windy day before race

Today we shifted our focus completely to race prep. We woke up early and did our last work out. We did a short little swim, then transitioned on the bike for a short 20 min ride then ran 10 minutes. Seems simple and short... Not when the wind is blowing so hard that I could only go 10 mph on the flats. The was really choppy on the swim, then horrendous headwind on the ride out and strong tail wind on the way back. The tail wind was great but it as a little sketchy to turn out of the wind. I stayed loose and figured it was good training but it was hard with the headwind. Then the run was again a headwind out and tail wind back. I was able to keep my pace in the headwind a bit better but it just made my legs feel extra heavy.
Afterwards I iced my legs, showered and got my run stuff together for registration. We rode our bikes over to the hotel to avoid the traffic/parking. So got some more practice riding in the wind and it had warmed up some more as well. We picked up our packets after signing our lives away then prepared our bike to run bags.



Next was getting our bikes ready to check in at T1 area at Hapuna Beach State Park. My bike felt great - may switch out my front wheel for one of Kyle's training wheels if it is windy but we are going to do that in the morning. Kyle's bike was making weird noises so we decided to take it in to the local bike shop to have them look at it just to be safe and sure. They made afew tweets and we were heading back to the beach to check them in. My transition area is very close to the exit of the T1 area which is cool and it is on the far side so it will be easier to find.
Kyle is about midway through the transition area.
Now the wind had picked up quite a lot - some of the gusts were so strong it was hard to stand up straight. This brought the first set of butterflies to my stomach. It only got worse once I saw the white caps on the beach/swim course. You may not be able to see in the picture but there are white caps and big orange buoys that mark the course. I was getting really uneasy about the race..

We headed back for the Athlete meeting where they tell us a little about the course and talk about the rues - especially the no drafting rule on the bike course. My guess is if it is windy the refs will be handing out a lot of red cards for drafting tomorrow but that is just a guess.
On the way back to the condo we walked along the beach and took a bit of a breather and hung out with the turtles for a bit.


Once back I laid down a little nap before dinner. I visualized my race and went though all my positive thoughts I will pull from tomorrow when the wind blows or in the full heat of the run. I know I am strong and I don't need to waste energy worrying about things I have no control of like the wind. No matter what I will do my best and I won't be the only one - weather equally effects everyone. If it is windy I will be ok.

After eating dinner I sat and watched the sun set and just cleared my mind and breathed.


I have all my swim and bike stuff ready, all my nutrition stuff ready. Everything is ready for a good day no matter what happens. Time to go to bed, go back over my race plan one last time and think positive thoughts. Kyle as usual is ahead of me - already has his eyes closed as as he is "watching" the Giro lol

hot ugly run

Yesterday we got up sort of early and ran part of the course - from the finish line 2 miles out then 2 miles back. Kyle lead out and forgot to turn so re ran a different route then me. I ran out to the hottest part of the run course - a long ugly out and back that goes out into the lava fields. It will be around mile 11 or so of the course and is a killer - or was last year anyway. It was sort of hard to warm up with out riding before running. But once I got on the out and back I felt alright. It is a gradual downhill on the way out then you have to climb back. It was very hot but I managed. Once I was back on the flat I picked up the pace and visualized crossing the finish line on Saturday. It was a good run I proved to myself once again that it is not as bad as I remembered. last year it took forever because I had to walk - this year I can run out of there and straight o the last half mile to the finish.

The rest of the day we relaxed mostly. We did go down to the beach to check out the turtles and even got to swim with a couple in super shallow water.. which was quite the challenge but well worth seeing them swim around.




