Running in Hawaii (and relaxing, and hiking, and eating)

As previously promised, here is my blog entry about my very brief (but very nice stay in Hawaii). I got there on Friday evening, and didn't have any plans until Monday, so I decided to make the most of the weekend and do some of the "must sees". TripAdvisor.com has Diamond Head listed as the #1 thing to do, so that was my first stop.

It actually took me awhile to find the place b/c I didn't realize the full name was "Diamond Head Crater" (directly behind me), but once I realized that just about every car was headed in the same direction, it was easy to find, and an easy climb. The view was great, but it was just the beginning.

On to the "challenging hikes", I decided to do KoKo head crater, partly because it was highly recommended on Trip Advisor, partly because all the comments talked about how challenging it was, and lastly because again the view was supposed to be amazing. All three of those statements turned out to be 100% correct.

This was the view that greeted me from the bottom of KoKo Head. The "stairs" are actually railroad ties from when the U.S. Army had a radio station at the top. The total elevation change was about 1200 feet, though the horizontal distance was less than 1/2 mile. In other words it was VERY STEEP.

Still, once I finally made it to the top (soaked in sweat), the view was totally worth it. The climb down was also challenging, but again, it was an incredible hike (and a great workout).

My last hiking adventure was to Manoa Falls, a far easier hike than KoKo Head. The trail ends at the base of a 100 foot waterfall.

Not quite as "breath taking" as KoKo Head (both figuratively and literally), but still a great hike.

Oh yeah, I also managed to do some running while in Hawaii. Of course, I didn't have my GPS and there were no marked courses, so I had to estimate my distance. Still I felt really good, and kept a good pace, so I think the distances are fairly accurate. I only managed two runs for the week, but with the hikes, I'd say it was a good week.

My totals for Week 32 (8-14 Aug) were:
Total Miles: 12.2 (estimated distance)
Total Runs Logged: 2
Total Time Spent Running: 1 hour, 31 minutes, 43 seconds
Average Pace: 7:31 (min/mile)

With the addition of Week 32, my new "as of" totals are:
Total Miles: 147.1
Total Runs Logged: 29
Total Time Spent Running:19 hours, 39 minutes, 12 seconds
Average Pace: 8:00 (min/mile)

That brings mile total mileage of the year to 895.4

Hawaii is a beautiful state, and I thoroughly enjoyed my time there. The weather was perfect, the food was AMAZING, and the views were incredible. If I ever find myself there again, I would consider myself very fortunate. I snapped this last pic as I was leaving Waikiki after a very delicious dinner on the beach.

Week 31 (1-7 Aug)

My last runs on Guam (for awhile).
I am currently sitting in Hawaii, and have been here since the 5th. Now what I'm doing here and where I'm going next are for another blog entry (I took some great pictures), but before I get to that I need to talk about my running last week. It was rather uneventful, but very productive, and I was able to log 30 miles in 4 days. I didn't do any running on the weekend (6-7 August), but I did do some hikes to Diamond Head Crater, Koko Head Mountain, and Manoa Falls. I'll talk more about them later, but in the meantime here are some photos from the hikes.

As for Week 31, I was able to reach my goal early in the week.
Total Miles: 30
Total Runs Logged: 4
Total Time Spent Running: 4 hours, 2 minutes, 36 seconds
Average Pace: 8:05 (min/mile)
Again, without my GPS, the distances are approximations, but I would say I ran at LEAST the distance logged.

That brings my total mileage to 883.2 (not bad for just over 7 months of running)
Since I restarted my running log my totals are:
Total Miles: 27
Total Runs Logged: 134.9
Total Time Spent Running: 18 hours, 7 minutes, 29 seconds
Average Pace: 8:03 (min/mile)

More coming soon, but in the meantime I've got to run.

No Frills Olympic Tri #3 (19 Jun 2011)

The Day I completed my Blog Entry on my 2nd Olympic Triathlon, I had completed my third Olympic Distance Tri. For all future inquiries on triathlons on Guam, TriathlonGuam.com is the website of choice for all Guam Triathletes. Much like my first two Olympic Triathlons, this was a "dual distance" meaning racers had an option of doing either a Sprint Distance (750M Swim, 20K Bike, 5K Run) or an Olympic Distance (Double the Sprint Distance). There were about 10 of us doing the Olympic Distance, and 40 or so doing the Sprint Distance. Several of the "top finishers" from the previous week's Sprint Tri opted to do the Olympic Distance this time around, which was a serious "bump" to the competition field. That being said, competition can bring out the best in people, and that was certainly the case for this race.

