IRONMAN KONA RACE REPORT 2014

Normally my coach gives me a detailed race plan with pace, heart rate and wattage targets, information on how it should feel in each segment of the race along with instructions on how much to eat and drink. For this race his instructions were simple; don’t go too easy, don’t go too hard, be observant, absorb the race and enjoy your first Kona.

Pre-race
I slept soundly, getting at least five hours of sleep before the race. Up at 4am, I patiently consumed over 700 calories of bagel, peanut butter and cereal before my brisk mile walk from the condo to the swim start. Having racked my bike and dropped off my transition bags the day before, all I had to do was get body marked and load up my bike with the food and drinks I would need to fuel my ride. It was GREAT seeing my friend and riding buddy Cecile who was volunteering at body marking before I headed to my bike. Once done with my bike I had time to pay a visit to Cecilia and Ray in their room at the King Kam hotel right at the pier where the swim would take place.  In their room I discovered that I had forgotten to put my Garmin computer on my bike. I rushed back down to get the computer on my bike and line up for the swim start.

2.4 Mile Swim
The pro men started at 6:25 am and the age group women didn’t go off until 7 am so we had some time to mill around and socialize. I had a chance to see and speak with some of my fellow racers, including two of my age group competitors who I met earlier in the week Nicole from the island of Reunion and Rose as well as my friends Sunny and Barbara. I felt more excited than nervous. Suddenly it was time for us to get in the water and swim out to the starting line. Even though swimming is one of my stronger disciplines I knew I wouldn’t be swimming the 2.4 miles anywhere near an hour like a lot of these ladies, so I didn’t move right up to the starting line in the way I would when doing a lesser race. I was near the right hand side of the starting pack pretty close to the pier when I heard my name called and saw Cecile who had a prime seat on the edge of the pier very close to the announcer, the Voice of Ironman Mike Riley. I moved up and more to the right so I could give her a shout out. There was a pretty broad starting line so it seemed like we were only about 3 swimmers deep, so I started very near the front. The volunteers were doing a great job of keeping everyone behind the starting line, a little different when World Championships are at stake. Then it was suddenly 7 am, the cannon sounded and we were off!

Fortunately this swim wasn’t very chaotic for me. I got behind some feet that were going at a pace that felt comfortable for me and I just swam. I was able to focus on my swimming and staying up with the feet in front of me, although I was conscious of weaving through and dodging other swimmers. I could see kayakers or paddle boarders often when I turned my head to breath, so I knew I was on course and didn’t even really have to raise my head to sight. As I neared the first turn at the Body Glove boat I caught up with the slowest men. The only time I got hit on the swim was when I was passing a grey haired man who whacked me pretty hard in the face dislodging my goggles, but not enough to cause them to leak. It was enough to get me off of the feet I had been following so I just swam on, turned the corner, swam to the next boat, made another right hand turn and was headed back to shore. On this back stretch I felt like I was finding my power as others seemed to be slowing down. The last half of that back stretch was somewhat impeded by having to swim through groups of the slower men. As I worked my way through the swim I thought about being present in the moment and focusing on my swim rather than thinking about what would unfold over the next 13 hours or so.

Swim to Bike Transition (T1)
The path we all had to travel from swim to bike was pretty long, running the around the edge of the whole length of the pier. My plan was to run through the changing tent to my bike carrying my bike shoes so I could run faster and not risk slipping on the pier. In the changing tent I started to put my bike shoes on before I stripped off the swim skin I had worn over my tri kit for the swim. The volunteer helping me said “don’t you want to take that off before you put on your shoes?” Her question brought my mind back to the moment and I remembered that I wanted to wait to put on my shoes until I got to my bike. Obviously my transition took a little longer than I had planned…five minutes and 58 seconds. I ran to my bike, put on my helmet, sunglasses and shoes, un-racked my bike and ran to the mount line.

112 Miles on the Bike
As I rode away from transition and onto Palani Road I could hear cheers from my friends Cecilia and Ray. It turns out Dennis was also on Palani Road and got a few photos of me, but I didn’t see or hear him. After making the right hand turn onto the Kuakini Hwy it didn’t seem to take much time to climb to the turnaround and make my way back down to Palani. After making a right back onto Palani, there is an incline; I reminded myself to stay within my limits and not throw down the hammer right there because it was going to be a long ride and a long day. I had no idea….

