IronMan Florida 2004 Race Report
In the days leading up to race day Saturday, pretty much all you heard was talk about the weather. The Gulf of Mexico looked "unswimmable" from our arrival on Wednesday through Friday morning. The mid-afternoon winds were blowing about 20 mph as well. Even my pal Lothar Leder (that's "Mr. Sub 8 Hour" Lothar Leder) had something to say about it. Well, actually, I saw him window shopping at the expo, and just for the heck of it, approached him and engaged him in conversation. Quite a pleasant guy he is, and told me he would be riding a disc wheel in the race, regardless of how hard the wind blew. "Ees good - crosswind will poosh you", I believe he said. We all kept watching the Weather Channel obsessively, and the Saturday forecast got better and better. Eventually, it called for lows in the upper 40's, highs in the low 70's, winds 5-10 mph. In the end, that is pretty much what we got. Conditions could simply not have been much better.
Woke up race morning around 3:00 am - could not hear any surf noise from the condo - first time since arrival. Sure enough, the Gulf was just about flat as glass. Had the typical pre-race meal of oatmeal, bananas, English muffin and coffee, and headed to the start. Had to go through the usual panic of sticking a few last minute items in 5 bags (Dry Clothes, Swim to Bike, Bike to Run, Special Needs Bike, and Special Needs Run), wrongly, as it turned out.
But the swim start was beautiful, and although the air was chilly and my feet were starting to get numb on the cold sand, the sun was starting to put out some warmth. The gun went off and 2100 or so plunged into the Gulf of Mexico. I took my time getting going, I mean I really took my time since I am not crazy about a lot of contact in the water. I looked behind me at one point and saw no one, and so I think I was literally last in the race after two minutes or so. On a 1-10 scale, with 1 being total calm and 10 being as bad as it can be before we switch to a duathlon, I would say the Gulf Coast 1/2 IM in '03 was about a 9.5, the same race in '04 about a 5, and this year's conditions for IMF about a 1.5. It's still the Gulf, and there seemed to be a few currents to contend with, but this was about as good as it gets.
The swim went as well as it could have for me. I produced my usual bottom ten percent time with a 1:32. But it felt easy, as I made an effort to stay relaxed and not force it too much. The 1:32 was a healthy 11 minute improvement over my only other IM, so I was quite pleased with that.
A wet suit stripper got me out of that in no time and it was into the change "tent", well located in the host hotel. I dumped out the contents of my bag and was confused that I didn't see my Team L.I.T. tri shorts. I changed my original plan of wearing them under the wetsuit because the opening few hours of the ride were to have been pretty chilly (yes, I wore arm warmers for the entire ride). I chose to sacrifice time for comfort and was planning to put them on dry. It was only by luck that I was wearing shorts at all. I decided to wear them at the last minute so I could carry a spare pair of goggles in them. Lucky for me, as otherwise I'd have had to try to ride 112 miles in only a jock - bad news for myself, not to mention all the spectators. Anyway, no big deal, I thought. Went out to transition, where there were not too many bikes still standing and was happy to see Terry and Jordan holding my bike up for me to mount. The bike valet touch is a nice one. Even better that it was two friends of mine, as they got me fired up, and gave me a report that my fiancé was about a minute and a half ahead of me.
The first panic of the day came less than a minute after I rolled out on the bike. I realized that my shorts were compression running shorts. No padding in the crotch at all. I have never ridden without padding, going with either cycling shorts or tri shorts. Even an hour on the trainer must be done with some padding. How in the hell can I make 112 miles with nothing? After internal debate, I decided that there might be a bright side - this would force me to get out of the saddle every 10 or 15 minutes, which I had heard was good on this mostly flat, stay-in-the-aero-position course. To my surprise, I never had any significant discomfort on the ride. I think maybe the reason is that I liberally lubed up "down there" in transition.
