path of lightning & thunder

hills category

2011-07-20T13:03:00.000-04:00

after abt a month settling in the new area, i started to find some routes, trails, and areas that i'm able to continue my training. so far everything seems to be pretty good. the only not so good part of the new area is that most of the areas have rolling hills, and some even actual hills. so far i'v biked from where i lived a couple of times, and every time i biked from there, i dreaded the biked back. reason? the last 5miles is a cat5 climb. none of this was a big deal for me, esp after a long while living in the midwest, where most of the areas are flat. but now on the nw, man....i really really thank GOD that HE made me started biking abt 5-6years ago. or else, i would be cursing the whole ride.
i thank GOD for letting me meet my coach in the midwest that taught me and pushed me to keep climbing on any camp that i was in. i thank him for always organizing the nice portsmouth camp every year that i was in the midwest. at the same time, i thank GOD that i was able to race that course.
for the longest time, i never really care abt the climb cat while living in the midwest, but now, esp after talking more and more with the girl, i started intrigued with hills climbing category. not that i'm a climb junkie now, but it gives me a more appreciation of the gift that GOD has given me, which are 'the lightning' and 'the thunder'.

wo...wo...wo....

2011-07-13T12:47:00.000-04:00

huh?
wow....didn't realize that i hd been absent for abt 3 months from this thing. and, the amazing thing is, there are a bunch of things that happened in just that 3months...who knew these could happen?
what r those?
1. move to another state - yep, i'm in wa state now....
2. withdraw from an iron distance race
3. being so out of shape to race iron distance race
4. start a new job place - same company tho...
5. and, oh yeach....getting ready to get married - what? is that really going to happened?
6. making new friends
7. meeting new co workers
8. getting familiar to new areas and state
9. seeing my aunt and uncle after abt 15years...yech...that was long....
but, out of all that....the most amazing thing is, being able to be a part of God's plan and seeing the amazing blessings that HE is pouring out onto my life. also, seeing prayers being answered.
but now....i'm finally able to get back to a bit of training. in some ways, i can honestly say that my fitness level is back to where i was at before i moved, which is last june. then again, my training is dfntly behind in comparison to my teamates that are racing vineman this weekend. i'm a bit bump out that i cannot see them and race with them. but yet, i'm dfnlty at peace for withdrawing from a race. hopefully this will be the 1st and only time that i'd do that.
for the longest time, i always said that i never want to DNF and/or withdraw from a race, but i do believe GOD has a divine apptmnt, and that's why i'm dfntly at peace in regards to that....stay tuned.....

camp info

2011-04-13T14:10:00.003-04:00

for those that are interested....

another camp

2011-04-13T13:53:00.002-04:00

this time is the crazy climbing portsmouth camp. this was probably one the camp i always looked forward to every season. reasoning; it's cheap, challenging, and there will always be something happened during the camp. it's either to the camp, to the fun times, to the after the camp moments, etc. the other thing, this is the 1st i came to the site of my major bike crash on a race. and, this time, i came back with a different bike.
it all started good. we went down in the early morning hours, planning to ride abt 5-6 hours. we started abt the planned time. rode up the 1st switchback hills. felt pretty strong and a little ease compare to past seasons.
then came the 2nd round of the hills. this time, it's harder. still felt pretty good, not as strong as the morning round, but still feel the little ease compare to past seasons.
after all that, we were to do an out and back route to go back to where we parked. here were the fun came. when we reached the turn around point, the sky was dark and everyone knew the storm is brewing and dfntly coming our way. as we all rode back, probably just abt 5 miles riding in to get back, it rained on us. at first, i thought, ...well, it's not that bad...i'v ridden in much worse rain...but then, the lightning and thunder started, here come a litle caution on my side and then the rain started to become harder....so, i started thinking, maybe we should stop, but then, as i reached to certain point, coach picked us all up in the middle of the road. what a relieve. yeach......
at this point, we are all soaking wet from the rain....
like i said, every camp, or season, there is always something that could happened during the camp, and this year....it's the rain and storm....oh well...we'll get back at some other time....

a while...

2011-04-03T13:26:00.001-04:00

so after abt a month long of hiatus from this place, i decided to get back to this again. altho not sure what i was doing in that 1 month, i realized there had been so much stuffs going on in my life. and, it's not necessarily just work, but also personal, significant other, training, team, teammates, etc.
for the past month, i was able to get to know more about my teammates for this current season. this might have happen with the pending condition that i am facing rite now in my life. somehow, i started to embrace more of the people that GOD hv surrounded me with. and, for the most part, apparently, my teammates are the ones that i hd learned abt life the most. they hv become my 'family'. they hv become my brothers and sisters. they r the ones that hd shown me the many sides of life; even the many sides of multiple personalities and characteristics.
this happened to be coincided with the many events that hd happened in the past month of course.
one of them was the dome camp that i did with some left-out teammates in town. that was a good 1. as much as it was tried to be organized, yet, some of us were able to make it as organized as possible with so much fun in the cold winter week, especially with jen's egg-strada....hm.....dreaming of it again....dfntly need more of it....again....

injuries...

2011-04-01T13:40:00.001-04:00

it's always not a good feeling when u felt some pain in some part of ur body, especially during training. as coach said that in racing, u shld try to manage pain. but, in training.....really? what can u do? rest....which at most time u feel like as if when u don't train, u could fall behind. fall behind ur teammates' training, even fall behind urself from last season.
for the past 2-3 months, i hd been battling a tendonitis on the inside part of my right knee. unsurprisingly, this problem got worse as i was trying new shoes from my running. at first, i thought it was a lingering effect from not fully healed, but then, coach started noticing the way i ran, just not rite.
did it get worse? at first, i wasn't so sure. at this point, i don't think so, since the pain is not as bad as it was abt 1 month ago.
i wanted so badly to try other shoes in the market, but yet, my big huge feet jst weren't abt to cooperate. so now, i am back to the 1 and only shoe in the market that can fit my big huge feet. if only the shoe that i'm wearing would jst sponsor me directly; especially, now, i know for sure, that is the only shoe brand (asics) and model that i can wear, pretty much for the rest of life athletic life. oh well....
is it better now?
absolutely. i run better, i walk better. i can feel my bounce again on the run. even tho, as of now, i can still feel a little pain, but it's dfntly manageable.
what do i learned? new isn't always better. injuries is always kind of sucks....

quotes

2011-03-10T10:00:00.001-05:00

Some quotes that I came across for life, training, racing; courtesy of ryan hall and josh cox;

the only just literary critic is JESUS, who admires more than any man the gifts HE HIMSELF has bestowed - jrr. tolkien

PAD - Passion; Ability; Destiny

Gal 6:4-5 – ‘…each of you should test your own actions. Then you can take pride in yourself, without comparing yourself to somebody else, for each of you should carray your own load…’

COl 3:23-24 – ‘…and whatever you do, do it heartily, as to the Lord and not to men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance; for you serve the Lord Christ…’
Seek God’s presence, not God’s presents

and so the story continues....

2011-02-21T12:26:00.002-05:00

last sunday, with the girl in town, we decided to go run to see some bison at the nearby metro parks. after the episode that i had last thurs in the run and about 1-2 days of rest, i thought all the pain on my foot should be ok by now.
so, we went running 4 abt an hour. this is after also trying on new movement prep warm-up stretch. not realizing what the surface of the trail would be, i started on a little bit faster than my normal pace, since i actually felt quite warm, and not stiff at all with the warm-up. man...was i wrong?
the surface was quite hard pack of gravel, trail, and dfntly not an even ground at all. i was able to go on the faster pace that i wanted to, but then after-wards, all the same pain in the same areas, especially the 1 area that had been therapy-ied, it all came back to haunt me. so...rite now, i'm a little worried. therefore, i decide to rest today, in prep for the upcoming harder camp work-out.
i guess at this point, i am in the place where i had to learn more about the meaning of recovery week and rest time. as u know, i am not a pro. as much as i would like all this to be my full-time job, it isn't. again, i am back to the drawing board of time management.
and, surprise, surprise, i had 1 new endurance sport friend that jst sent me about time management worksheet....wazzup with that.....? how is that possible...?
guess at least it still early in the season. thank God....

injury...

2011-02-19T00:12:00.000-05:00

kind of sucks...
since the beginning of the year, i had this nagging pain on the inside part of my right knee. first, i thought it was jst a fatigue pain, or maybe even jst overuse, which is kind of weird to begin with, since i had not trained that hard. but then after about a couple of weeks continuing on, i felt a little worried, therefore went to see a specialist. it turned out it was a minor tendinitis.
ok...so good news and bad news...
it's good that i found out early and it was minor. bad, because that meant i had to laid down on my run. then again, it's the time when i felt the most pain.
so, solution; i went in for 3-4 session of physical therapy for it with the doc gave me some anti-inflammatory. did it help? yes, well...kind of...
after all the session fulfilled and finishing up all the prescribed med, i decided to try different type of shoes. not sure whether this was a good, or bad idea.
so...last thursday, with the very nice warmer weather in the area, after feeling everything seems to be on track with the healing process, i decided to try the new kicks. in the beginning of the run, i thought i felt great. the shoes felt light, i felt light footed, not bulky at all. i felt snazzy, and quite able to go on a faster pace. i was able to do the schedule workout well, even thought it was kind of hard workout and kind of hard with the new kicks.
but then, after the workout, i felt a little pain in the same area of the previously healed area with an addition in other areas of my calf and foot.
at first i thought....ok maybe i was just going to fast, maybe i felt over confident, maybe i pushed too hard.
so let's see....let me rest this for a day, or 2....

2011, here we go...

2011-01-07T15:25:00.000-05:00

hey, hey, hey.....2011 already.....what'd i missed? not a whole lot yet. then again, got to start planning for races in 2011. what am i going to do? a couple of my frenz, teammates, etc had been asking for a while. 1 of the questions that i found quite interesting is, '...will there b any repeat performance(s) in 2011, jst like 2010?'
my answer to that question, '...nope, not really. it will be a better performance for 2011...'
as 2010 had become the inaugural iron-distance race for me; in 2011, i am looking forward to an improve performance in the iron-distance regime.
race schedule should be up soon. still finalizing. in the mean time, keep it steady on the training and focus on the task in the future. hope 2 c any of u on any race(s) thru-out the usa, thanx, Gb....and God speed....

quick note for end of year and beginning of new year.....

2010-12-31T03:08:00.000-05:00

a very very nice 2010. a year of many first time for me. 1st time iron-distance race finisher. 1st time coaches' award winner. that 1 was special; especially getting recognition among peers and teammates of the team HPR. in addition, having been 1 of the only foreigner on the team. thanx God, team and coach. other things that i had done; help and/or support people in many different capacities, whether it's thru material, spiritual, physical, mental, and mind. whether it's thru races, opinions, discussions, charities, etc.
out of all the things that i had planned for the year 2010. i know there are many that i was able to achieve, but yet, there were also things that i did, but did not achieve the goal. pessimistic, no way....always think things in a positive way. the cup is always half full. besides, i always thought things that i was not able to achieve were things that GOD have not granted me to have. there is a reason for everything that happened. and yet again, this new year, 2011, i'v come up with kind of a motto.

'...do everything with a reason for a purpose...'

dreams for 2011?
so many of them. maybe even more than 2010. and, somehow they are the things that i'm hunger for more. desire more than ever. really really something that i really really wanted to. hm...too optimistic? maybe...at the same time, i do believe in GOD. i know i won't b able to achieve any of them without HIM on my side. without HIM ahead of me, since HE always prepare the way.
what am i going to do in 2011?
stay tuned.....but for now, sampai jumpa 2010.....歡迎 2011.....Gb...

start...already...?!

