Florida Challange HIM
General: This is a very nice venue to race. Bike course is awesome with lots of up and down. Yes I know its Florida but this area could be in the foothills of South Carolina. Race is small with only 141 entries this year but RD did a great job, very organized and race in its 27th year. Would highly recommend as alternative to Ironman Fl 70.3. One month later but Clermont, FL is ~ 30 min outside of Orlando. Course is very fun and challenging.
Pre-Race: Day before ate lunch Olive Garden (Shrimp Primavera) then checked in and drove bike course. The actual hills were a little scary to me being a flatlander and I changed my bike plan a little. Dinner was at Outback (Grilled chicken and bake potato with Seared Tuna). Back to hotel and in bed by 2100.
Up at 0200 race day and drank Naked Juice Berry Protein Smoothie (440 cal) back to bed and up at 0500. Got ready, did mirror exercise. Went over goals and to have patience, be disciplined, and stay focused then headed to race site at 0530. Sipped Gatorade and ate Hammer bar (220 cal) on way.
Set-up transition and got in a warm-up swim ~ 200 m easy focusing on form then 100m hard. Back to transition for a final check then to swim start.
Swim: Goal 45:00 Actual 46:55 (109/141) (2:28/100m) Temp 76, Water Temp low 80’s?
Only 2 waves first female @ 0730 then male @ 0740. Mass start from shore. Water was shallow and walked out ~ 2100 M passing folks swimming. Started to swim and focused on form. Counted 1020 stokes. Sighted more than at Fl 70.3 and felt like stayed on course better. Practiced drafting a little. Overall was surprised at how good the swim felt and how I felt heading to T1.
T1: Goal 5:00 Actual 4:44 Temp 80.
Short run from beach to transition. Sand on beach was very fine and took a little time to clean feet of sand. No real glitches here. Very smoth and focused.
Bike: Goal 3:30:00 Actual 03:37:22 (113/138) Temp 80 Cal ~700 (~ 200/hr) fluid in ~210 oz (~60 oz/hr) Na in ~2525 mg (~ 700mg/hr)
Bike course was very fun but tough especially for my big behind. ~ 2600 ft of climbing with Sugarloaf coming ~ half way in (3/4 mile hill @ 14% grade). Prior to Sugarloaf are the Buckhills (three 11% grade hills back to back covering 2.5 miles). Rode first 30 min at low Z2 HR (target 121-125 avg 124) then hit next 90 min mid to high Z2 (target 125-129, avg 126), finished high Z2 to low Z3 (target 127-132, avg 131). Felt really good all ride and legs had a lot of pop over the last 10-15 miles. I even passed ~ 10 rides in last 15 miles. Time could have been better but I stopped at all aid stations to get 2 bottles of water, stopped once to pee ~ half way and I stopped to help a rider that had a flat. Nutrition was from mix of Heed and Perpeteum. Overall very please with ride. The steeper hills kick my butt a little but I had planned for that and felt good coming off the bike.
T2: Goal 3:00 actual 5:00 Temp 91
Little slower here than I wanted but had to pee again and decided in last few miles of bike that I would put more sun screen on. Had to get the sun screen out of my bag. But was glad I made that decision as some others that did not were burnt to a crisp.
Run: Goal 2:45 Actual 3:07:22 (104/123) Temp 91 Cal 500 (~ 161/hr), Fluid ~120 oz (~ 40 oz/hr), Na ~2800 mg (~ 900 mg/hr)
Run is a 10K loop with a 0.35 mile loop added to beginning. The added loop and first mile are in the sun, next mile is shaded, last mile befor turn around is in sun. So run is basically 2 miles in sun followed by 1 in shade, rinse and repeat. Ther is a little up and down here as well but no major hills. Felt great at the start and had difficulty staying on pace, running to fast. After 3 miles was able to pick-up pace. In sunny areas was a little slow but in shade was a little fast. Again I had cramping in right hamstring and also lower quads. Think that this might be due to the IT compression strap. ~ 8.5 miles in Garmin died. Also about that time heat began to get to me and I slowed dramatically. By end of run with the heat and cramping in right leg I was running a little, walking a little. Again I hit every aid station, ice in front, back, and hat; refilled 20 oz bottle with ice and water and took cup of ice to eat. Between aid stations I would drink ~ half of bottle while eating ice and poor half of bottle on head and arms. Stomach was a little irritated with gels but not too bad. Temp at run finish was 96.
Overall: Total time 7:41:20 (goal 07:30) 104/123 (18 DNF’s) 6/11 in Master Clydesdale. Very pleased with this race. Much tougher that Fl 70.3 but I felt really good until the last of the run and I feel that was heat related. I just cannot drink more than I am during the run. Overall I drank 334 oz which is ~ 2.6 gallons of water during the race. Execution was also good and I was able to make some changes to plans both the day before and during the race. Need to find a better solution for nutrition on run. Have tried Heed, Perpetum and Gels. May switch to Infinite after consultation. Also still need to lose 40 pounds. Time now to rest (2 weeks off) then get geared back up for SC Half iron in October and Miami Man in November..
Comments
BTW - I'm wondering how much longer Fred Sommers can hold on as the registrations dwindle away each year due to WTC competition. I understand that he could have had the IMFL license long ago but didn't want to pay the fee. Back then, the GFT field was much larger. Now, he probably kicks himself every Nov when IMFL sells out same day! Even MiamiMan is feeling the heat from the Miami 70.3. A few years ago MiamiMan was selling out by July...no longer.