Adventures of a ferrousapien

Ironman Canada!!!

2006-10-01T17:30:00.000-07:00

August 27, 2006
Swim 2.4 miles, Bike 112 miles, Run 26.2 miles

Each member of Ironteam proudly helped to raise over $750,000 for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. This money will make a difference in the lives of many other individuals both now and in the future. Thank you everyone for your support.

View My Race Report

Watch Me Finish

As you can see, I successfully finished the race while meeting my personal race goals and having a wonderful day. As you may have noticed, my blogging sort of fell off the face of the earth. But, this final post concludes my online journal of the Ironteam experience. One month post-Ironman, I completed an official race report, which reflects on the memories from the day. Click the photo or above link to download the 2.9 MB PDF file and read it in-depth or just browse through the photographs.

This experience ranks highly in my mind as an opportunity for self-growth and understanding. I would recommend it to anyone with the interest and desire to push themselves both physically and mentally while raising money for a great cause. Thank you all again!

Michelle

Week 38 Ride to Pt Reyes 95 miles!

2006-06-30T12:00:00.000-07:00

June 26-July 2
Swim up to 10,800 yards, Bike up to 165 miles, Run up to 30 miles

Above is the Marin County Bicycle Coalition Map showing the area of my longest bike ride ever. The destination of the ride was Pt Reyes Lighthouse starting from Sausalito. It's an "out and back" route with a slightly more challenging out (climbing out of Marin through Muir Woods to the coast) than back (spinning along the mostly flat Sir Francis Drake blvd back inland). Having never been on the bike before for this distance, I didn't know what it would feel like, but the day turned out great and made me realize the training is paying off. Plus, it was fun to ride many of the routes I had previously done in sections, but now to join them together into one monster ride...okay for the serious cyclist this probably doesn't seem too intimidating, but for the novice Ironman trainee, it did. ; )

I was happy to be able to do the ride on a Thursday with MJ who also had plans for the weekend that conflicted with the long ride. Again, the benefits of a flexible work schedule that accomodates Ironman training! Turns out, David and I will be in a photo shoot on Saturday for our friend Jeremy from Peace Corps. If you're wondering about why we're in a photo shoot, here's the story: Jeremy designs T-shirts that were initially mainly political, but now are more random with themes like yellow lawn mowers on green shirts. Not sure what inspired him to switch over from "Massive Tool" anti-Bush shirts to "John Deere style lawn mowers", but hey sales must be going well since he needs us to model his shirts. Here they are:

If you want to buy one or see more of these gems, go to www.ethro.net

Okay so back to the ride. It was a perfect day in the 70's with slight fog in the morning for the climb out of Marin. There wasn't much traffic along Hwy 1 since it was mid-week and made it safe and more enjoyable. I wouldn't want to be on that curvy Hwy if there were a lot of cars speeding by since there isn't much of a shoulder.

Most of the ride was very scenic with many cute towns along the way like Olema and Inverness. With the slower beginning, we decided to turn around at Historic B ranch in Pt Reyes rather than at the lighthouse since time was a concern. We didn't want to ride much longer than 7 hours. I wish I brought a camera on the ride, but I forgot it so I posted the map. The ride back from Pt Reyes was focused on keeping a good pace and just getting it done...along with thoughts of eating and a cold beer afterwards. It's always nice to have a motivational factor like food at the end of a long training day. To celebrate the accomplishment, we grabbed a few tacos from the local restaurant near where I used to work for Ideum. Overall it was a great day and a good confidence builder, but my muscles are feeling it today!

Week 37 Mt Diablo Climb

2006-06-28T18:23:00.000-07:00

June 19-25
Swim up to 8400 yards, Bike up to 130 miles, Run 19 miles...and this is a Recovery Week!

Okay so it's a bad sign when you can't remember how to log into your blog to update it. After some searching, I managed to find my username and password to get onto blogger to add a new posting. I guess this ironman training has taken over and interfered with my blogging activities!

Sigh...well somehow with the Ironman event less than 8 weeks away, I feel this need to document the final days of the experience. I'm actually considering going back to add some key memories and photos from the previous months. I know exactly where my blogging ended. It was that trip during the rainy months to Kona where I was so fortunate to train and work from afar while staying in a condo my parents had rented for their vacation. That sure was lucky. Anyway, back to the present and this past weekend's workout.

