Well today is our first day on the big island of Hawaii, after a long 27 hours of travel yesterday. Happily through we, bikes and bags all arrived in one piece. Probably half the people on the plane from LA to kona were compression clad ironmen and ironwomen. My plan of sleeping on the first flight and staying awake on the second was completely reversed as i found myself wide awake pretty much the whole way from london and had a marathon movie watching session instead. I think I managed to annoy the lady next to me with my incessant giggling throughout the A team.
After a long wait at the hire car place we crammed 3 bikes, 4 large bags, 4 carry on bags and 4 people into the dodge! caravan and found our apartment or condo as the Americana's call them. Which is beautiful - just off Alii drive, on the seafront. The surf is up at the moment, so waves are crashing up over the first sea wall, hope it settles down for next weekend.
Today has been a quite day. A treat of first day of holiday breakfast at Lava Java (the triathlete's cafe - Jo Lawn and Craig Alexander sat down at the table next to us, both looking very race fit. Simon's pretty much in Heaven, being a complete tri geek.) a stop at the farmers market for fresh fruit and veg. Then followed a confusing and drawn out trip to Safeway's and a lovely swim in the sea before lunch. My Cd 0.1's now built so going take it out for a short spin in a bit, to hopefully loosen off our legs from our day of forced inactivity yesterday. I'm very excited this will be the first ride with race wheels on :-)
I think that having been here before in 2008, i feel more relaxed knowing what to expect and how everyone is eyeing each other up. I don't think i am in the best shape i could be in having struggled with injury since Ironman UK. But despite this i am looking forward to racing and pulling off the best day i can.
Thursday, 30 September 2010
Saturday, 11 September 2010
My New Ride
It's been 3 weeks since my last post, mostly due to the monsters living in our computer only being banished last week, but mostly i'
ve been holding out to be able to show a picture of my new bike. My lovely Quintana Roo Cd0.1 frame arrived 3 weeks ago, but I have been waiting (in)patiently for the brakes to arrive, which they finally did last Monday. I love riding my Lucero and was definitely sad to be parted from it, but this bike is fantastic. I'm not a bike geek, so will not be using any mumbo gumbo to describe it, but it feels fast. It is really responsive, it goes uphill well and descends well, feeling really stiff, which i am kindly informed by Simon that it's because of the size of the bottom bracket! My second ride today was in the rain and wind (so it now needs a clean :-(!!) I rode 110 miles, mostly on the tri bars and was so comfy and fast. As a bonus when stopped at traffic lights, a number of people commented how good it looked. I 'm looking forward to riding it with race wheels on now - Roll on Hawaii x
My preparations for Hawaii have not been going to plan, but are hopefully getting back on track. The 100 mile Time trail was a complete disaster. It was a miserably wet and cold day and at about 30 miles in my left glut and back tightened up and steadily got worse. I pushed on until the 50 mile mark, when i just decided to ride steady, rather than race. By that point i was pretty much only pedalling with my right leg. I still don't know what triggered it, possibly the fall i took in T1 at Ironman UK, combined with complete rest then building back up training) or the slight knock/bruise on my glut which i gave myself by falling into a plinth at work, which at the time felt minor. For whatever reason my glut medius and piriformis muscles have been causing me a lot of pain and I've not be able to run since. At the beginning of this week i was completely feed up, as it hadn't really got any better. But I now feel a corner has been turned. on Thursday I asked a friend and physio lecture/practitioner to take a look, unable to find anything major only some tightness, tenderness and scar tissue in piriformis and glut medius, and a slight weakness in my left hip internal rotators and glut/hamstring combination, he advised a go for a run, (stopping if the pain increased). So Friday morning, for the first time in 3 weeks i headed out for a proper run. I could feel tightness in my left glut but to my surprise the pain didn't get any worse. nor did it get any worse throughout the day. If anything it got better. It was only a 30 min run yesterday and 10 minutes off a long bike today, but definitely feel a corner has been turned. Good job since Kona is only 4 weeks away.
Since my last post i have been at another Ironman triathlon, but this time in a supporting capacity. Simon raced the Big Woody Triathlon, on the 28th August. A last minute
swim venue change, due to blue/green algae meant the swim was held in an old quarry, which was spectacular at sun rise, but also gave the athletes a steep and stoney run up to transition. The swim was on the short side, but the athletes then faced a 109 mile hilly bike ride, before a 4 lap trail run. Simon looked strong and comfortable throughout the day. I performed my race day duties of cheering and handing up bottles, with precision. I even managed to get a couple of sneak
y bike rides in around these duties. The only time i started to worry that Simon's day wasn't going to plan, was when he came back to the turnaround after the 3rd lap. He was looking a bit pale and my words of encouragement, were meet wi
th what can only be described as a grunt. Happily through Simon confronted and defeated his Ironman demons and finished in 10:18 and in 3rd place.
I've got 2 1/2 weeks of training left, before we fly out to Hawaii. I'm getting excited. Flights - check. Apartment - Check. Insurance - check. Visa - Check. ridiculously oversized SUV hired to lug Simon, myself, Yvette and Steve and 3 bikes (Simon's taking his P4! ) around Hawaii -Check.
Happy Training
Sarah x
ve been holding out to be able to show a picture of my new bike. My lovely Quintana Roo Cd0.1 frame arrived 3 weeks ago, but I have been waiting (in)patiently for the brakes to arrive, which they finally did last Monday. I love riding my Lucero and was definitely sad to be parted from it, but this bike is fantastic. I'm not a bike geek, so will not be using any mumbo gumbo to describe it, but it feels fast. It is really responsive, it goes uphill well and descends well, feeling really stiff, which i am kindly informed by Simon that it's because of the size of the bottom bracket! My second ride today was in the rain and wind (so it now needs a clean :-(!!) I rode 110 miles, mostly on the tri bars and was so comfy and fast. As a bonus when stopped at traffic lights, a number of people commented how good it looked. I 'm looking forward to riding it with race wheels on now - Roll on Hawaii xMy preparations for Hawaii have not been going to plan, but are hopefully getting back on track. The 100 mile Time trail was a complete disaster. It was a miserably wet and cold day and at about 30 miles in my left glut and back tightened up and steadily got worse. I pushed on until the 50 mile mark, when i just decided to ride steady, rather than race. By that point i was pretty much only pedalling with my right leg. I still don't know what triggered it, possibly the fall i took in T1 at Ironman UK, combined with complete rest then building back up training) or the slight knock/bruise on my glut which i gave myself by falling into a plinth at work, which at the time felt minor. For whatever reason my glut medius and piriformis muscles have been causing me a lot of pain and I've not be able to run since. At the beginning of this week i was completely feed up, as it hadn't really got any better. But I now feel a corner has been turned. on Thursday I asked a friend and physio lecture/practitioner to take a look, unable to find anything major only some tightness, tenderness and scar tissue in piriformis and glut medius, and a slight weakness in my left hip internal rotators and glut/hamstring combination, he advised a go for a run, (stopping if the pain increased). So Friday morning, for the first time in 3 weeks i headed out for a proper run. I could feel tightness in my left glut but to my surprise the pain didn't get any worse. nor did it get any worse throughout the day. If anything it got better. It was only a 30 min run yesterday and 10 minutes off a long bike today, but definitely feel a corner has been turned. Good job since Kona is only 4 weeks away.
Since my last post i have been at another Ironman triathlon, but this time in a supporting capacity. Simon raced the Big Woody Triathlon, on the 28th August. A last minute
swim venue change, due to blue/green algae meant the swim was held in an old quarry, which was spectacular at sun rise, but also gave the athletes a steep and stoney run up to transition. The swim was on the short side, but the athletes then faced a 109 mile hilly bike ride, before a 4 lap trail run. Simon looked strong and comfortable throughout the day. I performed my race day duties of cheering and handing up bottles, with precision. I even managed to get a couple of sneak
y bike rides in around these duties. The only time i started to worry that Simon's day wasn't going to plan, was when he came back to the turnaround after the 3rd lap. He was looking a bit pale and my words of encouragement, were meet wi
th what can only be described as a grunt. Happily through Simon confronted and defeated his Ironman demons and finished in 10:18 and in 3rd place.I've got 2 1/2 weeks of training left, before we fly out to Hawaii. I'm getting excited. Flights - check. Apartment - Check. Insurance - check. Visa - Check. ridiculously oversized SUV hired to lug Simon, myself, Yvette and Steve and 3 bikes (Simon's taking his P4! ) around Hawaii -Check.
Happy Training
Sarah x
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