Kona: The Home Stretch

In four days Jennifer and I will once again be boarding a plane to tropical paradise otherwise known as Kailua Kona, Hawaii.  Even though this will be my third trip in five short years to the big island, something seems different about this year.  As I've said before, there's something magical about that island.  It sounds ridiculous typing that, but for me Kona is more than just a race.  Kona is a journey that has defined the past nine years of my life and is what has defined me as a person.  My road to Kona has not come easy by any means and the sacrifices and other important things that I've had to put on hold are completely worth it.  Ironman is a direct parallel to life.  Through our journey through life as we know it, we are faced with ups and downs and struggles that we overcome.  For me, just getting to the big island in 2007 and again in 2010 was satisfying.  Yes, when I raced Kona in 2010, I wanted to race fast, but deep down just being on the Queen K was all worth it.  That is by far the biggest thing that separates Kona 2011 from years past.

On November 21st, 2010, I qualified for Kona at Ironman Arizona and to be honest, it was easy.  It wasn't my first rodeo and I had no doubt in my mind that I was not going to qualify.  I raced with a slight knee injury and was only six weeks removed from Kona 2010 but still persevered.  My goal wasn't to win my age group, but simply punch my ticket back to Kona.  I cruised to a 4th place finish in my age division and had big plans for the new year. 

The first order of business was to find new direction.  I had felt that my time with the Mark Allen Elite team was well spent but if I wanted to elevate my game to the next level, it was time to develop a new training strategy.  This is where my coach Derick Williamson came into play.  I had actually decided to work with Derick the day before Arizona and vividly remember sitting on the waters edge of Tempe Town Lake telling Derick that I was "all in".  It was a huge decision on my part as I was trusting the next 11 months of my life to a guy in Austin Texas who I had never met...however when I talked to Derick, something just seemed to click.  Kona training began on December 13, 2010 so I essentially had only three weeks of "off season".  I remember getting my first block of workouts and my jaw hit the floor.  I thought to myself, if this is what we call "base training" what in the world is my "Ironman Kona build" going to look like.  Well on August 23rd just two day after Timberman 70.3, I quickly found out what it takes to elevate your game to that next level and to test the bodies limits.  What's funny now though is that I go back and look at some of the January and February workout sessions that I considered hard at that time, they almost become laughable.  This is in part reason why I'm chomping at the bit to get this show on the road.  To say I'm ready would be an understatement!

The month of September was by far the most demanding set of workouts I've ever put my body through.  There was actually a point a couple weeks back during a bike trainer session that I physically had a breakdown and was done.  Spent, finished, exhausted, cooked!  Never wanting to quit though, I called Derick and said that I just didn't have it in me today and maybe I could move the session to the following day.  I remember telling him that everything hurt and there was no way I could hit the wattage that he prescribed in the workout.  Well of course he made me get back on my bike and somehow convinced me that it was all in my head and that I am stronger than I often give myself credit for.  That by far was the strongest (and hardest) bike session that I had all year and right then and there I knew that this was the year that I was ready for Kona. 

With only 11 days to go, I'm in the home stretch and I know that I've done the hard work and couldn't be more prepared.  But let's be honest, what matters is results.  I plan to lay it all on the line and plan to dig deeper than I've ever dug.  I know that I'm ready for this race not just physically but mentally.  Time to execute.