2003 Great Floridian Triathlon
By: Ben
October 25, 2003

Pre Race: We arrived in Orlando Wednesday for our first attempt at an IronMan (2.4 mile swim, 112 mile bike, 26.2 mile run) distance race.  I was accompanied by Phyllis, my girlfriend and favorite training partner.  I felt well trained and well tapered, and was encouraged by great weather forecasts and restful sleep at our rental condo near Disneyworld.  We chose to fly rather than make the 15 hour drive to reduce fatigue.  A preview of the bike course was a little scary, but the practice swim in Lake Minneola went well, and I was okay whether it was going to be wetsuit legal or not.  Race morning I awoke after a surprisingly good night's sleep around 3:30 and had two huge bowls of oatmeal, a banana, English muffin, and coffee.  Sipped on some Ultrafuel on the drive over.

Swim: I am a really bad swimmer.  Never having swam more than about 2700 yards in the pool, with but one good open water swim in the False River of close to 2 miles (thanks, Larry) left me a bit undertrained for my least favorite leg.  Consequently, I took it very easy on the swim, which was wetsuit legal (looked like about 95% opted to wear one). My time was poor, one of the slowest of the day, but I did exit the water feeling strong, very refreshed.  Still, “relief” was probably the dominant emotion at the time.  I found the sighting easy on the way out with the yellow buoys, and difficult on the way in with the red buoys.  I got involved in more body contact than I am used to, but started wide and stayed wide mostly, so it wasn’t that bad.  I swam 50% crawl, 50% breaststroke.  All previous races, including one 1/2 IM, were 100% breaststroke.  Time: 1:43.

T1: A good wetsuit stripper helped me get out of mine quickly.  Still, pretty slow overall – glasses fogged up in the tent and I couldn’t see much at all.  I changed clothes completely, putting on a fresh jock, bike shorts, favorite cycling jersey, etc.  Maybe I should have done what the big boys do and just wear that stuff under the wetsuit, like in a sprint race.   Time: 10:20.

Bike: Despite being too hilly for my tastes, this is a great bike course.   Road surface quality was excellent, with the exception of about 6 miles on SR 19.  Even that stretch was reasonable by South Louisiana standards, you just had to watch the road closely.  I liked doing a 56 mile loop twice, since you knew what to expect for the second half.

Oh yes, the hills:  Lots of climbs.  I am a flatlander, but trained as much as I could on the hills in St. Francisville and Alexandria, as well as on my CompuTrainer.  I changed my rear cassette before the race to a 12/25.  I’d have blown to pieces without the 25 – I spent a lot of time in it.  As bad as the Buckhill rollers and Sugarloaf were, it was probably the cumulative effect of all the other shorter climbs that tired me out more.  After climbing Sugarloaf the first time, I was feeling things I had never felt before on the bike.  On the second loop, I got through Buckhill feeling about the same as the first time around, and was debating about whether or not to walk Sugarloaf.  In the end, I decided to walk it, so about a third of the way up I unclipped, took off my shoes and did just that.  This also gave my feet a break from the hot spots developing there.  My fear was that if I tried to bail on the steepest part of the climb I would fall over before I could clip out, as I am not very fast when it comes to getting out of the pedals.

I went with the heart monitor for the bike and run, something I had much internal debate about.  I think it was a big help.  It caused me to race more slowly than I could have perhaps, but by staying in my aerobic zone through both the bike and run (with the exception of the many climbs), I never really suffered.  My swim had been so slow that plenty of the half IronMan racers (who started an hour after we did) were biking all around me, and many of them were flying by.  The instinct to go with them was strong, but I stuck with the monitor and let them go.  At the halfway point, I pulled two still-cold bottles of Ultrafuel out of my special needs bag, and took maybe a 3 minute break to towel off, clean my glasses, and stretch just a bit.  I felt as strong or stronger on the second half.  At about mile 95, it hit me – I have never really suffered on this ride!  I have had many training rides that were tougher, where my butt and/or legs were killing me.  What a tremendous boost these observations were.  I had read that bike handlers would greet me when I finished the ride, to assist me getting off the bike, and to rack my bike.  Previously, I had imagined that I might need two guys to hold me and help me off the bike, since I might be rubber-legged and tired.  So it was a thrill to coast into the dismount area and hop off the bike and hand it to the volunteer.  At that point, I couldn’t have felt much better.   Time: 6:47.

