Ironman Florida - TriathlonFull Ironman

May 23rd 2010 I was scared to death I would drown in a 300y super sprint swim. Nov 3, 2012 I completed an Ironman swim; the scariest part of the Ironman race for me. Started back a bit and to the right. Tried to let the breakers roll through and start swimming when it was too deep to walk. I found the bar fight at the first turn buoy and it kept up until we headed back to shore for that first loop. Kicked in the jar and punched in the back of the head. Sighted off the sun across the end and the used the left side of the host hotel back to the beach and both worked pretty well. By the time I got the first loop done it was a line of peeps walking along the end of the water to get back in for loop 2. I was surprised we were wading in calf deep water to get across to start the second loop. Spectators were right along the water edge so this is what we got. The buoys seemed to be all over the place for the second loop. We were supposed to keep them on the left but I think the first one wandered off (the only thing that really matters is you go around the first turn buoy). I started out into MUCH rougher surf. Sighting was hell since you had to sight on top of the waves. I was surprised how much it had changed in about 45 minutes. Bar fight was a bit lighter and back to the beach I swam. WHEN the legs cramped a little I just stopped moving them completely. The rest of the time I was lightly kicking to keep the body rotation happening.

NOT A THING

Heard / saw my family on the beach and was smiling from ear to ear. I was so happy to get my fear behind me. I was pretty convinced I would become an Ironman as I walked to the wetsuit strippers.
I decided to use the strippers - mistake. Both calves cramped just like Buffalo Springs and I needed to wait a bit before I could even stand. Sand everywhere. Should have avoided the strippers.

LOL - they don't serve breakfast in T1 !! I was just in no hurry to get going. I had to install the compression socks. It was much hotter than I hoped or predicted with the forecast. Didn't wear the gloves or sleeves I had in my bag.



OK - towel your parts before your towel your feet!!!!! Sand all over towel ended up in my bike shorts and it's not fun at all. I seemed so focused on getting my feet clean I did that first. OOPS

Hit the porta-can for stop #1, waved to my peeps and off on the bike I went.

Mile 50 I started hearing things on the bike that were out of position, rubbing or shaking due the rough section. I was having a solid ride until about mile 80. I kept easy on the pedals predicting a long day and no cramps until about 80. I had to coast a few times and backed it down to 14 in a tail wind at one point because of the legs. I was trying to keep the legs together for the bridge at mile 100. I saw Justin and Will at about mile 92 on the second out and back u-turn section but couldn't yell at them either time when I saw them. Caught John heading up the bridge and was honestly surprised I caught anyone since I knew I gave up a ton on the swim and the T1 but he looked solid and seemed to be in good spirits. I let out a HUGE scream when I topped the bridge so happy to not cramp. I never shifted the fd, never got off the bike the entire 112. I have never cycled further than 100 miles on the bike and it had been many months since I had been that far.

Legs didn't feel great and the cramps seemed very close so I decided to not put my feet on top of the shoes for the dismount. The left leg was better and I thought I could get it un-clipped and try to avoid hitting the ground at the dismount line. Managed to stay off u-tube and give the bike to the volunteer as I entered T2- that was awesome!

I can't think of anything - I paced it about as I planned. My stuff wasn't numb so I was glad I got the fit right, took time to get out of aero, and wore the bike shorts.

I might drink a bit more between hand up 2 and 3. I don't think I drank at all in that section.

No Steak and Shake at T2 but again I was in no hurry. My legs told me the marathon was going to be hell.

Nothing

LOL - not much jogging or running here. I tried to get it going at a super slow pace and that didn't last very long. I was hoping to jog from about .5 mile in to my family at about 1.5 miles. I didn't make it that far before the significant cramps started. I was in pretty severe pain as I kissed each of my girls, my wife and hugged my dad. I told Keri "it is going to be a long day". I walked most of the marathon. The good news is I bought enough time with a decent swim and solid bike to walk the marathon. 26.2 is a long distance moving at a snail pace. I met a few great people including Pete an incredible Kona athlete who was having another KQ kinda day until the wheels fell off on the marathon about 1/2 way in. I walked with him and said goodbye as he headed for the finisher chute. RACHEL caught me as I needed to say goodbye to Pete and she stuck with me the entire second loop. This was a dark loop and it was nice to have someone to help pass the time. I never thought I would DNF if I made it that far. I was wrong. Without Rachel it would have been easy to focus on my misery and the constant cramping in my legs and call it quits. I told my dad "pain is temporary and quit is forever". Rachel asked me if I had ever DNFs before and I said no. I tried to talk Rachel into getting her PR at about 3 miles left on the marathon. Even with our pace on that second loop if she could have left me and jogged at 13' mile pace back to the chute she would have had her fastest IM. She would not leave me. I talked her into going down the chute first because I was not going to log a better time than my friend Rachel on this journey. The plan was for Rachel to find Keri in the chute and I would ran the chute to that spot, let Rachel finish and then come across. With the blinding light and screaming people we never found Keri but the chute was incredible. I high fived every person I could get to on both sides and couldn't be happier that my legs finally let me move. I had tried to jog it in from 3 miles and then 2 and no dice.

Find the cure to my cramps

Found Avery and Keri and finish line and then the crushing cramps started and would not end for hours. I had managed to keep them a way all day and here is where they found me and although they hurt I didn't care anymore. I was an IRONMAN.

Having my friends finish this race with me made a huge difference. Not only Rachel, but getting support from Will, Justin and John during the race was great. I saw a few others I knew and that was nice and helpful to see some folks having a good day. Having my dad at the race certainly was fantastic as well.


cramps


PERFECT place to complete your first Ironman. GREAT location, AWESOME volunteers, Fantastic support throughout including the community. So many friendly people that I had never met before. Transition / swag bag is better than the bag I was using in my races and I love it. The medal was all I came for and it was WORTH IT!!

One and done folks - been there, done that! I'll likely keep hitting the HIM distance until I finally have a solid race and that won't be until 2014 at Oilman - for now a long off season and then back to the sprints.