Up and down Tantalus

Last night I did something which I am both proud of, and think was very stupid. I ran up and back down Tantalus. Alone.

It took 62m up and 45m down. The stupid part was that I didn't allot enough time to get down before it got dark. I had no light or reflector so cars could see me, and I didn't bring a flashlight either. I did manage to get down to the residental section where they have street lamps before it got dark, but I really had to hustle. I probably did my knees no favor. Going down wasn't really a problem, but I'd like to be able to take my time and pay attention to my stride so I don't hurt myself.

From now on:
- wear a light/reflector
- see if I can get someone to come with me and park a car at the top.
- check when the sun is supposed to go down and plan to be back at the car a half hour before that at the latest. The sun may be still over the horizon, but it gets dark up there early due to the trees.

I felt pretty strong the whole way. I told myself I could walk past the turnout areas on my side, but no where else. When I hit the end of the turnout, I had to run, and I mostly stuck to that. Since the turnouts are mostly at the beginning of the hill where it's steepest, it worked out well. It's easier to keep yourself going up a tough section when you know there's the option of a guilt-free rest reward up ahead. Since I haven't been doing that much running lately, I used most of the turnouts. I hope to use fewer of them as I progress.

Still, I am rather proud of myself. Tantalus is 4.7 miles long, so I ran 9.4 miles yesterday. To see where I've come from last August, less than a year, it's a huge change. I never would have thought about doing something like this without someone else telling me to. Yet, there I was, with no reason other than I thought it would be good for me. I ran almost five miles uphill. Amazing. Does this make me an athlete?

Food Diary Mon 5/22-Sun 5/28

     Monday, May 22, 2006

• 09:00a Fruit smoothie


• 01:00p Side salad and half a veggie pita wrap


• 03:00p Rest of veggie pita wrap


• 05:30p Luna bar


• 09:30p Pasta w/ pesto, roasted veggies, and baked chicken. Wine


• Water: 2L+

     Tuesday, May 23, 2006

• 09:00a Oatmeal w/ splenda, cinnamon, and flax


• 12:00p Pasta w/ pesto, roasted veggies, and baked chicken


• 03:00p 4 dark chocolate Hershey kisses


• 09:30p Pasta w/ pesto, roasted veggies, and baked chicken. Wine


• Water: 2L+

     Wednesday, May 24, 2006

• 09:00a Oatmeal w/ splenda, cinnamon, and flax


• 11:00a Soda


• 12:00p Pasta w/ pesto, roasted veggies, and baked chicken


• 04:00p 4 dark chocolate hershey kisses


• 09:00p Portugese bean soup and wine


• Water: 2L+

     Thursday, May 25, 2006

• 08:00a Fruit smoothie (homemade)


• 11:30a Portugese bean soup


• 12:30p Soda


• 04:00p Power bar


• 06:00p Caesar's salad and 1/2 chicken bake w/ soda


• 09:00p Ice cream


• Water: 1L+

     Friday, May 26, 2006

• 09:15a Fruit smoothie (jamba)


• 12:00a Lasagna


• 04:30p Ginger Snaps and soda


• 08:30p Kalua Pig nachos and Margaritas


• Water: 1L+

     Saturday, May 27, 2006

• 10:00a Cereal w/ soy milk


• 11:00a Green Tea Frappaccino


• 02:00p Caesar salad and chicken bake


• 08:00p Pasta and wine


• Water: ?

     Sunday, May 28, 2006

• 08:30a Cereal w/ soy milk


• 11:00a Soda


• 01:00p Pizza and soda


• 03:30p BonBons and soda


• 07:30p Malibu chicken sandwich and fries


• Water: ?

OTT Class #4: Bike

I missed the Saturday morning class because I was coming down with a cold and I wanted the sleep to help me ward it off. It seems to have worked as I'm feeling fine now. I understand the workout involved a swim at Queens beach followed by a 45 minute run.

Ok, on to today's class. Since today is Memorial day, we moved the class to 7am this morning instead of the normal 5:30pm. We met at the Paki Ave. bathrooms to bike the Tinman course. I think we strayed in parts, but we did it with a few extras.

There was quite a headwind going out. We went over Diamond Head, took a brief foray into Portlock, eventually turning towards the mountains just before the hill up to Hanauma. We went up Heartbreak Hill, then turned around and came back down, then turned right and did the loop up into the valley.

