Quad's finally better

My quad is finally better. Per Dr Ota's instructions I ran 2 miles and ran it in 16 min. Another 8 min mile. This time I stretched before and after and am icing the quad as I type this

Injuries are a big pain in the ***

My quad injury is finally getting better. So much that for the first time in almost 10 days, I could go for a run. But I had to cut my 2 mile run short and only ran for 1 mile because the pain started to flare up again. )-:

raise $1,500 = swim 1,500 meters

Thank you all for donating over $1,500 so far to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. As I promised earlier, I would swim 1 meter for every $1 raised. So today I swam 1,500 meters in the Fremont High School pool. 1,500 meters by coincidence is the distance I need to swim in open water for my triathlon. (yes I know, this is lap swimming, I can stop briefly between laps, so it's not the same as open water swimming)

This means however that I have now done all separate legs of my triathlon. 1,500 meters of swimming, 40 km of biking and 10 km of running. Now all I need to do is do these one after the other..... pffff

no Tour de Cure for me today :-(

Lesson #1: always stretch

Lesson #2: don't try to over do it

Lesson #3: getting an injury is not worth it

I woke up this morning with a lot of pain in my left hip and IT band.  Probably because I pushed myself too much Friday night and sat in a bad positing during the D2 soccer cup yesterday. 

Anyways, the result was not good.  Instead of telling you all that I rode 75 km today in the Tour de Cure, I am now at home icing my left side.  No point in pushing myself to a much worse injury.  What a bummer.

Bike Clinic

The TNT bike clinic was totally worth it, even though I could only stay for 1 hr.  I learned several new things.  I look forward to putting some of it into practice tomorrow in my Tour de Cure ride.

New Running Style = 5 miles in 40 min

The new running style I picked up yesterday at the track meet totally paid off.  I ran 5 miles at a 8 minute mile pace.  5 miles in 40 minutes.  AWESOME.  And more importantly, I feel great!

Team Track meet

TNT Team track meeting at Foothill College tonight.  I learned more about running and running style today in 3 minutes than I did ever before.  I can now say that the Team In Training coaches are totally worth it!!!  After some good advice I put down my fastest 800 meter to date.  3:42 (that's ~ 7:24 min mile).   Add a couple of km's, core strength exercises and good stretching to top it all off.

Swimming with Michael Phelps

My highlight of the day...I joined my co-worker Nate today for a lunch time swim at the Santa Clara International Swim Center. Nate tries to go there every day to swim 3 km, but I digress. I swim my 1 km (500 m freestyle and 500 m breast). First time in a 50 m pool so I'm pretty happy and was tapping myself on the back.

Then, low and behold 15 minutes after I leave the pool and my lane, this skinny guy in yellow green speedos with long arms jumps in. Yes, Michael Phelps swam in the same lane I did! And I posted the pictures here to prove it. Turns out this weekend is the 42nd International Invitational Swim Meet and he was doing his warmups today after the public swim, in the SAME LANE I just swam in!!!!!

1200 yards swim

swam 1200 yards today in 30 minutes. And according to mapmyrun.com that would result only in a calorie burn of 271 calories. oh well...

This could have ended way worse

I went for my first bike ride (on the road bike, not the commute bike) in a while.  I was planning to go for a nice 2 hr ride and was looking forward to putting 40-50 km on my bike.  I also put in a nice climb.  Mt Eden Road in Cupertino, if you've ever been there.  Its a nice semi steep 1 mile climb in the Cupertino/Saratoga mountains.  I did it surprisingly fast.  Kept my cadence at around 60 I guess.  I really felt good.  So what went wrong....  As I was starting my descent, my chain broke and got jammed.  I should have stopped earlier since my chain was spilling gears a lot during the ride.  

Had this happened during the climb or while I was going really fast down hill, I may have blogging from my hospital bed instead.  So the bike is in the shop and I really only got 1/2 the work out in that I wanted.  Other than that I feel great.  I think I may even go for a run later this afternoon.

you can see where the chain broke

42 but really feeling like 32

I turned 42 Thursday and celebrated this Thursday and Friday.  My sister sent me a nice hydration belt for me to use during my training.  My in-laws sent some pictures from our wedding 13 yrs ago and I must say that I look pretty much the same as I did in my late 20s (ok that's pushing it, maybe like I did in my early 30s).  The things is that I do feel almost as good.  I don't think I could have done all this running and swimming 10 or so years ago.  The power of exercise!!!

Today we have our first Saturday training meet.  1 hr of running, stretching and yoga and 1 hr of swimming.  Getting there....

First TNT team meeting

Our first track meeting was a bit disappointing.  It was more of a leisurely meet and greet.  we only ran 1.200 meters and did 10 min of Yoga afterwards.  I also had to leave early to be in time for my surprise birthday party.

All in all, I'm starting to feel good about this.

Raise $1,000 -- Swim 1,000 yards

Since all of you donated $1,000 in less than 24 hrs, I felt compelled and obligated to swim 1,000 yards today. I guess that means that when the fundraising total breaks $2,000, I will be swimming 2,000 yards. :-) Nothing like some good motivation to get going. Thank you all for giving me a big kick under the butt.

Got My Speedo's -- YEAH!

I got my speedos and tested them out in the pool today; I swam doe 1/2 mile.  My son was in the pool for this swimming lessons.  So I decided to lap swim for the duration of his lesson.  25 minutes later, I clocked 32 laps which turned out to be about 1/2 mile.  Not bad for my first time in the pool in a while.  (Note, I did take short breaks several times between laps).

And I biked to work today as well.  So 15 miles on the bike and 1/2 mile in the pool.  Not bad.  

And for those of you who want to see me in these speedos, you'll have to come and watch me swim.  :-) 

Started my fundraising - LinkedIn Rocks!!!

I sent a fundraising email yesterday to my LinkedIn contacts within 24 hrs I raised over $1,000. I have very very humbled by this support and your commitment to help me fight blood cancer. THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU.