week 11=fundraising events

only 6 weeks left until my century ride on June 6th.

I sacrificed my saturday training to raise money by holding a garage sale. Coincidentally, my neighborhood was holding a community garage sale so I didn't have to do any of the promotion. It turned out to be a worthwhile sacrifice since I made $400. This puts me at $2500. You can still help me raise $1400 more to reach my goal.

On monday night, my team organized a fundraising event at a restaurant with a silent auction. Our honored teammate, Laura shared her story. She is such an inspirational person because of her positive outlook in life. Though she's only in her late 40's, she has the body of an 85 year old woman after intensive chemotherapy and radiation. She was diagnosed with Chronic Myelogenous Leukemia and was given a poor prognosis of 6 months to live. She obviously beat the odds and was able to witness one of her daughters walk down the aisle. She continues to fight daily and continues to have a smile on her face. She reminded us the reason we were all gathered that evening to fight saving lives.

week 10, Malibu, 60 miles

I hesitated to join the faster group after Coach Charlie talked about the challenges ahead of us. I made the conscious decision to move up a ladder last week, so there's no turning back now.

Malibu is one of the most beautiful rides we have done because of its serenity and beauty. Our climb to Encinal canyon was meditative and peaceful. Since we can go on our own pace with climbs, it was just me and the mountain. I could hear the birds chirping, my huffing and puffing, my heart beating 100 miles a minute, and my pedaling. I look around from time to time to distract me from the numbness on my buttocks or the soreness from my shoulders. I kept at my own steady pace. I never felt I had to push really hard like I did at an 11% grade the last time we did Malibu. There were several elite riders passing me by who made the climb look as if they were going downhill. They pedaled smoothly with ease. It made me feel like a wimp but it also motivated me to keep going. One of the riders stroke up a conversation with me, "Are you with Team In Training also?" I proudly responded, "Yes, I am." He said, "You guys are doing a great job." That was definitely a pat on the back. There were also riders coming downhill and I received smiles or a thumbs up.

Mission moment this week: a story was shared about an 8 year old girl who wished to shave her head for the sake of her classmate who was teased in school. Her classmate lost his hair due chemotherapy for his battle with Leukemia. Her and 6 other classmates joined this self-sacrifice. That story carried with me during my climb in Encinal Canyon and I actually became emotional and got choked up about it.

Assistant Coach Scott commented after our ride, "You were on fire!" I was 3rd place out of 9 in my middle group.

One of our teammates just had an inguinal hernia repair a few weeks ago and she already started training again. Her willpower is amazing and her comeback is incredible.

week 9, Long Beach, 55miles

Our team met in El Dorado Park at 7:30am for our route from Long Beach to Irvine and back. For the last 2 weeks, I have pondered over taking my training to the next level by joining the faster group. I felt excited to challenge myself and nervous about being able to hang with the pace. I was ecstatic I did because I loved every second of it! The group was very encouraging, supportive, and welcoming. Today was the perfect transition to step it up since our route wasn't as hilly and I was familiar with the area.

Coach Charlie met up with us on the road with his dance music blasting from his bike. He has a sports bottle which also functions as a speaker for an ipod. It was one of the coolest things I had seen today. In addition, one of the mentors from our group has a computer bike which is also a GPS. We actually missed a turn during our route so the computer bike came in really handy.

The weather was really windy especially during our ride back to the park; of course the sun came out when our route was almost over. Luckily, today's bike path was the friendliest bike route of all the trainings we have done since there was a bike lane 90% of the time. Overall, our group did 57 miles in 4 hours, 56 minutes averaging 15 miles per hour. The time includes 2 SAG (Support And Gear which is refueling our bodies and taking potty breaks) stops, stop signs, and street lights. Go Team!

week 8, Griffifth Park, 50 miles

We are halfway there with our training. This was my favorite ride because there were several rolling hills so that meant a lot of downhills too. I got really comfortable cycling downhill and I lost my fear of losing control; I just enjoyed the moment. I received pretty nifty compliments from my coach, assistant coach, and mentor. My coach said that it's pretty common for a light rider to be good at climbing hills but not as common to see light riders do well going downhill because not many pedal. The assistant coach said to my coach, "I have created a speed demon." My top speed was 32 miles per hour. Freedom but tiring too! Surprisingly, I didn't feel as sore anymore as I usually do the next two days after a long training.

