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Slowtwitch: Hey Lionel, how has your trip to Kona been so far?
Lionel Sanders: Wonderful. I have been here 17 days now and finally starting to acclimate and feel kind of like a local. For instance my fiancee’s parents came yesterday and they are sweating bullets and everything, and I am thinking, hey it is kind of cold out. So from that standpoint it is very good.
ST: What have you been up to the last couple of weeks here?
Lionel: Basically just trying to get out in the elements as much as I can and adapt and become one with the environment. I did a lot of my training indoors for the last year and a half or so, and there was literally no sun exposure, and a lot of the time it was air-conditioned. So I think I screwed myself a little bit there and I think I lost any heat acclimatization I may have had several years ago. So I have been playing catch-up as quickly as I can.
ST: Is it working?
Lionel: It has been interesting to see how much my heart rate has come down in a very short period of time. Every day I am running faster and it is coming down, down, and down. It is hard to believe that the body can adapt that quickly. But it does.
ST: I know you have been riding out to Hawi and back. Have there been any surprises for you?
Lionel: I came here last year around the race for 10 days, and I experienced both a very easy day during that time and also a terrible day with a headwind going out and coming back. And once again I had that here during the time I have been here, so nothing really surprising.
ST: Will you be hoping for an easy day or a hard day?
Lionel: I would say an easy day during the swim, super easy with glassy water and a current both ways, and on the bike terrible 100k per hour crosswinds, and on the run overcast and cool.
Lionel Sanders: Wonderful. I have been here 17 days now and finally starting to acclimate and feel kind of like a local. For instance my fiancee’s parents came yesterday and they are sweating bullets and everything, and I am thinking, hey it is kind of cold out. So from that standpoint it is very good.
ST: What have you been up to the last couple of weeks here?
Lionel: Basically just trying to get out in the elements as much as I can and adapt and become one with the environment. I did a lot of my training indoors for the last year and a half or so, and there was literally no sun exposure, and a lot of the time it was air-conditioned. So I think I screwed myself a little bit there and I think I lost any heat acclimatization I may have had several years ago. So I have been playing catch-up as quickly as I can.
ST: Is it working?
Lionel: It has been interesting to see how much my heart rate has come down in a very short period of time. Every day I am running faster and it is coming down, down, and down. It is hard to believe that the body can adapt that quickly. But it does.
ST: I know you have been riding out to Hawi and back. Have there been any surprises for you?
Lionel: I came here last year around the race for 10 days, and I experienced both a very easy day during that time and also a terrible day with a headwind going out and coming back. And once again I had that here during the time I have been here, so nothing really surprising.
ST: Will you be hoping for an easy day or a hard day?
Lionel: I would say an easy day during the swim, super easy with glassy water and a current both ways, and on the bike terrible 100k per hour crosswinds, and on the run overcast and cool.
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ST: I see. Well, I think you said previously that you are here to figure it out and experience the race. Is that really what you plan to do?
Lionel: I learned a lot of things in the last little while. I am feeling good and it feels like I paid my dues in the last two Ironmans I have done. I am definitely here to race and give everyone a run for their money. I am not intimidated by anyone.
It is going to be a very challenging swim for me and I could come out of the water 10-15 minutes back, and in that situation all I can do is bike to the best of my ability and pace myself well during the run. Really all I want to do is to have a good run off the bike, and I did that last year at 70.3 Worlds. When I finished that race I wondered how I did that, and I would like to have the same feeling after this race.
ST: So who is your pick for this race, other than you?
Lionel: I would have to say Kienle. I think he has some cards that have not been played yet and he is becoming not a one trick pony, but a very well-rounded athlete. His swim has improved and his run has also improved. I think it could be a huge upset and he has the goods to do it.
ST: So what is going on for you from now until the race?
Lionel: I had my final harder bike workout today. I did two times 30 minutes at 330 watts, and then I will have a shorter run work out today. Out on the Queen K, just 10 miles total volume. Tomorrow is off with just a swim, and Thursday and Friday I sort of have my ritual. I do a 40-minute ride and then an 8k run and then a 20-minute ride and 20-minute run. Still swimming every day, but reducing the volume and just trying to relax, and that is something I have struggled with going into these races. I have this tendency to over train, and I am probably over trained year round. I think I am starting to come to the realization that you can’t do that in an Ironman. You can get way with it in a 70.3 and I have done that, but in an Ironman you will pay. Particularly during that second half of the run. I have now definitely taken the advice of the greats such as Craig Alexander and Mirinda Carfrae, and I am trying to come into this one rested and maybe under prepared versus over trained and injured.
Lionel: I learned a lot of things in the last little while. I am feeling good and it feels like I paid my dues in the last two Ironmans I have done. I am definitely here to race and give everyone a run for their money. I am not intimidated by anyone.
It is going to be a very challenging swim for me and I could come out of the water 10-15 minutes back, and in that situation all I can do is bike to the best of my ability and pace myself well during the run. Really all I want to do is to have a good run off the bike, and I did that last year at 70.3 Worlds. When I finished that race I wondered how I did that, and I would like to have the same feeling after this race.
ST: So who is your pick for this race, other than you?
Lionel: I would have to say Kienle. I think he has some cards that have not been played yet and he is becoming not a one trick pony, but a very well-rounded athlete. His swim has improved and his run has also improved. I think it could be a huge upset and he has the goods to do it.
ST: So what is going on for you from now until the race?
Lionel: I had my final harder bike workout today. I did two times 30 minutes at 330 watts, and then I will have a shorter run work out today. Out on the Queen K, just 10 miles total volume. Tomorrow is off with just a swim, and Thursday and Friday I sort of have my ritual. I do a 40-minute ride and then an 8k run and then a 20-minute ride and 20-minute run. Still swimming every day, but reducing the volume and just trying to relax, and that is something I have struggled with going into these races. I have this tendency to over train, and I am probably over trained year round. I think I am starting to come to the realization that you can’t do that in an Ironman. You can get way with it in a 70.3 and I have done that, but in an Ironman you will pay. Particularly during that second half of the run. I have now definitely taken the advice of the greats such as Craig Alexander and Mirinda Carfrae, and I am trying to come into this one rested and maybe under prepared versus over trained and injured.
