Back at the Lake

After work I headed out to Lake Merritt for a run. I found Belinda and Sarah leading the buddy run. Belinda already got me talking about Ironman this fall. Her enthusiasm is contagious. However, right now, i'll just focus on baby steps with the half ironman. Anyways, we did a Lake first for me. We did a warm up 1/4 mile or so run from the Gazebo to the duck park where we stopped and stretched. We then continued around the lake until we got back to the Gazebo. I only timed the later part. I ended up going 24:50 for the 2.77 miles (8:57/mile) even with ferocious headwinds for most of the run.

I think i'll take it easy for the rest of the week since Grizzly Peak Century ride is coming up this Sunday. Not ready at all even though we are opting to do the 73 mile, 5750 feet elevation gain course instead of the other 112 mile, 8550 feet elevation gain option.

Getting Back to Training Mode

I'm 30. I don't like it, but i've accepted it. Thanks for all the b-day wishes everyone. Also a special thank you to "Anonymous" for my first donation of the summer season. I truly don't know who "Anonymous" is. Unlike the old TNT online donation system where all my donors are reported to me (anonymous or not), this new online donation system likes to keep things to itself.

Today, I spun intervals for a total of 55 minutes: 15 warm/ 5 x (4 hard/2 easy) /10 cool. Very good workout; however, i'm noticing my cycle endurance is diminishing. The above workout was tougher today than it was at anytime during the winter cycle season. Just gotta keep at it I guess.

Oh No! the BIG 3-0!

My last bike ride as a 29-year old. With my riding crew having other plans, I decided to ride on my own this morning. I had not rode in 2 weeks and really needed to get out there since Grizzly Peak Century is next week. I toured around San Ramon, Danville, and Dublin for about a couple hours. It only got me 26 miles with 2 climbs. Anyways, it still bums me out that elite marathoners can finish 26.2 in 2 hours and I match that on my bike. Still there is a beauty of being on the bike that's different from riding in a car or running/walking outside. On a bike, you ride fast enough to go by, but you go slow enough to enjoy everything that surrounds you.

So tomorrow I turn 30. Where did all the years go? Anyways, I can't tell you what my birthday wish is...otherwise it won't come true. However, if you give this as a birthday present, it will benefit others, thereby someday making my birthday wish come true.

can I go back to 1984?

Be the First!

You are cordially invited
to make a
donation to

Phil's

2008 Summer Season
Team in Training Fundraising Efforts

benefiting the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society

as he plans to tackle
Big Kahuna Triathlon

Sunday, the Seventh day of September
Two Thousand and Eight

Your donation will help save lives
and improve the quality of life of cancer patients and their families.

Feelin' Like Caca

The worse part of getting sick is not being able to exercise. However, I should be thankful that i'm able to recover quickly and miss only a week of training. Just thinking about my friend going through cancer and knowing she is not only missing months of training, but she's actually fighting for her life...has put things back to perspective.

So in celebration of life......as of tonight, i'm officially signed up to do the Big Kahuna Triathlon with Team in Training this summer season! I've been talking about it long enough and now i'm committed to doing the damn thing as well as raising $$$ for the cause! 37 more days till the journey starts again!

Wanna join in the fun? Save lives? Help me get socks? Here are the two featured events benefiting the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society this summer:

The Relay 2008

Woke up at 3:15 am on Saturday morning and arrived to Captain Tina's place around 4:45 am. Then we packed the van and headed to Calistoga for the 7:30 am start.

showin' off the Fat Kids shirts

Kat started it off for Van #1, followed by Tina, and then me! Fortunately for me, I got the same legs as last year, so I knew what to expect. The weather was a lot cooler than 2007. I finished my first leg (rated: easy) of 4.1 miles in 36:07 (8:48/mile). That's the fastest I have ever run 4 miles. I ran so hard that I got a stitch about half way through the run and it never went away. However, I was able to pass one runner...which felt awesome!

me finishing off my first leg at Phil record pace

Then Kris followed. While we were supporting Kris, we bumped into Dean Karnazes (Ultramarathon Man) and his "Mothership." Dean was running most of the 199 mile run himself. We chatted with Dean's dad and he told us him and his wife will be doing some of the legs. His dad was really nice.

Fat Kids with Dean's dad (mothership in back)

After Kris, it was Lindsay's turn, followed by Sean. I must say our team was very strong this year. Everyone looked great out there and with one year under our belt, it made a huge difference in just knowing what to expect. We could actually target another team and decide to take them on by passing them ("Kills" I guess they call it). Our closest competitors were V.S.P, Chai and Latte, and the team with bib#192. I still think some of them may be on steroids

Ultramarathon Man

At the first van exchange, we met up with Van #2. They looked great after resting and eating breakfast. Fat Kid volunteer, Matt was also at the exchange. He got us some jelly pie sandwiches so that Tina could toss them out of the van to other teams. Not sure if the other teams ate them, but it was our way of showing some fat kid love. Anyways, we at lunch at Napa, same place we at last year. Of course I can't remember the name of the place. I had a burger and was ready to take a nap. We then headed to the Cheese Factory near Nicasio, which was the next van exchange. Since the winds were out of control, most of us chilled in the van for about 4 hours. I might have gotten a half hour of sleep.

