Post 52 - Italy and Kona

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I haven’t blogged for a couple of weeks. What’s been going on? Well, I’ve eased back into a bit of training. Not crazy-intensity, non-compromising, really tough stuff, but some slightly easier swims, bikes and runs. I want to get through the winter and get through Christmas having built up a good base, so that I have a good platform to build on when the proper training starts in January. I want to build this good base, but equally I want to make sure that I stay fresh, don’t injure myself, and don’t put too much stress on my body so I don’t pick up any stupid winter illnesses. Then I want to be ready to get back into the tough stuff after Christmas, having had a good winter.

I’ve also spent another week in Italy with work. I didn’t feel too good in Italy. I ate a pizza on the first night, and it was a bit dirty – covered in oil and spicy (dodgy?) meat of some sort. It really didn’t agree with me, and really upset my stomach for the rest of the trip. From this came a sore head from the dehydration.

I generally eat a good diet. Even though in the past few weeks since Wales I’ve eaten some junk food, I have never eaten anything horribly bad or processed, like kebabs or McDonald’s or chips. I’ve always had access to fruit and vegetables and I eat broccoli, spinach, kale, cabbage apples, oranges, bananas, pears and ginger every day. When I went to Italy, to a degree I lost this control and there was very little access to fruit and vegetables. My diet was quite poor in Italy and this made me feel quite rough. I also didn’t sleep very well as the hotel was noisy, freezing, and the bed was so hard it was like sleeping on a tiled floor.

So I wasn’t a very happy piglet in Italy, and if I’m going to compete again next summer, and really have a crack at a top-end position (I’m thinking if not actually win my age group and the amateur race, then at least try and podium in my age group, and finally hopefully get my Kona ticket), then I am going to have to work something out with regards to sudden and frequent travel – at the moment this is my biggest obstacle, or challenge.

I’m spending a lot of time thinking about how I can improve every single thing I do to maximise my chances of qualifying next year. I’ve been thinking about my training, diet, equipment, care of my body, massage, recovery and so on, in an effort to maximise my returns with the circumstances, time (and money) I have available. The margins are very tight, as I’ve learned. One little thing going wrong can have a huge effect. But I keep thinking that there’s so much I can’t control, and these business trips, from the point of view of maximising myself as an Ironman athlete for the very limited time I will be competing in Ironman races, are very challenging. You put so much effort into gaining just a couple of percentage points, and then you can lose so much to something you can’t control.

But again, perspective. These are ridiculous first-world problems. A huge percentage of the world’s population would love to be in my situation, stupid problems and all.

Something else noteworthy happened in the last couple of weeks. Saturday 11^th October was the date for the Ironman World Championships in Kona, Hawaii. I couldn’t help but feel I should have been there. If only I hadn’t had that massage. Or if only I’d insisted on a 15-minute job, not hours and hours. If only, if only… it matters not one iota now, it’s done and can’t be changed, and I have to look forward.

The race in Kona was streamed live on the internet. With the time difference, the coverage started in the late afternoon on Saturday last, and the winners were finished in the early hours of Sunday morning. I stayed up and saw Sebastian Kienle take the men’s title, and Mirinda Carfrae take the ladies’ crown. Then I went to sleep, and woke up on Sunday morning to continue watching the amateur age-group athletes finish off their races. Midnight Hawaii time, or late morning in Europe, marked the end of Kona 2014. It was awesome. Very iconic. If I’d qualified for Hawaii last year, then I’d have gone there not knowing much about the race, the course, and its history. I feel like I know the race pretty well now, having read so much about it, and watched so much footage.

The 2014 online coverage was quite biased towards the leaders, so I didn’t really get a sense of what was unfolding behind first place, but some of the stuff I remember watching and thinking from the 2014 race:

Arguably the most iconic sight of the lot: Kona pier, which is the swim start, swim finish, transition area, and right beside the finish line. The pier was covered in bikes. Let’s make some estimates. Say 2200 bikes, and each bike is worth £3000. That’s a ten million dollar pier…!

They don’t use rails to hang the bikes off in transition, they have got “wheel slots” instead. It’s all very neat and tidy, but very closely packed. Not much more space available!

