Ironman Florida 2006 is in the history books. We started our trip on Wednesday morning (Nov. 1st) to drive from Rockford, IL to Panama City Beach, FL. The drive went well and we arrived on Thursday morning around11:30 a.m. The race was not until Saturday, so this gave us a couple of days to get everything prepared for the big day. All was going well,except for a little head cold I'd picked up during the drive down...but I kept pumping myself full of Vitamin C, and crossed my fingers so I'd feel healthy on race day morning.
I woke up at 4 a.m. on race day to start getting as much food into my belly as possible. It wasn't until around 5 a.m. when I stepped outside and realized it was only about 35 degrees with a 10-20 mph wind! My coach told me that I'd run into things I wouldn't expect, but this was a little drastic.I double checked that my bike was in working order, and threw a hat and arm warmers into my gear bags so I'd stay warm during the bike. All that was left to do was to try and relax before the gun went off at 7 a.m.
SWIM 2.4 MILES
The swim was pretty rough, and my time was a little slower than I had hoped for. I'll tell you that swimming in the ocean is quite a bit different to the pool at the Minneapolis YMCA! I was out of the water in 1:05. Only a couple minutes faster than Ironman Wisconsin last year...but I'll take it given the conditions.
BIKE 112 MILES
After the swim, I made the transition to the bike portion of the race. I was sure glad that I packed the extra hat and arm warmers, as it was still pretty cold at 8 a.m. The first 50 miles seemed like it took forever (as we were riding into the wind), but I was happy since I started to catch some of the professional women (the professional race started 10 minutes before the amateur race) and figured I was in good company. I really wanted to keep my average pace above 20 mph, but at this point I was still hovering around 18.5 to 19. From around mile 50 to 80 the wind wasn't really a factor and I was able to pick my pace up a bit, but around mile85-90 my biking legs started to get tired and was really looking forward to putting my running shoes on! I finished the bike leg in 5:31 (averaging20.24 mph).
RUN 26.2 MILES
Running has always been a struggle for me. I've spent a lot of time working on my running this year, since I've never been very fast. In addition, sitting on a bike for 112 miles does wonders to your running legs. I really had no expectation for this part of my race. I thought it'd be cool to run the marathon in just over 4 hours, but didn't really think it was a possibility.When I started to run, I felt surprisingly fresh. I remember a guy who ran beside me for a bit, who looked over and said "Now the pain begins!". I didn't respond to him, and all I could think of was that I didn't really feel any pain. I kept my pace steady for the first quarter of the run and started seeing the professional men coming back from their first loop. I remember thinking that it felt good to be up towards the front end of the race, rather than slogging through the middle (like last year at Wisconsin).I was just about to finish my first loop when I heard trumpets! I began to think "did I die...did I pass out of Florida and am I actually running to the gates of heaven?!?!"....nope, it was TEAM SJOGREN cheering me on. The crowd erupted as I ran by to the tune of CHARGE! This was one of the coolest experiences in my life (thanks Dad!). I still had no idea how fast I was running, but I was definitely energized.I pushed into the second loop trying to hold my pace. This part of the race was probably the most difficult, as your head starts to have conversations with your body about slowing down (or stopping altogether)...thankfully my head won the battle, and I was able to hold onto my pace. I finished the run leg in 3:54 (my fastest marathon ever -Ironman or otherwise!).
My final time ended up being 10:39:40, which is 2 1/2 hours faster than what I did at Ironman Wisconsin last year. I ended up finishing 260th overall (out of 2192) and 20th in my age group (out of 123). A great finish to the season.
Stay tuned for updates from Ironman Wisconsin 2007!
