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The Road to Kona

      By Fabrice Guillaume
      Team FeXY Elite Team member

      Posted June 2013

Believe, Commit, Train Smart and Execute

This article is for my fellow friends and athletes that are wondering how one can qualify for Kona. Yes, I have a job, a wife and 2 kids and, yes, I managed to balance these things without losing my wife or job (actually got a promotion).....It is POSSIBLE! You first need to believe in you, then to commit to this goal even if it may take several years, and then, train smartly and execute intelligently.

The first part of this article is more around tips for training and getting ready for IM racing.
The second part of this article is about Lake Placid 2012 qualifying race and what, I feel, gave me an edge to finish 4th of my AG to qualify for IM Worlds.
The last part of this article relates to the race itself, with the days leading to it, the day of the race and the post race days that I used to explore the magnificent islands of Kona and Kauai.

Slide Shows for those that prefer to just watch pictures and listen to music:

• Kona - 140.6 IronMan Worlds Championship
• Kauai - Post Race days exploring

Part 1 – TRAINING TIPS

Training Tips for experienced Triathlete, already used to train/race the 70.3 and 140.6 races and trying to get better and rank in a consistent manner in the top 10 of his/her AG.

Overall, my training plan looks like many others. I guess the key things, that I feel helped me, are (in no particular order):

TIPS:

• Training schedule - lay it out intelligently and pick your A race (140.6 qualifier) so that you really have a solid 4-6 months leading to that race.
• Don’t try to flag several races in your calendar as your A-race. The 140.6 race qualifying is for Kona. This is YOU’RE A race. Every other race is a B or C race. End of story. It is OK to not do really well at the other races, leave your ego on the side and keep your eyes on you’re a-race, everything else is secondary.
• Know your zones (power and HR) – use HR (and power if you can) and train in these zones. It’s ok to also go by feel so you don’t become a robot or slave to these devices. But do use them – they won’t lie to you. They will tell you when you are above or under a zone, then it’s up to you to make the right decision to adjust.
• FOCUS, FOCUS and FOCUS. This means that you will need to really focus on QUALITY and make sure you understand/know what is the purpose of each of your workouts. Also understand the impact of a workout on the following 1-3 days. Some workouts will take a big toll on you and that is ok, just make sure to have easy session after and let your body heal properly.
• Respect your zones and don’t let other dictate it.
• Aerobic: that should be the bulk of your training. Work in your aerobic zone / don’t try to be in this grey zone where you push a bit too hard because you feel good but never really work on your fat burning engine (or not enough). Being a GREAT (I did not say good) fat burning engine in this zone IS CRITICAL for IM distance races.
• Anaerobic: make sure to have good sessions there. This is a great zone to be in with your swim workouts and bike workouts. Also good for the run workouts but limit it to once a week.
• Be ready to Train SOLO. Yes, this sucks when you have a bunch of friends and/or a team you are part of. But if you want QUALITY and a good simulation for your races, you need to be ready to do some 100 milers solo, in the wind, in the head/humidity, in the rain, work on your mental toughness, work on your pace and understand how the first 2 hours can badly impact the last 2 hours of your long bike rides (or runs). Monitor your HR/power especially in the last 1/3rd of your long workouts to check if you can sustain a good steady pace or if you know have to work a lot harder to sustain it. One good workout is the “poker pacing” workout where you divide your long ride/runs in 3, go easy to steady in the 1st 3rd, go steady in the 2nd 3rd and see if you can hold your steady in the last 3rd with minimum elevation of HR (no more than 5%) to sustain it.
• Be careful about being over excited or being the WE warrior. It’s ok to feel great sometimes and push the pace or swap a workout (do a T-pace instead of easy) because you feel great. By all means, do it. Just don’t go overboard. Always keep thinking about the following 1-3 days to make sure you still have good quality workouts during these days.
• Be CONSISTENT. Do NOT skip workouts; swap them instead unless you are sick. Keep in mind that there are MANY other athletes that aspire to qualify too. While you take it easy or feel sorry for yourself, they don’t. Man up in training, you will need it in racing.
• Break the Routine. Bring variety and fun in your workouts. That will make them more interesting.
• Avoid days completely off. Do instead a recovery day with Stretching, Yoga, easy/relaxed swim…
• MASSAGE everyday. Use a foam roller. Make sure you take care of these muscles. This will help you recover quicker, get better at your workouts and avoid injuries. And I am a good example of someone that NEVER massaged until last year when coach Brady asked me to do it. And that certainly has been one of the changes I made that helped me recover quicker and probably stay injury free too.
• STRENGTH: this is your injury prevention routine, not just to be stronger. As you ramp up your volume, if you have your muscles that are imbalanced, you will start developing some issues and maybe injure yourself. So yes these sessions are super important and yet usually the first to skip when your training volume goes through the roof. Do a lot of those in the winter but keep a routine of 30mn session twice a week (45 is ideal but ok with 30mn). Eventually one session per week is going to happen for the big weeks but make sure to go back to twice a week asap.
• RACES: Do 1 to 2 70.3 races leading to your 140.6 race if possible (but not mandatory). Also a few olympic distance races can be done for fun (one early in the season and another 3 weeks before your race). No need to do sprint Tri races. No need to do full distance marathon races, half marathon is good enough.
• BIG DAYS Training. Make sure to have 3 to 4 BIG DAYS, usually 2-3 days of high volume with al 3 sports where you essentially break down a IM distance into 2 or 3 days. Also Big week ends with a lot of bike volume is great. This will build your aerobic engine.
• COACH: if you are not focused/consistent or keep having set backs in trainings or races, it’s probably a good idea to hire an experienced coach that can help you adjust your training plan/ race strategy and execution / nutrition / hydration plans / … I hired coach Brady D. this year as he was greatly experienced with the IM distance and had gone to Kona twice, so I could trust him to get me where I needed. There are many great coaches in the NoVA area.

