Hike 2.5miles down a path leaving from mile 23 on the saddle hwy.  On your right is a hole in the earth.  Climb down the rocks, take 3 flashlights, and a friend: Super hostess Michelle.  You just keep heading down this long ‘culvert’ through the earth.  Stalactites, and stalagmites have a shiny silvery-black look.  Really cool, but being out here by yourselves, and seeing the frequent spots the roof has collapsed (this young rock here ain’t strong) is a little un-nerving.

Danger of Death: 0.5/10 ceiling collapse
Injuries sustained: goose egg on head from low hanging ceiling.

Sunset: Volcano National Park

Exactly how it sounds.  Really great views, we could see over to Maui, where its peaks were also poking up above the cloud layer.  I ran up a cinder cone.  It’s also really dry up here, which is an odd change from the rain forest we left 9000+ feet below us.

Danger of Death: 0.5/10 Hitting Invisible Cows on Drive
Injuries: sand in shoe

Safe Crater Hike: Kilauea Iki

Outside Magazine has ranked this as one of it’s top hikes.  It was more of a walk, but still was super cool.  You start off peeking down into a crater, jog around, and descend 400′ into it.  Which is where it gets really cool, and you KNOW that you are on top of a still cooling (hence the steam/ gas venting out around you) lava pond.  If you have time for one hike in Hawaii, hands down, do this one

Danger Crater: a.k.a. Mauna Ulu

Idea, hike up and peek into a kinda dormant volcano crater, the rock I will be on is younger than me.  It took around an hour to do the round trip from when I left the legal path.  The fresh rock crunched and broke underfoot like crusty snow.  After 5 minutes and a few cave-ins (dropping through the outer rock shell and falling 2-5 inches) I was starting to get frazzled and a little scared.  Turn back?  Nope.  Twenty minutes later, I’d caved in 20 inches to a larger hole, and could see the potential of breaking through the top of a lava tube and falling down 15 feet.  I was scared but the top was near.  Mom, stop reading now. When I got to the top the ground was cracked all over the place, and steam was venting all around me.  The diameter of the crater literally gets larger by the day as pieces of the rim break off and tumble down below (I told you not to read mom, stop now).  So I lie on my belly, and peek over.  After a few pictures, I realize I’m on a diving board and scared shit-less retreat.  Mom, you can start reading again here. Of course I still have to make my way through the uber treacherous gauntlet back to the tree  line.  But I do, and am super-hyper relieved.  I check the petroglyphs, and leave for my next adventure of the day.

Danger of Death:  6/10 I haven’t contacted any geography majors yet, but I was really frickin’ scared.
Owies: Volcano Rash, and prolonged over secretion of adrenalin from high D.O.D.

Mtb to Mona Kea top for Sunset

I drove straight from the crater, to the park Mona Kea welcome center.  Parked, packed some clothes, and started my ride.  The first few miles, and thousands of feet of climbing on the dirt road were OK.  Somewhere around 12 000-13 000′ were rough.  The final stretch flattens out a little, and I was rolling along well again.  2/3 of the cars passing either cheered me on or took pictures, which was cool.  The sun was setting at the top, and this close to the equator it doesn’t set for long.  Pop on my courage sport top, and start booking down hill.  5 minutes later, it’s completely dark and I’m frozen.  From the bottom of the ocean this mountain is the tallest in the world.

Danger of Death: 2.5/10 Riding off road while descending mountain in the dark/ getting run over biking in dark.
Injuries: got very cold, and dust in my eyes (wah wah).

Safe things:

view lava flow into the ocean: This is the earth getting bigger!  Really cool.  The lava was flowing around 1km away.  Apparently the site closes at 11pm, and you can climb the barrier, and go as close as you want at that time.  But not being a geologist, there is a very real danger of falling through a thin spot and becoming a crispy critter.  I’m not a geologist, and skipped this.  Mom, you should be proud.

mountain biking: There actually aren’t many trails, but I did find some pretty cool little spots to get off-road.  Riding was mainly double track, as all the land here seems to be private, or park, and the park people emphatically didn’t want me mountain biking on their area.

Summary of week:  I’m loving life

Here is a slideshow of my 2 weeks on the big island

Driving:

I started things off with a driving tour of the island. Leaving Kona behind, I drove uphill, and was immediately met with tin shacks, giant ferns and heavy rain. The area looked nice, though, and the road (Hwy 11) was twisty with a decent verge. I later realized that these verges aren’t super safe for cyclists as the locals use them as slow vehicle lanes.

