"He that can have Patience, can have what he will" -

These words of wisdom were passed on to us from Benjamin Franklin citing the virtues of Patience. Well, Ben didn't take a red eye across the nation, drive six hours, work for free in heat,humidity, and sun for four hours, or get up at 6 AM to stand in line for almost five hours, to pay someone $600 to torture his body for 14 hours a year from now.

All weekend long rumors circulated Lake Placid like a middle school girls' bathroom. I had heard there were 2300 volunteers this year at the Ironman, and a good number of them were there for the same reason I was - to cut the line on registration day. There are only 3000 spots available to compete in the LP IM. Current athletes get priority in registration, then volunteers, then in person registrants, and if you're lucky, there may be 1 or 3 spots available to some folks online. Well, I saw the this year's athletes signing up for 2011 the day before the race - and the line was 200 yards long. Don't worry, there will still be 2600 spots open - at least 2600, right?? My stomach started to turn...

During my volunteer shift I checked with my fellow teammates, captain, other teams & their captains, the volunteer booth, information booth - what do I need to get into the volunteer line on registration day? Just your tee shirt from today. Okay, got it, thanks. I went out on a ride after wrapping up my day's work in the Olympic Oval (I was a bag checker, basically... I told athletes to find their numbers & hang up their gear bags.)and it was the conversations I had on the road that caused my heart rate to jump & panic to ensue.

First guy I talked to was from Maryland. He was doing everything I was doing. Riding the course in preparation for next year's event & volunteering to be assured a spot in 2011. He leaned over his bike and said, "you know, they're saying that, there's over 3000 volunteers and that some of us might not get in" I had this conversation a total of 3x on my ride. The man from MD was the first, then I talked to a guy from VA, another guy from NJ, who all said the same thing - we're most likely, not getting in. We all said the same thing "I put so much money and effort into being here just to volunteer, I'll freak if I can't get in". I pointed out to all of them, that I traveled through 4 time zones, so if anything, I really am the most screwed - they all agreed with me.

The rumors didn't stop there. "If you get in line at 5 AM, you'll get in, but I heard, if you get in line later than 7, you're never getting in," Others said it was rubbish and that a volunteer has never been turned down, tune it out and enjoy the race. But I couldn't help but panic. On registration day my alarm went off at 6 and I was at the Lake Placid High School at 630 to register (I even skipped coffee). The line was 300 yards deep when I got there. Everyone was panicking. The folks behind me had convinced me we were doomed. They also convinced me that I needed a wrist band (which you only received if you were working inside the Oval on race day) along with your shirt. So - I was totally out - I had no hope.

This was a total waste of time and money! What was I thinking? I knew how hard it was to get into an Ironman, didn't I? Isn't that the reason why I've never done one? Why did I think I could do it? I'm going to be heart broken and disappointed. Why did I ever come to NY? I should have just gone to Napa and tried to do VineMan. Why am I here?

Hours later, an official from Ironman came out. He stepped up onto one of the Olympic Flag posts (I think it was Finland's flag). He had an announcement, and he needed us to listen. Here it is. This is worse than being dumped. "Volunteers: You have committed your time to the Ironman, and we have committed to you a spot for the 2011 event. You will all be registered today. There is a long line, and it will take some time, please be patient. Further back is another line for registration - the non volunteers. We're splitting this up into two lines. Stay on the right, the others will form a line on the left. If that line passes you, PLEASE DO NOT KILL THE NON VOLUNTEERS! Most likely, they will be registering to volunteer for next year, they may remember you, if you are unkind to them. Their line is shorter, and we're just moving it closer to the building, away from the street. Please be patient."

THIS MEANS I AM IN! Why was I worrying?! Why the doubt? I knew all along these were just rumors! I patiently waited and put on my iPod and moved along in line and got closer and closer to entering the LP HS Gym to register.

10:45 Enter the building
11:00 Get put in a short line (very DMV style)to register with an Ironman employee
11:15 Reach the front!
11:16 Internet goes down

Waiting. Heart racing,doubt creeping back in, waiting.....

11:32 REGISTERED!!!!!

BAHHHHHHHH!!!! I'M IN! I DID IT!

Lessons Learned:

1. Try to let the negative go over your head. Does no good to be miserable the whole time.

2. You want to do an Ironman? You better be committed to registering just as much as you are to training. You gotta work just to get into this thing.

