Another day in Hawaii

2010-11-22T09:50:00.000-08:00

121/26.5

Mon: The plan is to meet the others for a bike ride. I am so sore from yesterday, it's not going to be pretty.

Sun: 5 mile trail run on Maunawili falls and demonstration trails, softball, soccer
Sat: Nada, zip, zilch
Fri: Rode up Tantalus (~40min up?)
Thu: 4x800, 4x400 = 3 miles
Wed: 1k swim
Tue: 1k swim, beach run/core
Mon: 40 mile bike ride, 20mph pace.
Sun: 5 miles at Hoomaluhia, Soccer

2010-10-25T20:53:00.000-07:00

Monday swim:

300 swim (1:49, 1:51, 1:52)

300 drill (2:03, 2:14, 2:08) - fingertip drag, fists, and rotation. All mixed up in there.

4x150 pull desc. (2:39, 2:52, 2:49, 2:48)

6x100 2 IM, 2 kick, 1 IM, 1 kick (2:19, 2:23, 7:25 - for 200 kick, 2:19, 3:36)

12x50 4 on 55, 50, 45
Tried 4 sets in 55, 50, 45 order -
:54 :52 :48,
:56 :51 :47,
:54 :51 :46,
:55 :52 :51
I was having a hard time stopping the watch for the rest period, so some of the times on the above 50s are a little long, particularly the last one.

100 c/d (1:03)

= 2500 total (1 hour)

2010-10-19T16:43:00.000-07:00

Sun: full pillbox loop w/ Mike
Mon: swam 1k
Tues: swam 2k in 40.03
  400 swim/drill (1.51, 1.59, 1.54, ?)
  8x100 75free/25breast (1.59, 2.04, 2.01, 2.03, 2.11, 2.06, 2.08, 2.11)
  3x200 pull (1.51, 1.56, 1.57, 1.55, 1.58, 1.58)
  200 c/d (1.53, 1.58)

2010-10-15T16:56:00.001-07:00

Mon: mountain bike clinic: crashed
Thurs: aqua jog, road bike
Fri: swam 1.5k

2010-10-11T17:56:00.001-07:00

Sat: ran maunawili falls
Sun: lanikai pillbox loop

2010-10-11T16:42:00.001-07:00

Swam 1k, short course: 1906 overall, 150, 157, 152, 154, 156, 155, 154, 155, 154, 153. 154 avg.

2010-10-07T16:43:00.000-07:00

The need for sleep won and I ended up getting into work late today which means I'm going to miss the road ride on base this evening. All is well though because I brought my bike into work and went for a ride at lunch. This is the first time I tried this, so here are the logistics.

10:30 Leave the office, go to the car and change into bike gear (15 minutes).
10:45 On the bike and riding.
10:55 Reached the Makiki Pumping station at Tantalus (10 minutes).
11:35 Reached the top (40 minutes). NEW PR by 5 minutes!
11:50 Got back down to the pumping station (with one photo stop) (15 minutes).
11:55 Back at the car. (total bike time: 1 hour 10 minutes)
12:10 In the water after gathering my bag with my swim gear and work clothes and riding down to the pool (15 minutes).
12:20 Swam 500 (10 minutes),
12:30 Showered & changed (10 minutes),
walked back to the office with a stop at the car (15 minutes).
12:45 Back in the office.
Total time: 2h15m

2010-10-05T16:51:00.003-07:00

Swam 1700 before pool closed.
2x(200 swim, 100 drill)
8x50 kick (1-4 free, 5-8 stroke)
2x250 pull 3/5/3/5/7
2x150 (50 easy free, 25 fast stroke)
Ran out of time here, should also have done:
2x150 (25 easy, 25 fast, 50 easy, 50 fast)
4x150 desc 1-4

Evening run/core on the beach.

2010-10-01T16:36:00.001-07:00

Trail run yesterday, 2k swim today.

2010-09-28T17:25:00.003-07:00

Swam 1k. Didn't want to go, hated every bit of it. Tired, cranky, and felt slow. Couldn't get a rhythm and my kick was weak. Just pathetic all around. I hope this afternoon's bike ride goes better.

2010-09-27T18:25:00.001-07:00

Sunday:
Ran 5.5 miles, core, swam a little.

Monday:
Lunch swim (2200y, short course):
200 w/u
8x75 (50 drill/25 free, easy, med, fast)
300 pull (75 free, 25 stroke)
12x25 4 sprint, 2 easy
3x100 kick
6x50 2 fast, 1 easy
200 c/d
The workout was from the Monday post from the west loop athletic club masters swim team in Chicago.
There was also supposed to be a 2x150 in there for a total of 2500, but I was running out of time before the pool closed so I dropped it. In other news, the 300 kick caused major toe/foot cramps.

2010-09-24T16:49:00.001-07:00

Biked on Tuesday.

3 mile beach run+core this morning.

Swam 2300 at lunch:
2x400 w/u (1: swim, 2: kick/swim by 25)
16x25 w/:20 rest (5 breaths, 4 breaths, 3 breaths, 2 breaths per 25)
6x100 pull w/:30rest
8x50 w/:20rest (drill/swim x 25)
100 c/d
*2300 total*

2010-09-21T16:26:00.001-07:00

Swam 1k (i think) in 20'. Looks like it's short course on m, w, & f, and long course tues/thurs. It was long course today, so it was way too crowded, so i couldn't swim consistently. Settled for lots of sprint intervals.

2010-09-20T16:13:00.001-07:00

Swam 1500 in 29' = 1'56"/100. The first 1k took 19'15", 15" faster than previous best.

2010-09-17T17:19:00.001-07:00

Swim 1200. Did 1k in 19'30", then 2x100 @ 1'53" each. Fastest yet, was using legs more.

2010-09-13T16:22:00.001-07:00

Swim 1500y, 30m.
Food:
Soda 20oz
Tuna rolls

2010-09-02T16:19:00.001-07:00

Lunch time run and swim. On the track: 2x1mile (40s rest), 4x100m, walk 100m. Stretch.
Pool: 500m (ran out of time)

2010-09-02T12:11:00.001-07:00

Rode with the mountain bike group last night. Felt weak.

2010-09-01T17:00:00.001-07:00

Lunch swim: 6x200 on 5' noticed I was getting a lot more rest than I used to. Was averaging 4'10"-4'20"

2010-08-27T17:07:00.000-07:00

Ran 3 miles. Swam 1k.

2010-08-24T17:40:00.001-07:00

Noon Swim: 800m, ~20'
Bike @ 5:15: 1'30" loops w/ hills

XTERRA!

2009-10-26T20:55:00.000-07:00

Day before the race

I finished the race!

On October 25, 2009, I toed the line with XTERRA world champions! It was a beautiful and steamy morning when we all got up and started gathering our gear, ate our oatmeal, and headed over to the course.

Pre-race bravado

Transition was a big fenced in pen where you would run in from the beach after the swim, and run out the other way with your bike. I set everything up, got my number stamped on me, had the kahuna give me a blessing, and tried to keep my nerves in check.

The Blessing

Eventually, we all made our way down to the beach. The pros were all crowding into the water to the point that it looked like it was going to be a water start when it was supposed to be a beach start. The announcers and race directors kept trying to back everyone up but no one was moving. Eventually they started to say that they wouldn't start the race unless people got back on shore, so they backed up some finally. At 9AM, the announcer said "I hand you over to the starter" and with no countdown or warning whatsoever, the horn went off and we all plunged into the water.

I think this is from the day before, but same place.

The swim went well. A little slower than I anticipated, but I think it's because the swim was broken up into two parts with a run along the beach counting towards the total swim time. The course was a double loop, forming a counter-clockwise square. They had us line up on the right of the beach for a beach start, then you swim straight out to the first buoy, take a left, swim parallel to the beach to the second buoy, another left around that and swim straight in to the beach. When you hit the beach, you run out of the water, then along the beach around some flags back to the original starting point and do it all over again.

At the very start of the swim, I thought I had set up towards the back and outside the fray, but I was wrong and found myself in a washing machine. Still, I didn't get hit by anyone, we just all felt each other up a bit. Before we hit the first buoy I looked down and saw a diver with a video camera directly below me, so I gave him a shaka and swam on.

During the swim I was focused on finding a good draft. In the middle of the two buoys in the first lap, I found one and hung on. When we hit the beach and started running I was looking for Mike, but the whole time I kept watching my draft so I wouldn't lose her. Said hi to Mike and then ran into the water after my draft and stayed on her toes the whole way around. According to Mike, my second lap was much faster than my first, and I credit that to her. When we ran out of the water for the second time, I told her she did a great job and thanked her for the draft, and apologized for occasionally touching her toes. She just laughed and we ran into transition. Funny thing is, some guy then said the same thing to me, I'm pretty sure he was on my toes the whole time, too.

Exiting the swim. Lost my goggles!

The bike course was harder than I ever thought it would be, and I didn't think that was possible. There is almost no flat land in this race, it's all either up or down, no in-between. I understand the conditions were actually better this year than most, but it was still nasty. Lots of loose rocks and deep gravel. In fact, last year's winner crashed on the practice course the day before and broke two ribs and got 40 stitches. In the first mile I passed at least four people whose races were already over from mechanical issues or crashes (no major injuries). People were spinning out on rocks while going up hill all over the place. I was able to ride most of it, but I was amazed at how many people were walking not just the uphills but even the downs.

The downhills were the best part and it was so much fun to let it go and fly down instead of laboring up. There's a part of the course called "the plunge" which is a three mile rocky technical descent, and it just so happens I was sandwiched between two friends of mine right at the start of it. We all blazed down the hill laughing and cheering each other on. I'd say that was my favorite part of the whole race. Unfortunately, the downhill came to an end and we had to climb all the way back up again. Still, that was a far worse proposition for some poor soul out there as we passed a bike seat lying on the ground half-way down the plunge. The owner of it had to ride another 8 miles without a seat. I hear that he did it and finished the race!

