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Crew RR for Simon's Ultraman World Championship 2017

When Simon asked me to be on his crew for UMWC , I jumped at the opportunity.  Simon put in his application for UMWC and was accepted having qualified at UMFL.  His crew was built, Pedro Paixao, Patrick Castello, and I.  Patrick later had to drop out due to a work scheduling issue.  Pedro recruited us a driver for Day #3 , Jenny , who actually joined us for the full adventure.  Donna , Simon's wife did not know it yet but she was going to be an integral part of this crew as well!  Jeffrey the Kayaker was assigned by the RD.

Trying to tell the story from the Crew's perspective or more correctly my view, not from the athlete, and not really meant to be a how to crew, but I am sure there will be lots of areas where these boundaries are blurred...And just in case I am silly enough to find myself signed up for this race in the future it will provide a good documentary of what I thought happened. 

Tuesday 11/21 - I raced IMAZ on Sunday,  spent Monday in PHX, left the PHX airport at 6am , arrived the KOA airport at 3:30pm , Simon picked me up at 4pm.  Simon had booked us into the Sheraton in Keauhou Bay, they spent one night there before I arrived and then Donna moved us into an ocean front condominium 1 mile from the swim start at Dig Me Beach, a much more convenient location. Met Donna and the 3 of us went out to dinner.  You never really know somebody until you spend some time with them in close quarters like a car or hotel room for a few days with a little added stress like a 3 day race.  First impressions were awesome and I felt really good about our week ahead.

Wednesday 11/22 - Couldn't sleep due to the time change, uh oh no coffee, luckily I had a SBUX VIA packed just in case such an emergency. When Simon got up we walked down to swim start for a  swim, on the way back to the condo , picked up some acai bowls for breakfast, went for a  run on Alii , after breakfast we got to work on our lists and organizing, Donna was smart enough to go do fun stuff and stay out of the mayhem , when the lists were complete Simon texted the shopping list to Donna who did it for us, this alone saved us probably 2hrs, see how the Crew was forming? Next up was Bike Works for mandatory bike inspection, a few odds and ends.  Then on to registration , check in athlete, check in Crew Captain (thats me), Race Booklet, Maps, Cooler, and some Ultraman shwag. To wrap up the registration process Simon sat for an interview with Steve King (the voice of Ultraman). Steve is the announcer for the 3 day event, he gets to know each and every athlete, by research, the interview, and then he retains it, and reports various facts/stats etc about the athlete through the event. Quite amazing and just one of those things that make Ultraman special.  I had only met Steve last February @ UMFL and when I walked up to him , he says hey Tim how are you doing, recalling my name like he had known me for years.  Back to the room for more organizing, some feet up time, and out to dinner later on.

Thursday 11/23 "aka Thanksgiving"-  Short run w/Simon, 8am Thanksgiving Breakfast Buffet, 9am Briefing , met our kayaker Jeffrey, meeting all the athletes/crews , group pictures etc, drove down to swim exit, then first 10 miles of the bike course, stopped for ICE/Food last minute shopping for dinner and the next few days, back to the room, final organizing, loaded everything into the van except the bike , feet up for the sherpa (me) , while Simon and Donna went for a swim, 5pm went to a BYOF BBQ dinner 1/4 mile down Alii  at a house full of Ultraman Competitors and Crews, lots of  nervous energy around...Back to the condo early...  All through the day Simon had been communicating with Pedro who was stuck in Honolulu (airline mechanical) at one point it looked like he was not going to make it and we had already advised Donna she was our back up crew as we needed a minimum of 2 and paperwork had to be completed by each crew prior to the start the next AM.... By the end of the Day Pedro had made it to KONA but we would not get a chance to see him until Friday AM Day#1 ...