The most impressive thing with the drive is how varied the vegetation and the landscape is. From desert, to rain forest in a 20km stretch, to desolated lava fields, to arid trees, then jungle, cashew orchards, it’s truly impressive.

Hawaii also boasts more drunk drivers than anywhere else in the US (I thought Arkansas was bad), add that that S.M.P. seems to be the main focus of most people and this is probably the most dangerous thing I will do on my stay here.

I saw a Sea Turtle on Black Sand Beach. I was so excited that I told the next 4 groups of people that I saw. No one shared my excitement, and I conclude that seeing turtles is a regular occurrence here. That’s nice. You can also note that the locals are doing their utmost to overstress their hearts, and develop diabetes at a young age.

Danger of Death: 2/10
Injuries sustained: none

Hitch Hike:

To avoid one way car drop fees, I return my rental in Kona, and hitch back to Hilo (Map).  I leave from Keauhau - Kona area at 3:30pm after a relaxed morning of driving around the northern part of the island, and start to hitch hike south.

Ride 1: Wait 10min. Ride: Angry Republican to pick me up tells me that he’s only going 20 minutes, but it’s 3h if I head north to Hilo, and 3h45 going the route I’ve chosen. Awesome. He then finds out I’m Canadian, and because Canada is socialist, and socialists would vote for GObama, he rants (I can see the spit gathering on the inside of the windshield) at me for 25 minutes. Yes that was 5 minutes after he stopped to drop me off.

Ride 2. Wait 0 min. Attractive massage therapist. She drives me only 5 minutes, and up into the rain. Because of this she gives me a rainsuit and umbrella with a plastic action figure (not a doll) hanging from it. I kick myself for not getting her number.

Ride 3: Wait 2min. Native Stone mason with fingers like the heads of hammers. Ride 3h10 (but we do it in 2:40). He is commuting over half way around the island to work in order to save $600 in rent. I don’t want to point out that aside from spending 7h a day in the car he would recoup his trucks gas bill in 2 weeks if he lived where he works. I pack him a few bowls, we don’t talk much.

Ride 4: wait 20 seconds. It’s raining and I’m glad for my umbrella. I had to walk 400m to my next ride start. Duration 7min and dropped off at the door.

Danger of Death: 4/10
Injuries sustained: None

Farmers Market:
Oh my.  I was really excited about this.  So much fresh fruit, and so many fruits that I didn’t recognize.  I end up taking two trips of food back to the car.

Danger of Death: 0.5/10 (food illness)
Injuries: All the fruit had me making frequent bathroom trips for the past week.

Surfing:

I was pretty scared about this. Unlike California where you surf on sandy beaches, here there are rock peninsulas, and the water is shallow with many rocks and corals which can hurt a person. Falling off cannot be head first, and must be done ‘like a pancake’. I put booties one and ride 2 waves in to shore, and a few others for a little bit. Once I get pulled in towards the rocks, and when I kick to get back on my board jack (that’s a technical term) my toe on submerged rocks. During the trough between waves, the rocks poke their heads out of the water all around me. Great fear.

Danger of Death 2/10 (smashed against rocks, KO’d and drowning, being shark bait, coral infection, stinging sea critters)
Injuries sustained: bloodied toe from kicking a big rock, and board rash on belly.

(A huge thanks to Mary and Michelle for putting me up and pointing me in the right direction)

Now lets rewind a few days to the Xterra race.  My big worries before the race were not having a good swim, flatting, and having problems with my shin splints on the run.  My worries were badly misplaced.

My pre-race rituals were executed to perfection. I swam with my cycling jersey under my velocity speedsuit, so I am easy to spot in the pictures/ video… I’m the only person swimming in a cycling jersey (Craig, is this what you meant by helping triathletes with their fashion sense?).  I felt really relaxed in the swim, and came out of the water in the 2nd pack, ahead of my expectations.  I hopped on my mountain bike expecting to go into dream crusher mode (ha ha, thanks slow twitchers),  Instead I went into oxygen debt, promptly followed by ‘climbing like a bag of hammers’ mode.  Now if this were Cleveland, or Dallas, I would have been bummed, but it’s Maui, and it’s beautiful.  So I checked the views out from Mt Haleakala, On the (truly) treacherous descent I went slow, and didn’t risk life and limb (remember I’m ‘old’ now). Jimmy Riccitello passes me (one of my childhood heros).  I had talked to Jimmy on the beach for a little, and told him how glad I was that he came out of retirement so that I could beat him, think I jinxed myself.

