I just returned from my favorite Marathon of all time. And I've done quite a few. The Big Sur International Marathon. The race is well organized. The volunteers are great. The scenery is unbelievable. I feel like I'm in a dream world. I told my friends and colleagues that when I ran it in 2007 I was in a Zen like state for 26.2 miles. This year was different, but special as well.
I was suppose to compete in the Wildflower Long Course Tri next weekend. So I planned a nice taper / break from Ironteam training by organizing a Relay team from work for the Big Sur Marathon. As my readers will know, I injured myself 2 weeks ago in a ski accident. I tore my MCL and ACL !!! in my right knee. Ouch!
So I wasn't sure I could still participate in the marathon relay. But thanks to the support of my teammates and their understanding, I walked the last part of the relay and crossed the finish line with another teammate, our hands held up in triumph. We completed the marathon in 4:27:19
This race was special because it was a team effort where my teammates had to carry my load, because of my injury. We had a wonderful team "carbo-loading" party the night before the race at a home in Pebble Beach. And of course the beautiful scenery combined with the cheering crowds makes this 2009 edition of Big Sur precious.
Monday, April 27, 2009
Friday, April 24, 2009
Hanging out with the Team
I joined the Ironteam at the last swim practice before Wildflower. It was nice to see everyone again. Its been hard being away the last couple weeks. After their swim practice, which was very entertaining to watch, we went over to Backstage Bar to relax and watch the end of the Lakers game.
Everyone on the team looked great. They are ready for Wildflower. I wish I could join them. However the bad news is that I do have an ACL tear. My options are to live without my ACL which would limit the type of activities that I could do from now on. No more skating, skiing, basketball, soccer, hiking or running on rough trails, basically nothing that would twist my knees. I can still swim, bike, and run in a straight line.
Option 2 is to go for Vineman without the surgery and then afterwards have the surgery. The downside is that I would be at risk of re-injuring the knee in a freak accident and possibly causing more damage. The fear of this happening might impair my performance in any future race or even training session.
Option 3 have the surgery now, go through rehab of perhaps 6 months, and come back in time to join next year's Ironteam. Coach Paul said the Ironteam will always be there, and he would have the surgery. My friend, Louis, advises me to go for the surgery, because I will have many more marathons and triathlons in my future.
Option 3 is sounding like the best choice. What do you think?
Everyone on the team looked great. They are ready for Wildflower. I wish I could join them. However the bad news is that I do have an ACL tear. My options are to live without my ACL which would limit the type of activities that I could do from now on. No more skating, skiing, basketball, soccer, hiking or running on rough trails, basically nothing that would twist my knees. I can still swim, bike, and run in a straight line.
Option 2 is to go for Vineman without the surgery and then afterwards have the surgery. The downside is that I would be at risk of re-injuring the knee in a freak accident and possibly causing more damage. The fear of this happening might impair my performance in any future race or even training session.
Option 3 have the surgery now, go through rehab of perhaps 6 months, and come back in time to join next year's Ironteam. Coach Paul said the Ironteam will always be there, and he would have the surgery. My friend, Louis, advises me to go for the surgery, because I will have many more marathons and triathlons in my future.
Option 3 is sounding like the best choice. What do you think?
Friday, April 17, 2009
Ski Accident
The worst possible thing that could happen, happened. I went skiing in Calgary / Banff over the kids' spring break and hurt my Right knee. It happened on the last day in the late afternoon. I wanted to go on an intermediate run after spending the day on beginner slopes with the kids. I had gone down a couple intermediate runs on a previous day. However, it had been almost 13 years since my last ski trip. And I realize now, I am not as flexible or balanced as I was back then. Even in my younger days, I was never a good skier. So with the warm weather as the afternoon progressed the snow got more icy and slippery. I tried to come down slowly by going in S shapes down the slope. Then my right ski got caught in the hard icy snow and as I fell my ski boot would not release from the ski. I felt my R knee twist and "pop". I flipped and finally came to a stop. Fortunately the ski patrol came by and got me down with a sled. I went back to the hotel and rested and iced the knee. This happened on the same Saturday my Ironteammates were out on their 65 mile ride. I wish I was with them.
I returned to LA the next day, and even hobbled around and went to work on Monday. I got checked out at the hospital by my Ortho colleagues. I got my MRI and the news is not good.
I tore my MCL and possibly my ACL too. The MCL will heal in about a month, but if the ACL is involved I'm probably looking at surgery. The treatment now is rest, ice, compression, elevation, and Motrin. I will get reevaluated next week. My rehab will consist of swimming and biking, and elliptical machine, but no running. Wildflower is wiped out now, and Vineman is a question mark.
