Every morning, I wake up faster. At 5:30am the alarm goes off. I get up, eat, train, eat, go to work, eat at work, get off work, train, eat, and promptly pass out. Then I wake up faster again. If I don’t immediately bounce out of bed, I lie there for a moment and think, “Today I am faster than I was yesterday.” It’s a great feeling to be getting faster every day and will usually put a smile on my groggy face.

That said, I continued my PR streak at the Sentinel Triathlon in Santa Cruz on September 23. It’s essentially a shorter version of Big K, the half I did 2 weeks prior, or rather, Big K is a longer version of Sentinel, which was celebrating its 25th anniversary this year. So this is one of the oldest tris around here, though it would be my first time racing the course. It is kind of funny that the sport of triathlon is roughly my age.

One of my favorite parts of the weekend was having a sleepover with some of my new local teammates from Team Sheeper, based in Menlo Park (about five miles from work). Lorraine and Michele were also racing Sentinel and we stayed with Virginia and her husband Glenn, who live about 30min from the beach, in a cute little town up in the Santa Cruz Mountains. It was so peaceful and quiet up there, I felt like I was about to go camping! V & G were the best hosts ever, I later told them it was like a pro homestay, or what I would imagine a pro homestay is like, so good practice for when I go pro later.  ;)  We had a yummy home cooked dinner, played with their dog Willow, and slept in comfy beds. Best of all, I got to bond with my local training mates; I move around so much I feel like the perpetual “new girl.”

We drove down the mountain race morning and I met my mom in the transition area, who handed me the running socks I had forgotten to pack. She brought G-dog, who was very excited. (He gets that from me. Everything is just so exciting!!!) I took my time setting up and then headed over to the beach only to start jogging in my wetsuit to the swim start, which was further down the beach than anticipated.

Just like at Big K, the swim went around the wharf. Unlike at Big K, I didn’t get my face pummeled. There were only two buoys that were set by the end of the pier, so there was plenty of room to deviate from swimming a straight course. I opted to swim the shortest and most direct line to the first buoy, aiming for the end of the pier, instead of going with…well…everybody else, who seemed to be taking it really wide. Soon enough I looked up, finding myself completely alone, and realized that the ocean current was pushing me into the side of the pier. A volunteer kayaker actually ended steering me away from it. I linked back with some swimmers as we rounded the end of the pier, and it was another ambiguously wide route back to the beach. The water was choppy on the way back and at times I felt like I was swimming in place. Not the quick swim I was hoping for; I washed ashore with a big wave and stumbled across the sand.  :)

T1 like 2 weeks ago was a bit of a run from the beach to transition. Amusingly, it was a shorter run than Big K—it really was like a mini-me version! I got on the bike as a spectator yelled at me, “go pink and green! Like Ferrari colors!” Really? Cool! I’ll have to go as fast as a Ferrari! And in fact my bike did feel the fastest it has all season. The training has kicked in and I had also dropped my cockpit down by a couple spacers, so my aero position was slightly more aggressive. After seeing the official race pictures from my last race, all of which featured me sitting upright on the bike, I vowed to stay aero as much as possible. Obviously so my pictures would come out better. My legs felt extremely responsive, and the turnaround appeared much quicker than expected. I even did the take-the-feet-out-of-the-shoes-while-still-biking trick on my way into T2. yay!

Weather-wise, it was a cool day (actually rained the day before), and my feet had frozen while I was biking. I took off for the run and felt like my feet had turned into ice blocks, I couldn’t feel them! I focused on my breathing and a quick cadence, the feet finally thawed out around mile 2. I had been visualizing myself running 6:58’s off the bike, but unfortunately there were no mile markers laid out so I didn’t really know how quick I was going, I just went as fast as I could. I could hear myself breathing as I began passing the age group men, taking them down one by one, it wasn’t pretty, but at least I was moving up! I hit the 5k turnaround at about 22 minutes, and from there on out, it would be a battle against my mounting fatigue. At this point, a triathlete boy my age thanked me for pushing him on the bike and run and unlike me, was able to pick up the pace back to the finish line. It must be hard for boys to get passed by a girl in hot pink. Maybe not. A lot them were rooting for me  ;)

It became difficult to stay focused and at times my vision went blurry. I had to remind myself to keep moving, keep motoring through the field. I saw my local teammates at various points on their way out and was so wretched I couldn’t respond to their cheers. At one point I glanced at my watch and thought, “hey, you can still PR even if you slow down!” but I snapped out of it quickly and gave myself a few choice cuss words. During the last mile, my low back threatened to cramp up, courtesy of my new bike position, and I was quite afraid I wouldn’t make it. Even more talking to myself, “a PR is not going to get handed to you on a silver platter, you have to work for it!!” And work for it I did. It was all I could do to keep thrusting one leg in front of the other, and I could only focus on going from signpost to landmark to tree. I finally saw the host hotel in the distance, but was not exactly sure where the finish line was relative to it. Soon enough, I saw my mom cheering for me to GO!!!! and I realized it was time for my finishing kick. Oh, that hurt. I was so happy to be done, finishing right at 2:24:59. I was really glad my back didn’t go out!

