Ironman Florida - TriathlonFull Ironman

On the beach, the six of us said our goodbyes and broke out into different sections on the beach. Tim went wide right because of his hand, Brad and Heidi wandered somewhere over to the right, and Kristin and I stuck together somewhere closer to the buoy line. I was afraid if I went out too far right I would drift out instead of into the buoy line. But, what I didn't take into account was all of the large men around me. Gun goes off, I start my watch, and I make my way into the gulf. I get pushed, punched, kicked, and clawed the entire first loop. It was horrible, and even though I did the IM last year in tougher water conditions, this swim was much worse. I was a bit flustered a good portion of the first loop.

I exit the water after my first lap, grab a cup of water to rinse my mouth out, and then I see Craig walking to get back into the water. I shout some words of encouragement, and he shakes his head. I knew he must not have been feeling too hot. I reach the water's edge, and being the competitor that I am, I immediately start running through the wake to start swimming again. Well, it didn't take too much of that for me to get tired and spike my HR, so I started walking through the shallow water until it was deep enough for me to actually start swimming. Much easier swimming than wading through it.

The second lap cleared out, and I didn't get knocked around nearly as much; however, I was a couple minutes slower this lap because I intentionally backed off the buoy line somewhat so I wouldn't get hit as much. Nearing the shoreline, I could hear Mike Reilly and knew I was almost out of the water.

Start further right.

Wet suit stippers nearly picked me off the ground trying to get my wetsuit off. I ran through the sprinklers, grabbed a water to swish around in my mouth, and grabbed my bag from a volunteer. Hit the changing tent, and Kristin was just clipping on her helmet. We exchanged "good swim's" and I told her that she must have beat Craig on their swim bet. She was off, and I started getting changed. My volunteer had a bit of attitude actually when I told her that my socks were actually acting as arm warmers, but I just laughed and decided to put them on myself. Got dressed, made sure I had all of my goodies, and was off.

Nothing.

Ran to the mount line and clipped in rather uneventfully, which is good for a change. Normally I am flustered starting the bike and take too long clipping in. I get on my way, and mentally go over my plan for the day: First 2 hours, keep my heart rate between mid 130s and 140s; middle 2 hours, keep my heart rate mid 140s to 150s; last 2 hours, keep my heart rate between 150 to 160.

Saw Kristin within the first 2 miles of the bike, and passed her as we exchanged words of encouragement. Settled into the ride and let my heart rate fall to where I wanted it. I couldn't get it in the mid 130s, but I did keep it in the high 130s or low 140s. Felt good and kept cruising around 18-19 mph. Around mile 13, Tim caught up to me, which I was so happy to see him and hear that his swim was OK. We rode together for a few minutes, and I gave him a Gu because his water bottle with Perpetuem was frozen solid and he didn't have any nutrition. He let me know that Brad and Heidi were out ahead of us. We exchanged "I love you's" and he rode past me; however, I remained close enough behind him that I could see him in front of me for some time before he pulled ahead enough that I lost site of him. By that time, I was nearing Brad. Pulled up along side of him yelling "Brrrrad" just as Nate does in the 6 for 6 video. We rode together for a while, discussing how easy it was to avoid the draft packs if you really tried. I pulled ahead; then he pulled ahead, and we continued to leap frog each other for a while. One time, I slowed down and pulled to the far right to pee (while I was riding), and he passed me announcing that I was taking a pee break. Passed him back and rode ahead.

Got to the special needs stop at mile 48 and kept riding. Saw Tim pulled over and Heidi as well. I yelled for Heidi because I hadn't seen her at this point in the day yet, and we exchanged "Good job's." Within 5-7 miles, I hear "When did you pass me?," and its Tim catching back up to me. We rode together for a good 5 minutes, which was awesome. Then, I told him that my heart rate was pretty low and I wanted to pick it up and push it a bit more. At that point, there was no turning back for me. I was going for a big bike split -- while still maintaining my heart rate plan. I actually figured that he would end up catching back up to me, so I didn't bother really saying anything more than "I'm sure you'll pass me again soon." I picked it up and felt awesome.

The miles flew by for me. I was in tune with my body, keeping dibs on my heart rate and making sure that I wasn't pushing too hard. Everything just clicked out there. I hit the out and back and saw that Kate, one of our friends who also lives in King of Prussia and we train with every once in a while, was not too far ahead of me. She's an amazing swimmer, so I was wondering when I would catch her on the bike. I hit the turnaround, and now I'm flying with the tailwind. I catch Kate, say hello, and hammer on. I see Tim, Heidi, and Brad again. Everyone looks great. I hit mile marker 80, and I decided to hit it. I had a lot left in me, and I wanted to see what I could do. I let loose, but my heart rate never went too high, and I was passing people left and right. I felt like such a rock star when a few guys were commenting how good I looked, and how awesome that I was still able to have a smile on my face.

Hit mile 100 and climbed the small bridge. The first 12 miles were the longest miles of the race. I had no concept of how much longer it was to the transition area, and the crosswinds were tough. Just when I thought this was never going to be over, I see Amy and Ben sitting outside the condo complex cheering. I knew I was about 1 mile from the transition. Continued to hammer and looked at my watch. I was going to finish somewhere around 5:30. Unbelievable.



NADA. This was the bike of my life!

