Whitney, FOCUS!

-----ing with My Homies

2011-05-15T08:51:00.000-07:00

Training with homies is so much easier/better > training by yourself. Why? Well first, you will actually do it. There are some days when I can just think of 8758947 excuses to NOT do my workout, but if I have a workout planned with someone, I won't bail unless I'm REALLY sick. It's no secret that I like to repeat things in my head while training, (hello, who counts to 10 a whole half marathon and is totally kosher with that?) Somehow the song, "Rollin' with my Homies" got stuck in my head and whenever I do any sort of training with others, I end up repeating ---ing with my homies ....... the entire time. (Beth, what is telling about me that I do that?!)

I started off cove-ing with my homies two weeks ago. It was only my second open water swim of the season, but it was lots of fun to swim with Marison, Hannah, Tanya, and Sal. The water was like a pool it was so calm, which helps me not hyperventilate and flip a bitch in the water. I've continued to cove with the homes this week with Fwed and trying to catch some of the draft of Charles and Taylor. Well, and Boc Choy, but he was waiting in the car. Going to the cove with other people is something that MUST happen or else I will not swim. There are too many monsters and sharks in that water for me to swim by myself!

I've been digging with my homies aka doing big gear work. Trina and Schlocks let me play catch up with them the whole time (except I never caught up) out doing GWL and Honey Springs repeats. Trina was nice enough to help me with Hi-Maintanene when he was literally falling apart.. I tried building my bike back after St. Croix and that really didn't go so well! Thank god for Paul at Hi-Tech for helping me.

Unfortuanately I had to settle with waving to my homies on my Sunday long runs because no one wanted to do a 2.5 hour run with me with Torrey Pines repeats built in. Luckily I saw enough people out on the PCH so I was able to wave and cheer a little bit.

My favorite homie workout this week was yesterday's "dying with the homies." Michele, Fwed, Honisch, Shane and I took off for a 100 mile ride. I think Michele and I were the only ones who actually had 100 miles on their schedules because when we got back to Honisch's house at 90 miles, we opted to keep going. Obviously at this point we didn't WANT to keep going, so those last 10 miles weren't cute. We stopped by Bergs house (he wasn't home, but we did get to see Kristen!), we stopped at Lululemon to see my lulu homies, and we stopped.....at Burger Lounge. After a cheeseburger, fries, and a chocolate milkshake, we were ready to finish up those last miles and get ready for the T run. We decided to run trail because that just seems to make the time go by faster. I ran the first 30 minutes with Michele, but then she turned around because she has the Encinitas Sprint Triathlon today, and didn't need to do a 2 hour T run. It was perfect because the first 30 minutes are usually death for me, but running with Michele made time fly by and before I knew it, it was time to turn around. I felt great the first 90 minutes of the run, and almost at exactly 90 minutes, my milkshake was NOT bringing all the boys to the yard. My stomach hurt, my right quad was cramping (this one cramped during St. Croix, too -- wtf!?) and I was not a happy camper. I trotter back to my car, but still had extra time to run. I ended up doing 12.5 miles which I am pretty happy about.

This weekend I got a facebook chain message from Marison and she was telling Trina and I that she had to share her training schedule with us for next week otherwise she'd start crying. Well when I saw her schedule I think I started crying because I know my shit will be really similar to hers! But just the fact that we are all in this crazy training together makes everything so much more fun and actually doable. If I had to do a 100 mile ride and 12.5 trail run by myself, I'd tell Lesley to fudge off! Thank god for all the homies!

"THAT'S WHAT I'M TALKING ABOUT"

2011-05-04T14:28:00.000-07:00

I went to St. Croix with different types of goals for my race. Instead of my goal JUST being to qualify for Kona, Lesley and I sat down and figured that I need to achieve certain things before expecting to qualify. The main one being nutrition. Sometimes I simply forget to do things. After a Dave Matthews concert one year, I realized that I honestly forgot to listen to the songs except for like 3. When there is a lot going on around me, I get a little frazzled! So the main goal for St. Croix was to concentrate on nutrition. My other goal was to hold back on the bike a bit so I could have a solid run. In previous races, I just swam and biked as hard as I could and would trot my way to the finish line. Well, I'm sick of trotting and I want to post the run splits that I do during training. Kona was fo shizzle a goal, but I wasn't going to have it be my end all, be all. In fact, the two girls in my AG that beat me bitch slapped me with their times, but I couldn't be more satisfied with this race. This is the first time that I felt I truly pushed it the whole time and never let up. I earned my third place slot ... I didn't just happen to win like last year. After some reflecting from this race, I have decided that I never was EXTREMELY satisfied about qualifying for Worlds because, in a way, it came too easily. I qualified at St. George after walking a good 6-8 miles and I qualified at Boise after "running" a 2:08. Don't get me wrong, I know that I earned those slots and put forth the hard work, but I worked SO freakin' hard at St. Croix and was no where near a slot. I have also never worked so hard during training, so having a solid race really put a smile on my face.

My mom and dad always say that I look so miserable while I'm racing and that I'm never smiling, usually because I'm bonking like a biotch on the run! This race I made another personal goal to HAVE FUN. I got a text from Tanya the day before the race and she said, "No neg self talk this weekend!! F*ck that - all good talk. You ARE strong - period. Don't worry or concern ourself w/ what other people think!!" That text made me be like, "oh! duh! I do this for fun, but I haven't had fun in a race for a long ass time." I was so caught up with these two girls in my AG who are from West point and go 4:4x in the half Ironman distance. I spent sleepless nights wondering if they were going to show up, if they train hills, if they would take the Kona slot, etc, etc. After reading T's text, I realized like who gives a fudge if they do or don't - there is NOTHING I can change now.

On to zee race:

SWIM -
Holy guacamole!! This shit was tough! It was extremely choppy going out, and the riptide/current (umm I don't know the difference!) coming back was hell! Coming back, it felt like when you are trying to swim out of the water and the waves keep pulling you back. It was such a weird feeling of trying so hard and literally not going anywhere. After swimming like an asshole-io at Oceanside, I'm really happy that I swam strong the whole time. My time was 32:xx which normally would blow for me, but I had the 3rd fastest female amateur split and the 1st was only ~40 seconds faster. That shows how hard this swim was!

BIKE -
I said damn! If people thought St. George was too hard, then I would NOT recommend this course!! I was really surprised by this course. Everyone blabs about "The Beast" and how it's so hard, blah blah blah. Yes, it wasn't cute climbing a hill that has some 21% pitches, but The Beast honestly wasn't the bad part about this course. I was so mentally prepared for this hill, so when I got to it, I just went to an easy gear and spun to the top. Well, I tried to spin as much as possible .. it wasn't easy with the steepness! What really sucked about this course was having to climb Beast #2...3,4,5,6,7,8.....745892!!! At least during St. George we climbed a hill, but then we got recovery on a downhill section or flat. The downhills were extremely technical with lots of tight turns. We would go downhill, make a 120 degree turn, losing all momentum, and then have to climb again. Not to mention the freaking humidity was draining like whoa. And the headwind. And crosswind. And downpour rain. I think I might have taken it TOO easy on the bike, but oh well. Lesley and I agreed that I'd average 230watts for the first half of the ride and between 240 and 250 for the second half. Well my powermeter refused to turn on, so I had to go off of feel. I think I was just really "feeling" a cruisey ride!

The first girl in my AG passed me at mile 15..like I wasn't even moving. The next girl passed me at mile 25, but I was able to catch back up to her and tell her where the other girl was located and how far ahead she was. The rest of the ride I was holding on for dear life trying not to get blown over. I also had a Wu Tang Clan song stuck in my head for about 40 miles. The goes, "Wu Tang Clan ain't nothing to f*ck with" so I just opted out a few words to make it, "St. Croix hills ain't nothing to f*ck with" ... on repeat. What did make me laugh, besides creating songs in my head, was this one man while I was climbing The Beast. The Beast is only 7/10 of mile, but it a full of sharp turns, so if you turn at a weird angle, you are screwed. The one turn that lead to a 21% grade a whole bunch of men were forced to get off their bikes and walk up that section. I was chugging along and this one guy saw me - the only person on their bike .. AND a female - and he starts screaming, "THAT'S WHAT I'M TALKING ABOUT!" I tried to laugh, but I was out of oxygen. Anyways, his little line kept me going the rest of the race.

RUN -
This run was the bomb. We ran out of town, through hills, to the grounds of The Buccaneer which was a resort. We then ran through the resort which had steep ass hills and was also mostly trail. We then made our way back through the hills to transition area and did it all over again. Before I left, I was talking to Simon, Lesley's husband, and explaining that I always feel like I am being hunted on the run. Usually, when I am not racing against superstars like the West point girls, I don't get caught until the run. When I am hunted down. (cough, Oceanside, cough). Simon helped give me some techniques to stay within my own race and to not worry about anything else that I cannot ch age during the race. The technique that helped the best with me was counting to 10. So that's what I did - the whole time, was count to 10. It helped maintain my cadence and my breathing patterns. A couple of times I ended up counting to 20, but you get the point. As I was making my way back to the finish line, I see Lesley on her bike riding back to her homestay. I couldn't really breathe at that point, so I just threw my cup of water at her hoping she'd recognize that it was me. It was so awesome and inspiring when she turned around and started riding along next to me for a bit cheering me on and encouraging me. She told me I only had 2.5 miles left and normally I'd be like, "aw, shit!" but it seemed like nothing. With a mile left to go, I was able to increase my speed and drop a couple of people who I'd been running with. I crossed the finish with a smile on my face knowing that I competed well throughout the entire race. Even with cramps in my right quad, I kept on going and I really didn't think that I was going to give up during any point in that run. That sure was a first! Some guy after the race told me he kept trying to catch me during the run, but couldn't I almost shit my pants because usually people pass me like a rocket on the run!!

I came in 3rd for my AG, way far behind 1st and 2nd, but it was really fun watching them race. The second place girl came back from a not so great swim and was only 2 minutes behind the winner. I had fun cheering them on throughout the race and letting them know where the other one was. As for my time, well I never though I would be over the 6 hour mark for a half Ironman, but you really just can't judge the time for this race. The course was that brutal that times are totally thrown out the window. Everyone that I talked to said their time was 40 minutes slower than what it usually is at a half. To give you an idea, the girl who won our AG last year went 5:36 -- but went low 10 at Kona. This course was crazy, but I can't wait to do it again.

My mama and dada really made the trip worth it. They are the perfect race sherpas (besides Elaine!) and they made this week so easy for me. Having people there when you're not racing with anyone else makes such a huge impact. I saw my mom during the swim and I waved to her, oops I guess I wasn't focusing! And Ma and Da were right there during the bike and during the run. The days leading up to the race they just let me be - I like to be a hermit and be secluded, but they were always around when I needed them. So, thank you Mama Bird and Doo, I appreciate you guys so much!!! They also got to meet Lesley which was really cool and they love her. Les took us to the awards ceremony so it was a lot of fun for all of us to hang out. It was SO amazing to watch Lesley race after not being able to run for 3 month prior to the event and she freaking killed it. 4th overall on a ass kicking course. Simply amazing!

~~ and before I forget, I got so many compliments on my kit (SOAS Racing) Everything from the color to the fit. Check out soasracing.com or you can check out Nytro or Running Skirts! Serious comfort right there! My calves were cramp free in my 2xu calf guards - holla! I had such sore calves after Oceanside where I forgot my 2xu, it was amazing what a difference they made in my performance AND recovery. ~~

NEXT UP, Ironman CdA !!!!!!

OH! Big old fat congrats to everyone who did Wildflower and Spring Sprint! Trina killed in, 3rd AG, 5th amateur female, fastest AG bike split. Bolly and Sonny TSU on their respective courses, and everyone who finished did a great job.

GOOD LUCK to Donald MacDonald, Debbie, and Cristy at Ironman St. George!! Can you believe Cristy is racing SG one week after St. Croix?1 Certified badass!!!!!!

Zoom Zoom

2011-04-25T16:26:00.000-07:00

Everything has been in full speed since Cal Half. I can't believe that in just two days, I will be traveling to St. Croix to race in another half Ironman. It is ALSO crazy that Ironman Couer d'Alene is in 75 days! I just finalized registration on the 70.3 World Championships in Las Vegas today. These past couple of weeks have gone by so fast, and I have been a blogging loser. I seriously get disappointed when I check in on blogs and they haven't been updated.. Beth, Tawnee, and Yasi .. I'm talking to YOU!! But I have not been updating myself! This post might be another long-y, but I will try to make it interesting so I don't lose my lone followers..aka my mom and dad ;)

1. I heard back about my appeal at Oceanside and it is a no-go. Unfortunately, it was just a shitty situation, but there is nothing that can be done. I talked to the Ironman head referee (after I stopped crying like a sausage) and he is an awesome guy. I totally understand where he is coming from, technically according to USAT rules, he can't overturn the appeal based on a "judgement call." Basically, it is my word against the ref that gave me the call. I understand and even though it still royally pisses me off that at a race as prestigious as Oceanside a ref was out there who was minimally trained and wasn't looking at the big picture of where I was "drafting," I'm over it. Nothing can be done, so it's time to move on. I don't hate the lady that gave me the card, I don't have any regrets about Oceanside, I just hope that the next time she is a ref she is CONFIDENT in issuing cards. OK - that's done with. I talked with Julie Dunkle, who is an athlete that I admire, and she was blunt and straight to the point. She told me that no one thinks I'm a cheater because I got the card, she said that we've all been there and there's nothing we can do about it. Well, HOLLA. She's right and it's time for me to focus on upcoming races.

2. BarlowLiz has vacated San Diego!! What a straight bummer. We lived next door to each other freshman year at USD and have been roommates for the past four years. While I am clearly sad about losing a best friend, I am also sad that I won't have a race partner anymore! Liz and I blindly signed up for Ironman St. George together last year not really understanding what the hell we got into. After that, she flew to Boise to watch me race and give me a bitch slappin' when I was pissed about my performance and she knocked me into reality that I still had qualified for Clearwater so I should just can it. I watched her race in her homestate, Colorado when she did the Boulder 70.3 and then she even flew out to Kona to support me in Hawaii. The night before Oceanside, I was re-reading old cards and letters of support and encouragement that friends have given me before races. One that Liz wrote to me struck a cord. She wrote, "NEVER let anyone put limitations on you and DON'T accept the people who do - you're better and stronger than that." That right there shows what a supportive friend she is. She got 3rd at IMSG and 4th at Oceanside but you would never know it because she is always too busy cheering on and applauding others. Oh jesus, now I am going to start crying - so I will leave it at that and I will see YOOOOU, BARLOW IN JUNE.

3. I honestly have no idea why I'm numbering these thoughts, but just go with it..

3 Again. Training has kicked up a notch and I am tackling the shit out of my run. Last week I had 7 hours of running which was A LOT for me. The funny thing is that it WAS a lot, but it didn't kill me and I actually did pretty well. I had an awesome day of 2xGWL with Trina. There might of been some bonking and tears, but it is workouts like those that not only bring us closer as friends, but stronger as athletes. There is a picture on facebook where I look ready to murder someone - this was a little over halfway into our ride, it was hot, we were out of water (or the water was too warm), and no one was stopping to see if we were ok. What gives, freaks!? We somehow made it back to the card and finished the day we a strong 30 minute run. The next day I just about died doing a 2.5 hour run with Erin, I made her pull me for 2 hours before I called it quits. My body was NOT having it and rather than chugging along for the junk mileage, I stopped and went home to sleep :). On Saturday I had an awesome day of SBR with Tanya. She is a self proclaimed Amazon woman, because she is like 5'11 and she is a freaking beast! We had different swim workouts, but she is a fish in the water and crazy strong on the bike. The run is both of our weakness, but we both nailed our tempo intervals and ended with smiles on our faces. I was cracking up when we got back to our cars and we saw that Tanya had left her cycling shoes out for anyone to grab. I really started snorting laughing when I was to the side of her truck and saw her front wheel was there, too! It is crazy that no one took anything during the 45 minutes we were gone!! You got lucky, girl!

4. Last year, on the recommendation from my chiropractor who I just love, Katrina Stopper (actionsportschiropractic.com) I went and saw Dr. Kim Kelly, who is a naturopathic doctor. At first, I was a little weary because I wasn't sure what a naturo-something doctor was, and didn't want to waste time and money. I went to him because I really wanted to ensure that IMSG wouldn't be a disaster because of the nagging injury in my hip. Two months before SG, I could barely run 30 minutes without pain. Katrina helped me get back to running, and I was able to do so with minimal pain. Since the race was so soon, we weren't sure how the hip would hold up doing an Ironman. I went to Dr. Kelly and he gave me biopuncture in the areas that hurt around the hip. This is what biopuncture is, based off of Dr. Kelly's website (naturedockelly.com):

"Biopuncture is a technique that combines neural therapy+, trigger point therapy, prolotherapy and homotoxicology. It stimulates the body's own healing mechanisms thus speeding up the process of injury recovery, natural rejuvenation/repair and also lowers pain and inflammation."

