Journey from yuppie to triathlete

Merry Christmas Everyone

2011-12-25T19:20:00.001-08:00

This year has ended in a truly wonderful way for me. I am happy to say that I am healthy, I have my wonderful family & friends and now a wonderful new man in my life! It's been a long time now, but for once I feel like I have all things my heart could desire - these things no amount of money can buy. As he would say, "I can replace a car or a house, but there's only one you and I wouldn't trade all the money in the world for it."

As the new year approaches I feel that I want to get back onto the training band wagon. In addition we plan to eat healthier.

Skiers can jib too!

2011-12-07T09:56:00.000-08:00

Awesome video dudes!

Dude, what are you so mad?

2011-12-05T00:17:00.000-08:00

So I have noticed recently that more and more people are getting mad over stupid things. For example, one day I was leaving the Costco parking lot at night and this guy wearing dark clothes walks out of nowhere in front of me and I slammed on my brakes. He got SOOO PISSED and started yelling at me (I couldn't hear him of course). Today I went shopping and was in a parking lot full of cars, the car in front of me stopped so I tried to go around it (just so you know I don't like pu$$y footing around so passing is something I do all the time), so the lady in the car looked at me like WTF? Lastly, tonight at dinner we sat down at a table to find a dirty diaper, so I moved it like 6 inches and the guy sitting at the table next to us was like "So throw it at us why don't you." I replied that it was still on our side of the table and it was 4 feet away from him. My friend was about to tell him off. Man, some people have such a short fuse. What ever happened to "Don't sweat the small stuff?" It takes a lot of energy to be mad or upset, so in reality it doesn't make sense for folks to be angry over little things. I've learned to take this approach whenever I feel rage coming on: "Is this person or thing worth my energy? Will the world fall apart?" The answer is usually no, so I just forget about it and move forward. This is how I stay so calm and collected, not to mention a way happier human being.

Visit to the ER

2011-12-03T05:08:00.001-08:00

So I just got back from a trip to the ER. Luckily, there's a new Evergreen Emergency facility at Bella Botega now. The service was top notch and the complex was amazing. The moment I arrived, I had like 4 personnel waiting on me. Of course it was 2am and there was only one other person there. Anyways I had some sharp pain on my left flank that would not quit, so I got up and decided to visit the ER at 2am. Just as I was about to jump into my car, I tossed the sushi dinner I ate at Ginza - man I really enjoyed that! After giving 2 urine samples and a CT scan they diagnosed me with passing a kidney stone. Luckily, it was small enough that it would pass through me so they gave me pain killers and sent me on my way.

Anyways, I spent about 2 hours there and I had my own room, given IV pain killers and recieved a CT scan. I'm curious what they will charge Micro$oft in the end. During that time, I was being monitored and I learned that my blood pressure was 101/62, my oxygen saturation was 100 and my resting heart rate was 58.

Story time....

2011-12-02T23:07:00.001-08:00

Once a long long time ago, all people had 4 legs and 2 heads. Then the Gods threw down thunderbolts and split everyone into two. Then each one had two legs and one head. But the separation left both side with a desperate urning to be reunited because they each shared the same soul. And ever since then, all people spend the rest of their lives searching for the other half of their soul.

Half marathon course map and elevations

2011-11-29T23:34:00.001-08:00

OK so the math nerd in me was curious about the actual elevation gains of Seattle's local half marathons. So far I have run the Seattle Rock'n Roll half and the Seattle half marathons. The one I have yet to attempt is the Mercer Island half which I plan to next March. Here are the elevation maps for each run.

The Seattle Rock'n Roll, although the elevation gain is not quite as high as the Seattle half, was the most challenging as it contained the largest hills. Hills have a way of zapping everything out of you, especially the steep ones.

Seattle half marathon that I just completed is technically the course with the most elevation gain and arguably the most hills.

Mercer Island half, while I have not done this one yet, I heard that the road is uneven, so you want to make sure to run down the middle of the road otherwise one side of your body might get really sore.

Seattle half marathon report

2011-11-27T22:09:00.000-08:00

Today I completed the Seattle half marathon! Boy my legs are a little sore right now and I had to take a 2 hour nap after I got home. The event started in downtown Seattle in front of the EMP. I left my home shortly after 6:15am and got there around 7:10am after parking. After a quick potty break I lined for the 7:30am start. It was cold and drizzling when the race started. At around mile 6 I had to take potty break #1 this added at least 5 minutes to my time. At mile 8 I had to take another potty break and this one added 3 minutes to my time. I should not have had dairy the night before :(

As the race drew to a close, the rain and wind picked up. I was so wet and cold at this point I couldn't wait for it to end. I started to fatigue around mile 11. My longest training run had been 10 miles to that point. I finished under 2h18m with my 2 potty breaks. I would have PRed if it weren't for them...oh well. I ended up meeting up with Jimmy at the finish line where we chatted briefly about the race while eating bananas. Next time I need to watch what I eat before the race.

Anyways, so what race will I do next? I'm starting to build up a nice collection of finisher medals :)

My new friend...

2011-11-22T23:22:00.001-08:00

So today I finally weighed myself for the first time in over 2 years. Let's just say I am not where I was in my prime triathlon days, however with a lot of work I can be by the end of the year. With only 6 weeks left to lose 9 pounds I would need to lose an average of 1.5 pounds a week. That's is a deficit of about 5000 calories which means at least a 700 calorie deficit a day. So if I eat 1600 a day and do at least 30 minutes on the treadmill or stairs or outdoor run I should fine. Wish me luck!

Refi time

2011-11-22T13:14:00.000-08:00

So I took it upon myself to take advantage of the low mortgage rates to refinance my Redmond home purchased 18 months ago. I was able to get a hold of a mortgage broker who offered me a no closing cost refi. Of course, all refinances require a new appraisal. Yesturday I found out that my property value had declined a little less than 2%. Which considering the circumstances is really not too bad. For example, Jocelyn and Nick's property go reappraised for 25% less than what they paid for it two years ago.

While I love my current home, there are times where I realize that I signed up for more than I bargained for. My yard is 14k square feet! I have an Asian landscaped yard so with a pond, a fire pit, 6 pear trees, 1 apple tree, 1 blueberry bush, 2 Japanese maples, and other various types of plants. As you can imagine, there are a lot of leaves to clean up. Just this last weekend I spent a couple hours filling up 7 compost bags full of leaves. I still have the entire side of the house to do, which I estimate will take up an additional 20 bags :(

However in hindsight, financially it was a good thing that I did end up selling my previous condo and upgrading as I would have lost of money had I kept the condo. I bought the condo for $186k in 2004 then sold it for $235k in 2010. It is now selling for $155k. I feel really bad for the dude who bought my condo.

Anyways, the refi will drop my monthly payment by a little bit. But over time it will add up to over $2000 a year saved!

Last 40 days

2011-09-08T23:02:00.000-07:00

So I've been using www.mapmyride.com to track my workouts in the past 40 days. Here are the stats: 300.8 miles over 27 workouts with 15,502 calories burned. 205 miles were cycling miles, 10 hiking miles and 85 running miles.

Now if 1 pound is equal to approximately 3500 calories than I technically should have worked off 4.3 pounds if I ate whatever it takes to maintain my weight. It just shows you why most of American is obese.

Love Letters of Great Men

2011-08-22T21:26:00.000-07:00

Good morning, on July 7

Though still in bed, my thoughts go out to you, my Immortal Beloved, now and then joyfully, then sadly, waiting to learn whether or not fate will hear us - I can live only wholly with you or not at all - Yes, I am resolved to wander so long away from you until I can fly to your arms and say that I am really at home with you, and can send my soul enwrapped in you into the land of spirits - Yes, unhappily it must be so - You will be the more contained since you know my fidelity to you. No one else can ever possess my heart - never - never - Oh God, why must one be parted from one whom one so loves. And yet my life in V is now a wretched life - Your love makes me at once the happiest and the unhappiest of men - At my age I need a steady, quiet life - can that be so in our connection? My angel, I have just been told that the mailcoach goes every day - therefore I must close at once so that you may receive the letter at once - Be calm, only by a calm consideration of our existence can we achieve our purpose to live together - Be calm - love me - today - yesterday - what tearful longings for you - you - you - my life - my all - farewell. Oh continue to love me - never misjudge the most faithful heart of your beloved.

ever thine
ever mine
ever ours

These letters were found in Beethoven's desk after he died. They were not addressed to anybody, so it is impossible to know who he was writing to.

7 Hills of Kirkland

2011-05-30T20:05:00.000-07:00

Well they don't call it the 7 Hills of Kirkland because it is easy. This year I had the opportunity to do this ride. I must admit, I was a little intimidated about the ride since I had not done a lot of hill riding yet. The weather around here has not been so great, on 4 of my rides it rained. Of course, a little rain is no excuse but I dislike not having full brake capability in this somewhat hilly area I live in.

We started off in downtown Kirkland. After registering, I proceeded to the start where the first "Dan Henry" was marked on the road. Dan Henrys are the road markers that we follow during the ride. They are color circles that have arrows pointing you to where you are supposed to go. At the start line, I was lucky enough to see a group of 3 ladies. I introduced myself and asked them if I could join them. They were nice enough to let me. The first hill we hit was Market Hill and then second was Juanita Hill. These hills were not very hard, maybe it was because I had fresh legs though. However the next two hills #3 Seminary Hill and #4 Norway Hill were pretty tough. Long and windy they were. #5 was a nice hill climb on Kingsgate hill that was steady but not too bad. After our food break, we hit the infamous Windery Hill, holy smokes, I see what everyone was talking about, I had to go up on my saddle for that one 3 times. Luckily, this hill was staggered, so there were sections that were about 200 yards where you could recovery before hitting the next steep section. After that hill my left knee started to hurt a bit on the downstroke. The last hill was Rose Hill and I took that one slow and steady as my knee was starting to bother me more.

Right now, my knee feels alright. My hamstrings however are sore. The foam roller has been helping. I better rest up this week to recover.

Manifesto

2011-05-15T14:33:00.001-07:00

Humble pie it's good for you...

2011-05-15T13:46:00.000-07:00

A fellow friend and I were chatting one day about designer handbags. I told her I don't wear mine out anymore because I didn't want to appear "high maintenance." She said, that I should feel confident about the fact that I like nice high quality things. I do like nice things, but I value "different" nice things now, like snowboards, bikes and cars. So this got me thinking about what confidence really means. I started to think about where I stand with respect to confidence in myself.

God knows, when it comes to triathlon, I have eaten a lot of humble pie. I have pretty much come in the bottom quarter of several races. When I did the swim across lake Washington I came in like 3 last out of the water - but I was still really proud of myself for finishing it actually. And during those tris where I came in near the end when most people were finished, I still felt happy. Happy to just cross the finish line, maybe some day I will have a higher bar, but for now I am content with being able to do the sport and have fun. This leads back to my thoughts on confidence. I have the confidence to try my best no matter what the outcome. I have to confidence to cross the finish line in almost last place and be proud of how far I have come and all the work I have done to reach that far. These are my thoughts on confidence.

