Running and maybe some other stuff: Race Report

Thanks again everyone for your support and for following along on this journey. It was a tough day for me, but as the triathlete saying goes: “I survived the tide, the ride, and the stride.” ;^)

Below is my race report from the 2009 Florida Ironman Triathlon, followed by a montage of pictures.

PRE-RACE
My race day started at 4:10am. I awoke, took a quick shower and ate breakfast: 4 waffles with syrup, a banana, a glass of soy milk, and a bottle of gatorade. Then made it down to the race site, temps were already pretty comfortable, not really cold at all. Stripped off some of my clothing for the body marking (race number and age) and then made my way into transition to pump my bike tires and put on my wetsuit. Made it down to the beach by about 6:40am. Eventually zipped up my wetsuit, put on my swimcap and goggles and crossed over the timing mat which meant I was officially in the race. Once in the corral with all the other racers, you start to feel the crazy energy about to be unleashed on the course. Music was pumping on the loudspeaker and finally, after much anticipation, the race started.

SWIM [2.4 miles -- 2:08:44]
7:00am
There’s nothing like the frenzy of a mass swim start. Over 2000+ athletes with arms and legs flapping through the water all at once! As usual, I started a bit towards the back of the pack, though still experienced plenty of contact, including getting kicked in the face once; luckily my goggles stayed put. How fun!

Well, needless to say, the swim is the toughest part of the race for me. I am not a very good swimmer, and the conditions race day didn’t help my cause – there were some very significant swells out there and I felt like I was rising and falling so much constantly; it was really hard to sight the buoys (making it hard to swim straight) when you are in the trough of a wave (can’t see over the crest of the next wave) and taking in water, er, yucky salt water at that.

The course was two 1.2 mile “out, over and back-to-shore” loops. It wasn’t easy getting back in the water after that first loop. My stomach was already seasick from the topsy-turvy swells, and then made worse by the salt water taste in my mouth. But I endured the Gulf of Mexico and got to see tons of jellyfish and even a quick glimpse of two small stingrays cruising along the sandy bottom of the water.

SWIM-TO-BIKE TRANSITION [8:50]
After pulling myself from the water, I sauntered up the sandy beach where a bunch of volunteers helped strip my wetsuit off of me. Continuing up the beach led me into the transition area where I grabbed my bike gear bag and headed for the changing area, which was a long barefoot walk. Volunteers helped me with my stuff and after putting on my jersey, cycling shoes, helmet, gloves and sunglasses, I headed out to get my bike. I never stopped to stretch, but probably could have spent a few seconds stretching my quads and hip flexors.

BIKE [112 miles -- 6:17:26]
Wow, was I happy to be on land again. Those first few miles on the bike were like heaven. While riding, I took probably about 15 minutes to get that salt water taste out of my mouth and recover from my seasickness. Then I immediately ate some of my peanut butter and jelly sandwich.

After about 22 miles of the ride, the course turned a corner where riders met a headwind for about the next 28 miles. Not fun. There are not a lot of hills in Florida, but what the course lacked in hills it made up for with wind. Oh well, we all race the same course, nothing that we could do about it. I passed a ton of people and exchanged pleasantries with several folks as we encouraged each other onwards.

I continued eating a bit more of my peanut butter and jelly sandwich, as well as several bites of PowerBars and a couple GU gels – all washed down with Gatorade of course.

The roughest part of the ride for me was around mile 80, which is when I started to feel pain in my left shoulder. Damn, for the next 30 or so miles, I had to modify my bike position to limit the excrutiating pain I felt. I could no longer hold that low aerodynamic position down in the aerobars. Somehow I managed to still pedal hard though. Amazingly, my last 39 miles were ridden at a slightly faster pace than my first 73 miles – probably due to a combination effect of the headwind slowing me down earlier in the course and my just wanting to get back to transition as fast as possible so I could get my shoulder to stop hurting so much.

BIKE-TO-RUN TRANSITION [8:47]
There were a lot of tired out bodies in that changing area. It hadn’t crossed my mind much at that point, but it was only at this point that I realized it had become a pretty warm day. Temps probably topped out in the high 70s F, which for me was really quite too warm – I’d been hoping for about 20 degrees cooler.

Anyway, I quickly switched out of my cycling gear and threw on my socks, running shoes and knee strap. As I was leaving the changing area, I plopped myself down on the ground and spent about a minute or so stretching. Another runner going by me smiled and said “Good idea!” as he then stopped to stretch his quads, all I could muster back to him was, “Well, let’s hope I’ll be able to get back up!”

RUN [26.2 miles -- 5:47:02]
I hit the run course feelin’ just fine, of course, that was about to change within a few miles. I was holding a very comfortable pace of just over 10 minute miles, but after about 8 miles, I succumbed to some pain in the form of an injury. I fought back against the pain, but that’s a battle which doesn’t last long. The pain won and I was reduced to switching between running and walking for the rest of the distance.

I had plenty of company along the way, and used the opportunity to keep pace with some fellow competitors either in a fast walk or a slow jog. One guy I met was finishing his first ironman race; he was racing today having been inspired by his wife who was an accomplished triathlete and who had already finished the race hours earlier. I met a woman from Germany who was courageously doing her second ironman after some setbacks in her training. I saw a guy ahead of me who was a lower leg amputee. And I met another guy who was hobbling with blisters through his 29th ironman. He had done 6 ironman races in each of the last 3 years! And finally, with under two miles to go, I happened across one of the original ironman racers back in 1978 when the first ever ironman was held in Hawaii. After a quick chat and exchanging encouragement with one another, I left him with about a mile to go as I found enough energy left to run that final mile cheered on by music blasting and a sea of spectators. Funny how all the pain washes away in that final mile when you’re pulled forward by the crowd and just so happy to be finished.

OVERALL 140.6 miles -- 14:30:44

POST-RACE THOUGHTS
So in my triathlon career, I’ve now done three triathlons, all Ironman races. I didn’t sign up for this same race next year. Instead I have some other areas of my life that I’d like to focus on, though I’ll still try to maintain and build some triathlon fitness by training and doing some shorter distance races. Lots of lessons learned in my training, and had lots of time during my race to reflect upon things I could have done differently. Injuries are sometimes hard to prevent, but I certainly could have planned my periodization of training better. I’ll mull over these and other factors in my off-season, for now I’m kicking back and enjoying my accomplishment.

Happy trails everyone! Pics below…

Pre-Race...