Mickey 70.3

An Ironman Florida 70.3 Race Report

This had been coming for a long time. I guess all of my big races are like that. There was ING Georgia, followed by West Point Olympic, and Huntsville/Disney, and finally Florida 70.3. I guess having to wait a year to go for Iron will make these pale in comparison.

As per the usual, I started the week off by working 9-10 hour days so I could take Friday off. By the time Thursday evening rolled around, I was so thankful to get the hell out of the office. I love my job and all, but extra long days and an "A" race makes for a very antsy week. Thanks to Dee Dee's stellar support, the boyz were taken care of all week, and I got done what I needed to get done. I thought it would be a good idea to take the kids out for dinner the night before we left. We had a good time. I felt brave and drank a few beers and promptly forgot to do my bike workout. No harm done, except my streak was broken. So sad :-(

Dee Dee and I got up to get the boyz off to school. While Dee Dee drove our youngest, I packed my transition bag and clothes for the trip. When Dee Dee returned, we packed the car and got out the door. It's about a 7 hour drive to Orlando. I figured we'd be in around 4 or 5 PM. About half way to Orlando, Dee Dee and I decided we were hungry. We decided to stop in Valdosta. Dee Dee mentioned that she was hungry for wings. I thought, great! She works in a place that specializes in wings and she wants chicken. Dee Dee mentioned that she would like to eat at Hooters. They have great wings. I laughed and said that there was NO WAY that Valdosta had a Hooters. Well, as soon as we exited the interstate, lo and behold, there was a stinkin Hooters.

Prepare for a rant. I don't know about you other guys, but you have to decide for yourself. I mean, is it worth really good wings to have to look at pretty girls with shorts up their butts and boobs up under their chins? Oh the humanity!! I decided while we were there that I had a new word for Hooter's girls. Tit-chinians :-) In any case, the experience was horrible. Our little waitress, who also happened to be a physicist, failed to put Dee Dee's order in and when she did, she did it wrong. To make a long story short, we ended up spending an hour and a half on lunch, totally unexpected!

The rest of the ride was uneventful. We arrived in Orlando by 5:30 PM. We made it straight to our hotel without too much trouble. We checked in, got sitiated, then called Brian to see what he was doing. Brian had been in Orlando since about 1 PM. He had needed to pick up his friend Eric from the airport at 1 PM. Brian wanted to know if Dee Dee and I were up for Carrabas for dinner, and of course we were! We drove over, only to find about forty people waiting outside. Dee Dee and I thought there was no way would be able to eat there. I called Brian and told him about our problem. While I was on the phone, Dee Dee checked the wait. It was only twenty minutes. We decided that that wasn't too bad. No sooner had we gotten our buzzer and settled down then it went off! We ended up only waiting five minutes. We were seated for a very short time when Brian and Eric showed up. The dinner and service was exceptional. I took advantage of being in Orlando to have some of the best fish I've eaten in a while. This was by far the best experience I have had at a restaurant in a long time. I may be picky now that I am a restaurateur, but who's sayin :-)


After eating, Dee Dee and I returned to the hotel. I remember checking my watch around 9:45 before I passed out. Around 12:30 AM, the hotel fire alarm went off. Dee Dee and I quickly got dressed, descended 7 flights of stairs, and exited the hotel into the parking lot with the rest of the guests. We found out that some jackhole had burned a piece of pie in the microwave on the third floor. LOL! We returned to our room and went back to sleep. I, at least, was grateful that it happened on Friday night instead of Saturday.

We got up fairly early the next day. Katie and I had been conversing via text and cell phone up to that point. We wanted to get together and do our brick. It just so happened that our bricks were exactly the same. How cool was that? We ate a quick breakfast then headed out to find Katie's complex. At first, we went to the wrong place, but eventually, we worked it out and arrived at condos in which she was staying. I was not really supposed to swim, but I couldn't pass up a 10 minute swim with a real studette triathlete like Katie. We hit the lap pool, wrapped up our swim, then headed over to the Disney complex with Katie's husband, Craig, and two of her adorable children.

