Ironman Florida - TriathlonFull Ironman

Well, the first lap was great but I'm not sure what happened after that. I had a good run and after some dolphin diving I was at the fron, so there was no jostling, hitting punching or grabbing. After I settled in and drifted back a bit, I found some good feet and just cruised. The first lap was easy. After the first turn the waves were in our face but it wasn't bad and it was only for a couple of minutes. I hit the first timing mat in 28:36 and was really happy. I knew the second lap would be a bit slower with the beach run and because we had to swim on a diagonal out to the first buoy, but I was still looking at a sub :58 swim, which would be fine since I was going super easy.

I grabbed a cup of water from the table between laps and then headed out on the second lap. I had a bit of trouble getting my breathing under control from the HR spike from the run, but after that I was OK. Out to the turn bouy, glanced at my watch and noted that I was a bout a minute slower to this point on the second lap, which made sense because of the run and the diagonal. But after making the turn, I noticed how much choppier it was no than on the first lap. The swells had kicked up to probably 3-4 feet and were directly into me. That 200 meter leg to the next turn was hard. After making the final turn I started noticing the I was swimming off to the right (later I found out that there was a pretty stron east-to-west current running), so I ended up swimming a big arc back to the beach. OUt of the water, I hit the mat at 1:01---wtf? I was a full 4 minutes slower on the second lap, and 3 minutes slower on the last leg. It must have been the current, because I felt strong the whole swim. Oh well. No biggie. I was disappointed not to swim under an hour, though.

Swim straighter. Not forget Body Glide.

T1 was slow. Because it was so cold, I wanted to change into dry stuff so I wouldn't be rifing in 45 degree weather soaking wet. But damn it's hard putting on shorts, a jersey and arm warmers on not completely dry skin. Got out of the tent and it actually felt warm, so I immediately shed the vest I was wearing. Glad I opted against the leg warmers.

I was never cold on the bike, so I wished I had just warn my tri top and shorts under the wetsuit. It would have saved a lot of frustration and time in transition, but I was really afraid of being cold all day long. Maybe it was a good decision, because I was comfortable on the bike.

The first 6 miles to the turn were good. We had a tailwind and I was cruising super easy at about 21mph. Soooooper easy. Started thinking a bit about the long day ahead, but tried to keep those thoughts away and focus on immediate needs. Started drinking. After the right turn at 6 miles we were into a pretty strong head/crosswind and I noticed my speed dropped waaaaay off. I was struggling to go about 14mph. It wasn't a direct headwind, so it didn't make any sense that I was going so slow. I was working really hard, but I could not get my speed up, and people were flying past me (after I had only gotten passed twice in the first 6 miles, while passing ~10). I ate a gel, thinking maybe I was just flat. Didn't help. I started getting really discouraged that I was working that hard to go that slow, but I just sort of accepted that it was what it was, and put my head down and rode. At around the 23 mile point or so, we made a right turn to start what would be the most difficult part of the day--27 miles directly into a 15mph headwind with no breaks. I was feeling horrible, working hard and going slow and getting really down. At 25 miles I stopped to pee, got back on quickly and continued grinding it out. Ten miles later, the wind let up a bit and I could hear a grinding coming from the back of my bike. Great. I thought I had a flat so I stopped and checked the rear wheel.

I absolutely could not believe it. The tire was fine, but the brake pads were closed against the rim. The wheel wouldn't spin even a little.

So...remember that bar plug? It turns out that since it was so large it impinged on the brake lever so that when you squeeze the lever it didn't fully release. So when I made the right turn at 6 miles, after that, I had ridden 29 miles in the wind with my rear brake applied. So I opened the release on the caliper and forced open the brake lever which allowed the wheel to spin freely. Back on the bike, I was at once relieved but then really pissed that I had wasted so much energy and lost so much time. I fugure later that my speed was about 4mph slower than it was after I fixed the problem, and over 29 miles that equates to a time loss of about 28 minutes. But the problem was solved and my speed into the wind was up to 18+mph. Better, but I was reallly worried that all the extra energy I expended would come back to haunt me later.

