Ironman Florida Race Report

Pre Race
I wanted to get to the start area by around 5 am so that I could have plenty of time to get body marked, check the air pressure in my tires, go to the bathroom, and get my wetsuit on without feeling rushed. The last thing I wanted to do was add stress to an already anxious morning. I tried to get in bed early but I couldn't stop triple checking everything in my head and on my lists. It seemed like it took a couple of hours of just laying in bed before I eventually fell asleep. Once asleep I was out until the alarm went off at 3 am. I got up and got dressed, took my time eating a bagel with peanut butter and banana, and made sure to get my bike bottles out of the fridge. The 3/4 mile walk from the condo to the start area was quiet with chilly temperatures. I still didn't feel nervous about the race. It was more a feeling of anticipation. I was looking forward to this race almost like you would feel about going on vacation to a location you've never been before. Once I got to the start area the line for body marking was not nearly as crowded as I thought it would be. I was able to step right up, get my number 581 written everywhere it needed to go, and head off to my bike rack to put the bottles on the bike. Everything had gone a lot smoother and faster than I thought it would so far, and I began to think that I might have arrived a little earlier than I needed. I decided to pass the time by sitting on a bench near the beach access to the swim start and just relax. It was still dark outside and the wind chill was in the 30's. The race organizers were holding a meeting on the beach with all of the lifeguards and volunteers to discuss their game plan for the swim portion of the race. There were a couple of boats out on the water that were setting up the buoys for the course. All you could see were the lights on board the boats, and as they moved from each buoy location to the next the lights got dimmer and further away from shore. The distance of those lights from shore was definitely a reality check for the swim I was about to do. With about an hour before the start I decided to go ahead and get in line for the bathroom so I could leave myself plenty of time to get my wetsuit on afterward. When I saw the line I probably should have got in line sooner. After 30 minutes I made it through the line and was back out to the swim start area to get ready to swim. Even though the sun hadn't quite made it above the horizon yet, it was starting to get light. I got my wetsuit on, walked across the beach access bridge, and headed onto the cold sand. The sand was cold to the point it was painful. Both my feet felt numb and I was quick to walk toward the water hoping that the surf felt warmer than the sand. I positioned myself to the far right of everyone lined up on the beach. The current appeared to be moving from right to left so the hope was that I could steer clear of most of the crowding and let the current drift me over enough to be in line with the first turn buoy by the time I got out that far. I had a brief conversation with one guy who had done this race several times before and he assured me that the right side of the start line was the best place to be. Whether that was true or not it made me feel better about my decision to start on the right. When I told him this was my first ironman he gave me a little bit of advice. He said, "There are mental demons that test you in the ironman distance that you don't experience in any other distance. The key to finishing this race is that no matter how bad you feel and how bad you might want to stop, keep going because your mental state will probably feel completely different five minutes later. You will experience several ups and downs during the race." I guess that was probably the best advice I could hear right before the start. As I was standing in the water I heard the announcer say "one minute to go". I looked around to try and give myself as much space between me and the people around me as possible. A helicopter filming the start kept flying by which added to the emotional buildup of the race. As the countdown was called out I got ready to start the timer on my watch. Then, BOOM! the start cannon goes off and everyone starts heading out into the surf.

Swim - 1 Hour 27 Minutes 00 Seconds
I had to walk across some of the sand bar and get through some of the breakers before I was deep enough to start swimming. Once I started swimming I remained defensive in trying to avoid getting hit too hard. I was a little surprised with the lack of major contact. I fully expected mass chaos but I guess my decision to start on the far right was paying off. I was able to get into a rhythm and only experienced the occasional bump by other swimmers. The worst contact I received was when someone's elbow glanced off my goggles and bumped them enough to let a little bit of water inside. I was able to tread water, shake the salt water out of my goggles so that it wouldn't irritate my eyes, and then keep going. The water was really clear and I could see the bottom until about halfway out. Once it got deeper than about 10-12 feet the water became too dark to see the bottom. About halfway to the turn buoy it began to be more congested as the current pushed us into the people on our left. By the time I reached the turn everyone was having to slow up because of the traffic jam going around the buoy. I stayed wide on the turn and once the turn was complete we were swimming straight into the rising sun. Trying to sight the next buoy was practically impossible so I just followed everyone else assuming we were all headed in the right direction. The water temperature out this far was considerably warmer than the temps closer to shore. Out here it felt very comfortable. I don't know for sure but the temperature felt like it could have easily been a 10 degree difference. The straight section into the sun went by quickly and I made the turn headed back to shore. At this point the salt water taste in my mouth was really starting to be annoying. I was looking forward to the water stop at the completion of the first lap so I could rinse out my mouth. As I got closer to shore I started to feel the water temp get colder again. I continued swimming until my hand touched sand and then I stood up and walked the rest of the way to shore. Everyone had to walk over a timing mat to complete the first lap and I was happy to see that my time of 42 minutes was slightly ahead of the pace I was targeting. I grabbed a cup of water from the table and proceeded to rinse and gargle the salt water taste from my mouth. It felt great to get rid of that taste. I kept walking diagonally back to the surf and out to start my second lap. The second lap was definitely less congested than the first. On the way out to the turn buoy I noticed a sting ray and a few jellyfish that were several feet below me. I never had any problems with sea life during the swim and until I saw these few on the second lap I had forgotten about them. The section furthest out still was an issue regarding the sun but went by just as quickly as the first time. The last section headed back to shore was a little bit more challenging the second time around. The current seemed to be stronger this time than before. It really wasn't as noticeable until I got close enough to be able to see the bottom again. Based on the sand below I could tell that I was barely moving forward. In some cases it was almost like I was swimming in place. I tried to take advantage of anyone that was nearby by getting in behind them and trying to draft off of them. The salt water taste in my mouth had progressed to the point of being a slight scratchy feeling in the back of my throat so I was glad that the swim portion was coming to an end. I reached the sandbar and began to walk the rest of the way onto shore. I crossed the timing mat with a second lap time of 45 minutes. It was a few minutes slower than the first lap but nothing that couldn't be explained by the stronger current. My overall swim time of 1 hour and 27 minutes was 3 minutes faster than I was planning on so no complaints or worries so far.

