Recently in Ironman Florida 11-1-08 Category

Some more comments:

13. Be wary of low temperatures in the mornings...and at night when the sun sets! Not so bad in the morning with a wetsuit on, but if you're still out running and the sun starts going down, better KEEP RUNNING or else walking will potentially make you hypothermic, given your clothes being damp from sweat and then your body just cooling down tremendously.

14. I hate 2 loop swims. Running out on the beach slowed me down by 2-3 minutes I think.

15. Panama City Beach is on the panhandle of Florida, which is actually in CENTRAL time while the rest of Florida is in EASTERN time. My watch was all messed up in calculating the local time and almost messed up my pickup time at the airport!

16. Watch out for 728 lbs. Mako Sharks when you swim....Just kidding.

Thinking back to IM FL, I thought I'd put down some notes regarding the race independent of the race report. Here they are:

1. Logistics were very well done. T1, T2 and the expo were all in one place so there wasn't much walking around.

2. Since T1 and T2 were in the same place, this is a very good spectator race. Spectators don't have to drive miles between transition areas to watch the race. The one loop bike makes it tough to see your competitor on the bike, but 2 loops on the run makes it easy to watch them on the run, as also for the swim which is also two loops.

3. Aid stations were well stocked. Nobody ran out of anything as far as I could tell.

4. Spectators were friendly and rowdy. This makes for keeping competitors' spirits high as they aim for the finish line.

5. There were 2258 people who started the race. This makes for a huge pileup on the swim as they head out. Be wary of swinging arms and kicking legs, but enjoy the massive draft around the buoys!

6. There were 1000+ first timers. This makes for challenging elements. First timer swimmers tend to be very messy swimmers, with swinging arms all over the place. On the bike out, there were guys who didn't mount until much later, which caused a backup since they were running with their bikes right in the middle of the lane. Once you get past them, then it's not bad at all.

7. Big packs of bikers make drafting benefits almost impossible to avoid, even hanging back the required distance.

8. Lots of Ironman merchandise available; a shopper's paradise! For some items, you don't have to get there right at the moment the expo first opens. But still get there early to get your size. Contrast this to international races where they never order enough stuff and run out pretty quickly. For finisher's gear, there was a line out the store to get in, so get there early to get great finisher's gear. At least they let us order this cool shell jacket since they ran out of our sizes.

9. Eating healthy is a challenge. Panama City Beach is filled with fast food and bad eats. Rent a condo with a kitchen, go to the local Walmart and buy fresh food to eat, although one could argue that the produce at Walmart wasn't all that great. No Whole Foods in this town!

10. The food at the awards banquet could have been better. It was a bit ordinary and didn't taste all that great. They had pork ribs and sauteed fish. I had the fish which was OK, and ate more salad and pasta alongside.

11. I'd rate the course a 10+. Very, very low hills broke up the bike course and allowed you to take a small break from constant pedaling/watts output, but it wasn't totally flat like IM WA which made for a pedaling challenge to keep constant watts with no breaks at all. Running was totally flat and very shaded. In some ways, I'd say the course was faster than IM WA.

12. The local airport is PFN which is 15 minutes away, but you can also fly into Fort Walton Beach which is about 1-1.5 hour drive away, but potentially gives more options to fly.

It's been 1.5 weeks after IM FL. Sometime yesterday, my aerobic system recovered fully and I didn't have that funny, "cool" sensation in my lungs any more. Muscularly, I am a bit sore on the top of my quads down by the knees; this was bugging me prior to Ironman and now it's acting up. I have not done any high watts training for the bike but I did do some leg extensions and it was a little painful to do those. No more leg extensions until this is healed! Luckily I do not have a need for high watts bike training; I'm in the off season now and will do other types of training to let my body recover from the abuse of Ironman training. Also, it seems that running doesn't bother my quad/knee area so I will ramp up on form training and also neuro-muscular run training.

So heading into:

1. weight lifting
2. a bit of Bikram yoga if I can get time to go
3. run form training and neuro-muscular training
4. bike neuro-muscular training and training strength/form with Powercranks
5. swim strength training with one arm swimming and paddle swimming
6. core exercises, like planking and stomach/back muscle building
7. balance exercises, simulating running stance and motions

Looks like I'm about at 1.5 weeks to recover from Ironman now. Feel pretty good about that after 5 Ironmans! Adaptation is coming along nicely.

One more:

Negative split and descend training really helped my ability to deliver high efforts even towards the end of the race, or the end of each segment. On the bike, I would train hills up to 5 hours and then go ride for an hour, completing intervals at high watts with rest in between. This helped me be able to accelerate and pass at the final stretch of the bike, even when I was tired. For the run, I would descend my long 6 mile hill loops so that each loop was run faster than the last. This trained my muscles to not collapse after many miles, but to be able to still give more when I demanded more speed nearing the end. Thus, after 24 miles of maintaining pace, I was still able to accelerate at the end to have a strong finish.

Tiring your body out for a long stretch, and THEN picking up the pace at the end during training is painful, taxing, and hard, but extremely great training for not fading during a race and potentially even going faster at the end.

In reflecting back on my training for and racing during Ironman Florida, I thought about what worked well and what didn't work so well. Here are some thoughts:

1. I switched drinks from Accelerade to First Endurance EFS. Accelerade was upsettng my stomach. I think it was their use of soy protein and the way it froths up when shaken that caused stomach problems. First Endurance EFS remains a flat, non-bubbly fluid and uses whey protein which both don't upset my stomach.

2. More long hill climbs really strengthened my legs. I started doing laps up Kings Mountain, which is about a 4.4 mile climb versus Old La Honda which is about 3.3 miles. I also added intervals up the climbs to stimulate getting my legs out of pedaling at only one speed.

3. I did many threshold workouts this time on both the bike and run. For the bike, I went through a series of high watts, long interval sets which strengthened my tolerance at lactate threshold for longer periods of time. On the run, I did fartlek sets which ended with hard intervals of long duration. This also helped bring up my LT tolerance.

