It’s hard not to fall in love with Lavaman. A stunning beachfront resort location, challenging course, fabulous post-race party and some serious star power combine for a truly magnificent event. Add to that cherished time with dear friends and yep, we are in love.
The Olympic distance race entails a 0.9 mile swim, a 24.85 mile bike and a 6.2 mile run. While that might sound easy compared to a full Ironman, it is BALLS OUT from start to finish and that, my friends, is an entirely different kind of hurt!
In the race were not only triathlon superstars and professionals such as six time Ironman World Champion Dave Scott and local pro Bree Wee, but standouts in other sports including tennis legend Martina Navatralova and F1 Indy car driver Jenson Button. Button has some serious swim skillz!!!
Also, let’s just point out the overall winner Erich Wegscheider finished four minutes FASTER than last year’s winner, current Ironman World Champion Chris McCormack! Ohhhh, snap!
*** Lavaman Post Race Party: Beer is a recovery drink! ***
Goals
I had two goals for the race. The first was to have fun and the second was to execute my race by a “power and pace” protocol.
Having fun was easy! The first of our two weeks on the island was a loosely structured triathlon camp with almost twenty friends and family. Known as team “Huma Huma”, we capped off a week of training together prior to the race. Several of the camp participants were treasured friends made when we took our first triathlon class back in 2006. It would have been hard not to have fun with these folks around!
Executing the race according to power and pace was a little more challenging. I’d transitioned from a heart rate based style of training in December 2010 to the power and pace protocol and was anxious to put it into practice. The swim execution is relatively subjective, but the bike is based on a very specific metric called Functional Threshold Power (FTP) which is measured in watts. There is a device in my bike that tells me how many watts I am “pushing”. The run is based on pace, as in a certain number of minutes per mile. My good old Garmin 310XT kept me honest there. Though it didn’t give me any reprieve in the heat and lava!
*** Team Huma Huma: These peeps rocked the coolest custom jerseys on the island! ***
Back: Carin, Michelle, Jim, Kristin, Coach Duncan, Coach Julie, Jenn, Annie, Mark, Alison and Christine.
Front: Heidi, Stacey and Annette.
Prerace
We rode our bikes about five miles from our home base at the nearby Mauna Lani resort to the start of the race at the Hilton Waikoloa. A nice easy spin at sunrise will do wonders to settle your nerves. Bikes were racked and our transition areas staged as Eye of the Tiger blared over the loudspeaker. An excitable hum built and soon enough we were on the sand watching the professional start at 7:25 AM!
*** Transition: Also known as “T1” when you get out of the water and onto your bike and “T2” when you return your bike and start the run. ***
Swim: Elbows Up
I headed into the water a few minutes before my 7:35 allotted start time to find a place at the front of the deep water start. The nicest thing I have to say about these few minutes is: so much for self seeding! Many of the other women were really aggressive in getting to the front and elbowed for room. Soon it got so tight there was barely enough room to move my arms to tread water. I tried to give them the benefit of the doubt, but honestly, I was skeptical that many of those jockeying for position could swim at the front of the pack. And I was right.
The gun went off, we all went horizontal and let the madness begin. I swam hard for the first 200 yards trying to be polite but firm to get out cleanly. Soon enough I was clear of the pack and able to swim comfortably. The water had been somewhat murky when we had scouted the course a few days earlier but race day brought a nice surprise with excellent visibility and tropical fish to brighten the scenery. My goggles had fogged up by the first turn buoy so when I had made the turn I took a moment to rinse them out and get my bearings. The lenses were much clearer, but I hadn’t emptied them well and had to refresh them again at the second turn buoy. Time wasted, but hopefully it was worth being able to stay on course. I got out of the water feeling strong enough to actually run to my bike for the first time in a race ever. Usually I’m so spent I have to walk as least half the distance. Maybe I hadn’t gone hard enough? Too late now, off to the bike!
My swim time was 27:01. This split was 6th of the 99 women in my age group (AG) and 27th of 577 women in the race. This result place me within the top 6% in AG and the top 4.8% of all women, including professionals. One word for next time: defogger!
*** Exiting the Swim: They guys in the blue caps were in Mark’s wave at 7:30. I didn’t catch him until the run. I’m going to have to work harder to chick him earlier next time! ***
The bike started off on the somewhat cramped access road into the Hilton Waikoloa. I took the opportunity to take in a Honey Stinger gel as we all got sorted out and into our rhythm. After about a mile, we took a right to hit the Queen Kaahumanu or “Queen K” highway and let ‘er rip. I was true to my race plan which called for me to go at 80% of FTP through mile five, 85% to mile 10 and then to 90% or more for the last 15 miles. Zip, zip, zip. Other than being passed by one woman and a few men in the first miles of the bike and other than that I did all the passing. I like this plan!
When we hit the turnaround I glanced at my watch and saw I was at about 40’. I was a little disappointed because I knew that an 80’ split would be slower than I role last year. Stick to the plan, stick to the plan. I took a water bottle from the volunteers and refilled my aero bottle as I rolled though the aid station and downed Double Espresso Power Gel and off I went, just like a race car at a pit stop, I was fully topped off! Before I knew it I was rolling into T2 with an overall bike split of about 1:10. I’d gone 40’ out and 30’ back. Weeeeeeee!
