End of season

Tomorrow is the last race the Tri team will compete in this season. I wasn't able to register for it because I am still recovering from the marathon last Sunday. I've heard that it takes a month to fully recover from one. I've also talked to professional triathletes and they told me that I should take a good 6 months off before running another one. I guess it depends on the person because I've ran marathons with only a few months in between. Actually, now that I think about it, I think that's the reason why I'm injured:P I wasn't able to race in my new uniform so that's a bummer, but at least I'll have a new uniform for next season:) In the mean time, I have to stay active and fit so I don't fall too behind. To stay active I'm planning on going to the gym as often as I can and I'm going to try to swim every other night. I'm spending the whole Summer in Hawaii this year to visit my sister so it's going to be hard to get up and train:P I don't really know what's out there so hopefully I get some training in. My friends and I are talking about doing a few little races before January to stay in a race mentality and have fun. I was planning on running Disneyland's half marathon this year with 3 other friends, but i just found out it sold out. So, We're thinking about running the half in Las Vegas. This event will be held at night for the first time so I'm excited for that:) I'm still looking for races online.. so on my next post I'll talk about some of the races I've found and thought would be really cool doing.

The HORRIBLE Los Angeles Marathon!

My bestfriend Xenia and I before the race<3

I’m going to start from the beginning. Saturday night I lost track of time while downloading music for my ipod and went to bed at 1am! Not only did I go to sleep veerrrry late, I also had a hard time sleeping. Every time I sleep in the same bed as Xenia she always ends up wrapping all the blankets around herself:P She always tells me to wake her up and get some blankets back, but I couldn’t wake her up…she looked too comfortable so I slept with a little corner of the blanket:P We woke up a 5am, so I only got 4 hours of sleepL I was so tired and was not in the mood for anything, but then I went on my facebook and saw all the good lucks from friends and it got me pumped and ready to go. Once we finished getting ready we headed to LA:) The traffic was INSANE! We were completely stopped on the freeway. We had to get off and walk the remaining 2 miles to the starting line. It was funny because we were almost to Dodgers Stadium and my parents ended up catching up to us:P So we hopped back into the car and drove to it. When they blew the horn and announced the LA Marathon 2011; we were excitedJ As soon as we crossed the starting line it began to sprinkle so we put on our raincoats. When we reached mile 4 it began POURING! We were running the flat course and were walking the up hills for my knee. We got a good laugh at one point because I almost slipped on a banana peel:P When we reached mile 10 I couldn’t run anymore. My knee was hurting so bad so I told her to go on without me. I was by myself for a while and would walk and run a little. She ended up waiting in line for the restroom and because the line was so long I caught up to herJ At that point the rain and wind was so HARDCORE. Our hands were so cold that the slightest touch hurt like crazy. I got a banana from one of the volunteers there and I couldn’t even peal it because my hands were so numb! I had to ask a random guy cheering people on if he could peal it for me. He laughed, but said he would be glad to peal my banana:P We continued running/walking, but I couldn’t keep up with her because I was hurting so bad… so I fell behind. It was around mile 18 when I saw a booth giving coffee to the runners. I got in line and noticed his old man wiggling around. He ended up falling down. I guess the intense weather was too much for him. I really wanted to help him, but no one had ever passed out in front of me in a race so I was in shock and just stood there. Some guys lifted him up and took him away. I felt so bad, but there was nothing I could do so I kept going. As the race went on, the weather got WORSE. Everyone was walking as far as my eyes could see. I would hunch my back and tilt my head forward a lot because the wind was so strong. Some streets were flooded! The water would go over my shoe! That’s how deep it was.  Finally I’m at mile 25.. I only needed 1.2 miles left! I was hurting but wanted to get it over with. So I ran to the finish line like a champ. The only bad thing was that there were hardly any people there cheering because of the rain and wind. I crossed the finish line cryingL It took me 30 minutes to find my parents. And when I found them, my mom started crying because she knew how horrible I felt. I was walking with my legs WIDE open and couldn’t bend my knees.  I looked like a dying penguinL I ended up having mild hypothermia. So my dad went for the car so i wouldn't get any more sick, my mom took off all my clothes in the public! And put dry clothes on me because I couldn’t move from being cold. We had to wait a long time for my dad to bring the car because all the traffic. My mom and I found a dry spot and waited there. She kept telling me jokes and told me I was so tough for completing that. She made me feel a lot better:) but it was still cold:P Finally we got into the car and went home. I slept all day Monday and I’m still hurting a little but I feel a lot better. I WILL NEVER FORGET THAT RACE. It was pure torture! I am happy and proud to say that I was one of the 70% of 23,542 entrants that finished the Los Angeles Marathon 2011.



I now have 6 full and 1 half marathon medals





I got 7 blisters on my poor feet:( This one was the biggest.

