Day of the banquet - 13.10

Pancakes for breakfast again - it is Sunday after all :) And a slow morning with no exercise is just so pleasant :) Slept for almost 12 hours - nicely rested and happy now.

Made our way to the beach by swimming course and did a quick open water swim. Driving through the town it is amazing of how quickly all the tents and course markings and finish areas and transition areas are picked up. And unfortunately all the buoys on the swimming course are gone as well. Glad that the fish on the bottom are still as entertaining as before :D

It is starting to sink in that we have only few days left here - laid on the beach for an hour or so, just to enjoy the sun one last time. Some rented the boards where you can stand on and paddle your way around. Due to my awful balance I did not have fun on it, but at least I got to try going back and fourth down the beach :)

In the evening there is a banquet for all the athletes and participants and their families. There were long discussions if we should attend or not, but I decided to go. It is the banquet of World Championships and this opportunity does not come along very often so now is the time to use the chance.

Banquet of the champions - Hawaii Ironman 2013

I've attended one other banquet after the race in Florida Ironman - this one here is about 4 times bigger it seems like. The program was quite extensive with local dancers, singers and fire throwers on the stage. Speeches by different officials and Ironman corporation workers were held. Awards ceremony for all age groupers and for PRO's was the last event in the program ... and it took the longest. Meanwhile lots of food and cake of course :) Two and a half hours later the show was over and home we went.

Hawaii Ironman 2013 preparation and the race

Just another beach by the park

The usual morning exercises in the park. By Jane's agitation we are increasing the repetitions - gotta get those muscles a good workout. Considering the amount of food we haul down every day all those workouts are much needed. Back to the food part - at some point for some reason I volunteered to make pancakes, so everybody was waiting for this morning :) Pancakes with peanut butter, jam and butter... yumm!

Just like every other day - another round at the expo and swim practice in the pool for a bit over an hour. I can really feel the push-ups while swimming :)

As this is a little town there are not many places available for shopping. After inquiring the best place to go, we were suggested this store called ROSS. It is a warehouse type store that at the first sight gives you shivers. Once you look around for a bit you start to get the idea as all the clothes are sorted by type - dresses/shirts/shoes etc. There is no sorting by brand or anything so one just has to go through all the hangers to see what is on there. Just lots of work. The other Estonians are spending hours after hours every other day in the store :) It took us about 2 hours of looking around and our shopping limit was reached. Walked out with 6 dresses, 2 pairs of flip-flops and some shorts :)

Rest of the evening was spent preparing for the race tomorrow - making sandwiches, getting communications working (local SIM card for Internet access on the road) and packing the bags.
Let the race day begin - we are ready!

3 Estonians are racing today

We woke up well before sunrise on the race day. PRO start was at 6:30, made our way to the swim start by 5:30 to get good seats. We got warned about having trouble finding seats if we get there any later than that - we barely made it and fought for our seats by the water. As expected the crowd gathered here for watching the race is quite extensive. They got their chairs ready in the dark, camping out and enjoying their breakfast with morning coffee.

Few minutes before PRO start

Age groupers start was exactly at 7 in the morning. Once they were on their way we rushed to Palani road to see the PRO athletes out of the water. Our schedule is quite tight and it took some time to get all the stops and viewing spots figured out.

Waiting for the first bikers to start the bike course

Next stop was at the middle of the biking course, driving through Waimea to Kawaihae crossing. We were rushing all we could but we missed the first bunch of PRO athletes.

Our cheering stop at Kawaihae crossing

Already at ca 65km of the biking course you could see athletes having trouble with the heat. Meanwhile the age groupers arrived in big packs - giving a lot of cheering opportunities for us. After an hour or so the PRO's started returning and then the age groupers as well. On the way back it was 130km mark, every once in a while we'd see some athlete walking by who has quit the race. Once all the Estonians have passed the second time we move on.

Waiting for Indrek (either one)

Next we rushed to Palani road to see the running course. Oh the heat is getting bad, it is difficult to even just stand around by the road. At the refreshment points the athletes try to gather as much ice as possible to cool themselves down. Ice goes everywhere - inside the suit, pants and on top of the head under the cap. Apparently this time the weather is cooler than usual, the sun is not blazing and it is cloudy. I could not imagine what it would be like if the sun would be out.