I also got a Myers Cocktail IV Push, which is a mixture of vitamins and things (I can't remember!) that are so easily depleted when training as hard and often as us weirdo triathletes do. It gave me an extra energy boost and I felt so healthy before the race. Both of these treatments are 100% natural and made a HUGE difference in my performance. I felt amazing during IMSG. I had no hip pain whatsoever. I don't know what I was thinking not doing to see Dr. Kelly before Kona, but I just went today to get the Myers Cocktail IV Push and biopuncture in my back. I have analyzed all of my races and I truly believe that I felt so great during St. George because of Dr. Kelly. He is so kind and has YOUR best interest in mind. I left a voicemail on Saturday hoping for an appointment on Monday and he got back to me the very next day (even though his office was closed) and was so flexible with me schedule. If you have been sick a lot this winter, have a lack of energy, or have an injury, GO SEE DR. KELLY. Seriously awesome.

So now I leave for St. Croix in two days and am SO excited because my ma and da will be there. Just like BarlowLiz, they are the best supporters and I can't wait to see those big galootis! They will get to meet Lesley, who is also racing, which will definitely be fun. Speaking of Lesley, I met with her today to go over some race strategy. We have decided that this race the goal is not going to be winning my AG or qualifying for Kona (well, that is one goal, but not my MAIN goal). The goal is to nail my nutrition and to hold back a little on the bike so I kick ass on the run. Lesley always has to remind me that a perfect race isn't just going to fall in your lap because you've done the training for it. I have to be patient and execute it well. Fingers crossed for race day magic!! ;)

GOOD LUCK to everyone racing Wildflower (TSU Trina & Bolly!!) and Spring Sprint (say AMF to the people you pass, Sonny!!!)

One last thing, I saw this on my friend Chuck's facebook. It's a picture of him hammering away on Palomar Mountain. The quote under the picture says, "it's just one mountain. If you keep climbing, eventually you're going to run out of mountain." : ) Total motivation for St. Croix - the Beast is just ONE big ass mountain, but it will be over eventually!! Same thing I will think when I get negative thoughts during the run.. yes, it is going to suck, but it will be over soon!! THANKS FOR THE INSPIRATION, CHUCKIFER!!

Cry Bebe

2011-04-05T08:53:00.000-07:00

Well, I'm not able to sugar coat my thoughts on this race, so I have to say it sucked. The spectators, volunteers, weather, etc, etc, was perfect, but I just could not execute anything I knew I was capable of. I take my races very seriously and am not afraid to vocalize if I am unhappy with my performance...I'm not begging for compliments or sympathy, I am j ust writing about how I feel. One word comes to mind with this race: disappointment. I trained SO freaking hard for this race and it just didn't come together. I know that I am stronger and faster, it just blows that it did not show. Hence, the title of this blog, "Cry Bebe" because I cried like a sausage multiple times on Saturday.

SWIM - 30:xx

Ummmmmm... 30?! First of all, that isn't cute.. second of all, I haven't been getting my ass handed to me in Masters for nothing. It's frustrating because I have done so much work on my swim and am swimming faster, but this was my slowest HIM swim time. Just the weekend before, Lesley and I were swimming together and even though she tried to kill me with the set, I was able to keep up (except for the 100s of fly) and even give her a run for her money with the sprints. On Saturday, I don't know what the hell I was thinking, but I wasn't trying too hard and I wasn't sighting. I was blindly following another purple cap and for some reason I thought that was kosher. Note to self: swim in open water before race!

BIKE - 2:53 without penalty, 2:57 with penalty.
Cry #1 of day -

I almost flipped a shit when I heard, "1598, red card." I literally looked at my arm to see if they were really talking to me. My first thought was, "what, bitch!?" but I tried (keyword: tried) to keep my cool and just accept that I couldn't argue with the officials. What kills me is that this happened within the first 7 miles of the race, where we were on a narrow bike path. It was obviously congested because I was passing many of the waves that started before me. I would pass someone, go over to the right, feather my brakes because someone else was in front of me, and repeat. I couldn't make a one-time pass because there were SO many people. This penalty really pisses me off because I am an honest racer. Not to be obnoxious, but why the hell would I want to draft off some old twerp who was going 14mph? Seriously.

Even without the penalty, my bike time still would have sucked and was not what I was looking for. Yes, it was windy and the hills sucked, but I did St. George and I'm used to that. Plus Lesley finds ways to torture us much worse than that course so I was prepared. I did the computrainer at Aire in a time of 2:47 and you can usually ride faster than your computrainer time on race day. After talking with Lesley for a bit, I realized my nutrition was.....horrible. I had 2 GU Roctanes (love em!) and half a bottle of concentrated Infinit. That equals what? Like 300-400 calories? WHOOPS.

Even though I was pissed on the bike, I was still excited to see so many friends killing it out there. Erin Hunter passed me right before the no pass zone, so I was able to chit chat with her a little. I was seriously in shock that she was doing so well, not because I didn't think she was capable, but because she was slammed by a car in a race last year. The people around me probably thought I was a freak because I kept on being like, "WOW!!!" but she crushed the course and am super excited that she'll be in Vegas in September!! I also saw Tawnee out on the course who looked incredibly strong after being injured for the majority of last season. I was giggling to myself as she passed because I saw her cheering out on the run course in Kona and she was like, "keep it up!!" and I replied something like, "you too, you got it!" you know.. just wanted to encourage her awesome spectating skillz! (ok, maybe it was funnier in my mind at the time, but she looked awesome and I'm excited to see her crush IM Canada!)

RUN- 2:06

This is where I'm really pissed in my race, but there is totally a glimmer of hope because I was able to average ~8:45 for the first 6.5 miles. The second loop I just died (nutrition, maybe?) I gave up mentally because I knew that I was in first at that point, but I saw second place moving like a freaking mountain goat and quickly closing the gap. Giving up is definitely my weakest part of racing and something that I will have to work on. I know that I am capable of running so much faster, and am so happy that Les and I are going to sit down and work this shit out. For now, I have to be careful for what I wish for because my training plan is totally focused on the run now. GREAT!!

TOTAL: 5:40:xx
Congratulations, Whitters, that was my second slowest half IM!

Even though this race was ass for me, I am so appreciative of the support that surrounds me. Tanya (GOTRIbal founder) rode up to Oceanside to cheer, and she totally saw that I was hurting. In her cycling shoes, she clopped and ran next me cheering and encouraging me the whole way. Brit, Stephanie's (co-founder of SOAS)husband, kept me updated as to what place I'm in and cheered when I thought I was going to die, GOTRIbal ladies: Leony, Gina, and Janet were so sweet after the race and didn't judge me when I cried talking about the penalty (Cry #2). Kebby & Steph are freaking amazing out on the course and are always so supportive.. I am so honored to rock the SOAS kit and be apart of something so amazing. Whenever I passed a girl in the kit, there was always a "GO GIRL" cheer or wave - truly amazing. Since I was wearing a different kit, a lot of my old teammates didn't recognize me and I was left looking like a dweeb waving and cheering for them OR the trifling, good for nothing type of brother(s)/(sisters) on the sidelines looked at me like what is this fool doing waving to us and then they realized that it was moi! (the trifling, etc is part of a Destiny's Child song, just felt like singing)

Ok so the kicker as to why I am SO PISSED at this race is that 1st place girl beat me by less than 4 minutes and I had a 4 minute penalty. I don't like the "if..." game, but seriously, if I didn't have to penalty WHICH I DID NOT DESERVE, I would have been swinging my hips to a hula dance and on my way to Hawaii (Cry #3). You bet your bottom dollar I am appealing the hell out of this penalty because I. don't. draft. Like, check my Clearwater splits, mama over here does not draft!!!!!!!!

Wow, this blog is a long-y.

Cry #4 was when I talked with Felipe and Michelle. It was just nice seeing them, because they truly have been a huge part of my life the past 2.5 years. I definitely made Felipe uncomfortable by crying, but I am just a water works over here!! Even though I know I made the right decision by switching to Lesley, I still respect Lipe as an amazing coach and am forever grateful to where he has gotten me. Most of all, I miss seeing everyone almost daily, so yes, I cried like a freak.

Oceanside was a 70.3 first for many of my friends - Marison, Erin, Fred, Michelle, CONGRATS - you did it!! I know there will be more to come for all of you ;)

For now, I have to wait on the appeal and be content with the Vegas Half Ironman World Championships. Obviously I'm not content, but I'm getting my ass to Kona one way or another.

GOTRIbal + Other Adventures

2011-03-24T17:09:00.000-07:00

I have always had a core group of girl friends, (my Peas in a Pod - what whaaat) but while training, I tend to train with the guys. There's really no reason why, that's just the way it went. Things are changing now, and I am definitely getting in on the Girl POwer bandwagon. Trina, Bolly, and Sonny (all nicknames, obviously) are some tough ladies that I love to train with.

.... I know there was a point to why I was writing that.. but I tried typing this bad boy with Pandora on, and I really can not think and listening to music at the same time.

.... Anyways, the point that I so flawlessly am trying to get across is that I'm really enjoying new training partners, and new opportunities to train with other female endurance athletes. Tanya, this bitchin' triathlete, and founder of GOTRIbal approached me last year and asked if I wanted to host a meet up for her and other GOTRIbal athletes. I was like, sure?! I really did not know much about GOTRIbal, but Tanya has this amazing attitude about endurance sports and empowering women, so I agreed to it. It turned out to be fun.... but also really uncomfortable. I was supposed to sit and talk to other triathletes...about me! It became evident that "awkward" is my middle name, but somehow I left the meeting with some cool new friends. Some girls were doing their first sprint triathlon, some were moms who wanted to train when they had the time, everyone had their unique story. What was just SO freakin' weird to me was that they WANTED to hear my story, and they were inspired by me!

Tanya and Marison (aka Sonny) gave me another opportunity to reach out to GOTRIbal athletes by allowing me to be on their athletes panel during their annual conference. To be honest, I was never really into female only teams, I thought it was kind of weird and fu fu-ish. Once you meet Tanya, you will know that this is the least fu-fu community, ever. It isn't a "girls just want to have fun!!!!!!!!!!!!!! oxoxoxoxoxxox peace, love, flower, ponies," team - it is legit endurance athletes. Chrissie Wellington is the chief ambassador and we all know she is a BAMF!!!!

