Mark Cardinale's 2014 Kona Race Report
This race reports caps off what’s been an incredible season for me; a season that has more than exceeded all my expectations. It really does show you that if you’re willing to do all the little things and put in the work (and have a little luck on your side) you can meet and exceed the goals that you set for yourself. What’s encouraging is that even after the season that I had, I still believe I have a number of areas where I can continue to improve so I truly believe my best performances are still in front of me if I’m willing and able to put in the work. More on this later, but now on to the race report.
Race Week:
We arrived on the big island on Tuesday afternoon and quickly made our way over to Tribike Transport to pick up my bike. The rest of the day was spent getting settled in and buying supplies. Wednesday morning was a swim with several member of the EN team. I swam a total of 1.6miles out in the harbor and of course stopped for a coffee. It was pretty smooth and I felt very buoyant. This was the first time I had swum in salt water. I did get a little nasty hot spot from the chaffing of my skin suit underneath both arms. From there Bruce Thompson and I went for a bike ride along the Queen K. The winds were calm, but I did get a sense for the rolling terrain and how I should approach both the out and back on the section I rode. We didn’t get far enough down the Queen K to get into the heavy winds nor did we get to the section where the climb to Hawi begins. The rest of the day was getting spent getting registered and completing other admin activities. I spent several hours at the expo soaking in the experience. A highlight was getting my picture taken with Chrissie Wellington.
Wednesday night was the EN team dinner where it was nice to spend some time talking to members of the team. Thursday morning, Endurance Nation was very well represented at The Underpants run. We fell about 40 people short of breaking the record, but it was fun regardless. Can’t say I would do it again, but I’m glad I did it as part of soaking in the Kona experience.
With this race rather than provide your bike number on a sticker, they give you these fancy cards with your number that you attach with zip ties to your bike. Unfortunately, because of my setup I didn’t have space on my seat post or seat tube to attach my number. I ended up reversing the setup and had to run zip ties in between the draft box (I ride a speed concept) and the seat tube. What I didn’t realize at the time is this put pressure on the draft box and was causing it to rub against my rear wheel. I only discovered this when I was bringing my bike to check-in and something didn’t feel right. At check-in I asked if any bike techs were available but they said not until the morning. I made the decision to check in my bike, and deal with the problem in the AM. In retrospect I should have taken my bike to the expo and gotten it fixed before I checked it in, because this problem weighed on my mind all night before the race despite doing my best to try to keep the problem in perspective.
Race Morning:
I was up at 3am and ran through my checklist – 3 cups of applesauce with whey protein, a banana, and a honey stinger waffle, all while sipping on Gatorade while getting dressed. The morning went smoothly and my wife dropped me off at hot corner just after 4 am. I was there pretty early as they were still instructing the volunteers. I waited until they were ready and I was one of the first athletes to go through body marking, weigh-in and then into transition. Once there I immediately grabbed my bike and found a tech. He reinstalled my draft box and managed to make it just clear my fully inflated wheel. It was very close, but I didn’t have much choice, it was going to need to work. I finished working my way through transition and was ready to roll just after 6am. I left and found some space on the grass behind the hotel to relax for a few minutes. There were helicopters overhead and this was just one of many moments where I couldn’t believe I was actually here and getting ready for the start.
Swim: (1:27:28)
As my start time drew closer I was in the water about 6:43 giving me around 7 minutes to swim out to the start line and get positioned for the mass start. I lined up about 10 meters left of the large TYR sign in the harbor and I drifted around a bit as I was treading water trying to keep as much space around me as possible. I also tried to stay behind the main group of swimmers. People were tightly packed between 5 and 10 deep in the front, and then it spaced out a bit and this is where I tried to line up not being a great swimmer. The water was a bit choppier than it had been earlier in the week. I could tell that right away on the swim out and as I was bobbing around waiting to start. I couldn’t see the turnaround either, just the first buoy or 2. They gave use the countdown and eventually the cannon went off and I was swimming. There was some contact, but not too bad as everyone tried to find clear water. I did very little sighting because we were so tightly clustered it was obvious what direction we were heading. I tried to stay on some feet but had mixed results. In some cases I was able to hang on for maybe 5 minutes, but in other cases I didn’t have the swim speed to be able to hang with people even in a draft. I felt like I was swimming forever and eventually got to the turn around. I swam by both boats and it felt good to at least be heading back to shore. It was shortly after the turn back toward shore where the women caught me. They came by me in a huge pack and I got clobbered as they flew past me. There was no drafting for me as they were gone as quickly as they came. For the rest of the swim every few minutes another wave of female swimmers would pass me and that was where I experienced the most contact. Eventually I made it to shore and looked at my watch and saw 1:26. Longer than I would have liked, but probably right about spot on given my swim ability. More about this later.
