Hapalua Half-Marathon

The inaugural Honolulu Half-Marathon, The Chase, or the Hapaula Half-Marathon was on Sunday. This race was set up in a new format which was actually super exciting. The Chase gave local runners the chance to race against and finish in the money with two recent Honolulu Marathon champions: Jimmy Muindi and Nicholas Chelimo. 12 of the best local women were given a 18 minute head start, 12 of the best local men started 9 minutes after the 12 women and then Muindi and Chelimo started 9 minutes after the men with the rest of the racers. So basically in order for Muindi and Chelimo to "win" the race they would have to make up 18 minutes on the fastest women. Based on best times, it seemed as though it would be a race to the finish for the top prize...more on that later.


So, as I'm sure many of you have seen or heard, us folks here in Hawaii have been a little wimpy when it comes to the weather lately. I know, I know, we live in Hawaii, we shouldn't complain about the weather...ever! But it's been pretty crappy lately: rain, thunder, lightning, water spouts, tornado, wind blowing like crazy (40+mph) for the past couple of weeks. I was skeptical about how the conditions were going to be on Sunday morning. Thankfully the rain held off...the wind, not so much. After the race, I looked up the wind conditions and they were 40-50mph, maybe that's why it felt like I was running into a brick wall for the entire race.

Pretty much the only race picture of me and this isn't even of me....I'm hanging out right behind him, he blocked my wind for a few miles, which was pretty nice

I haven't done any speed work since before the marathon in December, so I wasn't shooting for a PR in the race (but secretly I was, I think I always will, that's just how I operate). Anyways, the plan for this race was to start out pretty conservative and build throughout.  I'm pretty terrible at sticking to plans (something I seriously need to work on before June) but in the end I was able to build throughout. The first few miles running Ewa bound through town were pretty relaxed and easy, we had a tiny bit of a tailwind, which was super nice. Right around 4 miles I started to see the fast ladies running by. They still had a few minutes on the Kenyans. After that, the fun part began, running into the wind. I was running much faster than my anticipated/planned starting pace, but was feeling great the first four miles, isn't that how it always is at the beginning of races. As soon as we turned and started to head back toward DiamondHead, it felt like I got smacked into a brick wall. I've never been running before and literally gotten blown off course and to the other side of the road, that's how strong the wind was blowing.  The next four miles were tough, I had to fight hard with the wind to continue building into the race, but kept building I did. Mile 9-10 was uphill, over the backside of DiamondHead and that was a change from out normal race routes here in Hawaii, so even though it was uphill, it was pretty fun. Plus as soon as we got to the top it was all downhill and flat the rest of the way. I was starting to feel a bit tired at this point, but knew I only had a little ways to go. I made it to the top and the right when we started to descend DiamondHead, here comes the tailwind. No, we didn't want it to help us through the flat, straight, streets of town or to help us get up DiamondHead, but sure, let's let it help us downhill the last mile. The last 3/4 of a mile in any running race here are the longest 3/4 of a mile ever. This was the first race I've done here that I actually felt like I could finish fast, feeling strong! And I did.

So, even though I haven't done speed work since before the marathon and this was the longest run I've done since the marathon, I was able to pull out a 2 minute PR and end up 2nd in my AG. I was super happy with how this race went and have a new liking for half-marathons!

Next up...Napa with the girlfriends on Friday...after a huge bike week this week...then it's 3 months until CdA...getting excited! 

I know, I know....

I really shouldn't complain, I live in Hawaii and 99% of the time we have perfect weather......but this has been the satellite image for Hawaii for the past week!!

So much for fun training outside...

Swamp Romp

Every year here, the Marine Corps base puts on a little race called the SWAMP ROMP. The swamp romp is basically a five mile race through the muddy, deep, smelly, dirty swamps and a little bit of nice ocean on the the base. Sounds enticing right? I never thought I would enter a race like this ever, but what the heck, a group of friends out for a five-mile romp in the swap, sure sign me up!

The course takes you over and under obstacles, through the ocean, under camo nets and up and over walls. It's a five mile fun fest that you get to complete with five other people.


