Mark Maurer Official Coach Thread
Hi Coach Patrick,
I'm considering doing the inaugural Alohaman (hixtri.com) on December 7, 2019. The bike is 125 miles with 12,000 feet of climbing. It's on the Big Island and starts at Hapuna Beach goes over the Saddle Road down towards Hilo back towards Hawi and back over the Saddle Road to Hapuna. That time of year it will probably be in the 40's at the top of the climb or possibly colder and there is a good chance of rain during the ride so it looks like a challenging ride. Of course after that is a marathon+ (the RD is now saying 28.5 miles) probably going up towards either Hawi or Wiamea with 3,000 feet of climbing (on the road not trails). The thing that concerns me about this is the timing and training on the bike. I can do a lot of training in late summer and early fall but the weather here starts to get really wet about 7 weeks out from this race, especially in the mountains. I could probably go down to California in late October or early November for a big bike weekend and get in some serious climbing, but if I do that 5 or 4 weeks out can I maintain the fitness/climbing strength with more intensity and less volume? I'm not as concerned about run volume because I can do that in the rain, but I know it will be different than the race because the heat and humidity in Hawaii. The good thing is that I'll probably doing a good portion of the run after dark. ;-)
Comments
That thing sounds GREAT!!! Where am I sleeping?! 😂
yes the bike volume will “stick” but I am more concerned about the logistics of the race / strategy. But there’s time to solve it all!
the logistics for this one will be easier. Susan did a great job of being
my support captian and my daughter and her boyfriend helped greatly as
well. All have said that they're up for this. The one trick will be that I
have to have one person do the entire run with me. Susan has done an
Ironman and stand alone marathons and she's willing to do the run with me
as well, but now Aaron is saying that the run will be 28.5 miles. The run
will probably be slow, especially after that bike. 😀
So funny this is the first of the red iPhone after coming back from the big Island. I saw the website over the weekend and it looks epic. The ride on the saddle Road looks out of this world, literally. A bunch of logistics for sure but it’s going to be an incredible experience.
after they did a dry run and got worried about people making the cutoff.
It's still 10,400 feet of climbing.
Insane. But I think that’s a prerequisite for you, no? 😂
Sorry to jump in the coaching spot. I couldn’t find your other post about this.
i have done this exact ride on my Tri Bike while training on the big island.
snowing on my way down with ice on the road.
a fun ride and easier than an Ironman bike in one way. There are large chunks of time that you will be sitting up. Just sitting up and cranking hill watts. Fun and not aero.
indoor training would be fine. Just do intervals of hill watts and a bit higher.
i personally would only use a road bike. It is not safe coming back down saddle road on a Tri Bike. Can go faster descending and control things better on a road bike.
@robin sarner thank you for this!!!