Hawaii Workouts

Well I managed to get 5 legit workouts in while on vacation in Hawaii! That is kinda crazy for me. I NEVER exercise on vacation, or at least very rarely. I had hoped to get a bike ride in while there too, but it just never happened, so I settled for 3 swims and 2 runs.

The first two swims were open water swims at Ala Moana Beach in Waikiki. It is a perfect beach for open water swims and paddle boarding. There is a breakwater which keeps the waves out and it is nice calm. There are buoys that mark a line across the beach. Out and back was 2400 yards. A perfect 45 minute swim. I don't particularly like salt water, but I am getting used to it.

The last swim was in the lagoon at Disney's Aulani Resort (we were there for a wedding). Early morning swim the day we left to come home. Beautiful view. The lagoon is pretty short, only about 200 yards wide, so it was just a lot of back and forth. Not a long swim, only about 1500 yards, but got a bit of exercise to try and burn off all these calories I am consuming.

The first run was around Kapiolani Park in Waikiki. It was a recommended run on sidewalks and with a lot of shade from some tall trees. It was actually really nice with views of Diamond Head too. It was HOT! 82 degrees at 7am and the humidity was through the roof. I wasn't shooting for any sort of speed records today. 3 laps around the park was enough for 4.6 miles and I called it a day.

The second run was from the Aulani Resort. Went past the 4 lagoons, through a parking lot of the yacht club and then through a residential neighborhood and around a local golf course before returning to the hotel. Again it was ridiculously hot and humid early in the morning.

After a week in Hawaii I am convinced that if I ever won some sort of lottery to race Kona this northern boy would die from the heat and humidity.

Pre-Vacation Aqua-Bike Workout

We leave later today for a 11 day trip to Hawaii. So the local tri-group here decided to do a Olympic sized aqua-bike morning workout.So 3 of us met up at Island Lake for a long open water swim. We got a bit of a late start so I had to shorten my bike to a more "sprint-like" distance of 16 miles. It was a good way to end my week before we head out to Hawaii.

Timberman Race Report

My first Olympic distance race!

Night Before

Trinity spent the night at a friend’s house, so after we dropped her off, we got the car packed up and drove to the race site which was about 1.5 hours away. I picked my packet and goodies then we stayed for the pasta dinner that they were offering. The food was good and just what we both needed. We stayed at a hotel in Grand Rapids about 20 minutes away. There were several other racers there too and they had a nice welcome Timberman racers sign on the desk. After an ice cream sandwich for dessert, we went to bed early.

Pre-Race

We got up about 5:15, showered, and I ate my bagel in the car. We arrived at the race about 630am and we got the last spot in the close by gravel lot. Grabbed our stuff and headed down to transition. I found a spot on the bike racks and I had nobody by me at all. After body marking and getting all set up we just relaxed a bit. I talked to a few people I knew before the race as well. While we were waiting two float planes landed on the lake and taxied through the swim buoys and parked near the starting line. I don’t think they were racers, but it would be a fun way to arrive.

It was starting to get warm already. No clouds, no wind. I was drinking some tailwind and nearly finished a bottle so I got some water too. Hydration would be key I think. I waited as long as I could before putting my wetsuit on because once it was on, I began to get really hot. So quickly into the water to get acclimated. I used the same routine I have been using for all my recent open water swims. The difference today was that the water temp was rather warm at 74 degrees. So a brief swim and then waited for my wave to start.

Swim

I was in the second wave (long course athletes over 40) and soon we were off. Per my plan, I started off to the side, and took my time getting into the swimming. The water was VERY shallow, could actually walk 1/3 of it. I didn’t want to run into people and I just wanted to get into a rhythm so there would be no panic repeat. That went all according to plan. No issues on the swim. I was just in cruising mode in the water, good strokes, steady breathing.

At the halfway point I actually looked at my watch and it said 13 minutes. I was super happy with that. It means I should beat the 30 minute goal I had. The swim was basically and out and back and on the way back to the beach the sun was off my right side. I am a right side only breather, so each breath was looking straight into the sun. Even with tinted goggles it was crazy bright. So I ended up just closing my eyes except to sight. I sight every 3 breaths so that worked out ok for the second half of the swim.

As we approached the beach the water got quite shallow and I was actually digging my hands into the sand/rocks on the bottom as long as I could before standing up and getting out of the water. A quick glance at my watch and 26 minutes! Zero issues with the swim this time.

Swim time 27:41 59/84 overall, 40/53 gender, 8/8 in age group.

This actually surprised me that I was that slow in my age group. Geesh.

T1

Into transition and I found my spot. I got my wetsuit off fairly quickly this time, but I found that I needed to sit down to get my socks and bike shoes on. I was a bit unsteady on my feet. Got all of that, a quick drink of water from my transition bottle and off on the bike I went. Time 3:08

Bike

Once I got going, I noticed that my heart rate was rather high for the start of the bike. So the first couple of miles were about just taking some deep breaths, getting my HR under control so that I could really put the effort in when I needed to. The bike course was two loops, the first was 15 miles, the second was 10 miles and it had one big hill climb that we did twice. We drove the bike course the night before so I knew what I was up against. The rest of the course was a bunch of rolling hills. There would be lots of gear switching today.

The first 8 miles of the bike it was really crowded. Lots of passing, jockeying for position, riding 3-4 wide on the road. It was a mad house. I had not experienced that before. I found my happy place, and eventually things spread out by the time we got to the big hill.

I wasn’t really paying much attention to my power meter, just trying to go as fast as I could. My goal was 1:15 which was 20mph average so I was trying to mentally average out the times I was going less than that with times I was going faster than that. The first loop felt great. I was drinking my nutrition, doing well on the hills. The big hill (200ft in about a mile) was a grind and the only time I was in my small gear the whole race. The first time it went quite well, I was happy with my first 15 miles and I did that in 45 minutes, so I was right on schedule.

The second loop went pretty well too. I took in a gel, finished my nutrition and switched to water which is how I have done these rides in the past. At one point, someone passed me and when he was alongside he said “nice work, you are beating people younger than you.”

When we got to the big hill again, I got passed right as the hill got started and then they slowed down just a bit. So I had to fall in line because I didn’t have the legs to power past them and go the speed I wanted to go on the hill. So I probably lost a minute or so on that uphill. I ended up passing them on the downhill. (According to the data, it cost me 14 seconds actually, but felt like more.)

After the downhill, we finally return to the road to transition. Melissa was there with her cowbell cheering me on, just as she was when I finished the first loop. Overall, I am happy with the bike. I might have been a little easy on it, but overall I am good with it. Solid middle of the pack on the bike!

Time 1:17:16 43/83 overall, 33/53 gender, 5/8 age group. I gotta get 2mph faster to crack top half of my age group.

T2

Made the quick change of shoes, finished the water from my bike and was off on the run. 1:54 time in T2

Run

My goal was to be a slave to the watch and stick to the 2:45/0:45 run/walk schedule I have been using in training for the last several weeks. By this time it was HOT. Around 80 degrees, no shade, no wind, high humidity so I knew this was going to be a struggle.

Off I went and I stuck to the run/walk schedule with the addition of walking through all the aid stations as well. 3 cups of water at each aid station. One down the back, one over the head and drinking one. I was definitely not going very fast. I may be able to do 9:30 miles in training, but this was going to be a 10-11:00 mile kind of day.

But I stuck to it. Even when those 45 seconds had to be wrong when they felt like 10 seconds, I started running. I passed a couple of people, got passed by a dozen or so on the run. Actually fewer than I thought. Being an out and back run, I get to see everyone. I even managed to get pissed off at a group of people who obviously were the winners when they came running out on the course AGAIN, laughing, and making it look easy.

My feet started to hurt in mile 6. I may need to look into that because that is happening on longer runs.

Finally into the finish chute and I am done. Run time 1:05:14 69/83 overall, 45/53 gender, 7/8 age group.

2:55:15 was my final time. 53/84 overall, 38/53 gender, 7/8 in age group

Final Thoughts

That was hard. Not as hard as I thought it was going to be, but it was hard. The heat and humidity took its toll on me on the run. It took me a while to recover after the race. They had someone with a hose and that felt wonderful. I sat in the shade, had water, Gatorade, banana and a cookie and started to feel better.

I had a lot of things go right for me today. The swim went great. No panic at all. Now with that under my belt, I can work on going faster which I know I am capable of. I am still not sure how hard I can go on a bike ride. My NP was down a bit in this race, but it was also double the length that I have done in a race. However I feel like I didn’t give it everything. It became obvious to me that I have much to learn, like learning how to pass, and some of the technical aspects of biking. That will come with experience. The run….well I got a ways to go.

This race has a really nice swim and bike. The run is nothing special. I would definitely do the race again. I am looking forward to my next race at the end of August.

Barr Trail

My coach mentioned that he lived in Colorado Springs for a while and suggested Barr Trail. I have to say that the Barr Trail remains to this day the hardest single day physical endurance thing I have done.

I lived in the Denver area for 4 years in the late 90’s I was active with hiking in the summer, skiing in the winter. I did a few 5k’s and 10k’s too, but that was not my priority at the time.

I had hiked several other  14'ers (14,000 foot mountains) in Colorado and my friend and I decided to do Pikes Peak via Barr Trail. Barr trail is a 25 mile long out and back trail that goes from the base in Manitou Springs to the top of Pikes Peak with a 7000+ foot elevation gain. Some people take the option of riding the train down from the top, or catching a ride. We chose to hike up and down.

A long day even with as in shape as a couple of mid-20's guys. It was always a death march for me above 13,000 feet. Take 6 steps, catch my breath, repeat until you get to the top. Of course this was made worse after 11 miles and 6k vertical already done by that point. I remember passing a woman who was wearing helium balloons because she was doing the hike on her 40th birthday. Finally after reaching the summit, I remember running back down the trail to get back below the tree line as a thunderstorm was about to roll through.

