Mini Monster Half Ironman Triathlon 3rd Place

Last Feb 13th we had The 1st "Mini Monster Half Ironman Triathlon" right here in the Island, it was a great effort by Team Mango aka Carl Koomoa.
The swim was "obviously" from the Kona Pier to the 1.2mile buoy or King's Buoy, The Bike went up to the Queen K and north up to the turnaround at Mauna Lani, and the Run was up Palani, Kuakini towards the Old Airport and around Target to get back to Alii Drive all the way to the south end in Keauhou Shopping Center.

At the starting line I knew that I had to keep an eye in two guys, Thomas J. Vonach from Austria and Mario Erath also from Austria, both have been training here for the last few months, and I knew that they were both the ones to keep an eye on.... My goal at this race was to test my racing pace for Abu Dhabi, so I didn't Taper as much as I would for a BIG Race, but still I wanted to win.
So When the gun went off and in a matter of minutes we were just 5 guys and Yvonne Van Vlerken up in the front pack, everything went smooth until the 1/4 mile buoy, I really don't know what happened, I just lost my focus for a moment and lost my direction for a moment, that was enough to turn a group fast swim into a chase swim, I really need to say that Yvonne is a complete different person when racing than when training in the pool, is remarkable how she transforms herself into a  killer machine, I respect that!
When I got to the turnaround buoy I saw that she and Thomas were around 30 seconds ahead of me, I was mad at myself, so I tried to push harder, at the end they both came out of the water 1 minute ahead of me with Mario breathing in my neck a couple of second behind, we went into the Bike Leg with a little of head wind that later turn into a sidewind, at the turnaround we both were not sure on where to turn, so we passed the turn point and maybe lost a Minute there, Mario was the first to realize this, so he gained the front on the way back, let me say that is great when you find someone like Mario Erath to race, he never tried to take advantage of drafting, he was always aware of the distance between us, and I really respect someone who is so honest, specially when we both know that we might be fighting for the podium at the end of the race.....
Unfortunately I didn't have the chance to take this to the end of the race, because another distraction of myself........As previously stated there were no Aid Stations, so if we wanted to have our drinks at the turnaround we had 2 options, give them to Bill Greentree who was going to be at the turnaround or have someone to take it there, in my case was Paola, who also was leading the swim portion of the swim in her Stand Up Paddle Board (Maybe that's why I got distracted, I was just so happy to be looking at her during a race!) 

So I told her to hand me the water bottles, but I didn't showed how to do it, completely my fault, she handed me the water bottles facing forward and she also placed herself in a fast descent of a rolling hill, instead at the top where you go slower, so I lost my first bottle, and in the second attempt I had to really slow down, I didn't wanted to hurt her wrist. In those hiccups I simply lost Mario, and I was never able to reel him in. He got to T2 1 minute ahead of me in 2:19 and I arrived in 2:20, I wished that I could started the run by his side, but that minute was a long way in that first part of the course, so I never really had the chance to even get closer to him, I actually knew he was running faster than me.

The first 10k south in Alii Drive went hard but manageable, the real problem was the the temperature started to rise dramatically and there were just 2 aid stations, so keeping up the pace in the way back to the finish line ended up being a hard job, but in the bright side I was one of the happiest race I've ever done, it just felt so great to be a "Local" I got goosebumps every time someone called my name in Alii Drive, there's nothing like it! Here I was Racing in Kona as a Local.........Who would have thought this 2 years ago when I was buying my Cervelo P3 in San Diego.


So the Total Results were like this:


1st Place: T.Vonach      Austria Swim 29:17 Bike 2:15 Run 1:29 Total Time 4:14
2nd Place Mario Erath  Austria Swim 30:33 Bike  2:19 Run 1:32 Total Time 4:21
3rd Place Jano Soto        Kona  Swim 30:26 Bike  2:20 Run 1:36 Total Time 4:26

1st Place Female Yvonne Van Vlerken Swim 29:36 Bike 2:16 Run 1:29 Total Time 4:15 Yes she's FAST!
So here we are..... With almost all of the training for Abu Dhabi in the Bank, just a couple of hard weeks, key workouts and off to the Middle East! The Desert is waiting and getting hotter everyday!

