Week 24- 03.17.08- 03.23.08

So next week is taper week but apparently I started it a week early! This week, I was just bogged down with work (buying Holiday line) and mentally, I just needed a little break from all the training and just everything I am committed to at this point and that held true through the weekend. Gasp! Because I haven't hung out with my Spring team friends in awhile, I volunteered to do water safety for them for their first open water swim! I brought my old mentees Ben and Steve cookies. I've been promising them that I'd bake them some cookies but I don't exactly have a lot of extra time or energy these days so I bought them one..from Arizmendi! They were pleasantly surprised as Ben ate the whole thing as we're walking down to Aquatic Park!! I asked..don't you want something to look forward to after your swim? Sheesh! Doing water safety was a lot of fun..except the part when Todd Elliot swum right into the surfboard that I was on! The best question of the day from the 1st timers had to have been, "Are there sharks in here?"

Sunday...Mary and I had such good intentions! Original plan was to meet at Mike's Bikes in Sausalito at 7:30am and ride Alpine Dam and up to Mt Tam! Well, we forgot how cold 7:30am can be and so we were poorly under dressed! After making it through the bike path, we stood in the sun for about half an hour waiting for our fingers to defrost. It did but then our toes went bumb so we decided to park ourselves inside Starbucks until it got warm. An hour later..it's 10am...no time for Mt. Tam but we did Paradise Loop instead via Camino Alto. Lesson learned, layer it up next time!! I guess I can say to myself that I am saving my legs for training weekend this coming weekend at which I will be doing the Wildflower Long Course in it's entirety on Saturyday! I am so royally screwed!

Water safety fun!

This picture was from our bootcamp last Saturday. Lyon Street steps..6 times! 300 steps! At this point, every profanity word you can think of had raced through my head! I did laugh when I heard Pete tell himself, "I'm floating."

Workout Summary-
Swim- 0 hours and 20 minutes
Bike- 2 hours and 53 minutes
Run- 1hour and 27 minutes
Core Strength- 1 hour and 0 minutes
Total Workout- 5 hours and 40 minutes

Week 23- 03.10.08- 03.16.08

So on Tuesday in M2 spin, we had us to 2- 10 minute time trials to measure our benchmark wattage outputs. The first time I did this was last year. I struggled to maintain 120 watts! This time around..much better! First ten minute time trial, I averaged midway at 119 watts and increased my average wattage during the second five minutes to end with an average of 127 watts. We got a two minute easy spin before starting our second effort. For the second effort, I averaged half way at 128 watts and ended with an average of 138 watts putting my benchmark at 100% of 140 watts. At 117.5 pounds, not too bad! M2 was pleased with my results...so I was pleased! I remember the first time I took his class...ever...back in January of 07..I struggled to get my watts in the triple digits as he was picking on me the entire time! Now, he does the walk bys during class to peak at my efforts and keeps asking me when I can get up to the 300s...right M2...right! Haha.

This weekend was boot camp training weekend for Ironteam. Yes, my workout time summary will not exactly make sense because of the amount of time we were out there. On Saturday, the morning started at 8am and it didn't end until 4pm. I was prepared to be done by 3pm as stated in numerous emails but we weren't done until 4pm. The idea was to keep us moving and keep us moving they did. The morning started with swimming fun, a ride through a revised Alcatraz Loop which really isn't too bad of a ride at all! My time improved a few minutes from the first time I did it. Then we headed over to the Lyon Street steps where I went up and down the 300 steps about 6 times before I felt my knee feeling weird. We continued with spin..run..spin..run..and more squats before running back to Sports Basement to our cars. At the end of the day, I am not sure if I was exhausted from the workout itself or was it from just being out.

Sunday...I decided to take a mental health day! I think the steps may have been way too much for my knees and ankles..after all I was injured for most last year! There is a reason that I don't hike :)! My right ankle where I hopped up 300 steps is still way sore than I like it or feel comfortable with..hoping it will subside by morning! I should have some pictures of boot camp for you next week!! Stay tuned!

Workout Summary-
Swim- 0 hours and 55 minutes
Bike- 3 hours and 5 minutes
Run- 3 hours and 33 minutes
Core Strength- 1 hour and 0 minutes
Total Workout Summary- 8 hours and 33 minutes

Week 22- 03.03.08- 03.09.08

What a beautiful weekend this has turned out to be! As I sit here blogging, it must be 70+ degrees outside!

This week was about me learning to keep my life balanced..mainly when it comes to keeping in contact and seeing my friends. With a demanding full time job and training picking up, that can be a very hard task but I think I managed pretty well this week! A Monday night bbq, Tuesday night at Hog's Oysters, Wednesday night at the Pub after track with witty banter, homemade chips and chicken tortilla soup, had a lovely night on Thursday but by Friday night, I was home in bed! Yes, I missed out on 80's prom but if you had a 12 mile run the next morning, you too may consider missing 80's prom!

Speaking of 12 mile run, Hez and I met at the monkey bars on the Marina Green and started towards Sausalito for our 11.5 mile run which took us into downtown Sausalito. We even made it to a few open houses along the way! The run was good..long but good. Some friends will ask how I deal with long workouts and having to run 12 miles. Basically, I get mentally prepared for it during the week. It's on my mind that I am running that mileage. During the run, I break it down. Instead of thinking I have to run 12 miles, I focus on the first part of the run..6 miles. And then once I get to 6 miles, I have to turn around to get back to my car to go home so no whining there. You just do it!

