Speedy Canizales

I’ve been competing in triathlons since summer 2009, making this year my third season (and in high school terms my junior year).  I’ve come a long way since 2009 – from being deathly afraid of swimming in the ocean to swimming a mile in the ocean regularly, from riding once a week at Zuma Beach to commuting to work with my bike (a total of 28 miles roundtrip) – but this didn’t happen overnight.  My workouts ramped up in stages  so that my body (and my schedule) got used to it.  Now when I find myself free on weeknights or during the weekend I feel like I’m forgetting something.  I don’t know what to do with this thing called free time.  Now that the 2011 season is almost over – I have one more triathlon next weekend – I am looking forward to more leisure time.  For me, leisure time is swimming, biking or running with an emphasis on having fun or improving my current skillset.  I know I sound a little crazy but I genuinely do love being active.  My friends are just as active, so this gives us an opportunity to spend time together.  I am really looking forward to my “off” season.

*****

One of my favorite triathlons is Wildflower.  It’s held in Lake San Antonio, along California’s central coast, during the first weekend in May.  It’s a little different from the other triathlons in that competitors normally camp along the lake and it has an outdoorsy, Woodstock-like quality to it.  It’s often been called the Woodstock of Triathlon, but more importantly, it’s one of the harder triathlon courses out there.  I tell myself that at least I have pretty scenery to look at while I’m suffering.

There are three distances at Wildflower: sprint/mountain bike, olympic, and long course (half ironman).  Last year I competed in the olympic distance (1500 meter swim, 25 mile bike, 10K run) and survived.  This year I felt brave and signed up for the half ironman distance (1.2 mile swim, 56 mile bike, half marathon run).  I know a few people who completed the Wildflower long course and swore never again so I was nervous about how I’d feel during and after the race.

Looking back on my experience, five months after the fact, I’d say it was enjoyable.  It’s not that I didn’t push myself physically and mentally during the race (trust me when I say it’s one of the hardest things I’ve done).  It’s actually because I still feel passionate and excited about that race, and triathlon in general, even after finishing such a tough event.  If anything, finishing Wildflower long course confirmed my love towards triathlons.  I drank (and coughed out) lots of water during the swim, really pounded the bike and had nothing left in my legs for the hilly run but when I saw my teammates cheering for me it boosted my morale and gave me confidence to finish the race.  Other competitors also spurred me on – all along the way they would say “good job” or “keep it up” when I felt horrible (and must have looked like death warmed over).  It’s that feeling of community, and of pushing on, and awe that my body can power through that distance that keeps me going.  It took me six and a half hours to finish that race, the time it takes to drive from LA to San Francisco, and even though my body was glad it was over after I crossed the finish line I was surprised to find that I wanted to do it all over again next year.  So next year I’ll be competing in my third Wildflower triathlon, and I can’t wait.

This year both Rene and I raced the long course so we don’t have any video or pictures from that day to document the event, only our memories.  The olympic distance, however, took place the following day and we cheered on teammates that shouted words of encouragement to us the day before.  Here’s the video:

I hope this gives you a feel for the race and for the atmosphere surrounding Wildflower.  Next year I’ll be sure to catch those streakers that run along the campground after the long course race.  Now THAT would be racy!

This blog started to die when I started doing triathlons around May 2009. Every spare moment I had was spent training in one of the disciplines, and when I wasn’t training I was sleeping or eating. Really. It didn’t really leave much time for blogging.

Well, now I’m back, and I’m gonna try to update this space at least once a week. We’ll see how that goes.

For the better part of last year I was obsessed with getting a new bike.  I didn’t have just any bike in mind: I wanted one made of carbon fiber, good components, and easy on the eyes.  I wanted a bike that would make love riding, that would make me itch to go outside.  After months of research and hours of test drives, I finally brought this beauty home in December:

Getting fitted on my new bike, Celine

My bike is so beautiful, so light, so responsive.  Naturally I was dying to take it for a long ride.  Unfortunately southern California was hit with rain the weekend I bought it, and it rained the rest of the week.  Finally, the day before Christmas, the sun came out and I rode up Stunt Road for the first time.  Did I mention how much I love my bike?

