IMAZ RR#2 at the Great Floridian (+ Brand X vs WTC comparo)
Oct 23, 2010 was the 20th Annual Great Floridian Iron Distance triathlon in Clermont, Fl. Clermont has been ranked one of the top 5 training locations in the world for Winter training because the National Training Center is there, it is incredibly hilly, and the winter weather is great. A month ago I signed up for the aquabike division to do RR#2 for IMAZ 2010. Although this is one week earlier than the training plan calls for, I did RR#1 a week early as well. More importantly, because I had a full-on panic attack in the IMCDA swim earlier this year I badly wanted a confidence builder in the water. With this RR, I now have 14 rides at 100 miles or over this year, so I’m not worried about losing base in the final four weeks leading to IMAZ.
Race taper: pretty much none. Thursday was my birthday so I took the day off to run 21 miles in the morning to celebrate life and also did a 50min recovery ride on my trainer Thursday evening . Friday morning I swam 1500 yards at the pool plus 10 mins water running to further loosen up the legs…then off to work. Left the office at 4pm, grabbed my race checklist, packed fast, and left for Clermont with my Iron Wife and Iron Daughter. Showed up at registration at 7:45pm, picked up my packet, put the number on the bike, and the bike into transition. We were out of there by 8pm and off to Cracker Barrel to find something that would slide through me over night. I would have preferred to eat earlier but just didn’t have the time.
One of the things I want to do in this RR is compare a WTC IM to a non-branded race. My race packet included a flyer advertising early registration for next year’s Great Floridian at only $250. Score one for Brand X! It’s definitely a lot cheaper and you could have registered the day before the race instead of a year before. But Brand X just doesn’t’ attract athletes like WTC. To make more money (or stay viable) they had a swim only division, swim-bike division, relay division, and two shorter races that followed. Put all that together and I doubt they had 500 total. If loneliness of the long distance runner/triathlete is what you are looking for, then here’s a race for you. The race is also incredibly flexible. Ultra athletes did not have to have their bike into transition until 9pm Friday night…for a Saturday race!
After dinner, we checked into our nearby hotel, I quickly packed my bike gear bag, hit the hot tub outside for 15 minutes, then chilled out until about 10:30pm and to bed. Went to bed telling myself…it’s not a race, it’s not a race, it’s not a race! Then I would think…fool, you still have to swim and bike the entire distance and get in a transition run. It’s gonna hurt.
I didn’t get up in the middle of the night to eat anything since it was a “just a RR.” Got up at 5am, had 2 small yogurts, 2 packs of instant oatmeal and we left the hotel just before 6am…and found a parking slot within 50 yards of transition. SCORE another one for Brand X! I dropped off my bike gear bag, pumped up the tires, etc, then had a Bonk Bar, Propel, 10 MAP pills, a couple salt sticks, one magnesium tab, and headed for the swim start.
Mass start for those attempting the entire distance was 7:30am, and they had until 1am Sunday to finish…17 ½ hours. Swim cut-off was 10am, so if you need more time to finish, chalk up another point for Brand X. I’m guess that less than 300 were going the entire way. I was #304 and the numbers in the 300s were the swimmers only, aqua-bike, or relay folks. There were less than 50 of us oddballs and we started at 7:45am.
This is me looking out at the course buoys. Yep, this is gonna hurt!
The swim was in Lake Minneola, a large round freshwater lake. The air temperature in the morning was about 65 and the announced water temperature was 73. I had brought my shorty and my old full length suit which is now for training only due to a large collection of aquaseal repairs. That was a borderline temperature. At 74 and up I would definitely wear the shorty. Although I worried about getting too hot, I chose the full wetsuit since I’ll be wearing one at IMAZ. Off we went, and we had to run & skip 30 seconds before it was deep enough to swim. I took it out easy, and not only had no contact, it was like I was swimming solo. I came out of the water after loop one just under 35 minutes and stopped to drink two glasses of water after crossing the timing mat. I was definitely getting warm. I hopped and skipped back out for loop two where I had minimal contact coming through slower swimmers from the main wave. Score another point for Brand X due to the absence of a slugfest. Finished the swim in 1:11:49 (11 mins faster than IMCDA and 3 mins slower than IMFL). I was definitely HOT at this point.
I drank 5 cups of Gatorade before I got to the wetsuit strippers and walked to the transition tent…telling myself again it’s not a race…don’t push it. As you crossed into the transition corral, they called your number out and sure enough a volunteer was shouting my number and handed me my gear bag. SWEET! I went into the transition tent, found a seat and did everything myself. There were no volunteers helping anyone. Point goes to WTC! My wife had sprayed suntan lotion on me before I put the wetsuit on, but it was sunny now and the temperature heading up to 86. So I came out of the tent, handed off my wetsuit bag to a volunteer and looked for the sunscreen station…no such luck…you are on your own in Smallville. Grabbed the bike and headed out enroute to a good sunburn. Score another point for WTC. Total T1 about 6 minutes.
