Kona 2016

Pre-Race Pier

Every big race promises something new and the 2016 rendition of Kona was no exception. Going in with less than ideal fitness and also knowing that this would probably be my last Ironman I made two goals. Utilize my previous experiences for disciplined pacing and also to enjoy the day more than maybe I had in my previous times.

We arrived in Kona a week early to acclimate and hang out. My prep workouts went well. The heat seemed tolerable, as my at home long underwear wearing had paid off. Plus I had mentally prepared for the heat all summer. I knew how to handle it this time around. As usual it seemed my taper workouts were shorter and easier than many other athletes were doing. Apparently they were trying to get some Strava segments on the Queen K or something. Unfortunately some kind of head cold bug crept through our family and it found me Thursday morning. Not an ideal time, but not debilitating.

I was fortunate to have a highly skilled entourage with me to attend to my every want and need. This included my wife, immediate family, plus my Aunt and long time friends Jason and Ironman Dave. Our cat doesn’t like flying. I lounged around drinking fine Kona coffee and eating macadamia nuts all week.

The entourage was volunteering for body marking race day morning. We were staying out of town so I could either come in early with them or walk the six miles as a warm-up. I chose the ride. We were out the door around 3:40. Transition opened at 4:45 and my race started at 6:55. I attempted to sleep in the back of the van for an hour. Instead I snacked on a pop tart, perused facebook and Slowtwitch and used my deer camp skills to fill up a quart Gatorade bottle. Cross-disciplinary skill transfer.

Finally around 5am I opened the van door…and set off the car alarm. In my opinion car alarms are the most annoying invention next to those “not really self venting” mandated gas cans. As I swore and got my stuff together a guy came over and asked, “Are you going to turn that off?” I responded, “No. I don’t have the keys.” (Dad took them) Then I walked off toward transition. I had tried to call Dad on the walk, he didn’t answer and I stuck my phone in my morning clothes bag (important note for later).

The line for body marking tattoos was ridiculous! I waited for about a half an hour in the line. Sharpie would have worked just fine. Luckily I had one of the experienced professional body markers (Sister Reebnut). I had missed the special needs bag drop so doubled back took care of that. After that I had to get weighed and was finally free to do the real pre race prep. It is mind boggling how at the biggest triathlon stage in the world they can’t manage to have porta potties.

I finally got myself together and made my way through the herds to the swim start. I did a warm up and then swam up to the line about 20 yds off the pier. Previously I had raced from the far left and I figured with a split gender start there would be a few less bodies fighting. Plus I was hoping to tag a solid draft for a great swim. Mike Reilly was blabbing and the Hawaiian drums were beating in the background, then the cannon went off.

Swim Start

I don’t think this mass start was any less violent than others I had been in, but I was more prepared for it and controlled myself without going hypoxic. Once it got slightly spread out I worked my way to the inside of the buoys with less people and decent drafting opportunities. As I approached the turn I felt relaxed, but as it bunched up things got uglier. My return trip didn’t feel so great. It felt like the chop picked up and I was having trouble sighting. Walloon Lake doesn’t provide quite the same practice. I was less than successful finding a good draftee, but told myself to just swim relaxed and not waste energy. I exited and glanced at my watch. Seeing just under 62, I wasn’t pleased but got over it quickly. Today wasn’t a day to get bothered over a few minutes. My transition was uneventful and I took extra time to slather on some SPF 50 as not to fry like in 2013.

Leaving T1

For the bike the plan was to ride around 200W with 230W on the climbs. In 2013 I really fell off the last 15ish miles so I was determined to pace appropriately. People were “Gittin’ it like Dale Jr.” up Kuakini and especially for the first 30 miles. In 2013 we lucked out and had a tail wind on the way up. This year we had a brutal headwind. I knew this meant that we would be cursed for a headwind on the return trip. Thus I vowed to ride easy and save it for the ride back. I made extra effort to spray myself with cold water at every aid station and stay on top my cooling, fluids and calories.

I will note the usual presence of 20-30 people draft packs here and not one person in the first penalty tent. Noting new. Nothing worth dwelling on. Unfortunately the athlete tracker doesn’t show placing at the intermediate splits but it felt like 3-400 people passed me from the beginning of the bike to Kawaihae. At this point I had averaged 195W and it was time to begin working. I upped my effort and reeled people back in all the way up to Hawi. The crosswind was notable but not as gusty as 2013, nor on my training rides earlier this week.

