October 11th

I made it to the finish line - just. I got off to a poor start in the swim. I had to take a time out after less than a minute of swimming. I hung onto a surf board for 30 sec to recover from hits, knocks and all the rest of it. Accordingly, I had to swim through the field and wasted a lot of energy to get back into contention again. Once on the bike I had time to recover further. I rode the first part of the course very easy and I did not start to bike hard until I hit the section leading up to Hawi. In fact, that was the only time during the whole ride I pushed the tempo. In accordance with my game plan I hit T2 with a low average wattage but I still managed a fairly fast bike ride. How come? Well, I have worked a lot on aerodynamics this year and it has paid of. I have saved close to 25 watt on the bike and was still able to bike faster than last year.

October 9th

The hay is in the barn. No more training, no more preparing, no more calculating calories, no more nothing. Just a night's sleep and I am ready for my tenth Kona experience. An anniversary of sorts and one I really look forward to. It’s amazing to think back on each and everyone of my campaigns here on the Big Island. The race has changed so much since 1996 and still the core of the event has remained the same. I guess that is why I have kept coming back too. The challenge of this event does not compare to anything else I have ever done. Certainly during those (hopefully) nine hours of competition you feel very much alive. The hurt is there, the good spirit is there and most importantly the challenge is there. Great!

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