What if your child were struck with leukemia?

We had a great track workout tonight. My legs are holding up, and as soon as I finish this posting, I'm off to stretch some more.

After the workout, our Honoree Captain read a letter from the mother of a three-year old diagnosed with leukemia. I thought about what I'd do in that position. She described the stages of dealing with this crisis: the disbelief, anger, guilt, confusion... then wanting to find the best medical care possible (which the LLS helps with), dealing with many new doctors and new medical terms...and finally getting a sense of hope and resolution to fight the disease.

The little girl was cured. Through the research funded in part by donations to LLS, a child's likelihood of survival has increased greatly in the past few years.

Hope. I'm fundraising for hope.

Long Course

I've had a good week of workouts. swimming 2,100 yards Monday and 2,200 yards last night, and 60 minutes on the bike trainer Tuesday. I think I can do the Wildflower Long Course: 1.2 mile swim, 56 miles cycling, and then a half-marathon. The 13.1 miles of running is my biggest concern, but walking is allowed, too!

A Solid Weekend

Despite a forecast of 60-mph winds and rain, we had a nice 70 minute ride on Saturday. We felt a few (hundred) raindrops towards the end of the ride, but visibility was still good and the roads didn't get slippery. It wasn't dangerous, Mom, so relax. :-) Then my group jumped into the pool (thank goodness for triathlon shorts so I could make a quick change) for a great swim workout that I'm still feeling this Monday morning.

Yesterday that rain made it impossible to consider riding or running, so I went to the spin class. While stumbling out of bed and looking for some clothes, I ended up wearing my Team In Training shirt from my first season. Spinning was a great opportunity to use the mirror to see my cycling form. I'm not great on climbing, and I think my form is a reason for that. If only I could bend forward like those pros in the Tour of California! It was a tough workout -- well, I guess I made it tough on myself. I really felt it in my upper quads.

At the end of the workout, the spin instructor asked me about my TNT shirt and spontaneously offered to donate to the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society! She had a niece who had a blood cancer, so she was glad to help. She will announce my cause to the whole class next week, so you can bet, rain or shine, I'll be in spin class again next Sunday!

Family Fun at the Pool

Monday's swim workout was one of the most fun so far. Sandi, the kids, and I went together to enjoy the sun even though it was a cool 60 degrees at the pool. Sandi swam a few hundred yards while I played with the kids -- that was my warm-up.

Kaela remembered her swimming well. She's great at the backstroke. Her crawl improved when I taught her the "thumb to thigh" drill that we covered in the Team In Training workout last Saturday. Then I went to swim my 1,800 yards.

During one of my laps, Kaela was waiting for me. She wanted to try passing the swim test (50 yards with three or fewer rests) which earns her a green wrist-band and the right to swim in the deep part of the pool. She did it! Most of it via backstroke! (I wish I could do that...) She earned her green band and dinner at her choice of restaurants. Her favorite Vietnamese place was closed, but her second choice (sushi) suited us just fine.

A good weekend of workouts

It's late Sunday afternoon, and my legs are at that level of soreness that shows I used them but didn't kill them. Saturday morning was cool, and I really looked forward to getting in the pool. We did a few drills and then our "marker set," which we'll compare against later in the season to measure our progress. I swam about 18 laps (450 yards) in 10 minutes with not trying excessively hard.

The clouds cleared and the day turned beautiful by the time we hit the road on our bikes. My job was to "sweep" the "pro" group. The sweeper makes sure everyone returns, helps people with flat tires, and stays back as the very last rider in the group. In the pro group of experienced riders, I didn't have to hold back very much. In fact, I was very content to ride and chat with a couple of nice folks who fell back from the main pack. We were impressed by seeing several professional cycling teams getting ready for the Tour of California race.

After the ride and lunch with my TNT teammates at "Hang with the Gang," it was naptime again! Then I rushed to get new shoes because this morning, I would lead the Captain's Run at 9. Three others joined me for an easy 40 minute run at Campbell Park. It's a nice little park that accesses the much longer Los Gatos Creek Trail.

I learned that one of the runners with me was an Honoree. He battled non-Hodgkins Lymphoma last year. (The treatments for that seem to be getting better, and that's due in no small part to funds raised for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society!) This year, he's taking time away from his three kids to train and fund-raise with us.

He also runs to work at a local internet-based auctions company I've visited for work, so I'll probably catch up with him for lunch -- and find out more about that cool GPS running watch he had that lets you see your run (or ride) afterwards. It's only February, but I've just started my Christmast list!


There's only one thing I really have left to do, and my stepsister reminded me of that: get my fundraising letter going!

Stomach virus not in the schedule

Where in the Team In Training training schedule is the stomach virus that I'm fighting off today? I know it will help me lose weight, but is it a real substitute for swimming 1500 yards?

While recovering, I heard Martha Weinman Lear on NPR's Fresh Air today say that aerobic exercise and diet are the two most important factors in having a good memory! Triathlon -- swimming, cycling, and running (in that order, for all of you tri tyros) -- are excellent aerobic exercises. So there's another reason to come out and join the team!

Training begins

You notice a theme over the last couple of posts about how easy I have it. It became just a little less easy during this first week of real training. I actually stuck to the training schedule, which included 30 minute swims on both Monday and Wednesday. Monday I swam after work but in daylight. The wind taught me the value of a swim cap. Wednesday was calm but 46 degrees outside. That kind of chill makes it really easy to jump into the 80-degree pool and stay there for a while.

The first track workout was Thursday at Foothill College. I've run three miles on the treadmill in the past couple of weeks, so I didn't think I'd get much out of the first workout. Well, I didn't anticipate the squats, squat jumps, leg lifts, planks, and more squats that our coaches took us through. Great early season training! But I was surprised that I was as sore Friday as after a day of skiing! Ibuprofen is a good thing....

The bike and swim workout on Saturday was also fun. I met a few fun new people, and I swam with the "Pro" group. So while Wednesday I swam maybe 700 yards in 30 minutes, Saturday I swam 1500 yards in about 40 minutes. I took a LOOOONG nap that afternoon!

And They're Off!

My first kickoff as a Captain was fun. I ushered; specifically, I greeted and told people coming in the side door where to go check in or register. It was the same spiel over and over again. I'm now well qualified to don a blue vest and be a greeter at Walmart. What made it fun (besides seeing couple of former TNT teammates) was talking with Ed, my co-greeter. Ed is a coach on the Cycle team, a medical researcher with three drugs in the approval pipeline, an Honoree (blood cancer survivor), and an amputee missing his lower left leg. Did I mention he's a coach on the Cycle team, as in bicycling 100 miles around Lake Tahoe in June? So talking with Ed was quite interesting, of course. But it was also a reminder that while I'm sacrificing some time with my family to fundraise, help others train, and train myself, I have it pretty easy.