Cranking It Out

Swim Day

1 x 150- Warm-up
3 x 50- Sideline kick
4 x 200- Stroke count (15 or less)
4 x 100- IM
5 x 100- 1, 2, 3, Swim

total- 2000yds

Not the hardest swim I've ever laid down, but I do think the drill did their work nicely. The goal of those sideline kick drills is to get me swimming laterally in the water, really stretching the top of my stroke and getting my shoulders around. Going from that in to the 200s with a stroke count went well. I kept a decent pace and I felt like my strokes were long and strong. I was right about 15 stroke per lap for nearly the whole set, rising to 16 or 17 a few times when I started swimming a little harder at the end.
The IM was fun. My fly actually didn't feel like seven pieces of crap, which I expected. I value my butterfly, having been a flyer in high school and in college (a little, where I sucked compared to everyone else). Backstroke is lame and I'm not sure my still sore knees appreciated the torque that comes with the breaststroke's whip kick. Still good. And the 1, 2, 3, Swim drill has me feeling the water and gripping it strongly. Low yardage, but quality yards.

Ride Day

time- 1:49
distance- 27mi

Ok, not the fastest 27 miles ever. In fact, I'm not all that pleased with my time. But I did hit Kolekole Hill in just under 15 minutes, which is good. Especially because it felt slow. I haven't done that climb in what feels like a long time, so it was good to get up it again.
I don't know, I just don't feel as strong as I would like on the bike. Even as strong as I had been feeling. Its probably because I haven't had good, consistent rides recently. But I feel like by this point in my training my quads should be kick ass. They should be Engines of Destruction. And they aren't. They get me where I'm going, sure, but not like I would like. I make myself feel better by being reminded that I just completed the base building section of my training and the next few weeks are speedwork and quality. So now I need to be pounding out fast intervals and hitting it hard. My quads feel pretty cooked right this minute. Make me strong. Also feeling better down on the Aerobars of Chaos. Still not sure if I'm actually more aero, should ask Super Awesome Sexy Wife to take some pictures of me.
I was starving today after my ride. Had a burger and fries, then was hungry again an hour later and had a bagel. Guess that means it was a good workout day.
Saw this sign at the top of Kolekole Pass today during my ride. Here's the thing, I has just ridden up the road that was supposedly closed for the Live Fire Exercise. There was no sign at the bottom, I checked. Only a sign at the top. These are the joys of riding on a military base. I didn't get shot. I did ride down the hill as fast as I could.

A Slow, Frustrating Day with a Happy Ending

Ride Day

distance- 27mi

Today started off so well. The fit of the bike was right and felt good. The weather was cooperating. All was right with the world for about twelve miles.
Then the damned derailuer started acting up again. If you've been paying attention you will remember that Kratos will sometimes refuse to shift from the small ring to the big ring. Well he made that choice again today and it really pissed me off. I'd had this problem fixed a few times. They go in, turn a few screws, Allen a few bolts, and viola, fixed. But I don't want to have to keep dragging the bike to the shop once every month. Stopped on the side of the road and tried to fix it. Thought I did. I was wrong.
Then I noticed that I'd missed the Haleiwa Metric Half Century (62 miles) today. I didn't know it was happening until I rode by the staging area. This would have been a cool ride to go on. Aside from the whole my bike won't shift thing. So I stopped, said hi to some people that I knew, and found out their mechanic, who I hoped would fix my problem, had just left. Major bummer. So I pounded back up Pineapple Hill, grumbling to myself the whole way, fighting a massive mental game. The mechanical issue really threw me off today. My head was not in this ride at all, resulting in a crappy ride. All I could think about was how annoying it was that I was going to have to take the stupid bike back in to the stupid shop and stupid grumble grumble. This type of inner conversation is not conducive to a strong workout. In fact, I cut my ride short by ten miles because I didn't want to waste time getting it fixed.
I need to get my head back on straight. A huge part of this sport is being mentally strong and I can't let little things throw me off so badly.
Once I got home I busted out Zinn and the Art of Triathlon Bikes, which Super-Awesome Sexy Wife bought me a few weeks ago. I hoped this would have the answers I was looking for. And lo and behold it did! Showed me exactly which screws to turn in which directions and quick as you can say, "I'm so very glad I didn't throw the bike into the truck and drive to the nearest bike shop and pay for someone to do this," it was fixed. So yay for SASW buying a book which has paid for itself a few times now, and yay for me being savvy enough to actually use the book. Can't recommend the Zinn cycling books enough.
Next week I need to get some quality rides in. Also, one week from today is my final tune-up race, the Lanikai Sprint Tri. Should be a good time.