The group was described to me as a place for women, serious about endurance sports. Not everyone has to be an elite athlete, but they have to be dedicated. Marison, who works with Tanya, is the absolute perfect example of that. Marison works her little booty off, and is not intimidated by who she is training with, or what type of workout she is facing. She just gets shit done! Trina and I are always like, damn! When training with her, because she doesn't complain, either! ( I may or may not be a huge baby and complain ... a lot ;) ). Well, Tanya and Marison have given me another opportunity to hang with the GOTRIbal chicas by making me an ambassador!! Check out the website (gotribalnow.com) and see what all of the hooplah is about! I'm honored to be an ambassador among so many other talented athletes...many who are named Kelly! haha.. but hopefully we can all meet and race in NZ...2013?!

~~~

In other news, completely nonrelated, Oceanside is in ~1 week. I've been in bed sick for the past week, great!! After many frantic, tearful phone calls to Lesley, I think I should be fine for the race.. but it was such a bummer to miss all of this training. I am going bonkers now because I feel better, but have been ordered to NOT workout. Hopefully tomorrow I will feel fine after a light spin and can be back at it on Saturday.

That's all for now - I'm off to go watch the last bit of the torture session aka Les' brick workout and then grab a bday din with some of the crew!

I think I am the only 23 year old in the world who was dreading their birthday...mainly because next March 23rd I will be 24.. and that means aging up!!!!!!!!!!! (in IM years!)

2011-02-21T10:23:00.000-08:00

Oh yeah, oh yeah, I'm going to the Islands. Coincidentally, after Pistol Pete, aka Daddy was badgering me about get a job (hell- o o o, I am student teaching AND working at lululemon!!) I decided to ask if I could sign up for St. Croix 70.3. I like to see just how far I can push his buttons. Our conversation went something like this:

Pistol Pete: How's student teaching?
Whitters: I love it, except all the kids got me sick.
PP: Are they paying you yet?
W: No, can you send me some money?
PP: Yeah... right! Here's your mother.
W: Wait, I have April off for Spring Break. Can I sign up for St Croix Half Ironman?
PP: Yeah, when you get a job.
W: I have a job.
PP: So when you can pay for it, you sign up.
W: Let me try mama.

_____

W: Want to go to St. Croix to see me race?
Mamabird: Ugh, ye-yuh! When is it?
W: May.

a little while later...

MB: So, since we're going to St. Croix, does this mean we can skip Idaho?

St. Croix.... Idaho... St. Croix.... Idaho....

Us New Jersey folk clearly know where to vacation!!

If you couldn't guess from the conversations above, I signed up for St. Croix 70.3. SUPER excited. I haven't talked to Lesley yet about how I'm going to race it with Oceanside only 4weeks before, but all I know is that I am SUPER excited about going. Not only that, I have my parental units going who are the best supporters out there. Signing up for this race has definitely given me an extra "oomph" in my training. This week started out shitty having caught the flu that everyone seems to be getting. Things started getting better and Thursday was awesome with a tempo run where I managed 7:30-7:40 pace for each 10 minute interval. Sunday was an awesome run through Mission Trails with Trina, Andrea, and Moira. Moira is the teacher whose class I do my student teaching in. She is an ultramarathoner and just a crazy talented athlete. She lead us throgh the trails while Trina, Andrea, and I just hung on.

My last update is that I somehow managed to pop a rib out of place! I'm going to my amazing chiropractor, Katrina Stopper, today to get this bad boy popped back in. If you ever need any injury healed quickly - Katrina is your girl! The pain was horrible on Thursday/Friday and bearable on Saturday. I almost didn't even feel it on Sunday during the run (well, first 80 minutes of it), but I'm going today to make sure everything is in its right spot! Other than that, I'm in my routine of training, student teaching, training. I feel like Yasi who wakes up at odd hours, is in constant thought of when/where workouts will be done.. but somehow, they are always done! Ok.. maybe I've skipped a swim and gym workout.. but I'm only human ... and I hate the gym!

Oh, and Pistol Pete/Mama Bird didn't just say OKAY! and pay my way for this race. I am dangerously close to red lining after paying my portion. Just kidding on the red line. Kind of.....

Still Dre

2011-02-06T10:43:00.000-08:00

I thought of what I should title this blog post during a run, and at the time, it was genius. I now have no recollection of why I would ever title it, "Still Dre" other than the fact that I am currently McLovin' Dr. Dre all over again. It could be the fact that I ate shit and when I fell, I knocked all sense out of my head. Definitely a possibility. Anyways, this clearly is the first post in a long time. I'm not going to pretend that I have a life and am too busy to blog, well...because.. anyone who is blogging clearly has time to and may - or may not - have a life. Ok, fine.. maybe it is just me without the life. Moving on.. after Clearwater I was in a bit of a rut and not digging the training or anything triathlon related at all. Felipe thankfully gave me two weeks COMPLETELY off.. and that was amazing. Having that time off made me feel human again, and it was enough time to recharge my batteries. Even though I try to be, I am not an Energizer Bunny who can keep going..and going..and going. Basically, I was burnt out. That burnt out feeling is long gone now and I can happily say that I am enjoying training again.

After my weeks off, I had a couple of solid training weeks back with Breakaway. I especially felt great on the track with Emily and Jenny who are running superstars. The track sessions usually consisted of me yelling at them to slow down and that we were above z3, but thankfully they never listened to me. About a month ago I made the extremely difficult decision to begin training with Lesley Patterson. My friend Katie captured what most people were probably thinking, "what?! you practically bleed orange!" What she said was totally true, which is why the decision was so hard. There are really no juicy details that I can give you as to why I made this decision except that I decided that it would be the best decision for me to make as an athlete. That's it! I have nothing but respect and appreciation for Felipe and without him I would have never gotten to Kona or Clearwater, hell, I'd still be renting a mountain bike the day before Mission Bay and racing in homemade cotton tye dye shirts. Felipe is an amazing coach and probably the most generous one that you will meet. Not only is Felipe amazing, but the whole team is great, too. I could go on and on, but I think through my previous posts it is obvious how much love I have for it. Plus,I'm starting to tear up and it's just weird (I honestly am becoming more and more like my mom.. she cries at Folger commercials, and great.. I do too now).

While I pride myself on giving great nicknames to people, Lesley hasn't quite gotten a good one yet. Les is too common, so the most appropriate one for now is "Scottish Devil." Another friend calls her something like "Corrupt Tinkerbell" or something like that. Think that's funny? Just wait until you have a 90 pound, 5 foot demon kicking YOUR ass, and you won't think it's so funny anymore! Seriously, it is just bizarre that someone that tiny can produce such strength. The best part of Devil Woman is not her intensity, it is that she is so funny. After a hellacious swim set at UCSD, she turns and looks at me, completely serious and goes, "Ah f***, I think I've just shit myself!" Her word choice, or maybe just her appreciation for the "F" word cracks me up..until it is directed at me! Most importantly, I'm really happy training with her and I am seeing improvements in my run and bike. As I've said many times before, I am a masher on the bike, and on the run, my cadence is like 2. Wait, let me rephrase that.. I WAS!!! I've been doing lots of spinning/high cadence on the bike and lots of exercises/drill to improve cadence on the run. During my 5 miles time trial today, I was freaking Tony the Tiger feeling great. I was told to maintain a certain heartrate, and the 5 miles actually felt easy. The kicker is that it was at a 7:35.80 pace (I couldn't say 7:36 pace.. because that just wouldn't be kosher). My motivation may have come from Lesley riding next to me reminding me of proper form, but I am happy!!!!

So, those are the latest updates from me. This Friday, my friend Jess is taking me mountain biking, and I will see if any XTERRA races are in my future. First, I will have to make it out alive... wish me luck!

Love,
Whitters, Baca, and Goofy

Over and Out

2010-11-17T11:44:00.000-08:00

Oh, thank heaven for 7-11 .... and for off season. These last few works work a-not kosher b-hard and c-not focused. I think mentally after Kona I was just done. I did not achieve my goal.. or was even close to it, and I think it took a bigger toll on me then I let on. Bummerinski. My training for Clearwater, therefore, was not cute. I did not want to be doing to workouts and it showed. Phillip was like WTF? but I just could not motivate myself.

My lack of motivation was clearly evident when I finally booked my flight/hotel for Florida about 4 days out from the races. WHOOPS. I guess I got what I deserved when I had to stay in the Best Western. That place was going to be my place of death, I thought. Thank god for double locked doors. Anyways, I got a little more pumped for the race when I met up with Chris and Kristen. Luckily they let me tag along with them for the majority of the trip.. or maybe Felipe just threatened Chris and made him.. who knows. I also was lucky enough to meet up with Kebby and Stephanie, the lovely ladies behind Soas Racing. They are freaking hilarious and are so stress free. My old roommate, Katie aka Trina, and I tarted our way through the expo, not knowing where anything is.. but we found it! We also made friends with someone who shared our sick sense of humor. Anyone who is not turned off by us talking about red swim caps being bad since our heads would be bleeding is OK in my book. Right.. ok..

So the night before the race I decide that I am actually motivated to race and that there is no pressure since I already qualified for this race. I've learned (the hard way) A LOT recently that things will not go my way just because I decide that I want them to. For example, there was not a great chance that I would break 5 hours when I had been training like shit since Kona. Just because I suddenly decided that I wanted to race, and race fast, didn't mean shit! Man, I hate learning this lesson!!!!! So maybe, just maybe, I can get my way if I put in the training and focus on this goal ...next season.

Alright. On to the actual race report:

Swim-
The water wasn't too cold, around 66 degrees. I was surprised by how choppy the water was since it looked flat. I didn't know if it was an in water start or beach start and was very confused when everyone in my wave ran into the water after the wave before us. I followed and then didn't get it when they all ran back out. Apparently it was a beach start. The buoys were drifting so it made for a zig zag of a swim which is why my swim was a little slower than usual (29:xx)

Bike-
Oh sweet jesus, I don't even want to get into the bike. 2 words come to mind: drafting and ch-ch-cheaters. Everyone knows that Clearwater is notorious for drafting, so I won't lay into it. Seriously, though, it was ridiculous. At least I can sleep at night knowing I raced an honest race. Contrary to the packs of 50-100 riders, I rode most of the race into the headwind by myself. I actually slowed down to look over my shoulder to see if I was going the right way since there was no one else around me. My bike split was a PR for me at 2:32.

Run-
I've told Pai (aka Phyllis aka Phillip aka Felipe) that my has been frustrating me soo much. Obviously, I have been running like a mofo heffer and it isn't making sense to me. There is no reason why I can run a 1:40 half mary but run over 2 hours in a HIM. Anyways, this little 2:10 run was not cute and not enjoyable. I will not be running that shit next season!!!!

ATL is on VH1 right now and I have no more interest in writing this race report. I am excited for the off season and will be focusing on strength conditioning.

OVER AND OUT

Kiz-ona

2010-10-20T14:43:00.000-07:00

Ni Hao Y'all...

This blog is purposely being written many days after the race so I have had time to appreciate what I did instead of just beating myself up as I usually do. My friend Becca is always hard on herself (sorry for totally calling you out, chica!!!) even when she does really well. I told her that she has to appreciate even the smallest victories in order to achieve something really great. When I told Liz this, that little stool totally called me out saying that I don't celebrate any victories of my own. I thought that I had been getting better about beating myself up, but Liz so greatly helped remind me that I haven't. "What about Boise?" Ok, so the first thing I did after I finished Boise was complain that I sucked. SO, writing this entry, I'm not going to complain about how my race went in Kona because 1- it already happened and 2- I finished. Therefore, I achieved my main goal - finishing.

While my main goal for every race is to finish, especially an Ironman, I am never quite content with just finishing. My secret goal for Kona was to finish top 5 in my age group. ODOOOhhhh I said it out loud!! Ok, well maybe Felipe and Michelle knew that goal, but I kept it pretty quiet from everyone else. Did I achieve that goal? Hells to the no! I actually did a great job of achieving quite the opposite: bottom 5 in my age group! But, shit happens and I've finally come to understand all the talented athletes that competed in the race. I'm oddly ok with the results of the race and it just fuels me even more to qualify again next year.

The day before I left for Hawaii I raced in the Mission Bay Triathlon because it was the first race I did in San Diego and it's fun to race with so many teammates. Perhaps that wasn't the smartest thing to do as Mission Bay is like ass water and immediately after the race I didn't feel too hot. I blamed my sick feelings on nerves and just ignored it. The Nerf fight at Phyllis' wasn't even fun for me because I didn't feel well!! WTF! The next day I still thought the nauseous feeling was nerves, and I continued to go on my merry little way. When I got to Hawaii that night, I trucked along Ali'i Drive trying to find a grocery and when I got back, I went to bed instead of eating. I woke up that night blowing chunks until morning. Awesome!! I texted Phyllis and I agreed not to worry because it was on Tuesday. Tuesday I didn't move at all until Wednesday when my parents, Liz, and Elaine got in. Long story short, the shitty feeling didn't go away until Friday when I finally agreed to go to a doctor. The doc gave me some meds and I immediately felt like I could actually function.

Luckily my gal Kathy was in Kona and texting me and checking in to make sure I was ok. She is the one who convinced me to get to the start line because I honestly thought that if I started I would have to DNF. That badass did IMAZ with a 101 fever, double ear infection, etc. so I knew that if she could do it, I could. The only problem that I had was lack of energy because I couldn't eat much the week leading up to the race. Those who know me well know that I was not a happy camper that I missed my carbo loading day. Seriously, who does an Ironman for the actual race? I do them for the carb days!!! just kidding. kind of.

Anyways, I don't feel like getting into a legit race report because that would be too long. Here are my key thoughts on the race:

SWIM:
-lost all energy at turn around
-most people are 58' swimmers, so I totally felt the dishwasher mess
-horrible wetsuit hickeys
-8' slower than IMSG. oops.

BIKE:
-thought I was going to pass out from dizziness first 5 miles
-very grateful that aid stations were 5 miles apart
-wind blew donkey
-lonely ride!! where the hell was everyone else?

RUN:
-uhhh
-first 10 miles ran
-spectators were awesome
-no one was walking when I was. awesome feeling!
-last mile, well last 1/4mile on Ali'i Drive was amazing

Overall, I finished in 13'15. My other secret goal was to finish in 11'30, but that will be done another time! In a way, I am somewhat happy that I experienced such a difficult time racing because all of my other races have been fine. Yes I have felt like I wanted to give up, but I always knew that I was going to finish. I spent the week before the race freaking out and crying (in private, of course) because I really didn't think I would get to the start line. During the race, all I knew was that I was going to be out on the course until I either got pulled off or I passed out. Now I can say that I truly understand and respect the Ironman distance.

I've got some huge Mahalo's to give to people. (I don't know why, but I freaking love this word. While I was making myself laugh walking on the run, I would scream MAHALO to the volunteers or people who cheered for me. Weird, but I had to do something to entertain myself).

MAHALO to Phyllis and Shelly for trekking all the way to Kona to watch me race. Mahalo Phyllis for putting up with me and for training me. I'd still be wearing tye dye if it weren't for you!

MAHALO to Gizzy for never once complaining about missing work/sherpaing/jackassing all over and for always coming to support me. You came to Boise and Kona just to watch me race and that means a lot!! Passss the key. You da girl, the little charm on my shoe says it all!

MAHALO to E for being my racedaysherpa, for getting me ready for both of my Ironman races and for coming to both of them. I'd be clueless without you. Thank you for your constant entertainment and knowledge.

Last but not least, MAHALO to Mama Bird and Daddy for jackassing across the country only to have to take care of your sick and grumpy baby! Mama's painted toes, the face signs, and everything show your continual support for me. You guys never complained about doing anything that week, even with your sun poisoned lip! I LOVE YOU.

Sorry to go all Academy Award here, but those people truly deserve a thank you because they went above and beyond for me and I am forever grateful. I know that I am a real cockroach before races with my nerves, but I was a cockroach times twelve adding sickness to nerves.

Without the constant messages and phone calls from all my friends, I'm sure I would have bitched out and reallllly try to talk myself out of the race. I was sooo happy to get messages from such amazing people. From two girls that I raced against in St. George, to a volunteer from St. George, from my best friend Marybeth, to my Aunt Cathy who almost had to come race for me ( :) ), to Nicole and Adam in London and Christiane in Germany, Chardis in China, you guys all mean a lot!!!! MAHALO to everyone in SD - you guys rock the socks.

I'll leave you now with some pictures from Hawaii. i'd put one to show you how much I was hating life on the run, but I literally look like Shrek so I'm going to do a favor for my ego and not put it up.

This or That

2010-09-20T15:30:00.000-07:00

It's been awhile since I've last posted, and nothing memorable is sticking out in my mind to babble about. I thought of the tittle of this post, "this or that" while on a 6 hour (almost) solo ride. I was supposed to ride with my friend up to Malibu the day before the Classic distance race, but he got really sick and couldn't make it. I could probably get lost in a paper bag so there was no way that I was going to ride up by myself. After freaking out and almost crying at work because my plans were ruined, Phyllis gave me the "Kona prep" workout. 6 hours on Fiesta Island. When Phyll first told me that I wanted to continue to cry, but I figured that I wouldn't get lost there! Luckily (for me), there was a TTT going on until 9am so I rode from my house to Fiesta which took an hour, met E on the island for a couple of hours, then rode back. I of course got lost riding back to my house and ended up in a sketchy area. Some creepo asked me my name and when I didn't answer ... mama taught me not to talk to strangers!!! ... the fool drove off screaming, "well you have a fat ass!!!!" bahahahaha fudge him.

So back to the title of the post.. Chris and Phyllis were rudely laughing at me once I realized that I had to ride 6 hours the day before a race. Chris was laughing as he told me that my race was going to be "garbage." As I whined to Phyllis and begged for some sort of taper, he put it into perspective for me: do I want to do well at Malibu, or do I want to do well at Kona? Ok. Point taken. So I had to choose this race, or that race. Can you tell which race I want to do well at?

When I finally made it to Malibu, I met up with Liz and Katie at the Xterra booth and hung out there for the rest of the day. Later Liz and I had din with T, Sydney, Kristen, and Chris. There, T told me of the secret parking area which saved LOTS of time in the morning. Thanks T!!!! Race morning was freaking freezing and overcast. Great!!! The water was 58 but Bergus told me to wear two caps so at least I didn't get brain freeze. Coming out of the water, I saw Liz and she told me I was first out. I had my ear plug in (since I broke my ear drum!!!) and couldn't hear her. I'm sure my "WHAaaAAAAT??" was really cute and professional-looking. People probably thought it was my first triathlon again :)

I got to T1 and couldn't get the freaking wetsuit off my body, but once I finally did and was running out to the bike course I saw Bobbie and Becca from TCSD and they are the most amazing cheerleaders! They make anyone feel like a million dollars and you can see from the huge smile on my face in a picture that they took I was happy to see them! As soon as I got on the bike was when I began to feel the 6 hours from the day before and the rest of the previous weeks build phase. Chris told me that my legs would feel like lead, but that I would be fine. I just kept telling myself that this was normal and to keep moving. At the turn around spot a girl passed me, but I looked and she had 27 written on the calf, so I was like oh well! who cares!? But then I saw that she wasn't putting much distance between us so I silently cursed her and began hunting her down. I think I beat her into T2 by like 5 seconds, and had to give her a "good job, girl" as we ran to our bike racks. I left T2 right on her tail but my heart was flipping palpitating as she set the pace. I saw Chris and Kristen as we turned the first corner, and I tried to stay with this girl a little longer but I knew that my legs would not allow me to maintain this 6:37 pace. (hahaha yea, right!!!) I still had a fairly good run and finished 2nd amateur overall. I was happy, hungry, but had to get moving to get back to work at Lulu!! I stayed for awards and was SO excited to see Sydney place 4th in her FIRST triathlon and T 2nd in his AG!!! The Bergs ROCK!

I am currently in my last build phase before the taper begins. The 27th can't come any sooner!!!! I was supposed to have my last 6 hour ride on Saturday, but due to my crank coming off my bottom bracket, I moved that to today. I was almost laughing as I was having a hissy fit when Jim told me that it was too dangerous to ride any further because I had just read Beth's post on making it work. I think I am too Type A to think rationally when I am pissed because I have this strong need to check things off my training schedule! If I don't do the workout.. then... I can't check it off! noooooooOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO. But, all the shit got done so I can't complain! Hi Maintenance (my bike) was spanked and kicked a little bit, but he is behaving better and wasn't a little brute on the ride today. Thank god.

This weekend should be fun as I am a featured guest at a GOTRIbal meeting... if you are a GIRL, you should come!!! and it is also a girl's weekend in Borrego! Kath, Keb, Beth, and I are getting some heat training and suffering in which should be pretty fun. Race day is getting closer!!!!! WAAaaHHHH

Space Jam

2010-09-05T18:35:00.000-07:00

It's 6:35pm and I am in bed for the night. My legs are propped up with pillows underneath them and I am decked out in recovery gear. These last few heavy training weeks are seriously intense! Phyllis has really kicked up my running (thank god - hopefully no 4:54 marathon in Kona) and while I enjoy it, it takes a lot out of me! I had an amazing 14 mile run with Michelle aka Shelly where we ran solid and consistently. Shelly and I run together a lot and we are beginning to get a lot more consistent, especially on the track. Berg always yells at me for not being consistent, so it is awesome to have a running partner like Shelly to pace with. This morning was an 18 mile run at Blacks Beach. Sweet Jesus, that was hard .. but it felt good. Actually, that's a lie. My quads were on fire and I felt like a heffer slumping up the hills, but all in all I finished strong (trying to chase down Shelly).

After Blacks Beach, I had a 2 hr recovery ride, but I had to be in East County at 1 and I didn't think I'd have time to do it with Shelly in Rancho Bernardo. I tried finding excuses to NOT do it because I was - ugh, lazy.. but I realized I just had to stop being a sally bitch ass and just do it. Phyllis agreed to let me do it on the trainer, and that sounded much better than riding outside.

I met up with Liz, Elaine, and 3 of E's friends in East County to go skydiving!!! This was my second time going, but I was still scared shitless. I am fine before, during, and after the jump.. but the plane ride up is HORRIBLE. I hate when the people joke aka pretending to "forget" to harness us in, etc. Right away I told my jump man to not dick around because I wouldn't find it funny. Gotta put them in their place before they start these not funny jokes. This time I actually kept my eyes open so it was a really cool experience and I had a lot of fun. My instructor told me a "secret" and that secret was that our canopy (parachute) had a hole in it. Freakin' awesome!!! I'm pretty sure my response was, "Mama don't like that!" I need to stop calling myself Mama and Mommy to my dogs because it is quite uncomfortable when I say it in public.. to people. Oh well.

Tomorrow I am riding double Great Western Loop with Jim, Becca, and Erin. I'm excited to get back out there and ride this loop.. I haven't done it in so long! It should be a good ride with fun people. Soon I will be riding with Kathy and Kebby since they BOTH QUALIFIED FOR KONA AT LOUISVILLE!!! Holla at your girls!!!!!!!! I am so happy that they qualified because a- I love them and b- they are amazing athletes and totally deserve to race at Kona. They are so strong and have influenced me on my triathlon journey and it's amazing that we all get to race together in October. Yipppppppppeeeeeee!

Alright, well.. it is back to watching Bridezillas. I was in a beautiful wedding on Saturday, but thankfully the bride was totally calm and not zilla-like at all. Maybe I was extra tired at Blacks Beach today because I was dancing my fool face off at the wedding the night before! Gotta love the electric slide.

Bring on the HEAT

2010-08-23T15:55:00.000-07:00

Thank Snoop Doggy Dog that the sun is finally out in San Diego. I was honestly worried that I was going to have to heat train with insane amounts of layers for Kona preparation. Now that I had a solid week with some decent San Diego weather, I am glad to know that I still need lots more heat preparation.

The week started off with a solid Wednesday ride with Kebby. Well, we started with the guys... got dropped on the warm up because we were babbling too much, and then caught back up with them. It wasn't too long til we got dropped again on the actual ride, but we finished the route with a solid effort. I knew that my T run had to be decent since the week before Chris so nicely told me that I have to "buckle down" and stop running "15 minute miles." Now, I highly doubt that I was running 15 minute miles, but whatever pace the miles were, they were not cute and definitely needed to be faster. On Wednesday I ran like a mofo and was actually really pleased with it. I was expecting to see Chris drive by yelling at me to hurry up, but luckily they were too busy deciding where to eat while I was out running.

Thursday was a nice, fast workout at track before team pictures. It was just a 3 mile workout, which should have been a cake walk (mmm-cake) compared to the usual 4 or 5 mile workout, but it was all balls to the wall. Kebby, Michelle, Emily, and I ran the first mile together... well, Emily and Kebby ran it in ~6:13 and I ran it in ~6:20, but that did not feel good. Why didn't it feel good? Well, I decided to have a big ass lunch RIGHT before the workout. We all ran the 200s together, but the last mile was brutal. Michelle was nice enough to stick with me and encourage me to not throw in the towel completely. On the last 400 of the mile when I wanted to cry, she told me to picture running down Ali'i Drive, so that helped get me through! Thanks, Shelly!!!

