Triathlon Hell Part 1

Okay those aren't the Zipps but they ARE a spare. Tri shoes, helmet and other such musings..
Madeline looking every so puuuurdy

When sex met carbon fiber and had a baby..PRO missle stem with SRM and Di2 [shudder]

Part 1 in a series of 3, describing my trials and tribulations as I wrestle my [skinny] [AND vegan] arms around the world of multi-sport.

For the past 2.3333333333333 months, I've been doing multi-sport training. Waking up at ungodly hours of the morning to haul my skinny ass in a pool and swim it out with the rest of the fish. Sometimes, these would be 100, 200 even 1000 m intervals in the pool; othertimes, it would involve zipping up the wetsuit and doing my best sea lion impression in the cold waters of the San Francisco Bay Area. And when I mean cold, I mean holy-shit-I'm-freezing-my-Hawaiian-ass-off cold. In fact, I'll go on record and say Meg Whitman isn't that cold!

And after swimming until my arms felt like they were going to fall off, I had to get on the bike and then run it out in the afternoon. Without question, these are the two strongest sports in my multi-sport 'aresenal' and the two I would rely on most come race day. So take all that, compound that for days and months [2.33333333333333333 to be exact!] and you've got the culmination of my efforts leading into the Santa Cruz Triathlon, Sept. 26, 2010, a day which will live in infamy!

To start with, I had the entire familia regalia out in force. My mom, your mom, my dad, my hermano Andy, his wife Katy, young William [who just turned one!] and Ms. Denise all tagged along for the sojourn to Santa Cruz. You probably want to know what I packed and all so I included that in the above photos. We had all kindsa drinks [just water really....], mixtures, zipp 303s, running shoes, glasses, BME kit, etc, etc. The trip started off with a flat tire...well, the tread literally tore off the tire! FAIL. So we went back, changed it out and then started again. Sigh....

And so we made our way to Santa Cruz and the drive was shy of breath-taking. Lots of produce stands...artichoke and avocados as far as the eye can see. What's a skinny vegan supposed to do except look and drool?

After picking up the registration packet at the expo, I surveyed the course and made the following observations:

1) Shit, the swim looks as daunting as the choppy water.

2) See 1).

3) The bike course is undulating but mostly flat...obviously, there are NO climbs and NO mountains. Darn and darn.

4) The run course has slight inclines followed by slight declines. Maybe 3% gradient at most but otherwise, flat run-in to the finish.

Good. Course recon check! Bananas? Check! Vegan burrito? You know it. Next stop...Sunday....Eagle Day....Race Day.

NOTE: [I made up Eagle Day but it's actually a real day used in the Battle of Britain movie...yea...didn't think I knew that did ya!]

Watt-fest Tuesdays

Thusfar, Tuesdays for me have been triathlon-Tuesdays.

Not a full triathlon but a day where I will complete swimming, cycling and running...just not all at once.

Unfortunately for me though, the day got off to a rough start.

Woke up and realized I forgot my wallet [last time that happened I was in middle school]. FAIL

At the pool I realized I forgot my goggles AND swimming cap. Double FAIL.

Then, like an absolute dipshit, I try and swim in the water. Triple FAIL.

All those failures makes it seem like a Raider game huh? Except not this past Sunday..because the Raiders won a game!!!

Yes, yes, for all that don't know, I follow Raider football like I follow cycling: with enormous passion and an inclination to check all things Raiders and all things cycling [thank you, ibabuzz.com/raidersblog and cyclingnews.com].

After my terrible terrible attempt to swim intervals, I drowned my misery in some hearty oatmeal topped with agave syrup 2 whole bananas and some raw vegan chocolate 'raw-nola'. Gimmie two bowls of that and suddenly the war in Afghanistan looks remotely positive. With a full stomach, quality trance music playing on the iPhone, Tuesday workday passed by and I suddenly found myself mounting Madeline [that's my bike's name! sheesh!] getting ready to throw down the intervals. Mind you, I'm racing on Sunday so this was to simply open the legs up a bit - however, it turned into so much more. I realized my Zone 4 power threshold has gone up, Zone 3 tempo is in the 300s and all in all, I think I'm actually LOSING weight [bib shorts are a little loose...]. My last 3 x 3 minute intervals were awful. I felt I was dying a slow death which wasn't fun and after all that nonsense I went running for a nice 20 minute 'jog'. Whew.

Getting cooler and darker here in the Bay Area. Right about now....sure wish I was back on the islands of Hawaii. Oh wait! I will be!

More to come on that later.... :-)

Less than 10 days left!

Holy crap! I'm racing on Sunday! No way? Way!
Crazy right....and so begins triathlon tomfoolery sans the water bottles hanging out the okole!
but before I get into my expectations of the race [which are pretty low to say the least] it's time to finish this series with the 'likes'.

-------------------------------------------------
Things I like about triathlons
-------------------------------------------------
1) Arm muscles - I gotta say, I thought i'd never get biceps or triceps...ask Michael and he would tell you I still dont have em! But yes, dare I say, the peashooter arms are slowly - ever so slowly - becoming arms that resemble something of the humanistic form. That or somebody has been sipping me some animal protein in between my sleep. Hmmm....

