The Ironman Florida 2013 Weekend Workouts...

The sun rises on Ironman Florida 2013!

Ironman Florida (IMFL) 2013 in Panama City Beach (PCB), Florida was the first full Ironman event I had ever attended. The timing could not have been better for this to be my first Ironman as a spectator. Not only would I have the honor of seeing 23 friends from my local Triathlon club, Gulf Winds Triathletes (http://www.gulfwindstri.org/), compete, but the day prior I had also just signed up to be a competitor in this very event for the following year (2014)!

Feasting on the excitement of
Ironman Florida 2013!

The most recognized and prestigious endurance event in the world, there is nothing like watching an Ironman triathlon! The events of the days leading up to and immediately after the event are all well-designed to amp up the excitement level and appropriately pay homage to all of the athletes successfully completing their Ironman journey.

One of the big advantages of being in PCB for five days during the big, IMFL 2013 weekend was that I would be able to get my daily workouts in on the actual IMFL courses and under temperature/weather conditions that I would potentially be facing the following year!



I came face-to-face with my first challenge, my own excitement level, before I ever left Tallahassee for the short trip to PCB on Thursday. My workout that morning was for a short, 30-minute continuous swim. Here I am at the pool, less than 24 hours after pulling the trigger and registering for my first full Ironman event and just ahead of what I know will be a very exciting weekend watching my friends complete their first Ironman! I’m pretty sure the floating lane dividers were the only thing that kept me in my lane! I was so distracted that the solid black line on the pool floor wasn’t even in focus! All I could think about was how I (a rather sub-par swimmer) was going to have to swim 2.4 miles in just over a year to complete my Ironman journey! The excitement outweighed the dread and I swam some of the fastest sets ever, though.

This break in the weather disguises the
double-red flag conditions the day before IMFL 2013!

The Run…

After the run. Check out what
the wind is doing to that flag
in the background! Windy!

Friday in Panama City Beach brought us nasty winds and light rain. We were supposed to do an open water swim, but double-red flag conditions made that out of the question. I quickly switched to the next day’s run workout and headed out onto the Ironman Florida run course. My run workout was supposed to be without looking at my trusty Garmin, going only by rate of perceived effort (RPE). I was supposed to do 12 min Easy, 12 min Steady, 5 minutes Moderate/1 minute Easy/5 minutes Moderate/1 minute Easy, and a final 12 min Steady set. Even with the wind and the rain, there were a few Ironman hopefuls out on the course getting a short run in. The energy was unreal. As I ran along the course, seeing all of the markings for the next day’s race, all I could think about was, me in another year, crossing that finish line and hearing those words, “Ronald Harrison… YOU are an Ironman!” As for my RPE run, my times for each section were 30 - 45 seconds faster than normal. Upon viewing my data, my coach even remarked that I seemed “a bit amped up” during the workout. LOL! Yeah, I guess that was pretty accurate.

The Swim…

The IMFL 2013 swim was
all about surviving the first 100'
of surf! Violent!

Saturday… race day! Shortly after the Ironman swim start with the memorable first 100 yards of brutal surf to get through, I wanted to hit the water myself. I had missed my open water swim the day before, I wanted to see how I could handle the rough water, and I had a new Xterra Vendetta wetsuit. (http://www.xterrawetsuits.com/store/index.php/products/triathlon-wetsuits/vendetta-sleeveless-wetsuit#) that I was anxious to try! Much to the chagrin of my wife and friends, off I went into the surf. The water was great and the wetsuit was AMAZING! I love my Xterra Vendetta! I managed the conditions well and had a short, but productive swim in the exact conditions the competitors faced on race day! Confidence SCORE!

The Bike…

Flat number 1!

So, after a good run on Friday and a good swim on Saturday, Sunday brought the opportunity to do a few hours on the bike along the Ironman Florida bike course. Talk about an amazing change in conditions. Where Saturday was warm, with calm winds, Sunday was frigid with steady winds and fierce gusts. We still suited up and went for it. Riding with a good friend, John Thompson, and my wife, we expected to easily manage 18 - 20 mph with a steady effort for ~2.5 hours. Not with those winds! We ended up killing ourselves to cover 44.7 miles in 2:49 (15.9 mph average)!!! We all shuddered at the thought of potentially facing those conditions next year, for 112 miles! Under those conditions, you would be looking at an ~8 hour bike ride if you had any thoughts of saving your legs for the marathon! Eeek! And as if the conditions weren’t bad enough, we had to stop to fix two flats (not included in the ride time, above)!

Flat #2! Argh! Yes... we thoroughly checked that tire after the first flat!

All things considered, the IMFL Weekend Workouts were both exciting and humbling. They served to show me what could be on both ends of the spectrum. The bike, especially, taught me that I will need to prepare not for the typical conditions, but the worst case scenario, too. Only then will I be able to toe the line on November 1, 2014 knowing that no matter what gets thrown at me, I’m going to finish strong and with a smile! Knowledge is power!