Race Report - Ironman Florida

My key event for the season was Ironman Florida – the idea was to have a later season IM with a good beach-vacation spot for a few days of R&R after the race. Not only that, 2 of my clients were racing, so I was really excited about signing up and being out on the course with them. It has a reputation of being flat and fast (perhaps not “easy”) and after several hillier IMs including Wisconsin and Coeur d’Alene, I was ready for a race with a different kind of course.

One of these clients that was racing is Richard Hunter, a visually-impaired athlete taking on his first Ironman race. He has done several half-iron distance events and run several marathons, but this was his first Ironman. I had been coaching him the whole season, so it was really neat to be here with him and experiencing it myself. Richard’s guide, Alan Gulledge, was a client of mine also. He had been having a few knee issues leading into the race, but I was still confident he’d be strong enough to make it through the day with Richard. They overcame the traditional IM adversity (with some tether encounters on the swim and a flat on the tandem), but had an excellent day… solid all-around on the swim, bike, and run for a sub-12 hour finish! I am proud to have contributed in some small way to their successful day.

My other client racing was Justin Waller, who happens to also be a good friend. We did IM Wisconsin together in 2007 and chose this race together intentionally, so I was really excited to see how he did. It’s been really fun to see his progression this year with PRs at almost every event. This was his 4^th finish and he had a GREAT race and knocked more than an hour off of his previous best at the distance! He swam under an hour, biked a 5:41, and threw down a 3:51 marathon for a 10:40. I am really proud of Justin and the hard work he’s done to improve his performance. Just a few years ago, he would’ve struggled running a 3:51 open marathon and now he’s doing it in an Ironman!

My race also went pretty well. There are obviously areas to learn from and improve upon with every race, and especially with Ironman. It is a long day and learning to execute and attempt to “race” them takes a large amount of fitness and experience and I am still evolving as an athlete.

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We arrived on Wednesday after a long day of travel. On Thursday morning, the surf in the ocean was pretty gnarly and people were pretty nervous about it. The forecast was for the wind and the waves to die down over the next few days, but it definitely created some anxiety for people. I got registered and picked up my bike from TriBikeTransport. On Friday, Justin and I went for a short swim. The surf was still vigorous, but once you got past the initial breakers, it wasn’t bad at all --- some large swells, but you could just roll with them. Plus, I hadn’t really swam in the ocean like this before. The water was clear and comfortable and you could see pretty deep! I was surprised at how far out you could still see the bottom. After our swim, we went for a short ride on the run course and it was COLD and WINDY! We went for our last little shake-out run and I warmed up a bit, but it was still cold. After that, I got my bags ready, checked them in, and walked through transition area. It was quite long through T1, but I have done Wisconsin and I’m not sure any T1 beats that one! The rest of the day we just chilled at my in-laws condo - they were staying at a really nice Marriott about 10 minutes away from the race site so it was a nice break from the chaos.

Race morning started at 4 and I got up and went through my “regular” routine. Shower, eat, etc. I have gone back to my tried-and-true oatmeal, syrup, and peanut butter. I usually add a banana, too. Everything went down easy and we were on our way to the race site by 5-ish. Justin and I got our transition areas set up with no issues and then looked for Richard, but couldn’t find him. We found his bike and he and Alan had already been there. So I figured at this point, I’d find him at the swim start. We went inside and just chilled for a few minutes and met a very nice pro named Kristin White. She is 40 and has 2 kids, too!! She headed off to the pro start and we wished her luck. Then Justin and I got our wet-suits on and headed down. Justin is a much faster swimmer so he went to find his family and then seed himself on the front line. I kissed my wife and headed down to the far right side. I found Richard down there and wished he and Alan luck.

We really lucked out with the water conditions. In the last 2 days, the wind had shifted direction and was now coming out of the North/East from the land towards the ocean. On Wednesday and Thursday, it was coming out of the South from the ocean in and really kicked up the waves. Race morning, the water looked beautiful… smooth and clear! The only thing at all making me nervous was the mass start with 2500+ athletes.

The mass start.

I started really wide to the right and towards the back and within a few minutes the canon went off and we were heading into the Gulf! There is always contact, but I really didn’t have that many issues at all heading out towards the first turn. The water felt warm and smooth so I just concentrated on managing my head and getting into a rhythm. I sighted every few strokes and just made my way… but wow, you could really see the jelly fish!! At the first turn, I swam way wide and tried to stay clear of everyone. Seemed like I was way out there, but I didn’t really have any drama, so I was OK with it. I did see a school of fish a few feet down, which was pretty cool. After turning back towards shore, I just tried to stay steady. The shore came before I knew it and I was out on the beach at the end of my 1^st lap in ~37 minutes and change.

Swimmers coming back in.

This was about what I expected, although still somewhat frustrated and resigned to the fact that I just am not a fast swimmer. I am a strong and comfortable in the water and have been swimming my whole life; I just am not FAST in the water. Oh well, onto lap #2. On the way back in I did the diagonal part of the course and then headed out again on the inside of the buoys this time. I found somebody’s feet for white a while and just practiced drafting. But then I was swimming on my own for a while in clean water. It was actually quite enjoyable… just cruising along doing my thing. The turn buoys were a little hectic, but not horrible and I was back on my way in. I got mixed up in a few groups on the way back, but tried to stay buoy to buoy and just go as straight as possible. Once out of the water, I saw 1:27 on the clock, which meant I had swam a 1:17 again (the clock was on the pro start), just like in CDA. I stayed positive and thought to myself “hey, at least I didn’t have any cramps!” and just moved through transition as efficiently as I could.