Having lost so much time on the bike I was meaning to pull socks on and then try to crank out a solid run, but I get so fired up in transition that I charge off sockless.  I’m feeling great, and by the 5km mark (of 11) I’ve taken back 2.5 minutes on Riccitello, and them barrel past him running pell-mell down the mountain.  Danelle Kabush, my room mate from a decade ago passes me trying to run into 1st place for the women, go Danelle. But I’m starting to struggle a little, and when we hit the beach section with 1mile to go, I’ve got the chills (not a good think when you’re in the tropics) and have a blister on my feet.  I decide (note to anyone ever thinking of doing an Xterra NEVER DO THIS) that the beach looks refreshing and that I should take my shoes off and run barefoot.  The beach is really hot, and burns my feet, especially the blisters.  I put the shoes on, but myself, and my feet are really hot so I run over and do a few steps in the ocean to cool off.  It doesn’t take a math major to complete this equation:  hard running + bare feet + fast paced downhill’s + lots of sand IN shoes, and all over feet +_ water (not)= comfort  So my special edition K-Swiss’s have some blood on them now. However it didn’t really bother me at the time because this is when the heat stroke really started to kick in, and I was starting to wonder if I should take my shoes off and see if swimming to the finish would be faster.  Luckily there was some function left in the brain, and lights were flashing around <<HIGH DROWNING POSSIBILITY>>.

Three more girls pass me in quick succession.  The final one is Christine Jeffrey, who lived an hour from me all summer, but I’ve only seen her in Maui, and Florida.

1 IV bag later I can talk again.  2 IV bags later I can move and joke.  4 water bottles beyond this I pee.

After the race I called my mother to let her know that I wasn’t slow from crashing, a mechanical, etc, I was simply slow.  She told me that she knew I’d have a bad day because of my race number (49).  My mother is able to calculate the ‘luckiness’ of numbers, through some formula from my grandmother, but adding 4+9 doesn’t take the formula to figure out that it’s bad luck.  So she knew I was doomed when she saw the start list a few days ago.  (And I though that it was because I just finished hyper-depleting myself at IronMan, or that prior to last week I’d ridden a Mtb 2x in the past few years!)

Mom’s other funny comment was: now you know what it’s like to be normal
Gee, thanks I could have done with out that one, or maybe been ‘normal’ at a non world championship event.

Christine points out that of the 6 Canadian Pro’s entered 4 placed in the top 5 ,and that I let the country down.  I reply, yeah, but after the race Bill and I went swimming and I dove under a coral bridge, and it was super cool.

I really did love my time in Maui, and this was really helped by Bill, and Kris.  Bill does very nice home renovations and building, while Kriss is getting ready for the 70.3 World Championships in a short time in Florida.  Good luck there Kriss.

Yeah, so the 2008 racing season is in the books, and to be honest, it’s a dream come true.  I’ve a little respect for the heat, and IM, but also have a better understanding of how to tackle the beast.  I’m really, really excited for the 2009 racing season, and the results possible having twice the swim and run base.

So I received a K-Swiss care package today.  I was expecting a set of track pants, one pair of shoes, and was hoping for maybe a pair of socks or a t-shirt.

The box was so big that it took up more than it’s half of the front of the rental car (my mtb was in the trunk, and a Specialized super sweet 18.5 lb Carbon Stump Jumper was taking up the back seat).  I need to clone myself 7 times to wear all this stuff. On the plus side I won’t have to do laundry every other day because I’ve run out of clean clothing.  Of course I started the season running in cycling jerseys, Sean took pity on me (or was embarrassed to be seen in my company) and lent me dry-fits to run in.  I guess I can return those tops now that I have some DOPE-ASSED ones of my own.

Yes I’ve been humming: I . Love . My . K-Swiss.  I love my K-Swiss…

Since Kona I spent a week touring (I would call it adventuring, but don’t want to scare my mother) on the Big Island, and staying active.  This week I’ve been over on Maui and having a really great time with Bill and Kriss in their beautiful home ‘up country’.  Swimming in the ocean the other morning I dove down and rubbed the back of a sea turtle as he swam beneath me.  He kinda spun around to give me the ’sup dude and kept on swimming, swimming swimming.  Really good times here.

