My last post about China (I promise)

There are so many things I will take away from this trip, but here are just a few of the things that stand out.

-The Chinese people are amazingly kind and honest. From the volunteers assigned to help the athletes, to taxi drivers, to strangers on the street, every person was friendly and willing to help the dumb Americans. For example, numerous times we had taxi drivers give Patricia money back when she over-paid or accidentally handed over the wrong amount. We had volunteers ride a bus with us to Wal-Mart because they didn’t want us traveling alone. We even had a taxi driver pull over on a freeway and buy bottles of water for everyone before we started our long drive to the Great Wall. I just can’t imagine any of these things happening in LA!

-The race provided volunteers who are students at the local university. If it were not for the 2 volunteers at our hotel I would probably be stuck in China. They worked day and night helping us with anything we needed. They must have been prepped to ask us a few “American” questions as the first volunteer Patricia met asked her who was her favorite character on FRIENDS!! Also, they kept saying, “hey lady” whenever they wanted to speak with us. It was pretty funny but when we went to the silk market and there were hundreds of vendors yelling it at us it wasn’t so cute anymore.

-The bathroom situation. I asked so many people about China and somehow NOBODY told me about the lack of Western bathrooms! UGH! A hole in the floor covered in porcelain is the standard and toilet paper is rare. I have never been so happy to see my bathroom at home!

-That leads me to breakfast (or maybe the other way around, whatever). Breakfast sucked in China. I was warned that they don’t typically eat breakfast so it was very nice of our hotel to try to accommodate the Westerners. We had a buffet every morning that consisted of things like, fried rice, stir-fry, broccoli, baked beans and watermelon. Some days we lucked out and got sweet potatoes so I made sure to eat a ton of them when they were available. The food wasn’t bad but eating stir-fry for breakfast 7 days in a row is tough. I started dreaming of pancakes and waffles!

-Driving in China is everything you have heard it to be and more. Try doing a YouTube search of traffic in China. IT’S INSANE! I don’t even know how to explain it. People do not stay in their lanes; they don’t pay attention to lights, cross walks, pedestrians, bikes, etc. They have no problem reversing down a freeway (as our taxi driver tried to do once) or driving on the opposite side of the road to get around something. It’s amazing how the bikes, carts and people can intermingle in this mess and somehow it all works out. People come within millimeters of hitting each other but nobody seems to get upset or have road rage. It’s truly mind-boggling.

-Lastly, the reason I was there… to help Patricia race. I am amazed by Patricia and her fearlessness and ability to navigate a foreign city (blind nonetheless). I was literally following her around the city most of the time. I can’t even begin to imagine accomplishing a fraction of what she does on a daily basis, let alone race triathlons at a competitive, international level. It was also inspiring to meet the other members of the US Para triathlon team.  They each had their own story, many of the amputees were veterans of the current war, and each one was inspiring in their own way. I would say most of the team was not born with their “disability” but rather it happened later in life. Seeing how people can adapt and move forward is amazing. For anyone who thinks they can’t do something or they are too afraid to do something he/she should meet anyone from this team. I feel fortunate that I got to experience this first-hand and hopefully I can share a little bit of what I learned with anyone reading this blog.

Xiexie (Thank you)

Race Report

I am so happy this race is over and Patricia ended up on the podium. I really have never been more nervous for a race.

Race day was a little weird since the start time was 3:45. I did a short run in the morning to loosen up and then we went to a pool to finally practice swimming with the tether (nothing new on race day, right?) The swim went surprisingly well which gave me a little more confidence about the day. After a team lunch we boarded the bus and headed to the venue.

The race site was incredibly pretty and we had perfect weather. The one thing I have to note about this race was the complete lack of organization. I am really surprised that a World Championship event can get away with such poor planning and execution.

