Racing to Save Lives

Well I did it again! I signed up for another endurance event with Team in Training, to raise money for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. This time, I am shooting for the ultimate. I am going to participate in the 2010 Vineman full distance Ironman, on July 31, 2010. Yes, an Ironman event. For those of you that are thinking, what is an Ironman? Well it's the biggest and longest event in the triathlon world. An Ironman consists of a 2.4 mile swim, followed by a 112 mile bike ride, and ending with a 26.2 mile run. This is all done in one day. I know, this is a huge amount of distance, but I am doing it for a great cause.

Some of you know, that for five and a half years I worked, as a registered nurse, with children diagnosed with leukemia or lymphoma. I believe, that a child should be a child. A child shouldn't have to worry about matters, such as, if their platelets are high enough that they can go on a ride at Disneyland without being at risk for internal bleeding. If their white blood cell count is high enough that they can maybe go to Chuck E. Cheese without risking the chance of catching a cold from the crowd; which can cause them to be hospitalized for it. To understand what the word chemotherapy means. For a child to even know the terms platelets, white blood cell count, and chemotherapy, is not a childhood that I want any child to go through ever.

The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society is not only, one of the frontrunners in providing the funds to research cures, but they also provide support to the people affected by these diseases. From financial aid to help with prescription costs, to family support groups, to providing them up-to-date information on their disease that can help them make informed decisions about their treatment options.

I know that the Ironman will be one of the most grueling experiences that I will put my body through, but this is nothing compared to what a person's body, diagnosed with leukemia or lymphoma, goes through each day. With doctor visits, months of chemotherapy, the endless poking and prodding, and lost of control over their bodies.; an ironman seems like an easier feat.

My goal is to raise $6500 for this great cause. With your support, together we can work on eliminating leukemia and lymphoma from our vocabulary, and making conditions better for the people that are currently fighting these diseases. All donations are tax deductible, and can be made through this website. Every penny counts and no donation is too little. Thank you for your time.

Love,

Yvonne Prado :D

P.S. Be sure to check back frequently to see my progress.

12/6/09

Well yesterday was my first bike ride using bike shoes and clips. These are to make the riding easier for long distance. They pretty much "glue" your feet to the pedals so in order to get off the pedal you have to "un-clip". Needless to say, it can take some coordination. Of course yours truly, fell down a few times, but lucky for me it was in the parking lot, and not in the street, lol. Of course, I was pretty tense throughout my ride as my biggest fear is falling into traffic. I survived the bike ride without incidents, and I was mighty proud of myself! :D

When I first signed up for this Ironman, my biggest concern was the swimming portion. Now, I have to say the bike riding may just have beat out the swimming fear, as I underestimated the "clipping and un-clipping" part of bike riding, lol.

As for swimming, the practices have been going well. I have to admit that I'm enjoying the swimming, and that was a surprising discovery for me. As I've always been wary of the water. Maybe it has to do with Coach Paul's coaching style. He's very patient and encouraging, which is great for beginners like me.

I do have to give a shout out to my mentor, Sara, for giving me some very helpful tips yesterday on how to make the clipping and un-clipping easier. Thank you!! :-) Go team!

1/9/10

Happy New Year!! I can't believe it's been a month since I've last updated, and it's been an eventful month, too! Today I completed a 30 mile bike ride through the city of Westlake Village and Thousand Oaks. This ride consisted of many hills, some of them very steep..yikes! It was tough, but I completed all 30 miles of it without stopping :D

I have to say that my anxiety towards biking has decreased, though I'm still anxious of the fast downhills, and riding next to cars on full streets. I have not fallen since my first bike ride, which I'm extrememly proud of because this means I'm getting used to clipping and un-clipping. Of course this does not mean that I won't fall. A couple of teammates took some tumbles during the ride today, and some of them are experienced riders. They are all okay, though one of them did need to get stitches on their hand.