After realizing that the pool I was in was 27m (who builds a 27m pool?) I’m happy that my swim times are OK.  My biking legs feel good (though I’ve decided that my FS bike will suit the course better than the beautiful Specialized).  I wrapped up a speed workout on the track which went well and reminded my body what running fast will feel like.

How will I do?  Well I think, but we’re really in uncharted waters here.  I seem to be recovered and still fit from Hawaii, so it should be good.

The swim is 2×750m loops, the bike is 31 or so km up and down a volcano.  It’s not technical, but there are softball sized lava stones on fast descents, which will be a high possibility of a nasty crash.  Thorns will make for bad flats…. etc etc.  We run on a mix of pavement, dirt road, ankle busting lava rocks and beaches.

The course is closed to previewing, and … I’ll keep you posted.  You can rest assured that I’ll be givin’ ‘er stink in my first race toeing the line with the pro’s.  (No I haven’t turned pro, but Xterra is different, and I’m able to start as a pro because of my Mtb license.)

The Kona times have been truly great, when things calm down I’ll fill you in on them…  (a 2 day, double red eye flight could make the recover take a while, though Sheri has me signed up for a cross race the weekend after this.  Ohhh dear.

Race Coverage will be on www.xterra.tv

OK take care from T.I.T. Heaven,

Nat

(as always T.I.T.s are Triathletes In Training)

As with my other IM experience, you are on the go from the day before you leave, until 6pm the night before the race, and then you have a few minutes to relax, a few more hours for nerves, and at 4am you’re awake.  I wasn’t very nervous, as I’d done all that I could, woke up and ate ‘the usual’ oatmeal with salt stick.

Drove to the venue, body marking here = stamps with paint.  I find a quiet spot, and go through my race in my head, and make my way to the water to get some swimming in before the start.  After swimming out a bit, I stop to watch the sun rise over the volcano, and realize that Craig Alexander (eventual winner) is watching it beside me.  We chat, and I’m the last guy to wish him luck before the start (as Scott Tinley paddles by an a surfboard).  The pros leave and the 1650 remaining people rush out to the starting line.  A continuous line of paddle boarders keep us in line, but as more athletes from behind pushed forwards the last 10 minutes I found myself amongst a large throng of really aggressive guys pushed so close together, that we’re like pencils, pushing and dunking each other.  It was enough to make me a little nervous (which isn’t normally the case) so I moved over to a quieter spot.  Looked up at the peer and could see everyone covering their ears, so I started swimming and 0.5s later the cannon boomed.

Swim

I managed to stay within a body length of the people around me (no feet to head) but after 50m peeked up and could see guys 50m ahead of me… that was a fast start.

The current was pushing us into the buoys, and I was going well.  I assumed that there would be a constant stream of swimmers, but at the turn I drifted ‘back one more set of feet’ and found myself swimming alone.  I was happy to see the bottom coming back up towards me, and then get into a small pack

Bike

My transition was about a minute longer than others as I put on a 2XU compression top, and met up with my very good friend, the Specialized Transition.  The first 80-90km of the bike went really smoothly, but at that point I started to slow down a little, and eventually lost around 5 minutes to the pace I had been on.

A)    I wasn’t as adapted to the heat (or the heat was greater than I had adapted to)
B)    I was having a good but not great day
C)    Simply I over estimated the wattage I was able to sustain for a 180km bike

I don’t have my powertap data here, but I will go over it with a few bike dork friends, and will have a much better idea of what is attainable, and what I can do to train myself better for this.
That aside the bike was really cool because I passed all but 1 of the amateurs, was interviewed while riding for Canadian TV coverage, passed all the pro women/ and many of the men.  Coming back from Hawi it was windy.  I don’t know how this compared to other years,  but I was taking up a full lane with all the wind gusts, but I didn’t have anyone around me.  For other people with 2 and 3 abreast I can’t imagine how scary this would have been.

Run

I got off the bike with the 2nd placed amateur, and put some time in him during transition.  I knew the pace that I had to run to be top 30 overall, but also knew that at no time in the first 8miles of Ali’I drive should I feel like I was working.  My thought process was this:  Run the pace, even though it wasn’t quite comfortable.  If my legs did come around later then I would be in position to do well, and if they weren’t going to come around, well I would be leaving that much bigger of an impact crater.

