Hill Training #1

From tonight til early Jan, I will be doing hill training every Tue night. This training is designed to improve team's endurance and strength. I'll report to you guys in a few weeks to see if this does anything =)

Mt Baldy 2nd Anniversary Hike

Why Mt Baldy? Because it's a 11 miles hike with 4000ft of gain... that's like 2.5X as high as Taipei 101. You starts from around 6000ft and you get to the top at 10,064ft. So yes, it's still a tough mountain for me and I love it!

Back in 11/19/2005, the guy on the left has no clue about hiking a big mountain. As you can see, he is very very cold. You think the sweater help him? No No No... If the sweater works, he would of be able to 'feel' his hand on the way down. This is the coldest Louis have ever feel. (well ok, I think my first night camping on the snow is colder, but that's another story).

Fast forward for about a year. Layers of clothes, extra food, first aid kit, ice axe, crampons... etc He knows what's he is doing. Good Job Louis!

Fast forward for another year. This guy on the left have summit Mt Baldy over 10x and I think he actually lost track of how many time he summit. But this year he is up on Baldy with the Team In Training spirit. Let's see what he is up to next year.

Coach Kiley Inspiring Speech

The start of the speech
What I thought is a normal 6 miles Rose Bowl training turn out to be one of the most emotional experience I have with Team In Training. Before I get involved Team In Training, I always thought I fund raise to only find a cure for Leukemia. I know I am doing something good and I know I am making a difference with the few people I know. But my personnel connection kind of stop there.
However, my perception have been changing. My honored teammate Virginia Garner taught me that she is alive today because of Team In Training. Gleevec enables Virginia live a normal life (as long as she takes the drug) and this drug was made possible by research funded by the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. Little 5 years old Tyler and Coach Matt's brother give me new perspective about cancer and life value.
Today, Coach Kiley told us about his Dad's experience with cancer. The speech is very very emotional for Coach Kiley and the rest of the team. While Coach Kiley is talking, I can hear people sobbing. I am close to sobbing myself. I am not sure what to do. I notice some of my teammates down to listen, and I feel like this is the appropriate thing to do. However, I have a strong urge to look at Coach Kiley. I know Coach Kiley wants to tell us his story and remind the team that we are making a difference. I want to receive everything he said and I feel like looking at him is part of the receiving, so as much as I am not comfortable looking at Coach Kiley, I look at him for the whole speech. This is my way of showing respect to Coach Kiley and his Dad.
After the speech I feel like I am more connected to the cause. I am thankful to join Team In Training and I am more thankful to make a difference to people who have cancer. I would like to thanks all my donors again. Remember, your donation is making a big impact to cancer patient lives!

Louis

I hate writing but I want to make a difference!

My coworker Mike Merchant always tell me don't say bad thing about myself. But today, I just want to say... I AM A VERY VERY BAD WRITER. I am a Java Application Developer and I can write computer code all day long... but I seriously can't write jack!!! This is the reason why I am an Java Application Developer.... not a writer. As much as I hate writing, I want to write about all these positive experience I received from TNT training. I want to make a difference. Anyway, while I am trying very hard to figure out how to write my blog entry about Coach Kiley. My friend Mike Chan aimed me.

You can see my frustration below on my AIM chart.

Maj0rH4x** (5:29:28 PM): plan on goin to the museum again?
kenshin01 (5:29:36 PM): not this week
kenshin01 (5:29:39 PM): I am writing my marathon blog
kenshin01 (5:29:42 PM): and I am hiking Mt Baldy tomorrow
kenshin01 (5:29:43 PM): you know what
kenshin01 (5:29:49 PM): I HATE WRITING!
kenshin01 (5:29:57 PM): but I need to write my blog =)
Maj0rH4x** (5:30:00 PM): lol
kenshin01 (5:30:11 PM): I want to express what I experienced to my friends regarding to my TNT training
kenshin01 (5:30:19 PM): I hope you are reading it @*#$!
kenshin01 (5:30:21 PM): Die Die Die!!!
kenshin01 (5:30:25 PM): geez when I need to write I want to eat... let's go eat!!!

I am glad MajorH4x** a.k.a. Mike Chan (note: ** is used to protect his identity) aimed me. Now that I get the I HATE WRITING thing off of my chest, I hope this will help me to write my blog about Coach Kiley. I'll finish the blog today... *_*

I can't lift my thigh!

I went to TNT cross training tonight and we spend a lot of time exercising our thighs. We were doing this thigh exercise wjere I am suppose to lift my thigh high! But guess what, after couple of sets, I can't lift my right thigh up. It's kind of crazy how I can't control my muscle. Now I know I really need to focus on my thigh. Well I am going to hike this sunday to condition my thigh. I am planning to go to Mt Baldy this sunday to train on my thigh and to get some high elevation exercise... shh... don't tell my coaches about this hike as they want us to rest more!

First Team Race: Calabasas Classic 5K

I went to my first Team in Training face today and I had a lot fun running with my teammates. My time is 0:30:50, that's a 0:09:56 per mile pace. Definitely not my fastest but I am happy with the time because I carried a wrist pack with water and I wasn't really pushing just to make sure my knee is OK with my current weight. I am 13Th over 21 in my age group. Coach Matt and Justin are also in the same age group and they are #7 and #8. Well, you can't compare an apple with an orange you know =)

I am sure I will do a lot better if I lose some weight. Like I said in my previous blog, I need to focus on losing weight. I am looking forward to the Santa Monica/Venice Beach Christmas Run10K race on 12/08/07.

If you want to look at the complete result, you can check out the result at http://www.tricalifornia.com/timing/results07/cbc/cbcresults.htm

I am doing well with training and fundraiser... but not this!

Shame on Me!!!

So I weight myself today and I am currently at 203.6 lbs with 23.5% body fat. No wonder I am having a hard time running! I know I know, shame on me right?. I think my legs are stronger than ever from my crazy hiking/backpacking trips over the summer. But I think these extra fat does put a lot of stress on my knee when I run. So for now, I am not going to run at full speed until I drop some weight. I know I can get down to 180 something in a matter of weeks by eating properly. We'll see how this goes.

Go Team! Go Tyler!

Dorian talks about Tyler's experience
Before our Sat practice, my teammate Dorian shares the reason why she runs for the LA marathon. She is running for her 5 years old nephew Tyler who was diagnosed with Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma. Tyler is a big Bruins fan. If you want to support Tyler, please bring me Bruins stuff and I can forward them to Dorian.

As soon as Dorian finished, my name was mention and I was like no way... I swear I didn't take an extra singlet!!! As it turns out I am the top fundraiser to-date and the coach only wants to recognize my fundraiser effort. THANKS EVERYONE, CAN'T DO IT WITHOUT YOU!

The training was fun as I get to run on trail for a little bit... getting in touch with my hiking side you know =)

In case you wonder how I look like in team in training... here is a picture of me. I think my gray running shirt doesn't match with my white singlet... so I am going to buy a white one soon =)