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Ironman Week - End
10.19.04 - Scott Molina
Its Tuesday in the US as I write this.
This entire journal has been mostly regarding the Camp and the camper's experience here in Kona. I’ve included my own experience as a camper and tried to be objective. I’ll try not to add too much conjecture here either, but this event means different things to everyone and what we experience here is largely influenced by our previous experiences here (or not) and our expectations. To add no opinions whatsoever just isn’t in my genetic code though so you will nearly always get my view, or at least a snide remark or two from me here and there.
Most of the other people here at the camp have their own diaries and observations written down too, so I hope you have been browsing through their pages as well to get a well-rounded view of what’s happening. The other reason to do a journal at all is for future reference. Hopefully someone out there will be able to benefit from these thoughts at some point.
Friday
Another day of doing stuff. Time to get this thing going already. Enough hanging around. I was signing stuff in the expo in the AM, met with some of the folks I’ve been working with this year, fine-tuned the tan and liver at the poolside bar at the King Kam. Check the bike and race wheels one more time and then go to check in the bike and gear. Luckily, Riccatello was there with his handy backpack with everything a tri-geek like me could ever need. I needed some bar-end plugs (three to be exact!) and some electrical tape to hold them in. Then I went to the 25y pool for a swim and ran into Justin and then Dave Scott. Dave was just finishing a 3500y session but joined me for a while. Then we dropped him off at the gym with his friend John who comes along to watch Kona every year. Its probably Dave’s easiest day work-wise of his trip over here.
I did a little shopping for the kids and then sat on the wall out behind the Kona Inn and had a nice quiet one. Lovely afternoon. Then home for a massage and some stretching and dinner.
Race Day
I’m sure you’ve read at least a few race reports by now so I won’t bore you with another one. My goal here in Kona was to share some time preparing with some quality people and then share the experience of the event with everyone who was out there. That’s all. No time, effort or place goals. I do like to be thin and brown so the race helps a hell of a lot in that department.
I will put down a few of my observations about the day in general.
The swim was a bit slower than normal because of the length or the swells or boat chop. Slower swimmers (over an hour) would have been significantly affected.
The wind was real and constant. Again, everyone is affected, but those who normally ride over about 5:40 would have been more affected than the fast folks.
There were a lot of drafting calls but there were still a lot of packs. The event has a real problem in that department and it can’t be blamed on the weather. My first suggestion would be wave starts - about 10 of them.
The run was about normal temps and wind and perhaps even a bit shadier than I remember. I like this new run course best of all the run courses they’ve had here.
It’s a lot cooler after dark! But I see why they make us have a glow stick out there. Its pitch f'n black and we’d be running (or walking) head-on into each other if we didn’t have the glow sticks.
They had a great barbecue going on about the 22-mile mark. Great burgers. I had two. Nice folks.
Post race area was a bit cramped, but the free pizza was nice.
The wheelchair guys inspire me no end.
Sunday
Various thoughts...
I never sleep that well after an IM. Think I was up from 1:30-4. I nearly packed my bike right then and there. With two days left on the island I just want to get that job done and start to relax.
All day - Nice to catch up with lots of people and hear their stories.
Epic Campers Kristy Gough, who won her age group, and Justin Daerr, who got 3rd, were the highlights for the group.
Paul Anderson from Calgary raced very solid too. He probably benefited from the camp and coming to Kona early more than anyone else. I don’t think he would have done so well had he come straight from Calgary for the race.
Vinu (Mr. Fuelbelt) and I got to walk/jog and commiserate together for quite a long time.
The Scandinavian contingent had a forgettable event, but a very memorable trip. They’ll be back!
Us older guys would rather not discuss our ailments. We hope to suffer less in the future. We’ll be back too.
All Epic Campers finished except for Bjorn, including KP who spent about as much time as I did horizontal during the event.
Chris McDonald rode 5:10 just going steady because he wanted to get a good idea of what that would be like for future reference. This was his 4th IM this year and he was just there to be a part of it and help Marilyn
Get ready for the race.
Marilyn had a shocker swim, even for her. Neither of us could have thought it was possible to swim so bad! But she hung in and got herself into the top 10 on the bike with a steady ride. Those conditions suited her perfectly. The harder it is the better she’ll do against the other women. She wanted a check and that meant top 10 so she went for that and hung in there on the run for a long time. Once a check was out of the question she just kept moving in order to finish. She’ll be back too. After a 1st in Malaysia and a 2nd in IM France she’s looking forward to many more good races.
Ragnar Alne from Norway had a mediocre day. The drafting really got him depressed out there, but he recovered to finish. Like me he didn’t want to go home with a drafting penalty and feel like he has a big black X on his name.
Mitch Gold had his best result place-wise. Super solid mentally and physically. You’d think he was a Marine living and training in the desert.
The awards were nice. The German contingent were very well represented weren’t they! And so they should be. They train so hard and have so much fervor for this sport. They have such a great mindset to excel at the long stuff. Nice to see old friend Uwe Widmann from Germany back up there. Its so hard for the second tier of Germans to get a break and get noticed. To win an IM in Germany is practically impossible. My hat’s off to all of those who have done it including McCormack. Not everyone is suited to excelling in Kona. Look at Leder and Zack for example. My friend Ray Browning was as strong as an ox and won seven other IM’s but never had a decent race in Kona. So I have no trouble applauding those who have success here. That 75+ Southwell dude is a new idol of mine. I’ve known of him for a very long time and he seems to get better with age.
I sat with Dave Scott and his sister Jane during the awards. Neither of us had any athletes that we work with that tore the race apart! He’ll be pretty tough on the pros he works with when they get back home. I think I’ll be a little more sympathetic...
Stadler – In Phuket last year he was there in November about five weeks after Kona and he hadn’t done a thing since the race! He still had a lingering knee injury. “Soft” would be about the best term to describe him then. He was there in a week-long cuddle with his girlfriend and seemed very happy and relaxed. I rode the course with him and others one day and he said it was his first ride since Kona. After that over the winter he struggled a lot with injury and I suppose people were quick to say he was unfit. For a guy like that to not be able to race fast is such a hard thing to suffer through. But perhaps it hardened his resolve to do better in Kona. He sure came back with a vengeance, didn’t he.
Kraft – always knocking on the door until now. What a tough lady with no weaknesses. Apparently quite a temper! But I’ve known other top women like that and they can channel that in the right direction most of the time.
Post race party at the Kona Brewing company was a lot of fun. My only complaint is they kick everyone out pretty early. Nice to see people dressed up a bit, smiling and happy. For so many people its such a relief to get the race behind you.
That’s all I’ve got. A big thanks to those who’ve been through this time with me.
Postscript
Back to work enroute home. Back to that part of the year where I try to put the rest of my life first for a while. Sometimes that can be a very long transition. Sometimes a bummer race makes it hard to put everything behind you and move on. Sometimes a long build up to a big race can just be a diversion from important issues you’d rather not face. The plane ride home usually is a time to reflect, isn’t it.
I had a song hit me like a meteor one day while driving to the pool a couple of months ago and its stuck with me, probably mostly due to the fact that I went out and bought the CD that day and have been playing it at least once a day ever since. I love the whole CD, but this one song has grabbed ahold of me on so many levels. Outstanding song. We played it a lot on our portable CD player on the pool deck in Kona during our swim sessions. If it reaches out to you anything like it does for me then you know what I’m on about.
“How Far is Heaven?”
Save me from this prison
I’ve been locked up way too long in this crazy world
How far is Heaven?
(Spanish verse)
Cuz I know there’s a better place than the place I’m living
How far is Heaven?
I just want to know how far...
By Los Lonely Boys
Lord help me get away
Cuz only you can save me now from this misery
I’ve been lost in my own place, and I’m getting weary
How far is Heaven?
And I know that I need to change my ways of living
How far is Heaven?
Lord can you tell me?
How far is Heaven?
And I just keep on praying Lord and just keep on livin’
How far is Heaven?
Yeah Lord can you tell me?
Cuz I just got to know how far
How far is Heaven?
Yeah Lord can you tell me?
How far is Heaven?
