NO PAIN, NO GAIN...

My training this weekend was pretty hard. It tested my endurance, my strength, my commitment, and most of all my mental toughness. My weekend training started on Friday afternoon with 2 spin classes back to back. I actually only did about one and a half classes. I caught the tail end of the first class and stayed for the second. If you know Coach Elaine, you know taking one of her classes is already brutal! To top off the 2 spin classes, at the end of the second class, she had us do walking lunges.

Needless to say, my legs and butt were on fire on Saturday morning. But, we are now in "Race Phase" and I'm only about 3 months away from race day, so missing training is not an option. Saturday's training called for a 10 mile run. Coach Elaine and Coach Mike had us meet in Oakland for a trail run. The trail had some pretty tough hills so I jogged/walked, and the hills of course added to my legs and butt that were already on fire. Woo hoo for pain! =P

Needless to say, I needed some coercing to get to training on Sunday. Sunday called for a swim and a 90 mile bike ride. With my legs about to fall off, I didn't know how I was going to handle this. Thank Lord I have Phil to kick me out of bed and remind me about how close my actual race day is, anddddd cook me breakfast. =) So my training started at 8am with a swim in a lagoon in Redwood City. I swam only for a little while as I wanted to save my legs for the 90 mile ride. Although I only finished 60 miles of the 90, this ride was the toughest ride I've done BY FAR! In my estimation at least 80% of this ride was climbing. =O With my legs already feeling the pain which was even worse by now, I already was feeling defeat at the start of the ride. But, I rode through the pain and got through some of the toughest hills of my riding life. The hardest hill had a 6 mile climb. Can you imagine riding a bike on a STEEP incline for 6 miles? I'll admit I had to get off and walk a couple of times and I even cried b/c this hill had really killed my spirits. But, we got to the top of the hill finally got to the turn we were looking for b/c this hill really seemed like it had NO END!!! We had to get home so we kept going, Coach Mike and Coach Pete picked me up about mile 60 since it was getting cold and about to be dark. I got back to my car at almost 7pm. So I trained from 8am to 7pm, rode from Redwood City to Saratoga and almost back! Although, I've done more miles than this before, like I said, THIS HAS BEEN THE TOUGHEST RIDE BY FARRR!

Although this ride had me thinking some really negative thoughts, I know all this pain will ultimately help me in the end. All the pain I'm suffering from now will only help me on race day. Phil, thank you for being my annoying reminder b/c my lazy ass definitely needs a kick from time to time. And, mostly thank you for supporting me with all the talks when I start to second guess myself and knowing what do to get me where I need to be. Elaine, thank you for the talk this morning. I definitly needed the support and the encouragement after yesterday's training. And it means a lot b/c you know where I'm coming from. And, I'm glad you all can see that I'm definitely pushing myself past limits I've never thought I had. I never would have imagined doing any of this and to know all that I've accomplished already makes me feel even more determined to finish my IRONMAN!

Thank you everyone for understanding why I'm so M.I.A. and supporting me with all your encouragement.

my new loves

Say "Hello!" to my new loves...hahaha =P This past weekend we spent time in San Diego for Joni and John's wedding (I don't have pictures for this yet, so I can't post them). But, I got to spoil myself just a little and bought these things from Betsy Johnson. I bought a few other things, but these were my favorite purchase. Aren't they cute? Don't be jealous!!!

janice x2 = inspiration

on saturday, i rode a trail that was a total of 60 miles. it was a pretty demanding trail and i definitely had to push my limits once again, especially when you are climbing up a long and tough grade with the wind pushing against you. but, i do feel myself getting more comfortable on my bike and keeping track of my nuitrition. and i don't feel so anxious when i see hill anymore as i've learned to take it "one pedal stroke at a time." =)

on saturday, i had two janice's in mind keeping me going. janice, my teammate, is a mom on seven, a grandma and an awesome teammate. she was smoking me on the trail and i kept thinking "keep up with her." one, b/c i knew we both needed to end as soon as possible, we had places to be, and two, b/c i didn't want to get lost! she's awesome!

the other janice, is my sister. i was trying to be done and race back to the school as soon as possible b/c i did NOT want to miss my sister's black belt ceremony. so i kept my eye on my clock and my milage and kept calculating in my head..."i've gone this many miles in this amount of time, i should be back by this time"..."more than half way there"...anyhow, i made it right on time with my birght sign and all!