I’ve raced the second half of this course six times as part of the Ironman Hawaii 70.3 race and trained on the rest of the bike course a few times. I felt that I had a pretty good idea of what to expect as far as heat, climbing and winds. However, the unpredictability is part of what makes this course so difficult. Everything was going pretty much as I expected until I reached Waikaloa Beach Drive, about 25 miles from Kona on the Queen K Hwy. BAM!!! Headwinds! This wasn’t supposed to happen here. Over the next 10 miles every time I looked at my Garmin I was going 8 to 10 mph. I was supposed to be going over 18 mph. At this rate I started to wonder if I would make the bike cut off. The thing about Ironman is that whatever it dishes out you just have to keep pushing on. Finally I got some relief when I made the left hand turn onto the fast downhill into Kawaihae. I thought “enjoy this because there will be headwinds after the right hand turn heading up to Hawi.” Unfortunately, as predicted, this was true.

I made my way to the turnaround at Hawi thinking “OK its over halfway done and the second half will be faster.  There has to be some tailwind after all those headwinds, right? Just cause it took you four hours to get here doesn’t mean it’s going to take 4 hours to get back. Keep the legs spinning, take advantage of this downhill.”  Then I try to get into one harder gear than I have and my chain drops. “Don’t freak out, pull over and calmly put the chain back on.” It didn’t take long and I was back on the bike. My feet had been hurting in the forefoot and a little time off my bike helped over the next 10 miles. My feet were hot and seemed to be swelling making my bike shoes feel incredibly tight. Later on, my feet started to burn again and I began pouring cold water on them as I got fresh cold bottles from the aid stations. This discomfort in my feet was worse than any foot pain I had ever had while cycling. I kept repeating to myself “Just keep pushing on! The sooner you get there, the sooner your feet will get some relief.”

Riding back down from Hawi the cross winds were picking up. I was disappointed to find that the wind that had been in my face between Kawaihae and Waikaloa was gone and I didn’t have the advantage of a tailwind when I rode back through that section. Riding back into Kona I started to see runners going in both directions as I passed the Energy Lab and was anxious to get on to the run.

Bike to Run Transition (T2)
I dismounted my bike, leaving my bike shoes clipped on the pedals, handed it off to a volunteer and ran around the pier to the changing tent. I sat down in the tent and decided that it might help my sore feet if I changed into some dry socks. With my socks off, I could see that my feet were indeed swollen and really white. I spent a few minutes rubbing my feet and trying to get the blood flow going. As there was not much else I could do, I put on my run shoes and headed out. I spent about eight minutes in transition which was almost twice as long as the top five women in my age group.

26.2 Mile Run
I felt stiff for the first four miles although those turned out to be my fastest miles of the day. I felt like I got into a rhythm after five miles. The run heads south on Ali’i Drive for about five miles before turning around and coming back along the same route. There is an abundance of crowd support and fortunately it was starting to get overcast, making it a little cooler than I had expected. I saw my sister, Barb, in front of our condos at about mile one and then again on my way back. There are a few rolling climb sections and when I hit the first one, I saw Dennis taking photos which forced me to run up the first hill. Running up that hill wasn’t too bad and that encouraged me to run the rest of the rollers. I told myself to just keeping running and I would let myself walk up Palani Road at about the 10 mile mark.  Dennis was on a bike and he kept cycling ahead on the other side of the road and stopping to take pictures. He kept me distracted for the next mile or so, after which he turned around and I didn’t see him again until after the finish.

I did allow myself to walk up Palani Road and when people cheered me on I’d smile and say “I’m living the dream” which made them cheer even more. Once making a left back onto the Queen K Hwy I knew this is where the test really begins, saying to myself “time to focus and keep running.” I watched a beautiful large orange ball of a sun sink into the Pacific Ocean and soon the route was pitched into darkness. I was then running from aid station to aid station as islands of light in the darkness, spaced a little over a mile apart. The only thing to see was people running toward me with halos of light in the form of glow stick necklaces attached to their bodies in whichever way felt most tolerable. I wore mine as a crown on my head. 

