Lavaman Pictures

Get Your Own!

Lavaman Race Results!!!

Get Your Own!

This is long, so if you want the very short summary, scroll down to the bottom of this.

It's been over a month since I completed my third triathlon and I know this is bit overdue but it's better late than never, right? So Lavaman was incredible. After a five month training and fundraising season, I was more than ready to head to Hawaii and conquer the 1-mile swim, 25-mile bike and 6.2 mile run! Here's how it went:

Before the Race:
The night before the race, I had meticulously packed and arranged all my race gear for the morning. We got up at 4:45am, had breakfast, and met everyone at the hotel lobby. I felt prepared, but had a headache and wasn't feeling too good for some reason. At first I didn’t know what it was, but soon figured it out. I won’t tell you what it was but let's just say it was a slight deterrent for the race.

Setting up my transition area

Our whole team rode to the transition area where we keep our gear/bike to transition between events. There I set up everything, got body marked, which came off. I had to redo the body marking, put on sunscreen, and use the bathroom.

The race started at 7:30 sharp and we were meeting at 7:05 for our team picture. After I was all set up I looked at my watch and it was 6:50am and I hadn't even warmed up yet!! I kind of freaked out, but decided to just go for a 10 min run. Coach recommended warming up for at least 20 minutes, but oh well, I had no choice. I had lost track of time. I did my warm up and ran to do the team picture.
After the team picture, Coach does a meditation exercise where he walks us through the whole event with our eyes closed. This really helps us calm down and helps you believe you can actually do it! As he was doing the meditation, I felt anxious to get in the water and warm-up, since I wasn't very warmed up.

The Swim
All pros and men started at 7:30 and all women started at 7:35am. The men went off and before I knew it was 30 seconds to the women’s start.

I was in the water, trying to figure out where the heck to place myself between 300 something women. I'm not a fast swimmer so I didn't want to get run over but I also didn't want to be slowed down by others so as I was trying to get my goggles on right, the gun went off!!! At this point it didn't matter where I was, I just had to swim!
Now, if you've never seen a triathlon swim start, this is literally what it feels like:

The women are especially vicious. I was kicked in the face, and someone actually managed to punch me in the head! Another girl kicked her feet up in the air as I was drafting off of her. I got so mad that I actually grabbed her foot. I guess what I'm trying to say is a triathlon swim is not like a leisurely swim in the pool. You're trying to fight your way between people and people are swimming past you, kicking you and hands are flying everywhere.

Believe it or not, I was completely calm through all of this. I had my earplugs on and I just focused on my stroke and breathing. I kept my rhythm and enjoyed the beautiful water. I actually saw a huge sea turtle below me. The darn thing slowed me down, cause I was trying to look at it!

The swim was two loops around the buoys. Here's a picture of the swim. You can sort of see the swim path. We had to go around it twice, making one mile.
Now, like I said the swim portion is usually not my favorite, but I was amazed at how good I felt throughout the whole thing. I usually freak out and need to stop to take a breath, but I didn't stop once. Actually I did stop once, because my goggles were leaking, but other than that I felt great!

Swim to Bike transition:
When I got out of the water and realized my swim time was not what I wanted it to be, I was bummed. In my time trials, I knew I could do a 34-minute swim or better. My swim time was over 37 minutes. Realizing this kind of bummed me out, but I just told myself I would make it up on the bike!

I ran as quickly as I could to the transition area. According to Ryan's stats I passed 35 people in the transition area. I saw a lot of bikes gone in the transition area. Agh! That means a lot of people were on the bike already. "I'll catch up," I thought. I put my sunscreen, singlet, socks, bike shoes, sunglasses and helmet on, grabbed my bike and ran out for the bike portion! This transition took me 3 minute, 47 seconds. (This is calculated from the time you get out of the water to the time you get on your bike.)
Transition area

The Bike
My strength and favorite part of the race! To be honest, I wasn't too excited about the bike course because it seemed boring and not very picturesque, not to mention windy and very hot! But, it was part of the Ironman World Championship course which made it exciting!

