One 40 Point 6

Writing checks that my body can cash

2012-01-19T12:04:00.002-10:00

Okay now this deserves a post all on its own. Out of all the amazing things that happened in 2011, this by far takes the cake.

Posing with Boys and Girls Club of Hawaii Executive Director, Tim Motts.

Handing over the check to the Spalding Clubhouse Director, Natalie Pawluk.

Writing checks that my body can cash, that's how I roll! A grand total of $2,000, with the help all of you who supported A Run For Your Money. This has been a long time coming folks, 15 years to be exact. Definitely one of my most proudest moments for several reasons. First and foremost is being able to give back to the BGCH doing what I love most and do best. Second, rolling out a successful, grass-roots, mixed media campaign using all my skills and experience in marketing and graphic design. And last but not least, sharing the entire experience with all of you.

The photos above were taken during a re-dedication/open house event for the Spalding Clubhouse which brought back a lot of fond memories for me. The clubhouse has come a long way since my time there and I could not be any more proud to be a product and alumni of the Boys & Girls Club of Hawaii.

To build on the momentum that A Run For Your Money has started, here's what I'm thinking for 2012. I'm offering up my marketing, graphic design, and coaching services, free of charge, to any individual who would like to raise funds toward a worthy non-profit organization of their choice that has made a lasting impact in their life.

Here's how it works:

1) Sign up for a running event. It can be any race, of any distance, as long as you work hard and train for it. I will provide you coaching (if necessary) and support for your event and help you get to that finish line.

2) Set two goals. The first will be a time/pace-specific goal that will push you to your very limits. The second will be a fundraising dollar amount that's tied in to your time/pace-specific goal.

For example, 1) Maintain an average pace of 7 minutes per mile throughout a marathon. 2) Raise $1 for every mile run in 7 minutes or less, and a fundraising grand total of $777.

This is where you and your supporters get creative. The key here is to make it a win-win situation for both you and your chosen organization as you literally run for your supporter's money and earn their pledges.

3) Get the community involved. Put your campaign on blast to family, friends and co-workers through any means necessary. This is where I can help you with your grassroots efforts. We can work together to create promotional materials to help spread the word about your cause.

Okay so, if you feel strongly about giving back to an organization that has made a huge difference in your life and would like my help doing it, holla back!

Fool steam ahead!

2012-01-16T12:59:00.000-10:00

In a word, wow. It's only been 16 days into the new year and already a lot of amazing things are either set in motion or have already come to fruition. I know I said 2011 was a hard act to follow but 2012 sure is making a strong push to be even bigger and better. This is how I rang in the new year:

Bosettie 10k, 1st Place M25-29. The first of hopefully many more podium finishes in 2012.

Winnahs! We each started the year off with a W. Congrats to all!

Okay so I basically "cherry-picked" this race along with friends who've scouted last year's competition and knew that the serious runners would be home nursing their NYE hangovers. We were all on a mission to start the new year off with a W, hangovers be damned! And that's exactly what we did. But hey, this 10k was no cakewalk. With quad-shredding hills galore, this was one of the toughest 10ks I have ever ran and just barely clocked sub-40 to earn my ribbon. There's something about the camaraderie of a small, no-frills race, that I've come to appreciate and I'm sure you'll see me at a few more of these throughout the year.

Speaking of which, my 2012 race schedule. Holy cow! Last year I ticked off 16 races which I thought was a lot but somehow 2012 already has 18 on schedule with the possibility of adding a few more. Glutton for punishment? Nah, not so much. It's more along the lines of....this is my last year in the M25-29 age division before I age up into an even more competitive field. Crazy how time flies! Anyway, I got big, big plans this year. With 2 half Ironmans and 2 marathons on deck, I will really have to be vigilant about listening to my body and recovering properly after each workout and race to tick off all the races I have planned for this year. You like how I just slipped in a second marathon in there without even flinching?

Newsflash people....I am registered for the North Shore Marathon, April 15. BUT, it's not what you think, there will be no BQ attempt at this marathon. At least not for me. Long story short, I will be pacing a friend to run a sub 3:35 to get her to qualify for the Boston Marathon in 2013. With a 4:07 in her very first marathon at HM this past December, I have no doubt she'll be able to close the gap. We'll be training together in the next couple of months getting back to basics on good running form/technique and following a modified FIRST marathon, written specifically for her current fitness. Which brings us to this:

Ladies and gentlemen, the official launch of TUMBAS Training Systems.

In the Filipino language, the word TUMBAS literally means equals. Loosely translated, it's my belief that having a sense of balance in mind, body, and soul is the key to complete health and wellness. Beyond that, it's a philosophy that I strive for personally on a daily basis and will incorporate into the training programs of my personal training clients. Other than that, everything else has been full steam ahead! All 3 fitness camp/class/session are ongoing simultaneously which means I get to participate/teach/coach 7 days a week, rain or shine. It's been busy alright, but it's also been very rewarding and a lot of fun.

Anyway, before this post gets any longer than it already is, just wanted to mention podium finish number 2 for 2012 so far. 3rd Place age group finish in yesterday's Magic Island Biathlon in the mixed relay division! If you think that's shocking, guess who did the swimming? Ha! Believe it people.

Feel the rhythm, feel the ride

2011-12-30T07:22:00.001-10:00

I have many traditions (superstitious or otherwise) that serve, more than anything, as sort of a security blanket that brings a sense of comfort to approaching uncomfortable situations. The short, quiet lull between Christmas and New Year's Day has always served as my time to reflect on the past year in preparation for the challenges of the upcoming year. So if you all can bare with me, I'd like to give myself some advice on things I've learned throughout this incredible year full of growth.

Let go. There's no better feeling than putting all your faith and trust in the natural rhythm of life. When I turned 28 at the beginning of the year, I looked back about 20 years and took a page out from my childhood and made a proclamation that I'd approach the coming year with the same child-like sense of wonder and at times, reckless abandon. This was no easy task, but when I loosened my grip or let go completely and let situations run its natural course, more often than not, the outcomes almost always turned out better than the original plan.

It takes a village. This is old news but it's never been more apparent than this year. When I started in this sport, I foolishly thought I could do it all on my own. Sure I got by for the first few years, but it wasn't until I sought out mentors and experts in the sport that I really excelled. In addition to continuing to train with Kona Ironman vets, I've met with two of the Philippines' top triathletes– Noy Jopson and Arland Macasieb. It's not everyday that I get to rub shoulders with champion athletes so when I had the opportunity to receive training advice from them, I took it to heart.

Soak it all in. I raced a lot this year. The Honolulu Marathon marked race number 16 and for me, that's a lot– the most that I have ever done in years past. Although I fell short of my ultimate goal to qualify for Boston, I PR'd in every single one of my races with margins as small as a few minutes all the way to 25 minutes. Victories, no matter how big or small, deserve to be celebrated. And that I did, along with all the people who helped me accomplish my goals. They too, deserve all the credit for much of the success I was blessed with.

2011 truly was an amazing year both personally and professionally. I honestly couldn't have asked for more. 2012 has a hard act to follow but I have a good feeling the momentum and karma from the previous year will carry on and bring about even more success and happiness.

Here's to all of you....may we share more champagne toasts and foolish dreams.

Softening the blow

2011-12-23T08:13:00.000-10:00

And my midsection for that matter....'tis the season to be chubby!

In addition to filling up on all the holiday treats, there's been a number of things that's filled my heart and soul to soften the blow of my second failed attempt at qualifying for Boston. To say that I am honored and humbled by the success of A Run For Your Money is the biggest understatement of the year. In just a little over 3 weeks, this campaign raised $2,000 for the BGCH with the support of family, friends, fellow athletes, co-workers, and past BGCH alumni. Check out this small write-up in the aio Hawaii newsletter—

A Run For Your Money getting some press.

On January 3rd, the BGCH will be hosting a rededication/open house event at the Spalding Clubhouse in McCully, where they'll set aside some time for me to present the check. Not only was this particular clubhouse my after school hang out, the neighborhood itself was my old stomping grounds for 5 years so I've made a request to direct all the funds raised to benefit this community.

Anyway, as much as I wanted to just kick back and relax after the marathon, opportunities came knocking and I was more than eager to let 'em in. Remember back in September when I got my personal trainer certification through ACE? Well folks, I will finally get the chance to make use of it. The original plan was to ease into it and shadow various professionals in the industry to find the best fit for me. Ha! So much for that, new plan– cannonball into the deep end of the pool and make the biggest splash possible.

So, for the first quarter of the new year, I'm going to have one hell of a work schedule. I'll get into the details of each as they roll out but basically, starting next Monday for the next six weeks, I'll be assisting a fellow athlete's triathlon boot camp on Monday, Wednesday, and Saturdays. Initially I was signed up as a participant but when I was asked to be the second set of eyes I asked, where do I sign? Seriously, just the opportunity to work with and learn from Eric Glaus is huge. I've always believed that you first need to follow before you can lead, and what better person to follow than a multiple Kona Ironman finisher and all-around fitness guru.

Okay next up, I'm super stoked to sign a partnership with an amazing athlete who approached me for personal training. Yup, my very first client and an awesome one at that...a Boston marathon qualifier and an Ironman-in-training, no less! Kim Burnett and I will be working together on a functional strength + core conditioning program starting January 8 on Fridays and Sundays. Bonus fact– Kim is the woman standing next to me in the photo above in the newsletter, with our hands clasped forming the BGCH logo. Or perhaps the sign of a future partnership. Coincidence? I think not!

Last and certainly not the least, I'm signed up to teach a 12-week group class working under Lee-Ann Watanabe of 2CW HI Fitness. I've known Lee-Ann since my very first year training with BOCA and I've always liked her style so when she approached me to help grow her business soon after I got certified, I was happy to oblige. I've been shadowing a number of her classes and starting to co-teach some of them and starting January 10 through the end of March, I'll be teaching my very own classes on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

Told you I'd have one helluva schedule. Lucky for me, it's "off-season" so my training load is lighter than usual plus Eric encourages me to suffer along with the rest of the boot campers so I'll get to break a sweat while I'm working too. Truth be told, when all of these opportunities came up (within days of each other, mind you) I was scared as hell. For the next 3 months, I'll be living and breathing out of my comfort zone and no doubt will trip up on a few occasions. But, I know I'm in great company and will learn a lot from this experience. Here's to staying hungry, staying foolish...

Will of the wind

2011-12-19T22:23:00.000-10:00

It just wasn't my time. It's taken me all of the last week to accept this and even though there's still a bunch of shoulda, coulda, wouldas lingering, I know someday I'll get to play connect the dots and make sense of it all. First things first...time to rip off the band-aid, the quick and less painless way.

It was all me. I didn't follow the game plan and it cost me my BQ. Sure, the winds were a factor but I could've easily adjusted my pace accordingly. Instead, I got greedy and perhaps ran outside of my means and abilities. It was a game time decision, really. From the very first mile, I risked it all and went for a sub-3 marathon well aware that I only needed a 3:04:59 to punch my ticket to Boston. My program had me trained up for a 3:03 finish and all signs were pointing that I would've nailed it, if only I had stuck to the plan.

While I didn't hit the wall abruptly as I've done in past marathons, the splits below show a slow unraveling from about mile 18 on—

At mile 20, the clock read 2:20 which meant I had less than 45 minutes to run a 10k. Surprisingly, I was still optimistic that I could bang out a 45-minute 10k even though my body was hurting bad. At the 40k mark, the clock read 3:00 and in my delusional state, I thought I still had a fighting chance if I ran the last 2k in less than 5 minutes. As I entered Kapiolani Park for the final stretch home, the clock read 3:06 and although I was physically and mentally defeated, the song in my iPod reminded me that "it's not how you start, it's how you finish". And so I dug deep, to a depth I've never reached before, and made it across the finish line completely depleted, leaving all of me out on the course.

Needless to say, I was crushed. For the very first time in almost 10 years of running, I broke down and let all the tears come out. That's how bad I wanted this. Couple of other first time experiences unfolded soon after this too, including my very first voluntary trip to the med tent where I was begging for them to stick an IV in me, but with no such luck. Next came my post-race cramp session during the free shiatsu massage. Calves, arches, quads, and obliques— involuntary contractions just minutes from each other as I lay on the ground shivering uncontrollably. It was the most painful and most difficult marathon I have ever ran.

But, all things considered, I still walked or rather, limped away with a 15-minute PR and earned rankings that I only dreamed of when I first fell in love with running—

Official time: 3:11:21 (15-minute PR)
Average pace: 7:19/mi.
Overall: 118th out of 19,078
Hawaii resident: 35th
Age division:16th out of 1,044

The highlight of my day? Biting into the warm, moist, sugar-coated malasada they were giving away. I didn't believe the hype when they announced it a week before, but it was the best thing I've ever tasted after any race. No joke! On a serious note, I do want to send a big mahalo to all of you out there for your continued support and encouragement. This has been the most amazing, most memorable marathon to date (just ticked off number 6 people!), and I really could not do any of this without all of you.

I think you all know me well enough to know that my quest to BQ is not over. Not by a long shot. In fact, not even halfway through my post-race brunch (loco moco from the Pineapple Room), I was ready to sign the dotted line on another attempt at the Hilo Marathon in March 2012. But, after giving it a few days and letting the emotions flow through me, I made the rational decision to hold off on another BQ attempt. With two half Ironmans to complete next year, I'm just not willing to jeopardize my triathlon season and risk injury or burnout.

That said, I want one last shot to BQ at next year's Honolulu Marathon. But for now, I'm very much enjoying easy recovery days and plumping back up to my normal weight. The fat kid in me is one happy camper!

Let the bullets fly

2011-12-10T15:14:00.001-10:00

"To give anything less than your best, is to sacrifice the gift." - Steve Prefontaine

Moment of truth, ladies and gentlemen. On paper, it may appear that I've only spent the last 16 weeks preparing for this particular marathon but the truth is, it's taken all of the 28 some odd years of my existence to arrive here. I firmly believe that the powers that be has steered me in this direction and blessed me with the gift of running. This is for all the marbles, as they say, and I intend to leave every piece of me out there on the course.

Just like tomorrow's run, I'll keep this entry short and sweet. Real-time race updates will be available on my Facebook page via Sportstats Race Alerts, or you can track me on the Honolulu Marathon website by searching bib number 1209. And last but not least, big shout out goes out to Kaliq Rashad for sharing his hairoglyphix art form with me and making me look and feel fast. Stoked to keep this tradition alive!

So fresh, so clean. Check out Kaliq at Mojo Barbershop Hawaii.

That's it folks! I got 26.2 in the chamber and tomorrow morning, I'm gonna let the bullets fly.

Winning

2011-12-08T12:58:00.001-10:00

I can't lose. Nope, it's not even in my vocabulary at the moment. With everything that's happened lately, I really have nothing to lose and everything to gain. Remember that slippery slope I was on a couple of weeks ago? The momentum from that ride has miraculously kept its pace through race week and I don't intend on slowing down anytime soon.

On Monday, with just less than a week to go before the marathon, I put out a call on Facebook that A Run For Your Money was at 91% to its goal of raising $777 for the BGCH. A couple of hours later, I get a message from a fellow BOCA athlete asking how much more money I needed to hit my goal. When I checked, I had just surpassed my goal and was ecstatic over that. Twenty minutes later he posts a message on my wall saying that I've just topped a grand, with the help of his very generous donation. I nearly fell off my chair! This was beyond anything I ever imagined with this campaign. Needless to say, I was riding pretty high the rest of the day and could barely contain my excitement.

And then came the 808 Race Hawaii- Marathon Readiness Series Awards Dinner at McCoy Pavilion. Other than enjoying good food from Yama's Fish Market and great company with fellow athletes, I wasn't expecting much else. Of the 4 races I completed out of the 5 in the series, the highest ranking I got was 2nd place in my age group for the 25k so I pretty much ruled myself out of winning any kind of award. And then surprise #2 for the day came. Guess who took home some hardware as the series age group winner for the M25-29 division?

Ohh man that felt awesome! Taking top honors in the sport that I love less than a week before the marathon definitely sets the tone for race week. It's a welcome confidence boost, that's for sure, but with all this excitement going on, my sleep schedule's been thrown out of whack. I don't know if my body is trying to prep itself to do work at 5 in the morning on Sunday, but I've been getting up very early these past few mornings. I'm not complaining though, the quiet early morning hours have given me a lot of time to reflect and be truly grateful for all the things that have come together this year.

Chugging along

2011-12-02T11:33:00.001-10:00

Don't wanna get off this karma train anytime soon! There's really only one way to put it...

Less than a year from now, I'll get to race this–

Stay, race, and play here–

And do it all in front of family/relatives in my own hometown with a group of Hawaii athletes. Sorry NYC peeps, this was just too good to pass up. I was almost drooling watching this race unfold in CamSur on the sidelines this year. There is no way I'm sitting this one out again!

Marathon readiness series wrap-up

2011-11-30T11:40:00.001-10:00

In the midst of all the awesomeness that has been happening lately, I neglected to post a race report on the final installment of the 808 Race Marathon Readiness Series. This 5-race series was capped off by the Val Nolasco/Mizuno Half Marathon on Sunday, Nov. 20, exactly 3 weeks out from the big dance. Days before toeing the starting line, I was torn between racing this event or treating it as a training run but who was I kidding? All kidding aside, this race served as my final tune-up for the marathon so although I knew I would go slightly faster than my target marathon pace since it's half the distance, I never expected to hit the faster end of my target range goal of 1:26 to 1:29, right on the dot.

For the most part, I tried really hard to pace myself based on feel. I mean of course I had my Garmin set on autolap so it gave me splits at every mile, but my main focus was to feel relaxed at whatever pace my body was willing to put out. First mile I dipped below a 7:00/mi. pace at 6:52 which did feel a little fast, especially out of the gate. Next mile, 6:58 and relatively comfortable so I said hey, sit on this effort level and let your legs go. Long story short, mile 2 was my slowest mile for the entire race with a 6:09 final mile to send me home. Although my splits show that my pacing was all over the place, I definitely felt like I managed my effort level correctly with a stronger/faster second half. Not only did this race chalk up another PR, it's a testament that my marathon training program has done its job. I started this 16-week program with a half marathon race as my first long run and ran a 1:41. Granted that it was in much more challenging conditions and sadly, I was almost 15 pounds heavier (no joke!), a 15-minute PR over 14 weeks of work is a good indication that I'm headed in the right direction.

Overall, this readiness series was a great addition to my marathon training program this year. It definitely gave me a lot of practice in formulating and executing race day strategies. But most importantly, it's given me the tools I need to think positively and have a solutions-based mindset should things not go as planned. I think that in itself is worth more than all of the PRs I posted in each of these races.

Here's the final numbers–

Official time: 1:26:27 (PR, -15 minutes)
Average pace: 6:36/mi.
Place: 4th AG/17th OA

Anyway, I had some not-so-hidden agenda items during this race too. In typical fashion, I rushed to put together some DIY, grassroots, guerilla-marketing pieces to promote my A Run For Your Money campaign. Check it out...

Iron-on heat transfer comes through. Ready to race and raise.

Race shirt conveniently hung to dry at the finish line and pulling double-duty as a banner.

Posing with fellow supporter, Kim, who humored me with my dorky idea of clasping our hands together to form the BGCH logo in this photo.

Slippery slope

2011-11-28T16:30:00.001-10:00

Of the incredibly awesome variety. Consider this my unofficial list of the many amazing things that I'm thankful for in the past couple of weeks.

A Run For Your Money. What started out as a small idea to give back to an organization that has done so much for me has turned out into a full-fledge, mixed media grassroots campaign that has sprouted legs and taken off! In just 10 days since its official launch, the overwhelming support and generosity of family, friends, co-workers, fellow athletes, and past BGCH alumni has raised over $500 and has brought this campaign to 67% toward its goal of $777. With 13 days to go before I toe the line and give all the supporters a run for their money, I have no doubt that we'll smash our fundraising goal.

The other kind of 5-0. Okay so being an extra in the first season of Hawaii Five-0 last year was pretty cool (even though you could only see the top half of me for a nano second), but the other kind of 5-0 that I got to be a part of this year, is hands down my proudest moment in my design career so far. Hawaii's 5-0 Design Award Show, is a biannual competition that awards the top 50 pieces in print and web design and among the hundreds of entries in the state, "Transformations", the book I created to document my aio Discovery experience won an award of excellence! Like I told Brent today, taking home a 5-0 award is like qualifying for Kona for us geeky designers. So yeah, stoked beyond belief!

Sweet sixteen, take 2. While 16 weeks of marathon training isn't quite over yet, I'm happy to arrive in the taper phase, injury-free, and in the shape that I'm in. And most importantly, without skipping a beat in other aspects in my life. This year, I made a conscious effort not to have tunnel vision during any part of training and instead have "funnel vision", taking into account everything else that's happening. Not only did this approach allow me to experience all of what life had to offer, it's made me realize that it really is all about the journey. But hey, a BQ at the end of that marathon finish line would be nice too.

Now this is the kind of karma train that I can get on board with. Next stop....Boston, please.

The long and short of it

2011-11-16T13:17:00.001-10:00

Alright folks, here's some big news that I've been waiting for over a week to announce— the launch of "A Run For Your Money", a benefit for the Boys and Girls Club of Hawaii. I've just spent my entire lunch hour doing a social media blitz, putting the details on blast through Facebook, Twitter and on my online portfolio website, Delography.com. This campaign encompasses everything that I'm passionate about in my life and utilizes all my skills and experience in marketing, graphic design, and of course, running. I really can't think of a better way to connect the dots and give back to one of the many organizations that have made a profound impact in my life. Here's a snippet from my write-up on my website:

You can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something – your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. Because believing that the dots will connect down the road will give you the confidence to follow your heart even when it leads you off the well worn path; and that will make all the difference.” – Steve Jobs

Never has the quote above made more sense to me than now. The true story I’m about to tell you will hopefully make you feel the same way. As a Boys and Girls Club of Hawaii (BGCH) member in my youth, I first developed a love for the arts and sports at the “positive place for kids”. From grades 6 through 8, I did two things everyday after school— arts and crafts and recreational sports. Woodworking, rocket building, airbrushing, ping pong, billiards, volleyball, and basketball were just some of the many things offered at The Club, which not only were a blast but also taught me to be responsible, disciplined, and to always strive to be the very best that I can be. Fast forward 15 years to today and I’ve continued to take part in arts and sports as part of my daily life. Not only that, those same core values that I developed in my youth at the BGCH has led me to a fulfilling career as a creative professional and a competitive triathlete.

For many years, I’ve searched for ways to give back to the Boys and Girls Club but have always struggled to connect the dots. But alas, the dots have aligned and I know of no other way to express my deepest gratitude to an organization that has done so much for me than to run with it.

Okay so, if my story above has moved you in some way and you would like to learn more about the Boys & Girls Club of Hawaii and help support my campaign, please visit my donation page on FirstGiving by clicking HERE.

That's it for now. Trust me, you'll be hearing a lot from me about this campaign until marathon day!

Edge of desire

2011-11-15T07:13:00.001-10:00

“If you're not living on the edge, you're taking up too much space.” - Stephen Hunt

Here I am again, standing at the very edge of a tall cliff, staring down into the unknown. I've been here many times before, and never alone. Fear and doubt have always stood beside me, holding me hostage from my very desires....but no more! This time around, I'm trading in fear and doubt for hard work and confidence before I take the plunge come December 11.

