March 27-29, 2009: Wildflower Training Weekend

Writing postcards or blog... I'll take blog first.

Japan was awesome! I met up with my friends, ate great food, and ran a marathon... what else can I ask for? well more time!!! So you may ask... why come back so quickly? One word... training! I got back on the 24th (tue), took 2 days rest, then headed out to Lake Antonio for the Wildflower Training Weekend near San Luis Obispo.

Friday... getting up there.
Got there around 12 or so. Set up my tent and chill for the rest of the day. I made pasta for dinner. I bought 'individually' packaged spam for this weekend and my teammates went crazy with it... not because they want to eat it, but because they wonder how the heck will actually eat that stuff. Well, that's why you guys all have 6 packs and I don't.

Sat... swim, then bike 56mi
Got up at around 4am to avoid the restroom line. At 7 something we headed down the lake to swim for 40 minutes. I however, turned around early because the guy told me I should head back early. Well I did swim nonstop... it's just that I wasn't really going anywhere... oh well.

After the swim we headed out for the bike. First two miles it's fine. Then we have to go up to this monster. My legs were burning but I suck it up and got to the top. I really don't know how... I think my brain blocked that part of the memory because it was too painful. I had that Louis you should of !#@#$@#$ lose weight a lot time ago moment.

After that monster #1 we have some rolling hills... nothing too crazy... I don't know why but my average was kind of slow. Moving on, I am over it.

So few hours later I arrived to the big boy called nasty grade... I was talking to this one guy and he gave me some pointers... oh my god... my leg were burning!!! I wanted to stop but no one did... so I keep going at it. Finally... I got to the top. The coach told us there are few more hills but we should be ok. I stopped for several minutes on top of nasty grade to chill at the aid station. After a while I got back to my bike and start going up hill again.

The hill was steep but it seems easier because I just did nasty grade. Yes... it's weird... after you bike a hard hill other hills become easier.

la la la la la... that's what I was thinking in my leg. THEN... my leg started to cramp... both of them. I go oh crap... I quickly unclip my shoe so I am standing on one leg, I then unclip my other one. IT was cramping so bad I can't get off my bike... so I held on to my bike for a good few minutes. Holly crap! Finally I got the strength to get off my bike and I just sat on the side of the road. Since I don't have a lot of experience on thigh cramp so I just keep rubbing my thighs.

Here I am... in the middle of the road... bike on the side,sitting up with looking kind of lost. I definitely looked like one of those guy that crashed... just like a race car driver sitting on the grass after the crash... that's how I looked like.

So a few teammates passed by and they asked me if I am ok. I told them I had cramp and they kept going. Someone gave me 2 tablets that are supposed to be good for cramping. I know it will take a while to work. So do I give up? I only had 9 more miles to go and I finished nasty grade. I think I can call it a day. While my mind was going thru what I should do, Mentor Kelley showed up.

I told her what happened and she said she will stay with me for a while. I told her I am going to try. And if I am really in pain I will have the SAG car pick me up. I took a few minutes to walk around. Finally the cramp went away... at least temperoary. I got back to my bike and I continue. I go easy on the uphill just so I don't cramp again.

Several miles later, both of my legs cramped up again. This time however, Kelley helped me get off my bike. I walked around in pain... then try to stretch. Do I give up? No. I am so closed, I want to finish it. But more important, I decided to go on because I am only having cramps. On the other hand, My little friend Tyler are going thru Chemo. I told myself this is nothing compare to Chemo, so I got on to my bike and bike again.

So several miles later, I cramped again. Same old story... I got off my bike and try to walk. My thighs hurt like hell. Having passing teammates cheer for me and having mentor Kelley follow me definitely help with the metal aspect of the bike. After a good few minutes, I got on my bike and go again.

I finished.

Why did I cramp? Not enough Salt? Running Tokyo Marathon only 6 days prior? Sitting on the plane for hours? I have no clue. What I do know is, I now have doubt on the ride. On race day, I won't be comfortable until I finish the ride.

Great, now I have both the swim and the bike to worry about!

Sun... Run 13.1 mi, pack, and head home
Sunday was fine. I got up early and did the run. I ran very slow because I want to recover from Tokyo Marathon. I finished near 3 hours. The run is actually pretty easy to me. We'll see on raceday.

Tokyo March 22 (Sun): Tokyo Marathon - Race Report Part 2: Cheering-Performance

This is the link to my full gallery, click a picture to see my caption.

Tokyo March 22 (Sun): Tokyo Marathon - Race Report

The good thing about running a few marathons and many half-marathons is that you pretty much has everything down. Since it is going to rain I did an adjustment by putting on a under shirt and I put on my orange mountain hardwear rain cap instead of the regular one that I use.

As far as breakfast concern, I am one of those people that need to eat a big breakfast... since I didn't see any subway and I didn't like the look of those sandwiches in the convenience store, I voted for a large beef bowl at 5:30 AM in the morning. I told the server to take a picture for me and he was like... wow... you ate this before the marathon... hee hee. Hey... whatever works!


