#34

I ran my 34th half marathon yesterday and got my 33rd worst time. I am going backwards in my fitness. It was a trail run and that makes it harder, plus it was almost all uphill and the name of it was "HeartBreak Half Marathon," which should be an omen of what was to come. It was hard and I wasn't feeling well. But that's life. It took place on a military base and many military men were running carrying American flags, which was appropriate because it was Sept. 11th eve.

I then went to dinner with a group of friends from Phoenix in town for a triathlon today. The race took place on Sept. 11th and began with skydivers carrying a 30 foot flag down to earth. I then met a friend to watch a movie. It's a nice way to spend the weekend--with good friends. Friends and family are what you get you through this life.

Ten years ago I was driving to work and heard about the attacks. I immediately ran into work and called my dad who traveled for a living--this was before I owned a cell phone. He answered and I was so glad he was safe. I was lucky, unlike so many others.

Escape from Alcatraz Triathlon

What a great race! I got to work at the Escape from Alcatraz Triathlon this past weekend in San Francisco. I went to a triathlon club party on Friday night on Hyde Street at an amazing apartment with views of the Golden Gate Bridge and downtown. Then Saturday I was at the expo chatting with people about their racing experiences and Sunday I covered the race. Media personnel got to go out on a boat and witness 2,000 athletes jumping off a ferry and swimming to shore. I am signing up for the lottery next year because I want to do it. I was filled with raging jealousy for all those who got to participate.

Knoxville, Tenn.




I got to go to Knoxville for a triathlon this past weekend. Matt Reed, my favorite triathlete, was the first-place finisher. Knoxville is more colonial than I had imagined and Saturday was pretty dead...and I was right downtown. Due to many travel fiascos, I got in at 3:30am Saturday morning and left at 6am Monday morning (which is 3am CA time). Bags under my eyes and all, I still loved being there to see a triathlon because there is nothing better. I also found a creperie and a candy store with barrels of old-fashioned sweet treats. Knoxville food = heaven.

Bienvenidos a Costa Rica

I am in Costa Rica for my company covering the Rev3 Costa Rican triathlon race. It is extremely hot and humid, but I am loving every minute of it. You can catch up on it at triathlon.competitor.com. I get up early to drive 1.5 hours to the race site. Then I stay all day and drive 2 hours back. I've gotten lost a few times, but luckily I speak Spanish so can ask for directions. Tomorrow is the professional race and should be good. It's just super hot, but this week my office has been next to the beach in Central America and I cannot complain about that.

Tribal Sprint Triathlon

I woke up at 3:30am for an early triathlon which had a start time of 6:15--a 1 hour and 15 minute drive from my house. I'm not even close to being a fast swimmer or biker, but I love to run and I thought my goal for this race is not let anyone pass me on the run. I accomplished the goal. Not a soul passed and yes, there were still people behind me. I'll take the small accomplishments as I can get them. I really love the run course, as it is a lot of trail running, which you don't often find in a triathlon.

Danskin SheRox Triathlon

Finished another triathlon today, just a sprint, but loved it. It's hard work and you push yourself to the limit, but it's over before you know it. I haven't been swimming much this year, but it was a short swim and caught up with many in the wave before me. The race was an all-female triathlon and those are sooo much better. I can't say that I miss the men coming at me at 25 mph on the bike. I now leave for China in two days. That is one tough racing schedule:
1. Lima Marathon (which was the worst marathon ever!) on 5/2
2. SheRox Triathlon on 5/8
3. Great Wall of China Marathon on 5/15

Three races, three weeks in a row. I'll rest when I'm dead.

2009 Reflected

2009 was a good year to me. I had some great achievements and some losses. Here is 2009 in remembrance:

1. Finishing Ironman. I completed Ironman Arizona after months of very long weekends spent on my bike and in my running shoes and swimming laps in the pool. During the heat of the summer, I had to awake in the 4 o'clock hour to beat the triple digit temps. But, when all is said and done, I crossed the finish line to a very challenging endurance event and now I am an Ironman finisher. It was an amazing euphoria.

2. Running the Copenhagen marathon. In my quest to run a marathon on every continent, I participated in this Denmark race and visited the land of models, aka Sweden, while there.

3. My best birthday ever. I went to LA to the Festival of Books and personally met my future husband Curtis Stone. He signed his new cookbook and wrote "happy, happy birthday Jennifer." Sigh :) My dad also surprised me and appeared in Newport Beach in California on my birthday. I was so happy that weekend and nothing will top that b-day.

