Looking ahead

Yes, that is a trick title. This post is about future plans, and just as much about my eyesight.

My big "A" race for 2020 is Ironman 70.3 Hawaii, a.k.a. Honu. Even back in December, as I began laying out my self-made training plan, I knew I had a challenge. The cost. Doing the race the way I have been the couple years is mighty expensive. In the past I had enough saved up that it was not such a big impact, and, frankly, I enjoyed the simplicity of Pattie and I being on our own. The condo I rented last year was ridiculously enormous, and just as expensive.

For 2020 I had an ace up my sleeve. Friends who live in Waikoloa, a short drive up the mountain from the Fairmont Orchid. Alas, I found out last week that the deal fell through. My first reaction was to mentally "pull the plug." I decided I would keep training as if I were doing the race, but skip it this year.

A week has passed, and now I am not so certain. I'll just leave it as I'll do the race if I can find a much cheaper place to stay. You know, that old saw, "Never give up." And there is my credo, "I do it because I can."

My annual physical came right at the end of December and I used the opportunity to discuss my disappointing marathon. Dr. Berman's initial reaction was that there was nothing wrong with my heart -- he says the only thing that will kill me is walking in front of a bus -- but after a moments reflection decided to schedule me for a treadmill stress test. For that I saw Dr. Ted Leon at Queen's. Everyone said I would ace it, and I did. Got way farther than most men my age, but near the low end of athletic types. That matches perfectly with my race results. One thing Dr. Leon noted was unusually high blood pressure during the post-effort phase. The white coat guys were tossing around "post stress hypertensive response." Something to consider, but Dr. Leon assured me it was not enough to warrant intervention.

Dr. Berman also asked me to do my own test, a fast finish run all out uphill. Best if twelve miles in hot conditions. I did that today. I waited until well after sunrise, but even then the temperature maxed at 82F. I knew I could not fit a twelve mile run into my schedule, but I did a couple of laps up and down Kahala Ave and finished with an all-out run up the Shitty Little Hill. In the lab test I made seven minutes and stopped at 155 b.p.m. I thought I could keep going, but they were cheering me on to make seven so I stopped there. But, seriously, I was exhausted. Today my 1 minute HR was 153, 5 second 157, and max 159. Woo-hoo! And, I did not feel as exhausted. I suspect this is because today I produced these numbers running, whereas the treadmill test is walking.

This leaves me to contemplate a mystery. While training for the marathon I felt great. During the marathon I felt great until mile 12. For the next couple miles I kept trying to run, but each time I did my heart rate crept up to 145 and above. When I started walking a few miles lated I felt great again. Tons of stamina. The endurance and muscular endurance were there. I just couldn't run. Was it the heat? Maybe.

Now for the eyeball part. I swapped by run and ride this weekend so that Pattie and I could do the Chinese New Year shopping Saturday morning. That put my ride late on Saturday afternoon. I got rolling at 5:00, an easy ride Kahala to Hawaii Kai. If I had enough time I would finish with a loop around Diamond Head, but it got dark too early.

All the way out I was battling gusty headwinds. I was on my tri bike, so this was great practice for the ride to Hawi. Almost from the start I was fighting with my Rudy Project glasses. As I have said before, the correction with these has never been good. At their best I can see big stuff like cars and bikes, but I can't read road signs or make out faces. And that is when they are working well!

At first they just kept slipping down. I could see my Garmin fine, and the front wheel, and the white line along the shoulder. When I would look up to see the road ahead I was looking through the rims. I stopped and adjusted the nose piece. The problem there is that when I get them too high my double vision gets worse. Things were better, but the wind was drying my eyes and my double vision struck with vengeance.

A funny thing about double vision. You get used to it. Sometimes I close one eye, but most of the time I ignore the second curb line that splits more and more the further ahead it is. But on the way back, looking straight into the setting sun, it was really too much. Not enough to slow down, but enough to demand I do something about it.

This morning I checked out Oakley. Why not wear the same glasses as Jan Frodeno? Under $200. Oh, wait. Prescription lenses double that. Yeah. $497.50, plus whatever. No thanks, I'd rather ride with my eyes closed. But wait. These top out at -5. My correction is more than that. (People have said that I have so much trough because my correction is so high.) And to add injury to insult, they don't have a close distance option, which means I could never read my Garmin. At least my Rudys offer reader lenses.

Then I recalled that my Rudy aero helmet came with a lightly tinted visor. When I first got the helmet I tried it with my Rudy glasses and it did not come close to fitting. Today I tried it with just my everyday glasses, and it works. I think. My hope is that the glasses give me great vision while the visor keeps out the wind. Maybe I'll take the bike out tomorrow for some tests.

Is that a cool look, or what?