Marko is nicely moving towards Energy Lab

Many athletes are walking, many have cramps, many have foggy eyes, many are struggling. We are so relieved to see all the Estonians moving on nicely. Indrek T just keeps smiling and waving at every spot we see him.

Indrek K running towards Energy Lab

It is difficult to get updates when standing by the road. Local SIM card helped only up to the point while my phone battery lasted. Once the athletes were running there were no more updates for us.

Indrek T coming from refreshment area

I bought many Estonian flags with me, it was agreed that I'd find a spot to hand them out before the finish line. What a great fun it was to cheer all the finishers on and spotting the Estonians passing by. Later we found out that they were all doing a nice dance at the finish line :) What a relief to see Marko and both Indrek's happily finishing the race!

Here are race day photos taken by Aho - Google+
Finish line videos Ironman Kona Live (Marko at 25:45, Indrek T at 1:38:04 and Indrek K at 1:54:02)
More photos here: Variety of images - GoPro Ironman World Championships

All in all the day was very tiring, in the evening my legs were hurting, back was hurting. Tried to get enough water in during the day to avoid the head ache from the sun, I guess managed good with that. Got home dead tired and fell asleep around 9 in the evening already. No energy to go to town for seeing the last finishers.

Underpants run

Just another morning run ;)

There is no getting bored in Kailua-Kona during Ironman week :) At 8 in the morning, in city center, hundreds of people gathered for a morning run - in their underwear! Called underpants run, it is a tradition taking place for years already. The run itself is quite short, perhaps a kilometer if even that, but everyone who participates is in their underwear :) We gathered to watch the show and cheer on everybody participating, also a group of Estonians :D

The whole event was quite a bit fun as everybody had made an effort to look nice in their underwear. People were wearing all sorts of costumes and hats and flags and all kinds of different additions.

Underpants run 2013

More photos can be seen here: underpants run photos in Facebook , in Triathlon Competitor

After the run we all gathered to a park close by for morning exercises - yes we found another piece of grass :) to lay on. What a luxury to lay in the sun right next to rolling waves, enjoy the heat and the view while doing abs. Everybody seemed quite happy about the short practice and it was quickly followed by a swim.

Heading for a swim after the exercises

Mostly the shore is just lava rock, sandy beaches are quite tiny, perhaps 20-40 meters or so. I can't even imagine if those are natural or are those tiny beaches man-made. One of the tiny beaches by Alii drive:

Quick run by the condominiums, breakfast, hour at the beach, quick round in town at the expo again and then on to a barbecue at Klampe house :) Program consisted of a video shoot too - Marko and other Indrek came as well to say few words to the ones back home who will gather to follow the race.

Trying out the seat :)

It took us quite a while to set the room ready. Once all the flags were up we were quite satisfied with the result though :)

Press conference in action

Rest of the evening was spent on the terrace, grilling, eating, talking and just having another relaxed evening. The air is so very warm as well as the occasional breeze that appears. Nights on the terrace are very very enjoyable... except, yes there is always and except unfortunately, huge just huuuge roaches appear :( They run around on the floor and make their way into the rooms as well. Kids had quite a bit of fun chasing them around and landing cups on top of them (so they are secured and won't run across my toes). The smallest kid, perhaps few months over one year, is quite confused as she is not fast enough to catch them :)

Enjoying the vacation and the sun

Good morning! It was staring at me from the ceiling above my bed :)

Wednesday, 9th of October, started with another round of morning exercises. One of the few places you find grass around here is a golf course. Our housing is situated basically in the middle of a golf course. So we figured we could lay on the corner of their grass while doing our exercises. It is 8 in the morning, sun is already burning like no other, we are nicely laying our towels on the grass and are starting with exercises. This fun lasts about 30 minutes and then a very upset lady drives by and makes us leave the grass :( Finished the exercises on the porch, gotta find another piece of grass tomorrow I guess.

Another breed of gecko's - this one can change the color as well (the green ones can't)

Before heading to town we laid in the sun by the local pool area. It is just so conveniently located around the corner from our place... although 1 hours is about the maximum time one can do it :) To the town we went. With all the athletes arriving and also spectators arriving the town has transformed quite a bit. Eating places are full, there is live music in most of the pubs, beaches are not empty anymore and of course there is more traffic and parking is becoming quite impossible.

