I turned 46 on Nov. 14th. On the drive home from Florida, Jen asked me what I wanted for my birthday. I told her becoming an Ironman was all the birthday present that I needed and wanted. Not to mention, enough was spent on the trip to Florida and my Ironman training all together.
I’ll post a race recap later but here are my thoughts of the lead in to Ironman Florida.
Reflecting back on the week in Florida a few weeks ago, it was pretty amazing. It was a fun family trip where I was able to accomplish my goal and met or got to know some amazing people along the way. We decided to drive to Florida since flight time options were limited. The race was on a Saturday so we left on Tuesday evening because it’s easier to travel with the boys at night since they can watch a movie and fall asleep instead of constantly asking, “are we there yet?” I didn’t anticipate I-10 getting shutdown somewhere in Louisianna which made our trip to Mobile, AL two hours longer than expected but we finally made it so we were able to get a few hours sleep before finishing up our trip to Panama City Beach the next day.
Being part of a great team like Outrival Racing ensures that you’re not in this alone. This was a race in another state yet many ORR athletes were competing in this event so there were organized workouts and a breakfast put together by Coach Sarah and Coach Michelle. I ran into Coach Heather and Coach Dawn at the Athlete Check-in on Wednesday afternoon. It was great seeing familiar faces yet reality was starting to settle in. However, the boys made it easy to forget about those nerves since I constantly had to tell them to settle down as they were just as anxious and also spent too much time cooped up in the car but going through the IM expo after checking in gave us all a chance to walk off the extra energy.
We got settled in our condo at the Laketown Wharf, which was very spacious with a full kitchen, big family area, bunk bed room for boys and 2 bathrooms which made it much better than an ordinary hotel room. EST provided breakfast everyday as part of their package which was a definite plus. The family and I had a nice breakfast Thursday morning and actually sat with Dawn. It was nice to be able to talk with someone that I usually just see at workouts. She told us about her recent experiences and excitement about her aunt who was coming in. Again, a great distraction from looking at the other athletes and overhearing their stories about what kind of shape they’re in. During breakfast, she also told me about a ride that Coach Raul was putting together later that morning. It was at this ride that I met some new people and got reacquainted with fellow ORR athlete Josh since he and I volunteered together at IMTX 2 years earlier. I single him out because of what he did for me during IMFL (Note – I’ll cover in my race recap) which not only shows the type of people who are part of the ORR team but more so exemplifies the type of person that he is. I sent Raul a text the night before asking if he had an extra HR monitor strap. I left mine at home since I was overly ambitious with packing early but worked out after I had already packed up everything. When I pulled up for the ride, Raul made a comment so I told him I ordered one online the night before and it was scheduled to be delivered in time for the race. Josh said he had an extra specifically for the 920 just in case. Again, I was so glad to be part of this team. After a quick 50 min ride on a small portion of the course, I then did a quick 20 min recovery run. It was unseasonably hot and humid with a “feels like” temp of 90 degrees on November 5th. Fortunately I’m used to this type of weather but was hoping for something much cooler. After the run, I went back to the condo to rest a little while with the family before the afternoon practice swim.
While I had a busy morning working out and getting acclimated, Jen spent her time at a local ER with the boys. As it turned out, Talon had an ear infection so instead of exploring Panama City’s kids activities like they had hoped, they were in the condo watching movies and recovering. Again like most triathletes, none of this is possible without the support of your spouse.
The Laketown Wharf is a very short walk to the host hotel and transition area. I left for the practice swim early so I could also catch the athlete briefing. It was at the briefing that we became aware this may be the first time IMFL wasn’t going to be a wetsuit legal race. I spent the last 2 weeks of training wearing the wetsuit to get used to it, only not to need it?! Oh well. Onto the practice swim and yes decided to squeeze into my wetsuit to get a feel for it in the saltwater. It was very windy with significant waves especially considering I spent the last 4 months only swimming in a pool. They had temp buoys out which seemed a long distance but only turned out to be about 650 yards but felt like it was 1300 considering the effort of fighting the waves and current. It was kinda fun since so different but I couldn’t help and think how this may wreck my race strategy.
After the practice swim, a local ORR coach who I’ve never met went over the swim exit and transition area. This was very helpful as now I was able to visualize what would happen in 2 more days.
Something I highly recommend is to attend the Athlete Welcome Banquet. Since I was in my hometown, I didn’t go to the banquet at IMTX but the whole family went Thursday night at IMFL. It was nice meeting a few of the other athletes, the food was very Ironman friendly and the inspirational stories were great motivation.
The next morning was the team breakfast and more importantly a rest day. This would be my last big meal before the race. I sat with Josh and his girlfriend. Looking back, this was one of the most important events which I believe allowed me to succeed. Not only was I able to relax with just the 3 of us but they also gave me the skinny on what to expect and a few tips since they drove the bike route and rode their bikes on the run course earlier in the week. Coach Karen was also there so it was nice to see her. After breakfast, I headed back to hang out with the family. Talon was feeling better so we went to see Peanuts The Movie. Jen and the boys were looking forward to it coming out that weekend and although I wasn’t as excited, it was nice to spend time with them while keeping my feet up. Rarely do I skip the popcorn while watching a movie but I refrained for the most part. Afterwards, we went to a hibachi grill which the boys enjoy and I could have a little steak and white rice and Jen some sushi.
Since DST ended the week before, it was dark after dinner but still early. Nonetheless, it was time to go back to the room, relax, go over my morning bag and get to bed early although I knew I’d have a tough time getting any sleep. Before going to bed, Jen put on my tri tats. As with all triathlon races, you put the age you will be that year and finally I was just a week away from being the 46 that Jen put on my calf. All I wanted for my birthday was to be called an Ironman this time. I was ready both mentally and physically. It would be my time.