SURF*RUN*SWIM

Potato Cake 2012

Remember potato cake? More on that in “Potato Cake” 2011. SO…it was my birthday!  On Friday night! (I had a pretty great time, therefore, lots of exclamation points. !!!)

I decided to throw myself a campfire, bonfire themed birthday party, since I had planned to go camping that weekend, but it didn’t work out. Add to that days and days of heavy downpours, and the bonfire turned in to a pop-up canopy party.

I made a “bonfire” out of a gas fire pit borrowed from my mom; stuffed marshmallows, Hershey’s chocolate bars, and Graham crackers in big jars, and set them next to a jar of skewers…S’mores Bar anyone? I Martha Stewart -ed a big batch of grapefruit mojitos (grapefruit infused rum… oh, yes) and skewered everything;  shrimp, beef, asparagus, squash, onion, peppers. YUM.

More importantly, I got to surf with my brother and my dad, go to lunch at the best cafe in town (Holuakoa) with my mom, and have dinner, wine and potato cake with my friends and family. Thirty three looks brighter and brighter!

UPDATE******************************************************

I forgot to mention this little training anecdote from Sunday; My two Kukio Challenge partners and I went down to the Kailua Pier to participate in a monthly race called the “Peaman,” consisting of a 3/4 mile swim, and a 5k run.

Because we haven’t actually done a combo race yet, we decided to start before the gun and do a 1/2 mile swim and a 3 mile run. I trailed way behind….way, way, way behind. During the “run,” I walked most of the way. I’m working on it!!

But on my way back, a mere 1/4 mile from the finish, I heard a faint call from the ocean. “Heeelllp!” It sounded weak and far away, but I saw the man struggling in the waves. He seemed tired and scared, so I ran back to the seawall closest to where bobbed in the waves, nearest the rocks and the impact zone. There was a decent south swell running, and if a bigger set had come sooner, it would have forced him over the shallow reef. So I stripped off my running shoes and clothes and jumped in.

Another girl jumped in closer to the man and reached him before me. I motioned for her to swim perpendicular to the waves, and swam to meet them. She did most of the pulling him in, while I held one of his arms and swam, told him he was doing fine and we were almost at the beach, and directed the other girl to swim this way and that to avoid the impact zone and rocks. We got him to the beach and he was very grateful. He thanked us, asked our names, thanked us again. The other girl, Stephanie, and I thanked each other for helping, and I ran back to the pier to tell his wife and friends where he was.

How’s that for a first race in 10 years story? Funny enough, I ran into him and his wife and friends at the coffee shop, where he introduced me as  ”the girl who pulled me out of the water.”  At least I know I can swim fast in an emergency!

Reality check with a side of Humble Pie…

So…after one week into my 5-week training period, I know where I am. And it’s far, far behind where I’d like to be. But, hey! I have to start somewhere!

While I didn’t stick to my calendar exactly, I got 5 workouts in and am sore from head to toe. I paddled 2 miles on Sunday, even before the training period began. Then I paddled a mile Tuesday, ran/walked 2 miles on Wednesday, Thursday ended up the rest day, and Friday was yoga, Saturday… more on that below, and Sunday I swam.

Saturday was  meant to be a rest day, however, I already had a rest day, and at the urging of my brother and one of my girlfriends, I found myself at Crossfit Kona for their Saturday Family Fun Day workout. Family Fun, my ass.

If you’ve never heard for Crossfit, it’s a super intense, effective workout system to make you stronger really fast. My brother the yogi who hates running…loves crossfit.

I was scared to death to go… even though they say you can customize any workout to your level, it still intimidated me… a lot. And why shouldn’t it… have you ever seen a video or even a photo of some of the stuff they’re doing? Crazy. {Check it out here…video by Chaddy, my brother}

So I was scared. Most spot-on emotion I could have felt..seeing as we did a team workout…my team made up of seasoned crossfit guys, of course, and the workout consisted of a deck of cards, 25 minutes on the clock, and a 2 jokers in each deck. Jokers meant a run around the building…no sweat, right? Wrong. Wrong for me, anyway. Lots of sweat. Yes, it’s a rather long building, but I thought “no problem! I can do this!” I couldn’t.

So I ran as far as I could, then walked the rest, then ran back in to the gym to pick my card to complete however many reps was on the card of sit-ups, squats, box jumps or push-ups. I’ll admit it. I almost puked. Gross? Yep. Telling? Absolutely. But the coolest part happened when my team of full-blown crossfitters stayed with me and encouraged my tiny successes around that damn building, even though we were in competition to see how many times we could get through the deck. We made it three times…and 15 cards. Yes…I anchored the team. Yikes! But they still high-fived me. I like nice dudes.

