Trail Time

I’ve been really relaxed about my training the last  couple of weeks. Maybe because I don’t have any huge events coming up, or maybe because I’m just losing focus on the goals. I’m not really sure, but I’m trying to turn that around this week. This week I start masters swimming!!!

I was very hesitant to join a masters swimming group just because I’m a slow swimmer and I would feel like I’m starting behind. I know that’s not really an excuse. It’s like when college students say, “I’m not going to class because I’ve already missed one class and I’ll be behind the rest of the class.” (Trust me, I’ve heard that excuse before). But, everywhere I turn, people are saying (or articles are saying) that masters swimming is the best way to improve the swim leg of a triathlon. So, I figured, what the heck.. I’ll try it out and see how I like it. There are quite a few masters swimming programs around Orange County, but I chose Coast Masters Swimming because of the location (OCC pool) and the practice times (every morning at 5:30AM and Tue/Thu after work). I figured I could go to practice in the morning on my way to work (OCC isn’t that far off from my normal work path) and still get into work at a decent time. I went to my first practice this morning, and it felt good. I’m hoping I can stick with this. It means that I get a little less sleep or a little less time in the evenings, but it should be really good for my overall fitness and swimming ability.

I’m also working on getting my training schedule sorted out for the rest of the year (at least through summer). I’m pretty much set on doing the Silverman Half Distance Triathlon in November, but need to make sure that I get the right training in (specifically, hills on the bike). Also, there are a bunch of events coming up through the summer that are on schedule: San Diego Rock’n'Roll Marathon, Over the Hump Race Series, Peters Canyon Summer Trail Run Series and Training, Rim Nordic, and a few shorter distance triathlons (maybe). So I need to make sure that my training/racing schedule doesn’t burn me out.

Anyway.. on to recaps of fun times. I haven’t done too much since the last recap, but there were a few events and good rides in there.  First off, round 3 of the OC Chili Winter Trail Run Series. This was the last in three trail races this season. I wasn’t planning on doing much better on it than in the last two races, just because I didn’t put tons of effort into preparing for it. Unfortunately, I can’t even gauge whether or not I improved because the course was completely different.

Where are we going?

We started from a different group shelter area and ran most of the trail in reverse, which was not what I was prepared for. It was more consistent climbing at the beginning than the previous races. Also, it allowed for everyone to spread out rather than bottleneck at the start of the first singletrack climb (from the previous races). It was a shorter course, but I think that it was a more difficult run becuase of the longer more consistent climb at the beginning. Here’s a comparison of the elevation profile:

I finished in 49:29, which is pretty good. The course was a little shorter, so I still averaged the same pace. And of course, we had chili and snacks after the race.

Sprint to the FINISH!!

After the race in the morning, Minh and I did a “quick” mountain bike ride on parts of the Tijeras Creek Trail. I had to change out of one set of workout clothes to another, and we made a little mess of the car. But, it’s times like these that I’m happy we have the CRV (as compared to the truck alone).

making a mess...

I love riding the Tijeras Creek Trail!! It’s one of my favorite rides around OC. Mostly because of the woodsy feel and the stream crossings, but also because it’s mostly flat and super fast. I know I should find trails with climbs to work on my weaknesses, but sometimes it’s nice to work on your strengths too.

Minh walked all the stream crossings.. wanted to keep his feet dry..

up and over!

We only did the first half of the trail, then veered off to get a snack (Taco Bell!!!) because we were running low on water and did not anticipate the longer ride (and, therefore, only had a few gels), and by the time we veered off to get snacks, we realized that both of our bikes were making funny noises, so we took the road back to the start (rather than the trail).

Nutrition break at TACO BELL!!

Overall, it was an awesome ride, and a confirmation that Specialized > Trek!!! Let me explain that one. After we made the decision to hit the road for the second part of the trail, we were chugging along at a steady pace. Then, a lone roadie on her Trek passed us on a not too hard climb, and Minh turns to me and says “Let’s catch up to her”. She didn’t get too far ahead of us, so we sped up a bit to see if we could pass her. Unfortunately we got stuck at a light after her.. but we caught up to her at the next light. This is not without some effort, but she turned and gave us a “WTF?!?! Where did they come from?” kind of look. Then we turned off the road to head to the car. It was a satisfying moment for us knowing that we beet a roadie on our mountain bikes.

This past Saturday was another awesome mountain bike ride for me, but sans Minh this time. I met up with some lovely ladies for a monthly Rock’n'Road Divas ride. This month, it was an intermediate mountain bike ride at Crystal Cove. It was a good sized group (only 6 of us) and we had an awesome ride through the different trails there, even tried some trails that none of us had done before. There were a few spots that I had to walk (down Rattlesnake and down the Elevator), but I think I did pretty well for the most part. I was really happy that I was able to get a mountain ride in and that I was able to keep up pretty well. My legs were burning on some of the climbs, but I stuck through it.

The Garmin and the trail map don't exactly synch up.

We started at the top of Crystal Cove State Park (at the end of Ridge Park Rd. in Newport Beach). We took Bommer Ridge Road (fire road) to the border of the Laguna Coast Wilderness Park. Then entered the park on some nice single track along Missing Link and Fence Line. Went down Redtail Ridge to Rattlesnake (which I walked) and down to Mach One. Then we took the long and steady climb up I Think I Can to Moro Ridge. We took Moro Ridge back up to Missing Link, then came down the Elevator (I had to walk the really steep section, but road most of it). We then climbed back up Slow’n'Easy to Fence Line, and then headed back to the Parking Lot.

Here’s a shot of the top section of Rattlesnake that I walked:

Rattlesnake: More treacherous than it looks...

Doesn’t look so bad looking back on to it, but from the top it looks pretty sketch. Especially so the first time seeing it. The bottom section is more of the same, but for a longer distance.