I look strangely happy here, must have been a downhill section

This was followed by a series of rolling hills where I would go as fast as I could on the down so I would minimize the effort on the up. This is where my only crash happened, and it was a minor one. I was going fast down a hill so the up would be easy when a guy in front of me stopped six feet into the uphill and stepped out into my line. My choice was to either hit him or wipe out, so I chose the latter. I should have hit him. He didn't even stop to see if I was ok. I called him a bad word, got back on my bike and passed him on the next big downhill, so I feel a little better. No damage was done except a small scrape on my elbow and some temporary cramping, so I was lucky although VERY dirty.

I made the bike cutoff with about 5 minutes to spare officially, but Mike tells me that they let people go for another half hour beyond the official cutoff. I'm delighted I made the official cutoff or I'd mentally place an asterisk after the statement "I finished." Mike was so happy to see me coming into transition as he was getting very worried. I was too, thank heavens I made it. When I came in from the bike you would have thought I was winning given the way that Mike was cheering for me. That was a really nice boost.

Anyway, in to transition and back out again on the run. By this time it's 1pm and hot as heck with no cloud cover. I was cramping some, fortunately I had salt tablets which saved me. I must admit, I walked a lot of the uphills of the run, of which there were many, but I ran all the downhills and what little flat land that there was.

The neat thing about this part of the race were the people that I got to meet. There was the 17 year old boy named Brandon and we ran together for a few miles. He and his dad do XTerras together, which I think is way cool. How often will a 17 yo boy chat willingly with a 36 yo woman? The race makes for strange friendships.

Next up was a Canadian Pro named Jeff who destroyed the rim of his bike. Seriously, I've never seen such a thing, it was in pieces. The poor guy had to hike his bike out on his shoulder and he still made the bike cutoff. Just amazing. What really impressed me was that although he's used to doing the race in under 3 hours, he still went to finish the race, even though he'd be coming in at twice the time. That shows a lot of grit. To top it off, he stayed and chatted with me for a bit as we ran along the beach about a mile from the finish. He could have gone so much faster, but he just decided to stick around and trade stories. I guess he figured he may as well just enjoy the experience. I was just blown away by how nice everyone was.

The last few miles of the run were on a beach, then through a "forest" where you had to jump over and duck under fallen trees, and then run along a rocky coastline. I felt I was getting stronger and stronger as the run went on, and eventually I saw the finish line. All the people I had trained with were all still there and cheered me in. I actually teared up a little. I felt like a rock star with all these people screaming my name. I'm sure everyone else was like "who the heck is that to have such a cheering section?" I high-fived everyone down the chute and crossed the finish line where I got my "survivor" medal and a kiss from Mike. Poor guy, that can't have been the most pleasant kiss for him. Then my coach handed me a Margarita and the day was complete.

In all, the race took me 5 hours and 40 minutes. I had planned to do it in 5 hours, but I honestly don't care. I underestimated the difficulty of it and at this point I'm glad to just have finished. Truly an amazing experience and I still can't believe I did it. It only took two minutes across the finish line for someone to ask me if I'd do it next year, and I honestly don't know. At the time I said "no way" but I think I'll wait and see how I do in next year's Mountain Man race. If I do significantly better (meaning I'm better trained), then I'll consider it, but I'm just not willing to do it again just to scrape by. So, we'll see. For now, I'll give a diplomatic answer... polite, but vague :)

Mountain Man 2009

2009-08-10T20:45:00.000-07:00

On Sunday, I did the Mountain Man Triathlon at Kualoa. My goal was to qualify for the XTerra World Championships. The only reason this is remotely possible is because the race is held here in Hawaii, so this qualifying race gets a lot of slots, but not a lot of competitors sign up. High slot to participant ratio! I get chance!

The last few days leading up to the triathlon were a little nerve-wracking. There was a hurricane coming in our direction, which was scheduled to hit right around that weekend. On Friday, it was downgraded to a tropical storm and projected to hit on Monday. Still, I was concerned that the wind might generate some big waves which could make the swim a little scary. As it was, all my angst was entirely for naught. The storm was downgraded to a tropic depression and had slowed down so it wouldn't hit until Wednesday. When we drove along the coast on race morning, the water was as smooth as it could possibly be. Hooray! One less thing to deal with.

We left the house around 5:40 and got to Kualoa a few minutes after 6. I hit the porta-potties (already icky so early in the morning), and then went to the run transition. This race is a little different in that the bike and run transitions are in different locations. The run transition is right next to the finish line up in the valley, while the swim start and bike transition are down by the water.

Around 7:15, everyone met at the finish line for pre-race instructions, then we all grabbed our bike and swim gear and hopped on our bikes for an easy ride over to the bike transition, about a mile away. The bike transition was definitely different. While they had racks set up, they said you could put your bike anywhere you wanted, lean it up against the rock wall, drop it on the grass, whatever. I think this may have been a concession to the cow patties. You see, the field normally is for cows grazing and there were "remnants" all over the place. I leaned my bike against the flag pole (can't miss that), set up my bike gear, grabbed my goggles and cap, and head into the water across the street.

The water was SHALLOW. We all had to get out to a guy waiting on a surf board who was acting as the starting line. At first everyone was slowly picking their way around the rocks and coral, but it finally sunk in that even though the water was barely over our knees, it was easier to swim. I figured it would be deeper out where the surfer was, but I was mistaken. It turned out the water never got deeper than waist high. Half the time I couldn't take full strokes for fear of hitting coral. One time I actually did, even though I was practically bringing my hands right along my body. Still, at least the race organizers didn't have to worry about anyone drowning.

I stroked all the way in to shore, actually just grabbing rocks and pulling myself along for the last 50 feet or so. I finally got up when I couldn't go any further and trotted across the beach and the road (thanks HPD for stopping traffic), and tried to avoid the cow pies on the way to the flag pole.

My transition took too long. I have no idea how long it actually took, it just felt long. I need to make some changes. Maybe ditch the socks, get some yankx laces, and find a swim top that won't make me feel it's necessary to put on a shirt.

Anyway, I finally got on the bike and headed out. I screwed up here as well in that I didn't take a Gu right away. I don't know what I was thinking. I had figured I would take one about every 30 minutes, and I was only at 20, but I wasn't feeling strong. I should go with feeling rather than numbers. Stupid. The thing was not very far in to the bike I hit a big hill that took all my attention and the next thing I knew I was 10 minutes late for my gel. I ate it and in a few minutes started to feel much stronger. Dumb. I should have taken that thing right out of the swim. I bet I would have done better.

The bike was a little bi-polar. The first half of the course, along the right side of the valley, is all jeep-road with BIG up and down hills. Around the mid-point, you cross the valley and go to the left side where it's pretty much all single-track until the bike finish. I didn't do so hot on the jeep road. I rode everything, even the hills that most people around me were walking, but I just didn't feel strong.

Riding up the last of the big uphills, I saw a guy pulled over. I called out to see if he needed help, all the while thinking "Please say no, please say no." But he asked if I had a spare tube, which I did. I stopped, pulled out a tube and CO2 cartridge, handed them over and headed off. He came up to me after the race to say thank you and that he was able to finish the race. I'm glad I helped him, but for the rest of the race I was wondering if I had just shot myself in the foot in terms of qualifying. Still, I just couldn't leave the guy. Someday that could be me. I figure I built up some Karma points.

Still, I was getting worried so I decided to really push the envelope. After this I came to the first serious downhill. It was a long grassy stretch which looked safe enough (except for the cow patties), so I really let it go. Unfortunately I didn't see the big crater until I was right about in it, so I swung my weight back and when I hit the far lip of the crater my hands popped off the handlebars and I ended up sliding down the hill on my butt. Once I realized I landed with no damage, the sliding was actually kind of fun. I may have actually started laughing. Anyway, at the end of my skid, I popped back up, ran and grabbed my bike (which was further down the hill), and kept going.

I crossed the valley over to the single track area, and things finally picked up for me. I started passing people all over the place. For the most part, people were really nice and would get out of your way once they heard you coming. I did have to stop quite a few times when people in front of me stopped at obstacles. But they would quickly pull their bikes out of the way and let me get started again and ride through. A few people may have passed me on the jeep road, but no-body passed me on the single track. I loved this part of the ride, it totally made my race.

As it turns out, there were 5 girls in my AG and four slots. I came in 3rd in my AG! I can't tell you how happy I am with that. I really only started training 8 weeks ago, and I lost almost 2 weeks to a really nasty cold followed by a Migraine, so to do this on only 6 good weeks of training, I'll take whatever I can get.

Training update

2009-07-16T14:10:00.000-07:00

I got sick and lost about a week and a half of training. I only started to feel totally normal last week. I'm pretty frustrated about it, but there's nothing I can do but work as hard as I can for the next 3-4 weeks until the race.

The weight currently stands at 123, and I'm hoping to drop a pound or two (or three) before the race. If I can eat healthy and avoid the dreaded Green Tea Frappaccino, I have a shot at it. Every pound lost helps during the race.

The workouts have been great. The schedule is:

Monday: Mountain bike
Tuesday: Swim (on your own), Road Bike (typically with lots of hills followed by a transition run)
Wednesday: Road ride or run on your own
Thursday: Swim (on your own), Run (lots of hills)
Friday: Morning beach run/core
Saturday: Mountain bike ride (on your own) followed by a transition run
Sunday: Run/Swim/Run/Swim

On Tuesday I got a flat on my bike right before I was about to leave to meet the group, so I was really rushed and forgot my bike shoes. I had to do the workout in my sneakers and it didn't go so well. I have SPDs for my pedals, so I was balancing on this tiny little platforms that I would slide off of on bumpy sections. Then because I wasn't clipped in, I had no upstroke power so it felt like I was biking at 3/4 speed. Of course this workout turns out to be the most hills we've ever done on our road bikes, 6 times up and over Daly hill and back (one time up, to the bottom on the other side, turn around and go back up and down to the original starting point counts as one). It's a great workout, I just wish I could do it again with the proper shoes, I feel I didn't give that one it's full justice.