I felt much better on Friday when I didn't eat a huge lunch before a workout, and while I was scared to swim at the Cove because of all of the recent Great White sightings, I went anyways. Swimming back to the shore, it was high tide and therefore not a lot of beach. Getting to the stairs was a crap shoot because the waves were so strong. I started laughing my ass off as Fred attempted to swim to shore and got knocked down by the waves. It was really funny up until I then got taken over by the waves and pummeled around. I got up, laughing, but then got knocked over again backwards. Lesson learned: don't laugh at others, because it will happen to you and you will end up with Swimmer's Ear!!!!

Saturday was my first REAL day of heat training - Katie, Erick, and I headed out to Temecula to ride. None of us knew a route and I forgot to print out one that Katie found online, so we just drove and got off at a random exit. For some sick reason, I didn't know that Temecula was hilly and was rather pissed when the first 2 hours of our 4 hour ride was uphill. It also didn't help that I forgot to pump up my tires and that my back tire needs to be trued. I drank all of my bottles of Infinit during the first 90 minutes and was sweating my ass off by the time we turned around. A rest stop at some random market was the greatest thing ever and we all enjoyed some "nicely manufactured ice" and cold h20. The way back was sO much easier, though I still got dropped! OOPS. The T run was hell and I walked the last 10 minutes because I was dying. I told myself that it was ok for walking because I had a race the next day, but I knew that I really should just HTFU and move my bertha ass.

Speaking of the race the next day, it was Surf Town Triathlon in Imperial Beach. I had never done this race before, so didn't know what to expect. Natalie, the race director, told me on Thursday during a nice Thai dinner that the course was flat, but the bike was pretty technical. Great, I have about 0 technical skills. Anyways, the waves were pretty big and the sets (I think that's what they're called) were close together. Trying to get out to the first buoy was a shit show because of the wicked current or riptide (don't know the difference) and each time we tried to dive under a wave, the water would just push us back. I finally made it out to the first buoy and was in 3rd place at that point. I swam past the 2nd place girl and caught up to the 1st place swimmer but she caught a wave and was out of the water before me. The bike did have a lot of turns, but it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. I caught up to the girl that was first out of the water and didn't look back. Apparently I dropped my bike completely in T2, but I had no idea. The run was fun because it was an out and back and we could see the competition and teammates the whole time. Jeanine was killing it on the run! She was in eye sight the first half of the run and was really hard to catch - you go girl!!!! I finally made it to the finish line, which seemed like forever because we could see it forever on the last stretch! Since it was such a small race, there were no Elite women athletes, but I ended up finishing first overall female. Breakaway Training had a great showing at this race and it was awesome to see so much Orange. Chris and Felipe were 2nd and 3rd Elite Male finishers and plenty of other teammates were on the podium. HOLLA!

Next race is Malibu in September, but there will be PLENTY more heat workouts before then! Best of luck to Kebby and Chuck racing at IM Louisville this weekend - kick some booty!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Baby I'm Back!

2010-08-18T11:58:00.000-07:00

It has been such a long time since my last blog post and so much has happened since then. The biggest things that have happened are trips to NJ and CO, training increases, and a NEW job. Yes, many people thought that this day would never happen, but I am currently working at Lululemon Athletica! It is an awesome job that is really involved in the community and therefore I do not get in trouble when I have to take time off for races, etc. Everyone is really supportive and I am excited to keep on getting closer with the people that work there.

4 weeks ago I went back home to New Jersey. I was bummed that we wouldn't be able to go to my beach house because my trip was so short (4 days), but I had a great time and some much needed rest. I also got a good deal of heat training done since San Diego doesn't seem to want a summer this year. One great thing about being in NJ was that I was able to train with Yasi. Yasi is a couple years older than me and just joined Breakaway with Chris being her coach. We are very similar in our Type A - "must get everything done" attitude, so doing a track workout with her was perfect. I woke up at 4:30 to get down to West Windsor in time to do the 6:20 track session. After we finished that, it was a huge gab fest and me trying to convince her to come out to San Diego. She coaches lacrosse and played field hockey (helloooooooooooo, I used to coach at Cathedral Catholic and could totally hook her up with a job!) AND she works at Lululemon in Princeton, so she can just transfer! Yasi is really fast and really committed and REALLY needs to get out to sD!! ok.. enough with that rant!! :)

A week after I came back from NJ, I headed out to Denver, Colorado with Liz to do a sprint race, train, and sherpa Liz and Hallie at Boulder 70.3. A day after we got to Denver was the Tri for the Cure sprint. Liz and I raced this as "elite" because the only qualifications were that you finished top 3 in your age group in the last 3 years. The swim was hell because the altitude really got to me and it was scary not being able to breathe. For some sick reason I didn't think that altitude would effect my swim, but it definitely did. I think I came out of the water 3rd, but I was absolutely drained. The bike was fine, a little hilly, but the 11.4 miles went by pretty fast. I came off the bike in the same position, 3rd. Since we were the first wave, there were a lot of obviously a lot of people lined up to get into the swim. As I was running into T2 with my bike, there were still lots of people lined up. They were blocking my rack and so I stood around like a fool trying to figure where the hell my rack was. When I finally found it, I was still in 3rd, but the 4th place girl was closing in close on the run. That was honestly the hardest 5k of my life because it was hard to breathe and it was just so hot. I gave up two spots on the run so I finished 5th overall.

Later that week Liz and I went with her parents up to Vail. We stopped in Breckenridge to go alpine sliding and thankfully we did because we had planned to ride from Breck to Vail. We decided to just run that day because it was raining... and also freaking freezing! We had no idea that it would be so cold because it was hott as hell in Denver, so we were totally unprepared. As we were driving up to Vail, we see people slowly adding more layers. It started with people just wearing arm warmers and ended with people in full blown face masks, pants, thick jackets, etc. We bought some jackets in Vail and rode back to Breckenridge the next day. Hills at 10,000 feet of elevation are a lot harder than at sea level!! I thought I was going to die of my heart palpitating, but thankfully we made it.

Boulder 70.3 had a beautiful course, but the heat and elevation would probably be the two factors to make me not want to race. Hallie was hilarious when she got out of the water after only one short swim before the 70.3, yellling "that was f***ing hard!!!" Besides her tough swim, Hallie went on to break 6 hours and set a new PR for herself..you go girl!!! The next week, she broke another PR at AFC Half Marathon! Seeing Hallie accomplish two HUGE goals in such a small amount of time was really inspiring and she told me that she just never believed that she would be able to do it before. Soo, I get Phyllis aka Felicity is right: you have to believe in yourself!! Liz got 6th in our AG and had a solid race. It was only her second half Ironman distance, which is hard to believe since she killed St. George, but she stayed strong the whole race and even when things got tough on the run, she kept going. That was motivating for me because I know that I give up too easily mentally while racing, but Liz continuing to run and move forward even when she wasn't having the best run and refusing to walk was the bomb dot com. Yahoo, sister! I wanted to walk and I only had a 2 hour run that day... not the bike or the swim!

So now I'm 8 weeks away from Kona and I FINALLY feel like I am going to be racing there. It isn't just some far away event that I keep talking about, but is never actually happening. Phyllis has increased my training and I love it. Long training days are always fun for me and I enjoy lots of hours and miles in the saddle. I am so happy to be riding with Kathy again and eager to ride with Kebby this weekend. Surf Town Triathlon is also this weekend, let's hope I don't end up eating sand again trying to get out of the water!!

One last note: my first training partner on Breakaway, Richard, has relocated to China for the next 6 months. Chard and I trained for Vineman together (my first half, his second) and IM St. George. I will miss you, buddy!!!! Remember to take lots of pictures and train for CdA!!!!!!!!!!!

Changes

2010-07-05T09:35:00.000-07:00

Looking back at my previous posts, the majority of them are race reports. 1 - that is boring to read all the time and 2 - I have been racing a lot. A lot, a lot. Since February with San Dieguito, my season started. Now, all the way in July, I am feeling TIRED. I have been getting lapped in swimming, which hasn't happened since I used to swim 2.5 hours straight during Mr. Shu's workouts (5th-11th grade). On the bike, where I usually feel strong on the hills my legs crap out, and I am only strong about half way through the track workouts. Not only is it annoying physically, but mentally it is a bit of a WTF. I have been getting the results that I want at races, but my performances have not been impressing me. OR other people I get.. at SDIT, many people asked why I held back or were surprised that I didn't go faster. *(side note: I like to list things, so here I go again): 1 - the people who asked me that are arseholes, 2 - it is hard to switch to speed mode after training for an IM and half IM.. AND doing a half 2 weeks before that race. Ok, enough of the rant. What I am basically getting at is that I am tired and I need a break before Kona and Clearwater training begins. Therefore, I am scratching Vineman 70.3. Yes, it sucks because I wanted to use that race (my first half) as a guide to see how far I have improved, but I have to keep my goals, Kona & Clearwater, in mind. Such is life.

Thank diggity dog the Boss Man aka Phyllis has been extremely understanding and has revised my training program so I have extra built in recovery phases now. It is perfect timing because all 4 wisdom teeth need to be removed ASAP. The infection in my mouth that I have now hurts like a mother, but with my recovery DAY, I don't have to worry about missing any workouts because I have days off, woot woot!!!!

With a more flexible schedule, I have been able to do fun things like take the train to Anaheim and ride back. 6 of us went this past weekend and it was hilarious. Trying to figure out the directions was a nightmare - I mean, FUN. Well, we got lost a couple of times, but nothing too horrible. I swear, we NEVER passed Green Lantern Road! It is definitely a ride that I would do again, but maybe ride up to Anaheim so we won't face 83 miles of headwind again!

The best part of this recovery is that I get to go home!!! Can't wait to see Ma and Da!

Waka Waka

2010-06-28T08:48:00.000-07:00

Before I get into my post.. I want to congratulate everyone who raced this weekend! Breakaway had a huge showing all around the world! Huge congrats to Kent who finished his first Ironman in France, also to Michelle and Sal who tore it up on the same course! Remmi and Jeanine did awesome at CDA....you guys did wonderful, and I think I am signing up for that race next year! Kebby and the Begganator did great at Buffalo Springs 70.3 and of course all the local people killed it out on the San Diego International Course yesterday.

These past couple of weeks I feel like I have been running into/hearing about motivation issues. I know that for me, before Boise "I was just not feeling it." I was tired of having my ass handed to me week by week on the Wednesday ride and just feeling tired all of the time. A couple of my good friends were feeling pretty down, too. How do I get myself out of the slumps I sometimes fall into? The best way for me to HTFU is to have a great, ass kicking workout.....that I can actually complete. For me, that workout was the Vineman computrainer at Aire. I love doing computrainer workouts there because it is an awesome environment and Jen and Karl are the best. They make you feel comfortable, they support you during the course, and Jen even gets you water/towels if you run out! This computrainer workout was really hard, but I was able to complete it and I did it 6 minutes faster than I actually rode out on race day last year.

Sometimes, I know, that having an awesome workout is out of the question because you don't want to get your ass out there to even train. That is why I'm glad I have my mama. She sends me emails like these on race day which not only crack me up, but they make me want to go fast:

This is the one I got the morning of Boise:

Hi Wooie- Good luck today and call me when you can. I love you and there's a couple of cans of "Whoop Ass" in the hall for you - just in case. I also put one in your drink on the bike. Hope it helps! Love ya, Momma Bird

This one before SDIT:

Good Morning Woozie - Good luck on your race today. Kick ass, take names. No, don't bother taking names, just kick asses!!! There's a can of "Whoop Ass" with your wetsuit and two more by the bike and of course I left two for the run. I love you and call when you're done. Love the Momma Bird.

I suppose I've realized that I don't have to be 100% triathlon ALL the time because, hello, that's creepy and because we all go through ups and downs. If anyone is feeling a little down, let my mama know and she MIGHT be able to deliver you a can or two of "Whoop Ass" the imaginary drink.

BOISE 70.3 Race Report

2010-06-15T16:04:00.000-07:00

I would first like to begin this post by noting that entering the triathlon world has given me opportunities to visit places I would have never gone in a million years. Utah, Idaho...like.. those are two states I probably could not recognize on a map. Racing in those locations, however, has shown me that even bizarre (to me) states are interesting and unique in their own way. Hell, what am I talking about.. I'm from New Jersey so I guess I can't judge other states too much. :) Boise turned out to be beautiful and the town was actually pretty nice. It was definitely small, but was a great venue for the race.

The second thing I want to note is that I apparently do not resemble a triathlete. I learned this three times during the trip. The first happened when the bike transport man asked if I got into Kona via a lottery slot. The second was when a waitress told me that I should arrive to the finish line early to get a good spot to what the athletes finish. Last, but NOT least, was some fool on the side of the run course who apparently was tracking my run and told me that he "KNEW I would make it! I knew you could do it! Keep on trying!" Hmpffff! What haters. Does everyone in Boise sip Haterade? Ok.. on the actual race:

SWIM - 29:21
Ew! I was hoping for a 26, but that clearly did not happen! My fastest swim to date was Vineman with 27:xx, and I have yet to do that again, even though I swim 5 times a week now. Not kosher in my book! The swim was uneventful, the 60 degree water actually felt nice because it was so hot out. The winds picked up during the swim which made the water a little choppy, but nothing too horrible. I was in wave 10, so I had to weave in and out of a lot of swimmers which was annoying. Check out Xterra's website and you can see a glamour shot of yours truly exiting the h20:
http://www.xterrawetsuits.com/blog/

BIKE - 3:02.xx
Once again, not the split that I was ever expecting, but given the circumstances (i.e. WIND) I guess it was alright. I was most nervous about the bike because even the day before, my legs felt like poo. I was tired after a 20 minute ride (sorry, Phyllis ... I know it was supposed to be 60). When I got on the bike, I didn't feel great, but I didn't feel horrible. I talked with Kathy a lot before the race, and she helped me have a positive outlook on the race. I was freaking out because I thought that I was going to have a shitty race due to a fatigued body and since St. George was only 6 weeks ago. Kath's wise words of wisdom were, "Just because you don't feel good today doesn't mean it won't go well tomorrow. Sometimes our bodies do weird things. Then it is a mental game where you start to doubt your fitness or recovery. You are strong and you just have to have the confidence to believe in yourself." She followed by telling me to not "talk myself into a bad race. Get there, start it, and then decide how you feel. Don't judge it until after you actuasly start it and are in it." That helped me soo much, because I realized that I WAS talking myself into having a bad race. Sure, my legs were tired, but I had to realize that I WAS ready for this race. I was letting everyone else tell me how crazy I was to be doing this race so close after IMSG get to me, and I started to doubt myself.

I stopped doubting myself once I finally made it to the turn around and there was NO wind. Without the insanity of 27mph winds, I was actually able to hammer on the bike. That lifted my spirits a lot. I still was tired on the hills, but luckily there weren't too many of them on the course. Overall, the course would have been relatively easy if there hadn't been insanium in the cranium winds.

On a side note, I think I need to get new pedals. There was one steep section that was a no passing zone. I forgot to lighten up my gears, and my clip literally flew out of my pedal. I had to hop myself up to the top of the hill... oops!!! Sorry sir who was behind me and not happy. muahaha.

RUN - 2:08.xx
Oh baby baby, what a great run. NOT! Out of all three sports, I felt that my running was going to be the best at Boise. I felt really strong at the Blacks Beach hill repeats, and my hip wasn't hurting too badly. I have no excuses for this run, I don't know what happened! My nutrition was perfect, I suppose it just wasn't a cute run! I knew it was going to be bad when I immediately started counting down the miles from the get-go. It's never a good sign when my first thought was "where the HELL is that god forsaken mile marker!?"

As I have told some other people, this race was the hardest for me mentally. I have never wanted to actually quit a race as much as I wanted to quit this one. I could go on and on about how my hamstring hurt, or I didn't feel recovered, blah blah - but the truth is, I somehow talked myself into believing that I wasn't ready for this race. That turned into me not wanting to finish the race when times got tough during it. Even though I had an awesome support system rooting for me, I didn't go into the race with much confidence. Liz wrote down a quote for me that I read in transition that stuck with me for the whole race: she told me to not "let anyone put limitations on you and don't accept people who do." Somehow that helped me get through the race. Overall, I'm definitely happy I finished the race in 5:45.02. It was cool to win my age group and secure a spot to the 70.3 World Championships in Clearwater, Florida. What's next is working with Felipe to gain more confidence (and speed!) and eventually Vineman in 5 short weeks!

Where's the Pop??

2010-06-07T15:25:00.000-07:00

The two weeks after St. George I felt totally fine. My legs finally stopped hurting, and I was able to train fairly well. Biking felt great and Elfin Forrest felt easy. Two weeks ago, I went on a ride with my friend Katie who is training for Vineman, and I nearly died. My legs felt like lead and I was suffering big time. This was the first time that I had ever been on a ride with her, and my efforts of impressing her failed.. miserably. I thought that I was just tired that day, but my legs continually felt like shit in the following work outs. Not the one to be patient, I quickly called Felipe complaining and worried that I somehow lost everything I had before and that I was going to blow chunks at Boise.

Phyllis (Felipe's new nickname) assured me that I will be ready... but I can't say that I am not nervous. I have been trying to be more positive and believe in my training plan and ability to do whatever, but these puppies - aka my legs - are not feeling hott! Over the past two weeks, I have had some amazing opportunities to ride with crazy fast people:

"The Wednesday Ride" - when Phyllis asked me, well put on my schedule, this ride I was thrilled. Everyone always talks about how fast this ride is and how it has helped them gain speed etc, etc. I rolled up to Phyllis' house early the first Wednesday that I joined knowing that I would be dropped, but I was still hoping that I could hang for a little bit. Turns out, I made it the whole warm up (that's not an accomplishment.. their warm up is a true warm up) and ~4 minutes into the interval. The interval they do is 40minutes. So.. I got dropped big time! Oops. Sean and Gary told me that I waited to long to stick on the person in front of me wheel and that I wasn't close enough. I was scared of being in aero and that close to someone, so I quickly fell off the pace line and watch the rest of the Orange train whizz on by. Thank god I wasn't wearing my Breakaway shirt because that would have been a- social suicide and b- mortifying. The ride usually takes around 2.5 hours so when my watch said 1 hour and 15 minutes (like two minutes after I was dropped), I turned around and went back to Phyllis'.

The next day, I joined Lipe, Chris, and Alex to a training day at Borrego Springs. Again, I knew I would be dropped, but at least this time the road is out and back so I couldn't get lost. When we got started, I managed to hang on for 21 minutes of this ride. Felipe said that I stayed on for the hardest part (I think he was exaggerating) because we had head winds going out. I was so parched so I reached down for some agua and lost the draft! Next time, I don't care how loser-ish I look, I'm bringing an aero water bottle so I don't lose the draft by reaching for the bottle! I was able to push myself and feel like I was hauling ass on the first stretch, but when we turned around, the winds were a bitch!! I was barely moving and I of course couldn't see any of the guys, so I was taking my time getting back. This ride made me realize that I have some mental block that if I think I'm sucking, I automatically lower my effort. This is something that I have to work on because it happens during work outs, and worse it happened during Soma.

When I was finally almost back to the car, I see an orange jersey coming back. Oh shit.. it was Alex. Then I see Lipe. Sooo embarrassing. Alex wanted to make sure that I was ok since they didn't see me for a while!! Ahh!! At that point I wanted to die because I was so embarrassed and I felt bad for being a burden. To top it all off, I got a flat tire! Luckily Alex changed it in .5 seconds and we were off. I was able to save some face by hanging on Alex's wheel and actually picking up speed for the last 1.5 miles. While the guys when on their T run, I was the bike watcher girl and made sure no one stole the bikes! I also decided I should be quesedilla girl and got us all some post workout fuel... I was thinking that maybe they will invite again if they forget how far behind I was and just remember the food! Those two days in a row were killer and my legs were definitely not happy with me! Even though I didn't do great on these rides, I made it back to the next Wednesday ride.

This time on the Wednesday ride I wanted to redeem myself a little bit. Sean told me that I should take the warm up reaalllyy easy and I did - small chain ring the whole time. When we got started, I got dropped fairly close to the same spot as the last week which really pissed me off. I was about to turn around, but I saw that Jay had to dodge something in the road which resulted in him getting dropped, too. Josh told Jay that he would stick with him, so I turbo pedaled up the road to catch up with them. Josh led the way, and thankfully waited for me before any turn so I didn't get lost. This ride is when I really started to freak about my legs because I have ZERO power. Once again, I felt bad for Josh and Jay waiting for me, but they are so nice and didn't complain once. THANK YOU! When I made it back to Felipe's, I knew I had a 30 minutes T run to do. I REALLY didn't want to do it, but I just trotted through his hood and around La Jolla. When I got back, he said that his legs were dead, too and that taper is coming up. I probably responded with "whatever, Phyllis" because even when his legs are dead his still is fast as hell!

So as of now, my legs haven't had that extra "pop" that I can usually resort to when on a hard bike or run. It seems when I dig down deep, I find nothing but sluggishness. On a brighter note, I had a 90 minutes massage with Sarah Zimmerman and my legs felt instantly better. 30 minutes was Thai massage and 60 was regular deep tissue. Right away, my legs felt lighter and I was able to swim 5,000 SCY today feeling totally fine. I hope I can get one last massage in before Boise! I think I'm just being a diva about my legs, I am sure that with taper they will feel a lot better by Saturday..afternoon!

Thursday is when we leave for Boise 70.3. Exciting! I have never been to Idaho, in fact, I could not even show you where Idaho is on a map, but I am eager to go and race with some fun teammates....

CONGRATULATIONS to everyone who ran at the Rock n Roll Marathon and Half Marathon this weekend! It was hott out there and you all did great!

BACA BOSTINHA BOY

2010-05-10T08:36:00.000-07:00

Nothing all that exciting in the training world to report here. Recovery week has treated me well and I'm now ready to get back to the grind and prepare for Boise 70.3. I looked up all of the girls in the 18-24 category and there are 29 (!!!) athletes participating! For most of you, this would still be a small AG, but that is reaalllly big for my age group!! That will give me a taste of what I have to look forward to in the next couple of years (racing in larger ag's).

This week I got in 2 pretty long ocean swims. The first was with Berg, Liz, Sarah, Fred, Gary, Christiane, and Richard. Swimming back to the cove, Berg and I were leading the pack. All of a sudden, the water got super warm (comparatively) and huge heaps of kelp entangled me. If you've never swam with me in open water, they you might not know how much I hate it. I was "lucky" enough to have my first even Cove swim with Berg and Nick Brown last year where they petrified me and put kelp on my head. Kelp and I don't get along. Anyways, I freaked out after I got out of the kelp heap and Berg sees me and asks, "what's wrong?" I tell him that swimming through that all that scared me and I was freaking out. "Well...stop." and then he swam off. gee, thanks, Berg! muaha.

On Sunday we swam from LJ Shores to the A Buoy and back. I couldn't see the buoy from the first place, so I just waited a while before getting in and figured I would sight off other people as I caught up to them. Well that plan backfired because I was patiently waiting to get in, Antonio yells, "WHAT! You can't even get in the water?? How this girl qualify??" I swallowed a whole bunch of water laughing at his comments, but we ended up swimming to the buoy together with Liz and Fred. Coming back was a lot faster because of the waves and luckily we didn't have to deal with much kelp.

In other news, I got a puppy!!!! He is an 8 week old male Boxer. His name is Baca Boy. Liz got him for me for a graduation present (now let's just hope that I graduate!!) He already has many nicknames like Heffer, Devil Child, Shit Slinger, and Baca. He gets along with Goofy but I think Goofy is being a bit of a hater since Baca Boy is getting so much attention. Liz and I brought both of the pups over to Michelle and Felipe's yesterday and they had a great time terrorizing their home.