And I just got to have some faith and just keep on giving
How far is Heaven?
Yeah Lord can you tell me?
Cuz I just got to know how far
How far is Heaven?
Yeah Lord can you tell me?
How far is heaven?
Cuz I just got to know
Race Week Extras
10.15.04 - Scott Molina
Thursday
Slept in a bit today and not feeling too sharp after tuning up my liver last night. Why do I do that? One of the great mysteries in my life.
This morning I was the guest speaker at a Masters women’s breakfast at the Royal Kona Resort. Amazing group of over-40 women, most of whom do the race. These chicks rock! Many have done the race many times and some of them win their age group nearly every time. People like Missy LeStrange, Donna Smyers, Peggy Cens-McDowell, Cherie Gruenfield (hope I got the spelling right, its late...), etc. If anyone ever doubts that exercise is the fountain of youth all they have to do is come to meet this group.
I spoke a bit about relationships, tri women vs. tri men, general life things and then answered some questions. Lovely morning with a great group of lovely people.
I left inspired and feeling better than ever about this sport.
Took a quick trip through the expo and bought a few things, then went to the pool for an easy 3,000y and then an easy ride for 90 minutes with a few pick-ups. Easy jog of 30 minutes, some stretching, getting race gear ready, catching up on mail, massage, carbo dinner. I would say this wouldn’t be all that different than the day many people in the event here had today. Perhaps most would probably ride less or take today off of all exercise involving legs today. But I’ve still gotta top up my tan and keep busy. I’m terrible at resting at the best of times, but not being so concerned about my race time allows me to exercise a bit more than I normally would two days out.
Carbo Dinner
This is usually a highlight during race week and this one was very, very special. As I sit here tonight I’m having quite a bit of difficulty finding the words to convey all of the emotions that ran through my head tonight concerning friends and competitors who were feted tonight.
I was sitting with ST/Roch/Huddle/Paula/Janet Wendle (and her twins!)/Dr “PZ” Pearce. When Roch and Huddle’s "Do’s and Don’ts" video came on they seemed to get a little red in the face but it was very well done, very funny and entertaining. Of course Bob Babbitt featured too and the man has no shame!!! What a crack-up.
The returning age group champions are brought onto the stage and also various other people who are very special in this sport.
Marc Herremans was feted and then he came up to say a few words. Some of you will remember him as a guy who races in a wheelchair now. He was a very promising pro before an accident left him paralyzed from the waist down.
One of the early features of the evening that we were treated to was a special video of a re-cap of Mark and Dave’s battle in ’89 with new, recent interview footage of both of them. Then they came up onto the stage to talk about the battle and many of the years leading up to that point. Often when I reflect back on my career I consider having them there to race for 13 years as the biggest compliment I can pay myself. Those guys were so damn good.
At the end of the evening we were part of a very moving tribute to Greg Welch who was inducted to the Ironman Hall of Fame. Paula came up and spoke from the heart about what Greg has meant to her and to the sport and she had me bawling like a baby. No notes. Just Paula.
That side of Paula isn’t a side that many see from the Iron Maiden, but tonight she showed her great affection for the man and it was very emotional. There was some great footage of Greg over the years and then he took the stage to give an acceptance speech that just floored everyone.
Neither Marc nor Greg will ever run again in all likelihood. How would we deal with what they have dealt with and continue to deal with everyday?
They still live with hope, good humor and continue to help others in so many ways. As I walked to my car to drive home I made a promise to never feel sorry for myself ever again no matter what may come my way. I’ll remember this evening for a very long time.
We have some champions in our sport that have such character that its often very humbling to be around them. Tonight was one of those nights when you get an insight into that character.
What a night.
What great people.
Phew! Good to get all that out or else I would have tossed and turned all night.
Race Week Extras
10.14.04 - Scott Molina
Feeling a bit fresher now after a couple of easy days. Lots of non-training stuff to do though for us coaches! Lots of people to catch up with too.
Sunday
Took my first day off from swimming since about June today! Well, I actually had 3 days off in August and one in September. Not in July though. With my foot being f'd up I figured I’d better do something. Too cold in Christchurch to ride a lot and I really don’t enjoy long session on the trainer. Anyway, Mitch Gold wanted to ride the course one last time so I tagged along for company. We had a great day with our iPods blasting. Had with some hell winds to cope with up to Hawi. Was crawling along at about 12mph for about five miles there. Pretty hot out today too. Very sunny all day. I put on sunscreen three times today which is a PB for me. Since I’m losing weight my skin is looking pretty saggy and old! Aging is hell. Made a decision today to book that big holiday after a huge spruce up from the big plastic surgeon when I’m 50 if I last that long.
Not a lot of other news for you. We saw a huge group from Aussie going up to Hawi. They trucked their bikes out to Kawaihae to ride that part of the course. Must’ve been a hundred of them.
I took a nap floating in the pool and then had a massage. Life is good! Damned hot and tired though.
Monday
Swam the course again very steady. One more time tomorrow and that’s it. Heck of a crowd down there.
Peter Reid came up and said hello. We hadn’t actually, officially met before and he was gracious and relaxed. Had a big smile and looked very content. He introduced me to the young lady with him and it seemed to me that she might have been one of the sources of his serene aura. To describe her as a tasty, nubile little morsel would be quite an understatement.
A few of us rode the 2-hour, hilly Kaleakekua Bay loop again, this time quite a bit easier. Smokin’ hot climbs even going easy.
I had a good run on the ""secret"" trail up here in the hills. It might be the nicest place to run on this side of the island. To get to it you go up uphill on Lako St. off of the Queen K a few miles up from Palani Rd. You’ll see the sign on the right on Lako about 400m from the Queen K. It meanders up and up on a bike path and through very quiet residential areas for about five miles. Goes up about 500ft before it dead ends. Great views in places and quite a bit of shade. That’s my last significant run before the event.
Tuesday
Ran into Jimmy Riccatello down at the pier today. He was hopping in with one of his athletes. Funny and as fun as always. I’m glad some things never change. He’s having a bit of a break from training though and not hanging around for the race or going to Maui for X-terra. He’s a houseboy/home-dad like me and has to get back to the family.
Swam the course with Clas today. He wanted to do the whole thing and work on his is working on his race effort so we did quite a lot of race effort on the way back. The guy is ready to rock.
Ran into Jurgen down there. The guy is ageless. 38 and still slugging it out with the top dogs. Can he hammer it again?
Ran into super agent and race director Murphy too. Tried to hit him up for one of those cushy invites to the Phuket Tri in Thailand but no dice. Guess I’ll have to take a break in November after all.
Jane Patterson, who is the race director for IM New Zealand, hosted a brunch for all of the NZ qualifiers here. Gave out some very nice swag from Nike and it was such a neat thing to do. She is one classy race director. Joanna Lawn is looking great and as freckly as always. She really loves it here and has spent considerable time here over the years training here.
Brian Rhodes was showing off his new Cervelo. Sweet machine! Had everyone drooling all over it.
Jenny Brown had her two boys out in the pool. Cam is one of the few top pros with a wife and two kids. That’s quite a different existence than being a solo tri hermit. He does a good job of getting his work done as efficiently as possible to not be away all day. He’s had a great build-up for this race – his best yet. He’s ready.
Went to check-in, shopped and got a massage, hit the gym and did an easy 1500m at night. Had the pool at The Club all to myself. I usually do when I swim at 9pm!
Wednesday & Lori
Lori gets her own section in everything as far as I’m concerned.
Ever seen the movie "Something About Mary" with Cameron Diaz? I’m like one of those guys with Lori. Would go on 7-hour rides in the mountains with her finishing in a freezing rain, run myself to near death with her and Heather when I’m totally out of shape, or pretend to be her coach just to get e-mail from her! All of those are actually true! I’m her biggest fan without a doubt, along with a thousand other guys who also think they’re her biggest fan. Its hard not to be too ridiculously effusive in my admiration for her but then we fans are a bit irrational at times aren’t we! So it was nice to be able to say hello to her today, offer my obeisance once again while barely able to speak, and to see her bubbly and happy. Who cares how she races! Just to have her on the planet is good enough. She personifies everything good about our sport.
