Love, Jason.

In 2010, Lavaman fully established that, as a 195lb with LUSH dark body hair, the Big Island overheats me almost immediately. I experienced that at Wildflower and the dozen half marathons I ran last year as well. But, for Kona, I needed to find a better way to cope. That said, the wifey and I started researching and working through strategies that would enable me to succeed in Kona.  This is where we netted out. I hope it helps others.  Let me take a second a caveat this post, in its entirety, by saying use common sense, use a heart-rate monitor and listen to your body. If you can’t handle parts or all of this, then DON’T attempt it. I’ve spent the last several years learning about my body continue to be certain that it’s capable of taking what I planned for it if not much much more. I expect you do to the same. This shit can literally kill you if you’re not smart about it. This sport is about fun, proving yourself, and most importantly for me, extending my life.

About 2 months before Ironman 70.3 Hawaii, I started implementing our plan.  We broke it into 4 major parts:  Training, getting my body more used to working in hotter and harsher conditions;  Clothing, what I would actually wear during the race;  Hair, how we should deal with the fact that I’m a furball and how it contributes to my heat issues; and my Cooling strategy in-race.  In practice, the plan worked very very well and definitely helped me more than I expected.

Training

As I entered the sharpening phase of training (about 2 months before the race), I started doing my bike and run workouts at the hottest parts of the day.  In addition, I started dressing “up” for all workouts. On the bike trainer, I closed all the windows, turned off the fans and went for it. On runs, I wore black running leggings, a tech shirt under a long-sleeve tech shirt and beanie and went out to “bake” on sunny, 75-80 degree (F) days. On outdoor rides, I wore cold-weather leggings and tops. This does 2 things for you.  First, it adds anywhere from 5-10 lbs to the weight you need to move in workout due to the gear absorbing the torrent of sweat coming off you.  Second, it adds 5-10 degrees (F) to your normal workout core temp.  There’s really not a ton I can elaborate about here, outside of the fact that by doing it, you improve. That’s it.  My recommendation is to ease into this.  Start by going out at peak dayparts dressed as you normally would for the conditions.  Then, slowly, add layers if you so desire.

Race Kit (Clothing)

As I’ve gotten more wrapped up into triathlon, I’ve kept relating to a particular athlete insofar as we had similar body structures and issues with heat. Torbjorn Sindballe, an amazing pro, who’s held the IWC bike course record and who podiumed Kona in 2007.  He has written and talked repeatedly about his heat intolerance and how he and his trainer had devised plans to deal with it.  I highly recommend reading it through as well.  For me, the wife and I both agreed that I needed very lightly-colored race kit (jersey, shorts, hat, etc) for the race. Whatever we could do to reflect off sun and UV was gonna keep me cooler than running in the kit I’ve used in the past.  We tested this a little at Wildflower.

First, we picked up a Sugoi Sonic Tri Jersey and used it for the race.  It features much better mesh cooling and wicking than the jerseys I’d used in the past and was able to stay pretty cool in the high heat.  Kona, however, is not Central California.  We knew that we were gonna have to go to the “9s” to keep me from popping on the run course.

For shorts, we chose the lightly-colored 2XU Compression Shorts as the bottoms to go with.  The were MUCH cooler (temperature-wise) that the Pearl Izumi’s I used last year.

Next we picked up a pair of Pearl Izumi Sun Sleeves.  After a 90-min test ride with them a couple weeks before the race, I found them to be thoroughly and surprisingly awesome at what they do.

Finally, we picked up a great running hat, the Brooks HVAC Infiniti Mesh Cap. It was closed enough to not hemorrage water, but not so closed as to not let my head breathe.  If you find this post helpful, please help me out and pick up an item or two via the links. I’ll make a couple bucks and it’ll make me feel like sharing is in fact caring. If you go off and pick them up locally, that’s obviously totally cool too. That’s as far as my profiteering plug goes.

Hair

Well, yep, I’m a furry monster. My father was a furry papa and I was lucky enough to get it too. I’m the “oh shit they don’t realize that I have back hair” guy that’s kinda quiet during group jokes.  The wife and I have to manscape regularly to keep it under control.  In races, it’s a full-on hinderance to performance. I’m the first to overheat and the worst to manage the problem once it starts.  As much as it scared the crap outta my self-perceived masculinity, I embraced the concept that I had to go sans-hair for Kona. It’s really quite simple. So in the week before the race, we finally clippered me and holy crickey is the world a cold place! Originally the plan was to clipper, then nair (maybe) and wax. We got through the clippering and decided that was enough to do the job. I felt like a Russian olympic gymnast as I did my legs, arms, chest etc. Contortionists have NOTHING on me. Best thing…I apparently have a the inklings of a six-pack. Invisible under the furball until now.  It was fun, I’m glad we did it, and it fully paid off.

Heat Strategy

Well this is really where the rubber hit the road. In race, I needed to do something different when I got out on the asphalt.  Starting on the bike, I pretty well followed the strategy I devised after doing a sweat test.  The trick in Kona was making sure I took in 2 liters of fluid/hour PLUS cool myself down AND THEN keep myself from getting slosh from the Cytomax, gels, etc.  I plan on going in pretty significant (and probably mind-numbing) detail in my race report on nutrition for the race. So I’m not going to repeat it here.  Understanding that the course would have aid every 8-11 miles on the bike and every mile or so on the run I chose to roll with 3 big bike bottles w/ 1.75 scoops/bottle of Cytomax for electrolyte hydration on the bike.  After the 2nd or third aid stop, the plan was to dump one of the bottles and replace it with pure water to use as cooling and non-Cyto drink. This worked out well. I ended dumping the bottle at the third station and used the aid water bottles to drench and quench between each station.  I was successfully FAR from thirsty, and not sloshy for the entire ride.  I, also importantly, forced myself to use nearly all of the bottle’s contents and discarding it just before the aid station (within the dump area).  This was to make sure I kept moving and stayed safe.  Someone dumped their bike right at the beginning of the race after getting wrapped up in the very first aid station.

