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Waking to a beautiful aloha morning in Honolulu and swimming 2.4 miles is the best thing.

The Waikiki Rough Water Swim was the original swim after which the swim leg of the first Ironman was modelled after. It makes this swim extra special to do.

This year, they let us out, after heavy winds prevented a race start last year. The water was very calm at the start and getting through the rollers was a breeze. It's always fun swimming through the breakers and the challenge of not getting wiped out as you're making your way through the waves is very cool.

The swim is one of the best marked I've seen. The buoys are easy to spot, with a tall flag rising above the waves into the sky. They are also spaced very close so that as soon as you reach one, you can pretty much see the next one. And by the way, you're not sighting into the sun on this race at all...Very nice!

Clouds obscured the sun for most of my swim which was great to not have the sun beaming into my eyes upon taking a breath. Also, burning my race numbers into my skin would have been embarassing as well!

It's about 14 buoys to the turn and I make it to the beach feeling very strong the whole way. I hit the beach at around 1:20 or so and my arms feel very tired. It was a good swim and I am glad to have shown improvement all this year in my strength and form.

Can't wait to do it again next year! Maybe next year I'll do the Dick Evans road race the day before.which is a 112mile bike race around the island. Also of Ironman fame, is the Honolulu Marathon which one of these days I'll have to run...

Some more thoughts:

Logistics are always a problem at races. This one was no exception. Getting there in the morning was not well thought out. The start was about 6 miles away, on rolling hills, from the hotel. Not good. No way I was going to ride there in the morning. Parking was limited there, so you needed to get there early in the morning or else no parking spot for you! And then, after the race, how does one get back there to get the car? T2 was back at the hotel, but remember your car is still sitting back at the beach where we started. Not even a shuttle set up - you'd have to beg a ride, ride your bike, or get a taxi to travel back there to get your car. Or come with many friends and figure out logistics.

Drafting was key on the swim. I just kept finding peoples' feet to follow, and the crystal clear waters made it easy to see the bubbles of other swimmers. One downside; as I mentioned in my previous post, we all were swinging wide of the buoys which added to our time, and the sun made it hard to see you were on track. I remember passing one buoy on the right finally, and realizing I was at least 30m away from it! This contributed to my additional swim time....

Honu went well except for overheating on the run.

Had my best half IM swim here, hitting the mat at 40:12. I thought the swim was setup poorly. The sun had risen right on the line of buoys and we were sighting into the sun as we tried to find the buoys. A lot of us ended up swinging wide unfortunately as an offshore wind was pushing us seaward, and poor sighting made it hard to know how close the buoys were.

Bike started off well. The temp was fairly moderate although a bit muggy and warm. Definitely not October Kona weather! Took a good 15-20 min to settle down on the bike and get my HR steady. Windy conditions made some stretches tough and I don't think i'll be bringing my front ZIPP wheel again! Some gusts made steering difficult and pretty hairy as I lost control of my front wheel while on aerobars.

I tried to keep even power and didn't overdo it in an attempt to NOT cramp towards the end of the bike like on my last 3 half IMs! Bike ended up being about 3:10 which I felt good about given hills and wind.

Got into T2 and popped out onto the run with fast pace so my brick tolerance is very good now.

BUT...towards mile 5 I started feeling not too good. I started overheating and feeling the heat/humidity. At every aid station I would guzzle some gatorade or cola but it just kept gurgling in my stomach. It seemed like I stopped sweating and it was tough to drive my body to do more. I went to the bathroom once and saw that my urine was yellow, despite all the stuff I was drinking so I slowed down and walked and jogged until mile 10. At mile 10, the clouds rolled in and a nice cool breeze started blowing. I felt much better and then I started running and ran to the finish line at a good clip.

Definitely was not acclimatized and it's something I really need to watch out for in the next hot weather race. At least I did not cramp on the run so at least I solved that. I also grabbed some cool sponges and held them in my hands. That felt pretty good as well and I heard last year somebody threw ice into some light gloves to keep cool. Looks like it works.

Biking still needs work. At least pacing is good, but I need to continue getting stronger. Same for the run, and need more strength for hills. The run course was through their golf course and had these steep choppy hills throughout.

