Kona 2014!

Approaching this year’s Kona, I was so excited to get away for my favorite 10 days of the year!  For me, Kona holds a very special place in my heart and I always feel so happy just being there, especially after family joins in on the fun!  My run training has been going better than ever and the run has always been my weak link at Ironman.  I blame that on a great coach (Luis and SmartTriathlonTraining), some great advice from Michellie Jones, Platinum Performance (they rock), and my shoes (Hoka Cliftons) that allow me to run as long and as often as I wish.

The Fam!  Dean & Mikayla

Race week was relaxing and incredibly awesome as it always is.  The beauty and extraordinary sanctity of the island was present in full force, and I thrived in it.  This year was wickedly hot every single day though and locals were saying it was the hottest October in over a decade.  I believe it.  Made for excellent heat training leading into race day for sure!  It was a joy to have family and friends with me for the journey to give me that extra strength for race day!

Me and my buddy Cherie at swim start

I was excited for the new, all women’s swim start in Kona.  Here I thought I could finally start out without getting completely swallowed up, hit and kicked by the big, aggressive German dudes who I always blamed for the rough start!  Little did I know it was the women who were the aggressors!  I started counting after the 3^rd time my goggles got kicked into my eye socket or knocked part way off letting the stinging salt water in.  The total count for how many times I had to stop to readjust my goggles was 9!  A record for sure!  On top of it, we had some really rough water…lots of waves and a tremendous current keeping us from returning to shore in a decent time.  Despite the contact and lots of salt water driven into my sinuses, I did feel fantastic from a swimming standpoint with no bruises from the swim fight and didn’t bother to look at the clock at the exit (a good thing, as it was one of my slowest swim times ever in Kona! – 1:09).

Off to my favorite part…the bike!  I started off nice and conservative as always and felt decent starting off.  It

was fun seeing Dean, Mikayla and many other friends in town before hitting the Queen K.  Boy…did it get hot out there with the blazing sun out for the entire bike ride!  I watched my watts and stayed somewhat conservative as the winds picked up very early on the bike.  I thought to myself…”I wanted wind…but not this early!”  Then the crosswind gusts started and I think I even screamed a little once in fear when a gust hit me unexpectedly on the road to Hawi.  Once I got to Hawi, I typically put the hammer down on the return trip.  The crosswinds played with my mind a little though so I stayed a little conservative compared to my usual tactics on that fast section after the turn in Hawi.  Once I hit Kawaihai and turned back onto the Queen K, I had plenty of reserves and was able to push hard all the way back to Kona.  Despite the extra long time spent on the bike (29 min slower bike split than last year), I felt quite strong and was excited to see what I could do on the run this year with my recent running improvements.

I hit transition feeling pretty decent.  A bit stiff initially, but felt quite good once I left the change tent.  Starting the run, I felt pretty darn good.  I kept my heart rate under 150 yet was holding an 8:00/mile pace for the first 10 miles!  That was a first for me (at least since 2001)!  I slowed down a bit after that, but generally felt better than most years on the Queen K.  It was a relief to finally hit the energy lab and seeing so many friends and teammates out on the course gave me a bit of renewed energy.  As is typical for me, I could have sworn I saw not 1, but 2 women in my age group 4 minutes and 6 minutes behind me at the mile 18 turn around point in the energy lab.  It turns out there was only 1, with all others a good 30 minutes back.  I was cruising along at a reasonable pace in the final 10K, popping lots of salt pills as needed, but with about 3 miles to go, my left calf seized up on me bringing me to a complete halt for a moment and needing to stretch a bit.  I tried to keep moving, but my pace slowed dramatically while trying to will my calf into not seizing up the entire way home. 

With only a mile left to go, I headed down the steep Palani hill headed toward Alii Drive, still in 1^st place in my age group!  I kept thinking…wow…could this be happening?!...and then it happened…that dejavue of Karen Smith motoring past me just past the Palani hill aid station and rapidly distancing herself from me.  She did the exact same thing a few years back (although we were racing for 4^th and not for 1^st at the time), but it was literally at the very exact same location in the exact same manner!  Weird, eh?  She blew by me at what must have been a 5:30/mile pace down the hill and I yelled something like, “Karen!...I can’t believe you are doing this to me AGAIN!!” (in a playful tone, as I knew I had no chance of catching her with my seizing calf muscle).

I finally hit Ali’i Drive in good spirits despite losing my top spot so late in the game as I was excited to have had such a strong run off the bike for the first time in 13 years!  It was so fun to see friends on Ali’i Drive and of course the crowds were awesome!  I made sure to get lots of high-5’s on the way to the line.  Madame Pele was very gracious to me this year and brought me lots of rough water and high winds on the bike like I hoped for!  (yes, I know that is sick : )

I finished knowing I gave it my all and I am ecstatic with the result!  I even managed myself well enough to avoid the med tent and could even come back to the finish line through midnight with my wonderful husband to enjoy watching the final finishers!  I am so grateful for the opportunity to participate in this event, and even more so to do it with my family and friends there to support me, both on and off the course.  What a wonderful end to a wonderful season!