After waiting in a long line to obtain our timing chips and then waiting for transition to open we were finally allowed in at 3pm. The race start time was 3:45! Not a lot of time to get settled and Patricia and I still had not practiced running together with the tether. We quickly tried to get settled, figure out the course (which we never actually did) and get in a quick run. They hustled us out of transition at 3:30 and lined us up for the swim.  Each athlete was introduced by name and country (i.e. Patricia Walsh, National Champion from the United States), which I thought was pretty cool. We were told the water temp was 82 so we chose not to wear wetsuits, but probably 80% of the field still wore wetsuits. I think the water temp was in the high 70s but for such a short race it didn’t seem worth the time and effort to wear a wetsuit.  After some incredibly ominous Chinese music that sounded like we were marching to our death, the gun went off and the race was underway.

Patricia had warned me that she still suffers from panic attacks in the open water, as many athletes do. I still can’t imagine swimming in an open body of water in total darkness. After what seemed like a good start, Patricia’s head popped out of the water and I knew panic was setting in. There was nothing I could do to help (the rules are very strict to prevent a guide from giving an assistance or “towing” an athlete). It was so hard for me to watch her in this state and not be able to help. I wanted to just put my head down and swim as hard as I could to pull us through the course, but I couldn’t. To Patricia’s credit she never stopped moving once, we simply swam water- polo -style for about ¾ of the swim. Eventually she was able to put her head back in the water and swim the last portion of the course. We had a speedy exit out of the water and a fast run through transition.

Now it was time for the bike. The part I had been dreading for weeks and was still scared out of my mind about! Before the race I had countless athletes tell me they had no idea how I would ride a tandem bike on such a technical and hilly course. This was not helping my confidence. The look on people’s faces when I told them my first time on a tandem was the day before was priceless. My goal simply was to get us through the bike portion in one piece. Not only was I afraid of turning the bike but I was even more afraid of having to make a U-turn. I honestly still have problems with U-turns on my own bike let alone a tandem. I was told there were no U-turns on the course so I quit worrying about it and we never practiced it. We mounted the bike on the first try (which was a huge success for me) and then they directed us in the opposite direction that we were told was the bike out. The first thing I noticed exiting in this direction was a U-TURN!!! WHAT??? NO!!! I seriously thought I was going to puke. We were still in front of the stadium so if we wiped out everyone would see us, not to mention I didn’t want to wipe out in the first 30 seconds of the race. I took a deep breath and went for it and we made it! I am sure it was ugly but we did it. I was so excited and full of adrenaline that we took off. I figured I just conquered my biggest fear so the rest of the course couldn’t be any worse. We had 2 loops on the bike and now I wanted to catch all of those girls who were ahead of us in the swim. The course was really challenging but also really fun. We had a long, steep hill right out of transition where we passed about 10 people. I have to admit it was pretty fun barreling up the hill on this huge bike. After that climb it was non- stop hills and turning. In fact for one of the turns they had taken blue gym mats and taped them to the trees! I had to laugh at that one. Just around one of the first really tight turns I saw a tandem men’s team from Great Britain had crashed! I took a deep breath and tried to shake it off but I have to admit it freaked me out.  But I couldn’t dwell on it, as I knew at this point the race was more mental than physical and I couldn’t let my confidence waiver. We continued on and I tried to focus on the locals who had come out to cheer us on. I do have to point out that we never saw 1 race official, nor were there mile markers or volunteers telling us where to go. At one point I came to a T where I had to pick left or right and there was NOBODY there! I don’t see how that’s possible in an event of this caliber. I had to make a split second decision and thankfully it was the right one. After completing the first loop I knew we were in good shape and had to be gaining on the girls in front of us. The second loop went by pretty quickly and the moment I had been waiting for was upon us-I WAS GETTING OFF THIS BIKE! We rolled up to the dismount line and clipped out (without falling over which again was huge for me) but as we started running to our rack a race official chased after us and told us that we were being given a penalty for dismounting over the dismount line. WHAT?? I had been slowing that bike down 100 yards out from the line-there was no way. I stood there arguing as Patricia and I got ready for the run. I was pissed and I knew this was 100% my fault and I didn’t want to let Patricia down. I will admit I am not used to racing ITU and all of the strict rules that come along with it. In transition we were given a box that we had to put all of our gear in after each leg of the race (again a new rule we were not used to). This seemed simple enough but we were only given 1 box and we are a team of 2. As we transitioned from the bike to run and threw more stuff into the box it was apparent everything was not going to fit. Patricia started to take off on the run but I noticed a bunch of things had fallen back on to the ground and an official was calling us back! Seriously??? I was not about to get another penalty so I made us turn back. Just as I started to pick up the stuff that had fallen another official waved us on. So, we had 1 official standing there yelling at us and another official telling us to go. It was ridiculous! I decided we should just go and deal with the consequences later.

