The Metric Century was this morning out in Haleiwa and went out to Swanzy Beach Park-n-back. Rained through the north shore part but cleared after turning Turtle Bay. And talk about flats, it seemed like every 1/2 mile there was someone changing tubes. Sometimes they were only 100-200 yds apart. I was just waiting for my turn and fortunately I didn't have one, I think. I say that because after a brick run when I got back to my truck I noticed my rear tire went flat. Found a small piece of glass in the tire. The bike handled fine so it may have been a slow leak I got near the end of the ride.
The brick run was hard and my legs were shot. Ran about 5 1/2 miles very slowly around 8:40. Had to walk on a couple of small 1/4 mile hills. All in all it was a fun day. A lot of cleaning when I got home. My bike and riding gear were dirty as heck. Looked like Paris-Ruboue (sp?). Now I'll put Roadie away and start training on P3.
Sunday, April 30, 2006
Thursday, April 27, 2006
Officially 45
Ok so now I'm officially 45. Kel and Nikki took me to California Pizza Kitchen for dinner last night. It was my last meal splurge as I am now 6 1/2 weeks out from the Honu. Today I start regulating my diet in hopes of dropping a few more pounds. The ride up to Hawi got me a bit concerned so I've been doing more hill work. I'll be doing the Metric Century this weekend and use it to gauge my time in the saddle vs. strength. I'm hoping to turn it into a training ride followed by a brick run. My longer rides lately have been on Roadie to get used to the saddle for the Metric. After this weekend I'll switch back to the P3 for the Honu. I have no worries about doing the distances as I've done each individually, it's putting them all together on June 3rd.
Saturday, April 22, 2006
More Rest Than I Planned
Took a well deserved day off on Thursday. It sure was nice to sleep in till 3:30. Felt like going for a swim after work but forced myself to just hang out while Nikki went to tutoring. Read a little and drifted off to sleepland.
Friday I thought I was all rested, for sure I was pumped for a morning ride. The wind was about normal from the NE @ 15-20 mph. So no big deal. I started off fine and just planned to do some spinning. Whoa, someone forgot to let my legs know they had a day off yesterday. Sluggish ride that lasted too long for the route. When I arrived back home I couldn't figure out why it wasn't a better ride. Maybe one more day off tomorrow. Went with Nikki to the talent show at her school. There were a couple of young boys who could really play the piano. One of them was in the 1st grade and the other was probably just as old. Got to give those kids credit for getting up there and performing, takes a lot of guts.
Fell asleep on the couch with Nikki on my lap. Kel woke me up when she called at 10:50. Carried Nikki to bed and when I fell asleep I couldn't get up in time for a workout. Oh well, I had planned not to do anything but if I HAD gotten up then I might have gone for a run. Took my Felt in to get it tuned and adjusted while I went to pick up my swag bag for the metric next week. The clicking I heard turned out to be my left pedal which I thought I checked. Got a new rear derailure cable, socks and GU. All for the whopping price of $23. Happy boy again. Can't wait to ride on Monday. Now I'll get my P3 done sometime soon.
Friday I thought I was all rested, for sure I was pumped for a morning ride. The wind was about normal from the NE @ 15-20 mph. So no big deal. I started off fine and just planned to do some spinning. Whoa, someone forgot to let my legs know they had a day off yesterday. Sluggish ride that lasted too long for the route. When I arrived back home I couldn't figure out why it wasn't a better ride. Maybe one more day off tomorrow. Went with Nikki to the talent show at her school. There were a couple of young boys who could really play the piano. One of them was in the 1st grade and the other was probably just as old. Got to give those kids credit for getting up there and performing, takes a lot of guts.
Fell asleep on the couch with Nikki on my lap. Kel woke me up when she called at 10:50. Carried Nikki to bed and when I fell asleep I couldn't get up in time for a workout. Oh well, I had planned not to do anything but if I HAD gotten up then I might have gone for a run. Took my Felt in to get it tuned and adjusted while I went to pick up my swag bag for the metric next week. The clicking I heard turned out to be my left pedal which I thought I checked. Got a new rear derailure cable, socks and GU. All for the whopping price of $23. Happy boy again. Can't wait to ride on Monday. Now I'll get my P3 done sometime soon.
