Pete
11-06-2008, 05:06 AM
On Saturday November 1, I completed my first Ironman triathlon.
Some of you may know I trained for this for almost a year, as the race consists of a 2.4 ocean swim, 112 mile bike and a marathon run, 26.2 miles.
Ironman is a series of races all over the world and this particular event was in Panama City Beach, Florida.
http://images115.fotki.com/v667/photos/1/1131078/6897452/imfllogo-vi.jpg
I did it with six good friends of mine and we rented a house right on the beach for a full week. We arrived the Tuesday before to get acclimated and do some light workouts in advance of the big day.
http://images42.fotki.com/v1378/photos/1/1131078/6897452/bikepickup4-vi.jpg
Besides the distances, the most intimidating part of any Ironman is the mass swim start. 2,200 athletes go into the water at the same time and it’s an absolute melee and one of the truly amazing spectacles in all of sports.
http://ironmanflorida.com/ImageGallery/fla2007images/as_LAR_9560.jpg
http://ironmanflorida.com/ImageGallery/fla2007images/as_LAR_9563.jpg
I did my best to protect myself but I took a couple of pretty good elbows (one square in the nose and another knocked my goggles off) but they were accidental… People were actually pretty cool about the whole thing.
http://images43.fotki.com/v1386/photos/1/1131078/6897452/swim2-vi.jpg
The swim was two loops and after the first, you had to get out of the water, run along the beach a bit, then dive back in. By the second loop, things spaced out a bit and I could actually swim a bit… My time was 1:16 which was better than I had expected.
http://images42.fotki.com/v1375/photos/1/1131078/6897452/swim3-vi.jpg
As you race up the beach to the first transition, they have volunteer wetsuit strippers to help you out of your suit. I saw a volunteer with his hand up, ran over to him and he pull the suit down to my waist then yelled “sit down!”. I dropped my butt onto the beach and stuck my legs in the air and he and another volunteer quickly yanked the thing off. He handed it back to me and up I ran to the first transition.
Ironman transitions are very different than other triathlons. People tend to make fully changes between legs as the day is so long and it’s important to be comfortable. So rather than you keeping everything next to your bike, you have two bags, one for swim-to-bike and another for bike-to-run. As I reached the transition pen, a volunteer called out my number (it’s written on your body) and another handed me my bag as I made my way to the changing tent.
Once in the tent, I stripped down and put on my bike gear. I stuffed my swim gear into the back and a volunteer took it. As I exited the tent, there was a sunscreen station where volunteers slathered athletes head-to-toe out of big vats of the stuff. Another volunteer handed me my bike and before long I was out on the bike course.
The course in Florida is very flat but it had been windy all week and as soon as I started out I felt the strong headwind. From mile 20 to 50 we were straight into the teeth of the wind and that got old. The scene was pretty amazing, as the 2,200 cyclists were pretty densely packed for a good part of the way.
The bike course is one big loop and I don’t know how this is possible, but the wind seemed to be in our faces about 90% of the way. Still, I kept my head down and pedaled hard the whole way and celebrated every aid station, which were about 10 miles apart. They just handed you Gatorade, water and fruit on the fly.
http://images43.fotki.com/v1382/photos/1/1131078/6897452/bike1-vi.jpg
There weren’t many spectators on the course but it went through a bunch of nothingness. I was happy to get back to town and knew the end was near. My legs were fine but my arse was killing me.
Back to transition, I hopped of the bike and was handed my second bag. Back into the tent to put on my run gear and after my first and only bathroom break (I later calculated I took in almost 500 (!) ounces of fluid that day) I was out on the run.
http://ironmanflorida.com/ImageGallery/fla2007images/as_LAR_9714.jpg
I had never done a marathon but did a few 16-20 mile training runs. The run course was two loops, out and back. I knew the mental part of the run was the hardest, so I decided in advance to break it up into 4 6.55 mile segments, with a time goal of 1:15 each. That would give me a 5:00 marathon if I hit that every time, but I knew I was likely to have at least one bad patch. The plan was that if I missed on one of the segments, I’d still try to reach the goal on the next one, to avoid complete coming off the rails (very common in this race).
http://images42.fotki.com/v1364/photos/1/1131078/6897452/run2-vi.jpg
The first two segments were amazingly easy. After I loosened up over the first couple of miles, I really enjoyed all the supporters on the course and the aid stations. Neighbors in the area had set up the stations and many had themes… One was a jungle them, another was disco, etc. By this time, I knew I was going to finish and with a decent time, so I was smiling and thanking all the volunteers and supporters.
