gct'09

here i go again. one of the big tri race of the season. the day started at around 4.45am. i woke up; take a quick shower then headed for some coffee. i went outside to feel the temperature and looked over to the ocean sight. everything felt ok, not much of surprise, the water in the ocean still looked about as rough as the days before. guessed that’s probably not gonna change in the next hour or two. headed back inside; grab my stuffs to set up the transition area.
as I got to the transition area, as always, crowded. thank GOD i found a guy easily to help bodymarked me with numbers and a lightning bolt on my right calf. that’s rite, i made the guy to make that sign; then i headed to my bike. set up my transition area with bike shoes, running shoes, running visor, bib number for the run, socks, powerbar bar, powerbar gels (lots of ‘em). i think i left about 10 in that transition area and again, thank GOD nobody stole them. i put some foot powder on my socks to prevent blister and any other stuffs that could messed up my feet during the bike and/or the run; since i knew i was going to be wet the whole day. then again, this is the only legal wet shirt contest in the world. woohoo………
i pumped my tires up, set up my helmet, my shades for both the bike and run. a couple of my teammates borrowed my pump, it’s cool. always ready to help. i hung around the transition area for a while; trying to visualize my exit from the swim, my exit for the bike, how i am going to undress from my wetsuit, how I’m going to got out of transition for the bike, how i am going to come in after the bike, how i was going to leave the transition again for the run. everything. check, re-check, and do it all over again. after a while, I thought, well….i think i’m set now. so I went back to the place i stayed.
relax, ate some breakfast (bagel with peanut butter and banana), drank some coffee, water, and some gatorade. high five with the comrade. then, i started to do some lube up off my body with body glide, sunscreen, etc. by that time, i realized it’s time to put on the wetsuit. i got out of the beachfront; talking with some of my teammates while we watched some of the people (the pros – mike and ben, the girls – rika, katie, rebekkah, kerry, angela, and mel) that went on to the water for the race. as i faced the water from where i stayed, I thought to myself; this is it; i really was serious for this race. i asked mike for some advice and he said, ‘…comfort equal fast, u will go fast…’ thanx mike.
I felt good, fit and very encouraged; I was encouraged by my friends that are back in cols; either thru phone, text message, facebook, etc from days before; and I was also encouraged by my teammates that were with me. Having them there actually made me pumped up even more. I was feeling a little pressure, but somehow I felt GOD helped me to use that pressure as an added motivation for me to not just strive to do good and/or well, but even more to do the very best. so, as I headed to the start line, I yelled; ‘…rock and roll…’ and high fives to the teammates that were still in the cottage. I headed to the gulf to feel the water with the wetsuit, prep my goggle, and swimcap. then headed to the start line as my corral was called.
and then……….THE HORN went off……let’s go…….
the swim started ok. I felt fine until I realized a lifeguard on a surfboard started telling me to go the other way, because I just went off course……oh well……and yet, I was calm; I wasn’t panicking. Then, I started to swim following the course until I found somebody that I can draft off. The water was pretty rough. Hard to sight for the buoy. Waves keep coming towards me. my goodness….i felt like it was so long I was in the water that i wasn’t even dare to look at my watch as I made the turn around to go back to dry land. After getting into a certain rhythm and finding more people that I can draft off the swim to go back, I started to see where I’m heading and I just thought to myself, here we go….get ready….
I got out of the water at about 45/46 minutes and I thought, ‘…hmmm….not bad, probably the same as last year…’ then, I heard a loud cheering from erin, so I gave a thumb up…..thanx erin…..i headed to my transition area; took off my wetsuit; put on all the bike needs then headed out for the bike.