The downside to this was I believe that doing too many threshold workouts and not getting enough rest between them helped set the stage for some lung constriction that developed.

4. Swimming in indoor pools placed in small rooms increased the chlorine content of those rooms and caused some lung constriction to develop. Medicine helped get me out of that condition, but now I try to avoid swimming in indoor pools as much as possible.

5. Neural muscular run training early season helped increase my leg turnover. Fast running for short duration on the treadmill helped train my nerves to fire faster and to be conditioned to do so.

6. Emergen-C upwards of 3 times a day helped keep me sickness free to whole season.

7. One arm swimming really helped build up my swimming strength and helped correct an imbalance in my stroke in my left arm. Pulling with paddles helped support this strength development. Focus on the left arm also helped build it up, although it was still behind in endurance relative to my right arm on race day.

8. I also worked a lot on head and body positioning while swimming. I tried to keep as relaxed as possible, work on the body roll and adding power to my arm while stroking, and also tried to keep my head and energy moving forward, not up or down or to the side while stroking. I am a definite hip dragger while swimming and think I've improved this a lot.

9. The disc wheel was amazing. It's aerodynamics and mass helped make pedaling at speed a dream. I did not experience the sail effect on this race, but someday I hope to make use of it.

The Powertap on my disc wheel was a disappointment in that it was reading inaccurately. I hope to return it this week back to Zipp/Saris and get it fixed.

10. I wore compression sleeves on my lower legs during the run. While inconclusive as to whether they made a big difference, I believe that they did help a lot and contributed to my Ironman run PR of 4:19.

11. I ran more weeks at 3 hours, which amounts to be about 18 miles for me. Dealing with the energy and mental drain of long distance was something I really needed to do, to ensure that I would not collapse mentally or physically when I reached that point in the race. I was also fortunate to not have gotten injured during the process, but good form, regular ART/Graston treatment, and running on trails helped mitigate injuries. I also did these runs mid-afternoon, during the hottest part of the day to increase my heat tolerance. Didn't really need that at IM FL this year, but you never know when you'll have to race Ironman in 80-90 degree weather.

12. I subtly altered my running form to reduce my up and down of running. I found that my normal stride, while more comfortable because I was used to it, also wasted energy in my legs absorbing more up and down energy. I tried this time to maintain a level head the whole way and to focus on my legs churning underneath my body. This really felt better in terms of the reducing the pounding against the pavement. During the race, I also was able to maintain pace better this way; at moments when I felt that I had switched back to my old style of running, it felt more strained and taxing. Switching back to this style of running kept me going more comfortably. I do need to practice more with this form in order to increase speed.

For IM FL, I raced with compression sleeves for my lower legs by Zensah. I really like these for their compressive design, which is a ribbed, graduated compression that reduces up the lower leg. I also like sleeves as opposed to full socks as I prefer to wear my favorite socks for racing instead of potentially not liking the foot part of a full compression sock.

In retrospect, it was kind of dumb for me not to train with them. My ART doctor reminded me of this and it kind of slipped my mind that it would be one of those rare times I was going to try something new on the race and not before! In general, BAD IDEA. Thinking back, something bad could have happened, like the compression could have cut off too much circulation to my lower leg and caused numbness in my feet. Or they could have rubbed somewhere and chafed, or just been too uncomfortable.

I also had a decision to make. I was not sure if I should wear them on the bike, or put them on at T2 for the run. In seeing some races, I did see people wearing them on the run for sure. Certainly I have seen pro marathoners wear them. But I did not recall seeing anyone wearing them on the bike. So I decided that for this race I would put them on at T2 and use them only for the run. The next race I may try them for the bike and wear them through the run.

Hitting T2, I put on those sleeves and went out for the marathon part of the race. It's hard to tell whether or not they really helped or not. This year, I trained more at the 3 hour/18 mile run level to increase my tolerance for running at speed at that time and distance. The course was totally flat the whole way, so no hills to tax my legs that way. The weather was very moderate, and the course with lots of shade so no super hot day to ruin my ability to sustain a pace or increase chances of cramping.

What I did notice, taking all these into consideration plus my compression sleeves, was that I was able to maintain a constant stride all the way through to mile 20. Post mile 20, I was still able to maintain stride although I was slowing down more. My fascia did not tighten up around my legs or knees and they remained nicely loose the whole way. Mentally, I did feel a bit tired and did more walking through aid stations. So I may have maintained pace between aid stations, but adding in more walking time through aid stations slowed my average pace.

Then my surprise at hitting mile 24 instead of mile 23 (brain fart for not noticing the mile 23 sign before then) and being able to accelerate at that point to the finish meant that I still had energy to do that even after 24 miles of running.

It's inconclusive to say that compression sleeves were the sole cause that enabled me to run better, but I think that they helped. Certainly there were no negative effects. As I always say, "that which does not kill me, can't hurt and probably makes me faster."

I'll have to think on whether or not I want to train with them. One part of me doesn't like to use them as a crutch, but the other part of me tells me that I can have more good workouts and really push harder with less fatigue, and feeling less wiped out at the end of a long run or bike. Something to try next year.

I also wore 2XU Compression Tights post-race for recovery. I wore a size small and there were tight portions on my legs, but some parts like my thighs felt not as tight. 2XU uses circular/spiral bands of thread to create a graduated compression up the legs. However, I don't think they work as well as they should even though I sized down a size and they were tight to put on. But I did wear them all day the day after, and slept in them. I think they did help me recover as my legs felt very fresh and my hips didn't feel restricted after the race. I could tell by comparing my walking to others post-race and many others were definitely very stiff looking whereas I was much looser.

On the plane ride back, I wore my Zensah lower leg sleeves which always help on plane rides.

