Ironman Florida Race Report...

Well where do I start...
We arrived in Panama City Beach around 1:30 CT and unpacked and just relaxed. I went out for a 1 hr bike ride and felt really good and the conditions were some what windy but nothing to bad. A lot of people were out and about riding bikes or running. I was second guessing my training plan the entire time I was watching these people.
Should I be out running as well? Should I be out there biking?
This happened the entire rest of the week while I was resting and just hanging with my parents. I decided on Thursday to go for a good swim out in the ocean. Gatorade people were there to look over your bags while you swam so you didn't have to worry about that. Very cool. Got out there and started swimming, then I noticed "Hey I can see the bottom, thats cool." "Man I am pretty far out here and I can see the bottom still! WHAT WAS THAT?" If I could have been wearing my HRM it would have probably been off the chart. I was pretty much by myself while I went all the way out to the turn buoy and back. I hustled my way back in. I did not like the fact that I could see the bottom. I was hoping this wouldn't be a problem on race day and it wasn't. Later on Thursday I went for a nice easy 4 mile run. Noticed some knee tightness but nothing I haven't felt before, so I iced that night and went to bed.
Friday Team Parents and Family and myself went to Penescola to go see the Air Force Armarment Museum. Pretty cool, especially since someone in their ranks there was retiring after 25 years of duty with the Air Force. Very cool to be a part of that. We also stopped in Destin to shop and just walk around. Tobias was having a rough night so we checked in early and all went to sleep. T-man went for a solid 10+ hours of sleep which was very cool for him to do that for his daddy!
Starting my list of complaints about the race and the race city...
1) There is NO where and I mean NO WHERE to eat! The places I did know off, like Olive Garden (Saw 1 in Destin didn't see one in Panama City) or Carabba's (Saw one on the farside outside of Panama City Beach) were packed and had a 2 hour plus wait and people that were inside were waiting for food for an hour. The hole in the wall joints were hit and miss. We went to one the Thursday night that was awesome but Wednesday night's joint was not that good. I should have paid more attention to this then I did where to stay!!! Friday night we just bought some pasta and a chicken and eat at the condo, way to go Mom and the wife.
I decided to wake around 4 to start pumping some carb's and coffee to get out last night's dinner. YEA COFFEE! Bagel with PB&J and a protein bar and some accelerade with water. Meet up with a buddy of mine that was doing the race (No he doesn't have a blog) around 5 and started making the mile walk down to the race site.
The weather was 40 degrees with a 20 mile wind blowing so it felt very cold. Something like Romania not Florida. I was bundled up and pumping full of coffee so I was ok but I saw some guys there wearing just shorts and a t-shirt that looked like they were about to die, some just looked used to it. There were a bunch of Canadians there so that is probably who I saw. By the way they weren't sporting a mullet. Go figure!
Loaded my bike with the food and drink for the day. Dropped off my bags and started to get ready for the race. Now while all of this is going on the voice of Ironman started saying how the wind is dying down about 7 miles out so just get your heads right and don't let the wind be a factor. He continued to say that.

2) If you are going to give race info to someone make sure it is accurate! Don't just start spouting off crap to get my head right. They really should have not said anything about the wind or when it should die down. BECAUSE THE INFO HE DID GIVE WAS GARBAGE!!

Anyway, so I am feeling good and ready to go. I get in my wetsuit and head for the beach looking for my family. As soon as I am about to give up I see them and man this was a blessing. I was so pumped and ready for the end of the day were I could just hangout and be with them. This gave me such a boost!
They are playing some music, Van Halen garbage and then finally some U2 but I couldn't even hear it because the cannon went off and I went for the water.
The swim:
The first lap and entering the water was simply crazy! Just a ton of people trying to get from the beach to this buoy out in the water. I was mostly swimming with my head up after about two strokes down and then I would sight and try not to get hit for two and this went on until I turned to go back to the beach.

3) I don't know who else saw this or even cares, but there were a ton of people cutting the buoys short and just cutting the corners out there. Not that I could do anything about it but I would feel incredibly small for doing all this training to just try and grab an extra 30 secs or more by cutting a corner. I didn't cut corners during training why now? I just didn't get it but there was nothing I could do so I continued on.