Lake Placid or Bust

That was the phrase on many tee shirts & posters at the 2010 Ford Lake Placid Ironman. The event started yesterday at 7 AM and went all the way to 12 AM the next day. The athletes gathered in the water in attempt to complete a 2.4 mile swim, 112 mile bike ride, and a marathon. And they had seventeen hours to do it. Each portion of the tri is completed by doing two loops - and every loop has a cut off time.

I got up at 6 AM to make sure I saw the start of the race. With a few minutes to spare I stood in the crowd gazing at the athletes who were all identical in their black wetsuits and Ironman swim caps. When the alarm sounded for the start, everyone just dove in and started to crawl. A massive movement of black arms & elbows were in the air and a wave of triathletes moved across Mirror Lake. It looked like a giant piranha group invaded upstate New York. After completing the two loops, the athletes transitioned to the bike leg. We watched them go down the shute to the Olympic Oval where their bikes were being kept & cheered on words of encouragement to the wet cold athletes.

And then - we waited. For hours. In fact, I went home and took a nap. I mean, it's hours. It's actually hard work being a spectator for an Ironman. It's a long day for you too! The athletes go out and compete a total of 140.6 miles - that's no short distance; it takes everyone (aside from the pros) 10+ hours to complete. After my nap and coffee #2, I went back to the race area. By this time we were seeing a decent amount of folks come in to loop around for bike lap #2. Well, seeing how it was still going to be another couple hours til we saw the next transition, I decided to take this opportunity to train.

Having trained a portion of the bike route the day before (Lord in Heaven you could have not picked a more humid day for me to train on those forsaken hills), and the run portion was roped off, I decided to try out the swim course. Turns out, Lake Placid Ironman doesn't actually involve Lake Placid. You see all the Olympic sites (Oval, chutes, jumps, etc) but you swim in Mirror Lake. Apparently, Placid is very private & you can't go near it or something. But what's cool is that Mirror Lake has cables & buoys set up all summer that outline the swim course. So athletes can come and train the course. It was amazing to me, to see how many people were out there training this weekend. Pretty much all of us who were 2011 hopefuls were out there running, swimming, cycling that course in preparation for next year.

Post workout & shower, I returned hours later to watch the run portion. This is my favorite part of watching a tri. You can see some athletes wrapping up their bike leg and others starting out their run. The crowd was so excited and crazed, the athletes were either beat up tired, or crazy enthusiastic with the crowd. Watching the competitors had me dying inside, wishing I was out there, and thinking, oh I can't believe I have a year to go to do this. Besides feeling jealous (which I knew was going to happen) it was very emotional and inspiring to see some of these competitors. One man ran by and it was so apparent he had wiped out on his bike. His clothes were torn and shredded, missing skin on shoulders and thighs, and blood all over his side. But he kept going, he was not stopping. I have no idea who he is - but he earned my respect. Even more so, were the blind competitors. They are by far the toughest & fiercest athletes out there on that course. I can't imagine doing the swim portion - those guys are tough and I think must want it more than anyone else.

Well it's going to take people 3-6 hours to run the marathon, so might as well have dinner. After eating we walked over to the finish line to watch the tired and ecstatic athletes finalize their 140.6 mile journey through the Adirondacks. My favorite was the guy who stopped, lit a cigar, and strutted to the finish line. It was great to see them finish what they started. It was an 18 month project, a 12 month training period, and 10+ hour day, with a priceless feeling of accomplishment once you step over that finish line. I watched them for a bit and headed back to get an early night's sleep to compete in the next morning's registration line...

Over Training

Every day thousands of athletes suffer from over training. It's usually triggered by over excitement for an event, or new toy, and sometimes it's panic induced to get into shape fast. In my case, it was the new toy.

After the July 4th weekend I wasn't feeling too hot. My back, hips, and knee hurt. So I took a few days off and decided to ease back into things with swimming. Swimming is an amazing work out while you're in recovery. It's a non impact workout that can still kick your ass and leave you toned. I decided swimming in the bay would be even more beneficial because the cold water might help inflammation. And the salt water does wonders for your skin. As I'm about to make my second half mile lap in the Aquatic Park, a man, literally swam into my head. Hello Concussion.