2010-12-15T10:55:00.001-05:00

here we go...yeach...that's what i usually said every time i'm abt 2 start training and well...rite now i'm already on the 2nd month of training with the team for the 2011 season. man....even the year 2011 has not started yet, but then again...here i am already on some build week on training. as much as the schedule said it should be on base, we had done quite a few hills run...wazzup with that?
having been in the team for abt 4-5years; still sometime i hd no idea what i'm doin'. race schedule is not set on stone yet, but so far i'd thought abt 1 70.3 and 1 140.6. yeach...some things that i thought i would take a break for the year, but yet, i still reeling abt it.
ppl would say hvn't u learned from last season's experience? i guess it's what i had learned from last year experience that made me want 2 do it even more.
it is indeed sometimes hard, especially living in these snowy region, but yet came from the most tropical part of the globe (by equator). training has been trying to dodge the cold. cold meaning with temperature in the teens of fahrenheit, which in the case of from where i came from means it is in negative degrees of centigrade. in addition to that, the slippery and sliding of trying to move around the snow. man.....i dfntly got to get away from here.
hard times like these are being added with the temptations of holiday treats. sweets, cookies, candy, chocolate, anything and everything that could dfntly ruined ur training, especially ur diet. as 1 of my teammates is trying to dodge that with kids, yeach....hv fun with that....
and so, here i am with the team training again for the season. trying to achieve something. some 'impossible' thing that ppl think it's dfntly out of my mind. i know quite a bit of my frenz thought i am losing my mind, then again, i always thanked GOD that HE provided me lots of support; not just from the teammates in the team, but also, a family that understand, and some frenz that do understand, especially the g/f that always supportive....Gb.....

hpr2010

2010-11-04T13:01:00.002-04:00

some race pix

2010-09-15T13:44:00.002-04:00

others can b found on my facebook page....hv fun....enjoy...

stats

2010-09-15T10:05:00.001-04:00

4 those that r interested, here's my stats from sunday:

thank u list

2010-09-14T16:20:00.000-04:00

jst wanted 2 give a big shout out 2 everyone that helped me achieve the dream of finishing an iron-distance race this year;
thank GOD 4 giving me the ability to do and finish the race; thanx 2 my family; mom, dad, sister and especially my bro, 4 doing and showing me what iron-distance race is all about; thanx 2 the g/f 4 putting up with me and everything else that u had done, i really really appreciated and feel that i am loved. thanx 2 the coaches (mike and mike) 4 coaching, criticizing, training, encouraging, pushing, pulling, and believing in me. thanx 2 all the teammates that helped thru out the training times from winter. thanx 2 mel 4 always being available and making ur place available. thanx 2 butter 4 sticking with me in training and race(s). thanx 2 nev 4 always encouraging me and making ur place also available along the long run. thanx 2 storrs and keller 4 encouraging me and making me learnt a lot from triple-t experience, including camping. thanx 2 the j's 4 believing in me and giving me lots n lots of tips 4 running. thanx 2 the twitter friends (dustin and troy) and teammates (brian) 4 always checking on me, cheering me, and encouraging me. thanx 2 bob and tim 4 always encouraging me. thanx 2 nancy and herb 4 ur encouragement along the way, whether it was on the bike, or on the run. thanx 2 jenn 4 making ur place available 4 swim. thanx 2 lisa 4 encouraging me. thanx 2 andy 4 making urself and the place up at the lake available. thanx 2 jeremy 4 always making any training session a fun time. thanx 2 kerry 4 always making me thinking abt beer, since u'r the queen of the beer mile. lol....hahhaha....and 2 all other teammates and friends that i did not mention, thanx 4 always encouraging me every time we met anywhere, God bless u all....

14:57

2010-09-14T16:00:00.000-04:00

1st ever 140.6 journey of myself on foot

the day started with waking up quite early. i was awake around 1am, but then was able 2 get back to sleep until sometime close 2 4am. did my race routine; showers, coffee, breakfast, medication, drugs, and everything that i always used, put all the stuffs (special needs bags and other bags) that are needed for the race in the car. drove to the race site. got there around 5.30am, as planned.
as soon as i got there, ate a powerbar, got 2 the bike, placed all my nutrition on the bike and bags, then pump up the tires. took care the special needs bags, got numbered and weighted (185lbs). by this time it was already 6.15am. time 2 put on the wet suit and walk over to the beach for the swim start. as i walked, took a gel, chit chat with some other athletes and other ppl around. the water looked pretty calm, no wave visible and didn't feel any wind, or 2 much breeze. so, i said, '...nice, this is good...'. then they announced the race start would b delayed, since it was still pretty dark.
the wave started with all pro men, then pro women. as i waited 4 the start and talked 2 the g/f, i started to mapped out where i'm heading on the swim. the g/f asked abt my hr and i think it was in the 90's. i try 2 b as calm as possible, regardless of how daunting this thing is. man....what was i thinking and what did i sign up 4? oh well....2 late now....
as the siren went off, i started walking to the water, since the lake was pretty shallow until abt 25 yards in. then, i said 2 myself, '...here we go...' as i started 2 swim, i felt pretty good and calm. trying 2 stay within the game plan, which was not to get caught up with the ppl around me. trying to find some empty space to swim to a point, but 2 no avail, it was a mass start, so....'good luck' finding empty space around. still....finish the 1st loop in about 40min. looked at my watch and i thought, '...great, rite on pace...' as i walked along the beach 2 start the 2nd loop, saw the g/f, hi-5, then back to swim again. as i got to the turn around of the 2nd loop, suddenly i felt like i was being thrown in different directions than where i was swimming, then i realized, '...omg, guess the wind decided 2 show up now...' at this point, i decided 2 find somebody that i can draft off 2 help me get back 2 shore, and i did. finished the swim in about 1:25, and again, i thought, '...great...'
rite on track. (thanx 2 mike, andy, jeremy, and butter)
get 2 transition, grabbed my bag, went 2 tent, ate, changed to bike gear, and oh btw, thanx 2 the volunteer that help peeled off my wetsuit, and prep 4 the long bike ride.
at this point, i jst lost track of how long i was in transition. got 2 my bike and started pedaling.
the bike started with clouds in the sky, no sun, with some wind, as expected. as early as possible, i was trying 2 find the pace that i wanted 2 b. got 2 abt mile 10, then i realized, '...omg., got 2 go..' so, i went 2 'relieve' myself. then, after feeling much better, and everything seems 2 go as planned with strategies, nutrition, pace, etc,until abt mile 50, then the wind decided 2 jst blow really really hard that the corn field looked swaying really bad. at this point, i was trying 2 find some 'breaks' along the road 4 tail wind, but 2 no avail, can't catch any. every turn and every road that i was in, there was either a head wind, or a side wind. after that, i realized my back started 2 ache, and then, apparently one side of my left cleats ran out, that resulted my left bike shoe 2 came off 2 easily, so i had 2 adjust the way i pedaled. along the way, saw the leading pro men went way ahead of the other pro men, since i did not see other pro after the first 4 abt 5-10min, a couple of ppl passed me and passed a couple of ppl. trying to manage things (the hillz, which not that bad - thank GOD; the pain; nutrition, drinks, etc)
as i got 2 mile 50, got my special needs stuffs and take in some additional nutrition with me. felt a little better after that, but yet, the wind jst didn't want to stop, oh well.....but then, at around mile 75, i saw this one noisy car with cow bells sound, then i realized it was my teammates (mike, jeremy, and butter). '...omg, that was really really helpful...' that really made my day on the bike. it cheered me up. lift my spirit and try 2 remember the magic bike word, '...pedal, pedal, pedal....' so i kept on pedaling.
they basically followed me around the bike course, stopped at certain turn, banging the cow bells and cheering me.
after a long while trying to find mile 100, i finally got 2 it and realized that i got 2 prep 4 the run. started taking in some of the nutrition as planned 4 ahead. then, finally, as i saw some of the cedar point rides from afar, i started to feel a little bit better. by this time, it was abt 3pm, i think?!
got back 2 transition and check out my bike time, as i thought it was abt 7hrs. saw the g/f, said hi, got my bag, went 2 the tent; changed, ate, drink, apply some sunscreen, changed shoes; and again, lost track of my time in transition, oh well...
got out of transition, saw the g/f again, since she was volunteering and said 2 her, '...c u in a couple of hours...'
the run started good. trying 2 stay within the planned pace and not walked. saw the teammates again as i got out of the causeway off the park. but, as i got 2 mile 3, my stomach felt like it cannot take anything in. a little hard 2 breathe. drank a little water, but still jst not feeling good. that got me walking 4 abt 1/4 of a mile, but yet, still i tried 2 b in running motion as much as i could. then, i saw the teammates again. at this point, i felt really really sucked; cried a bit; felt like i can't go; felt like i was failing, felt like i was abt 2 give up, but i knew in my mind, i would not quit. mike came up 2 me and started walking with me and asking me questions, but still, i jst felt really really sucked. but, thank GOD 4 teammates and encouragement, i was able to revved up some energy and power to run again. much slower off course. as i got 2 mile 8/9, i started 2 remember tim's suggestions (run/walk) from gct (thanx, tim) until i got back 2 the park again 4 my special needs bag b4 the start the 2nd loop of the run. at the special needs area, i changed my shirt, since i knew i was going 2 b out in the dark and it would get cooler without the sun. at this point, it was abt 7/8pm. ate some chips (thanx, geri), stuffs, drugs and everything that i left on the special needs bags. walked along the transition with the g/f until abt the area that she cannot get 2. and then, suddenly after all that, i jst felt much better, heck, even great and knew that i can dfntly finish this with running, not walking. so, i ran until i saw the teammates again along downtown sandusky with their cow bells, music, camera, cheered, hi-5s and everything else. at this point, i realized i can dfntly get back 2 the planned strategies 2 tackle this and again, the teammates were following me at every mile of the run until abt mile 24. at this point, it was dark, proly abt 9/10pm. then, finally, until mike said, '...run, damnit...' so, i said 2 myself, '...yeach....run, damnit....' so i ran all the way to the inside of cedar point park and there it is, the finish line with jumbotron with my pix on it, bright lites, and the loud cheering from everyone around, the teammates, the g/f, and the loud announcer.
as i crossed the finished line, i lifted up the banner, kneel down to kiss the finish line, and the announcer yelled, '...hansen, u r the revolution...'
looked at my watch, it was abt 6hrs marathon with total time of 14:57 for the first 140.6mile journey.
overall, it was as i expected; hard and enjoyable, and i was dfntly happy with the result, with the things that i did and wanted 2 do.
all in all, thank GOD 4 everything (mind, abilities, physicality, heart, passion, body, legs, hands, feet, focus) and everybody (parent, brother, sister, g/f, coaches, teammates - past and present, friends) that enable me 2 do this.
to u all, God bless.....

thanx

2010-09-11T18:36:00.003-04:00

thank u 2 all the people that have been supporting me thru out until today. thank u, God, thank u 4 family, my mom, my dad, my brother, and my sister. thank u 2 all my coaches (mike and mike) and teammates in human powered racing; past, present, future. thank u 2 all my frenz (close, not 2 close, far, and not 2 far) from churches, small groups and everyone that have believed in me, that had looked up to me, and even that had looked down on me. thank u 4 everything that each and everyones of u had taught me, shared 2 me and had allowed me to teach and to share. and especially my g/f. thnax 4 always continuing pushing me.
this has dfintly been a long journey. a long pathway that got me to somewhere that i never thought i would be. and there'll b more pathway coming up. this is just one of them.......
thank U, GOD.....

almost

2010-09-11T18:34:00.001-04:00

iron distance race, here...we...go....

approaching

2010-09-09T18:28:00.000-04:00

as the days approaching to my main race, rite now, i'm pretty close to the race site. stayin' at one of my friends/teammates' parent's place, which is really really great. dfinitely not too far from the race site. got settle in since yesterday. got a chance to do some running and riding around the area to get myself acclimatize.
so far, the area is nice, the place is great; can't complaint, considering no charge. this place dfinitely beats anything. i wonder, why can't we hv a training camp here then?
oh well....
i proly don't need to be here since yesterday, but then again, i'm staying at someone's else's place, therefore gotta to respect their time.
tomorrow, i will b around the race site for quite some time. it would dfinitely b time to b thinking more and more abt the race.
got some pix around the area, jst couldn't load it yet, soon....
jst wanted to give a big shout out to quite abit of my friends and teammates for training with me; pushing me; pulling me; taking care of me; encouraging me; even tho sometimes i don't really show too much appreciation, but yet again, and again i really really do appreciate all of that.
thanx for the support.
will continue on more tomorrow, especially after getting to the race site.
Gb..........

ave stats

2010-08-26T13:12:00.001-04:00

in average so far my training had been about

15-20miles/day
1-2hrs/day
700-800cal/day

thanx for the garmin that i got from my friend for b'day...

interesting average stats for an average person, what u think?

the quest for 1st ever iron-distance race

2010-08-25T14:00:00.001-04:00

omg, what hd i signed up 4?

jst a tip and reminder, do not do two iron-distance race per year, unless u'r a pro...

a sample of my training on the weekend

2010-08-02T14:39:00.000-04:00

bike/run by httrijc at Garmin Connect - Details

ttt - sunday - mad adventure

2010-05-26T11:58:00.000-04:00

the day started cold. as i wake up in the campers with my teammates, we were all felt like it was an autumn morning. we started to kind of discussing whether we should wear arm warmer for the race.
i started to eat my regular race breakfast again; bagel with peanut butter, honey, and banana. at this point, coffee was not even entering my mind.
after getting all our stuff ready, we headed over to transition to set up our stuffs. within a couple of minutes, the race was about to start. obviously i was not too concerned, since it's a time trial start and my teammate and i have the last race number. we got ready with our wetsuit, since the water was cold. we started the swim pretty well. i was not trying to go very fast. drafted a couple of people that i can find in front of me until i couldn't see the 3rd buoy because of the sun. but then as we were about to start the 2nd lap of the swim, i heard somebody said that that 3rd buoy that i cannot see was moved. and, guess what? it was true; it got moved closer, so i thought, yeach, this is great....came out of the water at about the time that i wanted and felt pretty good, not too cold. then we got to transition to get ready for the bike.
the bike started good, no problem, since we did a training camp last april. so i kind of know what to expect, even tho i did not remember everything. all i can remember was hills, hills, and more hills, and seems like a never ending hills....we were able to execute our plan until we got to about the last 1/8 portion of the first loop, i went kind of fast, but not too fast, since i knew i was waiting for my teammate to come to my side every time we were on the down hill, or a decent fast flat. as i went ahead off my teammates, i knew there was one other guy that was drafting us, i was on the aero bar, but then there was no sign, or warning about certain decent size of potholes on the flat; i hit that pothole a little too fast, that made me was not able to make the turn ahead, therefore the front tire of my bike hit about a foot high of grassy area, and i went over the handle bar, and landed on another grassy area, roll over on my side a couple of times. at that moment, i could hear my teammate yelled,...s***....then after all that, i jst laid there for a minute, until my teammate came over to my side to check on me and we jst laughed. at that moment, i knew i was fine. i knew there was nothing broken on my body, and i did not feel any pain whatsoever. thank GOD for the protection.
the guy that was rite behind me checked on my bike and kind of help fixing it. first it was the little bent of the brake lever, which pretty easy to bent back. then, he started to play with my wheels, back and front. then he realized the break probably bent, so he took it off to see if it would work, but to no avail, it was more than that, it was the wheel that was bent.
after being 'patched' up (a little cut on the knee) a little bit by the EMT, i sat on the side of the road thinking about the most likely possibility for me to quit the race. i cried for a while on the side of the road just as i was thinking about quitting. but then, i started to check my bike in detail and found out it was the front wheel that was the major damage. it was bent. knowing that i was indeed all rite, nothing broken and no soreness whatsoever...thank GOD for that......i started talking to my teammate, matt, about the strategy that we were going to do with certain possibility that we could have. at the end of discussion, we decided if we can have somebody lent me a front wheel, we would go on and finish the race. at this time, i did not know there was a cut off time for the course, so i waited until the support vehicle took us back to the transition area.

