yep just saw that!

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2017 Cervelo P2
2017 Cervelo S2
itraininla.com
#itraininla

plugged the new bike course into RideWithGPS: https://ridewithgps.com/routes/35849330

Cant wait!

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website/blog | Instagram

Awesome change!! Definitely will make permitting easier bypassing the State park at Hapuna, dealing with the school bus "shuttles", etc...

Better hope there's no freak West swell in mid-summer tho!! That little bay for the in/out can have significant water moving around, and two very shallow surf spots on either side of that bay. Will be better underwater viewing than Hapuna tho!!

New run course too. Now 3 laps. It does cut out one of my least favorite golf course segments, but 3 laps...

Three loop run, almost entirely on cart paths.

Ugh.

Cart paths are easy. It's all the spongy fairway running with steam rising up from the ground that gets me :)

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Ed O'Malley
www.VeloVetta.com
Founder of VeloVetta Cycling Shoes
Instagram • Facebook

They both suck. The unnecessary ups and downs of the cart paths going under footbridges mess with your rhythm, and the spongy steamy fairways are brutal.

Have fun!

Plus now we get the Hell's Kitchen road three times. But I'll take that over the grass!

Ian

The 2021 Honu Athlete's Guide is posted - get ready to race!

Do we know that means all permits have been acquired?

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Ed O'Malley
www.VeloVetta.com
Founder of VeloVetta Cycling Shoes
Instagram • Facebook

Nope, and even if there is a tentative agreement, remember that some races (Lubbock(?)) were forced to cancel only a few days before the start when conditions went downhill.
But to me, it means that the IM team is moving forward, and I'd like to think that the course changes were done to make it all work.
But I'm an optimist, and I want to race!

I hope you guys get to race. Now that you have your 70.3 World's slot wrapped up, you can focus on a Kona Q. Chances should be better as very few people from around the world will be able to head over.

Yeah - I suppose I'll have to finish at least second or first I'm my AG to grab the kq without relying on getting lucky with a roll-down. I did a little snooping on the athlete list and there are 4 or 5 speedy guys at least. One is a former pro who's in France so he may not want to deal with the hassle of coming over but who knows. The others are all in the US. It'll be tough to grab the slot.

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Ed O'Malley
www.VeloVetta.com
Founder of VeloVetta Cycling Shoes
Instagram • Facebook

It is always tough to grab a spot, but the first filter to grabbing a spot is showing up at the start line, second filter is finish, third filter is how well you pushed yourself, and the final one is who else did 1 through 3 better than you.

This could swing both ways. You could get an ultra deep field all pent up, with extra time to train, ripped and ready to produce a lifetime best....you can also get very talented fast people waffling on motivation and finally stepping up in hope of getting in shape fast enough....and you can get those who are in the same boat as me who would love to go, but quarantines don't allow practical participation (I can't go to Hawaii and then spend days in a govt run hotel for quarantine and then be in a quarantine for the rest of time and try to practically run my company). I would say that by and large, your chances are improved over a normal year for a KQ.

I've learned something about the Honu in normal times and that is there is always huge gaps from the front end to the MOP, more so than any other race I've done. Part if is likely that if you don't come prepared, even if you are a top end athlete, the blow-out is epic and you finish close to 5 hours or above. But there always around 2-3 guys who come ready to win and perform to win and they do 4:30 or under. I definitely talk more about the M30-45 groups that I keep an eye on and am part of or will be but the gaps generally apply to most AGs.

Of course this year is quite unknown but the question I have is how did the times at St. George compare to prior years? Not talking about straight up speed times but more so how were the gaps between 1st and 5th, 1st and 10th etc to get an idea of if it was more competitive than prior years. That would provide some insight as to what one could expect racing this.

I am not going this year, regardless of whether they hold it since I have been unable to swim outside of sparse summer open water swims.

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808 > NYC > PDX > YVR
2024 Races: Taupo

The top 5% in the M35-39 age group at St. George this year seems to be right in between the previous 2 years it ran. And I think there is an argument to be made that the bike course was a little slower this year with the new segment that went north of I15 up through that neighborhood with a pretty good climb in there.

