Makaha TT

On Thursday I saw a post on Facebook from one of my local tri-geek friends that mentioned something about the TT out at Makaha this weekend. I'd totally forgotten about that race but made a mental note... maybe? The thing was, my TT bike was still in limbo b/c at that point Mike was still trying to source the creaking sound... and then there was that nagging thought about how I'm not anywhere near close to race shape!

The first excuse would have been a legit reason to skip a TT. But the second reason? Not in my book. I mean, if I was afraid to race because I didn't want to get my ass kicked by my friends, well that's nonsense. I think as I get older and more mature/confident about who I am as a person, I find that I don't associate race results with self-worth nearly as much as I did when I was younger. When my athletes were here kicking my ass on the bike a few weeks ago I found that incredibly motivating... like Must.Fix.It. So I figured another dose of reality would be good for me. So my thought was essentially, go do the TT, get yourself some current threshold power data, see how far off you are from the fast girls, and use that knowledge as motivation and direction going forward. My expectations were quite low which honestly I think is the best way for me to go into a race situation?

Anyway, I put my Enve wheels back on my bike (and thanks to YouTube figured out how to change the brake pads too!), sent the race director an email asking if I could enter race morning (thumbs up from him), and packed my car up for an early morning departure. Long story short, I miscalculated how long it actually takes to get to Makaha (a long freaking time!) and by the time I got there they said it was too late to enter. Damn! But then they took pity on me and called my name in to the timing guy and gave me a number and a timing device (yay small local races and friendly accommodating volunteers!). I was the last rider off, but there weren't many people in the race (~60) so I didn't have time to warm up the way I would have wanted. But whatever.

To be honest, I don't even remember much about the race. It was short and mostly flat straightforward out/back route, only ~25min, and the whole time I just kept glancing at my 30" power and avg lap power, trying to get those numbers to be higher than 225, bc that's what I remembered doing last time I did this race 2 years ago (I looked it up this afternoon to check and turns out it was 227 back then). I missed that goal, finishing with 221w avg, which was maybe slightly disappointing but not as bad as it could have been. I didn't have time showing on my garmin, but I did see HR and it hovered around 172-173 for the bulk of the TT. So. Concrete data. I don't think I could have gone any harder this morning so the data is accurate enough for my purposes. I didn't think much about placing but I figured there were (at least) 5 gals in the race who would likely out-ride me so that wasn't a big concern of mine. Given that mindset, I was very pleasantly surprised to find out I won my AG and was 2nd OA?! To be fair, the gal who should have won OA blew a tire within a mile of the finish line (gah!), so really I should have been 2nd AG and 3rd OA, but still, I was shocked and satisfied with that result for sure. Only 42" separated 1st from 5th so we were all right there close! But to know that even with my current fitness I'm still in the mix with them is highly motivating.

I'm glad I put away any fear of getting my ass kicked and just went for it. Of course what makes the experience even better is that at these little local races you get to see a bunch of friends and hang out afterward and I like that. I like being part of my local race community. High five, Lectie!

Afterward Scott and Moana and Maia met me out there. It's rare we go to the West side. Beaches out there are simply outstanding, though some of the neighborhoods, how should I put this? They lack charm. While I was waiting for my family I went in search of food... found a little market with lead bars on the doors/windows and some shady looking people hanging around outside and wondered if I was in a scene from Breaking Bad? Walked into the little store, found the only options were soda and candy bars and chips, and walked right back out. Across the street there was a 7/11 and in there at least I could find something more like actual food. It's sad though when areas don't really have options for real food? I suppose that's a blog post all of its own.

Anyway, you can't really beat the beach out there. It was worth the drive!

Riding In A Postcard

I totally forgot to blog yesterday! I'll blame it on the fact that I've recently discovered Netflix and Breaking Bad (yes I know late to that party). That is a captivating series. I know absolutely nothing about the drug world b/c that's just not my gig, and that series confirms that avoiding that scene my whole life has likely been a good call. Still, I find watching the drama entertaining, except for the parts I simply can't watch! It's scary, yo.

Anyway. Nothing big happened yesterday anyway. It was standard swim 3600m in the morning then ride 50k and all of it was pretty relaxed aerobic work. One of those training days that's not particularly sexy just bread and butter do the work kind of stuff. The consistency on the bike, even though I haven't been riding hard, makes me feel good.

Today I actually got my TT bike out (I've been doing almost all my riding on my road bike) and got my power meter functioning again as well. I really like my P3 and found it instantly comfortable today. Last time I rode it was the long ride a few weeks ago with my athletes when they were here- it was making a horrible noise though so my mechanic friend spent a bunch of time trouble shooting that. Turns out it was the wheel, which was a much better scenario than it being a crack in the frame or something! Swapped wheels and ta-dah! A nice smooth quiet ride.