The Legends Of the Lava panel/seminar was on at the King Kam today and John Duke was kind enough to include me in the group. It was another opportunity to say hi to old friends and share a few laughs.
Dave Scott arrived Monday and looks in typical 8:20 shape. Pants falling off of him. Samsonite luggage-type bags under his eyes. More veins than Lucien Van Impe. I’m sure he’s already had a zillion people ask him when he’s going to come back and race again, does he think he can still go around eight hours, etc., etc. He knows to expect all of this, but at 50 its starting to be a bit tiresome to answer the same old questions time after time. But he’s always gracious, always polite, always has some good words and good humor for everyone. He also has a very busy schedule when he’s here as you can imagine. Doesn’t get a lot of opportunities to “balance” his tan like I do. Grip and Paula were also on the panel with Dave and I and it was moderated by Triathlete’s John Duke and T.J.Murphy. Lots of the usual questions from the audience and some very good, thought-provoking ones. It’s a bit hard for those three to answer questions like “Why isn’t anyone as good as you guys were?” Talk about putting people on the spot! But it is a very good question, and I’ll give you a few of my thoughts about why there are only a few people like them:
- They had a passion for the process. They loved finding out how to get better and applying what they learnt.
- They loved to go hard and long.
- They also expected to race well at shorter distances and applied themselves to the job of getting faster over Oly distance for a majority of the year. That included trying to ride very fast for 40km solo, not like the ITU mentality of sit-in and then run like hell.
- They have incredible drive to win.
- They had great adversaries to push them.
Aloha Reception
Every year they WTC host a very nice reception at the Palace a little ways along Ali'i from the pier. It’s a very nice invite to get because many of the sponsors, race committee, pros young and old dudes like me get to catch up. It poured rain and everyone had to huddle under a big veranda for a while. Bumped into Simon Lessing and his wife Lisa with their two little ones. Talk about a guy who has someone up above looking out for him. That man is truly blessed. Lisa was absolutely radiant as always.
Had a nice chat to ST and we moved on to the bar at the Kona Inn to talk about lots of old dude stuff like cancer and Viagra. Lots of laughs. Tuned up my liver for the post race party.
Day Fourteen
10.09.04 - Scott Molina
Swam the course with Linda paddling for us. Very straight course. 28 flat from the beach so about 27 from the place they normally start the race. Super clear and calm again this morning. Gordo swam with me in his wetsuit and had his Epi (epinephrine) pen in his suit in a ziplock bag just in case he hit some jellyfish. There have been quite a few people stung lately. We stopped a few times on the return trip so no total time today. Very solid effort for everyone. With just one week to go its time to start getting a feel for race effort over a sustained period.
Rode out to Waikaloa and back steady as mentioned above. More flat tires again today. The combination of rocks and glass out there is really crummy in places. Luckily we’ll be out in the road on race day, and not on the shoulder. Bit of a stiff side/head wind again on the return trip. The dead-on side wind here can really hurt you just like a head wind in most other places. It’s a drafters paradise out here.
There were a few solid runs today in the heat. I think everyone is about as acclimatized as they are going to be by now, but the weatherman is predicting it to heat up a bit next week so we’ll see. Its hard to imagine it can get any hotter.
More massages before and during dinner. Seems like people are beginning to book an extra one here and there.
Bit of a summary is in order I suppose, but I really don’t have any final, ethereal thoughts for you. You’ll have to go to Mark Allen’s site for that! :-) Here are a few thoughts for you though:
- I’m still learning how to perform optimally in this kind of climate. After three miserable attempts in the early 80’s to do well here I had given up all hope of ever winning here. I knew I had a very high sweat rate of just over three liters per hour from various tests over the years so the logical side of me just decided to focus on other races where that wasn’t such a factor. I often said during the early 80’s that they should just throw all of the top contenders into a sauna and the last person to pass out should be declared IM winner. That would save us all the trouble and expense of getting over here to do the event.
- Having trained extensively with ST and Grip for many years I knew they didn’t sweat anywhere near as much as me. ST sweat less than a third the amount I did. That’s significant over 8+ hours. When I went to Palm Springs with my lovely bride-to-be in '88 it was as much to help her prepare and figure out a strategy to retain and absorb fluids as it was for me. I really didn’t expect to do well. But love conquers all eh??? I didn’t want to let her down, but probably overdid everything there and she went into Kona fairly nuked. The main thing that came from that camp and the whole exploration process there was that I decided to carry my own drinks on the run with a lot more sodium than was available on the course. On race day I looked a bit bloated from all the salt but I made it to the line. Just. Now of course it seems common knowledge that there are many people with very high sweat rates and sodium intake is a big part of holding it together here.
- Thin and brown. The brown part is mostly vanity, as you may have gathered if you’ve read any of my epic updates. But preventing a huge burn on race day is a good idea, so any protection you can get is good. Burning makes your body send more water to the surface to cool the skin than normal and we all probably sweat too much as it is. The thin part is real. Less insulation here is a significant part of staying cool. Its no wonder people like Reid and Luke Bell look like human radiators. Very large surface are per pound of body weight.
- Tapering. That’s a gradual reduction in the training load. It doesn’t mean sitting on the couch watching videos for weeks. It also means a gradual reduction in the calories consumed until its time to load up a couple of days before the race. Things like stretching, massage and sleep should be increased.
The people here are generally celebrating their lives and the fact that they qualified. Many of them would love to have a great race here, but its usually the climax of a great year and the race result is actually secondary to just being a part of the IM family. Personally I really don’t care about my result. I’ll go hard – I always do, but whatever time is on the clock is OK. To be an athlete and go through the process of getting fit is what keeps me happy. The challenges of daily training are what I enjoy most along with sharing the quest with similar people living this tri life.
Day Thirteen
10.08.04 - Scott Molina
There have been some great sightings of talent over the last couple of days. There was an Elizabeth Kristiansen sighting at the pool on Friday with her boyfriend Andrew Johns. AJ is always good value. She’s from Denmark and might just have the longest legs of any woman pro here. They rode out to Waikaloa with us on Saturday too. Unfortunately Lizzie catches a ton of wind being up that high. I’m sure she’ll find the ride here quite a battle.
There was a Lori/Heather/Roch/Chris Legh/Cam/Belinda Granger sighting at the Pier on Saturday morning. Big crowd down there and we had to watch out not to have a head-on while swimming.
When swimming here its best to stay about 50m from the buoys. Lots of room out there.
Our training – Friday began with the last organized pool session of the camp. G-Man put up a Dave Scott special taper session of around 4,000y. Lots of quality. Lots of changing of pace.
He gave us a Monica Caplan special session that included a dose of 8 x 400 f/s on various send-offs, some of them impossible. That was the hardest sustained swimming I’ve done here so far. Had to reward myself with a huge date scone and a mocha afterwards.
Tim and Nicole Deboom were at the pool too. Just doing easy stuff. Boy is that guy pale. Same as always. Tim would make a good poker player. He doesn’t give anything away. But you know he’s always got a good hand.
After breakfast we headed out for various rides. I took some of the guys on a new loop. This is probably the nicest ride on this side of the island unless you go over the Kohalas. This one is reasonable from town though.
We were out for about 2:15 ride time and the route included about 3,000ft of vertical gain. If you go North up past Captain Cook you’ll see a turn-off to Kealekekua Bay. There’s a bitching 1200ft descent down to the water. We made a loop out of it by going around Napoopoo Rd back up to the hwy via Middle Keei Rd. and then headed back to Kona. Great jungle road. No traffic on that part. We could have turned off towards the painted church but it would have been a bit too long for that day. On the upper hwy there must have been about 10 places to stop for coffee along the route. Lots of coffee roasting places.
We also came across a gaggle of Germans hanging out at the bay. Huge group of triathletes who had ridden over supported, were having a swim and picnic and hanging out there and then riding back. A few of the guys were pretty impressed by both the size of the group and the uuhhhmmm..."quality" of the athletes. Paul from Calgary said to me, “Epic Camp, Smeckencamp, I know which group I’d rather be with!”
