Preparing for the Big Day

Of course I am referring to the Royal Wedding.   I am sure Kate is nervous Nellie as she is about to get married in front of the world, and lay claim to some kick ass jewelry and a new title.

On the triathlon front, I too, am a bit of a nervous Nellie.  In honor of Kate and Will, I'm thinking I, too,need to follow some traditions to ensure a good race. So with me I will have:

• Something old:  That would be me.  In the old lady wave, starting at 9:20am.  2nd to last.  Likely to be the last to finish on our team.  
• Something new: Technically, I should have nothing new on race day.  But I have a new wetsuit (swum in 2 times) and hope it brings me fast swimming speed and no rashes in unsightly places.
• Something borrowed: Energy from my team, our honorees, and my friends who are battling cancer.  To quote Steve Perry, "You're My Inspiration."
• Something blue: My watch is blue.

A partial Team Awesome in Paradise!

In perhaps a more fruitful approach to preparation, my friend Diana, who is professor of exercise and sports, had me write down two lists.  One with all of my fears.  And one list of the accomplishments I've done that will give me confidence on race day.  One is decidedly longer than the other.   But the idea is to focus on the accomplishments and all the work I've done to get to the race, which should help calm me down.

Fears:

• Getting the Swim Panic.  (I have had this in every race to date.  This involves freaking out, being unable to breath, thinking I can't swim, rolling on my back and floating, and then a long hard talk with myself.  Then pulling it together and finishing the swim.  Every damn race.)
• Letting the wind defeat me emotionally.
• Blowing out my legs on the bike.
• Getting a mechanical issue I cannot fix myself (that would be fixing a flat.  And fixing a flat.)
• Not finishing the bike fast enough and getting pulled off the course.
• Having stomach issues on the run.
• Being the last one to finish on my team, or the race for that matter.  A distinct possibility for a slow poke like me.
• Getting overheated, dehydrated, bonking, etc.



Practice Triathlon 




• And of course your everyday, general bike crashing fears.

Positive things:

• I completed a half-ironman distance, a bike century and a marathon last year.  I can endure long events.
• I've run a lot of hills this season and have felt mostly good on the runs.  My last 13 miler felt great.
• During training weekend, I rode the course and completed it.  (albeit it was very hard.  but this is a positive stuff list, so scratch this parenthetical comment) I know what to expect and when.
• My nutrition has generally worked out well this training season.  No serious bonking.
• I have pretty pink running shoes.

Oh, and the most important!  I am racing to save lives.  I've raised $3000 for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, which was my personal goal. But there's still work to be done.  If you would like to support me, please do contribute to my fundraising effort. Thanks to everyone who has helped me all season.  I will calling upon you in my dark times on the course!  Xoxoxo.

Will, Kate, Panic and Updates.

This morning, I woke up feeling pretty good about training.  We still have several weeks before the race and I felt like everything is within grasp if I just apply myself a little longer.  Being all confident and all, I ignored the email in my inbox about this weeks training and went straight to one entitled The Royal Wedding Update.  (Yes, I get updates about important news events like this.  So what?)

I am, sadly, very excited about seeing ol' Will and Kate walk down the aisle.  And I'm a little torn apart by the fact that said event is on the same day as Wildflower weekend.  (I'm working on some scheme to download it to my iPad and watch in the car on the way down there.  Pack the tissues, Eileen!)  Anyhow, the interwebs are all abuzz with their upcoming nuptials.  "William is apparently nervous.  The blessed event is only 22 days away."  *eyes come to screeching halt* WHAT?  22 days to the wedding.  That means 22 days to my race.  PANIC PANIC PANIC!

Now suitably in the proper frame of mind (panic), I realized that this is peak training week, and I really don't have very much time left to prepare.  And the fact that my plantar fascitis is rearing its ugly head, and my tailbone injury is haunting me one again, are all legitimate reasons to freak out.

