The Road to Ironman and a Cure for Cancer

A Mysterious Virus & A Strange Calm

2006-07-19T12:58:00.000-07:00

What the doctor thought was Strep is instead a mysterious virus that is still attacking my throat and weakening my body. I feel a little better today (I can at least stand up for 5 min.), but still not good. I rested all day, then packed for the trip in the evening.

In a strange, but good way, I feel like the pressure of the race has been lifted because I am sick. I still plan to race, but without the expectations of myself that I've had throughout the season. I will just be glad to be healthy and able to compete. I will probably take it a bit easier than I had planned and will hope that I can still make the time cut-offs. Considering all of the obstacles I've faced throughout the season that have infringed upon my training, I will be so proud to even make it to the start. Since the beginning of the season in October, I:

Moved apartments
Started dating Derek, realized that he is my "one"
Moved again
Learned how to live with my "one"
Rehab'd an injured shoulder
Managed my job without a boss for 6+ months
Rehab'd a chronic back injury
Took over my co-workers job, plus my own job, while assisting a new boss
Attended two out-of-town weddings (a bridesmaid in one)
Traveled for work A LOT!!!
Tried to keep in touch with my friends, but failed miserably, only to realize who my true friends are
Gave up caffeine so that when I take it on race day it will actually have an effect (this may have been the hardest!)
Went back on caffeine (seriously, do I really need it to give me a boost in the race? I'll be fine with out it = ).
Trained A LOT!!! in the 35 degree sleet and 100 degree heat (the hardest workout was 9 hours straight- 3 30 mile bike loops with 3 3 mi. runs in between - on one of the 100 degree days, 9 hours is a long time, especially when the workout is an hour away! We left our house that day at 6:30 am, only to return after quickly grabbing a burrito at 7:30pm!)

So in summary, if for some reason my race-day experience falls short, I will look back on this year and realize that triumphs and struggles have made me a stronger person whether or not I can officially call myself an "Ironman", and that the journey is as valuable to me as I hope the race will be. I am so lucky to have my health and that of my family and friends, and I am thankful to be able to help those who face obstacles much greater than mine while simultaneously accomplishing one of my big dreams. Team-In-Training rocks.

Bad News

2006-07-17T12:49:00.000-07:00

My throat was feeling worse and I could hardly get out of bed this morning, so Derek stayed home from work to take me to the doctor. Luckily he went with me as I almost passed out 5 or 6 times trying to get there. Apparently I have an ear infection and what looks to be Strep - I have to call for the results tomorrow. According to the doctor I can probably still race as I started the antibiotics today, so I'll just rest and cross my fingers. The timing isn't actually that bad as we are supposed to be resting in our taper phase anyway, but it feels pretty bad to be stuck to the couch and not moving my muscles at all. I just try think of all the people who have fought Leukemia & Lymphoma and any kind of cancer for that matter and put my situation into perspective . . . so what if I can't race. I can still cheer on my teammates, hang out with my family and know that I will have raised almost $10,000 to help people who feel a whole lot worse than I do.

Uh Oh . . .

2006-07-15T12:46:00.000-07:00

I woke up in the middle of the night with a very sore throat so have been taking it easy all day. No workouts. I am very tired and have a bit of a fever. Hopefully this is just a 24 hour thing . . .

The Last Big Workout

2006-07-09T16:05:00.000-07:00

A gorgeous day at Aquatic Park . . .

Here's a shot of Derek & Pete landing ashore after a lovely, smooth 40 minute swim, and a group of my teammates - most of them going to Lake Placid with me. Aquatic Park is often choppy, windy and murky, so I'm glad we said our goodbyes to open water swimming for the season on a sunny day. This is our last "big" workout in the taper phase - 40 minutes of swimming followed directly by a 10 mi. run. Piece of cake, especially with such amazing weather. I swam about 1 mi. or so, trying to keep up with Pete, and managed to stay on him. I'm hoping for a 1hr. 20 min. swim, which is about Pete's pace, so I feel good.

