Ironman Florida 2009

There was one point in the year that I didn't think the race would ever get here, it was such a long season for me. Now, I can hardly believe it's come and gone. However, every time I try to sit on the toilet to pee I'm instantly reminded that it has come and gone because everything hurts. If it wasn't such a weird thing to do I'd get a picture of how pathetic I look doing that and post it but sorry, it's up to your imagination.

The race was awesome! Before I get to the race report I'll share a quick story about visiting the amazing Redneck Riviera, Panama City Beach-FL! Kevin & I decided to go out on Thursday and drive the course. We wanted to see just how flat it really was. We are driving along and come up on a big truck. We stay back for a while and then realize he's just poking along and that we'd like to pass him. We speed up and go around, not doing anything aggressive, just a simple pass on a long country road. Well, he decided he didn't like that to much and that it would be fun to ride our bumper for a few miles. He wasn't dangerously close, just messing with us! After 4-5 miles he speeds up to go around us. I look over and see something similar to this sticking out the passenger window....
OK, really it was more like this, except sticking about 6 inches out the window...
It was like a train wreck. I couldn't look away and I couldn't stop laughing. It only solidified that, Yes indeed we were about to race in the Redneck Riviera!

Anyway, on to the race.

Swim
The swim was the gnarliest, choppiest, most aggressive, swim I have ever done. It was a mass start of 2800 people and a run in from the beach. Kevin and I decided to line up a couple rows back knowing that the first few people would likely swim 50-56 minutes and we'd be around 58-60 minutes. The gun goes off and it's madness. The gulf is interesting down there because there are allot sandbars out in the water. We all ran out into the water but it was to shallow to really dive in and swim yet because of the sandbars so for a good distance it was high knees and dolphin dives to get some distance. Imagine 2800 people doing this at once! Yep, not cool. Then once it got deep enough the elbows started flying, feet started kicking and I was getting clobbered. Luckily I am a strong swimmer and I'm confident in the water so it didn't really freak me out it was just annoying. I could see how many people would panic in these conditions. It didn't help that the water was also very choppy. I was getting smacked in the face with waves, swallowing gulps of water as I breathed, inhaling the wave rather than air. I couldn't see the buoys because every time I looked up I saw waves or arms. I decided to just put my head down and follow the crowd, I couldn't have moved anyway. Luckily I stayed very straight and hit all the buoys without going off course. The corner buoys were even crazier but I stayed close and literally swam under them. The course was 2 loops with a short run out and back in at an angle to start lap 2. Coming to shore we hit another sandbar. I swam until my hands were brushing the floor and then stood up to run out but realized I still had about 100m to go. We had to high knee it again for a good ways then dive back in and swim to the "next shore". Definitely an interesting dynamic and slowing it down a bit. I looked at the clock and had swam lap 1 in 29 minutes, wahoo! (I was shooting for 60 minutes). The second lap wasn't as bad as the packs had spread a little bit. I found someones feet and sat in. I felt good. At one point I stuck my hand straight into a jelly fish. Luckily, it was the top "jelly" part and I didn't get stung but it freaked me out and took me a second to get back into my rhythm. My total swim time was 1:02 including the run out up the beach so I am really happy with that, considering the conditions especially!
Bike
The transition was really long when you looked it. Not only did we have to run up the beach, we took a right and ran along a boardwalk for a good ways, then into a parking lot to get our swim to bike gear, then we had to run the length of the parking lot into the hotel to change, run back out and back down the length of the parking lot, then back around to find our bikes before heading out. I was sure I'd lose some good time here but at least it was fair. Everyone had to cover the same distance so knowing that I am good at quick transitions I realized maybe I could gain some time.

