Five Ironman World Championships Kona Race Day Pitfalls
Don’t be like Cole Trickle
Since it appears that Days of Thunder is NOT on most triathlete’s watch list (a fact that, honestly, is just driving one half of the Campfire ownership crazy), we can still learn from the above meme. There is a scene during the classic (yes, classic) 1990 film when Cole Trickle, Tom Cruise’s character, strikes a bargain with his coach/director about how to drive effectively on race day. Trickle’s approach leads to destroyed tires and a bad finish. His director’s approach (the tires at right) lead to a much better performance. As the Campfire coaches are putting the final touches on the race plans we write for every athlete, we figured it would be helpful to publish the five pitfalls we are warning athletes against as they make their final preparations today for races on Thursday and Saturday.
1. Expending Too Much in the Water
Every triathlon is an energy cascade, where the goal is to have as small a step down in energy reserves (mental, caloric/metabolic, endurance, speed) from discipline to discipline. Kona is a hype engine of epic proportions, which leads to tightly wound athletes on race morning thinking they are going to do something special on race day. Say it with us: doing something special at Kona simply means doing what you have already done elsewhere. If you do that, you are going to have an AMAZING day. The swim caliber at Kona is high, with a much larger percentage of the field able to swim around 60 minutes. That means the pack is much bigger, which means it is much easier to tuck in and draft. Embrace the group, find some feet, look at the fishes and the coral, and just cruise along. It will be over before you know it, and if you get out saying “that was refreshing!” you have nailed it.
2-4. Falling Into the Three Bike Pitfalls
There are really THREE pitfalls on the bike, each of which we will detail below, but really, they are variations on a theme from our lessons from Cole Trickle (was that REALLY the name the Days of Thunder writers came up with?!): DON’T GO TOO HARD! Ok, what is too hard, though? We were pleasantly surprised by this post from the folks at Precision Fuel and Hydration, who talked to GOAT Jan Frodeno and learned that he rode about 15-20% easier at Kona than he would at races that aren’t as hot and humid. If that doesn’t help change your approach to the bike at Kona, we don’t know what will. But if most athletes can have good Ironman performances riding between 70-80% of FTP (that’s rough, don’t @ us), then you would want to be even below that at Kona. So that means that your average power at Kona might be in the 60-70% range of FTP, which isn’t out of the realm of possibility. It is a hot, windy, lumpy course, folks, and there are three spots that can really leave you out of gas if you too go too hard:
First Hour: so this isn’t really a place as much as it is a mindset. It’s easy to get sucked into thinking that “making a group” is important in this race. It isn’t. Many of the professionals who focus on making the front group end up paying for it later. Think back on the number of times you have watched this race: there is always a big group on the way out to Hawi, but once the athletes start coming down…it’s as if someone has taken the group and shaken it. Those athletes who didn’t have the physical ability to ride with that group for four hours? They often end up struggling on the run, and you will too if you ride aggressively early! If you ride too hard too soon you will churn through your glycogen stores and raise your core temperature too soon, both of which will have you walking later.
The Climb to Hawi: the climb to Hawi is very often a tailwind climb, which can seem nice at first, like you’re getting a little push, but it’s easy to forget that without a headwind you’re going to lose a lot of evaporative cooling. As we mentioned above, keeping your core temperature in check is a crucial part of racing well in the heat, so if you ride too hard on the way up to Hawi, enjoying that tailwind, you may find yourself paying the price later on…
The Bowl at Kawaihae: not long after turning at Hawi, you’ll find yourself back at the base of the climb, near the port at Kawaihae. What seemed innocuous an hour ago will be an oven, now, in this depression between the Queen K and the Hawi climb. You have to climb out of this completely exposed oven, with sunlight reflecting off the lava rock around you, and you’re tired at this point. If you push too much, here, you will probably run out of gas later on.
5. Running too hard along ali’i
Sensing a theme? Yeah. Ali’i Drive, which provides the only shade on the course, is also lined with spectators. You’re right next to the ocean, so you get a little relief from the heat. You’re also off the bike, which is a respite. A lot of athletes get excited, forgetting that a marathon in these conditions is tough even without six or seven hours of continuous exercise first, and they run this part too fast, paying the price later on when you’re in the horrible exposure of the Queen K and the Energy Lab. The section along Ali’i should be about rhythm, not pace or power. Heart rate should probably be about 8-10 beats above what you averaged on the bike, and RPE (the most important metric of your whole day!) shouldn’t be much more than a 5-6/10, or moderate to moderately-hard. If you keep control of things NOW, you’ll be able to keep running LATER, instead of walking the way that you’ll see a lot of athletes doing, having pushed it too much early on the run.
So those are the big five, as seen by the coaches at Campfire. We hope this short post serves as a nice reminder as you’re getting ready to race this week, but the biggest things are to enjoy yourself, stay hydrated, and remember that Kona is the reward, not the sundae. Race well!