PSA: if your bum hurts while riding, READ THIS

As you know, dear reader, I've been doing tris and riding bikes for about four years now. I've always been uncomfortable riding though, with my butt hurting after about 15-20 miles.  That may be manageable for a short workout, but for a long ride and an Ironman, it's pretty torturous.

I've been told "oh you just need to ride more" and HTFU. I've also been told, "oh you need a different saddle," "you need more padding," "you need less padding," and "you need a split nose saddle." I even replaced the saddles that came with my bike with ones suggested my local bike shop ("LBS"). But when I bought those, and after at least three bike fits, I've never, not once, had anyone suggest I measure my sit bones and get an appropriately wide saddle.

Well, I wasn't going to do another Ironman being mildly uncomfortable for 15 miles and wincing for almost 100 more, so I decided to get to the bottom - heyyyyo - of this.

Looking around online, I found out that a lot of seat comfort and discomfort is tied to how your sit bones contact the bike seat, specifically how wide your sit bones are and how that relates to the width of the saddle.  There are various ways to measure your sit bones - some free and at home - but apparently, most LBSes have an ass-o-meter.  That's not what it's called, but if you ask for it by that name, they'll know what you're talking about.

I headed to Incycle in Pasadena (they're the closest LBS that I like) and asked for their ass-o-meter. The guy brought me over to theirs, had me sit on it for a minute rocking back and forth, and when I got up, he said I need a 142mm width saddle or maybe a 155mm; I was on the cusp. Well, son of a *****. I've been riding 130mm saddles this whole time; 130mm are pretty standard - the default even - and they are just too narrow for my body.

Ass-o-meter
(image taken from https://eriksbikeshop.blog/2017/06/20/bike-saddles-part-2-find-your-size/)

He showed me a couple saddles and I asked - because I read online that some shops have these - if they have a "demo plan."  A demo plan lets you put down a deposit, take a saddle home with you, and ride it for a week before committing to buying it.  If you don't like the saddle, you can exchange it at the end of the week for a different saddle.  In my case, Incycle does have a demo plan, which allowed me to take home a Specialized 143mm.

I just rode for an hour and it was literally the most comfortable ride I've had in a couple years.  I'm not saying this is definitely the saddle for me, but at least I have a much better understanding of what I need in a saddle. If your bum consistently hurts when you ride, go to your LBS and get your sit bones measured. It could make a HUGE difference in your enjoyment of cycling.

Milk was a bad choice!

Had a good ride on the trainer last night - not trying to overdo it on the knee right now - but it looks like my run is going to have to wait a day or two.  This is at 8 at night!!

We're back at it!!!

Today marks Week 1 of our 30 week training plan for Ironman Santa Rosa - if there's a Santa Rosa left at which to Ironman 🙁  (#GrammarSnob). May 12th seems like a long way away but it'll be here before we know it.

Week 1 should be pretty easy - Today's a rest day, which I think we can manage. The rest of the week are 30-45 minutes runs in Zone 1 or 2 and a "long ride" of an hour.  That'll be good for me and Winnie since we've both been battling/recovering from some knee and shin splint issues, respectively. 

Below is the schedule, with the next couple weeks being similar to establish a good base.  I won't be posting the rest of our workout schedule - that's copyrighted y'all - but wanted to let you all know the WhatAreWeIroning journey has started again.  If you are looking for a training plan though, this is from the "Be IronFit" book by Don Fink (linked here), which I highly recommend.

Separately and on a serious note, as some of you many know, my wife is from Santa Rosa. She knows people personally that have been affected by the fires - losing literally everything they have.  If you're able, and would like to help out, here's a GoFundMe for one such family.

Race Recap: Nautica Malibu Triathlon Weekend!

These last few days have been the busiest and most fulfilling days of my life. Sometimes when I have too much time on my hands (I don't have much of that anymore) and lose the adrenaline rushes that I get, I start to worry that I'll die alone or unhappy. But that quickly fades when I think about all that I've accomplished in my life thus far.

