Lifestyle Adjustment

They said it would be one. I kind of anticipated it, but now it has become a reality. I have become that guy that brings his workout gear to the office and sacrifices nachos at La Pinata in favor of a lunchtime swim or run followed by a desktop meal, complete with computer screen glaring and telephone blaring. I am the guy that smells freshly of Irish Spring as I pass you in the hallway in the afternoon. I am the guy eating snacks at his desk. Constantly. But hey, as they say, humans are highly adaptable to their environments, and my current environment requires me to be performing acts of endurance while keeping my day job. And my night job for that matter!

I have not had one day off from working out this week. But I continue to hammer away for the cause. I am fortunate to have a boss that understands, a running path right outside the door of my workplace, and a gym to swim/workout at 10 mins away so that I can make this lifestyle change by building it into the current construct of my existing daily grind.

Yes, it's a lot of work. But the reward is great on many levels. Now it's time to turn in. Bike/Swim/Core workout tomorrow with the Ironteam.

Here is a video that I shot and edited of Claudia's experience at the Wildflower Triathlon a couple of years back. I watch it and just get all fired up!

Workout? I'm workin' IN

I got my equipment ready last night. Bike, shorts, gear, trainer, etc. etc. etc. I was determined to make the group spin workout after work today. I painstakingly crammed everything into my car this morning and took it all to work with me. As soon as the day came to a close, I made a quick change into my Iron gear and jetted out as planned at precisely 5PM. Then I noticed the drizzle. Which quickly turned to rain. I deferred to my trusty iPhone to check the traffic on the freeways that would take me from Oaktown to the WC. Red lines dominated the little Google map that appeared in chunks. I had to call an audible: instead of sitting in traffic for an hour and maybe meeting the group in time, I decided to peel off and get home in 10 minutes and be training in 20.

After the ritual greeting of the dogs, giving them biscuits, letting them into the yard, then back into the house (they got me well trained), I headed down into my personal training facility and set my oh-so-sleek bike up on the trainer. Tonight's workout focused on cadence, or number of times the pedal crank completes a full rotation. Similar to a car's engine, this is measured in revolutions per minute, and is monitored on my cycling computer. I started the 10 minute warm up, made a few quick Facebook updates, and then dove into the meat of it all.

The workout started me out pedaling at 80 RPM in the big ring up front and the 3rd biggest in the back. For the uninitiated, that translates into: "damn that's hard!" I was barely managing a steady 72 in that gear, and I had to hold that for 5 minutes and then spin faster by 5 RPM? Oh Hell To The No. The coaches talk about scaling a workout to fit you, so that's what I did. Dropped down a couple of gears, and *poof* like magic, my computer read 80RPM. Increased 5RPM every 5 minutes until I hit 95RPM. Which basically made me look like I was piloting one of those cartoon helicopters from the Flintstones (and barely keeping it afloat).

THEN that damn workout sheet says to shift into a higher (i.e. harder) gear and do the whole thing over again! Sometimes I wonder if I'm reading these things correctly. I followed suit, and brought myself into a new zone of pain and frustration. But I held strong. The grind became so difficult that I actually had an "honoree moment", which is an instance of enlightenment during training or a race when one realizes that the pain being endured at that moment is temporary and optional. In contrast, the pain that a person battling cancer- of any kind- endures is never optional. I thought of our friend Brenda Donato and how her life affected all of us and how freakishly strong she was up until the end. I also reminded myself that every watt that I generate through physical work manifests itself into an effort to find a cure. I run for a cure. I swim for a cure. And tonight, I sweated my ass off on that bike for a cure.

After a wobbly dismount, I proceeded on to my "optional" core exercises. The number of repetitions seem to have gone up since I last did these. Damn, am I reading this correctly? I motored through the one-legged-squats, split squats, side planks, hamstring bridges, etc. etc. etc. My muscles were tore up from the floor up (say that like a cool kid, not how my nerdy self wrote it), but I was relieved that it was done. Until tomorrow's run, at least. I am packing my gear now. See, I have a plan. I am going to bring all my stuff to work and get my run in during lunch. That's the plan. At least for now.

And now for shout outs, yo!

Big THANK YOU to IronRock's latest contributors to the LLS:

Onweena Choonhchuongchoti - a girl whose heart is as big as her name. Onweena just ran her first half marathon at Nike and is training for Oakland!
Gloria Lomeli and Myrna Jacobsen of the Regional Center of the East Bay - both of these ladies are at the core of this organization, and have been great friends of mine for more years than I can remember.


"Hey guys, I can't feel my legs! A little help here. Please."

Track, Core, Swim. Eat. Eat more.

Man I have got to get used to working out on both Saturdays and Sundays. Not that yesterday's ride was exceptionally rough, but I had to eat somewhat sensibly, abstain from the liquid carbs, and get to bed at a decent hour. On a Saturday night. That's hot. Not.

