HILL WEEK

This week is hill week in my training. It started off Monday with a 3,700 yard swim, which always feels uphill, followed by riding Kam III 9 times followed by running it once. Kam III is 1 1/3-mile-long and all up hill. Check out the photo below. It charts the elevation along with my heart rate for the bike portion. Nine fun-filled trips up and down. Fun stuff. As you can see, my effort matched the elevation almost exactly ... weird. As you can see every third trip up was the hardest effort. Below is how I rode it.

(My heart rate nearly matches the elevation gain and loss)

Here's my workout:
I broke it down into 3 sets of 3 trips up the hill. The first trip up was basically a normal hill climb at about 80 percent effort the whole way. The only rules were keep it in the big chain ring, no standing up and stay in the aero position for as long as possible.

The second trip up was in the small chain ring spinning but at about 60 percent effort. No standing up and stay in the aero position the whole way.

The third trip up was the killer. large chain ring and the hardest gear I could muster without falling over and standing up the entire hill. It was like doing single-leg squats for 1 1/3 miles. I used my arms as much as I could to pull the bike over the pedals. It was a total body effort. Well, that was it. I did those three trips three times. I coasted down the hill as part of my recovery then rested less than a minute at the bottom, usually waiting on traffic so I could cross.

It's a tough ride and I'm grateful that Rob joined me, otherwise I probably wouldn't have made it nine times.

After the ride it was off the bike and on to an hour run. The first part of the run included once up Kam III which isn't nearly as rough as riding it. Coming down was more painful. Then I ran out to End of the World and back to my vehicle. All-in-all it was a tough day.

Tuesday was just a run up Walua Trail. 3.25 miles up and the same down. Rough on old knees coming down but a good workout. Today was just a 40 miler on the bike hitting the hills on Queen K at race effort and cruising the rest of the route. I still have an hour run and Masters swimming today as well. Again, both will feel uphill even if they aren't.

(Walua Road, a great place to walk, bike or run.)

Thursday will be another trip to Kam III followed by a run and Friday will be swim (3,000-plus yards), bike (4 hours) and run (1 hour). And then on Saturday a nice long, hot 2 hour 15 min. run and a Peaman race on Sunday. Well, that's my week. What's on your schedule?

Next week I start the hard training days. Hitting the Honu bike course and running some golf course type trails afterwards. Now that's going to hurt.

(It must be springtime. Lots of baby chicks with hens watching over them on Walua Road.)

BUSY MONTH

April is always a busy month for us. Three birthdays and our wedding anniversary. Add to that, all the training for the half Ironman and throw in working full time and it gets a little hectic around our house in April.

Mine, Karen's and our son, Jon, all have birthdays in April. Squeezed in between the b-days is our wedding anniversary (April 8). Thirty-one years this year. Below is a video I put together for Karen that kind of shows our life over the past 31 years.

Happy 27th birthday to Jon. We love you. And Happy "30th" birthday Karen. You are amazing and wonderful and I'm proud of everything you have accomplished.

Training for the half Ironman is becoming more time consuming. This week I spent the most hours training that I have since training for Ironman last year. All this is building to my peak training day in mid-May, then tapering down to race day June 5th.

Happy Anniversary Karen.

Karen after a long day of shopping.

Aaron on his way out of Target.

Karen and Rebecca looking at scrapbooking stuff.

My one and only triathlon award - 3rd place at Lavaman - on display at home.

Mauna Lani on Queen K. That's where Honu is held.

Self-portrait as Rob and I ride out Queen K to Mauna Lani.

Rob riding along a very windy Queen K.

A DAY OF FIRSTS AND A THIRD

Sorry this took so long to post. It's been a busy week. Here is my view of my third Lavaman race.

I've got to say, this race was one of the most painful races I've had. This year's Lavaman triathlon held a lot of firsts for me. It was the first race I really felt like I was ready for. The first race I have ever used racing wheels and tires. The first race I tried to actually compete in rather than just complete and the first triathlon I have ever made the podium.

Even though I got a personal best in all three events and placed 3rd in my age group, I'm somehow disappointed in my race. I feel I could have gone harder in the swim and the bike but mentally I backed off. On the run I made myself slow down so I wouldn't re-injure the plantar fasciitis in my right foot. Even though by the fifth mile I was pretty much running on fumes.

I guess because this is the first race I've actually tried to be competitive in my age group it's made me a little more critical of my performance. Just think, a year ago, even a few months ago, I never would have imagined being on the podium at any triathlon. See what completing an Ironman can do for you. Confidence is a huge factor in racing. Well, here's my race notes:

THE SWIM 25:20 (133rd overall)

Not sure what was up this year but it was a pretty lame starting system. No cannon, no gun, no horn, just an odd "10, 4, 2, go." And in the water you couldn't even hear the starter say "go." At least I couldn't. I was on the left side (shore side) up front waiting for the start when the swim patrol guys started waving their arms and yelling "GO! GO! GO!" Us swimmers just kind of looked at each other and finally someone started swimming so we all took off, uncertain if we were supposed to or not.

(Coming out of the water next to Kona boy Jim Raguel in the background. We seem to exit the water together on every race.)

I was in the 3rd wave and each wave started three minutes apart. We started catching the stragglers from the other two waves just about at the first turn. Just after the first turn I got smacked in the privates that made it difficult to swim for a minute or so, but the guy was getting a little too handsy for me so I kicked as hard as I could to get him to back off.

I never found any good feet to grab onto. Every time I would find someone they would slow down so I was pretty much on my own. Maybe it was just me but the turns all seemed sharper than a 90 degree turn, which made it hard for me to set a straight course coming off the turns.

Nothing exciting happened during the swim other than the hit to the man bits and the grope. Swam/glided over a couple of coral heads just inches below the surface. I had a terrible run up the beach to T1 mostly because of the plantar fasciitis.

(A painful day on the bike for me but I still got a PR on the course.)

BIKE 1:08:25 (87th overall)

I was shooting for a 1:05 or less on the bike but my legs just would not hold the pace. I had plenty of go but my mind would wander and I'd find myself going below my race pace. I can't even blame it on the wind since we really didn't have much on the bike. This was the first race I used racing wheels so I had lots of hope that I would crush the bike portion but no such luck.

RUN 52:04 (217th overall)

I had a terrible run. When I felt like speeding up the first three miles I made myself slow down so not to aggravate the plantars in my right foot. By the time I was ready to speed up on the 4th mile I barely could get down to below an 8 minute mile. By mile 5 I was running on fumes and by mile 6 I was really hurting. Being injured the past few months really showed on my run. But I'm determined to get past it and hit the run hard for Honu. Overall time: 2:30:15. About 4 minutes behind the first place guy.

(At the finish)

In the end I finished 123rd out of about 900 participants and 3rd in my age group. A few months ago I wrote on my blog that I would never get on the podium at any triathlon. I guess I proved myself wrong Sunday. But even with that I'm not satisfied with my race. I feel like I gave up mentally and that I had a lot more in my legs than my brain was telling me.

It's my run that is the weakest stage and that's what I'm going to be working on over the next 2 months before Honu. I've got to get my half marathon time down if I want to compete in my age group at the Hawaii half ironman.

CONGRATULATIONS

Way to go Karen! She got a personal best in the swim and on her overall time. Plus, she was smiling the entire race. Just check out her photos on Lavaman. She was number 699. Congratulations also to Penn Henderson who won his age group and also won the drawing for the Ironman slot. And congrats to all the other Big Island participants. Way to go and it was an honor to race with you all. See you out there.