What I’ve learned about myself after a week in Kona…
1. I always
thought I WASN’T a warm weather racer, but after swimming, biking, and running
on the Big Island for a week I have a new love of the warm weather.
2. I like WIND…the wind makes it harder to swim,
bike, and run. One thing I know for sure
about myself is I like race conditions to be a little harder. Bring on the wind it only makes me stronger mentally. One day on my climb up to Hawi I thought to
myself…this is brutal…yes…this is very hard…this is a perfect bike ride.
3. Mental strength is more important than physical
strength. I’ve always talked about
importance of being mentally strong, but after one week I’ve realized even more
than before how powerful the mind is and how mental training is a HUGE part of
being successful. On my last ocean swim
the water was very rough. The afternoons
out there the wind picks up and the swells can be crazy. I remember trying to sight and just doing
face plants in these big walls of water.
For a moment I became scared and my heart rate picked up. I decided right then and there that would be
the last time I allowed myself to be scared out there. I relaxed found the edge of the tree line and
began swimming again. Trying to become
one with the water rather than fight against the water.
What I already knew about myself, but a week in Kona made it
even clearer…
1.
I love coffee…really good coffee…KONA coffee is
the best
2.
I really love good fresh healthy food. Thanks to
Island Naturals for being the most amazing market/deli in Kona. Part of the reason I was able to get up each
morning and train hours like I did was I was making an effort, a point, to
really put good quality food in my body.
I can’t stress enough the importance of high quality foods. These foods don’t come in packages in the
grocery stores and they aren’t foods with shelf lives of years. I want my body to run like a high performance
engine and I will put the highest quality of fuel in my body as I can. (except
on the occational party crash days with my boys…see below)
Things I learned....
I disliked flying with my bike. It’s about
the same price to use Bike Flight and Fed Ex my bike from Trailblazers in
Baxter to Bike Works in Kona. I will be
doing this in May and again in October. I
took my bike with on the trip there and used Fed Ex on the way back. No headache!
I highly recommend Bike Flight. I learned more than just the bike issue as you'll see below in how my week went.
Here is how my week on the Big Island went…
Sunday: Travel day
I was up by 2:30 am to be on the road for the airport by
3:15. Before I left I went in to each of
my boys’ rooms and kissed them goodbye.
I think I received a groan of some type from each of them. They each had orders from me to text me
something…anything…even if it’s just a “hi” each day. (I’ll post some of their texts to me I received
during the week later in my post). This
is the longest I’ve been away from my boys and Lee. I missed them like crazy! Thank goodness I was either swimming, biking,
and running all day each day.
I made it to the airport with some time to spare. The GPS doesn’t work off the speeds I drive;
which was a good thing because getting the bike box out of the back seat of my
car was a workout all by itself. I was
literally sweating by the time I made it inside the airport with my suitcase,
bike box, and carry on.
Thank you Jarrod McKinney for letting me borrow your bike
box. It is VERY nice and I really
appreciate you letting me borrow. Also,
all of your tips on watching the TSA go through it and then putting the zip
ties on were so smart. They were all
things I would have never thought about doing with the bike.
It cost $200 for the bike plus $35 as a second bag charge
along with $25 for my suitcase. Needless
to say I used Bike Flight to Fed Ex my bike back home and will use Bike Flight
again…no headache of the airport and I think it’s cheaper!! 2 day air back home was only $202.
Finally made it to the hotel by 5:30 pm (Hawaii time and
10:30pm MN time). I was shot, but wanted
to get a run in before the day was over.
I headed out for an 80 minute jog up Ali Drive and then hit Lava Java
for fish tacos and a Lava Java shake (ice cream and espresso) to go for
dinner. I was in bed by 8pm.
Day 1 Monday:
Plan was to get up at 5:30 am, but I was up at 2:00am when
my boys all sent me texts before they went to school. This was the process all week – waking up at
2am from the sound of my phone beeping with good morning texts from my boys before
they left for school.
5:30am – still dark outside, but I headed out for a
run. I got a beautiful run in as the sun
came up and then had coffee and fresh fruit overlooking the ocean.