We do a quick "deck-change" (tourists gawking as always) and take off on the 10 miler - my legs are feeling great, even up the hills, until I twist my ankle on the Coastal Trail just past the Golden Gate Bridge. I hobble for a few minutes, then press on. I've sprained my ankle so many times playing various sports, that it doesn't even swell up anymore. I take it easy on the rest of the run, though, and finish sometime in between Derek and Pete, then take a nice siesta in the sun on the grass watching my teammates take an "ice bath" in the bay. I opt out as it would require changing my bottoms which definitely requires too much effort. After a super-delicious Safeway Veggin' Out #7, we head home to shower off the green murk that the bay coats us with, ice, relax, and pack up the bag and the bikes to ship off to LP. It was a solid day of training . . . I feel good except for the anke, and am very much looking forward to the real taper in which the workouts don't last more than 2 hours. ONLY 2 WEEKS to go. . .

15 . . .

2006-07-08T15:45:00.000-07:00

We turn our bikes in to Tri Bike Transport tomorrow to be shipped to NY, so this was our last ride on our bikes before the race. Derek and I did about 50 miles, up to Nicasio and back. A pretty hot and hilly ride, but it was nice to ride for less than 5 hours for the first time in a long time. The legs felt good.

I bought new tires last night and swapped them for my old tires, and switched out the tubes as well. Good practice for a flat tire during the race, this process is a bit of a struggle as the tires are new and very inflexible, but I manage to muscle them on all by myself. Our living room has literally turned into a bike shop. See below":

It's an anxiety inducing process as I check over the bike to make sure all of the parts appear to be functional because it conjures up images of all of the things that could possibly go wrong on race day. Tomorrow we will put every piece of gear we need for the bike portion into a bag and ship it off with the bike. If we forget something, we can certainly bring it with us, but the essentials are packed away - helmet, shoes, etc. This Tri Bike Transport company better live up to their end of this deal. . . they truck all of our gear across the entire country - from SF to Lake Placid, NY. The bike shop in town, Placid Planet, supposedly has everything we might need and is open 24 hours a day leading up to the race, but it feels odd to send off my beloved Blue Wave - we have hardly been separated for the last 10 months!

T-20

2006-07-07T14:50:00.000-07:00

20 days and counting. Derek surprised me with a trip to Tahoe for my 30th birthday with friends Mike, Susan, Kristy and Alberto. Derek, Mike and I rode around the lake today for a gorgeous 72 mile excursion. The weather was perfect, and I was able to keep a faster pace than I have been (15.4 mph) on other long hilly rides. The altitude definitely had me a bit short of breath and naseaus for the first 15 mi., but I was able to slowly take in some of my new favorite Ironman food- Wheat Thins - and slowly settled in. Mike and Derek cruised ahead of me for most of the day, but stopped to check in every now and then. Here are photos from our rest atop (almost) Emerald Bay.

Shortly after this, we came up upon a solo cyclist who asked if he could ride with us. Of course we welcomed him, until we found out that he was two days away from the National Championships with the US Cycling Team. Such a little thing he was! MAYBE 110. Even I was able to pass him on the downhills . . . but man, did he fly on the uphills.

With the bike ride done, we will relax in the lake, play games and celebrate until Tuesday when it's time to hit the road again.

Too Busy to Blog

2006-06-21T19:21:00.000-07:00

Here's a recap of the last week in May:

Saturday, 5/27 - We meet some teammates at Inspiration Point atop the Berkeley Hills for a spinnerval/run workout. The view is amazing and it is nice to have the company. The hour spin flies by, then we head out for a 12-mile run. I have been more tired than usual this week, so take the run pretty slow, but finish and still make it to my 2pm hair appt. Short hair kicks ass.