As soon as we started running I knew this was Patricia’s time to shine. She is a great runner and we were hoping to run down our competition. The run was only a 5k but we had to complete 4 laps of the same out and back loop in front of the stadium. I felt like a hamster in a wheel but oh well. As we rounded the corner to finish our first lap the officials yelled out our race number and pulled us off the course into the penalty tent. I was freaking out thinking I did something wrong on the run (we can be penalized if my feet are ever in front of Patricia’s which is actually hard to always be aware of while running). It turns out we were serving our penalty for the stupid bike dismounting issue earlier. Thankfully it was only a 15 second penalty so in the end it had no bearing on our results but it was still stressful and I felt badly! We had 3 more laps to go so again we just had to shake it off and not worry. I have to admit running with the tandem was harder than I thought. We didn’t practice it at all before the race but I wish we had. I think we were fumbling and bumping into each other more than we should have been. Despite all of these obstacles, we finished in 19:34, which was a PR for Patricia and the second fastest female run of the day!

We were done and I was so happy! I knew Patricia would be disappointed that we didn’t win but a team from Great Britain had a 6- minute lead on us out of the water and we just couldn’t catch them. Had the race been longer I know we could have run them down. Our bike splits were only seconds apart and we smoked them on the run. I mistakenly thought we got 2^nd as did everyone else on our team since we passed a second team from Great Britain on the run. It turns out they were a lap ahead of us. So even though our bike split and run splits were faster the swim proved to get us in the end. I felt horrible having to tell Patricia that we were actually in the 3^rd but she took it well. She was still on the podium at a World Championship!

The award ceremony was really nice and not only did I get to stand with Patricia on the podium but I was given a bronze medal as well. That was a great surprise!

As soon as the award ceremony was over we started packing up for the long walk back to the bus (about 1.5 miles). Just then all the lights went out and we were left to navigate in the dark without volunteers. Another example of how poorly this race was organized. As I complained that I couldn’t see where we were going Patricia said, “hey welcome to my world.” She was right! She just did an entire race in the dark (which I can’t imagine) and I was complaining about walking back to the bus in the dark.

In the end, I think the race was a great success. Patricia is of course beating herself up about the swim, as I think most athletes do, but I keep trying to remind her how much she has accomplished. A year and a half ago she didn’t even know how to swim! Now she was in China representing her country as a National Champion. This was also her first Sprint distance race (she is a distance girl too) and this was the first time she and I had raced together. I think that’s a lot of “firsts” in a big race like this. She was also the fastest woman on the team that day and I think to come out with a bronze medal is fantastic!

I am honored that Patricia let me come along on her journey and hope she is happy with where the journey took us!

RACE DAY!!

Today is the race but we don’t start until 3:45pm! I am not sure if that’s for Western viewing of the race but it’s definitely weird.  It’s also weird to eat fried rice for breakfast the day of a race

Yesterday proved to be another chaotic day due to logistics. Apparently the government is controlling our shuttle bus schedule so there has been a lot of sitting on buses and waiting. We attended the race meeting that was really hectic and overwhelming. I have never been so nervous at a race meeting. The bike course was described as challenging, hilly and very technical. Not good news considering I had spent less than 10 minutes on the tandem bike and was still just having problems clipping in! The plan was to get to the race site and run through the swim, bike and run. However, due to the logistical nightmare, we got to the venue with 40 mins to practice! We got out on the bike and rode what we could. I have to admit I was scared out of my mind but it went better than I hoped. I got us a little lost so we didn’t get to climb the big hill we heard about but I felt a little better that I was able to ride for a steady 30 minutes without any problems. I have to admit; it was a little surreal to be piloting a tandem bike in the rural countryside of China on my own. 