Once I hit the run, I already had the beginnings of overheating.  It was quite miserable.  Not as bad as last year from what I’ve been told, but it was stifling.  Here, the goal was to take ice, sponges and water EVERYWHERE possible.  Every mile, I would dump 1 cup of ice into the Brooks hat, 1 cup into my jersey, dump 1 cup of water on my body and then drink a cup of water.  If possible I’d try to grab a block of ice or another cup of ice and run with it upside down in my hand.  Torbjorn had found that having ice on your hands cooled the body .2-.4 degrees (F) per hour better than ice in the hat. I went with (E) All of the above and it definitely paid off. I stayed pretty cool with mental fatigue causing my issues far more so than physical.  I highly recommend the ice-in-hand option, it works amazingly well.

Wrapping up

Ultimately, all of our research and planning paid off for the race. While I didn’t sub 6 hour the race like I’d hoped, I did hit my marks for the major pitfalls of a race in a place like Kona. My failure to sub-6 was training-related and from that I’ve learned and will adapt.  I hope this helps people as I spent a pretty decent amount of time tweaking this to work for my needs.

Race well, be kind and ALWAYS enourage folks on-course (and off) when you see they need it.

For most of my life, when challenged, my fight-or-flight instinct has skewed to the fight side, almost to a fault. But not because of my desire to reach the goal, but rather as a response to being challenged. I always thought the fight focused on me. Exceptionally egotistical, I do realize. But maybe, just maybe, this is just a glint of hope that I’m maturing a little .

Last weekend, I attended an Open Water Race Clinic held by Swim Art at Aquatic Park in San Francisco.  As I continue journey within the sport of triathlon, I’ve found myself in a similar predicament as when I drove open wheelers. It happens at the start of the race when you’re literally assholes to elbows together with between 100-1600 of your closest “friends” in the swim.  The situation is unbelievably tense. It’s bizarrely similar to to the stress of hurling yourself down a snaking strip of asphalt at 160MPH with a couple dozen of your closest (in all senses of the word) “friends.” Both sports involve more contact that anyone desires.  Both sports involve a very clearly called out degree of mortal peril.  And, in both sports, there’s a realistic possibility, or at least your mind and gut believes, that you might very well and truly perish.

However, it wasn’t until this weekend when Kelly, our coach, said a simple statement that threw all of that on its head.  She opened my eyes in the world of sport and in life. In nearly all cases, no one you’re racing against truly wishes you harm, foul and none have any sort of dastardly agenda with you as the primary target.  Instead, and just altogether so simply, you happen to be in the way of them reaching their goal.  Nearly always the goal is two-part.  First, everyone wants to get themselves out of harms way as fast as possible. Second, everyone wants to achieve their goal in the race.  It has nothing more to do with you except that you are there at that moment and you, for your part, had the misfortune of being in their path.  Similarly, this applies to people whom you must pass and whom put you in precariously perceived positions during the race. However, your interaction with them doesn’t involve “sorry.” You didn’t intend to harm the other person, or them you. Sure, there are cases when some people are simply douchebags. It’s pretty obvious harm is their primary intent and, in my opinion, those situations should be dealt with swiftly and altogether differently. But, that being said, I believe that most people compete to “win” whether it’s being in the top 10, winning their age group, etc and to do so in a civilized fashion.

And that’s just it. It hasn’t been you for all these years that compromise the way I perform, it’s been me.  When you’ve nudged me, bumped my shoulders, lovetapped my gearbox (wow that sounds dirty), or swum right over me, it hasn’t been to rob me of my life, but just to win. That goes for the people who cut me off on the road, and the people who bump me in line at the Post Office.

Armed with this, I’ve had probably the most centered and enjoyable day in nearly a decade with the exception of the day I married my dear wife.

I hope that others get what I mean and it helps them as it seems to have already helped me.  The next year will be a test both personally and professionally and I’m truly looking forward to whatever may be in store.

Last year I cut my teeth in the sport of triathlon. 2 Olympic distances (Wildflower & Lavaman Keauhou) and 2 sprint distances (Tri for Fun and Tri for Real).  What I expected to be the “flash in the pan,” “let’s see if I can do this” experience of Wildflower turned into a yearning to become better at disciplines I half-assed for the better part of the 30 athletically-eligible years of my life.  I’ve been, until 2010, a piss poor swimmer, a 15-16MPH biker and a 9:00+/mi runner.  That began to change last year.  By the end of the year, I had made significant progress in the water breaking into the 1:40s for 100yd drills, into the 18-19MPHs on the bike and into the mid 7:00s/mi on the run.  I honestly am hooked on the sport and what it does for your psyche and your body.

This year is when I begin to see what this meat bag I’ve been born with can do.  I’m in the best shape of my life today.  And by meat bag, I mean it only endearingly since I’m loving my body more and more everyday.  At 6 feet and 1 inch and 193 lbs, I have the definition and endurance that I once only scoffed at or vaguely dreamed of.