~~~~~~

Happy Mother's Day to my Mama Bird!!! I love you!

Ima G aka St. George Race Report

2010-05-04T00:12:00.000-07:00

Weird thoughts go through my head while I am racing... and they usually are on repeat. During the bike portion of Ironman St. George, "Ima Be" by the Black Eyed Peas was running through, but I decided to change it to "Ima G" G being for (St.) George, of course. I will get on to my other lyrics when I get on to the bike section.. but first I want to give a HUGE shout out and thank you times a million to Elaine for coming out and being the best sherpa for Liz and I. E drove the whole way to Vegas and without her, Liz and I would have been literally clueless. It was so nice to have someone there to coach us and to help ease our fears before the race. Hearing, "you'll be fine!" and "you're ready" is nice, but Elaine gave us some REAL advice, and didn't sugarcoat anything. Her bluntness was greatly appreciated on the course, because if I just believed "you'll be fine" I would have been QUITE pissed during the race when I really wasn't "fine." Elaine told us that parts of the race are going to "f-ing suck and you're going to want to f-ing quit," but to stick with it. Aside from her great advice and help packing all of our special needs bags, driving, answering 48758957 questions, she also provided Liz and I were much needed entertainment. (Sending pictures of her underwear to people, etc).

The days before the race were kind of a blur - they went by fast, but also dragged on forever. By Friday, I just wanted to get the race done so I could stop freaking out about it. I definitely couldn't sleep the night before, so I kept tapping Liz asking for a high-five while saying "dude." This carried on throughout the race weekend and I think everyone at dinner said it 50+ times. I have to apologize to my parental units for being so moody with them the days before the race - they were supportive enough to fly all the way from New Jersey to come watch me race, and I was very short with them. I get SO antsy before the race that the last thing I want to do is answer questions about the race and stay up past my bedtime (selfish, I know). Anyways, they were great spectators and I appreciate everything they did for me this weekend!!

~~~~~

RACE DAY:

3:44am - Elaine wakes Liz and I up - oh shit, we slept through our alarm! Kathy, Joey, and Christiane were expecting us at 3:45. Luckily we packed everything the night before.

We had to take a bus to the swim start at the Sand Hallow Reservoir. The ride itself was fine, but the god forsaken girl behind us who wouldn't SHUT UP was really getting under my skin. The whole time we had to hear her babble about how she is training for ultra runs and how she has been training hills and is SO ready for the run course, but she really is just trying to finish the race. Blah, blah, blah. She was quite annoying. Besides her, everything else went as planned before the swim. I luckily got to see Mama and Da before I got in the water. My mom started crying when she saw me, so I started, too! At that moment, I realized what I was getting myself into and that there really was no turning back now. The day before, at the expo, I had some weird epiphany that, "oh shit! Tomorrow I am running a marathon!" The distances didn't quite sink in... I never truly felt that I was getting ready to race an IRONMAN. Well, I was ready to race, but I kept the distances in the back of my mind.. I didn't really think, "omg I'm swimming 2.4, biking 112, and running 26.2" because then I would have chickened out long ago.

SWIM - 58:28
Everyone was complaining and droning on and on about the swim temperature. To me, anything under bath water is cold, so there is no point in bitching about it. Sure, I will pout and not want to get in.. but once I'm in cold water, there is nothing you can do about it. That's what happened with this swim; it was cold, but we all had to finish the 2.4 miles if we wanted to finish the race. I started in the front but to the right so I wouldn't get tackled by some of the men. I saw Beth right before the cannon start, and she encouraged me to line up closer to the front. I was super lucky that I didn't get pummeled or kicked, I eased into my pace nicely right away. I held back a lot, because I wasn't sure how my legs would feel on a hilly bike course if I really swam hard. I also didn't look at the swim course before the start of the race, so I had no idea where I was going. I followed some dumbass who led me in the wrong direction a couple of times and then I realized that I am the dumbass for blindly following him and not even sighting. Oh well, I know what to work on for next time!

BIKE - 6:25.53
My greatest success with the bike was being able to pee two times while still riding! I have never been able to do that before, so that was pretty exciting and it also told me that I was doing a good job maintaining my nutrition. Going into the second loop, I got really lightheaded and dizzy, so I immediately shoved down a Bonk Breaker and a couple of GU chomps. Problem solved. Coming out to the race site 6 weeks prior helped SO much because I knew when to expect the hills. Er, mountains. After the first loop, I thought that the bike wasn't all THAT bad. I took those words back REALLY fast after only 10 miles into the second loop. I made up some words to some songs from the movie Clueless, and lol'd when people would ride by me and hear me. The bike had a lot of ups and downs, but overall, I was in good spirits because so many of the athletes were very supportive. The volunteers at the aid stations and along the course were amazing. The only part that had me really pissed was the last 2 or 3 miles when we all thought that we were basically done, and we had to climb one last bitch of a hill back to town. It was so unexpected, but hearing everyone's reactions made it worth it.

RUN (yog? shuffle? run/walk?) 4:54.49
Is that a cute time? Bahah what social suicide with a run split like that, but I'm actually not TOO unhappy with it. I made it my goal to hold back on the bike because SO many people warned me that they would be pissed if I blew up on the bike ... again! When I got out on the run course, I actually felt pretty good. I promised myself that I would run at least the first 6.5 miles. When I got to the run turn around, I told myself that I would run the first half marathon. Done. When I turned around to go do the second half, that's when my will started deteriorating and my run turned into a shuffle. My mom saw me trying to smile as I passed by them, but she knew I was hurting. I have never done a course that is literally either UP or DOWN. No flats! As I passed by my parents, Liz's parents, Elaine, Fred, and Ed, I hear, "WOOZIE!!! WOOZIE!!" I turn and see my mom sprinting on the sidelines next to me. "Here's some Whoop Ass!!" And she tossed me 3 "cans." That Whoop Ass allowed me to run for the next 3 miles. Once I got to the huge ass hill, I broke down and began to walk. I made it the first 16 miles without walking, but just the sight and steepness of the hill made me want to puke. I walked up it and then tried to shuffle my way to the next aid station. I saw a lot of familiar faces out on the course and their words of encouragement helped me get out of my rut. Brendan, Nick, and Marty were all flying and looking strong and they helped me attempt to finish the last lap at a strong pace. Basically, the next 10 miles were a mix of a run/walk. Looking back, I wish I ran the uphill and walked the downhill because my quads were on FIYAH!!! I knew (from athlinks) that the girls in my age group were all good runners and I was so bummed because I figured they would catch me on the run. Candida, who ended up getting 2nd in our age group, flew by me and I thought that was it. Vanessa also flew by me with 3 miles left on my last lap and I tried to keep up with her, but I just couldn't. I convinced myself that I wasn't really trying to go for Kona anyways, so that it was ok. I ended up passing Vanessa right before the turn around, so I didn't see that she had another lap to, so I just hauled ass to the finish. (*Vanessa had food poisoning the night before, and she STILL completed the race. The medics tried to talk her out of the race when she came out of the water with hypothermia, but she was determined to finish - talk about a strong and amazing athlete!!)

FINISH - 12:25.30
After my first half marathon, I was on pace to finish around 11:55, but my run killed it. As always, my run will be the focus of my training, and hopefully it will continue to get better.

After the race, I called Lipe and he told me that I was the first finisher in my age group. I didn't believe him because I knew what strong runners I was up against and I made him check like 5 times. I didn't tell my mom that I finished first until Felipe was SURE that Ironman.com didn't mess up. It didn't really, and still hasn't, hit me that I will be competing in Kona and the World Championships in October. I think once my body does not feel like it has been run over by a truck I will be able to finally wrap my head around the concept.

Overall, Breakaway Training kicked ASS on Saturday. Joey and Cassio were little cuties crossing the finish line together, Kathy is absolutely AMAZING - I don't know how she was able to finish when she couldn't take ANY nutrition in, Liz killed it and TS'd the course taking 3rd in our age group! Eric had an Ironman PR on this insane course, Richard dominated the run and is ready to take on another Ironman, Christiane was all smiles and cheers and finished a strong race, and Lina was FLYING on the run course! Friends Beth did amazing even after a tire issue - she had a GREAT swim, Rachel leaded the age group women with the fastest swim, Debbie COULD have had a Kona slot if she went to the roll down [ :(!!!] Brendan, Nick, and Marty were all flying, as well. New friends Michelle, Randy, and Mark had solid races and I KNOW Mark will be back to dominate St. George!

Last, but not least, a HUGE gracias to my best friend, Marybeth who cheered and tracked me ALL day and who has continually supported me through this Ironman process. Her countless cards of encouragement have inspired me and mean SO much. Saltpeppahsaltpeppah!!!! PS - did you like my Lulu shirt I was wearing at the awards?!

Up next: Boise 70.3 in June!

Oh Hot Damn (Damn)

2010-04-27T17:21:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow Liz, Elaine, and I leave for St. George!! After having signed up for this race more than a year ago, I can't believe it is FINALLY here. I was getting used to just telling people that I WILL (like in the future) be racing an Ironman, but the time has come!!!!!!!!! Oh hot damn! (Damn!)

I go through weird moods of being super excited and then extremely nervous and then there are times where I can't even imagine myself racing. I don't know if it has actually hit me that this Saturday is the day I've been training for for the past year. Whoa, as I'm typing this, I'm starting to get the butterflies in my stomach! Everyone seems to be nervous about the weather, ie: the rain and wind - and while that doesn't exactly get me excited, I am more nervous about how my body is going to hold up. The hip pain that I've had for almost a year now is still nagging me and I have a new lovely addition of abductor and hamstring pain. Tomorrow I am going to Dr. Kelly in Encinitas for some biopuncture. Let's hope that works!

Besides from fixating on my annoying pain, I have been enjoying taper week. There was actually time to go to breakfast with Kath and Liz after a Sunday workout and time for my pre-race mani/padi. If nothing else, my fingers and toes will look great on Saturday. Thank god I had time to wax my eyebrow because that would not have been cute to have all of my first Ironman pictures with me looking like Frida Kahlo. Anyways. I brought my bike up to Matt Simpson to do some final adjustments and to have my race wheels all set. Hopefully him and his wife (who I found out is this bad ass officer in the Marines - woo!! you go girl!) will be able to make it out to Utah after their weekend in Vegas. As always, I had excellent service and spending time with Matt is always great.

So, this is it! I would be lying if I said I wasn't scared shitless, but I am also very excited and very eager to see my Ma and Pa who are coming to support me all the way from New Jersey! I am so lucky to have parents who come watch, even if they only see me for 4 minutes during the race, hearing my mama's cowbell and their cheers will help me SO much. I am also lucky to have friends who make me awesome good luck cards. I read those cards all the time! :) One that is one my wall is from my friend Chastain (who just got married!!) and it says - "Whitney, no matter how tomorrow goes, remember why you are doing this...because you enjoy it! So go out there and have an adventure. You have worked hard and I know you will kick some ass. So just do your best!" Notes like that are an instant pick-me-up and encourage me to have fun while I am racing.