We still have not swam together or ran together which makes me nervous. Everyone here assumes that we have been training together for months-not the case! At this point I just have to have confidence for Patricia and try to stay strong. I will admit I can’t wait for this race to be over. We also found out that there are more girls in her field than she has ever competed against so that has us both a little rattled. We are going to do our best to bring home the win!! GO USA!

My second day in China was a Doozy!

First I have to say that everyone here is incredibly friendly, in fact the only rude people I have encountered have been Americans! The volunteers are great but they aren’t fluent in English, so the language barrier makes things very difficult.  We are trying to get as many addresses and locations translated into Chinese as we can so that we can simply show people a piece of paper rather than playing charades.

The day started with an interesting breakfast buffet. I was warned that the Chinese don’t typically eat breakfast so they are trying to accommodate us Westerns the best they can. My breakfast basically consisted of vegetable stir-fry, fried rice, pumpkin porridge, hash browns (score) and watermelon. It was an odd mix but I ate enough of it to feel full!

The mission of the day was to get the tandem bike put together, take a test ride and get Patricia checked in for the race. It seemed simple enough at 8am but it would take us till 5pm to get it all done! We are not staying with the rest of Team USA so we decided we should take a bus to their hotel to have the team mechanic put our bike together. We took a bus (keep in mind we are dragging a tandem bike in a bike box and 2 transition bags) we thought would take us right to the hotel. However, it ended up taking us to the site of the aquathlon race. The bus driver made us get off the bus and took off. Thankfully a stranger helped us and told us the hotel where we needed to go to check in was close by and they would have a bike mechanic. So we hailed a bus again and quickly arrived at the hotel. The next 2 hours proved to be incredibly frustrating as I tried to explain that we needed to check in to the race and get our bike put together. The language barrier was too great and nothing was getting accomplished. After dragging that bike all over the hotel we finally decided we needed to get a cab to the Team USA hotel after all. It took another 30 mins to get anyone to understand where we needed to go and how to fit the bike box in a taxi (I ended up sitting on top of the box in the back seat)! Forty minutes later we arrived at what seemed like paradise. A beautiful 5 star hotel filled with people speaking English! I was exhausted but so happy that we had finally arrived. We found the mechanic and things seemed all good until Patricia realized she left the wheels in a different box at our hotel. So we hailed a cab again (which is never as easy as it seems) and drove another 80 mins round trip to pick up the wheels. We finally got the bike put together, grabbed some lunch and even had time to see the team chiropractor. Things were looking up!

Then it came time to actually ride the tandem, the thing I have been dreading for 4 weeks. We decided to practice in the area in front of the hotel because the streets of Beijing are SCARY! I knew that mounting the bike would be the hardest part but I had no idea how hard it would be. After 5 failed attempts to even get us on the bike, Patricia suggested I try to ride it alone to get comfortable. That proved to be a good idea and after a few minutes on my own I rode back over and picked her up. I can’t explain how stressed out I was thinking that I was flown all the way to China to help her race and I couldn’t even get on the bike! For the next 20 minutes we road back and forth in front of the hotel like 5 year olds who just got the training wheels taken off of their bikes. We practiced mounting and dismounting and each time it got a little easier. It’s still not a pretty sight as I am having a hard time keeping the bike steady for the first few pedal strokes but at least we get up each time and stay on. Tomorrow we will take the bike to the race site and hopefully we can ride for a longer stretch. I know the race is only 12 miles but I am more nervous now than ever. I really don’t want to screw this up for her and I am just not that confident in my ability to do this! It’s funny because as a triathlete we only have to answer to ourselves if we have a bad race. For the first time I am not only part of a team but my performance, or lack thereof, will determine someone’s else’s race outcome. It’s a lot of pressure and I am sure once the race is over it will make the success even sweeter. Fingers crossed that tomorrow is a better day!

