On the Road – Finally..

Back in the saddle

When we first came over here and saw the road quality around here, I wasn’t so sure that we made the right decision shipping our road bikes over here. Well, we finally got to put some miles on them (together). It was slow and a bit painful, but it was nice to put on a kit and get out on the road (with gears). Here’s a couple time lapse videos of the ride. My GoPro ran out of batteries after we turned around, so it didn’t make it all the way back to the flat.

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At the turn around, we stopped by a little farm store. It was exactly what I want to retire to some day.. a small store off the side of the road with two dogs, plenty of chickens to get eggs from, and TWO PEACOCKS! Just add a dairy cow and a couple goats, and I could retire there… some day.. maybe…

After we got back from the ride, I had a “snack” of veggie spring rolls and Banoffee Frijj Milkshake. And we headed into Nottingham for the rest of our Saturday… including gazelle burger for me (zebra burger for Minh).

After ride snack..

Gazelle burger with caramelized onions

Mellow Weekend

This last weekend (27-28 April) was pretty mellow. Saturday we did a mock ride-to-work to see if it’s something that I would actually want to do. Here’s the route…

Because we stopped a bunch of times to make sure that we were going the right way, the ride to work took about 2 hours. Even if I knew the route pretty well, it would still probably take 1.5 hours… mostly because of having to ride through city centers in the first half and groomed (but not paved) paths on the second half. So probably not going to be riding my bike to work… Might consider it more if I had brought the cross bike.. but oh wells.

We got rained on on the way back, but we managed to get over it. When we got close to the house, I slipped on my pedals trying to clip-in, and hurt myself rather badly… so I used that as an excuse to be lazy the rest of the weekend. During which I caught up on all of my TV shows on Saturday and managed to watch the first five episodes of Game of Thrones Season 2 (yea.. I’m behind) on Sunday. And then I napped because all that TV gave me a massive headache.. go figure. For dinner, Minh and I walked into town for Chinese food.

Just a stroll to town…

Left to Beeston.. Right to ??? (home)

more of the path to town..

I choose you, PIKACHU!!!

I don’t even know…

Construction for a new tramline.. set to open at the END of 2014

The Bee Man, in Beeston

Bees are actually this huge here..

There are four Chinese restaurants in town… we tried Lucky Cantonese to start, just because it seemed to be the busiest at the time. We did a set meal for 2, which was £10 per person. It came with chicken and corn soup, sauteed beef in chili bean sauce, sweet and sour chicken, mixed vegetables in bean sauce, and egg fried rice. It wasn’t bad, but definitely not “authentic” as it claimed to be. Tasted very westernized, like any Chinese takeout place. We’ll have to try the other restaurants to see if they’re any better. Hopefully yes.. one of them is supposed to be so authentic, there isn’t even any English on the menu or on the signs inside the restaurant (The Pink Wing)! Next time…

Starter of prawn chips

Chicken and corn soup.. was better with a dash of pepper

LUCKY CATS GALORE!!

Sweet and Sour Chicken

Beef in Chili Bean Sauce

Mixed veggies in black bean sauce

All this (plus the soup) for £21

At least they have boxes so you can take your leftovers home at this place…

“Thank you for your custom”

Back on the Run

After many many months of not running (and not very much working out at all), I started running again.. sorta. After work, I strapped on my running shoes and went for a jog(ish). The park down the street from the house has a half-mile loop (on a hill) that I gave a shot…

Nice little park just across and down the street from The Grange

Going counter clockwise.. you start with a down hill..

The park borders some private land..

.. with HORSES!!

Uphill is gradual at first.. then steps.. then steeper..

View at the top of the steps..

The park overlooks much of Bramcote

.. including one of MANY churches in the area

Granted, I only did one mile (pathetic!).. and walked most of the uphill (even more pathetic)… but you gotta (re)start somewhere, right? Baby steps… If I keep at this, then I’ll get back to where I was when I first started running… maybe even faster.

