Stage 3 - Ultraman 52.4 Mile Run

Our morning started with a 4am wake up call at the Hapuna Beach Resort (about 20 miles from the start line for the double marathon). It was another great night of sleep, and after some coffee and cleaning up, we drove to the start line at the Hawi Inn. Peter started the day knowing that he would need to post a 6 hour double marathon to have any shot of winning the championship AND Ribiero would have to crash and burn on his run. BUT, with the world record in his reach, a crash was not out of the question for Ribeiro who might go out hard in order to "bask in the glory." Also, in 4th place, 2 minutes behind Peter was Miro Kregar, who won the double marathon in 2008. In an expected replay of last year, Kregar and Ribiero took off at a blistering pace from the start.It was Peter's plan to let them go and then, hopefully, rope them back in on the second marathon.

The morning temperature was rather warm at 67 degrees and quite humid in Hawi. The gun went off in the pitch dark and the boys went flying by as if they were being chased by the police. The 10k (6.2 mile split) was ridiculous! Kregar and Ribiero at 38 minutes and Peter at 40 minutes. The half marathon (13.1 mile) time for Kregar and Ribiero was 1hr26m and Peter was 2 minutes back at 1hr28min- on pace for a sub three hour marathon. An unbelievable pace when you consider this is a 52.4 mile race. Ryan and I were pacing Peter and providing him with an assortment of hydration including First Endurance EFS (an excellent sports powder), water, red bull, coke, water with NUUNS electrolytes, diluted grapefruit juice, and water with alka seltzer. Most of Peter's calories were liquid however we also had First Endurance gel. We would hand Peter 6oz. gel containers with his liquids in it and he would take down 6oz. at a time. We would run next to Peter (at 6:35 min/mile pace) until he finished and then drop back for a refill.

Peter posted his first marathon in 3hr4min, only 4 minutes behind our friends. A situation almost identical to last years race. The question was whether Peter could repeat his split knowing full well that Kregar and Ribiero would fall off on the 2nd marathon. As we made it through the next several splits, it became apparent that Ribiero and Kregar were pulling away and Peter was struggling and slowing his pace. Over the last 9 miles, we pulled the crew van 1-mile ahead of Peter and waited for him with an assortment of band-aids (i.e. First Endurance powders, gels, grapefruit juice, etc...) to get him enough hydration and energy to push to the finish line. When you run this fast for this long, when the tank goes empty, it goes EMPTY! Unlike last year though, where Peter was dehydrated and sick, this year was mostly leg pain and muscle tightening. The legs just wouldn't turnover like they did earlier. However, he was still running sub-8 minute miles. He was definitely in survival mode on the last 6 miles. However, Peter stuck to the plan, would run a mile, then take in fluids at the car and start back up again. But even stopping to hydrate couldn't keep away the gnomes. With two miles to go, the fast paced, back to back marathons had brought Peter to such levels of dehydration and exhaustion, he began vividly hallucinating a swarm of garden gnomes which scrambled out of the pavement and scurryed away from him.

3 miles remaining, I ran with Peter for most of the way into the finish line. We were pacing very comfortably and more importantly, not stopping. We made the turn with 1-mile to go and Peter found a new pair of legs and started pushing the pace back around 6min30sec pace. Peter teaches all of us to FINISH STRONG, and he practices what he preaches. It was a damned hard pace on fresh legs, no less after 51.2 miles of running. Ryan followed us in the van and then pulled into the airport and joined us for the last 1/2 mile run to the finish line. We all crossed together, and Peter finished the day with a run time of 6hr47min.

Two things we learned after finishing. Alexandre Ribiero started puking with 10 miles to go and Peter gained back 50% of the time on Ribiero in the last 10 miles. Anything can happen on a race this long. If our crash hadn't come first, and we had achieved the six hour double we were looking for, Peter would have won. That time was not in the cards today, but it was a possibility that Peter gave his all to pursue.

There was also one last bit of business waiting for us as Mike LeRoux, an Australian Ultra Athlete (who started the day in 2nd) was staying within range to steal 3rd place from Peter. He was 14 minutes up on Peter going into the run. He crossed 16 minutes later and Peter took 3rd place by only 2 minutes. Had we stopped a few extra times or had Peter not buried the course with everything he had in last few miles, third place would have slipped away to LeRoux. Thankfully, we did not leave with regrets about wasted minutes that could have been avoided in the race. Peter put it all out on the road today and showed why he is one of the elites in the world of ultra endurance sports. Peter was beaten by two men today; men that are national heros in their home countries; men who Peter will dedicate himself and his training to once again rival at the top of the sport.