Isn’t that view gorgeous?  You can see the ocean behind me.

The first weekend after Christmas we tackled Stunt Road again, this time with a large group of riders.  For me it is always more fun when there are a lot of people on the rides; it means there is always someone nearby to talk to, and more importantly, someone to help you climb the hills that dot Mulholland Highway.  Here’s a snippet of that first ride:

I’ve been riding every weekend since, spending lots of quality time with Celine.  I can’t wait for our next ride!

What’s up?  How are you?  I hope you are well.  I’ve missed you!

Believe it or not, I have been meaning to write a long post about what I’ve been up to during the past year.  I even got as far as drafting a post, only to change my mind and abandon it.  There are several posts dying a slow and painful death in my inbox.

Yesterday a light bulb switched on in my head, and I came up with a brilliant idea: instead of writing that post (which would appear sometime in June given my timing) I decided to create a slideshow of what’s happened during 2010.  It’s nothing special but it took all of my limited computer skills to put it together.  I hope you enjoy it:

2010: Year in Pictures from speedycanizales on Vimeo.

Here’s to 2011 – may it be awesome.

Hello! It’s been a while, almost three months, since I’ve visited this corner of cyberspace.

I’m planning to spice up this page by updating you on what’s been going on but for now I am reaching out to my friends (and the whole internet, I guess) to help me fundraise for Children’s Hospital Los Angeles.

This year Rene and I are taking part in the Nautica Malibu Triathlon, held in September at Zuma Beach.  This  triathlon course includes a half-mile swim in the ocean, an 18-mile bike ride along PCH and a four-mile run along the sands of Zuma Beach.  This is the second year we are participating in this race, and we love it.

As race participants we are helping raise money for pediatric cancer research at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles.  Last year this event raised over one million dollars for CHLA, and we hope to top that amount this year.  Our individual fundraising goals are modest but we are hoping to contribute more with help from other runners like you.  It’s a great cause, and it’s always touching to see the thanks we receive from these kids each year.

About CHLA: CHLA was founded in 1901, treating the most seriously ill and injured children in Los Angeles for more than a century, and it is acknowledged throughout the United States and around the world for its leadership in pediatric and adolescent health. Dedicated to curing and preventing childhood cancers, the Pediatric Cancer Research Program at CHLA provides groundbreaking treatments and therapies for children with some of the most serious and life-threatening pediatric cancers.

If you are interested in contributing to this worthwhile cause please visit our our personal donation pages.  This is the link for Abby, and this is the link for Rene.  We are both committed to raising at least $175 each, but as I’ve mentioned before we would really love to raise much more for this great charity.  (Note: if you are more comfortable writing a check to CHLA, please drop me a note at speedycanizales@gmail.com and we will make arrangements for pick-up.)  And remember, this charitable contribution is tax-deductible.  Our fundraising deadline is August 20.

I will be updating this blog with our progress as we train for this year’s race, and also fill you in on what I’ve been up to (spoiler alert: swimming, biking and running).  This is my recap of last year’s race, where I beat Mario Lopez, who will always be AC Slater from Saved by the Bell to me.  You would think he could beat me easily, with those bulging biceps and six pack abs, but it was the other way around.  Visit again soon!

(I ran the marathon almost two months ago and just got around to writing about it. I just wanted to clear that up in case you thought I ran another marathon between then and now – that would be crazy!)

A week after finishing the LA marathon there were too many things buzzing around in my head to write a proper post, so I thought I’d wait until things settled down a bit to do a proper post-mortem.  Turns out that takes almost two months.

So – I did it!

I ran 26.2 miles and lived to tell the tale. My finish time was a respectable 3:51, 11 minutes over the Boston qualifying time for Boston. (However, if you look up my results at the LA Marathon website it will seem like I missed running Boston next year by 17 seconds. That’s because LA decided to try something new this year by putting the timing chip in the race bib instead of attaching it to our shoe, and mine stopped working somewhere around mile 18. My official time took my mile 18 split and “projected” my finish at 3:41.) My goal was to cross the finish line at 3:40 to qualify for the Boston marathon next year but it didn’t happen at this race. It’s back to the drawing board and another marathon in the fall or winter for me.

