Oh, Holey Ride... (OR Mom, He's Poking Me!)

Aborted Ride Day
Run Day
time- 57:33
distance- 6.1mi

It was going to be a good ride. The weather sucked at home so Sean and I decided to meet down at the airfield for some repeats or, better yet, some good distance. Or, as it turned out, stopping twice because my front tire was allergic to air. That's right, ladies and gentlemen, the Time of the Flats continues. Yesterday was a double rear tire flat ruining my ride. Today that stayed nice and tight but my front tire attracted the glass slivers. If you click on the charts on the link you can see where it happened. I think my favorite pieces of information are the little heart rate spikes while I'm not moving. Know what those are? Those are, "Get on the rim you little...." or, "I know there is glass in here somewhere! Here it is! Of course, too tiny and dug in for my chewed down nails to reach. I shall now dig a hole in my tire!" And once the integrity of the rubber is compromised, fuggetabotit. Now every tiny little suggestion of debris is going to cause Massive Catastrophic Damage to the tube. You know what the most annoying part is? Yesterday, when I went to The Bike Factory to grab some new tubes and CO2 I looked at GatorSkin tires. But at $45 each I passed. Don't need 'em yet, I thought. Sucker. Guess what I'll be buying later today?
Sean was very helpful during the first flat, giving me pointers on the best way to seat the tube and tire, helping check for glass, and talking me through using the CO2 cartridge the first time. Thou Shalt Not Explode the Tube. But after the second flat, wherein I found not one but two shards of glass in different places, I decided to call it a day. And Sean decided to point and laugh at me. And video tape me. And take pictures. Because he's a good friend and that's pretty much what I would have done had our positions been reversed.

Little bastard

Letting Diesel Dirtbag know he is Numero Uno! 

Sean let me borrow his patch kit and I patched up the tire and we rode back to the cars. He decided to keep riding, which turned out to be a mistake because Puncturana, the Goddess of Tire Integrity, got his ass too. But she got him via a bee sting. Sean's allergic to bees. Benadryl to the rescue!
I needed to workout when I got home so off went the bike gear, on went the Bikilas and running shorts, Rush into the headphones, and we're off. Nice and easy run. The weather was mostly cool, which was nice because I left my water at home. Foot got a little sore near the end of the run, not really sure what that's about. Probably just that a lot of my recent runs have been on trails to pounding the pavement wore on after a while.

Kona World Championships Video Link

Someone was cool enough to upload a recording of the Kona Ironman World Championships to YouTube, and then Jason was cool enough to post it on his blog, so I'm going forward with that and also posting it on my blog. It's a RB (ReBlog). Really cool to watch and so much easier in an hour-long chunk rather than watching it on Ironmanlive.com over the course of the day. I dare you to not be amazed out loud by the guys at the end, coming in at 16 hours+. To me, they are more impressive than the guys and gals finishing in 8:something. Try not to get teary.Try not to be motivated to get out and do something.



If the video doesn't work on the page follow this link.
Thanks Jason, and thanks Random Dude From the YouTubes.

*Grumble*

Today was supposed to be a ride day. Actually, yesterday was supposed to be a ride day. But it was pouring. Not according to weather.com, which said it was bright and sunny, but according to window.com, which said it was not a good day to go outside. And rather than hit the trainer I decided to take the day and ride Sunday.
Fail. Looked nice enough this morning when I got up. Sprinkles started but I figured it wasn't that bad and it always rains near my house. I wanted at least 50 miles today. Got down to the main road and got a good look at the north horizon. Them there be rain clouds. Damnit.
New plan! Head home, set up the trainer, watch the Packers, and ride. Or I could immediately get a flat rear tire. Choice- call Super Awesome Wife for a pick-up a mile and a half from the house or use this as an opportunity to practice changing a tire on the road. Practice! I'm not great at changing my tubes yet and on a race day I don't want to be stuck and screwed. And it wasn't raining. Ok, so it was, but not much. At that moment. Oh wait, now it is. And now it stopped. But now it is. You get the idea. Got the wheel off, got the tire off, got the tube out, new tube lined up, tucked in, seated, tire back on, inflate (after a little fighting with the stem), small happy dance, wheel back on the bike...and tire goes flat again. Anyone want to guess what step I missed? Yes, the tall, balding man in the back? That's right, I forgot to check the tire for the cause of the original flat. Which means whatever evil little pointy messed up my first tube just messed up my second (and only spare). Gold star for you. Which led to this:

Pictured: Dirtbag Tantrum

There may have been some cursing of the Cycling Gods (Feltus, Cervellonon, and Tebow, among others). There may also have been some stomping of feet and shaking of mini-bike pump.

