What Happens During Ironman Race Week

Hey, whatcha doing? You guys, you're on video.

You guys, you're on video right now. Daddy is video recording you. What did you do today?

What did you do?

Swimming. And do you guys have a fast guy race today? Are you excited about that? Yeah. We're here back at the house making lunch. Just got back from Lava Java and it's time for lunch and a little nap and some home and family time before heading down to the huge mess of athletes that are downtown for the parade and the expo and the official start of Ironman race week. So here we go.

So I'm here at the Goo Energy.

Booth right out here on Elite Drive. As people are coming down from that way or swinging up from this way, they've got this big GOO flag out here and a bunch of sugar on the table. How you doing?

Hi, how are you?

Good.

So you're with goo?

I am with GOO Marketing manager.

Awesome. And so you're probably the person who.

Is best to ask about what we.

Got here in the bin.

Very, very exciting new product we're releasing to the public unleashing is a Roctane drink.

Roctane drink.

Y been a couple years in the making.

Cool. So you took what's in there and put it in there.

Precisely.

Awesome.

Yeah.

So we've gotten a lot of feedback from our Ironman athletes, especially that they want more calories in their drink. So this is the result of that feedback.

So the most important question is, does it actually taste good?

It does.

Awesome.

Awesome. You've used it? Yes, it's in my water bottle here. Just sitting back and sipping some down.

Awesome.

Well, when I race, I'm gonna have the roctane, but in the future I'll have to try out that liquid and see how it tastes and come by.

The house and pick up a canister if you're interested.

Awesome. So folks, that's the Goo Energy Lab booth out here on Elite Drive.

Little cooler, full of goo.

Cool place to have it.

Hey, here's another spot here on Elite.

Drive where they've got some Cytomax muscle mill.

You don't mind if you're on camera, do you?

Not at all. Recovery.

There we go.

So this is another place that's just kind of out here along Lee Drive for people kind of going back and.

Forth doing their training sessions.

It's like some ice cold ones. Cafe latte and what else we got? And strawberry.

Nice. So the Cytomax booth, yet another source of replenishment as people tool up and down Ali Drive.

As you can see there's no shortage of replenishment here on Le Drive. This is the Ironman perform booth for.

The people who maybe want to get a taste of what they're actually going to be drinking on race day.

Again, people running up and down a Lee drive can stop in here, grab a little bit, go along their way. So this is the actual sports drink they serve on the course.

So once again, another spot to stop and wet your whistle. You could probably run down Aleed Drive and have yourself a proper lunch with.

All the different places that are out here dishing out sugar.

I'm walking down right now to sign my kids up for the little kids triathlon.

And I just want to show you how intense this water can get. I mean, if you kind of watch here for a second and watch these.

Breakers come in out here, you can see them rolling into the hotel.

They're just huge this morning. Like off in the distance, you can.

See those white caps hit the shore with a lot of ferocity.

The ocean's been very, very wild the past few days.

And you right now, we're literally.

With all these rollers and kind of rough.

Water like 50 yards from the swim start. So, you know, when I see this.

Type of stuff.

It'S not something that's too.

Scary for me.

But at the same time.

It does.

Kind of make you realize that race.

Morning is not going to be a breeze and you're just going to be fighting the whole time in the water.

And you just kind of have to, you have to mentally accept that.

I mean, you look at this water.

Breaking over here, so, you know, you.

Go in with the mindset that it's just going to be a lot of battling the rollers, real washing machine effect as we swim, you know, way out that direction.

So.

You know, something like this, it is what it is. It's probably going to be like this on race morning. It's rougher than I've seen it, but, you know, it's one of those things you gotta have the mentality of bringing on.

Hey, it's Ben.

I'm late out here on the rock tape table and I was having my knee bother me a little bit when I was out riding today. So I asked them if they had any special taping methods that could maybe fix something like this. This nice gentleman. What's your name?

My name's Dan.

Dan.

Welcome, Ben.

Dan has exposed my ass to, to basically the crowd walking by on the sidewalk, and he's going to be taping my knee in a special method that he says Might take a little bit of strain off my hamstring that seems slightly inflamed and shifted to the quad. And so this is called rock tape this stuff. And as a matter of fact, I'm kind of familiar with these folks because you may have noticed that one of the things I packed on the plane to bring down here in the plane video was this rock sauce. And now we're going to try the tape, so we'll see what happens. And I'll actually record him doing this if you don't mind, man.

Not at all.

All right, cool.

So if you want to talk at all, that's awesome. You want to talk about what you're doing?

Alright.

First, just prepping the skin, getting everything clean, dry.

Free of any lot.

Coming in at Gertie's tubercle on the lateral femur.

Talking anatomical geek speak here.

Yes, I am.

All right.

Just in case, should have.

Let that dry a little bit longer.

What's your background been besides super stud cycling?

Men.

Mostly.

Fitness and sports nutrition. And I dabble in triathlon for fun.

Are you racing, Kona here?

I am going to race.

Yep.

Yep.

If you're able to fix this. If not, it's your fault and I'm not going to race. I mean that's, that's what this comes down to. Right here is this moment on the rock tape table.

Pressure is good.

And for those of you watching, this may or may not be a good video. But if you're still watching, then for some strange reason you find this entertaining or educational.

Long shot of my knee.

Sweaty beast.

I'm not sweating.

You're humid.

If you want it to stick better, you could also blow dry it after you shower. Or if you are sweaty from the humidity, you could use the blow dryer.

Okay.

With all rock tape applications, you want to be relatively dry.

Just kind of curve it on up through there, huh? Yes.

