5000 Yards swim today

Wohoo... I think this swim deserves a blog post.. I have been working on my swimming technique for the last couple of weeks. I even went back to basics, because I wanted to get better and more efficient. Well, I put it all together today and it was amazing. I did 5000 yards in 1 hour, 20 min and 1 second. This translates into 1:36 per 100 yards.. That is a great pace..

This swim to put into perspective was 5000 yards= 4.57 Kilometer or 2.84 miles. Or 50 football fields... That was a long swim.. right?



Man.. swimming wise, I am ready to take on the Ironman, although swimming open water is a totally different animal.. Check it out here...

This is a picture of the start of the swim at ImCDA last year... I'll be doing this race in a less than 3 months..


Things I learned in the pool today..... If I train smarter, I will get faster.

Pirates Cove 50K

This past weekend went to run the Pirates Cove 50K. This was a great run indeed. The day was just wonderful and the company was great. The altitude profile was about 5600 feet. Pretty hard if you ask me..

We all drove together to the race site, (Isabel, Janet and myself) and got there with plenty of time to visit the little boys/little girls’ room. I had to, I usually get up earlier in the morning and do my stuff and had to wait until I arrived to the race. We met with Kevin and Samantha, Kevin was running his first 50K which happened to be his birthday present. He turned 31, so what would be better than running 31 miles as a birthday present?

I was happy to see him since he was sick a few days before. He was smiling all the time and had a great time.. Wohoo!! You go Kevin!!

We picked up race numbers and say bye to Isabel who was running a different race, waited for the traditional trail marking instructions and the GO command .

Isabel had a great race.... Some of us predicted a 3 hour 20K race, she did it much, much, much faster. Thanks for the photography too Isabel.

Janet and I set up at the back of the pack. We stayed way back for the beginning, walking the big hills and getting into a rhythm. We got into it pretty soon and I don’t believe we slowed down considerably at any moment. There were absolutely not thoughts such as “what the hell am I doing here”, or “Darn I will never do this again” kind of thoughts. We had a great day. The temperature was simply great, not hot and considering that most of the course was open I was glad that the day did not get that hot at all.

The trail had a steep beginning, check out the stairs, these were really hard on your quads, specially the second time around. But the discomfort was absolutely nothing compared to the views that these trails provided.

They were just incredible. Ha… Janet mentioned what our lives would be without running. I have been told that I have an addictive personality, thus thank God I took exercise, or running cuz otherwise I probably be a junkie. Thank God there is running to keep me away from other stuff.. J J

Janet is the ultra crazy friend I been talking about. She is a great runner and a great friend. See, I am not kidding, I got great people in my life.

See my coaster? Proof that I finished the race

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But really… why do we do the things we do? I have thought about it long and hard many times. Why are we the way we are?… what made us who we are today? I have a few thoughts about it, but for the most part I am a work in progress. One thing is for sure, I am happy, and I cannot believe how blessed I am. I got great friends and wonderful people in my life, Wow…

I read this poem long ago… it was written by a girl in India,

Who Am I?

A gift of God,
a blessing to this earth
That is what I am.

A person of substance,
a person who matters,
a person who can make others feel her presence
That is what I am.

A person who learns from each day,
a person who has courage for facing each day,
a person who has hope for each tomorrow
That is what I am.

A person having a yearning desire,
to get more and more knowledge
from the ocean of wisdom
That is what I am.

Someone who can give to others
If not the moon, if not the stars,
If not just gifts, if not just flowers
But a sweet smile on the face
which spreads happiness as long as it stays
That is what I am.

And this is the reason
why I am the happiest
When I am what I am.

Pretty cool huh?

It is March, but this entry is about Feb.

First things first..

Ironman Training

The month of February was pretty good. I am really happy with how things are going so far. I had one week in Feb when I felt a little down and decreased my total volume, but the following week I felt great. I think all I needed was some rest. My training volumes for this particular month were:

February's totals:
Bike:	12h 01m - 23.4 Mi - Mostly indoors
Run:	23h 37m 48s - 126.61 Mi ir 202.6 K
Swim:	14h 05m 39s - 43000 Yd or 24.5 M or 39.3 K

This was definitly a great month and I am on target to get my training done to do Ironman Cour d'Alene. I cannot wait, really. It will be an amazing race.. wohoo!!

Besides, this Ironman training is doing things to my body that I like (wink wink)

but it also doing other things that I definitely don't like one bit.



Trail running...

Since I been training for the IM, I haven't done many long races anymore. I miss them so much. I definitely want the IM training to be over so I can go back and run the trails and go long, very long. But needless to say I am enjoying the short distance stuff, specially when I get to run with friends. And of course since they believe that I am a lover of pain, they make sure I get my share of pain indeed.

Needless to say, the urban trails are pretty nice too. Most of them are paved, but still beautiful indeed. And the thing is, when you run with friends it makes the whole experience totally different.


check out these pics.. (thanks to Isabel an Patty for the contributions)
I love this particular spot, the afternoon was great, sunny and breeze. Check out the wonderful view of the bay.

And of course I had to stop by it and do a little girl push ups (for the picture only) I usually do man push-ups as seen in one of the previous pictures.. :)

The funny thing about these pictures is that I realize how predictable I am at dressing for a run. all these picture appear to be taken the same day since I am wearing the same stuff... but I do wash them... I promise..

However I do enjoy running by myself..


Life Stuff

We are who we are because of what we have gone through. I feel blessed cuz I have gone through a lot in the last 15 years of my life. I look back and I realize that I am who I am today because of the choices I made in the past. However, the past is gone, I like to reflect on the past, but it is gone, I cannot change it and I wouldn't wanna change it. All we have is the present and we must cherish it, and share our happiness with our loved ones..
A few days ago two cyclists were killed by a sheriffs' deputy car, a very sad incident indeed. It was sad since I am a cyclist myself but also because they were so young and upcoming athletes. I can only imagine how their families felt when the news were delivered to them. I actually cried when I read about the details and I just could not believe it. An accident, I think so, but an unnecessary accident indeed.

HOWEVER... these two people died doing something they loved... Biking. I always said that I am going to die, I rather die running or biking or swimming or doing all three. Mey their souls rest in peace...

So what I have learned in the past few days that will help me in the future?

Ok.. here they are my three lessons...

a) Be Prepared!!

b) Learn when to eat a burrito (specially if you are having closed door meetings shortly after)


3) Look where you are going