Happy New Year!

I cannot believe another year has come and gone. 

This year I learned a lot about myself. I learned a lot at work. I learned how to travel. I pushed my body. I also learned how important it is to take care of myself; mentally, emotionally, and physically.

As for New Year's resolutions, last year I wanted to sleep more. I cannot say I completely failed or suceeded at that goal. It did help to have it on my mind. 

I look to 2012 for opportunity to work hard both personally and professionally. 

I had a crazy idea that I would try to run 365 miles, bike 365, and swim 365 miles. If I am able to complete this goal and show my progress to others. I was hoping that they would in turn make a donation to me or to a charity of their choosing in a quantity relating to 365.

I have realized work is not everything and I still want the challenge but I also want to make an impact. Hopefully, if someone reads this they might be interested in my proposition. I think I would like to check in monthly with my progress. 

This will also motivate me to train for triathlons. I plan to count my race miles as part of this exercise.

One other note I would like to try to mediate daily. I think having that quiet time can be beneficial for everyone.

Here is to hoping 2012 is a great year for everyone!

Santa to the SEA! (5k)

I was actually in town for a little bit of December before I got to go see snow. 

One of the very cool things I did was the Santa to the Sea 5k race. Maybe next year I will train for the Santa to the Sea 1/2 marathon. I got really lucky and one my age group with a time of 23:20! It's new PR for me. I think I had the home turf advantage because the race route was very close to the 10K I ran on the 4th of July this year. I also blame the cold. As much as I hate working out when it's cold outside I think it was to my benefit.

This race was also cool because they wanted you to give a donation to Toys for Tots. And they had a contest for costumes. Seeing Santa run is quite a sight!

I got a sweet hoodie for winning. Every finished received a medal. I highly recommend this race to anyone it is a pretty course right along the ocean. 

At the finish line, I got to try out some delicious snacks. My favorite were the new Jamba Juice coconut water and fruit drinks. I had a bad experience with pulpy coconut water but I highly recommend this as post workout recovery drink.

Happy Thanksgiving

Well this year I made my traditional thanksgiving pumpkin pie. It almost turned into a disaster. I was so excited to be making it. I thought I was all ready to put it in the oven and then I saw the condensed milk on the counter! So what did I do, I poured it back into the bowl and added the milk. It was so full, I managed to spill it when I put it in the oven. Within a minute my fire alarm was going off!

I waited for over 50 minutes in fear my stray from the recipe.

As you can see it turned out. Fun fact the brown spots are from when the outside bubble because the inside is complete.

This year I was lucky enough to drink some champagne and wine. Eat some pie and play Nintendo Wii games. All after my first Turkey Trot! I have to say I really enjoyed the turkey trot. I highly recommend that more people try it on Thanksgiving before eating all that food! I did my Turkey Trot in 24:08:8. It was a new best time for me! I definitely want to do another Turkey Trot. I also recommend the Wii post all the Thanksgiving food.

RAGBRAI

RAGBRAI - Register’s Annual Great Bicycle Ride Across Iowa

Possibly the coolest and strangest vacation I have ever taken. It all started about a year ago when my co-workers found out that I like to ride my road bike. So February 2010 came around this year and I signed up for RAGBRAI. While I felt like I may have made a hug mistake. I went for it. We did several training rides. It also helped me train for my triathlons. 

The actual week was hotter than I don't know what. I road my first century (100 miles) in 107 degree heat!

My biggest regret is not eating more not so good for you food. 

Some of the highlights included fresh squeezed lemonaid, touring a farm, eating ice cream slow churned. I also saw the 6 year old Jake and Jake's Mom. They had signs on but he biked 57 miles in one day! It definitely showed me it doesn't matter who you are or what you do. Get out and ride your bike!!

 I hope I can do it again!

  Me on the first day

What every town looked like

Bike buses. There were several of these. Each one had their unique traits.

Olympic Triathlon #3

Something braggy

After countless hours of training my goal was to get under 3 hours on my Olympic distance triathlon. Lucky me I had home turf advantage because the swim was in Ventura harbor, the bike was on my way to work and so was the run. Granted I never actually road the bike or ran the run course. It was a pretty sweet course though because there is no way I would have been able to run the run course with out getting in the way of traffic. It was really an beautiful course. AND I got under 3 hours! By quite a bit.. now I have expectations to live up to. I got a snazzy beer glass for placing 3rd in my age group! :)

Clock Time	2:43:41
Gender Place	38 / 121
Division Place	3 / 6
All Place	191
Swim Lap 1	9:36
Swim Lap 2	9:51
T1	3:21
Bike	1:24:44
T2	2:41
Run	53:31

Swim verses Run training

Well after the last triathlon, I found out my swimming training paid off. My lack of running training showed. Due to encouragement from another tri-engineer, I decided to sign up for another triathlon. The only question is which one? I thought about one in Morro Bay (spend more time in SLO).. Redondo Beach (see where I used to live), or Ventura Breath of Life(no driving).

