Road to Kona 2006

The Good: I finished this race. Ultimately, that is a good thing here.
The Bad: Hamstring pretty much blown. I am not running until pain free, no matter how long it takes this time.
The Ugly: I ran an entire IM with a HR average 8 beats below the top of my zone 1. Yikes!

These races are all different, and all great in the end. Everyone has something to overcome it seems. Whether it be an injury, inner demons, or anything in between. I had a great race in my mind and was happy to have endured the season with my limitations. Yes I re-injured my leg over and over again, and it was 90 % better in the weeks going in. I was still training for a PR if it happened to be my day though. Training for bigger things was my goal, and that is the chance I took on this one. That's life and that is what its about for me. The good news is my perceived effort and HR on this course. With the exception on my leg, I felt great all day.

The swim was great. Everyone about 5 minutes slow due to the currents, but minimal swells. I started dead last with Ann because we planned on starting together. Unfortunately, time lost being behind hundreds of people swimming much more slowly. My potential draft from those swimming my goal pace was lost. I swam about 10 minutes several yards parallel to Ann to keep an eye on her. Once she looked like she was in the groove of things, I pulled off. Overall though, very happy and felt great. The plan was to start with Ann and let her make the call on where, and it was great chatting and a final kiss before the cannon.

T1: Slow. Got a 1 minute massage in the tent before I changed. Precautionary for my hamstring.
Bike: Hamstring, yeah, same old story. Brought it up to 230 Watts and felt comfortable around 21.5 mph at this power. Hamstring slowly getting tighter, and by mile 20 or so, I just had to back off. Held watts to mile 100 at 200 and hamstring tight but OK. I knew I was only going about 19 but I really didnt care. My ultimate goal was to be able to run as far as I could without having to walk or drop. Final 12 miles we caught a nice tail wind and my 200 watts carried me at 23-24 mph. I was fairly disracted on the bike because of my Wed. incident...I really wasnt sure how my leg would hold up in the marathon. Would I be walking at mile 1? 6? 15? I had no idea.

T2: The nice 90 second run around the transition started up my hamstring. Yelled for ART guys as I jogged into tent and they were all over my leg. This helped.

Run: Got off the first 4 miles nearly pain free. Then the insidious tightness began, so I backed off. Back into town, running 8:00-8:15 was causing me to limp on the leg but it felt stable so I pushed on. I saw Ann on the turn around and yelled at her "remember mile 10...this race is about the final 16 miles!" I was referring to getting up Palani hill strictly in Zone 1, then "starting" her race from there. I ran Very slow up Palani hill, around a 11 min mile. Once on the hwy toward enery lab, I got into a groove for 5 minutes, but the slant on the road was havoc on my leg. I was forced to slow to 8:30-9. Massaging my glut and ham while running helped a bit.
Out at energy lab, I stopped for a 30 second stretch at special needs. I just bent down and held a stretch. I knew I could walk in from here so I took off at 8's and screw it...at mile 18, you are virturally home free. I had 6 hours to walk it in!
I found a guy from Norway who was in a similar struggle, so we ran together and chatted. Coming up the hill from energy lab I saw Ann...what? I quickly calculated she was only 12 minutes behind me. I knew I was on pace to come in around 10:45 at the pace I was holding so this meant Ann could break 11 hours. I was elated at this as I knew she must have been having a killer marathon..which was the plan.
I kept thinking of this for a few miles and finally had to stop. I said goodbye to my Norway friend and started walking every few minutes from mile 21. If I walked 12 minutes or so, Ann should catch me. I couldnt run this race 12 minutes in front of her when she was on the cusp of breaking 11 hours. I told a few volunteers to look for her and tell her that I was waiting for her. I figured I could "pace her in"

A few hundred yards prior to mile 23, Ann flew by me. I took off to catch her. Hamstring tightening up, but the walking helped tremendously. Her next mile...7:35. I couldnt talk to her as she was focused and in the zone. Mile 24? 7:28....she was hammering so fast at that point that people were not yelling great job...I would only here stuff like "oh my God" or "look at that girl!"
Her final mile, like mine last year, was a hammer-fest I wont soon forget. We were clearly under 7 min pace, and she caught 3-4 more women, and we passed 5-6 men from my age group.
My hamstring nearly gave out multiple times, almost collapsing but I didnt care. I was not letting Ann out of my sight. She passed a final 25-29 age woman with 800 meters to go and the girl made an attempt for about 25 meters to chase down Ann. Ann blew her up as she rounded the final stretch down Alii drive. I backed off to let Ann finish. She deserved it. To finish alone and on her own...with no one taking up any space around her as she crossed the line.
For Ann to average sub 8 for her marathon...here at Kona is staggering to me. I knew and had the plan for her to run around 8:40-45, but she amazed me with her patience and raw drive in the final 10K.
Ann's stats:
11th in the world in her age group, the top runner. Not counting pro's, 6th fastest amature female in the marathon. Sub 11 hours. All great numbers for her second season. She stuck to our plan all summer, even though some of the running workouts were unusual for her to say the least. She put it all together and ran a great race. I cant wait until she runs a fast course at Roth with her current fitness! (fingers crossed...Roth can be hot and humid)