Ironman Florida - TriathlonFull Ironman

The pros started about 10min before we did so it was fun to watch them go out first and see how they approached things. Once they were gone, the mood on the beach changed as people realized this was about to start. That was when the butterflies really set in for me. Promptly at 7:00AM, the gun went off for my race. It was a mad dash for all 2,200 people running into the ocean for the swim at the same time. The course went straight out from the beach along a series of buoys. At the last buoy you turned left and then at the next buoy you reached, you turned left again and followed another series of buoys into the shore - a rectangle. When you got to the shore, you ran onto the beach and down a little ways and then jumped back into the water to do the course one more time.

I tried to position myself about halfway back in the pack and halfway down the beach to the outside of the buoys. The plan was to swim toward the outside and take the turn at the end buoy wide to avoid the traffic jam that happens there when 2,200 people try to make a left turn in a 5yd lane. The plan didn't work. I misjudged the current and ended up inside the buoys (inside the rectangle). That was great once I got free of the crowd toward the end of the first straightaway, but got bad when I had to turn left at the buoy. There was a LOT of contact out there. I must have had at least 100 people stick their hands in my feet, hit me, or try to swim over my back. Fortunately, I never had contact in the head, never got the goggles knocked loose, and my defensive swimming (karate kicks and elbows for people who tried to swim on top of me) worked. The waves were challenging. Especially so as we turned and went across out at the top of the rectangle. It was difficult to sight because the waves were tall enough that you couldn't see over them to see the buoy you were trying to swim to and the sun was directly in your eyes on that length so you were essentially swimming blind. Once I got on the straightaway back to the beach I was able find some space and then find someone to draft off of and get into a nice rhythm. As I got close to the beach, the water was extremely clear and it looked like I was close enough to touch the bottom. I tried to stand up but wasn't even close to touching. When I kicked my legs out to stand up and didn't hit the ground, my hamstring knotted up big time. Oh no. If I was cramping now, was I going to have to deal with this all day???? I had to run down the beach without bending my legs so they wouldn't cramp again, jumped back in the water after getting a quick sip of freshwater to rinse the saltwater out of my mouth, and jumped back in for lap 2. The first lap was 36min - about as good as I could have expected. My heart rate was in the low 170s as I ran across the beach but I knew it spiked when I got out of the water, so was ok with that.

I swam the first half of the next loop without my legs so I wouldn't cramp up and then they started feeling better and I began kicking again. The traffic wasn't as heavy on this lap, so the biggest problems I had were with people who couldn't site and were swimming diagonal or sideways and going off course. I would just let them pass (if they wanted to swim to Alabama, that's ok with me - helps my finishing stats). The waves seemed even worse on the second lap, but the reduced traffic helped to deal with them. On the home stretch back to the beach, I was swimming along nicely with no one around me (the current had pushed me to the outside, but I was ok with that since I was able to get some rhythm again) and bam - all of a sudden my nose was on fire. A few seconds later, my forehead had the same thing. Something had gotten/stung me. Not sure what, but whatever it was subsided by the time I got out of the water and to transition. I also had to dodge another big jellyfish on the way in - very close call.

Got out of the water and took the wetsuit half off as I ran up the beach. At the Ironman events, they have "peelers" on the beach to help you get your wetsuit off, so when I reached them, I laid down on my back, put my feet in the air and then some girl struggled for what seemed like 5min but was probably about 5 seconds to actually pull the wetsuit off over my feet. Mission accomplished I grabbed the wetsuit from her and ran to get my gear bag and head into the transition tent.

The bonus was when my Dad told me after the race that I got out of the water shortly after one of the pros - and they had a 10min head start on me.

Overall, really happy with the final time.

Happy with everything except where I started laterally on the beach. Next time, I would go farther outside, but stay at the same depth of people. That should allow you to swim straight up the outside of the bouys and take the turn wide.

