T64 - To Feel Safe Again, Look Over Your Shoulder - Bike, Run

Kona

I spent the morning diving with my friend Robyn from High School who works as a dive instructor out here. The dives were amazing, but both Robyn and her fellow tour guide Kelly were telling me they couldn’t believe I was going to go bike for 2 hours then run for an hour after a full day of diving. In the hot sun. Not because diving is particularly draining physically, but apparently you’re supposed to let yourself cycle off all the nitrogen before working out. Like why you’re not supposed to fly. But who was I to listen to them. It was Kona and I had a bike rented for 24 hours, I’m getting my fucking money’s worth.

Bike – 2 Hours

2 Lipodrene
So I’d had it in my head that biking the Kona course, which for the unaware is the original and official Ironman bike course, used in the race you see on Wide World of Sports. Of course, I wasn’t going to bike the whole thing, I only had 2 hours. But I had likened it to an amateur baseball player getting to play a game at Yankee Stadium. This would be the case if Yankee stadium were filled with Semi Trucks, mopeds, and right turn only lanes that force you to cut across traffic not once but twice about every half mile. This road wasn’t majestic. It was no magical experience. It was fucking Waldo Road with better scenery. Basically, this course was a busy highway with exhaust being blown in your face, with a fierce headwind and endless hills to boot.

I did ok on the ride. I needed to get used to the course, and the Dura Ace componentry on the Cannondale bike I rented was like shifting on silk. So I played around with the gears a lot. But again I had no computer and no aero bars, which made things kinda tough. I had no idea what my speed was, and there was nowhere to get water either. The first hour I spent more or less frustrated by the traffic constantly having to look over my left shoulder to make sure I didn’t end up as a permanent part of the Kona Ironman Bike Course. And I do not look over my right shoulder well, as more than once I have cut off an unsuspecting motorist. This is what led to me getting rear ended in Orlando, and will probably eventually result in a more serious injury. This is why I don’t like biking anywhere that’s not a continuous bike lane. I just can’t look over my shoulder.

The ride was good to familiarize me with the Kona course, but otherwise was very unimpressive. Because of the good componentry, I used the small ring a lot, more than in any other ride I think I’ve ever been on. The endless hills may have contributed to that too. So that was certainly different. But this was not the majestic experience I had expected.

Run – 1 Hour

1 Lipodrene
I had planned to brick this workout, but the Bike shop closed earlier than I thought so I couldn’t leave the bike there while I ran, and Jill had the Jeep, so I had to have her come pick me up and then run at home. For some reason she wasn’t excited to sit around an industrial shopping center while I ran for an hour. She was late getting me, and by the time I got back to the house in Captain Cook, it was 6:45. Uncle Steve’s house in Kona is on a steep, windy road in what looks like a cleaner version of Nicaragua. Just total jungle, a stark contrast to the Lava fields of the bike course. Also, because it’s Kona, and therefore “rustic,” there aren’t any sidewalks. It took my about 5 minutes to realize this run was probably not safe.

I started off running down the hill and approached a sharp curve about every hundred yards. With the IPod on, I couldn’t hear any cars, so I just had to cross the street every time I came up to one, having to constantly look behind me as I ran to make sure no cars were coming in the direction I was running. At one point a small VW Bug cam speeding around a curve and swerving between lanes. I’m not sure if they just wanted to play “Scare the Houle,” but it was quite disconcerting. After 20 minutes of constantly looking back and crossing the street, I decided this was not a safe run. Especially with an iPod on. So despite the return run being completely uphill, I turned the music off.

The run back was actually pretty good as I kept stride all the way up the hill, and made it back up in only a couple of minutes more than it took me to run down. So despite my cutting the run 20 minutes short (it was pitch black by the time I got home, I figured it was better to cut it short and live to train another day) I feel there was some training value there.

But man, 10 hours in the sun takes its toll. I finished dinner in the un-air conditioned house, and felt like I wanted to die. I took a cold towel, put in on top of myself like one might a blanket, and passed out by 8:30. I did however chug about 5 water bottles of ice water, as I knew the next day’s workout would take its toll.