1,500 meters of swimming isn't particularly difficult if you are confident in the water. That doesn't mean it's going to be a quick swim. It's a little bit of a downer on the last two laps of the swim because by that point all of the sprint distance triathletes are out of the water and it can be very lonely in the big blue ocean. To add to it, I had a serious goggle malfunction which caused one of the goggle eyes to fill up with water. Swimming with one eye shut is not fun, and the mental fatigue caused by it probably led to my slower time of 32 minute, 21 seconds.

Out of the water, and able to see with both eyes again, I was on my bike and off on my 40K ride. My goal on the bike is to go as fast as I can, stay as aerodynamic as possible, and try to pass a bunch of people. I do this knowing full well that I'll have to run a 10K after I'm done riding, but having done marathons and very long runs, I'm used to running tired. More than anything, I don't want to slack off and end up not doing my best. Completing the bike ride in 1 hour, 9 minutes, and 55 seconds, I would say that I was successful in achieving my goal.

Entering the final portion of the race my legs felt like a mix of Jell-o and cement. The thought in my head is to just keep my legs moving. As the run started I happened to be in 4th place which gave me several people to "chase" and helped me stay motivated to run my hardest. It definitely paid off. For the first of the two laps I stayed in 4th, then heading out for the second lap, I started to make my move. It took me nearly 2.5K, but I ended up passing the racers in 2nd and 3rd place. For the last 2.5K it was a matter of putting my head down and keep running. 45 minutes, 3 seconds later, I was done.

2 hours, 27 minutes, 19 seconds was good enough for second place, and more than 2 minutes faster than my time the week prior. I definitely attribute the improved time to the stiffer competition. It helped motivate me to keep going even when I was tired and just wanted to stop. In a race when there are no trophies or prizes for the winner, the best you can get from a race is a new personal record (PR). Considering that, I would certainly say this was a successful race.

No GPS, No Computer, Still Running Though

I just realized that it's been 6 weeks since I updated my blog. Shortly after my last entry, my GPS Watch (the GARMIN 205) which I've had since October 2009 pooped out on me. It wasn't a real big deal as I have several running paths and their distances memorized. It does however, limit my running to the paths I know (if I want to accurately track my distance). I recently ordered a new GPS (the GARMIN 405CX) which I should have shortly. It's several models "old" (the newest Garmin GPS running watch is the "610"), but the price was right, and I liked its features. Shortly after my GPS watch stopped working, my computer crashed. Again not a big deal except for the fact that my running log was tracked on my computer. No, of course I didn't save it anywhere else, so everything from January 1, 2011 to July 3, 2011 was lost. I did remember that as of July 3 (the end of Week 26) I had run a total of 748.3 miles. This was a bit shy of the 750 miles I had hoped to get, but overall pretty good for the first half of the year. In the following 4 weeks I've added an additional 104.9 miles.

That makes my new total 853.2 miles.

As for the past 4 weeks:

Total Miles: 104.9

Total Runs Logged: 23

Total Time Spent Running: 14 hours, 4 minutes, 53 seconds

Average Pace: 8:03 (min/mile)

Before my computer/GPS "meltdown" I had an ongoing running average of around 7:44-7:48 minutes/mile. In the past 4 weeks, my run time has slowed down by nearly 20 seconds. I think there are two main reasons for my slower pace. First, is that I'm probably underestimating my mileage by a little because I want to be sure that I'm getting all my miles. The other reason is that I don't have a GPS watch which can give me my pace at any moment which tells me when I need to run faster. Without the GPS telling me how fast I'm running, I run how I feel, and apparently I've been feeling slow. It will be interesting to see what happens to my pace once I start running with a GPS again. I PROMISE to blog about it!

My 2nd Olympic Triathlon

Today (19 June) I completed my third Olympic-distance Triathlon. Now, as I don't think there were any pictures taken of me during this triathlon, I will not be blogging about it in detail. Exactly one week ago; however, I completed my second Olympic Tri, and there were plenty of pictures taken during that event, so I will be blogging about it.
First off, what an incredible site! While sleeping ranks high on things I'd like to be doing at 5:30 on a Sunday, if I hadn't been up, I would have missed this.

