My friends are IRONCLAD! (& my 26.2 mile detour)

I have been living vicariously through the race reports of my amazing TNT teammates who went up to Vineman a few weekends ago and did the full Ironman distance race or the half - Barb's Race. I cannot even imagine continuing my training for 9 months, doubling the distance that I was originally training. I cannot fathom having the physical strength or the mental strength to wake up and start before dark and finish after dark after swimming 2.4 miles, riding 112 miles and running 26.2! I'm excited, I get chills, I gasp, I cry at everyone's race reports because they are SO moving! I'm especially giving a shout out here to my friend Yvonne, who I met through Team In Training during my first season on Marathon team - this was us at the finish of the San Diego Rock 'n' Roll marathon - back when I could keep up with her.



Then she moved away, then thankfully moved back and what a great way to get to hang out with her (and two handfuls of other gals from the South Bay Marathon Team), than to join Ironteam with them. The first time we went to the pool we were all a bit nervous, Yvonne admitted that swimming wasn't her strong point (we all have a stronger sport and a weaker point). By the end of my season back in May, she was passing me in the pool! Well her hard work paid off, and let me just say that despite all the training, the strongest thing about her is her positive attitude and smile! YAY YVONNE! Plus my family loved seeing a familiar face at the local hospital with all the visits we had this year!



We also had another group of marathon friends come to the Ironteam from the SGV team - Kim - another nurse with a tireless smile, Louis - our awesome photo captain; and Gordie - our inspirational and amazing Honored Teammate. I was the one honored enough to get to train with him and get to know him better, and benefit from his words and his presence!



There are so many amazing people that I've met along the way, and each one has their inspirational story, and I'm so proud of each and every one of them and can't wait to hear what crazy thing they're going to try next.

The Ironteam still has 2 events left in its season, the Louisville Ironman MDot - where my fearless mentor Carlos will be racing and grooving across the finish line, and Kona Ironman - where another inspirational beyond words honored teammate Kyle is going to rock Kona this year!

I'm also amazed and humbled by the efforts put forth by some of my teammates who fought hard at Wildflower, kept training, kicked it up a notch, and went and kicked butt at Barb's Race, earning their 70.3 badge! Congratulations Sara and Meghan! I'm in awe and still waiting for pictures!!

I'm still on my journey to 70.3, but it won't be this year. However, not one to like to sit still for long, I've jumped right into training for the FULL Nike Women's Marathon!



A group of my high school girlfriends and I decided to pay it forward at 40! So we all signed up for Team In Training and together will raise $15,000 to fight blood cancers.



As a bonus, another friend who came to visit last year when I ran the 1/2 marathon, is going to join us to run it herself this year! Honestly, I don't have to work to hard to sell this race - here's the finishline...



...and I know where they party afterwards...



Ironically, my training thus far has been sitting still for too long. I had a weekend in the end of June where I had to prove to myself that I was fully recovered from my gall bladder surgery, that I still had it in me, so after a 90 min bike ride and a 60 min run, and working a Triathlon that weekend, I realized I had a quietly nagging injury to my back. Suddenly my mind was swept back to my Gall Bladder Dr. saying "You don't have lower back issues do you? The CAT scan saw something." I said, "No, Dr., nothing more than sore muscles!"

Well I've tried the RICE - Rest, Ice, Compression and Elevation - method (if I have that wrong, THAT could be the reason why it hasn't gone away), and even a little bit of ibuprofen along the way, but it wasn't getting better. I finally have gone to a doctor this past week and am on session 2 with the chiropractor, plus athletic tape, and biofreeze - so cool it's hot! I'm planning to get back out there this weekend, run 6 miles, then build by 2 miles a week and make sure I get in all my mid-week runs to make up for lost time - aah! Hopefully runnersworld.com's computerized training program agrees with my plan.

So right now, the race for the 26.2 mile race is on! This race is so worth it though! I tell everyone I meet that this is the race I will do once a year until I can't any more! You know what though? The race is amazing, but I love the journey even more!

Calculating, Experimenting and Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes!

Here's a fun Friday idea, when you go to work tomorrow, at 9am sharp, stand outside the office door and have someone fire a cap gun, start swimming through your emails, wading through the things in your inbox, and keeping your head above water in the sea of voicemails. At 10am, get up, see if you can find your favorite ritual morning person to head over to Starbucks, but if you can't find them, go yourself anyway, you'll need the fuel to get through the rest of the day.

