GFT Race Report - Triathlon Week

sfricks · 10-28-2005, 12:05 PM

WARNING! This is a lengthy post. Read at your own discretion!

October 22, 2005

Great Floridian Triathlon Race Report
By: Former Iron Virgin - Scott Fricks

THE RACE
The Great Floridian is Florida’s original Iron Distance race and is the USAT Ultra Distance Triathlon Championship Event. Because it is not a WTC (M-Dot) race it is not called an “Ironman”. The GFT is none-the-less a very challenging 140.6 mile Triathlon held annually in Clermont, a sleepy little town about 50 miles west of Orlando.

THE COURSE
The 2.4 mile swim takes place in Lake Mineola. The bike is a two loop circuit that takes athletes through several quaint little towns around central Florida. One of these aptly named towns is called Howey in the Hills. Yes, I did say aptly. These short steep climbs are known to hit cyclists in the gut like body blows to a prize fighter. None of them taking you down but cumulatively taking the wind out of you. The marathon is a 7 mile out and back run followed by three 6 point something mile laps around the lake.

PRE-RACE
Looking at my self written training plan you may have made a bet on a 12 hour race. As it turned out, life got way in the way and when it was all said and done, you would have looked at my training diary and placed good money on a 12 hour Half Ironman finish! The longest distances I managed in training was 1-3000 meter swim, 2-100 mile+ bikes and 1-18 mile run, hardly enough to attempt an Ironman. None-the-less I was mentally and financially committed. My taper was abrupt and forced 2.5 weeks before the race. I barely got in any training at all during that time frame. Taking all things into consideration, I told myself I’d be happy with a 16 hour finish.

A special note about Hurricane Wilma: This natural event put a serious halt to many (I guess 30 % - 40 % +) athletes as well as volunteers attendance. As it worked out, the storm held off for two full days. The race was humid, hot (which I love), overcast but mostly dry.

NUTRITION PLAN
- Pre-Race Breakfast: Yogurt with fruit (200 calories), Thermalite (sodium) tablet, Gatorade with Carbo-Pro (400 calories), Spiz (300 calories). Actual = Plan.
- Swim: NOTE: The Great Floridian is has a two lap circuit swim where athletes exit the water, run on shore and re-enter the water. There is water and Gatorade at the swim turn. Plan: 1 GU (100 calories) 5 minutes before start, 1 GU (100 calories) at the swim turn, 1 Thermalite 30 minutes before start. – Actual: Because the swim start was delayed approximately 25 minutes the first GU was taken in 30 minutes before race start. The second was taken as planned. The Thermalite was taken 1 hour before.
- Bike: Plan: 2100 calories at 100 calories every 20 minutes plus 1 Thermalite Tab every 20 minutes. – On the bike I carried GU (1200 calories), a cabro-sache with Carbo Pro (800 calories), Grape Gatorade mixed Carbo Pro (600 calories) x 2 and Rice Krispy Treats x 4 (360 calories). Half of this was stored in the Bike Special Needs Bag. Although this was more than the required calories even for an 8 hour bike time, I felt I wanted options in case something wasn’t working well. I’m glad I used this approach as I will talk about more in the body of the report. Actual: GU (1200 Calories), Carbo Pro (200 calories), bananas x3 (300 calories) Rice Krispy Treats x3 (270 calories), Gatorade Endurance (??? – 500 estimate ??? calories). 2500~ calories total intake.
- Run: Plan: 2000~ calories at 1 GU (100 calories) every other aid station, 8 oz Gatorade (50~ calories) every other aid station (opposite planned GU intake). Actual: 10 GU (1000 calories), ??? Gatorade (500 calories estimate). 1500~ calories total intake.

THE DANCE
I woke at 4:30 AM after a pretty good nights rest and began hydrating with Grape Gatorade and Carbo-Pro. After a few minutes getting my brain to function I ate and packed the car. On the 10 minute ride in I sipped the Spiz. It was suggested I park near the finish line which, thankfully, I did. Before parking, I dropped off my B&R SN bags and warm-up bag at the transition area - another good move on my part.

