Ironman 70.3 Florida - Triathlon1/2 Ironman

They called our wave and in we went. 3 .. 2..1.. GO! I started on the outside like I have before. I stayed on the outside of the group. I wanted to avoid slower swimmers and the wrestling. It worked really well. I stayed parallel to the group for awhile and then swung into the pack. I found a pair of feet and rode them to the corner. I decided to pull ahead of him and try to find another pair of feet. He liked to flail his feet and got upset everytime I grazed them – only about a dozen times. I checked my watch and realized I was almost half way and already been swimming almost 20 mins – huh? I know I can swim faster, I was not TT’ng to this point, but I was not strolling thru the water. So I picked it up. I passed a few people from the 5-6 waves ahead of me. I wanted to finish this in 37 mins, time to get home. I was never to far off the buoys, real close at the turns. I was not slowed down by the masses. I can get it done. Let’s make it solid.

I turned the last buoy and my goggles had fogged up by now. Sighting was tough, but I only swam outside ONE kayak who was unusually close to the pack. He was yelling something – sounde like “Left/Right” (later on I found out this was probably Travis – read his report) Now I was over half way home on the final stretch – time check 35 mins? Not possible – I just spotted a beach lamp and aimed there. In I came – over 42 mins?!?!?! What happened? Did I drift that much? Was I not pushing hard enough? 2:00 min/100 yards? I do that at a crawl pace. Not really what I did today – I felt like I did push enough, I drafted awhile, and I sprinted passed a few packs to avoid congestion.

The infamous sun was not out- the clouds covered up the glare. It was a blessing. In retrospect, I would take this over the swim being the correct distance. I feel it ended up being at least 200 yards further. At least I could see where I was going.

Up the chute and T1 begins.


I do not know? I thought I did well and would have finished under 1:55 / 100. At that pace I would have been in under 40 mins. I have no clue here I went hard in areas and stayed relatively close to buoys and cornered well. Next time i will stay inside more and we shall see in 4 weeks.

It was a long run up from the beach, but at least my rack was on the end, really on the end – I was in a section of racks that appeared to be excess space needed for bikes. Really a lot of room for me. I dawdled a bit due to disappointment from the swim, at this point I decided it was time to go for the bike PR and then just finish it out. I put on the bike gloves which was a blessing later. I ran out the transition area in the socks crossed the mat and then . . .



Not be so disappointed in my swim

I kept running and running for about a minute just to get on the bike at the mount line. I rolled out and realized my straps were still attached. STOP unstrap and GO. Only took secs, nothing major. Once going, I slipped in easy and hammered. My goal was to go over 20mph. I figured keeping it around 20 for the first hour, I could rolls the hills around 19 and then finish strong.

It worked really well. I came out fast and strong. I kept it for 14 miles at 20.2 mph. I was nice relatively flat riding. Well we were on the freeway for a stretch. I can only imagine what those people who were diverted were thinking when they saw the whole freeway was taken up by people on bikes. It was fun for us. I planned on catching the ladies around mile 50 but happened to have Jeanne see me on the first turn around stretch. I figured out then I could catch them with in an hour. My first relief of seeing them out on the ride was done.

I hit the first water station, grabbed a bottle and chugged a bit and dropped the bottle. I had 2 spots only. My aerobottle for Perpeteum – a 3 hour bottle, and on the back I had spce for water and my bike bottle. It worked well. I had Jeanne help me mix it in the morning, Next time I will mix in a larger bottle outside of the aerobottle and then transfer it to the aero. That will make it easier. During the ride the aerobottle was easyto work with, the practice helped. Then I just had to swap water bottles as needed. My nutrition was Perp :00 and 30, Gel and :10 and :40, and water at :20 and :50. I also tossed in about a dozen endurolytes. It worked well until about mile 40+, I could no longer get Gel in so I switched to pure Perp until a final shot of hammer gel about 2miles form the end of the bike. Overall, I used the whole Perpeteum (about 8 scoops) bottle and 3.5 servings of gel.

The next 5 miles were at 18.6 – into the wind and some climbs. AThe climbs were really nothing. New Berlin is truly hilly compared to this. My driveway has more climb than some areas. The Garmin said it was about 1500 feet of climb – I cannot believe it, but Jeanne’s said the same. I still hammered it up the climbs, I did nothing but attack. Not at TT pace and intensity – there was a run to complete – but hard enough to gain my PR.

I picked it up again to 20+ mph for over 10 miles. It felt good – especially since we did get some rain. It was very refreshing. Nice to be cooled off. It slowed us a tad, but I kept pushing. This is where the gloves paid off – the extra grip on the bars helped. At this point I did catch Sandi and Jeanne. I was climbing a hill when Sandi noticed me pass her. It slowed a bit to hang with them and see how it was going. They were doing great – over 18 mph to this point and feeling good. I greedily still wanted my PR bike, so at the turn around I punched it again. I was a bit slower with them at around 19 mph. Then I picked it up and held a respectable pace just under 20 with hills and wind again.