I got back to the hotel and gathered my stuff. Then I walked to the train station (10 minutes), took the train from Shibuya to Shinjuku, then walked another good 10 minutes to the starting line. The morning wasn't that cold but I know it's going to rain later in the day and that the wind is strong (actually gusted at time) so I decided to keep my arm warmer. I did some stretch and warmup before I go into the starting area.

Unlike most of the marathons and half marathons that I run where nonrunners can get to the starting area, this marathon has a good several blocks blocked for runners only. You have to show your BIBs to get in. I got in and go to the restroom. Skip the following paragraph if you don't want to read the potty porta report.

So apparently their potty portas are different than ours. I see 3 types during the race.
Type 1: Japanese Style - you actually don't seat on it... you know what I am talking about if you ever been to an Asia country
Type 2: Western Style - these are the one we use in the United States
Type 3: Man Only Urinal - The dimension is the same as what we use in United States...but this one has a Urinal in it and there is no door... so people can actually see your back when you pee... it's a good design where you don't have to wait as long... oh well let's just stop there.

I checked in my stuff soon after so I can warm up. I ran a bit and I felt great. I thought about breaking my PR but I just need to see what happen.

I walked around and took pictures of people with costumes. There is a park next to my corral so I went in there and play at the kids playground =P. As I was messing around I know this is going to be a tough race... not because of the course but because of the gusted wind. After standing around forever we actually started to move.

As I was making my way to the actually starting line I saw a guy with this guy and I talked to him for a second. I think Tyler would of love this picture. One thing I notice is that Japanese don't really use their cameras on the run... they use their phones instead... I guess that's why they have all these high tech phone... less to carry.


10M, 5M... off I go... there were a lot of people... I mean a lot of people cheering on the side line... all the side line was fence off so you feel like you are in this crazy marathon championship so something where they need to fence off people so you can run as fast as you can. When I did my test run several days back I know my GPS is off. I wasn't moving but it said I am doing like 30 minutes mile or something. So when I see that I am doing 7 minutes mile today I didn't freak out.

While I was waiting to start I needed to go pee... badly... so the first time I do after the start? to look for toliet. There are signs to tell you where the potty porta are. Also you can go to any 7-11 or toliet inside the Tokyo Metro train stations. I passed by two potty porta points because there are way too many people. I finally stopped like 1.5 miles in only to wait for 20 minutes just to pee. When I finally started running again there were hardly anyone left running. I started to run faster to catch up. It goes from a few people to a pocket of people... after a while I finally catch up with the main group. I think my time for the 5K is like 50 minutes or something. It was... the slowest time ever!

I seen people with costume... I seen people with costume at the sideline. There were a lot of performances and a lot of cheering going go... people were yelling 'Keep it up' in Japanese... and also 'Fight do' 'or 'Fight Doll'... well it's just Fight... but Japanese like to add 'do' after an English word? So the whole time people were yelling 'fight do, fight do, fight do'... and keep it up keep it up... it was amazing.

Beside checking out performances and people watching (with costume....etc), I spend a lot of time looking at restaurants. Since I am running in the cities there are restaurants everywhere... drooling!

I wanted this costume but I didn't have a chance to go look for it... it was a disappointment =(

With all these things going on, running by yourself prove to be an lonely experience. Don't get me wrong, I always run by myself... but usually I would chat with people next to me when I get bored. Also as much as I am having a lot of fun running in the city, it kind of also mess you up too. You see... when you run in the middle of nowhere (beach, trees...etc) you don't really have a sense of distance. You run and run... and you look at the time or the distance marker to see where you are. But with a city marathon, you passed by so many buildings it make you think that you gone a lot further than you ran. The fact that my watch is off and that the sign are in KM didn't help either. And yes... it started raining and there are gusted wind... I am ok with the wind because I got used to it when I hike... but the rain bother me. I would get hot in a minute and cold in another minute... should I take off my underarmor shirt??? No, I decided to keep it on, I rather be too hot than too cold. Plus if is rain harder I am sure I need that shirt.

While a millions thoughts going thru my head I saw two people 'walking' in front of me. Since I can read the Chinese in the Japanese language, I know the women in the pink vest is blind (or issue with seeing) and the guy said something like 'partner runner'. I ran pass them and say 'keep it up' in Japanese... you been hearing that for like 8km... I figure I know how to say it by now. I think it's a good idea because then people won't accidentally run into them... but in the 'Great' USA... who knows... people may say... this is discrimination... sigh...


I continue to run and I think I am on mile 10 or something. I looked at the other side of the run (where I ran several km back) and I saw this bus with some 'race judge' cars swapping the road. I was like ooohhh noooo I better run fast.

I can go a lot faster but I didn't want to. Why try to break my Nike Women's Marathon PR when I already took a 20 minutes restroom break. I continue to speed up just to make sure I don't get pick up by the bus.