2) Riding the TT rig - I love riding the road bike but riding the TT rig everywhere is so damn cool! Especially when it's a) Madeline and b) Di2 shifting [pressing buttons son!] and finally c) it's really not butter! It's buttery smooth to shift gears on the bike by pressing buttons...such a fun thing to do...thank goodness for Shimano, Sony and all the other Japanese electronic companies that give me reason to wake up and invest!

3) Balance - Now this one is crucial. For a long long loooooooooooooooooooooong ass time, I've asked myself the following question: Am I a cyclist in a runners body or a runner in a cyclists body? Well, since becoming a triathlete I can safely say I am a cyclist in a runners body. Let's face it, I gotta thing for when the road tilts up and I'm on my bike. Anything that involves lots of attacking at over 660 watts makes like the fire in my trousers. Then again, running 5 min miles aint too shabby either especially when you can repeat these efforts. That's how you know you're getting somewhere! But now, I get to do two things that give me extreme happiness: running and cycling. And thank the lord for that.

Only 10 days left?!?!

So Ms. Denise and I were chit-chatting and she pointed out that I have only 10 days left before my first ever triathlon. Yes indeed, such is the case. As the 26th of September bears down upon us, I figured it would be best to take a moment to see what's happened. As of today, I've been straddling the line between bike-racer / triathlete for the past 2 months and have enjoyed every bit of it. However, as with everything, there are parts that I like and dislike.

DISLIKE:
1) Swimming - What can I say about this one...I'm skinny [but wasn't always like that!] and therefore, I SINK in the water. Truth is, I don't pack a lot of mass in my upper body and so my arms always feel like lead weights in the water. Let's make no illusions about it: I SUCK at swimming. Will it get better over time? You bet your ass it wil...

2) PAM Spray - Not vegan? Hold your horses Nancy. This isn't to eat. Triathletes must spray themselves with PAM on parts of their body to get the wetsuit to come off easier. Do I do this? Nope. Will I? Probably not. However, I witness it.

3) Waterbottles out the okole - C'mon..any roadie will tell you that having water bottles shooting out your arse is extremely frowned upon in cycling. Triathltes just say 'get over it'. I say: Once a roadie, always a roadie. NEVER EVER EVER will I stoop so low to have bottles out the ass.

4) Choppy water - This needs no explanation. Combine rough water with the fact that I sink in the ocean and you've basically got Titanic Part Deux except without so many people. I'm Jack [Leonardo DiCaprio] sans the douchebag haircut and cheesy I'm-a-figure-drawing-artist-pick-up-lines.

5) [and I guess this is a run off of 4] INGESTING salt water. It's hard not to when you're swimming. Doubly hard when you're swimming in open water and you're all full of lactic acid. I swear, I must take in so much salt water it's no wonder my salt values are always high despite my high sweat-rate on the run!

6) Sockless [running and] Cycling - C'mon. Really. I mean...seriously? Triathletes dont wear socks to increase transition speed among the disciplines. I agree with the concept however, I don't think I'm at the point where I can get used to it. I tried it out a couple of times and was left with bloody blisters from my shoe material scrapping against my bare skin. No bueno. Eventually, I'll have to bite the bullet on this...for now, I'll take my feet the way they are currently...ya know...not bleeding. :-)

tomorrow the LIKES! That'll be enough to tide you over hopefully.

Aiyah! 1.5 hours @ 308 Watts?

Admit it! You wouldn't immediately think: Scottish dude on a bike who can cycle and surf. Neither did I. Until we went up Tantalus Road....

Whoa! Dare I say the boy is getting there. Silly Weegan!

Un momento!!

For some reason, my legs felt really good yesterday so I figured I should go out there and give them a steady workout with some threshold work. That turned out to be a VERY GOOD IDEA. Now, in a triathlon, 'threshold' is n doubt in the pain cave but not in the red-zone. It's a very bearable state of unbearableness. That is, you can endure the suffering - albeit, not for too long! In the middle of this ride I threw in some quality attacks; specifically 12 attacks, each one over 15 sec in duration, each one at or near 660 watts. That felt pretty good too so safe to say the form is coming around. However, I cannot help but feel so compelled to get on the bike and just go back to cycling. Truth is, I love cycling and ya know, I don't think I'm shabby at it. Then again, I ain't chump change at running either ;-)

In other recent news Ms. Denise and I have been having fun trapsing around town, eating indian food and running [she's the runner though...I'm a runner in a cyclist's body]. Her, like many others, are getting used to sight of me using my iphone to check cyclingnews.com religiously. Another common site to see is legs propped up and watching La Vuelta A Espana on the internet-O [while wolfing down on bananas]. One thing that is very noticeable with me nowadays - more so now that I am a triathlate newbie - is how much I am sleeping. Getting over 7 hours of sleep doesn't cut it anymore and it seems like something along the lines of 8 hours would suffice. However, I also have a day job....