After around 50 miles, we made a right turn and for the first time in hours had a tailwind. My speed was up to 24mph and I was flying. I went through halfway in 3:24 for right above a 16mph average. Pathetic due to the mechanical issue, but my average was coming up. I started getting some pretty severe pain in my neck, probably from being so tense in the first half of the bike. I concentrated on relaxing, but it made it very hard to ride in aero because it hurt so much to flex my neck. I was in a pretty bad car accident about 12 years ago which left me with some nice osteoarthritis due to a couple of compressed cervical vertebrae, and any strain on my neck causes pretty severe muscle pain.

So I started riding more and more out of aero. But other than that, the rest of the bike was pretty uneventful. I did try to eat and drink pretty much everything I could get my hands on due to working so hard so early. As a result, I stopped to pee a total of six times. And get this: literally two miles from transition, a girl 10 yards in front of me apprently grabbed her front brake hard for some reason and went over the bars. She hit the ground hard, but she had volunteers on her immediately. I hope she's all right.

Rolled into T2 looking everywhere for Amy and Nola, but I didn't see them.I got a little teary knowing I had made it through the hard part, and that I just had a little run left. I was really, really happy.

My second half was 29 minutes faster than my first half (2:55).

Have the right bar plug. Not ride 30 miles into the wind with my brake on. Not drink so much that I had to pee 6 times. Between all the peeing and the mecahnical, I figure I lost about 39 minutes on the bike. Annoying, but I had made it through.

Bike epilogiue: I couldn't believe the packs of drafters. Sure I had heard about it, but I guess you really don't believe it until you see it. How does an official on a bike tell 100 people in a pack to break it up? How does he call penalties on people in the middle of it? I was seriously tempted to latch onto one of them, esp. since they started passing me right after I fixed the brake issue. It was so tempting to sit in, recover and make up some time. But I'm glad I didn't. Those people aren't Ironmen. But I am.

OK transition, but slow. I grabbed my T2 bag, ran to the tent and found a chair. Sat down and grabbed the Red Bull I had stashed in the bag and chugged it down. It was soooo good. Got changed into my running stuff, though on the bucket hat and headed out looking for sunscreen. This is funny. I didn't notice Jess at all--ran right past her and heard her yell "JIIIIM!!!". Turned around and smiled my first really big smile of the day. I was so happy to see a friendly face. She gave me a ginormous hug, asked me how I was doing (great), told me how I looked (great), and I asked her if she would please sunscreen me up, whcich she did. Interesting note: I didn't put any sunscreen on up to that point, but didn't burn a bit. Lucky.


Not much. Maybe not miss Jess the first time.

I was so happy to be running. So happy. Out of T2 I was again looking everywhere for Amy and Nola, but again I didn't see them. It's funny, cause when I finally did see them right before the end of the first loop, the said I went right by them both at the end of the bike and the start of the run, and they shouted my name, but I never saw them. But, they have photographic proof so I guess I'll believe them.

I felt pretty good starting the run. My plan was to run 9 minutes and walk one (basically walking the aid stations). I probably could have run the whole thing, but I wanted to be conservative (there's a first), because I was deathly afraid of the wheels falling off at any second.

The first few miles clicked off easily. It was really nice being able to have conversations. The bike was sooo lonely, but now I could interact with other racers and it was awesome.

Close to the park on the first loop, I started really looking forward to seeing Amy and Nola since I hadn't seen them all day. ANd for the first time, I was really glad it was a two loop course. I started thinking "7 miles to the girls...6 miles to the girls...5 miles to the girls..." It really made the time fly. I was crusing along pretty easily through the park and giving all of the TNTers out on the course the "Go Team." I was regretting a bit that I wasn't sporting my TNT jersey (I did wear it on the bike), but at the same time I was really glad to fly the BT colors. Oh...and I gotta say, the bucket hat was a hit. It was really just an afterthought to wear it, cause I thought it would keep me a little warm when it started getting cold on the second lap. But man, I can't tell you how many "great hat" comments I got. There was one group of guys buy a van with a ton of beer who kept calling me bucket head. Every subsequent time I passed them they would shout "hey...here comes Bucket Head! Woohoo! Go Bucket Head." It sounds cheesy, but it was great. Everytime I got one of those little comments, I got a little jolt. And it must only be a fraction of the good vibes Aaron gets with his flag. I used to think his flag must really slow him down, and to think he could go so much faster without it. But now I know he must get an incredible boost from carrying it. Very cool.

