Kevin Moats | Age Group Excellence: Running Off the Bike

Age Group Excellence - Part 2: The Challenges of Kona

By Kevin Moats

As an experienced Ironman, the ironman distance in itself is not daunting. You have completed a few ironman races, and you can go the distance. So now you are racing Kona for the first time.

The Kona’s unique mix of heat, humidity and shifting winds elevates the race to an extreme level.

I have competed in Kona for 20 years, and have been able to experience the course during various months of the year. In all those times, the course is rarely gentle or forgiving. Due to the simple fact that the island heats up during the day, the winds will be against you in the morning as you head north through the Saddle area, (the 30 miles between the airport and Kwaehae), since the prevailing evening and early morning wind is out of the northeast. At about 10 am, as the island heats up, the wind shifts and starts blowing from the south west or westerly direction, so that on your return from Hawi and Kwaehae you will suddenly have another 20 to 25 MPH headwind for 20-30 miles.

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Much is made of the headwinds climbing up to Hawi, but, at least from the turnaround on your return to the bottom of the climb, you are guaranteed a tail wind. The more pernicious part of the course is to be greeted by a headwind where by all rights you should have a tailwind from mile 75 to 100. By now it is extremely hot and you are grinding up the rolling hills directly into a 20 mph headwind at 12 MPH , wondering if it will ever end. All you can do is grind it out, and drink, and eat.

1st piece of advice. Get yourself to Kona at least 8 to 10 days before the race.

Even if you have been training all summer on the mainland, by October it has cooled down and you have lost part of you heat acclimatization. It is not good enough to just arrive in Kona a week ahead. You must train in the heat to maximize your acclimatization. Sitting in an air conditioned hotel room is not going to help. So you must arrive far enough in advance so you can actually train before your heavy taper.

2nd Piece of advice: Break down the bike course and ride each phase of it, if you don’t ride the entire course at once.

You need to experience the devastating headwinds, first hand, for no other reason, so you know you can get through it.

3rd Piece of Advice: Test your race food and drink in true Ironman conditions.

What works in 75 to 85 degree temperatures at a moderate pace, may cause stomach distress at 85 to 95 degrees at a hard pace. Your food and drink may be pretty unpalatable in the extreme conditions of Kona. You need to take in calories, so be sure you can. Often, soy based products just can’t be digested under extreme conditions. If you find your stomach shutting down, drink pure water to dilute your food/drink, so you can keep absorbing food/water.

Test your food and drink. Your race depends on it. How many stories have you heard of athletes just could not eat or drink. Be sure you can digest your food or absorb your fluids. Don’t wait until race day.

4th Piece of Advice: Prepare to go hard on the bike for the first two hours.

You are racing the wind shift, and the sooner you get to Hawi the better chance you have of missing the worse of the headwinds.

5th piece of Advice: Hold back during the first part of the run.

Typically you will start the run the hottest part of the day, overheated and dehydrated from the bike. The tendency is to be hell bent on catching everyone in your age group in the first 10 K of the run. Be patient. As you settle into the run and take fluids at each aid station and sponge yourself off, your body temp will drop, then you can start cranking. Hopefully the clouds will move in around 2 to 3 pm, so that you will be able to push the pace later in the race, at lower temperatures.

6th Piece of Advice: Do at least one pool swim workout the week of Ironman.

If you do only open water swimming there is a tendency to lose a sense of pace and correct stroke technique.

There is a free public pool in Kona- Kona Aquatic center. I would suggest one workout with a good warmup, stroke drills and set of 100’s to get you ready for race day.

So that’s it for now. Get yourself to Kona as far in advance as your job, spouse, and pocket book will allow. Experience the bike course as much as you can. Test your race day nutrition under extreme conditions. Go hard early in the bike to minimize the headwinds, and hold back on first part on the run, so you can run the hardest in the cooler part of the day. Don’t just hang out at Dig me Beach. Swim at least once a week in a pool.

Good luck and good racing.
Kevin Moats - Ironman Champion

Other articles from Kevin:

Articles from Kevin:
The Eight-Week Winter Marathon, or Early Season Triathlon Training - Age Group Excellence: Part 1: Running Off the Bike - Part 2: The Challenges of Kona - How to train to run 26.2 Miles after swimming 2.4 miles and bicycling 112 - The Mid-Season Break - 30 Days to Kona: Peaking/Tapering for the Big One - Kona Spring Training Camp -10 Things about Training - Winter Break and Off Season Training - Turnaround Buoy in Kona! - Lavaman Race Report

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