Ironman Florida : Official Thread (Page 63)

I've heard 1 minute and I've heard 20 minutes. Either way it was fast. They actually changed the way it works this year. I think the new rules created this difference in times. I think all the slots were reserved in the first minute but it took a few minutes for those people to fill out the forms.

New Active.com Registration Instructions:
• IMPORTANT! You must have a valid ACTIVE.com account in order to register for 2013 IRONMAN Florida. Please go to www.active.com/myactive to create an ACTIVE.com account or to verify your username and password if you have an existing account. Please do this prior to on-line general entry opening at noon central time on November 4th, 2012.
• Once on-line registration opens at noon central time on Sunday, November 4th, click ‘Register Now’ and log into your ACTIVE.com account.
• After you select your registration category for IRONMAN Florida, your slot will be reserved for 15 minutes to allow you ample time to complete the form and process payment. After 15 minutes, if you have not completed the form and processed payment, your session will expire and your slot will be re-opened to the public.
• Once the permitted number of athletes for the event have entered the registration form, you may see a notification that registration is '(on hold)'. This means that all spots are being held by athletes who are in the process of filling out their forms. Registration is NOT yet sold out; if any of those athletes exit the form then slots may re-open. Please check back periodically or refresh the page.
• Once the allowed number of athletes for the event have processed online payment and all slots have been sold, then you will see an official notification that registration is '(sold out)'. At this point all currently available registrations are sold out and registration is closed.

Well, on the BRIGHT side...it appears Active finally listened to *something* users have been saying for years and tried to make it so that people didn't get all the way to the payment screen before getting an error...

But it would have been nice if this had been more obvious to people signing up.

I bet it DID sell out in 20 minutes...some people are probably saying 1 minute because you probably had enough people click in that first minute that everyone else was seeing "on hold".  Then after that first 15' expired you probably had a few people get lucky and fill out their forms really fast and poof...twenty minutes.

I remember the days when EVERY North America IM sold out that fast online...and some sold out on site.  It's been a few years since I heard of one selling out this quick.  And IMFL is bigger than most...I think they allow 3k athletes.

People blamed the poor economy for smoe of the recent longer sell-out times...probably a combination of the economy (less people able to afford it, less people signing up on site because they can't afford two trips) and an increase in the number of North America IMs.

Plus this IM was what...a week after the NBC coverage for Kona...that probably built up some extra demand.

I enjoyed the meeting you all and sharing this last  year with this group.  Once again I have made friends through this site.  I didn't execute my race the way I should have but I hit the time of what I thought I could do on my best day under the best conditions (11:20).  I swam 1:10, and honestly that is about 8 minutes faster than I thought I would ever swim 2.4, I really expected to be between 1:20-1:30.  I biked 5:38, 19.8 which was faster than I should have and I knew it.  I road Zone 3 most of the bike.  I got in the zone where everyone was passing me so I pushed it a little, not so much that I could feel it but in my mind I was going to fast.  I had worked hard this year to attempt a sub 4 hour run.  It didn't happen.  I had ran several long runs in the 8:20's (18 and two 20 mile runs) at an easy HR pace (usually around 140 bpm).  I was not prepared to do it with the heat that we were given and I decided to stick to my race game plan and try to run 8:40's off the bike.  I saw my HR was in the 150's doing this but I kept pushing, up till mile 10-11.  Then I was hurting and just kept held on to what I could (4:20 run time).  I was so sick of perform I threw it up three times on the run.  All in all I LOVED my experience.  I am not doing an IM this year.  My family has sacrificed a lot for me to be able to do this sport.  After three  years in a row training for 140.6 I am going to take a break until I can build up enough annual leave to do more long training rides on Fridays instead of Saturdays.  I only got so many of those in the next few years before my little ones will be grown up.

I plan on hitting a couple 70.3's so I aint giving up just relaxing some.

Had a great race for my first (well it's my first, so it had to be great.. right?). I was shooting for a sub 12 and ended up with a 12:30:04 (man 5 seconds would've made that "look" better. ).

Race report coming, won't be doing this one next year as I have already signed up for Tahoe, but considering it in 2014. Was a great race!

Hey all.  Good to meet some of you on Friday for the BT group swim.

IMFL was my first IM, first marathon, first 112 mile bike ride, first 2.4 mile swin in open water...so needless to say, I wasn't expecting much in terms of time and was just aiming to finish.  I crossed at 14:46!  I'm so psyched about my time - it's far better than what I had hoped for. 

IMFL is a great race.  Kudos to all the volunteers and the city of PCB for doing such a great job.  The crowd suport along the run course was also amazing!  Though, seeing dudes on roller skates wearing speedos, a chick in leather with a whip and an old Elvis dude dancing in the middle of the run course isn't your typical tri crowd support, but they were having fun and it made me laugh.  You gotta love PCB and IMFL!