But anyway...the return trip on the first lap was great. I saw Aaron and Debbie and Janelle and Sue and Tommy caught me and we ran and talked for a while, and Jess was on her bike, and Chris was at the corner, and Renee and Trigods and others were on Thomas Drive, and I saw (and stopped and talked to) a bunch of Atlanta TNTers I had mnet at Gulf Coast. It was great, and I was soaking it up.

And finally...the highlight of the day...right before the end of lap one, there were Amy and Nola! I shouted my lungs out at Nola, who ran up to me and gave me a big ol' hug and likewise to Amy. I was so unbelievably happy to see them, I had to choke back the tears. It was amazing finally seeing them. We chatted for probably 5 minutes and laughed and smiled. Amy gave me my phone so I could have it on the second lap to make sure I found them before the finish (so Nola could run across with me). And I was off. Made the turn for the second lap in 2:15, slower than I had hoped (I wanted to run 4:00), but it was OK since I was being so conservative.

Starting the second lap, it started getting dark and cold--really cold. Running by the special needs bags, I was really wishing I had packed one with something with long sleeves. And I also started doing some calculations. I knew that even if I walked the last 10 miles, I'd finish in under 13 hours. And that sounded good. So I decided to go from my 9/1 plan to 8/2, just to make sure I didn't lose it. Because I was still afraid of turning into Julie Moss somewhere out on the course. At around 15.5 miles, I saw Jess and Chris and asked them if they had anything with long sleeves, cause I was freezing. Without even thinking about it, Chris took off his jacket and handed it to me. He really saved my life, and I owe him big time. He's really a hell of a guy. I put the jacket on and it was heaven. I only wore it for a mile, but it really warmed me up and I felt great.

It was good and dark now, and in those last 10 miles I started thinking about how I had gotten here, and the IM lore I had always heard. Like, I had always heard that the IM marathon was the easiest marathon you'd ever run. I never believed it, because I've run a bunch, some faster and some slower. And no matter how fast of slow they always hurt like nobody's business. So how could a marathon run *after* racing for 7 hours already possibly be easier? But it turns out that IM marathons really are easier. The miles fly by, you're so happy to be off the bike. It's weird, but it wasn't hard at all. And I was finding that it really didn't hurt any more to run than it did to walk. So As I got within 10k of the finish, I started running more. It hurt, but it was a very bearable hurt. Six miles until I'm and Ironman. Five miles until I'm an Ironamn. Four miles. Three miles. I can see the lights at the finish. Two miles. There's Chris again! I handed him back his jacket with a million thanks. One mile to go. I can hear the finish. There are the TNTers! So many high fives. Turn and I can see it. Still a half mile to go, but so close. I make the turn heading up to the parking deck and there are thousands of people. I can see the Jumbotron, One last turn and the finish is 100 yards ahead. And there are Amy and Nola! I hug Amy and grab Nola's hand and we sprint...I can barely keep up with her. We break the tape, and it's so quiet. All I can hear is my little girl laughing and she says "you did it, Daddy!" And I smiled and picked her up and gave her a big sweaty hug and tell her "we did it, baby." And then the noise flooded back in. I have no idea if Mike Reilly said my name or not, but it didn't matter, cause Nola did.

Nothing. It was perfect.

Got my medal and the photographers were there. I wrestled Amy through the barricade so we could all get a picture together. Got my finisher's bag and Amy bought me a beer. Mmmmmm....beer.

We walked through the condos, back to the room and I took a great shower and bath. Went and got some dinner. I felt awesome, but didn't really feel like eating much of anything (I wouldn't get my appetite back for about 24 hours). Picked up my bike and gear and went to bed. I really wanted to go back out on the course, but my legs weren't having anything of it.



In retrospect, I probably didn't train enough. Strike that. I know I didn't train enough. Sure, I did all of the long stuff, but I definitely slacked on the mid-week stuff. I have excuses, but I'll save them I'll just say that training for IM is definitley harder than racing IM.

The first third of the bike definitely hurt me, both in time and energy lost. I know I ran slower because of the problem, but whatever. I'm an Ironman!


I just want to say thanks to everyone. To Amy and Nola for putting up with the training with smiles. And to all my BT friends. This really wouldn't be the same without all of you. I'm truly humbled to be a part of all of this.

And thanks for reading.