Last week, we did an 18 mile bike ride through Santa Monica and did some light hill work, to get used to changing our bike gears (it was also prepping us for our 30 mile ride). It was during one of these hills that the meaning of bike clips all came together. Clips help you use your other leg muscles, such as your hamstrings, so that you can conserve our quad muscles for the running portion. Usually you just push your legs on the pedal when you ride. With clips you also push but then pulling your feet up to make a full circle. It was Mentor Andi and Mentor Eurie who pointed this out to me. Once I started pulling my feet up to make the full circle, the uphill became easier AND I actually pass a couple of people! I started to feel my hamstrings and gluts working and feeling the burn then.

All this time I figured bike clips were just a method of torture and humilation...not anymore!!! :D

As for swimming, that is coming along pretty good. The workouts are getting tougher and longer, but I find myself enjoying the swim. Maybe it's because I didn't think I could do it, and here I am looking forward to them, lol. The farthest that I have swam, so far, is 1200 yards. It takes about 1800 yards to make a mile, so I'm making some progress.

This time last year, I never would have thought I would be training for an Ironman. That I would actually be swimming and bike riding through the streets, like a real rider. So far 2010 is starting out great. I'm challenging myself and raising money for a great organization.

I want to give shout outs to my Coaches Paul and Rad for encouraging me on this process, and for making all this seem doable. Also shout outs to Mentors Andi, Eurie, Linda, and Carlos for their words of encouragement during those uphill rides, and for enlightening me of the wonderful use of bike clips! :D GO TEAM!!!

2/10/10

I have made some great strides in my training. My coaches have officially "fired" me from the beginner swim lanes and moved me to the intermediate lanes! I never would have thought that would happen, and of course I feel proud of myself for improving on my swim. I'm really enjoying the time I spend swimming also.

As for biking, that also has been going well. I'm now able to drink from my water bottle AND still keep riding without falling down. Believe me, this accomplishment was definitely key since I will need to hydrate during my 112 mile ride on the day of the event, hehe. I'm just glad I was able to get the hang of it sooner. Now, I need to get used to eating while I ride. Of course, I'm just taking it one day at a time.

However, running is the portion that I feel has been getting neglected by me. Which is because I was so anxious about swimming and biking, I kind of "forgot" about the running part. Now that my anxiety over swimming and biking has diminished incredibly, I'm now putting some focus on running.

All in all, I'm enjoying this experience. I'm pushing myself into doing activities that I have never done, and I'm pretty proud of what I have been able to do so far. It's amazing what your body can do, when you have the will and the determination.

This time, I want to give kudos to my family, friends, and all the people that I have met during my time as a pediatric oncology nurse. You all have encouraged me to keep moving forward and to continue the fight to see an end to cancer. Thank you from the bottom of my heart. :)

3/8/10

On Sunday, March 7th, I completed my first triathlon! It was an international distance that consisted of a ¾ mike swim, 24-mile bike, and 6.2 mile run. It was held in La Quinta over in the Palm desert area. This was considered a usual practice day for us Ironteamers, the day before we completed a 35-mile bike ride.

I was so nervous about the open water swim in the lake. I have never swum in a body of water, where my feet couldn't touch the ground. It's such a huge fear of mine, and I was determined to conquer this fear and complete this swim portion. I chose to participate in this; a person with cancer does not choose to have cancer. What went through my mind during the swim was "I have a choice, I can keep going or give up, but a person diagnosed with cancer can't just 'give up' ".

I was so happy when the swim was done; that I didn't notice it was raining until I was transitioning onto my bike. It actually rained throughout the entire triathlon, so the bike ride wasn't done in the greatest weather conditions. Biking in the rain is another anxiety that I have, but like the swim, I just buckled down and got through it. When the biking portion came to an end, I couldn't wait to start running.

During the run, one of my teammates, Alison, caught up with me and we ran together the entire way. It was so great to see her, and we gave each that push that we needed to finish strong.

The best feeling came when we crossed that finish line, and having our team there cheering and congratulating us. I'm so proud and blessed to be a part of this Ironteam, filled with such amazing, supportive people. They have trained us well, and I'm feeling more confident in my triathlon abilities. :D

April 5, 2010

Let me just say that this Ironteam ROCKS!! We've had some pretty intense hill workouts over the past several weeks. One workout we did was on Latigo Canyon, located in the Santa Monica Mountains, in the city of Malibu. It consisted of a 35 mile bike ride, which has similar parts to stage 9 of the 2007 Tour de France!! After learning that tidbit, I was even more proud that I completed it without stopping. Another ride we did was Mullholland road, also in the Santa Monica Mountains, it was a 54 mile ride, with 30 miles of it being uphill! I was so glad when that ride was done, lol!

