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On the Clock: Hawaii 70.3 Honu

My on again off again Ironman goal is taking shape. This year I am up for 2 more half irons, a marathon, and anything else that looks fun will be stepping stones to IM. This particular half is going to be special. My good friend and his son moved back home. He really wanted us to go out and visit. He and his family really wanted me to race there. This race will be a fun visit/vacation with my wife. I hope to find some fun adventures and get a little training in. It is also special because this race uses some of the bike course of the Ironman world championship.

I signed up for this race kind of in a split second. I did not look deep into the details. When I finally did, I was surprised. I was surprised by the swim difficulty, the temperature on the run, the beauty of the run, the expense of getting my bike there, surprised by the age group finishing times (I basically signed up for last place in my age group-more on that in a minute), and surprised that I made a quick decision on signing up for an Ironman event. 1500 athletes out on the swim at the same time with a challenging ocean swim. I am very excited and yet kinda scared.

Scared because I will be quite slow compared to my age group. I am not beating myself or anything. I am gonna have an awesome race. Here is the issue: I have raced 2 half iron distance, both over 8 hours. Yes it is a very difficult course and much harder then this race BUT last year no one at Honu finished over 7 hours. That means a PR of OVER an hour is in order. That means OVER 1 hour and 8 plus minutes. There is no clydesdale division only fast dudes. It will be an amazing experience. I am looking forward to it. Here is my week:

Monday-Rest

Tuesday-Easy run. 3 miles. Started out going to be 4 miles. The old calf came back. It was bad. I did some rehab the rest of the day.

Wednesday-Swim. 750 m. Just get in, do some work.

Thursday-Pushed a run to sleep and then nothing in the afternoon because sully got fixed.

Friday-Training run. I feel like these runs I should be doing some speed work. However, I still and trying not to piss off this calf. So I ran 5 miles. No pain for 2-3 miles but only "tight" or "crampy" feeling. Not bad enough to warrant making a phone call to come get me but enough that made me not want to push it. I got my 5 in and I got some treatment right away. No lasting symptoms so hopefully I am ok.

Saturday-Long bike. 40 miles. Well 40 miles turned into 44. Arithmetic error. It was an awesome ride. My house out to Calleville bay and then to Lake Las Vegas. 44 miles in 2:47:53, avg 17 mph. I did 44 miles 13 min faster then I did 40 miles this time last year. I felt good.

Sunday (today)-Long run. 8 miles. I ran the old Rage course. 4 miles up and 4 miles down. I ran a 4 miles up in 44:04 and down 37:38. I felt very strong. and 2 out of the 4 miles down were under 9 min. I haven't gone that fast in a while. Best part: No calf pain. I felt very strong. Quote:

"Don't bother just to be better than your contemporaries or predecessors. Try to be better than yourself."

-William Faulkner

I am just trying to be better today than I was yesterday.

RAGE OFFICIAL RESULTS

Swim: 37:13
T1: 5:06
Bike: 1:37:30
T2: 3:48
Run: 1:05:20
Total: 3:28:53

Overall place: 150/173, which does not include the DNF group
Division place: 8/12 Clydesdales. The overall winner was a clydesdale.

Does RAGE fuel you?

It does not for me but RAGE in the sage triathlon was yesterday. The last few races have been interesting. They have not been bad in any way but just not up to my standards. Finally, this race was different. Here is the race report Rage in the Sage Olympic Triathlon 2011:

Pre-Race: Recovering from the calf injury and building up to this race I wasnt sure what to expect. In the past I have set goals on time and did not reach them. This race I kept my goals close to me. The reason is this years course was different. The bike and the run had, in my opinion, harder courses. That with the weird buildup made for unexpected outcome. I trained with a big group and we raced together. We all experienced success and I am very proud of what has happened. My wife won her division. So proud of her. The times are unofficial. No results available at this time.

Swim: 1500m Last year: 35:24 Goal: 40:00 Actual: 37:50

All the time trials I have done this year have not been as good as before. I didnt think that I could go as fast as last year but I had a tremendous swim. I swam the whole time. I controlled my HR in the water, which in turn kept my breathing rate intact. I felt strong. I came out of the water fresh, ready to get on the bike. I feel like this swim is something to build on. I felt confident during the swim.

T1: Last year 4:45 Goal: 4:00 Actual: ??

I accidentally deleted it from my computer. I will get back on this time.

Bike: 25 miles Last year 1:38:26 Goal: 1:35 Actual 1:35:59

With the change to the new course it makes it hard to compare the last two races to this race. The consensus was that the bike course would be 5-8 min longer than last year. So I thought 1:35 would be tough. I am pleased that a harder bike course was even faster than last year. I was on point with all my time checks and I didnt trail off. My back was only tired. There wasnt pain. I think this bike course is very difficult and I cannot wait to see how training here will translate to the hawaiian highway. I was in control of my speed. I felt strong. This was a few minutes faster than any of my training rides. Perfect weather, no wind not too hot. No until the run.

T2: Last year: 4:02 Goal: under 4 Actual: ??

Run: 10K Last year: 1:08:12 Goal: 1:05 Actual: 1:05:12

The new run course is 3 miles up and 3 miles down. The heat began to be a factor. About 88 degrees. I was please to be able to use nutrition to stave off cramps. They wanted to come out but I didnt let them. I was able to run right through it. Usually I back off when they start. I wanted to turn around at less than 35 min. I turned around at 34. 4 min negative split. Improved run time on a harder course. I am pleased with that. No issues, totally healthy. I was even able to pick it up the last quarter mile. Good run.