The week following the marathon I was beating myself up for missing my goal time. All I could think about was what I did wrong during the race. I started to get a cramp on my side at mile 7, and despite my best efforts to ward it off, I was in pain from mile 18 to the finish. It took all my willpower to get to the finish line, and when I FINALLY got there I was in a lot of pain. I was really angry at myself for giving in, and upset I could not overcome the pain. Looking back now I realize that did my best, and that I have every reason to be proud of myself. Even though I was in pain kept putting one foot in front of the other, and kept going until I reached the finish line. Sometimes it’s about putting forth the effort no matter what that makes us who we are. I’m sure that’s true for a lot of people who ran the marathon. It will make qualifying for Boston that much sweeter.

I learned a lot from my first marathon, both physically and emotionally. Physically I need to change my training plan so that I am running more miles at a faster pace. I found that during training my pace was slower than it should have been during my long runs, and in order to get faster I need to get my body used to a faster pace during training. Emotionally I need to stay relaxed and live in the moment. During the first few miles I constantly compared myself to other people and tried to keep up with them. They ultimately finished faster than me. That is probably how I got a cramp in the first place – trying to keep up – when I should have been focusing on my body and what it was trying to tell me.

All that running talk aside, running across LA was a blast!  There were so many people cheering from the sidewalks, encouraging runners to keep going and reminding them how awesome they are.  I felt like LA was giving me a big hug throughout the entire course.  At mile 12 I saw my boss cheering for me, and it perked up my spirits.  At mile 14 my mom and Rene were there, an awesome surprise (I didn’t expect them until the finish) and half a mile from them, drag queens in cheerleader outfits (only in West Hollywood!).  At mile 17 Nike store employees dressed in bright green bodysuits were yelling and shaking cowbells that could be heard a mile away.  At mile 19 there were cheerleader squads working their butts off with routines designed for the marathon.  All this on top of bands on the sidewalk playing music as runners passed, and offering runners all kinds of food if they needed it.  Normally people here in LA are so insulated in their own world (myself included), so getting that contact from strangers, all offering encouragement, was beautiful.

I fell in love with LA all over again.

(Complete LA Marathon album can be seen here.)

*****

A week after the marathon I jumped into training for my first Olympic distance triathlon at Wildflower. It’s a 1500-meter swim, 24-mile bike (hilly course) and 6.1-mile run at the end. I’ve practiced on the course twice already and… I am nervous!

I’m not worried about finishing the race (I’ve got this) but I want to do well and that has its own set of hang-ups and insecurities. I’m trying not to think about it too much and just live in the moment. As bizarre as this may sound, I often find myself smiling during a race. It gives my body such an adrenaline rush that I forget about the nervousness and the fatigue, and keep on going.

This is something I’ll be telling myself when I’m standing at the starting line with all the other females in my division at Lake San Antonio, shivering in my wetsuit and asking why I do this to myself.

You know that pickup line – “Are you tired?  Because you’ve been running through my mind all day” -  that describes exactly where I’ve been these past few months.  Yes, I am tired.  I have been running everywhere.

Let me take a step back and re-cap what I’ve been doing since my last post.  After taking our children (our dogs Chuy & Sadie) to the beach, we spent the rest of Thanksgiving weekend relaxing and getting ready for the week.  Out of nowhere Christmas came, followed by a visit to SoCal by the lovely Cristina, New Year’s, and then my workload exploded.  The thought of it still makes me shudder, and it is March.  Work is back to its usual pace.

In between Thanksgiving and now I have stepped up my workouts considerably to prepare for the LA Marathon, which I will run in less than two weeks.  March 21 to be exact.  To train for this marathon, my first marathon ever, I have been running five days a week, cross-training at least one day per week, and taking a nap on Saturdays and Sundays just to recover from all that activity.  Now you know why I’ve been AWOL – something had to give, and it was this blog.