With no cell reception, we did not know when Van #2 would actually get there. Eventually, we saw them drive up and Kat was ready to start the night run for Van #1. It was pretty frickin' cold out there. On top of that, it was getting dark. Tina did her leg and then it was my turn. I still had fresh legs and thanks to a nice tailwind, I surged the 6.5 mile (rated: hard) in 1:00:26 (9:17/mile) running through Fairfax and San Anselmo. I could not believe my time. Afterwards, I got my pizza (like last year). Again, not sure if it was the best thing to eat at 10:00 pm, but it was food.

After my run, Kris, Lindsay and Sean followed. Sean had the very beautiful full moon over the Golden Gate Bridge. After his leg was done, it was Van #2's turn to take over. Fat Kid BK, joined for in for this one leg and Van #1 headed straight to Canada College to shower and sleep. I slept in the front passenger seat of the van. I froze my legs off, but managed to get 2.5 hours of sleep. I woke up around 4:30 am and checked my phone and found out last runners of Van #2 -the Allens, were coming in. I then got my ass into the gymnasium where Lindsay and Kat were sleeping and spent a good 20 minutes trying to find them in the dark. I finally spotted Kat's pillow case and told her she only had like about 30 minutes to get ready before the exchange.

Van #1

We hauled ass to the exchange and Van #2 was already there. The Allens made it and the final legs for Van #1 were about to begin. My stomach was not feeling good at all. Before I knew it, Tina was out there and my turn was next. My quads were aching from the previous day, but I got out there and ran. Soon runners behind me were passing me up, which pissed me off. On top of that, my watch timer stopped so I wasn't sure how far I had ran. I was stopping a lot. I was tired and had side cramps. I accepted the fact that I was probably doing 11 minute miles and I felt I was letting the team down as a couple more runners passed me by.

Surprisingly, I finished the 5.8 mile (rated: easy) in 53 minutes (9:08/mile). That would explain why I felt like crap during the whole run. Still I was happy that sub 10-minute miles are definitely doable for me. Kris, Lindsay, Sean followed by finishing the most difficult parts of Van #1's legs. We then met at the final van exchange and Sean handed it off to Rudy for Van #2. Van #1 was then off to the finish line in Santa Cruz. We grabbed lunch at Saturn's, which turned out to be an all vegetarian burger joint. Fortunately, for me they had a giant plate of garlic fries. I ate most of it and my teammates can attest to my freakishly disgusting garlic breath.

We chilled at the boardwalk for a good 3-4 hours until Van #2 came in. Then we saw newest Fat Kid, Allen come in and we joined him to run through the finish line.

hey look! there are still people at the finish line


Team Fat Kids 2008

Fat Kids Always Go For Seconds finished the 199 mile Relay in 32:39:08 (9:50/mile), placing 178 out of 202 finishing teams. Much better than second to last in 2007!

Sick - Will update soon I promise!

I am completely wiped out. I'm officially sick (again). That's the second stint this year and I hardly get sick. Clearly, all that running and lack of rest this past weekend has bit me in the ass, so to speak. Having said that, The Relay 2008 was a success and I had a fun time. When I have enough energy to gather my thoughts, i'll post stuff with pictures, I promise!

Fat Kids Don't Finish Last

Will provide detailed report later when I have time. I conked out by 7 pm last night and woke up 5:30 am extremely sore. Still doesn't make up for the 2.5 hours of sleep I got this past weekend...but I must say the Relay experience this time around was SO much better. Now I must go to work. Blah!

Packing

Did some strength training tonight. Other than that, i've been packing for the weekend. I pulled out my leg times from last year and I actually ran faster than I thought I did:

Leg #3 > 4.1 miles > 41 minutes (10:01/mile)
Leg #15>6.5 miles > 1 hour 9 minutes (10:36/mile)
Leg #27>5.6 miles > 1 hour 5 minutes (11:36/mile)

I guess that puts the pressure this time around because I know my running speed has improved since last year.

See you when I get back!
-Fat Kid #3

Tune-Up Run

Did an easy 2 mile run on the treadmill in 19:50. Last workout before I do a full body shut down until the Relay. What I should really do is get mentally focused. Being crammed in a van for most of the weekend and going on a few hours of sleep for 2 days is the big dagger of the entire event. That reminds me, I need to get some of that Red Bull/Monster/Rockstar junk. That may help with my sanity on day 2.

