Marni Gear
Amp PR lotion
Squirrels Nut butter anti-chafe cream
Roka Viper X swimskin (sleeveless)
TYR 2.0 Special ops tinted goggles
Castelli San Remo tri one piece kit (pulled down to waste)
Oakley Crisscross power sports bra
Karel Gear
Amp PR lotion
Pjuractive 2skin
Roka Viper X sleeve swimskin
MP Xceed tinted goggles
Castelli San Remo tri one piece kit (pulled down to waste)
Garmin 735 XT
Amp PR lotion
Squirrels Nut butter anti-chafe cream
Roka Viper X swimskin (sleeveless)
TYR 2.0 Special ops tinted goggles
Castelli San Remo tri one piece kit (pulled down to waste)
Oakley Crisscross power sports bra
Karel Gear
Amp PR lotion
Pjuractive 2skin
Roka Viper X sleeve swimskin
MP Xceed tinted goggles
Castelli San Remo tri one piece kit (pulled down to waste)
Garmin 735 XT
When we heard about the new wave start protocol for the 2019 Ironman World Championship, Karel and I were both happy about this change. We have always had our fastest swims with either a wave start or rolling start. I had the "pleasure" of racing Kona in 2007 when it was a mass start and it was pure chaos - super scary at times. And this was when the race "only" had around 1500 athletes. Now, with over 2500 athletes, there are a lot more arms and legs to fight for space in the water. And with over 70% of the IM Kona participants as male athletes, Karel says that the swim start has been crazy - like a boxing match throughout the entire swim.
Karel's wave of male 40-44 went off at 7am and my wave of female 18-39 went off at 7:15am. Karel found the new swim start to be much more pleasant and although there were still a lot of athletes starting together, Karel was still able to find some clean water to keep a normal swim stroke. He lined up on the far left - away from the sighting buoys - around the second line of athletes. As for my wave, I also lined up on the far left but right near the front.
As soon as the horn went off, I started with take-out speed (very hard swimming) to try to get away from the group. Knowing that I would not be even close to the front of this female pack, my focus was to stay on course and to find a small group to stay with. I found myself swimming with 2-3 other purple caps in my wave and we while there were other females ahead of us from the wave, it wasn't long before we re-passed them. With the male 50+ wave starting just 5 minutes in front of us, I found myself swimming past many male athletes by the third and fourth buoy. At this point, I was feeling really good and settling into a good rhythm which felt sustainable and strong. After passing the Royal Kona resort - which is half way to the half way - I found myself needing to swim around more and more male athletes. Other than that, I was feeling great in the water.
Sometimes I found myself right on the buoy line but I tried to position myself so that I'd approach the turn buoy somewhat on the outside to avoid the chaos that comes with so many athletes trying to turn around the same buoy. And in IM Kona, you also have two big boats helping to direct you around the turn buoys. I slowed down considerably around the turn buoys to avoid being kicked and hit by other athletes.
The water was cool but very refreshing. There were some warmer sections and colder sections throughout the 2.4 mile out and back course.
The water was very choppy but I found myself keeping a good rhythm in the water. The sky was cloudy but I was still happy to have my tinted goggles. To avoid getting nauseous in the wavy conditions, I tried to match the rhythm of the water instead of fighting it. This meant sometimes my stroke would increase and sometimes it would slow down so that I could constantly feel like I was grabbing the water and moving myself forward. In the past years of racing IM Kona, I have always found myself getting more and more exhausted in the last 20 minutes of the swim. I like to build my swim effort in the IM distance but in Kona, this was always a big struggle - I found myself slowing down and running out of steam. This year was a big change as I gained confidence in the practice swim from a week prior and on race day, I never felt exhausted or tired. Most of all, I was swimming happy and not finding myself jumping ahead in thoughts. Karel also felt like he didn't get tired in the back half of the swim and was able to keep an efficient and powerful stroke throughout.
Because I don't wear a watch in the swim portion of the triathlon, I had no idea of my swim time. My goal was to break an hour (previous best IM Kona swim time was 1:06 back in 2015) as I felt like that was within my capabilities. As I was nearing the pier, the water became more choppy with athletes and I found myself zig zagging around other athletes before exiting the water. I was anxious to see the clock on the top of the steps in the transition area (before the hoses) to see my time but the clock read an odd time - likely the overall clock and not the age group clock. Because I wasn't sure exactly what time the pro males went off, I wasn't able to do the math to figure out my swim time. Oh bummer - I guess I would have to wait until after the race. Spoiler alert - I swam 59.36 which was 6th fastest in the 35-39 age group. Karel also had a PR swim of 1:03.14.
After exiting the water, I did a quick rinse off under the hoses and then grabbed my blue swim to bike gear bag. It was busy near the male changing tents so I bumped into a few athletes on my way to the female changing tent. The female tent wasn't too busy but I ran to the far end of the tent (easier to exit) and sat down in a chair and started my transition. I had two volunteers helping me. I asked one of the volunteers to remove my chip from my ankle as I put on my compression sock. She then put it back on my ankle after I was finished. Because I don't like anything on my shoulders when I swim without a wetsuit, I rolled down my one piece suit to my waste with my swim skin over it. I made the mistake of not taking off my swim skin right away in the transition area and I told the volunteer lady "don't let me run out of here with my swimskin still on" :) I also made the mistake of putting on the top of my one piece before putting on my heart rate monitor strap so I had to take off the top off again and put on my heart rate strap. I put on my helmet, took a quick sip of water, thanked the volunteers for helping me and then carried my cycling shoes to my bike (which was just behind the yellow inflatable Gatorade bottle). I then put on my cycling shoes, turned on my bike computer and then ran my bike to the mount line. The transition area was really busy so I could only move so fast to get out of there. The mount line was also chaotic as far too many athletes had their shoes clipped into their bike but it was if very few of them knew how to do a flying mount. I ran my bike to the far end of the mount area by the barricades and even that area was busy. I made sure to safely get on my bike and then clipped in and started pedaling my way up the start of the bike on Palani.
Karel's wave of male 40-44 went off at 7am and my wave of female 18-39 went off at 7:15am. Karel found the new swim start to be much more pleasant and although there were still a lot of athletes starting together, Karel was still able to find some clean water to keep a normal swim stroke. He lined up on the far left - away from the sighting buoys - around the second line of athletes. As for my wave, I also lined up on the far left but right near the front.
As soon as the horn went off, I started with take-out speed (very hard swimming) to try to get away from the group. Knowing that I would not be even close to the front of this female pack, my focus was to stay on course and to find a small group to stay with. I found myself swimming with 2-3 other purple caps in my wave and we while there were other females ahead of us from the wave, it wasn't long before we re-passed them. With the male 50+ wave starting just 5 minutes in front of us, I found myself swimming past many male athletes by the third and fourth buoy. At this point, I was feeling really good and settling into a good rhythm which felt sustainable and strong. After passing the Royal Kona resort - which is half way to the half way - I found myself needing to swim around more and more male athletes. Other than that, I was feeling great in the water.
Sometimes I found myself right on the buoy line but I tried to position myself so that I'd approach the turn buoy somewhat on the outside to avoid the chaos that comes with so many athletes trying to turn around the same buoy. And in IM Kona, you also have two big boats helping to direct you around the turn buoys. I slowed down considerably around the turn buoys to avoid being kicked and hit by other athletes.
The water was cool but very refreshing. There were some warmer sections and colder sections throughout the 2.4 mile out and back course.
The water was very choppy but I found myself keeping a good rhythm in the water. The sky was cloudy but I was still happy to have my tinted goggles. To avoid getting nauseous in the wavy conditions, I tried to match the rhythm of the water instead of fighting it. This meant sometimes my stroke would increase and sometimes it would slow down so that I could constantly feel like I was grabbing the water and moving myself forward. In the past years of racing IM Kona, I have always found myself getting more and more exhausted in the last 20 minutes of the swim. I like to build my swim effort in the IM distance but in Kona, this was always a big struggle - I found myself slowing down and running out of steam. This year was a big change as I gained confidence in the practice swim from a week prior and on race day, I never felt exhausted or tired. Most of all, I was swimming happy and not finding myself jumping ahead in thoughts. Karel also felt like he didn't get tired in the back half of the swim and was able to keep an efficient and powerful stroke throughout.
Because I don't wear a watch in the swim portion of the triathlon, I had no idea of my swim time. My goal was to break an hour (previous best IM Kona swim time was 1:06 back in 2015) as I felt like that was within my capabilities. As I was nearing the pier, the water became more choppy with athletes and I found myself zig zagging around other athletes before exiting the water. I was anxious to see the clock on the top of the steps in the transition area (before the hoses) to see my time but the clock read an odd time - likely the overall clock and not the age group clock. Because I wasn't sure exactly what time the pro males went off, I wasn't able to do the math to figure out my swim time. Oh bummer - I guess I would have to wait until after the race. Spoiler alert - I swam 59.36 which was 6th fastest in the 35-39 age group. Karel also had a PR swim of 1:03.14.
After exiting the water, I did a quick rinse off under the hoses and then grabbed my blue swim to bike gear bag. It was busy near the male changing tents so I bumped into a few athletes on my way to the female changing tent. The female tent wasn't too busy but I ran to the far end of the tent (easier to exit) and sat down in a chair and started my transition. I had two volunteers helping me. I asked one of the volunteers to remove my chip from my ankle as I put on my compression sock. She then put it back on my ankle after I was finished. Because I don't like anything on my shoulders when I swim without a wetsuit, I rolled down my one piece suit to my waste with my swim skin over it. I made the mistake of not taking off my swim skin right away in the transition area and I told the volunteer lady "don't let me run out of here with my swimskin still on" :) I also made the mistake of putting on the top of my one piece before putting on my heart rate monitor strap so I had to take off the top off again and put on my heart rate strap. I put on my helmet, took a quick sip of water, thanked the volunteers for helping me and then carried my cycling shoes to my bike (which was just behind the yellow inflatable Gatorade bottle). I then put on my cycling shoes, turned on my bike computer and then ran my bike to the mount line. The transition area was really busy so I could only move so fast to get out of there. The mount line was also chaotic as far too many athletes had their shoes clipped into their bike but it was if very few of them knew how to do a flying mount. I ran my bike to the far end of the mount area by the barricades and even that area was busy. I made sure to safely get on my bike and then clipped in and started pedaling my way up the start of the bike on Palani.