My bike time was 1:10:26. This split was 4th of the 99 women in my AG and 15th of 577 women in the race. This result represents about the top 4% in AG and the top 2.5% of all women, including professionals - woot!
*** Zip, Zip, Zip: On my new Zipps! ***
Run: Go Hard or Go Home
What sums up the run? Tricky! A scouting of the course the day before had reminded us that the last mile and a half or so were on lava, unstable coral heads (think of running on a sea softball sized rocks) and sand. Gorgeous, yes, but not exactly ideal for hammering it home to the finish line.
I headed out of T2 mindful that I could really only run as hard as I wanted to for the first 4.5 miles. That meant going hard early, contrary to a classic race execution modus operandi. I took a Vanilla Energy Gel at the first aid station then just grabbed ice and water at each mile. The ice went straight down my top to help keep my core cool. Also of note: I appear to have mastered drinking water while running! The key is pinching the top of the cup in half so you just have a tiny opening and don’t slosh it all over yourself. I hit the lava and coral heads knowing I’d gone hard a little let down that I had to slow down to ensure I made it to the finish line without any broken bones.
My run time was 52:19. This split was 13th of the 99 women in my AG and 43rd of 577 women in the race. This result represents about the top 13% in AG and the top 7.4% of all women, including professionals. Relative to the other competitors, the run was still my weakness but I was really pleased with over a five minute improvement from last year.
*** Run! Just run carefully! ***
Finish: Tsunami Scores One for Mother Nature
The finishing stretch historically had taken us down a long stretch of sand with a fish pond on the left and the ocean on the right. Unfortunately, the recent tsunami had breached that stretch of sand and the pond was now really a little bay. The hotel had done a great job cleaning up, but sometimes Mother Nature just can’t be outdone and the finish line was rerouted around the breach.
*** Finish: Mother Nature wins! ***
Finish Line Extravaganza
After I crossed the finish line I camped out in a great place a few hundred yards from the finish and watched everyone else finish. I was even able to get photos of most of our peeps as they pushed to the finish. One after another crossed with a personal best, a huge smile and assurances that this was indeed the most fun race EVER! When Mark crossed the line the clock read 3:00:48. Initially he was disappointed because he thought he had JUST missed the three hour mark. BUT the clock had started 5’ before him with the professional wave. He had actually broken three hours by four minutes and twelve seconds with an official time of 2:55:48!
*** Really! You did it Mark! ***
Results?
My official time including transitions was 2:34:06 which was over 10' faster than last year. I hadn’t considered my placing before or during the race, but as I watched the finishers I got to thinking it might be a good idea to check the results. I knew I’d only been passed by one woman on the bike, though I didn’t get a feel for her age. On the run, I’d been passed by a couple women and was pretty sure two were much younger and one was older. The wild card was I had NO IDEA who may have gotten out of the water in front of me. Considering my relatively strong swim, I thought it would be prudent to at least take a look at the results before we packed up and headed out.
After some serious snafus and delays in posting the results, scores of sweaty anxious finishers crowded around a card table trying to interpret our placing. Should be easy, right? Um, no. The results were posted simply in order of how we crossed the finish line. And worse, though each row had our splits, overall time, and age group there was no indication of WHERE we’d placed within our age group as is typical. Ug. I knew my time so I found myself fairly quickly. Then to see where I’d placed in my age group, I had to manually count the number of women in the 35-39 age group above me with my sweaty little finger.
My first, second and third count had me at sixth which is about the worst place to be. I knew that typically professionals and top three overall finishers were pulled from age group results. I also knew they were presenting awards through fifth place in each age group. But with no way to determine if a professional or top three finisher would be “pulled” from my age group, I had no way to know if that meant I’d just missed or just made the podium. I was starting to wish I hadn’t looked.
*** Results: Bring your abacus. ***
Waiting
I hated the idea of having everyone wait for an awards ceremony that could have been a huge letdown. The post race party was humming, my teammates were insistent on hanging arond just in case and, after protest, I relented. Sigh. What was the worst thing that could happen? We enjoyed the party a bit longer than planned and I didn’t make the podium? Or I made it and some of my dearest friends and hubby were there to share the moment? The silver lining to all the waiting was we had time to take some photos together with our bikes and finisher’s medals. We’re supposed to look tough and sassy. Sassy, sure, but tough? Ha!
*** Lavaman Chicks: Sassy, yes. But tough? ***
From Left: Annette, Michelle, Jenn, Christine and Heidi.
Podium!
Finally, the awards ceremony got underway. Three eons later, they got to my age group. The announcer began to read, “in 5th place in the 35 to 39 age group from Kent, Washington (peeps go hog wild and I can’t hear much else) something something blah blah blah... Jennifer Edwards!” I trotted up, bowed for a lei from a cute local boy and took my place on the podium trying, unsuccessfully, not to cry. The other finishers were called up, I kept trying not to cry, we stood FOREVER for photos, handshakes and prizes and were then dismissed for the next age group’s five minutes of glory.
I returned to the peeps and gave up on not crying with hugs and tears all around. Mark looked so proud. Love and Lavaman, indeed.
*** Podium: Trying not to cry. ***
*** Love and Lavaman ***
