Here is a typical racing day of the Ironman Triathlon on Hawaii

Triathletes prepare for the anually held Ironman Triathlon race on Hawaii: It is 5 o'clock early in the morning on a hot october day in the small coastal village Kailua Kona. Most of the triathletes walk in their minds through the probably hardest challenge they are ever faced with in their entire life. They do not only prepare their minds for the Ironman Triathlon but also their material and their spot in the triathlon transition area. Fixing the sport water bottles on the bicycles, checking the air pressure on the cycle tires, laying all the necessary clothes out for the race, playing through the whole event in their minds: When I come out of the water, what will I need to do first, what second and what third?

The Ironman Triathlon on Hawaii is dream and trauma for most triathletes at the same time. Until the starting shot at 7 o'clock in the morning nearly everybody lived through all kind of feelings between very pleasant anticipation to extreme fear. You are about to do 5,000 crawls, more than 30,000 pedal turns and between 40 to 50,000 steps during the rest of this day.The organization of this Ironman Triathlon is flawless: About 5,000 voluntary helpers are available. 125,000 paper cups, 25,000 water bottles, 25,000 sponges, 49,500 kilogram of ice, 254,600 liters of water, 25,000 cookies, 13,000 bananas, 9,000 oranges and several thousand liters of Gatorade and Cola will be ready when the dead silence is broken by the starting shot.

While in shorter distances with very high amounts of racers there are usually starts in several waves spaced every few minutes, in Hawaii all the athletes will enter the water at a single signal, a so called "mass start", which is traditional in Iron-distance races. The average temperature of the water here is 78-80° F (26-27°C).

There it is. The starting shot. About 1,700 triathletes jump with a loud, yelling scream into the emerald green Pacific Ocean that immediately turns into a simmering piranha bowl. 2.4 long miles (3,86 km) of water have to be taken as the first hurdle. But after a while you find your rhythm and don't let yourself bother anymore by other "piranhas". Because of the climate on Hawaii there are no wet suits allowed which usually help bad swimmers to balance their position in the water.

The first athletes emerge from the water after about 50 minutes. They fly through the transition area to prepare for 112 miles (180,2 km) of cycling. After entering the Queen Kaahumanu Highway the fight against the malicious Mumuku fall winds start while you begin your long and lonely ride through the fields of lava. Already on the first 1.5 miles (2 km) you go up a 8% inclination. On the following 106 miles there is nothing but black lava rocks on each side of the road. You shouldn't leave out any of the aid stations every 5 miles (8 km). Since the winds change their directions throughout the whole day it is very likely that you face the wind on the outward bound as well as on the return. The fastest cyclists need less than four and a half hours for the whole distance depending on the weather conditions.

After arriving at the transition area the pain starts. The temperature reached 86-104° F (30-40° C) in the shadow, conditions at which no one usually even would consider doing a marathon not so after already being for 6-8 hours on the track. For most of the triathletes the night falls during their run. This combined with the fact that you run through those dark lava fields again adds some psychic stress to the yet hard physical exposures of the Ironman Triathlon. Since 1982 the race takes place in nights with full moon to assist racers and voluntary helpers in their work.