Sunday, I headed out to Fashion Island for the March of Dimes March for Babies 5-mile walk with TEAM RUBBER DUCKIES!!!

TEAM RUBBER DUCKIES!!!

It was a great time and the 5 miles passed by really quickly because we were just talking the whole time. There were times when the group set up these little 100-yard dash races across intersections, but for the most part we walked.

Ready... Set.. GO!!!

After the walk, we were all starving. Apparently breakfast and free coffee is not enough nutrition for a 1.5-hour walk. Luckily for us, Weinerschnitzel was out there giving away free hotdogs, chilidogs, and corndogs to all walkers. There were also a bunch of other free stuff that we stocked up on before the walk.

mmm... Weinerschnitzel never tasted so good...

When I got home, I was so tired (stayed up late the night before watching Avatar, woke up early to get to the walk). I was supposed to run 14 miles yesterday as part of my marathon training, but that didn’t happen. Instead, I napped and watched Modern Marvels and Modern Family on Hulu and napped. I did put in about an hour of “exercise” and “active recovery” with the elctrostimulator that Minh and I got (not a Compex, but good enough), and my calves are still a little bit sore from it.

22 days and counting…

In 22 days, it’s my birthday!!! YAY!! The big TWO SIX.. or something like that. It’s one of those un-important birthdays where nothing really changes (all birthdays up to 18 are MAJOR events, 21 is a BIG ONE, and 25 is the end of yearly parties). After 25, it really doesn’t make sense to have a big to-do unless it’s a milestone year (i.e., a multiple of five).

Last year was fun, celebrating the passing of a quarter of a century. I did it up kid-style, with a bounce house, a piñata (filled with plastic liquor bottles), 2 cakes – icecream cake and Neapolitan cake (Mom always made two cakes at our birthday parties growing up), arts and crafts (giraffe themed), Rock Band, and other fun stuff.

This year, however, I want to avoid the bad things associated with birthday parties at home: cleaning up, your friend’s drunk roommate throwing up in your trashcan, and cleaning up. Here’s a schedule of events for Tran’s 26th Birthday EXTRAVAGANZA!!!!

Friday, May 14 (the actual birthday):
All day – Work (boo!!!)
Dinner – Agora Churrascaria … mmmm…

Saturday, May 15:
8AM – SHARE Poker Ride at Santiago Oaks
1PM – OC BeerFest at Irvine Lake - $40 for UNLIMITED BEER!!!
Dinner – somewhere.. nice-ish

Sunday, May 16:
Big Bear Shoot Out #1 (for the win!!! and a chance at invitationals!!)

I’m excited for my birthday weekend, even though it’s three weeks away. Hopefully, people can make it out, join in on the unlimited beer and watch me fall off my mountain bike a few times.

2010 March for Babies

My bestfriend, Michele, got me to sign up to do this event with her team (RUBBER DUCKIES!). I signed up about a month ago, but have done nothing to try to raise funds.. and now it’s only 10 DAYS AWAY!!!

Please help by donating to this great cause. The mission of March of Dimes is to improve the health of babies by preventing birth defects, premature birth, and infant mortality. You can donate by clicking on the button below:

http://www.marchforbabies.org/ncnguyen514

THANKS SO MUCH! The babies will love you!

P.S. The t-shirt design is courtesy of Hey Nha! Design. Find him on the web at
http://www.heynhadesign.com

Race Report: Up in the mountains and Down by the “C”

This past weekend was a fun-filled race weekend with two “C” races on schedule: (1) Renegade Racing Off-Road Triathlon at Bonelli Park in San Dimas, CA, and (2) Kring and Chung Newport Beach Triathlon at Newport Dunes/Back Bay. Overall, it was a great race weekend and definitely helped pinpoint my weaknesses in triathlons (more so than the IM 70.3 since these were shorter and I could see which improvements would bring me closer to a win).

Up in the Mountains: Off-Road

Ok, so maybe not necesarily up in the “mountains”, but mountain biking and trail running at Bonelli Park was as close as I got to the “mountains” this past weekend. This was the first of my two “C” races this weekend. I had decided that it’d be ok to have these two shorter races back-to-back since combined they were still far shorter than the IM 70.3.

The swim went smoothly enough. I struggled through it though, alternativing from freestyle to backstroke because I was having a hard time breathing. This is because I never practiced running into the water and starting to swim. All of my swimming training sessions always started in the water with my heartrate slowly rising. Sprinting into the water and raising my heartrate quickly was not something that I practiced before the race, and my body reacted poorly to it. I wore myself out too fast and had a hard time getting into a rhythm and catching my breathe. Luckily for me, the swim leg was actually shorter than half a mile. Not sure how long it was exactly, but I got out of the water in about 13 minutes. Probably could have gone a bit faster if I wasn’t struggling so much, but at least I finished.

The bike leg was a lot harder than I was expecting. It was a 7.5-mile loop around Bonelli Park, taking in a mixture of paved roads, fire roads, single-track, hike-a-bike, etc. Two laps for competitors doing the full triathlon, only one lap for people doing the recreational triathlon. The first couple miles were on paved roads (through the park and an RV campground), before turning onto the trail towards a major hike-a-bike section. Then it was rolling through blooming mustard. A few more climbs (where many people had to walk their bikes, though not too steep, just tired). One steep-ish paved downhill that required a “bunny-hop” over a curb to get back onto the trail (I got off and walked over it the first lap, cleared it on the second lap, but lost my balance shortly after and took my first and only fall for the weeekend). There was a nice single-track, switchback section (gradual climb) before the final (sort of) “straight-away” back to transition. Then we had to dismount, walk through transition, then head off on the second lap.

I had a lot more energy the second lap than the first, but my time wasn’t much faster. At least, I didn’t get off my bike as often on the second lap and I knew what to expect (when to shift, when to slow down for turns, etc). Passed quite a few people on the bike, but definitely wasn’t as fast as I wanted to be. The thing to work on is keeping my cadence and getting stronger on the hills. Nothing will help me get up that hike-a-bike section, but stronger legs will help with some of the more gradual inclines.