The Ironteam met in Danville for a coached workout where those of us doing Ironman Canada were slated to do the "easy" workout which consisted of a 76 mile ride touring the "East Bay Alps" and climbing up into Mt Diablo State Park. Those doing Ironman USA which is a month earlier had the "hard" workout or infamous triple brick...I'll give details on this when I am fortunate enough to experience it.

So, the day started out with a blueberry pancake and fried egg sandwich while driving to the workout in the morning. I mention this because I'm not a morning person and learned that this is not a good race day strategy to start a ride full of pancakes. Let's just say I was a little overstuffed and it made for a tiny stomach ache later in the ride. Luckily it wasn't anything to prevent pushing through and seemed to go away with a halt in additional liquids.

Here's a group photo from the ride where I am on the left sporting my new Escape from Alcatraz bike jersey (had to point that out) with Steve, MJ, Scott, Debbie, Megan, and Maritza. We mainly rode together at the same pace. This is at the first ranger station on the top of Mt Diablo at mile 60...we're smiling because it's all downhill and flat from here. Although it was nearly 100 degrees that day with some climbing, I managed to feel great the whole ride and kept a steady pace slightly over 13 mph. The wonders of endurolytes and regular training I suppose!

Oh yeah, did I mention that we passed a 1000 feet sign, then a 2000 feet sign, and kept going until about 2500 feet, but this was nothing compared to our weekend ride at Lake Berryessa a few weeks ago. I'm definitely going to have to share a little about that day...to summarize the ride consisted of 10,000+ feet of climbing. I've realized now there must be a reason the coaches tucked this workout into the training schedule...now anything else just seems easy ; ) It's all relative! I think back about that day of riding and now this ride which might have seemed hard no longer did. The coaches must know a little something about getting us mentally prepared.

So here's a view from Mt Diablo to give some perspective on the location. Our web captain took this one since I forgot my camera. Well, I better get going since I'm off to my evening workout consisting of a 1hr 15min spin class followed by a 5 mile run. No wonder I don't have time to blog!

Week 37 Recovery! Tine Visits

2006-06-24T17:25:00.000-07:00

June 19-25
I love recovery weeks!

A couple weeks ago, my sister called to check in for a good date to visit where I might be able to spend time with her rather than spending all my time training, so I pulled out the old training schedule to look for an easier week. Turned out my "recovery week" coincided with her last week of teaching at school and the date was set. We both needed those few days of recovery: her from a year of teaching 2nd graders and me from the routine of training.

Fortunately for both of us, the week turned out to have the best weather forecast yet for San Francisco with no clouds or fog and temperatures in the high 70's to low 80's. It was probably one of the only weeks where we could lie out at Ocean Beach in our swimsuits and be comfortable. So, thanks to my sister, I was able to take some time away from my computer where I would have been and instead walked in Sausalito, toured around San Francisco, and visited Angel Island. She accompanied me to some evening training sessions and walked at the Coyote Reservoir along the trail along on Saturday morning while I ran with the Ironteam. It was great to have her around and be able to talk and catch up...very rejuvenating!

Here are some pics from her visit:

We spent the evening of her arrival toasting to her summer vacation.

Another day, we walked around Sea Cliff, Cow Hollow, and visited both China and Ocean Beach. You can tell she's a serious beach walker.

Near Ocean Beach, we encountered some wildlife and figured out this ground hog liked clovers. Notice the full cheeks? We picked patches of clovers and deposited them by this hole where he gathered them up.

For a visit to Angel Island, I cut my training short on Friday, but it was worth it. This is the view from the road around the island.

We spent the day there by taking a leisurely bike ride, having a picnic, and strolling around the island. To get there and back from San Francisco, we had to take a ferry ride from Pier 41. Life is tough, huh?!

Week 36 Ironman Nutrition

2006-06-18T18:43:00.000-07:00

June 12-18
Marker Sets to Check our Progress

One of the biggest aspects of having a successful Ironman race is figuring out your nutrition, so I've been trying to do this on my training rides. This week for my long ride, I rode from San Mateo through the Peninsula along Crystal Springs Reservoir to Woodside and further South along Junipero Serra then returned the same route. There was a small group of us from Ironteam who rode including Kristen, her friend Libby, MJ, Andrea, and myself.

Kristen on our team had knee surgery during the season and has kept with her goal to finish the Ironman and has made amazing progress so that's always inspiring. She mentioned this was the first ride where her doctor approved some hill climbing, but we didn't want to overdo it, so we altered the route a little. If you want to check out her blog or others on my team, feel free to go to our Ironteam site and visit the links on the right under blogroll for more Iron Adventures.

