Hash runs 5 & 6

I'm really starting to get into hashing, it's been surprisingly fun... for running.

Last week was quite an adventure, it started off in a park in Makiki, from there, we made our way past the Diamond Head Theater and to the base of Diamond Head where the trail led up the mountain. At this point, the smarter people in our group turned back, I was not among them. Given that there were only about 15 minutes of daylight left at this point, I really should have thought better of it.

The trail went for quite a while along the rim, the wind was gusting and at one point I was almost blown off the mountain. Holding onto my hat, and running very carefully, we eventually reached what appeared to be a dead end. There was a trail check, immediately followed by a true trail marker. We followed the trail to a bunker that had the words "Diamond Head lookout" chalked upon it, and that's where the trail went cold. At this point, it's completely dark except for some moonlight, but it's rather cloudy out, so it isn't helping much.

Some of the group gave up and started heading back the way we came, while another fellow went back to the trail check and explored down a steep side trail. Eventually the wind carried his "on on" up the mountain, and I carefully followed him down, along with another woman. Everyone else had gone back. Very slowly, keeping one hand on the mountain at all times, we made our way down. At one point, I thought I heard someone yelling, but I glanced around, didn't see anyone, and the sound faded. Going down without falling required all my concentration, so I forgot about it pretty fast.

We followed a culvert to the bottom, I've never been so happy to be back on concrete again. The lead runner and I waited for the last runner, and we all headed for home. When we got there, we were the first ones back, besides those who opted out of the whole thing entirely. We told our tale of woe and eventually started to wonder where everyone else was.

Just as we were debating going back for the others, one of the backtrackers showed up. When the larger group got back to the start of the trail, there were security guards waiting for them. It turned out we were running in a restricted area. This was news to me, I honestly had NO idea. Police were called and identification was demanded. Who runs with ID anyway? The guards were pretty pissed off, saying "We were yelling at you, why didn't you stop?" It turns out they were likely yelling at ME!

The fellow telling this part of the story had made a break for it when the guards were looking elsewhere, so he couldn't tell us what happened next. Fortunately, the "Diamond Head Nine" as they are now known, came slogging up the hill not long after. The police arrived, assessed the situation, and decided it wasn't worth their time. Everyone got a warning and was let go. There were many aspersions cast about, mostly in the Hare's direction, but since no arrests were made, it's just become a good story that I'm sure will be told many times in the group.

Now this week was an entirely different story. Between the last minute Hare change, and this being the annual post-Marathon cripple run, it was a pretty short and simple trail. At one point we headed down to the Diamond Head beach for a stretch. I like running along the beach, but today had a bonus, there was a Monk Seal sunning itself on the beach. It clearly felt safe as it completely ignored us all as we went quietly by. Normally saying hashers went quietly would be sarcasm, but it's illegal to disturb a seal, so we all gawked a bit and gave it as wide a berth as we could. Not long after that, the trail went back up to the road and turned towards home.

While this was my sixth run, and everyone knew it, I still don't have a hash name. People were trying to come up with dirt on me, but thus far have been unsuccessful. So, it was postponed in the hopes of coming up with something during next week's Christmas hash and party. I think people are amazed that I've made it through six hashes without doing anything they can really tease me about. Had I been one of the "Diamond Head Nine" I'm sure that would have done the trick, but I narrowly avoided that fate. Maybe I'll make a fool of myself next time, that's likely what everyone is hoping for.

Hash Run #4

Last night, we met at the UH Astronomy Center on Woodlawn with the pack heading out at 5:30. I understand the hare was laying the trail live, so it wouldn't be too complex. The nice thing about this, is it tends to result in a lot of trail checks, so the slower people in the group (me) have a chance to catch up with the faster ones as they expend their energy looking for the path.

The trail was entirely on roads, but it was a varied route, going through shopping centers, schools, neighborhoods, and along streams. Manoa is a very nice area, all the houses are old and each one has a unique style, there are very few "cookie-cutter" houses here. It's nice to run along and look at all the variations in architecture.

There was one glitch though, apparently the hare made a chalk mark on someone's driveway, and the owner wasn't happy about it so they washed it off. It caused some confusion when the trail disappeared, but the path was eventually relocated and everyone was on their way again.

After the run, there was the normal "on-after" for which I stuck around a little while. It was a strange experience as they started singing hashing songs that apparently everyone knew. One guy would start the first few notes and everyone would catch which one it was and join in. These seemed to be focused on people drinking beer out of odd containers, like a vase, a hospital pee jar, etc. The songs also always ended with the words "down, down, down" as the beer drinkers tipped back.

I eventually made my exit around the time people started talking about "naming" me. Right now, I'm being called "No Name." I reminded the naming crew that this was only my fourth run and they aren't supposed to name me until after my sixth or seventh. Still, the speculation went on, the leading contender appears to be "dot.com" (with an appropriate hashing variation) due to my occupation. It should be interesting, but in the meantime I have to hope I don't do anything stupid through which they come up with new inspiration.

Altogether, another great run. I just wish this nagging pain in my hip would go away. It's odd how I rarely feel anything while I'm actually running, but it hurts when I start walking around after having been sitting awhile. I figured that my hiatus from running would have fixed it, but apparently it's still with me. I'll really work on stretching it out this week and if it's still bothering me, I'll go see a doctor.

UPDATE: I did go to the doctor. I have tendonitis. The bad thing is that once you have it, you pretty much always have it. The good thing is, I can keep running, it won't do me any harm other than being annoying.

Progress

Down two pounds to 126. While deep down, I'm giddy at the thought of losing two pounds in two days, the logical, cynical part of me nastily points out that it's too good to be true and I should brace my self for an upward bounce in the next few days. Still, here's what I've been eating, the calories are somewhat estimated:

Food - Calories

Monday (128):
1.5 cups cereal - 285
soda - 150
salad - 200
mini-candy bar - 50
10 almonds - 70
salad - 250
wine -120
TOTAL: 1125
Exercise: None (lightning, pouring rain, hell no I'm not going out there)

Tuesday (126.6):
2 cups cereal - 380
soda - 150
subway 6" - 350
almonds - 90
lasagna - 350
bread -150
wine -200
TOTAL: 1670
Exercise: ran w/ H3 group, about 4.5 miles

Wednesday (126) (planned meals, not yet eaten):
1.5 cups cereal - 285
soda - 150
subway 6" - 350
lasagna - 350
bread -150
wine -200

Hashing

No, not that kind... The running kind. I've been to three of these so far and I just love it. All three have taken me to places I never would have known were there. How we can start in an urban area and end up in dirt and mud where no cars can be seen just blows my mind. I had no idea all these places even existed let alone so close to the boring roads I've been running.

The last one was in Makiki, starting at Roosevelt High School. We ran around the edge of the school, turned into the campus for about 30 yards, and went through a gate in the fence. From there it was trail until we hit a road where the arrows pointed us up a HUGE hill. The entire group was reduced to sporadic walking from the steepness of the hill. Have I ever mentioned how much I hate hills? Flat land is only disliked, and I'm actually rather fond of downhills, but uphills? Not so much.