By now I saw 2 team in training people. They are both from another state. They didn't wear the purple shirt but they called me out when I run pass them. The next several miles prove to be tough in a way that it's a out and back course... so you see the faster people on your right side. I am now at like 22km but when you look at the other side it was like 32km or something... deep inside you know it's only 10km... which is 6 miles... 1 bit over an hour... but for those of you who run... you know you can't do math when you are running... so the 22km - 32km seems like 10 miles to me.

Right before I get to Asakusa (where we pass the Kaminarimon), something amazing happened. I saw a group of runners in festival clothes dancing going to the Kaminarimon. There maybe a group of 20. I passed them before the 10km and I took a picture of them. Since I stop to go to restroom breaks and take pictures I found myself passing them again near Kaminarimon... I was like... wow... here is a clip of their performance below (please use firefox)... I am guessing they do that dance when they are near a temple???

Runners in Festival Clothes Dancing in front of the Kaminarimon.

Kaminarimon

fail attempt to take a picture in front of Kaminarimon =P

See... the whole course is fenced off... but there are various exit. I wanted to actually leave the course so I can take better videos of the performance... I didn't do it because I didn't want to get 'disqualify'... you know =P

So I am running and running and I still have a chance to finish faster than my PR (5:19). However I decided to slow down... what's the point of beating my time by like 1 minute? I want to enjoy this race, watch performances and do other stuff. The performance get excited when you take the time to stop and watch them.... so yes... I slow down and chill.

So now I am at maybe mile 23 and they are passing out egg custard cream bread and red bean one... omg... they are sooo good. Also I want to point out that the volunteers have different color jackets so you know what they are giving you. For example... the blue one is water, the orange one is sport drink...etc.

aid station

I saw these 3 Pandas like 3-4 times. I told them... 'amazing' in Japanese.

Do Your Best! Yes I will...

I am now near the end of the race and most people in my pocket are kind of dying... they are all either walking or running very slow. I feel ok! It's good to know that I can do better and totally compete the race.

So it was pouring near the end... but the performance continue. What I didn't realized at the time is that there were actually a lot more performance but some stopped because of their rain. Here is a scene near the finish line. It was amazing.

Performance near the end

So I finished... 5:50... I am not an alpha male so it doesn't bother me at all. If you minus the 20-30 minutes restroom breaks that I have... it's actually close to my Nike Women's Marathon PR. If I go fast today I can probably go under 5:00 hours... or at least be within 5:10... but why bother. I enjoyed the performance, the food, and high fiving people along the way... this is my way to enjoy the Tokyo Marathon. I will just need to break my PR in another race.

First order of business? Get Warm!!! I crossed the finish line and I am freezing my ass off. There were so many people at the finish line it took a while to get thru. I got my medal and I wrap the finisher towel around my head to keep warm. I claimed my checked bag and changed. I opened up the hand warmers and dried myself... After I finally got a bit warm, then I drink the recovery drink.

I skipped the 'finisher photo' because the line was too long. I did took a picture at this Amino-value finish line (they provided the sport drink).


So after all these time you think that you don't have to walk anymore? Nah... they make you walk to the family reunion are... it's kind of crazy because they have curtain set up and you basically have to get off one way... it make me feel like exiting the airport where your friends/families are waiting. I thought that was kind of funny.

The Marathon 'Airport' Exit

I had dinner with Steve and took a 20 minutes train ride back to the hotel. I took a shower and fell asleep.

My overall experience is very very good. The only thing that I don't like about this marathon is that I have to wait a long time for the restroom breaks... Don't get me wrong... they have a lot of break points where you can use the restroom... but I feel like they aren't enough =(

Go if you want
Good Food, Good Expo, A lot of People Cheering, People Watching

Skip if you want to
PR, hate running in the city, hate late start.

Tokyo March 21 (Sat): My 'Chill' Pre Race Sat

Today I have one mission and one mission only: Tunahachi

And it didn't disappointed. Their tempura is awesome.

http://www.tunahachi.co.jp/
住所：東京都新宿区新宿３－３１－８
電話：０３－３３５２－１０１２

After lunch I went to the bookstore to look for comic. I ended up buying topo maps around Mt Fuji area and cute bento cookbook. It was tough finding comic because the bookstore has 7 stories and I don't know which floor the comics are. It turned out the comic section is kind of huge they rent another building just for it... sigh... wasted of my time =(

Bumped into my friend at Shinjuku... we headed down to Harajuku but there is no performances on sat. I am totally sad!

As I was walking around my knee started to sore. See... I told you I will pay for the Anime Expo... I slow down and stretch often.

So I passed by this truck and they have an ad with live girls in it. I am assuming these girls are promoting their new singles?

Realizing I haven't have my Katsu Don in Japan... I went to yet another Tonkatsu place with Steve. The Katsu Don isn't that good and the Tonkatsu is nothing compared to Wako.






