Run to the Hills: Run2thehills runs the rock: Kona Marathon Race Report

I decided to run the Kona Marathon back in March after having made plans for my summer vacation on the Big Island. After my goal race for the first part of the year (OC Marathon on May 5th), I knew that I would have a hectic travel schedule before that vacation. So instead of trying to train specifically for another event later and being interrupted by travel and vacation, I decided to run Kona just 7 weeks after OC. I spent a couple of weeks recovering from the OC race (first one with no running), then went into maintenance mode with no run longer than 13M and a "peak" week of 53M before a 10-day taper. During that time I had two long business trips (9 days in France, then 4 days in California, and then 6 days on the East Coast) so it was difficult to train consistently but I managed to get some solid weeks. However, I got sick twice between the two races, including a mild form of stomach flu 10 days before Kona. So I did not feel at my best. Despite this, I ran a good trail race 2 weeks before Kona, the Valley Crest Half Marathon, which gave me confidence that I was still in relatively good shape.

I arrived in Kona 5 days before the race and ran 3 times there. I immediately felt the effect of the heat with my heart rate creeping 10-15 bpm higher than normal for a given easy pace. Based on this, I gave up on any specific goal time and decided to pace myself by heart rate, since I knew that my marathon pace heart rate was around 165 bpm. I took electrolyte pills several days before the race to help my body get used to the heat, and followed my usual carb loading regimen of complementing my normal diet with 2-3 bottles of carbo force the 2 days before the race. However I deviated from my normal routine by having sushi the night before.

Carbo loading, Dan Sontheimer's style

I checked in a hotel across the start line the night before the race and had a decent night of sleep . The race was supposed to start at 5:30AM, but there was a 15min delay at the start. Not a big deal usually, but when you know how hot it can get later in the day, it could make a difference. Apparently this was due to problems with shuttles that transported runners from the Sheraton resort (the finish) to the start, which never showed up. I did not do any warm-up but had a Gatorade prime pouch and a water bottle with me. I drank the Gatorade 5min before the start and doused my Zoot cooling sleeves with the water just before starting, and felt the cooling effect of the sleeves immediately.

Start Line at dawn - Photo courtesy Takashi Ohashi

At 5:45AM we were off and running. I was right at the front but many people sprinted the downhill. Despite the lack of warm-up I immediately settled into a good rhythm, which corresponded to a HR of 164-166, right on target. The first 3 miles on Ali'i drive were flat, with the exception of the steep descent after the start. I talked to a runner that I saw the day before at a Pho restaurant, who turned out to be from Japan. We talked a bit and then switched positions back and forth, before he dropped me around M4. I made a point to run the tangents very tightly, and started to douse myself (head and cooling sleeves) with water at every aid station. After M3, there were a few rollers on Ali'i drive which slowed me a bit, as I tried to keep my HR under 167. Around M4, I decided to take away my visor, as I felt that I did not need it given the cloud cover and that it kept my head warmer.

Elevation Profile. Note the steep short hill at the start and at M25

At that point I was in last position in a group of a dozen runners, many of them Japanese. I looked back, and there was no one behind me. The heat really did not bother me since I felt the cooling effect of the regular showers at the aid stations and of the slight winds. There were few to no spectators, just cars coming on the other lane on Ali'i drive and a few early walkers.

On Alii Dr, on the way out, still feeling fresh

After M5 we left Ali'i drive and ran in a commercial park before getting into the Queen Kaahumanu highway (~M7). I got passed by a couple of male runners, one of which I passed back a couple of miles later. I did not try to stay with them, but rather stuck to my strategy of constant effort and consistent heart rate.

The miles on Queen K highway felt really good. There was some cloud cover, so it did not feel too hot. I started to slowly pass some runners, and the inclines on the Highway were not bad. We had to run on the shoulder of the road, which was marked by cones and made running the tangents sometimes hazardous as it meant running pretty close to traffic. What was weird is that my heart rate dropped around 162-163; however it felt difficult to accelerate to maintain a higher HR, so I stuck to a pace that felt comfortable.

The turn around was at M12.5. This gave me the occasion to try and see how many runners were ahead of me, but I lost count. I sent shout outs to the leaders, including the first overall (Allen Wagner), whom I met a few days before at the Big Island company, and the first female. After the turnaround, I looked at my GPS, which showed 1:37:45 for 13.1M. I thought I could go under 3:15 which meant running slightly faster in the 2nd half. After the half I caught up with a female runner and talked to her for a couple of minutes. She said she was the 2nd female last year but was now in 5th place, aiming for 3:15 after running 3:25 last year. I dropped her in a downhill and kept working, slowly passing other runners one by one. After the turnaround I had to "fight" slower runners coming in the opposite direction, as we were competing for supplies at the aid stations, and also for the optimal tangent trajectory.

On the rollers on Queen K highway, coming back. Photo courtesy Takashi Ohashi

Thing started to feel harder around M16-17. I wasn't hitting the wall but it just felt that maintaining the pace required more effort. In addition, walking the aid stations felt awkward as I was feeling my calves when walking, as if they would start to cramp without notice. What was encouraging is that my GPS was beeping regularly only 10-15s before the mile splits, and the gap between GPS and mile markers did not increase, which told me that I was running the tangents well.

At M18 one of the 2 guys who had passed me before passed me again while coming out of a port-a-john. He stayed in front of me for several miles then accelerated and I never saw him again. This is the only runner that passed me after M8. In these later miles, I passed an older japanese woman who seemed to be working hard. She passed me again on a downhill in the commercial park area, but I dropped her for good before the M19 split. She ended up finishing 6min behind me, so she really slowed down a lot towards the end.