Video about the marathon

http://losangeles.cbslocal.com/2011/03/20/hundreds-checked-for-hypothermia-after-rain-drenched-marathon/

LA Marathon

TOMORROW IS THE LA MARATHON!
Since my best friend is running it I've decided that i am going to run it with her even with my bad knee. Today was my cousins quincenera so i had to wake up very early so i could be ready and make it to church on time. Like 3 hours after mass, the party started. I usually eat little/normal amounts of food before a marathon so i won't be bloated the morning of, but since i went to the party... I couldn't resist the delicious pasta, cake, and ice cream..yumm! of course i had to dance a couple of songs before i left! I danced to like 5 salsa songs in 4 inch heels, which is tall for me:P, so my feet hurt. Since my best friend, Xenia, was going to spend the night at my house I had to leave the party early while everyone else danced the night away so we could get ready and get some good sleep. I came home at like 10 o'clock, but I had to get everything ready and I had to type this blog so I can't go to sleep just yet. Since i want to race the Cal Poly Triathlon, I've decided that I'm going to try to run at most half the marathon:( I never take breaks on marathons, i always run them non stop. But since I'm hurting pretty bad i don't really have a choice. I don't want to make my injury worse, so I'm gonna suck it up and walk half of it even if i look like a weenie. Finishing and completing it is my only goal..I'm not going to focus on beating a PR (personal record) on this race. I'm nervous because i don't want to be hurting, but I'm excited also. So wish me good luck! and I'll explain how everything went on my next post.


http://www.lamarathon.com/home/

New Uniform!:)

This is the new elite tri suit:)

This Wednesday that just past we got our new uniforms! I bought the elite racing suit so I'm gonna look like a pro out there, even though I'm not:P haha. There is also the new cycling kits which have shorts with suspenders and a zip up shirt. The jacket is a yellow and black windbreaker and says Triathlon in really big letters so that's pretty sweet. Too bad we got them a the end of our season though:P I thought i was done racing for the season, but i really want to use the new stuff so i think I'm going to go to the Cal Poly race which is next weekend. The last race is Cal Poly and is an Olympic Tri. since 'm not ready for an Olympic, I'm going to do the sprint instead. I won't get points for my team, but at least i will be able to go out there and race with my new suit:) I really shouldn't go because of my knee so I'm just going to take it slow. The team is trying to bond more since the season is almost over. So we're planning a dinner this coming Wednesday at one of my friends house so we could hang and have a good time:) This is all i could think of right now so I'm just going to end it here:P In my next blob I'm going to talk about the LA marathon and what i have decided on.

For anyone who is interested in doing a triathlon!

The CSULB Triathlon team is hosting a race on Sunday, May 8 from 7:00am to 10:00am. It's going to be an awesome race. It is a reverse triathlon so participants will be doing a run, bike, and then swim instead of the traditional Tri which is swim, bike, run. It consists of a 5km run (which is around 3 miles), a 20km bike (which is 12 miles), and a 400 meter swim. The race will take place at our school, Long Beach State.

This race is for all skill levels. It will be a fast, fun race and i guarantee that all participants will be proud and feel accomplished after completing the race. It is around 2 months away, enough time to train for a good finishing time.

All the money earned from this event will be used for CSULB Triathlon Team's race entry fees, transportation, stationary supplies, uniforms, hotels for far school, and anything else we would need involving triathlons.

If you think you aren't able to complete the whole Tri there is a relay participants can compete in.

Maybe you're just a runner? or a swimmer? or all you do is bike?

all you have to do is complete your event (swim, bike, or run) and have two other friends that can complete the remaining events. If you can't find friends who would want to do this, contact me through this blog or in class and i might be able to find other people for you.

Unfortunately, i can't register for this race because i have to help run it and make sure all participants know where to go and what to do. It's going to be a lot of fun guys! come support your school and the Tri team:)

TELL YOUR FRIENDS AND HELP US SPREAD THE WORD:)

You can register on this link
http://www.active.com/triathlon/long-beach-ca/csulb-reverse-triathlon-2011

