Now that it's race week, the training volume has dramatically decreased whereas the craziness of the town has dramatically increased. Every day there is something to do, see and visit - but we are resisting the temptation. It's far too easy to see/do everything that is offered during IM Kona race week but with that comes lots of time on the feet and out in the hot sun.
800 warm-up
2 rounds of 100 smooth/25 fast, 75 smooth/25 fast, 50 smooth/25 fast, 25 smooth/25 fast (continuous) with rest between the rounds. First round was with buoy and second was no toys. After that, 600 yard buoy and paddles. Then 3 x 200's broken as (2 x 100s, 4 x 50, 8 x 25). Then cool down.
Since we had two of our athlete with us (and a friend of a friend), we had to re-visit Gypsy Gelato again. Oh it was so good!
Tuesday was a recovery day or a day off. It's hard to do nothing here so our coach gave us the option of a spin or a swim. So we decided to do a 1000 yard swim with a 500 yard swim to the coffee boat in the ocean. They were out of coffee when we arrived to we had a few sips of Clif Hydration. The water is fairly cool, very salty and incredibly clear. There were so many fishies to look at underneath us.
As for the rest of Tuesday, we checked in and picked up our gear bags/swag. It's quite the process to check in at the Ironman World Championship as there is a series of tables to visit and lots of volunteers helping out. The guy who helped me out was participating in his 15th Ironman Kona and his 53rd Ironman! And he is in Karel's 40-44 age group! He was super nice.
After checking in, we walked through the merch tent and then went to the expo. The IM Kona expo is overwhelming with so many booths, people and things to see. We spent about 30 minutes in the expo and by the time we were done, we were hot and sweaty - it's super duper hot here! It was nice to see some familiar faces and to say hello to some of the Trimarni team affiliates.
Karel participated in the Parade of Nations - walking with his home country of Czech Republic. IM Kona is always special for Karel as he can connect with other Czech speaking athletes.
I can't believe that we are just a few days away from the 2019 Ironman World Championship. I am so excited to share the course with 3 of our athletes and of course, being able to share this race experience with Karel is extra special (this is our 2nd time racing IM Kona together - my last time racing the event was 2015 and it was with Karel). I am experiencing all types of emotions from excited, to nervous, to excited!
Oh and yesterday was Campy's 12 birthday!! Happy birthday to my furry best friend!! I couldn't imagine living life without you. <3