As Sunday's dawn bared it's butt crack, I completed my oatmeal/power bar ritual and headed out to Pleasanton for today's run & swim workout. By the luck of the draw, or more specifically by last name, I was in the group that was to run first and hit the pool afterwards. The other group did the inverse.

It was a brisk morning and I hit the track in my usual t-shirt and shorts, warm blooded as I am. The others were outfitted in long sleeves and/or leggings. After warming up with some drills, coach Simon instructed us to line up on the 'start' line and run as fast as we can for two miles. Which basically equated to 8 laps of non-pleasure. I figured I would shoot for negative splits so I let the fast guys bust out of the gates while I hung back a little. See, the plan was to let them out fast, I go out slow, they fade, I speed up, and pass them all in the end. Mwahahahaha...

BUT it didn't go down like that. Those fools never slowed down, and my second lap was 8:26, only 25 seconds faster than my first. I became a backmarker and was promptly lapped by 4 (yes I counted) of them dudes. Hey I hit my negative splits, so I was happy with that! Plus, I got the data needed to determine my VDOT score .

We retreated from the track and headed to the pool deck for core excercises with coach Doug. We mixed TRX work with mat work while the first group wrapped up their swim workout. By the time we were done, my lower back, abs, sides, and shoulders felt worked. And we hadn't even hit the water yet!

After a quick change we finally got to get in the pool. This time I made sure I was in group 2 (not 3 like last time!). The swim coaches had us execute a 500 yard assessment swim which I completed in 11:50. Not quite a post-bong Phelps effort, but I was happy with it. Afterwards we practiced 4 other drills. During the float test, the coaches picked me out as an example! A BAD example. When in a 'dead man's float', my legs swing towards the bottom of my pool, positioning my body almost completely vertically. This tells me I need to work hard at balancing my body while swimming. So that, my friends, it what I shall do for the next few months.

After the workout, a good chunk of the Ironteam bonded over all-you-can-eat pizza at the local Round Table. I headed straight to Daly City to pick up my cuz Chris to take him to the airport, and was greeted by a delicious omelette courtesy of my gourmet dad. It was a good day. Not all my updates will be this long, I promise, but all this is new, so for history's sake, I am compelled to document it all!

A big thanks to the latest contributors to my fundraising effeorts, Mr.&Mrs. David & Sylvia Lamon, the fabulous parents of our very own Olivia Lamon! Their generous donation will make a difference in the fight against blood cancers.
Want to be part of the solution?


Striking a pose after completing my first 500 yards


Preparing for the huffin' & puffin'

photos courtesy of Jennifer Jay & Helen Tsai

Cycle Saturday

Where did this rain come from? OK it wasn't really rain, more of a heavy drizzle, but it was pretty wet this morning. I loaded my cool new Fuji Aloha 2.0 into the car, and headed out to meet the Ironteam for the East Bay captain's 20 mile assessment ride. The weather was pretty bleak, even in Pleasanton; not the ideal testbed for a maiden voyage.

This being an assessment or "marker" ride, I wanted to stay with the first group of riders for as long as I could, so I stayed with the front runners right out of the parking lot. Two of the Iron captains were leading, and Chris was soon pushing up against them and he decided to pass, with another participant in tow. The road began to descend and Phil was between me and the two caps. I figured this was a good time as any to test my aero bars. I shifted up, dropped my elbows and shouted "Passing on your left!" as I punched through the moist air with Phil cheering me on. As soon as we hit a couple of hills, we had a nice little pace group formed. Chris led for a while and I offered to take over. He dropped back, I dropped back into the aeros and cranked away. Literally. I felt like I was working hard, and after a couple of miles conceded to the next in line. 5 riders passed and I was back on. Kind of. There was a gap between Phil and I, which ended up working out when his water bottle went flying and exploded on the road in front of me! I had time to avoid it and continued to roll to our turnaround point. I made it with the first group, and we inadvertently traveled an extra mile. We stopped at the SAG car (wo)manned by Erin and Maria. But then it was time to turn back.

On the way back, we happened upon all of our other teamies, going in the same direction. Apparently they turned around at 10 miles, as we should have! The road was wet but another element was introduced: dirt. When you mix the two, and are in a paceline, you are treated to a mud pie coming off a rooster tail from the rider in front of you. Tasty.

The sun came out and the downhills we enjoyed earlier came back to bite us as our paceline disintegrated. One by one, we pulled into the parking lot and dismounted. All in all, it was a good ride. I gelled with my new ride instantly, and got some good practice riding in the drops. Tomorrow, we swim and run. Which means no monkey business tonight. Fuel up, rest, and prepare for another day of grunting.

And now it's time to give props to those that have contributed to the cause by supporting my training:
Big Thanks to:

Melissa Krum - Marathoner, Triathlete, and Cyclist who kept me well entertained during the Solvang Century!
Eric Stern - MFT extraordinare and former RCEB colleague. Rock on Eric!
Yvonne Gallegos - awesome Mentor/Captain on the East Bay Marathon team, super mom, and Duffy tamer ;-p
Tom Davies - just back from the big show at Kona! Big Sexy is the man!
Carl & Brenda Taban - best friends of the best parents I know. Salaaaamat!
Your Name Here


Phil, me, and Chris before the ride


Aftermath - Helmet hair and mud marks. Suave, no?


