TRYING to Go Halfway at Halfway.

May 1, 2014 was two weeks ago, now. That marks the halfway point in time between my signing up for IRONMAN Florida and the event itself, on November 1, 2014. They said the time would fly by, but I did not believe them. It is flying! So many great things have happened since I signed up, but it is still hard to believe that I am now officially halfway there!

I never realized, when I signed up for the Gulf Coast Triathlon (70.3), that it would fall just a week after the "official" halfway point between signup and what will be the biggest race of my life, IRONMAN Florida. I was going to be attempting to do EXACTLY one half of the distance I would need to do for IRONMAN on the EXACT same course that I would be doing IRONMAN Florida on! I was going to go halfway at halfway!!! Or so I thought... I was excited beyond words about this race. I was well-trained and ready to put down a solid race. I always love racing, but knowing that I would be staying in the same place and running the exact course where (I hope!) so many dreams will come true and where so much of my focus and attention will be this year... it was beyond exciting.

Racked by the brakes? Winds were
tossing bikes hung by the seat
around like CRAZY!

The day before the race, we did a very short brick workout to check our equipment, check our bodies, and to check the water conditions. Winds along Front Beach Road and Thomas Drive were crazy on the bike. The waves were 3 - 6' with two large sets of breakers to pass before getting to calmer seas. We practiced charging through that maelstrom three times until we felt confident! We knew the evening called for a 60% chance of storms and that race day would likely be wet. We wrapped up our bikes and checked them in to transition.

Race day came without drop of rain falling during the night. The chances of rain were still there, but diminishing. And the water even looked different. Waves were MUCH lighter, but something still wasn't right. When the rescue boats, kayaks, jetskis, etc. had difficulty getting into position and then found it nearly impossible to hold their position, we knew things did not look good for the swim. CURRENTS!!! The unseen currents made it impossible for the rescue craft to hold position or be able to get to a potential distressed swimmer in a timely manner. For the first time in its 32-year history, the Gulf Coast Triathlon cancelled the swim.

Gulf Coast Triathlon Cancels Swim For First Time In History.

With the swim cancelled, they went to a time-trial start run from the beach to transition. This meant that each athlete in the various swim waves would begin ~3 seconds apart. This pushed the time for us to start the bike to even later than it would have been with the swim. And that, naturally, moved the time that we would be doing the run to later in the day, when the heat and humidity would be even more brutal.

The winds on the bike were incredible. This was evidenced by the fact that, at one point, for three miles, I strung together a 25.5 mph average speed with what would be a 20 mph effort for me. While that wind was great going out, it was murder coming back. That's where I got to see 15 mph averages for 20 mph effort! I felt like I adhered to my plan on effort and stayed on top of my nutrition and hydration.

Just SO happy to cross that
Finish Line!!!

And then, there was the run. The heat and humidity were more than any of us had had the opportunity to train in this year. I stuck to my plan and had a pretty solid effort going until somewhere between miles 9 and 10. There, for the first time in my life, I found out what "the wall" felt like, looked like, sounded like, and maybe even tasted like. I was walking EVERY water stop and even a couple of short intervals in between! I had always thought that I would see my heart rate spike when I just couldn't go on and was putting in so much effort to try to keep moving. Instead, I could not get my heart rate up. 

In reviewing my data after the race, it looks like I went a little too hard on the bike. Not a total blowup, but still a little harder than I should have. And, even though I thought I had stayed on top of my nutrition, we (my coach and I) are now thinking I may have ran out of steam on the run because of nutrition. Too hard on the bike + too little nutrition + heat/humidity = bonk on run!

They say that misery loves company. While I would NEVER wish a bad race on my friends and fellow athletes, it did help my pride a little bit to know that I wasn't the only one who suffered. Across the board I received confirmation that the conditions were just brutal and that everyone's energy was sapped by the humidity. Like I talked about in my last post, I'm all about finding the positives in my training and racing. There were so many positives in this one. I think I probably learned more from my bonk than I EVER would have by simply going out and hitting my numbers.

So, I tried to go halfway at halfway and was thwarted by forces out of my control. The remainder of the race that was in my control was less than stellar. I'm still very happy with my overall effort and even happier with what I learned. And I KNOW that this new-found knowledge will help me go ALL THE WAY when it matters most... IRONMAN Florida 2014, November 1, 2014!

My wife, Michelle, had a GREAT race
and my kids were AMAZING sherpas!

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P.S. - Remember back in early February when I posted about the AMAZING I Run 4 organization? (Who Do YOU Run For?) Well, I'm so very excited to let you know that, the day before I ran the Gulf Coast Triathlon, I received my match! I now have an incredible buddy, Toby! We are just getting to know each other, so I sincerely hope to be able to tell you more about him and this amazing organization in a couple of weeks! STAY TUNED!!!