Half Marathon Diaries

When I first started running, back in 2008, I was training for my first half marathon, the Disneyland Half Marathon. I hated running, but had given myself a goal of completing a full marathon before turning 25, so I strapped on a new pair of sneakers and got to it. I trained hard for that first half marathon, running 5-6 times per week, but without any real training methodology. My training methodology was go out and run.. no speed drills, no hill repeats, no tempo runs. Sadly enough.. even after a few years of training and racing, I still haven’t learned to really incorporate good training into my schedule. And as you’ve heard me say again and again.. I’m pretty lazy when it comes to training and motivation, and my races lately have been greatly below where I would like to be. The first half marathon was my best, and it’s only been downhill from there. Here’s a list of my half marathon times up to 2012 (NOTE: I completed a few half-iron distance triathlons, which include half marathons for the run, and full marathons during this time, but I’m not including those times here).

Disneyland Half Marathon (31 August 2008) – 2:17:13
Long Beach ICB Half Marathon (8 October 2008) – 2:19:56
Surf City Half Marathon (1 February 2009) – 2:24:56
San Francisco Half Marathon (26 July 2009) – 2:31:06
OC Half Marathon (6 May 2012) – 2:52:18

To start off 2013, I ran the Inaugural New Year’s Half Marathon in Los Angeles over the weekend. This was a night run to kick-off the new year, and of course I had very little training leading up to it. Oddly enough, I completed it in better time than I had my previous half marathon (even if only by five minutes… ), and it was a more difficult course (with more hills than expected). I was happy with my finishing time, considering that the last run I did was a over two months ago and was only a little over 2 miles.. but hopefully this will motivate me to do better. If this is what I can do without any training.. what can I do if I actually focus my training?

Inaugural New Year’s Half Marathon (5 January 2013) – 2:46:58

Check out my makeshift duffle made from the post-race mylar blanket! Styling!

The course was not my favorite… rolling hills throughout the entire course, which was unexpected. I heard someone at about Mile 7 say, “It’s all downhill from here”… but he was wrong. We did get to run around and through Dodger stadium, which was pretty nice, and we got a nice tour of Downtown LA at night, so at least the course wasn’t boring.

Welcome to Dodger Stadium (parking lot)!

Pretty nice.. even if the entire bottom of the stadium and dugouts are all gutted..

How We Roll – Amtrak Century 2011

I did my first century in 2008. Minh and I got it in our heads somehow that 100 miles in one day would be “easy” enough, and we did it with very little training or preparation. Of course, we finished… pretty much the last ones to roll into the San Diego Amtrak Station. I was unable to walk the rest of the evening. Minh went and found us pizza while I laid motionless in the hotel room.

Fast forward 3 years, and Minh and I (somehow) decided to do the Amtrak Century again. And again, we had very little training or preparation. On the up-side, my fitness level is WAY higher than it was three years ago and I also took advantage of the magic of post-ride compression. This year, we were riding with some friends: Chris Nguyen, Albert Nguyen, and Robert Yee. Check out the awesome time-lapse video of our ride.

Video and photos by Robert Yee.

Ride of Silence

Last Wednesday Minh and I participated in the Ride of Silence. The purpose of the Ride of Silence it:

• To HONOR those who have been injured or killed
• To RAISE AWARENESS that we are here
• To ask that we all SHARE THE ROAD

I had heard of this ride before, but had never taken part. It’s definitely a different experience, riding for an hour with no talking. Quite moving to see another a hundred.or.so riders.spread out along the street with police escorts. I can onlyp imagine what the drivers stopped at the intersections thought when they saw us rolling past.

[Will update with pictures as soon as I can find some]

Video by Jim Bishop:

27 Years… and counting…

Thank you everyone for the birthday wishes… and THANK YOU MINH!!! for a wonderful day… as always.

The day started with a road ride in the cool, drizzly morning. We were heading out to Seal Beach in search of OC’s Best New York style pizza (by the slice). The ride was great since we timed it just right to get mostly a tailwind for the majority of the ride.

Seal Beach Pier

Meet Slick.. the Seal Beach "seal" (actually a sea lion)

Red Car "Museum" (not open) in Seal Beach

Coffee break! (look at those cute mini cinnamon rolls!)

Poor man's "lock" = intertwining our helmet straps (forgot the real lock at home)

Lunch at Slice of New York Pizza

On the ride back, we noticed tents set-up at the Huntington Beach Pier and stopped to see what was going on. Ends up that this weekend is the Annual Duck-a-Thon at the pier. We didn’t stay to watch the ducks get released, but I’m sure it was quite the site.