This year, I had the honor of being Co-Captain of the Disney Triathlon Team - with roughly 350 active members and 260 racing members, we were fortunate enough to have a leadership team to support us and keep us running.

After 14 weeks of training, everything culminated into this past weekend's events. Let's get down to it!

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Thursday, September 14, 2017

We chose Thursday to have our Annual Carbo-Load dinner to accommodate for schedules. One of our team members from London had even flown in for the occasion! I had the unfortunate luck of coming down with a massive cold a few days prior - down for the count but I mustered enough energy to get back to work on Wednesday see myself through the weekend.

As everyone started to trickle in, I went around and asked people if they'd be interested in taking a group picture with me. It wasn't everyone, but over 100+ people agreed to take the group picture with me!

Our team is massive.

We had a great dinner, and announced some awards: Newbie of the year, Triathlete of the year, and our first ever Captain's Award. This was something that Jared and I ultimately decided on - it should go to someone (or a company) that made a huge impact on our team. We agreed that Newbury Park Bike Shop, our bike sponsor, deserved it most - Ben and his team have been there every week for (as far as I know) years and years and years. There has never been a weekend that I've been at a Zuma practice and they haven't. But on top of that, they provide support to us, even in the off season, and are always willing to help us out whenever we need something.

More pictures, and then a conclusion to the great night.

As a top fundraiser, the team got me a gift certificate to Newbury Park to put toward a new bike! Very sweet of them.
As a thank you from the team, everyone put money in for a gift for Jared and I! We each got gift cards to Newbury Park (how appropriate!) for our bike funds. I guess this new bike thing is going to be a real thing soon!


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Friday, September 15, 2017

As a kick off to the NMT weekend, race organizers invited a few of us to the Sunset Restaurant in Malibu for a gathering to start the festivities. The Sunset is one of my favorite restaurants in Malibu - it's quaint, it's secluded, and the food is decent. The only downfall is the parking, but it's Malibu...

Michael Epstein, the race director, told us a story about how he was in Hawaii a few months back and saw a man playing on his guitar at a restaurant. He left his information with the restaurant, and fast forward 9 months - the man, his family, and his guitar were sitting in the Sunset Restaurant gracing us with their presence in an intimate setting while the sun crept into the ocean behind them.

A few of us were planning on racing Saturday morning so we took a group picture and left early.

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Saturday, September 16, 2017


When the alarm went off at the crack of dawn, I knew I was not ready for a race - let alone an international distance race! Nearly a 1-mile swim in the ocean, a 25 mile bike, and a 6 mile run. I crawled out of bed, schlepped over to my car, and made the drive to Malibu.

It was still dark when I set up my transition area. Around 6:30, they shoo'd us out onto the beach, and we walked ONE MILE down to the starting line. Yep - the trek to the starting line was the distance we'd be swimming!

The cannon sounded for wave 3 - a bunch of us were moved up to this wave based on fundraising efforts, but what they didn't tell us was that we would be moved up to the Mens 35 - 39 age range: THE MOST COMPETITIVE AGE GROUP.

When we got into the water, it was immediately apparent just how competitive these people were. I turned the corner around the first buoy and a swimmer, in an attempt to pass me, grabbed my shoulder and submerged me into the water. I was NOT a happy camper.

I had to remind myself that I was racing twice, so I needed to conserve my energy. I took my time on the rest of the swim, got out of the water, and saw Kris and Charles! My face immediately brightened up. I wasn't expecting anyone to come out for race weekend.

I hopped onto my bike and settled in for the 25-mile ride. I decided to take it slow because I'd be biking again in a few hours. We rode past Neptune's Net and turned around on PCH before making it back down to Zuma. Very smooth ride, and because the amount of racers were much less for the international distance vs the classic distance, there wasn't a lot of pushing or shoving.

I got off the bike and did what I dreaded the most: the run. Since I developed my bone spur, running has been a little difficult, but I trucked on. This one I took VERY easy. As long as I finished, I would be happy. I met some runners from team TBG - they were all breast cancer survivors or family members of breast cancer survivors. How inspiring! 90+ members of their team were out there on Saturday.

