Ironman Florida 11-1-08: October 2008 Archives

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.