Ironman Hawaii Experience 2010

Let me just start by saying this race and this experience were everything I have dreamed them up to be and more. This race is truly the ultimate mental and physical challenge. This is the most competitive triathlon in the world and I savored every second of it (except for the flat- more on that later). It was such an honor to have qualified and it meant the world to me be here, this race is the heart and soul of our sport. Before I get into it though, I need to acknowledge my family who puts up with this lifestyle. It is no easy task to train to race at this level and work 40 hours a week. It is a great deal of training time which doesn’t leave much room for family time. Lindsay- thank you so much for your support, you are my dream girl and my best friend. Brian, Megan, Scott, Ben and Matt- thank you for understanding and not giving me a hard time when I need to train. Mom and Dad thank you for teaching me how to work hard to achieve what I want. Meghan, Jared, Bridget, Molly, Buster, Murphy, Jess, Sean, and Aspen thank you for being patient with me when I need to train when visiting or when you visit us. Sue and Mac- I know you think I’m crazy rolling around in my spandex all the time but thanks for being in my corner.

Over the years I have watched all the coverage and read many race reports about Ironman Hawaii. Through this media exposure I had learned about many special spots in and around Kona. It was thrilling to visit each of these “special spots” during the trip. Lava Java was the first one on my list. I. Love. Coffee. Lava Java is a really awesome coffee shop right on the race course. This sounds corny but I had dreamed of being able to walk in there and have a cup a few days before the race. Once we got there it was everything I had hoped it would be- seriously. You know how some things aren’t as good as you had pictured in your head? Well this was even better. It was very close to the ocean and had outdoor seating that overlooked it---unreal!!! The coffee was the best I have ever tasted- really!! I have tasted a lot of coffee in my life and I can honestly say that 100% Kona coffee is the best there is. Lava Java also had the best tasting 100% Kona coffee that I tasted on the island.

The next “special place” on the list was Dig Me beach—the swim start area and a spot I had dreamed of being able to get in. I got in on Wednesday before the race for a practice swim. Again this was even better than I pictured in my head. The water was incredibly clear and the perfect temperature. There were many brightly colored fish and I was pretty much in heaven. I love open water swimming period and here I am at the race of my dreams swimming with fish!!

OK moving on- the bike check in was Friday – the day before the race. It was quite a production just getting into the transition area. As you walk in there is a long 200 foot section before the entrance of the transition area lined by a fence all along the right side. That fence was lined with at least 100 reps from various cycling related companies, from bicycle companies to pedal companies to components- they were all there. Many of them were sitting in lawn chairs and all of them had a clipboard and pen and were making notes about the bikes as we walked by. This made me feel like a rock star for a moment. The reps were looking at everything- one guy asked me what saddle I had (I have a neoprene cover over it). Once I got into transition athletes are assigned one volunteer who went through EVERYTHING related to transition. My volunteer showed me where to put my T1 and 2 bags and the flow of the transition area. I had never been to a race that did this- very helpful especially with such a big transition area.

The rest of the day before the race was spent off my feet as much as possible and trying to ease the anticipation of the race. I have to say I had more fear built up about the swim start than for any other race. I am a very confident and comfortable open water swimmer but Ironman Couer D’Alene (CDA) was by far the toughest and most physically aggressive swim I had ever done - I had a moment during that swim when I thought I would drown (very choppy waves, cold and big swell and extremely crowded and full contact that didn’t let up). Everyone kept saying wait until the Hawaii swim start—warning me that that it is the most physical and intense swim of all races. In my head I thought if Hawaii is going to be worse than CDA I am in really in for an extremely tough swim.

On race morning I made my way down to the start with Lindsay and some QT2 team mates. Lindsay was the ultimate race Sherpa!! Body marking – this is the only race I’ve been to that stamps the numbers on—very cool. I just want to point out that the volunteers at this race are incredible!! I heard there were about 5000 volunteers. Thank you a million times over to all the volunteers. We met several of them after the race that flew in just to volunteer!! Now that is cool!
Once I got my new Blue Seventy swim skin on I headed toward the Dig Me beach swim entrance. Out of the sea of bodies appeared my training buddy Jason Frank! It was very cool to hang with him in those last few minutes before the start. We were the only Vermont men in this race!

Once in the water I made my way up toward the front. This was a deep water start (probably about 30 feet deep at the start line). The sun was on its way up at this point. I positioned myself way up front and to the left near the floating Ford car (yes there was a Ford floating on a big buoy platform). I was way on the left side and about 2 rows back. The plan was to go out very hard and try to get ahead of the masses (something I didn’t do at CDA). I felt this would reduce the craziness for my swim as well as set me up for a good swim split. The swim splits tend to be much slower than at other IM swims due to no wetsuit and the currents. We treaded water for about 8-10 minutes although it wasn’t too bad at all- not as bad as the Lake Placid deep water start which is more crowded. The salty water makes us very buoyant. There were people on surf boards and referees paddling back and forth across the line to make sure no one crept up too far. By the way, I want to point out that the refs in this race were awesome. They made for clean hard racing. On the bike there was a ref on a motorcycle visible at all time for at least the first 30 miles on the Queen K highway. They gave out many penalties. Ok back to the swim- the cannon was about to go off. There was no warning and then BOOM!!!!!! We are off- I was super aggressive and went out hard- usually I back off when there are people all over me and next to me. I didn’t care, I pushed hard and felt great. I swam at sprint distance race pace for about the first 400 yards at which point I found myself with clear water on either side of me and feet ahead of me. I said to myself I must be off course or something- sighted- nope right on course. I can’t believe I am not getting beat up. I thought OK it’s going to get worse- I am going to get beat up bad—just be ready for it. I hit the boat turnaround in 30:30 holy shit I am flying. I forgot there was likely a current helping me but still I was psyched and felt great. My main focus on the swim was pulling water with perfect form. I focused on holding as much water as I could with a strong catch and long powerful strokes. Really I felt great. I pushed hard on the way back and it did feel a little like we were swimming a bit slower. I hit the sand and looked at my watch 1:06:30. YES!!!!!!!! This is a great swim for me and I was very much in the mix! The CDA swim was waaaay harder than this!!!