When you come out of the water that far back, T1 is a mad house!! I got my bag easily, but once I got into the change tent, it was shoulder to shoulder with guys. I couldn’t even find a place to put my stuff down and get ready to ride. I had decided to put my arm warmers on, so that, combined with the general chaos meant I had a really long T1. It was just too crowded to go anywhere fast. It is just something I’ll have to deal with better in the future.

Once out on the ride, I knew it was going to be windy. The first part of the ride is a few miles East to West on the main Front Beach Road. The wind was basically out of the North and East, so any part of the course heading North and East was going to be tough. That meant the first half of the ride was going to be with a pretty stiff head wind. But the first part out of town is headed West for a few miles before turning North on route 79, so there was a nice tail wind and I was cruising along just pedaling easy and passing tons of people. I passed at least 100 people in those first few miles, but I wasn’t riding hard by any means (based on later assessment of results, I passed ~700 people in the ride). In fact, I was holding way back and just focused on being in the moment and enjoying myself. I felt good, the swim was over, and I had a nice ride ahead of me. My ride plan was 7 laps of 45 minutes each with specific power targets. The first 45 minutes I was planning on going very easy and did. I made the right turn onto route 79 and there was the head wind! I just focused on my nutrition and my effort level and rolled along. There was one bridge to cross, but it didn’t even require me to shift out of my big ring to keep it under 300 watts for the climb. The course was not pancake flat, but there were only some gently rolling hills and most didn’t require much effort to get up. This, however, did not mean the ride was easy by any means. I actually found it fairly challenging as the first 60 miles required you to be down in your aerobars, fighting the wind. The conditions on the day really suited some fast racing by the pros. With the head wind, they can afford to up the effort some and survive for a good run. For us mere mortals, the wind requires more caution and I paid attention to my power numbers. I was actually riding about 20 watts below target, but it felt right, keeping it easy and my HR down below 140 for the whole first half of the ride – it was in the 137-138 range consistently. There was one out-and-back section around mile 50-55 and the road condition was not good with head-jarring ruts in the road every few feet. However, this section was the only part that was bad and the rest of the course had very nice pavement. I peed a couple of times by this point, but the course didn’t really make it very easy. Just not many long hills to coast down and constant pedaling, so I decided to stop at the port-o-potty around mile 60. I had been struggling some mentally to this point, but after that I felt better and my mood picked up. We finished off the loop section of the course, had another “hill,” and then headed back west towards route 79. This part of the ride was fun with a nice tail wind and I felt really good, sticking to my nutrition and rolling along at my target power. I was keeping my HR down as best I could and modified my target power about 20 watts down accordingly. It was getting harder to stay down in the aero bars, so I stretched every 15 minutes when getting my nutrition in. With respect to nutrition, on the bike ride, I had about 800 calories of EFS and CarboPro, ~420 calories of EFS liquid shot, and 2 mini snickers for a total of 1360 calories or roughly ~255 calories / hour and was right on plan. I supplemented with 2 Saltstick Caps. I never had any nutritional issues and everything seemed to go down well as long as I made sure the water kept flowing. This meant I had to pee more, but better than the alternative and getting too dehydrated. Next time, I may experiment with more sodium to see if I can pee a little less.

After turning back down route 79, we still had a nice tail wind so I kept rolling and giving myself short stretching breaks every 10-15 minutes. At about the 100 mile mark, I finally caught Justin, who was starting back up from a port-o-potty break. We chatted for a few minutes – he was having a great race, so this gave me a nice boost and I kept rolling. Then one more out-and-back section with tail wind out and head wind back. Once down to Front Beach Road, we had the last 6 or 7 miles into town with a pretty strong head wind… just to really test the mental fortitude! By this point, I was definitely ready to get off the bike, but my legs still felt pretty good and I was really looking forward to the run!

I got through T2 pretty well as it was way less crowded, but did have to stop in the port-o-potty still. I lost a minute or two there and probably should’ve tried to go one more time on the bike. I just wanted to be comfortable. Immediately out onto the run and I found Justin again. I think I had only put a minute or two into him on the last few miles and he caught me while I was in the pot in T2. It was right at that point that we saw our family. I gave my kids a kiss and headed out on the run with Justin. After a few more yards I told him I was feeling good and I was going to go for it. I settled into my race pace and just cruised feeling pretty darn good. I felt the effort of the day, but also knew I felt better at that point in an Ironman than ever before. I cruised through my first two 5Ks pretty easily at ~7:50 pace and used the IM Perform on the course, saving my EFS pre-race / Hammer gel mix to start at the third 5K lap. After heading back from the State Park and finishing the 3^rd 5K, I was holding pretty steady onto my pace and started sipping my flask. My mood was good and I felt WAY better than ever before approaching the turn-around for lap 2, plus I saw my family again and that gave me a huge lift!

In spite of feeling pretty good at this point, I've got a strange look on my face.

Justin, looking as cool as a cucumber!