My 2011 Training Schedule

2011-04-29T17:11:00.000-07:00

So I've joined the Pro Sports Club triathletes club again this year! This is May's training schedule. I have a few weeks done in April already too. Aiming to do my first Ironman 70.3 this year! Stay tuned!

My thoughts on confidence...

2011-01-23T22:37:00.000-08:00

Ever have those days where you lose confidence or trust in your abilities? You know that you have practiced it over and over and yet someone or something says something that makes you second guess yourself?

I have friends that make remarks that make you feel small, not sure if they are aware of it. I am not going to name names but I have come to the conclusion that they are doing it to boast their ego. A confident person is always open to learning and does not focus on their weaknesses. They understand that we all start of as 1 out of 10, but with practice we easily achieve 5/10 and with more 7/10 or higher!

Olympic Triathlon completed

2010-08-04T14:34:00.001-07:00

Don't have time for a complete race report right now as I am really swamped. Parents are in town now for 2 weeks. But I completed my race and beat my last time by 15 minutes! And it wasn't that smooth either. I had to pee while starting the second lap of my swim and held it for the entire bike. Then while I was transitioning from Bike to Run, I was a little confused since I didn't know where the run course was. I had to pee pee pants during my run as there was no porta-potties anywhere. At least I ran behind a bush to do my deed. I felt so much better after that...ha ha

Other new things include my new Subaru! Yes, my parents chipped in to help me purchase a new Subaru Impreza Hatchback. I'm ready for the mountains now!

I need to bike more

2010-07-11T21:29:00.000-07:00

OK so this weekend, I joined Joyce to do a Cascade training ride around Lake Washington. It was 50 miles and I am not sore at all today which is surprising since I have not been biking much. This ride made me realize how weak I am on the hills. I need to really put in more miles if I am to do the Federal Escape olympic distance in 3 weeks. So here is my training plan for the next 3 weeks:

Saturday: Long bike 45 miles or more
Sunday: 4-6 mile run
Monday: Bike to work, go for a short run after work
Tuesday: Triathlon swim class
Wednesday: Bike to work, go for a short run after work
Thursday Triathlon swim class
Friday: Open water swim at Idylwood in the AM

I just realized there is no rest day here, but I think that Friday is restful enough since it will be only a 30 minute swim. Wish me luck!

Yuppie Triathlete is back in action....

2010-07-08T16:46:00.001-07:00

Holy crap has it been this long since I've written something? OK, well I better update you all...whomever is still reading this blog of mine.

So I started the 2010 triathlon season with the Issaquah Sprint Triathlon the beginning of June. I completed the this tri in 1h35min. I had not really trained for this, but I knew I had a decent base level of fitness. You see, I broke my foot in February running - yup, stepped on a rock and my foot rolled. So I wasn't able to do much of anything for 3 months. I came back to running in May by participating in the Vancouver Sun Run 10k. There were 51,000 people running this! I know, pretty crazy huh? I completed this run in 1h 3min, not to shabby for a girl coming off a broken foot.

Just 2 weeks ago, I completed my first half marathon. The Seattle Rock'n Roll! It was amazing...28,000 people! I actually had not planned to run this as it was sold out. But I was able to pick up someones bib at the last moment. Thus I was "ghost running" for someone else (under their name). It took me 2h 12min to run the half and I was sore for 3 days because I didn't train for it.

So far my triathon training is going well, I am running really well right now and my swimming is improving...at least the fitness part of it as I think I am ready to be promoted to a faster swim lane. My next race will be at Federal Escape on July 31st and it will be my first olympic distance of the year. That's it for now!

Who you are is not what you do...

2009-11-03T21:46:00.000-08:00

It's been a while since I've blogged. My feet are getting better, not 100% but I can run and swim. Now I need to kick it up so that I can bike. I think the reason why they have taken so long to heal is because I just don't know when to quit. I've always been a hard worker. I've worked since I was 15 years old. I have made salaries from all ranges. My first job was at McDonald's where I was paid $5.90 per hour. It's sad to think that minimum wage has not gone up much since then. The US minimum wage is $7.25. Because I worked at a young age and paid for most of my $60,000 education, I have a lot of respect for money.

Reflecting on where I started and where I am now, I've realized that who you are is not what you do. Who you are is how you treat people. I might have been making $5.90 an hour, but I still did a great job.

A little inspiration for today...

2009-10-13T15:50:00.000-07:00

If you don't know me well, you wouldn't know that I am a serious coffee addict. I must, must start my day with a cup of Joe else I am a wreck. Last weekend, I went to San Diego to visit my famiily. I didn't realize that Starbucks cups have quotes on them and I just happen to read my cup that morning. Great quote for you to help you get inspired and believe in yourself:

The world bursts at the seams with people ready to tell you you're not good enough. On occasion some may be correct. But do not do their work for them. Seek any jobs; ask anyone out; pursue any goal. Don't take it personally when they say "no" - they may not be smart enough to say "yes."

Keith Olbermann

Lessons learned - 2009 Swim for Life Across Lake Washington

2009-08-24T00:11:00.000-07:00

I did it! On Wednesday August 19th, 2009 I swam across Lake Washington for the first time. This was my longest and most difficult open water challenge and I felt that I had prepared the best that I could. There were many things that I learned on that swim and I thought that I would blog about it for next year.

1) Swimming 2.5 miles is way harder than 1.2 miles, what I mean to say is it was more than 2x more difficult because we never had to swim that much yardage in Masters class - not to mention all at once. After a certain point, your muscles start to fatigue then your form goes, which results in you swimming slower.

2) Make sure you consume enough calories and pee before you swim. I had to go to the bathroom towards the end of my swim and I actually did pee before hand. Also, make sure you eat a lot of carbs before your swim. I was totally feeling like bonking towards the end.

3) Sighting - this was challenging as the thing you aim for is over 2 miles away. At the triathlons that I have done, normally the buoys are no more than 300 yards apart, so it is easier to swim in a straight line. No so easy to swim straight when your destination is far. I did have a kayaker, but we got separated for a while and I was on my own. It might help next year to get your own personal kayaker and have them sight for you.

4) Choppy water conditions - this year was more choppy then previous years so it made getting into a rhythm hard and I found myself using up more energy. I only breathe from one side, so sometimes the water would splash into my face while I was getting air and I would get a mouthful. Lake Sammamish was where I had practiced up until the big swim, and it was always calm.

5) Consider a sleeveless wetsuit. If your wetsuit limits your arm mobility at all, I would consider borrowing a sleeveless wetsuit for this only because it was warm enough and swimming this distance with free arms is much easier. Be warmed, sleeveless wetsuits have the habit of leaving you with nasty tan lines on your back!

Overall, I am really proud of myself for sticking it to the end!

Swim for Life

2009-08-07T20:18:00.000-07:00

This week I signed up to participate with a team of 4 friends for the Swim for Life, a 2.5 mile swim across the cold, murky waters of Lake Washington. Why on earth would anyone want to take on a challenge like this? I’m doing it for two very good reasons: 1) to prove that I can do it and 2) to raise funds for a new bloodmobile for Puget Sound Blood Center.

I've had feet injuries that have hampered my triathlon season, so being able to swim this would mean so much to me. I've been training over the past year, swimming regularly 3 times a week. These next two weeks I will be out practicing in Lake Sammamish to get comfortable with the long, long swim. I have never swam more than 1mile continually so this will be a great challenge for me. Yesturday I did 2 laps of the Idylwood buoy line, tomorrow morning I will do 4. 8 laps is equivalent to my swim on August 19th. Wish me luck!

Homeless blog

2009-06-18T21:38:00.000-07:00

Today I had the most amazing swim class. Coach Justin invited a two time olympic medalist to coach our class this evening. Her name is Wendy Boglioli and she won the bronze and gold medal in the 70s. She still looks super fit and I'm sure can kick butt still. Great instructor as well as she help us with our free-style, back stroke and kicking off the wall.

Anyways off topic, sometimes when things are going well, we take things for granted. Then we turn on the TV or read an article on the internet and you remember how greatful you should be to be where you are. This is exactly what happened to me today - had a greatful moment. I call them greatful moments because it puts me back at an equalibrium.

As some of you know, I am an avid blog reader and here's a blog I have been reading about the homeless in LA.
LA's Homeless Blog

Bye Bye CRV...hello Z4

2009-06-04T22:59:00.000-07:00

So over the past week, I've been seeing a new physical therapist for my foot. His name is Jason and he is one of the PTs at Corporo Sano. He and Eric looked at my feet and mentioned that there was a lot of atrophy (muscle loss) in my foot. That I need to strengthen my foot to get better. So I have been doing my exercises every night and paying a lot more attention to the way I walk and stand. To remember to tighten the muscles in my feet every step so that they start getting stronger. So far so good, I actually notice some improvements in a very short period of time. I am hoping and praying that I will be able to do the Kirkland triathlon this summer.

On a different note, well I don't know how to say this, but the Honda CRV is gone. It just wasn't fun to drive anymore. I traded it in for a slightly used convertible BMW Z4 :) Luckily Saris makes a bike rack that can fit on the trunk. Tomorrow I will bring it into BMW for regular maintenance.

Inner beauty is important, but is outter beauty better?

2009-05-24T15:53:00.000-07:00

A group of old friends are out for a fun filled night in Seattle. Ben and Linh are getting married in 60 days. Both are trying to lose 10 pounds before the big day. I met Linh the same day that Ben did at a party. Over the years they have grown in love. And very recently have decided to spend the rest of their lives together.

Each time I am out with them, she is consciously avoiding carbs and so is he. So at a time where eternal happiness and love should be the focus, both of them are also focusing on their waistlines. These days, your marriage might not last forever (I'm sure theirs will), but your wedding photos will. So as much as inner beauty matters, when it comes down to it, is outter beauty more important? If your significant other put on a lot of weight, what would you do?

Anyways, on another note. Today I got a chance to go get a bra fitting. It turns out that I have been wearing the wrong size. I am now a 32B according to a lady at Victoria Secret. I am lean and mean from all that swimming. I got a chance to try on there new multi-bra and loved loved it! You can wear the straps 5 different ways and it is a push up!

Getting rid of the junk...in my garage

2009-05-19T07:49:00.000-07:00

This week is starting off really well. I actually had time to clean out my garage. I still have some empty boxes and paper to recycle which will be done by the end of this week. I filled my trash and recycle bins to capacity so there is a queue of remaining items left in my garage. My deck is all clean and I've gotten rid of those really old wooden beach chairs that were flaking paint everywhere.

Admittedly, I like my home to be very organized. Lately I've come to the conclusion that I have way too much stuff, so I started to declutter. Old magazines, empty boxes that I have kept around, old dishes and utensils. I have some stuff I still need to give away or donate like an old CRT monitor, printer and old computer desk. I've also thought about moving to a single family home next year. Which means I will need to start putting things away in boxes and do any small fixer-upper type things before my current place goes on the market.

Anyways, back to my week. My healthy eating has been alright. I had some pizza on Friday but at least it was vegetarian, piled high with vegetables and not oily. I had some cake as well since I went to a birthday. Yesturday night I had a great weight session, today and Thursday I have triathlon swim class, wednesday is another weight session, Friday I will be going out for an open water swim. Then this weekend we plan on going for a hike. So if things go according to plan...man I love plans. Taking care of yourself, eating healthy, staying fit is a good example of how you treat yourself, and it shows.

