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.