Speaking of day job, let me give a heartfelt congrats to my good friend and guy who mentored me up in cycling, Mike Z. He is a national champion for track cycling. How cool is that...to say I know one is pretty gnarly within itself...to say I got routinely humbled by one daily while on training rides is an entirely different story! It was also thanks to him that I got addicted to all things Above & Beyond [really good dance DJs] and Anjunabeats. So when you hear the headphones blaring with some Armin Van Buuren you know who to thank...

Well, that's all for this update. I threw down some so-so intervals on la biccicleta yesterday and now I have some V02 max shiete to do on the [running] track. Specifically, 8 x 400m sprints with each lap in the mid 60s. Ouch. I am also coaching girls basketball this fall for my buddshist church here so practice begins in October. Hmm...maybe I should read a book? Nah! Don't tell my dad though! Keep it real knuckleheads! goodnite Canada!

p.s. if you don't already have it, swing on over to iTunes and peep the new Armin Van Buuren CD mirage. I suggest the following songs: Coming Home and Not Giving Up on Love.

V02 Max interval days on the bike..OUCH!

que pasa amigo!? Those are 4 x 4 minute intervals [probably could have done 5], all of which were done at X > 378 watts, topping out @ 392 watts for 4 minutes. All I gotsta say about that is good laaaaaaaaaaawd that boy likes pain!

Heh..it's certainly been a hot minute since I've done V02 intervals on the biccicleta but last nights workout called for such a performance. Violent, painful and extreme agony are the words I use to describe last nights pain session. My legs were screaming and it's really humbling to hear your voice breathing so loudly. If my silly NatChamp Scot friend was here he would probably make some doofy comment about my 'running lungs' but I'll save that for another blog post.

This was a very good night for intervalling and while I had the power to eek out one more rep, I figured 4 was enough for now! I am learning not to sacrifice QUALITY over QUANTITY - not that I ever did. At least, that's what she did NOT say! Ahaha! bam! Haven't heard me say that one in a while huh!

On other recent news, I, like all the employees at VegNews, have discovered the beauty that is Diaya 'weegan' cheese! Most 'alternative' cheese you can buy at WholeFoods actually have some milk in it - again, it pays to be a label-reader-er-er-er-er-er! However, daiya is completely soy free, gluten free and cruelty free! And best of all, it melts and tastes like mozzerella [I probably butchered that spelling, ironic given that I'm part eye-talian]. Point is, daiya is now a staple topping for me in my vegan brown rice pasta [along with loads of raw vegan parma and roma tomatoes].

In less exciting news, I had a salad today at this build-your-own-salad bar known as Mix'd Greens. It's essentially a fancy shmancy salad bar catering mainly to overweight single bankers and brainwashed women that a) can't believe it's not butter and b) are slaves to oprah and ellen. This was the first time for me to try and it it will be close to the last. For $9 I got a salad of mixed butter and romaine lettuce along with: grilled portabello mushrooms, avocado, rosemary potatoes, marinated tofu and grilled zucchini. Dare I say it, I can make a better salad that's cheaper from Whole Foods! Nonetheless, if it gets the aforementioned bankers and the aforementioned oprah-watching-chai-tea-guzzling women away from eating at McDonald's I'm all for it...except the fact that there is a McDonald's across the street from the salad joint. FAIL.

Weegan Power Output

To give you a comparison, Bradely Wiggins, a TT specialist can put out 367 watts for an hour long TT. I myself have only done 310 watts for an hour [this ride was 304 watts for the hour]. Ouch....thats demoralizing. Oddly, he and I are equally stick figures with respect to skinniness but he has a good 8-10 kg on me!

So one common misconception among cyclists - especially the ones I keep in contact with - is that vegans lack power because we lack 'animal protein'. Specifically the kind of protein you get when you ingest raw cow, baby goat, and filets of sushi-grade tuna. Now, having indulged in these foods before, I am quite aware of how tasty they are, despite their horrendous effects with respect to animal rights. But before I go off on another veganized rant of all things wrong with the food pyramid and then declair war on America's diet pyramid, let me stop myself now and get into the notion of power. In cycling, the true objective measure of power is wattage - everything is measured in watts. Fortunately for me - and all others owning an SRM - wattage is attainable to all cyclists who are willing to invest in the fancy whizbang gizmo known as an SRM power meter.

So last night, I take the TT biccicletta out for a quiet spin. This was not an all out f*ck-fest of pain and suffering but a very bearable one. I was to keep the heart rate below 170 bpm on the climbing intervals and every 2.5 minutes, attack [on the climb] @ X > 650 watts. Sounds like a lot of fun and really interesting training huh!? So I did just that and was surprised by the output myself. In truth, this is NO WHERE near the big boys of the pro tour. In fact, I'd get dropped from the gruppetto [the struggling group of big legged sprinters that get dropped on the climbs from the light weight skinny kine!]. Then again, the big boys dont get off their bikes and run 13.1 miles huh? ;-)

Nonetheless, I have put on my blog, a YHP running first! Some power output from last nights hour long ride. Nothing especially epic as most of the power was pretty meh with the intervals coming into play every now and again, but it clearly paints one picture: vegan boys got some power. And while the only source of 'animal protein' I get is the occassional bug that flies in my mouth when I'm running / cycling, I am still proud of the output after only 1 year and 2 months being on the bike! Now all I need to do is get the big big legs like Cancellara and then we'll be okay but until then, loads of brown rice and kim chee will have to suffice....

not that I'm complaining mind you! :-)

Pizza Sundays!