From the Disney parking lot, Katie and I joined a bunch of other athletes out on the bike for our twenty minute ride. Going out was a blast. I was hitting twenty one, twenty two miles per hour with no effort. When we turned around, the wind hit us slap dab in the face. It made me realize that if I wasn't careful, the race tomorrow wasn't going to be a cake walk, flat or not! Well, it wasn't going to be easy, but when is 56 miles ever easy? We ran into Brian and Eric on the way into Fort Wilderness. After getting registered and tucking our bikes into transition, we spent a little bit of time poking around the expo. I bought a 2Xu white triathlon singlet for the race. I figured it was going to be hot, and I wanted to be as cool as possible. We all had lunch together, then our group split up and everybody went their separate ways.


When Dee Dee and I got back to the hotel, it was 3:30 PM. We debated the propriety of heading to the beach. After a little bit of debate, we decided to go ahead and head out. Cocoa Beach is about 45 miles from where we were staying, even though it took us about 55 minutes to get there due the sheer quantity of toll booths. We went to the public beach and paid our ten bucks to get in. We found out rather quickly that the water was too cold to swim. Damn Atlantic! I was totally bummed. The water is much colder than the Gulf of Mexico. Shortly thereafter, we got dumped on by rain and decided to call our adventure to an end. We drove back to Orlando. During the trip back, we debated dinner. I did not want to do pasta again, and I was a bit tired of hamburgers. We decided to do... Pizza! LOL! Actually, we drove all the way over by Carrabas again and ate at an Italian pizzeria. They had the best stuffed pizza I have ever had.

By 10 PM, we were back at the hotel and in bed. I actually slept pretty good. I woke up at 2:15 AM and got very, very excited, but I managed to calm myself down and went back to sleep. The first alarm went off at 4:15 AM, but I had already been awake for fifteen minutes. Six solid hours of sleep the night before a race is heavenly, and I ain't complainin! Dee Dee and I set a record for getting ready, and we were out the door by 4:35 AM. On our way home the previous night, we had found, of all things, a Krispy Kreme. I had the BREAKFAST OF CHAMPIONS! Four glazed Krispy Kreme donuts and two pints of milk graced my stomach :-) ROFL!!! Yes, I'm still working on this pre-race nutrition thingee!

I have never seen so many people pouring into a triathlon event at some god awful hour of the morning. The parking lot was crawling. We caught the bus to Fort Wilderness with no problem what so ever. After getting off the bus, I kissed Dee Dee and headed to transition. I spent the next twenty to thirty minutes setting up. I filled up my bottles, laid out my shoes and helmet, hung my race belt, heart rate monitor, and watch from my bike, grabbed my goggles and race cap, and headed for the swim start. Dee Dee and I spent about twenty minutes waiting on the beach. During that time, Brian and Eric came by. I was excited to see them. It's good to be amongst friends before the start of the race.

As race time got closer and closer, we watched the sky turn from black to grey to light blue. It was rather pretty, and the lake was as smooth as glass. At about six minutes before start, the race director sang the national anthem. The pros were already on the beach getting ready to rumble. The RD actually introduced a few of the pros. I was excited to be there amongst them, but that was about as close as I got. With a start, the cannon went off and the pros entered the water. I watched carefully. They were dolphin diving up to about 75 yards into the water. Eventually, they started swimming, following some dude standing on a board with a paddle, leading them out onto the course. After that, the pro women moved onto the beach for their turn. A few of the pro women were introduced, then the cannon went off again, and they too entered the water for the swim. The race now began in earnest for the age groupers. Wave after wave went off to the sound of an air horn, spaced exactly three minutes apart.

Dee Dee and I were watching the swimmers leave the beach. In about the 7th or 8th wave, a life guard left her board and entered the water to help a swimmer. We both wondered what was going on and what had happened. The rest of that swimmers wave had left him/her far behind. I breathed a sigh of relief as the lifeguard headed back to her board and the swimmer took off on the course. All of sudden, I realized I had three minutes until my start time. Dee Dee had been blabbing something about getting into the staging area, but I was hardly paying attention. I quickly kissed her good bye and headed over to the back of the group of folks in my wave.

As the red capped folks moved onto the beach, us silver capped peeps filed onto the beach behind them. I had already scoped out the sitiation, and I had formed my strategy in my mind. Coach had suggested that I count to twenty before entering the water. Pick out a nice quiet spot in the group, she wrote, and enjoy MY swim. I kind of optimized that :-) After the red caps moved off, we stepped down into the water. I reached down and splashed myself on my front and back. The water was 81 degrees. At first it was kind of cold, but I was really glad that I got the chance to get wet before the start. After dousing myself, I headed off to the right through the weeds into thigh deep water. I was practically on the end of my group. There was plenty of room to the right. I had no need to mix it up.