i hate quitting; out of all the things that i had learned from triathlon, the number 1 thing that i told myself to never do in life is to never quit. i would only stop racing if i truly cannot go on, or the race course is close, or until the race director told me i cannot race anymore.

as soon as i got to transition, i saw an old friend, bob. i asked him for help to kind of fix my bent wheel. at this point, i wasn't thinking about finishing the race until bob asked me whether i wanted to continue on, or not. off course, i answered yes, then he jst took off his aero front wheel from his bike and put it on mine. i asked him to help me put the front brakes back, but he said there was no time. at this time, i jst suddenly felt there is hope. i have a chance; i have a window of opportunity. and off course, i was not going to let that get away. seize the moment. and then, obviously, matt and me went out for the 2nd loop of the bike with about 3 min left to the bike cut off before you can no longer go on for the 2nd lap.
at the start of the 2nd lap, i started thinking about the answer that i gave bob. was that really me talking, or was it the adrenaline? a this time, i started to doubt about my decision; started to think maybe i should jst go back and quit. but then, i realized and remember abt my decision to never quit a race. that definitely got my spirit back up to really really want to finish the race.
as we got closer to the end of the 2nd loop of the bike, we found out matt have some problem on his seat on the bike. we stopped to kind of tried to do something abt it, but to no avail, nothing we can do abt it. i could see his seat was wobbly, but yet, he didn't complaint, and we kept on riding; even tho i tried to offer a co2 to spray the area where his body sat on the seat, but oh well....after abt more than 2hrs on the 2nd lap of the bike, we got back to the transition, and i thanked bob for the help and tell me and matt to go and get out for the run and shanon, the race director told us that the run course still open, therefore we kept on going. we started with walking a little, but then i thought to myself;...gotta try to run.....so we ran. along the way, we finally saw out other teammates (storrs and keller) on run course as they were finishing the 2nd loop of the run. at this time, i jst thought to myself, oh my goodness, we are going to finish the last one of the race. but guess what? at the end, i kept trying to run and walk with matt. trying to fight the hills, the bugs, the flies, the horrible taste of heed, the sun, the heat, and all the other stuffs along the course, we actually did not finish last. thank GOD for that.....
along the way on the run, i saw a couple of people that we saw on the bike course and for the whole the weekend, chatted a bit, giving encouragement to each other, i actually felt that i was used by GOD to give inspiration to some of the people on the course. to give encouragement to anyone that see and know what had happened to me earlier on that day on the bike course, i still raced and finished it.
thank you GOD for all the abilities, the health, the strength, the spirit, the encouragement, the angels, and the protection that U had given me to be able to do all these. thank GOD for team and teammates (matt butterworth, for the most helpful encouragement along the race; matt storrs and rebekkah keller for the first ever very fun camping experience in my life, and also for your encouragement as we pass along on the course; mike brewer, the coach, for visiting us in times of muddiness with the 'care' package, encouragement, help, guide, and pix; all other teammates' encouragement thru e-mail and facebook). thank GOD for the person that always prays with me and for me.

gct 2010

2010-05-14T14:00:00.001-04:00

'...the world ain't all sunshine and rainbow...it ain't abt how hard u hit, it's abt how hard u can get hit and keep moving forward...it's abt how much u can take and keep moving forward...but u gotta b willing to take the hit...' - rocky thru mike neill

it all started from the nite before.
after the dinner that I had with the team and the rest of the participants, I went back to the place we stayed and kind of wind down. relax. as far as I can remember, I don’t think I ate anything anymore once I got back to my room. therefore, I took my sleeping med, as always, at the nite before the race, jst to keep my mind off the race and rest.
in the morning, I was up at around 4am. Took a shower, get the coffee ready for the cabinmates; ate some bagel with peanut butter and banana. Then I went down to be taped for the back problem that I had. afterwards, I went back up to my room to get ready to head to the transition area to set my stuffs ready for the race.
Set my transition properly as I planned. Helmet, glasses, gels, bars, shoes, shocks, powder, magic pill, drinks, check tire, inflate properly, talked a bit with teammates and other participants around the area. Then head back up to my room to get ready.
At around 6.15am, I decided to go down to the start line to kind of get my mind to the race and put on my wetsuit.
after having said wish my teammates for a great race, i waited for the horn for my wave to start. as the horn sound, i started the way i wanted to. went to the ocean with confident that i had trained for this. at first, well....didn't realize i was off the beaten path of the swim course, so try to focus, get back to the course and made it to the turn around with a little trouble. as though as the waves and current in the gulf (thank GOD for no oil, btw), i felt i was able to swim on my rhythm. swim the way i wanted. as i was getting back to the shore, i felt the current is moving sideways, therefore i decided to take advantage by swimming a little sideways so that i can catch the push from behind; and it did work. as i came out of the water and check on my watch, i realized i was faster than last year, thank GOD and thanx to all the friends that was along the swim course to cheer me on....
as i got to the transition to get ready for the bike, i started to feel a little pain on my back, especially as i was trying to peel off my wetsuit. i took a bite of the powerbar that i prepared for the bike. took a couple of sip of drinks and off to the bike course. as i looked along the bike course, saw quite a bit of my teammates. tried to cheer them on as they cheered me on. as i saw my teammates, i tried to catch them and tried to calculate how far behind and ahead me from them. the bike went according to plan, i threw the bottle that i wanted to throw and grab the nutrition that i wanted and needed along the way (gatorade endurance, waters, gels, and bars). until this time, the day was still overcast, no sun yet. so, i thought ok let's get this on and get this over with. as i get close back to the transition, i started to feel a little more pain than earlier, but yet i realized it is still manageable.
as i got to the transition and off the bike, i definitely feel the pain on my back, but yet with the help of the cheering of my friends, it was dfntly bearable.
in transition, i sit down to get ready for the run. as soon as i stand up to go running, i really feel the pain, but yet i know this pain will definitely go away as soon as i could run smoothly. i took one magic pill and saw a couple of my teammates pass me asking me how i was doin'. after i pass the first mile marker, just as the sun finally decided to showed up, my run felt ok. i felt i was running the way i wanted. other teammates were passing me and i took my time to get myself together and started to see other teammates that went back to finish the run.
as i was about mile 11, i started to feel a little weird. i know my body temp was warm, but yet i had a chill. not sure what it was, i started to walk and then i realized, i guess i had a mild heat stroke. i tried to brush that aside with another magic pill, gel, some gatorade and water. at this point, i realized i was missing my targeted finish time. disappointed? absolutely. i got 'hit'.
as i got to about half a mile from the finish line, i decided that this was the time make up some time, rather than having a miserable finish time (for me at least). so, i ran with whatever left i had in me to the finish line with seeing mike neill and my other teammates and friends by the finish line.
as i was finishing, i thank GOD for always being with me, giving the opportunity, help, and ability to be able to do this.
thank you also to all my cabinmates, teammates, and coaches in human powered racing for always giving me advise and encouragement along the way. God bless....

first tri of the year

2010-05-14T13:48:00.003-04:00

yeach, one first tri race of the year and another gct race in the book. not too happy with the result, but what can u say....
this is why it is so hard to be always good year in and year out. it is really really hard to move from glory to glory. it is always ez to say it, but it is indeed hard to do it, as i find out abt it quite the hard way.
but i'm pretty console, i think....
so much and so many things went thru my mind before, during, and after the race, and yet, i know i will never quit and i will finish, and i did, even tho the result is sometimes not what u wished for. but yet, thank GOD for always taking care of me.

quotes

2010-05-14T12:20:00.000-04:00

'...and then the day came when the risk to remain tight in abud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom...' - anais nin

'...what make one cyclist (athlete) better than the other is the ability to suffer; that's the x factor...' - david millar

somethin...

2010-02-12T15:21:00.002-05:00

success is the promise for those who stand true to their ideas

i got that quote from a preaching of a pastor in the church. in many ways, it is related with so many things in my life. it related with work, with training, with races, with relationship, with friendship, etc.

as for training, i had gone thru quite a bit with the team. training had been good, but yet, sometimes, i am still not sure in terms of my rest time. i felt that it had not been optimal. then again, if u work about 14 days straight including weekends with all the training that i was doing, not sure how i would manage my rest anyways......but thank GOD for always reminding me of HIM. for keeping me grounded, for always and constantly letting me know that HE is indeed in control.

during that time, i also did not got a chance to see my close friend. Or, even for that matter, not much of hangin' out with friends.

as for the actual training part, it had been going pretty well surprisingly. it already started to feel like spring and already, i had a chance to bike on the road a couple of times. i felt stronger and faster in all three discipline, but now, here comes the part that always makes me wonder; how well would i b during the actual race?

that is always the big question.

i always have ideas to be able to perform well during races. beating certain time limit, beating certain people, be at certain position in age group, and all that. but am i really going 2 b able to do that? and that seems to always be the measurement that i used to see whether i was successful or not in certain time and/or situation.

jst like the quote above. it is indeed the promise to those that stay true to their own ideas. as much training as i had done, it is probably the only thing that i can stay true to in order for me to be able to be success in races.

as i embark on the journey to do my very first iron-distance race. it always feels scary to even try to think abt it. then again, for now, i can only stay true to my training and we'll see what happen in the fall.

God bless....

focus

2010-02-05T17:35:00.001-05:00

why in the world do we have this many focus training? ironman, oh yeach....i'm doing a full-ironman distance. yeach.....the tri training had gone on 2 different focus training. i was done with the run focus training and i thought it was pretty good and succesful, then it was the swim focus, which was alwmost done. and now, it is abt to move on to the bike focus. weather, so far hadot been very helpful in terms of doing training outside. it's been cold, snowy, and even temperature in the rigid teens, and sometimes even lower in the single digit.

what had i learn so far?

keeping the blood flow in your body throughout by increasing heart rate. especially on the bike, i guess i had not been doing hard training on the bike. then again, the bike focus is not here yet either.

the beard that i had grown so far, had definitely slow me down in the pool. so, racing with beard is definitely not for me. yes, i had grown some beard for a couple of weeks. not sure why. i think it started jst as a trial to following the trend in the office and some of my teammate, to finally, i actually felt the drag in the water while i was swimming. it felty like i needed extra effort in doing the stroke in the water that i actually was even much more tired after the swim than b4. then again, could it be caused by the amount of time i used throughout the day and nite for work, training and other stuffs that i had not take the time to actually really really rest?

we'll see.

today, i was able to take the time to get away from everything. from work, training, everything to actually just rest, relax. don't think i had this kind of time since the beginning of the year.