~~~~~~~~~

Here's a list of my top 5 songs that have been pumping me up!! (I'm on some weird country kick!)

*American Honey - Lady Antebellum
*Wrong Baby Wrong - Martina McBride
*Keep on Loving You - Steel Magnolia
*White Liar - Miranda Lambert
*Break Your Heart- Taio Cruz and Ludacris

~~~~~~~~~

BEST OF LUCK to everyone racing IMSG, Spring Sprint, + Wildflower!!! GO BREAKAWAY!!!

A Good End to the Week

2010-04-11T19:16:00.000-07:00

This week has been the week from hell. Luckily, today's race ended my week on a positive note. Instead of having a bitch fest, I will just go right into my Superseal race report.

FIRST..
I would like to give a HUGE thank you to my amigo Chris Berg. Part of my hell-ish week was dealing with my bike (there is no con incidence that his name is High Maintenance!) Without going into too much detail, Chris fixed all of my bike problems for TWO hours last night. He, along with Matt Simpson, are the ONLY two allowed to touch my bike!

Moving on now,
Superseal was my first Olympic distance race last year. It was hard then, and it definitely was hard this year. I learned some valuable lessons, like not using your backup goggles and that I NEED to learn how to sight. I was fairly familiar with the swim course, but I figured I would just follow some other orange caps since our wave was both women and men 20-24. I learned that I should never count on following someone else because I ended up leading my wave... that would be a cool thing to say, but I had to stop twice to see where the hell I was! I stopped once after the last orange buoy and the person on the kayak had to tell me where to go. Oops. The second time I stopped was about 15 yards before the finish, I didn't see where the exit was! If you have never stopped in the water looking at a huge crowd of people before, and have them staring back at you like, "WTF..why the HELL are you stopping?!" ... I DON'T recommend it! It was so awkward because after ~10 seconds, I realized I wasn't moving and um, duh, I should be!

Running to T1 seemed so long, but I'm sure it wasn't that far. I was nervous getting on the bike because my legs didn't feel all that great on the run to T1. While I was running to my bike, the announcer said that the pro women from Superseal were coming into transition, and I literally laughed out loud because I was the only woman in the transition area, and I definitely am not a pro! Once on the bike, my legs kicked in right away. It was hard for me to not smile and cheer on my teammates when I felt the strength in my legs (Sorry, Lipe - I'm trying to focus!)

Running out of T2, I was smiling and laughing again when I passed Michelle, Fred, and Mona. Seeing people I know always pumps me up and they were a great cheering section - thank you! I looked down at my Garmin a couple of times and I was holding a 7:20-7:45 pace nearly the whole time. At mile 4, I really started the feel the fatigue, but I tried not to get too off pace. I think (hope!) I ran under 50 minutes which would be huge for me. As I was coming down the final straightaway, I saw Michelle, who is an amazing spin instructor, and her cheers got my ass moving! I was kind of waiting to sprint to the finish, but she motivated me to MOVE. Final time was 2:17, which is a major improvement after last year's 2:34.

After the race, it was fun to hang with the Breakaway gang. Special thanks to Kristen, Berg, Ed, Danielle, Michelle, Fred, Michelle, Kaare, Mona, Remmi, and Jeanine for cheering today! Seeing a familiar face during the race makes a world of a difference. A special, SPECIAL thanks to my Mom and Dad for throwing me some extra cans a Whoop Ass from across the country! Finally, congratulations to the whole team today: Liz did great, beating her last year's time by 20 minutes and getting 3rd in our Ag, Dave, Josh, Matt, Sal, Matt, Norma, and Jay also podiumed - way to go! Sarah got 6th in her super competitive age group, Richard, Christiane and Lina proved that they are more than ready for IMSG. Kent and Gary rocked it after racing Oceanside 70.3. Kasia, Terrish, and Maire did wonderful! Lina, my favorite training buddy, was amazing! Of course, Lipe, Luke, Guiseppe, Alex, Gary, and Ron were superstars. ((I hope I included everyone!!)) I got to hang out with Tawnee and her parents for a little bit, which is awesome because she is a great competitor. We talked racing, training, diets, that girl definitely has everything dialed in! Congrats to her mom for getting first in her age group! Nice!

Ironman St. George is less than 3 weeks away.. AHHHHHHH!

Bring It On: In it to ............ Finish It...plus a little better

2010-03-22T08:25:00.000-07:00

For those of you who aren't familiar with the great Bring It On movie series, one of them has the title of Bring It On: In it to Win it. (hold on, I have to google and see what kind of punctuation a movie title gets? Underline, quotes, bold? ...)Ok, so you can either underline or italicize. ANYWAYS.. after spending the weekend in St. George on the race course, I've come to realize that while my first, and most important goal is to finish it, I think I can do a little better than just making the time cutoff. Definitely not In it to Win it, but I think having the expectations to do more than just finishing is a good goal for me.

Before visiting St. George, I just wanted to cross that finish line no matter what. As Liz and I were driving the 6.5 hours there, we said that we would be completely satisfied finishing. Don't get me wrong.. finishing is STILL what I would be completely satisfied with, but after months of people talking up the course and saying how hard it will be, how we're crazy to do it, blah, blah, blah... I started to get minimal expectations for myself just because everyone was saying what an insane race this is going to be. Yes, the bike course sucks...and yes, the run course sucks even more -- but it is do-able. I don't want to sound cocky or make it seem that I am going to finish with a lightning fast time on the course because that's not what I'm trying to say at all. All I'm saying is that how I viewed the course is completely different after going there. I now know that it is not impossible to complete. Basically, I should have done what Felipe told me to do a long time ago and not listen to what other people (especially the people who aren't racing!) are saying about the course and just be concerned with my own race. I will write what I think about the course, but this may not be of any help to someone who is a better cyclist or runner ..if ya know what I mean.

On to the good stuff-

Bike course:
Leaving T1, we immediately go downhill (yeah!) It is mostly flat for the first couple of miles and then we go up a long, slow climb that looks a lot worse than it actually is. I mean, it sucks, but your legs are fresh and we only have to climb it once, so it really isn't that bad at all. Oh, let me interrupt myself here: *Looks and landscape is so deceiving. You may see a long ass hill like the first climb of the day and it looks like a monster, but then it isn't that bad. On the other hand, you come across short hills that don't look that bad and it is steep as *%^#. I had to gauge a lot of what I was doing off my mph to realize that even though it looked flat, I was only going X mph.* OK... it took us 90 minutes to get from T1 to "Hot Corner" (a place where athletes pass by 3-4times I believe). During those 90 minutes, we had some rollers, nothing too horrible. I was able to keep Kathy within sight on all of those climbs, so they must have not been that bad. Once we got to "Hot Corner," that began the loop. Again, we would have climbs, but then plenty of time to recover your legs on downhills or flats. Nothing really stands out to me except the one short, inside of Torrey Pines hill, and the switch back. The Torrey Pines-ish hill comes right after you go over a little bridge and the switchback comes when you see the house on top of the mountain. Be ware!!! That switchback is a beeeeeezy! It wouldn't be so bad if the last little bit of it weren't so steep. As soon as you turn the corner, you think you're done and then you have to use everything you have to get up the last little bit. It was fine for the first loop, but on the second loop that will definitely be donkey. After the switchback, there's one more Torrey Pines-ish climb... long and pretty steady, not too bad.. but we also stopped to refuel before we climbed it, so it may be worse than we think. After that climb, though, there is some wonderful downhill which I loved. We were lucky and didn't get nailed with any wind, but some guy who rides this loop all the time says that the wind changes everyday, and it usually is worse in the afternoon. Great.

Here is what I am nervous about on the bike: I am scared that I am going to go out too hard on the bike and then have sh*t left for the run. Everyone says, "pace yourself, pace yourself." But, how?! I have yet to figure out how to save enough energy for the run without feeling like I am sandbagging the bike. Help??

Run course:
We finished the first loop + the 20 something miles to the first loop in about 4 hours, so we needed to tack on some more distance. We rode the run course back to Joey's car. Um.. it is hard. And hilly. And steep. On the bike, I was tempted to get out of my saddle (I bought a new Profile Design saddle, btw. Love it.) it was that steep. The second part of the run course wasn't really an accurate description of what it will be like since we were on our bikes, but at least we got to see it somehow. The next day we ran 60 minutes from T2 on the course, and luckily the first mile or so isn't horribly hilly. The run definitely isn't easy and it is going to be a quad killer because there are a lot of steep downhill areas. The run UP near "Hot Corner" is going to be horrible, so I hope no one sips haterade if I walk up that bad boy on the second loop.

All in all, this course is definitely difficult and it is going to be a LONG day. I think seeing and experiencing the course helped a lot.. and it made race day actually seem like a tangible thing. For so long, I've just been saying that I am racing Ironman St. George, but now that I've actually been there and been on the course, it isn't something that I can just talk about now! I know that I am going to talk with Lipe about pacing because I think that is the key to this race. Anyways, this was just the way I experienced the course, so if you're racing - I hope it was helpful. I am now slothing around today because today is an OFF day!!! I haven't seen "OFF" on my schedule in a longggggg time!! Recovery weeks are the BEST.

Good luck to everyone racing Oceanside!!

2010-03-14T16:16:00.000-07:00

Last weekend I was looking forward to update my blog because of a killer weekend that was supposed to happen: 16 mile run at Blacks Beach on Saturday and then the Gran Fondo century on Sunday. The 101 Gran Fondo ride turned into a .101 mile ride due to downpours and lack of wanting to ride soaking wet. Oh well, there's been enough bitching about the weather... so here is how I made up for the missed 100 miles:

On Monday I was supposed to go out on a 100 mile ride with Tatiana (the fastest girl I know in my age group), but my stooopid car decided that it needs a new battery and such, so I had to miss out on that ride. I FINALLY was able to ride with Christiane on Wednesday. We left from her house, did the Elfin Forrest loop, and rode the coast up to Oceanside and back. The one rain cloud followed us all the way up to Oceanside and almost all the way back to La Jolla. I didn't have proper rain attire on Wednesday, and on Saturday I was not even close to wearing the right clothing.

Rachel Gordon so kindly planned a 102 mile route for a group of us (Liz, Lina, Beth, Chris, Terrish, Jim, and I). The ride was a lot of fun...until we began freezing up Mt. Laguna. Lina and I led the way up the mountain, and somehow missed the top. For some... the top may be obvious, but I did warn the group that I get lost leaving my neighborhood! Needless to say, I went up and 6.5 miles down Mt. Laguna before Lina and I realized that we were alone. Going down, the gusts of winds were SO scary, and freezing. I was really regretting not wear pants, gloves, toe warmers, or a jacket. The rest of the ride was easy after Mt. Laguna, mostly going downhill. As Beth said in her blog, each one of us brought something fun and motivating to the group and it was a great ride. My legs surprisingly felt pretty good running after 105 miles on the bike, so I was happy.

My legs, however, did not feel so happy doing Torrey Pines hill repeats on Sunday, but I somehow made it. I'm looking forward to putting a lot more miles on the bike this week and a trip to UTAH this weekend. Liz and I are going to ride/run part of the St. George course with Kathy and Joey, I'm looking forward to it! As for now, my legs are pretty toast so I am just going to ass plant for the rest of the day!

"Let's Talk..."

2010-03-01T09:49:00.001-08:00

Our new "

What I came home to after Saturday's run. Goofy was doing some running - in the mud!

When Felipe texted me "Let's talk about your training" last week, I froze. I felt like I was 8 again and my mom was catching me eat cookies in the middle of the night. Needless to say, I was dreading going to swimming that Thursday because I couldn't imagine what Lipe was going to say about my training. Was I not doing enough? Was I taking them too easy? What the HELL could he have to say?!!? The talk ended up not being so bad, he told me that I need to stop adding extra classes during the week and that the next 5 weeks were going to be hard. Um, I thought the past 25 weeks were hard...

Anyways, I realized that I need to respect whatever rest part of this training that I have and that I can't go to gravity/TRX/spin classes without telling Phil. Okay, okay - I get it. After getting my March training plan, the volume is definitely increasing and if I thought I was tired before, I am definitely going to be a zombie this month! As tired as I am, I like days that I work out 4-5 hours before class. I definitely feel accomplished.

Speaking of accomplishing things.. the ride that Kathy and I did on Friday was a huge milestone for me. This weekend was a little screwy because of the rain, so Kath and I decided to head out on Friday to conquer our 6 hour ride. We had done most of the route before, but we were adding longer hills and more of them. Our legs were tired going into the ride, having just done intervals at track the night before, but we decided just to make the best of it. After the first climb, Kathy turns around (she's always infront of me on the hills) and just says, "This is gonna suck." I'm thinking to myself, "Shit, if Kathy says this is going to suck- it WILL suck." Kathy is always optimistic, so I knew I was in for it if even she said that this would be a hard ride. At our half way mark, exactly 3 hours, we landed at some Circle K in the middle of nowhere. We were both laying in the parking lot trying to stretch out/ muster enough strength to get some food. I know this sounds dramatic, but at this point we both felt like quitting. Each hill we climbed, we were pushed back with head winds. The few times we went downhill, we were greeting by cross winds that were shaking the shit out of us on our bikes. At this point we both were feeling pretty bad for ourselves, but we were cold so we went on. Like 10 miles later I needed more water because I was chugging it on the last miles of false flats. We both were laughing because I couldn't get my speed over 11.5mph and Kathy couldn't get hers over 12mph. I think that was the point that we realized that A-no one was going to pick our sorry asses up, and B- WTF is 11.5mph!? The rest of the ride was fine and were able to get back to a normal speed. The 30 minute run after blew, but we finished!! Woohoooooo.

The rest of the weekend was awesome - just a 90 minute run in the rain on Saturday and a recovery swim with the team on Sunday. I kept on having throw up burps of Weight Watcher's bagels during the swim which was quite disturbing, but thankfully Berg was going at a human speed so it wasn't too strenuous of a workout.

"I want this shit forever, man"

2010-02-14T16:53:00.000-08:00

The title of this blog entry is my favorite workout song of the moment: "Forever' by Drake. (With Kanye, Lil Wayne and Enimem. Sooo good. Too bad I am starting to torture myself and am beginning to train without music. I figure if I can't have music during St. George, I should ditch the music and entertain myself with some crazy thoughts. This was had a lot of heavy training. 21.4 hours hours of mclovin! I think sometimes I forget that I am still dealing with an injury, but it is hard for me to back off. Everyone, including my dad who was dubbed "Pistol Pete" in high school, is telling me to listen to my body..but I love the training and I have so much fun doing it! It is so much easier to ignore the pain and just get the work done!

Saturday marked my first century ride. I actually listened to people and did it at a comfortable-easy pace. My Garmin ran out of batteries after 30 miles, which blew! I finished with Christiane in about 6 hours. We spent about 20-25minutes in each aide station which nearly killed me, but I had to remember that it was just a training ride and not a race. Before Palm Springs, I had only been on a 70 mile bike ride, so it was nice and reassuring that I am actually physically able to ride 100+. It was really entertaining to ride by men and have them kill themselves to try to hang on my back wheel. I realized that I really hate when people draft off me that I don't know. If you're going to draft, we can should be able to take turns. Hello, I get tired, too! I especially hate when people draft off me during swimming because it is too bizarre when I do a flip turn and someone's nasty goggle/cap face is in mine. Anyways, after we all finished the race, Christiane, Mikey, and I had a nice dinner before heading home to San Diego that night.

Saturday night I was asleep before 10 pm, but I was still exhausted this morning. I wasn't in the same mind set as I usually am before a half marathon. Usually, I salivate over the numbers, but I was too tired and didn't plan ahead to do that this time. As soon as I woke up, I did my normal pace tattoo on my arm, but I kind of just wrote them assuming I would be able to run a 1:43.15. I started off with a good friend Mark, who is an excellent pace guy and distracts me during the run. With us was Michelle who was planning on breaking 1:45. She was worried about me dropping her, but after mile 2.. I was in her dust! She absolutely killed the course, finishing in just over 1:43. Almost 3 minutes better than last year. The first mile was fine because it was all down hill, but as soon as we started running on the flats and uphill, I realized that I would not be able to hold pace with Michelle. I don't know if I gave up too quickly, or if my legs actually were not capable of pulling me at that pace. Around mile 3 I met up Lina and we decided to run together. I definitely was holding her back, but she is so obsessed with not getting injured so she didn't really push herself this race. Quickly after I began running with her, Liz came trotting by us. She was holding a solid pace and soon passed us. Lina and Mark were telling running horror stories to make the miles go by while I was having a bitch fit behind them because the fatigue in my legs basically left, but pain in my knee and hip set in. Before the turn around, I decided that I needed to stop being a twerp and actually run this race. At mile 8 I was feeling good. The pain was still there, but I just ignored it. I felt kind of cool because we passed people going in the other direction and I actually knew lots of them! Ms. Popular right here...haha sike.