11:23:37

First Florida - 11th Ironman

Had a blast - ran in a tutu for the entire marathon.  Perhaps you saw me?

I am contemplating Los Cabos in March or maybe Cozemel next November.  Fun to try a different race for sure!!!

Sorry I missed the BT swims - overslept both days. 

FYI I stayed in Ocean Villa - VERY nice and affordable.  Cooked all my own meals - that is big for me - don't want to chance some whacked out restaurant food the night before a race if you can help it.

Rest this week and eat whatever you want!  You worked hard and deserve it!  Resist the urge to do ANYTHING except work (ugh) and perhaps walk the dogs or take the kids for a stroll

Race morning:

I stayed at the Boardwalk Condominiums so my plan was to wake up throw on some sweats, drop off my bags and head to my bike to add nutrition and air in tires before breakfast. I sipped on some liquid calories and had a small bowl of cereal to get something in my stomach, drank a cup of coffee to clean the pipes and headed out the door. No issues at my bike although the overnight humidity and fog was very thick. My bike was so wet I thought the sprinkler system must have came on at some point, but still no problems.

Met with a few friends and we all headed to my room to sunscreen, wetsuit, etc. I had a little problem eating my toast here so I only ate one slice, but added some more liquid calories and headed out to the beach. I got a solid night’s sleep of somewhere between 7.5-8 hours.

Swim: 1:08:03

I swam the course in 1:07 two years ago and have been putting in a good bit of swim work so expected to be in the 1:05 range until I saw the water conditions. At that point my goal was to forget about time, conserve energy and just try and get into a groove. Even if that meant avoiding the draft, slowing down, but settling into my own rhythm. In my three practice swims during race week I noticed swimming straight was more of an issue for me then it usually is, and I am a pretty balanced swimmer so I decided to just not really trust anyone in the water.

I started about 10 yards from the front about 90% to the right and had very little contact for most of the swim. There were times when I would breathe to my right I would see one or two people and hundreds to my left, so I would get a little worried, but as I sighted on the crest of the waves, I was keeping my line so I just stayed with it and actually ended up catching one of the front groups from the outside. I did the first lap in 31 and some change. I knew with the beach run and re-entry my second lap would be slower, so I was just assuming I’d be somewhere in the 1:07 range again. I ran up the beach and around the volunteers trying to force me back into the water, got back to the waters edge and ran in about ankle deep water until I was back in a straight line with the buoys then started my second lap. I made the decision well before the race I would implement this strategy and although I didn’t see anyone else doing it I stayed calm and contact free.

T1: 8:47

Nice easy beach run, took a few extra seconds in the shower since I laid down to get peeled and had some sand on my back. I took a red marker and colored the top of my T1 bag so I could easily pick it out if they didn’t have it ready and it was an easy find. Headed inside expected a madhouse and it was ALOT better than 2010. A lot more chairs, a lot more room and seemed like more volunteers. I took an immediate right turn and found an empty corner, dumped my bag and started changing. Certainly there was some things that could be eliminated to save a little time, but after a 12 minute T1 in 2010, I wasn’t upset by this (at this point).

Bike: 5:29:51

I don’t have a power meter so I was going to ride HR and my plan was to keep it under 130 for the first half, check my split, then decide how I was going to race the second half (my AT is around 154 bpm for the bike). Headed out down the beach it was a little high, but I was amped up and I knew it would settle down once I got into a groove on 79. I decided to just ignore the heart rate, ride by feel until after I came down the bridge, then drop it down a little. Good thing I decided to ride by feel because before I hit the bridge, I am getting no reading on my monitor. Then I get a reading in the 190’s, then in the 40’s, etc. After fiddling with its position for a while I just forget about it and figure I’ll ride by feel. I had a pretty good idea of what I was capable of from my training and thought a 5:30 was about where I would be based on my HR goals.

I had to pee from real early on the bike and decided to jump off at mile 40 and take care of business, little did I know, this is the last time I would be able to do so until probably 10 pm that night. My stomach started cramping up, but physically I felt good and my HR monitor starts catching a reading again. Try and get my PB&J crackers down, stomach says no. Try and get my EFS liquid shot down, stomach says no. I get my gel down, but feel like I am about to puke it back up. From mile 60 on my nutrition plan was two EFS liquid shots and one more nutrition bottle I had on my bike (which is now bath tub water hot) and my stomach isn’t handling anything. What I should have done is stop at special needs and get my back up nutrition bottles (carbo pro and Gu2o), added some ice at an aid station and used them to get me home, but my stomach is cramping so bad, I can’t think straight. The stitches were so bad and shooting in nature, it would force me out of my aero bars, but no vomiting, so there’s a bright spot. I hit the turn-around in 2:37, but knew I had some tougher miles coming up so I figured I was in good shape if I could get my stomach situation straightened out. I spent most of the back half riding my target heart rate and sipping on my calories and managing to get a small sip of EFS every now and then, but knew I was losing somewhere around 850 calories I needed. My hope was to just hit the cola with regularity on the run and try and play catch up….bad plan I know, but it was all I could think of.

