BIG KAHUNA!

Okay so it's been awhile since my last post, but my excuse is that I've been lagging because I've been training so hard (that or I've been lazy, or actually trying to do "work" at work)

Update #1- I'm a Triathlete! Completed my first triathlon with Tri for Fun! It isn't an officially timed race, so there is no official record of my results online (although you CAN read my review on racevine), and since the photographer apparently uploaded a picture of the wrong person for my bib number's finish photos I have no official proof of my finish time, but I do know that the clock read 1:32 when I crossed, and I started in wave #4 with the women under 40 or whatever (first were the pros, then the younger men, then the older men, then us) so I began the race 15min into the clock. Based on my extremely remedial math skills, that means my time was 1:17. I was wearing a watch and know that my 400yd swim only took 9min, and my T1 and T2 times were pretty fast and under 2min each, but that's all I really paid attention to. The swim was pretty easy but it was my first swim in a lake as well as my first wave start so I freaked out a bit in the beginning and never really felt like I had my flow. The bike was really flat and I passed a bunch of people which was cool, but the run included rolling hills and was pretty hard for me. The number one thing I gained from the experience is how hard it is transitioning from the bike to the run. Brutal!

Update #2- Fundraising Success: I am officially 95% of my personal fundraising goal- to double the minimum in honor of my dad! My goal for this season was to reach $6,600 and I'm planning to hit it by the end of the month. Thank you so much to all the friends and family who have supported me through this- it means so much to me and to blood cancer patients everywhere. GO TEAM! Everyone on the team is picking it up with their fundraisers too, which means lots of drinking (for a good cause).

Update #3- OPEN WATER SWIMMING! We got our TNT wetsuits and now feel like official triathletes! We now swim in Aquatic Park (or "AP" as the regulars call it) once a week with the team, and Erin and I have been doing 6am swims on Monday and Wednesday too. When you put your face down in the water you can't see anything. There are seals in the water to look out for. You have to "sight" to make sure you're even swimming in the right direction. It is cold. It tastes salty. But I love it! There's nothing quite like swimming in the bay with your friends at sunrise and walking out after a mile swim onto the shore at 7am. Bonus: there's no post-shower chlorine smell lingering in your hair for 2 days!

Update #4- BIG KAHUNA: With the success of all these updates and added confidence with our training, I've officially decided in addition to my participation in Pacific Grove, I'll also be participating in Big Kahuna- a Half Ironman on October 25th in Santa Cruz. Ahhh! I figured I might as well- once I finish Pac Grove I'll want to continue my involvement with the team anyway till the end of the season, and there is no other time I would do something like this so it makes sense to just do it now. Why not?

Countdown to Sept 12th Pacific Grove: 1 month

Countdown to Oct 25th Big Kahuna: 2 months and 2 weeks

It's coming and it's coming fast! Last week we did a 50mi bike ride on Saturday, and then on Sunday 1mi swim and 7mi run brick workout. This weekend we'll do a long run on Saturday and then have a mock triathlon on Sunday in Marin. Crazy stuff!

Tri for Fun!

This weekend I'll be participating in my first triathlon- it's a sprint distance and it's in Pleasanton- hosted by On Your Mark Events and called Tri for Fun! First heard about this last year when my friend Ritz participated while he was training for an olympic distance race in the fall, and heard about it again when Sports Basement Vinh did Tri for Fun in June. They host 3 races over summer- June, July and August- and each race is the 3rd week of the month. Rumor has it our Team in Training group is going to do our own mock race in August, but I thought why not get a head start and try it out now?

Since we won't be getting our TNT wetsuits till this Thursday (henceforth I have yet to swim in the Bay), this will actually be my first open water swim! The water at the lake in Pleasanton is supposed to be a warm 72 degrees so I'm gonna skip the wetsuit and just swim in my tri top and shorts.

Sports Basement Vinh and I will be leaving bright and early in the morning at 5:10am sharp (ha- looks like cocktails/dancing at the 1st anniversary of 3rd Fridays at 330 Ritch isn't in the cards this week!)

I'm also looking forward to documenting my first race review on Racevine... hopefully many more race reviews to come this year!

Re-Committment

Tomorrow is about halfway through the season and is our "recommitment" date. Basically it's when we recommit to Team in Training, to our specified event, and to our fundraising goal. Also when we sign up for everything related to the event weekend, including tickets for guests to the TNT event weekend dinners/events. I'm excited because both my parents, and *hopefully* my brother, will be coming out for the race. I've also heard it's one of the best tris for spectators because there are a lot of loops so you can see the people who came out to support you multiple times throughout the race.