Looking good and tasty right! Feet up, live band playing hippy music...I'M DONE!

My gosh this weekend went by ever so quickly! And what can I say it was filled with? Well, I'll describe each day for ya so buckle in, blend a green smoothie and get your fat okole [ass] back here and read this post!
---------------------------------------------------------------

Waiting while you blend a smoothie...
---------------------------------------------------------------

So yeah, Friday was a rest day and that translates to one thing for vegan boy: FOOD. Yes, yes, I took the wonderful opportunity to 'binge eat' on all things quality and vegan. That includes all kinda [soy] yogurts topped with mounds of fruit and not to mention some mango tea from Hawaiian Tea Co. Because nothing says 'Aloha Friday' quite like lounging around in an Aloha shirt for the better part of a day, working away on the computer on some SQL code. :-)

Saturday was the day I would meet my maker! It started off well with a small [and I mean tiny] cup of decaf coffee [first time in weeks!] and a vegan scone from Peet's [gluten free too!]. Afterwards, it was off to the frigid [and I mean 55 degree water] waters of San Franicsco where a 30 minute swim in VERY CHOPPY water awaited me. Let's just say I wasn't worried about my sodium levels after that swim. I swear, I must have ingested so much salt water but it was good to be out there. Thank goodness for that wetsuit too! Good laaaaaaaaaaaaawd where would I be if I was just a skinny Hawaiian vegan boy trying to fight the Pacific Ocean! One thing was pretty cool though which was I saw a sea lion swim a few meters next to me!

After that, hopped on the bike for intervals..and these were hellish intervals. I had to do them on an indoor trainer because Evelyn's shifter broke and needed to be sent in. So I punished myself on the bike for a good 1.5 hours and by the end, I was sopping wet in sweat. I didn't even bother putting on a shirt..I was in a corner, shirt off, heart rate monitor on, shorts and shoes. I went through 2 aero bottles of water which had an ill effect on my stomach because....

...I had to run afterwards! That was a descending pace run of mile intervals. First 2 miles hurt like hell...stomach cramps and then my calves were all outta wack as the transition was lightening fast. But somehow, I got through and clocked my last mile @ 5:33 pace and then I was all through wtih that kablooey.

Sunday rolls around and my legs are feeling REALLY good. And I mean like, REALLY good. I go for ANOTEHR swim in the bay and do really well [once again I think I'm getting arm muscles!]. Then I head out for a recovery run...10 miles at a 6:37 pace. Easy peasy lemon squeezie. And what better way to end a Sunday and spend a Sunday afternoon then at Whole Foods binge eating. And for $9.94, that plate has 2 slices of gluten-free vegan pizza, 1 soymilk protein odwalla drink and then 1 vitamin water sweetened with stevia. Not shabby...throw in a triathlete magazine to boot and the only thing that can top that is the lates ProCycling magazine!

...and for those watching the Vuelta [pronounced Woo-elta en espanol] Igor Anton is a BEAST son! How do you turn the 53 on a 24% finishing climb! that's stupid watts!!!!

Nonsense with Mike Chua

Whose that's handsome devil!? And those ARMS?! More than peashooters! ya jerks!

Today was nice because:

a) I'm not eating lunch alone like my loser-ish personality :-) That or I'm vegan so people think 'oh he's tooooo healthy for me!'. At least, that's what the girls at Cosmpolitan said about me!! Ahh, clearly I had too much fun with yesterday's blog post!

b) Mike Chua and I met for lunch and walked, talked and consumed calories. Mike, and he'll make NO SHAME about saying so, is a carnivore. He eats animals...mama animals, baby animals, etc. You name it. If it breaths and has 2 eyes he'll eat it. Going further, if it has a PULSE he'll eat it! But somehow, someway, he puts up with me and doesn't mind me giving him shit [more often than not it's vice versa!]

Anyways, we had some epic moments. Let's revisit them:

1) Alex: When was the last time you had Korean Mike?

Mike: Hmmm....

Alex: You know, like some Kim Chee Ji Ghae and Soju?

Mike: Oh you mean Korean FOOD!?

hahhah epic!

2) Alex: Mike you've been rather quiet lately about the guns [looking down at arms RIPPING through shirt! haah I make no lie, I have typical cyclist arms which means I have no arms!]

Mike: What guns?

Alex: [flexing my tricpes] Oh these ones right here! bam!

Mike: Well, they are well concealed weapons!

...ouch

And to cap it all off he took a photo of me in front of a rocket ship. In my typical cycling face: mouth open, tongue out, squinting!

Going Bananas!

Ms. Denise, post-run Banana. gotta love it!

I admit, this is an old pic but still conveys the idea what I'm like post-workout. Just about ready to slaughter an entire banana plant. :-)

Dang, bananas are so good, EVEN MIKE Z likes em! Gives the phrase 'Be like Mike' an entirely new meaning!