T1: (3:46)
Transition here is long. Grab you gear bag get dressed and then you get to run the perimeter of the pier until you get to your bike row. No cutting or zig sagging through. It actually makes it easier but it was a long way and I was glad I made the decision to run with my shoes and then put them on at my bike. Also when I grabbed my bike and was heading to bike mount, I was surprised how fast people were running with their bikes. People were flying in transition and this wasn’t even FOP.
Bike: (6:00:02)
It felt good to be out on the bike. I did the first admin section and that stupid bike tag number thing, was moving around and kept getting caught on my pedal stroke. I was going to rip it off, but finally got it positioned so that I wasn’t hitting it with my leg although it wasn’t completely positioned out of the wind. It was good enough and officially out of my mind. Time to get to work. Out on the Queen K I felt good and started to settle in. I was drinking and eating well and I was just over my target watts sitting at .725 IF for the first 30miles. The winds were calm and I felt great. It wasn’t long before the winds picked up and what had been a calm day turned into a strong cross/head wind. It was as if the ride changed from calm day to major winds in the blink of any eye. All of a sudden I found myself struggling to control my bike. I was watching the people ahead of me getting blown or having to ride their bike practically side ways and then I would just brace for what was coming. This killed my power numbers. I didn’t have the confidence to push hard into the crosswinds. I managed to stay aero because I actually felt more stable staying lower, but I was afraid to carry any speed. This continued through the climb to Hawi. There were sections where the wind would die down briefly, but then would pick up again. I was hoping that I would be able to make up some time once I hit the turn around in Hawi. But that was not the case. The initial downhill was relatively calm and there was even a brief tailwind, but it was short lived. The wind picked up and again turned into a head/cross wind. Back on the queen K and back to town it was a consistent crosswind to a slight headwind. It was a long 34-mile slog back to town. My IF went from .725 for the first 30 miles to .66 for the entire ride. It was a battle for me to stay focused and stay aero because I just wanted to be off my bike. I felt like I was working hard, but I’d look down and see my power number between 135 and 150 watts vs. a target of 180. I just couldn’t get my power up despite feeling like I was working hard into the wind.
T2: (8:31)
I took my time in T2 loading up my fuelbelt and ensuring I was well sun screened before starting the run. After the bike ride I felt like I needed a little bit of extra time to get mentally prepared to shift gears and start my run. For sure i took more time than i could have but mentally i needed the break.
Run: (3:31:02)
Out on Alii it felt great to be off my bike and finally running. I felt good, but not great the way I did in Boulder when I first started the run. I checked my pace throughout the first mile and was struggling to run slow enough to keep above an 8min per mile pace. For me this is a very good sign. I know if I am struggling to hold myself back early in the run, that’s a very good sign that I’m going to have a decent run and i was eventually able to find my legs. There is a lot of energy on the 5 mile out and back section on Alii drive, but I was able to keep my pace around and 8min per mile during this section. Maybe a touch faster than I was planning, but my heart rate was spot on right around 125 so I decided I was OK with a slightly faster pace. I made the decision I was going to run up Palani and I did so allowing my pace to drift a bit. Out the Queen K I was still feeling good and knew I had around 6 miles to the energy lab. I just focused on running steady and tried to minimize my time through the aid stations so I could keep my pacing as close to 8min per mile as possible. I focused on just running in 1-mile increments. 12 more 1 mile runs…Now 11 more, etc. It was overcast on the Queen K and the temperature was manageable as compared to some of the previous days. I made sure I was pouring water on myself at the aid stations. I was stopping at about every other or every second aid station to grab a cup of Perform and hit it with a squirt of concentrated Gatorlyte solution. After the turn around inside the energy lab right around mile 18, I knew the next stop was the finish line. The climb out of the energy lab is a steady uphill and I just put my head down and focused on getting it done. At this point things started to get hard. I started grabbing coke at the aid stations and a couple orange slices. This helped but it was a mental battle to get it done at this point. It was a long run back. At one point I asked a police officer who was helping with traffic, “where’s Palani?” and he said right at the top of this hill. Finally! Once I crested Palani I enjoyed the downhill, but it was crushing my legs and I half expected to go tumbling over. I was surprised by how much running there was from the time I hit Palani to the finish. In my mind I thought I would be done, but in actuality there is probably still a mile to go. Once on Alii drive there were people on both sides of the road and I enjoyed the ride to the finish. I saw my family on the way in before finally crossing the finish line. I was never so glad to be done with a race. I was physically and mentally exhausted and I can honestly say this is the most difficult race I have ever done.