As our time to start approached, our group began clapping. I had never heard such an enthusiastic group before the start of a race. When the horn went off, I patiently walked down into waste deep water, found myself a quiet spot and started my swim.

Let the adventure begin...

When I swim, I basically lose all track of time. All I know is that in the first couple of hundred meters, I went through the usual Wes is going to panic kind of stuff. The water was fine. It was warm, comfortable, dark, and deep. There were plenty, and I mean plenty of support craft out on the water. At the end of that first two to three hundred meters, I went into a coughing fit. I cleared my throat and immediately, the thought "I can't do this" entered my mind. I had allowed the worst possible scenario to cloud my judgment. I decided to flip over on my back and catch my breath. I know I spent no more than twenty to thirty seconds on my back before I realized something. If I stayed like that for long, I would embarrass myself and the folks in the next wave would run me over. I flipped back onto my stomach, and just like that, all was well with the world.

The swim course was a big box with the buoys on the left. We were going counter clockwise. I gradually began to move back to the inside until I was close to the buoys, amongst the throng of swimmers. About the time I neared the first turn, a bunch of peeps from the wave behind me came through, and boy did they ever kick up the water. It was like swimming in a storm. I had water splashed in my face. I sucked in some lake water and had trouble breathing, but I did NOT panic. I swam slower until I regained my composure. I made the turn and began swimming along the top of the box. Swimming to the outside gave me comfort. I was close the boats, yet I never felt the need to stop and rest. I made it to the second turn and kicked it up a notch. About half way to the finish, a throng of dolphins came through. There is no other way to describe them. They wore light blue caps and swam like fishees. I had the sudden urge to keep up with them. I swam harder, but I resisted the urge and let them pass. Somehow, time caught up with me, and I realized that by now, I would be through with an Olympic, but I still had a long way to go. As the beach got nearer and nearer, I was more and more relieved. With a strong sense of satisfaction, I finally reached the beach and climbed from the water, exhilarated and satisfied. You are never really sure until you do the deed. My swim time was 39 minutes and change.


Dee Dee was waiting for me at the swim exit. I could see the excitement and the relief in her face. We ran along a carpet from the swim exit to the transition area. The run was fairly long. Not as long as some of my triathlons, but long enough to make a difference in the transition time. I had no trouble getting ready in T1. I put on my pink "Cancer Sucks" socks, my helmet, shoes, heart rate monitor and such. I decided to keep my glasses off until I mounted my bike. They quickly fog up, and I cannot see! As I exited T1, I was a tad surprised to see my T1 time at 6 minutes and some change, but in truth, I was not even worried about it. I really did not care.


The bike started out in a wonderful kind of way. We were cruising along the Disney property. It was flat and fast. The only hills we experienced was over passes, underpasses, and dips. It was wonderful. I was coasting along at twenty-one to twenty-three miles per hour. I fully realized that I needed to pace myself carefully. My goal was to keep my heart rate below 146. It climbed and stayed at 146 to 147 for the first five to ten miles. Eventually I settled down, just like my coach said I would, and my heart rate drifted in and out of zones two and three. I can't say enough about the bike course. It was a joy. Riding on the Silver Comet Trail is perfect training! Around mile five or so, I heard this scream and here comes Katie. LOL! I guess she was surprised to see me ahead of her. She is such a ROCK-STAR!! She pulled up beside me, told me I was doing great and my swim was awesome. Then, she left me in the dust!! ROFLMAO!! Bye Katie!!!

The bike course is one big blur. I remember Brian telling me there was some rolling hills in the middle part of the course. I thought... Blech! These aren't hills! These are nubs on the triathlon path!!! I mean really. There was like one hill that I got out of breath on. The rest?!?! Blech! I kicked their butts. I played tag with some triathletes, both male and chicas!! I think I got passed by almost every triathlete with disk or 404 Zipp wheels. Near the end of the ride, I realized I wasn't getting passed any more. No more Zipp or disk wheels behind me!!! LOL!! I guess I should mention the weather. On the bike, it was wonderful. The skies were overcast. The temps were cool. We got rained on three times and it was so awesome. A few times, it was just a drizzle to keep us cool. A couple of times, it was hard enough to sting, but it was all good. We had no problems giving our all. The rain was keeping our bodies cool.

