Holy Headwind, Batman

Ride
time- 4:56
distance- 63.5mi

Yeah, this was pretty much the slowest metric century I've ever ridden. My excuse is that I've been lazy recently. And wind.
The Grey and I met up at his house and off we went. This adds some distance to the route I used to ride back when we lived in Wahiawa, but it means I get to see how The Grey and Diesel, who is training for Kona and is doing waaay bigger mileage than we are right now, got to me every week.
Kinda hilly. Sucks a little. I could see sucking more in my future as we come back.
I let training mileage slip for a variety of reasons after the Honu, but now I'm registered for the Honolulu Century at the end of next month and damn if I'm going to go into that totally unprepared. So cycling needs to come back up to three days a week, with big days on weekends. Real detailed century training plan. I know.
Anyway, we headed straight up the coast to Pupukea, one of the best-worst climbs I regularly do. It's not as long as some on the island, but there are sections of a lot of suck. Makes you strong. Especially because now we come back down and keep heading out. Gotta stack miles into the legs.
Out to the north-most point and around is an adventure in Holy Crap It's Windy. The Grey and I took turns pulling. There isn't a nicer sight than the guy you are riding with pulling around you to let you draft for a while. Tough winds. Looked forward to the turn-around.
Partially from the winds, partially from being out of shape, but I was bonking pretty good for a lot of the ride back. Just dragging. I kept trying to get it going, and it would for a while, but I never was able to hold what I felt was an acceptable pace. Looking at the data we were hovering around 45mph out and up around 18+ with the wind to our backs, but I was tired. We took more rest stops than we normally do. At least Hawaii is a great place for a breather.

I knew before we got to it that Pineapple was going to suck. And I was right. There is something about that climb. You can pace it all kinds of ways once your in shape, but when it's the first time in a while there is a lot of Happy Place Just Get Up It happening. The Grey blew me away going up and I didn't care. Couldn't have ridden much faster. Took another break in the shade of a bus stop at the top.
From there it isn't far home, but there is one climb that, while short, isn't much fun. Got it did, got to the Grey's house, and Second Favorite (Hawaii) Wife had food ready for us because she is awesome. Diesel showed up too because he smelled food.
Looking forward to getting distance-strong for the century. Not much feels better than 100 Mile Confidence on the bike.

Knights of Knee

Ride Day
time- approx. 40min
distance- 15.8mi


Not a long ride today. More of a test ride to see how the knee is feeling. It's better, but not great. There is still some tenderness and some tightness when I put any kind of heavy pressure on it. I think I overdid it on the long rides and now I'm paying for it. Added too much mileage too quickly. Better to know for next time. Not that it will stop me from doing the full 100 Sunday. I played with my seat height, raising it juuuuust a teensy tiny bit and making sure it is straight on in line with the frame. And I'll keep in lighter gears to keep my cadence high, which I've read should help alleviate some of the pressure. And I iced when I got home, I'll ice again tomorrow, ice ice ice ice. Ibprofen Ibprofen Ibprofen. Then, after Sunday, I'll go easy on the bike for a week to help the recovery process.
It's been a strange week. Skipping Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday means that I've missed five workouts. That's a lot of sweat to make up. But I needed it I'm sure. Can't forget about the knee. I'm going to swim and run tomorrow though. Still have the Ko'Olina Sprint Tri, my Anniversary Triathlon, to look forward to.
I also used today's ride as a test for the re-fixed rear mounted water bottle cage. I mended it! Tri Cook's observation that I installed it upside down the first time seems to be correct. So good call. We shall never speak of this again.
Oh, and I would kneel to you, Century. But I seem to have made my knee sore kicking so much ass on my weekend rides.

Pictured: Badass

Neither Wind nor Rain...

