Ironman Florida - TriathlonFull Ironman

The swim was fun. I started really wide on the first lap of the swim...so wide, in fact, that I had about 100 yards to make up before the first bouy. I had clean water for most of the first lap and exited in just over 41 minutes. I was really happy with that. Got some water to wash the salt out of my mouth, and then saw my son and friends! I stopped and got a big hug from Carter, and then went off for lap 2. The waves were MUCH bigger during the 2nd lap, and it was MUCH more crowded. I got kicked in the mouth and punched a couple of times. I learned that a good swift breastroke kick causes the puncher to move away! :-). Didn't get clean water until I was on the way back in. Nevertheless, I felt really good about the swim - I cut 11 minutes off my time from IMKY 8 weeks ago!

Sight a little better on lap 1. I had a lot of ground to make up to make it to the first turn.

Transition was a CLUSTER! Nothing like changing with hundreds of your closest friends! UH. I couldn't find any place to put my stuff down to start the changing process, and had to wait for a couple of minutes. SAND SUCKS!

Take in a water bottle or something to help with sand removal.

Coming out of transition, I saw my entire family and friends, so I stopped with them for a couple of minutes. It was really good to see them! Got rolling down the beach towards the intracoastal bridge and noticed that my right hamstring/glut was tighning up. Not a good sign. I had a pretty good pace going (about 20-21mph). Passed some folks, got passed by some. Saw quite a bit of drafting going on - and saw some folks getting penalties (good for them). Had to stop once about 35 miles to stretch the leg; then again at special needs. I saw Jen and the kids again right before the turn-on to 231, so stopped and had a nice chat. Dumped the arm-warmers at that point. Literally FLEW down 231 (gotta love the tailwind)...averaged 24mph on this leg. Had to stop again after turning off 231 to stretch. Actually, I stopped at almost every aid station to either go to the bathroom or stretch...or both. Very bumpy section of road about 75 miles...dropped my GPS and had to walk 1/4 each way to pick it up and back to my bike. The last 25 miles or so on the bike were OK. I slowed down a little to save some energy for the run. Powered up the bridge (I actually saw 2 people walking their bike up the bridge), and made OK time heading back into T2.

I wish I had figured out a better way to stretch my hammy/glute. I stopped literally 7 or 8 times to stretch it out, so I lost quite a bit of time doing that. Also need to figure out a way to keep the GPS on...dropping it cost me A LOT of time.

This transition was a little smoother than the first. Had a helper who dumped out all my stuff and re-packed my bag, which was nice.

I had planned all along to do a walk/run approach to the marathon. On the drive over to PCB, I changed my mind from doing a .9 mile run/.1 mile walk approach to a 2 minute run/2 minute walk. I followed this strategy almost the entire run. There were a couple of instances where I walked 2 segments back to back. On the 2nd lap, I walked the entire way through the park because it was so dark I couldn't see the road -- I didn't want to trip or anything. I saw Jen and the kids 5x on the run. I can't say how wonderfully motivating that was! When I crossed past 18 miles (my end point at IMKY), I still felt really strong...and I knew that I was going to be an IRONMAN! I kept the pace going, and then ran the entire last mile in, enjoying the crowds!

Not sure. I liked the run-walk method. The result was a pretty slow marathon...but I felt pretty strong the whole way.

quick massage, couple pieces of pizza and BED!


The sore hammy/glute was a real downer - It bothered me on the entire bike, and I felt it for the entire run.


I really enjoyed this race. The set-up was OK...Not quite as nice as IMKY, but it's hard to duplicate 4th St. Live in Louisville. Some of the volunteer stations were really good (MASH unit, the female dominatrix, etc), but some were not so good. The spectators were great, and the folks in PCB are pretty friendly. Overall a good race, and one that I will do again (in 2011)!