Alii drive is the main street in the town. Most of the restaurants and small shops as well as hotels and condominium areas are on this road. It runs right next to the shore, there are numerous little white sanded beaches after every few blocks. Every day there are new flags and tents of yet another sports store/equipment provider appearing by the road. The closer you get to the city center the more those colorful flags pop up. Expo is being set up in few parking lots by the local market. Another big tent with Ironman merchandise is located by the hotel that stands next to the swimming start area at the end of Alii drive.

We spent few hours looking around in the expo and walking through the tents on Alii drive, popping into the little stores on the way as well. New swimming suit that looks like a bikini (very much needed in order to get most sun while swimming outside) and new running shoes bought, we had nice Mexican lunch and then open water swim on the Ironman course.

Managing with the heat here gets easier every day. Drinking plenty of water and not doing any quick movements is the key :) During night time having the fans on helps a lot (there is no AC in the house), no covers are needed, just a sheet is quite enough. While exercising, especially during running, the skin is immediately pressing water out in streams. It is like being in the sauna :)

Sunset from our terrace

Waimea, Kailua-Kona and the Parade of Nations

Just the other day we got in the car in the morning and it showed 24C for the temperature. We agreed that it is cold outside :) Car heat was cranked up as we headed to town. Apparently Hawaii has one of the steadiest climates on Earth, there is not much fluctuation during the year and even during the day and night. Weather has been warm (usually ca28-30C during the day) no matter if the sun is out or not. Past couple of nights it has been raining which made the humidity higher, and I guess also the mornings a bit cooler than usual. Today it was normal hot day and night again :) And in few days it should get even a bit warmer!

night time statistics ...

... and day time to compare :)

Besides the stable weather - there are many different climates on the Big Island, truly. On Sunday we were invited over to Ilmar and her wife's home. They live by Waimea, up in the hill, 800m in altitude. And guess what? It is about 5 degrees cooler there! How incredibly nice for a change - like summer in Estonia :) The house is located on a steep hill which allows for a wonderful view from the porch of the house. We had nice grill and local food barbecue, got to know their neighbors who came to visit and just had a good time. Plans for the race day got made - where to follow the race and how to move between swim/bike/run courses, where to take photos and how the finish line logistics should take place.

view from the top of the hill

As the evening rolled around we were all eager to get back down for the warmer weather :) Not many of us realized that it will be cooler up in 800m so we did not bring any extra clothes. As the sun was setting we could not get in the cars fast enough - it was really chilly! It is amazing how fast one gets used to the nice hot weather and not having to wear anything other than shorts and a T-shirt (if even that ;) ).

lava fields and holes/caves by Queen K highway

On Monday, it was a true vacation day :) Slow morning, swimming at a local pool for an hour, nice long lunch in town and then lying outside in the sun. Reading, napping, writing, staring at the sunset - the usual vacation activities you know :) The town we are staying at and where the race takes place is called Kailua-Kona. Nice town by the ocean, on the west coast of the Big Island. Capital town Hilo is located on the other coast and is bigger than Kailua-Kona. With the Ironman approaching it seems that half of the world has come to visit Kailua-Kona :) Atmosphere is great, tents and flags are being set up on the main road in town, there is live music on the streets at night and many many athletes moving around. It is this huge sports festival lasting for days and days on end. I guess at some point the main road will be closed for traffic even.

Ironman events schedule - so pretty much our schedule :)

Somehow we managed to have 2 hours of workout done by noon on Tuesday. 8am was general conditioning workout and then swimming at a local pool again. My foot is hurting a bit so no running for a while. On days like this it seems that we are at a training camp instead of a vacation :) But it is nice to get in shape so I don't mind one bit.

beach by the pier in downtown

We spent about an hour on a beach by the pier before the big Ironman Parade of Nations started. There was a truck all decorated in blue-black-white and prepared with Marko's photos, Estonian flags were pulled out and ready we were. The parade started from one end of the town and ran for about a kilometer or so through the main street, ending at Ironman Expo site. All nations participating at Ironman World Championships this Saturday were represented - country name and the flag were walked down the street with the participants and fans walking along. As we heard then last year Estonia was not represented and did not participate at the parade - well this year we had quite a nice crowd together. We were all wearing team shirts (thank you Indrek for the idea and organizing the shirts) and also Estonian flags. There were many spectators cheering by the road sides, announcements took place at least on 4 spots during the distance where they informed of which country is approaching and how many athletes are participating from this country.