Nutrition on bike:

3.5 bottles Ultrafuel           1400
1.5 bagels                           450
0.5 BB cookie                    150
4 shots Hammer Gel           400
Gatorade from aid stations  200
(lots of water)
(6 Endurolytes capsules)

Total..................................2600 cal

T2: It was great to feel so fresh.  Everyone else in the changing tent seemed to be in some level of distress, with one guy literally screaming for vaseline.  I got in and out as quickly as I could, which was still pretty slowly.  Time: 8:45.

Run: The run course is six fairly hilly miles through town, then three loops of 6.7 miles or so around Lake Minneola.  I felt pretty good from the start, but held back, slow and deliberate.  I figured I’d have to go into the dreaded run/walk mode at some point, and I wanted to delay that as long as possible.  Walked the big hill early on, whatever it’s called, which was a no-brainer.  I guess some ran it, but none that I saw.  I kept mile splits on my watch through 11 or 12, and I was seeing 9:45 - 10:15 , in that range.  As it started to get dark, I got out of stopwatch mode completely, and decided that running aid station to aid station, which were spaced at roughly one mile intervals, was a better approach, which I think it turned out to be.  I got a huge emotional lift at around mile 20, when I caught up with Phyllis, who was on her second lap, mile 13 or so.  We ran together for 20 minutes, sharing stories of the race to that point, including the flat tire she got before she had even finished one mile of the bike.  I had spent a lot of time thinking about her, hoping that she was okay.  Philip told me that she had made it to the run, so I knew that much, but what a relief to find her and see how well she was running and how good her spirits were.

I finished the run in a good rhythm, doing that station-to-station thing.  I probably stopped a bit too long (a minute?) at each station to sip a coke, nibble a pretzel and an orange segment, squeeze a sponge over my head, then walk a few more steps before heading out.  Still, I was extremely pleased that I never had to walk (other than through the stations).  I actually felt lighter on my feet as the run progressed.  At one point, I experimented with picking up the pace and found that the fatigue level didn’t seem to get any worse.  When I was running what was probably 9:00 - 9:30 pace, it felt like about 7:30 - 8:00.  Coming to the turn where, on your third and final lap you take a right to finish instead of a left to continue around the lake, was awesome. For some reason, I thought I still had a mile or so to go. Then people were saying “two blocks and you’re home!” and I couldn’t believe it.  I charged up the hill, made the left turn, and went into the final 100 yard straightaway as fast as I could, feeling great.  Time: 4:42.

Crowd support was outstanding on the run.  Not a lot of spectators, but enough, and they all had something encouraging to say.

Splits:
Swim: 1:43, 49/52
T1: 10:20, 27/52
Bike: 6:47, 18/50
T2: 8:45, 19/50
Run: 4:42, 6/43

Overall: 13:30:30, 9/43

Post Mortem: Simply put, GFT is a great race.  Tons of enthusiastic volunteers are certainly a big part of that.  I tried to respond with a little something verbal to all those who offered encouragement, but I missed quite a few of them.  I felt very safe on the bike course, which was not completely closed to traffic, but very well  monitored well by local law enforcement.  The aid stations were as good as I had heard - the volunteers were busting their asses to get you drinks or whatever else you needed as fast as they could.

In assessing my race, I am pleased.  Everything I heard after the race (including the winner's comments at the awards ceremony), and the post-race comments in the GFT Discussion Forum indicate people think the bike course was a killer.  Wearing the heart rate monitor was a big part of my feeling as good as I did throughout.  No doubt, I could have gone a bit harder, but I don't know how much.  I plan to do another IM or two, and I do not know at this point if I will wear a monitor or not.

I would like to publicly thank all those who helped me with this undertaking.  I am not going to name names, for fear of leaving someone out inadvertently.  But you know who you are.  If we ever ran, swam, or biked together, even if we only e-mailed or talked about it, you know who you are. Doing this sport and all the training for it has had the great fringe benefit of introducing me to a large group of athletes I might otherwise not have met, and my life is richer for it.  I need also to acknowledge with thanks the efforts of Mark and Kathy at South Lake Bicycles in Minneola, who received and assembled our bikes and will be shipping them back as well.  They made a potentially anxious experience a breeze.  Also, thanks to my two unofficial sponsors, Strength and Endurance (multisport coaching and swim instruction for the aquatically challenged) and Bobozone Bicycles (tuneups, components, folksy advice).