Ironman Florida - TriathlonFull Ironman

I decided to hold back as much as a minute, and let the fastest swimmers, and biggest mass of people enter the water first. I know that if I'm not careful, I can expend too much energy in the first couple of minutes, and really diminish my overall swim time as a result.

So I held back while talking with Ron Lane (another San Diego TCSD member).
We entered the water and it was still WAY crowded. Maybe I should not have bothered waiting quite so much. The first 25 yards everyone was trying to stay spaced out a little. It was good. But that didn't last...

I have heard/read some people say they didn't have much contact through the whole swim....I don't know about that. I was in full blown WWF most of the 1st 500 yards. Imagine 5-6 people trying to swim parallel in a lane at the pool...that was the scenario. Obviously you can't fit 5-6 across, soooo...you have stack people vertically ! Yes, we were all overlaid, tangled, trying not to abuse each other, but it was crazy.

I told Ron that I would block, and he would run. I tried to "gently" ease through the logjam and swim past the folks that were treading alot of water at that point (also not easy since you can't kick your legs out very far).

I got slapped, scratched (people....WHY are you going into this swim without trimming your nails ???), kicked, and I think I swam over a jellyfish that brushed my right armpit (it was all discolored with red welts after the swim).

It's funny all the stuff that goes through your head when you are swimming in a mass of 2200 people:

"Hey, watch it"
"Concentrate on what you are doing".
"OK, alternate stroke with head down, then 1 with head up to sight".
"Watch for the bouy line"
"Watch this guy on my right...he "looks" like he is going to cut me off!"
"Wow, you don't get THIS at the YMCA...:
"Concentrate on what's happening right around me, not 5 minutes from now".
"STAY IN THE MOMENT, DANNY - you only need to worry about what is happening RIGHT now."
"I wouldn't know an Endorphin if it bit me..."

Needless to say, it was hectic, it was exciting, alot of fun, and totally insane.

I can't wait to do it again. :)

The swim was one of my favorite parts of the day.

I didn't wear my goggle strap under my swim cap. I should have, because I got clawed, and kicked in the face several times and easily could have lost my goggles. 300 yards form the end of the 2nd lap, some guy came out of nowhere, sideswiped me, kicked me right across the face in the process, and knocked my nose clip off (I wear a nose clip, and ear plugs at every swim - love them).

I drifted pretty bad on the return leg of each loop and had to correct for it.

I swam 1:17, which is the same as what I swam at IMAZ, but between the initial delay, the major dukeout in the water, the slow line going up the beach at the turnaround, I'm pretty happy with the swim. I wanted to swim 1:10, but it was a good swim for me.

I meant to limit my T1 time to 10 minutes or less. I had decided to change into a dry, regular bike outfit, for max comfort. I spent a couple of minutes liberally applying Sportshield (like bodyglide) to all the "sensitive areas". At the end of the day, I had ZERO issues with chafing. That was very cool.

Speed it up. I again blew SO much time in transition....

I had a pretty good bike ride. My goal was to average 19.5. I was well above the on the 1st half of the ride and was feeling very comfortable/strong. I was trying to not go too hard, ride my pace, and just "stay at a good steady effort".

I was mostly passing others, and just occasionally being passed. COOL.

I saw a few people with wipeouts early on. There was a lady at mile 12, sitting on the side of the road, and her whole side of her face/chin was just major roadrash. That looked really painful. Said a quick prayer for her, and kept going.

There were alot of folks dealing with flats all day. I had no flats today (two IMs with no flats). I was very happy about that.

Stopped at the special needs bike station for about 2 minutes (probably 90 seconds longer than needed).

As soon as I came to a stop on the bike, my brother John pops up right in front of me and calls my name, I look up and he takes the picture. He says to me "You wouldn't believe how I had to work my a$$ off to get here to take this picture". My response "Funny, me too! "

I stopped once on the ride to use the bathroom. Waited in line for 3-4 minutes and then ran into the woods. I tried to respect the rules about not doing this, but it was just taking too long. Me and about 10 other men/women got to enjoy the local scenery together.