8:30 – meet and greet with the total Immersion Crew. They are a fantastic group. So diverse and so cool! We did some swim videotaping and were broke
into groups. We did some longer swimming
and then headed back in to review the video.
I was put in the advanced group along with Jennifer, Margie
from New Zealand, Sandra and Karen both from Hong Kong, and Tom from Georgia. I felt like I was a kindergarten who was
picked up and put in middle school without any of the elementary basics you
need to survive middle school. Total
Immersion type of swimming is completely new to me. I first took a lesson at the start of the
year. The others in the group were
either TI coaches or have read every piece of information out on TI in books
and the internet. Throughout the week
there were times I was lost and had no idea what was being asked of me. I had to ask a lot of questions.
After our morning session I took my bike to Bike Works for
them to put together and then headed to Island Naturals, and organic
deli/market. The food was delicious and
full of goodness I needed to fuel my body for the week. Thanks to David, Jen’s boyfriend, who rented
a car and carted my bike around for me all week. He offered to carry the towels all week for
Jen and I, but taking care of my bike was a much better deal.
2:00 – back to swimming…I thought our coach, David Cameron,
was joking when he said how far we were swimming. Then we would make it to the buoy and he
would say let’s swim to the next. It was
hard for me to focus on my swimming because I kept thinking, “Holly shit…I have
to get myself back to the pier after this”
I have never swam that far in the ocean or swam in waves that big.
5:00 – first bike ride!
Man I love my bike and being able to be outside. I was told by the bike shop I needed to be
off my bike by 6 because when it gets dark it gets dark FAST! No joke.
Seriously, its light out and then you think…it’s getting dark out and a
minute later you better have lights on your bike or be off your bike.
Day two Tuesday:
5:30 – up and ran
8:00 – swim
10:00 – bike out on the Queen K (60 miles)
3:00 – back swimming
5:30 – I am beat! I’m
so tired I managed to get up to my room, shower, eat and was sleeping before
7pm. I think the time change finally
caught up to me.
Day three Wednesday;
5:30 – up and ran. I
run up Palini hill every day at least one time and each time I put myself at
mile 12 of the marathon getting ready to head out on the Queen K and I focus on
my form and calming my breathe and using my power to climb the hill. I LOVE PALANI.
8:00 – swim
10:30 – bike – much hotter and windier! Wow!
The wind was crazy…when people talk about being blown off the road I now
know what they mean.
3:00 – LONG SWIM…I was shot by this time of the day and was
nervous to make the longer swim of the afternoon. The crazy thing about the TI way of swimming
is I feel more relaxed swimming than ever before and my arms aren’t falling off
at the end of my swim sessions.
5:30 – headed back out for another run to get the
opportunity to be out running at another time of day. Each day I fell more in love with Kona and
training on the Big Island. I love the
humid warm air and feeling the sweat run down my back and seeing the ocean off
in the distance.
6:30 – grabbed a pizza, took a shower, and was sleeping
before 8pm. I knew the next morning was
going to be my biggest training day of the week.
Day four Thursday:
5:30 – I was up and running when it was dark out. My favorite time of the day is right before
the sun comes up and being out running or on my bike as the sun rises. No matter where I am it is so quiet this time
of the day.
6:30 – grabbed some breakfast from Lava Java before heading
out on my bike. I needed to be up to
Hapuna Beach by 9 – 9:15.
7:00 – I headed through town and then out on my bike. I was enjoying the views and sitting upright
for the first hour. Then I realized…I
better get going if I’m going to make it there in time. I put my head down and got down on my aero
bars and rode. The wind had shifted from
yesterday and was blowing much harder.
9:00-11:00 swam with
the group at Hapuna Beach. Beautiful beach
and the location of the Hawaii 70.3 race I’m doing in June.
11:30 – biked the rest of the IM bike course. The only word I can think of to describe my
climb up to Hawi (the IM turnaround) is epic!