ultra 50k

2010-01-11T13:09:00.002-05:00

well....here we go, first big event of the year....organized by the team, well, more by teammates......thanx butter, mike, and erin.....the event consist of 10mile run, then 35min bike on the trainer, another 10mile run, another 35min bike and then another 10mile run.
as always for me, i didn't sleep well enough the nite before. not sure whether i was jst excited, or what; something to solve b4 the ironman race....
i woke up around 4.30am, got ready and head over to the 'gym'. got there and got things ready, especially the bike. try to relax a bit. talked with some teammates, ppl, and brothers that i hd not seen for a while...
i started running with the first group jst b4 7am. a bit dark, cold, temp was @the 20s, but not too bad. i ran with mike, dan, nev, and nancy....thanx group.......stop by around mile5, by nev's place. first loop done, it was fine, even tho there were some areas with smooth pavement and others with bunches of snow all over the place that made it hard to plant the feet. got back to the transition in abt 1hr46min. and, i thought to myself, nice, good pace. then, i got ready for the bike. rika put down my starting time on the board to mark the start and end of the first bike leg....thanx rika.....along the bike, i ate powerbar, banana, took my energy drink, and some gel. tlaked some other teammates that i had not talked beforehand. then i got ready for the second loop of the run. i used abt the same wardrobe as i used for the first loop. not sure whether it was a good idea, or not. i waited a bit for some teammates, since we were to run in 'buddy' system, which i thought it was a great idea, and it was....
on the second loop, i started running with mike and j. this time, we stopped in nev's place........thanx nev........i hd 2 'go' and i thought it was a good time to fuel up a bit. then, as we got to around mile7/8, when jeremy pull up with the car.....thanx jeremy.......i started to pull back, not sure whether i was not able to keep going, or i was jst feeling the cold and tiredness, but then from my last experience of marathon that i did before, this was abt the time where i usually slow down. then again, i just realized, maybe i shld'v change my clothes, oh well.....too late now....
i got back to the transition in abt 1hr51min. 6min slower, so i thought to myself...all rite....so far so good....then off to the second leg of the bike. this time, rebekkah put my time on and off the bike on the board.....thanx rebekkah.....as i pedaled for the second 35min, i pondered to myself....i would like to do the third loop, but not sure whether i could. a couple of my teammates encouraged me....thanx bob and storr.....so.....i decided to go for the third loop. this time, i changed all my clothing to dry ones.
by this time, there were five of us left to do the third loop. well.....basically, i jst realized i went from 3? to let's go....i started with mike, j, erin and butter.....we were accompanied by stephan....
in the beginning, i already pulling back. i really really did not want to go as fast as my teammates on this third loop, but then, mike started to run with me and paced me. at that time, i knew i hd 2 push myself. then again, it was good tho. if it weren't for running with him, i would b in the way back and well.....u never know, i could quit.....but i didn't.....i started talking with mike abt what's up with my body during that run. i told him i hd a knee pain, so he gv the little pink pill.....not sure what it was, then again, i took them and mike was telling me to shortcut the course, then i went to nev's place again........thanx again, nev........and again i had to 'go'. as soon as i got out of nev's place, i felt so good that i missed the turn on the course.....at that time, i realized and decided that i was going to finish this third loop without shortcutting the course. as i got close to mile4, rebekkah and rika came by in a car to check on the runners.........thanx, rika and rebekkah........4 the encouragement along the way.........that was really really helpful......
as i got closer to mile 5, not sure where he came from, mike caught up to me.....so, we started to run together for the next 3miles until he gave me another little pink pill......then i ran along all the way back to the 'gym'.....as some teammates ware waiting.......thanx, kerry, storrs, rebekkah,, and rika......and this time, the time was 1hr54min.....and i thought to myself......what was i thinking of doing the third loop....? oh well......
overall...........it was a great experience. this event actually taught me to push myself even more. it helped me to understand my limit even more. it made me to know and understand what i shld/shld not do in certain circumstances. it made me realized more abt myself......all in all.....for me, in my opinion, it was a success.....not jst success for me, but for the event, the organizers, the coaches (thanx mike and j), the training plan (thanx j) that lead to this event, the support, the course, everything......from beginning to the end......thank u all of my teammates in humanpoweredracing that made this a great experience.......God bless......all......

quotes for the year....for me....at least...

2010-01-02T15:33:00.004-05:00

here are some quotes that i found from the book i read. i think i'll b using these quotes for my mental preparation thruout the year....

no food without blood and sweat

in winter, the lazy man freezes to death

if a man works hard, the land will not be lazy

no one who can rise before dawn three hundred sixty days a year fails to make his family rich

yeach, 2010....

2010-01-02T14:53:00.002-05:00

well, happy new year everyone, here we are in 2010.

this morning, me and a couple teamates had some morning bike/run training session to kick off the new year. it was great. especially, being able to c the teamates that are committed to the team and the training. that was nice. being able to c them; trainin', jokin' around, n havin' a good time. for some, it seemed it was jst a beginning for them, for others, it was adjustment; but for me, it was proly the in between time. not really in between beginning and the middle, but it was more of in between excited and a little not sure. the team will b doin' another event next week, and yes, off course, i will dfntly take part. this will b the 2nd event in the season that we as a team are doing something and i'll b takin' part.

i will b participating in the 1st ever hpr team ultra event. what is it really? it will b a run/bike event as a conclusion of the run base training that had been done. it consist of 10-mile run, 40-min bike, 10-mile run, 40-min bike, yes, u read it rite; it is repeated, then as for me, i could b doin' another 10-mile run, after all that.

so, this morning training session was a preview and discussion of things that we shld plan for next week.

after hearing the discussion n thinking abt what i had done, that is why i felt i am in between. not too worry, jst anxious, excited, n a little scared. oh well....then again, i really think it will b good 4 me, especially relating to the goal that i have of what i wanted to achieve in 2010. all rite, i'll stop talkin' now, i'll dfntly talk abt the race l8r on. God bless....

looks ambitious

2009-12-29T14:15:00.002-05:00

so, today, later on, i'm supposed to talk to the coach abt races and camps for me to do in 2010. as i was planning myself. i started to come up with sort kind of races in many different places. if u c on the side bar, u would think, well.....even i thought i was ambitious, but then i realized and felt pretty sure i won't b doing all of the stuffs that i posted there. so, in the mean time, let's just called it the mock plan. as for the real and actual plan, stay tuned....i'll dfntly update that soon.
in line to the talk, i realized, all of our plan in life should b surrendered to GOD. it is always a must and good thing to do to have a plan for our life. about what things we want, about how we want the things to happen, about the things that we wanted to do, etc...but yet, all has to be done according to HIS plan. all shall be on HIS track, on HIS course. and that's why we surrender our plan to GOD. just as in Jer 29:11...God bless....

still running

2009-12-23T17:21:00.002-05:00

last nite, i was doing my training run around my neighborhood, in the cold nite with snow all around the site of the road, as i liked it, since i think the snow actually help my visibility to the road with its reflection of the street and house's lite, especially with the holiday season decoration that people around my area putting up. it is always nice. and oh..., wanted to thank them for keep it lit in the neighborhood.
the run itself was pretty good. i was able to control my pace and my effort. i was able to control my hr in terms of pace and effort that i wanted to put in. after a little while not running with snow surrounding, i guess i kind of forgot of how cold it could b, so with my short, obviously i felt a little bit chilly, but it's nice.
with nite run, sometimes, comes a little problem from motorists. some of them are pretty understanding. as soon as they see me from afar still running, they would swerve a little bit to the other side to avoid me, but others, they are so very very....well....not sure what's the word, but for me it is sometimes annoying.
there was one time an old lady actually stop in front of my running path with no car coming from the other side for her to just swerve a little bit the other side. she actually stop, horned and looked at me, as if i was some kind of fugitive on the run. she seemed trying to check me out, and i was like.....what's up with that? with my two hands and shoulder raised up just like a little kid trying to act like he doesn't know what's going on, since well...for me, i didn't know what's going on with the old lady. as for me, i jst kept on running.
then, there are also people that seemed they are actually purposely trying to either ran me off the street, or just scare me. as for me, i always make sure people in the car see me and please share the road. btw, this is not a rage, but just something that i thought i found it funny how people driving a car can be so ignorant to the surrounding. i mean, where did u get ur license? did u bribe someone? oh well.....i guess that's jst one of the few gimmicks, or experience that i hd to go thru as a runner, huh? yeach.....i know.....sounded weird....any thoughts?

training start and so far....

2009-12-20T13:31:00.005-05:00

i had start my training for the season for about a month, or so. so far, the weather here has been quite supportive of my training, thank GOD for that. the only not so good time so far is the wind and the day and nite when we had temperature in the teens here in the midwest. snow has not been much of a factor, at least so far for me, altho it had been showing for about 2 days, and it came on my rest day. prefect....hahhaha....

as of now, the training have brought me some issues. first, it was the shoe. i was trying different shoes to find an alternatives, but yet, somehow, my feet is just the special and weird kind. not many shoes can fit on my foot. i have been using the asics cumulus with 4e width, yes...u read it rite, 4e width. not sure where i got them. none of my siblings have that, but oh well....i guess that's one of my uniqueness... it is indeed both good and bad at the same time. the good thing, there's that one special shoe just for me, that it's definitely easy for me to get, but then again, it's not that good either that it means i don't have many choices. can't use other cool shoes that people are wearing, can't even try the one with the cool colorful type, but oh well....what can i do? i guess that's just the way GOD created me; unique and for me to be just like that as i am cool like that....

then, the alternatives shoes that i was trying to use for running caused pain problem on top of my foot. and surprisingly, that got fixed quite easily with just changing to my regularly fitted shoe, what's up with that? it's like the phrase, '...it's gotta b the shoes..' is indeed true...
next, i started to feel some pain on the parts of my leg and knee. and again, those were solved quite not so hard. basically, all i need is just rest, which sometimes, or maybe even most of the time, i forgot. i guess i tend to overworked. not sure whether it is my own character, or is it because of where i came from, or could it be because of my inheritance? hm....i must've had read too much. the book that i am reading rite now, definitely make me think like that, man....but i'm not going to talk about it here. i'll talk about it on the other blog. here, it should jst be about training.
so for now, training, i would say, have been going pretty decent. i think i am at where i would need to be so far in the beginning of the season, altho sometimes i think i should train more to be where i would like to be, but, then again, this is still way early in the season.
the goal of this early season run focus training was to maintain certain low hr, and i do know i achieve that, so....i guess i jst have to hang on....how do u measure and see the result? stay tuned....

long overdue...

2009-12-20T13:09:00.002-05:00

yeach yeach....finally i'm back on the blogger's block. after a long hiatus, not sure exactly why, but probably because i jst lost my appetite to read and write, i am now definitely back on the writing mode. at the same time, it could also be because i am so looking forward for the year 2010. there are so much things that i'd like to do, but in this blog, it will all about training and race.

so...after the end of the season for me, in which i participated in the pelotonia 180-mile bike ride, i decided to take a vacation from pretty much everything, including work and training. but now, i am back, especially since we are already in december and so close to the end of 2009. woohoo...and yes, i am still training with the human powered racing group. the team pretty much already strated training about a month or so. got a chance to meet new teammates, new people, and even some old faces that i actually quite missed. as for me, some things had been planned for the season, but not all of them set yet. altho, the team already got off to a good start. we already had our very own first race event; and yes, i did participate in the beer mile. crazy?! but yet, it was fun, and for me, it was the intention to participate. for me, it was one of those things that u can say, '...there's always a first time for everything...' and yet for me, it was indeed the last time. not that i regret doing that, but i was just not good at that. altho, i am still looking for the pix from that nite. when i got them i'll definitely post it here, in the mean time, stay tuned....

not good

2009-08-20T12:48:00.005-04:00

so, i did my last tri race for the season last sunday up in vermillion. race site area was great. but the result, well....can't say anything good about it.
at first, after the race, i thought to myself, man....that was terrible. as much as i think i did great in the swim, but somehow my legs wouldn't want to fire up on the first 5 mile of the bike. it was hard for me to pedal, but then after a while, it went ok and i was able to speed up and gain my speed back. the run, well.....let's just say, i would like to thank all the support from the community of vermillion for lending some water, cheering voice, and hand-clapping throughout the run course. without them, i would probably not finish the race. it was hot and at the same time, i think i was not properly hydrated the day before. my fault....
after having thought about what happened before and during the race, and also talked with my best-friend (yy), i realized, '...hm...maybe it was not too terrible, after all...' i was a little disappointed, since the result was not what i expect to be of myself, but yet, i'm pretty sure i live with it. definitely learned from it tho.
as hot as the day was and as hard as the course was, i do still thank GOD that i can finish the race. quite a few things happened along the way to some people, including a DNF for one of my teammates, because of asthma attack, on the swim. yeach....that was definitely not comforting. other than that, i thanked GOD for taking care of my teammates.

here's a pic from the race....

july race

2009-08-10T14:22:00.002-04:00

so, last month, i did a race in new york (upstate), called musselman. very interesting, scenic, wonderful place. it stages around the lake called seneca. pretty bid lake. surprising about the terrain was hilly; for the bike an run. but yet, it was the first race that i did where my speed on the bike was actually faster than what it is posted for cars.....
i did the race with a couple of my teammates, well....actually, only four of us. but still, it was fun and always encouraging to do races when u can see familiar faces along the course.
in terms of the results, i was pretty happy. i finished faster than what i wanted to. even more surprising and rewarding, i did that in a challenging and tough course. altho, to be honest, weather-wise, it helped. so, for all that, i thank GOD.

below are some of the race pix...enjoy....

omg...

2009-08-10T14:20:00.000-04:00

i finally can write again. after a long while, i was stuck in the office doing the work that i was given to, now i am able to write something and hopefully tell stories of what had happen to me for almost the past 2 weeks.
out of all the busyness at work, i always thank GOD that I am still given the time and opportunity to train and race. so, after the deer creek race that i did (as u can see from the pix from the last previous post), a lot of things had happened and changed. i had to re-write a couple of my race plan. nothing major. at the same time, the training plan does not change tho.
so, after deer creek, training had been going well. i was able to do my speed training, endurance training, hills training, time-trial training, wind training, rain training, and off course, heat training. along the way, i felt good, no setbacks, no injuries. basically, everything went as well as i had hoped for. out of all the hectic in the office, in my personal life, my spiritual life, and others that i may not be able to think of now, i truly thank GOD that i was given the time and opportunity to get good rest, good nutrition, good support, nice time management, that i actually felt i am amazed that i was able to do all that.
GOD has been very very merciful and favorable to me in every aspects of my life. He has given me the ability, time, opportunity, space, everything for me to absorb and do all that things that i wanted and need to do.

deer creek pix

2009-06-11T14:18:00.006-04:00

after a while...

