In case you haven't noticed, the Bay Area has been experiencing some excellent weather the past week. If you haven't availed yourself of it, you should...because there's no telling when we'll have another one of those nasty heat waves!
JULY 24th: Last Thursday was a balmy 90 degrees in Moraga....perfect weather for attending an evening swim clinic hosted by our friends at the Sports Basement, Wayne and Michelle! We joined up with a few of of our triathlete friends(Venus and Pia) to try to glean more knowledge about swim stroke refinement and what matters most for triathletes: optimal speed with least expenditure of energy.
And of course, afterwards we refueled with some delectable foodfare from Chow Food Bar in Lafayette!
JULY 25th: Sadly, Randy Pausch died last Friday. Mr. Pausch was a Carnegie Mellon University computer scientist whose “Last Lecture” about facing terminal cancer became an Internet sensation and a best-selling book. His message is truly inspiring, and worth a look:
July 26th: So being the Tiggers that we are...Jo and I ran 5 miles Saturday morning, before heading over to see our friends at the Sports Basement again. Today's appointment was to as as Alex put's it, "put a turbo-charger" onto Marvin's bike. In this case, the turbo-charger is the AeroLite(TM) by Profile Design: This little baby allows me to generate an additional 1.0-2.0 miles per hour on the flats by helping me get into a "tucked position". That's going to translate to additional minutes shaved off of the bike leg on my next race. Here's some pics that Jo took during my fitting session with our friend Ryan at Walnut Creek Sports Basement.
JULY 27th: On Sunday, we went to Sydney's swim meet in Walnut Creek where she placed 1st again in her heat! This time it was the 25-yard backstroke. Here's some images from that day.
And here's a live clip of Sydney's 1st place performance. Look at this little speedboat jam down the lane! Sydney is at the farthest lane out next to the wall.
JULY 30th: And the most recent bit of news...at 5:30AM on Wednesday, our friends Eugene and Jenny had their little boy Nolan! He is a healthy 8lb 12.6oz baby, 22in long, and has very proud parents! Congratulations Euigi and Jenaynay !!!
Last Saturday the 12th, we had family day for Jo's birthday. Happy Birthday Jo !!!
We started off watching our niece Sydney's swim meet where she was first place in her heat for the 25-yard fly! Great job Sydney !!!
Next up, thanks to an awesome suggestion by Alex, we went bowling as a family with some friendly competition between all the guys and gals. We finished it off with some Mountain Mike's pizza and some great banter amongst each other. A great sign of a successful event is when Mom and Dad are raving so much about it that they want family bowling day to be a regularly scheduled event! Maybe it should be Jo's birthday every month! :-)
On the 14th(Jo's actual birthday), I took Jo out to an Italian restaurant that she wanted to try in Danville, called The Basil Leaf Cafe. Unfortunately, we didn't shoot any pics of the food. The fact that it disappeared faster than I could take a pic of it should tell you something about this place. :)
Saturday the 19th was a big day for our cousin Tom. He was participating in Eppie's Great Race in Sacramento that day. It's a 10K run, followed by a 12-mile bike ride, and ending with a 6-mile kayak ride! This race is touted as "the world's oldest triathlon", and it was a really fun race to watch!
Our First Triathlon Experience...June 21st, 2008 As narrated by Marvin
We did it! We completed our first triathlon (Swim 1/4 mile, Bike 11 miles, Run 3.1 miles).
Being that this was the first time for us to do a triathlon, Jo and I were extra diligent in ensuring that we trained as much as possible. In a period of about 10 weeks, we slowly built up our endurance and distances in each sport(swim, bike, run), and over that time we got to a point where we were comfortable with our bodies' abilities to take whatever we threw at them.
Most importantly, we remembered that the goal was to finish...but to have fun along the way!
And we did have a blast, learning more about each other, about working together, about our strengths, our areas of improvement, and about how to be the best supporters of each other as a husband and wife. For those that know us, Jo and I do almost everything as a team, as marriage is a team sport! Having had the practice of working together over the past 12 years....the training for this event moved like clockwork leading up to the race.
Well, the big day finally came...and boy was it big. Even though it was the "Tri for Fun", the buildup to the event came replete with the typical sleepless night before, race day butterflies, and of course the feelings of nervous anticipation and uncertainty. There was one thing that was certain though...nothing but God would stop us from finishing this event. Despite tossing and turning the night before, I felt very awake and energized for this day. I guess you call this the adrenaline rush of excitement that always seems to power the human body to do superhuman things.
