KONA - Rough Day out there!

So I guess in triathlon you have good days and bad days; when it comes to the longer races it really comes down to how you manage your day and the situations you find yourself in. Race day in Kona did not go to plan.  Unfortunate but I still managed to get through the day. I am proud of myself for getting through the day but still a bit disappointed. In saying that though, if you had asked me 12 months ago if I would be happy with a 10:09 at Kona I would have said I would be ecstatic; it is interesting how goals and expectations move the goal posts!

The day before I left New Zealand I got a lucky break; I had a bolt fail in my headset that meant that my whole bar setup came loose. This would have meant pretty much  ‘game over’ if it had happened on race day, so was happy to get this bit of luck and have the failure on a training ride, although it did mean that I had to call mum to come pick me up! (Thanks mum!)

The weeks between Ironman Canada and Kona, I had really been just trying to recover, while trying to keep some intensity in my training. Unfortunately a nagging hip injury meant that I only ran 40kms between the 2 races. I wondered if this would catch up with me on race day.

Anyway, with some approved leave and best wishes from my friends, family and co workers I headed off to Kona, the long way through Sydney.

Race week in Kona was amazing, I arrived in Kona on the Friday before race week, to complete a Pre-race camp organised by Life Sport Coaching.

The camp involved 4 seminars each run by one of the life sport coaches, then completing part of the course in each of the disciplines. This camp was well run and there were some pointers that I took out of the camp that I doubt I would have worked out on my own.

There were seminars on Nutrition, Swim, Bike and Run.

Then we had a bike session up to the turnaround at Haw’i, which was an eye opener!   In September I had made a facebook status update.

70kms of riding in gusty wellington wind afterwork today... Kona has nothing on the wellington wind... I hope I don't make La'amaomao the Hawaiian wind god Mad!!

Yep, Windy Wellington.  But getting up to Haw’i, this place was crazy. I think La’amomao was getting payback for my comments.  Gusts of wind coming off the volcano would blow you clear across the lane and almost into incoming traffic.  While most of the athletes were terrified, Dan (life sport coach) and I loved it, and were smiling at the turn around. This I thought would be perfect race day conditions, as most athletes would not stay aero in these conditions, where I like at ironman Canada would enjoy them. One of the age groupers on the camp had a new Trek with the integrated toolkit and a speedfill bottle attached, along with some bontanger 909 type wheels. Her bike was literally being picked up off the road and moved over about a meter before being put back down.

The next day we went for a morning group swim, practicing warm up drills and race start strategies. . It was a great swim session trying to hold on to some fast girls in our group. Although this perhaps didn’t show in my race results, the swim strategies were valuable and will be incorporated into my future race plans.

Later that day we went for a run up at the energy lab. It had been a cool day in Kailua Kona but the Lab was stinking hot and the Lifesport crew had set up a small drinks station. We just ran some repeats at ironman and half ironman pace, this was the first time that I had run in over a week because of my sore hips so I was glad to get through the session.

The next day Celine and I went Scuba Diving, it was awesome!! Manta rays at night, it was so much fun and a great distraction from what was to come during the week.

Race Week

I was staying on Ali’i drive which was great; I was glad though that I was not in a hotel or at the roadside as during the week there were just so many people thrashing themselves up and down the road. It was also great having some coaches nearby who I could ask any last minute questions.

Race day.

Race day dawned and you could tell it was going to be sunny, and that it was going to be hot! The day started with the alarm going off, and going to the bathroom and then a bowl of oatmeal and half a bagel. We then rolled down to the race start at about 5:15 to get body marked. One cool thing at Kona is that everyone gets body marked with stamps and not markers so everyone has these really cool looking, uniform numbers on their arms, (and white numbers after the race from sunburn everywhere but their numbers).

After I got ready and was in line for the bathroom, I noticed the NZ race organiser and she took a photo and wished me luck. She was so excited for me it was crazy.  The line I was in was right at the pro start line so I got a great view of the start, quickly went to the bathroom and tried to get to the start line.

