2008 Ironman Florida Race Report

The family at the finish!

Well, we finally made it back home from Panama City Beach, Florida, via Savannah. The trip, which we had hoped to be a mini-family vacation, actually turned into a full-fledged family vacation. This was aided by the fact that I’ve just resigned from an unfulfilling job in hopes of starting a career that I have some passion for. Thus, I had no job to return to. My wife is a stay-at-home Mommy, so we took our sweet time about returning to Raleigh.

We left early Wednesday of last week with a packed mini-van and visions of bright Florida sunshine in our heads. The drive down was fairly uneventful, fortunately, although neither baby slept much so they were a bit fussy when we got to our condo. This was to be my second Ironman, my first being Ironman Coeur d’Alene in June of last year. I was under the weather for that race, and didn’t have nearly as many cycling miles in my legs, so I had high hopes for the flat, fast Ironman course in Panama City.

On Thursday morning, I took the short walk down the beach to the race site for the Gatorade practice swim. I met my Iron training partners Tony, Jerry, Stephanie and Blake for a little 2000-yard jaunt in what turned out to be a bit rougher water than we expected. I also had time to chat with my pal Sheila who was volunteering for the swim and down for the race in support of Iron-blogger Shelley. After chatting and catching up with everyone, we headed down to the water. I quickly jumped on the feet of Jerry and Tony and was able to stay with them for about half way to the turn. I haven’t been swimming much at all really this year, so just keeping up with them for a while was good enough for me.

With our kids getting more mobile and my lack of swimming motivation, I had only swam once per week for most of this season, opting instead to leave more time for riding, running and recovery. This strategy paid off perfectly for me I think, as I’ll explain later. Anyway, on the practice swim, the way out was very smooth and pretty quick, as the tide was going out. After we turned around, you had to fight the current to get back to shore, which, when swimming by yourself without the benefit of a draft, was difficult. We would not be without a huge draft on race day, so I wasn’t too concerned. An Ironman swim is about as predictable as a broken stopwatch, so it wasn’t worth worrying about until you were actually in the washing machine of 2,200 flailing arms and legs.

After the swim, it was time to register for the race and check out the expo. We took the babies down to the beach for the first time and they loved it. After some apprehension, they played in the water and Bree actually ran toward and tried to jump in several times. I’m hopeful that they will be water kids! So far, so good on that front. The following day, Courtney took the babies to a nearby park so I could pack my transition bags and drop off my bike. I pretty much lay around all afternoon after that, as the time-zone change had the kids getting up at 4:30 am each morning, so afternoon naps were at a premium.

Race morning, I got up at 4 am and downed three Lara Bars and a Coke Zero. Normally, it would have been coffee but I had a bit of a problem with our coffee maker. Oh well, I still had two Red Bulls to sip on before the race started. I headed for the race site right at 5, as our condo was right next-door. I highly recommend staying as close to the race site as possible, as it sure takes the stress out of parking, etc. After dropping my transition bags, I went to put my fluids on my bike. I ran into Sheila and Shelley again, but unfortunately never crossed paths with any of my training crew from N.C.

I waited in line to get my tires pumped up, then stood and around and watched people. There is a lot of nervous energy before an Ironman, but it is also brimming with excitement, so the environment, albeit stressful, can be fun. I eventually said goodbye to my bike and went to get changed into my wet suit. It was dark in the changing tent, but I was in and out pretty quickly. After that, I headed down to the water in hopes of finding Courtney. I walked over the timing mat and into the corral, then went down to the right to try to spot her and the stroller walking up the beach. Eventually, we met up and exchanged hugs and kisses. It is always emotional just before a race, especially an Ironman, so a few tears were shed, just like it was my first one! Apparently, the magnitude of the day comes out no matter what!

I said “bye bye” to the babies and to Courtney, then headed back in the corral to find a starting spot. I ran into training buddy Dave Larson and we decided to start together, about 200 yards outside the buoy line, three or four rows deep. Mercifully, the gun sounded and we headed off on our adventure! The going was rough as usual, and I got swatted a few times right off the bat. Just like at Ironman CDA last year, I had a mild panic attack with so many bodies all around me trying to move forward. After a couple of minutes I calmed down and got down to business. It’s weird how that works, as I always calm down eventually, and I’m very relaxed the rest of the way. I just have to get things under control in my head before I can progress!