After getting enough coffee for your team, transition onto that deadline-based project that you and your co-workers have been working long, hard hours while getting everything to this point. Balance between leading the group and following their decisions, pedal slowly and steadily on the uphill battles and fly downhill with the success of any breakthroughs. For the first hour until 11am, keep the coffee coming. As the hours wear on, make sure you provide substantial nutrients to keep everyone focused and nourished - work through lunch if necessary, eating smaller tidbits of food at regular intervals rather than stopping and losing momentum with a big meal. Success will reach you by 3pm and you will realize that you still have plenty of time to transition to what is left of your own job responsibilities.

Hit the ground running! While this is the most familiar of your jobs, doing it after facing such a large and daunting task could leave you drained. If you're lucky, you'll be able to fly through this part of your day because you've done it many times before, you can zone out and just do your work well. By 6pm, you will be exhausted, but successful - you finished! As you leave the office, have your friends put up a big ribbon at the exit door that you can run through with your hands in the air as you successfully complete your day! Then go hit up happy hour!

You know, this may sound like a wacky exercise, but I've suddenly done the math and figured out that this half Ironman triathlon is going to take me potentially 9 hours! The amount of time you'll spend at work tomorrow! Think about that as you travel through your day. Could you imagine swimming for 1 hour, biking for up to 5 hours and running for up to 3 hours?

Just for fun... Bordering this entry, you'll find the maps here of the bike portion [left] and

the run portion [right - which also, if you look closely, shows the course we'll swim at the start]:

Triathlons obviously require a great deal of training. We've been in training since October, and still have 2 1/2 months til our event. The obvious reason is the conditioning that we must do to get our body to the

level to complete an event which could take a full work day. The other part is to experiment with things so that we learn what works for us and what doesn't. You don't want to do anything new on race day, you want to know what works best for you!

Some of the lessons I've learned so far are:

a) Don't eat a burrito 15 min. before you jump in the pool no matter how hungry you are.

b) Perpetuem drink mix is to be mixed with Gatorade or something, not straight up water - blech!

c) Perhaps sleeping the night before my Saturday Training rides is a better, more efficient use of my resources than staying up all night worrying about the ride.

d) I really do like riding my bike, I just don't like uphill rides because if I go too slowly, I fall over. If I fall over, I have to start again on an incline. If I try to start again on an incline, I fall over. Uphills = fall over.

e) I have to focus more when Triathlon training.

For running, it's a great thing to get in the zone and forget about what you're doing.

For swimming, if I get in the zone - or even think about the great form I see on the swimmer in the next lane, I forget what lap I'm on, and I'm too paranoid to guess so when in doubt, I add an extra lap. That adds up quickly!

For biking, if I get too caught up in the amazing view, or fantastic architecture on the homes in the neighborhoods we've been riding through, I may miss a car door opening in my path or a rock under my tire.

f) It's crazy to me that after a bike ride, my arms hurt more than my legs!

g) The body is an amazing thing and usually the obstacle isn't your physical ability, but your mind and its objections.

I find that the physical changes come easier than the mental ones. I'd always heard that to be in the best shape, do a tri. They hit all the problem spots - the saddle bags, the jiggly arms when you wave. I've been reunited with muscles that I thought I'd lost touch with forever and as a bonus they've brought along a few friends to join the party! I don't know why, but I still allow the mental tricks to have a voice in my head - I let them muddle up my focus. Things such as suddenly changing from "Carbs are bad" to "Make sure you eat enough carbs" =or= the fact that clothes are fitting a lot loser although the number on the scale hasn't dropped.

This has been a tough few weeks for me because I'm coming off a week and a half of not training a lot due to work, and having the kids off school for a week. I know too that me not having a road mid-week ride makes a huge difference in how far I've come compared to the rest. I know that missing a few crucial rides too, has me behind the pack on my weakest sport. I'm really looking forward to trying our first tri in a few weeks in Palm Springs which will be a flatter, shorter International distance, but I'm really getting freaked about the Wildflower weekend and "Beach Hill" - a deceptively tough 1 mile climb; "Nasty Grade" which tops out at "Heart Rate Hill" - complete with people to actually take your heart rate at the top.

This is the point where the end starts approaching at a much faster pace. Training is ramping up, my time is becoming scarce, how will I successfully fundraise the $ so that I can actually do the event, I'm trying to not spend all of my $ on babysitting, not to mention the guilt of missing their first baseball games is a huge thing. I start to wonder what the hell I was thinking.

On the Team, when we're down and people are struggling we take a moment to and reflect on why we're really here - the blood cancer patients and their families. Reminding ourselves of the bigger picture helps bring us back to reality and regain focus of why our training is so important.

