Kona 2025 - part I
All the roads lead here. A path I started following a little over 6 years ago. A massive circle has closed; even if it was never consciously the intention or the goal to ‘close' anything, for some reason it just feels this way. I decided this warranted its own post so I separated it from the ‘road to’.
Let’s take things from where we left them:
Taper and travel
Taper was different this time as the travel timing and extent was different. It was forcing the rest towards the end of the first of the two weeks leading into the race. So a bit more training than normal but with all the pressure lifted and an immense relief to have made it through in one piece. At the same time, the usual noise in the mind with doubts about the training, the travel choices, everything leading into the race. It was not loud though and I managed to keep it in check.
I took my bike for the service of its life resulting in a couple of last-minute part replacements which is always stressful but soon enough it was time to pack it all up.
I started shifting my bedtime and meals earlier by an hour a day on the Tuesday, quite a fun and effective process I actually enjoyed - the last few years I’ve moved away from waking up too early in an effort to maximise sleep time and had somehow forgotten how nice early mornings are. It all starts from the bedtime though and that takes discipline I don’t really know I can find for no particular reason.
We flew out to San Francisco on Friday morning and arrived in the afternoon after 11 hours of flying. Getting the bike on that flight was critical for the onwards journey as we opted to break it up with overnight stay in San Francisco so the flights were not connected so if it went missing, it could be quite hard to get all the way to Hawaii. It all went well and I’m forever thankful for air tags that allow you to see the item on the plane before you take off, thus removing all the stress and catastrophising while waiting at luggage reclaim.
After a big, fat, American meal it was bedtime again for an early morning taxi to the airport and our flight to Kona! Another 5,5hrs only tell you how far this place is. We arrived at a rainy Kona at 9:30am. We now had a week to the race.
I had a little shake-out run on Ali’i Drive only to find that my lower back was not happy at all - I rationalised this as only natural after so much time spent in planes, finished the run which was otherwise delightful and got onto some stretching and mobility.
The strategy of breaking the trip meant we were not broken on arrival and the effects of jet lag were minimal so it worked really well. It was also quite cheaper this way - I plan to share the full cost of this trip on a separate post as many are curious as I was, before deciding to take my slot.
Race week in Kona
We settled in our condo, built the bike and stocked up the fridge for the days ahead. One thing I’ll say is how disappointing the grocery shopping was; the lack of variety, the pricing, the quality of the products. anywhere I’ve raced around the world this is one thing I really enjoy - exploring the local supermarket and trying new things, but not here. We really struggled. Even the pasta was different, from the same Italian brands we know, just different. Not to mention the bread being so, so sweet, it made no sense at all.
It pretty much rained every day for a brief while and there always seemed to be a massive cloud covering the volcano overlooking the town.
Sunday morning I met with a couple of friends to go for a swim on the course. It was delightful - despite the swell which grew pretty rough at the far end, it still felt so much easier than the conditions I faced in Greece so this gave me a lot of confidence. To have shared that experience with two Kona veterans was amazing, I felt really looked after on something I was quite nervous about. So that was out of the way and I was buzzing already!
Next up on he same day was a two hour bike ride in the heat of the day to kick off the adaptation. I covered the first part of the course in Kuakini initially and, eventually the infamous Queen K. I loved it. I felt it was much more beautiful than what I’d seen on tv; the colours and the landscape, as rough as it is. I liked the rolling hills and there was something about riding on a straight line (with incredible views due to the ‘rolls’) that I felt really prepared for. We had spent so much time climbing in TT position and it felt like this would be the theme here,as the incline was not too steep and the wind relentless. I got another boost from this ride and started to really look forward to the race.
We also met up with Jenny, her husband, her coach and his girlfriend who was also racing. That was the three of us ‘Kàla’ girls, the two only Greeks and a German. We made a for a great little group and I was so appreciative to have such great company to share concerns, the nerves, advice (this was Jenny’s fourth time in Kona after all!) and companionship. Ale also appreciated spectator advice and company by her group.
The next two days was time to put in some heat training before resting up for the big day.