On Monday, the trails were slick from rain, so we did some exploring and tried to stay off the really big hills for our Mountain bike ride. It was fun but after a while I was rather tired of spinning out and losing traction every time I went over a rock or root. Towards the end, I hit a root and went right over the edge of the hill, fortunately I got caught amongst the trees, but one of the guys had to come back and haul me out as I was rather stuck, upside down at that! Not very dignified.

Sunday was another long day (actually, they're all huge workouts now, it seems). We ran for 45 minutes, swam the buoy line (took me about 25"), then ran from one end of the beach to the other and back (about 5 miles), and finished it off with another buoy line swim. My favorite part of that is going by Kalapawai market afterwards and getting an iced Chai Latte then going home and sitting on the balcony with my drink and a good book until DH wakes up. Doesn't get better than that!

Thursday was a baaaad day. It was a run day, and I was actually looking forward to it, thinking I was going to do well. The reality was the complete opposite. Just a few minutes into the run, my stomach started cramping up and kept getting worse. Not longer after, I started wheezing. The frustrating thing about the wheezing is I think it might actually be a physical reaction to mental/emotional issues rather than anything real. When I started to get upset about the stomach and over how much training I've missed from being sick, I teared up a bit, and that's when the wheezing started. It always seems to happen after I've gotten a little emotional. I have GOT to get the mental game under control, this is ridiculous. As it was, we went over to the conning tower hill, which is a long winding hill that goes around and around the hill all the way up to the conning tower at the top. We did repeats on that and then ran home. I'm told I ran about 8 miles. Again, here's another workout I want to try again so I can give it the justice I think it deserves. So frustrating. On a side note, I had a slice of toast with some PB&J on it about a half hour before the run. Perhaps that's why my stomach went into revolt. Next time I need to eat much further out time-wise.

Lanikai pillbox

2009-06-28T14:07:00.001-07:00

The week so far

2009-06-17T14:49:00.000-07:00

On Saturday, DH and I did a Mountain Bike ride around Olomana, we got lost, but eventually found our way, but the thing took about 4 hours from start to finish. Margaritas were necessary for recovery after that. I included a link to the map above, but note that I didn't start tracking until we were already on the trail.

Sunday was a morning workout with the group. We met at the boat ramp which was PACKED. It seemed like half the island was there at 6:30 in the morning! Turns out there was a regatta that day. Oh well. Anyway, we ran for 45 minutes, then swam the buoy line until we were about to go into the launch line, then turned around and swam back. Repeated that for a total of 1.5 hours of running, and I really don't know how much swimming. Word of caution for the future. While surf shorts may double as running shorts when they're dry, don't go running in them after having gone swimming. Chafing. Ick.

Monday was another mountain bike ride, only this time a little more low key. As Amy put it, "We want to build you up, not break you." I was starting to wonder, so this was a welcome reprieve. She and I split off from the pack and went up Old Pali Road, all the way up to the Pali lookout. We only had to carry the bikes up one section, and the rest was ridable. It's hard to stay focused with all the amazing views. I wish it was easier to pull out the phone to take pictures. Anyway, the ride was about 4 miles up and 4 miles back down. Coming down we passed a group of hikers that looked stunned to see us. I heard one girl comment "That was SICK!" I'm assuming she meant in the good sense.

Tuesday. Did a swim during lunch, swam 2000 meters (long course): 600 meters with warm up, drills, and a pull-buoy. Then 8x100 with 30 seconds rest. I averaged 2m10s per 100. Finished up with another 600 drills and cool-down. I can't recall the last time I swam 2k.

Tuesday evening was another road bike on base. Rode out to past the flight line then did 7 loops, going hard on the hills and easy on the flats. About half-way through Amy told me that I wasn't allowed to leave my big gear for the rest of the ride, so I was going to have to stand up to mash my way up the hills. I thought my lungs were going to explode and I probably sounded like a steam engine the way I was puffing, but I did it. Went a heck of a lot faster too. Finished the day off with a 15 minute jog after the bike. This was the first workout with this group where I was actually pleased with my performance. I actually felt somewhat competent and not so wimpy as I have been feeling. Maybe all the hard work is actually starting to show results.

Wednesday is rest day, hurrah! I'm planning on going to Sports Authority for a foam roller and swim paddles, then going home to do a ton of stretching and some core.

Current weight: 126.6, 26.5% The weight went up a little, but the body fat dropped. Maybe I'm gaining muscle? Let's go with that, I like it better than the alternative. Still, I wish the weight number would start dropping.

So tired

2009-06-12T13:32:00.000-07:00

Tuesday was a road bike day out to the Marine Base. We rode out past the runway via Daly Hill where a plane was practicing take offs and landings. The workout was ride the loop for 3x15' hard, 7' easy for a total of just over an hour's worth of riding. Then head home. The worst is standing up while going up the hills. Nothing makes me gasp for breath faster. Fortunately, Wednesday was a rest day. It's our only one for the week, so I don't do ANYTHING that day.

On Thursday I made a rookie error. We had a run scheduled with the group in the evening, but it was a holiday and DH and I decided to make the most of it and go exploring on our Mountain Bikes. We rode around Norfolk, trying out all the offshoot trails and trying to figure out how they all connect together. We had a great time and eventually called it a day after a few hours.

While it didn't seem that strenuous at the time, I could really feel the effects of it at the start of our run that night. We headed onto base over to Daly hill. I'm guessing just to get to the hill was a little over 3 miles. Even though I was struggling with heavy tired legs, I had to appreciate the beauty of the path we took. It was a recreational path right along the ocean. No cars to worry about and nothing but the beach all along one side. Just beautiful.

Anyway, if this had left a smile on my face, Daly hill slapped it right off. Here's the workout: run up the hill as hard as you can for 2 minutes, run hard back down, repeat 2 more times. Run as hard as you can around a large nearby field. Then take about 2 minutes rest, and repeat the whole thing all over again, only this time going for 1 minute per uphill. I was actually a little dizzy at the end of last few one minute intervals. I'd turn around to go back down and have to pause for a moment to regain my balance. Not a workout for wimps. Then we got to run the whole way home for a grand total of 8.12 miles. I was really hurting but I didn't do any walking, and managed to finish the workout.

So, after all that, I really needed some sleep, but I had to get up at 4:30AM on Friday for the Beach Core workout. Today, we ran partway down the beach, then started jogging back stopping at 5 minute intervals to do planks (10" normal, 10" knees, 10" side-to-side, 10" hold on one side, 10" hip dips on that side, back to the 3 center exercises, then over to the other side, then back to center) and 10 pushups. We did this over and over, occasionally mixing in walking lunges, crab walk, and squats.

Not long into it I had to start doing my plank poses on my knees. I was hurting and my legs felt extra heavy. Still, another workout down. They tell me I'll really start seeing the results in a few weeks. I hope so, I sure can't fathom doing all this work without getting stronger.

Current weight: 124, 27.5%

MMT: Mountain Biking at Norfolk

2009-06-09T13:09:00.000-07:00

Yesterday after work I found myself the only female amongst 6 hard-core looking mountain bikers. I knew I was in trouble, and tried to back out so I wouldn't hold up the group, but they weren't having that. No wimping out allowed. Fortunately, one guy took pity on me and offered to take me out early to get a head start. This was a huge help as it allowed me to get past the worst of the uphills before the rest of the group caught up.

We went through Norfolk, eventually hitting the Waimanalo Ditch Trail where the guys announced they were going to do the full loop around Olomana. Crap. I'd only done that one time, about a year ago, and it was way out of my league. Again, I tried to back out and head home, but peer pressure was invoked, and against my better judgement, I labored up the hill towards the loop.

Thank heavens another fellow took pity on me and stayed with me the whole way. My biggest fears were getting lost or not making it out before night fell. This guy knew the trail well and patiently assured me we would get out before dark. The trail was very rooty and rocky, and obstacles are my biggest weakness, so it was a trying experience for me. Also, since my conditioning is lacking, by the last mile or so I was so exhausted that I was making stupid mistakes and basically becoming a danger to myself. Still, eventually I managed to make it out with nothing worse than some scratches and bruises.

Part of me is irritated with the machismo of men who are so far ahead of me in skills and fitness that they dragged me into something that I wasn't really ready for, but the other part is grateful that they made me do it. I discovered I had blown up the trail in my head to be worse than it really was. Don't get me wrong, it was nasty, but now I know I can do it, in however ugly a fashion. Someday, I'll tell the leader thanks, but it's not going to be today.

Since I was stiff and sore, I spent another half-hour of stretching before going to bed. It really does seem to help with recovery. On a side note, I couldn't get to sleep last night. I was in bed with the lights off by 10:30, but I didn't get to sleep until somewhere around midnight. I could feel my pulse going faster than normal, I wouldn't call it "racing," but it was definitely elevated. I hope that isn't going to be a regular thing following these Monday rides. I need sleep!

Here's the trail: http://www.trailguru.com/wiki/index.php/Track:6X8A

Current weight: 125, 27.5%

Sunday morning MMT

2009-06-08T11:46:00.000-07:00

MMT = Mountain Man Training

Sunday morning, 6:30AM, we met at the boat ramp. From there, we ran to the other end of the beach, then started back. On the way back, we stopped every 5 minutes or so to do exercises, many were the same as the ones we did Friday morning, but there were some new ones mixed in: lunges, squats, situps, plank poses, gazelles (on your back, altenating bending one knee and then the other out to the side with the other leg straight, never letting either touch the ground), scissors, dips, pushups, pelvic lifts (with and without one-leg raised), downward-dog (alternating bringing one knee in then pushing leg straight out), burpees, and many more I just can't recall. We finished the whole thing with a swim around the buoys. The water was really choppy and my goggles kept leaking. But the water was clear and it was neat watching the fish as I swam.

I thought my legs were going to fall off at the hip joints by the time we finished the run. The worst was the gazelles followed by scissors, your legs never touch the ground and your hip flexors are screaming. I never realized how weak I was, but I know Amy is going to whip me into shape.

