A Fistful of Workouts

 

Swim (Thursday)

1 x 200- Warm-up

1 x 1000

total- 1200yds

Ride (Thursday)

time- 1:59

distance- 26.38

Run (Saturday)

time- 2:15

distance- 10.85mi

Ride 1/2 (Sunday)

 time- 5:18

distance- 66mi

Busy week away from blogging for your favorite Dirtbag. Some good workouts in there though. 

The swim is not so much. The reason? I got in the water and then I started thinking about all the stuff I had to do in my classroom to finish the year, we only have a handful of days left, and I couldn't swim any more. I was in the water at around 5:30am, and I figured if I did a good 1000, then I could get out with little guilt and get some cleaning (read: throwing stuff away) done. So that's what I done did.

That afternoon I was feeling tired and didn't think a good ride was going to happen. Normally, I'd have hit Pineapple for two laps, but I really wasn't seeing that. So instead I went on base thinking I'd crank one lap of Kolekole and go home. Well, one went well and it became two. The second one I decided to really hard charge, I tried to break off a piece, and I got to the top hurting and burning and ready to bail. But halfway down the pain went away and some guilt crept in. "You know," my legs said, "You would normally be doing way more climbing than this. And it isn't that far up the hill. We could get another." So we got another, and it was the slowest of the bunch and then I went home. Still, good climbs. 

Saturday was the big run day of the week and it was hooooot. I'm only estimating, but I'm pretty sure it was about 1000*. I'd give the shade temp too, but there is no shade on my run. I embraced the suck, endured a high DSQ, and went out 5.25mi to an excellent view down Pineapple to the ocean.

Turned around, grabbed some Gummy Bears, and headed for home. Somewhere along this part of the run I started getting a light pain behind the big toe on my right foot. By the time I hit Dole it was screaming at me, so I stopped to check it out. No visible problems, I don't know what is going on, but I'm taking it easy from here on. So I walked for a while, then I would run, then I would walk. By the time I got home it was hurting pretty good and I'm still not sure what's up with it. I'm icing and taking it easy. Probably won't run this week at all just to be on the safe side. I'm hoping that I stepped on a sharp rock and bruised something. Otherwise, there might be lots of walking on the Big Island. 

Today's ride was pretty long. A friend new into triathlon had never ridden Pineapple and wanted to, and I was more than happy to take her. But I needed to get some for myself first. So it was meet the Grey at 6:30(ish) and head out to Pupukea and back, a lap that takes around two hours fifteen if you don't stop for a chat with Diesel, who was running up around the Pupukea trails. We had a good ride, pretty fast, we both pushed hard. And then it was back up Pineapple to Dole, where I told Friend Who Needs A Team Dirtbag Name But I Haven't Thought Of One Yet to meet me. The Grey peeled off and headed for home and she and I went for our own ride. It was nice for me because I got to cool it out for the most part. Sucks to bring a friend and then burn her down, so I hung back and chatted and generally enjoyed the ride. She hung like a champ and we went to Kaena Point. Beautiful out there.
 

 Then it was back past the airfield and conquering Pineapple once more. For her first time up she fought hard and never complained. I stayed with her, trying to talk to keep her focused. It was good for me because I'm normally in the small ring, light gears, trying to spin. But today I stayed in the big ring, still in the light gears because, I mean, come on, but heavier than I'm used to. So it was a nice climb for me. She was red in the face and pedaling hard and, I think, made it better than I did my first time. Then we came back to the house and had some Koa Pancake House, because we'd earned it.

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Please don't forget about the Dirtbag Fitness Guess My Time 50/50 Challenge. Right now only one person has guessed, which means your current odds of winning are HUGE! And you're not going to let that person win your money, are you? So get in there, it's only $5, and you could win All The Money! Follow the link.

Second Annual Dirtbag Fitness Guess My Time 50/50 Challenge!

Dirtbag Friends! I come to you with a special contest offer, which is almost a direct repeat of last year's special contest offer.

As you know, the Honolulu Triathlon is coming up and your favorite Dirtbag will competing in the Olympic distance event, my second time at this distance, the first time being last year's event! And if I've learned anything from Grantland.com's Sports Guy its that if something is fun to watch, its way more fun to gamble on. So as a Special Event Fundraiser Extravaganza Dirtbag Fitness proudly presents the 50/50 Guess My Time Challenge!

Here's the scoop:

-For every $5 sent in to Dirtbag Fitness using the PayPal link to the side, beneath the sponsor, Twitter, and followers widgets, you can have one guess at my overall finish time of the Honolulu Olympic Distance Triathlon in 15 second increments. The person closest to my actual time will be sent 50% of the total Dirtbag donations, with the other 50% going towards the care, feeding, upkeep, and competing of Dirtbag Fitness. (If this does well I'm using the money towards bigger and more expensive races, a cadence sensor for the bike, or new tri duds. If it doesn't I could always use more tire tubes.)