Transition #1 - 17 Minutes 23 Seconds
I was helped out of my wetsuit by a volunteer and made my way up to the beach access path. I stopped under the showers they had set up to rinse off the salt water thoroughly. I didn't want salt water running into my eyes from my hair or having any leftover sand on me that would be very abrasive later on in the race. I was definitely starting to feel the cold air temps now that I was wet and out of the wetsuit. I followed the path around to pick up my transition bag and jogged into the changing area. The room was crowded but at least they had the heat on in there. I was able to find an open chair and sat down to begin getting my bike clothes on. I took my time making sure I was as dry as possible for the cold air I was going to experience on the bike. I put on bike shorts, arm warmer sleeves, and a bike jersey over top of my tri top. I made sure I had my energy bars in my jersey pocket, put my socks and bike shoes on, grabbed my helmet and sunglasses, and headed out of the changing area to get my bike. I decided to stop by the port-a-john on my way to the bike so I could hopefully make it through the entire bike ride without having to stop on the course. As I approached my bike rack a volunteer had already grabbed it for me and was waiting to hand it off. I jogged the bike over to the line and clipped in to the pedals. My transition time was 2 and a half minutes slower than I was hoping for but the drying off and extra clothing for colder temperatures was the main reason why. That 2 and a half minutes of extra time basically cancelled out the 3 minutes I had gained on the swim, so starting the bike I was almost exactly where I hoped to be on the clock.

Bike - 6 Hours 36 Minutes 02 Seconds
As I started out on the bike I kept telling myself that I needed to take it really slow and relaxed for at least the first half of the course so that I don't wear myself out for the rest of the race. Going down the road the air was a little bit chilly but having the bright sunshine on me made it tolerable. I was actually surprised that the bike course was not as congested as I thought it would be. I was able to stay in a comfortable distance behind the person in front of me without feeling like I had to waste energy passing them. A few miles into the course I made a right turn to head north and the wind was right in my face. It didn't seem too strong at first, but being this early on in the course my energy level was still pretty high. Around the 10 mile mark was a large intersection that was staffed by police officers. Normally they are directing traffic and allowing the cyclists to go through without stopping. It was just my luck that as I approached the intersection there was an ambulance that was trying to navigate through the traffic to get to an emergency. The police officers stopped everyone including the cyclists to let the ambulance get through. The wait wasn't more than a minute but by the time the ambulance cleared the intersection there was a group of about 50 cyclists that were stopped. Once we got going again there was a huge group of us all moving together. I had heard about the illegal draft packs that tend to form on this course, but this was ridiculous. There wasn't much anyone could do to avoid illegally drafting off the person in front of them. Everyone did gradually spread out but it took a couple of miles to happen. Right about the time the group thinned out I reached one of the steepest "hills" on the course. It was a bridge over one of the bays. I continued to tell myself to take it easy so I geared down to my smallest chain ring and comfortably pedaled up the bridge. My northward direction into the wind continued for several more miles before I reached the next right turn. Once I made the turn there was a huge difference in the wind. There was a slight crosswind from left to right but it was mainly pushing me forward rather than me fighting against it. I noticed a highway sign that said Tallahassee was 100 miles ahead and I thought to myself "that's a long way away", and then I realized "I have to complete 112 miles on the bike". I guess you could say that the sign put things in perspective for me. The next reality check for me was when I saw the pros that were leading the race coming back from the other direction. They were probably at about mile 75 and I was only at mile 32. More power to them, but my game plan of staying relaxed and not pushing the pace was working for me so far. A couple of miles later was another right turn. Other than approaching the finish of the bike course, this southward section of the course was my favorite. The road was quite smooth, and with the wind almost directly behind me, I was able to go 25+ mph while feeling like there was very little effort at all. As great as that section was, it ended with a left turn onto a narrower road with more shade and more of the crosswinds. The second half of this road was where we cross an intersection and do an out-and-back section before returning to the same intersection and making a right turn. The out-and-back section was by far the worst road conditions of the entire course. Every 10 feet or so there were chip-seal ruts that created jolting bumps when I rode over them. It made it challenging to eat or drink anything over that stretch of road. Once I finally made it through that section and made the right turn back at the intersection, I had already passed the halfway point. I still felt pretty good and everything seemed to be going according to plan. There was a short steep downhill section right before we had to make the next left turn, and everyone had to slow down through this part in order to make the turn without crashing. After the left turn we were on the same road we were on back when I saw the sign for Tallahassee, only this time I was much further to the east. The trek back to the Tallahassee sign was definitely the toughest part of the course. There were a few rolling hills, but the hardest part was the wind. It was a slight crossing wind from right to left but it was predominately a 10-15 mph headwind that lasted for the next 20 miles. This part of the course is what really started to wear on me.If I had to choose what part of the race was my lowest point mentally, this was it. The miles ticked off slower and it felt like the next turn would never arrive. There was only one thing that happened on that stretch that took my mind off the boredom. A cyclist had just passed me and was starting to pull away when a bird flew right in front of them and missed a collision by less than a foot. It scared the hell out of the person and they almost crashed. All I could think of was if that person had crashed it would have been a close call for me to avoid it. I couldn't imagine how bad it would feel to have your race cut short by a bird. After miles of mental misery I finally made it to the next turn. After making the left turn the wind was a big help and my mindset improved. I made it to the last out-and-back section of the course and the miles seemed to move by faster than before. For the most part my nutrition plan was working out ok. I was taking a sip from my bottles every 2 miles and trying to eat a third of an energy bar every 10 miles. The energy bars did get unappealing toward the end so I had a couple of pieces left that I should have eaten but didn't. Once I passed the 90 mile mark I started to count down the miles left. When I neared the end of the course I was ready to get off the bike. As weird as it sounds, after 112 miles on the bike I was looking forward to running a marathon. I approached the line, unclipped out of the pedals and handed my bike off to a volunteer. My bike split was about 6 minutes slower than I thought it would be, but with all the wind I had to put up with I didn't have too much room to complain.

