Making it to the Kona Start Line…In One Piece

You worked so hard to get here so don’t blow it now

t’s a tale as old as…well, it’s probably around 40 years old, but for a sport as young as ours, that’s fairly venerable: a hard-working triathlete puts in their time over the course of a season, qualifies for Kona (or Nice, which is a really great site for a world championships, go ahead and @ us), and then, through a combination of poorly timed heat acclimation, arduous travel, wide-eyed enthusiasm, panic training, expo smorgasbord, and terror ends up performing far below their potential. Today we’ll be talking about how to navigate the veritable gauntlet of triathlon’s big show and perform to the best of your ability.

1. Is This A Race or A Victory Lap?
2. Managing Outsize Expectations
3. Timing Travel
4. Race Week is Too Late for Heat Acclimation
5. Beware the Expo…and the Parties…and Packet Pickup…and…Sheesh!
6. The Athletes on Ali’i or the Queen K Probably Aren’t Racing

Is This a race or a victory lap?

As you do with any new race or new season, you and your coach should discuss whether this trip to Kona is about performance or experience. Performing at Kona is difficult: the best triathletes in the world assemble for this race, the conditions batter first-timers and seasoned professionals alike, and the margin for error makes every decision a do-or-die binary. In short, it’s a difficult place to perform. Similar to the Boston Marathon, Kona is never about setting a personal record—your best hope is to perform well while probably posting a slower-than-normal-for-you time. It’s for these reasons we suggest having a real, honest conversation with your coach. If it’s your first Kona, your goal should be to finish. That feel too “easy” (you’ll notice our use of quotes, here)? Then a sensible but challenging goal is to keep running the whole marathon. Kona is different, and if it’s your first time we suggest using Kona as a joyous victory lap to celebrate simply making it to the big island. Once you’ve qualified it’s likely you’ll be back, so treat this first trip as discovery. If you’re returning for your second or third crack at Kona, then you know what you’re in for and you can make a plan to perform with your coach.

Managing outsize expectations

Managing expectations is simply an extension of what we’ve just talked about, but it bears repeating: Kona is just…different. The best performers at Kona maintain a relaxed, humble, and appreciative approach to this race, letting the conditions dictate their actions. If you arrive in Kailua-Kona expecting anything (other than that your expectations will be incorrect) we predict you’ll have a difficult day. Your previous races cannot predict how your day at Kona will go, which is true for any race but doubly so for this classic. Regardless of your field, set aside any assumptions you have about your own abilities and focus on appreciating the fact that you’re here. During the race if you focus on effort, rather than the pernicious “shoulds” that tell you “should” be faster, you “should” be farther forward, that other rider “should” have stayed out of your way, then you’ll you’ll have a good day. If you focus on the shoulds, though, you may find that you’ve strangled your race by holding too tight to your expectations.

Timing Travel

Not everyone can arrive weeks and weeks in advance, but if performance is a goal of yours, arriving about a week ahead of the race will set you up for success. Ideally you’ve already been doing your heat acclimation (see below), so you don’t need to be on-site for a month, but Kona throws lots of logistical challenges your direction, whether those arrive as a shortage of rental cars or insane lines at packet pickup/bike drop-off. A bonus is that if you arrive a week ahead of time you can take part in the Ho’ala Swim, which takes place the weekend before, typically on Sunday. The Ho’ala Swims offers athletes a low-key, fun way to experience the aspect of the course about which they are carrying the most apprehension. Rather than the tight quarters of race day start, swimmers during the Ho’ala scatter themselves all over Kailua Bay, it seems, and the start is more decided by committee than by cannon. So show up about a week ahead of time, register for the Ho’ala (do that ahead of time, though, since it usually sells out), go grocery shopping, put your legs up, and enjoy a relaxing week of hanging out in your rental (more on this below).

Race Week is Too Late for Heat Acclimation

We have heard this too many times to count, but if we hear someone say about a hot race or a high race “I’ll just get there three or four days ahead of time and acclimate.” Yikes. Heat acclimation and altitude acclimation take months, not days. If you show up to Kona and spend all of your time out in the heat and humidity, you will not acclimate. Instead, you will deplete crucial stores of fluid and electrolytes, and put your body under undue stress. You’ve done Ironman before—you know that you can’t put your body under more stress than the race itself. Read our articles here about getting ready for hot races and start your acclimation early.

Beware the Expo…and the Parties…and Packet Pickup…and…Sheesh!

Kona is less a race than a gigantic decentralized industry conference with an athletic event problem. Many of the people at Kona are there as part of corporate marketing machineries (your author has been a part of that content mill himself) and you should remember that their goals are not your goals. Their goals are eyeballs, email addresses, user generated content, and that frothy confection called “hype.” These people are good at their jobs because they are good at getting YOU to take part in their goals. If you want to have a good race, DON’T take part in their goals. Especially if this is your first Kona, or if you actually want to perform, then skip the parties, take one spin around the expo, keep your time at the packet pickup as short as possible, and try not to eat out too many times. In short, be a misanthropic triathlon Eeyore. Don’t get us wrong—if you decided this event was a victory lap (see point one!) then knock yourself out and enjoy settling into the froth of Kona, but if that wasn’t the goal then steer clear.

The Athletes on Ali’i or the Queen K Probably Aren’t Racing

Why does panic training ever happen? Sure, most triathletes who qualify for Kona are driven (to a fault) type-A personalities, but they’re usually competent and intelligent, too, so what gives with all the people hammering up and down the Queen K on Thursday of race week?

A few of them are racers, yes, but the bulk of them are spouses or family members or friends. But mix in some of the anxiety of long-distance triathlon plus wild heat plus “world championships” and you get an environment where rational thinking doesn’t take place anymore. Some athletes see the huge number of riders or runners or swimmers and think “oh, gosh, everyone is doing it, I guess I should be, too!” Say it with us, everybody: you can take the entire WEEK before an Ironman off and you won’t hurt your performance. The swim and the first hour on the bike will feel awful, yeah, but you won’t be slower. So stick to the plan your coach outlined for you (or grab our Ironman plan and steal the final week) and keep it very light race week. The longest workout we prescribe is a 60-90’ bike ride on Wednesday or Thursday with about 30’ at Ironman effort. Other than that you should be doing some short and snappy swims and some light runs. Less than five hours in the whole week, certainly.

Conclusion

So much ink gets spilled on these topics, but very often we can reduce apparently complex topics to simple, actionable plans: train well in the MONTHS ahead of Kona, incorporating heat work; talk with your coach and agree upon your goals; once you’re on island, stay relaxed and mostly in your hotel room or rental. Performing well at the Ironman World Championships isn’t just about avoiding the marketing hype—it’s about seeing through your own hype, too. We promise you you’ll have a better race AND be happier about it.