Windsurfing is why I moved to Maui from Northern California. Before 1999, I’d sail Sherman Island, Rio Vista, Chrissy Fields, 3rd Ave, Coyote Point, Waddell Creek and Hood River. Windsurfing is still is one of my many passions. 

Sam Bittner!

Maui offers consistent trades, warm water, waves and much more. There are many greats that have retired here and new talent charging, like Sam Bittner and Kai Lenny. And then there’s Robby Naish,  Matt and Kevin Pritchard, Phil McGain, Mark Johnstone and many others are still throwing forwards, setting the clew on the deck and keeping the sport alive and thriving. Here’s the latest events to mark your calendar, world-wide. Check out the line up on http://americanwindsurfingtour.com/

Introducing Trade Wind Event’s break out 2011 American Windsurfing Tour

The same people who presented the hugely successful 2010 Pistol River Wave Bash, will be a driving force behind the first annual American Windsurfing Tour.

• The premier event of the 2011 season is to be held at the famed beach at Waddell Creek, just south of San Francisco. It’s been scheduled for the first weekend in May to take advantage of the prime spring sailing season in Central Cal.

• The infamous Pistol River Wave Bash becomes the second stop, held once again over the third weekend of June during that magical time in Southern Oregon when the spring swells are still hitting and the more consistent summer winds are kicking in.

• Next it’s off to Punta San Carlos, on Mexico’s Baja peninsula, for some world-class down the line wave sailing. To be held over the last weekend of July into the first week of August, in the hopes of coinciding with a tasty south swell from the other hemisphere.

Maui’s own, Sam Bittner is going big for her sport. Support her and windsurfing!  Go to: http://americanwindsurfingtour.com/ to follow the tour!

Rig big and hang on for some great sailing action this summer. 

Event Director Sam Bittner

Thanks Sam

Suzie Cooney, CPT   

If you want to train harder to sail better, carve deeper turns, I can offer you my 11 years of training expertise to help you soar higher, stick your jumps and hang onto a fully powered sail longer. I’ve trained many sailors and as one myself promise you will feel the results immediately transfer to your next session.

Check here for training tips or follow me on Face Book at:  http//www. facebook.com/suzietrainsmaui

“I’m feeling good, so I start to pick up the pace just a bit. I hit half marathon in 1 hour 57 minutes, I’m now shooting for a sub 4 hour marathon and if things go well, maybe 3.55. Now at 8.45 pace and going strong. Coming up to Lahaina I had stashed some Coke bottles the day before, so I pick up my first one, I remember exactly where it was, but the second, I spaced on, couldn’t find it, oh well.”

Another entertaining story of the race that captured 2600 participant’s hearts from around the globe on our treasured island. Phil, thanks for the fun and inspiring read. I’m sure the runners that you’ll be helping next month on the Big Island for the IRONMAN, will be thrilled to see you there.. Thanks, Suzie!

Maui Marathon, Septemer 2009
Number 8 in the Bag, can’t believe it’s my 8th marathon. Always go into these crazy races with high expectations, trying to figure out your finish time, getting the right pace at each part of the race. I had a good build up, mostly working on my speed, but did do some long runs, 17, 20, 17, then tapering down to 12 the week before.

It was a 5.30am start from the Kaahumanu shopping center. The usual hot shots were there which I recongnised and had a quick chat, Wild Billy Conner, Arol, Jamie Kemmel leading the leaders on this bike. I was near the front of the line, not sure why because I’m not very fast, but ma y as well be the front of the pack at least for a few seconds.

BANG, right on 5.30, we were off in the dark, heading down, not sure the name of the street, but we quickly get onto the highway leading over to Maalaea, nice pace around 9 minute miles, starting to get sweaty pretty quick, it was going to be a hot one. Half way across the sun was rising over the mighty Haleakala, which was beautiful. Eventually turned left at the lights and headed down hill to Maalaea Harbour. Cruising down this hill was fun, now at around a 8 minute mile pace, which was too much for me, but what the hell, we are going downhill.

