AMRx3 Lunch Ride

Today was another good day of training with the HACC team. We had about 18-20 riders and headed to AMR for some little hill climbing. On the way out from the gym a fellow team mate was walking his bike with yet another flat tire (4-5 flats this week). HACC daddy was the first one to pull over and provide his expertise. I felt very strong today (which I wasn't sure after yesterday's run). During the first hill climb I took it easy to see how my body would react and then on the next two laps I gave an honest effort and notice my HR was not increasing. This is typically a sign of over training, but I'm not sure this is the case. I think I might need to push harder.
Beautiful day to ride with all of the HACC members.

Back to running & "Green Shake of Energy"

Today, I started back running to see how I would do with over 45 days of no running. I was able to complete a 5 mile loop with no real issue cardio wise, but I could tell I'm missing the natural feel for the pace I was running. The workouts on the bike have really established a great aerobic foundation. Overall a very good run with that long of a layover. Now I just have to incorporate more weekly miles into my training (might have to cut back on the bike). I said might!
Here is the loop around the housing area and through the Hickam harbor. Great place to run and enjoy the scenery.
Okay, here are the ingredients for the "green shake of energy" I got this from the Montel Williams book Living Well that mom and dad brought when they visited in Feb. This recipe is for a vita mixer but can be made in a regular mixer (just cut the ingredients in half). 2 bananas peeled, 3 oranges peeled, 1 head of romaine lettuce hearts and 4 cups of water. Blend on high and served chilled.
You will have to push all the ingredients into the blender to fill with water.
Blend on high until all smooth. I will put this up against any cup of Joe or red bull energy drink. I don't recommend drinking this in the late evening unless you plan on staying awake.
Enjoy!!!

Pineapple Factory Family tour

Not sure if there was a better way to spend Memorial day, than with the family on a nice tour of the Pineapple Factory on the Pineapple Express. Jake absolutely loves trains and was so exited to get to ride the train setting beside his big sister.

If you ever wondered how they plant a pineapple, how long does it take to produce fruit, need to know when to pick or how to store a fresh pineapple this video clip is for you with all the answers.

Slide show to follow shortly with all the pictures of the tour.

Hawaii State Time Trials

Wow, what a day. It all started out early in the week with some secret negotiations with Ben to borrow some of the best aero equipment made. Like this LAS aero helmet weighing in at only 450 grams.

Additionally Ben allowed me to use his Reynolds Attack carbon racing wheels, weighing in at 1485 grams a set. (3.3 lbs)
Now it was time to get the SAG (support and gear) wagon loaded up with our gear. Dev and I both have indoor trainers to warm-up prior to an event as well as makes it easier to haul the bikes around without strapping them down. This picture is before we loaded all the gear around the bikes. I'm not sure if we went on a bike ride or a camping trip once the van was loaded down with all of our gear but with an 0400 departure it would have sucked to get to the race and forgotten something.
Just as Ben had predicted. We were the 1st ones on scene and staked out some prime real estate. Yes it was a little dark getting the bikes set-up but only about 30 mins before it was daylight.
This was a 40K (25.2 mile) out and back time trial event beginning and ending at Malaekahana State Park
Not long after we got the bikes set up John (HACC Daddy) showed up with the best canopy I've ever seen. It took all of about 3 mins to set up the tent and proudly display the Team Banner. This is Casey and Ben (today's future state champions) already warming up for the race.

Nice little sign to notify drivers there would bikes on the road since they weren't able to close the road and it being Memorial day weekend the traffic was expected to be heavy.
Everyone anxiously waiting to get their race numbers since there wasn't any pre-race day pick up. Went smoothly but I wished they would have started a little early than 1 hour prior to the start.
This is Ben's speed machine with his Zipp disc. This thing is so fast we can't even get a picture of him in motion.
I thought it was a very impressive showing of the HACC. Here are the results from today's race.