To get back to the theme of this posting, Ironman Nutrition, I finally think I have figured out what I need to take in to feel good and energetic on long rides.

Here's the breakdown if you're wondering for an 80 mile ride:

I drink 2 bottles of "Sustained Energy" mixed with chocolate and vanilla flavored "Hammer gel". For more info, check out: Hammer Nutrition. Each bottle has about 500 calories in it. Then, I drink water from my camelback and take an "Endurolyte" tablet every 15-20 min or roughly 3-4/hour. It seems like I'm always having to take one of these so time actually flies by rather quickly. These "Endurolytes" are required when it is hot or for long rides because we need to replace lost salt from sweat and it also helps with water uptake. In addition to the calories from liquid energy drinks, I also usually eat "Cliff bloks" which are chewy calorie bombs that are a bit like gum drops (only with 200 calories for 6 bloks) and sometimes fig newtons and goldfish crackers for some variety and solid food. The key is being able to get off the bike feeling hydrated and energized without an upset stomach for the run.

For the super curious, here's the nutritional breakdown of 3 scoops of "Sustained Energy":

And the nutritional breakdown of 2T of chocolate "Hammer Gel":

Week 35 Lake Berryessa

2006-06-12T20:37:00.000-07:00

June 5-11
Swim at least 8700 yards, Bike at least 130 miles, Run at least 27 miles

The Lake Berryessa week was one of the most tiring of the season because I was sick with a cold. Fortunately for most of the training season, I have managed to avoid being sick, but somehow I came down with an illness. I had to miss a swim and run that week trying to rest before Saturday because the coaches had planned for us to do a 2 mile swim followed by a 96 mile bike ride with over 10,000 feet of climbing. Our whole season, the Ironteam had been told that this was a milestone event, not to be missed, so regardless, cold or not, I knew I had to do it. Luckily, this cold did not last too long and I almost felt back to normal by the weekend.

David came with me to volunteer for the weekend as a kayaker for the swim, water stop guy, and also as a famous pancake maker : ) We stayed together in a cabin with Laura, her friend Rick (not pictured), and Ranger John, an Ironteammate from Riverside, CA, and Palmira. We slept in this loft where David is hanging out. These cute cabins had a small bathroom and kitchenette.

Despite feeling run down, I went through the motions on Saturday and actually had a nice swim. The water in Lake Berryessa felt comfortable and refreshing. This is a photo of where we jumped in to start the swim which was 2 loops of a big square that was slightly less than a mile.

After the swim, we prepped for the killer bike ride and then headed out.

Look at us all...we were a combined North and South Bay group.

Normally I ride with my training buddy MJ below who is my pace, but being under the weather, this was the last time I saw him that day.

I felt really slow. I took off on the bike and kept going and going and going...just trying to get through it. Or, at least that's what it felt like. Sometimes it seemed like I was in a fog or that time had stopped because my speedometer wasn't working so I never knew how fast I was going or what mile I was at on the route until reaching a water stop. Needless to say, it wasn't the best experience to ride that way. During the ride, my energy was low from the residual cold and therefore I think I ate too much trying to compensate for this lack of energy which didn't help either.

Luckily, everyone was so supportive at the waterstops and along the way that I finished the ride feeling content with the accomplishment and didn't worry too much about my pace. I also finally caught up with some others that rode at roughly my pace so I could finish the final 30 miles with that "group energy."

After the ride, Coach Wayne here gave us all a pep talk telling us not to worry about our pace and encouraged everyone in our performances and learning experiences which I needed to hear.

That evening while the Ironteamers couldn't move off the ground or their chairs, David entertained us and played by himself with his new ball. It was a gift he had received after the Alcatraz race from our friend Alexander. Having spent the day at a bike water stop, his legs were restless. He was doing pretty well until he kicked the ball into the water...must've been the beer. ; )

Our weekend ended with a 12 mile run which fortunately felt better to me than the previous day's bike. While we were running, a great group of volunteers, including David, cooked a brunch that we all enjoyed to finish out the weekend. It was an amazing experience and very well organized. Ironteam definitely has it together.