Yesterday I went to a local running store and bought a pair of Skins Sport Compression Tights. These use a different weave to achieve their graduated compression. I put them on and they felt better than the 2XUs. I had more compression all the way up my leg, instead of feeling like the compression disappeared up on my thighs. I think I will use these from now on for recovery.

I am also considering trying the Skins Sport Long Sleeve and Skins Sport Arm Sleeves next year at IM CDA. I wonder how full body compression affects my performance during race.

For some great information on compression, check out the Skins website for How Skins Work.

So my finish time was 11:36. I looked at my watch and noticed that my stopwatch read 11:32. Where did 4 minutes go? I'm pretty sure I would have remembered starting it again if I had noticed it stopped. All my splits were pretty consistent, with the exception of T1 where I forgot to hit the split button. Weird. Was I running so fast that I entered a time warp and lost 4 minutes somewhere in local Dshen time?

[Please play Twilight Zone music here]

From ASI Photography. Some pics of me on my bike:

Here is me running:

Here are some of me crossing the finish line, and happy with my medal:

And yes, I thought I was grimacing when I crossed the finish line. Look at that roar of happiness!

Some pics of the awards banquet, with Mike Reilly announcing, Graham Fraser CEO of Ironman, and Greg Welch with some of the Janus Charity Challenge winners:

These guys are amazing: the 75-79 men age groupers who finished Ironman. They just blow me away:

Here are the women pros with Bella Comeford coming in first once again:

Here are the men pros with Tom Evans winning:

By the way, Tom was kind enough to show us what was caught in the waters off Panama City Beach just the week before:

A 728 lbs. Mako shark! Holy moly! And here we are, us triathletes in our wetsuits looking like a big school of a shark's favorite food, seals!

One more shot of the two pro first place finishers, Tom Evans and Bella Comeford:

Getting up this morning wasn't too bad. I think my body is adapting to the abuse I give it every Ironman!

I drop off my bike at TriBike Transport and then head to the expo. There I pick up my pics which I will post later once I get home to my scanner. I also go to get my finisher's certificate.

Walking then over to the store, I wait in line to get in to buy finisher's gear. What a zoo that was. I did buy a cool finisher's jacket which I can use during cold Ironmans. I hope to get that 6-8 weeks from now since they ran out of my size.

Then, Dan and I go to get lunch at a strip mall which actually makes Panama City Beach not look like a redneck riviera but like a normal place. We stop in at the Hofbrau Beer Garden where we buy 1 liter beers and some Roladen and Bratwurst to celebrate our PRs at Ironman yesterday:

Those beers were huge! I don't think I've drunk a liter of beer in...decades?

It was a beautiful morning in Panama City Beach thankfully. It was not very windy at all, and the sea looked very calm with few waves.

Transition was a zoo. There were 2258 athletes that started the race. It's just too much. Some pics of me setting up my bike in transition:

My bike on the rack:

Some pics of my transition area and the incredible number of bags there are due to 2000+ athletes:

Here's Dan getting ready at his rack:

And here's me psyching myself up for the swim:

After Dan gets his stuff ready, we put on our wetsuits and head down the beach. Unfortunately, we're pretty late down there and don't get to warm up since the pros leave 15 min before us and we're not allowed in the water after the pros leave.

Both Dan and I look around the beach at the race participants. The whole start corral is filled to the brim with people! We look at each other and worry about the swim as it's going to be a serious crowded free for all.

(By the way, this is the first race where my facts may be a little altered as I tell them. I was so focused on racing that I didn't concentrate on remembering every funny detail and also the order in which they happened may not be how they happened. Sorry about that!)

The start cannon goes off and we leap into the water. It's a total madhouse. Everybody is jammed together and trying to stroke. The only good thing about this is that this creates such a huge drafting current so I don't even need to stroke very much; I just stroke easy and let myself be carried along with everyone else!

I usually like to get into the middle of the pack and the swinging arms and legs don't frighten me. I like to latch onto as many people as possible to draft off of since I'm such a slow swimmer. But this is the first time I was worried about my health. Many times people tried to swim up my rear; can't they even tell that they are swimming on top of somebody else? Duh! I also got hit in the BACK of my head a few times; how is that possible? I think on the return stroke of their arms, their hand is whacking me on the back of my head. So many messy swimmers. They shouldn't be swiping their arms so wide; they should be more compact in their strokes so they DON'T annoy yours truly by whacking me on the back of my head! A few times, some people were actually stroking their arms UNDER my body. I have yet to figure out how they can swim the freestyle and get their strokes under my body which is laying somewhat next to them. The biggest danger is staying away from idiots who breast stroke. Geez. they are kicking their legs so wide that they are hitting everybody next to them. If I were them, I would breast stroke with their arms, but flutter kick so as not to annoy other people.

Generally, I think I have found that most people are pretty messy swimmers. There were 1000 first time Ironman racers at IM FL. That's too high a chance that we'll find first time messy swimmers out there.

The swim course is a 2 loop course. We swim out to the turnaround buoy, go left to another turnaround buoy, and then swim back. We (I hate this) run out of the water onto the beach and then leap back into the water for the second loop. I hate this because I always lose time getting out of the water and running on the beach, and then getting back into the water. I prefer one loop swims instead.

So the tremendous number of racers sweeps me out to the first turnaround buoy in record time. We turn left and then I lose my group. I swim by myself to the next buoy and then I still can't find anyone to draft off of for a while. In fact, I seem to keep angling to one side. I think there is a current out there. But off in the distance I see a whole mass of messily swiping arms. I swim off to them and now I'm back in a group to draft off of.

I hit the beach, tire my legs running out of the water, run around this thing, and then run back into the water. This time, we head for the third buoy directly and skip the first two to save some time. We manage to get around the buoys and we race for the beach.