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Ed O'Malley
www.VeloVetta.com
Founder of VeloVetta Cycling Shoes
Instagram • Facebook

The "spread" you spoke of is exactly how St. Croix used to shake out. With the heat/wind and hills if you were on you were on, and if you blew, it could be 30-45 min of extra walking. My one time I got a KQ in St. Croix was on a dramatic day when I did my personal WORST...but I kept jogging and it turns out with a massive torrential thunder storm right before race start, the entire island was a sauna coupled with being a mud strewn cyclocross event. If you just played it conservative on the bike and took no risks through stones and gravel and avoided flatting and did not crash and end up with road rash and broken body parts you were already well on your way to a KQ. On the run almost no one had zero walking. The humidity was like 2x the worst day you could get between Tokyo+Taipei+Houston in July. I just kept jogging, never went fast, never walked. If I recall correctly I ran 1:48 (at the time 48 years old) but most were in the 2 hrs+ range. I basically was one of a few left standing who did not walk, and that resulted in a KQ. It comes back to "You have to start the race, finish the race a as fast as you can, and the rest is about how the others execute or screw up". I THINK I had the most experience in humidity racing and I am built for that (at the time 138lbs at 5'6" so don't produce a lot of heat in the first place....conversely a rain race in 6C in Canada and my game is over).

From an email I just got from the Fairmont Orchid:

This event has been approved by the County and State of Hawaii and our health and safety protocols will be strictly enforced. Public spectators will not be allowed to attend this event--however, as our guest, we would like to invite you to join us in celebrating the athletes and their impressive achievements the morning of the race with complimentary mimosas, malasadas (donuts) and bloody mary cocktails (please see below for more information) at our dedicated guest hospitality area.

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Ed O'Malley
www.VeloVetta.com
Founder of VeloVetta Cycling Shoes
Instagram • Facebook

I swam much of the new swim course today at ~ 8 AM. Here's my report:
It's a beautiful white sand beach with crystal clear water, healthy coral, fish, turtles, and tiny bikinis everywhere.
The wind was the key today and likely will be on race day too.
At the beginning of the swim, the wind was from the west (from the ocean to the beach) at ~ 10-12 mph.
The water starts out clear and shallow and there was a noticeable current coming in thru the little pinch point (swimming with very little forward motion!)
As we swam 300-400 yards out to the deeper ocean, the wave action became more significant.
Max swells / waves today were 1-2' high.
Expect rough water for the entire leg out to the left and back (unless we get lucky).

By the time we left the Fairmont, at ~ 10AM, the winds were howling from the north (from Hawi) at 20 mph or more, and the white caps were everywhere on the swim course.
Expect HOT AND WINDY. Should be a great day!

And we wonder why triathlon participation by women remains low. Thanks for the unnecessary toxic masculinity

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808 > NYC > PDX > YVR
2024 Races: Taupo

you racing bro? hope to reconnect with you!

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website/blog | Instagram

maybe they were talking about the men in tiny bikinis….

Anthony! Sadly I am not, I haven't done serious swimming in over a year and I'd rather feel prepared for a race. I am glad you're going to Hawai'i though! crush it!

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808 > NYC > PDX > YVR
2024 Races: Taupo

Looks like they upped the Kona slots again.

60 AG slots, 48 Hawaii Resident slots.

https://www.ironman.com/...hampionship-register

Here are the results of my calculator, not including the HI resident slots.



You'll notice that it calculated 61 total slots. That is because part of the calculation (columns hidden) ranks each age group for "slots by decimal rank" as I call them. There are 13 such slots to allocate and there is a tie for 13th place in that ranking and it is giving both of the tied age groups a slot, when only one can get it. In such a situation, I do not know how they decide which AG gets the slot. In this case the tie is between F45-49 and F50-54. One of those AG's may get 1 less slot than I have listed here. Also, Column C is labeled "Finishers" but it is starters. Actually, it is entries listed on the website as of the day I last downloaded it, so actual starters may be different.

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Ed O'Malley
www.VeloVetta.com
Founder of VeloVetta Cycling Shoes
Instagram • Facebook

Alright, just get into the top 4 in your age group now. No slacking off !!!! We gotta live vicariously thru ya! If you pull it off, will be a great victory after the crash in Nice!

Now just go on the cabbage and water diet for a week, lose the final 5 lbs of bioprene so that you have minimum insulation for the run and less weight to haul around