Week 18 North Star Cafe Fundraiser

2006-02-15T19:20:00.000-08:00

February 6–12
Swim 6800+ yards, Bike 65+ miles, Run 17+ miles

Our fundraiser was a great success thanks to all the supportive friends who turned out to the North Star Café for the Sunday evening affair. The bar gave us the whole back area with a pool table where we could set up our appetizers and snacks, along with a birthday cake for Mo. MJ greeted guests at the door and sold raffle tickets with Renee so that Laura and I could wander around as hosts which was super kind of them. The bar generously donated 40% of all the proceeds for the evening to the cause which will help us both to reach those fundraising deadlines. Renee also helped raffle off the prizes with her voice being much louder than most. All went off without a hitch and we heard it was a great party. Not too many pics were taken, but here's a few to share from the event:

Week 17 Escape Lottery

2006-02-05T22:20:00.000-08:00

This past week I received an email from my friend Suzann that she got into the Escape from Alcatraz triathlon with the lottery drawing on February 1st and that I had been picked as well. I was super psyched to hear this because we did the race together last year and wanted to have the chance to do it again.

Here's my name on the list:

Escape from Alcatraz is how it all began for me when I decided to randomly enter the lottery last year. I had already signed up for Wildflower with Team In Training, but found out my cousin's wedding was that weekend and I would need to switch teams. The other choice was Escape if I was picked in the random lottery. So, I entered and hoped for the best. Strangely, I was traveling in the Yucatan for work and had a vivid dream that I looked up my name and saw it on the list of chosen ones. Thus, the next day when we arrived in Merida I found an internet café to look up the results of the lottery on the tricalifornia website—and crazy enough there was my name just like the dream. Not wanting the opportunity to be lost, I paid right then and there by credit card for the race and began wondering if I could do the swim.

Who knows what I was thinking when I decided to enter the lottery—or maybe you could say I wasn't. I guess I was a little naive considering I had only swam for fun and never learned to swim any way other than the breast stroke and I don't even know if this is a proper breast stroke. Therefore based on people's reactions when I stated my first triathlon would be Escape, I quickly realized I might need some swim lessons and called around to find a coach at USF Koret.

Actually it was hilarious really the first time I scheduled a private lesson because I had no idea how to swim really...freestyle that is. I had watched swimmers and saw their arm rotation and breathing to the side, so off I go showing the coach my stroke by swimming 25 yds with a breast stroke kick and a freestyle arm rotation having no idea what I was doing. She sort of laughed and was probably wondering how I ever chose Escape from Alcatraz. Fortunately she told me she had met one other case like me and she was able to teach them what was necessary to finish the swim.

So, my first swim lesson was truly about proper kicking technique and off I went to practice with a kick board. My second lesson was about learning to separate my kick from my stroke such that I could kick faster and at a different pace from the stroke of my arms. It reminded me at first of trying to rub my head while patting my belly...a bit difficult and I guess a sign of my slight lack of coordination. So, these are my humble beginnings of figuring out how to swim freestyle so I could even think about finishing my first triathlon.

Thus, I look fondly at Alcatraz island because whenever I see it, I am reminded of what is possible and how any personal success really just starts with setting a goal and sticking with it. Choosing to do Escape from Alcatraz was one of my better decisions and has made triathlon a fulfilling part of my life, not to mention allowed me to develop new skills and athletic abilities. It reinforces to me that limits are self-imposed and that I hope to always keep a spirit of adventure and openness to learning and trying new things.

Here's a photo David took of me at the swim finish where I knew I had reached my goal of crossing the Bay from Alcatraz to St. Francis without being repositioned. Yeah, I look a bit funny from having swam for nearly an hour, but what I like the most is knowing how I felt at that moment because I can see the happiness in my face knowing that the "unknown" aspect of the race was finished and I would definitely complete my first triathlon that day.

Week 17 Fundraising Success

2006-01-31T19:51:00.000-08:00

January 30-February 5
Swim 3600+ yards, Bike 60+ miles, Run 14+ miles

Today I received a super phone call from a representative at USAA, which is my insurance and financial services provider. I contacted them in November to find out about a possible donation and wrote them a detailed proposal in December requesting notification by the end of January. Their committee reviewed my proposal last Friday and chose to become a corporate sponsor for Ironteam at the bronze level! Happily, they will sponsor me and mail a check to the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society for $1,000.

