Racing to Save Lives!

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Westside LA TNT

Mission Statement:

Welcome to my Team In Training home page.

I'm training to run in the San Diego Rock 'N Roll Marathon on May 31, 2009 as a member of The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society's (LLS) Team In Training. All of us on Team In Training are raising funds to help stop leukemia, lymphoma, Hodgkin lymphoma and myeloma from taking more lives. I am completing this event in honor of my uncle, who successfully battled nose and throat cancer, cousin (who is undergoing treatment for papillary thyroid cancer), and all individuals who are battling blood cancers.

Please make a donation to support my participation in Team In Training and help advance LLS's mission. NO DONATION AMOUNT IS TOO SMALL!!! Thanks again to all of those people who have already contributed as it is much appreciated.

Please feel free to leave a comment below (after the updates section) too.

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Updates

May 13, 2009: I was supposed to visit a children's hospital today to meet cancer patients, those who stand to indirectly benefit from my running. Unfortunately, our team coordinator had to cancel the visit because the hospital was afraid we could potentially expose the children to swine flu. Sigh. I hope I have another chance in the future.

As far as running goes, we are in tapering mode now after building up to our highest mileage this past Sunday of 20 miles. Yes, I survived. For the next two weeks, we will let our bodies recover as we will shorten up the distances the following two Sundays: 12 and 8 miles, respectively. I've also decided to cut back on the midweek runs to allow myself more recovery time. I am even skipping track practice this week too. One of the things I have constantly told myself throughout this whole training period is to just take it easy since my body is not used to all this running. Whether or not that philosophy will prove wise is hard to say because maybe I would be in better physical shape right now, but the flip side would be that I will not have sustained any run-preventing injuries. All I know is that the latter is true as of this moment, except for some sore calves and a tight right hip, which I incurred on Sunday towards the end of my long run.

Quick recap of our runs the past three weeks. We ran 17 miles three weeks ago, then a recovery of 12, and 20 this past weekend. I felt strong on the 17, but I started feeling pain in my shins by the end of the run. Unequivocally, that told me that I needed NEW SHOES. Unbeknownst to me until I started running a lot more, you have to replace your running shoes about every 300 miles or when you start feeling pain/aches. Geeky running comment disclaimer: I actually switched from my previous Asics Gel Foundation 7 to a new Brooks shoe with more padding, but added weight to combat my flat-footedness. The shoes have worked out well so far, although I miss the lightness of the Asics and Saucony shoes. Further, I've been trying to pick up my feet more and stick to a stringent eating routine during my runs as I have noticed some of the things that were preventing me from running optimally. The 12 mile run two weeks ago was not an enjoyable run, but I was glad that it was over in about 2 hours. I didn't eat correctly during the run, and I hit the proverbial "wall" about 3/4 of the way through it. The 20 miler this past weekend was actually a very good run for me. I woke up that day and downed a chocolate Clif energy gel w/ caffeine immediately. My legs felt very loose at the beginning of the run, which was surprising. I also capitulated to not using Shotblocks any more and just taking the energy gels as my body seems to respond rather quickly to them. The first 8 miles were decent. Our running pace group kept it easy for the next 8 miles as well. By the last four, I split off from the group and sped up. We were told to keep it slow today, but I maintained a comfortable pace for the last 6 miles, averaging about 9 minute + miles. After roughly 3 hours and 40 minutes and 4 energy gels, I finished and iced my legs as usual in the soothing Pacific Ocean.

Could I have done 26.2 this past Sunday? Probably. However, I'm sticking to our training program and excited for raceday. Only 3 more weeks to go...

GO TEAM!!!

April 20, 2009: 15 miles today...done. We had a pleasant brunch at Coogie's afterwards. I took a late afternoon nap for two hours and felt great after.

