Jumping into the Florida 70.3 Ironman

It has been a week since finishing my first 70.3 Ironman. Many people have asked me for a recap of sorts...what worked, what didn't, what I would change, etc. This is my attempt to share in how it all went down.

In October 2012, I decided to complete the Tri at the Rez sprint distance triathlon in Tallahassee, FL. Before deciding to race, I weight about 192 pounds and was holding about 14% body fat. At that time, racing at 200 pounds would qualify me to race as a "Clydesdale" which I knew I would have a far better chance of doing well in as opposed to competing in my age group (30-34). For 4 weeks my mission was to eat more than ever to pack on the pounds and race 8 pounds heavier.

Long story short, I weighed in at packet pick-up a disappointing 197 pounds. My meat head friends would be disappointed! Sigh. Now I had to race as an "almost" Clydesdale and compete against guys who look like a stiff breeze might knock them over. My glutenous plan didn't work but I ended up finishing fast enough to take third place in my age-group (1:15:01).

Lugging in at 197 pounds at the 2012 Tri at the Rez.

Next up on my route to hitting submit on Active.com for the 70.3 was a trip to Panama City Beach, FL to watch my friend Bruce Richter dominate and qualify for Kona at the Florida Ironman (read about it here: www.favoritefinishlines.blogspot.com). Bruce and I typically go over his race plan nutrition and nighttime eating strategies during his preparation phases and (more often) when he is getting anxious and ready for race day. We actually talk a lot about cottage cheese--ha. Makes me laugh. Anyway, another friend from my Greenville days, Bert Kelley, also finished this race amazingly well and was an inspiration. This was the first time I had watched an Ironman live and it was just amazing. I was fortunate to be asked to write an article about this experience for the Tallahassee Democrat if you want a pretty good recap of the race day (http://www.tallahassee.com/apps/pbcs.dll/articleAID=/201212140200/SPORTS/312140032&nclick_check=1).

 Lauren and I at the Finishing Line for the FL IM.

Bruce and his family (and me) just after he finished up. 

So after my short race and a weekend in Ironman glory, I came back fully amped up with the possibility of trying my luck with a 70.3 distance. I also teach the undergradate and graduate courses in Sports Nutrition at Florida State University where I spend a lot of timing talking about what to eat for all kinds of sports and activities. I have always been a team sports guy playing hockey for most of my life (Tallahassee has no ice!) and have been weight lifting since I was 17 years old. I can speak from experience on these types of sports but not really from a long distance endurance perspective. What a cool way to try to inspire my students and become a better teacher of this material! Could kill two birds with one stone--err--something like that.

About that that time I started to begin picking up my volume of training a bit and spending more time focusing on the disciplines. Luckily, I had just begun training with Michael Leeser another Prof from FSU who enjoys spending free time training for 70.3 Ironman events. He was about 5 weeks ahead of me with his training as he was getting ready for the Puerto Rico 70.3 IM (which he dominated). For most of November and December, I simply would train as much as possible with him riding around the St. Mark's Trail in Tallahassee, FL. I also started to join a doctoral student of mine (and IM Louisville Finisher who also came with us to watch Bruce and Bert at IM FL), Chris "Appalachee Apache" Bach for lab meetings (read: trail runs) in Tom Brown Park. Chris was great to bounce race/training ideas off of throughout this process and was an animal on race day--snapping all the photo's, helping us with miscellaneous items (shoes, sunscreen, water bottles, etc), and other extraordinary efforts to help me finish the race (more on this later).

Me with the Appalachee Apache pre-race (6:35am-ish)

Anyway, about the same time I reached out to Drew Simon (a good friend from College who was also into training and had completed a 70.3 in 2012) to toss around the idea of doing this race. He was on-board immediately and we called Marts (Jeff Martin), another College friend and teammate from my hockey days, who also committed quickly despite having never competed in a single tri ever! After "thinking" about this for a bit, I got an email about 3 weeks later from Drew with his registration confirmation. This last push made the difference and so on December 5th, I hit submit, paid the "Internet service fee" and was locked in for my race some 5 months later.