2009-06-11T14:18:00.001-04:00

As for training, I think it is going well. Another race in the book. I jst did the deer creek Olympic distance this past weekend. Felt good overall. I do know I went out hard. Because I couldn’t even move in the afternoon after I got back from the race. I stayed at home and just laying in the couch.
Biked pretty fast, that I think I was reaching 25mph at one stretch of a road, and I wasn’t panting. The run was great, even my coach said that my running form is great.
As much as I have not trained with the team, I managed to do all the training myself. I am still able to find time to swim, bike, and run; out of all the busyness and hectic things that I’m doing. And, thanx to my coach for affirming that. At least, I’m not wasting anything; and doing things that I wanted to see result on.

gct'09

2009-05-09T23:13:00.001-04:00

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

2009-05-08T06:12:00.001-04:00

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....

2009-05-04T22:14:00.000-04:00

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

2009-05-04T14:03:00.000-04:00

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.....

2009-05-04T01:16:00.000-04:00

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.

surprise progress

2009-04-10T15:33:00.000-04:00

Wow, ok, so after about almost 2 months since i last posted stuffs in here; a lot had happened during training. And surprisingly, I was able to do some races (running). As for training, things have been going ok. I can still do my training pretty fairly. Although not much with the team, but I managed to put in time for those swim, bike and run. I did train with the team tho about 2 weeks ago. Biking and running. Although there was an unpleasant event, but yet, still the team managed to carry on with the training. And it turns out the event was not as bad as I thought it was going to be.
As for races; i managed to do two running races. One is a 4-miler and the other is a half marathon. Both came out with a surprising result. I did the 4-miler in 31:13. that means I ran at abt a 7:48 pace average, in which I didn’t even know that I could run that fast. So, yes, that was great. Then, last week, I ran a half marathon. And the result was 1:50:20. that, too, was a surprising result. I did not really have any target goal per say, in terms of finishing time. Although I did want to finish under 2hr. a 1:59:00 would definitely make me quit happy, but after knowing the result, I felt even better and happier. With that result, that means I ran an 8:25 pace. That is also an unexpected. Really really did not know that I could run that fast, especially in a half marathon race. Although my running coach (teammate j) predicted that I would finish around that time. Still, for me, that is definitely keeps me on track in my training. and, and, guess what? On top of that, i found out yesterday that I was actually the top ten in my age group. That is definitely something for me. Maybe not for some of you guys/girls…
The reflexion?
Well…for a while, I never thought I could be this better in terms of my athletic performance. I do know I am still not the best, or fastest. But yet, i and I think some people around me could see and notice the improvement that is happening within me. And, in terms of the training with the team, I felt like i’m one of the guys that has become the benchmark of performance. I felt some teammates started to think that they can beat me; they want to beat me; they want to be faster than me. And, I think that’s ok. I think I accept that challenge. I accept that role and responsibility. Because that has also become one of my drives of motivations. The motivation to keep going and growing. To still strive for the better me. Better performance; better insight, better understanding, better ways to encourage people around me.
I remember in the beginning of the year, I realized that I am walking into the unknowns. Well…, guess what? This is it. This is one of the unknowns. I had never been in this position before. God definitely challenges me thru all these; thru the event that I’m in, thru the people that are around me; and thru things that I never thought I would be doing. Thank God for everything and for always being with me.

feel better

2009-02-26T10:30:00.001-05:00

this week training had been going pretty ok. With all the busyness that I have at work, I thanked GOD that I can still be given the opportunity to do my training workout. altho, all of them during the week, I ended up doing it by myself, not with the team at all. rite now, I can only train with the team on the weekend, oh well….as much as I want to train with them, but time just not possible at all…..so the training workout that I did are mostly either in the early morning, or late at nite. And, as of now, I think so far so good. I am able to feel my improvement in some ways. for instance, last tuesday nite, on the swim workout, I actually felt faster that I was before and I was able to sustain the swim form and some of the swim speed in between sets with out much rest. then, yesterday on the run, I was also able to sustain the faster pace than I used to be last year.
and oh, btw, jst as a side note, yesterday was the first time I went home around 6-ish. guess what? I felt I went home early. it was the first time in a long time that when I went home from work, the sun was still quite shining; not much, but still, it’s just nice. as soon as I got home, I went for a run, since it was about high 40’s to low 50’s degrees fahrenheit. and, it was also the first time that I did my afternoon run that the sky was still lit up and I could still see clearly surrounding me with looking up to the sky and guess what? It was not dark. Oh yeach…..thank GOD….

hard training

2009-02-15T22:29:00.000-05:00

this past weekend, i had a hard training with the team. well, at least, it was the hardest ever yet for this year/season. I had to do the brick training. basically, it’s bike/run training. so, here is how it goes; first, I started with bike for about an hour, then a run for 15min, and then repeat that again. And, in closing, I biked again for about an hour. I guess the reason that being hard is because it was the first time for this year that I had to do that, and plus it was done is cold winter. Not bitter cold tho, thank God. also, having a host that allowed the team to do the train in the garage does help a lot. thanx, host.
The other part being that as hard is that the weekend was a valentine’s day weekend, oh my goodness. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not like I have better things to do in the morning rather than the training, but oh well….u gotta do what u gotta do…
In addition to all that one day training, the next day, I still have to do the run workout, which consisted of hill zipper workout. Oh my goodness…..people could definitely think that I’m indeed kind of out of my mind. I was already kind of tired from the workout the day before, so at the run workout, which I was supposed to do hillz zipper workout; I could only do once. I was out of ‘gas’. Even after the workout, I felt quite bad that as soon as I got home, I took a shower and I took two naps. Yes, two naps. I woke up in between just to take tylenol.
altho all in all, I think it was a ‘good’ workout. And for now, let’s just leave it at that. don’t want to say anything more than that, because if I kept on thinking about it, I could be saying all the negative things about that training. oh well…………

skinny

2009-02-06T10:53:00.002-05:00

Ok, this morning, another of my friendz called me skinny. This is already the fifth time that somebody called me skinny. Wazzup with that? have I really become skinny. It used to be the word that I never thought people would call me. for the longest time people used to call me fatboy, even members of my family; that I have become accustomed to it that if my family called me by my actual name, that would sound really really weird. But, oh well….anyways, the truth is, yes, I did lose a few more lbs since a few months back. Was it something that planned? Don’t think so, then again, my training and my diet probably caused that. at the same time, one of my friendz gave an encouragement word. She was saying that looks like I’m really really bringing it on for this upcoming year. am i? probably. I wanted to do a better race compare to last year. how better? That is what I’m not sure.
In some ways, I do feel better in overall, in terms of running and swimming. can’t say much about the biking, since I had not biked on the road yet. training has been tweaked a little bit. I changed some training habits that I did in the past. And, I do feel good. So far, so good. We’ll see. With goals that I have for this year, some people said I’m quite optimistic, others think is possible, or maybe even manageable. One person think it’s exciting, which for me, I think it is. I am indeed very very exciting for this year. not just in terms of racing performance, but also other stuffs in life.

moonlit run

2009-02-06T10:53:00.001-05:00

last nite I did my usual nite run. It was pretty cold. But it’s a good thing I do have the gears for it. I think the temperature was around 19s fahrenheit. Not too bad, quite bearable. Some spots on the road were still filled with slick ice patch, but at most of it, I could already see the bare asphalt.
something different about the run last nite. After a while, I never really thought about this, but surprisingly there was a bright moon lite last nite. I was not running in the dark last nite. I can actually look at the roads pretty clearly and the one thing that I like the most; I can see my shadow on the ground during my run last nite. That was really great. never had that happened before to me during a nite run. Usually, I’ll be looking for light post, street light and nearby house light for my nite run, but last nite, no, don’t need to.
Things and times like that made me realize about the things that I have surroundings me that sometimes I take it for granted. But then, u realized it while u’r in the midst of ‘dark’. The moonlit that was shine with the help of the sun made me realized that GOD is always there with us wherever we are and whatever it is that we are doing. He is always there to watch over u, to shine on u and for u. to give lamp to ur feet and the light unto ur path. Just like this verse -> Ps 119:105 - Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.

2009 words

2009-01-31T14:31:00.000-05:00

these are the words that i found in the beginning of 2009 that i felt really really hit me. really really give me a revelation for this year. this one, i heard it about a couple of weeks ago and i think this applies to me in so many ways. for training, for races, for work, and for everyday life in general.

faith is trust in Christ sufficient to provoke obedience to Christ and to receive benefits

what does having faith do?

faith battles temptation

dawn run…

2009-01-08T14:01:00.002-05:00

yesterday i was deciding whether i wanted to run after work or not. i wasn’t so sure. then, as i got home, the wind and snow picked up, so i decided to just run the next day. i had thought about running in the morning, since I was planning to have a meeting in the afternoon. then, the next morning, not sure why and how, i was awake at 4am. cannot believe it and yet, cannot get back to sleep; so, i looked out the window. still dark, saw a little drifting snow with no wind, no cars passing by, check my iphone for temperature and it showed 26 degree fahrenheit.

i decided to run.

man….., was i wrong? it was indeed cold, and the effect of the wind that i didn’t hear and/or see started to pick up and i can definitely feel it going to certain direction. So i thought, oh well….i’m out already….
surprisingly, the roads were not too bad; yes, there were a couple of slick spots, but i was able to run smoothly as normal. even, at some point, i was able to pick up my speed, especially when there was car passing by. i was pretty sure everybody that was in the car driving pass me, thought, ‘…this guy must be crazy…’ oh well… i ended up running for a little over an hour. good workout and ready to head out to work and meetings…

1st training day 1, 2009

2009-01-07T13:57:00.005-05:00

happy new year, today marks the first day I blog on the training blog for 2009. yesterday, I started my official training for the season. boy…, was that an awakening…?! the training day that I thought was going to be an easy day of training tuned into a definite work load training. it started with the 10mile bike test on the computrainer, which i guess i kind of voluntarily do. it was pretty hard; considering i had to reach certain heart rate and certain cadence. then, i had to maintain that for a period of time. in comparison to my other teammates that was in the gym, their workout is definitely lighter than mine. then again, i guess i kind of ‘paying’ for what i did and did not do during the first 3-4 workout days with the team.

it was pretty nice to be back training with teammates. see a couple of new faces and of course, old faces always there. this year’s team is definitely different. a lot of new people. a lot of unknown. in a way, i really think it’s great. i, personally, definitely excited for this season. a couple of new goals. opportunities to train with pretty much a totally different group of people.

unknown?! for me, somehow this year had started with that. quite a few things that i am unknown. it’s not that i don’t know what to do, or what i want to do, but maybe it’s just the result. then again, in a way, i actually feel this year, GOD definitely wants to teach me something new in relation to the realm of the unknown. on the other hand, i also felt that GOD wants me to fully committed to HIM. to believe and trust HIM even more, to really really walk by faith in HIM and with HIM. hm….interesting…..i just now thought about that…

the bike training was followed by swim training. i wasn’t so sure why i swam yesterday, but somehow, i just felt i didn’t want to fall behind too far from my teammates, that i decided to do some cool down swimming. i did about 40min of swim. not too bad. i always enjoy swimming. it is one of the reasons i’m doing tri. saw a couple of my teammates in the pool and i was able to do some drills.

The first day ended with a bowl of pasta and rest.

After having been talked to a couple of my teammates, here are the list of camps and races that as of now i’ll be doing;

columbus camp
portsmouth camp

cap city half
gct
triple-t

others are still being decided…

out season

2008-12-12T09:08:00.003-05:00

it's definitely been a while since the last time i talked about anything. race, training, etc. that's why people in the sport call it the off-season and/or the out season. for some, it become the season to eat a lot. to eat anything that u had not been able to eat, and also to eat whatever that u won't be eating in the next few months. hahahha....

for me, it has become the season filled with a bunch of stuffs that i suddenly have to take care; especially work. but, in between all of it, thank GOD that i was able to do some minor training. surprisingly, all three of them. after the marathon last october, i thought i was just going to relax and get fat. but, u know what? that actually has not happened. it turned out since the beginning of november, this out-season has become a season of thinking and wondering. and, out of all that thinking, i came across a quote that i think i have set myself doing. the quote is, ' get fast, while your competition get fat '

as i said earlier, i thought i was gonna get fat, oh well....change of plan, let's get fast. so far, i think and i hope i'm on track to just not get fat. other than that, we'll see what happen in the near future.

interesting writings and quotes...from others...