The climb up Palani drive, was a tough go (from the picture, you can see that I am suffering, it’s possible that my eyes aren’t even open) and at the top I wasn’t able to get my pace back up for a while.  At the bottom of the Energy Lab, with 14 km to go (and 108deg heat) I had reduced my deficit from 5 to 2 minutes on the post bike leader, and was still in 3rd.  By the top of the hill with 11 km to go it was lights out, and I simply couldn’t go.  Eating/ drinking/ ice nothing helped.  I wasn’t cramping, I just COULDN’T GO.  From this point back I lost at least 1minute per km to all the people around me.

When I finally got to the crowded finish line, I high five’d all the kids/ adults, and everyone out there, and cried while I crossed the line.  (Why do they need such a big ramp at the line, couldn’t it just be flat?)

Post Race
(this contains gross stuff, don’t read if this bothers you)

I went to the IV tent, but I had gained 4 lbs so they wouldn’t give me one.  I couldn’t pee, and 2h later I found out where all the fluid (and bloating) were coming from when I started the butt pee.  This went on for around 18h at really regular intervals.  I also managed to vomit a few times in the window a few hours after the race.  Eventually I got some chips and a sandwich down, and that seemed to calm things down.

Here is the official story:
http://c3online.ca/faulkner.shtml

This whole season literally has been a dream come true.  13 months ago when I hatched the concept I want to do IM Hawaii I couldn’t swim more than 50m with out my arms cramping.  I still have to get more run base in before being a contender at this distance.  I’ve got a little more respect for the distance, and this event specifically.  I also have a better idea of things to change and improve for next year.

huge thanks to:

#1 my Mom and Dad.  Thanks for all the things that you have an will put up with.  All those times when I call you from (fill in the blank) town and ask you to dig through box x and mail me item y, and you tell me that you’ll never mail another package around the globe again.  Thanks for still mailing them.

Caron Shepley: Caron is always happy and supportive, and allowed her husband, and my Coach, Barrie to miss Thanks Giving to fly to Kona and support me.  Thanks so much Caron.  If you are interested in triathlon specific Yoga videos, or live in the GTA and are interested in attending one of Caron’s classes, they are really good.  www.bluedogyoga.com

Barrie, and the C3 Team: Thanks for welcoming me into the team and making me a part of the family even though I had NO triathlon experience last November.

Team Tracker Burner Racing, Courage Sport, and Jim Cooke, the Dogs and owners of Chelsea Dog Walking.  I’ll see you with fresh tales in 2 weeks.

The many C3 sponsors of equipment (Sable Swim Goggles, Specialized Bikes and Helmets, 2XU Clothing, K-Swiss Shoes) and race resources (Restaurantica; Kinetico; Subaru Triathlon Series, Royal Containers; Personal Best; Riverdale Fitness Mill and generous Friends of C3 Donors) along with support from the C3 BOARD, C3 HP TEAM-MEMBERS and Coaches.

I have very limited internet access, but after some crazy fluid retention in my legs, I am mostly recovered, and will start training for Xterra on Friday.  I have a few hikes around the Island (hitch and with shanks) planned and I’m really really glad that I have little bit of extra time here to check the place out and be able to enjoy Hawaii.  I’m in Hilo now and it raining, but I came back from the farmers market with 4 different varieties of avocado (there are over 300 grown on the island, but because of the large California lobbying groups they can’t sell them in the supermarkets, so the organic flavorful ones are cheaper than imported mushy hass ones.  Classic.  I’m excited for the potluck tonight to try out my haul.

If anyone managed to get any pictures of me out on the course, this is the only one I have and would really appreciate it.

Thanks for all the really great notes I’ve received in the past few days, I’m glad that I could help to inspire a few people.

I will type up a play by play race report, as well as a travelogue of Hawaii in the next few days.  Other activities include ocean swimming (aka snorkeling with goggles), night time lava viewing, daytime crater hiking, mtbing through the jungle,  you name it.

Nat

PS. I’m having a really really good time (complete with hitch hiking 5/8ths of the way around the island yesterday… but that’s story #3 in the waiting)

My first feelings immediately following the race were to apologize to all of you who have supported me in one way or another.  I have tried to make a trade mark of coming through in clutch situations, especially when long bike rides are involved.

Until I woke up (not trembling) Sunday, morning, I was really disappointed.  I felt that I’d let down the huge number of people who have supported me this season.  If I had wrote a blog entry last night it would have looked like this:

I’m sorry.

