Ironman Florida - TriathlonFull Ironman

Swim: This was effing cool! My execution goal was to stay relaxed and not waste unnecessary energy. Unlike Louisville, this swim was a mass start from the sand. The course was a big rectangle that we swam twice. Per Jim’s advice, I started on the far right of the washing machine to stay out of the melee and swam at an angle to the first turn buoy. I wound up swimming a slightly farther distance, but, I was able to establish a rhythm and keep my HR under control. After the first turn, we swam parallel to shore. The sun was in my eyes and it was hard to sight. I followed feet and made it to the next turn buoy. Per Jim’s advice, I used the corner of a condo building to sight and swam directly towards it. This worked really well. The only drama on the first lap was the backstroker. Some idiot decided to do the back stroke and was running into everybody, including me. He also made really wide arm strokes and kept on hitting everybody. It was really annoying. I finished the first lap in 40 minutes, 2 minutes faster than my last half. Most importantly, I stayed in an easy zone and hadn’t wasted a lot of energy. The second lap was rather uneventful except that the ocean chop picked up a bit, but it was not heavy enough to cause any problems. I finished the second lap in 46 minutes. I was slower mainly due to exiting and re-entering the water. I walked the whole way and it took forever to re-enter the water.
Total Swim time 1:27 goal time 1:30. Overall place 1752 out of 2400

T1 was a madhouse. First, I ran up the beach to the strippers. I sat down with my legs in the air and 2 volunteers ripped my wetsuit off. This was really cool! Then I scurried to get my T1 bag. As I entered T1, I hollered out my number and a volunteer brought me my bike gear bag while I was running to the changing tent. Just in case the volunteer couldn’t find my bag, I paid attention the where I placed my bag the day before so I could get it myself if needed. After getting my bag, I jogged to the changing tent. I put on my helmet, bike shoes and sunscreen and put my wetsuit in the bag. I handed my bag to a volunteer and ran out of the changing tent to get my bike. Once again I hollered out my number and a volunteer met me half way with my bike. I hopped on the bike and off I went!

Bike: This was an experience! I had 3 execution goals. Pacing, nutrition, and hydration. If I did not execute any one of the 3, my race was going to be tough. Except for one stretch, the course is flat and fast. The only possible issue is the wind. We started out with heavy cross winds. M y wheel selection was perfect. The cross winds didn’t really toss me around that much. Others were having problems, but I was fine. Also, my bike set-up was solid. I had my aero bottle with water, a back-up water bottle, and 2 nutrition bottles with concentrated perpetuem. The plan was to drink 2 bottles of water per hour (I refilled on the go at bottle exchanges) and to take in 360 calories per hour. I concentrated 7.5 scoops or perp in a 24oz water bottle and I needed to drink 9 oz per hour to get my calories. I marked every 3ozs on each bottle to help me track my caloric intake. I also took in about 750 mg of sodium per hour. Per Paul’s suggestion, I put my sodium pills in a plastic M&M container and kept it in my Bento box. I also carried 2 tubes and 4 cartridges. I had doubles of everything in special needs in case something went wrong. The first 20 miles were uneventful and went to plan. Then, the fun started. We turned onto a 2 lane country road directly into a strong headwind. At this point, I had been in the 21-22 mph range. For the next 30 miles, I couldn’t get over 16-17 mph. I have never ridden in a wind that strong. I killed the first 20 miles. I avg a little over 21 mph at a fairly easy level of effort and knew I could maintain that speed that whole way. To see my speed drop so drastically was potentially frustrating. I turned my bike computer off so I would focus on effort rather than speed. The good news was that I was passing a lot of people. After mile 50, we turned onto another road and out of the headwinds. After the headwinds, I was behind my goal time by 6 miles. The next section was awesome! It was slightly downhill for many miles and I was flying. I was consistently in the 25mph range and was making up time. The rest of the way we encountered some cross winds, but, overall, the last 62 miles were uneventful. I was sticking to my plan and I was peeing (on myself) about every 30 minutes. My only concern is that my pee was causing my socks to get wet and I didn’t put a pair of dry socks in my run gear bag. I continued passing a lot of people. Mile 90 marked an important barrier. To keep up on my calories, I needed to continue drinking perp even if I didn’t feel like it. At mile 90, my stomach did not want any more perp. I was feeling fine, but, 4 hours of any calorie source will make a person tired of consumption. I began taking fewer sips more frequently. This seemed to work because it was easier to choke down less liquid more frequently. We re-entered town and I looked at my stopwatch. I had made up all of the time I lost in the headwinds plus a few minutes. I was riding really well and my legs felt great! This was a helluva ride!!!!! I made it back to transition with no bike drama. I was looking forward to the marathon!
Goal time 5:30, actual time 5:27 avg pace 20.5 mph. I passed around 900 people. First segment (73 miles) 19.8 MPH, Second segment (39 miles) avg 22.03 MPH

