Now here is the full race report. This is mostly for me and my journal purposes. I realize it seems a little narcissistic. It is long so if you are getting this, feel free to delete.
Mike and I really felt ready for this race. We had been consistent all year. We had worked hard. We were ready to go. I truly felt that a sub-10:00 time was possible based on how I had trained. Kona was out the window for me, but 10:00 hours was in the cards.
Thursday and Friday, we did our final light training sessions. Ocean was rough on Thursday, but really nice on Friday. Weather was nice and comfortable during the day – light chill in the morning – not too hot during the day. You could tell it was getting hotter on Friday, but not terrible. We did all the registration stuff and were ready.
When I drove to pick up Demi on Friday night, it was foggy. I remember thinking that was weird because it had been really dry. There was moisture on the roads looking like it had rained, but it was just the humidity in the air.
On Saturday, we woke up and it was already warm. I said to Mike, the last time it was warm like this before an “event” when it should have been chilly was when we did R3 (rim to rim to rim of the grand canyon). I told him how it was balmy at the top of the grand canyon when it should have been 40 degrees. Same feeling. It was warm on Saturday morning. Mike and I had on pants and light sweatshirts and we were sweating walking to the race venue. Ironically, a cold front moved in on Sunday afternoon. Sunday morning was still hot and muggy. Sunday evening was chilly. I just opened the porch door on our condo (Monday morning) and it is very chilly outside right now. Oh well.
Mike and I got ready. No GI issues for me. I was clean and ready. I reset something on my power meter (turned off the light) and I think that is what messed it up. I think it picked up somebody else’s power meter so it wouldn’t synch with mine anymore. Mike and I did our warm-up run. Felt good. We were rushed to get our wetsuits on though so we didn’t get our 10 minute swim in.
Found our wives – took some quick pictures and we were ready. As I said earlier, the ocean was rough. Big swells the entire way out. It was weird because I kept thinking that it should settle after we cleared the initial breakers, but it never did. I guess the slope of the floor here in Florida means the waves rise and fall pretty far off the shoreline. This was by far the roughest tri swim I have ever done. I don’t mean the water there – I mean the other swimmers. Maybe it was because of the number of swimmers. The other races I have done have all had waves or been smaller Ironman races (New Zealand was 1,200 and St. George was about 1,850). This race had 2,500 people and I was climbed all over. There were several times where I was completely boxed in – slow guy in front of me – two swimmers on either side pinching me – and a guy behind me literally grabbing my legs trying to get me out of the way. There was nowhere for me to go. It eased up a little over the turn back to shore, but it wasn’t until the second lap that it spread out for me. I finished the first loop in 33 minutes. I felt pleased with that. My shoulder was holding up. It had been killing me on the swims we did on Thursday and Friday. Second loop was uneventful. I remember thinking what a great experience. To swim in the ocean for an Ironman in these rough conditions. It was crazy, but fun. I was able to draft on a guy really well for about 400 yards coming back in so that was nice.
Stood up at 1:11. I had thought I might be around 1:08 so a little disappointed. No big deal. The run to T1 was really long. Got changed, slathered in sunscreen and then was off. I was ready and excited for the ride. Looked down at my power meter and what!?! What is going on? I turned it off and on three times trying to get it to reset. Nothing worked. It really shook me. I was so incredibly frustrated. I had literally bought the power meter for this day. I had trained all summer to it. My entire bike strategy was set up to a certain cadence and power level – neither worked. I was crushed. Seriously so disappointed. I knew I had to push it out of my mind, but I was so bummed. I just started using mph instead and my perceived effort. I kept reminding myself that Matt (Coach Dixon) and said to take it easy for the first 50 miles – that you really needed your power on the back end of the course. I tried to find some guys who were riding my speed so we could legally draft with each other. I stayed the required distance off of riders, but there is still some benefit there. I saw a couple of big groups go by in draft packs (cheaters!) but I thought I would see more. I had a Greg Arnett experience when one big group went by and then I came upon the aid station manned by a Boy Scout troop –a scout is trustworthy, loyal…. Anyway, I didn’t draft. Never really tempted to do it. This was about my effort.
I remember thinking about 40 miles in how cool this was. The road was beautiful. Good pavement and a smooth ride. I have done so many tri races on really crappy roads and this was awesome. I was feeling good – the pace was right – about 21.2 miles per hour. I was holding back getting ready to push harder on the back. I stopped to pee around mile 45. At that point, a 6’ 6” guy rode by me as I was getting back on the bike. We started riding near each other and he was perfect for me. I dropped behind him and stayed 7 meters off his back. He was so big that he cut a nice swath through the wind. It was a nice ride for about 10 miles. Around mile 53, we hit the first out and back. I don’t know what happened, but the road turned terrible for that stretch. It was about 7 miles in total and that was the worst road I have ever been on during a race. I couldn’t stay in the drops. They had the special needs bag at this point so I got my new bottle of nutrition. Unfortunately, I lost my giant rider at that point. I would have loved to stay with him for the rest of the bike.
On nutrition, I felt great at this point. I was drinking close to a full aerobottle of water every 10 miles. I had three nuun tablets in there along the way also for more electrolytes. My drink bottle with 400 calories was going down smoothly. I was eating about 40 – 50 calories every 15 minutes in solid food.