I get out of the water and run up to an area where volunteers whip my wetsuit off me. It's the best thing. Getting out of a wetsuit can be hard, but having someone just whip it off you is much faster and easier. We run up to T1 and I get my swim to bike bag. I put on my bike stuff, and decide to try DeSoto arm coolers. They are like bike arm warmers, but supposedly they keep my arms cool instead of warm. Hmm we'll see if they work. I first run to the bathroom, and then run to my bike and jog it to the bike out.

As I mount my bike and start pedaling, there are some idiots still jogging their bikes. We yell at them to get moving and finally they move to the side and let us pass.

The next 6 hours or so were a blur. Some highlights:

Getting out to the course, the flat terrain makes high speed very easy. But also I've got my disc which was simply amazing. I did not experience the sail effect as the wind wasn't hitting me from the side, but it definitely seemed to make maintaining high speed much easier on the legs.

With 2258 racers, it was almost impossible not to get some drafting benefit. I would latch onto these huge packs of cyclists and pray that I would not get a penalty. I was surprised that when officials came by that they did not just pull the whole group over. I usually hung on the back and tried to maintain as much distance as possible. As far as drafting is concerned, hanging only 7 meters back doesn't remove nearly enough drafting benefit at all. Some tests have shown that 50 meters back you still get drafting benefit. So I would latch onto a big group that was going about 20-21 MPH and just hang out. Pedaling with the group plus my disc made pedaling seem so easy. At times, I would find myself alone, especially going up the little hills that were there and on the back side I would race to get back into another group.

The hills of IM FL were very short and gradual. There were some longer, gradual inclines which were annoying but they soon ended at flats or gradual downhills. There were times I was pedaling at only 14-16 MPH which really stunk as I started getting depressed about my bike split. But as in any Ironman, you just have to pedal at your fitness level versus the terrain. It's all you can do; to do more means a higher probability of flaming out later. Contrast this to IM WA where there were NO HILLS at all; there I felt like I was pedaling hard the whole way as there were no downhills at all for breaks! Here, there were many hills to coast down and let your legs get some nice rest.

There was only one "big hill" on the course. It was a bridge that you went over near the beginning and also near the end, that entered/exitted Panama City. Not much of a climb at all and a nice 30 MPH downhill on the backside.

I wore DeSoto arm coolers. Most of the time you wear these arm warmers on your arms to keep the chill down. But it wasn't really all that cold out there so I just put these on. They are thinner than normal arm warmers and made of some moisture wicking fabric. I am not sure if they kept me cooler though; the sun beating down on my arms felt warm and I think they may have been cooler with the wind blowing over bare skin than my arm coolers. They weren't uncomfortably warm so I kept them on.

Mostly the roads were excellent. There were some rough patches that really slowed me down. Also, there were small potholes in the road which were really hard to see. I went through a few which almost threw my water bottles! Kind of scary as I was really focused on riding and now I had to add not riding into a small pothole to my focus.

At one point I followed some Deutsche Fraulein. What's with these Europeans? They always race in speedos or their swimsuits. In any case, I got the pleasure of looking at her swimsuit butt for many miles.

Another euro guy would often pass me and then get ahead of me and...slow down. Very annoying! If you're gonna pass me then pass me but then maintain your speed. Don't slow down and then force me to slow down! Finally I just passed him for the last time and spent some time with extra energy to get ahead of him...far, far ahead of him.

Speaking of rear ends, almost everyone had sand on their butts. I thought this was really peculiar. It took me a while to figure it out, but I think it was from when we sat down after the swim and they whipped our wetsuits off.

On one rough patch I lost my CO2 cartridge. The damn thing got shook loose from its screwhole! I resolved to use some electrical tape on it next time around.

A lot of people rode discs. I was probably the slowest one with a disc on the whole course.

There was a bit of a headwind further inland and along the shore on the way back. It was very annoying and contributed to my low speed at some points. But, this headwind turned into a tailwind on the way back and very thankful for that!

As always, I would get out of my seat and ride to rest my butt which kept getting numb. I shift down about 4 gears and then leap up to ride a while.

Thanks to great M2 training with threshold workouts, I remained fairly energetic the whole way. Even nearing the bike in, I was still able to accelerate and pass some people. I was feeling really good as I approached the bike in.

I kept looking at my computer for my average speed. I was in the high 19 MPHs and just hoped to maintain that. As much as possible I kept to 20-21 MPH or more to keep lifting my average speed and balance out the moments I dropped to 17 MPH or below. For a while I did not think I would be able to come in under 6 hours, but was simply ecstatic that I did at 5:45!

I went into T2 and grabbed my transition bag. I went into the tent and took off my bike stuff and put on my run stuff. This was another contrast to IM WA; there my legs felt so wiped out from the constant watts output. Here, they were tired, but not still felt pretty good. I headed out to go to the bathroom, and then out on the course.

As with the bike, the next 4 hours or so were a blur. Some highlights:

I'm running out of transition and still getting my running legs back. Then I saw another woman from our tour group. She ran like a bat out of hell out of T2 and passed me! I think she must have been running a sub-8 minute mile at least! We must have came off the bike at near the same time but man she left me in her dust on the run!

I kept going for a while and resolved to be super-conservative on the run. Every Ironman run before this I've run at 4:50+ hours. I was beginning to think I would never break my 4:50 time. So I was just going to concentrate on moving my legs at a comfortable pace for as long as possible. I would decide later if I would sprint near the end, or increase my speed at some point.

At one of the early aid stations, I grabbed a sponge and wiped the salt grittiness off my face. Oooo! How refreshing that was! I resolved myself to make myself as comfortable as possible and to remove any possible mental distractions so that I could just focus on the run and not on anything else. I also went to the bathroom once on the run just to remove that distraction too.

I started alternating Gatorade and Cola at the aid stations. I would grab a Gatorade or Cola and a cup of ice. I then poured 1/3 to 1/2 cup of fluid into the ice and then drank that. How refreshing it was to drink an ice cold cup of fluid!

