Ultraman Day #3: 52.4 Double Marathon Hawi to Kona:

Here goes…the final installment. The race reporting might be more grueling than the actual event. So, where do I begin… how about the beginning…Hawi. Hawi is the usual turnaround for the Ironman World Championships. For UM, it symbolizes a dark stroll to the start-line (this day started at 6am, so we were literally in the deep dark night). However, the start was very grassroots and comfy…not a lot of fanfare and hoopla as IM and other events have become. I enjoy this because it keeps the purity of the actual event/sport.

As UM Ohana, we gathered in a circle and embraced hands to hear the shell horn be played along with race director Jane Bockus give us her blessing on the day’s events to come. Once completed, a quick countdown to the start was completed by those around and we were off on our 52.4 mile…ahh jaunt?

The thoughts that went through my head were that of a movie a good friend, namely Bill Kent, had given me throughout our summer training… Hidalgo. This movie played a huge part in my self pacing(weird what comes to mind in times like these). In a nutshell, Hidalgo(a Mustang ridden by a Cowboy), goes over to the Sahara to race across the desert with Stallions. The Cowboy says, to his horse, it’s all for show (the blazing start)…we’ll see them later. So, I stuck to my plan, like the Cowboy, of using my Garmin and trying to hold a 9min/mi -8:30pace the whole time…stimulation control!

Well, I can’t remember all the details of the race (miles kinda all run together; no mile markers or etc.), but I do remember my routine. It went a lil like this…mtn dew on the :15s and gel/water on the :45s for the first marathon and for the second it became an exhausting task of sponges/ice. Every mile for the first marathon my crew were set up… from Jay ice/sponges which in turn he would yell to Tyler, based on my murmur what nutrition was needed. This was exhausting because it was a routine repeated almost 30x’s. But, it was a necessary routine which proved beneficial to my survival out on the Queen K amongst the lava fields. I kept saying to myself, just do your job…keep moving forward and do not rest until you cross that finish line. Nothing fancy, just stay on task. Sometimes, did call for some extreme measures…some laughs and cries. Here are some random thoughts/highlights as I have recalled:

-eating an entire pizza the night before (in a couple settings) was stellar for performance, in hindsight.
-coffee catches up with you early…what to do… ask your crew for a towel and they look at you dumfounded…huh, that wasn’t on your plan/ I think neither was this bladder that is about to explode. I wasn’t going to stop and def. was not going to chance my shoes getting soaked soo early (around 10mi mark). So, the towel that was hanging on the back of my crew’s truck for a length time was not from a spilled drink in their truck ;)
-Where did the knives come from…after about 13 miles(first section net downhill) my quads felt as if they were being stabbed repeatedly with knives…thank you to Gary Wang’s crew for the pain relief…I would request two more rounds via my crew during this experience…after the fact, I’ll cry like a baby…IT HURT!
-Shi#...not already! Maybe somewhere around mile 14 my 4th toe on the left “blew” a nail ;)…what to do. Pray it will numb over soon…sure enough, it did. But, when showering the next day…you can say I could have donated a full length skin and toe nail bed including nail to any needy takers ;)
-Hills…you ARE my friend. Who would have thunk it, but they felt oh soo good and there were a lot of them…I just said in my mind…keep ‘em coming…no more downhills.
-Sign language…what??? After Tyler missing some nutrition requests, Jay instituted some interesting signals for his son so he could have ready what I needed ahead of time. To paint a pic, Jay started yelling about 20 to 30 yds to Tyler my requests, but the music they were playing in truck to motivate me was too loud… therefore, the “lava language.” The best was a Bullwinkle style 1arm antler which I believe signified Gatorade? Anyway, the “lava language” worked and they were able to keep the tunes flowing on the truck as I ran through the temporary aid stations each mile.
-Mud…why am I passing coffee as #1?(at the finish)…because idiot you just ran for almost 8hrs…thanks to “The Kid Who Summited Everest” book(nice read from Man vs Wild), read this summer, for the mental reminder dehydration does occur in extreme cases…should have taken an IV, but nothing a couple/three/four bottles of water could not remedy…sorry kidneys!
-Dougie…step aside I’m finishing this one alone! The line thrown out to Doug as I was coming into the 47-8mi mark. It would have been nice to have him pace me, but I wanted to do this one alone (kind of a purist; nothing personal Doug). Thank you, though for your support of making your bike available as a backup.
-Icepack/ Elevation: two days following that was the routine as my legs ballooned to the size of tree trunks.
-Now, two weeks later…I ‘m finally somewhat right! Legs are coming back and not exhausted/living in a haze. Ok, back to the story…

