Day 2

I was awake at 7am after a solid 10 hour sleep. Just what I needed after a long day yesterday! The plan for today was to drive to Hapuna Beach, which is a 40min drive from town and where the swim/T1 for the race will be. From there we rode up to Hawi, which is approximately 35km away and it was windy… I know Hawaii is known for its wind, but today (and the previous few days) was particularly bad according to Kate, Guy and was backup up by Linsey Corbin… Welcome to Hawaii Andrew. 

The climb itself to Hawi is not that difficult, however the cross winds on the ascent and in particular decent make it very tough. If the conditions are similar on race day it will be difficult to drink and get gels down so I will have to pay very close attention and stay focused on my nutrition plan.

We stopped in at the Mauni Lani resort for some lunch and a quick swim before drive back along the Queen K to town. I went for a quick 30min trundle along the famous Alii Drive in my K-Swiss K-Onas, they felt right at home! Running along Alii Drive was very motivating.

A few beers at the Kona Brewing Company in the evening and my first full day in Kona was almost finished.

My body is feeling good and I have adjusted well to the time zone change. The plan for tomorrow will be an early swim from the pier followed by an easy ride another short run. I will go and explore town tomorrow afternoon!

A long travel day – Hawaii 70.3 Day 1

Aloha from Kona!

Perth is a long way from anything. I arrived in Kona  about 24 hours after leaving home!

I had a great flight from Perth to Sydney on board Virgin Australia and then a long 6 hour stopover in Sydney where I took advantage of the Qantas Club (thanks to a complimentary entry I got my hands on) which was very relaxing! It was then on board with Jetstar for the long flight to Honolulu, before another 3 hour stop over and then my favourite flight, a 40 minute trip to the Big Island. 

The decent into Kona was amazing, it looked like we were landing on another planet. I was in the lava fields, something I have been dreaming about for the last 5 years!

 

Kate Bevilaqua and Guy Crawford picked me up from the airport and took me straight to Lava Java for Lunch. From the airport we travel along the famous ‘Queen K Highway’, past the energy lab, up ‘Mark and Dave Hill’, Palani Road and to the Kona Pier. I have followed the Ironman World Championships religiously over the last few years, watching all the race recaps and training videos, to be here in person and see it all has been an amazing experience (and I have been here only 18 hours!).

We went back to our unit and I setup my bike (all in one piece thanks to my trusty bike box from XU1 Sports) and chilled out for half an hour. I had one mission for the rest of the day - stay awake. We went for a swim from the Pier and included a few 100m efforts in the session. The water here is so clear and there is lots of coral and fish which makes swimming very enjoyable! A quick stop at the famous Bike Works for some CO2 canisters and my first experience at a Walmart store before it was home for dinner and sleep… or so I thought! After dinner Guy and I went down to ‘Magic Sands’ and a swim. I love it here, 6.30 and it’s still light! 

I was pretty exhausted by the end of the day – mission accomplished, I stayed awake!

Mahalo

 

The road from Busselton to Hawaii – the life of an age group athlete...

It was been two weeks since Busso 70.3 and it has been an interesting couple of weeks. Training once again has been on the back burner as a result of an extremely busy work load. Things seem to have finally settled down which is music to me ears! Only 10 days I will on the plane to the Big Island.

I thought I would share what has been going on with me over the past four months. Since arriving home from my holiday in Europe in February, my passion and motivation for triathlon diminished which led to what I have called ‘Triathlon Depression’. I believe this change in my attitude was a result of a number of big changes in my life, the biggest being buying a house and moving out of home. With an ever increasing work load from my day time job (which has in recent times become a day and night time job), house work, house renovations, shopping, bills, a mortgage (yes all the ‘grown up’ things is life) there was not much time left for triathlon.

After Ironman WA in December 2011, I took almost 3 months off training and resumed mid-February. In December I was in the best shape of my life. I had just finished my first Ironman and I was on top of the world. When I started training I had obviously lost a lot of my fitness, gained weight (yes a month is Europe will do that…) and had a lot of other things going on in my life (as detailed above). Mentally, my mind was back in December where I was in the best shape but my body was well and truly in the present, this was hard… 

I made the decision to participate in the Cottesloe Beach Triathlon 6 days after arriving home from Europe. I did this race because I wanted to be a part of the race. I love the sport, I love being involved – I wasn’t expecting to win, I just went out and had fun, which is exactly what I did and my result was very average by my expectations, which was expected. However, I think the bad result stayed in my mind, which didn’t help my journey back to fitness.