We have tried to offer blogs to give our followers a real inside look at this sport, and more importantly this event (Ultraman Hawaii). This is one of the worlds toughest races, and those who compete at the level of a Kotland, Ribiero or Kregar are truly special athletes. We are very proud of Peter's performance and are honored to be a part of his team.

Run Results:

1. Miro Kregar (Slovenia) - 6hr20m
2. Alexandre Ribiero (Brazil) - 6hr39m
3. Peter Kotland (USA) - 6hr47m

Overall Race Results:

1. Alexandre Ribiero (Brazil) - 22hr10min12sec
2. Miro Kregar (Slovenia) - 22hr39min14sec
3. Peter Kotland (USA) - 23hr04min56sec

ULTRAMAN STAGE 2 (171 MILE BIKE RACE) FROM VOLCANO TO HAWI

It was still anybodies game after day one, with today’s 171 mile bike and tomorrow’s double marathon still to come. The day started with a 20 mile descent which the athletes appreciate as a great chance to warm up their legs- how much warming up actually happened is still up for debate as the temperature was in the 50’s and the clouds gathered around the volcano were drizzling cold rain.
From the start the main contenders found their way to the front. A group of seven or eight riders were still close together by the bottom of the first decent with the pack only being dwindled by two or three riders in the next two hours. It was not until the race hit the hills that any serious damage was dealt to the field. On a deceivingly large climb, taking the riders from sea level to 1500 feet, Alejandro Rebeiro made his move and would give an incredible performance staying ahead of the all other riders for the rest of the day. This meant that the day for Peter was about limiting any time losses without over taxing himself for tomorrow.
There was quite a bit of jockeying for position between riders with Peter staying in either second or third position all day with only the names of the riders immediately in front of him changing throughout the day. Where yesterday there was some question at times about how Peter was feeling as he cranked into the wind, today he stayed steady, smooth and strong and aerobic all day.
Once again, for Dean and I, the day was about rushing back and forth in the car, providing Peter with constant nutrition and hydration and informing Peter of splits or anything he might require. Early on this task was made difficult by the group of close riders and all of the traffic of their accompanying support cars, media cars and officials made getting in front of Peter more difficult than usual. At one crucial point the road got so busy and the opportunities to pull over became so few that we missed Peter’s feed before a fifteen mile feed zone; after half an hour of worrying if we just got Peter dangerously behind on his nutrition, we made sure to stock him up at the end of the no feed zone.
The race was very fast with the group clocking 100 miles in 4-hrs. and we spent much of the day riding with Dembeck (Germany), Kregar (Slovenia), Oldmeadow (USA), Cokan (Slovenia), and LeRoux (Australia). However, as the heavy climbing began, the groups continued to get split. Peter ended up with Kregar and Dembeck for quite awhile, until Kregar took a spill and fell off the pace. Peter pulled away from Dembeck, caught LeRoux and headed for the last brutal ascent 6.5 miles up to Hawi starting at mile 150.
Despite a dog trying to commit “hairy” kari in front of us –unsuccessfully thanks to my expert evasive maneuvers- the most interesting part of our day did not come until the final 6.5 mile climb starting 20 miles from the finish. We had just gave Peter a feed off going up this beast of a final climb when a pleasant gentlemen pulled up, stopping in the middle of the lane, and proceeding to berate Dean about what is going on with all the bikers. When Dean calmly explains that it is a race, the man informs us that these roads are the worst place on the entire island to have a bike race- despite that road being the calmest most beautiful road we had been on yet. Then as a racer who had been chasing Peter up the mountain started getting close, the man still parked in the middle of the road says, “This is dangerous, someone is going to get creamed.” Annoyed and worrying about the rider who is about to run into the back of the car I yell back, “Yeah, you’re about to get creamed.” After watching the racer get forced into the other lane as he passed, the man finally drove off allowing Dean to get back in the car and ask, “Why are you mouthing off to a cop?” I missed the introduction where the man told us he was with the Hawaii Police Department.
Peter danced on the pedals, and was feeling very good starting the climb. However, Dembeck showed some real grit and climbed very quickly on the final ascent, catching Peter and securing his second place finish for the day.
We followed Peter down the fast and winding 13 mile descent to the finish- where thankfully no handcuffs were waiting for me. Alejandro Ribeiro had gotten there 17 minutes earlier putting us 38 minutes behind the leader going into the double marathon tomorrow- a lot of time to make up. But 52 miles is a long way to run.
At the end of the day, Peter finished in 7hr47min, and is well positioned for a great day tomorrow. Peter’s heart rate averaged only 139 BPM @ 22mph average for the day. He stayed aerobic, and he managed the day very well! He is full of energy, recovering well, and looking forward to a nice little run in the morning.