One of our friends suggested entering the race a few months back and I though to myself sure, why not, it sounds kinda fun, I'm in! I totally didn't think he was being serious when he asked and to my surprise, about 2 weeks before the race I get an email that was sent to myself and 4 other people from el capitan Iovo. I guess he was serious when he asked about this race...note to self be careful what you agree to when Iovo asks!


Now we needed to come up with team costumes or outfits or something to wear since apparently at this race people dress up in crazy outfits and have a good time. Well being the boring, non-creative, triathletes that we are we decided to be team BOCA triathletes. We headed over to the shop and picked up some t-shirts from Raul and that was that. Green BOCA shirts and black tights, that was the costume. Simple, easy and something we all had. (this ended up working out perfectly)

Race morning: wake up 4:15am. It's like I was getting up for a serious race or something. Got dressed and headed over to Kailua for some per race prep, aka duct taping on the old sneakers so they didn't fall off in the mud. Note to self: if I ever do this race again, I need to figure out a better way to keep on the shoes, my achilles and front foot is all cut up from the rubbing of the tape...not pleasant! We all piled into the truck and headed over to MCBH.

We had a late start time to we just wandered around (after I ate it for the first time walking over to the start...super embarrassing, but I am clumsy, oh well) waiting for our time, checking out costumes and people watching, I wish I had better pictures of some of the getups people were in, it was definitely a great way to pass an hour.

Finally it's our time to go. We started the race with 6 people (you only need to finish with 5 to officially finish). We had every intention of just running the race, having a good time and all finishing together, but after about 2.5 miles we ended up a group of five. Anyways, the race starts out and they don't hesitate to get you dirty, you head right down into a trench of mud and gunk and water. They don't call it the swamp romp for nothing. There's a lot of in and out of water, mud, and dirty for the first bit of the race, with a few obstacles thrown in there (things to climb over, nets to crawl under in the sand once you are already dirty and wet so the sand sticks nicely to your skin, etc). After that a what feels like forever beach run and then it's a good little stretch of flat semi fast trails where you can just book it. Some more obstacles and then the real swamp...Just think mud up to above the knees, shoes getting stuck, sewer smells. There was no running here, just trudging through, after that it's the home stretch a little jog on the grass then the finish. We crossed the finish line, hands held/arms linked in 1:06 and ended up 3rd in the mixed division. Go us!!


All-in-all it was a great day and I would totally do it again (but next time I'll have a better keeping the shoes on method).

A few more pictures from the day....

getting muddy

I totally threw my shoes in there after the race

making sure the GoPro is on and working...can't wait to see the video

silly people trying to clean off in the ocean...you'll get plenty more dirty very soon

Long Weekend

Long weekends are great for many reasons: sunrises, sunsets, long bike rides, fun runs and finally a day to sleep past 6am. If only Dave was here to have fun on these long weekends as well.   

This weekend started out with a great ride on Saturday morning. We rode from Kualoa Beach Park, where I got this pretty great sunrise picture, to Pupukea on the North Shore. Once we got to Pupukea, someone got the genius idea to ride to this Boy Scout Camp that's at the top of this hill..not a little hill, a pretty steep hill. From all of this hill climbing I've been doing on the bike lately, I better be prepared for the rolling hills of CdA! (But I did see that they happened to change up the bike course this year, to make it less technical and a think a little less hilly....stay tuned, a little over 4 months to go).    I was a bad on Friday and couldn't get in my run so to make up for it, I decided to run on Saturday after the bike. So since we were up there, we decided it might be fun to try to go run on Kualoa Ranch. This is a ranch that does horse rides, ATV rides and tours of movie sets. Lost, Jurassic Park and a few other major motion pictures were filmed on this ranch and we were right there, so let's try to go run. We drove a few miles down the road and got to a cattle gate and some barbed wire, climbed through the gate and off we went. It is beautiful back there, the one time I go running somewhere new and forget my camera!! Oh well, I'm sure I'll be back there in the near future and I'll be sure to snap some shots. The plan was to run until we got questioned, stopped or we hit the 30 minute mark, then turn around and head back to the car. Well, we made it all of about 14 minutes until we got caught. Apparently, you need a pass in order to run on private property....who knew?! ;-) So we turned around and headed back towards the main office. That was our next excuse if we got stopped, "I'm sorry, we were trying to find the main office to get our passes and we got lost." The main office was in our sights and we ran over a cattle gate (one of many) and were running toward this huge bull, as soon as we started through this pasture the bull stood up and stared at us. That was more than enough for me, I turned around and ran right out of there....to the main office and out of the park. Then it was a nice little run back to our car. All-in-all a great Saturday bike/run. I definitely want to get back to Kualoa Ranch, get a pass and run back there at some point, it would totally be worth it. Much nicer than running through regular old neighborhoods.

