I started up front this year, with the goal being to fight for the inside line because the current naturally pushes you out to sea. With a mass start, and the sun in your eyes, it's easy to just follow the pack and swim wide like I did last year, so I vowed it wouldn't happen again.

Lots of contact at the beginning, but that's what I expected for starting in the first 10 rows of a 1500 mass start. The first 2 buoys were just a huge bottleneck. I had to swim under the first buoy.

After the second turn, it's long half mile swim parallel to shore...and I was on the inside just where I wanted to be. But eff me, I still swam way out wide as the pack chased a buoy that got loose. I looked up and noticed the paddle boarders were 200 yards to my right, and had to swim at a 45 degree angle back to shore instead of parallel to it just to get back on line. It was crazy and I was pissed for making the same mistake as last year...but at least this year it was because of a buoy (that I never saw...just the pack was chasing it and I followed).

I got back on course and found Burt in the water. We finished up together and I was expecting to see something like 42 minutes...which would still be 2.5 minutes faster than last year. But when I saw sub 39...I was pretty stoked.

Standings
1. Keiko 31:40
2. Astro 34:40
3. Stan 37:07
4. Andrew 38:47
5. Burt 38:48
6. Me 38:54

Note...everyone swam faster this year despite all of us going wide. The course may have been short, but that's tris right?

Swim the actual course. Don't follow the pack, and don't sight the buoys as they are too small...use the paddle boarders to sight. The worst thing that can happen then is you cut inside and they tell you to go back out pretty quickly.

I could have swam harder, but I was just focused on drafting and conserving energy so I could hammer the bike.

Slow jog up the hill to transition. Could have moved faster here, but this wasn't a sprint. I saw Burt pull away, and figured I wouldn't see him again unless he fell apart on the run as he's a stronger biker, but is coming off a running injury in January. Took extra time to put on socks. The extra time used was saved in T2. Almost tipped over mounting as I decided to clip in with my right foot first since the pedal was up, even though I always clip in left first. Wouldn't have been a problem but the mount line was right on a pretty steep hill. People told me there were tons of people who tipped over there. Not sure why they moved the mount line from last year which was before the hill.

I saw Andrew coming out to the mount line and said he had a bad swim and went out wide too. He must have gone out farther than me as I expected him to be out of the water 3 minutes before me. But as we started even on the bike, I knew I was going to put time on him as that's my advantage, where the run is his.

Take the extra 1 second to clip into my left pedal first instead of my right.

Rode just under 2:50 last year at a decent but conservative effort and followed it up with probably the best run in a tri I ever had. Which told me that I didn't bike hard enough...but for my first HIM, that was the plan.

So this year, after building up my bike fitness even more, the plan was to HAMMER! My original goal was to ride under 2:40, but with the winds, I didn't think it was possible. I would have taken 2:45. I rode at 160 bpm last year, so this year I wanted to push it a little more, but would go more off feel than an exact number.

Out of T1, my HR is naturally sky high in the mid 170's. I feel good though, and just ride comfortable knowing my HR will eventually settle. It's a tail wind the first 5 miles, so I'm just burying my head flying by people. I make the turn around, and there's the wind slowing you down to 14-16 mph at points. My HR is settling in the mid 160's, closer to 170 on some of the short climbs, but again, I feel good, so I just go with it. I start working my flask at 25 minutes into the bike, and things are going great. I pass by Stan at mile 10, and blow by him pretty easily. Like Andrew, he's a good runner, so I have to put some time into him. Turns out though that Stan slipped and fell coming out of the swim near the showers and hit his head. He took the first 10 miles easy debating if he should withdraw. Thankfully he was okay.

I make a consious effort to stay low. After reading Bryan's IMSG report, I made sure to stay on my bars and only look up when needed. As bad as the winds were, we basically had a 20 foot wide lane to work with, so getting blown isn't really that bad if you just accept it. The people who got scared and sat up on the horns suffered that much more.

Flew by Keiko at Kawaihae. She's a solid biker, but she was going way too easy and not riding aero. I know she's a solid runner, but it was looking like I was going to put 20 minutes on her for the rest of the bike...it was actually more than that, and she was out of the running.

As I got up near Hawi, the winds kicked up even more...steady 25-30, gusting to 40+. It was funny watching people leaning 15 degrees to the right while only going 12 mph. Again, I just buried my head and pushed on. The only time I got out of my bars was to drink or eat.

After the turn around, it was like a roller coaster. I was FLYING. Again, I just put my head down, no fear, and dropped the hammer as people death gripped their bull horns. Was I scared...hell yeah, but I didn't bust my butt all year just to race like a pussy. I got blown more than a few times, but nothing I couldn't handle. I could also feel the tail of my aero helmet getting pushed sideways at times...almost to the point where it might have flew off if I didn't have my chin strap. Overall, my 404's held up good...but I think a 404/808 combination would have been more stable.

At mile 40, I caught back up to Burt. He's normally a stronger biker than me, but he said he almost crashed from the crosswinds and had to sit up for a while. He pulled back ahead, but I kept him within sight till the finish.

Overall, I raced hard...definately borderline too hard, but that was the goal. My legs did want to go harder during the end, and I had to hold back a little knowing I still had to run. I knew my time would be in the 2:40 range, so I was stoked, and Burt was still within range. The wind was bad, but it didn't hurt you as much as you would think if you didn't let it kill you mentally and stayed on your bars. I also think since it was mostly crosswinds, faster bikers were not penalized as much due to straightening out the yaw angles.

