With all that’s been going on over the last few months, concentrating on balancing the family, work and training my blogging has been a tad suspect in terms of consistency, just as well the training has been keeping the balance in check.
Since IMUK and the decision to take the slot I have been on the Kona wave again, there isn’t much time between the two races to make huge leaps in performance but there is a good chance that improving on a strong position is possible, whether that has worked I will find out in less than a week.
There are probably very few non triathletes reading this but just in case, I am off to the Ironman World Championships in Kailua Kona, Hawaii. It once again beckons me to fight against everything the island can throw at the us (the athletes) and compete in what I regard as a pleasurable sport in the harshest conditions. Some may call this sport mad, but then you wouldn’t be a mad triathlete like me J
 
Saturday 13th October at 6.30am local time in Kona, Hawaii (the UK is +11 hours, so it will be 6pm) the professional athletes will start, the  women going off 5 mins after, then at 7am, 1800 age group athletes will be swimming in the beautiful waters of the Pacific, cycling along the
famous Queen K highway and then running up Ali’i Drive, dropping into the Energy Lab and lapping up the glory on the way back down Palani Hill to return via Ali’I Drive once more 140.6 miles later. I hope to be doing all of that faster than last time, weather permitting, and if its not, I hope to be pushing as hard as I can.
Its difficult to put a time goal on a race like Kona exactly because of the reasons above, the weather is so unpredictable, yes, it was damn hot last time but I think the winds, although tough, weren’t as bad as they could be. I suppose the only marker of note will be position, I was 450th last time. Anywhere near that taking into account the massive improvements of age-groupers around the world in the last 3 years, will be magical for me.
Am I ready ?
How can you not be !? It’s a race that no matter how you turn up to the start line as an age grouper, the first aim is to finish, then to finish well, I am lucky that I have a PB to break of 10:21 and its never far from my mind. I have had a pretty low 2 weeks in terms of volume due to picking up a cold after my last 6 hour ride, its been manageable to a point but the effects will not be apparent until I race as I have tried to keep the intensity down and volume low in the last fortnight.
It’s not really relevant to be honest, I don’t having anything to prove to anyone except the competitive monster inside of me, and that won’t let me use any excuse in the race.
Admittedly, I did have my first DNF this year but this was as a protective measure for IMUK, the fact that I am here, waiting at Heathrow to go to the biggest dance floor in long distance triathlon means I got that decision right, come Saturday though, there is nothing to hold back for, be it
9:59 or 16:59 I will finish if the decision is mine.
I am so looking forward to catching up with friends racing and acquaintance’s that I have met thru social media that I also know are racing. The excitement is building, I know I am going out to the race later than I did last time but this year is different, having a good family experience is important and we will be extending past Kona week to pop to see Mickey Mouse and friends for a few days as reward, for now though, game face is firmly on, just get me to Kona in one piece with my bike and support crew and in a position to race and I will smash it.
Thanks for support and wishes so far, its awesome to know people are rooting for you and really does spur me on. As always, thanks to Phil at www.dandmcycles.com, just this morning I was in there again getting more kit, great to have the support and for a tri junkie like me, it can get very expensive and every little bit helps, cheers bud.
If you want to follow the race, it will be streamed live on www.universalsports.com on the day from 5pm UK time I believe, just look for the Kona Ironman links. If you have 69p to spare and a few athletes to track, you can use the app ‘IronTrac’ from iTunes and enter my number #1153.
I am sure there will be the usual banter on www.runnersworld.co.uk/forums in the triathlon section and finally if you dare, www.ironman.com will have ironmanlive running to track athletes at various points around the course. Again, use my race number #1153.
Kelly will be updating twitter feeds if you want to follow @ironrosey and I am sure they will appear on my facebook page.
Will be blogging all week I hope as we have wifi at the apartment, next stop – KONA BABY !!!
Rosey
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