Race Week Tips for Kona Athletes

Race week is here!  This coming Saturday nearly 2000 triathletes will be racing in the Ford Ironman World Championships.  Months of hard work and dedication will be tested with harsh conditions and fierce competition.  The hay is in the barn, it’s go time.  Here's a round up of race week tips from some of our top coaches.

RACE WEEK

• You’ve done the work.  You’ve rested. You’re peaking.  You have a plan.  You know your fueling routine. Your gear is dialed. You’re aero. Now you have to believe. Erase self-doubt. Picture your success. Know that you are ready and that you are going to put in the best performance you possibly can on race day. Smile while you’re doing it.  - Mike Kuhn
• Maintain the intensity, speed and effort that you have trained for. It’s easy to get caught up in the heat of competition but it will be in your best long-term interest to stay within yourself.   The Ford Ironman World Championship doesn’t even begin until mile 90 on the Queen K highway.  A constant and steady energy effort will prevail in the end. Most triathletes like to blame cramping muscles on the lack of sodium and dehydration. While these are both important, the reality is most early onset of fatigue and cramps are the result of working harder than we have trained for.  – Duane Franks
• Preview the course - know how many miles from the airport to transition, how many miles from Kona Mountain Coffee to the Energy Lab.  These landmarks can help you to break up the 140.6 miles into smaller, more manageable segments for your head to process. – Elizabeth Waterstraat
• Sun protection is critical in Hawaii.  Your skin is the body's largest organ, if it requires cooling, blood must be diverted from the muscles to the skin.  This can cause digestive problems or slowing of your pace.  Consider using arm coolers, frequent reapplications of sunscreen, a hat/visor or any other cooling technique. – Elizabeth Waterstraat
• Enjoy yourself, take a moment to look around.  Don't get so caught up in the race that you forget to look around and appreciate the beauty of where you are.  You'll find inspiration from it. – Elizabeth Waterstraat

SWIM

• Self seed at the swim start according to your ability. A body swimming over another will have greater impact without the buoyancy of a wetsuit. If you can’t swim fast from the start then stay away from the front couple rows. Be kind and trim your nails.  – Duane Franks
• Do the pre race swims from the pier. There can be a current at the beaches, so be careful. – Mike Ricci

BIKE

• The first 10 miles of the bike are in town, bumpy and crowded. Keep your speed in check. After going up Palani Rd. you hit the Queen K. It rolls with a few good climbs. Stand up a bit on the rollers and stretch your back out. You have go easy going out. The wind won't kick up until after the airport, about mile 15. There can be brutal cross winds for the rest of the course. – Mike Ricci
• After the turn onto 19 and head to Hawi, it can be brutally windy and there is an uphill grade. Even a guy who bikes 4:55 will be going 15-17 MPH on this section. Mentally this part sucks. After the turnaround there are the Special Needs bags. Then it's back the way you came. The first miles are downhill and tend to be fast. It's a great time to get in some extra calories and let the HR come down. Turning Right back on to the Queen K the rollers seem harder, longer and steeper. Typically there will be a cross winds get worse as the day goes on. Mentally you have to focus. The last few miles seem to go forever, but there is a mile or two of easy flats to finally relax a bit. – Mike Ricci

RUN

• The week of the race, do take the time to go to the Energy Lab to do a short run.  There's a slight incline leading out of it that can look monstrous on race day.  Run it beforehand to know what you are going to encounter. – Elizabeth Waterstraat
• The run starts pretty flat on the out and back on Alii. There is some shade and people cheering. Don't burn too much energy on this section, you will need it later. At mile 10 you climb up Palani. It's short, but STEEP, and most walk this. On the Queen K you seem to always be on just a bit of an uphill grade and there is no shade or people other than aid stations. – Mike Ricci
• The run aid stations in Kona are generous with ice.  Take advantage of this. Wear a tri top or singlet long enough to go under your race belt.  Grab a cup of ice, drop about half down the front of your top and the remaining half down the back of your top.  The ice will accumulate against your skin just above the race belt.  It will slowly melt and help keep your torso from over-heating.  More ice can be tucked under your race cap. For a more thorough cooling, sew a mesh bag to the back of your cap visor that will hold ice against your neck.  If you’re susceptible to blisters, you might want to pack an extra pair of socks in your run special needs bag – just in case.  Avoid drenching yourself with water from a cup that will easily drain to your shoes.  A slow drip from ice is more effective and less likely to soak your shoes.  – Duane Franks
• Post Race: Get hydrated, get some food, take an ice bath and get a massage. It's been a long season and you've completed the toughest Ironman out there! – Mike Ricci

Good luck to everyone racing!  Congrats on how far you've come and we can't wait to see how your big day goes.  We'll be cheering for you!!

Comments

[sue ingram]

I am interested to know what qualities you would look for in a sunscreen during these events? Protection from the sun is a no-brainer, but there are other aspects to be considered. eg. Hydration seems to be an important requirement and some sunscreens will inhibit this by not allowing your skin to breathe. Oiliness may be a negative if too it's too oily and it interferes with the handling of any equipment, but in some cases may be better as it moisturizes the skin.
How many people will consider natural or organic sunscreens as a must in order to avoid the toxic chemicals that are present in many sunscreens? Being fit and healthy and outdoors are all such incredibly good contributors towards overall health, but using toxic sunscreens will undermine this considerably.