Every 20 minutes I took a salt capsule to prevent cramping. Every 45 minutes I would take a gel for added calories and electrolytes. I also had my Fuel Belt which I had 4 large bottles of my own concoction: First Endurance EFS Tangerine plus two small scoops of Endurolyte powder. I had debated on not taking 4 bottles as they weigh a lot and during marathons I almost never finish all 4, but I do train with 4 bottles so I was used to the weight. Also, if it's really hot, then I like having more fluid to take down between aid stations. I ended up drinking about 2.5 bottles taking gels and salt capsules along the way.

Thankfully along the run, it was heavily shaded from the tall condo complexes along the beach and with the many trees along the course. It wasn't a hot day anyways, and the added shade really helped. Whenever possible, I just ran in the shade and kept out of the sun as much as I could.

I passed my buddy Dan a few times and gave him a yell of encouragement. He later told me that I thought I was going pretty strong, especially if I could yell at him every time I saw him haha.

As I was going out for my second loop I come up on a guy walking and wearing an M2 jersey. I pull up next to him to say hello and find that he is Ron from Philadelphia and he also had Mike as a coach. But his foot was bugging him and he was walking. I gave him some encouragement and sped on.

Being that it was Halloween the night before, the costumed folks were in full force.

Running through a private road, there was the "Girl Zone". Passing into the Girl Zone, there were a bunch of women in lingerie who flirted with us and invited us to slap their rear ends. I thought that my slimy, gel and Gatorade covered hands probably shouldn't be touching them, so I smiled and sped through them every time.

One of the aid stations was decorated like a jungle, complete with vines. Many of the spectators were also dressed up. There were a bunch of clowns dancing to music, a whole bunch of guys wearing hula skirts.

Definitely one of the most spirited spectating races I've seen. They yelled my name every time I ran by and it helped keep my mental state upbeat for sure!

By the second time out, I was definitely getting a bit tired. I was worried that I was just going to stop running at mile 13 like at IM WA, so I mentally hunkered down and just kept focused on moving my legs. I did start walking through aid stations longer which wasn't good for my average pace. But I started getting really happy when I hit mile 20 and did the last turn around.

Right around there, Ford had setup a message area. Back at the expo, I typed a message to myself which was, "MOVE YOUR BUTT DSHEN". But I guess they censored all the messages because it came out saying, "D.SHEN MOVE YOUR DSHEN". I saw this message on each loop and just laughed to myself that they would not even allow the word "BUTT" in their messages. Tush? Rear?

I began to count down the miles after mile 20. It was getting harder to maintain my leg turnover, but I just really focused hard on getting to the next aid station and running the whole way. No walking no way between aid stations!

I also really zoned out because I was watching the mile markers: 21, 22. And then I was expecting mile 23 to come up on this one marker and realized it said mile 24! Wow! Somehow I had completely been unaware that I had passed mile 23 and was now one mile closer than I thought. A tremendous sense of elation blew through me and I started picking up my pace. I crossed mile 25, and then I was feeling a bit stretched so I backed off on my pace a bit and then seeing mile 26, I shortly entered the short finisher's chute. I let a bunch of guys who were faster than me go in first as I wanted my own picture and not with some stranger. As I pulled up, Mike Reilly (the guy who didn't announce my name at my first Ironman, IM NZ) yells, "Dave Shen from Cupertino, California, YOU'RE AN IRONMAN!!!" I was totally pumped! I cross the finish line and shoot my arms into the air for the photos!

I definitely have to look at this picture because I think I was grimacing on the outside (probably due to my bodily pain), but definitely super-happy on the inside. Funny!

I take a quick look back and look at my time. Wow - 11:36! I beat my last PR by 44 minutes! Unbelievable! I was hoping for a near 12 hour or maybe just under 12 hours, but I didn't expect to be under 12 hours by 24 minutes! I was excited beyond belief!

Add to that Mike Reilly yelling that I was an Ironman really made my day. It made a great day into the PERFECT DAY!

Mike Reilly I forgive you for not saying my name at IM NZ.

A volunteer hands me a space blanket and another one leads me into the line where another picture was taken of me holding my medal. Can't get enough photos!

I walk into the food area which unfortunately was really lame. They had Cola which I drank about 4 cups of, and they only had fruit there. I just munched on these delicious grapes until I was full and walked out of there. Apparently they were only serving pizza and I didn't want any.

As I walked to get my bags and bike, I come up to the woman who flew out of T2 ahead of me. I tell her that she was totally amazing and that I had never seen anyone fly out of T2 like she did. In fact, I saw her only once after that but passing me on the other side of the course. She must have been 8 miles ahead of me at the time. But then her daughter said she came in right after me. I was totally dumbfounded. She was so far ahead of me and then comes in after me and I thought that I may have zoned out too much to notice me passing her? But she said she had to stop due to stomach problems. Major bummer!

I got my stuff and headed home to clean up and sit in a bathtub full of ice cubes. Thankfully I didn't ache too much but I did feel super depleted. I made some spaghetti and hard boiled eggs for myself (only thing in my kitchen!) and washed some clothes. I couldn't stop taking down fluids and drank everything in sight: Emergen-C, water, mango juice, milk. I also took a gulp of Gatorade in my fridge but couldn't drink any more. I think I've had enough Gatorade (and Cola) for a while....

Yes it was the PERFECT DAY.

It's 423a and I'm almost ready. I get up before my 4am alarm and get all my fluids ready. I just ate one hard boiled egg and half a bagel, drink some First Endurance stuff and Emergen-C; final fuel up before the race! Now to lather myself with suntan lotion, get dressed, go to the bathroom one last time, and a final check of all my stuff I'll need today.

Track me on the Athlete's Tracker at Ironman.com!!! See you at the finish line - STOPPING IS NOT AN OPTION!

One day before Ironman Florida. It's Halloween and all the triathletes are being silly, including our tour guide Ken:

I don't know where he got this mask of the grim reaper, but it's pretty darn cool. There is a clear plastic layer over the skull face which connects to a handheld squeeze bulb which allows you to squirt blood into the mask. The blood then drips down in spectacularly from the top of the skull within the clear layer! Cool! The others are part of our tour group. Good luck to them tomorrow!