Another couple of things of note... Up until this point, we had experienced little to no traffic at all. The race course was headed towards a little town called Winter Garden. The roads got busier, and traffic was starting to stack up. As we wound our way through Winter Garden, we came to an intersection where the traffic was waiting on a single lane highway. The triathletes were crammed over on the right shoulder, trying not to wreck, but trying to keep the pace. There was barely room enough for one cyclist, let alone two. After about six studs came riding through, shouting "On your left!" I finally got tired of it and yelled, "There is no effing left!" You get the idea, and lucky for me, nobody took exception to my frustration. There was one point on the ride where they shunted us off on the side sidewalk because the road was under repair. This was a no passing zone. It was a few hundred meters long, but I thought that was very interesting. At the third aid station, I decided that I needed a bottle of Gatorade. I had taken five gels by this time and drank two bottles of G2. I called out Gatorade as I entered the station. I missed the hand off on the first try, but nailed the second. How exciting!!! I took the top off the bottle and poured the contents into my aero bottle.

I think we finally entered the Disney property on the way back with about three to four miles to go. I was very happy. For some reason, I felt like I was way above my pace. I had forgotten to reset my bike computer, and I was unsure as to my exact pace and time. I had been seeing 20, 21, and 22 mph on my computer a lot. I felt like I was ahead of pace. I did have my race time on my watch, but I failed to put two and two together. We made our way back through the Disney property, back to Fort Wilderness and made our way to transition. I thought I got off the bike with 10 minutes to spare. The truth was, I got off my bike with three minutes to spare.

My transition time for T2 was much, much faster, in theory that is. I was done in about three minutes, but I knew, around mile 2 of the bike, that I needed to hit the port a potty. I patiently waited until it was my turn, got done, and headed out on the run. I stopped before the run exit and asked a volunteer to tie my "Be Strong" bracelet on my wrist. It had become untied on the swim, and I had decided not to fix it until the start of my run. All of these delays added up. I spent another six minutes or so in T2.



Coach was clear, and I'm not sure I knew better. Evidence was against me. I, of course, started the run out too fast. You exited transition, went down the bike path for a short distance, then hit the road. Upon reaching the road, it was quickly apparent that the temperature was terrible. It had rained, then the sun came out. It was hot and humid. My HRM quickly reached 163 and stayed there, no matter what I did. I realized with a start that I did the first mile in 8:35. That was way too fast. We made a little circle then hung a left on grass covered road. There is no better way to describe it. The sun was beating down relentlessly. At about mile 1.5, I reached the first aide station. I decided to walk the aide stations. I was pleased when I reached the second mile in 9:58. At this point, I was confident I would reach my goal of sub-6. I mean, I thought I was ahead on the bike. I was at pace on the run. What was there to worry about? The path out to the turn around, which I here to fore name the Trail from Hell was seriously hot. On the way out, it was like running with a constant over pronation on my left side. Muscles in my ankle I was not even aware of were complaining. I reached the turn around point and crossed over the mat. The third mile came in at 10:15. So far so good. It was hot, but at least I was running on level ground. No shade, but at least level. As I passed through the aide station at mile 3.5, I was excited to see the bike trail in Fort Wilderness. At least there would be some shade!

Ya think! LOL!! There was a little shade, but the sun was not yet at the right angle. There was no breeze. The heat and the humidity in the woods was stifling. I watched my pace drop from 10 minute miles to 11 minute miles, and there was nothing I could do about it. By the time I started my second loop, I realized my sub-6 hour goal was in jeopardy. In the back of mind, I wasn't worried. After all, I thought I had banked ten minutes or so on the bike. I failed to realize my error.

On my second loop, my pace slowed to eleven and a half to twelve minute miles. It was more of the same. Running in the sun was brutal. I stopped at every station. I took two sponges with cold water and wet my head and stuffed the sponges down the back of my shirt. I drank a cup of water and a cup of Gatorade at every aide station. The back part of the run was now covered in shade. It was a God send. A breeze even blew across the course intermittently. It all helped! I finally realized that I was in terrible shape. I fell back to an old stand by. I resorted to a run 3 walk 1 cycle. At the end of the second loop, I was delighted to see Dee Dee there cheering me on and taking pictures. She caught me in the middle of an aide station, taking a Gel. I had not eaten much on the run. I felt cramping begin to develop in my calf and hamstring. I forced myself to eat.

