Tri for Ole Glory 2014 (Triathlons are tough, even tougher without a saddle)

Race report for Tri for Ole Glory 2014

Let me start this by saying that last year’s Tri for Ole Glory was a blast despite the torrential downpour.  Although not without hiccups, the race was lots of fun and was not one that I could justify being a spectator for this year.

This report can’t be written without the obligatory pre-race prep.  My expectation for this race was to “have fun.”  I have not ridden my mountain bike since last year’s Tri for Ole Glory, not that I don’t enjoy mountain biking.  I just can’t find the time to fit it in the schedule.  After borrowing a friend’s 29’er for last year’s race, I was not motivated to ride my 26-inch mountain bike for “fun.”  I did, again, borrow the 29’er for this year’s race.  I made it to the course late Thursday evening to do one loop, check out the two jumps and preview some of the other “gotchas” on the course from last year.  I also discovered the river rocks that were used to fill in the erosion areas on the powerline, which added a little bonus pain to the top of the hill climb.  The last lesson from my preview was that tinted glasses on this course would not be a good idea.  Although it was late in the evening, I could tell the dense canopy kept the wooded area very shaded and clear lenses would be important to prevent unplanned delays (aka crashes).

Friday was planned to be a light day of road biking to maintain my training for road triathlons.  This plan was soon subverted when I was invited to do 104 miles with a few friends, none of whom were racing Tri for Ole Glory.  I gladly accepted and proceeded to do my first century ride on Friday.  This first also included a “second,” that is my “second” dog-instigated bike crash in the last month.  Fortunately, the result was less troublesome than the first.  Minus a scratched brake lever and cracked helmet, I escaped with just a few minor scratches and a sore shoulder and was able to complete the 104 miles.  I followed this ride with a late night of Huntsville Stars baseball and fireworks to celebrate Independence Day.  Nutrition included a ballpark hamburger and water.  Please don’t try this strategy for your “A-race”.

Race day morning, I violated the rule of “superstition nutrition,” and only fueled with a banana and peanut butter toast.  After putting some lock-laces in my running shoes and getting my transition area set up, I did down a Honey Stinger waffle.  Last business was a quick team pick by Melissa Johnson with fellow Fleet Feet Tri Team members, Paul Erickson, Wendy Tyler, Donny Neal, Jess Ahrens, Dink Taylor and Tonya Hardy.

I was in wave#2 for the start and managed to get my goggles on prior to entering the water this year – improvement.  The swim was uneventful, although it was very difficult to see the first buoy due to the sun.  T1 was slow as a result of the extra gear associated with mountain biking: socks, lace-up bike shoes, gloves, and Camel-bak.

Then the fun began.  About a half mile into the mountain bike course, I felt my seat tilt to what I thought was a very steep inclined angle.  Thinking the bracket must have loosened, I continued.  The two jumps went okay, but the log just prior to the wooden bridge proved fatal to the seat post. It wasn’t the bracket that was loose. The carbon seat post had broken right at the clamp, and it fell to the trail as I crossed the log.  What to do now?  My first thought was, ‘this race is over.  How can I ride this course without a seat?  I am not a mountain biker.  This is not a good idea (unplanned colonoscopy).  Explaining this to the ER nurse would be uncomfortably comical.’  I stopped, picked up the saddle with its broken post, got back on my bike and started to carry it with me.  It’s hard enough to mountain bike without a saddle – don’t try carrying an item in your hands too.  Realizing that wasn’t an option, I threw it off the trail and went back to racing.

Conveniently pushing the ER nurse situation out of my mind [until Julio Driggs speeding up behind me was kind enough to remind me of the risk].  Seatless mountain biking does change your strategy.  And I must say, if my legs weren’t fatigued from the previous day’s mileage, they were on fire by the end of the mountain bike course.  I also discovered how important a seat is for things other than sitting.  It is also a big part of steering and maintaining a good center of gravity while mountain biking.  Although I was passed by a few bikers, I finished the two loops (sans saddle).  I hope this was due to my fatigue as a result of standing the entire course… or maybe the ballpark hamburger.