Some folks had the day off the bike, some ran, some of us did it all. The massage crew had their hands full.
My shoes started squishing from sweat at the 40-minute mark again this afternoon. That’s without dumping any water on myself. Damn hot and humid along Ali'i. I bumped into Bryan Rhodes on my run. He had just arrived and was tooling around in a convertible looking for his rental. The guy is a gypsy. Seems to be everywhere its hot and miserable. He seems to have his best races in the most inhospitable places.
Went to the gym just before dinner. Starting to back off a little in there. Bit faster reps too. Slight change in emphasis.
Day Twelve - Great Balls of Fire!
10.07.04 - Scott Molina
Before I get started I’ll say now that since I’ve been getting so far behind on my promise to include “all things Kona” in these updates I’m going to continue with them right through to the race. During race week I will have more time to catch up with people and get some good inside scoop and pictures for you.
Apologies for error(s) in my last update this time go to Ragnar who ran for 80 minutes, not eight as I wrote. I left out a “y”.
Forgot to mention my, uhmm, "package" seemed to be on fire for about three hours on Day 10. I know you’d like to know this.
At first I thought it was just the friction and the heat from riding so many miles out on the Queen K. Sometimes the salt collects in your bike shorts and acts like sand paper and you just can’t find a comfortable place to sit. But this time I’m sure my jock itch had something to do with it. Sometimes when wearing a speedo and/or bike shorts all day the moisture creates a good environment for growing fungus. I think I may have had a small mushroom crop going on down there. So I’ve been putting lots of anti-fungal cream. I’ve been alternating that with 2% hydrocortisone cream to help heal the abrasions from the bike shorts.
Guess my "package" doesn’t know whether I’m trying to kill it or heal it.
7:30am start in the pool again. Glad we reserved four lanes before the camp began. Linda Bless speaks German so she’s been filling in the German swim coach who’s here on deck for a whole slew of Germans. Pool space is starting to be an issue. We had three guest swimmers today in Cam Brown, Karlyn-superfishwoman and Jens from Alaska/Canada. Good to give Cam a bit of a push on a set of 10 x 200’s alternating IM and f/s. He usually trounces me in the pool. But I’m short course guy! Bjorn is starting to fire it up a bit more too and finished with quite a few 100’s at just a hair over the minute mark at the end of our 6,000y session.
After breakfast most of us headed out onto the Queen K for a 50-mile ride out to Waikaloa and back. Cam came along to tow us so we had a nice cruisy ride out. Bjorn was at the back with me doing one-legged drills and his heartrate was under 100. On the way back some headed off to finish with some hill reps. About seven miles from town Chann McCrae came up and hit the front for a few miles at just over 30mph, after Bjorn and Chris "the Real Macca" McDonald went off the front doing some pick-ups. Chann is a pretty small guy. Has a good build to be a good triathlete. I certainly hope he has done some training for this race.
I think everyone ran today various distances. I even had a good 45-minute run out the Kuakini Hwy and back just before my massage. Chris Wigen (chriswigs@aol.com) has been working on me the most. Save that e-mail if you’re coming over and want some work. The guy is good.
At dinner some of us were hanging out for one of Mitch’s special treats like he’s been bringing over every night and we were crushed to learn he didn’t bring anything! We had a scrumptious pasta with a white shrimp and scallop sauce though so really didn’t need it anyway...
Back tomorrow.
Day Eleven
10.06.04 - Scott Molina
Easier day today in Konaland.
We headed down to “Dig Me” beach to swim the course at 7am before the swell and chop came up. Not everyone made it out of bed early today though! If the race of the year wasn’t just 10 days away I would have to kick them out of the camp for missing a key session, but now is a time to be a bit careful to not over-reach. So I’ll hold my tongue for a change.
We saw Nina Kraft down at the pier. She’s sporting a bit of the Lori Big Hair look. Makes my little “do” look pretty tame. The rest of her is pretty trim though. Could bounce a quarter off of that keister no problem. Would bounce like a superball. Anyone not putting even money on her to finish in the top 3 doesn’t know a hell of a lot about IM’s. The lady is tough, and above all that is the main characteristic you need to have here to succeed.
Let’s talk about that for a moment.
Did you see the footage of Natasha barfing up more than you thought any human could hold last year on Ali'i? THEN she kept going and outsprinted Kraft to get second. Is it any wonder that woman has won this thing four times?
What about Lori B even fronting up here last year in the midst of huge personal upheaval?
Do you remember the footage of Paula parked on the curb 600 meters from the finish near death?
Remember the "diaper derby" with Wendy Ingraham and Sian Welch having a crawling race to the finish? And Julie Moss?
I’ve got another story for you. In ’98 I was in the event here having a very good day for a very averagely fit old dude when Heather Fuhr rides up at about the 90-mile point caked in salt. She didn’t look that great and I figured her day was likely done. I thought it would be a very disappointing day for her after going into it as defending champ. Anyway, as we rode I asked her if she needed anything and she politely said no and we quietly cruised into T2 together. I had a very slow transition as I could barely get my shoes on with my big gut in the way and I waddled out of the Kona Surf. About a mile later Heather runs up from behind and I guessed she must have been spending some time in the sin bin (which she did) to add a bit more misery to her day. A short time later her husband Roch yells some encouragement from the side of the road telling her its cool and overcast, it’s a great day for running fast so just stick to the plan, way to go honey... stuff like that. I thought he was just being supportive but there was no way she was going to come out of the day with any good result. She was in about 18th at the time about 30+ minutes behind the leader. So she ran on to the “pit” and back out and I didn’t think any more of it. As I was approaching the Energy Lab turn off I see her coming the other way! She was in about 6th place there and she went on to get 4th with a 3:04 marathon, which was the fastest woman’s run of the day. I thought that was a remarkably tough run.
So all of you heros with bulging a muscles and egos just take a moment to reflect on what you’re up against out there if you think these cute little chicks shouldn’t be an hour or two in front of you. Intestinal fortitude can’t be measured in pounds or watts.
Our day – The swim course was flat and fast but it still took Ragnar and I 29 minutes to get out to the turn buoy and 33 to get back. Is the friggin’ course long? Perhaps I just need about 20 fast people in front of me. When we got out of the water there was about 100 people milling around. The place is crawling with Ironpeople now.
After breakfast we got on the computers and then we headed up the hill North to the old high school pool up near Kealakekua. There’s a light there where you turn left. The street name is Konasomethingorother School road. Nice 25-yard pool up there about a half mile on the right. Its free too just like the one in town, but its nearly empty and about 4-5 degrees cooler. Here’s a photo of us waiting for the pool to open. Gordo is dressed in his "Speedo of the day." Nice treat for us eh?
Some of the people who didn’t swim this morning hopped in along with a few of us who did. We did a solid 3800y up there and then went for coffee at the Surfin Ass Coffee Company. That really is the name. Its right next to the Donkey Balls Chocolate Macadamia nut shop. If you’ve never had Donkey Balls then I can tell you they are yuuuuummmmmmy! A Donkey Ball and a large Mocha is a mighty fine post double-swim reward.
Some ran after lunch, some rode, some took the day off. Ragnar ran a solid eight minutes in the hills. The Norwegian dude is fully acclimatized now and loving the heat. Vinu hit the gym.
A pretty relaxing day really. No rain either which was a nice change. I did the upper Holualoa loop for a couple of hours and it was a brilliant sunny afternoon. Back to some harder stuff tomorrow.
Day Ten
10.05.04 - Scott Molina
Today was a hard day’s work. I’m dead tired so this will be a short re-cap today.
To sum it up - 7:30am start for a 4,000y swim at pool, breakfast, ride the course, short run off the bike.
Not everyone rode the whole course, but many of us went right to Hawi and back. Hot and sunny and moderate winds all day. Very glad to have the folks from BikeWorks and Wy and Wendy out there again doing SAG. I also had my iPod cranked up for most of the ride which always makes the time go by a bit quicker. I drank a total of 14 normal water bottles of various fluids on the ride and still got home 2kgs lighter than I started. My ride time was only 5:20 too, so obviously very favorable conditions. I also had Marilyn’s wheel to sit on all the way back from Kawaihae which sped things up considerably! Very good ride for her even with some real cramping issues along the way. No real headwinds back from Waikaloa. Strong sidewinds coming from the ocean so ideal for us sitting on!