4. Getting braces on and off. For four months I had these ugly white braces which made me feel like I was 12 years old. But after a quick 4 months, they were removed and a straighter smile was found beneath that gastly metal. I now smile in photographs. Yes, it was dang expensive and yes, it was worth every penny.

5. Seeing Dinner Impossible filmed in person. At an Ironman dinner, the Food Network was filming the show right in front of me. Robert Irvine was feeding hungry triathletes. As a Food Network addict, I was giddy as a school girl. You can ask anyone who was there.

6. My brother moving to Utah. He got a job in Herriman and took off :(

7. A major bike accident in July that left me with stitches, a sprained wrist and scars for life. I completely lost consciousness in my fall and luckily two men driving by found me.

8. A friendship ending. I received a letter by mail from a friend that I have known for 9 years now. She was very candid in her letter explaining all the things she didn't like about me. It made me change the way I view things and I feel like a much more positive person because of it. I tried to take a sad situation and turn it into a learning experience. I also ended a friendship with another person. Sometimes in life you have to learn to let go to become something better.

9. Not getting a wanted opportunity. Enough said about that.

10. Participating in 30 races. This was a year devoted to training and racing. I competed in events ranging from a 5K to a full Ironman. My muscles can feel it and after Ironman my stamina isn't what it was before the race, but I am proud of my accomplishments in my marathon and triathlon life.

Here's to a wonderful 2010! I am looking forward to it. I will have to write down my new year's resolutions.

Friday night

Friday night was very exciting. I am a huge Food Network addict. I watch it more often than I actually cook anything. I have spent hours learning how to blanch things, temper chocolate and bake a souffle, but I've never actually done any of those things in person. I just watch.

Well, there is a Food Network show called Dinner Impossible with Chef Robert Irvine. I watch it all the time. The premise of the show is the chef is given some random culinary challenge to cook for a group of people at a special event and make it happen in weird scenarios, like he is given a kitchen that isn't fully equipped with everything, or the kitchen is outdoors, etc. So imagine my surprise when I went to a dinner for a group of triathletes and right behind me I hear Chef Robert Irvine say "I have now completed my culinary triathlon." They were filming an episode of Dinner Impossible right there. He was cooking for a group of triathletes and other VIPs. So cool! He is smaller in person, but still has his big "guns" of arms. He walked right next to me and I happen to be the same height as he.

He promised he would do a real triathlon next year and raise money for a charity. Yeah! Triathletes will convert one at a time.

Today I dropped off my bike for my race and went to a baseball game with my dad. So nice to head out to a game in the fall. Love baseball.

Conversations at the bike shop

Last evening I picked up my bike from the shop as it was getting a tune-up. A lady there asked me if I were doing triathlon races and I said yes. I asked her the same. She said no she doesn't; she wanted to, but her husband says no. She actually looked sad when she told me this.

Another friend of mine is doing the same training I am and he has three children and is a single dad. He says the training is making family life very hard. He wants to stop to enjoy more time with his kids. His kids are also very young.

Another friend of mine says he needs marriage counseling because of the time he spends away from his wife with early morning swims and long weekend workouts.

I will sometimes complain about being single, but other times I feel that singleness has so many blessings and I really have no reason to complain. I train as I please and get up early or stay up late and no one cares. I don't feel like my training is being selfish to a marriage or taking precious time away from children.

It simply makes me eat all the time and for that I REALLY can't complain because I do like to eat.

TGIF

Today was a fantastic, wonderful day. I did another one of my aquathon's with a swim and a sprint. It was freezing water...freezing. Putting my face in the water felt like splashing ice on it. Usually when you swim you warm up...not this time. Even on the run I was freezing cold. I kept trying to blow on my hands to warm them up. It was a quiet race on a chilly evening ending with another gorgeous desert sunset.

I then headed to a party with my triathlon group for an evening of friends, costumes and food. I had a nice time chatting with friends and learning how to bike better because heaven knows I need it.

Nathan's Triathlon

On Sunday I participated in Nathan's Olympic Triathlon. I did this race two years ago and got into a very nasty bike accident. My bike came into pieces and I ended up in physical therapy for 3 months. But I did finish the race in 3 hours with the bike accident.

Sunday's race took me 3:17 and it was so frustrating. The swim took me 13 minutes longer than it did in 2007 and so that really screwed with my head for the rest of the race. My self talk was really negative because I thought I was so much slower in swimming, which doesn't make any sense because I have been swimming so much more than I ever have. So I was really bummed out. My bike took a while and then on the run, for the first time in my life, I got a side stitch. It felt like a hernia. I heard that to rid yourself of the stitch, you walk with your arms over your head leaning to to the side with the stitch. So I did and within 5 minutes it went away, but I did have to walk a little. I've never walked in a triathlon ever. So really frustrating experience.

