Well here we are the day before the race. I am sitting here on my lanai over looking the water with the sun coming up behind my back. As I look out over the water I can see the turn around buoys on the racecourse. A few swimmers are actually rounding them right now. I know a couple of guys who were going to swim the whole course the day before the race. If they are in my age group and faster than me…I hope they ride and run the course today as well!
I am starting to get that amped up feeling that I usually get as I get closer to big races. For me, that is good. If I don’t get that feeling it usually means I am not ready for some reason. I am nervous for sure, but I have to say my overarching emotion I have felt all week is just pure joy and relief. Joy that I am back in the sport I love so much and joy that I am back among all the Vulcans in this sport. Relief in that I can still get myself scary fit. When I get out of shape and put on a little weight, I go through this mental circle jerk in my mind where the negative side says “Its over, you’ll never be fit and fast again. You are too old”. I proved that isn’t the case this summer and it just fills me with relief that the door on my athletic career isn’t closed yet☺
It has been great to just wander around Kailua half dressed all week digging the scene. If you have never seen this place during Ironman week, you have to check it out some time. So much good energy to put in your pocket and take home with you.
This week, the duration of my training sessions came way down as any natural race taper would dictate, mixed in with a small touch of intensity to continue to sharpen the knife for Saturday. One of the guys I coached this year is a Marine Colonel by the name of Hunter “Hamster” Hobson. Hamster and I met at the Jim Thorpe Sports Days at the Army War College last year while I was in school at National. Hamster was at the “rival” school there at NDU, the Industrial College of Armed Forces (ICAF). There is really no rival in there, but we artificially hate them during the school year as a place to put our competitive energy as we compete against ICAF in intramural sports all year. I met Hamster on the 8k XC run at the sports days competition, which included all the services War Colleges. Hamster ran me down at the finish (in front of my wife!). I use the excuse that it was the week after Boston, but he could beat me running any day of the week. He is one of those freaks who are good at everything. Hamster is the rock star of military pilots in my book. He is a former Blue Angel (#2 on the right side in the diamond formation), and the former Commanding Officer of a Marine Fighter Squadron who has seen multiple tours in combat. He is as humble as he is studly. Were it not for the unfortunate moniker of Hamster, he would max out on stud points. Anyway, Hamster got a lottery slot this year for Kona and asked me to coach him. He is off the chart talented and we have trained together all week.
On Monday, Hamster and I rode 90 minutes easy and later that day we swam some hard sets in the pool with Paul and Teresa. Tuesday we swam the entire course with my buddy Scotty Davis, who just finished the LA Triathlon (first amateur at 44 years old), who as an awesome swimmer and was nice enough to pace me through some short hard sets out to the buoy. We stopped at the Coffees of Hawaii boat/espresso bar on the way back. My buddy and fellow ironman competitor Albert Boyce is the owner of COH and runs an espresso bar out on the swim course where you just swim up and grab an espresso and the chat with all of those on the boat. Kevin Purcell, the former Chippendale and ever-present tri coach is always aboard as is my friend from Boulder and pro triathlete Mark Van Akkeren. Marky V crashed while training here a couple of weeks ago and unfortunately cannot race. After the espresso, we swam back toward the pier when we ran into a school of dolphins (at least over 50 were in this school). Hamster grabbed my leg and pointed underwater, as I looked down a mom and baby dolphin came cruising right beneath me less than two feet away. As she cruised by, she turned her belly toward me and let out the little sonar squeal they make. TOO FREAKIN’ COOL! It was one of the most wonderful things I have experienced in the water. All my fellow Vulcans stopped swimming as well. We just all enjoyed the oneness with these terrific creatures. I will never forget that experience. Later that afternoon, Scotty Davis and I went for a quick 8 miler to shake things loose for me. He is a hugely generous person who gave away his Tuesday to train with me and catch up. Scotty and I are coaching a camp together along with pro triathlete, Tim O’Donnell in April down in Southern California. I look forward to that.
