On May 30th, 2015 Debbie Potts (me) participated in the Honu 70.3 Triathlon on the Big Island. Neal Potts asks Debbie a few questions about building up for a hot weather race, why she loves this event and why she loves Kona.
My race report for Honu 70.3 (Debbie Potts).
I started participating in Ironman triathlons in 2001 and raced on/off full as well as Half Ironmans until early March 2013. If you followed me on the FIT FAT FAST podcast and my blog, you probably heard a lot (maybe too much!) about my adrenal exhaustion “stage three” that hit me hard around March 2013. I won’t go into the details of what happens with adrenal fatigue and my exhaustion or my healing as you can go back to various podcast episodes as well as my blogs to read more.
I will share with you my excitement to return to half Ironman triathlons after two years of only doing sprint triathlons and Olympic Triathlons last year as well as my bike accident last May 2014 (one week before my flight to Kona to race Honu 70.3 2014). After having a lower leg/knee/calf injury from January 2014 of and on until December 2014, I was finally able to work on building up my running endurance in January 2015. Of course the remedy for my injury was working with amazing body work/massage therapists (Scott Olsen from www.activrecovery.com) and getting my glute to fire (stay tuned for our upcoming podcast on “glute amnesia”).
On March 29th, I completed in the Lavaman Olympic distance triathlon on the Big Island (do it next year April 10th, 2016), I had a struggle on the run with stomach ache maybe from cola NUUN so my race wasn’t as fast as I wanted to have but ended up sixth place in my age group… I don’t like 6th place. I know sixth place is pretty good but for me it is tough as top five is always my goal and I have placed top five in the most races over the last ten years. So for Honu 70.3, my secret goal was to be top five in my age group. I deserve it after having two years of challenges.
Leading up to Honu 70.3 Triathlon I had many long bike rides on the weekend as I am helping a friend train for Ironman Canada so my endurance felt strong and my week day rides changed to more higher cadence workouts. I realize looking back that I have not started my weekly hill workout on “Zoo” hill and Montreux here in Bellevue, WA. My weekly ride with three big hills about 20 minutes long are amazing for leg strength. Overall I felt strong in my bike.
My swim workouts were more intense this year as I started “cheating” wearing the blue fins but trying not to kick with them… and cheat. My body position was so much better in the water allowing my swim stroke and efficiency to improve. I started “racing” more in the Master’s swim workout instead of slow and long sets as well as hitting faster splits for 100m and 200m. I was told by my coach to continue wearing what I call “swim toys” as my swim stroke was benefiting from the change. Looking back at my swim workouts, I would have added more distance workouts one day a week on my own as the Masters workouts tend not to have over 300 or 400m sets. We need more of 500m sets, 800m and even a 1000m set. My swim confidence and expectation for my triathlon swim split were increased.
So what happened on race day?
Well let me review my morning …more for my benefit!
I woke up around 4:40 am (alarm set for 4:45am). I had a good night sleep considering I woke up a few times. I always make sure I get the most sleep two nights before the race (Thursday). I had everything I need for race day organized the night before as my clothes, timing chip, fuel and breakfast, so I didn’t have to stress in the morning (or wake up any earlier!). I had a cup of coffee in the hotel room with some heavy cream (I purchased the day before so I didn’t use the crappy creamers at the hotel) then ate a “Raw Revolution” bar with some raw almond butter we bought a few days before at our favorite health food store “Island Naturals”. I was all ready to leave to the race start at Hapuna Beach by 5:15 am… and we arrived at the beach around 5:30am. We always prefer to arrive an hour before the start at least for races then spend the extra time relaxing and doing some yoga. I did bring my “stick” to roll on my legs while in the car trip over to Hapuna Beach.
The transition area was busy with athletes but I stayed calm, happy, friendly and focused on feeling relaxed as well as confident. I set up my bike fuel and supplement pill bags then filled my tires and set up my bike gear for a quick transition. One trick I did for my first time finally is to take the leftover white sticker from my race number (I cut mine a little bit to fit on my Cervelo frame) on the pavement right in front of my bike so I could spot my bike easily in transition. I shared my trick with my neighbors so they could spot their bike more easily as well!
The new wave start had the 40 plus women in the very last wave at 7am. The start was simple and smooth but then we caught up with the previous two waves so there was a few pile ups around the turn buoys. The new direction of the course (last two years) is so much better as we don’t blow out to sea towards Maui and we don’t have the rising sun in our eyes as we swim back the second half.
The transition is a longer one and uphill. I ran out of the water and ran up the hill while taking off my top of my speed suit, googles and swim cap… plus skipped the “shower” hoses and just took a cup of water as I ran by and threw it over me! Every minute counts when I know my run isn’t as strong as normal!
