Travel to Honolulu and Race Logistics This unique race spans across Oahu, starting at Alamoana Beach Park and finishing at Aikahi Elementary School in Kailua. Participants typically fly into Honolulu International Airport and can choose accommodations in Honolulu, Waikiki, or Kailua. On race morning, there are no shuttles to the beach park, but ample parking is available, unlike previous years when passes were required.

Pre-Race Activities The pre-race setup was straightforward. Packet pickup took place at BOCA Hawaii, with athlete briefings provided. Parking at BOCA is limited, so arriving early is recommended. Notably, participants had to submit their run bags during packet pickup due to the two-transition nature of the race.

Race Morning Experience The morning focused on the bike ride over the H3 Freeway. The transition area, located a 10-minute walk from parking, lacked clear signage, typical for a local race. After setting up and a quick swim to warm up, I unfortunately hit my foot on the coral reef, a downside of the new race start location.

Swim Start The race began with a water start. The swim course was slightly longer than planned, but overall, I was content with my performance despite the rocky start.

The Bike Segment The bike route was enjoyable and challenging, with a mix of flat sections and a climb up the mountain. Despite potholes on the road, the experience was exhilarating, especially with the downhill segments. I managed to catch up with several competitors, exiting the bike segment in a good position.

Transition Challenges A minor hiccup occurred in transition due to a tightly tied run bag, costing me some time.

Running to the Finish The run, my strongest segment, started with some cramps, but I persevered. I managed to overtake several competitors, finishing the run in 5th place. The encouragement I offered to other runners was a highlight of my experience.

Post-Race Reflections At the finish line, it was a pleasant surprise to be greeted by Janell with my medal. Post-race, we enjoyed local snacks and awaited the award ceremony. The race offers shuttle services for participants and their bikes back to the start line.

Overall Impressions I found the Race to Base triathlon to be a fun and unique local event with ample support and a course that never feels overcrowded. My performance improved significantly compared to two years ago, showing progress in my fitness. I hope this race continues for its great cause and unique experience.

The post Race To The Base H3 Olympic Triathlon Race Report 2019 appeared first on Aj in the Life.

Claiming the Bed During these mornings, I’ve mastered the art of bed-claiming, using my buddy Stitch as a comfy pillow. Just when I’m deep in dreamland, though, I get woken up for photos. Why, pawrents, why? Can’t a girl get some uninterrupted sleep?

Bath Time Ordeal This week also included the dreaded bath time. I’m not a fan, and this time, Dad tried to coax me out of bed at 7:00 pm for a shower – how inconsiderate! In my attempt to escape, I accidentally scratched Dad – sorry, but baths are just not my thing!

Post-Bath Frustrations And then there’s the post-bath photoshoot. Seriously, Mom, do we need pictures every time? I just want to go back to bed. Yes, I know I look fabulous in my towel-dried state, but can we hurry up?

Beauty Sleep Needed Finally, I returned to bed for some much-needed beauty rest. I’ve heard it’s important for a girl like me.

Signing Off with a Selfie Alright, it’s nap time for me. But first, let me try this self-timer for a quick photo – still working on it. Here’s my close-up shot for all my friends!

Until Next Time Stay tuned for more of my adventures, friends! Until then, nap well!

The post Doras Corner Beauty Sleep appeared first on Aj in the Life.

Well I am only kidding about just deciding to do it this morning. I am not kidding about the 27 miles I had planned for the day. As you probably know by now, I have been on a journey to run 100 miles in a week (6 days technically).

I gave my why’s before I started, but the main one I wanted to focus on today, was pushing my limits and seeing what my body was capable of. I have a distant dream of running 100 miles in a single day, so I figured that a stepping stone to that journey is 100 miles in a week.

I woke up today at 3:30 AM, and was pretty awake. I was excited to run. I slept a total of about 7 hours, which isn’t bad considering most “race” days I get about 2 hours of “good” sleep. I have also run a marathon on 1 hour of sleep, and while not recommended, I was still able to crush my PR.

There was no walking Dora this morning, as I needed to save some energy, and also she was not waking up that early!

I ate a banana bread, drank a Liquid IV, had my Zipfizz and started prepping my fuel for the day. Based off of my goal time, I figured 6 gels would suffice. I also planned to use Tailwind’s newest flavor, Colorado Cola. No joke, it tastes just like flat Coke! That might sound gross, but to endurance athletes, it is liquid gold.

It was funny because it felt like a race day, even though I wasn’t really “racing”. It is a feeling of nerves and excitement that can’t really be reproduced, but this definitely came close.

After making sure I had everything packed up, I kissed Janell and Dora goodbye (both still sleeping), and left for my mission.

