What a way to start the season!! Lavaman Triathlon :)
The race is growing fast with 650 competitors last year to 800 this year. Chris McCormack, previous IM Championship winner in attendance as will as last years winner James Cotter.
Last years female winner Bree Wee http://breeweehawaii.blogspot.com/2009/03/macca-only-beat-me-by-16-minutes.html, Olympian Lisa Mensink, IM winner Heather Golnick, many time top 5 IM finisher Katya Meyers and many more I am sure I did not mention. Karlyn Pipes Neilsen on a relay team who is a multi world record holder.
The transition area in the morning was a buzz of activity with people getting race gear layed out. I had saw that C. Sean Cuningham who had helped out with our tri club was going to be at the race and would you believe he was 2 bikes over in the transition!!! I met some other people from the Island and Bert from Comox. What a great place to come and meet your neighbours!!
Down to the beach and see the nice ocean water was not swells like the previous evening. I thought they may have to turn the race into a duathlon, but the morning water was awesome. Kona tradition maybe??? the race started by blowing a big ocean shell. The pros and relay swimmers are off, and I have 6 minutes left. Of course that is enough time for one more potty break. I would feel guilty otherwise ;)
Ok, time for my age group start, bonk, swim, bonk, how do I get away from this guy?? 30 seconds later one of my goggles was off, so at least after it is back on, the fellow beside me is no longer hitting me!! That was worse than IM Canada, but I calmed down and enjoyed the view and had a swim I will remember for a long time. It is so pretty, it is almost not like a race,,, to me. Maybe I should have tried harder to make it more like a race??
Trying to work on my transitions is easier here as it is nice and warm, so no need to towel off and dress for rain, sleet or snow. One K later it is onto the Queen K Highway heading south towards Kona. I start to pass some of the gals in the pink swim caps that started the swim way behind me but swam by. I am not fast on the bike, but it felt like I was gaining ground. Soon I see Macca go by the other way so the pros are coming, a few more go by and I spot Bree Wee and cheer, I cheer for lots of people but do not recognize them all. There is a steady stream of bikes and we look like a train on the side of the highway. After the turnaround it is sort of downhill back, but those of us that are slower get to face the wind that has picked up. It is nasty and blowing from front and side.
Off the bike and into the run. Lava field right away, interesting, and hard to navigate. Onto some pavement for the nest 3 miles. Into the Hilton Resort area and paths. This resort has a train or boat take you to your building, but we were not allowed to use it in the race ;(
There is some running through trails on lava and beach and I am sure it is beautiful if you have time to look. You can see the finish line ahead which is a nice thing, hoping it is not around the next beach.
Not far from the finish line is massage and Kona Brewery, Lavaman Beer, both are very good!!
For those of you that know Sean he had a great race, 29/800 overall and 3rd in our age group!! Way to go. check this out or more on Sean http://simonwhitfield.blogspot.com/2009/03/guest-race-report-derek-hopkins.html
If I was about 30 minutes faster I would have been close to Sean, but at 2:43:16 I was still happy with 157/800 and 16/47 in our age group. Being the 31st swimmer I have plenty of room to improve, but managed 18th on the bike and 10th on the run. The one I am most happy with is T2 as I was 7th, and normally I am more like 17th!!!!
Today I had a nice swim at the Pier and easy ride to limber up for Lavacamp tomorrow where we ride from Waikoloa to Hawi and back. Sometimes life is too good to be true!!!!!
The race is growing fast with 650 competitors last year to 800 this year. Chris McCormack, previous IM Championship winner in attendance as will as last years winner James Cotter.
Last years female winner Bree Wee http://breeweehawaii.blogspot.com/2009/03/macca-only-beat-me-by-16-minutes.html, Olympian Lisa Mensink, IM winner Heather Golnick, many time top 5 IM finisher Katya Meyers and many more I am sure I did not mention. Karlyn Pipes Neilsen on a relay team who is a multi world record holder.
The transition area in the morning was a buzz of activity with people getting race gear layed out. I had saw that C. Sean Cuningham who had helped out with our tri club was going to be at the race and would you believe he was 2 bikes over in the transition!!! I met some other people from the Island and Bert from Comox. What a great place to come and meet your neighbours!!
Down to the beach and see the nice ocean water was not swells like the previous evening. I thought they may have to turn the race into a duathlon, but the morning water was awesome. Kona tradition maybe??? the race started by blowing a big ocean shell. The pros and relay swimmers are off, and I have 6 minutes left. Of course that is enough time for one more potty break. I would feel guilty otherwise ;)
Ok, time for my age group start, bonk, swim, bonk, how do I get away from this guy?? 30 seconds later one of my goggles was off, so at least after it is back on, the fellow beside me is no longer hitting me!! That was worse than IM Canada, but I calmed down and enjoyed the view and had a swim I will remember for a long time. It is so pretty, it is almost not like a race,,, to me. Maybe I should have tried harder to make it more like a race??
Trying to work on my transitions is easier here as it is nice and warm, so no need to towel off and dress for rain, sleet or snow. One K later it is onto the Queen K Highway heading south towards Kona. I start to pass some of the gals in the pink swim caps that started the swim way behind me but swam by. I am not fast on the bike, but it felt like I was gaining ground. Soon I see Macca go by the other way so the pros are coming, a few more go by and I spot Bree Wee and cheer, I cheer for lots of people but do not recognize them all. There is a steady stream of bikes and we look like a train on the side of the highway. After the turnaround it is sort of downhill back, but those of us that are slower get to face the wind that has picked up. It is nasty and blowing from front and side.
Off the bike and into the run. Lava field right away, interesting, and hard to navigate. Onto some pavement for the nest 3 miles. Into the Hilton Resort area and paths. This resort has a train or boat take you to your building, but we were not allowed to use it in the race ;(
There is some running through trails on lava and beach and I am sure it is beautiful if you have time to look. You can see the finish line ahead which is a nice thing, hoping it is not around the next beach.
Not far from the finish line is massage and Kona Brewery, Lavaman Beer, both are very good!!
For those of you that know Sean he had a great race, 29/800 overall and 3rd in our age group!! Way to go. check this out or more on Sean http://simonwhitfield.blogspot.com/2009/03/guest-race-report-derek-hopkins.html
If I was about 30 minutes faster I would have been close to Sean, but at 2:43:16 I was still happy with 157/800 and 16/47 in our age group. Being the 31st swimmer I have plenty of room to improve, but managed 18th on the bike and 10th on the run. The one I am most happy with is T2 as I was 7th, and normally I am more like 17th!!!!
Today I had a nice swim at the Pier and easy ride to limber up for Lavacamp tomorrow where we ride from Waikoloa to Hawi and back. Sometimes life is too good to be true!!!!!
Rick it was so fun to train with you today! NICE job, your season is off to a GREAT start!! AND super race at Lavaman! Incredible!
ReplyDeleteSee ya tomorrow!