Nutrition was about 5 gels, and 3 salt sticks. Water when needed. A lot less than last year, but it worked well.

Standings
1. Astro 3:14:58 (2:37:02)
2. Burt 3:21:40 (2:39:54)
3. Me 3:22:01 (2:39:06)
4. Stan 3:30:45 (2:50:10)
5. Andrew 3:36:37 (2:53:40)
6. Keiko 3:51:30 (3:15:17)

Nothing...I gambled, and I didn't bust out yet.

Good T2. They didn't have bike catchers this year, so you had to rack your bike. Not too bad though. Already having socks on helped.

Burt missed his rack spot due to bad volunteer directions. The volunteers were calling out numbers and pointing you where to go since this was a totally different transition area that the athletes had not seen prior to the race...so "athlete responsible for knowing..." didn't apply. So I left T2 before him.

Nothing

I ran 1:52:30 last year, and with some improved run fitness, was hoping to run 1:48ish.

Started running feeling pretty good, but had to take it easy as I could feel my quads may cramp. Burt quickly caught up to me, then pulled slightly ahead. Sub 8 the first mile, and slightly above 8's during mile 2 and 3. But then I realized mile 2 and 3 was with a tailwind, and BAM, BOOYAH, IN YO FACE...the effin wind. I've run into the wind before in training, but this was like nothing I've ever experienced. I actually thought it was worse than the bike. When I saw my pace going north of 9 minutes, and sometimes over 10, I first thought my legs were giving out, but Burt wasn't pulling away, so I knew the wind was killing everyone else too. I saw Stan on one of the out and backs, estimating I was over 6 minutes ahead, and he was coming.

People were passing me, but it was expected...Burt never got out of eyesight, and I made jokes about the wind to him as we passed each other on the turn arounds...like "I should have left my aero helmet on". Finally we turn back with the wind, and I was relieved to see 8:20's again.

At mile 7, I noticed I was slowly making ground on Burt, and thought to myself..."I got him". Within a half mile, we were shoulder to shoulder. He was hurting, so he slowed down to my pace, but wasn't ready to throw in the towel either. Mentally, I had nothing to make a move though as we were going through tough rollers and more wind, and our own little Iron War began. I told him to go if he felt good, but he refused...but he understood that we were still racing each other, so this wasn't a "lets finish together" party either.

At mile 8.5, we caught up to Astro. He was cramping bad. We just started the long road to nowhere into the wind and slightly downhill, and none of us could make a serious move. Astro would pull away, but then stop again to stretch while Burt and I held pace...as slow as it was (about 9:20
s). We hit the turnaround at mile 10 and it's tailwind and back up the hill. Mentally, it was releiving. I wasn't hurting with pain...just really tired, and the tailwind gave me that boost. With 5k to go, I made my move, dropped my pace down to 8:00 flat and Burt and Astro couldn't answer. I saw Stan and Andrew coming down. Andrew was quite a ways back, but Stan was closing in hard. It was an all or nothing move...1st or 4th...maybe even 5th if I blew up and Andrew could pass me.

As I exited that out and back, I looked behind and couldn't see Burt and Astro...I knew I put at least a minute on them in that 1.5 mile stretch, but still needed to hang on the last 1.5. We hit headwind again, and those last 1.5 were the longest miles of my life. I swear I looked at my garmin at least 40 times, and looke back at least 10.

One last look back with a half mile to go, and I knew I was home free. Struck a pose for Darrin folks who were spectating and enjoyed the run in. I was going to win this race amongst friends, and meet my overall time goal despite brutal conditions. 10 people must have passed me in that last stretch, but I didn't care. I came through the finish flexing my guns!

Final Standings
1. Me 5:17:21 (1:53:51)
2. Burt 5:18:34 (1:54:41)
3. Stan 5:19:59 (1:47:21)
4. Astro 5:20:25 (2:03:53)
5. Andrew 5:26:12 (1:46:41)
6. Keiko 5:53:53 (1:59:14)

Nothing. I think I could have gone a little faster, but I was actually racing other people, not really for time...and it was FUN! I probably should have backed off the bike a hair, to set up a slightly better run, but I couldn't let Burt gap me. If I let him get away on the bike or run, I may have given up. Pushing a little too hard to stay with him is what helped me push to the finish and avoid cracking mentally.

Waited around for everyone to come through and congratulated them on a great "race". You could hear the chatter amongst finishers about the day...so there was no doubt. Last year was talk about..."oh it was hot". Yeah...Kona is always hot, as it was this year. The talk was the wind.

Went back out a half mile from the finish with Darrin folks to cheer the rest of my training friends on...anxiously waiting for my GF to finish. I was originally thinking 6:15-6:30 for her, but knew that was out the window with the wind. She finally appeared with 2 of my other friends as they formed a mini pact to finish together...and did so with a nice run to the finish. Awesome.


Ok...for 95% of the field, the answer is the wind...and while the wind did slow me down, it also toughened me up...I think it also toughened up the pros too which is why you saw records fall. People who were not there can look at the faster times and make assumptions about what it was like, but anyone who did race will tell you just how EPIC the day was. But it was feast or famine. There were those who stepped up, and those who wilted under adversity. Also can't say how proud I am of my GF, who completed her first HIM in such conditions. I seriously thought she may not finish, or finish so far back that she may never want to do another long course race. But she persevered, and while slower than originally expected, finished with a smile, and quite respectable given the circumstances of her first HIM.


Great race. Lots of volunteers who were more than helpful.