22 miles in 2:33:22 @ 6:56/mi. average pace. This past Saturday's test run was a huge success for several reasons. 1) I nailed down my carbo load routine, 2) timing on nutrition during the run was spot on, 3) cooling method using a wet sponge kept my core temperature from rising, and lastly 4) I was able to stick to my target pace while keeping my heart rate relatively stable without any major spikes. About the only thing that didn't go as planned was the route. Instead of following the marathon course from mile 3 on, I had to go with plan B because of APEC in Waikiki. Although this wasn't an official race, I sure treated it like one. And while I'm not gonna go on with a race report, I do have some things to note down which was the big goal for this run. So here we go...

Debt management. Now when I say that my target average pace is 7:00/mi. to achieve a 3:03 finish time, you and I both know that it would be disastrous for me to start off with a seven-minute mile and continue on this way until the very end. From experience I know that it takes me about 2 miles to warm up and hit my stride so the first couple of miles will automatically put me in "debt". The analogy I thought of while I was out there running was that of banking. For every mile that I completed, I either tacked on time to my debt or chipped away at it. And with a 7:00/mi. average pace goal, it was easy to do the calculations. Now here's where restraint and patience come into play. For much of that 22-mile run, I was pretty much in debt, or in the red. At most, I was facing about a one minute deficit that accumulated through miles 1-10 and it wasn't until mile 14 until I finally broke even. From mile 14 on I was in the black and that's when my confidence began to soar. The lesson here is to invest in the early miles and trust that the payoff will be there when you need it most.

Timing is everything. Here's where transfer of knowledge from one sport to another has proved to be beneficial for me. Earlier this year, I started experimenting with wearing two different watches during my triathlon races to dedicate one watch specifically for nutrition timing purposes. During the bike leg, I set my Garmin to go off every 5 minutes to remind me to take in fluids. This worked out very well for me especially during Honu so I thought, why can't it work during a marathon? And so this past weekend, I strapped on two watches and set one to go off every 22 and a half minutes. Why 22:30? My nutrition plan calls for a GU Roctane every 45 mins. and an Endurolyte pill in between each gel so the alarm going off reminds me that I need to take one or the other. As for liquids, I take two sips of EFS every 2 miles and only water with gels and electrolyte pills– at least for the first two-thirds of the distance and when it's still relatively cool. When things really start to heat up whether due to heat or exertion, I increase my intake to sipping EFS or water every mile and make sure to keep my sponges soaked over my chest.

Ebb and flow. Talk about starting off on the wrong foot, literally. In the first couple miles, I had some tightness going on under my left arch which fortunately, was just a nagging pain more than anything. Sure enough once I warmed up, the pain went away and I finally settled into a rhythm. But then just a few minutes later, I felt my chest area radiate a lot of heat, not even 3 miles into the run. So there I was, with the sun barely out and already I had my tri top zipped down to allow the heat to escape. Not a good start, I thought. But soon enough, I felt the heat subside and I was back into my groove. There were times when I felt like I could run for days at that pace and there were also times when I felt depleted and started counting down the miles when it would all be over. It's no big secret, the marathon is going to hurt...a lot. I've come to know and accept this. But I also know that difficult sections are temporary and the only way to get through it is to embrace it and ride it out.

Light is right

2011-11-10T14:39:00.001-10:00

Booyakasha! One month out from the marathon and as of this morning, I'm exactly one pound away from making my race weight goal of 130 lbs. At 12.9% body fat, I've got a ways to go before I dip into the single digit territory, which probably won't happen in a month unless I get to work on turning fat into muscle. Here's a little confession– other than push-ups and core exercises, I haven't done any strength training in over 2 months. I've pretty much just put all my faith in the strength training I did the rest of the year to keep me injury-free throughout marathon training and so far it's done its job.

For the record, this is the leanest and lightest I have ever been in over 10 years and as cliche as it sounds, it all came down to changes in my diet. I normally don't go on any restricted diet (much less use the word diet because it implies a short-term fix), but when I set out a goal to drop down to 130lbs. at the start of marathon training, I knew something had to give. I think I may have mentioned in an earlier post that the first thing I did to clean up my diet was make a Costco run and stock up on 5 lb. bags of frozen fruits and vegetables. This strategy has more or less kept me in check whenever I felt the need to go astray. Craving for a late night snack....how about some fruit or vegetable? Catch my drift? But yeah, in addition to having healthy options available at all times in my fridge, I've also been very mindful of my meal/snack portions making sure they're just enough to support the workout load for the day. Nothing crazy like counting calories or anything like that, it's all based on estimation.

So why the drastic weight drop? I wish I had a better scientific explanation other than, light feels right. But, perhaps you can humor me with some figures I came up with. Most runners know that an efficient running cadence is around 90 RPMs (repetitions per minute), which means that for every minute that you're running, each leg strikes the ground 45 times. So let's just say, to keep things simple, I'm able to hold the ideal 90 RPM running cadence from start to finish during the marathon–

Marathon goal time: 3 hours and 3 minutes = 183 minutes
90 RPMs X 183 minutes = 16,470 foot strikes

I don't know about you, but that sounds like an insane amount of pounding over the course of 26.2 miles. Just how much?

Weight at the start of marathon training (8/24): 146 lbs.
146 lbs. X 16,470 foot strikes = 2,404,620 lbs.

So here's where I think I'll reap the greatest benefits from my reduced weight–

Weight one month out from the marathon (11/10): 131 lbs.
131 lbs. X 16,470 foot strikes = 2,157,570 lbs.

Net reduction in applied ground force: @146 lbs./2,404,620 – @131 lbs./2,157,570 = 247,050 lbs.
Net energy savings: 247,050/2,157,570 = 11.4%

The figures are pretty staggering right? But like I said, just humor me with my simplistic view. For all I know, the weight reduction could come back and haunt me. But for now, I'm sticking with it and hoping for the best. All I know is, I have never felt more comfortable running long distances and I think this has been the key all along. It all goes back to feeling strong, not fast.

The "do-over" do-over

2011-11-07T23:32:00.003-10:00

Everyone deserves a second chance. Perhaps maybe even a third.

As miraculous as my last 20-miler may have been, it's definitely not something I want to hinge my confidence on when I toe the line for 26.2 in a little over a month. I certainly don't want to give lady luck all the credit for all the hard work I've done over the last 11 weeks. No way! The only kind of luck I believe in is when preparation meets opportunity. So in honor of that, this weekend's long run will be a dress rehearsal of sorts.

Week 12 of my 16-week marathon training program will be capped off with a 22-miler, the farthest distance I'll be running before I slowly taper down. With three 20 mile runs under my belt over the last 8 weeks, I'm confident I'll be able to push the distance while maintaining my target marathon pace of 7:00/mi. Believe me, I know how ridiculous that sounds and even just typing it out scares the crap out of me! But that's exactly why I need to execute well on this "test run". I truly believe that my body is already there, it's my mind that needs reassurance. This is the run that I want to hinge my confidence on.

So here's the plan. Like I said, this will be a dress rehearsal of sorts so aside from weather conditions, I'll do everything I can to simulate the race logistics including carbo loading, pre-race meal, nutrition/hydration during the race, music playlist, and race attire. I''ll be starting my run at 5:00 am (the official start time of the marathon), a little past mile 3 of the course on Ward Ave. and Kapiolani Blvd., just a half-mile walk over from my house. The plan is to stay on the marathon route through Ala Moana/Waikiki and out to Kahala/Hawaii Kai and back, with mile 22 ending near the Diamond Head lookout just before the final stretch home. With a 28-ounce capacity split between two bottles on my FuelBelt Revenge R20 hydration pack, the many water fountains along the route, and a couple of extra bottles of EFS that I'll stash just before mile 16, I'll have more than enough liquids to keep me hydrated. Nutrition by way of four GU Roctanes taken every 45 minutes and four Endurolytes taken in between gels will be stashed in my side pockets on my tri top. I'll also take along a couple of sponges to place over my chest area for when things start to heat up. I've used this cooling method under the Kona heat with great success so I'm hoping this will help keep my core temperature in check. With APEC ongoing this week, I plan to scout the first 4 miles of my route through Waikiki tomorrow to make sure I can get through without a hitch. Otherwise, plan B will be a modified route starting from Triangle Park out to Hawaii Kai and back with a couple of out and backs to start and end with.

Chart your course @ http://www.gmap-pedometer.com.

Other than fine tuning everything that I've been doing successfully in training, my overall goal is to take mental notes all throughout the course of the run— much like a review session for the big exam. Now if you think I've gone way overboard with my quest to qualify for Boston, there's a very good reason for that. Let's just say the stakes have gone up, tenfold.

Or more fittingly....sevenfold. I'll put the details on blast right here some time next week, just need to dot some I's and cross some T's. Will definitely be calling on all of you for your help and support. Stay tuned folks!

The miracle on Halloween

2011-11-02T10:26:00.002-10:00

Remember that 20 mile "do-over" I had planned for this past weekend? Well, I did it. Through sheer stubbornness and determination, I was able to pull off perhaps what can only be described as the miracle on Halloween. Just goes to show, you never know when you'll have to heave that hail mary pass so you always have to be ready. Let's get right into the story.

Friday morning I went out for an easy ride out to Hawaii Kai which took nearly 2 hours all because I couldn't shift my rear derailleur and was reduced to spinning on one gear each on my big and small chain rings. No big deal, other than looking funny pedaling faster than I was moving, I made it back home safely and in time for work. So the weekend plans looked like this– Art After Dark on Friday, Saturday afternoon long run, then the downtown block party that evening. I had every intention of keeping it mellow on Friday, well aware that I had a 20 mile run to do the very next day. EPIC fail. Mellow turned out to be several servings of beer, wine, shots, and moving the party over to Pearl to end the night. Man, I was done! Got up the next morning feeling like crap with a pounding headache and thinking to myself, I'm so screwed.

Fist pumping @ Art After Dark.

After getting some much needed breakfast of a 3-egg omelette and rice and guzzling glasses of Gatorade and orange juice, I went right back to bed for a 3 hour nap. Woke up around 1pm feeling better but still with a slight headache and overall tiredness. But, after munching on a turkey sandwich and some chips, I felt much better and was ready to take on the road! Luckily the weather was fairly overcast so it didn't heat up too much especially since by the time I was out the door, it was 4pm. Even still, I came prepared and strapped on my FueltBelt hydration belt with 20 ounces of EFS, 2 packs of Powerbar gel, a GU Roctane, and a couple of Endurolytes. And so I started my run...

I started off very cautiously and was at the mercy of my hung over body's demands. By some miracle, muscle memory both in terms of forgetting all the crap I put into my body the night before and remembering how it feels to run on a properly fueled body came through. By no means was I jumping up and down celebrating as each sub 7-minute mile ticked by. In fact, I was pretty sure that I'd run straight into the wall somewhere in Kahala and would somehow have to bus it back. But alas, 2 hours and 17 minutes later of paranoia, I made it back home. 20 miles in 2:17 @ 6:53/mi. hours after nursing my morning hangover. Now that's what I call a Halloween treat!

Needless to say, Saturday night was very low key. Not only was I sore, tired, and dehydrated, I was still traumatized from all the alcohol from the night before. NEVER again. I'm pretty sure I only get a few of these "pass go, collect $200" passes so I really have to choose my battles.

Clark Kent and Pauly D striking a pose at the downtown block party, Hallowbaloo.

Crisis management

2011-10-26T15:49:00.000-10:00

Good, but could've been great.

That's what I told my training partner about this past weekend's 30k. The difference between good and great? About 8 minutes. Disappointed? Nah, not really. Even though a careless mistake prevented me from doing my absolute best, I still made the best of what I was dealt with and figured out a way to get myself out of a bad situation. I think that's 8 minutes well spent. Besides, better to get the bad race out of the way now and save the great race for the marathon. Here's my race report:

I felt pretty confident and well rested going into this race, taking two complete days of rest prior to toeing the start line. Earlier in the week, I definitely felt the accumulated fatigue from stacking a 18 mile run and a 4 and a half hour hike over the weekend so I made sure to give my legs the break it deserved. With a 5am start, I wasn't too concerned about radiant heat from the sun but with the forecast calling for light variable winds and humid weather, I came prepared.

Here's me sporting what you'll likely see me run the marathon in. From head-to-toe, SweatVac headband, Louis Garneau Pro sleeveless tri top, Zoot Endurance tri shorts, and of course, my new favorite shoe of all time, Inov-8 Road-x Lite 155. I've gone through several running singlets from Zoot and DeSoto in previous races, but in the end I've found that suiting up in my tri gear addresses all my needs for compression, ventilation, cooling, and pockets to stash my gels and liquids. I've read that it's somewhat of a faux pas to wear tri gear for running races but to hell with those people! It's the only apparel that can keep my core temperature in check so if I'm breaking an unspoken rule, then so be it.

Okay, on to the race. My goal for this race was to run a 2:10 (6:58/mi. pace) which would smash my PR from 2 years ago by 10 minutes. Out of the gate, I clocked a 7:02 in the first mile which made me think I may have been going out too fast but fortunately, the hill up Diamond Head forced me to slow down. Usually it takes me about 2 miles or so to warm up to a comfortable pace but for some reason as soon as I got to the lookout, I was hitting my stride. Nothing crazy or anything, I basically settled into a pace that I felt I could sustain comfortably until I got to the turnaround point at Maunala Bay. On the way out, I slowly chipped away at the leaders ahead of me just as a couple runners behind made a pass. For the most part, I ran this race by myself meaning that I didn't latch on to anyone to act as a pacesetter nor did I surge to leapfrog from one pack to the next.

So then one little hiccup takes place- my iPod goes silent. No big deal, I've done many triathlons where music devices aren't allowed so there was no reason to panic. With nothing to listen to, I was forced to pay attention to my breathing, heart rate, and cadence. At that point I was about 11 miles in, clocking in sub 7-minute miles and was amazed at how calm my body was. It was definitely a confidence booster. But then minutes later, I feel the laces on my right shoe come undone. I was a little hesitant to bend down to tie it because of what happened at Honu two years ago when my back seized up from sitting on the grass to put my shoes on. But then I thought, no big deal, take care of it now before it becomes a bigger problem. This happened right around mile 14 so with 4.6 miles to go, I decided to push the pace to make up the 10 or so seconds I lost from retying my shoes. Ha! At this point, it was deja vu all over again. It was me, Shawn, and the older guy Mike, at it again just like we did at the 25k a few weeks ago. Except this time, Shawn and I lead the charge after reeling Mike in.

As we turned onto Kahala Avenue, we were about 5k from home but decided to save some for the last ascend up to Triangle Park. As Shawn and I were shoulder-to-shoulder with Mike directly in front of us, I did this little side step and a hop kind of thing to get around Mike, when all of a sudden my lower back muscles spassed (sp?) and stopped me dead in my tracks. Any further movement brought on a pinched nerve-like pain so I literally went from running to a stand still in 2 seconds flat. So there I was, just before mile 16, laying on the grass/sand to the side of the road going to work doing any and every lower back stretch I know. Surprisingly I remained pretty calm throughout this whole ordeal knowing that I've been here before and was able to continue and finish the run after my back warmed up. And sure enough, after 5 or so minutes of dynamic and static stretching, I got back up on my feet and continued the race. When I passed mile marker 16, my Garmin read 10:54 for that mile but never bothered to look at my elapsed time thinking 2:10 was out of the question. Even though I was less than 2 miles away from the finish line, I didn't want to aggravate my lower back so I "cruised in" at around a 7:15/mi. pace which blew me away because it honestly felt like I was going at an easy pace. As soon as I was close enough to see the clock at the finish line, I see 2:13 tick by just as I see my parents on the side of the finisher's chute cheer me home. Here's the official numbers–

Official time: 2:13:25 (PR by 7 minutes)
Average pace: 7:09/mi.
Place: 4th AG/29th OA

All things considered, I'll take a sub par race in exchange for yet another lesson in crisis management. The likely culprit for my back spasm? This is just my guess, but I think bending down to tie my shoes may have started it and the little sidestep/hop move finished it off. I think it goes without saying that I'll be picking up a pair of Squeezums to make sure my laces never come undone and no more fancy footwork when making a pass. Overall, I feel very good about where I'm at with my fitness despite the recent mishap. On schedule for this weekend is supposed to be a 17-miler but I think I'm gonna change it up to a 20 mile "do-over" instead. Here's hoping you don't see me do yoga stretches on the side of the road!

Parallel Universe

2011-10-19T14:48:00.000-10:00

Work. Play. Sleep.

That's pretty much how I break my day down when it comes to managing my time. Sound boring and simplistic? Maybe. But considering that I love what I do for work and share the same love affair for triathlon, I'd say it's not a bad way to live. No scratch that, I am one lucky son of a gun! I was reminded of this when I celebrated my 5-year anniversary working in the magazine publishing biz last week. Coincidentally, I'm also on my 5th year of competing in triathlons and the path I've taken through work and play has brought me to amazing places, both physically and mentally.

I've always believed that art and sport share many similarities, at least from my experience, and I've even written a little bit about that here. Over the years, I've applied lessons I learned from triathlon to my professional career (and vice versa) which no doubt is responsible for my growth...

Throwing up a hail mary pass, or two. In my first attempt to get into the creative department of my company, I did so by applying for the staff photographer position with no experience, barely enough photos to put together a portfolio, and with just the basic camera equipment. Of course I didn't get the job, but what I did get was the attention of the entire creative department, including the creative director who would eventually hire me as an Art Director and take me under his wings. What may have started as a failed attempt at pursuing a job has led to a fulfilling career as a creative professional. Classic case of "where one door closes, another one opens."

Setting my sights on toeing the Kona Ironman World Championships is hands down one of the greatest hail mary passes I have ever thrown. While that pass still remains airborne, things like ascending to the summit of the Haleakala Crater on my bike, completing the Waikiki Roughwater Swim, and attempting to qualify for the Boston Marathon have resulted because of it. I have no doubt that many more accomplishments like these will likely happen until the day that pass touches down.

Embracing negative space and using restraint. When I first started building display ads for our magazines, I went to town filling every space on that ad with every trick in the book. Color gradients, textured patterns, drop shadows, inner/outer glows, and on top of that, using 5 different fonts. It was a hot mess I tell ya! As I grew into my role and developed a better sense of balance, I began to embrace negative/white space and allow the content, or message to speak to its audience without all the fluffy distractions. In short, I've gained the confidence to practice restraint in my design to keep things simple and effective.

The same can be said for my newfound approach to training and racing. In this case, negative space translates to active recovery days that make my key workouts possible. When I first started in this sport, my workout calendar looked very much like the crowded ads I used to design, with every nook and cranny filled in with what some people refer to as "junk miles", just for the sake of filling up space. But no more! These days, I'm working harder and more importantly, smarter than ever, freeing up a lot of time for negative space and other important things in life. As far as restraint goes, I've gotten better at pacing myself and choosing my battles. There's only so many matchsticks in a matchbook, remember?

Setting myself up for success. If there's one thing that's responsible for my growth and successes over these last few years, it would have to be my network of support. I am very fortunate to have great mentors that have taken me under their wings, both professionally and personally. Far beyond required copy for an ad, or a prescribed pace for a workout, I have purposely surrounded myself with these people on a daily basis to motivate, inspire, and guide me to fulfill my dreams.

As for other contributing factors to my success, I'd even go as far as choosing where I live and work as a huge part of it. The neighborhood that I live in has literally become my playground for swimming, biking, and running. Its close proximity to the beach, pool, rolling hills, track, bike routes, and paved paths gives me countless of options without having to get into my car and drive. And with work being less than a 10-minute bus ride away, it gives me the flexibility to get in a workout before or after work. Having this kind of access and convenience has eliminated virtually any excuses for failure. Simple as that.

Anyway, sorry for the long entry. Just thought I'd take a pause for the cause. Quick update, believe it or not, I am halfway through marathon training after 8 weeks and I am completely stoked over the progress I've made through the first half of this program. Race #4 of the marathon readiness series happens this Sunday with the P.F. Chang 30k and I'm confident that I'll be able to chalk up another PR. I'll check back in with a race report next week.

Sunday morning bliss

2011-10-10T12:01:00.002-10:00

20 in 2:20 @ 7:02. The only kind of math that makes me happy on a Sunday morning.

By my calculations, a 43 minute 10k tacked on at the end of that 20 mile run woulda had me my BQ. Did I have it in me to pull out that kind of 10k, 2 hours and 20 minutes into my run? Without a doubt. As it turns out, yesterday could've been the day. But then again, anything could happen in the last 10k so for now, all I can do is document that incredible training run in hopes of repeating, or better yet, improving on it when it really counts.

So like most great training runs that I've had, it started off seemingly ordinary. I mapped out a route that closely followed the first 20 miles of the marathon route to familiarize myself with how I should start off at an easy pace. The goal for the run was to average a 7:15/mi. or better and the plan was to run the first 10 at around 7:20/mi. then negative split the last half at 7:10/mi. or so. First mile in, I stayed at just under a 8:00/mi. and followed it up by a 7:17 for my second mile. So at the point, I felt pretty warmed up and thought, this feels like a good pace to settle into. The keyword there is feels good. I'm not sure what it was I did but for some reason that effort level felt comfortable with me so I sat on it and never bothered to check my pace except for when I got an update at each mile. As each mile ticked by, I consistently clocked in between 7:05-7:10 for the first 10 miles.

I should also mention that even though I had a late start at around 7:40am, the weather was relatively cool with generous amounts of tradewinds to keep my core temp in check which I'm finding is a big factor in keeping my heart rate and rate of perceived effort (RPE) down. Also, I traded in my usual run apparel and suited up in my tri gear to hold all my nutrition in my side pockets and to have the option of zipping down my top for ventilation when the heat rises. Anyway, I intentionally set the data fields to show only my current pace, distance, and time on my Garmin so I wouldn't get caught up in trying to "chase" after my average pace goal. The only time I checked my current avg. pace was right around mile 12 when it read 7:11/mi. so already, I was ahead of my goal and still had a lot left in the tank. So I think from then on, I made it a point to push it in the last 8 miles and see how I'd feel to run just under a 7:00/mi. pace. Sure enough, my body responded with a couple of low 6:50s which pretty much caused the adrenaline flood gate to swing right open.

Soon after I hit mile marker 17, I took it up another notch and pushed the last 3 miles around my 10k pace. And guess what? 6:42, 6:37, and an unbelievable 6:21 for my final mile of a 20-mile run. I think it goes without saying that I had a freakishly awesome run yesterday. I wouldn't necessarily say that I felt strong during the run, but I did feel comfortable and relaxed with the effort. I've been on the other side of the coin where I did feel strong (not fast) but definitely nowhere near as comfortable as yesterday. Again, I think the conditions had a lot to do with it. Yesterday's run definitely proved that I run much better under cooler conditions.

Anyway, I am by no means ready to hang up my shoes and call it a day. For all I know, it may have taken me all of the last 7 weeks to prep me for that single run so to bank on that experience as an indication of future runs would be careless. Even though I'm extremely happy that things are falling into place, I've still got 9 weeks to go and a helluva lot of work to do so I just need to keep things in perspective until then.

So far, so good

2011-10-06T10:22:00.003-10:00

I finally feel like I'm turning a corner as a result of spending the last 6 weeks experimenting with a modified program, footwear, diet/nutrition, and core training. I've built a good base putting out some promising baselines to improve on and I'm eager to advance to the next phase. And what exactly is involved in the next phase? Well, other than the 6 weeks worth of workouts that I've pre-planned, anything is fair game. For the most part, training's been half science and half art so I have every intention of going with the flow instead of what's on paper. Here's some things I learned over the past 6 weeks that have put me on stable ground.