I have never rode my bike in winds like that….I was blown from the
shoulder of the road across the rumble strips and into the middle of the
highway. I wasn’t able to go over 10mph
on the last 5 miles to Hawi. A few
points I just laughed out loud to myself because it was completely unreal to me
how strong the wind was. My Garmin it 98
degrees on the ride. I stopped in Hawi
and had some Macadamia Nut ice cream and filled my water bottles. Leaving Hawi was the best! The wind was at my back and was going
downhill. I didn’t even have to work and
I was flying at 40 mph…mainly coasting. I
did get a little nervous a few times when I would hit some crosswinds in an open
area. Once I made it back on the queen K
I was still moving pretty good. It was
amazing how fast the same section went on the way back vs. the way there. I made one more stop on my bike to fill my
water bottles. I drank some coconut
water and couldn’t manage thought of any real food.
4:30 – brick run off the bike. As I was coming back into Kona I could tell I
was getting a headache. I took my bike
to my room and changed into some run clothes and headed out for a run – right up
Palani hill. At this point in the day it
felt like I was climbing a mountain. I
made it up and back out on the Queen K and then did a short loop back to the
hotel. I was TIRED.
Day five Friday:
My last day…the camp goes through Saturday, but I wanted to
be back to be with my boys for Easter so I took a late Friday night flight out. Lee was golfing in Nashville until Sunday
afternoon. The boys and I planned a “party
crash” for Saturday night. We started
these when they were little and Lee would go on hunting or fishing trips and
only 2 or 3 could go. It made it much
more appealing to stay back with mom if
we were having a party crash. These days
we all go hunting and/or fishing so it has been years since we have had a party
crash, but they all remember them. We
get movies and go to the grocery store and pick out our favorite junk
foods. Then come home and line all our
junk food on the counter and stay up as late as possible watching movies. Then we all crash in the living room in our
forts we made. Now that the boys are
older there wasn’t any fort making…just staying up late watching movies and
eating junk.
5:30am – run…I took it all in! I created mental images for those hard treadmill
sessions on this last run.
8:00 – This morning
was one of my favorites of the whole week.
We were in groups of 2 or 3. My
partner was Margie from New Zealand. She
is fantastic. I’m guessing she is mid 50’s
or so and I can NOT keep up with her.
She is graceful and beautiful in the water. I ask her questions just to listen to her
accent.
Pack
1:00 – swam IM course 2.4 miles
I have to say I was nervous for this one because the chop
really picks up as the day goes on and after 5 days of some pretty crazy intense
swimming I wasn’t sure my body could manage.
The swim didn’t go as planned and we were off course and didn’t quite
swim the actual IM course. As with
everything that doesn’t go as planned…I needed to find the positives of my
experience. I’ve learned when I’m
nervous or scared about something I have two emotions which come out...being
quiet and angry. So I may not say much,
but what I say may not be too nice when I’m nervous or scared. I was quiet and angry in my final swim at TI
camp. At the time I was upset about my
experience I was having, but once I made it back to shore I realized this is
probably the toughest conditions I will have to swim in….there were no buoys
out that far and there was only 4 us together…no kayaker or paddle boarder…the winds
had picked up and I had a hard time even sighting shore. My experiences over the week, and especially
the final swim, made me a stronger and more confident swimmer in the ocean.
Thanks to Jennifer Imsande for showing me the Total
Immersion style of swimming and inviting me to lessons with her. I may not be faster…yet…but I’m relaxed and
confident in the ocean and now know I will get out of the water in IM and
be ready to lay down an amazing bike and a fast marathon because I didn’t waste
any mental energy being nervous in the ocean.
Thank you to Dave Cameron.
He is amazing TI coach and I feel very fortunate having him be in Minneapolis
so I can keep taking classes from him over the summer.
I use to talk about how much I disliked swimming, but now I
love…really love swimming in the ocean with
the waves and the salt water. Swimming the
TI way I don’t feel tired after swimming for hours every day. By the last day I was able to get in the
water and just swim without realizing I was in salt water.
Did I get any faster at the TI swim camp? I don’t think I got any faster at my week of
TI camp, but that wasn’t my goal. My
goal was to be confident in the water and not waste mental energy worrying
about the things I have no control over.
I reached my goal and I feel this new level of confidence will equal a
faster time on race day because the mental energy I will have saved in the
swim.
One last thing…the junk food from the party
crash…it never enters our pantry. When
the party crash is over we throw what’s left in the garbage and get back to our
normal (healthy) eating style. We all
feel like junk and say…it will be a long time before we do that again!
