Ironman Florida - TriathlonFull Ironman

How did I get out of the water this quickly?! For me this was awesome! I stayed super calm, drafted the best I could, and made up time in slow spots. Many would trudge slowly in shallow areas (including large sandbar) at end of first loop and beginning of second, but I kept dolphin diving. I actually enjoyed the swim a lot! Mass start not a big problem--starting way to the inside was a great idea. My goggles got knocked halfway off a couple times and corners were tight, but I didn't get beat up too bad. Water was completely smooth compared to May.

Very little. Maybe draft a little better on the first loop?

Long run from shore though wetsuit peelers, showers, etc. Took one look at dark, crowded change tent and decided to do my thing outside the tent. Therefore left my tri shorts on rather than changing to bike shorts as contemplated. Drying off, putting on socks/sunscreen/sunglasses/helmet, and getting bike took too long.

May get different tri bike shoes and routinely bike without socks.

Pretty uneventful. Just kept telling myself that the race didn't start until 80 miles. Held back pretty well despite the packs coming past. Was certainly ready to be done at the end, but didn't feel awful. I'm not sure I've totally figured out the peeing on the bike thing. I wasn't coasting long enough to finish, and thus almost always felt like I had to go (and did go many times).

Nothing really. Train more (ideally with a powermeter) to be able to go faster. Didn't eat quite as much as I planned.

Pretty slow here. Took off EVERYTHING in changing tent. Put on new lubricant, socks, shorts, shirt, sunscreen, etc. Part of long time was using port-a-john.

Being careful and deliberate was wise for my first ironman, but I probably could have sped this up a bit (and maybe broke 11 hours?).

Probably started too fast, but was trying to go slow and comfortable. Stopped in port-a-johns several times, but seemed to speed up for awhile each time I left one (I guess the discomfort was affecting me more than I realized). Never had a real dark, low spot. Last 1.5 miles or so starting moving pretty quick and was getting teary.

Start slower, maybe 8:15 pace. Maybe could have pushed more at the end. Didn't want to risk cramping and catastrophe too early, and thought 11 hours was further out of reach than it ended up being.

Just walked.


I know I can be faster on the bike with more years and miles under my belt. I can also shave some run time (at least in similar conditions). But on this day, this was about as good as I was going to get.


This was lots of fun and completely worth all the time and money to me. I'm an ironman! I could see myself becoming one of the many ironman junkies that were all over PCB, but with my family that won't happen any time soon. Ironman on a good day is sort of cookbook. I think that you can plan carefully, execute, and go through the motions. But it takes tremendous patience and emotional maturity (a high EQ) to hold back and focus for that long.