ULTRAMAN STAGE 2 (171 MILE BIKE RACE)

We are resting after a long and fun day. We will post the Stage 2 blog this evening (Hawaiian time). Hopefully the live twitter updates have been a good source of live information regarding the progress of the race. As a reminder, the live updates are located at (www.twitter.com/ultraman21). Thanks for all of your interest and support!! Peter is now in 3rd place after 2 days of racing and looking forward to the run. Details to follow.

ULTRAMAN STAGE I (6.2 MILE OCEAN SWIM, 90 MILE BIKE)

NOTE: YOU WILL NEED TO CUT AND PASTE THESE LINKS INTO YOUR BROWSER.

RACE RESULTS: http://ultramanlive.com/2008-ultraman-world-championships/2009-main-results-page/

ULTRAMAN OFFICIAL STAGE 1 RACE REPORT: http://ultramanlive.com/2008-ultraman-world-championships/2009-race-report-day-1/

The first day of the Ultraman started at 430am in the morning. We downed the customary and necessary coffee cups filled with espresso, diligently preparing all the last minute details and were rewarded with a full hour of down time which could have been spent sleeping but instead was spent trying to stay awake. The upside of our extra down time in the morning was that we could keep everything low key and not rush anything.

Fromt the time we woke up until the Swimmers were under way, the day was without a hitch (as far as the race was concerned, however I did manage to break our only camera, which was "borrowed" in a manner of speaking.) Showing up at the swim start, it was incredible between the pomp and circumstance between this Ultraman race and and Ironman. Had I just been walking by perhaps, I probably would have just assumed it was some early morning swim club and not given it a second thought. The streets that would have been inaccessible and packed with thousands of athletes and specators during the Ironman were nearly empty;the only actvity that was noticeable was a small crowd of people surrounding and even smaller crowd of forty-four athletes. So it was with almost complete anonymity that somewhere in the middle of the pacific, one of the most grueling races in the world got underway.

While Peter set off to swim a 6.2 mile open water swim in the Pacific Ocean, Dean and I went back to Wal-Mart. Dodging threw Black Friday shoppers, we managed to find the smallest screwdriver in the store, which was the used to pry, chip, scrape and pound our broken camera back into working order. Already filled with confidence from this first success our morale was boosted even further when we snuck the back of a resort at the 2 mile marker of the swim. Peter and a few swimmers had already completed 1/3 of the swim in 45 minutes, on track for a potential world record. Richard Roll was the only person to hold pace when the currents turned against the swimmers with 1-mile to go, finiishing 6 minutes shy of the world record with a time of 2hr21m.Peter got his chance to perform the long distance swimmers hobble while running into the transition area twenty minutes later in a close sixth position. More important than his position however, his time of 2hr45m was a full 30 minutes faster than last year and everyone in front of him was within a comfortable distance.



The bike course is quick to remind you exactly what kind of race you are running with a 5-mile climb that starts the moment you mount your bikw and takes you from sea level to 2000ft. Rocking awkwardly from nearly 3-hrs of swimming, but still looking strong, Peter headed up the hill to start the final 90-miles of the day. Dean and I followed behind, leap frogging up front to stop and give him either his scheduled nutrition or, more often, whatever he felt like at the moment; after so many miles, food starts to get too dry, too warm, too caloric, and if he were to eat the wrong thing, it might "Give me Gag" (as Peter so elquently puts it!) The locals were nice enough to contribute to our dialogue as well, one of them asking us " are you with the biker? As we just feeding Peter. And after giving him confirmation that we were in fact crew, he logically followed with: "do you want some hashish?"


At forty miles into the bike, Hawaii started to show her temper. The wind blew at an unrelenting 15-20 miles per hour, head on, until the athletes made the final turn that pointed them towards the last one hundred meters to the finish. Peter spent all day chasing, ultimately catching 1-man and beikng passed by only 1 man (Ribiero), the mand who stands to pose the biggest threat of taking te world championship on the podium in Kona.At the end of the day, after posting one mile splits as slow as 14mph, Peter ended the day 32 min back from a splendid performance by Richard Roll. While 33 min is a lot of time to give away, Peter stands a good chance to make up chunks of time on his front runners at stage-2 (171 mile bike race from Volcano to Hawi). Then of course there is the 52.4 mile run, which we all know is where Peter will choose to fight his battle to win the Ultraman.

TWITTER LIVE UPDATES

WE ARE OFF TO THE RACE. I WANT TO REMIND EVERYONE FOLLOWING THAT WE WILL BE POSTING PETER'S LIVE HOURLY UPDATES ON TWITTER.COM. WWW.TWITTER.COM/ULTRAMAN21. WE WILL POST ANOTHER BLOG THIS EVENING FROM VOLCANO AFTER GETTING PETER SITUATED AND IN RECOVERY MODE FOR THE NEXT DAYS 171 MILE BIKE RACE.

