Almost show time!

Well it’s not long until the ridiculously early alarm goes off and I gag down some oatmeal and extra calorie Ensure and get ready to head to body marking. Thank you all so much for your good luck wishes!! I really appreciate the e-mails and the comments on the blog.  The good karma from family, friends, and fans helps me to dig deep and gives me positive things to focus on during the hard times – which always come in an Ironman.  Keep those “go fast vibes” flowing on Saturday, they do make a difference!!

I did my last little run early this morning, took my wicked Blue bike out for a short spin, and got in the ocean one last time before the race. I got an awesome new, and very snug (they are supposed to be that way, but I need to add at least 15 minutes to my pre-race ritual to get the thing on!!) swimskin from Blueseventy. It has a great new zipper design with no strap that you have to pull to get it off; you simply flip the pull-tab of the zipper up and then it unzips automatically when you tug at the shoulders, when the zipper tab is flipped down, it stays locked. Very handy – the strap on the older speeduits always got caught up in some way, in someone’s arm at some point in the swim. It also has new sealed seams so less of my skin will be gone by the time the swim is over. Yay!

When I was heading in to the water I was lucky enough to run into David McColm:  Always a friendly smiling face, and a great photographer from Canada to boot! We got to visit a bit when I was spectating Trev’s race at Ironman Canada and he took this fun photo -  him watching me watching Trev  (an Abba joke was definitely made at the time). Definitely check his website for some great photos of the race.

After my swim I was off to check my bike and gear bags into transition. My cool new frame and my sexy Rolf Wheels got their picture taken for the mags, which was fun. A nice volunteer – Lynn – took me around through transition to get all my stuff sorted. I am always so impressed by the army of smiling, friendly, good-luck-wishing volunteers that rally together for an Ironman. The day wouldn’t be possible without them.

It also wouldn’t be possible for me to be toeing the line tomorrow without the support of so many people. Huge thanks to my sponsors: Avia, Blue Competition Cycles, Custom House Currency Exchange, Rolf Prima Wheels, and Blueseventy. I hope I can do you all proud!

Also, thanks to John Sample for the great Chocolate #9, Agave sweetened gels. They are a new addition to my nutrition regime and a fantastic product that will give me lots of good steady energy tomorrow.

Trevor will be updating our blog with posts throughout the day so be sure to check in, especially if the Ironman live website is stalling.

There is not much I can do now but eat my usual pre-race dinner, visualize a great day tomorrow and hope to get some semblance of sleep.  Hopefully the next round of e-mails are celebratory ones! Cheers, Heather

Lance on Kaloko!

While Heather chills out before the big day, I’m off to ride Kaloko.  Here’s a video of Lance Armstrong on the climb from back in January of this year.  You’ll hear him say 400 watts,  17%,  then you’ll also hear him say 39 x 28 gearing.  We’ll see how my 39 x 23 gearing works out on a tri bike.  To tell you the truth, I’m more nervous about coming down.  I did this climb last year and with the humidity, sweat, and steepness of the grade it feels like your hands are going to slide off the end of the base bar.

I’ll take a couple pictures – Lance = 46:44.  Trevor = well over an hour without a 4.5 hr ride before hand.

I don’t care how cool Lance is – Black Socks Suck!!

Anniversary

October 7th. Today is our third wedding anniversary, the 1 month anniversary of our stay in Hawaii and it is only 3 days away from the Ironman World Championships. Wow. Lots to celebrate!

We are doing it Wurtele style: Trevor is off for a 5hr ride out to Waimea, and I am doing short little jogs and swims, generally trying to keep my feet up and rest before the big event.  Going out for dinner is out of the question – food poisoning at this point would be bad. Trevor will have is own celebratory beer and a big bowl of ice cream (I get water and water) and we will probably hit the sack by 8.  We wouldn’t have it any other way.  We came to Kona to compete in the Ironman as age groupers for our honeymoon, and our hopes and dream as professional athletes are tied to this place.

On Sunday we will hopefully have more than a happy marriage to toast, but that on its own is plenty!

A week away

We’ve been in Kona for just under a month, and I have to say that it was an excellent decision to bite the financial bullet and get here well in advance of the race to really take the time to acclimatize. I have never been in better shape, and I am actually used to the heat! I have trained out on those lava fields at all times of the day and all sorts of conditions: various fun combinations of blazing sun, humidity and wind, I actually have a bit of a base tan and I’ve got a good system for keeping myself cool. If I keep my wits about me on race day, get all my calories down, and remember to drink and drink and drink some more, it is going to be a great race.