The biggest aid station was at the turn into the Energy Lab. It looked like a giant party with upbeat music blaring, but I didn’t have the energy to enjoy it or take it all in. Once entering the Energy Lab the course goes downhill for awhile which was nice, although I did run off the road at one point. Fortunately I didn’t fall and hopped right back onto the road. The next challenge was coming back up the hill from the beach in the Energy Lab. I was lucky that the sun was down and for the first time I was happy for a headwind because it kept it cooler while running uphill. The biggest treat was near the exit from the Energy Lab where they had placed a jumbotron and suddenly out of the darkness came a larger than life cheer from my sister; totally cracked me up. She had made the video in the Ironman Village at a booth sponsored by Newton Running and they linked it to my timing chip which triggered the video once I ran over a sensor.

Back onto the Queen K Hwy and only six (or eight) miles to go. The miles were marked, I just couldn’t keep it straight. The only slowing down I did was to get ice in my water bottle at the aid stations. It was still hot enough to keep squeezing water on my head and sipping ice water between aid stations. Another right hand turn and I was back on Palani Road with about a mile and a half to go. From the point where I made a left onto Kuakini I could hear Mike Reilly calling people in at the finish line. Two more right turns and I was back on Ali’i Drive which was packed with spectators cheering their lungs out.

I wanted to savor, enjoy and remember this finish “my first Kona.” The finish chute seemed about three times as long as at other Ironman races with ten times the spectators. I heard Cecelia and Ray calling my name and cheering me on. I high-fived people as I ran down the chute and kept repeating “OH MY GOD, OH MY GOD” out loud, I think. I was really doing it: Finishing the Ironman in Kona on Ali’i Drive just as I have watched and wished I could do for many years! The crowd energy was electric and Mike Reilly was calling me an Ironman. I had done it, absorbed it and enjoyed it.

Two volunteers put a towel over my shoulders and a lei on my neck as the tears of joy started to flow. The man asked if I was ok and if I needed to go to the medical tent, the woman responded with “she is just emotional.”

I heeded my coach’s advice and enjoyed my “first” Kona. Now it’s time to get back to work so it won’t be my only Kona.

THE SUPER BOWL OF TRIATHLONS

Being in Kona this week leading up to the Ironman World Championship has made me think about triathlons in a different way. This race is clearly the Super Bowl of triathlons. Being here makes sprint races feel like scrimmages, olympic distance feels like the pre-season, half ironman distance the regular season, other ironman races the play offs and now this week is leading up to the Super Bowl 2014.

I feel extremely privileged to have qualified for this race and I am in awe of the amazing athletes I'm seeing everyday here as they go through their paces in a taper week. The level of energy and excitement is palatable, especially in the morning at the pier, where the languages and accents from the 66 countries being represented in this race can be heard. Tears welled up in my eyes as I joined the masses swimming at "Dig Me" beach for the first time because it hit me that I was joining in on something I've dreamed of for so many years. 

I'm impressed by the sheer number of people who are cheerfully volunteering throughout the week at swim practices, information booths, registration and other venues. There are an even larger number of companies with booths in the Ironman Village than at any Ironman race I've attended. Some of them are giving very nice swag away to registered athletes. Yesterday I was given a pair of yurbuds (http://yurbuds.com/17all-products?semData=yurbuds-t-48290432668-e&gclid=CNHtmIT1nsECFQGqaQodbz4AcA&mpch=ads) which are my favorite (expensive) ear buds because of their comfort and ability to stay in place when running. There is so much going on that I can't do it all without wearing myself out before the race even begins. I haven't even gone to any of the brand sponsored events that I've heard so much about. 

There were certain activities that I just had to do this week. I had my workouts of course and they took some time and energy, helping me get acclimatized to the heat. Fortunately Nick Nicastro/SagMonkey (http://sagmonkey.com) is here this week and he fixed some gearing problems and other issues I was having with my bike. I participated in the Parade of Nations which was fun and pretty low key. I met and marched with one of my competitors, Rose Hajjar, who's name I've seen on my age group results list (as a winner) over many years and was surprised to learn that she also knew of me. 

The other "big event" was the Kona Underpants Run (UPR) on Thursday morning. My sister and I had been "planning" what to wear for many months centered around My Soxy Feet socks and my Team Soxy Feet. (mysoxyfeet.com) Our plans kept evolving and our final product was a bit over the top, but oh so much fun. The Kona UPR was a great way to burn off some nervous energy this week.

It's now less than 12 hours before I will toe the line at the Ironman World Championships. My bike is racked, my bags dropped off and time to try to sleep.