After an eternity, we reached the top and it was back to trails. This really degraded into hiking rather than running. The trail was rough and there was a lot of climbing up big stones and over fallen branches. I really pushed myself to stay with the group because I don't know if I would have gotten out otherwise. Eventually, after the group scattered to hunt for signs and calls of "Are you?" from all directions, we found our way out and back to the roads just before the sun really started to set.

From here on out is was all downhill to the finish, hooray! Again, another amazing experience I'm happy to have had. Still, I think I better start bringing a flashlight.

Swamp Romp!

Over dinner the other night, my BIL's girlfriend leaned over and said "Do you like to get dirty?" Now, many thoughts went through my head at that moment, and none of them seemed appropriate for dinner conversation, so I figured I must have misunderstood. I asked her to repeat herself, she complied, and I heard the same thing. Huh, she seemed like such a nice girl.
How ever was I going to tell my DH about this?

At this point, she must have noticed my baffled expression (rather like the RCA dog with the head tilt), as she elaborated. It turns out she's not perverted, she's just trying to get a team together to do the Swamp Romp in February. She's having a hard time finding girls who don't go "ewww" at the idea of wading through acres of mud. Who knew?

I immediately signed on, and we proceeded to rope in our significant others, promising each that they would look like a sissy if his brother agreed before he did. That always works for some reason. Sibling rivalries never die, and I'm not ashamed to manipulate that.

Now we just need another couple to complete the team. Anyone going to be in Hawaii in February who likes to get dirty?

Oh... My...

Ok, this is hard to say, so I'm going to spit it out... 128lbs. That's right, I'm up to 128. How the H.E.double-toothpicks did that happen? Surely it had nothing to do with the umpteen Frappacinos... Or the many nacho-and-Margarita nights... Or the endless pastries that were the only breakfast option at the conference... Or the utter slacking on the excercise front. No, it's just unexplained weight gain. Maybe I should get my thyroid checked.

My scale just gave me the will, so now I have to figure out the way. So, food diaries are again in effect, along with scheduling exercise and journaling the before and after for accountability, and making sure we have veggies ready for rapid salad assembly. Oh, and restrictions are in place on going to Starbucks. It's going to be a nasty month until it all falls back into place. Keep your distance, it's for your own safety.

Here's the plan for the week:

6 Mon: Group bike ride and master's swim (we're having lightning storms right now, so may not happen).
7 Tue: Hash House Harrier run
8 Wed: Group MTB ride
9 Thu: Indoor soccer
10 Fri: Swim/Run
11 Sat TBD: Hash run, or MTB ride, or HBL road-ride
12 Sun Softball and rest, or use as a makeup day

We're having wacked-out weather right now, so all this is subject to change.

I have a confession to make

I recently went on a 10 day trip, first to Rochester, NY and then to Santa Clarita (L.A.), CA. I brought my running gear. It never left my bag.

I planned on running, I had even looked up some routes online before I got there, but no one told me that the neighborhood was scary. Between the 40 degree weather (stores here don't even sell clothing for that kind of cold), and the dude that was stalking me before I even left hotel property, I decided a run could wait.

Then I got to my brother's place in L.A., got a cold, and decided sucking in ash from the fires was also enough of a deterrent. What can I say, I'm a wimp. Now I'm back home and almost done with my cold. No excuses, I gotta go do something, this confession is bad enough, I don't want to do another one next week.

Hashing

I tried something new the other day, I went for a run with a local Hash House Harrier group.

I showed up to the advertised location and saw not a single soul that I knew. I asked if they were the harriers and after the affirmative reply, I asked if I could join them. I got the gist of how this was going to go pretty quickly when this request was was acceded to, and then followed by questions of my hashing virginity. I'm not making this up, that's what they called it.

I was given some directions on what symbols to look for and what they meant, and then the hare was off. 15 minutes later, the group suddenly burst into calls of "ON-ON" and ran in the direction the hare went. Along the way, people filled me in on the myriad of rules. I'm not sure how many of these are real, and how much of it was people just trying to pull one over on me. For example, pointing with your finger requires a beer after the run, and if you wear brand new shoes, they'll make you drink out of it. I was starting to detect a theme.

The trail split into two at one point, to the right was the Turkey trail for those who want a shorter/easier run, and to the left was the Eagle trail for the masochists. Given that I haven't been running that much over the last few months, I really wanted to go the Turkey route, but all the people I was matching pace-wise wanted the Eagle. Guess which way I went?

The Eagle trail was actually really fun. We ended up going down to the beach and trotted along the sand for a while. Since I've never been to this particular beach, I walked it along with some others and looked around. It was beautiful. The beach portion ended with a steep uphill climb. I stood at the bottom looking up, knowing this was the route as there were chalk marks pointing to it all over the place, and I thought "Are they serious?" But there's nothing to do but follow the pack, so I did.

From there, we made our way back up Diamond Head and onto some short trails. I never would have guessed that there was the potential for so much variety in an urban setting. I expected it to be on city streets, and yet we ended up on quite a bit of dirt, lots of hills and climbing, some sand and surf, and amazing views. I was amazed.

While I did have moments of regret about taking the Eagle route, it was from being tired, and that was very much compensated for by the overall experience. In the end, they told me we ran about 5.25 miles. Considering the lack of running I've been doing lately, I'm surprised I was able to take it. Running with a group and looking for markings does help a lot.

After the run, the group gathers for food and beverages. It appears that this is really mostly about socializing, with running just being the initial excuse. I wasn't prepared to hang around as I had someplace I had to be, but now that I know, I'll be prepared to stick around.

While I was very tired afterwards (and I'm really sore today), I'm glad I did it. It makes running more fun, I got to see/experience places I wouldn't get to on my own, and I've gotten to meet a new group of people. I'm definitely going to make it a habit.

Now my next fear is, what are they going to name me?

Sigh

Well, down a pound, but I haven't been working out like I should. Hopefully I'll be able to get some workouts in this weekend, although when, I have no idea. Between baseball, painting the ceiling, and the play tickets I have, the weekend is just going to fly by. But I guess that's always the case, isn't it? I just need to force myself to make the time.

Ok, here's the schedule, maybe the blog will help keep me accountable:

Friday (today): Beach swim or short run
Saturday: ? I'm leaving this open as we may be painting the ceiling
Sunday: Pillbox run
Monday: Group bike/swim
Tuesday: My first Hash House Harrier run!
Wednesday: Lunchtime pool swim
Thursday: ?
Friday: Beach swim (1000m), sailing
Saturday: ?
Sunday: Self-made mini triathlon (500m, 24mi, 5k)

On the upside, I just bought a mountain bike! I'm soooo excited. It should be here in two weeks or so, of course that's right when I have to go to the mainland for a conference.

A while back, DH and I borrowed bikes from some friends and took a mountain biking class. We both loved it and decided to pursue it seriously. His bike came in a few days ago and I can't wait for mine to get here.

I love the feeling of bombing down a hill and the excitement combined with a touch of fear. I fell... a lot... but it's totally worth it. Heck, all my cuts and bruises have almost healed, it's time to get some new ones!

My new goal? The Mountain Man Triathlon. Granted that's almost a year away, but it will give me time to work on my bike skills which are sorely lacking. I still plan on doing the Tinman and Honolulu Tris, but this will add a whole new dimension to my training. I figure trail running and riding can only make my road work that much better, and goodness, I need all the help I can get.

