Brrrr (but Hawaiian)

Swim (Tuesday)
1 x 200- warm-up
4 x 500- 1) 7:18
              2) 7:14
              3) 7:16
              4) 6:59
1 x 100- Cool down
total- 2300yd

Ride
time- 2:05
distance- 31mi

I think the 4 x 500 swim set is going to be a good measuring stick going forward in my training. I couldn't be happier about how those times look for where I am. The splits are exactly like I would have predicted for a 4x set. I'd only done 200yd before the first one, so it acted as an extended warm-up and of course is a little slower. The second is where I start feeling my groove and dig in, putting in a quicker time than the first. The third is where two things happen. 1- fatigue begins to set in and 2- the brain starts thinking ahead to really pounding the last one. So it is slightly slower. And the fourth one is where you realize you've got seven minutes of hard swimming left and damn it, you can push anything hard for seven minutes. I actually thought the wheels were going to come off during number four. I went out way too hard and struggled to get the pace fixed in the middle third so that the last 150 yards were grit-your-teeth-and-go hard. The most difficult part of finishing this set strong? Keeping the stroke from going to hell just because you're pushing. Technique trumps GAAAAA MUST HAVE ALL THE FASTER SWIM GO NOW KICK PULL GRAB FLAIL every time. The most difficult part of the set? Not falling asleep during it. Long sets like that can be a challenge just because it's easy to get black line hypnosis. And when that happens everything falls away.

Pictured: The Weather Right Now

The ride was a pleasant surprise because I didn't think I was going to get to ride outside at all. The weather here has been pants on head crazy and I honestly was expecting pouring rain or cats and dogs falling from the sky or possible locusts. Instead I got bloody wind. Wind that meant there was some pedaling going downhill. Few things cyclists hate more than pedaling downhill. I don't know if it gave me a push going back up Pineapple, so I'm going to say it didn't and take complete credit for my decent time. Instead of whipping around and hitting it again I decided to head to base and tackle Kolekole, since I haven't done that in a while. I don't know if its gotten shorter or flatter but it sure isn't as bad as it used to be, Still isn't great and I'm not flying up it like I think I should be, but it you check out the elevation chart below you'll see a pretty steady pace over a solid grade.
You know what else wind does? It makes you freaking cold. Especially jamming downhill in lycra and sweat. And I don't want to hear it from you mainland people still in the midst of "winter" and dealing with "snow". Whatever. I'm used to 75* so my It's Cold Now gauge is broken.