WEDNESDAY, 04.01.09 - This whole work and travel is really throwing me off my diet and my sleep / exercise schedule. Though I'm enjoying it in a different way, my body feels icky. I force myself to drink my V8 veggie juice everyday while on this business trip. I eat like 4 lbs worth of food here - gross! Had a late night last night but still made it to the gym! Did some ab work and lots of stretching. More weights since I wasn't that sore. I felt great afterwards. Now some dancing for the evening at Mid-Night Rodeo. Do some two steps and sweat! =)
THURSDAY, 04.02.09 I experienced it Texas style ya'll! Ate Mexican food, Jason Deli and Chick A Filet! After delays in the airport, I finally arrived NYC and because of traffic, I missed my brick training. I was supposed to ride outdoors with my team. Boo... Which reminds me I need some clear glasses for riding in the dark next Thursday.
FRIDAY, 04.03.09 On Friday I decided to take a core class with Kellie Roman. Boy is she RIPPED! It was nice to her to give me some pointers when doing my ab work. She noticed that I extend my chin unnecessarily when I do my crunches. Funny I should've known that. My mom always said I have a slightly elongated / extended chin from her eating so many chilly peppers while she was having me. Anyway, Kellie actually complimented me on my planks with the ball, one handed planks,etc. I guess I've still got it~! Then I lifted some more weights. I think I'm starting to look like a guy. Seriously... =P Tomorrow is a day that's jam packed full of activities. I don't know how I'm gonna pull it off but I will! Peace out bean sprout! =)
SATURDAY. Its 10:30 pm and the girls are in bed. Wow can I tell you a
ll about what I did today? After all said and done I feel like I've been through a weeks worth of activities and it's only been a Saturday. This morning KC and I woke up at 5:30 a.m. and was observing the weather outside. Its a ritual that we do every Saturday morning as we joke around practicing our Indian accent together. Its really hilarious but I'm still half asleep and he's always wide awake. It was gloomy; the sky was purple, orange, gray in color and he was hoping his bike ride would be cancelled so his foot can have more time to heal. We both won't hear from our coach and team leader until about 7am so we both got ready anyway. We ate mom's breakfast: salmon, zuccinni with rice. I learned that my ride was ON but KC's was postponed. As I arrived at the Boat House parking lot I saw a metal barracade fall over. It was windy!!! There was a bike race going on so there were lots of riders in the park. We followed each other and maneuvered through traffic headed for the GWB. It was scary!!! At one point, we turned into a three lane road. As soon as I made the turn, I had trouble maneuvering my bike! I ended up two lanes across and was so scared that a car was going hit me! It was dangerous, to say the least. The wind gusts were so strong that it knocked 3 girls over their bikes! Maggie and her bike was slammed against the side
of someone's car! Cissie's bike was literally flying as she tried to carry it! We hid in between cars for a bit until there was a break from the wind. Then we decided to take cover inside a parking lot. After a few minutes of shock, we rode back to the park where we debreifed and Coach Laura called it a day. Some of us decided to ride a bit more since the park was not as windy. Though the bikes were still shaky from the wind, I did another lap until KC came to pick me up. Luckily I had plans to go to Spa Castle - where the deep tissue massage helped calm my nerves. At 5 p.m. we left for Park Slope, Brooklyn to pick up race packets and numbers for tomorrow. Little sis May drove to Jack Rabbit where we picked up Maggie, Katie and Emily. Katie was excited to have bought her new sexy black Guru that day. Maggie was nervous for our race tomorrow. And poor Emily had a bad day. We each bought a race belt and I bought some speed laces. Soon after, we had Italian dinner at Circles Grill and during the ride back home the girls in the car learned about **turtlenecks** from Katie. Not the ones we wear, but the ones that disappear and reappear. Well according to Katie they do. I've never seen =P Exhausted, we went to bed at 10. What a day...SUNDAY, 04.05.09 RACE DAY!!! I woke up at 5 and the rest of the girls woke up at 6. We were all quite excited as we pumped up the music in my room! We went downstairs for some home made breakfast prepared specially by my mom. Maggie goes nowhere without her peanut butter. We had warm scrambled eggs for protien , toasted mini bagels for carbs, banana for anti-cramp and hot coffee for energy! We are so ready for this race! Ran back upstairs to change and go through our check list (eye glasses, ticket number, helmet, gloves, GU, water)...CHECK! We were out the door as the sun made its way to greet us. A bit windy...but it was still perfect. KC arrived and we set our bikes to the rack. Then Marianela and Tom arrived to do the same. We were the FIVE GIRLS IN HOT ORANGE!!! WOOT WOOT! Prospect park here we come! We checked in and got our chips which we velcroed around our ankles. Set up our transition area - remembering what I learned from the Wassners. Face the bikes and shoes the direction you are heading! That helped! =). We took a few pictures to remember and stretched a lot. We were anxious at the start line. There was a group of army folks who were pumped up in the very front. 