The transition tent was CRAZY. It wasn't that big and was overfilled with guys trying to put on the stuff they were wearing for the bike ride. You could barely move in there let alone find a place to sit down to put socks on. I didn't rush it too much, finally found a chair, put my jersey, shoes and helmet on and then went out the door.


Maybe wear a tri jersey so I didn't have to put the shirt on, otherwise, nada.

Because I participated in the Janus Charity Challenge, I got a great transition spot (at least I think that's why I got it) - right near the transition exit just behind the pros. Found the bike and got out of transition, jumped on and was off for 112miles. The course starts by following the road down the beach, then takes a bridge over the bay and out into the country for one big loop. Very quickly, I realized this was going to be a challenging ride. Combine a wind chill in the 30s, with limited clothing (didn't realize it was going to be that cold), and moving along at 13-21mph and it is FREEZING. For the first 50miles we rode straight into a headwind. On roads that with a normal day I might ride between 18-21mph, I was riding 13-17mph. Mentally, this was pretty challenging because I don't know if or when it might end - the wind that is. At one point I was having some comfort issues in the promised land and thought if I adjusted I'd be ok. I hadn't had any comfort issues in training. When I reached down to make an adjustment, I realized that my man was frozen. Never had that happen before - very weird.

The plan was to keep my HR in the 140s as much as possible so that I wouldn't have any issues eating half a clif bar and one pack of GU each hour (not to mention I had to save some in the tank for the marathon I was going to have to run). I was drinking pretty liberally (alternating water and Gatorade) but not too much and taking endurolytes for sodium and electrolyte replacement about one an hour. I carried my own Clif Bars since they were serving powerbars on course. I also carried my own GU even though they were serving GU too. Wanted to make sure I had a flavor I liked - Banana Blitz.

To stick to the plan I had to keep the speeds down. The bike course was pretty crowded. In Ironman races, you're not allowed to draft behind other riders on the bike. It is supposed to be solely up to your abilities with no outside advantages. There are marshals that patrol the course to enforce the drafting rules. There were many times when it was tough to make sure you weren't doing something illegal purely because of the congestion on the course. If the marshal catches you you've got to pull over in one of the penalty tents to serve your time penalty. I had heard about rampant drafting in this race but am happy to report I didn't see that much of it.

I started realizing I must have had a pretty decent swim about 20miles out on the bike. Hundreds of people were passing me. Since I know I'm not the world's strongest rider, I took it as a moral victory that I crushed these shaved leg guys with $5,000-$10,000 bikes in the swim. Special needs was at mile 48 on this race. I had put an extra tire, CO2 and a clif bar in this bag. Didn't need it so was able to ride right through it.

When we hit mile 50 we made a right turn that was the best right turn I've ever made in my entire life! Out of the headwind and on a very slight downhill. All of a sudden I went from 13-16mph to 21+mph while still keeping the heart rate in the 140s. I could also hear things now since the headwind wasn't screaming in my ears - and realized that my front brakes had been rubbing the tire for the whole first 50miles. Couldn't believe I had been fighting my own brakes out there in addition to the wind. Rather than getting off the bike to adjust the brakes, I just flipped them off so that they weren't touching the tire (figured I wouldn't need them anyway). As we got to probably mile 60-70, the condition of the roads deteriorated, so it was a bit of a bumpy ride. However, the traffic congestion died down as people started to spread out, so I'll take it. There were still pockets of wind but nothing like the first 50 miles. The aid stations on the bike course were great. They were spaced well - about every 10-12 miles - and had everything you could need, including port-a-potty's. I only had to stop once on the bike. Not a ton of spectators on the bike course but enough spread out to keep it interesting. Several were hopping from spot to spot and was able to see them several times.

I was getting questions from people on the bike course about my race number. It was green but everyone one else was orange. People kept asking me what the green meant. I hadn't even realized it was green and for the first few people told them I didn't know. Then I got tired of people asking me so I started telling them it meant I was a pro - got some funny looks, it was pretty entertaining.

