Ok I had a little trouble updating my site from Maui where I was recovering from my race in Kona. I'm now back in rainy Seattle but had a great recovery on Maui.
I did pretty much nothing for a week, well not exactly nothing. I did manage to eat well, drink well, nap and read several books. The picture above is one of the most delicious pizza ever. Now it's not exactly pizza despite it's name, it's crispy tostada, with ailoi humus, ahi sashimi sprouts and some delictable sauce. Holy cow it was good. You can get this little treat at Haile Maile General Store which I highly recommend. I also got severl doses of the ahi sahsimi tuna from my favorite restaurant in the world Mama's Fish House. It's like candy for the sashimi fanatic.
Between naps and reading I did get to catch up with a few friends and did get a couple of nice easy swims in on the south shore at Keahakapou beach down to Wailea and back and a easy run in as well.
Now that I'm back I'm looking forward to some unstructured activities this fall to get my engine charged back up.
Here's a link to Kona race report
I'm still recovering my motivation to workout is pretty low but I'm coming around. I've been trying to decide what the experience would be in Kona. Cruise through this summer and enjoy the race and not worry about time or performance and just savor it all or ramp up and go for it, race the race and see just how good I can do. Following any Ironman well actually starting in the early miles of the marathon there is this doubt about ones own sanity.
As I've been recovering well and am generally feeling good I've decided a couple more weeks of recovery activity and enjoying some time with family and friends I'm getting after it and going for it in Kona.
I recently finished my post race assessment breaking down each part of the race and figuring out what went well and where there were opportunities. I won't go into specifics but lets just say there is time on the table for the taking in every event in Kona.
I got some questions about my nutrition and how it worked in Coeur d'Alene. The Carbo Pro 1200 worked great when it wasn't flying out of my bottle cage (doesn't work very well lying miles behind you on the road). It provides a good even energy level but is better when watered down a little for the consistency. The GU Roctane worked well also but frankly the Blueberry Pomegranate flavor was not tolerable to my taste buds the second half of the run but I'm not sure that anything would have been tasty at that point. So thumbs up for both.
Now if my stomach can just handle the cost of going back to Kona in October.....oh my!!!!
Well I'm recovering well from the race on Sunday. I was pretty sore and stiff all over Monday and Tuesday, Wednesday felt better and I got out for a short ride last night to shake the legs out and I'm swimming tonight. I could definitely feel the effects of Sunday on the ride last night. I think the toughest part is the mental recovery from these races, they are so tough mentally that it just takes a while for me to get right in the head so I can get focused again.
I'll be starting up seriously again in a couple of weeks to build towards the Ironman Hawaii in October and I'm bullish on potential performance in Kona given my solid race there a couple weeks ago and my race on Sunday. I'm doing my post race assessment of what went well and where I can improve considering it was just my second Ironman I'm still like a sponge and continue absorb as much as I can so I will be better in the next one. I don't think this ever changes no matter how long you've been racing Ironman races.
Seriously thinking about Ironman Canada next year which means I'll need to head north in August to register.
I wanted to give a quick shout out to the Peter Reid Peak Performance (PRPP) team. They've got such a wealth of experience they really know how to get you as ready as you can be for race day. In the end that's why they are there. It was a good day for the PRPP athletes in CdA. You can read about it on the PRPP website.
Now I'm really looking forward to sleeping in tomorrow morning which will be the first time in months.
I've posted some pictures from the Ironman 70.3 Hawaii from the race and the trip. Wishing I was still there as it's just barely topping 50 degrees and raining pretty steadily here in Seattle today. View Pictures
Final long ride and run this weekend my mantra is "Don't do anything stupid, stupid".
Yeah I'm in the Motherland of triathlon..... Kona. I'm loving it. I'm splurging and staying at the Mauna Lani Hotel and Resort which is hosting the IM 70.3 Hawaii race next Saturday. It's great.
The race isn't really the focus it's getting the final big training days in before my taper to IM Coeur d'Alene. I love this place. Running is tough but the swimming and riding are phenomenal. I've been swimming every morning in the ocean at Mauna Lani Bay Beach Club it's like high speed snorkeling. Today besides a crazy assortment of fish over the coral reef, I saw a bunch of rays, a big school of rather large something or others which I was swimming through and one little shark cruising about 30 feet below on the bottom.
Today my coach scheduled a 25 minute "race" effort. I took my GPS watch and put it in a zip lock and placed it in my swim cap to see just how much I've improved over the past year in the swim department. When I downloaded the data I was shocked. 25 minutes = 1 miles. That would put me just under 30 minutes for a half IM swim. My fastest ever was a 34:30 which I think was a short course every other swim of that distance has been consistently 36:30. If I can take 6 minutes off my swim time it would be crazy and today wasn't really race pace as I wasn't racing I was swimming solo.
Riding here is also fantastic. I'm sure over time it would get a little boring as it is an island but so far the roads I've been on all have great shoulders not a lot of debris and the drivers have been pretty cool. The part I like best is I seem to be riding really fast here, part of it no doubt is the fact that I've got my race wheels on (Zipp 808 front and 1080 rear which has been a mixed blessing with the wind), or the aero helmet but I think it's just the terrain and I actually am enjoying the heat. It's been really windy, there is no direction that I haven't been hammered either by head winds or side winds.
I rode on Sunday the day after a long trip and hit 84 miles at just under a 20 mph average. Today I rode 73 miles at just under a21 mph average. Crazy as neither of these were crazy race efforts so I figure I'm good for about another 2-3 mph average in the race Saturday and it's giving me big confidence going into IMCDA in a few weeks.
Running is tough, it's hot and humid. I did manage an 8+ mile negative tempo run in the heat of the day yesterday with my negative split at sub 7:00 pace. Needless to say it's going to be a long hot run.
My coach has changed the race plan. Put in a hard solid swim effort to see how the winter swimming has paid off and then ride like a man possessed. The run is now just get through it as close to 1:40 as possible. I was quick to inform him that a 1:40 would be a half IM run 2 minute PR for me.
I'm feeling great with the final hard training and feel like I would really love to be back here in October for the big dance. Now just to put it all together on race day. I'll post how things went.
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