I have additional proposals that I hope will come through, but in the meantime, my friend Laura and I are hosting a fundraiser at the Northstar Cafe. We are busy planning this event where there will be appetizers, a raffle, and drink specials. Northstar is donating a portion of all proceeds directly to the Society and providing the space for us to hold our event. Local stores and restaurants are providing us with raffle prizes and we will advertise their names on a banner. Although time consuming, the fundraising is important because it will help patients with blood cancer and fund important research. So, it's worth the effort. Here's a screenshot of our Evite:

On a separate note, Ironteam has officially entered the Build Phase of our training where the distances increase. From October until now, we were in the Base Phase when we focused mainly on skills, efficiency, and building an aerobic base. Now we will begin to build lactate resistance and add some higher levels of effort into our workouts.

We are nearly at the half way point in our training as well with a 40 week program and we're already at week 17!

Week 16 Trip to Monterey

2006-01-30T16:48:00.000-08:00

January 23-29
Swim 2350+ yards, Bike 55+ miles, Run 10+ miles

Fortunately this week was a recovery week following the Louie Tri with shorter workouts because my sister, Christine, and brother-in-law, Bob, came to visit us from Seattle. I therefore had to motivate to train before their arrival and switched longer weekend workouts to the days before they came so I could spend time with them instead of biking or running all morning.

David took this pic of me on the bike trainer for a spinnerval brick workout where I biked 20 minutes followed by a 5 minute run repeated four times. So, the total workout was 1 hr 20 min biking and a 20 min run. I happily discovered the use of an ipod for training since I received this ipod holder as a gift. It makes a huge difference in biking faster indoors while listening to a great song.

The above photo is proof that I have been training hard (notice I'm sweating)! This was on Thursday, therefore I was able to take Friday as an off day. So Christine, Bob, David and I spent the day driving along the coast through Santa Cruz and then down to Monterey. While in Santa Cruz, we shopped for hats and amused ourselves on the pier looking at the wildlife.

Friday evening we went out to dinner at this cute little Italian restaurant in Carmel that I'd highly recommend called Little Napoli. We were super lucky as a group of eight that evening because they didn't have space for us in the regular dining room, so they put us in their wine cellar which made us feel extra special. It was like our own private dinner party surrounded by wine! My sister's good friend Amy and her husband Bryce joined us from Tahoe, along with their friends who live in Carmel.

Week 15 5th Annual Louie Tri

2006-01-25T15:08:00.000-08:00

January 16-22
Swim 5200+ yards, Bike 35+ miles, Run 13+ miles

This week our Ironteam held the 5th Annual Louie Bonpua triathlon on Treasure Island where we raced together to honor the memory of "Shrimp" Louie. The race was an olympic distance triathlon with a 1K swim, 40K bike, and 10K run. It was an absolutely gorgeous day with sunshine to thaw our extremities after getting out of the low 50 degree waters of the Bay! A DJ rocked the island to inspire us all in the transition area.

To learn more about why Ironteam holds this triathlon, please visit Louie's website at: www.shrimplouie.com. Many on our team knew Louie personally and from their stories, it seems he inspired all those who knew him. Whenever a workout seems tough, we can always think about Louie and be motivated to give it our best. This photo shows Louie finishing Ironman Canada in 2001 while battling leukemia.

Week 15 Triathlete Wannabe

2006-01-21T18:56:00.000-08:00

I can't resist sharing these pics of David. As I was packing my gear for the Louie Triathlon into my bags, David thought it would be fun to try out my goggles : ) Made me laugh alright because they are kinda nerdy looking as far as goggles go. Anyway, I'm sure he was imagining what it would be like to be a triathlete like me...hehe.

Week 14 Beautiful San Francisco

2006-01-17T12:22:00.000-08:00

January 9-15
Swim 5000+ yards, Bike 45+ miles, Run 15+ miles

One of the best aspects of training for triathlon is that it forces me to be outdoors when I might otherwise find reasons to keep busy inside working or checking off tasks from my never-ending "to do" list. I realize often while running or biking that San Francisco is really one of the most amazing cities to live in. The beauty is spectacular and the weather so wonderful being able to enjoy the outdoors year round.

The following photos were taken while returning from a 2 hr training bike ride from San Francisco to Mill Valley and back with my friend MJ. I was lucky enough to be riding back across the bridge to see a gorgeous sunset to the west from the bridge and the moon rising above Alcatraz to the east. It could not have been a nicer evening for a ride.

