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.