Are you eating too many carbs?

2009-05-13T20:35:00.000-07:00

So I was curious what the recommended amount of carbs a person should consume a day. Now, of course there is not magic number that fits everyone. Your intake will depend on how much activity you do, your age, genetics. But they say a ball park number is about 45% of your calories a day should come from carbs. So if you have a 2000 calorie diet then that would be 900 calories from carbs. Now if you are an endurance athlete you really want to consume foods with more glycogen (anything fiber like fruit, veggies) and take in more fat. You need to avoid the "white stuff" because they will make you glycemic (raise your blood sugar levels) - this is especially important if you want to lose weight. Foods that are glycemic don't hold your appetite and you will want to eat more often.

This is day 2 of my low carb plan. I will refrain from using diet, since diets end and I do wish this to be more of a lifestyle. I've been pretty good at avoiding the Krispy Kreme donuts that run-eth so freely in our hallways at work. So far so good...and I am blogging about this to stay accountable. Summer is just around the corner you know.

No more heels...

2009-05-12T20:43:00.000-07:00

I am back on my healthy eating bandwagon. This weekend, I spent hours scrubbing my deck. It was back breaking work as I had to get down on all fours to scrub off all the mold. All the wet days in Seattle make it really hard to keep the stuff from growing on my deck. I know that having a clean deck will make we want to grill my dinner more often. So the past few days that was what I have been doing - cooking at home BBQ style.

This month I have signed up for Triathlon swim class with my tri coach Michael. Unfortunately, this is on Tuesday and Thursday mornings which means I am typically too tired to also attend Master Swim class in the evening. I wish we had a Monday and Wednesday class as well.

Anyways, since I am injured still there's not much to write about. All I can do is sit on the sidelines to watch my friends race. It's tough because I really want to be out there to participate as well. Getting through injuries is so hard for me. I have obviously not made the right choices the past few months. Over exerting myself on many occasions, not icing or stretching every night and wearing high heel shoes. This has GOT to change...starting now.

Too busy partying, no time to workout

2009-04-26T03:09:00.000-07:00

Last weekend was my birthday a bunch of us celebrated all weekend. There was a club thing on Saturday night, then a Beach party with volleyball on Sunday. Needless to say, my workout schedule sucked because I was too busy partying. On Thursday we went to see Jerry Seinfeld, Friday went to a party, tonight we went clubbing. Tomorrow we're going to Skagitt Valley to see the tulips. I will make it up later in the evening, I swear!

Anyways, today I went shopping. I purched a new pair of Cole Haan Nike Air sling backs on sale from $275 to under $90. My biggest purchase was a BCBG dress for my friend and cousin's wedding later this year. Here is a picture of it, it is super cute.

Adamo Peloton

2009-04-21T23:43:00.000-07:00

So last year I purchased an Adamo ISM Road Saddle for my Cervelo. This saddle is quite unique as it alleviates pressure from your groin area while riding. I've been spinning on my tri bike indoors and riding on occasion on my road bike outdoors. I really notice a lot more discomfort when using the more conventional saddle on my road bike. So I've decided that I need to upgrade my road bike saddle to an Adamo ISM saddle as well. Looking at their website, they seem to have some new models this year that I would be interested in. The Adamo Peloton is very attractive to me as it is narrower than my current one and a little lighter.

Waterproof Garmin

2009-04-15T21:32:00.000-07:00

Garmin is releasing a new GPS watch...and it's waterproof! Geez, I just bought the 305 less than half a year ago. I shoulda known that they were on clearance for a reason. Anyways, luckily I bought it at Costco, so if I want to shell out another $200 I can return my 305 and upgrade to the 310xt.

Anyways, today Jill and I exchanged some email and she mentioned that she had plantar faciitis not too long ago and it "KILLED, KILLED, KILLED" her when she got up in the morning. She instructed me to use the TriggerPoint kit and dig my calves into the block with the ball. She said she spent couple of hours a night massaging her calves.

Anyone want counterfeit luggage?

2009-04-13T21:34:00.000-07:00

So it has been 3 weeks since I got back from my Asia trip and I have finally found some time to put things away. I had luggage all over the place. It was then that I remembered a carry on I bought since I had purchased one too many things on my trip. It's China right? Things are cheap so you wanna buy because there's no way you would find such a deal in the USA. Well, you get what you pay for...quite literally. My carry on luggage said "Samsomite" on it and I didn't realize this when I bought it. Luckily I didn't pay "Samsonite" prices for it. So anyone want any counterfeit luggage?

Anyways, my "forever" plantar fasciitis is still not healed yet. So all I have been able to do is weight training and pulling in the pool. Easy spinning for a short period of time. I don't feel comfortable doing anything else. It seems like if I stay off them for a while, the the pain will go away, but my feet remain volatile so it comes back after moderate activity. So to keep myself busy when I cannot train, I have been hanging out with my friends and working on my other hobbies. Here's a photo I took at Chapel this weekend. I cannot wait until my 35mm 1.8 arrives!

Back to reality

2009-04-04T20:31:00.000-07:00

Hello I am back from vacation. Well, technically I got back last Sunday, but I was inflicted with a serious case of jetlag as Tokyo is 16 hours ahead. I went into the office on Monday morning after my 6am swim and my manager greeted me with some work that she wanted to be priority 1...AKA look at it ASAP and report back to me by noon which is how I interpreted it. I only surived until 1pm that day as I had not slept the night before. Pretty much the entire rest of the week I had really strange hours. I would either come in really late and work until 11pm or come in really early and leave a little early. Since we are on some deadlines right now, it was really hectic and stressful. Anyways, enough about work, let's talk about my two favorite hobbies: triathlon and photography. Since I was gone the past 3 weeks, here is some photography for your enjoyment.

Here I am standing in front of the Forbidden City in Beijing

Here I am at the Summer Palace in Beijing

Great Wall of China

Inside the WaterCube where Michael Phelps won 8 gold medals

Shanghai's famous skyline at night

The famous district in Toyko called Shibuya at night
I also went to Tokyo disney and the Tsukiji fish market where I watched the blue fin tuna auction. It was an amazing trip!

Busy bee...

2009-03-06T23:44:00.001-08:00

So I tested out my feet on the bike trainer last weekend..OK, "tested" is probably not the correct, does 3 hours of spinning sound like "testing" to you? Well, my feet despite going on a very easy gear were sore. So back to chilling with swimming and aqua jogging. Luckily, I've been busy planning my trip to Asia and getting all my Beta 1 deliverables done to feel sad about my physical condition. Last night, I worked until midnight.

Tonight Lily, James and I went to see The Watchmen. Let me just say that it is definitely not suitable for kids, there is a lot of violence, sex and a big blue radioactive penis. But it was good entertainment, a perfect way to end a stressful and busy week. This weekend I have 2 birthdays, both starting around noon. I need to figure out how to fit my workouts around them.

So, more details about my trip to Asia. First city will be Beijing, there we will stay at my friend David's place. The big sites we plan to visit there are the Great Wall, the Summer Palace, the Forbidden City, Wa Fu Jing market, the Central Square and some Olympic sites. From Beijing we will take the over night train to Shanghai where we will stay in a nice hotel in the Bund district. We will be meeting up with Roland, a former coworker. In Shanghai we plan to see some gardens, temples and night markets. Finally, we hit Tokyo where we will stay at a hotel across the street from the Shinjuku station. There are many things to do in Tokyo, including the famous fish market, electronics district, Shibuya and Shinjuku. While I am there, I will be doing a great deal of walking, but no swimming or cycling, so my feet should get good amount of rest as I won't be pounding them as hard.

Splish makes a Splash

2009-02-28T16:05:00.000-08:00

As some of your know, I've been working with Jill to design new swim suit for the team. I went a little overboard and started designing a whole bunch of suits for me and the team. I really like them and would love to order all of them. I swim a lot, but not enough to get 5 new swim suits. Here's what I came up with, which one should I get? I think my favourite non team suit is the one with the Canada flag or the shark.

A lesson to be learned

2009-02-26T21:47:00.000-08:00

After taking a break from cycling and swimming, I attempted to swim last night without the pull buoy and today my feet are archy. So no more kicking for me...dammit, this is so disappointing. This evening, I went to Masters class, luckily there were only 2 people in my lane...me and Lilia. So we split the lane and I pulled the entire time, and worked on my breast stroke with coach Justin. "Pull, Kick, Glide!" I got the pull and the kick, but not the glide.

As I am writing this, I noticed that I don't have much to blog about since I have not been able to train. I really messed up my feet and now it is taking forever to heal. I appologize to all my readers. I wonder if there is a lesson to be learned here? It would probably be something like, don't push yourself too hard and listen to your body. Focus on healing first...triathlons will always be around.

JFT swim suit

2009-02-16T21:35:00.001-08:00

I've been playing around with Splish.com to help the team design a new swim suit. Here is what I came up with:

Bikini versions:

Crash landing

2009-02-08T20:30:00.000-08:00

The Yuppie Triathlete has crash landed. After seeing a specialist in active release technique, Dr Neno about my feet, he said that I needed to stop all my activities that are aggrevating it, which means no cycling, running or swimming. My feet are actually getting worse.

He said that he has a Masters in orthodics and doesn't like them. He suggested that I not wear mine....come to think about it, my feet have gotten worse since wearing them. I took them out of my shoes today and they actually feel more comfortable since the arch part is not poking into my plantar fascia.

So this weekend, I got creative and modified my workouts. On Saturday, I did weights, swim with pull buoy and aqua jogged in the deep water pool. Today, I swam again with the pull buoy and jogged in the deep water pool. To make sure I stay nice and fit, I will be eating healthy.

I'll be heading to China in 1 month, so I'd better get these feet under control.

Water cube here I come!

2009-02-04T22:49:00.000-08:00

So big news, my coworker Eric and I are headed to China and Japan next month for vacation! Yeah! Does anyone have a bong I could borrow? I found us the cheapest flights ever! Seattle --> Beijing --> Shanghai --> Tokyo back to Seattle for $1075! W00t! Between us, we now have a mountain of guide books to sort through. I also just bought myself a netbook, the Lenovo S10. I can't live without internet and I needed a place to upload my photos during the trip. Getting a netbook made a lot of sense, they are very affordable computers, not to mention really tiny...perfect for backpacking around Asia.

Anyways, after my swim yesturday morning it left my feet feeling really sore - even with duct tape. So I decided to stop swimming (pulling is OK) for a couple of weeks and seek treatment called ART (Active Release Technique). I just realized that the root of my plantar fasciitis is tight calves. Thus, I have been stretching and rolling out of my foam roller. I've contacted Jill to see if she has an extra TriggerPoint kit for me so that I can use it after my workouts. TriggerPoint is a great way to release tension and improve blood flow to your muscles. At work I now have a water bottle in the freezer at work that I use to roll out my foot while I sit at my desk. I am determined to get better now. Also, I wear this Strassburg sock at night.