Here are some lessons learned from our amazing honored teammates.

a) I chose this for myself, it didn't choose me - as cancer would.

b) My pain is temporary, and much easier than chemotheraphy

c) My first goal is not just to cross the finish line, but to fundraise $4,000 to provide valuable research to find a cure by 2015, to provide patient aid to current patients and their families in the form of education, support groups and financial aid. Plus, as a fundraiser, I'm also an advocate, helping spread the word on LLS and all that it's trying to achieve.

d) Yes, the economy sucks, people are losing jobs, houses. Let me tell you, it could always be worse - someone could tell you that on top of all of those challenges, you have cancer. In this lowered economy, donating $5 to blood cancer is money much better spent investment than treating ourselves to Starbucks, or movie rentals, or the drive-thru. Plus, the good feeling from a $5 donation lasts a lot longer than a 45 min. coffee, 2 hour movie, or 1 hour lunch out.

e) While I do have challenges to overcome in my training, I am training alongside honored teammates who not only have battled "Nasty Grade" but CANCER! Who am I to give up with such great role models beside me?

SO, in the spirit of calculating, experimenting and changing, I'm going to work on the mental battles for the next week and see if calming down, focusing and pressing on will work me through this rut. I truly try to learn something from everything that I do so there are lessons hidden in this when I just slow down enough to take the time to see them.

Please share my blog with anyone that you know who is considering doing a triathlon or joining Team In Training so that they can hear from someone firsthand. Share my blog with anyone battling blood cancers so that they know that there is an army fighting blood cancers on their behalf and that there are resources available to them. Share my blog with anyone looking to challenge themselves, better themselves, or give back.

To make a donation, no matter how big or small, please visit

http://pages.teamintraining.org/los/wildtri10/sharris

I'm trying to raise $4,000 by April 1st.

THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT!

Think training for a Triathlon is tough? Try Chemotherapy!

Every 4 minutes, someone new is diagnosed with a blood cancer.

Every 10 minutes, an adult or child loses their battle with blood cancer.

Leukemia causes more deaths than any other cancer among children and young adults under the age of 20.

Believe it or not, these statistics are much improved from the death sentence that blood cancers would have given you earlier in my lifetime. But, I believe we can do better.

Leukemia, lymphoma, myeloma and myelodysplastic syndromes are diseases that can affect the bone marrow, the blood cells, the lymph nodes and other parts of the lymphatic system. An estimated 912,938 people in the United States alone are living with, or are in remission from, leukemia, Hodgkin lymphoma, NHL or myeloma.

I believe I mentioned it before, that when I first found Team In Training years ago, I had no personal tie to blood cancers. Back then, my only experience with big scary cancer was losing my amazing god-mother after her valiant fight with breast cancer, my beloved grandmother who battled several cancers before succumbing to lung cancer, and a young second cousin who endured a lot in his short life. But at that time, my naivety lumped all cancer together, just that it happened to land on a different body part. So when I found Team In Training, the signature fundraiser for The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS), I believed that any progress made in relation to any cancer would help in the long scheme of things.

To learn more about Team In Training's 21-year or LLS' 60-year histories, click on www.teamintraining.org/firsttimehere/themissionandhistory/

We just kicked off another season for Team In Training, and as usual, the high-energy event was inspirational, motivational, and just nothing that I can describe. You just have to go to one, even if you aren't there to sign up. It's an amazing, humbling experience. This one in particular was especially moving because we had an honored teammate reception before the kickoff. Honored teammates are people from our communities that are either in treatment for or remission from blood cancers. Their stories will break your heart, give you hope, and amaze and inspire you all at the same time. Having so many honored teammates in one room was a beautiful occasion. However, we also recalled that for every honored teammate that was present, there were others that were in the hospital, too sick to attend, or who were absent since they had recently lost their battles.

Now as I mentioned, the statistics have improved in the recent past thanks to LLS's efforts to cure blood cancers and improve the quality of life of patients and their families.

LEUKEMIA: The relative five-year survival rate for leukemia patients has nearly quadrupled since 1960.

LYMPHOMA: The relative five-year survival rate for Hodgkin Lymphoma patients more than doubled since 1960 to just over 86%. During that time the relative five-year survival rate for NHL patients rose as well from 31% to nearly 69%.

MYELOMA: Overall five-year survival has increased from 12% to 37% in the last 50 years.

While reading that there are 912,938 people in the US are living with a blood cancer, it's a bittersweet statistic. While the number of cases still keep going up, part of the high number means that people are surviving the disease so more people are living in remission, not dying because of blood cancers.

