It's getting close. My first olympic distance triathlon, the Lavaman. I'm getting excited but scared at the same time. I've been training hard, and know that I can do it. A few weeks ago I wasn't so sure. But riding the Lavaman bike course as often as I can and running longer distance runs have given me much needed confidence. I think the swim scares me the most but I've been swimming a lot and know I can do it.
There's only thirteen slots left, out of 800, so if you're planning on racing in Lavaman you better sign up soon.
Hope to see you out there...
Thursday, February 26, 2009
Saturday, February 21, 2009
RIDING WITH THE WHALES
We've been living on the Big Island of Hawaii for three years and have never seen a whale here until a couple of weeks ago. Now we are seeing them all the time. It's kinda funny that for three years we never saw even one, and now they're everywhere.
Randy and I rode the Lavaman bike course again today. Just under a 25 mile ride with strong headwinds made for another tough ride. I rode it a little faster than last weekend but I still need to ride the course several times more before Lavaman.
Randy and I are both officially signed up now, so I can't slack in my training.
After the turnaround, I started seeing whales jumping out of the water. One whale must have jumped out about eight or nine times and the splash that it created each time it hit the water was incredible. It was so cool that I didn't even realize that I was riding up an uphill until I was about to the top. There were whales all along the coastline, and some of them seemed pretty close to shore. It made a hard ride much more enjoyable.
Randy and I rode the Lavaman bike course again today. Just under a 25 mile ride with strong headwinds made for another tough ride. I rode it a little faster than last weekend but I still need to ride the course several times more before Lavaman.
Randy and I are both officially signed up now, so I can't slack in my training.
After the turnaround, I started seeing whales jumping out of the water. One whale must have jumped out about eight or nine times and the splash that it created each time it hit the water was incredible. It was so cool that I didn't even realize that I was riding up an uphill until I was about to the top. There were whales all along the coastline, and some of them seemed pretty close to shore. It made a hard ride much more enjoyable.
Sunday, February 15, 2009
UPDATE ON MY LAST POST
The only exciting thing about our afternoon is that we found a new running/biking path. We took Rebecca on it for about a 3 mile walk then went back after taking her home, and ran five miles. It was a blast. All uphill for the first half, all downhill for the last half (I liked the last half the best. LOL)! We saw wild turkeys, lots of orange trees loaded with fruit ready to be picked, banana trees loaded with fruit, lemon trees, pomegranate and papaya trees, and another tree with some sort of HUGE fruit things that Rebecca thought were bee hives covered with bees (see picture that Randy took, below). It was a nice quiet place to run. We saw several people riding mountain bikes on the path so we're going to see if we can get our mountain bikes up and running so we can go for rides on it. Rebecca has a bike trailer that we can hook up and take her with us. I can't wait to see how far the path goes.
Beehive Fruit also know as Jack fruit
Beehive Fruit also know as Jack fruit
TWO LADIES, A GIRL AND A DOG NAMED OTTO
Wow, what a weekend. Yesterday on valentines day, Randy and I decided to ride the Lavaman course. It was a grueling 25 mile ride with a strong headwind on the way out which shifted directions on the way back, becoming so brutal that I could barely pedal. I've never ridden in that strong of wind before, but Randy said that there is often strong wind out there and that I need to get used to it so I'll be ready for it in case it's windy during Lavaman.
After our ride, we took Rebecca shopping, then out to Keauhou Harbor where we saw a 5 to 6 foot tiger shark in four feet deep water. It was one of the coolest things I've seen here. At least it was cool since we weren't in the water!!! We used to swim in the harbor when we were kayaking, but never again.
Today we did an ocean swim at the pier. The water was crystal clear which was great because I don't think I would have swam in murky water after seeing the shark yesterday. For any of you that swim out to the Kings buoy, the buoy is gone, so don't look for it. We didn't swim that far but were told by a friend that it was damaged so they took it away this morning.
After the swim we went to Starbucks. We were sitting at a table outside, next to two ladies chatting over coffee. There was an adorable little girl, probably around 4 years old with them, and an Australian Shepherd, that they called Otto. While the ladies were talking, the girl put a stir stick in her moms cup of coffee or whatever she was drinking, then licked it off. She put it back in the cup and then let the dog lick it off. Then back in the cup for the girl to lick off. This went on for several minutes, the girl and the dog taking turns licking off the stick, with the mom having an occasional sip from the cup. It was so hilarious, because the ladies had no clue what the girl was doing. It sure gave me a good laugh for the day.