As penance for my mistake I shlepped the bike home on my shoulders, as rolling it a mile and a half on the rim seemed ill-advised. And now it sits in the corner waiting for me to fix it again, but I'm not willing to look at it quite yet. Luckily, it didn't rain at all the whole walk back. Oh wait...

Dirtbag Powered Travel (plus MEGA Links and Shilling for Louis CK)

Run/Swim Day
Run time- 45:18
distance- 4.91mi
Swim-
1 x 500 yds
8 x 25 dolphin kick (1 breath or less)
1 x 50 dolphin kick (underwater)

Yesterday was my first day off of school for Winter Break. (It's not Christmas break because there are actually people in this country who celebrate something other than Christmas, and its not Holiday Break because often those other holidays don't fall during the so-called Holiday Break. Living in Hawaii even calling it Winter Break is a stretch. Where was I?) As I've stated before in this space, having time off from work is both a blessing and a curse when it comes to working out. On one hand, I'm completely free to work out any time I'd like. On the other I have no set times when I must work out. Too much freedom! My training plan is based around get up before school/train again after school timing. To be able to just wake up whenever or go run whenever is troubling. Too much opportunity for "I can play another 30 minutes of Uncharted 3, then I'll head out." But I've started out strongly this time.
As I've gained endurance and confidence I've been trying to do more and more things Dirtbag-powered. If something is close enough to ride the bike to, I will try  to do that. And now the gym is close enough to run to. Actually, its just as close as its always been, but that distance doesn't seem nearly so far anymore. So with a coaching session with Dirtbag the Grey planned for 2:30, I set out at 1 for the gym. I wore my zoomers under my running shorts, tucked my goggles and cap into the trunks, strapped on my heart rate monitor and Garmin, threw on my glasses and visor, tried not to think about how non-minimal I was being with all this crap, and set out. No water because Google Maps told me it would be just over five miles and that's not too bad and because Super Awesome Wife might have gotten me something to help for Christmas.
It was a decent enough run. According to the fanciness I averaged a 9:07 pace, which isn't too bad since I wasn't pumping at all. Not that there will be much pumping in the near future from my runs. I'm looking for strength still, not speed. Speed is so much less important to me right now.

And when I got to the pool the Grey hadn't arrived yet so, in an act of extreme trusting, I gathered all my stuff on a kickboard, put the kickboard on a chair, and put the chair right next to the lane I was swimming in so that I could see in on nearly every breath while I swam. Then I cruised a nice and easy 500 to stretch the muscles out. My core has been feeling a little weak in the water and that's the reason for the dolphin kick repeats. Nothing strengthens the core like a good dolphin kick set. And the anaerobic additions? Why not? It's only 25 yards (enter Sean laughing and arguing with me that its shorter) and that's an easy underwater to make. Hence the double at the end.

Race Update: In other Dirtbag-related news the Honolulu Triathlon is open for early resident registration. Since this will be the big tune-up race before the Honu I got in early. As of right now it's the only triathlon on my plate for the year aside from the Honu and I'm really looking forward to seeing my time drop since I'll be prepared for a much longer race and this should be shorter than many of my training sessions.

 Completely Unrelated to Fitness Thing: Louis CK is hilarious. If you don't already know that you need to find it out right now this minute. Warning: SOOOOO NSFW.




If you did laugh your ass off at these (the story 2:00 into the second one is one of my favorite things ever) then you should support the man. And here is how-go to this website and buy his special, Live from the Beacon Theater. It's $5. So even if you hate it you only spent five bucks. He's being completely upfront and honest about where the money is going and how he's going to use it. He made it, literally, the easiest thing on the internet to steal. But why would you do that? Buy one. Buy one for a friend. You can! You can gift this thing for $5 from his website. And you can burn it to a DVD. You can, like I'm going to do, download it and move the file onto a different device, my Nook Color, to watch it on a plane. If enough people support him he'll keep doing stuff like this. Grantland.com has a great interview with him (BS Report links, 2 parts, you can't miss it). Ok, I'm done now. But seriously, Louis CK.

There Will Be Mud

Run Day

time- 1:55

distance- 7.73mi

Frankly, Dirtbag Followers, I'm worn out today. Yesterday's run with Diesel Dirtbag, his dog, and CURG (Crazy Ultra-Runner Guy, eventually he'll get a Dirtbag nickname I'm sure) over the trails and mud and through the woods...and mud kicked my ass. It was great, I had fun and I ran hard, but I got home last night and crashed BOOM. Worn out. Today was Christmas Party day in class and those days are worse than days when I teach all day. The kids are wound up, there is cookies and candy and cupcakes everywhere, even the best classroom is a madhouse. So instead of a long write-up you get a few dirty pictures (get it?) and the Garmin map. I would like to say that I'm glad Sean brought his dog. It meant that I got a few more breaks. And only one root jumped out in front of my feet yesterday. Much better.