I crossed the finish line and met my team at the CHLA booth. Day 1, done.

I had to stay at the beach until 1pm to rack my bike again, which was frustrating because I didn't have a bib number. But the guys in transition were very nice.

I headed back to the hotel and Jared and I hung out by the pool with our books until Alice and George dropped by. We had dinner at a nice little Thai restaurant before we went back to re-pack our bags for Sunday morning. The big day was almost upon us!!


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Sunday, September 17, 2017

RACE DAY!!!

The entire season was spent prepping for this day. 260 athletes racing. SO MUCH EXCITEMENT!

I pulled my car up to valet and grabbed my bag before heading over to transition. I checked in with the coordinators in the transition area, got my bike stickers, and walked over to the Disney racking area to wish everyone good luck!

I was lucky enough to be on Karla Souza's relay team - She was the swimmer, I was the cyclist, and Emily was our runner:

Together, we were the Pain Killers!

As if it wasn't just enough being in on her team, we were racked next to Zac Efron's team and team THE OFFICE!!!

Paul asked me if I was ready for the race. I told him that my training this year definitely didn't match my training last year! When I asked him how ready he was, he replied with the same sentiments! But he wished me luck, so I told him I would take everything I could get. 

And at the end of our row? TEAM WESTWORLD!!

There was this running joke on Facebook that I had made regarding James Marsden and me asking him to marry me during this race... I jokingly posted the above picture with a "Step 1, done" caption to it.

My girl Thalia found me was we were walking down to the starting line, and I was so excited to see her! Look at her in all of Tu's Disney gear ;)

Emily and I wished Karla and Marshall good luck, and then headed back to transition so we could prep!

Waiting for Karla!

I pulled my helmet on, switched to my cycling shoes, and waited for Karla to get out of the water. As soon as my chip was strapped onto my ankle, I was off on my bike. I knew I needed to give it my all! Every other celebrity team had olympic swimmers and what seemed like professional runners. I told the girls I would be back in an hour, but I felt GOOD on the ride. I saw Jack on an uphill and the competitive person in me decided it was going to be him that I had to beat (sorry Jack!).

We took turns passing each other, which made for great motivation to get back to the top spot, but as the miles neared an end, I sped up and cranked it in to the end. I finished the cycling portion in 53 minutes - nearly 7 minutes FASTER than I thought I would! I averaged about 19 miles per hour on the bike ride - so much faster than I had ever gone in any other race!

I looked for Karla and Emily in transition, and we swapped the chip over to Emily.

We were on our last leg! Karla and I walked over to the finish line to cheer for everyone and to keep an eye out for Emily.

At the finish line, we met Tony Revolori (From the Grand Budapest Hotel!! AND SPIDER-MAN HOMECOMING!!! ) and George Kosturos (from American Wrestler: The Wizard), who were cheering for their runner, Isabel Fuhrman (from the Hunger Games) - They were so sweet and were on the lookout for Emily too. We wanted so badly to win! 

I asked Tony about their team name - Team Flash - and I should have put 2 and 2 together - that Tony played FLASH in SMH!!! I'm the worst Marvel Employee ever, lol.

SO many Disney people to be proud of. Victor ran through, Loren, Patrick - who had a photo finish with someone from Fox, Conrad, Jack, Albert, Marshall and Robert - who also had a photo finish! - and EMILY!!!

Emily was amazing. I told her that I had allotted 25 minutes for her but everyone told me I was crazy. That would have meant a 6:15 mile pace. But she cranked out a 7 per-mile pace, which is still BIONIC in and of itself. AMAZING!

We got our medals and celebrated: An amazing swim, an awesome bike, and a stellar run!

Our reactions when we found out just how well we had done!

I didn't get to watch Chelsie finish, but I love her so much that I want to say a few things about her:

Chelsie was my work wifey for the last 4 years - she made a career move a few months ago, and as such, I wasn't able to see her as much. Still, she trained on her own, and despite the adversity she's faced over the last year, she FINISHED!!! I wanted so badly to be there for her at the finish line, but was carried away by other duties.