Being given the okay to work out after light rest, I hopped back onto my bike on Saturday afternoon. Had a good 25 mile ride and while on my trek back to the mission, I ate it hard. It's my own fault, I was going way too fast. But I laid there on the concrete for a minute... I fell right on my tailbone and that's exactly where I was feeling pain. I literally prayed to Jesus to never feel such pain again. It hurt that bad. However, that spill actually re-adjusted me. So sometimes it's good to fall on your ass?

I visited the Sports Medicine Clinic at St. Francis. My Dr was pretty funny and there was a bit of argument between us on who had the correct diagnosis of my ailments. She was determined the winner when I was pointing to my tendon problems in my knee, because apparently, I was pointing to a bone. I was kindly asked to just forget everything you read on webmd.

Diagnosis: Possible meniscus tear, possible labral hip tear, sprained tail bone, and we already knew I was concussed.

Cure: Physical therapy to improve the muscle imbalance that got me here, a bike fitting, swimming, and Pilate's.

So lucky me I got into the Presidio Physical Therapy clinic - supposed to be the best. I also hope to use the next few weeks to get myself in better shape pool-wise. Maybe rejoin masters?

14 Days & Counting!

In two weeks I'll be on the road heading to Lake Placid, NY. I can't believe it's coming so soon, I arranged everything several months ago, so to have it be a few weeks away feels intimidating. Ha, if I'm this choked up about just registering - God help me next year when it comes to actually doing the damn thing.

When I first moved to San Francisco, before I had even done my first marathon, I wanted to do an Ironman. I remember watching Monday Night Football with friends and saying, "I want to do an Ironman some day." This was when I was training for the 2007 CA International Marathon. About halfway into my training I learned what happens when you don't eat right & over train - you get hurt. The marathon was the first weekend of December; in mid October I was told to hold off on any running for 6 weeks. And I was to begin with 6 miles a week, and increase my mileage at 10% a week.

I gave up on the CIM but continued to cross train in the pool and on the bike. I got the okay to run again about 10 days before the event, and my friend Tony told me to just do the first 13 miles because "you've already paid for it, might as well do the first half". So I went with my room mate Kate, and Tony, since they were also running, with plans to drop at 13. Around mile 5 I made the decision to not stop. I just wanted the medal so bad. I just wanted to finish; I didn't want to give up. I actually got jealous of the runners around me because they were going to the end, and I wasn't. That's when I said, screw it, I'm not going to stop. It was like... running a marathon by mistake. When I got up that day - I had no intentions of running 26.2 miles.

At the end of it all, it just amazed me to see what I actually was capable of doing if I put my mind to it. By the way, it was pretty funny to see my friends' shocked faces when I turned the corner to finish at mile 26. And I always remember what Kate said "if you can do that after not running for almost two months, you can definitely do an ironman."

That was in December 2007. I came close to registering for the Utah Ironman (nearly geeked out at that $550 price) but backed off at the last minute. I always used the bike & cost as excuses to not do it. I could have afforded Utah at the time, but I wasn't really pumped about going there. I would check the Ford site a few times a month and would dismiss the idea once I saw the prices and how tough it was to register. It was never the idea of exercising 14-17 hours in one day that made me shy away from the event; it was the unwillingness to organize myself to get the costs, registration, and the bike all sorted. Ultimately Lake Placid was selected because one, I love the movie Miracle, and two, if I'm doing this thing, I want my family there. So I suppose that's the reason of my disbelief of my trip to LP. It's kinda weird that it's actually happening.

Sweet New Ride!

So this is my sweet new ride - Caad 9-5. I picked up my bike on Wednesday June 30th - and have ridden 100 miles on it so far in the last five days. I'm kinda tired right now, especially since I ran a road race this morning. Longest ride yet was somewhere between 45-50 miles. I'm getting better on the crashing thing - but if I'm tired and not as fast to react - I go down. Hopefully this rite of passage/initiation phase ends soon. My legs are spotted with cuts and bruises.

I've had the bike for five days, and so far this is what I've learned:

1. I have a temper while cycling & horrible road rage on the bridge. I swear like a sailor at Japanese tourists and flip off minivans who don't single before they take their right turns. I need to work on this, I can't be this angry every time I get on the bridge - this is no way to ride and quite frankly, to be this pissed off is exhausting.

2. Hills are... okay. You know when I rode the mountain bike with just sneakers it was horrible to get up the hills. Using the clips and having a lighter ride makes a huge difference. I actually don't mind them. It's a great work out and makes you focus. Downhill is a lot of fun... have to be careful in the city though. Especially at the polk/broadway intersection. But I love zipping down that hill into downtown Sausolito!