I was sore the same day as the workout, which never happens. Figuring I was going to be in trouble the next day, I spent last night doing a half hour of stretching. I think it helped as the only thing that's giving me a lot of grief today are my calves, which was the one body part I felt I didn't adequately stretch.

Later today: Mountain Biking! Yeah!

Weight: 126.6, 27.5%

Exhausted

2009-06-05T12:01:00.001-07:00

Boring post, mainly to record the exercises from today so I can do them on my own in the future.

Monday: Mountain Bike
Tuesday: Swam 1k (meters, long course), ran ~6 miles with H3 at Tantalus, a ton of hills that left me sore for 3 days.
Wednesday: rest
Thursday: Ran 4.75 miles with group. They left me in the dust. It was pathetic.
Friday: 5AM beach run/core workout.

The beach workout was great. Loads of squats, crab-walks, and lunges. Followed by leg lifts (15 straight up, 15 to the right, 15 center, 15 left, 15 center), situps (lots of twisting, engaging the back), pushups (repeat 3 times: 1 normal, 1 hands together, 1 normal, 1 wide, 1 center), planks (repeat 3 times: 10x normal, 10x knee bends, 10x side-to-side, 10x normal).

Oh yeah, in between the pushup sets were arm circles, 15 small forward/backwards, 15 large forward/backwards make sure to tighten core and try to keep shoulder blades together.

Current weight: 124.4, 28%

A little muddy today

2009-06-01T22:06:00.000-07:00

Mountain biking at Norfolk

Track Workout

2009-05-22T14:31:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was a track workout. We started with a mile warmup with drills mixed in, then everyone got their assignments. Mine was fairly easy, 5x400 with 400 rest in between. Try to keep all 400s around the same time. My times: 2:07 (too easy, I was feeling things out), 1:57 (better), 2:01, 2:01, 1:58. Not bad. I was told to walk the rest laps, and I did, but I think that's too easy. Next time I'll try and jog them. I'd also like to get all laps under the 2 minute mark. The goal over time is to work that time down. It's kind of sad that I'm running the equivalent of 8 minute miles, only I'm doing it with lots of rest in between. I would have expected better. Heck, some of the other people on the track were just cruising, and their cruising pace was roughly the same as my running hard pace. Needless to say, that's a little discouraging. Even with this relatively light workout, I'm a little sore today. What the heck?

Inside joke

2009-05-20T15:07:00.001-07:00

New training group

2009-05-20T12:46:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I trained with a new group, Amy Bennett's "Camp Bennett." I'll be joining them for Mountain Man training, but that doesn't start until the 31st. Since I could use all the workouts I can get, she's letting me tag along with her current group. What she didn't mention is the current group is training for Honu, a Half-Ironman, and that race is in two weeks so these people are at their peak. Imagine an Oxen standing amidst a herd of Gazelles and the Gazelles suddenly take off, leaving the Oxen lumbering in their wake. Yes, I'm the Oxen. Every one of these people are covered in muscles and have no body fat. Even the girls! I was waaaay out of my league.

Still, they're a really nice group a people, and thankfully the workout was set up such that no one <cough>me<cough> got left behind. It was a timed run of 50 minutes where you do as many loops as you can in that time. The loop had some rolling hills, which I really needed, and it's good shifting practice as well. I think I got in four loops (with one potty break).

The workout was on the Marine Base, which I've never really had the chance to explore. We went past the airfield and did a loop near there. The problem for me was that I kept getting distracted. The place is GORGEOUS. Seriously, this has to be some of the most stunning scenery in the country. Everywhere I looked I saw mountains and oceans. The sun was setting behind the mountain and the sky was turning shades of orange and pink which was being reflected in the water. Just stunning.

As if this wasn't enough of a distraction, an airplane pilot was practicing takeoffs and landings, and not far from that was a helicopter practicing pickup/drop-off maneuvers. I really just wanted to stop and watch. How cool! As it was I kept catching myself slowing down as I lost focus and looked around at the happenings and scenery. Still, what a fantastic place for a bike ride.

Saturday bike ride to Waimanalo

2009-05-18T18:08:00.000-07:00

From ocean to mountain.

Lanikai Triathlon

2009-05-05T17:03:00.000-07:00

So, on April 19th, I volunteered again at the Lanikai Traithlon. It's near my house, so it's the only one that I can make myself wake up early for when I'm not doing it. Anyway, I got there around 4:30AM or so, and since I knew the drill, went straight to body marking, meaning writing race numbers on peoples arms. So, basically I wandered around for an hour yelling "Who needs to be numbered?"

There was a new twist this year in that we were also writing the person's age on their calf. The men don't hesitate to give their age, but about the half the women go "Why?" when I ask them how old they will be by the end of the year. Some didn't look too happy when I tell them it's so they know who their age-group competition is, but they all coughed up the sensitive information.

I still can't get past how weird it is to write on people, but honestly, I enjoy it. Triathletes are generally a pretty fun and happy (not to mention good-looking) group, so there are a lot of entertaining comments made. Besides, I find it amusing when people see me and immediately start stripping. It's so I can get to the spots to write on, but it still looks funny. I wound up in more pictures this year. Some ask me pose with them, others just had family and friends taking pictures while I marked them up.

Since the race was timed with a chip this year, it dispensed with a lot of the jobs from years past. No writing down numbers as people came into transition, no grabbing their numbers when they finished, etc. Instead, we had to make sure everyone picked up a timing chip. The drill is that there's a big board on one side of the transition area that has everyone's timing chips velcroed to it. The athletes walk up, say their number, and a volunteer hands them a chip.

After a while, it seemed like most people had been marked and their were enough volunteers covering that, so I shifted to handing out timing chips since the volunteers there were getting swamped. When things slowed there, I wandered around transition marking on some late-comers and scanning ankles to make sure they got their chip. Most people put the chip on the moment they get it, so if they don't have a chip on their ankle, odds are they didn't pick it up yet. Whenever I spotted a bare set of ankles, I'd remind them to get a chip. Most times I'd get a stunned look, meaning they didn't realize that was something they needed to do, and they'd ask where they needed to go to pick it up.

It's kind of weird to wander around staring at half-clad people's ankles. I got a few strange looks and I'd have to explain I was checking that they were marked and chipped. At one point, I saw a set of nude legs, looked up, and it was my local bike shop technician looking back at me bemusedly. We both busted out laughing. Somehow blatantly checking out people's legs is not normally socially acceptable.

At this point, everyone headed over to the beach. The horn went off and the first wave of swimmers rushed into the water. There were about 350 athletes participating, broken up into three waves, so a little over a hundred people per wave. I had a little time before my next job was starting, so I watched for a bit. The first wave contained the elite athletes among others, and these guys were impressive.

What I found amazing on the swim was how fast the first few swimmers put a gap between them and the rest of the pack. These guys were obviously elites. While I was marveling at this, I noticed that even more impressive was how fast the first place swimmer was gapping the second place swimmer. The first place guy was just smoking, he had a huge lead before finishing the first 200 meters (the swim is only 500m), and he was pulling away with each stroke. To see one person be that dominant is unusual. I commented to another bystander about this and discovered that the guy was an olympic level swimmer. I think the name was John Flanagan. Well go figure.

I kind of had to feel sorry for the second place swimmer. Whomever he is, he's likely normally the fastest one among all his training partners, and here he is just getting whipped. Must be an unusual experience for him and likely not easy to take.

A few minutes later the first guys were flying through the chute to the bike transition and I got to watch and cheer everyone on. I love watching all the different types of people in these races. All ages (80 to 8 I think), all fitness levels, etc. Everyone is just out doing the best they can. It's so motivating. I cheer everyone on and think they're all fabulous for even trying, even the last one out of the water.

After watching the last of the swimmers, a bunch of us jumped into a van and headed out to set up the aid station on the run course. We set up some folding tables, mixed up some gatorade, and filled umpteen paper cups with gatorade and water. Not long after, the first runners blew by.

I noticed an interesting trend with the run. The really fast guys don't bother with the aid station. I guess they're all finishing the race in under an hour, and they haven't been going long enough to require the extra hydration or nutrition. As time passed, a few started taking some water, but no gatorade. Later, some started taking gatorade and eventually it seemed that more were taking gatorade than water. As people are out on the course longer, their bodies have burned up the energy stores and it needs to be replaced, hence the reliance on gatorade amongst the slower athletes. Or some researcher could try to claim that Gatorade makes you slower :)

Finally the last of the athletes passed by, so we picked up all the used cups and garbage from the ground, packed everything up, and went to the finish line. Once there, I was asked to help with the awards. Sure! I got to hand out all the third-place awards, which are my favorite since there's the least amount of stuff to deal with, just put a medal on their necks, direct them towards the photographer, and you're done.

Overall, I had a great time. I knew a lot of the athletes, and it was fun being able to cheer them on from different parts of the course (the swim and run). It's so much fun watching people push themselves and accomplish something they're really proud of. I'm happy I got to be a part of it.

Swim/Run loops at Ala Moana

2009-05-05T16:37:00.000-07:00

Last night we did this: swim 200 meters (from one lifeguard tower to the next, get out and run around the lifeguard tower, then swim back), run 1 mile, repeat 3 times for a total of 4 iterations.

I seemed to average 8 minutes per swim, 10 minutes per run including transition times. I was at 57 minutes at the end of the third run, and 1 hour and 16 minutes at the end of all 4. The key was the transition. Since the run was so short, I didn't bother with socks or even lacing up my shoes. Instead, I just rinsed off my feet with my water bottle, shoved them in my shoes and ran. I think my shoes are still soggy a whole day later.

We've done this workout in each of the last two years I've done this clinic, and this is the first time I feel I really did all I'm capable of. Both times before only had three iterations total, but each time I had stomach and/or breathing issues. This time, nothing went wrong. I felt as strong as I ever have.

