Sunday, July 5, 2009
4 for the 4th and a PO'd Achilles
The the 4th of July plan was to spend four hours biking and running (couldn't--actually, didn't want to--do the celebratory 4,000 swim, 4hr bike, 40 min run like some people were planning!).
I planned a ride with lots of climbing and got 'er done... no Achilles pain at all. So 62 miles later (legs hating me, hot as hell), I set out on my T-run and pretty soon in--ouch! Achilles was pissed! Since I was already out and away from home, I ran until I nearly reached the four-hour mark, then walked/jog to cool down a bit. Iced after and no pain for the rest of the day.
The 4th was great... my friend invited me to join him at a BBQ in Huntington Beach at an apt right by the beach. In true American fashion, I enjoyed a couple beers and hot dogs with all the fixings! Our group was super mellow (thankfully!) compared to some of the mayhem going on. I swear, after the sun went down it was like controlled rioting on the streets of HB. Fun to observe, no desire to participate. It amazes me how many people had fireworks, not just little sparklers and screamers but real burst-in-the-sky fireworks, and they were shooting them off all night from their homes. Call me a goody-goody, but I could never do that--I'd be so scared to get in trouble!
I stayed up way past my bedtime but had a blast. When we finally left, Stuart and I forgot where we parked in the HB mess, but it was actually really fun because I had my new Republic bike to cruise around on... love that thing! I need to name it...hmmmm.
Anyways, I went to attempt a long run this morning, and literally 0.3 miles in it was clear that was not gonna happen. Achilles still pissed. So, rest it is! Thankfully I have a massage/ART appointment scheduled, and taper is beginning so I'm not too worried about taking time off from running. It's all about being well for Vineman.
So, instead of hittin the road today, I'm going to hit the surf in a bit. Shaka!
Sunday, June 28, 2009
SDIT Race Report
I say "all things considered" because a couple minor things worked against me in this race. 1) I'm still battling a cold; 2) My transition area was in BFE. Normally I wouldn't even mention something like that, but it was so far in the boonies that it likely added on 2-3 minutes extra transition time that not everyone had to deal with. But that's racing, and those were the cards I was dealt. Rise to the challenge, right?
I had two goals for this race: 1) Feel pain, the good kind 2) Get a sub-2 hour finish. I achieved one goal: I made myself suffer. Didn't get the sub-2hrs, though; maybe it was the transitions because according to my watch I got the times I planned for myself on the 1k swim, 30k bike and 10k run. I finished in 2:02:39 (so close!) and got 2nd in my AG, literally 5 seconds behind 1st place in what was an INTENSE sprint to the finish line. Whitney Handy, who I know and like a lot and who's doing Vineman 70.3, was the rockstar who just edged me out. Good job girl!
So here's the story...
Race morning I ran into some very special people... the Golden boys. No, really. Brad Golden (my ex/now good friend), Brian Golden (dad) and Rory Golden (bro)...in order w/ my mom and me in this picture:
Swim
So overall, good day. I stuck to my game plan and executed. I even kept the snot rockets in control. Kinda.
Post-race
Also, had to wait for Mom to finish! And soon enough, there she was. This was her second race of the years, and it went excellent minus the run. She was with the top 50-54 females until the run, where she got dropped. She finished 2:17, and felt better than she did after Superseal. Improvment? I think so!
There we are all chatting in the mix of things. My shoulders got super sunburn today. Ooopps!
Mom and daughter before race. Looking pretty calm, maybe a tad preoccupied.
Post race. Looking releaved.
I have to say, Koz put on yet another great race, especially by getting through the award ceremony in a swift manner. Man, sometimes those can drag on forever! But I am questioning the logistics behind the transition area setup. Heard some other folks talking about it who were also PO'd, so I know I wasn't the only one who noticed. Hmmm.
Next up: Get back to 100% health and make it a quality 3 weeks until.... drumroll.... Vineman 70.3! Can't wait!
I have some other later-season news, but I'll share that, well, later!
Thursday, June 25, 2009
Woah...That's a New Number!

Can't wait to take him out for a real ride. Wonder if I can make it up a legit hill? Well, I'm going to have to learn... This baby is going to get a lot action, taking me around CSU Fullerton, down to SPI and many other places. Now I just need a sturdy lock.
Annnnd lastly, I'm getting ready to leave for my favorite place: San Diaaggooo. San Diego International Triathlon is Sunday, and thankfully I'm pretty much fully recovered from what turned out to be a nasty nasty cold. I'm still blowing my nose like a crazy woman (riders near me on Sunday, beware of flying snot and don't take it personally if I accidentally shower you). But I feel lightyears better than I did last weekend, so we'll see how things go! I'm really excited. I'll be looking for familiar faces out there... and trying not to snot or sneeze on you.
