I rode on a trainer for the first time ever yesterday. It took a little while to get the trainer (CycleOps Fluid 2) set up properly, but once it was, it was sooo easy to keep the spin in zone 1-2. What a relief! No more wind and hills on easy ride days.
I watched "Master and Commander" which was good because it kept my mind off the fact that I was staring at a wall. Also, I think it would have been hard to keep up any kind of intensity on the trainer because you don't have any motivation. ("What, no hill? Why bother going into Z4?") So for the easy days the trainer works great, and it might work well for short sprint internals (a la a coached spin workout, maybe with a spin training DVD), but I don't think I'd enjoy doing longer hard training rides on the trainer.
Tuesday, May 6, 2008
Monday, May 5, 2008
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!
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!
Sunday, May 4, 2008
Tam Friday and Saturday training days
Friday run: I was going to go on a good long run -- the schedule said 1:30 at zone 2 but I was going to go as long as it took me to get closer to Pololu than I ever had previously. It's about an 11 mile round trip, and the closest I've gotten is about 9.25 miles or so -- I was aiming for about 10. Unfortunately, my left leg started out tight and my hamstring kept feeling crampy, enough that I was afraid I was going to injure something, so I turned around about 25 minutes out and walked some and only ended up running about 40 minutes. I was MAD!
Later that day I went to see this doc for the first time, though, and I feel much more optimistic about things now. I also learned that its probably not necessary to stop and turn around when my leg is feeling like it was on Friday, just to stop and stretch for a bit and then keep going. Apparently it is a good thing that the pain/tightness/discomfort kind of jumps around. It doesn't seem like anything is really injured, just tight and off-balance in various spots, so I'm going to do all the therapy homework I was given and keep seeing the doctor.
Saturday was an easy swim day, and we all went to Richardson's to swim for half an hour. It was about 4:30 and fairly choppy, and I ended up not getting such an 'easy swim' out of it when I tried to come back in to Richardson and almost ran aground on very shallow rocks! I ended up having to backtrack quite a bit (if you can do that in the water?) and swim back out into the open water and then go out and around some rocks to the one right place to enter, where its actually deep enough! This was made much more difficult by my goggles, which are tinted blue and starting to lose their coating so I actually couldn't see well enough in the air to figure out where I was going. I had to tread water while getting sloshed around in the waves and pull my goggles OFF to sight -- annoying! Getting new goggles. Ended up swimming kind of hard, got back in after 35 minutes.
Later that day I went to see this doc for the first time, though, and I feel much more optimistic about things now. I also learned that its probably not necessary to stop and turn around when my leg is feeling like it was on Friday, just to stop and stretch for a bit and then keep going. Apparently it is a good thing that the pain/tightness/discomfort kind of jumps around. It doesn't seem like anything is really injured, just tight and off-balance in various spots, so I'm going to do all the therapy homework I was given and keep seeing the doctor.
Saturday was an easy swim day, and we all went to Richardson's to swim for half an hour. It was about 4:30 and fairly choppy, and I ended up not getting such an 'easy swim' out of it when I tried to come back in to Richardson and almost ran aground on very shallow rocks! I ended up having to backtrack quite a bit (if you can do that in the water?) and swim back out into the open water and then go out and around some rocks to the one right place to enter, where its actually deep enough! This was made much more difficult by my goggles, which are tinted blue and starting to lose their coating so I actually couldn't see well enough in the air to figure out where I was going. I had to tread water while getting sloshed around in the waves and pull my goggles OFF to sight -- annoying! Getting new goggles. Ended up swimming kind of hard, got back in after 35 minutes.
Sunday: triathlon-ish
I've decided to turn the Sunday Brick training into Sunday triathlons. Today I actually remembered all of my gear and got to Hapuna Beach early enough to grab a swim before Tammy and Todd arrived. Overall I am well pleased with today's results (aside from the continued crotch numbing on the bike, more on this below)
Activity: Swim
Location: Hapuna Beach Park
Distance: 1000 meters swimming
Time: 24 minutes
Conditions: glassy until about minute 19. Then it got breezy and the water had a very light chop
Tide: seemed pretty low
Time/100 meters: 2.4 minutes (i think, but i am kind of fried and may well be doing the math wrong)
Notes: Due to clear, calm conditions I was able to sight along the lines in the sand on the bottom of the bay and did not have to poke my head out of the water. Hopefully this sort of condition will exist on race day.