Race Day #1 - Friday 11/24 -  6.2 mile swim/90 mile bike - Simon was up 3:30-4am fueling the machine, I was up shortly after around 4:15 for coffee... Left the condo around 5:30, drove down to swim start (5minutes maybe) and parked right on the pier, we had 1hr prior to the start, needed to check in athlete and captain, locate kayaker, locate Pedro to get his paper work done etc... Check ins fine... No kayaker or Pedro... Little bit of stress that was not needed... Pedro shows up around 5:45am , he knows everybody , took care of his and Jenny's paperwork in minutes... Now we needed the kayaker Jeffrey... Simon had texted him and he had gone back to his car WTF? A little after 6am I located him at the sandy bay on the other side of the Pier another WTF?  There were only 200+ people on the pier?  So a little more stress not needed... We got him Simon's fuel bottles and they reconfirmed strategy and fueling they had discussed at the Thanksgiving Breakfast. Swim start right on time at 6:30am beautiful sunrise and conditions , breakfast at Lava Java w/Donna, Pedro, and Jenny, back to the condo to pick up the bike, watched the swimmers going by (the condo is 1 mile from the start).  I was assigned team Captain but Pedro was the man, he has done a couple Ultraman's and crewed for a couple more, I told him I would defer to his knowledge/experience.  He jumped right into the back of the Van and proceeded to methodically go through each and every bag, container, or box, arranged, combined, organized, got his bearings on what we had, asked lots of questions, and made room for the bike...He was ready... We coulda used this guy a day earlier :-)... Loaded the bike , Pedro, Jenny and I headed to swim exit where we had to check in no later than 8:45am, went to the same place I had checked with Simon which was the wrong side of Keahou Bay, 5 minutes later we were parked and unloading bike/gear to set up T1.. Simon exited in 4:30 around 1pm which was a huge swim PR over UMFL...Looked a bit rough and unbalanced as he held on to the seawall trying to exit the water, Pedro guided him through the swim exit arch and to the T1 set up, bathroom break, he drank a bottle of water,  ate a picky bar, drank a gatorade, while we stripped his suit, sunscreen/lube applied, helmet , glasses, shoes on, phone in pocket,  and we run the bike up the first hill to the mount line, pretty fast and smooth T1, and off he goes, we picked up T1, washed his EN Castelli top that he wore under his sleeveless wetsuit to protect from sun on the swim as he planned to ride in it the next day, and then we began our day of leap frogging the next 90 miles enroute to Volcano National Park, first 8 miles were a 1500' climb and it was hot, first stop a couple miles in Simon had already drank over 1 bottle of infinit and said his throat hurt really bad and he was having trouble swallowing due to the salt water from the swim, several stops later he still couldnt swallow food but was drinking plenty of infinit, but we started giving him ice water and coke since it felt good on his throat, at this point we were not worried about the amount of calories since he had eaten a good breakfast, consumed 5-6 bottles infinit and 2 cokes on the 4.5hr swim plus the bar/gatorade in T1 but there was a lot of hours left to go, Simon said make me a bottle heavy with gels, we made him a 700cal bottle(7 berry flavored gels and water) which he drank/choked down at stops and kept drinking infinit,  when he was finished with that 700 cal bottle he still couldnt eat, we made up a 300 calorie half bottle with 3 gels (chocolate, vanilla, peanut butter) when he tasted that he said Oh man is that good, so I said how about that Starbucks Frappacino?  His eyes lit up like a kid a Christmas, chugged that 300calorie bomb and came to life, he proceeded like that on infinit, coke, water, and another Frappacino later.  Some highs and lows but worked thru them all and kept moving, as we approached the volcano the sun was setting and the temps were dropping but at least the rain was holding off, got him a jacket, he turned his lights on and we went to the finish line to wait.  Donna had decided to join us at the Volcano that night , we stayed in text communication with her, met her a few times along the course to watch Simon and then again at the finish.  We had stopped at a gas station to fuel up the Van, buy Ice for the next day, and lunch for Pedro/Jenny.. I was living on peanut butter/date/banana sandwhiches plus we had lots of snacks . Was cold and dark when Simon came in after an 11-12hr day... He must have had 8-10 bottles of infinit, couple cokes, couple frappacinos, and those gel bombs we made him... His throat still hurt but we got him to drink a quart of cherry juice and a bottle of hammer recovery drink almost immediately to begin fueling for the next day.  Simon needed his massage which is included each day , but first he needed a shower, the shower was delayed a bit as checking into our room became a bit challenging, the reservation had been made by Patrick Castello at the KMC Kilauea Military Camp, and they are sticklers to the rules, finally they let us stay without producing Patrick Castello or even Simon's ID which the Crew (Donna, Tim, and Pedro )  had so thoughtfully removed from his phone thinking he would not need it ... Simon showered and off to massage, the rest of the crew went to the mess hall buffet, by the time we were done food service was ending and still no Simon so Donna made him a big plate and snuck it out the back door :-).. Our cabin at KMC was a nice 2 bedroom , Pedro and Jenny rented another room nearby and took one of our cars... Simon ate his dinner (throat was better), and relaxed in the Normatec's... I went to bed early, got up twice, 1st time I could tell he was still awake but he second time I could tell he was sleeping so I know he got a couple hrs but it wasnt much... 