I've calmed myself down since this morning by reading more about the Blessed Event. And I'm starting to see that I've done all the trainings to the best of my ability.  Though  I am nursing a bit of an injury, I went to see the amazing Dr. R who has gotten me through all of my endurance events so I am sure he will get me through this one.  And I do actually still have 3 more weeks of training, which I will definitely be doing diligently (after today, 'cause I'm skipping training right now. Shhhh.)

I am still pretty unsure about my ability to finish this race, but you know what could help?  A donation to support the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.  I'm just shy of my goal of $3000.  Can you help me cross the finish line?

Anyhow, you probably don't want see any more pictures of Will and Kate (or maybe you do -- download the app!).  But here's a quick trip down memory lane of some recent trainings.

Running in the rain with Team Awesome.

We do goofy things like simulating a mass swim start.  My friend Todd swam on top of me and push my head down under the water.  Thanks, Todd!

Here we are being crazy by swimming in the SF Bay.  53 in the water.  49 outside.  Neither terribly pleasant.

This little guy got freaked out by all of us splashing around.

 

That's me looking frozen with the red and white caps on.

This is down at the race site.  We did a practice swim that took an eternity.

Last weekend we had a brutal swim of 3000 meters followed by a 12 mile trail run that include 670+ of these puppies.  It makes me sick just looking at the photo of them.  Ouch.

This is one of my teammates. But this is what I felt like after the run.  Except maybe I was stuffing chocolate chip cookies in my mouth while on the ground.

Oh Yeah, I forgot

Me and my blues!

I must admit that the first few weeks of training have been hard -- mostly hard to motivate myself, hard to get excited.  The cold and phlegm situation has not helped.

Last week, the swim was okay, and the ride was lovely but left me feeling discouraged and tired.  This week, I trudged through a hard track work out of what seemed like continuous and never ending intervals/wheezing.  Then went to spin class the next day.  I was bitter and angry and unhappy the whole of the two days.  And the following day woke up with every single muscle aching and sore, and I was still bitter and angry. And this got me even more discouraged.  Clearly not feeling the love.

But then I forced myself to go on a run today, even though my cold seemed to have taken a slight relapse.  Again with the bitter and angry for the first few minutes.  But once I got out there and got into my running head space, I found myself enjoying running the up the hill -- pushing myself, breathing hard, feeling my muscles aches from the last week of training, and feeling . . could it be. . satisfied?  Then, it hit me, obvious as it is -- training is hard.  It's supposed to be hard.  Otherwise, everyone would be doing triathlons.  Hard is part of the point.  Somehow I had forgotten that.  Maybe I've been all high and mighty thinking that since I had done a half-ironman last year and a marathon, this should not be hard.  Not sure why that seeped into my psyche.

Me and Speedster

So I've got my attitude adjustment in place, I think. Can't promise angry and bitter aren't going to come back.  But being okay with the pain and suffering.  That's back and I hope it's hear to stay for a while.

But you know what will help keep the bitter and angry at bay?  Help me reach my fundraising goal for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society!  :-)

A Good, Swift Kick

Sometimes you just need a good, swift kick in the arse to get you going. I know this about myself.  I know I have good intentions and fail on the execution.  Alot. 

Like on Friday.  I got up and thought, "I am going on a run at lunch time. So I won't shower this morning.  I'll put on my sports bra and running shirt, and be ready to go when I get a break from work."  Around 6pm, I look up from my computer, all stinky from lack of showering, all chaffed from wearing spandex all day, and all stiff from not making it out the door.  Luckily, I look and smelled like I had exercised, so Chris never knew the difference. . .

When I signed up a month ago for another round of Team in Training to train for the Wildflower Half Ironman triathlon, I was well aware this type of day would come.  It always does.   The only way to combat this kind of day, is to sign yourself up for a team that has scheduled trainings where your friends expect you to be there.   And because I am not beyond letting my friends down from time to time (sorry guys),  I have to take the extra measure of publicly committing to all of my friends and family that I will train and fundraise for this event.  There is nothing like public shame to motivate.