UCLA Triathlon





The UCLA Tri last Sunday and was a good race. The Tri had 2 waves, wave 1 and wave 2. They decided which wave you were in based on the time you can finish a 400 meter swim. Their were 400+ participants (it was a big race!) and had two transition areas. I was so confused because I thought Tri’s only have 1 transition area. All I had were my running shoes and my bike shoes that click onto my pedals. I had to leave my running shoes in transition 2 and take my biking shoes to transition 1. That means….I had to talk around on the cold floor for a little over an hour because I was in wave 2 and they started at 8 instead 7am. Luckily my friend brought some sandals and was nice enough to let me borrow them. The only problem was that I’m a size 6 1/2 in women’s shoes and he is a size 12 in men’s. Everyone had a good laugh and said it looked like I was wearing flippers :P UCLA’S pool is huge, instead of doing 16 laps we only had to do 8 because the pool was long. Before the race we had to tie a “band” around our ankles that had a chip in it so they can tell the exact time we got. During the swim, my band kept loosening up and almost fell off. If it fell I would have had to swim to the bottom of the pool because they charge you if you lose it. So during my swim I had to stop to tighten it up. I was nervous because I didn’t want them to pull me out for thinking I was drowning, so I made it quick. Once I finished, I ran out the pool to transition 1 to do the bike course. I ran across the mounting area and clipped in my shoes. I was pedaling really fast, looked down and realized my chain fell off. I knew how to put it back on but for some reason at the moment I couldn’t do it. So one of the UCLA tri team members came over and fixed it for me. I thanked them and started the course. We had to do a route 4 times and then you were done with the biking. Half of the course was downhill and the other half was uphill. The uphill was really steep and hard to do. I was literally going 1mph up that monster. After all that hard work and pain, I dismounted and ran to transition 2 for the run. I was running with this girl and we were feeding off each other. I would push her and then she would push me, which makes the run a lot easier and faster. When I finished and crossed the finish line, I was so beat. That race was so difficult, especially the hills on the biking. I went to my family and then went to my team to hang. I’m for sure not doing the UCLA Triathlon next year. Those hills were insane! I’m not looking forward to doing them again unless I get stronger and better at biking hills. Overall, it was tough, but a lot of fun. I enjoyed the swim and run and hanging with the team. I was in the car with 3 other teammates. I was so tired that I slept the ride home while they talked :P I remember waking up and hearing them talk about how one of them accidentally ran over a cat. It was so random and sad but funny at the same time. I love being on the Tri team because you bond with your team and make new friends that are on other teamsJ



A few of us fooling around after the race

Day before race

Hmm.. i don't know what to talk about so i guess I'll talk about how my day was today (day before a triathlon).
So tomorrow is the UCLA Iron Bruin Triathlon, which is a sprint Tri. This will be the second triathlon i will have done. If you ever want to be a part of a Triathlon, you have to always make sure you go to packet pickup. NO BIB means NO RACE. So today 5 teammates and I went to UCLA to get our bibs. Whichever school hosts the race has make sure every participant gets a goodie bag, usually the goodie bags includes: your racing bib with number, a swim cap, cool water bottle, T-shirt with the triathlon name on it, a band with a chip that goes around your ankle so that you know what time you got, and little healthy snacks. It took us forever to find the place for pickup because the school is so big and confusing, but finally we found it. The UCLA Tri team were taking care of giving the goodie bags and informing us triathletes what to do and expect. After we got everything we needed, we went around the course so we could know what to expect for race day. Turns out it will be a nice swim in the pool, a bike ride with two KILLER hills:P, and a run that should be nice and flat. I usually eat pasta before a race to get a few carbs, but my mom had bought tacos de lengua and i couldn't resist so i ate that:P Hopefully that doesn't affect me haha. Once i finished eating, i took a shower and got all my things together so that in the morning i won't have to worry about forgetting something. I always make a check list just in case that happens. I have to wake up at 4:30am because my friend is going to pick me up at 5am. All i need to do is find my helmet and get my bike.I don't know where my helmet is so I'm kind of freaking out:P The worst thing that will happen is i won't be able to find it and I'll just have to use my moms helmet which is fine. I think your second triathlon is always easier and more exciting because you already know what to expect and know you can complete it. In my next post I'll explain how it went. Hopefully i don't die doing those hills!:P

Cool Tunes

Most people need music while working out because it helps you get through it. I always listen to music whether I’m running or at the gym. I like having my favorite songs blasting in my ears, it’s what keeps most people pumped and up for any type of workout. I have two playlists in my Ipod, one for long easy runs and another for interval and tempo/race pace runs. I’ll list a couple of songs to give you an idea of what I’m talking about. When I do long easy runs, I usually listen to a slower type of music. I don’t know why, but it makes me want to run for miles:P

At the moment, these are a few songs I have for a lengthier run:

• “Otherside” by Red Hot Chili Peppers
• “Starbright” by Quietdrive
• “Go” by My
  Favorite Highway
  .
• “Breakin” by TheAll-AmericanRejects
• “Sorrow” by Bad Religion
• “My Stupid Mouth” by John Mayer
• “Monster” by Lady GaGa
• “The Lime Tree” by Trevor Hall
• “Coyotes” by Jason Mraz

For a faster pace run I have:

• “Have Faith in Me” by A Day to Remember
• “Favorite Fix” by Artist vs. Poet
• “Godspeed” by Anberlin
• “Raise your Glass” by Pink
• “Sweetness” by Jimmy Eat World
• “Weekend Warriors” by A Change of Pace
• “Give it Away” by Red Hot Chili Peppers
• “House of Wolves” by My Chemical Romance

Switchfoot is one my favorite bands, luckily I got to see them the 12^th of December along with My Chemical Romance, Jimmy Eat World, Smashing Pumpkins, Bad Religion, Anberlin, and A Day To Remember. They’re one of those bands whose songs are perfect for working out. They have upbeat fast songs that make you want to push as hard as you can and they have their nice slow songs that are perfect for a longer run.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cl64-XHE7zo