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!

taper week 1

After Saturday's brick, it was time for some serious chillin'. Sunday we were planning to do nothing, but got so hot it was time to go swim at Mahukona. It was supposed to be a mellow snorkel swim, but got caught in a fairly intense current on the way back and ended up swimming way harder than I wanted to! HEY!
Monday we did nothing much except hike down to Pololu and play in the waves there a bit. Seem incapable of doing NOTHING active around here.
Tuesday was a 55 minute run with 20 minutes at low z4. Ran towards Hawi and back. My body was VERY resistant to getting my heart rate up. When I was running 'easy' I was going SO slowly.. nothing hurt, and I had enough food and water, and I wasn't too hot, but I felt just lethargic and like all I wanted to do was stop! At about 30 minutes I turned around, and a cooling headwind gave me some energy, which was good because I needed to start my 20 minute higher intensity section. Ran pretty hard and felt much stronger during this part.
Wednesday morning I got a new back bike wheel : enough of this broken spoke bullshit! Then went to Hapuna to swim and ride.
The swim was nice, about 40 minutes with 4x4 minute higher intensity intervals. Worked on form and felt pretty good.
Then it was time to ride, again 55 minutes with 20 minutes z4. Rode south from Hapuna to about the Waikoloa and back. Had the same experience with the run the day before -- my body just DIDN'T want to get going! It was made more difficult by a tough headwind the first 25 minutes or so. Again, however, once I turned around and started my higher intensity section I still wanted to stop but at least I was able to pick it up and ride stronger. The tailwind helped! Got back much faster than I went out, and felt more energized. rode about 15 miles.

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!

swim and run, Monday and Tuesday

Monday was an easy swim, and I totally lagged getting to the pool, so ended up only having about 20 minutes to swim as they were about to close. Still, it felt good -- I worked on form a lot, and did some drills, ended up swimming about 1000 yards.
Tuesday was 1:30 run day with :35 minutes at z4. There has been no wind in Kohala these last two days (WTF?!?) and I ended up going out at noon so it was REALLY hot. The run actually went pretty well anyway, although my z4 was not very fast because of the heat -- my heart rate was up pretty high without even running that hard. Felt really great until I ran out of water, and started to feel dehydrated -- about an hour in. Luckily, within 10 minutes I'd reached Kohala Coffee Mill where I was able to refill one of my bottles. Within a couple minutes of running, I felt restored, and ran strong all the way home. So obviously what I need is water, and apparently more than I can carry! I drank a total of 32oz in 1.5 hours. This won't be a problem during the race, thankfully, because of the aid stations, but Friday I am probably going to try and run with a camelbak. In any case, I did 9 miles in 1:37. As for my leg/knee, it did GREAT, just a little bit achey a couple times, and stopping to stretch it out helped. Yay!

Recovery week recap

I didn't really feel like any of this week's workouts were epic/interesting enough to warrant an individual post, so here's a summary of everything I did this week!
Monday: meant to ride the trainer for at least an hour, but right as I tried to set up a movie to watch on my Mac mini it totally tanked. Subsequent frantic attempts to reboot and freakout ensued. No riding for me!
Tuesday: a full-on rest day, but Todd and I did do some snorkeling at the gorgeous beach at Mauna Kea. The water felt so great I had to punch it a little bit, but for the most part I took it really easy. Was surrounded by like 6 honu at once. Todd saw two free swimming octopuses! When all this is over, we are SO going back there to lounge and snorkel!
Wed: 30 minute run with 10 minutes at race pace. This run felt super short! Felt a little low energy and light-headed -- I think low blood sugar. Ran a little over 3 miles. A little tightness in my left leg but not bad. Stopped to stretch a little and kept going. This doc is really helping me, I think!
Thurs:
Master's swim first. I kicked ass at this one -- the pool was FINALLY open when I wanted to go! Swam 400 warmup, 6x200 race pace with 50s in between, and some cooldown laps, totaling 2300 yards. The race pace bursts were pretty hard -- I'm trying to work on my 'catch' (the part of the stroke where your arms pull back underwater) and have modified my stroke a little, which I can definitely feel! Made my triceps super tired -- hoping it will also make me FASTER!
That evening, 45 minutes easy ride on the trainer. Watched Slaughterhouse-5 (a GREAT film) but as Todd mentioned, it is really hard to keep up the intensity on the trainer because it's fairly boring and because I want to RELAX while watching a movie. But if I'm NOT watching anything, I will stop entirely from the boredom, so I guess I need some entertainment. I'm so glad we have a trainer now though, even if its boring -- need some breaks from the wind out there on 270, really our only option for riding from home. Sweat like CRAZY on the trainer, even with windows open and fans going! Reminds me that it really is rather warm and humid here.
Fri: 30 minute run z1-2. A little achey in the knee and hamstring but I stopped and stretched and it went away. Felt good to just chug along and not worry about speed too much. Ran about 3 miles again.
Sat: easy swim. We were in Hilo so went to Richardson again. Just as I went out it started to pour, and it was really choppy with some pretty tall whitecaps (for swimming in) at the opening of the reef. Once I got past them I was just being buffeted about like crazy, and it was super annoying, so I went back in to the protected area and swam around there for a while. There was somewhat of a current, so even though I didn't go that far I kind of got that treadmill/endless pool effect going. I bought some new goggles Friday, and I'm so excited because not only do they not leak, I can actually SEE through them, not just underwater, but in the air! Shit yeah! It made it easy to spot some awesome unicornfish and wrasses. Ended up only swimming about 20 minutes because Todd forgot his goggles and was all sad and drenched on the beach, so I went back in and lent him my goggles so he could take a turn.

