We noticed Aussie Isaac Tonello when he checked his bike in for the GoPro Ironman World Championships in Kona and followed up with him now to learn more about this adventurer and tinkerer.
Slowtwitch: Thank you for your time Isaac.
Isaac Tonello: It's a surprise for a gumby like me but a pleasure.
ST: After that time in Kona I guess eventually you had to go back to the real world, or better said – the Sunshine Coast. Was that tough or were you ready?
Isaac: Definitely not ever ready to go home, 2 short weeks of the Aloha spirit was not enough. 4 weeks is more my style but the whole Kona adventure was expensive and I have the usual bills to pay. We arrived on Wednesday, had a week after the race then spent 4 days in Honolulu right in time for the very mild hurricane.
ST: What do you do for a living?
Isaac: I am a neurological physiotherapist and exercise physiologist. I work in hospitals helping to help rehabilitate people with strokes, brain injuries, Parkinson's, joint replacements and fractures. It's a great job, helps me appreciate how lucky I am everyday to be able to walk, talk, and think without too much trouble. Gives the time to train once a day - which is great.
ST: You qualified for that Kona slot in Cairns with a 9:22:40. Where does that time rank overall for you with these Ironman events?
Isaac: Well, that was my second Ironman so I was pumped to make it to Kona - by default really. The 3rd placed guy who came in 15 seconds in front of me, didn't show at the roll down so I got to pay another $900 to run around for 10 hours in the hawaiian heat. Cairns helped me learn what NOT to eat as I ended up spending 3 hours in the medical tent post race with an ischemic bowel and another 8 hours not being able to eat or drink more than a sip. Happy to say I was able to eat and drink after Kona, and that was a major goal for the day.
ST: In Kona your final time was 9:52:50. Was that satisfactory or did you walk away disappointed?
Isaac: Disappointed? No. Satisfied? Yes and no. It's another step in the journey, it was a challenge and I went as fast as I could on that day. I really believe you can’t compare Ironman times to each other unless they have been done on the same day, same course. Everyone likes to say "I did 9-10 hours blah blah blah here so I'm a big hitter...watch me do this at the next Ironman.” The time was really irrelevant to me. I don't wear a watch in the swim and use heart rate only on the bike to judge my pace. So it's not until the run that I know what pace I'm going. I had some great advice from a few really experienced Kona racers Joe Pilat, John Carey, and Dan Evans to "just to run your race, forget the time". My goals were to finish the race without stomach cramps and keep to my HR zones, I did this so that made me satisfied but like everyone except the winner I still would have liked to have gone a bit faster.
ST: Recap your race day if you could.
Isaac: An awesome experience, being part of such a special event was humbling.
Highlights
1. Bike Pick up. At 10:45 pm we drove into town to get the rig and found the atmosphere was absolutely electric. For me walking down Alii drive toward the finish cheering for competitors was better than running down as a competitor. Maybe it was because I knew what this meant to them or maybe it was just the cooler night air, the lights and the glow sticks. The music was great, the commentary was great and the herculean efforts by those competitors coming in over 16 hours was inspiring. This was by far the best experience of the entire day.
2. Walking out of transition I got to shake Mark Allen’s hand. Random but cool.
3. Floating in the water looking back at the pier and rock wall before the start seeing how many people were watching and thinking ... " wow I'm at the Hawaiian Ironman"
4. Skulling 1/2 a beer 1k from home thanks to a Benevolent Bystander
Swim. I starting way left and thankfully people parted either side of me just as the gun went off giving me open ocean for 500 meters, didn't seem to help with my time though. I felt good, maybe spending too much time looking at what was on the bottom of the ocean only thing I thought was a problem was that I swam 40-50 meters past the boat at the turnaround. The transition tent was chaos, I can honestly say I have not been that close to so many semi naked guys ever in my life and don't really need to again. If I come back some day I am going to learn to swim.