Wednesday, April 19, 2006
Catching up
I know it's been a few days so let me catch up on my training. On Sunday I went for a 6.8 mi. run around the Big Loop/Small Loop. Legs felt kinda shot so I decided to give them a day off on Monday. Slept in till 3:30 and Kel was good enough to let me go swim after work. Got in 2500m but wasn't the best swim, more like going through the motions.
Yesterday I went for a 42 mi. bike @ 3:30 am and did some hill work. Rode around Koko Crater a couple of times before heading out to Diamond Head. Wind calmed down some but still enough to slow me going downhill. There's some new pot holes on Monserat Ave. and I had to bunny hop one in a dark spot while going downhill. It was a biggie and I'm glad I saw it in time. Came home and changed then went for a 4.5 mi. run around the Big Loop. Legs were tired but I was surprised at the pace of 7:50. Went to the Oahu club in the evening for the Tuesday nite dinner. It was spaghetti and meatballs. Pretty good for $6. Met some neighborhood friends including ones that had moved away to AZ. and are thinking of moving back.
This morning was another 6.8 mi. run around the Big/Small loop at a recovery pace of 8:30. Took Nikki to school and finally got to clean up the side of the house. There was some overgrown grass, dead banana stumps, a bunch of keawi and some palm leaves that had to be cut. Went for a 3000 m. swim and again it was hard. Began to think my lane was filled with molasses. Got home in time to get Nikki from school and help with homework. Took her and Maka for shaved ice after.
Ok so it's not the edge of your seat thriller report but it's how my life is. Pretty average but I couldn't be happier. Got a nice house in a great neighborhood, a loving family and even a good tempered dog that we take to the park every nite (even treat her to shaved ice). I'm a very lucky guy!
Yesterday I went for a 42 mi. bike @ 3:30 am and did some hill work. Rode around Koko Crater a couple of times before heading out to Diamond Head. Wind calmed down some but still enough to slow me going downhill. There's some new pot holes on Monserat Ave. and I had to bunny hop one in a dark spot while going downhill. It was a biggie and I'm glad I saw it in time. Came home and changed then went for a 4.5 mi. run around the Big Loop. Legs were tired but I was surprised at the pace of 7:50. Went to the Oahu club in the evening for the Tuesday nite dinner. It was spaghetti and meatballs. Pretty good for $6. Met some neighborhood friends including ones that had moved away to AZ. and are thinking of moving back.
This morning was another 6.8 mi. run around the Big/Small loop at a recovery pace of 8:30. Took Nikki to school and finally got to clean up the side of the house. There was some overgrown grass, dead banana stumps, a bunch of keawi and some palm leaves that had to be cut. Went for a 3000 m. swim and again it was hard. Began to think my lane was filled with molasses. Got home in time to get Nikki from school and help with homework. Took her and Maka for shaved ice after.
Ok so it's not the edge of your seat thriller report but it's how my life is. Pretty average but I couldn't be happier. Got a nice house in a great neighborhood, a loving family and even a good tempered dog that we take to the park every nite (even treat her to shaved ice). I'm a very lucky guy!
Saturday, April 15, 2006
Windy Ride
This morning was another windy ride. Gusts blowing from the NE @ 25-30 mph. It's like spinning uphill, especially for me. At 6'4" I'm like a big parachute in the wind. Went out on Kalanianiole and of course it's in my face as I ride home. On a good morning with a slight 5 mph breeze I can ride at 19-20 mph coming home. Today I saw my speedo drop to 12-13 mph. My legs weren't tired or anything and I was spinning like crazy. Got mad and downshifted and pushed harder to a neck breaking 15 mph. Tried to tell myself that it's just a part of the sport and that I have to get used to it someday. But the wind seemed constant and every so often I found myself getting angry at the effort I had to put in to maintain speed.
As a side note, I rode my Felt F65 and noticed the clicking that I've had the past couple rides is now getting more frequent. I need to take it in and have the mechs check my bottom bracket. It always clicks when my right foot is at 5 o'clock. I'll need to fix it before the Metric Century at the end of the month.
Put 2 new Continental GP 4000 on my P3 but I still need to figure out the front derailure problem. I can't get enough travel for it to shift easily into the big ring. Maybe tonight my daughter will give me some free time to tinker with it.
Well gotta go. I'm going to try and get in a 10K this morning. Going to do Lagoon Dr. and Nimitz Hwy. First part of the run.....Straight into the wind.