My tendon that runs along my foot to my big toe has been in pain for the last two weeks..I realized yesterday that it's because my laces have been too tight! Duh! Should have known that!! After my run, I stopped by Sports Basement and walked out with way too much! I went in thinking I just needed to buy more Hammer gels to go with my sustained energy. Well, I walked out with Hammer gels, a pair of new tires, tubes, CO2s, a box of Clif bars, and more crap then I intended! One hour and $228 later, I was back in my car! Mind you, I had a 20% coupon!

Saturday afternoon, I met up with my friend Mel R. for lunch at one of my favorite spots, Lettus. It was just one of those lovely sunny afternoons that prompted you to sit out with a glass of wine to enjoy the weather and that's exactly what Mel and I decided to do! I say it like it's rare because I don't drink much but Saturday afternoon was just one of those days! Many others had the same idea as we discovered at the wine bar :).

Sunday..we had a spinerval at Lake Merced. We did 60 min on the bike and a 10 min. run...repeat 4 times! Yes people 4 times! I only made it to three because my tendon has swollen up to a bubble and wearing my running shoes or my cycling shoes..putting pressure on that tendon was too much for me to handle. I didn't want to risk injuring or irritating it more so I stopped after 3. No doubt though that I will make it up at next weekend's boot camp of workouts!

Below are pics from last Sunday's workout at Aquatic Park. I am in the orange Orca 3.8 wetsuit and a green swim cap!

Condolences goes out to the families of two local atheletes- Kristy Gough and Matt Peterson. They were struck and killed yesterday while out riding. I am once again reminded of the dangers of our sport. Drivers out there, please be more careful! We as cyclists are vulnerable out on the road!

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/03/10/MNKSVGTJ1.DTL&tsp=1

Workout Summary-
Swim- 0 hours and 58 minutes
Bike- 4 hours and 13 minutes
Run- 3 hours and 2 minutes
Core Strength- 1 hour and 0 minutes
Total Workout- 9 hours and 13 minutes

Week 21- 02.25.08- 03.02.08

Here it is- March! By the end of this month, I will be at training weekend doing the Wildflower Long Course in it's entirety! We're starting to get prepped for it training wise. The weekly workouts remained about the same...good pool swims..awesome M2 spin class..kick@ss Dailey Method core class and of course our speedy track workout. Ben, Steve, Liz, Mike and their friend Ryan was making me laugh at track because every time I ran by them, they would clap in a standing ovation type of way. Giving Iron respect is what they said but it was funny either way and had me laughing which in return made my "speed" on the track suffer.

Our weekend workouts were awesome! Saturday, we met up at Sports Basement and the plan was to ride 54 miles but at the same time..wherever we were at 10am..we had to turn around regardless of whether we hit the 27 mile halfway point or not. Our coaches wanted to gauge where we were on the bike. We rode over the Golden Gate Bridge and continued our way to Fairfax to Nicasio. The conditions were windy and the ride was hilly..especially White Hill. I hate that hill! I made it to mile 25 before Raf caught up to me...telling me to turn around. Darn it! I was 2 miles short!! Oh well..didn't feel so bad as most didn't make it to the 27 miles. I was able to ride 49.6 miles of the total 54..not happy about it but content. Seeing the Golden Gate Bridge is always a double edged sword type of feeling. It's great because it means we're almost done with the ride...it's bad because we know that we're going to be riding with a bunch of tourists on rental bikes who aren't always paying attention to the road. I actually "yelled" at a girl telling her that she can't just stop there. She gave me the dumbfounded look..no surprise. After the ride, we put on our running shoes and off we went. It was nice to see some rarely seen faces..Kamal..Kara...Raf..Judy. Below are some pics from Saturday. The funniest moment of the ride happened on the Camino Alto climb. I caught up to Raf and Kara after Hez and I got separated from them on a traffic light. Raf said, "Yi..you got fast!" I said,"Raf..you just haven't ridden your bike in awhile." And Kara said, "And I am just fat!" Kara..you're not fat! It was a funny moment.

I recruited a new TNT Tri Team member- my friend Nikki has joined the Spring Tri Team! It's hard to find a bike for someone that is sub 5 feet tall! Although she seems to think that she is 5'.
Kamal and me.
That's my baby! Love that bike..notice the baby blue pedals!
Kara and me!
Myself with Coach Pete and Hez!

Sunday was a much dreaded day. It was Aquatic Park day...bay swim..open water. I checked the water temperature in the morning..52.5 degrees! I pulled into the parking lot and wanted to turn around and go home. High winds equaled big swells in the water. I thought.."great! so screwed!" First few minutes after getting in, I was feeling really nauseous from the swell movement but from experience, I also know that the feeling will go away if I just kept swimming..so I kept swimming. After the swim, Hez and I ran together for 100 minutes through the very crowded Fisherman's Wharf and along the Embarcadero to the Ball Park and back. The weather out was gorgeous! By the time we were done with the run, the waters of Aquatic Park was nice and calm. Why couldn't it be like that two hours ago?! I would have swallowed a lot less water!

It's a habit of mine to repeat the same song on my ipod when I run..over and over and over again no matter how long the run. Song of this week- Tim Cullen's "The Valentine". Don't ask..it just was :).

Workout Summary-
Swim- 2 hour and 53 minutes
Bike- 4 hours and 40 minutes
Run- 3 hours and 1 minute
Core Strength- 1 hour and 0 minutes
Total Workout- 11 hours and 34 minutes