…It, my routine, was working…as I made it to the half marathon checkpoint then marathon checkpoint…the only two points during the trek there were people around and announcing did I see/hear how well I was doing. This energized me and in my mind, I looked forward to a 26.2 & a half checkpoint;mi 39ish (made up point in my mind; to pull me forward). But, it never came... the Ultraman staff only did the couple points, but what did fuel my progression was gobbling up the field of fading runners(strategy was paying off...more importantly power numbers on the previous days set me up nicely).

This was a big confidence builder and kept me moving forward. This gobbling up of the field continued until about the 5k mark where the K-Swiss train lead by Maik Twielsek and Chris Lieto(who leap frogged all afternoon sending out positives;Tx guys) decided to pick up some steam and came rolling by…great job Hillary(only pass of the day). Which was a lil frustrating because if I could continue I had one more runner in my sights to pass…I believe a Brazilian athlete, but not sure what was left in the tank to get within top ten run finish. I took the conservative route and held a just under 9min/mi finish. In hindsight, could have pushed it as I had some mojo left in the 'ol legs. But, my goal this year was to finish and I did not want to do anything to jeopardize that. As I turned off the Queen K making a right onto the last mile or so it finally dawned on me I was going to do this thing called a double marathon…I cracked a cheesy smile and made my way to the old airport pier where the finish line was and saw the clock as I neared. It read 7hrs and 50some minutes…I turned on another gear and slid under the 8hr mark with a 7:59…making a sub 9min double. I was ecstatic!

Final Stats:

Day 1:
Swim(6.25mi)3hr:18min
Bike (90mi) 5hr:58min

Day 2
Bike (171 mi)8hr:56min

Day 3:
Run (52.4 mi)7hr:59min

Total Time: 26hrs:13min:04sec

Finish: 15th Place Overall/ 11th Male


Afterthoughts,Lessons learned & Tips to follow in next post...

Ultraman 2010 Race Report Day Two Bike: 171 mi Volcanoes to Hawi

Day two started out in the middle of the night downing a couple Ensures/more Powerbars then back to sleep (I have done this for the past few IM races I have done and seem to work flawlessly with digestion come race morning). Upon getting up, I felt a little slow…weather at end of day one most likely culprit. But, the show must go on, therefore I dawned my trusty Kit(see through back bumper and all; for the Knapps group;) and made my way to the start area…about 10 min drive from the military base we were staying at on Volcanoes.

Once arriving, I settled on layers, 30 temps, including arm warmers and my cycling jacket which could be peeled once the 25mi descent was completed from Volcanoes to just above the Red Rd portion of the ride. The start was kind of anticlimactic…we all started in a group and bombed down 25 miles of slick pavement from a previous evenings all night rain. The descent went well, however I missed that “left turn at Albuquerque”;) the descent was soo fast and the course marked with just lil arrows at turns, I was like…shi#...I missed the turn and had to backtrack about a block uphill to get back on course. That is the only trouble with riding an open course that cover soo much territory…there is need for a lot of crew directing and prior knowledge of course or you undergo such calamity(my crew was not in this section as it was a nonsupport zone). After making my way back on course, I HTFU to a red-light with about 3-4 other riders…yes, you must obey traffic laws as this is not a closed course…messes with your race mode! Then onto a bypass section of the course where I greeted by pullover/pullover…wtf…as it turns out some locals were cheering and yelling from their cars and driving slowly next to another rider and I…the official is giving us the third degree that we can’t have our crew talking to us from a moving vehicle…I’m pleading my case and the Brazilian rider is a s well then luckily my crew comes rolling by dawning the 513 number and caution riders/runners banner on the back window and the official sees it and lets me go(no penalty).

