Peter Vu's Ironman Blog - Vineman 7/31/10

Thoughts

• I was able to do all my training sessions this week (M:Rest, T:Swim, W:Bike, TH:Run, F:Swim, S:Run, Su: Swim)
• Our second coached swim session was awesome - worked on more drills (i.e., breathing, putting our balance and side balance drills together, and the SWIMMING drill)
• Wednesday: I biked by myself at 6:30AM from my apartment in Brentwood down San Vicente to the ocean, then down Pico Blvd, and then all the way back to my apartment. It was an hour ride. I love biking when there is minimal traffic and it's not hot. My clipping in/on is improving. It is quite cold with the wind chill though.
• Th: Ran around UCLA's perimeter. I didn't run that hard.
• F: Went to the pool and worked more on the drills. I saw slight incremental improvements, but I was able to slow down my kicking (something coach said I was doing too hard)
• S: We met up by Ocean and San Vicente with the whole team. I met a few more people on the team. I didn't really run because I had a long run w/ the marathon team on Sunday.
• Su: Ran 16 miles with the marathon team...went at a easy/moderate pace. Grabbed lunch, took a nap (need to stop sleeping at 2am and only getting 5 hours of sleep) and then went to pool 30 mins before closing. Despite the short time, I worked on my drills and thought I really improved. The key thing was tucking my chin and making sure my head was looking directly below me. I was not doing that before and it made it hard to rotate and breathe. Really excited and glad I forced myself to get to the pool after my nap.
• Monday is our rest day, but I'm thinking about going to do yoga or bike on the trainer.
• Diet tracker: getting a lot better, I had my second veggie burger this week that my nice roommate made. I decided to indulge myself Saturday night and order rotisserie chicken and roasted potatoes. To my dismay, I didn't enjoy the greasy texture of the chicken (which I usually love) and the potatoes just didn't do it for me. It's nice that my body is starting to crave and consume less. I'm on the Huckleberry vegetable food diet today...roasted cauliflowers and stuffed squash w/ quinoa = YUM.
• I went to the Performance Bike Store to get a second pair of socks and a watch to track my mileage/speed for my bike. Training for triathlons is sooooo expensive...hopefully, all these upfront costs will normalize over the long-term.
  

good luck, coach! you and your wife will make it to the FINISH LINE.

http://training2savelives.blogspot.com/

http://training2savelives.blogspot.com/

i mentored in the morning for the Westside LA marathon team. it was an easy, slow 10 mile mile run. picked up breakfast from Huckleberry after. if you live in LA, you must go here because they probably have the best pastry chef / gourmet brunch food all served in a deli format at affordable prices. took a nap and then woke up to go biking with kyle, erin, and dash. we biked for a mile and then i realized that i had left my helmet on the bench outside my apartment. apparently, i was so concerned with clipping in and out, that i forgot to put it on. i ended up going back to get it by myself while everyone else soldiered on. although it's a lot more fun to bike with people, i enjoyed by solo bike ride around 3:30 pm. it was an easy bike ride for about 2 hours from brentwood to venice and back. i was working on trying to clip in/clip out, getting used to changing gears and dealing with cars and people. and the best thing was that i only had one fall when i was trying to dodge someone on the bike path along the beach. i was too close to where the sand meets the cement and i skidded to the right. the guy did help me up, but i was not happy with him at all. check out my first battle wound from the fall below. i'm not sure if you readers have biked before, but there is a reason why bike paths are labeled bike paths. they are for bikes only!!! anyhow, enough venting. i guess it's a hopeless thought to think people will actually move out of the way in the future. it was really nice biking as the the sun was setting at the beach. on the way back, it got dark quite fast and i had to slow down to make sure cars could see me.

one thing i want to mention is that Chris Wilno's, my coach from last season's marathon team, wife just learned that her cancer had come back. she had been in remission for a while and everything was looking positive until just recently. they will fight through it. a lot of times i will be training, and usually on my hard days, i'll remind myself that my pain and suffering is "nothing" compared to the mental and physical hardships that any cancer, AIDS, or people with terminal illnesses have to endure daily. it definitely humbles you and makes you want to push harder. i'm not a doctor or a researcher, so i can't save lives directly. however, i know i can train, raise awareness and money about these illnesses, and indirectly find a cure someday. I wish Chris and his wife, Crea, the best, and I am sure they will beat cancer!!!

go team!

pics below of my first fall, my new bike and my silver shoes.

We had our first coached run practice today. 7:45AM at griffith park/la zoo. We did drills, speed ladder and a 40 minute run.

Quick comments:

• I am getting used to the 5 hours of sleep. I can't believe I wake up earlier on the weekends because of training than on weekdays for work.
• Great driving in LA at 7AM in the morning when there is no traffic and you have good music for the freeway ride.
  
• running in new territory (East L.A.) was beautiful and there are no better running conditions than 50 degrees and a trail course.
• we're going to be having practices all over L.A. -awesome, love exploring.
• i met a few more friendly participants...seems like there is a sizable contingent who want to do the Half-Ironman (Wildflower). i can't blame them. 140.6 miles does seem daunting, but I'm up to it for now. I can't wait to meet more people.
• Dash, Kyle and Erin went to get brunch after at Basix in Hollywood. The grilled polenta and poached eggs were a great way to finish the morning.
• 10 miles of running tomorrow and then 1.5 hours of biking.
  

We had our first coached swim practice today. We were in Culver City for about an hour from 7pm-8pm, and Coach Paul went over basic swim drills regarding balance, hand placement, head position, etc. Let me explain that I am relearning how to swim again and starting with the most basic stuff as were most of the TNT people there. I haven't really swam since I was learning as a kid in elementary/middle school, so today was an interesting day. FYI - there were only a handful of advanced swimmers and most likely they were in our position a season or two ago. So if you're reading this, you do not have to be a good swimmer to join an Ironman team because there are a lot of people out there who are not amazing swimmers either.

Back to the practice, I made a bunch of mistakes in not getting my hands and chin down on the balance drill. I also need to work on keeping myself loose and maintaining my kick through my hips. You would think that swimming 25 yards is easy, but it's not. Overall, lots of fun and room to improve (and water to swallow). I will hit the pool on Friday to get in a hard, good practice. Trust in myself and the coaches/training (as everyone on the team says)! I can also look forward tomorrow to an early morning biking session with Dash and Erin. 6:15AM...yay.

By the way, we went to Kay N' Dave's after for dinner in CC, and that place has an amazing Grilled Swordfish Taco plate. The salad was tasty and healthy...i'm talking about you pomegranate seeds.

-PV

Ironman Vineman - July 31, 2010
2.4 Mile Swim + 112 Mile Bike + 26.2 Mile Run = 140.6 Miles

Nothing is impossible if you work hard and put your mind to it.

I think that we sometimes feel the most alive when we push ourselves to our limits. 

Go Team!

- Peter Vu