I have decided that I am doing kona for fun. I am not a contender for my age group, i want to go race and soak it all in. Get some experience from the course and enjoy the day. Don’t get me wrong, i will show up ready to race. Despite that, i can’t help for aiming for a time goal. How much slower are your kona times? I have had a 11:18 and 11:16 IM this year and would be very happy if i break 12 in kona… 12:15 would still be great. I am adding 5 minutes to my swim (substract 5 if i se a shark HAHA) 30-40 min on the bike and 15-20 on the run. What are your thoughts on that and what has been YOUR experience compare to your others races? (my coach thinks i can go 11…)
God, when you talk like this I really know to get out of the way. you’ll be running everybody over for sure now that you’ve said this! LOL!
seriously, dust this off and quit thinking about it babe. let’s talk tomorrow, ok?
no no… I am not sure you understand the caliber in kona… ask smartasscoach or anyone here. I am NOT realistic to think I would be a contender.
you’ll do great, whatever that is for you. and of course you will enjoy it… what an experiece!!
What I learned last year is that you never know what the day will offer up to you. I went there in the best shape that I’d ever been in for an ironman race. It ended up being the only one of the 4 that I’ve done that I didn’t break 10 hours. However, everyone (except Stadler the machine) had slow days. When I compared my training last year to previous years I knew that I could have gone really fast if the conditions cooperated like they did in 2003 but it was not to be so you adjust your gameplan and keep hammering.
I am not a very experienced IM athlete only have done 2 IM’s. Kona last year was my first IM at 10:43 and IM Australia this year at 9:53. Hope to go sub 10:30 this year at Kona.
If you read the IM Kona competitor booklet it says that IM newcomers (not necessarily IM Kona) UNDERestimate their finish time by 3 hours or something.
You just have to be able to bike and run in the heat - make sure you save your legs for the bike return from Kawaiihae. Those last 30+ miles can make you pay big time in the run.
Have fun, see you there in October.
- make sure you save your legs for the bike return from Kawaiihae.
Oops, I thought you said “shave” your legs. :~)
Aloha,
Larry
They shall be clean shaven by Oct 9. Re-growth starts Oct 24th.
Marisol
It is as much about being there in the days leading up - and the days following - that will make the experience complete for you - as it is in the race itself
As with any race - you can either have a good day - or not so good.
You have done the work - you have trained both mentally and physically - travel there - enjoy the experience - draw from the energy of the island - the atmosphere and take every ounce of positive energy you can from those around you and with you then race as best you can.
The heat we have endured lately is good preparation - and simply know this…
That I cannot think of a single person who will not be sending good thoughts your way come race day - and if you know of anyone that might not - name them now so we as a collective group can take them out.
AJ
sheanimal
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Marisol, Don’t stress over time, just have fun and enjoy every minute. If you race relaxed, you’ll do much better than if you stress over time splits.
Looking forward to watching you race, I’ll be cheering quite loudly for my ST gal pals
Wow, we finished right together last year, I was 10:42. I had done IMWisco 5 weeks earlier at 9:57 but the conditions were pretty tough last year. In 2003 I Qualified at IMLP in the monsoon at 10:28 and did Kona in 10:33. Usually at Kona I don’t push it too hard and the heat really gets to me.
The tip about the last 30 miles of the bike is right on. That section is brutal with the heat and winds and you need to have a lot of energy in reserve, mental and physical.
It’s an Ironman… it’s raced in hawaii… That is why it is called the Hawaii Ironman… other than that, I don’t see the big deal… except for the long trip… don’t forget to be afraid of the gods of the island and the lava fields… yawn…
If you plunked the Kona course down somewhere in British Columbia or coastal California or any other temperate region it would be a pretty fast course. The wind and heat make all the difference. As with any IM the weather on race day can vary, although to a lesser degree than in other locations— you can pretty much count on “hot” no matter what.
I’ve done it twice. One year (1998) the winds were bad bad bad, the other (2002) they were almost nonexistent. Although the wind did kick back up for the return to town, and as others have said, that last 30 miles on the bike is draining.