Der Übernachtung schwimmer (The Night Swimmer)

Swim Day
distance- 0.6mi
time- 23:21

Yesterday was an experiment. Super Awesome Wife had a meeting in town after school so instead of doing a pool workout like I normally would have I packed my gear and went for a swim at Ala Moana beach park. But since her meeting didn't start until 5:45 we hung out at the mall for a bit before splitting off. This means that I didn't get into the ocean until 6-ish. Know what happens at 6-ish? Sunset! I knew that getting in and figured I'd be alright but I once again completely underestimated how quickly the sun sets. You'd think there was some kind of magical force pulling it beneath the horizon. I was good for one end of the beach, near Magic Island, all the way to the other side, but by the time I got there it was dark. No problem, I thought. I'm an experienced swimmer, a strong swimmer, a badass Dirtbag, The Tattooed Wake. I'll be fine. Yeah, not so much. As far as you, dear readers, know I got out because I got attacked my a massive sea monster which I killed with my goggles and cap. I did not get out because it was too dark to see the bottom and I was naviguessing by parking lot lights and I was doing my level best not to imagine previously mentioned sea monster. Still, it was a good swim until the sea monster attack. I'll need to get out there again when it will be lighter longer. Less attacks then, you see.
I also used this as my first opportunity to test out the waterproof features of my Garmin Forerunner 310xt. I know from other examples that if I leave the watch on my wrist I'll get a drunken mess of a GPS track and the proposed solution from others who have it is throwing the thing under your cap. But that's where I put my hair and I'm not bright enough yet to get both the hair and the watch under there at the same time comfortably. So I stuck it in my suit on my hip. It's gotta be towards the sky so it can see the satellites, but putting it over my butt didn't seem very comfortable. The hip, I thought, would be a good compromise. Seems to have worked too. The only odd thing about the data is my top speed. Somehow I got to 131mph. Which is great. And I probably don't remember going that fast because I  slammed into the far rock wall so hard I knocked my brains through my feet.

When It Rains It Means Airport Repeats

Ride Day
time- 1:38
distance- 29mi

The plan for Saturday was scrapped when everyone involved woke up to rain. Not little, ahh this is nice and cool rain, but WHAT I CAN'T HEAR YOU OVER THE SOUND OF THE RAIN ON THE ROOF rain. So instead of risking Pineapple Hill in the extremely wet we (Sean "Dirtbag Diesel", Andy "Dirtbag the Grey", and myself "Da Dirtbag") decided to meet out at Dillingham Airfield where we knew it would be dry for some repeats.
I've never ridden with Andy before, he's one of my swimmers, and it turns out he's a great guy to ride with when Sean's there. Because Sean is a freaking rocket on his bike and Andy is more my speed. Which meant that after Sean took off, "Sure was nice to have that tailwind, huh guys?" we could hang back and plot. "Ok, I'll pull for a while and you draft, the we'll switch and we will catch him in no ti-wait, where'd he go?" Though I am proud to say that on the third lap into the wind I managed to grab onto Sean's back tire and stay there for almost the entire seven miles. I realize he wasn't working as hard as he could but Shut Up! Knowing that at any moment he might decide that he'd had enough rest and disappear in a cloud of road grime made the lap more interesting.
Riding in a small group is nice too because we would stop between each repeat and shoot the breeze for a few minutes. It was then I learned Andy is a kilt fan like myself. And Sean teased us about being three guys in lycra talking about wearing skirts. And later Sean and I discussed the finer points of leg shaving, at which point Andy reminded us that we were three guys in lyrca who had just discussed skirts and were now sharing tips on how not to get ingrown hairs. And then Sean and Andy started talking about ultra-running, at which point I reminded them that anyone who runs 100km for fun is mentally damaged. They agree.
 And after our ride we went to The Bakery in Haleiwa and had the Best Cookies on the Island. Seriously, one dollar and they kick ass. Right across the street from Opal Thai, the Best Thai Food on the Island, in the Market parking lot. Everyone should go.
Also, I love my Garmin, minus the tech issues I'm having uploading data to the computer. But that's probably more of a user error than the machine's fault. Here's the link to the ride. I love being able to see Moving Time vs Total Time, average everything, speed over time or distance, speed broken down by mileage. It's all so cool!
I registered for the 100k of Sharon's Ride Run Walk for Epilepsy. Check out my post here for more information. That's right, I masterlinked again.