T2 was relatively quick since I “parked” my bike in the bushes next to transition.  I mean you can’t really hang it on the rack without a seat.  I switched shoes, dropped the helmet and Camel-bak, and grabbed my hat and sunglasses.

This year’s run course went around the lake and then back to the power lines for an out and back.  Powerline hill was not fun.  Legs are toast.   At least I got to hit the water station twice.  On the way back in, Gregg Gelmis, had retrieved my saddle with the broken seat post and passed it to me as I hit the pavement coming off the powerline.  I felt like I was at the Olympics’ opening ceremony, and he had just passed me the torch.  Thanks to the hill (and the seat post) I can say that I negative split the   run, even though it was a slow 5K.All of this effort resulted in 2^nd place in my age group.  I guess it does pay to be in the same age group as the Overall Male Winner, Jonathan Krichev.

Thanks to RD Dan Pline, the sponsors, and volunteers that kept this race going:  Eric Broyles, Dink Taylor, Rick Greif, Mike Gerrity, Melissa Johnson, and many more.  As always, a huge shout out to Gregg Gelmis for taking incredible race photos.  I hope this race will grow and mature, as it has great potential as a local favorite and a perfect beginner race for off-road triathlon.  

Team Rocket Tri Club has a host of quality races, so get out of your comfort zone and sign up!

Rocking the Monster!

Congratulations to all Fleet Feet Triathlon Team members that participated in the 2014 10th Annual Monster Triathlon.

Official Results

Female
Carrie Cowperthwait 1st 40-44 1:37:18
Wendy Boyer Tyler 1st 45-49 1:36:33

Male
Rick Greif 1st 60-64 1:23:52
Chris Davis 2nd 45-49 1:16:57
Danny Harrison 4th 35-39 1:22:00

Clydesdale
Wes Johnson 3rd 1:32:36
Donny Neal 4th 1:36:44

Mach Tenn Triathlon Race Report by Danny Harrison

Mach Tenn Triathlon
by Danny Harrison
0.6 mile swim / 15 mile bike / 4 mile run



I arrive a few minutes later than I wanted due to a wrong turn on the way out from Tullahoma still had plenty of time though. I go to get my race packet and shirt. The first thing I see is my runner bib. Then it hits me “I forgot my race belt”! So on the way back to the truck I’m thinking “what else did I forget, I think I’ll just pin the bib on“. Head out to set up transition and pick a spot that I can remember, set everything out and start to pin my bib on. I then think “I have an extra shoelace in the truck“, I go get it and it works. I just have to tie it on but no biggie.

Swim start and I am ready for this. I have had some trouble in the past with open water swim. I have gotten over this and enjoy them now. The weather this year was great and the water was smooth. I make it to the first buoy and have already passed at least one person. Right turn and I remember 6 buoys to pass. I pass several swimmers and may have been passed a couple of times. One thing about a time trial start with race number on your swim cap, you can see if you passing someone that started ahead of you easily. Two right turns and then one left to the finish. I come out of the water and see my time a little over 16 minutes. This is a little slower than last year but it was wetsuit legal then and not this year.

Quick transition and onto the bike. The bike was decent and I didn’t remember this many hills last year. Several times I thought I was going to just slow down and just finish. I kept after it and those feelings went away. Around mile 12-13 there was a big group ahead of me and I noticed some dogs chased after them. I’m the next target for the dogs! I get closer thinking they are going to give me a chase but they are just hanging out at this time, good deal. About a mile ahead I am chugging along in my on little world thinking about my next transition when I hear what sounds like a dog chasing. I look to the right and it appears to be the worlds largest dog. I’m looking at his feet and have to look up to see his head! Thankfully he doesn’t get to the road. Finished up the bike and head toward the bike rack.