In Ironman, your name is printed on your race number, so everyone shouts it out as you go by. It was really, really cool.
As I made the turn to go back on my second run loop, the sun was starting to set. The day had been warm but it became chilly pretty quickly. Parts of the course we so dark it was hard to see the pavement.
About Mile 15 or 16 I started to feel queasy and before long I was worried that my stomach and bowels were conspiring to stage a major revolt. It’s very common to get runner’s diarrhea in marathons and I knew that was the only thing that could derail me at this point.
I had carried a few Pepto tablets in my tri top just in case, and I munched them down while walking a bit. Every time I tried running my stomach started doing flip-flops so I had to walk about a full mile. At this point, the large majority of people were walking but I didn’t want to fall into that trap, as I knew it can be very hard to get going again.
So, I kept trying to run a bit but had to take it easy. By the time I got to the turnaround for my last 6.55 mile leg, I was feeling better and went back to my original run pace and tried to hit my 1:15 goal.
At one point I had thought under 13 hours was in my sights, but now I knew that 13:30 was probably the best I could do, which I was more than pleased with.
The rest of the way was pretty hard but also very cool. About 1.5 miles away from the finish, I could hear the announcer and the noise of the crowd. About the one mile mark, there were spectators lining the entire rest of the way.
There is a large finisher’s chute at the very end and as I approached it, I let the guy in front of me go in and have his moment. Then, I ran under the archway, heard my friends and heard the announcer say the words you imagine every day in training: “Peter Brzycki, you are an IRONMAN!” Way, way cool.
http://images115.fotki.com/v679/photos/1/1131078/6897452/finishliine1-vi.jpg
I was greeted by a couple of my friends that had already finished and by our cheering section. It was awesome. There were three more of us behind me and we all cheered them in.
http://images42.fotki.com/v1375/photos/1/1131078/6897452/medal1-vi.jpg
In the days after the race, we celebrated and recovered on the beach as it was quite warm during the day. And we wore our medals just about everywhere we went.
http://images42.fotki.com/v1371/photos/1/1131078/6897452/onthebeach-vi.jpg
It was simply one of the coolest experiences of my life. Even if you never do an Ironman, it’s a very cool thing to witness.
Some of you may know I trained for this for almost a year, as the race consists of a 2.4 ocean swim, 112 mile bike and a marathon run, 26.2 miles.
Ironman is a series of races all over the world and this particular event was in Panama City Beach, Florida.
http://images115.fotki.com/v667/photos/1/1131078/6897452/imfllogo-vi.jpg
I did it with six good friends of mine and we rented a house right on the beach for a full week. We arrived the Tuesday before to get acclimated and do some light workouts in advance of the big day.
http://images42.fotki.com/v1378/photos/1/1131078/6897452/bikepickup4-vi.jpg
Besides the distances, the most intimidating part of any Ironman is the mass swim start. 2,200 athletes go into the water at the same time and it’s an absolute melee and one of the truly amazing spectacles in all of sports.
http://ironmanflorida.com/ImageGallery/fla2007images/as_LAR_9560.jpg
http://ironmanflorida.com/ImageGallery/fla2007images/as_LAR_9563.jpg
I did my best to protect myself but I took a couple of pretty good elbows (one square in the nose and another knocked my goggles off) but they were accidental… People were actually pretty cool about the whole thing.
http://images43.fotki.com/v1386/photos/1/1131078/6897452/swim2-vi.jpg
The swim was two loops and after the first, you had to get out of the water, run along the beach a bit, then dive back in. By the second loop, things spaced out a bit and I could actually swim a bit… My time was 1:16 which was better than I had expected.
http://images42.fotki.com/v1375/photos/1/1131078/6897452/swim3-vi.jpg
As you race up the beach to the first transition, they have volunteer wetsuit strippers to help you out of your suit. I saw a volunteer with his hand up, ran over to him and he pull the suit down to my waist then yelled “sit down!”. I dropped my butt onto the beach and stuck my legs in the air and he and another volunteer quickly yanked the thing off. He handed it back to me and up I ran to the first transition.
Ironman transitions are very different than other triathlons. People tend to make fully changes between legs as the day is so long and it’s important to be comfortable. So rather than you keeping everything next to your bike, you have two bags, one for swim-to-bike and another for bike-to-run. As I reached the transition pen, a volunteer called out my number (it’s written on your body) and another handed me my bag as I made my way to the changing tent.