Transition #2 - 8 Minutes 44 Seconds
As soon as I got off the bike I began the awkward jog everyone does after riding a bike for multiple hours. It kind of looks like someone trying to run across gravel with no shoes on, but it feels like somebody stole your feet. I made my way over to the run transition bags, grabbed my bag, and went into the changing area once again. Prior to the race I kept changing my mind as to what I was going to wear for the run. I would be finishing after dark so the temperature was going to drop back to the chilly temps everyone experienced in the morning. I knew I would probably need a long sleeve shirt later on, but I would be overheated if I started out wearing it. Since I still had my tri top and arm warmers on underneath the bike jersey, I decided to keep them on when I removed the bike jersey and carry a long sleeve shirt with me. I changed out of the bike shorts and into some tri shorts, grabbed my hat and energy gels, and jogged out of the changing area. I stopped by the port-a-john again in the hopes that I wouldn't need another pit stop during the run, and headed toward the start of the run course. As I crossed the timing mat my transition time was 6 minutes faster than I had budgeted, so that made up for the 6 minutes extra I had on the bike. I was amazed at how accurate my estimates for each part of the race had been so far. In order to meet my goal of a 14 hour race all I needed to do was average around 12:30 minute miles over the entire marathon.

Run - 5 Hours 07 Minutes 44 Seconds
As I started the run I was surprised by how loose and fresh my legs felt after being on the bike for so long. My first mile split was around 8:30 minutes and I knew that I needed to dial it back a notch. I didn't want to push the pace too much, but I thought that if I could feel like this for the next several miles then it should be easy to meet my time goal. I wanted to incorporate brief walk breaks during the marathon so that I could get enough nutrition in me and not overwork my legs. I was under the impression that each aid station would be about a mile apart, so the plan was to run to each aid station and walk long enough to eat or drink what I needed then start running again. I quickly learned that the aid stations were not spaced out evenly. My first solution was to base my walk breaks on a time of run 10 minutes and walk 1 minute, but since I still needed to walk through the aid stations it screwed up the timing. I eventually decided to walk the aid stations and run whatever the distance was between each one whether it was half a mile or 1.5 miles. About 5 or 6 miles into the run I could tell that my pace was slowing a little bit, but I still felt ok. The one thing that kept my attention was the anticipation of each aid station. After all the calories I burned so far, I was starting to get hungry. I tried to eat an energy gel every 4 miles and pick from the assortment of foods that each aid station had. Most of the stations had the same things, so I would usually decide what I craved the most before I got to each location. Over the course of the run I sampled just about everything they had multiple times (bananas, orange wedges, chicken broth, cookies, etc.). It was amazing how happy some chocolate chip cookies could make me. I reached the far end of the state park and began my journey back toward the transition area to finish my first lap. There were a good number of people on the course with me so I was able to entertain myself by listening to some of the conversations of the people walking as I passed them. As I neared the turnaround point to start my second lap I could hear the announcer at the finish line which was a few hundred yards further down the road. It was a little bit of a tease to be able to hear the finish line but know that I had 13 miles to go. I completed the first half of the run in about 2 hours and 20 minutes which was pretty good considering the walk breaks. I expected the walk breaks to be a little more frequent on the second lap. The sun was starting to go down and the temperature was dropping, so I decided to put on my long sleeve shirt that I had been carrying around in my jersey pocket. My second lap was pretty much the same scenery as the first time only a lot darker. About halfway to the state park there were volunteers handing out glow sticks due to the darkness. It seemed like the glow sticks were more for the volunteers to be able to see us rather than help us see where we were going. I elected not to take one because I didn't want to carry anything in my hands. Besides, it would just slow me down from cramming cookies in my mouth. Once I reached the state park there was a whole different level of darkness. The park itself seemed to be nothing more than a road that circled around through trees and sand dunes so there were no street lights. There were lights near the aid stations but getting from one to the next was difficult to even see your own feet. When I made it out of the park I knew I only had about 6 miles to go. By this point I was starting to get tired. My walk breaks were now 2 minutes followed by 5 minutes of running, and I was actively looking for each mile marker rather than happening to notice one as I go by. My food cravings had gone away and I was more looking forward to sleep. I could tell my stride was getting sloppy and I just wanted the miles to tick off faster. I needed to pee and debated whether I should stop at a port-a-john or wait until after I finished. I didn't necessarily want to add a stop to my overall time, but I figured the finish would be a lot more enjoyable if I wasn't worried about finding a bathroom. I stopped at the next aid station, took care of business, and continued on down the road. With about 2 miles to go I could faintly hear the finish line announcer off in the distance. I looked at my watch for the millionth time and realized that unless I tripped and fell on my face, I was going to finish my first ironman easily under 14 hours. As the sounds of the finish line grew louder my adrenaline kicked in, and I started to imagine what the finish line would be like. With 1 mile to go I began to take my long sleeve shirt off and put it in my jersey pocket again. One of the things I was OCD about for this race was what my finisher photo would look like. I preferred wearing my triathlon jersey rather than a long sleeve shirt so I braved the cooler temperatures to get the photo op I wanted. To be honest, at this point in the race you start to feel like you're on cloud nine anyway so being cold wasn't possible. I could see the long finisher chute ahead and looked behind me to see how close anyone was to me. People had told me to enjoy the finish so I wanted to soak up every memory of it I could. As I entered the chute the crowds were line up on both sides cheering. I waved my arms up in the air in an effort to pump up the crowd and they responded. With the finish line just steps ahead I hear the announcer call out my name, "Alan Turner, You Are An Ironman!"

