GAR Training - Week 4

One month into training and it was time to start picking up the pace in my runs. Unfortunately that didn't happen. Here's what did:

Monday – Hiking

Tuesday – Rest

Wednesday – Rest

Thursday – Light weightlifting, jiu-jitsu training

Friday – Rest

Saturday – jiu-jitsu (sparring)

Sunday – 8 mile run, jiu-jitsu (sparring)

 

The hike on Monday offered a great change up. It was a trail I've never done before, there was a lot of climbing involved, and the pace was uptempo. Good stuff.

 

There was lots of rest days this week. That's because on Tuesday I woke up feeling like I was getting sick. By Wednesday night I was feeling better (gotta love that immune system). Friday I had family in town and that comes before running.

 

Sunday's run was pretty nice. I tried out one of the GAR In-Training Workshops, first one I've ever been to. It's a great way to get in a training run for any level of runner. There's a walking group, jogging group, jog/walk interval groups, and a runner group. Each group has a coach to lead it and the coaches are really friendly and motivating. Pick the group you want to go in and get your training on!

 

I jumped in with the runners, there was 5 of us, and got to it. A little over a mile in the coach gave us options: we could follow the planned route (about 7 miles), or go farther. I had a good pace with one of the other guys and he decided to do the farther, 8 mile route, so I went with him. We finished in a little over an hour. Don't know my exact time because apparently I don't know how to use my new watch correctly and I accidentally reset the timer a few times.

 

My legs held up all right during the 8 mile run but I know I'm not in condition to break an hour yet. This week I'll have to do a few speed-focused runs. Gotta go faster to get faster.

GAR Training - Week 3

Coming into week 3 of GAR training I made sure to have a rest day somewhere in the week. But at the time of writing this, doesn't feel like I had one at all because there were some tough workout days this week.

Monday – jiu-jitsu (technique only)

Tuesday – Rest day

Wednesday – UFC Gym, jiu-jitsu & circuit training

Thursday – UFC Gym, lifting (total body), about 2 miles on a treadmill
Friday – 6 mile run
Saturday – jiu-jitsu (2hrs of sparring)
Sunday – 3 mile run, 800m swim, jiu-jitsu sparring (1hr)

The tiring days this week were Wednesday and Saturday...and Sunday because I was still tired from Saturday. Rolling for about an hour an a half on Wednesday and then going straight into a Daily Ultimate Training session was brutal. I felt like pushing the fitness that day...yeah, did that for sure. Saturday was just straight BJJ sparring. Must have gone about 7 or 8 rounds, 6 minutes each round. It was exhausting. Sunday's run was kept at a steady pace, the swim just felt refreshing, and sparring wasn't as intense as Saturday but by the time I began rolling I was already feeling worn out.

Looking at the week, you may be wondering why all the jiu-jitsu when I'm training for a run. Well, it's great cardio training especially for explosiveness and quick recovery. But more so, it works the mental side of things. When your opponent has you in a bad spot, all their weight is on you, you're tired, you're being smothered, it's difficult to breath, your limbs have no gas left in them, do you give up the submission or dig in and keep going? It builds a type of “no quit” mentality which I think will be useful on the run around mile 6 when the lungs are starting to burn and the sun is heating up. That's the point when your mind has to tell your body to keep going, and I think it'll translate from rolling to running without a problem.

Friday's run was a test. I wanted to see how well conditioned my legs have become to running over the past few weeks so I upped the mileage. It went fine. Legs felt good, lungs felt good, only during the last mile did the legs start to feel a slight burn. I didn't run with any pace in mind, I just sort of cruised. If I had to guess, it was probably around an 8:30 pace...maybe.

For this coming week, it's time to pick up the pace! I got my Asics watch in the mail and I'm eager to see what my mile splits are...and then to make them faster.

GAR Training - Week 2

Here's how the week went:

Monday – jiu-jitsu (light)

Tuesday – UFC Gym, 3 miles on a treadmill

Wednesday – UFC Gym, circuit training

Thursday – UFC Gym, 3 miles on a treadmill, light weightlifting

Friday – 4 mile run around Diamond Head (easy pace)

Saturday – UFC Gym, jiu-jitsu, weightlifting (legs)

Sunday – UFC Gym, epic jiu-jitsutraining

Yep, that was my training for the week. Looking at it I'm wondering if I should have had a rest day in there somewhere. Oh well...

Last week I mentioned that I was having issues with my shoulder. Well, I still am but not as badly. It doesn't hurt or feel sore anymore. The clicking sensations I was feeling when I moved it around is still there but not as much as before. I've been icing it every day (sometimes twice a day) and I think that's helping. When I roll I take it easy on the shoulder and if my partner does anything that starts to strain it even a little I tap out. Hopefully it keeps improving.

