Honu 2018

I've been waiting to take a picture like this for years!!!  FOMO!

Honu.  Besides the full Ironman, this is probably the most competitive triathlon in the state and I was so excited to race it!  Last year it fell on the same day as my school's graduation and since it was my first year at a new school, I chose to be at graduation.  However, this year, I really wanted to the chance to race-and I'm so glad I was able to make that happen.  I went into the race wanting to win.  I wanted to see how I compared to other triathletes not from Hawaii.  I also knew that since it was a Kona qualifier this year that meant the race was going to be more competitive-which made it more exciting for me.

Yah for friends!!!

I've been feeling really good in training and I've also had a feeling of calmness come over me the past couple of weeks, which I think has helped me relax and be in a better place for my racing.  I've been nailing my workouts and not going too fast when I am supposed to go slow (huge!!).  I was also really happy with how I raced an Honolulu Tri-so I was hoping to carry that momentum into this race!

It was also fun because it's like a mini-vacation.  Although I was in the same state-it's a different island. So things are very similar, but not the same.  I stayed with an awesome group of friends, which always makes the trips so much fun.  The day before the race the wind was blowing in all directions and there were some times where I felt I was going to get blown over!!  Luckily race day the winds were calmer and the weather was great.  It even drizzled on the way up to Hawi.  It was the perfect little shower!!!

The swim is at Hapuna Beach and it is a beautiful swim!!  The water was nice and calm race morning.  The race starts by age group-and the women were at the end and my age group was the third to last to start-so I was going to be passing a bunch of people!!!  During the swim I had a bunch of people to swim by.  Luckily I was able to find a girl in my age group to swim behind.  The swim couldn't have been any better-she guided me through the mass of swimmers, through the water and around the buoys.  With about 500 left to go I went around her and pushed a little harder for the rest of the swim.  I honestly couldn't have asked for a better swim.  There were times where I tried to go around her, but I ended up just swimming right beside her-and I knew that I could gain some benefit from swimming behind her.

Thanks mom for everything.  I hope you know how much it means to me.

When I got out of the water-I got out with other age groups.  I wasn't the first one from my age group out of the water, but I was in the top third.  Then I found my bike, put my shoes and helmet on and I was off for the 56 mile ride.  How I paced the bike was that I wanted to feel just a little uncomfortable.  I also had a watt goal-but I liked what this person told me-a little bit out of your comfort zone.  I kept that in mind the entire ride.  It was also important that I ate and drank everything that I brought on the ride so I could have a good run.  This can sometimes be hard for me and I need to force myself to eat and drink-but I was in race mode-so that meant that anything to make me go faster was my #1 priority.

I felt good on the bike.  I probably passed at least 500 people.  I don't know if that kept my energy up and my head up-but I was feeling really strong on the bike.  I ended up biking the second fastest split-which shocked me because there were some strong riders on that course today!

Run-just run.  Move forward.  One foot in front
of the other (what I was telling myself the last
4 miles of the race).

So I felt that I set my self up pretty well for the run.  I ate and drank everything, plus another water bottle that I got from an aid station.  When I got off the bike I quickly transitioned and left for the run.  I wanted to run by feel-but I may have started out too fast...because with about 5 miles to go I started to drag and my pace slowed down by 1:30.  I don't know if there is anything I can do to keep this from happening...but if it didn't happen I would have had an even better run split!  I'm glad to leave the race with something that I can improve on to get faster.

Overall, this was another strong race.  I placed 2OA and 1st in my age group which meant I earned a Kona slot.  I never planned on taking the slot-and even when people asked me 20 minutes after the race I was sure I wasn't going to take it. Then as the day went on, more and more people asked, and so then my answered changed to, 'I need to talk to Michelle'.  I knew Michelle thought I could do it-but I just wanted to make sure I was able to also do my goal race of Age Group Nationals this year.  I really want to compete at the Olympic Distance and I would like to see how I match up to the women on the mainland at this distance.  So I made sure she knew this was my A race but I also knew that qualifying for Kona is not something I could pass by.  Kona is a bucket list race and you just never know what life will put on your plate-so I took it!  Training will bump up a bit-but there is a big group of us that will be racing this year-which is also really exciting.

Bowls up high!!!

I'm glad to have this race on my schedule.  Although I am intrinsically motivated, there are some days where I just want to lay in bed.  But I am really appreciative of triathlon and the role it plays in my life.  I con control my training and choose how I am going to train that day-but I will always have training.  It seems like people come and go-but training will always be there-as long as I stay healthy.  The past couple of days have been hard.  Although I should be ecstatic with my placing and that I qualified for Kona-sometimes reality hits you square in the face.  I don't have any control over others-I can only control my actions and how I react to situations.  I have learned this the hard way and I'm learning it again.

On that note-thank you triathlon for the chance to make new friends, feel strong, and help me keep my life together.  

Honolulu Tri

Honolulu Tri is a lot different than the other local races here on the island, because more than half of the competitors come from Japan.  It makes me think of racing in Greece where I didn't speak the language and I didn't always know what people were saying.  It's nice because there are new faces, which mean new people to race against.  Lastly year I placed third, and this year I recognized some names from last year-but I knew that I was in better shape this year-so I tried not to set any pre-race expectations.

As the gun went off-we were off.  I was able to get into the elite wave, which meant we got to start first-so the water and roads were nice and clear.  The swim was a big aggressive at first-which is common, but within 300m I found Michelle's feet and swam there till the first turn-around.  At the turn-around she picked it up, but I was only 5-10m behind, which is huge for me!  When I first starting swimming with Michelle she told me that the only reason why she's faster is because she swims more-so I said, 'I can swim more'.  So I did. And I've gotten faster.  I don't know where I get my motivation from.  I really enjoy the training and the process.  As I've said before-I race to train--instead of training to race...did I get that right?  I like training better and feel like I need to race so it makes sense why I train so much.

Anyways, as I got out of the swim we were off on the bike.  I was by myself the whole ride.  The Japanese girls are really good swimmers-they were one of the first athletes out of the water, but I knew that they weren't very strong on the bike but that they were strong runners.  First off, they were all on road bikes-which weren't very aero.  So I had my job-catch the girls on the bike.  And throughout the ride I caught all but one.  I was also a bit worried about some of the local girls and didn't know if they were going to catch me-so I wasn't riding comfortable.  There are a lot of turn arounds, so you can see where you are amongst the competition and I couldn't see anyone riding up on me-but I was still riding a bit scared.  I finished the bike in second-so I just had one girl to catch on the run.

The run course was a flat 10k.  Last year I was just getting over plantar fasciitis , so my run wasn't very strong-but I've been feeling really confident in my running lately-so I was ready to have a fast run.  I wasn't too far behind the first place women.  She was running out of transition as I was running in-so I had her in my sight.  Of course I didn't want to start too fast-but I also had work that needed to be done.  I ran a good steady effort and just after the 5k mark I run up behind her to make the pass.  I wasn't sure if when I passed her if she was going to come with me-which I didn't really want to happen..and luckily it didn't.  I turned around a couple of times during the run to check-but I also had a couple of men in front of me that I was trying to pass-so that kept me going at a good pace.

Overall this was a great race for me.  Everything came together.  My body felt good and I was able to break the tape against some strong Japanese girls.  Although you don't win anything-it's good for me to have some different competition and to feel like I am racing.  This race was good prep for Honu!