Ironman Florida is complete

On November 6th I completed my first Ironman. This is the account of the last days leading up to the race.



My dad and I left at 9am on November 3 and started driving down to Panama City Beach. The directions from Mapquest said that it would take about 17 hrs. Thinking that we would stop about every 100 miles for a break and probably 2 to 3 times to eat, we figured that the trip would take about 20-22 hrs which would put us there between 6 and 7 am on thursday morning. Well, as it turns out that even though we took our breaks and drove the speed limit, we arrived at about 1:30am eastern time (12:30am local time). What the heck were we going to do? There couldn't possibly be any rooms available in a city just about ready to host an Ironman. There were plenty of rooms at our hotel (Beachcomber by the Sea) and we just checked in a day early and got plenty of sleep before the swim in the morning.



Thursday morning swim was scary. The beach had the red flags up but we swam anyway. The waves were rolling in about 4 feet and we had fun trying to get through the breaking waves, once we were through the waves it wasn't that difficult to swim, just a lot of ups and downs. I kept thinking about how were 2200 people going to get through this. The rest of the day was pretty uneventful. Check in went faster than expected, I went for a short bike ride, ate lunch and dinner and talked to friends all day about how the race was going to go. Got to bed early and slept pretty good.



Friday morning was just about a carbon copy of thursday, started with a swim with 3 foot waves but had a little more fun this day cuz my confidence was a bit higher. Most of us body surfed for a while before getting out of the water. After the swim I got the race wheels on the bike and did a 20 minute ride with my dad then packed the bike up in the car to take to the transition area. When I checked the bike in I made sure everything was ready to go for the race and was able to relax for the rest of the day. I got to bed early again and got a good night's sleep.



Race day started just fine, we went to the Waffle house for breakfast and then off to the race. I started on the outside of the swim and still found myself in a giant group. Not a nasty group, just a bunch of people going to the same place in a really tight area. The water was very smooth, the wind had shifted around to the north on friday morning and the waves went away. I got through the first loop pretty good, only really bumped once and ran around for the second loop, my watch said 35:30 which I felt pretty good about. The next loop I stayed to the inside which I found less congested, especially on the back section and the return leg. On the return leg I was pretty much swimming by myself straight along the course line, bouy to bouy, I used that time to quicken my pace and got into a really nice groove. When I finished the second loop, my watch said something like 36:30 and I was a little dissappointed because I felt I swam a faster loop but in hindsight, that time included the run from the turn around so it probably was faster.



When I got out of the water the second time I went through the shower and had the wetsuit stripped off of me, then ran into transition fairly quickly. Got changed and before heading out on the bike I went to the bathroom, that took about 2 minutes, then got some sunscreed on and headed out on the bike.



The bike started off well, I got the HR down into the 150's very quickly and was working on getting it down to the mid-140's. We turned north into the wind and I kept up the pace and let the HR stay in the low 150's. The wind still seems to be my friend cuz being as small as I am, it doesn't affect me as much as the taller people. After about 20 miles of riding into the wind, we turned east on highway 20 and rode accross the wind, it may have even been a tailwind. At the 50 mile mark I was at 2:28:00, way ahead of my goal and decided to back it off a little. I found it hard to eat Cliff bars on the bike and started eating bananas from the aid stations to keep the calories up. I got one cliff bar down a mile 25 and that was it. I was riding just fast enough to jump from group to group on the bike. I would just ride my pace and ride through the groups as I caught them. I also got a bottle of Gatorade from every other aid station to suppliment my calorie intake. The total food intake on the bike was 12 gels (GU from my 2 flasks), 1 cliff bar, 4 bananas, 2 double strength bottles of Accererade, and 5 bottles of Gatorade, that is about 3600 calories, about 650 calories an hour. On the last 6 miles of the bike I drank the rest of my gatorade that was in my aerobottle and that proved to be a little too much for me to start the run with. Total bike time was about 5:38:50.



The run started off good, I made a bathroom break again in transition but just #1 this time. The run times started off at 10 min/miles, I felt a little bloated from drinking too much at the end of the bike but I was OK, Started doing gells on the second mile and continued every 2 to 3 miles untill late in the run. I was doing the gatorade sparingly cuz I was a bit full from the bike but still took it in cuz I was concerned about my electrolyte intake. The first loop went really well, I was between 10 and 11 min/miles and headed out for the second loop. Around mile 18 the outside of my right knee started to get sore. This allways happens when I run on the right side of a crowned road, I haven't figured out exactly why that is but I will sometime soon, it may be because I run on the inside of my right foot when the road is like that. I ran/walked for the next 4 miles and wound up walking for the last 4 miles cuz it hurt so bad. I wanted to run accross the finish line and did so. I was a bit dissapointed in the run but I was happy for it to be over. Run time was about 5:11, it not for the knee problem it probably would have been about 4:45, I wasn't that tired, just sore.



I found my dad at the finish and gathered my things to load into the car. He did just about everything for me during the trip. Took care of all the meals, transportation and made sure I had my stuff done on time. He made it really easy for me and I was able to relax and focus on the race. It would have been very difficult to have done the race without him and I want everyone to know just how much he did for me.



After riding back to the hotel I got out of the car and could barely walk. My hips had stiffened up and I had to creep up to the hotel. My dad went to get something to eat while I took a shower, I ate a little and then went to bed, slept about normal. The next day I was still sore but OK, hips and knees were what I felt the most. We ate breakfast, packed the car and then headed home.