Below is me starting the bike on "Dragonfire" w race helmet and 50mm carbon training wheels. No PM, no HR monitor, just my well-used internal pain meter. Note the 5 Gu packets on the tob tube.
The bike course was 3 loops with the first loop including a climb up Sugarloaf (17% grade, ½ mile) and the second 2 loops going over the same ridge but over a longer climb. With the exception of about 4 miles to get around the lake, there was absolutely nothing flat about this course. The only other hilly race I’ve done is IMCDA and the Great Floridian route is hands down much more difficult. I started the ride with 5 Gu packs on the bike, and two bottles filled with water and Camelback Elixer Tab. Plus I had 10 Salt Stick tabs with me. Goal was to take loop one easy and follow EN hill climbing protocol throughout. With so few bikers, drafting was never an issue. I saw the same USAT official two times on loop one, and then never again.
The hills were relentless, but a strong easterly wind made them even tougher. The only saving grace was that it was very dry for Florida. Basically, I would describe my ride as an occasional passfest. I would get a rider, then work 5-10 minutes to get the next rider since it was so spaced out. There were 4 SAG stops per loop so you could get plenty of hydration, but you only had TWO choices – either water or Lemon-Lime Endurance Gatorade. There was nothing else…nothing….no gels, no bananas, no orange slices…notta, goose egg, null set, etc. I quickly realized that the only way I was going to get through this ride on 5 gels was to drink a LOT of Gatorade for the calories. Would it have been so hard to have picked up some Orange flavor for variety? One time I got a Gatorade that still had the seal on the lip. I wasn’t getting anything and unscrewed the cap and sure enough…sealed. I neared wrecked trying to take it off so had to stop. I took some water every so often just to wash all the Gatorade down. Score several points for WTC here.
Crowd support on the bike. Apart from the climb up Sugarloaf (always fun to see who has to walk it), there was virtually no crowd support other than athlete families for a couple of hundred yards near the finish. No mojo, no community support. No signs in stores saying Welcome Triathletes, or Ironman Specials here. Brand X took it in the shorts here. It was just a long, hot, windy, hilly, solo ride. I kept thinking to myself, why does anyone do this race. It’s so hard, there’s no mojo, no finishing crowd, no Mike Reilly. My hats off to those who finish this one because it’s just psychologically harder.
Road quality. Poor to average. Some roads were just crap. There were some really rough corners and others than were not swept with significant sand traps. I saw 5 folks with flats (actually heard two of them pop) in the first 15 miles but then none. There is one section of a busy highway with a lot of truck traffic. It had a good bike lane with tabs to keep cars out, but you had to look back if you were passing someone to make sure you weren’t going to get flattened.
By mile 90 my feet were on fire and I was really feeling the effects of Thursday’s long run. I kept pouring water down my ankles and on my shoes which usually helped for about a mile. I just wanted it to be over. I hit 112 at total time 5:55 including 3 short stops and hit the finish in 6 hrs flat at 113 and change on my Garmin 500. Who needs an extra mile at this distance? Anyway, it was a solid ride for the course and my lack of taper.
Came into T2 and was officially done so they let me walk my bike right out the back end and gave me my wetsuit bag. The oddball divisions are distinctly anti-climactic. I found the girls, loaded up the bike, had a diet coke my wife brought me, put on some run gear and slogged off after a leisurely 20 min transition. My target was 9:15 mile pace including the 30 seconds EN reserve time. Unfortunately, I was whooped and only managed 9:21 per mile although I was running faster by the time I stopped at 5.13 miles. Called it a day and Sunday is a day off – WOO HOO! Note: the run stations had water and more Lemon Lime Gatorade…yum. But they also had Endurolytes, bananas and Hammer Gel. Too bad that wasn’t available on the bike course.
Brand X vs WTC wrap-up. Sommer Sports organizes the Great Floridian and many other events throughout the year in Clermont. They do a good job given the resources they have. But the difference between a small iron distance race and a WTC Ironman with all the hoopla is palpable. Is WTC worth $300 more? I think so, but if finances are tight then races like this one are a good option. I've read that some people don't consider you an Ironman unless you've done a WTC IM race. I think that's a crock. Anyone who goes the distance here with virtually no support is an Ironman in my book, Brand X or not.
Comments
Paul - Congrats on your successful swim! I hope the positive experience translates into a calm first leg in the Tempe Town Puddle.
I hear you on the loneliness of the long distance biker in a Brand X ultra. We had a local race, the Grand Columbian, which dropped its full distance this year due to lack of interest. They still do the half, Oly, runs, and aqua bike. Those who tried the race were die hard supporters. I could never undersand why they wanted to suffer in silence. I've always felt that one advantage of M-Dot is the thousands out on the course; misery loves company.
