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!

Kona 2013 Race Report

Kona 2013 Race Report

Dean, Mikayla, Izzy & Vince

Okay…finally getting a moment of down time to sit down and reflect on the past week and my race number 11 at Ironman Hawaii.  The week leading up to the race was nice and relaxing as always, and it was great having a family crew of 4 this year to lend wonderful support and encouragement on race day.  It never ceases to amaze me how much of a boost it gives me to see family and friends cheering me on along the way.  Huge thanks to my husband Dean, daughter Mikayla, brother Vince, and niece Izzy for being there and keeping me motivated on the run!  Special thanks to my coaches (Mark Allen and Luis Vargas) for getting me to the start line prepared!

The Swim:

So…the only part of this race that makes me a bit nervous is the swim start.  The mass of swinging arms and feet can put a quick stop to your day if you get hit just right in the wrong spot!  Fortunately for me, my guardian angels were working overtime and I survived the swim relatively unscathed!  I did get one swift uppercut to the jaw from some dude’s elbow which immediately stopped me and I yelled out loud “Ouch!” but recovered quickly and went on my happy way.  The swim was a lot more crowded than in the past but for the most part, people were pretty nice.  I did manage to dodge some big breast stroke kicks right in front of me a few times…whew!  I felt great overall and my goal was to expend as little energy as needed to get out of the water and onto the bike.  Swim time – 1:05

The Bike:

Onto my favorite leg of the race…the bike!  Getting started, there were a lot of people in a big hurry yelling at each other and some dude fell down right in front of me as he tried to mount his bike.  This was followed by witnessing the most blatant drafting ever in the history of Ironman Hawaii with almost no draft marshals (and nobody in penalty tents) the whole way out to Hawi.  I decided not to waste any energy letting it bother me and still just stuck with my plan, taking it nice and easy the first 10 miles and putting the hammer down once getting onto the Queen K headed toward Hawi.  The tailwind was awesome!  I felt like I was flying with so little effort.  Even the climb to Hawi was incredibly fast!  I had never experienced such nice conditions to the turn in Hawi and I kept looking at my Garmin thinking, wow…this is a fast day!  Of course, there were some nice headwinds to contend with after turning around, but truly not bad compared with prior years.  This year my goal was to push hard in the final 20 miles since I got a bit lazy in that section in 2012 and did not want that to happen again.  I did just that and came off the bike in my fastest time ever and in 1^st place in my age group!  Bike time – 5:09, AHR 141.

The Run:

Getting off the bike I am pretty sure I looked very much like a 90-year-old, attempting to run with a stride length of about 6 inches!  Everyone and his brother passed me in transition and I thought…oops! …I think I may have pushed the bike a little hard!  Fortunately, my body came around after a quick bladder emptying at the porta potty.  Somehow I lost the ability to pee on my bike years ago when I would have to deal with my stinky bike shoes the next day : ).  The volunteers in the T2 tent were so awesome.  As I was one of only a few women in T2, I was spoiled with lots of help!  Off I went, feeling a lot better than minutes before just coming off of the bike!  Anyone that knows me knows that the run is my nemesis.  I spend most of my time getting chased down and passed by great runners, but the news from my brother that I was first off the bike gave me a bit of a boost!  It was about mile 7 when Lisbeth Kenyon (4 time AG champion) passed me on the run.  She asked me who was ahead of us and I told her nobody…she is now in 1^st place, and off she went at a pace that was too fast for me!...and I was feeling relatively good at that time.  I made it to mile 13 or so until the next gal passed me, setting a blistering run pace (she ended up going 3:28).  I was relieved to see I had a good gap on 4^th place at the turnaround point in the energy lab, with only 8 miles to go!  The last 8 miles weren’t too bad…yes, they hurt, but I also was really looking forward to that final half mile on Alii Drive with the awesome roar of the crowd and my family waiting for me at the finish!  The finish line didn’t disappoint and it felt great to be able to finish with a big smile and to high five people along the way to the line!  Run time 3:51, AHR 143.

