LOST in Translation... or Should I Say Montebello?

WOW oh WOW is this a story for you.

To start off, I did a fun OWS with Lilias on Friday (Aug 22nd) and afterwards, we headed to breakfast were I met Alison.  She a super nice girl and also training for an Ironman. We all get to talking and I tell her that my friend Bucket gave me a great route from Griffith Park to Long Beach that I was planning on riding the following day with a few friends.  It is roughly 70 miles and asked if she wanted to join since she too had to do a long distance and its more fun with friends.  She said sure.

Team Bad Ass... Taking on the Swim!

Such a beautiful morning. (T26)

Saturday am... we meet at Griffith Park and of course all my buddies that want to ride with us are late!  LOL.  Great first impression I am giving this poor girl who needs to seriously train as her Ironman is Oct 5 in Barcelona. After 1hr, we finally get on the path only for it to END!  That is right my dears.. END... we are now on surface roads, merging with the freeway and winding our way through back roads of downtown. I had printed out the route so I was yelling LEFT here, RIGHT there, etc.. how it did not register in my pretty blond brain that the directions were NOT on a path, I have no idea... but needless to say, it was so HYSTERICAL and UNREAL.  It was literally THAT ride - ALL DAY LONG, LOL.

Scottie, Jay, Kelie, Alison and myself pedaling through super shady parts of town to finally make our way to the bike path in who knows what part of LA... I think overall, we were on surface roads for 10-15 miles.  Nutty!

Alison, Jay, Me, Kelie, Scottie

Once we finally get cruising on the path, Jay bags out as he was only in it for 30-40 miles, not the 70... but the rest of us pedal on.

Alison and Scottie who are fast riders take off.  Kelie, who is faster than me, but is recovering from a wedding stays and rides with me... it was nice to have the company and catch up on life.  The bike path was beautiful and flat.  It was actually a fun ride getting to LB... (it was the getting back that got tricky.) :-)

View on the bike path

Kelie & I once we arrived in LB (that's the Queen Mary behind us)

Once we got to LB, of course Kelie and I could not find Alison and Scott.  Which just added to the ridiculousness of what had happened all morning. After about 15 min, we found them and got ourselves all sorted out.  We stop to refill our water bottles and restroom break... and chatted a little before we started to head back to Griffith Park.  Scottie was laughing a little as he realized he has not ridden this far since our SD ride... but is excited for the return. 

As we head down the path towards home, Scott and Alison of course take off again.  I would too if I was that fast. :-)  Kelie and I continue to ride and chat and after what seems like 2hrs... we both were like WHERE ARE WE?!?!?  None of this looks familiar.  OH S#!T.  LOL... Where the heck were we?? We were still on the path, but how did we miss our turn? Where is Scott & Alison?  and Just as we start to slightly freak out, my phone rings.. it's Scott and Alison.. they too are still on the path about 5min ahead of us.  they did the same thing. Uh Oh!  We are LOST.

Now instead of turning around on the path, and trying to do the printed out direction in reverse, Scott decides to plug it into Google Maps to get us home from where were are.  At this point, Kelie has to use the restroom, Scott and I are out of water and I am pretty sure that is when Alison decided she will never ride with me again. :-)

As we get off the bike path the first place we see is Mr. Pepe's Burgers... OBVIOUSLY that is where we are going!! It was actually a pretty cool burger place. :-)

As Scott gets everything in order, we realize that we have somehow ended up in Montebello! What the heck!?!? AWESOME.  Alison and Kelie are talking to a few friends on the phone laughing.. it was pretty funny.. I was a little embarrassed because I was technically leading this ride but had no clue.. and I was also a little nervous because I knew we still had like 20 miles to go.

FINALLY.. Scott has a route, so we think, Siri is telling him where to go.  And you would think she would tell us a safe route, but no.  She has us crossing over traffic - not at lights - so at one point, I peak out into the traffic to see if we can cross, a car comes whipping around the corner - where of course I slam on the breaks - so I would not get hit by a car and do not have time to unclip and fall.  I swear the fall was in slow motion, too..  It all keeps adding up.

The massive bruises I got from the fall. :-(

We are cruising now... biking over freeways, through neighborhoods and getting closer.  We stop at a light and guess what street we are about to turn on... GRIFFIN! Say what?!! Everything happens for a reason... LOL.. that ride was a disaster.. a fun one, but a disaster.. and to stumble upon GRIFFIN Ave.. was a pleasant surprise.