Next comes the hard part, going up the Pali and through the tunnel, it’s about 3 miles uphill at this point in the race, so I slow down to a 9 and ha lf minute pace, shorten my stride and get over the Pali without too much damage on the legs. We are now at around mile 11 and back down hill towards half Marathon point, now it’s all flat towards Lahaina and then onto the finish at Whalers Village at Kaanapali. Getting half way is easy, but it’s at this point you need to decide how your doing overall and the real race starts to begin. I’m feeling good, so I start to pick up the pace just a bit. I hit half marathon in 1 hour 57 minutes, I’m now shooting for a sub 4 hour marathon and if things go well, maybe 3.55. Now at 8.45 pace and going strong. Coming up to Lahaina I had stashed some coke bottles the day before, so I pick up my first one, I remember exactly where it was, but the second, I spaced on, couldn’t find it, oh well.

Now coming up to the turn off into Lahaina to go down Front Street, must be at mile 21 now and starting to feel some pain in the legs, but still able to push at my sub 9 minute pace. As I come into the main restaurant area of Lahaina, my legs are starting to loose power quickly, now at mile 22, only 4 to go, but that can be a very hard 4 miles.

Past the Hardrock café, not sure what is happening to my legs now but it doesn’t feel good, oh crap. I slow down and see if I can get some life back in them, and then I decide to walk the next Aid station and fill up on anything I can get my hands on. Legs are not improving, at about mile 23, BANG I get my first cramp in my calf, oh dam. I had taken all my gels and salt tablets correctly, so the only thing I figure was I was going to fast after the Pali. I stop to stretch out the calf, then all of a sudden my other calf cramps, then my two hamstrings. I’m now straight legged in the middle of the road, can’t move, almost falling over. A kind gentleman offers me some Gatorade, so I take it, another person offers me more salt, I take that too. I eventually lean over and stretch out the cramps, but I know I’m in big trouble now.

I carry on walking for a few hundred yards, until my legs get some blood going through them again, I then start to run again, OH NO Phil, your not going to run, the legs are dead, Bonked, cramping again. So all I can do it walk for 2.5 miles to the finish. I eventually see the finish line and start up a slow jog, so much pain even to do that. I cross the line in 4 hours, 9 minutes which isn’t a bad time, but when you want sub 4 hours, it’s a little disappointing. I quickly get over it and enjoy the atmosphere of the finish line. I get plenty of food and drinks into me and go on to cheer the rest of the finishers.

A great day, another learning experience, I’m proud of my result.

Here’s a link to the marathon results and finishers:http://jtltiming.com/results/maui.html    and the official link for the Maui Marathon:

                           http://www.mauimarathon.com/

“I started to high five and low five anyone who put out there hand and even people who didn’t put out there hand, I was on a high at this point, I was about to finish, I wanted to make the most of it.”

The RUN 26.2 miles of pain and pleasure.

I sat down and pulled off my bike shirt, throw on my running shirt, get my compression socks on which are really tight and hard to pull on, shoes are on, tied, hat on, GPS on, I bolt out of there which seemed like a few minutes but I think it was more like 4 minutes. I look down at my GPS and see my pace at 11 minute per mile, slow down I tell myself, you want to be around 11.5 minute per mile until you get your running legs and get a feel for how your energy level is. I come to the first aid station, people everywhere, “water, coke, gel, Iso, cake, bars, fruit”, it’s all there. Yes this race is well-catered and good thing. I grab a water and have my first gel and a salt tablet. I’m feeling wonderful.  The entire run course is lined with people, all cheering, sitting in chairs, drinking German beer, sleeping, enjoying the fact that we are out here doing all the work and they get to sit relax and watch.

