I was feeling kind of down this weekend because I had to miss two races due to my stinking ankles. That and the fact that my tri is in 2 weeks was wigging me out. A couple of weeks ago I had decided it would be a good idea to haul my bike to Waikiki and ride the tri course before the race. Where I live is pretty flat with only some minor hills and the bike course of the tri is up over Diamond Head; whew, think I need to practice that. So I got up fairly early this morning and decided to go and ride the course. I arrived in Waikiki around 8:00 am, hunted down a legal parking space, got my gear all situated and was ready to go.
The first 100m or so is pretty flat but then there is a consistent uphill for a good mile or so. Also, the tradewinds were really gusting today so sometimes I'm going uphill and into a strong headwind, oh what fun!! Got through that and then it's the 18th Ave. hill, luckily going down. Fly down that to Kilauea Ave. That's pretty flat with a slight up grade towards the end. Turn on Makaiwa then Moho then Kealaolu. Follow this along the Waialae Country Club to Kahala Ave. Follow Kahala up to Paikau St. There is a significant uphill near the end of Kahala that was somewhat unexpected. Turn on Paikau along Diamond Head road to 18th Ave and do another loop. After the 2nd loop it's up over Diamond Head, which I was fearing but turned out to be not so bad, down through Kapiolani Park to the finish line (in my head anyway:). This turned out to be a pretty good ride. There were moments when I was pedaling into some major headwinds but hey, this is Hawaii, it happens....
As I was nearing the end of the ride I thought maybe I'd make this a brick and go for a run. When I got back to the car I realized it was still early so I took off running. Until I had these ankle issues, running was my favorite part and I was really good at it. Since these injuries though I am absolutely scared of running. I ended up doing more walking than running and not doing the entire run course, but still a brick nonetheless.
Towards the end of the walk/run I thought, why don't I do the swim too. I'm right here and I've never swam in this part of Waikiki, why don't I just do it?? So I did. Changed my shoes for slippers, grabbed my towel and goggles, and headed off for the beach. Turns out swimming there is very similar to swimming at my house so that's good to know. Since there were no buoys I had to guesstimate the distances. On the course map it looks like the swim doesn't go as far as the Aquarium so I figured if I swam from the lifeguard tower to the Aquarium and back that should be more then the distance. So off I went and had a pretty good swim.
After I was done I was very pleased with myself. I accomplished more than I planned on and now I know the tri course intimately. Next Sunday I'm going to go over again and do the whole thing in the proper order. I think that will really give me the confidence I need to pull off an age group win in this thing.
So my times were as follows:
Bike 12 miles: 53:23
Walk/Run 3K: 27:12
Swim 1000m: 21:11
Okay, if I can pull off a 10 minute swim, a 45 min bike ride and a 25 minute run I'll be very, very happy. Now I'm off to rest and eat - god I'm hungry!!!
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