My oh my how time flies by when you're having fun [flogging yourself daily on the bike, run and then swim portion of things].

My mom goes 'son, each time I get up and check your blog and hope to see a new post...only to be met with disappointment.'

Denise goes: 'in between work and running I check your blog and come up empty handed....'

USWeekly says: 'Alex, when he remembers to write, is a pretty funny kid. However, his issue is remembering that he even has a blog!'

Time Magazine wrote: 'I'll bet he thinks he's being cute right now.....'.

Alex's response: 'Oh I don't think I'm being cute!'

In fact, the anxiety was too much, soon-to-be-Tiger-Woods's-ex-wife Elin Nordegen said: 'I've been through hell [waiting for Alex to blog]'

Even Lady GaGa chimed in with a few words: 'dont call my name dont call my name...Alejandro!'

Goodness gracious! Some pretty epic responses no! Anywho, it goes without saying that I welcome my new blog follower [follower numero ocho!]. Welcome to the blog! I hope you find it helpful but as a warning, vegan tomfoolery is boundless not to mention how ridiculous my exaggerations are!

But anyways, I'm back blogging and as usual, back training. I've got 1 month to go before the big day. Before all that is right with the world clashes with all that is wrong with the world. This is more than vegan boy vs. triathlons, this is more than lakers vs. celtics, this is more than east vs. west...this is....the essence of class struggle.

Okay, that's an exaggeration too....about the whole lakers celtics thing. Pffft, no where close! :-) Anyways, seems like weeganism and banana-eating is having an effect on people! Just take a look at Ms. Denise and Mike wolfing down on bananaEs [not a typo!]. Who knows, you could be going ape too!

Fellini's w/ Denise + Transitioning-ing-ing-ing

Did I end up eating the whole thing? Not entirely. Denise had 2 slices...AND THEN I ate the rest :-)

NOTE: while she has the capacity to eat all that in ONE SITTING, she exercised MODERATION. A quality buddhist trait!

But before all that good stuff~! I totally sold out and went to Sports Basement this weekend and cashed in on my riches that I won in my running races to go gear shopping! Yes! And what was on my new-toy list you say? A wetsuit, tri-top and tri-bottoms. Whoa nelly this was an interesting thing. I, for one, had never put on a 'tri-specific' wetsuit before....now, I've been in some tight places [that's what I said!] but this wetsuit was an epic first for me. Damn thing took over 10 mins to put on correctly! It's ridiculously tight [thats what....imma get carried away] and form-fitting. In fact, the first time I put it on it was too 'loose' and we notched it up 2 more inches [save it, already on it!]. Felt like I was going to pop an artery out!

Let me also say thank goodness I shave my legs! Holy crap! If you're considering doing tri's and you do NOT already shave your legs...consider this fair warning. W-O-W! The tri top is a sleeveless jersey that shows off my pea-shooter arm muscles [if you even can call them that] and my funky cycling tan lines which I'm always proud to show off. What I FORGOT to get because a certain someone FAILED to remind me as usual were my compression socks - a new pair that is. Sigh...looks like we'll have to make ANOTHER trip! :-)

Anywho, after that nonsense I did some real brick training [this is when you are practicing transitions from one sport to the other, specifically, the bike to the run]. I've been doing alright in cycling and in running but for sure, my first EVER transition was miserable! I did some okay work on the biccicletta and then quickly transitioned to running. I knocked mile 1 out in 5 min 29 sec. Faaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaar too fast for right now. And then I proceeded to die a slow and miserable death after that. Sigh...FAIL.

So to make up for it, I grabbed Denise and she and I headed to Fellini's where we indulged in delcious [vegan] EYE-talian food. You'll see there a daiya [soy-cheese] pizza with soyrizo, mushrooms and tomatoes accompanied by her pasta which she had to make an ENORMOUS SACRIFICE: she had to leave out the anchovies cuz my black ass won't have it. And so, like a good trooper she did just that and we had an enjoyable meal. And then, off to bed to wake up and bury myself all over again. Such is life. :-)

Day in the life: Fish / Cyclist / Hare

A lot of you have been curious how life / the workouts have changed since transitioning to triathlons [get it?! transition?! sigh...you're all hopeless :-)]

So I figured I'd just give you a 'day in the life of ___________' yours truly. It's pretty ridiculous. Being a triathlete is like working a second full time job with respect to tme and energy. It seems that at every free moment, I'm either getting ready to workout, eat or sleep. Not much in between there huh? Well, here's the basic gist of it...

5:45 - 6:13am: Snoozing and practically throwing my iPhone against the wall in my failed attempt to sleep more. This part of my day really, really sucks.

7am: Arrive @ the gym. Time to get wet and wild.

7 - 7:45am: Swimming workout. This generally leaves my arms feeling like crap. Well, who am I kidding, I aint got no arms! :-p

8am: Arrive @ work.

8am - 12: Eating and working. If I'm running during lunch then I'll stop eating around 2 hours before the workout so everything digests nicely and I'm not left with my stomach turning circles.

12-1:15: Run workout. Normally this doens't kill me...yet.

1:25: Back at the office and eating my lunch at my desk.

5pm: Hit the road jack.

