Done it twice. No issues. I'm from Texas so the heat was like home, and the buzz of the race kept me up to adjust to the time.

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Badig| Strava

heat, nerves, time lag, jet legs,

YOU ARE SO SCREWED !!

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RayGovett
Hughson CA
Be Prepared-- Strike Swiftly -- Who Dares Wins- Without warning-"it will be hard. I can do it"

people have different experiences but if you can, start going to bed earlier and waking up earlier. A week out to adjust your sleep schedule. Gradually adjust to get as close to the 6 hour difference as you can & take one melatonin 30 minutes before your goal bed time. It's easier to go to bed earlier if you start with forcing yourself to wake up earlier first. can adjust 3 hours of jet lag pretty easily for the race.

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Basically jet lag can be "managed" but is highly individual. I would be more concerned about heat adaptation coming from a colder climate. Lots of threads on how to start that earlier at home before you leave.

Look for Dev to comment, re jet lag.

Maurice

Hate to be that guy pointing out the obvious since I have travelled a fair bit, but why on earth would you recommend someone to go to bed early and wake up early? Its 6 hours earlier. If anything just sleep in a bit....

I would suggest not doing it if you can. I have a lot of heat experience and I have to say it is incredibly difficult. The race is on Saturday remember. Wed will be a wash by the time you get there. Then you will be so busy Thursday and Friday. Tough to acclimate to heat regardless in that period of time. Would really recommend no later than Monday.

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Stay up as late as possible Weds, and then when you think you need to crash stay up even later. Treat this night like a key training session. Must. Stay. Awake.

Sleep until Noon on Thurs, then deal with check-in, etc...

Enjoy Friday, you'll be straight!

Rock it on Saturday.

Congrats on your KQ!

You might not be at your best, but you will be OK. Jet lag doesn't really effect people going west and it never bothered me going either way until I got over 55. Take a nap on your flight out if you can, then when you get there go to bed at your normal time and stay in bed until morning. Same thing thursday and friday nights; stay in bed until morning. Prepare for the heat as well as you can at home and you will be OK. Assuming that you will fly home on sunday or monday, you might be a wreck for a few days when you get home.

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''Sweeney - you can both crush your AG *and* cruise in dead last!! 😂 '' Murphy's Law

Jet Lag isn't a big problem. Coming from East Coast time means you'll wake up early on race day. Look at it this way, with the time zone change you can sleep in on race day, how great is that?
The problems are heat acclimation and you'll be busy and stressed before the race. But guess what, even if you get there two weeks before the race its still going to be really hot, and no first timers are relaxed and confident at Kona.
Hopefully it will be a learning experience for your next time.

First off don't worry about your race. Plan to pace it as if you were doing a long training day, and if around mile 16 you are just fresh as a daisy, begin to race it. Otherwise just cruise to the finish and enjoy the day. Even people that get there a month or two ahead of time usually do not meet their expectations, and go home disappointed in their times. It is not a course to do a fast time, and virtually no one finishes feeling good.

So just lower your bar for the actual race and have fun in the few days you do have on the island. Stay up late, go out to dinner and have a beer or two, do the coffee swim, and just take in all the energy everyone is giving away in the last days before the race. Low expectations = great race day!!!

In general most studies I have seen over the years tend to say your body adjusts/recovers 1hr each day, so for a 6hr time difference it would take roughly 6 days to be back up to full potential. Therefore, you may theoretically be 3hrs out still on race day, however the excitement and nerves of being at Kona would pretty much negate this I recon.

Just go have fun and don't worry about it!!

HTFU (half kidding)


With regards to the heat, you will have all summer long to train, correct? If you're on the East Coast anywhere near Maryland, it is usually still pretty warm throughout September. Why would you not be acclimated to the heat? I bet temps are similar to what you will experience in Hawaii (in fact, just looked it up - Baltimore avg Sept high is 78, Hawaii is 84, and it's hotter in August)

I think you'll be fine with jet lag unless you are not a good sleeper. I did Austria last summer (+6 hrs) and arrived 3 days before the race and had no jet lag issue. Unless you knowingly have trouble with adjusting I would concentrate on prepping for the race and not let this worry you. A rule of thumb (may or may not be true) is that you adjust 1 hour per day for jet lag, completely. If you go to bed earlier 3 days prior your body should be almost completely acclimated.

Congrats on the KQ and of course the wedding - I am getting married this summer as well, presents a challenge with the race calendar :)

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Strava

Sleep in as much as you can every morning except race morning. It works. Better than waking up early Thursday and Friday to "get used to it". Unless you know it won't work for you? We are all different.

Heat and humidity will kick your ass. No way to tell it any other way. It is best to have some riding and running time over there to get acclimated. But not sure at that point if it would be better to just rest 3 days or go and train a little Thursday or Friday.

First ride there was tough. Second was much better. By third I was used to the heat. It is hard to explain.

It's not optimal, but to get to truly optimal for time adjustment, heat acclimatization, and other factors you would need to be there for 7 - 10 days or more prior to the race. Few can actually do that, yourself included, so it is one of those it-is-what-it-is things.

The time difference jet-lag should not be that big an issue coming from the east cost of NA. I have done this many times. In fact, your normal wake-up time will be just about perfect for Race Morning. Now depending on connections it's a bit of a brute of a day to get to Hawaii from where you are - a really long day. That can take a lot out of you.

One thing I would be cautious of is really tight connections along the way. Either you, your bike(if traveling with your bike) or both may not make it for an onward flight. Depending on where you are in your travels, this may mean a 12 - 24 hour delay for you or your bike! Now you are into a Thursday arrival in Kona . . . or later. I add the last bit there as during race week, almost every flight from the main-land to Hawaii/Kona is maxed out and over-booked, as are all inter-island flights, from Honolulu to Kona!!

The heat acclimatization will definitely not be there, so as others have said, best to dial things back mentally and physically, and just see how it goes early on, and take it from there!

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Steve Fleck @stevefleck | Blog

6 hours is a a fair bit of time. Adjusting to 3 is great; I just straight can't sleep by the time it gets dark. Only reason I recommended going to bed earlier

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Hawaii isn't a great place to race, it is great place for vacation and a very popular Honeymoon venue. Combine the two: IM Kona, then a week of Honeymoon. I've had good races at Kona but the best part is hanging out after the race eating and drinking too much. Go to Maui or Kauai for a few days.

You can always try adjusting your time zone slowly a few weeks before Kona if you're so inclined. But coming in from the east coast at IMWC time might give you a sleep advantage. In bed earlier and race isn't until roughly 1 pm EDT. It might be almost like sleeping in on race day.

Come to town, go for a swim, go for a little run along alii drive. Drive the bike course if you haven't seen it before and have fun. Stay awhile afterwards and enjoy the lack of crowds, ;)

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The difference between stupidity and genius is that genius has its limits. -- A fake Albert Einstein "quote"

FWIW my Kona PR (9:53) was set when I arrived on Wed. banged out the race and went home on Monday. You will be fine, and maybe even better off since you won't get sucked in to all the pre race hype and obsessing. Also, unless you have the ability to truly adapt, say 3 weeks on the Island, you might actually be better off.