Tonight in swim class we focused on power. Luckily I was able to do the drills with the pull buoy so that I didn't have to kick. We discussed the mechanics of the pull and catch. All your power comes from your upper body. You drive with your hips in combination with your catch to give you more power. If you're doing it right, you will see your elbows pop out and feel that snap as you are moving through the water. Kim suggested that before we do our swim that we need to adjust our body to the water. So start with floating - head down in the water, arms like a "Y" above your head. If you are doing it correctly, your legs will be right on the surface of the water...the key to this is head position. If your head is sticking out, your legs will sink. Next is a modified doggie paddle drill...the difference being that you are stretched out a little more and extending with your arms while not lifting your shoulders. This technique will work your core and engage those muscles.

Window Office or one step closer to the outside?

2009-01-27T20:04:00.000-08:00

So I've been a busy beaver this past week. I completed & efiled my tax return and it was accepted by the IRS. I will be getting a decent refund because of my mortgage, itemization of my receipts and donation of my clothes that are loose. I also shopped around for home owners insurance and got that setup...now in case something bad happens like fire or theft I will be covered.

I got some good news today. To my surprise, I will be getting a window office. Window offices are tough to come by in my building because there are so few of them and they go by seniority. I'm so happy that I will be getting some natural light now. This should improve my overall productivity.

3600 Microsoft Shoes waiting to drop

2009-01-26T17:34:00.000-08:00

Well, as I'm sure you have heard...like everyone around the world was talking about the layoffs at Microsoft. I luckily am not part of the initial 1400 people that got laid off last week, but some of my friends did not escape unscathed. There will be more layoffs over the next 18 months. An additional 3600 jobs are planned to be axed. That's a lot of shoes to dodge for our CEO. He better seek out Bush to get some shoe dodging lessons.

Anyways, back to tri talk, that's why I have this blog right? I finally found a way to swim without irritating my foot. It's called duct tape! Yes, that's right. I tape up my feet to give it stability and it works! I can kick now! This weekend my diet was blown to pieces. What I mean to say is, I ate very unhealthy as there were parties and stuff. On Saturday, I did strength training, indoor cycling and swimming. On Sunday I did 2 hours on my bike trainer. Tonight, I will do some cardio and some strength. Tues-Thurs are my heavy swim days. I sure hope my foot gets better now that I am taping them.

Going Long

2009-01-17T19:09:00.000-08:00

I was hoping to find "Going Long" by Joe Friel at Barnes and Noble but was disappointed...twice. I ended up purchasing it on Amazon along with The Triathlete Training Bible also by Joe Friel.

Today I took advantage of the rare sunshine and went for a 25 mile bike. At first, I was worried that what I was wearing would not keep me warm, but I was sweating like crazy...only my toes were frozen. I live not too far from the Red Hook Brewery, so from my place I rode along the Lake Sammammish River trail until I hit Marymore park then did a portion of Lake Sammammish. As always, I had to climb Juanita Woodinville Way hill (nasty) to get back to my place. While I was riding I realized how much triathlon has changed my life. Race day is only small part of the journey...because there were so many times I just wanted to stay in bed or head home instead of training. But I persist on and I grow stronger because of it.

Researching...

2009-01-14T23:05:00.001-08:00

So today my idea of getting a coach was put into jeopordy. After speaking with Rhae about getting a coach for my first Ironman 70.3, she suggested that for my first 70.3 to not waste money on a coach, but to go online to research training plans and find a mentor. Hiring a coach really comes in handy when you train for a full Ironman.

I this weekend I will sit down at a coffee shop and do more researching on training plans. Ideally, I would like a 20 week program to build my base a bit more. Next week, my office will be taking us to Barnes & Noble for an event where will we get a $25 gift card. I will purchase the Triathlete's Training Bible with this.

Triathlon season training as begun...

2009-01-13T13:13:00.000-08:00

OK, So Chilly Hilly is coming up in February and from what folks tell me, it is very hilly...hence the name. My friend Su wants to do two loops (66 miles)...thus this means that I need to hit the Lemond trainer hard and get as much weekend outdoor riding as I can. Here's my current schedule:

Monday: Lemond bike 1 hour + strength training
Tuesday: Tri swim class (morning) + Masters swim (evening) OR Lemond bike 1 hour
Wednesday: Swim coaching with Kim Lorton
Thursday: Tri swim class (morning) + Masters swim (evening) OR Lemomd bike 1 hour
Friday: Lemond bike 1 hour + strength training
Saturday: Outdoor bike 2-3 hours
Sunday: Lemond bike 2 hours

Wednesday is sort of a rest day, as the class is only 45 minutes and focus on technique only.

Happy New year plus 12 days....

2009-01-12T16:52:00.000-08:00

Jason finally posted the pictures for New Years. I can't remember the last time I had so much fun. I popped my first bottle of champagned, pole danced and breathed fire all in one night!

Stomach Flu

2009-01-05T19:22:00.000-08:00

Well, the 2009 training season has officially started. I will be hiring a coach this year so that I can get more customized training. After speaking to Coach Michael about my cycling watts, he recommended that I do the Strong and Steady program on the Lemonde indoor cycling bikes. On those machines, I can average about 110 watts. So still need to improve by 40 watts which is approximately 3 watts/kg. Over the next few years, he would like to see me get as strong as 3.5-4.5 watts/kg.

Anyways, I'm starting off the new year with the stomach flu. This totally sucks, as I've been puking my brains out. Couldn't even keep water down. After seeing the doctor today, he prescribed me some serious anti-nausea meds. I was finally able to eat a little bit of oatmeal. Unfortunately, I still don't have much of an appetite.

Watts up? Not anytime soon...

2008-12-29T22:32:00.000-08:00

This weekend I had a chance to train with my team indoors on 8 computrainers. The numbers don't look good, as over the course of a 90 minute tempo ride (3 hills and 2 sets of bursts) I only managed to average 90-100 watts. My max watts/Kg was 4.56. My average watts/Kg was 1.61. I really need to work on my power over the next few months. Must get a computrainer. Maybe my friend Rusty will lend me his.

Merry Christmas

2008-12-25T22:10:00.000-08:00

Today I got a chance to round up all my clothing to make a donation to Goodwill. Let's just say with all the weight I have lost, this years donation is huge...over $2500 worth of used or new clothing. God, I have to stop shopping! I'm going to return 2 pairs of shoes I bought last weekend...buyers remorse I suppose.

Actually, I just heard a rumour that MS will be laying off 10% of their workforce. I read it on a blog http://minimsft.blogspot.com/. While I do believe that Microsoft needs to trim down a bit, a massive layoff would be a huge wake up call for those that work there. I had always believed that we were immune to all of this stuff that is going on in the economy since we have 40B in the bank and bring in a lot of money. I guess we shall find out on January 15th.

Dear Santa, for xmas Seattle needs more snow ploughs

2008-12-21T20:50:00.000-08:00

This is probably the most amount of snow I have ever seen here in Seattle. I guess my attempts to avoid the white stuff this year didn't quite happen. Seattle is ill equipt at handling a lot of snow. 5-6 inches is peanuts back in Ottawa, but it's quite a big deal here since they do not have enough snow ploughs to clear the freeways. So there's a lot more snow on the roads here than what we're use to.

With all the snow, I've been working out on my bike trainer with my new Cervelo. I've blown through 10 episodes of CSI so far. Coach Michael wanted me to get use to riding in aero position indoors. When the weather gets better I am to practice on a flat surface. It that still doesn't work, then he needs to do a private lesson with me.

Lastly, I've spending a lot of time on my feet Christmas shopping too. Lori and I did 7 hours of shopping yesturday and both of us blew a combo of over $1000. I purchase 3 pairs of shoes and 1 Burberry wool coat. I'm doing my part to improve the economy. So Merry Christmas everyone?

I suck at swimming

2008-12-17T20:35:00.000-08:00

Lord knows I have been working really hard to learn how to swim more effectively and efficiently. After 11 months of swimming, I have concluded that I still suck. I do triathlon swim class 2 times a week and have Master swim class 2 times a week. I do get a lot of coaching, maybe a little too much. I'm a little overwhelmed...thinking too much instead of "feeling" it. Anyways, to add to my already overwhelmed swim training, I have agreed to take a group less on Wednesday evenings with some fellow triathletes with a swim specialist. Maybe, she will induce some sort of breakthrough in me.

Cycling indoors

2008-12-14T20:07:00.000-08:00

I have survived all my holiday parties so far. With all this holiday eating, forunately, I have been working out on a regular basis. It has been super cold around here lately so biking outdoors was out of the question. And with my plantar fascitis, running was also out of the question. So instead, I've been swimming at least 4 times a week and cycling indoors on my trainer. I really hope my feet get better soon so that I can start training for Ironman 70.3 after the holidays.

My office Christmas party was at the Seattle Space Needle this year. My organization rented out the entire thing on Saturday night. The food was amazing, especially the desserts!

Whistler

2008-12-01T13:23:00.000-08:00

For thanks giving I did not have any turkey, instead I went up to Whistler with my friends for a weekend of early season skiing. The snow on Friday was great, however there were so many people crowded onto the few runs that were open. On Saturday, it was raining so we decided to now ski. Instead we eat at Crepe Montagne, did a snowboard factory tour with Prior and ate at the Cinnamon Bear restaurant in the Hilton. I ate really well...too well...and too much.

Motion Based

2008-11-23T20:08:00.001-08:00

It was a beautiful day in Seattle today so I took advantage of it by pumping my bike with air and going out for a recreational ride around Lake Sammamish. I had not done this ride since the week of my last triathlon. Today I decided to take my new Garmin Forerunner 305 out for a spin. I had configured it the night before with my personal data like weight, sex and max heart rate.

After my ride, I uploaded the data to MotionBased - it's an online activity tracker owned by Garmin available for you to upload all your training data to. The above is a summary page of my ride today, other information such as elevation gain, loss, ascent and descent grade are also tracked. So today, I learned that 1 loop around Lake Sammamish is 22.17 miles, 67% flat, 15% uphill and 18% downhill. Pretty neat huh?

Plantar Faciitis

2008-11-19T15:20:00.000-08:00

This morning I went to see the one of the run doctor to get a diagnosis for my foot pain. After examining my feet for locations of pain and my leg anatomy, I was diagnosed with plantar faciitis. He looked at my current pair of orthodics and felt that they did not support me enough. It was too soft so my foot would break it down while running. Also, the heel was too narrow so it was unstable. He also did an analysis of my walking on a treadmill with video analysis. We watched the replay and he told me that my left foot arch is alright, but my right foot completely flattens out. Also my legs are a little more curved than most people - thus I have to compensate a little. So I was casted for a new set of orthodics and I got a foot splint to wear while sleeping. No running, swimming and biking are OK though.

I had brought 3 pairs of running shoes as well to be examined. My Brooke Ariel, Brooke Adrenalin and my New Balance 457s. I also had Mizunos at home that I didn't bring. He told me that once I get my orthodic, I should use a more neutral shoe. I don't weigh enough to wear the Brooke Ariels - also they were too controling and heavy. The New Balance and Mizunos were good.

Yeah Garmin!

2008-11-18T15:53:00.000-08:00

OK, so I caved and ended up purchasing the Garmin 305 GPS with heart rate monitor. It was on sale at Costco for $159, retails for $299. It'll be nice to be able to download all your data and view your run, bike and swim courses.