On the way back, we regrouped near the highway, and we stagger-started to "race" back home. The fast people went first (to avoid demoralizing the slower people with the inevitable passing), and the rest of us followed. I caught up with the faster people at the light by the Arco station, otherwise, I never would have seen them. Two of them (the same one's as always) eventually pulled ahead, but I wasn't far behind. Much better than I expected.

Today was the first time I took my new bike up any sizable hill. The jury is still out. I actually powered up the hills better than I have in the past, but I did find myself wishing for another gear. I was still pedaling at a highish cadence, so that's just laziness speaking. The true test will be Tantalus.

OTT Class #2: Swim/Bike

Met at queen's beach and swam from one pier to the other and back. 800m?
Then biked from there to the Arco station and back. No drafting allowed. We stuck together until triangle park and then we set off in groups. The slow group went first. One minute later, the intermediate group went (that was me, and only me ). One minute after that came the fast people.

I passed all the slow group except one, and I think she should have started with me. I got passed by two of the fast group (out of five) and managed to catch the second guy back right at the end. I pulled up next to him, and he said "You want to race?" Stupidly, I said yes. We both know he can beat me any day of the week and twice on Sundays, but I gave him a run for his money. He told me later that it took all he had to pull ahead. That's nice, but someday I hope to stay even.

Tin Tri Class #1: T.T. and Run

Today was the first day of the Tinman Triathlon Training class with Coach Eric.

Turbo Trainers:
10' easy spin warm-up with a one-minute burst at the five minute mark.
Do the following sequence twice at the hardest gear you can hold at 100rpm:
30s hard, 30s easy - 5 times
1m hard, 1m easy - 3 times
1m30s hard, 1m30s easy - 1 time (for the second iteration, this was broken into 20s,20s,50s with the effort increasing at each time step and the final 50s being at all out effort).

Run 20-25m. Start off slow and increase the pace with last 6 minutes being race pace.

Weights:
10lb, triceps (standing, behind head)
5lb each hand. Palms down, slowly lift arms out to your sides until straight out. hold (10s?). Slowly lift overhead and hold. Slowly lower. Repeat with palms up, then one more with palms down.
5lb each hand. Biceps. 10 each arm.

Stretch

Food Diary: Mon 5/8 - Thu 5/11

Food Diary

     Monday, May 8, 2006

• 09:00a Oatmeal w/ blueberries, flax seed, cinnamon, & splenda


• 12:00p Pasta and pesto


• 02:00p Fruit smoothie


• 05:00p Energy Bar


• 09:00p Lasagna & wine


• Water: 2L+

     Tuesday, May 9, 2006

• 09:00a Oatmeal w/ blueberries, flax seed, cinnamon, & splenda


• 12:00p Lasagna


• 03:00p Grapes


• 05:00p Flax sticks


• 09:00p Calzones & wine


• Water: 2L

     Wednesday, May 10, 2006

• 09:00a Oatmeal w/ blueberries, flax seed, cinnamon, & splenda


• 12:00p Lasagna


• 02:30p Grapes


• 07:00p Potluck and juice


• Water: ?

     Thursday, May 11, 2006

• 09:00a Oatmeal w/ flax seed, cinnamon, & splenda


• 12:00p Lasagna


• 03:00p Grapes


• Water: ?

I went on vacation after this, and didn't record a thing.

Back from vacation

I got back from California last night. I didn't work out at all, and ate poorly. Needless to say, I've gained weight and lost muscle. So, here we go again. Workout tonight, here I come.

Tri Class #23: Swim drills/Run intervals

The taper period started in earnest today. The swim at Magic Island was fairly easy. It started with a 5 minutes out and 5 back warm-up, and then we stayed near shore and did short drills:
-Kicking only (Note: I was told I bend my knees too much, I need to watch that).
-Three strokes followed by a glide where we just kick for the time period of a stroke.
-Catch-up with a kick-only each time our hands met at the top of the stroke.
-Side-ways stroke where we kept one arm out in front of us, laying our head on it, and swam only by stroking the other arm. Five strokes on each side before switching. Try to keep the body totally sideways in the water.

I'm sure there were others, but that's what I remember.

The run wasn't long, but it was a good workout. We did an easy five minute warm-up jog around Magic Island, followed by five intervals of three minutes at as hard a pace as we can hold, and one minute rest. A total of 20 minutes. It's a short, but extremely effective workout.

