Ironman Kona Race report- Coach Jen Vogel

Right now I am feeling the 4 hours of sleep and the 3 Mai Tais much more then the Ironman but it was all worth it to hang out at Huggos with some great friends and then cheer on the midnight finishers.

Great cover band at Huggo's on the Beach

I have not gotten a chance to talk with many of the Jacksonville crew about their races but I am sure race reports will be rolling in soon. To the best of my knowledge we all finished upright in what was the nastiest bike ride I have ever done, racing or otherwise.



Before I get into a way to short blog post (Snorkeling at Capt Cooks is calling!) I need to extend a big MAHALO to Coach Shawn Burke. We got to race the first race of my season together and my last and countless hours of training in between. Part coach/training partner/adviser/ skinny Buddha, I'm a better, more confident athlete for the work he's put in for the past 2 years.... and I can now make U-turns on the bike and do water hand offs... 

Gulf Coast/ Kona Ironman

In full disclosure, I did not want to be here in Hawaii racing Kona. I took the spot in Florida with out really thinking what the year would look like for me. After racing a lot in the early part of the year and winning over all amateur at Challenge Atlantic City (and getting my Pro card) I was burnt out. I was really ready to call it a year at that point, work on my swimming and bike handling, but I went through the motions of training. Burn out happens and I am looking forward to a LONG off season and some different sports to try.

My Race in a nut shell:


Swim:
I have been working on my lat strength since June to prepare for the rough open water conditions that Hawaii can have.  This year the women started 10 minutes behind the men so our wave was about 700 instead of 2000. Also being able to see in the water here made for an overall calmer experience for me. For the first time ever I "found feet" and just stayed on them. I did not sight very much, instead just hoping my little pack knew where they were going. I was sure I had swam a 1:10 but I found out it was a 1:16:xx. I was a little bummed about that but apparently the water was a little rougher then last year.

Bike:
Holy Crap! It goes without saying this was the hardest bike ride I have ever done in my life. For about 100 miles we had only head winds or cross winds. Since I do 90% of my riding on a computrainer, I can grind out watts but I do not have a skill set for handling 20 mph cross winds. Last year we had mild conditions on the bike.  The "being blown into Lava fields" started very early this year. Instead of on the decent from Havi, it started at the Maha Lani hotel and never let up. Several women and a few men were blown off their bikes this year and every person you passed covered in road rash was a reminder of what could happen. I road 90% on the hoods and prayed to every Deity I had ever heard of. I biked a ....wait for it....... 6:xx:xx. Yep. A 6 HOUR Ironman bike. That hurts the pride a little right there. I still stand behind the computrainer as being the single best thing for riding in Florida but I also stand behind Florida is an AWFUL place to be a competitive triathlete.

Run:
Coming in from the bike, I was worried about how the run would go and mentally prepared myself for walking the marathon since the bike ride took a lot out of me. Luckily Madame Pele must have felt slightly remorseful for being such a b**** with the bike that she granted us cloud cover for the run. Hawaii is hot regardless but without the blazing sun, it is MUCH more manageable.  Here is the coolest thing about my 6 hour bike split. It put me right at the exact time and place to see Sebastian Kienle make a right on Ali'i Dr and run through the crowds to claim the win. I stopped and watched until he disappeared into the screaming crowd. As I made the left, I could here Mike Riely announce him the winner. It was really amazing and a reminder why it is so cool to share the same course, same conditions and same day with pro athletes. Very few other sports let you do that.

The run was boring as usual.  Other then the energy bumps from seeing people I knew at the out and back and Lane, Scott, Rick , Andi and Coen cheering away, I was pretty lonely. I even tried to strike up conversations with people to make the time go by at least a little faster but it seemed like nobody wanted anything to do with me.

PLEASE talk to me!

At the turn around in the Energy Lab, I saw Shawn was about a mile away from me. I ran as hard as I could muster for the next 3 miles to see if I could catch him and hang out the rest of the way. Luckily for me, he had a "pit stop" and at mile 22 I was able to catch up. We took the next 4 miles in easy, chatting about  the bike course, friends that gave up their spots , all that kind of stuff. It made the last 4 miles some of the most enjoyable of any race I have done. Like having a pacer in a ultra marathon. Again,  I got lucky because the plan was for him, Lindon and Kerry to run together but (and Shawn will never admit this, I only know because the guy came up to us after the finish) he STOPPED on the bike to help a fellow athlete with a mechanical. How many people will stop in the middle of a world championship to help a fellow athlete even after they had to stop to change their own flat 2x?????? Not many because the guy said Shawn was the ONLY one to offer any sort of help and if not for him he would probably not have finished.

Which lead to... DRUM ROLL PLEASE..... I CHICKED SHAWN BURKE IN THE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP

A W is a W