AWESOME month of training

June as been my best month of overall training on the bike and running combined. I was able to find time to exercise every single day of the month expect for Mondays (rest days) and two Fridays (1 due to a foot blister - 1 due to early morning work). I'm enjoying the balance of running and cycling and some extra resistance training at the end of the runs.

Monthly totals:
Bike 265m - 18hrs 29mins - 15,420 calories
Run 49m - 7 hrs 27min - 6700 calories

Combined totals:
314 miles
26 hrs
22,120 calories
I've biked or ran more miles in a month before but never this many of both.
Goals for next month are to stay healthy and continue to work on the balance of family, exercise, nutrition and enjoying life!

Soots Amusement Park

Today was a very special day for the kids as we brought out the "Soots Amusement Park" for a couple of the kid's friends that are leaving next week. We set up the water slide, jumping castle, picnic table and a couple additional surprises. Overall they had over 6 hrs of fun with their friends.
As you can see we have it all set up and ready to go in about 30 mins. I wished we could put it away in 30 mins.

After a couple of hours of constant water slide we decided to take a break for some lunch which included hot dogs, french fries, chips, and watermelon
While the kids were having lunch, I set up Jake's new sandbox. We hope this will give him a place to play with all of his trucks and shovels
Okay, back to the water slide. Here is Isabella pulling Jake on the boggy board. He can get the girls to do just about anything he wants.

This is Isabella and Elle the two girls that are leaving next week for Texas. These are the girls that used to walk to school with Amanda before she switched schools.


The morning started off early with a 4:30 wake up call to pick up Ben and Dev for a couple hours of quality training on the bike. We went out to Barber's point and rode a few loops and then took in some sights of the beach. As always Ben knew exactly how to push us to our limits and convenience us we had a couple more sprints left. Great morning to ride and get back in time to enjoy the day with the kids.

12 Miler

This morning Dev and Ben joined me for a 12 mile run to the Honolulu tower and back. I had vision's of running the entire distance in the low 8 min/mile pace and during the first half I wasn't too far off. Dev caught me at the turn and we headed back to find Ben running his Maya pace then once he turned around he kick it in and quickly pulled away from us until he was completely out of sight.
I tried to stay hydrated enough but found it to be a very tough challenge.2 -10oz bottles of Accelerate and 2 10z bottles of water was barely enough. More attention to hydration is needed to ensure I can last on these events lasting 2 hours or more.
Overall not too bad I suppose for a long distance run: 12 miles/ 1:49 avg pace 9:07, 1650 calories
1st mile - 8:05, 2nd mile - 8:14, 3rd mile - 8:31, 4th mile - 8:38, 5th mile - 8:45, 6th mile - 8:52, 7th mile - 9:06, 8th mile - 9:07, 9th mile - 9:27, 10th mile -9:40, 11th mile - 9:47, 12th mile 9:40. Next week's run I will work on a negative spilt (running second half faster than the first half).

Next Thursday we are planning on riding around the island (112 miles), I'm already starting to mentally prepare.

Little Dare-devil

This afternoon we set up the water slide for a couple of hours so the kids could enjoy a little time on the slide. Jake has learned to fly which started out all nice but got a little too dangerous toward the end with him jumping all the way to the bottom of the slide and having too much fun
If this isn't fun for a 3 year old I don't know what is


Even Amanda was getting in on the flying action
Shortly afterward while we were fixing dinner this is what we found in the living room. What a life

Short little video of Jake and Amanda in action on the slide.

Uncharted Territory

After some lengthy discussions with some seasoned veterans in the sport of endurance events I realized I was in Uncharted Territory. I knew I was having issues with hydration and my performance would drop off quickly after a intense 45 min effort. I also didn't realized I needed to consume 70 grams worth of carbs every hour in an event lasting over 2 hours. So tonight I headed to the health food store in Aiea (really nice) to try the electrolyte pills during my next long ride or on really hot days and see if this will help my performance from dropping off so quickly.
Then Gil (AKA Mr. Ultraman) brought me a bottle of DHEA Complete with 7-Keto supplement to take with some good reading material describing the benefits. After some research on the Internet it appears several individuals have several view's. However, they all make the same reference if there is a chemical imbalance in your body then this supplement which can only be made from the extract of wild yams might help. Now all I have to do is try to get some blood work done. Thanks Gil for the product, stories and view points on what makes you get across the finish line each and every time.

Finally, I had a very consistent run this morning with Gil. It started out nice and easy and finished nice and easy with 3 good tempo runs thrown in for good measure. Gil is a wealth of knowledge and I hope to hang on to his shoe laces as much as possible. Overall 5m in 39:30 with an avg pace of 7:58.
1st mile 7:54
2nd mile 7:54
3rd mile 7:54
4th mile 8:02
5th mile 7:45

Super Water Slide

After extensive searching Lynn was able to find a really nice water slide from a company that would delivery to Hawaii for the kids to enjoy over the summer.
This thing has a tunnel, pool, bouncing area, climbing area and of course the slide.


As you can tell the kids are having a blast

Hickam Crit Part II

Here are a few additional action shots from yesterday's event. Thanks to Jon L. and Jeff A. for the photos.
This is the start of the Cat 4/5 race approx. 40 riders. They are several in this group that are ready to upgrade to Cat 1/2/3
Here is Lindsey holding her own with the boys
Speaking of someone ready to upgrade. It looks like he's taking this corner like a pro.
Mr. Ironman (Bryant) toying with the field
HACC Daddy at the line.

Some of the HACC'esters forming a pace line
Ben S. always looking ahead and knowing what is going on around him
Did I mention some of the riders are ready to upgrade their status
It looks like Dev's looking for his next victim while doing 30 mph in a corner.

Hickam Criterium

This morning Hickam AFB at it's first every bike race and it was a huge success. Weather was very nice and the course was as close to perfect as you can get. Several individuals that have never been on Hickam thought it was spectacular. Lynn and the kids came out to cheer me on and make the pain not seem too bad as I tried with all I had to keep up with the speedsters. This was my first time racing a Criterium which is a course less than a 1 mile with at least 4 turns. My division raced for 45 mins and it was at lighting speed to say the least. I completed 14.5 miles with an avg speed of 20.4 mph. It was as tough as I thought it was going to be but it was a lot of fun especially at the end when Jake decided he was ready to go racing.

You never know he might be a state champion some day (I'm referring to Jake not me)
Amanda's highlight of the day was playing with Ben's new puppy Maya and Robert. As you can see it was very nice in the shade but it was a little warm in the sun.
Jake even got in on the action of holding the puppy.
Here is a wide angle view of the course. It made it really nice for all the fans that showed up to see the entire race from any shade tree they were under
Thanks to HACC Daddy for setting this up and all the HACC riders that helped me get ready for my first every "Crit" race without any crashes and to all those that helped me today during the race.

Painting and Tea party

Amanda has discovered the wonderful world of water painting and she has created some amazing paintings. Her creativity is remarkable. This is her painting of a rose.
She calls this "a jaguar overlooking the meadow" painting
This is her puppy painting
This is her Pink Princesses painting
This is Jake's creation of colors
Amanda decided a couple of the stuffed animals would like to join her and Jake in a tea party. As you can see she knows how to set the table for 5.

Everyone enjoyed the tea party according to Amanda
Jake at the top of the steps looking as cute as every. Not sure if he's saying I didn't do it or not.