I head over to T2 and drop off my bike. I cover up my gels and computer so the sun isn't bearing down on it all day today:

In T2, I saw the biggest bento box I've ever seen:

It was taller and longer than any I've seen. You can put a peanut butter sandwich in there!

Then I went to drop off the T1 and T2 bags. Looks like we'll have to run to find our own bags. Wish they would hand them off to us:

Something to avoid:

After dropping off my stuff, I went over to the Ford message tent and typed a message to myself. Hopefully it will pump me up out there. I wrote to myself, "MOVE YOUR BUTT DSHEN" heh.

I bumped into Dan and his brother Mike and went over to their condo to eat lunch:

I ate while they surfed porn - ha joking - they were working while I was chewing! Nice view out their condo across the beach.

As usual, I gotta hand in my bike and bags the day before the race. Here's my relatively fully loaded bike, ready to rock and roll:

First, a little surgery on my wetsuit. I cut off a bit of the sleeves and legs. Now it comes off a lot easier! Whoo hoo!

Next, I got everything laid out for my bags. I hope I didn't forget anything. If I did, at least I can get back into my bags tomorrow morning:

Heading over soon to hand in my bags.

Today I took one last chance to fix my Powertap ZIPP Disc. I unscrewed the cap and carefully replaced the batteries. Then I brought my bike downstairs for a ride and unfortunately it didn't fix the problem. Still the readings were off the charts. Major bummer! Time to send it back to ZIPP for fixing; at least I can still ride it for the race.

A plug for a buddy of mine who is developing a website for triathletes called TriMaven.com. He gave me this cool t-shirt to wear around at IM FL. Check it out - not sure if everything is working just right yet, but have a look. It's got news, athlete and race profiles, social networking functions, and the ability to upload your workouts.

Tonite is the pasta party where we carb up with pasta of all sorts. We wear an ID bracelet which gets us into the dinner (but also identifies us if we pass out mid-race):

Ken took me out to Radio Shack to get some batteries for my Powertap Disc and hopefully my mobile. We pass a hot tourist spot, Ripley's Believe It or Not, along the way:

Look at the Titanic sinking there, into Ripley's museum! Wow, do I believe it...or not?

Unfortunately, I did not find a new mobile battery. My mobile is dead for this trip. I did get some batteries to try for my Powertap though. After Radio Shack I get to the pasta party:

Mike Reilly hosted it, and Paula Newby-Fraser, Ironman legend, spoke.

Mike Reilly is the guy who always shouts, " You're an Ironman!!!!" at the finish line. However, I still have not forgiven him for NOT announcing I'm an Ironman at my first Ironman in New Zealand. Grrrr...

These two ladies are amazing. The one on the left is 18 years old and doing her first Ironman. The one on the right raced Kona a few years back at age 61 and set a new world record: 12 hours and 34 minutes. Simply inspirational.

This guy LOST 127 POUNDS training for this Ironman. He is only 5'7" tall! Geez.

This woman won the Ford Everyday Hero award. She weighed 380 POUNDS before she started training and now is devoted to raising money to fight cancer. Obviously she does not weigh 380 lbs any more.

Big Dan and me at the pasta dinner, both of us getting pumped to race:

I head home and wash up to go the sleep, with the memory of this vision to take me to bed: that of the Slingshot across the street from my condo in bright neon, soaring majestically into the sky:

And to all, a good night...

Oh by the way, I forgot to mention that Ken finished his 25th Kona race this last October. He raced a 9:44 on about 6 weeks of training. What a stud!

I just went out and bought some more dishwashing liquid. Amazingly, there are no 7-11s here but there is this Camper's Inn which is basically a 7-11 for Panama City Beach. On the walk back, on a whim, I stop into that Oriental Market.

Surprisingly, there were actual Oriental foods in there! Instant noodles, bags of rice...soy sauce! Even jade statues of buddhas and dragons! Wow. The ambiance was complete with country music playing on the speakers. Nice.

Then, while sitting here in my condo, I realize that I scheduled all of my afternoon's conference calls ONE HOUR WRONG. UGH! Missed one call, but got him back on the phone. Moved all my others to the correct times on my calendar. This little sliver of Florida is NOT in Eastern time, but in Central time. How confusing.

One more hit to my gut: my mobile just died. The battery refuses to charge; I think it's just too old of a battery, but unfortunately decided to die RIGHT NOW, right as I need it for my conference calls. So many electronic problems: forgot my digital camera, my Powertap hub is generating wrong wattages, and now my mobile dies. Great. It's not been a positive electronics moment for me. Are there too many sunspots this week?

This morning our host Ken Glah showed us his culinary skills by cooking breakfast again:

We all then went for a swim. Definitely warmer today even though I brought all my woolens just in case I would freeze coming out of the water:

After the swim, I went for a short run. Legs felt pretty light and good. First time they felt like that week before Ironman! I hope it's a good sign.

I also found a mechanic to take apart my ZIPP disc. We took apart as far as we could and then put it back together again. No dice. Still had overly high wattage readings.

A (silly) shot of me with my new Ironman Florida beanie:

I usually never wear these, but it was cool looking and in this near freezing weather, it's been a godsend to keep my head warm.

At 1pm I went over to get my bike from TriBike Transport. It was a slow moving line:

TriBike Transort was very impressive. It's such a great operation to help with transporting bikes and your extra bags of stuff to races all around the US. I picked up my bike and wheel bag and got a free cap to boot!

Rushing back to my condo, I threw on my Ironman Florida kit and got ready to go ride the run course with Ken Glah and some others:

I put on my brand new spankin' ZIPP Disc with Powertap installed. I was eager to try it out and also ride with my disc and make sure everything was working properly.