Thursday, June 18, 2009
Spoke Too Soon
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
Back on the Trails
These socks perfectly express my feelings :)
My friend Stuart and I went mountain biking at Whiting Ranch, a trail that I'm very familiar with from countless trail runs and mountain biking waaay back in the day... but it's been a long time since I rode it. Like years long. I borrowed my mom's mtn bike because I think my old outdated Diamondback has seen it's day and would be a hazard to ride. Here's a peek at our sported-out garage. We somehow have equipment for just about every sport/outdoor activity imaginable fit in there--thank my dad for MacGyvering that one.
Whiting isn't anything too gnarly at all (in fact, when we were done I was like, "OK, either let's do that again or I need a real workout). But, there is one infamous hill, Mustard Hill, that's a decent climb. When I was younger, I was rarely able to make it up the whole hill without stopping or walking. But today, no problem. Right up. My level of fitness is definitely in a whole other realm. After Mustard, I took us up another climb, Dreaded Hill, which wasn't long enough! I wanted more suffering! For a guy who doesn't ride bikes often, Stuart rocked. But I still beat him, just barely :) We chilled out at the top a bit and took in the view. My next adventure on the list--riding up that big mountain right behind me, Saddleback.
After the little break, it was all downhill from there. I guess my concept of speed is jacked up from all my time spent on the Felt TT bike because according to Stuart I was "flying down." It didn't feel that fast to me... I maybe maxed out in the 20-something mph range. But I felt confident and in control, so what the heck! It was a blast. Especially the curvy downhill single-track stuff (is that proper mountain bike jargon?!). After our ride we chowed down some killer sandwiches at a local deli, Bagels and Brew. I swear, mainstream sandwich shops just don't compare to the little hole-in-the-wall mom and pop places in my opinion. A swim followed later on. I'm working on not crossing over at my midline so much, thanks to some great advice from Mike at SPI. Hopefully this will start shaving off time; I've already noticed slightly faster 100s when I do it "the right way."
On the Training/Racing Front...
Nothing too exciting to report, except that I've been taking things up a notch and am hanging in there, especially that I'm able to recover quickly from intense workouts. I attribute good nutrition and early bedtimes to that. Check out this study on the importance of sleep. It's amazing how many workouts I fit in the last few weeks without crashing and burning, sometimes three a day now that I'm doing Crossfit. And, I of course take a recovery day when needed, as painful as that is. (But lately off days have included surfing or some sort of activity.)
I did an 80-mile bike and 35 minute t-run last Saturday and was curious to see how I'd perform after an already hefty training week with no rest. I faded at about mile 60, but got a second wind and did pretty well overall, I think there was like 8,000+ feet of climbing according to my Garmin. Ouch! Surprisingly, the t-run wasn't so bad. Sunday's run, though, was another story. (Crappy.)
I think I'm most stoked on my new love: Crossfit. I'm doing about two a week now and am hooked. It's so intense you want to puke, but in about 10 minutes it's over. And it's incredible the amount of work that is done in that time. It's not your typical strength-training routine, Crossfit does laps around a regular weight-lifting session! I'll leave it at that.
So next week I'll taper a bit for the SD International Triathlon on June 28, then a couple more intense weeks and then time for Vineman tapering. Feels like just yesterday I was getting ready for IMCA.
Time flies when you're having fun!!!
And oh yea, I'm now in the market for a new mountain bike. I'll have one by the end of '09 for sure :)
Sunday, June 7, 2009
My "Twin" Is Coming
Karlee is a riot. She is the funniest, most outgoing person I know and she radiates energy wherever she is. She's the type of girl who is friends with everyone and has no enemies. Not to mention, she's a stellar athlete. To this day, she smokes me in the pool--so jealous! She was a killer volleyball player all through high school and almost played in college but decided to take time off from organized sports and "have fun." And, oh is she having fun. Her life at SLO reminds me of how I was when I was unleashed into SDSU. We know how to have a good time :) ONE MORE THING...
On an unrelated topic, I have to mention what Michellie Jones said in her blog about the recent OC Duathlon. It made me smile.
"...This would have to be one of the hardest 40km's I have ridden or maybe it was the 5km run before hand. The first 6 miles were uphill not a lot of fun after running hard. At least that meant on this out and back course you could fly back home to the transition..." ~MJ
Props to my regular training route... Even my idol sees it as challenging :)
Friday, June 5, 2009
Making Time for the Beach
As for surfing, I really forgot how much I enjoy it! I think for a while, back in the day, I was so concerned about being good that I lost the ability to just paddle out to have fun. Then other things started becoming more important, namely triathlon, so surfing sessions became few and far between.
But now I see surfing in a whole new light. With triathlon as my main focus and discipline, surfing can be a relaxing, enjoyable way to be active outside of swimming-biking-running with none of the added pressure of thresholds, intervals, pace work, beating myself up. Don't get me wrong--I love doing all that with tri, but it's nice to have another sport that's just for fun. No big deal if I suck or kick ass.