Today, realize that a 13 months ago I was a cyclist dreaming of just qualifying for IronMan.  Now to be 2nd Canadian, and 60th overall in the world is amazing progress.  But fak, I really wanted something different, but just didn’t quite have it on the day.

I didn’t sweat out the eyes on 3h elliptical trainer workouts to be 14th amateur.  I have some hypotheses but am not going to whine on with a bunch of excuses today.  At the 90 minute mark of the bike I stopped feeling good, and by the 2h mark I had to re-evaluate my plan.  I’ve had training rides which were longer with better wattages, my legs just weren’t ticking over right.  On the run, the eventual age group winner came past me around 4km in.  I knew I should be feeling relaxed ta my running pace, but while I was thinking ‘relaxed’ I was a little nervous that I wasn’t feeling that way.  Either way I kept tossing the ice down my top and hoped that my legs would come around. They didn’t. To have 22 people pass you in the final 12km (it was a LOOOOONG 12km) was tough, but I just could not go.

A guy passed me with 1km to go, and put 90 seconds on me - that’s ugly.

2 weeks until Xterra worlds, and after that an off season of strengthening those small muscles that bikers don’t have but runners need.

Two more slow twitch threads

official dream crusher thread

and this

Thanks again to everyone who has helped me this season.

Thanks also for the people giving me encouragement by name on the course.  I did get a few ‘dream crusher’ hollers, so that was nice.

Otherwise I don’t know that I will have very much internet access - and am off to Hilo HI… then Maui for a few days.

N

PS you won’t believe the tatoo I got!

I’ve gotten in the habit of predicting my race times, the day before the event.  In Kona, it’s a little tougher, because the currants in the swim.  Wind, and heat make huge differences (20 minutes or so) in the bike and run splits.  The training I have been doing all season, and especially the last month is essentially to program myself so that these paces and distances come automatically.  I will be your friendly, focused dream crushing robot on cruise control.

Swim: (54min-55) the key here is having a strong start and getting in a good pack.  What I have worked on here is starting fast and holding that pace.  The first 100-400m will be key.  My swimming is what I am proudest of, because it’s come so far over the past 14 months.  Keep it smooth, keep the pack, get warmed up, and get to the front.  In the water I won’t really know my progress.  Apparently the swim is slower here, it could be 55-56minutes.

T1: My long sleeve top will take a few seconds longer than the fastest guys to put on.  Otherwise  probably the happiest person in the field to see Dream Crusher and (mom close eyes now!) ’cause it’s f@&%er squashing time.

Bike: Though I think that I could ride as fast as 4:33-4:35 with out too much difficulty.  However I’ll back off to a 4:38-4:40 which should come back to me on twofold on the run.  I really don’t like the rolling turning course of Wisconsin (though relative to other people it was probably better for me) and the flatter Kona course should really suit me well.  Of course the windier it is, the more time on the bike, and that’s a good thing for yours truly.

Cadence high, smooth pedal strokes, stay in the TT position, (earmuffs!) squash the f..ers, cadence high, stay smooth, ….  you get the idea, squash the fu..ers’.

Repeat for 180km.

T2: Get my sneakers on, and deal with everything else while I run.  Up until this point everything will be fairly smooth sailing effort wise.
Though ‘things’ always happen, and dealing with them as efficiently as possible is the key to having a good race.  Smacked in swim?  Flat tire?  dropped food?  quickly solve it, and get back to the original plan.

Run: Well there isn’t really much wiggle room.  Action Sports has hooked me up with a GPS Garmin, which will tell me my currant, and overall average pace.  I’ve got to pull off 3h05, to 3h07 as a worst case situation.  The pro’s start 15 minutes ahead of me, and it’s possible that defending champ, Chrissie Wellington catches back up to me on the run.  I need to hold her like a limpet (should get me some TV time as well).

I’ve only run one marathon (3h29:57 in 1998 with no run training on a bet) and haven’t run outside more than the 21km in Wisconsin in the past 3 months… so how is it going to happen?  To quote the ArchBiker… (who bet me $100 that I couldn’t break 3h10) I need to suffer more.  That simple, go deep into the hurt box, and stay there running 90 strides a minute until the finish.  4min16second kilometers, aren’t fast, I need 42 of them.

So there you have it.  The key to all of this is to stick to my game plan and keep on motoring.