The first loop was crowded but fairly uneventful. Rounding the first buoy was hell as usual, then we turned directly into the rising sun, so you really couldn’t see much. Everyone seemed to be going the right way, though, so I just followed along. I tried to stay on feet the whole way and conserve my energy as much as possible, although I did find myself alone a few times caught between groups. I need to avoid that in the future. When I made it back to shore to begin my second loop, the clock read 34 minutes, so I was happy with that, as I had planned on a swim time of somewhere between 1:05 and 1:15 or so. As I mentioned before, I swam only once per week all summer long. I figured I could really train hard and maybe take five minutes off my time, or just cruise the swim training and not worry about the potential small gain.

I really took my time getting back to swimming on the second loop, as there was a huge sand bar you could walk on before having to swim. I pretty much just gathered my composure and rested while wading back to deeper water. I think, on hindsight, that my lollygagging there probably cost me two minutes. However, the rest was more important to me at that point. Anyway, the second loop went pretty well and I came out of the water with a 1:10 swim, just about what I expected. No black eyes, bruises or too much swallowed salt water, so I was pretty happy!

I broke my necklace trying to get my wet suit unfastened, and because it was an engagement present from my wife and I haven’t taken it off in four years, I was concerned that I would lose it. Thus, I was totally unprepared when I got to the wet suit strippers. That probably cost me another two minutes in transition, but I still have my necklace! The changing tent was totally crowded, so, after grabbing my bag, I went to the exit side and changed there on the ground. I put on a cycling jersey and shorts to make the ride a bit more comfortable and I was on my way.

I immediately figured out why IM Florida is always under the microscope for drafting. There were packs everywhere and it was hard not to draft unless you were trying not to. I’m happy to say that I rode totally clean the whole way, despite many opportunities to tag on to the back of someone. My friend Jackie Miller, who was shooting for an elusive Kona spot, and I saw each other many times on the ride and we commiserated over the blatant drafting and the lack of people in the penalty tents. In defense of the race, it is tough because there are no climbs to separate folks, so packs are inevitable. I also heard several people after the race say the ride was windy, then some said it wasn’t. I thought it was very windy in spots, then there were other times when it was at your back. All in all, I think it was a wash.

I thought I paced the bike pretty well, as is evident by my negative split. However, the front part of the ride saw the wind in your face, and most of the second half it was at your back, making a negative split fairly easy to come by. I only saw a few of my peeps on the bike, including Stephanie and Jackie. Tony, Jerry, Dave and Blake all had great swims and smoked me on the bike, so I never saw any of them.

On the bike, I took in about 1500 calories of my special Infinit Nutrition drink, followed by about five or six bottles of Gatorade. I also took in seven gels and about 10 salt tabs. After my misery from cramping at Timberman in August, I was determined not too let lack of sodium foul up this race. I’m a heavy sweater and my sweat is intensely salty, so I require more than most folks. I’m also 210 pounds, so my calorie requirements are higher than the majority of the field. Anyway, I was pretty happy with the way things were going, especially when I checked my time with about four miles to go and saw 5:30. I got a little crazy there and actually took my feet out of my shoes, thinking I would be prepared for transition and my feet would get a little time to un-numb themselves. I think that’s a good strategy with about a mile to go, but probably a stretch for four miles left! Oh well, lesson learned.

When I finally reached the dismount line, though, my feet felt great and I was actually able to run without my feet killing me. My bike clock said 5:45, and that’s about what I was shooting for, so I was happy. I had a pretty good second transition, which included a pee stop, so I was feeling pretty good about things. I set out on about a 9:00/mile pace, my heart rate was just where I wanted it (about 145 or so), so things were rosy for the time being. Little did I know that that 9-minute pace would be about all I was good for the rest of way. At about three miles in, I stopped in for another bathroom break, this one of the No. 2 variety, and that took me about four or five minutes I guess. After that, I didn’t stop again except for brief walks at aid stations. Along the way, I saw several pros I recognized, and I eventually ran into Dave, Tony, Jerry and Blake, all of whom looked strong. I never did see Stephanie or Jackie on the run, which was kind of weird, but I saw everyone else several times.

