Aloha from the Big Island of Hawaii! Finally reached my race destination of Kailua-Kona at the weekend after a pretty hectic week! Training statistics for week 23 of the World Championship build up put me out running for 78kms, cycling for 281kms and swimming for 15.4kms! So plenty of running and a bit lower on the cycle volume this week!So big news is that before leaving the country I invested in a new pair of runners! Brooks have totally changed the inside sleeve of the shoe so my usual model Glycerin not only feel alien like because they are new but also the inside feels totally weird! So weird in fact that I took them back into Shoe Science to double check they had given me the right thing! So at the moment I'm trying to break them in on the short runs and then swapping out the inner sleeve from my old shoes to the new ones for the longer stuff - unfortunately that makes my new shoes smell like my old ones!!
Leaving New Zealand was the usual state of total chaos as I battled a with a relatively solid training week, a Haematologist (blood doctor) that wanted me to delay my flight to Hawaii and the challenge of trying to keep within the constraints of a 46kg luggage limit! I seemed to win the first 2 battles but lose out on the third!! I managed to tick all the boxes on the training programme - strike one Laura - managed to convince the Haematologist just to get on and do the tests he felt I needed before leaving the country - strike two Laura - but didn't manage to convince the lady at the Air New Zealand check in that really my two bike boxes only weighed 23kgs on my scales at home and not the 26kgs they were weighing in at on hers - $75 later both bike boxes with all contents on the plane - could be a won or lose situation depending on how you look at it! Thankfully they didn't weigh the 15kgs of hand luggage!
I flew out on Saturday NZ time but arrived late Friday evening US time - so had an 8 day training week - very handy! So Saturday US time was spent flying across to the Big Island and getting set up! Usual stuff like sorting out a hire car, getting the supermarket shop done, visiting the bike shop for a few essentials, unpacking 52kgs of gear and assembling my bike! Lola (my bike) had travelled remarkably well and by Saturday night I was looking forward to taking her out for a spin on the Queen K!
My first proper training day in the Kona sun was an ocean swim, 4 hour ride and then a 20 minute run off the bike. I managed to pick up a Sugar Daddy at the start of my swim - a local guy who spotted me getting into the water asked how far I was going and then said "I'll join you". I wasn't really sure how to take that.....I wanted to go for an easy pootle and now I had a Sugar Daddy for company! Turns out he came in very handy! He was local so knew all the navigational landmarks to get us to the buoys and he slowed his swim stroke down to my speed so I could keep pace at his side! So despite my initial reservations at a potential impostor it was a nice easy swim! Once back on dry land I said a quick goodbye and thank you and I was off to start my bike! The winds out on the Queen K were not too brutal and the heat was strong to start but then a band of rain came through which cooled me down nicely for the last hour! The run off the bike was just enough of a taste test of the afternoon humidity and heat so all up a good day at the office!
That night I phoned my GP for the results of the tests my haematologist did! So my iron levels and haemoglobin aren't improving because the type of anaemia I have isn't responsive to iron therapy!! All those pin pricks in my bum for nothing!! So I'm now arranging for the injections I need to make their way to Hawaii either next week with my swim coach or in race week with Elaine and then I should be good to go! In the meantime there are some oral drugs I can take that I can source here which should put me on for a week or two! Finally feels good to have some answers!
Right better get on and start week 24!!! 4 weeks to go until race day :)
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