I keep a good pace for the first loop, which is about 6.5 miles, and I’m stoked to receive my first lap band on my wrist, it took about an hour and fourteen minutes if I remember correctly. I continue to drink and eat at most aid stations, which are about every 1.5 miles. I’m still feeling good and my legs are moving well, but as I approach mile 12 at the end of the second lap I can feel my hamstrings tightening and it seems a cramp is close. At this time I run past a fella who is running a similar pace so I start chatting and I find out he’s from Colombia, he’s my age and doing his first Ironman as well. We talk about the training, the race so far, family and how he’s feeling. I told him I was hurting pretty bad at this point and asked if I had been walking the aid stations, which I had not. So I started to walk the aid stations with him and all of a sudden got my running legs back and was feeling good again, the pain wasn’t getting worse so I was confident I would finish without problems. Carlos and I ran for about 2 hours together, which made the time pass really quickly and gave each other support when one was feeling sore and tied. I pretty chatty at this point and start conversations with many people going the same speed as me, it helps time pass.

As I approached the final lap and received my last wristband I could see across the river and got excited about running through the crowd and up to the finishing line area. I actually picked up my pace a bit, told Carlos I’ll see him at the finish and got myself into “guts and glory mode”. I started to pass people during the last 3 miles which was a great feeling, I crossed the bridge and down the other side, I had been running now for over 5 hours, which was simply amazing, how can my body do this?. I could now see the final 200 meters and the crowd. It was Ironman time, I was about to become an “Ironman”. I started to high five and low five anyone who put out there hand and even people who didn’t put out there hand, I was on a high at this point, I was about to finish, I wanted to make the most of it. I approached the red carpet, which lead to the finish area, people everywhere, I started yelling and pumping my fist into the air, I was very excited. I actually slowed down a bit right before the finish and turned around to look at the crowd and enjoy the moment, which so many people speak about.  I crossed the line, it was the end of the road, I had made it, 13 hours 27 minutes.

Wow all of a sudden the legs went stiff, my two “catchers”, grabbed me either side, within a few seconds I received my finishing medal, a towel was tossed around my shoulders and it was all over. The finish area was kind of small, so it was a little crowded. I saw people being carted off on stretches, people laying on the ground. My catchers asked me if I wanted a wheel chair, I just laughed and said no I’m fine I want to walk on my own, but I would love a bag of ice to start putting on my legs. We walked slowly towards the medical tents and food area. I kept asking for ice, that was all I wanted at that stage, eventually they lead me to the medical tent, which was one place I didn’t want to be.  “I just want a bag of ice”, simple, cold, ice cubes, in a plastic bag….”can someone help me”? One medical officer handed me a small gray plastic bag, which was warm, he explained that eventually this will get cold and I can use it. I handed it back to him and asked again for a “BAG of ICE PLEASE”, that is it. Finally I was handed a big bag of ice, which I started to rub on my legs and walk out of that medical tent before someone threw me down and stuck an IV in my arm. I was moving just fine on my own, hot, legs very sore, but still walking normally. It felt great to have finished and one guy came up to me and said good job, “you blew by me on the last ½ mile, great finish”? I said thanks and moved back to the finish area to spot my friend Carlos, he finished about 8 minutes after me and was in good spirits. It was exciting to meet again; we shuck hands, hugged and congratulated each other.

I was still walking around in the athletes finish area, getting something to drink and eat and realized I needed to find my friend Agostino who had come up from Italy to give me some support. I saw him waiting at the exit to the athlete’s area, he took a short video clip of me showing my excitement of finishing my first Ironman Triathlon. I smuggled him a beer from the athletes’ area and we proceeded to head back towards the river towards the bike pick up area. Oh boy, there was very long line, so we decided to skip this for now, I would go back later and pick it up before 1am. I cruised back to the hotel to take a shower, eat something more and just put my feet up.

I needed some time to rest and for my body to take in some food and finally I felt strong enough to wander down to get my bike. It was 12.55am before I picked up my bike from T2 and I was the last to show up.  Back to the hotel and regrettably got into bed around 2am, I didn’t want this dream to end, but it was time to rest.

Phil, what a journey! You have now raised the bar. Congratulations for an awesome finish. You have conquered and we all hope to see another story just like this soon.  So many people have read your journal across the globe. Thank you so much for sharing this incredible personal triumph.

I know you’re back on the road and in the water, resting once in awhile and enjoying the sailing.  Please keep your fans posted.  I have one client, thanks to you, who will now start small and enter the local Aluminum Man Race series here with her daughter.  