I got to Kapiolani Park and was able to find parking (it’s finally legal to park there again). A few minutes of rain blessed the morning, as the first light of the sun started to peek through the clouds. I did some warm up and activation drills to get my body ready, and then started my run.

My music today was expertly curated by Janell. I asked her to make me a playlist for my marathon, and she added enough songs for almost 7 hrs. Jeeze Nelly, how slow do you think I run! All kidding aside, it was a great playlist and kept me distracted for 4 hours. Thank you!

I was happy that there was some rain to start, but it was short lived. Luckily it didn’t get too humid after the rain, which is the norm here in Hawaii. There was a nice 8-10mph breeze most the run, with it starting in my face and ending in my back.

For my route, I thought about just running around the island (something I want to do one day), but with only 27 miles, I chose to run most of the Honolulu Marathon route. It is a route I am very familiar with, but from my starting point, it would be short about 8 miles. So I ran a few laps around Kapiolani park and the Honolulu Zoo to start and then headed up and over Diamond Head on the marathon route.

On this 100 mile journey, I wanted to make sure to have walk breaks built into my runs so that I wouldn’t go too hard. I was pacing for 100 miles, not 10 miles or 6 miles. But today, since it was my last day, I didn’t have scheduled walk breaks. I was just going to run at a comfortable pace, and walk when I needed it.

For the most part I was able to keep a great even pace just under 8 min/mile, where my only walk breaks were at miles 7 and 17 for Instagram story updates, and mile 20 for a bathroom break.

One of the main reasons I love this running route, is that there are many opportunities for bathrooms/water fountains. I think they are spaced out every 2-3 miles and once they open at 6:30 AM, are a great resource for most runners. I don’t usually use the bathroom during marathons, and today I didn’t really have to, but I made a quick stop at mile 20 because I needed a breather.

While I could tell the effort was getting slightly harder, it wasn’t because of sore muscles or injuries (although things weren’t 100%). The heat started to get to me since the sun was out, and after my surge up a hill at the end of mile 21, I was toast.

I have run this route several dozen times on training runs, so I have ideas in my head of how many “matches” I need to save. The finale of the marathon is a painful 100 ft of climbing between miles 23.8 and 25. But the sneaky hill at mile 21.8 can really break people. As it did for me today. It is long, and after 10 miles of relatively flat running, it can cause a heart rate spike that can be hard to come back from.

I pushed up that hill, and then needed a break. So I walked for 2 minutes. I could have stopped right then and there. I wanted to stop. But I was just 5 miles away. I had completed 95 miles, and needed to suck it up for 40 more minutes. Gosh, that seemed long. I needed to cool down. One of the reasons I pushed up the hill is because I knew there was a downhill and some shade following the hill. So I used this to cool down and regroup mentally.

I put my head down and thought about getting to the next mile marker. However, 2 minutes later, I was walking again. Doubt started to creep in. Would I be walking 4.5 more miles???? Just make it to the next mile marker, I told myself. And so I pushed to mile 23. Another 2 minute walking break.

Under normal racing circumstances, this point in the marathon is so tough. It is usually hot (which it was), you are mentally exhausted (which I was), and you are going to hit a wall if you haven’t already (which I was actually good with). But the Honolulu Marathon throws in a “mountain” to climb at that point. Yay.

But I knew this, and I planned it as the hardest part of the run. Once this double hill was over, it would be downhill to the finish. So after my 2 min walking break, I put my head down again and pushed until I got up the first climb. My heart rate spiked pretty high, but I didn’t care since I had one hill left. But first, another 2 min walking break and Instagram story update.

I gathered my composure, and charged up the last hill. Once I got to the top, I felt like lying down on the side of the road.

I felt like I reached my goal and I was done! Except, that was only a temporary goal, and I still needed to run 2 more miles. Another walking break, my last one. I enjoyed the view from the top of the hill, my favorite part of the run, and I started racing down the hill to the finish.

I wanted to end the run, at least the 26.2 miles on a high note, so I pushed down the hill to the normal Honolulu Marathon finish line. I was able to get back to my 8 min/mile pace, but instead of a 150 bpm heart rate, I was at 180 bpm. I needed one last walk…again. But it was ok. I finished my marathon in training, something I wanted to do, and used the last 0.8 miles as a cool down.

Finally my watch buzzed and it said 27 miles.

27 down. 0 to go.

I will make another post in the next few days to discuss my overall thoughts.

For this run however, I was proud of myself. I have come a long way in 4 years, when I ran a 3:31:50 at the Honolulu Marathon. Today my time was about 3:37:15. I think I have proven the fact that if you put in the work, you can make amazing leaps in fitness and accomplish just about anything you want.

I didn’t know how my body would react to running 73 miles in the previous 5 days. Turns out, my body is more resilient than I thought. I barely felt any different than the previous days, even late in my run. If I was running in cooler weather, I would have probably run under 3:30.