The last 30 miles on the bike were alot more windy, I was getting tired, and my feet were REALLY starting to hurt. I had a major hot spot going on the ball of each foot. I had a huge problem at IMAZ where my right foot was so sore when I got off the bike, I could hardly walk. I did SO many long training rides afterwards, with no problem, that I thought I was over this issue. And yet, my feet were KILLING me towards the end of the bike.

Saw Freddy (another San Diego TCSD member) throughout the ride. We encouraged each other some, and he listened to me grumble some... we finished the ride just a second or two apart.

I was so glad to get off my bike. I was worried again that my right foot was so sore that I seriously limped into T2. Not good...

I almost bought new bike shoes a few months ago, and didn't. I have had my current pair for almost 4 years. I think they are ready to be retired...

I had a bit of a headache towards the end of the ride. At IMAZ I was horribly dehydrated when I got off the bike, and I think I avoided that this time. I was a bit behind on my nutrition though. After my regular bike bottles got rotated/replaced with fluid bottles on the course, it was very hard to get the Perpetuem powder from the baggie, into my Aero bottle. Not a good plan, and need to rethink that one...

Still had a strong ride (for me and beat 6 hours).

A funny side note: I had my watch on the Chrono screen at one point and thought it was on the regular Clock screen. I was thinking it was 1:30 in the afternoon, instead of 12:00. I couldn't figure out where I had lost so much time, and that I should be farther up the course at 1:30....I had a good laugh when I realized my mistake...

I limped my way to my T2 bag and then to the tent....bummer...

I again did a complete change into a pair of running shorts, and dry top.
I lubed my feet and everything else really well.
Again, I had zero chafing issues after this race (feet and elsewhere).

I rubbed my right foot for a bit, and put some pain relief gel on it also.
Fresh socks, and my running shoes (which felt SO comfortable), and I was ready to go.

I let the volunteer put a industrial strength coating of sunscreen on (no sunburns all day either - yeah). Although my arms, shoulders, and neck looked like Tom Sawyer whitewashed me in T2....

I was using my watch to keep track of my T2 time. I looked down and it said 5:20. Cool. Unfortunately, I looked down later, and it said the same thing....OOPS.

I can't believe I was in T2 for so long (22 minutes). Oh well...

I was very tired going out for the run, but felt pretty good in general. Saw brother John, and walked/talked with him for a minute before heading out. It was great having him there.

Thanks Sherpa John !!!!

Go alot faster...

So I was pretty warm when I started the run. I grabbed ice form the 1st couple of aid stations and put in in my hat. That helped clear my head a bit, and kept me cool. The melting ice made a huge mess. I had a constant drip going...

Saw Kevin from TCSD during the 1st mile. We talked for a bit, then I set off on my blazing fast run :)

I felt pretty good the 1st loop of the run. I stopped at every aid station, and tried to take in some sort of fluid. I was carrying a bottle of Perpetuem mix with me also. I could not stand GU at that point, and only took in a couple on the run. I told myself I would keep taking my salt, but also did a bad job there. My nutrition plan pretty much fell apart on the run.... :(

I was jogging between 10 and 12 minute pace on lap 1 (as planned). I walked every aid station, so that slowed my pace down some more...

I saw some crazy BTers on the run course (Jess/Andrew...aka Zorro and the Pimp, WooHoo - you guys rocked....sorry for sweating all over you...not !! )

At the end of lap one, I got my special needs bag, sat down, stretched, got some sympathy from some little kid (I was a sympathy whore all day...), and then headed back out again.

As I said, my nutrition plan fell apart. I'm not sure if that was because I was feeling bad, of if I felt bad because of the spiraling nutrition plan. Either way, every time I ate or drank something, I felt like I was going to be sick. I entered into FearFactor resist barfing mode the rest of the run.

I still jogged almost non-stop (except for the aid stations). I walked for a couple of minutes at mile 19. I saw Elaine (TCSD) and she was doing great.

