Kona 10/3: T Minus 3 days

I took a full rest day today as all of my significant physical preparation for Thursday's race is done.  I joined the XC group for breakfast and it was great to bump into a bunch of old friends and familiar faces.  It was very interesting to hear Andrew Messick (the CEO of Ironman) talk about the challenges of running a global events company during CoVid as well as the evolution of Ironman and Ironman70.3 and how that has led to this year, the first year of a two-day IM World Championship.

I also spent some of the day tweaking my bike for the race.  Most importantly I had a Ceramic Speed coated chain swapped in for my old chain.  I raced once before with the Ceramic Speed UFO chain at IMAZ back in 2019.  It's supposed to provide a 2-5 watt benefit, which if it does, is pretty significant.  I  don't know if it does or not, but I can tell you that it is a joy to ride with as it feels butter smooth.  I'm convinced its worth the $145 price tag as I frequently marveled during that race how great my drive train felt and I know just that positivity boost was worth some extra speed.  I hope to gain a similar benefit on Thursday.  I think its good for about 200 miles or so until the special coating wears off.  I'm planning on riding at most about 40 miles over the next 2 days, so it should be good for the full 112 on Thursday.

Anders did a bike and swim today and in both felt no ill effects from yesterday's bike spill nor from the 2.4 mile swim race.  He reported that there was noticeably more swell today.  In fact it seems like the weather is changing after about 3-4 days of mostly hot, windy clear weather.  It rained for quite a while beginning around 8 or so tonight.

Our friend Bill Price joined us (Bill is the co-founder of the Texas Pacific Group, a PE firm and he currently lives on Oahu).  Bill joined Judy, Anders and I as we watched the beginning of the Parade of Nations and then Anders and I registered for the race.   On the way into the King Kam we posed in front of where Anders and I signed the big athlete banner with MIOGA (Making It On Guts Alone).

We grabbed some take out from Umekes (love that place) and Bill entertained us with his great sense of humor and his amazing set of life adventures...

Later, the four of us went south down the Island a bit and did a late night Manta Ray dive--it was truly amazing--at one point we had about 10 of the graceful "monsters" doing barrel rolls below us as they ate the plankton that were attracted to the lights under the boards we were holding on to...a great adventure.  

We are going to bed after 11 tonight, which is a good 90 minutes past where we've turned in so far on this trip and we have the underpants run bright and early in the morning!  

Race day is almost here!  I'll lay out my race plan and go over some of my equipment/gear choices tomorrow...Onwards and Upwards!