Kona World Championships Video Link

Someone was cool enough to upload a recording of the Kona Ironman World Championships to YouTube, and then Jason was cool enough to post it on his blog, so I'm going forward with that and also posting it on my blog. It's a RB (ReBlog). Really cool to watch and so much easier in an hour-long chunk rather than watching it on Ironmanlive.com over the course of the day. I dare you to not be amazed out loud by the guys at the end, coming in at 16 hours+. To me, they are more impressive than the guys and gals finishing in 8:something. Try not to get teary.Try not to be motivated to get out and do something.



If the video doesn't work on the page follow this link.
Thanks Jason, and thanks Random Dude From the YouTubes.

Special Ironman Kona Interview: Sean Price (Part 2)

If you missed Part 1, click here
Part 2:

DF: Can you describe the Kona experience? Since it is the World Championship race is the atmosphere very different from other IM races? You've made mention of the massive amount of advertising everywhere, is that increased in Kona? Does it detract from your enjoyment of the event itself?

SP: Before I went to Kona I had people tell me over and over that "Kona is all about the pro's." After experiencing it myself I have to agree. And since it is the world championships and you (mostly) had to qualify to get there, it seemed that the vast majority of athletes had an ego. Not everyone, but more than enough that it seemed the norm. 

DF: Would you describe the other athletes as friendly? Is it a here-for-me mentality or more of an everyone-helps-everyone-else community?

SP: I think that in the shorter distance tri people tend to have more fun. In the longer distance events people tend to take it more serioiusly. With some justification I suppose. You work hard to get there so they're a pretty focused group. Some people are friendly. Others just look upon you as someone to beat. 

DF: Triathlon is one of the few sports where the elites and professionals compete alongside the amateurs. Have you ever met any elite athletes when at a race? Do you even follow triathlon and know/care who is who?

SP: I recognize names of the top athletes but damm if I could pick them out of a crowd. 

DF: How did your race go?

SP: The swim was rougher than I anticipated, which is saying a lot as I was expecting nothing short of brutality. The pros went off a 1/2 hour ahead of us age groupers which is nice for them as there was a total of 80 pros. They had open water to swim in. For us...not so much. When the gun went off for us age groupers I was in the water with 1,850 people, all fighting for the same slice of water. I generally try to sprint to the front, find open water and settle in. At Kona, the vast majority of swimmers seemed to be at my level of swimming ability so there was no open water to be found. I hit the first buoy and came to a dead stop because of the mass of bodies. It looked like a bunch of seals fighting for fish and you could literally have walked over the bodies. I dove straight down and swam underwater to the left for 30 seconds to get out of it. After that I stayed way way outside and kept away from the mess. Even with that I only remember a few times that I was not following bubbles or white water. I remember getting elbowed, shoved and on one memorable occasion, someone grabbed my foot and almost dislocated my big toe. My toe hurt throughout the race and I limped through T1. I was not happy. 

Define: Mass Start

The bike was...well...as expected. Hot, windy, long and lots of hills. I had a plan and I stuck to it. I got passed by hundreds of people--literally, hundreds--but didn't worry about it. They had their race. I had mine. The only thing that rubbed me the wrong way was the massive (and I mean MASSIVE) amounts of drafting. See, there is the "no drafting" rule in triathons. You see a bit of it regardless because it's a long course and the motorcycle referees can't be everywhere but I was staggered by the amount of it I saw. I'm talking groups of 40-50 riders blowing past me at times. I'm slogging away into the headwind and a group would go past doing probably 25 mph, which is easy to do in a peloton. I'm really only racing myself so I suppose it shouldn't bother me if people cheat but that was so blatant that it just pissed me off. 

Drafting? Nah...

The run went better than I thought. I was pleasantly suprised to find it a mostly flat course. There were some inclines but I would hesitate to call them "hills". It was hot hot hot, but I filled my cap with ice at every aid station (one every mile), grabbed water and slogged on. The miles went by. I would have loved to have done the run faster but my run training had been seriously lagging due to injuries so I'm pretty happy with the time I ended up with. I expected slower. 

DF: I always hear people talking about the heat and the wind when they talk about this course. Are they as bad as it sounds? The Ironman website had reports coming in that the pavement temperature was breaking 130 degrees. How brutal is that?

SP: My most vivid memory from the race was while I was on the bike. As far ahead as I could see was just a line of bikers--like marching ants--heading up an endless hill until the view was distorted by the heat shimmer off the asphalt. It was everything I expected.

DF: What is the hardest part of bike course? The run course? Why are those points so difficult, because of the grade or because of where they fall in the race distance-wise?

SP: For the bike, it would definitely be the climb to Hawi. The winds and the incline alone make it a winner. The only saving grace for that is that it's at the half-way point so you're reasonably fresh and you know you have a screaming fast downhill to look forward to.  A close second would probably be miles 80-100. You're tired, you're doing a gradual relentless incline and the winds are just making you mash the pedals. That's the point I just wanted the bike to be over. 

The run course? Hard to say but I'd have to go with the turn around at the Natural Energy lab. It's at miles 17-20, relentless sun and some inclines. 