Wow, I just realized my blog may look weird in IE. Therefore, for best viewing experience, please use Firefox. ;o)

Your Spirit Lives On

(video courtesy of R2)

Brenda Donato
July 6, 1970 - April 14, 2007

You have changed my life forever. Thank you.

In true Brenda fashion, I enjoyed life by going to the Aquatic Park to do some laps. The lanes were packed like crazy with all these kids. I was debating of turning around and going home. However, I had stuffed a Clif bar an hour before and no way was that thing going to be my dinner. I had to burn it off. After waiting for about 3 minutes, two lanes opened up and the lifeguard offered me one of two. I did a mixture of drills and swim. Mostly because I couldn't remember the set distances. Anyways, I figured I swam about 1100 yds in 40 minutes. Great to be alive...isn't it?

Beautiful Days to Be Alive

What a weekend! Great weather. Great time to just get out and enjoy life.

Saturday morning, I met up with Sree, Nanditha, and Rita for a ride. Well, not just any ride...we rode up Mt. Diablo! I've never been and have heard so much about this mountain. Mostly how high it is. So I knew I was in for a climb. I rode from my place and got on the Iron Horse Trail to meet everyone in Danville. We met at Lunardi's and rode about 5 miles before the actual climbing began. What I could not phathom was that we were going to climb nearly 4,000 feet in just a 10 mile span. To help put things in perspective, Solvang's total elevation climb was just shy of 5,000 feet and that was throughout the 104 mile ride.

view of Mt. Diablo from Concord
The main peak is at right, North Peak at left and Mt. Zion at center

Mt. Diablo was sick. It kind of reminded me of the Calaveras ride, but on steriods/HGH. I felt good the first 3,000 feet of climbing and then I gased out the last 1,000 feet. The heat was coming in fast and furious during the last 1,000 feet. Of course I sweated like a pig. As a result, I was attracting flies. The flies were relentless in attacking all of us riding. Dealing with them was a feat in itself. A swarm of them would just land on me and i'd constantly try to flick them off me. Finally, I was so exhausted, I just said to the flies, "do what you must with me."

It was interesting to see runners along the way because I would never even consider running Mt. Diablo. There was some sort of ultra 50 mile trail race going on. One of the other cyclist said some of the runners were training for the Western States Endurance Run. Crazy.

Back to the ride....the final stretch to the top of the observation area was killer. The grade was 18%. I tried climbing it, but only made it like 20 feet before I had to clip out and just walk the bike up at 2 mph. I don't think I could have gone any faster on the bike.

top of Mt. Diablo
(cell phone pic courtesy of Rita)

The view from the top of Mt. Diablo was amazing. You could see the entire Bay Area. We were higher than the birds. Then it was the ride back down, which I dreaded more than the ride up. I get hand cramps from gripping the brakes for dear life. This ride was no different. I had a stop a couple times going down because they were cramping so bad. Oh! I have to mention, I almost got flattened like a pancake going down. This one car decided to pass a cyclist going up around a blind curve (of all places). Well I was turning around the curve...I see the cyclist and the next thing I see is this car staring right in front of me (in my lane). I quickly weaved right around the vehicle and had just enough room to tightrope whatever paved road I had left between the vehicle and ditch. Don't worry, I gave that vehicle a piece of my mind. Anyways, the best part of riding down is that it allows you to appreciate how much climbing you did to get to the top. In total, I finished the day with 40 miles and 4,000 feet of climbing.

On Sunday, it was the Brenda Donato Rainbow Fun Run & Walk. Another beautiful day in memory of a beautiful person. The event was organized by BK and Lindsay, who along with volunteers worked tirelessly in making it such a wonderful event. It was great seeing familiar faces and friends. I started off the run with Olivia and Matt. I somehow lost both of them and ended up running with Monique most of the way. I finished the 3.1 mile run in 29:19 (9:27/mile).

The rest of the time was spent catching up with everyone from my TNT past and future. I got to talk to a few triathlete coaches about training. Now i'm pumped for the summer season to start!

Here is an interesting read if you are a Grey's Anatomy fan. Patrick Dempsey talks about his love for cycling and how he lost 12 lbs from riding his bike.

Getting Anxious

8 days left!
(of good nights sleep)

Here's a video a group did last year.
Damn...I still need to find a camcorder!

Fridays with Brenda #3

Next Monday will be exactly one year to the day our dear Brenda physically left us. This Sunday we will have her memorial run in Walnut Creek. Since Brenda's passing, i've embraced that each day is a gift. Thinking of Brenda helps me put things back to perspective and makes me realize how lucky I am to be alive. Everything else doesn't have as much significance. She has changed my life that I thought never would.

