Ironman # 7: Florida 2012

A few days after Auckland Marathon, I was on a plane to Fort Walton Beach airport to go to Panama City Beach for Ironman Florida.  As I alluded to in my previous post, I had "dead legs" from running a near PR marathon in New Zealand.  All that intercontinental air travel probably didn't help the legs either, despite wearing compression gear.  I love the Panama City Beach area.  Great Vacation town.  Unfortunately, this was more than just a vacation since I do take my Ironman races seriously.  I PR'd here last year and was initially looking to improve upon my 2011 finish.  But early on during the bike ride, I realized my legs were not going to cooperate on this day.

Swim 1:41:10

I'm not sure what happened.  I was 11 minutes slower than 2011.  And this time there were no jellyfish stings.  I started out in the back to avoid the melee in the front.  The water was clear and warm.  There was a bit more chop and swells than 2011.  Overall though the swim was the most pleasant part of the day.  IM Florida is a 2 loop swim.  This does allow for a quick drink between lap 1 and 2, which I liked.  The discouraging thing is that while I was going out for loop 2, the faster swimmers were already heading for Transition.  This also means that while I'm finishing loop 1, the faster swimmers start swimming by and in some cases over me!

T1  10:04

Slow Transition.  I tend to be slow, since I've got to change into bike jersey, arm sleeves, apply lube and sunblock, get my compression socks on, and stop off at the port-a-potty.

Bike 6:28:18

This is where the "dead legs" hit home.  I started off 19mph+.  But progressively I started to slow, and the last half of the ride I was between 15.5 and 17.5mph.  The course is a single loop course, basically flat.  One can stay in the aero-position all day, if one's back can handle it.  Unfortunately, my back is not able to.  I needed to periodically get out of aero to stretch out the back.  The most notable thing about the bike was the monotony.  It was very boring.  I found myself nearly falling asleep on the bike!  How can that be while you're going 15.5 to 18 mph?  Well the body gets into a rhythm and goes through the motions: legs up and down, up and down, body in aero position.... Zzzzz.....

I was so happy to get off the bike and start the run...

T2 7:38

Off with the bike gear and on with my running shirt, shorts, compression socks and K-Swiss shoes.  A quick Port-a-Potty stop and its time to Run.

Run 5:22:34

The roar of the crowd and the initial energy rush got me going at 9 min/mile pace.  Unfortunately after the first couple miles, I started to slow to a 11 to 11.5 min/mile pace.  The IM Florida run course is 2 loops.  Unfortunately by the 2nd loop I was taking longer and longer walk breaks at the aid stations.  My legs were no longer cooperating.  I would run then walk, run then walk, and walk some more at the aid stations.  The weather was not hot.  In fact as the sun went down on the 2nd loop, it started to get cool.  I managed to keep my focus on the prize: the medal at the finishline, and kept going mile by mile, aid station by aid station.

Finish 13:49:44

I knew I wasn't going to PR.  Other than finishing, I had an outside chance at being the 500,000 all-time Ironman Finisher.  Well congrats to Jeff Pearson who was the 500,000 finisher at 14:01:09  He beat me by negative 11 min+

Auckland Marathon, Yes New Zealand

It took me a while to get back to blogging.  As you will see I have been a very busy athlete.  Leading up to Auckland, I had competed in the Disneyland Half Marathon, the Kaiser 50 mile relay race, the Long Beach Marathon, the Nike Women's Marathon (half), and the San Luis Obispo Gran Fondo (75 mile ride).
Below is the race report I submitted to my running club newsletter. (AREC)

At the LA Marathon expo, I entered a drawing for an entry to the Auckland Marathon. I won an entry and decided this would be a memorable trip to a country I've wanted to visit since watching the Lord of the Rings. I used my FF Miles to make this happen and hooked up with Marathon Tours.

Downtown Auckland is very beautiful and cosmopolitan with a diverse mix of ethnicities. I was especially surprised to see almost 20% Asian and another 15% Maori. Surrounded by water, it reminded me a lot of SF. The air is so clean and the sky true blue. No LA smog, although rush hour traffic can be pretty bad. I was fortunate to spend several days before and after the race for sightseeing. Since this is not a travel report, I'll go on to describe the marathon.

The race starts in Devonport. I got up by 4am to get ready and catch the 5am ferry to Devonport. It's a quick 10 to 15 min ride. Get off the ferry and its a quick walk to the race start line. I rested on a park bench then used the restroom and walked into the start corral. There is no National Anthem before the race. At 6:10am, it was GO time. For the next 3:45 min I had a ground level "tour of Auckland". One highlight was crossing Harbor Bridge and taking in the beautiful Auckland skyline. The aid stations are about 2 miles apart. They provide water, Powerade, or coke. No gels or solid food. Runners are responsible for carrying their own nutrition. The crowd support and volunteers were quite good for a race that starts so early in the morning. They start early partly to avoid the warmer afternoon temps and to reopen the bridge and roads. It was a warm day by New Zealand standards, probably low 70s. It is Spring in New Zealand. The ambulance and ER were busy as several dozen "down" runners were attended to and transported to the ER. This was attributed to the "heat".

Personally, I was coming off an injury suffered in a bike crash 1 week before the marathon. I cracked my helmet and have road rash on my left hip, shoulder, and hand. I also had Ironman Florida scheduled for the week after Auckland. I was torn between taking it easy to conserve my energy for Ironman or to run for a PR. Race morning I felt so strong, I went for PR pace. Unfortunately, I missed my PR by a couple minutes. And I paid a heavy price during the bike and run segments of IM Florida, as I suffered from "dead legs". However I am still pleased with my sub 14 hour Ironman finish, 6 days after running a PR pace marathon on another continent. 3 continents down. 4 to go!