It's All Over but the Crying

Still on mainland time, Dean and Peter were up early again this morning. While Peter was out for an easy morning run - four miles at 6:30 minutes per miles, you know, a casual jog – Dean was swapping out our little red Dodge for a big white Chevy Tahoe, giving us more room to stage our mobile race HQ.
After waiting diligently and unconsciously from the comfort of my bed for Peter and Dean to return, we all headed out to the prerace breakfast, which was our only official function for the day. We put in our time appeasing the officials with our presence. Peter made the best of the time, taking glamour shots and interviewing with Tim Carlson from slowtwitch.com. Once introductions had been made, the law of the land was laid down and 200+ miles of bike course was reviewed in a powerpoint presentation we set out to make the final race preparations.
First we stopped at our go to place for all of our Ultraman supplies and nutrition, Wal-Mart. We paced down every aisle taking our best guesses at what we might need. Operating on a whim we would buy some things because we could get 100 of them for $2.54 but would nix others because, as Peter put it, “they give me gag.”
Returning back to our condo we added our haul to our growing collection of Wal-Mart crap that has been slowly accumulating each day and is now beginning to take over the place. Since we have been back the day has been non-stop vehicle and nutrition prep. After hours of deliberation Dean and I have settled on Reese’s, M&M’s and Goobers jelly; Peter will be racing on nothing but whiskey, but as backup has trained himself to eat lava rocks in case we can’t find anything over 100 proof.
We will all be in bed early tonight because we want to spend as much time lying awake in bed nervous for tomorrow as we possibly can. Peter will sleep fine tonight of course, he’s ready, but Dean and I still have to worry about messing the rest of it up.

ULTRAMAN REGISTRATION AND BIKE INSPECTION DAY

This morning started with another round of Kotland’s espresso, which couldn’t jack you up anymore than sticking your tongue onto a car battery. It is the “secret sauce” of an endurance athlete! After polishing off several shots of motor oil, we moved on to a gourmet oatmeal breakfast piled with peanut butter and nutella. Meals become a source of fuel first and foremost, and as sad as it is to say, this delectable breakfast is a very effective source of energy and calories.

The mood remains very light, and we are really relaxed and having a great time. Most importantly, Peter is relaxed and well rested so far. However, the task at hand is upon Peter (who obviously has the hard job this weekend) and his crew (who will execute a 3-day nutrition and hydration plan, work on nightly recovery, and get him ready for the next stage). Once the race starts, we have 21-22 hours of racing over the 3-days! Pre-race, hydration has become a priority. Peter is drinking a minimum of 4 liters of water minimum, and NUUNS electrolyte tabs.

After breakfast, Peter and I ran a 4 mile out and back to Kona Pier. After returning, we packed up the bike and took it down to the bike shop for the mandatory bike inspection before registration. We ran into A. Ribiero at the shop. As the reigning World Champion and 3X Ultraman champ, Ribiero is clearly the front runner and one of the main competitors for Peter (and a great guy). It should be a very exciting competition between these two great athletes (and others).

After the bike inspection, we registered at the Outrigger hotel. It was a quick and painless registration and very good to see our friends from the race. We took some photos and Peter did a quick interview with the Slovenian media. Then we bolted pretty quickly from registration and went down to the Java Lava for re-fueling before the afternoon training. Java Lava’s is a great hangout in Kona. It’s right on the water and gives you huge entertainment as the tourists from the cruises scamper around the Kona village like rabid dogs looking to wear out the magnet strips on their credit cards.

Ryan took a swim in the bay, and Peter took one hour on the bike this afternoon after re-fueling. Daniel and Egi (our guests from Czech) spent the day with us and left this evening for Honolulu to continue their 4-month world tour. Being from Czech, they do not celebrate Thanksgiving, however they have volunteered to serve Thanksgiving meals at the Salvation Army in Honolulu tomorrow. Then they move on to Korea. They have a great spirit, and are truly amazing people and definitely new friends. After Daniel and Egi left, we ate 2 pounds of pasta for dinner with tomato sauce and watched the Biggest Loser.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING TO OUR FRIENDS, FAMILY, SPONSORS, SUPPORTERS, FOLLOWERS, ACQUAINTENCES, COMPETITORS OR ANYONE WHO READS OUR BLOG UPDATES! WE WISH ALL OF YOU AND YOUR FAMILIES THE BEST OVER THE THANKSGIVING HOLIDAY!!