I knew that in order to race well I should probably lose some body weight. The 196-ish was not cutting it for this endurance business. I set a goal that I should race at about 180 pounds in order to optimize my  race day and minimize pain! The weeks of training picked up and I began to realize how fun it is to schedule lots of training into the workweek and weekend. Week by week my body weight began to fall and I just hoped it wasn't too much muscle! I had never run further than a 10K and it was pretty darn satisfying to knock out runs of 14+ miles weekly. Along the way I had scheduled in two "B" races to check my progress: the Redhills Sprint Tri and the Beach Blast Olympic Tri and a 5K run to check my new speed. Cool things happened:

1. I was down to about 186 pounds for the sprint race and about 184 for the Olympic.
2. I "PR'd" the Palace Saloon 5K with my first Sub-20min race (19:39!) thanks to the Appalachee Apache pacing me throughout the race! Man that was helpful. He basically talked to me while I could hardly breathe...but "Hey Jack" it all worked out.
3. I found out I needed to work on my swim comfort level after the Sprint Tri. The water was cold (62) and the air temp was cool (44) so it was chilly. Had to rest for a full 3+ minutes sitting down after the swim because I was dizzy--like the time when I went to Disney and that darn Harry Potter ride made me so sick. Well, not that bad, but bad enough to sit down for a bit.
4. I "PR'd" the Olympic with a 2:13:01 (almost 20 minutes faster than my 2011 Olympic race)
5. I also had another test done for my body fat levels in our laboratory at FSU. I came in this time at 182 pounds having lost only 0.5 kg of muscle and the rest was all body fat! Down to 10.3% for the race. (Maybe I'll post on this topic and how I was able to keep most of my muscle mass while losing close to 16 pounds in 6 months).

I felt good rolling into the final weeks of long training and the last week of taper.

RACE WEEKEND

Friday before race weekend I finished my last taper day. It included a short swim and I felt great. One of those days where you want to keep training and finish early enough that you are really excited to train again.

Video just after final training day before the race. 

That afternoon Lauren and I packed up and made our way to Haines City, FL. We met my rock-star parents (who flew down from Philadelphia to play some golf and watch me race) for a late dinner at Red Lobster which was in our hotel parking lot. Later that night Drew arrived from Manhattan.

Other than waking up a few more times than usual through the night, the sleep was good. After breakfast, my Dad, Drew, and I made our way to Lake Eva Park to pick up our race packets, get familiar with the course, pick up our Shwag from the Ironman tent, and get the scoop on the race day updates during the "athletes briefing." I was anxious to get rolling but intimidated by all the ironman calf tattoo's and "bike porn" (thanks Appalachee Apache).

Drew entering the "athlete check-in area"

Drew and me spying on the swim course pre-race.



That afternoon I did a very slow 10 minute stationary bike ride and walk in the hotel gym to move just a little bit. All signs were good. The hotel gym scale had me dialed in at 180.5 pounds. Right on target. By the way, along this process of training, I have never been called "skinny" by so many people in my life...I prefer "lean machine!" or "ripped out of your mind" instead of lean...but that's just me.

Video: the last "sesh" before the race.



Drew's wife (Caitlin) arrived who had also finished a 70.3 IM the year before--this time she was not racing though. We had an early dinner that night at Carrabas Restaurant for some pasta!

Dinner at Carraba's with the whole crew.

Once back in the room, we wheeled in a cot for the Apache and tried to hunker down about 10:15pm.

GETTING READY
3:40AM came early! So I snoozed for 11 minutes...

So early...but need time to get up and eat!

We took down some oatmeal, peanutbutter, and a bannana about 4:14am, mixed all the water bottles I needed for the day and then hit the road for the 20 min drive to the race site. Transition was only open between 4:30 and 6:00AM. This was going to be a long day any way you cut it.

Yum! Oatmeal concoction.

Mixing the race morning water bottles.



We were all set up in transition by about 5:45am and it gave us some time to discuss our strategies, use the port-a-john's and fuel again (had a banana about one hour out and a GU Roctane and 2 caffeine pills about 20 minutes out)...we had two hours before our wave began the swim at 7:40am.

SWIM
Just before the swim, we saw Lauren, Caitlin, my parents, and Michael Leeser (who was scheduled to race but had to back out due to a partially torn gastroc and stress fracture in the fibula--not good). The Apache was all over the picture taking and was probably just as excited as Drew and I were. It was so cool to see everyone--such an uplifting moment that is hard to describe. I was very happy at that moment and only a little nervous...just amped up I guess.

Michael, Caitlin, Lauren and a bunch of pink hats.