We arrived at Shadow Cliffs Park shortly after 5AM, and as always, Mom and Dad beat us to the punch and saved us a parking spot (the red carpet treatment, as I like to call it). Thanks Mom and Dad! Alex and Ida arrived shortly after we did, and thanks to them(and other friends and family), we have pictures to go with this story. Thanks everyone!
The sun was just starting to rise, and the park had a calm and reassuring quietness to it. This would not last for long, however, as the deluge of 1000 race participants along with their requisite supporting casts was about to overrun the place!
About 5:30AM, Jo and I proceeded to check-in to receive our race bib #'s, and then went on to prepare our equipment in the transition area.
This was just a small fraction of what we had to prepare for that day. I have not even covered wetsuits, swimcaps, sunblock, and other odds and ends that are crucial to a race like this. Needless to say, it helps to have a mild case of OCD(Obsessive Compulsive Disorder) when preparing for one of these endeavors...and luckily(this is a good thing?) , both Jo and I do exhibit some of those characteristics. :-)
6:00AM...by now, the park area was a madhouse. Every 5 minutes the MCs were constantly blaring out reminders on the PA system. "Be sure to check-in and sign the waiver form!" "Rack your bike before you register!" "We're gonna have a great race today!" "Don't forget your souvenir t-shirts at the booth!" "After you're done with setting up your transition, make sure you go get your body marked!" These were all very helpful announcements....but before long, Jo and I settled into a mental groove where there was nothing but us and the park. The din of hundreds of voices going on around us seemed to just blend into a soft buzz, like when you have your radio tuned in to a non-station...
Next on the agenda was the body-marking, woohoo! Another trademark of a triathlete, the bodymarking is a standard triathlon practice of writing your bib # in large, legible numbers with a permanent marker on your arms and legs. The morbid joke is that this is for them to identify you if you succumbed to the ravages of the swim. Great, that makes us feel good about getting into the water. :-)
Bodymarking out of the way, we barely had about 10 minutes to take a break, slather on some sunscreen and start getting ready for the swim. Before getting into the water, we had to don our wetsuits. Well, "had to" is a relative term. For most people, the purpose of a wetsuit is to insulate your body from frigid water to prevent hypothermia over long periods of exposure. In triathlon terms, however, it almost seems a requirement. Why? Because the wetsuit serves the added advantage of giving the triathlete added buoyancy during the swim. This makes it easier to focus on swim stroke, and not waste as much energy keeping one's body level in the water.
It took us about 10 minutes to get the suits on, and thanks to plastic grocery bags and the help of Sandy and Jenny, we were able to get them on in a jiffy!
The race is about to start, and Jo and I are taking one last moment to warm ourselves up before the swim,
and we wish each other good luck the way husbands and wives have done since the dawn of time. :)
We start in separate waves, based on gender and age group, and I was the first to head out to fulfill my destiny, followed by Jo who was just as prepared. Wow, it didn't seem that far during swim training! Hmmm....those two buoys are pretty far out there. Well, as they say in the islands....no worries! We can do this......and so we're off!
1/4 mile swim(365m) Have you ever seen Titanic? There is one part of the movie when all the passengers have been forced to jump overboard and are now just bobbing around in the water flailing their arms. Seeing a wave start looks a lot like that scene. And if it looks chaotic watching it, you're absolutely right...it's a chaotic scene to be in. I had people slapping my feet, bumping my sides, and splashing water into my face. I'm sure I was also guilty of said crimes...it's almost unavoidable when you're jockeying for position to get around those buoys. Luckily, I did not take a kick in the face(it's been known to happen). Swimming along....left, right....breathe....right, left....breathe... It's kind of like a song, where the beats are consistent, and you just follow along to it, until....yup, I had to stop and catch my breath. No problem, just turn on my back and do a simple backstroke. This was my strategy in order to maintain forward motion while getting my heart-rate down enough so I could switch back to freestyle. 12 minutes later....woohoo! I'm high-stepping it out of the water and off to the transition!
Time to get out of the wetsuit and onto the bike. There's a system to this: 1) Rip velcro collar back, 2) Yank ripcord to lower zipper, 3) Arms out, 4) Cap/Goggles, 5) Legs out. Steps 1-4 are done while running, so it takes a bit of coordination to do this. And don't forget that all the while you're posing for the camera like Jo here. :)
11-mile bike(18Km) OK, put my shoes on, sunglasses, helmet, grab my bike. Make sure the helmet is securely strapped before exiting or they won't let me out! And I'm off! It's a slow and gradual ascent to exit the park and onto the main road. I choose this opportune time to rip off my energy gel and snarf it down along with some gatorade. The body is grateful for this fuel, and rewards me in kind with a renewed energy on the pedals. Even though I'm getting passed up by some elite road bikes, I still feel on pace with the time I've been making during my training. And then I hit the big downhill, and I make up a bunch of time flying down it at over 30MPH ! So 40 minutes later...it's time to hop off the bike and transition into the run.