CONGRATULATIONS!!!

71 miles on my bike

training this weekend was pretty hard. i actually did the most mileage on my bike yesterday. i was supposed to ride out 82 miles, but i ended with 71 miles under my belt. =) the ride had some rolling hills, which i've learned to love b/c i can speed down the hill and almost ride about half way up my next hill, which means less work for me. =P i'm not sure what my highest speed was yesterday, i'd have to check, but the last i checked, i hit up to 25.1 miles per hour. funnnn! but, there were many many huge hills on this ride, i tackled all of them on the way to the turn around point, but coming back was a bit of a challenge. i fell coming up a hill b/c i was a bit fatigued and got some more war wounds. really, my knees are all bruised, i was malled by one of my gears, and i have a nasty bruise on my hip. but, i got up and rode out to 71 miles. coach mike and coach pete saved me at mile 71 b/c the course was a little too hard than they anticipated. and, i've learned i REALLY need a new bike seat b/c after 71 miles my rear is NOT happy.

overall, i'm really glad i got to tackle this ride and am happy with the mileage i put in.

Scrapbooking Fundraiser = SUCCESS

I wanted to say thank you to everyone that came out to my fundraiser this weekend. I hope you all had as much fun as I did. Che, thanks for doing that one page for me, and for hanging out even though you forgot your pictures...hahahahaa! Auntie Rose, Cecily, Sabrina, Annette, and Grace I hope you got to add a couple of pages to the books you've already started. Auntie Cynthia, Ashley, and Mae welcome to your new addiction. Jimbo, thank you for being a sport and chilling with us. Mom, thanks for coming out to support! And a special thanks to Vivien for helping me put this together and teaching the class. Everyone loved it and we got a couple of more people hooked. I have some more victims to introduce you to as well. =)

even more accomplished

as my training goes on, it keeps getting harder and harder and i keep progressing =). this weekend we camped out at lake san antonio and we had our half iron distance race on saturday. soooo...essentially i would have to swim 1.2 miles, bike 56 miles, and run 13.1 miles.

the swim was quite pleasant, as it was in a lake, and not the COLD & SALTY bay. the water was cold but definitely not as cold as aquatic park and we didn't have the waves fighting us. my swim went quite well, i finished in 54mins, and i beat my projected time by 4 mins =)!!! i would've been faster if i could swim straight and swam more by the shore, but that's something i can work on.


we all know that biking is my weakest point, so when everyone was warning me that this was one of the hardest bike courses for triathlons, i was not looking forward to it AT ALL! as i said this was a 56 mile course, so this weekend was the furthest that i rode my bike ever! not to mention all the hills and the biggest one of all called "NASTY GRADE." trust me it was VERY NASTY! i had to take a rest a little before getting to the top (and i was soooo exhausted that i couldn't clip out in time and fell over), but i finished it....and i didn't walk my bike up like some people. i was determined to get this done. although the ironman bike course is double the distance, it is not as hard as this course, so if i can conquer this, i'm sure to conquer the ironman course.

here is a picture of just the bike course and an elevation map so you can see what i'm talking about when i say it one of the hardest triathlon courses and you can see the elevation of "NASTY GRADE"

i also got to meet one of the cutest honorees. his name is TYLER. he's only 5 years old and he has the courage to fight with cancer. this is why i fundraise.

halfway there

i'm getting pretty anxious...my half way to Iron race is this weekend at lake san antonio. that means i'll be racing the half distances of the the actual race.

if you've talked to me you know that biking makes me the most nervous, even though every seems to think it's the easiest. the course that we are biking has the hardest bike course of all triathlons. of course that doesn't make me feel any better, but when i finish, i'm sure to have more confidance knowing i've conquered those hills.

i'll be sure to post pictures and tell you all about it when i get back...wish me luck!