IRONMAN CANADA 2014

 
When my coach told me that he wanted me to do another ironman before Kona, I thought he was a little overly ambitious. I thought the beauty of qualifying for Kona just over a year ahead of time was that I would have a whole year to prepare for my next ironman. I learned early on that there is no value in arguing with him and I have a lot of faith in his knowledge as a coach. We discussed possible race options and last October I calmly signed up for Ironman Canada/Whistler. As the race date approached I thought we both must be nuts.

At Whistler, my husband Dennis and I were happy to be staying with our friend and ski buddy, Tim, who defected from being one of the Squaw Valley faithful when he moved to Washington and bought a ski condo at Whistler. We felt quite at home since we've stayed with him several times and it was helpful not to have changed time zones when traveling to this race.

It had only been six weeks since Ironman Hawaii 70.3 and the time flew by. My body was completely recovered and I'd gotten some pretty long and intense miles under my belt in those six weeks. My life was just seeming like a bit of a whirlwind mentally, three months into my new job which definitely interfered with some of my mid-week training sessions. I went into this Ironman not feeling quite as prepared as I was for Ironman Lake Tahoe (IMLT) in September. Everyone kept asking how long it was going to take me to finish. That always seems like a hard question to me since each race course is different. Based on my IMLT time and because the race was so far north, I was expecting to be finished before dark for the first time which would have to be under 14 and a half hours, and was secretly hoping for 13 and a half hours.

RACE MORNING

I didn't have any trouble getting up at 4:30 AM and I'm getting a little more comfortable with eating a 700+ calorie breakfast at that early hour. Since my bike and transition bags were checked in the day before, I only had to carry my wetsuit, water bottles, nutrition and two special needs bags with me for the mile walk to catch the shuttle to Lake Alta. There were dozens of volunteers taking transition bags, plenty of buses and no time was lost getting to the start. I had been a little leery of the process since I had heard horror stories about the shuttle buses to the start at IMLT. This was just indication of how well organized and staffed Ironman Canada at Whistler turned out to be. I had plenty of time to get my stuff organized at my bike and get ready for the swim. The only drawback was having to wait in a pretty long line to get my tires pumped up. It would be worth bringing a pump and handing it off to a friend, if you had one willing to get up early and bike or walk the two miles to the swim start.
 

SWIM



Practice swim at Alta Lake earlier in the week.

I swam out to the buoy furthest from shore to line up for the swim start and then I hung back for about 15 seconds after the start to see if I could avoid being totally beat up on the swim. The swim was two laps of a long rectangle, without having to exit the water between laps. I was in with people and able to draft most of the time and only got into the typical slamming, kicking, hitting melee during the first two turns. There were a couple of times where I felt hemmed in but was able to sprint forward and get out before getting clobbered. The swim seemed to go by relatively fast and I noticed my time of 1:17 as I was exiting the water. I took advantage of the wetsuit strippers, grabbed my bag and ran to the far end of the changing tent where a wonderfully helpful volunteer lathered me in sunscreen while I put on my shoes, generally helped me and packed my stuff into my transition bag as I ran off to my bike.



The calm before 1,800+ athletes entered the water.

BIKE

My bike was racked in a special section for Ironman All World Athletes (AWAs) and there were only four of the 31 women in my age group with that distinction. The AWA distinction is a ranking based on a point system derived from the previous year’s Ironman branded race participation. The higher you place in your age group in a race the more points you get. The points are added up from your top three races. So an age group winner who only did one race might be ranked the same as a person who did not place in three races. Therefore an AWA ranking isn’t really an indicator of speed. When I got to my bike I could tell that I was the first of the AWAs to exit the water but I had no idea what that meant compared to the entire field of women in my age group because I wasn’t racked with the majority of my competitors. I prefer having an indication of where I stand in the pack after the swim but I didn't dwell on it for long.