The bike was pretty uneventful. It was 1 loop and very flat except for some small rollers in the first half. They weren't hard but they definitely made it more difficult to get in a steady rhythm. It was quite windy on the way out and along the "hillier" section so I felt like I was crawling but I knew as soon as we turned we'd have a tail wind. Sure enough, as soon as we turned south again we had the smoothest road I've ever ridden on and a decent tail wind. I picked up the pace to 23-25 mph and hammered home to make up some lost time from the beginning. I felt great most of the bike. About half way through my neck and back started bugging me from the aero position so I took some vitamin I and it instantly felt better. I thought I might be making a big mistake by picking up the pace so much for the last 40 miles but I knew if I wanted to be in contention for the podium I had to ride around 5:30 or less. I finished in 5:33.
I have to vent for a minute....The one thing I hated about this course was all the drafting. It's not a surprise, everyone knows that it's a big problem in Florida but it truly was INSANE. Huge Tour de France like packs just flying by. Maybe I noticed it more since my swim time put me out with the rest of these clowns. Now, I don't really care if people make the choice to cheat, it's their race and they have to live with it but when it could potentially knock me out of contention for a Kona slot, that pisses me off. I'd see huge packs of age group men flying by and girls (of all ages) would jump in and just ride it. I know the marshals were doing the best they could but it's impossible to catch everyone. And some people don't care, they are just cheaters, plain and simple. They'd rather take a 4 minute penalty and gain 15-20 minutes by drafting. The consequences aren't great enough. I personally think that they should raise the stakes. If you draft and get caught, you're out of contention for Kona. Simple! Then I guarantee people wouldn't do it as much. Some guy got crafty and had a camera on his bike and caught some of it, I think it's pretty funny. Check it out....


OK, off my soap box!

Run
The run was what I was looking forward too the most. I have worked so hard on my running this year and I've really improved so I wanted to see what I could do and sometimes I think I run better off the bike than alone. Getting off the bike my hamstrings were tight and my psoas was bugging me a bit. They warmed up quickly and the IBprofin that I took on the bike helped. My goal was a 3:45 marathon so I new if I could run average 8:30mm pace I had it. I was running faster than this in my long runs and allot faster in my shorter runs in training so at sea level on a flat course I was confident I could do it. The first few miles I felt great, it was all I could do to make myself slow to 8:30. My average pace for the first few miles was closer to 7:55-8:05 and I worked on really slowing it down through the first half, coming through the 13 mile marker right at 8:28 pace. I caught up to a girl in my AG about mile 5 and ran just off her left shoulder so she couldn't see my calf. I knew I could probably run a bit faster but I figured why bother and make her pick up the pace and then potentially cause me to blow up later. We came into the start of lap 2 together averaging just under 8:30 and I had a bit of a slow down while she got ahead. I just felt like I was getting tired, I didn't feel bad just a little more sluggish. After some red bull, a few more gels, and some more IBprofin I came around and picked up the pace. I eventually caught her again and ran off her shoulder for a few more miles before I put the hammer down to drop her. It worked because she couldn't hang. I kept looking over my shoulder to make sure no one was catching me in the last 10k. I thought at the time I was in 2nd (a friend earlier in the run had told me she thought I was 3rd so by passing this chick I thought I was now in 2nd). Overall I finished in 3:47 so I was really happy with that.

Total time 10:30:15 and 3rd Place Age Group. I guess I was in 3rd still after all. Bummer because there were only 2 slots to Hawaii and they were both claimed so I missed out by 8 minutes and by 1 place. Oh well, it's more incentive to get faster.
People keep asking if I'm happy with it and I really am. I would be lying if I said I wasn't disappointed I didn't secure a slot to Kona. It's bitter-sweet. But I raced the race all the way to the finish line. I don't think I could have shaved 8 minutes knowing how hard I worked out there (unless I drafted/cheated, which I would never do) and I feel like I executed my race plan perfectly so to me it was a huge success. And a top 3 finish and 45 minute PR (especially shaving close to 30 minutes off my marathon) isn't too shabby if you ask me.


We are taking a little time to relax and process it all before we decide on our next plan. Right now it's looking like I'll go after a win at Buffalo Springs 70.3 in Lubbock this June. I'm not going to spend allot of time, money, and energy chasing Hawaii. I have plenty of other goals and I am A-OK with that one not happening again right away. For now, it's wedding planning time!

I have some more trip highlights and photos I'll post later outside of the race report but I'll leave you with this gorgeous sunset!