first few miles, I felt pretty good, not panting, pretty calm, so i decided to eat some of the bar. I saw a couple of my teammates (butter, brewer, dustin, then mags) on the first turn around. Everything felt good and I felt pretty confident on the bike that as I got to about mile 10, I realized I caught up with my temmates. I was mike and ben (the pros) headed back, then I saw butter in front of me, so I thought, ‘…hm…see what I can do?’ so, as I passed him, I yelled an encouragement to him. Then, after a bit, he passed me again as we went up the bridge. Then, at about mile 20, brewer passed me, and I started to see some of my teammates (j, katie, rika with a shout to encourage me, but I could shout back since I was so surprised; thanx rika, then I saw keller, mel, kerry, and angela) that started earlier headed back to transition.
As I make the last turn around to go back to transition, I started to look at my watch and thought to myself, ‘…hmm…not too bad, I think I’m still on pace, especially with all that wind…’ then, I hit the aid station by the turn around, grabbing the gatorade and water that they’re giving away. Suddenly, I hit a pothole….then, I heard a crack; I looked down on my bike searching for something either broke, or got stuck on my bike. Check everything that I could check, did not find anything so, I thought, ok everything’s fine. So, I went back to my aero position. Then I realized my left arm kept slipping off the aero pad. So I tried to put a little pressure to check and yes……that’s rite, the holder broke….mmmmmmmmaaaaaaaaaannnnnnnnnnnnnn…………..
I tried to keep myself on the aero position as much as I could, but yet it is very very uncomfortable, so I decided to go back and forth frequently between up and aero with hope that the wind could help me get back. Well….guess what? I was wrong, the wind didn’t help at all. The head wind still kept pushing me back. For a moment, I thought this thing was not gonna help, especially not being able to be comfortable on the aero position. But yet, I still do my best, especially after seeing some of my teammates (tom, bob, matt, and my bro; john) heading to the bike turn around. Then, tim, my other teammates passed me. after a while, I started to catch my other teammate (angela) and shout out an encouragement. Finally, i got back to the transition safely. As I got off the bike, I felt some pain on my lower left back and started to shake my head off with a thought of what else could go not rite? Then, I racked my bike back to place and change to my run gear and I saw my other teammate (storr) getting ready to go out for the run. I took time to stretch my back a little, then I went out for the run. As I got out of the transition, I heard another loud cheer from rika’s mom (thanx, nancy); that really was very helpful. It actually encouraged me to be able to keep going.
At the run, I started to catch some of my teammates. I caught up my storr; gave some encouragement; then I caught up with eric; another shout of encouragement to him. Then, I started running on my own for a while watching some of my teammates headed to the finish line. First, at mile 3/4, I saw j, then i said to myself, ‘…thank GOD, I’m actually improve than last year, yeach…..’ then, at around mile 4/5, I saw katie, gave her some shout out of encouragement, until one of my other friends caught me, so we ended up running together for a couple of miles. Well….actually it’s more like him running faster than me, then walk and caught him again and passing and all that going on. Then, around mile 5, I saw rika and brewer. Then, just before I got into the park, which is before mile 6, I saw keller. As I got out of the st. andrew’s park, I saw bob, angela and dustin. Then, as I got to about mile 8, I caught up with tim. As soon as he heard me yelling, he just said, ‘…oh oh….’ So I asked, ‘what’s up?’ and he just said, ‘…dejavu, hansen…’ so I shout an encouragement to him, which I think it did help that he ended up passing me. and then, on mile 10, I saw john again. Another shout of encouragement.The next 2 mile, I still stayed on my rhythm and I felt good, then as soon as I hit mile 12, I started to walk a bit to gather up the leftover energy that I had for a strong finish.
So, for the last ¾ of a mile, I ran as fast and as strong as I could to the finish line until I saw my teammates on side and gave them high five and sprint to the finish line with nothing left on my body. Then, I pumped a fist to the air and said, thank GOD…..

