I have been having trouble putting how I feel about this one into words. We had a super fun group and weekend overall. There certainly aspects of the racing that weren’t the best but this race was about more than that. I signed up for this one pretty last minute as an afterthought after John committed to doing the first ever IRONMAN assisted relay with the Kyle Pease Foundation. This weekend was all about that. It was an amazing experience for all the parties involved. My race was a blip on the screen compared to that. In fact, I signed up because I knew that I could be traveling down this weekend because of John racing. “I might as well get some exercise while I’m down there.”

Me cutting John’s hair into a mohawk… a show of solidarity with his team!

In talking about goals in August, Coach Phil and I agreed that FL would be treated as an experience, having decided to prioritize another goal with the time between Augusta and FL, one that left little room for working on endurance. We even talked about taking it easy on the marathon part so I could get back to work sooner. After the Augusta soreness was gone though I started to feel really good with a couple of weeks of training under my belt. I only had time for one 14 mile run as my long run and one 100 mile ride that was split into half indoor/outdoor so I knew endurance would be an issue. Outside of that though I felt healthy and strong and my threshold was up. So I didn’t want to put any goals out there because I really had no idea what to expect.

Had a really fun time with our crew pre-race. Although it was weird that besides the relay team of Jdude, Paul, Tim, and John, the only other racer in our house was “aqua bike champ” Rogue. The Crossmans made the trip too (and Michelle’s costumes did not disappoint) along with some other ATC-ers who had the best cheer station in town. On the plus side, I think the is the best the ratio of support/racers has been at any race I’ve been to!

Pre-race it was an emotional experience watching John and the other assisted relays start. Afterwards though, Rogue and I couldn’t get into the corral where everyone was packed like sardines. We ended up getting stuck in the 1:45 – 2:00 section which I hoped wouldn’t be an issue. Walking up to the start I realized my Garmin didn’t work at all. I had done an update and something didn’t go right.. talk about a rookie mistake! Thankfully I saw Dan Arnett in the chute and he was kind enough to switch watches with me so at least I would have some data. Unfortunately the only thing that saved was the run so I really do not have any data but at least I could keep time with it!

The Swim- The swim was the worst I have done at FL. I think a big part of it was how far back I started. I got stuck behind a lot of people and had to stop or break stroke dozens of times. Definitely lost the swim machine game today! Also, the fact that it was non wetsuit legal and there were huge breakers then a sandbar that was not a swimmable depth then another spot of breakers. It was definitely a swim that separated those with good ocean swim skills from the pack. The second loop I made the error (that I have made to some degree every year) of getting back in to soon and paid the price. This was only the third swim I’ve done where I went through times where I could not see anyone else at all who was in the race. The other two were St George (during the 2012 Monsoon where lots of people got pulled out) and Alcatraz.. where it was just foggy. Needless to say I was pretty annoyed at myself and could tell it was taking a really long time. In the end, my slowest IM swim apart from Monsoon swim by a lot of minutes. I tried to not think too hard about maybe being out of the race already due to my swim. I was sure everyone had swam a bit slower but I was 15′ slower than previous FL swims! Well what do you know when I popped out the first person I was was Rogue. This actually made me feel better.. as Rogue is a far superior swimmer I knew I couldn’t be too far behind if I was with him.

Got into transition and it was pretty empty in the tent so I took that as a good sign. I hightailed it out of there and prepared for my bike ride. I couldn’t help but marvel at the difference between this year and last. The weather was awesome and I felt so much better. I was probably more excited than anyone in the race about the removal of the bumpy section. Normally that section puts my shoulder over the edge and I end up sitting up a lot of the last two hours. This year, I have been working on my shoulder issues more with my favorite Physical Therapist Carrie Smith and also supplementing with regular visits to Georgia Sports Chiropractic and being more diligent with strength training on my own. Also, I am on the best bike with the best fit I’ve every had, the Felt IA with lots of adjustments from Matt at Podium Multisport. The difference has been good. The course has about 400 feet more climbing than it did before so it’s not as fast on paper but it’s still blazing and I like it a ton more.

So going into this I was waffling about the best way to pace it. My threshold has gone up lately, but I didn’t have time to get in the endurance rides to back it up. So the last thing I wanted to do was smoke the first two hours than fade into a coast of doom so I knew I had to start out conservatively. The only issue is I was riding completely blind. I did have a watch though that was displaying distance and time so I could kind of get an idea of where I was at. I sort of like racing without power anyways so I just went with it. Felt good up to special needs and got the ice for my shoulder. It was hurting but not as bad as usual. I took a few pre-races at mile 80, that was the deal I made with myself.. and kept it steady. I definitely felt the lack of endurance about mile 70 because I was starting to need to take little micro-breaks, not coasting but just for like literally pausing for one second or two here or there.

I had talked to Carrie about a strategy for shoulder management and she came up with the idea of, instead of waiting till it all falls apart, and I have to sit up th erest of the time, to build in breaks more strategically and sit up for a bit every 30′ or so. I liked this a lot better. There were a ton of drafting marshals this year, too and they were on point. At one point one almost scared the crap out of me because they turned off their engine and were coasting right next to me, which is a smart thing to do. I happened to be sitting up and riding with one hand while stretching my neck out and not pedaling so although I almost fell off my bike I was so surprised I think those actions also showed them I was not trying to cheat as it had gotten a little crowded at that spot!

All in all I had been thinking my time would be about ten minutes faster but it was fine considering everything. My legs were tired of pedaling but I felt like I could run still. In fact, I did my first ever flying dismount in a full ironman. Usually I don’t trust my legs at that point.

Felt a little wobbly and cramps running through transition. I had seriously pounded a lot of base on the bike and eaten more than I ever have probably. I knew trying to race it hard with minimal endurance is basically the definition of pacing mistake so I tried not to get too greedy. Felt pretty decent the first eight or so miles and tried to eat and drink everything I could get my hands on. Had a decent first half commiserate with my better performances here but it was hot and my legs remembered we hadn’t done many long runs.

Michelle and Sondra (even though she wasn’t there) were doing a great job tracking and I knew I was 10th off the bike. That is a pretty typical spot for me and to me it means I’m still in it. I could see that the first couple of ladies were really far ahead but I thought I might still have a shot at the podium. It was awesome as always to pass the ATC tent and see the great costumes. The Good Culture costume was really something else! Plus the ninja outfit. The support crew really outdid themselves this time.

 

Out at the state park the second time around was when things started to slow a bit. I got some amino drink from the Base tent which actually helped a lot and then some chicken broth. I was back in business. I thought maybe I had gotten as high as fourth but I could have been as far back as sixth and I had no idea how close anyone was. I saw Michelle about two mile away and I was about to cramp just from picking my legs up to go over speed bumps. She said I was in fifth which was good but somewhere out there I had gone from thinking how long till I catch more people to being worried about being caught! Thankfully I was able to cross the line in fifth. It was a hard fought fifth too! I gave an effort I could be proud of and it was harder than a typical day at FL so all in all it was a positive experience. Though I had almost had full body cramping I had the least shoulder pain I’ve ever had in an IM and this is the first time that my calf wasn’t a limiter on the marathon. I actually didn’t feel it at all. So those are two steps in the right direction for sure. Of course I quit IRONMAN in the last miles, but now I want to do it again. Six weeks prior thinking it would be a completion journey to being able to race hard and end up on the Ironman podium.