Estonian delegation at the Ironman Parade of Nations

Tomorrow we have the plan to visit the Expo in town and to do another (but shorter) open water swim.

Ironman training swim

Saturday morning, 5th of October, rolled around. Alarm was set to 6 in the morning, quick breakfast and to the town we went. At 8 o'clock the start is given for Ironman training swim - race where the Hawaii Ironman swimming leg is open for public to race at. The only difference was that the finish was moved to a beach next to the pier, during the actual race swimming start and finish is as the same location in the bay. Online registration died before the deadline was reached so we needed to get the registration done in the morning. After filling 3 different sheets, paying the entrance fee and agreeing with pages full of small printed text we got our numbers. Mine was a beautiful round one - 220. It was like a real race with proper lifeguards on duty and timing chip and all. Just like open water swims go there was briefing before the race. Even some pro triathletes were present, doing their warm up for the main race I guess :)

Ironman start spot

Briefing done the start was given. About 200 swimmers started out to 2.4 mile (3900 meter) swim race. As the water is warm in the ocean there were no wetsuits used, but one could do the race using fins (although I did not see many people using this option). Somehow I ended up in the middle of 2 big groups at the start so first I got to just swim in my own pace. Soon enough this fun was over and I was getting squeezed into people while having to literally jump over some swimmers, at the same time trying to figure out the direction where to swim. At one point I found a set of legs to swim after :) For a little while I was quite satisfied with the finding, but soon enough I got tired of those feet jumping from one place to the other - at one point they were in front of me and another second they moved 2 meters to my right and so on. I have never really understood swimming at someones feet, it takes too much effort from me to deal with such distraction. While checking my direction I noticed that there is a whole big group in front of the legs I tried to follow, but they all were going crooked. As the pace wasn't that fast I decided to take a shortcut and make my own way to the next buoy :) And what do you know - once at the buoy I had made my way to the front of the pack! Rest of the race was a whole lot more interesting as we swam together with one tall guy who had colorful swim pants on :) Side by side we moved together to the finish line.

Swimming back was in one way easier as there wasn't so much struggle with other people, but on the other hand all the directions were missing as the buoys were not visible (and we had to aim for the beach now). Luckily there were some paddlers who made sure we don't fall into the opposite direction so we got to swim next to them and did not need to look for the direction ourselves.

All in all it was a very nice race. My pace was good - just fast enough to keep the tempo up and not too fast to make me exhausted. Weather was nice, it was sunny and the waves were not too big. My race time was 1 hour 1 minute and 52 seconds which made me quite happy :) Now I have something to compare myself with once the main race day rolls around.

Certified Ironman Training Swim finisher :)

Rest of the day was quite a slow one :) Race was tiring :) Tried to go to see turtles by the marina, but the park closed at 16:30 and we just got there too late. As it turned out the parks will be closed for some time now as US government did not accept the budget so government organizations get closed down for a while. Oh well, there is still time for us to do the sightseeing so no worries!

Exploring The Big Island of Hawaii

Friday the 4th of October was the tour day. We aimed for the Cook monument located at Kealakekua Bay where he died during a quarrel with the locals year 1779. What we did not know was that it is quite difficult to get to the monument itself. No access via car and the only way possible is narrow and steep foot path. Since we have have one leaping companion with us then the hike was out of the question. Instead we explored the sights from a nearby bay - could barely see the monument :) At the bay there were about 30 triathletes training, they took the path to the monument through the water - they swam :) And as far as we could tell they had come there by bikes. Hopefully they did not need to bike all the way up the steep hills to get home.

Kealakekua bay - Cook monument in the distance

By wondering around the winding roads here we made our way to the painted church. Roads off the highway are quite narrow and winding which makes the driving around quite slow. It seems to us that the locals just drive very slow around here in general, I guess that's what happens when you mostly drive on those narrow paths. And as there are so many athletes running and biking on the roads it is understandable I guess, but just difficult to get used to :)

Painted church up on the mountain

Locals know to say that this is one of the coolest years in a long time for the Ironman. And yes, today as well the temperature is just 29C in the shade :) As it is raining on and off then luckily it does not get much over 30. Rain does not make the air any cooler though, it is just nice to get sprinkled on. Weather forecast is promising warmer weather in a week where temperatures will get above 30C. Humidity is currently around 75% and any breeze that we find is greeted with much delight.

Sun sets at 18 every single day and then ultimate darkness arrives