My plan for the bike was to use my heart rate to dictate my pace, aiming for the higher end of zone 3 (Z3) and not letting it drop below the top of zone 2. I made 2 small mistakes in this race, the first of which was getting in my mind that the top of my Z3 heart rate was 5 beats per minute higher than it is. Although my average was in the middle of Z3 for the bike, I was in Z4 for a good bit of time. I may have gone a little too hard on the bike which is not the best set up for the run. My bike time was 6:44:34. My Garmin says that there were 6,312 feet of climbing. There is some climbing early on which isn't much of a problem on well rested legs. There is a nice flat stretch from about mile 60 to 90 where I cruised along at a little over 20 mph. The real challenge began at the 90 mile mark, climbing  the final 22  miles from the town of Pemberton back to Whistler. It heated up into the low 90s in that section and I had some inner thigh cramping that I was able to alleviate by pouring water on my legs and mixing up my pedal strokes. When I got to the dismount area, I could barely swing my leg over the back of my bike. I managed to dismount without falling or dropping my bike but I walked through transition after handing my bike off to another great volunteer. I was wishing my legs felt less stiff but I was very happy to be off my bike.

RUN

Although the aid stations are placed approximately one mile apart, I like to carry my own water so I can ingest and wash down a gel every half hour and rather than having to time my gels with aid stations. I made my second mistake of the day by leaving my water bottle in transition. I was well out of the transition area before I realized I had left my water bottle behind. I made due, eating a gel as close to a half hour apart as aid stations allowed. I drank water at every aid station and also drank electrolyte drink or coke at about half of them. I saw Dennis about two miles into the run and he told me that I was in 7th place after the swim and 3rd place after the bike. That was good news and it buoyed me up for a bit. I really wanted to hang on to that 3rd place. I wasn’t thinking about moving up to first or second place.

I ended up doing a lot more walking during this race than I would have liked. I was having a hard time willing myself to run, especially up all of the little inclines. I had some mental low points and wasn’t able to keep that positive mindset that I pride myself on. I thought "I must be really been moving down in the ranks" but I just couldn’t get myself to go faster. Around mile 16, I noticed a woman in my age group pass me and I thought I would try to stay with her but she pulled ahead after just a half mile. About three miles from the finish I asked someone what time it was and thought I might be able to break 14 hours if I could just keep “running” for three more miles. The crowd support was spectacular throughout the run and the aid stations were all well-staffed and well-stocked. When I got near the finish I could see the clock and tried to pick up my pace to make it under 14 hours. I was thankful that the very last bit was slightly downhill to the finish and I made it in 13:58:56. My run time was 5:42:41. I was glad to be done and happy to at least come in under 14 hours. I was unhappy with the amount of walking I did on the run and thought I had surely lost a lot of ground to my competitors with that run.

Always happy to see Dennis and Tim along the course!



THE AFTERMATH
After making my way through the finish area, I met Dennis and Tim at a pre-designated spot. I had intended to walk the mile back to the condo after the race but Tim had scoped things out and found a nearby parking lot where he could pick me up. I had given him and Dennis each a ticket that would allow one of them to pick up my bike and transition bags. Tim told me I should make my way over to the parking lot with Dennis and Tim would pick up my bike and bags, drop my bike at Tribike Transport, walk back to the condo for the car and pick me up. I was in no shape to argue with that plan. We hadn’t purchased a phone data plan for Canada and we were not in a wireless area, so Dennis didn’t have any idea of where I was in the rankings at the end of my race. Once we got to the parking lot and I laid down on a bench, he texted our friend Katherine who we knew would be following my progress. Much to my surprise I had finished with a fourth place podium spot. I laid on the bench truly spent, aching all over, cramping, shivering although I wasn't cold, and at the same time sort of deliriously happy. As it turned out I had been in fourth place after the bike and although I had been passed by the woman who ended up in third place I also passed a woman who ended up in sixth place, managing to maintain the fourth place position that I was in after the bike.

The main takeaway for me after this experience is that no matter how much I feel like I’m suffering on the run, everyone else is suffering too, so don’t give up, stay positive and continue to push with everything I’ve got. My coach was right in having me do this race. It boosted my confidence, it reminded me how difficult ironman races are and it was a great experience in and of itself.

Awards ceremony first through fifth from left to right. Sporting My Soxy Feet Sole Long knee socks. A portion of the sales are donated to the National Breast Cancer Foundation.
"You don't have to match to be a pair."

 

Why Keep Going Back to Honu?

I participated in Ironman Hawaii 70.3 (aka Honu) on May 31^st this year for the sixth consecutive year. There are currently 72 Ironman 70.3 races (1.2 mile swim, 56 mile bike, and 13.1 mile run) associated with the World Triathlon Corporation’s Ironman brand; I keep coming back to this one. There are Ironman 70.3 races at other alluring vacation destinations like Cozumel and St. Croix; I keep coming back to this one. Why?