Later in the evening we went out on a Night Manta Ray Snorkel - well I snorkeled and Kyle did a dive. It was amazing. I wish we got more pictures. Kyle took the little video camera we have but since he drove to about 50 ft the pressure was to much for it and he did not get any video. I was on teh surface and also had a great video. There were about 6 Manta rays at the dive site. They did flips below eating all the photoplankton that our lights attracted. They came so close it was amazing. I highly recommend it..
The only downfall was that since I was snorkeling I was just floating on the surface and it was kind of wavy I started to feel a little sick. Then of course a lady on the boat was sick up when we got back on.. So the boat ride back was a little iffy at times but I focused on the lights on shore because they did not move and that kept me from feeling any worse.
We got back around 9ish and we both passed out almost immediately lol.

the other side

This morning we decided to get up early and drive across the island to explore Hilo via the Saddle road. Kyle loved it - he had a blast driving the winding narrow road while I thought I was going to be sick. The views were pretty good though there was quite a bit of haze/clouds so we could not really see very far. We even drove through some rain - it felt like we were at home for a second.
We made it to Hilo in one piece. We checked out the park in downtown.


Then we were off to find a good snorkel/swim beach - Leleiwi Beach Park. It had some big waves and lots of fish. It was actually pretty tuff swimming back to shore - I think we were out there for a good 35 min or so. It was fun I worked on my form and really had to work on my pull to make it though the waves. There we actually quite a few people swimming "laps" so I felt right at home lol



Once we got a little sun and dried off we headed back and stopped at Rainbow Falls, and the Boiling Pots. It was so humid we almost jumped in.. but so pretty.





It took a while to drive back and both of us were kind of fading. Not to mention both our legs were a bit tight from being in the car. It took a shower and a snack to get motivated to go for a bike ride. But eventually we did. Nothing long just 10 miles but it was windy.. and I beat it. I did not let it get to me I rode strong and stayed relaxed. I even played around in the wind with sticking my front wheel into the wind and what happened. It was exactly what I needed to feel better about the bike and it only took 33 minutes :)

The rest of the night we have spent with our feet up, I iced my legs a bit just to be safe, and watch the 2007 Ironman Championships on dvd - no better inspiration exists.

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.

another day in paradise

This morning I woke up around 4 am to a huge cramp in my left calf... I screamed and completly freaked Kyle out but it hurt sooo much I almost fell off the bed. It took about a minute to subside a bit but it never really went away. I tossed and turned till about 6:30a and just got up and had some breakfast. I talked Kyle into getting up eventually and we headed to the beach for a morning swim. It was really windy... Though I was glad we were not riding in it swimming was also pretty difficult - the water was super choppy.
Kyle tested out his speed suit for the swim.


We swam out to the boat and back 6 times - based on the time I think it is about 400 yds out and back so I'm estimating about 2400 yds give or take a few. I felt really good and mostly focus on swimming straight and not getting water up my nose.

Afterwards Kyle made his favorite Banana Macadamia Nut Pancakes for breakfast. Then we were off to pick up some more CO2, a tube, and some other random things in town. Kyle wound up getting some new snorkel fins that are split and easier on his knee...e got back to the condo to eat some lunch. We spent a couple hours tinkering with bikes and relaxing. Kyle put fresh bar tape on my bike - it looks awesome with baby blue :) (you can't really tell in the pic but trust me it looks awesome and makes me very happy)

I wanted to go swimming again and Kyle wanted to try out his new snorkel gear. We fallowed fish for about a half an hour - Kyle spent most of it video taping them lol.

My calf was still bothering me so I wanted to warm the muscles up a bit and hope it would loosen up some. We rode down to the long out and back of the run.. It was amazing as we started down it the temp went up a few degrees. It was great to ride down there - it is a gradual downhill on the way out and then you climb out. It was not as bad as I remember it from last year which is awesome. I know to take advantage of the down hill and then just stay strong on the way back and get out of it as fast as I can lol. I don't have to be afraid of it - it is only a mile or so and I can get through it :) I'll run in one of the days this week to prove it to myself again. and best of all my calf did loosen up enough to not hurt when I walk...

Ok that covers another day in Hawaii.. and a whole week to go :) hehe