My biggest regret is that I did not see her within the last 3 months she had remaining. Now, a year later, I still carry that burden. It pains me that when I did try to see her, I was too late. She was too fragile to see anyone. Although I know she would never blame me, it'll be something I will live with forever.

On April 14, 2007, I got the text from Claudia that Brenda was an angel. I mourned by myself. I knew it had been coming. I was actually relieved Brenda was no longer suffering and was at a better place. I remember watching SNL, turning off the living room TV, and going to bed. About 10 minutes later, I heard the TV turned back on by itself (which it has never done) and the noise was Avril Lavigne performing "Girlfriend" on SNL. I walked back into the living room, could swear I felt a gush of wind in my face, watched five more minutes of TV before heading back to sleep. I think that was my last moment with Brenda.

2007 Ironman World Championship 70.3

The exciting coverage of the fast-paced Ford Ironman World Championship 70.3 from Clearwater will air on NBC at 2PM PST (check local listings) on April 12, 2008. You will also have a sneak peek at the lottery winners for Kona during the show!

So this triathlon distance (70.3) is the one i'm going to sign-up to do in September. Watching this is either gonna pump me up or make me think twice.

Pin Ball Madness!!

Met up with Claudia, Amy, and Debbie tonight for another week of swimming. I still can't seem to swim straight backwards. Even worse, I now can't seem to swim straight going face forward. Repeatedly bouncing off the lanes like a pin ball. I can just see myself now swimming off course come event day. Yup, the only swimmer going away from the rest of the pack. Oy!

Having not swam last week, I think I did alright. The toughest part is getting warmed up. The first 4oo yds are always a struggle, but once I got into the flow of things...it was clockwork. The killer this workout was this new "build." In "build", you just gotta kick it up a notch. Essentially it's swim sprints. It got me huffing and puffing (like climbing a ginormous hill or running my ass off) when I stopped swimming. All in all, we finished 1400 yds of swim and drills in exactly 1 hour. Hopefully i'm improving in some little way.

Faces of Phil

Went digging for some old pics of myself. Yes..pretty vain. I just wanted to see what training has done for me all these years. 3 years of training...I must have something to show for it.

Here's a pic of me just a couple months before TNT Fall '05 kickoff (first season):

yummy root beer float!

Here's a pic of me last month in Solvang:

beer..much healthier!
and I have a jaw line now!

Only 15 more lbs to go!

I'm Back! (Better than Ever)

Get ready for the return of Fat Kid #3! After a few shuffles of leg assignments for The Relay, Captain Tina has awarded me the same legs as last year. You know what that means Tina? I'm expecting Round Table Pizza like I did last year after my second leg!

So, I haven't ran in more than a week. I know it sounds stupid, but starting up today felt really foreign to me. I was pretty nervous about where I was training-wise for the Relay. Last year, I remember running a hell lot more in preparation. Well, I got myself out to the trail today. The goal was to run about 7 miles. My longest leg in the Relay is 6.5 miles, so it made sense. I felt really good throughout the entire run. I kept it at a comfortable marathon pace. I ended up going 8.2 miles in 1:23:58 (10:14/mile). I'm ready!

Don't Miss Out!!:

Brenda Donato Rainbow 5K Fun Run & Walk
Benefiting the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society

Date: Sunday, April 13, 2008, 8:30 am -12:30 pm

Location: Heather Farms Park, N San Carlos Drive and Ygnacio Valley Road, Walnut Creek, CA 94598

Packet Pick-up: Saturday, April 12; 1:00 pm - 4:00 pm, Sports Basement, 1881 Ygnacio Valley, Walnut Creek, CA 94598

REGISTER ONLINE: http://www.acteva.com/go/rainbowrun

Weekend Workout Training

On the dance floor for hours and hours. I think I outlasted everyone. Many asked, "how do you keep it going?" or "where do you have all that energy?" Two words: Endurance Training.

Squeezed In

I made some time today to cycle on the trainer. I was feeling extremely weird not doing anything active since Saturday. So I hopped on the saddle and spun for 1 hour: 15 warm/ 5 x (5 hard/2 easy) /10 cool. Like a junkie, I gotta get my fix. Sadly, I won't have any training time from now til Monday.

Claudia had mentioned this on her blog, but we have a friend that is going through uterine cancer. I found out on Sunday and have been numb ever since. I woke up the next morning thinking it was all a nightmare, but it is a reality. I can't figure out why because she is the epitome of great health - having done endurance events. She just went through her first session of chemo yesterday and will have the second one this coming Wednesday. She's been on my mind 24/7. Please keep her in your thoughts and prayers. All I have to say is F*CK CANCER!

No Training

I figure i'd update that I won't get much training in this week. Between Oakland A's opening day tonight, my sis' wedding coming up this weekend, relatives coming into town....training is going to have to take a back seat. Will definitely pick it back up next week! Have a great week!