2008-10-28T16:23:00.006-04:00

runner’s prayer

Lord, please be there with me each time I go to run, and help me always finish the things I have begun; running and life’s goals seem to go hand-in-hand; smoothing out one’s troubles as the sea smooth the sand; with Your true guidance, Lord, and unconditional love; there is no trouble before me that I cannot rise above; with pounding feet and strung beating heart, I thank You, Lord, for this healing art

These quotes below I picked up are from one of my (coach j) friends’ wife’s page. As soon as I read the quote, it struck me so deeply, that I really want to show it in the blog. Here they are;

‘if u want something u hv never had b4, u hv 2 b willing 2 do something u hv never done b4’

‘if what u did yesterday looks good, then u haven’t done much today’

Hopefully, she’s ok with this. I’ll send this to the couple too tho later on. Oh…just a little background about her; her name is pj and she was featured in an article in the paper last Thursday (10/23/08). Also, as from the discussion we had last time in the ‘1st annual TRAS potluck’, hopefully, she is running for mayor.
Anyways, those two quotes, especially the second one, really made me think about what I had done yesterday, last week, last month, or even last year compare to what I’m doing today, and even start thinking about tomorrow and even next year.

first

2008-10-23T08:51:00.001-04:00

A few days ago, after I posted the latest race blog, one of my friends pointed out something. I realized that after all these times, I still have a bunch stuffs that I just did the first time. And, actually, there are even more stuffs that I have never done before that I sure like to do. Apparently, some of these stuffs are happening in this year (2008). U know after a while, having been done so many things in life, u started thinking, ‘yeah, I’ve done that; been there, done that; etc…’ But after having someone said something about certain things made u realized that, ‘wow….after all these times, I still have so much opportunity to do these and those….’ And, for me, I thank GOD that HE gave me that opportunities and abilities to do all these.

photos

2008-10-22T15:14:00.003-04:00

here are some pix from columbus marathon 2008

one of the good recent marathon photos that i can find

not sure whether i was yelling for someone, something, or maybe i was whispering, or maybe i was tired and sleepy?!

first 26.2 journey

2008-10-20T14:09:00.001-04:00

Finally, race day is here. I’ve been looking forward to this race for a while. After all the training that I did, so here it is. The week started with some easy run, but somehow I felt a bit faster on the run. Not sure why, but I definitely felt good about my run.
Then, on the day before the race, as always, I can’t sleep. I always plan to sleep at least 8-9 hours, but ended up sleeping for like maybe 5-6 hours. This is always happen on the night before any race. Not sure whether I was afraid, or maybe it was just anxiety. I know I would be out for about 4 hours and I did races more than 4 hours, then again maybe it’s just my head that cannot stop thinking about the race tomorrow. Thinking about what might and could have happened, or maybe even I was thinking about the pain that I had in training would come up again. But oh well, I guess I’ll just have to deal with it.
I woke up as the alarm went off at around 5am. So, I said to myself, ‘all rite time to get up and here it is.’ I got up, took a hot shower, since it was like 15 degree celsius, even in my room. Then, ate some breakfast (bagel with peanut butter and honey, cereal, and cup of coffee) while watching the ironman 2005 race on dvd (one of my inspirations for the race). After all that, I got ready, making sure I got everything that I need for the race in the bag.
I got to the race parking spot around 6.30am. I drank some Gatorade endurance, packed my fuel belt with all the nutrition that I need, get all my race gear ready and as I looked at the watch, it’s almost 7 already, so I do my run warm up to the race start. As soon as I got out of the car, I felt the cold weather, but yet I thought to myself, ‘hmm….this isn’t so bad.’ When I got there, off course there was a whole crowd, so I thought, ‘ all rite, time to line up for the bathroom for now, while waiting for my friends.’ As my watch showed 7.15am while waiting for my friend that never showed up, I decided to just go make my way to the start line. And, before I knew it, the race is starting.
As the race start, I saw the mayor on left side of the start line. I didn’t see a single person that I knew, so I thought, ‘oh well, ok then, time to run.’ I started the race in the pace that I wanted, I felt pretty good. At the first aid station, I took the advice of my running coach j to just take some water. Then, I think I must have not seen the first mile marker, because after looking to my watch, then looked up, I saw the second mile marker and my watch showed 20min. So, I thought to myself, ‘great….perfect….’ And, oh…I also saw the governor about this time. After I had ran for about 5 mile (which is around bexley area), I started thinking about nutrition and my body temperature. So, at mile 6 (after passing the capital u), I decided to take a gel (thanx to coach j’s suggestion), gatorade, water, took of my long sleeve shirt, and threw it on the street, as I planned from the beginning. As I got to mile 8 (back to downtown area), I realized that I was ahead of my regular pace and also, a little bit a head of the 4.30 pace group. So I said to myself, ‘wow, this is great, just as I planned.’ Then, at mile 11 (around the edge of german village), I started to see some people that I know. I picked up troy and talked to him for a few seconds, and then kept on running. At around mile 12 (which is in the main area of downtown), I saw mags and smith. And, before I knew it, I was mile 13 (passing the nationwide) and I started thinking about nutrition again and I decided to take another gel at mile 14 (around short north area). Then, a short time later I saw a couple people that I thought I knew. And I was right, it was cal and scott on the bike.
After I got to mile 16 (inside osu campus), my body started to react on all the stuffs that I had put in, so it told me to go to pit stop, so I did. After this time, the 4.30 pace group passed me, since I slowed down a bit to drink along the aid station. I did not feel down at all, since all these were part of my plan; to be ahead of the group as much as I can, so that I knew when they picked me up, I would not finish worst that I thought I would. Then, I kept on running until about mile 19 (at the edge of upper arlington) as I saw another face that I recognized, it turned out to be rob (one of my co-workers). Somewhere between mile 20 and 22, I started to think about nutrition again, so I decided to take another gel. And, from a far, I saw another familiar face, it turned out to be ally. As I got to mile 22 (around grandview area), I checked on my watch, I realized by that time, I was actually running faster than when I was at mile 14. I think it was the crowd on the streets that cheering for us (the runner) that kept me upbeat and definitely help my spirit up. Or, maybe it was the gel that I took earlier, hmm…. Regardless, definitely a big thanx to all the cheer and support sections. Then, just before mile 23, I saw a familiar face again. I saw troy in front of his place.
When I got to mile 24 (at the edge of between grandview heights and victorian village), I looked on my watch again and it showed 4.07. Then, I said to myself, ‘all rite, all I got to do is just ran for about another 20 min more.’ Then, at mile 25 (inside victorian village), I saw faces that I knew. It turned out to be jeremy and jen. Then, at the last aid station, I took in gatorade and water. Then at that time I realized I was about to finish my first ever marathon in my life.
As I got closer to the finish line, seeing all that many people on the side of the streets cheering and just waiting for their friends and family members to finish, I heard the announcer trying to pronounce my last name, so I yelled, ‘just say my first name.’
All in all, it was great and I felt great. The pain that I had during training was not even a factor at all. i was targeting to finish around 4.45 and ended up finishing in 4:29.14. YEAH.....nice.... I’m glad that the off season is here, but that doesn’t mean I’m glad all this over. I’m glad that this is actually a beginning for me. A beginning for me to build from for my next years’ quest of ironman races. A lot had happened this 2008 season. A lot of fun, a lot of fears, a lot of tears, a lot of experiments, a lot of pain, a lot of experiences, and a lot of everything. I just hope all these can be an inspiration for someone anywhere that read these. An inspiration, not about doing the same thing as what I’m doing, but an inspiration to never give up, to keep going, to do something different, to explore, to never be afraid, to never be negative, to never say cannot, because there has got to be a way to do everything under the sun as GOD intended.
With these, I wanted to thank GOD first of all for giving me the abilities, hopes, dreams, blessings, etc. to do all these. I also wanted to thank all my loved ones that are in my home country (indo). Thanx to all my friends (from church, work, etc.), teammates of human powered racing, coaches, especially coach j that put the assurance within me that I can do this 26.2mile. Thanx also to all the volunteers at the expo and throughout the course of the marathon, the pacer, the person that put on the medal around my neck, to the ones that took pictures, and to the bands that were playing throughout the course.

Head, body, mind, soul, spirit, running, dry air…

2008-09-26T11:32:00.001-04:00

As I am still continuing on my training for the marathon, it’s about three weeks left. So far, I felt ok. I felt my training had gone pretty good and well. Some are as expected, others not so, yet surprising. And, some are even great surprises. Some stuffs that I realized and fuel me to keep going and striving for the better, in terms of training, racing and especially life.
This week is supposed to be the biggest week of my marathon training, in terms of mileage that I have to cover. And, yesterday was probably the longest mid-week run that I did for this year. On the run out of the park, I felt good. I was able to keep the pace that I wanted to start the run, and that would probably be the pace that I will be doing in the race. Along the run, I met one my teammates. I was running all the way to the university. Man… that was packed. A lot more students than I usually run into. None of them I know tho.
The, it was time for me to turned around to go back to the park; I started to felt the dry air. My lips started to not feeling comfortable at all, which is for me, it’s a sign of ‘I need some liquid/water/orange juice, or any kind of hydration’. But in this case, obviously, I did not bring any hydration with me, because I never bring any on my mid week run. My philosophy has always been to bring hydration during weekend long run. At about half way for me to get to the park, I started feeling a little bit weak, but I know I can still run all the way back to the park. But then, by about 1.5 to two miles from the park, I realized my mind is playing ‘tricks’ in my head to my body. Somehow I felt that my body is saying, ‘please stop, just walk. Didn’t u feel the pain in ur body, leg and feet?’ But my head and myself kept saying, ‘come on, let’s go, u can do this. U can keep running.’ To my surprise, I realized at the time being, my pace was actually faster than I thought I was in. The pace was faster than my first mile. The pace is still even faster than the mid mile that I was in.
I got to the park just as the dark was about to set in. There were still people running around the park, probably enjoying the weather, although not sure how u can enjoy the dry air. Maybe it was the not so cold nite yet. Oh well… can really understand people’s mind tho.
When I got home, I started thinking about the so many things that happen on my run. I realized even more about the importance of having ur spirit, mind, soul, and body in one set. Many times, we, as human beings, have our spirit, head, mind, and body in different settings. For instance, our body may be at work, but our mind is thinking about some vacation spot. Then, our spirit is thinking about something else. I guess that’s why people like to say to one another, ‘focus, man… focus…’, ‘keep ur head in the game…’ Even on the run, ur body, leg, and feet could be actually running, but ur mind could be thinking about something else. U could be thinking about what u want to do after the run, what u want to eat afterwards. Especially with the surroundings that u r in, u could be distracted by a passer by, by a cute chick that u just passed, by a smell of some bbq, or maybe even a smell of sludge, hahhaaha…..j/k, but yet it is possible. And, also a dry air did not really help either.
All rite, enough for the day. I’ll try to continue on after another ‘long’ run on Saturday.

my ipod list nowadays... (trust me, it will always change forever...)

2008-09-24T16:11:00.001-04:00

The Afters – theafters.com
Aly & AJ – alyandaj.com
Anberlin – anberlin.com
Audio Adrenaline – audio.com
Avril Lavigne – avrillavigne.com
Ayiesha Woods – myspace.com/ayieshawoods
The Black Eyed Peas – blackeyedpeas.com
Bon Jovi – bonjovi.com
The Bravery – the bravery.com
Chris Taylor – myspace.com/christaylorbacnd
Chris Tomlin – christomlin.com
David Crowder band – davidcrowderband.com
DC Talk – dctalk.com
Delirious? – delirious.co.uk
Demon Hunter – demonhunter.net
Evanescence – evanescence.com
Falling Up – fallingup777.com
Fergie – fergie.blackeyedpeas.com
Fireflight – fireflightrock.com
Flyleaf – flyleafmusic.com
The Fray – the fray.net
Gwen Stefani – gwenstefani.com
Ha-ash – myspace.com/haash
Hillsong – hillsong.com/music
Jaci Velasquez – jacivelasquez.com
Jars of Clay – jarsofclay.com
Jay chou – jay-chou.net
Kanye West – kanyeuniversecity.com
Karmina – karmina.com
Katy Perry – katyperry.com
Krystal Meyers – krystalmeyers.com
Larue -
Lenka – myspace.com/lenkamusic
Linkin Park – linkinpark.com
Jay-Z – rocafella.com
Liz Phair – lizphair.com
Mark Schultz – markschultzmusic.com
Maroon5 – maroon5.com
Michelle Branch – michellebranch.com
Natasha Bedingfield – natashabedingfieldusa.com
Nelly Furtado – nellyfurtado.com
Newsboys – newsboys.com
One Republic – onerepublic.net
POD – payableondeath.com
Philmont -
Pillar – pillarmusic.com
Relient K – relientk.com
Rihanna – rihannanow.com
S.H.E – en.wikipedia.org/wiki/s.h.e
Sanctus Real – sanctusreal.com
Skillet – skillet.com
Snow Patrol – snowpatrol.amrecords.com
Stellar Kart – stellarkart.com
Stephanie Smith – stephaniesmithmusic.com
Steven Curtis Chapman – stevencurtischapman.com
Superchick – myspace.com/superchick
Thousand Foot Krutch – thousandfootkrutch.com
Toby Mac – tobymac.com
The Veronicas – theveronicas.com
Zoegirl – myspace.com/zoegirlonline

