No Limits Hawaii Training Camp

No Limits Hawaii Training Camp

Looking back on the camp I can say that it was a huge success. This is what we did. We started off most days with a swim in the Pacific Ocean at Hapuna Beach. This is one of the best beaches in Hawaii and once we started swimming we could see why. Warm water that was so clear you could see to the bottom even when you are 20 or more feet deep. Having this visibility made it great to see where you are going and also to view in awe at the coral and fish below. The turtles were very rare to see but Ian was able to sight one just before the start of the race and it made his day.
If you have never biked on the big island before you will be in for a treat when you come for a visit. On our 1st day we were greeted by the strong Kona winds on the way up to Hawi (turnaround of IronMan Hawaii). I cautioned everyone about the winds but until you experience them first hand it is hard to explain. Although Calgarians do know thing or two about wind.
We quickly learned that in order to stay on our bikes we had to lean our bikes into the gusting wind. The fun part was that you never knew exactly when they would hit. We did learn to watch the trees and other riders in the distance to see when the wind would hit them. Fortunately for us we did not have anyone blown off the road and at the end of the camp we all became well adept at riding in the wind. Epic was a word that was tossed around a bit after each ride. Over the course of the week we were treated to some amazing views of Haleakala on Maui, the blue Pacific ocean, Mauna Kea (dormant volcano), black lava fields and Pololu and Waipio lookouts. One aspect of the rides that I really enjoyed was that you never knew what was coming up around the corner and often times we were rewarded with another…”Wow look at that…”
The house that we stayed at was absolutely gorgeous. Something out of a dream home magazine. We would eat breakfast, lunch and dinner all outside and we were constantly being entertained by the local inhabitants. Geckos, toads, poi fish and a variety of birds. At the end of some of our rides we needed to ride back to the house and of course the house is situated up a very steep hill. What a great way to end the ride with a lung buster climb.
Now since the house area was so hilly we had to drive to complete our run workouts. We found a great quiet road down by the beach and it was a perfect addition for a Swim / Run brick. We learned how to deal with heat and hydration issues on this great stretch of road.
We had lots of changes in the weather that made the workouts just a bit more challenging. One day the winds really stirred up the ocean and this allowed us to practice our rough water swim technique. At the end of this swim some commented that they did not need any more salt today. This was a really great opportunity to practice and build swim confidence.

Race Day:
We did not know what to expect but we were ready for whatever. We trained hard in the wind, surf and heat. What would the day bring? Well as it turns out the winds were not that bad, the surf was up but no swells and the sun was out typical Hawaii style. This was perfect. The swim was rougher than we expected as we have been practicing our swims with 10 swimmers now we had 1600. The bike felt great as we built strong legs and minds from the previous day’s hard work. The run was hot, yes, but we were ready for it as we always ran in the heat.

Here is how everyone did at the Hawaii 70.3 Ironman:

Coach Todd 4:45
Ian 5:00
Chris 5:17
Doug 5:34
Stephanie 5:36
Tanya 6:13
Dave 7:18

This was an amazing week of training that ended with a world class race. I am already counting the days until next year’s camp.

Mahalo and Happy Training!!
Todd