Turns out my efforts were good enough for an age group win (my first in California after just moving back here), and 15th overall female. I took another 3 minutes off my Olympic distance time despite a longer transition and was ecstatic that my mom was there to see me finish on top of the podium! Sort of. I actually just missed getting my name called out as I was in the midst of a fabulous complimentary massage. But I still won a folding chair that had the 25th Anniversary Sentinel Triathlon logo on it and promptly gave it to my #1 fan, my mom! Perfect for taking to the races.

I’m very excited (like G-dog) about my continued improvement as I am learning first-hand the effects of keeping a consistent training schedule. I will keep at it, and wake up every day faster. Next up will be my season closer, the Treasure Island Olympic Tri in my very own backyard, San Francisco!

huzzah!!!  I PR'd by a whole 11 minutes last weekend at the Big Kahuna half, bringing me closer than ever to that elusive sub-5 half ironman.  I've got a homemade sign (Sharpie on a scrap of paper) taped to my dashboard that says "HOW BAD DO YOU WANT SUB-5?" which anyone who parks next to me inevitably notices.  One guy I bike with asked if it referred to a sub-5-minute mile.  ha!!  that's pretty quick!  Turns out I missed my sub-5 hours by 5 minutes, but I did bring my time down to a very respectable 5:04, which I am extremely psyched about.

It was my second (and final) half iron of the 2007 season, and of significance, it was an entire 41 minutes faster than my first effort back in April.  (my previous PR was set back in 2005.)  In April, I was in an unhappy place.  I wasn't motivated to train much or really do anything much, and didn't even decide to do the half distance (I was going to bail and do the Olympic) until the day before the race.  How I managed to gut out a 5:45 on minimalistic training was somewhat impressive, but oh so painful!  My best friends in Dallas kind of shook their heads and told me to imagine how much faster I would go if only I trained.  That may have been the first time I realized it would always be painful, but depending on your fitness, the amount of time you are enduring that pain is what changes.

so fast forward to my much happier state of mind and body these days.  Yeah, it's still painful.  It hurts for everybody.  That is something I will continue to struggle with...to learn to...embrace.  Right?  Because when I go pro, it will still hurt.  I'll just be going faster.  So I'll hurt just as much but for a shorter amount of time.  Right?!  anyway, I am really happy with how I did.  I need to take a picture of my award, this scary looking totem pole guy who is quite ugly, but he's now my centerpiece at my work desk (actually, the dining table in what was the break room which has been converted to "my office") to scare away evildoers.  I officially ended up 3rd in my age group out of 65 (though 2nd at the awards ceremony, don't know how they managed to screw that up), and 16th overall for females--in a huge field that included competitors from all over like Michellie Jones, reigning Ironman World Champion!  This really means a lot to me... I'd consider it a breakthrough race, as I haven't yet podium'ed in my new age group in a California race.  We all know California triathlons are bigger, more expensive, always sell out, and are much more competitive!  So though I have done much better placement-wise in other races around the country, this race feels like my best performance yet.

You can read my official race report on my teamTBB blog.  huzzah!!

holy time flyin'!  Is it past mid-August already?  I started my prosthetic residency on the 1st, and have been having such a good time, I can't believe it's already been 2.5 weeks.  My residency director and I get along famously as we've known each other for the past 3 years; I honestly love going to work every morning (after an early morning workout session of course) and every day I'm learning something new.  We actually got a new patient yesterday who we'll be creating a cycling-specific prosthesis for, another guy who wants a water polo leg, and a woman who wants one for swimming.  TOO COOL!!

I'm trying to keep up with maintaining the website, I've finally figured out the domain issues (sorta), so I apologize for anyone who had to look at the lame "starter" page while the site was down for a couple days.  The home page reflects my new title as "development pro triathlete" (whatever that is) which I just thought sounded way cooler than "elite amateur triathlete" (whatever that is).  The home page slideshow is also updated with newer pictures from my latest race and my half iron in August that my friend Bill finally sent me the pictures to!  I still seem to be getting some hits every day, kind of interesting that I have fans lurking out there.  pretty neat, please don't be intimidated and feel free to leave a comment on the blog or send me a message.  if anything, let me know if the quotes on my new slideshow are too corny :)

I raced last weekend at the Folsom International Tri and came home with both an Olympic-distance PR and an outright 10k PR!  My official race report is on my teamTBB blog.  I only missed the AG podium by an aggravating 15 seconds, but I suppose that only adds more fuel to the fire.  I was an entire 10.5 minutes off of top 8 overall though, so I've definitely got plenty of work to do, but I can only get faster from here...  check it out, here I am super hard-core with my new team iron-on patches, team issue visor and fake tattoos:

Hey sports fans, I apologize for not updating very often this past month.  I've been averaging 19-hour training weeks and just kickin' back, relaxin', and enjoying my psuedo vacation.  There are actually more updates on my other blog on the team TBB website complete with some dressy-up pics from my cousin's wedding.  And if you want to hear me dish a little more on training and minor details of life, I also have a LiveJournal that I've kept since my senior year in college.  so please forgive me for neglecting this blog, I didn't ever think I'd end up with three!

very soon, tomorrow actually, I will start work again--really excited but at the same time trying to figure out when to fit the training in.  Stay tuned!

well, a couple of weeks ago I was made extra official on the teamTBB website, in my very own team shirt and visor!

They are calling me their new "development pro athlete," and since returning home, that's exactly all I've been doing.  I'm on my third full week of the "beginner program," which already has me swimming, biking, and running more than I have in a while.  or ever?  I think I am finally getting used to swimming five times a week, something I've never done before.  but what I should really be doing is unpack the 20 boxes sitting in the living room before Mom gets fed up with me enjoying the "development pro" lifestyle too much...  ;)

I've signed up for my first tri back here at home, the Folsom International Tri about a month from now.  Looking through the remainder of the 2007 season, I'll need to race 2:22's in my Olympic races and break 5 hrs at the Big Kahuna half IM if I want to qualify for my pro card before next year.  That's taking 6 minutes off my Olympic best and 16 minutes off my half IM best, but hey, I am being coached by the best, have a great support team here at home (Mom = #1 sherpa and personal chef!), and seriously motivated.

In the meantime, I've got a standalone running race and standalone open water swim race coming up--the Wine Country Half Marathon is this Sunday, and in two more weeks I'm gonna have a go at the Lake Del Valle 2-mile Aqua Challenge.  No taper or anything, so we'll see how I do in these "training days."  My goals for the two at this point is a PR in the half mary (January I ran a 1:37) and breaking an hour in the swim.  ok, well, I'll keep you posted as I become developed into the pro athlete I know I have hiding inside of me!

so I'm up on the official teamTBB website, my picture next to the likes of Hillary Biscay and teammates such as Bella Comerford (winner of my 2nd Ironman) and Belinda Granger (winner of my 4th Ironman).  The team manager, head coach, webmaster, and "operations executive" have been bombarding me with emails and notes of "congratulations!" so besides my teamTBB profile, I think that's as official as it gets, right?

I'm extremely honored and absolutely ecstatic--this is the melding of all my passions into the ultimate dream job.  I'm going to compete in the pro ranks, race all over the globe, and on the O&P side of things, volunteer at prosthetic clinics in Southeast Asia.  WOW.  even in my wildest dreams I can't say I'd ever imagined this.  so it's time to stop dreaming, and make it all a reality.

In the meantime, I also have a blog and my own personal forum on the team website.  Blog entries will most likely be cross-posted here, and as for the "chat with Jocelyn" feature on the forum, it's really easy to sign up for a free account and is a fun way to keep in touch.

I've decided beforehand not to race again until August or even September, and my performance this weekend reaffirms that decision.  As obnoxious as it sounds, I can still do decently well (i.e. place in my AG) at these local sprints without training very much.  But I'm totally cheating myself.  I realize that anybody who beats me most likely trains more than I do, and if only I trained as much as anyone else did, I'd be that much better.  but it's been fun.  but oh, it hurts more, and getting passed and feeling you don't have it in you isn't cool.  but the most uncool is seeing how you look in a two-piece outfit and not wanting to post them.  ha ha.  :(

race morning--a lot of adrenaline was burned leaving home a little late and trying to get to the race site in time (just a 30-min drive).  the cool thing was it was an 800m open water swim, and the waves were co-ed.  This was nice, because that was more opportunity for drafting.  I lined up towards the front and there was definitely some more of the "washing machine" effect, but I bashed back.  I can be aggressive about holding my line when there are faster/stronger swimmers who don't know how to go in a straight line to the buoy.  it subsided after 100m or so.  I continued to move up, drafting when I could.  at the final turn, we went straight into the sunlight and it was hard to see, so I depended on the general direction of the swimmers in front of me.  Post-race, "flag guy" Aaron Patel thanked me for the fast swim, as he drafted me almost the entire way.  I was super flattered and hope that reflects how much I've improved in the swim.  I pride myself on being able to navigate open water.  There was some prickly seaweed in some areas of the swim, which I thought was cool.  I think it freaked out a lot of people, but I was just happy it wasn't slimy.  :)

Since it was a good size sprint tri (506 finishers), there were a bunch of people out on the bike.  It was mostly flat, so I hammered it as best as I could, passing some, and being passed by some.  Not too many women out in front, so I was passed by a lot of men.  I started feeling the glutes burning, and was running out of juice in my legs.  In hindsight, I could've hydrated better--it ended up being pretty warm out there on the run.  I was passed in the final 1/3 of the bike by a girl in red, in my AG, who it turns out has pegged me as her "nemesis".  I tried to keep an eye on her and reel her in, but she slowly pulled away, and I didn't have much more in me.  I remember thinking "if she gets a mile ahead of you on the bike, that's gonna be impossible to catch on the run!  minimize the damage..."