So it's been 3-4 weeks since I've ridden with any power data. I sort of wish I would have started this whole 14 day streak with a HR/watts ratio... i.e. like when I ride an hour steady at HR 145, power is 140 watts, or whatever... I'd bet a few weeks ago it was something like that anyway. Today I spent the middle hour of my ride targeting a steady aerobic HR (avg 146) and avg power for that 60min was 156w. So still a lot of room to grow there but certainly an improvement over a few weeks ago. Another 10w at that HR would be quite satisfying so I'll likely test that data point again end of next week.

I had to stop and take a picture. El Nino summer was a giant pain in the ass but El Nino winter has been good to us. It was another picture perfect postcard day here on Oahu. #fromwhereiride

Tomorrow I'm going to collect more power data.

Eddie Went.

I woke up at 3:30 this morning and then couldn't go back to sleep, so I opted to get up and start working. It's amazing how productive I am at 4AM. I was less productive through mid-morning because the Eddie went off today up at Waimea Bay and I discovered the live stream with commentary and it was captivating! I mean, really, these guys are amazing. And the power of the ocean is mind baffling.

I had several tabs open today so I was trying to work in Training Peaks but also had the commentary going in the background and when I heard them raise their voices and get all excited I would click back over to watch, often seeing scenes like this one while the commentators were saying stuff like OOOHHHH... He just lept off a 4 story building!

It's shocking to think we swim this bay all summer long. Sure doesn't look like this in the summer!!

Word is that today was about the biggest/best ever conditions for the Eddie, which only ever is held when it's both big and perfect, so most years it doesn't actually get held. Last time was in 2009 and that year I braved the traffic and the crowds and went up with Moana (she was ~4 months old!) and watched in person. That's cool but I think the live stream was better b/c I learned more listening to the commentators and I could see the replays of the best waves and crashes.

Anyway, eventually I tore myself away from my computer and headed out to hit my 50k+ streak ride... Day 3! I headed north because that direction I just get to ride steady with very few interruptions... figured I'd just go 16 miles then turn around and come home, goal to keep HR 140s, which I was quite successful at doing. On my way home I was caught by my friend Mike who also happened to be riding same road same time... So of course I jumped on and immediately was at HR155. It felt ok though so I went with it. Essentially he dragged me along for ~25min and I was working fairly hard HR mostly 153-163 range but the difference was that today it was doable and I never had a thought about getting dropped (last 2 times I rode with Mike he dropped me repeatedly!). I definitely felt stronger and fitter than I was two weeks ago so yay! Progress! To be honest I'm surprised I felt the progress so soon- I thought it would take a lot longer to feel like I did today... but it was like confirmation that accumulating time pedaling with my HR 140's is highly beneficial for me... so then when it comes time to actually work (i.e. stay on someone's wheel and not get dropped!) I'm completely capable. I love that feeling. It motivates me to go out again tomorrow.

The Benefit of Overload

I attempted jogging down to the pool this morning (first attempt at running in ~10 days). No good. Grrrr. Pain was only maybe 2/10 but I could tell for sure it was the exact same type of pain, and had I run further or faster it would have come back full force. So. Damn.

Starting my swim I didn't feel good- part of that might have been mental/emotional b/c I was bummed that I couldn't jog a 1/2 mile without pain. Anyway, I felt heavy and sluggish and slow in the water and my warm up was shit. I've turned that around 100x in the past though and still come out with a solid main set so I didn't give up hope on the session.

Opted to do a set of progressive 200's today. My old coach Scott used to give me this set over and over and I grew to like it (unlike the 60x50's I also had to do all the time that made me want to blow my head off). Anyway, it's a good way to break up 200's and swim fast at the same time.

4x200's @3:15
100 easy
3x200's @3:10
100 easy
2x200's @3:05
100 easy
200 fast!
100 c/d

I started off 2:57, 2:57, 2:56, 2:55. Those felt pretty good. I thought for the set of 3 I'd try to keep the descend and was shooting for 2:55>2:53, so when the first one was 2:53 I told Mark too fast! But then we still managed the descend 2:51, 2:50. That felt like solid work. For the set of 2 we went 2:48, 2:47 and that felt hard. To be honest, when I started this set I was hoping for sub 2:50 for the last one, so to do it on the set of 2 felt like a win already. Going into the last one I told Mark 2:44, though if I'm honest I'd say that was a pipe dream... I thought saying it out loud might help. Mark spat back "2:40". I laughed. We worked it though and I got to the wall at 2:41(!). He was a full body length ahead of me so sub 2:40 for him for sure. During that set I thought that THIS was the benefit of that overload swim challenge I did... 2 weeks of a ton of volume followed by a bit of rest and ta-dah! Swim fitness is back and I felt strong and solid and fast. I suspect a solid overload like that would work for most athletes, but especially for an athlete like me who has a deep swim background. It was just perfect and exactly what I needed to inject myself with some swim fitness that had been missing the previous months.