The swim at Kona starts about 150m from shore, in deep water but before you get there you have negotiate a set of stairs that are about 2m wide. So there are 1800ish age groupers having to negotiate these stairs to get in the water between the pro start and the age group start this is the only way in as there is a timing mat that you have to cross.

I didn’t get in line early enough and ended up only getting in the water 10 mins before the swim start which meant that I didn’t quite get in the warm up that I had hoped for. I smashed out about 5*25 hard then tried to negotiate my way towards the front of the swim start. Because of the deep water start and limited buoyancy you needed to tread water to keep your head above the water; this resulted in constantly getting kicked in the calf, not great as I would need them for later in the day!

The countdowns started, 5 minutes, 3 minutes, 90 seconds, 60 seconds.  At this point I tried to make some space by getting my legs up behind me and tried to encourage the others around me to do the same. This seemed to work until the gun went off. This was the most crazy swim start; without the buoyancy of a wetsuit when you get hit you definitely go under; I just kept my head down and kept swimming hard. I was trying to grab onto some feet to draft but was not very successful. I found some clear water when the athletes that were lined up on the left hand side of the ford explorer on the start line converged and it was like the start all over again.  I had people pulling on my shoulders, pulling me backwards and grabbing my ankles to pull themselves forward. I was like’ hey, don’t you know you should be avoiding contact’.  Just before the turn I managed to get into a rhythm then made the turn wide to home, I swam wide the whole swim probably swimming an extra 200-300m, not ideal.

Coming back to shore was a great feeling. I could hear the roar of the crowd about 800m from shore. I was guessing that the top age groupers were getting out of the water.  As I swam towards the stairs to exit the water, I was cut off by a swimmer and got a good elbow right in the chin; this had not been the best start to the day, but hey it was over and now it was onto the bike.

I had been trying to figure out all week how hard to push the bike. I had had a couple of discussions with athletes and coaches and everyone pretty much said to stay patient.  This was tough to do and although I didn’t smash the bike I still rode solid, ensuring that I was using a lot of water for cooling. My bike setup had 1 aero bottle, 2 bottles behind the seats and 1 bottle on the down tube.  Each aid station I would grab 1 bottle of perform (Powerbar drink) and up to 3 bottles of water to use for cooling between aid stations, most of the time I was emptied before I had left the aid stations.

On the way to Hawi’i there was not much wind and on the smooth pavement the bike was moving along nicely. There were a few people drafting but I only saw 2 penalties issued, even when drafting was occurring right under the officials’ noses. This was disappointing as it made me wonder what was happening up the road; the bike was going well but I was having trouble eating the same amount as I had during IM Canada. I guess it’s a hotter day, and your body is trying to complete 3 functions in your race; Digestion, Cooling, and moving forward.  It seems that the first thing that your body diverts energy from is the digestion function.

Anyway, there was a pretty strong wind on the way up the hill into Hawi’i. To be honest I was hoping the wind would be stronger, like the camp. I was passing people up the hill though, getting to the turnaround was great  knowing that there was a long decent but coming up to get my special needs bag a 7 year old had mine and although I was calling my number, he failed to hand it to me! I love volunteers but perhaps 7yrs old is a bit young!  I stopped counting at about 25 riders as they came past and went back for my bag. A little frustrated I grabbed my gel flasks, and pushed back to the downhill section; passing riders that I had already passed on my way to Hawi’i. At IM Canada, because there are slower people in the field it’s a lot easier to pass people. At Kona, most people are strong on the bike, so you do spike your heart rate passing each person, so having to do it again was frustrating. 

Anyway the Downhill section was great, wind blowing across the road and people out of aero position. I was hoping for worse wind but this was still one of my strongest sessions of the race.  For the most part the rest of the ride into town was a headwind; I was still passing people with the occasional age grouper still screaming past me. Heading through the lava fields, now I noticed that I was getting very sore in the undercarriage; I had worn away the skin where you really need skin in the place where my body weight rests on my seat when I am putting down power.   I tried to take my mind of it by reminding myself to enjoy the experience as 120,000 had attended qualifying races and I was here!

 On the way back to Kailua there were people lining the streets; whenever we passed a resort there was tons of cheering; it was a great feeling to be a part of this race.

