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Year: 2005

  • Last Minute Checks

    Last Minute Checks

    Hanging out here in my LA apartment and going through my stuff one last time. Sunglasses, GU, water bottles, bike helmet, bike looks ok… I always feel like I’ve forgotten something. I guess I’ll have a week to replace it in NZ if I did. I did forget my bike helmet last year at Pacific…

  • Ironman NZ number 861!

    Ironman NZ number 861!

    Finally found my race number: 861 – age group Male 35-39.

  • Reflections: Goals for 2005 and Beyond

    Reflections: Goals for 2005 and Beyond

    As I come to my first Ironman, I reflect on the experience and think about triathlon goals I have for this coming year and beyond. Here they are: CYCLING: To see how close I can get my fitness/strength/abilities to Lance Armstrong. My coach laughed when I told him this, because it was exactly his goal…

  • ART and Feeling like Humpty Dumpty

    ART and Feeling like Humpty Dumpty

    ART stands for Active Release Techniques. It has been my savior over the last few months leading up to the NYC Marathon and Ironman NZ. It is a unique massage technique which breaks down scar tissue, inducing recovery and healing, and also prevention/curing of scar tissue which is from muscle fibers breaking down and laying…

  • Workout burnout

    Workout burnout

    Man these last two weeks have been tough. The long biking and running sessions over the many weeks has left me a bit burned out for training. My coach has reassured me that my fitness is more than adequate to cross the finish line, but I can’t help but wonder if I left anything out,…

  • Preparing to go

    Preparing to go

    Ugh. The worst part about triathlons is the packing beforehand. What to bring, or not to bring…and then worry about 2 weeks in New Zealand. I guess I’ll just have to consider everything as disposable! I hope my ZIPP 404 race wheels survive. They are packed in along with my Ritchey Breakaway, a packable bike.…

  • What does Ironman mean to me?

    What does Ironman mean to me?

    Well, it’s been a grueling but rewarding 4 months of hard training for Ironman New Zealand. As I reflect on the experience over the last few months, I have thought deeply about what does finishing Ironman mean to me. These thoughts are: 1. The struggle for training was very high at times. My coach would…

  • Gonna Fly Now

    Gonna Fly Now

    “Gonna Fly Now…Gonna Fly Now….” Yesterday, I ran a triple brick as part of my Ironman training. Basically, I ran almost a half ironman yesterday! Just thinking about that is amazing in the fact that I struggled to finish Vineman Half Ironman last year in a tad less than 6 hours. And now I run…

  • Cycling: The Good, The Bad, The Ugly

    Cycling: The Good, The Bad, The Ugly

    Today, I did a 6:20 bike ride, about 102 miles or so in preparation for my Ironman coming up in early March. When I go for a ride, I usually see at least one thing that bugs me or pisses me off. BUT TODAY – being out there for 6+ hours, I think I just…

  • Beat..Beat..Beat..Beat..

    Beat..Beat..Beat..Beat..

    …it’s the only sound I hear as I move through the water, my head completely submerged, cutting serenely like a needle through butter, my heartbeat climbing higher and higher. I force my body to rotate back and forth faster, which makes my arms stroke at a higher rate and press against the water harder. I…

  • Putting up with being sick

    Putting up with being sick

    For a triathlete, being sick really sucks. We have a race coming up and we can’t get out there to train. How will we know if we will be at our best if we don’t stick to the training plan and not miss a single workout? So I managed to catch this cold/allergy thing that’s…

  • Triathlon, Fad or Something Else?

    Triathlon, Fad or Something Else?

    About a year before I started racing triathlons in May 2002 (with Team in Training), triathlon racing was already on the upswing especially in the Bay Area. Why did this happen? My thought was that there were so many people out of work post-internet bubble and when you get a whole bunch of competitive, motivated…

  • Head Positioning

    Head Positioning

    One more thing I neglected to mention about my head positioning. I try to look about a few degrees forward of the vertical, and press the head and chin down. In that way, I know the water is not flowing over the back of my head which creates drag. When the water hits my forehead,…

  • Heavy Fog, Cold, Gotta Bike…

    Heavy Fog, Cold, Gotta Bike…

    I just spent 5.5 hours on the bike. And it must have been 40 degrees when I started at 9am and by the time I was done I was pretty frozen. How dedicated I am! …Or crazy… I was totally amazed at the number of runner out there wearing nothing but a t-shirt and shorts.…

  • Swim Secrets

    Swim Secrets

    These last two weeks I’ve been trying really hard to reinforce two things in my swimming. 1. The Catch My coach tells me about 2 weeks ago that I drop my arm and I don’t catch before I stroke. So I start really relaxing my upper arm and make sure I bend at the elbow…

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