After 6 months of training, three "practice" triathlons, countless too-early mornings and twenty pounds of weight loss, it was time to run the Half Ironman
Bekah and I arrived friday morning and got busy getting the stuff we needed and getting to the Mauna Lani Hotel to get checked into the event. First thing that struck us as we entered the event area is that everyone there seemed to be in awesome shape. Six packs and shaved legs as far as the eye could see. Even the grandmas were tanned and toned and looking like they could and would kick my ass the following day, so that was slightly disconcerting.
The next thing we noted was that the volunteers were everywhere, and they were awesome. this would be a recurring theme.
I got my check in stuff and put together my bike-to-run transition bag with the addition of a new race belt that had a lot of little straps to hold Gu packets. This I had to purchase because in this race, unlike many others, you have to wear your race number while on the bike. I guess it's not enough that it's on both arms, your bike frame and your helmet, it also has to be on your butt. Whatever.
So we got checked in and then hopped in the rental van and drove the bike course, which resulted in disconcerting moment numero deux: the bike course was about as flat as my wife. You are either going uphill or downhill for the entirety of the 56 miles, which is a bit frightening because the total elevation gain in all the races I've done thus far in my career is about 17 feet. (Speaking of all the races I've done- if you took the total distance of the other three triathlons I've done this year, Iroquois, MAG-24 and Honolulu, added together they do not equal the length of the half ironman. ) So after driving the bike course I took my pre-race goal time of 2 hours 30 Minutes, wadded it up, and tossed it out of my brain.
Friday afternoon Bekah and I had a late lunch at Cafe Pesto in Kawaiihae, which is where you turn north to Hawi, and then dropped off the bike at the swim beach, noted that the wind was absurdly strong at 3 pm, and then went to our hotel for nappy time. Was asleep by 8 and feeling a little aprehensive toward the bike, which had been my refuge as it is my strength. Had a nightmare about exploding tires and my bike having massive structural failure.
Woke up at 4:40 and felt rested and ready, and started drinking water and Gu2O with a fervor- got about 80 oz into me before race time. Bekah and I left the hotel at 5:15 and got to the race
site a few minutes before 6. I put my bike stuff together, got numbered (1203, good number), and found Bekah who had dropped me off to take the shuttle. She soaked me in SPF 50 spray-on sunblock which worked like a charm all day but gave me a slightly greasy sheen when applied (see photo)
I decided to wear the ol' HACC tri-suit again, it fits really well and really is cool looking despite its tendency to show the world the exact dimensions, condition and orientation of my twig 'n berries. I guess I'm not really self concious about it at all, I more feel bad for my wife and friends who get uncomfortable hanging around with someone who has visible balls. I'm not sure if I want to give up the comfort of my suit for the comfort of others. Hopefully someday they change the suit design, but till then I'm wearin it.
Race time was getting close so I met up on the beach with a few of the HACC guys that were out there, Bryant, Corey and Scott, who are all phenomenal athletes and great guys. Bryant seems to be channeling his inner thug-life in this photo.
So, at about 5 till 7:00 we waded out into the clear warm waters to line up with 1100 or so other idiots to get ready to beat the crap out of each other.
I set my watch's timer to go off every 30 minutes on the dot, to remind me when to eat. This is a tip courtesy of Bryant, and it saved my butt.
It was cool to be at the start line about 100 yards from the shore, we were in about 15 feet of very, very clear water and when you dunked down a few feet you could see nothing but legs for a hundred feet in every direction. I thunked to myself "so this is what a shark sees".
At 7:00, following the National anthem and some Hawaiian chant that we could barely hear, the gun went off and everyone started moshing in sort of the same direction. Mass swim starts are notoriously violent, and I'm guessing this one is no exception. I didn't really swim a proper stroke for the first 100 yards or so because I and everyone else is more concerned with jostling for an open chunk of water. I pretty much doggy-paddled for a while before I settled into an even rythm. Even then it was interrupted pretty frequently by kicks near my head or hands on my feet and back. The course headed south for about 400 yards and then turned around to the north for a good 1000 or so before turning back in to the finish. At the first turn there was horrendous congestion, as everyone wants to take the turn as tight as possible regardless of the life of others. Bryant and Scott, who hit the first turn a minute or two before me, swear they heard people screaming for help in the human soup. For my part, I didn't even swim past the buoy, the mass of people just sort of moved me around it, all I had to do was keep my head above water.
