Really? You're kidding right?

So if you've been following my blogposts..esp the ones about triathlon, you've probably caught onto the fact that I-don't-swim-well. That I down right suck at it.

In fact, this is what I used to look like in the water just 3 months ago:



Not pretty.

I blogged about it in an earlier post and promised to upload this horrendous (but incredibly useful) video of my swim indicating my dire need for proper swim stroke critique.

Well, my appologies for not actually posting the video until now.

So anyway, after a couple of months of struggling on my own, I decided to take serious actions to fix my stroke and joined Learn to Swim classes for people who already know how to swim that just want to get better at it. They are offered by the local masters swim coaching group called sundevil masters. The group is really well known among triathletes and though these semi-private lessons (3 individuals per class) are pricier than regular masters swim sessions ($20/class vs. $6/session), I knew that I needed that extra special attention to my stroke.

It's been frustrating trying to re-learn proper swim stroke methods but it's what I need to do to get better at swimming.

Well, today, as I was getting done with another struggling swim session, I got a major confidence booster :). Just as I was getting out of the water, the life gaurd watching over us asked me:

"Are you training for something?"

Me: "yeah...trying to, haha"

Her: "Well, you look like you're a good swimmer"

Me: "Really? Are you serious? Wow...I've never heard that from anyone...ever...EVER!"

Her: "Yeah really...you make it look effortless in the water"

Effortless huh...well it sure don't feel effortless. I can't believe someone actually thought that I make it look like i'm effortlessly crusing through the water.

AHHHHHH!!!

That, right there made my day....hell it made my week.

I know I'm still slow and I know that I have a long ways to go before I get to ber where I want to be but that little confidence booster...I really needed that.

I haven't had anyone video-tape me again since the first time but I think it's fair to say that I probably look at least a little bit better than the windmill-parachute girl you witnessed in the video I posted :)

We shot the shit a little bit about swimming and she told me about how she watches so many people train and how they don't finish the stroke properly or how their entry is all off...and I definitely used to do those things until pretty recently. I'm still struggling to get these things right but God...it feels so undescribably good, so-so-so good to know that I'm actually making progress, even though sometimes I don't feel like I am :)

I guess that's why I'm in love with triathlon.

I guess that's why I stick with it because I know...deep down inside I know...I can get better, I can get faster...and it's that chase that keeps me going...it's that chase that makes it worth the frustration and the struggle...

Besides..you know me. If it was easy...I wouldn't be doing it :)

First Half-century and Bubbly Back

Yesterday, i.e., on Sunday I did my very first Half-Century ride of the season. I did a little over fifty miles on the bike but calling it a Half-Century sounds so much cooler . In reality when I got back home from my bike ride, I had only done 48.7 miles or something like that so I just did laps around my apartment complex until I reached 50 miles. Sounds silly, I know, but I wanted to officially reach that 50 mile marker and then snap the picture of my bike computer proudly displaying my achievement.

I won’t complain about the fact that I didn’t get to riding until 9 am (ridiculously late for Arizonans) or the fact that the temps were around 105 degrees by the time I got back or the fact that I had a hard time stomaching anything besides water during the last 15miles…well now I’m complaining aren’t I? I know I sound like a broken record when I complain about the heat here but I swear, there’s a new issue that arises every time I go on a long work out.

This time, the heat was blistering…literally! I definitely struggled a lot during the last 15 miles, feeling like puking every time a gust of hot, furnace-like breeze would blow into my face...in fact I think I did puke up a little gatorade-stomach acid mix in my mouth during one of my burps. That was nothing new.

When I got home, however, I experienced something I never even thought could happen to me as a result of the heat! My roommate was home when I stumbled in from my ride and after re-racking my bike and throwing off my shoes, (definitely didn’t have anything left in me for a run right after) I proceeded to dish it out on how hot it was and then pulled back my sleeveless cycling jersey from my shoulder to display the new layer of tan that I had just put on myself.

Roomie: “Ughhh…what’s that on your back?”

Me: “What….what are you talking about?”

Roomie: “Man that does not look good…ughh!”

Me: “What….what is there? What? Tell me!!”

Roomie: “You have a huge patch of blisters on your back! Like your skin is bubbling or something!”

Me: “What? Are you serious? You’re kidding right?”

At this point, I’m pulling back my jersey further and still not seeing anything.

Me: “Dude stop lying…you’re just messing with me. I don’t feel anything!”

Roomie: “I’m telling you dude, you’ve got blisters all over your back, go check it out in the mirror!”