I thought I wouldn't like the bike portion, but I actually loved it!! The beginning portion was tough. It felt windy and hilly, but I soon gained my rhythm and strength and started passing people. I think I passed a group of 20 people going up a hill. This really lifted my spirit so I kept on pumping hard. I knew it wasn't the best idea, but I had to make up for my swim!

This is the view of the bike course. It kind of feels like you're on the moon, but still very pretty.

I don't think anyone passed me for a long time, until this girl with a purple singlet (another Team In Training person) from Los Angeles, also with a Cannondale bike came zooming by me!
"Oh, I'm gonna keep up with her!" I love having someone to pace off of. It motivates me to keep my speed and energy high. Well, I passed her. Then she passed me. I passed her. It became a passing act and a race! I love and hate that :)

I made some comment to her like, " It must be the Cannondales racing." She laughed and we became racing buddies. We kept on racing and after the aid station, I sped in front of her and lost her. But I was still passing tons of people (according to the stats, I passed 112 people). I felt great! I was passing people and making up for my swim. But, there was one problem. How was I gonna run a 10K after pushing so hard on the bike?! "Just do it. You'll be fine," I thought.

Now the bike was not boring as I had thought. But it was HOT! I was constantly pouring water on my head (3 bottles). I took 2 1/2 energy gels and two bottles of Gatorade filled with salt tabs (to prevent dehydration and cramping). It was so hot that I wanted to drink more water, but I knew it wouldn't feel good in my stomach once I started running. I decided to lay off the water and gels and let it all digest in the last 7 miles.

Bike Course

I was cruising and passing more people and finally the turn came, where I knew it was ending. "I gotta stretch my legs," I thought. So the last half-mile or so, I got up on my bike and stretched out my legs. They were tight! But when I got off and started running they were fine! The stretching worked. woooh! My bike time was 1:19:44, almost 10 minutes faster than Pac Grove Triathlon. I was very happy with my bike time.

Bike to Run transition
I ran in with my bike. Coach Gurujan and Dave cheered me on as I stacked my bike, changed into my running shoes, and grabbed my hat and water bottle. I was out in 1 min, 5 secs.

The Run
The first part of the run was on lava and there was an aid station right at the start. I already had some water in my water bottle, but it was warm! As I approached the aid station, I poured it out and yelled, "Give me some cold water!" I got my water and poured it on my head. It felt so good!

I ran through the lava portion and up a small hill and into a cul-de-sac. I did the first mile in less than 8 minutes! This is fast for me. The second mile was much slower, I think about 11 minutes and then I picked up some speed through the rest of the race. It was hot out there, but there were plenty of aid stations with water and ice. There was also energy drinks, gels and fruit, but I just wanted water and ice to pour on myself. I filled up my hat with ice at every aid station and filled up my water with cold water, which I would pour on myself until the next station. It was so hot that I almost felt dry at the next aid station!

Aid Station

Now, the run is always hard. Not just for me, but for everyone. You've already swam a mile, biked 25 miles, so your body is tired and the heat doesn't help either. Now surprisingly, I felt pretty good on the run. I can't tell you how awesome it is to see your teammates out there, cheering you on and saying your name as you’re passing each other. It really motivates me and helps me to continue. I can't imagine not doing the race with a team. It really makes it so fun!
There was one major hill on the run, which I managed to run up (many people walked). The rest of the course was partly on concrete, and the last two miles was on coral rock, gravel and sand. Now this was challenging, not only because it was hard to keep your speed, but I was trying not to fall! But I loved it! It was absolutely gorgeous!! Here are some pictures of the run course.




To the Finish Line:
Even though I couldn't wait for the finish line, I was actually enjoying the race and feeling strong until the last quarter mile, which is entirely on soft sand.

If you've ever ran on sand, you know it's challenging. Well, it's even more challenging when you've swam, biked and are trying to run as fast as you can to the finish line!

It really helped to have people making encouraging comments. One lady was telling her husband, "She's got a great pace going!" Another guy told me I looked strong, while another man made a comment about Team In Training.

"You have no idea what a positive image you're leaving for everyone," he said.

I gotta say this guy's comment carried me to the finish line. I ran with full force and saw some teammates cheering me on!

I made it to the FINISH LINE!!

