HUMP DAY HAIKU!!

starting at zero

we climb, then fall, grow stronger
behold the journey

SOME NUMBERS FOR YOU NUMBERS PEOPLE...

since everyone likes to post up their numbers and graphs and whatnot, i thought i'd post up some important numbers of my own. previously i mentioned that my goal for the week was to get 8 hours of sleep every night, and here's what i got in:

1. monday - 8 hours
   
2. tuesday - 8 hours
3. wednesday - 9 HOURS!!!
4. thursday - 6 hours
- dinner with my two coaching site assistants i hadn't seen since our runners did their marathon in early december. we had a lot to catch up on. so i'm taking from my extra balance from wednesday night, but yeah, i'm still in the red.

5. friday - 6 hours
- this is due to my attempts at getting everything ready for my long ride the night before and then having to get up early for a 7am start time. still though, it beats those rides on 4 hours sleep!!
6. saturday - 9 hours!!!
- which means two things: (1) i'm a loser who doesn't have plans on saturday nights anymore, and (2) we didn't start our run 'on sunday til 10 am. so sue me...
7. sunday - 6 hours
- but if you count the 3 hour nap i had to have after my run, that brings me to 9 hours again!!!

total hours of sleep - 52 hours, averaging out to 7.42 hours per night. NOT. BAD.

ok, so if nutrition is the 4th event, no wait transition is the 4th event, so nutrition is the 5th event, but right up there with it is the the 6th event, SLEEP. i've got to make this a regular part of the regimen as i'm certain that it had everything to do with me getting through this insane weekend. great, so now i have 6 events i have to train for!! and with more on the horizon, as coach says february is going to bring my highest volume, i gotta keep my eyes on the prize and get me some proper zzzzzzzz's. no more of this staying up all night reading blogs and other tri geek crap, sleeping for 3 hours, working on a crazy 10 hour shoot, then dragging my sorry ass to the pool for some mediocre laps. NOPE.NOT.GONNA.DO.IT.

got to the pool this morning before yoga to do my 1000yd time trial. kicked it out in 17:49.8. i really have no idea what that means. i just know it's faster than my last marker over a month ago which i kicked out in 18:19.16. that may not be fast to some of you out there, but i don't really give a crap about you. it's all about ME ME ME. and I I I am getting faster in relation to ME ME ME. isn't that what it's all about?? so if you're getting faster than YOU YOU YOU, then we're all good. oh, today's swim was also with a fucked up shoulder and i have yet to learn how to do flip turns. so there. so watch out, once i get my flip on, you're gonna see that number drop again. then again, how the hell is a flip turn gonna help me during Ironman?? yeah, not so much....

not enough numbers you say??? well, hold on......


taunting me, mocking me.....
as i walked through the lobby of the gym on my way to yoga, i saw this truck parked outside. it wasn't there when i rolled up this morning, but there it was as i walked past on my way to get my zen on, taunting me, mocking me, saying "you really don't have enough numbers in your life." so i took the plunge, literally....


The Dunkinator
i already had my bathing suit, still nice and damp from my swim earlier, so i changed into it and hopped on the scale so dunk tech Linda could take some "dry measurements." first, she asked me what i THOUGHT i weighed. are you for reals?? what do i THINK i weigh?? what, is there some grand prize if i'm the closest by 1 tenth?? i haven't weighed myself in weeks, lady, so let's just get on the scale and get this over with. 139 pounds, sounds about right. ok, next my height. 5' 5 1/2". really?? cuz last i checked i was 5'7" and i'm pretty sure i haven't shrunk or been cut off at the ankles. wanna take that measurement again? oh yeah, silly her, the numbers had rubbed off on the ruler. it's actually 5' 6 1/2." i still think she has it wrong, but whatever, it's just the number that'll have everything to do with the final outcome...

i had to sit on the edge of the stainless steel sink facing outward with my feet on the outer step, then pivot my ass around, put my feet in the water, stand up, turn back around, and walk backwards into the sink. i think there were like 5 too many steps involved, but maybe it's an insurance thing. then i had to put this weight belt on my lap to hold me to the bottom of the sink. next, i was to hold my nose while i expelled ALL THE AIR OUT OF MY LUNGS, leaning back into the water and whatever i did, NOT LET GO OF MY NOSE. it suddenly dawned on me that if you were at all claustrophobic or not comfortable with dunking backwards into water, this would be torture, but all the years of perfecting my Nestea Plunge in the backyard pool as a kid in the 70's and 80's finally came in handy. so i had to dunk backwards and hold it their until she tapped the side of the tub for me to come back up. i would do this a total of 3 times. first time, ok pretty good, but i didn't expel ALL the air out, but i had two more shots at it. second time, i felt like my lungs were gonna collapse in on me. there's no way there was any air left in there. 3rd time, she told me to engage my abs and push ALL THE AIR OUT. so i engaged the abs and gave it a good exhale, this time nearly passing out. BINGO!!

final result - 21.1% body fat

so turns out for my age and height (that was wrong in my opinion), i'm in the low end of the "good range" just above the transition line to the "healthy range." which is all fine and well. also according to the info, i only have 3.6 pounds of fat to lose to hit the healthy range. makes sense considering that i'm hungry ALL THE TIME and haven't been very discriminating about what i satisfy that hunger with (i.e. Denny's Lumberjack Slam after my 14 miler yesterday). in the end, i felt a bit silly for spending what i did on a whim for such a test. gotta love marketing. plus, there was one factor that didn't get considered into the equation: I'M A BIG-BONED BLACK GIRL. yep, that's me. so the "good" and "healthy" ranges are kind of a moot point since the test didn't take into account the "booty factor." i'm pretty sure that's where about 18 of the 21.1% is sittin'....

so there you have it, my latest numbers. but no matter how many hours of sleep i get, no matter how fast i move through the water, and no matter what my body fat percentage is, i still have to drag my ass across 140.6 miles. so tomorrow, i do it again, another cycling session and then to the weight room. ok, gotta bounce now if i'm gonna get my 8 hours....