I don't know why it went so well, but I'm happy about it. It's always frustrating when you know you could have done better. Still, I'm wondering why I felt particularly strong today. I did make an effort to drink lots of water throughout the day, which is something I've been rather bad about lately. As for food, let's see: I ate a Subway ham & egg on flatbread sandwich for breakfast, then a chicken wrap with lots of veggies in it for lunch, and I split up an Odwalla bar eating half before the workout and half after. Maybe the Odwalla bar made the difference, it's usually a few hours between when I eat and when I workout, so maybe I need to snack to carry me through.

On a side note, there are some really amazing athletes in this class. I was stunned when I finished the first swim and the fast pack was already gone and out of sight on the run before I even got out of the water. I know they're fast, but dang, it's such a short swim I didn't expect to not even see them. Very impressive.

Oh yeah, I've been putting on some weight lately (vacation, got sick, but mostly eating badly and not training enough). On Monday (yesterday) I was 127 (eek!), this morning I was 126.2. I'll be watching what I eat and working out more until I get back down to the happy range.

Training Again!

2009-03-30T13:24:00.000-07:00

So, I started another triathlon clinic on March 16th. They eased us into it with the first week not being too overwhelming, but I still got the cold that always seem to get at the start of training. What the heck? I really thought I was doing ok and might avoid getting sick, but it struck me down anyway.

So, Here's what I've done so far:

Monday, March 16th: run 40 minutes

Wednesday, March 18th: Run (~ 1k), Swim (~45 minutes), Run 45 minutes

Saturday, March 21: Sick

Monday, March 23: Sick

Wednesday, March 25: Did the swim (about 45 minutes), and was supposed to do 4x1k intervals with 2 minutes of rest, but I got leveled by a Migraine. At this point, frustration is rampant, I feel like my body is just messing with me.

Saturday, March 28th: Did the 3xBike/Run workout on Lagoon Drive that we've done here and here. This time, we were not allowed to draft, and given the 35 mph gusts we were having, my times suffered badly. I finished in 1h14m. Truthfully, I can't blame it all on the wind and lack of drafting, this was my first time on my road bike in about two months, and I can't say that my mountain bike has seen much action lately either. My fitness is lacking, but as long as I can stay healthy, the class will definitely help me fix that.

Tonight's schedule involves more bike and run intervals. With all the stress I've got right now, I'm actually looking forward to it. When I'm working out, I forget about all the other stuff going in my life. I guess it gets overwhelmed by the suffering. Who'd of thought that'd be a good thing?

Edward thinks he needs to help me with my yoga

2009-01-09T21:34:00.000-08:00

It's hard when I'm doing triangle pose and he bumps my leg!

I'd hate me if I weren't me

2009-01-09T20:01:00.001-08:00

Here's the view at the end of my workout.

Swam 1k
Ran 8x500m intervals with one minute rest. Did squats, pushups, and
lunges during the rest period.

Test to workout blog

2009-01-06T12:18:00.000-08:00

Just testing mobile blogging

Friday 12/05

2008-12-05T09:57:00.000-08:00

Thursday: 125.4, 30%

09:00 Cereal
12:00 Thai Curry
16:30 Turkey Sandwich
20:00 2 Glasses of Milk

Played soccer today, felt like I had two left feet, but it was still fun.
Also did a WOD (Workout of the day): 10 pushups, 10 situps (full up, not crunches, feet unsecured), 15 squats. AMRAP (As Many Rounds As Possible) in 10 minutes. I did 6 rounds for 60 pushups, 60 situps, and 90 squats. I didn't time the rounds.

Friday: 123.6, 29.5%

10:00 2 eggs on a slice of toast with cheese
12:00 Green Tea Frappacino (yes, I expect to have gained weight by tomorrow)

Wednesday

2008-12-03T11:03:00.001-08:00

124.8 pounds, 30% bf

9:00 1c KashiWheat Cereal (190c)
12:00 Eggplant & Tofu curry over brown rice
14:00 Apple & Cheese
15:00 two chocolate wafers

Tuesday

2008-12-02T12:10:00.000-08:00

125.6 pounds, 29.5 bf
Must have been retaining water from the trip.

Didn't exercise yesterday, or today. Had a nasty headache. Caffeine withdrawal I suppose.

9:00 1c KashiWheat Cereal (190c)
12:00 Salad
19:00 Tortilla Soup and A Margarita

Starting over

2008-12-01T12:55:00.000-08:00

Got back from CA last night. The damage?

127 pounds, 29.5 bf

Ugh. I gained four pounds over vacation, just two weeks. I honestly didn't think I ate that badly, but I guess there wasn't enough activity to burn even that. Ok, deep breath and recommit. Cutting out soda and sweets. More salad, fruits, veggies, and proteins like baked chicken or fish. Less wine and margaritas (if I say none of that, I'll definitely fail. Too draconian). Hope I don't get a caffeine headache this afternoon.

Food today:

Tea
9:00 1c KashiWheat Cereal (190c)
10:30 Apple & Cheese (340c)
12:30 Tofu & Eggplant Curry w/ Brown Rice (300?)
19:00 Glass of Milk
20:00 Tortilla Soup

Off to California!

2008-11-18T11:16:00.001-08:00

We're leaving tonight for LA to visit family, hit up some wineries, and take my niece and nephew to Disneyland. The Disney thing should be interesting, I hope we're all still talking to each other by the end of the day. Back in a few weeks.

Here we go again

2008-10-27T17:56:00.000-07:00

Yeah, I've been MIA for a while. It hasn't been pretty and I've used up pretty much every excuse I had to avoid proper training. I've mostly been having fun: playing soccer and riding my mountain bike. It's been nice, but I notice some muscle loss, and I really need to be better about watching what I eat. Eating like I'm still training isn't doing me any favors.

I went to the Doctor about the shoulder and was told that it was an inflammation that was feeding on itself so it couldn't heal. This sounded a little strange, but one Cortizone shot and some anti-inflammatories later, and I'm about 98% better than I was a few months ago. There's still some soreness when I lift the arm straight up and reach, but that's minor compared to what I've been dealing with. So, YAY!

To test it out, I went to a Master's swim class after soccer on Tuesday. To my surprise, not once did I notice or think about the shoulder during the class. Of course, it would have been hard to notice anything other than my gasps as I struggled across the pool. To go from the 1000 meter distance at a cruising pace to 1500 yards done in rapid spurts was a little jarring. I'm not in the shape I once was.

So, I was properly humbled and still deserve the slow lane, but that's ok, when you're slow, you have lots of room for improvement. At least that's what the coach said while trying to console me...

Just for data, the coach had me do 4x100yds (short course) with 10 seconds rest, trying to keep each one the same pace. My times: 1'55", 1'55", 1'57", 1'55". Pretty consistent, but slow. Pretty sad considering I really was trying. If I want to get better, she said I need to devote at least two to three days a week to it.

Here was the class (everything in yards, pool was short course):

6x75 kicking, 15 seconds rest (total 450)
4x100, 10" rest (400m, 850)
4x100 @ 2'10" (400m, 1250)
4x75 (breast, kick, breast) (300, 1500)
Cool down

At least that's what I recall, there may have been more. Still, that's 500 more than what I've been doing in a session lately. I got through it, although I noticed my stroke really falling apart by the end. The coach mentioned that to start with, we'll work on endurance, and then on technique. But just by virtue of doing more swimming and building the endurance that I would get faster. Apparently the average distance they do each day is about 2400 to 2700. Dang, that's a long way.

In other news, I have a bike ride up Tantalus w/ A after work today, and tomorrow is another Soccer and Master's swim day. Hope I don't drown.

Training

2008-07-01T15:58:00.000-07:00

So after the HonTri, I went on a trip to CA to visit family. On the way home, I got my normal souvenir: a cold! This morphed into Bronchitis. Four weeks later I was finally feeling normal again. No Tinman Triathlon for this year, I'm afraid. That was just too long a break to recover and put in a performance I'd be pleased with. So, I've just been having fun doing my own thing: Mountain biking, soccer, and hashing mostly. The shoulder is STILL messed up, so I haven't been doing a lot of swimming. I know, it's stupid of me not to have done anything about it. I'm stubborn like that.

Starting tomorrow, I'm joining a Mountain Bike Clinic. It's put on by the same group that taught DH and I to ride last year, and we're really looking forward to it. A year ago, I didn't even own a bike, now it's something we do every week. I'm looking forward to learning more advanced skills. Last year I was so overwhelmed with the newness of everything, I'm not sure that I actually took much in. I think I'm in a better place now to learn what they were trying to teach. Hopefully this will translate into more trails that I can handle, and less falling.

I had the most amazing run yesterday. I went for a run on Kailua Beach, an out and back from end to end. The sun was setting and the main crowds have gone home leaving the beach to the walkers and joggers. For whatever reason, it felt like I had limitless energy, I just wasn't getting tired. Well, there was one exception. Around half-way through the run, my calves let it be known they weren't happy with me. Ooops. I guess it's been a while since I last ran on the beach, and they aren't as strong as they once were. It didn't even cross my mind that it might be a problem. Still, I finished the run, but I'm a little sore today.

At the end of the run, I went and floated in the water, looking up at the sky. The sun had set, and the sky was a pinkish purple haze with the color reflected in the water coming up on sand. Over by the mountains, the final rays of the sun were shining on the clouds, turning them bright orange. It was just amazing.

I can't believe I live here, I'm one of the luckiest souls on earth.

Honolulu Triathlon 2008

2008-07-01T15:15:00.000-07:00

Saturday, May 18

Apparently, I never got around to posting this, so here's what I remember:

Finished my second Honolulu Triathlon, and it was much better than the last.

Swim: 33:39
T1: 2:15
Bike: 1:15:50
T2: 2:24
Run: 1:05:41

Total: 3:00:52

Last year's time? 3:11:22

I PR'd by 10 minutes! WhooHoo!

I wasn't even sure I was going to be able to do the race. I went snowboarding a month ago and took a nasty spill, messing up my shoulder. Given that, my swim stroke is all out of wack. I saw a Chiropractor a few times right before the race and that helped quite a bit, but I was still worried going in.