Starting over

Thurs 9/13:

Weight: 125
Body Fat: 29%

1.5 cups cereal (Kashi Autumn Wheat): 285 cal
1 soda: 150 cal (435 total)
1 can soup: 160 cal (595 total)

salmon:
salad:
brown rice:
1 glass wine: 80 cal

Honolulu Triathlon

The nasty results:

Swim	1.5k	34:51
T1		4:08
Bike	40k	1:20:28
T2		2:26
Run	10k	69:30
Total		3:11:22

In short, it didn't go well. I had stomach issues on the bike right from the start. Stupidly, I gave up eating/drinking as it wasn't helping the stomach situation, so by the time I reached the run it became a death march. Not smartly done, and very ugly. Next time, eat and drink and just pray to throw up. Maybe it will make me feel better.

HTT #16

Boca Store, 5:30

30' T.T. with lots of one-legged drills and various intensities
3x7' run, 7 hard, 7 easy, 7 hard
30' T.T. more one-leg drills, 5x1' all-out w/ one minute rest.
Core & stretch.

HTT #15

Met at Kapiolani Park on Saturday morning. Did a bike ride out to Hawaii Kai and back, going into all the valleys. I went with the medium speed group. I felt a little weak, but I'm thinking I may want to try go with the fast group next time just to see if I can keep up. Our group almost caught them at the coming-back point, so maybe I have a chance. I'll probably get dropped, but if I do, I can just pick up with the next group that comes along.

We were supposed to finish the bike ride with a 2-3 mile run, but I had to go to get to an appointment back in Kailua. I never did get the run in. Bad, bad, bad.

HTT #14

The workout for Wednesday was as follows:
10'-15' warmup
3x2000m (5 laps on a track) run at hard, steady pace
1 mile cool down

I couldn't go on Wednesday, so I did the workout by myself at the UH track after work. I was doing each lap around 2'25". Not my best day, but oh well. I had also done a ~1200m swim in class that morning, but it shouldn't really have had much effect. Hopefully next time I'll feel stronger.

HTT #13

Skipped Saturday's Transition practice to sleep in.

Monday, Ala Moana, 5:30.

short version:
warm up swim, 10'
3 rounds of 200m swim, 1 mile run
1 mile cool down run
core, stretching

Long version:
Damn, that sucked. The first loop was the worst. I did the swim, made a fast transition where I just used my water bottle to rinse off my feet and pulled my shoes on. I didn't even dry off the feet or tie the laces. Headed out on the run and about 30 seconds in doubled over from my stomach cramping. I must have swallowed water, and my tummy wasn't happy. I tried to throw up a bit, but it didn't work. Kept trying to go on, then grinding to a halt. Eventually I managed a slow and stiff jog while I seethed at all the others who were passing me. Finally, the last of my group went by and I got pissed enough to force myself to hang on. I still felt like crap when I got back to the transition.

Then I got in the water, and from then on everything was fine. I don't know what that first lap was about, but I got out of the water the second time and gingerly started the run, and...nothing. I was ok. What the heck? I took it easier than I should have, but at least I didn't have to stop this time.

Third round was better still. Not great by any standard, far slower than I'm happy with. My breathing was so ragged that as I gained on a couple of other runners, they heard me coming and told me I should take it easy. I just said I was having a bad day. They were probably right, but I felt that I hadn't been able to give a hard effort on the other loops, so I should at least do what I could for this one.

I don't know why today sucked so bad. I ate some chicken and rice around 4, but I figured that would be out of my system by 5:30, perhaps not. I also don't get why, even after the stomach issues were gone, could I not get the breathing under control. I wasn't going fast at all, I know I can go faster than that, but the breathing was slightly asthmatic.

Oh well, when we did this workout last year, I couldn't even finish. I was out at the start of the second lap from stomach issues. At least this time I got through it. Thank heavens you go from the swim to the bike in a triathlon instead of directly to the run.

Volunteering at the Lanikai Triathlon

On Sunday, I got up at the obscenely early hour of 4am and caught a ride with A down to the beach. We headed to the same parking lot as last year but soon realized we were in the wrong place and the race had moved one park over to Kailua's 1st park.

When I arrived, I was given a purple volunteer's shirt and sent over to the check-in area where I was given a big black pen and instructions on marking people with their numbers. The idea is to write the numbers on both shoulders as the person faces you. You need to be able to see the numbers as they run towards you. Also, start writing as high up on the shoulder as you can because the lower the number goes on the arm, the harder it will be to read as the person runs, swinging their arms.

So, the next hour or so flew by as I wrote on human skin. It's a very odd thing to get used to, but most athletes seemed to find it as amusing as I did. I even had a few people take my picture. At one point, I was writing on someone, and a flash went off. I paused, looked right, and saw the guy's hand holding a camera off to the side to get a picture of both of us. I looked up at him, he smiled, and I went back to writing. Ok, then. Another time it was a teenager's family taking the picture of him.

There were about 8 of us assigned to this, but I noticed something. A few of the volunteers were teenage girls, and I guess they're in that shy and afraid-to-make-A stage. While I and the other adults would loudly announce that we were available to do markings, they'd stand quietly, afraid to approach anyone. People had to ask them if they were doing markings. I remember that being me. I'm so happy it's not anymore.

It's fascinating to see all the different types of people competing in this. I wrote on professional athletes, a mom doing a relay with her sons (way cool), guys covered in so many tattoos that I wasn't sure the number would show, and people riding their a mountain or cruiser bike. There was even a big guy riding a small bike with huge, chopper-style handlebars.

Once we got hastly marked the last minute stragglers, four of us were handed timing machines and we followed the race director (also holding a timer) down to the beach. We lined up to the side of the first wave (male swimmers) and waited until the count-down. 3-2-1, and we had to hit the "start" button on our machine.

Running back to the check-in area, we dropped off the machines and got ready for the swimmers to arrive through the chutes. We had two chutes and one team of three was assigned to each one. In each team, there was an announcer, a writer, and a chaser. The announcer would read aloud the numbers of the people who came through "their" chute. The writer would write the numbers down, and the chaser would run after people whose numbers were missed (obscured, unreadable, whatever) to retrieve the number. I was the chaser, but I didn't end up having to run after anybody, so I mostly acted as a second pair of eyes/error-checker. I'm very happy I wasn't the writer because for a minute or two there it was a flood of people and that guy had to write FAST.

While it was really exciting to see everyone charging out of the water and into the bike area, it was also sad to see the DNFs, the Did Not Finish people. For whatever reason, something went wrong for them and they never even got past the swim. You feel so bad for them as they sit on the sand and watch everyone charge on without them.

Eventually the last person came in and we closed the chutes. Using the posts that formed the swim chutes, we moved them over to form the chute to guide people out onto the run course, and then we went over to set up the finish line. We were barely done setting up when the first finisher, Tim Marr, came through at about 50'30s. Holy Cow! The second place overall didn't come in for another four minutes!