WEEKEND RECAP

my own Hollywood sign

oh man, this weekend was gnarly. coach had me doing a 90 mile hill ride saturday followed by a 14 mile run sunday (yes, the numbers are gettin' up there). i had already psyched myself out that i was going to bag the hills part if it rained saturday but still go out and try to ride 90 staying flat. i just couldn't imagine riding a trainer for that long, and missing my ride was NOT AN OPTION. i don't really have the proper rain gear, but i'd wear long fleece cycling pants, my waterproof running jacket, and my cold weather booties over my cycling shoes. as long as my core was warm, i thought i'd be ok. then as i checked the weather friday night, it looked like there was going to be a break in the rain for most of saturday!! some reports called for rain starting at 3pm and others called for it to start even later. if we started by 7am, we'd have a good shot at staying mostly dry. wooo hooooo!!!!

mexican chocolate syrup

gravy and merinade powder

the night before, i mixed up my latest Hammer Perpetuem concoctions. last weekend i tried the General Foods International Coffees Mayan Chocolate powder, but i didn't like the actual coffee flavor or the caffeine. so i went down to one of the Mexican markets in my neighborhood, and i found a syrup version of the Ibarra chocolate i wrote of in a previous post. it's made by Nestle and they call it "Abuelita," which means "granny" in Spanish. funny, since the illustration on the front doesn't look like any abuelita i know. oh man, it's friggin' good...i just wanna mix up some Champurrado for all you readers out there, then you'd know just how especially rad this chocolate is. only problem is that now that i have it in syrup form, i wanna drink a gallon of chocolate milk every hour on the hour. if you've been following the blog, you'll know that i'm working on savory flavors too. went to the store and raided the gravy and merinade powder mix section, but the one thing i noticed was that a lot of them has MSG in them. that scared the crap outta me...what's that gonna do to me after 140.6?? but i did find a few that's ingredients weren't too horrific. this time i tried the Weber White Wine & Herb marinade powder. um, yeah, not so much. i think it had some vinegar in it. i can only imagine what sort of gastric distress that would put me in while going 140.6. it was fine for the ride, but not for the "A Race." i also tried some chicken bullion, but not any old bullion. i found Superior Touch's Better Than Boullion Chicken Base (sorry, no pic). once again, i have struck gold!! this stuff is a cream paste, way better than those sad little cubes out there, with actual chicken meat and juices in the ingredients. however, it has to be refrigerated after opening, so maybe not so practical for travel to Brasil. but the flavor was perfect, perfectly salty. the chicken base tasted just like chicken soup, but then i recalled that they'll have chicken soup on the run course, so i better look for some other options. went to their website, and it turns out they have a gamillion different flavors!! i'm gonna order the Organic Mushroom and give it a try. so back to the ride...


i planned to meet Iron Maiden Juliet at Wilderness park at 7am. yeah, that was the plan until i was about to exit the freeway and realized i'd left all my gel flasks back at home in the fridge. no way i could ride 90 miles without my nutrition, so i had to turn around. i felt so bad. every time i ride with Juliet, i've been late. last ride, i got stuck behind a car fire on the freeway. it's so "the dog ate my homework." we finally got going about 8am, but then realized all the gates to the bike path were locked. i guess when it rains, they try to limit access to the river path to prevent idiots from trying to swim or ride the rapids. another rider leaving the park at teh same time pointed out an opening in a fence and we were on our way...

until we got to the next path closure, but we just kept climbing over the fences and handing bikes to each other. nothing was gonna stop us from getting our 90 miles in!! made it to the beach, and i was just amazed that we'd come from the snow covered San Gabriel Mountains all the way to the crisp air of the Pacific. by then it actually started to get warm, and i started peeling layers off. the jacket wasn't compact enough to stuff in my jersey pocket, so i had to wrap it around my waste which drove me mad for the rest of the day!!! riding through Seal Beach and Long Beach was pretty mellow through posh neighborhoods and winding, oceanfront bike paths, but then we went through Wilmington on our way to the Palos Verdes Peninsula. Wilmington is a sort of industrial wasteland filled with wrecking yards and oil refineries and overlooks the Port of Los Angeles shipyards. kinda nutty to be sharing the roads with big ass semis. i was anxious to get through this part as quick as i could!! and then we started to climb...

again, i mapped out the ride on mapmyride.com, and i knew that once again, i was gonna hurt after this one. we started to climb up PV Drive East, and i just tried to focus on my pedal stroke. didn't hurt that i could see a view clear across the city back to the snow covered San Gabriel Mountains. we'd come from all the way over there, and we still had a lot left to go. we made it to the top in about 15 minutes and had the funnest decent down the switchbacks to PV Drive South. now along the coast, and mostly rollers for the next 5 miles, i just took in the stunning cliff-side views and the clean ocean air. then came our next climb, a shorter but steeper one. Juliet had a tough time on this one, but i encouraged her to keep going. at a certain point she bailed as i finished a loop at the top. after a pit stop at 7-eleven for a refill on Gatorade and a gratuitous Snickers bar, we made it back down and around the peninsula. on the northern end, i stopped again to take in the cliff-side views of sailboats out in Santa Monica Bay and still the San Gabriel Mountains in the far distance. oh man, we still had a long way back to the car!! my nutrition felt solid, so i knew i could make it. just needed to stay positive and stay in the moment. if i obsessed too much on how far we still had left, i'd be done. one mile at a time, and next thing i knew, we were nearly back to the bike path which meant 15 miles left. on the horizon, i could see the ominous rain clouds moving in on us, but i knew we could beat them. in the last 7 miles, we met up with a couple on the bike path and road alongside them back to Wilderness Park. the wife decided to make a life change and started cycling a year ago. she's shed 40 pounds and is loving the bike. the husband has been totally supportive of her transformation, ad for the 18th wedding anniversary, all she wanted from him was a trip to Torrey Pines in San Diego so she could give climbing a try. i just love stories like that, people transforming their lives through healthy diet and exercise rather than starvation and surgery. talking with them made the last miles go by super fast and next thing you know i'm like a rental horse on the way back to the stable, flying back to the parking lot!!! 90 miles, we did it, my furthest ride so far. best was that we thwarted the rain clouds. MWAH HA HA HAAAAA!!! well at least for saturday....



it poured all saturday night, so i got the poncho out to be ready for the 14 mile run the next morning. i met Juliet at Griffith Park at 10am, and we headed out for two flat loops. turned out to be an "open water run" and soon enough just about everyone else out that morning ran for their cars. but we stuck it out as the park flood patrol looked at us like we were nuts, and we laughed at how insane we must be to be out in this crud. squishy feet and all, we got our mileage done, 14 miles for me, and 15 for Juliet. luckily her husband had met us in the park and saved us with warm, dry clothes followed by a huge Denny's breakfast. Denny's. i never eat at Denny's or eat huge egg breakfasts, but damn it was good.

awesome weekend. feeling strong as base training is coming to an end. talked to coach about the next phase. he says february is gonna bring the highest volume. that's gonna be rough considering i'm gonna be on the road for most of the month, but i'm psyched for the challenge!!! yes, yes, y'all, it's just gettin' started....

