2012 Honu Race Report ~ Tri Cook

You know the worst part about taking a week off from work? Coming back to work with a ton of things to do. Little late but here's my race report. Oh yeah, congratulations to the Tri-N-Hawaiian for winning the time prediction contest. I'll hit you up later on how I can give you your winnings.

Race Day
Woke up around 3:45, had my usual everyday breakfast of 1cp of oatmeal with about 1tbs of brown sugar. Washed it down with some Gu brew. Did some light foam rolling, filled water bottles, taped up VMOs and headed out the door to the start. Race marking was inside the building and out the back rather than outside and around. This seemed to back up a bit but it was pretty smooth. Had a cute volunteer girl marking me up, I think she asked me something and being a bit dazed by her cuteness, mumbled something, she replied in Korean...I was like "huh?" Guess she asked what I was so I said "Japanese" then she said something in "Japanese". Being the worse Japanese person ever, I had no idea what she said again..anyways, saved myself and had a good short conversation with her. Thanked her for volunteering and I was on my way.

Unlike other triathletes (noticed a lot just standing around), I need to get a good warm up before the swim. Found out that it takes me about 5-10 min to be "race ready". According to an article by "Mark Montgomery" on Slowtwitch

"I’ve noticed an example of good behavior that is usual in the pro ranks and rare in the age-group ranks. Most AGers don’t go into the water before the race. I know that it is cold, and who wants to stand around shivering before the race? But here is what happens when you don’t get cold before the race. You run to the water, with your legs telling your body that they need the blood flow. Then you hit the cold water, and now your skin needs the blood for warming. Your arms and lungs fight for whatever blood is left. You basically start to go into shock. Your breathing gets quick and labored, your arms start to burn. A mini panic will ensue and you will have to slow down to recover.

Your body’s survival mode will shunt the blood to the vital organs and skin under these circumstances. If you get in and warm up prior to the race, then the body has time to adapt and the blood is already where it needs to be. "

Swim
After warming up for a bit, decided to head to the starting line. Just when I was getting there, the pro's went off (don't remember them doing that last year). So since I was a little late, getting a water start wasn't much of an option (already crowded) I decided to do a walk in start. Saw a friend and joked around with him, said "gee is there some kind of race today?". Guns go off and the fun begins! So as I'm walking to get in, I notice that for some reason everyone is walking in, turning left and going though the yellow start buoys which are right by shore. Seeing this, I run right by the yellow buoy and get right in. Awesome. No congestion. About 500m into the swim I see another athlete resting with a lifeguard on a stand up board. Wow, hard times. Took the first two buoys wide and avoided all the congestion. Pace was good, having positive thoughts, feeling awesome. So kept swimming, sighting the buoys and having a great time until I noticed a boat by the buoy I was sighting off of. Thinking "WTF" is going on, I stopped and noticed that I was way off course. Looking back a whole bunch of people where following it to. Aww shit my swim time will suck because of this. I'm guessing the buoy got loose due to the wind, and all the lifeguards were busy helping people no one was around to tell us were going off course. Got back on course and finished the swim.Was hoping for low 30's but my little sightseeing tour cost me a few minutes. Still beat last years time by a min.

Rocking the SLS3 fobic speedsuit.

Time - 37:37
Pace - 1:56/100m
Div rank - 38
Overall rank - 509
Gender rank - 362

Bike
For the bike I knew it would be a challenge due the strong winds and new bike. However, I never doubted myself that I wouldn't be able to finish it. Apparently the exit area changed from last year and they had us go up some slippery bumpy carpet instead of right up to the road and up the hill. Since I did it last year, I knew getting out was a bitch due to the steep exit, prior to the race, I set the chains to make exiting easier. Not sure what was going on this year but it seemed like a big mess. I got on easy and got going and got a push from a volunteer for some reason. Feel bad for the ones that had to push heavier guys (I'm only 120lbs). Since I was using 58mm wheels, it was a little hairy riding on the aerobars. Felt bad for whoever was using anything larger than 60mm. As expected, I got passed on all the hills and I passed a lot on the hills. Gravity is a bitch. Heading out to Hawi, I saw the grey blur otherwise known as Lance.. It was like "Oh dang, LA...There goes LA". Talk about moving.

Almost into Kawaihae I came upon Doug of Dirtbag Fitness , joked around and asked him if he'd like to go for a short jog after the ride. It's always nice to saw a few words other than "On your left" while riding. Heading into T2, slipped off the shoes so running would be much easier. Last year they had volunteers catching your bikes so all you had to do was jump off and get your gear bag. This year, we had to rack our own bikes. Oh well. Overall ride was pretty fun despite the windy conditions, really missed my old bike but the replacement was just as good. Little bummed out that I was 5 min slower than last years bike time.

Time - 3:09:39
Pace - 17.72mi/h
Div rank - 48
Overall rank -659
Gender rank - 515

Run
The run. Last year after mile 3, my IT bands were so sore, I walked the last 10miles. It was a really long day. This year, I managed to run/walk the majority of the course despite the top of my calves being super tight and sore. Guess that's what happens when you never run past 9.5 miles in training. This year it was pretty tough, the with the strong wind it felt like I was running into a wall. Learning from last year, I wore a hat again, brought a long a Ziploc and slapped on some sunscreen. Why I chose to wear a hat? Well, first off, I don't want to get sunburn on my scalp, secondly, a wet sponge can be placed under the cap, and smashed down occasionally to allow water to seep out. So why the Ziploc bag? I used to to store ice from the aid stations and place it in my tops back pocket. Bag got refilled at every aid station on the course. Nothing like having a cool source on the back and a source to soak the sponge that's under my hat. Overall the run was alright, it's my weakest of the three and not my favorite thing to do. However, I was really glad that I was able to run/walk instead of walk the whole course.

Time - 2:51:10
Pace - 13:03/mi
Div rank - 57
Overall rank -981
Gender rank - 717

Overall, I am happy with my results, beat last years time by over 30min. Guess running this time around makes a huge difference. Nutrition wise, things went well, pretty much spot on. Will I do this race next year? Definitely. In my personal opinion, I really do enjoy doing 1/2IMs over sprints/oly distance races. Not to mention, 1/2IM are a better bang for the buck than sprints/oly races.