Week 12: Kaiser Half Marathon - PR!

Dennis and I now have a wonderful tradition - running a half marathon the morning of Super Bowl Sunday and then pigging out at Super Bowl Parties!

I signed up to do the Kaiser Half Marathon with Dennis, but up until Sunday, 6 miles was the longest distance I've run since the Nike Half back in October. On top of being not so confident with the distance, I did a marker set bik ride on Saturday (36 miles including 3 Bears & Pig Farm), so I knew that my legs would be fatigued. Den reminded me that I was in great shape and that I wasn't there to PR, I was there to get in a day of training and to have fun. So I put myself in that exact mindset.

Perhaps my mindset was a little too lax...I was in the port-a-potty when the National Anthem started, but I did make it to the start on time (with no time to spare). I started the race with my new Run/Walk strategy. I swear by this now. I ran 9 minutes and walked 1. At first it was bothersome to have all of these people pass me as I walked on the side, but as the miles went on, I would quickly catch and pass the folks that had jogged past me. I felt really good until about mile 10. At that point, I struggled to maintain my pace and by mile 12, I was allowing myself to run 5 minutes/walk 30 seconds. As painful as the end of the race was, I crossed the finish line in 2 hours and 10 minutes, 15 minuts faster than last year!

Dennis had an outstanding race! He finished in 1:34, 21 minutes faster than last year. He went into the race hoping to maintain an 8 minute mile and he ran a 7:13 average! It think he officially has the running bug. Now we have to find a marathon for him to sign up for :)

Heather and Jimmy's and Matt & Claire's superbowl parties were icing on the cake. We ate lots of yummy food, drank beer, and watched football and commercials...ahh, bliss!

Condition: Elated & Exhausted

Week 11: Louie Bonpua Memorial Triathlon

On Sunday, January 25th, we raced in an Olympic distance trithlon on Treasure Island in honor of Louie Bonpua. Louie embodied everything Team in Training is about: Finding a cure for cancer, pushing yourself beyond your boundries, and living life to the fullest. We carry his memory in our commitment to fundraise money and accomplish the impossible. Check out the below video!

Swimming in the bay was painful. At the start of the race, my teammate, Nick, dove into the water ahead of me. So I did the same...big mistake. The water was so cold that I could not keep my face submerged. So I swam out to the first booey with my head above water. I later paid the price for this with a 2 day long tender neck strain, but it didn't bother me during the race. We had to complete 3 loops and then out of the water, up the stairs and down the street to transition. The first stop was the wetusit strip. Volunteers unzipped and stripped your wetsuit for you, awesome! Since I wasn't really competing for time, I took advantage of the changing tent and put on dry clothes. The bike course was flat with lots of turns and crater pavement. I kept my gear in the big ring and averaged 17 mph for 24 miles. This is super fast for me and for my friend, LuLu. She said I pulled her along on the bike course, which was only fair because she pulled me along on the run course. LuLu and I put our run/walk strategy to work. Run for 9 minutes and walk for 1 minute. We averaged a 9:47 min/mile with walking, it's genius! We finished in exactly 3 hours.

The race itself was fantastic! Beautifu day, fun course, great volunteers, and a great benchmark for my training.

Condition: Happy to be alive!

Happy Inauguration Day!

Week 10: Beautiful 57 Mile Ride

Another great week of training down. I completed my swim marker on Saturday. I was absolutely thrilled with my distance of 950 yards in 15 minutes. I think swimming with the Masters Team has helped me step up my pace slightly.

Sunday was our longest distance bike ride, 57 miles. We did a 27 mile loop from Sunol, to Fremont, through Pleasanton, and back to Sunol again to re-fuel. Then a 3o mile out and back on Calaveras. I surprised myself while climbing the ridge becuase I finally experienced the benefit of the spin workouts. I was climbing at a few gears ahead of the granny gear and at a quicker cadence than usual. Somewhere along the way, Kristie, Nick and I ran into our TeamShadow friends Laslo and Amy who were riding from the other direction. They pointed out a bald eagle's nest to us. Later on the ride, Kristie and I spotted a fluffy baby eagle perched on a tree right above the road. It was a beautiful ride, but I was happy to reach the turn around point. As much climbing as I thought we did, I didn't feel like there was nearly enough down hill on the way back.

Condition: Feeling Strong

Week 9: Angel Island Trail Run

Saturday's workout was a Marker Set Ride which I completed in 1:28, 2 minutes slower than last time. I'm going to say that the wind factor is the only reason I wasn't able to shave off time (and forget about the 2 week holiday hiatus).

On Sunday, I joined Dennis and the Team Modified crew for a trail run on Angel Island. In 3 words I can describe the experience..."It was Stunning!" OK...I'll elaborate. We got on the ferry from Tiburon to Angel Island. It was an absolutely beautiful January day - sunny and a perfect 60 degrees. I ran in the 8K or 5 mile distance race. Looking back, I should have raced the 16K, but at the time I registered I wasn't sure where I would be in my training.

The course wound up 2.5 miles to the summit of the island. The trail was very narrow which made it difficult to pass people. It was slow going, but incredibly beautiful which made it so enjoyable. Once I reached the summit...wow!..amazing view..East Bay, Bay Bridge, San Francisco, Golden Gate Bridge, Marin...then time to head back down. This was the best part of the run. The soft trails allowed me to really unleash my legs going downhill, I was flying. At one point I thought to myself "This must be what if feels like to be an Olympic Marathoner". Based on my time, this was clearly not the case, but it felt unbelievably fast to me. At one point, my competitve edge got the better of me. I didn't want to person behind me to catch me so I turned my pace up a notch. I went down some steps, saw the trail markers to my right and took off. After a minute or so, I realized that not only could I not hear the person behind me, there wasn't anyone on the trail ahead of me either. I stopped, paused, did a 180 and start running back where I came from. Sure enough, I saw the large group on the trail that I'd worked so hard to pass, head down another trail that I hadn't noticed. Now I was with the pack again. Oh well.

I finished 10th in my age group, not bad considering my detour. The real superstar of the day was Dennis. He had wanted to finish in the top half of his age group, but he did even better. He finished the 18K in 10th place overall (out of 150 people). This is his finishing photo...

Condition: Very Proud of Dennis :)

Breaking News: It's not like your coach rides your bike for you...

So who cares if he quits?....um, I do!



If you remember from my first blog entry as to why I drank the kool-aid, the final factor in this decision to dedicate 10 months of my life to training for an Ironman was that Wayne was coming back to coach another season of Ironteam. Why such a big deal? Because I whole-heartedly believed in his coaching style and my ability to perform based on his guidance. 3 years ago, I felt like I was jumping off a cliff by signing up to do the Wildflower Half Ironman. Wayne coached me to swim, bike, and run farther than I had ever gone and not to mention drop an impossible 8 lbs. If Wayne tells me not to eat for 18 hours, then I wouldn't eat for 15 hours (any other coach would have only gotten 3 hours). I'm certainly not the only person that felt this way. A large portion of our team are Ironteam 2006 Alumni who came back just to race under Wayne's leadership. I can't believe the man that preached Commitment and Consistency bailed on us...



Ok, now that that's off my chest, I can say that his departure has really forced me to reevaluate why I'm doing this. Being coached by Wayne was a false sense of security, because come August 30th, I'm the one that's going to have to jump off the dock and find a way to cross the finish line in under 17 hours. If anything, this may just make me a little tougher. Our new Head Coach, Dave, is super enthusiastic and determined to make this a great season for all of us.



Condition: Dissappointed but still Determined

Week 7 & 8: Holidays & Michigan Weather...Excuses, Excuses

Condition: Lazy