MORE ADVENTURES FROM THE YMCA POOLORHOW TO SHARE A LANE WITH A GRIZZLY BEAR

got to the pool by 8:30 this morning to knock out my 2800yds. somehow i got my own lane, but i knew that would change before the workout was over. luckily though, the lifeguard on duty today seemed to be proactive about guiding people into the appropriate lane for their pace or moving people around once lanes went to circle swim. i hate when the lifeguards do nothing but sit back and rifle through their cd collection or text on their cellphones and completely ignore the pace of the lanes or whether someone's drowning for that matter. i have no problem with sharing lanes, even circle swim if it comes to that, but you gotta be able to keep the friggin' pace. hell, i can circle swim with 8 other fools and still get decent sets in if WE'RE ALL CLOSE ENOUGH IN PACE. soon enough i was joined by this cute little old korean lady wearing a bright flowery swim cap, you know those old style ones from the 50's with the chin strap. so we swam side by side, me doing my thing and her doing her backstroke crawl thangy. it was all good.

about halfway through my primary set, something like 4x 100's (first 100 easy, last 50 hard) 30 sec. rest, the grizzly bear showed up. awe crap, circle swim, this is gonna get interesting. but super proactive lifeguard hawtie (yeah, he was easy on the eyes) instantly shuffled cute little korean lady over to join the other cute little korean ladies getting their swim on in the next lane. thanks man, good lookin' out. so now it's me and the grizzly bear, this hairy, 5 ton dude whose arms don't go down to his sides, wearin' trunks about the same color as his skintone with the pockets all inside out so when he gets in the water it looks like he's swimmin' in the buff. not really what i wanna imagine. ok, so now i'm back to doin' my thing, and he's doing his head up out of the water flinging his arms way out to the side and around because he's so damned round they can't get any closer to his body thangy. and it's all good. yeah, until about his 3rd lap. i'm going one direction, he's comin' at me, and KABAM!!!

MOTHERFUCKER!!!! oh jesus the pain. grizzly bear has taken me out by the shoulder with his arms flinging all out to the side because he can't get them any closer into his big fat, hairy body. and yes, it was the bad shoulder. oh jesus the pain. THE PAIN!! now mind you, i was way on my side of the lane line, and i suspect grizzly bear was on his side or we'd a butted heads instead of shoulders. nope, this dude was simply TOO WIDE. oh jesus the pain. my head coulda taken it way better than the bad shoulder. why THAT shoulder?? oh jesus THE PAIN. grizzly bear stopped for a split second and asked if i was alright. alright?? i just got clocked by a 5 ton grizzly bear, hell no i'm not alright!! i muttered something and kept on going though. the pain was so bad that for a split second i considered calling it quits, but i thought i'd go another 200 or so and see if it would subside. it never really did, but i just kept on going plotting for the next 1200 yards on how to get the grizzly bear back, but he was so protected in hairy fat rolls, i figured i'd never get a good kick to the nuts. instead i hugged the outside lane line so close i could taste the plastic of the floaty bobs, trying at all costs to avoid another grizzly tackle. the 2800 went by without anymore contact, then a good soak in the cuzzi, and now i'm home icing and licking my wounds. lesson learned: when given the choice between circle swim with the little old korean ladies or sharing a lane with a grizzly bear, i recommend you get your cute little flowery swim cap on, you know that one with the chin strap...

this weekend brings a 90 mile hill ride saturday followed by a 14 mile run sunday. once again, your super hero is riding the furthest she's ridden, EVAH. i suppose that's how it's gonna be from now on, just keep riding the furthest i've ever ridden. only problem is that IT'S RAINING BALLS (YES GRIZZLY BALLS) HERE IN L.A. guess that's what i get for constantly poking fun at this guy and this guy about how warm and sunny it is here in Cali. there's a chance it may let up a little tomorrow for the ride, but the roads will still be wet, and i'm not taking any chances with hills in the rain. i may keep it flat. gotta see what the weather's like when i wake up. it's supposed to be rainy and even colder on sunday which is fine with me for a run as long as i got a trash bag or poncho to cover me. also gonna experiment with some new Hammer Perpetuem concoctions, some sweet, some savory. full training report and flavor review monday...and don't forget to tune in next wednesday for the now weekly edition of HUMP DAY HAIKU!!

HUMP DAY HAIKU (A NEW REGULAR COLUMN)

yes, yes, folks, similar to mondays over at Bolder in Boulder, i've decided to unveil a new regular column here. i've been contemplating what this column would be for a while. also inspired by bold, i considered a "STAR FUCKER" column since here in LA LA LAND we see celebrities everywhere, even at races. seeing as some folks in outer-lying regions get a kick out of this, i thought i'd keep an ongoing account of run-ins with celebrities, like when i regularly see Bruce Dern "running" at the Rose Bowl. really though, he looks like death warmed over. it would scare you all i'm sure. or maybe the time i sat next to Barack Obama pool-side in Honolulu?? (sorry no picture so i guess it didn't happen) but really, that's what PEOPLE magazine is for...

this morning on my 40 miler, the sun suddenly disappeared, the clouds rolled in, and the rain started to fall just as i was heading home, and that's when i had my epiphany. HUMP DAY. wednesday, the middle of the week. you're just getting over whatever insane workout last weekend had in store, and you're psyching yourself out for the next weekend. it's that no man's land in between what kicked your ass three days ago, and what's gonna kick it again in three more days. worthy of a haiku i think. i've looked up the rules and structure of haiku: 5 syllables, 7 syllables, 5 syllables, but then they don't always follow that same pattern, so i'm just gonna roll with whatever i feel. oh, and hopefully i can provide a photo to go along with each entry (i'm a photographer after all). so here goes, the first HUMP DAY HAIKU. but if you'd rather read about random celebrity sightings instead (photos not always available), just let me know....

swim, bike, run, repeat.
does your sink look like mine does?
8 bottles, 2 plates.

THANK YOU FROM THE BOTTOM OF MY HEART

i can't believe i've been remiss to go half the day without writing this post.

my friends and coworkers have often accused me of being able to turn any conversation or situation into a political one. now i've been very conscious to keep this blog strictly about the journey to Ironman, but if you're interested in the journey, you gotta know a little about what makes me, well, me. nothing incenses me more than the apathy that my generation has been stamped with. those same friends ask me, "why do you have to turn EVERYTHING into a political battle? why do you care so much whether i vote or not?" i bet they're delighted that all i have to talk about now is my Ironman training and am too tired to put up a fight about much of anything else these days. and so my answer to them is this...

my grandparents, George and Lucy Morant

just 3 years shy of my birth, my very own grandparents, whom i never had the privilege to know, COULD NOT LEGALLY VOTE. my grandfather, who could neither read nor write, knew that he wanted, THAT HE NEEDED THAT VOTE if he was to live with any sort of true purpose and dignity. my grandmother, who had 3 different cancers before she finally passed because no black hospitals in the south had the resources to care for her, knew that for the sake of her children and grandchildren, SHE NEEDED THAT VOTE. so to those who ask, i say it would be dishonoring their memory to sit back and be complacent, to not take part in my government. i remind them that we're talking about less than 50 years ago that i would not have had the right to vote in the very same country in which i was born.











