Kona Edition
I promised on Monday that I would go into a bit more detail once I got home and slipped into the rythym again so here are a few more thoughts on Kona 2024.
The Prep
Our prep went quite well I thought. We got fit again in and around the totally different athlete contexts. By that I mean every athlete had such different preps in terms of winter. Daz and the two James’ qualified for and raced at Townsville. Paul had a standard kind of winter after qualifying at Port and raced at Sunny Coast 70.3. Ed was on new Dad duties with the arrival of his and Em’s first child. Jimmy raced at Husky and then had a racing break until Townsville .
Managing Townsville was an interesting challenge which meant we had to train through a World Champs in a strange way. Not ideal for Kona but highly ideal for the general experience for the athletes as that was a really good race.
The Race
Daz and Paul were both on site early enough for the Ho’ala Swim on the course the previous Sunday. A good experience and probably contributed really well to two great swims from them in the IM. James arrived on the Monday and got into some nice rythym in training. Jimmy and Ed hit town on Wednesday with me which from what i saw was enough time to prepare properly.
I have already spoken to the individual races and results on Monday so wont go into that again but I am really happy with the guy’s races overall. Our main challenges were the run. I can’t reiterate how hot it is over there to race. It really throws a challenge up to the athlete that you can’t understand until you’ve been there. It says 27deg on the app but have a look at anyone’s files (including KB’s strava and you will see 33deg. That’s the lava radiating heat upwards, and that’s why we covet Kona as the ultimate test. The conditions it’s conducted in and the terrain are intense.
This was the first Kona for all the athletes. They will be back no matter what they say now and will be so much better prepared for those challenges where the HR is saying don’t go harder and the conditions say slow down but the mind is saying i just want to go faster!
The Pro’s
This was an old school Hawaii Ironman. A world class field but largely what i saw as a relatively inexperienced / young crop of athletes. I felt that is what caused most of the issues.
Time to have an opinion…. Sam riding off the front was dumb. He was riding scared of the runners as his 2022 experience was being chased down. He overbiked and paid for it. He should have shown patience and raced his best race. Perhaps as current IM champion he raced under pressure but Nice isn’t Kona and he has to earn his win there over a few years developing his run in the lava fields.
KB was all over the shop this year chasing two goals. Paris and Kona. He got neither. His IM Frankfurt 2:32 run was impressive straight after Paris but this would have taken a lot of energy. It doesnt appear he was ready for Kona and was panicky.
Generally (and I stress generally as there were exceptions) the field over-biked and looking at run times it showed.
Lange was the smartest guy there. He had a smart lead into the race with not too many races. Then on race day, he swam well and stayed at the front of the pack so he was positioned well in the bike group. Then he sat there legally in the train whilst eating and drinking, and got off and ran to on to win.
Concluding Thoughts
KONA is all about the heat, the run and the mental pressure. No matter who you are. You have to swim well without a wetsuit, ride smart, pace well, and then run well whilst being smacked in the face with a sledge hammer diguised as the heat.
Kona isn’t Triathlon and Triathlon isn’t Kona. Don’t let it derail all your good senses and intelligence. It’s not the be all and end all. You have to respect it for sure but the intensity of the event just means even more to stick to the basics. Be fit, be well prepared, pace smart, get nutrition right, make no mistakes and you will be rewarded.
I really hope that we get the men and women back together racing on the Big Island soon. It’s a beautiful place and an incredible race and that will only be better if we go back to what we had. Everyone racing together in the same location.
Congratulations once more to our HPT athletes who now hold a very special part of the sport on their palmares. You should all be proud of how you qualified, prepared and raced.
Cheers
Proud Coach