ACTUAL TIME: 3:03:22

The feeling of crossing the finish line cannot be explained in words. It's a huge sense of accomplishment and you feel like someone injected you with whole bunch of self-confidence. But most of all, you feel happy that you have completed the goal you have been working towards for the last five months. You have raised money for a good cause and you ran in honor of those who can't or won't (because they think they can't).
Now these are all the emotional feelings. The physical feelings are much different. I felt like I was hit by a truck and had to run home in the desert. But I was done, and to the right of me is where I had started, the beautiful water. I took off my shoes and went in the water.

My Results:

Here are my results for Lavaman 2007 in Kona, Hawaii.

Swim Time: 0:37:33
T1*: 0:03:47
Bike Time: 1:19:45
T2**: 0:01:05
Run Time: 1:01:16
Finish Time: 3:03: 22

*T1:Time it took me to run to the transition area and change into my bike gear and get to the bike start line.
**T2:Time it took me to put my bike away, get out of my bike gear and get ready for the run.

Averages
Average swim pace: 0:02:21 per 100 yards
Average bike pace: 18.7 MPH
Average run pace: 9:53/mile

Ranking:
Swim rank: 43/69 in my age group 462/606 overall
Bike rank: 12/69 in my age group 252/606 overall
Run rank: 25/69 in my age group 313/606 overall
Overall Rank: 21/69 in my age group 307/606 overall

What does all this mean? I was strong on the bike, not so strong on the swim, and average on the run. I was 21st overall out of 69 women in my age group. I was 307th out of all men and women in the race (606).

My improvement from my last race was 15 minutes! Most of the time was made up on the bike and transitions. I also improved my swim and run by about two minutes.

I was so shocked at my time and very pleased with my improvement. I wasn't sure what my time was going to be, but I was expecting anywhere between 3 hours and 3 1/2 hours, so I was extremely happy with my time, although I was still slightly disappointed with my swim time. I know if there weren’t so many people around me, I could have knocked at least three minutes off my time. But there's always next time!

SHORT SUMMARY:
Lavaman was absolutely amazing! It is such a great race and I felt so much better than my last triathlon. I guess because I knew what I was doing more. The swim was beautiful, 70 degrees and crystal clear. I felt calm and strong throughout the whole thing. I wasn’t completely happy with my swim time, but I made up for it on the bike. I had a great bike race and was happy with my time. I always have so much fun on the bike portion. The run was HOT and tough, but I kept cool with ice and water. It was so beautiful that I almost forgot I was doing a race. I crossed the finish line pretty strong and with a 15 minute improvement from last year. My finish time was 3 hours, 3 minutes, 22 secs. I was 21st out of 69 women in my age group. It was a blast!

Thanks everyone for all your love and support! I couldn't have done this without the support of my friends, family, teammates and Coaches.

Love,
Nafiseh / Alana

off to Kona!!

Wow, the race I've been anticipating is less than 5 days away. In less than 24 hours I will be on a plane to Kona, Hawaii, looking through the window in disbelief. But it's happening. I've been training since November and I am ready for this. There were times when I just didn't feel like training but I pulled through and now is the weekend we've all been waiting for.

Not only am I looking forward to race weekend, I am super excited about having a 11 day vacation. I havn't had a vacation in over two years so this is a big treat. I'll let you know how it all goes. Wish me luck! I need it.

Hotel we're staying at. Not bad, eh?

Really Late but Really Happy

On Sunday our team did a practice triathlon, which was a 700 meter swim, 20K bike, and a 5K run.

I spent the night before preparing all of my gear and making sure I had everything I needed. I had it all packed, ready to go. Well, so I thought the alarm clock was set to go off at 4:45 am, so that we could get to Fiesta Island by 5:30am. Well, sometimes things don't turn out as planned.

I woke up not knowing what time it was, but felt unusually rested.
"What time is it?" I thought. It's probably 3, so I just need to go back to sleep so I can feel even more rested. Suddenly I hear a beep from Ry's phone.
"What time is it, Ry?" I said. No response. "What time is it?" He looks at the phone, but I hear silence. "What time is it?"
Answer: 6:36

What!!??