i have fond memories of sitting in my aunt's living room as a young child as she played her special edition Life Magazine vinyl recording of Reverend Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream" speech. it gave me chills, and no matter where i am or how many times i hear that speech, i will always get chills. The Reverend King had a way about him, a gentle and peaceful way when necessary, a stern way at other times, a delivery and a presence like no other. that voice and the way words rolled off his tongue can do nothing but inspire. there's a line in the speech "from the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire," that peaked my curiosity for some reason. i'd never heard the word "prodigious" before, so my aunt got her big heavy dictionary off the shelf, and we looked it up. "remarkably or impressively great in extent, size, or degree. he means, there are abundant hills or large, impressive hills in the State of New Hampshire," my aunt explained.


from the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire
in 2006, i finally made it to New Hampshire to compete in my first half ironman at Timberman on my 35th birthday. you gotta love a race who's motto is "live free and tri." i recall being overwhelmed at the expanse of green everywhere, the trees that blanketed every square inch of land, nothing like the desert terrain or even the Sierra Mountain range i'm accustomed to seeing here in California. after the race i took the opportunity to drive just about the entire state from the the coast in Portsmouth all the way to the White Mountains, and i hadn't forgotten that line. there i was amongst those prodigious hilltops that the Reverend King spoke so fervently of on that day in Washington DC. it gave me chills....

so thank you Reverend King, thank you for having a dream, and not just for black folks, but for all mankind. i wonder what you'd think, what my grandparents would think of us now as we face the very strong likelihood that our next president may very well be a Black Man or a Woman. would you say that we have surpassed your dream or would you say we still have further to go??

IF ANYONE FINDS MY LEGS,CAN YOU GET THEM BACK TO ME PLEASE!!

yes friends it's another weekend recap. when we last left our hero, she was about to ride the furthest EVAH for her. 75 miles. oh, and it would be followed by a 6 mile run. coach intended for me to ride 75 miles with hills. by hills he meant hills that would take 6-10 minutes to climb followed by flat recovery sections. hills that should make up about 40 percent of the distance. so our hero went a little overboard. she really had no idea what she was getting herself in to. but let me digress, for a moment, on the topic of nutrition, "the 4th event" if you will, cuz i think our hero is on to something...


the mad scientist is at it again

so i bought this plain Hammer Perpetuem so that i could experiment with mixing it with a variety of different flavor additives. this weekend i tried a few different things. for one, you can find the same Tazo Chai tea concentrate that Starbucks uses for their chai lattes at Costco in bulk size. so i mixed one gel flask with Perpetuem powder and the chai concentrate instead of water. let's just say it's my own little *$ in a gel flask!!!! YUMMMMMMM. but i know i'll get sick of that really quick, so i went on the hunt at the store for other flavors i could mix in. i found a tin of that General Foods International Coffees instant stuff called Dark Mayan Chocolate. oh man, if this is what i think it is, i'm in heaven. if it's called Mayan Chocolate, they're probably referring to the same kind of Ibarra Chocloate from Mexico that i loved as a kid. my grandpa would use the Ibarra to make this Mexican hot chocolate drink called Champurrado. only problem is that Ibarra is a super hard chocolate that has to be broken with a hammer, so this General Foods instant stuff is perfect!!! so now i have 2 super sweet flavored flasks, and now i want something savory. that's why i can't do all the gels, they're just too damn sweet. and here's where i'm probably gonna gross y'all out....

3 flasks: breakfast, lunch and dessert...

yep, onion flavor. i mixed the 3rd flask with Lipton Onion Soup Mix, you know, the stuff your moms makes the chip dip with. now that's probably revolting to a lot of you out there, maybe even Steve in a Speedo who seems to do most of the grossing out here in the tri blog world, but i've been trying to spread the word for a while now that there's a place in endurance nutrition for savory flavors. it's beginning to feel like the astronauts freeze dried meals, but it's gonna keep it exciting out there for the long haul. which brings me back to the ride....



i decided i'd take another venture into "The Bu." that's Cali talk for "Malibu." i've ridden along the relatively flat section of Pacific Coast Highway along the water before. remember the ride with Mr. Creepy Mc Creeperson? yeah that route. nothing too crazy, about 45 miles round trip. but what lies just inland from the coast are the Santa Monica Mountains and a variable treasure chest of routes and climbs through canyons that GO ON FOREVER!!!

having never ridden the canyons, i found a route on Map My Ride and just went for it. i really had no idea what i was in for, but it was great practice for Ironman. i was alone, i had no idea where i was going or how far the next turn was, and it took me 7.5 friggin' hours. mind you, i stopped a ton of times to take pics, eat, pee and look at my map, so the computer says 6:22 of actual ride time. all i could think was, shit, Ironman is gonna take me forever!!! but when i went back and looked at the elevation, i realized that it was pretty much all climbing and very little flat recovery sections. total ascent was 3,606 ft!!! after all was said and done, i made it back to my car just before dark and decided to bag the run. coach didn't mean for me to take on such a gnarly ride and then do a brick. plus i had 12 to run on sunday which would still feel like a brick to me.

met up with Iron Maiden Cindy on sunday to knock out the 12 miles in Griffith Park. she only ran the first 8 with me as she'd just returned from running the Disney Goofy Challenge in Orlando last weekend. Iron Maiden Juliet is gone to Pucon, Chile for the 70.3. can't wait to hear her race report!!!

so i'm dialing in the nutrition and that's been fun. i'll keep you posted on other great flavors, both savory and sweet, that i come up with. today, i'm a little slow moving. it's tough when you can't feel your legs ya know?? really looking forward to gettin' my stretch on in Sahara's yoga class today. it'll be my first time back since the shoulder went out. got a recovery swim too. and i need to get better sleep. this week's goal is 8 hours every night.....

STARRY STARRY NIGHT

night swim anyone?
i've been on and off the road all week for work, and let's just say that the hotels' gyms leave a lot to be desired, but i'm doing my best to stay on schedule with my training. naturally, the cycling suffers the most. the toughest part is that the call times for our shoots have been pretty early, so it's been difficult to get up early enough to knock out any of the two-a-day workouts on my schedule. it's also still hella dark in the early morning to be running in unfamiliar neighborhoods, so i've had to hop on the treadmill more than i prefer. at another hotel the other morning, i got on the treadmill for the first 2 miles of my 7 mile run, but as soon as the sun broke out, i bolted and did the last 5 out on the road. i love discovering a new place with a short run!!!

tonight, i'm in Montecito just outside of Santa Barbara. i was fortunate enough to get a chance to research the nearest YMCA before we came up here, and it just so happens to be just a mile away from my hotel. tonight after our shoot, as tired as i was from the 2 hour drive up and a full day of shooting, i quickly checked into my hotel and headed straight there for the 2400yd swim i needed to knock out. the staff were awesome and extremely accommodating to this visiting member. they checked me in and showed me the way to the OUTDOOR POOL. it was 50 degrees out. now i know all you folks back east are poo pooing me right now, but we panic out here in Cali whenever it dips below 70. still, the pool was heated to a more than comfortable 83 degrees with steam rising off the top, not too crowded, and a pretty full moon with some visible STARS IN THE SKY. the 2400yds went pretty quick, not too painful in the shoulder either, but my stroke is still kinda wonky. man, it feels good to be back in the water.

this weekend will bring my longest ride to date, and it's part of a brick, 75 miles followed by a 6 mile run. then another 12 mile run on sunday. it's startin' to get for real, people!!!