Surprisingly, the after-effects of Coachella Saturday were minimal, and I actually got to practice a few minutes early after only 5 hours of sleep. We ran 8 miles south down Santa Monica Beach and then back 7 miles onto San Vicente towards 20th Street, returning to Shutters hotel for the finish. Pace was slow today. Weather was gorgeous but hotter than usual. Crazy Asian lady almost ran over one of our teammates near Venice. I downed 2.5 energy gel packs, a handful of salt, 3 Endurolyte pills, skittles, pretzels, and probably 5 bottles of water. Miles 1-6: okay. Miles 7-8: so-so. Miles 9-11: bleh. Miles 12-13: okay. Miles 14-15: strong. Another salt bath in the cold Pacific ocean awaited me at the end. 17 miles next week!

Fun things my teammates are doing that I may attend: bachelor auction on Friday (entertainment factor seems high) and charity flying in gliders with Jean-Paul (risk factor seems possibly high, but thrill factor seems higher).

-pv

April 14, 2009: We just came off a recovery mode week where we ran 10 miles this past weekend. I believe that's our new baseline, as we get ready for a 15-miler this coming Sunday. The coaches were gracious enough to put together an ad hoc running group to meet up on Saturday for those runners who had Easter Sunday plans. Coaches Craig and Kelly (who ran a crazy 50 mile ultramarathon the previous weekend) led a 7-8 person running group as we ran 10 miles on a new route. We started at the ocean and ran down the "Amalfi" route, probably named for its Mediterranean-style backdrops and narrow roads, and up into Pacific Palisades towards the Bel-Air area. Gorgeous run, but quite hilly! We looped back down onto San Vicente and ran back towards the ocean. The pace was a lot slower today and there were no official water stops. I had my fuel belt on, but barely drank one cannister of liquid and only had a Powerbar and some shotblocks (mountain berry is my favorite). I cannot tell if my body has adjusted to all this running, but that must have been the easiest 10 miles I have ever ran or maybe the pace was not as grueling as previous weeks. I'm erring towards the latter. I also saw my VP from work, who was out running as well. Sometimes, I wish we ran on Saturday mornings instead of Sunday mornings so then I would have more of my weekend free. Anyhow, next Sunday may be quite painful, not because of the distance, but because I will be driving back from Coachella the night before. 5 hours of sleep and then 15 miles cannot be a good combination. Se la vie.

On a fun note, I participated in a fun scavenger hunt in Santa Monica to benefit one of my TNT's members' fundraising on Saturday. Let's pray Jessyka never gets the pictures up!

Gadget love: Garmin Forerunner 405. I just picked up this device this past week and this thing is awesome. The lady at the store says she never runs without it now, and I can see why.

April 9, 2009: We had hill training again today. This week, we ran up and down a series of hills 7 times. I felt better today since I started eating better this week-more water, less greasy food and spacing out my meals. We had a surprisingly small turnout of only 9 people this week, but I understand how hard it is to make it out to the Westside at 7pm given work/family constraints. Our runs consists of sprinting up a block at 80% of your full potential and then kicking it to 100% by the second and third blocks (>45 degree incline). I do think my recovery time after the sprints is improving, which is great considering that is what the training is designed to do. Still, I felt a bit nauseous and could not walk straight after the last sprint. Anyhow, next Wednesday is the last hill training, so no more pain...hehe.

April 8, 2009: "Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has."

~ Margaret Mead

This is one of the many inspirational quotes that our coach routinely sends us throughout our training. Growing up, I never ascribed much worth to these trite, revelatory quotes, probably relegating their importance to just mere words. I reveled in their didactic omniscience for as long as I would watch a motivational Nike Commercial or read an uplifting personal achievement profile. However, when you live that quote, those words can serve as an anchor, floating between your subconscious and the grinding reality or pavement, effectively offering you those "moments of clarity and resolve" when you most need it (i.e., beginning of a treacherous run when you deny its ever completion or at the end of it when you suppose that your oxygen supply only affords you another mile when you really have two left).