At 6:30 about 40 racers got into the water for the first leg of the triathlon. 30 of them were doing the Sprint Distance, and 10 of us were doing the Olympic.
I'll admit that while I'm decent at swimming, it is definitely my weak area in the triathlon. This is probably due to the fact that the only time I swim is when I'm doing triathlon races. 1,500 meters is not extremely difficult, but in the open water you not only have to deal with the tide (which isn't too bad where we swim), but you also have to try to swim in a straight line (something I suck at). As such, even though I only get credit for swimming 1,500M, it probably ended up being more than that.

After 4 laps and approximately 32 minutes, I was out of the water, and onto the 6-lap, 40K Bike portion of the race.

As I said, I'm not really fast on the swim, so the bike is where I start to make up my time. For several triathlons now I've been duct taping a Gatorade-filled water bottle in between my aero bars. It's definitely not classy, but it gets the job done, and keeps me hydrated. I've also learned my lesson and make sure I have a lid on my bottle so my straw doesn't bounce out of the bottle the first time I hit a pothole.

The hardest thing about the bike portion of the race for me, is keeping track of the laps. Six laps on the same flat course can get to be a little monotonous so I try to focus on the road ahead of me and pedal as fast as I can. With only 10 people doing the same distance, it is hard to keep track if you are not close to someone who you are racing. Luckily, Stephanie was there to not only take pictures, but tell me when I could transition to the run.

After an approximately 71 minute bike ride, I was on my feet for the last 10K. As with every triathlon, by the time I get to the run my legs feel like a combination of cement and Jell-O. I'd say the run is my strong point too, and is where I tend to pass the most people. I think it comes down to sucking it up, and gutting it out. It's hot, you're tired, but you have to finish.

47 minutes after finishing the bike, I was crossing the finish line. Total time was 2 hours, 29 minutes, and 47 seconds. Although it was only my second Olympic-distance Triathlon, it was my new personal best. I was rather surprised to find out that I came in first of the 10 people doing that distance. I still say it's all about finishing, not when you finish (after all there are no trophies or medals), but it is pretty cool to win.

I'll talk more about my third Olympic Tri later, but I know I've been bad about updating the blog and posting pictures, so I thought I would go ahead and post this one.

2011 MAN HIKE II (Merizo, 21 May)

There was was too much time between my last two blog entries, and my last blog entry was way too wordy, so let me do the complete opposite. I'll keep the words short and let the pictures speak for themselves. I never pass up the chance for a MAN HIKE: no real plan, men only, bare essentials (water and camera), and beer at the end. Last month the men of the Guam Crew decided to do a final Man Hike before Chris departed for his new assignment in Turkey.

Here are the men of the Guam Crew about to embark on our manliest MAN HIKE to date. (Left to Right we are: Chris, Shea ("Jasmine"), Jesse, Jed, Me, and James).

Like with all of our other man hikes we looked to a point in the distance and said we should go there. In this case it was the tallest mountain in sight.
The key to a good MAN HIKE is to get off the beaten trail and blaze you own path. For us that usually means barrelling through Sword Grass. It's very cumbersome, slow, and you are guaranteed to get cut up, but it is very MANLY.

We're not posing here; we have to get low in order to get through the grass. This was early on so we are still in good spirits and fairly clean.

Finally breaking through the sword grass is always a great feeling, and it gives you a renewed since of energy, even if you are facing a steep, uphill climb...BRING IT ON!

The view from the top is really what makes it worth it. You truly feel on top of the world. Of course once you get to the top, you eventually have to come back down. We opted to take a different route from which we came, and see just how far we could go.

Sword grass continued to be a problem, but we also dealt with the thick roots, a complete lack of trails, and less than 100% certainty about which way we needed to go. Despite what Jed might have told his wife, at no time were we ever lost, we merely opted for the longer route. Eventually we made it to the river bed and decided to follow the river out of the jungle. A couple of times we tried to get back up the hill, but the impossibly thick sword grass turned us back every time. The water was VERY refreshing, plus the trees provided some relief from the sun.
Of course, we weren't done once we hit the paved road. Because we had decided to go down a different way, we were no where near the car. Still, walking on paved road is much easier than through sword grass. Chris and I were the only ones that actually walked all the way back; these lazy bums waited outside a convenience store until we came and picked them up. We actually did, (aren't we nice?) No Man Hike is complete without the cold beer at the end. All in all our hike lasted about 5 hours. By the time we were done, we had almost no water, we were exhausted, and everyone had cuts on their legs and arms. Now that's what I call a Man Hike!

