Jennie Hansen

Race Purpose

The objective is simple: put together a complete race and use the run you have built.

Last year is old information; Saturday is its own day.

The only information that matters is what you have done this year.

And this year is clear. You raced Lake Placid and Wisconsin and produced the same day twice. Same bike. Same strong run. To the second. That is not luck. That is a durable athlete executing.

You have rebuilt your run into something that holds. You have done the heat work.

You are a known quantity. I trust your instincts because you have earned that trust.

Saturday is about racing, not grading the race while you are still in it.

The 30,000-Foot Approach

• Swim calm and honest.
• Keep the town section of the bike quiet.
• Make the Queen K boring.
• Respect the wind and the heat. Cool early.
• Have your intake aboard before the Hawi descent.
• Arrive at T2 able to use your run.
• Give Ali'i and Palani respect. Make the Energy Lab ordinary.
• If everything is intact late, empty the tank.

You do not need to prove anything on the swim or bike. You need to deliver your fitness to the run.

Your Control System

Feel leads. Always.

You race best by feel, and you read your body better than any device. Effort is how you will race Saturday.

The numbers have one job: they are high-side guardrails. Kona can be funky early, and heat can raise the cost of an effort before it feels expensive. If you see one of these, it is information to respect. That is all.

• Bike HR at 150 or higher: this is the one that matters. If you see it, the heat and humidity are likely playing a bigger role. Ease the effort and cool.
• Run HR at 160 or higher: same rule. Ease and cool.
• Bike power above about 165 W for a sustained stretch of steady riding: a quiet check. Handling, wind, and legal passes always come first.
• Climbs: you are free to go above 165 W. Keep climbs below 190 W. That is a ceiling, not a target.

There is nothing to hit. If the effort feels right and the guardrails are quiet, you are racing well.

Ocean conditions move swim speed. Wind, grade, and passing rules move bike speed. Heat, Palani, and turns move run speed. None of that is a verdict.

The Field

This is a World Championship. The athletes around you will be fast, and later waves will come through.

Being passed, seeing another cap color, or feeling locally slow is not information about your day. Race your race.

Heat

Saturday will be significantly hotter than Rochester, Wisconsin, or Placid.

Your heat training has you in a good spot. You are ready for this. You actually did a very very good job with this.

Start cooling early, before you feel hot. Use every cooling option the stations give you, on the bike and on the run. Do not try to solve heat only by drinking more.

You gave a really really good point in your workout comment the other day. Mandatory stops at the aid stations, focused on cooling. Brilliant! What will it cost? 10-15 seconds per? What is standing in your way? You…

Fueling and Cramping

You nail fueling. Do what you have practiced.

Heat does not change your carbohydrate responsibility. And have your intake aboard before the Hawi descent, when the bike needs your hands and attention.

On cramping: in Kona, athletes often overdo hydration in the days before the race, which can flush electrolytes, magnesium included. Don't overdo it. Drink normally and use your full electrolyte protocol, including magnesium, as you have practiced. If a cramp shows up during the race, ease the demand, change cadence or stride, keep the electrolytes coming, and let it pass.

Swim

Be in the swim staging chute by 7:00 AM for your 7:25 wave. Transition is open 4:30 to 6:10 AM, entry only.

Non-wetsuit, warm water, clockwise, buoys on your right.

Use the swim-out as your warm-up. Swim the first few hundred meters with purpose to find space, then settle into your rhythm. Draft when it is useful, but sight for yourself.

The return may feel quick or may not. Either way, keep the effort the same. Build your kick into the finish and stay clear of the pier rocks.

There is no clock to beat. Exit composed and ready to ride. Whatever the swim gave you, nothing gets repaid on the bike.

Bike - 30,000-Foot Approach

The bike is not a test. It is the bridge to the marathon.

You know damned well what it is going to be like out there. Impossible to ride legally, unless you sit on your brakes all day. Ride your race, and ride as legally as you can, such that others illegality doesn’t cause you to slow your effort down.

You have the evidence. Placid and Wisconsin: the same bike, both delivering the same strong run. That is exactly what an IRONMAN bike is supposed to do. It has done its job twice this year.

Saturday, it has the same job.

Speed will look different in Kona heat and wind. That is the course, not you. Ride the effort you know. Judge the bike only by how you arrive at T2.

Official 2026 profile: 112 miles, 5,814 feet of gain, one loop to Hawi and back.

Caffeine: hold it as long as you can. Its job is to bring perceived exertion down. If the effort feels on the easy side early, you do not need it. As the effort starts to rise, that is your opportunity to buoy it with caffeine. It takes roughly 20-25 minutes to hit your system, so take it a little ahead of when you expect to want the lift.

First stop on the bike: the Rust-Shaking Protocol, right below. Read it before anything else on the bike.

T2

Arrive with:

• Legs that can run
• Energy aboard and a working stomach
• Body temperature under control
• Clear thinking
• Confidence in the run you are about to use

Run - 30,000-Foot Approach

You rebuilt your run piece by piece. It held in Placid. It held in Wisconsin, in the heat, steady from the first mile to the last.

Saturday is about arriving at T2 able to put it on display, then letting the race build.

Caffeine on the run: same rule. If you have not needed it yet, keep holding it. When the effort starts to climb, take it a little ahead of when you will want the lift. It needs roughly 20-25 minutes to arrive.

Official 2026 profile: 26.2 miles, 1,009 feet of gain.

T2, Palani, Kuakini, Onto Ali'i

Let your stride and breathing organize after the bike. Start cooling and fueling right away.

You are establishing the marathon, not proving it.

Ali'i Out and Back

The crowds are loud and the road feels easy. Let them lift your mood, not your pace.

Settle into the effort you know. Work every station. If HR reaches 160, ease and cool.

Kuakini and Palani

Palani is a cost decision. Shorten your stride and keep the effort honest. Walking part of it is good racing if running it costs too much. Start running again at the top.

Queen K North

Exposed, quiet, and long. Keep your horizon short: the next station, the next cooling.

Do not evaluate after every mile. You need a sequence of good decisions, not a verdict.

The Energy Lab

Make it ordinary. It is a road with turns, heat, and stations.

Personal needs is at mile 16.9. Take only what you planned.

If your stomach turns, you know the fix: simplify, cola and Precision, give it a few minutes. Walk a station if that is what it takes.

NELHA Exit

This is your first real look at the day. If everything is intact, you may start to press. If something is not, keep cooling, keep fueling, keep moving forward. Either way, you are still racing well.

Queen K South, Palani Descent, Ali'i Finish

Keep doing the station work. Quick, controlled steps down Palani.

Finish

You took a run that felt broken and rebuilt it. You have shown twice this year that it holds.

Saturday is not about hoping it shows up. It is about making the decisions that let you use it.

When you make the final turn onto Ali'i, stop calculating. Look up and take it.

Believe in the work.

Believe in your durability.

Believe in your judgment.

Now go execute.