The run was also another tough one. I’ve never taken a spill while running, but if there was ever a place that it would happen, this was the trail. There were some steep, rocky descents that I had to walk/skip down to make sure I didn’t lose my balance or my grip on the ground. There were also a lot of pretty steep, rocky ascents that I had to hike up. The run was a lot slower than I had wanted, but, again, I was weak on the hills and didn’t have enough energy to pick-up speed on the descents/flats. I also got lost at one point, heading the wrong way at a fork in the road, and taking two other runners with me. We eventually found our way back to the trail, and weren’t that far off from it (maybe a hundred yards of track, probably less).

I ended up 3rd in my age group (out of six), which was great! But, there was a 20 minute gap between me and the two girls who took 1st and 2nd (and 3rd and 4th overall women). They were faster on the swim by about 4 minutes, slightly faster on the bike, and about 10 minutes faster on the run. But I’ve got high hopes for this race next year. They annouced that this will be part of the Xterra Series next year, and I’m hoping to improve a lot so that I can win. Trail running and hill training is what I really need. Getting a little faster on the swim will help, but mostly I’ll be focusing on improving my biking and running legs.

Renegade Racing Off-Road Triathlon Results:
(provided by Prime Time)

Swim: 00:13:27
T1: 00:02:46
Bike Lap 1: 00:51:09
Bike Lap 2: 00:51:33
T2: 00:01:56
Run: 00:40:50

Total Time: 2:41:45

Age Group (W25-29): 3 out of 6
Overall Female: 9 out of 25
Overall: 69 out of 100

Down by the “C”: On-Road

Sunday’s race was a little bit earler, but also a little bit faster (since it’s was the same overall distance, but on the road rather than on the trails). I think I had an overall good performance, but still have room for improvement. This is another race that I want to tackle and “master” over the next year so that I’m a little bit more competitive next year.

The swim was “business as usual”. I usually practice my open-water swims at the Dunes, so it wasn’t a surprise. Like my practice swims, I had an alright time sighting heading out, but had trouble sighting and keeping a straight line once I had rounded the buoys. Also, there number of people around me totally freaked me out and made it hard to keep my rhythm. Note for next time, stay to the right of the swim wave. A few more strokes to get around a buoy is way safer and better than getting kicked in the face trying for the straightest line. (Related side note: I’ve been told this before, but if you know anything about my personality, I tend not to listen to what people tell me about training unless you are some sort of authority on the subject or until I experience it for myself).

I got out of the water in about 20 minutes, which I is what I had expected based on my 1.2-mile swim time. The bike leg was interesting. I kept an eye out for females so that I would know how many were ahead of me. I didn’t see too many, and I passed quite a few ladies along the way, so I thought I was in good shape (not to win, but to have a good finish). Then I hit a very short, but very steep, hill that was not unexpected at all. I powered my way up the hill, but left very little energy for the longer, but much less steep, hill on Eastbluff Drive. Wish I had saved some energy to power up that hill because I lost a lot of time struggling to get my legs back.

Like Saturday, this was also a two-loop course. I hit the transition area to lots of people cheering (YAY for wearing my OC Tri Club kit), which gave me some more energy for the second lap. Passed a few more people, but also got passed by some really fast guys on crazy aerodynamic bikes with disc wheels (“whoosh! whoosh!”). Oh.. and I’ve never seen such blatant drafting in a triathlon before. Unbelievable!

The run was mostly flat with only one hill. I had a hard time getting my running legs, so it was a slow run, but there were tons of people out (racers and spectators and volunteers) keeping me going and cheering me on (along with everyone else, but I like to think I’m special).

I like to think I had a strong finish, and I mustered up enough to get a good run across the finish line. The finish
“chute” was rather crowded past the finish line, and there was only water available. Oddly enough, the post-race nutrition was way over at the swim start, where the vendors and awards table were set up.

Kring & Chung Newport Beach Triathlon Results:
(provided by J-Chip USA)

Swim: 00:19:41
T1: 00:03:35
Bike: 00:49:46
T2: ??
Run: 00:28:09

Total Time: 1:41:14

Age Group (W25-29): 9 out of 30
Overall Female: 57 out of 160
Overall: 306 out of 481

The Gallery: Pictures Courtesy of MINH!

April Training: Just Getting Started

Before I get into the week recap, I want to draw your attention to something new on the sidebar… Look to the right. —–>> See it? Now you can send me e-mails!!! If you have any suggestions or comments (like places I should try riding, training tips, things I should cook, etc.), please drop me an e-mail. Now… back to the week in review.. or at least half the week…  

It’s been a good week of getting (back) on the training wagon. Last week was a rest week, since I had just completed my first “A” race of the season and the longest race (to date) of my life. I did get a few workouts in during that week just to keep the blood flowing in my legs, but nothing major. This week has been right on track with the training plan I set out for myself.  

With two “C” races this weekend (Renegade Racing Off Road Triathlon at Bonelli Park in San Dimas and the Kring and Chung Newport Beach Triathlon at Newport Dunes/Back Bay), getting good workouts in this week was a must. Like a good Catholic, I “rested” on Sunday (with it being Easter and all), but Monday was the start of good consistent training.  

Monday (like all Mondays are supposed to be and will be from now on) was a “Quality” running day. I’m trying to follow a new marathon training program to help improve my time for the San Diego Rock’n'Roll Marathon in June. It’s a 16-week running program which I’ve cut short since the race is only 9 weeks away and I’m only now starting the program. I think I’ll be ok though, since it’s not like I’m starting the program from no training at all.  

