Projects

Now that the boat is Honolulu, it is time for repairs and projects. I was a little burned out after the California Winter last year where I spent lot of time preparing her for the crossing. At that time, the conditions were quite spartiate. Leaving on a parking lot, No water, No shade, 12V, and working around the clock.
This time, I am better prepared. Internet (well, 4G, but still), showers, 110V, a beta-Shade that ended up working very well, and even a small cooking gaz.

The Beta/Cheap-Shade-Tree

Temporary Galley. Well, it works.

Once setup, time for work... I dressed a short list of a double dozen of items. Some simple and short, the 'feel good ones', some more hairy.

My first 'Feel good' - Wrap the rigging with Rigger's tape - Checked.

Damn, this thing is expensive.
I guess, everything is expensive at WestMarine...

A not that feel good one, the galley.... Well, The good surprise is ... it fits !!! It took 3 weeks to come to Hawaii, and looks actually pretty nice. No, the tricky part is to build a Propane Locked and all tubing to the actual safety norms. This is the major undertaking and the main reason of the trip....

Force 10 !!!

The second main reason was the Windvane refit. After limping for the last 6 days on the crossing, it was time to make sure everything was in good order for our next adventures... Solo adventures...
As a first step, I verified and realigned the feet. I was actually afraid I would have to re-drill the transom to get a proper fit. Lucky on this one, it fits quite alright now.

The windvane, naked.
The pout it back together will be an interesting puzzle.

Living on the boat always remind how I like the simplicity of it. 

Working on the boat always remind me you have to live on it to actually make it happen.

You have at least to cut your rent by 4 to have more money to spend on parts.

You have to have that much time available as everything takes ages to fix on the boat,

and takes minutes to degrade or go aol,

There was a good news today. 

It seems that the waiting list at Ala Wai is **only** nine months.

This open some interesting options to eventually keep the boat on Oahu and get it ready for the bug adventure ;). But this is for later on.

For now on, let's get all this stuff done and fixed, and bring her back to her mooring on Maui.

Ego and I

Sometimes I am amazed of what we accomplished those last couple of years. Some will call it plain luck, others, hard work. Well, I don't believe in luck and I don't play the odds. I bet to win.

Sailing back toward Lahaina on a North wind.
Almost typical. We get used to everything, too fast.

Events around us brought me some old memories, related to my struggle with Ego. Early career success bring you confidence, and its dark side, self-esteem exaggeration. A good sign you are lost to it, is when, tired to fight with your boss, you are thinking to built your own company. It might work if this is a one person thing. Bad employee will produce bad manager...

And if your ego is endangering your career, it is certainly affecting your day to day life.

Took me years to stop blaming the others, my boss, my company, my life.

Letting go, taking some (measured) risks, and accept to learn, learn and learn more. 

Be humble and hungry, as we say at Riot. So true, so hard.

I don't think I am a sailor. Every time I manage to go out, have fun and not lose anything or anyone at sea, I see that as a miracle. This is far from a lack of confidence - we just crossed the Pacific, we should be able to do a couple of tacks at 3 miles of the coast - it is just a new experience, a perpetual discovery. And that's why it works.

Worth reading.

I don't have big ideas about sailing, if we do it right, or could do it better. We just make it work a mile after the other.

The good news is that we will be able to practice that next week while bringing the boat to Oahu.

The bad news is that there is not an once of wind right now, and we might have to pull the boat swimming. 

I guess this is not that time we will fight the Molokai channel (Kaiwi channel) on his own ground.

It is a lake.

At least if we have enough diesel to reach Honolulu.

4 years, 20 pounds and 2500 nautical miles later

There is something amazing in the fact that we now collect every dumb instant of our lives thanks to our always-on portable media units, and that "social" databases digest all that.

It allows us to backtrack 4 years in one glimpse and get this kind of flashback.

Before.
Octobre 2011

This was not our boat, and the coast line is the Californian one (or maybe Mexico?).

I am posing. I was merely deck hand at that point.

After.
November 2015

This is our boat, and the coast in the back is Hawaii.

I am drinking water because if someone has to be sober on the boat, that's the captain. (Really ? I am making that up obviously).

Well, rarely I agreed more with the saying that the (red) wine is only getting better with age.
Not sure where I would be in 4 years from now, but I cannot really imagine a more radical transformation. On the opposite, I cannot really imagine staying in place, physically and mentally.
Well, Facebook will be certainly still there to prove me right, or wrong.

Goutified ?

