« The Machine that Changed the World | Main | A couple more Kahuna thoughts... please humor me »

Big Kahuna. Big fun.

I wanted to go under 6 hours at the Big Kahuna half-ironman in Santa Cruz yesterday. Starting the run, I knew I had two hours and ten minutes to do it. But I wasn't so sure. Could I run that fast? I knew I could, but could I do it on this day?

Well, yeah, I did it. I did it! I finished in 5:54:25. That is nearly a 10-minute PR at this distance.

swim: 34:12
T1 (which included a very long run to transition): 5:23
bike: 3:07:25 by my watch (17.5mph) (official results have 3:09:31 for bike + T2)
T2: 2:06
run: 2:05:18 (9:34/mile)

The swim was fine as soon as I got used to the 61-degree water. Ouch. Brrrr. But no sharks, sea lions, or jellyfish tried to stop me. That was a relief. After we hit the timing mats, we ran a quarter-mile to T2.

The bike was harder than I remember. The course is generally flat with lots of big, big rollers. The two times I've done this race we've had a slight headwind on the outbound half followed by a glorious tailwind for the second half. But today there was no wind at all, and I missed getting that boost in the second half. I was hoping to do the ride under 3 hours. But that's the only disappointment of the day.

I left T2 to see my big group of friends cheering madly for me, which was thrilling. But with 3:49 and change on my watch, I knew I had to run 2:10 to finish under six hours. That's an even ten-minute-per-mile pace. I did 2:15 at Barb's Race five weeks ago, but it was about 20 degrees hotter there. Last time I raced Big Kahuna, in 2003, I ran a 2:06:34.

I started off with a 9:15 mile and felt great. I was passing tons of people. I just kept plugging away, knowing I was putting minutes in the bank for the long hill at mile 8 and the likely slowdown in the last few miles. When the run moved to fairly narrow singletrack trail at Wilder Ranch State Park, it got more challenging to pass runner after runner, but that made it fun, too. After the turnaround, I clocked myself doing an 8:30 mile, but I actually reined myself in, not wanting to pay for it later on. I got to the one big hill on the course and was determined to run while everyone else was walking, as long as I kept my HR under 170. And I did it, and it wasn't even that hard. I did slow down, but I had plenty of those banked minutes left.

By the time I hit the 11-mile marker I knew I would finish under six hours. I had 25 minutes to run 2.1 miles. And I was still passing people. Of course, a lot of people were walking at this point. The last .4 mile or so was the dreaded beach run. We ran down to the beach to the packed sand, under the pier, along the water for what seemed like forever, then back up through the very soft sand to the finish line. A woman tried to outsprint me in the final yards but I didn't let her pass me. It was probably a hilarious sight to see us "sprinting" down the chute like we were moving through molasses.

I was third among the Athenas and got some pretty sweet schwag. In fact, probably the most awesome award ever. I'll take a photo.

The best part? I get to do this all over again -- same course, but only half the distances -- at the Sentinel Triathlon in two weeks. Yee haw!

September 10, 2007 10:30 AM