My final job of the day was to collect the tags off people's numbers as they came through. My partner had the worst of the job. He stood in the chute after the finish line and pulled off the tag, a little perforated strip at the bottom of the number. He would hand the tag to me. The tag has a hole on one end, and I would thread them upside down onto a string with a plastic laminated number on the bottom. There were six of these strings, aka "spindles" and you start with number one. When that got full, the people doing the timing would come and collect the spindle and then I would start on the next one.

I was sooo happy not to be the one pulling the tags off people. Everyone was covered in sweat, and some were so exhausted, they weren't thinking clearly and would just try to push past. About half would get the gist of what's going on and pull off the tag before they reached us, but the rest we had to retrieve ourselves. My partner was probably layered in other people's sweat up to his elbows. Some people practically fell on him. I was grossed out just being handed all these soggy pieces of paper.

It's funny how all sense of decorum goes out the window. Many women had their numbers pinned across their chests, and had no problem at all with this guy reaching towards that area to get the tag. And men would practically thrust their lower sections forward to help us out. It's very odd to have your hands that near to certain areas on a perfect stranger (I had to retrieve a few myself when it got really busy).

There was another teenager with us. The idea was that when someone came in without a number, she would write down the number on one of a stack of blank tags and hand it to me, and I would put it in the proper order on the spindle. I think that was only needed about three times.

After most of the competitors had come in, we were able to relax a little and chat with people. I noticed the teenager whispering and giggling with a friend of hers. I followed their eyes to where they were looking and saw a guy signing an autograph. I must have looked clueless, because one of the teen's mother told me he was "The Bachelor." Apparently, the current guy on the tv Bachelor show is a Hawaii resident and a triathlete, and was standing about 8 feet away. The teens next to me were in a complete tizzy.

I turned my attention back to some incoming runners, and next thing I knew, the guy was standing right next to me. He thanked the girls for helping with the race, and then asked one of them her name. She was completely speechless, just stood there with her mouth open. Yeah, I'm sure that's the impression she wanted to make.

I missed the next part because of another runner (and me trying to hide my laughter) and then I hear "How about a picture of you with all the volunteers?" This came from a guy I'm calling "The Publicist" who was tailing the guy and taking pictures of him with anyone and everyone. I found out later he had sent the bachelor over to us to talk to the gawking girls. Since the guy was RIGHT next to me, I couldn't exactly refuse, so there's a picture of me (and a few other volunteers) out there with the Hawaii Bachelor. Watching him walk away, I noted that the numbers on his shoulders looked like my handwriting. I may have written on this guy and never even knew it.

It's very strange that although I don't watch the show, I've had close encounters with two different Bachelor guys, and I would never have even known it if someone else hadn't told me.

I stuck around for the awards ceremony, and I'm glad I did! The overall winner, Tim, received a prize package that included a $120 gift certificate towards new shoes at New Balance. Since he's sponsored, and already gets his shoes for free, he offered to give the certificate away. Shoko convinced him to have a jun-ken-po contest with the first two that came up. I was one, and another girl from the Boca HonTri group came up. I was a little startled to turn and see it was someone I knew. But we did it and I won on the first try with scissors. I thanked him later for the certificate and he was very gracious and friendly. Seems like a very nice guy.

It was actually a lot of fun, and I'm glad I did it. It was fascinating seeing some of the inner workings of how a race is put on.

HTT #11

Wednesday, 5:30PM, Triangle Park.

Rode the Kahala Loop until 6:45, then ran for 15 minutes. 5 hard, 5 easy, 5 hard. Had a strong effort on the bike, but phased during the run so I could have done better there. Hip hurts. Tired and a little cranky. Skipped swimming today because I just couldn't bear the thought, that's a first, ugh.

HTT #10

Met at Ala Moana to start with a stretch and swim. 7 minutes out and 7 minutes back. Then we went through mass water starts. When going into the water during a start, you want to stay on your feet as long as possible. Lift the knees high and make an almost jumping-like motion to get through the water. Given this, if the water start is at an angle, start on the side that goes closest to shore, it's that much further you can go while on your feet.

When diving into the water, look forward instead of down so the water doesn't shove your goggles down. It also helps to keep your arms out in front of you to alleviate some of the pressure of the water hitting your face.

As for coming back out again, the opposite is true. You want to stay horizontal as long as possible. You should have to dig your hands in the sand a few times and pull yourself along. You don't want to stand up until the water is below your knees.

If you're getting kicked in the head, you can cross your arms in front of your head and push down, this will lift up your head and keep their feet down. Also, if you're swimming next to a "bad sighter" who's forcing you away from where you want to go, you can just roll over them. It's similar to the turn you do when about to make a flip while backstroking. When the arm next to the person goes out in front of you, just roll over on it and you'll roll right over them to the other side. It's better than getting tangled up with them or pushing them.

After this, we did the run. 8x500m intervals with one minute rest in between. We did a short loop around magic island starting at the normal stretch/core spot. We would run counter-clockwise taking the first left. It works out to around 4-500m. I kept it between 2:20 and 2:27 for all 8, I think it was 2:20, 2:20, 2:24, 2:24, 2:27, 2:27, 2:24, and 2:20. Not ideal as they should all be the same, but oh well.

Coach said my running form is a lot better than it used to be. Much more relaxed and on my toes. Yay! No more marathon shuffle!

HTT #9

Saturday morning, went to Lagoon drive. Did a one-loop ride warmup up and down Lagoon Drive and then went right into the workout. The workout was exactly the same one as this day in last year's clinic.

The plan was to do three iterations of the following: One bike loop up and down Lagoon Drive (~4 miles), followed by running two loops around a coned-off section of the park (~1k total). This added up to a total of 12 miles of bike and 3k of run, not including the warm-up bike or the cool-down jog around the entire grassy area of the park. Excluding the warm-up/cool-down, I finished in about 1h8m, although I didn't stop my watch right when I finished, so it's within a minute or so. That's a full four minutes faster than last year, and I felt much stronger through the whole thing this time. It probably helped that I didn't wake up feeling ill and I was able to eat a big bowl of oatmeal that morning.

Overall, I'm happy with how I did. My goal was to be the first female to finish along with giving it a very strong effort, and I succeeded in both. I alternated pulling/drafting on the bike with G (this was condoned by the coaches). I think I benefitted from that far more than he did. I'm no where near as strong a biker as he his, so I'm quite sure I did more drafting, also since I'm smaller he doesn't benefit as much in the draft as I do. He also helped me on the final run with challenging me to pick up the pace on the last leg of it (that was HARD).

This time around I made sure to eat and drink. I opened up an energy bar at the start of the second run and took a few bites during each following transition. I also took a gel before the last run as I was pretty beat by then. Still, it was all good. I think I put pretty much everything I had into it and paced myself fairly well the whole way. I was annoyed at how ragged I felt in the run, but I never walked and I pushed myself the entire time.

One nice thing, a fellow in our group came up to me and commented on how strong I was, in both the bike and the run. This surprised me. I don't expect other people to really take notice of my performance, and I hadn't noticed him out on the course, granted I was entirely inwardly-focused during this. Also, I thought my run was particularly slow and ugly. That taken into account, it was nice to know that I looked better than I felt. Also, one of the coachs said "You really tried hard today, didn't you?" I should be self-validating I know, but it still makes me feel good to have a hard effort recognized.