After I ate I headed by to the hotel and prepare for tomorrow.

Tokyo March 20 (Fri): Anime Expo + Eel Don + Dinner at my friend

So I went to the fish market before the Anime Expo. Found out the fish market is closed today because of a public holiday. Oh well I still got my sushi for breakfast.


After several train transfer I got to the Tokyo Big Sight again for the Anime Expo. The anime expo starts at 10 am. I was there at around 9 and there are already thousands of people ahead of me. No kidding... check out the picture before (there are probably 3X as many).


So after 1 1/2 hour of standing I finally got in. I know I will pay for this later because you are supposed to be off your feet days before a marathon.



Although this is not a 'toy' expo but there are showcase of toys. Some you can actually buy. I resisted. I guess it's good that I picked up hiking and triathlon as my hobbie because I can't really afford to buy toys like I used to... sad. I also saw display of anime that I used to watch when I was a kid. It brings back memories. I am also touched by the scene. Here I am... in the Tokyo Anime Expo. I always wanted to go to one of these expos in Japan and I am finally in one of them.


Nothing can complete an Anime Expo without show girls. There are anime characters everywhere but the show girls are one that got the most attention. There are people with big huge camea taking pictures of these girls.


After Anime Expo I took a train (well several) to hit up this Eel Don place that my friend talked about. It was pricy ($40) and it was good. I can't tell if is super good because I am not an Eel person. Sorry Kevin!


After the Eel Don I took an hour train ride to my friend Masa's house for dinner. I know I know... two dinners a night. He picked me up at the train station and drove us back to his house. And when I said a house... it's a house! Not one of those tiny apartments. It's 3 stories high! I was like wow I thought Japanese lives in small places.

There are only 3 of us but his wife made a crazy amount of food. I know I am gulity of eating the Eel Don before I come... but hey... We cannot possibly finish all these food. How you eat this is you take a piece of seaweed, put rice and fish on top of it, wrap it and eat it. Just like Korean BBQ all you can eat with the rice paper!!! I am going to try this at home one day.


We talked for a while and I had a lot of fun. I want to spend more time there but I started to fall asleep. I said good bye and they both took me back to the train station. I felt asleep at the train and barely made it back to the hotel... hee hee... 1 more day before the Tokyo Marathon.

Tokyo March 19 (Thur): Test Run + Tokyo Marathon Expo

So I got up this morning and ran several miles. I ran from Shibuya to Shinjuku and I felt great. I decided to take the JR train back to Shibuya. Wrong decision!!! I didn't realized it at the time but I was in the middle of the rush hour. And it didn't help being in Shinjuku station because it is the busiest train station in the world.

Wikipedia on Shinjuku Station

I got in, looked at the line of people waiting for the train and I question my ability to get into the train. I just ran several miles so I am sure I smell kind of funny. I wanted to actually exit the station and 'try' in an hour or two later. However I decided to suck it up and just go in like everyone else.

Once I am in the train I feel like I am in a can of sadine. People are all packed... literally... I kid not. The train pusher wasn't there to complete my experience. While I was at the train I make sure my hands are no where near the ladies. I don't speak Japanese and I don't have my passport with me... not a good combination.

I got back to the hotel and showered. I then head out to the Tokyo Marathon Expo. The plan is to pick up my package then head out to eat this special Eel Don that Kevin recommended. But guess what, I stayed for several hours.

There are several places where you can take different pictures (for free). Here is an example... and they didn't make this just for the runners. Anyone can line up and take the pictures!


There is also a section to show the course video with live explanation. There is also a section where you get to see old pictures that you will be running at various points. I think that was very neat.

So ya...so much about having the Eel Don. I ended up getting a bowl of ramen at the Tokyo Big Sight (Where the Expo located). As I walk out the Expo I found out the Tokyo Anime Expo will start Friday. Wowwwww!!! Louis!!! Once in a life time chance! You like Anime and there is an Anime Expo!!! You have to go... so I arranged my plan... Anime Expo Friday!

I got back to the hotel and met up with a friend for dinner. His name is Kalle. He is from Sweden and his English is very good.

We went to this place called wako (和幸) which is specialized in Tonkatsu (breaded fried food... usually pork). OMG... the food was so good and it was cheap!!! The pork literally melt in my mouth. It's was unreal.


We are supposed to meet up with another friend but I got sleepy so I have to end the night short... plus my stomach wasn't feeling well... =(

Tokyo March 18 (Wed): Singapore Airline is Awesome

I think I write too much junks on my blog so I am going to make it shorter. Hopefully you will have more fun reading it without getting bored.

Anyway, I picked Singapore airline this time because I want something nice. Good food, friendly service, YOUR OWN TV...etc

yay for Singapore Airline

When I got off the plane I was like WOW. Good Food, Friendly Service, On-demand videos/audios, video games, and they even serve ice-cream. I am sold.