The very next second I jumped out of bed, put on my tri clothes that I had set next to my bed. I ran to the bathroom, put on my contacts, and I was ready to go! We literally left the house in less than 3 minutes, put our bikes and stuff in the car and sped. "We're not gonna make it," I thought. But it was worth a try. We pulled up to the transition area. "What? I thought the gun was supposed to go off at 6:45? Coach is gonna kill us," I thought. As we were walking, he points out the LATE people, yes the mentors. So I waved and proceeded to set it up as fast as I think I ever will. I put on my wet suit and ran to the swim start, considering the run my "warm-up."

Considering I had missed the course directions, I had no idea where we were going, but I just thought I would follow everyone. I started the swim and oh man, the water was disgusting! Brown and fishy and stinky. EEEEEEwwww!!
"I'm gonna throw up," I thought. No, you gotta make it through this. Just keep your head in the water and don't think about it. So I kept on stroking as soft, jelly like objects swept my hand. AH! Those were the jellyfish I heard Coach mention right before we went in the water. Every other stroke I took, I felt another jellyfish. Gross!
So I finally got out of the disgusting water without puking (amazingly). My time was 9 min. 30 sec.

I got to the transition area, got my wet suit off rather quickly (2min 30 sec) and got on my bike. The taste in my mouth was still the gross fishy dirt water. I was about halfway on my first loop when I passed Susan. "How many loops are we doing?" I asked. "Three," she said. I'm ashamed to say I had no idea and admittedly, I usually am horrible at knowing our workout.


Now, I felt GOOD on the bike. I was cruisin. I was going at least 19mph the whole time and my legs felt strong as ever and I was passing people like crazy. I mean I passed Susan (she's fast!) and Coleen (she got first place in girls) and a few others. Then all of a sudden Jason comes behind me and passes me. I was still keeping my speed and passed him. He passed me again. We were having a friendly race. Finally I let him go ahead and stayed about 20 seconds behind him.

I got off the bike, did my quickest T2 time ever (57 seconds) and got on the run. I even beat Jason out on the run. Of course I knew he was a much faster runner than me and that he would pass me anyway. As always, my legs felt like bricks in the first part of the run. We had done this race before and the run had started in a different spot so this felt so much longer to me. As I was runnin, I had no idea where I stood in the race. I thought there were tons of people ahead of me. The run was an out and back so you could see the people coming back who were in front of you.

On the run out, Jason passed me as expected. Then Coleen came and passed me. She's a strong runner. So then I saw Ginger on her way back from the run turn around. Now, Ginger kicks ass. She's a strong athlete so I was shocked to see how close I was behind her. WOW! I was shocked, but very happy and encouraged inside. I couldn't believe how far in front I was. I remembered what I've heard some pro triathletes say: not to worry about others, but to focus on giving all you have. That's what I did the whole time. "Wow, I guess that paid off," I thought.

On the run out, I could see all the people coming back from the run turn around. Nuno, Ryan right behind him, then Lamine, Paul, Troy (who had bit one of the jellyfish, Greg Kurras, Brian, Pat (basically all the fast guys). Then I saw Ginger and Colleen. "Am I the third girl from the front?"
I was! I felt actually pretty strong on the run. I had a pretty good pace and felt good on nutrition. It was cool to see everyone on my run back. There was a lot of encouragement and GO TEAMs!

Although the run seemed really long, I made it to the FINISH LINE!!!

1 Hour---19 Minutes---9 Seconds

14th out of 67 people

3rd girl out of 43
I've gotta say, this is a GOOD feeling. I also gotta say that I am much better at these shorter events. I don't think my body does as well with longer distances, which require a lot of endurance.

Ocean Swim route

On Sunday, we swam to the 3/4 mile buoy and back. The water was actually really nice, not too many waves. It was a beautiful, hot day. It was hard to get into my rhythm, but regardless, I swam probably over 1 1/2 miles, since I'm sure I didn't swim in a straight line.

Here's a picture and route of what I swam, from La Jolla Shores to (almost) the cove.

This was from a teammate's GPS watch.

The REAL WORLD Kona

Ok, so I’m getting extra excited for Hawaii.

