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

1/24/11 Tri Training: Swim at Santa Clara

After Saturday's swim I was feeling a little better about getting into the pool tonight but after the session, yikes, I'm back to feeling worried that I won't be able to make it. The good news, there was only a few bits of my workout that I didn't complete but overall it was still 1,850 yards!! I really have to work on my pace and my breathing rhythm. 68 days until Lavaman...

The Workout:
100yd warm-up
6x50yd drill/swim - drill was side kicking with fins but I was missing my fins tonight. I felt like I was drowning. Fortunately, Martin found some fins for me to use so I could finish up this set. I only did 5 of 6.
4x100yds kick set - 25 easy, 25 hard & 50 moderate. Kicking from the hips...very difficult. Legs were burning!
Main set:
2x400yds - yes, 400yds...that's 16 lengths nonstop... twice! It started off okay but then when I got tired I felt like my legs were dragging me and my breathing was off. The good news is my upper body is strong and that's what I'm going to have to rely on the most.
4x50yds pull buoy - This was such a relief to use my trusty friend. I really wish I could hide it inside my tri shorts!
100yds cool down

Bottom line: I made it... 1,850yds later. Doesn't really matter how but I did. Maybe that's my new motto for the season.

Aloha,
L

1-22-11 Calaveras Ride and a Visit From an Honoree!



Ricky Sharing His Story



The Calaveras ride is such a fun ride.  And today, the weather could not be more perfect.  But to be honest, today was not about the riding, but about the Cause!  Today, we were reminded why we do what we do!  I for one, realize how fortunate I am to live the healthy life that I do and have the ability to "choose" what I want to do.  For others, like my good friend Ricky, they don't have a choice when it comes to cancer! 



Recovery Meal!



Ricky was gracious enough to visit with the cycling team this afternoon. He arrived at around 12 noon to greet all of us after a tough 59 mile ride.  Some of us didn't get in until close to 3pm!  But not only did Ricky stay to greet us, he decided to have lunch with us at El Toritos in Milpitas.

This guys is truly an inspiration!  When I think back at what I was doing at 23 years old (which by the way was not tooo long ago), I remember partying my butt off and really enjoying my new career with my CPA firm! But for Ricky, he was fighting cancer! I could not imagine.  But he not only fought and beat cancer, but he did so much more for others as he participated in several endurance events himself. He is truly and IRONMAN!  I hope you'll go check out Ricky's story here (video interview):  http://www.beoga.net/tnt/interviews/ricky.html

This guys outlook on life is truly amazing and an inspiration to all!  Everytime I talk to this guy, he motivates me to do more...like maybe even do an Ironman myself one day!



Thanks Ricky!