Love you, boo! So proud of you and your endeavors.

Jared and I made our way over to the stage. We were fortunate enough to be able to present the check to CHLA on behalf of Disney (an honor that Bob gets every year). This year, we fundraised $275,000! To date, the triathlon team has fundraised just north of $3MM for the Nautica Malibu Triathlon.

This year was a magical year in terms of fundraising. We had nearly 40 less members racing this year, and we fundraised almost as much as we did last year. Fundraising (for me) was so surprising this year - I set a goal of $10,000 and surpassed my goal by more than I could have ever imagined! So much thanks goes to the generous donors who gave $20,856 to CHLA on my behalf this year.

Next up was the awards. Karla, Emily, and I placed FIRST in our division!

Karla aptly captioned that moment for us:

And, as is with tradition every year, our team picture!

Look at all those smiling faces. And some bewildered ones.

We all stayed behind to take pictures -

CONCLUSION:

This season was very new for me in the sense that I was no longer just a member. Being on the leadership team (and being a Captain) meant a lot of responsibility -  at practices, during meetings, when negotiating sponsorships, and even making decisions. Without our leadership team: Alice, Andrew, Jedi, Christy, Michele, Katy, Albert, Joe, and Robert - Jared and I would never have gotten as far as we did.

So much can be said about this season, but we have so much to be proud of and grateful for. There is no one else I would want to do this all with, and I would gladly do it all again.

As a side note - not only did I get to meet James Marsden, I got to meet Joel McHale too. I plan on marrying both in the near future (kidding, kidding)

Thank you to EVERY one of my donors:
Mark and Megan A, Matthew V, Alison, Mark H, Ashley and David Eckstein, Kevin F,  Lisa L, Jodi C, Nate S, Lecia R, Marshall M, Bhart M, Leon S and Family!, Jack Harary, Andrew F and Alex N, Eric S, Jessica J and ME, Pat Y, Joyce J, Jenna S, Frank B, Stanley M, Naomi R, Janice F, Diane H, Lynn M, John G, Diane N, Nick C, Debbie C, Hymie A, Howard and Kristen and Tony, Rachel C, Kathryn H, Chris W, Jehanne L, Jarrett S, Ross and Margot, Northwest Co, Alfred and Carmen Fong, ICUP, Natalia E, Joseph H, Hymie S, Arieh R, Betty Y, Sevana D, Lloyd U, Marcos M, Genevieve O, Steven J, Sean M, Rachel D, Valerio F, Mike T, Donna B, Whitney H, Veronica L, Tricia and Manny, Anna H, Ben C, John K, Kathy M, Stef J, Thalia D, Nicole G, Lorne B, Maureen D, Martin B, Oran C, Evan and Bert and Richie, Meredith T, Carolyn F, Felice S, Dan M, Jessica J, Joseph S, Adam R, Krystal L, Carol P, Elliot M, Nathan D, Accutime Team, Susan P, Jay Franco, Olivia A, Jolene C, Ruz USA, Alexa Orr, Meredith N, Kim P

And special thanks to my biggest donors:

Paul G, Steven R, Brian M, Richie D, Morris C and JM, and of course - DISNEY MATCHING.


Thank you for an amazing season.

TOTALITY Worth It - Solar Eclipse of the Heart

I think it's pretty obvious that when I tell people I'm going to take a vacation, I never actually take a real vacation. My vacation days are spent on doing races, hiking crazy hikes, or jam-packing events in so that every minute feels like I'm making it worthwhile.

When B suggested we take a long-overdue soul-seeking journey, my first thought was, "yes! more time with B!" - and we made plans to... well, make plans. But the more I thought about it, the less I wanted to think about it!  Why not take an actual vacation? Stop thinking about everything and just enjoy the view?

So we did.

Day 1: Thursday

I left for SF bright and early Thursday morning with absolutely no plans. B was working, so I called my brother up to see if he was up for lunch - not knowing that he worked roughly 30 miles OUT of the city and that I'd have to drive across the Golden Gate Bridge (awesome) and have to pay the toll (not as awesome) on the way back! After lunch, I decided to go hike Mount Tamalpais since I needed to kill a few hours while everyone was still on the clock - gorgeous, but at 100 degrees in the afternoon, it was a little toasty.