3. I need to map out some rides. I like Marin, I think I'm going to continue to go over there, but I need to map out rides that can give me various types of work outs. Also, my bike route knowledge is limited to SF, Sausolito, and Tiburon.

4. I didn't realize until I went on my longest ride, how much longer a work out on a bike is compared to a run or swim. I rarely need food or water on my medium swims/runs, but on a bike, both have proven to be necessary. Even today on a 25mile ride, I took coconut water with me.

5. Still am clueless as all hell on bike mechanics and I really need to grasp a better understanding of it. And I need to ride with someone who is experienced. Form needs correction as well.

But so far I'm loving the ride. Bootcamp starts tomorrow!!

Dear Tourists:

Dear San Francisco Tourists,

Thank you for visiting our city and celebrating San Francisco's beautiful views and sites. Thank you for spending money in our very expensive city & thank you for entertaining us locals when you wear summer clothes out on foggy days & high heels on steep hills - it's really cute!

But please do one thing for us local cyclists: DON'T ABRUPTLY FUCKING STOP ON THE GOLDEN GATE BRIDGE BLOCKING TRAFFIC ON BOTH SIDES TO TAKE A GODDAMN PICTURE CAUSING MAJOR ACCIDENTS BEHIND YOU. I do not curse and scream at you as I pass, because, I'm mad I can't go fast nor do I feel above you because you rented a Blazing Saddles bike and I'm on my sweet Caad 9. I curse & scream at you like an L.A. driver because one, you almost just killed me, and two, you still have potential to kill others. I understand you're visiting and want pictures of the bridge, headlands, Alcatraz, Angel Island, but can you do this safely and please stop jeopardizing the lives of others? Is that a lot to ask for?

It's really quite simple to practice bicycle safety --- just apply the same rules you would to driving to while you're riding. Would you ever turn into another lane with out looking on the high way? Stop short on a busy street with no warning? Park in the middle of the road? No... you wouldn't, so don't do it on our bike highways.

Thanks in Advance,

Pretty much the entire fucking bay area cycling community

P.S. If you can't make it up Fort Mason - seriously, why are you attempting Golden Gate?

Down Goes Fraiser

Pics to come soon of the new ride..

So I picked up the bike yesterday. I went with a Caad 9-5, Men's 52 Grey and Red bike. To be honest, I am truly and utterly clueless about bicycles. And I'm really not looking forward to having to learn about them. No disrespect to die hard cyclists, but there was a reason why I never took shop in high school - it's really just not my thing. But I know it's necessary to learn how to change a tire tube etc, and that when I'm on the road, I have to be ready & prepared.
I just really don't want to learn bike mechanics... it feels like math homework or something. Just God awful.

But I love the workout on it.

So - let me just share my experience yesterday first time in clips. I decide I will ride home from Mike's Bikes (too much pride to walk the bike). Along with the bike, I pick up my "basics package" which includes a rather large pump. I put on my helmet, pump sticking out of the backpack, and clip in. By the way, I'm in SOMA at 5 PM, so holy traffic on Folsom street. So this was my first time riding clipped in, and I ate shit. Twice. The best is that, while I'm going down, the pump is hitting my head (yes, I had my helmet on). I did this twice.

It's to be expected, right? You fall your first time. I still fall when I ski. And I fell a lot when I was a beginner.

But I am so glad, no one was there with a video camera. I would be on Youtube. The first time another cyclist freaked out with concern and had a OMG YOU ARE GOING TO KILL YOURSELF kind of reaction, I assured him, I could make it. The second time, a woman flat out burst out laughing, and said, "hey, we've all been there." Thanks...

I made it back to my house, put away the horrible abusive pump, and went back out into rush hour traffic. You know, I don't recommend that for anyone, just an FYI. Looking back, it would have been a better decision for me to go to a park, or an area of the city that doesn't have the 101, 80, and 280 traffic merging. The motorists were not impressed with me. Some were a lil aggressive... one slightly more aggressive than the others, and that's why I told that girl driving the Mitsubishi that she was a bitch.

All in all, I did it. I got used to the clips. Getting used to riding around my neighborhood is another story. I'm sure it will come together in time. Until then, I have scrapped knees and legs like a child who fell down at recess. Go me.