My strategy for the swim was just extend out as far as I could before it hurt and draft as much as possible. The strategy did the trick because it seemed like the swim was over in no time at all. I was really surprised when I realized how close I was to the finish. The course is an out an back at Ala Moana Beach park, and coming back has you looking straight into the rising sun, so I really couldn't see further than the next buoy. I beat last year's swim time by 1m12s. With the bad shoulder, I was stunned by this, I fully expected to swim several minutes slower. I actually did a double take at my watch when I hit the beach, I just couldn't believe it. A pleasant surprise.

My transition went well. For whatever reason, I opted to go without socks. They were there are ready to go, but I saw someone I know go trotting by and I just couldn't wait to chase them, so the socks were ditched. I know, ewww. Sorry. Still, my transition was almost 2 minutes faster this year than last. Was it the fault of the socks? Don't know, but there is coincidental evidence.

The bike went MUCH better than last year. Last year I felt sluggish and my stomach was revolting, this year I knew that no matter what happened, I was going to eat and drink, even if it made me throw up. Fortunately, there were no issues and I had a decent ride. It wasn't my fastest ever, but I think I went hard and still saved just enough for the run. The bike was 4m38s faster than last year.

T2... I really don't remember anything about T2. This got blanked out somewhere along the way. 2 seconds faster than last year, and still didn't put the socks on. Yes, this is the last run for those shoes. It's time for new ones anyway.

The run. It got a little ugly here, but not as bad as last year. If I want to do better next year, I think the one thing that would bring the most improvement would be to train more in heat. Most, if not all, of my training is done in the early morning or late afternoon, but by the time I hit the run during this race, it's in the high 80's with high humidity and I about keel over. I was slooow, but the bright side it that the only time I walked was through the aid stations. So at least mentally, I'm getting a little better at making myself suck it up when it's uncomfortable. I just need to learn to push it harder rather than just get through it. Knocked 3m49s off last year's time.

All three events were better than last year, and I see exactly what I need to do to get better. I don't expect to drop another 10 minutes, but I'm definitely planning on breaking 3 hours.

Mountain Biking

2008-03-03T11:27:00.000-08:00

DH and I spent our Sunday morning going Mountain Biking in Norfolk. It wasn't a particularly long ride since we had to get back in time for our Mountain Ball game, but it was fun. I fell... a lot... and I'm thinking about switching my cleats to ones that DH just got that are supposed to come out much more easily. He hasn't fell once due to being clipped in since getting them, and even though it's easier for me to get out than it used to, I still find myself on the ground quite a bit. Needless to say, I have a whole new crop of cuts and bruises. No biggie.

Right at the start of the ride as we were heading to the trail, we encountered two pigs on the side of the road. We came around a corner and scared the hell out of them. One went straight up the embankment, which was practically vertical. It would have made it too if the vegetation at the top wasn't so thick. It jumped down and followed the other which was running right along side me and the darted into the bushes when it reached an opening. I've never seen a wild pig before, very cool.

The rest of the ride was filled with exploring the trails and trying to figure out how they all interconnect. Now that the trails are drying up, hopefully we can start riding more consistently so I can get stronger and work on my skills. I enjoy it, but it'd be nice to stay upright a little more than I've been doing.

Hash Run #11: Saturday Hash in Kahalu'u

2008-03-03T10:55:00.000-08:00

Apparently, different hash groups handle things very differently. The Tuesday group I usually run with is pretty mellow, there is some crass behavior and the ever-present beer, but it's generally fairly tame. For the first time, I ran with the Saturday hash this weekend. It was a whole 'nuther ballgame. They take hashing VERY seriously. Starting with the run, which from what I understand is always off road and a longer distance, to the circle after the run.

The run was up to a waterfall in the mountains. We started at Kahalu'u park on Waihe'e Street, and went up the road which dead ends at a trail head. The trail had a Turkey/Eagle split, and since I didn't know what to expect, I figured I'd play it safe and go the Turkey route. Thank goodness I did because the Turkey was hard enough. It was pretty much just straight climbing all the way up to the waterfall with a beer check along the way. My hip flexors are aching today, and I blame all the uphill.

Since I was wearing a swimsuit, I followed some of the others and stood under the waterfall for a while. That water was cold! It made me gasp a little, but it sure felt good. Besides, how wonderful is it to get to stand under a waterfall in March? After the beer and getting soaked, we all headed back down. I love the downhill.

It wasn't until after the run that I saw how truly different the two hashes were. I had heard of the circle, but never really seen it in earnest. The GM (no idea what that stands for, I can hazard a guess, but I'm likely wrong) has a paper with the names of new people (virgins), those who need to be named, and returners (those who have been away a while). He goes through the list, calling those from each category into the circle and in short, make them drink a beer. The process seemed very regimented and everyone knew the drill, complete with songs and cat calls.

There were three people that needed to be named, and I was surprised at all that went into it. They let everyone ask the no-namers questions, and asked if anyone knew anything about them, then sent the no-namers away while the rest of group deliberated. This took about 20 minutes with lots of shouting and excitement. Eventually the huddle dispersed, the no-namers were called over and all the rejected names were read off. At the end of this list, the GM goes "Were any of these names good enough" and everyone yells "Hell, No." This is followed by "Henceforth you will be known by the Hash House Harriers as...."

Throughout the day, there were many songs sung and a beer keg was brought in (we all pay $5 when we register for the run). They even had a grill going. It was quite a party. The group's a little more raucous than what I'm comfortable with, but everyone seems genuinely nice. I'll just have to adapt.

Swamp Romp!

2008-02-25T15:43:00.000-08:00

On Saturday, I woke up at the insanely early hour of 4:45, put on clothes that I bought specifically with the intent to destroy them, forced down a slice of toast with peanut butter (I couldn't get the cap off the jar of Strawberry Jelly), and headed off to meet the rest of my team. We congregated at the Aikahi Safeway and caravanned onto the Marine Base.

We followed the huge line of cars, and were pointed into a parking stall by the ever efficient Marines. At this point, it's about 6AM and the race starts at 7, so we get ready and head over to the start. Since this race is done in teams, many groups wear costumes or matching uniforms. We were in black pants, black shirts, and camouflage skull caps. According to race rules, we had to wear high-top shoes, and since I didn't have any, I had to hunt for a cheap pair. The only cheap high-tops I could find were in... sigh... Pink! To top it off, they were boys shoes! Go figure they were cheap. I debated spray-painting them, but eventually figured that people would find them entertaining. Of course, it could have also been like waving a red flag in front of a bull. Can you imagine being a big tough Marine running behind a girl in pink shoes? As it was, by 3 minutes into the race, you couldn't tell what color they were anyway, so nobody shoved me into the mud.

The race started at 7, and we were in the second wave. The teams were between 4 and 6 people, and you all started and finished together, no leaving anyone behind. They started three teams at a time with 30 seconds between waves. With 300 teams (1800 individual participants), it took 50 minutes between the first and last waves. I'm glad we were one of the first to start, because the obstacles were still "fresh" when we got there. I can't imagine how slick the A-frame or wall obstacles were by the time the last teams got there. It was hard enough as it was.

Anyway, we started and ran down a nice mud-free stretch for a few minutes. There were a few small mud puddles, which I gleefully ran through to hide the pink, and then we went around a bend.... Whoa! About a quarter-mile of thigh-deep muddy water stretched out in front of us. We had reached the swamp. With no hesitation at all we jumped in and then realized that the water hid a layer of mud that we sunk into up to our knees. After a little thrashing, we found a track of sorts, like a clear path through the mud. It was about a foot wide, so we fell into a single file line and made our way through. The track came and went, but thank heavens it was there at all. As it was, by the time we reached dry land again, my legs were jelly.

The next obstacle was a wall about 7 feet tall. It was built of logs and the bottom ones stuck out a bit giving you a place to put your feet to get over. When I jumped down, my quads cramped up and for a moment I thought I was in serious trouble. I stretched while I waited for the rest of the team to get over and thank heavens, all was well after that. For whatever reason, they gave that mild protest, and I had no further aches or pains anywhere for the rest of the race. Yay!

Next up was a mud puddle leading up to a wood A-frame. It was like a solid plank of wood about 8'x8' and propped up at a 45 degree angle. Since you had to run through the mud before you reached it, the plank was slippery as hell, so you had to charge at it and hope momentum would carry you before your feet skidded out from under you. I ran up and just managed to get my fingers latched onto the top. A team member and some random guy (Thanks, dude!) both grabbed a wrist and hauled me up. Thank heavens or I would have slid back down into the muck. I walked a few feet across the top, and looked down the other side which was a metal sheet which almost went straight down into more muck. I slid down and was startled that the mud came all the way up to my stomach. At the bottom, I waited for the others and yelled "Keep your mouth closed." Yes, this was learned through experience. I shouldn't have gone "Weeee" as I went down. Ick.

After this, things get hazy. I really don't remember a lot of specifics. There were many more walls to be climbed over, and mud bogs to got through. There were a few of note though. At one point, we went down a hill and found some of the nastiest mud on this planet. It was really more like clay. This stuff was grey and had an oder-du-pig-farm. We sank in up to our knees and discovered that it was impossible to get your feet out without going almost horizontal. So, hands had to go into the muck and we skittered across the top of it on hands and knees. Just lovely. You know it's bad when you're looking forward to the next pool of muddy water to get "clean."

After a little while, I noted that there seemed to be an accumulation of mud in my shoes, right around my toes. It wasn't painful, just weird. I felt like I had clown shoes on, and the tips of the shoes were filled with weights. It made my feet feel all floppy as I ran. Along the way, the rest of the team and I would occasionally feel a rock or stick or some odd thing or other poking our feet, but we'd just wait for the next mud puddle to move things around.