In any case, this past Monday was Quality #5: 8 sets of 800 yards (essential 1/2 mile) at 10k pace with 90-second rest walk/jog in between each set. My goal 10k pace is 9:30 min/mile, which is weak (I know) but is still faster than my normal pace of 10:00 min/mile. I lucked out, though, I pushed myself enough to get an average pace of 8:32 min/mile for all the sets. This means that I should probably push my 10k goal pace to 8:30 min/mile (note to self for next 10k)… and my 5k pace should be even faster than that, maybe under 8:00 min/mile if I can handle it. The big problem is that I don’t jog the rest interval. I usually slow down to a brisk walk because my heart is racing and I need to catch my breath. Need to work more on that endurance if I want to be able to sustain that pace. The whole run ended up at 5.01 miles, which is a good distance for a weekday run.  

Quality #1: Pace Chart

Tuesday, Minh and I headed out to the Newport Dunes so that I could pre-swim and pre-ride the race course. Here’s a picture of me trying to get my wetsuit on. The look on my face indicates how difficult it is, but in reality, getting it off is actually harder than getting it on (maybe because of the time crunch).  

  

There was a stronger current than usual at the Dunes, and the water level was higher than usual, which made for an interesting swim. The top 2 feet of water were warm, because the sun was out and there was a warm breeze coming in (a pre-cursor to this week’s Santa Ana’s), but below that, the water was really cold (probably around the average 60°).  The first half of my swim was nice because I had big things to sight off (big white tent in the parking lot, the bridge, cluster of tall palm trees). It was when I turned and started the second half of the loop that my line started to become zig-zagged. The only things to sight off were small and almost the same color as the surroundings (a small blue whale the same color as the sky, the palm trees were level with the hills in the background, the brown park benches and shelters blended in with the sand).  

See?!?!?! Nothing to sight off.. everything's FLAT!

I probably did more than half a mile and got out of the water in 20 minutes. I would say that was a good swim. Here’s my prediction of what I actually swam vs. the race swim course:  

  

After I got cleaned up and changed, Minh and I headed off on our bikes along Back Bay Drive for the bike course. Overall, the course is pretty flat except for one steep short climb at the end of Back Bay Drive and a less steep, gradual climb along East Bluff Drive. When we headed back to the Dunes, we decided to bike the run course as a preview, but that was incredibly flat (so will be easy on the legs) and a little harder to ride because it was narrow sidewalks and people were out BBQing and hanging out (we had to take it slower than expected).  

Wednesday, Minh packed our mountain bikes on the car so that we could head to Peters Canyon after work for a spin. I hadn’t been on my mountain bike since the US Cup Race at Bonelli, so I definitely needed to get the feeling of mountain riding again. It was a really good (short) ride and I’m super happy we did it. It was hot and dry, but not too bad, because the trail alternated between shade and sun. There were a few areas where I had to get off and walk (too steep to climb and not enough momentum to get up, or too rutted with evil-looking cactus on both sides of the trail), but overall, I did pretty well. We finished the trail (Peters Canyon Dual Loop) in about 40 minutes, which is average for that trail. 

 

We probably could have done another loop if we had more water and snacks, but we were hungry and we each only had one small water bottle. Minh noted that it seems to be “CamelBak” season again. The temperature is rising (up to 80° already this week) and the Santa Anas are coming (dry dry dry) and the days are getting longer. This means we can do longer rides, but we need more water and snacks and sunblock. 

That’s been the week in training so far. Today, we’re hitting up Fairview Park so that I can get some trail running in before Saturday. Minh packed up his cross bike so that he can hit the trails with that while I run. 

Oh.. and I almost forgot.. we have a new member to our Garmin Family. So far, we have the Nuvi for the car, Minh uses the Edge 305 for his bikes, and I use the Forerunner 305 for running and biking (love the multisport option). Recently, I started complaining about mounting my Forerunner 305 to the bikes. It moves around and turns and is kind of hard to mount. So.. Minh picked me up an Edge 500. It’s like the Edge 705, but with no map feature and no color, just the stats, but it’s small and sleek, and looks more aerodynamic. I’ve been using it lately, and it’s super easy to mount because of the new twist-mount feature. THREE CHEERS for bike-tech stuff!!! 

Operation: Cheap Fabric

And by “cheap”, I don’t mean low quality… I mean inexpensive. Today, my uncle, his fiancée, Anni and I headed up to the LA Fashion district in search of áo dài fabric for dresses for the wedding. My mom and aunt were supposed to meet us there, but my mom’s car broke down on her way up (she pulled of the 5 freeway at Olympic, and got a pickup truck to tow them to a church parking lot while they waited for the tow truck), so it was an adventure for the four of us without them. My mom told us where to park and what stores to look at and generally what amount of fabric was needed for the dresses. She also left us with this advice: Do not pay more than $5/yard for fabric. They’ll try to sell it to you for $15/yard, but you should try to negotiate it down to at least 1/4 of what they’re selling it for.

Now, my sister and I were never taught the skillful art of haggling from my mother or her older sister. For me, I always determined whether or not I would buy something on whether or not I thought that item for sale was worth the amount asked. If it wasn’t, then I didn’t buy it. If it was or was worth more, than it was usually a done deal for me. No haggling involved. My uncle (having been raised, for the most part, by my aunt) may have had more of an education in the art of haggling from his older sisters, but I didn’t have full confidence that he would be able to pull it off or if he would just give in to the prices (which were already pretty good for the 100% silk fabrics we were looking for).

When we got there, I had to go to the bathroom right away. I had pretty much been holding it since we left the house, and even though I could hold it for a little while longer, it would probably be a good idea to go at the first sight of a public bathroom. None of the stores or restaurants in the area had public bathrooms. This was probably a good policy since the area was crazy crowded and you never knew who would walk into your business and use your facilities.. and for what. We finally found a public bathroom in one of the big buildings (a mall of sorts). “Public” just means that it was open for anyone to use, but it costs 50cents for each person who wanted to use it. While this was weird at first, I soon realized that it was a very good idea. I didn’t mind so much after I realized that the 50cents was going toward keeping the bathroom clean (which it was).