After all that hard work – getting up at the crack of dawn to run, running 22 miles in the rain, running up a hill that didn’t seem to end (Bulldog trail I am referring to you!) – now I am facing the home stretch. As much as I would like to say that I am going to kick ass and take names,  I am nervous.  I am also afraid of so many things: I am afraid that my body may shut down at mile 20, I am afraid that I won’t meet my goal time, I am afraid of disappointing myself.  My goal now is to be my biggest cheerleader and banish these thoughts from my mind.  At the end of the day, I have to be proud that I set a goal and saw it to the finish.  There are so many people that can’t physically complete a marathon, and here I am whining about these stupid things.  I have to relax, focus, and have FUN.  Am I right?

Hoping the same is true for you, whatever adventure you are pursuing.

(More posts to come soon, I promise!)

If my dog Sadie could talk, she’d talk your ear off about our visit to the beach last week.

First she’d tell you about the LONG car ride to get there.  She paced up and down the minivan like a caged lion at the zoo, going to the back and then to the front.  From time to time she would plop between us, as if to ask if we were there yet.  Luckily there was no freeway traffic that day (Black Friday) and it only took us an hour to drive to the Long Beach Dog Beach.

Once we got there it was like setting wild animals loose – Sadie and Chuy could not wait to get out of the van and explore the area, and they were so giddy that Sadie slipped out of her collar.  She was excited about touching the sand and getting acquainted with the smells other dogs left behind.

When we finally reached the beach (after crossing a parking lot, stopping by the bathrooms to take off our shoes, and crossing a wide expanse of sand), it was fun watching Sadie experience the ocean for the first time.  This is her noticing the water:

This is her trying to decide whether the ocean is a friend or foe (notice the foam mustache):

And this is her deciding that the ocean is a dear, dear friend that she LOVES!

Chuy, on the other hand, was not very impressed with the Dog Beach.  He did not appreciate being wet:

Or the line of dogs following him around so they could sniff his butt:

No, Chuy prefers long car rides, and was happy for the trip to end.  Sadie, however, bolted when we told her it was time to go home:

Catching her was hard, especially when there were so many friends to be made and so much ocean to explore.  We managed to get hold of her after she got tired of chasing other dogs around:

And made our way home, where she slept for the rest of the day.  It was eerily quiet at our house that night.

(See the full album here.  All pictures taken by Rene.)

It seems to me that we spent most of our days thinking about the things we have to do, the things we want to do, or the things we want.  This takes up so much time that we (or at least, I) seldom think about the things that we do have; the things that we are grateful to have.

I am grateful for my health.  Save for the occasional headache (or migraine), allergy, cold or cough, I have been healthy this year.  My good health has allowed me to do amazing things – learn to swim, compete in triathlons, and run races.  I’m probably in the best shape of my life right now.

I am grateful for my husband and my family.  They are always around to support me, even when I am difficult and overbearing.  I’ve heard someone say that people who love you even when they’ve seen your ugly side are the ones worth keeping in life.  I second that.

(I tend to get sentimental after I have a few days off, when I’ve had a chance to re-energize.)

*****

I spent Thanksgiving Day doing two things meant to counter-act one another: running a race and eating lots of food.

I’ve always wanted to run a Thanksgiving race, ever since seventh grade when I lost the Turkey Trot due to some bad advice.  Every year in Junior High we ran the Turkey Trot, a two-mile course around the school.  Any girl or boy who broke the course record won a turkey.  I knew I wasn’t fast enough to win a turkey but I was fast enough to place in the top three.

On the day of the race my mom told me to eat well so that I would have lots of energy for the race.  In my little seventh grade mind I thought that applied to every meal, including the one right before the race – lunch.  That day I ate everything I had on my lunch tray – a turkey sandwich and a carton of milk – thinking it would make me more competitive.  Anyone who’s ever run a race knows that you should be as light as possible.  Eating a huge meal right before a running race would focus all the body’s energy into converting that food into energy, and not running a race.  I don’t know why I did this.

