Ironman Florida - TriathlonFull Ironman

The first 1000 yards of the 2.4 mile swim wasn’t so much as a swim, but more like a crawl on the backs of other people. Each arm stroke hit someone else on the back, side or head. Since starting triathlon, I haven’t panicked since my first race at a small lake in Green Bay. I wasn’t even 400 yards in till I started panicking. I was able to calm down, told myself it’s no different than swimming in the pool or a lake, and I looked for a better spot in the water. Lots of angry people... if you got someone upset, you’d get an earful. Just kick hard, and no one *should* swim over me was my plan… it worked. The swim wasn’t as choppy as the day before, but there were still rolling waves. If you sighted on the under part of a wave, you couldn’t see the next buoy, the only way to see the next buoy was to sight when the wave reached its peak. I finished the first half of the swim in 31:15. Ironman Florida is a unique course in that you do two loops. The 2nd loop begins as you exit from the 1st loop, run on the beach, and go back into the ocean. There was actually an aid station on the beach. It was nice to grab a cup of water to wash out the salt water in my mouth. No way was I going to drink it though, as I knew I probably had a ton of salt from the ocean still in my mouth. The 2nd loop wasn’t nearly as bad as the first regarding the amount of traffic. I finished the rest of the 2.4 mile swim for a total of 1:05:41, taking in about 3 mouthfuls of salt water for the entire swim portion – beating my Louisville time which was 1:18:08.

Nothing! This is the first race I felt like I sighted well!

The first transition area was a mess of people. No seats left, I had to stand and change into dry cycling clothes. I wouldn’t have changed clothes if it weren’t so cold. I spent almost 16 minutes – mostly because I was making sure I wasn’t forgetting anything from my T1 bag in all the craziness. I finished T1 slower this year at 15:50 vs Louisville which I did in 8:04.

Not have a full change of clothes - if the temp is right - other than that, it went well considering everything else

Out of transition, I got on the bike for 112 miles. I could tell right away that I ingested some of the salt water and was a bit seasick. For the first 50 miles, I knew I had to eat to get some calories in, but man I sure didn’t feel like eating anything. It was a “draft fest” for the first 30 or so miles. Drafting off of other riders is something you can (and eventually will) get a penalty for. Around mile 50, my knee decided to give out a sharp pain, similar to an injury that happened 2 years ago. It only lasted a second, but about 5 or 10 miles later, I had two more sharp pains in the same spot. This can’t be good. But, on I continued. I wasn’t too worried about it since I could keep pedaling without pain. The turnaround point was on a bumpy road and I lost both of my spare tubes… although unknown at the time, I never would have needed them anyways since I didn’t get a flat, but I did take a risk by not going back to get them. Once I hit the turnaround, it was like riding in a wind tunnel. We had a strong headwind for the majority of the rest of the race… let alone, since reading about Ironman Florida, I’ve heard/read that it’s supposed to be generally flat. This year they changed the course. Not as flat as everyone made it seem. I guess they decided to add a few hills. Miles 60ish through 85ish were hilly… along with riding into a headwind. Lots of fast guys seemed to have “blown up” on the ride, probably pushing too hard of a gear, not knowing/planning for hills and a strong headwind. For the first 55 miles, I averaged 19.52 mph. For the next, with the hills and the wind, I averaged 18.28 mph. Once I hit the headwind, and knowing something might happen to my right knee to make it worse, I decided to slow down and spin instead of mash a heavy gear into a headwind. Once I started heading south, I was flying with the tailwind. Saw Brian, mom and dad between miles 90 to 100, which gave me the umph for the final push home. My average speed for the final 17 miles was 20.49 mph, at this point I was passing folks frequently. One guy pointed out that he’s seen me about 20 times throughout the day as I rode past him for the last stretch back to the 2nd transition. I finished the 112 mile bike in 5:50:09 – beating my Louisville time which was 5:55:54.

Not have issues with knee??

