Pushup Challenge

I've been doing 50 pushups a day since Friday.  I do 25 before work and then complete the other 25 when I get home at night.

I hope to start building my strength back up so I can power through 50 all in one go.  Once I do that, then I may start working up to 100 pushups a day.

I'm only 4 days into the challenge now, but I am already noticing a difference!  It feels great.  Will you join me on my pushup mission?

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Goggles!

I am pumped!  I bought myself a new pair of swimming goggles online.  I should get them later next week, and I can't wait to try them out.  

The Aqua Sphere Kayenne Goggle is highly rated for open water and pool swimming.  The 180 degree visibility of the goggle makes it similar to a diving mask, and I hear that it creates a great seal without pressing too firmly into the face.

I bought my pair off of Amazon for about $20.  I'll tell you all about their performance once I get my hands on mine!

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Winners!

Kahana Canoe Club posted a photo of the coed winners for their Relay Race.  I thought you'd like to see it!

From left to right: Lisa (in the hat) has an arm draped around her "invisible" partner (he had to bail the award ceremony to get to work).  Strider and I are in the middle (he is a giant!).  And the duo to the right were amazing competitors.  I wish I could recall their names, but the blonde kicked my butt in the swimming leg.  She trains with the Masters swimming team.  I ran with the gentleman in black during our last leg.

What a fun--but exhausting--day!!

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Relay Madness

Someone posted a few photos from yesterday's Ocean Relay on the Kahana Canoe Club's Facebook page, and I decided to share them here with you.

The ocean relay course all mapped out:

The relay kicked off with the swim!  My partner is standing to the far right in a grey shirt.  I'm half hidden by the swimmer in the red swimming trunks.  See if you can spot me!

The guy in the super sporty swimming shorts on the far left ended up winning the whole relay with his partner.  They came in first fifteen minutes before anyone else finished second.  Whoa.

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We are the Champions!

That's right, baby, that's a medal!  And it's not just any medal.  It's a medal for first place.

About two weeks ago, my coworker Strider convinced me to partner up with him for his canoe club's Season Kickoff Ocean Relay.  I'm not much of an athletic competitor, but at the time it seemed fun.

I much prefer to work out on my own, at my own pace with absolutely no witnesses to mock my slow progress.  Strider told me that his canoe club event was going to be a super friendly and low key race.  It's more of a meet and greet to start the season off in high spirits and to introduce newbies to the club and the sport and to hopefully recruit some new paddlers.

Strider and I arrived at Canoe Beach a little after 9 am.  Strider unloaded the gear from his truck, then we registered for $5 each, got our team number inked onto our legs with a permanent marker and headed to the beach.  

Around 10 am, the race organizers showed us the maps of all four legs of the race and outlined the course for us.

I told Strider that I would do the first and fourth leg: a quarter mile swim and a one mile run.  Strider would do leg two and three back to back: longboard paddling for one mile followed by a one man canoe sprint for two miles.

Standing on the beach and looking out towards the swimming buoy, I felt that their idea of a quarter mile was a lot longer than any quarter mile I had ever seen.  I started to get nervous.  I snapped my goggles into place and stood in line next to the other swimmers.

When the air horn sounded,  I plunged into the water with 25 to 30 other swimmers.  This was the first time I've ever raced in open water, and it was the first time I've swum competitively since I was in middle school.

I feel like I'm a strong and accomplished swimmer, but I certainly had overestimated my abilities prior to this race.

I didn't get pushed into the bottom of the pack, but I swam hard and exhaustively to stay in the middle.  At a few points, I swiveled onto my back to catch my breath.  Even swimming backstroke I made good time and passed a few swimmers to the buoy.  I finally rounded the buoy and made the long return back to the beach.

The shore looked so very, very far away.

I managed to focus more on my form on the swim back and decided to slow down my pace.  I began to focus on using proper technique so I wasn't tiring out my arms, legs and lungs.  Once I slowed down a bit and focused on taking a deep, even breath every three to five strokes, I was able to make some better time.  I passed two or three more swimmers on the stretch back to the beach.

I had never been so relieved to see sand.  I started walking before I was really out of the water and slipped over some big rocks, so I kicked back into a few swimming strokes to land me on the beach.

I ran up over the rise and through the starting flags to tag Strider.

Strider is a beast.  He powered through his two events like it was no big deal.  On both events he sailed past fleets of our competitors.

Once he was out of the water from his second leg, I put myself in position for the beach run.

I'm not much of a runner.  I can do a mile--just not very fast.  And not after doing a quarter mile swim, but I had Strider at my back, cheering me own, so I had to push through.

I kept my pace nice and steady and passed one other runner on my first leg.  The leg back of the first lap was a little hard.  It began to dawn on me that I was already getting tired, and the last thing I wanted to do was slow down and walk, so I slowed my pace a little and kept plunging onwards.

The start of my second lap felt stronger although my calves were already burning from running on sand.  I tried to stay on the harder packed stuff along the waterline, but every once in awhile I had to inch back up into the softer sand to avoid running through water as the ocean lapped up onto the beach.

As I rounded the flag on the far end of the beach to make my last leg of the mile run, I saw Strider halfway down the beach clapping and cheering me on.  I picked up my pace and started really running for the finish line.  As I passed Strider, I pushed even harder and sprinted for the finish flag.

With our powers combined we managed to finish first among the coed teams that were competing today.

It was a great event, and it was even more fun running into so many of my friends there.  After the race, beers and snacks were provided, and everyone got to hang out for a little while.

I had a fun time, but I'm completely worn out.  Work should be fun tonight...wish me luck!!

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Zombies, Run!

As I was sitting at home in front of my computer finding ways to stall on starting a workout, I came across  this new phone app for runners.

It's called Zombies, Run.  It's a game you put on your phone to make your running workouts more interactive, motivating, and terrifying.

You plug your headphones in and a narrator will tell you how far you are running and your objective (usually scavenging for supplies in this post apocalyptic world overrun by zombies).  As you are running, there are many chances to run into zombies.  The game motivates you to pick up your pace and add mileage to your run as you pick new routes to evade oncoming hordes of the walking (running) dead.

I am totally excited about this.  I love fitness.  I love fitness technology.  And I hate running.  But I love zombies.

I use my love for zombies to push myself to run faster and further--and I do this without an app.  I just use my own dark and twisted imagination.  There are times when I get so deep into my running wild scenario that I even hear footsteps behind me that slowly get drowned out by the sound of my own harsh, ragged breathing.

But the idea of having someone else create a zombie chase scene for me is incredibly enticing.  I had to learn more.

I found this video review of the free app:

I like the idea that you can choose the type of zombie before you begin your workout.  The zombies from Romero films from the 80s have evolved into uber-zombies in today's Hollywood horror movies and no longer lurch about, but full on SPRINT in their efforts to eat your brains.

I'm not quite sure if I'm at that fitness level yet.  I can only sprint in very short doses with a long period of resting (ie: lying on the field in defeat and intense pain).  If I choose this app, I'll be picking the very slow, very dim zombies.  

I love the idea of this app--you can never go wrong when choosing zombies, but I'm not sure if I can justify adding the awesomeness of zombies to my run if I'm only going out for a mile at a time.

It is free.  Maybe I'll download it and let you know how it goes.  Hopefully I don't get so terrified by being chased by zombies that I run into traffic trying to save my brains.

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