Suzie Cooney

“Already I’m hitting people as I stay afloat and they are hitting me, arms, legs, hands, knee’s.”

Phil's Finish!

The big Day. Ironman Germany, European Championship

It’s Thursday now after the race and my head is still fresh from the day. Where to start? Some words run through my head, amazing, my perfect race, incredible human spirit, challenging, ecstatic, electric atmosphere.

Im going to split this up into 3 separate reports, Swim, bike and run, they are going to be long.

Sunday I woke up at 4am and immediately had some energy drink, the rule of thumb is eat and drink 3 hours before race time so the body has time to digest the food into the system and then 15 minutes before the start have another energy drink with a gel.

Oatmeal, fruit, a powerbar, two bottles of Hammer pupeution endurance mix. It wasn’t easy to get all that down in such a short time, but I managed, I already felt full from that, oh well. I finished packing my bottles with endurance mix in them, got on my race gear, which is tri shorts and a biking top, wrapped around my heart rate monitor strap, tossed my wetsuit over my shoulder with my back pack and headed out the door down to the lobby. Thinking as I went down the elevator, “have I forgotten anything, what else do I need”, ok I had pre race nerves. I had my bike, my bike shoes, running shoes, wetsuit, goggles, swim cap, race number, gels, powerbars, salt tablets, clothes to change into afterwards, there must be more which I can’t remember now. There is a lot of stuff you need for the long day of racing and one thing forgotten can bite you in the butt at some stage during the day.

The lobby was full of activity at 4.45am, people everywhere, eating, drinking coffee, running out the door. This was it, it was race morning at the continental hotel, the place was a buzz with adrenaline with some of the best athlete’s on the planet. Terrenzo walked passed and wished me good luck, Macca seemed relaxed chatting to some friends, the Germans had their game faces on. Finally on the bus which was full, I immediately heard chatter, “how do you feel?, how many Ironmans have you done?, the stories were all around already. The fellow next to me was English so we got chatting, it was his fourth Ironman, so I immediately asked for his words of wisdom. “take it easy on the second half of the bike leg, don’t blow up the legs”, it was good advice, but how will I know? How fast can I go, when can I push it? The other words of wisdom, “was make sure you eat every 20 minutes on the bike”, which I’ve heard now from everyone and probably one of the most important aspects of the race. If you run down your calories without replenishing then your in big trouble and you can’t catch up.

We arrive at the swim lake and the place is packed with thousands of people, camera’s everywhere, the competitors piling into the transition area preparing their bikes for the 112 mile journey, volunteers to help you if you need anything. I got to my bike and put down my stuff. Time to pee already. Heading to the porta potties I see no lines, which is amazing for a race like this. The Germans again have done a great job on the organization. Back to my bike and I prepare my water bottles and food, get them on the bike, look around for a pump to check my tire pressure, finally found one and got that job out of the way. It’s now only 5.45am, but I know time is going to pass quickly before the 7am start. Double check my bike area and get my shoes in place ready when I come up out of the water and transition onto my bike. Ahah, my new Helmut is sitting on my aerobars ready to get tossed on my head, race belt with my number, is beside it.

Back to the bathrooms again for number 2, sorry about the detail, but it’s so clear now as I visualize myself back at race day. I have time so I want to check out the pro’s bikes and see what they are up too. The area where the pro’s bikes are is crowded, everyone is trying to get a glimpse of these super athlete’s, including myself. Most of the pro’s are not even there, they are already down at the water getting warmed up for the swim.

It’s now 6.30am so I figure one more check on my bike, get my wetsuit on and head down to the water’s edge to get my feet wet. The pro’s start a 6.45am, so I want to check out that start because right after the age groupers are going to start crowding the starting line, I don’t want to be left behind in the pack too much at the start. Funny Phil!!!

The pro’s start on time and within minutes they disappear out into the lake. They will do the 2.4 mile swim between 45 and 50 minutes. Yep that is twice as fast as me. Less than 1 minute per 100 metres. Try it, get in a pool and swim 100 metres, they are flying I can assure you, but not just the swim, they are full speed the whole race, red lining it, pushing the very limits of human endurance and pain.