Nutrition:

Bike:
2 Large Water Bottles each w/ 1.5 scoops Accelerade and one scoop Carbo-Pro, 3 small scoops of Endurolyte powder.
2 bites Balance Bar
1 GU every 45 minutes
1 Saltstick electrolyte capsule every 30 minutes

Run:
2 Large Fuel Belt bottles of Cola
1 GU every 45 minutes
1 Saltstick electrolyte capsule every 30 minutes

Onwards to IM Austria training.

It's 430am and I get up to prepare for the race. The night before I lay out just about everything I need so that I won't forget anything. But of course, I already find out that I don't have any electrolyte tablets in my apartment, a fact that will prove critical in the race later.

But I fill up my race bottles with flat Coca-Cola, put GU gel in my fuel belt, get my race number belt ready with the race number and attach my timing chip to my running shoe. I double check that and then I throw everything into my bag and off I go.

I arrive at the NYC Public Library and it's still pitch dark. The stars are shining in the sky so I know it's going to be a warm day, as it has been the last few days.

I sit on the bus next to a guy from Oregon. He says he's trying to get to 50 marathons, one for each state. More power to him. I am not sure my bod could take so many marathons in so short a time, or else I'm gonna die before I hit 50 states worth of marathons.

The sun finally starts coming up as we get over to the starting line in Staten Island. Different starting area this year. I don't see the usual half-a-huge-PVC pipe pee-ing station. And it's organized more by color too - I am in the Blue section, so they have their own food and UPS trucks to take our stuff to the finish line.

I chat with this woman from Iowa who is running her first marathon in NYC. Hope she finishes OK.

So my pacing really sucks, and this year I decide to follow some of the pace leaders. For kicks, I decide to follow the 3:40 group since I am thinking I will finish in 3:45; but who knows, maybe I'll have a great day and finish in 3:40!

In the start of these races, my mind is usually filled with so many emotions and thoughts. I think about my goals in this race and wonder if I will do OK or crater somewhere in the middle. I think about my whole life surrounding racing and what it means to me.

I think about support, of which I don't have any live support this year, but yet so many others have friends and family to cheer people on. But I've told people not to come; NYC Marathon is not an easy one to watch for your friends. You need to plan very well. And the last two years I've been totally off my time estimates and I am sure supporting spectators would have been wondering if they missed me or not. But somehow, it is nice to have support if it's there.

I think about my daughter and how much she means to me, and missing her very much. I also think about my new life in this startup and wonder where that will go.

My brain is a jumble, but it all returns to race focus as soon as the cannon goes off.

The crowd surges forward. I am ahead of the 3:40 group for a while, but not for long. With so many people, it's impossible to keep pace. I blow right through and around people trying to get back on track, and I see the 3:40 pace leader doing the same.

The Verrazano Bridge serves to be a heavy duty warm up - it is an annoying long hill, and we are glad to see the other side where we increase our pace to make up lost time.

The next 12 miles are a blur. I manage to pull ahead of the 3:40 pace leader and the group and keep that lead until a mile or two after mile 13.1. I hit that at 1:51, a bit slow for 3:40, but in range for a 3:45 finish.

Then I reach the 59th Street Bridge and my ass is kicked. It is fairly steep and it drains me going up and over. The 3:40 pace leader has joined up with his buddy who is also leading another 3:40 group. They blow by me and I lose them.

But I never get my pace back. The climb wipes me and I don't get a chance to recover. The following miles are a series of gradual, grinding uphills where I don't get the chance to recover and rest.

At mile 20, my right quad starts twitching like it's gonna cramp. This is where those electrolyte tablets would have made a HUGE difference.

I don't get my groove back until about mile 24 when all of a sudden I find some more energy, and I get my pace back up to about 9:00-ish per mile. And miraculously, the cramping subsides as well. I manage to finish following the 3:50 pace leader and my time is 3:51, which I am very happy for. It is a new PR for me and a substantial improvement from my last year's time of 4:24.

But man, I hurt all over. For some reason, this year's race was more taxing on my bod than last year. I move through the finish line with everyone else and my legs feel very abused. I make it to where I pick up our race stuff and I change out of my sweaty, smelly race clothes, and into some clean clothes.

As I move (verrrrryyyy slowly) out of the meeting area, I reflect on the fact that I can't move very fast at all. My legs and feet hurt a lot, and I say to myself that I can't do this race again next year. I need a break!

All the while, I am wishing that some strong, muscular guy would come over and carry me home.

Don't you ever wish that this would happen to you?...No?...Never?

Hmmm...well I was just kidding then...really...