Ford Ironman 70.3 Honu - Triathlon1/2 Ironman

The swim director recommended at yesterday's meeting that it was better to start at pin end in the water. I went out five minutes before and treaded water easy off the line a bit. A lot of people piled up on the beach and then ran through the gate and down the beach, I guess to shorten the swim distance but I was pretty happy with where I started. I'm not entirely sure that it wasn't a false start. I never heard the canon but all of the sudden everyone was going so I just started too. The director had also said to go wide on the first buoy to avoid the inevitable pile up. I aimed a little wide and ended up in position to swing around. The pack near me then seemed to turn too much and maybe mistook the third buoy for the second so I bailed out of the lemming frenzy and headed for the second mark. There were still a lot of people around but the pack sort of settled out at this point. I just navigated and tried to conserve energy while putting out a good effort.

My navigation was pretty good. I tried to site the next mark but a few times just had to follow the pack due to sun angle on water and distance to mark. Amazingly, the water was still beautifully clear so I could site the buoy then look down and orient myself for a bit based on the angle of the sand ripples on the bottom. That was wonderful. I did get off course and lost the pack over at the short leg back towards the beach in the north cove but just vectored back.

I was able to draft quite a bit and found one draft for the last leg that I slowed down a bit for just to conserve energy. I snuck out for a minute and was able to see the incredible difference it made in effort and decided it best just to save myself for the rest of the day.

It was over before I knew it! I can't believe my time given the effort I put out. I had been a little freaked about the shot gun start when Matt told me about it a week ago but I felt good when I got down to the beach. The conditions were so good and it felt like a dawn surf patrol

The sun was well up by the time we started so I used the smoked lens goggles with J&J for anti fog. Oh swim director also had a great tip - put your goggles on first and then your swim cap so if you get kicked, your chances of losing them is less.

More pool time would have helped me but given where I was at, I can't say I would change much.

It was a bit of a run up the hill to T1. I did stop and take a quick rinse with provided hose shower and then hoofed it up to transition. I didn't have to change because I went with tri suit option. This was a good call. All I really had to do was throw my swim cap and goggles in my provided transition bag. It was empty because I had already put my helmet with glasses and camp chamois towel in it on top of my aero bars. It was a little dicey jumping on bike out of transition because it was straight up hill out of park. Matt had told me a couple of days earlier to maybe try pedaling on top of the shoes until getting up the hill and onto the Queen K. I did this and then got into my shoes. I think this was a good call.

Nothing.

I had a good ride. Nguyen passed me pretty early on and I thought about chasing him but I decided that would be foolish. While I could have perhaps pushed a little harder, I think it may have spelled disaster for me on the run. He went on to have a stellar day with a 5:01 race, scoring a spot to Kona. That kind of race was not in my cards.

My legs started feeling a little crampy on the last few hills up to Hawi and I was getting a little concerned. My hydration was good as I took water at each aid station and I figure I took in around a hundred ounces, perhaps 124. I took the bottles, squeezed them into my aero bottle, took a swig, sprayed some on my head and then tossed the bottle. My down tube cage had six scoops of Perpetuem mixed in a 28 ounce bottle and marked with nine ounce marks for each hour. I finished the first two alloted sections as planned but still had maybe three ounces in bottle at end but then I finished ahead of my three hour plan. I took two Endurolytes per hour. I had two hammergel shots as well. Figure around 310 cal/h.

I had hoped for anywhere from 2:50 to 3:10 so am pretty pleased with my time. I bombed the downhill back down from Hawi and bridged the gap back up to the next group. At this point came the pee question. I was so hydrated that it was clear I was going to have to go at some point in the race. I decided to go for it because I figured I would need all the time I could get when it came time to run. It was perfect because it was downhill and an aid station was coming up so I could somewhat rinse off. So yes ladies and gentlemen, I was flying downhill, out of the saddle, with one leg stuck out trying to channel the flow somewhat away from my shoes. Sad to say, this was mostly unsuccessful for my right shoe. But it was worth it! And yes, Tizz, I checked twice to make sure no one was behind me;)

Oh I remember asking a race volunteer to remove the hill just past Kawaihae and back up to Queen K:)

I would have liked to try hammering a bit harder on hills but as I said, I think this could have been disastrous later.