We move up to the line with 10 minutes to go before the start. I’m about mid way on the line, about 20 metres back. I’m treading water now as well as everyone else, it’s still 10 minutes to go. Already I’m hitting people as I stay afloat and they are hitting me, arms, legs, hands, knee’s. Not much conversation either. Im excited to get going but still 5 more minutes of treading water in one spot. I take a look around and see at least 75 yards behind me full of bodies, red swim caps, the shore line is full of thousands of people, I hear the commentator “3 minutes to start”, then more hitting with arms and legs, people are crowding to the starting line which is protected by about 30 kayaks keeping everyone back. You just can’t help touching people as they move closer and closer to the starting line, but no where to move.

“One minute to start time”. Excitement overwhelms my body at this stage, I start hooting and yelling as does everyone else, “30 seconds to start time”. I think this is it, I’m going to start my first Ironman in less than one minute, all the training, the pain, the sweat for this one day. BANG we start, but we don’t move, I start a slow movement of my arms going forward very slowly. Bodies everywhere, all hitting like “dodgem cars at a fair”. The crowd starts to move now and I’m swimming forward but still hitting people with every stroke and kick. After about 10 minutes of what seems like start and stop swimming I get into a good rhythm of breathing, working on getting my heart rate to slow down. I’m working on drafting off people in front of me, which isn’t hard now with hundreds of people very close by. All of a sudden I feel a hand run over my head and it catches the strap of my goggles, they are sliding off my head within a few seconds, so I grab them with one hand and pull them down again, boy that was close. I’ve heard stories of people losing there goggles and swimming the whole swim leg without them.

I look up and watch for the buoys. We arrive at the first turn buoy which is 600 meters from the start, what a mess, bodies everywhere, I slow down again working my way around the bouy. “Now that wasn’t too bad, I’m a quarter of the way now and feeling good”.

I’m starting to find some space to get into a good stroke count and still breathing consistently. I’m feeling easy in the water and my heart rate seems to have slowed down now. Oh crap, what is that, a cramp in my calf muscle, shit, it wasn’t bad but enough to get my attention and slow me down slightly, it must be the cold water. I go on a few more minutes but decide to stop and work some blood into my lower legs, so I roll onto my back and do some floating for about 10-15 seconds. A little stretch in the calves, a good look around to take in this atmosphere of the race. People swimming far ahead of me and far behind me, “good I’m not last”. I get back into my rhythm and head to the shore which is the end of the first 2000 meters. Still people are hitting me and I’m hitting them, all accidently of course. I touch ground and move up out of the water onto the dry sand, walk about 10 yards around a bouy and back into the water for the next section of the swim which is 1800 metres. I take a look around me as I get swept back into the water by the mass of humans in wetsuits, no time to waste get in there Phil and get moving, not far to go now. Within 20 minutes it’s time to swim around another turn bouy at the other end of the lake, which wasn’t too bad, finally the crowd is thinning, it’s now on the final stretch back to the beach.

I keep looking up to find the shore but it doesn’t get closer very quickly, so the head is back down and I’m swimming like a demon now. I see the bottom and my fingers start to scrap the sand, it’s time to stand up. Now upright I look at my watch, it read 8.18am, I couldn’t believe my time, fantastic, 2.4 miles in less than one hour and twenty minutes, I’m pumped.

I peel down my wetsuit as I walk up the steep hill towards Transition 1, my heart rate is racing, it’s got to be over 160 at this point. The crowd is screaming, I hear names being called, “water anyone, Iso drink, water, water here”, the aid station is 3 deep of athlete’s already hydrating, it’s still bumper to bumper with competitors moving towards their bikes.

Check back for Phil’s entry of the bike transition! Way to go Phil! Suzie

Phil wrote on Sunday July 5th 2009 “amazing race. very pleased. finished in 13 hours 28 minutes. super stoked. will report tomorrow. I’m high as a kite right now after my result. super happy with my run, it fantastic. I’ll tell all later.

 thanks for your support for the past two weeks, I had you guys on my mind during the last 6 miles, drawing on all the positive energy. phil”my official results. I’ll take a few days for my race brief, so many things happened, all good though.phil

 Phil is now in Milan enjoying a few days of rest ( rumor is he’s running a 30 mile race on Sunday)

Post Phil a comment!