The bike special needs bags were in Hawi. I pulled over to get my bag, which I had put another 1000cal bottle. As I grabbed my bag I saw the bottle and also saw my cell phone. Wow. So I had put my phone in the wrong bag before body marking. Go me. If I left my phone in the special needs bag it would most likely disappear forever. So I had to take it with me for the rest of the bike ride. My hip pockets on my suit were not conducive for such an object so I tucked it in the chest of my suit. Luckily it is a water resistant phone as it was doused for the rest of the ride and survived.

The descent was not as windy as it could have been and I continued to focus on staying ahead of cooling and fluids. Things warmed up once I was back on the Queen K and a headwind built the closer I got back to Kona. I upped my effort just a bit and continued to pick off a majority of those that had passed me earlier. I finished the bike feeling positive. My split was 5:15 on 203W AP. 20 minutes slower than 2013, but feeling much fresher for the marathon.

 
Brittany performed her bike catching duties perfectly as I dismounted. I headed to the changing tent and took my sweet time getting my gear on, lubing and lathering up the SPF 50 for the run. On the run course I made an extra conscious effort to run very easy for all of Ali’i drive. I told myself to get to mile 16 without feeling terrible. I walked/slow jogged every aid station, taking extra time for ice and cooling, a great bit of advice from seasoned Ironman Master Russ Brandt. I picked off a fair number of people and also had some pass me, but I knew from experience the real challenge was to come. Besides a few lower 7 miles early on I maintained around 7:45/50 effort. I paced it nice and easy up Palani and out onto the Queen K. At mile 12 my hip gave me a twinge and I got a bit worried. I worked it out and continued, feeling the lack of run miles in my legs. It was hot, but not that hot. My legs were tired, but not that tired.

#1 Cheering Section

I turned the corner to the energy lab, felt the ocean wind in my face and took in the view for a few seconds. As I continued down the hill I looked forward to my special needs bag, where I had stashed some tart cherry juice and a Kona Brewing Big Wave beer. Having now exceeded my longest run in 14 months, my legs were tired and my hip muscles were fatigued, but not giving me problems, so I was thankful.

I grabbed my special needs bag at mile 18 and walked for a bit while I chugged down the warm cherry juice. It was a nice change of flavors. Originally I intended to consume both the juice and the beer, but decided to stash the beer in my suit and wait a bit. The beer was warm and there was ice at the aid station just up the hill. Maybe I could cool it down. (delusional thinking?) With the beer tucked in the love handle area of my suit I could dump ice in, cooling both my body and (maybe) the beer. I told myself I could drink it at mile 20.

mmm...warm beer never tasted so good.

I continued with my ice routine at every aid station, imaging that icy cold beer. I passed mile 20 and re-negotiated I could have it with four miles to go. Then I changed to three miles to go. I envisioned trotting up Mark and Dave hill drinking my warm beer and thinking about the Ironman history that had happened on that section of road. As crested the hill and turned down Palani I gave in and cracked it open. The foamy warm brew was not the most refreshing beer I have ever had. But I will forever be able to say that I drank a beer over the last mile of the Ironman World Championship. I can’t say this for a fact, but I’m going to guess that is a fairly exclusive group of individuals.

Near the bottom of Palani I saw my family. My sisters made some great motivational signs that made me smile. I high fived some kids spectating and cruised toward Ali’i. I turned the corner and took some time to look around and take in the scene. I trotted up the chute with my now empty beer can in the air and smiled big. 9:55 and change.

finish chute

For the first time after any Ironman I was hungry for real food. Over then next half hour or so I consumed six pieces of lukewarm pizza, three pork sliders and a plate of French Fries. My stomach was completely receptive. I would have drank another beer if they had any. I took advantage of the massage tent. I gathered my stinky equipment and bike and reminisced on the pier for a minute before finding my family and heading back to our house.

I have never gone back out for the late night finisher gathering and I wanted to go. At 10pm, everyone was asleep except Brittany, Jason and I. We drove back down and cheered in some finishers. Plus we got second dinner. We made it about an hour before the exhaustion took over and we decided to call it a night.