It’s definitely not for the run! My coach, who has done this race more often than I and has even won the race outright, gave me this pre-race advice for the run:

“Just keep telling yourself that the heat will end but feeling good about your race result will not - so keep chugging along. Once you hit the road and do the out and back fingers in the lava fields - keep moving and running - just don't stop running. HR is through the roof, body is miserable and pace is out the window - just keep running and getting closer to the finish line. THE ONLY WAY TO MAKE THE PAIN AND HEAT END, IS BY GETTING TO THE FINISH LINE AND YOU DO THAT BY RUNNING, NOT WALKING!! This is a hot and VERY hard run. Keep surviving. There is no reprieve and it just is hard - keep drinking and keep drinking..”

It was oddly comforting to know that my coach felt this way about the Honu run. Every year during the run I say to myself “I’m never doing this race again!” and “Why would anyone want to do the full Ironman here?” It is just so…HOT, HOT, HOT. Then I cross the finish line, cool myself off in a beach side shower of cold water, take in the atmosphere and think “well maybe I should do it again next year and see if I can do better on the run...”



This portion is actually steeper than it looks!

The run course is fairly difficult to describe. About half of the 13.1 miles meander around on a golf course alternating between a squishy thick carpet of grass on the fairways, slightly more solid grass golf cart paths and concrete paths in the steepest areas. The other half is on asphalt roads that run through lava fields. These halves are not first and last half, rather the course goes from golf course to road - to golf course to road - back to golf course. Did I mention that it is HOT? The only shade on the run is when the golf cart path goes through tunnels under a couple of roads. The tunnels provide shade but the air is still and stifling hot. It’s difficult to get into a running rhythm with the changing surfaces and the randomly intermittent steep little hills; especially when all you really want to do is walk and pour ice water over your head.
On the plus side for the run, there are plenty of very well stocked aid stations with fantastic volunteers. The numerous volunteers spend their day in the blazing hot sun and amazingly their encouragement and enthusiasm never waiver.  I’m repeatedly pleased by the abundance of cold beverages, cold wet sponges and ice available at the aid stations even during the later hours of the race.

I signed up for this race the first year because I wanted to experience a taste of what it would be like to race on the big island of Hawaii and ride my bike on part of the course of the Ironman World Championship (aka Ironman Kona.) The second year I raced to redeem myself from the first year. The third year I raced because it was one of only five half ironman races that were offering qualification slots for Ironman Kona. By then I was addicted to this race.

Ironman Hawaii 70.3 is in its 11^th year and is extremely well organized starting with registration and bike services provided on site by Bikeworks http://www.bikeworkskona.com/, which is a dream bike shop for a triathlete.  Registration, the bike to run transition (T2) and the finish line are all at the beautiful Fairmont Orchid Hotel http://www.fairmont.com/orchid-hawaii/ . The accommodations and amenities we have enjoyed in condos we rented at the Fairway Villas and the Kulalani have been luxurious and just a short walk to the Fairmont Orchid.

Shuttle service is provided on race morning from the Fairmont Orchid to the swim which takes place at Hapuna Beach in crystal clear warm water. I LOVE this swim! The water is clear enough that the bottom is in sight even at a depth of 70 feet. The swim starts in waves with the pro triathletes heading out first, followed by the men and then the women who start seven minutes after the men. The bike course is on half of the Ironman Kona course going from Hapuna Beach south to the entrance to the Mauna Lani resort complex, making a u-turn and heading north to the turnaround at Hawi (the same turnaround at Ironman Kona) and back to the Mauna Lani resort and the Fairmont Orchid hotel. The difficulty of the bike portion varies from year to year dependent on the intensity of the wind and the wind gusts. One constant is that there is always a head wind for the 18 miles after the turn at Kawaihae until the turnaround at Hawi. 

 

The run starts and ends at the Fairmont Orchid right on the ocean. The setting is beautiful and they know how to throw a party. There are Hawaiian dancers and music, lunch featuring hamburgers or chicken burgers, and three free beers for athletes. Greg Welsh (Aussie and Ironman Champion) provides commentary at the finish line and the award ceremony, with his witty and entertaining humor.  The competition at this race is fierce. The race attracts a high percentage of top age group athletes who are either looking to qualify for Kona or who are using it as a training race since they have already qualified for the big dance in October.