Ride Day
time- 5:30
distance- 84.48

...nor pain of knee nor crappy screws can keep me from my goal. The Dirtbag must go through!
Today was a tough one. Tons of headwind all the way out made it a strugglefest to maintain 15mph. As a result my time today was somewhat slower than previous rides. But that's ok, wind makes me strong.
Leaving the house today is sprinkled. All that really means is I was covered in mud spray from minute one. Nice to get that out of the way. I'm a dirty dirty Dirtbag. 
Pupukea was easier. Not easy. Not fast. But easier. It's coming along.
It's knid of a headtrip, being out this long. To put it in perspective, today I rode for longer than it used to take me to drive from the University of the Pacific (Go Tigers!) in Stockon, CA, home to Palmdale, CA. That kind of blows my mind because that drive always took forever.
I did have some fail today. Fail number one was the rear-mounted bottle cage. Oh, it held bottle just fine. Not one rocket. What it didn't hold was the screws it came with. Hawaii is not known for the smoothness of our roads. They are not veeery niiice (that joke will be gotten by exactly three people and it was completely worth it). So the jiggling and jouncing loosened the screws to the point where one at some point came out. I only noticed because I had been reaching back to check on the condition of the bottle and it seemed to be making quite a racket. And it was sideways. But still in the cage! See, bright side. So I pulled the bottle out, back in my jersey pocket it went, and I went clink clink clinking on down the road. Yeah, that never got the lease bit annoying. Time to head to City Mill for repairs.

Yeah...that's not right

 Interesting to note, my turn around point was in Ka'a'awa, which, if you look at this map of next week's ride, intersects with that ride's course. So I'll be covering some of the same ground, which tells you how small the island really is, I guess. And in the Too Much Information category, I stopped to pee at the actual turn-around point in Ka'a'awa, Swanzy Beach Park.

Awww, a whale!

It rained some on the way back. Actually, to be specific, it rained at Sharks Cove, right where I planned to stop and stretch before making the run at Pineapple Hill. I still stopped, I still stretched and, because it was a tropical blessing, it only rained for a few minutes. I caught back up to it later, or it caught back up with me, but it was never too bad. A little downpour never hurt nobody.
Pineapple Hill was an adventure. It hurt, of course, but not in the normal way. My left knee went sore as soon as I hit the grade. Just a little tight spot on the outside of my knee. But as the climb went on, the soreness spread and occasionally flared to pain. Maybe a 5 on the scale at some really heavy points. This makes the climb extra long and extra slow because I spent some strokes trying to do more work with the other leg, avoiding putting too much pressure. I don't think its anything serious and it went away nearly completely as soon as the ground leveled back out, I probably have overdone it a little and am getting complaints. To be safe I'm going to dial way back for the next week. I'm considering taking the next two days off, but we'll see how I feel tomorrow morning. Running shouldn't hurt, its a different use of the joint, but Monday might be a total rest day. You would think swimming would be ok, but I push hard off the walls and that is basically a squat jump. We'll see. I'd rather rest it and be better for Sunday than be a tough guy and hurt for six hours.
Standing in the shower after my ride I couldn't help but smile. 85 miles, man. That's a long way in a car. If someone grabbed you right now and said, "Hey, let's take a drive. There's this cool place I know," and you asked how far it was and they said, "Eh, 'bout 85 miles," would you go? I fuckin' did that today on a bicycle. How cool is that? Of course, I've been pretty useless since I got home, but I earned it.

Today's Ride is Brought to You by the Letter "S". S as in Suffer

Ride Day
time- 4:43
distance- 74.95mi

We creep closer and closer to that century mark and I feel ready for it. I also feel sore, tired, and useless for the rest of the day after a ride, but ready while I'm on the bike.
Today was harder than last week from the start. That might have something to do with the lack of other rider, though I did pass him on my way down Pupukea while he and a group of riders were on their way up. But whatever the reason, the legs took a while to loosen up and I never really felt in a solid groove. The left knee decided it would spend some of the ride being sore too, which helps.

Freakin' scoop was buried!

Started my morning in the pre-dawn, prepping to get out of the house early to beat as much of the heat and the crazy local drivers as possible. I bought some Hammer Perpetuem from REI (thanks Background Profiles!) and went with that for my sport drink of choice today, along with two bottles of regular water. That, plus two GUs, a broken Clif Bar, and I was ready to hit the road.
Pupukea hurt again, but not as bad as last time. I also think I might have been slower up it, but I don't remember. Might have just felt slower alone. The rest of the ride out was good times. Windy on occasion, but safe and clear. I turned around at the 40 mile mark and headed back. Coming in the wind is more to my tail and I got a slight push. On the flats I'm trying to average 17-20mph. It's doable without blowing myself out, but I'm not going nuts with it. When I feel like slowing down I do. Sustainability is the name of the game.
Drank more regularly than last week and refilled two of my three bottles at my turn-around, finishing all of them off by the time I got home for five bottles over 4 hours 45 minutes. That's about right.
Pineapple Hill was brutal today. I was not fast. I was not attacking. I survived it and got it done. That's some rough stuff after 60+ miles on the road.
Beautiful day out. The longer my rides get the further around the northern tip and back down the east side of the island I get. It's dead pretty out there. The anti-Waikiki.