It was quite a day walking around looking for fabric. A lot of the stores we went into didn’t have much of a selection to choose from. This doesn’t mean that they didn’t have a lot of fabric. On the contrary, these places had hundreds of bolts of fabric all over the place. Some places had them neatly arranged so that you could see what the pattern was, others had them thrown in random piles in shelves or leaning against tables. But even with the plethora of different fabrics (textures, colors, materials, patterns, etc) we had difficulty finding anything that really caught our eye.

Eventually, we decided to break for lunch and try again after we had some sustenance. We stopped by a kabob restaurant called Maple Grill.  I was skeptical of place at first, here’s why: (1) The majority of food choices in the Fashion District consists of bacon-wrapped hotdogs or fresh cut fruit with lime and chili. (2) It’s downtown LA, crowded, and if the majority of stores were any indication of how the restaurants were maintained, then I’ll need a large bottle of hand sanitizer and my own set of silverware. Luckily for us, the Maple Grill did not fall into any of my preconceived notions about the place. The tables were all full, so we had to sit outside, but it was a nice enough day for that. The owner, who doubled as our waiter, was one of the nicest servers I have ever had. He made conversation, made sure we had everything we needed, helped us out with menu choices, even cracked jokes with us. His kids were running around, but they weren’t bothersome.. more cute than anything else. The restaurant was clean. And the food was surprisingly delicious.

Anni and I split a plate of Chelo Kabob Soltani, which was a combination plate with beef filet kabob and seasoned ground beef kabob. It came with basmati rice and a salad. We also ordered a couple appetizers: the cheese plate, which was this delicious, slightly salty, goat cheese, and this eggplant dip that was garnished with fried mint and caramelized onions. Both served with thin pita bread. My uncle also ordered a traditional Persian yogurt drink called Doogh. It tasted like watered-down yogurt with some other flavors that I couldn’t pinpoint. We suspect it was mint and cardamom. In any case, it wasn’t good or bad, but something different to try.

After lunch, we continued our search for fabric, and stopped into a few more places before we hit Top Ten Fabrics.. or Tip Top Fabrics.. something like that. It’s on Maple, between 9th and Olympic. This place was one of the clean, well-maintained stores. And it had a great selection of fabrics, and a lot of good ones to make áo dài with. They also sold coordinating solid colors for the pants. We were there for a little while, but my uncle and his fiancée ended up picking out four great fabrics and a champagne/gold sateen/polyester-ish fabric for the pants. He put on his bargaining cap when it came down to price, and the owner was willing to work with us as long as he made a sale. The owner was also a very nice and extremely helpful seller, especially compared to some of the other workers we encountered that day. He was very attentive and helpful, not just following us around the store making sure we didn’t rip or steal something. My uncle got out of there with 16.25 yards of fabric (most of which was 100% silk) for $162. I would say all parties came out winners in that situation.

Once we had the fabrics, it felt like the weight of the day lifted a bit (a sigh of relief from the happy couple hinted at so much). We walked around a little bit more, then headed back to the car. We stopped by Babycakes NYC‘s latest store (which was only a mile away) per Anni’s request (for gluten-free cupcakes). We picked up one red velvet cupcake and one chocolate cupcake and two of their brownie bites made with agave nectar.

I haven’t tried the cupcakes yet, but if the brownies are any indication of the quality of the cupcakes, I fear that I will not enjoy them. The brownies had good flavor, but the texture was wrong. The brownie was dense and left a powdery feeling in my mouth, where as I like my brownies to be a little bit more dense than chocolate cake, but super-gooey and moist, and leave a little sticky feeling in my mouth that leaves me wanting to wash it down with milk, but not a dry feeling. I’ll be taking a bite out of the cupcakes in the morning (perhaps after a jog, if I get up for it, and before Easter Mass), but I anticipate having the same reaction. Something just gets lost when you try to make baked goods without wheat flour.

Overall, a bit of a tiresome day, but definitely fun. We don’t often head to Downtown LA, and rarely go into the Fashion District, so this was a good day out. Anni and I will definitely be heading back (with Mom) to get some fabrics to make some áo dài for ourselves (I don’t think either of us have one that fits).

The Gallery:

Recovery Week

For the athlete in me, this week is “Recovery Week”. Not that it was completely necessary considering that I wasn’t sore after the race. But it was a good week to take it easy. I took Monday off, thinking that I could rest up, run some errands, and get some easy exercises in (an easy jog, a yoga session, something). That didn’t turn out as I had hoped. I ended up taking grandma to the doctor and sitting at the doctor’s office for an hour (Mom, who works at the doctor’s office, said it would be quick and that I should just wait). That made me miss my yoga session and made me STARVING (the yoga instructors recommend that you don’t eat anything before going to yoga, so I hadn’t eaten much that morning). So.. on the way home from the doctor’s office (around 1pm) I picked up some lunch for me and grandma.. and more or less spent the entire afternoon writing up my race report and watching 10 Things I Hate About You on ABC Family (yay for TV marathons!).

Monday was also the return of Monday Night Dinners!!! Huzzah!!! It was my turn to cook, and since I had the day off, I decided to throw something in the slow cooker and monitor it all day. It’s unnecessary to monitor something in the slow cooker. Actually, the whole point of the slow cooker is that you can set it in the morning and leave, and then dinner will be ready when you get home. But, I’d never just left it alone before, and wanted to make sure that it would not burn the house down. I also didn’t want to put a lot of effort into dinner.

I pulled a recipe from the Crock-Pot cookbook that I have from a few years ago: Heavenly Pork Roast. It was actually incredibly easy to prepare (took less than 20 minutes), and then just set it to cook on HIGH for 6-8 hours. What came out was this incredibly tender, well seasoned (maybe just a little salty) pork roast that fell apart with the touch of a fork. Would have made delicious carnitas tacos, but was just as good with steamed mixed veggies and/or rice.