What Happened to Labor Day?

I got to the airport a little before 11am today and when I land it will be Tuesday at 5pm. So much for Labor Day this year. As I stood in a loooong line at Air China I started making some funny observations about my fellow travelers. I thought it would be a fun game to write down all of the odd and corky things I see while I am traveling. I figure since I am part Asian I can get away with it??

First up the cute Chinese family of four who had decorated all of their luggage with gay pride rainbow straps. I am guessing they just thought it was pretty or they were showing their support of Chaz Bono on DWTS this season? You decide.

Next up was the guy in front of me who must have been really excited about rocking his new pants, size 38x32. I know this because he left all of the stickers and tags on them!

The check- in process took forever because most people traveling to China are not packing light. I think the average person had at least 5 suitcases but the woman with 13 suitcases won the prize. I am sure everyone was wondering why the white girl only had 1 bag and a nerdy triathlon back pack.

As I type this I am in 6 hours into a 13-hour flight.  Just the flight has already been quite an experience. The first few hours felt like being in a crowded market. People talking really loudly, standing up, walking around, etc. I woke up to a woman standing over me eating an apple with her hand on my head. 

I was hoping to pass the time by watching a few good movies, but guess what? They are all Asian films! sigh

We are supposed to be getting dinner soon, but after the lunch special I passed on I am not holding out much hope for dinner. (Who wants to eat duck on a plane ? Not this girl). I have already managed to eat my weight in trail mix and Kind bars. This could be a long week!

I Be Bloggin...

For a while people have been asking me why I don’t have a blog (in the triathlon world it seems to be a requirement these days). Honestly, I don’t really think I have that much to write about and I feel it’s a little narcissistic. I am not the type that likes to rehash a race once it’s over (although Jim may disagree with that statement) and I think writing about my training would just be painful for others and myself.

So why am I writing this blog?

I was presented with an amazing opportunity to be a guide for a visually- impaired athlete, Patricia Walsh. This is something I have always wanted to do, especially after Jim and my brother both guided athletes and loved the experience. I thought I would start small, maybe with a local 5k race just to get the hang of it. But then my friend Aaron Scheides (the #1 visually- impaired triathlete in the world) called and said he wanted to know if I would guide a friend of his in the Sprint World Championships in Beijing! So much for starting off small…and she wants to win…no pressure at all.

While I was flattered that he would even consider me, my immediate reaction was no. After racing IMCDA this year I got a nasty case of posterior tibular tendonitis and stopped running altogether. When Aaron called I had actually just left my first physical therapy appointment where I was told I wouldn’t be running for at least a few weeks, maybe months.  After telling Aaron that I didn’t think I could physically be ready to race in 4 weeks I called Jim to ask him who we knew that might be able to do it. He immediately said, “YOU, you are going to do this.” He was right, it was an amazing opportunity and I really wanted to do it. That day I called my coach, Joanna Zeiger, my doctor, and my family and everyone agreed I should do it as long as it wouldn’t make my injury worse. I called Aaron back and told him I was in! I think he was as excited as I was!

So in the last 3 weeks my injury has healed much faster than anyone predicted thanks to the amazing team at ISPI and the guidance of my coach who has kept me sane while making me do “long runs” on the elliptical (if you thought doing a long run on a treadmill is boring try an elliptical). Anyway, I did my first speed workout yesterday and thankfully a 5:45 pace felt comfortable so I guess those elliptical workouts really worked.

Now that I feel confident in my running fitness I have to tackle my next fear…riding and racing a tandem bike. Anyone who knows me knows about my lack of technical riding abilities (to put it nicely) so I am little worried about being in charge of a huge tandem bike. Thankfully my friend Eve has volunteered to be my test dummy and rent a tandem bike with me this weekend. Yikes!

So back to the point of this blog… I wanted to document my travels and experiences in China (since roaming charges are outrageous and I probably won’t use a phone for the next week). And who knows, maybe I will like this blogging thing and try to keep it up for awhile.  We’ll see…