NOVEMBER 2005 HIGHLIGHTS

Again, just the highlights to catch up!

Pyramids: Our training schedule is divided into three week pyramids. The training builds up, getting consistently harder over three weeks and then we have a recovery week. Not complete rest but a less intense set of workouts. My October cold hung on through most of Nov and I ended up going to my doctor and now have an asthma inhaler to use. I haven’t needed one for over 15 years so I’m feeling like a wuss. (As I write this in March, I’m still using it occasionally

Iron University: The Team has had three special training sessions to cover important issues like gear & gear maintenance (and which sport has more gear than triathlons??) , nutrition & hydration, training tips, injury prevention etc. One particularly grueling demonstration was by Coach Kristin and the foam roller. This is a torture device that is v. beneficial but would have been at home in any 16th Century dungeon. Here’s an intimate look from SMI (Sports Medicine Institute International) in Palo Alto. http://www.smiweb.org/massage_clinic/pdf/roller_guide.pdf A great place, BTW! The key to the foam roller is to use it where it hurts the most. Simple & effective but oooohhhh the agony!

Personal Notes:
In the midst of all of this training, I'm still working full-time and volunteering at Hidden Villa every other Friday. I really treasure my time teaching at Hidden Villa. It truly is a sanctuary. No matter how hard or stressful my week has been, I leave there feeling refreshed and re-vitalized. I know that the environmental education program makes a profound difference in the lives of the suburban & inner-city children that attend. I am very proud to be a part of it.

I'm also still floating around in the online dating pool. I feel more confident in it this time around, have made some new friendships and I'm dating some v. nice men. It's nice to take it slow and have fun. Lots of active & cultural dates: museums, galleries, hikes & bike rides and some great meals.

November 1st I turned 41, yay! (Can you hear the sarcasm?) I had a great birthday dinner on the day with my friend Karen who was born the same day. We had a great meal & a great time at Evvia in Palo Alto, rare lamb chops, yum! Later on in the month I had another celebration with my friends Matt & Ajay who also have birthdays within a few days of me. A great meal at Buca di Beppo in PA and afterwards at F&A's. Good times! Although we just don't seem to stay out v. late anymore, practices come really early weekend mornings.

Thanksgiving Day

On Thanksgiving morning I ran the inaugural Silicon Valley Turkey Trot 10K with my friend and teammate Matt, aka Mantri. I decided to run it the day before, so it’s my first official “spur of the moment” race.

I finished the race in 1 hr 2 min 0 sec which put me at 20 out of 49 for women 40-49 years and 385 out of 544 overall. Me in the top 20, yipee!

My goal for 2006 is to run a 10K in under an hour. My current best for a 10k is 1 hr 1 minute so the Turkey Trot was a good time. Then I didn’t feel guilty about anything I ate on Thanksgiving!

Whoever would have thought that I would run a 10k on a whim?? Sometimes when I’m running, I think about when I couldn’t walk without a cane and to my, thankfully brief, time with a walker (aka Zimmer frame). That was just three years ago! Modern Medicine is truly amazing.

For the first time in over 20 years, I didn't cook a Thanksgiving turkey. Robert and I had Thanksgiving with Warren & Yvonne L. and their family & friends. It was a warm & wonderful time. And v. delicious food! Thank you again!

Ride & Tie

My teammate, Ann G, was my rockstar partner for the Ironteam Ride & Tie at Bayfront Park! As "The Two Lucys", we ran, rode, solved a quiz, threw Frisbees, did blindfolded convolutions with PowerGels, had a great time and finished well up in the standings. However, due to some **questionable** penalties for our innovative racing techniques, we were ranked near last. . . But it was still a great event!

A ride & tie is loosely based on the two people, one horse race: http://www.rideandtie.org/ For our training event it was two people, one mountain bike and a 2.5 mile loop course that we circled a few times. Everyone dressed up in costume and lots of mental & physical challenges and hills are added into the fun.

When teams earn points with mental & physical challenges that help reduce their overall time. Ann and I did well and received some bonus points. However, we were penalized for riding tandom at the finish line without two helmets & the one helmet we had being unbuckled. Ah the technicalities! We were robbed!



Oooohhhhhh Ricky!
The Two Lucys: The Most Innovative Ride & Tie Team Ever!
Ann & Me

More information on Menlo Park's Bayfront Park: http://baytrail.abag.ca.gov/vtour/map2/access/Menlo/Menlo.htm#Bayfront

Ironman Championships 2005 "LIVE"

First Official Fundraiser











Everyone engrossed in the action!



For my first fundraiser, I invited current & former teammates to my house to watch the TV broadcast of the grandaddy of them all: IRONMAN HAWAII 2005, the World Championships! Through the magic of television and Michele's VCR assist, we were able to see Faris Al-Sultan from Germany win the men's title in 8 hours 17 minutes 17 seconds and Natasha Badmann from Switzerland win the women's title (coming back from a big time penalty!) in 9 hours 9 minutes 30 seconds.

It was terrific to watch and so inspirational! My mentor, Christy, Web Captain Mindy and her husband, Guy, helped out tremendously! I made $300 which was a nice fundraising boost. Only $7,200 to go!

Here are some highlights about the 2005 Championship from the IronmanLive website:

A Championship like no other …
Madame Pele must have been in a good mood here in Kona today. Instead of pounding the best endurance athletes in the world with brutal winds and scorching heat, she left out the winds and went a bit easier on the heat. And the best endurance athletes in the world took note, and put on quite a show. In today’s Ford Ironman World Championship, we were witness to more than 16 record setting times.

We saw 45-year-olds finish a 2.4 mile swim, a 112-mile bike ride, and a marathon run in 9:11.

We saw Sister Madonna Buder become the oldest woman to ever finish an Ironman. She’s just 76-years-young! She managed that feat in an impressive 15:54:16

We saw Robert McKeague become the first 80-year-old to finish an Ironman. He did that in just over 16 hours!

We saw Johnny Blais become the only athlete with ALS (Lou Gehrigs Disease) to finish an Ironman.

For more information about IRONMAN click on: http://ironmanlive.com/