Jump off the bike, and run into the transition area with it! Have to hoist the bike back on onto the rack before doing anything else, and I was so proud of Jo...look at her muscle that thing onto the rack. Go Jo! Helmet off, running shoes on, and one last gulp of gatorade before getting onto the running trail! Oops....I forgot to take off my cycling gloves! LOL. I ended up stuffing them into one of my pouches that I had attached to my waist for the run. Good thing I had those.
3.1 mile run(5Km) So the run was the last leg of the course, and I was none too weary to attack this final test of my mettle. Steady as she goes, I stayed true to my training pace, never running too fast nor too slow. The hills, of which there were several, did present a dilemma. I mostly trained on the flats, and could easily keep my heart-rate below 155. This day, it was nearly impossible to stay under 175 as by the time I would get it down, another hill would come up. Oh well, suck it up...it's only a 5K anyway....so what else am I saving my beats for?
The highlight of my run was when I was running on the final switchback and lo and behold, my beautiful wife and I were crossing paths at a junction on the course! We did not plan for this fortuitous event in training, so rather than a running kiss, we decided not to risk a head-on collision and opted for a high-five instead! LOL.
There were 4 water stops along the run course, but I think seeing each other on the run gave us a boost that no other energy drink could do. I looked at my watch, and I had 8 minutes to spare before I would fall behind my target goal of 90 minutes. So I kept the pace up, and at the last 200 meters I pressed the gas pedal all the way down on a sprint to my destiny, ending with a deluge of high-fives as our friends, family, parents, and even complete strangers congratulated and cheered for a job well done that day.
As this was the Tri for Fun, timing chips were not used(just a universal clock), so based on my trusty Timex Ironman 30lap chronograph, my overall time was 86min, 52secs, and Jo's was 117min, 36secs. Not too shabby for a couple of old farts, eh?
You know what? With just a tiny bit more training, we may be ready to do one of these:
We hope you enjoyed our little story. We wish to thank those who contributed to this photo collection:
Alex and Ida Paras Dave Tong and Dawn Darvin Eugene and Jenny Gomez
To view the complete(and downloadable) photo journal of our day from this event, please click below:
We hope everyone had an excellent Independence Day weekend! For the first time in the 5 years we've lived in the Tri-Valley, we decided to attend the annual 4th of July parade in downtown Danville.
This parade has been held every year since 1958, and is such a big deal that some people camp out the night before just to get a great spot from which to watch!
Needless to say, we had an awesome time at the parade! Many local clubs as well as businesses pulled out all the stops to promote their organizations.
The proof is in the pudding, as you can see in all the free loot that we scored just by standing on the sidelines. :) Isn't this a great country that we live in?
Here's a Lion and Dragon Dance we saw at the parade. Click the play button to watch it!
AND FINALLY... CLICK HERE for a slideshow to get the full effect!
OK...so we're in the process of trying to resume blogging again...so here goes! :)
We had a great weekend this past Sunday, hanging out with some of our new triathlon buddies. They invited us to a kick-off event in Danville for the Nike Women's Marathon coming up later this year. It is a promotional event, with giveaways, demos, and a 1-mile run at the end of the whole affair.
We biked over to Danville on our new race-horses to give them(and ourselves) a good break-in. About 8 miles one-way...got the blood flowing for the run.
We met up with Dawn, Venus, Chia-Lyn, Pia, and her friend Michelle. This event was really cool. Free Jamba Juice, we got to run in some demo Nikes, and in doing so scored a pair of Nike Dri-fit socks for free....yipee !
Here are your favorite female triathletes doing the pre-run warm-ups. Warming up is very important...so as to not injure oneself during a hard run.
And...action !
Here's Marvin joining in on the warm-up with HIS favorite female triathlete!
And finally, we're all lining up into the different pace groups for the 1-mile run. If we go to enough of these...we'll have a whole drawer full of Nike Dri-fit socks! LOL
And of course, afterwards we refueled with some delectable foodfare from Chow Food Bar in Lafayette!
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