Race Day#2 - Saturday 11/25 - 170mile bike-  Think I was up at 5am , Simon was awake and had already started fueling , we went to the mess hall for breakfast buffet , then back to the room, he got dressed and prepared, I did a once over his bike, cleaned it , and lubed the drive train, made sure the bike computer(which Pedro made sure to charge as soon as day 1 ended) food, bottles, and lights were on the bike.... Around 6-6:15 Simon took his bike to the start line, we packed up what was left, and headed to the start... Day 2 starts with a fast descent and is a 25 mile no feed zone , so the athlete needs to be prepared for this, its usually cold , windy , and raining, we got lucky it was only cold and maybe an occasional drizzle... They launch the crew cars 10 min before the bikes so we arent in the way and then we start leap frogging around 25-30 miles in... Right around that point it started to rain, and proceeded to rain off and on , extremely heavy at times for the remainder of the day which was 150 miles , the descent went well, Simon is a big boy and descends fast, the first low of the day came early around 40 miles in, he said he felt flat, with the rain and much cooler temps he was not drinking nearly as much as Day 1 but was doing an awesome job eating to make up for it,  you think its a biking competition but its really an eating competition,  he shed some clothes at one of our first stops, worked through the first low of the day but there were many more to come, sometimes it tough to watch, there is only so much you can do for them, try to anticipate needs and provide them, rotating thru infinit, coke, a couple sbux frappacino's, a turkey wrap, banana, scone, and picky bars, Simon worked his way through all the lows of the Day.... Going thru Waimea Simon missed a right turn and another athlete followed him, luckily we saw it and chased them down, unfortunately the wrong turn was downhill and downwind , niether Simon or the other athlete looked very happy but it could have been so much worse, a huge tragedy was avoided, on to the Kohala's, they are notorious for brutal winds and they did not disappoint, it was absolutely crazy , and descending the Kohalas down into Hawi was even worse, gave him a jacket for the cold and watched the scary descent... Day 2 finally came to an end... Donna met us in Hawi, we got Simon to the showers and massage, Pedro and I picked up the bike etc, Pedro and Jenny got a room via AirBnB , Simons planned accommodations in Hawi were confusing again, (Note: stay with the RD planned accommodations) Donna was all over it, calling, co-ordinating, mapping, etc ... We were in some Cancer Rehab Place and to say the people who ran it were a bit "out there" maybe the understatement of the year... Finally got settled in the room,  Donna and I headed out for take out food to bring back while Simon got in the Normatec's.