Bike. Again I felt good but have never raced a triathlon with so many people blatantly drafting. As far as you could see was a line of people no gaps to slot into so I'm not sure how everyone didn't end up in the penalty box. It is a sad part of the race that people are so focused on going faster and beating someone that they forget it's in individual event. You are really just a fraud if you can’t get it done any other way. I wore earplugs on the ride, unusual but helpful. I could not hear the wind at all, I certainly felt it but not hearing it mentally helped keep me thinking about what I was doing not what was happening around me. As the wind made the race exciting the packs thinned out finally on the climb to Hawi. There was no relaxing, settling into a tempo, you had to constantly think and anticipate how to brace yourself for the next gust, it was the most exciting single day bike race I have ever done. I tried saving myself for the last 40k but I think with all the packs and overtaking I had had my HR a little higher than I wanted early on. But I still felt good coming home, it was not until I looked at my computer just before rolling into transition that I saw 5 hours 10 minutes or so. 5 hours had been a rough target.
Run. Sluggish is the word that comes to mind when I think of the marathon start. Usually I feel great off the bike until 10-15k, this time the piano was on my back from the start. Thankfully the piano didn't get any heavier and I maintained my pace out and back stopping with a crew on the Queen K side of Palani hill and got a mosh pit going to Limp Bizkit "Take a Look Around". Funny enough that was my max HR for the day 169! I had not anticipated how mind numbing the queen K was. I had not run or ridden out here so every roll looked the same as the last one but felt steeper and longer than the last one. TV always makes the race seem like you spend most of the run in an area like the energy lab, a little small road and lava either side. Once back on the Queen K I felt a bit more positive and had stopped saying "why the *#ck am I doing this" and now was saying "10k to go, 10k to go, 10k to go". I stopped to say hello to my family and friends and then stopped again to have a skull of beer from a friendly fellow Australian supporters tallie.
ST: Was that the PIS or the Lakers crew that handed you the beer?
Isaac: Not too sure but the PIS crew do have the right idea. I had not heard of either of them but their train hard, race hard and party hard philosophy really is right up my alley. A friend of mine in Cairns organized a 20k running race that involved drink a beer every km and eating meat pies in the height of summer. I was lucky enough to win it one year wearing a suit.
At Kona when I just saw the guy on the side of the road with what looked like a beer. I had to ask “Is that a beer?” The benevolent bystander replied “yeah”, and the obvious next question was “Can I have a drink?” To which the reply of “Fuck Yeah” came back. I tried my best to do a decent skull but I think most ended up on my face. So greatful to the bystander, happy to buy you a drink anytime mate! Before I arrived in Hawaii I had planned to light up a Cuban around that last kilometer and just stroll along sucking on that bad boy, enjoying the moment. Unfortunately US customs confiscated them!
ST: Oh boy. Well, when you checked in we noticed a fairly involved cockpit modification on your Specialized Shiv, and word has it that you worked a long time on it. Is that indeed so, and what got you started?
Isaac: The end product didn't really take me much time at all but the thought process has been evolving for 2-3 years. I don't like going into shops and just buying whatever has been MASS-ufactured just because it's the best of a bad bunch. I want things that suit my needs and a set up that suits me, we are all individuals and all have our own way of riding + drinking + eating so why not create an individual product. The great Scottish cycling legend Graeme Obree didn't just accept what was out on the market, he read, he thought, he made what he felt was the best thing for his needs. They just so happened to be (in my opinion) the two most aerodynamic cycling positions ever created a) the tuck and b) the superman. Both now banned by the UCI. So I wanted to work out how to get one of these working on a tri bike. The superman was the easiest to try first, I received a lot of shit from many of the local lads about my "ridiculous" position and the extra long aerobars. The first version was made out of pair of old crutches from my mates physio practice, funny enough this did not help the credibility. [The final image shows Tonello with that setup. He however did not use this in Kona.] My position changes all the time, so much so that even I think I should spend a bit more time training and not trying different positions but for me it is a part of the sport that I love, experimenting, modifying and testing. I am determined to give the tuck position a shot in the future. The aero trough that was on the bike in Kona came about in the same way. I had one of those bags you strap to the frame and it annoyed the hell out of me, getting things in and out of it. Plus it could hold only enough to feed a grasshopper. I needed something bigger and more conveniently located, so why not have a little trough between the bars that stores food and a tube plus more? There is nothing like that out there so I "fabricated" (sounds a bit fancy) it. Really I just cut up a few plastic milk bottles until I had the right shape stuck some nonslip matting in the bottom and what you see is what you get. A mate of mine [Adam Hansen of Lotto-Bellisol] makes his own carbon cycling shoes and he suggested fabricating a carbon fiber one. But that might be a while off yet.
Unfortunately I was notified on race morning with a letter in my helmet stating I was not allowed to race with it, when I got home I also had an email. I remain in discussions with the race referees about this so I will leave it at that.
