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.

the scrapbooking continues

my very last fundraiser for my ironman just past. b/c i got so many requests i did another scrapbooking fundraiser. i hope everyone had fun. i know i definitely took advantage of the time i got and got some really good pages done. here they are:

clearlake training weekend

this past weekend was a really big weekend for me. friday afternoon, i hitched a ride with my mentor, john, to clearlake for our training weekend. saturday morning started really early. we had to be at a former teammate, jeff's house by 630am. we were in the lake by 7am. we swam course they set up for us which was supposed to be about 2miles, but everyone thinks it was a little over 2 miles. they didn't give us our time as we came out, but i was right behind my teammate janice, who thinks we came out in about an hour and a half. =) big smiles from me b/c if i keep swimming like that, i'll definitely make my swim cutoff. remember, on race day, i have to finish 2.4 miles in 2 hour and 20 mins.

so after the swim we transitioned to our bikes. the bike course was about 96 miles, broken up into 4 parts, with water stops along the way (thank lord!) so i got my bike stuff on and reached my first stop. i was feeling really optimistic so i started to head out to the second stop by myself. i'm really slow on my bike, so i figured everyone behind me would catch up. after awhile, i realized i was back at the street we hit before, so i took out my directions and was going the wrong way! so, i headed back to the first stop and started my second part all over again. i was waived down by my coaches and was told to meet up with helen and coach alex and to finish out that part of the ride with them. i had a really hard time on part 3, it was about 100 degrees out and the sun beaming off the cement made it feel even harder. i tood some really long breaks but somehow managed to muster up the strength to finish out my ride. anyhow, b/c my my little detour i did an extra 12 miles! so when i finished my bike course i did a little over 100 miles! big accomplishment for me. WOO HOO!

sunday, we got to sleep in an extra hour. we had to be at our meeting spot at 730am. i ran my 12 miles and came back in to one of the best smoothies i've ever had. i don't know if it was b/c of the heat and i needed something cold in my system or what, but it sure felt good.

to my coaches, thank you for the support and the opportunity to join you for the best training weekend i've ever had. to the volunteers, thank you for the all the encouraging words. your bells and whistles made it all much easier too!

GO TEAM!