Ironman Florida - TriathlonFull Ironman

I kept my flipflops on and left them at the swim exit. I didn't want to run on concrete because I knew that would be uncomfortable. I hid them under a bush just beside where the freshwater showers were! I was actually crying my eyes out when it was time to line up. I've never been so scared, yet expectant/anxious before. It was like being dropped off at Kindergarten again. Somehow I didn't want to leave the comfortable position of having my brother's arm around me. So when it was time, I had to go. It was difficult to come to terms with the fact that I was gonna be out there for 12 hours or more, giving it the craziest effort I could ever give.

The professionals went off 10 minutes before us age groupers. When it was time to go, all thoughts of "I can't do this, this is 3.8 km - are you crazy, Arthur?!" just left me and I went. I got sucked into a vacuum and was swimming at a very fast pace. I hit the buoy for the left turn 2 minutes earlier than my practice swim two days ago. Around that first turn, I could feel like I was being pushed under water repeatedly. It was so congested. Imagine hundreds of people rounding a corner. While swimming. Everyone wanted the shortest line around the buoy, and I was no exception. It was rough there… the lifeguard on the kayak actually yelled at someone for being too rough.

Contrary to what most people say, I found a lot of space in the swim after the first 200m. I still had drafted off several people, going from feet to feet, but, it was a very good swim, until we hit the turning points.

Before I knew it, the first loop of the swim (1.9k) was done, and we ran over the timing mat on the beach. I was looking for Victor but couldn't find him. I reached inside my wetsuit and pulled out a gel to refuel. It was refreshing after getting saltwater in your mouth. Of course, gels would later become my enemy.

I dove back into the water and immediately headed back for the second loop. Again, a lot of space - but the current/chop mysteriously became much more serious. Perhaps before, on the first loop, the hoardes of swimmers broke up the current slightly and thus, I never had to deal with it. Again, as well, the corner buoys where we had to turn were really congested. I swam uber defensively - almost a full catchup style - when turning the corners. I wanted to protect my face.

I did the first loop of the swim in about 38:20, and the second loop of the swim in about 40 minutes. I exited the water quite proud because I surpassed my expectation of swimming 1.5 hours.


Given that I only learnt how to swim last year, I was most pleased with this. Throughout this year, in my first year of triathlons, I never averaged a pace faster than 2:06/100m in a race. For me to do this in the longest swim I've ever done in a race, I was dead proud.

I only learnt how to swim last year, seriously!

I found a wetsuit stripper and they removed my wetsuit quickly and handed it to me. I ran up toward the freshwater showers, and man, that water was COLD. It was a cold morning. I picked up my flipflops and ran toward the swim-to-bike bag area, picked up my bag, and headed into the changing tent.

I did take my sweet time - I put on my bike shorts, arm warmers, triathlon top, but I really needed sunscreen. I got out and was looking for my bike. I found it and pedalled away. The mounting area for the bike was very narrow and I almost took some guy out. I went flying into the guard rails but managed to regain balance and went off, again. It was dangerous!

At this point, I still didn't see Victor. I figured he must have been looking for me in the water, still.

I won't take so long from now on. I figured if I saved 4 minutes here, and saved a few minutes in other places, I definitely would have broken 13 hours.

I had only learnt how to ride a bicycle about 15 months before this race. Honestly, no kidding, eh? My dad had bought me a bicycle when I was young but I always kept the training wheels on it. I never took them off and never really learnt how to ride a bicycle. Steve, my coach, finally taught me how to ride a bike last year, before the Toronto Island triathlon. Who honestly registers for a triathlon without knowing how to ride a bike?

Heading out onto the bike course, I knew this was going to be punishment. But I figured, as long as I fueled well and kept positive, it was going to be over quickly. Right?