Since LLS was founded in 1949 they have invested more than $680 million in research for blood cancer, much of which takes place at local hospitals like USC, UCLA, City of Hope and Children's Hospitals. One amazing result of such research was the development of Gleevec which has changed some forms of blood cancer from a death sentence to a very manageable, livable disease. They also put money into patient services to provide free patient aid in the form of support groups, mentors for newly diagnosed patients, financial aid.

I believe in the Society's mission, in their vision to find a cure by 2015, and see the results of everything that they do in our community. I run, bike, and swim because I can. Please help find a cure, every $1 helps!

It's like riding a bike, once you learn you never forget...

I will never forget my first time back in the saddle again! It started off as a great day, I got to Santa Monica and found my group. They gave us a piece of paper with entirely too many streets and turns on it and I immediately thought,
"Nobody told me I had to get a clip for my helmet to hang directions so I can read them hands-free?!"
"They don't expect me to let go of the handlebars, grab this out of my pocket, and read it while I'm trying to balance?!
"Wait! We are going to be riding on Sunset Blvd.?! with cars?!"

Coach Rad, who should be named Coach Awesome, gave us newbies some tips:
"Don't brake with only the front brake - you'll flip!"
"Watch out for the crap in the road from the windstorms last night, those little palm things can take you out!"
I started to feel cocky that I wouldn't make THAT mistake (as I'd already made it when I was 9 - OUCH!).
We slowly got on the road and started our first downhill of the ride.

There are some people that don't like uphill, others that don't like downhill. I'm of the first breed. I don't mind the downhill because I figure the faster I go a) the workout will end sooner b) the uphill side may be easier if I get farther up the hill before I have to pedal c) I feel like Lance Armstrong even though he's pedaling at his 90rpm while I'm sitting there with my feet out at both sides, streamers fluttering off my handlebars, and my pedals rotating faster than I could ever keep up. Not quite, but that's how it feels.

At the bottom of the hill, and after a successful unclip and reclip while crossing a street, we regrouped. "This, Team, is the first hill! You should be in the middle gear, in the front, the easiest in the back (which one is that?!)" Another mentor mentioned that we should try to avoid the "Granny Gear" because we'll regret it. Since I don't know what it is, I figure I won't be using it. The first hill was fairly gradual going up a hill until the veeeeery last turn. We had to go wide and then drastically ascend the last bit. I was ready for a break so thankfully, we regrouped at the top of the first hill. Again, I successfully unclipped and put my foot on the curb.

Guess what folks, hill #2 is a fairly steep descent and then a really sharp ascent and you want to be pedaling on the descent because if you all of a sudden start on the ascent you can either throw or break your chain! My awesome mentor Carlos gave us some amazing words of wisdom, which I totally appreciated and promptly forgot after he said them because I was back in my "Roll forward, pedal at 3pm, toes flip over the pedal, keep moving, clip in front, don't slow down, then press to click in the rest" mode.

We rode to the end of the street and I was excited to see that on Ironteam, we don't just use chalk writing on the street to mark our path, we have authentic yellow film production signs with arrows to guide us! Yah, we're the Ironteam, that's right!! Again, I rode down that hill, hoping that if I flew down the hill, that I could coast almost all the way to the top (like I did in 7th grade riding through Hillcrest in San Diego to go to Jr. High). Well, we're playing with the big boys now. That hill was so steep that all my speed was sucked into the ground by about 1/3 of the way up. I seriously didn't know how I was going to get up that hill, my speed was being taken from me with every rotation of the pedals BUT my alternative would be to stop on the hill and somehow unclip while trying not to fall, NO THANKS! I pushed with my whole body with each leg stroke and somehow got to the top of that hill. When we regrouped again, my heart was pumping big time - I'd beaten Chainbreak Hill!

This next part is part truth, part speculation because I don't remember the whole accident. We regrouped again and after yet another successful unclipping, I was resting comfortably against the curb, we were chatting about how we are going to go a little bit farther up, very gradually this time, then leave the neighborhood as we head out to Sunset where we cannot ride any more than 2 next to each other and really we should go single file. While it's downhill, we shouldn't go to fast because we'll have a turn at the bottom of the hill. When the coaches finished talking, a CA earthquake with a seismic measurement of 8.0 happened knocking me off my feet and... OK, fine, really I somehow lost my balance slightly and started falling away from the side that had a free foot to catch me so I was done in, and hit two other people on the way down, but they didn't get knocked over. The rest of the group took off, I got up and back on the bike, Coach Rad, fixed my bent brakes and I was off! I caught up to the pack as quickly as I could on the downhill.