The bike course is a good one - mostly very flat. A few hills in the first half, but nothing unreasonable. Excellent surfaces for the vast majority of the ride. There was a bit of a north wind and that had a slight effect early. I stayed in the small ring for the first 20 miles or so, passing people continuously, feeling very good, staying within my aerobic zone on the heart rate monitor. I was drinking 400 calories of sports drink an hour, plus lots of water. It took me 40 miles to catch Phyllis, which told me she was having a great race, and indeed she was. We spoke briefly, then it was time to get back at it. Made the right hand turn just past the special needs stop at around mile 50, and picked up that tail wind heading south. Cruising 26-27 mph without really hammering, feeling great. Stuck with that for about 10 or 15 miles, then made the right turn on Camp Flowers Rd. Shortly after the turn, I hit a bad patch. Legs were tired, speedometer read low numbers, stomach not right. And then, "it" happened. Just before mile 75, I decided I had better pull over to relieve myself, and there was no time to waste. Jumped off the bike, ran into the brush, and (sensitive readers skip to the next paragraph), had a wicked attack of diarrhea. Just brutal. There was definitely some sense of relief, but I also made quite a mess of things, if you catch my drift. Yeesh.
So I climbed back on feeling better, but a bit lightheaded. Somewhere around mile 100, I got back to feeling really good. Charles Brenke and others had advised that you're supposed to ease up and spin for the last few miles to get your legs ready for the run, but it felt so good to feel strong again that I had to hammer it all the way back in. I finished the bike course in a little under 6 hours, slower than what I had hoped for, but pretty good under the circumstances. Besides, the bike split was not as important as how the legs were going to feel on the run.
I did not know what to expect on the run. Run training had been kind of spotty this year. Not enough long runs to really feel confident. So I took off easy, with a close eye on my heart rate monitor for the first few miles. I couldn't believe how good my legs felt! Not breaking any speed records to be sure, but it was nice to just be able to stay running. My theory is once you stop to walk for a bit, other than possibly through an aid station, that is trouble. So I ran through all the stations, grabbing a drink at most of them, all the way through 18 miles and something. Ran a few 8:30's to start, then 8:45's, then 9's and finally 10 minute miles. Ran 2:00 flat for the first half and was pleased with that. At the halfway point I don't think I could have felt any better. I stopped for the first time to drink some chicken broth (delicious!), then to use the bathroom, then all of a sudden the miles were coming a lot tougher. I was still on pace to go sub 12 hours barely, and then the wheels came off and I had to walk. Discouraging, to be sure. I finally got it back together around mile 23 or so, when I was able to make decent progress, by just running with little baby steps. Faster than walking and no more painful. 2:24 second half.
The double out-and-back run course is a mixed blessing. I liked being able to see friends several times over the course of the run, but it can be tough to do one 13.1 mile loop and then know you have to repeat it. The aid stations were as good as I've seen at any race - the volunteers were enthusiastic and encouraging. It can't be easy to stand in the same spot and yell "Gatorade!" about 4,000 times over an 8 hour period.
IMF04 was my second IM, Great Floridian last year being the first. Both are great races, but different to be sure. IMF, one of the officially sanctioned "M-Dot" races, really impressed with its level of organization. With a very few exceptions, everything worked and worked well. The logistics involved in putting on something like this have got to be massive, and they pulled everything off. I liked walking back to transition immediately after I finished to find all three of my major bags on a peg waiting for me. And how did they get so many volunteers? They were great. The boys and girls from the Team L.I.T. support crew were a tremendous source of support as well. I can't thank them enough - Fuzzy, Philip, Keith, Betsy, and all the rest, your cheering the four times I passed the tent on the run course was a huge help.
Funny how the different legs unfolded. I was concerned about the swim, but it was easy, although slow. I thought that the bike was my strongest leg, but that was where I had the most trouble. The run was much easier than expected, with just a few rough spots late. I think we all get too hung up on times. I know I do. I understand that it is a race, but for me, this sort of an endeavor largely transcends that mentality, or should anyway. I surely had time goals, and some were met and some weren't. But to finish is the thing, right? More than that though, must be the fitness, the camaraderie, the satisfaction of finishing something that upon first encounter looked both completely impossible and certifiably insane. Speaking personally, I am pleased with how fit I am at age 47, an old man with one foot in the grave. And with that fitness comes a sense of well being that is hard to put a value on, except to say that I value it very, very highly.