Sunday, 5/28 - The schedule calls for 3700 yards swimming and a 60 mile bike ride. Derek and I roll out of bed and amble to the Presidio Y to knock out 3000 yards before we have to meet Mike & Meighan to ride Alpine Dam/Seven Sisters - one of the harder rides in the Bay Area. The weather is gorgeous and we finish with no problem. D & I go shopping for a new dresser - the eternal quest toward which our failed efforts have turned our spare bedroom into a walk-in closet. We haven't been able to see the bed for weeks due to insane amounts of laundry. Thank the dear Lord he sprang for the high-efficiency washer/dryer when we moved in! We go on a date to see the Da Vinci Code. I am very excited to dress up (dressing up = anything but spandex), even if just to walk to the movies. It is hard to feel like a pretty girl when you are sweaty and gross 20 hours/weekend. The movie is definitely not as good as the book. We had planned to hit the local pub on the way home, but were too tuckered out. We both feel old and tired.

Monday, 5/29 HOLIDAY - We sleep in . . . HOORAY SLEEPING IN . . . for the first time in a LONG time. BTW sleeping in means getting up at 9am. We shop for clothes, meet Kristy and Alberto for lunch to celebrate their engagement, do laundry and make dinner. We laugh that this is a super-fun day for us, yet it consisted almost entirely of errands.

Tuesday 5/30 - Friday 5/2: Work, Workout, Eat, Sleep, Repeat.

Saturday, 6/3 - Wake up early for 7am run. Am planning on going 12 mi., but end up going 5 to get back in time to meet up with the wedding party for primping and pics. Wedding is beautiful. Manage to stick to two glasses of wine in preparation for tomorrow's 90 mile ride, avoid sunburn in 100 degree weather, but do get bitten by a large bug. Yuck.

Sunday, 6/4 - Derek & I meet up with Susan, Pete & Meighan for a ride. We quickly sexify into groups of boys and girls. Susan fills the girls in on her British love affair as we cruise for the first 20 mi. or so. At 35, we hit dark, misty, windy weather and decide to turn back toward the city which is sunny for a change! I get attacked by hives and end my ride at 67 - not the mental barrier I intended to break, but a solid ride nonetheless. And, I learned that when cows lie down, it means they are preparing for a storm. I think they were confused though, because it was sunny and nice all day and still is. This weekend was the Union St. Fair - one of my favorite days in 05. Bummer that we missed it.

Mirage

2006-05-01T21:50:00.000-07:00

This post is titled "Mirage" for two reasons:
1) We rode in the Coachella Valley desert this weekend and I thought I saw one.
2) Training for Ironman is like chasing after an elusive vision that sometimes appears to be real, and then just disappears when real life comes into focus.

We made the journey down to the Coachella Valley Music festival to meet up with Derek's brother Chris and Chris's wife Jodi, who are avid music festival goers. While Derek and I really like to see live music, we definitely were not prepared for the effects of a 10 hour drive, 100 degree heat, and 85,000 people. But the music was good, and I truly enjoyed meeting Chris and Jodi. We were able to fit in a 40-mile ride on Saturday. The route was a bit sketchy . . . I pulled it from the web page of a bike store in town, but the directions weren't exact, and the roads were pretty scary until we got out to no-man's land, which was finally big-rig free. 40 miles went by much quicker than it used to, but I was pretty drained by the end of the day. We had every intention of running on Sunday, knowing that we were missing a very long workout at home, but I really wanted to spend what time we could getting to know C&J, so went to brunch at the Cheesecake factory instead. D-Lish!

Today was supposed to be "May Day, May Day!" in that the really tough training regimen kicks in. But the schedule says to take a day off, so I did. I got to catch up with a couple of friends, which has been very difficult to do in the last few months. I will consider myself incredibly blessed to wake up on July 24th with even one friend other than Derek and my family, considering the number of events I've had to turn down lately. What's funny is that I received a chain email last week reminding the reader that "you always have time for coffee with a friend", but really, I don't. I'm looking forward to re-connecting with everyone in August, and actually BEING a friend.

A special thanks to my Mom for reminding me that even my half-ass attempts at work, at home, at training, are better than most people's "full-ass" attempts, and that I'm raising a lot of money to help people who can't do what I'm doing to help themselves. I think she said it better, though. I love you, Mom. Thanks for the support. I couldn't do it without you. And thanks to Jackie, who let me buy her dinner tonight, two months after her birthday, making me feel like I actually am a part of her life even though we haven't caught up in a really long time. It meant a lot to me. And finally, thanks to Katy Ashby for never, ever giving me a hard time about having to train.