KP opted to ride to Kawaihae and back. The big guy got his jersey off for the return trip to catch a few more rays in the true spirit of the DLTT’s (Desert Lizard Tanning and Tri Club).
Klas, Kirsty, Mitch, Paul and Justin did some intervals along the way and rode nearly to Hawi and back. Kirsty is hanging onto quite a lot of Clas’ 450+ watts intervals out there. Then Clas ran an hour off the bike which was approx 10 miles.
Bjorn went to Hawi and back (again – its 110 miles from his place) with a Swedish friend and then did an easy jog to the pool and back with a mellow swim.
Young Ragnar Alne from Norway had a great solo effort all the way. The guy is really starting to rock now.
Lots of positive vibes at dinner tonight. Every one was re-assured today by handling the course so well. But we all realize the winds were very favourable, so no false sense of security
Day Nine - Bring an Umbrella
10.04.04 - Scott Molina
Sorry if I’ve been boring you to death so far. I keep intending to get out and do a little research to inform and entertain but alas, my age must be catching up with me. I can barely gather enough energy to shave.
Here’s a few tidbits for you.
Every top woman is here except for Kate Allen.
Here’s a thought for you - Karin Thuerig. Is she the studliest athlete that IM has ever seen? You’d have to say our sport has certainly never had a woman with that kinda horsepower on the bike before. Her 4:50 last year on an average day with limited specialized preparation was nothing short of spectacular. I saw a quote from her saying that she is headed over here this year to get a top 10 to get a spot for 2005 which is one of her main goals for next year. It would certainly be great to see her take this race seriously and give her preparation for it #1 priority. Good time to reflect on some of the amazing bike rides put in by other top women over the years. Women like Natasha, Erin and Paula. Paula’s 4:48+ in ’88 was probably the all-time best ride here. She had us all running scared that year.
There are 160 male pros on the start list. Even though they might not all make the start line I’d be interested to know what the previous largest pro men’s field was in an IM. This is a HUGE pro field. It’s a hell of a Who’s Who in IM. I was surprised to see uber-swimmer Jan Sibberson on the pro list. Guess his sponsors don’t want him mired in the field by giving the pros a 15-minute head start.
Torbjorn Sindballe – I apologize for getting the country wrong in my previous report! I also misspelled his name. A world champion deserves better, so I acknowledge my deficiencies. He’s from Denmark and we saw him at the pool this morning. Our own Bjorn says Torbjorn looks as fit and hungry as he’s ever seen him, which is saying something. The guy can ride. He’s one more guy that could shake up the cosy pack up front.
The little village of Holuloa is closed on Sundays – Vinu tried to check it out.
Good spots to eat – Kona Inn is nice. Its right there in the village and has a nice menu and atmosphere right there on the water. Nice bar.
Today’s training – We started with a session in the pool at 7:30am. I wrote up a tough 3,000y main set of 6 x (300 at race pace, 20 seconds rest, 100 hard on 1:30, 4 x 25 sprint on 30). No extra rest after the 25’s. Some good swimming going on today. Toasty in there too. 83F. Tans are really coming along. Gordo put up 7,000y for the Dolan Lane. I ran out of gas about half way but hung in there to finish the damn thing. That’s a long time in the pool. I gotta say the novelty of the 40km swim weeks wears pretty thin pretty quick. But it’s a nice pool, its outside in the warm sun and it eats the hell out of a 9-5 gig in some office with a crummy commute so I’m Ok with it. Long may it last.
After breakfast most of us hit the gym for an hour. I blasted the quads to smithereens today. Since I can’t run much due to my plantar fascitis I’m trying my best to prepare my legs with some eccentric loading exercises like leg extensions with a longer lowering phase or doing them quicker, hack squats, lunges, squats. They’re easy on the feet.
Rides – today everyone was on their own to ride as much as they feel they need. Justin headed out the Queen K and then up to Waimea. That’s probably the hottest stretch of road on the island as it climbs over 2,000 feet in eight miles and is always sunny with a tailwind. He was out for around four hours today. Most of us did shorter, hilly rides closer to town and got caught in a deluge. Man it can rain hard here. You don’t hear about that aspect of Kona much do you. Linda from BikeWorks mentioned to me that its rained here nearly every day since May. If you’re headed over here bring your rain coat and umbrella. I had my rain vest on today and was glad I did. I was covered in volcanic ash by the time I got home today. Hosed off the bike and my shoes together.
Short, easy runs were also done. Big day tomorrow.
Day Eight
10.03.04 - Scott Molina
Today is Sunday and the roads were a bit quieter riding down to the pier this morning. We assembled at 7:30am to swim the course. There was a group of Belgians there including Ms. Smet who you may have seen during the coverage of the Olympic triathlon. She was the one who did the entire ride solo after unsuccessfully trying to bridge up to the lead group. Then she ran like hell to get 4th place. If there is a dark horse here to give the IM vets a bit of a race it would have to be her. She’s been around a long time really, and looks like one tough cookie. We saw her running down Alii the other day at what looked to be about six-minute/mile pace. Fast chick.
It took Ragner, Jonathan from BikeWorks, and I 30 minutes to get to the turn around in very calm, clear conditions going moderate. I can’t imagine the conditions could be any better than we had them today. It was pretty close to lake-like on the way out. The swell and chop usually come up here just after 8:00am, and sure enough on the way back the swell picked right up. It was coming mostly from behind at that point though so not that bad. It still took me 30 minutes to get back though going moderate-steady. That turn-around is certainly not short. They’ve added two large orange buoys to it so its pretty easy to spot now in calm conditions. There are a couple of other orange ones marking the course now too. It sure is nice to have good goggles or a mask to swim with when the water is this clear. I had a little chuckle to myself remembering the first few years I raced here in Hind Compy goggles. They were usually quite scratched up and I never knew where the hell I was going out there. Never saw anything except the feet in front of me.
Since Gordo isn’t getting into the ocean without a full wetsuit and his Epi-Pen because of his allergy to jellyfish, he watched the bikes for us along with Wyanne.
After the swim and a leisurely transition we headed out to do a harder ride of about 40km. Mostly race pace. We had a solid tailwind on the way out and we were holding 27-33mph. Coming back in I struggled to hold 20mph going quite hard. It always surprises me that when I say to myself “boy, its going to be a hard ride back” it usually turns out to be twice as hard as I thought it was going to be.
Wy and the BikeWorks folks waited at the pool for us with run gear so people could make a quick transition to a run. Some went out onto the Queen K, some went out Ali'i Drive and some just ran back home. The sun was very bright all morning today with no cloud to speak of so there are some very significant tan lines today. Paul who came straight from Calgary yesterday has the best ones.
After a very solid two and half hours plus this morning it was good for most of the athletes to get done early today to have some time to shop and relax.
Bjorn slept in and then went for a spin with Sinballe from Norway and then hopped in the pool later with Gordo. I had to tag along too to give the big guy a bit of a hurry up. Good to see him showing a bit of speed in the pool today. The big guy can swim very fast when he wants to.
Day Seven
10.02.04 - Scott Molina
We started the day with an open water swim race out at the Kukini Resort. A million dollars will get you a down payment on a place there. The turn off for it is about seven miles past the airport out of town and it looks like a construction site. The only way you’d find it is a little yellow sign for the road. Kona isn’t known for its beaches but this one is gorgeous. Its named Kua Bay. Beautiful white sandy bottom and crystal clear water this morning. We had to walk a bit to get to the start since it was a point-to-point swim, and by the time we hopped in to warm up at 8am it was actually to cool down.
The course was a bit long with the winner Carlin from Kona (42-year-old female/fish) leading us the whole way and finishing in 31:07. The Epic Crew brought home quite a bit of hardware and it was very nice of local girl Lokelani to hang around to hand out awards after doing the race herself. Yes, she is as genuinely beautiful in person as on the cover of magazines. She’s included on our photo page for all her fans.