This year I’ve (naturally) bitten off bigger portions and set higher standards to gauge my resolve.  I’ve selected 4 major events for this year.  2 Olympics, once again, and two Ironman 70.3 races.  Instead of doing the 12 1/2marathons in 12 months like I did in 2010, I’ve decided to go whole hog into the concept of tri training and doing so properly.  That being said, I’ve begun training in what’s known as the “base phase” where I build for 8-12 weeks before beginning sport-specific hardening and speed work that will culminate in peaking for the summer months and my 4 tris.  My goals for 2011 make 2010 look like folly now that I’ve begun to amass data on what it’s going to take to get there.  To contextualize…my goal for PRing (personal record/best) the Olympic distance is 2:35:00.  That’s 30 mins faster than I’ve ever done an Olympic to date and only about 35-40 mins behind the winners normally.  On the Ironman 70.3 front, I’m hoping to PR with a sub 5:45:00.  Something not easily done.

What does this all really mean? Well, to do a 2:35:00 Olympic, it means I need to swim .9mi in 30mins, bike 24.9mi in 1hr 15mins (20MPH avg pace), run 6.2mi in 50mins (8:00/mi) and take no more than 5mins in total transitioning between the swim and the bike and the bike and the run.  To achieve a 5:45:00 Ironman 70.3, it means I must swim 1.2mi in 55mins, bike 56mi in 2hrs 45mins (20.3MPH avg pace), THEN run a half marathon (13.1mi) in 1hr 50mins (8:24/mi) with similar transition times.  Doesn’t sound too bad right?  Well, we shall see.

All in all, I’m off to a great start and will begin to share some of the training plans and insights I work into my program.  The first area I’m really focusing on while I have a little time in the “base phase” is nutrition.  What I’ve already learned in two short weeks makes me baffled how I would have ever lived any other way and even more pissed off that it took me almost 38 years to learn about it.  But, then again, whateve.  I’m here now and I’m gonna do it as right as I can from here on out.

First, a little background.

2010 marked the year I was bitten by the bug of the harsh and unforgiving sport of triathlon. It’s, in my opinion, the hardest sport on the planet. An endurance event composed of swimming, biking and running that’s single goal is to take every last drop of energy out of a competitor and crush their soul.

In May I participated in my first tri, the infamous Olympic course at Wildflower. I finished and, with that, gained a level of respect for pro athletes I’d never known despite being around them professionally for the better part of my 20s.

But now, I wanted to become better. Better in a sport that truly scares the crap outta me. Let’s set the stage I’m a newbie swimmer. By that I mean I couldn’t swim a 25yd length of a pool before January of this year. I’m an average commuter rider. I average 15-17MPH over a 25mi distance. I’m a mid-pack half-marathon age-grouper. I run with an untrained gait at an 8:00-8:15 avg mile pace.

Mid-summer, my girlie’s co-worker offered us to join her for a long weekend at her timeshare on Kona. Having never been to Hawaii, I was totally psyched! About a week after we confirmed and picked up plane tickets, I had a notion… I wonder if there’s a half marathon, 10K or something on Kona when we’re there? After a short search on Active.com, I found something that sent chills up my spine. Holy crap! There’s a tri that weekend! It’s an Olympic! And it covers parts of the Ironman World Championships course! Can I handle an Olympic on Kona? Well, I can finish…I think. And, you only get one go at life. Let’s check with the COO (aka my girlie) and see if she’s cool with it. She was and, with that, I entered Lavaman Keauhou.

Registration

The registration process was simple and painless. Active.com really does a solid job at getting into an event.

Race Website

The Lavaman site itself is a little janky. The navigation isn’t terribly intuitive and getting where you want to go quickly and easily isn’t quite that. The course maps were so-so. They’re really no better or worse than that of the Ironman World Championships or Wildflower. Maps are screenshots of Google Maps with routes added via Photoshop. What sucked was there were no elevation profiles available. Additionally, the navigation in the “Course” section of the site had the stints organized out of order. Offering the details in order: “Swim,” “Run,” “Bike,” “Swim to Bike Transition” and “Bike to Run Transition.” That was a little disconcerting (at least to me) since this I expect to see segments in the particular order they’re supposed to be experienced.

Communication from the Organizers

As the date approached, the communication from the race organizers wasn’t terribly clear and the emails were definitely not tested before being sent to the registrants having formatting issues all over the place. Nitpicks I’m sure. But given everyone’s paying upwards of $150 to attend, most of which, 1,000s of miles away, the devil is in the details.

My Preparations

Now that registration was good to go, let’s get down to brass tacks. Equipment, training, race strategy.

Equipment

Ship the bike or rent? Lavaman partnered with “TriBike Transport” offering bike shipping to the event. After emailing them, I never received a response. FAIL. Did some more research locally and found that it was going to be upwards of $300 to get my bike to and from the Big Island. Hmmmm. What other options are there? Another partner of Lavaman was local bike shop “Bike Works.” They apparently offer high-end bike rentals! Really? I can rent a top-of-the-line carbon race bike? For half the price of shipping? DONE and DONE! After about an hour of research and a call with the guys at Bike Works, I reserved a Cervelo P3C in my size. Immediate automated AND personal email follow-up from Bike Works and I was confident that I was set with my basic bike logistics. I HIGHLY recommend these guys. I’ll further detail the Bike Works experience below.

