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!