Ok, I'm back home from a great race-cation! Finally have computer access and now must remember all the things I'd thought to write about over the course of the week. We'll focus this post on pre-race fun...
I arrived in Kona on Tuesday night and was picked up by my very kind condo-mate Robert, who drove me the 30 miles north to our condo in the Fairmont Orchid complex where grilled fish was waiting for dinner. We'd rented a place at the Fairways, which is just inside the security checkpoint on race weekend. If you do this race, I highly recommend staying at one of the several condo complexes on the Fairmont grounds. It made life so much easier.
I woke up to a blue and windless sky... perfect swim weather. I met my friend Kristen for a swim at 7 am at Hapuna Beach and the water was perfect. Maybe 80 degrees, totally calm and crystal clear. Visibility here is 200 feet, and it's fantastic to swim over coral reefs and watch the fish.
Then made the drive back down to Kona to pick up my rental bike (Cervelo P1). I'd forgotten to bring my saddle down with me, so we didn't do a fitting... so I ended up jacking with my bike fit most of the afternoon until I took it back the next morning to get it dialed in. In the end I liked renting a bike -- it saved a lot of hassle and was less expensive than airplane or TriBike Transport fees. If you go this route, just reserve early to get a good bike and components, and be sure to take measurements in all the right places!
After picking up my bike, I headed back to the airport to pick up my coach Michelle! It was so great to meet in person after 5 months of email and phone calls. We both remarked, "you look just like your pictures!" and were on our way back up to the condo. It's great how you can tell so much about someone from the way they write their blog... Michelle's just as cool as she comes across on her blog, and it was great fun to get to know her outside of the coach/athlete box. She stayed in our condo Wed night as Scott and Moana weren't coming in until the next day, so we had a lazy afternoon -- ran some errands, jacked with bike fit -- then fixed grilled chicken & papaya salad for dinner and hit the sack.
Woke up to the sound of high wind whipping through the trees... ahhh, hello wind. I was hoping to avoid meeting you this week! Michelle and I headed to Hapuna Beach at 7 am, where I got some great swim coaching and some much-needed practice with swimming in heavy chop. The water was relatively calm close to the beach, but of course Michelle said, "no, we're headed out farther to hit some rougher water." Of course. This was a confidence-building swim... definitely the most chop I've done, and really had my fingers crossed that it would be calmer on race morning!
So I thought I was in decent shape until I saw this pic of me standing next to Miss Fitness herself :-) Give me a few more years at this...
In the afternoon I took my newly fitted bike out for a spin. Into the wind. I was going downhill at 10 MPH... grrr! But check out the desolate beauty of the Queen K highway... totally cool to ride the Kona course:
The afternoon brought leftover chicken/papaya/kale salad (delish!) I ate so much healthier in Hawaii... the heat made me crave fruits and veggies, while the cold of SF always makes me want heavy carbs.
...followed by race registration and an hour or so at the Fairmont pool, where I worked on getting my pasty-white San Francisco skin ready for the bake-fest on race day.
After getting cleaned up, it was back to the Fairmont patio for a pasta dinner with my friend Kristen and her mom. Her mom's a total rock star... a runner who did Escape from Alcatraz last year with Kristen! Now if I could just get my mom to stop freaking out that I'm doing triathlon :-) (she's getting better...)
Friday: pre-race day brought calm weather and a 20-minute run (where my toe cramped up again), bike/helmet check-in at T1 at Hapuna Beach, organizing my transition bags, dropping off bike/run transition bag at the Fairmont, and buying a technical race tee after hearing that the finisher's tee was cotton. Then the athlete pre-race meeting, where 1500 athletes gathered to hear the race announcer talk about how brutal the course would be. (Gulp.) The last event of the evening was an early, overpriced buffet dinner at the Fairmont where I ate too much, as I always do at buffets, and an early bedtime.
A few pre-race flutters were calmed by reading a few old blog posts to remind myself of why I was doing this -- I'm redefining 40 and redefining myself! How cool is this?... I never in a million years imagined I'd be doing anything like this. Reminding myself of the "why" -- and of the fact that I had a ton of business travel and other responsibilities that impacted my training -- got me into a good headspace to just go out tomorrow, enjoy the day and experience my first 70.3 without the pressure to hit certain time goals.
Right as I dozed off I heard the wind picking back up, rustling the palm leaves...
So awesome meeting you and hanging out this weekend, Jennifer!! So glad you had a good experience at this race. It has been reconfirmed as one of my favorites, even if that run course was designed by Satan. ;)
Posted by: Michelle Simmons | 06/06/2011 at 04:22 PM