Hang the bike up, grab my shoes, visor, and my shoelace race belt. I’m trying to run a steady pace and quickly get into my grove. My ability to do math in the late stages of races is kind of funny to me. I’m wanting to run the 4 mile in under 30 minutes so I think “as long as I maintain a 8:30 pace I’ll be good” I know that wrong but I’m thinking this! First mile was 7:20ish and keep after it. At the 3 mile marker I see my time was 22:30 and I think “that’s a 8:30 pace so I should be in under 30 minutes”! Again my math is wrong but I’m just trying to live at this point! The last mile I get passed a time or two and make my mind up to finish strong. Run time was 29:31 which is 7:23 pace. I’m happy with the race.

This is a great event and great spot for a triathlon.

Overall time of 1:33:00

Weekend Results

Mach Tenn Triathlon
Tullahoma, Tennessee
June 7, 2014

Official Results

Age Group / Overall / Name / Age / Overall Time
6 / 64 / Danny Harrison / 36 / 1:33:00
3 / 116 / Rick Greif / 61 / 1:39:44
12 / 118 / Jamie Miller / 53 / 1:39:47
4 / 196 / Wendy Tyler / 47 / 1:50:27
8 / 216 / Carrie Cowperthwait, 42 / 1:53:15
12 / 275 / Jennifer Carroll / 40 / 2:05:37
14 / 300 / Joanna Whisenant / 44 / 2:13:38

Raleigh 70.3 Race Report by Kasandra Garner

2014 Raleigh 70.3 Race Report

aka Quest for the Snow Queen


I grew up, graduated high school , and went to veterinary school in Raleigh.  My parents still live there, so I have a long history of swimming, biking, running, and drinking in the City of Oaks.  Of course, my biking history there is more of the banana seat and streamers variety, but still, it only seemed natural that I sign up for the second Raleigh 70.3 as a tune up for Lake Placid.  But as you all know, when you sign up for races 6 months to a year ahead of time, you can never predict where you are going to be in your training, especially since most of us are juggling full time work and families along with our training.  And then there are those pesky injuries that pop up now and then just to keep it interesting.  So by the end of April I was thinking of Raleigh 70.3 as more of a wake up call than a tune up race.  It’s a good thing I don’t actually use a training plan, because I would have had to trash it anyway due to missed workouts/races due to family/work obligations and a wonky knee.  But enough about that, you all struggle with the same stuff, and know that sometimes it all comes together and sometimes it all falls apart.

On Thursday I loaded up the family and my gear, and we made the “9 hour” drive to Raleigh.  I was on the phone with every Toys R Us store between Scottsboro AL and Raleigh NC trying to track down the Anna and Elsa Barbie dolls.  Friday was my daughter’s 6^th birthday, and she wanted the dolls from Frozen.  There had not been one in Alabama for the previous 2 months, and they were sold out online.  This turned out to be only slightly less exhausting than a 70.3.  We found an Anna doll in Hickory NC and they promised to hold it for us until we got there.  Durham was the only store that had seen any Elsa dolls recently and they had sold out the minute they opened on the morning after the truck arrived.  Cary had a truck coming in that night, but the manager wasn’t sure if they were getting any Elsa dolls.  So I promised Dannan we would be at the Cary, NC Toys R Us at opening the next morning.  We arrived at my parents’ house in Raleigh after a 12 hour drive, but we had an Anna doll and a chance for an Elsa.  Friday morning Dannan and I were standing outside Toys R Us with about 7 other Moms, but I wasn’t worried because I was pretty sure I could out-run all of them.  If it came to wrestling match, two looked like they could take me.  When the doors opened, I sprinted to the Frozen section and snatched one of three Elsa dolls, dragging Dannan behind me.  We did a happy dance, took pictures, and the nice manager gave Dannan a birthday crown and a balloon.  I was feeling like Mother of the year, let me tell you!
 