I cruised back out of town, confident I was going to have a good run. I made it back out to the state park and my 5K pace averages had dropped to 8:07 and 8:44 for numbers 5 and 6, but I had still made it through 20 miles in ~2:43 and was trying to hang on. On my way back to town, I had run a large part of it with a guy in my AG, but when I was feeling good heading back on the first loop, I dropped him. Around mile 20, he finally caught me again and passed me. I didn’t have it in me to hang with him again so I knew I was going to struggle on the way back.

By this point, my EFS pre-race / hammer gel mix was not going down well so I ditched it and switched to coke only. By mile 21 and 22, I was really struggling. At the 3 hour mark, I walked for about 2 minutes and got in some chicken broth. It tasted good, so I went with it. I started jogging again and only ended up walking for ~3 minutes total outside of aid stations. My plan from the beginning was to walk for a 5-count at each aid station in the first half and a 10-count at each aid station in the 2^nd half. That worked well until mile 21, when I walked for about 2 minutes getting in the broth. The last few miles were tough, but I was still running and didn’t walk again outside of the aid stations. It wasn’t fast, but I was still moving forward and trying to stay positive in my head. I did have some tough moments as I always do, but this IM run was a big improvement on past runs, both in time and in how I managed myself.

Not quite as energetic here.

I know that face!

Almost home!

The finishing chute for Justin!

The last mile or so of an IM is incredible… the crowds are just plain awesome and the feeling getting to the line makes it all worth it. I came down the stretch, saw a 10:3x something on the clock and was satisfied with my effort. However, approaching the line, I tripped on the carpet and fell flat on my face. (See video here: http://www.asiorders.com/view_user_event_video.asp?EVENTID=76834&BIB=1330&S=230&PWD=) I seriously considered crawling across the line, but thought that may be a little too dramatic, so I managed to pick myself up and walk across. The catcher helped me and I met Emily for a big hug -- my favorite part of any race is the hug with my wife at the end.

Justin finished only a few minutes behind me and Richard had had a great day, too! For more details on Richard's race, see here. I was really, really proud of both of them… being there with them and racing together made for an awesome experience.

Justin Waller, Alan Gulledge, Jon Klingensmith, Richard Hunter

I met several of my goals, including a sub-3:45 run, a sub-11:00 IM finish, and have also continued to practice my race process. My final numbers were:

Swim: 1:17:48

T1: 7:50

Bike: 5:19:26

T2: 4:18

Run: 3:44:19

I was 207^th overall and 45^th in my AG. It was a satisfying end to the season, but I do have much loftier goals. Now is time to reflect, regroup, and map out my 2012 season and the off-season training to get me there!

Richard Hunter's IM Florida Race Report

I am still slowly getting back to reality after a nice vacation post-IM Florida and am working on some ramblings on my race. However, in the mean time, I wanted to share this race report from Richard Hunter. He is a visually-impaired triathlete who just finished IM Florida - reading his recap of the day definitely helps me keep things in perspective!


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2011 Ford Ironman Florida

2.4 mile swim, 112 mile bike, 26.2 mile run

Race Report by Richard Hunter

Visually Impaired Triathlete & Marathoner

On November 5^, 2011, with Alan Gulledge as my guide, I participated in my first full Ironman race. This was my 3^rd year of doing triathlons, but only my 10^th triathlon ever. I have written my race report as a memory sake so that when I reread it in the future I’ll be able to relive the emotions of my journey, which was shared by many. The emotions are still so fresh that I can’t even talk about the volunteers who helped me without tearing up and swallowing the ever growing lump in my throat.

Alan Gulledge (guide) and Richard Hunter, post-race.

Beginning the Journey…

Three-years ago, under some quite extraordinary circumstances, I came to know Justin Waller, an Ironman athlete who was seeking out the opportunity to guide a visually impaired athlete in a triathlon. He had been inspired to volunteer by coverage he had seen of C Different Foundation (CDF) guides serving as the eyes to the blind participating in triathlon. Justin wanted to participate in the sport in a different way, to rekindle the Ironman fire within. At that time, I did not know anyone who had done an Ironman. Like many, I had seen Ironman coverage and was in awe of these amazing athletes and their stories. Watching coverage of Ironman would send shivers to my core, and a multiple finisher wanted to help me. Justin devoted a year of his training to guiding, mentoring, and training with me. He was my only resource in 2009, and he guided me to my first half ironman finish in Augusta, Georgia. His volunteer spirit lit a fire within me which I don’t think will ever burn out. He gave me so much, and all I can do to honor his gift is to pay it forward. Justin introduced me to all of the resources who continue to make triathlon possible for a guy who would not otherwise be able to participate. I am proud to call Justin Waller a friend, and he will always be my personal hero. Justin was the answer to a prayer in my life and bolstered my faith like nothing else.

Though Justin proved to me that I had what it took to finish a 70.3 mile triathlon in respectable fashion, being the anal retentive worry wart I am, there was NO WAY I would ever consider doing a full Ironman until I passed certain personal tests. Most importantly, how could I consider running a marathon after swimming 2.4 miles and riding a bicycle for 112 miles if I couldn’t even run a marathon without cramping for up to 10 miles? With the assistance of Ironman Sheila Leard, a sports nutritionist, I was able to complete endurance events cramp free for the first time which opened up the possibility of doing an Ironman.