Once I got out into the parking lot, I saw my watts readings jumping into the 200-300s at only 10 MPH. I kind of felt fresh and thought maybe I was putting out more power due to the fact that I was tapering and conserving energy. I rode with the group out on the run course and saw my watts jumping to 300-500 watts now! Wow! I can't believe I was putting out that much watts. We rode around for a while and I sprinted a few times, putting out an amazing peak of 993 watts! Wow! I am doing some serious Lance Armstrong riding now. In fact, I could be easily a CAT 1 racer or even make the Tour De France team! Unbelievable that my training has gotten me this far and only in a year - amazing! My wattage readings make me potentially even better than Lance!

...yeah right...

My wattage readings are IMPOSSIBLE. I was putting out 993 watts and only going about 12 MPH. I should be doing 30+ MPH! Dang. Obviously something wrong with my Powertap ZIPP Disc! Too bad I didn't bring my Powertap download rig; I could have had a pretty funny power profile to download, showing my superman cycling power...!

I got back to my condo and called Cycleops. We tried a few things, but couldn't get it fixed! Sucks. I also tried to call RaceDayWheels.com who had a booth at the expo. They have ZIPP Disc Powertaps for rent, but didn't have any available for me. Ugh.

Two last things to try: replace the batteries and/or tighten up the axle per my coach's last suggestion. I hope we can fix it tomorrow.

I then took a shower and we went to eat at an awesome Brazilian barbecue:

Superbly cooked meats Brazilian style. Nice ending to a day where I almost became a Lance Armstrong clone...

Last night I went through my things and found I forgot even more stuff this time! The official scorecard is:

Digital camera
Contact lenses
Fleece pullover

What a pain! At least I've got my contacts being fedexed over to me. Hope they get here ok tomorrow.

In the morning off my balcony, the sun is bright and not a cloud in the sky:

I get up and shower, and head up to Ken's condo where he cooks us some breakfast. I meet another family whose father and mother are doing Ironman for the first time. Lots of Ironman beginners here at this race. Probably owing to the fact that the course is relatively flat, but little do they know that flat does not equal easy...

The transition area has been setup, but very empty of course. There is an ART tent, which I happily go for treatment after registration. Unfortunately they do not possess the kung-fu grip of Dr. Steve!

The shopping tent was huge and well stocked, unlike many international races where everything gets sold out so quickly. Look at those racks of IM FL stuff!

Registration went quickly when the line started moving. I got all my stuff and proceeded home to check it all out.

Ford was in full force, being the largest sponsor. I saw the TriBike Transport guys unloading bikes and equipment, but I could not pick it up then - ugh! I even saw my wheel bag there...gotta go back at 1pm.

Thank god there is an Oriental Market there. I was getting lonely...

A daylight shot of the stupendous Slingshot across the street from my condo complex. You ride in that little blue thing waaaaaayyyy up there between the two cranes and get shot into the sky...for fun.

My condo complex entrance and also the front of the complex.

My condo comes complete with a coffee maker that has retro flames on it. How fast it must be, in making coffee!

As a Community Fund athlete, we got a bag, a T-shirt, and a nice windbreaker and visor. Cool! My shopping loot is in the other shot. Full kit, keychains, coasters, mouse pad, hat, beanie, polo shirt, wool shirt, and awesome arm warmers.

Here's the bag with all our race stuff. They gave us a license plate frame; were we supposed to be put the frame on my bike?

What a pain. I can't seem to get to Ironman without travel troubles.

I wake up at 3am to get picked up at 4am to get to SFO. My flight is at 6am on Delta; way early, but it gets me in at 330p at Panama City Beach airport. That hopefully means that I won't be too late there, but little did I know....

Flying coach really stinks. I have no status whatsoever on Delta so I sit packed in with a whole other bunch people going to Atlanta. A few others I notice have triathlon looking clothes or obvious badges of racing like a Vineman hat, or just have that fast, gaunt look about them and wear athletic clothes. I sleep pretty much the whole way and we land in Atlanta.

Then the fun begins.

Our flight from Atlanta to Panama City Beach is delayed. And delayed. And delayed some more. I hang with a bunch of other Ironman racers as we chat and figure out what to do. Then they tell us to go to another gate because they are waiting for an aircraft to arrive from somewhere else and it ain't getting there in time. The only problem is...the new plane is smaller by 13 seats. Guess who is in the unlucky 13...ME! We trade in our old boarding passes and I get a SEAT REQUESTED stamp on mine. Ack! I stress for about 1.5 hours there. They tell me there are no more flights to PFN until Thursday. Or I have to go to Fort Walton Beach. Ugh!

Side note: In Atlanta airport, they have these mechanical garbage cans. Every 10 minutes or so, they start rumbling and a red light starts flashing on top, and it compacts the garbage in it down. How weird. But useful.

So they finally call for volunteers and offer $400 Delta dollars for switching to another flight. I ask myself, "why would I want $400 on an airline I never fly? Duh!" A few people volunteer. The rest of my newfound Ironman racer buddies all wave goodbye and wish me luck on getting to the race, and board the aircraft. I think this whole thing sucks. I sit. Then they call my name. They ask me if I want to get on the plane or go to Fort Walton and get $400. I pray, and tell them I want to get on now and go to PFN. Miraculously, they let me on.

I get on the plane and my newfound Ironman buddies see me and congratulate me on making it on the plane.

We land about 2.5 hours late. Ken Glah comes to pick me up, and sets me up with my condo.

The condo is pretty huge. Full kitchen, washer/dryer in unit, fantastic view out the porch of the beach. Very nice. Better than I thought.

