When Kauai’s Joe Kali told friend Lisa Ledesma about Ironman New Zealand and his plans to race in it for the second straight year, she thought it sounded like a great idea. The course was a good one, Kali said,
When Kauai’s Joe Kali told friend Lisa Ledesma about Ironman New Zealand and his plans to race in it for the second straight year, she thought it sounded like a great idea.
The course was a good one, Kali said, and beautiful to boot.
Why not, Ledesma said. It was a chance to visit another country, so she signed on.
The morning of the race, as she checked the air pressure of her bike tires a final time, and conditions were cold and windy, it was time to be nervous — and even consider maybe this wasn’t such a great idea.
“What was I thinking?” she asked herself.
When the canon roared at 7 a.m. to start the 140.6-mile race of swimming, biking and running, Ledesma, Kali and nearly 2,000 others dove into Lake Taupo — a cold Lake Taupo, about 62 degrees.
Ledesma found herself floundering as she fought for each breath and was kicked and hit on all sides in the swarm of swimmers. An anxiety attack was turning her race into a nightmare.
That’s when she stopped, floated, looked around and told herself that she was in Lydgate Park, her usual training grounds, and could see the fish. Over and over, she thought of the comfort of Lydgate, and gradually, she could breath again. Gradually, she began swimming, stroke after stroke.
“You did it before, you can do it again,” she told herself
It worked.
“That got me through the swim,” the Wailua Homesteads resident said.
She went on to finish Ironman New Zealand on March 1 in 14 hours, 14 minutes and 6 seconds, good for 24th in her division and 1,141st overall.
The 5-1, 118-pound Ledesma covered the 2.4-mile swim in 1:19:54, the 112-mile bike in 7:21:18 and the 26.2-mile run in 5:18:21.
The bike ride, after the cold swim, was particularly tough as she struggled to warm-up.
“The first 30 miles I was so cold, my hands couldn’t close,” she said.
The seven-hour plus bike ride took its toll in other ways, too, as she ended up with wind burn on her face and lips.
“The next day, you’d think I had botox,” she said, laughing.
Still, Ledesma admitted, the final miles of the run were glorious.
“I looked at my watch, I’m going to be an Ironman today,” she said. “I just enjoyed the people on the run.”
The Wells Fargo employee celebrated then, but back home, she vowed to train harder on the bike as she prepares for Ironman Lake Placid in July and hopefully a shot at the Ironman championship on the Big Island.
She wasn’t entirely pleased with her New Zealand race time.
“I wasn’t happy with it,” said Ledesman, who completed Ironman Louisville 2012 in 13:10, so she knows she can go faster.
For Kali, race day went “really, really well,” despite some early jitters.
“I was feeling nervous,” he said. “Every race I do, I’m nervous.”
He finished in 9:45:11, 47th overall and third in his division. He qualified for the Ironman championship in Kona later this year when the division winner passed on competing at Kona.
Kali, a boat captain for Blue Dolphin Charter, covered the swim in 1:01:38, the bike in 5:17:19 and the run in 3:19:27. A solid performance, especially considering some frozen fingers and lips from the swim.
“It’s kind of hard to get warmed up when it’s that cold,” he said.
But warm-up he did, as he powered through the two-loop bike course.
“The roads were a little bit bumpier than I remembered,” he said.
On the three-loop run course, there was a technical glitch when his Garmin watch stopped working.
“I had no idea how fast I was running, too fast or too slow,” he said.
So the 28-year-old just ran according to feel. In the final miles, even as the last energy left his body, he pushed past many tiring triathletes.
“It was about time to suck it up and get through it,” he said.
Though he finished with his fastest marathon yet and posted an overall personal best, even besting his time at Kona last year, Kali felt he could have done better.
“I was satisfied,” the 5-11, 160-pounder said. “Anything can happen on race day. It just wasn’t my day for racing.”
“When I cross the line and I walk around and I’m still capable of moving, I know there’s a lot more I could have left out there,” he added.
There will be a next time for both Kali and Ledesma.
Each plans to increase their training and log more miles on the bike, in the pool and on foot. Both are confident they can go faster.
“My training wasn’t as much as it should have been,” he said.
Kali gave a shout out to his sponsors, Altra Running shoes, Kalapaki Joe’s, 2XU triathlon gear and Kekoa and Lisa Ledesman. He also praised his wife, Ihilani, for her support.
“It couldn’t have been done if my wife didn’t support my habits,” he said.
Likewise for the 52-year-old Ledesman, who said her family made sacrifices so she could train.
The wife, mother of four and grandmother of one holds down a full-time job at Wells Fargo, so some days she rose at 4:30 a.m. and others worked out late.
A wonderful thing that came out of her dedication is her 25-year-old son Kyle Kaili wants to start training with her and complete a triathlon.
“I’m looking forward to that,” she said.