After the workout and stretching, there was a flat tire clinic. I've seen several of these, but I always learn something new. In this case, there was quite a bit:

1.) The most interesting but was how if it's your back tire that's flat, you don't have to unscrew it, you just flip the lever and lift the bike, the tire pops right off. Apparently it's just the front tire that has "lawyer lips" (seriously, that's what they're called) to keep the tire from popping off accidentally should the lever be open. I guess it's a far more serious accident if the front tire comes off instead of the back one, so only the front has it. Anyway, how cool to know I don't have to mess with that anymore.

2.) It's important to keep the back tire's lever closed inside the two frame bars going to the tire. If you close it outside of those, there's a slight possibility that someone else's tire could get in the space between it and your tire and flip it open or bring you both down. If you close it on the frame, it's much harder to open. So, that leaves the space between the frame bars.

3.) I REALLY need to change my CO2 tool. It turns out that I can get the tool that handles non-threaded CO2 cartridges and then I can use the cheap cartidges for paint ball guns. The threaded ones are like 8$ for a pack of two, and the non-threaded paint-ball ones come in a case of about 40 for 8$. They said that the paint-ball ones will fill your tire to about 90psi rather than the ideal 100, but if it's good enough for our iron-man coaches, it's good enough for me.

4.) Changing gear after the tire is off: If you forget to switch down to the smallest ring on the back before taking that back tire, you can switch it while the tire is off. The derailer will just move over and when you put the tire back on, just line up the chain with the smallest ring, it's already good to go. I don't know why I never thought about that, it made total sense when he said it, but I've always gone through the irritation of switching the gear before taking off the tire. This is sooo much easier.

5.) When putting the back tire on again, if it resists going on, just press down on the derailer, the tire should pop right into place. I always struggle with this a little, and he made it look so easy.

6.) I never knew what the little hooks were for on the other side of the tire removal sticks. It turns out that when you need to use more than one, you put the first one in the tire and then flip it down to bring the lip of the tire over the rim, and then you put the little hook on one of your spokes to hold it in place. How did I not figure that out on my own? I'm apparently just a dunce when it comes to bikes and I need to be told everything.

I think I'll have to sit in front of the TV and practice all this a few times to cement it in my head.

On a side note, even though today is Easter, the bike shop was open. I got tri-bars installed along with a new bike computer that does cadence. I'm looking forward to trying my new toys, but I have to wait until Wednesday.

Swim Class

On Thursday, we started off with series of drills as if we were relearning the basics of swimming, we were to focus on what we had learned from our videos.

25m kick only.
25m kick only on your back.
25m one-arm stroke w/ pullbuoy, switch arms halfway.
25m stroke only w/ pullbuoy.
25m focusing on hand position.
25m focusing on entry point and reach.
25m full swim.

There were a few other things, but I don't recall.
Then we did 16 25m sprints. The first four we went every 35', the next four was every 40', then we repeated those two sets for the second 8. So however fast you swam it, you had to be ready to start the next one 35 or 40 seconds from when you started the previous one.

I'm not sure what I think about this. It's a good workout, great cardio, but I don't know if it was appropriate for the first day after seeing our videos. The issue is that I feel I need to concentrate on form and all the parts. When I sprint, I'm fairly certain my form falls apart. Am I reinforcing the "bad"? She did say we needed to watch our form and not let it fall apart as we get tired, but I don't know that I'm at the point where that's incredibly realistic. Oh well, it's a minor nit. I'll just swim on my own and do the form stuff then.

HTT #8

I wasn't able to be there yesterday (long story), but this was the scheduled workout:

Meet at Palolo Pool. Run 8-10x hill repeats. Stretching and Core work. Swim Palolo Masters.

Swim Video

On Tuesday, I saw my video from the swim class. Not so good. I'm swimming "uphill" meaning I was dragging my lower body through the water from it hanging low in the water. The solution is to press down on the chest and focus on the kick, bringing the heels up to the surface. Also, I need to bend my elbows more, bringing the hands more in and under my core. As I already knew, my kick sucks, it's coming from the knees, not the hip flexors.

What I found most interesting was the "dragging" of the lower body. The other video didn't show that, in fact, head on in the boca video, you couldn't see my lower half at all except my toes occasionally kicked into view. The only thing I can think of is the head position. When I look down, as advocated by boca, my lower half automatically goes up. When I look up, as advocated by the UH class, my lower body sinks. Makes sense when you think about the mechanics, but I still have to try and swim with the head up during the UH class. Still, outside of that, I think I'll have to go with the head-down as that seems to work better for me.

HTT #7

Boca at 5:30pm. The schedule looked like this:
25' T.T.
25' Strength circuit/Stretch cords
25' T.T.
20' Run

What actually happened:

25' T.T.
Lots of one-leg drills and various intensity 1-2 minute intervals.

25' circuit
Mostly core and leg work. Crunches: normal, legs-up, lats crunches, etc.
Also did a number of variations on squats (normal, one-legged, hold) and lunges (ouch). Did backwards-step lunges which is much easier on the knees.

25' T.T.
2x12' intervals at hardest intensity you can hold. I did ok on the first one, but I laid it all out on the second. I kept seeing the guy in front of me and thinking if I didn't get a move on, he was going to slaughter me come race day. Closing my eyes and picturing T from last season riding just in front of me and me trying to pass him helped too. I just kept imagining me creeping up ever closer behind him, it's surprisingly motivating.

20' Run
This was called 2x10' with the first 10' hard and the second 10' harder. We ran up and down the road in front of the medical school which is roughly one mile long. Did somewhere over 2 miles. Was exhausted but 10 minutes later I felt like I had done nothing at all. Cool.

HTT #6

On Saturday, we met at the Boca store at 7AM. Ran to Ewa end of AlaMoana beach and then went swimming. Lots of drills: catch-up, fist, kicking, etc. Between each drill we had to do vertical kicking while the next drill was described. Ran back to the store where we split into two groups. These were the same groups that we split up into for swim filming on Wednesday. One group stayed downstairs to watch the video while the other went upstairs for a T.T. workout, then we switched.

Our group watched the video first. Basically, I'm not too bad. I have a slight crossover on occassion, I need to lift the elbows a bit more, but the biggest thing is the kick. I kick from my knees when it should be from the hip-flexors. Good to know.

After this, we did a 45' T.T. workout and then had a potluck. The workout didn't finish until about 11:30, so it was nice to sit, eat, and talk story for a while.

Bike ride

So yesterday afternoon I met up with the Thursday bike group. They promised a nice easy day. They're liars.

I think I was still wiped out from the day before. I just had no energy and even a normal cruising pace took effort. Also I was already sore in so many places and I could feel the muscles complain as I rode. Still, I held on as long as I could, but a little over half-way and I was dropping. I'm pretty sure they slowed down for me, which was very nice of them.

I got another *%&# flat along the way. That's my third in as many rides. I can't find anything in the tire, yet I keep getting flats on that back tire. I think I'll get a new tire, I'm sick of dealing with this one. I'm getting paranoid as I ride, and that can't be good.

I also dropped my chain, but it picked up when I switched gears. To top it all off, I popped the huge blister on my middle finger. Gross.

Not my best riding day, but I'm still glad I went.