Overall: Last year: 3:30:49 Goal: 3:29 Actual: 3:27, I think

The rest of the week:

Tuesday-Easy run in the am, swim fitness test in the pm. I read about this test. 1000 m time trial and count strokes at 500 and 100. 500 stroke rate 32, 1000 34 in a time of 25:21. 1:09 per 50m. Incidentally, the same rate per m as the race. So I maxed out my swim fitness at the race. That is cool.

Thursday-4 mile trail run. Easy run, me and sully enjoying the cool morning. Hes the best. Quote:

Your goals, minus your doubts, equal your reality.

Ralph Marston

Racing Paradise

Well I returned this picture back as my header for a reason. I rode the famed Queen K highway while on vacation a few years ago and my wife snapped this lovely picture. While my Ironman World Championship dreams are a ways away, the Kona 70.3 is just a click away. After RAGE this weekend I will be on the clock with IRONMAN 70.3 Hawaii. I have a good buddy and his son who moved back and I will be mostly visiting him. My wife and I get away, we get to hang with good friends, and I get to race "in paradise (as the website says)." I am pumped.

The direction of this blog is working its way out. My side job as a faculty member and teaching a class on running is getting some publicity. People are interested. I was not sure what to make of it. There are definitely some big things coming out of that. If you do not know what I am talking about here is my profile. Here is the link for class personal development. Stay tuned for my next post on that blog. It should be up sometime soon.

My week:

Monday-pushed my swim to watch national championship game. Darn Butler.

Tuesday-4 Miles easy run and long swim. Sully and I just hanging out and getting some miles in. Then in the pm long swim. 1500m time trial. Here are 250 m splits: 5:53, 6:44, 6:29, 6:41, 6:41, 6:45, ave 6:32, and total 39:15. Not really happy about it since it is not any better than last year. Hmm...may be its because I dont want to swim? lol.

Wednesday-Strength training. I have put together some functional body weight strengthening and combined a few programs to make up my own super program. I am shooting for 2 X week.

Thursday-4 miles with the dog.

Friday-Rest

Saturday-Bike/Run brick. Since the routes for RAGE this year are going to be very different mostly harder. I wanted to feel them. So 25 mile bike on a new course with more hills. 6.2 mile run on a new course with more up but it is out and back. Up 3, down 3. The cold, wind, and increased hills led to a slow bike. Cold, wind, and sore/tired calf had a slow run. I sure hope this is not what is in-store for me on saturday.

Sunday-Volunteer and long open water swim. Today the Western US Xterra championships. Fun to watch great athletes fly right by me while I kayak. I wish I could have stuck around or messed around on the courses. Seems like a "fun" bike ride and a "fun" bike. I heard they are ridiculous. I met a small group of friends for a long swim. 1500m open. Seemed like it was longer than 1500 m. My pool is much faster. That usually isn't the case. I just couldn't get into it. It was cold. Weather was gorgeous. I had fun and stuff but swimming wise is was ok. Quote:

“Hawaii has always been a very pivotal role in the Pacific. It is in the Pacific. It is a part of the United States that is an island that is right here.”

Dan Quayle

Thanks Dan.

Business As Usual

I have been applying some new principles to my injured walking/running population with very exciting results. In particular, the stride rate component to running. Not only have I experienced a huge change with my running but my patients are thrilled with pain-free runs immediately post metronome. I must admit that running the metronome app about 5-10 times a day is quite taxing on the rest of the room, lol. The employers are tired of it and the other patients hear the rhythm and are effected by it. Very big, measurable changes that result in significantly less symptoms. Everybody winning, awesome. My week.

Thursday-New wrinkle in my schedule. Trail run Thursdays. My first trail run from the house is a 3 mile loop with a challenging terrain. It is rocky, sandy, and undulating. Did I mention fun? Sully ran off leash for the first time and performed amazing. Exploring yet following rules and running like the great runner he is. We had a blast. 3 miles.

Friday-Off

Saturday-Swim/Bike Brick. Our first open water swim this season and it went well. Not too cold. Very windy but doable. The water level is WAY up at lake mead and it made for a great swim. About 600 meters just to get used to swimming with a wet suit and the cold water. Slow transition and off on the bike. The wind made for a long day. Even though I had a gnarly head wind I still had good numbers. I actually didnt know that until just now. I hope for good weather come race day. The bike course is different that last year so I hope to go fast. 22 miles.

Sunday-Long run. 6 tunnels route. Most likely my favorite route around. So pretty, challenging, and lots of people so it makes for a fun morning. Sully loved it too. Off leash for most of it. He made a ton of friends but listened all the same. Great times. 6 miles 4 of the miles under 9 for the fist time in a long time. Getting better. Sully had his longest run ever. We needed water as it was very hot. That will not happen again.

Big brick and long swim on tap for next week. Not to mention, I will be Kayaking the Xterra western championship off-road triathlon. I am excited to volunteer. I love to be in the water with them. Quote:

“Time has been transformed, and we have changed; it has advanced and set us in motion; it has unveiled its face, inspiring us with bewilderment and exhilaration.”

Kahlil Gibran