Part 2 – QUALIFYING RACE REPORT

You can access a lot more details about Race Report: Ironman Lake Placid 2012 which I used to qualify for Kona.

But the essence of it was to really keep a STEADY pace in both the swim and the bike segment even though I felt great and I let several of my Age group competitors pass me. The entire race strategy was to slow down the least and I would essentially start picking up people in the 2nd loop of the bike then the run.

This is pretty much what happened. I wrote on my garmin to remain patient and I indeed let people fly by me in the first loop of the bike. I eventually picked a few in the 2nd loop. And on the run, same -I did not push too hard the first 6-8 miles. Then I started to push a bit and I eventually managed to maintain a good steady pace throughout the marathon leg while a lot of other athletes started to really slow down drastically.

This is how I moved from 12th AG position after the 1st loop of the run while I was in town to finish 4th AG. The last 3-5 miles happened to be where I picked up the most athletes.

So the take away is to come prepared, obviously fit physically but maybe more important with a solid plan and execute on it. It’s not easy to force yourself to slow down. But remember that this is a LONG day and things can change drastically in the last 2-4 hours of the race. So trust your training, trust your plan and execute. Too many athletes burn matches early in the race and end up suffering the last few hours of the race.

Part 3 – KONA 2012 RACE REPORTS and HAWAII TIPS

Days leading to the race:

Marianne my wife and I decided to go to Kona just the 2 of us while my mother would watch after our little hobbits (Celian and Ethan). We usually never do anything without them, and after 12 years of wedding, this was just the 2nd time we would do this. We missed them but at the same time, this whole Kona travel almost fell like a honeymoon and we came back an even stronger couple than we left (and god knows we are already solid).

This whole Kona experience has just been INCREDIBLE. I’ll try to share more about it but feel free to ping me offline. Additional pictures are available on Facebook.

We decided to stay close to race site. We rented a condo just 1 mile south from the pier. This was certainly a good decision. I recommend anyone going to Kona to stay relatively close as this makes the pre-days logistics a LOT simpler. Just make sure to book quite early in advance. There are a lot of specialized travel agencies that can help you (Endurance Travel, Anthony agency,..) but we found our condo directly via vrbo.com website.

We flew from Dulles Airport straight to Honolulu without having to connect in California (highly recommend this option). We then used a small plane to hop island from Honolulu to Kona airport. Its quick and cheap (30mn, $70).