Activity: Bike
Route: Hapuna Beach Park -> south to entrance of Mauna Lani Resort -> north to Oopolu Road near Hawi -> south to Hapuna Beach Park
Distance: 50.7 miles
Time: 3 hours 3 minutes (including 3 minute stop to adjust seat)
Conditions: relatively calm until Mahu Kona area. Stiff headwind to Upolu Airport Road. Nice tailwind back to Mahu Kona. Crosswind from Mahu Kona until Lapakahi
Speed: 16.7mph
Notes: This was my first long ride with the borrowed aero bars (many thanks to Hilo Bike Hub). Using the aero bars went OK but on the northbound leg I had a not so pleasant moment a mile or so south of Lapakahi Park when I realized that I had absolutely no sensation at all in my genitals. After moving around my "equipment" and riding a mile or two things seemed to go back to normal. Worst case of numb pecker I have ever had. Last week I had moderate oddball tingly sensations later in the day after our training session. Overall situation is moderately troubling. I believe this is due to body position and the bike frame being too large for me.
Food/Water: consumed one flask of Hammer Gel and the usual two bottles of water/engineered drink stuff.
Activity: Run
Route: Hapuna Beach Park -> end of Puako Road -> return to Hapuna Beach Park
Distance: 8.0 miles
Time: 1 hour 12 minutes
Conditions: alternating overcast and sunny. not terribly hot
Speed: 9 minutes per mile
Notes: running downhill has been causing me some moderate knee pain. During this run I tried moving my vision from the hill in front of me to a spot further down the road. This seemed to make the downhill running pain free. A few moderate blisters on the ends of the 2nd toe on each foot.
Food/Water: I carried a smallish water bottle in my hand for this run (the last few runs at Puako I have definitely been dehydrated by the end). It wasn't horribly annoying to carry and being able to stay hydrated seemed to help me run fairly strong all the way to the finish (aside from a few moments where I almost felt like I was getting a hamstring cramp and/or a strain in my right achilles area). Consumed two Hammer Gel packets during run on the outbound leg.
Activity: Swim
Location: Hapuna Beach Park
Distance: 1000 meters swimming
Time: 24 minutes
Conditions: glassy until about minute 19. Then it got breezy and the water had a very light chop
Tide: seemed pretty low
Time/100 meters: 2.4 minutes (i think, but i am kind of fried and may well be doing the math wrong)
Notes: Due to clear, calm conditions I was able to sight along the lines in the sand on the bottom of the bay and did not have to poke my head out of the water. Hopefully this sort of condition will exist on race day.
Activity: Bike
Route: Hapuna Beach Park -> south to entrance of Mauna Lani Resort -> north to Oopolu Road near Hawi -> south to Hapuna Beach Park
Distance: 50.7 miles
Time: 3 hours 3 minutes (including 3 minute stop to adjust seat)
Conditions: relatively calm until Mahu Kona area. Stiff headwind to Upolu Airport Road. Nice tailwind back to Mahu Kona. Crosswind from Mahu Kona until Lapakahi
Speed: 16.7mph
Notes: This was my first long ride with the borrowed aero bars (many thanks to Hilo Bike Hub). Using the aero bars went OK but on the northbound leg I had a not so pleasant moment a mile or so south of Lapakahi Park when I realized that I had absolutely no sensation at all in my genitals. After moving around my "equipment" and riding a mile or two things seemed to go back to normal. Worst case of numb pecker I have ever had. Last week I had moderate oddball tingly sensations later in the day after our training session. Overall situation is moderately troubling. I believe this is due to body position and the bike frame being too large for me.
Food/Water: consumed one flask of Hammer Gel and the usual two bottles of water/engineered drink stuff.
Activity: Run
Route: Hapuna Beach Park -> end of Puako Road -> return to Hapuna Beach Park
Distance: 8.0 miles
Time: 1 hour 12 minutes
Conditions: alternating overcast and sunny. not terribly hot
Speed: 9 minutes per mile
Notes: running downhill has been causing me some moderate knee pain. During this run I tried moving my vision from the hill in front of me to a spot further down the road. This seemed to make the downhill running pain free. A few moderate blisters on the ends of the 2nd toe on each foot.
Food/Water: I carried a smallish water bottle in my hand for this run (the last few runs at Puako I have definitely been dehydrated by the end). It wasn't horribly annoying to carry and being able to stay hydrated seemed to help me run fairly strong all the way to the finish (aside from a few moments where I almost felt like I was getting a hamstring cramp and/or a strain in my right achilles area). Consumed two Hammer Gel packets during run on the outbound leg.