During the last 20miles of the bike, I actually started passing a few people back, so that felt good. On this course, you go back over the bridge into Panama City Beach around mile 100 and ride for a few miles before you get back on the beach road. That's when the wind kicked back in full force. As we hit the beach road it felt like riding in a wind tunnel. Unfortunately, that's where my ego got me a little bit. I started seeing people in my age group and realizing that passing them would help my position in the age group bike standings, so rode a little harder than I should have for the last 5-6 miles. Also was passing any 50 and 60 yr olds I saw no matter how hard I had to pedal so that my Dad and brother wouldn't give me grief about seeing them jump off their bikes ahead of me!

All in all a very good bike considering the conditions. Stuck to the heart rate and nutrition plan and felt pretty good getting off the bike. Had a goal of 16mph and averaged over 17 while staying in the zone. Makes me wonder how much time I could have shaved off if the day hadn't been so windy...

In hindsight, I should have brought more gear with me down to Florida. You've really got to be prepared for anything weather wise and I wasn't.

Didn't quite know how I'd feel as I got off the bike. My longest training ride was 100 miles and I only did that once. Amazingly, I felt great! As I went into the transition area, I was able to jog to pick up my run gear bag and noticed several others who were looking pretty gimpy. The transition tent was much better this time - not as crowded. A volunteer, helped me dump everything out of my bag and pack the old bike stuff back in it. As I left the tent another volunteer put sunscreen on me as I was starting the run.

Nada

I couldn't believe how good I felt coming out of transition! The run course is a two loop course. Starting at the transition area, it goes along the beach roads, cuts into a neighborhood, comes back to beach roads, and then heads into the state park at the end of the island where you get to the turnaround point and head back the same way you came.

I accomplished one of my other goals at this point - start my run before the winner of the race finishes their race. I passed the winner coming down the home stretch about 4/10 mile from the finish line - I "beat" him. I saw my cheering crew at about mile .5 or so. They set up shop right outside our condo building - so our location couldn't have been much better. Stopped to get high fives and a kiss and then was off to run the first of two half-marathons. My strategy was to keep the HR in the 150s and to run the first 3 miles without stopping and then reevaluate and walk the aid stations which were spaced about a mile apart. As I hit the first mile marker, I looked at the watch and it was a 9min mile. Too fast to stick to my plan the whole way through. I was shooting for a 12min/mile pace figuring I would do some walking. Tried to slow it down but still kept doing 9:30'ish miles. Started walking the aid stations at mile 3. These stations were great as well. The volunteers were awesome. I was able to keep up this process of walking aid stations for pretty much the whole first loop. At the aid stations, I would alternate - one station take water, the next gatorade throughout. Only had 2 of my GUs on the run and none of the clif bars. I started realizing how hungry I was about halfway through that loop. So, I started grabbing pretzels as I passed aid stations - they helped a ton and wouldn't upset my stomach. By the end of the first loop I was starting to struggle a little bit. My belly was sloshing around something fierce from all the water and Gatorade I had ingested and I still felt starving. I stopped at the port a potties about 4 times total on the run. I tried a flat coke at one of the aid stations and that was awful. It reminded me of when I was a little kid and my Mom would give me coke to try to help after I had been sick/thrown up - not a good memory at this stage in the game. At the last aid station for the first loop I got chicken broth and water - that did the trick. So, I walked from that aid station to my cheering crew drinking my dinner. It was a nice walk break that finished when I got to the crew. Chatted for a couple secs with them and then ran to the turnaround to start the second half-marathon.

The two loop course was nice because people couldn't really get spread out or isolated. You were always around other participants (and you could always spot someone who looked worse than you felt to make you feel better). One of the tough parts about the two loop setup is that when you finish the first loop you turn right near the finish line and can hear the cheers and announcements for others who are finishing. You have the opportunity to get things out of a special needs bag you filled when you get to the halfway point of the race. I stopped and put my jacket on because, once again, it was getting very cold. Was going to change socks but didn't because the feet felt fine. Because sunset is so early this time of year in PCB (4:54 or something like that), they handed me a glow stick when I started the second loop. It was about to get real dark. During mile 14, struck up a conversation with a guy running my pace about hamburgers. It was amazing how hungry I got. Hadn't thought about the prospect of going 13-14 hours with no real food (by real I mean burgers or sub sandwiches). Our conversation sounded something like a Survivor reality show episode - "when I get back to civilization, I'm going to have a hamburger. Well I'm going to have cheese. I'm going to have pickles. I'm getting fries. I'm getting a frosty..."