I talked to Arkady, coach Paul, and Rachel, our campaign manager. They all want me to get well and participate in the rest of Vineman training and hopefully I can swim, bike, and walk Vineman. Worse case scenario, I will transfer most of my funds raised and apply it to next year's Vineman.
It's hard adjusting to the transition from training so hard for Wildflower ( I completed the swim, bike, and run workouts in Canada at high altitude and even ran 14 miles in 2 hours the day before the accident) And now being on bedrest with my foot elevated and an ice pack on my knee!
I'm pretty depressed. I always took running for granted. It was so effortless, unless I was pushing 7 min/ miles. Now a fear I have is that I won't get back to my previous running form with a bum knee. I still dream of becoming an Ironman. I still dream of qualifying for the Boston Marathon someday. Hopefully with the support of family, friends, coaches, and teammates, my dreams will still be realized one day.
I returned to LA the next day, and even hobbled around and went to work on Monday. I got checked out at the hospital by my Ortho colleagues. I got my MRI and the news is not good.
I tore my MCL and possibly my ACL too. The MCL will heal in about a month, but if the ACL is involved I'm probably looking at surgery. The treatment now is rest, ice, compression, elevation, and Motrin. I will get reevaluated next week. My rehab will consist of swimming and biking, and elliptical machine, but no running. Wildflower is wiped out now, and Vineman is a question mark.
I talked to Arkady, coach Paul, and Rachel, our campaign manager. They all want me to get well and participate in the rest of Vineman training and hopefully I can swim, bike, and walk Vineman. Worse case scenario, I will transfer most of my funds raised and apply it to next year's Vineman.
It's hard adjusting to the transition from training so hard for Wildflower ( I completed the swim, bike, and run workouts in Canada at high altitude and even ran 14 miles in 2 hours the day before the accident) And now being on bedrest with my foot elevated and an ice pack on my knee!
I'm pretty depressed. I always took running for granted. It was so effortless, unless I was pushing 7 min/ miles. Now a fear I have is that I won't get back to my previous running form with a bum knee. I still dream of becoming an Ironman. I still dream of qualifying for the Boston Marathon someday. Hopefully with the support of family, friends, coaches, and teammates, my dreams will still be realized one day.
Sunday, April 5, 2009
Long Beach Swim / Bike / Run
A nice 5 hour workout yesterday in Long Beach. We had great weather, a bit chilly at first, but warmer later on. Our Ironteam started with an open water swim. We had drills where we run into the water, swim out to a buoy and back to shore. Run along the beach towards the next buoy, jump in the water and repeat the swim to this next buoy. This repeated itself several times, and finally we could just swim from the last buoy back to the first and then swim back to our transition zone. The swim was fine. The getting in and out of the water and running / walking on the beach was tough. I started to get light headed and winded from this. Going from supine swimming position to upright running position causes increased workload on the cardiovascular system. Repeating this over and over in a short period of time was definitely a strain on the system.
When the swim was over in about 30 minutes, I felt that I could swim for another 30 minutes.
The bike was fine. Pretty flat terrain although we did have a strong headwind going out. Compared to Wildflower, Mulholland, and Latigo this ride was rather boring.
After a 3 hour ride, it was back to transition and then off for a 1 hour run along the beach path. I felt strong and could easily run another hour or two.
After lunch and a nap, I went to work the night shift at the hospital. Despite the nap, I still felt tired. Oh well, I have a nice Spring Break coming up. I'm going up to Canada next week for skiing and I'll try to get the rest of my workouts in too.
When the swim was over in about 30 minutes, I felt that I could swim for another 30 minutes.
The bike was fine. Pretty flat terrain although we did have a strong headwind going out. Compared to Wildflower, Mulholland, and Latigo this ride was rather boring.
After a 3 hour ride, it was back to transition and then off for a 1 hour run along the beach path. I felt strong and could easily run another hour or two.
After lunch and a nap, I went to work the night shift at the hospital. Despite the nap, I still felt tired. Oh well, I have a nice Spring Break coming up. I'm going up to Canada next week for skiing and I'll try to get the rest of my workouts in too.
Monday, March 30, 2009
Ironteam Wildflower Training Weekend
I spent the weekend in beautiful Lake San Antonio in Monterey County, about an hour from Paso Robles, CA. It was a 4.5 to 5 hour drive from LA. I drove up Friday morning with my Ironteammate Edmund. Having a carpool buddy makes the drive less monotonous and we talked about work, training, fundraising, and families. We had great weather with daytime temp in 70's and 40's at night. Food was OK as well. A group from our LA Ironteam cooked the meals as a fundraiser. $55 was well worth it. I appreciated not having to deal with the extra stress and headache of meal preparation and clean-up. The weekend was also a chance to talk to the other teammates and mentors. Just hanging out by the campfire in the afternoon and evenings was enjoyable.