I ran 13 miles or a half-marathon on Sunday with the team. I can't believe I even just typed that, but that's how magical the past couple months have been. I am by no means very athletic, given that the farthest that I have ran before this training was 5 miles- a panting, break-out-the-inhaler 5 miles. However, throughout the course of 2 months, I have realized how mental and not physical this whole process has been. I believe anyone can run a marathon, but the first step is to go out and start running and not to make excuses. I never did cross country in high school, so running is totally new to me. I will say that when you can go and run every weekend knowing that you just completed a new personal record mileage, it's an awesome feeling. It's even better to know that it's not a purely selfish goal, but that you're doing it for a greater cause. It's what allowed me to sprint the last 0.5 mile of my training this past weekend when I knew I was dehydrated and wanted badly to keel over.

Anyways, I still have 2 more months, so I won't dwell too much on any achievement yet, but I hope I will have encouraged at least one person to start running or even better, participate in TNT or any other charitable organization.

To recap this past Sunday, I showed up late to practice (7:30AM start, yikes!) and didn't see my team at the usual rendezvous spot by the pier. I eventually found them after catching up with another pace group, who informed me that we started at a different location this time around (Shutters hotel in Santa Monica). It was hotter this weekend, so I knew that I would have to be consuming a lot of liquids at the water stops. The first 3 to 4 miles were average for me as I realized that it takes me a while to warm up. I thought I was going to spring into another gear come mile 5, but that didn't happen this week. At the first couple water stops, I downed a few cups of Gatorade, a Gu (try it) energy gel pack and a handful of salt to help with my water retention. I was also eating a bite of shotblock (think gummy bear texture, but with energy) during every interval stop to try and moderate my energy levels for the later miles. After reaching the halfway point, Prashad and I picked up the pace and caught up with pace group 1. Since they weren't hauling it this week, I kept up. However, I was fearful that if they picked it up (sub 8:30 min pace), I wouldn't last too long. We were running 6 minute / 1 minute intervals this week, which felt unusually long. By the third water stop (mile 9), I had another Gu energy gel, ate some peanut butter snacks, and doused myself with water to cool off. Since my fuel belt only had 2 cannisters for liquids, I also had to make sure to not drink that much while I was running. During miles 10-11, I could feel the energy seeping out of my body and I was starting to wonder if the food I ate had any impact on my energy level. By mile 12, I was almost spent, but I kept thinking that we only had ONE MORE MILE to go. In the back of my mind, I was already dreading that Seth, our pace setter, was going to make us sprint the last half of the run. I think when your body reaches a certain exhaustion level, trying to concentrate on form can help only until your body keeps telling you to "stop, keel over and don't move". In straight defiance of my cognitive/body reflexes on the last mile, I stopped thinking and just "willed" myself the rest of the way==maybe I experienced a "clutch" moment or more likely it was the oxygen deprivation coalescing at the right moment to halt my neural signals while my body finally absorbed the energy gels I had consumed 30 minutes prior. In retrospect, the cavalcade of events still seems a bit fuzzy, but I finished.

After stretching, most of the team went for a "salt bath" in the ocean to ice our sore legs = amazing feeling! The nice thing about running so much is that you feel like you can eat two meals after.

March 29, 2009: So I ran a grand total of 18 miles this past weekend (6 on Sat and 12 on Sun). My body is feeling good now, but I could always use a little nap. Anyways, I didn't post last weekend because I felt fairly sick last Saturday night, so I decided to sleep in Sunday and miss the Santa Monica Mountains. I plan to eventually run there since I heard it's a much heralded oasis in the urban sprawl of Los Angeles.

Last week, I did do hill training on Wednesday. Basically we sprinted up a series of four hills four times. It doesn't sound too bad, but it was the most painful thing I've done so far. I felt nautious after, but I guess I was working myself hard. According to coach (who was participating in the Hawaii Lavaman Triathlon this week, go Team!), hill training is great to build form, so you can focus on short strides and proper leg movements.

