Aloha Hawaii!

All Good Under The Palm Trees

Finally here in the triathletes' mecca. Actually, we arrived already a few days ago after three flights and a night spent in Hilton LAX because of missed connection. Total travel time: 41 hours and change. You know, Hawaii isn't that far really. You could fly here non-stop from Helsinki in about 13 hours or so if there only was a route. Any white-and-blue flag carrier listening? I could even sign in to do the hard work!

Anyway, now we're here and enjoying the warm weather and the beautiful island. We are staying at The Fairmont Orchid some 40km away from the race venue, Kailua-Kona, along the bike course. I've had a few easy training sessions already to acclimatize myself to the difficult race conditions and everything feels surprisingly good. The notorious winds on the way out and back from Hawi didn't present themselves at least on Monday and the heat doesn't feel that bad. Ok, the winds vary on an hourly basis and it's a marathon we're running on Saturday, not some 8k jog. Just trying to be positive nevertheless.

Today I did my last key workout with three 15-minute intervals on the bike followed by a short (3k) iron-paced run. Before the workout Omegawave showed green light with a readiness value of 8 so I was set. I felt strong too when pedaling and it was difficult to run so "slow" at 4:15/km! I have to be really careful with the pacing on race day though, as it'll come back and bite you otherwise.

The last two days before the race, I will be taking it easy training-wise but I will be quite busy nevertheless from all the race formalities, registration and briefing etc.. In addition, tomorrow I'll have the change to meet the living legend, Mark Allen, a 6-time Ironman World Champion. Incredible!