This spring, my team and I have seen it all- rain, wind, sandstorms, hot, cold, and a few lovely Southern California sunny days sprinkled in:
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| (From left) Riz, Me, and Kelly after doing hill-repeats to the top of Mandeville Canyon, on a beautiful morning in LA |
For a while we had several weekends in a row of non-stop rain, but because we are IronTEAM, of course we trained anyway. We ran a half-marathon: 13.1 miles- in the pouring rain.
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| Even the camera was soggy |
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| Splashing through puddles! |
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| Selling some of my Hollybars after the run... I think these were the White Chocolate Macadamia flavor- yummm |
On another weekend the wind speeds reached up to 35 mph! That Saturday, our practice at Zuma Beach in Malibu (I know, boo-hoo, right?) consisted of an approximately 60 mile bike ride, with a 10 mile run afterward. Before the bike we also practiced our T1- transitioning from wetsuit to the bike.
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| About to transition from wetsuit to the bike... You can see my hair is going everywhere- the winds were so strong it was hard to even run over to our bikes! |
It was a tough day on the bike to say the least. With the headwind, we did the equivalent of biking uphill for about 20-30 miles. Even going downhill was a challenge with the resistance from the wind!
When we got back to the beach to transition to the 10 mile run, we discovered our gear had been almost completely covered in sand!
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| My T2 gear covered by a passing sand dune in the parking lot |
On the run, the wind did not let up- it seemed to even get worse at times. In the way back at the end, I had to keep my head down to avoid losing my visor to the wind, and to avoid getting pelted in the face by the sand being blown up from the beach!
We waited in the cold and wind for everyone to finish, and did a quick GO TEAM! cheer. I think I still had sand in my ears and hair a few days later!
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| A very windy "GO TEAM!" |
Luckily for our ride down to San Diego, the weather cooperated. It was a little bit foggy at times but had a good day with very little wind. Not too hot, not too cold, and even a little overcast to shade the sun a bit.
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| Pai took this great portrait of our team before we started rolling (for those playing "where's waldo," I'm in in the back, just right of center) |
We rode down, and did a 30 min run after hopping off the bike- then grabbed a bite at Pizza Port, and jumped on the train back to LA.
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| A sometimes-foggy, but lovely 80 mile ride down the coast to San Diego |
No one ever said training for an Ironman was easy- by the end of the season I will have swam, biked, and run hundreds of miles. But I know that fighting cancer is even harder, so when the weather is bad, when we're getting blown off our bikes by the wind, or freezing in the pouring rain, I remind myself why we're doing this.
I swim, bike and run to help those who cannot. Please consider making a donation and help me help LLS find a cure for cancer.