T2: I handed my bike off to a volunteer and got my run gear bag. I put on my hat, sunscreen, and shoes. Fortunately, I sat down next to someone who had baby powder. I put baby powder in my shoes because my socks were still wet with pee. I exited T2 and off I went.

Run: The bike makes or breaks your race but is not realized until the run. If you pace too aggressively, or do not take in enough calories and/or water on the bike, you will be walking in the marathon. Even the pros sometimes mess up and wind up falling apart. I had nailed my bike split and was cautiously confident going into the run. I still was not sure what to expect, however. My nutrition plan for the run was to hit a GU every 30 minutes and take 2 salt pills every hour. I was also going to drink water at every aid station. This worked to perfection until about mile 8-9. I sipped on some water and became very nauseous. I slowed my pace a bit to let my stomach settle. I realized that my stomach was pretty full and I could not consume anything else. For the next 4-5 miles, I didn’t put anything in my stomach. This was a tremendous risk but because I was well hydrated and had plenty of calories so far, I was able to go without for a while. At about mile 13-14, I was feeling good and took another GU. The Ironman run has high points and low points. All I had to do was respond appropriately to the low points and things would be fine. For the next 3 or so miles, I felt great! Then, mile 17 happened. At mile 17, I took a GU. After about 100 yards, I suddenly projectile vomited everywhere. It happened so suddenly that I didn’t even have time to get off the course. I would puke, take a few steps, puke again, take a few steps, etc. This went on for about 5-10 minutes and a lot of people passed me. I walked for another few minutes to let stomach settle and began to run again. Nothing was going to stop me. I re-passed everyone who passed me. The real Ironman had begun. Macca would have been proud. In this race you reach a point where you feel like crap. You have to push through the tough spots and hold on to the knowledge that things will get better. This was the first of 2 big tests I would face. After running a few more miles, I took another GU and was fine. I was concerned, though, that I was going to run short on calories. My stomach was never 100% and each GU I took unsettled my stomach for a few minutes. I hit mile 20 and was excited. Only 10K left! The sun had set and I was running my fastest miles. This continued until about mile 22 when I started to run low on calories. I started to have negative thoughts and was no-longer enjoying the run. A suddenly sour attitude was a sign that I was headed into a bonk. My stomach was feeling crappy and I had to be careful. I made it to the aid station at mile 23 and took a GU. I was feeling a bit woozy and walked through the water stop while taking small swigs of water with a little GU. I stopped for a minute to regain my composure and my balance. This was the second big test. At this point, many people were walking and it could have been easy for me to join them. I also knew that once the sugar from the GU kicked in, I would be fine. I trudged on. The GU kicked in and I felt normal. I was going to finish strong no matter what! The last 3 miles were a celebration. I pushed through the low spots and had earned the title Ironman. I cut up with crowd, cracked jokes, allowed a woman dressed as a dominatrix to whip me, I smiled, and I cried tears of joy. The last mile and half was lined with people partying and cheering. The energy was overwhelming. I turned down the finishing chute and pumped my first in the air. I crossed the finish line with an overwhelming feeling of peace and joy. The day was incredible. I loved every minute of it!
Jay Meeks, you are an Ironman.
Run split 3:55- I passed another 343 people. I finished 78 in my AG and 463 out of 2400 overall. My endurance developed very quickly. Next, I need to develop the speed. As the distances get longer, I get better.


I need to figure a better means for getting calories on the run. Gatorade Endurance may have been a better option.

The whole environment was fantastic.