Wrong! It is true that the first section of the bike course was super fast. Roads were flat and there was no wind. I was averaging a good 28 kph, meaning I'd be off the bike in about 6:15 or so. I'd have been super elated with that time. However, I started to slow down; with all the hydration, I needed to pee, and it was hurting to pedal the bike. Given all the pre-race warnings about peeing in public, I stopped at the third aid station in - about 45 km; I waited in line for 10 minutes to use the port-a-potty. I lost a good 10 mins there and started getting demoralized…

I regained my composure slightly but by about 60 km into the ride, I was starting to suffer mentally. I kept taking in my gels but was less diligent about keeping well fueled. Big mistake. The key in doing well in the Ironman is to treat the bike like a buffet. Keep eating. Well, I stopped eating for a bit. It came back to haunt me till about 78 km, when we hit the special needs bag. There, I got off the bike and said to myself, "I need to eat. If I don't, the marathon won't be a run. Hell, I might not even make it to the marathon."

So I reached into my special needs bag and pulled out a Snickers and also a pop-tarts packet that I had bought the day before. I kept the snickers for later on, but the pop tarts I devoured. I was hungry, man. So, I regained a bit of composure until we hit about 110 km. And then, I had a "Johnny" moment (inside joke for Scotty - just a complete mental breakdown for the rest of you who don't know what I'm referring to)…

..I was really down and negative, the headwinds and crosswinds were hitting me all at the same time. I really wanted to quit, but, I knew I wasn't going to. So I was stuck between a rock and a hard place. My back was hurting, and so were my arms; who knew being in a time-trial position would hurt that much, and, being in a normal roadie position hurt my wrists! I didn't feel like eating anymore. Plus, I was afraid to take my hands off the handlebars to reach for gels, food, or gatorade, as the winds were so strong. That's the problem with having aerodynamic wheels - they make your bike more twitchy in cross-winds conditions. I had a complete mental breakdown and reached the next aid station. I got off the bike and started to cry (lol). I knew I wasn't going to quit but this was just too much… I consoled myself and forced myself to eat more. I knew, from reading Gordon Byrn's site, that anytime you feel sorry for yourself, you should eat.

I got back on my bike and then methodically made it from aid station to aid station. Everytime I passed by one, I would get off the bike and get more gels, as I had ran out. The winds were really strong on the course about 140 km into it. Effort wise, I should have finished the last 40 km in 1.5 hours. But it took me closer to 2 hours? I dunno.

Somehow - someway - I managed to get back into town. It was then when I saw Victor. He was heading back to the hotel. Surprisingly, I thought I was going to bike 7.5 hours with the sort of problems I had. But the official bike split was 7 hours and 8 minutes. If I could somehow run a 4 hour marathon, I would still break 13 hours!


I got discouraged and stopped eating, which was a big mistake of mine. In addition, I probably was hyperhydrating a bit, which made me pee literally every 30 minutes. After the first two hours, I stopped paying attention to hydration and nutrition and that was my downfall.

In addition, I swear that in the new year, I am going to do my long rides outside. I listened to my coach and did most of my long rides on the trainer. Given that the Ironman is on pavement and not on the trainer, it is important that I do the work outside. I didn't ever deal with winds on the trainer and thus, I didn't know how to cope.

I will also spend a lot more time cycling next year. Hopefully I can bring my bike time into respectability.

With the sun still beating down, I asked for sunscreen. The volunteers were awesome. They slathered it on my neck, arms, and back. I wish I had some for the bike. I wouldn't be sunburnt and peeling now! I actually felt quite good in T2, thinking that I could run a 4 hour marathon. I had eaten a lot toward the end of the bike and my running legs were there. No stiffness and I was ready to go… I somehow convinced myself that I wanted to run a marathon. I headed out.

Nothing, really. I could have been quicker but I think I moved with a lot more urgency.

I did the first mile in 7:58 (!). My legs felt awesome Well below goal pace, which was closer to 8:30/mile. The second mile was done in 8:02 (!). Again, my legs felt awesome.... But then I started to have digestive issues. I ran past several of the top women coming in to finish - Nina Kraft, who was limping, and Bella Comerford. But after that, I started throwing up. All the gels and gatorade I took at the aid stations on the bike didn't actually digest. I threw up three times. I walked until the 5th mile marker and was wondering, how bad is this gonna get.