Now, I’m frazzled, it takes me a few miles to settle in then bam I drop a chain on a minor climb…wtf…it pops back on then I’m descending into the Red Rd portion of the ride(a nonsupport area; about 40miles into the ride). Here it is a scenic ride along the coast…beautiful, but slow with rollers (no crews allowed; locals don’t like the traffic on the two lane rd). Once out of here and dropping a few riders and seeing only one ahead of me; I used him to pace me out of the rd…then dropped him…of which turned out to be the last time I would see another rider all day…the rest of the ride was done solo. Nutrition went well all day…thanks to my crew for endless support…intake consisted of powerbars/shotblox/Ensure/Gator/Gels…pretty much alternating on the :30s with solids and liquids on the :15s…no lows today!

From the Red Rd, came an interesting ride to Hilo town. You had to make your way through a mall area…back on the bypass and there were a series of 8 lights…ahh made the first few, but did not fare so well with the middle few…waited there for what felt like an eternity with mega Black Friday traffic. Once through the lights, I made my way into Hilo...one word…Beautiful (definitely would like to go back and check this area out). This section takes you through a resort area, along the waterfront then over the “singing bridge” which is a metal grate bridge (accident observed here while I was riding. It turns out; it was the massage crew who were rear-ended (all ok). Then onto 19…in hindsight this road is NEVERENDING. It climbed all day…about 60 miles of climbing from Hilo to Waima town. And within this area there are the “three gulches” which all drop rapidly bend to the left then right and present a steep climb. The first two were more challenging than the last. Once past these in my mind, I thought I would be moving…think again (I drove this section a couple days ago, but it was nightfall before getting here…so much for impressions…the climbing went on and on…finally after seeing signs for Waimea town 15 miles I knew I was home free as I rode the last section Monday afternoon…it consists of the Kohala Mtn pass and a bombing descent into Hawi. But, another accident lurked a head. Luckily, my crew saw this and supplied me with some bottles prior as I did not see them till after my ascent on the Kohala pass. Once into Waimea town it’s a fast few miles to the Pass. Once on to the Pass, I steadily plowed through and then saw Jay and Tyler my crew pass me asking if I needed anything. All was well, and I was now going to fly to the finish. This last section is fun…speeds in excess of 50mph are achieved. Just had to look out for that hard left hand turn into Hawi...there it was and then there was the finish line.

Bang Day two 172 mile ride done and done. Off to massage, then banged out half of a pizza then later that night ate the other half and settled into bed. Oh, this night was spent at an Organic retreat…quite the experience with bungalows and outdoor showers (like Gilligan’s island). Didn’t quite care just wanted to rest for tomorrow’s Double!


The “Double” coming soon…

Ultraman World Championships 2010 by way of The Performance Center at Knapps

Because you asked here goes the tale of Ultraman...

2010 Ultraman World Championships Hawaii Race Report


Logistics(must be more OCD than IM):


Pack bike with normal IM preparation of everything in Trico Bike Box; however now with a kick…almost double everything up as this event is a stage event with a crew supporting you. Therefore, you want your crew to have everything at their immediate disposal to keep you moving barring any mechanicals on the bike and don’t forget the lengthy swim…two sets of goggles/wetsuit, jelly cream, nutrition(Ensure), Aquaphor, Bodyglide, sandals and run goodies…two of everything. You never know what will happen out there. So, you get an idea of the enormity of equipment needed, now what to do with it. First, get it there and get yourself there to acclimatize to the climate (30s NJ to 80s HI).

I arrived the Sunday the week before the event(race was the following Fri, Sat and Sun). What does one do…put bike together, get bike inspected(must have lights; front/back, mirror, spare tubes, tires, water cages…essentially you are given an inspection sheet and you can take it to two locations in Kona to get the stamp of approval. Ok, so I get it inspected, but my Crew Chief Jay insists I have a backup bike…where? Hell, the people of Kona are TRI FRIENDLY! One of his friends lent me his Cervelo P3 fully carboned out without hesitation. Thank you Doug! Next, my mind is at ease except for the swim course and bike courses. So, I decide Monday to ride Day I’s bike couse...it had some serious climbing out of the swim transition and I wanted to iron my gearing out for this…the 53/39 11/26 might be not enough after I experienced this Kam III hill out of transition…luckily I brought the ‘ol 11/28(gave great range in hindsight). A compact with the 11/26 and 11/28 might have been even more comfortable, but choice was based upon ability to run on Day III. And the 11/28 gave me the ability to hold a nice cadence while climbing (90rpms/trying to keep the watts around 200 with not too many spikes).