Took me a while to find the hotel but I made it in one piece. It was 9PM then and I was a bit of hungry. I hurry down to this Sushi place that I wanted to try as the last order is at 9:45PM. Got there at 9:20PM and this is what I ordered. It's goodddd! I like the crab thing and the shrimp. Toro is also awesome.

梅丘寿司の美登利

http://www.sushinomidori.co.jp/index.html

More tomorrow

The Thank You for Reading Program

Well as you know I am going to Japan for the Tokyo Marathon and I am planning to send some postcards. If you are reading this, send me your address to louiskwan5 at hotmail dot com and I will try to mail you a postcard.

Come on Shawn Tris... I know you have it tough... let me send you a postcard...

One Step at a Time, The Road to Vineman, my teammates... all of you!

Louis

It's time to go International

what what? Yes. I am running the Tokyo Marathon. I am currently packing and hopefully I'll finish sometime tonight. Excited? Not really. I need to finish packing... after watching heroes.

I'll make my journey as interesting as possible and I'll try to report daily.

Food Food Food... here I come... wait... I should write about running right... hmm...

Louis is now a triathlete

It's now 11:40PM and I just got out from a coma (because of lack of sleep). I think it's a good time to recap what happen this weekend. What I did this weekend? I finished my first Olympic distance triathlon. The distance? 3/4 mile swim, 24 mile bike, and 6 mile run.

Friday
Lunch: I ate my Katsu Don (Japanese Style Pork Cutlet Rice Bowl) wishing for a good race.
Dinner: I went to Daikokuya wanting to eat another Katsu Don but I ended up eating the shredded Pork Bowl.

After my food I went home to pack. The plan was to do my 4 hours bike ride Sat then head out to La Quinta for Sunday. I did not finish packing until maybe 12 something in the morning.

Sat
Matt and I started riding our 4 hours bike at the San Gabriel River trail. We started at around 7:40AM and we rode for 4 hours. There was actually an Team Training out there at Pepperdine but it just didn't make sense for me to head west only to come back to the east.

After the ride Matt wanted to eat In and Out but for some reason I wanted to eat something healthier... so we got a chicken salad at Chick Fil-A.

We finally got to the Expo at 3pm and we picked up our stuffs. Teammates started to appear so we just talk to them. All of us are excited! While I was talking to my teammate I saw a familiar face. Andrea... she used to work in me in PAS. I got up to her and ask her if she is Andrea. It turned out that her sister and her dad are doing this. It's just crazy how I bumped into someone that used to work with me.

Initially we are supposed to be at the lake by 4pm to swim for a little bit... but since people are running late Coach Paul decided to give people some extra time to pick up their packages. Well we got to the lake and I was like... hmm the lake looks kind of big. We did a little swim and I question myself why I am doing this again. I am very nervous about tomorrow.

Teammate Alex and I in Wet Suit

After the swim we went to this place called Mario. They gave us a lot of food!!! I can't even finish my meats and pasta!!!

I dropped Matt off and check in to my own hotel. I liked the hotel, it was a bit more pricy but it's huge and it's clean. It even has a LCD TV. However I didn't get to enjoy much of anything because I spent more of the night packing and organizing things. Luckly I have been backpacking for a while so I have a system to sort things (slow but detail). I slept at around 11pm.

Sunday
I woke up at 3:15 AM to prepare. Because of day light saving time I actually only got 3:15 hours of sleep. I noticed there were people talking outside of the hotel and they were loud. I didn't pay much attention and went for a shower. I ate and continue to pack up. The noise didn't subside and I figure they are probably people doing the triathlon. I didn't think greatly of them because it's 4am in the morning and people are sleeping... consideration please!

As I was loading up I found out the noise came from the pool. Apparently these people are just chilling at the pool and just being loud. 4 stars hotel, 1 star people (the one in the pool).

I picked up Matt and we got to the Lake at 5:40. The lot was opened starting 5:30 and there were lots of cars. We found a place to park and we started to unload our bikes and packs. I have this Ironteam Jacket that I can wear but I decided to wear my down jacket because it's too cold.

It's still dark outside so I use my headlamp. Other people wish they have one.

I walked my bike to the row (each row has a range of numbers) where I am supposed to rack my car. I thought there are individual numbers assigned to it but I was wrong. People are just racking their bikes as close to the exit as possible. As I was trying to figure out where I want to rack my bike Floyd showed up with his gears. Since we are at the same row we decided to rack our bikes at the end of the row. We figured if we rack together toward the end people are less likely to move our stuff. We heard horror stories about people moving your stuff to give themselves more room.

I setup a little area with my kp beach towel to mark my territory. I had the urge to pee the 4 corners but I was able to resist.