On a modified program. While it's important to establish baselines and set prescribed paces as target goals for each workout, I also realize the importance of training and racing by feel. One day I could be strapped to a heart rate monitor, a foot pod to monitor my cadence, and the GPS on my watch to track my pace. And on another day, I just lace up and go without being a slave to numbers or technology. That's what I meant by half science and half art. On a typical week, I'll do 3 key run workouts with very specific goals and 2 days of cross-training which are mainly done at easy/conversational pace with no goals in mind, to recover physically and mentally from hard workouts.

Having a workout template instead of a schedule has really allowed me the flexibility to switch things up on a moment's notice while still keeping the key workouts in tact. Take last week for example. Instead of doing my planned strength training session (which I haven't been doing for the last 2 weeks), I skipped out and ran up Tantalus with a couple of training partners. Not only was it my first time up on foot, it was the first time in nearly 10 years that I've added a 4th day of running to my schedule. And you know what? It was one of the best run workouts I've ever done. Running 5 miles at a constant incline was the perfect substitute for lower-body strengthening. Oh and finishing our run well into the darkness put my senses on full tilt and added a whole 'nother dimension to the mind-body connection. Needless to say, this workout has quickly become one of my favorites and will be added to my weekly routine.

On footwear. After much success with my New Balance Minimus trail shoe these past few months, I was determined to keep training/racing with them throughout marathon training. But, after a few black toes and giant blisters after my long runs, I just had to let 'em go. Fortunately I found the Inov-8 Road X-Lite 155 to be the perfect replacement and have trained/raced sans black toes and giant blisters since then.

On diet/nutrition. When I came home from my 2 week vacation in the Philippines, I weighed in at 147 lbs. That's a good 12 pounds over my 135 lb. race weight! Needless to say, I panicked and went straight to Costco and grabbed a bunch of salad trays and 5-pound bags of frozen fruits and vegetables. The extra weight dropped off quickly alright, but so did my energy levels. Classic case of too much, too fast.

I have a pretty ambitious goal of dropping down to 130 lbs. and getting into the single-digit body fat % territory so I really have my work cut out for me. Don't let my size fool, I love to eat, so this by far will be the most challenging part of marathon training. The plan is to eat healthy most of the time, substituting rice/pasta with fruits/vegetables (unless I'm carbo loading), and controlling portions according to my caloric expenditure needs. Yesterday I weighed in at 137 lbs. with 13% body fat, so with 9 weeks to go I'm confident I'll be able to hit my target weight and body fat % at a healthy rate (1-2lbs. loss per week).

On core training. I've been following track star Lolo Jones' fast abs workout and I really feel like it's made a huge difference in my core strength and endurance. And not just when it comes to running, I even feel like my posture, and yes, even my walk has improved because of a stronger core. I've pretty much done away with any kind of resistance training with the exception of pumping out a few push-ups post swim to balance out the pulling movement. And the only lower-body strength training I get is my weekly run up Tantalus. Didn't really plan it this way but with the results I've been getting going without a full-body resistance training sesh once a week, I may just stick to this twice-a-week routine instead.

Anyway, week 6 was capped off by this past Sunday's ING Direct 25k run out in Kailua and I'm pretty pleased with my results. Here's a little recap of what went down...

This 15.5 mile run was race #3 of the marathon readiness series and was held in familiar territory. The run took us from Kailua Beach Park, through Lanikai, out to the Kaneohe Marine Corps Base, then back to where we started. Even with a 5:30am start, I knew this course would heat up real fast being that we were on the east coast of the island and had front row seats of the sunrise. So other than trying to hold a 7:00/mi. pace, my other concern was keeping my core temp down. Out of the gate, the front pack lead the charge at an insanely fast 6:30/mi pace and fortunately, I didn't bite. I've been down that road one too many times to know better so I hung back and warmed up to my own pace. After I got my rhythm in check, I leapfrogged
from one pack to the next as I made my way to the most difficult part of the course– the giant hill inside the Marine Corps Base. This is where running up Tantalus earlier in the week paid off. Just having the mental and physical knowledge that I climbed a longer and more difficult hill just days before gave me the edge to forge ahead and catch up to another pack in front of me.

But just as I was ready to celebrate at the top of the hill, my excitement quickly came to a screeching halt. This is where looking at the course map would've helped. The hill wasn't quite over just yet. It continued on for another quarter mile, downhill at first, but guess what? We get to turn right back around and go uphill on that same road. Not that it was an extremely difficult section, but just the mental ambush itself, the element of surprise, dampened some of my spirit. But with 5 miles to go, there was no time to sulk. With the help of gravity, I spun my legs down the long descend and pulled a few seconds ahead of the pack behind me. As I made the turn and hit the flat section, I had a little extra spring in my step so I tried to surge, just as an older runner runs right by me and takes the lead. Convincingly too. By the time I caught up to him, we were coming out of the base and were less than 5k 'til we hit home. I surged for a good mile to reclaim the lead before slowing down to take in nutrition at the final aid station. I knew this stop would make me lose my lead but my body was begging for a gel so that pretty much took priority. Sure enough, the older runner takes the lead again and I quickly latch on to keep up. It was a head-to-head battle for about a half mile before a third runner joins our pack. It was fellow Ironheart Racing teammate Shawn who'd been swapping leads with me earlier in the race.

At this point we were pushing each other to hold a 6:40ish pace, even though effort-wise it felt like a 6:00/mi. pace. There were a couple of lead swaps but for the most part, we tried to stay at a consistent pace before running on pure adrenaline after hitting mile marker 15. With just half a mile to go, I was desperately looking for my one and final "gear" a.k.a. finishing kick but I think I left it out on the course somewhere. It just wasn't there. As we rounded the corner on the final turn, I remained in the middle of our pack with the older runner just a few seconds ahead and Shawn clipping at my heels. Yup, you guessed it, we both got schooled by the older runner! Just another humbling reminder that old guys rule.

Here's the final arithmetic–

Official time: 1:45:37 (PR, by default)
Average pace: 6:48/mi.
2nd AG/14th OA

So as you can see, despite the fact that I was fed a spoonful of humble pie by an older competitor, I was a happy camper. Not only did I keep my core temp in check and came well under my 7:00/mi. goal, I got to take a place on the podium and take home some hardware. The thing that I'm most stoked about though, is managing my pace and energy reserves well. I think the reason I had no strong finishing kick is because I left it all out there meaning that when I crossed the finish line, I had nothing left in the tank, which personally, is one of the most satisfying feelings.

Kickin' it, the minimalist way

2011-09-28T16:30:00.000-10:00

I'm pretty picky when it comes to a lot of things, but none more so than running shoes. If I'm gonna be out there pounding the pavement for hours at a time, I need shoes that are feather light, fit like a glove, and allows me to "feel" the ground. Since transitioning over to minimalist footwear over a year ago, I've seen huge improvements in my turnover rate (cadence), speed, and efficiency.

Here's my review of the newest additions to my minimalist footwear:

VIVOBAREFOOT Ultra

Weight: 3.9 oz.
Stack height: Heel- 6mm, Forefoot- 6mm
Drop: 0mm
Price: $90.00

Short description from the website:

The Ultra, a lightweight barefoot amphibious running shoe. Best for: light trail cross training, water sports, long runs and general beachside and urban barefoot exploration.

Yup, you read it right– amphibious, although I haven't had a chance to "test the waters" just yet. I purchased these shoes while I was on vacation in the Philippines, out of pure curiosity, to see what other countries have to offer. I did a bit of research on the company's website and found a ton of information on barefoot-like running from "the world's best barefoot running coach", Lee Saxby. That was enough for me to make a trip to the mall and try on a pair. At 3.9 oz., these shoes weigh about two-thirds the weight of one of my Vibram FiveFingers. After running on the store's treadmill for a couple of minutes, I was out the door sporting some funky, golf ball-looking shoes to walk in around the mall for the rest of the day.

Features. With a removable sock-like liner (bottom is lined with Kevlar, making it puncture resistant) that snaps into the upper via two plastic tabs at the heel and just below your toes, you can wear these shoes three ways. 1) With the liner and upper/shell as pictured above, 2) With just the upper/shell, or 3) With just the liner itself. Quick-lace system with expandable lace cords for a snug fit.

Pros. Feather light, glove-like fit, and an ultra low profile make these shoes one of the most comfortable I've ever worn. The zero drop (or heel to forefoot differential) truly gives you that barefoot-like feel and increases proprioception. Cons. The hexagon cut-outs on the upper caused some friction/chafing on the knuckles of my toes. During downhill running, the movable liner tends to shift forward causing a blood blister on my toe.

Final verdict. Overall, I'm pretty happy with these shoes in terms of fit, weight, and ground feel. But with an ultra thin 6mm sole, I'm limiting myself to tempo runs of no more than 10 miles until I have the strength and endurance in my feet to go any farther. Will probably stick to flats versus rolling hills too, as I don't need any more black toes to add to that growing collection.

NIKE Mayfly

Weight: 5.0 oz.

Stack height: Heel- 23mm, Forefoot- 15mm

Drop: 8mm

Price: $45.00

Short description from the website:

Innovation at its peak, the Nike Mayfly Men's Running Shoe is an ultra-lightweight racing design. Created with a lifespan as short as its namesake, the Mayfly is designed to go 100km. Durable, breathable ripstop fabric makes up the upper, while a Phylite foam fuses the midsole and outsole together for the lightweight, minimal cushioning you need to switfly go the distance.

Okay, this is going to sound really bad since I graduated with a marketing degree, but I initially bought these shoes for its sheer marketing genius. They got me....I mean c'mon, read the description above! A shoe that's designed to last only 100km must have special magic powers or something. No but really, this shoe has innovation and minimal design written all over it. I called around to see who carried them but to no avail, so I took a chance and bought a pair online. Out of the box, I quickly put them to the test and ran 3 x 1 mile repeats with mixed feelings. While they felt super light and breathable, the fit wasn't quite right which caused some pain under my arches. And with a relatively high stack height, I didn't get the ground feel that I crave.

Features. Ripstop textile upper with perforations for breathability. Phylite midsole and outsole for lightweight cushioning. Pods at outsole for traction.

Pros. This shoe definitely wins points for its innovative concept and environmentally friendly design. It even ships with a shoe bag and postage to return to Nike after use for recycling purposes. Cutouts on the bottom of the sole and minimal upper make it one of the most breathable shoes I've ever worn Cons. The cushioning isn't quite on par with other minimalist shoes. It feels a bit thick for me to really get a good ground feel.

Final verdict. I'll be honest, I was a little disappointed after the first test run. But, after trying on a thinner pair of socks and lacing them differently, I gave it another run and to my surprise felt a whole lot better. Definitely has potential to be the racing flat that I wear for the actual marathon. By design, I've got two 20-milers plus the marathon on these shoes before I'm supposed to toss them out so I'll be spreading out its use over the next 10 weeks. Oh and one last cool thing about this shoe, there's an area on the side of the shoe toward the back where you can write in the location, date, and time of your PR race. Marketing genius I tell ya!

INOV-8 Road-X Lite 155

Weight: 6.1 oz.

Stack height: Heel- 10mm, Forefoot- 5mm

Drop: 5mm

Price: $110.00

Short description from the website:

The Inov-8 Road-X 155 is a lightweight, natural running shoe that offers the utmost in proprioception for the minimalist or elite runner. Unlike other Inov-8 models, the Road-X 155 doesn't incorporate Dynamic Fascia Band but rather relies solely on foot strength from the runner. The Road-X 155 offers a 5mm heel-to-toe height difference that allows the runner to run in a smooth natural running style.

Ironically, I first learned about this shoe/brand when I sat in on a focus group for Nike. One of the participants who is heavily into CrossFit and is also a triathlete and ultra runner brought in this pair of shoe and raved about them. I talked with him after the session was over and other than it being light and flexible, I didn't really think much else of it. That is until I tried on a pair last week. The only retailer available on Oahu is 3,2,1, Go! Hawaii which brands itself as the "minimalist shoe headquarters."

Features. Breathable mesh upper. Minimal arch support.

Pros. Super low to the ground profile at just 10mm in the heel and 5mm on the forefoot. Really allows you to get a good ground feel while giving just the right amount of responsive cushioning. The low 5mm drop allows for a natural forefoot strike and smooth ride. Cons. None really, other than the lack of color options. This model only comes in yellow.

Final verdict. Hands down, the best running shoes I've ever worn. No joke! Out of the box, I put it through its paces and went out for an 11 mile run, with 8 of those at tempo pace averaging 7:00/mi. for the first 4 and 6:45/mi. for the last 4. This will most definitely be my high mileage workhorse for the duration of marathon training. I'll put it through another test at this weekend's 25k, but so far I am thoroughly impressed and very happy that I found this shoe.

FULL DISCLOSURE: The NIKE Mayfly and the INOV-8 Road-X Lite 155 were purchased at a discounted rate from Running Warehouse, through its sponsorship of Ironheart Racing Team, which I am a member of.

Summer of '05

2011-09-27T01:02:00.000-10:00

Three words: dream come true.

Say hello to Hawaii's newest ACE-certified personal trainer. That's right folks, I passed my exam! It's been almost a week now and it still feels very surreal to me. While the actual process of getting certified may have only taken me 5 months (read about my "epiphany" here), this dream was cooked up 6 years ago. I remember it like it was yesterday...

It was in the summer of 2005, just a couple of weeks before the start of my last semester at UH. A friend and I flew over to Maui for the weekend where I ran in the Maui Half Marathon (my very first half mary). While I struggled through the front half of the race, on the return trip home, something in my body clicked that caused it to go on autopilot and let my mind wander. By the time I crossed the finish line, I had a business plan to open a wellness center written in my head that I couldn't wait to share with my friend. Fast forward a few months to graduation day, and my plan to open a wellness center to help people live happy and balanced lives was put on blast to thousands of fellow graduates and their families.

Finally getting certified as a personal trainer is just the first step of many, I'm sure. The next few months will be spent exploring my options and setting up a formal business to manage clients. At this point, national certification is just one of the many things I want to build my reputation and credibility on as a fitness professional. Next on the list is something that I've been putting off writing about for the last few weeks. You guessed it.... qualify for Boston (BQ) at the Honolulu Marathon.

"Without a plan, there's no attack. Without attack, no victory." - Curtis Armstrong

I'm on week 6 of a modified 16-week marathon training program that I followed from last year. The first order of business was to change all the prescribed workout paces to reflect my marathon goal time of 3:03:34 (7:00/mi. pace). Being that this is my second run at following this program, I'm much more comfortable at modifying it accordingly. Instead of a rigid workout schedule, I'm treating it more as a workout template to address how my body reacts to each week's training load. As far as weekly mileage goes, I've added a few miles to my tempo and long runs but still keeping it in the neighborhood between 30-35 miles, all on 3 days of running. Again, this is on the lower end of most marathon training programs you see out there and I've been told by at least one coach that I need to increase my mileage so I think after I wrap up this week, I'm entertaining the idea of maybe going into the 40s. I've never ran more than 3 days a week so adding a 4th day of running to my schedule will definitely be breaking the mold.

I completed my first 20-miler a couple of weekends ago with great success and am looking at doing a few more before peaking with a 22-miler a month out from race day, at close to marathon pace. As far as track intervals go, I owe all my improvement in speed and cadence to them but I think at this point, I really need to shift my focus to tempo and long runs. It's not to say that I won't be trying to nail every prescribed interval. I'm just saying, I'm okay with not nailing a few, so long as I get to hammer on the long runs.

In the last 5 weeks since I've started this program, I've had to do a half marathon, 5k and 20k run, the Waikiki Roughwater Swim, and finally the Honolulu Century Ride. In hindsight, having that many races in a short amount of time really took a toll on my body and I was feeling the effects of accumulated fatigue. But with swim and bike races out of the way, I can finally buckle down and focus on marathon training. So far it's been very....educational. Let's just say I've already had a few crash and burns due to bad pacing and/or nutrition which brought back some bad memories of last year's marathon. But on the other hand, I did learn from those mistakes and they only helped with the success of subsequent workouts.

Next post I'll write about a couple of new additions to my growing minimalist shoe quiver.

When it's one of those mornings

2011-09-15T09:37:00.001-10:00

Quote: Christopher McDougall. Photo: Delography. Location: Maasai Mara, Kenya.

I don't know if I'm having some kind of brain overload from all this studying (cramming) or if I'm on the verge of over training, but this morning I had the toughest time getting up to do my track workout. The photo above sits on the tank of my toilet and stares right back at me for mornings when it's tough to get going.

Bigger fish to fry

2011-09-13T16:17:00.000-10:00

And just like that, I'm on week 4 of marathon training and so far it's been quite a ride. In my last post I had a weekend of back-to-back races which, for all intents and purposes, was supposed to be done at training and recovery paces. Oh I flirted with disaster alright! I was nowhere near my "planned" paces for both races, but by some miracle made it out on top.

The day before my 20k run, I went out for an easy ride with a couple of training partners and talked strategy with one of 'em who's been to both big dances, Boston and Kona. I told Stack that my plan for the next day was to run the first 10k @ 7:45/mi., then negative split the second half @ 7:30/mi. The logic behind my plan? To pull in the reigns and actually follow my prescribed training pace. The logic behind his reply? Why run slower than your target marathon pace for a distance that's much less. As obvious as that sounds, it was sort of a light bulb moment for me, and right then and there I decided to change my plan and shoot for a 7:00/mi. average pace for the 20k.

Here's how it went down:

This was race #2 of the marathon readiness series, held at Barber's Point/Kalaeloa out on the west side, on a relatively flat course with just minor changes in gradation. The course included three, 4-mile loops which was supposed to simulate the flat sections on Kalanianaole Hwy. on the actual marathon course. The loops were designed to help runners keep a consistent pace and allow for adjustments as they completed each lap. I had other plans of course. Other than trying to stick to my target marathon pace, my biggest goal for this race was not to walk any part of it, except at the aid stations when I needed to down a gel. I started off very conservative making sure not to repeat the same mistake I made just a week before at the 5k. About 2 miles in I started to feel a little more relaxed and settled into a good rhythm. I tried not to pay attention to my current pace and only got updates at each mile split via the auto lap function on my Garmin. Long story short, I listened to my body and ran my most consistently paced race and managed to go sub 7 in the final 3 miles.

Official time– 1:26:13 (PR, by default since this was my first 20k)
Average pace– 6:56/mi.
6th in AG, 23rd OA

It was a good day. Redemption from the previous weekend's 5k? Fo sho!

So then Monday came around, the Waikiki Roughwater Swim. Ever had to take an exam that you weren't 100% prepared for? Yup, that's the feeling I got. With just a couple of 2k swims weeks before this 2.4 mile swim, I had no other option than to fake it, 'til I made it!

Delography in the house!

Seeing my design on the shirts of the volunteers and staff at the start definitely brought a lot of excitement and helped to calm my nerves. A half an hour before the first wave took off, the announcer brought the best news of the day. Favorable currents! Someone sure was looking out for me that day. Don't ask me how, but I had the fastest and best swim ever. I'm sure the favorable current had a lot to do with it, but to swim from Kaimana Beach to the Hilton Hawaiian Village NON-STOP, on minimal training is a miracle. There's just no other way to explain it.

Official time– 1:28:00 (PR by 6 minutes)

Okay so, I know I've been mentioning that I'd write about all the changes for this year's marathon training but a lot has been going on in the last 4 weeks so I've been putting it off. Let's just say I have bigger fish to fry. Other than the Honolulu Century Ride next weekend (more faking to do here), I've got my ACE Certified Personal Trainer exam to take next Wednesday. Yup, it's been 5 months since I started studying for this thing and now it's show time. I'll be honest, I was super nervous when I first registered for the exam and tackled some of the study guides. But as the weeks went by and I got a better handle on the exam content, I started to feel a little more confident. I'll definitely be burying my head in my books in the next week before the exam so if I don't update until then, you know why. Hope to be back with good news, wish me luck!

Flirting with disaster

2011-08-31T12:10:00.002-10:00

Alright this week is turning out to be much better than last. I'm finally over the jet lag that messed up my sleep schedule and I'm feeling much more rested and focused. I may have gotten sidetracked from last week's reckless training/racing but fortunately, sidelined I am not. I took a complete rest day on Monday to regroup and recover from what I think may have been a short-lived episode of mental and physical burn out, and it was exactly what I needed.

I had plans to start the week off with an easy swim at Ala Moana Beach to ease back into training but mother nature had bigger plans for me.

Mother nature flexing her muscles, off of Magic Island.

It didn't make much sense for me to be tossed around in the high surf, even if I was way inside so I scratched my swim workout and went for my tempo run instead. The workout called for a 2 mi. warm up at an easy (7:56 min./mi.) pace, followed by 7 miles at my target marathon pace (7:00 min./mi.), ending with a 1 mi. easy cool down. I purposely ran my route alongside the beach shores so I could catch a glimpse of all the surf action but above all, I was determined to stick to my prescribed pace during the 7 mile tempo. And guess what? I nailed every single mile consistently within range, AND mostly by feel, checking my Garmin just once or twice for each mile to check my pace. I really needed that. I needed to reassure myself that I can pull in the reigns, not let my nerves (and ego) get to me, and finish strong.

But there's no time to celebrate. That was just a quiz for the real test for this weekend's 20k. No joke, I've got the Runner's HI 20k this Sunday. Flirting with disaster you say? Absolutely. Only this ain't no one night stand. The very next day I'm also doing the Waikiki Roughwater Swim (if mother nature doesn't decide to show off again). So what's my plan to tackle these back-to-back events? Simple. Treat Sunday's race as a training run, and use Monday's swim to recover. Easier said than done, but at least now I know what'll happen if I don't stick to the plan.

Where there's smoke, there's fire

2011-08-29T13:02:00.001-10:00

Last week's jet lag did a number on my sleep schedule and had me juggling workouts to accommodate what little sleep I had the night before. There were nights where I was wide awake at 2 in the morning and contemplated getting a workout done since I was already up, but fortunately a saner head prevailed. I had big plans to hit the ground running as soon as I got back from vacation but instead, recovering from a half marathon, travel, and lack of sleep ran me to the ground.

You would think the weekend was the ideal time for me to catch up on some rest but you know that's not what happened. Friday's mini "tri" (swim/kickball/strength train) pretty much sparked the fire that led to Sunday's inevitable implosion. More on that in just a little bit. Even though I was clearly tired from Friday's activities, I was determined to put in my long ride come Saturday morning. The ride started out great, spinning out to the Makapu'u lookout at conversational pace with a couple of my BOCA training partners to keep me company. With the Honolulu Century Ride less than a month away and this being my first ride in 2 weeks, I thought I'd continue on to Kailua while the rest turned around and headed back to town.

Pit stop at the Makapu'u lookout.

Obviously it was a beautiful day for a ride so I thought I'd take advantage of the great weather. But as I got to my turnaround point at Kalapawai Market, fatigue slowly crept in. From that point on, the "bonk" kind of came and went as I struggled to make the rest of the 65 miles back to my house. Needless to say, I spent the rest of the afternoon in full recovery mode waking up just in time for dinner before heading out for a study sesh at Starbucks. But instead of spending a quiet night recuperating, I made the mistake of drinking a grande chai tea latte which kept me up long after I was done studying. So there I was, laying in bed at 2 in the morning, again, and in 3 hours would need to get up for the Kokua 5k. Say what? Yup....where there's smoke, there's fire.

As sore and tired as I was, there was no way I was about to back out. After all, it was me who dragged a couple of my friends to do the race with me and honestly I was really looking forward to doing it since it would be my first 5k and it was for a worthy cause (proceeds went to the tsunami victims of the Japan disaster). This was supposed to be my interval workout for the week, just as the half marathon last weekend was my endurance workout so I did everything I normally do before an interval workout– 20-minute warm up with a few drills. The disconnect during the race, however, can be summed up beautifully by this quote I just so happen to read hours after the implosion.