Around the corner to the long leg of the swim, I settled into a pretty good rythm swimming behind some fat guy who kicked like a mule but was moving at a good pace and I could feel a draft behind him so I stayed in his wake. I had to give him space, though, because his kicks were so big and flaily. Whenever they caught air the sound was like a depth charge going off. I was cruising pretty well but had no idea how much progress I was making because the buoys on the course were pretty small and hard to see in the swarm. Eventually we hit the turn around the time my watch started beeping so I knew I was at 30 minutes and probably not going to hit my target time of 35:00. When we hit the turn back to the south I hit some current and slowed way down. It was like swimming in glue for a while as I was looking at the same chunk of coral for
what seemed like several minutes at a time. I finally made it to the last buoy and came up running and looked at my watch, 40 minutes. I crossed the timing mat at 41:00 even. Bekah was right there snapping pictures, and I was happy to see her. (Note the tasteful photoshopping applied to the photo)
The transition area is about 250 yards up a little hill, so it takes a while to get through. I grabbed my helmet, race number belt, and took off toward the bike course.
I like to do the pro triathlete thing and keep my shoes clipped into the bike which saves a few seconds if you're coordinated enough to do it. On a 5 hour-plus race, it probably doesn't make a lick of difference, and so it was stupid for me to do it. It ended up costing me a bit of pride coming out of T1. As I was working my way through a crowd, some jack-hole in front of me pretty much stops, and I had to stop myself, I had one shoe on and the other not, I'm on a gravelly old road and I have no momentum, and I fall over. This is embarrasing because there's about 5o people watching and tons of riders coming past the whole time. I laid on my back for a sec, made some choice comments toward nobody in particular, got up, put my shoes on properly, and got going again. My main consolation was that I didn't hurt anything other than my pride, and that would be healed as soon as I started passing people, which I started doing immediately.
The bike is my strength, and I feel really comfortable on it and at the half-ironman distance (56 miles). My main concern was giving too much to the bike and not leaving enough in the bag for the run. Nevertheless, even going at what I felt was 75-80% I was cruising past people left and right. The first 7-10 miles were very congested, there were way too many people to try to worry about drafting or position violations- there were no other options. Going up the hills I tried to keep it just below "hard" output levels and on the downhills I worked on getting up to max speed and then noodling until it was uphill time again. This strategy worked OK but I felt as though I could probably push a little more the whole time.
After mile 10 or so the climb up to Hawi begins, it's a series of rolling hills that meanders its way from sea level up to 600 feet or so, with many small hills on the way. The wind started pushing us down the hill after 4-5 miles or so and I started passing more and more people. It was a tough, tough section of road. I was in my small chainring moving at 10-12 mph for several miles, which was not what I had expected. I was still passing 10 people for ever person who passed me, which was heartening. I was keeping an eye out for Gil as well... we had a bit of a rivalry going and I figured he would have beat me out of the water and I would be passing him on the bike at anytime, and we would battle it out on the run. I never saw him leading up to the turnaround at Hawi, so I figured he was behind me, which meant I beat him on the swim. That's heartening.
Made the turnaround at Hawi, grabbed some gatorade from the volunteers and started generally downhill and downwind. This was the fun part- I got up to 39 Mph at one point on the downhill and passed Steve Dewald, Gil's good friend. As I was passing him, we saw Gil coming up the hill. I had about 14 minutes on him at this point. About 10 seconds later, I feel something hit my right hand, I look down, and there's a Bee sitting on the skin connecting my thumb and forefinger. just as I realize there's a bee on me and I go to shake him off, he zings me. I dropped a very loud F-Bomb because the last thing I needed when moving downhill at 35 Mph is a beesting. I could see the stinger in my skin but couldnt use a second hand to do anything about it without risking a bailout at the next crosswind gust, so after about 30 seconds I put my hand in my mouth, chewed on the spot and gave it a good hard suck. Wouldn't you know it, that worked like a charm and it didn't sting at all after that. I sucked out the poison crocodile dundee style.