Annual license cat 4/5

20-24 Casey Tucker 1st place

35-39 Jeff Soots 5th place

40-44 Cheri Chirco (female) 1st place

40-44 Ben Sambrano 1st place

40-44 Steve Steele 2nd place

40-44 Reed Bernhard 3rd place

40-44 Dev Andrews 5th place

40-44 Jeff Adkins 10th place

50-54 John Girmsey (HACC Daddy) 2nd place

One day license

19-34 Jon Laurion 1st place

19-34 Kevin Osborne 6th place

35-49 Bryant Hafler 1st place

HACC members in force preparing for today's race.

View of the course on the North Shore of Oahu. We've road this section of the road a couple of times in the last 2 months during the team time trials and the Haleiwa Century ride.

This is a snapshot of my speed vs. HR with elevation. It almost appears this was 2 separate races. Notice my speed (or lack of) during the 1st half of the race compared to my HR. Notice my speed vs HR (or lack of) on the 2nd half. This was my first individual time trial and I felt I was a little to conservative on the way out so I tried to make it up on the 2nd half.
Cardio was good for the event. I had plenty in the tank and should have pressed harder to get my HR around the 95% for the entire event. Not sure why I was running such a low HR since I normal run in the 170's.
Speed continued to drop off on the way out due to the head winds and trying to conserve. Once I made the turn I picked up the speed and ran the last 3rd of the event 4 mins fast than the 1st third.
To top of the day, Amanda and I went to see The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian. It was a very good movie and we had a really good time watching the movie and talking about our favorite parts of the movie.
As you can see it was an action packed day and tons of fun.

Boys Day out

After Jake and I took Amanda to School we decided to make it a boys day out. We had breakfast at the Harbor and then went to Discovery Center (Jake's new favorite place)
Here's Jake carrying his water bottle to school
Jake says "bring me some pancakes, I'm hungry".
We even got to see a ship pass through the Harbor during our breakfast.
After all the time Jake's watched Amanda and I play chess, he thinks he knows how to play.
Finally, we found the kids fishing center and Jake was a true natural at catching fish. I didn't think I was going to get him to leave his first and favorite fishing hole.

0500 Training

With only 2 days before the State Time Trials, I decided to use the indoor trainer and complete the pre-race warm-up this morning to ensure I had no technical difficulties the morning of the race. It was an excellent warm-up/workout this morning. 16.7m in 62 min with an avg HR of 133. Weather was 74 deg with 84% humidity which made it tough on the trainer. This workout was provided by Ben (his race warm-up routine). I loaded into my Garmin Edge 305 and it walked me through each of the 14 Steps.

Uncle Jeff

May 1 2008 @ 11:30 p:m Madison Isabell Soots was born in Anchorage AK weighing in at 8 lbs 1 oz. This is my brother Nathan and his wife's first child which makes me an uncle.

Oh, how peaceful they are just hours after they are born.

This is Nana holding Madison. Let's see how long it takes before Nana spoils her.

Good luck Nathan and Mary on your new addition. She is adorable. I thought you would have already had her a fishing pole with the salmon season only days away.

A tribute to everyone in the Military

This is why we do what we do. So that America can be free, however if you want to challenge our way - bring it on - we're ready are you?

Rainy evening, Jake's creativity

We finally got some good rain this evening that will be great for the grass and flowers. Perfect timing since Jake and I just added some fertilizer to the front yard an hour before the rain begin. Jake, has discovered he can build his train track anyway he likes and today decided he needed all of his pieces to build a track as long as he could. He built the entire track by himself with no one helping or hindering him (which ever way you want to look at it).

Not bad for a 3 year old.

A little bit of everything in 54 mins.