We shared our campsite and training activities with a few other Team in Training groups from California. Some groups were training for the Wildflower Olympic distance race, and others for the Wildflower Long Course (Half-Ironman). We had groups from LA, Silicon Valley, Central Cali, Sacramento, and Monterey County. I believe the Silicon Valley group did the entire Long Course on Saturday. They were partying all night Saturday. That's where the ear plugs came in handy. Our LA Ironteam did the swim and 56 mile bike on Saturday. We ran 13.1 miles on Sunday.
Now to the specifics: the swim started early Saturday morning. There was a nice mist hanging over the Lake. It was a beautiful sight and I would have appreciated it more if I was in my hiking outfit. Instead I was stripped down bare-chested with just my tri shorts and trying to climb into my wetsuit. I remembered Body Glide this time and I applied it liberally. Some of my teammates forgot and suffered rubber burns on their neck afterwards. I learned my lesson. ( See my earlier post about rubber burns and other misadventures...)
Jumping into a cold lake was no fun. I was nervous, but not as nervous as I was with my first tri at the Desert Triathlon earlier this month. We had a warmup swim to the first buoy and back. I could feel my heart beating fast and my breathing pattern was rushed. I told myself to relax, but I still didn't feel entirely comfortable. Then after the warmup, it was a quick pep talk from the coaches and we were off. I swam a little bit aways from the other swimmers. I found my own rhythm and just followed the other swim caps ahead of me. It worked great. Before I knew it, I was at the first buoy, passed the second, and then the third. I pictured myself as a fish during the swim and concentrated on pulling water. The return to the pier was much quicker than the swim out. I only swallowed water towards the end as I was trying to avoid another group of swimmers swimming out from the pier. (They were from a different Team in Training group.)
The bike was a relief. Anything out of the water is a relief for me. I just settled into a rhythm. The coaches had scared me with their description of the Wildflower Long Course the evening before. It is a back-end loaded course. The race really begins after mile 41, with "Nasty Grade".
So during the first portion of the ride, I tried to save my legs. I didn't go all out, especially since this is a training weekend. I tried to remember the different sections of the course. Dealing with traffic on the roads was no fun, but at least on race day the roads will be closed. Some of the roads were very rough. My forearms were rattling. From about mile 20 to 30, I spent most of the time on my aero-bars. I finally started to get more comfortable with breathing in this position. I definitely picked up a couple mph in the aero position. I saw wildlife, including 3 vultures over a headless carcass of a boar. I saw some pretty orange wildflowers. We passed by several vineyards. Finally I hit "Nasty Grade". It was steep, very steep. I was going at 4 mph. I kept the legs churning. It kept going and going, but the words of encouragement that some of the coaches and mentors had written on the road with chalk inspired me to keep going. Coach Paul was riding down the hill and giving me words of encouragement as I was going uphill. ( I learned that he rode up and down Nasty Grade numerous times to support the team) At this point in the day it was getting hot. I had sweat pouring down my face. I ride with a Camel-bak and my fluids were getting low. I had 1 water bottle left on my bike. It was a great relief to get to the top and see the aid station. This was the only station I stopped at during the ride. I refilled my Camel-bak with water and that water tasted so good! That short 2 to 3 minute break gave me the energy to power through for another hour to complete the ride. I was happy with my 3 hr 53min time.
Sunday morning run: Again a beautiful mist hung over the lake. It was a bit chilly at the start, but once I started running my body started to heat up. The run course was mostly off road on dirt trails through rolling terrain. There was a steep grade early in the run. Many people walked it, but I just kept chugging along. I live in a hilly area, so I've trained for hills. I enjoyed the run the most. I enjoyed the beautiful scenery. On the bike it's difficult to do that, since you're looking at the road ahead and watching out for traffic. There were no mile markers, so it was hard to pace myself. I just treated this as a training run and went by feel. I wanted to run faster than easy long run pace, but not at race pace. I tried to run a negative split, but I didn't know where the halfway mark was. I think I did pick up the pace towards the end. I finished in 1 hr 45 min for 12 miles; this included one restroom break and 1 waterstop to refill my water bottle at an aid station. ( I started my stopwatch after the first mile, which was a warmup mile with the entire team.)