And now you can help with the swift kick and the public shaming, by helping me with my fundraising efforts for the Leukemia and Lymphoma society.    Please won't you consider a tax-deductible donation to help find a cure for blood cancers?  At least 75% of your donation goes directly to patient services and research to find a cure for  diseases that an estimated 957,902 people in the United States are living with, or are in remission from. Every four minutes, someone new is diagnosed with blood cancer. Every 10 minutes, someone dies.

These statistics are always staggering to me every time I read them.  And recently, I just learned that a friend's sister-in-law was diagnosed with an advanced case of non-hodgkin's lymphona.  So many people I know are affected by these diseases.  It's hard to ignore it.   It's hard to not do something about it.  It's kind of like a swift kick.

So wind up that foot, and give me a swift kick, won't you? 

Success at Lake San Antonio!

Wildflower #3. Check!!

What a great weekend we had! All of our team did really well. The weather cooperated just beautifully, and I finished my race in a respectable time (for me) with out any injuries or an aching butt. So all in all, I'd call it a success!

We got there on Friday, and it was drizzling on and off, which worried everyone. We set up camp and noticed that it wasn't that crowded and the energy levels seemed sort of low in Loop G of the campground. It never really got packed like it has been the past. Not sure if its the economy or it was the rain.

Saturday our Long Course team raced. Everyone finished and did really well. One of my mentees completed his first triathlon ever, and did it in under 6 hours. Amazing! Chris and I spent the day cheering folks on, chalking up the roads with TNT cheer, and trying to stay hydrated.

That evening, as is tradition at Wildflower (a.k.a the Woodstock of Triathlons), we had a group dinner, which was interrupted by a pack of streaking Cal Poly students. I don't know why, but this is just part of the Wildflower experience. Good times. No photos to share of that. Sorry.

Sunday 6am rolled around pretty quickly. I hadn't slept well, which was to be expected. My leg had started cramping in the night, so I actually woke up with a sore hamstring. But other than that I felt calm and collected and not too nervous.

My wave (the old lady wave) started at 10:40am. The first wave was at 9am, so there was a long wait to begin. And consequently, by the time I finished, the crowds for cheering had thinned. Another disadvantage of getting old . . .but I digress. It was about 72 or so when we started. And probably hit 80 by the time I was running. A mix of cloud cover and sun. Perfect!

My swim felt great. I didn't get the race panic that I often get when I first jump in the water. I found my stroke pretty quickly and had a great time swimming. I swam next to a woman pretty much the whole way who did breaststroke for the entire swim. Very impressive. But I couldn't draft off of her. Darnit! Coach Bill ran with me after the swim exit and it got my spirits up. Having people cheer you on at a race gives me an amazingly huge psychological boost.

The bike was terrific too. The sun had come out by then, but there was no wind. The hills were shorter than I remembered and I felt pretty strong. I did fly down a few of the hills at 40mph, which might be fastest I've ever gone on my bike. I dropped my chain right before the last decent back to transition. Lost a few minutes there fixing it, but in the end, I was quite happy with how that all went.

The run, as usual, kicked my butt. It was much harder than I remembered and my hamstrings were really aching. But I felt hydrated and pretty good, tired legs aside. Chris and the captains were in the "Pit of Despair" and ran with me up the hill, which definitely got my spirits up. I ended up having to walk parts of the 2nd half of the run. I also got passed by two 65 year old women. Sigh. The last mile is all down hill, but I was really having to dig deep to pick up any speed on it. I thought of Jasmina, Arylene, and Buck the whole way down. I thought of everyone who supported me and donated to my fundraising. I thought of why I do TNT each year. And I thought about the beer and ice cream I would get after I finished. All of it worked! I had enough in me to pick up the pace as I crossed the finish line!

My time was about 2 minutes slower than last year, but given all of the challenges I've had this season, I was quite pleased with my time. I placed 1993rd out of 3500 people, which is squarely in the "slow camp," but hey, I did it! Today (Wed) my legs are still aching a bit and stairs are a bit of a challenge, but it's all good.


Thanks to everyone who supported me. You guys helped me get across the finish line!!

Let the Taper Begin

Sunday we did a practice triathlon at Crissy Field. A 1/2 mile swim, 12 mile bike, and 3 mile run all in one of the most beautiful places in San Francisco. It was a gorgeous day and I felt pretty good.