HTT #5

I'm sore in many places today. Last night's workout was brutal. We met at Palolo and ran for about 15-20 minutes around the field. Then we did drills. Lots and lots of drills: High-knees, skipping, butt-kicks, side-hop, walking lunges, and 4 rounds of building strides. I guess our high-knees sucked because they made us do them 4 times. That was our first drill and by the last round, I was already exhausted. The worst was the walking lunges though, half-way across the field your legs are burning. This morning, I find that my calves, quads, glutes, and hip-flexors are all wasted. I guess it was a successful workout.

After all these drills, we did a 15 minute easy out and back. It took most of that time for my legs to start feeling remotely normal again. After a stretch, next up were crunches: regular, flutter-kick, and just holding your legs out for a while (ugh).

Finally we went to the pool. We got videoed last night, so we didn't do too much of a workout. Just the normal drills of finger-drag, fist-swim, catch-up, etc. The only one that was newish to me was the bilateral breathing every fifth stroke. The idea was to do 50 while breathing every third stroke (which is my normal swim anyway), and then another 50 breathing every fifth. I couldn't make the whole 50 at every fifth, I would just run out of air, so I threw an occassional every-third in there.

We finished up with a 50m all-out swim where the coach said our times. I got 42s. Looking around, I was delighted to see I was no where near last. I wasn't first, but there weren't many people on the wall when I got there. Also, about 15m into it, my left calf cramped up, so I couldn't really kick. I just let it drag behind me. So, I'm pleased with my time. Actually, thinking about it, we went the short way across the pool and back, so it was actually 50y not m.

The weekend: HTT #3, sailing race

So I was supposed to be in a two day sailing race this weekend. Race 1 on Saturday was from Waikiki to the Diamond Head Buoy and back to Ko'olina. Race 2 on Sunday was from Ko'olina back to the Waikiki Yacht Club (sans DH buoy). I crewed race 1, and we came in second (I think).

The race went well except in the last 15 minutes I made a real boneheaded move and released the cleat to the spinnaker without having wrapped the sheet around the winch. I missed day 2 due to rope burn across the fingers on my left hand. Fortunately, no harm was done race-wise, and the damage isn't too bad to my fingers. I will never make that mistake again. I understand the boat came in third for day two and third overall.

Because of the race, I cut my Saturday training short so I only got the swim in before I had to go. Because of the puffy fingers, I can't apply the breaks on my bike, so I also missed Monday's bike workout . Fortunately, tomorrow's workout is a run and swim, so I should be ok for that.

Swim class

Yesterday's swim class was fun. A 200 w/u, a 200 IM (fly, back, breast, free) kicking on the way out and swim on the way back, 4x25 with 1st and 3rd as a build and 2nd and 4th all-out sprint. The goal there was to make the two sprints the same time, I did with both being 21s. Then a 100 cool down. This was one of our smaller-distance classes with a total of only 600m.

This was followed by a game of sharks and minnows where I think I was the first one tagged. Finally we played water polo where we smoked the other team. I never realized how hard water polo was, you can really wear yourself out.

For some reason, likely a lack of sleep, I was exhausted all day. By the end of the day, I was emotionally unstable. It's rare that I get like that, so it was rather disturbing. I ended up going to sleep at 9 and not waking up until 7 this morning. 10 hours straight and I could have slept longer. Wow, I guess I need to pay more attention to how much sleep I get.

HTT #2

Last night was the second Honolulu Triathlon Training class, although it was my first. I showed at AlaMoana at 5:30 and was delighted to see a bunch of people I know. They seemed pleased to see me too. I haven't seen one of them since the 2005 Honolulu Marathon! There are a lot of new faces too, overall, it seems like a good group.

We started with the swim. The goal was to do a 750 meter time trial to guage where we are. The trial would start from the last life guard tower and swim back to the first one. People had the option to swim out to the last tower, or walk out to the first pole (500m) and then swim the rest of the way to the tower as a warm up. We all grouped together there, and then did the time trial. I opted for the walk/swim option for a total of 1000m. I know I'm faster than I used to be, but I'm not so sure about my endurance level.

I think it went really well for me. The water was choppy and we were swimming against the current (as usual in that direction). I was sighting and following someone, but somehow at one point I looked up and saw the rocks to my left. That's not right! I shouldn't be out so far. I can't believe I got so far out. I was sighting the tower the whole way, but I guess my brain tricked me as to what angle I was going for. I actually thought I was on target!

In spite of this, I was pleased with my swim. My final time was 18'43", and I wasn't last. Given last year's swimming performance, I'm delighted with that. I think the coach was very surprised to see me so soon. They probably expected me last. Unless I'm mistaken, I think I came in somewhere towards the front of the pack. I came in at the same time as a few guys who look pretty fit, which was nice. I also beat M, who crushed everyone in the swim last year. The only reason that happened was because she went out past the rocks too, and didn't catch herself until after I did.

On a side note, I saw T. He's the guy who I started matching strokes with towards the end of last year and who I used as a rabbit for running. He swam up to our group as we congregated at the 750 mark. He headed back a few minutes before the rest of us, yet, after I had finished my swim and been waiting a little bit, he came out of the water. I realize he could have been doing drills, or stopped to talk to someone, so I shouldn't get cocky about it.

After this, we did a one mile warm up, run drills (leaning start, high-knees, side-steps, skipping, & backwards running), and then a 30' total out and back run, turn around at 15'. The run was ok, I was rather hungry and had cotton-mouth, but I didn't bonk and I was able to pick it up at the end when urged by coach S.

Green Tea Frappacino

It's 560 calories!!! I just looked it up and I'm floored. I'm going to have to seriously cut back on these things. Holy $#&*!

Swim Video

I was supposed to start the Honolulu Triathlon clinic on Monday, but that got derailed by a mild case of food poisoning . As a result, my first class will be tonight. A swim and run at Ala Moana. I'm actually looking forward to it.

Anyway, on Tuesday, I showed up at the pool to see an underwater video camera being set up. They record us and at a later class, we'll get to see the video and our coach will tell us what we need to work on.

They had us swim one at a time down a lane heading at the camera. Everyone did freestyle, and some did other strokes as well. I did freestyle and breast stroke. With the breast stroke, they also need to film you swimming away from the camera. I wasn't so happy with that idea, but it couldn't be helped.

The coach offered us the chance to see the footage on Thursday or the Tuesday after Spring break (which is next week). I voted for Thursday, but I lost. I guess most of the class isn't planning on swimming over the break, so they wanted to wait until after the break so they don't forget. I was hoping to be using the info in my tri class. Oh well.

The draught has ended

I'm back to being healthy again

The swim/run w/ A went well. We did 1000m at Ala Moana followed by a slow and easy 4mi run. She's still recovering from biking up Haleakala, so we took it easy on her legs.

During the swim, we saw a guy flailing in the water. He was barely staying afloat. I started going towards him when he went under for a second or two. My brain was racing as I tried to remember what I was told about this. Unfortunately, it looks like I need a refresher, because all that came to me was "don't let him drag you down." I asked if he was ok, but he just glared at me. I asked again, still no response, just stink looks as he splashed his way to shore. I guess he was embarassed, but seriously, I thought he was drowning.

