Santa Cruz Half Marathon

Herro~~

New PR @ half marathon distance!! V(^_^)V Here is a foto that explains it all, eat your heart out clarissa~~
Finished 129/2200, with an avg pace of 7:34/mi! Pretty freaking kewl beanz, top 5.8% of the field ^_^! New pr, about 20 mins offa my first half ever that I ran 7 months ago in october O_O! Fianl time 01:39:06! Wore the same outfit as the emerald 12k...so mabbe should change it up a bit for the next race. I also think i should do a different pose next time...keke. Maybe try sprinting in front of the camera for a runnersworld stylee cover shawt...wheel sea~~
KFC Double Down, a new sammich. Perfect post-workout recovery. 53g protein, 11g carbs, 540 calories, 100% YUM~! hellaTaystie™ to boot! 2 slices bacon and 2 slices pepperjack cheese between 2 chunks of fried chicken "bread" lolol V(^_^)V
Me enjoying the monstrosity~~ (thats what she said) Ofc, im a fatass and had to supplement it with a snack wrap, but oh whales ~_~
Teh swag~ Race bib, finisher shirt, finisher medal, parking pass. Tip: buy urself 2 hours of parking to encourage you to run faster and finish before your parking is up~~! kekeke~~

All in all the race was pretty decent. Some noobie blockers in the beginning...does anyone ever listen to the announcer's request for slow people to move to the back?_? I was like 20 ft from starting line but still had to weave around idiots for the first mile, ugh! Forgot my watch, but I run and train by perceived effort, so figured id just try hard...lol.

Only a few noteworthy things...first...the wind! oh em gee twas a headwind in every direction we ran, and strong too! I tried to draft behind some ppl and use them as windshields, but eventually they got too slow (or tired out by the wind) for me and i had to run several hundred yards to the next person/group, lol. As i made my way to the front, it became more and more of a sausage fest. This meant that i was drafting behind mostly men near the end of the race...and unfortunately that meant horrible BO blowing in my face. I'm already huffing n puffing from a race pace effort, and on top of that have to inhale their nasty body odor with every breath X_X, so that made me blow that lemonade stand asap. Luckily it only happened a few times~~ The final 2 miles along the coast brought a frothy, salty sprinkle to my face (thats what she said). It was good to look at and breathe in the awesomeness of the sea and waves~~

I was trying to finish strong at the end, but unfortunately, all the 10k laggards were in teh way and clogging the path and finish chute X_X. I am normally very happy to see people of all shapes and sizes and fitnesses get out and do some jazzercise, but when they get in the way of my PR, its game over man, game over -_-~! But meh, managed to get thru it with minor cursing in my head.. maybe only delayed by a minute or two on my total time, blargh!

Another highlight....no race day diarrhea or stomach issues, FOR ONCE!!~ Moderate burping, but i was prettyPleased™~~

Ooh, must share pre-race soundtrax. Lots of Lady GaGa (hangs head in shame, lol) and some Kesha, but recently discovered this oldie by eminem, and listened to it like 10x before I ran the race, lol. It kept playing in my head while i was running too. hellaGood™ beatz, all heavy and hard (thats what she said), but perfect to pump up for race O_O!

Eminem - Til I Collapse

Tri training is going alright. I had my longest swim evarr yday, 5000 yards! I do sets of 500 around 6:30 nowadays. Fiorella (my bike) is currently int he shop with shifter problems...iono when ill get her back T_T! Ruined my weekend long ride, ugh, but i guess i replaced it wiht a 9 mi tempo run and impromptu mission peak hike...lol. Hopefully we can be reunited this weekend for a 50+ miler.

Oooh ooh i updated the mileage/yardage stats counter on the side of mah page! Itll be kewl beanz to find out monthly/yearly distances. I've run over 1000 miles since a year ago! NOICE! Never thought I could run more than 1 mile, but kaka, tiz only mental! Most people defeat themselves with the attitude right at the beginning, and never give it a shot. Im living proof that fatasses can get thin! Beefcake, beefcake~~