I guess I will just return my Timex, although I've been pretty happy with it.

Back to my happy weight

2008-11-17T15:56:00.001-08:00

After my parents had left, I noticed that I had gained 3 pounds since completing my last triathlon. This of course left me feeling icky so I decided to be more aware of what I was putting into my mouth. I had worked so hard the past year I was not going to get out of shape. Anyways, I jumped onto the scale this weekend (I always weigh myself in the morning) and I was back to my happy weight of 115 pounds or less. I would love to get to 110 pounds or less before xmas holidays since I know that eating healthy and working out will be harder. At 5 2", five pounds makes a noticeable difference on me.

Anyways, this weekend my friend Kat was up from So Cal. But I did get a chance to go on a couple of runs. This week, I have 3 swims and weight training in my plans. I love schedules as they keep me on track.

No Garmin for me

2008-11-11T16:41:00.000-08:00

I had been doing quite a bit of research and trying out a bunch of heart rate monitors lately. I had the Polar F4, but returned it and got a Timex Ironman Triathlon, then I started eyeing the Garmin 405. Our team is actually sponsored by Garmin, so I could get this thing on sale. But then it turns out that Lori was trying to sell hers, she thinks it's too big. I was so close to getting it, when I found out that it was NOT waterproof! Bummer, what a deal breaker.

On another swimming note, Michael Covey said that I have been making phenominal progress this year with my swim. I couldn't swim to save my life in March and now I am averaging about 1:45 100s, which is really good progress for me. This morning, I actually felt like I was moving through the water instead of ploughing through it. Anyways, according to my Timex HRM I burned 485 calories during the swim. But I ate a pizza and a piece of cake today so that pretty much negates my workout. I am thinking about doing Masters tonight because my punch card is about to expire.

Low Fat Chocolate Chip Muffins

2008-11-06T22:51:00.000-08:00

The rainy weather outside has forced me indoors more than I would like, so I have been spending quite a bit of time fiddling with baking recipes to make them healthier. Here is my favorite chocolate chip muffin recipe and my modifications:
2 cups all-purpose flour
2/3 cup sugar - I use 2/3 cup of Splenda
2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup milk - I use soy milk
1/2 cup butter (melted & cooled) - I use 1/4 cup of butter + 1/3 cup of apple sauce
2 eggs - beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 package (12 oz) chocolate chips - I use half a package

Preheat oven to 400 F. In a large bowl, stir together flour, sugars, baking powder, and salt. In another bowl, stir together milk, eggs, butter, and vanilla until blended. Make a well in center of dry ingredients; add milk mixture and stir just to combine. Stir in chocolate chips. Bake 15-20 minutes.

One cup of sugar is 770 calories, so I substituted equal amounts of Splenda instead. I was able to cut the amount of butter in half by using some apple sauce. 1/2 cup of butter is 400 calories. Also, the recipe asks for 1 package of chocolate chips, I actually find that half a bag is more than enough. The picture you see is what came out of my oven. It was so yummy!

Nutrition Info: about 335 calories per muffin with very little fat (I made 6 large muffins). Starbucks low fat muffins are 400-500 calories. Woohoo, I'm better than Starbucks!
2 cups of flour - 880 calories
2/3 cups of Splenda - 0 calories
2/3 cups of Soy Milk - 87
2 eggs - 150 calories
1/4 cup butter - 200 calories
1/3 cup of apple sauce - 100 calories
1/2 package of chocolate chips - 800 calories

Happy Halloween

2008-11-05T13:58:00.000-08:00

So I've decided to return my HRM because it didn't allow me to enter in my own max heart rate - thus felt that I was not getting accurate data. I ended up picking up the latest Timex Ironman Triathlon watch instead. For $100 (minus a 15% coupon) I have many more features than with the Polar F4. Not to mention, it looks a heck of a lot cooler as well. I took it out for a 25 minute run today and it said that I burned 274 calories - this data appears to be much more accurate to me. I can't wait to take it swimming tomorrow.

Last weekend was Halloween and I ended up at a house party in Kirkland. It was great meeting new people. I met this lady who was a good swimming in college and we talked about doing water polo. I don't know the first thing about water polo, but anything to do with swimming is cool. I love swimming so much that it is one of the first things I think about when I wake up in the morning :)

Do we burn a lot less than we think

2008-11-02T00:41:00.000-07:00

I just recently purchased a real heart rate monitor, when I say I mean one with a chest strap instead of one with electrodes that measure with you finger tips. I took the HRM out for a spin in Master swim class on Thursday night and after 60 minutes of swimming about 2000 yards, my watch told me that I had only burned 403 calories! What the heck? Seemed really low to me, it even seemed low to the swim instructor.

Today, I had a weight session, 20 minutes on level 10 on the stair mill and 10 minutes on the rowing machine. My HRM said that I burned 250 calories. And get this, the stair mill also keeps track of your HRM and calories and it said that I burned twice as much as my watch.

I'm trying to figure out what could be the issue. For the stair mill, I did not program in my weight, thus it using the default weight which is probably 150 pounds. Another issue is, I did not program in my max heart rate into my watch, so the watch is also using default settings. It had asked me to enter in my age and my weight and then set target heart rates for me - I'm guessing that it has my resting heart rate at 75 BPM. However, my resting heart rate is closer to 55 BMP. So what I have done is set my age to 20 to see if that makes any difference.

All this calorie counting has made me think twice about how much exercise I need to do to maintain my fitness. Today, I found myself counting calories which is not a thing I enjoy doing.

I'm one big ball of stress

2008-10-29T15:53:00.000-07:00

Work has been so busy lately, I've barely had a moment to breathe. I'm also having to deal with some injuries that are still on the mend and lastly, I'm having some issues with close friends of mine. Oh did I mention that I gained 2 pounds from my lowest weight? Two pounds isn't much, but they can add up if you are not careful. Thus I have been exercising everyday and watching my food intake. For the most part, I have been swimming. However yesturday after Master swim class my shoulder was sore...this adds a bit more stress as now I have another injury to worry about.

Gosh, I really need a vacation!

99 Ballons

2008-10-28T22:01:00.000-07:00

This video was shown on Oprah last night and it brought me to tears. A boy who touched the hearts of so many, and he didn't even utter a word. A life doesn't have to live long for it to be meaningful.

Family in town

2008-10-20T20:37:00.000-07:00

So my parents have come and gone - I am still recovering. Although I was off for 1 week, I really wasn't getting any rest as I was driving them all over the place. I have come to realize that spending a lot of time with my family can be really mentally draining and stressful. At times, it can get really emotional as well. My dad and my 15 year old brother got into a fight because he had deleted all the Grand Canyon vacation pictures and didn't tell my dad. So all the photos he took are gone - my dad was furious. Another time I got into a discussion about Alex's weight. He's 15 and weights 186 pounds! Very obese for his age and no one is taking any accountability for this. My mom enables him by constantly feeding him late at night. "He's a growing boy" is what she would tell me, and I would reply "he's growing the wrong way!" This weight puts him at risk to develop diabetes. I told them that if Alex were to develop diabetes that it would be their fault because they were responsible for him. Sometimes I feel that my dad is too exhausted after a days work to spend the time teaching him the tools to become a confident young man. It's like he went into parental retirement after I graduated from college. The sad thing is, I don't see things changing.

Cervelo P2C

2008-10-12T18:13:00.000-07:00

My search for a tri bike has ended. I am now the proud owner of a brand new Cervelo P2C! This bike won Kona the last two years thanks to Chrissie Wellington. I didn't think I could fit into this bike, but it had a short top tube so after shortening the stem to 65 mm and pushing the saddle forward I was able to ride it. Eric Moen (my bike fitter) thought that this bike would work for me. I just need to take it in to have him fit me on this bike now. I also got a chance to try the Adamo road saddle. It works really well for me - no pain in the groin area however, I have a little soreness on the sides instead. Still a lot better than before.

Times are tough

2008-10-08T21:24:00.000-07:00

So as you all know, there as been a lot of noise on the news about our tanking stock market. Times are tough and people are seeing their capital gains disappear. I recently took another look at my monthly expenses and I found that I had over $1700 in fixed costs (not including food). These costs include my mortgage, home owner dues, Internet, cable, cell, energy, gas and car insurance. This is an insane amount of money if you think about it, because after I include my food (I buy lunch every day) - Thus I can easily spent over $2000 a month on basic necessities.

My friend says that's really cheap but I just watched a family of 6 live on $58K a year and have $70K in savings with little credit card debt. That's amazing!

All this financial chaos has made me be a little more aware of how I spend my money. What are you all spending a month?

Bike drama

2008-09-28T18:55:00.001-07:00

Last Friday, I decided to get a professional bike fitting with Eric Moen. He is a world class bike fitter in the area (went to Beijing to support the National team). I had been having trouble with my bike seat height especially while I was racing Black Diamond - it was so discouraging and I didn't know what was wrong with me. It turns out that I had a defective seat tube and it has been the cause of my seat troubles - it would fall while I bike. It's really hard to bike when your seat is too low as it causes your ankles to bend unnaturally not to mention it is also very inefficient.

After taking some measurements for me, he recommended that I return my bike back to the store because there was a defect in the frame. I proceeded right to Performance right afterwards and they gave me a brand new bike. Eric had a while list of things for me to get (shorter stem and no offset seat post). They didn't have my sizes at Performance so that evening I went to Gregg's Cycles and when they put my new stem on they noticed that my front tube was cracked. They said that I need a new fork. Luckily, my old bike had a good fork so when I went back to Performance for the second time, they swapped out the forks. Man, it can't be good business for them to be swamping parts between bikes.

Anyways, today we went to bike around Mercer Island. We did 2 loops, it was a really fun ride. But I didn't wear my bike shorts and that was a mistake. The first loop took us 40 minutes. I was told it was about 18 miles around the island. One thing I really enjoyed about that course is it's windy nature. You really get to practice your bike handling skills on some of those sharp turns. Also, the course is pretty much all rolling hills which is another thing I enjoy. I hope I can do this again next weekend.

Black Diamond Race Report

2008-09-15T21:37:00.000-07:00

Last weekend, I completed my first Olympic distance triathlon. All summer long, I had hoped to complete this distance, but I still had some knee tendinitis and I wasn't sure if this would happen. What my injury didn't realize was that I was much more persistent than it was. A friend wrote this quote...

"Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence.
Talent will not; nothing in the world is more common than unsuccessful men with talent.
Genius will not; unrewarded genius is a proverb.
Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts.
Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent."

PRE-RACE MEAL:
Bowl of Special K with soy milk and 1 cup of coffee.

DRUGS: 1 all day Aleve

SWIM: 1.5 km
The Tri-It, Sprint, Relay and Olympic distances were all on the same day and we all went out in 4 different waves. The swim course was littered with 7 large white triangular buoys. If you were doing the Olympic, you had to loop around the outer buoys twice, if you were doing the Sprint, you had to loop around the inner buoys, finally if you were doing the Tri-it, you had to loop around the guy in the green kayak. Confused? Well many people went off course, luckily I did a decent job sighting. This swim took me 40 mins.

