Hawaii 70.3 Race Report - I apologize for the long read! PreRace: This was my first ocean swim for any race and didnt know what to expect; especially, with my issue I had with Racine last year I really had a mental concern about this portion of the race. Because of this, I made sure I trained pretty hard the last month and made it a priority to have a few ocean water swims when I get into the islands of Kona. On Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday I made every effort to go to Hapuna Bay and get use to the conditions and feel comfortable of the ocean waters. The extra buoyancy with the salt really made me feel at ease, but trust me, it totally taste like CRAP and can get you sick if you accidentally take a big gulp by mistake. By Friday morning, they started putting up the buoy so the CARE group (Edwin, Arnez, Carlo, Stacey, Ruthy, and myself) decided to swim to the far end buoys and back which gave me the utter most confidence I got the swim! We basically swam a mile on all three days before race day... Race Day: The day before the race, was not ideal by any means. It started with a swim (1mile) and bike (40min - man those winds were tough) 7am in the morning (keep in mind only had a small bowl of oat meal around 5am prior working out) and finished around 10am. Followed Carlo back to the hotel to pick up the family to go to packet pick up, shop, drop off our bike and run gear in the different transition areas. With all said an done, we finished around 4pm and finally had my first real meal at the mall... Augh... I was literally feeling light headed at that time. Anyways, we hung out with the Tangonans at the beach a little longer, went to get pizza for the kids, and was basically on my feet until 9:30pm until I finally got back to the hotel... I pretty much crashed and woke up around 3am to get ready for the race! Swim - 55:35 Getting all the prerace logistics out of the way all of the CARE group started heading out to the swim start area. You can definitely feel the energy from this race than any other HIMs I have done. There was Hawaiian warrior music in the background and the crowd was huge! This was a mass start (my first) so as the athletes got into the water I decided to stay in the middle of the pack and just do what needs to get done. Then the gun went off!!! It actually wasnt that bad, I got into the rhythm and was swimming with a group and hitting all the buoys with no problem. I even took Ruths advice to use the sand lines to lead me to the buoys!!! Thanks Ruth!!!! By the last buoy I looked and noticed I can stand I looked at my watch and it said 49min.. I was like sub 50!!! I was fn ecstatic... But the swim was not over... I still had to run to get to the swim finish area... This is where I first saw Rach and the family cheering me on!!! T1 - 10:36 I knew T1 was going to take longer than usual, since all equipment had to be in a bag and hung on your handlebars. As I opened the bag I changed, got my nutrition in order, and packed all of my swim gear in the bag... I had to double check I had everything in the bag because if you didnt have all your gear in there, you pretty much lost it... Along the way, Rach was calling me to take pics!!! Then I was off to the mount area... Rach then yelled my name and said PUT ON YOUR HELMET!!!... Ooopsy... I forgot all about that!!!! HAHAHAHAHA!!! Bike - 3:39:15 I really thought my training on the bike within the past few months (TR, WFG, and MTB) wouldve gotten me ready for this course. My goal was to maintain a power of 165-175 watts throughout the ride... The first 15miles was no problem, but then we made the first turn around to get to Hawi then the Fn wind started hitting... It wasnt a big deal, but it made it difficult to hold the bike together at times when those gust hits. Then around mile 25-35 was a straight climb. I still maintained a 170watts and was feeling really good. I was passing a lot of riders and was well within my plan to get through this leg. Then there were three things that really was bugging me throughout this point - 1) I forgot to put Buttr and had a lot of chafing, 2) my speedplay cleats was killing the bottom of my feet (not sure why), and 3) the fn heat was MURDER, but I still stuck to my plan... The 2nd turnaround was there... This is where you are pretty much going down hill for 10min peaking speeads of +40mph and didnt even have to pedal... By mile 45 the three things were really getting to me and just wanted to get off the bike... At this point I felt like I was overheating, but knew I was less than 10miles left on the bike so just pushed through... There was a group of us that stuck together and we just took turns leading the way to get us through those winds at times... My goal was to get through the bike in 3hrs, but it didnt happen... The course was tough with all the rolling hills, heat, and wind... But glad I finally hit T2 and saw the wifey!!! T2 - 7:56 As I approach the dismount area, I was praying my feet would not be hurting based on the pain I felt with the speedplay cleats, but it was just a relief to get off the bike. My butt and feet really thank me for that!!! No big deal in T2... I just pretty much changed, got my nutrition, and gave the wife a kiss... Then head off to the run... Run - 3:19:46 As I looked at my watch I had well over 4hrs to complete the race before the cutoff and felt really ecstatic that I have completed 2 legs of the race... Carlo told me the day before that the run is not that bad since it is flat... WHAT A FN LIAR!!!! I ran for the first .5mile and said to myself Im gonna die!!! The heat was overbearing and the course was filled with hill after hill and no freaking shade. I was pretty much overheating and just put it in survival mode throughout the run. By mile 1, I was saying I just walked nearly 60% of that mile and thought to myself how am I gonna get through this last leg... I was not use to this heat at all and the humidity was really getting to me... I was just doing the math to make sure I get to the finish before cutoff. Along the way I spoke to a number of athletes, I drank a lot of soda, water, poured icewater down my back, ate oranges, and ran when I can (which was not much)... I was pretty much averaging 14min miles and just did this throughout each mile marker for the race... By mile 11, there was a slight drizzle for 2-3min and knew the Gods was just pulling a joke on us... A lady told me that this run is known as Lucifers Backyard and she wasnt lying... I was just cursing Carlo for saying that this run course was not that bad!!! Fn LIAR!!! LOL!!! I just took it one mile and one step at a time calculating my time to make sure I make that 8:30 deadline... By mile 12 I knew I had this race in the bag and saw Carlo the last half mile... I was happy to see him and gave him the finger about this run!!! He was cracking up!!! Then I saw Rach and she had the biggest smile where she stated YOU FINISHED THIS RACE AND WAS VERY PROUD OF ME!!!... I just had enough energy at that point to run the last half mile and cross that finish... I never felt so proud!!! Thoughts: This race was probably the hardest race I have ever faced to date. I have told others, but really do feel in my opinion that this was tougher than IMLOU. I trained really hard for this race and I still had to go into survival mode to just finish. My body was not acclimated to the heat and humidity. I have never faced such strong winds on the bike in any practice ride in the past. The pain I was facing with chafing and cleats didnt help by any means. My goal was to hit sub7 for this race, but after 40miles into the bike I just through that goal in the garbage and did what I can to make the cutoff. Even though I didnt hit a spectacular time on this course I am damn proud I completed this race and did it with the CARE group! Best of all my wife, kids, and mother-in-law was there at every point of the course that made it even more special!!! I cant wait to do this again!!! Till next race CARE!!!
Posted on: Sun, 08 Jun 2014 08:13:31 +0000
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