Honu Half Ironman Camp - Day 3


40 minute ocean swim, and 125 mile bike to Hawi and back.

I was feeling better, but not quite 80% yet. But I got up and when down with group around 6:30 AM and swam at the Kona pier. It felt great. The water was smooth and really nice. I wore my new Tyr short john swim suite, which covers my torso, so I felt a little warmer than most of the chaps. I really was feeling good in the swim and was hopeful that the illness was passing.

Breakfast was served back at the condo after the swim. I still wasn't able to eat as much as I would have liked. I just wasn't digesting normally yet. And, walking up the stairs at the condo really fatigued me.



Greg and Brinja getting ready to ride.

We got a group shot before the ride. What a good looking group.

Eddy, me, JD, Sean, Mitch, Greg, Gant and Brinja.

Around 9:00 AM, we all headed out for the bike ride. We headed south so that we could make that big climb up the King K III highway. Then headed north out of town and onto the Queen K highway to Hawi. I wasn't feeling very strong and made everyone stop so I could try to put more air in my tires. Then 5 miles down the road, Eddy had a flat. We didn't notice him drop off, so we slowed down and soft pedaled a mile or so. Then stopped and turned around.


The King of Kona.

By now the water bottle I had was almost gone. I had a water bottle with food it it, but I needed more water. When we got going again, I started feeling bad and made everyone stop at the Blue Hawai'i Helicopter site to get more water. I drank a bunch of water but it didn't sit well. In fact it didn't go anywhere. My stomach stopped absorbing the water and just sat there like a big water balloon. I couldn't get into an aero position on the bike and slowly started to loose contact with Mitch, Gant, JD and Brinja. I had to ride sitting up.

We stopped at 80 miles at the gas station at the corner, where the highway splits between Hawi and Waimea. I drank half a Pepsi and felt like the stomach was full and going to overflow--- up. The ride to Hawi was tough. I had to ride sitting up, the winds were blowing pretty hard, I had stopped sweating and I had to stop pedaling every so often to keep from getting sick.



Hawi was the end of the road for me.



I loaded up my bike in the van and found a place to lay down. Michele and Tawnya had gone shopping in Hawi so I was able to rest for about an hour before heading back home. We saw the group between the gas station and Kawaihae. They looked very hot and tired, but they rode strong all the way back. 125 miles on the Queen K Highway! Impressive. I'll get another shot on Thursday, as we do the same ride again.

Dinner tonight was Salmon with a fruit salsa made with soursop fruit. Very nice!

Posted: Sun - May 28, 2006 at 02:56 PM          

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