Post Race
Immediately after finishing the race I felt great. There was a sense of euphoria that comes along with a feeling of accomplishment. All the months of training paid off and my personal challenge was complete. The next day I expected to have a level of soreness I've never experienced before, but in reality it wasn't any worse than after one of my previous marathons. I'm glad I decided to do an ironman triathlon, and I'm really glad I was able to finish it. I look forward to be able to draw off this experience when something challenging arises in the future because if I can overcome the mental and physical challenges of this race, then I can overcome just about anything that I set out to accomplish. The question I've been asked the most since I finished was whether I would ever do another one. I think there is a strong chance that I will do another one in the future, but I think it will be at least a couple years before I do. The amount of time that you have to commit to training is the biggest obstacle. The one thing I've learned from this process is that finishing an ironman isn't the hard part, preparing for it is. I want to thank everyone that supported me, gave me advice, and put up with me during my training. Without others, the path to completing this race would have been a lot more difficult.

Ironman Florida Goals & Expectations

I have been in Panama City Beach for a little over a day now and it has rained almost the entire time. Hopefully it will clear off soon so I can get a practice swim in the Gulf, and take my bike for a final test ride to make sure everything is in working order. Although my main goal for this race is to just finish before the time cut-off at midnight, the following is what I'm planning for if I'm lucky enough to have my best case scenario race.

Swim - 1 hour 30 minutes
The swim time is difficult for me to predict because of so many factors that I'm unfamiliar with. The idea of a mass start with as many as 2,800 athletes swimming on top of each other makes me a little anxious, but a group that large will create a natural current that should help pull me along. Unless I change my mind at the last minute I think I'm going to line up toward the right hand side in the middle to back of the pack. I want to avoid most of the full contact swimming and the bunching up that occurs at the first turn buoy. If I stay wide enough I can swim around the crowds at the first turn and not get caught up in the traffic. I do need to check the direction of the current though so I don't end up fighting it and wasting energy. Overall I want to keep a comfortable steady pace and conserve as much energy as possible to use later in the day.

Transition #1 - 15 minutes
I expect the changing tents to be packed with people so I will probably opt for a spot off to the side instead of waiting for a seat to open up. I'm planning on changing into bike shorts and a jersey for the long ride with the additions of gloves and arm warmer sleeves until the temps warm up a little.

Bike - 6 hours 30 minutes (17.23 mph average)
I want to start off a lot slower than I normally do and only pick up the pace much later on the course. The wind forecast right now is for it to be coming out of the north so that will mean more headwinds early, crosswinds during the middle, and tailwinds late. I plan on taking two double strength liquid nutrition bottles and supplementing that with energy bars and bananas.

Transition #2 - 15 minutes
I'm planning on changing into tri shorts and a tri jersey and taking a hat with me. Time wise it probably won't take the full 15 minutes but I can use the extra time as a buffer.

Run - 5 hours 30 minutes (12:30 minute mile pace)
Running is the best of the three events for me, but after a long day of doing the other two I'm not sure how much of an advantage it will be. I plan on running as much of the distance as possible and incorporating some brief walk breaks during each of the aid stations to make sure I get the necessary nutrition in me during each mile. A 12:30 mile pace is a lot slower than I normally run but adding the walk breaks will increase my average time. If I have a good race then I will be able to limit the duration of the walk breaks and could possibly have a lot faster time.

Overall Time - 14 hours
This is what I'll plan on right now, but I have to race with what the day gives me. I'll make adjustments to my time goals during the race if I need to, but as I said earlier I'll be happy as long as I finish before midnight.

Weather Forecast
Right now the forecast is for sunny skies with a low of 37 degrees and a high of 66 degrees. The winds should be between 10 to 15 mph out of the NNW and the humidity around 50-60%. It will be a cold start so a water temp of around 70 degrees will feel good compared to the air temp. The air temps should start to warm up a few hours after the start but will begin to drop again once the sun goes down.

Ironman Florida Run Course Preview

The run portion of Ironman Florida begins in front of the Boardwalk Beach Resort in Panama City Beach. The course is a two loop 26.2 mile run that is parallel to the Gulf and heads out in the opposite direction from the way the bike course went. A state park is located at the far end of the loop with residential and business properties in between. This course is as close to pancake flat as you can get, and with two loops there are plenty of opportunities for crowd support. At some point during the run the sun will go down and darkness will set in. From what I've read it's better to already be out of the state park on the second loop when darkness arrives because there are apparently no lights in that area and it's difficult to see very far in front of you. I would love to have a fast enough time to not have to worry about this, but I'll have to take it as it comes.

Ironman Florida Bike Course Preview

The bike portion of Ironman Florida begins in front of the Boardwalk Beach Resort in Panama City Beach. The course is a one loop 112 mile ride that includes a few out-and-back sections on mostly rural roads. Most of the roads are fairly well paved from what I have read with only a few sections of bumpy or cracked pavement. Due to the proximity to the coast, most of this course is flat with only a few minor hills and false flats. The one possible issue with this course will be the winds. If the winds are strong on race day then more energy will have to be used to pedal against it. In my bike training I used a computer program on my indoor trainer that simulated the topography of the course from previous years exactly as it would be on race day. It made me feel confident in what to expect from the terrain and when to expect it. Of course all that is relatively useless now because a couple of weeks ago the race officials decided to alter the bike course from its original format by adding some different roads and eliminating others. It still should be close to the same terrain, but I just won't know when to expect the ups or downs.

