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!
Sunday, February 15, 2009
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!!!
Sunday, January 18, 2009
ANOTHER PERFECT DAY IN PARADISE
Today was another great day. It started out with a 21 mile bike ride followed by a short run on the beach. We saw the monk seal again on the beach and saw the largest sea turtle I have ever seen, also sunbathing in the sand.
I was exhausted after the bike ride and run and came home for awhile to rest. I would have stayed home for the rest of the day but our son Aaron got off work at 2:00 again and wanted to go out to the End of the World. I really didn't want to, my body was so tired and achy, but we hardly ever get a chance to hang out with Aaron so we decided to go.
It was an amazing trip. We saw the largest waves that I have ever seen. The thundering sound they created as they crashed into the cliffs was incredible. Then to top things off, we saw whales. I've never seen whales in Hawaii and have always said that I would never move from here until I saw one. I was so excited to finally see some. We also saw another beautiful sunset. Aaron took tons of pictures. Randy and I wished that we would have brought cameras also, but I did take a couple of pictures on my cell phone.
Me watching the large Honu
The monk seal we saw two days in a row
Randy, whale watching
Aaron waiting for a new set of waves to take pics of
A wave at the End of the World
I was exhausted after the bike ride and run and came home for awhile to rest. I would have stayed home for the rest of the day but our son Aaron got off work at 2:00 again and wanted to go out to the End of the World. I really didn't want to, my body was so tired and achy, but we hardly ever get a chance to hang out with Aaron so we decided to go.
It was an amazing trip. We saw the largest waves that I have ever seen. The thundering sound they created as they crashed into the cliffs was incredible. Then to top things off, we saw whales. I've never seen whales in Hawaii and have always said that I would never move from here until I saw one. I was so excited to finally see some. We also saw another beautiful sunset. Aaron took tons of pictures. Randy and I wished that we would have brought cameras also, but I did take a couple of pictures on my cell phone.
Me watching the large Honu
The monk seal we saw two days in a row
Randy, whale watching
Aaron waiting for a new set of waves to take pics of
A wave at the End of the World
Saturday, January 17, 2009
HIGH SURF, CLEAR SUNNY SKIES, AND AN INCREDIBLE DAY
Today was the most incredible day. It started out with a quick trip to Starbucks for hot chocolate, a drive down Alii drive to look at the surf, followed by Randy, Rebecca and I going out to the energy lab where we took photos of the high surf. The waves exploding against lava rock were amazing.
We took lots of photos and had planned on running on the beach afterward, but decided instead to get Rebecca out of the sun.
Right after we got home, Aaron got home from work so the four us us made a trip to the movies to watch Mall Cop. It was a pretty good movie and had some pretty funny scenes.
Then it was time for our run that we had been putting off all day. We decided to go to the harbor and run on the beach. Turtle Beach, we like to call it, since there's almost always turtles on the beach bathing in the sun. We were running along in the sand, me dying as usual, Randy running up ahead of me when we heard a strange bark, and then saw a Monk seal sunbathing on the beach, instead of the usual turtles. Randy got a short video of it which I'm sure he'll post on his blog or on facebook. It was so cool seeing a seal here. It's the first one we've seen in the three years we've been here.
Sand running is a LOT harder than running on the road. I was dying and my thighs felt like rubber, or lead, or rubbery lead. My heart felt like it was going to pound out of my chest. But it was a blast. After about a 45 minute run, we noticed that the sun was getting low so we stopped and watched a beautiful sunset together.
What a great way to end a perfect day. A sunset on the beach in paradise with the one you love. Ahhhh, life couldn't be any better.
These are some of the photos I took at the Energy Lab. Randy let me use one of his good work cameras. It's amazing what a good camera can do. I think I want one!
We took lots of photos and had planned on running on the beach afterward, but decided instead to get Rebecca out of the sun.
Right after we got home, Aaron got home from work so the four us us made a trip to the movies to watch Mall Cop. It was a pretty good movie and had some pretty funny scenes.