Still in disbelief, I ran to the mirror in my bathroom and peeled the jersey off my back a little further to take a gander at the supposed blisters.

Feelings of masochistic astonishment and loathsome disgust came over me as I viewed my back. Little water blisters had bubbled up all over my shoulders and back in the same areas where I got sun burned last week!


Holy Hell!

Me: “Oh my God! Wow…wow. Haha…I can’t believe this!”

I ran my fingers over the raised blisters and one of them popped. Ewww.

I shook my head in horror and fascination.

Me (to myself in the mirror): “This is wrong man. This is just plain wrong.”

I thought “blisteringly hot” was just a figure of speech until now.

Don’t worry, they didn’t hurt at all. In fact, I probably wouldn’t have realized they were there if my roommate hadn’t pointed them out. They kinda looked like sweat beads on my back…except they’re under my skin. Most of them popped during the shower I took after my ride.

If you notice, the bubbles only appeared on either side of my racer back tan line on my shoulders and nowhere else. Normally, I wear a racer back running top or triathlon top when I ride because I find them more comfortable than cycling jerseys, hence the deep tan line on my back. Yesterday, however, in an attempt to protect my shoulders from being burned again by the sun, I decided to wear my sleeveless cycling jersey, which covers the areas on my shoulders that would normally be exposed during my rides.

I guess my skin was not used to being covered in that area and decided to rebel against the change by bubbling up.

So now I’m faced with the ultimate dilemma: Should I wear the racer back top and get burned again or should I wear the cycling jersey and get blisters? The burn doesn’t look nearly as bad but definitely hurts more than the blisters. Of course, I could avoid all of it by simply waking up at 5am like I’m supposed to and go for my ride when it is still some what pleasant out.

But that wouldn’t be any fun now, would it?

Birthday, Sunburn, Iphone and more..

Alright folks, there’s a lot to cover in this blogpost so uhh…try not to fall asleep while reading and I’ll try not to bore you into oblivion :). No promises though. I’m a rambler as we all know (and hopefully love).

a) Thank you to everyone for all the wonderful birthday wishes. A little surprised at how many people wished me happiness on my special 25th birthday, even IF many of them were informed about it through Facebook. Still takes a little effort to dial in that text, pick up that phone to call or send in that FB message ya know? Quarter of a century old….wowza. But I feel surprisingly happy with the way things are in my life. Mainly because I’m excited about the future. Don’t get my wrong, I’m very proud of my accomplishments so far, but I’ve got my eyes set on quite a bit more. Looking forward to see what else life has in store I guess that’s all.

There used to be a point in time around senior year in college when I was absolutely terrified of the future. I felt like life was forcing me to sprint ahead, faster and faster, and there was nothing I could do to pull back on the reigns. Scared of failure, scared of settling, scared of not accomplishing enough....I wanted time to sit still so I could just have a minute to sort things out.

Now, I feel good about the future. Still don’t know what it has in store for me, still don’t know if I’ll accomplish all that I want to but here’s what’s different: This time around, I do know that as long as I try my best, keep my eyes open for opportunities and work hard, I’ll be happy. As long as I’m always pushing, looking for new ways to grow and keep life exciting, life will be amazing.

I’m a very goal oriented person; I’ve found this out about myself over the years. And the realization of this ridiculously obvious fact, believe it or not, has helped me have a much better outlook on life. Having goals to work towards is what makes me tick day in and day out. I need to keep on challenging myself and defining new goals to reach and new milestones to accomplish in order to lead a fulfilling and successful life. And that is exactly what I plan on doing :)

b) Enough heavy stuff, onto the fun stuff! Iphone 3G did indeed get launched on my birthday (thanks Apple!) and will be here July 11th (why you gotta make me wait Apple?). You best believe I'll be procuring one as soon as I can get my hands on it. Twice the connection speed and a full GPS system and half the price! ahhhh! I can’t wait!

c) I got sun burned for the first time ever on Sunday! I’m actually kind of excited about it. This is my third summer in good old A to the Zona and I finally got burnt! I didn’t know that I was actually capable of burning until Sunday :). I think of it as God’s little prank birthday gift to me haha. The real one’s coming soon right God?

Here’s how I got it:

Mama went for a nice long 3.5 h bike ride and forgot to put the good old sun-block on. 95-100 degree temp + no sun block + sun blaring down on your bare shoulders = sunburn.

Good to know.