Historically, the GFT has been wetsuit legal. In the weeks and days leading up to the race, many of us were holding our breath in anticipation. Friday afternoon the water temperature was 80. CRAP! Not looking good for the artificial whale blubber. On race morning the USAT official posted a notice stating “78 degrees – wetsuit legal”. YEAH! Break out the tequila! Oh wait. Not yet.

Because I arrived early (5:30AM), getting body marked and set up went extremely fast. The rest of the morning was spent psyching myself up and soaking in the experience. Hormones filled the air as the nervous athletes scrambled to find bike pumps and waited in line for the porta-potties. This was the first problem of the day. 1000 athletes going once every 10 minutes and 9 porta-potties. Who did that math? After learning many new dances, I survived the long lines and settled down. At 7:15 I Pam’d my wetsuit and Body Glided my hot spots. After pulling my wetsuit on I sucked down a GU and headed off the beach. At 7:25 problem #2 reared its ugly head. Apparently 3 individuals had taken it upon themselves to park on the bike course near a hot corner. After a 25 minute delay, the cars were cleared, the National Anthem was expertly sung and BOOM, we were off.

I realistically expected to swim two 50 minute laps for a total 1:40 swim. I seeded myself off to one side at the back and struggled for the first 15 minutes or so to find calm water. Finally, I found a rhythm and soon found myself wading in to the turn around. I grabbed my GU out of my wetsuit sleeve, sucked it down and as I ran across the timing mat, I hit the lap button. 00:38:35. CRAP! Someone must have kicked my watch. No way did I just swim that. I grabbed a drink of water and headed off for another 1.24 miles. The second loop was uneventful. I felt relaxed, smooth and over all, great. Again on shore, across the mat and… 40:57. WOW. Was that first lap right? This was way beyond my expectations! The wetsuit strippers did their job well even though comically dragging me around in circles because the suit wouldn’t come over my ankles.

At the racks I was relegated to finding my own T1 bag despite calling out my race number a half dozen times. The rest of T1 was uneventful. The volunteers grabbed Vaseline and sunscreen for me and 00:08:29 later I was in the saddle.

The GFT bike started out with a short climb where several people struggle to stay on their bikes. OOPS, wrong gearing to start in. A 400~ meter loop took us down a short hill with a small bump at the bottom. You know what I’m going to say. BUMP! THUMP! The behind the seat bottle holder – affectionately known as the mortar tube – launched my Gatorade-Carbo Pro mix bottle. That’s OK. I’ve got plenty of GU to take with water. Right?

Heading out onto the course, I felt fresh and strong. After about 15 minutes I started taking in energy and electrolytes. Heart rate is great, body feels fine… It’s going to be a great ride! About 30 miles into the bike my left knee started telling me something. I’m not quite sure what it was but it was definitely starting to sing to me. I backed way off the pace and settled in nicely, still holding my position, not really giving or gaining, just hanging in. At mile 40 my bento box got jealous of my bottle holder and launched my electrolytes and Tylenol. That’s OK, 16 miles to go and I’ll grab the spares from my SN Bag. At SN1 I grabbed my extra salt, meds and energy. 03:20:25 and off for lap 2, so far so good. The knee is still complaining but if I sit back a little it shuts up. This keeps me out of aero but still, I feel fine. At mile 70, things are starting to taste funny. I’ve had all the Gatorade I can stand so I toss my Spiz and Gatorade-Carbo Pro mix. UGLY PROBLEM #4 (and more). At the next aid station, I’m looking forward to my GU shot and I hear “Sorry. No water. Gatorade only!” C R A P! I take the Gatorade and amber off for the next station. Again, “Sorry. No water. Gatorade only!”. Surely you’re kidding! I can’t keep fueling on this foul tasting syrup called Gatorade Endurance. Well… yes I can, because I had to. They had run out of water on the bike course. I’ve heard it said “If triathlon was easy, they’d call it football”. The rest of the bike went OK but my stomach was not 100% when my legs hit the ground again. 03:42:48 and into T2.