DF: Do you feel more prepared for it than some other age-groupers because you get to train here year-round?

SP: Without question. And I suspect the local Big Island residents have a HUGE home couse advantage. 

DF: What was your goal time going into Kona? Is it slower/faster than your goal time for other Iron-distance races? Did you achieve your goal?

SP: I was hoping for a faster time than my previous IM (NZL), but was not sure how realistic it would be given that Kona is a much harder couse that NZL. When all was said and done I had a new PR by 40 minutes. I can't complain. :)

DF: How difficult is it to get a good nutrition plan together for a race this long? Do you stop at the aid stations to re-fill and refuel or cruise through picking up stuff as you go?

SP: Nutrition can make or break you on race day. It's not something you leave to chance. If you don't plan for it you're almost guaranteed to bonk. IM supplies Powerbar products (gels and bars) and Ironman Perform (electroyle drinks) along with water at the bike aid stations. I don't do Powerbar so I had to bring my own calories. I packed all the calories I needed for the bike and make sure I consumed them on schedule. For liquid, I just do water, so at each station I would toss the empty bottles, slow down, grab a full one from a volunteer and continue on. I had electrolyte tablets that I took every 10 miles. I exited the bike fully hydrated and with energy to spare so that all went well.  

DF: Why do something like this? Is it because you love the challenge? You want to prove something to yourself? It keeps you sane? WHY seems like the biggest question a non-endurance athlete has when they hear about Ironman. How do you answer?

SP: The first time I did an IM was to prove to myself I could. Now I do it for the continuing challenge to see how well I can do. IM is definitely not the hardest event I  have done (a 100 mile run is by far tougher) but it is by no means a trivial event so I really like the challenge. 

I really appreciate Sean taking the time to answer my questions. It was very cool for him to talk about his training and his race with me. And for you numbers junkies out there, we'll finish off with Mr. Price's splits and finish time.

2.4mi swim- 1:08:53 (1:47/100m pace)

T1- 6:55

112 mi bike- 6:01:41 (18.58mph avg.)

T2- 6:01

26.2mi run- 4:32:22 (10:23/mi pace)

Overall time- 11:55:52

Special Ironman Kona Interview: Sean Price (Part 1)

Dirtbag team members and friends, have I got a gift for you!
This past weekend was the Ford Ironman World Championships, held right here in Hawaii. Well, not right here. Just to the south, on the Big Island. Known as one of the most brutal Ironman courses due to the high island winds and killer tropical temperatures, Kona is spoken of with respect among crazy people who think spending all day breaking their bodies into tiny little pieces in the hot sun is a fun day out. The pro results were exciting, with Australian Craig "Crowie" Alexander setting a new course record while destroying the men's field and Great Britain's Queen of Ironman, Chrissie Wellington, overcoming a late training crash to conquer Kona for the fourth time.
But we aren't pros here at Dirtbag Fitness. Every triathlon magazine and website in the world is talking about Wellington and Crowie. What about the amateur? The age grouper who isn't sponsored by Powerbar, Trek, and Your Mom's Secret Energy Drink? Dirtbag Fitness wants to know about those people and their Kona experience. Lucky for me, I know just such a triathlete. This dirtbag's name is Sean Price. I met Sean through this very website. He's the guy who let me tag along on my first over-60 mile bike ride while I was training for the century. He was lucky (?) enough to participate in the Kona Ironman over the weekend, and we are lucky that he's cool enough to let me pester him with an email full of questions about his triathlon history and his Kona experience.

Because of the length, I have split the interview into two parts.
Part One:

Dirtbag Fitness: How many Iron-distance races does this make for you?

Sean Price: This was my second full IM.  

DF: How old are you? How tall are you? What is your race-day weight? 

SP: 48 and 5-10. They weighed my at race start and I was 174 pounds. Oddly enough, they did not weigh me at the finish so no idea if I lost weight due to fluid loss. 

DF: What is your favorite event or course to compete in, at any distance or sport? Why?

SP: For triathlon, the 1/2 IM (70.3). It's long enough that you have to take it seriously but short enough that you don't have to spend all your time training. 

DF: What is your normal training like when you're preparing for a race like this? How many hours and miles per week? 

SP: I don't track/log my training--I know, crazy right?--but I basically swim and run 3x a week and bike 2x. This is not to say that I won't do more (or less) in a given week, but those are the minimum targets I try to hit. The hours/distance increase the closer I get to race day and weekends--for obvious reasons--are for long rides and runs. I try to do two disciplines (bricks) in a given day and I'm a fan of switching up the order of the bricks. A standard brick is a swim/bike or a bike/run, as that follows the race day order but I like to run to the pool, do my swim workout and then run back. Biking to the beach, going for a swim and then continuing on with the bike is another fun brick. I find that swimming when I'm "full body tired" forces me to dig deeper on the workouts. I will of couse do standard bricks but I find switching things seems to be an effective method of getting continual improvements. I actually learned this from talking to weight lifters. They'll all tell you that you hit a plateau if you do the same workouts over and over, but if you continually change your routine your body has to adapt. It seems to work for me.