I did ok on this, but I went out a little too hard on the first one, and didn't do the others as strong as I would have liked. I had set a goal to stay with a particular runner, but I fell back a little on the third hard interval and spent the rest of the time trying to catch up. I was gaining on the last one, but I ran out of steam a little short.

This would be a good workout to do on my own on off days.

Food Diary Mon 5/1 - Sun 5/7

     Monday, May 1, 2006
     side note: I kicked butt in the workout today. Felt great!
09:00a Oatmeal w/ blueberries, flax seed, cinnamon, & splenda
11:45a Pizza
02:30p Jamba Juice
05:30p Energy Bar
10:00p Sausage, bell pepper pasta
Water: ?

     Tuesday, May 2, 2006
09:00a Oatmeal w/ blueberries, flax seed, cinnamon, & splenda
12:00p Pizza and Pasta
05:30p Pineapple
07:00p Baked chicken & kale w/ wine
07:30p Ice cream
Water: 2L

     Wednesday, May 3, 2006
09:00a Oatmeal w/ blueberries, flax seed, cinnamon, & splenda
12:00p Ww pasta and pesto
02:30p Jamba Juice
05:00p Energy bar
09:00p Pineapple
10:00p Pasta w/ bell pepper, etc
Water: 3L?

     Thursday, May 4, 2006
09:00a Oatmeal w/ blueberries, flax seed, cinnamon, & splenda
11:00p Ww pasta and pesto
01:00p Salad, Pizza, and Soda
05:30p Veggie Sandwich & fruit smoothie
08:00p Dessert smoothie: soy milk, chocolate syrup, baileys irish cream, ice
09:00p Wine
Water: 1L

     Friday, May 5, 2006
09:00a Oatmeal w/ blueberries, flax seed, cinnamon, & splenda
12:00p Egg salad sandwich
02:00p Ww pasta and pesto
03:15p Soda (I was falling asleep)
05:00p Ginger snaps
08:00p Chicken, Kalua Pig/Cabbage & rice
Water: ?

     Saturday, May 6, 2006
06:30a Smoothie
01:00p Pasta and pesto
02:00p Green Tea Frappaccino
05:00p Soda
09:00p Fajitas and Margaritas
Water: ?

     Sunday, May 7, 2006
09:00a Oatmeal w/ blueberries, flax seed, cinnamon, & splenda
10:00a Soda
12:00p Chicken salad sandwich and soda
08:00p Fajitas and Margaritas
Water: 1L

Tri Class #22: Run/Swim

7:00am at Magic Island. Ran for 1h 15m from Magic Island, to and around Kapiolani Park, and back. 7miles? Then swam 1500m to the last lifeguard tower and back.

Oddly enough, the run sucked and the swim went well. I just don't get it. The run started off with a 15 minute slow warmup. Then we were to go 12 minutes at 5k race pace and 3 minutes easy. The warmup and first 12 minutes went well, but then things went downhill. I bonked. My legs were fine (although I have the slight beginnings of a shin splint in my right leg), but my energy level was zero. I just couldn't get it together. To my chagrin, I walked. Ugh.

With this as my start, I wasn't hopeful about the swim, but it went as well as I could have hoped. I focused on exhaling underwater, and that may have done the trick. I got out of the water, and no distended belly! Yay! Took 40 minutes.

Swimming form article

I just read an article about swimming form at http://www.ontri.com/swimmingform.html. Here's the text.

"
Since the swim is the first portion of your triathlon, it is very important to come out of the water feeling warmed up but not exhausted. If you can learn to swim efficiently, you will save precious energy for the bike and run portions of your triathlon. There are several key techniques that you can use to become a more efficient swimmer.

The first skill to practice is balance. Your hips and legs will do the opposite of what your head does. Lowering your head position in the water will help bring your hips and legs closer to the surface, creating less drag and making it easier to swim. Imagine that you are trying to “hide” your head just under the surface of the water while swimming. You can do this by relaxing your neck and allowing the full weight of your head to rest in the water, looking directly at the bottom of the pool. While breathing, again try to relax the weight of your head into the water so that only a small portion of your face is showing.

The second skill to practice is length. Longer vessels travel faster than shorter ones (imagine the speed of a rowing shell vs. a rowboat). To be as long as possible when swimming, you should try to have one arm in front of your head at all times. This means that you should delay pulling your front arm until the recovery arm has just entered the water. This skill can be difficult to do, especially while breathing, if you have not already mastered proper balance – so practice balance every time you swim.

