Near Fall

Rested Friday after P90x, and Saturday (minus some house chores). Met up with Ferd Babas, Joe Wedemman, Brandon Parea, and Jeremy Buttz at Adam Busek's house for our weekly brick at 1pm on Sunday. We ventured up from the middle of Kaloli (200' elev.) onto and along the Keaau Bypass Road (400-600') for 10 miles. We turned down onto Kapoho Rd then Pohoiki Rd (where Big Bill Hubbard joined up with us) for 4.5 miles to reach sea level.

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This was a great warmup. Mostly downhill, but windy. The roads were wet and we were going at a relatively unsafe speed. I can't even begin to imagine how fast Bill was going, cause he took off like a madman, and I didn't see him until we got to the water faucet.

Kalapana Road (sea level, 11.5 miles) was a bit hilly. This was the most scenic portion of the ride. About 5 miles onto it, I realized I wasn't gaining momentum before the uphills. That's why I was getting beat up and building a gap (they were just within sight). I also blame the scenery for losing speed. I caught up with about a mile left till Ahia Rd and got into 2nd position. I almost missed the turn! Glancing right on Ahia, I saw Bill's white shirt and made a quick U-ey.

We stopped for about 5 mins to refill water. Insane Joe ventured up Opihikau (sp?), grew unpatient at the top, then came back down to meet us.

It was a 7 mile climb from sea level to 1k ft elevation. Just over 17 miles total back from sea level to Adam's house.

Joe punished the hills and I tried to keep up with the monster. On a downhill section of Kalapana Rd, we were going at least 30, maybe close to 40 (I didn't have my speedometer onboard). I tried to avoid something nasty on the road, and ended up slipping on either the white line or a reflector. I wobbled for a split second or more. I kept low and tried to keep control. There was a 75% chance I was gonna hit pavement hard. Luckily, I made it through. I took a deep breath or two, and used the adrenaline rush to gun it. I overtook Adam and Joe and went about 90% all the way back. I glanced over every few minutes and didn't see anyone behind. I wanted a good lead on the bike this time instead of playing catchup on the run. Overall ride was 44.5 miles in 2:35:21 including the water break.

1:52 in transition; refilling my gel and Endurolytes. Leaving the driveway, I was surprised to see Ferd and Brandon coming in. I cheered them on and took off. 30 seconds later, I realized I was speeding. I loosened my stride, easing up my breathing and HR. I committed to 6 miles. Passed Brandon again about 1.5 miles in and told him where to turn around. He looked winded but was trying to maintain composure. Almost 2 miles in, I passed Bill who was hunched in agony. He had bad cramps in both hamstrings. I gave him some endurolytes and my water.

I turned into the driveway (16:07 minutes into the run) to refill on water and endurolytes (an extra 3:49 to get back to main road). I felt pretty damned good. But it was getting sunnier and I was headed uphill. I kept my long-sleeve dri-fit on to help take a beating in the sun. I'm wondering now if it actually did the opposite by helping me keep shaded and cool. 3.5 miles in, I poured some water on my hat, back and chest to help lighten the load I was carrying in my hand. Oops, that made my shirt heavy.

Another 15:18 into the run, I hit the turnaround. Cool. I opened up and turned the 15 into 13:20, following Brandon's 4 miler. Turns out I only went 5.25 miles on the run. But I ran into the driveway twice, so I may have topped 5.5. Overall training time was 3:25:20.

Bill told me the Endurolytes and H2O fixed his cramps in about 5 minutes. That made me feel great, and was good to know. I have a feeling Bill's gonna take the podium for his age group.

Turns out Brandon's only 18! He's gonna make a name for himself in the next few years. He might make the podium also for his age group.

I want it. I feel great. I actually trained for an event. My age group (M30-34) is stacked. Last year's Lavaman Waikoloa featured Chris "Macca" McCormack, Tim Marr and John Flanagan, placing 1, 3 and 4 overall, respectively. All 3 pros with sub-2hr times. The age-groupers were only about 10 minutes behind. For now, I just want to break 3hrs.

We're also planning on hitting up the www.TeamMangoRaces.com Pre-Ironman Triathlon on Sunday, September 27th at Kailua Pier. 1.2 mile swim, 15 mile hilly bike, 6 mile hilly run. All fun, and free!

I couldn't convince Ferd to get into triathlon yet. I think he's in once he gets his first marathon over with (he's also doing the www.HonoluluMarathon.com in December). Jeremy might do it also.