Its not a race report but it is the thought process

So Kona 2010 is now in the past. Have struggled to get to writing a race report as wanted to fully digest the day and the experience.

Speaking to Les (my wife) during the week of the race she said to just make sure I enjoyed the day as much as every other IM I had done. With A races I find this easier, with B races if you do not do everything perfect it is easy to dissect them in the hope that can find that extra % for the A race. I was defientely somthing that I made sure I did as the day went on.

So did I enjoy it? Definitely, in fact it is the only IM where I never once asked why am I doing this. In fact I never felt the race had any true "dark" moments. In fact the race and race week was one of the most awesome experiences of my life and leaves me more motivated about this sport than ever.

In terms of overall result I go away not totally content. Had thought would do a bit better out there but in the end racing doesn't lie and I was about 5% slower than I thought I would be and what I could do.

I thought I would swim around 1:15 or so and was just simply slower than that at 1:19. Plain and simple I just need to work out this swimming thing and if getting my butt kicked at Kona is what it takes then that should be inspiration enough to make it work.

In terms of plan execution I thought I did a good a excellent job of following the plan. My effort in the first 140km on the bike was a little low, however understand why that was. Essentially I was not anticipating passing as many people as I was so was cautious about going any harder as had to respect the course especially the last 40km where people have been caught out before. In some regards maybe i had a little bit too much respect for the bike course however not having the opportunity to ride the full course before race day certainly was a factor. So a 5:17 bike is what I delivered vs the close to 5 that may have been possible.

The run was a weird one - never hit my stride and  was a big cloud of grey were I never felt super but was able to diesel it out.I made a big point of soaking up the last mile down Palani and through Kona and making sure I enjoyed and remembered that as clearly as I could. Before IM CDA (3:11 Run) if you had given me a 3:23 IM marathon anywhere I would have taken it. So the fact I felt I had a bad run and ran 3:23 is a good thing! The takeaway form this perspective is just have to get stronger and fitter and be able to get cadence going on those tough days.

So in the end it is my second fastest IM time with a 10:05 in Kona so any disappointment is all relative. I actually debated with doing this post at all as it may look a little bit ungrateful or the like. Let me assure you that I had the most awesome time in Kona and especially the process leading to it. It is an honor to get to race on the Big Island and run down Alii drive at the end of an Ironman. So from that perspective I could not be happier.

What the result does give is motivation and a sense of being able to step it up to another level is possible. In the end it is just about getting stronger, fitter, smarter and more experienced. My bad day needs to be faster and my good days faster still.

You only achieve what you aim for in life and that is why we have goals, just because you miss them the first time does not mean you give up on them. You just get back to business and work harder to acheive them. Not sure when I will be back at Kona but my thought is want to be able to confidently go for a 153 as my good day. That is a Sub 1 hour swim, sub 5 hour bike and sub 3 hour run.

Next up will be the race report which will focus on the experience!