One thing I learned in my 4 years living in Colorado is that they take their endurance sports to a whole 'nother level. With the pikes peak marathon up Barr trail, to the Leadville 100, to the triple bypass 100+ mile bike over 3 mountain passes, it is kinda crazy out there.

Maybe someday I will surpass that Barr trail hike effort with a half or full ironman, but it remains a very strong memory even 20 years later.

Work Trip Run

I walked outside the hotel in the morning to clear blue skies, 60 degree temps but actually a bit of humidity which surprised me. But a glance to the west and my view was filled with beautiful Pikes Peak. I had scoped out a run using google maps from my hotel to the south end of the sand creek trail and back. Google said 2.3 miles but it turned out to be 2 miles exactly. All downhill for the first 2 miles and all uphill on the way back.

The sand creek trail is a beautiful, quiet and a nice multi-use path. I only saw a few people while out on my run this morning. As I got close to the end of the trail, I came across a homeless encampment. I was not expecting to see that. The residents waved as I ran by and soon after I had to turn around and return as the path ended.

I was definitely not feeling it today. Humidity, altitude, hills, all conspiring against me. But here I was exercising twice on a quick 2-day work trip. My suitcase was half full of exercise gear! That’s not something that I have ever really done in the past.

Work Trip Swim

I had a business trip to Colorado Springs today, so after flying in and grabbing a salad for lunch I had time for a quick swim before a dinner meeting. There was a YMCA not far from the airport and my hotel so I stopped in there. It took a bit to get through the check in process but soon I was in the pool. This Y had a 5 lane lap pool and then a big separate play area pool. There were a few water walkers and there were swim tests going on for day campers in one the lanes too. After discussing with the lifeguard I snagged the middle lane.

The water was definitely warmer than I am used to. I had the lane to myself through my warm up before being joined by a woman. We simply split the lane and did our workouts. She was not a flip turn kind of person so I was able to do flip turns except when she was at the end of the pool which as timing worked out about once every 200 yards.

So Colorado Springs is at roughly 6000 feet of elevation. I haven't exercised at elevation in 20 years and I forgot how much it really does affect you. So my times were a bit slower than I would normally be swimming by probably 5-8s/100. That was probably a combination of the warm water and the altitude.

The run tomorrow will be interesting.

Hilly Bike

My training plan today called for finding some hills. So I asked around for some advice and a few people recommended riding through Jay Cooke State Park to Veterans Overlook and back again. A quick Google search showed that was about 22 miles which seemed perfect for what I had to do.

So after my swim class this morning, I ate my bagel in the car on the drive down to Carlton. The first mile of my ride was on the Munger trail until I hit Hwy 210 which continued through the state park.

It was a beautiful ride through dense trees, paralleling a river on a brand new road. But the HILLS!

It was mostly downhill for the first 40% of the ride and some of those hills were STEEP. I was pretty scared going down those hills with the turns and such and I was riding my brakes most of the time. One particularly long steep downhill I was sure I was going to have to walk my bike back up it.

So after the first 9 miles of mostly downhill, then it was a nearly 2 mile climb to the overlook. By far the longest continuous climb I have done. I had a brief stop at the overlook to snap a couple of pictures then back down the hill to the bottom and to begin the long climb back to my car.

I spent most of the next 9 miles in my small gear but I never had to walk my bike. Never even came close actually. It was hard work with power requirements that reminded me of the threshold workouts on the trainer that I hate.

Made it back to my car, laid in the grass in the sunshine and just relaxed a bit.

Dare I say it was a "fun" ride?

Lake Superior Swim

There were a few people who were getting together for a swim this morning in Lake Superior. So I met them there at 730am. It was a nice morning, right around 60 degrees, but the wind was starting to pick up a bit at the lake.

The lake was cold, but once in it with my wetsuit it wasn't too bad. Two people just stayed close, and me and another guy swam about a mile in the water. It was interesting going up and down in the waves and trying to time your breathing.

Zwift

So I was all set to do a 35 mile bike ride today outside on the lake shore, but mother nature conspired against me. The entire state was covered with rain and it didn't look like it was going to let up anytime soon. Forecast said 6pm.

So that meant I had to put the bike on the trainer. Someone had recommended that I try a program called Zwift. Zwift is an online program that allows you to ride virtually with others. You can do easy rides or intense rides. So I created an account, put in my height and weight, connected it via bluetooth to my smart trainer and I was off and riding.

You get a cool little dude on a bike, you can wave to people, say hi etc. The whole thing seemed pretty accurate. At the power I was putting out, I average about 20mph in the real world and thats exactly what it had me doing in the virtual world. It was mostly flat with a few small hills along the way to keep things interesting.

So I expect I will be doing a bit more of this as time goes on. It is a nice distraction.