"In the first half of the race, don't be an idiot. In the second half, don't be a wimp."

Out of the gate I clocked a 6:07 for my first mile. Second mile I clocked a 5:58, even after repeatedly telling myself to slow down. Last mile I thought, just gut it out until you get home. Instead, I did the unthinkable....I walked. About a quarter mile after I passed mile marker 2, I took a "walk break" ala run-walk method I experimented with in last weekend's race. And then another, and one more after that. I know, un-freakin'-believable right? In addition to complete and utter disappointment with myself, that mental breakdown cost me first place in my age group by 32 seconds. Want to take a guess where that gap was made? Placing 12th overall and 2nd place in my age group with a 19:31 may look good on paper, but it means nothing knowing that I didn't give it my best effort. I realize I'm being incredibly hard on myself and probably overreacting but the fact is, I gave up....and that cuts me deep. NEVER AGAIN. No matter if I come in first or last, I never ever want to feel like a quitter again.

Whooossssahhh.

Okay, there I got it out. Sorry about that y'all, I just really needed to get that off my chest. Despite the many misfortunes I experienced this past weekend, there were definitely some highlights worth remembering.

5k in the books, Honolulu Marathon on the horizon.

RC2 minus Eric.

Chillin' with Ms. Congeniality.

A bittersweet return to the podium.

Blissfully ignorant

2011-08-25T16:31:00.000-10:00

And I'm back! My 2 week adventure-filled vacation has come to an end and it's back to the daily grind. The last few days I felt a little dazed with a slight cold and jet lag so I've been taking it easy just trying to get my bearings straight. Where one adventure ends, another adventure begins....with hopefully a different ending. Yup, marathon training has begun and I'm exactly 16 weeks out from my second attempt at qualifying for the Boston Marathon this December. And with the way things have been going this year, I definitely have high hopes of punching my ticket at the Honolulu Marathon.

In addition to a major shake up of last year's FIRST marathon training plan, changes to my diet/nutrition, strength training program, footwear, and yes, even a drop in race weight will be made. One of the biggest change is sprinkling in 6 races ranging in distance from 5k to 30k throughout the 16 week training program. This change is a solution to my lack of race day strategy during last year's marathon training and will most definitely test my ability to pull in the reigns as these races should be treated as training runs to sharpen my race day skills. But anyway, I'll save the details for the next post.

Here's my race report from this past weekend's Cebu Doctor University Run - Two Bridge Challenge:

There was a lot of excitement coming into this race, being that it was the first time I ever raced in front of my relatives, much less racing internationally and in my hometown. They had high hopes for me and honestly, I secretly wished I could take the whole thing, without even scoping out my competition beforehand- wishful thinking at its most blissfully ignorant form. Even still, I lined up about 20 people deep from the starting line hoping to stay with the main pack and make a more accurate assessment as the race unfolded. Less than a minute after the gun went off, a tall Kenyan with a Gazelle-like stride zooms past me and right then and there, I knew winning this thing was out of the question. Plan B, I thought, push hard early and see if I can crack top 10. The first 2 miles I clocked in sub 7 minute miles before we hit our first of two bridges. It wasn't that steep but it sure was long, just under a half mile of steady climbing. It definitely slowed my pace quite a bit but I still made it up with a strong effort.

By miles 3 and 4, I settled into a rhythm right around a 7:30 pace and tried to stay consistent until a female runner slides right next to me and pulls ahead. At first glance, she didn't look like a typical runner- build wise. But man did she have an engine. For the next miles, we swapped leads at least a half dozen times. At the halfway mark, I was ahead by a few seconds before receiving a green yarn lei to confirm that I had indeed passed that check point. After tasting some nasty electrolyte drink (Pocari Sweat) at the aid station, I pushed the pace hoping I'd lose her. At that point we were about 9 miles into the race and I was sure she'd fade out any minute now. At the same time I was struggling with a fading pace myself, having gone out too fast in the first two miles. For the next couple of miles, I held my lead until she came running right alongside me and made a pass. As we made our way up the second and final bridge, I made a strong push up the short, but steep section hoping to break her mentally.

As we made our way down the back side of the bridge onto the last 4 miles, I was fading fast and was barely hanging on to a 7:45 pace. With about 3 miles to go, she comes out of nowhere and takes the lead again, only this time, I couldn't keep up. Yup, I got chick'd! At that point, I did what I do best during races...justification. I rationalized every possible reason (excuse) as to why I was in my current state. Went out too fast, couldn't keep my temperature down in the humidity, first time racing in Cebu....and the list went on! So on to Plan C, I thought, stick to the 7:45 training pace that's prescribed in my schedule AND try out a new strategy and perhaps learn something new.

Ever heard of the run walk method ala Jeff Galloway? Well just so happens, I caught up to 2 guys that were ahead of me by about 20 seconds throughout the course who were doing this exact thing. So I thought, what the hell, I got nothing to lose and I'm almost home. On their next walk "break", I decided to join in and made small talk. We didn't get into the specifics of their method, all I knew was that when it was time to run, they ran at just above a 7 minute mile. I could barely keep up! It was literally an interval workout during the last couple of miles to the finish line. While I don't think I'll be using this method at my next race (except maybe as a last resort), I'm glad I at least got to try it firsthand and witnessed a successful execution.

So what did I end up with? I crossed the finish line in 1:41 with about a dozen of my relatives cheering me on, making it one of the best finishes ever. As tough as that race was, I really enjoyed every moment of it. Not only did I finally get to race in front of my family in my hometown, I learned something new, came away with another PR, and missed top 10 by just a couple of minutes (I got 13th overall). Oh and turns out the woman that schooled me got top honors as the first female finisher overall, finishing just 3 minutes ahead of me. There goes that justification again!

Anyway, here's some photos for ya...

Minutes before the gun goes off. Humidity levels off the charts even at 4:45am!

Coming down the back side of the second and final bridge.

Sprinting to the finish line.

Photo-op with the Kenyan winner who cruised to the finish line in 1:12. Unreal!!

Post-race feast with the family.

Down with the sickness

2011-08-18T15:53:00.003-10:00

It's gonna be a long 8 months alright. That's how long I have to wait until I suit up for my next triathlon. And although I just wrapped up 4 months of racing, I'm already itching to go for next season. Credit that to my experience this past weekend in CamSur as a spectator at the Ironman Philippines 70.3.

The trip over to Naga had adventure written all over it from the very beginning. After missing our connecting flight from Manila, my cousins and I took the option of flying to Legazpi instead, then take a bus to Naga. As soon as we stepped foot on the tarmac, we were greeted with a welcoming crew decked out in bright yellow shirts, leis in hand, backed by a full marching band accompanied by dancers/cheerleaders. Now this was an athlete's welcome. Back in June when I flew over to Kona for Honu, I thought it was cool that the crew on the plane wished the athlete's luck over the PA system. Ha! They got nothing on the people of Legazpi. It was Ironman fever for sure, and I was down with the sickness.

The race itself was held at the CamSur Watersports Complex, a world-class wake boarding facility where all the top pros come to compete. Unlike the mass start we experienced at Honu, this race had a staggered start with the pros and elites leading the way at 6:15am. Athletes swam a 1km loop in Lago Del Ray before exiting the man-made fresh water lake and completing the swim with a second loop in the Cable Park, a short run over. The weather had been cloudy and overcast all morning and about half an hour into the bike, the rain had come. Consistently, for the next couple of hours. After grubbing on some breakfast, we headed back to the finish line to await the arrival of the winner and top finishers. Again, Ironman fever! I've been to the finish line at the Kona Ironman in 2008 and this crowd had as much energy, with just half the people. Aside from spectating/scouting the race, I was also there to cheer on my fellow FilAmTri club teammates Efraim and Arland. It was awesome to see Arland come in as the top Filipino elite finisher and Efraim finish the race despite having the flu just days before.

After the race, we decided to hang out at the park and try out wake boarding. One word: humbled. It ain't as easy as it looks! Definitely brought me back to the days when I first learned how to surf. Let's just say face plants, belly flops, and aching muscles were had over the two days we spent at the park. Even though it was frustrating in the beginning, it was definitely a blast once I finally got the hang of it and was able to complete a couple of loops around Cable Park. Oh and let me just say, staying upright on your board and making it back to the start was a huge motivation. The worst part about falling part way through the course is having to swim back to shore, then doing the walk of shame all the way back to the start. I must've walked over a mile!

This experience definitely goes down as one of the most memorable in my journey to Ironman. Not only did I get to see the very best of my kababayan (countrymen) compete, I got to share my passion for triathlon with my cousins. I heard a rumor that this 70.3 may move over to Cebu (my hometown) next year, and if there's any truth to that....you know where I'll be next year. Holla if you with me!

Home sweet home

2011-08-12T13:22:00.001-10:00

Although I've been living in Hawaii for nearly 20 years now, I'll always consider the Philippines as home. Don't get me wrong, I love living in Hawaii but going back to the Philippines always brings back fond memories growing up. One of which I got to experience a few days ago when my cousins and I went for a run. The last time I got to run around here was when I was 9 years old, armed with an asthma inhaler and a small towel hung in the back of my shirt below my neck. Of course back then I didn't just go for a run. Running was simply a part of the games we used play as kids. And no matter how much I struggled, I always found joy in the freedom to run around as I pleased.

In my last couple of visits to the motherland, I have always been on a quest to find some sort of race that I could participate in and alas....the Cebu Doctor University Two Bridge Challenge (half marathon) works with my travel schedule, current fitness, and will jump start my marathon training. Talk about a perfect fit. About the only thing that I'm struggling with, if you can even call it that, is my diet. Race weight? Ha! What's that? With so much of my favorite childhood foods to go around, I don't stand a chance with eating a sensible diet. On the bright side, the way the dishes here are a lot more salty than what I'm used to, I don't think I'll have any problems with sodium loss through sweating. Which is good cuz man, during my 5k run the other day, I thoroughly soaked my tank top not even 2 miles into the run. It's insane how humid it is here. And that was at 7 in the evening! This place definitely gives Kona a run for its money when it comes to the humidity.

Anyway, so the run is next Sunday. Right now we're about to jump on a plane and hop on over to a neighboring island, Camarines Sur, to check out the Ironman 70.3 Philippines and play at the CamSur Watersports Complex. Will update in a few days. Sige!

Fortune faded

2011-08-03T15:02:00.005-10:00

The month that wouldn't end. Since when did July have 5 weekends? I don't know about you guys but I sure am glad that July is done and over with. Four races all within a month, stick a fork in me....I'm done! So how did my weekend of back-to-back races go? Well let's just say I've had a good run this season but it seems my good fortune has faded.

The weekend started off with a 1.6 mile swim race from Chun's Reef to Waimea Bay and was supposed to be swum conservatively to save up energy for the Tinman triathlon the next day. I purposely wore my waterpoof iPod shuffle case to listen to some tunes and even strapped on my GoPro camera on me to keep the pace leisurely. But of course mother nature had other plans. With less than ideal conditions (moderate chop, fairly strong current head on) and no sightings of dolphins, turtles, rays or other interesting sea creatures to capture on my GoPro, I got impatient about half an hour into the swim. That's when I decided I was over it and pushed the pace just so I could get back on shore to start recovering for the next day. After downing a bottle of Recoverite, munching on some PowerBar ProteinPlus Bites and fruits, and getting a quick massage at the JACO tent to loosen my tired shoulders, I went straight to Storto's in Haleiwa to get my sandwich fix. Soon as I got home, I threw on my compression tights, stuffed the pockets with ice packs, and elevated my feet to complete my recovery process.

The next morning I woke up feeling great thinking I had recovered well and wouldn't feel any of the accumulated fatigue I experienced the day before. Not so much. The first 5 strokes I took at the start of the swim, I thought to myself....stupid, stupid swim. Like the matchbook analogy I mentioned a few posts ago, I had already burned a few match sticks before the race even began. When I came out of the water about 30 seconds off my swim split goal, I was a little concerned but still managed to keep myself together.

But then came the bike. Heading out to Hawaii Kai was no picnic. The strong headwinds made it really difficult and frankly, discouraging to settle into a rhythm. Knowing I needed to have a perfect race with perfect conditions to hit my goal of going sub 2 hours, doubts of not making my goal began to creep in. Things started falling apart after losing a water bottle going up Heartbreak Hill due to my "butter fingers" and nearly getting t-boned by a truck making a left turn onto East Hind Dr. By the time I got myself together to make one last ditch effort to make up some time, it was too late. Got back to T2 a disappointing 6 minutes off my bike split goal which put even more pressure on nailing down the run.

With a sub 40-minute 10k goal to pull off, I knew there wasn't much room to play with, especially on a tough run course like this. Like they say, desperate times call for desperate measures so I basically threw out every rule I have during the run and decided to roll the dice. Instead of starting off conservative and going at my own pace, I basically latched onto a competitor who I've had the uncanny opportunity of finishing within seconds ahead and a minute behind in my last couple of triathlons. I kid you not, Lanikai tri I out sprinted him to the finish line. At Honu he finished about a minute ahead of me. And our swim, bike, and run splits for both races could pass for Siamese twins! Don't believe me? Look up Lindsey Dymond. Anyway, as soon as I saw him pull ahead of me at the bottom of Monsarratt Ave., I knew I just need to be within seconds of him to out sprint him to the finish. And so the battle began.

It took me the whole way up Monsarratt Ave. to finally catch up to him before settling into the same pace to recover. In the past I've always walked through the aid station at KCC, but with my BOCA crew to cheer me on, I fed off of their energy and ran through it to keep up with my competitor. As we rounded 18th Ave. onto Kilauea Ave., I surged ahead just enough to put some space between me and him knowing that I would walk through the next aid station at Elepaio Pl. He did exactly what I thought he would do and ran through the aid station. I fell back about 10 seconds from his lead and didn't catch back up to him until we reached the lighthouse off of Diamond Head Rd. At this point, it wasn't about hitting my goal time anymore, it was all about beating him to the finish line.

As we descended down the hill, I tried to run quietly not to alert him that I had caught up but sure enough, a couple of BOCA teammates who were on their home stretch on the bike yelled out my name and gave away my position. Thanks Bill and Shula! As soon as he found out I was right behind him, he surged to try and get away from me but I surged back and kept at his side. Inside the final mile, we exchanged words of mutual respect and gratitude for pushing each other to our very limits then went our separate ways. With about half a mile to go, I surged to pull ahead of him and came within a few seconds behind a couple of other competitors that looked like they were in a battle of their own. Seeing that one of them looked like he could be in my age group (the other was an elite female), he became my next target and I put the pedal to the metal to pull ahead of him too. Soon after I hear footsteps behind me and sure enough it was him with a surge of his own. With one last look behind, I gave it all I had and threw down the hammer to cross the finish line feeling like my legs were about to fall off finishing ahead of the chase pack behind me.

Even though I was over 6 minutes off my pie in the sky like I had hoped for, what I got in return was a 2 minute PR over last year's time and by far, the most exciting finish I've ever had. The one thing that I'm most proud of and will remember most is not giving up no matter how far off I am from my goal. I used to believe that I'd rather lose by a lot than come painfully close to winning, but as I've learned, there's no greater pain than giving up and having to regret it.

Anyway, here's how the last race of my triathlon season ended:

Official time: 2:06:32 (PR)

Splits: Swim- 14:20, T1- 2:17, Bike-1:09:31, T2-0:40, Run- 39:42

7th in AG, 31st OA

Ingredients to my pie in the sky. I'll be saving this recipe for next year ;-) Find yours at: http://www.triathloncalculators.com/

On top of Heartbreak Hill.

FilAm Tri Club represent! Took out the sponge and zipped up my tri top
right before this photo. Thanks to Macca for the tip!

Pinoy Powah! Dave, Jon, Me, Charles reppin' the red, white, blue, and yellow.

All systems go!

2011-07-28T14:16:00.002-10:00

Phew....that's the sound of relief alright. Good news folks, the pain in my right forefoot is virtually gone. No more waking up to a dull, throbbing pain the moment I step foot on the floor and no more having to tolerate pain during the first few warm up miles of a run. With a pair of races coming up this weekend, the timing couldn't have been better. I can't pinpoint the one thing I did to speed up the healing process but I'm betting it's the combination of following the P.R.I.C.E. treatment, self myofascial release using a solid rubber ball to massage any adhesions that might've built up around the inflamed area, and lots of rest.

So what about the acupuncture treatment? Well, by the time my appointment came around this morning, the symptoms were pretty much gone so whatever benefit I received from the treatment was just for good measure. This being my first acupuncture session, I found the experience to be very interesting. I've always been curious about other modalities for preventing/treating injuries and illnesses so when a Living Social deal came up for Open Path Acupuncture, I decided to give it a try. After checking out their website and reading about the education and background of owner/therapist Leith Nippes, I was excited to receive treatment from someone who also believes in a holistic approach to preventative care.

The appointment started off with a 20 min. consultation that addressed my diet, lifestyle, and any kind of chronic illnesses that I'm currently experiencing. Based on the information I gave, Leith went to work strategically placing quarter-inch, 32 gauge needles around my ears, forearm, hand, knee, foot (dorsal and plantar surface), and one right on my forehead in between my eyebrows. The one on my forehead was supposed to shut down my brain and help me to clear my thoughts as I slowed my breathing to calm my mind and body. He also placed an infrared lamp to add some heat to the top and bottom of my foot. After stepping out of the room for about 15 minutes to let me relax, he came back to remove the needles and applied a Chinese topical analgesic to my forefoot. Overall the experience was very relaxing and although I'm only a few hours post treatment, my body is already feeling better.

Other than that, everything's going pretty well. I am embracing taper week to the fullest which has left me time to tie things up with my website (shameless plug: www.delography.com) re-design set to re-launch tomorrow. This blog will most definitely still be here and if you haven't noticed yet, will be updated weekly (usually mid week) on all things triathlon related. One last update, I've finished reading the bulk of the study materials for my ACE personal trainer certification and will be spending the next month or so completing the study guides that they've provided to really cement all that I've learned in the last 16 weeks. I've also "sat-in" on a couple of Emily Boll's Boot Camp Hawaii classes and now I'm even more excited to keep exploring my options in the fitness industry. If all goes well, I'll become certified in mid September then jump right into Boot Camp Hawaii's formal internship program and be able to teach a fitness class in 6 weeks.

Laughter IS the best medicine

2011-07-22T08:39:00.000-10:00

Hoping the PRICE is right

2011-07-20T15:56:00.001-10:00

BOCA representing at NSSS #2 – Waimea Bay Swim (1.2 miles)

Alright so the photo above notches race #2 for the month of July with the Waimea Bay swim. Conditions were a little rougher than what I remember from last year's swim so I was pretty pleased to shave about 5 minutes off my time, even with the added difficulty. For the most part I felt relatively strong and pushed the pace through most of the swim course except when we rounded the space between the two rocks and was met with a fairly strong current head on. This is where my pace slowed a few notches and I began desperately to draft off of someone's feet, as I should've been doing all along. In addition to increasing my stroke cadence and improving my form, I definitely need to learn how to draft properly during a race.

After feasting on some post-race snacks, I did what I once considered only crazy people do after a race. I went for a training ride. Yup, I have become one of them. What's worse is that my plan to ride 30 miles tops went completely out the window and I wind up riding from Waimea Bay all the way to Kualoa Beach Park instead – 50 miles roundtrip. That's what happens when you tag along a bunch of triathletes training for an Ironman. By the time I got back to my car at Waimea Bay, it was about 2:30 in the afternoon and I hadn't had lunch yet so real food was definitely in high priority. My co-worker suggested I check out Haleiwa Eats for some Thai food and so I did. I give that place a thumbs up!

Anyway, I guess maybe it's time to shed some light on an injury I sustained a couple weekends ago during the mock Tinman race. I didn't mention it earlier thinking it wasn't that big a deal and it would soon go away. Well, for the past week and a half I've had this nagging pain on my right forefoot right between the 3rd and 4th toes. From the research I've done online, it sounds a lot like capsulitis. Basically it's an inflammation of the ligament surrounding the joint capsule. I remember feeling a really sharp pain as I ran over a patch of grass and stepped on something hard and pointy. At first I thought I had stepped on a kiawe thorn but after taking off my shoes and socks and finding no puncture wound, I kept on running and eventually the pain became manageable and didn't bother me hours after my run. But then the next day, as I was walking around barefoot, it felt like I had a marble lodged under my forefoot and every step felt like a dull pain.

Truth be told, panic set in pretty quick. An injury? Not now! I went to work and followed the P.R.I.C.E. protocol for treating a sprain or inflammation and although this addressed the pain immediately, I knew it was just a temporary fix and the real solution to the problem would be to give it lots of rest. So for the next 3 days, I stopped running and kept up with the P.R.I.C.E. treatment. On the 4th day, I laced up my most heavily cushioned shoe, the Nike Free, and did my mile repeats. Pain was definitely still there but I was happy that I was able to complete my workout. The very next morning I went out for a 10 miler and experienced pain in the first couple of miles but once it warmed up, the pain went away.

So anyway, that's kind of where I'm at right now. The P.R.I.C.E. treatment seems to be working but the pain is definitely still there. I've never had this type of injury before so I'm kind of just playing it by ear. My only hope is that I'm not making things worse by training through the pain. If I didn't have the Tinman coming up in just 10 days, I probably would be a lot more cautious and take it easy but since I am able to train and manage the pain, I'm pushing through and putting off really taking care of it once the race is over. I definitely do not want to be icing my foot every time I go for a run. I'm planning on getting treated by an acupuncturist this weekend to see if that does the trick. If not, maybe it's time to go see the doctor.

No ceilings

2011-07-15T11:36:00.001-10:00

This past weekend I crashed in on BOCA's group workout and swam, biked, and ran the Tinman course in its entirety. I've always believed that if you can cover 75% of the race distance during training, you're golden on race day....if you want to finish. But since I'm reaching for that pie in the sky this time around, I thought I'd put in a little extra effort. I completed the mock-race within my expected goal splits and overall I'm feeling pretty good with where I'm at.

I mentioned a few weeks ago that I'd try a few different workouts to change things up and yesterday was a great example of breaking down barriers that I once thought existed. My typical bike threshold workout usually consists of 2 loops up Tantalus, with each loop lasting between 20-22 mins. depending on how I feel that day, followed by a 8-10 min. recovery in between. Yesterday I rode one loop up conservatively and decided to join Troy for a lung-busting 10 min. interval on my second loop. We alternated between 15 seconds at a hard/fast effort and 15 seconds at an easy/recovery pace and repeated until 10 minutes was up. Granted that all the hard efforts combined only totaled 5 minutes, I was basically at 100%+ of my maximum threshold during these intervals. Needless to say, I wasn't expecting much of my scheduled brick run soon after I got home from my ride.

Normally I would just go for an easy 20 minute run as my cool down but this time the plan was to run hard after my ride. I decided to add in my track/sprint workout for the week and which called for 3 x 1 mile repeats @ 5:51 min./mi. with a 1 min. rest interval. To my surprise, my splits came out to 6:06, 5:50, and 5:59. Although I was only able to hit one of the intervals, it definitely dispelled the myth that I need to ride conservatively on the bike to save my legs for a great run. I think it goes without saying that I thoroughly thrashed my legs during yesterday's workout and spent the rest of the night in my compression tights with all the pockets stuffed with massive amounts of ice. And though this worked wonders and my legs didn't feel all of the punishment I put it through yesterday, they still felt pretty heavy during my 10 mile run this morning. Yup, that was part of another change up....to run on tired legs. Turns out I was able to hold a 7:28 min./mi. pace and didn't feel too bad after.