Because we’ve been here for awhile, and have come to embrace the wind and heat on the bike, Trevor and I were getting in the mind frame of “bring on the tough weather conditions” for the race. Today was a big reminder to be careful what you wish for!!! It is a shame that I didn’t have the camera to take some video, because it was absolutely RIDICULOUS.  From town to Waikoloa there was an extremely strong, stop-you-in-your-tracks, head-wind which made for some slow going, but I was able to just hunker down and deal with it. Once I turned a on the stretch towards Kawaihae, though, it was a different story. Gail forced winds were screaming from the lava plains to the west towards the ocean, creating the most vicious side winds I have ever experienced. I was hugging the barrier at the edge of the road but blasts would still take me 6 ft clear across to the rumble strips. I was leaning so far to the side to resist the wind, trying to stay aero but gripping my base bars for support (the aero bars were just too sketchy at this point) and I’d just start to calm down after an exceptionally brutal blast when a massive truck would roar past and almost flip me over the other way in the swirl of its draft.  At the turn to Kawaihae I had to stop and compose myself for a little while. I was really starting to lose it.  So much tension I was shaking. Usually, the only time I get really scared on a bike is from close calls with motor-vehicles, but this was something special. On the way back, it was almost worse. It was more of a tail-side-wind so you actually had some speed up when the blasts hit and at one point I had to fully unclip and stick my leg out to avoid smashing into the metal barrier on the side of the road. SKETCHY!!

Trevor being the hard-core, much braver/better and bike handling dude that he is, started with me but continued on to Hawi. I laughed. On a calm day the winds by Hawi are still sketchy. I was glad that I only had a 4hr ride on tap. He just got home, looking exhausted, black by lava dust caked on top of sunscreen and said “that was the hardest 5.5 hr ride I have ever done”.  Judging from the winds I experienced, and his stories about the even worse winds, I would have been road-kill.

The best part of the ride? An awesome tail wind that lasted for about 10 minutes on the way home by Waikoloa.  After that it was a side/head wind again into town.  Character building for sure.

If the winds were as bad as that on race day it would be quite an adventure! There would be less traffic to worry about (more cyclists) and you could occupy more of the road, but conserving energy for the run would be a whole new challenge. You just never know here, and that’s part of the allure of the world champs!

Finally some ice cream!!

Click to zoom

Our great new neighbor brought me some ice cream a few nights ago!! Life is complete!!  Thank you so much for hooking me up with that chocolaty goodness.  Best of luck to you in the race next week, I’ll be cheering for you the hardest!!

In other news, Heather and I are looking forward to moving down closer to town this Saturday.  My mom is coming over for a bit of a holiday and we’re all shacking up together at the far end of Alii.  It’ll be nice to visit with her for a week or so.  She’ll be able to show me a thing or two about spectating, I’m sure.

Off to swim the course!!

19 nights later

19 nights Heather and I have been on the big island already.  Training and sitting on your ass really makes the time go by!!  Living away from it all up on the hill has it’s advantages (great recovery and a very hard last 30 minutes to every workout), but it also has some fairly big disadvantages (no people watching, coffee buying, evening walks on the beach, impossible to buy ice cream when you have to hoof it on your back from town – I could go on but that ice cream thing is BAAAAD).  All I can say is thank god we have internet!!  What a savior that thing is.  Those of you that follow the ironmantriathlontips.com website I’m sure have noticed some major changes.  Twitter, facebook, email newsletter, new layout – you’d think that thing was actually run by a legitimate enterprise. While I’ve been doing that, Heather has read like 10 books…

Anyway, Chuckie posted a ‘week in pictures’ on his site and I quite liked the idea – so here you are.

flowers in the driveway

cool down

barefoot running on the soccer field

ride down from Hawaiian Belt rd to Waikoloa village

HOT run from the energy lab - trail along the ocean

Unfortunate skimpy-white-speedo sighting

Cooling off in the shade

out on the swim course

friendly neighbourhood cat

near sunset up on Hao Kuni Rd.

The Hawaii Machine – Blue Triad SL with Rolf Prima Carbon TT wheels

Blue’s new Triad SL will be under Heather’s control in a few weeks time at the Ironman World Championships.  With a couple race-best bike splits under her belt already this year, a major improvement in her run, and some extra focus and heat acclimation going in to these world championships, she’s looking to turn a few heads.

We’ve been on the Island for two weeks now, secluded in our little hideaway up the mountain.  Training for Heather has been going very smoothly, couldn’t have really asked for much better.  With 3 weeks to go there’s still some solid work to get done, but the more time she puts in the easier the heat gets and the more confident she is that all the variables that affect the outcome of this race are under control.

I’ve been training lightly, but nothing overly taxing.  Coming off a disappointing Ironman Canada I am very keen to get going again for Ironman Arizona later this year, though still being patient to make sure the body is good to go after the carnage it went through 3 weeks ago.  I like to believe most things happen for a reason, and I’m starting to realize that getting my Hawaii spot would most likely have been a bad thing physically.  3 Ironmans in 3.5 months usually doesn’t work out well for many people.  This has given me time to put that race behind me and look forward to finishing the year on a high note.  Even so, it’s tough to be here watching the big show get closer knowing I’m not on the start line.  You do learn a lot by watching this thing, however.  Can’t wait to watch Heather rip it up!!

Some other highlights of the mountain hideaway – a local fruit stand where we can buy fresh Papayas, Mangos, Bananas, Oranges, Lemons.

Free avocados, the size of Nerf Footballs, care of a nice neighbor were the highlight of today.

TriCenter TV

Just wanted to see how this would post.

Hot running and scary swimming

Run near Hapuna Beach State Park

We’ve been in Hawaii for a week now and I am starting to get used to the heat and humidity, and the ocean.