After 11 tries at this same race, I feel so fortunate that the day could come together so well and could be such a positive experience.  For the first time ever, thanks to my super cushy Hoka shoes, I could even walk normally after I crossed the finish line!  Thanks again to all of my friends and family, my coaches, and the incredible volunteers in Kona.  What an amazing and fantastic experience! 

HONU 70.3 RACE REPORT

Honu 70.3 was always on my bucket list as I have a special love for that road called the Queen K : ).  This race was a particular challenge as it was my only opportunity to qualify for Kona 2013, and for the first time in ages, I was going into the race with not 1, but 2 injuries.  I spent the 3 weeks prior to race day exploring every possible therapy, and arrived in Hawaii at least not limping…so I was happy, but a little apprehensive about my running abilities!

Getting back to Kona and sharing the experience with my husband, Dean, who also raced, was very special.  We were excited about race day and ready to rip it up! 

The swim was smooth sailing for me.  As is my usual tactic, I just found some feet and cruised at a comfortable pace, saving my energy for the bike and run.  I was out of the water 5^th in my age group, having expended very little energy, but the run to my bike hurt on every step, and I prayed somehow my foot would magically feel better after a 56-mile hammer fest on the bike.

The bike was awesome!  Windy, but nothing I wasn’t used to from IM Hawaii…. except for this one gust around mile 40 where my life flashed in front of me!  I think a small tornado hit my bike, accompanied by swirling dirt flying across the road.  Other than that, the winds were my friend and I just stayed aero and went as hard as I could, knowing my run was a complete unknown.

I entered T2 and started out on the most painful half marathon of my life.  Every step on my foot with plantar fasciitis was painful and I spent half the time praying that my fascia would not tear completely through.  The run course was incredibly brutal!  I remember seeing each mile marker, thinking these were the longest miles I have ever run.  It was scorching hot and the wet grass made for 100% humidity combined with the boiling Kona sun.  The golf course running was loaded with short steep up and downs and sharp turns….pure torture for the foot!  Even without the foot injury, I would describe Honu as the toughest 13.1 miles I have ever run!  Fortunately, I was able to hang on and keep a solid lead to the finish, securing my spot to the big show in October.  Woo hoo!  A very successful day, and fun watching friends and my hubby cross the finish line.  In his usual fashion, Dean took time out of his race to help a passed-out competitor on the road to nowhere at mile 10 of the run.  A good time was had by all and the success of the day was capped off with MarkAllenOnline teammates finishing 2^nd and 3^rd in my age group and two more MAO athletes qualifying for Kona!  Wow!  What a day!  Now…time to heal up that foot of mine.

Top 3 in W45-49

KONA 2012...A Perfect Day!...well almost!!

In good spirits at mile 10!

2012 was an exciting Kona for me as I was the youngster in my new 45-49 age group and my preparation had been solid and injury free.  I also had extra incentive to go for the win with my fundraising for a local charity, Athletes in Tandem, for which many donors pledged to double their donation if I took the age group world championship title!

Race morning started with a minor hiccup as I went to top off the air in my tires.  My valve stem had somehow spontaneously closed down in my deep dish 808 carbon rim, so there was no way to either air up my rear tire or let any air out of it!  The mechanic suggested I ride it as is (about 90psi) or risk catastrophe if I start trying to mess with the valve down in the rim.  My only problem with that was I would have no way to repair the tire if I flatted with my Pit Stop flat repair…so I was just hoping I didn’t flat!!  My whole attitude changed for the better when I ran into one of the race announcers, Bill Gilsenan, who congratulated me for winning a year of free coaching from MarkAllenOnline from a Facebook contest!  I was so ecstatic, I forgot all about the tire : ).