I made my way to the top of the mountain, only to find that there was a lookout point! I met a man named Steven (with a V - he made sure I knew), who let me into his little lookout tower to walk the catwalk. In retrospect, this was probably something I shouldn't have done - especially because I was hiking alone. But he was in the lookout, and I was positive that I could get a better view from 15 feet above summit.

Steven let me walk around the whole lookout - the views were spectacular, as expected. He also showed me a wonderful contraption - the Osborne Fire Finder. You use the pinholes and the crosshairs on the O.F.F. to locate fires in case there are any. As there were no fires at that time, he used the O.F.F. to find a castle for me instead :)

I timed my hike to coincide with K getting off work, and we went to Sol Food for dinner. Due to their community seating format, we ended up against the windows, which worked out for us - there was a band that had set up on the sidewalk and played as guests queued up to order. We barely missed the rush - The line backed up so far that we finished our food before some people got to order!

The sunset drive across the bridge was gorgeous. I know that I never take the time to appreciate beauty as much as I should, but jeez - San Francisco is gorgeous. K and I took a walk to Lands End to see the Sutro Baths and catch the sunset a little more.

Eventually I made my way back to B's. Day 1 was amazing. 

Day 2: Friday

Initially we had planned to leave early, but given that our Thursdays had been so packed, we delayed leaving by a little. Breakfast at Plow awaited! In the 45 minute line that we had to sit in, I randomly called the Havasupai Reservation.. and I got in! :) Havasupai, I'm coming for you - again!

At first, I was a little concerned about not making it to Oregon on time, but B made a good point - we had nothing planned! What difference would it make if we hit up all or none of our targets? With lemon ricotta pancakes in our tummies, we started on our journey. There was a bit of traffic getting out of the city, but as we continued to drive, the view got better and better.

Miles and miles of empty road. We stopped at a gas station, and at the convenience store, I saw a box that was clearly labeled with "FOR HIKERS ONLY" - I asked what that meant, and the associate who worked there told me that PCT hikers used the convenience store as a stop because there was a post office nearby. THE PACIFIC CREST TRAIL?!

PCT hiking as always been a dream of mine. When I get older, the goal is to take enough time off to hike the 2,000+ mile path from Mexico to Canada. Visions of Cheryl Strayed came to mind at that point - my goal is probably going to be a little delayed, but a goal is a goal! We kissed the trail a little because I wanted to see it, but turned around as we wanted to see as much as possible before the sun set.

Next stop? Mt. Shasta.

Shasta is gorgeous. It hasn't erupted since the 1700s, but it's still massive, and it comes in at over 14k feet in elevation. We had hoped to do the Old Ski Bowl hike at Mt. Shasta, but the sunset was so appropriate for pictures and the view was so spectacular when we arrived that everything took precedent and the hike fell to the wayside. We still managed to get a few miles in, but ultimately sat down to enjoy the view instead.

We stopped in Weed, California on the way up to Oregon. Not much left to say there except that they are still trying to capitalize on the whole novel aspect of it. 

Day 3: Saturday

As if Shasta couldn't be prettier, we made Crater Lake our next stop! Oregon, without a doubt, is one of the prettiest states I've ever been to. We parked at the Annie Creek restaurant and gift shop and had breakfast there. The architecture in the building was so nice - high ceilings, rustic furniture, and a home-y feel that warmly welcomed us into the state.

Crater Lake was phenomenal. Life changing, even. We spent so much time there that we lost track of it. The snow had not completely melted yet, and the water was so clear and still that the only thing breaking the current was a small patrol boat in the water. Words can't even begin to describe how beautiful it was.

We walked along the rim of the crater for a while. As it turns out, the Crater Lake Century was taking place at this time! We saw so many cyclists passing by that we finally stopped a few of them to ask them what they were doing. 100 miles on their bikes - around the whole crater and back! Definitely something I want to do next year.

