Beach 2 Battleship October 25, 2014 Race Report
It has been quite the year that culminated into finishing my
second Ironman distance triathlon.
I signed up for the race almost a year ago and in that time I deployed
to Djibouti for 5 months and then made a military move from Georgia to
Delaware. My fitness was not quite
where I wanted it to be but in the end I just had to get ‘er done.
Josh and I rented a condo for the 4 days leading up the
race. This is truly a key to
success for any large fitness event.
For comparable pricing we had our own bedrooms, bathrooms, living room,
and kitchen. Other than the
Thursday night meal everything we ate we made at the condo. This kept our out of pocket expenses to
a minimum.
I headed down to Wilmington, North Carolina right after work
on Wednesday to set myself up for enough time to leisurely check in, swim,
bike, run, and pack race bags. I
arrived around midnight and was up early on Thursday. Headed down to the expo to check in right at noon and made
it through with no issues. The
event staff and volunteers were fantastic and on top of the entire
process. The expo was really,
really small with only the bare essentials. I didn’t need much so it was not that big of an issue. That afternoon Josh, Emile, and I
took our bikes out for a 20 minute spin to cycle through all the gears and then
followed it up with a run around the block. All was in working order.
On Friday, the three of us met up with the B2B Facebook group for a swim off the
dock at the swim exit (across from T1).
There was a group of about 20 athletes that swam for about 25 minutes to
get the feel of the saltwater and the lay of the land. I am not a strong swimmer and this was
invaluable to me. It is just that
extra step to help alleviate anxiety.
I used an Endurance Nation plan for last year’s Ironman
Florida race and I loosely followed it this year. I 100% believe in their racing philosophy and the needed
steps to successfully set up a good race experience. After swimming, the rest of the day was all about resting
and getting the right food into my stomach. Big breakfast, turkey sub sandwich for lunch, and chicken
with sticky rice for dinner. Lights
out at 9 PM.
Saturday morning Josh and I heading out to the convention
center to jump on the trolley to T1.
We arrive at 0515 (15 minutes early) and were surprised to jump straight
onto a coach and head over. The
whole morning process went as planned and I was able to get my bike set up,
tires pumped, and T1 bag checked in.
It was a little confusing on where to get body marked, but it all worked
out. Always, always, always have a
flashlight. We then caught another
trolley to swim start. We arrived
very early and stood around for a good hour. At 0700 we put on our wetsuits and started to walk down to
the start. It was an absolutely
beautiful morning with temperatures in the low 50s. Expected water temperature was 69-71. PERFECT! We met back up with Emile and enjoyed some quiet time before
it started. Josh and I were able
to get into the water to warm up and this was key to our great start.
0730 Swim start…the atmosphere was electric. BANG!!!! We were off. I
lined up towards the back and was able to get all the fast swimmers in front of
me. The inlet was so wide that I
rarely touched another swimmer during the entire first leg. I zig zagged quite a bit until I was
able to settle in with bilateral breathing and just move forward. Before I knew it I was at swim exit and
getting out of the water. I looked
down at my watch and it read 58 minutes.
HOLY SMOKES!!! That current
was fast!
Swim: 1:00:45
T1 entailed a quarter mile run across the street to the
changing tents. On the way I
jumped under the hot water showers to get the salt off of me, grabbed my T1 bag
and headed to the tent. I didn’t
change and only grabbed my arm sleeves.
My helmet, gloves, and shoes were already on the bike. In and out…
T1: 7:21
Bike. The start
of the bike was good. The
temperatures were great and I felt really good after the fast swim. The grate across the bridge was
probably the most sketchy part of the race. One guy in front of me went down and my back tire slid side
to side. My heart rate wasn’t
reading on my monitor so I used RPE for pacing. I started my nutrition plan right away and was able to get
fluids into me. I trained with
HEED and did not like it. My
biggest mistake was sticking with HEED instead of figuring something else out
for the bike nutrition during training.
By mile 20 I was already sick to my stomach from the stuff. I held steady until mile 60 and the
combination of not feeling great and the arch in my right foot cramping caused
the ride to become quite miserable.
I chunked out the remaining miles into 10-mile blocks and just pushed
it. This is where my lack of
fitness really showed and came back to haunt me. By the 112 miles I just wanted off the bike.
Bike: 6:42:34
T2 was uneventful.
I grabbed what I needed and headed out.
T2: 5:49
Run. I was
hoping the cramp in my foot would loosen up once I got off the bike, but that
didn’t happen. I peg legged run (like
a pirate) the first 2 miles and was not sure I would be able to finish. Fortunately for me my Dad was on the
course racing the half. When I ran
into him I asked if he had any pain meds…he is always prepared. 800 MG of Motrin and 20 minutes later
the pain was gone. The next issue
I needed to solve was I was really nauseous. I ran past the BASE salt folks and decided to give it a
whirl. 10 minutes after that I
felt great!!!!! I kept up the salt
and water at every aid station and used Cliff Shot blocks for food. I kept this until mile 19 then switched
to coke. At mile 23 I picked up
the pace to run it hard into the finish.
Other than the first couple miles I felt great on the run.
Run: 5:24:42
Total: 13:21:09
The finish was awesome! My Dad, Josh and Emile met me. Our super supporter crew of Gen, Amanda, and Ben were right
there as well. I grabbed a pizza
and we hammed it up for pictures.
I was able to see both of my sisters finish as well. All in all it is a great race and I
highly recommend it.