I may be smiling here, but Thursday's workout was intense- we did the same hill repeats that we did last week but this time we did almost double the workout and it included some sprinting at the end. Apparently I'm building my endurance though because I didn't stop once and completed the workout!

Saturday we did a 60min bike in Tiburon, had the honoree potluck, and Sunday we did a swim/run workout in Novato (about an hour and a half in the pool and then a 60min run in the HEAT)

The workouts are beginning to get a little longer and we are really starting to build our endurance.

One thing I'm noticing is that I'm really starting to enjoy each of the sports. I used to hate running, and now I'm actually beginning to enjoy myself. Swimming is improving because I'm starting to nail down my form, and biking is fantastic. I've been outdoors a lot (oh heyyyy tan lines) and have seen some really gorgeous views in Marin during our trianing sessions. Biking has definitely been the best in terms of getting out there and seeing some great landscape- you obviously can't go the same distance with running and can't see as much.

This Thursday we get our wetsuits (AH!) but it's still a little while till our first open water swim together. I've never been to Aquatic Park but am looking forward to swimming in the bay for the first time and getting acclimated to the cold water!

This upcoming Saturday I think I'm going to do the Tri for Fun in Pleasanton which will be an interesting way to gauge my times, transitioning, and endurance. It will definitely be a great brick workout!

Last week: Workouts and DATE AUCTION

Monday/Wednesday: swam 1400yds (Wednesday also did Dailey Method class in the morning)
Tuesday: 60min spin class with Joel (seasoned triathlete- his class is no joke!)
Thursday: ran hills with the team near Sports Basement (pics included)
Friday off
(... aaaand apparentely took Saturday and Sunday off too- oops!)

It was 4th of July weekend and I was out of town in Napa to celebrate the holiday Saturday-Sunday. Making up for it by running this evening (did a 5.5 mile loop to/from my apt and down to Crissy Field to Hopper's Hands by the bridge) and doubling up tomorrow with a swim and spin class after work.

More importantly however, this week I've officially surpassed the 50% mark online with my fundraising goal, and am going to blow that goal through the water with all the donations I am submitting this week from the Date Auction fundraising event I hosted!

Event was a HUGE success- many thanks to everyone who came out for it and especially for all my friends who helped out collecting $10 donations at the door, got donations for the silent

 auction, and of course everyone who auctioned off a date for the event! Also special thanks to Norm Urgino, otherwise known as DJ eNORMous (pictured below) for providing the amazing music for the night as well as serving as the event's auctioneer.

In total I raised $4,300, which combined with a fundraiser at Eastside West ($295 raised) and contributions from friends and family, I should be well on my way to my fundraising goal- to DOUBLE my fundraising minimum for the season.

In addition to working hard to acheive my endurance goals this season, the mission of the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society is important to me and the reason behind why I got involved with Team in Training. Two family members have been diagnosed with CLL, one of the four main types of Leukemia, and after hearing the stories of multiple people I have crossed paths with over the past month (TNT Honorees in addition to random people at the bars or on the bus who have shared their story about being affected by blood cancer and helped by the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society) it has only solidified my committment to acheiving this goal.

If anyone would like to make a contribution to the cause, donations can be made online through my fundraising page:
http://pages.teamintraining.org/sf/pactri09/bhaags

ANY donation will add up to make a big difference. Pass along the link to friend or family members that would like to make a donation too- all donations are 100% tax deductible and you will receive a tax ID # for your records.

This week we are having an Honoree Potluck and will get to spend time with four of the honorees who will share their stories with our team and remind us all of the reason behind our group's training and raising money together.

The Good the Not-So-Bad and the Ugly

Weekdays: swam 1200 yards in the pool M/W, and biked for over an hour in Tiburon (from Mike's Bike's to Sam's) on Tuesday. Missed coached run/bleacher/core workout at Kezar on Thursday.
Saturday: Captain's workout: 35 min run and core exercises at Golden Gate Park

Sunday: coached workout in Novato, starting at the College of Marin: swim (including our 10 min time trial) and 1 hr bike ride

The good: Sports Basement in general. I seem to be going at least once every other week, if not every week, and every single person I've interacted with that works there is beyond helpful. I got my bike fit by Rocky the other day which was fantastic- they take all your measurements and make adjustments based on your proportions- my seat had to be significantly raised and it feels exponentially better. Buying gear this weekend was great too. I got the friends and family discount (15%) from this guy Pedro that works in the bike department. Stocked up on a transition bag (right), tri shorts (quick dry shorts with bike padding), tri sports bra, cycle jersey and new swim goggles (which hopefully won't fog up as much as my previous pair). I'm especially excited about the backpack because there are special compartments for both pairs of shoes, wet clothing, the wetsuit, helmet, etc etc.