Ironman Florida Swim Course Preview

The swim portion of Ironman Florida begins on the beach behind the Boardwalk Beach Resort in Panama City Beach. The course is a 2.4 mile two-loop swim in the Gulf of Mexico. The first loop heads out about half a mile off shore, turns left for 100 to 200 meters, and then another left turn back toward the beach. Everyone exits the water and does a turnaround on the beach. The second loop begins with a diagonal path back to the first buoy and then repeats the same path as before. At the end of the second loop everyone runs up the beach toward the hotel and on to the transition area. Based on the rules for this race, the water temperature has to be 76.1 degrees or cooler to be wetsuit legal. The last several mornings have had a water temp in the low 70's so it should easily be wetsuit legal. As long as it can stay in the 70's I'll be happy with that. If it drops into the 60's then I'm going to have a harder time adjusting. Another rule for this race is the time cut-off. If anyone doesn't finish the swim portion in less than 2 hours and 20 minutes then they are not allowed to continue in the race. Even taking a cautious and conservative approach to the swim, I don't expect this time cut-off to be an issue. The one issue I have read about recently is the possibility of jellyfish being present in the water. Apparently a few previous years have had them and others have not. I'm not looking forward to getting stung, but at least I'm aware of the possibility rather than it coming as a surprise.

One Month To Go

One month from today I will be attempting my first ironman triathlon. The time commitment to training has been a little more consuming than I expected so far. At this point I'm mentally more than ready to get this race started, but physically I still have my doubts that I've done enough. I feel like I can finish the race, but it's a question of finishing it in how much pain that I'm worried about. The summer heat has now given way to cooler temperatures which are closer to what I should expect on race day. I'm looking to put in about three more weeks of quality training before I start to taper the mileage down in preparation for the race.

Training Schedule Adjustment

I have decided to not participate in the Salem Lake 30K trail race this weekend as I had originally planned to do. At the time I created my training schedule for the ironman triathlon the 30K run seemed to fit in pretty well, but my peak running distances are not quite as high as I thought they would be at this part of the schedule. Trying to do an 18.6 mile run would be too big of an increase from the 13 to 14 mile runs that my legs are used to right now, so to avoid potential injury I'm changing this part of the schedule. I initially thought that I could do a regular marathon training schedule and add the bike and swim training to it in order to prepare for the ironman. From trial and error, and from some of the things I've read about ironman training, it's not absolutely necessary to get up to 20 mile runs prior to the race. In fact, I feel like I would increase the injury risk and lessen the quality of my bike and swim sessions to the point that my body doesn't have adequate time to recover and be fully prepared to complete the race strong. I've got 6 weeks to go and I want to make sure I'm ready, but more importantly I need to make sure I can make it to the start line in one piece.

Patriot's Half Ironman Race Report

• Distance: 1.2 Mile Swim, 56 Mile Bike, 13.1 Mile Run
• Time: 5 hr 47 min 44 sec overall; 46:18 Swim, 6:39 T1, 2:56:03 Bike, 1:21 T2, 1:57:26 Run
• Place: 41 out of 81 in age group, 174 out of 382 men, 208 out of 537 overall
• Weather: Sunny, 5 mph winds, air temps in the low 60's at the start and low 80's at the end, water temp of 74 degrees

The day started out a little cooler than my recent races have, but the lower temps allowed the water temp to drop several degrees overnight making the race wetsuit legal. There were two things about the race that I was made aware of during packet pick-up the day before. The first was that there would be an extremely long jog between exiting the James River and reaching the transition area. I'm not sure of the exact distance but it had to be at least 200-300 yards. The second was that the outgoing current in the James River would make some of the rectangular shaped swim course a little more challenging. That was an understatement. I started the race in the 4th of six waves and began my swim towards the first turn buoy which was way off in the distance. Even though it was difficult to tell, the further I got from the shore the stronger the current was moving from right to left. About half way to the turn buoy I noticed that all of the swimmers were spread out over a large area on both sides of me. I wasn't sure which group of swimmers was fighting the current more, but I figured if I stayed somewhere in the middle of both then I would be ok. The first turn buoy was just about in the middle of the river so it was where the current was moving the fastest. All of the swimmers seemed to converge at that turn about the same time and the current made the left turn difficult for the people already down stream of the buoy. After the turn I could tell the current was helping carry me down to the next buoy, but the next turn heading back to shore was going to be just as much of an uphill fight. Once I made the turn I tried to stay as close to the left as possible, but the current was still able to pull me a little bit off of the line I wanted to swim. My swim time was a lot slower than I was expecting but I couldn't kick myself too much since the current was more to blame than my swim stroke. I exited the water and started jogging up through the field to the transition area. Once I arrived at my rack I found an unpleasant surprise. After I had left the transition area to walk to the swim start one of the six people assigned to my rack had apparently decided that his bike should be racked on the end where mine was at, so he moved everyone's stuff down one spot to make room for his bike. This same person just happened to finish the swim and arrive at the rack just moments before I did, and was sitting on the ground getting his bike gear on in front of both his spot and my "new" spot. This confused me at first because I knew exactly where my bike was suppose to be, but when I got there and didn't immediately see it, my first thought was that I must have turned down the wrong aisle. Once I realized what had happened I was a little pissed but decided not to say anything to him. Instead I just gave him a look like "are you going to get out of the way so I can get to my stuff that you moved?". Within a few seconds he grabbed his bike and left, so I proceeded to get my bike stuff on. I had to waste some time looking for one of my socks because he had shuffled things around moving everything. At this point I understood some of the stories I had heard in the past about people letting the air out of tires when they found someone had moved their stuff. I got my revenge by beating him by over 20 minutes in the overall race time. Moving on to the bike course, I kept trying to keep my speed in check since I knew I had to run a half marathon at the end, but I felt pretty strong and continued to make some moves on the bike. There was one guy on the bike course that seemed to ride almost the same pace as me for nearly the entire ride. We probably passed each other back and forth at least twenty times. Towards the end of the ride it became annoying sort of like a bug that won't leave you alone, but I'm sure he probably felt the same way. My bike time was a little better than the previous half ironman I did, but I was hoping for even faster than it was. I liked the bike course a lot, but by the time I hit the 50 mile point I was ready to start the run. I knew when I began the run that there was no way I could beat my best time, so I tried to visualize what I would be thinking and feeling during my upcoming ironman. I felt strong for the first half of the run but I could tell by the second half that I was starting to tire. When I had a few miles left to go, I started to imagine being in the ironman and having to do this whole run course one more time. I felt like I could probably do it again if I had to, but adding the extra 56 miles of biking before the run would definitely make a difference. More training will be needed. I noticed the finishers medal that they handed out for this race had a typo on it which was appropriate for the swim course. Instead of the correct 1.2 mile swim distance, the medal had a 13.1 mile swim engraved on it. Even though my time didn't reflect it, I felt slightly better after this race than my previous half ironman, and I didn't have the same level of soreness as I did before either. I've got eight weeks to go before the big race and a lot of miles left to train in order to prepared.