What? Were you expecting a long, dragged out story? I’ll have you know that I’m perfectly capable of being succinct when needed! In reality though, there really isn’t an exciting story to tell so I’m sparing you the fabricated details. Now, if only my shoulders would stop itching.

d) I haven't done much else to prettify my blog besides changing the backsplash and putting up a banner cuz let's face it I'm a little lazy and also, I can't find my stupid book on blogging! Oh well, I'll get around to putting more pics and links up one of these days. For now, my attempts at humor and my irreverence for grammar will have to suffice as entertainment.

e) Whine session alert. This part of the blogpost is dedicated to whining about stuff. You’ve been forewarned.

I hate being a slow runner! I feel sooo much slower than I did last year! When I run, my legs are telling "me go faster go faster you can do it!" But my heart rate sky rockets when I put in even the tiniest little kick in my legs and I, being a mere mortal slave to my heart rate monitor, reluctantly comply and go back down to my boring, long slow, slow...slowwwwww pace.

Yawn.

This results in me always having lots of gas left in the tank after my long runs (which is good) but it also leaves me with this sad empty feeling (which is bad). Good lord I’m being forced to go 11:30min/mile pace! Am I really that much of a slow poke? Could I have completed this 9 miler if I had gone faster?

And then I immediately feel like an idiot for even questioning these things and instead, I try to focus my attention on my amazing ability to be able to go out and run for an hour and a half when it's a blistering 95 degrees out and still have gas left in the tank. Take that suckas! By suckas I am referring to the negative voices inside my head. Yes, I do have little voices inside my head. Make fun all you want folks but you and I both know that everyone has little voices inside their head whether they admit to it or not.

I couldn't do it last year. This running in crazy hot weather thing. The heat and dehydration would always get to me. I'd end up walking quite a bit during my runs, barely staggering through to the finish and on the verge of puking afterwards. I could never gauge how much fluid to take down or what pace to set for myself. But this year, things are just clicking, and, as slow as I may be, I know I have heart rate monitoring to thank for it.

Having a heart rate monitor is helping me be more cognizant of how much water I need to take during the runs. If I’m dehydrated, my HR climbs and that is a very clear indication that I need more fluids. As a result, I’ve been stuffing more of the little 4 oz water filled bottles into the waistband of my shorts when I go on my long runs, even though it’s cumbersome to run with the little buggers. Surprise, surprise, this strategy has actually been working for me. That and I’m probably adapting a little better to the nasty hot weather this time around.

I know I'm slow now, but it’s just a matter of time and miles before I get faster while maintaining the same heart rate. At least that’s what people tell me. I just need to have patience and faith that this whole following the Heart Rate Monitor training thingy will work out. After all, virtually every pro and half way decent triathlete trains with them! Apparently I have to force myself to be slower now to get faster later..or something like that.

Sigh.

Patience young road-runner, patience.

A Blog Post about Blogging.

So I’ve been blogging on and off for a few months now and it’s super fun! The more I blog, the more I want to blog. And considering that I already have a rather compulsive personality, I am constantly obsessing over new topic(s) to blog about and how to write more entertaining posts.

This might sound silly, but sometimes when I’m working out or driving, I even conjure up exact phrases and sentences that I plan on using when I come home and blog. Is that too much? A little wierd maybe? …Nahhhh.

It’s like when I was majoring in math and taking all these pure math classes with lots of theoretical problems requiring logic oriented and wordy proofs. I’d obsess over how to write my solutions, rehearsing the wording and the organization in my head over and over again before actually putting it all down on paper; reading, revising, re-reading, re-revising and then finally turning it in.

I guess old habits die hard cuz I do the same sort of thing with my blog. I think about the subject(s) that I want to write about, think about how I’ll start my paragraphs, which points I want to cover and have a mental outline in my head before I start writing. I never intend for my blog posts to be as lengthy as they turn out to be but that’s just my inner effervescence taking control over my keyboard and making me ramble on and on.

That and the fact that some of the things I blog about (such as triathlons and health care etc) require more detailed explanations since I do try my best to write posts that are easy to understand and entertaining to an audience that may not be deeply familiar with the subject of the post. Plus I’m a stickler for accuracy and getting my facts straight so sometimes I have to confirm some of the things I write about to make sure I really know what I’m talking about; especially when I know someone else might be reading my blog! Well, currently, it’s mainly Sadhana and my parents who read my blog but I’m hoping to change that.