I swallowed an enormous amount of Bay water at the start and had to stop to prevent myself from throwing up. And then I really had to pee, so stopped a bit to try to do that. With no success and people swimming past me like mad, I pressed on. The water was cold and I got a bit dizzy. Wasn't my best swim. Oh well.

The bike was great. I love biking through the Presidio. There are a few nice hills and lots of rollers. The forest of Eucalyptus trees and the fancy Sea Cliff neighborhood keep you well entertained.

And the run was mostly flat, with one steep hill down to Aquatic Park. Jello legs didn't last too long, and I felt fine when I finished.

Someone ran into me on the bike, and I cut my leg. I didn't even notice but had a nice stream of blood running down my leg by the time I got back. Nice!

Anyhoo, now we begin the official taper. Light workouts, and no more drinking. Trying to get lost of sleep this week, too. Woohoo!

We head down to Lake San Antonio on Friday. Wish me luck!!

Wildflower 2008

The race was exactly a week ago from today, but I am still floating a bit from the Wildflower high.

Let me start by saying that I invoked the Powers of Everyone Who Donated and Supported Me during this race man, many times. So thank you all again for your help. It made a huge difference for me!

Wildflower is set at Lake San Antonio, about 1.5 hours south of Salinas. Everyone camps out in this gigantic camp ground. It's not exactly your average car camping. People are packed in there. Tents literally 1 or 2 feet from each other. It's all pretty jovial and everyone, for the most part, is great about it. They call it the "Woodstock of Triathlons." We luckily found a fairly flat spot with some shade near our teammate Todd and his girlfriend, Nicole. Another teammate Rebecca and her husband Nate also settled in with us.

We had cozy little spot, until two ginormous RVs wiggled their way into the spot next to us. I certainly don't mind RVs, but these folks popped open their giant bucket of Budwiser and cranked up the AC/DC for us to all enjoy. It was going to be a long weekend . . .

Camping issues aside, we had an amazing weekend. Chris, Todd, and Rebecca all did the long course on Saturday. This is a half-ironman race (1.2 mile swim, 56 mile bike, 13.1 mile run), and it ain't no joke. All three of them did amazingly well! Chris finished the race in just over 6 hours!!

I spent the day cheering on our teammates and trying to stay out of the sun.

Last year, it was in the upper 80's and the winds were strong. This year it was mid 70's and very little wind. We we very blessed on the weather front. Nonetheless, I spent a lot of time trying to stay hydrated and avoiding sunburn before my race.

After Chris finished his race, I instantly started to get nervous. All of my on-going fears started to surface. What if I oversleep? (not possible with AC/DC next door) What if I forget my goggles? (unlikely, since I already packed them in my bag) What if the new tire I just put on blows out? (improbable because Chris did most of the changing for me and we rode around to test it out the day before) etc., etc., etc. This is how I roll.

So 6:30am on race day rolls around. The RVs are up and at it bright and early. After breakfast and Rocking Like a Hurricane, I pack up my bag, load it on my back and head down towards the transition area along with 500 other TnTers. Just getting on my bike, I feel nervous and clumsy. I make it down to transition safely, get body marked and set things up. I have a long wait before my wave starts, so I hang out and watch teammates start in waves before me. It's a flurry of activity so I don't have too much time to psyche me self out. But I do tell myself that my goal is to do at least 6 minutes faster than I did last year, so I will finish in under 4 hours. I like to set the bar low. . . .

As the announcer counts down our swim wave, I finally feel a sense of calm. I can do this. I've done it before. What's the big deal? I navigate the start fairly well, mostly just hanging back to let people pass me. I feel as if most of the pink caps in my wave has passed me. I'm swimming more or less alone. Then I get the Swim Panic. I always get this and I know its ridiculous. But after about 10 minutes in open water, I start getting worried that I might drown. There's nothing to hold on to, and I can't touch the bottom. I have to keep swimming. That loony stage passes quickly and then I'm fine. My goggles were a mess and I couldn't see anything out of them. I felt like I was zig zagging everywhere. But I finish strong and run to transition, glancing down at my watch. 35 min. Shoot. That slower than last year. Oh well. .. .

