I decided on pretty much a whim to sign up for the Great Floridian Aquabike race, which is the swim and bike legs of the Great Floridian full-distance triathlon (2.4 mile swim, 112 mile bike). I figured that I might as well put the fitness I built up from doing Ironman to good use!
I knew I was not in top shape, with only 6 weeks passed since Ironman, and my training in that time having been sporadic at best. Also, I didn’t swim more than about 4,000 yards in that 6 week period–ouch! But I figured I’d give it a try anyway. I mean, there’s not even any running–how hard could it be?
So I drove down to Clermont and gave it a shot. I didn’t pre-ride the bike course, figuring that even though Clermont has a reputation for being “hilly,” I figured, it’s Florida–how hilly can it be??
On Saturday morning, the full-distance racers (about 400?) started at 7:30, and then the relay and aquabikers started 10 minutes later. There were only about 20 of us in the second wave, so there was basically zero contact during the swim. I came out of the water in 1:20, which was 2 minutes slower than my swim at Ironman. I attributed this to (a) my lack of swim training in the time between the two races and the fact that there was no one to draft off.
Onto the bike. It started pretty much ho-hum. I settled into a smooth rhythm, maybe a high Z1/low Z2 pace. My spedometer ceased to function after about mile 15, so I was riding only with a cadence sensor. I was rolling a high cadence (95+), which I have found works well for me at least on shorter rides.
There were some rollers, but nothing major. At mile 28 or so, we tackled “Sugarloaf Mountain,” the highest point in peninsular Florida at 312 feet above sea level. We climbed about 250 of those feet at about 15-18%. A moderate challenge, but not too bad–my 34/23 low gearing was sufficient for a standing ascent of the “mountain” at about 45-55 rpm.
I split the first 59 miles in a comfortable 3:20. In this first half, I had some minor issues (stomach cramps, bladder cramps and mild reaction to the sand in the air) but not anything OMG-worthy. At the special needs station, I grabbed my second bottle of nutrition, poured 3 bottles of water on myself (it was getting hot) and got going.
I decided that, since I’m not running after the bike, it was time to push the pace a bit. The next 20 miles were relatively flat, and I was passing folks left and right due to my good aero position. I actually felt really strong at this point!
Unfortunately, in the span of about 15 minutes around mile 80, everything went completely to shit:
- I ran out of nutrition. The 1600 calories I’d put in my two bottles was not enough, considering the temperature and the effort level I was putting out.
- I ran out of salt. The two bottles had about 2.2 grams of salt. I thought that would be sufficient, but it was not.
- The temperature continued to rise. Temps were now in the high 80s with the heat index in the mid 90s.
- My new aero position, which is lower and more aggressive than the aero position I used at Ironman, became unsustainable due to pains in my neck, shoulders and back.
- I developed a cramp in my left foot which prevented me from applying any real pressure to the left pedal.
This “perfect storm” of awfulness sent me from(on flat ground) a comfortable 22mph to about 14mph. I was bonking, I couldn’t pedal properly, I couldn’t hold my aero position, I had a headache from hyponatremia (lack of salt), and I was getting heatstroke (I was no longer sweating, I was getting goosebumps and my skin was turning beet red).
I immediately went into “survival” mode. I limped along for a while, and then the storm got worse–the last 20 miles were all hills! No exaggeration, it was one 100 foot roller after another. Those last 20 miles took literally almost 2 hours, it was awful. (Oddly, I didn’t get passed more than a handful of times–everyone else must have been having problems due to the heat/terrain like me.)
After a depressing, agnonizing, humiliating 6:29 on the bike (4 minutes slower than Ironman) and a total time just under 8 hours, I rolled into the transition area. I sat in the lake for a few minutes, and then ate 3 cookies, a hamburger, a hot dog, 2 pieces of pizza and 2 bottles of Gatorade. I guess I was hungry!
Because of my disappointing performance here and at Ironman Wisconsin, I think I’m going to set aside long course racing for a while until I figure some things out about my racing self. Primarily, I need to figure out how to take in enough calories and salt to sustain a 6+ hour effort. I also need to develop my body’s tolerance to a continuous, steady-state effort for a long period of time.
I think that, over time, I’ll be better prepared for the rigors of long course racing. I’ll develop a better nutrition plan for these long races. I’ll also strengthen my body to the point where these long efforts don’t create physical problems, such as muscle cramps.
However, for now, I think that the most productive (and enjoyable) way for me to approach triathlon is to get better at short course racing. That’s sprint distance, Olympic distance, and maybe the occasional Half Ironman.
Doing short course racing should be nice because (a) I get to go FAST on the bike, which is awesome, (b) I have a pretty high tolerance for “good pain” (aka lactic acid buildup) and (c) I don’t have to do a huge ridiculous taper for each race. I could race every weekend if I wanted to! Additionally, short course racing doesn’t have the financial commitment that comes with the longer races, which are often expensive, elaborate ordeals.
Anyway, I’m going to do a sprint race in a few weekends with one of the athletes I coach. After that, I’ll do a turkey trot 5k and then it will be time for the off-season, which in Florida is still quite nice training weather 