The bike is my strength and the weather was perfect…hot sunshine and no wind! The challenge was the tons of other people in the previous four waves in front of me. My mission is the pass as many people as possible as well as pass every female as possible. I think I am the only athlete that yells nicely “on your left” every single time I pass people. Not everyone understands the rules… stay to the right if you are not passing and no one followed the drafting rule of five bike lengths but then again it is almost impossible with so many people in the race. What happened to the days when races were limited to 1200 or even 1600 people!? Money talks!
My bike felt great and strong as I focused on keeping my cadence up high and switching my gears frequently. I try to go out a little easier then build up the pace. I never want to feel my legs screaming too much in the first half of the bike…build it up and then go hard. On the bike I drank water with a hydration mix (tried OSMO instead of NUUN) in my aero bottle and in my bottle I had orange UCAN.
After the turnaround in Hawi, I cranked up my cadence and went as fast as I could back down to the Queen Kespecially since there was not any wind. I have rode on this course many times so I am very connected to the course and feel the energy as well as I know how to spot if there is wind coming up (look at the ocean!). My magic bike loop!
As the bike ended, I felt that I was somewhat in good position for my age group and females as I headed into T2 but I wasn’t sure where I was since some gals had low numbers. I discovered the new Ironman ranking program for age groups (I must have deleted that email!). Their new program allows competitive age groups to have lower race numbers but that isn’t fair as we can’t tell what age group they are racing for since my number was 1300 and I knew my age group 40-44 spread. Why can’t we go back to having our age on our calf especially with this new ranking system program!?
I was super excited about my race as I started the run and I even left my run visor in my speedy transition thinking I didn’t need it as I had my sunglasses (first time ever…bad decision in hot weather!). I was somewhere in the top 15 for females overall but I was a little worried how long that would last with my head start off the bike. My runninglegs have been about 10-15 minutes slower for my half marathon times this year after my two half marathon races so I expected my 70.3 run split to be slower than my normal and my potential.
The run course is always challenging at the Honu 70.3 Triathlon as half of it is on the golf course which is good and bad. The weather is super-hot especially without wind but the aid stations are every mile so you just focus on running mile to mile. I run with a handheld bottle at these races then refuel with water or Gatorade then cola after mile 8 with ICE. I had so much ice and water to keep cool as well as dumped so much water over my head…it feels so great when running in a hot race but watch your shoes!
I tried to pick up my pace as much as possible the last out on back on the very long gravel road then at the turn around. I had a few gals catch me on this road but I was doing my best plus I didn’t know what age group most of them were in as they had the lower race numbers (not a fan!). I finally crossed the finish line and felt excited…thinking I must be in the top five as the other girls seemed younger than me. Nope… my friend at the finish line broke the news that I placed sixth in my age group. Most people would be happy and I should be as this was my first race after serious adrenal fatigue, health complications, weight gain, muscle loss then a bad bike accident. This was my come back race and I felt strong as well as healthy. I am hard on myself and usually over the past ten years place in the top five… not today but I will soon.
My happy race bubble quickly burst after the finish line with the news that I placed sixth and even worse when I lost by only 40 seconds. HUGE bummer for me. My husband Neal sensed my frustration and let me have some time alone. I basically was sent to my room… fortunately we stayed at the race hotel the Fairmont Orchid (beautiful) and I walked straight from the finish area with my medal, finishers shirt and cool Honu hat to my hotel room to shower. I cleaned up, relaxed my mind a little bit and headed back to the pool area to hang out with my husband and friends. Turn on a happy face and be happy to race again… I knew my run training as only been for the past six months and it is slowly improving.
Now I need to focus on my running and train for another half marathon and even a fall marathon. Perhaps I will do Lake Stevens 70.3 as it is in the Seattle area but not nearly as nice as the Honu course in Hawaii. I hope to return to Honu 70.3 in 2016 to beat my time. I still haven’t looked at my race results or my placing… and I didn’t even look at my Garmin watch during the race. Sometimes it is best not to look at your times during the race or right after… maybe in a few months when I am ready to analyze my race to my previous times.
I will get back to a 5:05 or under split for Honu 70.3 or another 70.3 Triathlon. Age doesn’t matter… training smart does. Fueling, training and performing your best for life! My Wholestic Coaching is the direction more coaches and athletes should head… learning how to train and perform your best is more than just your training schedule. I work with athletes as well as myself (especially after serious adrenal exhaustion) to measure their HRV with Sweetbeat Life (or use Wholestic Coaching in the future!), sleep 7-9 hours, manage stress and anxiety as well as proper nutrition (low sugar and processed foods). There is more to it but I can’t share all of my secrets!
Please keep the Aloha spirit …even on the mainland.
The Big Island is my happy place. It is always where I can find myself and indulge in some “blue sky” and “yellow mellow” time.
Aloha!
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