Today's hammer fest had a little bit of everything. 26 riders showed up for an intense/hot ride. Everything started off a little slower than normal then when the paced picked up it really picked up. I got up to 34mph trying to keep up with the front pack. We then went through an intersection with no problems and just has the pace was picking up one of our seasoned riders crashed hard onto the curb. He seemed fine and got up and rode at a blistering pace, only to notice at the end of the ride his helmet was cracked and needed to go to the hospital for x-rays. A couple of hard intervals later and the ride was over. What a day for a quick 54 min 16.2mile lunch ride.
Hope all is well Steve

A year's worth of yard maintenance

After a year of yard maintenance we've finally got our back yard nice with green grass and beautiful assortment of flowers. Lynn's has really nursed all the flowers to grow and the grass/weeds have gave way to some nice green grass in our back yard. None of the other neighbors take too much interest in their yards, which only makes our stand out even more.

Sun. morning recovery ride

Nice way to start the day with a little 27.6m (1:43) Sunday recovery ride. We stayed on base this morning due to one of the main roads off the base closed for the Honolulu triathlon. Met up with Ben, Jeff A. and Greg for a nice morning of riding then ran into Jim who led the group to Ford Island. I choose to head home and get started with chores and waxing the bike.

Sat. morning ride with breakfast at Pearl Harbor

We decided to ride our bikes to Pearl Harbor this morning for breakfast at the Cafe. We had a really good ride and wonderful breakfast. Then we decided to stop at the park for a little kids fun and got a special treat seeing some kayackers.

Now it's off to run some errands.

Man vs. Bear Friday humor

Here is a little Friday humor for your enjoyment

AMR x2 Lunch ride

Menu for today was hill training around a place referred to as AMR (max elev. 370 feet). I took it easy on the 1st loop to see how I would deal with the mid-day heat and then gave it all I had on the 2nd loop reaching my Max HR (185). It was a good day of training and I can tell I'm getting stronger however I could also tell I hadn't been climbing in awhile.

Specialized Product Review

Tom Boonen on a Specialized Roubaix

Nice & Easy ride

This morning was a nice and easy 15m recovery ride with Ben, Dev and Steve. It was nice riding together and being able to chat vs. waiting on the next attack.

Great way to start the morning

HACC Interval ride

Today's lunch ride had a good turnout of riders to include a couple new guys that are Cat 2 & 3 riders. Ben made the suggestion I should take off the front and see how far I could make it before they caught me. I thought about the idea and decided I should give it a try. I took off as early as I could and built a sizeable lead when Steve Steele joined up at the med. clinic and asked where everyone was at. I said they're trying to catch me and I'm the rabbit. Steve had a good rhythm and was very strong. I held on as long as I could and waited for the top riders to blow by me and that is exactly what they did. It was very good training for the upcoming State Time Trials and I was able to push it to 97% of my Max HR. Several of us are doing an easy recovery ride in the morning @ 0540 just to stretch the legs out. Thanks Ben for the idea to breakout early but I doubt I will attempt that too many times.

Body Mass Index (BMI)

This morning started off with me PT testing an individual for his annual AF PT exam (which went well). Then I was off to have my BMI checked via a BOD Pod. Hickam AFB as a state of the art facility that combines a Health and Wellness Center with Physical Therapy otherwise known as H-PARC (Human Performance and Rehabilitation Center. Thanks to the outstanding support of the Exercise Physiologist (Mr. Jason) and the Registered Dietitian (Ms. Amanda) they have provide unbelievable guidance on injury prevention and proper nutrition. Here is how I transformed my body over the last 15 months and reduced my body fat by 18%.

13 May 2008
Lean muscle mass 138.7 lbs 82.3%
Fat mass 29.9lbs 17.7%
Total weight 168.6 lbs.

9 Feb 2007
Lean muscle mass 119 lbs 64.2%
Fat mass 65.5 lbs 35.8%
Total weight 185.5 lbs.

I'm now consider to be in the moderately lean category (13%-20%).

Kids Discovery Center

Several weeks ago Amanda's class and I took a field trip to Hawaii Discovery center. We quickly realized that Jake would love this place. So this last weekend we took Jake and it was a really good time. We bought an annual membership and I'm sure we will make this place another of our favorite places to take the kids.