Wildflower Training Weekend - 1/2 Iron Distance

2006-04-08T16:34:00.000-07:00

On Friday night we pulled into Lake San Antonio just as the rain eased up and dusk was setting in . . . the last 10 minutes of light generously allowing us to quickly pitch our tent. The howling wind practically stole the tent, and sent it blowing across camp, but we were able to stake it down just in time. Luckily the winds eased up throughout the night, giving us a good night sleep (thanks also to Susan's super-posh air mattress).

Saturday morning did not start off so well. The air temp was 42 degrees as we exited our tent, choosing to strip down and strap on our wetsuits in the heated car (God bless the inventor of seat warmers!) while shoving down a yucky egg flavored bagel, grumbling all the way. I have never been so NOT INTERESTED in going swimming. Not only was it bone-chilling, but we got down to the water to find the fog so thick that we couldn't see the buoys for our 1.2 miles swim. So Coach Tom pared it down to 30 minutes of laps around volunteers on surfboards, which was fine with me. We waded through the swamp and off we went. Somehow my goggles got smooshed in my transition bag, so my left eye kept filling with water. I chucked the goggles in the first five minutes, but the rest of the swim went smoothly until I got out of the water and put on my new Walmart galoshes only to find that they do not work like flip flops. The pebbles that stick to your feet as you are exiting the water stay in the bottom of the galoshes and prick your half-numb feet with every step. So I chucked those too. When the coached called "time" at the end of our swim, I was as far from the shore as I could be, so I was one of the last people in, but I was very excited to find that Derek had not taken off on the bike yet, so we were able to pedal off together. He left me on the first hill (the one that no one tells you about), and I didn't see him again until the run.

The bike went much better than expected. My hands and feet were burning as they thawed out, I forgot my sunglasses (the sun finally appeared), and I dropped my chain once, but the course is absolutely gorgeous. I took it pretty slow in anticipation of "Nasty Grade" (the hill that EVERYONE talks about), and felt good at the end of the ride.

Again, Derek was in the transition area when I pulled in, so we set off together for what turned out to be a pleasant 13-mile hike/jog. It took us longer than we had hoped, but I definitely enjoyed his rousing rendition of "New York, New York" that is actually "Go Team, Go Team" and his company made the journey a million time more bearable than it would have been alone. We may have each gone faster if we had been on our own, but it would not have been as "fun". We picked up Scott and a couple of other teammates along the way, and leisurely strolled back into camp. Hooray camp.

All in all, it was a satisfying day, despite a rocky start - pun intended.

FAT TUESDAY

2006-02-28T22:13:00.000-08:00

HERE IS A PHOTO OF MY MOM WEARING IRON TEAM COLORS TO THE MARTI GRAS PARTY AT THE SCHOOL WHERE SHE TEACHES. THE KIDS WERE ALLOWED TO WEAR "FREE DRESS" INSTEAD OF THEIR UNIFORMS IF THEY WORE PURPLE, GREEN OR GOLD. GO TEAM!

I DITCHED THE FAT TUESDAY MARTI GRAS HAPPY HOUR MY OFFICE FOR A VERY ANTI-FAT FINISH TO THE DAY - A 2300 YARD SWIM WORKOUT. IT WAS THE BEST I'VE FELT YET DURING A SWIM WORKOUT. MY SHOULDER WAS PAIN-FREE FOR A CHANGE, I COULD ACUALLY MUSTER UP A LEVEL 7 SPEED AS DIRECTED ON THE SCHEDULE, AND I FINISHED WITH ENERGY TO SPARE.