All said and done I can say that my performance was what I had on that day. Was it the performance I wanted to have if you’d asked me six or eight months ago? No. But such is life and I’m okay with that. This was the most disciplined race I’ve executed and I’m very proud of that. I never felt like I was “blowing up” or needed to walk. I could have risked more and pushed harder, but I didn’t see a point in that this time. I think now we’ll focus on enjoying the rest of the vacation.

Data

9:55:53

94^th 30-35 AG, 414 OA, 388 Male

Swim: 1:01:53

T1-3:20

Bike:5:15:10 203W AP

T2-4:39

Run: 3:30:51

Run Splits: 7:03, 7:40, 7:14, 7:26, 7:13, 7:54, 7:45, 7:55, 7:49, 16:17(2 miles), 8:10, 7:45, 8:08, 8:34, 8:17, 7:43, 8:07, 9:27, 9:14, 8:31, 8:17, 8:13, 8:18

Pre-Kona

To be able to be racing in Kona for a third time is an incredible blessing. It is a rewarding experience that all the time and hard work in training has paid off. I know I would never be able to make it to the start line without the assistance from my friends and family. Among many things this sport requires an extensive amount of time and it also isn’t cheap. There are many people that pick up my slack when I’m lacking in one of those departments. Thank you.

Qualifying in Muskoka last August was a trial in itself and this last year of training has been one of the most frustrating and challenging periods of my athletic career. Like everything it is multi-factorial, but the main issue has been nagging injuries. I had an Achilles injury last winter, followed by a hip injury that has never really resolved itself. Training has had more ups and downs and lacked consistency than in years past. Given my long time goal of contending for a podium spot for my age group, to say the injuries have been frustrating would be an understatement.

On the positive side I’ve been able to swim consistently and have had some great improvements, including a significant PR swim time at the Boyne City triathlon. Cycling had periods where I felt stronger than ever and got in some great mileage rides. However this season lacked consistency. Running has been mostly the opposite story. While usually my strength, I head into Kona with few consistent weeks of greater than 20MPW. My long runs of 13, 16 and 10 all occurred in the month of September. This should make this upcoming marathon all the more interesting.

With all of this in mind many people have asked what my goal or expectations are for this performance. At this point I don’t really have a goal, besides to finish with the best time I feel my body can provide me on Saturday. I think if everything goes as well as it could I could perform a 58-60min swim, bike around 5-5:05 and if I ran under 3:30 I would be ecstatic. (For comparison in 2013 I swam 64, biked 4:54 (206W) and ran 3:16). I’ll try not to speculate on the opposite scenarios. Going in without a true “competitive” mindset may be a benefit in keeping a more even and conservative race. We’ll see if I can hold myself to that.

The biggest significance of this race is that I think it will be my last Ironman race. This isn’t for lack of loving the sport, nor enjoying what goes into it. I think the one reason would be categorized under opportunity cost, from both a time and financial perspective. The second categorized under an emotional strain category, both upon myself and upon others.

Everyone chooses how they spend their time and the past year I have found that the time commitments to “adulting” (category under which house maintenance/improvements, work, bills etc fall under), running B-Nuts and Hill Valley Farm and general “life” stuff, left less time for “living” activities. I know “over-busy” is the American way, but I don’t want it to be ours. The prioritizing of time management has changed and I feel triathlon needs to take a back seat.

The nature of endurance training and racing is that it requires a huge time commitment and is a very self-centered activity. As isn’t uncommon for an athlete that excels the sport, it becomes intertwined with the daily aspects of life. It is essentially required for an athlete that has big aspirations. I’m not in the sport to be mediocre and I don’t as much enjoy racing just to complete a race. I know that most of the time my mood is dictated by my current state of training/not training. My family, and in particular Brittany, live with the results of this and do an amazing job tolerating it. Brittany does the most incredible job supporting my efforts and putting up with my mood swings. She knows how I tick and happily goes along with my endeavors. But I don’t want it to reach a point of contention in our relationship.

Having said all of that I’m not saying I’m done with triathlon, only that I think I will step back for some to be determined period of time. I’ll still do some smaller races. So for my time here on the Big Island I am going to enjoy the experience and the opportunity. Thank you to all who have helped me get this far.

My bib number is 1997. This link will take you to the event page and find the “live tracking” link.