So tonight and tomorrow night, and maybe even the night after that I’m going to focus on making my blog look purdy. Maybe I'll put up more pics and a nice, flashy banner or something. I even got this book on blogging! Never mind that I got it primarily because it was like 7 bucks on amazon.com and I needed to buy 5 more smackeroos worth of goods to qualify for free shipping. I haven’t cracked it open yet but maybe it’ll have some useful suggestions on how to improve my blog.

I’m also going to email my friends and some of my extended family and invite them to read my blog. I think they’ll want to read it. It’s pretty entertaining if you ask me. Sadhana agrees. My dad thinks I have “a flair for writing” which is pretty cool. But then again, this IS coming from my best friend and my dad so….

Anyway, they’d better like it and read it religiously cuz I’m going to quiz them on it. And if they fail, well then I shall never talk to them again! Nevar! Nevar! Nevar! Or the next 10 minutes...whichever comes first.

An assortment of things

Can you believe this picture? Yes my friends this is a real picture depicting a drunk driver plowing through a peleton of cyclists during a race in Mexico this sunday. Thankfully there was only one fatality, however, 10 people did get injured. Read the full article here. This has not been a very good year for us roadies and triathletes peddling on the streets. From cops falling asleep at the wheel to drunk drivers, seems like all you four-wheeled vehicle operators are out to get us! It's a wonder I still ride on the roads. People make fun of the amount of caution I sometimes take when riding but hey, if being cautious means being alive and healthy well then you call me Safety Sue.


On a completely different subject, word on the street is that he said, that she said, that the 2nd generation Iphone (drool) is supposed to be launched on June 9th. That's muh burfday! I turn a quarter of a century old that day! Birthday present anyone? haha. Maybe I'll just get myself a quarter life crisis consolation present if no one else gets it for me.

Also, I've been a very good little girl and have been trying my best to follow my triathlon training plans for this week that I outlined on sunday. I did modify the workouts and shortened a couple of them cuz I've been feeling really worn out this week. Gotta listen to the body you know. If she tells me "don't do it!don't do it! no mas! no mas" I have to comply. My legs have been pretty dead since sunday's run so even though I plan on following the schedule, I'll be shortening some of the work outs or decreasing the level of intensity to ease back into the schedule. Consistency is the key to success here. All right, so here's what I've done so far.

Sunday: Short swim (1000-1200, forgot to keep track) and 3.6 mile Chill run in 38 min

Monday: 12 mi ride (planned 14-17mi but it was crazy windy out!) then yoga immediately after(which kicked my butt, it's not all stretching people, lots of power moves)

Tuesday: 1200m swim then 2.7mi run with 5 20-30s long accelerations (planned to do speed workout but legs just didn't have it in them)

Alright, now I'm off to bed. Gotta wake up for a bike/run brick. I need to make a glossary of triathlon terms and post it here so that whenever I refer to a triathlon specific term, I can refer y'all to it and not assume you know what I'm talking about. Maybe I'll do that tomorrow. For now, brick means a back to back workout. so a bike-run brick means i bike, then i run immediately after i bike, like within 2-3min. Triathlon involves 3 back to back sports so it's crucial to practice these, esp the bike-run transition,to prep for the race.

Okay now I'm really off to bed. Gosh I can talk forever. G'night y'all!

Azra

A Plea from the Heart

My dear Hillary,

Granted that you’d be a more experienced, quite possibly a more qualified president who can dig us out of the hole we’re currently stuck in; granted that “the other democratic candidate” has a whole lotta sizzle but not enough meat to back it up. Granted that you know in your heart that you’re a better candidate for precidency.

Granted that I’ve backed you up throughout your bid for the White House nomination, refusing to jump on the band wagon and fall for the “Change for America” rhetoric.Granted that I’ve often been the lone ranger debating against a forest of Obama supporters, holding fast to my conviction that you’re the right gal for the job, that you’ll prevail through it all and the nay sayers will side with you.

Granted that you’re fighting this up stream battle ever so tenaciously, refusing to give up because you feel like you’re almost there. Granted that it must be tough, unbelievably tough to be so, so close…yet no where near clenching the nomination.

Granted all of that and more. But girl, its time to give it up. Seriously. Be the better woman and give up the bid for presidential candidacy for the greater good.

People (including myself) are starting to get a little worn out by all this non stop election coverage and just want it all to be over. Obama’s got the majority here, fair and square. He’s charmed his way through many a stadium filled crowd and even I have to admit that he is very, very charismatic and sounds more genuine. He talks TO his audience, while Hillary, you sometimes talk AT them. And that, along with your bad luck with campaign leadership, may well be the reason why he was able to inch past you and is now swiftly sprinting his way to the finish line while you have no kick left in your campaign legs.