Last Friday was time to hit the road again on the bike and get a short bike workout in. Headed out early from Paia and went across to Kihie. I hit 40 MPH on the way across and then heading back I realized why, it was very very windy. So I put my head down and kept pedaling until I got to Kahului, going about 10 MPH at times, man that is hard work. A good hour and a half by the time I got back to Paia. Now rest for the day and get in some stretching and recovery time.

Time to plan the weekend for my long run (with a short ride before), and long ride (4.5 hours with a half hour run after), a swim workout and the Slalom Race series at Kanaha on Saturday. I’ll get to swim masters at 7.30am on Saturday and get my swim workout out of the way before the slalom racing, that should be doable. So on Saturday I headed up to Pukalani pool and did my swim workout for an hour, then got in my breakfast while driving down to Kanaha and got ready to go windsurfing. A really windy day at Kanaha. We got in the pro division in the morning and the age group races in the afternoon. I did ok in the morning and won my age group in the afternoon, using a 5.9 and sailing super overpowered most of the time. Windsurfing is definitely easier than training for an ironman.

After a relaxing Saturday afternoon and evening I got up early on Fathers day and started my short ride at 7 am from Paia. Too easy!, down to Kahului and back was just about an hour, which I needed to get in before putting on the shoes and then running to lower Kanaha and back behind the airport. Yep this took 2 hours. I felt great on the run, a good even pace with a little kick in the last few miles to put some burn into the legs.

My wonderful daughter, Madison took me out to the Maui Film Festival on Sunday night in Wailea to see the Lebron James movie. What a great story, mostly about this childhood days with his basketball buddies, how they all stayed together through early prep school and then won the state and National championship as seniors. Very inspiring stuff.

I’m going to have to sleep in on Monday to get in my extra sleep after getting home late. Monday arrives about 8am, got in some work, then headed down to Paia to start my long ride. Oh boy, it looks super windy and rainy today. I started off about 10.30 from Baldwin in the rain with the wind on my back. The rain wasn’t fun, but the wind sure makes you feel good doing 30 MPH on the flat into Kahului. Finally the rain stopped in town and the sun came out as I headed across to Wailea. Still warming up as I headed across but I could feel the strength in my legs today, surprising after my long run yesterday and windsurfing on Saturday. Some nice hills to push up as I got to Wailea, got the heart rate in to zone 3 (140-147). Yep all these super athletes talk about zone 1,2,3 and 4 with heart rate and then a lot of them are into the Watt meters as well on the bike, which I have no idea about at the moment. I use a heart rate monitor for most of my workouts, which keeps me in the right zone.

Time to head over to Maalaea, but first I have to get up that windy hill from Kihie to the lights up South Kihie road. Turned left and heading down into Maalaea I could feel the wind on my back about 35 knots, so I put the hammer down to see how fast I could go, I hit my top speed at 42 MPH, feeling well in control. Not looking forward to the ride back into the wind though.

Got to Lahaina and hit the store for a Coke, so I can get a little kick before I have to battle the winds out of Maalaea again. I could see the spray off the tops of the waves coming through “thousand peaks”, it was WINDY and I could feel it blowing me sides ways at times on the bike, having to focus and keep pedaling to stay in control.

Around the corner at Maalaea, now it was time to “get the head down” and start the punishment back to Kahului into the wind. Not fun, but a good workout, the legs were still feeling strong but burning deep in the muscles. Finally turned the corner out of Dairy Road onto Hana Hwy, this was the home stretch, I was already 4 hours, 15 minutes into the ride. Got back to Baldwin and looked down at my trip meter, 77 miles. 4 hours 36 minutes. No time to rest, “get the shoes on Phil and get out on the road for your transition run”. A little less running this week after the long ride, 30 minutes easy. Done, get in some soft stretching and a shower at the beach. What a windy day, but the legs were feeling good. I think I’m going to make it for 112 miles.