IM Kona '16 - Day 1

With my day starting at 3am on Wednesday, I had to wait a few hours before the sun to rise so I made myself useful by working on the computer until Karel woke-up around 5am.

My body was confused on the time zone so I had a few snacks between 3-5am before an official pre-workout snack. 

With a strong swim at the aquatic center on the schedule, I had a bowl of oatmeal w/ chopped figs and a drizzle of nut butter as a pre-workout snack. 

Karel and I rode to the aquatic center on our bikes (around a mile) and managed to find a lane to share. The pool wasn't packed but it was still busy with both pools having all lanes occupied.
We also spotted our friend Jana (Czech chick) who arrived about 30 minutes after us. It was nice to see a familiar face. 

The pool was not cold so it was easy to get in but it sure got warm as our workout continued. 

After a warm-up and two pre-sets, we had some fun with our main set (which we have done a few times - it's a great set for working on pacing, finding a rhythm and giving a hard effort when asked):

100 at 70%

100 at 80%

100 at 90%

100 at 70%

100 at 80%

2x100 at 90%

100 at 70%

100 at 80%

3x100 at 90%

100 at 70%

100 at 80%

4x100 at 90%

All 10 seconds rest

1 minute rest

400 paddles - strong effort

4500 yards total

Karel, how do you really feel about that swim workout? 

I like being a spectathlete - I get to train and I don't have to stress about saving anything for race day. But lucky me, I have Karel as a training partner so my butt will be kicked with some upcoming bike and run workouts. But for now, I get to kick Karel's butt in the pool :) 

After our 7:15 am swim workout, we returned home to our condo and I made a delicious papaya and banana whey protein smoothie which hit the spot.

We both got some work done while eating breakfast and around 10:30am, we made our way toward the Farmer's market and Daylight Mind coffee company for some fresh produce and bread. 

Decisions, decisions. 

So much fruit! 

Around 11:30am, we got ourselves ready for workout #2 which included 2 hours of intervals (6 x 8 minutes build by 2 to Z3/Z4) w/ 5 min EZ in between) on the Queen K hwy. We made a quick stop at Bike Works to purchase a few CO2s. 

I was able to take some pictures during our warm-up as we had a nice strong tailwind to push us along (fast!) with easy effort on the pedals. 

Tail wind out....means a strong headwind coming back! 

The rest of the ride included me trying to stay on Karel's wheel. I was semi successful for a few of his efforts. 

Drafting off Karel's wheel is hard enough but now with my road bike in Kona, I was certainly at an aero disadvantage. 

But I came here to work on my bike handling skills and to become a better rider in Kona - thanks to Karel being supportive and letting me join him (and soft pedaling for me in the 5 minute recovery between intervals). 

It was an incredible experience to be able to push hard in Kona as I have been here 4 times prior and have never been able to go hard here, except on race day. 

Karel said he felt good - better as the ride went on compared to when he started. 

We had a lot of headwind coming back but with a few miles left before we got into town, we finally got a little help as the wind died down.....a little. 

After our ride, we had a few things to get done with our coaching athletes and then I got busy in the  kitchen to prep some food (fruit salad and veggie salad). 

This is a mega pineapple and SO juicy!

Karel and I made our way downtown in the evening before another quick grocery store stop and then it was time to finally relax for the rest of the evening.