Big Kahuna Triathlon - Triathlon1/2 Ironman

My best swim ever! As I said, I was very concerned about the swim after the awful experience in CDA, so I started superconservatively. I lined up at the very end of the corral and I was probably the last guy of my wave to dive into the water. Instead of sprinting as I've done in all my races so far, I just started very slowly, with long and smooth strokes. I immediately noticed that this time I was not hit by the "panic attack" I usually have after the first 100 meters (most likely caused by hypoxia due to the anaerobic effort in combination with cold water shock). I was actually feeling pretty good and I picked up the pace, still trying to maintain long and steady strokes. At about 1/2 of the peer, I realized I had passed half of the guys in my wave, so things were really looking good. At the turnaround I started passing people from prior waves, and I kept doing that on the way back home. When I was approaching the beach, I felt a big wave coming in and I just rode it all the way till I landed on the sand. What a perfect exit: I just had to stand up and start running. This was by far my best swim. I shaved 2 minutes from my prior swim PR, which was last year at the Vineman 70.3 (a much easier swim, in the warm and still waters of the Russian river, virtually no navigation skills required).

Nothing! I think I finally found a way to put together a decent swim.

As usual I struggled with my wetsuit. Even though I sprayed my feet and ankles with lube before the swim, the damn thing got stuck in my heels. It took me more than a minute to get rid of it.

The bike mount was very good. Since the bike starts uphill on Cliff drive, I ran with the bike till the road leveled. Then I jumped on the bike and put my feet into the shoes. I was much faster than the folks who clipped their shoes at the bike mount and had to fight with the climb.

Cut a couple of inches from my wetsuit legs to avoid further "stuck on heels" issues. It's pretty old so I can afford to cut it.

I was pretty conservative on the bike. I tried to stay in Z3 as much as possible, slowing down significantly on the hills and hammering the downhills to keep my HR constant. Despite being conservative, on the way out I felt I was riding very fast, probably a 23 mph average, which is a lot for me. I was wondering why I was going to fast without pushing hard. At the turnaround at Pigeon Point I realized why: a pretty strong southerly wind was pushing me. Unfortunately after the turnaround it turned into a nasty headwind. So I just slowed down to keep my HR in Z3, driving my average down to 20.4 mpg. About 8 minutes after the turnaround I spotted Lucia on her way out. She was going fast, but she was up for a nice surprise at the turnaround :)

Despite the wind, I still managed to complete the ride about 1.5 minutes faster than my prior PR of 2:45:55(again at the 2010 Vineman 70.3), with far less effort.

Nothing. A conservative ride is key to a good run and overall finish. I'll just stick to that, even though my ride times look subpar.

I think I did a pretty spectacular dismount judging from the "Wow"s I heard from the spectators. Flying mounts and dismounts are real time savers. Beside, running barefoot in transition is so much safer and faster. Just put my shoes on grabbed the visor and number belt and started running. To bad I headed to the bike out instead of the run out, wasting a good 20 seconds in the process... :(

Run towards the right exit :)

After a perfect swim and a good bike, I could not have ended the race without a perfect run! Once again I started conservatively, trying to keep my HR in Z3. The pace was around 7:15/7:30, which was a bit fast, but both the HR and RPE indicators were telling me that the effort was well within limits. As usual, I immediately started reeling in people. Most of the guys (and the gal) that passed me on the bike had slowed down considerably on the run, and I picked them up one by one. I played again the "passed people count" game I experimented at CDA, and I ended up passing 50 racers. At mile 3 or 4 I reached a 60 yrs old guy who had passed me on the bike. I slowed down a bit and chatted a bit with him. I congratulated him for his performance (he was kicking my but even if he started two waves after mine) and I learned he was headed to Kona and this was just a warmup race for him. Simply amazing! I congratulated him again and picked up my pace. The rest of the run was pretty uneventful, till I crossed Lucia around mile 9. She looked good, but she had lost quite some time since we met earlier on the bike. I guess she had'n recovered completely from the Full Vineman, and fatigue was settling in. At about mile 10 I realized that I could have finished under 5 hrs, but I had to push harder for that. So I increased the pace to 6:50/7:10. The effort increased substantially, as reflected by the HR now solidly in Z4. The following is the train of my thoughts as they unfolded in my mind during the home stretch: Last few miles. The peer is now in sight. Pick up the pace a bit because now it's downhill all the way to the beach. THE BEACH. The last 2000 ft of an 1/2 marathon on a beach. That's sadistic! 4:59:00 and there is still 200 m to cover. All out sprint on the finish chute. Pure agony... But who cares, I did it! 4:59:47. Another personal best, 1:38, 8 min faster than my prior PR at 2010 Vineman 70.3...

You remember the 60 yrs old guy? Well he finished about 5 minutes after me, but he still managed to kick my butt with a 4:53 finish. After all he's going to Kona, while I'm going home with my PR ;)

Do the math a bit earlier to avoid running the last part of a half ironman run at 10 K pace :p

Walked on the beach all the way to the peer and did some stretching while I was waiting for Lucia. She showed up after 15 min and I re-run the final beach stretch with her and finished together. Nice picture, I guess :)


Nothing. My best performance ever.


This was my first Big Kahuna and I just loved it. The venue is great, the courses are awesome, volunteers are superb, and the food at the finish is the best I've ever had (chicken and pork tacos, lots of fresh fruit, no junk food).