There was a big contingent of young kids from the Kona Swim Club there and the little people were very inspiring. The wind came right up about 20 minutes into the race and it was a hell of a struggle for the little ones. A young girl age six!!! made the whole thing. Lots of 8-9 year-olds. Fit little nippers. If only most kids had half that amount of spunk... Vinu drafted off of one little guy most of the way. I saw them come out and had to laugh. The kid was about three feet tall and 33lbs. Not much to draft off of.
Perennial age group podium finisher here in Kona, Lesley Cens-McDowell, did the race too. She told me she moved to the island about three or so years ago. An old friend from my long days on the PCH in San Diego; Tom McCale; lives here now too. I wonder how many other people have moved here after finding the island and the weather so nice.
Petr Vabrousek did the race today too after traveling 50+ hours from home in Czech-land and arriving last night. He swam over to the start first and then did another easy 30 minutes after the race. My guess is he did about 6km+ this morning. Seems to get right into it doesn’t he! He also joined us for dinner tonight. Only seemed natural to invite him over – he’s a true Epic sorta guy. He brought a dozen Pilsner Urquell with him too. Top marks.
They put on a very nice brunch for the swimmers afterwards with a great spread of food, beverage and live music. Great morning to be in Kona.
After driving back most people went for a run and it was a very muggy 87F today. Very hot running weather. Some of us hit the gym again after running. I didn’t lift lats or upper back because they were so damn sore from the swim. But that soreness was certainly worth it. It was good to get in an open water race prior to IM. Its been over five months since my last one.
We had two new campers join us tonight for dinner – Paul Anderson from Calgary and Mitch Gold from Twentynine Palms. So we’ll have a good group to swim the course tomorrow morning with paddlers from BikeWorks keeping an eye on us again. Then we’re going right onto the bikes from the pier and doing various length rides, but at race tempo or faster, and most are doing a run off the bike along Ali'i to finish. We’ll use the pool as the change-over point from bike to run because there’s plenty of room. The parking in town is just ridiculous so if you are staying outside of town and drive in to train then I suggest you use the pool as your base. Its about 1km from the pier.
Having slept for long while after the open water race and brunch (free beer included) I didn’t get into town except while running or gymming so not a lot else to report.
Day Six
10.01.04 - Scott Molina
There are quite a few athletes in town now. Lots of various languages being spoken down at the pool. Raynard Tissink from South Africa was in there yesterday and we saw him riding on the Queen K later. Pretty extreme position on the bike similar to Mr. A. He’s got a good tan going and has bleached hair so looks very similar to that bad-ass cyborg on Blade Runner. With these super aero positions I suppose it’s a good thing you don’t have to look up much to see where you’re going on this course.
I put up a 4,200y session for the crew that included quite a bit of quality with more rest and also a good dose of 24 x 25 sprints in there at the end. G-Man put up another 6,600y for the Dolan Lane and it seemed rather long today. I was a bit pooped from my over-zealous effort in the gym last night but still managed to get trough it. Always do. Mr. A got out for a little snack and I thought he had either took off to Denny’s for a grand slam breakfast or bailed all together. He did eventually return and finally got it rolling. Dragged me though a 4:30 400y. He was pretty pooped from his 140-mile ride out towards the volcano and back yesterday followed by a run off the bike. If you’ve been following along with these reports then you can do the math yourself. He normally rides between 22 and 27 hours per week so this week is pretty typical for him.
I tried out one of those Mosconi swim/tri suits in the pool today. Many people wear one of those kinda suits over the top of their bike shorts and aero bike singlet for the swim and just take it off like a wetsuit. This one is all black and it looks like it would be awfully hot out there ion this course. It is fast in the pool though – certainly you can feel it and the times I was hitting confirm that. About 1-2 seconds/100y going by my little test today. Hard as hell to get on and off though. Its designed to be worn for the whole race. If you had to make a pitstop for #2 you’d be in trouble in this suit.
The main course for the day was a ride out the Queen K to the Heli pad and then up to the upper Hwy through the village of Waikaloa. It’s a 12-mile climb with 2800ft of vertical gain but just giving you the numbers doesn’t do the climb justice. The wind was blowing so hard it blew the sunscreen off of my body. It was an evil climb today. It took Bjorn about 51 minutes, Clas 53 and the rest of us struggling to make it at all. It took me 1:03 and I’m climbing OK right now.
Vinu had two flats at once earlier when he hit some lava rocks in the bike path. He wanted to redeem himself for his crummy ride to Hawi the other day so he did the course again today. Luckily we had SAG support from Bike Works again today so he could get going quickly. Bjorn turned left at the top of the climb and went into that hell wind to Waimea and then down, almost to Hawi and then back to town. Another 200km on the bike today. And yes, he’s been running consistently too.
We have two additional campers joining us for he second week tomorrow. Its an easier day of training so I’ll get a chance to get into town a bit and check a few things out. That is if I don’t spend the whole day sleeping.
Day Five
09.30.04 - Scott Molina
KP asked me the other day whether it was the sun, the carrot juice, the self-tanning lotion or the Bourbon that was giving me some significant color. He commented that I was almost looking sorta ”ruddy”.
Tremendous compliment from the big guy. When all you are is "weathered" after 25 years of toil under a hot sun then you need to take it as a compliment.
So there you have a quick brief on what you need to show up in Kona looking tanned and fit. KP assures me that if you go solely with the Bourbon it may take a little longer, but it can be done.
Some other tanning suggestions – use a sunbed at least a couple of times. The damage to your skin is minimal compared to the damage to your ego if you show up here looking pasty and washed out. Sunbeds are more effective if you exfoliate first. Don’t waste your time on those expensive, foofy hydroxi-apple peel weeny acid-lotion/potions either. Just give yourself a good once-over with one of those green plastic pot scrubbers and you’ll be ready. A little tan enhancer might be a good idea too if you’re particularly in need. Then do double sessions on the self-tanning lotion on the days that you don’t use the sunbed and you’re there. Be careful not to use that self-tan just before a long flight though because you’ll reek something awful on the plane.
Today I wrote up a shorter (3600y) swim session for the campers with a longer one to come tomorrow. Then there’s a 1.2 mile open water swim race here on Saturday that most of us are doing and we’re swimming the course again on Sunday so the swim part of the camp is going extremely well. Gordo put up another 6,600y session for the Dolan Lane this morning so I guess (tongue-in-cheek) I should be confident I can make it through the swim now having done 46,000y in the water in the seven days since I arrived on the island.
After breakfast we headed out onto the Queen K for an easy ride of various lengths. My group went out to the Waikaloa Sheraton shopping center and back. Its 25 miles from town. Got a leisurely fill up and then headed back. Muggy 89F according to the weather man today. Moderate tailwind going out, moderate side/headwind on the return – normal winds. Very nice to be in a group on the return or it probably wouldn’t have been an easy ride. I got to sit in most of the way back behind the McDonald twins. Some people didn’t run today after yesterday's big run, but some of us did manage a very good session in the gym. With the presidential debate beginning at 3pm here there was a choice to make! I chose not to watch it. At The Club on Palani Rd. where we’ve been lifting weights they also have a couple of Vasa Swim benches and a three-lane 25y outdoor pool out back. With the treadmills and bikes in there it’s a nice place to get it all done.
Our massage crew has been working diligently on us this camp and I got another rub tonight. I sure need a lot of work. I’m a wreck.
Bjorn headed out for a long ride towards the volcano and back. The guy always rides alone because he’s just too fast for any of us to keep up. He got in seven hours of saddle time today. After his training yesterday that’s what I would call "backing it up" to use one of Cam Brown’s favorite expressions.
Young Kristianna Gough requested I crack open the Mudslide jug tonight after dinner, so I threw some of that in the blender. She’s competing in the 20-24 age group here in Kona. She’s told me her mom is reading these updates soooooo... I guess that’s it. ;-)
Day Four
09.29.04 - Scott Molina
First order of business today was a long run on the course. It was set up so that everyone would run through the Energy Lab and then back to the pier, so the folks looking for a shorter run of around 21km started out on the Queen K just out of town and the folks going longer began further back on Ali'i Drive. I was a roving aid station person along with Wyanne so we got to observe the athletes out there. Gordo was out there running and we both felt it was a very good educational experience.
