I seem to not feel the urge to blog much when I am not at race venues. When I am at these epic venues such as Kona, my grape fills with perspective on a number of topics. Obviously, this week it is mostly on Ironman and life in this sport.
Teresa arrived here last Thursday and I followed on Sunday after work. It is good to be back on the Big Island for this race. I am not racing this year. Teresa is here to compete in her 11th Kona and her 24th Ironman overall. In my opinion that is pretty remarkable. It comes at a cost, but she continues to love the sport, as do I.
There is a lot to love about this sport. The lifestyle, the race venues, and the types of people this sport attracts are what keep me fired up on Ironman. I would have to say that there is a freak show aspect to Kona, but it’s my kind of freak show. I dig it. I can only imagine what some folks think if they have never been around a big triathlon and this crowd rolls into town. The streets are lined with tanned ectomorphs with their shaved legs, skintight everything, knee high compression socks, and the obligatory M- dot (ironman corporate logo) tattoo on their ankles. Many are sporting a minimum of two watches on their arms so they can track their every move by GPS, monitor their heart rate, and count their kilojoules of energy expended. I’m not kidding. They track their energy expended and measure it in kilojoules to come up with a TSS. I forget what TSS stands for (I think it is Total Stress Score). I have athletes that report theirs to me. It is a 1 percent solution for all but the really big volume boys, and I deal in 90 percent solutions. With ironman training, it is a basic JFT prescription for most folks. JFT is a quote from a couple of mentors of mine. It stands for Just F—kin Train. I find with most, that if they consistently JFT, they hit every athletic benchmark they can set for themselves.
So let us get back to the freak show. Walking around Dig Me Beach here in Kona in the morning is an epic freak show, but I love it. You see everything. This morning was the Underpants Run. A couple of famous US coaches, who are married to a couple of former champions of this race, conduct this run at a few Ironman races around the world. It is a kick to watch. Folks show up in their underwear and run like an army platoon around town, perform funny calisthenics and various group running drills. You see just about anything you can imagine in these runs. It is hilarious. This morning, there were small kids running with their dads, in public, in completely crazy underwear. All part of the freak show-my freak show.
On the whole, when you come to these races you see very committed athletes who are the best 1,700 in the world, along with some lottery folks and CEO’s who pay their way in. I live in Boulder and get to see the pros train on a daily basis up close, with a few of them being my good friends. I respect the pros, but that is their job. I have a huge appreciation for the working age group athlete. They are the backbone of this sport. They pay the exorbitant entry fees so that these races happen, they buy the products that support the companies that sponsor these events, and their story is the one I am most interested in telling.
Ironman is on a lot of folks’ bucket list. It is a stop on their journey of self discovery, and I think that is the coolest. I have to admit that is not where I am. Ironman is not a stop on the journey, it is a destination. This is my sport. This is my freak show. I have wanted to compete in this sport for as long as I can remember, and I love being here. I hope to be here for a lifetime.
More later.
Jonser
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