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| 11 Month | 6 Day | 2005 Year |
| 5 Hour | 20 Minute | AM |
2005 Ironman Florida: 11hr44min
It's done! And with a few hours worth of sleep under my belt I can see some silver lining.
This year's race was bipolar. I did 8hr10min of great work and then exploded into 3hr35min of the most miserable time ever. It was truly miserable and the mental aspect dug into the psychological demons like nothing I've ever experienced.
But it's done. Final time: 11hr44min.
What went down? This summary will be like drinking from a firehose... lots of details to share... little wrapper commentary.
Keith and I got up at 3:30AM. I ran through my pre-race checklist. Mixed up my Perpeteum drink powder. Ate some oatmeal. Drank some coffee. Then Keith drove me from Destin to Panama City Beach. We stopped at the Circle K for a dukeout but there was no bathroom. So I went to the Waffle House: dukeout #1 = success. Bought a cup of Waffle House coffee... my second cup of the morning. We found the perfect parking spot right along the course at Spinnakers.
Then it was off to the transition area. Got my bike set up and delivered all of my last minute gear to the transition bags. Keith and I went in search of another bathroom and found one inside the hotel: dukeout #2.
Off to the swim start. I didn't make the same mistake as I did last year. I took it very easy on the swim. I avoided the massive group that hits the buoys. I just felt good in the water. Going out was slow. Back was fast. Two loops. I was two minutes ahead of last year's time at the halfway point. I remembered Bill telling me to keep my elbows up. And because I wasn't anaerobic like last year I was actually able to do it. I got into the groove and just went with it. Final time was a couple minutes below last year's time.
On plan.
Transition was smooth. Hopped out onto the bike. Felt great. Heart rate seemed nice and low. Legs felt like they had a lot of power. At 10 miles only 26 minutes had passed... I was beating 20mph. Odd, because I rarely do. So I stayed with it. At 20 miles only 52 minutes had passed. WTF? So I went with it again. 25, 30, 35, 40... despite wind I just kept going faster than 20mph. Using that as my benchmark I built up a 15 minute lead over an imaginary rider going exactly 20mph.
I crossed the 56 mile mark in 2hr34min. Just about the same time that I did the gulf coast half course in. But I felt a million times better. I had been riding at about 140bpm, allowing some bursts.
Then I just threw caution to the wind and went for it. I decided that I wanted the best possible bike time that I could do. Not knowing it at the time, this would seal my fate. I would have to pay for such a dumb decision.
But at the time it was wonderful. I was passing people. I felt strong. I started to allow 150+bpm. Even 160+bpm at times. Way off any reasonable Ironman pacing plan. But passing large groups and feeling strong was addictive. By 4 hours the packs had all but dissappeared. Only a person every few hundred meters or so. Some grouping, but overall people were spread out.
Somewhere at this hubris-filled point in the race I started to calculate that with a 5hr20min bike I could go for sub-11hrs. I felt great and thought that I'd just have to deal with a painful run. How little I realized.
For penalties they pulled people off the bike and marked their number with a line... just like the pros. It was fulfilling to eventually pass the members of the peletons that flew by me early in the race... many of them had lines through their numbers.
I did experience some breakdown on the bike, but not major. At 90 miles the wind kicked up a bunch on some long stretches. The last 10 miles was crazy windy! Blowing me all over the place. I need a t-shirt that says "I Got Blown at Ironman Florida 2005."
The it was off onto the run. I saw 6:41:00 as I left the transition area. A full four hours and twenty minutes to do the marathon. I thought I had it in the bag.
The run felt good. I was into a rhythm. My legs weren't burning. I had my pace going. I was happy. I paced myself... didn't push. I was still on plan... taking it easy on the first 6.5 miles. I tried to fool myself into a goal of "best possible outcome", meaning that I wouldn't worry about pace as much as worry about doing the best possible that I could for the remainder of the race. Yeah, right. I knew I was exhausted.
Then my first ding of the day. I made the first turnaround with a split of 1:03:36. I was dissappointed. I knew that I'd have to hold that pace for another 3+ hours, which was unlikely, to beat 11 hours.
My first goal had slipped away. The fact that it was an unrealistic goal wasn't on my mind. Just that I had missed a goal.