Today's turn-around was between Hau'ula and Kaaawa I think.

Only one more long training ride before the century. Think next Sunday's goal will be around 85 miles. That will mean the century will only be another 15 new miles on my legs, which is eminently doable. Bring it on.

A Lot of Miles and a Few Excuses

Ride Day (Saturday)
time - 4:05
distance- 66.6mi

Run Day (Sunday)
time- I'm A
distance- Big Wuss

Saturday was a great ride day. At 6:30am, I met up with a Dirtbag follower named Sean who had been offering to let me join him on a weekend ride. This was a great plan. I got out and on the road early, I got to follow someone with plenty of experience, and the miles go by a lot faster when you aren't riding alone. Safer too. And I discovered a new road to destroy my legs on. Good times.
Instead of my normal out-and-back through Haleiwa, Sean and I coasted down Pineapple Hill and struck out north. He set a strong pace and I did my damnedest to keep up. Which means he pretty promptly dropped me off the back. But, being a gracious riding partner, he would stop or slow many times during the ride so that I could catch back up. I, for the most part, played Dirtbag See, Dirtbag Do. Sean pedaled harder, I pedaled harder. He dropped onto his aerobars, so did I. I wasn't really trying to keep pace with him, though. That would have been bad for me in the long run. Dude runs super distances and is preparing for Kona next month.
A few miles after Waimea he tells me, "Ok, we're going to climb Pupukea." Uh, ok. I don't know what that is. This was probably a good thing. You see, as of Saturday I officially stop calling Kolekole a "climb". It's not. Pupukea is. It's about three miles of lots of up-ness. And I'm huffing and puffing up this thing and Sean is cruising along next to me, having a conversation. If you could call this a conversation:
Him: "So, how'd you get in to triathlon?"
Me: *huff* "Well," *huff breathe huff suck wind*, "I'll tell you at the top."
Him: "Ok. I *talktalktalk like it's easy.*"
Not that I'm, complaining. It helped keep my mind focused on the task at hand and I think I got up faster than I would have alone. The part that sticks out is right near the beginning, I'm already thinking, "This is tough, but I've got it." And he goes, "This next part gets a little steep." I look and, I'm not 100% on this but I think, the road goes straight up. Good stuff. Makes Dirtbag strong. But the way back down was worth it. Made me think of something Cycle Dirtbag told me once. He said, "I'm not build to be a climber. But I've got a perfect body to be a descender."
The rest of the ride out was uneventful but fun. Beautiful weather, some headwind but not too bad. Pretty cool to zip past the shrimp trucks. We stopped at the Polynesian Cultural Center in Laie. This was my turn-around point for my target distance. He was heading on for another fifteen miles or so before turning around. And he was tackling Pupukea again. No, I wasn't. We chatted for a while about all things endurance sport and some things life then went our separate ways. It was fun, and we should do it again.
The trip back alone went quick and well. No problems, no worrisome cars or blind pedestrians. I did a mini-lap when I got back to Haleiwa because I was actually going to be a few miles short of my goal if I went straight up Pineapple and home. Forgot about that six miles up and back Pupukea that wouldn't be there going the other way. No worries, easy fix.
Pineapple was as brutal as it's ever been. Remember, on these long ride days I've been tackling it in the first 30 miles, call it the first hour and a half. Saturday I hit the bottom 3:11 into the ride. Very different attitude coming out of my legs. Struggled up it, got it done, ain't so bad, manly noise, manly noise. Overall a great ride day.
Of course, then I became a moron. I don't think I drank quite enough during the ride, but it would have been ok. And my nutrition on the bike was good. Unfortunately, I didn't think about water when I got home and only drank another water bottle of H20 in the next two hours. Bad choice, Dirtbag Dummy. I was feeling terribly dehydrated and had to chill on the couch nursing a Powerade. Didn't help we had roofers mending the roof (what else would they be doing?) and had to windows closed, making it *bleep*ing hot. I won't make that mistake again.
Today was supposed to be a run. I have many excuses for why it wasn't. Ready?
- I woke up later in the day and it was already *redacted* hot.
- We went grocery shopping in the afternoon and got back after dark, so I missed the part of daylight when it wasn't *expurgated* hot.
- I'm a big wuss and my cramps Thursday shook me up. I'll get back on the horse, no worries there.
- I have the Waikiki RoughWater swim tomorrow morning and I really want to do well. So I'm using that as an excuse for not running too.
See? Lots of excuses, none of them make me happy. I hate missing workouts. But I felt like it was unsafe-hot today to be out when I could have been. I need to be better. After Monday's swim I'll start getting more balanced with the workouts again. After all, Ko'Olina is coming right up too.
I'm looking forward to tomorrow. I'm better trained than I have been for either of the other two swim races this summer so as long as Mother Nature plays along I think I should have a good showing.
Also bought some toys for the bike today, so look for that update in the coming weeks. How far along depends completely on amazon.com.