Aite stay classy and enjoy many KFC double downs~~!
-daniel

EPIC Running Weekend ^_^

Hay peepz~

So this weekend was pretty kewl beanz, had the emerald across the bay 12k in which i PRed (well it was my first thyme X_X, but 54:33 for a 7:19 avg split, now that split was pretty schaweet ^_^), then a training run @ Dipsea...since we were in the area...lol, and topped off with a sammich monstrosity from Ike's Place in SF.
Here are the home skillets with which i partook in the epic weekend~~ My stunna shades = CYCLOPS!! got some noice comments, and a lot of odd looks...lawl X_X
After the bus ride across golden gate to the start area, heres me and jon getting into sexy mode~~
Not too many race fotoz...and they didnt take any of me at the finish for some reason, LAME. U can tell what company took the fotoez by the watermark, but im not gonna buy since they failed to capture my finish T_T~~ stunna shades + neon lime green shoe = race spectacle ^_^
post race, hitting up the FRS tent repeatedly and consuming/stockpiling other goodies
too kewl pho skewl in our finishers' shirts~~
nike vs asics, FIGHT~!
being a FRS groupie~~ taste is aite, i dont think i will pay for it though..lawl~~ hard to tell if it energized meh since we did the dipsea afterwards. diet peach mango has no flavor, X_X
hell begins on the dipsea race trail~~
getting 0wned by the freaking 600+ stairs X_X
on some random incline, one of the many contributing to the 2200ft elevation gain over the course of the trail X_X~~
much easier going down...but a lot more pounding....thats what she said~~
post-race sammich, super yum!~
blahaha, someone got 0wned by the 16 miles or race effort runnign we did today. this shot takenw hile waiting an hour in line for the sammiches~~
Lindsay got the same sammich I did....which is actually bigger than her head and maybe even her torso O_O! Also,..that is only 1/2 of the sammich...lol
Now that u have an idea of the scale of the sammich (KRYPTONITE), heres me preppin to consume. Theres like a freaking pound of lettuce u have to get thru before u get to the good stuffs tho (Pastrami, turkey, roast beef, salami, bacon, ham, mozzarella sticks, onion rings, jalapeno poppers, avocado, pepperjack, and like a hugeass salad to bulk it all up).
SoGewd™, but soSkurry™!~ NYAM NYAM nonetheless V(^_^)V~!

Post race recovery....race was on sunday. Monday i biked to work (12 mi) and swam an easy 2k. Tuesday i ran 7 mi, and today I ran the same 7 mi but also biked to work (12mi). funny story...note to self, BR boxers + abercrombie shorts = 100% thunderthigh chafe...EFF. so every 10-20 steps i had to pull it down caz effing boxers kept riding up and giving me a wedgie. about 4 miles into it i felt the chafe already...and sometimes just screamed out an fbomb, raw and uncut. on top of that bugs kept flying into my mouf, so i swallowed them and closed my mouth...but then theyd fly into my nose and choke me, prompting more profanity. the bugs wouldve been fine if it werent for the painful thunderthigh chafe and shorts/boxer rideup/correction every 20 steps...ugh X_X

Nehoo, i be fellin pretty gewd. almost recubbered, and ready for more hard training. santa cruz half in 3 weeks! prepare to PR!! V(^_^)V

stay classy sf bay area...kaka~~

Pre-short race thoughts~~

T-2 days left until emerald across the bay 12k O_O~! Thisll be my first short distance race evarr, with my shortest previous race being a half marathon (not counting the 5k leg of sprint triathlon). speedwork over the past few weeks has gone well. I did a bunch of threshold runs @ 12k distance, all under 8 minute average split O_O! I've also been working on sets of mile repeats...I think I was doing them above 7 minutes when i first started a couple weeks ago, but now i can consistently get them below 6:45 O_O, wewt!!~ (also had mah best mile time evarr @ 6:18 yesterday night ^_^)

Oooo0o0o0 i must talk about my new training buddy:
So awethumb ^_^!~! Tracks lap times, does intervals, has alarms, and all that jazz!~~ While run training has been going well, swim training has been hit or miss... had an issue the other day where certain minorities annoying people (4) jumped into my lane and kept trying to race me in the middle of my 500yd sets. I just ignored them and kept on going with my workout plan (smoking their lame asses in the process), but also kept getting paranoid that theyd do something dick like pee in my lane or jump in on my back or some crap like that. they also kept getting in the way...its already hard enuff to circle swim with 4 teammates in one lane...freaking hella annoying when its with random noobs. meh, it annoys me to think abt it again so will just hope they were only there for 1 night. It seems like there is only a 1.5 hour window each night in which it is safe to go swimming @ local 24 hour fitness.....if u go before that window, it is too crowded with non-swimmers and noobie blockers crowding up the lane. If you miss the window and go in late, you run into your usual late night douchebags that you usually see lifting (or dropping) weights, trying to look big. Either way, go at the wrong time and it pretty much ruins the workout, efff...