In '02 I was in the best shape of my life and had the windless bike course, but still imploded in the heat on the run. Plus the swim that year was truly tumultuous since Kona was getting clobbered with a decent tropical storm right up to race morning and the waves were considerable out there. So my time was about half an hour over my Ironman PR time.
YMMV. But bottom line: You will have a blast! I hope to see you there.
Kona is its own animal. I’m not talking gods and demons, I am talking wind and heat. Until you know what the conditions are that day, you cannot realistically set or reset your expectations regarding timing. If you had a nuclear bike arsenal, 15 - 20 IMs under your belt and extensive experience racing in the heat, than I think you could make that interpolation with a reasonable degree of accuracy. I think you would be best served by setting your goals as you go. If the conditions are right, your nutrition is dialed and you have your legs there is no reason you cannot have a PB at the big dance.
It’s the only IM I have ever done and I have to agree with you…it’s just a race. A very special and historic race to be sure, but it’s still 140.6. It’s no different than any other IM in that respect.
My coach and I crunched the numbers and had 3 goals on paper…great day, average day, not-so-good day. I hoped to only break 12:00 and, by staying smart and not letting the wind get to me, I did…barely.
It was slower than I hoped, but still very satisfying…my swim and bike were slower than anticipated, but the run more than made up for it.
Marisol, keep your head in the game…remember that it is a very long day…respect the history…and have an awesome day. You will surely make more than one trip to Kona, but you never get to do it the first time again.
G
I have decided that I am doing kona for fun. I am not a contender for my age group, i want to go race and soak it all in. Get some experience from the course and enjoy the day
When I approached it as you describe, and maintained that attitude throughout the race, I basically equaled my IM PR (which happened to be my qualifying time from earlier that year). It was great - a gift which I received because I didn’t ask for it.
The next time I got a little cocky, coming off of a similar qualifying performance, and thought I could surely do the same all over again. I finished an hour and 20 minutes slower (it was a bit windier that year, but not 1:20 worth). I let my expectations get the better of me. It was still fun once I was able to let go of those expectations, but without the expectations in place it would have probably gone better.
Your plan as described in your first three sentences is the right one. Don’t worry about the time. It may come to you, it may not - the course and conditions will dictate that as long as you just keep your head. If, in the last 10 miles of the run, you decide you want to push it a little to make an arbitrary goal that presents itself on the day, and you’ve got the gas in the tank to do it, fine, but don’t dwell on it before then. Obivously you know approximately what you are capable of if your nutrition and pacing are working and the wind is average, but do not use that as a measure for success during the day. Any finish is a good finish at that race. Yes, you probably “can” go 11, but if you put it in terms of needing to go 11 or even wanting to real bad, it will be less likely.
In more concrete terms, from a look I took at IMC vs. IMH one year, something like 8 out of 120 people went a tiny bit faster (few minutes) and the rest were pretty equally distributed from a few minutes up to 2 hours slower. The average person was 40 minutes slower. Note that IMC is a lot closer than Arizona, so recovery is more of a factor.
43 minutes, 45 seconds. 
That was the difference between my '04 Kona time and an IM less than one year before. I was in far better shape for Kona, but the wind was unreal. Swim and run times were identical - to the minute. My bike split was 6:11 versus 5:24. Slightly longer transitions. Did I say the wind sucked?
so to summarize… the wind and the heat sucks and it’s up to me to let that affect me or not. The more I put up with it and stay calm, the better my race will be. Patience… right? the time will depend on what the day brings me but i shouldn’t let it bring me down. got it right?
all the above sounds right, only thing I can say is for a non swimmer (normal 1:05+), I’d add 10mins for the ocean, no wetsuit swim
take one notch off on the PE, and you’ll be repaid 100x in the mental enjoyment category. I did and I ended up 20mins slower overall (10 swim/5 bike/5 run)
it’s all about saving yourself for the vacation after the run!