CUZ IT'S HARD OUT HERE FOR A PIMP

50 cent, the dopest doper on the block.. photo by Djansezian/AP

in the wake of the recent conviction of Marion Jones, yet another shocking scandal has surfaced. turns out the stress to perform at the highest level does not stop at sport. no, the quest for gold medals isn't the only gold that steroids can help with. now it's the quest for gold records?? a recent investigation has linked actor/director Tyler Perry, rappers 50 Cent, Wyclef Jean and Timbaland and my favorite of them all, R&B goddess (and former junkie) Mary J. Blige, to the purchase of steroids and human growth hormone (HGH). using fake names, the entertainers were issued prescriptions for steroids and HGH by Dr. Gary Brandwein, an osteopath in Florida. Brandwein is the same doctor who prescribed steroids to wrestler Chris Benoit who murdered both his wife and young son before taking his own life in a fit of "roid rage."

wow, now that brings a new meaning to the word "dope" in the Hip Hop dictionary. think they'll have their grammys taken away??? interestingly enough, despite the investigators' aggressive tactics, Eminem could not be linked to this most recent scandal. scientists were able to determine that no amount of steroid usage could prevent the rapper from TOTALLY SUCKING ASS.

IT'S FRIDAY...

.. and all i can say is i hope your friday was better than, my homie, Jim Brown's....

my friday, well, the jury's still out. went for my first swim since The shoulder guy took me off the injured list. it was a challenge not to wanna just jump in and do a full workout. instead i did a recovery swim, only about 1150 yards. shoulder felt funky, and i started to freak out and flashback to the surfing incident. i guess this is the pain that the doc warned me i should get used to?? soaked in a hot tob afterwards, and that seemed to help. also held out on my empty stomach to try some Bromelain as a natural anti-inflammatory. anyone out there ever used it?? if i'm gonna have to rely on anti-inflammatories, i'd rather go natural than pop 800mgs of advil like they're jelly beans. plus, i'd be more at risk for hyponatremia with the advil. also using copious amounts of this shit (and it is THE SHIT).

going out for a mellow dinner tonight with some of my runners i coached this past season and then home to bed early. tomorrow is a 50 mile recovery ride. let's see how the shoulder feels in the morning and then i'll tell you whether my friday was good or not...

THE BITCH IS BACK...

I was justified when I was five
Raisin' cane, I spit in your eye
Times are changin', now the poor get fat
But the fever's gonna catch you
When the bitch gets back
Oh, oh, oh

Eat meat on Friday, that's all right
I even like steak on a Saturday night
I can bitch the best at your social do's
I get high in the evening
Sniffing pots of glue
Oh, oh,oh

I'm a bitch, I'm a bitch
Oh, the bitch is back
Stone cold sober as a matter of fact
I can bitch, I can bitch
'Cause I'm better than you
It's the way that I move
The things that I do

I entertain by picking brains
Sell my soul by dropping names
I don't like those! My God, what's that?
Oh, it's full of nasty habits
When the bitch gets back.

Bitch! Bitch!
The Bitch is back.
Bitch! Bitch!
THE.BITCH.IS.BACK.

-Elton John

that's right, ladies and gents, it's time to warm up the bikini wax, cuz I'M.BACK. after knocking out my 60 minute spin on the trainer today at around 5pm, i'd just about given up on hearing from THE shoulder guy. the spin felt pretty good, and i was able to hold aero a little better. my schedule has me on a recovery week anyway, and saturday's ride is just supposed to be 50 miles. i was trying to psych myself out to get it done on the trainer. 3.5 hours would be my longest time EVAH on that thing. hopefully i'd get some new Netflix deliveries by then, and if all else failed, there's my 7 or so Ironman episodes on the tivo. that would keep me going. at around 5:20, the phone rang. THE shoulder guy's associate explained the following:

1. Frozen Shoulder is the ultimate diagnosis
2. everything else looks fairly normal in my shoulder
3. no bursae, no tears of the rotator cuff
   
4. just a little edema in my bicep area (inflammation from the surfing) which explains the sensation that felt like someone was squeezing my arm super tight and not letting go. thank god that's going away.
   
5. i can try to rehab it on my own with regular stretching
6. if my own attempt doesn't work, i can opt for surgical manipulation to break up the scar tissue (um, yeah, no thanks)
   
7. I CAN GET BACK IN THE POOL. IN FACT SWIMMING IS ENCOURAGED TO PROMOTE PAIN-FREE, FULL RANGE OF MOTION!!!
8. TRAINING FOR IRONMAN IS NOT GOING TO CAUSE ANY DEGENERATIVE DAMAGE TO MY SHOULDER but it's going to be painful, and i'll have to be diligent to manage it with icing and stretching and in extreme cases, anti-inflammatory.
9. no more weights. rehab for frozen shoulder isn't about strengthening so much as stretching to regain full range of motion. (FINE BY ME!!)
   
10. eventually, this weird ass affliction just goes away. POOF!!

i'm also back to work on a shoot tomorrow. the training schedule just has me doing a run marker, so i'll knock that out at the track at the gym on my way home. it's something crazy like 15 laps around that thing for a mile!! i'll get back in the pool friday. i'm supposed to do a golf workout, but i think i'll start out with a short recovery swim to see how that feels. guess i narrowly escaped that dreaded 3.5 hour trainer ride once again. MWA HA HA HAAAAAA!!! Iron Maiden Cindy is gone this weekend to run the Goofy Challenge at Disney World, so Iron Maiden Juliet and I are gonna ride together. she's got a 75/6 brick to knock out, so even sweeter, i get to sleep in and meet her at 10am for the last 50 of her ride!!!

thank you Sweet Baby Jesus!!

TICK.TOCK.TICK.TOCK.

no call from THE shoulder guy today.

I'M STARTING TO LOSE MY SHIT, PEOPLE!!!

and i've totally let myself go. the bikini line looks like friggin' Sasquatch. what's the point?? not like i've put a bathing suit on in weeks, and i'm not even gonna get into how long it's been since a member of the opposite sex has gone near there. it's tragic, really....

went to the gym tonight just to get some lower body work in and rehab in the hot tub. i wanted to kick every new year freak's ass. i wanted to scream out, "DON'T YOU KNOW I'M TRAINING FOR AN IRONMAN??"

but i'm not. cuz the friggin' doctor hasn't called. is it maybe that it's nothing, so he's not rushing to get back to me?? is it soooooo bad that he's waiting on a second opinion?? who knows...

