Ironman Florida - Triathlon

Out of the three sports, swimming is my weakest. I do alright. This was my first major mass start. Surprisingly I was not nervous at all. 3 of my team mates and I lined up in the front row of the 1:20-1:30 group. Gun went off and it was on. I had no problem getting out through the waves and breakers. Really didn't find clear water the whole first lap. Got hit and punched tons. Loved every moment of it. My goggles got kicked at one point and I thought I had lost them. I realized they were just about to come off the top of my head. Got those situated back on and went on my way. Came out came out of the water for the first lap at 37 minutes. Didn't walk back into the water for the first lap, I ran. I also had to push my way through the spectators to get back down the beach to where we started. Way faster to run than to enter the water where everyone else was and swim it. Had much cleaner water the second lap. Realized halfway through that my wrist felt really light. Stopped to see why and realized that my 910 had come off of the quick release. Oh well, would could I do. HTFU and do this. Looks like no pacing data for me the whole race. No other computer with me. Hit the beach and ran up towards transition. Wasn't going to get stripped, but we had some awesome teammates volunteering there. Ran up to two of them, they told me to get down, I said nope. Not getting sandy. So they picked me up and pulled it down. They so ROCK!

Off season will be working on my swimming technique. I felt like other than that being my limiting factor, I rocked it. Loved every moment of the MMA type of swimming that was going on.

Ran into the transition area. Got my shoes and helmet on in an area outside instead of inside the changing area. Still had to run through the changing tent to get to my bike though. I think I rushed a little too much here. I had my race belt with my run number and myathletelive tracking on it in the bag. I left it in the bag and forgot to put it on. Oops!

Maybe slow down a tad in order to make sure I have everything I need before heading out.

I was supposed to be going off of power for the bike. With no garmin though, I was riding blind. I am good with perceived effort though, so I just settled in and went. Passing people like crazy. Made sure to take my nutrition as often as I could. Had no concept of time of pace for the whole ride. Lots of drafting going on. I made sure to ride as clean as possible. I didn't think the special needs road was as bad as people said. I didn't stop the whole ride. I also didn't think the wind was that bad. Came off of the bike feeling awesome. Wasn't sure what that meant though. Did I go too slow? No clue.

Have a separate computer on my bike. I really don't think there is much I could do different. I had an awesome bike. Went faster than I planned, but it was entirely too hard to keep my planned pace without a watch.

Ran into the changing tent. Two volunteers came over to help. One asked what she could do. I told her how I left my run bib in the swim to bike bag. She was awesome she went and got it while the other volunteer helped me with everything else. Compression socks on, hair up, visor on, shoes on, race belt on.

nothing. The Volunteers Rocked!!

Got on to the run and just tried to settle into what I thought was my pace. I did run up beside a lady that I thought was running what I needed. But when I asked her pace, it was a little too slow, so on I went. My goal was to run everything but the aid stations no matter what. I accomplished this. Although towards the end it got a little harder. I had a bottle of infinite in my handheld, but frankly got tired of carrying it after a couple miles, so I threw it away to live off of the course. Every aid station I took water, coke and ice down the pants. Never felt hot the whole run. First loop felt great. Still had no concept of what time of day it was or how I was doing. Had about 9 teammates racing. It was awesome seeing them all on the run course. Came back up to the turnaround point to head back out to the second loop. Saw my fellow Frogs that were there to support. That was awesome and gave me a boost. Shortly after this, both quads started getting sore, maybe seizing a little. Made it out to the park. Ran into a teammate on his bike. So cool having so much support. He couldn't go into the park, so he waited till I got back. 6 miles to go, that is when I ran into him again. I finally had enough wits about me to ask him the time of day. He told me 5 something. That was the first time all day that I actually got an idea of how well I was doing. Because of my quads, I knew the run would slow down a bit. Kept to the plan though, only walk the aid stations. It just got a little harder to get started at the end of each aid station. Especially since it seemed like everyone on the course was walking at that point. But I mentally just made it happen.

Nothing. I could not go any faster.

Walked down and showered and then came back and hung out until a little after midnight. Loved being down at the finish chute when the last few people were coming through!


You know, I exceeded my expectations. I never felt like I had to dig deep to get through the race. I think that loosing my watch was probably the best thing that could have happened. Because it let me go by feel. I think had I had my watch, I would have maybe slowed down some out of caution.


Would just like to say that I had some Amazing sherpas for this race. They really made it seamless for me. So fortunate to be part of such an awesome group!