Good Week!

What doesn't Kill you makes you stronger? The past couple of days have been rough after our epic day on Friday. Saturday i was tired but we got the work done. Justin and i had a 90minute ride out to the race course including some intervals, then to help out with the Lavaman Kids Triathlon. I had a great time helping out and handing out awards but i was certainly very tired and fatigued. We had an open water swim session, with good hard intervals, i was very flat. A little run to finish the day off with a few strides and drills. (*lil wayne on the ipod got this run done!)

Since the race was just a "workout" i will keep it short. Felt rough after this week, nearly 30hours pre race to make sure i was good and tired. Not your typical training through a race but we weren't in Hawaii to race Lavaman so i had to log the work. Finished 5th or 6th, felt flat on swim, blew up a bit by first buoy, hit the bike hard (could have used wheels and helmet with headwind), and by hit the bike i mean i kept the pedals moving and didnt look for a ride home; the run felt good but my legs felt like cement blocks, made a wrong turn near resort, so i loged some extra time. The course was tough and challenging on lava rock and off road with the finish on sand. I just kept telling myself 2more loops of Baldwinn Park (*Maui 800mloop) and its and easy day. It's not everyday you get to race "Macca" in one of your weekend "workout" races. I am pretty happy with the race considering the volume and intensity we had this week, wheels would have been nice, but with how tired my legs were it didn't matter . Justin and i road home from the race for a cool down, 30miles in headwind and it turned out to be miserable. You know your training alot when your Olympic Distance end of the week training race, is the shortest session of the week.

Tomorrow is an easy day, and then this week i will get one more big week in before heading home. Congrats to the team for tearing it up! Thanks to the Coach's for actually making me race, i wasn't originally happy about racing a World Champion and an elite field being this tired. My roomate Justin heads home today to get ready for New Orleans 70.3 , i want to wish him the best of luck, and thanks again buddy for your left over Nutrition Products! (Lucky Guy had todays race off!) The feet are up and its icing time soon, we have already watched 3 episodes of CSI and i don't think i have gotten up once.

Epic Day in the Wind

2 days out from Lavaman Triathlon and the taper begins. We started the day with a 1.5hour Kona Masters Swim plus a Coach Paul set to keep us busy in the pool. Then it was off to ride the Hawaii Ironman Bike Leg and the wind was howling. Justin road strong today, and we battled a bad head wind for the first 57miles and we weren't to happy. Then Coach Paul decided since we were racing in 2 days we should do a zone 3 tempo out to Hawi and back to Kawaihae with the nasty winds it was 38miles of tempo riding. Justin and i basically looked at each other and bit our lips. For the remainder of the ride, we were hoping for some tail wind but things shifted slightly and we weren't as lucky as we thought but it was still good. By the time we got back it was 117 miles(188kms) and i had a slight rough patch with a flat and some wheel rubbing but all in all it was a strong day(* as you can see in the picture i blew a leg somewhere). Tomorrow we have 3 workouts and are helping with a kids triathlon in the morning(*awesome!). I am hoping to wake up and see Sundays Race is deleted out of training peaks for Sunday but i won't hold my breath. Maybe Lava java instead of Lavaman? Anyways tonight was some good recovery starting with a contrast shower, followed by 40mins of elevating the legs while i talked to Carley on Skype, a black bean burrito and an epson salt bath later on. Rest Well!

Energy Lab

Today was a good day, with a open water swim session and a 2hour building run that we ran over 18miles on the Ironman Race Course. Tonight was a much needed ice bath to get ready for a big day including a masters swim and a good steady ride of the Ironman bike course(112miles).

A couple pictures below of Coach Paul at Kona Masters Wednesday night. The feet are up and the picnic is packed for the ride. At least if i ever race in Kona i will know the course inside and out.

Kaloko Climb

Today was a good day in Kona. To start the day we did a 3hour ride including a repeat from the Queen K up to Kaloko Road and up to the top of the mountain. The start of the climb is pretty relaxed till you hit Kaloko road, then its about 7miles up from there taking you to 5,000feet pretty fast. There are some steep climbs with the last mile being around 17%grade. I took king of the mountain honors but Justin Climbed well too for his size and gearing. I was really trying to hit Lances time he did after a 4hour ride and i was near however i am going to change up my cassette next week and give it another crack. Its scary how fast Lance is after doing this climb after a long ride and preseason, i hope he recovers from his crash so we can see him in the tour.

After a fast descend to the near by high school track we started into a track session of 8x800m. It felt a lot easier than 8x1mile(we did last week), however i could feel the climb for sure. We all ran fast and then we had a long cooldown spin back to our homestays.
Tonight we met up with the Kona masters squad for a good session followed by a lot of drill swimming, we thought it was going to be recovery 1hour45minutes later and seeing the stars it was time to leave.( who ever spread the rumor it was an easy workout that wasn't funny!) Off to bed.

Kona

Finally in Kona, after a trip on Monday from Maui. It was supposed to be a fast trip but Justin's bike box wouldn't fit on the plane so we had to wait for it over two flights and we were stuck in Kona waiting for it to arrive. We ran into Joel Filliol's parents at the airport and shared a flight over to Kona with them. We managed to get a swim and a ride in still on Monday for recovery but today it was on. Our Home stays are awesome, and Justin and i are sharing a basement apartment up on a hill with a beautiful view.

Today was supposed to be another relaxed day with a 5500m open water swim workout which had some hard 1km repeats. In the afternoon we did a 2.25hour ride with steady state riding and 5x4mins max power intervals, with "Coach Paul" on the scooter. We ended the day with a little run and a great team dinner at the Coach's house. Tomorrow we are doing a huge climb up to the volcano with a track session off the bike and a swim at night. I don't think i have the right gearing for this climb with the above photos of Lance climbing it. Hopefully i can get some snazzy photos of the climb and the surroundings.

Kona

Today is the last day in Maui:( Tomorrow is camp #2 in Kona. Justin and i will go for a little swim and then off to the airport. Thanks to Linsey and Brent for the fueling swag today to keep me going for the next two weeks!
Its been a great 3 weeks(+1day) logged for mileage with 92hours of training (75k of swimming, 1,410km of riding, 270k of running). I still have a couple of big weeks left and my energy levels and motivation are still high.
Justin and i have a home stay in Kona together so i am hoping they have a big garden, and possibly own a supermarket so there will be food left in the house for me after the big guy eats. I am not sure they know what is coming, but it probably won't take long before they put locks on the pantry to lockout the starving athletes.
Stay tuned for some more adventures in Kona. Maui i will be back at some point, i still have 2 weeks to convince Dr. A that he needs a perminant athlete living at the house to keep everything in order and of course to watch College football with. And a side note: Justin put my Ed Hardey Shirt in the dryer today, i am glad it didnt shrink to much, but what did shrink is Mags Race Speed Suit.

Sushi Paradise!

A few pictures from Last nights " eat all the sushi or you cant leave" night on the town. Thank you Aaron for dinner it was so amazing. Aaron has been a regular at this place for 14 years and i got the invite out with Cowgirl Corbin, Brent and Aaron. It was super awesome, and i ate way too much. To top off the night we stopped at DQ and Linsey bought an awesome round of kid size blizzards(*i had to fight threw finishing it). I was defiantly fueled for " Super Saturday" which consisted of a pretty steady 4.5hour ride that had lots of wind and a 3hour part in our aero bars at a good pace. I went through 100miles in under 4.5hours so i held a good clip for my attention span. Off the bike i ran 1hour and felt great, so all in all another good day in paradise!

Off to Lances now for a team dinner and meeting with lots of good food.