In Kona airport, we rented a jeep and we arrived at the condo pretty quickly, within 20mn.

The days leading to the race, we used to walk a fair amount around the pier, stop at different places to shop, hang out with several friends (Kendra Goffredo, Andy Lipscomb, Mike Orton, Leslie, Aaron Church, Mike Gadzinski, Rob and Shandra Richardson, Endurance Corner crew,… I also swam everyday in the beautiful waters where you can see turtles, colorful tropical fishes,… There is a boat about 400 yards from the shore that serves you some yummy hot coffee. It’s just plain awesome. I also ran a bit every day and biked around the city.

Race day:

I woke up at 5am, ate a banana, bagel with nutella and drunk a good coffee (Hawaii has some awesome coffee!). Marianne walked with me to the pier, she then tried to find a place in the crowd to see the swim start while I went in transition to prepare things. I saw several friends and we hanged out a bit. I did not feel any pressure, instead I was racing today as a celebration race with no pressure and trying to absorb as much as possible the positive vibe that was there.

Pros started before us and then it was us, the Age groupers to go in the water and trade water before the 7am start. I decided to go all the way to the left with the hope it would not be as crowded as in the center. That was the case until 10mn before the start, then it became really crowded like everywhere else. I spent some of this time to try to relax, look under the water at all these feet around me and the beautiful sea floor/fishes and I told myself how lucky I was to be at the start of this mythic race. That’s it, I was there, my dream was becoming true.

SWIM (1:13, 176 Div):

We waited for the canon to go off but instead we heard Mike Really yelled something over the speaker. Looks like the canon was not working so we started in a bit of confusion. The start was really brutal with 2,000 swimmers around that all swim roughly in the same pace (55mn-1:10). I thought Lake Placid had been a really bad experience but Kona certainly toped it off. I tried to remain relaxed and stay as far left as possible while shooting for the remote boat around which we turn. I got swam over several times and I did not panic. I was not there to fight or “place”, just wanted to have a solid race and enjoy it. So, I just back off several times leaving more aggressive swimmers swim around me (when not over me…). As I reached the boat, I realized we actually had to go around another boat a bit further before we could come back. The swim back to the shore was actually a lot better and I finally settled in a good rhythm. My laps show that I actually negative split. Though my overall time was really slow but that’s ok. I’m not there anymore to place, I’m there to enjoy it so no pressure. As I tried to climb the stairs to go into the transition I fell on my ass and I laughed. Jeez I’m not drunk yet – drinks are later tonight…

Transition went pretty fast. I just poured a bit of water on my head and shoulder to take out the salt, went through the changing tent and off I was with my bike.

BIKE (5:29, 159 Div)

The bike course is pretty much rolling hills and wind with a lot of heat. So the plan was to simply stay hydrated, keep pouring water on the body at each aid station to keep body core temp from increasing too high and just work on a steady pacing. After the out and back out of the city, I was then cruising on he Queen K, catching up with Leslie and a few others. It was really enjoyable to ride in this beautiful scenery with the sea on the left and a lot of black rocks from the volcano around. As I approached the end of Queen K, I noticed the winds became stronger. I made a left down flying down before making a right to go 18 miles up to Hawi turnaround. The climb to Hawi is a gradual climb. This is the area where you get the legendary crosswinds. I could see white caps on the sea on the left and the winds certainly lived up to the expectations. I told myself how the heck do these people live here as I reached a place with many houses. The last 5 miles were brutal as the climb got steeper and the winds blew stronger. At the turn, I decided to take the time to eat, drink and pee while cruising down the downhill.

Back to Queen K, I really felt great and I was ready to push a good steady pace and bring it home. I started to even push a little bit harder and started to pick up several athletes. Then things started to go slightly wrong when the winds that I thought would be tail winds became head winds. My pace dropped significantly but I kept the power roughly where it was supposed to be and I just patiently kept my cadence up at 90 stopped looking at speed. Just to give an idea, avg speed from mile 75 to mile 90 was 24.51 mph to go down to 20.4 mph and eventually drop to 17.4 mph 

I eventually finished in 5:28:33 so an “ok” bike split. My Garmin indicates the avg temps was 91F and a max of 100F and the Gain elevation about 4,000 ft.