Lots of Running (Lots of Catching Up...Weeks 20-23)

Quite a bit has happened since my last blog entry. For starters, I added 19 runs and 106 miles to my log. In addition to that I went on another crazy MAN HIKE, took a 4-day trip to Palau, and competed in my second Olympic Triathlon (which I won first place in). I have a blog entry coming for the Man Hike and the Olympic Tri. As for Palau, I don't know if a blog entry can do that trip justice. In the mean time, though, let me recap my running adventures.

Week 20 (16-22 May) included a Wing Run Day. I've mentioned the Wing Runs previously, but I'll say again, that I typically enjoy Wing Runs. It's only a 1.5 mile run, and the pace is REALLY slow, but for me it's less about the exercise and more about the camaraderie. Additionally, it gives me an excuse to show up to work late, and I get to add a few extra miles to my weekly totals. I make it a point, to run as much the day of the Wing Run before the run actually starts. As such, I always arrive to the formation dripping with sweat. Without fail I always hear comments from people asking if I got caught in a rain storm or if I jumped in a pool. My usual response is "This is what 'Excellence' looks like." Really, I figure if I'm in PT gear and running shoes I might as well get a workout. Aside from the Wing Run, I had an amazing MAN HIKE on Saturday, but that is for another blog entry.

So for Week 20, my totals were:
Total Runs Logged: 6
Total Miles: 27.2
Total Time Spent Running: 3 hours, 27 minutes, 33 seconds
Average Pace: 7:38 (min/mile)

Week 21 (23-29 May) was short not just in miles, but also in days. This was due to the fact that it was Memorial Day Weekend, and Stephanie and I took the opportunity to Scuba Dive in Palau. As far as diving goes, they say it's the best in the world; "they" being anyone and everyone that has ever dived and made it to Palau. I had hoped to do a run while I was there, but we spent all of our time on the water, so it just didn't happen. Even though my trip cut into my running plans, it was TOTALLY worth it. If you Scuba Dive, Palau is a must-take trip.

Week 21's totals were:
Total Runs Logged: 4
Total Miles:19.5
Total Time Spent Running: 2 hours, 28 minutes, 54 seconds
Average Pace: 7:38 (min/mile)

With regards to my weekend travelling and my running plans, the disadvantage of travelling is that it typically not only messes with my running on the week I take the trip, but also the following week as well. With Palau, we got back around 5:30AM on Tuesday, so I was really not in the mood to run that day. Still, during Week 22 (31 May-5 June) I was determined to get my 25 miles. With less days available in the week that meant I needed some longer runs to meet my goal. Mainly it involved one 11.6 mile run on Sunday. Of course I chose to do it during the late morning when the sun was up and it was HOT. It was not a fun run, but I made it, and met my goal.

Back on track with my running, my Week 22 totals were:
Total Runs Logged: 3
Total Miles: 25
Total Time Spent Running: 3 hours, 15 minutes, 18 seconds
Average Pace: 7:49 (min/mile)

There was excitement on several days of Week 23 (6-12 June). Wednesday morning the Drongo birds were so unbearable I ran 8.4 miles on one street to avoid them. Wednesday night my car wouldn't start which screwed up my Thursday morning running plans (but I still managed to do some running). Turns out I needed a new battery, and not a new Starter so I was happy about that. Friday we had a Wing Run which helped me get my mileage up. We also ran it more than 2.5 minutes faster than normal, which I enjoyed (though a lot of people couldn't handle it). Sunday was my 2nd Olympic Triathlon. I will blog all about it later, but I will say I had a great time, FINISHED, and added 6.2 miles to my weekly total.

Week 23's Totals were:
Total Runs Logged: 6
Total Miles: 34.3
Total Time Spent Running: 4 hours, 20 minutes, 37 seconds
Average Pace: 7:35 (min/mile)

PHEW!! That was quite a busy 4 weeks for me. Looking at previous 4-week spans the total mileage wasn't that great, but it still puts me ahead of my goal.

My new "as of" totals:
Total Runs Logged: 120
Total Miles: 659.8
Total Time Spent Running: 85 hours, 7 minutes, 3 seconds
Average Pace: 7:44 (min/mile)

REFLECTION TIME: I need to blog more often, write less, and put more pictures up. I got it! Man Hike and Olympic Triathlon entries are coming quickly. Additionally, with 3 weeks left before I hit the halfway point, I have a short term goal. I am a mere 90.2 miles away from hitting 750 miles by the 6 month mark. That means I need to hit 30 miles a week for the next three weeks. It's very doable, and should give me the motivation to get up and run! I'll keep you updated; I promise.