Nothing today, but yesterday I finished perhaps the toughest race of my life.
It was a three-day ultra-distance triathlon - the Ultraman World Championships. It's essentially a circuit of the island of Hawai'i.
Day One was a 6.2 mile (10km) swim from the Kailua-Kona Pier (same start as the Ironman here) to Keahou Bay. From Keahou Bay, we rode to the town of Volcano (90 miles -145km).
Day Two is a bike ride from Volcano around the island (adding a loop on the Red Road), through Hilo and up through Waimea, over the Kohalas and up to Hawi (171.4 miles -276km).
Day Three is a run from the town of Hawi along the coast south to the old Kailua-Kona Airport (now a park). 52.4 miles (84.3km)
The swim was pretty damned hard. My time for it was over an hour slower than my PR for the distance (set during Ultraman Canada in 2011) at 5:15.
The first bike stage was hard, mostly because my shoulders were really sore. I ended up finishing Day One 11 minutes before the cutoff (11:49).
The Day Two bike course was one of the best days I've ever had on a bike. The scenery was breathtaking, and the course fairly fast. I finished the day in 9:07.
Day Three is my weak point. Given that the temperatures ranged from the low to upper 80s during the day, the fact that I PR'd was amazing. I bettered by marathon PR by 5 minutes (don't laugh, I've never done a marathon on it's own!) at 4:35 on my way to a 50 mile PR (9:51) and a double marathon PR at 10:13.
I'll have to write up a full race report as time allows.
http://ultramanlive.com/