T2 was not as easy as T1. Not because I felt bad but because there was 1 volunteer in the tent and he was useless. I kept waiting on him to ask anyone of they needed anything. He just sat in a chair and chatted with one of the athletes. OK, got it myself. 00:09:38 and off on the marathon.

In the first mile I took it easy to get my legs back. At mile marker 1 I felt great. It was time to take off! I had just picked up the pace a little when my knee started up again. At Aid Station 1 I had a volunteer rub my knee with Icy Hot. AHHH. Much better. 2.5 miles out and back, at the same aid station I ended up putting the Icy Hot on again myself – bad move. I tried to wash the stuff off my hands but couldn’t help ingest some with the food and meds. YUCK! Just about mile 8 I got a very sharp pain in my knee. Not good. I really wanted to run the entire marathon. Oh well. I can afford to walk a few hundred meters. Let the knee settle in and take off again, right? NOPE. Every time I started running the pain would return. What the &^%$? I felt great. I have plenty of energy and am ready to run. Not to happen. Body says go, knee says no.

For the next 4.5 hours I shuffled/walked the course. That was a lonely, miserable experience. There were a few other walkers. Some I passed, some passed me. The aid stations were no longer buzzing. They were just waiting for us back of the packers to call it a day. That surely wasn’t going to happen. 17 hours, 20 hours, whatever it took to finish! I kept walking. Between mile 20 and 22 or so I had a few quickly passing doubts. I got a little nauseous but it passed. At mile 24 I finally looked at my total time. 14:25 on the watch… Can I still do this in under 15? Will my knee hold up? OK… Run through the pain. I ran to the St. Pete Mad Dog Triathlon Club Aid Station – the last one before the finish line – and here I got what I needed. As I passed through, one young lady asked if this was the last lap. I weakly responded “yes”. Her words still resound in my head, “I want to kiss an Ironman”. An Ironman. 1 mile. A kiss and I’m off. I looked at my watch. 14:43. If I don’t hit the pavement, it’s going to happen. As I made the turn towards the finish line all the pain went away. I had just run an 8 minute mile, my best mile of the marathon and I felt great! 14:51 over the line. I’m an Ironman!

POST RACE
Before the event I had pre-paid for a massage. Great idea! Anything that could have hurt was dismissed by the skillful hands of my masseur immediately following the race.

THOUGHTS
This was my first Iron Distance Race, certainly not my last. Despite what may appear to be criticism of the GFT, this was well put together event. Considering Hurricane Wilma almost killed the whole thing, overall, I was pleased. If my wife lets me out of 5 months of social commitments, I’ll do this race again.

I would be remiss not to mention Mike Tennent, the defacto leader of the GFT Tribe. Mike’s wisdom was shared freely and appropriately. Thanks Mike.

Scott Fricks
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Spike10 · 10-31-2005, 08:08 AM

Congrats Scott, this was a very enjoyable read and not at all too long! It's good to see you back on the site and some day I hope to race with you, but we are on way different parts of the globe, I guess thats why we have airports. Just between you, me, and whoever else reads this, you did the distance and it dosen't matter if the race was a M-dot or not. You are still an Ironman!!!
Way to go.
Spike.

sfricks · 10-31-2005, 08:16 AM

Thanks Spike. Please consider yourself invited down to do out St. Croix Ironman 70.3 race here in May 2006. Make it a racing vacation :)

Although very disappointed in the marathon, yes, I'm an Ironman! I like the way that sounds :)

Thanks for all your support!

Spike10 · 11-02-2005, 10:27 AM

Thanks for the invite Scottie, maybe in 07, my wallet and races are in Colorado this coming season.
Spike.