Not sure how this will affect me for tomorrow's Waimea Bay swim but like Brent says, "you don't need your legs for swimming!"

Summer lovin'

2011-07-06T12:53:00.003-10:00

Primal. Pure. Compelling. Sustaining.

Anton Krupicka's reasons to run resonate with every bone in my body and reminds me of why I fell in love with running in the first place. As much as triathlon has taken over my life in the past 5 years, running has always been and always will be, my first love. It's been my savior through life's difficult moments and without a doubt, has been my saving grace in the grueling sport of triathlon.

This past weekend's XTERRA 10k trail run definitely brought me back to a simpler time. Running through Kualoa Ranch on an early summer morning instantly flashed me back to "small kid time" when adventure was the name of the game. Not only that, it had all the elements for an incredible first-time event experience that I'll always remember. Here's my race report:

So I rolled into the grass parking lot of the Kualoa Ranch about an hour before the race started and immediately was surrounded by cow pies the moment I stepped out of my car. As I headed towards the tents where everyone gathered, I realized that I had forgotten my race belt with my bib number attached to it back home. Fortunately the race organizers were understanding and issued me a new number and forgave me for making a rookie mistake! Pre-race jitters I tell ya! After a few stretches and some announcements, we were off. My friend/training partner Brent and I lined up about 20 people deep from the front and tried to stay within the lead pack minutes into the start.

This was both our first time racing a trail run and had no preview of the course so we really had no idea how to pace ourselves. At one point I looked down at my Garmin and it read 6:47 min./mi. not even a half mile into the course. I knew this was way too fast for me out of the gate but I wanted to hang on to the lead pack to get within range should I have a chance to place in the top 10. About a mile in, we hit our first incline and that quickly dropped our paces to double digit figures and spiked our heart rates through the roof. Thank God for Tantalus intervals, otherwise I don't know how I would've been able to survive those steep inclines at maximum threshold. I wore my New Balance Minimus trail shoes and though they were the right footwear, I felt every single root, rock, and twig that I stepped on.

At the halfway point just past mile marker 3, I was sitting comfortably at 5th place overall with 4 runners about 30 seconds ahead of me and a chase pack of about 5 guys behind me by about a minute. After a quick refuel at the aid station, I pushed the pace and tried to stay within eyesight of the main pack but as the course went into its twists and turns, I lost sight of them and panic began to set in. I looked down at my Garmin and saw that mile 4 was approaching so I was anxious to pass through that mile marker and kept on running. I saw a couple of orange cones on the road without any indication of turning left or right so I kept on running straight....all the way to the end of the road with a steel gate. I thought, there's no way we're supposed to hop over this gate so at that point it was clear that I was lost and had to kiss my 5th place (or better) finish good bye.

I back tracked and ran about a quarter mile down the road and found the 5 guys chasing me in the same boat. Yup, we all got lost! A few of them were in shock and completely devastated as they were all gunning for a top 10 finish. I was naturally a little disappointed but kept my spirits high, forged ahead, and took a chance on a trail that could've led us back onto the course. Fortunately it did lead us back onto the right path and at this point, I just laughed it off and tried to make up some of the time I lost. I eventually caught up to Brent and told him I got lost and he responded with "so did 50 other people." Somehow that made me feel a little better and I pushed the pace even more after catching my second wind. The second half of the course had more flat sections than the first so every chance I got, I sprinted through them and recovered during the inclines and declines.

According to my Garmin, I ran a total of 8.15 miles on a 10k course. Got my money's worth alright! According to one of the race organizers, some cows had been eating the tape and moving the cones right around the section where more than a few dozen of us got lost. Even the 1st place finisher ran 6.7 miles instead of 6.2 so I guess every single one of us got at least a little bit lost. During the awards ceremony they made light of the situation and asked who ran the most extra miles during the race and guess who won that award?

For my troubles.

That's right, they gave me a comp entry to the XTERRA Trail Run World Championship (half marathon) in December! They felt sorry for me for running an extra 2 miles and wanted to reward me with the chance to run some more. It was the perfect way to end an imperfect day. Here's how I stacked up-

Official time- 1:06:00

7th out of 29 in my age group, 24th overall out of 206.

Lost boy, looking for finish line.

My fellow trail blazer Brent and I, post-race.

Unfortunately, this may be my one and only trail run this year. I've got my eye on the prize at the Honolulu Marathon in December and there's no way I'm jeopardizing that by risking an injury out on the trails. Yup, I'm almost certain I'll turn down the comp entry to the trail championship as it's during the weekend before the marathon. I'll see if I can defer it for an entry into next year's 10k and I guess I'll have to wait until then to find out.....what if I didn't get lost and didn't run those extra 2 miles??

The 4 in July

2011-06-29T14:09:00.002-10:00

Yes, English is my second language but the title above is no typo. The 4 in July I'm referring to are the 4 races I'll be competing in during 3 of the 4 weekends next month. Wait, how am I supposed to do 4 races in 3 weekends? Yup, one of those weekends will be back-to-back races. Sure was nice to take the last month somewhat nice and easy, but there's really nothing that can bring as much excitement as a race. Here's a short re-cap of each race:

7/2 – XTERRA/Freedom Fest 10k Trail Run @ Kualoa Ranch. My very first stab at racing on the trails. From the 3 trail specific workouts I've done in the last month in preparation for this event, trail running is a whole 'nother beast. Guys and gals that do this on a regular basis definitely earn my respect. Ever since I volunteered at last year's Mountainman Triathlon and the XTERRA Trail Run World Championship, I've always wondered what it would be like to run at Kualoa Ranch. My approach for this race will be like any other first-time event. With no time goal, my only expectation is to have a good time blazing a new trail.

7/16 & 7/30 – North Shore Swim Series #2 (1.2 mi.) & #3 (1.6 mi.) @ Waimea Bay. This 4-part swim series is really a no-brainer. There's no other time during the year other than summer that I'd be brave (or stupid) enough to swim on the north shore. I've swam the complete series the last 2 years but unfortunately I'll be missing the 1st due to the XTERRA trail run and the 4th due to travel. With some improvements I made in swimming over the last year, my goal is to get back to shore as quickly as possible for the post-race pig out/sangria session right there on the beach. Now this is my kind of race!

My very first Tinman back in 2007. This is the face of "triathlete's high".

7/31 – Tinman Triathlon (800m swim, 40k bike, 10k run). This will be Tinman #5 for me and for as long as I can remember, I've always had a good time doing this race – especially the very first one. I think it was the first time I experienced "triathlete's high", if there even is such a thing. Last year's race was sort of pivotal in that I needed to have a good race to regain my confidence and bounce back from a bad race and fortunately things worked out for me. This year will be much different. I'm still riding pretty high on the results from my last race so I'll put it out there....right here, right now. My pie in the sky for this race will be 1:59:59. I'll have to fight tooth and nail for the 8+ minute improvement over last year's time but at least it won't give me any room to "sandbag" any part of the race.

If all goes well, I'll close out this year's triathlon season with a bang and feed off of the energy as I transition into marathon training. I mentioned in my last post that my preparation for marathon training is starting a little early this year so I'll be posting up some stuff in the next few weeks that I plan on trying this year.

Boston on my mind

2011-06-22T13:57:00.000-10:00

Got a light? Not so fast. Not unless you carry a big matchbook. I once heard an analogy that a race is like burning through a bunch of match sticks in a matchbook. Regardless of your skill or ability, once you expend or burn through your energy reserves, that's it, there's no going back. At last December's Honolulu Marathon, I paid the price for burning through my matchbook well before the finish line was in sight.

I know this year's Honolulu Marathon is still a ways out and training won't begin until August but I guess there's no harm in early preparation. As if 3:10 wasn't a difficult enough goal to attain, now I have to run a 3:05 to qualify for the Boston Marathon in 2013. Yup, they made all qualifying times 5 minutes faster for all age groups across the board. And get this...qualifying doesn't guarantee you a slot either. Those with faster times get first dibs come registration day so someone that barely qualifies with a time of 3:04:59 (that's a 7:03/mi. pace by the way) may not be able to register until 2 weeks after registration opens. Now that's what I call raising the stakes.

And I say bring it on! The higher stakes may just be exactly what I need to push my mind and body to places I've never been to. I have no choice really. I can't go back to last year's 3:10 training plan and expect to run a 3:05 or better. Like I said, it's still pretty early but I've already got a few things in mind. At the very least, I feel pretty good going into training with the much needed confidence boost I got from my last race earlier this month.

Anyway, I don't want to get too far ahead of myself. I've still got a 10k trail run, a couple of open ocean swims, and the Tinman triathlon to get through before I start pounding the pavement. Perhaps I should carry a matchbook from now until then?

The show goes on

2011-06-15T14:43:00.000-10:00

Every underdog has its day indeed. Out of 83 entrants to this year's Honu lottery, 20 lucky winners got their slot to Kona. Unfortunately, I was not one of them. While I am happy for the 20 chosen ones (some of whom I train with) I can't help but be disappointed. Disappointed, but definitely not discouraged. It was after all a random selection, with every one of us having an equal chance of getting chosen.

As the saying goes, the show must go on. I've got the Tinman coming up next month before I can officially close the books on my 2011 triathlon season. I took last week real easy to recover from Honu, putting in just a day each of swimming, biking, and running. This week makes 6 weeks out from the Tinman so it's back to the grind with a few new workouts thrown into the mix just to change things up. Most notably, spending some time on the trails in preparation for my first XTERRA 10k Trail Run, coming up in just a couple weeks at Kualoa Ranch during the 4th of July weekend. I'm definitely looking forward to the change of scenery and working different muscle groups to develop my balance and coordination.

In other news, I got the rare opportunity to be a part of a focus group conducted by Nike's apparel design team over the weekend. They were here to do research on how athletes train/race under the heat and humidity and wanted feedback on our equipment. There was no firm answer as to whether Nike wants to break into the triathlon market but if that is the case, I expect nothing less than great quality products that they're known for.

Anyway, guess where I'm headed in August of 2012?

NYC baby! Hahaha okay so I'm not exactly racing, instead I'll play sherpa and support my friends who are participating. I originally was planning on signing up for it but as I thought about it over the weekend, my heart just wasn't in it. Just wasn't completely sold on the idea of popping my Ironman cherry at this venue. Not to mention the fact that it has a $895 price tag, a few hundred dollars more than the normal Ironman entry fee. And don't even get me started on the fact that the swim is in the Hudson River. As if I need any more reasons to not like swimming!

Anyway, I'm excited for this trip! I've never been to the big apple, let alone the East Coast, so that will be an adventure in itself.

A whole in one

2011-06-10T16:46:00.001-10:00

"The whole is greater than the sum of its parts" is a phrase used to describe the Gestalt theory in Psychology that refers to our form-generating sense. Basically when we look at a figure, instead of seeing a bunch of lines and curves, we see the figure itself. While this may be true in Psychology, with triathlon I believe the whole is far less greater than the sum of its parts. The whole being race day and the sum of its parts the daily grind of swimming, biking, and running. Sure, race day gets all the glitz, glamour, and glory. And by nature, how you perform on race day is what people will remember, for better or for worse. But what it took to get to the starting line is a whole in and of itself.

Last weekend's race wouldn't have been possible if not for all the hard work I put in during training. As happy as I am to come away with a PR, I'm even more grateful for how I've progressed in the last year. Believe me, it did not come easy. Bouncing back from a bad race is just about as bad as bouncing back from an injury. This I know....I had to do both last year. In hindsight, it was truly a blessing in disguise. It forced me to reinvent my approach to training/racing and re-ignited my passion for this sport.

Every underdog has its day

2011-06-09T00:39:00.007-10:00

Man, what an incredible week it's been! I'm still amazed at how everything came together in the days leading up to this past weekend's race and how that momentum carried on throughout the big day. And what a day it was....sit tight folks, this is gonna be a long one. For the sake of looking back on this race report as a reference guide for future races, I'll start a few days back pre-race, which plays an equally important part.

Thursday...

My family and I flew over to Kona bright and early and went straight to Big Island Grill for some breakfast. First big change here? Scratched my normal breakfast burrito that used to be a part of my pre-race carbo load routine and went for a less hefty meal of scrambled eggs with brown rice, Portuguese sausage, sliced fresh fruits, and orange juice. Truth be told, I haven't been following my superstitious routine for any of my races this year and just ate whatever I was craving for at the time. After a while, planning for my "set menu" on carbo load day proved to be more stressful than just going with the flow which completely defeats the purpose of staying relaxed. After breakfast I headed over to Island Lava Java, the famed coffee shop fronting Ali'i Drive, to sit in for my first ever virtual meeting via GoTo Meeting on the company's iPad. That's right, work first before I get to play.

On our way to check in at our condo in the Vista Waikoloa, we stopped off at Island Gourmet Market for some groceries and lunch. I went with a toasted Cubano sandwich, Waikoloa-style, with ham, Kalua pork, and cheese on a focaccia bread. The rest of my carbs came from fresh fruits, blended into a smoothie, and washed everything down with generous amounts of water and Gatorade. I picked up my bike in the afternoon and went for a short 20 minute ride back to our condo to make sure everything was in working order. The race wheels I had on were on loan from my coach Wil since my set had a crack in the rear hub so I wanted to get a feel for how they rode. After I got off the bike, I went for a short 15 minute run to keep the blood moving and help my muscles stay loose.

For dinner I was craving sushi so we headed over to Sansei and ordered up a bunch of sushi rolls, misoyaki chicken, sea bass, and dynamite shrimp. Second big change here? BEER! Yup, had me a 12oz. glass of Kirin Light to help calm my nerves and get a good night's rest.

Friday...

"Slept in" 'til about 7 after getting a good 8 hours of sleep and went straight into some stretches for about 15 minutes. Breakfast was light with just a couple of pieces of toast, scrambled eggs, avocado, fresh fruits, and some coffee. Headed over to the Fairmont to register and drop off my T2 gear bag and got to see a few BOCA people proudly sporting the shirts I designed. My family wanted to hang out at a beach so I suggested we head over to Hapuna before checking in my bike at 1pm. Jumped in the water for a 15 minute swim before passing out on the sand for almost an hour. After I checked in my bike, I went right back to the Orchid for the mandatory pre-race meeting before calling it a day. Dinner was low key with just an oriental chicken salad and some fruits before hitting the lights around 8. Like most nights before a race, I couldn't go to sleep right away so I spent a good hour or so just watching videos on YouTube similar to the ones I posted last week to get motivated.

RACE DAY....

I woke up at 4:30 feeling relatively fresh and went right into race mode, plugging in to my favorite music on my iPod to get me pumped up. Ate my usual pre-race breakfast of a Powerbar and a small banana and started sipping on a bottle of EFS. Got to T1 around 5 to pump air into my tires and set up the rest of my bike gear and nutrition before heading down for body marking. First "hiccup" of the day? I got marked the wrong number! What's worse is that I didn't even notice until my sister's fiance Jason told me about it. All good though, it got fixed right away and we all got a good laugh out of it. Got in a few more stretches and ran up and down the beach before jumping in the water for a short warm-up. In previous races, I started the swim just at the edge of the sand but this year I decide to try a different approach and lined up in the water to the left of the main pack of fast swimmers. Soon as the cannon went off, there was a lot of traffic all around me and I didn't see any clear water for the first 5 minutes of the start. I followed my coach's advice and didn't draft off of anyone until I made the turn at buoy number 2. This is where I did some extra swimming. A group of us got swept out by the current making a super wide turn on that buoy then having to swim back in to get close to the buoy line. Probably ended up swimming an extra 100m or so, negating all the speed I bought with my new Torque Pro swim skin.

In last year's race, the bike leg was where it all started to unravel so I paid extra close attention to my nutrition and pacing as I headed out of T1 toward the turnaround in Mauna Lani. I made sure to start out nice and easy to keep my heart rate low and reviewed my nutrition plan in my head with the help of my Garmin, set to beep every 5 minutes as a reminder to take in fluids. Once my legs warmed up, I slowly pushed the pace while staying aerobic and kept a close eye on when I needed to eat and pop an Endurolyte (electrolytes) pill. I was on a mission to stay on schedule with my nutrition needs and before I knew it, I got to the turnaround point just before Hawi feeling pretty good. After refilling my liquids and dumping water all over myself to cool down, I pushed the pace even more before having to back off because of some strong crosswinds. There were times where my front wheel went wobbly and I refused to stay on my aerobars and had the death grip on my handlebars instead.

And then it hit me....literally. A black bumble bee ricocheted off my helmet directly into my arm! It was still buzzing as I looked down at it while I let out the manliest scream I could muster. It took two flicks of my finger to get the bee off and to make sure to get the stinger out. The only thing I could think of was, damn I hope I'm not allergic! Within seconds I could feel a stinging sensation and some swelling but fortunately that was it. A few minutes later I started to feel a little light headed but I think that was just all in my mind. That little episode was a good distraction for a about 20 minutes and before I knew it, I made it up the hill past Kawaihae Harbor where a volunteer screamed out, "it's hammer time." Home stretch from there on out back to T2 at the Fairmont Orchid. I listened to another coach's advice to "spin out" in the last 5 minutes or so to flush out the lactic acid in my legs and it absolutely worked. I came out of T2 with a big smile on my face knowing I had paced myself well and still had my legs left for the run.

My plan on the run was simple. Go easy on the first 2 miles then leave it all on the course after that. And that's exactly what I did. Again nutrition was a key factor here and by some miracle everything just came together. At times my right lower quad muscle felt like it was on the verge of cramping but backing off on the pace remedied that problem immediately. Other than that, I really didn't have any other issues. By all accounts, it was an incredible run, the best I've ever had in the 9 years that I've been running. Not only was I running strong and feeling good, I had the time of my life. No joke! Don't know where all the energy came from but I entertained myself out there and even managed to get a few laughs out of the people around me after this conversation, mid-run as a friend snapped some photos of me:

Me: Hey Xuan-Lan, where's your tickets?
Xuan-Lan: What tickets???
Me: Tickets to the gun show!

Now if that's not having fun, I don't know what is. If you've ever trained with me before, you know I'm not a big talker. I'm plugged in to my music and I'm in my own little world. But not during this race. Those of you who saw me out there probably thought I had too much caffeine or something. I guess I just kept thinking back to all the hard work I put into this race so having fun and enjoying myself was my way of honoring all the sacrifices I made and the risks I took to get there.

Anyway, here's some final numbers for ya-

Official time: 5:12:52 PR
Splits: SWIM- 41:13, BIKE- 2:47:05, RUN- 1:37:49

20th in my age group, 233rd overall.

And now for some photos. I'll save my thoughts on the race for another post.

Ole ready to take the bull by the horns.

You should know I bleed blue, but I ain't a crip though.
Bike built by IT&B, motor built by BOCA.

1.2 mile swim in this? Tough job but somebody's gotta do it ;-)

Time to do work, son!

Representing Ironheart Racing Team at the swim start.

Coming out of the water, stripping off my swim skin ready for T1.

Flying back home from Hawi.

One of the rare times when I looked serious. Seriously.

This photographer had tickets to the gun show.

The photo that made it on HawaiiNewsNow thanks to Stephanie Lum!

Poppin' some bubbly to celebrate @ Roy's Waikoloa.

The famous Roy's chocolate souffle, well deserved after 70.3 miles.

It's t-shirt time!

2011-06-01T15:05:00.001-10:00

Wish I could I say all is quiet on the front but the truth is, the last few days have been nothing but that. Sure didn't help that race week started off with the 3-day Memorial Day weekend, jam packed full of activities including a housewarming party at a ballin' mansion in Diamond Head, volunteering at the Hibiscus Half Marathon, a talk story sesh on creative collaboration at the Waikiki Edition, and prepping my bike for drop off with TriBike Transport. And on top of all of that, worrying about whether or not our Honu t-shirts will be delivered on time before everyone takes off for Kona. So much for keeping it stress-free this week.

But like some things in life, they all seem to work out one way or another. I was reminded of this on my last early morning track workout this past Monday. Because it was a holiday, the Roosevelt High School track was closed and even though I knew this ahead of time, I thought I'd be a rebel and hop over the fence thinking it was no big deal. Three high fences and a sign that clearly read "premises are monitored by closed circuit television, NO TRESPASSING" later, I was forced to come up with a plan B.

My initial reaction was to just call it a day considering it's taper week and I only had 6 x 400m sprint intervals to do, but I knew that if I skipped this workout, it would come back to haunt me during the race so for peace of mind, I headed over to Thomas Square to do my intervals. At first I was a little hesitant because of the uneven grass and bald patches with rocks and gravel on 'em (I was wearing my Vibram Five Fingers) but after taking a lap to survey my path, I decided to roll the dice and go for it. It turned out to be a great workout and at the end of the day, it gave me a boost of confidence knowing that should things not go as planned during the race, I'm ready to problem solve and make the best of any situation.

Anyway, here's proof that things should be a little less stressful until race day....

Hot off the presses! BOCA/Honu t-shirts designed by yours truly.

I surrender

2011-05-31T13:52:00.000-10:00

To my training, skills, abilities, and most of all, whatever Madame Pele has to dish out come Saturday.

It's time to embrace what my co-worker/neighbor refers to as "God's plan", and take it for all it's worth. Game day is on the horizon so in the spirit of positive energy, here's my top 10 motivational video clips to get me in the right mindset. Enjoy....

Forgive and forget

2011-05-27T09:20:00.008-10:00

Well folks, it's almost time for the big dance. We're just about a week away from the half Ironman race over in Kona and our training group has started tapering off on our workouts this week, reducing the volume but keeping the same intensity. Over the years my tapering routine has changed significantly from eliminating any physical activity and concentrating solely on mental focus to staying active up until 2-3 days out from the race and spending a lot of time on visualization and calming my nerves. Lately I've found the latter to be the more effective method of the two so I'm sticking with what works.

Yesterday I read an interesting post by American Olympic runner Ryan Hall titled "Runners Amnesia". The takeaway I got can be summarized by the famous motivational quote by another American running great, Frank Shorter....

"You have to forget your last marathon before you try another. Your mind can't know what's coming."

Both Ryan's post and Frank's quote hit home for me especially for this particular race. Thoughts of last year's sub par performance (sugar-coated way of saying disastrous) has been heavy on my mind these last few weeks so I'm doing all I can in the next week to forget it ever happened.

First order of business....

Double-sided scrapbook tape used as a guide.

45 minutes later...

Ready for action!

Not nearly as flashy as the lightning bolk mohawk I sported at last year's marathon but more or less the same effect. I did a "trial" cut a couple weeks ago for the Honolulu triathlon so I pretty much just cleaned it up and made it a little narrower. Again, it's just my way of calming my nervous anticipation and really, just to keep things light. At this point, all the heavy lifting is done so it's time to focus on other pre-race essentials.

With a less demanding training schedule, I've been able to swap most of my morning workouts to the afternoon so I can have an extra hour of shut eye which has made a difference in my recovery and energy levels. In addition to spending more time studying for my CPT exam, I've been tending to my other interests/hobbies catching local band The Yoza Project perform live at the Mai Tai bar with some friends over a couple of beers, guilt free.

Overall, my goal in the next week is to stay healthy, focused, and most importantly, stay relaxed.

I got a feeling

2011-05-18T11:16:00.004-10:00

Only a strong finish could bring out a big smile like this.