5:35: arrive at home, quickly change and then its time to hit the road [yet again]

5:40 - 7:30: cycling. Finally, my emotional release.

8pm: First meal down the hatch followed by a shower. Lately, the post ride fuel has consisted of yogurt, bananas and lotsa blueberries. Yum yum.

9pm: Dinner time!

After dinner, it's you know who time,

[note the comma!]

The Weegan/Buddhist Dilemma

Just look at all that cruelty! And to think, I was flipping that nonsense! Outrageous!

You cant see it well enough I think but atop of that ladder was a fan blowing cool air that hopefully originated from the Hawaiian islands and not the bathroom that was next to the grilling area.

So a couple of weekends ago, I participated in my buddhist temple's obon festival! Now, for those that dont know, Obon is a Japanese holiday celebrated in the summer to honor those who have passed. Typicall obon lasts 3 days in Japan and during that time people visit the gravesite, clean the tombstone and....and.....there's a celebration invovled with dancing, food, and good times to be had by all. In Hawaii there is an entire season seeing as how the vast majority of Japanese on the islands are buddhists anyways. However, the bay area does not have that concentration of Japanese the way Hawaii does [by way of size, the Bay Area is too vast to have concentrations].

Anyways, my church is the Buddhist Church of Oakland, AKA the OBC. During this time, I was volunteered to help do the most anti-vegan of vegan things known to man kind. FLIP STEAKS. Let's think about this. I'm vegan therefore I dont eat meat. I'm buddhist therefore I wouldnt eat any type of animal anyways. And yet, here I am flipping steaks. Hmmm...

In all honesty I have come to realize that not everybody is vegan or cares to be vegan. Fine, I get that. And desptie my feelings about flipping cruelty to serve others cruelty [so that they can ingest cruelty and BECOME cruel!] I willingly did this because this world is more than just weegans and non-weegans. But yes, the irony of the situation caused this post which I was relecutant to even post! But I figured, I've written far worse - and I'm not just talking about my obvious mistakes in the english language either!

Mama Tellez came out to visit me and the whole day was nice. I was flipping cruelty and sipping on water, conversing with other die-hard 'buddhists' about the joys of bbqing outside with friends and family. I was always offered food and rather than say 'No, I'm cruelty-free' I knew that would make them feel like jerks so instead I said I had eaten my share already before my shift.

And therein lies my first ever VEGAN FAIL!

But ya know, I had a good time meeting new people and I remember walking inside my home and telling my mother that for the first time in I cant remember how long, my clothes reeked of BBQ. At the end of the day, I realize that being vegan has its complications...we are ethically bound to not eat meat or exploit animals in anyway. I'm down with that. I also understand though that not everyone is vegan or cares to be vegan. I'm down with that too. That's their trip and their cup of tea. I think too often vegans are so quick to judge others because of our uber-cool knowledge of all things cruelty-free and the deliciousness of a well-ripened peach.

At the end of the day, we're all under the same damn roof, even if my roof is made cruelty-free. See, even vegans make sacrifices! ;-)

5k Run Test

One happy family. And we all know, happy families come from California...in addition to our cheese...which I wouldn't know about anymore. But yeah.

3 Tellez Men.

young william, AKA Squinty McGuinty

Man, when was the last time I ran a 5k?

Well, let's think all the way back to my time on the islands and the Jamba Juice 5k run around beautiful - and I mean BEE YOU TI FUL - Magic Island, HI. At the time, I was very, very new to running and still not as 'fit' as I would have wanted to be. Long story short, I turned in a time of 17:21 sec for the 5k, averaging a 5:28 sec mile. That was only my second ever running race. Not shabby eh!

So this past Friday, I had to do a 5k running 'test'. Not a race, but just a test to gauge my level of fitness 4 weeks of base building and running. And the results you say? Well, I was a bit shocked myself...I ran a sub-16 min 5k. Now, normally that's nothing to write home to mom about but really, that's after 4 weeks of running. Can you imagine what this will be come January of next year?!?! Lots to be excited about there.

This weekend, we were also blessed to have celebrated 3 birthdays in my immediate family! My older brother, Andres, his wife Katy and my Dad! People very very close to me and my inner circle of people who I would no sooner vouch and trust my life with. In addition to that, I got my SRM back [fiiiiiiiiiiinnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnally!] and was able to get on the TT biccicleta this weekend which was a lot of fun. It's always good to pound on the bike and I couldn't be happier! :-)

1,000 Yards

1,000 yards is significant as this is an accepted 'Time Trial' for swimming. Now, granted that's a cool 400 yards LESS than what I need to be churning out but let's face it, this vegan boy isn't made for swimming long ass distances like that. I need to be on a bike [climbing my ass off] or running [my ass off]. That's where I'm comfortable. Swimming has been good and dare I say, I've started to develop something resembling some arm muscles - let's not get carried away now!

The time wasn't too shabby @ sub 17 mins but not nearly where it needs to be. Holy crap there are some guys that are smoking fast and SCARY fast in the water. Guess what? I'm not one of them. Turns out that fast swimmers are a) tall and b) heavier [not weeeegan]. Odd isn't it...

One amazingly positive thing that happened was my SRM finally [and I mean FINAAAAAAAAAAALLY] came in the other day. Whew. I can breathe. Now alls we gotta do is strap the BRAND SPANKING NEW SPEEDPLAY TRACK ZEROS [!!!!!!!!!!!] on those things and we're ready to rock out with the ............ out.

Alright, I'm nearly dead and my arms are damn near falling off me from that effort. Nighty night.

So What's all this big news anyways?!

dang! She has bigger arms than me!

As promised [like a week ago! ahem!], I have some big news to deliver. Not big like godzilla-goes-to-Tokyo big but certainly enough for me to take not and blog about. You're probably thinking 'Ill bet it's cuz that man has nothing better to do in his life!?' You're not far from the truth but that's a completely seperate story you smart-ass. :-)

I'd like to take this blog post and tell you that for my triathlon endeavor, I've decided to hire a triathlon coach that a) has actually done a few triathlons, b) coaches the USA National Team @ the Boulder training center in CO and c) has even won a few MAJOR MAJOR triathlon cups herself! [there are too many wins to list so this is the first that shows up on Wikipedia.org]. She practically won every single World ITU race there is...TWICE. Her name is Melissa Mantak and she'll be in charge of training me for my first every Olympic Triathlon [only 2 months away! gasp!] and eventually, the undeniable hell that can be summed up with a few simple numbers: 70.3

Now why on earth would she do a silly thing like take up a [vegan] [buddhist] [doofus] athlete like me? Well, I guess people have their reasons....just like how I have mine for splurging at the Hot Food bar yesterday at Whole Foods. Suffice it to say that I've consumed my fair share of hummus and veggie sticks for the free world. Difficult job, yes...but someone [vegan, preferably] has to do it and I figured I might as well! So today is Monday and that's when our 'coaching contract' kicks in. Translation = if you thought pain, suffering and misery were commonplace now...welcome to undeniable amounts of hurt.

You'll all be proud of me too! This weekend I was able to clock some serious laps in the pool! Not yet ready to take on open water...that will come with time I'm sure but this was a start. But man...my arms hurt! Those swimmers are absolutely crazy!!!! One thing that sucks about swimming in a pool or even in open water...it's boring as all hell. There are times where I was on my 9th consecutive lap and I'm thinking 'holy hell, I must be clocking in the time!'. After my 10th lap I realize only 7 mins 26 seconds have elapsed. Fk me...and I'm supposed to swim for an ENTIRE MILE!!!!! Oh HEEEEELLLLLLLLLLLLL no! :-) Just get me to T1 [transition to the bike] and I'll be okay.

This weekend was especially vicious on the body. Brick training galore [this is when you done one thing after the other...until you're dead!]. I swam a jillion laps, then hopped on the bike and proceeded to kill myself with 16 x 1 minute all out intervals [1 min rest in between] and then...just when you thought the legs couldn't take it anymore, 7 miles running to top it all off - oh yea, the pace was sub-6. Hay-sus Maria..that's ALMOST where it needs to be. Hahah I remember passing this pair of runners and as I passed I heard one of them say 'Jesus....'. I turned around and said 'close...but it's actually Alejandro.'

...okay no, I didn't say that but I was thinking it!!!!! :-)

So there...big news. Alex gets a [serious] coach. Whew.

Rest Days Never Felt So Good...

So today I had the best of intentions to set out on a really hard run seeing as how it was an off-day from the bike and swim. And ya wanna know what ended up happening? I sat on my fat ass in the afternoon, too tired and too sore to really even put down a run.

Normally, this wouldn't be an option. Why is that? Well, it's a Wednesday. And if I was in Hawaii, Wednesdays mean one thing to me: Waikiki. And by Waikiki, I mean running shirtless through the streets, dark dark Oakley sunglasses on so they cant see where I'm looking and frequent stops to admire the native - sometimes from a distant land - scenery. :-) Yes, that's the inherent beauty that is Hawaii. Nowadays, I'm left with clean roads, lots of trees but not much by way of 'scenery' if ya feel me! Just trails and HILLS HILLS HILLS. Finally..HILLS...climbs in excess of 6 miles..all kindsa stuff!

Big announcement I'll post tomorrow...big big big [thats what she...ahh you get it...]

2 Months Away

Today, well, yesterday really, marks 2 months to go until Vegan-athalon 2k10; essentially my debut triathlon race. And while we're still a LONG ways off with plenty of training required in between months, I guess I should stop and take a look at where we stand 2 months out and where I *hope to be at the end of this month.

THE SWIM
It should come as no surprise to you that swimming is...well...meh. I was complaining to Michael today, exclaiming: "I aint got no arm muscles!"
Michael's Response: "I know."
Ouch.

But I can now swim 4 full lengths of the pool without stopping. Whew! Major milestone. Each length takes about 19-22 seconds but it certainly feels like forever.

THE BIKE
This hasn't been going too well. Primarily because I sent my cranks back into the SRM people a while back and will hopefully get it by the end of this week [knock on wood] or the beginning of next week. Whew! But I miss being on the bike in the afternoon. Nothing spells 'good dinner' quite like V02 max intervals or hill repeats! How have I been getting in the bike workouts? Well, thank god Equinox gym has watt bikes for me to use. So my workouts are in the AM if recovery riding or lunch hour if doing an all out set of intervals. Yesterdays intervals blew major donkey balls. 30 x 30 seconds all of them at X > 358 watts. And you know it hurts when you got the constipated pain face on...

THE RUN
The one 'bright spot' really has been getting back into running shape. I can run 8 miles which is about my threshold @ or near 6 mins / mile. Slow, yes, but getting there. I need to be able to turn out mid-thirties for my 10k run or else we'll see ya in the rear with the gear. But again, there's still time and I got,probably 6 solid weeks of workout. Basebuilding is complete after this week though. I'm shocked at how fast the running legs have come back incidentally! Track workouts begin in earnest in August. If you thought what I do was tiring now...just wait until you've done track workouts that leave you in a vomit-induced coma....AFTER you slaughtered yourself on the bike.

Fun, fun, fun times await I tell ya. :-(

"If his name was Cedric..."

Is there anything more essential to our daily way of life than: Vegan Tomfoolery. [Editors Note: See that euro hawk!!! Slammin'!]

Sana's 'I-dont-have-a-good-side-profile' pic.

Somebody LOVES* San Pelligrino - Limonciata flavor.

Sana attempting to look all cool while drinking the water that I BOUGHT her. She just gives me the bottle and says "here beezy, buy me this."

San Francisco in the Summer. Not too shabby. Not downtown Honolulu...but it aint Little Rock, Arkansas either! [sorry Darren McFadden]

Just another ho-hum day in beautiful San Francisco, CA. And while I dare not say it's the same as a beautiful Hawaii day [Hawaii > San Francisco], I will say the weather wasn't bad but...could be warmER. Regardless, that didn't stop my very close friend and I from trapsing about the city watching mens run by shirtless [more than enough skin, put it to ya like that]. The title of the post is an inside joke but it basically refers to English [from the UK..ya know..the ones with silly accents, bad teeth and worse food! :-)] and their names [Cedric being one of them] such as: Nigel, Willoughby, Waltar [not a typo!], and Colin.

Part of why Thursdays are so special, and really, the main reason why I venture to that neck of the woods, has to do with: VEGAN DONUTS!

Pretty friggin sweet right [ha! get the pun!]. This donuts are seriously good, seriously organic, seriously vegan, seriously made with maple syrup and not shit-sugar, and seriously delicious. I got them for a certain special someone since she constantly complains about how I can easily devour these donuts with ease [Ironically, I ate hers too!]. They're soooooo good and delicious, even Mama Tellez can resist herself!

Outside that, I've had a pretty good week. I was supposed to cycle today at my gym seeing as how I'm crank-less for the moment. But then I forgot my shoes. FAIL. So instead I swam a bit which is - dare I say - improving! I'm now able to swim 4 very fast lengths of the pool in roughly 22 seconds [still very slow] without stopping! Goodness me! :-) And...get this...I'm not ingesting nearly as much chlorine as the first workout where I felt awful!

So long from San Francisco. Until tomorrow you knuckleheads.

Eating like a true [vegan] fatty!

Yes friends, I've been going off my rocking chair when it comes to increasing caloric consumption in all things vegan and cruelty-free. Since making the plunge into multi-sport-ism [sp?], I've been forced to eat more out of necessity. So on the given day, I'd say I have 5-6 mini meals which is waaaay more than when I cycled [I had about 4 when I cycled]. What's that all look like? Gee, thought you'd never ask! I'll post actual pics of it first but I figured, why not wet the appetite [someone say appetite? food? vegan? banana? where?].

Pre-breakfast / Pre-workout.
1 pear.
1 Carbo-loaded drink ready to roll.

Workout in the AM. Since I'm bikeless for a bit, this has been doing intervals on the watt bike. Hell.

Breakfast - 1 big bowl of Ezekiel sprouted grain cereal with soymilk, 3 bananas and a sprouted spelt bagel with soy butter or fruit jam [no sugar, but sweetened with Agave]. Followed by 1 protein clif bar and maybe another helping of instant brown rice oatmeal. Yeah...that's called carb-crazy.

Pre-lunch: Another banana, maybe a LaraBar but lots and lots of water. Like, LOTS of water.

Lunch: 1 big ass thing of Jamba Juice [all fruit and no juice or yogurt or whatever crap they put in..] followed by a vegan middle eastern wrap. typically, an enormous dallop of hummus, brown rice and eggplant with some potato.

Post-lunch: Tea and..you guessed it, another banana.

PM: Workout.

Post-workout: 1 protein shake [soy], 1 clif bar [vegan, chocolate brownie], 1 soy yogurt with another banana, blueberries and strawberries. Yum!

Dinner: Brown rice pasta, arrabiatta sauce with vegan 'meatlof'.

Whew, that's a mouthful! I'll post photos of all this nonsense shortly! But for now, my legs feel like they got hit by a car running today. Hill workouts suck to no end. You get anaerobic but I ask: how is this any different than being on the bike!!!! ;-)