“Disneyland for triathletes”
Someone once described to me that the Ironman World Championship in Kona Hawaii was like “Disneyland for triathletes”! I couldn’t agree more – you get to wander around in a town full of the world’s best professional and age-group triathletes, and then compete in the world’s toughest one-day endurance race. This year was even more special as it was the 40th anniversary of the first Hawaiian Ironman and there were a lot of events around that theme.
It’s such an amazing experience to go to Kona and I feel privileged to have gone back-to-back on the Big Island. I arrived in town a bit earlier this year – 10 days prior to the race – in order to acclimatize to the heat. It was a different feeling this year – everything was so familiar and it felt like I was there only a few months before, rather than a whole year. I knew the course, knew the heat, could find my way around town, remembered where everything was in the supermarket, and even remembered how to drive on the right-hand side!
Race preparation
Preparations for the race went well. It started off with the Ho’ala practice swim on the Saturday before the race (3.8km, on the Ironman course). I didn’t go too hard, just tried to stay nice and smooth and enjoy it. Did a few more shorter practice swims before the race – all on the course in Kailua Bay – a lot of athletes head to the pool in Kona, but there was no way I was going to the pool when that beautiful Hawaiian water was on offer!
As far as riding goes, I did my final long ride on the Sunday before the race and then a couple of shorter rides to keep the legs primed. All of these were done along the famous Queen K highway where the bulk of the race ride is held. I had a couple of incidents such as my di2 (Shimano’s e-shifting) completely dying before a ride (before you ask, yes, it was fully charged the night before!), and puncturing on my last ride, the day before the race. I always try to turn a negative into a positive so, for the latter, I saw this as an opportunity to practice changing a tube in case it happened on race day (luckily it didn’t). Riding in Kona is both good and bad – the scenery is great with the lava fields and mountains in the distance, however the roads are really busy with cars and trucks most of the time.
As for running, I had a different preparation to usual, and for good reason. Ten weeks before the race I was unfortunately diagnosed with a grade 3 stress fracture of the femur (that’s the biggest bone in the body). Basically, I had a fairly decent crack going into the cortex of the femoral shaft. The usual treatment for this injury is 6 weeks on crutches (no weight-bearing at all) followed by 6 weeks of walk/running before resuming normal running and building from there. Unfortunately, the maths didn’t work for me on that. Despite that, my doctor Mitch Anderson, coach Mitch Kibby, and the physios at Back-in-Motion Brunswick put a plan in place that would get me to the start line with a decent chance of running. I had 6 weeks on crutches to let the bone repair (hopefully), and then a few weeks of walk/running taking great care not to get an injury before race day. Luckily when I got off the crutches the bone didn’t hurt anymore, however when you haven’t put weight on your leg for 6 weeks, let alone run, I knew the legs wouldn’t be optimally conditioned and it’d be a tough race. In the week before the race I did a few practice run/walks, getting up to my longest run in 10 weeks, 40 mins. Despite my lack of running time, I actually felt pretty good while running and was confident I would finish.
Given the leg injury meant the run was going to be challenging (to say the least!), my focus in the last 10 weeks before the race was to be the best prepared I could be in every other aspect of the race – swim, ride, nutrition, hydration, heat, etc.
After suffering in the heat last year I put together a plan to beat the heat this year. The guys from iHealth Saunas helped enormously in this regard by providing me with a home sauna to use in general training and specifically for heat acclimation. Throughout the months before the race I regularly got in the sauna before and after key sessions to warm up and/or to recover. Then in the 10 days prior to the race I used the sauna for 30 mins every day to get my body used to the heat.
Last year I also had gut problems associated so I also changed up my nutrition strategy. I used a prototype hydration product, Prepd Hydration, before the race (a starch-based product that allows great water absorption), and I changed to using maltodextrin/fructose gels for the duration of the race, as opposed to the single source carbohydrate, maltodextrin, I’d used previously.
All in all, despite the leg injury, I went into the race feeling very well prepared.
Race day:
The swim start is pretty special – if you haven’t seen a video of the start, take a look here. Like last year I paused for a few moments before the starting canon went off to appreciate how I’d got there and how lucky I was. The water was warm, clear, and calm – and then canon went off! I felt pretty good on the swim; it wasn’t my best time, but I got out feeling fresh and ready to hit the bike solidly.
Once on the bike, it became apparent that the conditions were a lot milder than last year (or any year for that matter). Whereas my initial strategy was to go relatively easy and respect the heat, I altered that strategy slightly to go hard until it got hot – but it never really did. Just like the heat didn’t materialise, neither did the famous Mumuku trade winds. These famous winds, conjured by the gods of Hawaii, have been known to literally blow riders off their bikes and usually slow the pace down considerably. But the gods obviously had a day off this day so it was a fast ride for all, including me, and several race records were broken (bike records and overall course records). It actually felt like any normal Ironman bike leg, not the infamous hardest Ironman bike leg in the world! My new hydration/nutrition strategy worked a treat, managing to get in lots of water and energy without any gut problems. In the last 30kms of the ride, it actually rained for a while, something that almost never happens in Kona on race day – training through a rainy Melbourne winter actually had some advantages for a change! After 180kms, I rolled into town feeling pretty good, but I knew the hardest part of the day was yet to come.
Photo: Rainy one moment, dry the next – a bit like Melbourne!
I always look forward to getting off the bike and feel good in the first part of the run, and this time was no exception. I felt strong, especially during the first 10 km down the famous Ali’i Drive. Despite feeling good, I backed the pace off knowing it could get very hard later on, given my lack of run training. Quite a few people had advised me that I should walk through the aid stations in order to preserve my legs. However, for some stubborn reason I HATE to walk during a race, and have never done so, even in the darkest of times. I ran pretty slow at times, but I never felt I had to walk. I managed to do the whole marathon without walking – I actually didn’t feel like I needed to at any stage – I was comfortable doing the ‘Ironman shuffle’. I was pretty confident I was going to finish but wasn’t sure until I came out of the toughest part of the run, the infamous ‘Energy Lab’. This portion of the run is situated in the middle of the lava fields – it’s hot and desolate, and was even tougher this year after a course change made it 3 kms longer. The Energy Lab has been the downfall of many pros and age-groupers over the years. So, I steeled myself and enter the Lab……and 50 mins later I exited feeling not too bad! Once out, although there was still 10 kms to go, nothing was going to stop me! I pushed the pace up a bit knowing that if I did any damage to my leg at that stage, I could hang on. The last two kms were awesome as I came off the Queen K highway and back into town. I flew down Palani hill at 4:30/km pace (probably re-fracturing my leg!!), giving it all I had before swinging back onto Ali’i drive and down the finishing chute. Crossing the line at any race is fantastic, but at Kona it’s the culmination of a dream for most people – it’s a very special place.
Photo: The first part of the run along Ali’i Drive
I managed to better last years’ time by over 5 mins, but more than that, it was probably the most satisfying experience of my life. Ten weeks before, I had a serious injury and was told by many that I was crazy to even contemplate racing. It took a lot of hard work and determination to get there, but I proved that the Ironman slogan is true: “Anything is possible”.
Photo: Finishing – the most satisfying moment of my life