I don’t remember seeing one marshal on the back half and the draft packs were out in full force. Not just drafting, but well configured, communicating pelotons. It is what it is, but me, Kevin and Sandy (whoever they are) rode our legal distance and paced each other home just under my expected time of 5:30.

T2: 6:00

I spent a little more time in here than I was expecting, but I had a cold cola and some more liquid calories in the T2 bag I sipped on. No issues, no chafing from the bike, no real pains and if my stomach can get right I still have a chance at sub 11 if I can run under 4:10.

Run: 4:20

I started running and felt great everywhere else but my stomach. My HR monitor is acting up again and according to it, I am dead with a HR over 220, so I just ignored it again. Saw my family and support crew in front of the Gulf Crest just as you turned on to Surf Drive and my emotions just got the best of me and I started balling. I am not sure why because I was dizzy and not all there, but as I think about it, I think it was from the look on my daughter’s face when she saw me. It went straight through me and just crippled me. I saw my crazy friends at mile 1.5 (the guys in the Chip & Dale cufflinks and bow ties), saw a few fellow LSU fans sprinkled on Surf Drive and was determined I was going to run this course with the same effort I planned on regardless of my nutritional issues. I wanted no regrets with this race and I knew I was dehydrated, I knew I was short calories, but I was still able to run near my goal pace, so I carried on. Every mile for the next 10 or so was the same thing….water, coke, water, a gel and another salt stick every 45 minutes, then take ¾ of a mile to feel like I wasn’t going to puke, then repeat in another ¼ mile. I cruise through special needs grabbing some power gels and my stomach is starting to feel a little better. First lap done in 2:10…it’s setting in now, sub 11 probably won’t happen so my focus turns to not positive splitting the marathon and falling apart. The vomit urges went away, my stomach felt better and I cruised in with exactly the same split on the back 2:10.

After a few liters of fluid, a little while of dry heaving and a few cups of chicken broth I started to feel better right around half time of the LSU game. Ended up making it to the finish line at midnight and I honestly feel I could not give that race anything more physically. My errors were all my fault from not being properly prepared and I could have done things a little differently, but I gained over 30 minutes from my 2010 race, but more importantly to me, over 300 spots in the final rankings.

I did 11:41 in 2010 and that was good for around 711thplace. This year, the same time I did in 2010 would have gained me about 100 spots in the rankings so it was a tough day for sure. Not sure when I will venture back into the IM game, but I wanted to give this race everything I had and walk away with no regrets and although I missed 11 hours, I am very happy with the outcome.

Total time – 11:12:50, 439^th place, 81st in M 35-39 AG

We exited T2 about the same time and ran the first few miles near each other.  I certainly remember the tutu

  Hope it helped you smile!

Sounds like you had a solid race.  See you back at another IM in the future for sure!  Have to feed the addiction. 

You can review the live feed here.  You can use the slider at the bottom to get to your finish.  I had to slide it way to the right

http://www.ironman.com/coverage/detail.aspx?race=florida&y=2012#axzz2BTrSDoFz

I just took a video of my computer screen using my iPhone.  You can setup a tripod with a digital camera in a dark room if you want to get fancy.

I stayed at Shores of Panama.  It is about a 10 minutes walk to the village.  The unit I stayed at was clean and roomy.  It is near Wallmart and a gas station around the corner with a "K" store.  I booked thru Expedia 2 months before the race.

On the day of the race at 4AM, the fire alarmed went off and everyone had to exit the building.  I had to walk down 20+ flights of stairs.  It was a false alarm.  Their story was that this time of the year the moisture triggers the false alarm.

Good luck to you in training and racing IMFL 2013!

It was awesome meeting everyone and my first full distance was amazing. It was definitely challenging and I was close to my goal of 14hr (14:33). Race report to follow.

My overall thoughts of the race:

• I think the ~2800-2900 racers at the start was a bit much for me. I will probably do non Ironman races from now on. I don't mind mass starts, but nearly 3k people was nuts out there. 
• The bike was long and boring :p but the roads were fantastics.
• I've never been much of a runner but I felt great with my marathon.
• I need to do longer Brick workouts before the next one

Thank you all for your support, you truly help me reach my goal of becoming an Ironman and getting close to my goal time. Next race will be sub 14!

The road was great except for the bumpy part that shook the bottles, co2, cages, tubes, tires off of everyone's bike.

Volunteers are great.  Can't thank them enough.  Hope everyone who volunteered and want to race next year get in.

I'm using Safari but it is part of the plug in so you it shouldn't matter.  Just start the video stream and then you can slide back and forth.

I found myself on my bike in the transition video.  You don't need to watch the entire feed.  You can estimate your appearance by checking someone's race # and comparing his / her swim + t1 time with yours.