Maui - Sunday
The plan today was to do a nice easy 90min run around Kahului and Wailuku, then cycle out to Makena and Big Beach for some sun and relaxation.
After finishing breakfast, Naomi and I decided to use the digestion time to build up our bikes. Naomi's was fairly straightforward, Cam at Element packed the bike expertly. However, my bike... TSA (Transport Security Authority?) opened my box, opened all my neat ziplog bags with the bolts, skewers, etc, and dumped them into the box.. so they floated around the box during transit. The box doesn't seal completely, and 4 of the bolts fell out of the box in transit, 3 for my aerobar pads, and one for my stem. Thanks, you assholes.
Anyways, bolts are not too hard to replace from a hardware shop or bike shop, so we changed out plans and decided to bike out to the only open bike shop in Lahaina. It was a bit dodgy riding my bars with one bolt, but we went slow and made it. The guys at West Maui Cycles found a bolt for my stem, thank you! The other three bolts I was able to get at Ace Hardware.
After our Maui Tacos and ice cream in Lahaina, we rode up the highway and chose a beach to get a bit of sun and surf. Naomi didn't like the shallow rocky beach we chose, but I went out for some quick swims. We caught a glimpse of a whale or two blowing at the surface, and I think we saw a tail... but it was pretty far off shore. The best time to see whales in Maui is in February, but I think there are some still around.
Naomi got her first taste of the fierce tradewinds in Hawai'i as we rounded the mountains and did the last 6 Miles dead-on into the headwind towards Wailuku. She was having a low point due to lack of calories too. We cruised into Wailuku and skipped a t-run in favour of a quick shower and a trip to the grocery store to get food for the week.
We have a bunch of pics on the camera, but won't have time to download them til tonight maybe. On that note, I had to buy a new camera as my old one was stolen last week.... and I'm MUCH prefer my new Canon camera to the more expensive Sony that I had. Better pics, more options, easier to use. Can't go wrong with Canon cameras.
Today's plan... off to Lahaina to swim at the pool, then do the rest of the West Maui loop... then if we have time.. out to Paia to the beach.
One more note, the Northshore Hostel in Wailuku is MUCH improved and Naomi and I think it's great. If Tony doesn't organize another Maui training camp from here, then I think I will!
Maui
It`s happening.
I`ve got a huge mess to clean-up in Edmonton yet... and maybe I`ll get lucky and some of my stuff will re-appear.. but I duno.
It`s astonishing... but when I added up the total value of all the things I had stolen.. it was close to $6000. I had just returned from a trip to Calgary, so I had a bunch of extra stuff with me, plus a few things I had put in my bag so I wouldn`t forget them for Maui.
I can`t imagine all the information I lost on my laptop.. or what kind of personal information on there could be used for nasty purposes... I`m just sick about this whole thing.
I`m hoping I`ll be able to relax in Maui....
Sandy Beach Duathlon?
Noticed this race on the ATA schedule... it's about a 30min drive NW of Edmonton. First year race? I've never heard of it.. and there is no real information on the ATA site. I've decided to put it on my schedule in place of the St. Albert 10 Miler.
My first real duathlon! WOO! This is gonna hurt...
Armin Van Buuren
Another great week. Training was rock solid.
However, the highlight of the week was the Armin Van Buuren show. Despite training for 4 hours on Saturday and the fatigue and heavy legs that came with that, we were pretty pumped for a night of dancing to some good tunes. Armin did not disappoint! We managed to stay til the end of his set at 4:30am. A quick breakie at the 24 hour Denny's... and to bed.
It's great to get out and do non-triathlon related things... too much focus on triathlon makes you go nuts!
However, despite our late night, Naomi and I were able to make it down to the Kinsmen Centre for our Sunday workouts. Hard-core!
Plenty of more details to the week... but I'm just too tired at the moment to write much more... so here's 3000 words for you:
in the groove
You ever have one of those workouts... where your working hard, but it feels like your muscles are moving themselves? It's that elusive "groove". I felt that way in the pool today, rocking out my set of 100's. Every time I've felt that groove... it's during periods of the best, most consistent training... so I must be on track.
