Even with yesterday’s full day of swim and run training under their belts, the campers were all assembled at the King Kam by 8am sharp.  Everyone was bright-eyed and ready for another great day of lectures and training in the remaining two--yes, two—Ironman disciplines:  biking, and eating. 

Dan Smith, LifeSport coach and cyclist extraordinary, started us off with a bike strategy seminar that left us all prepared to conquer this all important second leg of the event.  While there’s not much that can be done to effect your fitness between now and race day (not in a positive way, at least), limiting mistakes in a few particular areas can certainly improve your time and overall experience on race day.  We discussed strategies for proper pacing, equipment, and coping with the environment.

Segmenting, or mentally dividing the course into smaller pieces was one important theme of the morning.  Linsey Corbin, who has been training in Kona for the last few weeks, was on hand to share some of her course knowledge (she seems to have every square centimeter memorized); as well as her strategy for segmenting the course into 10 minute chunks, and committing to racing each 10 minute bit to the best of her ability. 

The unpredictable cross wind is one of the most challenging—and frightening--features of the Kona race.  A tip I found quite helpful was to use the riders in front of you as a gauge—if you see them wobbling, you know to brace yourself.

Finally, we loaded the bikes onto the flatbed truck and all headed out to Kawaihae to do an out and back to Hawi—38 miles round trip—which allowed us to implement the strategies we had discussed.  By Kona standards, it was seemed to be sort of an “average” day heat and wind-wise, and I think everyone was glad to have seen that part of the course and experience some of the winds.  Plus, we had a chance to do a bit of sight seeing and photo ops in Hawi—a luxury we won’t have on race day! 

After a quick lunch break, we met back at the King Kam for perhaps the most important part of the camp—the Nutrition lecture.  No matter how good your fitness is, it is impossible to have a successful Ironman without a good nutrition plan.  Chris Lieto, who seems to know a thing or two about staying energized, seeing as how he led the race for over 6 hours last year, turned up to give us the 411 on his nutrition plan.   Though nutritional needs are very individualized, one point Chris drove home was the need for consistency.  

Coach Paul followed up Lieto’s talk with some additional nutrition advice, including specific guidelines about fluid and electrolyte intake.