At about mile 15 or 16 I started taking walk breaks between the aid stations because the legs were getting really tired at this point. When I got back to the park for the second go around it was pitch black out. They had lights set up in the park but typically only at aid stations. Fortunately, it was the night before a full moon, so there was a little natural light to help. At this point, I started to get a little disoriented and wobbly. I'm not sure if it was the lights playing tricks on my eyes or what, but that was the one time that I got scared about not finishing. I started to feel like I was losing my balance a little bit and veered to the right and left a little bit. At that point, I decided to walk the entire park to try and get my senses back. Met a couple of interesting people in the during that second loop in the park - a 53yo Navy guy from Nashville who was doing his third Ironman - he was on his first lap. He had signed up with 4 buddies but he's the only one who showed up at the starting line. Also a 57yo guy from Des Moines who just started doing triathlons this year and has done 8 including the Ironman - turns out his daughter was coming to UGA (my alma mater) for college and he had done work with my business school in the past.

Once I got out of the park, I started running again, but it was challenging at best. As I got back into one of the neighborhood sections, had to start the speed walking again (couldn't keep up with the lady speed walkers, though). Worked the aid stations for pretzels and chicken broth. When I got to mile 20, I finally gave in to the cookies they were offering at the aid stations. I figured if they were going to mess up my stomach, I could deal with it for 5 miles. They didn't and they tasted great. As I got out of the neighborhood and back to beach roads, I started running again, mixed in some walking and ran some more. Had one final walk break before the final mile - didn't want to walk it in with all those crowds. Started running and didn't stop.

First half of the run was good, second half not as good. Overall, pretty close to my goal pace.

Push myself more on the second lap - my mind was probably my biggest limiter on that lap. Maybe take a bit more GU during the run as well.

As I started to run up the finishing chute, it was an amazing feeling. The crowd was awesome, there were tons of lights, music blasting and the announcer was talking it up! As I turned the final corner, I saw my crew! They had somehow managed to get position A (and B) in the crowd. Katie and my niece Ami were standing inside the fence and ready to run the last 20yds with me to the finish line. It was very cool! We ran to the finish, heard the announcer call me out (of course he said I was from Dracula GA instead of Dacula GA) and ran through the tape together! A little bummed that Mike Reilly was evidently on break when I came through so it was someone else who called my name. They even lowered the tape so the girls could break through it. One of the finish line volunteers quickly grabbed me to make sure I was coherent and not about to pass out. Told him I was good, got my bag of goodies and then a volunteer helped me change into dry clothes. What an amazing experience! I thought I would have wanted to hang out at the finish, but with the kids being beat from being out there cheering me all day and me starving for the cheeseburger I couldn't stop thinking about for the last 3hrs, we decided to head back to the condo. Dad came with me to help me get my gear and we walked back together. I took my stuff upstairs and he graciously stopped at the Wendy's across from our condo and got me my order - a triple cheeseburger meal with fries and a large drink and a single cheeseburger meal with fries and another large drink. Once back in the condo, I polished off both and we all talked about the day.

BEST part of the finish - The song playing when I crossed the line - Rod Stewart - "If you think I'm sexy, and you want my body, come on sugar let me know..."!!!!!


Probably just more training on the bike and run. I had omitted a few long runs do to work and travel. Could have done more mileage one the bike too in order to set myself up even better for the run.


I am an Ironman! Great Race. It all hit me as I was walking back to the condo and a teenager saw me and asked: "Hey dude, how's it feel to be an Ironman?"

Pretty Damn Good!!