But now my race report is going off the rails just like my training.  I picked up my packet on Friday to avoid the crowds, which turned out to be a good call because when I went to the athlete briefing on Saturday there was a long line.  I met up with Marty and Carol Eason at the athlete briefing before going out to Lake Jordan to drop my bike off at transition.  I drove the bike course with my Dad navigating, and it looked scenic and fast for the first half, with some rollers in the second half.  My Dad kept saying things like “I think you are nuts” and I think he was only partially talking about my penchant for swimming, biking and running long distances.  When we got back home I painted my nails purple (tradition) and ate a hearty early dinner cooked by Mom.  Much better than eating out the night before a race!
 
Race morning started at 4 am and my husband drove me to T2 downtown where I set up my running gear and caught a charter bus to the swim start.  They did a good job getting 2500 athletes and their spectators bussed from downtown to the swim start (40 minutes) in a short time.  At first it seemed annoying to not have parking out by the swim venue, but in reality it kept the traffic down in the early part of the race.  It also discouraged families from driving along points of the bike course to try and see their athletes, because they would have just got stuck in traffic anyway.  Raleigh did a good job of clearing most of the roads we were on of significant traffic, but I saw many backups on the roads we were crossing and was glad my family was safely back at T2 ready to see me start the run.  My husband gave me advice when he dropped me off:  “Don’t drown, don’t crash, don’t trip.”  He’s so wise.
 
Race day was PERFECT.  The water temp was 74.6 so wetsuit legal by a hair!  I had my sleeveless, my favorite to swim in.  My family arrived in time to give me a hug and watch me get in line for my wave.  The waves went off on time, kudos to Ironman for running a tight ship.  The water was murky, and since my wave was 11 out of 22 there was a lot of traffic.  I never could really get in a rhythm since I was constantly having to adjust my line due to passing other swimmers and getting passed.  My biggest annoyance is when swimmers do breaststroke in crowded swims, since they can frog kick swimmers around them in the chest or face.  There were several times that I was near a slower swimmer and they suddenly did a frog kick.  I resisted the urge to stop and lecture them on swim propriety, and that if they were going to breaststroke they needed to stay to the far outside and not close to the buoys.  But overall it was a good swim. 37:46
 
They had plenty of wetsuit strippers and it was a short run into T1 so it was a quick transition to the bike.  The first 5 miles were a little bumpy, but after that the roads were really good until we got close to downtown.  We had lots of cheering spectators in the inhabited sections of the bike, which was especially helpful once the course got a bit hilly in the last 20 miles.  I lost my chain once (careless shifting at the top of a climb) and had something weird stick to my tire in the last 3 miles, but I was lucky to make it through with no significant issues (like a flat!)  I felt really good on the bike, for which I am grateful to my Scottsboro training buddies.  Despite a late start this spring, my cycling has really started to come together in the past 6 weeks, with a few 70+ rides and a century.  3:01:56

I saw my family as I came into T2 and again when I left T2 on the run.  I knew this part would be bad, since my running mileage has been low to non-existant since Mountain Mist.  But in the past month my knee has been feeling much better, and I had made a 10 miler a few weeks ago with no pain.  Consequently the first loop felt decent, and I made sure to walk all the aid stations (at every mile – I love triathlons!  They spoil us!).  I saw my family again at the turn around to start the second loop – it is amazing how awesome it is to have people who love you unconditionally supporting you at these events.  When you see them, you realize how much they must care to stand out in the hot sun just for a chance to see you once an hour (or less) not to mention what they put up with for your training.  So I started out on the second loop feeling hopeful that I could hold my pace.  Ha!  Somewhere between mile 9 and 10 the legs got heavy and my body explained that since this was the furthest I had run recently, and since my weekly mileage at times didn’t even add up to 13.1 miles unless I counted walking dogs, we would now be walking.  Yuck.  But I saw Marty Eason carrying the American flag and  that inspired my to jog a little more and then I saw Carol starting her run looking bright and cheerful so I jogged some more and FINALLY made the turn where the finish line was in sight.  KatieBeth Pierson cheered me on as I tried to speed up and look like I was in good shape (cameras do wonders), and then I heard my name announced and was across the line in 6:03:14. (2:17:47 for the run)  This was about what I expected to do, so I was happy and I immediately sought out the family and basked in their admiration.  There is no better feeling than finishing a tough race and seeing people you love and respect look at you with love and respect.   (Post-race euphoric gushing)   I needed to hit the road back to Scottsboro so we collected my gear and skipped all the post race hoopla.  I took a short soak in my Mom’s whirlpool, ate leftovers of Mom’s cooking from the night before (sorry Ironman, but that’s better than anything you ever serve), and by 3 pm Bill and I were on the road back home.  We left the kids behind with my parents, so as soon as Bill and I have caught up on our sleep we are going to have a romantic week with the house to ourselves.  We are hoping to have caught up on our sleep by Wednesday.