ST: So did you race with it or not? And who signed the letter in your helmet?
Isaac: I didn't want to have come all that way to be then disqualified for not taking a small trough off my bike. I took it off and stuffed all the stuff in my jersey. The letter was signed by Jay on behalf of the head referee Jimmy Riccitello. When I checked it in Jay had taken pictures and video to show the referees and get back it me that night with a decision. Like I said I did not see the email till the next day so the note was the first of knew of it. The strangest thing is they had said they were “told to look out for my number!” WTF. Who could be bothered to tell the referees to check out some guy’s bike who if he was lucky would go under 10 hours? Anyway I am waiting to hear back from them. I have a few more ideas with similar sorts of stuff, I should really pitch it to a few companies because a lot of the stuff on the market is just not that good functionally in a race.
ST: Talk about the Crocodile Trophy. While there are clearly some very fast folks racing there, it appears to be a bit of an adventure vacation when you look at the huge time gaps. But you have actually been there – we think, unless that is another Isaac Tonello.
Isaac: No that's me. I have completed the adventure experience that is the Croc three times. It is an unbelievable experience, such camaraderie, laughter and physical punishment. The first time was to finish, the second was to race (8th on GC and 1st Master1) and last year was with a great friend Dave Stallon to raise money for Mitochondrial disease. Unless you are in the hunt for top 5 in GC I don't think it's worth burning all your matches everyday so a lot of riders just save themselves and try for stage wins thus the massive gaps plus you are riding though some great country so you have to take it slow and appreciate what the outback has to show.
ST: How and when did you actually find triathlon?
Isaac: I did my first tri in 1991 on a mountain bike in Cairns, far north Queensland, Australia. I was playing soccer at the time and was riding to get some more fitness. I liked the idea of having no one to blame but myself for the outcome. I carried on for a few years till the end of university in 1997. Then I had an income and started to party and travel. Once my body couldn't recover from the weekend festivities as quickly I decided to start cycling again in 2007. Shit, that is 10 years of my life right there. Cairns had its 1st Ironman distance race in 2011 and I promised an old friend Joe Pilat that I would do it in 2012. Come January 2012 I started training and have been on and off with it since then.
ST: What is next for you?
Isaac: Like a said before my bike position is always changing, plus I have a few more equipment and clothing ideas I want to trial. Over the next few years as a principle investigator I am involved in a randomized controlled trial at work and will more than likely be working through my research masters during this time so I will be kept busy with that. Race wise maybe Ironman Cozumel, then 3 weeks backpacking in Central America, fly back up to LA and do a week snowboarding at Mammoth mountain or Lake Tahoe. I like the sounds of that.
ST: Do you have a bucket list of events you would like to do?
Isaac: Not so much races but adventures really. There is this rally that involves buying an old second hand car in the UK and driving it to Mongolia, and that sounds like a hellish trip. No real plans but a few more multiday MTB stage races like IRONbike, Cape Epic, the Mongolian bike race, Marathon Des Sables, Noosa Ultraman and riding around Australia someday.
ST: We also met your wife in Kona. She seems very supportive.
Isaac: She is a very competitive dressage rider here in Australia, which allows me a bit of free time on the weekends and yes she is very supportive. We both have similar schedules, up at 5am training then to work at 8 or 9am till 6-7pm then home cook dinner and do it all again. I guess we both understand how the other feels which helps. I was so lucky in Kona to have a big crew of supporters - my parents, my best mate and his misses and my wife's sister too. Hard to imagine that people would travel that far to cheer you on, it meant a lot to me.
ST: Is there anything else we should know?
Isaac: Kona was another step in a journey, setting challenges and not just accepting what is seen or heard, thinking and experimenting, and testing what I am capable of. Most of all stop complaining and harden up - there is always someone worse off than you.
ST: It is all about perspective.
Isaac: You are so right, it's easy to lose perspective. So many people strut around looking down at people, somehow thinking it's below them to associate with them. Even if you win Hawaii you are not a better a person than the next. What have you done to make the world a better place? Maybe if we humans thought a bit more about that and had more perspective everyone might be a little happier. Seems like the people of Kona and the Big Island are much closer than most places I have experienced.
ST: Good luck with your adventures.
Isaac: Thank you Herbert for your time hopefully we cross paths again in the future.
