My Blog

Half Ironman and Mango Madness

Sun, 22 Jun 2008 21:35:54 -1000

After Honolulu Triathlon, I got sick. And with two weeks between races, I was not training at all. So, I hoped that I could pull out a nice race at Honu but it didn’t work. Since I knew I was feeling weak, I decided to just manage my body and enjoy the race. The results show it at 5:53, but I managed the course. Again, no sun exposure at all! That’s alot to say on the Queen K.

Then I rebounded for a strong trail run called Mango Madness. I know this trail well, and was ready to turn out a sweet run. I was about 2 minutes behind the leaders as I approached the summit of the course when I was directed on purpose to a longer side trail with more climbing. This was a detour to allow the slower runners, who were not detoured, to pass the faster runners. Once back on the real trail, I hammered and past all the slower runners who went straight. Not knowing what happened for a while, I felt weird that I was passing so many people. But I knew the trail and was pushing my body to be empty by the finish line. Then came the second detour sending me and two other guys on a round-about into the woods. At this point, I knew I mismanaged my energy since the detours were adding more miles than planned. Again, the slower runners went straight resulting in me passing them again. So much for a fast time, just a fun finish!

Honolulu Triathlon

Thu, 22 May 2008 20:43:13 -1000

With a new bike and limited training time, I really relied on experience and periodization approach to the available time. The Honolulu Triathlon is an olympic distance tri with my prior personal best of 2:19. Since I had low training volume, I focused on high quality training sessions. These carry more pain as I increase the intensity. It paid off with a new personal best of 2:15! The bike arrived 2 days before the race, so I was really excited to see how she rolled. I felt some sore muscles around mile 22 but knew I just needed to hold the form for a few more miles. The run took a few miles for those stiff legs to loosen up, but soon they did and I took out a few age groupers!!

Such a nice day, and my first race under PlanetSun sponsorship. Very cool with a new PR and I looked like a seasoned triathlete managing the course and competition the best that I could. Yup, proud of my effort and hope to use my brain next weekend at Honu 1/2 Ironman. Then it’s back to ultras! Actually, I get to run with a fellow ultra guy - Jammie Gifford next week for 22 miles. Should be really sweet on the trails. Nice!

Racing and Training

Mon, 21 Apr 2008 20:29:01 -1000

A few good weeks of training followed by two fun races. First was the HURT Top of Tantalus trail run that is always a great showing of brass. These guys and gals can run! So I just held my own and pushed to a new PR, and 10th place. Not to bad.

Then I was lucky enough to enjoy the Boca hosted Lanikai Triathlon in my backyard. This is a sprint tri that is always fun. The swim is choppy, bike is fast and run is quick. I just needed to find my legs after the trail run. As luck would have it, I found them with 1 mile to spare on the run, and finished with a happy 40th overall and 7th in my age group.

The training and racing this time of the year is just a lot of fun since both are short. It’s a great mental break to train then spend the morning with the family. Usually, I train through the mornings until lunch, so this is really a great time to relax and go hard but short.

Completed Run to the Sun Maui

Wed, 19 Mar 2008 19:36:45 -1000

Wow - another wonderful event and from the photo above, you can see the lengths at which I’ve gone to keep the sun away from my face. Almost two years, and still cancer free!

So, 36 miles up Haleakala on Maui to 10,023 ft. sounds like a fun time to ya? It really is. The race always starts very early so lights and reflectors are needed. This year, there was a planned sugarcane fire for harvesting - that we didn’t know about. So, we ran through it.

The weather was ideal with some light winds, clouds around 7,500 ft. and then just the sun to the summit. As always for me, I don’t spend extra time at higher elevation and enjoy the suffer. At the 26.2 mile mark, the race is around 7,000 ft. and I begin to hurt. Many people past me as I managed my breath. Once I was able to settle into a routine of power breathing while walking, I strategically sprinted for 10 straight breaths. Well, I thought if it hurts walking and jogging, then let’s sprint for a short burst then recover for 10 breaths and repeat, repeat and yes - repeat. I did this for the last five miles and felt great.

This race is always special to me since I wanted to complete it in 2006 but couldn’t get to the start since I was in the middle of treatment. That pissed me off, so I look forward to suffering in memory of what was taken from me. It’s only a race, but it’s a race that I want to choose to do and not have it taken from me. It happened in 2006, so it’s personal.

Now, I need to get those swimming arms and biking legs ready for some triathlons!

Run to The Sun

Sun, 2 Mar 2008 20:42:07 -1000

As the year progresses to another race, I am looking at the full display of life. At times, my face hurts from the nerves thinking of where they use to be before the surgery. At times, my neck aches from the radiation treatment side effects. At times, my mouth gets a sore and I recall all the days of pain while enduring the recovery as my mouth was nothing more than a raw piece of flesh and I drooled at every opening.

Now, here I am almost two years since the last treatment and looking forward to taking another step towards another summit. On Maui, the summit is the end of the race at 10,023 feet. A simple 36 miles of beauty that stretches to the heavens. I always struggle but love the pain. Really, I don’t understand why since I do not want to endure pain any more. But knowing that I can, I lovely in a strange way.

And this journey will be a most visible event with the sun - my friend and enemy at the same time. Never one to shy away, but now the first one to be protected from head to toe for certain. This is the path I have to run over, and so that is just what I will do.