Do's and don'ts · June 12, 2023 · 2 min read
Honolulu is not a recovery week
The course looks great in photos, and the humidity doesn't show up in any of them.
We watch it happen every year. Somebody flies in from a cool place with a great training block behind them, lands Thursday, spends Friday at the beach, and races Sunday in conditions their body has never met, and the finish line photos usually look fine even when the middle of the race didn't.
What the island does to a race
The Honolulu Triathlon, the Great Aloha Run, the Hapalua, Hibiscus, and the Honolulu Marathon are real races that real people train hard for, and the courses aren't gentle because there are palm trees on them. The marathon starts at 5 a.m. so the front of the field can get some running done before the sun is up and on the road, and the back of the field doesn't get that gift. Most visitors have run in 85 degrees before, so the number on the forecast doesn't scare them, and what gets them is the humidity. Sweat doesn't evaporate the way it does at home, so you don't cool off the way you're used to, and your heart rate drifts up at a pace that felt easy in April. That drift usually has nothing to do with fitness, because your sweat is doing less of the cooling than it did at home.
What we tell friends who are flying in
Get here early, because a week early isn't possible for most people but early enough to run twice at the hour the race starts usually is, and your body picks up the temperature faster than you'd think, as long as it's outside and not in a hotel room. Drink and salt in the days before, on real food, because the first hour of a hot race gets decided in the 48 hours before it and you can't catch up mid-race. Then run the first third easier than you think you should, since every race here turns into a heat race by the second half, and the people who look strong at the end are typically the ones who were bored at the start.
What the pictures don't show
Diamond Head is a climb, the Kalanianaole out-and-back to Hawaii Kai is exposed for miles with nothing between you and the sun, and the Honu bike goes to Hawi through the lava, into the wind, for most of the way out. All of it is beautiful and none of it is a recovery week, which is why we'd tell anyone flying in to bring the respect they'd bring to a hard course anywhere else. Come race here, because we'd love to see you, and check the humidity the night before.