Team Hoyt

My co-worker came across this father/son team that has done a number of endurance sports together. They've completed marathons, triathlons, and even a number of Ironmans. Being that I am currently training for Ironman, Louisville, she thought of me. She passed along a video that truely INSPIRED me. You see, the son is quadripleic with cerebral palsy. So, the dad, Dick, swims with the son, Rick, attached on a raft, has a bike with a place for Rick to sit, and pushes him on the run.

This is definitely a video worth watching:

7/30 training

so normally on wednesdays, i take elaine's first spin class and then i go out for an hour and run. work has been soooo hectic lately, that i swear i'm brain dead. i forgot all my workout stuff at home. so i made up for this by running 2 laps at lake merced. each lap is about 4.5 miles, so i got in a total of 9 miles.

the first time i actually ran the whole lake was last week. i took it a little easy, and ran it in 1 hour and 10 mins. last night when i ran my first lap took me 1 hour and 4 mins. i knocked off a whole 6 mins. WOO HOO! feeling as good as i did, i decided not to stop at the car and just go ahead with the next lap. at 1 hour and 43 mins i made it about 7.5 miles, and decided that i needed to walk some. so i did a walk/run (for instance you walk 2 min/run 8 min) the rest of the way. my second lap ended at 2 hours and 10 mins. good run...but am slightly sore today.

7/27 Triple Brick = 10.5 hours of training

today's training called for a triple brick, a 30 mile bike ride and a 50 minute run x 3. so in total i did 90 miles on my bike and ran (well, i walked) for 2.5 hours. if you keep up with my blog or even think about what i was anticipating for this training, you would know that i was NOT looking forward to this AT ALL!

well after today's workout, i feel GREAT! i was feeling sore after my ride from yesterday, so today's ride was not as pleasant as i would've wanted. not to mention the headwind that was fighting us, especially going up the hills. but, i powered through the pain and took each 30 mile loop one by one.

today was about milage, so i didn't try to kill myself at every single loop. i just wanted to make sure that i was able to finish and finish strong, which I DID! THANKS MAI for riding with me and introducing me to that great cream. i'm definitely going to get me some.

on a funny note, i've added to my collection of tan lines on my body. if you haven't seen me lately, i am a plethora of colors with tan lines all over. i have tan lines from my swimsuit, bike jersy, tank top, and bikes shorts. with the great danville heat, i added another bike jersy, a watch, my bike gloves, socks again (after i've just even that out), and more bike shorts, annndddd i look like a damn raccoon! sorry no pictures will be posted of this!

bike training 7/26

today i woke up bright and early to get in my bike work out.  it called for a 40 - 70 mile ride or 4 hours max.

mike and elaine had us meet at the corner of edgewood and canada in redwood city/san carlos.  they mapped out about a 51 mile course.  and, it was a great day for a ride today!  if i had taken any longer though, the heat might have gotten to me.  good thing i've gotten faster.  =)  as you can tell, i'm pretty happy with the ride i got in today.

normally, i ride just about 10 miles an hour, really slow!  when i got to the turn around point at about mile 31, it was a little after 2 hours, which means i was going just under 15 mph.  woo hoo!  big difference for me.  and, i didn't let myself get too apprehensive when i seen the hills.  you see, normally, when i see a hill, small or big, i tend to settle in wayyyyyy too soon and go REALLY SLOWLY, thinking to myself "slowly but surely."  this time, i attacked each hill pushing the boundaries of my comfort zone.  and i reminded myself on all the straight aways, that "the flats are n0t for resting."  i think that deserves another smiley face.  =)  

on the way to our turn around point, coach mike reminded me that we are going to have a very big day tomorrow and to take it fairly easy.  so i slowed down a bit, and didn't attack the hills as hard as i was during the first half.  in the end, i averaged about 12mph, so still i had a great ride.

can't say i'm looking forward to tomorrow.  we are doing a triple brick that will be lasting 10 hours or more.  =/  so please pray that i can make it home.  hahaha!  i'm sure i will, but will be in great agony on the drive home.  wish me luck!

Good Luck, Jonboy

My little cousin, ok not so little...my younger cousin Jonathan, known to us as Jonboy has planned to further his life endeavors by joining the military. Like his father, he decided to join the Marines.

This past Saturday, we were all able to celebrate with him on his last night of being a civilian. On Sunday afternoon, he was taken to San Jose, where he and the other recruits would stay before being shipped off to San Diego for 3 months of training. Luckily, he is in good company, as his good friend Jerald has also decided join.

JonBoy, good luck on this special journey. Although we won't have much contact with you while you are in training, know that we are always with you. You have the physical strength to endure all that will be thrown at you, and the menality to withstand all the yelling. Come on, you've trained for this your whole life, look who your dad is. LOL =P I love you and good luck. Let me know when you come home, we'll have a cousin dinner for you.

swimming triumph 7/15

this is what my workout called for:

Warm Up
-300 (G2=400, G3=500)
-6x50 (CU,s) 10” RI
=4x50 (CFS,s) 10” RI
Main Set
-10 x 100 L5 10”RI
Do not go faster than L5 which is your Ironman pace and the pace you will maintain on the next swim. Do these with 10”R rather than on an interval and keep track of your total time. Think about how this pace feels so that on race day you will know the feeling you are trying to maintain – long – strong - relaxed
-1000 L5
Your goal is to swim this in a time that equals the total time of the previous set less 1 ½ minutes (the 9x10seconds of rest you had)
Warm down
-200
Totals: G1=3000 (120 laps total)

i'm sure most of you don't know what your are reading above, but basically i was swimming in a 25 meter pool, so if i am to swim a 300, i will have to swim 12 laps. now that i have that little tid bit out of the way, i can tell you why i'm sooooo happy. the second part of my main set call for a 1000, 40 laps non-stop. now, usually if you need to rest while you are swimming, and you cannot stop on the wall, you can do a resting stroke. a resting stroke is like the side stroke or a back stroke, so you can take the time to breathe a little deeper, if needed. I WAS ABLE TO SWIM 38 TOTAL LAPS WITHOUT EVEN DOING A RESTING STROKE. lap 35 and lap 38 were my resting stroke, but i'm sure if i pushed myself harder, i could've done the whole set with out resting. =)

i've never gone so far without taking a resting stroke before. WOO HOO!

fundraising update

my fundraising website is a bit off, due to various reasons. but, i've just recieved an update of my account and with all the checks i've just sent in, I CURRENTLY HAVE $9090. WOO HOO! =D

so, i've reached my minimum, and am on my way to my personal goal of $10,000. only $910 to go.

if you would like to donate to please visit, http://www.active.com/donate/tntgsf/MLopez

Thank you all for donating and coming to my fundraisers. Your support is very much appreciated.