When I was coming back into the turnaround for my next 13-mile loop, I ran into Sheila, who was the cheering on several folks. She ran with me for a bit, which was big energy boost for me. That, paired with the liquid gold known as Red Bull that I had stowed in my special needs bag, and I was all set. I thought that for sure I would be able to pick it up at mile 20 and finish really strong. At this point, I still had visions of cracking the 11-hour mark. At about mile 18, I was glancing down at my watch when I tripped and fell. Everyone around me I’m sure thought I’d just kicked the bucket, but I was OK, albeit a bit bloody. I cut my hand, my elbow and my knee; it hurt but I wasn’t too bad. I think the embarrassment was the worst part. Anyway, I got back up and kept on going, so it was all good.

At mile 20, I started calculating that I would need to run a 48-minute 10K without stops to break into 10-hour territory, so I immediately wrote that off. My time goal for the race was 11:15, so I knew I had that in the bag barring something ridiculous (like tripping and falling again). The only other goal I had for this race was to break the four-hour marathon mark. I think if you can do that in an Ironman, you are going to have a respectable overall time. At about mile 23, I started to panic as my math was getting fuzzy. One woman asked me if we would make it to the finish before dark. I said of course, it’s only 5:30. However, I got to thinking, did I re-set my watch (the one my friend Amie so graciously let me borrow)? Panama City is an hour behind Eastern Time, so I couldn’t remember. Then I got really down on myself as I thought I had been calculating wrong all day and that I was actually going to have a 12-something finish! I was so bummed. Then, I eventually remembered that I did set the thing after all, so I was back to being a happy camper, although my four-hour marathon goal was slowly drifting away.

Over the last mile, I was literally sprinting for all I was worth, as I wanted that to obtain that goal. I don’t remember much about coming down the line, although I heard several people comment on my frantic pace. I was looking for Courtney and the kids but never spotted them. When I crossed the line, I saw Stephanie sitting down in chair with a shiny blanket over her. She had just come across about a minute or so before me. I told her she should have stopped and we could have crossed together! Anyway, I finally got a big kiss from my wife and congratulations from Jerry, Tony and everyone else that was around. I felt pretty good for having just done an Ironman. I was certainly pooped, but not depleted or anything likes the year before.

My splits were 1:10:52 for the swim, 5:44:35 for the bike and 3:57:35 for the marathon. It turned out that I was fifth-place Clydesdale (males over 200 pounds). However, they only gave awards for the top three. I was 97 of 351 in my age group and 563 of 2,268 overall. Not a bad result!

After the race, I went with Courtney to put the babies to bed. I then showered and walked back down to the race site to watch some of the finishers coming in. All in all, it was a great race and great experience. I must admit that I didn’t train as much as I should have, but that leaves me with hope for further improvement in the future. I averaged about eight hours per week of training this past summer and leading up to Ironman Florida. Obviously, that is far from ideal, but I was willing to sacrifice the outcome for time in other areas. I recently resigned from my job, the twins are keeping us crazy busy, and there was just a lot of stress it seemed over this past summer. I got in all of my key workouts — long run, long rides — but I skimped on everything else.

The good news was that I was very rested and very fresh come race day. Better to be under trained and rested than over trained any day. I think it also helped that I have a fitness base in place from steady, moderate training over the past three years or so. It doesn’t go away, it just needs to be primed every now and then. The marathon training I did over last winter also was very helpful, as most of my “short” training runs were 8-10 miles, rather than 3-4. I did absolutely no speed work, just slow and steady. My long rides were absolutely perfect, aided by my absolutely wonderful training partners. It’s amazing what you can accomplish when you have a group of fast friends pushing you. That long ride and the faster, harder rides I did during the week, along with my longer slowish runs were the keys to a pretty good race for me. I hope to build on that in the future. Perhaps when I do decide to actually follow an Ironman plan to a tee, that base fitness will be there and I’ll be able to crack the 11-hour mark at some point.

Thanks very much to all who supported me, especially my wife. She deserves about seven Ironman medals for all of the extra effort she makes everyday taking care of our twins. She is always supportive and encourages me to get out there and do the work, even when I feel that the time would be better spent helping her. She is the true Ironman of this family. A big thanks also goes to my friend Nasrin, who set out a plan for me to follow, even though I didn’t do the best job of following it. I really want to thank all of the Growling Gecko training group – Nas, Jerry, Tony, Amie, Blake, Dave, Denise, Robert, Stephanie, Sophie, Patrick, Carolyn – who consistently made it fun for me to join them on long rides and runs. I’m looking very forward to another training year with you all! Congrats to everyone who raced at Florida and Bridge to Battleship. I think the Triangle area made a strong showing at both of those races!