greater

2008-09-24T13:15:00.000-04:00

This might be one of those times where I actually get to reflect about certain things in my life based on songs that I heard. It’s either from the radio, ipod, or something that I just download. After having been thinking about things that I had done, that I am doing, that I’m going to do, right now I’m quite looking forward to go ‘home’ again. Being able to see my family, especially the newest member of the family; that is quite exciting. Yes, I finally will be able to see my nephew (my bro’s son, my parent’s first grandchild, even the first grandchild in the family).
Back then, for me, family was not that big of deal for me. Especially after having not seeing them for about ten years (yes, 10 years), I was actually feeling just ok. But then, after a while and seeing them again, I realized family is important. Family is the part of your life that is always behind u. Always backs u up. Even tho, there are times that u might think that they’re not backing u up, they’re still there to help u, to encourage u.
Sometimes, I think, is it because of time? Is it age? Is it because u grew in it? But, for me, I actually grow out of it. I lived away from my family for about ten years. Ten years we were apart, but yet, I think nowadays I’m actually closer to them than before.
I always have a perspective on life as life is amazing. Life is wonderful. Life is great. And, I really do thank GOD for that. I had done and still am doing things that I think for some people I’m quite ‘out’ of my mind. And, so far, I actually enjoy it. I am having fun. I never regret the things that I had done. And, all of them are things that I wanted to do. Not something that somebody told me to do, in which I’m pretty sure I do like to do things based on the things that I know whether I can, or cannot do, without being told by anybody.
As nowadays, I’m training for my first ever marathon. There have been things that happened to me and quite a bit of things that I found more about my self. With it off course, my quest for the ironman race continues. So, during these times, I met and talked to many different kind of people. Some are weird, some are indeed interesting, some are wonderful, some are not so wonderful, some are friendly, and others are just, as I always said, I think they are being just the way they are. After having been thinking about many of those things, I realized that those people are being put in my pathway that lead to something, or to certain point. So, at this point, what is the most important that I realized? I realized that ‘greater things have yet to come, and still, greater things are to be done in my life.’ It’s either by me, or by somebody else, but out of all that, GOD is always the ONE that will always be there with me.
Yesterday, I ran in a pathway of a park that I never been to. As I was running along the path and not really realizing exactly where I am (this reminds me to google it now so that I know next time where I am), I ended up in the area that is quite unfamiliar to me. The path that I was running felt like it’s never end. It kept going and going and going. At the same time, I kept on following the path. Every time I wanted to turn around, my mind kept saying, keep going; oh, just another corner; wouldn’t u like to find out what’s on that corner; etc. I felt like my mind play tricks on me. Indeed, I followed the path to the end of it. At that end, there wasn’t much to see. Not much of a view. But, I felt ok. I felt like I reached one point. I felt like I just accomplished something. I ran along the new path, new area, new territory. As one person that passed me along the path was saying, ‘ u’r almost there’. Where I was and where was I heading to? I didn’t know where I was, I didn’t know where the end of the path will lead me to. Is that life? Most of the time, u don’t know where u r and u don’t know where u’r going. But, in front of u, there is a pathway. There’s a pavement that will lead u somewhere. Lead u to something new, each corner gave u different view, each corner lead u to something. It could be something good, but it can also lead u to something that is not so good. But, regardless of the views, the corners, the surroundings, the pathway, the pavement is there. It was there. It was there, waiting for u to walk on, to be run on. Do u want to take the path? Do u dare to take the path?
That is life. There is always a path in front u. It could be a good one, or it could be a great one, but it could also be a not so good path. But, regardless of the kind of path that u r in, there is always someone that will be there for u; that will be by ur side. And, that path would give u greater ‘things’.
‘Ten years’ was the ‘path’ that I chose back then to be apart from my family. What does that lead me to? Many different kinds of ‘things’. And, today I can say that I’m glad that I walk along that path, because I think right now I’m not only walking along the path that follows the previous path, but I can sort of ‘running’ along this new path. God bless…

another 70.3 more journey

2008-08-05T13:30:00.002-04:00

it was a weird and fun race to remember.
the day started at around 4am for me. i woke up as my alarm went off. took a quick shower and prepare the coffee, then i grab all my stuffs before i had breakfast. i head out around 5am to the jean klock park. park the car by the railroad and the water tower of st. joseph and had to take the shuttle to the race site. as i got to the transition area, i looked around for people that i know and found no one, so i went ahead to my bike area and set up my transition. it's always a good thing to get to the transition area early, as it allowed me to arrange all my stuffs in a way that i wanted to.
after i was done with all that, i go around the transition area to find people that i know and i found j and dan. talked to them for a little bit then re-check my transition area and head out to the swim course. as i walked along the shore about 3/4 of the way, i started seeing people turn around heading back to the transition area. then, one person said the swim is cancelled; as i found out after the race that the tv news was saying the waves is about 5ft. and so i thought, 'oh well.....' so i head back to the transition area as i knew i need to get ready for a short run, since now it will be a duathlon, instead of a triathlon; in which i don't really like....
after getting ready for the first run leg of the race, i thought to myself, well, i guess it won't be a 70.3 race then, it be come a 71.2 race.
the first run leg started the same way as the swim leg, as all the athletes go by waves. and i was in wave 13. as i waited for my wave, i saw a couple of other athlete went pass me and 2 of them were the pros, which are chris legh and gina kehr. looks pretty cool and nice. when it came to my turn, i started to run pretty easy, not too fast, but not too slow. so i thought to myself, 'well....this isn't so bad.' until about half way to the run, i felt like, 'man.....i need to go to the bathroom for number 1.' so, as i got to transition, i went straight to the bathroom, then quickly looked at my watch. it showed about 17mins, so i thought, 'hm...that wasn't so bad.'
so, i got to my bike and started to walk to the bike start line.
on the bike, i felt ok in the beginning. as i pedal thru the fist half of the bike leg along the M63 highway, i thought to myself, 'man....this area have a lot of berries farm. almost every side of the streets, there are signs of fresh berries all over the place.' i passed thru the first aid station as i was still fueling with the stuffs that i had on me. i sipped some powerbar drinks and about half way i took some powerbar fruit smoothie bar ('hm.....my favorite bike food'). as i get to the next aid station, i threw away my empty fuelbelt bottle (as i planned to) and took in the gatorade endurance from a girl (thanx) in the aid station. i continued on pedaling along the course. along the way, i saw a couple of road signs as i was trying to find out where i was. i knew i was in the south haven area, since i saw an ambulance on the side of the road with a sign said, 'south haven area ambulance'. then i got to a town called bangor. and then, finally i realized i was heading back to the park as i noticed the area was started to be familiar again. at the last aid station, i yelled for some water and took some water from another girl (thanx). i pour the water all over my body, head and mouth to just keep me not dried. as i got closer to the park, this one car just pulled in front of me and weaving around in front of my way. and suddenly the car stopped right in front of me, so i yelled and i think i yelled pretty loud because one of the officials on the road was pointing at me and said to me to relax. so i was able to go around the car and kept going to get back to the transition area. as i got to transition, i looked at my watch again and it showed 2:41, so i said to myself, 'oh wow.....that was great......'
so i got to transition, chance my bike shoes to the run shoes again and this time i don't need to go to the bathroom.
as i ran out of the transition area, i saw j on the side of the road with street clothes and i thought, 'oh my goodness.....u hv got to be kidding me that he's already done with the race.' it turned out he said he had a bike problem, so he didn't finish the race, so i said to him, at least u'r ok and we'll talk later. and, i continue with my run. in the beginning, i felt good. i felt exactly the opposite as i felt in gulf coast on the last run leg, so i said to myself, all rite, let's get to this. as i got to the first turn, i saw a familiar place. and i said, 'wait...wasn't i here yesterday and yes i was right it was a burger place called north shore inn. i visited the area with the family that i stayed in. so i continue on running. until about mile 5, then suddenly i felt something that i had never felt in a race. i was hungry, i was actually quite hungry in the middle of the run. i cannot believe it either. i knew i have 3 powerbar gel on my pocket, so i reached for those and took 2 of them. and a girl just running on my side suddenly said, 'hm....lunch.....' so i said, 'yep...and that was nice....' and i offer to her the other gel and she took it. after a short talk, i leave her enjoying the gel and trying to get to the another aid station as i realized those 2 gels that i took would not be enough for me. as i got the aid station, i took pretty much everything that they offer. i took a banana, a powerbar, 2 powerbar gel, water, ice, gatorade and more water. and i almost ate 'em all, but i didn't. i left the gels and half of the bar in my pockets. but u know the weird thing about that feeling was? as hungry as i was, i knew i was able to finish the race. so, i continued with my run and i felt great. as i kept on running, this one guy behind me was saying, 'hm....i think i know this guy...' as i heard the voice, i knew that was bill and i knew he was on his 2nd lap, so we talked briefly and kept running. as i got to the mile 6 aid station along the M63 highway, i took some gatorade and water. as i was drinking, one of the ladies in the aid station said, 'u know what.....? we are in the triathlon wet t-shirt contest....' so, i burst into laugh and spit all the stuffs that i just put in my mouth on the road.....and i said to her, '.....that was definitely a good one...' as i kept on running for the 2nd lap, i thought to myself of the targets, goals, and things that i wanted to do during the race. and, i realized i was doing it. then i got to the same aid station again that made me laugh, and i said to them, '...this is the best aid station i've ever been to, because this is the only aid station that can make me laugh...' so, i thanked them and hopefully i made their day and put some smiles on them. as i got closer to the finish line, i started to sprint my run. i will always do a sprint finish in my race. as i got to the finish line, i let out a big sigh of relieving breath and everybody that saw me was laughing.....
and as i looked down on my watch, it showed 5:26:44. so, i pumped up a fist and said, 'yes....nice....' as it turned out the actual race result record the time of 5:26:51 for me. still, i am so glad and very happy with the result.
thank God for the race, for letting me finish this journey. thank God for putting me in the position to meet the aagenas family (charlotte, al, marc, brenda, jason, robin, charlotte, kirsten, etc), as the family that took me in their lovely place in st. joseph, michigan. thank God for my coaches and teammates for always encouraging me in whatever it is i'm doing on and off training. thank God for my family and friends that encourage me thru prayer, wishes, text messages, etc. and a special thank God for that special someone that encourage me thru the message that u sent that said, '...be confidence that u can finish the race...' at race morning as it actually pushed me to finish the race. thank u all, i love u all and God bless u all......

trip up north

2008-08-05T13:00:00.001-04:00

taking a trip to an out of state race is always interesting. u go thru places that u never been to. especially if u go by car, u'll pass areas, places and points that u never thought existed. i left for the st. joseph on wednesday evening around 7pm. i followed one of co-workers (adopted family members) to the race area as she was from the area and they're going up there to visit the parent. along the road, the area was pretty ok. not much to see except for the green farm field. we stopped by at middlebury, indiana to picked up my friend's motorhome. as we went along the area, i realized the area is filled with so many motorhome, so i thought, 'are people in this area lived in motor home, or what.' as it turned out the area is one of the biggest motor home builder in the country. that was interesting, especially since i saw 1 motorhome with a chandelier inside, so i thought, 'wow....that was definitely something...'
we got the place that we'd be staying around 1am, or maybe it was almost 2am, oh well...didn't really matter anyways. the place is actually my co-worker's mother-in-law's house. it was quite a big house, not huge, but yet it looked really nice and shaded. as i got inside, my place to sleep was assigned in the basement. so, i went down and went straight to sleep, although i wanted to take a shower first, but oh well.....it was 2am and everybody was sleeping, so forget about it....
i woke up around 8 in the morning to meet the owner of the house and the rest of the gang that is staying in it. i met grandma charlotte, grandpa al (sir), jason and baby charlotte. talk to them briefly and went straight to the shower as it was the first that i'm dying to do since last nite. after shower, i started to plan for my day. thinking about what i'm going to eat, what i'm going to do, places that i wanted to visit, etc. as i get to the kitchen to look around for breakfast, grandma charlotte had already took out her breakfast stuffs, from bagel, banana, bread, coffee, cream to honey and peanut butter. to my surprise, those are the things that i was thinking earlier to get at the store. it turns out they have it all.
those actually put me in the position where i realized i missed those times. i guess i never really got a chance to spend a lot of times with my actual grandparents. it was brief and now i realized how those times were the times to be treasured and thankful. i guess a lot of people said that u can get anything in grandparents' house is actually right. thank GOD for them.
after breakfast, the people in the house started asking me what i wanted to do, so i tell them i wanted to swim at the race course which is in the lake michigan from the jean klock park. so, al took me to the park and i swam for about 40mins to get some practice and get acclimated with the water. i felt good and i like the water. it had some waves and current, but not salty. after the swim, we got back to the house and i had my lunch of rice cakes (i made it myself). then i went on to bike around the race course from the house. i rode my bike out and back for about an hour to check out some of the roads, which turned out to be quite rough with potholes all over the place. after the bike ride, i ran around the neighborhood for about 20mins. and, i found out the place actually have a dock to launch boat. so i thought, 'wow.....that's cool'
after all the training, i went back to the house, took another shower to take care of my other cleaning needs. then i took some rest and had a bite of something that i couldn't remember what. then, headed to downtown with some member of the family. and, guess what i found in the downtown, there is a sign that said, 'st. joseph, michigan's most romantic city' (check out the pix at the top) now, isn't that interesting and even my friend that was from the area did not know about that.
then, for dinner, the family took me to a place called 'clementines'. pretty nice, but quite crowded, as it turned out it's a local favorite. and their special was 'perch', which is a deep fried fish, in which in this case and time, i couldn't have it since i didn't want to ruin my diet for the race. the dish is a local fav that the menu said the restaurant served them about 11tons per year. that alone is actually a great reason to come back, just to try that dish, which i will come back just to try that 'perch'. so, what did i have for dinner? pasta with light sauce, which is actually taste pretty good. after dinner we went down to the beach to walk around the area and all the way to the pier. then, we all decided to drive around the city to see some areas that some of us never been to. we went thru benton harbor and an area, in which people called benton 'harlem' (hahha.....) we went thru the back side of the jean klock park, in which we passed thru an old burger place called north shore inn. then, we went home and get some rest.
the next day, i basically went thru the same routine as the day before. except this time i had to go to the race site for check-in, registration, bike racking, body marking, race meeting, and pasta dinner. boy, was it hectic or what? plus, it was quite hot actually with the sun. i stayed at the park until about 5pm, then went back to the house to get myself ready for the race. as i got to the house, i was greeted with many of my friend's old friends from the town and old co-workers. i talked to them briefly explaining who and why i was the only asian there. (hahhaha.......) i went to bed around 8:30pm, yet i think i didn't go to sleep until about 10:30pm. not sure what, but i think it was the anxiety, excitement and nervousness. then again, i think i had a good rest the nite before the race. at the end of this blog, i wanted to thank GOD for letting me be with the aagenas family. thank U, GOD, for using them to bless me in so many ways. i sure hope i was able to be a blessing for them too.
i will never forget everything that they had done for me.
God bless.....

fear of success....

