Post Kona...looking back...

What if the winds were like this on Race Day ;-)

Waikaloa 2 Days Post IM Kona 2011

After 9 days of reflection, recovery, down time thoroughly enjoyed with Jenny, Sophia, and Andrew, I'm happy to not be feeling the "Post Kona Blues" that I have heard about.  I'm sure I would have them if I didn't have IMAZ coming up, but all in all the experience was amazing and I will take that through the rest of my life as one of the most fulfilling events in my life.   As a Kona rookie, and with it being only my second Ironman, I can "accept" the result  9:59:43 "as a good time."  I can only imagine it if had been 18 seconds longer---I think those 18 seconds (for me, which I will explain in a second!) were the difference between some success and failure.  I'm not being an arse, but I put A LOT into this race---100% dedicated, found purpose in every workout, and felt perfect going in.  I had a few goals in mind for the day, and the "easiest goal" was under 10...other than finishing.  Hearing that it was a "near-perfect" day, it couldn't have been set up any better for reaching my "more challenging" goals of 9:40 or even lower.  Yeah, I learned a tremendous amount about racing not only in Kona, but racing IM distance at this race.  My resume is one result...IMAZ 9:28..that's it.  It was a near perfect day there as well (at least in my mind it was---rain, sleet, gusty wind and all), and I never had those "downs" that you hear of.  I was all smiles, and just cruised..all day.  I had no expectations going into IMAZ, but came out with a Kona spot and felt like I was on to something...that I had found my favorite triathlon distance in Ironman Racing.  So that is my very short resume of IM racing.

In Kona, they don't award you your "place" by the amount or quality of your training...so for me to say (in a dopey voice), uh I trained "X" so my result should be "X" is naive if not completely ridiculous.  Anyways, this follow up post was brought on by reading TONS of other race reports from Kona this year...all of which were written by athletes far superior to me, and also those I learn the most from...two in particular are Chris Hauth Race Report and Leanda Cave's Race Report.  Chris and I had very similar days, although I went in to the day feeling perfect versus he who felt overtrained a bit.  We both had the "intercostal" cramps big time, and while his goal was an Age Group podium or better, we both had loftier goals in terms of finishing time as it related to the conditions AND our issues.    His RR prompted this entry...and mainly this line " accept mediocre results and quickly your success in athletics becomes a boring string of average results." That sums up my life in sports---except the definition of mediocrity is a subjective term (Divine Discontent).  While Chris is percolating over a 9:26ish finish, I am somewhat doing the same over a 9:59.  I know, this is my first Kona, I did enjoy it, my swim was good and learned a lot to get faster there(simply by a different start strategy) but if you told me I would swim a 1:03 pre-race, I'd be happy; my bike was okay and I know what I can do there as well (get those watts up, focus on nutrition---both a bigger breakfast and more calories, especially after mile 75), and just like the swim, if you said I'd ride a 5:07 I'd be ecstatic.  BUT, it's this run that I am a bit hung up on...I stopped racing at mile 2 and started surviving.  It was not my lack of training, giving up, not necessarily my nutrition to blame, it was just a thing that happens when you put yourself into ultra-endurance events...it's what makes IM a game.  Who knows, what if I never cramped up, but continued to push the pace, blowing up when I hit the Queen K, THEN walking for 16 miles like I saw a few athletes do---at least I chalked up my losses and put them behind me as I left Ali'i...I guess.  This is what makes this all so addicting (yeah I said it...).   


Could I be a "One and Done" Konite?  I hope not...and that is what has me feeling the buzz for IMAZ 2011.  I'll have my NO-DOZE in hand, because I hear I am gonna need it just to stay awake in the late hours of the race ;-}

So I guess what I am saying is I am not unhappy with my finish or time, but wishing I just got to race the entire race with the fitness I had going in....race the entire race!  I could say I finished strong and passed a ton of people, but I could also say I passed a bunch of people who had passed me earlier in the run, and a 3:41 marathon was doable even if I would have left it all out on the bike course instead of riding correctly to be able to run the run I knew I could do, only to then lose that advantage with cramping issues.  Okay, done now...I am moving on from talking about "them."  Sorry for the rant and my need to post more on the subject, but I know I will read this post hopefully in 11 months in prep for Kona 2012...we can hope and dream, and it worked once, so why not again?  The definition of sanity is to do something the same way and get the same results...I think ;-)  


No matter the conditions on any given day, I just want to see what happens on a day where my fitness is truly tested...where my quads scream for me to stop, where there may be blood oozing from my shoes.  I think until I hit that kind of day, I will feel that I have not found that "inner core" of what I am made of, and what drives me to race the Ironman distance.




Here's my notes for the Kona's of the future:


Pre-Race:  get there Monday or Tuesday and stay after longer
Pre-Race Food: plan dinner the night before and pre-race breakfast A LOT better...being away from home affects you more than you think!  Ultragen---get lots of it!
Swim:  start in the front row unless my swim training has been less than adequate, and don't start on the inside unless I can beat the rush to the inside from the outside swimmers.  Some say start in front of the floating car, and go hard the first 200-400 yards, just gotta train for that.
T1: put your shoes on the pedals!  Flying mount!
Bike:  Nutrition/Hydration....construct a more solid plan and stick to it.  Always have calories on board, lots of them
Bike:  Don't be afraid to push the pain!  Keep the watts up, but of course you need the fuel on board to do that.
Ali'i Run:  take advantage of how I feel, but hold back plenty to make sure the body is in check off the bike, then start building into pace, knowing that you are going to push the pace on the Queen K and pass everyone you can coming back...as long as you haven't killed urself on the Ali'i section, this should be doable.