Training for the Swim

I’m a newbie swimmer. I didn’t know how to swim more than 20-30 feet in January. I took classes and joined a tri team. I trained in the swim, 3-4 times per week. Wildflower handed me my ass in the water. I imploded in the wash cycle of Lake San Antonio. I wasn’t even close to ready for the mayhem that was the Wildflower swim. And with that, I posted 1:11:16 for my first competitive (if you want to call it that) swim. Since then, I did another 1.5K swim at the Splash & Dash Aquathlon (1.5K swim/5K run) in July and cut 24mins off my time. But, I still suck in the swim (47:26). But now, I have to go to Hawaii and do this in the Pacific Ocean. So what do we do here? Sign up for another aquathlon, and train a ton more! With the 6 weeks leading up to Lavaman, I need to get stronger and go longer than I’ve ever been able to before. I started swimming almost every day putting in 1000-1500 yards of mostly drills. In the first week of August, I did my second Splash & Dash. Cut another 2.5mins off my swim time (44:58), but still pretty piss poor. It was at this point I started integrating 400 pyramids into my swim program. Basically, identify your target time for the swim distance. Calculate the 100-yard split time necessary to achieve that time and use that for your pyramids. 4x100s w/10secs rest, 2x200s w/15secs rest, 1×400 w/20secs rest, 2x200s w/15secs rest and then 4x100s w/10secs rest. This really helped me. I wanted to be sub 40:00 for Lavaman. A good number to work from was 2:20/100yds. This became the cornerstone of my swim for the remaining 3 weeks of training. As a check-in the weekend before Lavaman, I entered a sprint tri called Tri For Fun (400yd swim/11mi bike/5K run). My goal here was to finish the swim in the 9:20 range. I got out of the water in 9:07! Excellent progress. Let’s hope it translates to Kona!

Training for the Bike

I’m a decent commuter on the bike. I train for the bike mostly in spin class with a sprinkled medium-distanced (10-20mi) ride every week. My avg pace is somewhere around the mid-17MPHs. As we got into late July and early August, I began longer harder rides and more intense effort in spin classes. The spin instructor LOVES climbs. And for this I’m grateful as there’s a hellacious climb immediately out of transition for Lavaman. I also, at this point got a pro fit done on the bike. WOW! It makes a world of difference. As I mentioned before, in the weekend leading up to Lavaman, I did the Tri For Fun. While the course claimed to be 11mi, my Garmin 405 and Cateye both claim something closer to 9.4mi. Still, what was awesome is that, not only did I hit my goal in the swim, I crushed my bike PR with an avg pace of 19.3MPH!!! Sweet. Again, hope this will translate at Kona.

Training for the Run

I run a good deal. I’m an average mid-pack age-grouper. I started competitive running a year ago July with the Jungle Run Half Marathon. Leading up to Lavaman, I logged 12 half marathons in 12 months along with several 5Ks and 10Ks. I’m a mid 9:00-miler bringing my finish times for the half marathon distance in right around (and just below) 2:00:00. I’m confident in my ability to run distance decently at my current level. That being said, I continued with my baseline run training of a 10K at race pace 1x per week, a day of intervals and a 20min brick after spin. It works (for now), so I figured “why mess with it?” For the month of August, I purposely entered no halfs or 10Ks leading up to Lavaman. I wanted to make sure, with the exception of the Splash & Dash and the Tri For Fun, my legs were relatively fresh. For those 2 event, I was very happy with hauling in 8:00/mile times for the 5K runs after the swim (and bike in the case of Tri For Fun).

Race Strategy for Lavaman

I’m a data geek. I (over) analyze in preparation for races. I use elevation, history, and whatever the heck I can get my hands on to demystify what I’m about to do. This comes from my experience racing cars. You don’t know how slow you are until you know how slow you and everyone else is. Granted, I’m SLOW in the sport of triathlon. But I want to improve, and data geeking really helps (in my opinion). As I mentioned earlier about the Lavaman event website, the maps, while adequate, basically suck for quantitative analysis. I had no idea of what to expect in any segment of the race. So, I set out to find data.

The swim was straightforward. But, knowing how I operate, I wanted to know when I needed to be at the catamaran (the first turn on the course), the turn back to a 2nd buoy and then, naturally, back to the beach and out of the water. Using “My Maps” on Google Maps, I recreated the distances depicted in the Lavaman course map for the swim. Using the mapped distances and my avg 100yd pace from recent pyramids in the pool, I worked up what times I expected to be at each waypoint. I targeted getting out of the swim in 43:36 (about a 1.5mins faster than my last 1.5K performance – about right given my progress). Broken into 3 segments, I wanted to make it to the catamaran (650yds out) in 17:17, to the turn back (2nd buoy) in 3:35 (20:52 total time), to the 3rd buoy in 13:42 (34:34) and onto the beach in 9:02 (43:36 total time). With that I was “ready” strategically for the swim.