BIKE: 40 km
This did not go too well. When I came back to transition, there were not very many bikes left. It was a little surreal. The swim had left me really thirsty and I tried to drink as much as I could in T1. While biking, I noticed that I had a lot of difficulty, then I realized that I forgot to adjust my bike seat - it was too low. My ankles were bent weird on the downstroke and felt really awkward. The course was quite nice actually. On a couple occasions I almost swerved into the ditch while drinking. This bike took me 90 minutes.

RUN: 10 km
This was the moment of truth. The most I had ever run was 2 loops around Green Lake. I had never run this distance in my life but knew I could do it today if my knees would let me. I had decided to wear my Brookes Ariels as they have the highest level of motion control to fight pronation, unfortunately they are much heavier than my Mizunos. Most of the run course was on road. About half a mile of that was on this dirt road with huge rocks the size of my fist. Many people twisted their ankle there. The last 1.4 miles of the run was all trail. I pretty much ran the entire thing except to get water and on the really steep hills at the end. This run took me 1h 08 mins. My knees felt tight around mile 4 and I had to march on the spot every 5 minutes to loosen them up.

POST-RACE:
I was so relieved to see the finish line! Woohoo, I did it! When I stopped running - this sensation of fatigue really hit me, also both my ankles were really sore. I was limping. So I think it was my low bike seat had jammed my ankles too much and that was the cause of my pain. Luckily, after seeing the PT it doesn't look serious.

GREAT FIRST SEASON
When I looked at my time after the race and saw that I took 3 hours 26 minutes I felt a little disappointed at how slow I was. The thought did come across my mind that maybe I should have worked harder. But then again, my #1 priority was taking care of my knees and they didn't hurt after the race - phew! Lastly, I really enjoy the race and had a lot of fun out there. I found this distance to be much more challenging than the sprints.

Lots of records in this race for me:
- Longest open water swim ever
- Longest run ever
- Most physically challenging thing I have ever done - ever!

What an ending to my first season! Now I get to start training for Lake Stevens :)

The day I will never forget

2008-09-11T13:25:00.000-07:00

I remember exactly where I was 7 years ago this day. In Vancouver, BC, Canada I was preparing to head to work as an intern for Agilent Technologies when I saw the footage of a plane flying into the WTC. At first I couldn't believe what I was seeing...is this some sort of horrific movie? Unfortunately, it was all too real and I remember getting very emotional. This day, I knew would be a day I will never forget.

Tapering is great!

2008-09-09T16:37:00.000-07:00

My week of tapering begins. For the most part all I have on my schedule is swimming. This weekend I did a brick workout with the Pro Club team which included indoor cycling and then an outdoor run. The indoor cycling was uneventful, but then when we went on our run I got lost...was slower than everyone else. My knee started to get tight, anyways when I didn't sign in Coach Josh came looking for me and couldn't find me - oops. Luckily I ran into Heli who told me where to go, who also in turned ran into Josh and told him.

On Sunday, Rusty took us out to get familiar with the Kirkland bike which was really nice of him. Unfortunately, my knees didn't feel so good and I've been icing them like crazy. They definitely have been getting better, but I've been icing them like 3 times a day. No doubt I will be taking really good care of them this week.

I also found out that all my swimming has left me with a small eye infection. It's being treated now so I should have everything under control.

Surprises when you least expect them

2008-09-02T13:29:00.001-07:00

Hey everyone, I have some exciting news! I just got promoted! Yeah, my title has officially changed to "Sugar Mama!" :) I was hoping to get it this year but I wasn't sure what to expect. So many good things have happened to me this year and I am so greatful.

On another high note, I improved my 100s by 25 seconds. Coach Michael timed our 100s today and I was around 2 minutes. The last time I was timed I was around 2:22 -2:25! This is quite an improvement in my swim time. He said that he would like to work on my pull on the off season and I should be really fast for next season! Woohoo!

Running my first 10K

2008-09-01T14:28:00.000-07:00

Today I took it upon myself to attempt to run my first 10K. I needed to test out the condition of my knees to see how they would hold up, in addition I wanted to see how my body would take it - I am definitely not in the same running form as I was in prior to my injury. In the past, I never had to run more than 4 miles as I was only training for sprint distance races. I knew I had to throw in a 6 mile run over the next 2 weeks.

I decided to drive up to Green Lake so that I could focus solely on my run. I knew that two loops around the lake was approximately 10K (6 miles). I decided that I would run one loop and see how my knees felt before attempting to do a second. To my surprise the first loop was a breeze and I walked around a little afterwards to see how my knees were feeling - also had to get back to the car to drop off my cell phone and my jacket. Then I went back and did a second loop. At around mile 5 my right knee started to tighten up and my feet were chaffing so I ended up walk-jogging the last mile. I was happy that I did this run as I feel I should be able to run this on race day. I'll probably do another run like this next weekend.

Since I was Green Lake, I decided to stop by Gregg's Cycle to see if they had any sales going on. I ended up picking up a pair of Sidi Genius road shoes for $128 - score! They are usually around $225! I've been eyeing these shoes for a while now, so glad to find them for such a good deal. What I like about this brand in particular is the fit and the suple leather. The shoe-maker is the only handmade European left in the market.

Lake Washington ride

2008-08-31T18:46:00.000-07:00

Today I got the opportunity to ride around Lake Washington - something I had wanted to do all summer. The ride started off at 7am at Starbucks in Bridle Trails where we met up with Jill. We took off around 7:15am and started with the south end of the lake working our way up north and back around. I'm definitely the rookie of the team, but everyone has to start somewhere right? All that practicing all summer paid off as I was able to keep up for the most part - still need work on climbing hills. I was proud of myself - 56 miles...that's a half Ironman distance bike ride!

I was trying out new nutrition - CarboPro and did really well with it. I put one scoop into my Gatorade and 2 scoops into my CamelBak with water. This seemed to give me enough calories during the ride. However the last 10 miles were the toughest...we ended the ride with a nice hill climb up Old Redmond road - phew! According to online cycling calculators, I burned over 2000 calories on that bike ride.

So what's up with the bike picture? Well, I've been eyeing this bike all summer. I told myself that if my half Ironman training (I was planning on doing Lake Steven's next year) goes well that I would get this bike! Now I have even more motivation to train hard!

Chronicles of an overtrained triathlete

2008-08-30T08:49:00.000-07:00

Happy Labour Day everyone! Yesturday I took the day off to give myself a nice 4 day weekend. However, I didn't rest - it was all labour for me! The alarm clock was off at 5:30am so that I can meet Guy for our usual 7am open water swim at Idylwood. Coach Josh told me that 2 laps of all 4 buoys would be close to an Olympic distance swim. So that was the goal I had set out to do - 2 laps of all 4 buoys. I got to Idylwood on time, but Guy was late - usually I'm the one that is late. It took me a million years to put on my wetsuit and by that time, Guy had arrived. We got into the water and proceeded to swim. He has never swam the distance either so we went buoy to buoy as we needed to practice sighting as well. It was definitely a long swim for me but I am glad that I got through it. After the swim, I had PT at 8:30am where Shelly made me do all these squat jumps and butt burners. When I got out I rushed back to Idylwood and continued my brick...a nice bike around Lake Sammamish. That bike was really hard as I didn't do so well with nutrition so I was tired. I'm still no comfortable with pulling my water bottle out of my cage while riding...however I did manage to go down on my drop bars! So I'm hoping that one day out of the blue, I will feel comfortable with my bike handling such that I can drink and ride!

Today I am thinking about taking a rest - a little shopping and time with good friends. My knees are a little achy from yesturday. The rest of my body is noticeably fatigued. However, another part of me is toying with doing 20 minutes of hill repeats up Juanita Woodinville way. Tomorrow we have a 56 mile bike around Lake Washington with Jill. I can't wait to do this ride as I've always wanted to ride around the lake.

My Olympic dream

2008-08-25T17:02:00.000-07:00

So the Danskin has come and gone with little fanfare. Now I am concentrating on my preparations for my first Olympic distance triathlon. I have not committed to it yet because I need to see how my knees are feeling. But I will make an effort to train for this. I am NOT in running form right now. I have not run in 3 months so I can't expect much. I know I can run 5 km because I did that at the Danskin. But can I run 10 km after a 1 mile swim and 40 km bike without my knees failing on me? This is still up in the air.

I must admit that being able to complete an Olympic is something that I had dreamed about about doing all year. So do I go after this dream or not?

Danskin Race Report

2008-08-17T21:35:00.000-07:00

Today was the day of the big race - and I mean quite literally as there are 4000 women registered for the Danskin triathlon.
Pre-race
Woke up to the sound of thunder and lightening at 4am. My thought was, "Oh no! The Danskin is cursed!" Last year it poured.
I had a bowl of cereal and 1 hard boiled egg for breakfast then left the house at around 4:30am. I had packed everything the night before so I was all set to go.

SWIM: 1/2 mile
This was challenging. The wave was so huge - like at least 100 women. I placed myself too close to the front and when the count down ended, it was madness! I was shoved around, pushed and kicked. Only when the mass of women were ahead of me, could I really start to swim. I passed the first buoy without incident, but then had trouble seeing the next buoy - it was so far away! I felt like I was swimming all over the place. This half mile swim took me 20 minutes - a little longer than I had hoped. After the race, I heard that a lady almost drowned. She was taken to Habourview and put on life support. She is recovering now, thank God!
Time: 00:20:39

T1:
I made it a goal of mine to improve on my transitions from Issaquah. I ripped off my wetsuit coming out of the water and ran to transition. I had used Body Glide on my ankles and my arms so that I could rip off my wetsuit - which helped. I didn't put socks on or gloves for my bike. Still with all that, it took me 3:17 to transition. It was a pretty long run to transition from the water, so most people had poor T1 tmes.

BIKE: 12.4 miles
My bike went really well - they closed off I-90 for our bike portion. I left transition very light, not even a water bottle. Because I was in one of the early waves there weren't many people on the road, so I was able to reach top speeds with not too many issues. The steep climb up to I-90 was open so that was not a bottleneck for me. But coming back, that tiny on ramp was packed. A few people had crashed there. My average speed was 20 MPH.
Time: 00:36:03

T2:
After my good bike, I ran to transition, racked my bike, put on my socks and shoes and took off. I was trying out new nutrition, Nuun tablets...this would end up being a bad decision. You should never try anything new on race day. This transition took just under 3 minutes.

Run: 3.1 miles
The first mile of the run was hard as my quads and hamstrings were tight from all the lactic acid build up from my bike. Not only that, but my tummy was not feeling so well. I realized after the race that carbonated drinks don't do so well for some people. I started off around 10 MPH and eventually speed up to 8 MPH but there was not enough road left to make up for my slow start.
Time: 00:28:26

Overall: 481 out of 3710
Time: 01:31:20

Danskin T-2 days

2008-08-15T12:44:00.000-07:00

Yesturday in swim class we did timed 1000 yards (914.4 meters) and it took me 21m 15seconds to complete it. This is way better than I expected. I'm starting to get a little nervous about the race because it is a half mile swim and I will be surrounded by hundreds of people. Also, I'm hoping that my knees will hold up during the run. In any case, the Danskin is not your typical triathlon, very supportive and non competitive. It is the world's largest triathlon for that reason and many of the participants are cancer survivors. I look forward to it. Now if I can only figure out the logistics of how to get to the race I will be set.