-For $25 you can have six guesses. That's one free guess, allowing you to block off a whole minute and a half for only $25.

-You must put your prediction in the comments below on this blog so everyone else can see and we don't get any doubles. Also, please send your predictions with the paypal payment so I have all your information in one place should you win.

-Rather than spoon feed you what I think my time will be, you've gotta use your noggin. I'll tell you it should be slower than two hours but faster than three.

-Remember, you must guess in 15 second increments. Please use a hours:minutes:seconds format for your prediction with along the lines of, "My prediction is a total overall time of 2:03:15. Dirtbag is a rock star of epic proportions!" or "I think Dirtbag will destroy the field with a final time of 1:56:30. I also think his awesomeness will cause any pregnant women he passes to spontaneously give birth, and any fertile but not pregnant women to suddenly become pregnant."

-To sweeten the pot, if you manage to guess my exact time to the second I'll send you 75% of the donations rather than 50%.

-This Fundraising Contest begins today and ends the night of May 19th, which is the day before the race.

If this goes well and there is lots of participation then the pot will be nice and healthy and you'll be able to buy that tank of gas you've always wanted. If it doesn't go well and only two people participate...well then I'll send thank you emails to Dirtbag Parents and Dirtbag Best Friend, give someone their ten bucks, and pretend this never happened.

The relevant information once more is :
$5 = one guess

$25= six guesses
Guess in 15 second intervals

Post guess(es) in the comments below.

Thank you for playing, donating, and reading and good luck to everyone!

THE DIRTBAG FITNESS 50/50 GUESS MY TIME CHALLENGE AWARD BLOG SHOW THING!!!!

And now, the blog seven of you have been waiting for...THE DIRTBAG FITNESS 50/50 GUESS MY TIME CHALLENGE AWARD BLOG SHOW THING!!!!
First of all, my actual time according to pseresults.com is 2:31:21.
Now, let's take a look at the closest guesses each player made and its difference from the actual time. We aren't Price Is Right-ing this thing so there will be no "closest without going over" nonsense. The winner will be the person who is purely closest to the actual time.

Closest Guesses +/- actual time
Andrew- 2:19:00...-12min 21sec
Mike- 2:35:30...+4min 9sec
Dad- 2:27:30...-3min 51 sec
Matt- 2:35:15...+3min 54sec
Summer- 2:34:15...+2min 54sec
Pharris- 2:33:15...+1min 54sec

And the winner of the First Ever Dirtbag Fitness 50/50 Guess My Time Contest And Fundraiser is...
Amelia- 2:32:15...+54sec

Amelia, I will contact you via email to set up all the stuff and things. Much thanks to everyone who played for your donations and for supporting Dirtbag Fitness!

So Begins the Taper

Swim Day
1 x 150- Warm-up
5 x 100- 1, 2, 3, Swim
3 x 50- Sideline kick
3 x 200- 100- 5, 7, 9/100- Stroke count
1 x 100- Cool down
total- 1500 yds

Bike Day
time- 1:24
distance- 24.5

The taper has begun. I've done some reading up on the proper ways to taper and the general consensus is volume should drop, intensity should drop slightly except for certain workouts at race pace for the first week. The second week, the week of the race, volume drops more and intensity drops except for short bursts at race pace to maintain feel. The goal is to conserve and store as much energy as possible. The challenge is finding the happy medium between high-zone workouts and being lazy during them. Also, I can't miss workouts, that's not tapering.
So my plan is to have one high intensity workout in each discipline this week, with the other two at 70-85%, and closely follow the training plan I laid out in the beginning. Which is why the swim this morning was so short. The plan called for 1500 yards and that's what I did. Nothing too heavy duty, just stroke work. At this point I'm not going to get any stronger for the race but I might be able to fix my stroke finish a little more. Fine fine tuning.
The other thing to keep an eye on, according to most articles and books, is diet. I've been hungry a lot because I'm burning so many calories during workouts. But as volume drops I need to be sure my calorie intake does too.
Bike was pretty good today. I've decided my higher intensity days will go Tuesday-Run, Wednesday- Ride, Thursday- Swim. Which meant that while I did some pushing today, I didn't do a lot. Narrowly avoided the rain though, which is nice.
And on a I'm Kinda a Dumbass Sometimes Note- the ride during my upcoming race is 25 miles, not 20 like I've been thinking. It's 40k and dumbass American did a lazy conversion once and that figure stuck in my head. So the ride is five miles further than I had be thinking. This isn't that far, but will add some time. Adjust your predictions for the 50/50 Contest accordingly.