LOSING.IT.

WHERE DO I BEGIN???ORTHE (LONG) WEEKEND RECAP

for some, the weekend begins on saturday, for some friday evening?? others start there calendar week on sunday. in fact my treo phone continues this "sunday feature", despite all my efforts to change the preferences (if anyone's got tips on this, please forward them). as a freelancer, there really are no weekends for me. sometimes my long rides have to get done on a tuesday. whatever works...

i would say this weekend started on thursday night. well, thursday afternoon here in Cali as it was already thursday evening in IOWA.......sorry peeps, i'm just gonna go there, the "political there", for a second so bare with me.....

I SAY BOOOOOOO YA!!!!

the "not black enough" candidate

the "frugal runner" candidate

now i'm not going to fully explain nor defend my politics in this one post. after all, this is a blog about training for an ironman. but i'm on the injured list, so there ain't much training to report on these days (note to self: check in with THE shoulder guy today). no matter if you're democrat , republican, green, independent, or just plain numb to it all, nobody can deny that thursday night was exciting for this whole friggin' miserable country!!! SHOW US WHATCHA GOT, NEW HAMPSHIRE!!!!

i was scheduled to get my MRI friday afternoon. the night before i talked with fellow tri clubber, Lesley, who's had several of them. she explained that you CANNOT MOVE, and it sucks if your claustrophobic, which i'm not. then she mentioned that they give you these special headphones so you can listen to music. now i'm getting nervous:

me: "what kinda music?"

Les: " i dunno. any old music."

me: "well, can't i just wear my ipod?? i mean i already have my 'airplane mix' that i listen to when i travel"

Les: "um hello, you can't take anything metal in. they're special headphones attached to the machine, and they just pipe in some music"

i'm not at all claustrophobic. i've climbed to the top of Il Duomo in Florence, through the inner tunnels of the Mayan Pyramid, El Castillo, at Chichen Itza, and lived in some of the smallest spaces in New York City that some would argue don't qualify as apartments. however, the thought of having to listen to "any old music" for a prolonged amount of time without being able to move qualifies to me as CRUEL AND UNUSUAL PRACTICE under the Torture Act (pre-Gonzalez). you'd think that on the eve of my very first MRI, i'd be concerned about what it would feel like or whether i could stay still or most importantly, what the doc would find, but no, i was sleepless over what music they would play... just about missed my appointment due to the rain and the fact that ANGELENOS CANNOT DRIVE FOR SHIT IN THE RAIN. accidents everywhere, and lookie loos on top of it!! nothing to see people, move along.....

cut to the table:

lab tech, donna: "so whatcha wanna listen to? i've got Sinatra (yuck), Big Band (shoot me now please), Elvis (are you for real?), Mowtown (which years?), Enya (not now not ever) you name it"

me(anxiety building): "ummmmmmmm. what else?"

ltd(racking her brain): "well let's see, i've got some Disco (you mean Disc-NO?), the soundtrack to Lilo and Stitch (i'm a grown woman), the soundtrack to High School Musical (GROWN WOMAN)... the soundtrack to....."

me(anxiety boiling): "do i HAVE to listen to something?? i mean how long am i gonna be in there?"

ltd(getting annoyed): "the machine is very loud. you have to wear the headphones anyway. it's the rules."

me(racking MY brain): "do you have any Prince (i'll even take the artist formerly known as)?"

ltd: "no."

me(pulling teeth here): "Justin Timberlake (counting on the cheese factor)?"

ltd: " i don't have any RAP."

me: "JT isn't RAP."

ltd: "oh wait!! i have THE BEATLES!!! EVERYONE LOVES THE BEATLES!! (except me)"

me: "do you have any nature sounds?? the ocean maybe (again, counting on the cheese factor)??"

ltd: "i have some rainforest sounds with some light music over it??"

me(calming down A BIT): "how light?"

ltd(getting annoyed now): "i dunno. it's like flutes or something. i've never really listened to it that closely before."

me: "ok, i think i can live with that."

the whole process didn't even take more than a half hour, and the thing was so loud she might as well have played Hootie and the Blowfish, cuz i wouldn't have heard a thing. apologies to all you Hootie fans out there, ALL 2 OF YOU. i got the impression you just quietly and gently rolled through this tube while something scanned your insides, but instead it was loud and shaky and bright and unnerving to say the least. but not painful and over in 30 minutes. lab tech donna showed me my scan and said "yeah, you can tell there's something going on it that shoulder, but i'm not your doctor, so who am i to say..." yeah thanks, lady, i think the jury is still out on your music collection too.....

got home and was itching to do some sort of workout. the schedule called for a 40 mile ride that day, so i went for a 60 minute spin on the trainer just to see how it would feel. not bad, but not great. at one point i tried to tuck down into aero position, but my shoulder just wouldn't unstick enough to stay there comfortably. no worries. i was back up and having a blast just spinning and getting my sweat on while watching the idiot box.....

being on the injured list has afforded me an opportunity to catch up with some long lost homies, and i'm taking full advantage of it. caught a flick with Beth after the trainer session, and on the way out i got a text message:

"SID BROWN SHOW TONIGHT DOWNTOWN AT 6TH & ALAMEDA"

normally, there'd be no way i could pull off a night like friday and get up and train, but Bryan's show was a hoot, stripper dancers and all. i got some quality head banging and ass shaking in. i know, i know, nobody has ever mentioned ass shaking as a form of base training yet, so remember YOU READ IT HERE FIRST!!!


didn't get home 'til about 3:00am. i definitely cannot pull that shit once i'm off the injured list, no sir!! at about the same time as i was crawlin' into bed, all the way over in connecticut, a new addition to the family finally arrived!!! i introduce to you my newest first cousin once removed, CARSON ANTHONY DODDER:

cute as a button

saturday it continued to rain, and i continued to feel sorry for myself, that my fitness was slipping away. so i sulked all day in my pajamas as MY. FRO. GREW. LARGER. blah.

by sunday, i was a mess. it was still raining, more like intermittent showers, and i knew that if i didn't get up and do something, anything, i'd surely be depressed come the end of the day. my mom even knew i was in trouble or maybe it was just that her car had broken down and she needed to borrow mine, but she got me to go with her as she did her training run/walk for the Surf City Half Mary we're both signed up for in February. i took another look at my schedule, and i was actually supposed to do 12 the day before. could i?? more importantly, should i?? moms needed to get in 9 miles, so at her pace, i could conceivably get in my 12 easily. but could i?? should i?? i'd only done 3 on the dreadmill and that felt a little tight and funky in the upper arm/shoulder, but it didn't hurt. we planned to run around the Rose Bowl, a 5k loop, so i could just take each loop one at a time, assess how i felt, and abort the mission if i felt any pain. so that was the plan, and we headed out. first loop felt good, so i went for a second. second loop felt better than the first, but it rained a little more. stopped at the car and put on my poncho. off for the 3rd loop. 3rd loop i passed moms who was on her 2nd loop. ok, so i think i can go for the 4th loop and finish 12 miles. i'm going for it. 12 miles. YESSS!!!

