Big Kahuna Triathlon - Triathlon1/2 Ironman

This was the scariest Open Water Swim of the year for me. I didn't have any opportunity to practice any Open Water "Ocean swims", and needless to say none in 55F-temperature water.

The stress was palpable to me in the week and day before this race. It was no small cause of concern, and there were moments where I didn't know if I wanted to toe the starting line--as I like to have practiced everything before race day. But, I know I wasn't going to be able to not race today.

Neverthless, I turned in a surprising (to me) performance. Swimming a pretty fast pace--while staying completely aerobic. I was seriously anticipating a 40-42 min. swim time, so the 35:47 I swam was a welcome bonus.

While waiting for my wave, I overheard two soundingly veteran racers of this course analyzing the previous waves. They had determined that the currrent (judging by the boats and course-corrections by swimmers in the previous waves) was moving from left-to-right. They both agreed to start out wide-left to avoid unnecessary course corrections. I followed suit.

One thing I had problem with was cleaning out my goggles after the warm-up. They had fogged up, and repeated attempts to clear them out with ocean water and de-fot them with spit (defog drops being back at my bike rack) failed to get them clean. One waiting swimmer was nice enough to splash some fresh water on my goggles for me to help me get the very find sand out.

Practice in the Race-day environment, at least once or twice. Use a neoprene hood under my swim cap, would even consider booties (are they USAT-legal?). I had brought mine, but in a bonehead maneuver forgot them in my Transition bag. Bring freshwater and de-fogger to the swim start--even if it means losing my bottle of de-fogger (Note: whatever you do, don't try to clear out fine-sand filled goggles with your fingers. My outdoor shaded goggles are not ruined by the scratches).

The T1 included the 1/4-mile run up Pacific Ave. from the Swim Exit to the Transition Area. I stashed a pair of beach flip-flops at the Swim Exit, so as to prevent stepping on foreign object that could be a potential race-ruiner.

I thoroughly washed off my feet with a purpose-filled water bottle, dried them, and put on socks and my cycling cleats. Put on my arm-warmers, as I had read it can get chilly on the bike. Didn't quite need gloves, but glad I had the arm warmers. Downed my first Gel, and hit the start button on my indispensable Powertap computer. I was pretty close to the bike Exit, so I ran in my cleats to the Exit.

Not much.

Okay, my plan for this bike leg was to keep my average Watts at below 185. I knew, of course, the occasional out-of-saddle effort and shorter steep grades would require more juice, but for as much as possible to goal was to keep the AVERAGE below 185. Due to the flatness of much of the course, I was able to keep the real-time Watt readings in the range of 135-160 and maintain a good pace. Towards the end of the ride, I let it rip (that is let my real-time Watts exceed 185, up to 250) a little.

Nutrition Wise: the plan was 1 Accel Gel (Gel with protein) at top of every hour, 1 PowerBar 4x Sodium at every 0:20, and 1 GU Gel at every 0:40. Worked like a charm. Had no cramps or melt-down on the run--as I consumed sufficient calories, electrolytes, and sodium on the bike.

I consumed approximately 2.5 Aero Drink bottles--not quite as much in training, but then again this bike leg was in fairly cool weather.

Made 1 pit-stop on the side of the road.

Not much.

Had to make a quick pit-stop in the port-o-potty before heading out of T2, figuring there wasn't going to be much opportunity to go out on the run. Very glad I did.

Not much.

I felt very strong on the run until about mile 8. The power-savings race-plan on the bike paid big dividends on the run to this point. Kept my HR in a good zone, and paced myself.

At about mile 8, my hamstrings and glutes started screaming. I dialed the pace back a bit, and this helped, until about mile 11-12. At mile 12, I had to stop and stretch twice to avoid totally locking up.

Nutrition-wise, whatever the aid stations were selling, I was buyin'. Water, yup. HEED electrolyte drink, sure. Hammer Gel, ok. Walked about every other station.

More long bike+run bricks prior to any HIM. But, hey, with a PR 1:55 for the standalone-half-mary, how could i complain about a 2:03 half-mary at the end of Half-iron distance race?

Walking around the finish area, finding wife and kids (well, one of the kids, as my daughter Jordan ran through the finisher's chute with me).

I walked down the 51F-water, and waded in it for about 5 minutes before heading up to rinse-off in the outdoor showers, grab my bike and gear out of the T/A and stow everything in the car.


Leg strength and stamina.


Awesome race. Perfect "first" HIM for anyone considering going this distance, as the bike is fairly flat and so is the run. And, when the weather is somewhat cool like today, you get fast times.

You need to practice cold-water-ocean swimming prior to this race. Its not an absolute requirement (obviously, I didn't); but it would be a big confidence booster.

As a bonus, Michellie Jones raced this race today, and we all saw her around the T/A and on the course. Very cool to have the reigning Kona champ at your race.