Ahhhhh.....Kona!

I got back from my well earned vacation on thursday night. 13 days of kickin' it with some swimming, running, hiking, diving and bodysurfing all thrown in for good measure. The one thing I was missing was my bike. Now this is the dilemma. I promised to bring the bike next time, the only question is which one. There are a few good bike shops in Kailua and after asking around there is some awesome mountain biking upcountry. After that I began to notice a lot more muddy bikes atop cars coming down the hill. hmmm. There is also some decent road biking, the obvious route out the Queen K highway. This is the WC bike course but is like riding on the freeway with lots of distracted tourists and not so (bike/triathlete) friendly locals. Pretty dangerous if you ask me. Still there are lots of country roads if you go to Waimea and lots and lots of climbing as the whole island is several big mountains. I have some time to decide.

Running

I showed up on the island pretty deconditioned. My first run was a 50 minute easy on the flat.
I'm glad I brought the HR monitor because I had to dial it way way back on this and all the runs, to stay in my training zones. The only flat running is more or less at sea level and down there it is HOT!, even at 8am. I started on this particular run planning 8.5-9 min/mi pace. My HR soared to just below LT in no time. I slowed to an embarassingly slow pace and just tried to keep it under zone 3, and took off the running top just to try to get some evaporative cooling. During that time in the lava field I realized how difficult it must be to try to race in these conditions. I'm thinking IMWC running the marathon in no wind, almost raining, 85 degrees at four in the afternoon. Fricking sick. If I ever have the opportunity to race XterraWC in Maui I'm sure its the same story. Call me Frosty the Snowman and I don't even live where its cold. By the time I left I did notice about a 10 bpm drop in HR for the same effort, some of it acclimation some fitness gains I suppose. I did also struggle a little with some tightness in the Piriformis/IT band got to look into this. In summary I pushed the HR zones a little too much and included too many hilly sections into the runs even though I took em really slow, I just made sure to pay real close attention to recovery.

Swimming.
Kealekekua Bay


You name it Kona's got it. Open water, free lap swim at the muni pool and tons of water time just diving, bodysurfing and floating. Not to mention the ocean water is 84 degrees.

For my first swim workout I headed to the Kona Aquatics Complex and ran into Karlyn Pipes-Neilsen, master swimmer extroardinaire, world record holder and a great coach. I took a clinic from her last year and introduced myself again. Man she's a talker but I got her to start talking about my stroke and got some good feedback....for free while she was just finishing her workout. She also started talking about these fins. There ultra light, flexible and float like a cork. I guess they're made of the same rubber as Crocs. I ended up getting a pair. At first I thought they were great but put a weird arch in my lower back as they float the feet, not the hips. This was especially noticeable in the pool and less in open water. The jury's still out.

I got in a couple of good swims at the pool but the big deal is the ocean swimming. Kealekekua Bay is a mile down the hill from where we were staying and is absolutely the best swimming I've done. Dead flat crystal clear and a mix of sandy and coral bottom, all visible from 40-50 feet. Which is nice if your worried about the man in the striped suit. Another good session was at Ho'okena Beach Park. Its more of a cove but same clear warm water. That was made even better by being greeted by a pod of about 10 dolfins and one calf. All time experience.

I also started doing something new for me which is including some 2-3 hour hikes into the training plan. The theory is getting some vertical under my feet while keeping the HR out of zones 4-5 and reducing impact on the legs. These are fun, scenic and am definitely feeling some strength gains. It's amazing how the heart rate can climb when you start taxing the legs even at walking pace. I also did some hiking repeats on my cycling days. These were on about 20% grade and were done on long driveways servicing the coffee plantation below our house. Alternating facing the hill and backwards hiking and some lunges/squats at the top was an awesome strength workout.

It's good to be home though with familiar training grounds, a refreshed spirit, and a familiar feeling of fitness brewing.

One final thought.

There is a strange feeling hanging around Kona town when you realize what went down there just weeks ago(and every October). I guess its like going to a ball park or stadium when its empty. You can't help but imagine and feel the pain, the drama and the history that is a part of that small island town. The benign road down to the Energy Lab with its seemingly gentle slope, is nothing more than a flash of curiosity through the rental car window of more than 99% of the visitors there. It's a stark contrast to the reality on race day when emotional battles on tortured souls are won and lost. On one day, I got back in my car after a bodysurf at Magic Sands around two in the afternoon. Magic Sands is about halfway to the run turnaround on Alii Drive. It was fickin' hot, still, and when the sun broke through the clouds it felt like somebody opened the oven door. I couldn't imagine feeling those conditions on mile 4 of the marathon seven hours into the race. It's an unbeleivable venue for what must be, arguably, the most difficult race in the world.