (400yds), 20 crunches
2 laps (800yds), 20 crunches, 20 lunges
3 laps (1200yds), 20 crunches, 20, lunges, 20 pushups
4 laps (1600yds), 20 crunches, 20 lunges, 20 pushups, 20second hold in plank position
Think we're done... Nope, then we head back down the pyramid starting with another 4 laps and so on and so on.

This workout (or however many you can complete) was to be completed in 60 minutes. Once the time was up, I was short 2 laps to have completed the entire workout set.

Total miles = 4.5 miles

We've had a good 2 days of workouts!! I'm resting tomorrow and maybe the rest of the week until Saturday!!

Aloha
L