Riding back into town I could hear the cheering; I jumped off my bike, and ran with my cycle shoes on towards transition running on the green carpet. The run is quite long with a loop of the pier, as I was running, the volunteers were telling me to slow down and that the corners were slippery, as I ran around the last corner it was wet and I slid over and cracked my hip on the concrete, this meant my transition was a little slower than I had hoped. Not quite the smooth and fast transitions that I had at IM Canada.

Heading out onto the run I was feeling ok; not super strong but ok. I was trying to keep my cadence high but could not get my legs going. I was trying to get going but the first 10kms I struggled .There was no cramp but my leg turnover was slow and I didn’t feel like I pushed too hard on the bike, I was trying to make it hurt but I just couldn't run fast!

Running along Ali’i drive the support was great; the aid stations were well placed but I was getting hot, and 

unlike other ironmans, NO ONE was walking.  I noticed a familiar face in front of me and passed the fourth place getter in my age group at ironman Canada. We had a bit of a chat and then I continued; on the way back to town I passed signs that Celine had written on the road, GO KIWI GO, GO TONY GO, GO 1627.

The day was getting hotter; I wore a cap for this reason as I was able to put ice in it at each aid station and put it back on.  Ice was going everywhere; I mean everywhere, down my top, down my pants; anywhere that I thought that it would help me cool down.

Now I started doing something that I was not doing at Ironman Canada, I started walking the aid stations. I was just trying to cool down; this meant though that I was drinking more, and I could feel my stomach growing. I had gone to the bathroom in T2 but now I was getting a little uncomfortable.  I was not drinking much water but a mixture of coke and perform, with some salt tabs. I passed Celine for the second time as I headed up the steep hill up to the Queen K and the run through the lava fields to the energy lab.

The energy lab turnaround is about 12kms from town so about 24kms of the marathon was still to come. I have heard reports that the Queen K was 44 degrees while I was out there! I don’t know how accurate that is but I can tell you that it was bloody hot!  I was not really slowing down but I was not running any faster. As I reached the energy lab I needed to go to the bathroom bad!  I found a portaloo, and it was not nice, I know this is too much information but it was like a waterfall! Not good!  I hurried out of the bathroom and hit the turnaround I noticed that my friend Jeremy had gained a lot of time on me and was only about 1km behind me; he would definitely catch me, he looked strong. As I reached the queen K again I tried to take a salt tab as it went to my stomach I felt it coming back up. I proceeded to power chuck all over the road. This really was not good; I felt better for about 10 minutes and I was still running the same speed as I had started.  Jeremy ran past me and said “run with me”. There was no chance of this happening.  I said “make sure you break 10 hours mate!”  as I had done the math and I figured the bathroom break and walking the aid stations had cost me too much time to make it myself. 

I had several goals the last of which was to finish, I was no having trouble keeping anything down coke and water were both making me sick, I would still take them but they would not stay down for long.

The nice thing about the run back to town was that you were running into the wind which ment that there was some respite from the heat, running up the last big hill there was a tour group with some germans with a loud hailer, as I ran past the first couple I said “up up up” and they all started chanting, it was pretty cool and I am sure there encouragement helped me up that last big hill before the downhill section, as I got to the last 1 km section, I pulled up the zip on my tri top, and tired to enjoy the last bit of the run, this truly had been a tough day my toughest in triathlon, but I really wanted to enjoy the last few moments. Running into the finish shoot I got a cheer from the Life Sport team, and then gave a bunch of high 5s to the kids lined up, Saw Celine, grabbed a NZ flag, and ran to the finish.  I was happy to be done!

Total                      10:09:56
Swim                     1:08:59
Bike                       5:10:48
Run                        3:41:46

So thanks to everyone for their support, friends and family have been great with facebook posts, emails, phone calls and txts, it has been great to hear from you all so thanks again.

Matt, thanks again for your wheels and training over the past few months.
Mum thanks for looking after me for the past few months.
Celine thanks for letting me “go for it”
NZ Police Council of Sport for the support you offered me.
NZ Police Management, thanks for the support.
LifeSport Thanks for helping me out at short notice for accommodation and information you provided.