Racing on Rat Poisen?

Today we went to the Grocery store to get supplies for the week. We can buy from the local general stores in Alii drive but they are more expensive than the big supermarkets a little bit further from the action.

I ran out of Mars bars that I use on my bike during the race and you won't believe it but nowhere in Kona can I find a shop the stocks Mars bars. When I went to the second supermarket today I couldn't find any and ask a guy for some assistance.

He said sure we do sell them and took me to the domestic department. There he handed me a pack of Mouse bars, rat poison. Well that is the problem if your mother tongue is Afrikaans and you don't have an American English accent. The guy heard mouse bars, close but don't think it will do the job on race day.

Dejone pushing the grocery trolley to the bus, must say she is getting acclimatized and don't complain about the heat that often.

Me and DJ waiting in the bus for the other athletes. They gave us one and a half hour to shop and the Stemmet's were first back. Don't know if we are just fast shoppers or if the R7 for $1 had an influence.

This morning the Tri travel group were taken to the swim course and pro Triathlete Luke Bell gave us some insides and advice on the swim course and joined us for a 2km swim. On out way out we stopped three times for him to explain landmarks you can use. Going back it was one stretch to the shore and I was please to see I did the 1 km in just over 18 minutes and I was not going full blast, hard but moderate. Hope I can swim that pace on race day.

At the swim start before everything gets busy.
The group heading out.
While we were swimming, Kim says this guy was playing in the water and doing all this funny gestures in the water. Crawling like a turtle out of the water and doing some dance moves in the shallow water. Sorry I missed it.

Gatorade has this aid station at the swim and you can help yourself to Gatorade and water after the swim. The also have the course layout on the table with info on the swim.

After the swim I went for a 2H15 Tempo Bike ride. Don't know if I'm getting used to the winds or if there was little wind but it was not as bad as yesterday. I did 77km in 2h15 at an average of 35km/h for the duration. My heart rate was suppose to be between 137 and 147 but I could only average 139. On some hills I got push it up to 147.

I saw on the web, pro athlete Chris McCormick was going at 80km/h yesterday. I don't know on which part of the course he did it and for how long but I could manage 73km/h for I think just under two minutes on one stretch of the highway. It is scary going that fast with the cross winds blowing.


Tonight we had our welcome dinner from Tri travel and Luke Bell, Mitch Anderson and some female Pro spoke to us. Could not get the ladies name but will look it up and post.

They also handed us our goody bags. The function was at the Royal Kona resort.

Dejone with her Timex watch. think she was the first person who took it out of the box and put in on her wrist, before dinner was served.
And then the night was just to long for her and she fell asleep on the table.

Tomorrow I am heading out with the group to the famous energy lab for a run. They say it is very hot out there and also very lonely. No spectators are allowed within the Energy Lab which is I think a 6 km stretch but will confirm tomorrow.

That will be my only workout for the day and I promised Dejone I will take her to one of the beaches close by where the turtles swim amongst you.