This was going to be the year I did two ironmans, but as fate would have it, it did not work out as I had planned. I had planned on doing the Mountain Extreme Triathlon and Ironman Florida. I ended up doing the Great Floridian, to Oddyssey Off-Road Iron, and Ironman Florida, all in a period of 15 days.
I was trained and ready to tackle the MXT, but when I agreed to stay with my flatland, non mountain biking friend Susan throughout the race, my fate was sealed. We didn't finish the full MXT, but settled for the half. I was not discouraged, but rather my confidence was boosted, so I decided to try the other off-road IM in Virginia on September 21.
In mid-September, my extreme friend Susan, already being signed up for IM Florida, decided to sign up for The Great Floridian, to be held two weeks before IMF. Not wanting to miss out or be outdone, I signed up too. I would do this one with her and still be relatively fresh for IMF. The week before the off-road IM was to be held (Sept 21), Hurriacne Isabel hit North Carolina and roared through Virginia, forcing the postponement of the race until November 1st. The stage was set for me to do an ironman on three consecutive Saturdays.
The Great Floridian course was changed from previous years due to road construction in the area. We got to do the hilly loop twice instead of the usual hilly loop followed by a flat loop. This didn't bother me since I train on hills and had that mountainous of-road race the following week, but the flatlanders didn't like it one bit.
Doing the GFT with my friend really worked to my advantage and to hers too. After the swim, I exited the transition area and waited for her, then we took off on the bike. We would ride within sight of each other for a while, then I would dash ahead and wait at the aid stations. This went on for the whole ride, I got to blast up the hills and get rest in between. It was sort of like an interval workout. On the run, we did a run/walk the whole way and kept a consistent pace throughout. Susan got her finish and I didn't go so hard that I would be sore for the next week's race.
The following week, I flew into Raliegh/Durahm on Thursday and my dad picked me up. He was going up to Va. with me to watch his first triathlon. Little did he know there would be more waiting around and worrying than actual watching. I got to Douthat State Park around 4PM on Friday, picked up my packet, and went over to the restaurant for the pre-race dinner. The pre-race briefing was held at the park amphitheater at 7PM. It was almost 9PM before I got back to my hotel. I still had to organize all my stuff before hitting the sack.
The race started at 6:30 AM on Saturday. There were 27 starters in the full and 31 in the half. The swim was two loops in beautiful Lake Douthat. The water was a chilly 60 degrees, which presented more problems after the swim than during. Some had neoprene gloves, booties and masks. I delt with the cool water by using two swim caps. The swim went by surprisingly quickly, and once out I found I had a hard time putting on my socks and shoes with numb hands.
After a 25 minute transition, I was of on my bike for loop one. This wasn't anything like a normal ironman, with aid every ten miles or so. Our only aid stations were at mile 13 and 38 of each loop, and of course at the start/finish area. That being the case, we had to carry more fluids and more food than in a normal race. That meant carrying a heavy camelback with all my gear. The hills weren't all that steep, but they just kept coming. The course wasn't technical, with only six or seven miles being single track, but on the gravel fire roads I just couldn't maintain any momentum. Loop one took 6:15 and after a half hour to load up my night riding gear and have some lunch, I was off again. About 6PM, I got to the first section of singletrack and decided this was a good place to put on my lights and my warm clothes. The weather had been a pleasant mid-seventies during the day and was forecast to get into the mid-fifties at night. After five hours of riding with lights on single track, through a creek, and up and down the gravel fire roads, I was finally back in the transition area. Wow, 14 and a half hours on the bike, a long time, but within my predicted range. Now just a marathon to go.
