coming down
Triathlon Training Blog, Sunday, October 18th, 2015So thats that. now the near suicidal post big race blues begins . All of this is being happily amplified by how much i have come to loathe this island. Its hot,full of pushy amercians and expensive. They all think its the garden of eden
It is, and clearly, im not one to labour a point, not the garden of eden.Its more like arthur fowlers allotment at 100 degrees centigrade not Fahrenheit.
What is so fantastic about a place where nearly everyone gets up in the dark at 4 in the morning to avoid half the day at work because its too hot. They say how much they love the climate yet spend all their time in air conditioned offices, cars , homes avoiding the crippling heat of the mid afternoon sun.
There are few biting insects. You know why? as there are none in outback Australia either. Because its too freckin hot for them and all.
That is not entirely fair. I have been here far too long. 30 days. Where one would have been ample.
I cant drive along the run route to the airport without a creeping dread of the memory of’that run’ tarnishing an already sultry day.
If you do come here, i think u have worked out i’ll never be back. Not if they brought me a house and paid me, come for the shortest time possible. Acclimatization would take months.
The other side of the island Hilo is actually way fucking better.stay there and drive over here to kona. Not that that is much of an endorsement. It does make u appreciate home though. never thought i’d say that. Now that is where they should have had the course. The hilo side. Its green its interesting, varied terrain .You could cycle through a bit of lava into the rain forest then up on to the volcano for the bike . Would have been NICE. Its cooler. It rains a lot though. But u are in little chance of drowning from that . Whereas the shit side(kona) u could easily be cooked on the consistent gas mark 8 that accompanies you every where u go there.
I am sorry this is probably not a popular race report. Kona the holy grail . The golden ticket.
Now i spent 20 years as a surfer.I was never particularly amazing at it. But i was,still am ok at it. I can make my waves .Im not a kook. I Lived in Australia for 8 years, had numerous trips to indonesia surfing, NZ the south pacific. Loved it. I went to Bells beach. Victoria on the start of the great ocean road. There have been some surfing comps there to rival the Scott , Allen duels over the years. Bells had something. It held a ‘feeling’ of greatness. An amphitheater of sport it had a mystery mystic feel . A ghost of a feeling left from all those great waves and competitions that the greats of the sport had had there for 40 years. A latent energy of somewhere a bit special
Well kona…….kona ,what can u say about kona …..it has fucking none of that. Its a black spec of dust on a volcano baking oven . Its very hard but only because the course is shit.The only place that is more expensive to get to is the moon. Tescos own label food out here is the same price as shopping at harrods for your weekly grocery shop and having it delivered by helicopter
I am being contrary here i know. I ,myself am clearly trying to make sense of this undertaking
But you have to come here to realise that for yourself. There are a lot of people who come here year after year. I would summarize that either they have severe mental health problems or i do. I suspect we all do. To keep on the procession every year of coming here…HERE is beyond me. Just feeding the myth created by the IM marketing machine that this is the race. Well, it is the race i suppose. Maybe i should wind my neck in. I think i can say, without any fear of contradiction, its just not for me. But then i’ve got my bag and medal. i have been drawn in also.Again, i cant really say all this and then say i’m glad i did it just the once.
I dont feel any real pride in finishing what was the toughest race i’ve done. Perhaps the real reason i’m down on it is it sacred the shit out of me. My conscious thought is only , its a ridiculous thing to do. But perhaps there is more to it. Its very true the course is not very interesting or imaginative. But it is consistently hard , every year is the same. Although this year was hotter than usual…apparently.
it is brutal and savage in a way you dont expect , in a way that affects every athlete. In a way u cant train for. it is most certainly a test. So yes, perhaps it just scared and scarred me. Maybe i am down on it as it has shown me one of my many limits,yes along with many character flaws. Perhaps the course did beat me in a way in that i have no desire to come back here and try it again. Fear. F>E>A>R
I prefer the conscious thoughts, the sensible approach. Its a stupid ridiculous pass time.To race in 45 degree heat to approach delirium and welcome it in to explore the deeper recesses of your limits. It takes you where u didnt want to go and never knew existed. I didnt enjoy it but im glad i got it done. never to be done again. Boxed up and packaged in my feeble little mind . tick.
today i have sat in the hotel lobby for 12 hrs waiting to go home. i have been here too long havent i? I have made a conscious decision to sort my life out. In 43 years i havent managed that. Maybe this race has finally motivated me, turned a corner. I hope so. If it has then it’ll be one of the biggest turning points in my life thus far.And would become a priceless experience.it probably is already. The blues of a big race and there has been none bigger. There must be a dip.
I am disappointed with my run . The swim was crap but i trained hard for that so could have done no better. Maybe , inaccurately , i feel i couldve done better with out the injury that prevented me from running for 10 weeks prior to the event. This has been amplified that i know i will never be back to give a better account of myself on the biggest stage there is. A simple refusal to accept that someone in my age group is 95 mins faster than me over the distance on that day.
i think that is referred to as conceit
Although i never expected to win 95 mins is not even close. A different league . Vauxhall Conference and premier league. Its hard not to be disappointed.
But i also feel and there is an element of truth in this that even without injury the limiting factor for me , as it was for many of us, was the heat of the run. Even fully prepared and injury free the heat may have stopped me running faster.But every athlete has had set backs on this road , a story of mishap and how the race couldve gone better.
Post race speculation . To accept that one has limits . Coupled with the fact i’m getting older and i wont be this beautiful forever.
Ha ha who am i kidding. I’ll always be this beautiful .You know it and so do i.
But that is racing.