I try to focus more on training by time--as opposed to distance--as I find it much easier to schedule my life around. For me, saying I need to "run 90 minutes" is far easier to schedule than saying I need to "run 10 miles". I've found that if you focus on distance you tend to turn into a "mileage junkie". If I train by time I find it much easier to target a good workout and focus on my HR and how I feel, rather then saying that I "must get X more miles in".  

DF: Do you or have you worked with a triathlon team or coach or do you research and train on your own? 

SP: I think tri groups are effective...but just not for me. For a variety of reasons really. I see them mostly as "forced training" so they're helpful if you're the type of person that needs motivation to do a workout. That's not me. I do fine on my own. (most times. lol) I also think the workouts are a bit too generic although admittedly I'm going on hearsay for that one. Tri groups also have set times for workouts--and those times never seem to coincide with my real life schedule. I do think they're a great way to meet other people in the sport, so thats real helpful if you're new to the sport and/or are looking for training partners. 

DF: Do you enjoy training or racing more?

SP: This is a tough one. I'd have to say it would be training because if I did not race--I'd still train. I certainly would not train as "hard" or as long, but I train for health and fitness and the races are really just a way for me to test myself and give me motivation to get out on the days that I'd rather just kick back and drink a beer. And seriously, who would not rather drink a beer after work rather than hop on the bike/trainer and ride for 2 hours? Maybe just crazy people. :)

I've never worked with a coach for the simple reason that coaches cost money. Quite a bit of money if you look at it long term--and when you're training for a long distance tri--it's definitely long term. I think coaches can be extremly effective as they take all the guess work out of your workouts (you do what they tell you!), but it's equally important to find a coach that tailors a workout to YOU. Following a generic workout is--in my opinion--destined to fail becasue quite simply, everyone is different. I see too many people doing workout X becasue they read that pro/elite athelete Y does it. Guess what? You're not them. They're not you. Your age/physiology/fitness is complety different so you need your own workout. A good coach can supply you with that, but again...it costs. And for me, this is a hobby--one that is expensive enough just with equipment and entry fees--so I don't find it cost effective to pay someone to make me faster if there is no payback at the end. Other than a faster finish time. 

DF: How did you find your way into triathlon and Ironman? What is your sports background?

SP: I was a X-county runner back in HS days (so long ago...) and ran on/off (mostly off) throughout the years. I hit my early 40's and realized I was the stereotypical couch potato. I was 20 pounds overweight, had chronic back issues and was in total denial about my fitness. I decided that it was time to change. I started road running again and realized that pounding on the pavement hurt a lot more at 40 than it did at age 16. I got into trail running which led me to start doing ultra marathons. It was lots of fun (still is) but I found that when you're over 40 and you run 100 miles a week....things break. So I eased up on the running, started swimming again, discovered I was reasonably good at it, realized that if I had a bike...I could do a triathlon. 8 years later I still run ultra's but focus mostly on tri's as the multi-sport is soooo much easier on your body.

I left it here somewhere...

DF: Do you look at Ironman events as "races" or as "events?" I mean, are you chasing other athletes and trying to make passes to improve your finishing position, or are you more focused on finishing and having a good race personally? 

SP: Events. No question. I'd be lying if I said I didn't race them but I'm ultimately racing ME and no one else. I have finished every triathlon, at every distance, faster than my previous attempt at that distance. I don't expect this trend to continue forever as age is starting to be a factor, but my fitness and my experience level have both increased. I'm happy with that. I definitely try to improve my finishing position within a race...but I race the pace that I feel is appropriate for the race that I am in. I get passed lot of times but watching someone go by me is not an incentive for me to run/bike/swim harder. I'm generally going as hard/fast as I feel appropiate at a given time in the race. I've never finished a race with too much gas left in the tank. Basically if I could have passed someone...I would have. :)

DF: It seems to me that 90% of the people who do an Ironman are focused on getting it done, surviving to the finish line. Do you think that's true?

SP: I think that everyone, whether you are an age grouper or pro, young or old(er), has doubts during the race. You never know what race day will bring. Injury, bike crash/mechanical, weather conditions or just having a bad day, sometimes it can just become survival mode.

For Part 2 click here

Starting to Think Taper

Swim Day
1 x 150- Warm-up
3 x 200- 3:00
3 x 50- Sideline kick
3 x 100- 1, 2, 3, Swim
3 x 100- 1:30
1 x 100- Cool down
total- 1600yds

Run Day
time- 30:14
distance- approx. 3.5mi

I'm not in full taper mode yet for Sunday, that will start tomorrow, but I'm thinking about it. Which means that the intensity of today's swim and run was compromised. Spent a lot of time thinking about how I want to race this weekend. I feel like I can bomb the bike hard, I have that endurance now no doubt, without suffering too much on the run. It's only three miles once I get off the bike, and on a flat, easy course. I should be able to crush the bike and make the run hurt. That's the real goal: to run without Fear. I want to find the Trust, find the Fast, and Go. Getting my head in that space.
Coming up today or tomorrow, a special interview with a Kona Ironman Finisher and Official Member of Team Dirtbag (he's just now finding out about that last part too), Sean Price.