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<\/figure><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\nCalm seas for Kona meant a potentially fast swim, the new\nAqua Sphere #phantom Speed Suit had felt great in training leading up to the\nrace. My swimming was going very well so for the first time in Kona I felt\nconfident to start on the front line, I picked a great spot in the middle of\nthe line beside the mid-line marker buoy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
All set for the gun to go and a water safety marshal stops right\nin front of me on his paddleboard as the gun goes! Oh well; not sure if I swam\nover his board or under it, got some clear water anyway and then had a good\nswim from there on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Swim was pretty un-eventful; certainly less bumping and\nbashing than previous years in Kona, possibly due to being slightly further up\nthe field and not in the main bunch, a great swim finishing just under 58mins,\nover 3min swim PB at Kona so very happy, must have been the #phantom!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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<\/figure><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\nOnto the bike and the usual smash fest over the first 10k,\nwith everyone going full gas through town. I held back on the hills keeping a\nreasonable power and then catching back up on the downhills and corners, always\nsurprises me how bad some athletes bike handling is (even at the worlds)!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The queen-K-was amazing, no wind smooth roads, keeping to my\npower limits it was all going well. (Despite the drafting which I\u2019ve never seen\nso bad in Kona, at one stage as a pack passed me, I sat up and couldn\u2019t see the\nend of the pack behind me!!!) Whilst trying to get past a pack I ended up on\nthe rumble strip in the middle of the road and my bike computer decided to\njettison itself into the undergrowth. Never mind I still had my watch to check\noccasionally (good excuse to buy a new Garmin!)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As we worked up to the mid-way point at Hawi I could feel\nthat I had maybe gone a bit hard in the first half, not completely over the top\nso kept it steady for the ride to halfway and the way back (Power data shows I\ndidn\u2019t overdo it, about target power for first 2hrs) at the turn around I could\nsee that I was on about 5hr pace, with the lack of wind this seemed about write\nfor the effort, expecting it to be slower on the return with the usual\nheadwind. There wasn\u2019t any headwind so parts of the bike course were sweltering\nheat bowls! Fairly uneventful return leg other than my chain uncharacteristically\ncoming of and jamming between the chainset and frame, not sure how long this\ntook to fix, will have to look at the Garmin data when I get to downloading it (about\n2mins)!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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<\/figure><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\nHaving had a steady and conservative 2nd<\/sup> half of\nthe bike (power actually about 12W lower than planned), I was confident in\nhaving a good run, legs felt pretty good (relatively speaking) coming of the\nbike and the run started well. I was excited for the run heading out on 6hrs so\nshould be easy to get an overall PB and sub 10hr at Kona!!! <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Holding a steady 3hr 30 pace for the first few miles felt\ngood and I thought a good conservative pace to build through the run. This very\nquickly ceased over a very short period my stomach started cramping up with\nshooting pains that I\u2019ve never had before, I slowed the pace and kept going\nonly to very quickly be reduced to walking pace. The cramps eased after walking\nfor too long so I started running again, managed a few miles and then had to\nwalk again. There started the cycle for the rest of the run, the real low point\nwas going up the hill at Palani where I lay down for a sleep under a tree for 5\nminutes (I didn\u2019t manage to actually sleep as stomach was to sore).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
By the top of Palani I had resigned myself to a slow walk\nfor the remainder of the marathon (I\u2019ve never DNF\u2019d and wasn\u2019t about to start\nhere). As I headed\/walked along the Queen K, there was no way the Hannes\nHawaiian Tours support group were going to let me walk, buoyed pushed, cajoled\ninto running this got me going again. The inevitable run for a few miles, then\nwalk a few to ease the stomach cramps continued, however I set myself the goal\nof negative splitting the marathon, any motivation would do at this stage!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This carried on for the remainder of the marathon, in the\nsecond half I definitely ran more than I walked, even picked up the pace for\nthe last couple of miles to finish strong, if only!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The finish chute was great the support as ever is fantastic\nand makes it all worthwhile!!! Finishing in 10:27:15 was no where near my goal\nand although not my slowest at Kona, it was worst in terms of age group and\noverall position. Positives Swim and bike PB\u2019s and a negative split marathon\n(2:15 first half, 2:05 second).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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<\/figure><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\nI was helped from the finish line being completely done\nprobably more mentally than physically having pushed myself to keep going\nknowing that the result was far of expectations (made all the harder as my legs\nfelt good for running). Then fainting and collapsing in the recovery area\nfollowed by 2hrs in the medical tent wasn\u2019t a great experience. A good time to\nreflect and my thoughts went from never doing this again to what am I going to\nenter next year, and I\u2019m definitely coming back (still have unfinished business\nin Kona, and want to come here and at least feel I had a solid race).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The conditions definitely don\u2019t suit my build but that\u2019s no\nexcuse I could and should be able to do better than I have done.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It\u2019s a lot easier writing this now having raced Ironman\nWestern Australia and qualified for Kona for 2019.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"