This past weekend, was a recovery week, so we just had to do a 3 hour bike, followed by a 2 hour run. Wasn't bad at all. I can definitely see myself getting stronger, and noticing a ton of improvements. I see my team getting stronger everyday. I know none of us would ever have thought we would come this far. This weekend we will be camping in Lake San Antonio, where the Wildflower Half Ironman race event will be held on May 1st. Our team will be having a training clinic there, this weekend, to check out the course and get a feel for it. All part of the preparation so we feel ready to do the actual event next month. I haven't been camping in YEARS, so I'm hoping I fare well on it, lol. I'll write all about it in my next post.

I just want to thank you all for taking the time on reading my site, and giving me the encouragement to keep up the training. I'm halfway there to reaching my fundraising goal, and again thank you for donating to this worthy cause.

xoxo :D

April 12, 2010

This past weekend we had our Wildflower training/camping weekend. Our team headed over to Paso Robles over the weekend to take a look and train the half Ironman course that we will be doing on May 1st. It was a lot of fun camping with the team, and the training was epic!

We conqeured that course as a team! Saturday, we did the swim and bike course. The swim went well. The bike course is a 56 mile ride that contains a couple of hard hills. Honestly, the hills aren't any harder than that we have done, its just that they come at the worst times. One of them is right at the begininng, which is tough after a 1.2 mile swim, and the other one at mile 42. The hill at mile 42 even has a name, they call it "Nasty Grade". I've included two pictures below of myself riding up "Nasty Grade".

On Sunday, we did the 13.1 mile running course. It was definitely a nice, scenic course. However, its a pure trail and hilly run. Definitely some tough parts, but overall it was good. I posted a pic of my joyous self running downhill to reach the end.

I have to say this team is AMAZING! We made some great strides and we ALL waited until the last person came through and finished the course. I love this team, and I love the good work that we are doing. We're trying to eliminate cancer, one swim stroke, one bike cycle, and one foot in front of the other, at a time.

May 3, 2010

On Saturday, May 1st, I completed my first half Ironman distance! It was a hard, tough, challenging experience, that was rewarding at the same time. The weather was hot! Which was an unknown experience for my team, since we always seems to bring out the cold, windy, rainy weather out whenever we train, lol.

It took me 8 hours and 55 minutes to complete the 1.2 mike swim, 56 mile bike ride, and 13.1 mile run. I barely made the cut off times, but hey I was able to complete this without the officials taking my timing chip away. Triathlons are different than marathons, in that if you don't make certain cut off times to complete the swim, bike or run portions your timing chips get taken away or sometimes they don't let you move on to the next segment.

My swim was okay, I realized that I may never be totally comfortable with swimming in open water, but I will get through it without panicking. I finished the swim in 51 minutes, which is slower than my pool swims, but I'll take it.

For the bike ride, I believe I could have gone faster in some parts, but I did manage to ride the hills without getting off the bike. While climbing "nasty grade" many, many riders were walking their bikes up. These were the same riders that were passing me up earlier, so it made me doubt myself to ride up this hill. That's when I started thinking about my grandma, who passed away from stomach cancer over 4 years ago, she is such a strong woman who would stand up to challenges. So I was channeling her strength and I believe that is what helped me not get off that bike. Love you grandma!

Because I had to complete the bike portion by a certain time, I had to get over my anxiety of riding downhill. There are a few downhill portions on this course, so instead of gripping on my brakes to the point of cramping up my fingers, I FLEW those downhills! :D I have to say, it felt GREAT! As I entered the transistion area, I saw my campaign manager, Rachel, and heard her say "you're in! you made it!". I completed the bike portion with 4 minutes to spare, which is cutting it close, but I was able to continue on. It took me 4 hours and 33 minutes to complete the bike.