Then it was time for our run that we had been putting off all day. We decided to go to the harbor and run on the beach. Turtle Beach, we like to call it, since there's almost always turtles on the beach bathing in the sun. We were running along in the sand, me dying as usual, Randy running up ahead of me when we heard a strange bark, and then saw a Monk seal sunbathing on the beach, instead of the usual turtles. Randy got a short video of it which I'm sure he'll post on his blog or on facebook. It was so cool seeing a seal here. It's the first one we've seen in the three years we've been here.
Sand running is a LOT harder than running on the road. I was dying and my thighs felt like rubber, or lead, or rubbery lead. My heart felt like it was going to pound out of my chest. But it was a blast. After about a 45 minute run, we noticed that the sun was getting low so we stopped and watched a beautiful sunset together.
What a great way to end a perfect day. A sunset on the beach in paradise with the one you love. Ahhhh, life couldn't be any better.
These are some of the photos I took at the Energy Lab. Randy let me use one of his good work cameras. It's amazing what a good camera can do. I think I want one!
Saturday, January 10, 2009
COMPETITIVE OR NOT?
I have always been competitive. In middle school I was asked to join the high school track team. I ran the mile and two mile for every track meet, and sometimes coach Velasquez threw in an 880 on top of that.
There were two senior girls who thought I should let them win since that was their last year of school and I was only in middle school.
But I was too competitive and I also thought if they wanted to win that they needed to work out harder to earn the win.
After all, I worked hard in practice, then ran the mile home, got my dog, and ran some more. Every day. So why should I let someone else win if they weren't working as hard as me?
After getting married and starting a family I did nothing athletic for about ten years. Then my neighbor saw me playing catch with my son and invited me to join a woman's softball team. I loved it. I loved the competitiveness of it all. I played on the woman's team every summer along with playing on a co-ed team. I did this for several years but a long distance move followed by a broken tailbone while rollerblading was the end of my softball career. I still miss it though and still have my old glove. (Just in case....).
After softball was five or six years of nothing. Well, we lived on a farm and the horses kept us too busy to even think of sports. Then about four years ago Randy and I started biking. We lived in Nevada and with the cold winters we pretty much only rode in the summer. At least that was the only time I rode. I loved those Nevada rides. Oh, some of them hurt pretty bad. We rode up some long long long steep hills. We rode along the base of the Sierras. That was beautiful country. We rode with wild horses running along the side of the road. I really miss those rides. Rolling hills in the country with little or no traffic. Beautiful farmland. Cattle, horses, dogs, acres of green pasture, that was the life. It's too bad it had to get so cold and wet in the winter.
Now we're here, in Hawaii. I'm trying to get into triathlons. I'm getting older and have had a lot of injuries over the last several years. My tailbone broken twice, broken ribs from a horseback accident, my moped accident, a fall off the ladder at work... it takes longer to heal as I get older. And the injuries seem to happen more often as I age.
At my age, almost 47, can I still be competitive or do I just settle for doing and finishing a race? Do I really have the time, strength and endurance to train hard enough to compete?
I guess my goal is just to make it through the Lavaman. I have a feeling that doing Lavaman will bring back the competitive nature that I've had for so many years, and make me want to work harder for the next race, but right now I just want to do the race. And finish with NO injuries.
However, after today's workout with the Wahine group, I don't even know if I can make it through Lavaman. We did an hour ride followed by a two mile run. I was dead. I was slow. I was embarrassed. I need to work harder. It's hard to be behind everyone else when I have such a competitive nature.
So my question is, do I try to compete, just try to complete the race, or just walk away?
For now I will keep training, try to train harder, try to enjoy the sport, even when it hurts, and try to figure out if I can still be competitive or if I am just doing this for fun. I guess either way, it should be fun, and that will be my goal. Have fun no matter what happens.
There were two senior girls who thought I should let them win since that was their last year of school and I was only in middle school.
But I was too competitive and I also thought if they wanted to win that they needed to work out harder to earn the win.