I got out of the water at the end of the first lap and it was around 33 mins. I was very pleased especially since I was holding my head up a lot during that first lap. It thinned out quite a bit and after a pee break in the water I hammered away again. I felt good! I was starting to feel my wetsuit on my neck but nothing major. My shoulders felt great so I decided to push it a little bit. Well that didn't work to great because I was getting myself way off course. I felt like I was zig zagging the whole time. I was getting frustrated. On the way back in I just put my head down and tried keeping people to my left and to my right. The ocean really started knocking people around. Possibly why I was off course so much but I wasn't going to let that hurt me. I figured it was myself just screwing up out there. Anyway, I got out of the ocean with a 1:11 on the clock. I was hoping that was the time for the pros still added on there since they started 10 mins before we did. I was wrong. I was still happy with a 1:10 time. I just felt I could have had a better time out there. I still felt strong and my mood was good.
I got my wetsuit ripped off of me by some volunteers, which were great for being out there when they didn't have to be. They could have been at home eating breakfast, instead they were helping adults get there wetsuits off! Very cool. Thanks volunteers!
THE BIKE:
Well with the "supposed" 7 miles of head wind ahead I just kept it easy. I was doing about 15 to 16 mph and just staying calm and eating a little. Mile 10 goes by and we still have a lot of headwind of about 15mph. I felt as if I was climbing the entire time in the head wind. I was not really prepared for the first 50 miles of the bike having so much head wind. I averaged about 17mph for the first 50 miles and I was starting to feel the effects of myself trying to push through it. When we got to a spot on the bike where there was a tailwind I started to push it. I got to the special needs area and another group of volunteers were out there handing out our bags. My volunteer handed mine to me upside down so everything spilled out and the guy behind me ran right over my sandwiches! For a fat boy this devastating but I eat them anyway like a fat boy would do! Around mile 70 my body was feeling ok but I felt as if I was bonking and I couldn't go on. So I started eating everything I could. I felt horrible. In a 10 min time frame I eat about 600 calories and I sort of came out of my funk. I also so Team Parents and Family around mile 80 so that could have been what really picked me up. It was great to see them but I wanted to stop and get off the bike and call it a day. My mind was playing some major tricks on me. None of my leg or back muscles ached just my head and neck and it felt like I was going to fall off. I kept eating whatever I could get my hands on. Water and bananas and oranges. I was eating whatever I could just to get in off the bike. I finally reached the last 10 miles and I was cruising. I would spin for .5 mile and then cruise and stand up on the bike and stretch my neck and turn my head. It almost felt like when I was in college and I took the Engineering In Training test that last 8 hours. My head felt like all the blood was at the front of my head. It just hurt PERIOD. I finally dragged myself into T2 and the great volunteers helped out and gave me my stuff.
Ohh yea in the transition area was a tent for males and females to change. For T1 this tent was packed and there were no seats you just had to get naked standing up and they had these guys in there dumping out your stuff and handing your clothes to you and cleaning up the stuff you were taking off. So yes your junk was ether directly in there face or in the general area. If I was a volunteer this would not be my job. Thanks but no thanks for me. In T2 I had a nice seat to sit in and change and relaxed a little. Hit a gel and moved on. The guy forgot my Timex watch, which luckily I didn't have my Garmin in there because I didn't find my watch after the race. Not his fault I was just so out of it he probably dumped it and neither of us saw it. Ohh well.
THE RUN:
Finally I felt in my environment. As soon as I stood up I felt like a different person. I walked out of T2 to the first aid station and got some water and started running. The course was laid out by some condo's and beach front property and then turned and went into some neighborhoods. This was cool because people were throwing this parties in their front yards drinking and grilling as you ran by. I actually yelled at a group of people to make me a steak Medium and they all yelled back telling me to come back after the race. Very cool. There was also a crack head or some random crazy guy that was slapping his hands together at something I will not know. He would run with some people and just be laughing and just looked like he was out of it. Very weird but funny. Team Parents and Family were at the mile one mark where our condo was. I got to see T-man and my mom yelling at me to go get'em. Also very cool! Well the run didn't start to get tough for me until around mile 14 where I started having a problem breathing. I figured this was going to be an all night thing so I walked for a bit and put on a long sleeve shirt to see if the warmth on my chest would help. It seemed to work or the adreline really just kicked in and got me through. At mile 18 I decided to walk all the aid stations and run to the next one. Once I got to the out I was really feeling it! It hurt to start running after walking so I decided I need to continue to run as much as I could. So would run with someone until I needed to walk at the aid station and then would start running once someone passed me. If that happened after the aid station so be it but it got me running again. At mile 24 I decided to just run it out. No more walking or aid stations. I had 2.2 to go. How many times have I done this this year? How long have I worked to get my feet moving even when I didn't want to go anymore? I picked up the pace and really started to feel good! The last 1.5 miles I had people telling me GO GO! and little kids giving my high fives. I also may have told someone I need more cowbell! I was pumped! I was getting close. Once I entered the gate to start going to the finish line I started yelling "Make some noise!" and pumping my hands up in the air! I didn't even hear the guy tell me I was an Ironman! I just heard people yelling at me! I crossed the finish line and YELLED! I was so pumped! Another volunteer helped me get my stuff and a finisher picture and then sent me to the next person to see if I needed medical attention. This is where my body said good job but I have no idea of what just happened. I wasn't light headed or felt like I was going to throw up. I just couldn't take a deep breath without coughing and I was cold. Luckily the last volunteer came over and stripped me down and put my finisher shirt on me and got me some chicken broth and just stayed by to see if I needed anything. She was great. She actually said that she has some stories to tell her grandkids. How grandmother stripped some many men in one day. She was telling some funny stories. After I felt better I decided to start moving otherwise I didn't think I would be able to. So I got my gear and called it a night. I was freezing and shaking once I got back. I got some hot food in me and took a shower and my body finally started regulating my temperature.
Overall:
This was awesome. Something a year ago I didn't think I could do or even imagine myself doing. I just felt this was why out of my reach as an athlete. It was very cool (yes I have said that like 10 times) to have my family there to see me do something like this. Now I have something to talk about over Thanksgiving besides my cousin who just qualified for Boston! HA HA I bet this tops his story! Anyway, I learned a lot about myself as an athlete and a person. People can do anything they decide to put their mind to but you need help besides just the training you do. God and family have been such an important part of this!
God for giving me the ability to just be there and to pay for something like this and guiding me to some major developments in my self as a person during my training and race day. Family for being there to support me regardless of what I am doing. I could have been in a throwing poo contest and they would have shown just as much support. They are awesome. Friends out there that have been reading this you are in the family category even though you probably wouldn't support me so much with the throwing of the poo! HA HA

Thanks for reading this. As the offseason goes on this will be some rants on training and me trying to get some money from sponsors for next year. I believe I will attempt 6 events next year. Much smaller and closer to home but I will attempt to place in the Clydesdale division in the SC Triathlon Series. I will have to see! Take care and PEACE OUT!

PICTURES TO COME SOON!