During my transistion to the run, I saw my teammate, Allison. We were so happy to see each other and that we made the bike cut off. So we started running together. In my rush to get my running gear on I forgot to put more sunscreen on. Luckily, for me, a group of Cal Poly students were near me, and heard me tell Allison how I forgot to apply more sunscreen (it was hot!) and they happened to have some on them. So they started jogging alongside us to give me sunscreen. I didn't get their names, but they deserve a shout out. They saved my skin from frying. Thank you Cal Poly students!

The worst part of this whole race for me was the run. That was the hardest run I have done! Those trails are tough, and I should be used to them, but boy was it hard! Running should be stronger for me due to my experience with marathons. However, running after swimming and biking is tough! So my run time was 3 hours and 20 minutes. As you can see I walked about 85% of it. Definitely my slowest half marathon time ever, but I'll take it. I made the run cut off and they didn't take my timing chip away from me during the run.

The greatest feeling was crossing that finish line with my entire team waiting and cheering me on. Even had one of my teammates dressed as Pikachu run me to the finish line. What made that moment even cooler was having the race announcer, announce my name over the speakers as I crossed that finish line! :D Can't get better than that. I love my team!

On another amazing note, our team's honored teammates, Gordie and Meagan, completed this half ironman in awesome times and they looked great! Honored teammates are individuals who battled or are battling cancer. Gordie and Meagan ROCK!

Now that I know, what I need to improve and work on more. I'm getting pumped for Vineman in July. I intend to work even harder to get better times for Vineman, and of course raise more money for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. Thank you for taking the time to read this and thank you for all your support. It really means a lot to me, and it really helps me get through these challenges.

June 14, 2010

What a month it has been! This past weekend we did a 100 mile bike ride! We started at the Anaheim train station and ended in San Diego. It was an awesome ride! I felt great at the end and even better, I rode strong.

As we arrived to the Anaheim station, we were all a bundle of nerves and excitment. I was looking over my stuff and making sure I have my stuff ready and prepared for the ride. Making sure I had my photo I.D. on me, since we would need it to ride through Camp Pendleton. After being satisfied that I had everything checked, it was time to listen to our coaches' pep talk. They went over the route and ground rules, and of course getting us pumped on our journey.

As we got started, I had to not think of the overall milege that I was going to complete, or else I would become overwhelmed. Instead, I just focused on how I felt and just take it an hour at a time, and just keep on top of my nutrition. Which ended up being a good plan for me in the end.

As we got started on the bike, of course I felt tired, as I always do, lol. It usually takes me a good 30-40 minutes to warm up on these long distance rides and runs. As I warmed up, I found myself riding with teammates that I normally never ride with. Usually it's because they are faster than me. At first I was happy to be riding with them, then I started to get worried. Worried because I never been fast enough to be with them and I didn't want to feel depleted at the last 20 miles of the ride because I was trying to keep up. Well, I ignored those thoughts and focused on how I felt at the present moment, not at what I think I will feel later on. Presently, I felt great and I just kept up on my nutrition like clock-work. As we made our stops at some of the designated SAG stops, my teammates were commenting on how well I was riding, and that I was "killing it". I have to admit, it felt great.

Around mile 70 or so, I was riding with three of my male teammates. We were in a line, with me at the end. Riding for a good 30-40 minutes, then I got a 4th wind and ending up moving ahead of the boys, and I just kept going. I ended up catching up with another teammate around mile 85, which was a hill. It felt good to see someone I know. As we reached our turn around, I saw two more teammates. It was funny to them do a double take when they realized it was me that was behind them, lol. I seriously have never even been remotely near these teammates on a bike ride.

We ended up finishing the 100 mile ride together, and boy did it feel great to finally get off that bike! I finished the ride in 6 hours and 50 minutes, and that time includes all my rest stops and red lights. My teammates and coaches were impressed and happy for me.

It was definitely a great ride for me. All my training, nutrition, and coaches' advice really pulled through and it's amazing how much I have improved since starting this journey. Even better, I'm really enjoying bike riding. Of course, I'm hoping that I will be able to pull this kind of bike ride again. Just have to keep up my training, nutrition, and listen to my body.