I Kneed Work

Run Day

time- 1:08
distance- 7.24mi

Moderately annoyed by today's run. I planned another eight miles like last weekend. But the whole run, the whole week really, my knees have been funny. After my run Thursday my left knee tightened up pretty good and it took a bit for it to relax. Well, tightness set in after about 40 minutes of running and by the time I started walking, with home nearly in sight, the left knee was at a point where it wasn't hurting, but it wasn't doing what I wanted either. I decided to err on the side of caution. What is most disappointing is that the run as a whole wasn't working for me. There were stretches where I liked my cadence, I felt smooth and light and strong, but overall this was more of a drag than the last time. Which happens.
I'm wondering if the knees are sore because I broke one of the rules. I might have grown my run too much too quickly. The furthest I'd gone up until two weeks ago was six miles. I bumped that to eight all at once. Probably should have gone to six and a half or seven first.
Tomorrow is a ride. Feels like I haven't been on the bike in forever, but really its only been since Monday. Hope my knees don't bother me too much. Riding puts a lot of pressure there. Guess if I get pain I'll knock off early. Probably time to ice a little more.

BRS- Hawaii is Up and Running!

This just in, you're favorite Dirtbag is now one step closer to winning the internets. That's right, I am the Chapter President of the Barefoot Runners Society Hawaii Chapter. I didn't even have to show a birth certificate (little Hawaii birth certificate humor there. Course, I was born in Californi but whatever! At least I wasn't born in Panama or something. Whew!)!
This development not only makes the Hawaii Chapter of the BRS the most important chapter, but also the most awesome chapter. That's right, we are waaay more awesome than even the Minnesota Chapter. All they've got is a paleo, kit-wearing superhero. You can also check us out on Facebook using the link to the side of the blog.
So if you are a barefoot or minimalist runner in Hawaii like us, come on by the BRS forums, and come for a run or two.

Trying To Go

Swim Day

1 x 150- Warm-up
4 x 200- 3:00
1 x 50- easy
1 x 400- 6:00
5 x 100- 1, 2, 3, swim drill
3 x 50- Sideline kick drill
1 x 100- Cool down

total- 2150yds

I'm trying out some drills I found on a triathlon website. The 1, 2, 3, Swim drill is something that I used to do in high school and had since forgotten about. One means my hands are fists except for one finger extended, two means two fingers, and you get the idea. The drill's point is to improve feel for the water and to teach me to use my forearm as well as my hand. And that last lap always feels excellent with an open hand. Feels strong.
Sideline kick means one arms extended like I was rotated at the top of a stroke, shoulders and hips vertical in the water, flutter kicking. This improves body rotation, which in turn improves stroke length and efficiency. This is important even if I'm not working long distances.
Drills, I think, are going to become more and more important as I get closer to race day. Better to make Dirtbag the Tattooed Wake.

Run Day

time- 53 minutes
distance- 5.97mi

First, I was sure that this run was six miles. I know, I know, that distance practically is six miles. But its isn't actually six miles. Damnit. Run felt ok, pace was off the whole time. I was slower than normal. Not too much slower, but slower. I think part of that was I had an all day meeting today. Which means that there was snacks sitting in front of me all day. Which I may have had my fair share of because sometimes my impulse control sucks. And this, I think, gave me some Dirtbag Gas during my run. Releaving said gas is great once, ok twice, but after that is get annoying and uncomfortable. Needless to say, I'm glad I run alone.

I know yesterday was supposed to be a ride day and I'd planned to make up my swim too. But we got locked out of the house the night previous resulting in a less-than-ideal bedtime. So no swim. And after work I felt like I needed a rest day. It just felt like one of those days. My left knee was still sore, my left ankle felt funny. I wanted to not work out. So Sexy Wife and I went to see Source Code instead. If you've seen it we need to talk. I have issues.
As of right now I'm icing my left knee because it tightened up on me right after my run ended. No pain, just tight. The ice bag then alternates to my left foot, which also feels like it could use some ice. Should just figure out an affordable way to take an ice bath after workouts. That would show these pesky joints.