Anyways, nuffa that depressing crap. Pretty stoked about the race this weekend. Gonna eat a tasty sammich afterwards, run the dipsea trail, and hit up roadrunner on the way back to use mah $20 lawsuit voucher, w00t~~ Hopefully can look even more awesomer than this pic i found of the sprint tri run leg:

rest day today, feeling fat T_T. easy 20 mi bike tomollo, then up @ 530am on sunday and off to SF!~~ kk, gg, bbl

Wistful Weekend Workout

I ran to the top of that (Mission Peak) yday, 1:05, fastest thyme evahh~~ ^_^. I remember when i moved here 2 years ago (50 fatass #s ago), and made it in between the second and third benches (hiking) with my friend ebfore we both gave up and turned around, shamed and treated. Did an easy 3.5mi today, power napped after work and didnt wanna go swimming afterwards (weather sucked outside X_X). Tomollo will be 5.5mi with speed~
Me and Fi went on a romantic 45mi ride on sat morning. Heres us @ a bench by the lake O_O~~
Aaand viewing a waterfall together. I love my treadmill/bike path~~
Aunt's haus, pit/pee/poo stop and h2o refill. This is the cyclist's "hat hair"

It was a good weekend. Was not too sore after the bike, so I did mission peak for some strength running. Twas a very reflective and introspective time. Being out on the trail, running or biking, lets u take a step back and think about wtfs up, say hello to God and reconnect, and just enjoy the world. Oh yeah also swam 2000 yds on sat morning before biking. It was a little annoying, some old man doing breaststroke in my lane. I sometimes ponder a business case of an "Athletes Only" gym. No casual quintagenarian+ members, probably not too many obese members. Must be a serious athlete to gain membership (proof of race past or present required). Would that fly?_? I think id pay a premium to work out around ppl who are there to actually work out, and know proper weight/pool etiquette. Iono, maybe if i win the lottery T_T~~

I think ill write more about that later though. I am supah thankful for the support and companionship of mah running pals. People who understand the hunger and the drive. As more people learn about my ironman triathlon and ultra aspirations, the underlying "why?_?" comes up more and more frequently. I had a lot of time to think about it on that bike ride, and the short answer is, it is just a part of who i am now. I grew up the funny fat kid that everyone likes to have around; now that im older, i just subtracted "fat" from my funny fat kid persona. Still love to laff, play pranks, and get outside and explore the world. Being an ex-fatass is just a by product of unleashing that wildchild, so to speak~~

More on this later, need to think a bit more, maybe after a 20 miler~~

Oh one last thing. most guys lust for girls, maybe Man Jose has a large part to do with this, but instead of babes, this bike makes me weak in the knees:
::SWOON::!!~~~ V(^_^)V

My first triathlon (in photo)

some picture highlights from the race:

so many aspiring triathletes, twas essiting!
not eager to enter the cold ass 50° water -_-
open water start...had to swim like 125m to get there lol~~ i guess it was a good warmup
8 strapping young men pulling swimmers out of the water onto the docks. i hit my groin on something on the way up, wtf~~

i swallowed a mouf full of salt water right at the start of the swim. all the salt water on my lips made me feel like i was gonna drown, but i just kept turning my arms over. I think i still feel like throwing up here, after exiting the water, lawl -_-
Stripping of wetsuit while running to bike transition. no biking pics tho, for now~~
this was right after the bike-> run transition. both of my calves cramped and my pace sucked and i wanted to swear. my friend was yelling "try harder!!" and i was laffing and telling him how much i wanted to die at that moment ~_~


Kickin it up for the home stretch~~ only going 90% caz ive had to fart for the past 2 miles (sometimes put putting in pplz faces as i passed (lawl, pun intended!!)) and dont wanna have an oopsies and ruin my day X_X
First tri, done!!! total of 01:11:57 for 500m swim, 20km bike, 5k run, + transitions~~!
Post race, running mates jo n jon~~
Tri training pals joe wade jo~~

Random observation: plenty of hawt girls...but their bikes were EVEN HAWTER O_O!~~

It was a good experience. Next up, silicon valley international triathlon!! olympic distance (1500 Meter Swim - 24.9 Mile Bike - 6.2 Mile Run)

stay classy san francisco~~

Race day!!