I think the picture above pretty much sums up this past weekend's Honolulu Triathlon. Not only did I have a great race, I really enjoyed myself out there. I even had a moment during the start of run where I thought to myself....aww man, I'm almost done. It was sort of bittersweet, thinking about all the work I put into this event and in just a fraction of the hours spent in training, it would all be over soon. It was a good reminder of how a race is really a celebration of all the blood, sweat, and tears I shed during training just to make it to the starting line. It was also a humbling reminder of just how lucky I am to be a part of this amazing sport and how it's enriched my life in so many ways.

Anyway, here's some arithmetic for ya...

Official time: 2:17:36 (+2:00 penalty) PR

Unofficial time: 2:15:36

Splits: SWIM- 28:57, BIKE- 1:03:55, RUN- 39:43

5th place in my age group (M25-29), in a field of 44. 58th overall, in a field of 706.

Yup, first time for everything. I got a blocking/drafting penalty during the bike! Long story short, I got mixed up with a couple of Japanese nationals who clearly did not understand the no-drafting rule and ended up getting tagged by a referee on a motorcycle. If you ask me, I'm in complete shock that I even got tagged since I was the one being drafted on for a good 10 minutes. Oh well, lesson learned. Stay away from people who don't play by the rules!

The other day I mentioned to a training partner that my newfound goal/mentality for races is to pace smart and feel strong and this race was a great example of that. I'd be lying if I said that I had no time goal, but it was nothing specific like I've done in the past. I didn't even bother to look up my splits from last year's race and instead had just one goal of beating last year's overall time of 2:27. Another change I implemented is to race by feel. While I'm a strong advocate for purposeful training and setting/following paces during training, I believe it's good to break free from being a slave to numbers during race day. Now this may sound counterintuitive based on what I just said, but I had two watches on me during this race. Let me explain...

I wore a non-GPS watch on my wrist that tracked just my split times and relied on it mainly to see my mile splits during the run by manually hitting the lap button each time I passed a mile marker. The other watch (Garmin 310XT), I mounted onto my bike specifically for nutrition purposes to set a 5-minute interval on repeat. Once in a while I looked down to see what my cadence was when I felt like my pace was slipping but for the most part, I paid no attention to my speed or time. I'll be honest, it was a little nerve-wracking not being able to monitor my pace but at the end of the day, my mind and body trumps any number that tells me to speed up or slow down. Personally, it all goes back to treating a race as a celebration and just giving it all I got and leaving no room for regret.

Believe it or not, the first time I did this race, it took me over 40 mins. to complete the swim so to say I was stoked when I came out of the water in under 30 mins. is a huge understatement. Going out onto the bike course, I held back for the first 10 mins. or so to get my legs warmed up before settling into a rhythm. Other than the constant leap-frogging with my Nihonjin drafting buddies, I thought I held up okay on the bike. I'm still in the process of figuring out my optimal pace on the bike without sacrificing the run but for this race, I think I sacrificed a little on the bike for a big gain on the run.

If I'm having a good race, the run is usually when I'm the most vocal. I yell keep it up or looking good to training partners, thank volunteers for their support, and throw a shaka or two every time I pass by my family. Man I had a field day during this race! Not only did I go under 40 mins. in the 10k (something that I previously thought I couldn't do), I felt strong all throughout the run. There's no better feeling than being able to smile through the pain and exhaustion. It almost makes it go away....almost.

FilAm Tri Club represent!

This one time in tri camp...

2011-05-13T11:32:00.001-10:00

In a nutshell, this past Kona training weekend was pretty much a triathlon camp. We'd wake up, eat breakfast, go for a morning workout, eat lunch, rest and take a nap, go for an afternoon workout, eat dinner, get some sleep then do it all over again the next day. It was a great weekend escape from the daily grind and a rare chance to be just a triathlete without having to worry about other commitments. Sorry to disappoint, no crazy tri camp stories this year, but here's some of the things we did over the weekend:

Friday...

This being our first day of training, we were told to go "easy" and were given the choice of either going for a 50-mile ride to Hawi to stop off at the coffee shop at the turnaround or go for a 40-mile hilly ride to Waimea. The last 2 years I've always ridden to Hawi so I decided to change things up and go for the Waimea ride. It was a steady 10 mi. ascend topping out at 2,500 ft. to the town of Waimea before flattening out. The whole way up the winds were right in our faces at a steady 15-25 mph with gusts reaching well over 35 mph. The crosswinds were by far the worst, gusting out of nowhere at times, and even knocking one of our lighter girls off her bike. No joke!

Post Waimea ride back at the Hapuna Beach Prince Hotel.

Once we completed our loop back to the hotel, we went for a short 1000m easy cool down swim before grubbing on some lunch. My recovery process commenced soon as I got back to my room via chocolate milk with chia seeds, a serving of Recoverite, a few bites of PowerBar Protein Plus, compression tights, and some good 'ol stretching. After a short nap, we met back up in the lobby for what was supposed to be a moderate pace run. Fifteen minutes into the run, I fall victim to "testosterone poisoning" and ended up running the next 30 minutes at threshold pace trying to hang on to the heels of a coach before getting dropped as we hit the T intersection, 10 minutes out from the hotel. Definitely not one of the smartest moments I had over the weekend.

Saturday...

The 2011 BOCA tri camp survivors

On the menu for this day was nearly 70 miles of rolling hills past Hawi all the way to the end of the road to the Pololu Lookout, followed by a 50 minute brick run. The majority of the route followed the Honu bike course so this was a great chance for all of us to get a preview or get re-familiarized and a great opportunity to dial in on our nutrition. Before we set off on our ride, everyone stepped on a scale to determine their pre-workout weight so sweat loss rate could be calculated at the end. I weighed in at 141.6 before the ride and was feeling confident that I would stick to the 2% loss threshold with my Garmin set to 5-minute repeat intervals as a reminder to constantly replace the fluids that I was losing. Four hours and 68 some miles later I dropped down to 137.6 for a 4 lb. loss or 2.8% of my starting weight. I was a bit surprised to see that I had lost that much since I never felt thirsty or dehydrated and was pretty spot on with my fluid replacement but I think the strong winds had something to do with it.

Quick break at the turnaround point at the Pololu Lookout.

The strong winds on the bike took its toll on me and I ended up having a sub par run. Exerting additional effort to fight the winds caused me to burn more calories than usual and half way through the run I felt like I was about to bonk so I backed off significantly. By the time I finished the workout, I lost an additional 2 lbs. which brought me further down to 135 lbs. for a combined total loss of 6 lbs. or 4.2% of my starting weight. Not good, not good at all. My coach advised me that I could've ate one more gel pack during the run and drink more liquids so I'll be sure to heed his advice.

After getting some much needed food, rest, and a short nap, we met for an afternoon seminar on essential race info and tips and had our oldest (73 years old!) and in my opinion, most inspiring triathlete, Jim speak about his experiences with triathlon and life in general. It was a great way to lift our spirits before heading down to Hapuna Beach for another short, easy, recovery swim.

Sunday...

Our final day of training started with a mock swim race within the bay in Hapuna Beach with lifeguards out in the water for our safety and a buoy to mark our course. The winds finally died down on this day so the conditions were pretty ideal and I think everyone had a pretty good swim. I even managed to draft and stay on someone's feet through most of the swim so I was pretty stoked about that. After a quick change, we met back up in the lobby for the start of our 15 mile run.

I wasn't really feeling confident about the run at the start knowing that I had expended a lot of energy and my body was still recovering from the last 2 days. I played it smart this time and went out real calm and easy, allowing my body to warm up before hitting my stride. And it absolutely worked. Once we got onto some mixed terrain all along the coast, my legs started firing again and I actually had a good time running the course. I paid real close attention to my nutrition sipping on Gatorade and water, taking in a gel every 45 minutes and mixing in Endurolyte pills in between to keep my electrolyte balance in check.

Fueling up and keeping cool at one of 3 aid stations along our route.

On the return trip back to the hotel, I picked up my second wind and was able to run negative splits all the way back to the T intersection for one last fuel stop before finishing strong on the home stretch. Overall I felt the strongest during this workout and felt good to have finished the training weekend on a good note.

Great way to end a hard training weekend: Ice bath, nice juicy burger and fries, beer, and a dip in the jacuzzi.

For the "mathletes" out there

2011-05-04T15:27:00.001-10:00

By the time the weekend's over, our group will have covered close to 2 miles of swimming, 120+ miles of biking, and over 20 miles of running all in the heat and humidity that Kona is notorious for. I've participated in this suffer-fest for the past 2 years and have always come away with something useful for race day. Having trained on the actual swim and bike course, and parts of the run course, I've become familiar with the lay of the land, but by far, the greatest advantage is being able to see how my body performs in the harsh conditions. You could say that I've been at both ends of the spectrums; having the best race day experience I've ever had on a well-executed nutrition plan on one end, and having an epic meltdown due to a poorly executed nutrition plan on the other. I've said it once before and I'll say it again, nutrition can and will, make or break a race.

With that said, I'm going into this weekend with the mindset of refining my nutrition plan. Using some baseline data that I got from last year's training weekend...

Sweat rate: 36 oz./hour

Average consumption rate: 265 calories/hour

Here's what I plan on experimenting with for my bike nutrition this weekend...

Number geeks rejoice!

If you think the Excel spreadsheet above has no business in the sport of triathlon, then you obviously haven't met any geeked out triathletes like myself. Believe me, I'm just beginning to scratch the surface on all the ways I can crunch my workout data to go harder, better, faster, stronger come race day. Anyway, as complicated as that chart may look, the overall goal is to feel "good" (relatively of course) while maintaining fluid and caloric balance. With my Garmin set to beep at every 10 min. interval, this will ensure that I take generous (6 oz./10 min.) sips of EFS/IM Perform/water to replenish liquids that I lose through sweat and evaporation. Because my body has to work in overdrive just to keep my core temperature from overheating, my plan is to consume a majority of my caloric needs in liquid form so digestive processes are kept to a minimal.

6 oz. every 10 mins. = 1 oz. sip every 1 min. 40 secs. (100 secs.)

By the time the race is over, I will have consumed more than the

168 oz. of liquids that ALL of these bottles can hold.

As always, it's good to have a plan but as we all know, the weather can be unpredictable so adjustments will have to be made when called for. In my case, not only will having a solid nutrition plan do my body good, it'll give me peace of mind so I'm prepared to take on the unexpected.

2 is better than 1

2011-04-27T14:24:00.001-10:00

I've taken a few classes here and there (photography/design, CPR/AED) in the five plus years since I've been out of college but nothing as intense as the material I've had to read for my CPT exam. Chapter one spanned all of 20 some pages covering what I can only imagine as a very shortened version of human anatomy. Having no exercise science background whatsoever, I've had to stop many times to Google scientific terms to find out what they meant before I could forge on. It was definitely a rough re-introduction back into study mode.

Chapter 2 (exercise physiology) was about half the length of chapter 1, but twice as interesting and more easily digestible. I think years of reading exercise science articles in Men's Health magazines and various online resources gave me a pretty good base and an understanding of the fundamental principles. What's even more helpful in making sense of what I'm learning is being able to observe some of the principles at work during my current training for the upcoming Honu half-Ironman triathlon. Some of the things I've learned in the last week about cardiac output, differences between anaerobic and lactate thresholds, and physiological effects of training in heat and humidity have answered a lot of questions that I've wondered about all these years.

Anyway, my big A-race (Honu) is coming up in less than 6 weeks and training has been going really well. The last couple of weeks have looked exceptionally great on paper, posting PRs in all 3 disciplines plus shaving 5 minutes off my sprint tri PR. In addition to little (and a few big) changes I've implemented this season, I believe the greatest contributing factor to my progress is taking to heart what my coach told me early on in training...

You want to feel strong, not fast.

I think he mentioned this to me specifically during a tempo hill interval run where I was going out too fast to try and keep up with the lead pack. He even made me take off my earphones so that I could hear how hard I was breathing just minutes into the workout, where I had already gone anaerobic instead of staying aerobic to avoid lactic acid build up ("burning" sensation) too early on. With a group full of type-A triathletes, it's not hard to let emotions get in the way which more often than not, leads to "testosterone poisoning", as another coach has described it.

Ever since then, I've made it a point to train/race at my own pace working with my body and not against it. I think it's been working out pretty well so far and every workout has been more productive and rewarding.

Podium envy

2011-04-19T13:52:00.001-10:00

The start to a beautiful race. Thanks Stella for letting me "borrow" this photo!

How spoiled are we? I mean really, even if I had a terrible race, starting the day off with the sunrise in the photo above would more than make up for it. Like I mentioned in my previous post, I've always looked forward to this race for its beautiful course and this year's Lanikai Sprint triathlon sure delivered, despite the humid run. So what did this translate to? For the sake of keeping tabs on myself...

Official time: 1:05:02

Splits: Swim- 10:01, Bike- 28:59, Run- 23:49

Good enough for 4th place in my age group (out of 30) and about a minute shy of taking a spot on the podium. Two words: pleasantly surprised. I really had no time goal prior to the race other than beating last year's time of 1:10, so I was super stoked to set a new personal best (PR) by 5 minutes in a sprint distance triathlon. The days leading up to the race I also managed to set PRs in training on the bike (loop up Tantalus) and on the swim (2k swim at Ala Moana). So in a nutshell, it's been a great week for training and racing and I'm happy to see all my hard work pay off.

Okay so on to the race recap. The swim went well with little incident in warm (79 degrees F), clear waters, with just a slight chop. I tried my best to draft behind someone but could only stay in the person's wake for a minute at best. Definitely can improve in my drafting skills but for the most part, I came out of the water just slightly faster than what I normally do in training so I was happy about that. Other than a slight snag as I was stripping off my speed suit, T1 went pretty smoothly and I was out on the bike course in about a minute and a half. After calming my breathing and settling into a rhythm somewhere in the 95 RPM range, I started to feel good through most of the bike leg. A few minutes out on the return trip though, my focus started to slip and I got out of the aero position to down a Powerbar gel thinking it would help me get back into my groove. I think this is the part where I started to zone out mentally and let thoughts of fatigue set in. Bad move on my part.

Coming out of T2, I splashed water all over my head and face anticipating the humidity to wreak havoc on my core temperature. Sure enough, about two thirds into the run at mile marker 2, my body began to heat up which caused my heart rate to spike. And to make things worse, my hamstrings started feeling tight and felt like it was on the verge of cramping. Fortunately the run leg was just slightly over a 5k so by the time any cramping could set in, I stripped off my race top to allow some of the heat to escape and by the time I knew it, I was on the sand for the last stretch of the race. For some reason, this is where I caught my second wind and even managed to pass the person in front of me, who just happened to be in the same age group as me, just a few seconds before I crossed the finish line.

Overall, this was a great race for me. Nothing quite like chalking up a new PR and also learning a few things that I can work on in the next few weeks before my next race. I could easily get frustrated on the little things (believe me, this comes way too easy for me) that I could've done differently to get me a spot on the podium or post a faster time but looking at the big picture, making those mistakes will only make me better the next time around. Maybe better enough to make it back on the podium.

Anyway, just a quick update on my studies for the CPT exam. I just wrapped up chapter one (human anatomy) last night and so far so good. Even though I paced myself and spent about an hour each night covering dense material full of terminology that I'm not familiar with, it was pretty overwhelming trying to digest all of it. The study guide at the end of the chapter has been helpful for me to review the material that I just covered and will no doubt play a major role when I do a review session down the road. But yeah so far it's going well, I'm enjoying the stuff I'm learning and look forward to learning more.

Sole searching

2011-04-14T14:17:00.000-10:00

Work. Play. Sleep. Repeat.

With so many things going on right now, sometimes I find that I have to step back and think of life in its simplest terms to not feel overwhelmed. I gotta say though, it's only the start of the 2nd quarter of the year and already I've been fortunate enough to do some amazing things in the last couple of months. Definitely a great start for the year and I can only hope that the momentum continues on.

Time to dust off these bad boys.

Yup! It's that time again, triathlon season is here! Got my first race this Sunday in Kailua for the 10th Annual Lanikai Sprint Triathlon. This will be my 4th time participating in this race and I've always looked forward to it because of the beautiful course and the many post-race pig out options on the windward side (Boots' and Kimo's tops my list). After taking 3 months off of participating from any kind of race, I'm anxious to get back out there and see how I stack up. With 5 weeks of BOCA's endurance triathlon training, a new strength training program using only body weight and a stretch cord as resistance, and a healthier diet going into this race, I have high hopes of improving on last year's time.

Anyway, there's been a few other things that I've been continuing to experiment with when it comes to training. Check out my newest addition to my minimalist running shoe quiver....

Baring my soles.

There was quite a lot of buzz for the last several months before the New Balance Minimus Trail shoe made its debut in March. From what I've read, the new Minimus line is New Balance's answer to Nike's Free shoe lineup and their take on the evolution of barefoot running. And with ultramarathoner Anton Krupicka's hand (or feet), in the design and development of the Minimus trail shoe, this shoe has high hopes as the next shoe craze, following the Vibram Five Fingers. As you can see above, I'm a barefoot running convert and have been running more efficiently and injury-free for the past year. I train regularly on all 3 pairs of shoes on any given week, depending on the type of workout, terrain, and duration.

1) Vibram Five Fingers Bikila (12 oz./pair)

I used these for my track workouts during last year's marathon training with great success. The main purpose of a track workout is to increase running economy, efficiency, and turnover rate and with these shoes weighing in at a measly 12 ounces a PAIR and a super thin 4mm sole, it's the perfect shoe to use on a softer track surface.

2) New Balance Minimus Trail (14.2 oz./pair)

With just a few runs on multiple surfaces including dirt, grass, and road/asphalt, I can't say that I've put these shoes to the test. But aside from a getting a few blisters from running sockless, I believe it's lived up to its hype. A good way to describe it would be that it falls in between the Vibram Five Fingers and the Nike Free as far as fit, form, and weight.

But why a trail running shoe when all but one of my races are on road/asphalt? Thinking outside the box, I bought these shoes for the sole purpose of using them on the Honu course, which can be described as a cross-country course with lots of twists and turns through grass, dirt, cement, asphalt, and even lava. I know it's a little far-fetched but I've been reading up on people who've successfully used them on the road and with our Kona training weekend in just a few weeks, I'll get to test them out first hand and see if they're the right choice.

3) NIKE Free (16.4 oz./pair)

What used to be the lightest shoe in my quiver has now become the heaviest (relatively) in just a year's time. Just the other day our group ran intervals on some grassy hills and I felt a little clumsy running in them thinking that they were clunky and weighing me down. But despite that, I still like these shoes the best and can go for a interval/tempo/endurance run on the road or grass any day of the week.

Anyway, that's about it for now. I'll post in a week with the results of this weekend's race and an update on my certified personal trainer (CPT) exam studies.

ACE of Base

2011-04-03T18:00:00.001-10:00

I saw the sign and it opened up my eyes.

I'm not sure if this qualifies as an epiphany but it happened a couple of months ago whileI was in Africa. It's amazing, the kind of clarity you get when you're stripped down to the bare necessities and have time to reflect on where you're at in life and where you want to be headed. In my previous post, I mentioned that I was inspired by a couple that travels the world sharing their passion for technology and social media while making a difference in the lives of others. A life lived with purpose and adventure- what a great way to live. So I thought to myself, how can I live my life with purpose and adventure? What am I passionate about that can make a difference in the lives of others?

It didn't take very long to get me to my answer. It's something that I've been thinking about for a long time so the only question really was, why not NOW? So here it is, ladies and gentlemen, my first step up the diving board....

I just purchased my study materials for the ACE (American Council on Exercise) personal trainer certification exam with hopes to become a certified personal trainer in August.

I know this is just the beginning of a long road ahead but it feels great to finally take the first step. The next few months will be spent studying for the exam, getting some hands-on field application with real clients thanks to Emily Boll at Boot Camp Hawaii, and spending a week shadowing 5 different fitness professionals from multi-sport coaching, group instruction, and personal training. I'm hoping this will give me an idea of how I can best help people to live a healthy, active, and balanced lifestyle.

So there it is, along with transforming my own life through my journey to Ironman, I hope to help others by sharing my passion and becoming an example of how anything is possible.

Connecting the dots

2011-03-28T16:15:00.007-10:00

Easier said than done.

It's exactly a month now since I've been back from my trip to Africa and words still escape me. Well, I take it back...words, yes. Eye-opening, humbling, life-changing, amazing, transformational, educational, touching, inspiring. Sentences to describe my experience? I'm still struggling to connect the dots.

With that said, I think maybe recapping experiences that left a lasting impression on me will help to purge some of the thoughts that I've had a hard time expressing. In no particular order, here's my Big Five....

Catching the travel bug. Without a doubt, this is just the beginning. Over 10 years ago, I wrote a list of life goals and stuck it on my ceiling as a daily reminder to chase after my dreams. One of the many items on this list is travel the world. Prior to my trip, the only other country I've been to outside of the US is the Philippines so talk about starting things off with a bang! Being able to check off Japan, Thailand, Kenya, and Ethiopia all in one trip made me realize that traveling the world is well within my reach. On my flight home I made a list of places I'd like to visit in the next 5 years to learn more about other cultures and see how other people live.

Being grounded. Returning home after seeing so many people with next to nothing really humbled me. It made me realize that there are far greater problems in other parts of the world than what I face on a day to day basis. Potholes after a heavy downpour, missing the bus, a slow computer. In a word, trivial. It really puts into perspective what clean water to drink, a roof over my head, clothes on my back, and food in my stomach really means. And beyond being grateful for these basic daily necessities, having had the opportunity to get a college education, the freedom to choose my career path, and the means to pursue my passions and interests.

Miracles at work. I believe miracles come in all forms, whether big or small. I also believe it's the small miracles that make the big miracles happen. In poor villages like the ones we partnered up with, I was able to see each of them at different stages of development. Part of the process in executing TCD projects is to build on small successes to carry on the momentum. While some are just in its initial stages, others like Gambella are well on their way to becoming self-sustainable so it was an amazing experience to see the progress this village has made in transforming themselves.

Attitudes are contagious. Out of the many amazing and brilliant people I met on this trip, the two that truly inspire me are AJ and Melissa Leon. Aside from being humble, kind, and down-to-earth, this young married couple from Manhattan, NY live a life filled with purpose and adventure. They are the brains behind The LAC Project and have the incredible opportunity to travel the world (80% of the time!) while staying digitally connected with their clients and employees. What really sets them apart is their attitude and passion towards the projects they're working on and the hunger and drive they have to make a difference in the world.

Broadening my horizons. Changes abound. There really is no going back to "business as usual". This experience has changed me forever. Aside from continuing to be involved with GHNI in one way or another, I've made it my goal to participate in at least one community-service project every quarter. As for sharing my experience in Africa, Tiffany and I are in the final stages of completing our self-published (through Blurb) photo book, "Transformations", along with our formal multi-media presentation next month, in hopes of inspiring others to sign up for the AIO Discovery program.

Other than that, I took some time while I was in Africa to "map" out the rest of my year, focusing on a few things each quarter, to accomplish some things I've been putting off all these years and I'm excited to start the 2nd quarter off with a big announcement I'll be posting next week! But for now, here's the links to the photos I took during my trip:

Bangkok, Thailand

African Safari on the Masai Mara

Isiolo, Kenya

Dire Dawa, Ethiopia

Oh and according to one source, Africa's Big Five are the lion, leopard, black rhino, elephant, and the cape buffalo. Although from my experience, it really depends on who you ask....

