end of taper wk 1

Wanted to wrap up what I did last week for the sake of complete-ness!

Thursday was an hour z2 run, nice and mellow, just cruised out towards Pololu and back. My leg was feeling pretty good. Heat wasn't an issue because there is a nice breeze here in the afternoon! There are a few hills on this run so I took those pretty easy. Ran about 5.5 miles.
Friday was supposed to be an easy swim at the pool, but Todd decided he was going to swim 42 laps, which was almost exactly the race distance, (1.2miles) so I thought I'd do it too. It was great to get an idea of exactly what that distance feels like. It took me 44:10, which I would be happy with in the race. I was swimming with less effort than I assume I will at the race, but I was also in a lane where there was no chance I'd swim off course, and conditions were nice and flat, obviously. We'll see how it goes! Swimming that distance felt fine, though, not especially exhausting.
Saturday was our last brick. Compared to the previous weeks, this one felt like nothin'! We were supposed to ride 1:45, but I ended up going for 2 hours. First went south towards Mauna Lani, turned around, and headed north, through Kawaihae and then towards Mahukona. Turned around about halfway between mm10 and 11. I think I went a little over 33 miles total. Everything went smoothly, and when I timed particular sections I was right on track. Next time I'm on that course it will be in the race! EEeee!
Next was a 50 minute run, again at a fairly mellow pace. It was hot but not terribly so, and I had enough water and gu and felt fine the whole time. My hamstring ached a little but stopping to stretch seemed to help.
Sunday we took it easy and went snorkeling at Kapa'a near here. No intense swimming, very mellow. FIVE TRAINING DAYS LEFT!

last weekend's BRUTAL BRICK

So this was our last big brick before the TAPER, and it's as close as we're going to get to doing the actual race until race day. Started out with 'ride the entire course', so we did! The course is a total of 56 miles, starting at Hapuna, heading south to the Mauna Lani, and then all the way north to Hawi and back to the Mauna Lani. We simulated this last 4.5 miles by going south past the Mauna Lani at the beginning (since we were returning to Hapuna.) The ride went pretty well for me -- I just bought a water bottle with eye-pokey straw (not really, just looks that way) which sits in my aerobars, and having water so easily in reach was really nice. Felt pretty strong and right on track all the way up to Hawi and back down, but at some point I started to feel pretty worked, maybe 10-12 miles from the end. It was disturbing to me to feel so drained, nothing was hurting, I had enough "food" and water on me, and it was hot but not TOO bad. I couldn't figure out what was going on, but I just couldn't get it going.
Sure enough, when I returned, I'd broken ANOTHER spoke! This time I didn't even hear anything. It made me feel tougher (if frustrated) to have done the whole ride with god knows how many miles of my rear brake rubbing against the wheel. I finished the total ride in 3 hours 33 minutes, and I KNOW I'll do it faster in the race, especially without broken spokes!
By this point it was about 11:45, and brutally hot. The idea for the run was to do 1:45, which I suppose I did, but I only got to the end of Puako road and back since I had to stop and walk for about 12 minutes, all told. I also took a detour to a small beach to try to put some water on my head (managed to dunk my shoes by accident, as well), and another to the Puako boat ramp to drink some water out of a hose faucet. No pain in my leg, or if there was, I didn't notice, because of the misery I was feeling being so hot. FINALLY got back and was SO relieved to be done. Thank god for visions of aid stations with ice and buckets of cold water for me to dump on my head at the race, EVERY MILE if I want!

Last week of intense training! Wed, Thurs, Fri

Wed: First thing was 1:30 bike ride with 35 minutes at z4. Rode down to Mahukona and past. I knew something was up because it took me about 5 minutes longer to get to Mahukona than usual, and it's all downhill. Well, so guess what -- I turned around to climb back up, and NO WIND! That's why it took so much longer to get down -- I wasn't getting a push. I have never gotten back from Mahukona so fast. It was so quick I was only 25 minutes in to my 35 minute z4 when I got to town, where it's no longer safe to be in z4! I slowed down, rode to the other end of Kapa'au, and completed my z4 interval out on the other side towards Pololu and back. Did about 25. 5 miles and about 1:30.
Later, 'master's swim'. It was really still and muggy all day, and maybe that was why I felt so lethargic after the ride and getting into the pool, I don't know. It took me a while to get going, but eventually I did. Swam a total of 2350 yards, with a grueling but invigorating main set of 6x200 high intensity intervals. Whew!
Thurs: run at Puako 1:40 all z2. This time I wore a camelbak to make SURE I had enough water. It sure is great to have as much water as I want! Wearing the gear was somewhat annoying but overall it was a nice strong run. Ran 9.5 miles in 1:39, which is a bit faster than Tuesday. My leg didn't bother me at all until about 40 minutes in, and when I stopped to stretch it cleared up again. Started to get tight again during the last 15 minutes or so of the run, but still, getting SO much better!
Friday: easy swim. 35 minutes or so at the pool, about 1500 yards, some pull buoy, kickboard, and single arm drills between laps. Felt great to swim because it's STILL so muggy and wind-free here!

