Here's my humble digs. The house is split into three separate units, all of which have been occupied since I've been here. The house is at an elevation of 1000 feet, or 305 m. This means its around 2 degrees Celsius cooler than down in Kona township. The benefit of being up here is that I can train in race conditions on the course at sea level, but recover, and live, in slightly easier conditions. This doesn't really impact on acclimatisation, as the benefits are mostly gained from when you are training, and your core temperature is elevated significantly.
This next shot is taken near the house, and gives you an idea of the height.
I swam the full course today (3.8 km) entering the water at 0650 am. It was a beautiful calm morning; no chop, and just a gentle 0.3 m swell rolling in. The only danger with today's swim lay in colliding with other swimmers. Early in the swim I linked up with another kiwi named Liz, and it was nice to have someone reasonably close. We were probably the first in the water, but not long after reaching the turn-around buoy, we got mobbed by a group of around 30 swimmers. NZ Ironman champ Cam Brown was amongst them.
On exiting the water back at the pier, it was a case of who's who. Lots of the rock stars were there, and it was both entertaining and enlightening doing a bit of people watching. The real stars come across as pretty engaging with each other, but you can almost taste the tension. Well, it is the world champs, and it is THE race to win.
This afternoon I did a bit of sight seeing, visiting a couple of the better beaches on the Kona coast. I had plans of finding a shady tree to lie under and read Uncle Pip. Good in theory, but not achieved in practice. The winds at Waikaloa and North were living up to their reputation. Have a look at the palm trees:
Tomorrow I do a mini-tri at a fast pace as a bit of a shake-out. I'll do (in minutes) 30 swim, 60 on the bike and 40 on the run. I'm also going to do it in the hottest part of the day, probably starting at 1 pm. I'm looking forward to it, whereas 5-6 days ago it would have been a bit of an epic.
As of tonight, I'm also going to bed earlier, and getting up earlier. This is all part of the plan to make getting up at around 3 am on race morning not as horrid as it could be
42 other Kiwis in Kona - awesome representation. Go 779! Cheers Macka
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30 Bozzone Terenzo M 24 NZL PRO
5 Brown Cameron M 37 NZL PRO
1544 Brown Shaun M 31 NZL AGE
1773 Carrel Jo F 28 NZL AGE
562 Carson Barb F 54 NZL AGE
932 Craig David M 42 NZL AGE
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779 Hoult Rob M 44 NZL AGE
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1304 Howse Andrew M 36 NZL AGE
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1242 Kensington Nicholas M 37 NZL AGE
1352 Kirkwood Craig M 35 NZL AGE
113 Lawn Joanna F 35 NZL PRO
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167 MacKay Andrew M 31 NZL PRO
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538 McClintock Bruce M 50 NZL AGE
1260 McGrath Jeff M 37 NZL AGE
1058 McSkimming Glen M 40 NZL AGE
408 Moriarty John M 55 NZL AGE
793 Morrison Marilyn F 49 NZL AGE
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20 Rhodes Bryan M 36 NZL PRO
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