Ironteam reporting for duty

4 on, 1 off

That's the new run sequence I have to get used to while training with the IronTeam. On the marathon team, this technique was reserved for the run-walkers, while my posse and I ran continuously until we hit the next water stop or the end of the trail. I can understand the logic behind the walk breaks, since we never had to do anything right before a marathon but wake up and make sure our shoes were tied. I'm sure that after swimming a couple of miles and biking a bunch of miles, the walk breaks will be welcomed. Whatever the case, I will stick with the program!

Had a great run workout last night at Piedmont High's track with my mentor Erin & her husband Matt, and teammate Dana. It was pretty cold and dark for only being 6PM, but I got through my 8 sets of run 4 min, walk 1 min followed by a core strength routine. I got home and the lil lady had tasty chicken tacos ready for dinner! Watched some TV, then balanced it all out with quality time with my old Strat.

Big thanks to good friend Jona Malan and family for their donation. Jona introduced me to Michelle Maykin, who I then referred to LLS to become an honoree for TNT. In 2007, at the age of 27, Michelle was diagnosed with Acute Myeloid Leukemia. After several rounds of chemotherapy her cancer went into remission. In 2008 it returned along with a mass in her brain. She underwent more chemo and radiation, along with a stem cell transplant. On July 25, 2009, Michelle lost her battle with Leukemia. Michele was a bright spirit that will always be remembered, and yet another reason that I am training for this Ironman event. Together, we can find a cure.

First Cycle Trainer workout

What could be so hard about throwing a bike on a stationary trainer and pedaling for an hour? Piece of cake, right? Ha! So I thought. I couldn't make it out to Sports Basement in time for the last minute trainer clinic/workout, so I set up my trainer in my private multi-purpose space in the west wing (aka the garage). I threw the iPod on the little speaker system and played my Run Jams playlist, the same playlist that Mama Lisa would play at the team runs.

The 10 minute warmup seemed to last forever. The workout itself seemed to last even longer despite the fact that each activity was broken down into 1 or 2 minute increments. All told, I pedaled for 1 hour 8 minutes and worked every part of my legs. I was spent! Thank god the lil lady went out and got food for all of us- including the k9s- as I was sweating to the oldies in the basement.

It was hard to do the workout, but even harder to read the tiny print of the workout detail! It looked like this:

Type: Bike
Planned duration: 1:00
Warm-up 10 minutes in middle-middle chainrings. Repeat the following drill set TWICE. Stay in big ring up front the entire workout, Shift to 3rd from largest ring in back. Alternate removing one foot from the pedals for one minute at a time, returning to two footed pedaling for one minute @ 90 rpm between single leg efforts. Repeat 4 times per leg.(12 minutes total). Shift to 4th from smallest gear in back. Pedal at 85 rpm. Focus all mental energy on the 1:00 to 3:00 position of the pedal stroke for 2 minutes. Focus all mental energy on the 4:00 to 6:00 position of the pedal stroke for 2 minutes. Focus all mental energy on the 6:00 to 9:00 position of the pedal stroke for 2 minutes. Focus all mental energy on the 9:00 to 12:00 position of the pedal stroke for 2 minutes. After second time throught the drills, shift to middle middle and cool down at 90 rpm for 10 minutes.

TNT Winter Kickoff - Ironteam!

This past Saturday was the official kickoff of the 2010 IronTeam season! OK, it was kickoff for all TNT teams, but this time I wore a new jersey. It was nice to see all of my friends from the all of the other teams, and almost bittersweet to visit with the great Coach Al and Mama Lisa as I transitioned (pun intended) from the Marathon team to the IronTeam.

This season I am the baby - no mentor duties, no web captain duties, no responsibility other than to soak in the knowledge and put in the hard work. And that's exactly what I plan to do.

After the usual administrative activities and Brandy Regan's inspirational speech, the teams all left the Wheeler auditorium at UC Berkeley and met in separate rooms until noon. Except for us. We stayed until 5PM, learning the ins and outs of Ironman and taking exercise breaks in the hallway. They told us to bring snacks and a lunch, and it's a good thing I did because I was refueling through the whole thing. I was happy to have my friends and other marathon converts there with me- BK, Chris, IronPhil, Carol, Maria, Tiffany, along with Claudia and Meenu, our "IronWives".

The coaching staff is well fortified, and there are assistant coaches for each aspect of Ironman. Coach Doug will strengthen our cores, Coach Sedonia will get us swimming like fish, Coach Simon will help us 'not slow down' in the run, Coach Mike will keep us all in line, and Head Coach Dave will get us rolling with the best of them. I am excited and overwhelmed, but completely up to the challenge.

Of course, the driving force behind all of this is still the fight against blood cancers. Please consider contributing by clicking on my link on the right side of this page. Thank you.