Reasons why:

1. I need a vacation
2. I really need a vacation
3. It’s gonna be beautiful
4. I will be done with training
5. I’ll be part of The Real World Kona


It is number 5 that I’ve been most excited about recently. Yes, about 10-15 people on our team are renting a house in Hawaii and making it a Real World house, filled with good times. Now this is exciting, not only because it’s in Hawaii, but it’s with our teammates and the house is right on the ocean.

We met on Sunday at Jen’s house to discuss our time in the house. And oh man, I am excited. Jen’s gonna cook (and she can cook!) and we’re gonna have a victory party there with the team. We’re also gonna have Real World T-shirts and Hawaiian names.

Now, this is also pretty exciting to me because I never really did the “Spring Break” thing in college so this will be a nice “we think we’re still in college” experience. And I’m excited about it. The people we’re sharing the house with are all really cool and I can sense that it will be a great time.

So far we have the following Hawaiian names. The rest are being figured out.

Amanda: Imi Hana (means to stir up trouble)
Paul (not the coach, the other one): Alekanekelo (means protector)
Lisa: lay ah (means Mythological goddess of canoe builders)
Jaybuddy: lolo (means crazy)
Ryan: Wikiwiki (means fast)
Me: `aka`aka (means laugh)

More names and details to come from the Real World Kona crew.

Logo courtesy of Amanda, I mean Imi Hana. We're all gonna have green or blue t-shirts with the design. It's official.

Why do I do it??

This was a poem my teammate Ginger shared this Saturday at our Mission Moment:

Why I Compete with TNT

Why do you do it

(Train, Fundraise, Compete)?

I do it for those who can’t.
I do it for those who told me I can’t.
I do it for those who think they can’t.
I do it for those who won’t.
I do it for the little part of my brain that says “you won’t go through with it.”
I do it for me.
I do it for time, distance and speed.

I do it because when the challenge ever arises I will meet it, complete it and smile.
I do it for the hills I never thought I could climb.
I do it for my teammates at the finish line.
I do it for my finisher’s pin that I wear with pride.
I do it for the mission moments.
I do if for the Honored Teammates.
I do it for the Honored Angels.

I do it because it makes me a better person.
I do it because there is no greater competitor then you except for maybe your watch.
I do it because I love the rain, sunshine, roads, woods, and ocean.
I do it because it makes me feel better.
I do it because it puts us one step closer to a cure.
I do it because it puts me to sleep at night.
I do it for the adrenaline rush before a race.

I do it for the last ten seconds of the race.
I do it to push my body to the limit and watch it deal.
I do it for the little kid in the back of my head telling him/her “No we are not there yet.”
Why not?
I do it to push my body to the limit, wait what limit.
I do it because my body yells “stop”, my mind screams “pain”, and my soul says “keep going”.
I do it to find the place where I hit a brick wall and then break through.
I do it for when my mind and body thank me it is over and my soul tells them that was just the end of the beginning.
I do it…


No one ever works out or donates their time and money and regrets it. You never go for a run, bike, or swim and when you’re finished wish you would have just stayed home. You never climb a mountain and reach the top saying, “I should’ve been content to stay where I was.”

This is for all the times people ask you why you compete, train, and fundraise and your innate response is “I just do.”

what a training weekend!

These were all the teammates who did the 10k on Sunday. Can you find me?

This weekend was the epitome of a training weekend. We had a tough bike workout on Saturday morning. The winds were so strong that the ride was even harder than I had anticipated. It was about a 30 mile ride, but it was mostly hills! Going up hills is obviously harder with the wind, so needless to say, it was a tough workout.

Sunday morning I did a 10K in Rancho Bernardo. I was really nervous about it because I haven't really ran more than four miles lately. Plus, this is considered one of the most challenging 10ks because it has a lot of hills. I told myself I would treat it as a training run. When I got to the race, I was excited to see my friend Dana, who I trained with for Pacific Grove triathlon. I asked her if she was planning to race or not, and she assured me she wouldn't go fast. I took her word and we ran together. This was really nice. She's a very good runner. She holds her pace down very well and helps me to remember to breath. So we ran almost the entire 6.2 miles together, minus the last half a mile, where I kinda took off. She was only a minute behind me.

My final time was 1:05:31. The last 10K I did, I had a 55:58, but that was a completely different race, mostly flat and downhill at the end.