RECIPE: Heavenly Pork Roast

Ingredients:

• 1 3- to 4-pound pork roast (any kind) – I cut mine into two pieces because I had a smaller (4-qt) Crock-Pot. You may or may not need to do this depending on the size of your Crock-Pot.
• 1 medium sized orange, sliced thick with peel
• 2 pears, peeled and cored, sliced thick
• 1/4 cup pomegranate juice (like POM wonderful)
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1 Tbsp salt – My roast turned out a little salty, so this can probably be omitted or reduced by A LOT
• 1 Tbsp garlic salt – This is probably another reason why the roast ended up a little salty
• 1 Tbsp steak season of your choice – I used McCormick’s Grill Mates Montreal Steak seasoning

Instructions:

1. Combine pomegranate juice and sugar in a small saucepan over low heat. Heat until sugar is dissolved. Pour into Crock-Pot.
2. Mix seasoning in a small bowl. Rub generously over roast.
3. Place roast in Crock-Pot and turn to coat in pomegranate-sugar syrup.
4. Cover roast with orange and pear slices.
5. Cover Crock-Pot with lid and set on HIGH. Let roast for 6-8 hours, until roast is tender.
6. Serve with sides of choice: steamed veggies, rice, taco fixin’s, etc.

On Wednesday, Minh and I were able to get a short ride in to the beach and back along the Santa Ana River (the usual ride). My bike was having mechanical problems on the way out, so we had to head back to the house so Minh could fix it (he wouldn’t let me help).

While he was working on my bike (not shifting properly.. too much slack in the cables), I was checking out the bike computer on my tri bike. It had all the typical information that I already knew (total distance on race day, total time on bike, etc).. but what I hadn’t looked at before was the maximum speed I hit on race day. I know that I went at least 36 mph on one of the downhills because I happened to look down at the computer and noticed it. I had assumed that that was my max speed since I didnt’ think I’d gone much faster. But.. I was mistaken. My max speed on race day was 38.5 MPH!!!! That’s INSANE! I’ve never gone that fast before. Obviously it’s not a speed that I can sustain, but just to know that I got that fast for even a second is incredible.

Once Minh had my bike working properly, we still had enough daylight to go out for a ride. It was pretty hard. I could barely go past 14 mph with the wind and my legs being a little bit fatigued. Minh pulled me the whole way out and most of the way back. He probably didn’t get as good a workout because he had to go a little slower, but I was grateful that he would pull me the whole way so that I wouldn’t get dropped.

After we got back from the ride and cleaned up, we picked up potato tacos from Tito’s (a place Minh found on Yelp). He’s been dying to try these potato tacos after reading how amazing they’re supposed to be. To be honest, they weren’t bad. I think Minh liked them a lot more than I did, but they were good. They tasted like potato tamales (because of the corn tortilla). We also picked up some chicken tacos and a carne asada sope. The guy there loaded us up with pickled carrots (the best I’ve ever had) and green onions and radishes and HOT SAUCE! Their hot sauce was really really good.. marginally better than Alberto’s.

Thursday was the first time I really felt the effects of the race on my body. My neck and upper back were killing me during the bike leg of the race (the combination of the distance and the lower aero position). I was feeling fine during the beginning of the week, but the ride on Wednesday must have aggravated it. Thursday morning my upper back was in so much pain (and still is) that it hurt to just sit at my desk. I tried to stretch it out all day, and Minh even tried to massage it out after work, but nothing seemed to help. I put a pain reliever patch on it over night and hoped that I could sleep it off, but still hurts this morning. I guess this means that I just need to work out my back better to build up some strength. Better start focusing on the lateral pull-downs.

Minh had given me a lima fruit that he got from his co-worker. Apparently, it’s like a cross between a lime and an orange. It looks like a cross between a lemon and a lime, it smells like a lemon, but it peels like a grapefruit. I ate it (finally) on Thursday at work. I don’t know what it’s supposed to taste like, but it didn’t taste like much of anything. Like a really bland grapefruit. Maybe it just wasnt’ ready to get peeled yet.

ASI Photos posted their race photos up yesterday, so I took some screenshots of those. They turned out pretty nice, I might buy some. Unfortunately, they didn’t have a nice picture of me running with the ocean in the background. I know a guy took my picture at that location, but I couldn’t find it online. Oh wells.

Tonight, we had dinner at Thanh Long Restaurant with my uncle and his fiancee (newly engaged.. YAY!) visiting from SLC and my aunt visiting from PA. Minh and I ordered rice ”cooked in” clay pots (which they weren’t) with seafood and mushrooms and tofu. Dinner was ok… not good, not bad.. just OK.

Looking forward to Easter this weekend. My mom and aunt planned a last minute mini family reunion, so that should be fun. I usually only see my extended family maybe once or twice a year (if that even). It’s always nice to catch up with everyone.

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Half an Iron(wo)man

Tran is officially half an Ironman… and the “glass half full” kind of half, too, not the pessimistic “half-empty” half. Here comes the race report (for the 2010 Rohto Ironman 70.3 California)..

Bedtime

The original plan was to get to bed early the night before the race, so that I would have a full night’s sleep and be well rested. Unfortunately, plans almost never turn out the way I expect. My sweetie-pie, Minh, went out in search of a bicycle shop shortly after we got back from the pre-ride. By the time he got back and fixed the flat and made sure the CO2 valve worked, it was already 7pm.

Here’s picture of Minh working on my bike in the hotel room:

We were meeting my sister’s friend, Henry, for dinner at Karl Strauss at 7:30pm. So.. by the time we got back from dinner, it was already 9pm (I wanted to get to bed by 8.. yea right). Dinner was yummy. Minh and I split the Dirty Bird Mac’n'Cheese. It was better than I thought it would be. Minh also ordered the beer sampler, which he finished.. on his own.