Overcoming Adversity…

Given the wealth of volunteers who have stepped up to help me with my training this year, I can’t say that my vision loss has handicapped my ability to participate in the sport. The adversity I faced this year was not unlike any other person with the goal of Ironman in mind. Shortly after signing up for Ironman a year ago, I found myself in physical therapy for about 7 months. My pelvis was constantly becoming misaligned which only exacerbated issues related to super wound up hip flexors pulling on an arthritic lower spine. A locked-up calf muscle, IT band, and quad, and hamstring did their best to cause problems with my ankle. When I finally left PT in July armed with specific core strengthening exercises and stretches, the physical therapist made it clear that my body was not likely to stand up to the increasing demands Ironman training would entail. The smart thing to do would have been to stop what I was doing, strengthen my core, and start all over again when I was whole. I almost quit. Then, my coach Jon Klingensmith suggested I just take things day by day, and he tailored my plan so that I would be less likely to hurt myself further. I kept at it, knowing full well that the other shoe would drop at any moment. Then, I started getting rather severe nerve pain shooting down my leg from my SI Joint, through the piriformis, and across my left ankle and foot. That has continued to be an issue to the present, but it only hurts when I’m walking or standing. The nerve pain actually subsided during exercise, so I kept going. Finally, 4 weeks out from Ironman Florida, I came down with bronchitis. This happened exactly at the wrong time, just as my 2 weeks of final peak training were about to start. I went to Urgent Care, got a breathing treatment and a prescription. The doctor said exercise wouldn’t make it worse, but my oxygen saturation levels were so low that he said I’d have to take it easy. I don’t even know what that means! So, I took one day off, and did everything on my training plan. My lungs didn’t seem to deflate all of the way before I’d start the next breath, and the crackling of my lungs made me wonder if I was doing any damage after all. I was left wondering if I would recover in enough time to race. Up until race week, I had so many problems that I wasn’t convinced my body would get me to the start line. The positive thing about that was that I lived in the present and didn’t even think about the race until a couple of days prior to leaving.

When a visually impaired athlete participates in a triathlon, obviously two bodies need to make it to the start line. Knowing full well that Alan is not superhuman, months ago I asked an Ironman athlete by the name of Don Sullivan to be my back-up. He is always Ironman ready, a phenomenal athlete, lives in Florida, and has guided a totally blind friend of mine. Much to Alan’s frustration, with about a month to go before race day, he injured his knee severely enough during training that he was prohibited from running for 3 weeks prior to the race. What I didn’t know at the time was that Alan was talking with Don about the possibility of standing in for him at the Ironman. When Alan laid it all out for me a couple of weeks before the race, I asked him if he could swim and ride, and he said yes, and that he was hopeful he’d be OK for the run. Alan wanted me to know that he’d happily step aside. I told Alan quite assertively that I’d run by myself if need be and simply choose a body to follow as there would be plenty in front of me. I’ve been through much with Alan, and it was important to me to honor him, though I knew I might be running solo in the dark. I was prepared to run slowly and tentatively with a head lamp. After all, I just wanted to finish.

Race Day Approaches…

Aside from the prospect of finishing an Ironman race, I was looking forward to sharing the experience with Justin Waller, Jon Klingensmith and their families. Since Heidi and my girls couldn’t be there, what a gift of support I’d have race weekend. In addition to being friends, both have guided me in triathlons, and both bring much calm to what could be a quite anxious time for me. We all booked the same flight to Panama City Beach which helped greatly with pre-race logistics. I was also thrilled that my good friend Alan Arceneaux was flying out from Oregon to watch the race.

In contemplating which race to do, I had chosen Ironman Florida for several reasons. It’s in November so I could train all season long in good CA weather; it is a wetsuit legal course; it’s not as likely as some races to be hot and humid that time of year; and, though not the determining factor, was the flattest Ironman course in the country. Given my propensity to easily lose 10 pounds during the course of a longer workout, I wanted to choose a venue in which the weather conditions were optimal for a guy my size. The challenge is that a Gulf Coast swim would mean uncertain ocean conditions. Ocean swells can top 6 feet on race day or could be smooth as silk. As a relatively new swimmer, the prospect of swimming tethered to my guide in a mass start race of 2800 triathletes in giant swells made me wonder many times if I really had the mental strength to make it more than 10 minutes. Would I panic? Having had no experience with mass starts, I knew I had to trust my training. I had heard people describe the mass start as “terrifying,” and I knew Alan and I would have to adopt a plan to ensure success.

The two days prior to the race, the wind blew hard and the surf conditions were less than ideal in my mind. Alan would comment to me about the surf, and I was thankful I couldn’t see it every time we left our room. While standing in line, I listened to those who had done a practice swim talking about seeing a ton of jellyfish, small sharks and rays. My initial rationale to stay away from large groups of triathletes was validated! We were told to just keep swimming if stung by jellyfish. Despite this, I wasn’t concerned for sea life. My only focus was visualizing myself being calm, relaxed and focused in the water and to shut out the bad images which I would have to squelch over and over again.