Yesterday I had swim class and then a bike ride after work. The swim class when well. We did a 200m w/u, a 100m IM, and then we did time-trials. We did this once before a few weeks into the semester. At that time, I did a 50m freestyle in 48s. This time I did it in 43. Very nice. I was also told that my 25m time during that 50 was 21s. Apparently I slowed down.

Unfortunately, I was splitting the lane with the fastest guy in the class. He did his in about 34 seconds. What was fascinating about it was his strokes look slow. He looks like he's not even trying. For most of the rest of us, you see the arms going fast and excessive splashing when we try to go fast. He just looked easy and relaxed. I want to be that guy. I guess I'll just need to be content with having gotten a little faster.

After the trial, the instructor set us free to do whatever we wanted, but she stuck around to offer help if needed. So I worked on my butterfly. This is only the second day EVER that I've tried this. The one class I missed (I was sick) was when we covered the butterfly, so the coach gave me an overview at the last class. I was absolutely horrific at my first attempt, but today seemed a little better. It feels weird, but I'm at least able to pull off a few strokes. The coach said I was actually doing fairly well for this being my first time. Another lady said that I actually looked reasonable, which I was infinitely grateful for as I figured everyone would be pointing and laughing.

The bike didn't go quite as planned. For some reason, my riding partners didn't show up, so I eventually headed out on my own. I rode out to the boat ramp and back. On the way back, making the left into the Arco station, I discovered my back tire was flat as it slewed around behind me on the wet road. Fortunately I didn't go down, and the gas station made a nice place to change the tire. This time I actually remembered how to do it. I got covered in grease as I did it, but I was already filthy from riding on the wet road, so no biggie. It sure feels good to step in the shower and see all the grime rinse off. It makes you feel like you did something.

Wasted week

I can't believe this, but I've gone over a week hardly doing anything. I ended up not going for a bike ride on Sunday like I planned since I still had my head stuffed up. I didn't want to be a drag. I did play baseball that afternoon, but it felt like I was hauling a trailer while I was running the bases. So slow and sluggish.

Yesterday's swim class got cancelled, and I couldn't work out after because we had to go pick up our new Sofa (YAY). It turns out I got a workout doing that...The darn thing was too big to fit in the elevator, so DH and I had to carry it up the stairs. My arms ache today.

On a side note, I hate our security guard. What kind of guy just stands there and watches a girl carry a sofa up a stair case? It's not like I made it look easy or anything. An offer of assistance would have been appreciated.

So, today is my first day back to working out. I'm meeting A at Ala Moana for a swim and run. Hopefully the jellyfish are gone or it will become just a run.

On a side note, I just re-read one of my posts, and I noticed this: "The last lap was 50m all-out freestyle. I think I was 48s". That triggered something and I went back to a really old post for this quote: "I came to the end of the first 50m and looked at my watch, 1:15!" I was so excited at that because I started that day off at 1:30/50m. What a huge difference. Hopefully I'll keep improving, but I had no idea I had made such progress.

Sick, ugh.

It's Friday and I haven't worked out once this week. Well, that's not quite true, I went to swim class yesterday, but it was more about learning than exercise.

On Monday I woke up feeling a little off, by 2pm I had to go home early from work because I felt so bad. Sore throat, stuffed up, etc. Yesterday was my first day back at work and truthfully, I shouldn't have gone in, but I felt ok when I woke up. I hate it when that happens.

Finally today I feel ok. Still a little off, but at least I can think of something other than how icky I feel. Something interesting...I looked back at my training log and noticed this note for last Friday: "I slept 10 hours last night and I'm still exhausted." I remember that, I was wiped out all day. I wonder if I was already coming down with something at that point, or was it because I was so tired that lowered my resistance to this dang cold? I still can't figure out why I was so tired, I had been working out, but no more than normal.

I may go sailing tonight, it depends on how I feel. I'm also hoping to get in a Sunday bike ride. I'm a little worried if I'll be able to keep up after all this, but it'd be nice to get on the bike again.

Saturday run

Last night I did an experiment with heartrate training. I geared up and set out for a six mile run. The goal was to stay at an aerobic heartrate so 180-my age(33) = 147bpm. This is damn near impossible. I was going so slow I figured I may as well be walking. It was so slow, I didn't even have to open my mouth to breath.

I did get down to 147 a few times but for the large majority of it I was under 160. I just couldn't run any slower. At the end of the distance, I felt like I had hardly done anything. I did the math and discovered I was doing 12 min/mile. That's faster than I expected given the effort level, but frustratingly slow.

I know it's something that needs time and consistency. I just need to think about if I have the patience.

Week in brief: Tantalus Redux, butterfly

On Monday, I met a friend for another ride up Tantalus. This one went much better. While I couldn't get all the way up without stopping, there were far fewer stops than last time. Also, there was only one time where I think my heart was trying to escape from my chest compared to three or four before. Maybe next time I'll only have to stop once. As a bonus, since I got my brakes fixed, coming back down was alot more fun.

I went for another ride with my neighbor yesterday. I rode with his group last Thursday for the first time, and they babied me. They were kind enough to not go all out and kept checking that I didn't get dropped. This time, I told them, "Just do your normal pace, and we'll see if I can keep up." So they did, and I did. Yay! It did get a little rough at a few points, but I wasn't in danger of being dropped. Overall, it's a good little group and I plan to keep riding with them in the future.

On Tuesday in swim class, we started learning the butterfly. We only worked on legs, and based on that, I'm not very hopeful about getting the hang of this. My legs just don't want to cooperate. The instructor keeps correcting me, but I can't seem to get it together. Does practicing do any good when you're fairly certain you're doing something wrong? Class was cancelled for Thursday, so hopefully I can get my mind together before next week.

On a side note, I really do need to step up the training again. I've gained a bit of weight during my off-season slump. I'm bouncing between 124-125. That may not seem like much, but as I carry it all in my rear and thighs, it's making my jeans a little tighter than I'm happy with. Better get that down so I don't have to go clothes shopping.

Swim Class: more breast stroke

Today we learned about the push off for breast stroke. When you push off from the wall, you glide until you feel yourself slowing down. At that point you do one strong stroke with your arms, pushing down to your sides and then pushing the water behind you. Then you do one kick, and at that point you should be surfacing and starting your normal stroke.

She also mentioned that at the end of the stroke, where we're about to go down into the glide, we should imagine we're going over a barrel. So it's a little dive-like.

We did a bunch of laps at various intensities and various strokes. The last lap was 50m all-out freestyle. I think I was 48s. I was already sucking wind at that point, so it's all I could push out.

On a side note, before class started, I tried to swim from one end of the pool to the other on one breath, and succeeded! It was only 25m, and I thought my lungs would pop, but I made it. YAY!

Swim class: Breast stroke

Today, we learned the breast stroke. The teacher broke it down into stages. First was the legs.

We used a kickboard and did legs only. The motion is up, out, and in. Your legs are together with your toes pointed. Bend your knees up and out with your feet together and your feet flexed and facing out. It's like you're pigeon-toed in the water, your feet should face away from each other. Then you kick out in a wide circular motion, keeping the feet flexed. You want to whip your legs as hard as you can. You end up with your legs straight and your toes pointed again.

