Photos still to come, but I'll them when I get back home:
Well, I have that slightly empty feeling that is all too
familiar and means that the season is over and I have no more goals left. Hawaii World Ironman
Championships was always the Big Kahuna for 2013, and now that its over, its
time to reflect.
I chose to acclimatise to the heat and time zone in two
stages, with a week in Texas training on old stomping grounds at 30 degrees and
85% humidity, and then a week in Kona itself, watching the buildup to the big
day. I enjoyed being out of the circus when it mattered, and got a solid week
in sweating it out in Texas, before tapering on the final week, recce’ing the
course at the times I would be on it, during which there were no issues, no
jetlag and no illnesses, stomach or sleep problems, so really I couldn’t have
asked for a better preparation.
Two of the highlights of my pre-race prep were the Kona
Underpants run and drinking coffees of Hawaii (Chrissie Wellington’s blend of
course) on the outrigger boat in the Harbour. The underpants run was just a
really chilled affair where everyone managed to look ridiculous but not be in
the slightest bit embarrassed, all in the name of charity. An incredible sight and a great atmosphere,
showing that not all the most serious athletes take themselves ultra-seriously.
So to the big day itself, and we made our way to the King K
hotel where the body marking took place. I’d been warned there would be a queue
for this, so I took it calmly as an enormous number of volunteers painstakingly
applied a 4-digit tattoo to both arms of all 2050 competitors, one at a time!
Then we had to be weighed, all before we were allowed to our bikes to put on
the fluid, Garmins, and air in the tyres.
I felt calm as I completed my warm up, put some extra Vaseline
on, and got into my speedsuit, aiming to be in the water at 6:35, just after
the pro start. Although this was a long wait for the start in deep water, I
felt calm enough, despite the constant Hawaian drumming, which was guaranteed
to put your heart rate up a notch or two.
I held onto a paddle board, looked to my right and saw James
Ogilvie, and to my left, and lo and behold there was Richard Newey. Of all the
places to meet two clubmates, at the start of the Ironman World Champs in the
water with 2000 others!
After an age, we were finally set off with a cannon, and it
was into the fray I went. I kept to the left, which definitely worked, and I stayed
out of trouble, coming out of the swim unscathed (even at the Body Glove turn
boat) in 1:09. I was happy enough with that time, being double what I can do
without a wetsuit over a half ironman. The
best part was how beautifully clear the ocean is, and the fact that some
dolphins swam with some of the athletes. Definitely not a common occurrence in
Europe.
Onto the transition, a quick shower and then the bike course
laid out in its 180 Km of windy, hot glory, only to find my Garmin 310xt,
trusty though its been all season had decided not to pick up Heart Rate or
power, so I had to stop it and restart. This race, I had taken the opportunity to
use a new toy, a Garmin 510 in order to
view my rather swanky new right-left power balance which is being communicated
from my Vector pedals. This was all very exciting and made the ride a lot more
boring. It was hard to stick to my allotted window of power (140-160 watts)
which was the same as South Africa earlier this year, as the first half of the
course was a tailwind, and many people kept on speeding past. I told myself that
they would pay for this later. I’m not sure that they did though, as the folks
in this race were way too experienced to make those kind of mistakes.
I caught a member of a pro team near to the turnaround at
Hawi, who was also riding to power and we both expressed surprise at the lack
of the well-known crosswinds, which had threatened to sweep me over the cliff
just a couple of days before. I made good progress into the headwind after Hawi
(60 miles) and continued to be above my target ever so slightly, completing the
ride with an average power of 161w, which compares very favourably with South
Africa at 145. My heart rate also averaged 145, so I knew I was perfectly
within the normal bounds for me, and felt pretty good coming into T2. However,
I was a long long way down on any of the pointy end, and I knew it.