Then I find out that the swim course was 300 m longer than it was supposed to be and even the elite athletes had their worst swim times. But still a frustrating race.

After the race, one of the ladies in my training group said to me, "well, maybe Ironman just isn't for you." I think that was the most hurtful thing anyone has ever said to me. I came home, got down on the floor and cried for 2 hours straight. I haven't even cried like that over a guy.

Maybe she is right. Or maybe that was just rude to poop on someone's goals like that. My coach told me that is wrong and that I am ready for it. Another girl told me yes, I should do the race. So it's nice to know I do have some supportive people behind me.

My mom thinks my priorities are screwed up. But my mom says that about everything in my life.

I have a hobby and I (usually) enjoy it (except for this race).

Weekend

On Saturday I did a group ride of 70 miles. It took a very long time to finish. I did get one flat tire, unfortunately. I wasn't the only one, though. I was considered lucky to only get 1 flat. So frustrating, but I lucked out and one member of my group who is Speedy Gonzalez with changing flats happened to bike by and stop and fix my flat in record time. It would have taken me over twice as long to change the flat. Perhaps our prayers to the anti-flat Gods need to be more faithful. I'll try exercising my faith all week before the long ride this weekend comes.

I was getting bored and hungry by the end of the ride. I was counting my pedaling with 100 times on my right foot and then switching to 100 times on my left foot, then singing songs in my head...anything to stay with it and not get too tired.

Afterwards, we all hit the pool and ate and ate and ate. Usually triathletes are quite loud and talkative, but as soon as we got food, we all went completely silent. I swear if I had two forks, I would have been double fisting it. I couldn't shovel the food down fast enough. I wonder if it possible to gain weight with this level of working out because it seems like I am eating my weight in food all the time. Some people in my group were complaining that they were tired of being hungry all the time. Amen to that! At least I am not alone. I am not using braces as any excuse not to eat food. I am still eating bread and bagels, which my dentist said not to eat.

The next day I went on a 14 mile (hot, hot) run. I was sweating like crazy and went through three water bottles. Then, I had a swim. I had bad memories of junior high gym return. I got put into a swim group that was clearly above my level. I was the slowest one in the group and made me feel like the anti-athlete I was throughout my elementary and high school days. I didn't like that feeling. It is not good for the self-esteem.

Then after that, no matter what I ate, I couldn't get full. My tank is emptying quickly.

But I love the training!! I just love it.

I also love eating cake and not feeling guilty. But I do not love the early mornings when my alarm clock has the number "4" in the hour. Getting up before 5am on the weekends is not my idea of a "weekend."

Training

I have been waking up early everyday this week to train. I won't get some extra zzz's till possibly Monday, but even then, not too much sleep. It's not bothering me though. I like the training.

I feel as though I am behind. I read some other people's blogs on training and it's so advanced. My training just got kicked up, but not to the level as others, so hope I am doing everything I need to do. But perhaps it is a good thing and I am not wearing myself out like others. Bike rides are longer and long runs are longer, but everything else during the weekdays is staying pretty stagnant in terms of the training program.

We'll see what happens. Hope no more accidents. Braces are still weird, but probably always will be a strange feel for the duration of wearing them. I feel like I have huge lips as they are forced out over the brackets.

Health Assessment...say what?



So at work we had a health assessment--how many push ups can you do in 60 seconds, how many crunches can you do, how long can you hold a wall squat, and a 5 minute step test to measure heart rate. I scored in the superior range in all areas, except for one area--heart rate. After the step test, I knew they would be measuring heart rate so I tried to get myself to relax and couldn't. I kept getting more and more nervous trying to get myself to relax. You know how when you try to relax and it just makes you more stressed out? That is what was happening. So after 5 minutes of cardio my heart rate went up to 83 and only dropped a little bit.

So then after all this, I had to meet with a health coach who looked at my heart rate and saw it didn't fall very quickly. So she said to me, "clearly you aren't doing any cardio." Say what? Come again? I said actually I am doing cardio and so she said "well, then you aren't doing it right."

I know my body and know my trying to tell myself to relax wasn't working and so I was keeping my heart rate spiked by worrying about it.

I just completed a triathlon and marathon within the last two weeks, so clearly I am doing some sort of cardio. Don't you think or does that not count?

The weekend

This weekend I participated in two races: Tribal Sprint Triathlon and Run for Vania.