As far as running goes, I haven't pushed the pace on anything yet. I'm still conditioning the legs. They're slowing remembering how to run again. I broke in my new shoes on Friday's run, and I gotta say, I'm really happy with them. They should serve me well.

Next week I plan to run 2-3 times keeping at a steady pace. I'll think about stepping up the pace the following week. I also want to get in 2 circuit trainings at the UFC gym.

GAR Training - Week 1

First week of training for the Great Aloha one comes to a close and...well...it went okay. Here's what I did:

Saturday – 3 mile run, 800 meter swim

Sunday – 4 mile run
Monday – nothing
Tuesday – more nothing
Wednesday – Circuit Training at UFC gym
Thursday – UFC gym, light weight training, about 3 miles on a treadmill
Friday – rest
Saturday – more rest
Sunday – hiking, core workout at UFC gym

I think that's a good start but I'd like to do more. There's a bit of a setback in that I'm having issues with my right shoulder. Something got messed up in there during jiu-jitsu training over a week ago. Things are clicking around in there when I move it in certain ways. I'm really hesitant to use it but at the same time I really don't want to sit around too much to rest it. I saw a chiropractor yesterday hoping that could help me out. Not sure if it did or not. The chiropractor adjusted parts of my back, my neck, and the shoulder area. It feels better but things are still clicking around. I've been icing the shoulder every day for the past few days. Hopefully it starts to feel better soon or I might have to get it checked out by an actual doctor.

 

As far as training to run goes, I received some very good advice recently. Basically, I have two months to train. Use the first month to condition myself back into running. In other words, run to get used to running again. Then use the second month to focus on pace and reaching my time goal. In other words, run faster to get faster. I even have a 4-mile training run in which the pace of each mile changes such that I will ultimately get moving faster. I'm anxious to utilize this once my legs are more used to running.

 

I had a few “to do's” for training. First was to get new running shoes, check! Asics as always. Next is to get a watch to keep track of my pace. Just so happens I found an Asics watch online on sale for $13, it's on the way. The other thing was to clean up my diet. That's a work in progress. My diet isn't too bad but considering I had southern style bbq for lunch and am currently sipping on hot chocolate while writing this, the diet could use some work.

 

That was week 1. Let week 2 begin!

Hiking Pu'u Piei

It was hiking time today. Haven't been on one in a while and I was looking forward to it. We hiked the Pu'u Piei trail in Kahana Valley. It's a “short” 4 mile trail that took us around 4 hours to complete because it's almost all uphill. It didn't help that the recent rain made the ground nice and slick.

 

One of the most adventurous moments of the hike came early: finding the trail head. My friend Kalani was navigating via “description from some guy's blog” and it took a while to find the trail. We had to go down one trail, count off so many telephone poles then take a left, look for some ribbons tied to trees, find some trail that led to a bench (why there is a bench in the middle of the jungle brush I have no idea), then find some small trail through the brush that linked up with the actual hiking trail. Got it? We ended up going back into Kahana Valley to double check the map there and somebody at the information center helped us out with directions. He told us pretty much the same thing. Big help...

The guy that helped us out had me a little concerned about the hike because he kept warning us to be careful. He told us the rains made the ground really slick and people have been getting hurt on the trial. He even told us how to give directions to the authorities in case we needed to be airlifted out. They guy was legitimately concerned for us. It had me a little worried. But on we went!

 

Eventually we found the hidden bench and the trail. Going up wasn't all too bad. We climbed some rocks, trucked it through some mud, and came across a few rope sections when things got sketchy. Climbing up is usually the easy part. At one point Kalani pointed out that we were actually on a ridge. He was right, there was just so many trees and shrubs that we couldn't tell. Mildly freaky but no big deal.

 

We reached the top of the trail and took a break to eat some food and drink some water. I had me some coconut water, good stuff! We discovered that the trail kept going a bit further to the summit of the mountain so we followed it up and up some more. We didn't make it to the summit though. The wind was gusting, the ridge was getting narrower with every step, and there were no more trees to hide the fall. Falling to the left would lead to a painful death, falling to the right would lead to certain death. Better safe than sorry. We took in the view for a bit, a gorgeous panoramic of Kahana Valley and the bay, and then turned back.

 

Going down is always trickier than getting up. At one point I was climbing down some rocks and I had to hug the rock face. I was freaking out because I couldn't spot where my feet were stepping. Just had to feel my way down and go slowly. This was still at a point where certain death waited if I fell to either side. It didn't help that my “hiking” shoes are actually a pair of 3 year old running shoes that have been worn down smooth. Absolutely no traction on those things. Even when we out of the sketchy areas I was still slipping all over the place. Luckily I was able to regain my balance each time and kept from falling. Note to self, get some real hiking shoes.