Gordie, our honored teammate, killed this ride too! He had a momentarily setback after our half iroman last month, when he sprained his ankle. However, he's back and finished fast and strong. I'm so proud of how much he has accomplished and it really is an honor training with him.

I am currently $2000 away from reaching my fundraising goal and 6 weeks away from my Ironman event. I want to thank all my friends and family for your support. You have all encouraged me when I was discouraged, and have lifted my spirits up when I was down. I don't know how I have been so blessed to have you all in my life, but thank you! I seriously could not have gone this far into this journey without your love and support.

July 3, 2010

I have done a couple of weeks of intense, long, endurance training sessions. Last weekend, our team rode up to Santa Rosa to check out the Vineman course. The weather was HOT! It was tough to adjust, since we're use cool weather, but we managed. I was able to complete 111 miles in 7.5 hours! As long as I am under 8 hours, I'll be happy. They were a few bike accidents along the way, all minor of course, but other than that everyone finished strong.

We also ran 18 miles that weekend, also. Boy, was that tough! Even though, marathons was my stepping stong into endurance events, I have to say running is still tough, especially in the heat.

Today, we did another 100 mile bike ride. This time our ride started in Camarillo and went over to the Malibu area. Coach Paul even threw in a hill climb along Mullholland Hwy in the middle of the 100 miles for fun. Oh that Coach Paul! Needless to say everyone finished it looking great. I was able to comple this ride in 7 hours and 15 minutes. Not bad considering that climb we did :D

During the 100 miler, I began thinking about how far I've come along since I started this Ironman journey in November. What I dreaded the most was the swimming and biking. Now I find myself dreading the running instead, lol! I really, really enjoy cycling! That, is a complete shocker to me since I was so scared of cycling before. I can't believe how much I have really improved on my cycling abilities since completing the half ironman that I did in May. It took me 4 hours and 33 minutes to complete 56 miles in May. It now takes me 3 hours and 30 minutes to complete 56 miles! Talk about improvent, and the best part is...I really enjoy cycling! It brings a smile to my face and I never in a million years would have that possible. I have my coaches, Paul and Rad to thank for that.

So I'm now 4 weeks away from Vineman now. We have one more long, intense Saturday workout, and then we begin our 2 week tapering prcoess, then it's Vineman. I can't believe how fast the time has flown! I'm not sure how I feel about Vineman being so close. I'm definitely nervous thinking about doing all these distances in one day, but I know our coaches have prepared us well to complete Vineman.

Tomorrow, I will be celebrating 4th of July by running 20 miles with some of my teammates. I hope you all have a wonderful 4th of July!

July 14, 2010

Last Saturday was our team's last long practice. We did a 5 hour bike ride, in the hills of Westlake Village, Agoura Hills, and Calabasas. We followed that 5 hour ride with a 3 hour run. We worked out for 8 hours and boy, were we worked! I definitely was tired but still felt great, believe it or not. Goes to show how much stronger and in shape our team has gotten. So now we have started, what we call tapering. Tapering is when we take things down to a slower pace and less intensity.

I'm a little more than 2 weeks away from my event now. It's crazy how fast the time has flown. I'm in a mixture of excitment, nerves, and anxiety. Our coaches have spoken to each of us and told us how amazing we are, and how much we have accomplished. They told us we are physically ready for this ironman. Now, its just up to us to mentally tell ourselves "We are doing an Ironman!". They told us to get the doubts out of our heads.

I'm glad they gave us this pep talk because yesterday, I was feel doubtful about my abilities. I know I can do this and I WILL do this. I've been doubting my swimming abilities, again, but after another good swm practice yesterday, I know I WILL COMPLETE this ironman.

I'm still a little bit away from reaching my fundraising goal. Any amount will help so much. Not just me but for the people battling blood cancers.

I want to thank everyone again for all the suport, words of encouragement, and for just being there for me. I could not have done this without you. You all have helped me so much in getting to this point. By the end of this month, I will doing an IRONMAN!! :D

Love you all.