The third skill to practice is core body rotation. Most of the power you generate to move through the water should come from the rotation of the core (torso) of your body, not movement of your arms or legs. When you swim flat on your stomach, you are presenting a larger surface area to the water, leading to more drag. Try instead to roll onto your side with each stroke you take, so that you can reduce your surface area and slice through the water with less drag and more power.

The fourth skill to practice is relaxing your legs. Swimming for triathlon is much different than racing in a pool, since you need to save your legs for the bike and run. If you have become proficient with the skills of balance, length, and core rotation, you should be ready to relax your legs. Try swimming a few lengths of the pool without kicking, allowing your legs to effortlessly trail behind your body without dragging.

Becoming a smooth, efficient swimmer is simply a matter of practice. Rather than going to the pool just to get in enough time or distance, consider spending your swim time doing fewer laps while trying to perfect the skills of balance, length, core body rotation, and relaxing your legs. Finding a “swim buddy” is beneficial because you can take turns watching each other swim from both the surface and under water and give helpful feedback. Within a few weeks, you should start to feel more comfortable and smooth in the water, and maybe you will even begin to look forward to the swim portion of your triathlon!
"

The gist? Push head into the water, keep an arm out in front of you (length), rotate torso, and relax legs.

Other articles gave these recommendations:
http://www.performancemultisports.com/OpenWaterSwim.htm

Keep head upturned slightly, breaking the surface with your crown (the upper part of his forehead where a baseball hat?s brim might rest). This way, you break the water with the least amount of surface area (think of a boat vs. a barge; the boat has a pointed bow for speed, while a barge has a flat front, and moves slowly).

Close your eyes: Swim 8 - 10 strokes in the pool with your eyes closed, then sight above water. This will help you learn to swim straight without using the bottom of the pool as a guide.

Get off to a fast start: Practice a few sets of fast starts, followed by settling down to a more relaxed pace. This simulates the quick starts typically found in open-water events as participants angle for position before settling in to their paces.

See what you can see: Practice regular sight-breathing in the pool, lifting your head up to look forward in rhythm with your breathing. Start by looking up every eight strokes, eyeing a target past the end of the lane (a window, deck chair or small building will do) and gradually work up to more strokes between sight-checks. Sight-breathing in the pool also will help train the muscles you need to lift your head.

Tri Class #21: Swim/Run. Repeat.

What we were supposed to do:
Meet at magic island and swim from the life guard tower to the stairs (~400m) and back. Run two loops around magic island, including the parking lot (~2 miles, 1 mile per loop). Repeat two more times for a total of 1200m swimming and 6 miles running.

What I did:
Swam 400m., ran 2mi., swam 400m., tried not to barf, made way to restroom.

I think I was the reason for the low tide last night. I don't know if I was sucking in water or just air, but my belly got very distended and painful. It started with the first swim, but wasn't too bad. It seemed to have eased a bit by the end of the run, so I got back in the water. By the end of the second swim, I could go no further.

I don't know why this happens. It doesn't always happen, but sometimes when I swim, I get very, um, gassy. Sorry, but this is meant as a personal blog, if you're reading this, you just have to deal with it.

This didn't happen with the morning swims, even though they were longer. Perhaps it's swimming with food in my system? Although I do drink a smoothie before morning workouts. Actually, I had eaten a peanut butter and jelly sandwich before the swim last week, so that's not likely to be the problem. Perhaps it's what I'm eating?

Maybe I just need to swim a lot more and my body will work it out. Right now, this has me very worried as it could torpedo my triathlon chances. It's the first of the three events and if it happens in a race, I'll be ruined for everything else.

How depressing.

Tri Class #20: Bike/Run Lagoon Drive

Short Version:
4 laps up and down Lagoon Drive on the bike. Two easy, two as hard as you can go.
20 minute out and back run.

Long Version:
Monday night was great! I really need to take note of what I ate today, and when I ate it because I had loads of energy.

We started off with an easy warm-up ride up and down Lagoon Drive (~4 miles rt). Next, we did it again, this time in a pace line. A fairly low speed, so I wasn't even puffing. It was a beautiful day and I had a hard time not getting distracted and watching the paddlers in the water.