Race Day#3- Sunday 11/26 -  52mile run-  Day 3 starts at 6am vs. Day 1 and 2 6:30, breakfast buffet at 5am, after breakfast we topped off the ice in the coolers, Donna grabbed a few candy bars for Simon, we took the bike and a bunch of gear out of the Van and stuffed it into Donna's car, this was key giving us a lot more room,  off to the start line, we made it with a few minutes to spare and they were off at 6, the first mile is a no feed zone, we stopped a couple miles out, Simon took off his arm warmers and his headlamp , we gave him some TP for that eventual moment , then a mile later Pedro jumped in to pace, Pedro and I planned to rotate every 5 miles and Jenny was the driver , Pacer's job is to carry food/fluid, pace, communicate needs with crew for future stops, and to distract, occupy, entertain, and keep your athlete moving forward without annoying them, The rotations began and Pedro and I swapped out every 5 miles, initially we'd let the runners go a couple miles every rotation, but near the end of the first 17 mile descent from Hawi we dropped that to every mile,  it wasnt until well out on the QK that it got hot and we stopped every half mile, Simon did not even show a hint of a low spot until mile 33, early on he decided NO MORE Infinit and just Gatorade, he finally hit the coke during that 33 mile low spot, and also tried the SBUX frappacino's that had worked magic on the bike, but they did NOT WORK on the run, glad he only had a half of one to see how it would sit while running, for most of the QK it was a new hat/towel both soaked in ice water every mile or half mile , believe it or not around 40 miles it was "cool" enough we went back to every mile rotations, Simon was a machine, run, drink, eat, hat, towel, ice water, ice bags, repeat... He mostly ate cliff blocks and a few candy bars...Lots of fluid..  Each time it  was my turn to run with Simon I would go over REN with him, REN is something I made up while ultra running a few years back , and I was just trying to occupy his mind,  R's- Relax, Rythym, RPM,  E's- Easy, Efficient, Effort , N's - Now, No Pain, Never Stop , I went thru each letter in order as a type of running yoga flow , I could see him out of the corner of my eye actually listening, breathing, relaxing, etc... I also told him the story of the Energy Labs... Near the end of the run it was my turn to go again, but there was a no feed construction zone, and we needed to call in our arrival to the finish line, I asked Pedro to keep running the last few miles while I made the call and texted Donna, Jenny and I went to the finish after some communication gaps and a couple u-turns,  all good and my fault, she really was a great driver.... At the finish I got permission to run out and come in with Simon and Pedro, went out and ran the last 1/4 mile with them to wrap up the day...  Lots of celebration, shower , massage, and food ! Cleaned out the vehicles and headed back to the condo after the last runner was in ... Back at the condo, emptied the remaining items in the van, Donna had already unloaded all the other stuff and even wiped down the bike, I told ya she was crew and didnt even know it... I ordered a few pizza's for dinner...

Monday - 11/27-  Up early, coffee, walked to swim start with Simon for some active recovery,  breakfast, packing, was pretty tired, ate a lot and rested a lot, all packed and cars loaded, headed to Awards Dinner at 5pm, this tends to drag on as they let every athlete speak , some good stories, but lots of rambling... As soon as Simon was done I headed to the Airport for the late flight back to PHX, then drive to Tucson the next AM... Donna and Simon had it much worst flying to BOS then taking a boat to ACK....

The Crew- I can honestly say there wasn't even a hiccup through the event, everyone was easy going, and a pleasure to work with...

Simon- Amazing athlete to crew/work/support for.  To watch him hit those lows/highs each day and work through them is truly inspiring.  It really was an honor to be a part of his UMWC team. Thank You Simon!

Donna- Simon is a lucky guy.  Donna and Simon really took care of me.  She was a pleasure to be with for almost a week in close quarters and sometimes stressful situations... She was incredibly helpful to all of us thru the entire week... Thank You Donna!

Pedro- Since I was the official Captain I was really happy to have Pedro... This guy just knows his stuff and relieved a lot of my potential stress....Thank You Pedro!

Jenny- Handled Days 1 and 2 like a champ, and driving on Day3 was a lot of work , alternating pacing/driving would have been near impossible without her... Thank You Jenny!

Jeffrey- Thank you for getting Simon thru the swim!

The Other Crew's - This is not an Ironman, everyone helps everybody.  There were tons of stories about one crew helping another.  Most memorable was a crew supporting one of the lead racers got a flat in the car, so one of his competitors crews stepped up and supported him and there racer for an hour and half while the tire was repaired. We had crews supply us with gatorade, coke, and salt stick, we had crews call us and text us when we took a wrong turn, this type of help is made possible thru the RD providing phone numbers for everyone.  We were lucky enough to be able to fix a flat for a racer that was riding by us just after Simon left,  I think Pedro and I had him back on the road in 2 minutes, he was able to get off his bike, eat, drink, stretch, among other necessary things in those 2 minutes....

What I learned... UMWC is different than UMFL in many ways but similar in many ways... But it still comes back to the preparation... Crew selection is the most important... Organization of the racer and the crew... A few things I think we could have done better or differently, more thorough organization of everything from food/fluid,clothes,meds, tools , etc...  Sticking with the RD choices of lodging to simplify... Gear choices were good but after observing Simon and many others riding and more correctly stopping in the rain, I would definitely make sure I had aluminum rims and would even consider disc brakes on a TT bike...