I few weeks later I participated in the Darlington Half Ironman. I ran 1.48… 

I was struggling physically, but the biggest problem was the mental side…. I was making my scheduled training sessions and be out there thinking to myself ‘why am I doing this?’ I felt awkward in the pool, I had no power on the bike and I had no endurance on the run. Things were not going my way and I could do nothing about it. I was not enjoying the sport.

I went on a weekend training camp down in Busselton with Team Break Your Limits. I had a solid weekend of training and it was great to train with a different group of athletes for the weekend. Thanks to Tom Kroyer, Steve Gleeson, Andrew Boxsell (aka Bokka), Shao Wu and Aaron Robertson for a great weekend of training. 

Up next was the Karri Valley Triathlon. This is a fantastic race, one of the best on the calendar. I showed up ready to see where I was at after solid training camp two weeks prior. I swam reasonably well, rode with no power and jogged the run… I finished but for the first time I did not enjoy racing. This race reflected how I had been feeling in training over that period and it was not a happy experience which left a lot a unanswered questions in my mind.

In April a few of us made the trip to Kalgoorlie to do the Goldfields Classic. I had such an awesome time at the race due to the atmosphere of the club event. This event was a major turning point for me. It reminded me why I love this sport; mentally things were slowly starting to come back!

Race week came and Lisa and I did our final interval run along Shelley Foreshore. A short set with 4x1km efforts, I finished the set and I knew I was mentally back (both mentally and physically). My attitude noticeably changed (just ask Lisa), just in time.

So here we are, two weeks after Busso. I had a solid race, finished 2^nd and qualified for the Ironman 70.3 World Championships is Las Vegas. It has been a long few months and I have struggled through. I can assure you that I am motivated with a fresh outlook on my training and ready to chase my dreams. These few months will go in the memory bank and will help me become a better athlete.

Thanks to everyone who stuck by me over this period.

See you on the Big Island for the Hawaii 70.3 in a few days!

Andy

Busso 70.3 - brides maid again...

On Saturday I finished my 5^th Half Ironman at Busselton. Race day coincided with my birthday this year and I must say it was a fun way to spend the day, doing exactly what I love!

I slept well the night before the race…. I mean really well…. Apparently there was a storm… I only found with out when Lisa and Mark were talking about it in the morning. My first thought was ‘I hope Di2 is water proof!

The Western Australian waters are now classed as the deadliest… thanks to our pointy friends in the ocean. With increased shark sightings/attacks in recent months, the event organisers opted to change the swim course to keep competitors closer to the shore.

Conditions in the water were choppy… which generally suits me; however this swim was another story! The conditions made it almost impossible to slight the buoys and I went WAY off course (like most people). I was really disappointed with myself during the swim and was quite negative (not what you want at the start of the race). I exited the water and had a look at the clock, showing just over 31min (it was a slow day)… When I got to my bike most bikes where still around and Mark and Luke were right there too! My attitude immediately changed –game on!

I am very confident on the Busselton bike course, my legs know what to do and they came out  to play. I rode the first few kms with Mark and Luke and at the turn onto Layman Road I noticed Brad Wauer just up the road. I signalled to Mark that we need to bridge the gap and I went and never looked back. I rode up to Brad who then matched my pace. I rode hard for the first lap and went through the first hour in a 41km/average. Out on the second lap I continued to push the pace and opened up a gap to everyone behind me. At the 60km mark I lost my gel flask and made the decision to leave it. I still had enough  on board so kept on pedalling. The last 20km were tough as the wind picked up. I managed to catch the leader of our age group just before transition.

My legs felt heavy getting off the bike which was not a great sign. I made a quick transition into my running shoes and started the half marathon. I struggled through the first 6km while my legs started to feel the rhythm.  Brad passed my just before the end of the first lap and I made an effort to go with him, but could not match his pace. I kept turning my legs over to get to the finish line! Not a pretty run and I walked most of the aid stations.

I crossed the line in 4.26.44 enough for 2^nd in the 18-24 age group – a great result and a BIG confidence booster leading into Hawaii 70.3 in a few weeks.

Congratulations to Brad Wauer for great win and to Luke Burton for rounding off the podium. 

A special mention to Lisa who managed to get to the finish line in a PB time! We both accepted spots to the Ironman 70.3 World Champs in Las Vegas in September!

Well done to everyone who toughed out a tough day!

A big thankyou to Total Triathlon, LMW Hegney, Team K-Swiss/Break Your Limits,  XU1 Sports and my Coach Stu (Eclipse Fitness) for you continued support in helping me chase my dreams. My preparation for this race was not ideal but to come out with this result gives me a lot of confidence.

Next stop, Hawaii 70.3

Cheers,

Andy