IMWC 2016 - D-5

Ironman World Championship Banner (Photo Credit - Steven Banks)

Yes, my name is on the banner! (Photo Credit - Steven Banks)

So my parents graciously volunteered (more like told us to go) to fly out from Ottawa to look after the kids. This allowed Claudia to come with me to Kona for the week. We flew into Kona yesterday (Edmonton - Los Angeles - Honolulu - Kona). Definitely not the most direct routing, but given how late I was to qualify we had to do a little searching to find some cheap flights. Anyways, we are here now and the flights yesterday were thankfully uneventful.

Hardly awake, but ready to swim!

Today was planned as an acclimatization day. First up was a 40min swim in the beautiful pacific ocean.

Breakfast at Bongo Ben's.

Then it was time for a quick bite to eat at Bongo Ben's.

Then we made a quick stop at Safeway to purchase groceries for the week.

Pre-ride picture!

Then it was back to our condo and bike unpacking. After my bike was put back together and given a little TLC, I headed out with the aim of riding for about 3hrs. My intent was to ride easy out to the Queen K and then put a couple solid hours of race intensity riding in. Shortly after passing the airport I saw someone on the side of the road. So I did the reasonable thing and stopped. It turns out it was Ailsa MacDonald from St Albert who is a fellow Element Ambassador. I lent a hand and then headed out to finish my ride. Legs felt a little sluggish early in the ride but I felt very good after about an hour.

Fixing Ailsa's flat tire (Photo Credit - Barry Green)

Back to the condo for a quick Skype call with the kids and then out for a 30min run. The legs felt ok on the run, but it was very humid.

Easy walk for cool down.