My territory (I was still organizing so that's why things look like they are everywhere). Floyd is looking at me in this picture

I pee several times before the race. I don't think I drink too much water. I think I just need to pee. T minus 40 minutes: I am ready and focus. T-minus30 minutes: Warm up with teammates. Remember the Ironteam jacket that I mention earlier. Well most of my teammates had it on and we started running. There are actually people following my teammates because they want to warm up with the Ironteam.... I will not forget my jacket again!!! T-minus 13 minutes, coach told us to go to the starting area (Yes, the huge lake). I put on my wetsuit and I was like great... I am having some issue putting it on. So I put on my goggle, cap, and walk with half the wetsuit on. As we walked together I put on my wetsuit. My teammate help me with the back zipper... again there is nothing sexy about having your teammates zip up your back zipper. Just think of it as two black bears scratching their backs.

There were few minutes left so I jump into the water(outside the starting area) just to swim a little bit. I am like whatever too late to back up now. The water is very cold but I am actually ok with it. I like it better than jumping into the pool.

Few minutes after the first wave first (black swim cap). Then I will start in another 3 minutes after that (my wave has white cap). I gather with my teammates and we wish each other good luck. There were a lot of handshake and padding on the shoulder.

To make things better to explain... here is the map course map My swim course: Green Arrow. We started from the shore, swim to buoy #3. Make a right, Swim to buoy #1, make a left and head back to shore.

THE SWIMM

5... 4... 3... 2... 1... goooo. I ran to the lake like everyone else. I jumped into the lake and start swimming. Within minutes people started to pull away. I was thinking if I am the last one. I don't care. I am just going to swim. I kept swimming and make small adjustment because I am still not used to the wetsuit. Remember Buoy #3? Well I have to swim straight to it. That itself present several challenges.

#1: Unlike swimming in the pool where you have a little line to follow, you can't see in the water... well... you see green water...
#2: The buoy is kind of far away
#3: I can't sight left while I am swimming. I know the buoy is at my 350 degree... the problem? I can only breath well on my right side so I can't really sight left. I think of myself as zoolander where I can't turn left.
#4: You keep swimming off course because of #1, #2, #3.

I know I am swimming like @#$@. I am floating and swimming but I think my movement is not that good (which slow me down). So I continue to swim and just do my own thing. I know I am not sighting as often as I should but I don't really care. I rather swim in circle than not swimming. I look every every so often to follow swimmers ahead of me. I swim, swim, swim and I keep on making adjustment to make sure I am swimming to the buoy. By then the fast people in the next wave already swam pass me. You can tell because they have a different color swim cap. Right around this time I figured I need to limit my side to side movement because I feel like I am in the washing machine. The thing is when you wear a wetsuit you have bigger side to side movement when you turn to breath (well in my case). I started to turn less because I don't want to vomit when I get out of the water.

It seems like forever but I am still not at the first buoy. I found Edmund on my right and he was like Louis how are you doing. I am like blah blah blah because I was swimming and I can't really talk. I stop swimming for a second so I can talk to him.

I suggest to swim together so we can create a draft. So we swim next to next other and try to draft. The plan went down the drain because he was swimming faster than me! With no ending to this thing, I rather swim slow and steady than to push myself to follow someone so I can go faster. I am actually perfectly fine. I am slow, getting off course, and just winded a little but otherwise I am ok. Whenever I get winded I slow myself down to make sure I am ok. I don't want to get all tired and get plug out of the water.

After a little bit we finally got to the freaking buoy. There are actually balloons tie on top and I was like... it's actually kind of nice. I made the left turn and continue swimming.

So I just swim swim swim... another 2 waves of people will pass me. I would swim off course, then swim back in the course. People are passing me but I don't care. I just need to focus on my swim. I know better from hiking and running that everyone has a pace and you need to follow your own pace, not other people's.

Every now and then someone will touch my legs. Since I heard horror stories about people swimming on top of you I kick harder to discourge them. Well I guess the faster people didn't get a chance to swim on top of me because I was kind of off course anyway and they have no business being off course.

After a while I need to pee. What am I going to do? I know people pee in their wetsuit. I talked to a few of my teammates and they said they will pee during the swim if they need to. I tried but I couldn't get myself to do it. When you hike you don't pee wearing your pant! Now my right goggle took in a bit more water. I pray that my contact doesn't come off because that means I need to spend 'addition' time in the transition area to put on my contact len.

Finally... second buoy! I made a left and continue swimming. Now you can see the finish line. I think by then another wave passed me. Right about this time I think the water tastes a bit funny. Is it because people are peeing or is this in my head? Well I don't care. I continue to swim and the finish banner got bigger and bigger. I know I am still swimming off course so I adjust myself every so often. I sight more. Finally, I got out of the water. I think it's 34 minutes or something. I am just so happy to get out of that water. It's not that bad at all, but I just don't like swim.

So I got out, pull off my cap/goggle and start walking. I wasn't super dizzy so I am good. I am happy not having to vomit. I heard Coach Paul and a few other people. I know Coach Paul told me to start running to the transition area but I am like screw that. I am walking because I don't want to fall. As I am making my way to the transition area I put off the top of my wetsuit. By then I feel better so I start jogging to the transition area.

