Ironman Florida - TriathlonFull Ironman

My only goal was to stay safe and swim under control. I might have taken that too far. I never swam hard, just easy. I found myself stopping frequently to let others go by, but rarely drafted behind anyone. I started with my sister, we finished the first lap together, and finished within 30 seconds of eachother. I hit my goal time, but really feel like I could have been 5-7 minutes faster. I started near the back of the pack, could have picked up a couple of minutes simply by starting sooner. I saw 1 jelly fish and to sting rays.

I wouldn't be so concerned with the Mass Start. Being so far back after the swim, I really felt like I was "behind" the race.

I skipped the wet suit strippers, I didn't want to lay down in the sand. My bag was in the first row, I took my suit off next to my bag and ran to the changing room. I only needed to put on my socks, shoes, jersey, sunglasses, and helmet. I decided to skip the gloves. There were no volunteers ready to help, but plenty of seating. I forgot my salt tabs, but had backups on the bike.

Look for a volunteer to help. The jersey didn't want to go on and I probably wouldn't have forgotten my nutrition. I wanted to eat a little, but I left everything in T1.

I passed over 500 people, that told me how bad my swim was. Being in the back had it's benefit, I got a little help from others as I passed them.

I stopped 4 times to use the restroom. I lost 9 minutes. I was worried that because of the heat, I'd dehydrate. I lost my remaining salt tabs at special needs, so I started using gels instead of bonkbars. I don't know if that was a good idea.

I guess I would drink less, keep more salt tabs on me, maybe put some in my special needs bag.

I feel like I had a good T2. I learned from my T1 mistakes. I found a volunteer. Had him lay out my shoes and socks, while I had a drink and lubed my toes. I just changed my socks, shoes, then grabbed my hat and ran out the door. I took a small water bottle to drink the first mile of the run.

With about 20 miles left in the ride, I started to have trouble breathing. I don't know if it was the humidity, but it wasn't fun. My HR was good, my legs felt great, I just couldn't take a deep breath.

I wanted to run the marathon in under 5 hours and I really felt like my legs were going to let me do it, but I just got harder and harder to breath.

Going into the run, I was in 4th place in the Team Kick Kaas Race. My closest brother was 37 minutes in front of me. I knew I would be in 4th place, but I was hoping to be much closer.

I was able to run/jog 22 of the 26 miles. I had 2 long walking sections, all other walking was just through the aid stations.

I ended up catching my brother at my 25 and we decided to finish together. He was walking at that point, I had averaged about a 10:30pace since mile 20, but figured that it would be better to finish together than me pass him and finish just a couple of minutes ahead.

I need to figure out what was going on with my lungs. I don't know if it was nutrition/hydration or the humidity. I'm from the desert in Southern California, we don't have humidity. I was/am very frustrated with my run, I've registered for a marathon, just to prove to myself that I can run a marathon.

None, I crossed the line, went to get some food, but couldn't eat. I was still having a hard time breathing. Walked back to Alvin's to watch the rest of the family/Team Kick Kaas finish the race. I laid down on the side of road and tried to catch my breath.


This was my first Ironman branded race, it was nice, but it didn't meet my expectations. Maybe I was just too disappointed with my race performance.