Sleeping In, Runing With Fartlek, Making Adjustments

Run Day

time- 40:51
distance- 4.74mi

I know, I know, today was supposed to be a swim day too. I had alarm fail. I don't know why. The worst part is when I have alarm fail I wake up on my own with just enough time to get to the pool, change, and swim an unsatisfyingly short workout before I'd have to get out and get ready for work. So I went back to sleep. I plan on getting up tomorrow morning instead.
My training plan has me moving from the base building phase into the speed/quality phase, so I'll be knocking out one fartlek run a week. For those of you with no reading retention, fartlek is Swedish for "speedplay". It also means "word which will make the wife will stop asking you what you did on your run". So after ten minutes of warm-up at a good pace I picked a landmark and sprinted to it. And so on.
Sprinting in the VFFs is a tricky thing. Too much and I'm going to hurt myself. Too little and its not a sprint. So I'm watching my form while I'm also trying to spin up my cadence and use my hips for a slightly longer stride. I'm not unhappy with today's run. I didn't feel that fast, but its my first speedplay run in a while. Didn't finish as strongly as I would have liked either.
Once home I stretched, showered, and set to work adjusting Kratos. First, the handlebars had to be dropped. So I loosened them up and took off the spacers raising it a few cm. Not enough. I took the bar all the way off and flipped the stem, dropping the bars a few more metric units. The hardest part was tightening everything back up so we were level and in line. Think I got it.
Next, I tackled the seat. It needed to be leveled, so I fooled around with those bolts, getting it right. Then I raised it just a smidge, checked it, and raised it just a smidge more. Hopefully, these changes will give me a slight aero and power improvement. I'll be riding with my two magic Allen wrenches for the next few days just in case things aren't quite tight. I think the real reason all adjustments went so smoothly is I didn't say the famous words of that world-renown philosopher Clarksonius before starting, "How hard could this be? Honestly."

I'm Not Aero

Swim Day

1 x 150- Warm-up
5 x 150- Pull
5 x 200- 100-5, 7, 9/100- stroke focus
1 x 400- Strong
1 x 100- Cool down

total- 2400yds

Had some trouble with the 5, 7, 9 this morning. I think it was because I was working the second hundred hard so the heart rate was up, somewhat decreasing oxygen efficiency. Or I'm weak sauce sometimes. One of the two. Still, the swim was good. I'm at the point in my training now where I think my swim distances are going to drop off significantly over the next few weeks as I start putting more energy towards the bike or run workout at the end of the day. My swim isn't going to be the fastest out of everyone, but it will get me out of the water in the front third or better. I need to get strong enough to hold that position now.

Bike Day

distance - 27.51mi
time- ?

At some stop or another I forgot to restart my watch, then at the next stop I started it, and so on, so my time was all screwed up by the time I realized what was going on. It wasn't as fast as it should have been, let's put it that way.
Today was my first ride with aerobars on and, well, I can see how it will make me faster. It feels faster being in that position. But I am in no way aero yet. Like I mentioned in the post where I mounted the bars, my seat-to-bar drop is non-existent. I didn't think it would be that big of a deal. It will be. I can totally tell as soon as I get leaned over. My seat is too far back, causing my shoulder/body angle to be obtuse rather that right, which means my upper arm/lower arm angle is also more open than it should be. Figuring out how to get the bars lower, which will happen tomorrow and which I should be able to do (there are spacers and I can flip the stem if I need to, good call Cycle Dirtbag), and the seat pushed a few mm forward should make a bunch of difference. And if I can't seem to get it dialed in then Friday I'll head to IT&B and say, "Halp! I tried to make my bike faster and now it doesn't fit and I don't know what I'm doing." They'll hook me up. Rather do it myself though.
But because I was thinking about how off the fit seemed and because I was getting used to the aerobars and the incredible way my wrist has to stretch to get flat (which hurts now but should get better), and because I stopped twice to fiddle/tighten/adjust, I don't feel like I had all that great of a workout. It was more of a test ride. I need to start pushing these. Gotta find that Fast.