TRANSITION 1 AND THE BIKE
Being a first timer I am not going to hurry the transition. I rather have everything than to miss something only to find out after mile 9.

I guess this is my T1 dance
- talk off wetsuit, goggle and cap.
- dry myself a bit with a towel so that sunscreen stay on my skin.
- spray sunscreen all over me except my face (I am not a big fan of spray but it's 'fast')
- put on regular sunscreen on my face (you don't want sunscreen to get into your eye while riding or biking), and put on lip balm.
- put on cycling jersey
- put 2 spare tires on my back jersey pocket
- put repair kit on my back jersey pocket, along with IDs, phone, and money.
- put on helmet (so I can touch my bike), put on sunglasses
- remove sand on foot, put on sock and cycling shoe.
- put on glove, turn on GPS on the bike.
- did a quick check to make sure I have everything in place.

Now I am ready, I start running toward the exit (you can't ride in transition area... you will get disqualified). I run a little bit, exit the area (there is a line that say you can only mount after that line), and got on my bike.

If you look at the map I am doing two loops. Well since I am not tired from the swim I am going at a very good pace. I passed a few people within minutes of riding my bikes. Since you cannot draft when you bike in a triathlon I was careful not to follow people too close.

I feel good on the bike. We are suppose to pedal at around 90rpm but I was going at 97-100. I switched to a lower gear so to go faster and to lower my rpm. I may go just a bit faster but I feel like I am putting way more effort to pedal. So I am either going 90 something rpm or 80 something rpm with one gear shift. I wish I have another gear in between. I decided to pedal faster to keep the high cadence. I feel like Lance Armstrong because he pedal fast =P

I am going around 20 mph and I am getting comfortable with the aero position. I made a good decision by spending time with the aero position on sat (almost fall sat when I got in the position =P )

I made a left to Madison and continue north. I passed some TNT people and I say go team to them. I made a right on Airport Blvd and the Brightroom people are there. I hope my pictures come out good because I really want to buy one. Right about this time the faster cyclists are already doing their second loop... them with their super fast tri bike. I noticed some of them draft... of well they want to play dirty... that's fine with me. I continue down to Van Buren and it's a bumpy road. I stopped to check my tires. One TNT cyclist ask me if I am ok I told her I am fine. My tires are fine so I got back to the bike. I passed that TNT cyclist and said thanks to her. I told her I thought I have a flat.

Somewhere along the 60th near Monroe I passed this person and she said go Louis. I had no idea who. I then passed Carlos before making a right on Madison for the second loop. I know Carlos will pass me during the run. Before the race Carlos told me... survive the swim, and kill on the bike, the finish the run. As for Carlos, he will survive the swim, finish the bike, and kill on the run. He is a faster running then I am, so I know he is staging himself for the run.

Me on the other hand wonder if I am biking too fast. Whatever I said, it's nice to pass people and I think I have enough energy to finish the run. It's now or never. I decided it's not one of those day where I need to keep a lot of extra energy in my body.

When I pass the brightroom people the second time I got into my aero position and pedal hard. I hope they got a good picture of me. I will buy one if you have a good picture!!!

Anyway hour 1 passed so I start eating food. For the bike I need to consume around 90 grams of carbs per hour. Hour 1 is purely energy mix because you don't want to upset your stomach after the swim. I slow down a bit to eat because I don't want to crash. I know I am not one of those super biking where I can text msg when I ride!

After around 1 hour and 20 something minutes I got back to the transition area. The girl in front of me made the mistake of not dismounting before the line. Me on the other hand did it beautifully.

TRANSITION 2 AND THE RUN

My transition 2 Dance
- find my row
- rack my bike
- remove all the stuff I mention on my body
- change my jersey to my marathon race day shirt (this will take like an extra 10 seconds but I wanted to finish my first triathlon with my marathon shirt aka Barney shirt). I want to let people know that I am doing this because of my friends.
- put on sunscreen again
- put on my mountain hardwear cap (I always want to have a piece of hiking on me).
- eat a bit of stuff while all the stuff are going on.
- put on my running shoe and start running toward the exit.

while I was running inside the transition area I passed one of my teammate. He gave his shoulder a pad and we both started running. I took a quick look at him and I didn't see his number. I asked him where is your number? ... go put it on... then I realized I also forgot my number!!! We both go oh s#$@ and went to get our number. ahh... an extra 20 seconds maybe?

I ran slowly for around 10 minutes because we are supposed to let your leg get use to the running after the bike. I then pick up a little speed... passed a few minutes and a few teammates passed me. Got on to the second loop and Carlos passed me. Instead of running faster I am just going at my marathon pace. I have Tokyo Marathon in two weeks and I don't want to do push it. Then Alex passed me and said hi! I am very very very surprised to see him. He is a better swimmer, a little faster on the bike and definitely a bullet on the run. Why is he passing me from behind??? He told me he was having issues with the swim that's why he is so slow. I told him Carlo is ahead of us. I said him I'll buy him lunch if he passed Carlos... hee hee...

