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Tom's Kona Race Report

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  • tim cronktim cronk

    Tom congrats on a successful day all around, specially your swim PR.

  • Gordon CherwoniakGordon Cherwoniak

    @Tom Glynn Congratulations on another Kona finish. Looks like you there was 6 weeks off running prior to ramping up for Kona. You've got the background just watch how you build next season trying to get to the 200W on the bike and upping the run mileage.

  • Al TruscottAl Truscott

    @Tom Glynn One of the highlights of my two weeks on the island was finally getting to meet you IRL! And your awesome family; your kids are clearly going far already, and your wife - well, she was certainly the one to follow into the Thursday banquet.

    Your actual race must have felt very rewarding. I'm a little suspicious of the swim length - I also had a much faster split than I anticipated. But maybe we should just chalk it up to proper training and pacing, and the effect of the wave start.

    And your run - keeping up at effort throat after being blasted by the wind for 6 hours really took some commitment. Congratulations on another successful Ironman World Championship!

  • Tom GlynnTom Glynn

    @Gordon Cherwoniak the 6 week lull is called "summer with family"! As always, my summer training plan is haphazard at best with family vacation and other important stuff taking priority over training. My schedule fits the kids school year; train hard September to April/May. Race Ironman Texas, summer, Kona on a substandard training plan if I'm lucky!

    @Al Truscott It was great to meet you and spend some time with you, the legend of EN, and your wife at the athlete banquet. I really love the Kona vibe of athlete and family. It takes a village for sure. We will be talking a lot more in France, I'm sure!

  • Gordon CherwoniakGordon Cherwoniak

    @Tom Glynn No worries training on your family's schedule is more than acceptable. Your are qualifying for Kona substandard or not it's better than a very high percentage of others.

  • Sheila LeardSheila Leard

    @Tom Glynn What a superb race! So great to have your family there! They are adorable. Your races are so consistent!!

    1. in 2016 I stayed on Alii at mile 3. Just enough to get out of the craziness and good for my family. I made reservations for 2020 at two places on Alii at mile 3 and 2. Great for run cheering and there is a side road that you can pop onto the Kuakinini Hwy. Where are you thinking of staying next year?
    2. You said the swim corrals allowed for your family to hang with you. How does that work? Do you mean before you head off to get in you corral?
    3. On the bike, when you coast, do you feel the wind moving you? If I don't keep pressure on the pedals I become a sail. I have places near Davis to get better at riding in the wind. I will explore that.
    4. On the run, how many oz were you carrying? Do you find this better for consistent hydration? I've done it both ways. But, I use a little hand held grenade that is 12 oz.
    5. For run training , do you build mileage with frequency, split runs or just more middle distance runs of 8 miles or so. I am also exploring how to get some semblance of running again. I enjoy strength training and believe that will be my ticket.

    Enjoy the downtime and go crush TX. Fingers crossed for anther KQ 🤞

  • Tom GlynnTom Glynn

    @Sheila Leard

    1. Last year we stayed at the Kona Hawaiian Resort which was on Alii Drive about a mile walk to the pier. I had hoped to stay there again the year but the website said it was full (in April, right after my KQ at Texas!). I called them directly and was told the same thing. I then spent some time on VRBO trying to find a place big enough for the 5 of us and up to my wife's standards of excellence (she travels a lot and a Motel 6 would put me in divorce court :). I ended up finding a house at the end of Alii Dr. Too far from town. I'd highly recommend staying downtown or within walking distance and we will try and stay in that area again if I ever get lucky enough to qualify again.
    2. The corrals we pretty cool. All the AG are separated into various groups and fenced in. Spectators can stand on either side. When it got time for the first group to go, they were given 5 minutes to leave the corral and swim out to the start about 200 yards away. All the other corrals then moved forward one. When the gun went off for the group in front of me we all entered the water and swam out to the start. My family could theoretically have stayed with me until I entered the water, but the front area was pretty crowded. They were probably with me until 7 or 8 minutes from when I got in the water. Picture attached.
    3. The wind this year often made me grab my bike harder and you could feel the wind pushing on the tires and moving my helmet around. It wasn't as gusty as the first time I was there in 2011. That year, coming down the hill from Hawi there would be sections of open wind areas where you would see the bike in front of you get pushed 2 or 3 feet sideways. As soon as you gasped in panic at the sight, it was your turn. Super frightening to me. Of course the pros were all in aero pedaling like mad at 60mph. I'm a chicken :). For this year, I got out of aero quite a few times when the wind picked up. I just wasn't as comfortable as others. As you noted, coasting is more treacherous than pedaling. Downhill I'd be in the big gear, pedaling if I could, sitting up when the wind made the bike unstable.
    4. On the run, I now carry one bottle, a 22oz bike bottle tucked into my lower back with a race belt. I like this because it's really easy to tell how much you have had to drink. When it's empty, I pull up to the next aid station, remove the cap and have them pour in cups of Gatorade until it's almost full. I find that if you take course materials in the cups provided it's really hard to track consumption.
    5. For running I've changed my mind over the years and I'm thinking about changing my mind again! For the past two years I've run almost exclusively at IM pace, so for me, 8:30 miles and slower. No fast stuff. This year I was the fastest runner in my AG at Texas with about a 3:50 marathon. Not a very glorious time, but the strategy worked. I'm averaging about 27 miles per week this year, which includes a lot of low volume weeks in the summer for family stuff. Ideally 35-40 miles per week in the 12 week build with a long run that builds weekly to about 2 hours 15 min or so. Anything more than that affects the next day's training. I'm finding that my 70.3 run times are getting significantly worse without the speed work. I'm slowing more on each race too. Still pondering Texas plans but I'm thinking of adding some speed/track work, increasing my run durability by running more frequently and running longer and faster brick runs off the bike. I've done strength work, but I have to be careful as it makes me sore for multiple days and I'm concerned that it may negatively affect other workouts during the week. Anyway, lots to think about.

    What downtime😂

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  • robin sarnerrobin sarner

    glad you made it back.

    nice pacing.

    good luck in texas. haven't been there in a few years myself. maybe in 2021 for me. would be interesting to try the highway drag race.

  • Sheila LeardSheila Leard

    Thanks @Tom Glynn for answering all my questions. I can see from the picture where the corrals are. Instead of lining up in T1 they snaked you around from the outside . Very cool for family.

    The run puzzle 🧐 continues.

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