Had trouble grabbing my transition bag because it was hard to find in the row. Finally had my hands on it, and into the tent I went. When I sat down, I was oddly disoriented. My mind is playing tricks with me -- half of my brain is telling me "go, go, go" and I want to move fast and get out of the tent, and the other half of my brain was in slow motion. I just wanted to take a second to relax and gather my thoughts. I apologized to the volunteer for being so out of it, and she said that's what they were here for. She helped me get my toe condoms, socks, shoes, etc on and my nutrition and salt tabs ready to stash in my back pockets. I took another minute to stay seated, and off I went.

Hustle and listen to the first half of my brain.

So I get out on the course and immediately I have to reel myself in. Tim and I discussed trying to negative split the run, which meant for me that the first half of the marathon I should be running 9:50s. I had told him before the race even started that I knew I would not be able to make myself run 9:50s. I could say that I would, but I knew I wouldn't. He said that he understood and reminded me that above all else, this was my race and I needed to do what I thought was right. So, I struck a deal with myself and said I would start around mid 9:30s and go from there. The first mile was way too fast, and I had to slow down.

At this point, I was out in the lead for our group, but I knew it wouldn't be too long before Brad and then Heidi caught me. I kept thinking I would see Brad around the 10K mark, and he ended up catching me right before mile 6. I picked it up to run with him, but only for a few minutes. He's just too fast and he was lookin' good at that point and I know he wanted to go harder than I could manage. He pulled ahead, and I was again scouting the people looking for Heidi. Saw her less than 1 mile behind me and figured she'd be catching me soon. Not much longer and I saw Tim, who was also looking good. We were all within 10 minutes of each other, which was great. At mile 9-10, I really have to stop to use the port-o-potty. I actually tried peeing on myself while I was running, but I couldn't do it no matter how hard I was squeezing. I wanted to wait until Heidi passed me before I used the bathroom, and so I pushed on. At the mile 11 aid station, I stopped to use the bathroom. I was in there for 45 seconds tops. I pop out, and Heidi is probably 200 yards ahead of me, so I just missed seeing her. I knew I did not have enough in me to catch up to her and run with her for a while, though. So, back to my running race.

I think it was between mile 12 and 13 that I finally saw Craig. First time I'd seen him since the swim, and I was actually nervous that he DNF'd, because I knew he didn't look good on the swim and I also knew how sick he was. So, the fact that I saw him out there made everything that much better. I made it to the turnaround mat and had 13 mile left to the finish. Man, how fast this day went. Mile 13 meant I was now allowed to have the flat cola on the course. Waited until mile 15 to take the cola -- ohhhhh so good. At this point, I allowed myself to stop and walk all of the aid stations to drink the cola. The only steps I walked in the entire marathon was to drink that cola. Plodded along and saw Tim again at my mile 20. I had a 10K left! Absolutely incredible. I didn't really have anything left to pick it up, but I wasn't exactly hurting either. Steady the rest of the way.

I felt pretty good minus some stomach issues on the run. I was struggling the urge to stop for a code poop break, but finally I broke down and tried to go to relieve some of the stomach pains. I couldn't make anything happen, but did get to relieve some of the gas pressure building up at least.

Probably around mile 20 I started to realize that I was going to be around the 11-hour mark. I wish I had more left in the tank to push it, but I knew that I would have to have a hell of a 10K to make it sub-11. And this is where my brain again played tricks on me. Its like there are two of me. One of me says that its OK to slow down, its OK to walk, its OK to be satisfied with coming close to 11 hours instead of breaking it; then there is the other one of me saying I need to pick it up, I shouldn't be walking aid stations, I need to be concerned with breaking 11 hours. Now normally, I do whatever it takes to let the second me win out. But that day, I didn't. I realized that I was having such a great race. It didn't matter if I broke 11 hours. It only mattered that I had a great day. I listened to that person. I settled. And you know what, I was OK with that. I knew that I was about to finish my second IM, and finish it in 1 hours and 25 minutes less than last year's time. That's not too shabby.

At mile 23, I see Kristin for the first time. Glorious sight. She was running and looking strong. Now everything was OK. We were going to go 6 for 6 again. I managed to pick it up the last mile, and I crossed that finish line strong. I was a second-time Ironman!

Splits:
1: 8.49
2: 9.04
7: 9.25, 156
8: 9.31, 155
9: 9.42, 156
10: 9.15, 154
11: 10.21, 154 (pee break)
12: 9.28, 154
13, 14: 19.14, 155
15: 9.45, 155
16: 9.48, 155
17: 11.39, 149 (with code poop stop)
18: 9.58, 153
19: 9.42, 155
20: 9.41, 155
21: 9.46, 156
22: 9.52, 156
23: 10.02, 155
24: 9.54, 155
25: 9.58, 157
26.2: 11.07, 161

Next time, I don't think I will aim to negative split. I think I'd rather go out and run with what I have in the tank at that time. I think it's a good idea to hold back a little bit, and I will definitely do that again, but maybe by 10 second a mile instead of 30-40 seconds a mile.

Walked to the food tent and saw Heidi and Amy and Bennett. Chatted with them and then also saw Sissy, Barb, and Bill. Gave everyone hugs, got a bagel, and made my way back to the finish line to watch Tim cross the line.

Got massages, went back to the condo and showered/changed, and made it back to the finish line to watch Craig and Kristin finish.


Better, more focused run training


I can't ask for anything more. I have a great group of friends to do these events with, and I can't wait until we are all back together to do the next Ironman. In the meantime, I'll settle for hanging out at Shady Mick's over New Years and getting together with the gang as much as possible.

Tim started training me 3-4 months out from Florida. After he started making up my training schedule, I watched myself improve tremendously, especially on the bike. I'm looking forward to having him continue coach and push me.

Two down, many many more to go!