On Monday I had a run session of about an hour with tempo intervals. We decided to simulate the race as much as possible and headed to the famous Energy Lab in the middle of the afternoon, around the same time we expected to be running there on race day. We packed some ice to practice filling up the ice bandana I had recently bought as it was really the last chance to test it. Nothing new on race day right? I was very pleased with it as well as how my cap kept the ice. It was a hard but great session and with Ale being around to support and film, it’s one of the best memories I have on the island. Plenty of photos too, in my beautiful race suit from Kàla - I took as many pictures as I could as unfortunately I had already decided I wouldn’t wear it on race day - it had a type of chamois that didn’t work for me in my bike practice sessions. As much as I wanted to ignore the problem and just wear it, it was becoming increasingly evident that I couldn’t take any comfort risks on this race…
Come Tuesday, the last ‘real’ bike session was in the plan, in full heat. The plan was to drive up to Waikaloa and ride all the way to Hawi to familiarise myself with the toughest part of the course and the main climb. Oh boy was it tough. I only rode 90' minutes to Hawi with a long easy warm up and a couple of reps at race pace. I met Ale for a snack at Hawi. ‘Broken’ was the only word that came to mind. It wasn’t even a super windy day. It’s hard to put into words what makes this bit so hard. First, it feel like you’re in a desert in Africa, not a tropical island in the middle of the pacific. I think I counted two trees on the way there, otherwise you’re fully exposed in the sun. After the last section of the Queen K, the shoulder pretty much disappears, or is very narrow, let alone its state in terms of debris and all sorts of crap, pardon me. The ‘climb’ is barely noticeable which I think makes it harder. It just gets in your legs…
After downing an icy acai smoothy with all my might, I sheepishly started the decent and ditched the last rep of the session as it felt a bit much for my current state so close to the race. The decent was fast but not any more comfortable with the tarmac being broken everywhere which left me banging on my bars. Disheartening to say the least but at least I now knew what to expect. This was humbling and instilled probably the right level of respect (and fear) for the course. All of a sudden all that I had heard about this course was starting to make sense…
This definitely levelled up with my excitement from the previous days but a little wobble is to be expected on a taper. It was also hard to judge the legs with the heat adaptation only having kicked in. I tried to stay positive - I rarely have ‘bad days’ like this so maybe it was out of the way now? Anyway there was nothing I could do - apart from taking a full rest day the next day, it felt like tiredness was now catching up with me so I ditched the planned run and headed for a little swim instead. The joys of race week!
In the meantime the hype was in full swing on the island. I’m 50-50 about this, I like the rituals of registration, silly photos around the Ironman Village, looking out for pros here and there, shopping all the Ironman goodies (went a bit OTT this time, but it was premeditated and I really liked the graphics of this race). I know some poeple (and many of my friends were asking about) the pre-race hype and all. It’s not my thing so much when I’m focused on an upcoming race although I have come to enjoy it more and more. One thing I was really excited about was the ProTri News live podcast. There was no way I was missing that! I was on the waiting list as I had missed out on the first roll out but luckily they changed the venue and added tickets so we got right on it Even Ale by that point had got on board with the pro race hype and to my surprise actually fancied coming to the show. It was absolutely great, pre-show (off-record) and main show (on-record), so nice to be a part of it after listening to it for a long time now.
Other than that, carb-loading was in full swing which meant casual French toast and waffles at Lava Java, yum!
I almost forgot to mention the parade of the athletes on Tuesday evening! We proudly carried the Greek flag with our little group, quit an honour and an experience!
But there was one last little wobble around the corner waiting to offer a last bout of stress… spoiler alert - could I ever get away without a mechanical pre-race?
After the last ride the plan was to change my chain to my race one which I had waxed and carried separately. That was done without problems. At the same time I had the divine proactiveness to check my tyres for any penetrations waiting to give a puncture. And behold… as I was running my finger over my front tyre there it was - a huge bulge poking out the side with the tyre webbing all exposed and ready to implode. A 3cm tear on my fresh, new tyre! Deep dreaths - it was still Wednesday. but just the thought this could have been race morning… oooft!
Many will say, it’s just a tyre, why panic. First of all, I have the joy of riding an XS bike which came with smaller-than-normal sized wheels (650B as opposed the universal 700 which every other size bike has). Getting hold of 650B tyres can be hard for tubeless for some reason; they don’t even make them 28mm anymore, only 30mm. Knowing this, I thankfully always carry spares. Having made the decision to change to new tyres at the last service, I had already spent a lot and had decided against buying yet another new one (they are not exactly cheap). I had never had a puncture on my TT bike. What were the chances it would happen now? So I decided to carry my used ones I took off at the service as spares as they were half-way in their life span so not too bad as contingencies. You have to draw the line with spending somewhere!
Another reason why I don’t like changing tyres right before the race (you could argue that’s the safest) is because of tubeless. A much as I love it, it does sometimes come with hick-ups and surprises of finding the tyre completely deflated the next morning and having lost the seat or the valve not working properly. I don’t want that in race morning. So I try to give the tubeless a bit of time to ‘set’' before the race.
Anyhow, long story short, off to the bike shop we went, they had one last new 30mm tyre at my size, we used that, added a little tune-in as my gears were playing up - problems solved and bike was ready at a $190 bill. Oh well, let that be it for panic moments now! We’re ready to race!
I only had a final run on Thursday - I basically merged the one I missed the day before with my Friday shake-out into one last little session around Kona town. I tried to soak it all in, take photos and do some key sections of the course like the climb up Palani and down Hualalai road while visualising the big day. Basically I couldn’t wait for the run!
Friday I had a little swim, racked the bike and that was the day done. All of a sudden the race was upon us. All eyes on the forecast and it didn’t look too bad, although this was little meaning on the island. Numbers are just numbers, the actual experience is a whole other thing, as I was about to discover!
Part II is on the way :)