The highlight of the day for me was carpooling with my buddy, Joyce, who is training for a marathon. It was great to catch up with old times. The reason we were able to carpool was because TNT's marathoners (26.2 miles or 13.1 miles), hikers (18 miles to Yosemite), triathletes, and cyclists all came together for a social event after our training. Here is an update of our fundraising efforts. I have raised ~$1500, my cycling team have raised $25,000, our Great LA Chapter have raised $700,000. What a great progress! Thank you to all those who have donated.

week 7, playa del rey, 45 miles

Each week before our training, our team gathers around to discuss about fundraising updates and opportunities, we have a mission moment, and clinics. Mission moment is sharing a story about a person who has/had a blood cancer. Allow me to share my brother's story as I did with our group on Saturday.

Paul was diagnosed with Non-Hodgkins Large B cell Lymphoma at 29years old. He presented with a dry cough for 1 year, weight loss of 10 pounds in one month, and shortness of breath on exertion. He was in the Navy Academy so he thought his symptoms could be related to his intense training. The doctors initially diagnosed him with bronchitis. Finally, one of the docs ordered a chest xray which revealed an 11x9cm mass sitting on his right lung. After a bone marrow aspirate and biopsy, he was diagnosed with lymphoma. He underwent 4 months of chemo then 2 months of radiation. The follow-up chest xray showed a reduction of his mass by 50%. Since the mass was still there, he was referred for a bone marrow transplant, which was an autologous stem cell harvest, followed by a consolidation chemotherapy. Still, the mass was persistent. The specialists recommended to do a cardiothoracic surgery to remove 2 out of the 3 lobes from his right lung. The pathology test showed it was "dead" cancer cells at the time. Paul had been in remission since 2003.

My brother is the most inspirational person in my life. During his journey with lymphoma, he was attending medical school. Through his determination, he was able to graduate with his class. Prior to his diagnosis, Paul asked the Lord, "What kind of doctor should I be? Please give me a sign." The Lord answered his prayer. Paul was just accepted a fellowship in the Hematology/Oncology in Washington D.C. He is currently an internal medicine physician in Florida.

Help me to fight blood cancer.

Sincerely,
Tricia

week 6-Palos Verdes, 42 miles

Description on the pictures: You can see beautiful homes in PV that are mansions. It reminded me of the villa in Farmville =). The hill picture is a climb we did for 2 miles up to Mary Mount College. What comes up must come down. The ride downhill was exhilirating. The bikers picture is my group doing paceline riding. The chapel picture is a famous place newlyweds get married since it's overlooking PV.

This training was the most challenging yet. The climb was grueling. I had to have a mantra in my head "I'm a mountain goat, I can do this!" and I had to think "One pedal at a time." Images popped in my head of my brother during his chemo, radiation, bone marrow transplant, and surgery. I thought of our patients in CHLA. I thought of my aunt who is dying of pancreatic cancer; Anything that will keep me focused. There was a time I wanted to stop pedaling. I thought of my other teammates who had already finished their climb. If they can do it, so can I. Finally, I saw a sign of the college, our final destination to the top of the hill. I was 2nd place out of 5 in our group and two were our assistant coaches. I was very proud of myself. The ride downhill was the funnest.

During our ride, we encountered a dead snake. I shrieked when I saw it since it caught me off guard. We also saw two dead possums that had that rotten corpse smell. It was aweful!

My drive in PV felt like a roller coaster ride; up and down, up and down! I also had that queasy feeling in my stomach going down the road. It's a, "Whee" feeling!

This was the best training!

nutrition

*need to consume ~300 calories per hour (1 bottle of a sports drink and 1 gel)
*carbohydrates is the key to fuel back the muscles or it can cause lactic acid
*have a powdered drink handy to fill in water since the SAG stations at the event only provides water.