This race is just survival for 99% of the participants. Even the top women have over an hour to go from the turn around at the Energy lab to the finish, and that’s in the hottest part of the day after 8+ hours of solid toil in the tropical sun. To get through this event and maintain fluid balance takes a level of pacing and patience most people just can’t comprehend. Being out there again today is a reminder that I certainly never appreciated what it was all about the first five times I did the event here. Sometimes I feel rather embarrassed at my lack of appreciation in my initial efforts to understand how difficult it is to get through this event without melting. But when I remind myself of all of the other top athletes who I respect who also had many attempts here before they really put it all together I feel a bit better.
From memory - Mark Allen won here on his 7th attempt, Tim DeBoom on his 8th, Lori on her 9th. There have been exceptions of course – examples of top athletes who came here and nailed it on their first attempt, but my view of those people is they are just that – the exceptions. As far as the age groupers are concerned the qualification procedure to get here has done a world of good in preparing people for the event. Before you had to qualify all you had to do was check the right medical history boxes saying you haven’t had a heart attack, send in your money, and you were in. Wyanne was talking with a local this morning that has been here for 18 years and he was saying how the level of participants has changed dramatically over the years. In my own coaching business many of the requests I get for help are folks who are asking for information about what it takes to get here and have a decent race. Its one of the reasons I take part in the race now – I still learn a lot from every attempt.
It was 86F out there on the road according to the weather report on the radio while I was out giving support. Felt hotter to me just standing there getting scorched.
After the run and breakfast we hit the pool at 1pm. The Dolan Lane did 6,600y including a main set of 60x100 on various send-offs. This was a session Gordo created with input from his buddies at "Team World" in Boulder – Dave Scott’s group. Not the most exciting session according to our Norwegian camper, Ragnar. Over the last four days he’s already swam his biggest yardage in the pool for a week since his last build-up prior to IM New Zealand. And he’s getting quicker every session.
Mr. A skipped the swim session and rode out to Hawi again. He said he didn’t go hard. Around 4:30 ride time for 165km. So 30km run and 165km ride on the Queen K totaling 6:35-ish at a pretty decent tempo for the big guy. Says he’s going long tomorrow.
There were some shorter rides and runs after the swim for others, and generally there was a bit of fatigue in the camp after that run. So no social scene tonight, not even from their fearless leader. We’ve got a moderate day tomorrow except for Bjorn.
So I’m falling behind on my promise to inform and entertain. Hopefully I’ll regain some form in that department soon.
Day Three
09.28.04 - Scott Molina
The G-Man threw a 5,500y IM oriented session at the “Dolan” Lane today, and the others did 4,000y. Mr. A used to be a butterflier in his early years so he left us for dead on the IM stuff. Ragner Alne from Norway also used to be a swimmer kid in his youth so he handled it fine. Having come straight from Norway he’s got a little bit of catching up to do in the tanning department. He’s only had a couple of rides this summer in Norway where he could wear just shorts and a jersey. He’s been finding the pool here a bit warm and threw off his swim cap at about ½ way.
A leisurely trip to Starbucks followed before breakfast. Place was packed. KP (Kevin Purcell) had a Grande Americano with five extra shots. It was soooo funny watching the expression on the face of the little woman behind him in the line when she heard him place that order. I suppose its normal that most people don’t realize that with his caffeine tolerance and his size that pound-for-pound he is getting way less effect from his sextuplet shot than she was getting with her little latte.
After breakfast easy rides and runs filled the late morning and afternoon. Muggy, cloudy day here in Kona today.
We all met for a session in the gym at 3pm at the Club on Palani Rd. No one here is doing a ton of heavy stuff in there, but a nice mixture of various maintenance routines. Seemed like I was the only one doing any specific work for chest. My work in the gym is often influenced by what I’ve learned from Dave Scott over the years. Dave believes its desirable to keep your pecs from having a ”pendulous” quality. Male or female. Gravity will win out eventually of course, but we gotta put up a fight don’t we?
Our fearless editor on Slowtwitch has postulated that for triathletes gym work should occupy a minor priority when looking at the bigger picture of the training year, and that the approach of some one like Sheila Toarmina is probably all we might need. She’s not a person to spend a lot of time in a gym. But then if you spent 20 years doing 15-20 hours per week in the pool and gym in climbing up the ladder to Olympic level you probably don’t need much time in the gym working on your strength, do you? The rest of us will see some good results from a comprehensive strength program. When my back looks like Sheila’s I’ll start to back off a bit.
At dinner we had a bit of a group discussion about the merits of group training vs. solo training. We’ve set up a training camp environment to provide both physical and moral support, but also a sense of pressure to perform, and most of all a feeling of camaraderie. We hope the campers will co-operatively push each other to a higher level of fitness. There are obviously people who feel its best to train alone and they come up with very good results. Peter Reid is such an example. He just finished his solo camp here for the second year in a row. I’ll be riding up to his spot up on the Saddle Rd. up at 5,000 feet on Friday. Talk about your lonely places! Real eye of the tiger stuff. Whenever I think of Reid I think of the Eagles song “Desperado”. Do you know the words to that song? I thought of typing all of the lyrics out here for those of you who don’t know them by heart. Certainly applicable to more than one IM champion, and I’ve known nearly all of them. Perhaps you think you can understand the mindset of an IM winner (talking about the male winners here), but I can assure you there are things they think and feel, and ways they act that are very far from the norm. I’ll give you a few examples of ways they might differ from the average triathlete.
How many of you contract something while waiting at a stop light on a ride because you can and because you don’t want to waste time? Squeeze your glutes? Suck in your gut? Crunch your abs? Probably not.
How about when you’re in line at the grocery store? In a bar? While sitting at your desk at work?
Ever work your brachioradialis in the gym? Know what it is? I can assure you that Dave Scott does and he used to work it a lot, and that he STILL works it.
Do you eat dessert? Thought so.
Read fiction? Thought so.
Did you read the letter from Tyler Hamilton’s wife in VeloNews? That was one of the best pieces I’ve ever seen that describes the life of someone pursuing the top rung of the ladder in an endurance sport like the Tour, or this seemingly Holy Grail over here in Kona on the men’s side. Certainly it’s a very different kinda life. The top women in triathlon (thankfully) are a bit more human and humane.
Sometimes Mr. A (Bjorn) gives me a look that is probably how an alien might look at us - that look of total lack of understanding of why I’m doing a particularly normal thing, which I do a lot of these days. Some things unrelated to improving performance just don’t register on his radar screen as something worth doing or even thinking of doing.
I’ll give you a funny example of how different some of the top athletes are. I don’t think Clas will mind me telling this story. Young Clas (The Baron) was being hosted one evening on his ride across the USA with Gordo. After an enormous dinner, that only a spouse of another IM athlete would dish up, everyone was milling around a bit. The hostess put out a big bowl of fruit salad on the table for dessert. Clas happened to be sitting there and since he normally eats his fruit salads out of bowls that size he assumed it was for him. So he got a spoon and started digging in. Upon returning to the table no one knew quite what to say so they didn’t say anything. Clas just said thank you and didn’t think anything of it. Only five months later when he returned to visit the same household again did he hear the story that the fruit salad was for everyone. His reaction was something like (in Swede-english) “Well, how was I to know that? It was only about five pieces of fruit in there!”
Early night for every one. Long run on the Queen K tomorrow to begin the day.
Day Two
09.27.04 - Scott Molina
Big day today on the Kohala coast for the campers. We hopped in the pool at 7:30am just after the masters session finished. They have a great group here that fills one of the 25-yard pools. They almost always have the bulk-head in the pool here so no long course training, but still a very nice facility. Always sunny and hot. We write up two sessions every day so people can go a bit longer or include other strokes a bit more if they choose. We’ve named the longer of the two sessions the "Dolan" session after one of our heros swimmer Tom Dolan who was the 400IM world record holder before Phelps came along. The guy would have been a great IM triathlete. Good work ethic to say the least. The Dolan lane churned out 6200y including a set of 4x800 descending. I had to give Mr. A a bit of a push since that’s one of my jobs here on the camp. I also have to take food off of his plate now and then to help him lean out a bit over the next couple of weeks. Ever tried ripping a side of beef out of the mouth of a hungry lion? I can tell you this coaching thing can be quite stressful.