The not-so-bad: Saturday's swim/bike. We hit the pool in the morning and had a reasonably quick transition and hit the road on the bike- all in the blazing heat of Novato. Felt stronger with my kick in the water and think I did alright with my 10 min time trial (got through 450 yds). Made sure to wear SPF 30 on my back and SPF 70 on my face since I've been out in the sun a lot and didn't want to get burned, but I still got a significant amount of color. The bike was one of the most challenging I've been on. There were more hills than what I've ridden before and it felt really good even though the heat was blazing and I was sweating like crazy. To the left is a picture of Erin and I after our ride, getting ready to go out with 11 people from the team to chow down on an amazing post workout meal at Toast

And the ugly: Running this week... my 35 min run was absolutely brutal on Saturday. Likely because I'm not used to running in intense heat with wind and an incline to boot, but when it comes down to it I definitely need to run outside more so I feel more comfortable with the workouts with the team. I think I might add a couple extra running workouts to my schedule during the week. I kept up with the group for the first half of the run, but toward the end started trailing behind and even walked for 10 seconds about three times.

Also pretty ugly: I fell for the first time with my clip-ins on Tuesday's ride! It wasn't bad but there was definitely blood. I definitely remembered to clip out, but my weight started to tilt toward the right on my clipped-in side and I hit the pavement hard. Could definitely be worse though.

Summer Solstice Bike Ride

Last night was the Summer Solstice- officially the longest day of the year, meaning it was light outside for a really really long time. Some chose to grab cocktails at Tipsy Pig in celebration, some chose to celebrate on their roofdecks over wine and appetizers.

I chose to go on a 2 hour bike ride. Why? Because I'm a triathlete, duh. Well a triathlete in training, don't want to get too ahead of myself here. Sports Basement Vinh took me out for a 20 mile ride across the bridge and into Saulsalito. The conditions were ideal, the views were spectacular and it was definitely the longest/most challenging ride I've gone out on. And that last hill going back up to the bridge on the way back was absolutely KILLER.

This morning: 1200 yards (drills included) in the Bay Club pool. All the lanes were filled in the pool on the left side so I had to swim in the "cold pool" which is basically for the people who actually know what they're doing. I initially felt like an amateur but soon realized I'm starting to get the hang of it- I mean I was doing flip turns for the first time!

Tan lines from this weekend's outdoor swim are ridiculous. And I absolutely love it.

Swim Practice

As I mentioned, when people ask which event I'm most nervous about I typically answer "all of them." However I do have to admit the 1 mile open water swim is slightly intimidating. A note about swimming. I did play waterpolo in high school- however it was only for one year, it was only on the "novice" team, and I wasn't exactly a star player (although I could always be counted on to cheer loud from the sidelines). We would swim a lot at practice, but that's pretty much been the extent of my swimming experience. Luckily I'm surrounded by friends who are fairly experienced and have offered help me improve! Yesterday my best friend Rachel (who happens to be a former swim instructor) came with me to the Bay Club pool and gave me some tips to help improve my stroke and my form. HUGE help, and I noticed a difference immediately. After just one lesson I noticed I was going faster and had a stronger kick as well as a better stroke. My friend Caroline has also offered to help me, as she teaches swim lessons once a week at Bay Club. In addition to this support, my roomates Helen and Annie are former CAL swimmers (Annie helped me decipher the workout drills outlined in our training calendar), and my friend Megan Coughlin's older sister Natalie is a world famous gold medal bearing olympic athlete who has set several world records (her online tips are extremely helpful!)

This weekend we had our first coached swim practice (we swam in an outdoor pool in San Anselmo- oh heyyyyy one-piece tan lines) and there were three levels of ability. I chose to swim with Group 1, but looking back I probably would have been able to hang with Group 2. Judging by this picture of Erin and I in the pool however it probably makes sense we were in the remedial swimming group (I look... "special"). Next week we'll have a 10 min time trial, and based on how many laps we accomplish within the 10 min timeframe they'll place our ability level based on that. For practice today we did a bunch of drills and spent a lot of time on our form in the water. After the swim we did some running on the track and then some core exercises.

For the race, I'll have to swim the equivalent of about 64 laps but in open water (yikes!) We'll be practicing in Aquatic Park come July to get used to open water swimming.

Looking forward to more swimming, more instruction, and more improvement!