After a great night of sleeping, I woke up around 5:30am (Karel woke up at 5am) and started the day with a cup of coffee and a pre-workout snack of my pre-workout pancakes (I made a big batch to save some for after the workout).
We headed out for our run around 7am, which felt like the middle of the morning as it was already warm. It wasn't too long before we were sweating along Ali'i drive.
Since my training is based on Karel's training right now, I modified his workout as follows:
Karel:
MS: 2 x 15 min Z3+ w/ 10 min EZ in between
Total: 70 minutes
Marni:
MS 2x's: (3 x 5 min at strong effort w/ 30 sec walk in between) w/ 5 min EZ between rounds
Total: 65 minutes
Karel started the run a few minutes before me, as if he was running out of T2 on race day whereas I started the run from our condo to Hualalai to Ali'i drive. Karel eventually passed me as he was finishing up his easy section of the main set and I was about to start my 2nd round of 3 x 5 minutes.
We both finished around the same time, by the Royal Kona resort and jogged home together to our condo.
Thank goodness for hydration belts to keep us well hydrated when running in the Kona heat!
It was a quick change out of sweaty running clothes, into cycling clothes.
We headed out on the bike course, via Makala blvd and made a left onto the Queen K hwy for a smooth effort, 1:45 spin.
The winds were not as gusty at this time of the day compared to yesterday which made for an easier all around effort compared to our/my workout yesterday.
After officially cleaning up from almost 3 hours of training, it was finally time to eat!
Brunch with a view. I just love eating outside on our patio while overlooking the ocean (which is also the Ironman swim course).
The next few hours went by fast as we had some work to get done but then it was time for a 7+ hour tour to the Observatory at Mauna Kea.
Mauna Kea sits in the middle of the island so it took our 14-passenger tour bus around 1:45 to get to 9,000 feet, at the visitor center.
It was really neat to see different sights of the island, with no shortage of ohhs and awws.
As we entered into the clouds, you could feel the temperature drop through the windows.
It was a shock to feel the sudden drop of temps (around 45-50 degrees) at the visitor center.
Our tour gave us vegetarian lasagna and brownies for a dinner around 5pm - both were delicious and very filling.
The rare Silversword plant.
After hanging out at our "base camp" for an hour. We made our way up a gravel road (which eventually turned to pavement) and after 30 minutes of driving, we were almost to the top.
Getting colder!
At just over 13,000 feet, the air was crisp, it was SO cold and it was a little tough to breath. But the sights of sunset were amazing.
A view of all the telescopes.
I'll let the next few pictures speak for themselves. After the sunset, we gazed at the stars through some technology advanced telescopes - which was unreal.
Around 10:45pm, we arrived back at the Kona International Market to end our tour.
What an adventure!