Sharks Cove ride pit stop

Sunday was a Tantalus run day, I love running on Tantalus, 5 miles up, 5 miles down. It's my favorite place to run a solid 10 miles! After that the obligatory, weekend Jamba stop, then off to Ala Moana for an easy 2k swim. 

Relaxing on the beach...thanks for the picture Jody

Monday was a great day. My rest day, a day off from work, a sleep in day and an afternoon spent lounging on the beach.

Adventure Bike

This past Saturday, we went on what I'm going to call an "Adventure Bike." It wasn't your typical, get on your bike and ride for 3+ hours. Well, it was, but it was broken up a bit by a little hike-a-bike action. It's always nice doing a different ride because the same route week-in and week-out can get a bit boooooring.

We started at our normal meeting place, Paki, where else!? And quickly found out that we were going to be riding up and over the Pali (coming back down the other side is what I was worried about, climbing doesn't worry me, it's the getting back down going fast on the bike that I'm not used to yet). If you aren't from here and don't know what that is, it's just a mountain, no big deal. Anyways, we were going to ride over the Pali, into Kaneohe, turn around and ride through the Botanical Gadens and up the Old Pali (thanks Michelle for the pictures!) I've never ridden through the gardens or up the Old Pali....note to self...learn how to ride better over speed bumps or else you're going to flat. I thought going up the Old Pali would be pretty tough since the road it covered in down branches and leaves and is usually SUPER slippery, but it wasn't bad at all, it was actually pretty fun.

Now begins, hike-a-bike. After we got to the top of the  Old Pali, we had to hop off our bikes and squeeze under the overpass to get to a trail. Once we got to that point, you would think we could get back on our bikes and just start riding, well some people did, but I wasn't about to hurt myself by riding on a path that is less than 2 feet wide with a drop off on one side....I don't do well with heights. It was a lot of on and off the bike for about 30 minutes and then we got some free space and could start riding again. Somehow, I have no idea how, but we ended back up at the Pali Lookout and were able to head back into town, not suite sure how we got where we went on Saturday, but that's what makes it fun right. New rides, new routes, new adventures. Gotta keep it interesting. It was a great workout and fun times with friends. I wish Dave could have been there as well, he really would have enjoyed this ride.

Kim, hiking her bike!

A bit blurry, but could have been a cool shot of one of the many views on our adventure.

See....

Valentine's Day Biathlon

I've been lazy with the blog posting.....

My friend, Joy, convinced me to sign up with her to do the Valentine's Day Biathlon, a little local race put on by Waikiki Swim Club....a 5k run and 1000m swim. We decided to do the race as a team and entered the "just friends" division. Joy the runner and me the swimmer. Perfect, all I have to do is swim 1000m, sign me up!

Not quite that easy, I needed to get a run in before the race, so I got up at 3:45am on Sunday morning...crazy, yes, very crazy, the things we do for friends! :-) I ran a nice easy 8.5 before the race, so I got in a good warmup.

We were super excited for this fun little race and we wanted to go fast! But most importantly we wanted to have a great transition hand-off...I can't find the picture, but just believe me, it was the best "kiss" of the day, we totally should have won. Well, besides the proposal that happened in transition, that one takes the cake.

Joy, had a super fast run (I'm calling it sub 20minutes because that's what her watch said!), so fast that she was seeing stars by the end of the race. After that, I was off to swim. I ran past one person as I was heading into the water, hit the water and I was off. The first half of the race was great, I was swimming past, around, and through people, feeling pretty strong in the water (considering I'm only swimming once a week right now! ha).