Week 13 New Year's Resolutions

2006-01-11T19:20:00.000-08:00

January 2-8
Swim 5200+ yards, Bike 55+ miles, Run 17+ miles

This year I have many goals and I always like the start of a new year because it gives me a chance to focus on positive change for the new year. Although I usually keep my resolutions to myself, I'll share them in this blog because some relate directly to IronTeam. I decided this year my main resolutions are as follows:

1. To eat healthy, well-balanced meals and avoid eating out too often because this will keep me energized for triathlon training as well as save money. My parents gave me a vita-mix blender for Christmas so I know this will help with including more fresh fruits and vegetables in my diet.

2. To keep my commitment to IronTeam and successfully fundraise, as well as follow the training schedule.

3. To create a new financial plan for the year and make wise spending choices so when the day comes to purchase a home, it will be possible even while living in San Francisco.

Week 12 Trip to Seattle

2006-01-03T09:48:00.000-08:00

December 26-January 1
Swim 3000+ yards, Bike 30+ miles, Run 15+ miles

During the drive to my Aunt & Uncle's house for Christmas dinner, we stumbled across this house that deserved a photo. It lit up the whole block and attracted many drive-bys.

Several days after Christmas, David and I were lucky to be able to go see our friends Laura and Eric with their son Logan and newborn daughter, Neah. They were still resting at the hospital the day after Neah's birth. It was wonderful to hold Neah and probably the first time I had ever been with a day old child so it was very special. Here's a photo of their family:

Training this week consisted of one rainy bike ride outdoors, but luckily the rest were either inside or without rain. I swam at a public pool in Issaquah, did a brick run/bike workout at my mom's exercise gym, and a ran a few times either on the treadmill or outside. On New Year's day, David and I ran with our friends Shad and Michelle in Bellingham following a big party at their house the night before. What a great way to start the year!

Week 11 Holiday Gift Wrapping

2005-12-22T23:20:00.000-08:00

December 19-25
Swim 3000+ yards, Bike 30+ miles, Run 15+ miles

For fundraising, I spent several days holiday gift wrapping at Barnes & Noble. They allow local non-profits to come to their stores and take gift wrapping shifts where they give the supplies, but we wrap the gifts. So, I figured I would give it a try to see how much could be earned with tips from customers having gifts wrapped because it's a free service and the fundraising is through donation. It was fun, although not as busy as I would have liked. Still, it was a chance to share the cause with others and try something new. Here's a photo from the Redwood City store where I spent an evening before leaving to Seattle.

Not having done my training yet that day, I went home after wrapping and spent an hour on my bike trainer from 10-11pm inside spinning, knowing it would be impossible to train while in the car driving to Seattle. Being able to train is definitely one of the challenges when traveling. This photo was taken in the car on the drive from San Francisco to Portland of Mt. Shasta. It was a beautiful day to drive.

IronTeam Honorees

2005-12-15T21:00:00.000-08:00

Our Honorees give back to The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, so that others will hopefully never have to experience what they have been through with being afflicted by blood cancer. They came to support the team at our practice sprint distance triathlon on Treasure Island December 4th. Lesley, one of our Honorees, participated and will race at Ironman Canada. From left to right are Kevin, Laura, Larissa, myself behind Larissa, Lesley, and Oleg.

Kevin Weaver
Kevin's story is quite amazing. Diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia when he was almost 3 years old, Kevin has reached the 24 -year mark of being in remission! He's been a TNT honoree for many teams for the past six years, and decided to celebrate his 31st birthday by training for the PF Chang's Suzuki Rock & Roll Half-Marathon in Arizona in January. As part of this, he's doing some fundraising of his own, so please help him blow his fundraising goal out of the water as a thank you for constantly giving back to the cause he's come to know so well! Learn more about Kevin.

Laura Warren
Laura is what one could call a 'walking miracle'. A 28-year survivor of Hodgkin's, Laura experienced a recurrence of her cancer years after her original diagnosis, as well as undergoing a mastectomy and treatment for breast cancer years after that recurrence - all while training for and ultimately completing the San Diego Rock & Roll Marathon! Laura's since become an avid cyclist and has continued participation with other TNT teams, both as Honoree and active participant. We are lucky to have her as our IronTeam honoree again this year.

Larissa Campana
Larissa is a ten-year old girl who was diagnosed with Acute Lymphocytic Leukemia (ALL) just after her first birthday in 1995. Due to the amazing advancements in cancer treatment, Larissa is still with us today and evidently feisty as ever! Larissa is no stranger to TNT; she has been a team honoree for the East Bay triathlon team for several seasons and loved being involved. In fact, one of our own participants extraordinaire, Gary Bean, is Larissa's pediatrician.

