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.