I'm going to bring it across your vastus lateralis.

Well, if anything, it's very cool looking, it's very sleek, aerodynamic.

I'm bringing it up into the, into.

My well tanned butt.

Bring it up to gluteus medius.

Okay.

So with each pedal stroke, you'll have.

Some counterforce to hopefully pull it off this posterior lateral hamstring.

Cool.

We rub the adhesive to get it to adhere. And again, this is our special rock tape called H2O which is designed specifically for triathletes and anyone that spends a lot of time in the water. So once this is on, this is on.

Good.

We recommend you leave this on for three to five days. Train with this tomorrow. Let us know what you think.

Okay.

Works well. We'd be happy to tape you up again.

Cool.

Thank you, sir.

Here we are at the kids triathlon. Long line of registrants piling into the water. And here we have river and Terran. You guys ready to rumble? All right. Are you gonna be fast today?

Help.

Damage.

Oh.

No surprise to us.

Chip it out.

We're almost ready for the start of our long or.

Mr. Rocky gets in there.

Oh, yes.

On the echo place today.

Go Y Go, go, go, go. Love it. Go, go, go. All the way.

Go. Ch I love it. Go, go, go.

What do you got there, Terry?

Ice cream. Why'd you get ice cream?

Did you. Did you fast guy race? Can you show me your medal?

Wow.

Now, what about you, Mr.

And you.

Did a race too. Wow.

You guys were so fast today. Good job.

One of the more interesting parts of the parade is seeing all the different athletes. For example, here we have Argentina. We can basically see what super fit people from each area of the world look like when they get fit. There's the Argentinian athletes. Here are the Brits. Big load of them.

And it is very interesting to actually see all the different.

Body shapes, body types that mark underneath each flag. So coming down this way, we have Austria. Well, let me tell you, these guys are fast. Austrians are notoriously aggressive on the bike. They're good runners, good triathletes, especially the age groupers. Those are the Austrians. Take a look at them.

The parade of nations body type analysis.

You'll see that at Ironman everybody is fit. Just take a look at all the legs out there. Here in Kona, everybody's fast.

And next we have Belgians. The Belgians on fire. The Austrians were very quiet.

The Belgians seem a little bit more outgoing, maybe a little bit more extroverted. Those crazy Belgians. And behind them we have a lone athlete from.

Botswana. From Botswana and Brazil. Brazil. And their green and yellow.

What you see are not necessarily all the athletes that are marching for each country, just the ones that have chosen to be in the parade.

So coming up now, we've got the Canadian flag and the Canadian athletes who come right after the Timex Jeep. So here comes Canada.

Here they come.

Canadians, faster of athletes. We've got Ironman Canada up there.

Always a good representation of Canadian triathletes here. And behind them we have the Czech Republic.

Looks like we've got a small family from the Czech Republic and maybe one or two Slovakian athletes. Denmark. What would a Parade be without Denmark. Triathletes.

And then behind the token parade car.

We have.

You guessed it, France.

Here come the great French triathletes. Man, there's a lot of them. And as you can see, the French triathletes a little bit crazier, living life on the wild side.

And they just keep coming and coming and coming. A lot of French athletes here racing Ironman Hawaii this year. They're a happy group.

Families of athletes can also march in the parade. So you'll see some people out there with their spouses, with their kids.

And of course, what would triathlon be without Germany?

Big group of German athletes here.

Many triathletes, Some triathletes. Families.

Germans are.

Chanting intimidating songs as they prepare.

Go into battle. And of course, following up Germany, we have the slightly less intimidating Greek.

Conglomerate, a couple of them.

And the Shriners, who I don't think are racing Ironman Hawaii.

And of course, what would triathlon be without Germany?

Big group of German athletes here.

These are the.

Many triathletes, some triathletes, families.

Germans are.

Chanting intimidating songs as they prepare.

To go into battle. And of course, following up Germany, we have the slightly less intimidating Greek.

Conglomerate, a couple of them.

And the Shriners, who I don't think are racing Iron Man Hawaii. Ireland.

Wearing green.

No surprise there. Israel.

Followed closely by Italy.

Italians seem very caught up in conversation. And then, wow, we have the Japanese coming.

And they certainly look ready to rumble.

All decked out in their. I don't know if that's a samurai warrior outfit or what that is, but that's the Japanese folks. Maybe a sumo wrestler. Ah, yes, sumo wrestler. Giving everyone the moon. There's. There's Japan for you. Next we have Luxembourg, Latvia and Mexico.

The Netherlands, here they come in Netherland orange, which doesn't appear anywhere in their flag, but that's okay. Next is New Zealand, and these guys have some good athletes.

Gotta love New Zealand.

And after new zealand, norway.

Some powerful cyclists coming from Norway.

And the Philippines.

And next is Poland.

Where they drink.

Vodka and also race triathlon. The Russian Federation following up Poland.

And finally behind the Russian Federation, we have.

Cy Kellys.

Wherever that is. To continue our lesson in geography, Slovenia.

South Africa.

And behind them we have Spain.

And the group of Spanish athletes.

Followed by name that flag.

Sweden.

And here we have Switzerland.

Thailand.

Turkey, and the United Kingdom.

Following them, the United Arab Emirates.

And who can forget our beloved kayak station Keep patrol.

And of course, this wouldn't be complete without the United States of America.

Who.

Probably is among the largest countries represented.

And of course.

We have whatever country that is, name that country.

And a big conglomerate of athletes following up the rear. And that's it, folks. That's the Ironman parade of nations. And I'm from America.