Lesley Mansford
Lesley is also in the video game industry; she's a top executive at Electronic Arts (EA) and somehow has managed to participate in several triathlons (Wildflower, Treasure Island, among others) despite her busy work schedule. Lesley was diagnosed with CLL, May 2002, but was lucky to catch it at Stage 0 (ie., very early on). Not one to sit around and do nothing about her health, Lesley is also an IronTeam participant, and will be rocking the Ironman Canada course next August. She expects the run at IMC to be the hardest, but yours truly couldn't even catch up with her at yesterday's Nike Half-marathon. Lightning!!!

Oleg Nodelman
Oleg was was diagnosed with Burkitt non-Hodgkin's lymphoma on May 1, 2003 - just two days prior to competing in his first triathlon at Wildflower where he, too, had spent several months raising thousands of dollars for the LLS. Blessed with a sick yet hilarious sense of humor, Oleg named his tumor "jerry" and went several rounds fighting him out of his body, keeping his spirits up the whole time. Oleg is currently in remission and continues to take charge of his health with the support of his amazing wife, Heather.

Craig Dalton
This is Craig's second year as an IronTeam Honoree. He was diagnosed with Hodgkin's lymphoma in June 2002, just weeks after completing his very first triathlon at Wildflower with TNT (he'd just gotten done raising thousands of dollars for the LLS, in fact). In addition to being an Ironteam Honoree, Craig was also a participant - he completed Ironman Canada just this past August and smoked the course!! Formerly a competitive mountain biker, you'll usually see Craig in his Lombardi Sports team bike gear - if you don't see him first at Ironteam social functions or "testing" games on his wireless cell phone created by his company, i-play. Learn more about Craig.

Louie Bonpua (1965-2001)
Last but not least is our forever team honoree, "Shrimp" Louie Bonpua. Louie was diagnosed with leukemia on September 17, 1997. Louie was an Ironteam participant and completed Ironman Canada in August 2001 - while still suffering from leukemia. That next January, in 2002, he escaped from the hospital just long enough to carry the Olympic Torch over the Golden Gate Bridge. Louie made local and national news of his amazing inner strength and positive spirit. Sadly, Louie had to go back into the hospital two days later and never recovered. Louie's memory lives on, however, as you can see from his website, www.shrimplouie.com as well as many other stories and articles that made Louie a local legend and inspiration to so many. Ironteam has since held an annual Louie Bonpua Memorial Triathlon, which is held every year in January in Louie's honor and memory. Learn more about Louie .

Week 10 Night Swim

2005-12-14T16:00:00.000-08:00

December 12-18
Swim 3000+ yards, Bike 30+ miles, Run 15+ miles

Sometimes I'll choose to swim at the UCSF pool later at night when it's empty. David plays squash in those lit up rooms behind the pool, so I'll meet him after work which motivates me to go get the swim done and give him a ride home. He took this photo of me swimming laps.

Week 9 UCSF Pool

2005-12-11T17:59:00.000-08:00

December 5-11
Swim 3200+ yards, Bike 40+ miles, Run 13+ miles

Finding an outdoor pool in the city of San Francisco is difficult, so the opening of this new pool on the rooftop of the UCSF Rec Center is perfect. The Gladstone Institutes where David works is right across the street, and he has a free member ship, so he can escort me in as a guest for $6. This is going to be a popular place to swim especially when the weather is warmer.

Here is a view from the roof behind the pool looking at downtown San Francisco. The green area to the left is part of a driving range which will probably be closed with the development of this area called Mission Bay:

Here is another view from the pool looking towards the Bay Bridge. The tents from the Cirque de Soleil are visible to the right just below the bridge:

Week 8 Practice Sprint Tri

2005-12-06T15:48:00.000-08:00

November 28-December 4
Swim 3900+ yards, Bike 30+ miles, Run 8+ miles
IronTeam Practice Sprint Triathlon

Okay so I thought I had finished with Treasure Island on November 5, but no instead I swam yet again in those chilly waters next to the Bay Bridge—and in the month of December on top of it! This is where we held our first official practice IronTeam triathlon. I'm not sure if this is normal behavior or not to jump into these waters when most people on the shore are wearing hats. Nonetheless, that is what we did and it sure did make us feel alive and made sure that our legs felt like clubs during the bike and run. I guess you'd say we're getting used to these activities since hey we are IronTeam!