I am just doing my own thing... nothing much going on. It was hot so I got water put it on my cap. My jersey is wet but I am still hot. Said so go team along the way and ran faster for a stronger finish.

I finished my first triathon and received my medal. I talked to a few teammates and went back to the transition area to get my recovery drink. I headed back out and wait for the rest of the teammates.

I didn't take a lot of pictures this time around so I hope I get some from other people.

Over all the race is good. I survived the swim and that's the most important aspect of this. I finish the bike/run and I still have a lot of energy. I am not tired or anything.

I skipped the pool party and drive home. I want to hang out with the team but I really really just want to get home and sleep. I slept a total of 6 hours in two days.

Yes I did it... one step closer to making the impossible... possible.

After Thoughts

What happened to me up what I am today. Hiking give me the endurance, organization, push your limit but save energy to hike back from the mountain. Marathon training give me pacing, never give up and listen to your body. Ironteam training give me all the tools I need to finish an triathlon event. Without my hiking and marathon experience, I am probably going to swim too fast, get tired/panic, then get plug out of the water by life guard. Just like the marathon team, I have good teammates, coaches, and support staffs. It's nice to get out of my comfort zone and jump into the water. I am going to keep training to finish the half ironman in May and full ironman in Aug.

Please consider to make a small donation to support my effort so we can end cancer. Click here or type the following address
http://pages.teamintraining.org/los/VineFIrn09/lkwan

Louis

Result

I am overall happy with my time. Here is the break down

swim: 36 minutes. Well I guess I can run to the transition area after the swim (a little way).

T1: 7 minutes. I can take some time out of here. I took my time to make sure I have everything. I put on sunscreen and everything...etc. I am sure a lot of people didn't do that.

Bike: 1:19:04 I can probably cut this by a few minutes. I stopped at one point to check my tires and I slow down on the later part of the second laps just so I can eat.

T2: 5 minutes 26 seconds. Again, I just took my time to reapply sunscreen, eat, and change my purple jersey. And YES... I FORGOT MY BIB so I need to run back and get it. Luckly it's in the transition area or I may get disqualify... haha.

Run: 1:04:23 I ran very slow on the first 10 minutes. I also went to the restroom. I supposed I can run faster but my priority is to finish and I want zero risk. With a flat course like this I can probably do 9:30 min/mile pace. Well next time.

First 'Triathlon' Experience

So this last Sat I had my first open water swim. I got to this beach at Long Beach. It was kind of cool because it was inside a bay with those barrier thing so there is not crazy wave.

I put on my websuit but I can't really pull up my zipper so my teammate Eurie helped me out. I feel like I was a girl going to a dance and I need help with my back zipper... exactly it was totally not sexy.

The coach talked for several minutes then we start running toward the water. Again, I feel like one of those couple running toward the ocean like... minus the romantic feeling.

So we got out and I noticed I can't see !#@#. The water is green. I also notice the water is salty. I develop this bad habit in the pool where I swim with my mouth open so now I am constantly tasting the sea water.

We gathered around and Coach Paul started talking again. I was like... sir... you didn't tell me how to tread water (For those of you who doesn't know... I only know why do swim free-style... nothing else). Before I state my complain Paul was like... 'see... wetsuit is like the biggest life vest... now just lay back and look at your toe'... I did that and I was floating!!! Great... I am not drowning... but now I can't listen to him because my eye was in the water. So I go back to the standing position.

Coach told us the first 400 yards were bad and then the swim will get better. He also said we swim faster! I call it bull for me (I am sure he is right) because I was tiredddd!!! I can't see and I was tired... I soon realized I was tired because of the wetsuit hunging my body. I changed my breathing a little... taking deeper breath and I was ok. So we did the swimming thing for a while and I was beat. I got out lightheaded =P

We then do our transition to do our 3.5 hours bike ride. It was fun!!! We rode from Long Beach to pass Irvine. We passed thru small town with lot of traffic and I have to travel very close between cars. It was a learning experience.

After the ride we did 30 minutes of run. Not much happening there.

Overall it was a very good experience. My first race is this sunday 3/8. I am looking forward to it. I hope I don't vomit in the swim.

1.5KM again

So I swam another 1.5km again and I feel good. I was only 30 seconds faster but I was less tiring. I started to think I can actually do this.

Sick, Sick, Sick

First of all I have been super busy that's why I stop blogging. AND I don't actually know how many of you are actually reading this. Anyway... let's move on.

So I think there are two major reasons for me to skip training. #1 is injury and #2 is being lazy. I was wrong!!!

So on Wed Feb 11 I started to have this stomach ache after lunch. I went to the restroom a few time and I didn't feel good at all. I went ahead with my plan to bike and run. It was a bad decision.

This stomach bug continue for a few days. I finally took some medicine and it was over.