The Ford Ironman Florida 70.3 was certainly an experience. I was expecting tough weather but nothing could prepare me for what we actually got.
The day before the race we set up the bikes, five minutes down the road one of my inner tubes gave out, perished around the valve -- probably the heat. I changed it for one of my ( repaired) ones. The following day I did buy a new tube but didn't get around to changing it over for the race, I just put it in my emergency kit.
The race was very much old school with the bikes and the kit all laid out on a grassy area: Bike hooked onto a rack, kit laid out on a towel underneath. This meant most of the prep was on the race morning. A bit unexpected but pretty laid back. On the morning itself with 2,000 people all trying to get from the car park to the transition area there was little time for hanging around. It was then down to the lake for a rendition of the star spangled banner and the wave start swim.
Despite Florida being in the middle of a drought the morning was overcast and cloudy, still hot, very close and humid though.
I set off at an easy pace pace for the single loop, no-wetsuit swim and ran into my first problem. I had checked the fit of my Aqua Sphere goggles but on race morning, fearful of the hot weather, I had been a bit too liberal with sun cream around my eyes. From the off the goggles were slipping around and letting the water in. This sent me off course and meant I was constantly stopping to re adjust. At one point one of the marshals shouted at me and I looked up to see I was heading off at right angles to the rest of the field. About half way through the cream seemed to wear off and I got into my stride.
I had been apprehensive about a non-stop, not wetsuit swim but I needn't have worried. It was quite enjoyable even if there were alligators in the water.
T1 was painless, if a little too long and I was glad to get on the bike. The quality of bikes on show in Florida was astounding. Carbon disc wheels and extreme tribars were almost universal and many of the riders were wearing full-face aero helmets with the long pointy bit at the back. Once out on the course I could see why.
The roads were pancake flat and smooth as a baby's bum. There were some big gears being ground out and the riders were head down and going for it. I held my own pretty well and took on lots of fuel and water to ward off dehydration.
I took particular delight in overtaking some of the weaker techno-cyclists while riding no-handed peeling a banana or opening a gel, often to the cries of "Whoa, way da go man, old school" -- cheeky sods.
Shortly into the ride though it started to drizzle, as it increased I found it cooling and the going easier. At the first aid station I noticed my next error, I hadn't reset my cycle computer so I couldn't anticipate the aid stations or gauge my pace accurately, the rain had also stopped my Garmin from working so I was cycling 'blind to distance' completely. But next came my lucky break. It started to absolutely pour down with rain and the wind got up.
It was like someone had turned on the afterburners and from that point on I started to overtake bikes at a pretty steady rate. Not having studied the course meant I did ease off far too soon as we approached the Disney property transition and the approach in seemed to last forever.
As we approached T2 the cloud cleared and the sun came out. T2 proved a shock for lots of riders. A couple of inches of rain in your trainers and socks is not good.
From the moment the run started I knew I was in no ordinary race. The heat soared and mixed with the wet ground it was like running in a sauna. The heat immediately sapped my strength. In T2 I was feeling great but within a couple of kilometres I had changed my gameplan from a first lap at 5min/km, 2nd at 6 and third at 5 to just dig in and finish.
At the start of the three-lap run I spotted the Transitions Optical guys behind me and assumed I would quickly be overtaken but that didn't happen. By lap 2 I could see a lot of people were in trouble and I just grabbed the ice and water at the mainy aid points and dug in.
Another unexpected problem was nutrition. I normally have a cast iron constitution but found the Gatorade and powerbars on offer totally undigestible. I did take a couple which just made me feel sick so I decided I would just grab a half banana or two and stick to water.
By the middle of the second lap I seriously wondered if I would be able to finish the race. I was determined not to walk so kept my pace down at 5 minute Ks and kept a hat full of ice. The course was littered with dazzed looking competitors standing in the shade looking at the sky and others jogging at less than walking pace on very wobbly legs.
I noticed that while I thrived on the grass covered sections, where my pace rose slightly, my feet suffered on the roads. On the grass other competitors were the opposite, picking their way through the tufts of grass, ruts and sand and looking out for snakes.
On the roads they speeded up. On one these road sections I passed a ex-serviceman adjusting his artificial leg and I could see his stump was bleeding. A size zero blonde ran by and shouted "Way to go man, you're an inspiration." I remember thinking at the time how cheesy it sounded but in restrospect it did prove an inspiration because it made re-assess the seriousness of a couple of sore toes and a feeling of being too hot. I decided that I would finish, if slower than planned.
I finally crossed the line in 5hr 56mins and 16secs beating the sub-six hour deadline I had set myself and much better than my 6 19 in the Monaco 70.3. I checked my other stats. The swim was a disappointing 42.57 the bike and equally disappointing 2.46.43 but the run a good (for me) 2.15.25. T1 was 7.14 and T2 3.59.
I had wanted to get under 6 hours so achieved my goal despite the conditions. But on finishing the race I felt pretty dejected and, to be honest, a bit of a failure. I can only put it down to the feeling of helplessness in the face of the heat on the second lap and the thought that I couldn't do it and would have to bale. That feeling will stay with me for some time.
The after race pizza, water and sit down were bliss.
As I picked my bike up from the transition area my back inner tube spontaneously burst, presumably the heat again. I threw it away ( it had three ptahces in it) and put in the new one I had bought the day before.
I thought I knew a bit about ironman but I still took a lot for granted. I'm sure we will learn more at the UK Ironman 70.3 next month on Exmoor.
The biggest lesson I learnt was the mental one. Despite achieving my target of beating six hours the pain of the run made me feel like I had to give up and on finishing I felt I had failed. Looking back I realise I did what I wanted to do and in difficult conditions.
When I race at Wimbleball I will learn from my mistakes and, spend less time in transition....honest.