 

When we were nearly at the bottom of the trail I noticed that my legs stung. I checked them out and wasn't all that surprised to find them bleeding a little and all cut up. Had to be from all the lauhala leaves we walked through. The lauhala leaf has spines all along its edge, it's the saw of the plant world. Another note to self, get some hiking pants.

Instead of following the trail out the way we came, we took a shortcut. Well, more like we made a shortcut. The highway was less than 100 feet away so we bypassed the mosquito infested pathway back to Kahana Valley and just cut through the jungle and we were out. Good hike!

New Year - 2013

Two years ago to the day I began blogging. Sure, I've had a Blogger account for well over two years but I didn't start using it diligently until two years ago. It was part of a New Year's resolution to put myself out there more. After all, I express myself much better with the written word than with the spoken word. I think it's going well. And for the past two New Years I've done a blog dedicated to some sort of reflection on the year gone by and a looking ahead at the year to come. Better keep the tradition alive, so here we go!

 

At the UFC Gym. That's Olympic bronze
medalist Clarissa Chun and my friend Sheri, they
were high school classmates

My motto of last year was “new year, new ways.” Keep doing the things I enjoy doing but try doing it differently. I think I did that to some extent. I enjoy being active and working out and this year I joined a gym for the first time. Working out at the UFC gym is great, their fitness classes (like Daily Ultimate Training and MMA Fight Fit) are awesome and the people there are either friendly or not a bother. I haven't had any run ins with the stereotypical “meat head” that roams the weight racks and lets loose with echoing bellows with every repetition.

I've kept up with training jiu-jitsu but I'm no longer with Gracie Barra. Professor Caveirinha has opened his own school and now I train with the Caveirinha Jiu-Jitsu Family and at the UFC gym. Having two venues to train at offers a nice variety. I get different perspectives on techniques and a wider range of training partners.

 

Waihe'e Falls (I think)

I didn't go on as many hikes this past year as the year prior but the ones I did were nice. However, I experienced my first trail run, or rather my first non-event trail run. That was a lot of fun. It was like fast paced hiking and I still got to enjoy incredible views. I really should do another one.

 

Then of course there's the writing. If you know me well, you know my main ambition is to publish a novel and this past year I completed the first draft of my book. It's the first of a series titled Hunters. Some of you have read some of it, fewer of you have read all of it, but all of you are welcome to check it out. I appreciate all the feedback that I've received and thank those of you who gave some. It helps tremendously.

After the Warrior Dash.
Good muddy fun!

 

While looking back at what took place, a lot has happened but oddly I don't feel like I did much with the past year. It's a conflicted feeling that I don't fully understand. Weird...Some strange sense of non-accomplishment lingers in my mind and I feel like there's a clock ticking down somewhere. I don't get it really, so enough on that. I'll save it for a different blog.

My buddy Doug got married this past year, one of the highlights
for sure. In the pic: Doug, his nephew Cody, Skip, Biggs, Sean,
Jason, myself, Ben

 

 

So what's in store for 2013? Beats me! I have a few goals already set. I want to finish the Great Aloha Run in under 1 hour. I also want to take a shot in a jiu-jitsu competition. I have not competed at the blue belt level and feel it's time to give it a try. I also want to get my book ready for publication and send it out to publishers to see if anybody will pick it up. Just a note, there will definitely be blogs on each of these topics in the not-so-distant future.

From Charlene's going away party.
She's definitely one of the "fortunate few"

 

In previous years I chose what the theme of the year would be. Last year was “new year, new ways” the year before was “new year, new things.” However, this year I haven't chosen a theme but rather one has evolved on its own in the past few months. It's a sort of “coming to terms” kind of thing. For the most part it has been coming to terms with my age. Now this is not some kind of depressive 'oh woe is me I'm getting old' thing but more coming to terms that I'm grown up. And that's not a bad thing. There have been a few events recently, which I will not get into here, that have made me realize I'm an adult and I should be able to handle some things on my own.

An all-time highlight: meeting Fabio!
Also in the pic: Charlene

 

Then there's coming to terms with what I need to do to become the person I want to be. That's a loaded one and there's still a lot to figure out there but I feel it's essential that I actually do something about it. Take a step forward and see where it leads. I understand I'm speaking – or writing – in vague terms here but it's the best I can do for something I haven't fully figured out yet. After all, it's tough to get specific about events that haven't unfolded yet. Although I do find it interesting that who I want to be is a more important question for myself than what I want to have. Hey maybe that's something I can come to terms with also...

 

Anywho, happy new year to all. 2012 was a good one. I'm glad the world didn't end though I weep at the demise of Twinkies (I'm still keeping hope alive that some company will rescue the nostalgic snack). May we all be able to move closer to our dreams or, for those fortunate few, continue to live them out. 2013 is on! Let's see what we can do with you.

 

 

Hawaii sunrise