When the final20 miles came – I told myself I would finish them in under an hour/ I cruised through and around the packs everywhere. Being in the last wave allows one to pass a lot and get caught by few. I actually was only passed 7x by people that I caught again with in 3 miles except 2 guys with a sweet pace moving. Otherwise I passed someone every 10 secs or less. It was inspiration to pass them. In the last segments I went 22.5 mph for about 4 miles, and then came the traffic and construction. I ended up behind people going under 15mph thru a stretch at least a mile long. It was not a great area to ride and frustrating when I am trying to move. Finally I saw light and went for it again and averaged 21 over that last 17 miles including the poor stretch.

I did catch a pair of guys with about 3-4 miles to go. One guy was clearly drafting the other. It was awful. I caught and passed them clean – low and behold they hopped onto my tail. I despise these people – so I stood up and puched it for about 2 minutes – turned around and they were too far back. I watched the Garmin and realized I had .5 miles to go so switched it down to spin mode to prepare for the run. But as I rode in I realized the ride is more than 56 miles. So I kept spinning a bit – lower gear and faster cadence. The Garmin ended up saying 57 miles.

Rolled across the Wilderness area. Into the transition area and off the bike at the mount line.



Maybe not hammer the bike so much cause here comes the run, oh yeah - more calories

Off the bike and long T run to the rack. It was wet now and the feet picked up some grunge. But made it clean. I switched shirts for lighter drier more breathable Tri Donkai top and some sun block on the arms – but I forgot the shoulders and the sun beat those up real red like on the run. Ooooooooh, the SUN!!!!!



Pretty good T2 - just should have gotten the shoulders with some block

The run began. I came out real strong. 3:41 m/m for the first 1:30. Well, I sprinted to the bathroom and peeed and peed and peed. I couldn’t believe how long that took. But then I was off. I felt real good to start. 9:32, 10:35, and 10:41 on the first 3 miles. Ahead of pace and felt good, even in the blazing sun. This included getting sun block in my eye during the 3rd mile, stopping to have a kid blast my eye with a water cup to flush it out and stopping in the port a pottie for tissue to dry the eye. Problem averted and and run continues. I walked for 0.5 mile at 12:14m/m – as planned. It was going well. Hydrating and taking more endurolytes. I even saw Sandi and Jeanne on this stretch – our question was – Where’s Travis? They looked strong at that point and I thought they would catch me.

The next three miles went well - 10:20, 10:18, 10:45. I finally saw Travis. YES! We all hit the road on our way to finishing. Still I was ahead of where I wanted to be. It was going to be a PR all around. But remember I had trouble taking gels from the bike. It came to bite me. I walked again and then tried to run and could not keep the plan of run 3 and walk 0.5. I could only muster 1.5 miles. Then I had to walk 1.5 miles. I just could not get it going – I had cramps in both calves. I could not push anything. But at this point there was only 3 miles to go. I saw Jeanne and Sandi again – they were walking too. Great to see them moving – but they said they had to crawl like everyone else on the death march. The heat and sun have demoralized lots of people. I even saw a few casualties on the side. I kept encouraging everyone out loud – Keep Moving Forward! Inspiration helps – except those who do not like it when you are walking faster than they run. But we all had one goal – FINISH! So I struggled for mile to get a 11:00m/m.

Then came some inspiration. James from Atlanta. He said my vocal inspiration helped him get this far and he saw I was struggling a bit. He helped drag me to the station and the next. Each time trying to get me to run. I just could not get it done. I was out of endurolytes, switched to Gatorade and gels were not going down. I was at the end – cramps every time I tried. But we did manage a 12 m/m with a stop at the last station for fuels and Gatorade and tons of ice. Man, I LOVE ICE!!!

We tried to run before the final stretch of crowds – I was crippled by cramps. I could not push pull or slide. We just thought we would run for the last 0.5 mile. 12.6 on the watch and time to run. Well, somehow it does not surprise me that 13.1 came and went. I still had to run. Down the home stretch – 13.2, into the finishers chute and across the line at 13.3 miles. I was ecstatic!! But dead. I got my medal and walked around. I could not leave an re-enter, but wanted to see Jeanne cross. I knew it would be about an hour. So I stood there, umm I mean wobbled. And wobbled to the shirts – need one to dry the stinging eye. And then to the fence to wait. I was hot, aI was leaned over, I was really hot. They finally came over by me to see if I was okay – sure (I did not want to miss Jeanne). Finally they said I should sit down and be wheeled over to Med Tent.

That was a great idea!!!! Let me tell you, we triathlete’s may not be the brightest bulbs, especially at the end of a long, hot race. Outside sources are very good for us.


Theis is an official DEATH MARCH


More calories thru out

MED TENT_ more of a cool off


calories and heat


The day started with all the hope of PR and lots of adrenaline. In the end, it was Med tent and ice towels. I still PR’d pace on the ride – over 20 mph, PR’d pace n the run – 11:08m/m. Swim – not so hot – 42 mins?!?!?!?! But I did have 70.3 miles on the Garmin – but that did not include the swim. I had 57 miles on the bike and 13.3 on the run. That will add time. The swim was agreeably longer – not too far off. I guess?!?!?

Overall, I had a great time – as far as pain goes. I survived the event even in the heat. I guess looking back I would have tried to force more calories and drink more Gatorade on the run. That would probably have helped avoid the blow up for the last 4 miles. BUT – I did listen to the body and did slow down to compensate, just not enough if I get wheeled from the transition area to the med tent.