I’d like to say that I have unshakable confidence, but truth be told that just isn’t in my nature. Standing in the midst of all those Ironman athletes, I found myself envious of their experience, wondering if they too had any doubts interrupting their train of thought. Knowing that Ironman is just as much mental as it is physical, I can’t help but wonder if these swirling thoughts alone are the crack that can cause things to crash down on me race day. While I don’t fret incessantly, it’s just enough to cause me to scold myself for being weak. On the flip side, the gift of uncertainty is that it has driven me to work harder, to lean on my faith, to remember that God opened the door to triathlon and kept it open by providing the necessary volunteers and strength to train in spite of adversity. I find myself repeating, “Where there is doubt, give me faith.” It sounds silly to think that I believed finishing an Ironman is what it would take to honor my family and those who helped me along the way, but I wanted them all to share in my joy of success. Failure was not an option, yet the seeds of doubt needled at me.

On Friday, race-day eve, Alan and I woke up to an alarm and headed to the beach for a short swim. Though the swells were noteworthy, it wasn’t as bad as it could have been, yet it still felt as though I was on a roller coaster ride. I relaxed through the movement, and reminded myself that it was fun, but I didn’t like the idea of facing that for my first mass start. At least I knew I could swim in those conditions with not too much difficulty, and I told myself that I’d be OK.

Race Day!

A beautiful sunset and changing winds were a promise of a good tomorrow. A southerly wind would mean calmer seas. Yeah! When Alan and I went to sleep, all our gear was already staged in transition and a broken spoke on my bike had been repaired. Well… Alan slept. I never do! Luckily, I didn’t spend the night worrying about failing. I was amped up to get started. I’ve learned that sleep is not necessary the night before a race, just rest. Sleep can come later.

3:45 AM came quickly. Though the race didn’t start until 7AM, the morning moves quickly on race day; you have to get ready, eat, pump up your tires, place nutrition on the bike, drop off special needs bags, and ready yourself for the swim. Since we were staying at the host hotel, we were able to get everything ready and put on our wetsuits in our room. Alan said a prayer for us, and we were out the door.

Race morning was perfect; it was cool and the ocean was smooth! After a quick dip in the ocean to take a few strokes, we found the perfect spot for me to start. Alan and I positioned ourselves to the far outside right of the 2800 triathletes lining the narrow beach. Though it meant swimming a tad further, the chaos would be more manageable by starting on the outer edge. When the cannon fired at 7AM, the sun was just coming up in the distance. This is where one needs to pause and visualize almost 3,000 people running at the ocean at the same time, all shooting for the same first turn buoy, and you are just one, or in our case, two with a rope tied between so Alan could guide me safely through the masses. As we left the beach into the ocean, I thought of two people who were my inspiration for the swim: Tom Leard, a retired Marine who swam with me weekly in open water, and Noah Bentley who took swim lessons in spite of a fear of the water and was doing triathlons within 6 months!

I knew my day was going to be determined within the first 10 minutes. My entire focus was a calm, smooth, relaxed start. It became apparent very quickly that my training with Tom paid dividends. I didn’t get breathless and the contact with others didn’t’ phase me. I can’t tell you how many times people swam across my tether, stopping me in my tracks, calling out to Alan to find out which head was his. Yet, I was calm. I was going to nail this no problem! Yet, no sooner than when my confidence soared, I would get a reminder to stay focused as I would get hit or be swam on top of from both sides at the same time. I was keenly aware that it would have to be a freak accident to end my day in the water. I found my mind drifting past the bike to the marathon, only to pull it back and remain focused.

The 2.4 mile swim was a double loop course in which we had to exit the water, run along the beach, and then re-enter the ocean for a second loop. The most tiring aspect of the whole swim was running through the sand and pushing ourselves through the water so we could start swimming again. The second loop was less crowded, but the contact continued throughout, just less frequently. At one point, Alan stopped me in my tracks to help me avoid swimming into a big jellyfish. He had just punctured the top of one with his hand, missing the tentacles. Fortunately, neither one of us were stung during the swim. As we neared the beach on the last loop, Alan stopped and said he was feeling nauseous from accidentally swallowing saltwater a couple of times. He began vomiting into the ocean, and I was beginning to wonder what this would mean as we jumped on the tandem.

As Alan and I began running up the beach, I was boasting with pride as I heard screams of encouragement and thanked God repeatedly for making the swim an enjoyable experience. I had just finished an Ironman swim and my confidence soared. The race director wrapped his arm around my shoulder, ran with me and shouted encouragement as we made our way up to the wetsuit strippers. I couldn’t help but wonder if he was just as thankful as I that the blind guy got out of the water safely, but I later learned that he is just one of those positive and encouraging guys that can fuel your spirit.

Finishing the swim immediately put me in Ironman distance mode. As a first timer, I knew I’d have to be conservative and patient. I could not worry about time. I reminded myself that success at this point hinged on having enough energy for the marathon at the end of the day. After a painfully slow and long transition process, we got on my tandem to start the 112 mile trek.

I was relieved to see that the saltwater hadn’t had a lasting effect on Alan. We had to negotiate a start chute with many other riders and did so without incident. We quickly started passing one after another and were clipping along when we flatted at mile 20. Crud! Changing a tube on a tandem is more time consuming than a single road bike. But, we took our time to ensure that something wasn’t embedded in the front tire. We couldn’t afford to blow through any more tubes. Unfortunately, the CO2 cartridge never fills up my tires, so I had to pump my tire up with a frame pump. With our combined weight, it makes it necessary to get close to 120 lbs of pressure in the tire or we’d run the risk of a pinch flat. After 15 minutes of watching bikes fly by, we were off again, and I did a quiet prayer to get our tire through the race with no further problems. Finishing 112 miles is not difficult, but a race can end if there is an issue with the bike.