On to the race…as usual, I lined up in the thick of things…right along the pier and as close to the front as I could manage.  The start was unusually calm because they never sounded the cannon for the age group race as they did for the pros (just Mike Reilly was yelling “GO GO GO!!) and I think people were a little confused for a moment.  That was a nice change!  The swim felt great!  I had a good pace to the turnaround boat and then decided to just settle in for an easy cruise home behind another swimmer.  I just started swimming like a crab so I didn’t hit his feet and enjoyed the ride home.  I figured I could save some of that energy for later!  Got out around 1:07…second slowest swim ever in Kona, but figured it was the same for everyone due to currents (which it was).

Now for my favorite leg…the bike!  I hopped on and took it fairly easy the first 10 miles, then settled in once hitting the Queen K for the long haul to Hawi.  The first 30 or so miles were smoking fast with a great tailwind, but that didn’t last too long.  I was expecting a fast bike this year as all weather forecasts had predicted mild conditions for the day, although I thrive best in the toughest conditions and was hoping for high winds!  Lucky for me, we happened to have one of the toughest wind and heat race conditions in many years.  The winds weren’t particularly strong or scary, but the direction they were in sure took it out of all of the athletes!  Huge numbers of them decided to draft as a result which was so disappointing to see at the World Championships!  Where is the respect?!  There was also a grand total of maybe 10 minutes of cloud cover, so cold water at the aid stations on my head was my savior!  I passed a lot of women on the bike, but with about 10 miles to go, I saw a woman in my age group pass by me.  I decided to use her for added motivation which was perfect as I was getting a little bored riding all alone in the final miles of headwinds.  I pulled into transition with a 5:32 bike split…about 22 minutes slower than my last two Kona’s.  Looking back at my power data, I rode really strong and put out the maximum number of watts I figured I could sustain for a 112 mile ride (199W NP) so I was quite pleased with that, especially with a HR of only 140bpm (lowest ever!...go MAO!).

By the end of the bike I was actually sick of riding and ready to start the marathon…can you believe that???  However, when I got off the bike, I must have looked like an old lady as I hobbled around transition and got passed by what felt like a dozen athletes!  As I rolled out of transition, I still felt slow, but was pleased to find I was running a lot faster than I thought (based on my Garmin), and felt pretty decent after about a mile or so.  At the out-and-back on Alii Drive, I spotted the winner of my age group the past two years ahead of me a good 1-2 miles, so I knew that I was probably in 3^rd off the bike.  She didn’t look so good though as she was leaning to one side already at mile 6!  I then saw the gal in 2^nd who was only a couple minutes ahead, and she was looking a bit weary too, which gave me a little boost since I was truly having a blast and feeling pretty good at that point!  At mile 10 I passed my husband, daughter and brother who told me I was closing the gap to 1^st and they were so excited, which made me excited too!  The rest of the marathon got a bit tougher (as it always does!), but I was able to focus on making it aid station to aid station and keep a positive attitude.  By the time mile 21 came around, I had passed 1^st place and closed the gap to 2^nd place to 20 seconds!  I was excited, but was really hurting at this point and Gabriella was able to start pulling away from me in the final 4 miles.  Now I had another potential problem…getting run down by Ann Smith who is a great runner (she outran me by 8 minutes in a half earlier this year!) and was not far behind me.  I struggled up the final climb up Pay-n-Save hill and figured she would be on my heels by that time (which she was!), so I gave it everything I had on the steep downhill and with less than a half mile to go, I spotted her maybe 20 yards behind me….YIKES!  I kept pushing my hardest all the way to the line and could only relax in the last 10 feet to hear Mike Reilly announce my name.  Ann finished a mere 11 seconds later!  Whew!!  It was a hard fought 2^nd place, only a mere 50 seconds behind the winner, and I couldn’t be happier with the outcome!

All in all, it was a perfect day in the lava fields!  I kept that positive attitude, respected the race, thanked every volunteer that I interacted with and was truly grateful to be able to compete in such a special place!!