I got into T2 and pulled on my Ace ankle wrap (I had minorly sprained it on Wednesday and would take the run conservatively); unfortunately I had forgotten my run visor in my haste to leave this morning.  I knew I'd regret it, as it became pretty hot out there.  Luckily some of the run was shaded.  I spotted the girl in red (phew) and knew I would overtake her.  She had a blazing fast bike split, I'll give her props for that!!  My run splits went from 7:19 to 7:45 to "just get 'er done..."  With a mile to go, I could see that the other women in front of me were going to be a stretch to catch...some had started out with a 4-minute lead in the earlier wave, the others would be in my AG.  So I just tried not to get passed by other women in the end.  My ankle discomfort was at a tolerable level, and I didn't dare push any harder; it wouldn't be worth further injuring myself over a sprint I was out of shape for.  (and wow.  that just sounds sad.  the not being in shape for a sprint part.)

So I was pleased with my AG 2nd (originally 3rd, but the winner who whupped me by some 9 minutes was in our AG and I got bumped up).  13th overall, there were some really quick juniors in the last wave, and really I'm not going to complain about my performance, all things considered.  I was lucky to keep the ankle out of too much trouble, and it's been healing decently.  Had I been training more and really peaked for the race and had the same outcome... well, that's a completely different story.   It'll be good to take a little break from racing, move out of here, get settled back in California and really put in some solid volume.

ok, we are coming up on my final day of work tomorrow at UT Southwestern.  yes, it's on a Monday, and that's weird, but I figured I started last year on Monday, June 5th, and this year, June 4th is a Monday.  The exciting part is that starting Tuesday I pretty much get to train full time for the next two months!  well, in the midst of packing, selling everything but the bikes and the dog, moving, and more fun stuff.  Tuesday-Thursday I will sleep extra and train to my heart's content as people jet off to work; Friday and Saturday I will be in Oklahoma City to volunteer for the Endeavor Games.  Saturday night I will be back in the DFW area to watch one of my sports heroines, Danica Patrick, race at the Texas Motor Speedway!  It'll be my first time going to the car races.  Then Sunday will be my Texas tri season finale, the Metroplex Sprint Triathlon held at Joe Pool Lake in Grand Prairie.  For once, I'm looking forward to the longer swim (800m vs. the 300m pool swims) since I may actually be able to put more time on the faster bikers, not something I've ever said in previous seasons.

This past weekend, I had a blast with my friends who have helped make Dallas much more tolerable than it initially was.  We went skating at a roller rink right by White Rock Lake--the last time I'd gone was in 6th grade!  I felt like a kid again, pure bliss.  80's music with games like limbo, the Hokey Pokey, and one-lap races.  The limbo bar started at 28 inches and as flexible as I can be, at my height I could only bend over so far!  the kid who won was like 5 years old!  then we went salsa dancing at night and I would have to blame my ineptness on my various partners.  if the boy can't lead, then it's not your fault if you get confused, right?

hi!  so this is my new website...  I'm pretty excited.  all the hotshot pro triathletes have their own websites, so why not an aspiring pro like me?  how else will the sponsors learn all about me and see fun pictures of me racing?

things on the training end are okay, more on the edge of new & exciting actually.  (and if you know me personally, you know I'm always asking "hey!  so what's new and exciting?")  In two weeks I'll be done with residency #1, and residency #2 doesn't start until August 1st, meaning...I get to train full time for two whole months!  pretty much!  I will also start working with a new triathlon coach in a couple weeks, I'm really looking forward to it.

I was just home this past weekend for my brother's graduation from college (go Jig!).  Being there reminded me of how much I miss the SF Bay Area--family, childhood friends, the food, and so many cool places to train!  no shortage of hills or ocean views wherever you go.  One magical thing about training at home is that a long run is never long enough.  and actually, a long ride is never long enough either.  by that I mean I never want to make the turn-around to go home because I want to just keep going!  Just so many beautiful places to see and explore, and such great weather.  I did a 9-mile run on Saturday and easily could've ran 13, though I only meant to go 6 or 7.  But I had to make it to my favorite ocean overlook (Milagra Ridge) before I turned around, and it was worth it.  Perhaps I should start training with a digital camera to share ;)