Weather- Having been to KONA 4 times I believe I can comment on weather conditions... Day#1 was picture perfect, water was as smooth as I have ever seen it, warm to start the bike , but comfy temps and not too bad winds all the way to the volcano... Day#2 started cool but NO Rain for the descent from the Volcano, but then turned into a nightmare day from hell with lots of rain , very heavy standing water in the road type rain, and ended with some of the worst scary winds I have seen in the Kohala's.... Day #3 Had the Worst Winds I have ever seen descending from Hawi and I have done that 9 times on a bike, thank god we were on feet and not bikes, while it was mostly a tailwind we had a crosswinds blowing us sideways at times, temps were very comfy for KONA and tailwinds almost all day with friendly cloud cover , not what I would call a typical day running on the QK... I would have loved to be racing on Day1 and Day3, and absolutely hated Day2...

ME- never say never... Maybe 2019 ???

Questions ??? -   I think I rambled on long enough but if anyone would like to know more , feel free to ask anything... Please try to keep it biased towards the crew and direct any athlete questions directly to Simon on this thread or his RR...

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Comments

  • Thanks @tim cronk great report as we are starting to get our crew prepared alot to learn from it. I've "googling" and reading reports since a month and that one being from the crew side is helpful.

    I think the main thing to get from that is to plan the impossible and have every minutes of the days planned and be prepared to have the plan go offroad.

    Luckily our athlete is not swimming in salty water at UMFL (unless I am wrong), so thats a potential risk we dont need to manage.

    Are you allow to have multiple wheels in the van so you can swap wheel quickly and then repair the other wheel while moving ?

    Something important I am keeping in my mind is "this is a eating competition"

    Thanks for sharing !!
  • @tim cronk Thank you for taking the time to write all of this out and share.   
  • @tim cronk sounds like an awesome adventure!  Did Simon ever intentionally antagonize his crew like other people I know?

    @Francis Picard for UMFL, yes on your question re: replacement wheels.  We had a spare front and rear wheel ready to go in the back of the vehicle for a quick change, plus tubes & tools to repair the flatted tire after the swap.  Thankfully we never needed it, which was a good thing since stock wheels were aluminum rims and swaps were carbon (my fault, detail to fix in future).
  • @tim cronk - Thanks so much for sharing.  It sounds like @Simon Shurey was lucky to have a great crew and you all were lucky to have a great athlete to crew for.  I also caught on the "eating competition" comment.  Remembering to eat for me is a challenge for some reason.  It sounds like Simon really knew what  he needed to do.  I have heard the a calorie deficit on day 1 can kill day 3.

    I can also see where the accommodations are much more difficult with the point to point nature of UMWC.  You all did a great job improvising on the fly!
  • @tim cronk Great report. Congratulations to all of you!

     I'm fascinated with the fueling strategies. Did the race provide a supported feed zone on the swim?  Simon consumed 5-6 bottles Infinit and 2 cokes on the 4.5 hr swim ... wow! 
  • U know u are a bad ass when your Crew captain is @tim cronk. Congrats on all of u for this and thanx for this report. Always nice to get the "other side" of the story

  • @Francis Picard yes back up wheels are allowed, they must be inspected at bike check in, you can swap them all you want, Extra bike is also allowed, it must be inspected, you are allowed to change ONCE with the RD permission.

    @Scott Renick I better be on your crew when you do UMFL, then we will see some antagonizing :-)

    @Brian Hagan  Eating- Simon is a big boy and requires a lot of calories, he knew this and at times forced them down, but for the most part he acted like I do and gladly consumed all the extra calories needed for 3 days:-)... IMO its the one thing you dont wanna look back on a say I should have consumed more calories, salt, or fluid...

    @Sheila Leard the entire swim is the feed zone, your kayaker is your only fuel support in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, Simon's plan was every 30 minutes, while we did not total the fluids left in the kayakers bottles to give exact numbers I can say we were very surprised how empty they all were... He also drank half bottle water and small gatorade totally at least 20-24oz with a picky bar almost immediately..

    @David Richmond - Simon is the BadA$$, l was proud to be a part of it, infact my advice to anyone considering crewing for someone else would be this, make sure they are the type of person that will research, prepare, organize, and show up 100%, ready to give it their all....You the athlete owes it to the crew to go all in , there is no quitting unless safety is an issue... You dont wanna waste your time supporting somebody who shows up undertrained, unpreparred, and willing to quit as soon as they are mathematically eliminated when they calculate a cut off time... Yes we had one of those athletes in the field, I felt sorry for that crew, but they had the right attitude and said we'll help all the other crews...
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