Really I’m just going to be focused on my own game plan.  It could get me finish between 15th and 25th at the World Championships.  I don’t know the competition, but some years this would have me being top amateur by 15 minutes, some days I’ll be in a sprint to the finish in the final meters.  When I pull this off, though I’ll be stoked on the result

Need help to focus and program yourself for a personal best?

Side Notes:

• One of the reasons Chrissie Wellington was ready to become a world class Ironman triathlete at age 30 might be her long treks at altitude in Nepal. Of course she had the genes, but that three week mountain bike trek to the Himalayas I think set her up for the next step to athletic greatness. It set her up with a wide and deep aerobic base.
• I have bike toured 6 months, riding 10-14h a day, over the last 3 years… who else has that kind of base?
• I could be finishing around the same time as Chrissy Wellington.  The women have a 15 minute head start.  I won’t be able to pace off her ever, because I’ll be biking faster, and she will be running faster than my pace.
• Former World Cycling Time Trial Champion/ world number one, Laurent Jalabert will be in the race.  Though he was never personally involved in any doping scandals, it was pretty obvious in the Festina Affair, that his Once team and Director as dirty as they came.  The point?  When we’re both clean (and I’ve never been otherwise) well check the results.  The bottom line: I’m damn glad to be a triathlete.
• Magic 8 ball says “future looks bright” when asked about the outcome of your race.
• The cleaning lady told me today that she though I would win.  We’ll hope she’s right.
• I’m number 1350 - divisible by 5 - so Nannie would say it’s lucky

I would like to thank everyone for the notes that they’ve sent me and the huge support network of friends, family, and extended family, and families who adopt me for months at a time.  I’ve been too busy the last few days to post up every comment, but I have people pulling for me from as far away as UN Peace Keeping in Sudan, and of course no one will be more nervous than my father back home in Bracebridge and my other ‘homes’ around the continent.

Sean Bechtel, who was training in the trenches with me from the beginning, and the C3 team have been a huge support.  Barrie Shepley was room mates with Simon before his gold medal in Sydney, and he’s my room mate/ supporter down here.

Here’s Sean’s note:

I am sure everything will go to plan, with that new suit your swim will be fast then put it to them on the bike, I want to see you riding through some of the pros again, then you know you are tougher then everyone else so just give it on the run, it will come together on the day!!
be excited man, it is something you have always wanted to do, as Yorke would say live the dream!! haha
have a safe trip

And my biggest fans writes:

Have a GREAT DAY tomorrow.

We KNOW you can do it, but good luck anyway.

D.L.O.D. and The Mum

Thanks also to Caron Shepley, Team Trackburner Racing, the dogs, their owners of Chelsea Dog Walking, Sheri, Steph, Ben, Ralph, Emma, Izzy, The Classens in Vegas, Casa del Vino and friends in Tucson, Action Sports (who technically own much of my gear and equipment still… ), Roman, Jude, Kristen, the Grogens in Florida.  Not the Academy, but that’s how this is sounding, and I know I’ve missed some people.

OK I’m off to check my bike and gear into the transition area.  I’ll be posting one more article up tonight with my race plan for the morning…

Happy Thanks Giving for everyone back home.

I’ll send you out with the lastest slowtwicthism

And Nat Faulkner is the Walrus, coocookachoo

Nathaniel B.

(all the T.I.T.’s here are unreal, beyond expectation and I’ll get into that later) - that’s Triathletes In Training for those of you who didn’t know.

It’s cooler here than Vegas, I used blankets last night, which I haven’t used in weeks (check that’s taken care of).

• The salt water is super buoyant… like having my 2XU wetsuit on (check that)
• Specialized went out of their way to tune up (and pirate parts off a new bike) to get Dream Crusher working poifektly.
• Jonathan Toker customized some Salt Sticks to fit on my rig.  We also got a chance to swim out off the rocks together.  I probably would have been too scared to dive into the ocean by myself.  Also having an experienced guide along ‘I cannot stress enough, how important it is to not tuouch the enenomies and coral.

The BIG news was that I can officially announce that K Swiss is my official Shoe Sponsor.

They’ve got some Tri-specific shoes, which are supportive, drain water, and simply are better than anything else on the market.  Except that they aren’t on the market yet.  They are called the K-Ona’s and are available here, and will soon be available everywhere.  You won’t believe them, I’ll get pic’s up as soon as I have a free second.

What are the specific features of this shoe that will make it great as a triathlon racer?