OBVI. :-)

2 miles later we are back on the path.  Alison is hauling ass and probably counting her lucky stars to be back.  Scottie is struggling as this was a loooong journey. Kelie is cruising and I am over it.  LOL.

When we finally make it back.  We all say our goodbyes and have a good laugh about it and head home. 

A few lessons were definitely learned.

1... Don't ride with Rachel!

2... Read and Re-read your route - and make sure you understand it!

3... Probably best to create your own route so you know where you are going.

4... Laughter is Key.

5... Patience is a definite

6... Friends are AWESOME.

this was the route... as you can see from blue line we went WAAAY off course. LOL.

Ice bath Recovery was definitely in order!

Bricks

Every Tuesday night, Adrian conducts a brick with his Cloud 9 Endurance group.  I have said before that with this new group, I am slow-man, low-man as everyone has done marathons or ironmans or has actually done a few of them.  Me... Not so much!

So, every Tuesday, or as many as I can attend, I try to make it to Adrian's Bricks.  Despite being the last person, it pushes me to do better and this particular week, I did pretty good!

We did 3 loops north of Sunset by the college.  They were pretty decent climbs, I would say similar to the Amalfi Switchbacks.  We had to handle 3 loops if we could in 20min... and I did it and surprisingly I wasn't the last person.. YAY! (2nd to last... but I'll take it!) ...

it was fun.  I am getting better and that is all i can hope for.

 2nd Time up. 

 Adrian's selfie with the group

BAMFs

Oh.. and I totally forgot to mention that Adrian also does Trail runs on Tuesday am... this is not really my cup of tea, but i went for it.  HOLY CRAP!!! We met at the top of Mandeville and hike the mountains around there. it was Freaking HARD.. and we all know that I am the worst runner, on top of bad knees and no hiking... I was an embarrassment to this group LOL.  Such a struggle... but I did it... cursing under my breath, LOL and with a smile... but I did it! - Total of 10mi run this day.. 7mi on the trail and 3mi on the brick.. it was a GOOD DAY!

SERIOUSLY!?!

I am not in this picture because I am so far behind. :-)

there is me in the back, hoping I don't kill myself climbing back down

 Amazing View

FINALLY made it to the top!!

These guys are amazing.

Hawaii and Hurricanes

My dear friends Leo and Michael got engaged in the middle of TWO Hurricanes.. It was crazy.  People plan weddings in Hawaii for the guarantee that the weather will be amazing.  That being said, for the first time in 20 years, Hawaii was about to be hit.

As we braced ourselves for fun among the hurricanes, I knew that I still had to train.  And let me tell you, even in terrible weather, Hawaii is still amazingly gorgeous. (Thursday and Friday had rain)

Great way to see Waikiki - even if I was soaked

 When I looked at this view I thought I was in "LOST"

By Saturday, the sun started to shine and we were able to take some advantage of the beach.  Thank goodness... so I hit the road for a 10miler. :-)

at this point, I was so hot and this was so inviting, I took off my shoes and went for a dip! :-)

On Sunday, the boys were getting married. It was beautiful out. Not a cloud in the sky.  They looked amazing and I am not going to lie, I think we looked pretty good, too!

 Mike & Leo

Ellen, me & Mia

Overall.. the weekend was amazing. Beautiful and fun!

Pier to Pier Swim

This past Sunday was the Dwight Crum Pier-to-Pier swim challenge.  It is a 2mi Open Water Ocean swim from the Hermosa Beach Pier to the Manhattan Beach Pier.  It was fantastic.

http://www.surffestival.org/Swim/SwimIndex.html

Now... I have wanted swim this race for a few year now, but unfortunately, I never have.  I have either been traveling for work or vacation or forgot about it until it was too late.  But this year, I was able to compete.

Knowing that my swim time up at Vineman was pretty decent for a 1.2mi swim, I was confident I would finish the swim within the 2hr window. I was however slightly nervous as I had never swam 2mi before.  But hey, no time like the present, right?!?!

