Aloha!
Neither Jon nor I have been to Kona, so we didn't know what to expect. We landed a day before the race, with a heat wave of over 90 degrees welcoming us, we rushed to the shop to get our bikes set up, barely made it to the expo to collect our registration packet and attend the race meeting. We had planned to go to the race site to check out the transition and swim area, but it was dark outside by the time the meeting ended. We figured we'll get there early the next day to sort it all out.
Jon had been very nervous all week leading up to the race, as this would be his first open water swim - ever. He had been practicing in the pool by himself, from learning how to put his head in the water to religiously swimming 1500 yards 4x/week for the last 3 months. This would be a key milestone for him.
Race Day
Started pretty uneventful - we ate, rode our bikes to the transition area, set up our areas, bodymarked and saw the beach where the open water start was going to be.
Swim
The water temperature was in the high 70s, very comfortable, so wetsuits were not allowed. Jon wore his and was told he would not be eligible for any awards. The swim course was kinda funky - 2 out and backs loops. The wave starts were as follows: Pros/Relays, Men, Women - 5 min apart. At 7am, the water was calm. However, it was a different story after the swim had started. Because of the funky loops, I had a couple times knocked my head/got punched by swimmers coming from the other direction. Other than that, the ocean was beautiful. I saw coral, fish and even a giant turtle from under me. Beats swimming in the pool anytime.
** See the swimmer with the "216" pinned on her back? That's me. And Jon was next to me with the wetsuit.
Bike
Getting out of the swim, I saw Jon in transition. YAY, he finished! He finished the mile swim in 40 min and myself in approx 35-38 min (the race folks lost my chip so I don't have an official time). Hopping on my bike and out to the Queen K highway, I was excited to be ridding on the famous Ironman course. By then, the wind had already kicked up, facing constant headwinds made riding all the more challenging. Throughout the course there was heat, lava rocks and more heat. Jon and I finished the 25 mile bike 3 min apart - he in 1:17hr and I 1:20hr.
Run
Now comes the hard part - the heat got up to over 90s and it was unbearable. There were hardly any shade and the sun mercilessly beats down on us. Yeah, it was that bad. Part of the course past through the Hilton resort so we ran by tourists on their beach chairs sipping Mai Tais. It was brutal. We also had to run on lava rocks and lime rocks. Very interesting. The finish, in all Hawaii style, was on the beach. Jon finished the run in a blazing 46 min and myself in 60 min.
Total Time: Jon - 3:06hr, Star - 3:10hr.
All in all, we had a awesome time! The people, the volunteers put on an excellent and well organized event. What more can we ask for?
For more information, go to: http://www.lavamantriathlon.com/
Neither Jon nor I have been to Kona, so we didn't know what to expect. We landed a day before the race, with a heat wave of over 90 degrees welcoming us, we rushed to the shop to get our bikes set up, barely made it to the expo to collect our registration packet and attend the race meeting. We had planned to go to the race site to check out the transition and swim area, but it was dark outside by the time the meeting ended. We figured we'll get there early the next day to sort it all out.
Jon had been very nervous all week leading up to the race, as this would be his first open water swim - ever. He had been practicing in the pool by himself, from learning how to put his head in the water to religiously swimming 1500 yards 4x/week for the last 3 months. This would be a key milestone for him.
Race Day
Started pretty uneventful - we ate, rode our bikes to the transition area, set up our areas, bodymarked and saw the beach where the open water start was going to be.
Swim
The water temperature was in the high 70s, very comfortable, so wetsuits were not allowed. Jon wore his and was told he would not be eligible for any awards. The swim course was kinda funky - 2 out and backs loops. The wave starts were as follows: Pros/Relays, Men, Women - 5 min apart. At 7am, the water was calm. However, it was a different story after the swim had started. Because of the funky loops, I had a couple times knocked my head/got punched by swimmers coming from the other direction. Other than that, the ocean was beautiful. I saw coral, fish and even a giant turtle from under me. Beats swimming in the pool anytime.
** See the swimmer with the "216" pinned on her back? That's me. And Jon was next to me with the wetsuit.
Bike
Getting out of the swim, I saw Jon in transition. YAY, he finished! He finished the mile swim in 40 min and myself in approx 35-38 min (the race folks lost my chip so I don't have an official time). Hopping on my bike and out to the Queen K highway, I was excited to be ridding on the famous Ironman course. By then, the wind had already kicked up, facing constant headwinds made riding all the more challenging. Throughout the course there was heat, lava rocks and more heat. Jon and I finished the 25 mile bike 3 min apart - he in 1:17hr and I 1:20hr.
Run
Now comes the hard part - the heat got up to over 90s and it was unbearable. There were hardly any shade and the sun mercilessly beats down on us. Yeah, it was that bad. Part of the course past through the Hilton resort so we ran by tourists on their beach chairs sipping Mai Tais. It was brutal. We also had to run on lava rocks and lime rocks. Very interesting. The finish, in all Hawaii style, was on the beach. Jon finished the run in a blazing 46 min and myself in 60 min.
Total Time: Jon - 3:06hr, Star - 3:10hr.
All in all, we had a awesome time! The people, the volunteers put on an excellent and well organized event. What more can we ask for?
For more information, go to: http://www.lavamantriathlon.com/
3 comments:
Congratulations, Star and Jon! What a place to start open water swimming. Hope you two got some downtime after the race to play tourists with mai tai too!
Nice going john and star. What a great accomplishment!! For john with the open water and for star for such an excellent finishing time!! and as for those maitai's with tourists wrapped around them...perhaps you should have liberated one! btw 90's with that humidity would have been a killer for me. Even when I was running I doubt that I would have fared very well on that challenging course. Way to go guys!! Outstanding. What is next?? (: flipper
Hi Tiny Seal,
It's been long since I got any of your news. How are you? let me know your email id.
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