me n moms post rainy day run!!!

i was so proud of my mom for getting her 9 miles done in the rain. this is the first of two half marys she's signed up for this year!!! she's already run 2 marathons, but since being diagnosed with diabetes about 4 years ago, she's struggled with her weight and her fitness. hopefully this will kickstart her to maintaining a healthier lifestyle. i try not to preach and just lead by example, but i get frustrated with her sometimes, partly because i want her to be around for a lot longer, and partly because i feel like i'm watching my hereditary future, and it scares the shit outta me. either way, today was good for the both of us on so many levels. and did you notice my hairdo?? A PONYTAIL PEOPLE!!! yes, i can finally, just barely reach behind my head to put my hair into some sort of semblance of a ponytail, outta the face, ready to get my sweat on. yes, sunday was a good day, filled with small victories. but there was one more victory to come....

sunday night i got a last minute call to go to the Lakers game. my good Art School buddy, Michael, has season tickets and calls me once in a while to go cuz he knows i can do that easier than i can go with him to a rave or any of the other various crazy misadventures he takes. so off to the Staples Center i went....now i'm not gonna be a team snob, nope, not gonna do it. truthfully, i'm the biggest fan of The Lakers Dreamteam Years '86-'89 (aka the short shorts years), but damn it's great to see Derek Fisher back in the purple and gold, and WE.KILLED.THE.PACERS!!!!!

not only did we kill, but we kept the Pacers under 100 points which meant everyone in the stadium won 2 free tacos at Jack in the Box (aka "jack in the Crack). do you have J n the B where you live?? yeah, i wouldn't feed their tacos to my dogs, but it still felt like Christmas all over again. thanks, Lakers, you're the team that keeps on giving!!!

afterwards we met up with another art school pal, Steve Tirona, who was in town from Manila where he's been living and rocking it as a photographer for the past 5 years, plotting to take over the world one photo at a time. we drank, we laughed, we talked shit, and everything was right in the world....

i wonder if you're a Laker and you're on the injured list, do you get to do as many fun things as i did this weekend? out 'til all hours, drinkin', head bangin', ass shakin'? yeah, probably not. THIS.HAS.GOT.TO.STOP. triathlon is way more fun....

back to regularly scheduled programming as soon as doc gives the ok!!!!!

DIAGNOSIS SO FAR...

FROZEN SHOULDER

WTF???

i don't even like my margaritas frozen!!! got x-rays yesterday and everything looked good to the doc except that i do have a small bone spur in my shoulder. he didn't think it was big enough to worry about for now, but eventually (the next 3 years or so) they'll have to SCRAPE IT OUT.

OH. HELL. NO.

then the doc asked me to try to move my shoulder. i laughed. mind you, every day i'm able to move my arm more and more, but still can't lift it even up past my shoulder let alone reach my head. which is why i'm rockin' a HUGE FRO right now. then HE tried to move it. he didn't laugh. really, it wasn't so much painful as just NOT GOING ANYWHERE. and the initial diagnosis was made: FROZEN SHOULDER. here's what the little pamphlet has to say:

"Known medically as 'adhesive capsulitis', it's a fairly common ailment - estimated to strike between 2-3 percent of the population, the vast majority women ages 40-60. Why the mystery? Nobody knows just what triggers frozen shoulder. It seems to strike out of the blue. Add the fact that 70 percent of patients are middle-aged women, and the specialists say hormones clearly pay some role but they don't know what."

middle-aged?? fuck you!! why don't i just shrivel up and get ready for menopause already!!!

so doc still wants an MRI to rule out anything else. going in tomorrow for that. and good news: I DON'T HAVE TO GET THE DYE INJECTION!!!!!

it was such a relief just to get some sort of diagnosis. afterwards, i stopped over at Griffith Park to meet up with fellow Iron Maidens, Juliet and Cindy, who were wrapping up their time trial ride. hey, if i can't work out with my crew, at least i can eat with them. i have to live vicariously through them 'til i can get back up to speed!! they were super positive and encouraging. "you can still do lower body work. you can still ride your trainer sitting up. at least you're spinning" and they're right. so right that i realized i had my gym bag in the back of the car, so i left them and went straight to the gym to do some lower body weights. plus, what would january 2nd be without a trip to the gym?? EVERYONE ELSE AND THEIR GRANDMA WILL BE THERE:


every window filled with a new years resolution
yes it's america's #1 new year's resolution: LOSE WEIGHT AND GET IN SHAPE. i laugh at how crazy the gym is the first week in january - all the freaks going too fast on the treadmill they can only last about 5 minutes, the super freaks letting out grunts in the weight room as if grunting helps shed that fat any faster. oh and my favorite was watching all the newbies stuck on, of all things, the drinking fountain. the drinking fountain on the 2nd flr. just outside the basketball court has a slight delay on it causing the water to still run for about 5 more seconds (super wasteful i know) after you release the handle. as i took water breaks in between sets, i musta caught five people standing there perplexed with the drinking fountain. all they could do was hit the handle again which further delayed the water. then would come the look of horror as they thought they'd broken it on their first day at the gym. i give 'em about 3 weeks tops, and then my gym will get back to normal. poor guys. i really shouldn't be so mean, but it just cracks me up. truth is, i was one of those newbies on more than one occasion. i can't even imagine how much money i've wasted on gym memberships i never used. i used to watch the LA Marathon every march on tv and then go out and buy some overpriced tennis shoes the following day and start "running." that would invariably last until about mid april, early may if i was really serious. so i really hope it sticks for some of those newbies, not all of 'em cuz that would just eat up too many dreadmills, but maybe one or two or three...

after the weights, i sat in the hot tub and did some more arm manipulations. went home and iced it and today, i'm feeling even better. good enough to maybe try some RUNNING. YESS!!!! i know, i know, i gotta go slow. my schedule has me doing 9 today, but as much as i wanna get right back up to speed, i don't wanna repeat the surfing incident (read post below), so i'm gonna go for 3 miles on the dreadmill tonight. let's hope there's not a line.....