I saw Mike at the turnaround and was surprised at his lead. He probably had 15-20 minute on me at that point. I was surprised by that. After the turn off the terrible road, I settled in and raised my pace. Matt was right that the second half was harder. There were more rollers, it was hotter, we were more isolated, it was very windy. I rode by myself for about 30 miles. I would slowly catch some groups and pass them. Nobody was passing me at this point. The faster riders had already done that. It was a little lonely and definitely hard. I was holding pace though and didn’t feel wasted. On the second out and back, I saw Mike again and this time I was about 4 minutes back so I had clearly closed the gap. The last stretch in was tough for me. There was a long stretch (5 miles?) that was into heavy winds. I had nobody to legally help me block the wind. I was tired after the long ride. Once we turned on the frontage road, it helped and the wind shifted. I was able to come in holding 22.5 mph. A 52 year old woman passed me in the last two miles. She looked very strong. I was impressed.
Because I had turned my Garmin off and on three times, I was off on the mileage. My time said 5:10, but I was really 5:13 – 5:15 with the additional time/mileage. I felt good about that. Hurried into T2 and quickly changed. I was out in under two minutes. Total time at this point was 6:32 on my watch. If I banged out a 3:30 marathon (8:00 minute pace), I would be right around 10:00 hours. it was really hot and humid though. I knew that was going to be tough. I thought of all the long bricks though and thought I might be able to do it.
Per the plan, I purposely started slower. I ran an 8:30 pace for the first 3 miles. I was bouncing between 8:10 – 8:30 really. I was focusing on 9 “problems” of 3 miles each. I just had to finish the first problem. I kept waiting to find my rhythm and it never came. I never felt comfortable on the run. I wasn’t too discouraged by this because I didn’t feel bad either. The 8:30 pace was not hard for me – I just didn’t feel like I was in a groove. I thought – well – I will just grit through this and get it done. Lots of crowd support through the first few miles. I was sipping Coke and Gatoraid. I did a gel around mile 4. I noticed in miles 4-6, that I was not feeling great. My stomach wasn’t hurting but it didn’t want stuff going in either. I saw Mike at the turnaround and I was about 3 minutes back. I still felt at that point that I would catch him in the next section and we could run together. Miles 6-9 started getting worse though. My body was overheating. I was pouring ice down my jersey at every aid station and dumping water all over me. I was still burning up. I had to walk a few times. It was a different stomach pain then I have had in other races, but my stomach was definitely hurting. Once I hit the 13 mile point I was in trouble. I was feeling dizzy and having a hard time running. Right after I saw Demi and Vicky I was dead. I went to the side of the road and threw up in a bush. Started walking and threw up again. This happened about 5 times right there. I had chills and was weak from throwing up. I started running again thinking maybe that I just had to clear my stomach. Got to the next aid station and took in some liquid. About 3 minutes later, I was throwing up again. For the next three miles, I mostly walked, tried taking in nutrition and then would throw up. I laid down around mile 15 for about 10 minutes. That was the first time that I thought about stopping. I have never DNF’d. I didn’t want to start here since it was my last Ironman. I kept thinking I would just walk it as embarrassing as that felt. I even thought, “I just bought all of this Ironman Florida gear and I can’t wear that stuff if I don’t finish”. As silly as that sounds, it gave me a little something to push along. I walked for another mile and had to lay down. I had tried to drink some chicken broth and that was a bad idea. I was really dizzy at this point. Some spectators kept talking to me and tried to get medical help. One lady kept telling me it was okay to DNF. I seriously thought about it then. I was thinking, “how can I get through 10 more miles – even walking”. I just said no way – stood up – threw up – and then started walking. I started doing the math in my head. If I walked, it would take me over 4 ½ hours to do the second half of the marathon. Oh well – I didn’t want to quit. For the next 10 miles, I mostly walked without stopping. I had to lay down three more times because of dizziness and overall fatigue. I threw up several more times. As I said earlier, I stopped counting in the high teens, but it was definitely at least 25 times. It was good that there were so many bushes along the course. I fed many of them. I called Demi from a lady’s cell phone to tell her that I would be really late around mile 18.
I don’t know what kept me going. I felt like quitting several times. I thought “what was the point?” I had missed my goal of a big time. I just didn’t want to quit. It was hard for my pride to see so many “slow” people pass me as I walked. I guess I am that shallow. I want to believe that I am a top age grouper. By the way, the guys that won my age group were insane – mostly European. The 11th place guy in my age group was like 9:30. Only six slots for Kona. Wow. Honestly, don’t know how they do it. I remember thinking at mile 23 that I didn’t know if I could make it. Only 3 miles left – c’mon –of course I could do it. At my pace though that was going to be another hour. That seemed too much.
Well – I just kept going. I did it. I didn’t run at all in the end. Not even the finishing chute. I walked the entire way – giving people high fives. Old ladies were running past me in the chute. Oh well. I don’t know what happened. I can only guess it was severe dehydration. It was really hot and humid that day. Even though I trained in the heat, something broke down for me during the race. Total time was 13:01 and something – I think. I haven’t really checked. I am embarrassed and frustrated by that time. I really thought I had a chance at 10:00 hours and to come in at 13:00 is pretty bad. I overcame a lot to get there though so I am happy with that.
Demi reminded that life is that way sometimes. I did everything I could to prepare for this race. I trained hard all year. I worked with a great coach. I did many practice races. I finally figured out my nutrition. I was ready. Sometimes things just don’t work out even when you do everything you can. In those moments, you either quit or keep going. I am glad that I kept going.