Aloha Kona!

Well aloha Kona! Hard to believe that I am actually here, sat in my condo on the infamous Alii Drive! My last week in New Zealand now seems a distant memory although my physical limits were pushed to new levels of intensity and agony with a big training volume, hard sessions and a weekend that featured the 90km cycle time trial on Saturday followed by 3 hours of run fun up the concrete monster on Sunday! A year ago I would not have thought that combination possible and as I fired my cycle wind trainer and legs back into action at 0600 on Monday morning I really began to wonder what it would take for my legs to simply stop working altogether! I am constantly amazed at the moment by my bodies ability to bounce back and to keep pushing the sessions out. Although my sessions on Monday and my squad swim on Tuesday morning were a little below par in terms of energy levels and stamina I have arrived into Kona feeling pretty fresh and I'm now ready to get stuck into the last couple of weeks of training.

Getting here once past check in was pretty straight forward! I copped a $120 luggage charge in Auckland - not because I was over my weight limit but because I had packed my bike into one box, my wind trainer plus nutriton into another and then had a suitcase too! Apparently 3 items of checked luggage are a big No No but if I had called Air New Zealand before I flew they would have waivered the charge - really didn't quite understand the logic as to why they couldn't waiver it at check in but hey ho I needed everything in all the boxes so the only option was to pay up! I have to admit to something resembling a large scale nuclear meltdown after that but thankfully Hannah was on hand to calm me down, mop up the tears, feed me diet coke and safely deposit me to the security check point!

I arrived into Honolulu at 11pm last night so grabbed an airport hotel for the night and then headed back out to the airport this morning to catch a domestic flight across to the 'Big Island'. I arrived at midday into 34 degrees and 90% humidity and navigated my way to a taxi that delivered me to the complex of condos I'm staying in - a little gated community off Alii Drive. I was making slow progress moving all my boxes from the front of the condo the back stairs when a friendly guy called Scott pulled up! He was a friend of the owner of my condo and knew who I was and that I was here to do the Ironman World Champs! He quickly moved all my boxes up the stairs for me and after several minutes of chit chat asked if I wanted a quick tour of the town and a drop off at the supermarket! I knew that not having a car was going to make getting groceries difficult as taxis mostly just operate to and from the airport and I figured that a bit of local knowledge would be useful so within 5 minutes of arriving at my condo I was out the door and in a massive jeep heading into the town with a man called Scott! The quick tour ended up being one of the most comprehensive tours of a town I have ever been on in my life and featured a lot of Ironman course information! I then got dropped off at the supermarket and picked up 45 minutes later and deposited back to my condo! So within 2 hours of arriving I had a weeks worth of groceries and all the information I needed to kick start my training! Go Scott!

I assembled my bike this afternoon and then headed out for a quick run to get my muscles moving prior to the start of my Kona programme tomorrow!! The start of the week has been very low on volume as Monday was dedicated to packing and Tuesday to flying and getting settled in! Tomorrow I've got a swim in the sea, a wind trainer cycle session and a run.....the best thing of all however is that I don't have to get up at 0430 to fit it all in - I've got the whole day!

So yes it's hot, yes it's humid and yes it's pretty windy........bring it on Kona!