The Tribal Sprint Triathlon started at 6:15am about 1.5 hours from my house, which meant a very early rise for me. Usually I wake up and am ready to go on race day, but the entire drive there I kept contemplating turning around and going back to bed. I could faintly hear my bed calling "come back, come back" all the way to Lake Pleasant. But I made it to the lake around 5am, which did mean getting up at 3:30am--the earliest I've ever risen for a race. At that hour, the sun was rising and casting a beautiful hue of colors across the sky and turned the lake pink. It was a breathtaking sight as I walked my bike into transition. However, I think the back of my eyelids are also a beautiful sight at 5am. I can't decide what I would like more: a beautiful sunrise or extra sleep.

The swim started out badly. I got knocked in the face twice and so my goggles kept coming off and I had to tread water for a while fixing my goggles. I kept getting water into my right eye and it made it turn red and my contact tore. So my swim took about 5 minutes longer than it should. The bike course was fun...straight up and straight down hill. But then we did something different than I've ever done in a triathlon. Transition 2 was in a completely different place. We biked to some unknown street in the desert, hopped off our bikes, gave them to a volunteer that took them and called out our name for a garbage containing our run gear. Another volunteer handed us the garbage bag and we took off our biking gear and put that into the bag and put on our running shoes to head back to where we started. Very different experience. You missed people cheering for you back into transition.

The run portion was a lot of fun. It was a trail run over rocks and cliffs through cactus and dirt. The terrain of rocks everywhere brought back memories of Antarctica, only much hotter this time.

The run I felt went okay for me and I thought I did good, but then I saw my results and was rather disappointed. I really enjoyed the race and felt like I was in better shape, but the extra 5 minutes on the swim really hurt me. Better luck next time.

On Sunday I woke up at 5:45am for a race that started at 6:30am. It was just a 5K charity race to raise money for a girl named Vania who was in a bad bike accident. Having been injured myself in a bike accident, I know it is hard to come back and her injuries were significant. Her training group, First Wave Tri, was there volunteering all throughout the course. Way to show support for one of your own! It was really nice to see.

I also did an hour long swim of a pre-set schedule and an hour bike ride on top of the races. I was certain I did so much better than my results showed in my triathlon. I am quite concerned now that I am not getting better. I feel like a stagnant triathlete most days and this race confirmed it. My time doesn't show my transition times, so it looks like I took longer to swim, bike and run when I really swam faster, biked and ran faster, but still not fast enough.

While trying to stay awake throughout the day, I watched Casino Royale on my DVR. I just forwarded to my favorite parts. Daniel Craig is such a stud. I would very much like to be Mrs. Jenny Craig.

Weekend

I had dinner on Friday with a group of girlfriends and then on Saturday evening with another girlfriend who gave me a belated birthday gift. It was very sweet of her. The temperatures are rising and it is summer already. I love the long summer days and waking up when the sun has already risen, rather than the dark when it feels like I should still be sleeping.

I skipped the international triathlon this weekend and thought it would make me feel good not to get up nervous for a race, but rather, I woke up feeling guilty. I missed racing. I missed the bike course and swimming in the inviting waters.

I found out a friend of mine was hit by a car when she was walking across the street and is now unconscious in a hospital in San Francisco. I hope she will be alright and await to hear. She is my friend who works at Sephora and loves to talk beauty supplies with me. I really hope she will be okay.

Racing some more



I will be doing another aquathon today and am skipping the Tempe International Triathlon as I just did a triathlon last weekend and have a big race next week. So many races and the temps just go up up up. Tonight's race will be in 103 degrees. The swim will be nice, but the run will be painful.

Here are photos from my last race.

And here are photos from the race before.

Pain, Pain Go Away Don't Ever Come Any Other Day

I am having neck pain for the first time since I was 14. I think it is biking too much or running too much and hunching my shoulders...I don't know. It was difficult to sleep last night and driving to work was tough, as I couldn't turn my head to check for cars when switching lanes.

Might be time for my first trip to a chiro since I was 14 when I sprained my neck.

Yesterday I did a bike ride and a short 3 mile run. Today I am scheduled to bike and swim, but we'll see how that goes. My range of motion in my neck is very limited, so I can probably bike, but turning my head to breathe when swimming may not be very comfortable or even doable.

I have a triathlon on Sunday and a running race on Saturday. Not sure how that will go. I am worried about my triathlon. I haven't been biking much and there will be a very heavily populated bike course. Ick. I really need to be biking much more than I have been...it's just so much easier to run than all that gear I need for biking. We'll see how my neck feels through all of this. It's not looking good. But trying to stay positive. Don't want my registration fee to go to waste and it is for a good cause. The race is for breast cancer. It will be very early mornings however. Have to be up at 5am for the races. I am not a morning person.