For the arms, we used pull-bouys between out legs to take them out of the picture. The arm motion is up, out, and together. She made the analogy of drawing a pizza and cutting it in half. Your arms go out in front of you with your face down in the water (this is the "glide"), then you move your arms out in a circle, but not so wide that they go past your belly-button. Near the end of the stroke, you pull your elbows in. Your hands meet, then your arms meet as you move them up to the glide again.

For both the arm part and the leg part, she had us do a two-second glide. So it was kick-glide or stroke-glide. The idea is that when the two parts go together, one half of your body is working at a time. She said "stroke-breath, kick-glide" So while you're doing your stroke, you breathe (not kicking), when you hit the top of the stroke with your arms out in front and your face-down, that's when you kick. So it's really stroke, kick, stroke, kick, not both at once.

Sunday bike ride

Sunday dawned a bit chilly, I hoped for the cancellation phone call, but it never came, so I headed out. Met R, A, and J at the park and we started our loop around Lanikai for R to look at ponytails.

Then we headed out to Kaneohe. I've never biked out there before, but I liked it. We went on K-Bay drive into Kaneohe, and then turned right at the bank. Did a bunch of hills, some of which left me gasping.

On the last one, R and I crested the hill and waited, but the others didn't come. Went back down and discovered that A had a flat. I sat down and munched on a power bar until I had the sudden urge to check my tires. Sure enough, my back tire was really soft. Good thing it didn't go on one of those big curvy downhills we were just doing. I found that I had a little sharp something or other embedded in my tire causing a slow leak.

It turns out I forgot how to change a tire. It's been a looong time. J took pity on me and helped me out. I had forgotten to let the rest of the air out of the tire. I guess every time in the past the thing was already completely flat, so I didn't have to do that. On a side note, this was my first time using CO2. That's so COOL!

We finished our ride going out past Heeia to the boat dock and then going home the most direct route. Along the way we picked up a few riders. It seemed whenever we looked back, we had a different guy or two with us. Very strange. Part way down Kainalu, the last extra biker turned off thanking us for the ride.

I think the oddest thing about cycling is that it's like you end up in a secret club. Put on a helmet and get on a bike, and suddenly you're a member. Total strangers wave and say hello as your paths cross, other bikers feel free to join the pace line and talk story like they know you. It's just weird. I don't mind, it's just a surprise.

Swim/Run: Heartrate training?

Last night I attempted a swim and run at Magic Island. I got there rather late, about 5:45, but the sun wasn't supposed to set until 6:30, so I figured I had time. Went in the water and I was just settling in and admiring how unusually clear the water was, when my goggles broke. Bummer. So much for that.

So I went for the run. I did intervals (2' slow, 30" fast) and worked on running on the balls of my feet. Along the way I ran into T (the guy I used as my rabbit in Tinman training). He's doing Honu training with a group that does Heart rate training.

The idea is that you do all your training at an aerobic level, so 180 - your age. When you go above that, you're training anaerobically (sp?). By training at an aerobic level, you don't get tired, so you can go further with less effort. As your body adjusts, you can go faster and faster without exceeding that threshold.

It's an interesting idea, but I'm a little sceptical. I wonder, if it does work, how long it takes for the body to adjust. One of the guys teaching the class is a fairly well-known ironman finisher, and he claims he went from 7.5 minute miles while running to 5.5 after doing this.

T was saying that he can run 8 minute miles normally, but they did a track test where he stayed in his aerobic level and that slowed him down to 13 minute miles. There was a 65 year old guy on the track who's been doing this for 7 years, and he kept lapping T. So, maybe it works. I'll let Tom try it out and get a report from him after Honu.

I went to Sports Authority after the run and bought new goggles.

Swim Class

Today was interesting. We started off by doing serpentine for a warm up. Starting at one end of the pool and swim the short-course lane. When you reach the end, move one lane over and swim back. Repeat until you've swum through all the lanes and reached the other side of the pool. Since short course is 25m and there are 20 lanes, you swim 500m.

Some people didn't start at the wall if they didn't think they could make it. I did it, but it wasn't easy. I was sucking wind by the end. I thought about doing flip turns, but I was afraid I'd run into the guy coming after me.

After this we broke up into groups of 5. We had three groups and each group went to a different station. The first one was in the shallow end where you did leg work. You would run up and down the pool, or go sideways. You could pair up with someone and throw a ball back and forth as you travelled. I paired up with a girl who grabbed a medicine ball and we went back to back and passed the ball from side to side. The hard part was I kept slipping on the black lines. You could also grab a kickboard and run holding the kickboard in front of you in the water for extra resistance.

The next station was in the deep end. You alternated between jumps and wall crunches. You would do 10 jumps where you crouch down all the way on the bottom of the pool and then spring up as high as you can with your arms overhead. It's to practice your wall push-offs. You'd follow that with 20 wall crunches where you hold the edges of the pool and use your abdomen to lift your legs so you can touch the rail with your toes.

The final station was also in the deep end. You were to do vertical kicks or sculling to stay up. Some of us grabbed a ball and threw it back and forth to each other as we kicked in place.

We did each station for five minutes and then rotated. The idea of the day was to show us alternative means of getting exercise in the water. We didn't do any swimming stuff other than the warm-up, but it was a fun class.

Dying up Tantalus

Yesterday after work, I took my bike up Tantalus for the first time. I've done Tantalus before, but that was on Stacy's bike, not this one. I went alone as Tim is out of town.

I discovered the following:
- I'm out of shape, dang I'm out of shape.
- I miss the granny gear.
- I really need to make the brakes easier for me to grab and hold, my hands just aren't big enough for these.

While it didn't go as well as I would have hoped, I did finish (eventually). I had to pull over and catch my breath far more times than I care to admit. The first time I did Tantalus was on Stacy's bike, I think I pulled over two or three times total. I don't know if the difference is because of me being less fit or because this bike doesn't have a granny gear. Oh well, while I lament the loss of the granny gear, I know it will make me stronger in the long run, so it isn't a big deal. The fact that I was sucking wind like a fireplace bellows is a big deal. I really need to work harder, that was brought into sharp focus.

Around the last mile or so, I had pulled over when two bikers came around the corner going up. The one in front yelled "Move your butt! There's no stopping on this hill." While it was unexpected, I took it in the "biker camraderie" sense and started up again. When she drew near I realized we actually knew each other. While I don't know her well, we have met before. I asked for her name (Marcie) and gave her mine and we labored up the hill.

I followed behind her without pulling over a lot longer than I would have on my own. I was about to finally give in and rest when we rounded a corner and saw the bridge that shows you are almost at the top. So, I sucked it up and made it. She couldn't have come along at a better time for me.

The ride down wasn't quite as fun as would have thought. Besides being bumpy I realized I have brake issues. My brakes make a hissing noise when applied and I have a hard time holding the brakes. I think my hands are too small for the setup, or it's related to the stem being too long so I couldn't get a good angle. I really need to get my bike fitted for me.

It wasn't ideal, but at least I did it. Maybe I'll try again tomorrow if it's not raining.

On a side note, Marcie and her friend planned to go down and then go up to the stopsign three times. Sounds like a good workout. I'll add that on if I ever get up Tantalus without stopping.