I was a little cooked so I took a little longer sorting through my stuff. Its a bit of blur but I remember looking in my bag or checking on something twice. The pavement was hot! I had to jump on top of my shoes to put my socks on. I rolled them again and that helped. Oh I remember what I fumbled on...I had been a little uncertain about nutrition on run so had stuffed some extra gel packs in my other pocket. First pocket had a four shot gel flask. Then I realized that I needed the other pocket for my Fuel water flask so I ditched the gels. I also put in my little ziploc of Endurolytes from my Bento bag.

Nail nutrition needs better so I could be better organized.

I came out and ran an 8:43 on the first mile. I wasn't used to running in a group and it seemed the entire world was passing me so my pacing was off. I didn't really intentionally slow down so much as survival instinct kicked in when I realized that there were 12.1 of these puppies left to hunt down before the bad man would go away.

After the first aid station, I started walking them or right out of them so I could fill my Fuel bottle. I did two Endurolytes right off the bat and then two more around mile 4(?) before I lost the bag when I pulled one of the flasks out of the pocket. I was overheating and my legs felt horrible after about three miles. The sponges helped but I ended up with soggy shoes around mile four. My laces felt loose once I was soggy.

I wanted to stop really badly a few times but other than the aid stations, I only allowed myself to walk the hills. I walked the top of one hill but was able to kick it back in. It was amazing to see so many people yo-yo past me. All guys, one minute on fire, the next minute walking, then they'd pass me again later. I just wanted to do a slow steady pace. A 75 year old guy passed me just to add to my sense of well being. I didn't mind that. The 51 year old guy who was talking to himself about pushing harder and sounded like he was going to have a heart attack while he stabbed his toes into the ground -squeak squeak- welllll thats a different story. He went behind me around mile 5...only to return about mile 11.5. I tried to heat it up when I heard those poor sneakers squealing in pain but then just let him go. This was either right before or right after the final attack by a guy who I'd been yo-yo'ing with. I thought he was in my AG but looking at the results now, he wasn't. But on his heels was my new Bataan Death March buddy, Chris. Chris was definitely in my AG as we'd been commiserating and cheering each other on for the last seven miles. I let them go because it was a long, slow up hill (hellish) and my IT was starting to show preliminary signs of acting up. I maybe could have gritted it out but usually when it goes, it goes and thats it. I didn't want to have to walk the last mile and I definitely didn't want to screw up my future training with an injury. I was bummed about not responding to that attack after the race...until just now when I saw that the lead guy wasn't in my AG. I'm good with conceding a place to Chris. The male ego is such a complicated thing:)

Around mile ten, I started to feel like I might cramp up or like I wasn't getting enough water. I started taking the evil Gatorade along with water at this point.

Laps by mile
1 8:43
2 9:16
3 9:39
4 9:47
5 9:17
6 10:32
7 10:09
8 10:45
9 11:08
10 10:53
11 11:28
12 11:10
F 9:43 (13.1)

Uhhhhh run faster. No seriously, I guess I just need to continue to increase my running fitness/endurance. I also need to figure out what went on with liquids. Did I overhydrate the last few days? I don't think so. Did I not take in enough salt and electrolytes the last few days? I don't think so. I think I only took 2-3 gel shots on the run though and that could have been part of it. I could have trained on more short, steep hills as well as in more heat. I was glad that I had run the soccer field at King though. That helped when we were running the sections on the grass of the golf course.

Yeah right...Sheila was waiting at the finish line and I bailed out right at the end of the gate. I leaned over to regroup and then headed straight over to the shade. I slowly revived with water, bananas, pretzels and Endurox. I couldn't take all the Endurox as it tends to upset my stomach when I've pushed beyond my limits.

We pigged out on a nutritious dinner of pizza, fries and a Blizzard at Waikoloa Village because we didn't feel like selling someone's child to eat another meal at the hotel :)


Experience and my run.


Totally psyched!