Regarding your RR, you describe a less than ideal performance on the run. I suspect there may be something to learn from that, possibly related to either nutrition or hydration on both bike and run. I believe that, given proper pacing on the bike, the reason we still might go slower on the run is almost always due to dehydration, not to lack of running strength or ability; you've certainly done enough training this year for that not to be an issue. You don't describe your fluid intake totals for the bike and run.
Advice for those with an RR coming up: consider adding two things to your preparation and routine. First, learn how much fluid you take with each sip while running. Put a measured amount of water or whatever in a cup, and count the sips it takes you to finish it. Then, measure your "sweat" loss during the RR. See the wiki for details on this (you're actually measuring total water loss, not just sweat loss). Then you can learn how much fluid you need to replace, per hour, and thus how much you should try and drink on the run. Do the math to discover how much to take at each aid station.
It may take as little as 20 minutes of no fluid replacement on the run to start to get irrevocably behind in fluid replacement.
As for the RR portion- my first thought was: 5 gels are not enough. Seems like you don't have nutrition dialed in, which could certainly spell disaster at IMAZ. Otherwise- good luck.
Another detail: an RX for fiery feet is Tums! I know it sounds stupid but try it; just carry a few in a coin purse. I've found that 500-750mg lasts about 45 minutes, then I have to re-dose.
@ Michele - You are right, 5 gels is not enough. My nutrition is well dialed into 7 or 8 for the 112, but I was expecting to get the extra 2 or 3 on the ride. I simply assumed that even Brand X would give out more than water or Gatorade over the 112 miles. Boy was I wrong! BTW, I keep hoping that Challenge enters the North American market to compete with WTC and make Challenge Roth a competing championship. Did you see that Challenge announced new ultras in France and Australia this week? And Copenhagen was new in 2010. They are posturing to become a serious rival to WTC.
@ Al - "suffer in silence" is an apt description for doing an ultra with so few competitors. I would love to know the drop-out rate since I talked with a couple of people afterwards who signed up for the whole thing but pulled out without even finishing the full bike...probably because it was hot and people who have never been to Clermont are typically surprised at all the hills. Dehydration may have been an issue on my run because I did get hot from the beginning in the swim. I would guess I was taking in 48oz or more of liquid an hour on the bike due to the heat, and also because I needed the calories when I realized I wasn't going to get any more gels on the course. Normally, I would take a gel within 2 miles of the run and didn't even realize they had any available (nobody was holding them out) until I was at 4 and almost done. On the run, I drink at every mile, and typically at least 2 cups.
Sounds like you're set for Tempe!
Yes, I did the race two? three? years ago, and really enjoyed it. It was challenging, but I think I managed my expectations after hearing so many people say "it's in Florida, but it ain't no Florida terrain." Plus, I had perfect conditions on race day and a monster base of training and racing that season, and the race was really low-stakes for me. I had no pressure to perform, and only wanted to enjoy myself. so it went really well and i had a memorable day. Maybe the perceived low(er) stakes are why I like the independents so much.
Sugarloaf is a good climb. I went into a frenzy of mental preparation for that hill, and kept rehearsing the mantra "I will not blow my race on this one climb" in the days leading up to the event. Sure enough, I get to the base, start getting all Ricky-racer, see tons of dudes hammering and start to push myself. After about 10 seconds, I gave my head a shake and dropped down to race watts. Definitely saved my day.
Thank you for the comparison on the brand X. I for one am hoping for some more Brand X options here or there. For me it's like wine...sometimes I want to experience a more expensive one like a fine Barolo or Chateauneuf du Pape or some such, but there are many, many days during the year when I'll go for a glass of Rodney Strong or Big House Red. Its the same sort of options that I'd like to have when I want to race long...
Good luck in the remaining weeks to IMAZ!! Time's a tickin'!
Great Race report,
I was there to cheer on two friends who were doing the race. BTW, a 5:55 on that course is pretty good in my book.
I agree that there was little community support, and as you said, the attrition rate on the bike was huge. Last year it was worse-23%.
The run course this year was a 3 repeat out and back, so as a supported, you could see your racer 6 times. This was great, but for about 5 miles on each loop, you were out there alone.
I cheered a friend on the last loop by running ahead and stopping to cheer every 300 meters or so. It was lonely and dark, but I imagine all races, even IM brand have that.
Aside from the hills, which I hate, I would say that the great floridian looks like a nice "local" race. As you said, it is smaller, and I think the timing is tough for many, being so late in the season.
However, the vibe near the finish, where family and friends wait, was great. We had about 10 in our group, which made it fun for the spectators and the races.
Congrats on a great RR.