days b4 race

well....here we go....1st tri race of the season, but first, let's talk about travel. nothing much of excitement. driving for about 14 hours definitely not as good as last year. then again, surprisingly, i actually felt we got to the race site faster than last year.
drove thru around the same area, which are ohio, kentucky, tennesee, alabama, and end in florida. travel weather was not too bad, altho there were some areas that we had to went thru a wild rainstorm. i drove about a couple hours of the portion. mostly during the hour when people do need to sleep, which is around midnite to around 3, or 4am.
we got in to destination around 8, or 9am. went for breakfast at the usual place. got the breakfast buffett; bacon, egg, apple sticks, grits, o j, coffee, etc. then, headed to the place to stay at the doorman's cottage.
nice, cozy place by the beachfront, looking to the beach on the back. i was trying to get some nap, but yet, probably it's me; it's just not me. can't sleep. did got some shut eye tho, but still, it's different.
to tell u the truth, i wanted to try the water at the gulf as soon as i got to the place but yet, we'll wait on the team.
after all that, we finally went to try water at the gulf. not too cold; actually pretty warm. got ready; put on the wetsuit; got into the water; well....guess what?
too hot; felt suffocating. went back to the shore, take the wetsuit out and tried again. felt better afterwards. but still, my h r went up to the roof.
many things came into my mind. not enough rest; wrong things to eat; not enough water to drink along the way of the travel.
then, we biked around the race course. felt a little better, especially after the powerbar bar and gel. got a chance to feel my leg got some work and some speed work too. then, we ran for about 20min. still afterwards, not feeling too good. then, oh oh....here we go again. am i feeling the same as lst year? what am i doing wrong? felt like my body system not working as i wanted to. don't like this feeling. starting to feel uncomfortable, doubts, past failures was back on the mind.
so, i started to calm myself down. relaxing myself a bit. a lot had happened in the last 24 hours and i had not had enough of things to feel better. not enough food, not enough drink, not enough rest, etc. this is the time when i really really need encouragement.
after all that, we rested; took a shower to freshen up; plan for dinner; went to the grocery, got stuffs to eat. time to enjoy the food, breeze, the view, white sand, and the company of great teammates....next up.....sleep......

one week....ok maybe less....

ok, so, it's about a week before gct. one of my big races for this year. one of the races that i put as a goal that i want to do well, well...not just well tho; i really do want to do very well, no, maybe even great. i want to do great. training has been great. can't complain. progress is definitely felt in so many ways. preparation is coming along. a lot of my friends that know about me doing this race have been asking whether i'm prepared or not. all i can say for now is well...it's been a while i'm doing this training, even for this year. i felt pretty good. we'll see.

i know i can only control things that i can control, especially during the race. other than that, there is always things u can't control; such as the weather. what can't you do if it is too hot, or maybe even too cold? u get what u can get. u take care what u can. other than that, u can only manage what u can manage during the race. and well.....to tell u the truth, that's one of the things that i like about the race. take what u can get. bring it on.

one of my teammates, which is also my swim coach, g, was talking about her pr in gct. she actually kind of challenged me to try maybe even to match that. i'd sure like to do that, altho i don't know whether i can do it or not. in one way, she actually had been saying that a lot out of me have improved. she said i looked better on the swim; faster on the bike, and also faster on the run. and yes, it is very encouraging, but yet, on the other side, i don't want to be too over confidence. at certain level, i felt very comfortable going into this race than any other race that i had ever done.
as of Wednesday, I felt pretty calm. but yet, with some pre-cautions, i felt a little uneasy; afraid of what could happen; afraid that what happen last year happened again; afraid that I could not match my goal. pressure. then again, I do know that most times, I thrive with pressure. we’ll see….i’ll update more later on as the days get closer to the race…

cool pix

a very nice and cool pix from the 2009 training camp down in portsmouth. i don't mean to brag about myself, but i'm actually bragging the person that take this pix. he was also on the bike riding with his hand stretch back to take this pix. thanx to the person. he actually made me look good.....lol....

 

 

new kick.....

i tried new shoes. previously for the gct, i was going to use the one that had been using for the past month; which is the asics gel cumulus x. but then, when i tried the gel cumulus xi a couple of times, i'm quite convinced that i'll be using the xi in the race. the shoes felt great. for me, it fit well, just the ix; which i loved the most.