So with once again less than a month to train I signed up for another Olympic Distance triathlon! The other cool news is when I finish USATri will rank me across the nation. I also use some of the $40 membership I paid for 2011.

I am hopeful I will have the 'home turf' advantage. I could train the course. I have ran and swam some of the course before so we shall see. 

Only challenge in all this is balance. I am also going to run more.

The Addiction

Well Surfing Magazine didn't take it so I'm posting it. This was my short story for the mag. The winners got a surf trip!

The alarm buzzes. It’s five thirty in the morning. She stumbles into the bathroom, turns on the light splashes water on face; turns to the black string thing hanging on the towel bar and slowly puts it on. Even though there is effort in every movement from what looks like sore muscles, it doesn’t matter. Silently grabbing the huge fuzzy thing used for drying, throw on an over-sized t-shirt, flip flops, grab a smelly substance that looks like soap and takes it out to the car. Oh, and then there is that black and grey item when put on it looks skin tight, it smells like the sea even after rinsing in the shower.  It’s not however the smells that motivates for one more fix. Walking back in the house she grabs a large white board. It has sticky stuff on top of it- carrying that same weird odor as the ‘soap’ and a single pointy thing on the back, along with what looks like a tail. It’s handled gently and slowly placed in the car with a fuzzy thing around it. The car starts and the drive begins. Any observer can tell the need for a fix is getting stronger. The internet thing had shown something good. She had smiled really big last night after looking at it. The anticipation was starting to fill the car the closer the freeway exit got. Peering out the window the internet was right. The big blue had beautiful curls according to her and I quote, “They look priceless and perfect.”  Speeding to park, the towel and the gray black thing emerge. She had gracefully force on the suit.  Finally, the suit is on and the huge white thing is out of the car after some of that smelly white substance is rubbed all over it. Looking like a penguin with a big white fish, she runs across the street and has to hop down over the rocks to meet the water that churns. Then she waits a minute stretching and the white things tail latches to one ankle. All this is very Weird if you ask me! I would rather have slept-in but she asked/begged me to come with a camera.  All of a sudden the white board is under the black and grey suit and her arms are paddling. She gets so close to the curling water and disappears for a minute. She is the only one out but there will be more soon. From the beach she does a 180 degree turn and all of a sudden she is stuck in a curl of water moving faster and in the end it looks like it eats her. I later ask her what that feels like. I can’t see it but she’s told me the feeling with every ride is the fix. I can see it her ride but I don’t understand. She says when she is inside there is finally relief. The world feels right. There is no pain. There is no suffering. There is just this moment, moving on the water, feeling totally out of control but totally at peace. There will never be another love quite like the one she has with this.  She pops back up looking almost drowned on the outside starts paddling and does it again. There are many more times like this. I snap a few pictures every time she stands. It’s hard to get photos. The water keeps moving and she keeps moving. Eventually, more blue, black and grey bodies join her. They all sit and wait with eyes transfixed on the horizon.  There is almost no verbal communication but they all can tell when a good one is coming. They all start to rotate and some make it and some don’t.  It’s almost like a dance only this dance is an addiction.  What seems like hours later, the water starts to have less curls.  She slowly stands on the white thing again until she reaches shore. She pulls the white board’s tail off.  You can see the huge smile on her face. She has found her fix for today.  I look at her and I can see she is as happy as she will ever be.  When it gets down to the basics it’s pretty amazing that is what makes her happy and I don’t even know how to swim. She sees that I don’t understand and I doubt that I ever will.  She simply smiles and says, “You are either jealous or confused. You should be neither. I hope you find something that makes you this happy. If you don’t perhaps you can see why a little foam, fiber glass, some plastic, rubber, fabric, and water with mother nature’s help can be all I need in life to make me happy. Next time you are going to go surfing with me.” That sentence sounds like she is offering me a gateway drug. I want to kindly decline her right now but I just decide to pray that mother nature won’t make pretty curls in the water when she tries to share her addiction. The craziest part in all this is she is right. I haven’t found what makes me happy but I don’t want to become another ‘surfing’ addict.  