Saturday, May 3, 2008
friday: runzorz z0
did the usual run from Richardson's to Liliokalani park. 1hr 30 minutes. actually came in at 1:34. I was in "low and slow" gear the entire way and going via my usual route along Banyan Drive I got to the corner at Suisan and the bridge. Slightly farther than I got on Wednesday doing my 1:05 partial Z4. I'd estimate I was in Z1/Z2 the entire way. My right leg is alternating between knee pain (outside lower) and muscle tightness pain (interior hamstring). Generally I attribute this to a tight t-band (is that what it's called Tammy?) that runs from the hip to the knee. more stretching may fix this.
i also swam @ Richardsons after for a few minutes to cool down. Might have swum for 20-30 minutes if I hadn't left my damn goggles in the truck and been too lazy to go get them. oh well.
i also swam @ Richardsons after for a few minutes to cool down. Might have swum for 20-30 minutes if I hadn't left my damn goggles in the truck and been too lazy to go get them. oh well.
Thursday, May 1, 2008
tam tri trainin' M-Th
Well, sort of. Not much to report from Monday and Tuesday except my EXCUSES...
Monday: My bike was useless with broken spoke, and I had far too much work to do anyway, so no training.
Tuesday: I took some time out to go to the pool, but the pool was closed. AGAIN. Todd went to swim at Mahukona, and I worked.
Wednesday: I finally got back into it! Ran from Richardson Ocean Park to Banyan Drive + a bit of running on Banyan Drive itself, which is nice and shady and cool. 1:15 total, about 7.5 miles. Spent 30 minutes around low z4 as our workout required, and it felt pretty good. Hot, but not as bad as Puako. Was almost bowled over by the smell of cooking noni at the noni extract factory, but managed not to puke. My leg ached a bit for part of the run, but wasn't bad at all.
Thursday: Morning ride to Mahukona and back, about 19 miles. Brutal headwind and gusts on the way back up, so the ride took a bit longer than it usually does, about 1:10 or so. Did 30 minutes at low z4, which was easy enough to attain biking uphill into a headwind. I feel like I have typed this before.
Later today it was time for a "master's swim", but GUESS WHAT?! The pool was closed, this time "lifeguard ill". Likely story. Off to Mahukona again... we sure are getting a lot of open water practice! We were kind of annoyed because it is really time for some serious interval and speed work which is much harder to do when you're in the ocean what with waves and surge and chop and wind and stuff, but at least we got to swim. I did my best, swimming regular speed about 20 minutes and then doing 4 3 minute intervals of higher intensity with about 1-2 minute recovery swimming in between. Intervals were hard, but I'm really glad I was able to focus enough to get them in. Ended up swimming about 50 minutes total.
Tomorrow: long run!
Monday: My bike was useless with broken spoke, and I had far too much work to do anyway, so no training.
Tuesday: I took some time out to go to the pool, but the pool was closed. AGAIN. Todd went to swim at Mahukona, and I worked.
Wednesday: I finally got back into it! Ran from Richardson Ocean Park to Banyan Drive + a bit of running on Banyan Drive itself, which is nice and shady and cool. 1:15 total, about 7.5 miles. Spent 30 minutes around low z4 as our workout required, and it felt pretty good. Hot, but not as bad as Puako. Was almost bowled over by the smell of cooking noni at the noni extract factory, but managed not to puke. My leg ached a bit for part of the run, but wasn't bad at all.
Thursday: Morning ride to Mahukona and back, about 19 miles. Brutal headwind and gusts on the way back up, so the ride took a bit longer than it usually does, about 1:10 or so. Did 30 minutes at low z4, which was easy enough to attain biking uphill into a headwind. I feel like I have typed this before.
Later today it was time for a "master's swim", but GUESS WHAT?! The pool was closed, this time "lifeguard ill". Likely story. Off to Mahukona again... we sure are getting a lot of open water practice! We were kind of annoyed because it is really time for some serious interval and speed work which is much harder to do when you're in the ocean what with waves and surge and chop and wind and stuff, but at least we got to swim. I did my best, swimming regular speed about 20 minutes and then doing 4 3 minute intervals of higher intensity with about 1-2 minute recovery swimming in between. Intervals were hard, but I'm really glad I was able to focus enough to get them in. Ended up swimming about 50 minutes total.
Tomorrow: long run!
ben: wed & thurs
yay. blogger ate my last attempt to post this one.
View Larger Map
Tues: did not work out. lame lame lame
Wed: 1hr 5 minutes run. Richardsons Park to Liliokalani Park and back again. about 35 minutes in zone "4"; 7 minutes of swimming. 20 minutes of sitting on beach.
Thursday: 1hr 37 minutes bike. CD Wizard in Hilo to Ainaloa Drive in Puna (near Pahoa). about 35 minutes in zone "4"; first ride with borrowed aero bars on my bike. bike still does not fit properly; aero bars are interesting, but on this bike frame I feel like I can get more aerodynamic in my drop bars.
map link for the Thursday ride: (google maps and blogger don't like to play nice; apologies for not having a map link that centers the entire ride in the frame properly)
View Larger Map
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)