The first goal for the 112 miles was to simply “pedal along” which meant never feeling like I was working hard. Again, I had to be patient. Coach Jon reminded me the warm-up for Ironman is the 2.4 mile swim, 112 mile bike, and the first 20 miles of the run. With this in mind, I would periodically check my heart rate, and sure enough I kept it in the 130s. After the flat, we didn’t try to play catch up. I found myself saying aloud many times that I didn’t care about our time. I just wanted to finish the Ironman. This gave us the permission we needed to stop at porta potties without worrying we were losing time. The second goal for the bike leg was to be militant about my fueling strategy. Long before the race, I was practicing exactly what I’d be eating on race day. I knew exactly how many calories and milligrams of sodium I’d need to consume. Sheila Leard and I had met and spoken several times about my strategy, and I reminded myself of something she had told me some time ago… Many of the DNFs (Did Not Finish) are the result of gut issues. That is something you definitely want to avoid when running a marathon at the end of an Ironman! Obviously, the body can become very dehydrated, and internal organs, including the digestive system, can run the risk of shutting down.

After the initial drama of the flat, the ride was fairly uneventful other than a terrible headwind for the first half. The forecast for the day called for 20 mph wind. There were times when pedaling the tandem took more effort than it should to even go 16 mph. That is saying a lot, because on a good day, we were thinking we could manage an average of 20 -21 mph. That was not in the cards! Luckily, the headwind on the way out meant a tailwind for the way home, which was much better than the reverse. Once we re-entered Panama City Beach, we were once again blasted with the worst headwinds of the day. The last 6 miles were a cruel joke to bodies that couldn’t wait to get off the tandem!

I honestly didn’t even think about the marathon at all leading up to the race, yet the Ironman comes down to the last 26.2 miles. I’ve had the most experience with running, and have finished marathons under some pretty significant revolts from my body, so my mental resolve was much stronger for this part of the Ironman. I had a fueling plan, I had the experience, but I wasn’t sure if those lingering injuries would rear their ugly head as they had in several training runs. I was just hoping that any severe pain wouldn’t happen until late in the race. After all, common knowledge about an Ironman marathon is that sooner or later your resolve would be tested and it would be difficult to continue. Also, as I stated earlier, Alan’s ability to run the marathon was a big question mark. We implemented our marathon strategy immediately. Our plan was to stop at each aid station for at least a few seconds to ensure we hydrated properly and to leave the aid stations running.

The cool thing about the run was that it was a double out-and-back course. We were thrilled to see Jon, Justin, and Dan Streetman (also a friend) pass us going the opposite way several times. They were on fire and having great marathons! Within a few miles, Alan felt the stabbing knee pain, but he kept going. Alan would say that it felt like someone was “hammering a nail into his knee.” Therefore, we ensured our brief stops in aid stations periodically included some stretching. After completing the first 13 mile loop, I realized how bold I was to state that I could run by myself if needed. The course went over speed bumps, a few curbs, across plywood, along cones, more turns than I realized, etc... Not only that, the prospect of choosing someone to follow didn’t seem like a good fall back plan. There wasn’t anyone else running our pace in front of us. There were many walking, and it was commonplace for people to be stopped in the middle of the road or running closely the opposite direction along the orange cones. If Alan had to stop, I’d have to be extremely cautious as the conditions were beyond my ability to run solo. I think Alan sensed this too, because I was feeling his pain as he pushed on, hoping not to slow me too much. As he would start to apologize, I would quickly retort that I too needed to manage my pace and that it is about finishing, and nothing else.

At about mile 15, my ankle started to hurt. I had learned during training that this did not mean an ankle injury, but rather tense muscles in my calf and foot. Since Alan was already stretching in aid stations, I stretched my calf. It provided some temporary relief, so I knew I was on the right track. I just hoped it wouldn’t get severe enough to cause me to walk in severe pain like it had on one of my training runs. Then again, I was already far enough into the marathon that the prospect of walking wouldn’t necessarily stop me from finishing. There were several times before mile 20 that I thought, “I’m going to be an Ironman today,” but I intentionally pushed that thought out of my mind because the hardest part was still ahead of me. There are no guarantees until you’ve actually crossed the finish line.

With 4 miles to go, I said to Alan, “With the exception of the aid stations, we’ve ran the entire marathon so far.” Within seconds, his hamstring locked up. I should have kept my mouth shut! We stopped so he could stretch and hydrate. Once we started jogging again, we decided we should just keep running, not stopping in aid stations, so we wouldn’t run the risk of the speed change ups causing more cramps. At this point, it was already dark, and Alan was now holding a hand-held tether so he could keep me on track, avoiding all obstacles. Dear God I was thankful he was still on the course. I could barely make out a shape directly in front of me and I couldn’t see any of the obstacles. I was further blinded by lights along the streets. Alan was clearly straining, but running all the same. Two miles from the finish he was grunting in pain with every step. I just kept encouraging him, telling him how proud I was, how strong he was… I needed him, and he knew it! I think Alan needed me too. Maybe it was the distraction of Alan’s obvious pain, but I felt great. My ankle wasn’t getting any worse and I never ran out of energy. I felt as though I could keep running beyond the finish.