As a side note, I rode my Felt F65 and noticed the clicking that I've had the past couple rides is now getting more frequent. I need to take it in and have the mechs check my bottom bracket. It always clicks when my right foot is at 5 o'clock. I'll need to fix it before the Metric Century at the end of the month.
Put 2 new Continental GP 4000 on my P3 but I still need to figure out the front derailure problem. I can't get enough travel for it to shift easily into the big ring. Maybe tonight my daughter will give me some free time to tinker with it.
Well gotta go. I'm going to try and get in a 10K this morning. Going to do Lagoon Dr. and Nimitz Hwy. First part of the run.....Straight into the wind.
Friday, April 14, 2006
First Post
Well today is my fist posting as a newbie blogger. What better to talk about than my favorite activity. Here in the Aloha state we have an ideal climate for training. Although we do have seasons it's not as drastic as in most areas. Our fall and spring seasons are usually the wettest.
Right now I am training for the Honu Triathlon on the Big Island. I'm really looking forward to doing it because it'll be my first half IM. My training is right on track and I have no doubts that I can finish. What I'm apprehensive about is how well I will finish. I want to try and get in under 51/2 hrs so I'll have to push it hard. My runs have been going well and I just did a long run of 13.3 mi. on Tuesday. I felt good and held a pretty good pace @ 8:24 min/mi. I need to work more on my long bikes. I plan to do the Metric Century on 4/30/06 and I included that as part of my training plan.
Also part of my training is the Lanikai Tri which was held last Sunday. Because of the recent heavy rains, the water quality at Kailua beach wasn't very good. The race was changed to a run-bike-run Duathlon. The 2 mi. run to start immediately went uphill. This was a good thing because it quickly thinned out the pack. I've been practicing hills and was able to get out of the main group. I ran conservatively @ 7:20 pace. T1 went well, and considering I really hadn't practiced transitions I was pleased. The bike was good paced and I spun a high cadence on the out portion. The small hill at Kbay was harder than I thought and it took a chunk of time from me. Going back seemed like more of a push but I also used a lower gearing. At T2 I found my insoles slipped out a bit from my run shoes when I kicked them off in T1. I slipped them back in and headed for the run course. It took almost 1 mile to find my run legs but after I felt at ease and was actually getting stronger as I went along. #188 passed me just before mile 2 and I used him to set pace. We were closing in on another athlete at the hill before the finish and I knew I could take them both. I quickly passed both of them on the uphill and squirted down the other side. Entering the boat ramp parking I knew they weren't going to catch me. A small victory for the race. I finished the second run with a 7:09 pace and felt I could have gone longer and perhaps quicker.
Next up is the Honolulu Triathlon which looks to be a fast, fast course.
Right now I am training for the Honu Triathlon on the Big Island. I'm really looking forward to doing it because it'll be my first half IM. My training is right on track and I have no doubts that I can finish. What I'm apprehensive about is how well I will finish. I want to try and get in under 51/2 hrs so I'll have to push it hard. My runs have been going well and I just did a long run of 13.3 mi. on Tuesday. I felt good and held a pretty good pace @ 8:24 min/mi. I need to work more on my long bikes. I plan to do the Metric Century on 4/30/06 and I included that as part of my training plan.
Also part of my training is the Lanikai Tri which was held last Sunday. Because of the recent heavy rains, the water quality at Kailua beach wasn't very good. The race was changed to a run-bike-run Duathlon. The 2 mi. run to start immediately went uphill. This was a good thing because it quickly thinned out the pack. I've been practicing hills and was able to get out of the main group. I ran conservatively @ 7:20 pace. T1 went well, and considering I really hadn't practiced transitions I was pleased. The bike was good paced and I spun a high cadence on the out portion. The small hill at Kbay was harder than I thought and it took a chunk of time from me. Going back seemed like more of a push but I also used a lower gearing. At T2 I found my insoles slipped out a bit from my run shoes when I kicked them off in T1. I slipped them back in and headed for the run course. It took almost 1 mile to find my run legs but after I felt at ease and was actually getting stronger as I went along. #188 passed me just before mile 2 and I used him to set pace. We were closing in on another athlete at the hill before the finish and I knew I could take them both. I quickly passed both of them on the uphill and squirted down the other side. Entering the boat ramp parking I knew they weren't going to catch me. A small victory for the race. I finished the second run with a 7:09 pace and felt I could have gone longer and perhaps quicker.
Next up is the Honolulu Triathlon which looks to be a fast, fast course.
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