Turns out Sunset wasn't the scariest part. After one more uphill that either they forgot to mention, or I forgot to listen, we hit San Vicente. We had to worry about a) moving cars, in or on the side of the street, b) car doors, c) those palm things, d) other bikers, e) turn lanes (where the heck to the bikers go?), and f) a bike lane about 18" wide. Still it was the home stretch, so it felt great!

We got there, regrouped again and they said "Congratulations, you're going again!" Not just once but twice! The cool thing was that despite the hills, at least we knew we could make it, what to expect, etc. In addition to our increasing confidence, I felt tough because by then, my knees looked as you saw above.

The second time around, there were a few changes a) they encouraged us to keep going after the hills, no panting on the side of the road because it's bad for our hearts to go from pumping so fast and then stop, b) I noticed that we were riding right by Shanna Moakler and Travis Barker's old house (Even Irongirls have a reality show weakness), c) I actually stood up and pedaled, despite thinking there was no way I'd be able to do that at all, but the alternative is falling over flat, d) I got up to 22 mph on the downhill (while pedaling, not just free-falling), e) I had a moment where I couldn't unclip and was slowing down to a stop, but when the bike threatened to topple, my instinct kicked in and pedaled me forward so I had more time to release my foot - YAY! VICTORY!

This time I headed back to get my jacket because I figured I was done, gotta get back to the kids and onto our afternoon obligations when "Oh crap, I do have time to go around again." I stalled a bit to wait for Meghan. I was whining to Coach Paul that "This is only the 2nd time that I've ridden the bike, sort of" and he flat out said "Well you should have been riding more!" which is exactly what I needed to hear. Irongirls aren't whiners! Meghan came around and was a great motivator, but I warned her, I could be cursing for the duration of the ride.

The third time around, we got up the first hill, got half of the way up Chainbreak Hill, and I did successfully unclip and walk it up the rest of the hill. Then we got back on the bikes and I noticed that my bike was rattling - FLAT TIRE! I immediately hopped off, pulled out my tools (which I'd thankfully walked back to my car, in my awkward bike shoes, to retrieve that morning), I successfully got the back and more complicated wheel off the chain and bike, as I pulled out my handy-dandy tire remover piece, it wasn't working. Thankfully at that moment, shining hero Mike pulled up! He had the right tools and the kindness to help me out.

We had some difficulties with the tire still, and thankfully, Ironteam has a SAG vehicle which came to rescue us as well. The tire got changed, we were on our way back to the group! All of the patient support staff were waiting for us, smiling, when we got back, they're so awesome!

After the ride, it was time for the team to go to tacos, and I rushed home to get Carson to a birthday party. Lauren and I went to get our nails done, she got black paint with glowing polka dots, me - I just wanted the foot massage.

Later this week, I set up my bike trainer so that I could ride in my apt when the kids are asleep, and it turned out to be louder than I thought. So I wrote my neighbors the option that I could ride in the late evening, crack of dawn, or for a sizeable donation - none of the above. They were very understanding, but we'll see after they hear it!

Goals and Rituals!

Happy New Year all! THIS is the year that I will beat Wildflower! Training is officially ON!

January marks the start of our more stringent 18-week training program. Up until this point we were focusing on technique, drills, and building a foundation. Our workouts are already at approximately 1/3 the distance that we'll do on race day, we just haven't done them all at one once yet. My runs are up to about 5 miles (no intervals needed yet, running about 2 minutes/mile faster than I was in August!), my highest biking day (out of 2 that I've done so far) was 18 miles, and our swims are around 2,000m.

Now we will start increasing the workouts, doing more than one workout in a day, and learning how to be triathletes!

One of the most important parts of training is to experiment with different things such as clothes, what you eat the night before or during the race, transitioning, etc. so that nothing is new on race day. From doing my running races, I've developed a few pre-race rituals. I do the carboloading, do extra hydrating the week before, get my clothes ready and get number onto my jersey the night before. I set two alarms, eat oatmeal the morning of, and get out there early to feed off of the adrenaline of the crowd.

I even have rituals for the night before Saturday practice (which is usually a larger or more challenging workout). My ritual is to make sure I haven't eaten anything too crazy the day before, and then to stay up late the night before worrying about it. This is a habit that has carried over from my previous Team In Training seasons. I've only been to two of the IronTeam Saturday practices so far, one was a run and one was my first biking workout with a tire-changing clinic. Tomorrow is my first time riding with clips as we do our first big hill challenge, plus it's my first time riding in the big pack in real traffic. While I passed my parking lot test today, doing 45 minutes of clipping in and out, I'm still here at 1:48am watching Jamie Durie create an Outdoor Room, wishing I were in Bali and trying to keep my mind off of tomorrow's ride.