The swim actually went very well for not being allowed to wear a wet suit. The water was 82 degrees so my floatation device was gone. We waded out into the water and started at about waist height. I took a few practice strokes and swam around a bit, then looked to Drew and gave the "here we go" nod. I heard our cheering crowd yell "ORMSBEE" and I knew it was game on. I was aiming for a sub 45 minute time rather than a sub 41 minute time because of the lack-of-floatee. The race was a "M" shape like the IM symbol and luckily there was only one turn (around the middle of the M) that was all bunched up. Our wave began catching the waves that went 5 and 10 minutes ahead of us right at that point. I made a clear effort to keep calm, have a slightly longer route to avoid as many people as possible, and think about my stroke and pull throughout the swim. With all of the turns I thought it would be bad, but it really helped to break up the swim and know exactly how far was left in this leg. This was also the first time I had felt like a found a swim rhythm and began to get comfortable. The swim bottom was lumpy so just when you thought you could run out, it got deep again, and vice-versa. Once on the sand I heard Lauren and my parents cheering me on and that was great! I ended up with a 36:12. Things were off to a good start!

BIKE
The transition was pretty good. It was on two levels and my rig was on the lower level. I had to decide to put on the bike shoes and run in them all the way around transition and up a level to exit on the bike or carry the shoes and put them on at the top of the transition. I chose to run in the shoes and hope not to slip. I was out on my borrowed Felt B16 bike* and borrowed Giro Aero helmet* and moving quickly. There were a lot of turns to start with and with the exception of one tight turn and "almost fall" I was good. Once on the first straight away--I was down in aero and ready to go. We were in a good position as the "last wave" because the entire time we were passing other riders! That is great for the self-talk that goes on while in your own head for long rides. My goal was 3 hours but I thought I could get that down to 2:45 to 2:50 if I had a good day. My plan was to hold back for the first half and then pick-it-up a bit for the last 25 miles. Everything was firing well. I had planned to eat 4 GU Roctane's on this ride (mile 2, mile 15, mile 30, and mile 45) along with a 2X concentrated aerobottle and 0.75X concentrated bottle of Accelerade on the down tube.

I was quite content about passing so many people with $10,000 bikes and IM tatted legs. You could hear the special sound that some of the fancy tires have out there too--but even better when I passed those guys. "So long sucka! So fast." My confidence was checked though as this same thing began happening to me. All was good though. Two guys -- Alejandro and Pedro --(they had their names on the back of their jersey's) kept passing me and then I'd pass them back and it went on like this for the better part of 2 hours. The rolling hills were more than I expected for a Florida course but worked to my advantage to power up them and power down them. That worked pretty well.

Around mile 45 I began to think about the transition. I'm not sure if that was good or bad, but it happened. I began to think through the process of changing shoes and not forgetting anything. I also started to talk to the bike and ask her if she would just stay in tip-top shape this day for a little while longer (flashbacks of blowing a tire at the Fronhoffer Tool Olympic and riding for 3.5 miles on a rim danced in my head). With 2 miles to do I was happy to see that my time was going to be good. I rounded the last turn and saw the Apache perched on the side of the road snapping photo's. Awesome. I finished in 2:39:03 with a 21.13 MPH pace.

I ran into transition and along the fence next to my rig were the whole crew cheering again. Another great moment to see them all cheering and yelling.

*Bike was borrowed from Bahram Samani, a friend in Tally.
*Helmet was borrowed from The Apache.

RUN
I started the run jacked up for the 3-loop course. I was excited to be there and had trained a lot to get ready for this part. The first 2 miles I was sub 8 min/mile and felt good. There was one big 'ol hill that was unexpected for FL but was enough to make many people walk it. I ran the hills but started to get some hard cramping in my right quad and calf...nothing too bad yet though. Kept running. There were also many homeowners along the run that were spraying us with hoses and sprinklers because it was so darn hot outside--over 92 degrees that day and stifling. I was so happy to run through the water and cool down. About that time, out of nowhere, I see the Appalachee Apache who had run the opposite direction of the race to give me some encouragement and the much needed race number that I had left in transition by accident. Seriously, this was just clutch. I contemplated telling him to put it on and knock out the run for me...he's real fast. The first 4+ miles were right no my targeted pace just about 8:15 min/mile. After that--the "pain cave" began and it was a battle to chug along. My right foot started to get a "hot spot" and I was sure this was going to be a problem but was trying desperately to block it out mentally (maybe running through all that water was not such a good idea because it just settles down into your shoes making you heavier and makes your feet start to slip around). No such luck. The first lap was great and I was anxious to hear/see where everyone was standing on the side of the course. That was so much motivation to keep running every time I wanted to slow down or walk. Just after I passed the family and friends, I heard Drew shout out to me -- good to see he was also on track! He was recovering from knee surgery and this race was going to be his longest run ever. Pretty sweet. Just after seeing Drew, I scooped into the Mile 5 aid station and they threw on two band aids to try to help out. They actually were great--dried my foot with paper towels and were speedy too. It may have helped but it didn't feel much better. The last 8 miles began a contest with how long I could not think about my foot.