I skipped the optional swim session after the run. I had to pack my camping gear, load the car, take a quick shower, and head back to LA. All in all, an action-packed weekend.
We shared our campsite and training activities with a few other Team in Training groups from California. Some groups were training for the Wildflower Olympic distance race, and others for the Wildflower Long Course (Half-Ironman). We had groups from LA, Silicon Valley, Central Cali, Sacramento, and Monterey County. I believe the Silicon Valley group did the entire Long Course on Saturday. They were partying all night Saturday. That's where the ear plugs came in handy. Our LA Ironteam did the swim and 56 mile bike on Saturday. We ran 13.1 miles on Sunday.
Now to the specifics: the swim started early Saturday morning. There was a nice mist hanging over the Lake. It was a beautiful sight and I would have appreciated it more if I was in my hiking outfit. Instead I was stripped down bare-chested with just my tri shorts and trying to climb into my wetsuit. I remembered Body Glide this time and I applied it liberally. Some of my teammates forgot and suffered rubber burns on their neck afterwards. I learned my lesson. ( See my earlier post about rubber burns and other misadventures...)
Jumping into a cold lake was no fun. I was nervous, but not as nervous as I was with my first tri at the Desert Triathlon earlier this month. We had a warmup swim to the first buoy and back. I could feel my heart beating fast and my breathing pattern was rushed. I told myself to relax, but I still didn't feel entirely comfortable. Then after the warmup, it was a quick pep talk from the coaches and we were off. I swam a little bit aways from the other swimmers. I found my own rhythm and just followed the other swim caps ahead of me. It worked great. Before I knew it, I was at the first buoy, passed the second, and then the third. I pictured myself as a fish during the swim and concentrated on pulling water. The return to the pier was much quicker than the swim out. I only swallowed water towards the end as I was trying to avoid another group of swimmers swimming out from the pier. (They were from a different Team in Training group.)
The bike was a relief. Anything out of the water is a relief for me. I just settled into a rhythm. The coaches had scared me with their description of the Wildflower Long Course the evening before. It is a back-end loaded course. The race really begins after mile 41, with "Nasty Grade".
So during the first portion of the ride, I tried to save my legs. I didn't go all out, especially since this is a training weekend. I tried to remember the different sections of the course. Dealing with traffic on the roads was no fun, but at least on race day the roads will be closed. Some of the roads were very rough. My forearms were rattling. From about mile 20 to 30, I spent most of the time on my aero-bars. I finally started to get more comfortable with breathing in this position. I definitely picked up a couple mph in the aero position. I saw wildlife, including 3 vultures over a headless carcass of a boar. I saw some pretty orange wildflowers. We passed by several vineyards. Finally I hit "Nasty Grade". It was steep, very steep. I was going at 4 mph. I kept the legs churning. It kept going and going, but the words of encouragement that some of the coaches and mentors had written on the road with chalk inspired me to keep going. Coach Paul was riding down the hill and giving me words of encouragement as I was going uphill. ( I learned that he rode up and down Nasty Grade numerous times to support the team) At this point in the day it was getting hot. I had sweat pouring down my face. I ride with a Camel-bak and my fluids were getting low. I had 1 water bottle left on my bike. It was a great relief to get to the top and see the aid station. This was the only station I stopped at during the ride. I refilled my Camel-bak with water and that water tasted so good! That short 2 to 3 minute break gave me the energy to power through for another hour to complete the ride. I was happy with my 3 hr 53min time.
Sunday morning run: Again a beautiful mist hung over the lake. It was a bit chilly at the start, but once I started running my body started to heat up. The run course was mostly off road on dirt trails through rolling terrain. There was a steep grade early in the run. Many people walked it, but I just kept chugging along. I live in a hilly area, so I've trained for hills. I enjoyed the run the most. I enjoyed the beautiful scenery. On the bike it's difficult to do that, since you're looking at the road ahead and watching out for traffic. There were no mile markers, so it was hard to pace myself. I just treated this as a training run and went by feel. I wanted to run faster than easy long run pace, but not at race pace. I tried to run a negative split, but I didn't know where the halfway mark was. I think I did pick up the pace towards the end. I finished in 1 hr 45 min for 12 miles; this included one restroom break and 1 waterstop to refill my water bottle at an aid station. ( I started my stopwatch after the first mile, which was a warmup mile with the entire team.)
I skipped the optional swim session after the run. I had to pack my camping gear, load the car, take a quick shower, and head back to LA. All in all, an action-packed weekend.