Woke up @ 6am to my alarm. Groaned for a bit, then got up. Dreading race day diarrhea, i stay away from the yewzj oatmeal+milk+yogurt+protein powda, and instead eat 2 slices of wheat bread wif a couple schmears of peanut butter, and a banana with garlic hummus scooped onto each bite. The banana/hummus combo is quite taystie, must remember it for the future. Went thru my checklist and made sure i didnt forget my wetsuit or something lame as hell like I did in training last week, and then loaded up my bike and crap into the car and I was off!~~

Arriving at the location was pretty kewl. Saw an even larger amount of gosu bikes, racked 3-4 per car, on top and on back, the excitement built. I met up with joanna, joe, and wade, and after setting up our areas, we took a warmup run to check out the water. Also...there were like 6 porta potties for liek the 800+ ppl that were there...sux to be a girl, lawl. Anyways, felt the water, twas hella cold as expected. Ran back, put on wetsuits, then walked back to the start area. Watched the first waves of collegiate males and females go off, and then it was time for us to enter the water. Met some other pinoys Jon and Jeremy doing their first tris like me, and one of them had a half ironman scheduled for next month, O_O!~~

I got into the water and twas pretty shocked. It was actually an open water start, so we had to swim ~2-300 meters out. I guess it was good because it allowed me to warm up. I coudlnt put my head underwater for maybe the first 40% of it, but i knew I would have to in order to swim well...so by the time I reached the starting area, i felt gooder and could swim with my face in the water. The start sucked, all these noobs swam up in front of me and got in the way. The first 100 or so was spent weaving around them or getting swam on by someone behind me that wasnt looking. I stopped often to see where i was and to figure out where to go. The water was soMurky™ that you couldnt see anything anyways, lawl~~ I swallowed a big mouf full of salt water in the very beginning of the swim, so i felt like throwing up for the rest of the 450m...X_X. Something about salt water + exhaustion induced fear of drowning into me...but i just kept turning my arms and eventually made it to the docks.

There were liek 8 guys on the docks just pulling swimmers out of the water. I banged my groin on the way up, gay...but had no time to "AHHH *gasp* AHHH *gasp*" peter griffin stylee, and just ran up the ramp and started running back towards the transition area, like 1/4 mile away, barefoot. Jon was actaully on the side taking pics and cheering, it was prettyEncouraging™. T1 went alright, got there and stripped off my wetsuit. The guy on the other side of the rack (cervelo p2) knocked down someone elses bike onto mine, so we picked i tup and that wasted liek 5s ~_~. Got my cleats, shades, and helmet on, picked up mah clif shot blocks, and started running towards the mounting area.

I got onto my bike and entered the lollipop loop. I tried to go onto my handlebars so i could opent he cliff shots packet, but there were a bunch of riders passing me and i was wobbling...so i just went caveman on it and ripped it open with mah teef. Ate a few blocks, drank some water, and then held onto the rest. By now im starting to pass people, but at the same time the pros and collegiates are passing me too. Oh yeah..whent he guy knocked down the bike onto mine, he jarred loose my wheel sensor, so i had no speedometer for the entire cycling portion of the race. I just followed some guys and used my own RPE to determine how fast to go. On the third (final) lap i picked up the pace and passed up the guy i was pacing. Polished off the remaining shot blocks, then took my feet of my cleats while still pedaling to the dismount area.

I ran about 100 yds to T2, parked my bike, tossed off hemet and glasses, and quickly laced up my shoes. I already had socks on from putting them on in T1, so I didnt have to do that. They were a bit wet because i didnt take time to dry my feet off after the swim portion, and the ground was wet in random places as well. I took off down the running portion of the race...but quickly experienced my worst leg pain in quite a while. Both calves were cramped, and I could barely run, but then i saw Jon taking pics again and yelling "TRY HARDER!!"" lol. I yelled back that my legs werent working and i wanted to die already and it was so hard (thats what she said).