The race started right after lunch, and when I got to the finish line I felt fine.  I was nervous but feeling good.  When the starting gun went off I got into my groove, passing people as we would our way around campus, up the hill, and down the back part of the course.  I was doing fine until the last hill, the last part of the course.  I started to get a cramp on my right side, then my left.  It got more intense with every step I took.  I could see the first place girl right in front of me, within striking distance, and I could not muster the energy to chase her down.  There wasn’t enough distance left or energy left in me to catch her.  In the end I came in second place by three seconds.

When the race rolled around the following year I still didn’t win first place – I think I came in third or fourth.  I don’t know what happened.  I didn’t make the mistake of eating a big lunch like last year so I was pretty certain I would win.  I passed the girl who won last year towards the start of the race so I thought I had it, but I didn’t count on another girl being so far out front that I didn’t see her, and on another girl passing me towards the finish.  It was a travesty.  Thanksgiving races were ruined for me after that.

*****

Last week I decided to give Thanksgiving racing another chance when I ran the Xterra Turkey Trot at Topanga State Park.  I hadn’t been running as many miles as I should but I was doing well in my weekly track workouts.  I hoped to finish in the top three in my age division.

Even a turkey came out to race on Thanksgiving

The race was more competitive than the last trail race I ran back in September.  I could tell from the number of people that were there that morning and the fact that the race was sold out but I was determined to do well.  So much of running is mental; you can easily lose a race by talking yourself out of it, by telling yourself that person in front of you is too far to catch, by giving in to the little aches and pains of running.  The first half of the course was tough – uphill for three miles – but the second half was downhill and flat.  I knew that if I got through the ascent, a long slog along the hillside, that I would be able to pick up the pace on the downhill.  Or so I thought.

See the little specks on the ridge?  That’s us!

It turns out my problem is the downhill.  Running downhill gives me side aches, and makes me run slower than I should.  Running downhill means I bounce more, shaking my insides and giving me pain.  I had to stop twice during the race: once because the side pain traveled to my diaphragm and it became hard to breathe (I hate when this happens) and once because I hoped I could walk away the pain.  I got a bit discouraged with two miles to go after a woman passed me on the downhill, the one that keep saying “good job!” to everyone that passed her up the hill.  (I find it very annoying when people do things like this during a race.  If they have enough energy to congratulate people that pass them then obviously they are not working hard enough, and I’ll be damned if they beat me.)  I was still in the game, though, and got a second wind once I hit the single track part of the trail.

I love running downhill on single track dirt trails.  To me it’s like riding a roller coaster, with lots of twists and turns.  On a single track trail there are so many obstacles – low tree branch, rocks, hairpin curve – that I concentrated on avoiding them instead of the pain in my side.  Single tracks are so much fun.

*****

I finished the race as the 9^th female overall, and second in my age division. I have a theory that my age division (30-34) is the easiest one because women my age are either busy having kids or busy working.  I have a feeling that women in the age divisions next to mine (25-29 and 35-40) will kick my butt, so I am striking while the iron is hot.

I didn’t realize until recently how much better it is to be 31 than 21.

Everyone worries about getting older, especially those milestone years: 20, 30, 40, 50.  I was especially concerned about turning 30 once I hit 28, and I obsessed about it for the two years leading up to it.  Have I accomplished everything I should accomplish in my career, in life?  How do I measure up to my peers?  What’s the next step?

Now that I’m over that hump I’m less worried about achieving and more about doing.  Living in the moment and seizing the day are what I focus on now.

*****

I took the day off last Friday to spend the day with my Rene and our brood, Chuy and Sadie.   Sadie and I have the same birthday, so it was fitting that we visited the dog park in the morning, where we met this handsome fellow named Ozzy:

I just love a fat Bulldog, don’t you?  Especially one whose birthday also happened to be November 20.  What are the odds of two bulldogs having the same birthday as me?

In the evening Rene and I had dinner at Houston’s and brought Sadie a birthday treat:

The next day I had lunch with my family.  There were so many of us at that restaurant:

It was fun seeing them all and celebrating another year with them.  It’s moments like these when I realize that so many people care about me and how lucky I am to have them.