WHO SAYS GETTING OLDER SLOWS YOU DOWN?

On my eighth running of Ironman 70.3 Hawai’i (Honu), I had my fastest finish; Almost a full hour faster than my finish eight years ago. Every race is different with its own challenges, but the way one trains and eats has a pretty big impact, especially with age. I’ve made three big changes since my first race here including: seeing a nutritionist, hiring a knowledgeable coach, and being more consistent with my training throughout the year (except for that little six-week bump in the road in late September.) Any one of these on its own can bring about a boost in performance.

One benefit of racing the same race year after year is it can be used to gauge fitness and/or progress. Making Honu my repeat race ensures a Hawaiian vacation every year. This post is a recap of my race on June 4, 2016.

The race doesn’t just start when the cannon goes off, there are the small things in the week leading up

There is that darn upside 
down race #

to the race which can impact the day. This year I didn’t give myself the 10 days of hot climate adjusting here in Kona before the race as I have in years past. I did however make sure I was well hydrated in the days leading up to the race, and used OSMO preload the night before the race and in the morning with breakfast to ensure my electrolyte levels were sufficient. I’ve also trained myself to eat about 700 calories for breakfast on race day, which can be difficult at 4:30 am, quite a bit earlier than this retiree usually gets up in the morning.

The night before the race after eating a rather tasty meal of brown rice and grilled chicken (prepared by my husband,) my friend Leslie and I put on our race number tattoos before we went to bed. I put one on my right arm first and she pointed out that it was upside down. She was correct, but arguably from my angle looking down my arm it was right side up. I managed to get the second one on correctly and went to bed hoping the race would not turn into a comedy of errors.

The race swim start was broken up into waves, separated by gender and ages, with each wave having a different color swim cap. Several waves of men started, then women under 40 followed by my wave of women 40 and older. The course was a counter clockwise irregular rectangle with a deep water start. By the time I got through the second turn, I was swimming through all of the colors of swim caps that left before me. The Honu swim is in beautiful, warm, clear water at Hapuna Beach. On the back stretch of the swim I felt a cramp in my left foot, which I ignored and it resolved. The water was so warm, I was hot and wished I could have removed my swim cap. After the last turn I got a cramp in my right foot which went away fairly quickly. I did a good job of navigating this course and stayed close to the buoys, sighting ahead every six breaths.

After exiting the water, I ran easily enough in the deep sand that I wasn’t out of breath when I got to the paved path leading to the transition area. I was then able to run uphill all of the way to my bike which was racked at the top of the hill close to the bike exit. My swim time for the 1.2 miles was 37:47 and I didn’t know that I was in third place in my age group after the swim. One drawback of this race is the first-come-first-serve racking of the bikes in the transition area. When age groups are not all racked together it’s impossible to tell where you stand versus your competitors when you get out of the swim.

Early in the bike, at the turnaround on the Queen K,
to head up to Hawi.

Once on the Queen K Hwy, I quickly caught up with one of my training partners, Mary Kate. We rode the course just like we train. She dropped me like a hot potato on the climbs and I passed her on the downhills. Our bike splits ended up being less than two minutes apart and it was fun continually seeing her out there as well as several other friends who raced this year. The stand out feature of this bike ride was the lack of wind! Usually the cross winds are brutal and it’s a challenge to keep from being blown sideways. The bike is where I cut the 15 minutes off of my previous times in this race. I was amazed when I was dismounting my bike with a time of 2:49 for the 56 miles. I was in second place in my age group after the bike, but didn’t know it. If we had assigned racks together it would have been obvious that not many of my age group competitors had completed the bike portion of the race. Even though it shouldn’t make a difference, this knowledge MIGHT have made me more willing to suffer and push myself more on the run.

Running on the squishy grass.

The expressions on these guys faces show what a
 suffer-fest the run is.

If you have read any of my previous posts about this race you will know that every year during the run, I have sworn I will never do this race again. Due to the lack of wind, this year the run was even hotter than any of the years I have raced here. This year I changed my outlook and swore I will keep coming back to this race until I have a decent run. Half of the 13.1 miles are on spongy golf course grass, the other half on concrete and asphalt. The run terrain is a little crazy with short steep hills, slanted grassy areas and it is almost impossible to get into any sort of good rhythm when running on the golf course portion. There is no shade on the course unless you count running through hot stifling tunnels to cross under the roads as shade. The run course was changed this year from a single loop to two shorter loops. In the race briefing it was described as taking a pro triathlete about five minutes longer than the previous course. It ended up being my third fastest run here and two minutes faster than last year. I carried a wide mouthed water bottle and poured a cup of ice in it at each aid station. I frequently poured ice water on my head and body to try to bring my heart rate down. I ended up with a run time of 2:37:38. I moved from 2^nd place to 6^th place during the run. As usual, this is where more work needs to be done!

Happy that run was over  with!

Better than the free beer at
 the end of the race.

Many factors affect the outcome on a given day, but it appears that I am getting faster with age. 

I’m definitely not slowing down! 

There may have been more goats on the run course than racers!
(All photos courtesy of Dennis Bettencourt Photography)