Pre-Race: Where’s the sun?

It had slipped my mind that regardless of whether or not it’s daylight savings time (which it is, yay!), the sun is never out at 5 o’clock in the morning in Southern California. Minh packed a headlamp and I packed a flashlight, but we didn’t mount lights on the bike, so it was an interesting walk/ride to transition in the morning. I opted to not wake up until 5am race morning because that would still give us plenty of time before the race started to set-up and get my wetsuit on. Minh carried the gear while I rode off with my bike to get a good spot on the rack. Even at 5;30am, there was still plenty of space on the rack, so it was easy to get my transition area set-up. After that, i went to get body-marked and wait in line for the port-o-potty. It was a long line, but it moved fairly quickly since there were tons of toilets there.

After my pitstop, I grabbed my backpack to give to Minh (keeping the transition area minimal) and then went to put on my wetsuit. Then it was into the swim start corral with 2000 other athletes. That was quite uncomfortable. The nice volunteers stood with their signs a little too closely together, so we were all bunched together with a lot of people running at the last minute to make sure they made it out with their swim wave. While waiting for my wave (7:25am) to go, we got to see the pros coming back in from their swim… that was pretty cool.

Just keep swimming

I liked the way they staged the swim start. It’s an in-water start, which means that we’re all treading water before the gun goes off and the time starts. The actual swim start was about 75 yards away from the boat launch area (which is where we enter and exit the water). So when the next wave is at the start waiting for the gun, the next wave is at the boat launch waiting to swim out to the start. It was like a little warm-up before the race start, which was nice because we weren’t allowed in the harbor at all before the race. I think some people didn’t understand that the swim from the boat launch to the swim start wasn’t part of the race, because some racers were booking it to the race start. I just swam easy, thinking to myself.. “You’ve got 1.2 miles of this, just start slow.”  Minh had positioned himself at the edge of the floating dock.. perfect place to take the perfect pictures of me out on the swim.

Actually.. I took most of the swim slowly, considering that it was the farthest I swam ever. I topped off my swim training with 2×800 for the last few weeks before the race. Swimming is by far my weakest of the three legs, so my goal was to finish the swim and get on the bike. I was ecstatic to get out of the water. The swim out felt like it lasted FOREVER and I may have swam a zig-zag pattern on the way back in because I couldn’t see the buoys until they were right in front of me (we were swimming into the sun). I ended up having to sight off the other swimmers and just hope that they knew where they were going. There were times during the swim where the water smelled like gasoline, which was uncomfortable, and it also felt like my chipstrap was going to fall off.. but I just kept swimming through it. Another thing that freaked me out a little bit was the other people swimming past me (not around me because, face it, I’m a slow swimmer) because I’ve never swam with other people before. It was weird to be swimming along and then have someone appear to my left or hit my leg or kick near my head (thank God not actually kick my head), but eventually I just remembered that this is a race (not a training session) and that I just need to get to the end.

T1: One leg down, two more to go

Mom, Dad, and Anni were there at T1 waiting for me to get out of the water. That was super up-lifting. I wasn’t too tired, but I did swallow a bunch of water during the swim. So it felt really good to get a swig of fresh water at transition. I took my time at T1, mostly because I couldn’t get my wetsuit off, but also because I needed to adjust to being upright again.

I knew I was slow on the swim, but I didn’t realize how slow I actually was. My bike was the last one on my rack. I didn’t notice, but it was probably the last out of the other racks around also. I did, however, notice that it was not the last in the whole transition area.. that was a good sign.

ALLEZ

The bike leg started off like a dream. The first half (28 miles) was flat and fast and I think there was a tail wind. I hit that first hill with my legs feeling great and only 1 hour and 30 minutes down. If I was smart, I would have trained on hills, then I would have been on my way to a 3-hour bike split. Unfortunately, I hate hills, didn’t train on them, and hadn’t biked more than 40 miles in over a year.

Luckily for me, you don’t DNF a triathlon for getting off your bike. So, when I hit that first hill, I did my very best to get up it. Knowing that I had a little over 26 miles left on the bike (and knowing how I would feel when I got to the top of the hill… i.e. not enough energy to take full advantage of the descent), I opted to walk my bike about 2/3 of the way of that first hill. That was just before mile 30. From that first hill at mile 30 to about mile 52 (or so) it was all hills and cross-winds. Some of the hills I made it up slowly without getting off the bike, a couple others I had to walk (but I wasn’t the only one, so I didn’t feel so shameful about it). The cross-winds were BANANAS!! I was totally getting thrown around on my bike and it made it hard to keep a straight line. I think there were a few racers who probably got knocked over by the wind and pretty banged up (I saw some bloody bandages on the run). I’m lucky that I have no problem going fast on a descent even with a cross-wind (maxed at 36 mph, which is unheard of for me).

The last few miles were easy and flat. A little bit of a headwind, but nothing too bad. My neck and shoulders were killing me, though, from being on my aerobars for so long.

T2: Two legs down, One to go

I was happy to see Angie and Anni when I rolled in to T2. I didn’t take any special notice of how many bikes were around me, but it didn’t look like my rack was full, which means there were people still out there on the bike who had come in from the swim before me. I quickly changed my shoes and grabbed a gel as I ran out of T2. I also opted to wear the hat because it was a hot, bright, sunny, cloudless day in Oceanside.

Run, Tran, RUN!

The run leg was much weaker than I had hoped for. This wasn’t because I hadn’t run more than 8 miles since the Surf City Marathon in February (over a month ago). And it wasn’t because my legs were sore from getting off the bike. It was because I had this painful stomach ache right at the beginning of the run, which lasted the first 7 miles. I had a hard time shaking it, and it just got worst as I jogged along. So I did a lot of walking and breathing and just sticking it out, taking in water and Gatorade in the hopes that it would go away. I think it had something to do with the lack of solid food and continuous supply of gels and water/Gatorade that I was giving my stomach. Or maybe the Powerbar I thought would work for breakfast in lieu of a real solid meal. In any case, I just had to try to ignore it and fight through it, but it made for a painful (and pathetic) run split.