On that note, Friday the waves fairly bigger than they've my past two sessions, and it definitely was more challenging. The first wave I caught was my best of the day; things kind of went downhill from there. But thankfully I had a friend out with me so it was fun and I wasn't scared or anything like that... just held onto my board and got pounded on a bit. Good times.
This was my view when I opened the back doors of the Prazak Surfmobile. Ahhh, heavenly. (A little windy out today, but still surfable):
Being at the beach and in the ocean is therapeutic after a gnarly workout week, and spending time in this environment just seems necessary:
Saturday, May 30, 2009
OC Duathlon Race Report

Monday, May 25, 2009
Bike, SURF, Run
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
Beer Makes Me Faster
Each occasion during which I've drank lately has been well worth the indulgence because despite how focused I am on personal goals like improving in tri, being a good student, etc., it's all about balance and enjoying good times with good people. And that's exactly what I've done. Although I did put off studying for two major finals I had Tuesday and my scores might reflect that I chose a weekend in San Diego over hitting the books. But I had good grades going into finals so it's cool...
Letting loose a little also gives me something to laugh about while working out. Like today, during my 35-mile bike, I was laughing out loud while replaying last night over in my head: country-line dancing at OC Tavern in San Clemente immediately after our Anatomy and Physiology final. There's a lot wrong with this scenario. A) I don't like country music. B) I can't dance very well, let alone country-style. C) My friends had no idea what they were doing either. But I dressed the part - cowgirl boots (my sister's), jeans, a westerny shirt, and thankfully some of the good guy dancers took me out on the floor and had me doing the two-step and were twirling me around in every direction. I also learned a square-dance routine called "good times." Coming from a non-country girl, it was actually very fun, and I would totally do it again. Not to mention, it was quite a workout! I was sweating like crazy. I wonder if I can log that as training hours hahaha....
Anyways, back to the Enicintas Triathlon. It was a super fun race in a place that feels like home away from home. One day. I did some counting, and this was my 9th triathlon ever and I think my 15th race ever since I started this multisport lifestyle in 2007.
ENCINITAS Race Report:Woke up at a hotel in Oceanside at 4 a.m. (stayed with my best friend from college who was there for work). On the road by about 4:45, transition set up by 5:30, an hour + to kill. Sweet. All the while, it was drizzling hard. This was my first "wet" race.
SWIM
I did a pre-race swim and made a mental note to watch out for all the ditches in the sand - no more sprained ankles please. I was the 3rd wave (I love being spoiled by going off early and getting to avoid course traffic!), and as soon as I got going my swim plan was blown. Instead of getting a set on the way in, where I would have attempted to body surf, we got a set on the way out just like I didn't want; I dove under about 3-4 waves and lost time doing so. Kind of lost my breath too. Bummer. But finally found a rhythm and was talking sh*t to the sharks in my head (there was a sighting at Moonlight Beach a couple weeks ago). That was fun and pumped me up. Got out at 13 minutes, hit the mat at 14 min, and ran up that damn, long, steep ramp to transition.
BIKE
I was doing windshield-wipers on my Rudys with my fingers a lot. But even though the ground was slick, I didn't hold back. I'm getting more confident every day on my bike and I hit some pretty high speeds (for me) going down PCH. Right now, cycling is my strength so I hammered hard. Since it was a sprint, I wanted it to hurt. I did notice my Cateye said the course was over 13 miles (not the planned 12.4), and I averaged just about 21 mph. Usually, during the bike I'm focused on passing girls who beat me in the swim, but not in this race. I was pretty much on my own the whole time, so I didn't really know where I stood. I figured whoever was ahead of me smoked me on the swim and I had no chance.
RUN
Once again, the goal was to hurt and not hold back. I exited transition just behind this 14-year-old girl and tried to stay on her feet, but she was too fast - and probably 80 lbs. Ha. So I just pictured myself doing a track workout and set my pace by the way a feel during that. It worked alright, and I ran just over a 7 min.-pace for the 5k. I'm satisfied. I also was wearing sunglasses and a hat, which I realized were totally unnecessary given the cloudy, damp conditions. Guess I don't have to do the same thing in every race.
DONE
I crossed the finish line at 1:17 for the 820-yd swim, 12.4 (13+)-mile bike and 5k - 2nd age group! The girl who beat me did it in 1:10. Wow! I really wanted to meet her, but she didn't stick around for awards. No bueno, I should have grabbed her beer mug. After everything wrapped up, I jumped on the Felt and rode south to climb Torrey Pines then into La Jolla then turned around. Good ol' Torrey - a must! Right? Then showered up and hit the bar for beer, grub and Lakers. Good times. I slept very well that night.
CHEERS!