The bike scared the crap outta me. Immediately out of the water, you go straight up King Kamehameha III Road for 570ft over 1.9 miles. Dammit. That’s gonna be killer. While not as bad a Wildflower (315ft over .8 miles), it was very very close and for more than twice as long timewise. The bike strategy was going to need to take into consideration the climbs, decents and flats. For that I turned to Garmin’s Connect site and cobbled together what my climb history was like and what I should target and expect for the ride. I broke the course into 4 segments: the climb (1.93mi), mile 10, mile 17 (halfway back) and the end of the bike course. Using my climb history on Garmin Connect, I calculated that my avg moving pace up King Kam III was going to be around 7.4MPH getting me to the top of the climb at 15:43. Knowing that I then needed a range of projected times to use for the remainder of the race, I estimated my times at 3 paces knowing how I’ve performed in the past. I used 17.5, 18.5 and 19.5MPH to estimate when I should then be at mile 10, mile 17, and the end of the course. If all’s well and good I targeted passing mile 10 27:40 after peaking King Kam III at the 17.5MPH pace (43:23 total time) and 24:49 at the 19.5MPH pace (40:32 total time). For mile 17, I expected to pass the waypoint between 14:33 and 16:13 minutes after mile 10 (between 55:06 and 59:36 total time). Then, if all continued on track, I should be back at transition between 22:11 and 24:43 minutes later, bringing my total bike time in between 1:17:17 and 1:24:19. Yes, I know, super dorky. But this is how I work best.

Finally, the run. Given my history on the run, I estimated I could finish the 10K in 49:40.

All in, and in a perfect world, I could hope to come in between 2:44:57 and 3:01:36. In a perfect world.

Here’s what that the strategy looked like in Excel.

Arriving in Kona

Having never been to Hawaii, I had no idea what to expect. The first thing that hit me was the humidity and heat off the plane. Shit! Really? I have to race tomorrow in this?!?! I expected hot and expected humid. But I didn’t expect it to feel like this. We collected our stuff, got the rental car (cranked up the A/C) and boogied over to Bike Works to pick up the Cervelo.

When I arrived at Bike Works, I was super-excited! Their site doesn’t do them justice. They have probably the most beautiful bike shop I’ve seen. The guys were awesome! They mounted my SpeedPlay Zeros and then took my bike fit notes and did a pretty decent job translating them from my Felt to the Cervelo even though the geometry was pretty different. The bike, felt pretty good by the time I left.

Off to the Outrigger Keauhou Beach resort for registration and packet pickup.

Registration/Packet Pickup

Kona is beautiful. Driving down Alii Drive was insane. By now I’ve watched every Ironman World Championship since 1991 so the goose bumps were truly in full force. The Outrigger Keauhou Beach is about 5 miles south of the Bike to Run transition of the Ironman course. You really get a crazy sense of the history as you go down Alii.

On arrival at the Outrigger Keauhou Beach Resort, I found that I missed the mandatory Pre-Race Meeting required before being allowed to pick up your packet. So I got to sit, for an hour and a half until the next one. Grabbed a sandwich at the restaurant and waited. The pre-race meeting was “interesting.” What it really amounted to was a half-hour marketing meeting that I could have done without. The major infobit that was communicated was, that T1 and T2 would be in different places. Good to know. My frustration was probably exacerbated by the fact that the guy leading the meeting started off by stating the swim was a wetsuit-illegal event since the water temp was 78+ degrees. This scared the shit out of me! As you’ve already figured out, I’m an “improving newbie” swimmer. My race depended on using the shortie Blue Seventy Reaction suit I’d brought. I’m reasonably certain that, at this point of my triathlon “career,” there’s no way I would complete a 1.5K swim without the bouyancy of a suit. So, appropriately, I started hot-flashing on the spot. After the briefing, and I picked up my packet, I rechecked the USAT rules as well as the Lavaman web site and found the official was incorrect. USAT states that between 78 and 84 degrees age-groupers CAN wear wetsuits, but are ineligible to win awards or prizes at an event. I wasn’t too worried about the podium, obviously. He and I hooked up and chatted about this, and after showing him his own site on the trusty iPhone, we parted ways understanding that bar a massize heat wave, suits would most likely be allowed in the morning. For note, the gentleman was very gracious, understanding and helpful.

All set and ready to go I set off for Waikoloa to find my girlie and her co-worker! Here’s when an eye-opener came. Waikoloa is apparently 30 miles away from the event site. On the Big Island, that translates to about an hour of driving. That’s gonna suck in the morning!

After tracking them down, they continued their afternoon with Aloha and I went for a quick test ride on the fabled Queen Kaahumanu (“Queen K”) Highway. This is the road the Ironman uses to boogie out of Kailua and up to Hawi on the bike leg.

All ready to go tomorrow…I think.

Race Day – Lavaman Keauhou 2010

Race day check-in started at 5:00am. I left Waikoloa at 4:30 so I could get there by 5:30. It was unbelievably dark on the Queen K to Keauhou. I arrived right around 5:30 and parked in the overflow lot across from the Outrigger Resort. I was one of the first 15-20 people there.

In the darkness, I donned my Black Diamond Sprinter headlamp (it’s wicked bright!) and went to work getting my gear together to first drop off my run gear at T2 and then ride a mile or so to T1 and setup for the swim-to-bike transition. Everyone was very nice and helpful. Volunteers in T2 were great with directing racers to their respective areas and the organizers did a great job with the amenities. They also offered light for people who didn’t come with headlamps. Thankfully, having done Tri For Fun a week earlier and NOT having a headlamp, I saw others and learned. There was padded astro-turf laid down in T2 on the asphalt so racers wouldn’t fall after biking in. Done, I rode up to T2 and the swim area.