On another note, I expressed interest to race the Black Diamond Olympic triathlon in September. I spoke with my coaches and they think I can do it - of course that's what they are suppose to say right? They are in the process of putting together a training plan for me for the next few weeks leading up to the race. This means I will need to put in a lot of open water time as the swim is 1 mile!

Weekend in the Olympics

2008-08-11T22:09:00.000-07:00

Our annual camping trip this year was in the Olympic National Park where we stayed at Hurricane Ridge. Though we did bring our bikes, we didn't get to ride them because it rained the first day and we hiked the second day. Well at least I got some activity - about 8 miles of hiking. However I doubt that it made up for our level of gluttony. I had tons of smores!

We got back today at 3pm, thus I decided to repent but cycling to my boot camp workout where we did our usual movement preparation, strength training and a 4 mile hilly run, and finally I biked back home which meant I had to climb Juanita Woodinville Way hill. I did all this but not without some minor feet injuries. I have 2 blisters and 1 purple toe nail.

You can get there... if you are willing to do the work.

2008-07-31T15:04:00.000-07:00

One year ago, I was a different woman. My body was weak, I had no stamina and I was very uncomfortable in my skin.
What I now have come to realize is life is a journey of learning to love yourself first and then extending that love to others.
So I did just that - I started loving myself more. I started eating healthy and set fitness goals for myself. I knew that my goals had to be challenging in order to be fulfilling. One day I saw Coach Michael in front of the ProClub advertising the triathletes club - the rest is history. It was like the universe knew what I needed and provided it to me. Triathlon? I can't swim to save my life, I don't run nor do I cycle. Something inside convinced me to do it. Six months later, at the lowest weight I have ever been since I can remember, I can comfortably swim a mile, cycle at high speeds and run miles! And what I know for sure is this: whatever your goals are, you can get there if you are willing to do the work. Once you have decide what you want, make a commitment and watch life begin to move forward.

I'm running now!

2008-07-31T14:16:00.000-07:00

My knees were feeling pretty good last night so I made the decision to run in boot camp. And guess what? We ran almost 4 miles and I was the fastest chick. Yeah! I was so happy after that run. The first couple miles was tough since I had not run in 3 months. I iced immediately when I got back to the club and aside from very minor achy-ness, they were feeling pretty good. I also swam this morning and I didn't modify the workout (use the pull buoy). We did 3 x 200, 3 x 250 then 1 x 500 today. Coach Michael said I didn't need to use any fins, which is awesome. Now if I can only get my butt into the lake.

Federal Escape

2008-07-24T21:20:00.000-07:00

There is a race this weekend and I really want to do it. But I'm not sure I should because my knees are still not healed yet. The swim is only 1/4 mile, bike 12 miles and the run is 3 miles. Man that's a really short bike. Should I go for it? Thoughts? If I reinjure myself even more than I risk the Danskin which is the race I am looking most forward to doing. I can always WOG (walk-jog) the run portion worst case right?

http://www.trifreak.com/fe-course.htm

Toughen up, buttercup!

2008-07-24T11:34:00.000-07:00

One thing that you immediately realize when you become a triathlete is how to overcome your fears and insecurities. Don't complain, just close your eyes and dive in - literally! Last week Coach Michael taught us how to dive entry into the water off the diving blocks. On one of my dives I didn't tuck my head up properly and got a bit of whip-lash. Now my neck has been sore the past few days and I've been losing sleep because of it. This caused me to sleep in and miss my swim class this morning...pooh. A couple of days ago on a bike ride, Jared was trying to get me to use my drop bars but I was worried that I was going to loose control of my bike.

A part of me was like, "Angela, just suck it up and do it." Anyways, I've decided to swim at my own pace after work tonight instead.

Preventing running injuries with weight loss?

2008-07-22T13:17:00.000-07:00

I want to test out this idea that was mentioned by my PT - former USA Olympic trials marathoner. She keeps her weight low to prevent running injuries. It should come to no surprise, but the less you weigh the better it is on your joints while running. The force of each footstep is up to 4 times greater than the runner's body weight. For a 100-pound person, that means as much as 400 pounds of pressure per footstep every time the foot strikes the ground. For a 200 pound person that's 800 pounds!

With my super pronated feet and whinny knees losing weight might make a difference. Just losing 5 pounds means 20 pounds less pressure everytime my foot strikes the ground! Yes, I have already gone to the podiatrist for custom orthodics insoles and I have proper shoes. I'm not very tall (5 2") so a weight in the sub 100s is still considered in the healthy range for me. So I'm going to try to lose 1 pound a week up until the Danskin which is in 4+ weeks.

Brick time

2008-07-20T19:51:00.000-07:00

The Danskin is just around the corner - 5 weeks to be exact. I have to force myself to put in more open water time. My knees have been getting better, which is good because I have been swimming with a pull buoy for the last 2 months. Today after my bike ride, I went for a swim at the ProClub. I was worried that my cardiovascular abilities would not be so good in the water, but to my surprise I was able to swim my workout set. I will be increasing my distance - I believe the Danskin has a half mile swim.

This weekend I put in about 50 miles on my bike. I looped around Lake Sammamish a little more than 2 times. Around here bikers are quite friendly as they would always wave as they pass by. On Saturday, I flatted and attempted to fix it when I realized that I didn't have my C02 cartridge adapter. Luckily some nice guys stopped to inflate my tire.

Finally, I feel like I am getting a lot stronger on the bike. I may pass a few casual riders once in a while - just not those dudes with their fancy matching bike outfits and disk wheels. My Fuji bike is so sweet - worth every penny. Every time one of those dudes race by me, they say "Hey that's a nice bike you got there!" Is it just me, or do guys look really cute in biking uniforms?

The truth behind my addiction

2008-07-16T20:56:00.000-07:00

So I exercise almost every day and sometimes even twice a day. Is this abnormal? There's not doubt that I'm doing very good things for my health. And still on the few days I take off, I feel guilty for not doing something active. We all handle stress differently. When I'm stressed I workout - this keeps me happy.

In my college years I was out of shape and not comfortable in my own skin. While I am in way better shape now than I was back then, my brain has not caught up with my body. My body is much stronger and fitter now than it has ever been, but my subconscious doesn't believe it. Thus, often I find myself not believing in my abilities. For example, not believing that I am a good enough swimmer, or biker or runner. So I compensate and work even harder. Fortunately, my consciousness understands that with time I will get there.

Anyways, so I decided to pick up piano again to find other ways to destress. I'm going to take a few hours to learn how to play a song from the movie "Amelie" by Yann Tiersen (up on my playlist). Enjoy!

Results don't tell the whole story

2008-07-14T15:49:00.000-07:00

I was watching a friend finish her first half iron man not too long ago, as she crossed the finish line, I heard someone say, "Man, if I took 7 hours to complete a half, I would be so disappointed."

This comment didn't sit too well with me. While it is important for everyone to have a healthy amount of ego, this was pushing it a little too far for me. I really feel that the results of others aren't any business of ours. We all race for our own reasons, some to win, some to place top 10% and for the majority just to complete the race is already a wonderful accomplishment.

What I know for sure is that results hardly ever paint the full picture. Rather, it is the battles that you have fought that got you there - the journey taken that counts.

Where there is a will, there is a way

2008-07-07T17:18:00.000-07:00

I took this opportunity to head up to Lake Stevens to cheer on my team as they raced Ironman 70.3. This is a world qualifer for the 70.3 World Championships in Florida. So there were quite a few Pros that made a show and it was really exciting to watch them race.

At the race I was introduced to Mark and Joseph. They are on my team and guess what - one of them is blind. So how does a blind man do a half Ironman? Well, he had a partner that raced with him for the entire time. For the 1.2 mile swim he was roped to his partner, for the 56 mile bike they had a tandem bicycle, and for the half marathon run they were tethered with a rope so that he could follow. Talk about overcoming obstacles! I am so inspired. It took them over 7 hours to complete the race. What an accomplishment!

Criticism can be a good thing

2008-07-05T21:32:00.000-07:00

I have never been one to say that I am naturally athletically gifted. But I do believe that practice makes perfect. And when you are pint size like me, it is really important to focus on the fundamentals to compensate for the things I wasn't genetically predisposed of. I had a bike ride with a coach one morning and she rode me pretty hard. I was changing gears all wrong, my standing climb had poor form and I was riding all over the place.

What I have come to understand is, constructive criticism can be a really positive thing. Because when you are screwing up and no one is telling you it is not a place you want to be in. It means that they have given up on you. In some way, at least your critics still care about you.

Le Tour de France

2008-07-03T13:59:00.001-07:00

Wimbledon finals and le Tour de France this weekend! I will be glued to my flat screen whenever I can - lots of parties this weekend! Bicycle racing is a remarkable team event with each rider having a different role to play. My manager loves cycling and we spend a lot of time talking about it.

The 95th Tour de France will be made up of 21 stages and will cover a total distance of 3,500 kilometres. The longest stage is 210 miles through the Alps!

These 21 stages have the following profiles:

10 flat stages,
5 mountain stages,
4 medium mountain stages,
2 individual time-trial stages.
Distinctive aspects of the race

4 mountain finishes,
2 rest days,
82 kilometres of individual time-trials,
17 Category 1, Category 2 and highest level passes will be climbed.

Highlights from Versus: http://www.versus.com/tdf/

JFT uniforms

2008-07-02T12:23:00.000-07:00

I just ordered my JFT team uniform. I can't wait, I feel faster already! Here is a picture of Jill with the team uniform on. It looks so cool, I'm excited!

How to date & train with someone who is faster

2008-06-30T15:55:00.000-07:00

How to Date and Train with Someone Who's Faster

Great blog above. I agree that finding a partner to train with would be spectacular. But what do you do when they are much stronger than you? Yes we are independent women and all, but when your significant other leaves you in the dust it is not always OK.

Lake Stevens Ironman 70.3 bike course

2008-06-27T21:01:00.000-07:00

So I've agreed to take on the Ironman 70.3 bike course on this Sunday. Several of my teammates will be racing this next weekend and I wanted to try out the course. This will be the most difficult ride for me ever. My friend Rusty tells me that it is a technically challenging course. It is moderately hilly with steep downhills. I must admit I am a little anxious, but I know I will learn a lot. My plan is to do 1 loop of the course.

The Lake Stevens Ironman 70.3 is a qualifier for the Ford Ironman 70.3 World Championships. I plan to be there to cheer people on.

Biking the Chinese way

2008-06-22T20:48:00.001-07:00

A good friend of mine was in town this weekend. David, an ex-Microsoftie who now resides in Beijing is trying to build his new technology start up. Somehow, the subject of bicycles becomes the center of our conversation. Now, most of us know that almost everyone in China commutes by bicycle. All roads accommodate cyclists, or should I say all roads can accommodate cars? There are even traffic lights to direct cycling traffic. It is truly the bicycle capital of the world in my opinion. But, professional cycling is much too expensive for the average Chinese citizen. A factory worker makes about $4000 USD/year while an office worker might make around $12000 USD/year.