Something really weird happened the four days after the marathon.
As I was getting ready to run again, let's jog again, few days later, an excruciating pain rose from my left foot.
My first hypothesis was directed on a wrong move, maybe in my sleep, and some post trauma (a marathon can be considered as a minor trauma for the body) joint pain, maybe a tendinitis.
After few days of limping, it seems that Gout, or Gouty Arthritis might be the actual problem.

Ugly and swollen.

Gout likes to hit around the Big Toe - "metatarsophalangeal joint" - Mostly because those joints are the lowest point of your body and furthest from your pumping heart. Cold, i.e. lower body temperature would ease the crystallization of uric acid.

Mostly men in their forties or fifties (I am not feeling younger right now), might be some heredity factor, main factors being poor alimentation (not my case) or dehydration and joint fatigue. 

Running a marathon under the Hawaiian sun is well known to cause high dehydration, it is frequent to lose more than 4 or 5 pounds of (mostly) water during a long effort like this one.

Well, the symptoms matches and the cure too :

Magic remedy

 

Unsurprisingly the mother of all remedies works pretty well in this case - as my symptoms are overall pretty light, even if this is almost impossible to lay over my foot.

Apple Cider Vinegar alkalize the PH of the body and help dissolve the tiny crystals formed in the joints. Add a couple of cold water buckets and anti inflammatory cream, and it seems we are on the good path of healing.

I the mean time, I can't walk, can't run, can't surf, can't kite, can't sail.

As always, I can swim. 

Well, at the pace I am getting hurt nowadays, I am gonna be such a good swimmer eventually.

Sub 4 Hours. This time, I did it.

But it was close. Closer than I wished ;)

Not bad.

128th in my category, in the top 10%.
1033th overall, for 21544 runners, in the top 5% overall.

There was tons of people. And fireworks. And even more people.

As for the race... It started a little slow because of so many people did not pick their right place on the starting line, and that makes quite a congestion. The first 15 minutes are spent doubling people and slaloming. The was simple : stick to 9 min pace all along. Nothing crazy. 

That means 4 hours pace.

A long long run..

Based on my stamina and Daniel's tables, I should be handle 3:30 and below 8 min pace.. Well, Those numbers are just b***.. wrong ;)

I was hoping to not have to push myself too hard. Steady pace all along.

After two hours, all was going perfect. It was still dark and relatively cold (in Hawaii's terms). I was holding the pace like breeze, in Zone 3. I was cruising. Legs were becoming a little "heavy" but nothing to be really worried about.

Then I realized I was one minute short at 20 miles. 20 Miles should have been 3:00. 

I was at 3:01. No way I was gonna miss my first sub-4 by one minute.

I decided to accelerate to 8:30 pace.

Thing is, usually, the last hour is hard. pretty hard.
Now I made it worst. Far worst.
The sun rises. The heat comes. Your legs are actually really heavy now. Then you have to make THE effort. That's fine, I signed for it.

The story as an Hear Rate log

At 3:05, my heart rate went over 165, my lactate threshold.
That's a problem. You can suffer. But there is so much you can really take on. When you go over your threshold, your time is counted. The effort is not sustainable. This is a bio-mechanical thing. Next time... Train harder, you will sustain better pace with less effort.

On my last marathon, I started to suffer way too early, around 2:30. I hit the wall at 3:30. And went into my darkest hours for the last 34 minutes. Good to know, I have usually one hour left at threshold effort on a marathon pace.

Well, of course I realized pretty fast that this last hour will be hard. 

Plenty of hard.

Here comes 24 miles. Pace falls down to 10:00. I am running in place. For the first time, lots of runner are doubling me. 2 Miles to go. I am hitting the wall ? Again ?

Wake up call. 2 Miles. 16 Minutes. In training I do that without even sweating. In my sleep.

Grind the teeh, Jump the heart to explosion (180 bpm), move those arms, move those knees. (Later on, Molly told me I looked like a Robot - or a human stick - 100% rigid), force my way through.

Don't trust the clock.
I was not first on the starting line ;)

Well, this time it worked.

Overall my preparation was way better than last time. A little short, 12 weeks instead of 16, but no injuries or sickness. Less running,  3-4x a week (only !). Looks like the speed and hills work did pay at the end. Legs ended up really stiff - and the calves are still locked one day after, but no cramps and no meltdown, which is a huge improvement over last time.

Worth the suffering ?
Ain't I pretty with my medal ?

Now it is time to enjoy a bit of non running.

Good news, Winter is here and usually the surf is good.

On Maui, there is really no bad season anyway.

Surf's up, PR's down.

Isn't it Christmas ?