Time is drawing near for race day and the quant little town of Kona is absolutely electric with people training.
It’s amazing going outside at 7am when it’s finally light enough to ride a bike on the streets and there are already tons of people running, biking and heading down to the start line to get a practice swim in.
Today was a biking/running day for me. I grabbed a few miles on the bike and got out on the Queen K highway which is the road that will take us 112 miles which is round trip to Hawi, Hi and back. While it is hilly, the road is very smooth and well maintained so that’s plus. I did learn from another athlete who has raced this before that you never pump your tires all the way up because the heat is so extreme that the air in your tires will expand by 20 lbs of pressure on the road and could possibly blow your tire out during the race. Nice to know!
Something else I didn’t think about before coming to Kona for this race, Volcanoes and earthquakes!!!! Apparently, they have two volcanoes that have become active at the same time which is exceedingly rare. These Volcanoes have created 3 small earthquakes in the last 2 weeks. Here’s the newspaper release from a week ago:
Activity update
Kilauea Volcano continues to be active. A vent in Halema'uma'u Crater is erupting elevated amounts of sulfur dioxide gas and very small amounts of ash. Resulting high concentrations of sulfur dioxide in downwind air have closed the south part of Kilauea caldera and produced occasional air quality alerts in more distant areas, such as Pahala and communities adjacent to Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, during kona wind periods.On Sept. 26, scientists got another look at the lava lake deep within the vent on the floor of Halema'uma'u. The lava lake, barely visible from the air, appeared to be deeper than when last seen on Sept. 5. The lake surface is estimated at 120 to 150 meters (about 400 to 500 feet) below the vent rim, and cannot be seen from the rim of Halema'uma'u Crater or Jaggar Museum Overlook. There have also been several small ash-emission events from the vent, lasting only minutes, in the last week.Pu'u 'O'o continues to produce sulfur dioxide at even higher rates than the vent in Halema'uma'u Crater. Trade winds tend to pool these emissions along the West Hawai'i coast, while Kona winds blow these emissions into communities to the north, such as Mountain View, Volcano, and 
Hilo.Lava continues to erupt from fissure D of the July 21, 2007, eruption and flows toward the ocean through a well-established lava tube. The ocean entry at Waikupanaha continued unabated in the past week and has hosted frequent, small littoral explosions where the lava meets the water.Be aware that active lava deltas can collapse at any time, potentially generating large explosions. This may be especially true during times of rapidly changing lava supply conditions. Do not venture onto the lava deltas. Even the intervening beaches are susceptible to large waves generated during delta collapse; avoid these beaches. In addition, steam plumes rising from ocean entries are highly acidic and laced with glass particles. Check Civil Defense Web site (http://www.lavainfo.us) or call 961-8093 for viewing hours.Mauna Loa is not erupting. Two earthquakes were located beneath the summit this past week. Continuing extension between locations spanning the summit indicates slow inflation of the volcano.Three earthquakes beneath Hawaii Island were reported felt within the past week. A magnitude-2.8 earthquake occurred at 11:25 a.m. on Friday, Sept. 26, and was located 2 kilometers (1 mile) southeast of Pahala at a depth of 8 kilometers (5 miles).A magnitude-3.1 earthquake occurred at 8:18 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 27, and was located 7 kilometers (4 miles) northwest of Kailua at a depth of 33 kilometers (20 miles).A magnitude-2.6 earthquake occurred at 3:09 p.m. on Tuesday, Sept. 30, and was located 6 kilometers (4 mile) north of Ka'ena Point at a depth of 8 kilometers (5 miles).
Great eh? They are talking about how this could affect the athletes in the race if the winds shift. Right now, the high winds I have been talking about, have kept the pollution, from these volcanoes, away from the west coast where Kona is. We’ll see what happens between now and Saturday.
On to a different subject. Today, I finally got to check in, and get my race information and all the associated “stuff.” Racing an Ironman race is a race of logistics. I have two transition bags and two special needs bags. All of which will have been very well planned out as far as the items I will be putting in each bag based on my training to this point. Various type of nutrition for different stages of the race, infinit for the bike …my liquid food, and e-gels for the run…a gooey substance for nutrition. I will also have “glide” in T1 and T2 for chaffing and blister bandages, socks, electrolytes and many other items I will need at specific times in the race. So it very well orchestrated.