Overall: 11:10:49
Closing thoughts:
Again it was an amazing season and I am so grateful to be able to participate in this sport. Kona was everything I thought it would be and then some. I’m happy with my time given the conditions of the day and what I was able to bring to the table in terms of physical and mental preparedness. I do thing this course exposed weaknesses that I need to address if I am ever hope to make it back.
1> Swim – My swim is horrible and I knew this going in, but a 1:27 swim is not a Kona worthy performance. At a minimum I must take 10 minutes off my swim in the Outseason. I am addressing this with a swim specific coach, but that alone doesn’t get it done. I am also going to need to put in the disciplined work in terms of frequency and intensity. I really enjoy running and look for additional opportunities to run. Because of this, my run has improved significantly. I must apply the same focus to my swim if I’m ever going to improve in this area.
2> Bike – Yes, the conditions were tough this year, but there were plenty of people (Dave Tallo, for one) who found a way to get it done with a very respectable time. Quite frankly, I think I got physically and mental beat down by the course. I simply underestimated the effort required to put up the kind of bike split I know I am capable of producing. I will continue to build my bike fitness in the out season and when I get closer to my races next year I need to look for more opportunities to go longer whether that’s through camps or inserting a big bike week along the way. I feel I lacked enough significant volume coming into this race. Also, if I am ever fortunate enough to do this race again, I will plan on traveling with my bike. Because I used TBT I was forced to give up my bike almost 3 weeks prior to Kona forcing me to do my last race rehearsal on my road bike without a power meter. I could have used more time my speed concept coming into this race.
3> Transitions – I probably have 5 minutes of free speed in transition despite the distance involved.
4> Run – For this race I hit probably 18-20 of the aid stations. I feel I might be able to reduce this number and sill run the same pace, but finish with a faster overall run split. I realize that’s risky but I think I have some room to play with in terms of taking a few minutes off my run split with better time management. Beyond that I will continue to look at building overall run fitness, but not sure if I’m at my max performance or not.
5> Body Comp – I came into Kona in decent shape, but I for sure slacked off when we hit the big island earlier in the week. I weighed in on race morning at 153 whereas I had been 147 about 2-3 weeks out. The take away here is that I must do a better job of remaining focused on weight management right up to race morning.
On a positive note i think i have confirmed that my nutrition and hydration approach is spot on. I felt well hydrated and well fueled throughout and if there was ever a course where i would have been exposed it would have been here. I will make minor tweaks for next year such as switching from perform to gatorade endurance, but for the most part my plan will remain unchanged.
As I get ready to start the Endurance Nation Outseason I have already started the process of incorporating the learning’s from Kona and the rest of my 2014 season into my goals for my 2015 season. Kona is now one week behind me and I am already getting the itch to start training again. There is much work to be done, but for the next 2 weeks I will do some unstructured work as I feel like it, and get my head ready for the demands of the Outseason. But first, a very heart felt thank you to everyone in Endurance Nation for your support and guidance. I’ve said it before, but it’s very true. I would not be where I am today without being part of the haus! Likewise, thank you to everyone in Altitude Multisport for their support and never ending sense of fun. And last but not least thank you to my wife and kids for giving me the time and encouragement to participate in this crazy sport. Mahalo everyone!
Comments
Hearty congrats on a great race and an amazing year. You lived the triathlete's dream this year. Seems like you soaked in the Kona experience and appreciated the bucket-list opportunity. Of the three disciplines, two are extremely difficult to get fast on, and you're already there. The easy one is swimming, and as someone who went from BOP to FOP on Leg 1, it just takes extreme focus on form, form, form. Looking forward to seeing what you bring in 2015.
Mike
Mark, that's an impressive performance given your late season KQ @ Boulder. You did yourself, the course, and EN proud.
For sure, your focus needs to be swim first, then bike strength (which you correctly note can sometimes mean volume - come do the Tour of California; or at least a weak in the mountains with me six weeks before your A race next year). Do not fall prey to your love of running. Keep that in maintenance mode, of work on race day execution for your gains there, at least until you find those 10 minutes in the water.
And, yeah, because the transitions basically cover the same ground, both T1 and T2 should be the same in this race, not five minutes different.
Mark...congratulations on a fantastic race, and a remarkable season. What an awesome run you had!! I can only hope for a run like that... A great way to end your season.
As you have identified, you have big opportunities to pick up time on the swim. Combine a faster swim with your fast bike and superb running, and you have the chance to make it back to Kona numerous times.
Thanks again for riding with me before the race. You looked even stronger on race day when you went flying by me on the bike.
Again, congrats!!
And on your bike point ... the only reason I had the type of ride I did was because of a LOT of riding on that course over the last few years, and spending, quite literally, the better part of the second half of this year's 30-or-so long rides specifically preparing for the return from Hawi. It really is that miserable of a stretch of highway!