St. Croix 70.3

I designated 2012 as my year to focus on a great performance in Kona, as I am a newbie in the 45-49 age group and it will be the 10^th anniversary of my one and only 1^st place age group finish on the big island.  But first things first…qualify!  St. Croix 70.3 was my first shot at it, and also the first tri of the season.  Although my training had been going well leading up to the race, I had quite a disconcerting setback weeks 2 and 3 pre-race.  After a 1-week-long business/pleasure trip to Costa Rica where I did not touch a bicycle and did zero swimming workouts, I returned home with a nasty cold that completely debilitated me.  The result was systemic antibiotics and no swim, bike or run for another 5 days.  As you can imagine, nearly 2 weeks off the bike and out of the water was a bit disconcerting immediately prior to my “A” qualifier race for Kona.  In an effort to make up for the deficit, I signed up for the Koppenberg bike race followed by the Horsetooth TT a mere 8 and 5 days prior to race day.  So much for the taper!  I felt like I needed those efforts at least from a mental standpoint to get back into race shape.  I had good experiences in both races and renewed my confidence in having a solid race at St. Croix.

St. Croix 70.3 is one of the toughest 70.3 triathlons on the planet, as it is characterized by very steep climbs (i.e. “The Beast” which is a relentless 1 mile climb that includes inclines as much as 23%!), fierce headwinds, and high humidity and brutal Caribbean heat!  It’s my favorite kind of race!  Little did we know…we would be tackled with additional challenges of heavy rains, flooded out streets, and mud and gravel all over the technically challenging roads. 

The day started out nice with a nice 3-mile ride to the start with my hubby Dean and our roommate and fellow MAO athlete, Ian.  Not long after our arrival to the start, the rain started.  We got our transition gear set up and jumped in the water to head to the start on the little island off shore.  It was a brutal and cold 1 hour until the start of my wave, so I hovered in the warm bathroom most of the time until just before the start.  We were the very last wave and a pretty large group of all women 45 and up with a small start area, but everyone was pretty cordial and the contact was minimal.  I mostly swam solo the whole way and felt quite good throughout the swim.  When I arrived in transition, a few bikes had left ahead of me, but I was happy with my position.  I headed out of transition with my shoes attached to my pedals and ended up running through some soft mud, so was ecstatic that I didn’t have my shoes on yet as I know the cleats would be totally non-functional had I packed them with mud.  The bike was incredibly wet, rainy, and technical, so there were lots of minor casualties on the roads (i.e. lots of people with road rash and tons of flats!).  I pushed pretty hard on the bike and felt comfortable despite the brutal and wet conditions and ended up first off the bike for all master women.  It was my first experience putting running socks and shoes on over feet covered in mud!  I could only laugh as I tried to wipe my feet on the grass while putting on my socks in transition.

I got rolling on the run and felt pretty decent.  I pushed hard as I knew the competition wouldn’t be too far behind.  My first glimpse of them was at mile 6…the turnaround for loop 2 of the run.  I spotted a gal in my age group only 3 minutes behind me and was pretty worried that I would be caught by the end of the 13.1 miles.  My mantra was push as hard a possible on the downhills and stay out of site (and out of mind) for the girls chasing behind.  It was deceivingly hot despite the cloud cover and I spotted a girl ahead seize up with a leg cramp.  I decided to stop and give her some of my salt tabs as I had plenty and I thought a good deed might provide that little extra karma I needed!  In the final few miles I was so positive I would be caught (I was caught in this same race in 2008 with only 200 meters to go and lost my Kona slot), that I was pulling myself inside out to stay ahead.  Every woman I saw behind me I assumed was in my age group and I did everything in my power to stay ahead.  In the end it turns out I had a 3 minute lead on 2^nd place and I was able to cross the finish line in 1^st place, securing my spot to Kona this October.  Whew!  I can’t remember ever working so hard at the end of a race!  Well worth it on yet another fun and challenging day in St. Croix!