There were a couple of parts where you had to get on your hands and knees to go under ropes stretched across pools of muddy water. It really was more like swimming. I stretched my hands in front of me and dug in my toes and pushed across. After this was a run along the beach with a heaven-sent excursion into the water. We went out about 12 feet to touch a buoy and then came back in. It felt sooo good. Of course, as soon as you get all nice and clean, it's right back onto your hands and knees in more mud. After that, muddy water with sudden drop-offs dunking me clear up to my chin. Also duck walking through a water filled pipe.

We noticed after a while, that we had practically started to ignore the walls we had to go over. There was a series of these, about 4 feet tall, and we'd be talking as we approached them, lift ourselves up and over and continue on without ever breaking the conversation. Like it's a normal thing to jog down the street and encounter walls in your path.

Finally, we could hear the cheers of the finish line, and the Marines along the course assured us that we were right around the corner. What they failed to mention was that there was one big nasty obstacle left. We rounded the bend and saw a swamp with ropes laying out a serpentine path through it. We forged in and found the knee-deep mud with water up to the waist again. This time, there was no track, and each step was a struggle to not fall over as you tried to put one foot down and drag the other back up. I saw some people keel right over submerging themselves before coming up sputtering and laughing.

Our team grouped up and we linked arms and ran across the finish line. We all posed for the obligatory finisher's photo (I'll post it when I get a copy of it), and then headed over to the firetruck where firefighters were spraying down the crowd.

Our time was 1'52". Not a fast time by any standard, but we had some very serious shoe malfunctions along the way. Blisters that make you cringe. Still, the wearer of the bad shoes says it was fun and they're willing to do it again next year. Yeah!

Overall, I had a blast. It took me several showers and endless scrubbing to get all the muck out. Don't even ask about what happened when I blew my nose. Everyone was there to have a good time, and I saw many instances of people helping each other out even when they weren't on the same team. Teams aside, it really had a "we're all in this together" mentality. I just loved it and can't wait for next year.

Hash Run #10: Nuuanu Pali Drive

2008-02-20T16:50:00.000-08:00

The run on Tuesday ties with the UH/Saint Louis Heights run as my favorite. It was hared by three people, and started at the intersection of Pali Hwy and Nuuanu Pali Drive. The run freaked me out a little at the start because we had to run across the Hwy. I waited for a big gap and dashed across with a dozen other runners, but it just seems like one of those thing that would give my mother a heart attack.

Anyway, once across, we soon found ourselves in a bamboo forest weaving in between, climbing over, and ducking under the trees. There was a guy in front of me with two dogs on leashes, and they kept going around different trees, tangling him up, so he handed one to me until we got far enough from the highway to set them loose. The trail was the least "trail like" of any run yet. I think we were just going randomly through forest. I don't know how the hares knew where they were going because if there weren't copious chalk marks, I would have been lost in a heartbeat. Still, it was loads of fun, going over streams, up and down hills, basically through some incredibly beautiful and varied terrain. What fun. I love this sport.

Mountain Biking pedals/clips

2008-01-31T15:04:00.000-08:00

So I took my bike in to deal with a problem that's irked me to no end. I could NOT get out of my pedals. No matter how hard I twisted and turned, once locked in, it was almost a guarantee that I was going to fall since I couldn't get my feet down. If I went in accidently, I spend the next few minutes frantically pedaling and pausing while I tried to twist out. Eventually I'll get it with a supreme effort, but it shouldn't be hard at all. I can pop in and out of my road bike's clips without even thinking about it, so what's going on? I tried adjusting everything every which way, loosening the pedals to as easy as they can go, moving and realigning the cleat on my shoe... I was out of ideas so I went begging to the bike shop.

It turned out that it was a combination of the type of pedal I had with the type of shoe I was wearing. The pedal has a cage around it so I can ride without clipping in, but still have a place to put my foot instead of balancing on the tiny little clip. I figured this was a good thing as I'm still adjusting to mountain biking and would sometimes not want to be clipped in during particularly hairy sections. My shoe has tread so I have traction for the inevitable parts of getting off and walking up big nasty hills. This seemed like a great idea as my road bike shoes would slip and slide in the mud or dirt and it'd make the hills seem twice as long.

Anyway, the mechanic put my shoe on the pedal and had me hold the shoe and move it, you could feel the friction. It was the combination of the tread with the cage where the tread was in contact with the cage and putting upward pressure on the clip, in effect making it impossible for me to get out without pressing down while twisting. Go figure I could only get out when I stood on it at the bottom of a pedal stroke.

The mechanic shaved down a section of the tread (still leaving me plenty to work with) and had me go try things out. I was deliriously happy! I could get in and out like it was nothing, it was as I knew it should be, but had almost given up on. I'm sooo happy. DH is happy too as he's been having the same problem and now we know how to fix it.

I can't wait to go riding and try it out!

Trail Run: Round Top

2008-01-31T14:25:00.000-08:00

It was 7:30AM on Sunday, and I forced myself out of my car at the park on Round Top. After a stretch and much complaining about the wind, we split up into groups and headed out. I again resisted going into the faster group as I keep rolling my ankle and I wanted to be able to focus on where I place my feet. I really don't want to get caught with a twisted ankle miles out on the trail.

We started with 7 people and the trail seemed decent enough at first, but about a half-hour in, we started encountering big pockets of mud and the pockets got soupier and bigger as we went along. One woman slipped and fell on her rear right in front of me, ick. At an hour out, one person turned around, I never suspected she was going to become my salvation later that day.

We hit a part of the trail where it was a weave of roots covering a sea of mud. The only way to stay out of the mud was to walk on the slippery roots. By this time, my new trail shoes were already so drenched that I could feel the mud squishing in my socks. We made a left onto Nuuanu trail and continued on. The leader had originally planned to do an out-and-back, but after discussion with the group, it was agreed to do a loop, at least that's the last I had heard.

We hit a section of really steep downhills, my favorite! Another woman and I just love these and went galloping down as fast as we can, eventually leaving the group behind. We eventually stopped to wait for everyone to catch up... crickets chirping... No one came. Thinking we must have missed a turn, we headed back up the big nasty hill. It's funny how my feelings about a hill change depending on the direction. We did spot a tiny trail to one side, but it didn't look used, so we were very confused. Did the others turn back?

Since neither of us had a map, or knew the trails, we figured our safest option was to go back the way we came. The problem with that was soon revealed in about 30 minutes when we hit a cross trail and weren't sure which way to go. Apparently neither of us were paying much attention at that point. We made a guess and headed on to see if any of it looked familiar, and then we hit another cross trail. I pointed it out to the other woman and she said she knew for sure that trail went to a road. I figured this was a good thing, far better than being lost in the forest, so we took it. Sure enough, we soon emerged out on a utility access road which took us down to what turned out to be near the top of Tantalus.

Once we hit Tantalus, it took us a minute to figure out where we were, but eventually we got oriented and started walking towards Round Top. Right about then, a car went by with a familiar face behind the wheel, it was the woman who had turned back early! She asked us how the heck we got over there and told us to get in the car, as we were way too far from the park. It turned out we were about five miles from where we needed to be. Granted that's going by the windy roads instead of over the direct trail route, but still, I was floored that we were so far away.

When we got back and hopped out of the car, we got some very strange looks and the inevitable questioning of how we came to be in someone's car. We started telling the tale, when to my dismay, the other woman basically put all the blame on me. She said she thought I knew the trail (I've never been here before, and never claimed otherwise), and that she had said she once got lost before right at the part where we got lost (she had said she had gotten lost, but not specified where, and one would think she had learned from it). Basically, she went on disclaiming all responsibility. Now, while I'm perfectly willing to own up to my own stupidity, I figured I had an equal partner in all this. She made the exact same mistakes I did, yet she's trying to make it look like I dragged her into it. Very classy. Oh well, now I have her measure.

The rest of our group showed up a few minutes later, and were stunned to see us. We both asked what happened to the other. It turned out the group leader planned on turning around right at the start of the downhills. I don't know why neither of us were aware of that, but so be it. She said they called for us, but eventually headed back.

At the least, I learned some lessons for trail running:
1.) Bring a map
2.) Bring a cell phone (we did)
3.) Program the cell numbers of the other members of your group and other groups into the cell (we didn't)
4.) Don't leave the group (duh)

Next week is out at Kaena Point, which I think I'll skip. Four hours of driving round trip to go for a run seems a little silly and a waste of a day. I'm planning on joining some friends for a bike ride instead.

Hash run #9: Manoa

2008-01-31T14:07:00.000-08:00

While I didn't go to the Hash this week, I apparently didn't write about last week. We started at the UH Astronomy Center on Woodlawn, with the pack off at 5:45. The route meandered through Manoa Valley streets, taking us past various points of interest: the Waioli Tea Room (where a big chunk of the pack went the wrong way at a trail check), lots of houses with unusual architecture, and a Chinese Cemetery. I had no idea that Cemetery was there, and it's pretty cool with unique headstones and monuments, it even has statues of the animals of the Chinese calendar.

Coming out of the cemetery, we had to cut through a hedge where there was a break in the bushes, and some guy on the other side yelled at us saying we couldn't go through there. We were already through, did he want us to go back? We just said sorry and ran on.

I'd guess we ran about 4 or 5 miles, with lots and lots of hills. You would think I'd be used to those by now, but they don't seem to be getting any easier. Had the on-afters on the Center's lawn, but I didn't stick around for long, it was just too windy and cold and I only had a t-shirt and shorts. I liked this hash, for a road run it was visually scenic and had challenging terrain.

Trail Run #2

2008-01-14T20:05:00.000-08:00

Early Sunday morning, I met the group at the Waimanalo Trail head where we broke up into groups and headed out. I went with the medium group after successfully fending off an attempt to put me with the fast group. Thank heavens for that, because the medium group kicked me around as it was.

I blame the Camelbak I was wearing. I've used it for Mountain Biking without a problem, but apparently it doesn't translate into running so well. I don't know why, but I couldn't seem to catch my breath. It could be the fact that going out on that trail means a constant uphill and I suck on uphills, or it could be lingering tiredness from yesterday evening's beach run, but I blame the evil CamelBak. I could use some suggestions as to what my excuse will be next week now that I'm kicking the CamelBak to the curb.