2008-07-11T08:58:00.003-04:00

for a while, i've been working on my run. especially since the bike accident that i had last april, i felt that my run had been lagging. it's like i lose my hop, i lose my steps, i lose my stride, i lose my speed on the run. after having talked to a couple of my teammates and coaches, the suggested caffeine, which in the beginning i wasn't so sure. for the past 3 months, i had been searching for it. searching for the run, seaching for the hop. i worked on the run, do strides, asking questions, asked coach mike to watch for my running mechanism, which according to him, there's nothing wrong. so, i got confused. it made me kept on thinking and trying and training for it.
last week, on the race, i did use some caffeine before the run leg and yes it did feel good and i actually felt pretty good. then again, last week, it was definitely a good day to race. not too hot with a little bit of wind, or is it because i was calm? i was quite early arriving at the race site, so i got time to relax, calm my self and all that........hm....so many questions.....
then yesterday, i ran on my own in the afternoon at the park. suddenly, i felt really good. i felt i got my hop back, i got my run back. i got my strides, i got my speed and i felt like i can keep on running.....just like the movie, 'run, fat boy, run'....
before the run, i did not do anything special. i did not take extra caffeine, i did not take anything extra. and to tell u the truth, the day was quite hot.
having been experienced this, i consulted my teammate and coach mike. out of the conversation, the main point is many times we are afraid of failure, because those failure is based on the past experience that we had, we faced and maybe even just seeing. he told me that apparently i am not afraid of the distances that i had gone and will be going thru in the races. some people are afraid of being success. we are not suppose to be afraid of success.

why fear success? why fear failure?
those are the things that made life worth living. those are the things that made life interesting. those are the things that formed life. those are the dynamics of life.

after thinking about all these over nite, i realized that this is a lot like our needs of GOD. when we're down, we seek HIM even more. we so desperately need HIM. we search, we pray, we seek and sometimes we even try other things. but the fact of the matter is the only thing that we need to do are to raise our hands, kneel down, bow before HIM, and lay all our burden on HIS feet. in Matt 11:28, the verse said, '...come to ME, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give u rest...'

i was 'weary' of my run, my failure, my past experience, my accident. then, i worked on it, i seek advice, i questioned, i 'knocked' and finally, thank GOD. i thank HIM for giving me 'rest', for 'opening the door'.

life.....is definitely interesting. without all these, thre would be no life....
don't fear failure, don't fear success, fear GOD.....

minutes...seconds...change...run

2008-06-19T08:40:00.002-04:00

this is probably one of the times where i realized about the significant of minutes and seconds. last monday, after looking at my result from the past weekend race, i was a little discourage. out of so many things that i had done for the past 5-6 months, somehow the result does not really satisfy me. i am happy on certain things of the disciplines, especially the bike. but yet, the overall is not fulfilling.
then, last wednesday, i looked the numbers up again, it turned out that i had a better result. wow....can't imagine, just a few minutes different in numbers actually made my perspective change. it made me think differently. then, i said to myself, '...wow, this changes everything...' and i mean everything. everything from training, to result, from what i had done, to what i need to do.
i remembered at the end of last season, i said to myself, the coaches, and my teammates, that i wanted to be better on the bike. so far, so good. i know i'm still not the best, but i really do feel that i'm actually better on the bike, especially after the accident last april. but then, as i was recalling all that, i think about what mike neill said to me at gulf coast.

'it takes 10 years for anybody to be good at anything'

oh my goodness, after all that i had done, i still have to figure out something else. still, i have to better myself on other discipline. so far, as for swimming, coach geri had been threatening me to do certain things to me so that i can improve. well, to be honest, it kind of help and i hope coach can see it. as for the run; now this is the part that i thought i already kind of figure things our. it turns out, not really. i'm not sure why. in the last few months i have been thinking about this, since i really want to figure this out before 'the race'. then suddenly, yesterday, one of my teammates said something about nutrition on the run. and so it 'hit' me. i had changed my nutrition on the run. i had been experimenting with other stuffs. i have not stick with what has been working for me from last season. so my decision for now to improve is to get back to what has been working for me, especially on the run. nutrition, never thought i could effect me that much. even though for now this is only on paper, nothing has been proven yet. so for now, i'll keep on training and see the result in a couple of weeks. and oh btw....i have 6 weeks to 'the race'.

realize

2008-06-16T08:00:00.000-04:00

i remember when i started that it was just about trying to make my belly flatten down a little bit. i remember the day that i realized one morning as i woke up that i was 'fat'.
after about 2 to 3 years, i started to realize that bigger reasons are needed for me to keep doing these training and racing. this past weekend, i found a couple of them. it's the thrill of being fast, the thrill of trying to outpaced certain people, the thrill to compete, the thrill to never slow down even though i'm at about 100 feet from the finish line. i enjoyed every second of them.
as i recalling the feeling that i felt at pcb with the sun felt like it was frying my skin on the run leg of the race down in pcb, i started to imagine what HE went through back then, thousands of years ago carrying the CROSS across the heat to the calvary on the wounded body. thank GOD for UR sacrifice that we may be saved. and, also to always remind me that whatever it is and however hard it is that we go through down here on earth, will never be exceeded the strength that U provide for me.
those are the reasons that put me in the position where i learned quite a bit about myself, about life, about what i strive for, about my goal for each year.
at the same time, i realzied that there something that i would like to give back to the surroundings that have given me so much in terms of anything that i've obtain. then again, i also realized that still i have so much to learn, as one of my teamates said, be a 'grasshopper'.
'live life to the fullest' is what people usually said. i prefer the 'live life full of learning and realizing'. learn certain things to make one realize about other things.
every race is always different, even though u raced in the same place every year. learn something in every race at every year. there's got to be a way to be everything under the sun.

10 years

2008-05-14T13:00:00.000-04:00

mike neill said that his coach told him a while back that it takes 10 years for everyone to be good at something. man, how am i going to be able to get this triathlon thing right? oh well...., i guess maybe that's why they said to keep on tri-ing. and, i also do believe as what the Bible said in Flp4:13, 'i can do all things through Christ who strengthens me'.

the pain won't last forever, but the memories will, especially when everything can be written down on this blog. and, if nobody understand, then it is just like what is written in the ironman book, 'it's a line that u have to cross to understand'.

so why do i do all these? as what george bernard shaw said, 'some people see things as they are and say why. i dream things that never were and say why not?'

art of racing

2008-05-12T17:18:00.000-04:00

what it means

"There is something in every human being that seeks testing; a yearning to discover just how far one can go, how much one is capable of achieving. From this desire was born the most demanding athletic endurance test ever... the Ironman"

trip down south

2008-05-12T13:18:00.003-04:00

a very interesting trip down south to panama city beach, florida. as many times as i've been to florida and as much as i love the state, since the weather kind of resemblance to where i came from, i never been to this city.
we started at 6pm from the gym. 3 vehicles heading down. i was in 'the golden eagle' van with mags, j, rach, and matt. the other vehicles were 'the two duds' and 'mother'. the whole trip was filled with rain along the way. we had three stops. one was somewhere by bowling green, then next one was 'buckets' at somewhere in nashville, not sure exactly where i was, then the last one was somewhere by the border of florida and alabama. and, that's when we were joined by 'the white neon'. we got to the destination at around 7am local time.

on the way home, we leave the bungalow at 6am sharp. although, i almost owe everybody one minute, i totally made myself to the van at 6am. this time, it was only 'the golden eagle' that went on. we had four stops. one at the 'buckets' before we were out of the city, one at the gas and mcdonald, then gas and wendy's , and the last one was another 'buckets' stop. we got back to the gym at around 8.30-ish.

a couple of interesting things that i got a chance to see along the way. got a chance to see the paul brown stadium, usbank arena, gaylord center, titans stadium, and a rocket on the side of a highway. oh oh...and also, i forgot to mentioned i met sister madonna buder a couple of times and i did get her autograph.

one other interesting thing that happen to me on the trip, specifically on race day. on the morning of the race day, everybody was in-line to get their body marked by numbers. as i stood there with this lady writing down my number on my hand and calf. she asked, 'what is ur age?', then i answer, 30-34, so she asked again, ok, so which one do u want?. then, i just realized she was actually asking for my actual age. then i remember a joke that jeremy put up on the e-mail abt u know u'r a triathlete, when they asked u abt ur age, and u answered, '30-34'. i couldn't even believe that i said that......LOL............

overall, on the trip i found many new buddies and mates. i got running mate (tim), catapult/slingshot buddy (jeremy), shower mate (geretta), shaver girl (geri), van mates (mags, j, rach and matt), age group buddy (j), and bungalow mates (mags and mikey). all in all, it was definitely an interesting trip that i will never forget.

my first ever 70.3 journey

2008-05-12T12:28:00.000-04:00

the race was good. i started the swim in a great way. as rough as the water, i thought it was part of the challange and i took it in within me. i felt good in the beginning and as i look down and see that the bottom part of me change from dark to light, i was glad and i truly felt great. i was expecting to be in the swim for an hour, and it turned out as i walked towards the shower and look at my watch, it was 47 minutes. so, i thought, WOW.....THIS IS GREAT.....THIS IS WHY I LOVE THE SPORT....i am solo the superfan......

then, i got to my transition area to prep myself for the bike. i took my time to eat half of powerbar and drink to wash all that salt in my mouth, then i took my bike to the start of bike line. as i got on my bike, i said to myself, here we go...!

as i started on the bike, mike caught me and gave me a pat on my behind, that definitely was encouraging. thanx, mike. then, i started to see my teamates along the course, one by one passing me going to the other way, unill i got to the highway and i saw mike neill flying through and i thought, hey, i'm on the same team as that guy....at the same time, i realized, hey, i got to eat and drink, so i took my the other half of the bar. then i looked up and saw the bridge. and i said to mysef, hm..... after going up through the bridge, i thought to myself, thank GOD i was at the camp in portsmouth, since i was so afraid before with hills, but now, i think i kind of get an idea of how to handle it, not entirely though. then after the bridge, i saw a speed bump and one of bottle came off the cage, but wait, it got hold up between my legs, since i put my feet position at 9 and 3, again, thanx mike. so i said to myself, bottle, stay, stay, and YES! i was able to get it and put it back in the cage, yeach......!!!

as i get to the turn around for the bike, this truck in front of me hit the brake, so i yelled, come on....!!!! but then, she got off the road, as this one guy beside me said, retarded....!

so i thought, oh well, let's move on, we are racing....

as i was at the end of the bike leg, i said to myself, all rite, just keep pedalling until transition, even though my behind was pretty uncomfortable, but i knew what i had to do. so, i got to transition, unclipped my shoes and walked my bike to be racked. then, i took everything off that i needed from the bike, to put on everything that i need for my run. again, i took my time to eat and drink beforehand. as i started running, i looked down to my watch. i was thinking of being on the bike for 3 hrs, instead my watch showed 2:52:30. so i thought, YES....THIS IS GREAT......

as i started on the run leg, i felt ok. i was able to keep on running for the first 3 mile, then something hit me, now sure what and not sure why. so, i thought to myself, is it the heat? is it the food/nutrition? so i started to take another leftover powerbar and some drinks from the aid station. and i started running again. after i saw rach coming back at about mile 4, or 5, not sure, something hit me again, then i realized it was definitely the heat. i started to feel the sun was actually frying my skin. after that, i started walking, running, walking, running, until i passed mile 6 in the park, then my teammate tim caught me and he was asking whether i was ok or not. i told him, yes, i'm ok, but just not sure why i can't run at the time. so he suggested to run and walk with him. i took his suggestion and it actually help. until about mile 11, then i started to feel the same as i was at mile 5. so, i thought to myself, i know i can finish this, and i will finish this. then, at mile 12, i started to think about what i had done, what had been happened to me, what i had been doing that whole day from 7 am that morning. i started to get emotional, but i hold it back. until at the last run/walk session with tim, he said, all rite, run all the way to the finish?! so, i said, YES.....! so, i kept on running from the stoplight all the way to the turn and as i promised to myself to always do a sprint finish, i sprinted all the way to the finish line.

as i crossed the finish line, i pumped a fist to the air and hit the ballon on the side, then i kneeled down, kissed the finish line and high five to it. after that, i just couldn't hold back my emotion anymore. i cried, cried and cried for a while. got my medal, sit on the sidewalk and just kept on crying, thinking about what i had just done.

all in all, i was happy and even amazed to myself. 5 weeks ago, i thought i had to pull out of the race. in the end of this race, i thanked GOD, mike and mike, all my teammates of Human Powered Racing, that are racing and also the ones that are not racing in the GCT'08.