I do fairly well in my transition and am off in about 5.5 minutes to the bike. The first part of the bike is a fairly steep 1 mile hill. Last year, I barely made it up the hill and went about 4.2 miles/hour. This year, I notice I am passing lots of folks and going about 5.5 miles/hr. I start to get concerned. I'm going out too strong. I need to save some for later. But then I notice this is happening on all of the hills, and I'm feeling fine! I have no problems drinking or eating while on my bike this year. I even cruise down the hills at 38 miles/hr, which is terrifyingly fast for me. When I roll back into transition, I noticed that I finished my bike 10 minute faster than last year! Woohoo. I'm in the clear for my under 4 hours, assuming the run goes well.

And it does. Last year, I walked most of it. This year, I ran most of it. I walked parts of the hills, mostly when no one I knew was looking (what can I say? external motivation is huge!). But then someone would cheer me on and I'd pick up the pace. It's only 6 miles, but it's pretty grueling. I did have to dig deep, thinking of all of the folks who supported me. I didn't want to lie down and cry like last year, but it wasn't exactly a delight. Lots of teammates cheered and ran with me along the way. Chris was waiting for me at the top of the "Pit of Despair."

The last mile is a treat. It's a downhill with a great view. I let my legs roll on down the hill to the finish. I crossed the line, looked down at my watch and saw 3:38! That's nearly 30 minutes faster than last year! Woohoo!

I made my way down to the lake and found my teammates soaking their tired legs. Rounds of hugs and hi-fives, as we shared our success. Chris and I then went to have a celebratory beer and steak sandwich in the sun. A great end to an amazing weekend!

And as an added bonus, the next day, I check my official times and learned that I actually did my swim in 31 minutes, shaving 4 minutes off my previous time. The bike was 13 minutes faster, and my run was 10 minutes faster. I also got my transition time down a bit. A complete success!

Now, a week later, I have to get back in to gear as Maui is quickly approaching . . .

Training Weekend Goings On

This weekend, we went down to Lake San Antonio where the Wildflower race happens. As part of Team in Training, we get the opportunity to swim, bike, and run on the actual course. This make a huge difference in my training -- not so much physically, though it was a great workout, but to remind myself psychologically that I CAN do this race.

Even before our practice swim, I started to get butterflies in my stomach, which I didn't expect. And I had to talk myself down off of my usual bike ledge before we started off on the bike ride. My friend, Heidi, and I started off the ride together. She had to give me lecture or two about "mental toughness" as she calls it -- a trait which I apparently lack significantly.

BUT, it all went really well. The swim was great fun (the water was a balmy 62 degrees compared to 49.1 at aquatic park). The bike was gorgeous. I forgot how beautiful it is out there -- or perhaps I never really paid attention because I was so freaked out last year. And the run was actually great. I found my group of ladies to run with and we had a great time.

I also really had a great time getting to know folks on the team, especially in Chris' mentor group. They are a delightful and really interesting group of people. Something about sitting around the campfire and making s'mores that brings out the best in people.

I also learned that my friend and Todd, who is one of our honorees, is officially in remission! Amazing news to end a great weekend.

Back for More Love

It's official. I've signed up for another triathlon season with Team in Training! Get ready for more laughs as I take off for another roller coaster of training.

I believe I will be training for the Wildflower AND the King's Trail Maui Triathlon this June. That's right -- HAWAII. So even if don't finish the races, I can console myself with a large and delicious pina colada while lying on the beach and listening to the waves. mmmmm.

Back to the point here. I say "I believe" because the fundraising minimum is very high -- nearly $5000. I'm not sure I can do it. Chris is also training this season, so we're a two fundraiser family this season again. But nonetheless, I will be doing some sort of triathlon come this spring, and we will raise money for a cure to blood cancers in the process.

You can help me get started!!

www.active.com/donate/tntgsf/MelissaCheung2008

More to come soon!