Once in the tent, I stripped down and put on my bike gear. I stuffed my swim gear into the back and a volunteer took it. As I exited the tent, there was a sunscreen station where volunteers slathered athletes head-to-toe out of big vats of the stuff. Another volunteer handed me my bike and before long I was out on the bike course.
The course in Florida is very flat but it had been windy all week and as soon as I started out I felt the strong headwind. From mile 20 to 50 we were straight into the teeth of the wind and that got old. The scene was pretty amazing, as the 2,200 cyclists were pretty densely packed for a good part of the way.
The bike course is one big loop and I don’t know how this is possible, but the wind seemed to be in our faces about 90% of the way. Still, I kept my head down and pedaled hard the whole way and celebrated every aid station, which were about 10 miles apart. They just handed you Gatorade, water and fruit on the fly.
http://images43.fotki.com/v1382/photos/1/1131078/6897452/bike1-vi.jpg
There weren’t many spectators on the course but it went through a bunch of nothingness. I was happy to get back to town and knew the end was near. My legs were fine but my arse was killing me.
Back to transition, I hopped of the bike and was handed my second bag. Back into the tent to put on my run gear and after my first and only bathroom break (I later calculated I took in almost 500 (!) ounces of fluid that day) I was out on the run.
http://ironmanflorida.com/ImageGallery/fla2007images/as_LAR_9714.jpg
I had never done a marathon but did a few 16-20 mile training runs. The run course was two loops, out and back. I knew the mental part of the run was the hardest, so I decided in advance to break it up into 4 6.55 mile segments, with a time goal of 1:15 each. That would give me a 5:00 marathon if I hit that every time, but I knew I was likely to have at least one bad patch. The plan was that if I missed on one of the segments, I’d still try to reach the goal on the next one, to avoid complete coming off the rails (very common in this race).
http://images42.fotki.com/v1364/photos/1/1131078/6897452/run2-vi.jpg
The first two segments were amazingly easy. After I loosened up over the first couple of miles, I really enjoyed all the supporters on the course and the aid stations. Neighbors in the area had set up the stations and many had themes… One was a jungle them, another was disco, etc. By this time, I knew I was going to finish and with a decent time, so I was smiling and thanking all the volunteers and supporters.
In Ironman, your name is printed on your race number, so everyone shouts it out as you go by. It was really, really cool.
As I made the turn to go back on my second run loop, the sun was starting to set. The day had been warm but it became chilly pretty quickly. Parts of the course we so dark it was hard to see the pavement.
About Mile 15 or 16 I started to feel queasy and before long I was worried that my stomach and bowels were conspiring to stage a major revolt. It’s very common to get runner’s diarrhea in marathons and I knew that was the only thing that could derail me at this point.
I had carried a few Pepto tablets in my tri top just in case, and I munched them down while walking a bit. Every time I tried running my stomach started doing flip-flops so I had to walk about a full mile. At this point, the large majority of people were walking but I didn’t want to fall into that trap, as I knew it can be very hard to get going again.
So, I kept trying to run a bit but had to take it easy. By the time I got to the turnaround for my last 6.55 mile leg, I was feeling better and went back to my original run pace and tried to hit my 1:15 goal.
At one point I had thought under 13 hours was in my sights, but now I knew that 13:30 was probably the best I could do, which I was more than pleased with.
The rest of the way was pretty hard but also very cool. About 1.5 miles away from the finish, I could hear the announcer and the noise of the crowd. About the one mile mark, there were spectators lining the entire rest of the way.
There is a large finisher’s chute at the very end and as I approached it, I let the guy in front of me go in and have his moment. Then, I ran under the archway, heard my friends and heard the announcer say the words you imagine every day in training: “Peter Brzycki, you are an IRONMAN!” Way, way cool.
http://images115.fotki.com/v679/photos/1/1131078/6897452/finishliine1-vi.jpg
I was greeted by a couple of my friends that had already finished and by our cheering section. It was awesome. There were three more of us behind me and we all cheered them in.
http://images42.fotki.com/v1375/photos/1/1131078/6897452/medal1-vi.jpg
In the days after the race, we celebrated and recovered on the beach as it was quite warm during the day. And we wore our medals just about everywhere we went.
http://images42.fotki.com/v1371/photos/1/1131078/6897452/onthebeach-vi.jpg
It was simply one of the coolest experiences of my life. Even if you never do an Ironman, it’s a very cool thing to witness.