So Long, Farewell!

My friends Josh and Angela are off to Santa Cruz at the end of the month. We had a nice party at Hazard's to send them off. It will be sad to see them go. Josh is a top mechanic and he took great care of all my rides. Cook and Flood also made an appearance. They take great pride in shaving each others heads and dressing alike. Go figure.
AM: Masters swim. Kind of a complicated set. Some easy, some kick, some fast.
PM:80 minute ride
Tomorrow my super brick! Last hard workout!!!

The real thing

A patient brought these back from her trip from Peru. Its made from the extract of the leaves of the coca plant. The native indians chew on coca leaves for that extra boast and to battle fatigue. I'm going to save this baby for the last part of the marathon at IMC!
AM: Masters- main set-100,100,100,200,100,300,100,200,100,100
PM Track- 3x800,1mile, 2x800, 1 mile

Watch Out Madona Buder!

My Auntie Vi told me she just took up jogging. She's 85!
AM: Went for a short masters swim.
PM: Easy ride for 60 min.

Back in SB

Nothing like some shave ice while visiting the North Shore!
Back in SB today.
AM Masters- First workout in a week. Swam with the kids Andrew and Melanie. Main set: 4x150, 6x100, twice thru.
PM: Ride up old San Marcos. about an hour

Kamaka

While most people visit Hawaii to bask on a sunny beach and drink mai tai's, I dropped a visit to the historic Kamaka Ukulele factory in downtown Honolulu. Second only in nerdyness to maybe the accordian, the uke is none the less a great instrument. It connects me to my parent's past.
Friday workout: Ran for 1 hour

Saturday: Ran along the Honolulu Marathon course. Probably 20 miles.

Palmetto Bug

In Hawaii everything is better. I call this a big freaking roach. In Hawaii, they call them "palmetto bugs".

Punchbowl

Yesterday was my mom's memorial service which was held at Punchbowl in Honolulu. I laid her ashes next to my father's who passed away 6 years ago. That was pretty sad.
AM: Ran around Diamond Head 2 times. 1:45

In the Pink

Here I am staying at the Pink Lady on Waikiki Beach. The Royal Hawaiian is a grand old hotel, ironically built the same month and year of the birth of my mom. Went for a run this evening. Ran for an hour, worked up a good sweat in the humidity. I'm thinking all this heat training should pay off in Canada.

Refer Madness

In case you are wondering what the Wanger keeps in his refer: watermelon, unidentified leftovers, 2 cartons of soy milk, bottle of water and 2 tubs of yogurt.
Swam a bit this morning. This evening I'm packing and heading off to Hawaii for my mom's memorial.

Feeling Flat

So I'm around 10 miles into the bike and I blow my rear tire. Not really too much of a problem but I couldn't get the friggen sew up off the wheel. I kept telling myself this was only a training race and my time didn't matter but it still bugged me watching everyone pass me by. After 20 or so minutes of prying and hand cramps I finally got that tire off. I put on a ratty old spare and I continued the ride, scared to death that it was going to roll off at every corner. I finished in 5:34. Felt pretty good all day and all in all it was a good day training.

Road Trip

Drove up to Corte Madera to stay with the Wanger last night. I was a bit surprised its a bit cool and drizzlely up here. I'm glad I brought a sweatshirt! Today I'll drive up to Santa Rosa to pick up my race packet, otherwise I'll just chill out today.

Cooling trend

Bugman turned 15 last month and although he is totally deaf now, he still is amazingly spry for an old guy.
AM- Masters swim- IM day today
PM- easy spin for 1:20
Tomorrow I'm off to Vineman. I'm staying with the Wanger. I'm really curious to see if he has any furniture in his house. We seem to have gotten a little break in the heat which is a bit of a relief.

Mini Taper

I've been on a mini taper this week. Heading up for the Vineman half ironman this weekend. Its been nice and hot up there so there should be plenty of excitment!
AM masters: 2x100, 200, 2x50, 3 times thru.
Lunch time at the gym
PM- Ran for a little more than an hour. I stuck in 1 mile at 6:50 pace just to stretch it out a bit.

Amazing

AM Masters- Amazing but true- Jane showed up for swim workout. It was nice seeing her!
PM- Easy spin for 1:20

Yikes!

Michael Rasmussen, Tour de France King of the Mountains. Yikes!
AM Masters - 300m, 2x150m 3 times thru
Now I think I'l eat a pint of Hagen Das

Global Warming

The Wanger was in town today so we rode out to Ojai up to the summit above Santa Paula. The temperatures topped 100, with some humidity to add to the pleasure. Total ride was 100 miles. I ran for about 20 minutes afterwards. The heat has been absoulutely crazy. Penticton has been hovering around 100 so if this keeps up I'm in for a long day!

Hot Times

It was cooking in LA today. This was their 17th consecutive day of triple digit temperatures. I ran 90 minutes this morning when it was a brisk 85.

No more creaking

Painted Cave climb this evening. Josh fixed this annoying creak in my Orbea so it was a great ride.

Crazy

Here's Morgan going crazy waiting for me to chuck her ball.
AM Masters- 50m, 100m fast, 200m, 100m fast, 50m. 3x's. My swimming is really sucking lately
Lunchtime at the gym
PM: Track- 10x 800, 1min rest, 3:25 pace.

Spin

Nice easy 70 minute spin today.