After checking in and getting my racing number (#708), I ventured over to the
Ironman Village where I got the see Chris McCormick taking question on a stage with a great backdrop (see pic of him seated). Chris is the current world champion and I had the opportunity to talk to him last year after a race at St. Petersburg Florida. I am sure he will win again this year.
Another interesting thing that happened was that I saw Peter Reid in the crowd standing by himself. Who is Peter Reid? He is the 3-time world Champions who stopped racing 3 years ago. I recognized him by his very unique tattoo on his left ankle that I had seen on TV. So I stopped and introduced my self and chatted with him for about 10 minutes getting pointers on the race. Specialized bikes had flown him in to be part of their marketing at the race and he was doing several public appearances for them this week apparently. Again, this is very refreshing to see the top athletes in the sport being so accessible.
That’s it for today. I am waiting on Jill and the boys to get into town at 8:15 tonight. I have touched base with them along the way and everything seems to be going well except Jill accidentally lost the camera on the last flight. So I still have my camera to take some pictures and they will have photograp
hers on the course taking pictures which I will get to purchase after the race.
Talk to everyone tomorrow.
Hilo.Lava continues to erupt from fissure D of the July 21, 2007, eruption and flows toward the ocean through a well-established lava tube. The ocean entry at Waikupanaha continued unabated in the past week and has hosted frequent, small littoral explosions where the lava meets the water.Be aware that active lava deltas can collapse at any time, potentially generating large explosions. This may be especially true during times of rapidly changing lava supply conditions. Do not venture onto the lava deltas. Even the intervening beaches are susceptible to large waves generated during delta collapse; avoid these beaches. In addition, steam plumes rising from ocean entries are highly acidic and laced with glass particles. Check Civil Defense Web site (http://www.lavainfo.us) or call 961-8093 for viewing hours.Mauna Loa is not erupting. Two earthquakes were located beneath the summit this past week. Continuing extension between locations spanning the summit indicates slow inflation of the volcano.Three earthquakes beneath Hawaii Island were reported felt within the past week. A magnitude-2.8 earthquake occurred at 11:25 a.m. on Friday, Sept. 26, and was located 2 kilometers (1 mile) southeast of Pahala at a depth of 8 kilometers (5 miles).A magnitude-3.1 earthquake occurred at 8:18 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 27, and was located 7 kilometers (4 miles) northwest of Kailua at a depth of 33 kilometers (20 miles).A magnitude-2.6 earthquake occurred at 3:09 p.m. on Tuesday, Sept. 30, and was located 6 kilometers (4 mile) north of Ka'ena Point at a depth of 8 kilometers (5 miles).Great eh? They are talking about how this could affect the athletes in the race if the winds shift. Right now, the high winds I have been talking about, have kept the pollution, from these volcanoes, away from the west coast where Kona is. We’ll see what happens between now and Saturday.
On to a different subject. Today, I finally got to check in, and get my race information and all the associated “stuff.” Racing an Ironman race is a race of logistics. I have two transition bags and two special needs bags. All of which will have been very well planned out as far as the items I will be putting in each bag based on my training to this point. Various type of nutrition for different stages of the race, infinit for the bike …my liquid food, and e-gels for the run…a gooey substance for nutrition. I will also have “glide” in T1 and T2 for chaffing and blister bandages, socks, electrolytes and many other items I will need at specific times in the race. So it very well orchestrated.
After checking in and getting my racing number (#708), I ventured over to the
Ironman Village where I got the see Chris McCormick taking question on a stage with a great backdrop (see pic of him seated). Chris is the current world champion and I had the opportunity to talk to him last year after a race at St. Petersburg Florida. I am sure he will win again this year.Another interesting thing that happened was that I saw Peter Reid in the crowd standing by himself. Who is Peter Reid? He is the 3-time world Champions who stopped racing 3 years ago. I recognized him by his very unique tattoo on his left ankle that I had seen on TV. So I stopped and introduced my self and chatted with him for about 10 minutes getting pointers on the race. Specialized bikes had flown him in to be part of their marketing at the race and he was doing several public appearances for them this week apparently. Again, this is very refreshing to see the top athletes in the sport being so accessible.
That’s it for today. I am waiting on Jill and the boys to get into town at 8:15 tonight. I have touched base with them along the way and everything seems to be going well except Jill accidentally lost the camera on the last flight. So I still have my camera to take some pictures and they will have photograp
hers on the course taking pictures which I will get to purchase after the race.Talk to everyone tomorrow.
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