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!

RUN-BIKE-SWIM (not slackin' anymore!)

Wednesday was for running, and also got in some heat training. I ran from home towards Halaula, turned left on the old mill road, and headed all the way down an old track to the lighthouse, along the cliff trail for a bit, and turned around. Had to pause for a minute at the lighthouse to look for tropicbirds, then my 25 minutes low z4 began, which was no problem to reach as it was hot, almost no breeze, and uphill. Total run time 1:07, about 6 or so miles. Didn't overheat, but I definitely felt the heat affecting my performance.

Thursday AM ride was supposed to be 1:30 also with 25 minutes low z4. Not too much wind today, rode the regular route from home past Hawi and down the coast, turning around at about mm11. The wind of course picked up on the way back up the hill towards Hawi, making it take a little longer than I expected, total ride time 1:34, about 25 miles. I had a harder time keeping it in low z4 -- on the bike I tend to space out a bit and forget to push it when I'm going uphill -- how lame is that?!?

That's okay, I made up for it later with a pretty awesome swim. Pool reopens tomorrow but today we had to do the equivalent of a 'master's swim', so we went to Mahukona again. I ended up swimming for 51 minutes, with two different 10 minute intervals of higher intensity. Got somewhat choppy towards the end. Again, hard to say how long I swam, since I sure wasn't swimming in straight lines.... maybe 1.3 miles? Saw a bunch of amazing pyramid butterfly fish!

my own version of the Sunday brick, by the Tamnocerus

As opposed to those guys, who went all the way to Kawaihae and back, I did the sensible thing (or perhaps the wimpy thing?) and stuck to the workout's suggested 2 hours. I knew the wind coming back up from Mahukona was going to be really difficult, so I turned around at 50 minutes and got home in 1:15. Getting really used to dealing with crosswinds, which are almost always present on this route. Felt pretty strong, timed my 30 minutes at race pace on the way up that Mahukona hill, but coming around the curve of the island and heading east got slammed with an intense headwind which slowed me way down. Total ride about 2:05, about 32 miles or so. (note: 18 miles the first hour and 14 miles the second! See: headwind and hill.)
Pretty fast transition at home (although I wasn't timing it) and went for an hour run out and back on Pratt Road. I felt very warmed up and no tightness in my legs in the transition from bike to run -- I guess I'm really getting used to that too. Ran about 20 minutes, then did 15 minutes race pace. I think I actually was running a little harder than I should have for at least part of it -- by the time I got near the end of the 15 minutes I HAD to slow down, while 'race pace' is supposed to be something I can sustain, not a sprint! In any case, it was hot but manageable, my left leg was tight but not painful, and I feel like I did pretty well. Again about 6.2 miles in about an hour. Phew!

Felt a little queasy and kind of like I'd done a triathlon in the morning for most of the rest of the day!

in which another boom king runs in Hilo, and skips Saturday swim

More heat training for us malahini! Started at Richardson Ocean Park in Hilo, and ran back towards town for about 30 minutes. Felt hot but it was okay! Another 30 minutes back. Tried to keep my heart rate down but it was difficult -- I still think the heat is stressing my body, even though I never felt that I was actually overheating. I haven't overheated since the week before Lavaman -- I'm getting used to it it! My angry knee/leg was not happy, but mostly just tight and not painful. Total run was probably about 6.2 miles. Need to speed it up just a little bit more -- if I can make 6.5 mph for the whole Honu half-marathon portion, I'll finish in 2 hours, which is my goal. Is it a reasonable goal? Hard to say. Swim at Richardson's after the run was the ultimate restorative.

Saturday swim was cancelled at Hale Stellanovae because Todd was afraid he might have been getting sick, and I needed some serious nap. Gotta know when to fold 'em. Did I really just say that?! What I meant was, it's good to listen to your body and skip a workout now and then.

wednesday run workout

Todd and I have decided we need to really work on dealing with heat during running, so I meant to go at like 1pm but ended up leaving at 2:30. It was still hot but not as bad as it's been out at Waikoloa or Puako lately... every little bit helps, I'm thinkin', though.
Ran 1 hour 7 minutes, with the first 30 or so at a fairly slow pace and then about 20 minutes at 'race pace'. Slowed down again for the rest. Ran a loop that was half on the road and half on gravel/dirt track, about 6.2 miles. Felt kind of lethargic and my leg was hurting a bit, but I got it goin eventually.