BlogOctober 16, 2008 Kona report Kona has come and gone, or I have come and gone to Kona, depending on your perspective. The 2008 Ironman World Championships weren't the best for me but certainly a solid learning experience for my future racing. Overall the trip was fantastic, except for a few hours on Saturday morning, the ten day vacation went nearly perfectly. Michelle and I headed over to Kona eight days early to stay with Mark and Twila Mumford in a house they had rented up above town. This place was awesome. The coolest thing about the house was that it was, well, cool. 10 degrees on average! It's amazing how the clouds and vog (volcano steam/ash) keep places just up the mountain substantially cooler than the weather just a thousand feet below. Mark and I did some light to moderate training for the week before the race exploring each aspect of the course. Overall my feelings of fitness were solid and I was ready to put in a good hard day. I knew that my build-up was far from perfect as the summer training had been plagued by a sore IT band but I had recently been running/biking pretty well and felt fresh. The plan was to come out of the water as quickly as possible and then go out aggressively on the bike, probably with somebody else or a couple guys with the same mentality. Generally there is a fast lead group out of the water in the pro wave, I probably wouldn't make this group but could be 'in touch' and then would try to bridge to this lead group over the first 15-20 miles of the bike. Unfortunately, they know that there are a lot of us back there with this i mind. This means they ride extra hard keeping us from ever getting caught up. Regardless of weather you're in the second group or first group, it's going to be super-hard out the gate. If you don't make the second group, well, your chances of figuring in the event are pretty much done. There isn't drafting within these groups like in cycling, but there are lots of media and official vehicles that travel alongside them. When you have twenty dudes riding 7 meters apart, along with a few vehicles, one can easily see that in the swirling winds of Kona this may help you 1 mile per hour. 1 mph equals 15 minutes plus over the Ironman course, so you better make a group! The hour before the race I was not feeling my best. Up to that point, everything seemed good. I couldn't figure out exactly what was wrong but there was no turning back now! Because I wasn't in the mood to do battle, I started way off to the side. The cannon blew, and out we went, 175 pros swimming like we were in the Olympic 100 meter final despite the fact that the fastest one of us was in for an 8+ hour day! I found somebody else who was also good with 'surfing' the edge of the massive pack and I had a clean first few hundred meters. At this point, I cut over into the group to start taking advantage of the massive wake created by this many people swimming hard in such close proximity. Of course it was rough, but that's part of racing triathlons at this level. Generally, I just watch the face, I don't mind getting whacked around a little but I don't want a broken nose or to lose any teeth. Around the far buoy/boats the race gets really cool because there were people on board boats cheering for us. Not too many triathlons have boats at the turn arounds with spectators, but this is Kona! On the return trip back things settled down some and I was able to look around this massive group I was in. Norman Stadler was here, as was Rutger Beke. These two are solid swimmers and would CHARGE early on the bike, I had a plan! I also saw the distinctive swim stroke of Hillary Biscay who had a goal of being the first woman out of the water. I was hoping for her there weren't any other women ahead, and as it turned out there weren't. The last twenty minutes or so my heart rate dropped and I was happy to swim more easily. Again, something a lot of people don't really relate to, but there's nothing one can do once the pack is formed, you just follow and wait to ride the bike hard. Unfortunately, I didn't feel good swimming easier, it almost made me more aware that something wasn't right. I was thinking,'dude, this is when you need to be chomping at the bit, out of the water solid and relaxing ready to HAMMER the bike, you can get up there!' All the self-talk wasn't working, I felt like crap! Out of the water I heard the announcer going crazy about swim-pro-leader-Biscay, this was cool because I had never gotten out with the lead female before, usually she's ahead. I get out with Hillary all the time though, but hey, I'll take what few victories I can! More importantly for my race, I heard/saw the names of Beke and Stadler heading to their bikes. It was imperative I go now, and go hard! These two WOULD make it to the front of the bike, and they were my ticket. So, about twenty of us hopped on our bikes at the same time and took off charging after a lead group just up the road about 2-3 minutes. The next part of the race was the first serious blow of the day! Stadler and Beke were gone within the first mile, our group of 8-10 was left in the dust and unfortunately I was at the back of this group fighting hard not to be left in the dust myself. I clung to this group with everything I had but within the first 2 miles the sensations were really bad. My legs were not doing what I had trained them to do, my body was failing me! Usually I'm the one that goes out hammering the first part on the bike and more experienced guys like Lovato and Beke will kind of laugh at how hard I was going early, watching me pay for it in the last thirty miles. Today, I was still going as hard, but going backwards!!! This group settled down a little but I never felt any better. We headed out of town out into the lava fields and I just followed. We were catching superstar triathletes who had blown out of the lead group one by one, but I knew there were a lot more up the road. At one point Matt Lieto just in front of me gave the classic elbow shake which means 'pull-through!!!' in cycling. He was tired of me following and not helping set the tempo at the