Olypmic Triathlon # 2

Perhaps I am a bit crazy but I signed up for the same triathlon I did last year again. This year, race day's weather was awesome. Compared to the sprint triathlon I did two weeks ago, the lake water was warm. My swim felt awesome. 

I ended up with a best time but I know my weakness is the run. I wonder how long it will take me as a non-runner to feel confident about the run. 

I have to say it is always great to go back close to San Luis Obispo. I miss it and it is probably one of my favorite places. The volunteers make this triathlon possible and a lot of them are Cal Poly students. Thanks again Cal Poly! I highly recommend this triathlon to any newbies to triathlons. It was my first triathlon and I'm hooked.

 I hope this summer I will find the time to do another Olympic distance triathlon. 

I find it is much easier to keep training than to stop and start all over.. Keep the progress going!

Progress

Today I ran six and a half miles up and down the PHC. It is in preparation for a triathlon next weekend so it didn't just spontaneously decide to run that far. Talk about wow. Sometimes, I need to step back and take a look at how amazing my life is. I was running right by the ocean. I have dreamed about doing that since I was 19! 

I also recall back at Thanksgiving. I had not worked out in a while. I had gone up to the same location in hopes of surfing after running. I think I ran about one mile before I had to stop and take a breather. Having been a competitive athlete most of my life, I was pretty frustrated I had gotten to that point. 

Now a not even six months later, I got 6.5 miles in and I felt like I could have ran more. Minus the fact that my feet were feeling tingly. I'm going to have to do some research on it. Since I am not nor never see myself being a natural born runner.  

One final note, since I was near the surf, I looked at I wished I could have gone out but I knew I wouldn't catch anything. I can now recognize the tides and what is "rideable." Perhaps this is more reflection but it feels good to know I have achieved something.

Published ?!?!

I wrote an article for someone else's blog discussing triathlon training. He decided to publish it. I should also mention if you are interested in surfing reviews check out his blog. (I like it, but I might be bias)  I hope you enjoy reading.

To the article (Triathlon 101)

I copy and pasted it below..

Triathlon 101 – Guest Post

July 28, 2010 by The Surfboard Man · Comments Off
Filed under: General 

What is a triathlon?
It is a distance event which consists of three legs- swim, bike, run.  The distances of each leg vary.  Typically, a sprint triathlon is 400 yd, (1/4 of a mile), 12 mile bike, and 5k (3.2 mile) run.
An Olympic distance triathlon is .93 mile swim, 24.5 mile bike and 10k (6.4 mile) run.
First you have to think about how far you think you can go then pick an event. For sprint be sure you can swim 1600, bike 24 miles, and run a 5k. For Olympic be sure you can swim close to two miles, bike 40 miles, and run at least 8 miles.
What are your goals?-
To finish, to have a personal best time on the swim, bike, or run? Personally, I have always been a swimmer. I always try to start the swim out on a great note. My secondary goal is to improve my run time. Running is my weakest leg.
To train for a triathlon I would suggest swimming three times a week, and the three other days running and biking.  One day a week after working out hard always give your body a rest. It is common mistake to over train but you will be able to train harder with the break.
The distance and time spent training should exceed the time you predict it will take you to race. I compare it to surfing. You do not expect become Laird Hamilton at Teahupoo, if you don’t know how to ride 4ft waves.

Essential Equipment:
All of these pieces should go to the transition area.  The transition area is where you as an athlete store your triathlon equipment. Only athletes are allowed in the area but make sure you keep track of your valuables. You will come back to this location to grab your bike and other equipment.
Photo ID
Race registration confirmation
USTA $10 one-day pass or your membership card
Know the triathlon’s rules
A tri-suit
Googles
Spare swim cap
Bike
Bike helmet with approved safety rating
Spare bike tube
Tube repair kit
Small bike pump that will fit on your bike frame
Broken-in pair of running shoes
Sunglasses- for the bike and run
Sunscreen
Food
Water
Recovery drink
Clean set of clothes
First-aid kit
Big towel
A hand towel
If the water is cold
A wet suit
Body-glide or Vaseline
NEVER use brand new equipment at a race – stick to what has worked for you during training. I have seen some pretty nasty blisters from new running shoes during a triathlon just as one example.

