23 February 2008

Saturday morning in Hawaii

This morning was so beautiful I decided the only logical thing to do was to go for a bike ride. As I was riding along, passing hundreds of other bikers, I decided the blog world needed to see this.

I live in a little town called Waimanalo. The backroads of Waimanalo are extremely popular places to bike. On any given Saturday or Sunday morning these roads are crowded with bikers. You never know who you will run into on these roads because everyone rides them. Right now is kind of early in the season so it's not too bad, but as we move into the triathlon season these roads will be a busy, busy place.

The backroads are so popular because they are wide, few potholes, and not much traffic. You don't have to worry if your life insurance policy is up to date every time you head out the door. Also, this area is flower farms, horse ranches, and large homes. So it's very quiet and peaceful and perfect for a good ride. It's also got some decent, short hills so you can get a little interval training or hill work in.

Anyway, I stopped on one of the backroads and took these pictures to show you all. These are what the roads are like.
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It's hard to see in this photo but this road slopes up. You have a pretty steady slight uphill for a good mile or so on this road. It's not too strenuous but it's a good workout.
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And this is the backdrop we ride to. This house happens to be a flower farm. They put the black cloth fencing up to block the view. Flowers are really easy to steal and it's hard to prove it's your flowers. But check out those mountains. Absolutely gorgeous!!!

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There are literally miles and miles of these roads to ride on. You can get a helluva workout and never leave this neighborhood. And you can get any kind of workout you want, flat, hilly, intervals, speed. It's the perfect place to live and play.

21 February 2008

I've lost focus...

I swear I have adult ADD. Staying focused on something for any length of time is hard for me. It just is. My house is littered with half finished projects. My life is littered with half finished projects. If I want to get something done, I have to focus and pay attention and not let my attention slip for one minute. This is one of the reasons why working out with the iPod works so well for me. If there's nothing to listen to my mind will wander all over the place and I'll think of something more important to do and then I'll be anxious to finish and probably cut the workout short. With the iPod part of my mind is constantly occupied with music or podcasts. Another part of my mind is on what I'm doing and things then get done. I just realized that's why on the weekends I really enjoy cleaning house. It's the time I get to catch up on my soaps. Oh, I get it. That also explains why I can't sit and read without falling asleep. Only one thing going on, I get bored.

Because of this, working on anything like fitness or training can get weird. I have to focus but not all at once. I have to focus in the morning. Then stop. Then I have to focus again later. Then stop. It gets hard. I have to have a mental dialog with myself a lot!! If I'm going to run after work, all day long I will say to myself, "I will run after work. I will run after work....." If I don't do this I'll be distracted by the nearest shiny object and it's all over. Well, I've lost my focus a little recently. I'm getting the workouts in but the intensity and passion isn't there because I've mentally moved on to the next task. I wish I knew how to battle this but, in all these years, I have never been able to get rid of it completely. It's a constant battle.

So I'm going to tweak my training a little to include intensity. I'm also going to take 10 minutes every night before I go to bed and do two things. First, review the day and see how I did. Second, get mentally ready for the next day. I try to do this 10 minutes but have a terrible habit of blowing it off. I tell myself I'll do it in the morning. And then I don't. So I'm going to make those 10 minutes the most important 10 minutes of the day. In my mind I'm going to make them huge. The key to my success or failure. Because as silly as it sounds, it's true.

On another topic, it seems my husbands family is sitting around waiting for my brother-in-law to pass away. He's had lung cancer for years and the other day developed pneumonia. The docs gave him a day or so. So it looks like hubby will be taking a trip to the mainland for the funeral. Maybe I should investigate some tsa locks for his luggage. We'll see what happens.

20 February 2008

My blog is great!!!

Look to the left there. My blog has been rated by blogged.com as Great!!! I scored 8.5 out of 10. Woo Hoo!!! I don't normally get excited over things like this, but I'm on a mission to create great blogs and this is just a little validation.

So for some reason I was incredibly busy last night and stayed up way past my bedtime. As a result I didn't get up this morning. Well, that and the fact that is was freaking cold. We are in this spring weather cycle where it is warm and beautiful during the day, and cold, cold, cold at night. Makes for good sleeping but hard getting out of bed.

Fe-Lady is raising funds for a really, really good cause. Go here and help her out why don'tcha. In my humble opinion there is not enough we can do to help out our American Heroes. So go, give, it'll feel good......

That's it for now. I need to get some work done.

19 February 2008

Something I have to say

I started this blog in Sept 2004, just about 3 1/2 years ago. When I started I went around and found other blogs that I liked and started reading them. Now, I don't always comment. I don't always have something to say. Sometimes I just like reading about other people. I live in my head all the time. Sometimes I like to get out of my head and into someone else's.

