Ironman Florida 2014 : Official Thread

Alright alright who is here?   

Hi I'm Dave! 
This will be my second IM,  having completed Ironman Wisconsin in 2011.   

Four of us decided to try and sign up for this event.   All were quite nervous about if only one or 2 or whatever would get in.   But BUT  We all did!!!!    WOOT! 

 So now we are renting a beautiful condo in Panama City for our trip.     PARTY!!!

Excited to be doing this with fellow BT peeps   Trirun26 and QuincyF and her hubby!    

Also will be fun to meet esteemed member of the now infamous BT mentor group The Magical Mys-Tri Tour  -  PinkSocks  - You are volunteering again this year?

OK Sooooo  what's your story?
  

I'm in for IMFL #3 and IM #5 after 2 years off due to medical issues. I'm excited and a bit nervous to see how things go getting back at things.

Quite a few BTers who did it this year signed up for next year.

I am in this will be my 9th time toeing the line at an ironman, 8 time for IMFL and hopefully my 7th finish!!  Had such an amazing time last week, getting back to reality is a bummer.  I have the bestest ironfriends in the whole wide world!!! 

Alicia is what Ironman is all about.   This is one tough lady.       We are so lucky you are on the journey with us!!     Also have to say I have been BT buddies with Alicia since the little Runners World Tri group moved here like 4 years ago.     we have been supporting each other through life's ups/downs and all of these crazy events all these years/    Thanks for being a great friend. and indeed its going to be quite the adventure. 
Its great to meet y'all who has joined this race group so far!

Happy to see there are IM-FL  vets here that give us all the details needed.        

I love seafood  and I hear Panama City has some good restaurants.     Which is THE can't miss restaurant??  

I had a Shrimp weekend down at PCB this past weekend having shrimp every day. Lots of good shrimp cooked many different ways. Lots of seafood places many have an New Orleans type menu.

Depends what type of Seafood you like where you should go. Yelp has some good reviews.

BTers typically have multiple meet up options for meals and swims morning up to the race.

Will you be using a plan, coach or some other method for training?

Perfect!   Yes you are ready for IM    

You are a strong swimmer.   Confidence going in to the swim will be important.   The mass start and shear amount of other Iron peeps I will think to be of bigger concern than the waves.    It's quite different than the age group starts.   If you are good with contact in the water, I should think you will do just fine with the waves.   But am interested to see how the  FLA vets respond.

OH ya big BIG tip.  It's the ocean.  You can't drink it.     Racine sure. 

I've also raced Racine.   FL  will be my first Tri experience in the ocean but have swam many a time in Lake Michigan during times in which the sea was "angry"   Last years Racine was very choppy.  I have to think it to be about as good of an event as we midwesterners  are gonna be able to do to get ready.          I'm not that far away from Lake Michigan so am lucky that way that its realistic for me to get much OWS practice there.     

Shrimp. OMG yes that and Lobster are my favs.  YUMMO CANNOT WAIT!

Since I've raced IM before,  I don't feel the need for a coach this go round.    I did for my first one, and learned much from Coach Tammy (Tripletmom01)   I can still hear her words in my head, and counter arguments to some of my prior stupid approaches to training.    

For fun here is one.    Was still cold outside, and me and my bike were still in lock down mode on my compu-trainer.    IM-Kansas 70.3   loomed.    "Hey coach Tam had another great session on the bike!  :-) "         Tam-  Yes that's good. Inside again tho huh.  Dave, I'm pretty sure Kansas is OUTSIDE!  

So with all questions answered, and then experienced on the IM course,  I pretty much know what I need to do.   

I will probably use a BT IM plan   I also did that along with being coached, and it along with my logging training served as good reminders as to how many minutes I was plus or minus or whatevs  from my goal.  

Comments on the run course from my RR this year:

Band on the porch at mile 5 was awesome. It was funny to look at all the runners stretched out for a mile in front of me, and they were all running at the same cadence - to the music.

Girls station at mile 2 - still awesome

The crowd was fantastic. Later in the night as people got quieter, I started thanking them for coming out and cheering, because it really makes a difference - and they would jump up and yell and scream. Interactive cheering. It was pretty good. Best sign on the course: You think you're HOT now, wait till you hit menopause.

On the last lap in I was chatting with a lady who had one of those clapping hand thingies that you wave back and forth and it claps. Fourth time past her, and it's late. As I pass she said "my hand is tired!"   I had to stop, turn around - hands out to the side and say "your HAND is tired?"   Said it twice, the crowd laughed. Great spectators at IMFL!

Trimom, you're definitely ready!  I train in a swimming pool in Midland Texas.  No waves there.  2014 will be my fifth IMFL.

I always show up at PCB (Panama City Beach) a few days early just so that I can swim in the ocean for a few days.  It's a tremendous confidence builder.  And we've had some ridiculous training days.  But going out with experienced ocean swimmers and learning some little tricks for getting out and back through the breakers makes it much easier.   You're in a wetsuit and in salt water and therefore float like a cork.  To me I feel more like a kayak than a swimmer.  Also you can draft the whole way! 

The only hint I'd give you, and I'm sure you already do this, is to practice sighting.  Do some head up swimming each time you swim.  It uses slightly different muscles.

Oh, by the way, I'm in too!  Signed up on Sunday after this year's race.

I agree. Things I forgot to put in my RR

I had to keep taking brief sit downs the second loop because I was in some pain.  I found a BENCY about 4 miles or so from the finish and I sat down.  Ther was a very nice guy who was on the out leg of his 2nd lop who joined me who was from Nils from Norway and he said he wanted to lay down and take a nap

Back 1/2 of the second loop there was a couple sitting on beach chairs by the road and had a lovely cat on their lap.  I stopped to pet the cat of course....apparently he was a friendly stray who didn't belong to them.