You know how I said I did the beach run to prepare for the Swamp Romp? What a waste. Today's run would have been sufficient. The entire trail was a huge slime pit. I don't think we got very far in the two hours we were out, but by the time I got back to the car, my legs were encased in mud clear up to my knees. Why is it that being covered in mud fills me with a sense of pride? It's twisted, I know.

Another Monk seal and sore legs

2008-01-14T19:46:00.000-08:00

DH and I have a "bet" to motivate us to work out more. Here it is in a nutshell. "Whoever works out less during the week has to make a "nice" dinner sometime the following week." There are "sub-rules" but I won't bore you with the details except that for the purposes of the bet, the week starts on Monday and ends on Sunday.

So it was Saturday, we had plans to workout together on Sunday, and I was already down one day. To avoid making dinner, I went for a run along the beach. I've been doing a good bit of running, but I feel ill-prepared for Swamp Romp. Since running in the sand is supposed to be a good simulation for all the mud, so I'm told, it seemed a good thing to try out.

Now, my DH has relatives who live along the beach and as I approached their house I saw caution tape and a crowd of people. Seeing an Aunt, I went over to say hi. She said "You've come to see the seal!" More a statement than a question, and I was completely lost. She pointed, I looked over, and Whoa, there was a Monk Seal! Nobody tells us anything.

Apparently he's been hanging out there since New Year's Day. I've been here my whole life, and I'd never seen a seal up close until that hash run a month or so ago, and now here's another one. Cool.

After talking story a while, I ran back to the car, pausing for a quick dip in water that was warmer than the air. It all sounds idyllic, I know. The beach, the sky changing colors as the sun goes down, a seal, warm water... But I woke up this morning and my calves are so tight I can't walk without hobbling unless I wear my tallest high heels. Argh!

Mountain Biking

2008-01-10T17:51:00.000-08:00

After work yesterday, DH met me at the top of St. Louis Heights with the bikes. We got our bikes in October/November, but with all the rain we've been having we've hardly gotten to go out at all. There's been no rain for two days in a row, and we decided that's as good as it's going to get for now, so best take advantage of it. Good thing, too, because today? It rained.

We just rode two loops around, and I was surprised at how hard a workout it was. All the roots are exposed, making for a very bumpy ride. I fell a few times going up on the first loop. I swear that bush I fell into attacked me. On the second loop, I stayed out of my clips, avoided the ill-tempered bush, and all was well.

The downhill was rough with all the roots. I realized at the end of the second downhill that I was all tensed up and this caused my upper body to feel like it was over a jackhammer. I need to remember to loosen up and relax the upper body.

I have a few new scrapes and bruises, but it was great to be out again. Hopefully more days of sunshine will happen soon.

Tonight? A pickup soccer game. Possibly in mud. It's going to be fun!

Hash run #8: UH and Saint Louis Heights

2008-01-09T16:26:00.001-08:00

This was my favorite trail so far. It started at the park next to the Hawaiian Studies building. We went onto campus, through the Japanese garden, over (or into in some cases) Manoa Stream, and from then on we saw no more pavement until the on-home. We went up the Saint Louis Heights trails for what seemed like forever.

We hiked up and up, eventually I stopped and looked behind me to see the sun setting. I have got to get a camera phone to take with me on these. The sun was a huge dark orange ball hanging right over the water and the sky had so many colors. I wanted to stop and watch it go down, but the pack was moving and I didn't want to get left behind.

I'm not very good with going up hills yet, but the whole time we were climbing I just kept thinking of the reward of the downhill. The downhill was a blast, as always, but over far too quickly. There were two Eagle/Turkey splits, and both times I took the Eagle. While I always doubt the wisdom of those decisions at the time, I've haven't regretted it yet.

It was a great trail which left me in a good mood for the rest of the night. I'm also happy that I wasn't one of the people who had the wild pig run right in front of them. This one just ran by, but I hear that some of them can get mean. I wouldn't have had a clue as to what to do. Take its picture, maybe?

Hash name

2008-01-07T16:11:00.000-08:00

Well I finally got a hash name. They kept delaying giving me one as they were unable to dig up much dirt and I didn't do anything terribly distinguishing on any of the runs... That is until the last one. It was a Christmas hash where the trail leads through downtown past all the Christmas lights, eventually finishing up with going through Honolulu Hale (City Hall where they have a big display of trees every year) and then back for the on-afters Christmas party, completed with pu-pus and a grab-bag gift exchange.

While stopped at a light, waiting to cross, a fire truck went by. I knew my husband was driving it as he was working and it was his truck. I waved, knowing he wouldn't see me anyway, and thought no more about it. As we ran towards the State Capitol building I saw flashing lights, and looking ahead, saw a firefighter standing on the sidewalk looking in our direction. It was DH. So, I ran ahead of the group, up to DH, and gave him a kiss. They had finished their call and were about to go when another hasher ran by and told him I was just behind.

Apparently, kissing someone on a hash run is enough to get you named. I knew I was in trouble given the reaction of the hashers at the site. I got some good-natured teasing on the run, and it didn't take long for the story to circulate at the on-after.

I am now "Fire Extinguisher." There was some dissent on the name, with some voting for "Fire Starter" and others rooting for "Burning Bush." I actually kind of like the other two better, but I'm perfectly content with what I got. From what I gather, it's an unusually mild name, and compared to many others I've heard, I won't be complaining.

New things

2008-01-07T15:33:00.001-08:00

So this past Saturday I went on the first of a series of Trail runs. It's part of a trail running clinic, each weekend we meet at different trails around the island. This one started at the Pali lookout. We met at 7AM and I was seriously questioning my sanity as I sat in my parked car looking at the howling wind and driven rain. It really was only a light misting, but at 7am things look worse than they are. Still, eventually I got out of the car and joined the group.

We headed down the road which eventually connects to Maunawili trail. I haven't been down the road in about 10 years, and the last time I saw it, it was wide open with very little overgrowth. It was unrecognizable now. You can see how civilizations become lost to history once they're abandoned. The plants had taken over, leaving little more than a narrow footpath through the growth. It's odd walking along and seeing pavement under your feet while surrounded by vegetation that's grown over your head.

Once we got into the proper trail, the wind was blocked and it was a lovely morning. Since the trail was rather muddy and slick in a number of areas, we walked more than ran, but we did about 7 miles, and I had a good time. The scenery is stunning and I find trail running to be a lot more fun than road running. Part of it is the view and lack of cars, but I think it's because your mind is so engaged on where your foot is going to land that you don't really ponder how tired you are. I don't know if I'll make a good trail runner, as so often I wanted to stop to look at the view. You just can't look up very much without risk of falling.

I ended up with some really muddy shoes and splatters all over my legs, but I just loved it. There's something about being covered in mud by 9AM that's oddly satisfying. Maybe because you know that even if you spend the rest of the day doing nothing at all, you can still consider the day a success. Still, because of the mud I went and bought a pair of trail shoes the very next day. I can't wait to get them dirty.

In other news, about two weeks ago I went for one of my favorite runs where I go from our place to the Lanikai pillbox and back (maybe about 4 miles with a short but intense off-road hike in the middle). On the way home, passing the beach park, I saw a bunch of people playing soccer. I asked if it was a pickup game, the response was in the affirmative, combined with the question "You want to play?" Sure! I wish I hadn't already done my run, because I was already tired, but I had a blast. It's been ages since I last played, but the skills come back fairly quickly. The hardest part was that I was in my running shoes and the ground was a little slick, so I slipped a lot.

I found out that they play every week. I just added another event to my calendar! I quit playing soccer when I realized I wasn't enjoying it. I wasn't getting a lot out of the practices (my fault, I'm sure), and people were taking things too seriously in the games. I just wanted to play and I was in a situation where it just wasn't any fun anymore. A pickup game is just what I needed to remember why I liked soccer in the first place.

Between soccer, trail running, hashing, and mountain biking, I think I've finally realized that exercise can be fun. It's about darn time.

Hash runs 5 & 6

2007-12-12T15:12:00.000-08:00

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

2007-11-07T12:42:00.000-08:00

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

2007-11-07T12:26:00.000-08:00

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

2007-11-05T13:30:00.000-08:00

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!

2007-11-05T13:17:00.000-08:00

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...

2007-11-05T11:48:00.000-08:00

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

2007-10-25T18:45:00.000-07:00

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

2007-10-03T15:19:00.000-07:00

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

2007-09-28T13:50:00.001-07:00

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

2007-09-13T16:10:00.000-07:00

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

2007-05-21T17:32:00.000-07:00

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

2007-04-24T17:43:00.000-07:00

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

2007-04-22T17:39:00.000-07:00

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

2007-04-20T17:33:00.000-07:00

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

2007-04-17T17:27:00.000-07:00

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

2007-04-16T15:35:00.000-07:00

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

2007-04-12T18:21:00.000-07:00

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

2007-04-10T12:34:00.000-07:00

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

2007-04-08T13:48:00.000-07:00

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

2007-04-06T14:55:00.000-07:00

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

2007-04-05T13:46:00.000-07:00

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

2007-04-04T14:47:00.000-07:00

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

2007-04-03T17:39:00.000-07:00

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

2007-04-03T17:30:00.000-07:00

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

2007-03-30T12:32:00.000-07:00

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

2007-03-29T12:38:00.000-07:00

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

2007-03-27T18:14:00.000-07:00

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

2007-03-23T12:13:00.000-07:00

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

2007-03-22T11:10:00.000-07:00

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

2007-03-21T17:56:00.000-07:00

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

2007-03-21T17:30:00.000-07:00

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

2007-03-16T15:51:00.000-07:00

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

2007-03-14T15:54:00.000-07:00

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.

2007-03-09T15:48:00.000-08:00

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

2007-03-04T16:07:00.000-08:00

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

2007-03-02T12:59:00.000-08:00

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

2007-02-15T15:11:00.000-08:00

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

2007-02-13T18:39:00.000-08:00

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.