My last post was about a weakness I felt in my left wrist and arm on long bike rides. I had to stop and rest every thirty minutes or so. My legs were fine. My fitness was fine. I just could not control the bike. I also said that this is something I have felt for years. Even so, I was puzzled why it had gotten so much worse. My thinking was that when I crashed my TT bike in May I landed on my left shoulder and strained a bicep tendon.

Hey all. Lately I have been bothered by negative feelings about my triathlon racing. The kind of negative self talk that we all encounter in our daily lives, not just athletic performance. Honu was a bust. A DNS. (Technically I withdrew.) The Century Ride is rapidly approaching, and after that the BHAG race of my season, Ironman California. 

A few weeks ago I switched my long Sunday rides from the TT bike to the road bike. Sunday before last, on my first ride to the windward side in ages, I was struck by a postural weakness I have known about for years. Now I find myself on the path to correct it.

Last November I wrote about choosing a BHAG - Big, Hairy, Audacious Goal. Something that scares you to consider. Something that at times seems terrifying. The kind where you wake up at two o’clock in the morning asking yourself, “What was I thinking?” By January I had mine. Ironman 70.3 Hawaii in May, and, the big one, Ironman California in October. Honu was a DNS. Why? A couple of reasons. The most immediate was that I crashed my bike two weeks out and was in no shape to race. The rest I’ll explain later.

Sunday was my last long ride before Ironman 70.3 Hawaii, known as Honu. I felt great. Lots of power. Comfortable on the bike. A moment's inattention and suddenly there was a parked car right in front of me. I thought I might hit it. I swerved, congratulating myself for missing it as I whizzed past, only to feel the bike go out from under me. TT bikes do not handle well in the aero position.

If there is one piece of advice I would give to athletes and coaches as a race approaches, it is this: “Don’t screw it up.” I borrow that phrase from the great ultrarunning coach Jason Koop.

The temptation to do “just a little more” can be overwhelming. Longer long rides. Harder swim sessions. More frequent running. Or maybe a small, local race that looks like fun. Why not?

Last time I wrote about spending some workout time going fast. At least race pace, maybe faster. I used the term intensity a lot and this could be confused with going hard – running or biking uphill, for example. What I meant was getting comfortable moving the body faster. Running, in particular, because the running stride involved so many muscle contractions that must be coordinated perfectly in order to run efficiently. I ended that piece by mentioning the increased risk of injury.

My introduction to running was by way of a Couch – 5K plan I found on the Internet, followed up with a beginner's marathon plan by the great Hal Higdon.  

Soon after that I came across Matt Fitzgerald and his 80/20 plan. Slowing down sounded like a good idea, so I went with that. It was through Matt that I discovered Dr. Stephen Seiler, credited with formulating 80/20 training. At some point I learned that Joe Friel was another Seiler fan. He was the one who said that too often athletes make their easy days hard and their hard days easy.

The recent pair of rain events caused flood damage throughout the state. Especially hard hit was the Waialua-Haleiwa neighborhood. Road damage resulted in significant impact on the safety of the annual Hawaii Bicycling League Haleiwa Metric Century Ride, particularly at Waimea Bay. HBL did the right thing by taking the riders safety into account and cancelling this event. But decisions like this go beyond the immediate impact.

Triathletes are famous for having A-type personalities. I do not place myself in that category, but that doesn't mean I am invulnerable to its pitfalls. This week I stepped in it.

The recent pair of so-called Kona Low rain storms has kept me off of the roads and out of the ocean. Not entirely. I did get in a couple of road runs and one decent bike ride, but that was it. Much more indoor running and riding than I am accustomed to, and no swimming.