So my dear Hillary, I urge you, please bow out gracefully. Please don’t drag this sordid affair all the way into August. I’d like to see you run for presidency again in the future. I really would. Please don’t sabotage your political career by leaving a bitter taste in our mouths and refusing to concede. Historically speaking, dragging the bid for presidential candidacy all the way through to the democratic convention has only proven to result in a loss in the general election, and you don’t want that now do you? Us democrats certainly don’t.

So my dear Hillary, you’ve had a helluva run, and you should be very proud of the valiant effort you’ve put into this race. But it’s time to step aside. This isn’t to say that I’m a switch hitter and I’ve thrown my support towards Obama. No. I still have a hard time admitting that he’s the likely democratic candidate for presidency by a long shot. But, if supporting you to continue pushing on means potentially losing the general election then count me out.

So my dear Hillary, while I can’t say I’m now a full on Obama supporter, I do believe that, you’ve gots to go. I just hope and pray that Obama’s able to add a little more substance to his speeches and not make us dig through the internet to try and figure out what he actually stands for besides his “Change for America” slogan.

Blah sorta mood.

It's sunday afternoon, I've been a lazy little girl all week and the entire last week has been a very blah week. I've been having a hard time gettin back into the swing of things after last weekend's fun filled (but exercise lacking) activities. I guess I did quite a bit of walking but I don't really count that as a workout. So this upcoming week, I'm startin anew. Starting tomorrow, I'm gonna follow the schedule that I've written out for me. I think it would help if I post my schedule here and update daily about my progress, even if it is a few sentences worth.

It's tough you know. I want to take weekend trips, I want to visit my family. I want to go escape to flagstaff up north and go hiking. But all that means not being able to do my long training rides and runs on the weekends. The long runs are only about 1.5 to 2 hours, so they can be accommodated during the week. But the long ride/run bricks....where am I gonna find 3+ hours to fit that in in the middle of the week? Such are the dillemmas of a wannabe triathlete.

By the way, just thought I'd mention this: The temperatures are now climbing up into the 100s and that REALLY has not been a motivating factor in me wanting to get outside and do the damn triathlon thang.

Any hoo. Without further delays, here are my plans for next week:


Today: Short little swim 1200-1500m Then a 3-4 mi hello legs remember running? run

Monday: Easy short ride 14-17 miles (z2) Yoga

Tuesday: Short Swim 12-1500m then 4-5mi Speed Play run ( alternate fast running(z4-5)and easy running (z2) based on duration of songs in ipod)

Wed: Brick ride: Ride 10-14mi, run 15-20min (ride last 4-5 miles hard, run first 10 min hard, z3-z4)

Thursday: optional swim 1200-1500m then Long run 7-8mi super easy (z2)

Friday: swim 1800m then light strength training.

Saturday: Long ride (40-45mi) z2 then run (20-25min) z2.

Alright. So you might have noticed a bunch of z2's and some z4' with a z3 and a z5 sprinkled throughout my workout schedule. There's a definite reason behind their existence. You see, I started training with a Heart Rate Monitor a couple of months ago and the z2-z5 are the various Heart Rate training zones that I base my workouts on.




Now what is it that I mean by training zones? Well Your heart rate fluctuates depending on the amount and the intensity of physical activity that you do. For example, your heart rate may be 60 beats per minute (bpm) when you first wake up (that's your resting heart rate). It may be 100 beats per minute when you're walking and it may climb to 190 beats per minute when you're running really really hard (depending on who you are)

The heart rate zones help you determine the intensity level of your workouts based on your heart rate. The range over which your heart rate fluctuates as you're exercising can be subdivded into intervals or zones; Zone 1 is the easiest level of intensity (think walking) and z5 is the hardest level of intensity of your workouts (think sprinting). Thus the zones signify the level of intensities that I've designated for each work out.

Each person has their own set of heart rate zones since each person has a different resting heart rate and a different maximum heart rate.

To learn more about Heart rate training and how to determine your own training zones, see the following articles:

Article from www.beginnertriathlete.com

Article from www.performancetrainingsystems.com

The reason why I(and other triathletes) train with heart rate monitors is so that we don't get speed happy over exert ourselves as we're trying to increase the mileage and and duration of our workouts. Your body can only handle so much stress before it cracks! So the heart rate is a solid number that keeps me in check during my workouts. If I've planned a long, slow workout in zone 2, then I'd better stick to that intensity level and my Heart rate monitor helps me do exactly that :)

Azra