IRONMAN Florida 2016 -- Second Ironman experience!

IRONMAN FLORIDA November 5th 2016

Race Report:

What a great day! Loved this venue and loved the people. My day was chuck full of highs and lows but looking back I wouldn't change a thing. Here is my race report...

The SWIM: 2.4 miles 

Rewind to 5 weeks ago when I was standing at the starting line to Superfrog 70.3 and the surf was popping up way over my head. Looking out at the Gulf coast everything seemed to be way smoother then Coronado so I was immediately relieved. IMFL has a rolling start to the swim, which allows athletes to line up based on their projected finish time, and helps control the madness of a mass swim start. When I did IMAZ in 2014 we had a mass start and oh boy nothing can quit prepare you for the havoc of having the gun go off and 3000 athletes in the water starting to swim. Anyway I seeded myself comfortably in the 1:20-1:30 group, as this has been the time range of all my practice swims. Gun goes off and off we go! The rolling start made things so much easier. I just bounded out into the ocean and started to swim! Didn't really have to fight with anyone for a spot and found my grove right away. I was able to look down and see the bottom of the ocean and all of the marine life that was in it. I saw jellyfish, stingrays, schools of fish, and some other stuff that seemed to glow in the dark. I love wildlife so this was really cool for me to get to see. On the way out I was able to sight the boeys pretty well and didn’t veer to far off of course. The wind must have picked up because the swells started to get really big and made it almost impossible to sight anything after the turn. I can get really bad motion sickness so I made sure to take 2 Dramamine before the race to help with any nausea I may get. Man….am I glad I got up extra early to eat my breakfast. If I had waited to the last minute all those calories would have been up and out all over that ocean. I just kept getting soooo sea sick. Every time I started to feel like I was going to be sick I would stop and let my body come upright so I could keep it in. I just kept thinking “Dawn don’t you dare lose all of those calories you ate this morning!” Lol. It is funny now. Anyway between that and my horrible ability to swim a straight line I ended up with 600 yards extra and a time of 1:37! Augh…that was very upsetting to me. But in the world of Ironman you can’t waste time or energy stressing about the stuff that is out of your hands and I shook it off and ran to transition…

T1: The Transition Nazi

After grabbing my bag and running into the change tent I saw that they were really busy and there was not going to be any volunteer to help me. That's ok I am pretty good at transitions so hopefully they were helping someone that needed more help then me. There wasn’t a lot of space and so I looked for an open spot and started emptying out my bag. All of a sudden out of nowhere this lady comes running over to me and yells “NO you can not change there!” proceeds to pick up my stuff and throw it out of the way. I just stood there open mouthed completely in disbelief of what was happening. She continues to tell me “I have 200 athletes that need to get through here and I can’t have this area blocked”. Ok. I totally get that. I didn’t realize I was in the way of anything and would have happily moved my things out of the way. She totally did not need to throw my stuff and yell at me like she did. Again, no wasting energy on anger…Changed into my bike gear and off to get my bike!

The BIKE: 112 miles

Ahhhh…this is my sport. I love to ride my bicycle! Florida bike course is fairly flat and known for being a fast course. I was really looking forward to a fast bike time on this course. Ironman Arizona is pretty flat and fast too but the year I did it I got a ton of head wind going up the beeline so it slowed me down a lot…
Off I was on my bike feeling great. I passed my fellow racelabber around mile 10 giving him a woohoo and continued to do my thing. There is a really long stretch of this ride that has you heading north west and wouldn’t you know it…15 mph headwinds with gusts of 20mph! Oh man. I was not going to be slowed down by this damn wind again and just put my head down and forged through! It wasn’t until mile 50 that we finally got to turn and get some wind behind us. By then I had made some friends with fellow athletes I kept leap frogging with on the way out. The guys around me kept giving me props for being a strong rider and that made me feel good. I started to feel a little bit of redemption from my miserable swim and things were starting to look up! The rest of the ride was strong and steady occasionally battling more head winds but not for as long of stretches. As I headed back into town I started thinking to myself I hope I have what I need for the run! Into transition I rode. Bike time 5:47

T2:

Thankfully there was a volunteer to help me during this transition if only to make sure I went to the correct area! She was very pleasant and helped a lot. There was a time when she said “Oh I better not stand in this aisle I might get yelled at.” Poor volunteers! I am sorry that they had to deal with that mean lady all day! Off to the run.

The RUN: 26.2 miles

I remember during IMAZ starting my run feeling nauseous and not being able to feel my feet. I had to walk probably the first 3 miles of that run and it wasn’t until mile 13 that my stomach settled down. This time I wasn’t feeling any of that. In fact I was feeling GREAT! I settled in to a nice pace that felt comfortable with my heart rate was right on point. I was just running along taking in all of the views. My usual strategy is to run to each aid station and walk the aid station taking in fuel and water. But for this one I didn’t feel it necessary to walk all of the aid stations. I did walk some in order to fuel but I was able to pick it right back up. I did miss seeing all of my friends on the course like IMAZ but I drew strength from my fellow athletes and all of the awesome people that lined the streets. I couldn't believe how strong I felt! It is amazing how much you doubt yourself along your journey. Even though I have already done an Ironman I still had doubts about how I would do and how I would feel.This is the first one I have done coaching myself (always being able to reach out to Bettina when I had questions or needed advice). I was worried I wouldn't do as well as the last one and worried I wasn't in good enough shape… all of these things go through my head. But at the end of the day I felt STRONG! As I started nearing the finish line I was actually able to pick up my pace! WHAT?!?! 3 miles to go I was like come on Dawn you got this and dug deep and finished strong. I now know that I am even STRONGER this time around! Run time 5:00
Finish time 12:39

Thank you to all of my friends and training buddies for helping me have another successful Ironman. A huge thank you to Bettina Schnippenkoetter Warnholtz for being my amazing mentor and helping me adjust my training as needed. I am so grateful to be apart of Racelab as a coach and a teammate. You guys are awesome! I can’t wait to cheer you all on for IMAZ!
And of course thank you to Rod Gull for being my incredible support team. Thank you for supporting all of my crazy ideas and adventures. Thank you for letting me grow and spread my wings to their farthest reach. Love you!
Also a special thanks to Bethany Longmire, Bridgit Egosque, and William Ring my athletes. You guys inspire me everyday with your abilities and determination!