Back down the hill I looked at my watch and about 2:10 had passed on the bike, so my pre-race goal of 2:30 was unattainable as I still had 15 miles or so to go. I pushed it pretty hard the rest of the way, but by then the crosswinds had really picked up and it was tough going. I pulled into the resort and t-2 at 2:51, or about 3 hours, 35 minutes total race time. Out to the run, may the suckage begin.
When I started the run it was really sunny and really humid. The first 5 miles or so are a series of three out & backs on barren black pavement roads. It's pretty boring but you can see a lot of people and guage where you are in relation and who's going to pass you and who you're going to catch.
The aid stations were at every mile or so and were awesome. Every one had water (I dumped a cup on my head every time) gatorade (I drank a cup or so every time) sponges (two went under my shoulder straps) Ice, (dumped on my head or occasionally down the back of my suit) and a number of other things that I didn't take advantage of (Cola, Oranges, Gu packs, etc). the people were really cool and encouraging, and with that much water and ice to dump on myself, I never felt in danger of overheating even though it was 85-90 degrees with 90% humidity the whole time. The aid stations saved me.
I started out clicking off 2:05 quarter miles (my GPS sections my run into 1/4 miles, which I use to set my pace... 2:00 quarters = 8 min miles, 2:15 = 9 minute miles) but soon settled into an even pace at around 2:15-2:20 which I was happy with. I wanted to run a 2 hour half marathon and not walk at any point.
After the initial black asphalt section, at around mile 6 we started running the golf course, where we did some out & backs and alternated between running on cart paths, fairways and some back roads. at about mile 7 I felt pretty beat but it only lasted 10 minutes or so and I got re-energized and kept pushing. At mile 9 or so I had to stop to pee- this I took as a good sign- I knew I was drinking enough water.
At mile 9.5 or so we started the long out & back section on this impossibly long, straight, boring back road. It's about a 3 mile stretch in total, and it looks like 10 miles when you first start it. I was keeping an eye out for Gil pretty hard at this point, i figured if he had come into the bike 15-20 minutes behind me and then started clicking off 8 minute miles, which he is capable of, he would find me on this road. I slogged my way past miles 10 and 11 and then at about 11.7 saw Gil coming down the road at about 9.8 miles- I knew I would beat him unless I started crawling and he started flying. Up the hill and around the bend to the finish- I upped my speed so I could finish better than 5:45
The crowd was pretty heavy at about 200 yards to the finish line, a gal was passing me in a sprint and Bryant yelled to me to not let her beat me. I threw it into overdrive and re-passed her and crossed the line in 5:43:46, 301st place out of 1100 racers. Pretty happy to be done.
Gil finished about 20 minutes later in 6:05 and told me he was really proud of me and glad I kicked his butt. Pretty high praise coming from a 31-time Ironman Finisher.
So, I was done. I gave the bride a kiss for being so awesome all this time. She really has been great, and was extra awesome from race finish on, as I was moving pretty slow. She even drove!
I went to the finisher's tent and got my medal. We also got Hats and T-shirts. Nice stuff. Bekah and I sat on the grass for a few minutes and stretched afterwards. i was pretty pooped:
After the race Bekah wanted to grab some starbucks, so we stopped there, and Chris McCormack, the guy who won the race and the reighning Ironman World Champ, was sitting there with some friends. He granted my request for a photo, and even chatted with me for a couple of minutes about my race. Pretty cool guy!
We went back to the hotel, took a very brief nap and then went back to Cafe pesto for a second meal, this time with Bryant, Scott, and our families. We swapped stories and race thoughts for a while. They both kicked my butt- Bryant had a great race, came in 52nd overall in 4:48, and Scott did great too finishing in 5:06.
This is a little too long of a race to be enjoyable in the same way as the other races- I prefer the ability to go fast the whole time- to feel like I can open it up and not have to pace myself. I think I'll continue to focus on the shorter races. But I will definitely come back next year, if I can, and try to beat my time. I think I can.
Until next time!
exiting the swim
T2
finish line
A year ago, this is me, ~208 lbs
yesterday, this is me ~ 190 lbs
hooray, triathlon!