 

I can’t forget to mention that the Kohala Coast on the big island of Hawaii is just a great place to vacation with beautiful beaches and perfect weather. Sitting at the pool or on a beautiful beach sipping Mai Tais is a relaxing way to recover the day after a half ironman. This is one race location to which my husband actually enjoys going. So WHY NOT keep going back?

TRIATHLON TRAINING CAMPS

Why go to camp? 

For me there are three compelling reasons:

1. Camaraderie
2. Coaching
3. Conditioning

I’ve been able to participate in two tri camps this year. In February, I went to Tucson for my second time at the four day Tucson Camp. In April we had a three day “mini-camp” in Marin County.

Camaraderie

Ironman training ends up requiring a lot of solo training time, with specific workouts tailored to address individual weaknesses and specific race schedules. The lengths of workouts for Ironman training are longer than the average person - who isn’t training for an Ironman - wants to do, week in and week out. That coupled with the fact that each workout has an individualized specific purpose makes it difficult to find consistent training partners. On the plus side, these long solo workouts aid in the mental preparation for a long day of racing and especially for the 112 miles of the non-drafting bike portion of the race. As the training days, weeks and months roll by; I start to feel like I’m the only fanatic out there that doesn’t have a balanced life. Then I go to camp! Like minded people from all over meeting up to put in long swims, rides and runs. We don't all swim, bike and run at the same pace and aren't necessarily working on the same weaknesses. At camp we are all on the same schedule, swimming, biking and running together, sharing the same passion and talking about it over dinner and the snippets of other free time. The camaraderie continues after camp; sharing information and encouraging each other.

Sag Monkey - Providing Professional Support to Athletes

Coaching

Coach Chris Hauth

Camp provides ample opportunity to get personalized attention and critique from my coach. He limits his camps to about 12 people which makes the logistics easier and enables him to provide personalized attention. Not only is my coach a wealth of information that can’t possibly be absorbed in any one sitting, my fellow campers have a lot of experience from which to learn.  At each camp I received additional individualized input in all three disciplines from my coach. Being coached is a progression and a process of continual improvement with constant tweaking along the way. Spending several days with my coach gives me a chance to try out his suggestions and check back to see if I’ve gotten it right or at least if I am headed in the right direction. Spending time with my coach and getting to know each other also helps with our routine communication which is mostly through email.

Conditioning

LR Photo by Nick Nicastro

In addition to the individualized attention, several days in a row of quality training provides a big fitness boost. It’s not just the quality of the workouts as there is also a large volume of training during camp.  With the peer pressure of other athletes and my coach watching, I put a lot more into the training than I do when I am just slogging through it on my own. It is a luxury to set this time aside and not have the distractions of my normal life, to concentrate on training, eating right and getting enough sleep. 

The Tucson camp ended up being over 18 hours of actual training time. The Marin mini camp was a little over 14 hours of training. The camps were structured like this: (the bike miles are what I could do in the allotted time)

Tucson	Swim	Bike	Run
Day 1	1:00	4:00 – 50 plus miles to Kits Peak	0:30 transition run
Day 2		5:20 – 90 miles to Patagonia	0:45 transition run
Day 3	1:45		1:45 + drills
Day 4	optional	3:30 – Mount Lemon	Optional transition run
Marin	Swim	Bike	Run
Day 1	1:00	4:00 – 58 miles	Short transition run
Day 2		5:00 – 80 miles	5 mile transition run (0:53)
Day 3	1:30		9.6 mile run (1:43)

I liked the Marin mini-camp because I didn’t have to travel so it was less expensive, I could sleep in my own bed and I wasn’t away from my husband for several days. Even though I train in Marin County quite a bit, I rode somewhere I had never ridden on each of the bike rides and both runs were routes I had never run. With thanks to Rachel Melick we got to swim in the Tiburon Peninsula Club pool, which was very nice.  On the other hand, when I was at camp away from home I enjoyed being immersed in the topic of triathlon and spent more leisure time with my fellow campers soaking in their enthusiasm for our sport. I also preferred the four day format over the three days although I was absolutely in need of a rest day at the end of a four day camp. 

Scenes from Tucson (Lower right (LR) photo by Amy Kaup)

Scenes from Marin County

 I'm looking forward to the next camp!

WHO WOULDN'T RUN FOR CHOCOLATE?

