So... I haven’t posted anything yet this year, and I had plenty of time to kill at the airport. So while the race is still fresh in my mind, let’s get a recap:
Haines City was a free race for me thanks to Wattie Ink, and I had by buddy Mitch to travel down here with. It also lined up well in my schedule to get a warmer race in before Ironman Tulsa. Coming from the Midwest, I hadn’t had the opportunity to train in weather warmer than 60 degrees, so the 80’s and humidity shocked the body a bit. I didn’t quite have the race I wanted, but I left it all out there and came away with a solid result and new knowledge.
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| Pre-Race with my bestie |
1000 yard swim at Lucky's before the race
Swim (32:22 – 49th): The swim was not wetsuit legal, so I swam in
my QR swim skin. A very interesting swim being an “M” shape, but I thought I
handled it well. I started farther back than I would have liked, but athletes
were jumping the line to start sooner. I made a fair number of passes and
maintained a comfortably hard effort. I was very happy with how I swam even
though the results show me 10th in my age group out of the water.
T1 (4:09): I was a little more winded than normal coming up out of the
water, and transition was around 1/2 mile. The bike started uphill after the
mount line, and my rack was closer to the end of transition. I opted to skip the
flying mount and put my shoes on at my bike. After ripping off one of the back
straps to pull up my right shoe, I was on my way.
Looking back at the tracker, I jumped up 17 places to 32nd with
this transition.
Bike (2:22:07 - 26th): I spent the first 15-20 miles passing quite a
few people during the windier section of the bike. From the tracker, I moved up
14 places to 18th during the first 16 miles. On the bike it was hot with the
sun out, and we fought a headwind for the first half of the ride. I paid close
attention to drinking enough fluid with my 35oz aero bottle and stayed well
hydrated. My power was about 10-15 watts lower than my target, so I switched
over to perceived effort and HR to gauge how hard to push. I’d say I road smart
but ran my HR a little high. I also sprinted by a draft line so they couldn’t
grab my wheel, and I may have overcooked it a bit there. Off bike I was sitting
in 20th, and my split was 8th for my age group.
T2 (3:07): Another long transition, and a very annoying one with how far I
needed to push my bike with flopping shoes. I ended up stopping to pull them
off to not risk losing one. Socks and shoes came on quick, and I was off.
Last 1/2 mile I gave it everything
Run (1:25:48 - 23rd): Normally the run is my time to shine, but I
was not able to hit the pace I was expecting. I had to slow down considerably
to keep my HR in check, and even then, I maintained over 170bpm after mile 1.
Without any feedback on race position, I focused on maintaining my effort and
stayed on damage control. I hit the aid stations efficiently grabbing around 4
cups per (Water, ice in kit, Gatorade and more ice or dumping water).
My 1 major mishap was shaking my salt without my thumb over the
top. So at mile 3, I threw all of my salt into my eye... yeah...
I also heavily bonked miles 8-9, slowing my pace by 40s/mile.
After getting a Gu in me (that I should have taken at mile 6), I was back on
pace.
With 2 miles to go, I bumped my HR into the 180s and hit a high
of 191 at the finish. My run was the 4th fastest for my age group.
Wattie Ink Elite Team with some hardware!
Summary: This was my first Ironman
event in over a year and a half! The last few races I did were smaller with
much less competition, so I was excited to see how I’d stack up. With the venue
in Florida, my body was not used to the heat and humidity after training in the
Midwest all Winter. I made it a point to spend as much time outside as I could,
even eating dinner in the back of our Airbnb.
My swim was very strong, and probably the leg I am the happiest
with. Even after decreasing my weekly swim yards from 10,000 to 5-6K, I still
held a solid pace of 1:31/100 yards.
I think I handled the bike well despite not being able to hold
my goal watts. I switched to racing by feel/HR, but still feel like I overexerted
just a little bit by the end.
When I got to the run, I thought I was ready to run down most of
the field. After seeing my HR hit 170 on mile 1 at 6:40 pace, I knew I was in
trouble. I mostly focused on maintaining the effort and staying on damage
control. I had 1 nutritional hiccup, and probably added a minute to my time had
I taken my Gu when I needed to.
I finished the last mile strong but was carrying a lot of grit
on my face. Overall, I am happy with my 3rd place Age Group and 8th
Overall Amateur finish. But, I can tell you I am not fully satisfied. The 2 athletes
that beat me in my AG also went 1 & 2 overall, and they beat me by 10
minutes. This is tough for me to swallow since I was such a distant 3rd
in a race I thought I could win.