Now we were told to do two laps, riding as if we were in a race. No drafting. Keep at least 3 bike lengths behind the person in front of you and if you go to pass, it must be done within 15 seconds.

This went really well. I practiced keeping the distance, and seeing how hard it was to pass someone within 15 seconds. At one point, I'm not sure I did it in that time, but it would have been close.

I learned that there's one girl in our group who I can't let get too far in front of me. She would really kick butt going with the wind, but I would gain on her going into the wind. I just let her get too far ahead and ran out of room to catch her. I was trying really hard, but to no avail. A little more effort upfront will be needed next time. At least nobody passed me and I did manage to pass a few people.

I thought I put everything I had into the bike, and as I rode slowly back to the car, I was dreading the run. It was only a 20 minute out-and-back, but still. I put my bike away and pulled on my running shoes. With a groan, I trotted away at a pace that could barely be called jogging.

By five minutes into it, I was feeling somewhat better and had slowly started to pick up the pace. At the 11 minute mark, I was feeling pretty good and turned around at the same time as another runner from our group pulled near. He had gone out a little further than I, but we headed back together, planning to finish the return in 9 minutes.

As we went along, he picked up the pace, and I stayed with him. This trend continued, slowly escalating. Around one minute out, we were even with each other and really pushing hard. It turned into a race, and I WON! Normally, I wouldn't gloat, but this is the same guy who passed me on the run during the mini-triathlon over at Kapiolani Park. This was very sweet.

Afterwords people commented on how fast we were going on our way back. The fellow I ran with told me that he thought one day I would be a very fast runner. He said there are other distances than the marathon, and I would probably be really good over a 5 or 10k. To someone else, that might seem like a back-handed compliment, but I think it was well meant, and I really appreciated it. Considering nobody would have ever said that to me just five months ago, I'm ecstatic. It's another sign that I really am getting stronger.

Run around the lake

Last night, after Softball, we went for a run around the lake. I expected it to suck, as I had hardly had any water all day, and just wasn't feeling my best. It turned out to be a pretty good run.

We started where we turn off of our street and ran down to the loop. The loop plus the street leading to it is roughly 3.5 miles, and includes some hills. We finished in 35 minutes. I had thought we were going faster than that, but considering how I thought it was going to be a really bad run, I was happy. Overall, I felt good and strong and could have gone further or harder if I had to.

Food Diary Mon 4/24 - Sun 4/30

     Monday, April 24, 2006
10:15a Smoothie
11:45a Summer rolls
03:00p Brown rice and roasted veggies
05:00p Energy bar
09:30p Lean Cuisine dinner and wine
Water: 2-3L

     Tuesday, April 25, 2006
09:00a Oatmeal w/ blueberries, flax seed, cinnamon, & splenda
11:45a Eggplant Parmesan Sandwich and oven fries
01:00p One piece of Chocolate
06:00p Veggie Sandwich
09:00p Nachos and Margarita
Water: 2L

     Wednesday, April 26, 2006
08:00a Smoothie
10:00a Oatmeal w/ blueberries, flax seed, cinnamon, & splenda
11:45a Eggplant Parmesan Sandwich
05:00p Energy bar
09:30p Lean Cuisine dinner and wine
Water: 3L?

     Thursday, April 27, 2006
09:00a Oatmeal w/ blueberries, flax seed, cinnamon, & splenda
11:45a Whole wheat pasta w/ pesto
01:00p Soda
06:00p Veggie Sandwich
09:00p Pasta w/ tomato sauce, bell pepper, onion, & sausage
Water: 1L

     Friday, April 28, 2006
09:00a Oatmeal w/ blueberries, flax seed, cinnamon, & splenda
11:00a Soda
02:00p Pizza and soda
05:00p Ginger snaps
08:00p Soda
10:00p Pasta w/ tomato sauce, bell pepper, onion, and sausage
Water: ?

     Saturday, April 29, 2006
05:30a Smoothie: Strawberry, blueberry, banana, w/ apple juice
08:00a Peanut butter and jelly sandwich
12:00p Eggs Benedict
06:30p Chicken Saltimboca and wine
Water: ?

     Sunday, April 30, 2006
10:00a Oatmeal w/ blueberries, flax seed, cinnamon, & splenda
11:00a Green Tea Frappaccino
02:00p Egg Salad Sandwich
05:00p Soda
09:00p One hard boiled egg
Water: 1L