I set out to make amends on the run, knowing that the first
10 miles of Ali’I drive would be where I could do some damage. I went past 26
women during this section, feeling pretty good, drinking and eating gels, and
not really feeling the heat at all, since it had clouded over. I was watching
my Heart Rate a little on the uphills but it never hit the 164 point where I
start to notice a meltdown. So I plodded on at 5 min/km pace to the 13 mile
point, telling myself not to walk until then. I knew this was where it would
get tough, as they told us in the briefing that no spectators would be allowed
from this point on until we got back to the finish (pretty much 25.5
miles/41km). This was agony. After
having lots of shouts and encouragement, it become instead the gruelling
glances from those who were 10 miles ahead of me on the course and knew they
were nearer to ending the pain than I was by at least 80 minutes. I am sure
that I improved their day no end, but it didn’t do much to spark mine. I met a
girl who had decided to run/walk, so we walked some aid stations from Makala at
about 13 miles to the turning to the Energy Lab at 16. Turns out, she was 3
months pregnant and was ‘taking it a lot easier than normal for her at Kona’ - this is the kind of competition once can
only marvel at in this event. Sadly, some of those who I’d worked so hard to
get past came back. That was soul destroying and as I ran down into the Natural
Energy Lab I became more determined that the goal to finish before daylight
ended at 6:14pm would be the one to work towards. I felt my head spinning out
of control, and decided that walking was safer than running with such low bood
pressure. I’d taken 5 Nuun’s during the bike, in addition to all the Powerbar
Perform, but it clearly hadn’t been enough salt. I also gave one to another
girl who was suffering at Hawi, so now it was time for Karma to turn to me, and
a hapless runner who was rattling with the sound of salt tablets caught up to
me. Recognising the telltale noise, I asked if I could have one. He happily
agreed, and I wolfed it down with a banana and a pretzel to add some more salt
for good measure. I also knew that in 2 miles I could get my Special Needs,
which contained Nuun. Almost immediately the salt tablet took effect, and I was
able to run again. I hadn’t had any cramps, blisters, stomach distress or other
issues, but salt balance is still something I haven’t quite mastered, since the
same thing happened at Roth at about 14 miles. From the special needs point on,
I went back to running in between the aid stations, and made good progress
again. Turning onto Queen K at last for the final 6 miles, I could see the sun
starting to drop towards the horizon on my right hand side, and the aid station
announcers started to refer to us chasing it. I looked at my watch and
calculated that at 37km, I could still do my last 5 km in 25 mins and be home
before sundown. It was interminable, but I’m pleased to say I got there at
last. Final Turbo finisher, and beaten by all the non-pregnant athletes in the age
group, or so it seemed. I got a big thanks from the girl who I’d given the Nuun
to, as she was stretchered into medical, having finished just, and there was a lady
who collapsed rather selfishly in front of me at the finish line itself,
spoiling my photos a little!!
I tried to hand myself into medical as I could not keep
standing up but they refused to take me, and said I had to drink chicken soup
instead. When I did this in South Africa I’m afraid it was not the last I saw
of the soup, but I managed better in Roth thanks to the wonderful Mrs G. This
time I was all on my own, staggering around, trying to get my stuff out of
transition, finding nowhere to change, and realising my phone didn’t work, so that
was all a bit upsetting. But I made it out after a massage, and I have been
walking around fairly well ever since, no real damage done.
I am very proud to have realised my Kona dreams this year. Its
been the hardest and most rewarding season yet for me, starting on March 2nd
in Abu Dhabi, with a 2nd at IMSA, 1st at Roth, and a few
70.3s along the way. Now I’m looking forward to taking on some new personal challenges, but I can only recommend
the journey, as ever. You will definitely learn more about yourself. I still
maintain that ‘Plan the race, race the Plan’ is all you can do. And that is
what I did. No drama, no heroics, just a solid race against the best in the world
and the Kona Winds. I’m not disappointed, just humbled.
PS For anyone who doesn’t know, the word Kona, in Hawai’ian,
means wind from the South.
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