For marathon, this plan was alright because rolling out of bed, showing up to practice and not really waking up until 1/3 of the way into the run was fine, but I only had to put one foot in front of the other. For Tri, especially at this stage, nothing is simple, nor is it second nature - it's all new and requires a lot of thought! I know it's not the smartest thing to stay up late then get up and try to have my best wits about me for the challenge ahead of me, but at this point, my rational mind isn't in charge. The silly thing is, I know that in the past, at the end of every workout I was worrying about, I'd say "I can't believe how great this felt, I can't believe I was stressed about it!"

My first goal for this season is to overcome that ritual. Instead of being stressed or worried about the process, I'm going to hit it head on, and be prepared to do so with a great night's sleep and a positive attitude.

My second goal for this season is to improve my running time for my upcoming marathon in the fall, and as you can tell, I'm well on my way with that! I'm super excited at the progress so far and can't wait to see how much of an improvement occurs by the end of the season. Part of that is due to the cross-training, which in turn has strengthened my core. I'd heard all along that if you really want to get in shape to try a Tri, and they aren't kidding! It's only been about 8 weeks and I feel and see drastic differences in my body.

My third goal for the season is to form a more routine schedule. Doing this training while working and being a single mom requires a lot of tightly fit scheduling to ensure that nobody suffers and nothing slips through the cracks. It's something that I crave and hate all at the same time. Part of me is really resisting being that scheduled down to the minute, but the other part of me knows that I will be able to relax and be more in the moment if I know it's all got its time and space.

My last, but not least, goal is to accomplish something large while raising a large amount of money to find a cure for blood cancers! For me, the ritual of giving is very important. No matter what this economy is doing, people are getting diagnosed every day with blood cancers. These are indiscriminate, aggressive, brutal diseases that people must endure harsh treatments for in order to save their lives. Especially in this time of a tough economy, when budgets and public assistance is being reduced, we need to help fund a cure, and fund the efforts to improve the quality of life for current patients and their families. When I did my first Team In Training event, I had no personal tie to blood cancers. By the time I was training for my 3rd event, a family member had been diagnosed with blood cancer. Since then, I've gone to work for The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, and have met and lost so many honored teammates along the way, how can I not continue to do events with TNT?

Yes, I skated around the obvious goal of finishing the race in one piece and within the time limits (if they exist, not sure yet). However, as some people say, the journey is more important than the destination, and I'm embracing the journey!

It's a Fight: Iron Team vs. Marathon Team

It's only the end of the first month and I'm already noticing some differences between Marathon and Triathlon - besides the obvious two extra sports. At work we were prepping for the new summer season and discussing the differences between the sports and it came up that Marathons are the beginning point for new endurance athletes (yah, I chuckled inside too at the thought that a Marathon is what a beginner chooses to tackle - until I remembered that I'd done just that just a few years ago).

The Marathon team is a very social and supportive environment - you break into pace groups and at the big day you will probably run with your pace group. You get to know them over the course of the season and may even continue running with them after your event.

Triathlons, on the other hand, are more of an independent sport. The team practices together, and sure, we are getting to know each other as we keep passing each other in the pool or on the route - and a whole handful of us already knew each other coming in - but come race day, there is a good chance we'll all spread out and never see a teammate except at transition or at the end cheering each other in.

At first, I did a mini mental melt-down thinking, how am I going to get through this without my girls (and a few boys)?! Then I realized that being on the Iron Team means, I can't be a whiny wimp! Irongirls won't sit and whine that they can't do this without their friends - they'll find a way!

Then I remembered the strength that having a marathon under my belt carried. I felt like a superhero brandishing my bib if the occasion needed it. "You can't talk to me that way - I ran a marathon!" "I can't stop running after a mile, suck it up - I just did 26.2!" "I endured hours for the marathon, I can tolerate a 1-hour client meeting."

Now, since I joined Iron Team, there is a certain level I personally am trying to live up to (or certain boundaries I'm trying to push) to prove that underneath my exterior is an irongirl waiting to get out - that I'm not an accidental endurance athlete. So far, the results are positive. This week I actually missed working out - I got irritable and grouchy from not working out - ask my kids! When I got out for a run, I started out planning to do 3-4 miles, and 10:1 intervals (10 min running, 1 minute walk). I kept telling myself at every landmark: "Do I want to turn back, or keep going? An Irongirl will not stop here, she'll keep going!" I'm liking the fighting spirit that is emerging here! I also ran faster, with longer intervals - I only walked 4 minutes in a 80 minute run. OK, I can't take all the credit for that - I had to get back to my car before I got a ticket.