Rough draft of the intro page for our Blurb book, "Transformations"

Life on the Equator

2011-02-21T07:36:00.000-10:00

My apologies for not updating in the last few days. I'm going to play my "I'm in Africa card" and say that internet connectivity has been limited in certain places and I've had issues typing on my tiny little iPhone screen to blog. Truth be told though, the crew here is decked out with all kinds of tech gadgets including some sort of satellite device that can link us up for our Skype calls with various organizations. Through laptops, iPads, iPhones, and other mobile devices, our team has been able to tell stories of each of the villages we're working with to thousands of homes back home and beyond. If you haven't visited any of the links in my previous post, please take some time to do so. There is a tremendous amount of media that will give you all a better understanding of what we came here to do.

It's been a few days now since we left Kenya and flew over to Dire Dawa, Ethiopia. We'll be concentrating on just one village helping them dig up some trenches and build a community latrine and install some doors and windows to a teacher's dorm that was built from the group last summer. Anyway, because of the difficulties I experienced on my iPhone with posting entries last week, I went with the old school way and wrote it down on paper. Here's some stuff from Kenya...

Wednesday- 2.16.11

For the most part, things have sort of settled in and I've had the last few days to create some structure and routine to ease the transition into life in Kenya. I've been getting up at 6 every morning to start my day off with some push-ups, planks, step-ups, and reverse lunges as my only form of exercise while I'm here. Our group gathers for breakfast around 7 and we discuss our game plan for the day before heading out to one of the villages. Yesterday we headed back to Ole Nagele to check on our water line project where the local plumber repaired a few leaks. After grabbing a quick bite for lunch, we headed to Gambella to connect a water line to a clinic to fulfill the last requirement from the government. Finally we were able to sweat it out and lend a hand alongside about 15 men from the village.

Our first task was to clear out some rocks and dirt from the trench that the villages had already dug to make way for the PVC pipes. Some rocks turned out to be one giant boulder conveniently stuck about a foot deep right smack in the middle of the trench. My team member and I started hacking away with our shovels before switching over to a sledge hammer to try and break up the rock before four villages showed us a better way. Forty five minutes and a broken sledge hammer (which I profusely apologized for) later, we finally got the boulder out of the way before moving on to building a small tower to house a 1000L water tank. Working alongside the local builder to measure, cut, and nail the timber blurred all lines separating us. For a moment I had forgotten that I was in Africa next to a Kenyan in a poor village, and instead felt like working together with a neighbor, co-worker, or friend. It made me realize that despite our many differences, the world really is small and we as people share many similarities.

Other than that, things have been going well. I've been pleasantly surprised with the local cuisine (lots of stews with goat meat, some beef, chipati, and rice) and have been eating well at every meal without any stomach issues. Been loading up on Emergen-C, taking a multivitamin and Bioastin, spraying mosquito repellent and lathering up on sunscreen to keep myself healthy. I've been sleeping better here, logging in about 8 hours a night and waking up feeling rejuvenated. The pace here is definitely much slower than what I'm used to back home and it's been a refreshing change.

TIA

2011-02-15T08:55:00.000-10:00

This Is Africa.

Obviously things are done differently here and although it can be challenging sometimes, fortunately for us, it's all worked out for the best. Yesterday we were supposed to have started work on laying PVC pipes to deliver clean drinking water to the people of Ole Nagele. But because the pipes weren't delivered on time, it had to be postponed. When we arrived at the village, we were all anxious to roll up our sleeves and finally do some work alongside the people. Unfortunately, we were all out of shovels so we were left to stand in the heat and watch all the action from the side.

The digging started fast and furious for the first 3 minutes before coming to a screeching halt. Apparently there was some dispute over money and people from other villages coming over to dig expecting to get paid. To make things worse, the pipes had gone out for delivery to the wrong village. Fortunately the dispute was quickly resolved and the men went to work clearing out the ditch. Shortly after, the pipes finally arrived and the plumber was ready to tap into the main water line using a heated pipe. Once that was done, the men went to work laying 1.1km worth of pipes in a matter of hours. It was amazing to see everyone work together to complete such a huge task in the short amount of time that it took them. It was kind of disappointing not being able to pitch in but it was an incredible experience nonetheless to witness the look of joy on people's faces as they drank clean water right in their village.

Today's project completion was huge considering all the delays, disputes, and setbacks we had to overcome. Tomorrow we'll be heading to Gambella to lay more pipes for a water line to a clinic so that the government can officially consider it a clinic and send a nurse once a week to take care of the village. Hopefully things will go a little smoother and we'll be able to help out.

Okay so since I didn't bring a laptop with me I've been limited to uploading photos on my iPhone but now that we're at an area that has no wi-fi access, I can't upload any photos onto Facebook. So....

flicks.com/ajleon

extendedvillage.com

qik.com/ajleon

youtube.com/aloen010

qik.com/melissaleon

ajleon.tumblr.com

melissaleon.tumblr.com

olanagele.ghni.org

mycharmingkids.net

Check out the many links above from the rest of our team members. They've been hard at work posting and updating every night with photos, videos, and stories of everything we've been doing here. It's a lot more content than I could ever provide so please visit their sites.

Taking it all in

2011-02-14T04:13:00.001-10:00

So it's officially more than 48 hours since I've set in Africa and so far there's been a lot take in. Aside from experiencing all the sights, sounds, and smells for the very first time, there's an even greater purpose to absorb. Obviously there's been a lot of firsts including passing through a city that straddles the equator line, eating goat meat, and learning a few words in both Swahili and Borana.

Swahili:

jambo- hello
asanti sana- thank you much

Borana:

yoya- hello
akham- how are you?
gallatoma- thank you

Our first full day here in Kenya started off with an early morning drive from our guest home in Nairobi. We headed north towards Mt. Kenya where we passed through some rough, bumpy, and dusty roads on our 4-hour drive to Isiolo. We arrived a little after noon to our home away from home at a Catholic church retreat compound. Each of us were assigned a room with just the bare necessities including an all-important mosquito net hung above our beds. After getting settled in for a few minutes, we headed right back on the road to visit Ole Nagele, one of the villages we'll be working with.

As soon as word got around that our team would be paying the village a visit, city officials and the entire village were gathered to welcome us. From the moment we stepped off our jeeps, we were engulfed with song and praise and an intense feeling of joy and appreciation. We were forewarned that we'd be treated like celebrities but this was above and beyond anything I have ever experienced. We gathered in a school house for deaf children and feasted on several goat meat dishes that they had prepared that afternoon while listening to speeches from the village and city leaders. After our meal, different groups including a couple of women's groups entertained us with their song and dance and honored 2 of our married female team members by wrapping them in traditional clothing. The rest of the team were given Boranan names based on the time of day that they were born.

This morning our team gathered at the GHNI compound after filling up on eggs, tomatos and onions, and toast for breakfast. After briefly going around the circle to share our understanding of TCD projects and the impact on the villages we're partnering up with, we went over our plans for the rest of the week. First on the to-do list is to help the villagers of Ole Nagele is to lay PVC pipes to deliver clean water to their village. Second on the to-do list is to help the villagers of Gambella complete the 5 remaining houses that were promised to them by GHNI. The rest we're sort of playing by ear as we've been doing during our time here as plans are constantly changing by the day.

Other than that, I think I've finally settled in to the local time zone and started somewhat of an exercise routine this morning to bring back some familiarity into my day. The rest of the time, our team has been busy updating the rest of the world with our activities by all means necessary. Anyway, I'll update once again after we've started work on laying the PVC pipes which hopefully we'll get to turn on the faucet tomorrow and see clean water come out.

Globally connected

2011-02-12T18:26:00.000-10:00

It's amazing what technology can do these days. I'm writing this blog post via my iPhone, through wi-fi in our guest home here in Nairobi, Kenya. Others have also been hard at work staying in touch with loved ones and spreading the word about their experience through blogs, facebook, and twitter.

Today will be out first full day here and by tonight we should have a solid idea of what we'll be involved with the rest of the week. We're about to hit the road so I probably won't update for awhile.

Touchdown Africa

2011-02-12T00:57:00.012-10:00

We made it!! Finally, after 2 days of flying, we've arrived at our temporary guest home here in Nairobi, Kenya before moving over to Isiolo, to be closer to the villages we'll be working with. The last two days have been jam packed with lots of activities, hopping from one plane to the next and feasting on airline cuisine. Having an overnight layover in Bangkok, Thailand was a welcome break from all the flying and a great opportunity to see the city. We had a full day of wandering around the city via a tuktuk and visited some of the temples including the Big Buddha, Marble Temple, and the Grand Palace.

The flight out to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia was quite rough, leaving Thailand at 1:30 in the morning and spending the next 8 hours in a cramped airplane. But once we touched down in Ethiopia, the idea that I'm halfway around the world from home finally set in. After a short layover, we hopped right back on a plane and headed for Nairobi, Kenya where we were picked up from the airport bound for a short, and not to mention, off-road drive just in time to catch a short little flight straight to our afternoon safari drive on the Masai Mara.

Jet lag and sleep deprivation quickly went out the window as soon as we saw the first group of wild animals just a few feet away. Some of the animals we saw included giraffes, zebras, crocodiles, hyenas, buffalos, elephants, a vulture, an impala, gazelles, a pride of female lions and her cubs, a lone male lion, and a rarely seen cheetah. Unfortunately, photos will have to be posted when I return as I have no means to convert RAW files into JPEG for upload. Sorry folks!

Anyway, that's it for now. We'll be picking up the other 4 volunteers in the next few hours before driving out to Isiolo tomorrow morning. Will update again if wi-fi is available.

3 weeks, 2 countries, 1 village at a time

2011-02-07T23:20:00.000-10:00

"Hope is a genuine expectation of deliverance." – from the Global Hope Network International website

What a great quote. I've always believed that hope and faith go hand in hand and have witnessed the miracles that are possible because of it. Every journey, no matter how great, starts with a single step. The first step for me was believing that hope and faith would guide me in my path to my first Ironman knowing that there would be many twists and turns, and obstacles to overcome. But as I've come to find out, twists and turns can sometimes be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that may shape the rest of my journey to the starting line.

A little over a year ago, I finally got chosen to be an AIO Discovery program volunteer after applying for 2 years. My co-worker Tiffany and I were originally scheduled to travel to India late last year but due to unforeseen circumstances, we were given the option to travel to Kenya and Ethiopia instead. Without hesitation, we both agreed and will be taking off for Africa tomorrow morning to meet up with 6 (4 volunteers and 2 staff members) others at the end of the week. Our route will take us West to Narita, Japan for a short layover, head to Bangkok, Thailand for an overnight stay, before finally arriving in Nairobi, Kenya for a 2-day safari trip before we start our work with Global Hope Network International (GHNI).

The company I work for, AIO Hawaii, has partnered up with GHNI for the last few years and have sent 2-3 employees each year on humanitarian work trips to India, Kenya, and Ethiopia. GHNI's method and belief is what inspired me to apply for the program ever since its inception. They believe in helping poor people help themselves by teaching them ways to become sustainable in their villages. Through Transformational Development Projects (TCD), volunteers assist villagers in 5 key areas including water, food, wellness, income, and education. Our group will be spending a week in each country, visiting up to 4 different villages each day to help build a clean water line, clean water storage, a teacher's dorm, and whatever else comes up. Having grown up in a third-world country, I believe wholeheartedly in this method/approach and look forward to seeing progress during our time there and long after we leave.

So what does this trip have to do with my journey to Ironman? Everything- triathlon is more than a sport, it's a lifestyle. I haven't even set foot in Africa and already I feel like this trip will forever change the way I go about my life once I return. It's only right that I include this experience as part of my journey and will try my best to document every step of the way. Obviously internet access will be very limited but I do hope to keep blogging and update on Facebook while I'm away. But definitely, I'll be sharing lots of photos, videos, and stories when I get back so stay tuned for that.

Africa here I come!

My only belongings for the next 3 weeks stuffed into one carry-on suitcase and a camera bag.

"By keeping it light, the heavy can be handled."

The importance of stretching

2011-01-28T14:47:00.000-10:00

What a difference a year makes. This time last year, I was signed up for BOCA's cycling clinic logging anywhere from 50-100 miles a week and over 5000 yards in the pool doing masters swim workouts. Long story short, I was out for blood. I had big plans and great expectations. Problem was, I got so caught up in following a schedule and making sure to reach my weekly quotas that I didn't really get a chance to enjoy what this journey is really all about. In the month since the new year started, I've been reminded that there is so much more to enjoy about this lifestyle than what lies at the end of the finish line. I've been reminded of just how lucky I am to be able to do the things I do on a daily basis and to be surrounded by the people who share the same passion. On any given week, I get to train with Kona Ironman veterans....people who I aspire to be, and more importantly, people whom I've come to know as friends.

This year has started out a little different for me. No cycling clinic and just enough time in the water and on the road to keep up my fitness. Which leaves me lots of room for some stretching. Creative stretching that is. Over a year ago, I pitched a redesigned BOCA logo to Raul simply because the idea came to me and thought he might like it. After the initial excitement, the pitch quickly died and there was no mention of it for a year. Fast forward to a couple months ago and Raul approaches me about using one of the logos, some brochure design and the 2011 BOCA cycling jersey design. This was huge! As much as I love doing what I do in the daily grind, I was super stoked to be able to stretch out of my comfort zone and put my design skills to use in my passion for triathlon. It was a match made in heaven. Somehow this spark caught fire which has led to other projects that let me dive right in to both my passions. To date, a new BOCA brochure has just been sent to the printers, the 2011 BOCA cycling jersey design expected delivery date is in 5 weeks, and I just sent over files for a t-shirt design for a group doing Ironman South Africa this coming April.

At the very least, I'm grateful that this path has been paved and look forward to future projects and collaborations. In the meantime, the wheels keep on turning and there's something brewing in this crazy head of mine. It may just be the greatest thing to ever happen to me or it could be just another idea swept under the rug. I've got some work to do over the next few days and a few people to meet with next week but soon as I know, you will too. Stay tuned folks!

One with nature

2011-01-19T09:28:00.001-10:00

Near Nuuanu/Old Pali Road - at the end of my very first trail run.

This past weekend, my friend/training partner Troy and I set out to spectate at the HURT 100 mile trail race. I originally had plans to join the IMSA group out in Mokuleia for a 70 mile bike ride but jumped at the chance to test out my trail legs when Troy invited me out for a "very casual pace" 7 mile trail run. Truth be told, had I qualified for Boston last December, my plans this year were to tackle on the trails just to get a break from pounding the pavement, and to eventually run the Xterra Trail Run World Championship this December. As you all know, that won't be happening this year but it doesn't mean I still can't go out and get a taste of what mother nature has to offer.

We started off at the Makiki Rainforest Recreation Center and within a few minutes went anaerobic (80%+ of maximum heart rate) running up some steep inclines. Hardly the warm up I'm accustomed to, but once my muscles warmed up and the fast twitch fibers started firing, I had a field day skipping and jumping over roots, rocks, and twigs and ducking under branches. Because the previous day's rain saturated most of the ground, some sections were pretty wet and muddy which only added to the fun of the obstacles. It was a completely different sensation having to pay very close attention to every step I took making sure it was on stable ground, rock, or root. And without an iPod to distract me, there was definitely a stronger mind/body connection by being completely aware of the sights, sounds, and smells all around me.

The end of our route took us back out to Nuuanu to the Old Pali Road where we passed runners heading back to complete their first of five, 20 mile loops. Some looked fresh with a smile on their face, some wondering what the hell they got themselves into, but all determined to conquer the 100 miles they set out to do. This is definitely just the first of many trail runs I hope to go on this year. I think it's safe to say that I'm hooked. And with the Tantalus/Makiki trails just a 20 minute warm-up away from my house, I will be back out there in no time. Here's a short vid of our trail adventures from Saturday:

Funnel vision

2011-01-11T00:38:00.001-10:00

So much for starting the year off on the "no plan" plan. I foolishly told myself that I'd ride out my marathon fitness up until endurance triathlon training starts up in March. There would be no structured workouts or lung-busting efforts, and instead, just "exercise." Who am I kidding? Last week's "exercises" included 2 days each of swim, bike, run, and a day of strength training. Granted they were all scaled back in volume, it still meant that I only had a day of rest. Oh well, I better get used to it, triathlon season is right around the corner.

The last couple of years, I had a singular focus for each season: two years ago, it was swimming and last year it was biking. This year, there will be no more tunnel vision. Triathlon is a multi-sport for a reason. Each discipline demands equal amounts of attention so I'll really have to funnel all my resources if I plan on putting all 3 together on race day. Simple as that.

First order of business? Sweet new frame plus new chain and cassette!

She's yet to be named.

Okay well I've had her for over a month now. Long story short, my previous P2C "Willy", sadly passed on after IT&B found a crack on the top tube near the seat post, during a routine maintenance tune-up. At first my heart sank when I heard the sad news, but a week or so later, I got word that Cervelo would be sending me a brand spanking new 2011 replacement P2 frame under warranty. I'll be honest, I wasn't too thrilled about the new color scheme, but after a few weeks it started to grow on me. Perhaps it was a blessing in disguise. The crack on Willy's frame could've been a huge disaster had I unknowingly kept riding an unsafe bike.

Anyway, as if I need any more distractions, I've also been toying around with footage I've taken with my new GoPro HD camera. So far I've taken it go-karting, rock climbing, zip lining, jet skiing, and yup, cycling. Here's the latest vid I created from this past weekend's humbling BOCA shop ride:

You can check out the rest of my videos on my YouTube channel.

On to the next one

2011-01-01T18:57:00.001-10:00

New year, new horizons. But as always, before anything gets under way, I always take the time to reflect on the past year. The surprise vacation to the Philippines couldn't have come at a better time. For one week, I did away with anything remotely triathlon related and instead filled my vacation with good food (5 lbs. worth!), quality time with family, lots of laughter, and great memories. It truly gave me the opportunity to take in everything that I've learned over the past year and come back rejuvenated and ready to take on the new year.

I'd be lying if I said the failed attempt at qualifying for Boston has been completely forgotten. No, I think that'll stick with me until the day I successfully accomplish this goal. But as I've come to realize, that's not such a bad thing. There's no greater motivation for staying hungry than failure. A friend and coach told me that "the only way to fail is if you are willing to put it all on the line. Most people never do this." If there is one thing that I can be proud of in 2010, it would be this.

This past year definitely had its share of highs and lows. Through it all, the greatest takeaway that I got is having no regrets. I can honestly say that there is not a single outcome that I would trade for. Because if I did, the lessons that I got from those experiences would also be taken back. Everything that I've learned through my failures has helped me get back on solid ground and I'm excited to start the year off knowing this.

Beautiful disaster

2010-12-16T09:23:00.003-10:00

Oh what a lovely day to have a slice of humble pie. Slice number two for the year, for those of you counting.

It's been a few days now since what was supposed to be the outcome of all the hard work, and not to mention all the drama and spectacle, that I've been posting about the last couple of months. Other than some soreness on my quads, I am recovering quite well...physically. Mentally, I'm pretty broken down about the whole thing.

2010 Honolulu Marathon final result: 3:27:20

Seventeen minutes off my 3:10 Boston qualifying goal, and a minute slower than my previous marathon time. OUCH. In every sense of the word. It really felt like a big let down knowing that I had trained so hard for this marathon and had the potential to achieve my goal. More importantly, and the thing that I'm most disappointed about, was not enjoying myself while I was out there. Sounds a bit a familiar, no?

So what happened exactly? Well, I think this little clip from one of my favorite sports movies explains it all....

"You're playing and you think everything is going fine. Then one thing goes wrong. And then another. And another. You try to fight back, but the harder you fight, the deeper you sink. Until you can't move....you can't breathe....because you're in over your head. Like quicksand."

I had a mile per mile split planned out but completely abandoned it after averaging 7:12/mi. for the first 10 miles and feeling quite spectacular. At mile 16 my pace began to slow down but was still hopeful that I had built up enough of a cushion early on for a fade out at the end. By mile 20, I had reached my 7:15/mi. threshold which meant that I needed to hold this pace steady for the last 6 miles. A tall order for sure considering I was feeling light headed and was beginning to feel a stabbing/throbbing pain deep in my left shoulder blade. As I rounded the corner by the Aloha gas station at mile 22, my shoulder completely seized up and I was forced to run with my left arm down to my sides. I knew this couldn't go on for the last 4 miles so I stopped completely and tried to stretch it out. During the first of several walks of shame, my quads decided to join in on the cramp session as runners that I had previously passed, made the effort to run up to me and give me the pity pat. Not exactly how I wanted to end this marathon, but finished, I did.

Coulda, woulda, shoulda. Hindsight's a bitch sometimes, ain't it? Well, what's done is done and I can only move forward from this. I'll be off to the motherland for a week's worth of R&R and to visit family. Hopefully I'll be able to wash off the bitter taste of humble pie and come back rejuvenated with a renewed sense of purpose.

Part premeditated, part impulse

2010-12-11T11:19:00.002-10:00

How's this for shaking things up? No Photoshop magic here, folks this is the real deal. And yes, this is the newsFLASH that I spoke of. Got it done two nights ago at a barbershop called Bliss, by a guy named Good. You can't make this stuff up! Came in with a reference photo of The Flash and off he went. Half way through I asked him what the craziest request he's ever had for a design and he said, this would be it. Forty five minutes later and I get the most expensive and most outrageous haircut I've ever had. Part premeditated, part impulse, all for tomorrow's marathon.

So why all the drama and spectacle? I thought it was fitting of how I'm feeling about tomorrow. Although this will be my 5th consecutive Honolulu Marathon, I'm feeling all the butterflies and pre-race jitters of running it for the very first time. With a Boston qualifying time on the line, a lot is at stake and although I've done my homework and feel confident about accomplishing this goal, there really is no such guarantee. Needless to say, my nerves and my mind have been on full tilt this entire week and I guess doing something completely out of the box is my way of easing my nervous anticipation.

That's about it. Real-time race results/updates are available on my Facebook via Sportstats Race Alerts, or track me on the Honolulu Marathon website by searching bib number 424. Stay tuned folks!

Easy does it

2010-12-09T09:53:00.003-10:00

Ask any triathlete (or any athlete for that matter) to take it easy and chances are, you'll be met with stubbornness and a raised eye brow. In a sport that demands so much of our time for training, is there really any room for us to take it easy? As I've learned in the past 16 weeks of marathon training, not only does running less mean running faster, doing less also means doing more. Out of the 4 components that I've been posting about the last couple of weeks, I believe recovery has been the most important pillar to my current fitness level. Although recovery is relatively new to me, having only practiced its many methods in the last couple of months, I truly believe it's what's helped me thrive during marathon training, injury-free.

The term recovery is very broad and covers both the physical and mental aspect of training. In my experience, recovery means to replenish essential fluids and nutrients lost during intense workouts. This really starts the whole process of repairing the minor tears in muscles and soft tissue during exercise. Two key components to post-workout nutrition is what and when. A ratio of 4 parts carbohydrates to 1 part protein ensures proper replenishment of carbohydrate stores (glycogen) and to repair and prevent muscle breakdown. Glycogen synthesis has a short window of 30 minutes after exercise, so athletes should take care of post-workout nutrition within this timeframe. My recovery drink of choice? Good 'ol chocolate milk with a tablespoon of chia seeds mixed in. It's cheap, simple, effective, and face it, it reminds you of being a little kid again.

The mental aspect of recovery is just as simple. I think it all comes down to purposeful training. And yes, recovery is every bit a part of this. What I mean is, there's a time and pace for everything. So when my schedule says easy swim, I take it to heart and go easy knowing that I need to let my mind and body recover so that I'll be primed and ready for the next hard workout. No sneaking in 100m pick-ups or trying to race the person in the lane next to me. A day of active recovery or complete rest means exactly that.