My thinking started to go negative, but I kept running. I ran for another 30 minutes without stopping. That's 1hr30min of non-stop running... much better than last year... but not enough to take the cake this year.
The stop was sudden and abrupt. Much like last year, I was running along... and then I wasn't. I didn't rationalize it. I didn't plan it. I just stopped.
Then the ugly times began. My mental state really tanked. All negative thoughts. Self worth questioned. I got mad. Mad at myself. Mad at the spectators. Mad at the race. Mad at the world.
Then I didn't care. I didn't care if I finished. I didn't care what my time was. I didn't care if I never did one of these things again. I didn't care about anything.
I made it to the end of my first lap. I ran for the last mile or so and saw the family. They were all happy and cheering. On the start of the second lap I walked a bit for them... I didn't want them to only see me running. I was beat and they needed to know it. My mom called out "how do you feel... if you do the next lap in under three hours you beat 12 hours." She got a finger. Not the finger, although that was my first reaction... love you mom! She got a thumb pointing down. I was whupped.
Only the support of the family and friends kept me going. I truly didn't care whether I finished or not. I was in a seriously negative place. Last year I didn't get there. I was walking but I was positive. I took the failure in stride. I took it upon myself to enjoy the day.
Not this year. I was pissed. I was negative. After eight hours and ten minutes of going hard my body gave out and I was upset. I wanted my legs to turn over. I wanted to keep up with the fast people.
But this year it wasn't to be.
I struggled through the next 6.5 miles. At the turnaround I saw 10hr30min. It had just taken me 1 hour and 30 minutes to go 6.5 miles. I was demoralized... but... I got fired up. That comment from my mom stuck out and I realized that all I had to do was return in a few minutes less than 1 hour 30 minutes to beat 12 hours.
Finally I had a goal again. A purpose. Something to shoot for. And my performance picked up. I ran a solid couple of miles. I walked a lot faster. Some negativity went away. I ended up doing the return in 1 hr 15 minutes.
My finish time was 11hr44min. I was dissappointed.
The Taper
=========
Last year I screwed up by slacking off too much on the taper. This year I did a decent taper. I kept working out hard throughout the three weeks prior. Last long ride three weeks out. With three weeks to go I continued to do two hours of work each day. Basically status quo. With two weeks to go I gave myself some rest days between two hour workouts. With one week I did shorter, more intense workouts with rest between. But the key was that I worked out... I didn't slack off.
The Nutrition
=============
Pre-race:
- Optygen 7 days prior
- Sodium Phosphate 4 days prior
- Glycerol morning of
- Oatmeal morning of
- Two cups of coffee morning of
On the bike, every 20 minutes:
- 2/3 scoop of Perpeteum carb drink in gel format
- Salt tablet, Endurolyte
- Jolt Gum for caffeine (skip one per hour)
On the bike, every hour:
- Two bottles of plain water
The Lessons
===========
1) I can go 5hr20min on the bike. I've done lots of 112 mile rides and I've never beaten 5hr55min. I've always hurt a good bit and I thought that maybe there was some sort of limit there. Nope. I can go faster than I suspected.
2) Going fast on the bike kills the run. Maybe not a new lesson, but a reinforcement.
3) I need longer training sessions. The body goes through phase transitions in metabolism every 3 hours. You have to train for each one. I had the 3hr and 6hr transitions taken care of but missed the 9hr transition. I need to train more 9hr training days.
4) I need a better way to get access to my endurolytes and Jolt gum on the bike.
The Summary
===========
With a little perspective: bittersweet. I think the part that was the hardest was feeling so strong for so long and then losing it on the run. But that's what I like about this Ironman thing... it's not easy. I get better at each one and can't wait to be able to maintain power output for an entire one. I'll get there.
Thanks to the family and friends who support me every day. I love you guys!
Swim Distance
2.4Swim Time
1hrs : 15min : 0sec
Bike Distance
112Bike Time
5hrs : 23min : 0sec Bike Ridden
2004 Cervelo P3
Run Distance
26.2Run Time
5hrs : 3min : 0sec Run Shoes
Adidas Supernova Sep 2005Run Terrain
Pavement
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