Then, because my mind won't just stop there, I remembered a saying that I read during my last Team In Training event: Not all heroes wear capes! Only 1% of the world's population will ever complete an endurance event. Only a fraction of those people will do it while raising money to fight blood cancers for Team In Training. To be surrounded by these heroes on the team is inspiring and humbling! Finding a cure is a really good reason to Fight On (Go Trojans!) and keep on swimming, biking, and running - One mile at a time!

That's not to say that I don't still fight with myself for the first 30 minutes of every run - although tonight, the battle didn't last as long. That's not to say I don't still fight with myself about whether or not to even go for a run when it's f-f-f-freezing windy cold outside (for us weather-wimp Californians). But it's a battle that I'm winning more often and easily.

It doesn't matter how we get there or what sport we choose. We're making the lives of others better, we're making our lives better through the physical and mental growth, and the people around us. I look forward to the path and the exercise! We're all on the same team! Go Team!

P.S. In an even bigger battle this past week: Our Iron team has a large number of Bruins and Trojans on the team! Now that the game is over, I can finally talk to my Bruin mentor - even though he may not want to talk to me due to the final score!

Time - Is it on my side?

So how is this work, life, workout balance going to mesh? This week is brutal and it's not over yet.
Monday - Soccer practice
Tuesday - Scout pack meeting
Wednesday - Scout den meeting
Thursday - Soccer practice
Friday - Soccer game - hopefully we'll win and go to playoffs (no pressure!)
Saturday - Hike, then Queen Mary for 9 year old's birthday
Sunday - Craft Fair
That's just the evenings! Not to mention that I had a sick child, the roll-over to a new season at work which requires a load of time-sensitive stuff. I'm not fitting in the workout yet this week. After staying up til 2am, I'm going to wake up at 6:30am to get in a run so I can say I did SOMETHING this week. I'll get a swim in there between now and Sunday but I will likely wind up avoiding my nemesis the bike til next week because it's just not fitting in.

Timing is one of the reasons for doing this race now, on both conscious and subconscious levels. I can't help but be reminded by the ringing of the bell today - I'm halfway around the year to my big round birthday. While I didn't come in saying that my birthday was a reason I'm doing the event now, I know it was one of the grains of rice (I'm asian) that tipped the scales. When I did my first marathon, I chose that one because it was on my birthday, the 10th year of the run, and in my home town, so I know I put significance on dates, round numbers, and proximity (although this race isn't really that close to home). On the conscious level, I know that I wanted to do a Tri event in the spring because I plan to do the Nike Women's Marathon again with my girlfriends as a celebration of that same round birthday and I didn't want to be training for a tri when I should be training for the marathon. Lastly, as some people know, I work for LLS and we are not allowed to train and fundraise for an event until we've been there for a year - which is a smart decision as the jobs can be complicated and take a while to learn well. So the timing of hitting my year mark helped push me forward to this event.

I'm not doing the event to try to meet any minimum time, purely to finish and have a great time doing it. I recently learned that once people put in 10,000 hours with something that they are an "expert" so I'm hoping after spending that many hours over a few years of doing events, that even if I'm not an "expert", I'll at least enjoy doing the activities just to do them and not have to sign up for events to push my butt out the door for a run.

I try to save time whenever I can too and multi-task when possible. I think my best example of that was a night when I was in Round Table Pizza and was there to buy pizza to take to my son's den meeting. We raised money for my son's school, fed the scouts at the same time, plus while I was there I asked if I could post Team In Training flyers, so I was canvassing at the same time. I'm still trying to figure out how to multi-task my training, but perhaps I'll just be satisfied when we start doing Bricks (I'm told they're called this because our legs will feel like bricks - swell!) and get to do 2 sports for the cost of one babysitter!

For now, after this week, time is on my side. I have from now until May 1st to prepare and we are taking little baby steps. The season is rolling now, though, and starting to pick up speed and I need to make sure to stay current and present so my teammates know who I am, and are beating my time on my bike!

You are now leaving your comfort zone - Part I

The first thing to say is Meghan is my favorite person EVER for making me sign up for this event! I have been obsessing over each sore muscle (which is due mostly to me not stretching properly after a workout) waiting to see if it leads to new definition in my physique!

The first few weeks have been fantastic, although I have to admit my attendance has been spotty. We have never ending (but always exciting) soccer going on, plus the holidays, and had a few sick children sprinkled in. So far I've run when I can, and dived back into a pool on regular Tuesday Team swim workouts!