RUN (3:31, 122 div)

I gave my bike to a volunteer and flew through T2. The volunteers are just plain awesome. As I headed out of Transition, my legs felt incredibly good. I actually had to slow down myself the first few miles and yet clicked some 6:00-6:30 miles. I knew I had to slow down and go back to my steady 7:20-7:30 but for some reasons these legs wanted to run… I kept cruising on the out and back on Ali’I Drive feeling awesome. I saw my wife and kissed her, then David O. and finally Mike Gadzinsky already coming back the other way. He was putting a great show. The out and back went really well. I just kept focusing on staying hydrating and keeping my HR relatively low. Then the major climb of Palani Road appeared and I just worked on keeping a high cadence making a point to now walk. At the top I was on Queen K Highway and it was now just a matter of keeping it steady and stay hydrated.

The difficult part of this out and back on Queen K and the lava section is that there is pretty much no crowd and you are fully exposed under the sun with the heat reflecting on the pavement. Pretty brutal physically and mentally. I just went to my routine of drinking, keeping a high cadence and always looking at the next athlete to pick up and just pick them one by one. As I approached the Natural Energy Lab, I was still really feeling ok and kept telling myself how fortunate I was to be here, in the same place as so many other athletes I saw before on TV. On the way back, I saw Kendra that had a super day (she finished top 10 of her AG). Heading back on Queen K, I started to eventually feel tired, so I just kept the focus on high cadence and keeping the legs moving (do not walk I kept repeating my self).

Getting back down in the city, that’s it I was just 2 miles of the finish line and it was time to celebrate. I flew threw the last 2 miles high fiving my wife and waving at Rob Richardson and few other friends. The last mile is just incredible with a HUGE crowd and amazing electric atmosphere. At that time, you actually don’t even run, you just float in the air, not even thinking about your legs or anything but enjoying every second. I reached the finish line and jumped in the air to celebrate this awesome race.

Final time: 10:20, ok I’ll take it. Time really did not matter as much as celebrating this season and having fun - which I did.

After crossing the finish line, I went to get a massage. I felt surprisingly well. I was juts hungry/thirsty as expected but I did not need any special treatment or IV.

Looks like the race hydration plan worked.

I eventually got my bike and gear back and met with my wife. It was time to celebrate. And we did!

Major thanks to:

• my beautiful wife Marianne and both my little Ninjas Celian and Ethan for being my best supporters throughout the year
• my family for always supporting me even though they are far
• my friends from Team FeXY
• my sponsors, namely Spokets ETC and PR for giving me some awesome deals with bike and run/tri equipment and apparel.
• My coach Brady Dehoust from Endurance Corner for having given me a great training plan and race execution plan to quality and race to Kona

Past race days:

The days after the race were incredible. (See pictures on Facebook.

The day after the race, we hiked on the volcano on Kona Island - just plain beautiful.

We then flew to Kauai, another island that is a paradise for those that like Mother Nature. We flew with a helicopter (and no door/window) for an hour over magnificent waterfalls including the one shot in Jurassic Park, the Waimea Canyon (little brother of the Grand canyon), some tropical forests, some super dry places…

We also hiked along the Na’Pali Coast that is absolutely gorgeous. And we obviously enjoyed everyday the sand beaches all absolutely gorgeous. The turtles & fishes are everywhere. We finished the last day with some surfing (can’t be in Hawaii without surfing).

The hotel we stayed out was incredible. It is “Koa Kea". We picked it up as it was a top rated hotel on Tripadvisor and a top 10 in the world. I highly recommend it if you like gourmet cuisine, romantic settings and want to avoid he big crowds/loud music/…

We really enjoyed this 10 days trip in Hawaii. And we are certainly looking forward to coming back, this time with our little ones. We both really fell in love with these islands. I highly recommend a trip out there, even though it’s not through a sport event. I will personally shoot to qualify again, either via the IM circuit or maybe via another fun circuit: Xterra in Mauai. We’ll see. But we’ll be back.