Ko Olina Triathlon (Summary)

Great little country Triathlon.  The results just came out and Matt placed second in his age group.  Hats of too Matt.. job well done dude...

Ko Olina Triathlon ( Run )

Dumped the helmet and sun glasses, picked up the visor and pulled on the brooks,  jumped in my number belts and I'm off... Crap forget the Sun glasses why did I take them off to begin with.  The cheering family was there again pushing me on.  Running is not my best part so I need all the cheer I can get.  I was out and running pretty much alone for the first mile then the fast runners started to catch me.  It's disappointing to see a number of people that you passed on the bike now pass you in the run.  The run goes down the outside of the hotels along the main road at Ko Olina then turns back to the Lagoons at Ihilani.  As I approach the finish Ti is there pushing me on again. She yells " Go Run faster, catch that person" it inspires me to run faster and I over take the lady in front of me and make a dash to the finish.  Never underestimate the power of cheer.

Running the final leg

Matt on the way home.

The jump...

Ko Olina Triathlon (Bike)

T1 went better than expected as my newly aquired rubber band trick to hold the shoes in place worked like a charm.  No crashes at the mounting area, which I have witnessed in every tri so far.  The course changed for this year as it now goes down the Waianae coast which is a better ride.    As we exit Ko Olina Resort and head up the overpass I down shift from my big chain to number two and the chain drops to number three.  This was total unexpected and almost sent me over the bars. I spent 4 hours the previous day tuning, cleaning and adjusting my bike, followed up by a test ride and it worked perfect.  No problem the remaining part of the ride.  It must have been the shift after the speed bump that flipped out the chain. After recovering the missed shift I passed a lady on a new Quintana Roo, I commented on her nice bike and her response was "Nice if I can just get up this hill".  After a few miles I started to get my legs and was able to pass a number of people without getting passed.   Rolled into T2 after getting out of the shoes and not scratching them up to much

 

Here I am just leaving transistion

Good shot of Matt coming back to transistion.

Ko Olina Triathlon (Swim)

The swim starts at the Lagoon 1 next to Ihilani Hotel and then its a swim, Run to lagoon 2, swim and Run to lagoon 3 then swim again and running to Lagoon 4.  Fun if you have practiced it not so fun if you not ready.

Wave 1 Armed Forces, Relay’s – Mass Start
Wave 2 Age Grp – 15-29
Wave 3 Age Grp – 50+
Wave 4 Age Grp – 30-39
Wave 5 Age Grp – 40-49

The start is always fun as you meet new people and greet old friends.   Matt left first in Wave 3 and I followed in Wave 5.  The starter joking stated that he saved the best for last as this age group is the fastest wave.  I looked around the crowd  and noticed a few North Shore Challenge (Swim) top 10 finishers so was he joking.?

I started in the front this time hoping to stay ahead of the pack.  As with any swim you really cannot tell if who has passed you or even who you pass unless they have some distinguishing uniform on.  At lagoon 2 we started running into the previous waves and encountered a number of swimmer at the entry and exits.  The family was at Lagoon 3, Cheering and screaming to get me going.   The must have ran there own race because the where at Lagoon 4 as well.

 

Lagoon 4 running to transition