The run felt like the longest 13.1 miles of my life. It was a two-loop out-and-back course, but the “out” part (which was just over 3 miles) felt like hours. The run was pretty flat, which was very relieving. The worst inclines were nothing compared to the bike leg we had just completed. A funny thing happened to me on my first loop, on the way back to the turn-around… I got pooped on by a bird. Just on my left shoulder. At first, I thought that it was just some water that had dripped on me from a nearby runner, but I turned to look, and there it was. A little brown lump on my shoulder. That had never happened to me before. It was rather humorous, I thought. I didn’t have anything to clean it with, so I just flicked it off with my hand, and wiped my hand on my (already dirty) trisuit.

The FINISH

I mustered up all the energy I could towards the end of the run to finish strong. I didn’t do a mad dash to the finish line like I was hoping to, I just didn’t have the energy left. But I was so happy that I stuck it out the whole way through and finished. Sure, my time wasn’t anywhere near what I wanted it to be when I had first signed up for this race, but I still finished. And I think I had a pretty decent time for my first Ironman 70.3 (and only my third triathlon ever).

Here are my stats:

Swim: 0:49:34
T1: 0:06:56
Bike:  3:40:48
T2: 0:03:53
Run: 2:39:30

TOTAL: 7:20:39

1945th out of  2152 finishers

58th out of 64 in my age group (Women 25-29)

Post-Race: I can WALK!

After the race, I immediately got in line for a massage. That felt good. I was surprisingly not as sore as I thought I would be. I thought I was be incapacitated like how I was after the marathon, could barely walk even the next day. But I was totally fine to walk right after I got a little stretch and massage. I grabbed some pizza from the Athlete’s Food tent, and went to transition area (where they were already starting to break down the racks) to pack up my stuff and meet up with my cheering fans. I packed it all up, and Minh took my backpack and my bike, Nick took my bucket, and we all walked back to the hotel.

We cleaned up, and rested for a little while before deciding to catch a movie. We grabbed a sushi snack (no one was super hungry except me), killed some time at the military supplies store (per Dad’s request) and then saw Repo Men (which is not bad or good, but an action film). Afterwards, we went back to the hotel and went to bed (I was tired).

Rest: Almost peaceful

A funny thing about sleeping that night after I had finished the race…. Dad didn’t snore at all until the early morning. The night before the race, it was difficult for me to fall asleep for three reasons: (1) Dad was snoring all night. And not that consistent sound of snoring that you can eventually get used to and ignore. No, Dad’s snoring went in phases throughout the night and changed every hour or so, which meant just as you were getting used to the sound of his snoring, he changed it up on you. (2) The couple next door (or somewhere nearby enough) were having loud sex for half the night. Anni even said that she heard slapping. I only heard moaning, but it was still annoying. (3) Some people across the hall from us (who were obviously not participating in the race) were having a party, or something. They were being loud. So.. those three reasons made my pre-race sleep not very restful or peaceful.

The night after the race, I was able to fall asleep easily because (1) I was tired and (2) Dad didn’t snore at all. Oh.. and we turned the air on, so the room wasn’t crazy stuffy like it was the night before. Unfortunately, it was not in the cards that we should all have a good night’s rest. At about 1am, a group of men (most likely Marines on leave from Camp Pendleton) came back to their hotel room butt-drunk (and probably smelling of seedy bars and strip clubs), yelling and running up and down the halls, wrestling and knocking over stuff in their room, and just generally being loud… and they were in the room across the hall from us. One of them, in particular, was really really drunk and happened to be the loudest of them all… we heard him yelling at his buddies, calling for his friend “Diego”, making up a rap of some sort.. Eventually (after about half an hour or so) I called the front desk (both Mom and Anni protested when I wanted to just go over there and ask them to keep it down because they thought it wouldn’t be safe on account of how drunk they sounded), and they sent someone up to ask them to keep it down. They were much quieter after that, just sitting around and talking (which, with the paper thin walls, still is loud enough to keep us up but not loud enough to warrant another complaint). Unfortunately, after we were all awoken by the ruckus, it was difficult to fall asleep again. And.. the first one to fall asleep was Dad, who almost immediately began to snore. I eventually was able to drown it out and fall asleep, but Anni was awake for at least another 2 hours before she could fall asleep.

The Morning After

The next morning, Minh got up early to try to get a bike ride in before we packed everything up and headed home. He was out for about an hour and hooked up with a couple groups going on Sunday morning bike rides. I got up and started packing things up and cleaning up things around the hotel. We were out of there by about 10am.

We met up with Nick and Angie for breakfast at Buccaneer’s Beach Cafe. It was a surprisingly good breakfast for a little shack by the beach. We got there just in time too, because while we were there eating our breakfast, the kitchen ran out of food and had to close down until lunch time.

After we ate, we said “bye” to Angie and Nick, who were off to Legoland for the day, and then staying the night in San Diego, to spend Monday at Seaworld, and then fly home on Tuesday. I wish I had more time to spend with them while they were down here, but I’m sure they had a great time just the two of them.

Hindsight

Looking back, I had a great time racing, and I’m looking forward to my next races. The first couple triathlons I participated in didn’t nearly give me this feeling of anticipation for my next race. Maybe because I was even more ill prepared for those first two than I was for this one. In any case, even with my lack of proper preparation, I think I did really well. And with a time over 7 hours, I can only improve. I’m definitely looking forward to next year.. And I’m hoping to smash this first race time by at least an hour and a half (10 minutes off the swim, 40 minutes off the bike, 40 minutes off the run). We’ll see if I can live up to my goal in a year.

Till next time… keep smiling.

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