Brrrr! There's a reason why the majority of us are still standing along the edge of the shore just looking out at the cove. It's the startling feeling we get when the water first enters the wetsuit.

Here I am preparing for the swim with body glide to make sure my neoprene cap or "squid lid" doesn't chaffe my neck. Once I learned the lesson of not using enough body glide and had a mark looking like David had reverted to the teenage days of hickeys.

Week 7 Thanksgiving

2005-11-25T15:41:00.000-08:00

November 21-27
Swim 3500+ yards, Bike 32+ miles, Run 15+ miles

David's parents came to visit us for the week around Thanksgiving, so we entertained family at our home this year. During the week we played a German boardgame called Catan and really became quite the addicts. Each night we had to sit down for a game that lasted between 2-3 hours. I'll have to check in with our coach to see if dice rolling counts as an upper body workout. The game is like a cross between Monopoly and Risk with some strategy along with luck.

When we weren't playing Catan, I managed to make it to a superb bike ride down south near the reservoir with the team followed by an amazing brunch hosted by my mentor Joe and his wife Maria. I only wish I had a photograph of her yummy egg casserole.

Week 6 Did you know that...

2005-11-20T14:37:00.000-08:00

November 14-20
Swim 3500+ yards, Bike 50+ miles, Run 14+ miiles

This week I focused more on thinking about my fundraising goals and why I am involved with IronTeam. I thought it would be a great time to share the following facts and figures.

Did you know that...

Leukemia is the number one disease killer of children under 15

Lymphoma is the leading killer of men and women under 35

since its inception in 1949, The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society has raised over $250 million to find a cure for blood cancers

80% of children with leukemia survive, compared with just 5% only 20 years ago

640,000 Americans are living with leukemia, lymphoma, Hodgkin's, or myeloma

109,000 new cases were diagnosed last year

One-third of all research funds that went into Gleevac (the 'miracle drug' for Chronic Myelogenous Leukemia, CML) came from The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society

Neither did I before becoming involved with Team In Training. There are many reasons for staying involved with and volunteering for The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, but the most important and inspiring one is that this organization is truly making a difference in the fight against blood cancer and the lives of those afflicted by these diseases. This is why I gladly will commit free time to raise money with IronTeam and why I am proud to be part of such a good cause.

Week 5 Coached Workouts

2005-11-14T09:24:00.000-08:00

November 7-13
Swim 2700+ yards, Bike 34+ miles, Run 11+ miles

I took most of the week off from the above schedule to recover from the Treasure Island triathlon and have a short break, but attended the coached weekend workouts. Here I am water running alongside my fellow participant Laura Staub- notice the wide blue water running belts. This was pretty funny trying this out for the first time and watching us practically running in place! It's surprisingly a good workout.

We also are learning to spin on bike trainers to be able to have a good workout regardless of the winter weather. So, we set up our road bikes on these stationary devices with resistance and spin!

Week 4 Treasure Island

2005-11-06T14:01:00.000-08:00

October 31-November 6
Swim 4000+ yards, Bike 30+ miles, Run 6+ miles

The fourth week of the IronTeam training program was the final week for the Fall Team In Training Treasure Island season. Volunteering as training captain for this team of new participants to the program was very rewarding and to see the team have a successful day for the event was great. David captured some great photographs of the event that I'd like to share. Here he is with his Team In Training tattoo on the cheek the morning before the triathlon. I'm lucky he is willing to drive me before sunrise to the event!

Here we are ready at the transition area with our wetsuits preparing ourselves for the swim start. At Treasure Island, we had to set up the transition area by 7am, but for our wave of swimmers we did not start until 9:30am which left plenty of time to take pictures and be nervous for those doing their first triathlon ever.

Trevor is our Honoree for the Treasure Island season and is truly inspiring. He spoke to us the morning of the event and rallied the group.

The Team In Training women's wave was one of the last to start the race so David captured us in the water waiting for the swim to begin.

Everyone came to expect David at this one corner of the race where he cheered everyone on and snapped photographs. His energy was contagious.

With a two loop run course, David also had plenty of chances to take more pics and he ran with me to the end of the finish.

Week 3 IronTeam Dinner

2005-10-28T21:15:00.000-07:00

October 24-October 30
Swim 3800+ yards, Bike 33+ miles, Run 11+ miiles

This week the team met for our first social gathering outside of our workout clothes. The event also happened to be scheduled on my birthday, so they were really sweet and picked up an Ironman cake to celebrate with me.