Weekend of Races
050110. Wildflower, Ironman St. George, Alcatraz... friends everywhere doing all kinds of nutty races! Jabus and I were at WILDFLOWER... the Woodstock of Triathlon... with another 6,000+ athletes. LA Tri Club was proud to sponsor the race this year, and we had over 200 members out there pounding the courses. Once again, we edged out Tri Club San Diego to take the overall club win at this annual triathlon festival.

Ahhhhh. Takes my breath away every-time. Gotta Love Wildflower:


Jabus, in the finisher shoot... his first half ironman, in the can.


Nothing but smiles. If you asked post-swim, he wasn't too sure this was his thing... but, I bet you can read his mind here...  he's already looking for what's next!


Sunday.... cheering on the Olympic athletes... sun shining...


LA Tri Club campgrounds in Redonda Vista E Loop, our home away from home every year.


Our athletes representing K-SWISS and LA Tri Club at Alcatraz. Thank you Jenny Fletcher and Henry Hagenbuch !! Way to go out there!!

A favorite photo from Alcatraz 2010... I'm not sure who to give photo credit to, but you gotta love this guys energy!!

And, I can't close this blog without mentioning our many LATCers who raced Ironman St. George. For many it was their first time Ironman. The stories from this race are still coming in... the water was crazy cold and there were many, many DNS and DNF's -- But, for these clubbers, the finish was within reach. Congratulatioins guys!!!

Thank You to KarmaCrossFIT.com for kicking my butt this morning... 3 rounds: 10 overhead squats / 10 burpee box jumps 8:06,  followed by sandbag runs and pullups (10-2), 17:27 total... Good times. Yep, I'm hurting!

LA Tri Club Spring Training Camp
April 8-11, 2010

An amazing time with about 50 campers up at Lake Nacimiento this year. It was nice to mix things up with the new venue. LATC's Spring Camp is about more than Wildlfower training... so many reasons to make this camp, including the beautiful area surrounding both Lake San Antonio and Lake Nacimiento... the people... the awesome coaches, Ian Murray and Jamie Silber... our amazing Chef Stella Tong!... the Camp Masseuse Robert Torres... and all the wonderful members of the club that welcome each other, teach each other, inspire each other and so much more.

The Long Run day... a group takes off to hit the HILLS...

13.1 for this crew... they were hammering away, easy-breezy.

Group dinners Lakeside... beautiful!! A little cold... but, if you layer up, all is well. What a great time to reflect on all the victories of the day, and to look ahead for what's to come tomorrow:

Long Ride Day.... a little dreary, but dramatic and lovely non-the-less. Some went for a century, others for the 56, and others for the 26. Something for all levels to get the heart-rate up.

Brave Swimmers on the last day of Camp. The winds had really picked up and it was quite cold! Job well done to all. Thank you for being a part of the 2010 LA Tri Club Spring Training Camp!

OptimisSport Distance Swim Challenge
Benefitting Heal the Bay, Exceeding Expectations, and other local charities
In conjunction with the LA Tri Club

I'm proud to be serving as Athlete/VIP Director for the first annual Distance Swim Challenge.

You can learn more at http://www.distanceswimchallenge.com/ -- I hope that YOU will support this event by supporting the organizations we're working with, registering as a SWIMMER, VOLUNTEERING, or SPONSORING.

Details:
The OptimisSport Distance Swim Challenge is an open-water endurance swim competition being held in the Santa Monica Bay on October 16, 2010. It is designed to inspire everyone – from elite swimmers to first-timers – to try and challenge their body in brand new ways.

The OptimisSport Distance Swim Challenge will test the limits of some of the world's most highly-skilled endurance athletes. Elite-level swimmers from all over the world will travel to Los Angeles to compete in one of the longest open-water swim competitions in U.S. history - a 12.6-mile swim between the Santa Monica Pier and Manhattan Beach.

For those not ready to conquer the full 12.6 miles, there will be competitions in three other distances: 4.8-miles, 2.4-miles, and 1.2-miles. Swimmers can also get a team together and compete in two relay options – an 8-person relay swimming the whole 12.6-mile distance or a 4-person relay swimming the last 4.8-miles.

All proceeds from this event will be going to local charities that work to promote living a healthy and active lifestyle, whether they focus on teaching us to take better care of our environment or to take better care of our bodies. The OptimisSport Distance Swim Challenge will be working closely with Heal the Bay, a nonprofit environmental organization celebrating their 25th year of making Southern California coastal waters and watersheds, including the Santa Monica Bay, safe, healthy, and clean.

In addition to Heal the Bay, proceeds from this event will be going to Exceeding Expectations, a nonprofit organization focused on working with inner city children in the Los Angeles area and teaching them to live a more healthy and active lifestyle through fitness and sports.