Insane Overtraining & Recovery

First of all I can't believe that we are already at the end of February, my last blog was at the middle of November, that's 3 1/2  months! Of course a lot have happened since then...... Being the most important the Adaptation Period to the new training Schedule.
During "Ironman Week" I had the chance to train with my buddies Dirk Bockel, Rasmus Henning and Eric Sullivan, so in that week I learned a lot by just training with them, remember that they were tapering! Having said that, in some cases I found myself hanging for my life in their rear wheels when coming back from Hawi to the Energy lab, just to make a quick transition and then run some 6:20 minute Miles!  It was really great to fly in the Queen K with this guys, but in the downside..... after they left...... I was simply Smashed!
But Hey! At least I've got a good glimpse of what was waiting for me in next few months, it also re-assured my decision to put my training schedule in the hands of Justin Granger, it's a great feeling knowing that you took a very very good decision!
So in this last 3 1/2 months the point has been miles in, mile in, and miles in, specially in my run mileage, so Justin and I decided to start with the Honolulu Marathon in December 12, 2010 and The Maui Oceanfront 1/2 Marathon in January 23, 2011.
I wish it would have been as simple as just adding miles to my training schedule and then go to the races and perform like I wanted to...... But this was just not the case.
When we started stepping up the miles problems came out, problems like simple muscle tightness, to a little more complicated...... Let's call them "PHYSICAL CRASHES"
I'm still impressed of how different is to train for Olympic distance Triathlons or even Half Ironman distance Triathlons to the BIG ONE, The Ironman....
After this few months now I think that I know the SECRET! it's all about a delicate balance between Overtraining & Recovery, and between an INSANE OVERTRAINING & RECOVERY! And this is no Joke! ha ha!
The first few weeks of training, every week I felt like there was no way I would be able to make it to the end of the week, but after a few feedback exchanges between Justin and I, we kind of started knowing each other more and more, so now... after almost 4 months and many moments of doubt, I feel more comfortable with big numbers.
Just to make an example, a pre-Justin running week consisted of 20 miles divided in 3 days of running.
Last week, Thursday I ran 16 hilly miles and Friday 9 miles in the Track! So it's a big difference!
And that takes me back to the Physical Crashes, at The Honolulu Marathon I was feeling great! My training had been very good, and a pace of 4:30min/km was a pace I felt comfortable, so the truth is that I came to Honolulu a little too cocky, I really thought that a 3:09 for my first Marathon was going to be easy.
The race started...... and at the first 10k mark I was right on the pace with 44:41 and holding myself to not go faster, because I was feeling great! The 20k mark came and also another split of 45:56 still feeling great, at the 30k mark the split was 46:26 and I was still feeling very good, this part of the course was slightly uphill so I knew I was still in my 3:09 Goal, but then, around the km 32 a sudden "heavy feeling" hit my legs, It was a weird weird feeling, because my Heart was OK, I felt OK, but my legs didn't feel like part of my body at that moment, I felt I had to lift every ounce of muscle to take every stride, then the real uphill came, the climb of Diamond Head! It was torture! But I kept pushing as hard as I could,  I knew that after Diamond Head I was going to gain speed and have the chance to recover from that bad stage.... The downhill came... and I felt worse! I couldn't believe that it was much more painful the way down than the way up, I got to a point that my legs were almost locked, I even felt afraid of falling down like a toy soldier, I saw the 40k mark and my split was of 56:57 I felt devastated, 10 minutes over my predicted 3:09! This couldn't get worse! isn't it? Well......... It could.... and it did......
The last 2 Kilometers were the most horrifying experience I ever felt running! Those 2 k from hell took me almost 15 minutes!!!! My finish time was 3:30!

That's 21 minutes off. The aftermath was a learning experience but it took me a few day to understand what went wrong, and also to recover.
The next test was Maui 1/2 Marathon, which initially was supposed to be the full Marathon, but due to my previous experience we decided that the Half was better for my real goals "2011 Triathlon Season" Maui was not the perfect race, but I was able to run myself to a 9th Overall finish in 1:28:58 that's a 4:13min/km pace So I was happy with that result...
After a few days of whale watching and exploring every corner of Maui Paola and I were back in Kona, it's good to race because I have a goal and I can focus better in the little thing that matter, but I need a Triathlon race soon...... I like running, but I prefer Triathlon........ There's Half Ironman Triathlon in Kona coming soon, Thomas Vonach Yvonne Van Vlerken and Mario Erath are training in Kona, so I think it's going to be an interesting race, I can't wait!