The Problem With Kona....

The problem with being in Kona is that it's exhausting.  There's always something to do and see and Ali'i is very busy and there isn't much parking.  You end up parking far away and walking to the Pier....and walking to the shops....and walking back to the car....

Being out here, you want to see everything and take part in things, but it gets tiring.  The walking wears you out, the sightseeing wears you out, the heat wears you out, etc.  Not to mention you still have workouts to do.  Plus, it's hard to stay hydrated out here.  I've been drinking and drinking and drinking and I still don't have to go to the bathroom nearly as often as home. 

I've checked out the shops on Ali'i, I've swam at the Pier most mornings, I've been to the expo, I've been to the volcanoes, I've done my workouts....


I went to the Slowtwitch party at the Cytomax/Muscle Milk house where I won a pair of Specialized S-Works shoes.

The Slowtwitch party.

Sunset from the Cytomax/Muscle Milk house on Ali'i.

And I did the Underpants Run:

Ready for the Underpants Run.

They make you take an oath not to wear your speedo in public before the run.

It's pretty crowded.

The start of the Underpants Run.

Even the pups take part.

If you want some better pics of the Underpants Run, check out Slowtwitch or Xtri or Ben Greenfield's website (he took some video).  



In the middle of all that, I didn't forget to register for the race.

See the 1319 on the left?  That's my bike number.  It's a plastic number.  Very pro. I like it.

They even gave us a real backpack with registration.

Thursday was a day off.  I did the Underpants Run in the morning and stayed away from the hype the rest of the day and just hung out at the house and ran a few last minute errands. 


Friday was a very short swim at the Pier, a short bike with a couple of hard efforts and a short run.  Then bike check in, gear check in and dinner (steak and potatoes) and hopefully some sleep.


***********


I wanted to do a post with all my numbers to show what it took to get here, but I'm having a hard time putting the numbers together since my 2008 log was an excel spreadsheet that got lost in a computer crash.  But I put some of my numbers on my blog so I added those to the numbers I have in Trainingpeaks and I've trained more than 2600 hours since signing up for my first Ironman in September 2007.  That's a lot of training.  

This year, I've trained about 600 hours since Jan 3.  

Maybe after the race I'll put together a post with some numbers.