The boilerplate answer is that this shoe is very light, extremely well cushioned and supportive, has incredible drainage, and taped seams for sockless wear during shorter races. But that is only half the story. One of the big challenges in tri shoes is not how light it is, but how light it is after you pour water and Gatorade all over it. There are lots of shoes out there that start at 9 ozs, but cross the finish line at 10.5. this one will start at less than 9, and you can pour a cup of water on it and it will be less than 9 five steps later. We also introduce Flow Cool which is an airflow system that allows airflow throughout the shoe to keep your feet cool and help evaporate moisture as you run. It has great midfoot support which comes into play late in an Ironman when you start collapsing a bit more during your footstrike. I encourage people to just try the shoe on in Kona.

• my Infamy on slow twitch is growing.
• VOG is the flashword here.  People were talking about it in the airport, on the land, etc. etc.  A new vent has opened in a volcano, and Kona is under a ‘haze’ of the crap.  We’ll be swimming in Kona, and running the entire marathon under the vog.  It’s entirely out of my control, and kinda like training in Bakersfield with the Haze.
• Off for a swim and TV interview, and full preview of the bike and run courses today.

Nat
Rumor has it that the “Dream Crusher” is going to win the key battleground state of Ohio on November 4th!

My swimming is where it was before Wisconsin.  My bike is going faster.  My run, well I have no experience running a marathon, let alone off the bike in Kona.  Macca took 7 attempts to get it, but McGlone and Wellington both did OK on their first go.  Personally I think I’m as ready as I can be, and am looking forward to the racing.

I’ve started cutting my hair down, and will shave my legs on Wednesday (tradition) as some of the final preparations for the race.

Otherwise I am getting Chirped on the Slow Twitch Forum.  (Mother, Chirping= the process of talking smack.) The irony is that I am being chirped for chirping on the IM Wisconsin coverage.  It hasn’t been shown down in the US (Nov 30th on Versus), so I haven’t seen it.  BUT… I remember being really fired up and excited at the time.  When I got my first time split at 40 miles saying that I was leading the race overall a chill went down my spine.

Can you imagine getting off the bike in your first ever Ironman race, in your first season of racing Tri’s and you are in FIRST PLACE.  The TV camera has been pulled back from the pro leader to follow you because you’re IN Front of him.

Yeah, it was really exciting, and I can only wish that all of you guys get the chance to enter an completely empty transition zone/ rack at some point in your competition careers.  So I was fired up, and have no idea what I said.  If I said nothing, or that I would be dropping out in a few KMs maybe I would be on the cutting room floor and not divide Nat Faulkner by zero and you will in fact get one….one bad-ass dream crusher that is!

From all the PR, I will now be naming my bike Dream Crusher (oh wait already did that) ha ha.

Otherwise if you’re ever in Vegas, and the riding, and running are really good here.  Reasonable accommodation can be found.  Talk to Danny Cam over at Nu Vision Cyclery and he’ll draw you ride maps, let you know when the groop rides leave, and if you’re into starting your rides around 7am he’ll show you some things you’ve never seen done on a road bike.  Word is if you’re going out on the town he knows about that too, but I can’t vouch for that personally.

Lastly K-Man gave me a haircut (I was babysitting) the other day.  Putting tape ‘guide lines’ on seemed like a good idea until taking them off.

Oh, and 2 days later he’s quiet for a little while, and turns out he’s been cutting his own hair, atta boy, with mixed results.

Nat Norris

PS slow twitchers, it’s gonna hurt like hell, but I’ll try to crush all those other guys dreams on your behalves.

PPS the dream crusher line came from Barney Williams commentary of the Canadian Mens 8 boat at the Olympics.  I can’t find the video on line anymore otherwise I’d link it.

PPS while you’re here check out my sponsors and they can help you crush dreams too.

http://www.tsn.ca/tsn2/schedule/?channel=TSN2&date=10-05-2008&tz=0

7am eastern TSN 2 in HD.  I don’t think that I got coverage on the bike because the camera was still with the pro’s (who had a 10 minute head start).  At the end of the bike the camera dropped back to cover me.  Of course at that point I knew that I was only going to be running 1/2 of the course and dropping out.  So I chatted with the TV guy.  God knows what I chatted about, but thanks to Greg and Ironworks Productions Inc. it’s out there.

Enjoy, it’ won’t be on in the US for a few more months…

Cheers,
Nat