Bicycle! Bicycle! Bicycle!

In 1896 Susan B. Anthony proclaimed that "bicycling has done more to emancipate women than anything else in the world". I agree Susan B! I am super stoked to have access to something that will take me over the Golden Gate Bridge, down to the peninsula, South Bay, etc.

I have to say, that bike purchase felt so good! I've been stressing about it since December 2009. It was not only a sense of relief but also an affirmation that hard work can pay off. There were a few weeks when I was working both jobs, where I felt like all I did was work and life in California had ceased being fun. It's actually pretty funny... I was no different from any other kid who gets a paper route to save money to buy a 10 speed!

I ended up selecting a Cannondale - my God road bikes handle so much better than mountain bikes. The test driving was actually fun, and the folks at Mike's Bikes were great. I literally said "please make this as painless and easy as possible" and they did! More pics and specs to come when I pick up my new baby!

'Til then - my backhand is looking better and better and the serve is coming along quite nicely. And the purple skirt & pink tank top outfit with the Tiffany's necklace look just fabulous on the court!

Races

So, tomorrow is the Double Dipsea race. I signed up for this event about a month ago and have been really excited to take it on and brag to others, that I, completed the Double Dipsea.

I'm not going.

Why? Well, there's this lovely little thing gnawing at my hip & knee - called my super tight IT Band. Sometimes making the decision to rest and recover is harder than pushing yourself to complete a tough work out. More than anything I want to get up early on Saturday and drive to Stinson Beach and run this course. But I can't do it, because I know more than likely racing steps for over 14 miles will put me on DL for six weeks. And it's not worth it. It's killing me to not go. I hate my IT Band!

But - good news: I got paid today & I'm going to buy my road bike! AND I signed up for the Tahoe Tri - Cut throat edition! Eek! That sounds even tougher than Double Dipsea, don't cha think?

Off to the bike store!

How to Lose 10lbs in 10 Days! And Eat WHATEVER You Want!

Sound familiar?

How often do we open a magazine or go on a website and find an article or ad promising us extreme rapid weight loss with little or no work involved? I counted 4 on Yahoo!'s site just now.

The truth is, there is no magic food item, pill, or diet that can make you drop your excess weight and keep it off. In fact, you should eliminate the word diet all together. Because diets do not work. Yes, you could eat only carrots and celery for 14 days and most likely lose weight (and your sanity) but do you really think it's going to stay off? A diet is a quick fix that will cause your weight to ... yo-yo. As far as I know, the only quick fix that works is surgery. Even then those who had liposuction can't always keep their weight off. Getting staples or a band on your stomach will make your weight drop & prevent you from over eating, but you're also inviting the risk of complications with your internal organs.

There's a huge market for folks to make money off selling solutions that promise the desired outcome with out any exercise or guide to a healthy eating plan. So what's the best guide to follow? The pyramid! Adequate healthy servings from each food group combined with exercise. So simple, it's crazy. You don't need to swear off specific food and drink items forever, you just need to remember moderation. Easier said than done, for sure. Also if you are trying to lose a few L B's, remember that 1-2lbs a week is considered a healthy weight loss that is maintainable once you reach your desired goal.

So keep that in mind while you're skimming over the latest diet crazes and wonder cures: this is a business that is fairly unregulated & they're looking to make a buck at your expense. Best way to get healthy is to follow the guidelines we learned as kids and make sure you're moderately active for an hour every day. Who knew it could be so simple?!!

The Wall

It's been hit.

This week was pretty easy compared to the last few weeks' of training. Only about 35 miles on the bike total, and 3 hours of tennis, and some walking around SF (Russian Hill - so - yea, it is a work out, google image SF Hills if you've never been here).

Goal for the next few days: work back up to longer cardio work outs, get back into core exercises, and when things feel right again, pick up strength training.

This is totally embarrassing but comical at the same time - I legit strained my shoulders, neck, traps, and biceps, carrying too many groceries from Whole Foods. I know that makes me sound like a baby, but it was $100 worth of groceries for normally, a 20 minute walk (more like 35 with that load) and the morning after a half marathon. Had I been intelligent & brought a backpack, I would have avoided any kind of muscle strain - ah lessons learned the hard way...

