Beating the winds.

Well we are a t - minus 4 days until the start of the Ironman World Championships here in Kona on the Big Island of Hawi. Since i last posted i have been busy getting to know the course and finish off my race preparations.

I have been down to the swim start at Kona Pier for a open water swims with fellow kiwis Craig Kirkwood, Richard Swan, Jo Carrel, Andy Mckay and Cameron Brown. It is an awesome swim, the water is crystal clear and you can see all of the fish swimming and reefs below you.

Over the weekend it was out to Waikoloa where a group of us rode up to the Bike turnaround in Hawi. The conditions were pretty kind to start with as the trade winds seem to be hiding but as we got closer to Hawi, bang they decided to jump out at us and I mean that literally. It can be fairly calm at one stage then bang the wind kicks in and your in for a ride. The ride back down was awesome as you decsend from 700 ft with views of the Kona Coastline and the Pacific ocean with the wind at your back.

We concluded the ride by making our offerings to Madam Pele (the Hawaiian Volcano Goddess) in the Lava Fields on the Queen K and an afternoon on the couch with some American College football followed.

Sunday and it was out to the famed energy lab for a run in the afternoon heat. Now I have had a niggling injury in my hip and back which has been preventing me from getting some quality run training in. After some good imporvements I tested it out in the lab for a 70 minute run and seemed to get through the run well with out any major complications so all is on track for Saturday.