Next Stop? Bend, OR.

Specifically, the Patagonia store in Bend, OR. You see, B has this weird thing for the outdoors. It completes him or something. Bend wasn't about the Deschutes Brewery, which happened to be around the corner - it was about the excitement of being able to walk around Patagonia and look at furry jackets and board shorts. 

The series of events looks something like this:

Me: B - we're going here!

B:

Me: 

Elk Burger, Pesto Mac and Cheese, and a TOTALITY LAGER. So much good food. Look at that face of happiness!

By now, we're exhausted. We've been on the road for a few days and we haven't really had a good night's sleep. We check in to Pronghorn Resort and it's AMAZING. As in, we got a junior suite with a backyard, a massive room, and access to 2 pools - ONE WITH A SLIDE! 

I'm not going to lie - many of these photos aren't mine. B took some great ones! I tried to resist, but these Pixel photos are so nice! Almost as good as iPhone7+ portrait mode photos. :)

We had dinner at Cascada (2nd dinner, really) and watched the sunset. Lambs, prawns, polenta, yum. 

Day 4: Sunday

We def slept past our alarms. It's a good thing we didn't have anywhere to be! The goal was to head into Portland and get to our hotel - Our friends DC and DH were supposed to arrive later and meet us. So we start the drive... and then realize that we're in the state of Washington. We accidentally crossed the Columbia River!

We made our way toward Portland (whilst in Washington!) and stopped along the way at the Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area. More failed jumping pictures ensued. The tripod we used was amazing but our timing was horrible.

Guys. My legs look so good.

DC lands, so we headed over to pick her up. It was time for Multnomah Falls!

 

Only a one mile hike, but beautiful regardless. 11 switchbacks that felt like 100 - probably because I'm out of shape :)

We went to the Observatory in Portland for Dinner and ended up in the bar portion of the restaurant, Over and Out. More elk burgers, oysters, fry bread, and andouille mac and cheese! yum. 

We stopped to get ice cream at a nearby creamery - Cold as Ice -

And then went to meet up with J at Fifty Licks! Best believe I had back-to-back ice cream :)

We head back to the hotel and prep for the main reason we chose Oregon as our vacation destination - THE SOLAR ECLIPSE!

Day 5: Monday

Everyone told us we needed to leave by 3am to make it to Madras for a prime viewing spot. When we checked out, the person at the counter told us that we were one of the last ones to leave - every had checked out by 1:30am! But we lucked out in Madras - we met a wonderful family who owned a farm and let us hang out in their yard.

The eclipse was amazing. Totally worth it. TOTALITY worth it, even. I remember telling B that our hotel would give us 99.3% clarity, and he said NO - that he wouldn't take anything less than 100%.

Everything turned so dark so quickly - it got cold, and in the two minutes of darkness, all I could say was HOLY SHIT - DH actually has a video of me just saying "holy shit" for a good 2 minutes.

How amazing is it that we can say we experienced this? It's no wonder that people spend their lives chasing moments like these.

When everything was over, we knew we didn't want to take the trafficky trail back to LA - the 5 freeway was backed up from Eugene to Portland! So we headed west, to the Heceta Head Lighthouse!

We stop for dinner in Coos Bay before heading back down to San Francisco. Day 5, still amazing.

Day 6: Tuesday

So we spent the night making our way back from Oregon. We made such great time that we were back before the sun rose! We dropped DC and DH off, and then went home to nap.

B was craving prime rib, I was craving thai, so we settled on lobster. DH came over and we went to New England Lobster Market for lunch!

We walked over to watch some planes land at the park across the street, and then went to the It's It factory store!

 

Dinner was special for me - K came over and B & I walked to R & L's house for dinner! R had just gotten some new cycling shoes, we worked on clipping in. It was amazing! We had homemade oxtail soup and hung out for a little bit before I had to head out. Lucky for us, R is celebrating his 30th birthday TODAY! Congrats to you, and I'm so happy I got to see you. :) 

Day 7: Wednesday 

All good things come to an end. Miss you already, B. Til next time.