Tennis Skirts & Tennis Lessons

The cheerleader in me still loves to rock the work out skirts. I have run several half marathons, a few marathons, 10ks, 25ks, 10 milers, etc in various tennis skirts.

I have no idea how to play tennis. To be perfectly honest, I don't even know the rules. But I have about 5 skirts (none of which I could locate last night - so annoying) and belong to 2 tennis clubs. It's time to learn I think.

So today is lesson 1. I had been planning on a wearing my Nike pleated skirt, with the Nike Half Marathon shirt, complete with the Tiffany's necklace - but the laundry Gods were not cooperative.

You can call me out on it - half the reason why I'm learning is because tennis girls have the best outfits. No one else gets to wear a dress to an athletic competition. The other reason is because I would love to be able to ace (Am I using this word correctly?). It looks pretty cool & pretty impressive that the ball doesn't come back.

It's important to try new things and challenge yourself at beginner's level. It's hard to take on a new activity and learn basics. I look like a fool sometimes at TRX, but hey, I'm trying it and pretty soon I will get the chest presses down. Cross training helps you get through grueling periods of training, and when you want a light/rest day, it's nice to mix it up once in a while. And you have bragging points on how many different sports you can play.

Wish me luck - pretty sure I'm going to look like a fool again :)

Pain is Your Friend?

"Pain is your friend. Your ally. It will tell you when you are seriously injurred, it will keep you awake and angry, and it will remind you to finish the job and get the hell home. You know what the best part of pain is? It lets you know, you're not dead yet!" --- This is one my friend Anna's favorite quotes. She was repeating this to us right before we boarded the ferries for the Alcatraz Sharkfest Swim (cancelled due to fog, but mentally we were ready thanks to Anna).

I'm in pain, and I'm not looking at it like a friend or ally, if anything, it's a jerk. Looking at my training calendar, I realized I pretty much went non stop from the 6th-11th, with one rest day, then a half marathon. I'm sore beyond belief in my arms & legs. Muscles are tight and sore and I have kinks all over my body (particulary bad in my hip flexors, neck, and upper arms).

Solution? Swimming out some of the tightness & I hope to God that the Spa at GG has an opening tonight.

Take Away from AT&T Race

I think it's important to reflect upon training & races and ask yourself, okay, what did I learn here? Actually you should do this is in all areas of life - but for now, we're going to focus on AT&T Giant Race.

1. Heat & Sun are killer for me. If I'm running in them, I need to bring my own water supply. Not having water immediately after Fort Mason killed me. This is not rocket science and I know better. And heat stroke for the rest of the day sucked.

2. Time to invest in new gear. I have plenty of winter gear (this is SF after all), but I'm screwed for Double Dipsea in two weeks if I go out there again in heavy clothing.

3. I need to get my ass back on the track. No way should that hill put me out like that. Yes, conditions were also a factor, but this was a result of me being a total slacker on any kind of high intensity cardio work out.

4. For once, I didn't hate myself for not improving time & let myself just enjoy the sport. Back in January I swore there would be no crying in Ironman training, and I'm holding myself to it. After doing CIM in 4:06, I cried that I didn't break 4 hours. But I'm not doing this to myself for 14 months.

THANK YOU volunteers, supporters, the guys at Maggie McGarry's, PacWest, AT&T, my room mate Kate for taking my pic towards the finish, and the World Cup for inadvertently supplying us with a huge crowd in North Beach :)