OptimisSport is a division of OptimisCorp, a company dedicated to using evidence-based and clinically proven approaches to physical fitness training. We are developing training programs to help athletes achieve their potential, based upon scientific research and evidence. We will be making swim training programs available to help people take on whatever distance swim challenge they want to accomplish.

Jabus's First Marathon -- The LA Marathon

I'm so excited for my wonderful husband... to have completed his first Marathon! After loosing an entire month due to an injury during the key training period, we were both wondering if he'd be up to the 26.2 mile challenge come race-day. But, true to his nature, he was mentally and physically prepared to dig deep and grab that first marathon metal.

The LA Tri Club provides pace timing for the pro runners and the wheelchair cyclists at the LA Marathon, so I rode the course with our cyclists. This has been for the last few years now, one of the coolest rolls I've ever played as a part of the club... Riding the closed streets of LA, next to some of the most inspiring and talented athletes in the country.

This year, Summer, Suzy and I rode together, and got swamped by the runners because we didn't go off the front early enough, so we had to ride among the runners. Not ideal. Not recommended.  At about mile 16, we came on Jabus, about Beverly Hills area, and he was having major cramps in his legs. He was grimacing, but seemed determined not to stop even for a second. But, he was in no mood for conversation, so we had to move on quickly.

Sure enough, he and many, many talented LATCers made the finish line, and were so happy to be there. It was a great day for the run, and a wonderful event. Can't wait for next year (I think Jabus may run again!)... Here are happy LATC finishers... GREAT WORK GUYS!!

Duel in the Desert :: Desert Triathlon

So, on March 6/7 just under 200 LA Tri Clubbers made their way to La Quinta outside Palm Springs for the DESERT TRIATHLON, which for 2010 we'd dubbed the DUEL IN THE DESERT competition between ourselves and our friends in the South, Tri Club San Diego.

The Saturday social at the lake was a lot of fun, and everyone got to mix, mingle and check out our competition as well as take a preview swim in the lake.

Sunday morning we awoke to gray skies and those of us in the SPRINT divisons counted our lucky stars that the rain came as we were running in. The real heros of the day were those in the international distance, who battled the wet, windy weather to grab their finishes (Jabus, below).

In the end, LATC came out on top over TCSD, but only by a hair. We're all looking forward to 2011, when we'll head back to do it all again, hopefully under clear, blue skies this time! (Mo Geller, below):

Race Intentions 2010
2010 is the 10th Anniversary year for the LA Tri Club... which means, we'll be focusing some special efforts at a number of races this season. I'm thrilled to be in a position to train and race many of them, old-favorites, with Jabus.

Kicking things off will be our DUEL IN THE DESERT with Tri Club San Diego on March 7. We've been aiming to get our clubs togehter for a special race-weekend for years now, and this will actually be the first time we have been able to make it happen... I am so excited!!! We've selected the DESERT TRIATHLON as the setting for this duel since it involved about the same amount of travel for both clubs... it offers choices of distance... and the race director is very agreeable to the program. Thank you Greg!

Next, Jabus is running his FIRST MARATHON, which I'm very excited will be the LA Marathon. The course looks amazing, and I'll be riding my bike with LATC as our members do the pro athlete timing for the tv coverage. The last marathon I completed was Honolulu in Dec. '05, and I'm not sure I have another in me. I love to see runners run... they're so amazing! Run is my limitor, and I find distance runners so impressive. I'm curious if Jabus will enjoy this distance...

April brings the LATC Spring Training Camp as well as the Down & Dirty Mud Run... the first by MESP.com. These events will be good training for our biggest athletic goal of the year, Wildflower long on May 1. It's been just long enough since my last WF-long, that I'm rather intimidated, I have to admit! So... KarmaCrossFit.com and the training Jabus and I have planned with our tri-buddies, I hope, will build my confidence.

Getting started... again...

I used to be an avid blogger... Then, I got married in 2009, and the wedding kinda took over LIFE as I knew it for the year... Now, I find myself wanting to create entries again, but having a hard time getting started...??!! I'm asking myself, "do I just not have as much to say??"... Even I find that hard to believe... hummmm.

Let me start with this tidbit, just in from my sister-in-law -- a comment about my marvelous nephew, Finn (age 3.5) >> "Last night at dinner Finn was talking about his school friends. He mentioned Kate. I always confuse two girls at his school, so I asked him, "What does Kate look like?" I was expecting either "she's black or white," which would tell me which girl he meant. Instead, he replies, with a smile, "She looks like a flower."

Favorite snapshots of Finn and I: