Lavaman

[rmakela]

Hi all,

I'm fairly new to the team and forum - but as some of you know I have the privilege to be heading to Hawaii for LAVAMAN this weekend (please don’t hate me for it). Several people have asked for a race report - so I thought I'd create a placeholder to post the results.

At this point, I'm three workouts, two plane rides and one wake-up away from the race on Sunday. Since we planned our family trip before I planned to do the race, we're unfortunately flying on United, have a connecting flight in SF and will (hopefully) arrive Saturday morning in Kona. I'm renting a Tri bike from Cycle Station - not ideal, but it's a family vacation first, right? (and it's now $350 to bring your bike on United.) I'm carrying my pedals, shoes and race gear on the plane with me, so as long as I can physically get there I should be ok to race.

Stay tuned - I'll try to post sometime Sunday afternoon, after a siesta in the sun. Weather forecast for race day is 80 and partial sun, water temp is about 77. So much for acclimation, but I am looking forward to a week with no gortex, tights or fenders on the bike! I'll try to bring some sunshine home with us, I promise.


Ray

[BryanU]

Hey, good luck this weekend Ray.

By the way, where did you get the info on the bike cost on United? I looked it up on their site last week and saw $175 each way but I called them about 2 hours ago and was told $85 each way. I am definitely planning on calling again to confirm the cost!

[rmakela]

I should have had you call for me Bryan! I looked into this a few months back when I decided to register, but the higher surcharge was relatively new at the time. Perhaps they've gotten so much back lash that they're being more lenient. Good to know.

[jrplatt]

I hope you a nice warm race (which shouldn't be a problem). Be sure to stock up on Mountain Thunder Coffee as I personally think it is the best coffee ever! You can get it at Costco for $10/bag cheaper than out in town.

Best of Luck!

Jeff

[BryanU]

I used to fly with a bike and/or kayaks a lot and I don't know how many times I've called for baggage info and gotten different information each time. In addition, I've had different people at the airport try to charge me totally different amounts for things. I'm going to call a few more times before I trust any one of them, for sure! $350 is just an outrageous amount to charge for a bike - especially on flights that have plenty of room.

[benbiggles]

Yeah I received an email from United with the $175 each way price, extortionate.

Looking forward to your updates Ray and remember call/email me with any last minute stuff. You will rock that course.

[MikePritch]

Good luck Ray. look forward to hearing how the day goes. if it gets to hot over there, just think back to that Saturday ride a couple weeks ago.

[rmakela]

Good but TOUGH day for me at Lavaman yesterday. I tried to write this last night, but I fell asleep at the keyboard. . .

Finished about 10 minutes slower than expected, but had a great race, learned a lot, and hey I'm in Hawaii, right?

Swim: 26:22:00 (including 400 meter run up beach)
TI: 2:16
Bike: 1:11:40
T2: 1:23
Run: 49:14:00 (more on this later)
Finish: 2:30:55

Swim felt pretty good. Saw the guy next to me just before the start bring up a foot full of sea urchin quills. Ouch. Heard of at least one other swimmer running into this. Lesson: don't step down without looking!

Started catching swimmers from the wave in front of me (3 minute waves) at the first turn. Wasn't able to draft much after that as the faster group I was with had to weave through 300 swimmers and I wasn't able to stay on anyone's feet. Finished the swim at 25:15 watch time, but had a 400 meter run up to T1. Split said I was 10th out of the water in AG, out of 47.

T1 was ok, no wetsuit to worry about. Headed out on the bike feeling pretty good. Made biggest mistake of the race here, as I dropped my only water bottle about 5 minutes in. I knew there was a water exchange at the turn around, so I figured I didn't have much choice and had 25-30 minutes to go without water. May have paid for this later.

My split on the bike was about 34 minutes, picked up another water bottle and initially came back faster, averaging about 23-25. As we crested the last hill with about 5 miles to go, we got slammed with a 20+mph headwind. I fought to keep 15mph the rest of the way. At this point I was also suffering from the rented Tri bike, as my back and seat were screaming from less than optimum fitting. Given the schedule the day before I only got about 15 minutes in on the bike and it wasn't quite right anyway. Not a recommended travel plan. . .

Made it through T2, and started the run back into the headwind. Could feel that my legs had suffered from the last 5 miles on the bike, and from getting up at 3:30AM Saturday morning and traveling for 8 hours.

Run was going a bit slower than I planned, turning over 7:30's most of the way until mile 5 when we hit the lava trail run and I blew up. This is literally an ancient trail along the beach, made up of fist-sized lava rock with many sharp turns and jagged edges. I've had some foot and ankle problems over the past year, so I was reluctant to push along this stretch and I was lucky to maintain 9-10 minute miles along here. My legs were toast. (Note to self - add trail running and ankle work into training before next Lavaman).

As if the lava rock trail wasn't bad enough, the final 1/4 mile stretch (see picture) is all soft sand. At this point I was spent, cursing the race directors, the Hawaiian gods and anyone else I could think of as I just tried to keep moving. Sprint to the finish? Not this race.

In the 45-49 AG, I was 10th out of the water, 10th on the bike and 15th on the run (and I generally run better than I bike). This was a regional Age Group qualifier, so 10th in Age Group overall was enough to qualify for AG nationals - for whatever that's worth.

95th of 800 overall, and only 40 minutes behind Chris McCormack, who won it in 1:50:29!

Overall, really fun race and would definitely do it again with a few changes to the travel plans and race strategy. Don’t plan on a PR though. . .

Hope this wasn't TMI, but is always helpful to get it down in writing after a race.

Mahalo,

Ray

[benbiggles]

Great race report Ray, and definitely not TMI.

Looking at your race things that compromised your performance:

1. Dropping the bottle and not stopping to pick it up!
2. Maybe you just never mentioned it but what calories did you ingest (I know we talked about it)?
3. Renting a bike and having it in your possession less than 24 hours before race day.
4. Arriving for a destination race the day before (especially when crossing three time zones, no matter whether east/west or vice versa).

Otherwise (depending on your answer to the calorie question) I would say given the time of the year and training done this is a decent result. And yes AG Nationals should be on the calendar now.

Well done.

[Kara]

Great job Ray. It sounds like a really challenging course and adding in a different bike and traveling the day before the race is borderline insane! Nice job:)

[jrplatt]

Nice report and good job, Ray!

Maybe if you bring your own bike next year, you will be able to catch Macca:D!!

PS- I would much rather have a suffer-fest of a race in Hawaii, than an easy training day in Seattle!

[rmakela]

Great race report Ray, and definitely not TMI.

Looking at your race things that compromised your performance:

1. Dropping the bottle and not stopping to pick it up!
2. Maybe you just never mentioned it but what calories did you ingest (I know we talked about it)?
3. Renting a bike and having it in your possession less than 24 hours before race day.
4. Arriving for a destination race the day before (especially when crossing three time zones, no matter whether east/west or vice versa).

Otherwise (depending on your answer to the calorie question) I would say given the time of the year and training done this is a decent result. And yes AG Nationals should be on the calendar now.

Well done.


Thanks Ben - on nutrition, I had about 500 calories two hours before the race (bagel, yogurt, orange juice), a cliff bar before the race (230 calories) and three GU's on the bike (300 calories). Could have used that water bottle full of Gatorade though. . .

I sipped Gatorade at each water stop on the run, but it might have been too late. I did feel like I bonked at the end, some combination of heat, hydration or nutrition probably.

[scotth]

Quick note on bikes / planes ... I took my Tri bike last week on the plane to Maui and the cost was $100 both ways on Hawaiian after I was told that it was $100 round trip from customer service.

As for HA, the water was 74 and perfect. Have a great race and enjoy your family.

Scott