So with that in mind I swam the race. As I dove into the water, my goggles were knock off, luckily, I was wearing them under my swim cap, so they stayed on, but they were all wonky and water was in them and in my eyes.  So needless to say, it was a rough start.  As I started to swim, I see Tracy, my TNT buddy who is super fast and agreed to do the swim with me.  I am barely getting my breath right and there she is doing the backstroke with the biggest smile on her face.  It was amazing and hysterical and just what I needed to see to remember that this was suppose to be fun!  So.. I took a deep breath, got in the rhythm and swam... and of course peed 9 times, LOL.

The water was amazing. It was pretty warm, i think it was close to 70 degrees and it was so clear you can practically see the bottom and with that see all the fishes and the sharks! Yes.. I said Sharks.  Of course, when I was swimming and saw the dark shadow below me, I convinced myself that it was seaweed or something, because as I looked around, No One was panicking or getting out of the water, so I thought I was imagining things... I wasn't. :-)

http://www.easyreadernews.com/85803/time-sharks-surf-festival-dwight-crum-pier-pier/

Overall, the race was awesome.  Of course I was not a fish like some of the other swimmers that finished it in half my time, but to be honest, I was pretty happy with my 1:21:46! Not too shabby for my first time! WAHOO!!

With some proper coaching from Adrian, I am sure I can cut that time down in time for Cozumel.

BRING IT ON.

Me and Tracy - she finish 2min ahead of me

AMAZING TNT Cheer Squad - Dani, (me, Tracy), Kelie & Chrystine

Anni, Me & Theresa 

Me... a little out of breath after crossing the finish line. :-)

Post TNT Training

I have to tell you, I miss training with my TNT buddies.

It is a completely different experience training on your own.  My first week back after a recovery / work week in NY, I jumped back on the saddle to handle my training.  I went to the pool for a nice swim, I did an easy bike around Santa Monica, i aqua jogged for 1.5 hours on Thursday night then an amazing open water swim on Friday and even did a 50mi Bike ride up the PCH to the strawberry fields in Ventura.  It was awesome.  but it was so lonely. :-(  I had the motivation to keep me going, but I miss the constant laughter and GO TEAM to keep me going.

i did however experience pure happiness after my 50mi ride, I did a 1.5mi transition run and I managed a 11min pace with 3-1 intervals and my knee did not hurt! I was so excited.  But I didn't want to push it, so I aqua jogged for 2.5hrs on Sunday.  Thankfully, there were a few TNT people there.  Not from my team, but from the team doing the Chicago Marathon or SF Half Marathon. So it was actually nice to have a few people to talk to. :-)

Last week I joined up with Adrian (my new coach) for his Cloud 9 Endurance Brick on Tuesday.  I was super excited for it.  I arrived a little early and was ready to go.  Of course this new group consists of multi-finisher Ironmen/women, marathoners and then me. LOL.  I was the slowest one on the bike.  Granted my front tire was stuck in the break the whole time, but I would have still been the slowest.  Thankfully, Rich, who was new to the ride too, was at my pace, so we did the route together and had a great time.  And another fun fact, after that 12mi ride, we did a 4mi run and my knee only slightly hurt!! WAHOOO!!! I think ole righty tighty is getting better!! :-)  my plan though is to not go over board.  I plan on introducing some more runs into my mid-weeks, but still aqua jog on the long runs, until they even out.  Slow and steady wins the race, right!?!

The rest of the week was kinda magoo. LOL.  I did another pool session and light run.  and on Friday I met up with Laura, Jose, Riz and Heather (from Ironteam) for a nice OWS.. it was great. it was fun and totally chill... we basically just pitter-pattered in the water for an hour. it was perfect!

And Saturday.. Kelie from TNT saved me...I had ZERO motivation to get on my bike but she was there for me and got me on my bike for 3 Amalfi Loops and 1 Golf Course Lollipop... a total for 25mi.... not the original 50-60 I wanted to do, but a ride all the same. THANK YOU KELIE!

Vineman Wineries

After after race comes the recovery... and lucky for us we were in Sonoma.  I really don't need to add anything else.

See below pictures from our amazing wine tasting.

Rachel

The Crew... too many amazing peeps to name

Angela & I

The Crew

Scott, Evelyn, Meredith, Liz, Angela

The Crew

Me and my Bib Number Sunburn Tattoo (497)

CHEERS

Kelie, Jay, Angela & Me

Cole, Liz, Kelie, Angela, Tina & Me

Meredith, Tina & Bucket