3...2...1! HONkKKK! I started running...Marianela and I were side by side. I remember not enjoying the run from the very beginning. But I kept distracting myself by thinking *Look Joy!!! The the sun is so beautiful, grass is so green, air so fresh, sky so blue, people so happy...* Basically anything that would keep me from thinking *I don't like running* Though luckily my shins were not in pain that day! That morning I tied up my calves with athletic tape as my manager at work suggested. I ran about a mile BURP until my shoe laces untied. UGH! This sucks!!! So I told Marianela to go on ahead as tied my laces and regretted not setting up my speed laces earlier like Katie did the night before. After 2.1 miles BURP I reached transition area. I remember being excited to jump on my bike! My legs were a bit tired but I thought nothing of it. I saw a guy who looked even more tired than I was dragging himself to get his bike - so naturally my mood turned the same. I was slouched and walking slowly towards my bike unitl I heard a distinctive scream "JOY!!! Hurry up! This is a RACE goddamit!!!" Hearing that cracked me up! It had to be Judy Chu! If it wasn't for her I would have taken 2 minutes in transition - which would have been OH sooo bad! So I got my butt out of there as fast as I could after her reminder that this was in fact, a race... suddenly the tool bag on my bike fell to the ground! I KNEW this would happen as the night before I realized it was lose. I tried so hard to calm my nerves and tried to tie it back onto my seat, but it didn't work. The man on the side told me to give it to him and retrieve it later, but I wasn't going to risk that chance of a flat tire in the middle of my ride. So I refused his offer and threw my tool pouch in one of my jacket pockets. SUCK IT UP I told myself as I hopped on my bike and hurried through. Not a even a minute after I decided to take a sip of water from my team lipstick bottle. I got hold of it and the water was refreshing, but when I tried to put it back on the holder, it fumbled right off and rolled down the side of the road. =( You should've seen the face that I had. =O That was the only water I had for the race because stupid me decided earlier that I didn't need two water bottles for a 2 hour race! Lesson learned. The first loop took longer than I expected BURP - but the hill was nothing like the Harlem Hill in Central Park. After my first loop, I heard my family and friends cheer so loudly I had to slow down just to make sure I caught a glimpse of all of them. Definitly put a huge smile on my face. It was memorable I decided to tell them that my water bottle was down and pointed forward - hoping they'd be able to find it for me. They looked confused at first but Billy's face showed he understood exactly what I had said. They started running the direction I pointed. So FUNNY! I rode my 2nd loop and boy was it windy!!! I was quite nervous to fall but thank goodness the wind that I experienced on Saturday prepared me for today! Today's wind was not nearly as bad as Saturdays. I held on tightly to my handle bars as I ducked down to be more aero dynamic. Down the hill I rolled at 23 mph! I was not going to use my break this time - if there was ever a point in this race that I needed to gain time, it would be o
n this bike, going downhill as fast as I could. =) I found myself day dreaming at least 3-4 times during my ride. But it was okay because it felt good just staring at the sun. BURP. Yes, I have a burping problem usually when I run and swim. So if you see me pound the middle of my chest real hard, you know why. I'm trying to make myself burp. I'm still trying to figure it out and it could be the way I'm breathing. If you know a solution to this, please please please TELL ME! I pulled into transition and put my bike away. Had to go back and get my GU for energy. Then I saw my dad with an open poland spring bottle. WATER!!! He handed it to me quickly. I really needed that! The chocolate cream GU was too thick to swallow without water. I started to run. Had to make sure I was going the right way because the signs for "runners" were small. I remember thinking nothing during my second run. I tried to run "faster" but I couldn't really. I wanted to take my time. My legs were wobbly. I remember seeing a young healthy looking Spanish guy who was running and stopping and running and stopping, right next to me. He looked done - but he obviously didn't want a girl like me to keep a consistent pace and beat him to the finish line. Everytime I passed him, he would start running faster and then slow down right away. Anyway, about 100 yards from the finish line, I saw girls in bright orange. That was my motivation to run strong - as Maggie, Katie and Emily ran towards me. They were cheering me on while running. It was really cute to see and the sight of them prompted me to start dancing towards the finish line. And of course I did! I skipped and hopped and clocked in at 01:23:13.1My result:
Run 1 - 18:44.1 (08.55.3 min/mi)
Trans 1 - 01:14.4
Bike - 40:34.8 (14.8 mph)
Trans 2 - 01:35:1
Run 2 - 21.04.7 (10:02.2 min/mi)