I didn't run the rest of the week, but a few of our teammates did host a fundraising pub crawl on Sunday around Santa Monica. I struggled to go because of my sickness, but I came out for moral support. One of the best things about Team in Training is all the cool people you meet, and they truly become part of your social circle. There was a good turnout==about 150 ppl showed up I heard. The bars included Hooters, Ye Old King's Head Tavern, Cabo Cantina and Monsoon (which I did not attend). The coordinators also had Jagermeister girls sponsoring us, and it was a sight to behold, walking down 3rd Street as orange-haired girls chanted "Jager! Meister!" while leading a pack of 20 people.

This week I eased back into my running, running about 4.5 miles on Tuesday and Thursday. On Saturday, I woke up at 5AM to drive to Calabasas and participate in the Great Race of Agoura Hills. It was a comfortable 10K race, and I was not really trying to push myself as I clocked in a little bit under an hour. Afterwards, I realized most importantly that I was going to run the San Diego marathon doing intervals instead of going all out. Apparently, the race is one of the most scenic 10K races in the country so I highly advise people to do it next year, even just to walk the course.

On Sunday, I only got a few hours of sleep because I attended a bday dinner/party the night before. I thought I was going to be super exhausted, so I loaded up on electrolytes and snacks in the morning. I got to training around 7:45AM, and we started running around 8:30AM. Seth, Prashat and I ran down San Vicente to Wilshire and back to the Santa Monica Pier. The first few miles were a little tough as my body was not warmed up yet, but after mile 5, I got my second wind. I was also constantly loading up on Gatorade, Pretzels, Skittles, Salt and Shotblocks. Miles 6-9 felt like a breeze. I started losing a bit of energy by mile 10, but I closed out miles 11 and 12 at a good pace. In all, we ran for almost two hours. After some stretching, I felt great. Next week: 13 miles!

March 15, 2009: Things have been progressing well and we just ran 10 miles today down Santa Monica Pier / San Vicente Blvd. Last week, we ran 8 miles by Marina Del Rey and it was a beautiful run with barely anyone on the streets and no stoplights. We also had our last week of strength and conditioning at the Spectrum gym by LAX airport. I participated in the plank (see link) contest and collapsed after a solid 4 minutes, but Jean-Paul (my TNT buddy) whooped the competition, coming in with 8+ minutes. Women tend to usually win it because I guess their lower body weight puts less pressure on their core and elbows. Laurie (another fellow TNT member) almost came close to winning with an impressive 8 minutes.

As for midweek runs, I've been running about 4.2 miles three times a week around the Brentwood Country Club. I got sick yesterday with the cold/flu, so I spent the rest of afternoon and evening ingesting Emergen-C and water. I'm not sure if it was a good idea to run the 10 miles today because I woke up late and a bit sluggish. After eating half a PowerBar, some Vitamin Water and taking two DayQuil capsules, I felt better.

I was able to manage for the first 4-5 miles (after downgrading from Pace Group 1 to 2 this week), and then I felt great for the last 5 miles. Not wanting to overdo anything, I'm adhering strictly to our coach's schedule since I fear injury more than anything. We had a nice group brunch at Barney's Beanery at Third Street Promenade after.

Next week, we taper down to 8 miles in the Santa Monica Mountains and we start at 7:30AM! It's going to be beautiful! We also start hill training this Wednesday, too.

March 3, 2009: First quick update since I need to go to bed to wake up for a midweek run at 7AM tomorrow. Well, we're on week 4 now and the training has been great so far. We have 3 individual midweek runs followed by a group run on Sunday. So far, I've been keeping up with the midweek runs, but it's been hard to schedule them sometimes given work and other obligations. My short 3-mile run this past Saturday wasn't too great because I wasn't adjusted to the heat and I really didn't do a great job of hydrating myself after Friday night's barhopping. However, I kept myself in line Saturday night and I had a great run on Sunday. We ran 7 miles up the Santa Monica Pier and down San Vicente Blvd. Such a beautiful day! Later that afternoon, we went to South for a fun Westside TNT mixer.

Note: need to buy water belt and energy gels for longer distances.

-pv