As we approached the last ¼ mile of the marathon, Jon’s wife, Emily Klingensmith, ran alongside us shouting words of encouragement. Emily peeled away as we entered the finish chute. The lights were blinding, Alan was still guiding me with the tether, the crowd was deafening, and I heard the announcer call out, “Richard Hunter, you are an Ironman!” We had done it, and I crossed the finish line with my dear friend Alan, who suffered greatly to my benefit. What a heroic effort on his part!

1.2 mile swim: 1:26:07

T1: 14:09

112 mile bike: 5:51:42

T2: 11:48

26.2 mile run: 4:11:37

Overall: 11:55:22

Justin Waller, Alan Gulledge, Jon Klingensmith, Richard Hunter

What’s next…?

Even though I finished Ironman Florida in the top 1/3 of those who lined up at the starting line, and though I’m the 2^nd visually impaired triathlete to break the 12 hour Ironman benchmark, this success doesn’t change how my mind works. I’ll still be a “head case.” I’ve learned a lot about myself during this journey, including being keenly aware of my weaknesses. I will strive to confront those weaknesses with new challenges which cause me to step outside of my comfort zone. For now, I’m going to enjoy a little down time and let some time pass before I even worry about my next goal. I’m also looking forward to having fun with the family without having to fit in the long workouts.

Special Thanks…

Thank you Heidi for your support of my efforts, by allowing me to pursue this craziness, and for picking up the slack I left in my wake. As a visually impaired athlete, participation in the sport of triathlon would be impossible without caring volunteers to assist me. Those listed below share in my success and I’m overwhelmed by their generosity. A special thanks to my 2011 training partners:

Triathlon Guides: Alan Gulledge (IMFL, Big Kahuna Half Ironman); Coach Jon Klingensmith (Folsom Olympic Distance Triathlon); Stuart Evans (Denver Triathlon).

Tandem Pilots: Lance Maguire, Bill Kelly, Bill Dutter, Noah Bentley, Louis Du Brey, Justin Waller, Jon Klingensmith

Open Water Swim Guide: Tom Leard

Running Guides: Emily Klingensmith, Austin Weaver (Parkway Half Marathon)

What you can do:

Please feel free to pass along this race report. You’d be paying me the ultimate compliment. My prayer is always that something I do might resonate with a single person, so much so that they might be inspired enough to step outside of their own comfort zone regardless of the adversity they face.

If you feel so called, you could always make a monetary contribution to the C Different Foundation (CDF). They truly change lives and many of their athletes paved a trail for me.

Anything is Possible!

Richard Hunter

Visually Impaired Ironman

My Weekend Adventure - Golden State Race Report

This past weekend, my Dad did his 2nd triathlon! In leading up to the event, I decided to turn it into a little adventure of my own and ride down to the race (about 35 miles away), do the race, and ride home. That way, I could see my Dad at his 2nd event, and have a fun diversion to keep my training interesting (and as a result of me also racing, I have no pictures – sorry). The last 3 weeks have been a big build, so this weekend would cap it off – a commute, race, commute and then long ride/run the day after.

The race is draft legal and has 3 laps of a 5-mile course. I decided to ride my road bike, but that was mostly because I wanted it for the commute down in the AM in the dark. I put my race wheels on it and decided that was sufficient for a race rig! I left early in the pitch black and stayed on streets mostly for the first part of the ride. I rode down Folsom Blvd and planned to get on the bike path at Rossmoor Bar. However, there is a stretch of Folsom that is really bad for bike tires and I took a calculated risk. More streetlights, no traffic, but more risk of a flat. And sure enough, I got a flat in my back wheel half way down. I pulled off to the side and fixed it and then motored on. Because of the delay, though, I got to the race a little later than I had intended and missed my Dad’s swim start. I did manage to find their car (that had my stuff in it), get over to the swim finish, and see him come out of the water and head out on the bike. The swim in the river had a strong current and was pretty cold, but he hung tough and made it through! Once on the bike, he did great and motored on for his 5-mile ride and then 1-mile run afterwards.

My Dad finishing his run.

Meanwhile, I had to head down to the water and swim over to the start across the river. I hadn’t been in open water for a while and was using a new wetsuit, so I wanted to get in the water and give myself some time to swim a little bit. The swim is in the river and the current was pretty strong against us on the way up; plus they made us swim in the middle of the river where it’s strongest. After they sent us off, I got going and felt pretty good. Smooth and steady. I practiced sighting while breathing to both sides and just worked on swimming as straight as possible. There were a few times I tried finding some feet, but it didn’t last long, and was just resigned to doing my thing. I made the turn buoy and then felt like I was being pushed down river on the way back. You could basically just float in your wet-suit and enjoy the ride! Well, apparently the lengthy swim up-stream was enough to make me very slow. I came out of the water in around 20 minutes, but I tried not to let it bother me as I felt fine and haven’t really been swimming that much. So I climbed up the stairs out of the river and headed to my bike. Got my wetsuit off, bike gear on and motored out of the transition area.

Getting going on the bike.