I'm a little antsy right now. I was able to get out a couple times on the road with my bike, and I'm now wishing winter would be over NOW! I want to start biking to work again.. as I despise driving to work everyday. However, there's still too much crap on the roads and the temps are below zero... too cold for a fair weather rider like me.
Almost a perfect week
After coming off a poor training week last week, where I missed a few key sessions, I was determined to get things back on track this week. And wow, did I ever! I hit every session except for a short recovery swim on Saturday.
On Saturday I attended an officials course at the Alberta Triathlon Association. It was great to learn more about the rules of the sport, and how they are enforced, who makes them and the hierarchy of the organization of the sport. I also learned about the roles of race officials and the place of the ATA in the sanctioning of events in Alberta. After shadowing at a couple of races I can become an technical delegate or referee. I think it would be fun to eventually give back to the sport in this way. As an experienced triathlete, I think my knowledge would allow me to be a very good race official. It's not something I plan to pursue right away... but the instructor of the course says they are always looking for good officials.... and starting now could mean the possibility of officiating in say.. the 2012 Olympics in London! Or beyond...
On Sunday I completed my second "Brutality Session". Wow.... that is one tough workout... my legs were wobbling after... and I still haven't ramped it up to the max times for the intervals yet. Can't wait to trash myself again next week. :-)
And for some non-triathlon related enjoyment, Naomi and I went to the National Lacrosse League (NLL) all-star game here in Edmonton. The crowd size seemed a bit small... but it was a fun game to watch... very fast and plenty of goals.
Next weekend... Armin Van Buuren is coming to Edmonton for a big show.. not sure how I'm going to stay up that late and do my sessions on Sunday! I'll just have to HTFU.
Spring is finally here.....
So, I managed to survive winter in Edmonton. The temperature has been well over zero for the last few days, with plenty of sun. The snow is melting and the roads outside of the city are once again ridable. It was certainly tough... the short days with little to no sunlight about did me in. A few mins in the tanning bed each week was all I had to keep my sanity.
I've managed to ride outside the last two weekends. What an odd experience.... having to handle the bike, watch for traffic, deal with headwinds, hills, etc. It's amazing how sensory deprived we are on our trainers, minds going numb watching movie after movie.
I've started my newest training plan two weeks ago. Wow... some damn tough workouts in there. I just have to accept the fact that day after day... I WILL be tired. It's amazing though... my muscles remember speed... despite the fatigue I'm going faster and getting stronger, session after session. I getting eager to test my real fitness... but that will have to wait til the St. Albert 10k. Hmm.. unless I get a chance to test my 400m speed at a spring beer mile?
Over the last few weeks I've also been a lab rat for Masters study at the U of A. The hypothesis is something about short-term lung function damage from intense exercise and it's effect... can't remember the exact wording. I've had to do a lot of breathe function tests and spit mucus into a cup for testing a few times.
My first bike test was a VO2max test on the bike. However, a control of the study was we had to pedal at 75rpm. Paul Tichelaar did the study as well... and we both concurred that the test results were not accurate VO2max given the forced cadence limitation. However, my watts/kg was promising... given I haven't done that much bike work yet.
The second test was an all out 5km TT, using the computrainer (Racermate?) software. To get better results they put in a hill between 1-2km (or thereabouts). Uggh... I almost threw up in the breathing apparatus. THAT HURT.
Tomorrow morning, as part of a control test, I do another TT, this time at the average wattage of the untrained participants in the study. It should be interesting to see how easy it is!
The final part of the study is for me to go get a free full lung function workup at the at pulmonary lab at the U of Alberta hospital. I was told after my first breathing tests that I might have very mild asthma, but only the testing will be able to tell for sure.
2.5 weeks to Maui.... I'm getting excited....
No more crackbook.... for a while.....
Yep, de-activated my facebook profile. You can still reach me:
greg at mytrilife dot calm
or
mytrilife at gmail dot calm
Eat, sleep, train, work, train, and a very small bit of R&R. The cycle continues....
EDIT: I'll be back people! I just need some time to focus right now. Who knows... maybe I won't miss facebook.... but I get more mail there than my inbox.. so....