After all, I worked hard in practice, then ran the mile home, got my dog, and ran some more. Every day. So why should I let someone else win if they weren't working as hard as me?
After getting married and starting a family I did nothing athletic for about ten years. Then my neighbor saw me playing catch with my son and invited me to join a woman's softball team. I loved it. I loved the competitiveness of it all. I played on the woman's team every summer along with playing on a co-ed team. I did this for several years but a long distance move followed by a broken tailbone while rollerblading was the end of my softball career. I still miss it though and still have my old glove. (Just in case....).
After softball was five or six years of nothing. Well, we lived on a farm and the horses kept us too busy to even think of sports. Then about four years ago Randy and I started biking. We lived in Nevada and with the cold winters we pretty much only rode in the summer. At least that was the only time I rode. I loved those Nevada rides. Oh, some of them hurt pretty bad. We rode up some long long long steep hills. We rode along the base of the Sierras. That was beautiful country. We rode with wild horses running along the side of the road. I really miss those rides. Rolling hills in the country with little or no traffic. Beautiful farmland. Cattle, horses, dogs, acres of green pasture, that was the life. It's too bad it had to get so cold and wet in the winter.
Now we're here, in Hawaii. I'm trying to get into triathlons. I'm getting older and have had a lot of injuries over the last several years. My tailbone broken twice, broken ribs from a horseback accident, my moped accident, a fall off the ladder at work... it takes longer to heal as I get older. And the injuries seem to happen more often as I age.
At my age, almost 47, can I still be competitive or do I just settle for doing and finishing a race? Do I really have the time, strength and endurance to train hard enough to compete?
I guess my goal is just to make it through the Lavaman. I have a feeling that doing Lavaman will bring back the competitive nature that I've had for so many years, and make me want to work harder for the next race, but right now I just want to do the race. And finish with NO injuries.
However, after today's workout with the Wahine group, I don't even know if I can make it through Lavaman. We did an hour ride followed by a two mile run. I was dead. I was slow. I was embarrassed. I need to work harder. It's hard to be behind everyone else when I have such a competitive nature.
So my question is, do I try to compete, just try to complete the race, or just walk away?
For now I will keep training, try to train harder, try to enjoy the sport, even when it hurts, and try to figure out if I can still be competitive or if I am just doing this for fun. I guess either way, it should be fun, and that will be my goal. Have fun no matter what happens.
Thursday, January 8, 2009
MyHotComments
I'm so glad I live in a warm place so things like that don't happen to me.
I really didn't have anything to post, but since my friend asked me if blogger was working I decided to try posting and see if it would let me.
So if you see this LeAnn, yes it is working.
Friday, January 2, 2009
HOW COME PAIN CAN FEEL SO GOOD?
Ahhhhh! I'm feelin' good. Tired, sore, but good. After working an all night shift, (1:15am to 9:45am), Randy and I went on a bike ride. The most I've been riding since my injury has been 15 miles at a time, have only ridden that twice, last weekend, and the weekend before, AND I have only been averaging about 13mph.
Today I rode 20 miles and Randy rode 26 miles. My average was 15.1 which still isn't great, but much better than I've been doing. I finished just a couple minutes before Randy, so he must have been really booking.
The ride felt great. It hurt, but I pushed myself on the hills which is probably why my average went up. I have always hated hills but this year I'm trying to get myself to like them, to push myself on them, so that I will be a stronger rider.
So now I sit here at my computer, every muscle in my body aching, but I'm FEELIN' GOOD!
Today I rode 20 miles and Randy rode 26 miles. My average was 15.1 which still isn't great, but much better than I've been doing. I finished just a couple minutes before Randy, so he must have been really booking.
The ride felt great. It hurt, but I pushed myself on the hills which is probably why my average went up. I have always hated hills but this year I'm trying to get myself to like them, to push myself on them, so that I will be a stronger rider.
So now I sit here at my computer, every muscle in my body aching, but I'm FEELIN' GOOD!
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