After swimming we had breakfast and then headed out to do the entire bike course ride start to finish. Sun was high and it was fairly light winds all day. Tail wind out, headwind home as per normal. Not too bad going up to Hawi. Headwinds about 20mph today for the last six miles. The thing about this bike course though is wind isn’t such a bad thing. It cools you. With no wind or a tailwind the ambient temperature soars and sucks the life out of you pretty quick. Glad we had a support crew out there for drinks today. I had plenty to complain about with the salt gathering in my chamois coming back from Kawaihae. Here’s a shot of one of the more tropical spots on the course coming down from Hawi. Note all the lush foliage ;-)
Young Justin Daerr, from Arizona, and Clas were tearing up the course and the rest of us were just trying to get through it. During the ride I was remembering my first training days on the course in the early 80’s, and it occurred to me that I knew absolutely nothing about hydration or electrolytes back then. No wonder I DNF’d here most of the time. I would have been so dehydrated and sodium depleted from training before the race ever began that I never really stood a chance. Some of the crew have been training in the desert in So. Cal before coming here and it was pretty evident that they were handling the heat very well. So a solid eight hours of work in the hot sun for nearly all of the crew. A good day.
There were some good runs off the bike today. Young Clas is looking pretty damn good. He’s definitely in better shape than when he ran his 2:42 in New Zealand in March.
We didn’t get to the gym tonight (surprise...). We’ll get there tomorrow. After dinner there was barely enough energy to check the mail and reports to folks back home.
It absolutely bucketed down with rain tonight at about 8pm and Ali'i Drive was under water. It was a deluge. I don’t know how the aid station people would cope with a rain like that during the race. It was ankle deep in lots of places. Luckily I was placed in Cassandra’s catching up on work. That’s the Greek place over-looking the pier. Its probably the best place to view the race, but unfortunately you’ll probably have to secure yourself an “All Access Pass” to get in there. It used to be called Kona Amigo’s up until about three years ago. Used to be one of the main spots for a good post-race party. All sorts of nefarious activities goin’ on up there. I once had Greg Lemond buy me a beer up there when I cam back quite under done for the 20th anniversary event. He was about the only guy softer than me in the whole bar. Kindred spirits so to speak. It’s a nice place to have a meal before the race. Last year they were one of the spots that was involved in a very nice promotion by Erdinger Beer who sponsored Lothar Leder. You got a very nice, large Erdinger glass from Germany full of their beer for $5. I bought several. I would have bought more but couldn’t figure out how to get all of the glasses home.
For coffee, of course, there’s Starbucks on the Palani Rd hill right up from the pier, or you can check out Lava Java on Ali'i Drive just past most of the shops. That’s where a lot of the super studs get their fix. Great viewing spot and there’s a beach volleyball court right around the corner.
Day One
09.26.04 - Scott Molina
Dinner last night was a scrumptious barbecue to kick things off. Lots of slightly charred big meat – my kinda meal.
We had the staff from the Bike Works bike shop over as well. They have been very generous in their support of our camp with work on our machines, paddling along on our open water swims and SAG wagon support on rides. Nice luxury to have. I always seem to arrive at events with my bike in tatters as I’m too much of a slack-ass to get it to the shop to get it worked on. In this case I’ve very happy to arrive early as the shops here get a bit over-whelmed race week. Seems the only time I ever clean it is just prior to packing it for the trip back to New Zealand because they won’t allow it in the country with so much grime and bacteria crawling all over it.
At dinner we discussed a few things regarding what we want to achieve with this camp. Every one has a few ideas about specific things they want to devote some real focus to. At this point in time the only things that are a real risk to try are bumping up the volume on the run and in the gym, so we’ll be very cautious there. With cycling and swimming we’ll do a fair amount of volume as the folks here are ready for that and will be monitoring their fatigue level closely. We’ll also be working on our tans quite extensively. More on that later.
We started the day with a 50-minute ocean swim on the course. Some of the faster guys did nearly the whole course. We didn’t have Mr. A along because he was out riding the course (again). Its only a 5-hour ride for him on an average day. He really doesn’t need to swim all that much anyway – he goes sub 50 on about 12km/week pretty comfortably. I had the chance to lead him through a 5km session two days ago before the camp began. I told him he could lead our bike rides together in return.
It was pretty choppy and murky out there today with quite a good swell running. You can see in the photo the waves were crashing over the wall by the pier.
Even though we had two paddlers with us courtesy of Bike Works I had quite a bit of trouble navigating though the swells, current and chop. There is a cylindrical white bouy out there now to mark the turn-around.
There were a surprising number of people out swimming today. Its easy to see there are already a lot of people training here prior to the race.
We had a big breakfast and late some people did easy runs and then we rode just over two hours steady on the Queen K. Cloudy 86F, tailwind out, headwind back like normal for that part of the course. Not bad.
Quite a bit of glass on the hwy out there. A surprising amount. Be ready to get some punctures here. Bjorn has had two in two days. But the shoulder is very wide and as smooth as glass. Super fast road here.
I took some of ”the kids” for a quick trip down to Turtle Beach for a short swim and play-around. Its at about the 5-mile mark on Ali'i Drive. Still not nearly as clear as I’ve seen it there most of the time, but plenty of massive turtles and zillions of tropical fish evident. Lots of surfers out this evening too as the swell was up. This beach was my kid's favorite spot on the trip last year.
Big dinner tonight.
Tomorrow is 4,000+y in the pool, ride the whole course, short run off the bike and a little gym work in the evening. So no post-dinner social scene tonight. Common sense wins the battle on this rare occasion.
Epic Kona Prologue
09.25.04 - Scott Molina
Ain’t this the life.
Here I sit writing and sippin’ on a some top shelf cold refreshment once again contemplating two weeks of utter tri-head bliss.
We’re in Kona already and have just started a two-week training camp to prepare for the Big Show.
Rather than just bore you with only the mundane details once again (but you’ll get those too) of our daily training numbers, I hope to give some useful information about the island, the event and the people that make it all so special here.
 Campers Justin Daerr and Kevin "KP" Purcell contemplate how damn hot it is here at 8am. |
The idea behind this camp is not so much to drill ourselves senseless and see how much training we can tolerate. Its more about preparing for the race and getting in some key sessions that will enable the campers to have their best possible day out there on October 16.
Its been very interesting to read some of the feed-back we’ve received from other Epic Camp journals. Some people think we’re just dumbass knuckleheads and just like torturing ourselves. Of course I don’t see it that way and neither do any of the other campers who are back after attending previous camps. Along for the duration this time we have some young hungry athletes who have been making a name for themselves this year and who I expect to show the fruits of their labors out there in the lava fields. People like Kristianna Gough, Chris McDonald, Bjorn Andersson, Clas Bjorling, Marilyn McDonald. More about them later.
Just some observations and informational things for you to start things off:
- It's fuckin’ hot here. It never ceases to amaze me how hot it is here. If you’re coming here to race then I hope you are acclimatizing with extra clothing in training.
- The public pool here is free! Its an incredibly nice asset for the local folks, and a good place to bring the kid while you swim some laps.
- Costco has everything you need! Between that and Walmart they’ve got it covered. We don’t have that kinda thing in New Zealand. That’s an ”only in America” kinda store.
- The whole island seems to be under construction. Kona is growing like a weed. Expect some traffic here and don’t be in a rush to get anywhere. It just ain’t possible.
- The Kona Brewing Company is still the best place to go for a beer. I’ll be filling you in on other good spots too. The family has stayed home this time so I’ve got a bit more elbow room to explore various places to re-hydrate. Just heading out now to explore. Will report back with Day 1 report and additional tidbits.