I knew I would not make 13:22 at this point. My only other IM (AZ) was 14:55, so my new plan was to beat 14 hours. I was now about 6 miles out, and had about 75 minutes to beat a 9pm finish. I figured a 12 minute pace most of the way would do the job.

I still stopped at every aid station, tried to drink, tried not to barf, regrouped by walking for a minute or two, and then set off to cover the next mile.

My side were hurting now, 4 miles to go, and I was sure my stomach had completely shut down and was not absorbing anything. Definitely dehydrated with 4 miles to go. It was around 8:10pm or so...I think I was in a time warp....

As I approached mile 25 I wasn't sure if I had reached the mile marker and was stressing on the time/distance left to make 9pm (my Garmin 305 had gone crazy and was only good for pace, not distance).

I asked a kind soul volunteer, who was standing his post there in the dark, where the 25 mile marker was. He pointed to a spot about 30 feet ahead. All I could say was "Thank you Lord !"

I walked for about 20 seconds, and looked at my watch. It was 8:46pm. I told myself, no problem. But then I remembered there was that pesky 0.2 miles at the end. And then I also remembered that my watch was about 40 seconds behind the official race clock. Oh crap. Now I was not exactly sure how much time I had to beat 9 pm.

I said to myself, "OK, let's do this." and started running. I didn't train my way back to health for the last 5 months to not finish strong.

Both of my sides were hurting - I think my kidneys were no longer were my friend.

I was grinding it out, but I knew I was almost done. I asked a few people for the time, to check my watch, but everyone else had varying times, so I just kept pushing for the finish.

I could hear the music, and the announcer, but they still seemed far away.
I kept hoping the last bit of adrenaline would kick in and carry me to the line. It wasn't happening yet. I was just "muscling" my way up the road.

I got to the beginning of the chute, where there were railings along the road. It still seemed pretty far. I was pressing pretty hard now, and wanted to be done. That chute went on FOREVER. I felt like I was starting to lose some steam running down the "Mother of all Chutes"...

I was groaning on every footstep now, and just needed to be done.

Finally I got to the start of the carpet before final part of the finish chute. This is when the surge of adrenaline finally hit, because I knew I would be done in a moment. I could finally read the clock. It read 13:56...and some change. I was so happy that my emotions started to surge also.

With 30 feet to go, I gave the crowd one pump of the arm with a clenched fist. I knew my family and friends were watching the video and seeing me finish. I knew my brother and friends were in the crowd somewhere cheering me that last little bit.

I came across that finish line at 13:57:04.

I worked so hard the last 3 miles, that I felt like I really "earned" that finish time.








Figure out my nutrition plan for a 12+ hour day better.

I came through the finish line, veered left, right, and then 2 catchers grabbed my arms. They walked me to sit outside medical to rest and make sure I was ok.

I told them I had promised myself I would not need to go to medical (I had to get 2 IV bags after the IMAZ race). They said OK, and we went to medical :).

Actually, I didn't get admitted, just observed.

After about 15 minutes of not feeling any better, I realized I had to be sick. The nice volunteer medic got me bucket, and I proceeded with 2 minutes of "power-retching". I have not barfed like that in YEARS. About 5 minutes later, I started to actually feel pretty good.

Brother John had brought beer to enjoy post race and stay until midnight. I couldn't handle the thought of it at that point. I tried to eat, but couldn't.

We went to the hotel where I passed out in my sweats and jacket..... I'd say that was a full day.


Needed to train more long day bricks, that last closer to 12 hours.

Better nutrition plan.


I loved this race, and would like to do it again some day.

PS - as I write this, I have already learned about Dorothy, who died 5 days after the race after succumbing during the swim at IMFL. It has been very sad yesterday and today learning of this.

I love this sport, and the community of people.
I know it's risky, and incredibly hard.
Having said that, I am just very distraught thinking about Dorothy, her family, and kids today.

Thanks for reading this long report, and reliving the day with me.

Danny