After a surprisingly great night of sleep on Tuesday, we woke up just in time for the sunrise while sitting out on the patio enjoying a pre-workout snack. We wasted no time with our first workout on the island and headed straight to "dig me beach" for a 40-minute open water swim.
Sadly, the water was a bit more cloudy and there weren't a lot of fish. It was also rather warm. However, it still felt amazing to swim in the ocean with the sun shining down on us.
Karel and I swam an easy 40 minutes (~20 minutes out and back). We kept it fairly easy throughout but built the effort on the way back. The focus was just to move blood after travel and to have fun in the ocean.
Even though it's still 10 days out from the 2018 IM World Championship, the swim venue was pretty busy. It was nice to be surrounded with so many triathletes from all different parts of the world. Karel is looking forward to connecting with some of his Czech friends next week.
As we were walking back to our condo, we spotted a turtle!
A local walked by and told us that she has a name and it's "Sandy." So now when we see a turtle, we say hi to Sandy.
I was craving a hearty breakfast after a day filled with snacking on Tuesday (travel day) so I made us pancakes (with the help of a box of Kodiak cakes that I bought at Wal-mart), along with scrambled eggs and chopped fresh fruit (banana, papaya, pineapple).
Karel unpacked our bikes from our Scicon bags and before getting on the bike, we walked to the farmer's market to pick up a few more produce items and then stopped at Daylight mind for fresh bread.
It was then time to head out to the Queen K (Bike course). We first made a quick stop at Bike Works for Co2s on our way out of town and then made our way North on the Queen K for an hour out and an hour back of easy spinning just to wake-up the body again from all the travel. Although we started our ride just before noon, there were still plenty of cyclists out on the road. There are a few lights/stops for the first 6 miles or so (to the airport) and then it's non-stop riding - just you and the elements.
It wasn't crazy windy out but it was windy enough to know that you were in Kona. It was also very warm - drinking two bottles was incredibly easy throughout the ride (INFINIT).
This was the first time that our Ventums traveled to Kona and based on my feedback, the bike rides so well in the wind. As I mentioned in my IMWI race report (it was super windy there), the design of the bike makes it feel like you are slicing through the wind. Of course, I still need to give it the real wind test in Hawi (which I plan to do this weekend) but with the wind that we experienced and the long rolling hills, I felt very controlled, safe and comfortable on my Ventum. I could not be more happy about my decision to switch from my Trek to Ventum just a few months ago. Also, Karel really loves his Ventum. While his back pain isn't 100% gone, it's remarkably improved since switching to the Ventum.
Here are a few more pics from our ride.
I lava you Karel! Sorry, I have been wanting to say that :)
I love my Ventum! This will also likely be my wheel choice for Kona '19 (possibly a deeper rear wheel).
Obligatory bike-lava picture.
After the ride, we ate a later lunch and then spent the next few hours on the computer getting work done. Karel and I took a short walk in the evening as the sun was setting and finished off the evening by watching a few Talbot Cox videos and Super League triathlon (YouTube) on the ipad before bed. We forced ourselves to stay up as late as possible to help with the jet lag so we made it to about 8:30pm before we were both out.
Thursday morning....9 hours of sleep! I couldn't believe that we slept until 5:20am! Our daily morning routine back in Greenville is answering emails and spending a little time on Training Peaks before our first workout of the day so we haven't changed the routine, just the view.
Karel and I both had our typical pre-training snack (Oatmeal for Karel, waffles and yogurt for me) before driving to the Energy Lab for our run.
With the new changes to the run course, we wanted to check out the new layout in and out of the Energy Lab. It looks like the course may have been changed because there is no longer an entrance to the Energy lab from the Queen K (heading North). The new section means more time on the Queen K and in the Energy lab and less time on Ali'i drive.
We purposely wanted to start the run early to avoid running in the hot sun and lucky us, we were blessed with a cloudy sky around 8am. It was still warm but for Kona standards, it was not boiling hot. As always, Karel ran with his Naked Running Belt and I had my Nathan Trail Mix Plus belt. We both had two x 10 ounce flasks for the run. I used Clif Hydration in one and Carbo Rocket in the other and Karel had Clif hydration in both of his flasks.
Karel's run workout was 80-minutes form focused, smooth running. Since I'm not racing, I could suffer a little more so I did my weekly "track" run on the course which was 6 x 1K (.62 miles) w/ 2 minute rest between. I've been doing this workout for the past few weeks and I really enjoy it. I go by feel and run as strong as I can and then review my file when I am finished to see how I did. For this run, I was able to do all 1K's around or under 6:40 min/mile. Karel and I both listened to the latest PPF podcast about conquering Kona. It was a good one and worth listening to.
Here are a few pics from the run (I took them during my recovery intervals).
New section in the Energy lab.
View of the new section in the energy lab from the Queen K.
Queen K
Back section in the Energy lab.
After our run, a few pics and a recovery/rehydration drink, we made a quick stop at Wal-mart for a few more items before heading back to our condo.
We came home to a condo that smelled amazing! Karel's mom made us Vanocka (similar to challah bread) while we were away and I couldn't wait to dig in and have some delicious bread with my breakfast.
We headed back outside to the patio to refuel before getting back to work on the computer (it's not all play for us here. We still gotta pay for all of Campy's toys!)
Around 1:30pm, I gathered some energy for my swim workout only to find that the pool was closed until 3pm (after I arrived). I grabbed a quick snack and headed to the ocean instead.
Karel and his mom headed to the beach/swim start for Karel do a casual open water swim while his mom played around in the water and I headed out for an open water workout.
Holy waves! It was choppy out there! I managed to do a somewhat quality workout but I would have much preferred the pool. My workout was: ~700 warm-up. MS: 3x's: 100 smooth, 100 strong, 100 smooth, 200 strong. I "rested" 10-20 sec between. Rather than swimming out and then back, I used a few buoys as my "course" and swam back and forth along a ~300 yard course. I saw about 5 other people swimming but other than that, it was just me and the fish.
47 minutes later, I finished up my workout and before getting out of the water, I saw Sandy! She was swimming and I am pretty sure she was smiling. As for the rest of the day, it was pretty low key. The days seem to go by slowly throughout the morning but with an early sunset (~6pm), it's easy to get sleepy for an early bedtime. The island is getting more busy with triathletes and I can feel the energy building as we only have a few more sleeps until race week! As a reminder, I am not racing (only Karel). But as a huge fan of the sport, I am so happy I can be here to enjoy everything on this magical island, along with all of the athletes who are racing.