AT&T Giant Race Half Marathon

So I'm not a huge Giants fan. Yes, they're the SF home team, have a great ball park (okay it is super nice), and are relaxing to watch - but I'm from the Boston area and a Red Sox fan for life. But when I saw that there was a race that ended on home plate at AT&T AND had pace groups, I was in. I left my house at 6:30AM to walk to South Beach to get to the gear check 30 min before the race started. I made it 4 blocks before I had to strip off my jacket and long sleeves, wow is it this hot already? I'm not even running yet, oh Christ.
I arrive, find my pace leaders, and we're off! The course took us down Embarcadero, through the wharf, and to Fort Mason. Oh Fort Mason - your killer hill is in about 90% of the races I have done in our little 7x7 city. At this point, we're at mile 6. I'm in the 1:50 pace group and I'm the last woman in the group too. And I'm doing okay. Then we charged up that hill... I never recovered. Once we went up that hill, I felt like I was going to die in the heat & sun. By the way I was in Under Armour Capri running pants. At mile 7's water stop, I realized I had a decision to make. I could fight the next series of hills with these guys (which I wanted to so bad, since I was the last female standing and wanted to hold my own) or I could enjoy the race I had been looking forward to for weeks and accept there would be no PR today. Because I've never run through North Beach, and I wanted to enjoy the course through Grant, Columbus, and Broadway streets, so that's what I did. I came in at 1:55:03. That placed me at 15/141 for women 25-29, 70/639 for women overall, and 257/1274 total overall.

Starting Out

Small right? It's tiny & not everything works. One stationary bike, two treadmills, some free weights, a StairMaster & elliptical machine that don't work, and a Captain's Chair. And a bosu ball. For two months I trained in here. Why? Well, remember items 1 -8? The cost? The need to supplement income? Yup, it happened. For two months my life consisted of the following schedule: M-Th: 6:30AM-3:30PM Work Job #1, 3:30-4:30PM Train in little gym, 5- 9PM Work Job #2, Home at 9:45 and blissfully fell asleep only to wake up and repeat again. On Saturdays I trained in Aquatic Park, so still getting up early and instead of working, I was jumping into the freezing SF bay (no complaints, I loved it). The plan was to do this for 3 - 4 months, but I put in notice to Job #2 after 6 weeks.

Two Lessons Learned Here:

1. Everyone has a limit and you need to recognize it before hurting yourself or getting sick.

2. No excuses to not stay active. Even if you don't have a gym membership, you can find a way to stay fit & be active to keep healthy. All about putting in the effort. Some where out there, there is someone busier than you who did the work out.

Ironwoman

The purpose of this blog is to record the journey I'm about to make in my training to complete the Ford Lake Placid 2011 Ironman. Yea, I know, it's more than an year away. But you have no idea the amount of preparation that's already gone into this thing. First of all, you can't just decide, I'm fit enough to do an Ironman in 6 months, and register. The events in the US sell out fast (matter of hours), and you're lucky to get a spot if you're registering online. I decided to take on the big event this past December, and shared the news with my pace leader at the CA International Marathon. She told me I'd have better luck getting a spot for 2011 if I physically GO to Lake Placid and register in person. Really? Yes, really, or else you're not getting in. Oh. Fast forward a few weeks later to masters swim at GGTSC, my fellow swimmers inform me, No, You really need to be a volunteer, that way you are guaranteed a spot for 2011. Really? Yes, really, or else you might not get a spot. Oh.

So - January 25th, 2010, I literally waited by my computer to register online at midnight, like I was buying tickets to a concert. Done! I'm a registered volunteer. Alright! I will be doing this thing. What's next?

1. Shit, I need to buy an expensive road bike. 112 miles isn't just the typical stroll through Golden Gate Park.

2. Shit, I need a place to sleep in Lake Placid while I'm volunteering. Oh great, all the athletes have booked up the nearby hotels.

3. Shit, I need plane tickets to the east coast.

4. Shit, I need to take vacation days to do this.... errr how many have I already used??

5. Shit, I need to have a base in open water swimming, cycling, and running.

6. OMG it's $550 to register?!

7. Shit, I'll need to book way in advance for a cabin for 2011.

8. OMG, I need a second job to pay for some of this.

And so started the many sacrifices (happily made) to get this into production. So if you think I'm jumping the gun with starting this blog 14 months before the actual event, the reality is, it's been in the works for six months already. I have 47 days until I register. And #1 on the to do list still hasn't been checked off (eek!).