Out to transition as fast as I could and put my socks and shoes on. Once on the bike I took an extra 20-30 seconds and put on my new SCAPE sunblock. I highly recommend this product. My training buddy got severe burns last year at Hawaii and I really didn’t want to take any chances. This stuff stays on!!!! I didn’t get burned! The sun here feels hotter and stronger than anywhere I’ve been including Mexico. Out on the bike- it was chaos for the first 30 miles or so. There were so many of us!! Refs on motorcycles everywhere. I had to stay focused to make sure I was always moving forward through a draft zone or not within one ahead —just the slightest lapse in focus would be a penalty. I had to waste a little bit of energy to always move through a draft zone and get ahead and it was way better than getting a penalty. It was just a necessary evil at this point. By mile 40-50 I was averaging 22+ miles an hour with heart rate in zone 1 and felt great.

Once we got into the windy section of the course- I couldn’t believe how strong these cross winds were. Unbelievably strong gusts that would come in hard and almost knock me off the bike. I couldn’t ride aero through this section. I could see how
riding the course ahead of time would be good- learning how much to lean and how to anticipate these winds in the aero position would have helped. I had to stay sitting up through most of this. It was extremely difficult and amazingly hot.
Around mile 60 or so (about a half mile before the turnaround in Hawi) I feel a thump thump thump. I looked down and realized the worst, a flat tire. This was the most gut wrenching feeling- here I am in the biggest race of my life and I have the first flat in over 10 years of racing. I was really upset. I got off the bike and start changing it- doing my best to keep my composure. My mentor and QT2 founder Jesse Kropelnicki rode by and said In a very calm confident tone- “it’s a long day, you’ll be fine”. This definitely helped. My training buddy Jason Frank went by going the other way and yelled “stay calm John” stay calm”. That helped too. Got the flat fixed and it seemed like I pumped it up too much with the CO2 so I let some out (this took some extra time to take the valve extender off again). I got the wheel back on and start back on my way. Mentally I felt beaten at this point. I was so mad and disappointed. I had been riding so well and feeling so great. I pretty much didn’t get my head back on straight until I started the run. The last 40 miles of the bike were just plain brutal. The winds were insane- mostly the cross winds- I couldn’t ride aero through this. Also my glutes and lower back started hurting. This is an ongoing issue that is much better than it has been in the past but is still affecting me. My heart rate was low and legs felt OK – no cramping or anything. I was nailing my fueling and hydration. It was so hot that I drank 3 x 24 oz bottles in the first hour and still didn’t pee. I drank at least 2 bottles an hour and never peed once on the bike!! Now that is hot! Anyhow I definitely lost more time over the last 40 of the bike due to my back. I am going to get this fully corrected by IM CDA 2011. I was eager to run and just told myself I would let the race come back to me.
On to the run- I felt amazing. I felt like I hadn’t even biked—not kidding. Between the flat and then not being able to push as hard as I can due to my back my HR had been pretty low during the second half of the bike. I looked down at my run pace and found that I was running low 6 minute pace!! And my heart rate was only at the top of zone 1. This is insane. Second mile was 6:10, third mile was low 6. HR was still low. I hit mile 9 in 1 hour flat and was just blowing by people. Once we hit the climb up Palani I started feeling like I had gone out too hard. I continued to run steady and strong but just not with the same fervor I had in the first 10 miles. I was still pulling people back and feeling pretty good. No cramping, no stomach problems. Moving well. The first out and back on Alii drive were by far the hottest on the run course. Once we got onto the Queen K- the heat really wasn’t too bad at all. I think this is why there were so many fast run times this year. As I brought it in the final mile-I was just trying to savor this experience. The crowds were amazing. As I made the turn onto Alii the crowds got deeper and louder! I was very happy to break 10 hours despite the flat tire. It only fuels me to want to come back. I cross the line in 9:56:04 and a 3:17:00 marathon.

It was great to be there with the QT2 Systems crew. We qualified 13 athletes this year! QT2 is the reason I have made progress over the last few years. Up until 2007 I was plateauing. If you want to learn how to race Ironman and not just slog though it come see what QT2 does. There is a reason QT2 athletes run so well off the bike. The real highlight for QT2 at Kona was Cait Snow getting 8th overall woman. She was the top American and ran the second fastest marathon in the history of Kona (2:56:04). Her marathon time was faster than Mirinda Carfrae’s course record set in 2009. Miranda ran 2:53 this time around. All of the QT2 men broke 10 hours this year with a handful of sub 3:05 run splits. Way to go QT2!!! It’s all about the run!!