There isn’t much room for many more athletes to take part, due to space constraints on the pier and at the swim start. And also on the bike. With hundreds of athletes exiting the water every couple of minutes at busy periods, there’s not enough road space due to the drafting rules (you’re not allowed within 10 metres of anyone else unless overtaking). With more and more Ironman races on the calendar, and therefore more and more Kona qualification slots available, it looks like the Ironman organisers are going to have some thinking to do… I wouldn’t be surprised if events became staggered over an entire weekend (a Saturday race and a Sunday race), or over two weekends.

The swim start – awesome – 4 separate starts at different times for the pro men, pro women, age group men, and age group women. They don’t have a starting horn or a klaxon or a gun at Kona, they have a cannon…!

The clear blue sea, fish, turtles, dolphins, etc.

The last swimmers fighting to get out of the water, up the steps, and onto the pier before the 2:20 swim cut-off. Staggering out like drunks, 2 volunteers propping them up. Almost frog-marching them up the steps. This included a 70 or 80 year old nun who was competing…

Getting out of Kona on the bike, and onto the “Queen K”, the main highway along which the bike course passes, cutting through the dark lava fields.

The sense of how hot, windy and unrelenting it is.

Jan Frodeno (pro male and first-time Kona competitor), getting a puncture, and then an unfortunate 4-minute penalty. He ultimately finished 6 minutes behind the winner, and was very gracious at the end. But he must have been thinking that this was one that got away…

Sebastien Kienle turning on the turbo boost on his bike after the turn at Hawi, and coming into T2 in first place.

Those bikes…! I thought my bike was good… Those bikes are something else… Rocket ships…

Sebastien Kienle holding on in the marathon, going into the Energy Lab (about 16 miles into the marathon) in first place, coming out of the Energy Lab in first place, and winning the damn thing.

Mirinda Carfrae starting the marathon a long, long way back, and then reeling everyone in before taking the lead with a few miles to go.

Mirinda Carfrae running one of the fastest marathons of the day, faster than the male winner.

Sebastien Kienle’s finish line interview, across the loudspeakers, broadcast around the world: “I can’t fucking BELIEVE it!”

The amazing crowds.

Ali’i Drive, leading to the finish stretch.

Then I went to bed, and got up again for the last hour.

The final athletes coming in.

The expressions.

The absolute knackered-ness but elation.

“You are an IRONMAN!”

The different reactions of the finishers – some jumping over the line, some high-fiving the crowds, some punching the air, some grimacing, some smiling, some looking a lot more aware than others. In my three Ironman finishes, I have never heard anything. I’ve never heard them say “You are an Ironman”… They say it for everyone… I must listen better next time…

Every finisher getting a flower necklace. I think I’d look good in a flower necklace…

The big medals.

The party atmosphere.

The camaraderie.

The countdown to the 17 hour cut-off.

The fire dance at the end.

Awesome stuff. I have to get there and experience it for myself...

I took some screenshots (fairly poor quality images) and saved a few photos (better images) from the race, the best of which are below:

Male age group start

 

 

Chaos

 

Pros at the top, heading back. Age groupers at the bottom, heading out.

 

Pros approaching the pier and the swim finish

 

Pros on the Queen K

 

Bike train being monitored by the "drafting police"...

 

Kienle flying

 

Kienle on the marathon

 

Jan Frodeno happy with 3rd... Winner in 2015?

 

"I can't fucking believe it!"

 

Finish area panorama... awesome scene

 And finally, a note about my training. I haven’t been as disciplined with my stretching, weights and core work as I normally am. I’m still in the off-season though, but I will need to get back into the squatting, rubber-banding, weightlifting, contortionist stretching and so on. Training in the last couple of weeks was as follows:

Monday 6^th October: Rest
Tuesday 7^th October: 40 minute run
Wed 8^th October: Rest
Thurs 9^th October: 50 minute bike
Friday 10^th October: 2.5km swim
Saturday 11^th October: 2 hour turbo
Sunday 12^th October: 35 minute run

Totals: Swim 2.5km, Bike 56 miles, Run 11 miles.

Monday 13^th October: Rest
Tuesday 14^th October: Rest
Wed 15^th October: 1:05 turbo (5mins easy, 5mins hard x 6)
Thurs 16^th October: 30 minute fartlek run
Friday 17^th October: Rest
Saturday 18^th October: 1:10 turbo (1 hour hard)
Sunday 19^th October: Swim 2.5km, 35 minute run (15mins hard)

Totals: Swim 2.5km, Bike 50 miles, Run 11 miles.