Overall, I was impressed with my hometown and thought they did an excellent job with this 70.3.  There were a lot of officers on the course, and some major roads were either closed or partially blocked off so that we could race in safety.  There was an unfortunate incident, but it was because a driver ignored the cops and she was charged and the cyclist suffered serious but thankfully not life-threatening injuries.  Crowd support was awesome, and I hope that the people stuck in traffic snarls weren’t too inconvenienced.  There were signs all over town and articles in the paper warning about the delays for a week ahead of time.  And of course, an event this big brings a lot of money into town, so I hope that Raleigh continues to support and host this event for years to come.  If you are thinking about doing a 70.3, I highly recommend it.  The point-to-point format has a few logistical challenges that you need to plan for, but I enjoy racing point-to-point as a nice change from the usual.  Of course, I had the added benefit of home cooked meals and a familiar bed, which added to my positive race experience exponentially!

Congratulations to all of the Huntsville-area athletes who finished the race.  It was great seeing familiar faces on the course.

And now this race report has gone on quite long enough, and I didn’t even explain why my new race mantra is “Don’t puke on the poodle.”    

Cheers and happy racing!

PS  My husband says that triathletes in line for port-a-johns are particularly cranky when a 7 year old boy sees them and, not realizing there is a line, heads straight towards one.  I tried to explain about pre-race jitters, 30 minute waits while trying to get to the swim start on time, etc, but for future reference maybe we should tone down the vehemence with which we inform the 7 year old that there is a line and he can not skip ahead, no matter how cute he is or how badly he has to go.

 

Festivus of Mysteri-ishness -- Lake Guntersville Triathlon Festival 2014

I said after last year’s Guntersville Olympic experience of 43 degrees and rain that I would not be back.  Not to mention the 7.1 mile eroded trail run that kept me out of running for almost 2 weeks after the event.  However, when I saw the announcement of a Festival (aka Festivus) I was unable to resist the temptation to participate in another epic Parker Edmiston extravagahnzaaaa!

The morning started with the early wake up, picking up Doug Wright for his first Olympic distance triathlon and arriving at Guntersville State Park at 6:00 a.m.  I racked my bike in rock star parking and commenced to stand around trying to convince myself to go for a warm up jog or bike ride.  I eventually rode a short distance to mechanically check my bike and then back to standing around.  The next decision was, “Is it really cold enough to justify a wetsuit?” (I think the announced water temperature was 72 degrees).  I’m convinced that I swim slower in my wetsuit.  It feels like I have giant rubberbands wrapped around my shoulders.  I ultimately caved to peer pressure and the chilling idea of treading water waiting on the start horn and donned my wetsuit.

I started in the 2^nd wave with the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen.  Look at the results and you will see that of the approximately 8 of the Top 25 male Olympic racers were in the 40 and older category.  Another interesting statistic was that the Top 5 male finishers were from 5 different age categories.  I mention this to show that this sport truly is for everyone and age does not have to be a discriminator.  Swim was 1500’ish meters, and I knew after the first 200 meters that it would be a slow time.  My shoulders were getting a much heavier workout than should be expected.  My swim time was just under 33 minutes and proved to be a weakness in the overall race.  It is usually my strongest event (relative to my age group) and provides a few needed minutes versus the guys that are running sub 7 minute miles on the 10K. I will have to give a sleeveless wetsuit a test to see if this will improve in the future. 