But the condo complex sits in a part of America I thought was almost mythical; Panama City Beach is a heaven of cheap tourism; the strip is lined with fast food chains of nice, greasy food; the Titanic is sinking in a huge mockup of it at Ripley's Believe It or Not; two huge neon cranes sit across our parking lot with a big sign that says SLINGSHOT where they launch you into the sky attached only by bungee cords. Being off season, the place is totally dead. By the way, it's totally FREEZING here. Last night, it dropped into the high 30s. As the sun was setting, the temps were dipping into the 40s. Good thing I brought some wool clothes; still I felt chilled and I was reminded of Ironman Brazil where the weather was similar and I never could feel totally warm. Same here at Panama City Beach.

Ken and I head to Walmart and get lots of groceries. I also go buy something I totally forgot: a digital camera! Sucks. I gotta take pics and upload them for my training blog fans. So I plunk down $280 and get another one. What I do for my adoring readers....(sigh).

Later, my buddy Dan arrives and we go have dinner at Hooters. How nice to be served by women wearing low cut tank tops...except that most of them were...well...hefty. Guess all the hot women left Panama City Beach when summer was over...

Tomorrow, I hit the expo and get my bike from TriBike Transport. More later.

After switching to First Endurance EFS, I noticed the Lemon flavor was too gummy in my mouth. That makes me want to drink more. Tangerine on the other hand was bland enough to not make my mouth feel gummy. Tangerine it is!

Check out the Panama City Beach weather report.

It's forecast to be a high of 74 and low of 54, mostly sunny. Thank god. Two years ago, apparently it was cold and rainy the whole day. That would definitely make for a miserable race. I have yet to race in the rain and know that someday I will, but I hope that day is far far FAR in the future (or better yet, never).

Here I sit Sunday morning, gathering all my things in preparation for the race. I'm stuffing all this stuff into ziploc bags and hope I don't forget anything (like my aero helmet last year DUH!). Also, I do hope my bike arrives in one piece via TriBike Transport. Seeing it leave my sight last weekend was tough!

After 4 Ironmans, I don't have much anticipation any more, but rather the stoicism of having done a few of these before. I'm sure I'll get more amped when I get to Panama City Beach.

About 5 weeks ago, I went to a dinner party with friends. One of my friends whom I haven't seen in a while looked at me and remarked that I looked like I was sick or something.

There's that gaunt look again. Every race, about a month before, my skin starts pulling tight against my frame. My fat starts to fly off, although I don't see much change in my weight until about a few days right before the race. Then it drops precipitiously. It happens every time. It's a natural bodily reaction to peaking for an Iron distance race. Get all that decelerating fat off me; get slim and ready to move fast and for a long distance too.

Man, that gaunt look makes me look like I have some serious illness. But it's just a normal thing. No big deal. Will get back to Fat Dave after the race. Haha.

Well these last weeks have been a bit tortuous. Not because of pain in my muscles due to training though. It's been through my sports drink.

On my long runs, I've always used Accelerade lemon-lime. But this year, I've been having major stomach problems. Two things, one definite, and one hypothetical. First, Accelerade tends to froth up when shaken. So when I'm running, my body movement causes Accelerade in my Fuel Belt to develop bubbles. I suck down the drink, plus the bubbles; then I get gas in my stomach. Very bad. Second, Accelerade has soy protein in it. I think this is the second problem where my digestion has come to reject soy protein during physical activity. This has caused some diarrhea problems post-runs.

I switched to First Endurance EFS. It doesn't use soy protein. Also, when its taste is very light compared to Accelerade. I seem to like less taste these days than more; then I don't get a gummy feeling in my mouth which makes me more thirsty. Most importantly, when you shake it up, it doesn't froth. It remains an unbubbly fluid.

Yesterday I went for a great 2:49 run over almost 18 miles. I accelerated each of 3 six mile loops and had zero stomach problems. Voila! Found my new sports drink!

Sorry Accelerade. I loved and used you for many years, but my digestion doesn't tolerate you any more.

Here I sit, thinking about my buddies going to the Ironman Championships this coming weekend in Kona. As I think of them and their upcoming race, I reflect back on my peak for Ironman Florida.

It's been a long training season. I haven't raced at all and have been focusing on building for IM FL. It's been a pretty good training year, although with minimal setbacks. It's also been extremely hot for Northern California as for almost two months straight, it's been 90+ degrees almost every day. Only recently has it cooled down which is nice for training fast, but not so great for heat acclimatization. I checked on the typical weather at IM FL and it's relatively cool, so maybe that's a good thing that I'm heading to IM FL and not Kona which will be super hot as usual.

This is my fourth year of Ironman, having completed four Ironmans. I can see where my body has adapted to the stress even more, and it feels like such a slow process to build my body to tolerate such stress.

Over the last 2 months, I've been running 2-3.5 hours each week, which is something that I never would have been able to do in the past. This last Friday was a big deal for me; I ran three 6 mile loops and was able to descend the loops by 2 minutes each time, accelerating across 18 miles. Very important; I am determined to have more tolerance at higher mileages this year and to not be mentally (or physically) challenged when I hit the second half of the Ironman marathon. The only way to practice that is to run 13+ miles, and then keep going.

Never would I have been able to train this way when I first started out. But my body has adapted and this year I was able to do this for weeks on end without injury. Very thankful for that.

But on top of that running, I also cycled hills across 6.5 hours on Saturday. I was able to climb Kings Mountain twice, then go over to Old La Honda and climb that twice, and still be able to race out onto Canada Rd and back home without feeling too depleted. This is also important; at Ironman Austria the hills destroyed my legs and hitting the marathon after all that really sucked. I was determined to never let that happen again! Still, IM FL has very little hills and I just need to maintain watts across a very long period of time. Racing flats is harder than you think; I found out at IM WA last year.

So lots of great adaptation to Ironman level stress this year. As my friends tell me, you have to train so that when you get to race day, the race seems easy. But to get to the point of being able to tolerate training that is MORE INTENSE than your race - well that took me about 4 years to get here, plus not to mention about 3 years of less-than-Ironman distance training before that.

It took a lot of time and patience across SEVEN YEARS, but the end result was extremely rewarding. I hope to see my PR improve at my upcoming race.