Patriot's Half Ironman Preview

The Patriot's Half Ironman located in Williamsburg, VA is a race I've considered doing for a couple of years now, and I was glad that it fit so well into my training schedule for this year. I've been looking forward to this race because the course terrain is very similar to what I can expect in Florida at the ironman race. The swim portion of this race is in the James River right next to the historic Jamestown settlement. I've been told to expect this part of the river to be a mix of salt and fresh water, so I will still get the salty taste that I need to be used to for the ironman in Florida. I'm expecting the swim to be wetsuit legal so unless there are a lot of choppy waves my swim should go fairly well. The bike course is one loop on flat lightly travelled roads, and the run course is two loops on a mixture of paved and mulched trails. I really want to use this race as a gauge to determine how well prepared I am for the ironman. I've done one other half ironman distance before so I want to compare how I felt after that race with how I feel after I finish this one. One of my goals in this race is to better my previous time at this distance, but I also want to use it as a test of my stamina and nutrition plan. This will be one of the larger events I do this year since about 600 people are already pre-registered. The early weather forecast looks good so far with high temps in the low 80's and mostly sunny.

10 Weeks To Go

In the past I had done a small number of my training sessions early in the morning before work, and then a second one later that evening. With ten weeks to go almost every day is now a split training session. I'm getting up at 4am each morning during the week and doing either a run through the neighborhood, or riding my bike indoors on the computrainer. Depending on which one I do in the morning, my evening session is either biking indoors or swimming at the gym. I've tried to keep the majority of my runs early in the morning to avoid the heat, but I still seem to get hit pretty hard with the humidity. I've also limited my outdoor bike riding to the weekends when I have more time, and to take advantage of a few group rides. The temperatures will probably start to change in the next few weeks so I might do some of my runs in the evening soon. Until then I'm just trying to buckle down and get as many quality workouts in as I can. I still feel a little under-prepared for what I need to accomplish, but hopefully my confidence will grow in the coming weeks. I have my half ironman race coming up and several weekends of very long bike distances ahead, so I'm looking forward to seeing some improvement.

Vacation Training

I recently returned from vacation at the beach where I was able to take a break from my job and concentrate on some triathlon training. I was looking forward to training at the beach because the terrain would be exactly what I could expect at the ironman in November. The only downside for this trip compared to the upcoming race was the humidity. My long run for the week was supposed to be 14 miles, so I grabbed my ipod and a large bottle of gatorade and started running down the beach early in the morning. The plan was to go seven miles down the beach, turn around, and come back. Going out I was running into a headwind and the sun was at my back. The air was very muggy so I didn't mind the wind too much since it was helping me feel cooler. Within the first mile I was already soaked with sweat and the high humidity was not allowing very much evaporation to cool me down. By the time I got to the five mile point I had already drank more than half of the bottle I was carrying, and I knew if I kept going to seven miles before the turn around that I was going to be in trouble with staying hydrated. I decided to turn back at the five mile point and make my long run a ten miler instead. Once I turned around the wind was no longer blowing like a fan in my face and the sun was bearing down on me from the front. The last few miles were miserable as I could tell the humidity was taking its toll and I ran out of gatorade with a mile left. At least the bike rides that I went on didn't feel as humid as my runs. My long bike ride for the week was 60 miles. I mapped out my route and decided to stay on light to moderately traveled roads that were a little further inland from the beach. I was looking forward to seeing how well I could do on this ride because everything was flat just like the race will be. All my previous training rides back home had some hills, so there wouldn't be any opportunities to coast on the downhills this time. This would be constant pedaling and a lot of time in the aero bars. For the most part I think the ride went well, but I was surprised that my pace wasn't any faster than some of my previous rides that included hills. The one thing I did learn from this ride was that long rides with no hills require a lot more mental focus. The continuous stretches of flat road can really test your ability to fend off boredom from a lack of changing scenery. Doing my swim training was an even bigger battle against boredom. The condo we stayed at did have a pool for swimming laps, but it wasn't nearly as long as I would have liked it to be. I measured it the first day we got there so I would know how many laps I would need to do for each workout. It turned out to be 12 yards long which was less than half the distance I'm used to doing. Trying to swim a couple hundred laps without losing count was definitely a challenge, but it turned out to be less confusing than I thought it would be.