One thing I want to take away from this run in particular, is that if I ever want to qualify for Kona, I need to be able to run faster than this at the end of an Ironman triathon. So I still have a ways to go in terms of fitness, but I know that if I continue to train hard and be smart, I will accomplish what I set out to do.

Thanks for reading and for all the kind words of encouragement!

The post My First 100 Mile Week – Day 6 appeared first on Aj in the Life.

In my Preface, I mentioned my “Why’s” to running this distance. I was curious to see if those motives changed at all through the process. I stayed motivated throughout the week, focusing on each run I had. I made sure to only think about completing one mile at a time, rather than the enormity of the task. In fact, I never actually thought about the 100 miles until I was at mile 95.

The biggest lesson I have learned though all of my training, which perhaps best translates to life, is to break down big tasks into smaller ones. Focus on the little things you can control or complete, in order to accomplish a larger goal. It makes the time go by faster, and is a key to success.

Challenges

Revisiting my challenges, I said there were four main areas I thought would provide me the most challenge.

• Mental – I anticipated days 3 and 5 being hard. However, I don’t recall a day that I did not want to run. If I had to pick a day, then day 5 would have been the toughest because it was a midday 10 mile run. However, since it was the only run of the day, I was able to just get it done.
• Physical – I fully expected to run into some physical ailments or tenderness. However, each day my runs got faster somehow, and up until mile 21 of the marathon, I was on my fastest day yet. It was almost like I got stronger as the days went on. I could still feel some fatigue later in runs, but never was I “sore” from the day before (aside from after my trail run).
• Double Days – On my first day, I did my first double day with a trail run in the afternoon. That put the most fatigue into my legs. After that double day, I was typically only affected by the afternoon heat, not the actual run.
• Going slow – I was able to go slow, but definitely not as slow as I had planned. I had walking breaks in every run except the last one. In the marathon I was forced into some walking breaks. I continually would get into nice running rhythms, and wouldn’t want to stop for a break. I think forcing yourself to run slowly can sometimes lead to a different running style, so it was more important to just take walking breaks as needed to keep my RPE in the 4-5 range.

Schedule

I was able to keep my schedule as planned, and happily didn’t need any extra days of rest.

• Day 1 – 10 mile morning run/6 mile afternoon run
• Day 2 – 10 mile morning run/6 miles afternoon run
• Day 3 – 15 mile morning run
• Day 4 – 10 mile morning run/6 mile afternoon run
• Day 5 – 10 mile morning run
• Day 6 – 27 mile morning run

Ultimately I think this was an ideal schedule for something like this. Especially for a one time deal. If I were building up to a week like this, it would look much different. However, for my purposes, this was perfect physically and mentally.

Key Takeaways

I was very fortunate to have survived this challenge without injury. There were a few big takeaways for me in terms of recovery, that I will use going forward.

Nutrition: I made sure I was eating enough each day to allow my body to heal itself. This wasn’t about losing weight or anything, so it was important to eat lots of healthy calories in the form of banana bread and protein shakes. And of course lots of fruits and veggies.

Sleep: While we all know sleep is so important for recovery and life, I made sure to create habits that allowed me 8-9 hours of GOOD sleep each day. I was also so tired when I went to bed that falling asleep wasn’t an issue.

Rolling out: I can get lazy when it comes to rolling out. I do it sometimes or when I feel sore. This week I made sure to do it daily, and early in the day so that my body didn’t heat up before bed (usually when I do it). I also used the Hypervolt on places the Vyper couldn’t reach.

Hang upside down: I will do this after long workouts typically, but this week I did it after each run. Basically I come home, and lie upside down with my feet against the wall and by legs and body at a 90 degree angle. I lie down for 5-10 minutes in this position. While there isn’t any scientific evidence that this helps with recovery, I think it makes me feel better post workout and the next day. If nothing else, it forces me to catch my breath and cool down after a hard workout.

Ice bath: While I would have loved an actual ice bath, I had to make do with what I had. The ice foot baths really seemed to help reduce inflammation each day so my feet felt fresh the next. However, make sure you clean your container (or in this case pot) very good after!

Have fun: While this was meant to be a hard challenge, I also wanted it to be fun. I made sure to have a positive outlook on each run, and be grateful that I was able to run. I think that helped me push through each day with a smile on my face.

I appreciate everyone who followed along and gave me encouraging words on my final run. The dream of UTMB is one step closer, but still many years and small steps away. One thing I know, is that if it truly is a dream, I know what I have to do to make it real.

Let me know in the comments below if you have any questions or need advice for your first 100 mile week!

The post My First 100 Mile Week – Recap appeared first on Aj in the Life.