For my run workouts I’d run the 3 miles down the kuakini highway from our place in Kona Vistas to the local coffee shop drink a double macchiato and then head back up to the house. One of the days I ran the hill the Ironpeople were doing circuits on the kuakini highway so I was being constantly passed by men and women dressed up as bullets whizzing by on their carbon rocket ship bikes, pretty crazy stuff; simultaneously intimidating and inspiring.
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Tuesday and Thursday are swim workout days. In the morning I’d ride my bike the bike I rented from http://www.bikeworkskona.com/ 3 miles to the Kona Community Aquatic Center Pool. The ironman world championship http://ironman.com/worldchampionship is October 10th in Kona so everywhere I swim/ran/biked there were ironmen and ironwomen crushing it. When I think of triathletes these are the people I think about: Insanely ripped and fast men and women tearing it up. When I’d get to the pool, I’d get into the slower pool - note, not the slower lane, the slower pool. One pool was filled with Iron(men/ladies) pulling really fast in large numbers like pods of dolphins, leaving serious wakes behind them. My swim workouts vary between 45 minutes to an hour and up to 2800 yards, so to make sure I stayed out of the pro’s way I swam in the slow pool.
I’ve been a runner for a number of years. I found my running groove my final year at UCSD running ever longer distances to Torrey Pines Beach and back. It’s a great feeling to just be able to run without any effort, relaxing through miles. You may remember from a prior blog post that one of my goals of this season was to find my groove swimming, to swim for a mile and half without thinking about it. I’m glad to say that I finally did it while in Kona. One of my workouts was a 35 minute continuous swim after a 200 yard warm up. For the continuous swim, I simply started my stopwatch and started swimming. While in Kona my stroke and gliding had improved a lot. I found the minutes slipping away. I’d done it, I’d achieved my groove. It was really exciting to relax through 35 minutes of swimming.
I also had many chances to swim in amazing warm water at Hapuna and a few other local beach
es on the big island.
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I’ve been waiting to do this workout since I started training. The club pool is just up the hill from us,
a 3 minute drive. There are also literally miles of trails and backroads within a half mile of my front door, but
between my front door and the trails is a steep mile of climbing. The workout I’ve been waiting to do is to bike to the club,
swim a mile at the club, and then bike back.
So today, I did it! I’m stoked. The climbing wasn’t too bad and certainly better than the first time I tried
cycling up the hill a month ago. We’ve been having rain in the bay area, so the pool was empty for most of
the mile swim.
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I did my first mile and half pool workout. A big part of swimming is developing an efficient gliding stroke. That is, for each stroke actually riding the glide. It’s pretty exciting because I’m getting there. The 2600 yard workout isn’t killing me either!
To see what a gliding stroke looks like, check out Michael Phelps’ stroke. See how one arm is always out in front of him, lengthening his body, allowing him to glide.
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We spent the Labor Day holiday at Camp Jameson Beach in South Lake Tahoe with three other families from the neighborhood.
In addition to much ch
Lake Tahoe, while not as salty or rough as the San Francisco Bay, is cold enough to warrant a wet suit when swimming long distances. I loved swimming in the Lake. The water is clear with a coarse sandy bottom. Swimming in the wet-suit made me more buoyant, so each pull/stroke when a little farther, but the also decreased my shoulder rotation, so I had to really focus on my form to make sure I didn’t get sloppy and inefficient. This was my first mile swim in the open water this season and it was epic.
The roads around the lake were also pretty epic for road biking. From Camp Jameson, it was a 5 mile up hill ride to Emerald Bay. Again, the lack of granny-gear (a small chainring (gear) that makes going up-hill easier) made this a real workout. Well worth it!
I’ve only got four weeks left to reach my fundraising goal and I’m only 35% of the way there.
See and download the full gallery on posterous
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Here’s the flyer I’m sending to all my friends and family who prefer snail mail to email.Want to help? Feel free to download and print a version for yourself. Share it with a friend. Take it home.
Put it up at work, at your place of worship, your WFCaffe, on your car.
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Today was a Run/Swim Brick, but all in all a great workout. We ran two hill loops near Campolindo, ~ 20 minutes each. As always I started out creaky, but once I loosened up I could really enjoy the run. We swam yards upon yards waiting to be video-taped to analyze our stroke, swim technique. It was pretty sweet. Once I saw the video, I could pretty quickly note that I need to work on my body rotation, and not lift my head when I breathe.
Let’s not forget why I’m doing this. I’m raising money for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society to help fight blood cancers.
I’m only 13% of the way to my goal and have 6 weeks left! Please consider making a contribution to help.
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I swam 1400 yards today. During my next swim workout I’m going to do the Level II workout which means ~2000 yards. My first workout where I swim more than a mile.
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