Tour de Furniture Report

• Distance: 100K (62 Miles) Ended up being 63.9 Miles
  
• Time: Approximately 3 hr 25 min, averaged 18.5 mph
  
• Weather: Sunny, 10-12 mph winds, air temps in the low to mid 80's

Going into this event I didn't know what to expect. After completing it, I'm pretty sure I won't do it again. There were maybe 75 people that chose to do the 100K distance like I did, and except for a few at the back, everyone rode off in a large draft pack to start the event. After having done several group rides in the past I was well aware of the energy saved by staying in a large group of riders, so I chose to go with the pack. There were police stopping traffic at all the intersections until we got outside the city limits. One motorcycle cop stayed with the lead pack and would ride ahead to block traffic at any intersection we were approaching. I wasn't really paying much attention to the pace, but instead concentrated on not colliding with anyone that was surrounding me on all sides. Everything was going relatively smooth until around the 20 mile mark. I could tell the pace was starting to pick up, and when we made a left hand turn I found myself getting dropped off the back of the pack. I looked at my speed and saw that I was going 23 mph while the pack was pulling away. For the ironman I'm hoping to average somewhere around 19 mph, so trying to catch up to the pack which was going several mph faster than that was not going to help me in the long run. I decided that I would let that lead pack go and I would continue the rest of the ride at the pace I was more comfortable with. I looked behind me to see how many people were in the same situation as me and was shocked to find that there was no one in sight. Apparently the few people that chose not to go with the lead pack at the beginning were now miles behind me and I was all by myself. The bad part about being dropped from the pack was that there were no more motorcycle escorts to stop traffic. I had to stop for all traffic which further increased the distance between me and the pack. I rode the next 12 miles thinking that I couldn't believe I paid to do a solo bike ride which I could have done for free. When I got to mile 32 I saw one rider up in front of me and I wasn't totally convinced he was even participating in the event. I just assumed it was some random guy out riding his bike. As I caught up to him I was able to determine that he was part of the event. He was apparently glad to see someone else because he wasn't familiar with the course and didn't have a map of which way to go. The two of us rode together for about 10 miles before we reached a designated event rest stop that I had planned to stop at. When we arrived there were several other riders there, but most appeared to be doing the 50 mile course instead of the one I was doing. I picked up some food and water and decided to head back out by myself after a brief stop. This part of the course was where most of the shorter distances were starting to come together and we would all be on the same route back to the finish. I was a little relieved that at least I would see a few people on the way back, and I was able to pass a lot of the slower riders from the shorter distances. I got back to the finish and "checked in". I was informed that since a lot of the riders from the shorter distances had already finished, the event organizers went ahead and gave away all of the door prizes so everyone wouldn't have to wait around. To make matters worse, I noticed that the event bike jersey which I purchased at packet pick-up the day before the event was now being sold for $25 less than I paid for it. I asked one of the Red Cross employees that was in charge of running the whole event why I was charged $25 more and I was told "you should see what we charge for them on Monday". One of the volunteers overheard the conversation and said "at least it's for a good cause". Apparently with that logic this volunteer would be ok if someone stole money from her as long as they used it for a good cause. I think next year and all future years for this event, I'll keep my money and ride my bike by myself for free.

Tour de Furniture Preview

The Tour de Furniture is a cycling event that benefits the American Red Cross. The organizers have scheduled at least four different distances to choose from for this event, and based on my training schedule I selected the 100K (62 Mile) distance which was the closest to what I need to do for this week. I have never done an event like this before so I'm not exactly sure what to expect, but I was a little disappointed to find out that this event is not a timed "race". Instead everybody can ride the distance of their choice at what ever pace they feel comfortable. Basically this will be like the group rides I have done in the past except instead of 3 to 8 people there will be a couple hundred people. The added benefit will be that the major intersections will be policed to control the flow of traffic, and there will be several aid stations along the route. The event is so low key that I haven't been able to see an exact route that the 100K will cover. It seems to change slightly from year to year, but the general areas are some of the same as what I've done in previous group rides so I'm expecting the usual rolling terrain. The weather forecast looks to be warm with only a slight chance of rain. Overall, I think this event will make a 62 mile bike ride a little more enjoyable than it normally would be with a smaller group of riders.

100 Days To Go

There are now 100 days left before the start of my first Ironman triathlon and I feel like there is still a lot of work to be done. My training volume has started to pick back up again, and based on the latest reports of the oil spill it's looking more promising that Panama City Beach, FL will not be affected when the race starts in November. I lost my motivation to train a few weeks ago when the oil forecast looked like a worst-case scenario, but the dramatic improvements have renewed my drive to continue. With the countdown dropping below 100 days to go, there is a slight sense of urgency to train more than I should, but I know I need to be realistic with my goals so I don't cause myself any injuries.

Mission Man Triathlon Race Report

• Distance: 750 Meter Swim, 15 Mile Bike, 3.1 Mile Run
• Time: 1 hr 28 min 40 sec overall; 18:41 Swim, 1:31 T1, 43:38 Bike, 0:40 T2, 24:12 Run
• Place: 11 out of 35 in age group, 70 out of 248 men, 87 out of 373 overall
• Weather: Sunny, 6-8 mph winds, air temps in the mid 80's, heat index in the mid 90's, water temp of 89 degrees

