Ironman Florida - TriathlonFull Ironman

It was so cold before the race. Once you got in the water it was fine but until you got in it was cold.

I really had fun on this swim. Marcy and I started together. We seeded ourselves toward the middle back on the buoy line. After the gun went off we walked out for about 1 minute before we started swimming. It was wall to wall people. I just swam easy and tried not to hurt anybody and avoid punches. It was fun, sometimes you would come to a stop and have to pick out a spot to move forward. Because of the crowd, I was forced to swim a perfect line. I was within 10 feet of every buoy and made a 90 degree turn at the end. The way back in wasn't as smooth but the crowd actaully helped me directionally. I made the first lap in 39:56. Thats 5 minutes better than I did it in May. The second loop was way less crowded and the waves picked up a good bit. I didn't site well on the way in and was 7 minutes slower than the first. I was 15 minutes ahead of what I expected at that point. I was very pleased with how calm I was throughout the swim. I bet I didn't kick 10 times in 2 laps.

Site better and swim faster so I am done before the surf picks up.

This was not the best part of my race. I came out of the water, got stripped and found my glasses quickly. Walked briskly toward transition, stood under shower a few seconds than made my way to the tent. A volunteer found my bag quickly. I went into the tent and was awestruck. There were people and stuff everywhere. I wanted a chair, so I waited for someone to get up. I had put way to much stuff in my bag. I had several shirts to choose from along with all my nutrition, shoes, helmet, sunglasses. I didn't have anywhere to pour it out and I almost went outside but then realized I had to take off my shorts so I stayed inside. I had to pick through the bag so it took too long. I left with my nutrition and ran to my bike. A volunteer handed it to me and he put my nutrition in my pockets. I wheeled out and I was on my way.

Keep it simple stupid. I would have wore my tri shorts under my wetsuit and changed outside where there was open space. I also would reduce the amount of nutrition I would carry with me and not put any stuff that I just might want in the bag.

Good ride. Plan was to bring HR down to 130 and it was there when I got on the bike. After that the plan was to keep HR under 140 except on bridges. I followed that plan all day. The headwinds were tough on the first 50 miles. My nutrition plan was rice krispies and granola bars along with Gatorade Endurance and water. I stuck to that plan for the first 50 and then I switched to banana's the rest of the way. I caught Marcy at mile 37, I passed her and didn't see her. She called as I was going by. I dropped back and chatted a minute then back to racing. Stopped again at special needs. Sorted through the bag with too much stuff in it, ate PBJ sandwich, got rid of some nutrition that I had in my pocket, peed and left. Made a right turn into tailwind heavan. I was going 25 before I knew it. I resisted the urge to push harder and stayed in the 135 HR. Peed again at mile 68. Caught Frank at mile 80 and chatted a minute then moved on. I stopped to pee again at mile 90, did I mention I was well hydrated? I caught Frank again at mile 95 while he was peeing. I saw a lot of BT'ers along the way and saw and heard Kathy G screaming as I went by. When I made the turn back toward the end, I was estatic. I climbed the bridge with no issues and even passed a couple people. When I hit the beach road, I eased up on the gearing and spun the legs out to help on the run. I was pleasantly surprised by the lack of drafting. I have heard horror stories about packs riding in a pace line. I never saw that. The course is crowded but people didn't appear to be openly drafting. Saw the marshalls a dozen times and only saw one biker pulled over. I was very happy with my ride. I know i can go faster but I knew I had to run a marathon. I slid my feet out of the pedals with 100 yards to go and looked at my watch, 2:57 PM. I had 9 hours left to do a marathon, WOO HOO!

Special needs doesn't need a change of clothes and a bunch of nutrition. Banana's and gatorade and a few treats are all I need. I wouldn't pee so much either. I was wearing new gloves and they somehow hit the stop button on my watch and I lost 2 hours of race time before I noticed it was stopped, not a big deal but I had to click over to the time of day function to figure out my total time the rest of the way.

Walked quickly to get bag from volunteer and then to the tent. It was crowded again but not as bad as after the swim. Sat down next to a friend Paolo and said hi. I changed shorts and shirt, and glasses. Put on new socks and shoes and grabbed my gue. Frank was coming in as I left and I saw Millertime (Matt) volunteering away. Stopped and shook Matts hand and thanked him. Then I stopped at portapotties to pee again, then I was off.

