ROAD TO KONA

Okay, okay....so it’s not me. But I can ride a bike.

It’s been a long time since my last post. Before I recount the highs and lows of the Ironman World Championship at Kona, I thought it might be a good idea to give a brief synopsis of the training year leading up to the big day. Skip this if you are the type that likes to turn to the last page of a novel. It will still be here after I post the story of Hawaii.

I previously described my first race of the year at Oceanside. I beat my previous time, but only came in 7th. Following that race, I went down to Portsmouth, Ohio in late May to do my 4th Triple T. That’s the 4 triathlons in one weekend that together total a full ironman distance. I did well, but not exceptionally so. The weather was cooler than usual, and I managed to hold my dufus moves down to a single boneheaded instance. I forgot to pack socks for the afternoon olympic distance race and ran without them., I managed to produce abrasions on both feet within the first mile of the run. Massive foot binding with gauze at the first aid station allowed me to walk and jog it in with Tom Geldermann who caught me as I was finishing the application of my vaseline poultice.

With the end of the school year, training picked up significantly, and it went well. My confidence grew with better and better running workouts. My next race was the Kansas 70.3. It was a great experience. I stayed with Ben Schloegel, an amazing athlete who lives in KC. We had great barbecue and a lot of fun. I came in second in my age group behind Steve Smith, probably the best American in the 60-64 age group. It wasn’t a close second, but it was a new 70.3 record for me at 5:24. I also got a hug from Chrissie Wellington as I crossed the line. So did everyone else that crossed the line after her. If you don’t know who Chrissie is, that’s her next to me. If you’re interested in why she’s amazing, email me, and I’d be happy to tell you and point you to websites that might be helpful in informing you about this amazing woman who happens to be the best triathlete on the planet.

Training continued going well. In late June, I competed at the Bigfoot olympic distance triathlon held at the Lake Geneva end of Geneva Lake. (Don’t ask about this inversion.) I won my age group, although my run was disappointing. Two races, Kansas and Bigfoot, and no major blunders. Training was going well, and I could feel my fitness and confidence rising.

In late July, I was back at the starting line of the Spirit of Racine. The trademark vigilant World Triathlon Corporation will not allow any event to use the term Ironman. So these half and full ironman distance races that are not part of WTC or pay WTC for the privilege have the odd sounding “full distance” or “half distance” descriptor after their names. Incidentally, the Spirit of Racine is rumored to be entering the fold, and will be a Ironman 70.3 next year, (70.3 being the total swim, bike and run miles of a half ironman). Anyway, this was a good race for me, everything, or almost everything went according to plan. I was under 5 hours for the first time in a half ironman. Unfortunately, the swim was a bit short. The one thing that did not go according to plan was the swim preparation. As I was talking to Bill and Jenny Schmitt, I tried to pull my wetsuit on my jamming my leg through the arm hole. I shredded the wetsuit, and had to swim with a gaping hole under my arm. It’s always something.

My final race of the year was a local sprint. I won both my age group and the one below me even though I had a usual dufus blunder. This time, I forgot to pack my running shoes, and had to do the 5k in my sandels. At least I didn’t get any blisters.

I was feeling great, and continued to train hard for the next 6 weeks leading up to the world championship.

In a couple of days, I’ll post the description of Kona.