Sunday, March 22, 2009
Mulholland Hwy 60 mile ride
We had an intense 60 miler from Calabasas, over the Santa Monica Mountains National Rec Area, down to PCH in Malibu, and back over the mountains to Calabasas. I was told by my mentor that we climbed over 6000 feet. I covered this mountain terrain in a respectable 4.5 hours. The ride was challenging, but fun. The sense of accomplishment at the end of the ride made all the pain worth while.
The only downside was nearly getting clipped by a crazy motorcyclist early in the ride. Our Ironteam was riding in a pack. Early in the ride we were still bunched up. As we started going up a slight incline, I tried to pass a small group ( about 3 across). Our group was taking up the entire lane, and I passed to their left, but still on our side of the double yellow line separating from oncoming traffic. I can usually hear cars from behind, but this motorcyclist zoomed past from behind on the other side of the double yellow, but close enough to me so that I could feel the breeze go by. That sure woke me up. Needless to say my coaches were constantly reminding me to stay on the side of the road the rest of the ride.
Today I'm working a 24 hr shift at the hospital, so I'll get my 1hr 45 min run and swim session in tomorrow.
The only downside was nearly getting clipped by a crazy motorcyclist early in the ride. Our Ironteam was riding in a pack. Early in the ride we were still bunched up. As we started going up a slight incline, I tried to pass a small group ( about 3 across). Our group was taking up the entire lane, and I passed to their left, but still on our side of the double yellow line separating from oncoming traffic. I can usually hear cars from behind, but this motorcyclist zoomed past from behind on the other side of the double yellow, but close enough to me so that I could feel the breeze go by. That sure woke me up. Needless to say my coaches were constantly reminding me to stay on the side of the road the rest of the ride.
Today I'm working a 24 hr shift at the hospital, so I'll get my 1hr 45 min run and swim session in tomorrow.
Sunday, March 15, 2009
Latigo Canyon Ride, Malibu, CA
Yesterday was a fun workout. We had our biggest climb to date: Latigo Canyon in Malibu. This is a 2000 ft climb over 9 miles of switchbacks. Never too steep, but steady uphill. It makes for a nice hour to hour and 15 min climb. The reward is panoramic vistas, the feeling of accomplishment at the peak, and then the thrill of riding downhill at high speed. Going downhill was fun, mixed with a hint of danger. Tackling these curves at high speeds required hands on the brakes, and good balance between rider and bicycle. At one point, I approached a turn too fast and had to hit the brakes hard or else risk going over the edge of the road. That would not have been pretty. I made it safely back to the car and it was time for the run.
We ran up to the beautiful campus of Pepperdine University. Wow what a place to go to school. I would have had a hard time concentrating on my studies if I went there. How can you lock yourself away all day in a library when the beautiful ocean and grand trails and roads await? Well for a Saturday, the campus was remarkably quiet. Either the students were still sleeping in, or else they were out and about in the great outdoors. I did run into some students, probably Greek frats and sororities, running some kind of obstacle course set up in a field.
The highlight of my run was running with a couple of my Iron teammates on the Pepperdine track. We had a beautiful view of ocean and hills. We ran a mile and it turns out it was a 7 min mile. Not bad considering I wasn't running for time and was just enjoying the view.
Afterwards we got free 15 min massages from LA Sports Massage. They promote sports massage as therapy to-- Enhanced athletic performance - Fewer injuries - Restored flexibility and range of motion - Faster recovery from injury - Removal of lactic acid buildup. I felt good, but could have used a longer, perhaps 60 to 90 min, massage.
I can't wait to see what comes next in our training. Our Wildflower Training Weekend is coming up in just 2 weeks.
We ran up to the beautiful campus of Pepperdine University. Wow what a place to go to school. I would have had a hard time concentrating on my studies if I went there. How can you lock yourself away all day in a library when the beautiful ocean and grand trails and roads await? Well for a Saturday, the campus was remarkably quiet. Either the students were still sleeping in, or else they were out and about in the great outdoors. I did run into some students, probably Greek frats and sororities, running some kind of obstacle course set up in a field.
The highlight of my run was running with a couple of my Iron teammates on the Pepperdine track. We had a beautiful view of ocean and hills. We ran a mile and it turns out it was a 7 min mile. Not bad considering I wasn't running for time and was just enjoying the view.
Afterwards we got free 15 min massages from LA Sports Massage. They promote sports massage as therapy to-- Enhanced athletic performance - Fewer injuries - Restored flexibility and range of motion - Faster recovery from injury - Removal of lactic acid buildup. I felt good, but could have used a longer, perhaps 60 to 90 min, massage.
I can't wait to see what comes next in our training. Our Wildflower Training Weekend is coming up in just 2 weeks.
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