Little duckies ready for a swim...

The rest of the afternoon was spent relaxing, watching TV, and an early-ish dinner with friends. Overall, very low key, but a very good birthday. Here’s to hoping that rest of my birthdays are just as enjoyable.

On the Trails: Santiago Truck Trail to the Luge

Last last Saturday (March 12), Minh and I were out volunteering as flaggers for the Santiago Canyon Time Trial. I’ve considered actually participating in the race, but I’m so slow going through the canyon that I’d probably start first and end up last to cross the line.

Manning the "Tunnel"

Since we were out in the area, we decided to get a nice mountain biking ride in. Minh let me choose the trail (like he always does.. except this time he didn’t say: “Are you sure you want to do that trail.. ??”). I decided on Santiago Truck Trail to the Flagpole, then down the Luge. I’ve never been up to the Flagpole and never ridden down the Luge, so it was all new to me. The ride was actually pretty tough. First, you have to climb up Modjeska Grade Road, which is no easy feat. It’s steep and long. I managed ok with my granny gear, but Minh had to walk quite a bit of it since he’s running a 1×9 on his mountain bike.

Once you get past that devil of a climb, then it’s fairly “easy” climbing to the top. There are some steep sections, but it’s mostly rideable if you’re in shape. I can’t remember if Minh said it was worst or easier than Blackstar, but I was dying. There were several times that Minh said we should turn back because of my unsteady heavy breathing (I think he was afraid I was going to throw up), but I told him to keep going. We took several breaks, but eventually made it to the TOP!

First time at the Flagpole.. signed my name and everything...

The view is pretty nice at the top too.

View from the Top.. pretty nice if you ignore the smog..

Now it was time for the “fun” part. I have to say that for me, going down the Luge was fun, even though I went really slowly. It’s the longest stretch of technical single-track that I’ve ever done, but in the end, I kinda loved it. Once I get a better grip on my bike handling skills, I think I could take it a lot faster and make it even more fun (maybe add some elbow and knee pads in there). Minh, on the otherhand, didn’t enjoy it so much.. but he also doesn’t really like downhills or singletrack… or really mountain biking for that matter.

A Little Preview – Bonelli Park

Coming out of the “off-season”, I knew I would be out of shape… but I didn’t really anticipate how severe my laziness and lack of training really affected my overall endurance, fitness, and ability to ride/run/swim/train.

The weekend before the US Cup race at Bonelli Park, Minh and I headed out to do a little course recon and to determine whether or not I thought I’d be in any shape to race. We quickly discovered that I wasn’t in any shape to be racing… the new course is a lot “more fun”, which means more technical, more punchy, and less forgiving. My bike handling skills just weren’t up for what would be a brutal beat-down the following weekend, but I was glad we got a preview of the course (rocky downhills, singletrack switchbacks, off camber, rock gardens, logs and all…).

Here's Minh riding through some singletrack with a nervous look on his face...

While we were out there, we did a pre-ride of the Xterra Renegade course that I will be racing in April. The course is the same as last year (at least that’s what we assumed), which meant that I had already done the course before. There’s just one hike-a-bike section that will slow me down, but for the most part, the course is completely ride-able and with some focused training, should be fairly “easy”. I’m actually pretty excited about this race, which will be my first triathlon of the year! Now if only I could get my legs to cooperate so that I could get some good runs in.

Dirty dirty bikes after the ride.. thanks to all the mud...

After the ride, we stopped by The Hat for some pastrami and delicious onion rings… grease and fat – the two necessary ingredients for the perfect pre-ride meal… yum!

Condiments GALORE at The Hat!

mmm.... Patrami...

greasy and delicious onion rings

The FOCUS Challenge from Cotter Crunch

Seems like ever since I went into the “off-season”, I’ve been in a rut in terms of fitness and training. It’ll be a long road back to where I was for Silverman (and that wasn’t even where I wanted to be). I’m slowly heading back into regular training, but my mind set is not focused on it. So… I’m trying the Focus Challenge from Cotter Crunch. You can check out all the details on her blog HERE.

I’m kicking off the challenge with the Fountain Valley Community Center Fit to be Square 5K tomorrow morning. Come out and join me if you’re free. And check back in 10 days to see how I faired with the Focus Challenge.