I WAS REMINDED AT HAPPY HOUR BY ALL OF THE IRISH CATHOLICS (WHO APPROPRIATELY WORK FOR GUINNESS) THAT LENT STARTS TOMORROW, AND WAS ASKED WHAT I'M GOING TO GIVE UP . . . SO I DECIDED TO GIVE UP WORRYING. THIS HAS BEEN A TOUGH COUPLE OF WEEKS WITH TRAVEL, A MOVE, AND MY HIP INJURY FLARING UP, SO I'VE HAD TO MISS QUITE A FEW WORKOUTS. CONSEQUETNLY, I'VE BEEN WORRYING ABOUT MY ABILITY TO ADEQUATELY PREPARE FOR IRONMAN. BUT, WORRYING ONLY MAKES IT WORSE, SO I AM GIVING IT UP FOR 40 DAYS WITH CONFIDENCE THAT I'LL BE BETTER FOR IT.

Guinness Bike Jerseys - Coming Soon!

2006-02-08T17:02:00.000-08:00

Hooray! I finally have the design for my Guinness Bike Jerseys. These jerseys will be available for a donation (amount tbd) to my fundraising campaign. Hopefully they will be ready in early April . . .

No More Horsing Around . . .

2006-02-08T16:48:00.000-08:00

Seriously. No more horsing around. Somehow I have to get from this . . .

(horseback "swimming" in Jamaica)
To this . . .

(the start of Ironman USA 2005)

in five short months. It was already five months ago that I signed up for this silly race. Time sure flies. Our weekday workouts are still manageable at about an hour of swimming, an hour of biking and a little over an hour of running, and the coached workouts are long, but fun. The biggest challenge is fitting in work, travel and life in general, but somehow it is working so far . . . .

A Post Holiday Party Dip on Treaure Island

2005-12-05T10:25:00.000-08:00

We coudn't have asked for a more beautiful day . . . the Sun was shining bright at 6:45am as I was sitting in front of the Fairmont waiting for the valet to bring the car around after my holiday Christmas party. Despite the lingering effects of champagne and dancing in high heels, I was excited to enjoy the sunshine and get the first practice tri of the season under my belt. Upon the recommendation of a nutritionist in our group, I gave up coffee (cold turkey) over Thanksgiving so that when I drink caffeine on race day, it will have the desired effect of increased energy and performance. While I definitely struggled with detox headaches and lethargy for a week or so, it was well worth the deprivation for the delight of the race-day coffee!
We jumped in the water sometime after 8 am. Bone-chilling as it was, the two loops of the course went by quickly. The worst part was getting out of the water and putting on my shoes to run back up the stairs to the transition area. Upon exiting the water, the blood rushes from your head and arms into your legs, which makes it very difficult to stay upright, let alone run to your bike. I sat down for a minute and waited for the world to stop spinning, then started running on my numb, stumpy feeling feet and finally made it to the bike. I sat down on my towel, put on my socks and biking shoes, then realized that I still had my wetsuit on. So, off with the shoes, off with the socks, off with the wetsuit, then I started the process over again, this time with my biking pants on first. Wow. The cold really gets to your head.

After a quick bike ride and 3 mi. jog, we celebrated the first "race" of the season by cheering in our teammates and taking photos with our honorees. We have a new honoree on our team . . . Larissa Campana (bottom right). She is a 10 year old survivor of Acute Lymphocytic Leukemia. I asked her if she might ever do a triathlon. . . her response was: "I have to learn how to ride a two-wheeler first". She is a stunning example of strength and optimism, reminding us that we need only take one step at a time.

Attack of the Larvae

2005-11-06T16:52:00.000-08:00

The lake at Shadow Cliffs park in Pleasanton LOOKS lovely, but it is not the most pleasant to swim in. Upon stirring up the dirt at the bottom of the lake with our feet as we entered the water for a 45 min. swim, a massive cloud of larvae enveleped us. Apparently they only latch onto your skin during certain seasons, and it takes 1-4 hours to know if they've attacked, which is indicated by symptoms similar to mosquito bites-red itchy bumps. So I entertained myself with images of yucky worm-like creatures burrowing into me for the duration of the swim. Then, I spent the 45 minute run trying to focus on the beautiful scenery, but wasn't able to keep my mind off of the itchy feeling that may or may not have been the effects of the larvae. Luckily, Stu - the boyfriend of my first ever TNT mentor Izumi, caught up with me, so I had someone to chat with for the second half of the run. Upon finishing, we raced home to the shower to rinse off the lake water and hopefully escape the the larvae infestation. Fortunately there were no itchy-red bumps to report. I have a new found respect for Aquatic Park - while a million degrees colder, the only visible critters are sea otters, and they are very cute.

