Ironman 70.3 Hawaii

Goals - 04:39:00

Swim - 0:30:00; T-1 - 0:02:00; Bike - 2:30:00; T-2 - 0:02:00; Run - 1:35:00

Actual - 04:59:00

Swim - 0:34:43; T-1 - 0:04:32; Bike 2:31:15; T-2 - 0:02:30; Run - 1:46:38

Well I didn't hit my time goal; however I was able to hit my overall goal of qualifying for the 70.3 WC's in Clearwater, FL. I also gave myself a little break as I don't think anyone was prepared for the heat on the run, not to mention the 6 miles of running on the grass.



So the morning started when the alarm went off at 3:30am, I was up and had the bowl of Kashi Go Lean cereal got my stuff together and headed out to meet Joe and Kathy, who kindly lugged both Chris and I around the island for the weekend. We left the hotel at 4:00am and headed towards to the shuttle area at the hotel that sponsored the event (Fairmont Orchid). As we wee driving, about 20 minutes into the trip, I realized that I had left my computer head unit for the powertap in my hotel room. Frustrated, this was not a good start to race morning as I was relying heavily on using it to control the bike portion of the race. We got to the hotel and jumped on the shuttle and headed to the transition area and swim start at Hapuna Beach. I got all the goods setup with my bike in the transition area and headed down the hill to the beach to get tagged with my race number. After several more trips up and down the hill all was set in the transition area and I headed down for the last time to start the swim. I threw on the speedsuit and headed for the water, I thought I would do a quick water and gear check before the swim started, well good thing I did, I go to put on my goggles and "snap" there goes the strap. I head over to the marking area and notice some duct tape sitting on the aide table and use it to duct tape my goggles together, thank god for duct tape it can fix anything. Down to the water with about 5 minutes to the start, along with my white trash goggles. The swim was a mass start 1,313 people all taking off at the same time, this was my first mass start swim so I stood an analized the area a little before I decided to tuck in about 6 rows back from the start line, bad idea. I thought I was going to be the one getting swam over; however after getting to the first buoy I was still trying to swim through the slower swimmers, I should have started a little more towards the front. At the end of the swim I felt really good; however I looked down at my watch and noticed why I felt so good, the swim took 0:34:00 minutes which is not very good 33rd to be exact. Trying to forget about that and heading up the hill to the T-1 area where I knew I had to make some time up on the bike. I took my time in T-1 making sure everything was packed up and I had everything I needed for the bike which resulted in a terrible 04:30 minute T-1, not I didn't take a nap. Heading out of T-1 in 33rd place with some work ahead of me I jumped on the bike and was off. I was now in my comfort zone on the bike, we left Hapuna Beach and headed towards the Fairmont Orchid hotel were we would turn around and head North towards Hawi. Not having my computer I had to rely strictly on heart rate which I incorrectly assumed should be 167 bpm, which after the race I realized was my LT heart rate not my 1/2 ironman heart rate target, so maybe it was good that I didn't have the computer. I made it up to Hawi in pretty good time based on it's a gradual uphill the entire was along with direct head winds all the way to the top. Lucky for us the head winds turned once we got to the top of the hill and started blowing in the opposite direction which was another head wind, the only thing better than the head wind was the random burst of cross winds which almost blew the 808's off the road. I made it back to the Fairmont Orchid and into T-2 still feeling pretty well and passing 171 people on the bike, which I wouldn't have to do if I would get out of the water quicker. In to T-2 where the volunteers pointed me in the wrong direction as to where my bag with my running shoes was located. Once I found my stuff I tood a quick seat and struggled with the knot that they had decided to tie in the string of the bag, once I got that open I threw on the compression socks, worth the few extra seconds of putting them on, put on the running shoes and I was off. Welcome to the heat and humidity, my god was it hot and humid. We ran on a golf course, if you've been on a golf couse you will know that they don't design them to be flat. If running on the uneven surface wasn't bad enough the grass then concrete then asphalt then lava fields made for a challenging run. I took full advantage of each and every aide station by making sure that I consumed water and gatorade, also taking an ice sponge to keep the core temps down. The aide station that I remember the most was around mile 9 where they basically gave you an ice bath, thank you I needed that. I came off the run at 04:59:00 and a 9th place finish in my age group which got me a qualifying slot for Clearwater. If there's any question as to how hot it was at the golf course, the stickers melted on my zipp wheels while it was sitting in transition area. It was hot!