As soon as I hit the turn around buoy, I knew I would be in a bit of trouble as the sun was rising. I knew I was going to have trouble sighting on the way home and I wasn't going to be able to see anything, it's always like that at Ala Moana in the morning. I took off from the two people that were hanging out on my feet, that got annoying pretty fast. So, I started swimming toward the only thing I could see, a yellow cap. I just hoped that he was swimming in the right direction an followed him the whole way in. It turns out that he was, thank goodness. I finished up my portion of the race in just over 16-minutes, not to shabby for someone who hasn't been swimming a ton, I'll take it!

Joy and I ended up winning our division and we were the 4th team if you look at the overall results. All-in-all a very successful and fun morning. Would totally do another biathlon with Joy...any day, anytime, anywhere!

I've been Retul'd

I’ve heard a lot of talk about bike fit and people have different opinions regarding what is the best way to go about being fit to your bike….

I’ve had my TT bike since late April/early May and have had 2 “fittings” since then. My initial “fitting” was at the bike shop where they put me on the trainer and said, “you look good, how do you feel?” How do I feel? I don’t know how I feel, I’ve never ridden one of these bikes before, how am I supposed to know how I feel!? I guess I feel fine? And that was that, off I went. It was alright (although after a couple of weeks I did feel cramped all around and couldn’t stay aero for more than 5 minutes without feeling like I needed to get up for fear that my shoulders would fall off! That’s probably a sign that something is wrong) for the first couple of months I was riding it, I didn’t know any better. But then I started chatting with people and almost everyone I talked to told me I wasn’t fit properly on my bike, you think!?

Anyways, November-ish rolled around and I was fed up with being uncomfortable on my bike. I know it’s never going to be as comfortable as curling up in your bed, but it shouldn’t be uncomfortable. So, one of my friends, Aaron, who knows lots about bikes offered to fit me on my bike as long as snacks were provided for compensation…deal!  I brought my bike over to his shop, I got up on the trainer, he took some measurements, asked a bunch of questions, and he made lots of changes…they were spectacular! It felt like I was riding a new bike! Didn’t feel cramped anymore (we/he moved the seat up more than 2 inches!) and was a little more comfortable aero.  I rode on this fit for a while, but still something was off. If I rode more than 30 miles I had pain in my right knee and that’s not good; also I still couldn’t stay aero for very long.

Kim has been talkin up this bike fitting system called Retul and I've heard/seen/read about it on blogs and on their website (http://www.bikefit808.com/) and have been intrigued. Only thing is, it's a bit pricey. Taken from their website: "By using Retul 3D Motion Capture Technology we are able to evaluate a rider's lateral, vertical and horizontal movements and make adjustments according to the rider's biomechanics and individual cycling goals. The Retul system allows a fitter to measure the rider while they are in motion and takes averages throughout the pedal stroke, as opposed to taking static and 2D measurements that are absed on a stationary position which may not be a rider's typical position." So this would be a much more technical fit than any of the other "fits" I have received.

I have finally gotten to the point where I am not ok with being uncomfortable riding anymore and the mount of time I am going to be spending with my bike in the next 6 months is not going to decrease that's for sure, so it was time to bite the bullet and get Retul'd.

What a cool process and experience. Andrew Tanaka at BikeFit 808 was amazing, super helpful, friendly and knowledgable. I got there and he had me do a few exercises to test felxibility and some other things. After that he set me up on the trainer and hooked some electrodes to different parts of my body so he could get the initial computer readings. Once he got the initial readings he made some minor adjustments to the bike and then I got back on the trainer to see how and if those adjustments fixed the problem areas. They did!! I rode for a bit longer and decided that there was still unecessary pressure on my shoulders so he turned my aerobars just so and it was like he waved a magic wand and the pressure disapperaed. Genius! He really knows his stuff!

How cool is this?! That's me!



Last night was my first time on the roads after I was Retul'd and let me tell you....worth every penny! I wasn't able to spend a lot of time in my aerobars as we were working a lot on paceline drills, but the time I spent in them was wonderful! I can't wait to go on a longer ride and really test them out!



I don’t claim to know a lot about bikes, but I do know that with this fit, I am now in a better, read more powerful and efficient, position and will be able to maximize the time spent on my bike! I am more extremely satisfied with the job that Andrew at BikeFit808 did and would highly recommend getting Retul’d!