At the top of the hill on the second loop it was apparent that this was going to be a battle if I was going to finish under 2 hours. About 2.5 miles into lap two, a runner called me by name and said hi. It was AJ, a very fast triathlete that I met at the Beach Blast Olympic a few weeks earlier. He then said he was on his last lap...ugg--another lap to go for me! My feet were rough and turning corners I could feel my skin tearing a bit. But coming down the small hill towards my support crew after lap 2 was again another emotional high and exactly what I needed to finish the race. I blew a kiss to my wife as I passed by...I was hurting but I was happy. The cramping continued and I wished I had taken Bruce's advice to use salt pills. I even had them on my bike--Drew bought some before the race and gave me a handful. I was following my own mantra though that I teach my Sports Nutrition students all the time..."Don't try anything new on race day!" So I didn't...as long as I could.

Finishing up the first lap of the run course...still feeling pretty good.



The last lap did change some nutritional factors for me though--I ended up adding in some extra Calories with some flat coke, pretzels, Ironman Powerade, and one additional GU (I had planned on only taking two--which I ate at Mile 3 and 6 on race day rather than the planned mile 4 and 8). It was hot and I probably should've had more salty foods planned but my nutrition was almost 100% dialed in for race day. My limiting factor was the blistered foot and wet feet. That and my cramping quad and calf. The last 4 miles a mantra came into my head and I repeated "You are strong, you are good, finish" for what seemed like forever. My stride which was already less than perfect was dismal--I was shuffling along so that I never "toed off" completely in order to avoid severe cramping where I would have to stop running. I reached mile 11 at exactly 5 hours. That meant that I was way above pace overall but off for the run portion. Those last 2.1 miles were a sufferfest. I ran by where my family was standing and didn't see them..."they must be in the finish chute." I turned out of the 3-lap chaos and made a sharp left towards the final 100 yards to the finish line. I saw/heard my group up on the left and saw them all cheering madly. As I ran by I saw that both mom and dad had their arm's reached way out and I gave them a huge high five on my way by them. Even though the last two miles took me 10 min/mile,  I crossed the line for a time of 5:19:55 and was just pumped to stop running, get the finishers medal, and take the post-pic in front of the 70.3 IM poster.

The Apache caught the hand slapping in action!
Running in this time at a slim 180 lbs.

Looks to me like 5:19:52! Ha.



First time 70.3 IM finisher!



POST RACE
Everyone came to the finish line as I stopped running and then began hobbling around a bit. I was happy to not be a "weeble wobble" as I described Bruce after his Ironman FL speed fest, but was ready to sit down and cool down!

Notice the great posture I've got here...yikes!

I had a blast. Tired, accomplished, and feeling good. I couldn't have done it without many people being so supportive and/or inspirational. Most of them are listed above but these pictures show some of the "after party."

 MJ, Mike, Herb Ormsbee

 Mike and Lauren Ormsbee

 Drew and Mike after finishing!

MJ, Herb, Lauren, Mike, Drew, Caitlin. Not pictured:

Michael Leeser and the photographer (Apache)

NEXT

I told Lauren afterwards that I didn't finish and think "I'm never going to do this again" and I also didn't finish and think "Let's sign up for a full IM next time." I finished and was pleased with nothing off the table for later on. Just wanted a nice recovery week! I also have always wanted to be able to do a "muscle up" on a pull-up bar...maybe I'll try some of those!

Tuesday morning, two days after the race, I texted with Drew and our conversation turned to "which one are we doing in 2014."

To be continued....