12 mph winds

This morning after a lovely breakfast and taking our time to get ready we did a 45 min bike ride to run brick... No big deal right.. The palm trees were being blown around a little bit but nothing to bad. Once we got out on our bikes I got pushed around like crazy, first a head wind, then the dreaded side wind, maybe a tail wind for a little bit in there but only in combination with a side wind. I knew there is always a chance for it to be windy on the the Queen K - you hear lots of horror stories. It freaked me out. I have ridden across I90 bridge in the wind a few times and this was more scary. Maybe because I let the thought of being blown into the lava creep into my head.. At first I tuffed it out in my aero bars as much as I could but it started to hurt my left shoulder a bit and then a gush came and I had to go out on the flight deck. It would at will grab my front wheel and pull me around. Instead of going with it (like I would in skiing) I let it freak me out.
As he should be Kyle was pretty far out in front of me - I could see him but with no hope of catching him.. I stopped at 24 minutes and waited to see him coming back. Once I saw a little red speck in the distance I turned around heading back. He was nice enough to ride on windy side to offer some block on the way back but still it would catch my front wheel from time to time and I was riding way to stiff. We talked a little bit about ways to deal with or go with the wind a bit to keep my wheels from making me in to a kite. I played with different things on the way back. Nothing totally perfect or anything but at least helped me focus a bit more.
After 48 min of riding in the wind I was soo ready to transition to a run.. I did a fast transition - practicing what I will do for the race. Even a full race belt with gels just to test comfort.. I did forget my sunglasses but after running with out I have decided I will not wear them anyways - they make my face way to hot. I completely let my legs determine the pace - not pushing to hard or forcing them to slow down. I ran 1.5 miles in 12 min out on the road surrounded by the lava - it was soo hot and of course on the way back there was a head wind.. But I felt good. I was able to let go completely of the frustrating/windy ride and just run. Which is exactly my plan for the race - live in the moment and do my best in that moment.
After an ice bath to cool off - Kyle and I talked a lot about riding in the wind. He did not really have any issues with it and actually sees it as a strength. I have a ton of experience skiing in the wind and know how to deal with it - I really just need to apply that knowledge to when I'm on the bike. Don't tense up and stay loose enough to be able to adapt. I have really good balance - I just need to use it and most of all stay calm don't let the wind beat me. Everyone will have to deal with the same conditions - wind, heat, all of it so I just ned to do what I can and keep going. I ride again tomorrow so I maybe able to get some more practice in wonderful wind.. At the same time I'm really hoping it is calm on Saturday till I'm done then it can do what ever it wants.

We spent the rest of the day doing random things - my bike saddle bag broke, and Kyle accidentally cut my aero bottle straw (thinking it was his) so we had to go back to the bike shop again.. Traffic sucked and there was a lot of "vog" - we could even smell sulfur a couple times from the volcano which did not really makes up want to do much activity...
We did go for a walk in evening and saw a bunch of sea turtles (Kyle's favorite animal).



I'm just glad it is still early in the week. Though they are setting up the race headquarters in the hotel which mean s it is coming .. but there is still plenty of time to enjoy Hawaii and more important be ready to race on Saturday :) Ok time to get some good recovery sleep... the more the better right.