I – Heather – have done a few hard rides with some serious strength intervals against the wind and against gravity; up the crazy roads that go flying from the ocean to over 1500 ft with only a couple bends to lessen the grade. The despite lathering myself in SPF 50 with zinc oxide that makes you look dorky and pasty-white the instant it gets wet, I have quite the tan already. I even got burnt through my jersey on my first 4hr ride and have a nice heat rash on the shoulders to show for it! Another good reason to get here well in advance of the world champs – my sensitive skin needs to toughen up a bit.

climbing in the jungle

Yesterday I did a 2 hr run out from Kailua to the turnaround at the Energy Lab and back. I felt pretty good, and it was inspiring for me to get some time out on the race course so far in advance of the big day. Trevor was nice enough to ride along behind/beside me and hand me extra water, record mile splits, and take photos and videos for a little Hawaii montage. It was the hottest, calmest day wind-wise we’ve seen so far and it definitely took its toll by the end. Trev made me run hard for an extra 5 min loop at the end and I got that “boiling head”, jacked HR, ‘give me shade before I die’ overheated feeling.  Even after standing under a cold shower at the awesome Kona community pool, and doing and easy flop to loosen up, I was totally allergic to the sun for the rest of the day.

I know that I have the fitness to do really well come race day, I just need to adapt to the heat! The UV proof, surfing “rash guard” that I now wear while training, really helps. It keeps the sun off and stays wet without getting heavy. I definitely stay much cooler running with it, that running without.

Yay sunproof shirt!

So… about the ocean. I love open water swimming, and when I get in the water at Dig Me beach with the beautiful fish and turquoise blues I am usually happy as can be, and thrilled to be out there. Last Wednesday, Trevor and I swam the Ironman course with a local swim coach and athlete.  We had a great time and thoroughly enjoyed going out that far (it gets pretty deep, and there are no marker buoys after 1/2 way).  We were lucky enough to see dolphins and a sea turtle and it was a fantastic swim! Two days ago, however, we went out on our own in what was some larger than normal swell and wicked wind chop. We both got a bad ‘wigged-out’, goose bumby feeling after about 30 min and high tailed it back to shore, fighting against panic attacks for much of the way.  Water is conductive, especially salt water, and I think that it transmits stress too! The uneasy feeling you get when the person you’re swimming with has the uneasy feeling makes everything worse.

The view across the bay to the Cook Monument

Yesterday, another episode.  We drove out to the Captain Cook monument for a swim. It was cloudy to the south and I wanted to swim out of the sun after my epic run.  We also wanted to maximize our last day with the rental car and swim to the Captain Cook monument – a gorgeous, 1 mile swim across a bay to a marine wildlife preserve and dolphin sanctuary (what we know now to be the safest harbor on the island).

It is also the site of Captain Cook’s death.  Death!!  That word seemed to be the one word to stick in Trevor’s mind.  Right from the get go I could tell that he was in ‘oh shit’ mode. The water was not calm, in fact we had to go find a safer place to get in so we could avoid the crashing waves.  It was cloudy and grey, there were no kayakers or snorkel boats (which were abundant on our last visit). I was happy to be there, I felt amazing in the water and was having a great time – but my poor husband pretty much had fear dripping out of his ears. It took about 35 min to swim out to the monument, and I was like “cool lets take some photos and play a bit” but Trev was having none of it. There were these strange cool water upwellings that didn’t help the weird vibe. Despite my reassurances, he was “not exactly enjoying himself”. I snapped two shots and then he was off like a shot. I had to swim HARD to stay on his feet. Man when he gets freaked, he could swim down Andy Potts! I was trying to transmit calm zen vibes on the way bad to counter act Trev’s feeling like the bottom was about to drop out on us, but it didn’t seem to help. Dry land did. Huge grin as soon as we scrambled up a rock wall and escaped certain death.

ha ha ha ha - that was scary!!

If you grow up around this stuff I’m sure it’s all good.  But for a guy who only in the last 5 years figured out how to swim past the boat buoys, and over patches of mill-foil in the lake without his heart rate jumping 30 beats, this ocean business can be pretty overwhelming.   The one thing I will give lake swimming, is that you never have to stress out about rogue waves, rip tides, storm swells, sharks, sea lice, or ripping of skin on coral and sea urchins. I think that we’ve also seen a few too many surfing movies that feature guys getting pulled out to sea, chomped by sharks, smashed into coral reef breaks.  I had a little chat with a Hawaiian guy after – and he assured me that there are no bad tides or currents in the bay, and that the cool water near the monument is from artesian springs that drain near there – the main source of fresh water in Old Hawaii.  Would have been good to have that little visit before our swim, but it wouldn’t have been nearly as good of a workout!

Spoooky... the Cook monument, before our mad dash back across the bay

Some great Ironman Coeur D’Alene video

This is a great little recap of Ironman Coeur d’Alene.  Good to see this stuff is getting out.  I think you’ll have to be located in the States to see it, though.  They’ve got other races on there too.

http://www.universalsports.com/mediaPlayer/media.dbml?db_oem_id=23000&sid=13056&catid=-1&id=632995