This was still slow but I took my time and got mentally right for the run. Only thing I would do different is not have so much stuff in my transition bag.

Wow, It wsa just after 3 oclock and I felt ready to run. My plan was to run as long as I could, then run walk the rest of the way. I was around 30 minutes ahead of where I expected to be at this point. I was so happy. I knew Dave and Frank were close to me and Marcy should be about a half hour back and I would see her on the run.


Started the run and clicked off the first mile just under 12 minutes and the HR was around 130. The crowds were screaming my name as I went out on the run (I am not really famous, but name is on my number). I felt fine and my pace was pretty even for the firsr 8 miles. Frank caught me in the 2nd mile and then I saw so many people, DB8 caming roaring passed yelling go Manatee, followed shortly by Aaron and the flag. I saw Marcy when I was coming out of the park the first time. That meant she was 35 minutes back and I would get to see her 3 more times on the run. Stopped to make out a minute and another runner said he wanted a kiss. Marcy told me to kiss him but he ran away really fast. Marcy looked great and was still running. Did I mention, that I was really happy. Saw Kathy and Christine around mile 10 (?). They were wonderful inspiration. Then I run into Chris and Jess. Chris made me stop for a picture and then I stopped by Jess's kissing booth, sweet! The crowd support near the turnaround was awesome.

My pace started to weaken around mile 10 and I began the drudgery of run, then walk. When I hit the turnaround it was 6:00PM. I had 6 hours to do 13.1 miles, piece of cake!!!! I was hurting pretty bad. My nutrition was a smorgasbord. I carried my amphipod and kept it filled with water and had Gatorade Endurance every other mile. I had a gue at mile 6 and a banana around 8. I wanted to save the coke and chicken broth till I really needed it, which was around mile 15. After that I ate something at every aid station, I had chicken broth, cookies, pretzels, banana's. My stomach was solid the whole way.

I saw Marcy again about a mile past the turnaround, another kiss. She was holding her time and still looked great. Saw Janelle and she was running strong. I knew she would catch me soon. The Iron Peloton was all present and accounted for. Frank was turning in his usual strong run and Dave was solid too.

The last 13.1 miles were so long. At mile 16.3 I entered uncharted territory. That was the distance of my longest training run and from there on was gut check time. I saw Marcy again as I exited the park, she was walking all alone and was suffering the same as I was. She was about 40 minutes back but knew she could make it.

Mile 20 was a blistering 19:44 and I told myself, you can keep this under 20 minutes a mile dude, time to cowboy up and finish. From 21 to 25 I was consistently in the 18 minute range. I started running a little more as walking hurt more than running. Again, the support along the route was awesome. You were running through dark neighborhoods and really had to watch where you were going but then you would see someone along the route encouraging you and it made you feel so good. When I turned onto Thomas Drive for the last time, I told myself run like you mean it here and picked up the pace. Running up the ramp was a blur, the crowd was amazing, music blaring, I felt like a celebrity. Then they announce your name. Then they tell you what you already know, I am an Ironman.

I am not sure of what I could have done different. I would like to be faster but I did what I expected based on my training so I can't complain.

Got dechipped and pictured than was given a plastic thing to keep me warm. It didn't really work. I walked around with Frank, Dave and Jennifer (Franks wife who drove in that morning) told them Marcy would be 25 to 35 minutes back. It was so cold. My brother called Dave and congradulated us. We waited for Marcy and then saw her coming up the ramp. She finished strong and we were all present and accounted for. I didn't get a massage. It was so cold and windy and we were all shivering. We watched people come in for a few minutess and decided to get our stuff and go back to the room and watch the end on the net.


A lot of hard living and a really bad ankle!


This was an incredible experience. I ran out of adjectives earlier in the report, but its awesome.

Training for this race was so challenging. I was so lucky to have a group of close friends who kept each other going when it was too cold, or too windy, or too hot, or whatever. The support of my BT friends was awesome as well. It was cool to meet so many BT'ers and very uplifting to hear them yell Go Manatee!

Iron Peloton Results

Frank 12:04:03
Dave 13:20:16
Ken 14.53:26
Marcy 15.22:13