Just a few minutes into my first lap and a guy in pink motored past me; I put in a hard effort and got on his wheel. This draft legal stuff is great!! It gave me a chance to recover, catch my breath, and get ready for the rest of the hard ride. The ride was really fun, had lots of turns, and I stayed on that guy’s wheel for big chunks of time. I also saw Rebecca out there and she was able to hang on my wheel for a while! In hindsight, had I had my tri-bike, I probably could’ve gone faster (but also would’ve probably worked more on my own), but the ride was still solid. The guy in pink (yes, it was a guy in pink) was in the wave before me and finished after my 2nd lap. Fortunately, on the 3rd lap there was another guy who I could work with and the two of us shared the effort to the end. I ended up averaging ~270 watts with a norm of about 280. I would expect a sprint to be a little higher, but my legs were tired from the previous weeks’ training and the commute down, so I wasn’t quite as peppy. Plus, the course was quite technical so there weren’t large stretches to lay down the power. In any case, I was happy with the effort.


T2 was uneventful. Not as quick as I could’ve made it, but I don’t do this short stuff very often! Out on the run, my legs took about 2-300 meters to adjust. Felt like bricks initially, but then I settled into a rhythm of hard work. I started trying to pass as many people as possible and keep the effort up. I find that I don’t really have that extra gear for events like this. I’m just too zeroed in on longer efforts to push to these sprint-length efforts. Regardless, I was in the low 6-minute/mile range and kept the pace up as best I could. The turnaround came quickly and I motored back. My watch was reading 6:10/mile on average so I just pushed hard through the finish. I ended up running under 19 minutes, so was content with that. A nice hard effort right near the end of my 3-week build.

Finishing

Results were not stellar, though – I got 8th AG out of 33 and 24th overall out of 436 finishers. My Dad, on the other hand, was 3rd AG, picking up some hardware in only his 2nd attempt!!

My Dad with his new hardware!

In my case, sprint races are tough for me because I am just too far behind out of the water. The guy who won (a pretty elite athlete), put like 10 minutes into me in the swim alone. The strong current really suited the strong swimmers. On the bike, he beat me by 4-ish minutes and I suspect a large chunk of that is time in transition. On the run, however, he put less than a minute on me (and that was on tired legs from IM training) and I had the 6th best run in the field (and one of those 5 faster was a relay). Nonetheless, I am still resolved to keep working on swimming. It keeps the sport interesting!

After the race, I chatted with a few people, then got my stuff ready to head home. The ride home was less eventful – no flats. I did manage to find 2 guys on the bike path to work with and motored along with them for a while. I decided my legs couldn’t handle that pace very well, and just took it easy after that. All-in-all, the whole experience was great fun! An awesome race and a fun way to do it!

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This weekend marked the end of a ~3-week block of training for Florida. In the last 22 days, I’ve managed:

Swim: 05:45:00; 13430 yds;
Bike: 52:21:55; 923 miles;
Run: 12:26:58; 100.1 miles;
Total: 70:33:53

Not a lot of swimming (my pool(s) were closed for a whole week of this), but decent work on the bike. All of this amounted to a TSS of 2680 for the 22 days. Here’s a shot of my Performance Management Chart from WKO+... it covers the last 2 seasons.

Blue is CTL, Pink is ATL, Yellow is TSB - for discussion on the Performance Management Chart, go here:
http://www.peaksware.com/articles/cycling/what-is-the-performance-management-chart.aspx

I’ve had decent training for IM races before (at least given the balance and constraints in my life), but have not yet been able to pull together a marathon to what I feel is my potential. I think the bike focus this time around will help improve the physical aspects in that I’ll be fresher coming off the ride, but the mental challenge lies ahead and I am really looking forward to another shot at it!! Bring on the race!

My Dad Did His First Triathlon

I had the pleasure of spectating while my Dad did his first triathlon this past weekend! He has not problem with riding and has been cycling for the last several years. Running was not particularly worrisome since, if it comes down to it, you can walk and still finish; so the big question was the swim! He started going to the pool diligently and worked up to where he could swim for several minutes without stopping. He also started trying some short run/walks after his rides, too!

Before the start with my Mom!

When race day came, the thing I was most nervous about was the swim - practicing in the pool is one thing, but swimming in the open water with 40-50 other people starting at the same time is very different. Once the gun went off, he waited for a lot of the wave to move on ahead and then started swimming. We were watching from the beach and could see him most of the way. He did some freestyle, some sidestroke, some back-floating, etc. But, he got through that swim of his own power! Once he was coming up the beach, we were excited and relieved at the same time ;-)

Before the start - he's the one in the sleeveless suit with his arms folded.

Coming out of the water...

He got through transition and rolled out on his bike; at this point, I was pretty confident because he is a solid bike rider. He did the ride with no issues and got back to transition in about the time he was expecting.

Heading out on the bike.

Finishing the ride!

Now the run! He put on his shoes and hat and headed out for the 2-miler! He implemented his run/walk strategy and made it to the line quicker than he expected!

Starting the run.

And approaching the finish!!

I was REALLY proud of him for setting the goal and getting out of his comfort zone - putting himself out there and making it happen.

The next day, my wife went back down to Rancho Seco and finished 2nd overall in the Women's Luna Triathlon - a great multisport weekend for our family!