2003 Great Floridian Triathlon
Clermont, FL
By: Ken St. Pe'

Ben begged and begged me to write this report so here it is.    

Pre-Race:   Orlando is a great area for a race.  We stayed near Disney World and about 30 mins from Clermont where the race site is.  It is very easy to get to and since it's “Disney World” everything is very nice.  It’s like Las Vegas for kids but since I am really just a ten year old anyway I was excited just to be there.  Then I drove the bike course.  Mickey f@#$ing Mouse it was hilly!  I figured this was going to be just like IMW and the key would be saving my legs for the run.

We had a nice dinner with the group around 4:00pm the day before the race.  I ate a lite meal of oatmeal, a powerbar and beef jerky at 7:30pm (the jerky was a last min idea) then lights out by 8:30pm .  I really tried not to over eat all week and  my weight was about 164lbs.(I had been 170lbs all year)   I woke at 12:30am to pee and drank an Ensure. Then a bowl of oatmeal and a banana when I woke again at 2:30am .  I thought Neal would get a kick out of this if he could have seen it.  Had my final meal of Ensure, oatmeal, banana and 3 cups of coffee when I woke for good at 4:00am .

Swim   This is the good part.  The above was just for the true tri geeks and because I don’t want to be outdone by the Ernest Hemingway report Troy wrote for IMCDA.   The swim was in a nice lake which was like glass on race morning.  It was just barely wetsuit legal.  They probably fudged on this but I never over heated.  The water was the color of my mother’s tea I drank as a young boy growing up in the Deep South . (That should top Troy for good)  Anyway, the swim course angled out to the right from the beach.  I could see the fast swimmers were lining up on the far right so that they could cut off some of the course.  Normally, I would get right in with them but I just wasn’t in the mood to slug it out for a few extra seconds.   I lined up to the left of that group.   When the gun went off nobody ever touched me.  I had a clean break and after a few hundred meters I could see the lead pack was going to pass right in front of me.  I congratulated myself on being  a race strategy master but after a few hundred more meters I realized I just missed them.  I fell in behind one of their stragglers.  I named the guy flipper because he had a kick that would send a stream of water about five feet in the air.  He was easy to follow because of this and I wasn’t worried about biking or running faster than some guy I figured had size 15 feet. 

I was swimming smoothly.  Fast enough so that I felt most comfortable breathing every stroke but slow enough so that I could bilateral breath if I wanted.  This was a little system I worked out in training and it put me on a 57 min pace in the pool.  I was feeling great as I approached the beach for the first turnaround when I caught a cap approaching from the rear.  God forbid it was a pink cap too.  I thought about digging in deeper but decided to check my ego.  She pulled up next to me and we hit the beach together.  The crowd gave her a huge applause, yelled her name and I realized it was last year’s female winner.  28mins and change at the halfway.  I just stayed with this girl for the second lap and continued to feel great.  I think my long paddle sets paid off.  I felt strong.  (Note to self--- give Neal and Chip advice on increasing upper body strength)  Finished the swim in just over 58mins—new PR. 

Bike    Transition was quick.  I swam with my clothes under my wetsuit so I just grabbed my helmet, shoes, sunglasses and pop tarts and I was off.   My plan was to go easy until my heart rate came down from the swim.  There are a few steep hills right out of transition so it stayed high for the first couple of miles.   It was in the mid 160’s and I wanted to ride the first lap of the bike in the low 150s.  My AeT is around 150 bike, 160 run.  (205 max HR)  I drank only water for the first 20mins but I got really hungry about then so down went the first pop tart.  Damn those are good on the stomach.   Ben had asked about my nutrition plan at dinner the night before and I could tell he and the other newbies were shocked at my answer.  I brought pop tarts, payday, detour, GU, powergel and carbo-pro.  I just ate whatever appealed to me and kept a tab on my calories.  I think people over eat in IM races and I know I have.  I was careful not to do this and I think it paid off.

15-20 people passed me in the first 5 miles of the bike but I just stayed on plan.  I was a little disappointed at my avg. speed on the first lap (3hrs) but I felt great.  It was a really tough course with no places to make up time.  Apart from the climbs there were several stretches where either because of wind, rough road or gradual ascents you found yourself grinding it out just to hold 20mph.  It was hot too.  The high was supposed to be 87 but it felt like low 90s out on the course. 

At mile 45 or so on the bike a policeman told me I was in 42^nd place.  I thought, cool.  I had a pre-race goal of top 50 so I was right on target.  I hadn’t been passed in a longtime at that point so I figured all the hammerheads were in front.  I picked it up to a 160 HR on the second lap and just waited to start catching the guys who went out to fast.  It didn’t take long.  I passed the first two at mile 70 and recognized both as the first two to go by me at the start of the bike.  They looked bad and I could see they were toast for the day.  Regardless of how your overall bike split turns out, if you finish strong it puts you in a much better psychological position to start the run.  5:55 bike split.

Run    I felt great after the bike.  Fast transition included covering my toes with Vaseline.  First time no black toenails.

The first 6 miles of the run are very hilly with three “walking-steep” climbs.  I was determined not to walk until after mile 13 and I got through this section in just over 8 min pace.  I passed several more of the bike hammerheads in this section and with each pass I got stronger and stronger.   The run took you back though the transition area at the halfway and a lady there told me I was now in 16^th place overall.  Very cool.  Maybe I could win the whole damn thing!  Just kidding, my HR was 160 (run AeT) and I was holding 8min pace.  I figured if I could hold this I might pick up one or two more places.  I re-focused and reached for the two Advil I had been saving as a treat for the halfway point of the run.  I took two at mile 56 on the bike.  They took the edge off and I was really looking forward to the second two. (1-2 every 4 to 6 hours just like the label says)  Unfortunately, I dropped one and only got one down.  This didn’t concern me until mile 20 and then all I could think about was that lost Advil.  I was suffering at this point and I had lost all ability to calculate my pace.  I caught 2 more runners and was now 14th.  I just bore down and focused on keeping my HR up.  It wanted to cruise in at 140 and my legs agreed with my heart.  Just then I heard footsteps.  I had not been passed the entire run and hoped this guy was on his first lap.  I was wrong.  He and I ran together until mile 23 when he walked an aid station.  I kept on and ran thru the next aid station too.  I figured he had walked some more but didn’t want to give him the benefit of the “lookback” in case he was still back there.  Wrong again.  He caught me just before the last aid station around mile 25.  We both flew (that’s a relative term) thru this and now it was a race to the finish.  He got a gap on me and I just couldn’t close it.  There is a climb 400 yards from the finish and at this point I decided that 15^th place was good enough.  Besides, he was in a younger age group and I ended up winning mine.  I crossed in 10:45 with a 3:46 run split (new run PR)  Just 3 mins off my IMF PR but on a course which is probably 45 to 60mins slower.

I had a great time watching Tori, Ben, Phyllis and Kristy finish.  There is nothing like the excitement of finishing your first ironman.  I want to thank my unofficial sponsors-Softride, Hed, pop tart and Higginbotham Chiropractic.   Next stop IMCanada.

I really do want to thank Kristy and Phillip for hauling my bike and Ben for letting me write this report.  It was a great distraction during the race as I made notes in my head.  Ben, I’ll get that money to you soon.