Now bike theft is very prevalent in Beijing. David has already had 2 of his bikes stolen so far. He said his first bike costed him about $10, even with a lock it was stolen. His second bike costed him $6, had two locks on it and it was also stolen. He said you can even pay some dude, show him a bike, and he will go steal it for you. How crazy is that?

5:30am ride with JFT

2008-06-19T00:09:00.000-07:00

This morning, before the birds were up, I met Jill, Heli and Melissa at Idylwood park to ride the Lake Sammamish loop. With the exception of the Issaquah Tri, I don't think I've ever woken up so early voluntarily in my life. So the night before, I had packed up my SUV with all my gear and set my alarm to 4:30am. Of course, I was really excited because that meant I would be trying out my new bike. So excited that I could not sleep a wink.

The ride began at Idylwood, and within a few miles I noticed a thumping feeling in my backside and I was slowing down, it turns out that I had a flat. Now, I've never had to change a real flat in my life, so this was interesting. Jill had also stopped to help me out. There are a bunch of little details that I didn't know about that make changing a tire much easier, like to work with it on your feet. When applying the C02 cartridge, make sure you have your tire on the ground and you fill the tire pressing down on the valve. Also, to fill the tire on the side where your cassette is facing away otherwise, when you remove the cartridge you might bang your hand on it and it will hurt!

Now the hard part is actually putting the back wheel on properly. We somehow got the wheel back on after quite a bit of fiddling. It turns out that it wasn't quite on right, but I'll get to that later. During the ride, Jill had me working on my big ring to build strength. It turns out that on my standing climbs I should be using a bigger gear because I am still wobbling. Also, she mentioned that I should practice my balance a bit more as I tend to not stay on a straight line. Lastly, we talked about focusing on the hamstrings and gluts because that is where all the power is from. This was a really great learning ride for me, now I have things to work on. One day I would like to bike to work. The Lake Sammamish River trail is only about 1 mile from my home and I could take that safely to campus.

Jill had mentioned that I should remove 1 disk from my stear tube to get better handling and that I should fix my seat. So I took it back to Performance Bikes this evening and Matt my bike tech was there and he cleaned up my bike, fixed my seat, removed the disk, changed my water bottle cages, gave me new ties to transfer my cyclo computer to my new bike and gave me some suggestions to heal my knee faster - I swear this guy has a crush on me. It also turns out that we didn't put my back wheel on properly and I forgot to close my rear brake - oops. Lastly, it turns out that Matt also works on Jill's bike as well and told me to tell her not to let her husband work on her bike anymore. :)

Fuji Supreme

2008-06-15T20:16:00.000-07:00

This weekend I spent some time shopping for a new bike. I bought a cheap Trek bike to see if I would like the sport at the beginning of the year. After doing my research, I have come to the conclusion that I would never be able to get a triathlon bike unless it was custom - and I was not about to spend 6-7 thousand dollars on that. I know that I wasn't completely happy with my current road bike, though it did well on climbs, I had trouble keeping up with people because it was heavy (21 pounds) and had 650 wheels which made it a little harder to maintain speed. Another thing is, my neck would hurt after my rides - thus it didn't fit quite right. Today, after trying out a bunch of bikes - I even had to wait for them to build me the bike I ultimately ended up purchasing, I took home a brand new Fuji Supreme RC. It is the 44cm and weighs only 15.4 pounds! The frameset weighs around 850 grams. And guess what? I got it for over 40% off because Performance was having their 25th anniversary sale and it comes with 700 standard size wheels! So what I will do in the future is slap on clip on aero bars and call it a day.

FRAMESET: C-10 SuperLite High Modulus carbon with 3K weave, Continuous Fiber Technology (CFT), integrated aluminum cupped head tube, double water bottle mounts, shaped ride-tuned Energy Transfer Chain stay, replaceable hanger

FORK: FC-330 Fuji Carbon Monocoque Integrated 1 1/8" Carbon steerer , 350g

DRIVETRAIN: FSA Energy Compact MegaExo w/ integrated spindle, 7075 CNC 34/50T, NEW SRAM Rival Exact Actuation derailleurs & double-tap shifter/brake, 20-speed

WHEELS: Cane Creek Strados

FEATURES: Ritchey Pro Biomax II alloy, 31.8mm bars, stem, Ritchey Pro carbon seat post, Selle San Marco Aspide Glamour women specific saddle with titanium rails

Underwater treadmill

2008-06-10T13:19:00.000-07:00

I was chatting with my PT Shelly yesturday about how my knee injury has been hampering with my regular activities. I cannot run, I cannot bike and even daily things like walking down the stairs I need to becareful. I am also worried that my cardiovascular abilities might diminish. Shelly gladly mentioned that I could train on the underwater treadmill and that it would be covered by Microsoft. Woohoo, the ProClub rocks and so does my insurrance plan!

So I've setup 2x underwater treadmill classes a week, swim 3x a week and do strength training, intervals in boot camp 2x a week. This is the best I can do until my knees heal.

Lastly, I bought the Yakima King Joe bike rack for my car. I tried to figure out how to set the thing up, but no luck. There are so many straps and clamps to make your head spin. I guess I will bring it back to the shop.

Triathlon bikes don't come in my size

2008-06-05T20:49:00.000-07:00

I stopped by Sammamish Valley Cycle this evening to pick up some neoprene booties for my swim tomorrow morning. While I was at the shop, I figure I might as check out their tri bikes. They had the Cervelo P2C and P3C, QT, Scott and Light Speed bikes. Unfortunately, none of them fit me as the standover height was a little too high. The 48 cm Cervelo came closest to fitting me, but my crotch was still touching the bar. She recommended that I get a custom titanium Light Speed made for me when I am ready for a tri bike. Did I mention the price would be $6K? Presently I have a Trek road bike. When I looked on Trek's site, they did have a 47 cm women's specific tri bike that might fit me. Felt also had a tri bike in 48 cm with a low stand over that might fit me as well. I know that standover height is not how you judge fit, but it is a quick way to rule bikes out. Man, I wish I were bigger :(

Anyways, on another note, it looks like I will be doing nothing but swimming and strength training for the next 2 weeks. I read that with my injury I need to really baby my knees, so no running even cycling during this time - must focus on healing.

Success!

2008-05-31T22:41:00.000-07:00

Today I completed my first triathlon! As I still have knee tendonitis I went in with a game plan to complete as much of the race I could.

OFFICIAL RACE REPORT:

Night before: I had packed all my gear including my bike into my SUV.
Pre-race: 1 bowl of Special K with strawberries and soy milk.

Morning: I woke up at 4:30am to get ready to leave for the race. My intention was to get there for 5:30am so that I could pick up my race packet (which contained my timing chip, race bib and t-shirt). I arrived there at 5:30am and parked at the Sunset beach parking lot right in front of the transition area (TA).

There was not a lot of people there at the time. I picked up my race packet then walked around a little as I was not really sure what to do next, but I saw people taking in their bikes into the TA. I headed back to my SUV and grabbed my bike and helmet out of the car, proceeded to the TA and got marked with my race number. When I found my rack, I took the spot on the end so that I could find my bike quickly. I setup my gear like we had practiced in transition clinic and I had everything ready to go except my wetsuit was not on.

Swim: Close to 7am I had my wetsuit on. My wave didn't start until 7:21am. Before the swim, I got into the water to get use to the temperature - and it was the warmest that I have ever been in. I found Nicole and Emily, who were also my wave. We were all nervous and excited. Nicole and I positioned ourselves at the back of the pack as we were slow swimmers. And we were off! I reached the first buoy in no time, so far so good, but there was still a 300 meter stretch to the next one. I had decided to pull the entire swim to save my knees. As I turned I saw a girl swimming to my left that was swimming about the same pace as me, so I just used her as a guide to keep me on course. About half way to the next buoy, she started breast stroking and I'm like "great now who am I going to follow now?" So I just over took her and tried to sight on my own. About every 5 strokes or so I would look up to make sure I was on course. Things were going really well, I was really relaxed and my wetsuit felt very comfortable. My heartrate was at a steady rate. I got out of the water a little too far from the shore so the water slowed me down as I got out. But I swear the choir was singing. It look me over 10 minutes to swim that one. But I was so happy that I survived it!

TI: OK, I had a picnic here. It took me 5 minutes to transition. I had decided not to wear my tri-suit (that was probably a mistake), I ended up having to put on my bike shorts and shirt. I had my race bib pinned onto my bike shirt which ripped off and I had to fix that. I decided that I could not bike without my gloves instead I went sockless. Man, it sure didn't feel like I took 5 minutes. I spent too much time figuring out what to wear :) This was no time to be a girl Angela!

Bike: The bike was hard, everyone was passing me and I was working pretty hard too! I think I did well on the first hill climb, as soon as I saw it I picked up my speed and slowly stood up and climbed that sucker. Then about half way through the bike my knee started to complain. The last hill climb was really tough. I think overall I averaged about 16 mph. This bike took me 55 minutes.

T2: One picnic wasn't enough for me, so I decided to take another. When I arrived back into the TA I could not find my bike rack. I saw Coach Josh and remember him telling me "Put you bike on the rack!" I finally found my rack, put on my running shoes and off I went. This took 2:33 minutes.

Run: The run was painful. When I started my run I had this really tight sensation in my gluts and thighs that was new to me. This didn't feel so good, but eventually it went away. I didn't want to make my knee worse, so I tried to jog as much of this as I could and had to walk at times. Overall, I found the running trail quite nice and I was happy that it was not on concrete. 30:30 minutes - that some serious speed walking there. It sure didn't feel like 3 miles.

Post-race: I'm so glad that I did this. It was an amazing experience and I could not be happier. I ended up coming in 603/703. God this sport is so humbling! I'm a changed woman!

Swimming with the fishies at Idylwood

2008-05-30T11:16:00.000-07:00

It turns out that there are a lot of people that swim early in the morning. I found a group of ladies to swim with on a regular basis. Today we met at 7am and jumped into the water. There are fish jumping out of the water there! On my previous swims, I had not gone past 30 yards from the shore. But today, with encouragement from Jen (a lady from Jill's team) I just went for it. When I reached the buoy I was a little tired, my heart rate was up because I was still very anxious. I went on my back for a few seconds, then we swam to the next buoy. Jen kept going, but I swam back to shore. I think that was about 1/4 mile. Some of us were planning to swim the course after work this evening but I have to pick up my new car not to mention my race packet for tomorrow still.

Wish me luck in my first triathlon tomorrow, I'm going to need it as I am going to be racing injured. My knees are still sore from tendonitis, but I told myself to just go and have fun out there. I will walk the run if my knees start to hurt too much.

Honda CR-V

2008-05-28T09:14:00.001-07:00

I just bought my first car ever! I'm so excited it's the 2008 Honda CR-V, finally I found a compact SUV that gives me ample storage space, good on gas, 4WD and handles well.

I was at the dealership for 3.5 hours negotiating with them. We finally came to something we were all happy with. Goodbye to Max (my Nissan Maxima - which my dad bought for me) and hello to my new CR-V. Don't have a name for her yet, yes my car will be a "she" this time. No soccer mom comments please!