Long Adjustement Ride (and Pictures of Stuff I Bought!)

Ride Day
time- 3:31
distance- 57.66mi

Longest ride I've ever done. I'm pretty proud of that. In fact, every Saturday from now until my century should be my new Longest Ride.
There was some adjustment stops along the way though, but all in the beginning. You see, dear Dirtbag friends, after my Wednesday ride I decided my seat needed to come forward a smidge. Turns out, I may have gone a smidge and a half. So after 20 or so minutes I stopped and readjusted. Still too far back and I hadn't leveled the seat correctly, making the nose too high. This would have been tolerable, exept I was planning to spend another three hours up there and some of the time would be spent in an aero position. High nose + aero position = much manly bit discomfort. So I stopped again and fixed it again. I think that did it because I felt much better afterwards. I also think that the seat is back to almost the exact same spot it was before I "fixed" it on Wednesday. Someone take my Allen wrenches away before I hurt myself.
Pineapple Hill was good. So good, in fact, that I missed the final climb. As in, I thought to myself, "I should be near the top here soon. Wait a tick, there's Dole. Huh..." There is no attacking the climb on Saturdays, but even without that it is getting easier and easier. This is good. I looped on base to add the right number of miles to last week's effort, then went down and back to school.
Nutrition wasn't as strong as last week. I went with a three bottles again, can't carry any more without buying an under-the-seat cage, and filled one with Hammer Heed Melon. It's got 100 calories, which I figured would be good for me to take in, but the calorie intake from a water bottle is different than the direct shot from a Gu gel, which I also took one of. So I had a bottle of Heed, a Gu, and a Clif Bar in three pieces. Same as last week, plus the Gu. Figured that would be good enough. Not sure it was. I was feeling more tired this time around. Nutrition timing wasn't as on, I left bigger gaps I think due to Heed-overconfidence. Next time I'm bringing two Gus, along with the Clif Bar and a bottle of Heed. That should be better.
No link to the Runtastic page today. It seems three and a half hours of GPS is too much for my phone battery. It didn't quite all the way die, but it missed some spots and isn't accurate.
Looking forward to getting a bigger slice in seven days.
And now, pictures of all the stuff I bought from IT&B on Friday. Much thanks to Background Profiles, it was their money.

Gu, HEED, tubes, and anti-chafe glide for running. I'm a triathlete

The Melon only slightly tasted of melon. Could have been much much worse.

The Mandarin Orange actually wasn't too bad. Not YUM! but not ICK either.

Note to White Dummy: Wear sunscreen on long rides.

A Little Courson in Me

Swim Day

1x 150- Warm-up
5 x 200- 3:00
2 x 500- 7:30
5 x 50- Sideline kick
5 x 100- 1, 2, 3, Swim
3 x 300- 4:30
1 x 100- Cool Down
1 x 50- Underwater
total- 3950yds

Big yardage swim today. Felt good though. I made every single time standard solidly except the second 300 at the end, which I made at 4:31. So I hit the wall, checked my watched, took time to curse quietly, and was off again. Made the third 300.
On both the 200 and 500 set I was getting around ten seconds rest, which is solid and a great confidence builder. I'm trying to decided how much emphasis to put on my swims now that I have the century coming up. The Waikiki Rough Water is also nearing, and is earlier in September, so I don't think I can really let off the gas in the pool. Which means there will be slack in my runs. Those are going o be shorter and a little more neglected for the next two months. Need to be working it in the water and stacking miles on the bike. The only run I've got coming up is the Ko'Olina Sprint Tri in October and I'll be ready for that 5k no problem. Its not like I'm going to stop running. I just might keep it at twice a week, while making the swims and rides three times a week.
And that 50yd underwater at the end? Some teens were challenging each other to try and make it across once without coming up and failing. It made me get a little Courson and I quietly sucked some wind, cooled my mind out, and went for the deuce. No problem. That's The Way.