The Halloween Hangover

2005-10-30T16:44:00.000-08:00

If only I hadn't taken a sip . . . I might have made it to practice today. But how could I resist such a cute can of Buzzed Light? Actually, I think it was the Goldschlager . . . never again.

2005-10-22T15:27:00.000-07:00

Today was our first "Spinnerval", meaning that we all set our bikes up on "trainers" and spin outside while Coach Wayne barks orders at us . . . "right leg only", "left leg only", "heads up", "relax your feet". . . it's a lot harder than it sounds! The drills will hopefully help our form so that we will be able to maintain a fast cadence for many hours straight, even up steep hills (versus pushing harder in a lower gear). This will help to "save" our legs for the marathon.
Due to the effects of a few spontaneous beers the night before, Derek and I ditched the 20 minute run following the Spinnerval. I look like I am laughing in the picture above, but I was not laughing on the inside. I think the momentary humor resulted from to my failed effort to unclip my right foot while spinning at 50 RPMs, which is definitely as hard as it sounds.

Ready Set Go

2005-10-17T12:16:00.000-07:00

Sunday went by so fast! I'm not sure if it is due to the lack of newbies (beginning triathletes), or if Ironteamers are just more hard core (probably both), but we accomplished so much in so little time compared to workouts I've done with past TNT teams. And this was just our first weekend! We started with a swim marker set, followed by drills. I have a tendancy to "sandbag" in the pool, ie. I like to draft off of people who are slower than I am so I don't have to work as hard, so I started in the middle lane. Coach Wayne quickly spotted my devious strategy and moved me up to the second fastest lane. Rats. I guess it was good learn that I should focus more of my time on biking and running as I am already faster than many of my teammates in the pool. It will definitely be a different story on the track and on the bike. I did buy a brand new bike on Saturday - all carbon, with a carbon crank and seat post, and very fast wheels. It is a Specialized Tarmac Expert named "The Blue Wave" (see the black/white version here. . . mine is appropriately blue): http://www.specialized.com/bc/SBCBkModel.jsp?spid=13003). Carbon is much lighter than the aluminum that my old bike (The Blue Bomber) was made of, so I should be able to go faster. That is the idea, anyway.

The First Workout

2005-10-14T09:38:00.000-07:00

Butterflies plagued my stomach this afternoon as I struggled to focus on work, anxious about my first IronTeam workout at "The Track". We were scheduled to run a marker set - a timed effort used to record our progress later in the season, and to determine which group we will train with. I debated with myself: "Would I be in the slow group? Would it be better to be the fastest of the slow group, or the slowest of the middle group (the fast group wasn't even a thought in my mind)? How many laps must I do in 30' to get me into the middle group (14 was the magic number)? ". All of my fears subsided as I approached the IronTeam group gathering on the bleachers beneath the waving red and white Ironman flag. I suddenly felt like part of the team and remembered that it is not about being fast or good, just strong. Before I knew it, people I've only just met were cheering me around the boring brown oval, and I them. I realized then that The Track is not something to love or hate (I've always hated it), and that it is only as fun as the people who are on it. It is just a "thing" that moved steadily beneath me for 14 easy laps. All of the butterflies flew away, and I was lighter, faster. IronTeam seems to rely more on self-motivation, which I like a lot better than having a coach standing on the side of the track barking out lap times. I think it will be a good fit for me.

Kick Off

2005-10-09T00:00:00.000-07:00

The race is on . . . we kicked off the season today at Clif Bar in Berkeley. It began with an overwhelming dose of enthusiasm and information, and ended with a video giving us a glimpse of the life-changing journey ahead. I am excited to get to know the people who will become my "secret weapons" on race day . . . my teammates, coaches and mentor. Go Team.