Anyways, with the help from Mark and Lina I was able to finish in 1:48:55...definitely not a PR or even a good race, but I finished. I was soo tempted to turn around at mile 4 and just say F it, but I'm glad I finished. My running really needs to improve before St. George...but overall I think I had a solid week of training. I just signed up for the Gran Fondo Century.. I don't know why since I don't really want to get on Hi Maintenance (my divo bike) for awhile, but it was be great training for St. George!

TRX/ Sinking in the Pool

2010-02-09T19:24:00.001-08:00

I thought that this week I wouldn't have anything interesting to write about, but today has given me plenty "amo."

This past week has been a pretty normal training week, I am able to run now - just holding off the speed work for another 2 weeks. Interesting, right? Anyways...listing off my training to you would be boring so I will save all 8 followers of mine from having to do so. Except I will explain today, Tuesday.

Today started off at 5:50am with Michelle Schwartz's spin class at La Jolla Sports Club. She is training for Ironman France and Ironman Arizona, so her classes are really intense and definitely help us push the limit. I do this spin class with Lina, and we push each other to really kick our asses during this class. Right after the class, we headed off for a 45minute T run. The run was nice and hilly...it drifted from z2 to z3.

Right after spin + run, I headed Downtown to Aire to do a TRX class with Jenn. For some reason, I didn't think that this class would be extremely difficult, but that was one of the hardest total body class I've ever taken!!! I can not wait to do this class again. Jenn was so nice and gave us water breaks, since I was sweating like a hog within the first 10 minutes. She explained and demonstrated everything and really made all of us comfortable. I know if I continue to do the class I will get a lot stronger and it will help me in triathlon. There is an advanced class to TRX, and I can not even imagine what that is like! Jenn is so tiny, but she is SO strong! Hopefully by May I will make it to the advanced class!!

After TRX, I went home to shower and take a quick nap. I don't know why, but I didn't eat or drink anything before I went to swimming. The bar that I ate before spin was only 120 calories, so going to swimming on only 120 calories and 3 hours of exercise was NOT smart, ummm duhhhhhh. I attempted to swim in the big boy lane with Felipe and company, but within the first 200, I knew I was in deep sh*t. Have you ever had the feeling where your body feels like a noodle? That's exactly how I felt today. After 3500meters, I could go no further. After I came flopping in to the side of the pool after a set, I begged Felipe to let me leave early and luckily he said yes. I don't think in all of my years of swimming have I ever gotten out of the pool early because I just couldn't fit the set. Believe me, there have been plenty of Whitewater practices where I just swam for 2.5 hours continuously because I couldn't make the interval... but I always remained in the water. Today, I couldn't even fathom doing the last mini set of 16x50's. What a loser I am!!

So the big ass obvious lesson I learned today: EAT (healthy food) before and during exercise!!
120 calories and water might work for a mile walk, but that did not work today! Hopefully tomorrow I will be able to redeem myself in the pool.

"Very Superstitious"

2010-02-01T08:17:00.000-08:00

This past week, regular training started up again. I still have to be careful on my run and keep it in Z2 for now, but I can at least do it. I did about 2.5miles on Thursday and felt fine, but I felt like I had a clamp on the left side of my butt during a 70minute run on Sunday. Going to the doctor to find out what that means today... At least my knee wasn't bothering me, but the pain went back up my leg! What a drag...

Anyways, my blog post today is about the weird superstitions/quirks I have noticed..especially during the last couple of days.

1: My Club Swim bathing suit does not allow me to go fast. Whenever I wear that suit, I always have a hell of a time making the interval and people who I usually swim a lot faster than are closer to me. Therefore, that suit is OUT. Also, my orange Brian Long swim cap no longer likes me. Like the bathing suit, whenever I wear that cap I just suck. Lipe gave me a silicon Brasil cap that works much better.

2: Some of my wrappers in my Bento Box are good luck and can NOT be replaced. This is really gross, but I have a mashed up chew in my Bento Box from Vineman ...but I can't throw it away! That was my first half-Ironman and I thought I had a good ride, so therefore that chew thing is good luck and is staying in there. Liz one time asked if I wanted her to throw out the "garbage" in there and I nearly gave her a heart palpitation by screaming "NOOOOOOO" (sorry football head). I think my blackberry flavored Gu is going to stay in there because that was the first Gu I took in on my ride with Kathy this weekend ..but more about that later.

3: Spandex/Sports bra- My racing spandex and sports bra are always the same. Neither one are tri gear, but they have worked for me in the past, and I will continue to use them! My spandex are Lululemon bike shorts that are basically cotton with a little tiny bike pad in them. Definitely not water resistant, but I first chose them because they didn't give me wicked muffin tops/ thigh tops like some spandex do! My racing sports bra is also cotton, but it is my favorite and I've worn it for every race!

4: Highlighting-anyone who has been around me long enough knows that I LOVE following Felipe's training program... and I get upset/a little nervous if for some sick reason I can't do everything. After each workout I get so excited that I get to come home and highlight the workout on my training program, indicating that I've completed it. These past couple of weeks have NOT been good since I couldn't do much running ... which meant no highlighting. Not a good day if highlighting does not take place.

5: Another weird swimming thing.. if I finish a Masters workout and it is 3.700, for example, I have to swim a 300 warm down to make 4.000. Today, I finished the workout and we swam 4.150.. so I had to swim the extra 50 to make it to 4.200.. 4.000 is such a better distance than anything in the 3's, so that must be done. Last week the swimming total was 19.400 lcm ...not as much as Dave's, though!! I figure if I can't run too much, I can definitely keep up the cardio with swimming. Liz has also increased her swimming mileage and a huge improvement has been made on her run. She was on fiyahhh during yesterday's 90 min run!
Ok, that is enough of my creepy ticks!

On Saturday, I went on a ride with Kathy because we both had a 4.5 hour ride and are fairly similar in speed. Well, we are similar on speed on flats.. going uphill - Kathy kicks my ass. Hard. My lovely friend Kathy picked me up early Saturday and surprised me with the planned route. We were going to climb Honey Springs (the bitch of the hill in Gran Fondo) and then add on the Great Western Loop. I didn't know what I was in for because I had never done any of this route before! Wherever we started,(I was completely lost, I was just hoping to keep Kathy in sight so I didn't get lost) we immediately went up a long, slow incline. I looked down at my Garmin and saw that only 10 minutes had gone by.. I knew I was in for a hell of a day. The ride up to Honey Springs wasn't too bad, I was able to hang with Kathy, since we were just dealing with a couple of rolling hills. Once we got to Honey Springs, Kathy took off and I was just trying to huff and puff my way up that biotch. One couple passed me who were dealing REPEATS on the hill. They were amazing. When I finally was almost done, I was so embarassed to see Kathy coming BACK UP the hill to get me!! Oh yeah, it looks like I've got some work to do on the hills before St. George!!

Kathy is so nice and would never tell me that I sucked (even though I was quite horrible on Honey Springs) and is like, "the only reason why I got up faster is because I'm lighter than you!" Ok so new plan.. work on hills and loose 50lbs so I can be like Kath! Just kidding, she helped me a lot and I realized that I am a "masher" meaning that I perfer to muscle my way through things instead of spinning my legs more. Felipe and Matt Simpson told me this because when I ride I usually am in almost the heaviest gear because that is where I feel the fastest. I DON'T think I will be in the heaviest gear during St. George, so I've got to train myself to spin more.

The rest of the ride went well, we finished way before 4.5 hours so we went back out 40 minutes and then came back. Since Kathy was dragging me up all the hills, I decided to be fair and help pull her. She didn't really need the help, I think she was just letting me be nice by leading. :)

On a completely different topic.. my dad was out here last weekend for business, and I was able to see him for a little bit. More importantly, he finally got to see the bike he had just bought. Luckily, H.M. passed the test and my da loves the bike! I am trying to get him to race the NJ State Triathlon in July ... I even told him that I would let him use my (old) bike!

Palm Springs + San Dieguito coming up next!

CYFAC/Injury

2010-01-24T14:26:00.000-08:00

This week, I went up to Oceanside to get fitted on my bike by Matt Simpson. I met him back at Vineman when he literally saved me - he fixed my computer, added a couple of water bottle cages, got me the right brake pads, and put on my race wheels...all in about an hour! Luke recommended him to me since I have been having pain in my hip, he suggested that if I am 100% dialed in on my bike, some of the pain may go away.

One reason why Matt is so amazing is because he is SO knowledgable, but he is the most down to earth guy, ever. Most places I go with my bike people act like I am satan because I don't know how to tune up my own bike. I went into Rivet Cycle Sport (his bike shop) with my bike and lots of adjustments needed. I told him that this was going to be a complicated process, but he was totally fine with everything I needed done. (I had the wheels from my Kestrel on my Look frame because I got a flat from my Look wheels and didn't have a tube with a long enough stem to switch it. To make matters even more complicated, I wanted the tires that I had on my Kestrel wheels on my Look wheels.... are you still following?) The tires that take me about 15 minutes to change were change in about 1 minute by Matt man-handling them and basically changing them with one hand!

The Cyfac system was really cool and I already feel a lot more efficient on my bike. Matt even took me out for about an hour ride afterwards to make sure that everything felt fine on the road. Everything was great on my 5ish hour ride yesterday...except for the fact my tires weren't pumped up enough..oops, I knew I'd forget something.

Anyways... I am still dealing with this annoying injury shit which is driving me crazy! I took an early recovery week with no running and just lots of swimming and eventually worked back up the cycling. I have been to the chiropractor (Katrina Stopper - she's awesome!) numerous times and she's helped a lot. My piriformus is super tight and clenching down on my sciatic nerve and my IT is also screwed up which is pulling on my knee and making it swell. It looks like a cankle, but on the kneecap. Sarah Zimmerman has been giving me some amazing massage therapy which definitely has been helping. No running for now, but I suppose allowing it to rest and recover will be better in the long run. Don't be jealous, but water aerobics is going to be on my training schedule!

Congrats to all of the Carlsbad runners! I feel like I had something else to say, but the Jersey Shore reunion show is on now and I can't write and admire Vinny at the same time!

Computrainer @ Aire

2010-01-10T18:41:00.000-08:00

This Saturday, I decided to preview the bike course of the Oceanside 70.3 on a computrainer at Aire. I definitely looked like an idiot showing up with a flat tire and needing help changing it, but I was in a rush getting there and I did have 30+ minutes to change that bad boy myself. Thank god all of the people who were there were really nice and helpful! You can never have too many tire changing lessons.. (or you could learn, but I enjoy having numerous bo-bo lessons).

Karl Coleman and Luke Walton set us up and the 8 of us were ready to go. Karl and Kent took the lead early on, but it was helpful to see when hills were coming because we were able to see their pace change drastically on the hills. Luke helped motivate us by reminding us that we were only 7 minutes into the course and we had a LONGG time to the finish. Gary and I went back and forth for a while - that man does NOT slow down even on the uphill!! I finished the course under 3 hours with the help of Karl coaching me through the last couple of miles. He has the Vineman course, so I look forward to practicing that a couple of times before July.

In other triathlon news.. my hip/hamstring/butt has been mofo killing me!!!!!!! Running has been super painful and my 90 minute run today was cut down to 67 minutes because it just hurt too bad. I always think "HTFU" to myself .. but I also want to make sure I don't really fudge this injury up before St. George. I go to a PT tomorrow again, but unfortunately it hasn't been helping. I may try accupuncture next to see if that will help.

In some "social" news, my friend Chastain was married on Friday and I had the honor to be a bridesmaid. She was a beautiful bride and the whole day was amazing. I also learned the dance to the chorus of "Bad Romance" by Lady Gaga, so if you want some lessons, I can work something out! School doesn't start up again until Jan. 25th, wooooooo hooooo. One of my best friends is coming out to visit this weekend, maybe she will enjoy the Blacks Beach workout on Sunday!! muahahahahaaha

Vo2 Max and Vo2 Low

2010-01-06T08:10:00.000-08:00

I will start with my "Vo2 Low." This low occured while I was at home for the holidays in New Jersey. As if I didn't already know that I HATE the cold weather, this trip confirmed it. Luckily for me, Lipe gave me some light workouts for the break, but even getting out of the house was a hassle. Never before has a 60 minute Z2 run on the treadmil seem like the hardest thing in the world. It also didn't help that I had Guidos to my left and right trying to treadmil race me. It was actually entertaining and gave me something to do rather than watch the seconds tick by. As The Situation (from the TV show Jersey Shore) says, "if you're not in the gym for at least an hour, you're not doing anything. Me, I'm in there an hour, even an hour and a half." Ahhh, gotta love the Guid's.

Seeing how going to New York Sports Club was the only time I would leave my house, I would definitely call this break a legit off-season and low. I think I did less physically activity and more eating than I have in a long, long time. Doing nothing made swimming a BLAST when I finally got back to SD. I don't know if any of you are familiar with this saying, but all of my coaches growing up would always say, "one week without swimming makes one weak." I typically ignored that and would continue to beg my parents let me skip practice so I could watch Blossom or some other great show, but after not swimming for 7 days this past break I definitely felt like ca ca in the water. It took about 2-3 workouts to get back to where I was before I left, and getting back into swimming shape BLOWS. Anyways, that was my Vo2 Low. Thankfully, that is over and done with and baby, I'm back! St. George training has officially started, and I'm loving it! Bye-Bye off season!

Speaking of off season, Felipe and Luke thought they would be nice and not give us Thursday's track workout on New Year's Eve. Considering I have no life and still wanted to do track, Liz and I were lucky enough to have C. Berg coach us through a workout. (Just kidding about having no life.....kind of...). I was a little frightened to have Chris coach me because he is obviously super fast and I didn't want to embarass myself by not be able to hold a good split. We actually ended up working on pacing and consistency, two things that I really need to work out. Berg had us do 5 sets of 4x400 With 100 m cool down in between each 400 and an extra 400 recovery after each set. Confusing? Yes, it was for me, too. He had to explain it about 10 times before I got it. The set looked like this:

1x400 low z2
100 recovery
1x400 high z2
100 recovery
1x400 low z3
100 recovery
1x400 high z3
400 recovery

(x5)

This wasn't a normal track session where we are constantly go, go, go - but it was good because it taught me discipline and how to control my pace. The goal was to set the pace the first set and then hit those exact paces the other 4 times. Berg was really patient with my lack of ability to do it the first set, and after that I got the hang of it... until the 3rd set. Then I got excited and wanted to run fast so I got a couple of "WTF's?!" I never thought someone would tell me to slow down, especially at track!

So that was track on NYE, later that night Jersey Shore was watched and loved.

I did my first Vo2 Max test with Ken Nicodermus from Fit Stop. I was really nervous, but it was really fun and it showed me a lot about myself and my areas of need. Breathing through that mask was difficult and the drool coming down my face wasn't cute, but it was worth it to know EXACTLY what I need to work out this season.

----

Some upcoming events:

My first century ride - Stagecoach
San Dieguito

Picturas!

2009-12-23T14:23:00.000-08:00

I finally figured out how to put pictures on my blog! I seemed to have forgotton for a couple of weeks!

Michelle and I at the KOZ awards dinner

Liz, Michelle, and I

:)

Everyone all done!
Random picture from Soma of Liz trying to stuff my large self in a wetsuit
Fred and I PUMPED to run!
"My legs. Hurt. Now. Ow."
New Breakaway uniforms 2010
Shocking P.F. Changs
My pacing ink
Mama wasn't there to throw me a can of Whoop Ass, but she was available to sing a 50 cent version of a song. "Go Woozie, Go Woozie, You're gonna run fast, go Woozie"
Love crossing the finish line!
Trina, Me, Philip
Me and Lipe
4/5 of the roommates
<3>

VEGAS

2009-12-07T14:01:00.000-08:00

I have now OFFICIALLY finished my season by ending with the Las Vegas Half Marathon. This race was really important for me to do well at since I have really sucked at running in my last couple of triathlons. (Cancun 70.3 - half marathon in 2:26.. oops!). I went into this race not feeling SUPER confident, but Lipe ensured me that I was ready and that I was going to do well. SOO.. I had to believe Lipster/Filiberto/Philip, so I decided I would TS the Vegas course!!

Mikey, Liz, Fred and I (yes please don't be jealous of that awesome car) drove to Vegas Friday afternoon after Hallie came by to bring us bottles of good luck/job champagne - thank you, Hallie!! After arriving at the Luxor at 11:30, 3 hours past my bed time, we went to bed! Saturday was fun at the expo and we met up with Lina to do a z2 30 minutes run. Lina's z2 is basically my vo2 max, but running with her is always entertaining. We all planned what we would wear and shared our goals and then it was time for bed because a 4am wake up call is not hot!

That wakeup call came at 3:55am - WHAT GIVES, LUXOR. Had to go through the usual routine of getting ready: clothes, gear, music, getting a cheer from ma. We waited inside until the last possible minutes and then we all lined up in our (different) corals. They unfortunately didn't have a 1:40 pace guy, so I went in somewhere in between the 1:45 and 1:35 people. The 1:45 man said if he caught up to me he would hit me with the flag pace thing, so I knew I couldn't slow down!