The rest of the week I have been just chilling out on the sofa, soaking up my training and resting for the big day. Race week is probably one of the only times I allow myself to just be a lazy slug. For those of you who know me personally, I have been told I can be a touch intense and tend to live kind of an aggressive schedule. I’m just not good at lying around. It doesn’t suit me. I’m always hyped up on coffee and suffer from mild ADD. My former flight surgeon, who as a civilian is an occupational osteopath, tried to make it sound better one time over beers in Ecuador when he broke it to me that he was officially diagnosing me with ADD, or whatever the cone head quacks call it these days. He said, “Jonser, you are a very highly developed ADD guy”. What the hell is tha…oh’ look, shiny keys☺. If the worst affliction I end up with in this life is a head full of cowlicks, my stupid laugh, and a little ADD mixed in there, I will be just fine! So anyway, I have just lounged around on the couch. I have actually watched an entire football game and two baseball games. That exceeds the number of games I have watched cumulatively since 2004.
Laying around on Holiday (as the wife calls it) has been really great for me. I have been pretty freakin’ busy the last few years. I went straight from commanding my navy squadron to grad school and then straight back to United Airlines with literally no break at all. This last month of just training and this week of just resting have been beyond wonderful. When I freshen up from fatigue, I get the opportunity to be introspective and put the pieces together in my life, both past and present. I often come away with a completely different perspective on things than I formerly had. I will save the deep life stuff for some other time and keep this triathlon specific. With regard to me and being in this sport, I just have to acknowledge that this little journey of running, biking and swimming over the last 8 years has completely changed my life. Back in 2000, I was a United Captain, an upwardly mobile LCDR in the reserves, a husband and a father; and while most thought I had the world by the balls- I was the most lost guy on this planet. I had never set any goals beyond sitting in the left seat of commercial jets and flying grey airplanes for the government. My eldest was through with high school and was killing college and my youngest was doing all the good things a 13 year old was supposed to. I would get so frustrated that I couldn’t visualize what was next. Nine years later, the clarity is in HD. Most likely, that comes from just living longer and maturing, but there is something about this Vulcan Ironman lifestyle that just clears up ambiguity for me. I haven’t quite nailed down what that is, but I will keep rolling it around in my grape until that answer comes from within, eh? For now, I know this: The main thing, is to keep the main thing- the main thing.
Yesterday I got to hang out at the navyathletes.com tent at the expo. Because navy is a major sponsor for this event, we not only have the dudes racing for navy like myself, we have other navy ironman dudes who get to come race and represent. These young navy studs are so impressive to me. You can read their bios on www.navyathletes.com under 2009 athletes. I got to hang out with them a bit yesterday. I have nothing but respect and admiration for these guys. I am so proud to be a member of today’s military. I quit high school and enlisted back in 1982 and it wasn’t the case back then. Most young sailors did everything they could to not look like sailors when they were out in town. That post Vietnam funk was still alive and well. I am glad I have stayed in these 27 years to see and live in a different United States Navy. My prayer is that this country really realizes how special these young kids are and how devoted to their service they really are. I get chills up my spine when I think about it. Hooyah!
So, tomorrows race- I have stated in former blogs that if one places a time goal on this race, he is either a novice and is going to have a rude awakening, or is more highly evolved than me and just knows these things☺ Me, I honesty have no time goal. A navy buddy texted me last night and wished me luck on achieving my goals tomorrow. I responded that I already have. I am here to race my fourth Kona and I am more fit than I have ever been in my life. How good it feels to say that and mean it! Tomorrow, I will be happy with whatever the day delivers because I am truly back in the sport and just to go play with the big boys is enough for this year. Having said that, I, like anyone else, have some rough parameters I would like to stay close to through the day to gauge my progress. I have never broken an hour in this swim for whatever reason, so the closer I am to 1:00 the better. On the bike, I am going to cap my watts at 230 out of respect for the course and would be happy if I could ride in the 5:20 or so range. I have broken 5:15 in 5 of my 8 Ironmans and have gone sub 4:54 here, but I have been away for a while, so am going to be conservative. My pr on the run on this course is 3:32 and I would be ecstatic if I could get in under 3:30. The rest I will just leave out there for the lava gods. If you are tracking me on ironman.com and you see me missing the above times, don’t feel bad for me. Just know I am having a total blast, loving life with the other sick and twisted Vulcans and am happy to be out there giving it my all. I will leave it all on the course, I promise.
Train with joy or not at all!
Jonser
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