From having aspirations of running 3:30-4:00 in the marathon, it became an epic struggle to continue, to keep going forward, despite knowing that I wasn't going to hit my goal time anymore. I passed by Linnea Humphrey, who was just finishing, and she yelled over words of encouragement. I started to run just before that and it REALLY helped. Then, I passed Syd, and he told me "come on, you can do it!" That's when I knew I was sick of walking.

I started to run. That was a great feeling to be able to start running. I had 3 cups of chicken broth, grapes, and choco chip cookies when I was walking. That must have digested well because I started to run - averaging around 8:50 per mile until the entrance to the state park. I really hammered it in there, but I stopped eating at the aid stations which was another mistake. So from miles 8-10, I hit the wall, again. So, another lesson learnt - Ironman is an exercise in eating. You need to keep eating. Just cuz you feel great one moment, it could all come down crashing on you. I threw away my gel flask as I knew I wasn't going to digest that anymore. I headed for the cookies, chicken broth, and cola again. That seemed to do the trick.

Again - I started to get the energy back and headed back to town. Victor was there and I got such a huge boost. Halfway into the run, 21 km, I picked up my special needs bag, and picked out a cookie and also a mint-chocolate flavoured gel. That really got me going, especially as it had caffeine. A quick check of the watch: for all the walking I did in the first half of the marathon, I still came back halfway in 2:16. Sweet. I knew sub-13 overall was barely out of reach, so I wanted to limit the damage and finish at least under 13:30. I said to myself that I need to finish strong.

To finish strong, I needed to make sure I was eating at every aid station. So I ran 8:45 per mile to each aid station and took a 1 minute walking break. "Whatever they were selling, I was buying" - I picked up everything they had. I actually somehow made it back to the State Park, 18 miles in, with a lot of energy. By then, it was super dark and they gave us glowsticks. I hadn't held one of those since my rave days in 1999!!!

Just outside the state park, they were playing "The Final Countdown". OMG, hearing that song, I usually laugh as it is a damn cheesy song. But I got this incredible rush through my body. It really psyched me up.

One by one, I passed people. I passed almost 600 people on the run. I didn't stop running except at the aid station to eat. I knew I was gonna finish. At about 22 miles, or, 35k, I knew I was going to finish and finish strong.

The finish - 13:08:57

Running down the finish chute is by far the most spectacular feeling I've ever experienced. Honestly. I had tears down both my cheek, and I was waving my arms, yelling, the crowd was cheering. It was crazy. I would not trade this feeling in for a million dollars. You know that one moment of glory that you search for in your whole life; this one was it. It was the most special feeling ever.


I will try to be more dilligent and consistent with nutrition on the bike. The reason for this is because at the end, when I started to compensate for the lack of calories, I must have made my stomach shut down. The bike was the downfall for me.... I swear I will fix it next year!

Really hammered down the free pizza. I wolfed down 4 slices of Dominos. When we got back to the resort, Victor had bought me hash browns and a simple hamburger from the Waffle House. I scarfed that down quickly too. Not to mention the Strawberry Shortcake ice cream bar that I had bought from Wal Mart. And half a bag of kettle cooked chips. And a big glass of wine to celebrate.



Lack of cycling experience, fear of the bike. I'm going to work on it like a beast next year.


Pictures of my stay:

Day 1 - http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=11438&l=bcac3&id=500877443
Day 2 - http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=11514&l=ebd66&id=500877443
Day 3 - http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=11593&l=7967d&id=500877443
Day 4 - http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=11684&l=f2b5b&id=500877443
Day 5 - http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=11779&l=b27f3&id=500877443
Day 6 - (Race day) - http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=11928&l=5a386&id=500877443