I surprised myself a little bit in this race. I was able to beat my previous best time in this race by almost two minutes even though the heat index was in the 90's. If someone had told me before the race that I would be able to do that, I wouldn't have believed them. I went down to the water to warm up prior to the start and found out the water was almost 90 degrees. It actually was a nice change of pace from the previous cold water swims I did earlier in the year because the cold water always takes me longer to get my breathing controlled. I was scheduled to start in the second wave and was able to keep a pretty good line headed toward the first turn buoy. It wasn't until I turned toward the third buoy that the sun became a factor in my line of sight. Overall, I felt like my swim pace was comfortable and I expected my time to be pretty good. When I got out of the water the time on my watch was at least a minute slower than I felt the pace would be, but it could have been due to the course being slightly longer than it was suppose to be. My first transition was fairly fast since I didn't have to deal with a wetsuit. Once out on the bike course the first thing I noticed was that most of the roads had been paved since the last time I did this race two years ago. It definitely felt a lot smoother than I remember. About a third of the way through the course I could see up ahead there were several cars that were behind a group of slower riders, and the lead car didn't seem interested in going around them even with no cars coming from the other direction. There was one other cyclist just in front of me that was going the same pace as me. When we approached the group of cars it was obvious that we would have to slow down if we chose to wait for the cars to pass the slower riders. Instead of coasting behind these cars at 15 mph waiting for something to clear, I decided I was going around them. Right about that same time the other cyclist that was in front of me apparently decided the same thing, so we started to pass all five cars on their left hand side. The guy in front of me went wide left into the other lane while I decided to hug the middle line and pass the cars within arms length. Since there were no cars coming in the other direction and the cars in our lane saw what we were doing and moved over to the right a little bit, we were able to pass the whole group of cars and slow riders relatively quickly. The rest of the ride back to transition went well, and I could tell my bike time was looking pretty good. At this point I felt like I had a chance to break the 1 hour 30 minute mark if I could get back to transition and start the run by the 1 hour 5 minute mark. I was able to start the run at 1 hour 4 minutes so the only question I had then was whether the heat would affect my run pace too much. I was checking my watch constantly on the course but I wasn't able to get a feel for how fast I was going because they didn't have each mile marked. I finished the first lap of the run in about 12 and a half minutes so I knew I had to keep up a similar pace on the final lap if I was going to go sub 1:30:00. There were a lot of people on their first lap while I was doing my second, so the trail portion of the course was getting very crowded. I had to weave in and out of people to keep my pace up and I could tell the heat was starting to take its toll on me. I continued to keep an eye on my watch and as I got closer to the finish line I could tell that a sub 1:30:00 time was in my future. I crossed the line and couldn't believe I was able to complete the race in that time. I fully expected four or five minutes slower than I did based on my lower training volume recently. This race really helped me in the motivation department and I'm looking forward to the increased training ahead.

Mission Man Triathlon Preview

The Mission Man Triathlon located north of Burlington NC is a special race for me because it was the first triathlon I ever did. Looking back I'm amazed that I selected this race as my first because it's an open water swim and you are not allowed wetsuits - a combination that normally makes an inexperienced triathlete very nervous. In my case I was so inexperienced that I probably didn't know I was supposed to be nervous. This race will usually have several hundred participants with a nice mixture of beginners and experienced triathletes. The swim portion of this race will be done in a wave start format based on the age group categories, and the lake water is usually very warm.....think bath water. The one loop bike course has some rolling hills but nothing too difficult, and the two loop run course is a combination of paved road and wooded trail that has a short incline at the end of each loop. At this point it doesn't appear there will be any rain in the forecast, but it's suppose to be extremely hot with a high temperature approaching 100 degrees. Hopefully the worst of the heat won't be until mid afternoon when the race will already be over. I'd like to think that I have a chance of beating my best time for this race, but my lower training volume recently makes me think that I'll be lucky if I come close to that time.

Confessions of a Triathlete "In Training"

In the interest of full disclosure I have not been training nearly as much as I should be. I've been able to keep up with my schedule as it relates to my long bike rides and most of my long runs, but my shorter "maintenance" workouts have been non-existent and it has been weeks since I've gotten in the water to swim. Ever since the news of the oil spill in the gulf affecting Panama City Beach, I have not been able to motivate myself to train for a race that, at this point, I'm not sure is going to take place. The race company has said they are looking into possible contingency plans but have not gone into any details. One of the options that has been rumored was to cancel the swim portion and only have the bike and run. I would rather they cancel the race entirely than have it without the swim. I signed up to do the full ironman distance, and the idea of completing a race that doesn't include the swim would make me feel like it was an incomplete accomplishment. After spending the last few weeks feeling that my training efforts are a potential waste of time, I've decided to suck it up and continue on with the training. There are 18 weeks left before the race is supposed to start, and I need to stay focused and continue to follow my training schedule as much as possible if I'm going to be ready.

Freedom Run 10K Race Report

• Distance: 10K (6.2 Miles)
• Time: 47 min 46 sec
  
• Place: 10 out of 34 in age group; 50 out of 205 men; 58 out of 367 overall
  
• Weather: Mostly sunny, 5 mph winds, temp around 80 degrees, 80% humidity

I arrived at the race site about 45 minutes before the start to pick up my race number, timing chip, and warm up a little bit. As everyone was lining up at the start I noticed the guy standing next to me was getting ready to run the race barefoot. Barefoot running has started to be talked about recently in the running community as a more natural way to run that actually results in less injuries than using shoes. I've found the discussions interesting and took this opportunity to ask him several questions before the race started. Once the race began I was curious to see how he was running. The barefoot gait appears to be a lot shorter almost like small stutter steps. His pace was surprisingly fast and ended up pulling away from the pace I was running. Maybe at some point in the future I might give it a try just to see how it feels. Anyway, the first mile point arrived and I checked my time. I was running slightly faster than I should have but it wasn't fast enough to cause me problems later in the race. As each mile ticked off my mile pace was starting to slow slightly which was more in line with where I thought it would be. With about a mile left I started to pick up the pace and see who I could catch before the end. There was one guy who was running about the same speed as me so I paced off of him until we got within a few hundred yards of the finish. With 100 yards to go I made my move and began to pass him. Once a step or two in front, he didn't seem to put up much of a counter move so I set my sights on the next guy in front of me who was running much slower. I kicked it into the last gear I had and crossed the finish line in front of both of them. It felt fairly muggy during the race and I did sweat a lot, but it wasn't quite as bad as I thought it would be. My time was about what I expected even though I'm a little disappointed I couldn't give my 10K record a challenge.