Once at T1, I set up my area and went off for body marking. Still, with over an hour to go before the start. A couple reviews of earlier Lavaman led me to expect disorganized body marking and pre-race logistics. This was far from the case. There were probably 15-20 people and very organized body marking. Like the Ironman World Championships, the organizers used number stamps to mark. That was the first time I had experienced being stamped instead of scraped, I mean scribed, with a Sharpie. Well Done! Leading up to the start, the gentleman who lead the pre-race meeting was also the race announcer. He manned the PA at T1. I heard him several times announcing that this was a wet-suit legal race. The avg temp of the water had actually dipped to 77 in the night making the race fully-legal for suits and awards. Still, not so worried about the podium and awards. Just psyched that I can rock the suit! Having heard this, a number of racers broke out suits and I felt less like a putz having brought (and really needing) mine .

In the time leading up to the start, the Bike Works guys showed up in T1. They came with a gaggle of air pumps and people to do last minute tune-and-tweaks to racers’ equipment. These guys kick ass!

Now it was time to get the show on the road. Suit on, and off to the water.

The Race – Lavaman Keauhou 2010

With about 30 minutes to go before the start, I began warming up with stretching and then into the water to find out what this was gonna be like. Until now, I’d never been in the warm and beautiful Pacific Ocean. Having only met her slightly more frigid and less attractive sister to the east. Wow, holy crap! You can see the bottom! And there’s beautiful life down there, not just kelp! And it’s warm! And it’s really really beautiful! And it’s warm and beautiful! I did a quick 200 yard out and back to loosen up. Things felt really, REALLY good. Out of the water I came and then the last bit of waiting started. Did a quick peepee to fully empty the bladder and then to the beach to wait. There were a couple very nice people I chatted with while we waited.

Lavaman uses a deep water start about 200 yards from the exit of the swim. With a couple mins to go, we all started swimming out to the line. I got there with about 5 mins to go before the gun (yes they actually used a starter pistol — how cool!). The sights were already amazing. My goal for the swim was two-fold. First look below you, Jason. You’re going to get 3 amazing things in the swim. First, it’s Hawaii and the water and shoreline is amazing. Second, you’ve never swum with actual tropical creatures. Take it all in. Third, about 3 minutes from the catamaran, the sea floor will drop away to full-on darkness. Get ready for that!

With a minute to go, the organizers sounded a conch. Again, very cool!

3…2…1…BLAM!

With that 145 individual and 29 relay racers started the Lavaman Keauhou 2010 and headed out to the rainbow-sailed massive catamaran in “deep” Pacific. I did what I planned, took everything in. Early on, there were people backstroking and flailing, but everyone was very nice and respectful in the swim. No hitting, swimming over, or anything. And why should there be? 164 of us in paradise and LOTS of space to do our swim. As we swam, the sea floor was amazing. Urchins, fish, coral. Simply beautiful. As we got out of the cove, the floor gradually dropped away until, blammo darkess all at once. It was amazing! Oddly, it was like watching a movie from my perspective rather than anything to freak out about. I made it to the catamaran a full 3 minutes ahead of plan (oh, yeah I had markered the swim splits onto the back of my hand). While I was gasping decently, a woman on a kayak asked if I was OK. I replied “MOST DEFINTIELY” and continued on. The only thing really getting me at this point was that between my warmup swim and the start I forgot to reapply glide to my neck and was REALLY rubbing badly on my neck. The short swim between the cat and the 2nd bouy was a maintenance zone for me. I spaced out a little and got a slightly sloppy here. I adjusted a little and tried to get my neck gasket to rub less, but it was a “dammit, whatever” thing at this point. Probably another reason the volunteer was wondering if I was looking to be shark food. At the 2nd buoy, I rounded it far more closely than I’d ever done in previous races,even though there was a good deal of traffic, and started to head back. I was kinda shocked, I was holding my own mid-pack. As we approached the 3rd buoy, things clicked back in. There was an older guy who was slightly slower than me and erratic in form and I simply wasn’t able to get past him earlier. Here, however, I passed him like a speed bump in a parking lot. I hooked up with several others, hung with them, then passed them on the way back to the beach. As the black sand of the beach appraoched the coral quickly rose beneath me until my hands touched black sand bottom and I stood up like a shot. “Run out of the water, Jason.” That was the only thing that hit my mind. I took a tenth-of-a-second to let my heart deal with being erect and then, surprisingly, almost sprinted up the ramp to T1. People were stopping in the shower section set up along the way, but I didn’t. Why, should I? I’m a sasquatch. I sweat. Anything on my skin will be gone in just under 16 mins.

Holy crap! I just finished the swim in 35:32! Wait, what?!?! That’s 8 minutes faster than I was targeting and 9 minutes faster than my PR! Excellent! Now go kick ass on the bike!

T1

I quickly got to my bike, toweled off my feet an got my helmet and shoes on. Having learned from Tri for Fun and Wildflower, I had my glasses taped into my helmet and a banana and my gloves ready to go into my jersey. I quickly put on my race belt with bib and boogied out of transition. My goal was 2:00, I made it out in something like 2:30.

The Bike

T1 is actually sloped. So you’re already climbing on King Kam III when you’re walking your bike out of transition. This is gonna suck, but be patient and consistent and pedal out. Coach Jen, my spinning coach, has a couple cornerstone chants in class. “Perfect Circle!” “3 O’Clock Pull!” “Upper Body Relaxed!” Yep, what was going through my head? You guessed it. But along with that…”Push kid. Get to the top of this friggin climb in 16 mins!” Targeting 7.4 on the climb, I managed to peak King Kam III in 14:58 at an avg pace between 7.7 and 7.8MPH. Wow! Now let’s get our ass in gear and get to Otec Road and the Energy Lab 10 miles up the Queen K Highway. After the crest it was mostly downhill with little 100ft rollers until Otec, and I was FLYING! I zipped passed mile 10 and checked my progress…what?!?! 35:23! Really?!?! Even with my most ambitious estimates I expected to pass mile 10 between 40:32 and 43:23 on the ride. I’m 5-8 mins ahead of pace with mostly downhill to go! “Keep going!”