I'm not sure what other great things are going to happen this weekend, but Randy and I still have a long run to do, which I'm sure will be awesome. I guess I'll give an update if anything good or funny happens.
Have a great day!
After our ride, we took Rebecca shopping, then out to Keauhou Harbor where we saw a 5 to 6 foot tiger shark in four feet deep water. It was one of the coolest things I've seen here. At least it was cool since we weren't in the water!!! We used to swim in the harbor when we were kayaking, but never again.
Today we did an ocean swim at the pier. The water was crystal clear which was great because I don't think I would have swam in murky water after seeing the shark yesterday. For any of you that swim out to the Kings buoy, the buoy is gone, so don't look for it. We didn't swim that far but were told by a friend that it was damaged so they took it away this morning.
After the swim we went to Starbucks. We were sitting at a table outside, next to two ladies chatting over coffee. There was an adorable little girl, probably around 4 years old with them, and an Australian Shepherd, that they called Otto. While the ladies were talking, the girl put a stir stick in her moms cup of coffee or whatever she was drinking, then licked it off. She put it back in the cup and then let the dog lick it off. Then back in the cup for the girl to lick off. This went on for several minutes, the girl and the dog taking turns licking off the stick, with the mom having an occasional sip from the cup. It was so hilarious, because the ladies had no clue what the girl was doing. It sure gave me a good laugh for the day.
I'm not sure what other great things are going to happen this weekend, but Randy and I still have a long run to do, which I'm sure will be awesome. I guess I'll give an update if anything good or funny happens.
Have a great day!
Sunday, February 8, 2009
TRAINING DAYS
Okay, I haven't been on blogspot forever. Well 21 days to be exact. Sorry. I've been so busy training that I don't do much on my computer these days. I usually get on just long enough to check out myspace and facebook to see what everyone is up to, and to make sure that Forrest and Stacey remain my pets on 'Own Your Friends' on myspace (lol Marilyn, and Deb, I know you finally signed up for facebook but you HAVE to get a myspace account also). Besides that, I haven't had time to do much else on the computer.
I'm going to sign up for Lavaman this week although I need a lot of work still before the race. I've increased my training already but am planning on increasing it even more starting tomorrow so you'll probably hear even less from me for awhile.
My swimming is going well. I'm still slow but not quite as slow as I was at the beginning of January. I've been swimming 2000 yards every Mon., Wed., and Friday after work and try to get in some swimming on the weekends too.
The last three weekends have been busy with a Peaman event three weeks ago, a 1/2 mile swim followed by a 3.1 run; a Team Mango event last weekend with a 1/2 mile swim, followed by a 15 mile hilly bike ride, followed by a six mile run; and this weekend was a 10 mile bike time trial on Saturday and another Peaman event on Sunday (today), consisting of a 5.25 mile run.
I did terrible on all the events over the last 3 weekends but I finished them all and I guess I'm happy I did them even if I did bad. For me they were all just training days for my ultimate goal- Lavaman, and hopefully by doing them I will be stronger for the Lavaman race.
Oh well, enough of my ramblings. For all of you training for triathlons, or swim meets, or bike races, or marathons, or whatever else, good luck, and happy training, and for all of you not doing any training, you're missing out, and I encourage you to start some sort of exercise program because it really does make you feel good. Physically and mentally (even though it is painful). Lol!!!
I'm going to sign up for Lavaman this week although I need a lot of work still before the race. I've increased my training already but am planning on increasing it even more starting tomorrow so you'll probably hear even less from me for awhile.
My swimming is going well. I'm still slow but not quite as slow as I was at the beginning of January. I've been swimming 2000 yards every Mon., Wed., and Friday after work and try to get in some swimming on the weekends too.
The last three weekends have been busy with a Peaman event three weeks ago, a 1/2 mile swim followed by a 3.1 run; a Team Mango event last weekend with a 1/2 mile swim, followed by a 15 mile hilly bike ride, followed by a six mile run; and this weekend was a 10 mile bike time trial on Saturday and another Peaman event on Sunday (today), consisting of a 5.25 mile run.
I did terrible on all the events over the last 3 weekends but I finished them all and I guess I'm happy I did them even if I did bad. For me they were all just training days for my ultimate goal- Lavaman, and hopefully by doing them I will be stronger for the Lavaman race.
Oh well, enough of my ramblings. For all of you training for triathlons, or swim meets, or bike races, or marathons, or whatever else, good luck, and happy training, and for all of you not doing any training, you're missing out, and I encourage you to start some sort of exercise program because it really does make you feel good. Physically and mentally (even though it is painful). Lol!!!
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