Tuesday I decided I wanted to swim and get a feel for the Kohalas(mtn Pass on finish of day II). Therefore, had Jay join me for about a mile swim at the pier (start area for IM World Champs) and had a great time chatt”n it u with locals at the turn buoy in the middle of my swim (yes, they had their dog and were just chill”n..they said it was their am routine). After the “social” I headed back and felt comfortable with the logistics of the swim and conditions. That afternoon Jay took me up to Waimea town (Starbucks first ;) and let me have at the Kohala mtn pass and descent into Hawi. The accent is a 6.25 6% avg climb up… not too bad(remember Day two's ride is 172miles, therefore there is 150 miles before the Pass and another 10-15plus miles of descending into Hawi(fast/very fast).



As I was completing all this preparation, I discover I had some serious chest congestion(not fun), from one who is rarely ill I must have picked it up in travel. Per the local pharmacists rec, I grabbed some mucinex and clariten. In hindsight I lived, but not without a lil anxiety created. So Wednesday Jay drops me off at the pier for a solo swim practice(locals say water is rough…I say hmm looks fine to me as my perspective was IM Florida with 4-5 foot breakers in swim practice….another confidence builder going into event with water conditions. After swim, go to registration where I’m running late….where were you…I reply picking pineapples ;) It turned out ok, I just missed my intro to standup when they called my name and gave my bio. But, still made it for breakfast. I knew this race was something special when at registration each athlete was given a FULL GATORADE WATER COOLER, not just a bottle. It was filled with sunscreen, gels, powders, K-Swiss gear, sneakers, goggles, etc. ...toatally blew me away. Ok, after registering Jay says…let’s get going. He states this will be a long day(course recon; around whole island). Truth be told, the ride around the island totaling 6-7 hrs was amazing….was a great way to scope out the course as to not be not be surprised on race day, while at the same time allowing for some of the beauty of Hawaii to be taken in. This day also never ended(in a good way)…we had to pick up Jay’s son Tyler(my other crewman) as he still didn’t eat dinner and I found myself at Humphy’s Bar/Grill in the middle of a bachelorette party being photographed with the soon to be bride…tx Jay…what a wing-man! After that Thursday before the race was a chill day, relaxed! Was a lil concerned I had done NO running, my fav, but I said the training is in the bag and this will be a long weekend…save the dogs! Ohh, almost forgot…Dougie(a local triathlete/Jay's friend) brought his bike to the breakfast and he did a fast side by side fit with my bike and now as an Ultraman athlete I had two machines ready for battle or if need be wheels that could be stripped Tour De France style in case of a puncture. Thanks again Doug!


Day I Swim 6.25 Miles Kailua Bay to Keahou Bay & 90 Mile Bike to Volcanoes(7600ft of elevation).

Ok…the day I was most concerned with, because of never swimming the 6.25 mile distance in open water turned out to be the most enjoyable…loved the swim! ;) Nutrition started with downing 2 Ensures/ 2 Powerbars throughout the night and arrived at the pier around 5:30 for 6:30 start. Nervous…naah, more excited as Ultraman creates a different feel in comparison of Ironman(supportive/grassroots appeal)…as well as I had time goals in mind, but it was my first time here and I really didn’t want to put any pressure on myself…so I just went with the flow. After listening to some music in Jay’s truck, I dawned the wetsuit and made my way down the pier;typical IM World Championships transition area, now instead of a swim warmup I went to the other side of the bay to check on my paddler, April…who was setting up. I wanted to make sure she had my feeding routine down and I also wanted to put her at ease and make sure there was no stress on here to meet my needs…I told her to have fun and just “Float the Zeppelin” on down every: 30 min (Zeppelin being slang for my Ensure filled water bottles (I’ll tell you the story in person). As the plan was to take feedings every :30 min of approx one Ensure 250 kcals and alternate that with one gel if needed with water…plus downing some fresh gum keep the mouth and spirit happy;)…this routine worked throughout as I took feedings every :30…kept me take oriented and looking forward to something as I utilized April's Outrigger as a swim buoy to pull me forward.

