The amount of triathlon experience displayed each Sunday morning during Mere Mortals on Pensacola Beach is staggering. While the goal is to help, teach, mentor, and encourage new athletes, MANY experienced athletes also use the time to push themselves to new distances, speeds, and overall achievements. Ironman is often at the top of this list. From a TGC leadership perspective it’s extremely gratifying to see an athlete continue past his/her original goals. Each of the athletes in this blog series participated in the same race, but each of the athletes had a completely different experience. I hope these race reports inspire other athletes to take a chance, set a goal, and do something outside of his/her comfort zone.
From John Fitzgerald…
I went to Texas because I was unable to complete IRONMAN Canada last year and felt the need to “redeem” myself. Texas was billed as “flat and fast” which I foolishly interpreted to mean “easy.”
Since I was in the race, the temperature was higher than normal (I have a history of bringing heat waves to races), but it was still wetsuit legal which means “happy day!” in the Fitzgerald household. It’s a fantastic swim course! It is in a lake, so the water was smooth and the rolling start moved quickly. I even got to joke around with Mike Reilly before I entered the water. Once I was in the water, there was a lot of room to move around. During the last third of the course, we were funneled into a narrow channel and my relaxing swim became more like a UFC fight with a lot of bumping, leg grabbing, and pushing. Still, I made it out of the water with my fastest split ever and was over 15 minutes ahead of schedule.
After struggling to get my compression socks on in T1, it was off to tackle the bike leg. The rumors of rampant drafting were accurate but since I am slow, I avoided most of that and it really did not detract from my enjoyment. The promise of “light winds” turned out to be lie. We had gusts of up 25 mph heading out on the Hardy Toll Road. Of course, the head wind turned into a tail wind heading back so my speed doubled and that was a ton of fun. Unfortunately, this is a two-lap course so the second time heading back int o the wind was grueling but at least I knew what to expect. Several of the participants that I spoke with that had ridden this course in the past said this was the strongest winds they had encountered. I still managed to finished the bike leg still ahead schedule and felt like a million dollars.
Going into T2 I got a chair on the end in the changing tent, which I always like and started to get into my run suit. However, no one told me the tent flaps remained opened, so I broke that whole “no nudity” rule. Moving on… With relatively little elevation on the bike course, my legs felt strong going into the run. The 3 loop run course is definitely a highlight of IMTX. The crowd support and encouragement are fantastic!! I was maintaining pace and feeling strong up until mile 20 when my run/walk strategy turned into a walk/walk strategy. The heat, I believe, finally got to me and the created GI issues and some cramping. As the sun went down, the cool breeze kicked up, and with some encouragement from my awesome wifey, I got my second wind and ran the final two-and-a-half miles to come in at 13:52:53 officially. Mission accomplished.
Overall, I LOVED IT! The course was awesome yet challenging. Since the race is in late April, most of my training was in the winter so I avoided the Florida heat. The volunteers and IRONMAN staff were extremely helpful, knowledgeable, and supportive.