The first three miles were FREEZING but went by super fast. I had a 5k PR which I giggled to myself about/celebrated. Then all of a sudden I see a freak in blue jogging shirts, a blue sweatband, and had a blue bandana tied around his neck. This guy was flying past people, making jokes, smiling... most people were like WTF but then I realize that I know him! That's Mark Gorence... I see this guy EVERY race I do.. I saw him at Carlsbad, San Diego Rock n Roll, LJ Half, SDIT, etc. etc. I caught up with him and he decided that he would pace me. He was doing the full and wanted to do it in 3:20 so 1:40 would be a great target for him. Even though this guy is INSANE, he kept me distracted and I ended up having a good time running with him. At most of the miles, we were 1 minute - 30 seconds ahead of my 1:40 pace. When I would slow down, he would tell me to pick it up. Having him next to me helped sooo much. I thought I could handle the last 2.5miles without him (the full course went a different way after mile 10.5). At mile 11, I got excited because I realized I was almost done and I think I picked it up just a little TOO soon. I crossed the finish line at 1:41.23 - MY goal was 1:40, secretly 1:38.... so I am bummed that I couldn't hold my pace the last 2 miles. I told Felipe that I think I am scared to push myself into too much of an uncomfortable zone. I definitely need to work harder at my z3 and tempo runs. If I were running with someone or sprint battling in next to someone, I'm sure I could have broken 1:40 but with myself I let my mind wander (hence, FOCUS) and I let my mind get the best of me. Overall, I can't say that I'm NOT happy because it was a PR, but it is disapointing to know that I could have done better.

ANYWAYS... everyone else on the team DID GREAT! Richard, Mikey, and Lina all destroyed their old PRs, Gene went under 4 hourss (3:31!), Ed did very well, especially for having just done IMAZ, and Liz and Fred did amazingly for their first full marathon! Liz TS'd that course and came in looking strong and Ico did really, really well- especially for JUST beginning to run less than 5 months ago! I was glad that I was able to see everyone as they finished because Breakaway really conquered the course! Even though I wanted to run the full on Friday and Saturday, I'm SO glad I didn't because my hip is KILLING me - I am for sure going to call a doctor soon.

I am looking forward to see all of you at the Breakaway holiday party this Saturday! Get ready for some fun!!

ps- thank you to Sarah who stretched me out after the race!!

IMAZ Weekend

2009-11-24T09:43:00.000-08:00

Just as I was about to start preparing for finals, I realized I have not updated my blog in a long time! It's evident by all the comments I get that people have been dying to see what I'm up to, so here is a new post! ( and by all the comments, I mean 0).

Elaine, Liz, and I flew to Arizona on Saturday to watch/support the Breakaway crew at IMAZ. I had never seen a full Ironman race before, and since IMAZ is so spectator friendly, we decided to go to this one! We walked to the expo from our hotel, thinking it was 2 miles away. 6 miles later, Elaine was limping and Liz and I were straggling behind. It was worth it, because the expo on Saturday was really fun - especially the Ironman store. I am going to have to start saving now for St. George because they have really cool stuff in there! We luckily got to see everyone before they raced, which was a definite plus. On our way to the expo, we saw Josh, Kasia, and Jay getting one last ride in. They were confident and all ready to go. All of their hard work paid off because they all kicked ass on Sunday!

Sunday Liz and I met up with Felipe, Michelle, Sal, and Amy (Tom's wife). Elaine was lucky and got a media pass! Up until Sunday morning I had been wishing that I was out there racing, but race morning was SO cold that there would be no way I would be in the ass-tasting, freezing water!! We saw so many people coming out of T1 not even able to ride their bikes because they were shivering so badly. Seeing people suffer that much was a bit of a downer and scared me for St. George, but once we saw all of the Breakaway people go by - smiling - I felt better! Jay has to be the funniest person to watch during an Ironman. Anyone who can smile and make jokes during that kind of race is amazing.

Everyone from Breakaway raced with everything they had and didn't leave anything behind. It was so amazing watching everyone give 100%. We stayed out on the course until 11:20 cheering people in and that was the greatest thing ever. Some people were cramping up, but still attemping to run in, others waiting for their spouse to finsih - it was all so inspiring to watch!

Another thing hilarious to watch were the types of shots taken at our dinner table! I was told that I would be killed if I posted pictures or mentioned names - but you know who you are!!

Next up: Las Vegas Half Marathon!

Ga Ga oh La La

2009-11-09T12:12:00.000-08:00

I don't know why, but my computer won't let me upload any pictures on my blog anymore! What gives! Oh well, I was going to post pictures from the San Diego points series awards from last night and a picture of me changing my first tire - but you can just look on facebook for them!

I started this week going over next years race plan with Lipe. My three "A" races are St. George, Boise 70.3, and Vineman 70.3. Before, between, and after those races are a whole bunch of sprints and running races. I am SO excited to do Malibu, hopefully I can run next to JLo or something. Speaking of running races.. I decided to opt out of the Vegas Marathon and switch to the Half. I did San Diego Rock n Roll this past May, and while I had a lot of fun training and doing the race (until I ran the last 3 miles with just one shoe..) I was SO tired after it. For a couple of months after the race, my running felt off and I didn't have that extra "oomph" that I usually do. After talking with Lipe, I decided I didn't want to go into Ironman training tired, so I will HOPEFULLY just run a fast half. Plus, my left hip has been bothering me again, so I don't want to screw that up even more.

This past Friday, Liz and I went with Hallie to be her support crew for the Big Rock Triathlon. Constantly racing is definitely a lot of fun, but it is nice to be able to sit back and watch a friend race. Hallie KILLED it, so it was a lot of fun cheering/tormenting her when she went by. We also got to cheer for Jeanine, Robert and Erick who also did really, really well. Jeanine got 3rd OA in the sprint and 1st AG and Hallie got 3AG and 9th OA - damnnnnn ladies! If for some reason I don't end up racing a lot, I think I will be a professional cheer squad. Some of the people racing are so hilarious running to T1, "are the donuts this way?" "I thought the run was last??" To entertain ourselves, Liz and I gave the friendly cheers of "yeah sweetie pop!" "You go sweet meat, meat sweet!" Ok enough making myself laugh...

On Saturday I changed my first flat tire - by myself (almost)!!! Usually, I wait and make Richard or someone else do it, but I actually did it almost all by myself! This ride was entertaining because it is great to see how men will freak out if a girl passes them. According to Liz, one guy that we passed was standing up huffing and puffing to not let us pass him, and when we met up at a light, he had some nasty looks to give. Another guy would take off after a stoplight and I would catch up to him in about 15 seconds, and he would continually turn around to see where I was and if I were about to pass him. Calm down guys, it's just a bike ride!

The San Diego points series awards dinner was last night which was presented by Koz. It was a nice time to see other series winners and hang out with teammates. The slide show was mortifying, but whatever. Congrats to Steffany, Liz, Beth, Dave, Gary, Kathy and Joe!

Good luck to everyone doing Clearwater!!!! I'm sure you will all do great :)

One Year Anniversary/Halloween

2009-11-01T13:51:00.000-08:00

This week marks my one year anniversary with Breakaway Training! I have learned so much this past year, and I am excited to see what this year will bring triathlon wise. I did my first triathlon 3 summers ago in New Jersey. A friend from home told me that she signed me up while I was studying abroad in Guadalajara, Mexico. I knew that even though I hadn't swam for a year, I'd be able to swim ~500 meters. I thought "whatever" with biking, I didn't think it would be too bad because I'd be sitting. The run scared me a bit, but I knew that I could run/walk a 5k. I ended up doing this tri with Suzanne and Kaitlyn - literally. I waited for them to finish the swim, and then we left T1 together. They waited...5 minutes.... for me to finally roll in after a 12 mile bike and then their threats that if I walked during the run got me to the finish line. It is so funny how a couple of years ago I thought I was Miss Thang just finishing that race and now sprint distance races are not easy, but a lot less intimidating!!

Triathlons became an interest to me...but I had no idea what to do about it! Liz and I did Mission Bay (in home made tyedye shirts, bikinis, and with mountain bikes) and we decided that we eventually wanted to do a longer race! I asked Chris (who I went to high school with) and he set us up with a meeting with Felipe. Once joining Breakaway, I received whirlwind of progress and knowledge.

Here are the top 3 that I learned that are quite embarrassing admitting:

1. There are gears on bikes, you can change them. I learned this while doing Torrey Pines hill repeats. We were supposed to go up in the easiest gear on evens....I didn't know that you weren't supposed to stay in the easiest gear on the decent.

2. "Everyone" runs in tech tees and bikes in jerseys. Apparently, running in cotton shirts is not cute..and biking hill repeats in a sweatshirt is even not cuter.

3. When swimming in open water, you have to sight. I'm used to hours and hours of staring at a straight black line, not having to look up every 4 strokes to see where I'm going. Thankfully, Kathy and Joe took the time to teach me and explain that I can't do power 10s without sighting in the water.

This year, I've accomplished more than I ever thought I would do in a lifetime. I went from run/walking a 5k to multiple half marathons to SD Rock n Roll Marathon. I went from doing sprint triathlons with friends because I was scared I wouldn't know the course to Olympic distance events and 2 half Ironman races. Thank you to everyone who has helped me and given me advice- I appreciate all of it and put it to good use! Thank you to Lipe to answering my many, many questions - most of which were probably extremely basic! Most of all, thank you to maaa and paaa - for all the support, helping with the race entries & gear!! :)

Now on to my second topic of this post: Halloween. After today's workout, 12 miles on Fiesta Island - I realized again why I choose not to drink (often). Running with a hangover BLOWS, so I think I will stick to my grandma status and watch Forensic Files instead of going out - I'm sure it will make my runs MUCH more enjoyable!

Instead of being something cute for Halloween like most girls; Matt, Liz and I decided to be Teletubbys. Matt was Laa-Laa, Liz was Dipsy, and I was Tinky Winky. P.S. - Truth, I hope this color is easier on your eyes than the purple !!

P.P.S. - I can't believe I forgot to mention this in my Soma race report, but as I was crossing the finish line, Lady Gaga was playing!!!! How cool is that?! <3

Pictures from Soma

2009-10-26T13:21:00.000-07:00

There's Vince all set up!

Gali and I

Modeling on the bike My new headband

Clear reasons for Operation Shrink a Bootie!

Saturday Ride

Gali showing some skin!

Want to know what Liz eats to kick ass during a race??

Soma Half Ironman Race Report

2009-10-26T12:11:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was my second half ironman distance race. Overall, I am happy with my time (16 min. improvement from Vineman) but there is still soooo much I have to work on to be completely satisfied.

Britt, Liz, and I drove to Tempe on Thursday night - against the advice of many teammates. We wanted to get the drive over with and be able to sleep in on Friday and just relax that whole day. I suppose we should have left Friday since it is hard to drive when it is so dark out! We may have had a little problem with Border Patrol since I didn't see the random check point and blew past them at 70mph. Oops. Friday was pretty uneventful- a whole lot of eating ...which I loved... and hanging out at the five star Quality Inn.

We met up with the rest of the Breakaway crew on Saturday to do a 60min. ride. We decided to ride part of the course and it was then that we saw that the course had a lot of sharp turns and u-turns. This made me really nervous because I have about 0% technical abilities on my bike, but during the race everything was fine. I that I had to get my brake pads switched to fit my race wheels, but once that was done I was set to go. Lipe called and offered us advice and told us good luck, and we told him we loved him. Haha, he puts up with so much. Oh and apparently him and Kent work at Natural Meats?? Anyways...

I warned Britt and Liz (mainly Britt - Liz already knows) that before races I typically am in foul moods because I am so nervous, but after recieving a call from my mom and dad singing/cheering "Go Wooey, Go Wooey, it's yo' birthday, it's a holiday" and then the same for Liz/Britt, my mood definitely lightened up.

Swim: (29:40)

Swimming was the part that I was least worried about. I have always felt comfortable in the water and I was confident that I would be OK even if I got hit during the start. I was laughing to myself at the start because when I was on a club team growing up, I was always SO afraid of swim meets. I didn't like racing with the older girls and I was just so intimidated. When I would line up at the blocks, I would find my mom in the bleachers and she would pretend to throw me a can of Whoop Ass. I would take the imaginary can and drink it and probably ask for another can. Thinking back on it now, I must have looked absolutely nuts "drinking" air - but it always calmed me down. Don't worry, I didn't drink any cans of Whoop Ass before Soma, but if my parents were there they probably would have thrown me a can or two!

When I first got in the water, I was in shock. Not because of the temperature, but because of the disturbing taste of the water!!! It made Mission Bay seem like the purified water. Anyways, I felt strong the first 500 meters of the swim. Right away, another girl and I were leading the pack. She dropped me like a bad habit about 600 meters in and then I was screwed. I don't sight very well and the sun didn't make it any easier. I was quickly gaining on the last wave of thrashing swimmers, so trying to swim/see through them was not fun. On the way back to T1, I could finally pick up speed again, but some of the men (who were 3 waves ahead of me) were the most obnoxious people ever. I have to wonder why they would choose to pull on my feet and try to hit me? They aren't going to gain anything out of it and it's not like they were passing me either. Oh well, I just took it as the were giving me a pat on the back as I swam by them. :)

This was the first race that I've been in that had wetsuit strippers. That was so cool! Instead of trying to get my stupid suit off for 45 seconds, some lady pulled it off in 2! It turned out that I had the 3rd fastest female swim of the day, but this swim was 1 minute slower than Vineman which is not kosher.

Bike (2:34)

I was really nervous for the bike course because of the turns and I also was convinced that I was going to get a flat and have no idea what to do. This turned out to be my best part of the day, but I definitely went out too hard and killed my legs for the run. It was hard for me to hold back because the course is so flat and it was so easy to go fast. I saw Gary and Kent right away on the bike, but I kept them semi-close... for the first two laps. Gene and I went back and forth for the majority of all 3 laps which was entertaining and at least there was someone to pass encouraging words with.

Run (2:06)

Ugh. The run is seriously social suicide for me!! I swear I'm not that slow! If I am running in just a half marathon, I would be WAY under 2 hours! Unfortunately, I have not been able to translate my run into triathlon races. I felt fine the first 3 miles.. I was holding under a 8 minute pace for the first two miles and the third mile was around 8:05. Once I passed the third mile marker, I was kind of like, "oh shit... this is not going to be pretty." I didn't want to think negative thoughts only 3 miles into the half marathon, so I told myself that I was doing fine and that I will easily make it to the finish under 2 hours. I was slowing down to about 8:20-8:30 by mile 4. My personal goal was to not let superstar runner, Beth Gerdes, pass me until mile 4. I saw her at about mile 4.75 so then I said I wouldn't let her pass me until mile 5. Right as both of our Garmin's beeped to signal the mile exactly at mile 5, she took off! I told her after the race that one day I will dial my run in and not let her pass me til mile 7 or 8! Beth offered me supportive words to just stay in my head and focus on what I was doing. That totally helped me until the end of the first loop. Once I knew I had to go back and do that whole loop again I was about to cry. 6 miles feels sooo long when you are basically shuffling your way to the finish! During Vineman, there were at least spectators along the course constantly cheering. There were spectators yesterday, and they cheered for the pack of people in front of me, but when I went by them it was silent. Awkward. That at least got me to laugh, since the same thing happened to me in Cancun!

Time Overall: 5:13

2nd AG

As I mentioned earlier, I am happy overall with my time from the race - but definitely not satisied. I've got to pick up my run because a - it sucks b - that is where I am getting beat. The first place girl was 8 minutes slower on the swim and 5 on the bike, but her run (1:39) spanked mine! At least I know where I have to improve!!

After the race, most of the Breakaway crew hung out for awards (except for Gary and Mona who left soo quickly after the race and Kent who was in the medical tent after his crash). Gali was the 2nd over all age group winner which is amazing!! Beth was 6th overall! Liz did her first half in 5:40 which is baller shot caller , too! Congrats to Gary, Kent, Gene, Mikey,Christiane, Britt, Beth Regan - you all did great! Now, it is time to take an Epsom salt bath and later dine at my favorite Mexican place, Ranchos!

First Blog Post

2009-10-20T11:17:00.000-07:00

Please don't be jealous that it takes me 15 minutes to put on a wetsuit.. here I am taking a break because I was sweating...

Alo,

I am creating this blog so Liz and Katie (my roommates) will stop annoying me about making one and stop writing blog entries on my facebook. I am also doing it now because I don't want to write a research paper and I also do not want to swim. Maybe if I get carried away writing this I will just happen to miss Masters.

After many months of creeping on other blogs, I thought I would know what to write.. but I am embarassed to say I can not think of anything original! I don't have interesting weekly workouts like Berg, I didn't just go to Hawaii like Tawnee, I DO have good iTunes lists like Beth, but that would just be social suicide since I run to artists like Celine Dion.

This past weekend was the US Women's Tri Series race which was a lot of fun. On Saturday before the race, Liz and I did a 2 hour ride with Michelle around Fiesta Island. I think we all can agree that FI blows and riding on it 3 weekends in a row was NOT fun. The race itself was nice and quick - the run was only 2.99 miles instead of a true 5k, but I definitely was not complaining! Like last year, I ran out the Swim In and it wasn't until a good 10 seconds of running out there that I was told that I went out the wrong way. One day I will get it right!

On Thursday Brit, Liz and I are driving to AZ for the Soma Half Ironman triathlon. That should be a good race. Too bad Lipe isn't racing too so I can wave to him for 1/4 of a mile like I did in Vineman. (Hence the title of my blog ... I personally was just happy to be running and seeing a fellow Breakaway athlete, but I was told I need to FOCUS -- whatever!)