easiER brick sunday

So to wrap up our 'recovery' week, we did a brick that was way less intense than the last 3-4 weeks, although still fairly challenging. Today was a 2 hour ride, all zone 1-2, so I started out trying the little bit of the race course we haven't really been practicing on too much by turning right at the hwy instead of left. Biked to Mauna Lani and turned around, only 4.5 miles, but the whole 9 mile out and back to Hapuna took almost 40 minutes! Lots of harsh headwind with crosswind gusts with some steep rollers made this part of the ride really annoying and slow. It got better once I reached Kawaihae, and I went north just past mile marker 9 and turned around. Heading back I felt pretty good and strong, and overall my return to Hapuna was fairly windy but not nearly as bad as the earliest part of the ride.
Run was 1hr, made it to the Puako catholic church and back, about 5.6 miles. It was supposed to be low intensity as well, like z1-2, but I really struggled this time. It looks like I didn't drink enough water on the bike, and even though I brought plenty with me on the run and I was drinking as needed, I think it may have been too late! I was fine for the first 35 minutes or so, but then I started to feel queasy, especially after eating some orange hammer gel (I have now given this flavor to Todd, can't handle it.) Then I started to have some overheating problems and just felt like crap. It was REALLY hot, but was it any hotter than previous weeks, or was it just me? In any case, walked during the last mile during one of the steeper hills so as not to overheat entirely/puke. When I was finally approaching the parking lot, I thought to myself, if this is how I feel on race day at mile 6, I am not going to be able to finish! Must be sure to finish BOTH water bottles on the bike, I think that's my lesson for this brick. I think it was windy enough on the ride that I wasn't that hot, and was also distracted -- wasn't paying attention to how I needed to be drinking more.
Afterwards, swam around lazily in the ocean for a while, and floated on my back, and felt a million times better.

biggest brick EVAR

Well, it was certainly the longest and hardest brick I've ever done.
For our first section, we were to ride three hours and spend an hour of that ride at race pace. I wanted to do almost the whole course by turning and heading down to the Mauna Lani from Hapuna and then back up the way the course actually is, but unfortunately I discovered the night before that I'd left my running shoes at home, so instead, I got to bike all the way to Ainakea! This actually turned out to be almost the same mileage as the other boom kings did, but I believe it may have taken me longer because the headwind from Puakea Ranch (about 3 miles uphill from Mahukona) all the way through Hawi and Kapa'au was pretty harsh. This particular ride was different and special for me because I got aerobars on Friday, and was able to try them out for the first time. I really love how much they get me out of the wind, and especially how they give me a different position for my shoulders to hang out in on these longer rides. I was really comfortable in them almost right away, going downhill and on straightaways and shallow uphills, although I did notice I got a bit swervy a couple times because steering from out there is just different.
The first part of my ride (the way I break it down in my head) was Hapuna to Mahukona, which I did in 57 minutes, 4 minutes faster than the week previous. About 25 minutes into the ride I started my 1 hour race pace, which left me right about at the top of the hilly section when my time was up. The journey through town to my house and back took a bit over 30 minutes, and then I turned around and headed back to Hapuna. I used the aerobars enough in the wind that my neck and triceps started to get sore, in the 'hey I'm not used to working this hard!' kind of way. I'm sure I'll get used to it.
About 2:30 into my ride, I felt a bit hungry and realized I was out of gel-food. Dang! Started to feel pretty low energy, and I think it slowed me down a bit, although I never fully bonked. Next time I think I'll bring a clif bar too, since I scarfed one down as soon as I got back to the car! Total ride time: 3:08, total miles ~50, which puts me at about 16.4mph average.
Then it was time for 1:20 run with 35 minutes at race pace. As is usual when I run after riding for so long, I only had a momentary twinge in my knee and then my leg felt fine the rest of the run. I was still a little lightheaded from not eating in time for the the first 10 minutes or so, but then felt pretty strong all the way into Puako, and made it all the way to the end of the road for the first time! However, when I turned around it was pretty hot and the wind had died down, so I started having a bit of trouble with heat. I powered through it, as this time I'd actually brought enough water, and managed to pull off my :35 at race pace coming back through Puako. Right about when I was done with that section I had to stop and walk a couple times because of heat, but I still made it back in the same amount of time it took me to go out. Total run time 1:25, and the distance to the end of the road in Puako is almost exactly 8 miles, so that puts me at about 10.5 min/miles. Still would like to be faster than that, but it seems like every time I do this run I do it a bit faster than the last time.
The last mile was REALLY hard. I was TRASHED when I got to the beach. But a quick swim in the ocean and a big Mexican meal in Kawaihae fixed me right up. Feeling fine today, and feeling like a badass in general. GO TEAM BOOM KING!