Anyway, over time my reading shifted, I stopped reading some, I picked up others, blah, blah, blah. Yesterday I was going through some old bookmarks on my old computer and I came across some blogs I haven't read in a while. I went to see what they were up to and almost all of them have just stopped posting. No goodbye. No taking a break. No screw you. Just gone. Now some of these people were good enough writers that they ended up getting book deals. Now they are just gone. That makes me sad. I can't help but wonder what happened. Did they give up on their weight loss/athletic pursuits? Did something happen to them? Did they just get bored? You all know how you feel you know someone from reading their blog. When they just disappear it makes me wonder.

Anyway, if you plan on stopping blogging, even for a while, just leave a note saying so. Don't leave those of us who read you hanging out there like a bunch of chandeliers. I may not always comment, but I guarantee I'm always reading. Thank you.

Compared to yesterday's run

today's swim was awesome.

Normally I swim on Monday and run on Tuesday. I was going to blow out a swim this week because of yesterday's race. I have this idea in my head of not doing the same thing 2 days in a row. I swear by that for running because my knees can't take it, but I'm not sure why I'm so adamant about it for swimming. After thinking about it last night, I decided I would swim today and tomorrow and then Thursday I would be back on track.

I was scheduled to do 1500m at race pace. I started out with very good intentions. I was pushing myself,. but not too much - 1500m is a long way. I quickly realized that I was tired. So I decided to take it a little easier than I planned to. I could always push it tomorrow. So I'm swimming along playing with my stroke, trying to find a real rthym, something I seriously lack sometimes. So I'm rolling and stroking and rolling and stroking when suddenly I realized, I had found my pace. I was in that zone where it was almost effortless. I was slicing through the water and really feeling like a fish. My breathing was easy and deep. It was awesome.

Thinking about it I realized this might be what I've been missing with swimming. In running I have my pace where I feel like I could run forever. In biking I have it too, that point where the bike seems to be propelling itself. I've never felt that with swimming until this morning.

So that was my big breakthrough this morning and after yesterday I really needed it.

18 February 2008

What a train wreck this race was.

Did you ever get up for a race and just know this was not going to go well?? I have trouble convincing myself to go when I'm lying in bed. But this morning I was up and had had my coffee and still felt like I shouldn't go. I should have listened to myself.

I had to return to the house twice because I forgot things. I made myself a smoothie for breakfast and it sucked. I ended up not drinking it. I was running late and got to the stadium way too close to the last bus leaving. I had to go - bad!! I got on a bus and had to hunt down a decent bathroom - bad. I realized I was hungry! And thirsty! Oh this was not good. Went to Starbucks and got something to eat. It only made me thirstier. Distracted myself taking pictures.

Finally we started. Within the first mile a problem with my fanny pack developed. I could not get it to sit right. I messed around with that for almost 2 miles. Finally, got it fixed.

Suddenly, my HRM strap starts bothering me. I use this all the time, what is the problem?? Couldn't fix it so just put it out of my mind. Had a nice sore spot when I got home. WTF???

Got a rock in my shoe. Stopped 3 times and could not get it out. Or find it. Decided to live with it. Now have a blister developing on the ball of my foot. (*&(^^%$^$^%$^##^& rocks.

iPod stopped working. It would just randomly shut off. I had to keep turning it on. Ended up taking it out of my armband and carrying it in my hand so I could turn it on quickly and easy. Pain in the butt.

It was at this point, around mile 5, where I just gave up. I realized the running gods were not on my side so why fight it. I spent the rest of the run taking pictures and having fun.

Here is a photo essay (you can click on any picture to see a larger one):

101_0096 The buses waiting to take up from Aloha Stadium to downtown for the start.

101_0104The Sounds of Freedom. This is the only race in the world where military units run in formation singing cadence. It is so inspiring to see these heroes every year.

101_0119 The start line. Actually took 8 minutes to get there after the cannon. Not too bad considering there were 20,000 of my closest friends running.

101_0121 One of the bands that were all along the course. This is what makes this race so fun.

101_0125This was one of the aid stations. What a mess they are.

The Finish Line Finally, the finish line inside Aloha Stadium. I have never been so happy to see a finish line.

Looking back on the finish Looking back at the finish line from the other side of the stadium.

101_0136The Hawaiian Runner. He ran the whole thing in a ti leaf skirt and headdress. Pretty cool.

Well, #11 is done. There is always next year :)

17 February 2008

It's begun

I have this race in the morning. It's not a really big race for me. It's definitely more of a fun thing to do. It's not new to me, I've done it for 11 years. It's not that I'm not ready, I'm trained and rested and ready to go. It's none of those things. Yet I'm nervous. I was incredibly calm earlier today and wondered why I had no anxiety over the race. Well, here it is. I hate this.

I am ready. I've got my stuff laid out. I'm charging all the necessary electronics. I'm even taking my camera so I can take some photos and show you guys. I'm ready. Yet still I'm nervous.

Well, I think I'll go watch some TV and relax. I have to get up at 3:30 so I'll be getting to bed really early. And probably not sleeping as usual. Maybe I should have some wine in a fancy Riedel glass.

Conversation with Hubby

 So yesterday morning I presented my idea of working out at home to the Hubby. Once I presented it to him, he said he was in. I told him I h...