Anyway, here's a couple of other things that I do/use to promote recovery. Again, it's all about letting the body heal and repair and getting it ready for the next workout.

Bath tub + 40lbs. of ice = ice bath. Let half of the ice melt before sitting in, endure the first 5 minutes of what feels like pins and needles being poked into every part of your body, then sit and shiver for another 10 minutes or so as your body slowly goes numb. Hurts so good...hands down, the best, most effective way to reduce swelling and soreness.

Axis Foam Roller. Okay so I don't use this as often as I should but when I do get around to it, it's the best stretching you can do post workout. It's essentially a self massager- you use your own body weight and position yourself over the foam roller to knead out all the knots. It's especially useful for stretching out your hamstrings, quads, calves, and IT band. Here's some stretches you can do with these.

Recover Gear Thermal Compression Tights. Just ordered these yesterday from Pro Therapy Supplies, and will hopefully get them in time before Sunday's marathon. Previous to this, I just threw on my compression socks, elevated my feet so it's above my chest, and threw on a couple of bags of ice on my lower quads/knee cap area. It's an all-in-one solution- compression to increase blood circulation and blood oxygenation, and cold/heat therapy to reduce swelling and soreness.

Alright folks, that's about it for now. Stay tuned for tomorrow's final thoughts and a special newsFLASH....

Fuel for the fire

2010-12-07T22:01:00.001-10:00

If there's one thing to be said about sports nutrition, it would be that the choices are endless. Do a Google search on lactic acid buffer or post workout recovery drink and out comes a thousand products promising everything under the sun. Like anything, it takes trial and error, and not to mention a few "bonks" and stomach issues, to figure out what works and what doesn't work. Over the years I've experimented with several products from varying brands and found these to do the job:

The basic daily supplements. 1) Nature Made Multivitamin Complete, 2) Nature Made Fish Oil, 3, Nutrex-Hawaii Bioastin. Pre-workout drink. Chia fresca- 1 tablespoon whole chia seed, 10 oz. of water, squirt of lemon/lime, honey to taste. Electrolyte supplements. 1) EFS (Electrolyte Fuel System) Sports Drink, 2) Lava Salts, 3) Endurolytes Electrolyte Pills

Nutrition on-the-go. 1) PowerBar Energy Bar, 2) PowerBar Gel, 3) Powerbar Gel Blasts

Chia power. 1) Proprietary (ha!) blend of EFS liquid shot, concentrated mix of EFS drink soaked into whole chia seeds, and water, 2) Chia fresca, 3) EFS liquid shot

More chia goodies. 1) 2% chocolate milk with 1 tablespoon whole chia seeds, 2) Whole chia seeds soaked in concentrated mix of EFS drink, 3) Ground chia seeds in an even more concentrated mix of EFS drink

Alright so the products above are more or less what I consume throughout the year to fuel my workouts. It is downright a science and I've had some fun (most of the time) experimenting with them. I think the key thing that I did differently during marathon training was logging in exactly what I ate before, during, after, and at what times I consumed them. For example, here's what I noted in my training log for a 20-miler:

Pre: 1/2 PowerBar, 1 banana, 1 bottle EFS/Chia fresca mix

Run: 2 Chia gel flasks, 2 Endurolytes, 2 PowerBar gels: 1 @ 52 min., 2 @ 1:45 min., water

Post: 1 bottle Chocolate milk w/ chia, water/gatorade

Information like this really helped me analyze my nutritional needs by having something to reference off of when making adjustments for future workouts. For the most part it went smoothly, although there were days when I was out there suffering due to bad or untimely nutrition. But I guess that's what training is for- it's the time to figure all this stuff out.

The one thing that did make a huge difference was the addition of chia seeds to my diet and nutrition. Google this stuff, it truly is amazing! It's almost like a magic bullet for anyone and everyone. It's packed full of nutrients like protein, antioxidants, omega-3 fatty acids, B-vitamins, dietary fiber and it's trans fat-free, sugar-free, and gluten-free. It's flavorless, so you can put it into anything! Seriously, I put it in orange juice, chocolate milk, just plain water, I've even baked banana bread with chia seeds in 'em. Training-wise I felt that it helped stabilize whatever energy source I was consuming, probably due to its water absorption properties (it holds 10 times its weight in water) and its ability to slow down digestion. Instead of a energy spike, it felt more sustained and even throughout the whole workout.

Anyway, that pretty much covers it. The fourth and final component to my Boston training program will be recovery, before I share some final thoughts on the countdown to the marathon. Stay tuned...

Good things happen to those who weight

2010-11-29T20:19:00.014-10:00

Weight train, that is...

Believe it or not, I used to be a gym rat back in college, before all this triathlon madness started. I could easily spend 3 days out of the week pumping iron, for vanity's sake of course, while logging less than 10 miles a week of running as the only form of cardiovascular exercise. At my peak I weighed in at 150 lbs. and could bench press one and a half times my body weight. My how things have changed. These days I find it hard to spend even one day in the gym to lift weights, much less even attempt to do a bench press. Nowadays, it's all about injury prevention and enhancing triathlon performance. But as much as things have changed, I'm grateful for the discipline that's been instilled in me through weight training. It taught me that with discipline and hard work, results are possible.

As I progressed in triathlon, days in the gym were replaced with more time spent outdoors swimming, biking, and running. Sure enough, 3 days became 2, then for the past year and a half, I've been sticking to a one-day-a-week plan. So far it's been a win-win situation. I'd much rather spend time exercising outdoors anyway and at a leaner 140 lbs., I perform better and faster thanks to strength training.

More specifically, functional strength training. According to the American Council on Exercise (ACE), "functional strength training involves performing work against resistance in such a manner that the improvements in strength directly enhance the performance of movements so that an individual's activities of daily living are easier to perform. Simply stated, the primary goal of functional training is to transfer the improvements in strength achieved in one movement to enhancing the performance of another movement by affecting the entire neuromuscular system." Power training on the other hand, according to Men's Health Power Training , "is the ability to generate as much force as fast as possible," often referred to as "speed-strength."

I've been referencing the two books below to customize a one-day-a-week workout plan that lasts for about 90 minutes and targets all the major muscle groups.

According to ACE, "for strength exercises to effectively transfer to other movements, several components of the training movement need to be similar to the actual performance movement. This includes coordination, types of muscular contractions (concentric, eccentric, isometric), speed of movement and range of motion."

"The unique characteristic and key component in this program is the large menu of exercises. This menu gives you a multitude of options so your training will never get stagnant."

After performing a needs analysis, you have a choice of performing a full-body or push-pull workout using a movement template that looks something like this:

1. Explosive movement

2. Knee dominant

3. Hip Dominant

4. Horizontal push

5. Horizontal pull

6. Vertical push

7. Vertical pull

8. Rotational/bridge core

I perform 2 exercises for each movement, alternating between bilateral and unilateral exercises, for a total of 16 different exercises. I try to vary the sets, reps, and weight every 4 to 6 weeks so my body is constantly challenged. The tempo during the workout is brisk, resting just 30-45 seconds for each set, to keep my heart rate up. Here's a sample workout that I currently do:

1. Medicine ball slam-dunk + clean and snatch pull

2. Back squat + Stepup/reverse lunge

3. Back extension + split good morning

4. Dumbbell incline bench press + pushup

5. Bent-over dumbbell alternating row + bent-over straight arm stretch cord pull

6. Dumbbell shoulder press + dumbbell front raise

7. Pullup + single-arm lat pulldown

8. Cable wood chop + windshield wiper + front/side plank

As a triathlete looking to prepare my body for the demands of multi-sport training, prevent injuries, and improve performance, a mix of functional strength and power training makes sense for me.

Next up is nutrition, something that I've had some fun experimenting with over the last few months...

Sweet sixteen

2010-11-19T21:43:00.011-10:00

Okay I'm gonna get right to the nuts and bolts of the FIRST marathon training program. Here's some of the basics:

• FIRST stands for Furman Institute of Running & Scientific Training

• The FIRST "3plus2" program is a 16-week training program that calls for 3 quality runs including track repeats, a tempo run, and a long run as well as 2 days of essential cross-training

• Provides structure and specific workouts tailored to your current fitness level

The first chart has all my target paces for each prescribed workout according to my marathon goal time of 3:08:47, and goal pace of 7:12/mi. (this gives me a good 2-minute cushion to hit a 3:10:59 qualifying time). The second chart is an example of what the 3 quality run workouts look like. This is week 9 of 16 which is capped by the 3rd of 5, 20-mile runs. The biggest selling point of this program is "run less, run faster", which is why the average weekly mileage hovers just around 30 miles for all 3 workouts.

The purposes for each specific workout:

• Track repeats- improve max VO2, running speed, and running economy

• Tempo run- improve endurance by raising lactate threshold

• Long run- improve endurance by raising aerobic metabolism

The other 2 days of essential cross-training also serve several purposes:

• Allows for a tremendous volume of central circulatory training without overuse of a particular muscle group

• Non-weight-bearing cross-training give the legs and running muscles a well-deserved break, promoting recovery

• Provides variety in the training regimen

Here's what a typical training week looks like:

Monday- Tempo run

Tuesday- Bike intervals

Wednesday- Track repeats

Thursday- Strength Training

Friday- Easy swim

Saturday- Endurance run

Sunday- Rest day

In a nutshell, it's training with purpose and that's exactly why it works. The beauty of the program is that it can be tailored to your specific goals based on your current fitness level. So whether you're a beginner or an elite, every workout presents a challenge and with prescribed target paces, there's accountability to measure success or opportunities for improvement. No matter what the outcome is at the Honolulu Marathon, I wholeheartedly believe in this program. I am, by far, the fittest and fastest I have ever been in my life.

Coming up next week....the often neglected yet all-important program, strength training.

4th and goal

2010-11-12T20:58:00.009-10:00

Well folks, the countdown begins until I toe the line at this year's Honolulu Marathon. It's exactly 4 weeks out until I make an attempt at a 3:10 qualifying time for the Boston Marathon. This will be my 5th consecutive Honolulu Marathon and to be quite honest, the thought of qualifying for Boston has never, in my wildest dreams, crossed my mind....until 12 weeks ago. It was just by chance really, toying with the idea of maybe attempting it this year, which led to the search for a training plan that would help me accomplish this lofty goal. After reviewing several plans, the one that piqued my interest was the 3-day marathon plan, which then pointed me to this book:

Run less, run faster? Sign me up! Boston training programs for all 16 qualifying times? What better timing! This book couldn't have been any more perfect for me. After flipping through the pages and seeing charts and tables filled with paces and times, I was quickly sold! Finally, a book that tells you exactly what to do instead of theorizing about concepts. Anyway, I won't go too much into the training program in this post. Over the next several weeks, I'll be going over in detail, the 4 key components to my Boston training program:

1) FIRST marathon training program

2) Strength training

3) Nutrition

4) Recovery

I know it's still 4 weeks out and a lot can happen between now and then but at this point, I just need to stick to my guns and trust in my training. There really is no turning back now. I've worked too damn hard to let this slip away. It's 4th quarter clutch baby, here I come!

Work and play

2010-11-02T14:47:00.012-10:00

One of the great parallels between what I do for work and what I do for play has always been keeping things in balance. It's no easy task, that's for sure, but when they do cross paths from time to time, I'm reminded of just how lucky I am to have the support of countless people to pursue my passion for art and endurance sports. I've always been a believer that opportunity begets opportunity and here are just two great examples of where my passions have lead me.

Below is a clip Susanne Kurisu of Menpachi Productions put together of an interview Sherie Char of AIO Hawaii (the parent company of PacificBasin Communications- where I work) conducted a couple of weeks after I completed my 2nd Ironman 70.3 Hawaii, as part of our company newsletter. This piece talks a little bit about the challenges training for and competing in a half Ironman race, sources of inspiration, and how these skills carry over to my job as a graphic designer. Lastly, it talks about how my experiences in past endurance events will help me as a future humanitarian worker in India, as part of the AIO Discovery program .

Odeelo Dayondon, Pacific Basin Triathlete from Menpachi Productions on Vimeo.

The next example demonstrates how inspiration can come in many forms and can literally touch the hearts of many. A couple of months ago, one of my coaches from BOCA Hawaii , Ryan Leong, approached me about maybe doing some freelance logo re-design work for an organization that he recently became a part of. The organization is called Ironheart Racing Team and is made up of approximately 50 (and growing) athletes from across the country and in the UK and South Africa. This group of amazing athletes help raise awareness for congenital heart defects and use endurance sports as a way to stay healthy and inspire others. Ryan put me directly in touch with the founder, David Watkins, whose incredible story inspired me to take on the challenge of redesigning the team logo. After several rounds of collaboration, I'm happy to announce that David made the call and chose the logo below to represent the Ironheart Racing Team.

The one to the left is the original logo and the one to the right is the newly designed logo set to launch in 2011. The whole premise of the logo is that anything is possible, thus the metaphor of when pigs will fly. The pig also holds a deeper meaning to David in that a pig's aortic valve is what's keeping him alive after undergoing open heart surgery. In addition to some modern touch ups to the font type, I also added a complementary geometric shape to go with the new fierce and determined pig. Overall I'm very pleased with how the redesign turned out and very honored to be invited to be a part of the Ironheart Racing Team!

Weapons of mass distraction

2010-10-27T08:00:00.018-10:00

It's no secret that triathlon is an expensive hobby. Like they say....you gotta pay to play. Companies like to use the term "free speed" when marketing their products, and although I beg to differ in terms of monetary cost, they do make a good point. High tech toys and gadgets can be a competitive advantage when you factor in weight and aerodynamics. But at the end of the day, when you strip away all the toys and gadgets, underneath it all is the human body- the driving force that makes it all possible.

Anyway, here's a few of the tools I use to help me in my pursuit to become an Ironman...

Garmin 310XT. GPS-enabled, waterproof, with multi-sport function...what more can you ask for? By far the most useful training tool in my quiver. If you like to create custom workouts, monitor your stats in real-time, then have the ability to analyze all that data later on, then you'll love this watch.

Zoot Speedsuit. For those of us who compete in non-wetsuit legal races, this is the next best thing for some added buoyancy. Specially coated with Yamamoto SCS Nano swim technology, it reduces drag and supposedly makes you faster in the water than wearing nothing. Personally, improvements have been marginal but I think as I become a better swimmer, I'll get more of a return on my investment. Ha!

HED Jet 60/90. I just couldn't justify spending over a grand on Zipp race wheels that I'd use several times a year so I got the next best thing...used HED wheels for less than half the price! The rim itself is aluminum so it's got the durability of a training wheel and go-fast aerodynamics with the carbon fairing 60mm deep in the front and 90mm in the rear. I definitely feel a difference with these bad boys on. And the sound of the carbon fairing cutting through the wind just makes me want to go faster!

Zoot Ali‘i Limited Edition. Triathlon-specific shoe that addresses the unique needs of a triathlete: quick lace system, easy-pull tab behind the heel, holes at the bottom of the forefoot to drain excess water/moisture , breathable mesh, and chafe-free liner for sock-less running. This was the first step in my transition into minimalist running shoes and just the sheer weight reduction made me chuck my beloved Nike Air Pegasus.

Nike Free +. The next step in line with my minimalist movement. Again, a lot of it had to do with weight reduction and increased responsiveness. Granted these shoes have much less cushioning than I'm used to, I slowly tapered into them and in no time loved the feeling of barefoot running. The deep grooves moves and flexes with the natural movement of my feet so I feel much more connected to the road. I'm on pair #2 for the year and will be running the Honolulu Marathon in 'em.

Vibram Five Fingers Bikila. Talk about taking a leap of faith. Seriously, look at these "shoes", they look ridiculous! I was very much so a skeptic when I first saw these but as I did more research and finally tried on a pair, these shoes proved me wrong. Admittedly, it was very jarring going out on my first run, all of 3 miles alternating between grass and asphalt, but as the little muscles in my feet got stronger something else happened too. It changed the way my foot strikes the ground and before I knew it, I was running more efficiently. Now I'm up to running 8 miles, mostly on a softer track surface during my track workouts, although I have done a 10k training run on the road in these. A word of caution: people will stare and think you're crazy.

Zoot Compression Socks. Same word of caution applies to these socks. I started using these after Honu as a recovery tool and noticed a dramatic difference in the way my legs felt after a hard workout. In addition to stabilizing muscle groups, it speeds bloodflow back to the heart and makes you look really cool on those long runs. No, not even close, but I have been using these on my last couple 20-milers and have noticed a difference so looks like I'll be sporting these at the Honolulu Marathon as well.

Some may say gadgets are distractions and take away from the purity of the sport. On some level I agree with that, but on the other hand, I believe triathletes are forward thinkers that constantly push the limits with the help of whatever available technologies exist. The important thing to remember is that technology is just a tool. Training should always come before technology.

Many the miles

2010-10-18T12:23:00.014-10:00

So quick update on my previous post before this one gets under way. Just got word that registration for the 2011 Boston Marathon officially opened today and in a matter of hours, officially closed. Sucks to be me right? Fortunately, no! Qualifying times are good for a 18-month period so if I do qualify this December, I'll have to be on the computer next October and register for the 2012 marathon the second registration opens. Kinda hampers some of the excitement for this year's attempt at a qualifying run but still pretty fired up nonetheless.

But anyway, I thought I'd get right into a brief recap of the races I completed this past season...

Lanikai Sprint Triathlon- I felt a little "flat" in this race, having expended a lot of energy during the swim as I got tangled up in the first turn buoy then taking a bad line to the next one swimming closer to shore then having to swing back out to make the last turn. I definitely felt the previous day's 40-mile training ride during the bike segment and by the time I got to the run, I gave it all I had to finish a few minutes shy of my goal time. This race I tried going as hydro and aerodynamic as possible having donned a Zoot speedsuit AND shaving my legs for the first time. Net result was probably a minute or two at best, but hell, I sure felt slick and fast.

If nothing else, I think I should get some award for the best color-coordinated tri gear

Slightly more aggressive aero position than last year's set-up. Check out them silky smooth legs!

Honolulu Triathlon- Just 3 weeks out from my big A race, I was feeling really good prior to this race. In fact I was excited to see what I could in this race since I was doing well in training. Well, things didn't pan out the way I had hoped. In addition to air leaking out of my new used race wheels 30 minutes prior to the start, forgetting to strip my speedsuit off after the swim before putting on my cycling shoes, plowing into a cone after attempting the flying mount coming out of T1, I also had to endure pain on both knees throughout the whole run. Even though I hit my goal time right on the dot, I still felt like I made too many mental errors on this one.

Gritting my teeth ignoring the knee pain while trying to finish strong

Paying tribute to the man above for helping me cross the finish line

Ironman 70.3 Hawaii- Simply put, I choked. Cracked under pressure. BIG time. Even with a whole year's worth more of experience going into this race, I just couldn't seem to get myself together and execute on race day. After getting lost on the swim course and exiting 10 minutes off my swim goal split, it was very telling of how the day would unfold. Things really started to unravel as I got on the bike. Knowing that I had a lot of time to make up, I hammered going out to Hawi underestimating the heat and humidity and not paying attention to my nutrition plan. By the time I hit the turn around point, I knew I was in trouble. Soon as I got off the bike, I made the biggest mistake of the day- doing something I've never done during a race. I sat down on the grass in T2 to put on my running shoes. Soon as I got up, my lower back seized up and I instantly knew it was going to be a long half marathon. The first few miles was very discouraging. I walked, limped, and jogged my way to every aid station, shoving handfuls of ice down my back to try and loosen up the tightness. By some miracle, it actually worked! And after the third mile, I began to get into some sort of rhythm, hitting my stride and making up some time during the middle portion of the run. But with just a mile to go, poor nutrition on the bike and run (dehydration from the bike and lack of calories on the run) came back to haunt me. Cramps on both quads and calves! Just as I started the run walking, limping, and jogging, that's exactly how the last mile ended. If there's one thing to be said about that race, it'd be that I filled up on multiple slices of humble pie that day.

Reppin' the motherland. Kaya ng Pinoy!

Photo-op with a couple of my training partners- both Kona Ironman finishers who kick my butt in training on a weekly basis.

Tinman Triathlon- After feeling the effects of training burnout from Honu, I made the wise decision to have a relaxed approach and have just one goal in mind for this race. To have freakin' fun. And that I did! I really did have a blast doing this race and it didn't hurt that I smashed last year's time either. While it wasn't quite redemption for the disastrous Honu race, it changed my attitude about training and competing. If I'm not having fun doing it, why do it at all? It was definitely a turning point and one that carries through to this day.

Giving props to my fellow Pinoy triathlete

North Shore Swim Series and Waikiki Roughwater Swim- I stayed true to my newfound relaxed attitude about racing and made these swims all about fun. Hell, I even went out the night before on a couple of these races and had a couple of beers. No joke! But the best part was our bi-weekly post race picnics, photos snapped by our up-and-coming photogs, and swimming within 20 feet from a pod of dolphins in Waimea Bay.

Sink or swim time, just seconds before the horn goes off.

Recovering with a smile after falling to my hands and knees as I exit the water. A little too relaxed maybe?

Honolulu Century Ride- If I am to do a full Ironman some day, I need to know that I'm able to do each of the events by itself before I can even think of rolling them up into a one day event. As much fun as the actual ride was, I really had a blast during training. It didn't even really feel like training, felt more like exploring. Some weekends I'd just go out for 4+ hours and ride to another part of the island and take in all the views along the way. Other days I'd climb Tantalus huffing and puffing going up then get rewarded by an adrenaline rush on the descend coming down. Hard to imagine running a marathon after riding 112 miles with a 2.4 mile swim "warm-up" before that. But as Brent says, you don't think of doing a marathon, you Nike. Well said brotha, well said.

Popping my 100-mile cherry.

Rollin' with my fellow Filipino cyclists.

Anyway, so that's kind of how the season went. As much experience I've gained and lessons I've learned the last few months, I know that the miles ahead are still plentiful. It gets overwhelming at times but I just need to take it one day at a time and keep reminding myself that it's all part of the journey and as always, keep it fun because really....why do it at all?

Swinging for the fences

2010-10-17T22:54:00.004-10:00

Alright, in an effort to keep this blog going again on a regular basis, I will try to keep my entries short and frequent. So here we go....

Just wrapped up week 8 of the FIRST marathon training plan that calls for 3 days of quality run workouts + 2 days of cross training. The run workouts include a track workout, a tempo run, and an endurance run. My 2 days of cross training include a day of bike intervals up Tantalus and a 2000m swim at Ala Moana Beach park. I'm also following a once a week strength training program combining exercises from Men's Health's Power Training book and another book called Strength Training for Triathletes. If this sounds like a lot of training for a marathon, then I'd say yes and no...

Yes because it's 6 days of training a week with just a day of rest. And no, because there is a huge emphasis on quality versus quantity. My running weekly mileage is somewhere around 30 miles, give or take. Cross training days are about 45 minutes to an hour, and strength training for about 90 minutes. So what fences am I swinging for exactly? Boston baby!

That's right, I'm putting it out there: I'm making a run for a 3:10 qualifying time at this year's Honolulu Marathon to run the Boston Marathon in 2011. Lofty goal to say the least, considering I have 17 minutes to shave from last year's time. But I've been hard at work the past 8 weeks, following the FIRST program to a T, paying more attention to recovery and nutrition, running with a strong training partner, and most of all, having a blast doing it all. Seriously, I think I've had the most fun training in the last 8 weeks than I've had all year.

Anyway, so that's what's going on for the moment. I'll keep you posted on the progress and write about a few other things that's been helping me with my training.