Detailed descriptions of equipment:
Tri-Suit – they are basically bike shorts, and a spandex top. If you want to you can wear a swim suit and put on bike shorts for the bike and a t-shirt for the run. If you buy a tri-sui TRY it on before you buy. You will be in this the entire race if it’s not comfortable it will make the race no fun.
Swim cap – In your race packet you should have the swim cap you are supposed to wear.
Bike helmet – It has to be CPCS approved. Replace a bike helmet at least every three years. If you don’t take good care of your helmet you will have to replace it more often.

During the race you HAVE to have your helmet buckled in the transition area, if not you will receive a time penalty.

A small bike tire air pump which fits on your bike frame. Unfortunately sometimes no matter what you do you will end up with a flat tire. Come prepared and know how to change your bike tire and regular bike maintenance.
Food-
I always tape some power gels to my bike handle bars because I never know when I’ll need it. Although solid food might sound like a good idea on race day with extra nerves eating gels or drinking liquids is a lot easier on your body.  Avoid white starchy food. Know what fuel works for your body; I compare it to putting the wrong kind of fuel in your car.
Water – figure out how much you need. Everyone tends to sweat a different amount.
Recovery drink – After about an hour of the race you need to start thinking about replenishing your fuel source. I have two bottles on my bike. One with water and one with recovery drink.
Clean set of clothes – Lots of people will just chill out in their spandex but I think it’s a lot more comfortable to change into lose fitting clothing.
Body-glide – looks like deodorant but it’s so that your wetsuit doesn’t leave your skin rubbed raw.  Apply it liberally to your neck, lower legs, lower arms, and your lats. From personal experience I received a very nasty looking wetsuit hicky on my neck because I didn’t apply enough Vaseline.  It can also help you get your wetsuit off.  You do not want to have to wear it the whole race.
Wish list items:
You do not have to have these but they are very nice to have.
A bib band clip – you will be given a number which you have to wear on the bike and run portions of the triathlon.  This bib band makes it easy to put on your number so you don’t run the risk of stabbing yourself with safety pins after finishing the swim.
A road bike with clip in shoes – they will help to increase your efficiency but they definitely are more challenging than a regular bike
A water proof watch – it is nice to know how long it has been during the bike and run. If you are aiming for a particular time then at least you will have a rough idea.
Now good luck training, and go out there and TRI!

About the Author:

h2o_gage was a competitive swimmer growing up with over 10 years of competitive swimming experience she decided to try out triathlons. She is currently training for her second Olympic distance triathlon. When she’s not training for a triathlon, she can usually be found near the ocean, hiking or spending time with her family & friends. By day she is a mechanical engineer.

Follow H20_Gage on Twitter

Triathlon #2

I finished my second triathlon.

 This one seems like less of an accomplishment than the last one. It was sprint distance -- 1/2 mile swim, 12 mile bike and 10K run. Swim and bike went well but my run and transitions were slow. It looks like I need to go train on the track more, even though I don't like it.

Before the swim

I saw dolphins before the swim which always makes me happy.

  On the bike

The results- 1:13:12 (hr:min:sec)

 I finished 3th in my age group!

I hope I get to do this triathlon, again. It is exciting that I got to do another triathlon close to where I live.  The best part was my parents came to watch. Now I have plenty of sudo embarrassing pictures of me racing.

Bottom line triathlons are addicting and it's great to hear your parents cheer you on.

Where have I been?

Well I was training for Wildflower among other things. It was my first triathlon and with only a month of training I think I did fairly well. I'll be back to normal posts soon. I feel like I have so much to catch up on!

Olympics

I am a sucker for the Olympics. Although I watch some television, when the Olympics come on the television every two years I could watch them for hours. I have spirit for my country but will gladly cheer on any Olympian. Perhaps it is because I was a competitive athlete for so many years, I realize how much effort the athlete put into their sport.

This particular Olympic games I especially like the P&G ads which thank the Olympians' moms. Every person has a mom. I have not seen any Olympic athlete reach the podium by themselves. Each athlete has a coach, a mentor, a friend or a rival and their mom which helped them get to that podium.

The Olympics seem like a time when we focus on what mankind can achieve by physical and mental strength and now with the help of new technology.

If nothing else remember the Olympic motto- "Citius, Altius, Fortius." These three Latin words mean "Swifter, Higher, Stronger." Regardless if you are an Olympian or not each person can strive to do whatever they do better than they did before.