Passing mile 11 and all of the sudden…SHIT! The rear felt really squishy! What?!?! NO!!!! I bounced a little (while still bookin at 22MPH) and yep, flat tire. Dammit! Pulled off, and started to strip down the rear. All of the sudden the Bike Works support truck goes rolling by and one of the guys, another Jason, asks, do I need help. I respond, I’m renting from you guys, do you have a spare rear wheel? He’s like “definitely!” Holy crap, awesome! I had just gotten the tools out to strip the tire and whew, this’ll help a bunch! I brings over the tire and helps me swap them out super fast. Just then, Tanja comes RUNNING across the Queen K with massive smile on her face. They happened across me on the way to the event! How cool. Quick kiss to the girlie, packed up the tools and I’m off! Lost 5 mins total in the repair. On to the turnaround at the Energy Lab.

Hit the turnaround, but something wasn’t right. I’ve lost some of my power. Not sure what, but whatever, keep going! Even though most of the return was more downhill than not, I put up a 20.93MPH avg. But, I had WAY more in me! The flat kinda robbed me there mentally. Oh well. That being said, I finished the bike with a moving time of 1:18:31 and, if you take out the 5:00 for the flat and the lost momentum, I’m guessing I coulda actually done the bike in the area of 1:10:00.

Coming down Alii from the Queen K via Kaiwi St, It was really cool to feel what it must be like to come in from the Ironman ride. WOW! As I approached the Outrigger Beach Resort, I tried to start stretching out for the run. I got my lower back, hammies, and calves ready for the pounding that was about to start.

T2

Came into T2 and was definitely spacy. I didn’t eat on the ride except for the planned gels and never touched the banana I carted with me the whole time. Stupid. A volunteer gave me a check-in on time and I’d just passed the 2:00:00 mark of the race. Not bad. Keep it together and let’s run this thing home!

The Run

Out of the Outrigger parkring lot and make a right up Alii Drive to the pit. Yes, this is EXACTLY the same part of the run that Ironman does. SO COOL! Well, not even remotely cool. It’s 80 degrees and 75% humidity. Running up to Alii to the Pit was absolutely devastating. While I’m a decent runner with OK age-grouper mechanics, the legs were pretty pissed off at me going up the slow, relentless 130-foot climb in the first mile. While the air temp was decent, the asphalt was acting like a dry sauna rack driving the heat right into my body. My legs were not even remotely firing. My mechanics were WAY off. I was dead legging and heel striking! Oh dear Lord!

What I hadn’t realized is that the banana, the 2 energy bars and gel pre-race, along with the 3 gels in race, along with the pasta from the night before were expended sometime around the flat tire on the bike. No wonder I felt like I lost my gas at that point! In total I took in about 900 calories in the morning plus a couple hundred the night before. The swim took 500-600 cals and the bike took 800 when the flat struck. That was basically it. Note to self, learn more about sports nutrition.

Now, top this off with the fact that I was definitely dehydrated. I was drenched. Having since done a sweat test, I took in about 2 liters of Cytomax during the first 2 hours of the race. That’s about half what I need to stay hydrated. Not to mention I was now fueling only with what was on course, water. They offered Hammer Nutrition’s Heed as the sports drink. I don’t have a taste for it. In retrospect, I should have dealt with it.

So, decending into the Pit, I was already overheating badly. My core temp was already out of control and I was in “keep your shit together, Jason” mode. At the bottom of the Pit was when I knew I was really in trouble. Unlike the Ironman course, we continued down a single-track path for another 1.5mi out and back in absolute searing heat. On the outbound leg, volunteers handed out water bottles that would need to last you the 10-15mins of that section. I probably ended up using more of the water on my head that I did putting it in my body. I was in trouble. At this point, I was in the 11:00/mi range and holding on for dear life. As I emerged from the hellacious path, I ate my last gel and turned onto the golf course for the last 2 miles of the Lavaman run.

As I approached the mile 4 marker, the gel hit and I got a spurt of energy. People who had passed me on the single-track path, I reeled in here, which made the last couple miles a little less traumatic. Bringing it home, there was a moment of “yikes” as I missed the final turn into the resort as no volunteers had been stationed to direct people. I figured it out and go back (literally) on track. All said and done, the run took 1:05:15 a 10:31/mile pace. Probably my crappiest 10K effort, but considering the circumstances, I’ll take it.

DONE!

I completed Lavaman Keauhou in 3:08:04, achieving my 2010 goal of finishing an Olympic distance triathlon in under 3:10:00. I rocked my swim (35:32). I did well on the bike, and woulda rocked it if not for nutrition and a random piece of brown glass puncturing my tire (1:27:17). I blew the run (1:05:15). But, I finished, and am proud of completing a very challenging course on the Big Island of Hawaii. I’ve gained unbelievable amounts of respect for Ironman World Championship athletes and get goosebumps when I still watch past IWC events. I will qualify for Kona and compete in the Ironman World Championship one day.