front. Unfortunately, I couldn't, I was just riding for survival and we were only 30 miles into the bike. About this time legends Eduardo Sturla and Thomas Hellreigal caught our group, they were hammering. We stayed with them 5-10 miles and the lifted pace hurt Super-Bad. (good movie) The turn to Hawi was a surprise because the winds were RIPPING like I've never experienced before and today was forecasted to be calm. I was trying to be positive thinking I could fake the bike and then maybe have a good run but with the winds like this there was no faking it today! I fought to keep my bike and arrow helmet straight, which was difficult, my neck muscles are still sore from fighting my helmet. Up near the Hawi turnaround I finally got tailed off the group I was in and was now alone for a minute. Also, I forgot to mention that part of my feeling not right was that I couldn't keep anything down. Water was ok, Gatorade was difficult, and calories were impossible! I wasn't throwing up but the idea of consuming calories was beyond ridiculous. Of course you can't do an Ironman like this. Steve Larsen and Ain Alar Johansonn (eventual race overall bike split PR guy of 4:26!) caught me around mile 60 of the bike. I kept telling myself,'come on dude! These guys are contenders, you can still do it!' Up into Hawi I saw Sinballe coming back and he was hammering down the hill, fighting his bike viciously as the cross winds were enormous. Then the lead group came by the other way with now only 6-8 dudes, and no Macca! At this point I was only 1-2 miles from the turn and I got a brief feeling of 'maybe I'm ok' if everybody else is in the same shape I am in. It wasn't the case though, because a lot more guys followed and then I finally made the turn. Roughly in 40th, I figured this was ok out of 98 male pro starters, but not feeling good, not consuming energy, and not optimistic about even the near future! Back to town I rode, fought the wind hard, got passed by a few more guys, experienced an insane bonk which is what happens when you don't take anything in nutritionally. About mile 90 of the bike I set a goal of just finishing the bike, that's it, just get back to town! This I did and upon my arrival heard I was in 45th place. 'Sweet, the top half I thought' Just barely, only 98 men started. I quickly transitioned trying not to think and started out on the run. It felt good to be off the bike but the running was really difficult, my stomach was impossibly bad and my legs had been 'crampy' since the swim. When I say 'crampy' I mean anytime I'd try to put down effort they tinge and lock. I jogged the first six miles, then walked whenever there was shade. Around mile 8 I decided I would run/walk until I couldn't and then I would walk the rest of the way. This is Kona, gotta finish! Back into town around mile 11 I saw a lot of friends/family, started feeling better, got some sunscreen, and prepared for a long 15 miles but was pretty happy to be getting to take part in the whole experience. I headed out onto the Queen K walking and then couldn't walk anymore. It was so weird, I needed AC immediately. The next step of my regression wasn't going to be pretty and it wasn't one I was going to take. Also, I could've envisioned walking another 200 yards maybe, but another 13 was impossible. I hitched a ride in a race official pick-up heading the other way. The AC felt like a euphoric streaming gold and when he dropped me off at the finish line he said something like,'Only about 300 yards to medical, it's as close as I can get you, you gonna be all right?' I said,'sure' even though I was only about 60% sure I would make the hike. I found a direct route through the King Cam Hotel, and it had AC, which was awesome, and then upon getting to medical I got hooked up pretty nicely and had a nice two hour conversation with an anesthesiologist who had volunteered his time for the day. Lots of IV's and multiple anti-nausea drugs later, I wasn't feeling any better but I wasn't fearing the near future anymore either. Overall I'm pretty disappointed with the way the race turned out. Fortunately, it was about all I had on the day and I know something was just physically wrong. Michelle was also having a serious bout of food-poisoning and the only thing I can think of was that we ate something not quite right leading up to the race. My symptoms certainly suggest that this was the case. Next year I'm hoping to come back with having worked towards a slightly better swim which will set me up for a better race right out the gate. I'm cycling and running well right now, wouldn't change much there, probably just pay closer attention to how I look after myself detail-wise in the days leading up to the event. I have a feeling I will one day be competitive at Kona, but it will be impossible without an intelligent and ambitious approach. For now, I may do the Soma half Ironman in two weeks time as well as Ironman Arizona three weeks later. Soma, mainly because now four days after the event I don't even feel like I raced. I wasn't able to give a true effort in Kona and therefore wasn't able to punish my body like one needs to when trying to succeed racing IM's at the professional level. Next year I hope to be limping two weeks after Kona, like I usually am after successful Ironmans. Ironman Arizona is interesting for me because it's my home race, it should be cool temperatures, and it would be nice to try and qualify for Kona and then focus on shortcourse races in 2009, until Kona of course... Thanks to all the friends, family, sponsors, and well-wishers. It's amazing how nice everyone has been considering my result. You guys stand by me and I promise the day will come when I make you really proud! Thankfully I only got one message saying,'I'M GLAD YOU SUFFERED REAL BAD HOMEBOY, YOU DESERVE IT!!!!' but this one came from an unusual source, the bacteria in my stomach consulting with my brain while I was sleeping just hours after the race. Soma is only a few days away, see everyone out there, keep training! Yours in sport, Lewis « Back to Blogs |
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