Passed by an aid station, guzzled some gatorade for electrolyte replenishment, and immediately wanted to throw up. Cursed, and kept going. Passed the 1 mile marker sign. Start pacing this guy in front of me, but my stomach and legs feel like shit and my leg turnover is noticeably decreasing. I pass by a girl in a stanford uniform who looks to be in more pain than I am. The guy in front of me pulls away. I pass another aid station and take a sip of water, dont dare stomach the rest in case it makes me feel even more worser. At around miel 1.5 i feel gooder tho, and get back into stride. I pass the mile 2 marker, then the turnaround, and then pass up the guy I was pacing. I increase my pace until I know i'm about a quarter mile out, then i just go balls out all cylinders to the finish line, passing liek 12 more peeps ^_^~~

I see jon taking pics and yelling again and manage to throw up a peace sign while im sprinting, lol. Meet up with joe at the end and turns out i only finished a few minutes behind him, not too shabby for first run! NOICE~~ But yeah, grab some oranges, eat a bagel, grab some water, n then head back to jon so we can cheer joanna when she comes in. She blazes by, we yell, and all is well~ And that was my first triathlon experience! 500m swim, 20km bike, 5km run in 01:11. Ill get the official times and some pics later, but it was quite the experience. Next to pop is my olympic distance tri cherry V(^_^)V~~

ONE DAY OUT!!! ~

Oh, hai~~~ Here I am 1 day out from the Stanford Treeathlon. Am pretty worried about race day diarrhea and other annoying crap like that. I went for an open water swim last weekend with my friend joanna, and omfg it was hella cold...perhaps mid 40° water..X_X. I couldnt even put my face in for more than a few strokes, and when i first jumped in, i couldnt move and was gasping for breath for a minute or two....major ruh roh to worry about come race day. Did a hard 15 mi bike after that....hips and quads major hurted for a day or 2 X_X. I breally need to practice more long/hard rides and also brick some runs into that training too. Quarry lakes is a super noice place to train dough...imma prolly go back if i sign up for another tri. Open water swim plus long and uncrowded trail nearby, win O_O~!

Here are some pics of the gear i picked up @ sports basement. Love the parties that give u 20% off...too bad i couldnt couple it with mah AAA 10% discount, else it wouldve been a hella good deal O_O~~

700x23c Continental gatorskins. lots of good feedback from friends that ride these. flat resistant and much less rolling resistance than my current 700x30c treads.

Blueseventy synergie wetsuit. I wanted an orca sonar, loved the feel and fit...but they had the 2009 models on teh same rack as the 2010s...so when i got to the register i found out it was $70 more den i tot...so had to bring it back and find anudder one T_T.

Halfway thru T1 transition. As soon as i get out of the water, unzip wetsuit halfway and run to transition area. Tri suit is underneath and ready to go~~

With race bib and swim cap/goggle ensemble.

Reading up on pre-race nutrition, and coupled with my hyperactive GI tract, I will avoid eating any fiber whenever possible for the next 24 hours. Im not sure if its all the training, or all the fiber i normally eat...but i have to crap liek 2x a day and it feels super gassy and painful, but comes out smoothly and almost diarrhea-like. Its pretty annoying...but at least it isnt real diarrhea...?? Imma be hella pissed if it happens on race day dough X_X.

Went to pick up my race packet today and ride around the course to get an idea of what i'll hab to go thru tomollo. It was prettyWindy™, but with a lot of smooth patches of road, and some ruff ones. Got there too early and rode around, ran into one of the race coordinators (Keeren or Karen) and helped set up stuff. She looked liek she could pwn mah noob ass tomollo, and prolly will. But got some info and chitchatted abt the race, so that was kewl beanz. Saw a lot of cars ride in with pretty awesome bikes....yoikes! some cervelo and orbea, all TT bikes...
This is Fiorella, mah bebe i will ride tomollo. Those super thick tires gonna be replaced with some thinner slicks. Perhaps I will need to get her a TT companion later if i decide to get super cereal about triathlons O_O~~

Oh I also worked on my transitions earlier this afternoon...it went sumpin like this:

1) Run to bike cleats and put them on
2) Put on helmet and shades
3) Get on bike, clip in, and ride around the block
4) Take feet out of cleats while riding and continue pedaling back to my stuffs
5) Dismount, get into running shoes, run off~

Did it about 10 times, first time was around 02:30, got it down to 02:07 by the last run. Race day will be more complicated with the wetsuit and other peopels crap in the way, but i feel much gooder having practiced it today~~

Ok thats all for now, RACE TOMOLLO!!~!~ X_X