2nd transition went much smoother than the 1st , besides the sharp knife like stabbing pain in inner part of my knee that reminded me about the bike that just happened. I was able to sit down though… didn’t have to stand this time! Didn’t make a full clothes change, so my time was much quicker. I finished T2 in 8:06. Beat Louisville by a hair, which was 8:27. I started walking out of T2 since running hurt so bad. I knew it was going to be a cold, long night, so I brought a long sleeve with me, holding it bunched up in my hand.

Nothing, went well considering I couldn't run.

Besides my painful knee, the run was awesome. Unlike the bike, which was brutally boring, the run had tons of spectators, cheering everyone on – besides the state park at about mile 6.5 to 8.5 at the end of the bay, which didn’t have many spectators besides the aid stations. The first 3 to 4 miles was mainly me trying to figure out how long I could run, then how long I could minimally walk without further injuring my knee. It seemed that each time I started to run, I was only able to do so for a lesser time than the previous run interval. So, I started thinking about how to “fix” the problem instead of just dealing with it. I took my bunched up long sleeve shirt that was in my hand, and tied it tight a couple times around the bottom of my knee. Awesome… it worked - at least for the time being. A couple miles later – around mile 5-6, I noticed that my tied shirt was slipping down a bit, and it wasn’t working as well as it was at first. It was loosening. Crap. So, now I started looking off the side of the road for something to tie it with. I found a thrown out empty ice bag (one that must have held a ton of ice, it was a long bag). This is the first and probably last time I’m glad that someone littered – they just saved my marathon. I tied the bag on as tight as I could right below my knee, and with the left over ends, I wrapped it above my knee, and tied it tight, effectively creating a knee brace. A mile or so later, I added a sponge from one of the aid stations to keep the chafing to a minimum where the knots were. From this point on, I was finally able to “run”. After seeing dad and giving him a quick update at the halfway point at mile 13.1, I ran between aid stations (every mile), and walked when I reached each station to eat/drink whatever sounded good. I ate a lot of orange slices, pretzels, a couple cookies, and probably 13 cups of hot – sometimes warm – chicken broth (tasted awesome by the way, especially since it was so cold). I finished the run in 5:22:46, beating my Louisville time which was 5:32:47! By the time I made it to the finish line, I tried ripping off my “knee brace” but could only undo the top part. I had it so tight below my knee I couldn’t get it off – I spent what seemed like 10 minutes about 100 yards from the finish line – when it was probably only 20 seconds. I couldn’t believe it when I saw the time clock at the finish line at a sub 13 hour Ironman! My total finish time was 12:42:32, vs 13:03:20!!! The crowd at the finish line was awesome, and made the final burst to the finish line that much memorable. I thought my ITBS would start again, but it didn’t, I was afraid that my stress fracture in my foot just 8 weeks before the race would hurt again, but it didn’t. An injury returned from 2 years ago, and I had no idea that was going to happen, but I was able to get through it. All in all, I couldn’t be happier with that. I felt 10 times better than when I finished Louisville. Thankfully no limping! My nutrition was spot on this time, and my support crew was awesome.

Nothing, besides not come into the race with an injury, and be confident that I won't have any more knee issues. I'm happy with how it went.

I went back to the hotel, cleaned up, picked up some Micky D’s (thus remembered how nasty the fries are), then watched the final finishers come through, which is the best part of Ironman. It’s totally inspiring to watch everyone after 16+ hours of constant moving. A 73 year old came through at about 16 hours and 45 minutes! The last finisher finished about 30 seconds before the midnight cutoff. Can you imagine going 140.6 miles and being just 30 seconds from not being able to be considered an Ironman? No excuses.


Knee injury during race, stress fracture and ITBS during training


The next day was time to enjoy the beach, and hang out with my uncle. We bought some beer after pigging out on Mexican and ice cream, and I was out cold after drinking half of the 24 ounce bottle… ouch! Thanks to my family, friends and coworkers that put up with me through all the training, I know it’s annoying sometimes, but it’s what I do. You’ll be glad to know that I’m taking a year off from long distance triathlons ;-)