Ah, Hawaii! Isles of indolence, torpor and isolation. And, on the biggest one, home to our annual convocation, the self-celebration beside the Pier.
I’ve spent the last two weeks easing back from my first Ironman of the year, at Coeur d’Alene. I really could have started serious training a week ago, but, in keeping with my relaxed approach in the last two hours of that recent race, I think I need to condense my intensity of focus into a shorter epoch. But, Kailua Bay and the Queen K Highway call, and the siren is seductive. It’s time for a little goal-setting.
I need to have one over-riding guidepost, tattooed on the inside of my forehead, so I make no bonehead moves like last year:
“Pay attention to nutrition and pace, and time and place will take care of themselves.”
My mantra for the next three months.
No stupid caffeine pills; no drafting penalties. No hubris about how great I am, or how I OUGHT to be on the podium at the World Championships. No dehydration, no losing 10 pounds, or even 4. No sentimental thoughts about the stark beauty of the lava, the soul cleansing searing heat, the winds which wash away all the extraneous parts of my life, leaving only a racer.
No margin for error at this race. No fooling around with racing tactics, or waiting for the sun to go down. Just steady effort, up or down hill, tail-, side-, or head wind. No tri-celebrity stalking, no pushing on the run until the final run into town. No worries about what helmet to wear. No sunburn. And, oh yes, did I say NO DEHYDRATION??!!
For that is what nutrition means, first and foremost: keep my fluids topped up on the bike, and keep the faucet running along Ali’i and out of town. Easy on the calories, especially on the run, and don’t get carried away in the shade in the first ten miles. For once, try and be satisfied with a race in Hawaii. Score so far: 10 races, 2 successes. That’s a piss-poor track record, and I really should have l learned by now how to turn it around.
How will I know if I’ve gotten it right? I’ll be running up the hill from the top of the energy land to the turn down Palani – 4 miles in the dark when I’ll want to extend those aid station walks from 20 seconds to two minutes. If I don’t slow down during those darkest minutes, then I know I will not have given in, I will have succeeded.