The run was two loops up and down the mountainous Blue Suck Trail. Like the bike, the aid stations were few and far between. At mile 6, there was water and gatorade and at mile 12, there was another aid station. Loop one was hard, I was sore, tired, sleepy, and I had fallen off my nutrition plan. I wasn't running, I wasn't even doing a very good rendition of the ultrashuffle. Anyway, I made it back to transition about 4:45AM and regrouped. I ate some delicious egg fritata, pasta and drank some broth. I decided to lighten my load for loop two and shed the camelback in favor of a hand held water bottle and a fanny pack. Good decision, since it would soon be light and I would find renewed energy. By dawn I was running the flats and walking the hills. There was a very long hill from mile 3.5 to 5 and then I was able to pick it up a little going into the aid station at mile 6. Soon after that there was a long downhill section where I got some momentum. Gravity was my friend and I started to smell the barn. I passed a guy with about 2.5 miles to go and the competitive instinct kicked in. I wanted to finish ahead of someone, and he just happened to be in the right place at the right time. The last 1/4 mile was on the road and with a couple hundred yards to go, I kicked it in, sprinting to the finishline.
It was great to have my dad there to see me finish the hardest, most rewarding, race of my life. We stood around, posed for pictures while I ate and chatted with competitors and race staff. I'm not sure what he thought about the whole thing, there was a lot of waiting around between the bits of action. He stayed up all night and I'm sure he was almost as tired as I was. Good thing he was driving, because I slept almost the whole way back home.
Ironman Florida was the following Saturday, Nov. 8 and the Austin area was well represented with 35 athletes present. I felt good and ready for another ironman and on Friday I swam a little in the gulf and rode for 30 minutes or so, then headed back to the hotel to organize my things. Evening rolled around and I realized I had lost my wetsuit. I called some friends and fortunately one of them who wasn't racing had brought his. As luck would have it, he was my size and his wetsuit fit me perfectly. Thanks again, Drew. The mass start was crowded, even in the back. I had done mass starts before, but they were half the size of this one. There were over 1900 athletes swimming in a small space and soon I was being kicked, elbowed, swam over and I'm sure I was doing the same thing to some of them. In the middle of lap two, the wind picked up and the water got a little choppy, but nothing too serious. Soon I was out of the water and being stripped out of my wetsuit.
The beginning of the ride was a little bit crowded, so I eased into a rhythm and slowly started to hydrate and consume calories. I had four bottles prepared with sustained energy, hammer gel and endurolytes, two for the first half of my ride and two in my special needs bag for the second half of the ride. I was able to stick with my nutrition plan the whole way. The slight rollers from miles 30 to 50 helped me wake up and stretch out a bit, as I'm not used to a completely flat course. I thought I was going along pretty good at about mile 55, when my friend Charlotte comes flying by and says something to the effect that she is going to kick something. That woke me up some more, so I keep up with her for a while. After about an hour of riding her pace, I decide to back off and save something for the run. Riding a tailwind into town, I cruised into transition in good shape for a possible P.R.
Out of transition in good shape, I take off running with my legs feeling good. I have a little tightness in my belly, could be gas. I cruise along monitoring my condition and decide to pull my shirt up off my belly. By the turnaround of the double out and back course, I have this pain on my ribs on my left side that I have never had before. It forces me to slow down to a walk. Think, keep your head in the game and do something to aleviate the pain. I took some ibuprofin, some endurolyes, some gel, and some water and I pulled my shirt down. I thought the stretchy, tight fitting shirt might be causing the pain in my ribs. I eased back into my pace, and soon I was feeling good and running pain free. All went smoothly until about mile 17, when my legs began to feel heavy. I began to slow down and had to think on my feet. I decided to take my other packet of ibuprofin, increase my gel intake to one packet every two miles instead of every four miles. I also increased my salt intake by taking endurolytes more frequently and by drinking the chicken broth at the aid stations more often. That seemed to help and I was back on pace, walking only thru the aid stations to make sure I got enough of what I needed. With about three miles to go, I was feeling pretty peppy and ready to make my final push to the finishline. Some of us had been watching the lunar eclipse, which seemed to give us energy. Anyway, it gave us something to think about other than our own suffering. I picked up the pace and ran pretty hard the last three miles, finishing with a sprint.
Wow, a P.R., a total lunar eclipse, who could ask for more. My friends all had good races, many of them in their first ironman. I stayed around to see the final finsher just before midnight and soaked in the whole experience. About 15 minutes after midnight, a guy finished who had been using a cane. To me, he embodied the ironman spirit. Just finish, anything is possible.