IRONMAN 69.1 Gulf Coast Race Report

Friday night in Panama City Beach a front was moving through. With strong southwest winds, the Gulf was churning up some big waves and swift currents.

Waking up race morning and opening the patio you could hear the waves crashing. I checked the NWS website and the local office had issued a Rip Tide Current for the Gulf Beaches along the FL panhandle.

From the balcony of my hotel room I could see transition and hear the announcers. Not long after transition opened, you could hear a cheer from some athletes. IRONMAN had cancelled the swim because of the rough water and rip tide. My heart initially sank, I was sad and had a hard time motivating myself to continue to get ready. The swim is my strength and gives me a cushion to the faster runners coming after me late in the race.

The race turned into a 56 mile bike and a 13.1 mile run, 69.1 miles with strong winds and high temperatures turned out to be just as challenging as 70.3 miles with a swim.

Transition: 
It wasn't until I was in transition waiting for my number to be called to start the race that I finally started to get excited. I reminded myself that my bike has improved so much and I could still have a good day without my favorite sport.

56 Mile Bike: 2:36:39, 21.4 mph
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The wind was blowing from the West-Southwest between 10-15 mph. With the layout of the course, this meant the first 5 miles were into a head wind, the next 23 miles to the turnaround were a tail/cross wind, then you would have a head/cross wind on the returning 23 miles before a tail wind to finish the route.

Starting the bike was very different. Not having swam my heart rate was lower than my effort felt. I knew this would be the case so I just tried to spin into the head wind without over doing it.
Avg HR 152 bpm, avg pace 19.9 mph

The next section was a straight shot north to the turn around. My goal was to maintain bottom to mid Zone 3 heart rate (154-157 bpm). I set my watch to only display Heart Rate, doing this allowed me to focus on the only thing that mattered, my effort. Also not displaying speed and distance helps my mental game when I race. I ended up riding a bit harder than where I wanted to, but I felt great and knew it was an effort I could sustain with the tail wind.
Avg HR 158 bpm, avg pace 22.9 mph

The return coming south into the head/cross wind wasn't as bad as I expected it to be. There were a few stretches when the wind was strong but for the most part it was much better than expected. My goal was to ride mid to upper Zone 3 on this stretch (157-160 bpm).
Avg HR 158 bpm, avg pace 20.4 mph

The final 5 miles were dicey. Coming in on Front Beach road around 9 am meant the traffic had picked up and you had to ride on high alert. Taking advantage of the tail wind was a challenge because of the traffic. I nearly got taken out by a pedestrian crossing the road. I screamed so load at her I am sure I scared the you know what out of her.
Avg HR 160 bpm, avg pace 21.0 mph

13.1 Mile Run: 1:59:58, 9:09/mi
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Still having knee issues, I knew this run was going to be an aerobic run. Anytime I push into a tempo effort my knee locks up, so I just ran in Zone 2 and hoped my bike was strong enough to keep me towards the front.

This was a three loop run course, which I like. It helps to break up the run into manageable chunks. 13.1 miles seems so far when you think of it as a whole, breaking it up into 3 x 3.4 mile mile sections helps to mentally grasp the distance.

Loop 1: Avg HR 160 bpm, avg pace 8:57/mi
Loop 2: Avg HR 160 bpm, avg pace 9:20/mi
Loop 3: Avg HR 161 bpm, avg pace 9:13/mi

My effort maintained throughout the race and I was able to keep my knee from locking up. I am looking forward to the day I can push tempo effort in the half marathon.

I kept myself cool on course by putting ice in my tri top at every aid station and I would dump cold water over my head. This allowed me to keep my core temp down and help maintain a steady heart rate.

Bike and Run Heart Rate Comparisons

As you can see from the images below, I squeaked about every once of energy I could on the bike, whereas the run, I have lots of room from growth!

Bike Heart Rate

Run Heart Rate

Finish: 4:37:48, 3/57 F30-34 and 291/1551 Overall

This was the first time I have stood on top of the podium in an IRONMAN event since I was competing in the 18-24 age group. I couldn't have been more proud and excited to be up there, especially given I didn't have the swim to help and my knee injury holding back my run. My bike has become my strength, I look forward to building on that and getting to a point when I can race the run.

IRONMAN 70.3 World Championships is just under 4 months away. I am so excited to be heading there with two of my favorite training partners and friends! Congrats to Stephanie Liles-Weyant and T.j. DeVlieger for your awesome performances at Gulf Coast!