This morning I paddled 2.4 miles (we have markers in the water for Ironman Kona…lucky for us!) and that was easy. I need to work on running. Build some space in my lungs and get stronger. I’m excited for that. Excited to be a contributing member to any team…instead of the newbie, out of shape, red-faced anchor.

But it’s good to know where I stand. I’m strong enough to paddle 2 miles. I can make the .5 mile swim with a bit more training. But the run, as of this moment, would be a walk. Perhaps a brisk walk, but still a walk. I want to run. So I’m making a new calendar! Yay! My fave.

Prepare to Race!

At the behest of two of my dear friends, and tombomb team riders (more on tombomb HERE), we entered the 2012 Kukio Challenge. It’s a mini triathlon consisting of a .5 mile swim, three mile run, and a two mile paddle, either prone or stand-up. Or a four mile paddle in an OC-1. But obviously, I chose prone.

The dilemma now is this; how does one get in good enough shape to complete this type of race comfortably when one’s workouts have been a bit sporadic?

I have no delusions of winning…but I’d like to enjoy it. The race takes place at one of the most beautiful spots on the island, and I’ve heard the after-race lunch is unparalleled.

I’ve been researching a few different approaches to preparing for 10Ks. I figured even if they’re talking about training for running a 10k, the mileage is about the same as the total race. So here’s the training schedule I’ve come up with, after looking up “Running a 10K for Beginners” and “How to Prepare for a 10K in 5 Weeks!” articles (yes, the race is in 5 weeks, and 3 days…eek!). I’ve tweaked these a bit to include paddle time, and swim time and then a day to try out the whole thing at once. I’ll keep updates on how it’s going!

WEEK 1

M - REST (Mondays are the hardest day for me, so they’re off!)

T  - 1 mile paddle easy 

W - 2 miles easy (walk/run or run, if can)

Th- .25 mile swim or 30 mins

F - 2 miles tempo run/walk -  .5 mile easy, 1 mile up the pace, .5 mile easy.

S - REST

Sun - Swim .25 mile, run/walk 1.5 miles, paddle 1 mile (.5 race distance)

WEEK 2

M - REST

T - 1 mile paddle   

W - 2 miles run/jog

Th- .25 mile swim or 30 mins

F -  2 miles temp  run/walk - .5 mile easy, 1 mile up the pace, .5 mile easy.

S - REST

Sun - Swim .25 mile, run/walk 1.5 miles, paddle 1 mile (.5  race distance)

WEEK 3

M - REST

T - 1.5 mile paddle

W - 2.5 miles run/jog

Th-  .5 mile swim

F - 2 miles tempo run/walk 1/2 mile easy, 1 mile up the pace, 1/2 mile easy.

S - REST

Sun - Swim .5 mile, run/walk 3 miles, paddle 2 mile (whole distance - time it)

WEEK 4

M - REST

T - 2 mile paddle

W - 3 miles run/jog

Th- .5 mile swim

F - 3 miles tempo run/walk 1/2 mile easy, 1/2 mile hard, 1/2 mile easy, 1/2 mile hard, 1 mile easy.

S - REST

Sun - Swim .5 mile, run/walk 3 miles, paddle 2 mile (whole distance - time it)

WEEK 5

M - REST

T - 2 mile paddle

W - 3 miles run/jog

Th- .5 mile swim

F - 2 miles run easy

S - REST

Sun - RACE DAY!

Baby steps…

It’s amazing how rewarding it can be to try something new. I remember when I first started surfing, the pride and excitement I felt when I figured out a new piece of the puzzle. Dropping in, cutting back, kicking out… All second nature to a seasoned surfer, but big milestones for a beginner. I’ve had a few said milestones in paddling.

After scouring the Internet for videos of prone paddle boarding, and finding a few gems, I set out to work on technique… And knee paddling. The pros like Kanesa Duncan-Serafin and Jamie Mitchell (both M2O champs) make knee paddling look graceful and fluid. My fragmented and spastic transition from belly to knees looks neither graceful nor fluid.

When I first started driving, I remember feeling like I would never put all the pieces together fluidly… I would always be tensed for the next part of the process - clutch in, shift gear, slowly release clutch while simultaneously pressing gently on gas, while on a hill. I feared a few hills in my hometown for awhile… But now, I don’t even think about the process. It’s become one thing- driving.

Surfing was the same. To catch a wave - turn board around, paddle, pop up, bend knees, never put feet down (this is Kona, after all!). When I was paddling for a wave, I would recite “stand up, stand up, stand up,” over in over so I made it up in time to drop in, instead of riding the whitewash. I don’t do that anymore…except when I paddle.

I’m solid laying down, which was a pretty big accomplishment early on, as the board itself is narrow narrow and unstable. Im determined to make knee paddling second nature. At the moment it’s still a process - paddle, paddle, pop up to knees. My newest mantra? “One fluid motion, one fluid motion.”