 T1 was unremarkable and off for the bike.  The rolling hills going out of the park and on the first portion of Hwy 227 kept things at a slower pace for the first 5 miles.  The course isn’t difficult, but can be deceiving if you fail to respect the climbing portions.  I felt good coming off the bike and T2 was pretty quick.  I did choose to run in my Hokas and wear socks due to the expectation of a tough, hilly, and graveled run course.  This added a few seconds to T2 trying to get socks on.

I headed out on the run dreading the big gravel hill.  I kept a 8:10 pace for the first 2 miles, up to the start of the big hill at about mile 3.  I was reduced to speed walking the last 25 yards or so of the hill.  Walking was faster than my run pace.  I ended up with an average of 8:31 min/mile. The good news is that this year the 10K was actually “only” 10K.  I finished the day at 2:45:17 with a 4^th place finish in my age group for the Olympic Triathlon.

 The day was still young.  Next up was a 3’ish mile trail run.  Marty Eaton was the course director and he did not disappoint.  I’m not an accomplished trail runner, but I venture to say that this was a relatively challenging course.  It started off the gravel hill from the Olympic 10K course and made a giant loop around a pretty large hill.  It felt like most of the course was uphill, but somehow I ended back up at the start point.  This was a lot of fun, but around 2 miles in, the woods were getting hot and there was absolutely no wind.  I was praying that 3’ish was closer to 3 than the “ish”.  It ended up being 3.3 miles on my Garmin and was advertised as an “active recovery” by Marty.  Ha! I say to whoever believes in the myth of active recovery within 3 hours of completing an Olympic Triathlon. 

What next you ask?  Of course, a 2.1 mile King of the Mountain (KOM) hill climb with an average grade of 7% and the maximum grade at 19.5%.  steepest .25 mile section gaining about 200 feet in elevation.  It began at the campground store with a time trial start.  The first section was nice climb, but manageable.  The second half was a BEAST!  It was great that the crowd of family supporters were all stationed at the steepest part, yelling and ringing cowbells.  I resorted to the serpentine technique (aka “delivering the mail”).  Thankfully this concluded day 1 and my legs and lungs were both ready for a break.

Sunday morning started with a quick trip to the buffet and Guntersville Lodge.  Then Festivus Event #3 was the dip and dash.  This was a 1500’ish meter swim and a 3 mile run.  Again, I fought the wetsuit idea, but decided I just wasn’t comfortable having not completed any cool temp open water swims this season without a wetsuit.  At this point (to borrow the phrase from Suzanne Erickson) I had become more of a "completer" than a "competitor".  The run felt good considering the "fun" that my body had endured on Saturday.  After the run I gladly retreated to my camping air mattress in the shade to recover before the next event.

After a very short rest, the 5 mile individual time trial commenced and brought on the leg burn.  It was from the beach parking area to the park entrance and back.  I don’t remember the hills being such a challenge during the Olympic Tri, but I suppose the cumulative effects of the Festivus events were now entrenched in what remained of my physical will power.  I have never participated in a time trial.  This being my first, I just tried to hit the wall in 5 miles and not pass out.  I must add here, that as the number of events progressed, the level of competition was still very high.  It seemed that this type of sustained torture attracted the elite triathletes, as well as a few non-swimming runners and cyclists with fresh legs as they were only participating in a few of the events. 

Last event of this epic weekend was the Team Trial.  It consisted of a 10 mile out and back.  The "SOB Squad" team had some minor adjustments and supplemented the roster just before race start.  Considering that Josh Pierson and I were on our 6^th event of the weekend, I think that we had a great “completion” of the team time trial. 