At the race, my knees were hurting quite a bit. I had also forgotten to take an energy gel before, as I had planned, so I was feeling the lack of fuel by mile 4. Thanks to Dana and the beautiful course, I made it to the end.

About four hours after the race, we had our ocean swim at La Jolla Shores. I knew I had to go, since I've been missing the swims a lot lately. The water was cold, but calm as ever. It was clear too, where we could see the ocean floor. I practiced drafting with a couple of teammates. Drafting in the swim helps me swim without exerting as much energy.

After the workout, I was starving so we went out to Mexican food with some teammates. We then went to the Jacuzzi and hit the hay at 9pm. I slept soo well. I was tired from all those hills!

What a great workout weekend!

Triathlon swim start

If you've ever seen a triathlon swim start, you know that arms are flying everywhere, you're being kicked in the face and no one says, "sorry." In fact they will swim right over you and leave you out of breath, possibly choking on water. In my case, one girl kicked me in the face, and knocked my googles off! In a normal situation, she probably would have turned back and apologized, but no. She was probably actually happy 'cause she gained at least a minute on me. Anyway, enough of my bitterness.

Our Coach always tells us to do "nothing new on race day." So we try to simulate everything we would do at the race.

Here is a video that kinda explains what I mean. Keep in mind that women are the worst!

lovin the ocean!

The ocean swims seemed so scary to me, but nowadays I actually look forward to it. It's so refreshing to get out there with the team and swim in the beautiful water. My favorite is the fist ocean swim where Coach has us get in the water, fill out suits up with COLD water and then hear everyone scream like little kids. It's also just fun to float in the ocean and look all around you. Everyone is laughing and screaming. There's nothing like it.

Usually for the fist ocean swim, the newbies are pretty nervous about going in the water, so Coach had the mentors demonstrate a surf entry and swim. I'm really not the best at this, nor am I the best at the swim, but I really had no choice. I don't like runnning in the water because it makes me anxious and out of breath. I would rather just take it slow in the beginning so I don't hyperventilate. But here are all the mentors getting ready to get in the water for the demo.

And here's everyone watching us. No pressure, right?

When we swim in the ocean we always have a "swim buddy." This is the person who sticks by you to make sure you make it back to shore. I think it helps a lot to have this person 'cause at least for me, I always feel so alone in the ocean. It's kind of a weird feeling, like you don't have too much control. Anything can happen, cause it's not your land, or water. Here are my swim buddies, Jenny and Joanna.

But man, when everyone jumps in together it is so crazy, but fun. It's taking me a while to get my ocean swimming rhythm back, but I think I'll get it. I felt like I just wanted to play around in the water.
Fun times!

Saturday mornings are packed with happiness, a little sorrow and aching muscles

On Saturday Ryan had a great idea of taking a picture with the team for Jeff. Everyone was excited to do it for Jeff and we even had a sign for him. Jeff has been battling through Lymphoma for about a year now. He's a very strong and positive person and probably the least likely person you would think of getting such a disease. You never know who it will hit. But I remember when I found out, I was shocked! He's only 26 and how could he get such a disease. But he's fighting through it really well and I wish him the very best! Keep him in your thoughts and prayers.


That morning was also Ryan's Birthday so I brought him a cake and the whole team sang for him.

Each week we have what's called a "Mission Moment, " where someone shares how the disease has affected them or someone they know. This week it was done by a teammate, Jane, whose son has Leukemia. He got it at a very early age and she was sharing her story. They were a normal happy family and one of her twin sons got the disease. She was talking about how devastated she was, but how well her son dealt with it. She said her son never complained. He complained more about eating his vegetables than all the tubes attached to his body in the hospital. What an inspiration! I was balling. These are her two sons, one which has Leukemia.

Here are some pictures of the brick workout we did. It was a tough workout. We did like a 5 mile bike, followed by a 1 1/2 mile run, partly on concrete, and the rest on sand. After three of those, I was pretty beat, but I told myself I would do ONE more! Agh, it was tough, but that chile relleno sure tasted good afterwards. My appetite skyrockets after these workouts.

Rolling down the hill, getting ready to transition to the run!

Me transitioning to a run. Don't ask me why I'm holding my hand like that. It's hard to think during these times.