HI MY NAME IS MONICA, AND I'M AN IDIOT....ORTHE HOLIDAY RECAP

there's a comfort to this blog world similar to that of a 12 step program. you can admit your deepest darkest secrets to complete strangers who will keep you accountable and on the right track. so i'm going to come out of denial and admit that i have a serious problem. it's plagued me all season in varying degrees of discomfort, but by ignoring it and continuing to train and race, i must have done some real damage. BUT I WANNA DO THIS IRONMAN SO BAD!!

i've developed what i suspect is a torn rotator cuff . it started at the beginning of '07 while training for the first of the 2 half im races i had planned for the season. i was able to manage the pain with icing right after all swim workouts and racing, and it seemed to do ok. but as the swimming has ramped up in base training for ironman, it's really gotten worse to the point where i can't get a full rotation of my arm without feeling something "crunchy." in fact while running the NYC Marathon, it was my shoulder, not my legs, that ached the entire run. but i just kept going with all of it, the swimming, the running, and THE WEIGHTS!!! then i found the pool at the gym looking like this just before Christmas:


no diving please...

cool, no problem. i'll take this as a sign. i'm just not meant to swim right now. i'll let the shoulder take a rest and come back fighting right after the new year. and then this came in the mail:


nutrition: the 4th event

i was so friggin' excited to order this stuff and get to testing my nutrition on my upcoming long rides. i'd read up and taken cues from all around me and decided to start with these two products. given that i'll be traveling to brasil for the big 140.6, i can't rely on having access to the same nutrition options as i would in the states, so i decided i'd try to work with mostly liquid sources that i could travel with and mix on the spot. the Hammer Perpetuem will be the key, and the Carbo Pro will just be an added supplement to put in my Gatorade Endurance Formula. i opted for the plain flavored Perpetuem, cuz, well, the taste of an orangesicle is the equivelant to the TASTE OF ASS (not that i know what ass tastes like). plus with the plain, i can mix it with all sorts of flavors of hammer gels and other flavor additives to switch it up a little. and i'm psyched that all these products come in bulk, cuz another goal of mine is to be the green triathlete, tryin' to keep my iron/carbon footprint as small as possible ya know...

but before the weekend of cycling, i had to host a holiday party for "the bitches," my bestest homegirls who i barely see anymore due to this obsession with triathlon. this would be a challenge since I CANNOT COOK TO SAVE MY LIFE, and i got a little ambitious when i offered to make the key dishes for this potluck affair. i decided to make the roast chicken recipe from the Zuni Cafe Cookbook, one of my favorite restaurants in san fran. it all started to get complicated with salting the birds two days ahead of time and finding the proper bread for the accompanying bread salad. there were 3 pages in the book just on the topic of various salts!!! fuck it, i thought. i'm training for an ironman for christ's sake, i think i can roast some friggin' chickens.



AND DID I ROAST SOME CHICKENS!! even our token vegetarian in the group was watering at the mouth. we had a good ol' time exchanging gifts, catching up and swapping dating war stories. but then i kicked their asses out at 11pm so i could get up for a 60 miler the next day...

the next day i met up with fellow Iron Maiden, Juliet (forgot my camera for this one), to ride with the tri club valley ride. they typically only do 35 miles, but i needed to get 60 in, and Juliet needed 75, so we started an hour earlier and continued after the official ride ended. DAMN WAS IT WINDY!!! the guys joked to Juliet that this was good practice for the wind at IM Arizona, but i don't think she appreciated the humor. man, it felt like i was peddling and just goin' nowhere, i mean NOWHERE. at a certain point i was just slanted to the side holding onto my handlebars for dear life. the wind definitely slowed me down, and in the end i only got 56 miles in as i had to rush to finish and shoot an event later that afternoon. didn't try out my nutrition as it was just a little too long of a ride to have anything not agree with me, but no worries, there was a 40 mile/8 mile brick to follow tomorrow.....

opted for Griffith Park for the brick, but for the life of me, I COULD NOT GET UP EARLY. i was just exhausted from the previous day and then covering the event. so i slept in and didn't get started 'til 1pm. this would have me running a little into the dark, but it would be fun to run amongst the holiday crowd out to watch the Holiday Light Show. tried the Perpetuem mixed with apple and cinnamon Hammer Gel in the pancake batter consistency. it was weird at first, but pretty convenient to just eat from the flask at timed intervals. i felt a bit crampy in my stomach, but i think this was due to eating too much of the Perpetuem at one time rather than taking smaller amounts more often. ran into marathon and tri club buddy, Gerardo, on the bike path as i was finishing up. he was out for a short base ride, as he's training for IM Austria and coming back from injuries. he said he felt weaker than he'd ever felt, and it was gonna be a lotta work before Austria. thanks dude, that makes me feel so confident....


Gerardo on his Kuota

the ride went well. no wind this time, pretty good pace. just a quick pit stop before i head out for the run. the bathrooms at the ranger station in Griffith Park creep me out with these taxidermy displays of the park wildlife....


Rocky Raccoon???


please don't let me run into one of these on a ride...

the 8 miler went so great. i felt strong and consistent the whole way. it slowly started to get dark and the light show started. kinda surreal to be doing my brick on december 23rd amongst all the holiday gawkers, but it was a great start to christmas eve and i'd logged 100 cycling miles that weekend!!!

then came the next holiday party on christmas eve at my aunt and uncle's house....

what?? you don't celebrate with mariachis?? sucks to be you..

and that's when i got the fatal text message:

"GOING SURFING CHRISTMAS DAY. YOU IN?"

to which i replied:

"HELL YEAH, I'M IN!!!"

i'm gonna let you in on a little secret. if you really wanna have fun on christmas, HANG OUT WITH JEWS. the jews are the most fun. i opted to hang out with my two favorite jews, The Brown Bros. we went surfing at El Porto, a little late in the day because Bryan had been out cavorting with some gentiles at a Christmas Eve party the night before and couldn't get up before noon, but we went surfing nonetheless. 70 degrees in SoCal, a little blown out, but still decent conditions, and hey, i'll be able to say I SURFED ON CHRISTMAS DAY!!!!

yeah, that all sounds friggin' spectacular until you wake up in the middle of the night and a HOT AND SHARP pain goes shooting down your arm. you get up and realize YOU CAN'T MOVE YOUR ARM AT ALL. and then you feel like a friggin' idiot who has to wear one of these:


i went surfing for Christmas and look what Santa did...

I.AM.AN.IDIOT.

people, please send good thoughts. i really hope i'm not out of ironman for this stupid little stunt. i gotta admit, it's getting better every day, but i still can't lift my arm up over my head or put my hair in a ponytail even. and let me tell you, the world isn't ready for the huge ass fro i got goin' on....yesterday was a small victory when i could wash my face with both hands!! WOOOO HOOOO!!! i finally get to the doc tomorrow. he's supposedly THE shoulder guy. must be. when i called to make the appointment, without explaining my situation , the woman on the other end asked "left or right shoulder?" so we'll see what he says. doesn't help that everyone keeps saying how much it sucks to get an MRI.....shoot dye into me?? OH.HELL.NO.