At first, you start in a mass at the pier, like IM, but with only 35plus other athletes and your paddler meets you somewhere around the half mile mark…as you pop your lil head out and say, April over here…the swimmer boss, the swimmer boss (sorry bad Tattoo impersonation). Once we married, we got into a rhythm and I asked April to stay on my left as that is my strong side for breathing…in the pool I bilateral, but in open water I tend to breath to one side, later on I headed into a bilateral, but in the beginning I stuck to the left. Well, 6.25 miles is a long swim, what happened…happy to say it was pretty uneventful, but here are some details…submarined April a couple times…you get into the zone and forget about sighting and crash into the boat…guess I was swimming in a straight line;)…also ran into some small Jelly’s, felt like lil razor cuts from shaving, but manageable. Water was pretty calm, with just some rougher waters approximately a mile to a mile and a half out from the finish. It was here, I had to work a lil harder, which felt a lil tough because at the last feeding April said look…we are almost there…so I put on a "burn" only to hit this rough patch…shoulders were a lil tired, but made it through into the Keahaou Bay which had us swim around a buoy before exiting the water (only confusing part on the day). Later this was explained to me that there was some vauna or other poisonous marine life if we went straight. Once in, lied on the ground to have wetsuit stripped only to hear the announcer say, cross the arch, I wasn’t getting back up till Jay ripped the wetsuit off…I maybe lost a minute or so…to finish in 3:18. Very happy with this…now transition onto bike for 90 mile trek to Volcanoes….
Bike: Once out of the water/wetsuit off Jay met me with my bike on top off the hill from the swim finish. Normally, I would leave my shoes on my bike and slide my feet in, but the Kam III hill starts immediately so I decided in a half woosey state to put them on the ground and put them on…good decision in hindsight as the climb starts immediately. Also, earlier in the week I decided to change the 11/26 to an 11/28(for bailout)…perfect! A compact would have even allowed for more spinning, but would probably cause some loss on the downhills…a 54/55 with a 39 may be a better choice for greater downhill speed? Once settled in the Kam III climb was a formality…I spun it out in the 39/28 maybe averaging over 225 watts with a just under a 90 cadence(think’n save it for the run and even before that the second day’s 171 mi ride. In my mind, I broke this 90 mile ride into quarters…On Monday I rode 40 miles out so Kam III to the the 40 mile point was 1st qtr climb/establish nutrition (:30s ½ Bar/water and: 15s Gator)…well as it turned out the swim did not do well for my solid idea so I started on backup plan of liquids only (Gatorade/mtn dew with gels/water…it worked;). Take home: have choices…tx crew for rolling with my alterantive plan. Once past the ¼ mark the 2nd qtr(20-40mi was “rolling” in my mind). This area went well! I was only flanked by another rider during this portion, so it was pretty much a solo bid. The miles 40-60 included some technical fast descents(luckily it was dry…then hell broke loose into Volcanoe). The road up to volcanoes is a slow grueling small chainring climb. If the conditions were good it would be a grinder for about an hr or so. But, because of the headwinds, it turned into an almost two hr ordeal. Probably the most challenging ride I have done to date. Once I made it into the park, I thought I was there…only to find myself on the bike for another hr…it is at this point the rainbow was reached(had photographed it a couple days prior on recon of course mission). But, there was no happiness here…went through a low point…popped a gel and downed some water and made it through to the finish. Here, I met my crew, downed a couple cup of noodle soups and cleaned myself up in the bathroom sink so I would be ready for the massage that awaited at the Military Base... where we would be staying for the night. The massage was heaven…completely relaxing. Once done, headed to room, where I never left, including a 45min shower where I just stared at the wall…it felt soo good and I was half out of it. Once exiting my shower coma, I put down some more nutrition which included my homemade concoction of pasta with soy/ginger sauce (goal was to keep digestion easy) and watched the xmas movie Elf with my crew before hitting bed early around 9-10pm. A couple Ensures and Powerbars throughout the night and some Oats/coffee and I was ready for Day II. Felt good, but definitely a ill blurry eyed! The show must go on!

Day Two Bile; 171 mi Volcanoes to Hawi….coming soon!