A race in January with a Hot Chocolate theme; now that is an event that caught my eye. The Hot Chocolate 5K and 15K series came to San Francisco for the first time this year after being established in 2008 with the inaugural Chicago Hot Chocolate 15/5K. At first I thought I was going to have to pass up what looked like a fun run with a very tempting reward at the end because I would be off skiing in Tahoe. It turned out that the weather/lack of precipitation didn’t cooperate with the ski plan but it provided perfect running weather in San Francisco.
 

I’ve had both bad and great experiences when it comes to first time events. There was that inaugural triathlon in Napa when the weather was in the high 90s and they ran out of cups on the run course. They still had water and the volunteers were picking up used cups from the ground and refilling them. Almost 100 degrees 2 and a half hours into a race, I didn’t really care, I just needed water. That’s when I learned it’s always a good idea to carry a bottle of some size. Then there was Ironman Lake Tahoe which had its glitches but it all worked out well for me. Given the fact that there was the promise of chocolate at the end, I thought this inaugural event would be worth the risk.

The Hot Chocolate run series is put on by RAM racing which I had never heard of. Since I was optimistically praying for snow, I waited until three days before the event to register. The on-line registration process was easy although they were out of hoodies in my size.  I opted for a men’s XL and if I wasn’t able to exchange it after the race I could give it to my husband. The packet pick-up was at my all time favorite store, the Sports Basement. Packets could be picked up either Friday or Saturday before the Sunday event. Packet pick-up was very organized, no waiting, and I was able to exchange the men’s XL hoodie for a woman's in my size. They were serving marshmallows dipped in warm, gooey, and thick chocolate fondue just to get us primed for reaching the finish line. 
 

The organizers were very conscious of the impact 10,000 runners could have on the neighborhoods around Golden Gate Park, so they had two shuttle options from two different ends of the city.  One from a BART and MUNI stop and the other from a large parking lot. There were some grumblings in social media about the costs and suggested early arrival times of these options, but I think it offered a nice alternative and was well utilized.

I opted to drive my easy to park SMART and car pool from my house with Roberto.  We met up with 3 friends of Roberto's at the race.
 

The race organization was pretty impeccable. Timing
chips were in the number bibs, there was a large tent for sweat check at the start, an abundance of porta-potties, and there were starting corrals. The corrals were lettered and each bib had a corresponding letter based on the estimated pace we put in at the time of registration. All 5 of us were in the same starting corral, which was not planned. Given the early hour and nearby neighborhood there wasn't any blaring music at the start. The announcer sounded like he could have been a DJ at an easy listening radio station. They started the race in waves, allowing a few minutes between starting corrals which spread us out enough that there was room to run as soon as we crossed the timing mat. There were timing mats along the course and at the turnaround keeping it an honest race. 
 

This was the first time for me running a 15K distance race. My training plan called for an hour run at an easy aerobic pace. I knew I wasn't going to be able to run 15K in an hour even at my fastest pace, so I told myself I'd at least keep with the easy pace part of my plan rather than running it as a race. I started out nice and slow allowing Roberto and the others to go on ahead without me. About two miles into the run I saw another woman who is also coached by Chris Hauth and she introduced me to the women she was running with who had all been at Ironman Lake Tahoe. I had fun chatting with them off and on over the next four or five miles, although I had to up my pace to keep up with them, passing and being passed by Roberto and friends at different points along the way. All in all, I liked the 15K distance and loved the chocolate reward at the end.
 

I was expecting to get a ceramic mug of hot chocolate and somehow having to compete with my fellow runners to get a few bites of chocolate fondue. Although I was a little disappointed not to get a ceramic mug, what they did was ingenious. There were enough stations and volunteers that we didn't have to stand in line to receive a large plastic mug. It was partitioned so that it held a cup of hot chocolate, a well of delicious warm melted chocolate and various things to dip into the chocolate: a marshmallow, banana, rice crispy treats, pretzels and a wafer cookie.
 

Overall, I'd give this race an A grade and recommend it. By the way it doesn't matter if you do the 5K or 15K, everyone gets the same goodie bag and post race chocolate. If you like the idea of running for chocolate you can even be a Chocolate Ambassador. Ambassadors agree to promote the race and get rewards based on the number of people they get to sign up with their code. RAM racing is still taking applications or be an ambassador for the Seattle race which will be on March 2. This is the link: http://www.hotchocolate15k.com/seattle/61-2/