The town of Kailua Kona is getting crazy. Crazy busy that is.
There is so much going on all day every day, that it's hard to not be overly busy all day.
On Wednesday morning, we started the day with a 7am swim at the pier.
No surprise, it was packed.
Every where you look, there is signage and booths.
We met up with the PPF crew for a quick talk by Matt regarding sighting (hint: don't sight just for buoys, sight on landmarks by your turn buoys and by the finish to help keep you on course) and then we were off into the water for a 25-30 minute swim w/ a few efforts.
Justine and I did our efforts together (with a stop at the Clif Bar coffee boat for a refreshment mid swim) which included 6 x 3 min strong efforts w/ rest as needed in between.
After the swim, we quickly changed into our cycling gear for a ride.
Karel joined us for just the warm-up and then he was off. Leigh Ann and Justine both included 3 x 6 min build efforts w/ 4 min EZ in between for a 75 minute ride.
I rode along for the company.
Gotta be on the look out for Paparazzi!
They are everywhere!
Even on the side of the road on the Queen K hwy.
Since we didn't ride too far past the airport, the winds stayed relatively calm for all three intervals.
Karel had to make sure he took his obligatory lava field photos with his bike.
We finished the ride just before 10am which meant a quick shower and smoothie (I'm loving adding papaya to my whey and milk smoothies - so creamy!) before heading to the expo.
Clif Bar asked me to take part in the nutrition expo panel at 11am to talk about the on course sport nutrition products for the IM athletes, specific to Clif Bar.
I was joined on stage by Gatorade, Base Performance and Hot Shot.
Karel came to the expo soon after I started the talk so it was nice to see him in the audience. By 11:30am, we were done so it was time to finally check out the IM Kona expo.
Karel is loving all of the bike stuff in Kona. It's hard to stump Karel with a bike question as he knows everything and anything about bikes because he is always learning, researching and staying up-to-date with all things bikes.
We had a few hours of downtime before it was time to get on our bikes and head to the Clif Bar BBQ. So much to do!
It's easy to bump into familiar faces in Kona. Hello Colleen!
It was so great to hang out with some familiar faces and to get some IM Kona advice (for our first timers Justine and Leigh Ann) from Linsey Corbin and Sarah Piampiano.
We enjoyed some salted watermelon non-alcoholic drinks to keep us cool while noshing on some fresh fruit.
We are rooting for Clif Bar CEO Kevin who will be racing his first IM World Championship on Saturday (2nd Ironman). It's pretty cool to see a CEO do an IM but I think this just speaks about the lifestyle of the Clif Bar employees in that this company breaths and lives physical activity.
I was super happy to connect with my friend/Clif Bar contact Lisa, who will be keeping me busy on Thursday with some Clif Bar activities.
After the BBQ, it was time to relax after a long day of well, having a lot of fun.
I want to send a huge shout out to Boco Gear for hooking us up with the full line of the 2016 Kona limited edition hats.
You can make your purchase for a stylish, functional and comfortable hat HERE.
The next blog post will feature the famous underpants run!