Rob Gray Ultraman

First time in China! Totally different to my expectations. I thought Shenzhen would be quite industrial, but it's actually really clean and super modern.

Probably 85% of the cars are electric (mostly brands that are unknown in the west, plus a few Teslas) and 100% of the motorcycles are electric. I did not expect that... a major asian city with not a single gas powered motorcycle or scooter! The effect is that the whole city is noticeably quieter and there are no fumes. There is also a lot of green space which I did not expect at all.

One of the most interesting parts of my visit was a factory tour. I think in the west we have this preconceived notion of what a Chinese factory will look like, and I have to say that the technology, environment and working conditions are better than any factory I've seen in Europe or the US.

Very enlightening trip!

2022 Ultraman World Championship is a wrap for me. Thanks to my crew Ian Hersey and Cary Craig for being the best! And the "side crew" Michelle and the kids for crewing the other 363 days of the year. (Not sure why Facebook isn't letting me tag anyone besides Ian but that is a mystery to solve another day).

I had a great day 1 being hounded by Dede Griesbauer from T1 right up to the finish line. She finished just 13 seconds behind me 💪💪💪.

Day 2 started really well, taking 2.5 minutes off my previous best descent time from Hawaii Volcanoes National Park. Richard Thompson and I rode together for the first 56 miles and then he gradually pulled away. Steven Keller was riding really strong and actually passed me before getting a flat tire which sidelined him for a while. His crew van also lost a tire to lava rocks but his day 1 swim es**rt lives in Hilo and saved the day by jumping in his truck, transferring all the gear and accompanying Steven all the way to the finish line in Hawi.

Traffic was diverted in Hilo because of high surf, and there were many close calls and sidewalk jumping on my part to get through it in one piece.

Richard was several minutes ahead of me by the time I crashed just before mile 100. My front wheel hit a lava rock at high speed, the tire deflated and I lost control of the bike before I could slow down. Fortunately I crashed in front of a nurse (an ultra runner named Andrea) and she stopped to help patch me up. Dede saw Michelle up the road and actually slowed to a near stop to tell her that I had crashed 🙏.

So my race is done, but I am grateful to not have broken any bones. Barry Berg was less fortunate as he was hit by a truck in Hilo and has a broken collarbone and other serious injuries.

I will be a spectator on today's 52 mile run from Hawi to Kona, hobbling around perhaps with a 🍹 in hand? Richard has a big lead but Steven is one of the best runners out there. It could be very close.

And then next for me - back to the training regime - I'll be back to battle another day. No off season for me this year!

Happy Thanksgiving! I'm grateful for all the special people around me and for being able to get to the start line of the Ultraman in good health. They say the night before the night before the race is the most important for sleep. Maybe that's just what people who can't sleep on race eve tell themselves, but I will take it!

Tomorrow is race day. Every time I try to just chill and keep off my feet but it never works out that way. With all the final prep, athlete briefing, getting tomorrow's nutrition mixed etc. I'm always just walking around doing seemingly random things. This year I tried to mitigate this phenomenon by at least "handing off" both bikes and day 1 stuff to my crew yesterday, so a few less things to do.

Today's schedule: start with coffee, eat some pancakes, drive 35 mins into Kona for the athlete briefing, drive back to Waikoloa, lunch (hopefully find somewhere open, otherwise rice it is), prep day 1 bike bottles into portable freezer, feet up & relax. Then some filming work for my main rival 's project before dinner, and driving back into Kona for the final (hopefully equally -great-but-unlikely-to-happen) sleep.

Mahalo! 🤙

Not a bad spot for a swim eh? 4k today made up of some easy 400s just to dial in "sea level pace" which feels different than Boulder's altitude. Then some fast 50s to try and get some pace going. For whatever reason I am sluggish for the first few days at sea level, so I need to rev the engine a bit to get some speed back.

The question I get asked the most is "how do you find the time to train for Ultraman while also having a full time job and two young kids".

The key principle is to find opportunities where you can achieve multiple outcomes during the same time period. Similar to multitasking but not necessarily trying to do two tasks simultaneously.

For example, today I had a one hour all hands meeting, where it was important for me to listen but I did not need to actively participate. Instead of sitting behind a desk for 1h, I did a a heat prep session in the sauna. 60 mins @ 160F 😬😰🥵🥵🥵. I also paid more attention to what was being said in the meeting, because, well, what else was there to do 🤷‍♂️?

Almost "off grid capable"... The final solar panels go in tomorrow, ready for Armageddon 2022 or whatever is likely to happen next!

In one of Lionel Sanders' latest videos, he hints that he'd like to do Ultraman. Of course I think he could win it (for sure!), provided that he didn't make too many mistakes. I recorded a video breaking it down into how I think he would fare over the 3 day race.

My UM analysis starts around 4m30s
https://youtu.be/mQqsWpddWBo

I think it would be cool to see him try it, we should make it happen!

Our usual Thanksgiving weekend is spent on the Big Island of Hawaii, competing in the Ultraman world championship. It's a 3 day race that circumnavigates the entire island. Day 1 is a 10k (6.2 mile) swim followed by a 90 mile bike ending around 4000ft above sea level in Volcano national park. Day 2 is a 171 mile bike and day 3 is a double marathon (52 miles) where you basically run the 2nd half of the Hawaii Ironman bike course!

Sadly, this year it was cancelled for the second year in a row. Coupled with multiple other race cancellations and some bad luck, I've not raced a triathlon since 2019! As much as I want to race, the priority is the safety and well-being of the people of Hawaii. They rely heavily on tourism and have been hit really badly by COVID.

The best I can do is share some photos from previous races. Here are some from 2017, the last time we got to ride the "red road" before the 2018 eruption covered parts of the road in lava. You can see the varying conditions that we had to deal with, we overcame much and prevailed with a successful race overall. One of the things I love about the Ultraman race is the reliance on my race crew led by ( and Michael Bush) and of course the crew for the other 362 days of the year led by !

Hopefully we get to race in 2022!

18 months later and it's finally official! World Record with 7 incredible friends. I've got to say this is one of the hardest things I've done. After day 4 you experience levels of fatigue and sleep deprivation that are simply unreal. My biggest day was 21k in total, with shoulders that felt close to falling off. Surprisingly, the worst side effect we all experienced was losing the skin on our toes because of all the flip turns.

Finally a REAL bike turns up in the Gray family pain cave, an outdoor companion for these virtual indoor bikes! What could be inside the box 🎁!? 🤔 2021 Ultraman Hawaii prep starts now... Looking forward to getting outside now that summer is on the way