As I mentioned before, I haven't been a swimmer in 20+ years. It hurts just to be able to say that and I was FREAKING OUT that my muscle memory would have alzheimer's. I swear I would have backed out of the first swim practice had I not arranged to carpool with Yvonne, a sentimental favorite because she was with me on my first marathon experience. She and I nervously chattered about the whole thing, our whole anticipated training, the event that will come at the end, and when we were pulling into the parking lot, I had a huge weight on my chest that I thought would make me sink to the bottom of the pool.

I decided to opt for the beginner lane at first because again, after 20+ years, I wasn't optimistic (which is so unlike me!). We spent the first day doing drills, working on form, kicking our butts off, and I LOVED being back in the water. Instantly I decided that when this ordeal, I mean event, is over and I've grown up to be an Irongirl, I will retire to being a swimmer who sometimes runs.

I did a few workouts in the beginner lane, then decided to try out Cam's Sunday SCAQ Practice. Cam is the husband of Debby, one of the crazy (but in the best way) full Ironman participants whom I've known since she danced her way into our hearts running her first marathon last year. I love Cam, but his workout was scary to me because well, he's hardcore! I was excited to find that although my arms felt like they were going to fall off, and I thought I'd die after my first 100m non-stop (4 lengths of the pool) I held my own and felt great! (I know, you're asking at this point why I consider this fun?!) So before I pulled my car out of the parking lot that day, I texted to ask Coach Paul if I could try out to move up to the faster lane in Tuesday workouts.

Tuesday came, I moved up into the faster lane - although I still have a little "cheat" that I swim behind a slower swimmer sometimes to allow me a few extra breaths before heading out for the next length of the pool. Turns out I am fast enough for the speedier lane, but I totally have to rework how I stroke, breathe, kick and hold my head to be able to be more aquadynamic for the event. I'm looking forward to the challenge and this week, my goal is to not breathe in any water when holding proper form. :)

I'm SO thankful too that Meghan's mom and dad offered to watch Carson and Lauren during the swim workouts that are so close to their house. The kids have taken to her folks after the initial visit and are looking forward to the next visit.

So far, I am a duathlete (biathlete?), continuing to run and picking up swimming (on that Sunday, I even did both - running 4 miles after the swim workout - and then had such a splitting headache I was convinced that I'd given myself an aneurysm by taking on too much too early but really it was that I hadn't had my normal dose of a Triple Skinny Latte by noon and my head was angry about that.

Speaking of headaches, let's talk bicycles. I'm trying to get a bicycle without spending too much money, but at the same time, it has to be comfortable enough for me and my shortness for 50+ miles - and apparently, I'm shorter than I've been boasting. It's partially finding a financially conservative investment of a bike, but partially it's the sport that scares me the most. I won't be at practice this coming Sat. because I'll be on a Team In Training HIKE! so that gives me 2 weeks to work this out in my head so that next Sat. the 12th, I can show up ready to ride!

Sarah signed up for what?!

It was a Monday like any other Monday. Meghan sweetly called me on the phone and asked if I'd be in the office so she could come in and sign up for an event. I'd been toying with the idea of signing up for Desert Tri - sprint (aka shorter) distance - but Meghan can be awfully sweet and persuasive and by the time she left, I was shaking, but smiling, and filling out the forms myself for Wildflower Triathlon - a half ironman triathlon.

The idea of a triathlon exhilarates me. I have done a couple of marathons, done many more half-marathons, but the idea of the halves just wasn't scaring me enough to train regularly. I needed to step up my game...

Wait, back it up... I'm talking like I'm an elite athlete, I barely call myself a runner, because although I've covered many miles through the last few years, I don't look like a runner, I don't even like running! I have a really loud internal (usually) fight with myself for at least the first 30 minutes of any run. While I do get the sense that if it's been a while since I've been out there pounding the pavement that I might pound something or someone else, we'll just say, running doesn't come naturally.

Now Team In Training is the most well-rounded training program and I highly recommend it on an athletic and philanthropic level. Still, I won't lie, when the training schedule said cross-training day, I'd cross my legs and catch up on facebook updates or episodes of Grey's Anatomy.

People always told me that if you really want to get in shape, try a Tri! So that was the start of my thought process. The rest is a blur, void of all logical thought, but here I am signed up to do 70.3 miles total in the water, on a bike and on my feet and damn, I am excited for the journey, the challenges, the victories, and the finish line!

...and then I remembered that the last thing that Meghan wanted me to sign up and train with her for I wound up running alone because she was busy being a rockstar paddler! Oh Crap, what have I done?!