You could write a book on the journey to Kona. As everyone says, the hardest thing about Kona is getting to the starting line. To race at the big island was not something I set out to do. I got into triathlon like so many others, by accident. I wanted to raise money for a charity close to my heart, Beyond Blue. To get people to donate, I assumed you needed to do something challenging, so I signed up to do the world famous Noosa Triathlon.
Then 4 Ironman events later, I was qualified to race in the Ironman World Championships.
To qualify, I raced in New Zealand and pulled off an astonishing 3rd place. I was having the worst race ever in very trying conditions and would have walked off the course if it wasn't for the support I received from Kylie who encouraged me to keep going. I ran/walked most of that race but somehow summoned up the energy to run, and run fast the final 5km to get the result that got me to Kona. NEVER GIVE UP!
Swim
My swim was the most challenging and least favourite leg of this race. Getting into the water I was nutritionally and mentally ready to go. My positioning on the starting line was perfect for a swimmer who was a very competent swimmer. Unfortunately, this is not how I would describe my swimming abilities. After attending one of the Tri Travel swim briefings where it was recommended that if you only breath to the left you should position yourself on the inside (closest to the bouy) of the course start line so as to be able to keep an eye on the other athletes. Yes, all 305 of them in my age group. I also found myself at the front of the start line which also proved to be a huge error.
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The ensuing scrummage once the starting horn sounded had me gasping for air as competent swimmers climbed over the top of me to get to the front of the pack. This went on for the first 500m where I finally got some clear space to race. I got into a good rhythm and concentrated on my technique. My fitness and preparation had been perfect for the race distance and I knew I could hold a satisfactory pace to get me out of the water and riding strongly.
Prior to the race there was much speculation about Stingers in the water increasing on race day. As it turned out, they turned up and many of the Pros received significant attention for stings sustained during the swim in T1. I received a couple of stings early in the race on my right arm but nothing to concern myself too much about.
At about the 1km mark I started to experience severe headache from the pressure that my goggles were putting on my head. What was different? I had not been training with a swim cap on and the mandatory swim cap was thick placing excess pressure on my head when combined with the googles. I rolled onto my back a few times trying to loosen the straps, losing valuable time.
The tide was working against me on my way out, so I knew it would be a faster returning back to shore. I seemed to have pushed the pain aside and was swimming well. It soon became apparent that others thought so as well as I was being tapped on the toes every second stroke for about a km. After ignoring the person drafting off me for all that time I rolled over onto my back and politely asked him to move on and noticed I had been pulling about 5 other swimmers along in my wake. I got a little laugh out of this as I thought 'arn't they going to be disappointed with their swim'. A lesson for you here. Make sure you are drafting off a strong swimmer.
Transition 1
Smooth is fast. This is the transition mantra that I use and it seemed to help. My focus for T1 was to ensure I had everything with me and to apply enough sunscreen to reduce the exposure I was about to experience in Hawaiian midday sun. I was going to be out in it for at least 6 hours, so wanted to make sure that I would not be burn't to a crisp before taking on the 4 hour run in the late afternoon.
Bike
The bike course is well touted as being boring, hilly and hot. I must be up front and say that we were truly blessed with a slightly overcast day that kept the conditions more tolerable. We were warned to expect horrific head winds on the way back to Kailua-Kona, thankfully they stayed away. We had some sharp and sneaky cross winds on the way down the hill from Hawi which made things a little exciting at times but thankfully I managed to stay out of trouble.
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One of the positives from the ride was that the road surface for the most part was like riding in a well healed suburb on the Sunshine Coast. I really enjoyed this aspect of the ride and it suited my ride perfectly. As for the hills, this was where I made up ground and dropped some of the competition. Well used to riding hills in my local training circuits the 20-30km climb up to Hawi was just a nice long grind which I enjoyed. The rolling Queen K was also well within my abilities.
The most important thing for me to get right was hydration and nutrition in this leg so that I didn't pay the price during the marathon which follows. The water bottles provided on course were not suitable for our bottle cages which caused some to fall from the bike, and as such I had a couple of close calls where I snuck into the aid station with no water onboard. I started the ride with 3 bottles of Go Far which really worked out well in addition to the gels and bars that I had onboard. Interestingly, as an older bloke, bathroom breaks can be an issue but I only used the bathrooms in the transitions and once out during the run at the Energy Lab.
As for the claim of the ride being boring, this was not how I saw it. The different landscape, wildlife and other athletes kept it interesting for me. You are also very focused on executing the nutrition plan so plenty to think about whilst out there. Riding back into Kailua-Kona was certainly a relief and I was very happy with how the body felt as we approached transitioning to the marathon.
Transition 2
I ran the bike into T2 feeling excited about the run ahead. I grabbed my run gear bag and threw it onto a seat and ducked into the toilet. On returning to the seat my run gear bag was gone. One of the very well meaning volunteers had grabbed it and chucked it into the pile of bags in the corner. A scene reminiscent of a 1970's cartoon took place with 2 volunteers and myself diving into that pile looking for my bag which looked very much like all the others in there except mine had running shoes not cycling shoes. Once we found it I resumed my Smooth is Fast mantra and got out onto the run with a heart rate a little higher than what I should have had.
Run
As usual, and despite all of the good advice I had received from my fellow IMWC legends in Toowoomba, I charged out onto the run course at a speed unsuited to the race ahead but well suited to the excitement that this race embodies (especially along Alii Drive). We had done a few famil runs around Kailua-Kona in the preceding days which made it seem a lot easier. What we hadn't done was run out onto Queen K yet. IMWC Jan Frodeno was at the last aid station before you turned left out onto the Queen K. He handed me an iced water and offered some advice about what lay ahead.
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So once you leave the support of the crowds in town you need to dig deep into your own self and look for strategies that will see you to the finish line. For me, I had pre-loaded a plan to measure the run in miles (26.2) rather than kilometres (42.2) which seemed to work well. To ensure I kept hydrated and the nutrition going in, I chose to walk through the aid stations which were approx 2 miles apart. There was no permission to walk outside of the aid stations. If I allowed it once, I thought that would be the end of my chances of finishing in the time I thought was possible.
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We had done a run through the Energy Lab earlier in the week so I knew what to expect. It wasn't too bad (I know others had different experiences in there with some running into the scrub to drop their tri-suits) and it was actually starting to rain as I climbed out of the legendary Energy Lab. Usually during a marathon, you hit the 32km mark and start regretting your life decisions but because I was measuring in miles that milestone didn't occur. All I knew was that we were on our way to the finish line to hear those magic words that we pay so much to hear.
With the rain, it also got very, very dark with only the lights from vehicles on the other side of the Queen K highway providing hints of where the road might be. Some runners were wearing glow sticks but I wasn't that prepared and hoped nobody would run into me. I was expecting them to be given out at the aid stations but that didn't happen.
On running back into Kailua-Kona it is all downhill and plenty of crowd support to push you to super human speeds that had eluded you for the past 24 miles. It's all a blur with people cheering you on and complete strangers calling out your name. You hear your name called out on the loud speakers yet you still have some distance to the finishing line. Then you turn onto Alii Drive for the last time with the finish shoot up ahead. Kylie screams out and looks more excited for you than you can summons up within yourself. A huge hug and then on to enjoy the easy run down the shoot soaking it all up.
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Stephen Dummett (or some french pronunciation of it), YOU ARE AN IRONMAN!!
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