In closing, this was a very different experience than I could have imagined.  It was much more about the experience of testing your body’s ability to push a little harder even though fatigue has a firm grip on every muscle.  I was unsure how to approach the multiple events, so I elected to race each one as though it was my last.  I don’t know how to evaluate this strategy, but I thoroughly enjoyed the weekend.  And for what it's worth (nothing) I was the only 40-44 year old male that completed all the events....so that makes me 1st Place in my age group.   Lots of thanks’ish to Parker Edmiston, Dawn Edmiston, Doug Tinkham, Marty Eaton, and KatieBeth Pierson and the host of volunteers for putting together this event.  Another thanks to Gregg Gelmis (http://www.werunhuntsville.com/) and Katie Beth (http://katiebethpierson.smugmug.com/) for the great photos.  Shout out to Fleet Feet Huntsville TriathlonRacing Team for a great race day.

Ironman 70.3 Florida Race Report by Jennifer Carroll

Ironman 70.3 Florida - April 13, 2014 – 1.2 mile swim, 56 mile bike, 13.1 mile run

I had done this race before, when it was held on Disney property.  I hadn't done it since it was moved to Haines City (near Orlando).  My boyfriend and I drove down on Thursday, April 10.  It’s about a 10 hour drive.  He has an uncle that lives near there and we went to go visit him on Friday.  We left Friday afternoon to drive about an hour to Davenport, FL (which is about 10 min from the race site).

On Saturday morning, it was athlete and bike check in. The bike check in was optional but I like having my bike in transition already on race morning.  That’s one less thing I have to worry about.  I picked up my packet, dropped off my bike and by the time that was done, it was dinner time.  We went to a little Italian place just down the road from the hotel that was really good.  We both had pasta and after that, it was bed time.  Gotta get up at 3am!

Race Morning

Woke up at 3 am, started the coffee and started getting my stuff ready for the race.  Bag was packed the night before so I just had to get my super comfortable Fleet Feet tri kit on.  I ate my traditional oatmeal and banana and by 4:15, I was ready to get to the race site.  Transition opened at 4:30.  I got to transition, got my stuff together, pumped up my tires (and myself for that matter), and I was ready.  We had some time to kill because my wave didn't start till 7:22 so we went back to the truck to warm up.  It was cold that morning.  When it got closer to time for the pros to start, we walked down to the swim start and before I knew it, it was time for me to go.

Swim – 1.2 miles – 1:03:26

The swim was very cold.  It was wetsuit legal, the water temperature was 74 degrees, but because the athlete guide said it was going to be in the 80s, I left my wetsuit at home.  Oh well…I can suck it up for 1.2 miles.  It was also very choppy as I got completely mauled by the wave that was behind me.  I can’t tell you how many times I swallowed a mouth full of water.  I finally make it to the finish – glad that’s over with.

T1 – 4:10

I finally make it to the maze to T1.  Put on my helmet, sunglasses, race belt, and shoes.  Grabbed my bike and I’m off.

Bike – 56 miles – 3:49:44

Whoever said that central Florida was flat was sadly mistaken.  They managed to find every hill in Florida and jam it into that race.  Holy crap!  And when there wasn't a hill, there was a massive head wind.  Oh well…I tried to stick to my routine of a Honey Stinger waffle every 10-15 miles and two Endurolytes every hour.  I also had Infinite in my aero bottle and managed to drink most of that. 

T2 – 4:50

I felt pretty good about my bike when I made it back to T2.  I fought with getting my bike racked as there was other bikes in the way.  I got my bike racked and debated about whether or not to put my compression sleeves on.  Oh screw it….I forego the compression sleeves and just put my socks and Hokas on. Grabbed my visor and water bottle and I was off.

Run – 13.1 miles – 3:14:50

I usually do a 4 minute run/1 minute walk ratio but today I decided to run for as long as I can and just walk when I need to.  The run is three loops, which I like.  It’s very spectator friendly.  There are aid stations about every mile and I definitely walked those because I grabbed oranges at every station.  This was very hilly as well and was very thankful to see the finish line. 

Overall – 8:17:00

Even with all the hills and wind, it was a very good race that I would do again.  Ironman puts on very good races.  Thanks so much to Fleet Feet for providing everything I needed for the race.  The goggles, Hokas, Honey Stinger waffles, socks, and the super comfortable kit.