After M19 we were back to Ali'i drive where things felt more difficult and the race became a steady grind. The heat was more oppressive there with less cloud cover, and it felt more humid. Also the short rollers on Ali'i made maintaining the pace harder. Some of the aid stations were offering ice cubes, and I took these whenever possible to put them inside my shirt. This made a refreshing ice melt on my belly and in my back and helped coold down, adding to the effect of dousing myself with water. I felt like I could have pushed harder, but I was afraid of doing it too soon and then blowing up one or two miles from the finish because of the heat. Since there was no PR to expect and I was already qualified for Boston, I was content to keep my pace in the high 7:20s-low 7:30s to maintain a 7:28 avg and try and run an even split race. I could feel the beginning of a blister on my right foot, probably because my two shoes were completely wet after the regular water showers. I took my last gel at M21, hoping that it would give me a last boost of energy to finish strong. Despite the later time (~8AM) there were still not much spectators on Ali'i drive.

Rare crowd support on Ali'i drive - Photo courtesy Takashi Ohashi

On Ali'i I caught up with many slow half marathon runners, who had started half an hour later, and had turned around at the end of Ali'i. However the road was wide enough that this was not a problem (and most of them were not taking the tangents anyway). From there to the finish I also reeled in several full marathon runners, who fell victim of a poor pacing strategy in the early miles and were severely hurting or walking. This did not give me too much boost, as I was also starting to struggle despite maintaining regular splits.

Coming back on Ali'i Dr (~M20), note the all-wet look because of the repeated showers

M25 was a killer; I had maintained 7:30 pace throughout that mile, but towards the end we reached the steep hill that we had descended right after the start, and that we had to climb up again before getting to the Sheraton for the finish The hill was not long, but at that point of the race, it made my pace drop to 7:54 for that mile. Everyone that I passed on that hill was walking it.

The last mile was one of the most bizarre I have ever run for a road marathon. First, there was a ~0.5M long cross-country section on a dirt/gravel trail with rocks, which was really not something I wanted to deal with at that point of the race after having run 25M. Then they made us run through a tortuous path and the lawn of the Sheraton resort.

M26 in the Sheraton resort, passing half-marathoners

The worst part is that we had to go through a hallway INSIDE the hotel (yes you read that correctly), and climb down 3 steps of stairs before more lawn action to the finish. This felt like one of these dreams where you have to run inside buildings and staircases...I remember clearly yelling "WTF???" to a runner I was passing while climbing down the steps... Whoever designed that course clearly had never run a marathon before!

I kicked in to the finish but because of that bizarre ending I had no will to really sprint, especially since all the runners I was passing were slow half-marathon runners. I made it home in 3:15:33. I was really glad to find my wife and kids at the finish as I wasn't sure that they would be there to greet me.

The splits were almost even at 1:37:45/1:37:48. These numbers actually reflect a small negative split given that I looked at my half split at 13.1 on the GPS, and registered 26.25 at the finish. That time was good for a BQ with almost 10 minutes to spare, 13th place overall of 343 runners, and 3rd place in my age group. That's when I kicked myself for not having pushed harder in these middle miles and at the finish, as I realized that the 2nd place in my AG only finished 13s ahead of me. (turns out he was Takashi Ohashi, the Japanese runner I talked with during the early miles). However I could not see how close he was because of the tortuous finish; and as a 3rd place finisher I only got a lousy plastic bottle, while 1st and 2nd got very nice plaques. This will teach me a lesson!

With Takashi Ohashi, who took 2nd place in the AG just 13s ahead of me.

Despite this I was very happy with my race, even if the finishing time was 15 min slower than my personal best. Heart rate-based pacing was clearly the best strategy for me that day, since it allowed me to finish strong with almost even pacing, and close the first half of my 2013 racing season on a positive note.

At the awards ceremony, I even look tall on that picture !

Temperatures in Kailua-Kona (Start: 5:45AM - Finish 9AM):

Time Temp Dewpoint Wind

5:53 AM 75.9 °F 64.0 °F ESE 5.8 mph

6:53 AM 77.0 °F 63.0 °F NNE 5.8 mph

7:53 AM 80.1 °F 63.0 °F Calm

8:53 AM 82.0 °F 63.0 °F SW 3.5 mph -

9:53 AM 82.0 °F 66.0 °F SSW 9.2 mph

Splits:

Interval	Distance	Time	Pace	Average HR	Max HR
1	0.99 mi	07:11.8	7:17	160	167
2	1 mi	07:22.6	7:23	165	178
3	1 mi	07:29.2	7:30	164	167
4	1 mi	07:33.7	7:34	166	169
5	1 mi	07:28.7	7:29	166	169
6	1 mi	07:34.1	7:35	166	172
7	1 mi	07:36.0	7:37	166	169
8	1 mi	07:31.5	7:32	165	175
9	1 mi	07:23.9	7:24	163	166
10	1 mi	07:31.9	7:32	164	167
11	1 mi	07:21.4	7:22	162	165
12	1 mi	07:26.9	7:27	164	167
13	1 mi	07:18.7	7:19	164	168
14	1 mi	07:19.3	7:20	164	170
15	1 mi	07:25.5	7:26	164	180
16	1 mi	07:13.4	7:14	162	164
17	1 mi	07:31.3	7:32	163	178
18	1 mi	07:16.9	7:17	162	165
19	1 mi	07:20.2	7:21	162	165
20	1 mi	07:30.5	7:31	164	179
21	1 mi	07:37.2	7:38	165	173
22	1 mi	07:28.3	7:29	163	168
23	1 mi	07:28.5	7:29	164	167
24	1 mi	07:30.4	7:31	165	171
25	1 mi	07:54.4	7:55	167	176
26	1 mi	07:17.1	7:18	170	174
27	0.26 mi	01:52.7	7:14	174	177