Confession of a baby athlete (if she is one) and her goals for 2012 12/29/11

Yes, that was me with my ESL class on my birthday in 2003. I was Schneider back then and weighed about 200 pounds. My family was not really into any sports and I grew up thinking I had to be smart more than athletic. I spent childhood in school bands (elementary through university), played with citizen band in New Zealand when I studied abroad and American Legion band while in graduate school. All I did was a little running and crunches. I was always a chubby kid. I don’t have a whole lot of memories of childhood, but I remember this distinctly. One day in 5th grade, the teacher handed a paperwork to me and another girl (I remember her name, too), only two of us in class. The paperwork was an invitation to this special event that teaches overweight kids to learn some exercises. Physical Education was the only subject I get 3 (Japanese school grades come in 1-5). I remember something like this when I do weight training. That is why I drag myself to it. Grrrr. (See StrEndurance entry.)

When I realized that I am going to be single again, being all by myself in this foreign country, I decided that I have to think seriously about take care of myself. That is when I decided to get physically active, signed up with Defined Fitness and started this blog (very first entry on 6/19/2004. ) If you are desperately looking for something to do to fill normally Troy time on this rest day, you can go through the whole blog and find out the following: Being non-athletic all my life, a little bit of swimming and yoga got me down 20 pounds or so in no time. But I hit plateau. But I kept up with yoga and working out and learned to use weights in the gym. (My Amazon review about “Teach Yourself Visually Weight Training”). When I moved to Dallas in 2005, I signed up with Lifetime. I didn’t feel like I can afford toting around personal trainers all the time (like Rick Sobona :-0), but one day, they had free session with a trainer. I got Anthony in North Dallas gym to come up with weights programs periodically and met with him once in a while. He was the one taught me about Periodization. I came down another 20 pounds or so. About that time, I met now-husband Tony, body builder and football player in high school, who took up cycling in college and has been physically active all his life. I learned about CardioPoint, Calorie Point assessment and asked Jeff at Plano gym to come up with weight loss plan in 2009. I learned to count calories and what and where to eat out. In fall 2009, I went down almost ideal weight for Japanese women! (testing digital camcorder for Japanese program)

During the course of this extreme weight loss time, I had to find a good way for cardio exercise. I love to dance with music, but I can’t participate in any choreographed moves as in steps, any kind of dance, even kick boxing. I looked cycling class from outside one time and honestly wondered what is fun about it. So I just worked on cardio machines. UNTIL Tony decided to take me to vacation in Northern California in June 2009. Tony decided to try out renting a bike and cruise around Golden Gate Park. He gave up on cycling after having problems with his back and hadn’t ridden for a long time. But he decided to try thinking when worst comes worst, we will catch a cab with the rental bikes. So I started to look into spinning classes. I started to pick instructors I like. On the day, we rented a bike, we made a wrong turn and instead of going to Golden Gate Park, we ended up crossing Golden Gate Bridge and went as far as Sausalito and came back with ferry. Bad news for Tony was he had a flat while descending the hill towards Sausalito. Good news was that his back didn’t bother him. He still needed to fix up his shoulders, but encouraged me to start training for cycling and eased into cycling himself with his ancient Bertin bike. (Pic at White Rock Lake on 10/16/2010). The rest is history. I have taken up cycling as a main athletic activity and 2011 season was the first complete one that Tony and I rode through together.

So what is 2012 in it for me and what are my goals? How does Super 6 fit in? My goals for 2011 were 1) century ride early in the season and 2) try out Time Trial event. I remember posting this to Troy’s FB sometime, but neither was accomplished. Well, I did a few indoor 100 miles and Lake 100 miles, but never as a public ride. Time Trial sounds fun, but then Tony will try to get me a new Tri bike! I don’t know about that… So year 2012, I am going to put my goals are:

1) Injury-free
2) Ride with hubby Tony
3) 80 mile hilly ride at Moritz Ride for Heroes in Aledo in April
4) 100 mile ride at Skittles Waco Wild West Century in Waco in September
5) Keep up with fast group in Sunday CK ride/B in group rides
6) One public ride a month starting with Palm Springs in February until November with routes in 50 miles or longer

Now that I gave up My Coach program I will have to decide on what to do. I think Super 6 is the perfect way to get ready for Palm Springs ride and start the 2012 season. Let’s see what happens with the rest of the year.