Post-Event

The post-event activities were awesome! The Lavaman crew did a fabulous job with immediate food, fruit and water at the finish line. Even though the even wasn’t chip timed, the bib-based timing by JTL Timing was fantastic and the results print-out was available within minutes of crossing the line. Beer was plentiful and awesome (thanks Kona Brewing Company)! The food was unbelievably yummie although the lines were pretty long. All in all, a fantastic celebration festival village. One that many should take note of for future events.

Retrospect/Wrap-Up

Lavaman was a greatly enjoyable race. I highly recommend anyone thinking of a Hawaii Olympic distance triathlon. It’s a wonderful time with great people, a challenging course and beautiful views.

What I’ve Learned

My training path is on-track. I will continue to get better over time. Now I want to break 30:00 in the swim. I need more climbing work on the bike and my run mechanics need significant attention. Nutrition and hydration cannot be overlooked. My strategy approach works. Experience and refinement will only make it better. Triathlon, is probably the best thing health-wise that’s ever happened to me. For that, and my dear girlie I’m exceptionally thankful.

If I can be helpful for anyone looking for more advice or has questions about starting out, please reach out. I’m definitely not the fastest or best trained, but I truly enjoy the sport and would love to help anyone get past hurdles they can avoid if it’s at all possible.

I’d REALLY appreciate it!

Vote for Jason Wiener @ the Pearl Izumi "Respect the Run" Contest

WOW is about all I can say to start!!!  They are absolutely awesome.  A very different way to run than what I’m accustomed, but very very satisfying.

Vibram FiveFingers KSO top view after test run

The first thing you’ll notice when you try them on is how difficult it is for you to put your toes into the little finger slots.  After a couple times though, it’s like putting on gloves (literally).  The KSO‘s fit awesome.  It’s like they’re not even on.  When putting them on for the first time, one thing to keep in mind is that you want them snug, but not uncomfortable.  The toes will un-curl as you wear them more.  Tightness in fit will quickly go away, but anything that feels like it’s pinched, jammed or otherwise not-normally uncomfortable should be an immediate alarm bell. For me, my right foot fit snugly but very well.  My left foot big toe had some extra pressure, but not rubbing or uncomfortable. Just what seemed to be stiffness in the shoe from never being worn.

Vibram FiveFingers KSO

Vibram FiveFingers KSO top and bottom

In addition, I picked up a pair of injinji Performance Mini Crew Toesocks.  I was in between size 43 and 44 and this made sure that the 44′s weren’t too loose.  In addition, since I’m primarily planning on running in them (at distance eventually), I wanted to have some extra padding and moisture absorption in shoe.  The socks are awesome.  Very very comfortable (I’m actually still wearing them as I write this post).

injinji Performance Mini Crew Toesocks

Since I’m a NikePlus addict, I was able to strap my sensor to the to velcro strap and it read my stride as well as it normally does.  I’m pretty sure any pouch will work with the VFFs.  All you need to do is make sure that it’s looped into the velcro binding strap.

NikePlus on the Vibram FiveFingers

Although people have said to only go a half mile on your first run with them, I thought it’d be better for a little bit longer.  I ended up going just over 2 miles when my right calf had enough and I decided it the most wise to cease running at that point.  The shoes truly change the way you (or at least the way I) run.  I found my self running in better form immediately and actually moving a tad faster than my normal pace and stride.  You will immediately notice the fact that you can FEEL much much more of the running experience.  You can sense the texture of the pavement, the twigs and stones and anything that meets your feet on the run.  The only thing to really get used to is there’s FAR less cushioning than you’re used to on the balls of your feet.  You will get far more impact from the first step.

Here’s how my run looked:

My test run (from Twiike)

Amazon has stock presently of the KSOs as well as the injinji toesocks.  I had to go to 2 different retailers and call 2 more before finding them in the Bay Area.

Here’re the links to the items mentioned in this review:

• Vibram FiveFingers KSO
• injinji Performance Mini Crew Toesocks
• NikePlus Sensor Kit
• Marware Sportsuit Sensor Case for Nike + iPod Sport Kit for iPod nano 3G

I continue to miss him with no end.  However, this year I vowed to take better care of myself. I’m now an avid  runner, logging between 10 and 30 miles per week. If/When I kick the bucket, it won’t be because I’m not taking care of myself.

Regardless, I miss you terribly Dad. You’ve been and will always be a primary reason I am who and what I am today. For that, I’m beyond thankful and ultimately pleased.

Love,
Jason.

Enhancements in this release:

• Made signup 1-step using your Nike+ login.  This removes the need to use the “Share with friend” link from within Nike+.
• Added pulldown menu to set default distance metric (km/mi) on your Twitter settings. This is now used for any runs published.  It’s initially set based on your Nike+ user preferences.
• Added the user tweets to the Twiike timeline to drive additional traffic for Twiike users
• Added retrieve your password (which is set to your Nike+ password when you sign up).
• Added ajax progress bars to all functions that require the server to respond so users don’t think the site is not doing anything

Please keep it coming with the suggestions.  I received a ton today and would love to know how to keep making it better for users.

It’s SUPER easy to use.  Basically login to your Nike+ account, click ‘Share with Friends’ in the upper right corner of the run, click ‘Send to a friend,’ enter ‘nikeplus@twiike.com’ in the email address field and click the ‘Send it’ button.  You’ll get a welcome mail that will link you to login and enter your Twitter account (or set one up if you don’t have one yet) and VOILA!  Twiike will auto post to Twitter every time you sync after a run.

I’d love feedback on what people like and what people think sucks and where it can be improved enhanced.

Click here to try it out.

Here’s what it looks like on Twitter