The final lap was miserable. I ran along the road and the heat was intolerable. It hurt to even run for three minutes, but I forced myself to run. If I crossed an aide station station, I walked. My pace dropped to twelve and thirteen minute miles. When I made it to the Trail from Hell, I was taken aback, startled even. There were a couple of hundred athletes going and coming on the trail, but not a single one was running. The sun had done its dirty work. Somewhere, along the back of the Trail from Hell, I came across Brian. He was on his second lap as I was finishing up my third. We talked about how we had done and how things were going to wrap up. I took the opportunity to take a two minute walk break, and then I had to leave. As I took off running, Brian said, "I really wanted to beat you!" I laughed and said, "I really wanted you to beat me too!"

The final two point one miles were tough. I, however, saw the end of the trail, and I knew that I was soon going to be a half Iron finisher. It was becoming very real for me. As I neared the finish, I joined another triathlete and walked along the bicycle trail up to the point where the crowds got thick. One spectator pointed out that we were nearly done, we needed to run. I smiled at my triathlete and responded, "We want to finish strong! That's why we are walking now!"

When I reached the 13 mile sign, I started running. I really wanted to run the last 0.1 miles under my own power, but I was so afraid of cramping. Visions of Huntsville danced in my head. I worked hard to keep correct form and I ran strong through the finisher's chute. The crowds were large. I saw the finisher's sign ahead and I kicked it up a notch. I heard the announcer say my name, and he remarked how strong I was coming to the finish. I crossed the line, raised my arms in triumph, pumped my fists, and bent over exhausted.

I walked up to a volunteer and got my medal. I had to take off my own chip. I worried that I might fall over from the effort. I grabbed the shoulder of another volunteer. I needed her to take my chip from me. I was warbling and having a hard time staying on my feet. I walked out the back of the finish area and stood in the sun, waiting for Dee Dee to find me. After a few minutes, I realized I was getting hot and moved to the shade. I had no idea where she was. I knew she was out there, but we had failed to plan on where to meet after I finished. I finally decided to take the nuclear option and asked for help.

A nice couple was sitting at the fence by the finish. I asked them if they had a cell phone. They said they did. I tried not to cry as I asked them to call Dee Dee and tell her to meet me at the lake by the swim exit. I marginally succeeded. I went down to the beach, stripped to my tri outfit, and went into the lake to cool down. A short time later, I saw Dee Dee standing on the beach. She didn't see me, but I finally caught her attention. She was worried about me. She had no idea why some strange cell phone number had called her and left her a message. All she could think was that I was hurt and in the medical tent :-)

I finally climbed from the cool and comforting water and left in search of food. I decided that the cold hard pizza they were serving the athletes after the race was good enough for me. Dee Dee and I walked down to the run finish while I was eating. We watched some runners come in. I finally got tired and had Dee Dee wait for me while I went to transition and gathered my stuff. Dee Dee was still waiting for Brian to come in when I got back. I had all my gear, and I had changed into my clean clothes. We were fortunate to see Brian come down the finishing chute. That was really special. Brian and I have been training for this through thick and thin. Mostly separate, sometimes together, always with each other in spirit. After Brian crossed the finish line, we were sitting there, watching the triathletes come into the finish, when Katie came riding by on her bike. It was really nice to wrap up our race with Katie. She is such a bubble of enthusiasm. She told me how hard her run was and how good I did to finish my race under such conditions. We took some pics, said our good byes, and began the process of heading home.


The line for the buses was ridiculous. Dee Dee and I decided to walk back to the parking lot. It was a mini torture fest, but we made it. We packed up the car and began the long trip back to Atlanta. For the first couple of hours, I was pumped up enough to drive. Then Dee Dee took over. After dinner, I drove some more, until Dee Dee made me pull over to the side of the road and give up the keys. I don't know how I would have made it home without her.

Here I sit, wondering how best to sum up this race... In reality, I had a fantastic time. I was practically giggling on the bike I enjoyed it so much. The run was indeed a torture fest, but I never doubted my purpose for being there. I knew that the weather was not my choice. The bike was everything the run was not. The swim was another testament to my perseverance. It loomed large!! I will carry this race with me forever. It is far and beyond the toughest thing I have ever done. I am indeed half iron, and I will never, ever forget what it took to get me there...

Wes