It occurred to me that I bet I could overload myself on the bike the same way I did with my swim and see my bike fitness come back around. Given my current inability to run, it seems like maybe a good time to experiment with that? While I was out riding this afternoon I came up with my (tentative) bike overload plan... 2 weeks of minimum 50k/day. I figure yesterday was at least 50 miles, today was 50k+ at 32 miles, so I'm already 2 days in! That seems pretty equivalent to the 5k+/day I did swimming. So we'll see if I can make that happen. It would be 210+ miles/week for a few weeks and I bet that would make me tired but again after a bit of rest I bet I'd be riding a ton stronger than I am right now. I do remember in 2013 I avg 225 miles/week for 12 weeks straight, so this 'overload' would be mini as compared to that... it may or may not be enough but I guess we'll see! The goal would be to put in these miles as just mostly steady riding, nothing crazy hard but not too easy either. That might put me in a place where I can do the harder stronger more focused work later and get more out of it because I was ready for it.

I had a look back at my training logs from 2011-2013 when I used to be a strong rider. Whether training by HR or power or feel, what was in common when I was strong was total volume. Many coaches say that total volume is a useless metric and really it's about intensity, but that has not been my personal experience. That said, I don't think going out and soft pedaling for hours on end is the way (for me), so I strapped my HR monitor on today and tried to keep HR 140+ as much as reasonable (cap at 150, though I went above that 2x on longer hills when I stood up). My route today didn't lend itself to steady state riding (stop lights and downhills let HR drop) so there were times when I had to focus and push to get HR back up to 140, but I finished the ride wth avg 139 and given the route I think that was perfect.

Junk Miles

It was a gorgeous day today with light winds. Pretty much perfect for riding, so I headed out for 3+ hours of 'as you feel' pedaling. No garmin. I took my road bike and went south because the waves are so huge up north that they are crashing over the road. Scott said he can't remember a winter with such consistently huge surf. Anyway, I stopped to check out Makapuu and this picture doesn't do it justice- you might see a few black dots if you look closely. Those are people.

With no set intention for my ride today, it occurred to me that maybe some would consider what I did to be 'junk miles'. I don't think it was junk. Given my sorry state of bike fitness, I think keeping it simple and just riding as much as I can is quite beneficial right now. Every time I get on my bike I feel a little better/stronger than I did the day before. I think I'll go again tomorrow.

My hip almost felt good enough to try jogging today, but I opted to give it one more day anyway. I have a lot of guilt about not taking Maia out running, so I took her hiking for a bit this afternoon before we went to pick up Moana. I find happiness in exploring these trails with her. She knows now too... as we drive to this trailhead she figures it out now and starts licking my face. It's gratifying to make a dog happy.

On Doing What I *Can* Do

I rode my bike down to the pool this morning, sort of excited for a real swim workout that didn't have to be 5K (or more). Unfortunately the pool was closed for some maintenance, so we couldn't swim there today. So we went to Plan B and got a pretty decent swim done.

I wish I could report that my hip was all better and that I'd started back with some light running, but that is not the case. I've been to my chiro 3x now and have been diligent about rolling and loosing up the soft tissue all around my quads and hips and glutes. It is getting a little better and I can now walk up and down the stairs without pain (progress!) but I tried a few jogging steps and it's still a no go for now. I feel like I've been pretty patient with this injury, but it's been a few weeks now and I'm starting to get antsy about when I'm actually going to be able to start running again. I guess it would be easy to focus on what I can't do (RUN), but today I started focusing on what I *can* do.

I can do squats and deadlifts and multidirectional lunges. Did those.

I can do glute bridges and hip hikes and monster walks with a resistance band. Did those.

I can't do V-ups without pain, but I can do planks and hollow holds. So I did planks and hollow holds.

I can feel it (a little) when I jumprope, but surprisingly, I can box jump without any pain. So I box jumped.

It felt good to proactively do something to help myself. I feel like if I can't run now, well, eventually I am going to be able to run again, so I might as well set myself up to handle it when I do start back.

Old Friends

I feel like I'm in need of a day spent entirely in flannel curled up on the couch watching Netflix or something. I'm not sick, just tired and in need of a break! It's been a super fun and social last 10 days or so but the older I get, the more I need to balance that with solo hermit time.

Camp ended then my old friend of ~15 years popped into town and was like Let's ride bikes!! Who am I to say no to that opportunity? So we rode bikes.

Theresa and I go way back. We figured out that we started riding together in 2001, and she saved me when I needed a place to live after separating from my ex-finace in 2002 (dodged a bullet there phew!)... We partied our way through Ironmans in Brazil and Canada in 2003-2004... With a history like we have it was super cool to have the opportunity to catch up again so many years later. I spent much of the ride asking her to back off the effort b/c pushing for 50+ miles wasn't what I wanted to do. Ha! Really I just wanted to talk. We spent the evening at Sunset beach doing just that!

She's a member of our tribe. I feel like I won the lottery in finding Maia. She's best dog ever.